Another Week of GW News, September 30, 2012 [A Few Things Ill Considered]

(Before It's News)

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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Another Week of Climate Instability News

Information is not Knowledge…Knowledge is notWisdom

September 30, 2012

• Chuckles, Rio+20, UNGA, DARA, Attitudes, Maldives, Too Conservative?, Reichler
• Bottom Line, Global Legal Framework, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food Prices, Land Grabs, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Feedbacks, Paleoclimate, Uncertainties
• ENSO, Solar, Tipping Points, New Weather, Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Disease, Wacky Weather, Extreme Weather
• Wildfires, Corals, Acidification, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Conservation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Open Science
• International Politics: Carbon Tax, Bank Tax, East China Sea
• EU ETS & Airlines, Veto, Solar Spat, Law & Activism, Polls, H2O Biz
• National Politics: America, 2012, Keystone, EarthWorks
• Wind Power, Coal Exports, Monnett, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Carbon Law, Majority, Murray-Darling, India, Middle East
• Canada, M312, CNOOC, Humour, Liberal, Northern Gateway, CWB
• Christy – Redford, CCA, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Oil & the Economy, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Grid, Cars
• Business, Insurance, FAQs, Joe’s List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous Climate, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

It’s always nice to start with a larf:

• 2012/09/30: uComics: (cartoon – Stantis) A Beautiful Moment
• 2012/09/30: uComics: (cartoon – Trudeau) Personhood Bill
• 2012/09/29: Slate: (cartoon – Britt) The Garden of Global Warming Denial
• 2012/09/27: uComics: (cartoon – Wiley) Corporate Shills
• 2012/09/26: uComics: (cartoon – Wiley) Okay, Every Day You Guys Are In Heah…
  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe’s Law:
• 2012/09/27: Wonkette: ‘The Left’ Is Anti-Science Because Of Hippies, Says New Dumb Book
• 2012/09/26: Wonkette: Climate Change Will Kill Pretty Much Everyone, Says Report About To Be Ignored
  Looking back at Rio+20:
• 2012/09/23: CSW: Rio+20: Meaningful progress or lost opportunity?
  The UN General Assembly opened a new session this week and there was some climate related talk:
• 2012/09/29: ABC(Au): Solomons PM ‘deeply troubled’ by climate change inaction
• 2012/09/28: Reuters: Australia joins U.N.-led climate coalition
  Australia on Friday announced it will join the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, a U.N.-led initiative to cut short-lived climate pollutants such as soot and methane.
• 2012/09/28: BBC: Japan and China trade barbs over islands at UN
• 2012/09/27: ABC(Au): Nauru issues stark warning on climate change
• 2012/09/27: UN: At UN, Comoros speaks up for small island states threatened by climate change
• 2012/09/26: UN: At UN debate, Kiribati’s President urges increased efforts to mitigate impact of rising seas
• 2012/09/25: UN: At UN, Pacific Island states call for urgent action on climate change in face of rising seas
• 2012/09/26: BBC: Japan-China ministers in ‘severe’ meeting over islands row
• 2012/09/26: al Jazeera: Ministers meet over Japan-China island row
  Both countries reiterate their claim to East China Sea islands in meeting on sidelines of UN General Assembly.
• 
  DARA released their Climate Vulnerability Monitor report this week:

• 2012/09/26: DARA: [links to several pdfs] Climate Vulnerability Monitor
• 2012/09/26: DARA: The Climate Vulnerability Monitor: 34 Indicators in 4 Impact Areas for Climate Change & Carbon Economy
• 2012/09/26: PostMedia: Toll of climate change: 100 million to die by 2030 if world fails to act — Study conducted for governments of 20 developing countries
  More than 100 million people will die and global economic growth will be cut by 3.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030 if the world fails to tackle climate change, a report commissioned by 20 governments said on Wednesday. As global average temperatures rise due to greenhouse gas emissions, the effects on the planet, such as melting ice caps, extreme weather, drought and rising sea levels, will threaten populations and livelihoods, said the report conducted by humanitarian organization DARA.
• 2012/09/26: TMoS: 100,000,000 To Die by 2030 from Climate Change
  From time to time, I see people wondering what it will take…:
• 2012/09/30: CassandrasLegacy: Climate: a 9/11 moment?
  Another wrinkle in the Maldives tragedy:
• 2012/09/26: Guardian(UK): Maldives court bans former president from leaving country
  Mohamed Nasheed’s party says detention is politically motivated and aimed at preventing him campaigning
• 
  Here is an unsettling thought:

• 2012/09/29: SinmpleC: New models still give Arctic summer ice 30 years
• 2012/09/28: P3: The Real Climate Science Debate?
  The Reichler et al. paper asserts a curious linkage:
• 2012/09/23: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) A stratospheric connection to Atlantic climate variability by Thomas Reichler et al.
• 2012/09/23: Eureka: Stratosphere targets deep sea to shape climate — North Atlantic ‘Achilles heel’ lets upper atmosphere affect the abyss
  [...]
  “We found evidence that what happens in the stratosphere matters for the ocean circulation and therefore for climate,” says Thomas Reichler… [...]
  “It is not new that the stratosphere impacts the troposphere,” says Reichler, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah. “It also is not new that the troposphere impacts the ocean. But now we actually demonstrated an entire link between the stratosphere, the troposphere and the ocean.”
• 2012/09/23: SciNow: Stratospheric Winds Churn Up the Abyss
  And on the Bottom Line:
• 2012/09/27: CBC: Drought cost U.S. economy $12B in spring
• 2012/09/27: GreenGrok: Climate Change: Assessing the Costs of Doing Nothing
• 2012/09/27: WaPo:B: [US] GDP: Drought knocked 0.2 points off growth in second quarter
• 2012/09/26: FDL: Climate Change Already Causing $1.2 Trillion in Lost Economic Output, 4.5 Million Deaths Annually
• 2012/09/26: Guardian(UK): Climate change is already damaging global economy, [DARA] report finds
  Economic impact of global warming is costing the world more than $1.2 trillion a year, wiping 1.6% annually from global GDP
• 2012/09/24: Grist: Discount rates: A boring thing you should know about (with otters!)
  The world inches toward creating a global legal framework for ecological crime:
• 2012/09/25: TreeHugger: Wildlife Crime Called a Threat to Global Rule of Law in UN Talks
  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
• 2012/09/30: SkS: Loss of Arctic Sea Ice … and of a ‘Giant Parasol’ by greenman3610
• 2012/09/29: SkS: Sea Level Isn’t Level: Ocean Siphoning, Levered Continents and the Holocene Sea Level Highstand by Rob Painting
• 2012/09/29: SkS: Sea Level Isn’t Level: Ocean Siphoning, Levered Continents and the Holocene Sea Level Highstand by Rob Painting
• 2012/09/28: SkS: Rally for Canadian Science in Victoria, BC by Andy S
• 2012/09/27: SkS: Inuit Perspectives on Recent Climate Change by robert way
• 2012/09/26: SkS: Lessons from Past Climate Predictions: Arctic Sea Ice Extent 2012 Update by dana1981
• 2012/09/25: SkS: New research from last week 38/2012 by Ari Jokimäki
  A note on theFukushima disaster:

  It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.] We’ll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
  Meanwhile…
  It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.
  How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
  Do they have an agenda?
  Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
  Do they want to write a good news story?
  Do they want to write a bad news story?
  Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
  Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
  One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
  If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

• 
  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

• 2012/09/29: EneNews: Japan Newspaper: Fukushima Daiichi worker reports developing cancer
• 2012/09/29: EneNews: NHK: Powerful typhoon now battering Japan, winds at 162 kilometers/hr – Fukushima in center of forecast track (video)
• 2012/09/29: EneNews: Report: Typhoon Jelawat could cause debris on Fukushima Unit 3 to move
• 2012/09/28: EneNews: Monster typhoon nears Japan – Forecast shows storm to hit Fukushima Sunday (maps & video)
• 2012/09/29: EneNews: Yomiuri: Video believed to show parts of internal structure in Fukushima Unit 1 containment vessel scattered around – 3-inch-thick lead plate disappeared (diagram)
• 2012/09/27: EneNews: Japan TV: Fukushima radioactive plume is circling earth every 40 days – Fallout still showing spikes (video)
• 2012/09/27: EneNews: “Very Unexpected”: Large debris filmed in Fukushima Unit 1 shows something explosive happened inside containment (video)
• 2012/09/25: EneNews: NYTimes: Eerie fog of silence around Fukushima plant – First surprising thing is there’s no sound in no-go zone -Photographer (photos)
• 2012/09/24: EneNews: New underwater footage inside Unit 3 pool shows fuel rack covered in rubble (video)
  The Arctic melt continues to garner a lot of attention:
• 2012/09/29: ArcticNews: Accelerated Warming in the Arctic
• 2012/09/29: TP:JR: High Arctic Warmest In 1,800 Years: ‘The Medieval Warm Period Was Not As Uniformly Warm As We Once Thought’
• 2012/09/28: PostMedia: Arctic Ice “Rotten” to the North Pole, scientist says
  When David Barber first headed to the Arctic in the 1980s, the ice would typically retreat just a few a kilometres offshore by summer’s end. Now he and his colleagues have to travel more than 1,000 kilometres north into the Beaufort Sea to even find the ice. And it’s nothing like the thick, impenetrable ice of Arctic lore. This year the ice is “rotten” practically all the way to the North Pole, says Barber, a veteran Arctic researcher and director of the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Manitoba.
• 2012/09/28: CCP: Arctic Ice “Rotten” to the North Pole, scientist says
• 2012/09/28: QuarkSoup: Why the Melting Arctic Matters
• 2012/09/28: PlanetJ: Good Arctic sea ice pic and vid
• 2012/09/28: DosBat: Sea Ice Albedo Changes and the Seasonal Cycle
• 2012/09/21: GreenGrok: What Does a Record Arctic Thaw Mean?
• 2012/09/27: Reuters: High Arctic warming surpasses Viking era, study shows
  Temperatures above Medieval Warming levels – Warmest in Svalbard in 1,800 years; underscores Arctic melt
• 2012/09/27: ABC(Au): Before and after: Arctic sea ice in 1984 and 2012
• 2012/09/27: CCP: Massive Storm Strikes Alaska (Again)
• 2012/09/27: al Jazeera: Listening to the Arctic
  The Arctic is warming at a rate twice that of the global average, and protecting it is of vital importance.
• 2012/09/27: IOTD: Visualizing the 2012 Sea Ice Minimum
• 2012/09/25: Stoat: Protecting the Arctic?
• 2012/09/24: UCalgary: Melting Arctic ice cap at record low
  Geography professor John Yackel says this year’s extreme melt in the Arctic could have serious ramifications for the planet.
• 2012/09/24: TCoE: Arctic Ice Summary
• 2012/09/24: TP:JR: Arctic Sea Ice: What, Why, And What Next
  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:
• 2012/09/28: DD: Expedition to study methane gas bubbling out of the Arctic seafloor
• 2012/09/27: TP:JR: Arctic Methane Release: The End Of The World As We Know It?
• 2012/09/25: CNN: Next global warming worry: Thawing tundra
  Natalie Boelman: Arctic sea at lowest extent recorded, affecting Earth’s ability to cool – But, she says, change to sea’s neighboring tundra ecosystem is also a big global-warming worry – The tundra locks up carbon in frozen soils; when they thaw, huge amounts released – Boelman: Tundra also a vast habitat; thawing will have far-reaching effects around globe
• 2012/09/25: TreeHugger: Methane Leaking From Arctic Seafloor Likely Not Caused by Human-Induced Warming
• 2012/09/23: PE: Vast methane plumes in Arctic
• 2012/09/23: CCP: Semiletov & Shakhova have discovered more than 200 sources of methane emissions in the Arctic, Laptev Sea
  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
• 2012/09/28: CCP: Shell resumes drilling in Chukchi: walruses haul out on Alaska’s shore
• 2012/09/26: WWF: In Alaska’s Chukchi Sea: Shell Resumes Offshore Drilling as Nearby Walruses are Forced Onshore
• 2012/09/26: TreeHugger: French Oil Company CEO Calls Arctic Oil Drilling a Potential “Disaster”
• 2012/09/27: CBC: Icebreaker is 1st Chinese vessel to cross Arctic Ocean — China has been eager to gain a foothold in the region
• 2012/09/26: CBC: French oil company [Total] warns against Arctic oil drilling
• 2012/09/26: TP:JR: Fourth Largest Publicly Traded Oil Company Calls Arctic Offshore Oil Drilling A Potential ‘Disaster’
• 2012/09/26: NatureNB: Energy giant boss writes off Arctic oil
  Oil company Total’s head had written off resource extraction in the Arctic as too risky to be worthwhile, according to the Financial Times. In an interview with the paper Christophe de Margerie, chairman and chief executive officer of Paris-based Total, said that gas exploration in the region was sensible but the risks of oil leaks meant oil drilling should be avoided.
• 2012/09/26: PeakEnergy: A Melting Greenland Weighs Perils Against Potential
• 2012/09/26: OilChange: Total Says No to Arctic Oil Drilling
• 2012/09/24: CCurrents: Melting Ice In The Arctic Unleashes Race For Profits
• 2012/09/26: EarthGauge: Total Energy warns against oil drilling in Arctic
• 2012/09/25: BBerg: Arctic Oil Near Soviet Toxic Waste in Exxon-Rosneft Plan
  The Kara Sea, a body of Arctic waters so remote that the Soviet Union used it as an atomic- waste dump for more than 25 years, has become the focus of an environmental battle that oil companies are preparing to win. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and its Russian partner OAO Rosneft (ROSN) are taking steps to drill near the ocean-floor wasteland, eager to plumb an Arctic region estimated to hold enough crude to supply the world for five years. They’ve sidestepped environmental groups’ calls for a clean-up prior to exploration of the area off Russia’s northern coast where Soviet ships dumped worn-out reactors and 17,000 containers of radioactive waste.
• 2012/09/24: CBC: Russia, world’s worst oil polluter, now drilling in Arctic — Climate change creates new opportunities, risks in Russia’s north
• 2012/09/24: CBC: Climate change creates new opportunities, risks in Russia’s north — Retreating ice spurs Russia to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean
• 2012/09/24: WSWS: Melting ice in the Arctic unleashes race for profits
  While in Antarctica:
• 2012/09/30: C&S: Arctic/Antarctic Ice Extents
  The food crisis is ongoing:
• 2012/09/29: IPS: Climate Change Takes a Bite Out of Global Food Supply
• 2012/09/28: P3: Alarmist Spin Muddies the Water
• 2012/09/27: ProMedMail: Bluetongue, livestock – Russia: BTV-14, 2011
• 2012/09/26: UN: Ban warns of ‘perfect storm’ of crises confronting Sahel region of Africa
• 2012/09/26: ABC(Au): Global warming threatens Queensland agriculture sector: report
• 2012/09/25: Grist: How to prepare yourself for the Baconpocalypse
• 2012/09/25: CBC: Global bacon shortage ‘unavoidable’
• 2012/09/25: EnergyBulletin: Heat and drought ravage U.S. crop prospects — Global stocks suffer
• 2012/09/24: CCurrents: Yemeni Women Are Now Worse Off, Half Of The Population Doesn’t Have Enough Food
• 2012/09/25: WFP: WFP Pakistan Begins Food Distributions To Flood-Affected In Sindh; Funds Urgently Needed To Gear Up
• 2012/09/25: UN: Yemen sliding into humanitarian crisis, warns UN food relief agency
• 2012/09/25: UN: Pakistan: UN agency begins food distribution to thousands affected by floods
• 2012/09/24: LA Times: Bacon, pork shortage ‘now unavoidable,’ industry group says
• 2012/09/22: Economist: Olive-oil prices — Drizzle and drought — The soaring cost of dressing a salad
• 2012/09/25: BBerg: Pig Slaughter Shrinks Supply to 1975 Low in Drought: Commodities
  U.S. hog farmers are slaughtering animals at the fastest pace since 2009 as a surge in feed costs spurs the biggest losses in 14 years, signaling smaller herds next year and a rebound in pork prices. The 73.3 million hogs processed in eight months through August were the most in three years, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. Pork supply will drop to the lowest per- capita since 1975 next year, the USDA estimates.
• 2012/09/23: InformedComment: Top Ten ways Corporate Food is Making us Fat and threatening our Food Supplies
  The state of the world’s fisheries is a concern:
• 2012/09/30: SCV: Are fisheries disasters linked with climate change?
• 2012/09/28: SciAm: Climate Change Offers Grim Long-Term Prognosis for Seafood
• 2012/09/28: SciNow: Netting Better Data on Global Fish Stocks
• 2012/09/28: DD: Report warns of global food insecurity as climate change destroys fisheries
• 2012/09/27: WaPo: Global fisheries are declining but can still recover [if properly managed], study says
• 2012/09/27: Eureka: Now in Science: It’s not too late for troubled fisheries
  Bren-led study suggests recovery of small-scale fisheries can boost seafood supply New tools provide cost-effective, previously unavailable stock-assessment results
• 2012/09/28: SciNow: Hermit Crabs Pass Acid Test
• 2012/09/24: TP:JR: Innovations To Increase And Stabilize Fishing Profits
• 2012/09/24: Guardian(UK): Report warns of global food insecurity as climate change destroys fisheries
  Persian Gulf, Libya, and Pakistan expected to be hardest hit by decline in fish stocks in coming decades
• 2012/09/24: NOAANews: Study finds that ocean acidification is accelerated in nutrient-rich areas — Marine resources, coastal economies put at risk
  Food Prices are still problematic:
• FAO: World Food Situation – Food Price Indices
• 2012/09/27: TP:JR: Oxfam Warns Climate Change And Extreme Weather Will Cause Food Prices To Soar
• 2012/09/27: CCurrents: Bank Profits From Food Speculation
  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?
• 2012/09/21: AllAfrica: Africa: Land, Water and Resource-Grabbing and Its Impact on Food Security
• 2012/09/19: Grain: Land grabbing and food sovereignty in West and Central Africa
  Regarding the genetic modification of food:
• 2012/09/28: NatureNB: Transgenic cassava armed with dual disease resistance
• 2012/09/25: CDreams: Scientists: No to Genetically Modified Crops, Yes to Paradigm Shift
  Scientists say India should not believe false promises of genetically modified crops
• 2012/09/26: KSJT: More on Single-Study Syndrome
• 2012/09/25: NatureN: Rat study sparks GM furore — Cancer claims put herbicide-resistant transgenic maize in the spotlight
• 2012/09/25: CSM: Midwest drought: how engineered corn saved some farmers from disaster
  Regarding labelling GM food:
• 2012/09/26: Grist: These celebs want GMOs labeled
• 2012/09/26: al Jazeera: California’s Prop 37: Monsanto, GMO labelling and the public Interest
  Over half of the staggering sum spent on defeating the measure of labelling comes from pesticide and biotech firms.
• 
  And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?

