Another Week of GW News, January 27, 2013 [A Few Things Ill Considered]

(Before It's News)

(sorry to be so late this week, it was Australia Day weekend and I guess it threw off my rhythm!)

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

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

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Another Week of Global Warming News

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

January 27, 2013

• Minamata, NEEM, Australia, GreenPeace, Tyee, EEA, Oh Oh Squad
• Bottom Line, Subsidies, WB, Pricing Nature, Thermodynamics, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News
• Melting Arctic, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Historical Climate
• Uncertainties, Attribution, Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Proxies
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Notable Weather, Extreme Weather, New Weather
• Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Geoengineering, Conservation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Models, Free Science, Chen, Mann, Church, Muller
• International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Bank Tax
• Hormuz, South China Sea, FQD, Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, Post Sandy, Keystone, Birth Control
• Coal Exports, Inauguration, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Shale Oil, Murray-Darling, India, China, South America
• Canada, Idle No More, FIPPA, Liberals, Northern Gateway, Kinder Morgan
• Warning, Energy Policy, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Canadiana
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Oil & Gas, US Tar Sands, Independence, Peak Oil, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Nuclear Fusion, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, Insurance, Greenwashing, Joe’s List, Carbon Lobby, Misc., Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

The Minamata Convention has been signed by 121 nations:

• 2013/01/21: EurActiv: EU hails global deal on cutting mercury emissions
• 2013/01/21: NatureNB: Deal reached on first treaty limiting mercury emissions
• 2013/01/20: ScienceInsider: Nations Agree on Global Mercury Limits
• 2013/01/19: UNEP: Minamata Convention Agreed by Nations — Global Mercury Agreement to Lift Health Threats from Lives of Millions World-Wide
  The NEEM community paper on Greenland ice core results drew some comment:
• 2013/01/23: Nature: (ab$) Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core by the NEEM community
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Greenland ice drill offers possible future view
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Greenland ice a benchmark for warming
• 2013/01/23: RealClimate: The Greenland melt
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Ice core drill gives insight into climate future
• 2013/01/23: NatureN: Greenland defied ancient warming — But Antarctic glaciers may be more vulnerable than thought
• 2013/01/25: CBC: Greenland ice core hints at Earth’s next big melt — Lead researcher laments Canadian research cuts
• 2013/01/24: Grist: Why Greenland’s melting could be the biggest climate disaster of all
• 2013/01/24: NSF: Analysis of Greenland Ice Cores Adds to Historical Record and May Provide Glimpse into Climate’s Future
  The International North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project results indicate that melting of Antarctic ice sheet may have contributed more to sea level rise than melting of the Greeland ice sheet some 100,000 years ago
• 
  Australia is really getting it lately with half the country on fire and half flooding:

• 2013/01/27: ABC(Au): Blaze burning through scrub in Victoria’s north
  Firefighters are trying to cut off a large bushfire headed toward the Hume Freeway in Victoria’s north.
• 2013/01/27: IOTD: Bushfire Burn Scar near Dunalley, Tasmania [on Jan 14]
• 2013/01/27: ABC(Au): Homes saved as bushfire burns north of Perth
  Firefighters have saved several homes and sheds that were in the path of an out-of-control bushfire burning in the Shire of Gingin, north of Perth. The fire started at 5:00pm (AWST) yesterday and a watch-and-act alert was downgraded this morning for the north-eastern part of Lennard Brooke, in the Wheatbelt region.
• 2013/01/27: ABC(Au): Cool weather eases Victorian fire threat
• 2013/01/26: DD: Image of the Day: Satellite view of bushfire scars in Australia, 14-15 January 2013
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Fire threat eases in Victoria [pix]
• 2013/01/25: MODIS: Fires and smoke in Tasmania [on Jan. 6]
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Threat eases for NSW firefighters
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Burnt but not beaten: Dunalley sets sights on Wooden Boat Festival
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Extreme heat fuels Victoria bushfire threat [pix]
  Victorian firefighters are on alert again as the state braces for another day and night of very high fire danger. The Country Fire Authority (CFA) is warning that forecast hot and windy conditions will intensify two fires burning in the state’s east.
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Hobart fire brought under control
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Vic fire danger peaks in hot, windy conditions
  Hundreds of fire crews have been preparing for worsening fire conditions in Gippsland and Victoria’s Alpine region overnight. The weather bureau says conditions will be worse than first expected, with north to north-westerly winds pushing flames towards towns on the southern edge of the fire front above Walhalla.
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Trigg residents warned to evacuate from bushfire
• 2013/01/23: WtD: Video: Everything was on fire, everywhere: heat, bush-fires and climate change down under
• 2013/01/23: IOTD: How Widespread was the Australian Heatwave?
• 2013/01/22: DD: Australia bull [Red Valentino] is blackened survivor from Chadwick Downs’ death valley – ‘Welcome to the killing fields’
• 2013/01/22: ABC(Au): Crews bracing for hot northerly winds in Gippsland
• 2013/01/21: ABC(Au): Yarrabin blaze still burning
• 2013/01/21: ABC(Au): Small Victorian communities prepare for bushfire
  Well hundreds of fire fighters in Victoria have spent the day shoring up containment lines, to stop a large bushfire that’s been burning in the east of the state since Thursday. So far, the blaze has claimed the life of one man, destroyed 22 homes and killed hundreds of head of cattle. Fire authorities are working as fast as they can to create buffer zones, before hot weather is forecast to return later this week.
• 2013/01/21: ABC(Au): Threat from bushfire near Harvey downgraded
• 2013/01/21: WtD: Burning eucalyptus: Gippsland fires shroud Victoria in a haze of smoke
• 2013/01/21: ABC(Au): Bushfire recovery underway as weather improves
  GreenPeace released a rather dire report on the 14 major carbon dioxide generating projects around the world:
• 2013/01/22: GreenPeace: [link to 2.1 meg pdf] Point of no return
• 2013/01/24: CCurrents: Carbon Bombs: Havoc Accelerated, China And Australia Take The Lead
• 2013/01/24: PlanetJ: Aussie coal exports 2nd biggest “carbon bomb”
• 2013/01/23: ABC(Au): Greenpeace warns against expanding coal exports
  A new report has warned Australia to stop expanding coal exports or risk inflicting “catastrophic” effects of climate change on the world. The Greenpeace-commissioned study identifies the expansion of Australian coal exports as one of 14 proposed coal, oil and gas projects around the world that will raise greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020.
• 2013/01/23: TP:JR: Incoming! New Report Notes 14 “Carbon Bombs” Threatening To Blow The Global Carbon Budget
• 2013/01/22: DeSmogBlog: Approaching the Point of No Return: The World’s Dirtiest Megaprojects We Must Avoid
• 2013/01/22: Guardian(UK): China and Australia top list of ‘carbon bomb’ projects
  Greenpeace analysis shows 14 planned giant fossil fuel projects will increase global emissions by 20%
• 2013/01/22: Grist:The 14 fossil-fuel projects poised to f*ck up the climate
• 2013/01/22: RTCC: Greenpeace: 14 big oil megaprojects will set off carbon bomb
  The world could be locked into dangerous levels of global warming if 14 planned fossil fuel projects get the go ahead, according to a new report commissioned by Greenpeace.
• 
  Tyee has an 8 part series on the way:

• 2013/01/24: Tyee: Tyee Launches Crash Course in Climate Change
  Cut through the smoke, learn the facts, win debates. In eight easy lessons starting today.
• 2013/01/25: Tyee: Tyee’s Climate Change Crash Course: Part 2 — To understand why the planet’s heating up, you need to know about ‘radiative forcing.’
• 2013/01/26: Tyee: Tyee’s Climate Change Crash Course: Part 3 — Reading the planet’s past to understand the magnitude of risk we face
  The EEA released their Late Lessons from Early Warnings report this week:
• 2002/01/09: EEA: [links to component pdfs] Late lessons from early warnings: the precautionary principle 1896-2000
• 2013/01/23: EEA: [links to component pdfs] Late lessons from early warnings: science, precaution, innovation
• 2013/01/25: EurActiv: Europe ‘has failed to learn from environmental disasters’
  Europe has failed to learn the lessons from many environmental and health disasters like Chernobyl, leaded petrol and DDT insecticides, and is now ignoring warnings about bee deaths, GM food and nanotechnology, according to an 800-page report by the European Environment Agency. Thousands of lives could have been saved and extensive damage to ecosystems avoided if the “precautionary principle” had been applied on the basis of early warnings, say the authors of the 2013 Late Lessons from Early warnings report published on Wednesday.
• 2013/01/22: BBC: Report: Earlier action can cut EU’s environmental risks
  [...] The report, Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Science, Precaution, Innovation, is the second volume produced by the EEA.
• 
  This week in the Oh Oh Squad:

• 2013/01/26: Guardian(UK): Nicholas Stern: ‘I got it wrong on climate change — it’s far, far worse’
• 2013/01/24: TheConversation: Humanity’s scorched Earth program — where to now?
• 2013/01/22: EconView: Time Is Not On Our Side
  What if we actually achieve the target of limiting global warming to a 2 degree Celsius increase? We are unlikely to meet this goal — it’s looking much worse than that — but what if we did?
• 
  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2013/01/21: BBerg: Averting Climate Change May Cost $700 Billion a Year
  About $700 billion a year of new spending on renewable power, low-carbon transport and energy efficiency is needed to meet the United Nations goal to cap temperature rises, a report for the World Economic Forum showed. That cash is needed in addition to the $5 trillion a year countries must spend on infrastructure for agriculture, transport, power and water through 2020, according to a report released today by the consultant Accenture Plc (ACN) for the forum’s Green Growth Action Alliance.
• 
  Who’s getting the subsidies, tax exemptions, loan guarantees & grants?

• 2013/01/23: CCurrents: Who Benefits From India’s Diesel Subsidy?
  The World Bank continues to talk out of boith sides of its mouth:
• 2013/01/26: QuarkSoup: Is the Future “Bleak?”
• 2013/01/26: BBC: Davos 2013: World Bank head says don’t shun poor coal-using nations
  The World Bank should support poor countries that need coal-powered energy in spite of its contribution to climate change, its president has said. Jim Yong Kim, speaking at Davos, said the institution should not “turn its back” on poor nations that seek the cheap source of energy.
• 2013/01/25: TP:JR: World Bank President On Climate Crisis: ‘If There Is No Action Soon, The Future Will Become Bleak’
• 2013/01/24: WaPo: Make climate change a priority by Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank
  So, If we put a price on nature, will it deal with externalities and lead to greater conservation
  or will it lead to greater exploitation or what?
• 2013/01/24: Eureka: Valuing nature is not enough
  Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:
• 2013/01/27: TSoD: Visualizing Atmospheric Radiation – Part Eleven – Stratospheric Cooling
• 2013/01/23: TSoD: Visualizing Atmospheric Radiation – Part Ten – “Back Radiation”
  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:
• 2013/01/26: SkS: Video on Climate Change Lines of Evidence by the National Academy of Science
• 2013/01/26: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #4 by John Hartz
• 2013/01/25: SkS: Non-English climate science by Ari Jokimäki
• 2013/01/24: SkS: NASA Retirees Appeal to their Own Lack of Climate Authority by dana1981
• 2013/01/23: SkS: Lessons From Past Predictions: Ridley vs. IPCC and Hansen by dana1981
• 2013/01/23: SkS: Subcap Methane Feedbacks. Part 4: Speculations by Andy S
• 2013/01/22: SkS: New textbook on climate science and climate denial
• 2013/01/21: SkS: Open Letter to London Mayor Boris Johnson – Weather is not Climate by dana1981
• 2013/01/21: SkS: Was 2012 the Hottest La Niña Year on Record? by dana1981
  A note on theFukushima disaster:

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

• 
  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

• 2013/01/26: JapanTimes: How Kan-do attitude averted the meltdown of Japan
  [Book Discussion] _My Thoughts as Prime Minister on the Tepco Fukushima Nuclear Plant Accident_ by former Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan.
• 2013/01/25: EneNews: Lawyer: Thyroid abnormalities in 55% of Fukushima girls tested age 11 to 15 (video)
• 2013/01/25: DD: Extremely high levels of radioactive cesium found in fish near Fukushima nuclear plant
• 2013/01/25: RSC:CW: Reassessing the health effects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident
• 2013/01/24: Reuters: Japan faces nuclear shutdown for second time since Fukushima
  Japan may face a total nuclear shutdown in the summer for the second time since the March 2011 Fukushima disaster as the country’s two operating reactors close for maintenance and tough new safety checks keep the rest of the fleet offline.
• 2013/01/24: EneNews: Prosecutors question ex-Tepco chairman over Fukushima – “Accused of being responsible for the injury from radiation exposure”
• 2013/01/24: Kyodo: TEPCO plans to dump water from Fukushima plant after cleaning it
• 2013/01/24: EneNews: Tepco: We are planning to dump water from Fukushima plant into Pacific Ocean
• 2013/01/23: EneNews: Wife of Fukushima Daiichi Worker: He said to evacuate on day of 3/11 and that the nuclear plant would melt down (video)
• 2013/01/18: Yahoo:AFP: Japan finds high radiation levels in fish: TEPCO
  A fish contaminated with radiation levels more than 2,500 times the legal limit has been caught near Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, its operator said Friday. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said caesium equivalent to 254,000 becquerels per kilogramme — or 2,540 times more than the government seafood limit — was detected in a “murasoi” fish.
• 2013/01/18: CDreams: Sky-High Radiation Found in Fukushima Fish — Glaring contamination from nuclear disaster persists
  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:
• 2013/01/23: DosBat: PIOMAS gridded data – 2012 is here!
• 2013/01/25: NewAnthropocene: PIOMAS Artice Sea Ice Volume 1979 – 2012
• 2013/01/25: ArcticNews: Arctic sea ice volume decline animation
  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:
• 2013/01/24: ArcticNews: High methane levels persist in January 2013
• 2013/01/23: SkS: Subcap Methane Feedbacks. Part 4: Speculations by Andy S
• 2013/01/22: CCP: Methane hydrates: a volatile time bomb in the Arctic
  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:
• 2013/01/25: DerSpiegel: The Resource Race: China Dips Toes in Arctic Waters
  China is hungry for natural resources, and the Arctic is home to a wealth of them. Growing alarm about its ambitions has led Beijing to take a softer approach, stressing exploration and research over exploitation.
• 2013/01/24: LoE: Greenpeace big splash in the Daily Telegraph
• 2013/01/17: BBerg: Why We Now Oppose Drilling in the Arctic by Carol Browner and John Podesta
  While in Antarctica:
• 2013/01/24: ScienceInsider: Research Plane Crashes in Antarctica
• 2013/01/24: al Jazeera: Antarctic search begins for missing Canadians
  New Zealand rescue authorities search for three Canadians whose aircraft went missing in bad weather.
• 2013/01/26: CBC: Antarctic crash deemed ‘not survivable’ for 3 Canadians — Search and rescue crew reports overdue aircraft hit mountain slope
  The food crisis is ongoing:
• 2013/01/23: Guardian(UK): Food fraud report reveals rise in manufacturers’ cost-cutting measures
• 2013/01/23: NatureNB: Costa Rica squares up to coffee pest
• 2013/01/26: al Jazeera: Empty words won’t fill hungry stomachs
  There is good reason to be sceptical about the new initiatives coming out of Davos targeting smallholder farmers.
• 2013/01/21: BBerg: Wheat Rises in Paris as U.S. Drought May Cut Global Grain Supply
• 2013/01/20: YumaSun: Some farmers may qualify for emergency government loans
  Farmers in 12 Arizona counties, including Yuma, may qualify for emergency government loans after the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared the central part of the state a natural disaster area due to a lingering drought.
• 2013/01/20: Independent(UK): Goldman bankers get rich betting on food prices as millions starve
  Bank criticised for making £250m after destructive spikes in global food market
• 2013/01/22: FDL: As Weather Forecasters Predict Continued Drought, Goldman Cashes In
  The state of the world’s fisheries is a concern:
• 2013/01/26: ABC(Au): Fight to stop disease devastating Hawkesbury oyster farms
• 2013/01/26: ABC(Au): Hawkesbury River oysters struck by mysterious disease
• 2013/01/24: DD: Virus wipes out millions of oysters overnight in Australia – ‘Very strong possibility’ record heat wave to blame
• 2013/01/25: BBC: Davos 2013: Iceland slams Europe over fishing policy
  Iceland’s president has dismissed the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy as a “colossal failure” as some 75% of Europe’s fish stock is endangered. The policy sets quotas for each of the 27 member states and for types of fish. “Europe is the problem,” Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
• 2013/01/22: RawStory: Mackerel struck off sustainable fish list
• 2013/01/21: BBC: Dispute means mackerel is no longer catch of the day
  The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has downgraded mackerel from its list of fish suitable to eat. The society says that international arguments about quotas mean it is no longer a sustainable choice. It says that mackerel should now be eaten only occasionally and consumers should instead eat herrings or sardines. But UK fishermen say the downgrading is premature and could be counterproductive.
• 
  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2013/01/24: RTCC: Biofuels condemned in ‘Enough Food If’ campaign
• 2013/01/22: UCSUSA:B: The Coming Fork in the Road for Biofuels
  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?
• 2013/01/15: UVirginia: First Global Assessment of Land and Water ‘Grabbing’ Published in National Journal
  Regarding the genetic modification of food:
• 2013/01/24: CCP: Fragment of viral Gene VI found in Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans and MON810 maize
• 2013/01/23: EurActiv: EU freezes approval of new GMO crop cultivation
  The European Commission doesn’t plan to give the green light to new genetically modified crops in the coming months, as it wants first an agreement on the draft legislation that would allow member governments to decide individually whether to grow or ban GM plants, a spokesperson said yesterday (22 January).
• 2013/01/23: CDreams: Peasant Leaders Stage Hunger Strike Against Genetically Modified Corn
  Planting of genetically modified corn would be ‘coup de grace to food sovereignty for the Mexican people.’
• 2013/01/21: AlterNet: Is Genetically Engineered Salmon Safe?
• 2013/01/21: CCurrents: When Can They Be Called ‘Terminator Seeds’? When They Kill!
• 2013/01/21: ISN: Regulators Discover a Hidden Viral Gene in Commercial GMO Crops
• 2013/01/22: SlashDot: Hidden Viral Gene Discovered In GMO Crops
  Regarding labelling GM food:
• 2013/01/25: Grist:Are Walmart and Big Food pushing for GMO labeling?
  And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?
• 2013/01/23: CCP: Sustainable Agriculture, Wilderness, and Drakes Bay Oysters: The Role of Science in Policy by Peter Gleick
• 2013/01/23: USDA:ARS: Studies Show Biosolids Can Boost Soil Phosphorus Levels for Years
• 2013/01/22: FAO: Think, Eat, Save: FAO, UNEP and partners launch global campaign on food waste
• 2013/01/20: CCurrents: How Millions Of Farmers Are Advancing Agriculture For Themselves
• 2013/01/22: BBC: Campaign to ‘end hunger for ever’ launched by UK aid organisations
  More than 100 aid organisations have come together to launch a campaign against hunger to coincide with the UK’s role heading the G8 this year. The Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign is the UK agencies’ biggest joint mobilisation since Make Poverty History in 2005.
• 2013/01/22: UN: UN and partners launch global campaign to reduce food waste
• 2013/01/21: BBC: Wasps v moths: Biocontrol uses nature against crop pests
• 2013/01/21: TreeHugger: Crop Production Boosted 145% in Drought Conditions with Water-Saving Membranes
• 2013/01/19: NatSoc: Scientific Paper Argues Against Factory Farms “Feeding the World”
  Cyclone Oswald was not much over the Gulf of Carpentia, but once on land it has dumped on Queensland:
• 2013/01/28: ABC(Au): Live: Qld flooding alert moves south
  Severe weather warnings remain in place across south-east Queensland, as the flooding focus turns to Brisbane and Ipswich. Ex-cyclone Oswald continues to dump heavy rain on the region and is tracking south into northern New South Wales.
• 2013/01/27: ABC(Au): Wild weather heads to northern NSW
• 2013/01/27: BBC: The Australian state of Queensland is on alert for flooding in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Oswald
• 2013/01/27: CBC: Tornadoes, flooding hit Qeensland, Australia
• 2013/01/27: ABC(Au): Oswald creates weather chaos in Queensland [pix]
• 2013/01/27: ABC(Au): Flood warnings for northern NSW rivers
  The weather bureau has issued six flood warnings for rivers across northern New South Wales, where heavy rain is continuing to fall. Ex-cyclone Oswald, which has caused widespread destruction in south-east Queensland, is making its way south.
• 2013/01/27: al Jazeera: Tropical storms continue to batter Queensland
  Tornadoes following cyclone Oswald wreak havoc in coastal towns in Australian state, killing at least one man.
• 2013/01/27: BBerg: Tornadoes Hit Queensland as Rains Deluge Eastern Australia
• 2013/01/27: BBerg: New South Wales Braces for Rains as Floods Hit Australian Towns
• 2013/01/27: ABC(Au): Live: Queensland calls in Army as wild weather strikes [pix]
• 2013/01/27: ABC(Au): Tornado rips through Wide Bay
  Residents of Bargara, located 13 kilometres east of Bundaberg in Queensland, were left stunned by a tornado that struck their community on January 26, 2013.
• 2013/01/27: ABC(Au): Wild storms hit Canberra
• 2013/01/27: ABC(Au): Live: Wild weather continues to batter SE Qld [pix]
  Authorities are doorknocking homes near Gladstone in central Queensland tonight where a major flood threat is unfolding. Police are evacuating 400 homes near the mouth of the Boyne River, where floodwaters are rising hourly. Wild weather is battering the state’s south-east as ex-tropical cyclone Oswald continues to move down the coast. Yesterday, at least five tornadoes caused widespread damage and destruction in the Wide Bay region.
• 2013/01/26: ABC(Au): Live coverage: Flood havoc as rain lashes Qld
  A disaster situation has been declared south of Gladstone as torrential rain from ex-tropical cyclone Oswald continues to create havoc in central and southern Queensland. The storm remained almost stationary overnight after causing flood chaos in areas of north and central Queensland yesterday. Heavy rain continues to lash Gladstone, but hundreds of homes in the region that were at risk of being inundated by floodwaters have escaped major damage.
• 2013/01/26: ABC(Au): Queensland’s rainfall outlook in one animated map
• 2013/01/26: DD: Five tornadoes hit Queensland towns during ‘unprecedented’ rainfall — Rivers swell to record levels
• 2013/01/26: ABC(Au): SE Qld on alert as ex-cyclone [Oswald] hits region
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Live: Oswald brings flood chaos to Queensland
• 2013/01/25: Eureka: NASA sees troublesome remnants of Cyclone Oswald still causing problems
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Cyclone Oswald batters Central Queensland
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Flood watch for mid north coast
  A flood watch is current for all coastal rivers from the Queensland border to Coffs Harbour. The Weather Bureau is warning ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald could affect the north coast in the coming days. The low pressure system currently off the Queensland coast is moving slowly south.
• 2013/01/25: al Jazeera: Queensland hit by flash flooding
  The remains of Tropical Cyclone Oswald trigger widespread flooding across the State.
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Ex-tropical Cyclone Oswald saturates Queensland