• 2012/09/29: ABC(Au): Farmers can learn from SA arid plants project
  Researchers say the outcome of a study into the effect of climate change on arid plants will have a broader significance for things like agriculture. The three-year project is being carried in an Arid Lands Botanic Garden in South Australia’s north and will involve putting the plants through a series of extreme high temperatures.
• 2012/09/28: ABC(Au): Soil humus influences river health
• 2012/09/28: BPA: Lessons from the Loess Plateau Region of China
• 2012/09/28: UN: UN seeks $38 million to respond to Lesotho’s food crisis
• 2012/09/27: NASA: Landsat Satellites Find the ‘Sweet Spot’ for Crops
• 2012/09/27: OSU: “Semi-dwarf” trees may enable a green revolution for some forest crops
• 2012/09/27: FAO: Traditional foods, nutrition education key to fighting hunger and malnutrition — Small-scale farming and local production have big role to play
• 2012/09/27: KQED: Dry and Salted — the major wildcards in California’s farming future: water and salt
• 2012/09/24: CCurrents: Myths About Industrial Agriculture by Vandana Shiva
  Organic farming is the “only way to produce food” without harming the planet and people’s health
• 2012/09/24: Grist: Planting rebellion: How to reclaim our seed culture
  In the Western Pacific:
• 2012/09/29: Wunderground: Jelawat hits Okinawa; TS Norman feeds heavy rains in Texas
• 2012/09/30: CBC: Powerful typhoon heads to Tokyo area — Storm leaves more than 100 people injured in southern prefectures
• 2012/09/30: al Jazeera: The final days of Jelawat
  After more than a week of disruptive weather, the former super typhoon has finally begun to show signs of weakening.
• 2012/09/29: IOTD: Typhoon Jelawat
• 2012/09/29: CNN: Typhoon Jelawat jumps Japan’s island of Okinawa
  “Jumpin’ Jelawat” pummels Okinawa, injuring at least 50 people – More than 270,000 households are powerless on Okinawa – A U.S. base on Okinawa posts pictures from the storm – Strong winds have overturned vehicles
• 2012/09/28: DD: Typhoon Jelawat to impact 100 million people
• 2012/09/28: NASA: NASA Sees Super Typhoon Jelawat Affecting Japan
• 2012/09/28: EneNews: Monster typhoon nears Japan – Forecast shows storm to hit Fukushima Sunday (maps & video)
• 2012/09/28: al Jazeera: Rains lash Japan ahead of typhoon
  All flights and ships into and out of Japan’s Okinawa islands cancelled, as pacific nation braces for Typhoon Jelawat.
• 2012/09/28: Wunderground: A Jelawat mystery; moisture associated with TS Norman drenching Texas
• 2012/09/27: Wunderground: Jelawat brushing Taiwan; Nadine enters its 15th day of life
• 2012/09/27: NASA: NASA Sees a Wide-Eyed Super Typhoon Jelawat
• 2012/09/26: DD: Super typhoon Jelawat [Cat 5] to threaten Okinawa then Japan
• 2012/09/26: NASA: NASA Sees Very Heavy Rain in Super Typhoon Jelawat and Heavy Rain Pushed from Ewinar’s Center
• 2012/09/26: Wunderground: Super Typhoon Jelawat headed towards Okinawa
• 2012/09/25: NASA: NASA Infrared Data Compares Super Typhoon Jelawat with Tropical Storm Ewiniar
• 2012/09/26: MODIS: Super Typhoon Jelawat (18W) in the Philippine Sea
• 2012/09/26: al Jazeera: Take two: the super typhoons — The western Pacific has little relief with back-to-back storms
• 2012/09/25: Wunderground: Earth’s second Cat 5 of 2012: Super Typhoon Jelawat
• 2012/09/24: NASA: Frigid Cloudtop Temperatures Indicate Strength in Super Typhoon Jelawat and Tropical Storm Ewinar
  In the Eastern Pacific, Miriam stayed at sea, but Norman is hassling the Baja:
• 2012/09/28: NASA: NASA Sees Tropical Storm Miriam Takes Final Bow, Replaced by Norman
• 2012/09/27: NASA: NASA Sees a Western Weakness in Tropical Storm Miriam
• 2012/09/28: MODIS: Hurricane Miriam (13E) off Mexico
• 2012/09/24: NASA: NASA’s Satellite Saw ‘Power-Trigger’ Around Hurricane Miriam’s Center
• 2012/09/24: Wunderground: Miriam Hits Cat 3 Strength off of Mexico; Jelawat a Cat 4 Super Typhoon
• 2012/09/24: CSM: Tropical storm Miriam now a Category 2 hurricane
  And in the Atlantic:
• 2012/09/27: NASA: NASA Sees Light Rainfall in Tropical Storm Nadine
• 2012/09/24: NASA: NASA’s Global Hawk and Satellites See Tropical Storm Nadine Turning Around
• 2012/09/23: Wunderground: Nadine is back; Jelawat explodes into a Category 4 typhoon
  Check out the unusual path of Nadine on these maps:
• SevereWorldWeather
• Wunderground: Hurricane Nadine – Tracking map
• 2012/09/24: W&C: Tropical Storm Nadine Keeps Going!
  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:
• 2012/09/25: YaleEnv: Hurricane Irene Polluted Catskills Watershed
• 2012/09/26: DD: Tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea have intensified due to earlier monsoon onset
• 2012/09/26: al Jazeera: US Court reverses ruling on Katrina damage
  A US appeals court has found US Corp of Engineers not liable for damages after hurricane that claimed hundreds of lives.
• 
  As for the Monsoon:

• 2012/09/25: CCurrents: Monsoon Came In Late But Was In No Hurry To Leave
  And in the carbon cycle:
• 2012/09/26: Eureka: Salt marsh carbon may play role in slowing climate warming, study shows
  As for the temperature record:
• 2012/09/26: TP:JR: After Warmest 12-Months On Record, U.S. Poised To See Warmest Year Ever In 2012
  Yes we have feedbacks:
• 2012/09/28: ArcticNews: You are now entering the nonlinearity zone…
  While in the paleoclimate:
• 2012/09/26: Eureka: Extreme climate change linked to early animal evolution
  UC Riverside geoscientists help tie spike in ancient oceanic oxygen levels to ‘Snowball Earth’ event
• 
  Dealing with uncertainties:

• 2012/09/26: Grist: How certain can we be about climate change?
  And on the ENSO front:
• 2012/09/25: WMO: WMO El Niño/La Niña Update – Current Situation and Outlook
  Neutral conditions (neither El Niño nor La Niña) continue in the tropical Pacific. During July and August 2012, the tropical Pacific sea surface temperature rose to a level indicative of a weak El Niño, but an atmospheric response has not yet been observed in the Pacific region. An atmospheric response is necessary for an El Niño to have global climate impacts. Model forecasts and expert opinion suggest that the likelihood of developing El Niño conditions during September or October and enduring through the remainder of 2012 is higher than the persistence of neutral conditions. If El Niño does develop, its strength is likely to be weak. National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and other agencies will continue to monitor Pacific Basin conditions and provide outlooks to assess the most likely state of the climate during the latter part of 2012.
• 2012/09/25: WMO: WMO Update Indicates Likelihood of Weak El Niño
• 2012/09/24: TP:JR: Climate: El Niño Stalls, Outlook Uncertain
  Regarding the solar hypothesis:
• 2012/09/27: ERW: Sun swung from influence in ’60s
  Greenhouse gases have affected global temperatures since 1941, while the influence of the sun has not been evident since the 1970s. That’s according to a new “cause and effect” study by researchers in Italy, who used Granger-causality analysis.
• 
  The cliff, aka tipping points, aka planetary boundaries, put in an appearance:

• 2012/09/26: SciAm:Obs: Will Humanity Face a Carbohydrate Shortage?
• 2012/09/26: CCurrents: We Have Breached The First Tipping Point
  Rossby Waves, Blocking Patterns, Arctic Oscillation: What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?
• 2012/09/28: CCP: Record Arctic Snow Loss May Be Prolonging North American Drought
• 2012/09/21: SierraClub: Vanishing Arctic sea ice is rapidly changing global climate
• 2012/09/25: CarbonBrief: Arguing over when the Arctic ocean will be ice-free might be missing the point
  [...] we don’t need to lose all of the Arctic sea ice to feel the most significant impacts on climate and transport.
• 
  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2012/09/25: IOTD: A Bloom in the Barents Sea
  What’s new in Biodiversity?
• 2012/09/27: TreeHugger: Ocean Expedition Uncovers a Million New Species
  What’s new on the extinction front?
• 2012/09/30: ABC(Au): Fears for endangered parrot as numbers drop
  This year’s winter conservation count for one of Australia’s rarest birds has returned the lowest number of sightings since counting began. It is estimated there are only about 50 orange-bellied parrots left in the wild. About 20 parrots were seen in last year’s winter counts across South Australia and Victoria, but this year only one bird was spotted.
• 2012/09/28: DD: Great ape habitat in Africa has dramatically declined – ‘Many of the ape populations we still find today will disappear in the near future’
• 2012/09/28: AllAfrica:FinancialGazette: Looters Defy Mugabe
  Sensing the end could be nigh before sanity prevails at Save Valley Conservancy in Masvingo Province, ZANU-PF bigwigs have heightened poaching activities at the animal sanctuary in disregard of a directive by President Robert Mugabe to cease illegal activities there pending a decision on the saga by the party’s supreme decision-making body in between congresses — the Politburo. The illegal hunting frenzy is threatening to wipe out game in the conservancy, hitherto of interest only to safari operators until controversy set in after it was allocated to ZANU-PF heavyweights from the politically restive province, some of who have no clue about hunting. The primitive accumulation of wealth through rampant poaching ahead of a decision on the matter by ZANU-PF’s Soviet-style Politburo has alarmed conservationists who fear that the animal population at Save Valley could decline rapidly if nothing is done to restore order.
• 
  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2012/09/24: CCentral: Key Weather [GOES-13] Satellite Goes Offline, May Affect Forecasts
  More GW impacts are being seen:
• 2012/09/28: IndiaTimes: North India, Himalayas to be worst hit by climate change: Report
• 2012/09/26: AgriLife: Salt cedar beetle damage widespread after warm summer
• 2012/09/26: USouthampton: Venice Lagoon research indicates rapid climate change in coastal regions
• 2012/09/27: CCurrents: Major Shifts In Pacific Ecosystems By 2100
• 2012/09/27: CBC: Fall colours: Why summer’s weird weather has affected the leaves
• 2012/09/26: CBC: Developing nations warn climate death toll could reach 100 Million
• 2012/09/26: ABC(Au): Seals ride out ice shelf collapse
• 2012/09/25: TreeHugger: Climate Change Shifting US Plant Zones, Will Shift Pacific Ecosystems Hundreds of Miles
• 2012/09/26: Eureka: Loss of species makes nature more sensitive to climate change
• 2012/09/24: CSM: Arctic warming could spur regrowth of ancient fossil forest
• 2012/09/23: Eureka: Scientists predict major shifts in Pacific ecosystems by 2100
• 2012/09/23: STimes: Climate change to alter marine habitat, study says
• 2012/09/23: TMoS: The USDA Knows Global Warming When It Sees It
  And then there are the world’s forests:
• 2012/09/27: DD: Brazil plans 23 new dams for heart of Amazon rainforest – ‘Wreaking an incalculable human and environmental toll in the Amazon’
• 2012/09/28: CCurrents: Illegal Logging Valued At US $30-100 Billion
• 2012/09/27: CCurrents: Commercial Agriculture “Contributes” To Deforestation
• 2012/09/28: NatureNB: Massive shrinkage in African great ape habitat since 1990s
• 2012/09/27: TreeHugger: 80% of Tropical Deforestation Caused by Agriculture
• 2012/09/28: TMoS: Criminal Cartels Behind Global Trade in Illegal Timber
• 2012/09/27: BBC: Great ape habitat in Africa has dramatically declined
  Great apes, such as gorillas, chimps and bonobos, are running out of places to live, say scientists. They have recorded a dramatic decline in the amount of habitat suitable for great apes, according to the first such survey across the African continent. Eastern gorillas, the largest living primate, have lost more than half their habitat since the early 1990s.
• 2012/09/26: IOTD: Deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• 2012/09/24: NatureN: Amazon fire analysis hits new heights — Airborne measurements of smoke from burning forests may close gaps in climate models
  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:
• 2012/09/29: USAToday: Hantavirus in Yosemite may be shape of things to come
• 2012/09/29: DD: The public health implications of global warming
• 2012/09/28: IPS: Scientists Debate Climate Change Impacts on Tropical Diseases
• 2012/09/26: Grist: The coming plagues: How humans are changing the landscape of disease
  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:
• 2012/09/27: DD: Weekend waterspouts across Great Lakes ‘shatter the old record of 94 waterspouts reported in 2003′
• 2012/09/26: CBC: Foam covers Scottish village [Footdee] after freak storm
  Residents of a small fishing village near Aberdeen woke up Tuesday morning to find their entire town covered in a strange foam brought in by storm winds.
• 
  This week in the New Normal — extreme weather:

• 2012/09/28: IOTD: Storms Approaching [May 30, 2012]
• 2012/09/27: TP:JR: A Summer Of Extremes: A Round-Up Of U.S. Records
• 2012/09/24: TP:JR: How To Relate Climate Extremes to Climate Change
  As for heatwaves and wild fires:
• 2012/09/30: IOTD: Idaho Fires, September 2012
• 2012/09/30: MODIS: Fires and burn scars in northern Australia (false color)
• 2012/09/28: ABC(Au): Fires burn in far west NSW
  Storms have passed over far west New South Wales, starting bushfires north of Broken Hill and also around Ivanhoe. Lightning strikes have had people on stations working together all night, trying to get fires under control.
• 2012/09/28: DD: Graph of the Day: Average Surface Temperatures and Number of Wildfires in the U.S. West, 1970-2010
• 2012/09/26: UPI: Weather helping U.S. wildfires stay alive
  Some 35 large wildfires blistered parts of the Western United States Wednesday, weather forecasters said, away from the thunderstorms soaking parts of the East. A lack of rainfall during the last month has led to dry vegetation, a prime fuel for the fires, Accuweather.com reported. Idaho and Washington states have been especially hard hit. Spokane has received only a trace of rain in several weeks, while the Mustang Complex fire in Idaho still rages after more than a month. It has burned nearly 340,000 acres and is only 25 percent contained. Although most of the fires are in the Northwest, the Shockey fire east of San Diego, Calif., continues to burn. It has been more than 50 percent contained, but not before it consumed nearly 20 houses.
• 2012/09/27: ABC(Au): Properties evacuated as grassfire approaches
  Queensland authorities have evacuated two properties east of Mount Isa due to a large grassfire in the area.
• 2012/09/27: MODIS: Smoke and fires across western United States and Canada
• 2012/09/25: DD: Graph of the Day: Temperatures and Wildfire Numbers in the U.S. West, 1970-2010
• 2012/09/25: ABC(Au): Bushfire closes Bungle Bungle national park
  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean’s health:
• 2012/09/26: TP:JR: Google Unveils ‘Street View’ Of Coral Reefs, Ocean Ecosystems
• 2012/09/25: NOAA:NEFSC: Coral Hotspots Found in Deepwater Canyons off Northeast US Coast
• 2012/09/26: BBC: Google adds coral reef panoramas to Street View maps
• 2012/09/24: CoralCOE: Climate is changing the Great Barrier Reef
  Acidification is changing the oceans:
• 2012/09/28: NatureN: Tiny fossils hint at effects of ocean acidification
  Sediment-bound specimens allow comparison of ancient and present responses to changing oceans.
• 2012/09/26: DD: Speed of ocean acidification concerns scientists – ‘Our current acidification rates are unparalleled in Earth history’
• 2012/09/26: NatureN: Sea urchins can cope with acidic waters — Genetic variability makes some marine organisms resilient to environmental change
• 2012/09/25: KQED: West Coast a Test Bed for Ocean Acidification
• 2012/09/25: ScienceInsider: As Field Matures, Ocean Acidification Scientists Face New Challenges
  Glaciers are melting:
• 2012/09/26: FaGP: Lobbia Glacier Retreat, Italy and World War I relic exposure
• 2012/09/24: CCurrents: The Rapidly Melting Himalayan Glaciers
  Sea levels are rising:
• 2012/09/28: Tamino: Sea Level Rise along the Atlantic Coast of North America north of Cape Hatteras
• 2012/09/25: CCurrents: Ocean Waters Globally Rising, Two-Decades Of Satellite Data Re-Affirms
• 2012/09/24: BBC: Satellites trace sea level change
  Scientists have reviewed almost two decades of satellite data to build a new map showing the trend in sea levels. Globally, the oceans are rising, but there have been major regional differences over the period. A major reassessment of 18 years of satellite observations has provided a new, more detailed view of sea-level change around the world. Incorporating the data from a number of spacecraft, the study re-affirms that ocean waters globally are rising by just over 3mm/yr. But that figure, according to the reassessment, hides some very big regional differences – up and down.
• 
  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2012/09/29: Guardian(UK): Flash floods kill 10 in Spain as torrential rain causes havoc
• 2012/09/29: ABC(Au): Rain breaks record [157 day Alice Springs] dry spell
• 2012/09/29: al Jazeera: Deadly flash floods hit southern Spain
  At least ten people killed and 35 wounded as heavy rains trigger floods in southern coastal towns.
• 2012/09/29: CNN: Spain floods claim 10 lives
  Flash floods have killed 10 people in southern Spain – One victim was a nine-year-old girl, another is believed to be her grandfather – Heavy rain continued to fall across the Andalucia region on Saturday
• 2012/09/29: CNN: Hundreds killed in Pakistan flooding
  Flooding in Pakistan has left more than 420 people dead and nearly 3,000 injured, official says – The floods, which have also displaced some 350,000 people, follow monsoon rains – Pakistan was also hit by devastating floods last year and in 2010
• 2012/09/29: ABC(Au): Flash floods kill six in southern Spain
• 2012/09/28: ABC(Au): Floods still taking toll on PNG highlands
• 2012/09/28: CAbyss: Winter Outlook for Texas Drought: Limber Up Those Fingers
• 2012/09/28: BBC: Spain floods: Seven die in Malaga, Murcia and Almeria
• 2012/09/28: Guardian(UK): End the flooding misery cycle with a new deal for the north
  Floods have devastated the north of England and Wales again. Build defences and jobs will be saved as well as lives
• 2012/09/25: USA Today: Texas drought killed 300 million trees last year
• 2012/09/26: BBC: UK floods: Storm rain continues to cause problems
  Flooding is still causing problems for roads, rail and properties, as the most intense September storm for 30 years continues.
• 2012/09/26: WtD: Worst drought in 800 years? Yes, the North American 2000-2004 drought was that bad…
• 2012/09/25: BBC: Pakistan floods: Tens of thousands made homeless
  Tens of thousands of people have been made homeless by heavy monsoon flooding in the Pakistani provinces of Balochistan and Sindh, officials say. About 120,000 homes have been destroyed and tens of thousands of tents are now being distributed. Officials in Balochistan say that about 80% of the population is now affected.
• 2012/09/24: Google:AFP: India floods displace nearly 1.5 million people
• 2012/09/25: BBC: Flooding in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham
  Homes have been evacuated and train services disrupted, as heavy downpours continue across parts of the UK. About 70 areas in England and Wales are being warned to expect flooding, with northern England the worst affected.
• 2012/09/24: TreeHugger: How the Drought Affected Earth’s Mass and Gravitational Pull
• 2012/09/24: BBC: Rain and high winds lash the UK
  Most of the UK is braced for an average monthly rainfall within the next 24 hours as autumn arrives in full force.
• 2012/09/24: al Jazeera: The British Isles on flood alert
  Stormy weather is moving across northwest Europe. Parts of the UK have already suffered some flooding with more to come.
• 
  And on the mitigation front,
  First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
  Second, put a price on carbon
  Then…