  Central Queensland has been awash this afternoon, as some towns recorded more than half a metre of rain. That’s around 22 inches on the old scale.
• 2013/01/24: Eureka: NASA sees remnants of Tropical Storm Oswald still strong
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Towns brace for Oswald flooding
  Residents in several towns north of Bundaberg are preparing for possible flooding, as ex-tropical cyclone Oswald makes its way south. Overnight, about 11 millimetres of rain fell on Bundaberg, while Hervey Bay received about 12mm and Lady Elliot Island received 97mm. Gladstone Deputy Mayor Matt Burnett says towns like Baffle Creek, Agnes Water and Seventeen-Seventy could be isolated over the next few days and residents should stock up on essentials while they can.
• 2013/01/23: Eureka: NASA sees massive rainfall totals from Tropical Storm Oswald
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Towns flooded as downpour heads south
  Some north Queensland communities are being flooded as ex-tropical cyclone Oswald moves south. In Ingham, north of Townsville, the Herbert River is expected to peak about midday at a major flood level of 13.5 metres.
• 2013/01/22: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Oswald weaken over Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula
• 2013/01/22: ABC(Au): Oswald “saved our bacon”
  Gulf graziers are hoping Ex Tropical Cyclone Oswald will do a u-turn and bring more rain their way.
• 2013/01/22: ABC(Au): [Tropical Cyclone] Oswald downgraded after making landfall [on Cape York Peninsula]
• 2013/01/21: ABC(Au): Gulf storm set to form into cyclone
  The weather bureau says residents in north-west and far north Queensland should brace for strong winds and torrential rain over the next few days. A cyclone warning has been issued for coastal areas from Karumba to Cape York including Mornington Island, with the low predicted to intensify into a category one storm later today.
• In the South Central Pacific, Cyclone Garry is threatening several island chains:
• 2013/01/25: Eureka: NASA sees Cyclone Garry’s strength peaking in South Pacific
• 2013/01/24: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Garry continue to intensify
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Cook Islands on [Cat 2] Cyclone [Garry] alert
• 2013/01/22: ABC(Au): Samoa joins Cyclone [Gary] watch list
  In the South-East Indian Ocean, Cyclone Peta hassled the North-West coast of Australia:
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Rain lashes the Pilbara as Peta moves inland
  Heavy rain from ex-tropical Cyclone Peta has caused flooding in some areas of the Pilbara. Forecasters say the category one system hit the coast, east of Point Samson about 35 kilometres east of Karratha, yesterday afternoon.
• 2013/01/23: Eureka: NASA catches the very brief life of Tropical Cyclone Peta
  An anomalous storm appears to be developing in the North Atlantic:
• 2013/01/26: Wunderground: Mighty North Atlantic low bombs to 930 mb
• 2013/01/25: CSM: Monster storm expected to explode in Atlantic. It may be one for the books.
  As for the Monsoon:
• 2013/01/27: ABC(Au): 11 dead in Indonesia landslides, 19 missing
• 2013/01/27: CBC: 2 Indonesia landslides leave at least 9 dead, 17 missing — Torrential rain triggers 2 deadly landslides
• 2013/01/26: WSWS: Floods kill 21 in Indonesian capital
  Floodwaters began to recede in Jakarta early this week, following monsoonal rains on January 16 and 17 that put much of the city under two metres of water. Additional heavy rainfalls are expected, however, and the monsoon season will continue until February. At least 21 people have been killed by drowning and electrocution. Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo declared a state of emergency until January 27 for the city of 14 million people. Around 250,000 residents were directly affected by the flooding and at least 50,000 were made homeless. Tens of thousands of people sought refuge in makeshift centres or in shopping malls and other spaces provided by private businesses.
• 2013/01/22: Eureka: Prediction of Asian summer monsoon rainfall and tropical storm activity close at hand
  And the temperature record:
• 2013/01/26: DD: NASA: Long-term global warming trend continues
• 2013/01/23: GLaden: 2012 Was The Hottest Year on Record (NOAA)
• 2013/01/22: SciAm:PI: NASA climate data indicates that the long-term global warming trend is continuing
• 2013/01/23: RTCC: NASA image reveals extent of Australian heat wave
  A new NASA satellite image demonstrates the huge scale of Australia’s heat wave that smashed a series of records and enabled huge wildfires to rage across large sections of the country.
• 2013/01/22:Moyhu: A collection of HiRes SST on WebGL globe
  Aerosols are making their presence felt:
• 2013/01/27: MODIS: Ship tracks off the western United States
• 2013/01/24: MODIS: Haze over Bangladesh and India [on Jan. 11]
• 2013/01/21: TreeHugger: Air Quality Sucks Across Middle-East and Asia
• 2013/01/23: AutoBG: Scientists sound alarm on soot’s effect on global warming
  While in the paleoclimate:
• 2013/01/26: CCP: 40,000-year-old steppe bison found in melting permafrost in Alaska – Fairbanks scientists stunned
  And in historical times:
• 2013/01/22: SciNow: Earliest Evidence of Chocolate in North America
• 2013/01/20: JCBaez: Anasazi America (Part 1)
• 2013/01/24: JCBaez: Anasazi America (Part 2)
  Dealing with uncertainties:
• 2013/01/23: Grist: Uncertainty about climate change is reason for more aggressive action
  In the attribution debate:
• 2013/01/21: Guardian(UK): What is causing Australia’s heatwave?
  And the State of the Oceans:
• 2013/01/21: ABC(Au): Researchers disprove reported jellyfish increase
  An international team of researchers say they have established a pattern in jellyfish blooms that disproves a reported increase in the creatures in recent years. The Global Jellyfish Group was established several years ago to examine a widespread perception that jellyfish numbers had spiked. The committee of 30 scientists, including UWA Professor Carlos Duarte, scoured historical records and media reports over centuries and concluded jellyfish numbers increase and drop sharply every 20 years.
• 
  What’s new in Biodiversity?