• 2012/09/25: Grist: Three ways to change the climate, in 2012 and beyond
  Consider transportation & GHG production:
• 2012/09/28: TP:JR: EcoDemonstrator: Airlines Start Rethinking Efficiency
  While in the endless quest for zero energy, sustainable buildings and practical codes:
• 2012/09/28: TP:JR: One Millionth Home Weatherized: Federal Efficiency Program A Winner On All Counts
• 2012/09/28: EurActiv: Spanish hotels to get energy-efficiency revamp
  Spanish hoteliers can now give their buildings an energy-efficient revamp with the help of an online tool calculating their needs, costs and investment returns. The online tool was developed by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation and is co-funded with the help of the European Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI), a body which is responsible for action in the fields of energy, entrepreneurship and innovation on behalf of the European Commission.
• 2012/09/25: TP:JR: Architects: Get Ready For Energy Benchmarking
  As for carbon sequestration:
• 2012/09/28: ERW: Fungi could scupper soil carbon sequestration
• 2012/09/24: TreeHugger: Ethanol Plant Carbon Sequestration Makes a Million Tons of CO2 Disappear
• 2012/09/24: ABC(Au): New material boost for carbon capture
  Carbon breakthrough Researchers have created a new material that could solve some of the problems currently plaguing carbon capture and storage. The material, made from aluminium nitrate salt, cheap organic materials and water, is non-toxic and requires less energy to strip out the carbon when it becomes saturated, according to the scientists who author a paper appearing today in Nature Chemistry.
• 
  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2012/09/28: GEP: UK Government Officially Supports [GeoEngineering] Research
• 2012/09/21: Yale360: Geoengineering the Planet:The Possibilities and the Pitfalls
  Interfering with the Earth’s climate system to counteract global warming is a controversial concept. But in an interview with Yale Environment 360, climate scientist Ken Caldeira talks about why he believes the world needs to better understand which geoengineering schemes might work and which are fantasy — or worse.
• 2012/09/: DECC: Government view on geo-engineering research
• 2012/09/20: ThinkLONG: Geoengineering Research: Walking on thin ice
• 2012/09/20: Parliament(UK): The impact of climate change on the Arctic – Geo-engineering
  What’s new in conservation?
• 2012/09/27: SciAm:EC: Eye in the Sky: Drones Help Conserve Sumatran Orangutans and Other Wildlife
• 2012/09/28: NatureNB: Conservationists to highlight successes with species ‘green list’
  Meanwhile in the journals:
• 2012/08/23: SSRN: Does Geoengineering Present a Moral Hazard? by Albert Lin
• 2012/09/27: ACP: Impact of forest fires, biogenic emissions and high temperatures on the elevated Eastern Mediterranean ozone levels during the hot summer of 2007 by Ø. Hodnebrog et al.
• 2012/09/26: ACP: Improvements of organic aerosol representations and their effects in large-scale atmospheric models by H. Tost & K. J. Pringle
• 2012/09/26: ACP: Influence of a Carrington-like event on the atmospheric chemistry, temperature and dynamics by M. Calisto et al.
• 2012/09/25: ACP: Bacteria in the ECHAM5-HAM global climate model by A. Sesartic et al.
• 2012/09/25: ACP: Decadal variations in estimated surface solar radiation over Switzerland since the late 19th century by A. Sanchez-Lorenzo & M. Wild
• 2012/09/26: ACPD: CLARA-SAL: a global 28-yr timeseries of Earth’s black-sky surface albedo by A. Riihelä et al.
• 2012/09/25: ACPD: The first aerosol indirect effect quantified through airborne remote sensing during VOCALS-REx by D. Painemal & P. Zuidema
• 2012/09/25: ACPD: Aerosol pollution potential from major population centers by D. Kunkel et al.
• 2012/09/25: ACPD: Characterization of long-term and seasonal variations of black carbon (BC) concentrations at Neumayer, Antarctica by R. Weller et al.
• 2012/09/24: ACPD: Biological aerosol particle concentrations and size distributions measured in pristine tropical rainforest air during AMAZE-08 by J. A. Huffman et al.
• 2012/09/24: ACPD: Black carbon physical properties and mixing state in the European megacity Paris by M. Laborde et al.
• 2012/09/13: RSTA: Peatland geoengineering: an alternative approach to terrestrial carbon sequestration by Christopher Freeman et al.
• 2012/09/24: ESD: On the relation between Meridional Overturning Circulation and sea-level gradients in the Atlantic by H. Kienert & S. Rahmstorf
• 2012/09/24: CP: Can we predict the duration of an interglacial? by P. C. Tzedakis et al.
• 2012/09/28: CPD: Causes of Greenland temperature variability over the past 4000 yr: implications for northern hemispheric temperature change by T. Kobashi et al.
• 2012/09/28: CPD: Testing the potential of OSL, TT-OSL, IRSL and post-IR IRSL luminescence dating on a Middle Pleistocene sediment record of Lake El’gygytgyn, Russia by A. Zander & A. Hilgers
• 2012/09/28: CPD: High-latitude environmental change during MIS 8-12: biogeochemical evidence from Lake El’gygytgyn, Far East Russia by R. M. D’Anjou et al.
• 2012/09/24: CPD: Orbital changes, variation in solar activity and increased anthropogenic activities: controls on the Holocene flood frequency in the Lake Ledro area, Northern Italy by B. Vannière et al.
• 2012/09/09: GRL: (ab$) Spring snow cover extent reductions in the 2008-2012 period exceeding climate model projections by Chris Derksen & Ross Brown
• 2012/09/27: Science: (ab$) Status and Solutions for the World’s Unassessed Fisheries by Christopher Costello et al.
• 2012/09/: PlantPhysiol: Green revolution trees: Semi-dwarfism transgenes modify gibberellins, promote root growth, enhance morphological diversity, and reduce competitiveness in Populus by Ani A. Elias et al.
• 2012/09/26: Springer:E&ES: Potential impacts of afforestation on climate change and extreme events in Nigeria by Babatunde J. Abiodun et al.
• 2012/09/24: NERC:NORA: The carbon budget of terrestrial ecosystems in East Asia over the last two decades by S.L. Piao et al.
• 2012/09/24: NERC:NORA: Drought alters the structure and functioning of complex food webs by Mark E. Ledger et al.
• 2012/09/25: NERC:NORA: Trees improve water storage and reduce soil evaporation in agroforestry systems on bench terraces in SW Uganda by D. Siriri et al.
• 2012/09/25: NERC:NORA: A global picture of the first abrupt climatic event occurring during the last glacial inception by E. Capron et al.
• 2012/09/28: ACP: Estimating marine aerosol particle volume and number from Maritime Aerosol Network data by A. M. Sayer et al.
• 2012/09/28: ACP: Variation of CO2 mole fraction in the lower free troposphere, in the boundary layer and at the surface by L. Haszpra et al.
• 2012/09/28: ACP: Analysis of stratospheric NO2 trends above Jungfraujoch using ground-based UV-visible, FTIR, and satellite nadir observations by F. Hendrick et al.
• 2012/09/28: ACP: Impact of natural and anthropogenic aerosols on stratocumulus and precipitation in the Southeast Pacific: a regional modelling study using WRF-Chem by Q. Yang et al.
• 2012/09/28: ACP: Calibration of column-averaged CH4 over European TCCON FTS sites with airborne in-situ measurements by M. C. Geibel et al.
• 2012/09/28: ACPD: Cold trap dehydration in the Tropical Tropopause Layer characterized by SOWER chilled-mirror hygrometer network data in the Tropical Pacific by F. Hasebe et al.
• 2012/09/28: ACPD: Decadal record of satellite carbon monoxide observations by H. M. Worden et al.
• 2012/09/28: GMD: A new marine ecosystem model for the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model by D. P. Keller et al.
• 2012/09/27: OS: A 20-year reanalysis experiment in the Baltic Sea using three-dimensional variational (3DVAR) method by W. Fu et al.
• 2012/09/27: OS: High frequency fluctuations in the heat content of an ocean general circulation model by A. M. Huerta-Casas & D. J. Webb
• 2012/09/27: OSD: Manifestation of two meddies in altimetry and sea-surface temperature by I. Bashmachnikov et al.
• 2012/09/26: OSD: The coherence of small island sea-level with the wider ocean: a model study by Joanne Williams & Christopher W. Hughes
• 2012/09/27: TC: Uncertainties in the global temperature change caused by carbon release from permafrost thawing by E. J. Burke et al.
• 2012/09/26: TC: A minimal, statistical model for the surface albedo of Vestfonna ice cap, Svalbard by M. Möller
• 2012/09/27: TCD: Changes in seasonal snow liquid water content during the snowmelt period in the Western Tianshan Mountains, China by H. Lu et al.
• 2012/09/26: TCD: Mechanical effect of mélange-induced buttressing on embayment-terminating glacier dynamics by D. Seneca Lindsey & T. K. Dupont
• 2012/09/23: Nature:CC: Predicted habitat shifts of Pacific top predators in a changing climate by Elliott L. Hazen et al.
• 2012/09/25: PNAS: (abs) Models and tests of optimal density and maximal yield for crop plants by Jianming Deng et al.
• 2012/09/25: PNAS: (abs) Suomi satellite brings to light a unique frontier of nighttime environmental sensing capabilities by Steven D. Miller et al.
• 2012/09/25: PNAS: (ab$) Saturation wind power potential and its implications for wind energy by Mark Z. Jacobson & Cristina L. Archer
• 2012/09/25: PNAS: (letter$) Chemical approaches to artificial photosynthesis by Javier J. Concepcion et al.
• 2012/09/25: PNAS: (letter$) Toward a metabolic scaling theory of crop systems by Louis J. Gross & Brian Beckage
• 2012/09/25: PNAS: (letter$) Modeling the protection of photosynthesis by Jeremy Harbinson
• 2012/09/25: ASR(via DOI): Gravitationally bound geoengineering dust shade at the inner Lagrange point by R. Bewick
• 2012/09/24: GMDD: MESMO 2: a mechanistic marine silica cycle and coupling to a simple terrestrial scheme by K. Matsumoto et al.
• 2012/09/25: OSD: Influence of winds on temporally varying short and long period gravity waves in the near shore regions of Eastern Arabian Sea by J. Glejin et al.
• 2012/09/24: TCD: Brief communication “Important role of the mid-tropospheric atmospheric circulation in the recent surface melt increase over the Greenland ice sheet” by X. Fettweis et al.
• 2012/09/24: TCD: Surface deformation detected by the space-observed small baseline SAR interferometry over permafrost environment in Tibet Plateau, China by F. Chen & H. Lin
• 2012/09/07: WOL:CB: (ab$) Conservation Objectives and Sea-Surface Temperature Anomalies in the Great Barrier Reef by Natalie C. Ban et al.
• 2012/09/24: AGWObserver: New research from last week 38/2012
• 2012/09/23: Nature:Chem: (ab$) Selectivity and direct visualization of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide in a decorated porous host by Sihai Yang et al.
• 2012/09/23: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) An update on Earth’s energy balance in light of the latest global observations by Graeme L. Stephens et al.
• 2012/09/23: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Variability of the North Atlantic Oscillation over the past 5,200 years by Jesper Olsen et al.
• 2012/09/23: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) A stratospheric connection to Atlantic climate variability by Thomas Reichler et al.
• 2012/12/: PSI: Misinformation and Its Correction – Continued Influence and Successful Debiasing by Stephan Lewandowsky et al.
  And other significant documents:
• 2012/09/26: USGS: [link to 3 meg pdf] Groundwater-Quality and Quality-Control Data for Two Monitoring Wells near Pavillion, Wyoming, April and May 2012 by Peter R. Wright et al.
• 2012/09/26: USGS: [link to 9.9 meg pdf] Sampling and Analysis Plan for the Characterization of Groundwater Quality in Two Monitoring Wells near Pavillion, Wyoming by Peter R. Wright & Peter B. McMahon
• 2012/09/27: EarthWorks: [links to several pdfs] Oil & Gas Enforcement — States are failing to enforce oil & gas rules
• 2012/09/26: DARA: [links to several pdfs] Climate Vulnerability Monitor
  As for miscellaneous science:
• 2012/09/27: TreeHugger: A New Kind of Cloud? Say Hello to the Undulatus Asperatus
• 2012/09/27: NatureNB: Looming cutbacks threaten long-term US research
• 2012/09/28: CoveredInBees: GRIT: ‘geospatial restructuring of industrial trade’
• 2012/09/23: RealClimate: Embargos and confidentiality
  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Free Science?
• 2012/09/28: SciAm:IC: A small college cancels ACS journal subscriptions: Here’s why this matters
• 2012/09/27: PolitiCal: Free digital textbooks offered as Gov. Jerry Brown signs bills
• 2012/09/26: NatureN: Chemical society tried to block business competitor
  Court ruling raises concerns among some American Chemical Society members. The world’s largest scientific society tried to unfairly obstruct a tiny entrepreneurial start-up from competing with its most lucrative scientific information product. That is the main conclusion of a ten-year legal battle that leaves the American Chemical Society (ACS) facing millions of dollars in penalties and sharp questions from some of its members about whether its business practices conflict with its mission to advance the chemical sciences.
• 2012/09/26: SciAm:IC: Why are journals so expensive?
• 2012/09/24: NatureN: Open-access deal for particle physics — Consortium brokers agreement with 12 journals
• 2012/09/23: CSW: Dangers of inadequate citizen access to government scientific information
  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:
• 2012/09/26: TheHill:e2W: [CRS] Report: Carbon tax could halve deficit
• 2012/09/27: EnvEcon: “Report: Carbon tax could halve deficit”
• 2012/09/25: WCEL: Responsible fiscal leaders agree: we need a price on carbon
• 2012/09/25: TP:JR: $20 Dollar Per Ton Carbon Tax Could Reduce Deficit By $1.2 Trillion In 10 Years
  The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax keeps coming up:
• 2012/09/28: CBC: Germany, France pitch Tobin tax on financial transactions
• 2012/09/25: EurActiv: France wants FTT in place ‘before the end of the year’
  Paris hopes to clinch an agreement before the end of the year to launch an ‘enhanced cooperation’ mechanism allowing a small group of at least nine EU countries to move forward on a financial transaction tax (FTT), French European Affairs Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said yesterday (24 September).
• 
  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

• 2012/09/27: AntiWar: War Between Japan and China Looms, With US Meddling in Backdrop
  A dispute over an island chain in Asia is heating up, and aggressive US postures towards China underlie it
• 2012/09/28: BBC: Japan and China trade barbs over islands at UN
• 2012/09/28: al Jazeera: China accuses Japan of stealing islands
  The Chinese foreign minister tells the UN General Assembly that Japan ‘stole’ the disputed islands from China.
• 2012/09/26: CSM: Would Japanese nationalist Abe’s return to premiership fuel row with China?
• 2012/09/27: WSWS: Japan’s new opposition leader promotes militarist agenda
• 2012/09/27: al Jazeera: Japan vows no compromise on islands row
  Yoshihiko Noda, Japan’s prime minister, says the islands are an integral part of the country’s territory.
• 2012/09/26: DerSpiegel: Senkaku Islands Dispute — Former Owner Criticizes Japanese Government
  The Senkaku Islands are at the center of a conflict between Japan and China, which both lay claim to the tiny outcrops. The islands used to belong to a rich Japanese family, who recently sold them to the government. One of the members of the family told Spiegel that Tokyo should have done more to defend Japan’s sovereignty.
• 2012/09/26: BBC: Japan-China ministers in ‘severe’ meeting over islands row
  The Japanese and Chinese foreign ministers have held talks on a bitter row over disputed islands. The meeting came on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The Japanese minister described the atmosphere as severe, Kyodo News agency said, while his Chinese opposite number restated Beijing’s sovereignty over the islands, Xinhua news agency said. The islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are controlled by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan.
• 2012/09/26: WSWS: Japan and China face off in island dispute
• 2012/09/25: al Jazeera: Japan tries to turn back Taiwanese vessels
  Fishermen from Taiwan join row over chain of islands in East China Sea, which China and Japan also say belong to them.
• 2012/09/24: BBC: Dozens of Taiwanese vessels, including coastguard ships, have entered territorial waters around disputed East China Sea islands, reports say
• 2012/09/23: BBC: Toyota Motor has resumed all operations in China, after protests over a territorial dispute caused disruptions for Japanese businesses in the country
• 2012/09/24: ABC(Au): Japan lodges official protest over disputed islands
  Japan has lodged an official protest with Beijing after three Chinese ships approached what Tokyo considers its territorial waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
• 2012/09/24: al Jazeera: Chinese ships deployed near disputed islands
  Tensions high as Japan says two Chinese marine surveillance ships entered its territorial waters in the East China Sea.
• 2012/09/23: Guardian(UK): China cancel diplomatic events with Japan amid islands row
  As the EU-ETS is applied to airlines, we will see who is serious about reducing carbon emissions:
• 2012/09/26: TreeHugger: This is Why Congress is Incapable of Passing Any Climate-Friendly Policies
• 2012/09/26: ICN: Senate Votes to Confront E.U. over Aviation Emissions Scheme
  Critics say sabre-rattling could backfire and undermine progress being made to reduce airlines’ growing carbon footprint.
• 2012/09/24: EUO: US Senate moves to ban airlines from EU CO2 scheme
  In the states, Obama said No to China over national security:
• 2012/09/29: BBerg: Obama Bars Chinese-Owned Company From Building Wind-Farm
• 2012/09/28: BBC: US blocks Chinese firm’s investment in wind farms
  President Barack Obama has stopped a Chinese company from building wind turbines in the US state of Oregon, citing national security concerns, his administration said. Ralls Corp, a private Chinese firm, had acquired four wind farm projects near a US naval facility earlier this year. This is the first foreign investment to be blocked in the US for 22 years.
• 
  Meanwhile in the solar panel trade wars:

• 2012/09/26: EurActiv: Solar dumping complaint calls for 120% price hike
  The anti-dumping complaint against China’s solar panel manufacturers levelled by the EU ProSun group calls for price tariffs on Chinese solar products of up to 120%, EurActiv has learned. EU ProSun filed a separate anti-subsidy suit against China in Brussels yesterday (25 September).
• 
  The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:

• 2012/09/24: WSWS: Britain: Ian Tomlinson’s family denounce police misconduct trial as a whitewash
  Polls! We have polls!
• 2012/09/26: TP:JR: Poll: 69 Percent Of Hunters And Anglers Say We Should Reduce Carbon Emissions That Contribute To Global Warming
• 2012/09/24: PSinclair: Yale Poll: Swing Voters Want Action on Climate
  Regarding Water Politics and Business:
• 2012/09/29: JFleck: Beneficial use: quaint, yet enduringly sturdy
• 2012/09/28: UN: California law on human right to water sets example for others – UN expert
• 2012/09/28: UCSUSA:B: Energy-Water Collisions Hit Washington’s Radar
• 2012/09/25: ERW: Can using water wisely trump better lighting?
• 2012/09/23: CleanBreak: When talking power production, we can’t ignore the water factor
• 2012/09/28: Rabble:FW: Extreme weather and Conservative extremists a perfect storm for heritage waterways
• 2012/09/28: al Jazeera: Running out of water — Parts of the US are preparing to implement strict plans on water rationing
• 2012/09/26: CSM: Why is Brazil the new America? Hint: water.
• 2012/09/23: Eureka: UN, other experts warn of ‘water bankruptcy’ for many regions after reviewing 200 major global projects — Study highlights horizon issues for world’s freshwater and marine systems
• 2012/09/23: DeSmogBlog: Amidst Record Drought, Report Shows Massive Water Requirements For Nonrenewable Fuels
  And on the American political front:
• 2012/09/29: TP:JR: What America Can Learn from Australia’s New Clean Energy Future Package
• 2012/09/28: Grist: California’s governor signs a slew of new renewable energy bills
• 2012/09/28: DeSmogBlog: The Fossil 47 Percent: Freeloading Energy Companies That Pay No Income Taxes
• 2012/09/27: EnvEcon: “Report: Carbon tax could halve deficit”
• 2012/09/27: HuffPo: Time for a 21st Century U.S. Water Policy by Peter H. Gleick
• 2012/09/27: Grist: In an era of post-truth politics, credibility is like a rainbow
• 2012/09/27: SciAm:PI: Further Science Adventures from North Carolina
• 2012/09/26: TheHill:e2W: [CRS] Report: Carbon tax could halve deficit
• 2012/09/26: UCSUSA:B: California Strives to Remain Ahead in Zero Emission Vehicles
• 2012/09/26: BPA: What Did the Average U.S. Household Spend for Food and Transportation in 2011?
• 2012/09/30: ITracker: Hoarders, Republican edition
• 2012/09/26: EarlyWarning: Number of Farms in the United States
• 2012/09/25: EENews: Meeting Calif. goal of 80% GHG reduction possible, but difficult — study
• 2012/09/24: CCurrents: Climate Crisis Deniers Confuse The Average American Mind
• 2012/09/24: CSM: Money in politics: Big oil’s ties to Washington
• 2012/09/24: CCP: Big Oil Funding U.S. Politics
• 2012/09/24: TP:JR: How Decades Of Federal Support Spurred The Natural Gas Boom: ‘Most Companies Would Have Given Up’
• 2012/09/23: TP:JR: Can California Cap And Trade Program Help Bridge Solar Financing Gap?
• 2012/09/23: Guardian(UK): America’s miasma of misinformation on climate change
  With serious reporting of global warming by US media virtually nonexistent, it’s no wonder Americans are paralysed in denial
• 
  On the 2012 campaign trail:

• 2012/09/29: BDLong: Paul Ryan: Socialism Must Be Destroyed, and by “Socialism” I Mean Things Like Social Security, Medicare, Food Stamps, and Unemployment Insurance
• 2012/09/28: CCP: Hundreds deliver Romney climate change petition with a simple message: “Denial is not a climate policy: Stop climate change now.”
• 2012/09/28: ITracker: Poll denialism
• 2012/09/28: TreeHugger: Two Ways to Break Romney & Obama’s Silence on Climate Change
• 2012/09/27: TWTB: Reality’s “Liberal” Bias – Presidential Polling Edition
• 2012/09/26: CSW: Toward Obama second-term leadership on climate science and policy
• 2012/09/24: EmpireBurlesque: Tool Kit: No Choice Proffered in Election’s Poisoned Chalice
• 2012/09/25: Grist: Ralph Nader bashes Obama for being weak on climate, Keystone
• 2012/09/26: NatureN: US election: Political science
• 2012/09/25: CSW: Petition to “Put Climate Change on the Agenda in the First Presidential Debate”
• 2012/09/24: CCurrents: Fifteen Issues This Election Is NOT About
• 2012/09/25: Guardian(UK): Mitt Romney raises EU concerns for climate talks
• 2012/09/25: TP:JR: EU Official: Romney Could Make Climate Negotiations ‘More Of An Uphill Struggle’
  The Keystone XL saga rolls along:
• 2012/09/26: ENS: Tar Sands Blockaders Arrested, Police Accused of ‘Torture’
• 2012/09/27: ICN: Keystone XL: Neb. Landowners Sue Governor, but Case May Not Get Heard
  Landowners say pipeline siting law violates the Constitution. State says suit should be thrown out because landowners have no right to make the challenge.
• 2012/09/26: TreeHugger: These Two Texans Were Tasered, Choked and Pepper Sprayed for Protesting the Keystone XL
• 2012/09/26: CensoredNews: TransCanada encouraged torture of peaceful protestors Day 3 Texas
• Tar Sands Blockade – Taking non-violent direct action to stop the Keystone XL pipeline
• 2012/09/26: CCP: TransCanada Actively Encouraged Torture Tactics to be Used on Peaceful [KXL] Protesters (Day 3)
• 2012/09/25: OilChange: Activists Take to the Trees to Stop KXL
  EarthWorks reveals states not enforcing oil and gas regulations:
• 2012/09/27: CCP: Texas does not enforce oil and gas regulations. State enforcement data shows 296,000 active Texas wells go uninspected
• 2012/09/27: EarthWorks: [links to several pdfs] Oil & Gas Enforcement — States are failing to enforce oil & gas rules
• 2012/09/27: DeSmogBlog: [US] Regulatory Non-Enforcement by Design: Earthworks Shows How the Game is Played
• 2012/09/25: LA Times: Watchdog group faults states’ inspections of oil, gas wells [in Breaking All the Rules report]
  State regulators inspect oil and gas wells sporadically, do not consistently record violations, and impose light penalties on companies that are found to break environmental, health or safety rules, according to a new research report issued by the environmental watchdog group Earthworks.
• 
  Political conservatives and established industries are doing their best to kill wind power:

• 2012/09/27: TP:JR: American Wind Manufacturers Lay Off 1,100 Workers In One Month, Citing Expiring Wind Tax Credit
• 2012/09/27: EnvEcon: Breaking wind — It is a tough market for the wind industry
• 2012/09/26: PSinclair: Mission Almost Accomplished. Climate Deniers Trying to Kill Renewable Jobs in Wind Industry
  The NorthWest coal export debate remains heated:
• 2012/09/23: Reuters: Analysis: Coal fight looms, Keystone-like, over U.S. Northwest
  Call it the Keystone of coal: a regulatory and public relations battle between environmentalists and U.S. coal miners akin to the one that has defined the Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline. Instead of blocking an import, however, this fight is over whether to allow a growing surplus of coal to be exported to Asia, a decision that would throw miners a lifeline by effectively offshoring carbon emissions and potentially give China access to cheaper coal.
• 2012/09/21: SeattlePI: Asian energy boom threatens Montana ranches
  It looks like Charles Monnett has been largely vindicated:
• 2012/09/28: PEER: Drowned polar bear probe closes with a whimper – Unrelated Disclosures from 2007 and 2008 Dredged Up in Questionable Reprimand
• 2012/09/28: CCP: Charles Monnett vindicated in BOEM witch hunt — Drowned polar bear probe closes with a whimper
• 2012/09/28: NPR: Scientist Cleared In Polar Bear Controversy
• 2012/09/28: ERabett: Don’t Look at the Little Man Behind the Curtain
• 2012/09/30: WottsUWT: Al Gore’s ‘drowning polar bear’ source reprimanded
  The Obama chatter is nonstop:
• 2012/09/26: NatureN: US science: The Obama experiment
  Nearly four years after US President Barack Obama pledged to put science in its rightful place, Nature asks if he kept his word.
• 
  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2012/09/28: NatureN: US grants licence for uranium laser enrichment — But technology raises fears over nuclear proliferation
• 2012/09/25: NBF: GE Global Laser Enrichment get license from Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• 2012/09/25: CSM: Solar power startup to get subsidy: smart move or another Solyndra?
  A tiny solar company named SoloPower will flip the switch on production at a U.S. factory Thursday, a major step toward allowing it to tap a $197 million government loan guarantee awarded under the same controversial program that supported failed panel maker Solyndra.
• 2012/09/25: DeSmogBlog: Oil and Gas Leases Create Conflicts for FEMA
• 2012/09/24: CSM: CBO: Electric car subsidies ineffectual on fuel efficiency
  As for what is going on in Congress:
• 2012/09/29: DeSmogBlog: Congressional Report: Impacts of Climate Pollution “A Cocktail of Heat and Extreme Weather”
• 2012/09/26: TreeHugger: This is Why Congress is Incapable of Passing Any Climate-Friendly Policies
• 2012/09/28: CCP: ALEC and Republican Study Committee Meet: Name that Representative!
• 2012/09/28: Grist: Pork barrel spending: How Big Ag lobbyists use federal dollars to protect factory farms
• 2012/09/28: Grist: Deadly connection: New report on extreme weather and climate change by Henry Waxman & Ed Markey
• 2012/09/27: CSW: GOP continues attacks on new EPA greenhouse gas rules
• 2012/09/26: TP:JR: 46 Republicans Claim Wind Credits Are Too ‘Costly’ After Voting To Retain Billions In Big Oil Subsidies
• 2012/09/26: TP:JR: Hey Politicians, Keep Your Hands Off The Environmental Protection Agency
• 2012/09/25: TP:JR: Markey/Waxman Report: Carbon Pollution Creating A ‘Cocktail Of Heat And Extreme Weather’
• 2012/09/26: Grist: Carpe climate: House Dems seize extreme summer to attack GOP
• 2012/09/26: AutoBG: U.S. House questions safety, job impact of new CAFE rules
  While in the UK:
• 2012/09/29: Guardian(UK): Antarctic research at risk as government cuts back on science
• 2012/09/29: Guardian(UK): Cuts threat to UK Antarctic research on climate change
• 2012/09/29: Guardian(UK): ‘Axing the British Antarctic Survey would mean the end of Scott’s legacy’
• 2012/09/28: GEP: UK Government Officially Supports [GeoEngineering] Research
• 2012/09/: DECC: Government view on geo-engineering research
• 2012/09/26: Guardian(UK): Insulated homes – how many have been treated in Britain?
• 2012/09/26: Guardian(UK): Nick Clegg taunts Conservatives over broken green promises
• 2012/09/24: GEP: Call for Immediate Arctic Deployment Dismissed by UK Parliamentary Committee
• 2012/09/26: PeakEnergy: UK overseas gas imports to surge to $11 billion by 2015
• 2012/09/24: CarbonBrief: Lib Dems vote in favour of 2030 target
  The Lib Dem conference this morning apparently ‘overwhelmingly’ passed a motion in favour of decarbonising the UK power sector by 2030, following a series of statements from politicians over the weekend on the subject. Such a target could feasibly be included in the energy bill, due to be debated by parliament in a few weeks’ time.
• 
  And in Europe:

• 2012/09/28: SwissInfo: Government energy plan raises costs, cuts usage
  The Swiss can expect to pay 20 to 30 per cent more for energy by the year 2050 under an energy strategy unveiled by the cabinet on Friday. The cost increase will be due to the creation of renewable energy sources and energy saving incentives. Announcing the detailed proposals, Energy Minister Doris Leuthard said that today’s energy costs are very low, making it difficult to motivate people to conserve.
• 2012/09/28: ScienceInsider: Billions of Spanish Research Euros Remain Unspent
• 2012/09/27: EurActiv: MEPs vote for brakes on ultra-fast trading, food speculation
  Speculation on financial markets is contributing to higher and more volatile food prices, said MEPs in the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, who voted yesterday (26 September) for a 500 millisecond break on ultra-fast computerised trades.
• 2012/09/27: EurActiv: France puts its ETS money into housing renovation
  France has decided to use the money generated by the Emissions Trading System for carbon dioxide to fund an ambitious energy-efficient renovation programme announced by President François Hollande. EurActiv.fr reports.
• 
  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2012/09/28: ABC(Au): Coalition split over wheat industry deregulation
  A damaging public split is emerging within the Federal Coalition, with some West Australian-based Liberals speaking out in support of Labor’s plan to fully deregulate the wheat industry. They have been emboldened in part by Western Australia Nationals MP Tony Crook, who this week announced he would cross the floor and vote with the Government.
• 2012/09/27: ABC(Au): Giving up on grain
  Some farmers in South Australia’s upper north have given up on grain crops, and put stock in. Temperatures have climbed above 30 degrees in the last two days, drying out crops. With only a couple of millimetres forecast over the next few days, relief is not in sight.
• 2012/09/27: ABC(Au): Octopus embrace the latest in Abbott’s carbon menagerie
  It started out like an instantaneous cobra strike, was replaced by a python squeeze, and now has turned into the embrace of an octopus. Tony Abbott’s latest description of the carbon tax invites voters to imagine its tentacles reaching into the depths of the economy, pushing up the already high cost of living.
• 2012/09/27: ABC(Au): Windsor not sold on wheat deregulation
  The Federal Government’s plans to deregulate the wheat export market look set to struggle in the Lower House, with key independent MP Tony Windsor confirming he is against the proposal.
• 2012/09/26: PlanetJ: Galilee coal mines to export climate change
• 2012/09/26: ABC(Au): Claims Queensland industries at mercy of climate change
  A report warning of the impacts of climate change on Queensland’s most lucrative industries has received a cool reception from the State Government. The Climate Commission report warns Queensland’s rich agricultural and tourism sectors will suffer if more isn’t done to fight climate change. The State Government, however, says it’s not convinced humans are influencing climate change.
• 2012/09/26: ABC(Au): Gunns collapse talk on the streets
• 2012/09/26: ABC(Au): Timber company Gunns in administration
• 2012/09/26: ABC(Au): Political blame game over Gunns’ demise
• 2012/09/26: ABC(Au): Global warming threatens Queensland agriculture sector: report
  The Federal Government’s Climate Change Commission is warning in a new report of a looming crisis in Queensland’s agricultural sector. The Climate Change Commission says Queensland’s economy is particularly vulnerable to the effects of global warming. It says rising temperatures and changing weather patterns will lead to falls in beef, sugar and cereal production.
• 2012/09/24: ABC(Au): Call for fracking laws to be reviewed in NT
  The independent Member for Nelson, Gerry Wood, is calling for the Environment Protection Authority to investigate the safety of fracking.
• 2012/09/24: ABC(Au): Plan to power Darwin with tidal energy
  The Northern Territory could have a tidal energy supply by the end of the decade under a new project announced today. The Clarence Strait off the Tiwi Islands is one of the largest tidal resources close to a major Australian city.
• 
  The carbon bill is law. The Aus-EU ETS is codified. Now come the practicalities…and the finagling:

• 2012/09/24: WtD: End of days? Carbon tax scare passes into oblivion
  Regarding Julia’s majority:
• 2012/09/28: ABC(Au): Commonwealth settles in James Ashby case
  The Commonwealth has agreed to pay $50,000 as part of a legal settlement with James Ashby, the stood-aside staffer to federal parliamentary Speaker Peter Slipper. Mr Ashby launched legal action against the Commonwealth and Mr Slipper earlier this year, accusing the Speaker of sexual harassment and the Federal Government of not providing a safe workplace.
  [...]
  According to the Government’s settlement letter, Mr Ashby will remain employed by the Commonwealth until such time as Mr Slipper ceases to hold the office of Speaker. It therefore says the longest period of time Mr Ashby can reasonably expect to remain on the Commonwealth payroll is until towards the end of 2013. However, Mr Slipper still faces the prospect of criminal action over allegations he misused taxi vouchers.
• 2012/09/28: ABC(Au): Rudd keeps it local in Abbott attack
  Kevin Rudd has declared he will do everything possible to ensure Tony Abbott never becomes prime minister, in his first public appearance since former finance minister Lindsay Tanner launched a blistering attack on those who toppled the former Labor leader.
• 
  After years of drought and flooding, water usage planning is controversial and difficult:

• 2012/09/30: ABC(Au): Environmentalists call for action on rivers
  Environmental groups are calling for stronger action to improve the health of rivers as part of World Rivers Day today. The not-for-profit International RiverFoundation says pollution and poor land use practices have hurt all of the nation’s urban rivers and about a third of its rural rivers. Chief executive Matthew Reddy says it makes economic sense to take better care of the waterways.
• 2012/09/25: ABC(Au): Group of NSW irrigators turn off the pumps
  A group of NSW irrigators who have been trying to sell their water to the Commonwealth for years will make the switch to dryland farming in 2013. They’re part of a $180 million deal between the Commonwealth and Murray Irrigation to upgrade infrastructure and return water to the environment.
• 2012/09/26: ABC(Au): NFF wants politicians to keep power to make MD Basin water decisions
  The president of the National Farmers Federation says he doesn’t support proposed changes to legislation which keep politicians at arm’s length from decision about water use in the Murray-Darling Basin.
• 2012/09/26: ABC(Au): Seqwater backs dam engineers after report release
  The operator of south-east Queensland’s dams, Seqwater, has backed its engineers amid further scrutiny of the handling of last year’s flood crisis.
• 2012/09/25: ABC(Au): Irrigation sell off at last
  A group of irrigators in the Murray region will finally pull out of the industry in 2013. After years of failed attempts to close parts of the irrigation area, the Commonwealth has agreed to buy the water from 35 farms to retire 70 kilometres of irrigation channels. The sale is part of a $180 million deal between the Commonwealth and Murray Irrigation which has taken a year to finalise. The company’s managing director, Anthony Couroupis says the farmers’ irrigation water will be switched off next year so the water can be returned to the environment. Mr Couroupis says the whole deal includes a range of works in the irrigation area and the retirement of some channels.
• 2012/09/25: ABC(Au): Lower Murray Water posts $8m loss
  North-west Victoria’s water authority has reported a loss of $8.8 million in the last financial year.
• 2012/09/25: ABC(Au): Flood review clears Seqwater
  The Queensland Government is today denying that the new report it ordered into the operation of Brisbane’s dams during last year’s deadly floods is a whitewash to enable it to cut costs. The Government commissioned the United States Bureau of Reclamation and the US Army Corps of Engineers to conduct the review into Seqwater. This new report finds the operators of the Wivenhoe and Somerset Dams acted reasonably, contradicting the findings of the $15 million Royal Commission into the Flood Disaster. But today the Minister defended the independence of the latest review.
• 
  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2012/09/28: CCurrents: Start Speaking For Us, About Us … Letter From The Women Of Koodankulam
• 2012/09/27: WSWS: Despite mass opposition, India pushes ahead with operationalizing nuclear plant
  Despite mass protests by villagers, the Indian government in partnership with the Tamil Nadu state government is pushing ahead with the loading of nuclear fuel at the recently built 2000 MW Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) located on the Tamil Nadu coast. This massive power plant is a joint venture between India and Russia and has cost 172 billion Rupees (about $3.2 billion) to build. The plant currently houses two nuclear pressurized water reactors (PWR) reactors, each capable of driving a 1000 MW electric generator. But there are plans to construct four additional reactors at the site.
• 2012/09/25: CCurrents: Hopes And Fears Of An Activist’s Family
• 2012/09/25: CCurrents: People Bury Themselves At Koodankulam
• 2012/09/24: CCurrents: Kerala, Say We Do Not Want This Bad Electricity
  And in the Middle East:
• 2012/09/26: EurActiv: Gas row looms large over divided Cyprus
  Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis, Eroglu said yesterday (25 September) he would present a new plan to the UN secretary-general for gas explorations surrounding the divided island, resources that could change its economic landscape.
• 2012/09/25: CSM: Israel eyes gas reserves in contested waters
• 2012/09/23: al Jazeera: Israel and PA discuss Gaza offshore gas plans
  Foreign ministry says talks held with Palestinian Authority over plan to develop gas field off coast of blockaded strip.
• 
  In Canada, neocon PM Harper pushes petroleum while ignoring climate change:

• 2012/09/29: PCat: Thomas Mulcair and Global Warming: Real discussion of real problems at last?
  This week has shown the level to which political discussion in Canada has fallen. The current government, under Stephen Harper, has once more shown that it is not concerned with discussing any matter in a cooperative way. Instead, the new Tories have resorted to their simplistic chest-thumping ways of communication, and have used slogans — including falsehoods — instead of intelligent debate. It is something Canadians have come to expect from this government…
• 2012/09/29: DeSmogBlog: Death in the Woods: Canadian Federal Government Delays Release of [Woodland] Caribou Recovery Strategy – Again
• 2012/09/28: G&M: Energy-saving program shut down too early, millions in rebates never paid out
• 2012/09/28: PostMedia: Environment Canada offers Peter Kent tips to describe impact of climate change
  Environment Canada has offered concrete examples to help its minister make “useful” public comments about the reality of global warming in the country. The department gave Peter Kent the advice in a 33-page slide show presentation that highlights facts and impacts, linked to warming temperatures, that range from billions of dollars in costs to Canadian taxpayers to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.
• 2012/09/28: 350orBust: Canadians Unhappy With Taxpayer Handouts To Richest Industry On Planet
• 2012/09/25: WCEL: Responsible fiscal leaders agree: we need a price on carbon
• 2012/09/25: G&M: Our new normal: the mockery of democracy
  Allan Gregg, the veteran pollster and commentator, caused a bit of a stir recently when, in a speech at Carleton University, he accused the Harper government of making an Orwellian assault on democracy and reason. No sooner had that speech been delivered than the Conservatives, as if bent on buttressing the thesis, entered into all kinds of hyperbole and doublespeak in accusing the New Democrats of wanting a country-destroying carbon tax. The party favours a cap-and-trade system that the Conservatives previously endorsed; it’s not a direct carbon tax, although costs from it would be passed on to the consumer — as they can be from regulatory measures favoured by the Conservatives.
• 2012/09/24: SixthEstate: Conservative Government Abandons Market Principles on Climate Change File
• 2012/09/24: AD: Peter Kent’s Doomed Lemonade Stand
• 2012/09/23: PostMedia: Harper will oppose carbon pricing, until he doesn’t
  No one should be surprised if Prime Minister Stephen Harper endorses some form of carbon pricing before he leaves office, despite the histrionics of last week. Shocked, perhaps, but not surprised. First, his career is marked by head-spinning reversals – followed by bland denials that he ever thought otherwise. Second, all his government’s big decisions are made behind closed doors with minimum public engagement and little advance warning: government by remote control. And, finally, acknowledgment that climate change is a problem – politically and economically, as well as environmentally – is growing and spreading, even within conservative circles.
• 
  The abortion debate will not be reopened any time soon, which is not to say the issue is going away:

• 2012/09/29: CfC: Great line of the day
  Talking about the “sex-selective” abortion motion which Parliament is now being asked to vote on, Dawg says: “the abortion ‘debate’ that Harper insists will not be re-opened continues to shamble through the House of Commons like one of the walking dead.”
• 2012/09/29: G&M: The preposterous politics of female feticide
• 2012/09/28: WMTC: the politics of sex-selective abortion: there shouldn’t be any
• 2012/09/27: CBC: Conservative MP Woodworth says he’ll keep fighting for abortion law
• 2012/09/27: Impolitical: 203-91 — Commons vote on M312
• 2012/09/26: G&M: Motion on rights of the fetus fails but finds cabinet supporters
• 2012/09/26: DClimenhaga: Motion 312 and reproductive rights: pay attention to what Tories do, not to what they say
• 2012/09/26: WpgFP: MPs to debate motion to examine when human life begins
• 2012/09/25: TStar: Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney wants MPs to decide when human life begins
• 2012/09/25: CBC: NDP criticizes Kenney’s support for study on when life begins — Bob Rae predicts most MPs will vote against a motion to carry out the study
  New Democrat MPs are criticizing Immigration Minister Jason Kenney for his support of a motion to study when human life begins, a day before MPs will vote on the measure. Kenney is one of the government’s most prominent cabinet ministers and the only one to say publicly that he is in favour of studying the Criminal Code’s definition of when life begins. He said Monday that he would vote in favour of Motion 312, put forward by Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth, to create a parliamentary committee to study the definition. The vote is scheduled for tomorrow night.
• 
  The CNOOC bid for Nexen has been approved by the shareholders. Now the ball is in Harper’s court:

• 2012/09/29: G&M: What if Nexen coveted CNOOC?
  Pretend the Canadian shoe was on Chinese feet. Suppose a big, privately owned Canadian energy company sought to buy a Chinese energy company lock, stock and barrel. It offered a lot of money, perhaps more than the company’s current value, in anticipation of a higher value in the future. It promised to keep in place all of the Chinese employees and executives.
  Would the deal happen? Not a chance. China plays by one set of rules, Canada and other open economies by another. Their state-owned companies can buy here and elsewhere, while our private companies can’t buy there in sectors the state considers vital to its future.
  Beijing-based writer Ian Johnson, in discussing James Fallows’s book on the aviation industry in The New York Review of Books, explains how the Chinese view certain sectors. “Along with energy, telecommunications and defence, aviation is a sector over which it [the Chinese state] will maintain ‘absolute control.’ ” The state, he says, will maintain “strong influence” over automobiles, machinery, information technology, metals and chemicals.
• 2012/09/29: TStar: Nexen takeover decision a crossroads for Canada and China
• 2012/09/29: TStar: Canada-China investment deal allows for confidential lawsuits against Canada
  The Harper government is very keen on Chinese investment. On this there is little doubt, now that the Canada-China investment deal has been released. The deal will tie the hands of Canadian governments, especially in the resource sector, once Chinese firms buy Canadian assets. It allows Chinese companies to sue Canada outside of Canadian courts. Remarkably, the lawsuits can proceed behind closed doors. This shift to secrecy reverses a long-standing policy of the Canadian government. Under the deal, Chinese firms can sue in special tribunals to protect themselves from Canadian government decisions. Canadian companies can do the same against China. The technical name for this is “investor-state arbitration.” In Canada, it has been in operation since NAFTA.
• 2012/09/26: G&M: Why Canada’s oil sands are so highly coveted
• 2012/09/26: CBC: Nexen takeover benefits mixed, DBRS says — Ratings agency says deal would ‘dramatically’ improve Canada-China relations
• 2012/09/25: G&M: CSIS report raises a question to be asked about the CNOOC-Nexen deal
  Foreign espionage is surely not a “net benefit to Canada.” That phrase is the essential criterion for the approval of takeovers by foreign companies, under the Investment Canada Act. It is striking that the most recent annual report of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, released last Thursday, implicitly draws a connection between foreign-investment policy and security and intelligence – a point that decision-makers and policy-makers need to bear in mind. In particular, CSIS’s report says that “certain state-owned enterprises and private firms with close ties to their home governments have pursued opaque agendas or received clandestine intelligence support for their pursuits here.”
• 2012/09/24: G&M: More overseas suitors eye tar sands
  Private and state-owned foreign suitors are eyeing the oil-sands properties of ConocoPhillips Co., the latest sign that ownership in the costly northern Alberta industry is shifting to offshore buyers with deeper pockets and a greater tolerance for risk.
• 2012/09/25: CBC: India takes aim at Canadian oilsands assets — 5 state-owned Indian firms interested in buying 50% stake from ConocoPhillips
  A consortium of India state-owned firms are reportedly interested in buying ConocoPhillips’ stake in an Alberta oilsands project. A consortium of India state-owned firms are reportedly interested in buying ConocoPhillips’ stake in an Alberta oilsands project. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press) A report says a consortium of state-run Indian oil companies has bid $5 billion for a stake in six Canadian oilsands assets owned by U.S. energy giant ConocoPhillips. The Press Trust of India news agency says Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation and Oil India Limited made their joint, non-binding bid a few weeks back.
• 2012/09/24: TStar: China [CNOOC] closing in on huge oilpatch purchase
  Just to prove they have a sense of humour:
• 2012/09/23: HimalayanTimes: China envoy warns Canada against politicizing Nexen deal
  The Liberal party leadership race is on:
• 2012/09/26: CBC: Justin Trudeau to run for Liberal leadership
  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
• 2012/09/28: Rabble:ES: No Tankers motion passed by B.C. local governments
• 2012/09/28: Tyee: Pipeline Violations Poorly Enforced: Engineer
  Former TransCanada employee says rupture risk is widespread, files safety complaint to PMO, regulators. A Tyee investigation, part one.
• 2012/09/27: G&M: Crucial pipelines jeopardized by failure to consult first nations, Prentice warns
  A prominent former minister in Stephen Harper’s cabinet has slammed Ottawa for failing to meet its constitutional obligations to consult first nations on West Coast pipelines, saying the government needs to move quickly to rescue projects that are essential to the country’s future prosperity. In a speech delivered Thursday at the University of Calgary, CIBC vice-chairman Jim Prentice — who held several senior posts in the Conservative government, and is an expert on aboriginal law — delivered a scathing critique of complacency and short-sightedness in both the government and oil industry for failing to prepare more aggressively for the “seismic shift” under way in the global energy sector.
• 2012/09/27: SixthEstate: BC Media Tycoon [the Kitimat refinery guy, David Black] Puts His Best Efforts into Promoting Enbridge Pipeline
• 2012/09/26: CBC: Gateway pipeline faces endangered species legal action
• 2012/09/26: WpgFP: Endangered and threatened species pose threat to pipeline proposal
• 2012/09/25: Reuters: Enbridge, Gateway pipeline foe, Robyn Allan, spar over impact
  Enbridge lawyer says economist wrong on impact — Opponent says her analysis is based on Enbridge’s reports
• 2012/09/25: DeSmogBlog: Exporting Canada’s Oil Means Exporting Canada’s Jobs: Why the Enbridge Pipeline Threatens Canadian Economic Security
  The brand spanking newly deboned CWB is open for business:
• 2012/09/25: CBC: Revamped Canadian Wheat Board faces 1st test — Federal government stripped agency of its monopoly in August
  Christy has her 5 points. Redford has a resounding ‘No.’ And they are going to talk about…?
• 2012/09/29: LiP: Crusty Does Alberta…B.C. premier heads to Alberta for pipeline talks
• 2012/09/28: WpgFP: Clark to meet Alberta’s Redford for Northern Gateway pipeline talk
• 2012/09/26: CBC: B.C. premier seeks pipeline meeting with Alberta’s Redford
• 2012/09/26: CBC: B.C., Alberta premiers agree to more pipeline talks — Premier Alison Redford says royalties are still not on the table
  Don’t you just love contradictory headlines!
• 2012/09/27: PostMedia: Canada sees slide in sciences: Study — Excel in papers, not patents, profits
  Canada is no longer a powerhouse in environmental and natural resources science, says a comprehensive report to be released today. “The overall decline in these fields is real,” reports a blue-ribbon panel asked by the federal government to assess the state of Canada’s science and technology. It says the country continues to excel in health sciences and information and communications technologies, and many other fields, but is losing ground in natural resources and environmental sciences, which were considered two of the country’s top four scientific strengths in 2006. Canada’s output and impact in natural resources and environmental science and technology are either static or have declined, and a growing proportion of Canadian experts identify the fields as “falling behind,” says the report by the Expert Panel on the State of Science and Technology in Canada released by the Council of Canadian Academies, a not-for-profit corporation specializing in publicpolicy issues.
• 2012/09/27: Eureka: Canadian science and technology is healthy and growing, says expert panel [Council of Canadian Academies]
• 2012/09/27: CBC: Canada gets top marks for science, technology research — Research into environment, natural resources in decline, says report
  Science and technology in Canada is healthy and growing, but research into natural resources and the environment has fallen behind, according to a new report released by the Council of Canadian Academies. The findings, titled The State of Science and Technology in Canada, are based on analyses of peer-reviewed scientific papers, patents and opinion surveys of the world’s top researchers.
• 
  The ISA/PRV/IHN/Alpha virus in Canadian waters is potentially disastrous:

• 2012/09/25: PostMedia: B.C. wild-salmon advocate side-steps sockeye inquiry to start her own
  One of British Columbia’s most vocal advocates for the preservation of wild salmon says she’s not waiting to find out from a government inquiry why the Fraser River sockeye run crashed in 2009. Just hours after the Cohen Commission announced Tuesday it had received yet another extension to submit its written findings, Alexandra Morton said she has already set up her own volunteer group to test and monitor wild salmon along the coast. Morton has dubbed it the Department of Wild Salmon, a private sector organization.
• 
  In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?

• 2012/09/28: DeSmogBlog: The Natural Gas Lobbyist Rush is on in British Columbia
  According to lobbyist registry data, there are currently 57 lobbyists representing the natural gas industry to elected officials and government agencies in the province of British Columbia . This is a pretty astounding number when you consider that the provincial government only consists of 85 elected representatives.
• 2012/09/28: TheCanadian: ‘Canada’s Carbon Corridor’ Part 1: Connecting the Dots Across Northern BC
• 2012/09/28: TheCanadian: Truth and Competency Still Escape Clark Govt on Enbridge File
• 2012/09/26: PostMedia: Majority of British Columbians like oil refinery idea: poll
  Nearly three quarters of British Columbians say they support refining oil at a $13-billion Kitimat plant pro-posed by newspaper publisher David Black rather than shipping it overseas, according to a poll conducted by his company Black Press. In a telephone survey of 1,400 people in 60 B.C. communities, 37 per cent of respondents said they were in favour of the refinery and another 35 per cent were “somewhat supportive.” About 13 per cent were entirely opposed to the project, and 15 per cent were somewhat opposed.
• 2012/09/23: PostMedia: Palmer: B.C. Conservative party likely no longer a serious contender
  Party infighting, MLA’s defection leaves party with little more than a spoiler role in next provincial election
• 
  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2012/09/26: G&M: Why Canada’s oil sands are so highly coveted
  Here’s a figure to keep in mind when discussing the latest billion-dollar bid for an oil sands developer: 84 per cent of the world’s remaining oil reserves are either state-owned or controlled. Of the freely accessible leftovers, 62 per cent reside in Canada’s oil sands. That’s the conclusion from BP’s latest Statistical Review of World Energy, which was graphically displayed in a research note from AltaCorp Capital.
• 2012/09/28: G&M: Oil industry calls for environmental groups to be disbanded [tarsands]
• 2012/09/25: G&M: Canadian oil patch seeks protection from foreign investors
  Top oil industry executives are asking Ottawa for rules to protect Canadian ownership of major oil sands companies from a flood of foreign investment expected in the sector. Canada’s oil sands contain the third-largest crude oil reserves in the world and are a strategically critical resource for the country, industry executives argue. They support the proposed $15.1-billion acquisition of Nexen Inc. by China’s CNOOC Ltd., but note the deal signals growing foreign interest in the oil sands and insist Ottawa needs to ensure a substantial level of domestic ownership as more deals loom.
• 2012/09/24: G&M: More overseas suitors eye tar sands
  Also in Alberta:
• 2012/09/27: Reuters: Enbridge wins okay for C$1.4 bln Alberta pipeline
  Enbridge Inc has won regulatory approval to add an Alberta crude pipeline at a cost of up to C$1.4 billion ($1.4 billion) to move output from Imperial Oil Ltd’s Kearl oil sands project and increasing production from others in the region, the company said on Thursday. Enbridge said its Woodland Pipeline Extension project will involve building a 36-inch line to its mainline hub at Edmonton from the company’s Cheecham regional oil sands terminal. The 385 km (240 mile) line will initially transport 400,000 barrels a day, adding capacity adjacent to the company’s Waupisoo pipeline. It can be expanded to 800,000, Enbridge said. The cost is estimated at C$1 billion to C$1.4 billion.
• 2012/09/25: Daveberta: Alberta’s Evergreen Party to discuss name change, choose new leader.
  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
• 2012/09/27: EarthGauge: Earthgauge Radio September 27, 2012: Disappearing Arctic sea ice and Ottawa’s Environment Committee Chair Maria McRae
• 2012/09/27: CBC: NDP MPs ask for emergency debate on Arctic ice loss
  Halifax, Western Arctic MPs argue issue affects national security, agriculture. [The Speaker says No.]
• 2012/09/25: OpenMedia: Green Party endorses Internet freedom
• 2012/09/24: PI:B: Today’s energy controversies fit for the big screen
  The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
• 2012/09/24: CCurrents: Degrowth And Peak Oil
  IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again. See also:
• 2012/09/26: BBC: Uruguay Congress votes to legalise abortion
• 2012/09/26: CBC: Uruguay Congress votes to legalize abortion — President to support legislation if passed by Senate
• 2012/09/26: LoE: China’s population time-bombs
• 2012/09/25: Guardian(UK): Uruguay set to legalise abortion
  Groundbreaking move in Latin America would give women the right to a legal abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy
• 
  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2012/09/29: al Jazeera: Why we won and how we are losing
  We may not be driving ourselves into extinction, but we are creating conditions that make our future frightening.
• 
  How are we going to deal with this mess?

• 2012/09/28: Grist: In a climate-crazed world, how can we plan for the future?
  How do the media measure up?
• 2012/09/28: P3: Fox News 93% Wrong on Climate
• 2012/09/27: KSJT: AP, Forbes, Climate Central – What’s Up with Climate Change on the campaign. And wattabout Antarctica?!
• 2012/09/27: ABC(Au): Economist slams media coverage of GM issues
  An agricultural economist says media coverage that gives peer-reviewed science equal weight with unproven claims is to blame for ongoing community concerns about genetically modified crops. For seven years, Graham Brooks has conducted an annual study of the economic and environmental effects of GM crops around the world.
• 2012/09/28: TP:JR: How The LA Times Got The Facts All Wrong On Renewable Energy
• 2012/09/27: UCSUSA:B: Signed, Stamped, and Delivered: Nearly 20,000 Postcards Call on News Corporation to Stop Misleading on Climate Science
• 2012/09/27: CJR: Shoddy TV science coverage — CNN’s Gupta promises cancer cure, while PBS’s Michels delivers false balance on climate
• 2012/09/25: DeSmogBlog: Climate Skeptic Attacks PBS For Not Reporting Irrelevant Information
• 2012/09/24: CJR: Global warming coverage cools in Europe — Fewer European journalists are covering UN climate summits in person
• 2012/09/24: TP:JR: Analysis: 93 Percent Of Fox News Climate Coverage Is ‘Misleading’
• 2012/09/25: WtD: “News Corp: overwhelmingly misleading” – the damning indictment of Murdoch’s media empire
• 2012/09/24: Grist: Shocker: Fox News misleads audience on climate change
• 2012/09/24: TreeHugger: Fox News & Wall Street Journal Both Grossly Misrepresenting Climate Science: UCS Study
• 2012/09/23: Guardian(UK): America’s miasma of misinformation on climate change
  With serious reporting of global warming by US media virtually nonexistent, it’s no wonder Americans are paralysed in denial
• 
  Here is something for your library:

• 2012/09/27: Tyee: Clean Energy’s Dirty Secrets
  [Book Review] _Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism_ by Ozzie Zehner
• 2012/09/24: QuarkSoup: Mooney Review: Abuse the Authority of Science
  Mann on Silver:
• 2012/09/29: ERabett: Strained Silver and strange predictions on climate [Mann - Silver]
• 2012/09/24: CCP: Michael Mann: FiveThirtyEight: The Number of Things Nate Silver Gets Wrong About Climate Change
  And for your film & video enjoyment:
• 2012/09/27: PSinclair: Jennifer Francis Interview Continued – What Arctic Ice is Telling Us
• 2012/09/27: PSinclair: Sustainability: A Better Investment Than Stocks
• 2012/09/27: WatershedSentinel: Weather Girl Spoof on Climate Change
• 2012/09/28: P3: Hurricane Prognosis Under Climate Change
• 2012/09/26: PSinclair: Jennifer Francis: An Interesting Fall and Winter
• 2012/09/24: TreeHugger: NASA Animation Shows Us How Bad This Drought Really Was (Video)
• 2012/09/24: PSinclair: Are We in a New Climate State? The New “Arctic Ice Minimum” Video.
• 2012/09/24: PSinclair: PBS Covers Sea Ice Minimum
• 2012/09/24: ASI: A New Climate State: Arctic Sea Ice 2012 (video)
• 2012/09/24: ERabett: Your Joe Bastardi entertainment moment
• 2012/09/23: YaleCMF: Loss of Arctic Sea Ice … and of a ‘Giant Parasol’
• 2012/09/23: LoE: What’s wrong with our politicians
  Meanwhile among the ‘Sue the Bastards!’ contingent:
• 2012/09/26: Forbes: Kivalina, An Alaskan Town Threatened By Climate Change Loses In Court
• 2012/09/27: TreeHugger: “Pink Slime” Lawsuit May Be Frivolous, But Could Chill Speech
• 2012/09/28: CCurrents: Oil spill: French Oil Giant Total Convicted
• 2012/09/26: al Jazeera: US Court reverses ruling on Katrina damage
  A US appeals court has found US Corp of Engineers not liable for damages after hurricane that claimed hundreds of lives.
• 2012/09/24: BBerg: Judge Dismisses N.Y. Lawsuit Over Delaware Basin Fracking
  Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:
• 2012/09/27: Guardian(UK): UK renewable energy output jumps by 42%
  New government figures reveal UK renewable electricity capacity has soared 42% over the past year to 14.2GW
• 2012/09/27: DOE:EIA: Annual Energy Review – September 2012
• 2012/09/27: UCSUSA:B: If You Can’t Take the Heat: How Summer 2012 Strained U.S. Power Plants
• 2012/09/28: TreeHugger: Renewable Energy Output in the UK Jumped 42% Last Year
• 2012/09/26: Guardian(UK): Can energy for all be a reality by 2030?
• 2012/09/26: PeakEnergy: South Korea Plans 200-Megawatt Tidal-Power Plant by 2016
• 2012/09/24: PeakEnergy: First Tidal Power in U.S. Starts Flowing to the Grid
  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
• 2012/09/28: TP:JR: How Combined Heat And Power Could Replace Retiring U.S. Coal Plants
• 2012/09/24: CER:RRapier: The Potential of Methanol
  Hey! Let’s contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It’ll be a fracking gas!
• 2012/09/27: TreeHugger: Wyoming Water Was Contaminated by Fracking – USGS Study Confirms EPA Findings
• 2012/09/27: EENews: EPA, driller differ on new Pavillion water test results
• 2012/09/26: USGS: USGS Releases Reports on Groundwater-Quality Sampling Near Pavillion, Wyo.
• 2012/09/27: BBerg: Diesel in Water Near Fracking Confirm EPA Tests Wyoming Disputes
  A retest of water in Pavillion, Wyoming, found evidence of many of the same gases and compounds the Environmental Protection Agency used to link contamination there to hydraulic fracturing, the first finding of that kind. A U.S. Geological Survey report on its water testing of one monitoring well near the rural Wyoming town — where some residents complain that gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing contaminated their drinking supplies — identified levels of methane, ethane, diesel compounds and phenol, which the EPA had also identified in its report last year. The latest data are “generally consistent,” with the agency’s finding, Alisha Johnson, an EPA spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
• 2012/09/24: BBerg: Judge Dismisses N.Y. Lawsuit Over Delaware Basin Fracking
  New York state can’t pursue a lawsuit seeking a full environmental review of hydraulic fracturing, a federal judge ruled in a case that might have held up natural gas development in the Delaware River Basin. U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis granted a request by the Environmental Protection Agency and other U.S. agencies to throw out the case, finding that the development plans are in the early stages and the threat of harm is speculative.
• 2012/09/23: DeSmogBlog: Climate SOS Ends with Shale Gas Outrage, Autumn Begins with Global Frackdown
  On the coal front:
• 2012/09/28: QuarkSoup: Coal’s Black Swan
• 2012/09/26: CSM: Coal makes a comeback in Europe
• 2012/09/26: TCoE: Killer Coal is still king
• 2012/09/25: Reuters: Coal exports make U.S. cleaner, EU more polluted
• 2012/09/26: CSM: ‘War on coal’? Why Obama might not be industry’s worst enemy
• 2012/09/24: P3: Coal Era Beckons for Europe
  On the gas and oil front:
• 2012/09/28: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Nymex Crude Future…92.19
  Dated Brent Spot….113.26
  WTI Cushing Spot…..92.19
• 2012/09/30: OilDrum: Tech Talk – an introduction to Iran
• 2012/09/29: CSM: Unexploded bombs lurk off US coast
  Millions of pounds of unexploded bombs dumped in the Gulf of Mexico by the U.S. government after World War Two pose a significant risk to offshore drilling, according to Texas oceanographers.
• 2012/09/27: TP:JR: U.S. Oil Production Is At Highest Level Since 1997; Yet Gas Prices Remain ‘Stubbornly High’
• 2012/09/26: Tyee: The Mistake that Cost Norway Huge in Oil Wealth
• 2012/09/23: RI: Global oil exports in decline since 2006: What will importing nations do?
• 2012/09/27: CER: U.S. Oil Production Surges to Highest Level in 15 Years
• 2012/09/27: NBF: World and US Oil Projections and recent statistics
• 2012/09/27: OilDrum: Comments on Maugeri’s Oil Revolution – part I by Jean Laherrère
• 2012/09/27: BBC: China’s Sinopec shuts three subsidiaries in Guangdong
• 2012/09/26: PeakEnergy: UK overseas gas imports to surge to $11 billion by 2015
• 2012/09/26: CSM: The impact of declining [global] oil exports
• 2012/09/25: EnergyBulletin: Is shale oil production from Bakken headed for a run with “The Red Queen”?
• 2012/09/25: OilDrum: Is Shale Oil Production from Bakken Headed for a Run with “The Red Queen”?
• 2012/09/24: OilChange: Two-Faced Shell Talks Clean, But Acts Dirty
• 2012/09/24: EarthMag: The Bakken boom and the new wild west: A young geologist’s perspective
• 2012/09/23: EnergyBulletin: Global oil exports in decline since 2006: What will importing nations do?
  Regarding oil and the economy:
• 2012/09/27: PeakEnergy: How High Oil Prices Will Permanently Cap Economic Growth
• 2012/09/26: EconView: Are Oil Prices ‘Determined Solely by Fundamentals’? Jim Hamilton on what determines prices in oil markets
• 2012/09/23: EconBrowser: Fat fingers and the price of oil
  Can the wild swings in the price of oil over the last few weeks have anything to do with supply and demand?
• 2012/09/26: CSM: Oil prices fall as gloomy economic outlook persists
• 2012/09/: RBA: The Pricing of Crude Oil by Stephanie Dunn & James Holloway
• 2012/09/24: EnergyBulletin: Fat fingers and the price of oil by James Hamilton
  Can the wild swings in the price of oil over the last few weeks have anything to do with supply and demand?
• 
  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2012/09/27: EnergyBulletin: The peak oil crisis: oil & the arctic meltdown
• 2012/09/24: EnergyBulletin: Degrowth and peak oil
  Here’s a prediction to remember:
• 2012/09/27: SacBee: ‘Forget Peak Oil – Oil Will Crash to $50,’ Asserts Self-made Multi-millionaire Investor Who Sees the U.S. Being a Net Oil Exporter by 2020
  It’s not often you read predictions of falling oil prices but self-made multi-millionaire trader and investor Vince Stanzione is betting on lower oil prices in the next 5 years and a boom in U.S. oil & gas production that will give the American economy a well-needed boost that could see the country not only being totally energy independent but an actual net exporter by 2020 – too good to be true?
• 
  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2012/09/27: ASU: ASU scientists bring the heat to refine renewable biofuel production
• 2012/09/26: BraDenton: ‘Miracle’ crop [arundo] could invade like kudzu
• 2012/09/27: USDA:ARS: Napiergrass: A Potential Biofuel Crop for the Sunny Southeast
• 2012/09/28: TreeHugger: New Method of Turning Sewage Sludge into Biodiesel is Low-Cost, High-Yield
• 2012/09/26: TreeHugger: Most Biofuels Better Than Oil For Greenhouse Gases, Worse or Similar Eco-Impact Otherwise: New [EMPA] Study
• 2012/09/26: BBerg: Biggest English Polluter Spends $1 Billion to Burn Wood: Energy
  More than two centuries after coal power helped forge the world’s first industrial economy, Britain is going back to burning wood. Drax Group Plc (DRX) will spend $1 billion to turn the U.K.’s biggest coal-fired plant into western Europe’s largest clean- energy producer. The utility plans to convert one of the site’s six units to burn wood pellets by June, said Chief Executive Officer Dorothy Thompson. It intends to switch two more units to wood at a later date, investments that if completed will see it harvest a forest four times the size of Rhode Island each year.
• 2012/09/24: EMPA: Most biofuels are not “green” — First tops, then flops. That is one way of summing up the history of biofuels so far.
  The answer my friend…:
• 2012/09/27: TP:JR: Wind In Alaska: Energy Lessons From The Edge Of The Earth
• 2012/09/27: TP:JR: American Wind Manufacturers Lay Off 1,100 Workers In One Month, Citing Expiring Wind Tax Credit
• 2012/09/27: EnvEcon: Breaking wind — It is a tough market for the wind industry
• 2012/09/26: TreeHugger: Wind Power Passes 100 Gigawatt in EU
• 2012/09/26: Guardian(UK): It’s a myth that wind turbines don’t reduce carbon emissions
  Conclusive figures show that the sceptics who lobby against wind power simply have their facts wrong
• 2012/09/26: TreeHugger: Offshore Wind Turbines Could Meet Power Demands of Entire East Coast
• 2012/09/26: Eureka: Bigger wind turbines make greener electricity
• 2012/09/24: Yale360: High-Altitude Wind Energy: Huge Potential … And Hurdles
  A host of start-up companies are exploring ways to harness the enormous amount of wind energy flowing around the earth, especially at high altitudes. But as these innovators are discovering, the engineering and regulatory challenges of what is known as airborne wind power are daunting.
• 2012/09/21: Oregonian: Shepherds Flat wind farm opens Saturday in eastern Oregon
  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
• 2012/09/27: Eureka: New efficiency record for photovoltaic cells – thanks to heterojunction
  Using amorphous and monocristalline silicon together, EPFL team achieved an astounding 22.4 percent efficiency
• 2012/09/27: OPB: SoloPower Opens Portland Manufacturing Plant
  San Diego-based SoloPower celebrated the opening of its new flexible solar panel manufacturing plant in Portland Thursday. SoloPower’s solar panels look like long, laminated poster boards.
• 2012/09/29: CSM: World’s largest solar farm [550-megawatt Desert Sunlight] coming to California
• 2012/09/26: TreeHugger: Sharp Unveils See-Through Solar Panels
• 2012/09/25: TreeHugger: DIY Open Source Solar Concentrator Tutorials Now Available
• 2012/09/23: BostonGlobe: Massachusetts businesses driving growth in solar investments
  The solar energy market is booming in Massachusetts, as commercial building owners, municipalities, and name-brand retailers like REI and Kohl’s take advantage of state incentives that have made it more affordable to fund solar power projects.
• 2012/09/25: TreeHugger: Anti-Reflective Glass Coating Traps More Light, Boosts Solar Panel Efficiency
• 2012/09/24: TreeHugger: Two-Thirds of All Solar Panels Installed Last Year Were in Europe
• 2012/09/24: Eureka: Two-thirds of the world’s new solar panels were installed in Europe in 2011
• 2012/09/21: Oregonian: Outback, the Northwest’s largest solar farm, goes online Oct. 15
  The nuclear energy controversy continues:
• 2012/09/27: NBF: China nuclear reactor program to resume in fourth quarter
• 2012/09/25: NBF: GE Global Laser Enrichment get license from Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• 2012/09/25: NBF: Success for uranium-from-phosphate plant
• 2012/09/24: ConnecticutMirror: Millstone shutdown is a sign of broader power problem caused by climate change
  More people are talking about the electrical grid:
• 2012/09/29: NBF: Halving the cost of superconductors will see major shifts from conventional infrastructure in 5 to 10 years
• 2012/09/25: NBF: The Above Room Temperature Graphite superconductivity claim
  Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
• 2012/09/28: CSM: As sales lag, Nissan offers Leaf discounts
• 2012/09/27: AutoBG: Hyundai ix35 lays claim to world’s first production fuel cell vehicle title
• 2012/09/26: NBF: Toward a Production Very Light Car from the makers of Edison 2
• 2012/09/27: BBC: ‘Nemesis’ electric car breaks UK land-speed record [151.6mph (244km/h)]
• 2012/09/25: AutoBG: Say what you want, Chevy Volt outselling half the cars in U.S.
• 2012/09/25: UCSUSA:B: Are Some Californians Paying Too Much to Charge their Plug-in Vehicles?
• 2012/09/25: TreeHugger: Tesla Unveils its Supercharger Network: “Drive for Free. Forever. On Sunlight.”
• 2012/09/24: AutoBG: Toyota kills plans for widespread iQ EV sales after misreading demand and battery tech
• 2012/09/25: AutoBG: Nissan addresses Leaf battery woes, customer communication shortcomings
• 2012/09/24: Reuters: Toyota drops plan for widespread sales of electric [eQ minicar]
• 2012/09/24: AutoBG: Mazda using wind turbine Electric Double Layer Capacitors to improve fuel efficiency
  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
• 2012/09/29: WtD: This too shall pass: Rio Tinto admits climate change real and accepts the need for action
  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
• 2012/09/25: DD: U.S. insurance companies vulnerable to extreme weather, changing climate – 2012 drought expected to cost $20 billion
  Who’s fielding theFAQs?
• 2012/09/25: Guardian(UK): Onshore wind energy: what are the pros and cons?
  Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
• 2012/09/28: TP:JR: Sept. 28 News…
• 2012/09/27: TP:JR: Sept. 27 News…
• 2012/09/26: TP:JR: Sept. 26 News…
• 2012/09/25: TP:JR: Sept. 25 News…
• 2012/09/24: TP:JR: Sept. 24 News…
  Other (weekly) lists:
• 2012/09/28: EnergyBulletin: ODAC Newsletter
• 2012/09/29: SkS: 2012 SkS Weekly News Round-Up #3 by John Hartz
• 2012/09/26: ERabett: Shorts
• 2012/09/25: BPA: Agriculture News
  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
• 2012/09/29: Bundanga: On demonising, and on motivated rejection of climate science…
• 2012/09/28: Bundanga: Watt a twit!
• 2012/09/27: DeSmogBlog: Southeastern Louisiana University has “Honor” Of Hosting Birther Lord Monckton
• 2012/09/27: WtD: Watch out TMZ, “Watts up with that?” is the new celebrity gossip site
• 2012/09/26: Tamino: Unnatural Hazards
• 2012/09/26: AFTIC: Take a ride on Denial!
• 2012/09/25: HC: Is Anthony Watts airbrushing his past?
• 2012/09/24: QuarkSoup: Watts Won’t Reveal His “Independent Donor”
• 2012/09/24: QuarkSoup: Who is Paying Anthony Watts?
• 2012/09/24: DeSmogBlog: Psychological Study Reveals Why Misinformation Is So Effective
• 2012/09/23: ERabett: Another Damn Survey
• 2012/09/24: UKISS: Denier comment of the day September 24, 2012
  This week in intimidation:
• 2012/09/27: UCSUSA:B: New Guide for Scientists: Responding to Criticism and Personal Attacks
  As for climate miscellanea:
• 2012/09/30: Guardian(UK): Humans may notice a chill in the air
  Radical temperature fluctuations are a fact of life on Earth, and we’re lucky to be enjoying a brief, balmy interglacial. But look out when it stops…
• 
  And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:

• UMan:CEOS: Centre for Earth Observation Science
• Green Grok [note COA]
• UNEP:CCAC: Climate and Clean Air Coalition
• Wiki: Granger causality
• Wiki: Qattara Depression Project
• WAMIS: Meteorological Information for Locust Control
• Better Figures – Constructive criticism of the graphics of climate science
• EarthWorks
• Tar Sands Blockade – Taking non-violent direct action to stop the Keystone XL pipeline
• Third International Symposium on the Ocean in a High-CO2 World
• Planet Extinction
• SolarFlower
• DARA
• Farm Land Grab
• Carbon Brief
• Pacific Salmon Commission
• Cohen Commission — Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River

Low Key Plug

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

-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.

[Reporters] “need to learn that, if they wish to discuss ‘both sides’ of the climate issue, the scientifically legitimate ‘other side’ is that, if anything, global climate disruption is likely to be significantly worse than has been suggested in scientific consensus estimates to date.” -William Freudenberg

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

• Blog Table Discussion with Puff the Mutant Dragon (Part I) [Uncertain Principles]
• Conspiracy-targeted Campaigning from Romney [denialism blog]
• On a lighter note [Stoat]
• AEI writes an honest article about ObamaCare [denialism blog]
• London Weekend With Both The Young Dudes [Aardvarchaeology]
• Around the Web: SUNY Potsdam vs. American Chemical Society in chronological order [Confessions of a Science Librarian]
• Governor Jerry Brown signs California Bill AB 2109, but tries to water it down in a sop to religion [Respectful Insolence]
• Weekend Diversion: A Story To Tell [Starts With A Bang]
• The Autobiography of Charles Darwin Audiobook [Greg Laden's Blog]
• Lightning Bolts Harnessed To Recycle Cement