• 2013/01/25: TheConversation: We can name all of Earth’s species, but we may have to hurry
• 2013/01/25: CSM: Mass extinction? Man may still have time to catalog Earth’s species
• 2013/01/25: SciAm:Obs: The Race to Catalog Living Species Before They Go Extinct
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Naming Earth’s species possible: study
• 2013/01/24: BBC: World’s unknown species ‘can be named’ before they go extinct
  Most of the world’s plant and animal species could be named before they go extinct, say researchers. Writing in the journal Science, the researchers said it could be achieved this century. This is largely a result of an increase in taxonomists – the people who describe species new to science.
• 
  What’s new on the extinction front?

• 2013/01/26: BBC: Kielder Water & Forest Park to reintroduce water voles
  An endangered species is set to return to a Northumberland forest more than 30 years after it was wiped out. Conservationists at Kielder Water & Forest Park plan to reintroduce water voles to the area after they disappeared. The animals have not been spotted in the area since the 1970s.
• 2013/01/25: DD: Religion, Chinese government drive global elephant slaughter – ‘No one has ever talked about the role of religion in driving today’s ivory trade’
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): [NSW] Environment report card shows consumption cuts but species threatened – 35 species added to critically endangered list
• 2013/01/24: SciAm:EC: Almost Extinct Brazilian Bird Observed in Nest for the First Time [Video]
• 2013/01/23: UCSUSA:B: The 78%: The Majority of Orangutan Habitat in Borneo is Under Threat
• 2013/01/22: SciAm:EC: Critically Endangered Mexican Gray Wolf Released into Arizona Wild
• 2013/01/24: TheConversation: Australian endangered species: Lord Howe Island stick insect
• 2013/01/19: BBC: Spoon-billed sandpipers threatened by trapping in China
  Endangered spoon-billed sandpipers arriving at their wintering grounds in China are being threatened by nets designed to trap shorebirds.
• 
  The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant worry:

• 2013/01/26: DD: Insecticide ‘unacceptable’ danger to bees, European Food Safety Authority finds
• 2013/01/21: BPA: Neonicotinoid Pesticides Hurt Bees. Plus, More Agriculture News This Week
  What’s new in proxies?
• 2013/01/23: CBC: Outdoor rink climate change project gets hundreds of citizen scientists
  More GW impacts are being seen:
• 2013/01/23: Eureka: Parasites of Madagascar’s lemurs expanding with climate change
• 2013/01/23: Eureka: Climate change could cause massive losses in Pyrenees ski resorts
• 2013/01/22: Eureka: Plants adapt to drought but limits are looming, study finds
  Plants can adapt their demand for water depending on how much is available – However, this resilience has a limit, and prolonged drought conditions threaten the survival of plant communities, especially in more arid areas
• 
  And then there are the world’s forests:

• 2013/01/27: Grist: How climate change could wipe out the western forests
• 2013/01/24: Reuters: Deforestation appears to rise again in Brazil’s Amazon
  After years of gains against destruction of the Amazon rainforest, Brazil appears to be suffering from an increase in deforestation as farmers, loggers, miners and builders move into previously untouched woodland, according to data compiled by the government and independent researchers. Imazon, a Brazilian research institute that tracks deforestation through satellite imagery, said in a recent report that destruction in the world’s largest rainforest climbed for the fourth consecutive month in December. In the last five months of 2012, Imazon detected clearings of 497 square miles (1,288 square km) of woodland – a Los Angeles-size total that is more than twice as big as the combined areas detected in the last five months of 2011.
• 2013/01/25: BBC: Brazil to survey Amazon rainforest
• 2013/01/20: TP:JR: NASA-Led Study Finds Warming-Driven Megadroughts Jeopardizing Amazon Forest
  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:
• 2013/01/21: ERW: UN ‘can and should’ recognize climate migrants
  This week in notable weather:
• 2013/01/25: Wunderground: North American cold wave winds down; Atlantic storm stronger than Sandy winding up
• 2013/01/24: Wunderground: U.S. deep freeze continues; dangerous air pollution episode in Utah
• 2013/01/24: al Jazeera: Cold weather blasts North America — The eastern half of Canada and the USA are gripped by Arctic conditions
• 2013/01/24: IOTD: Unusual Cold in China and Northeast Asia
• 2013/01/23: Wunderground: Bitter cold and heavy lake effect snows continue in the Midwest and Northeast U.S.
• 2013/01/22: CSM: Deep freeze: In northern US, mercury plunges, heating costs rise
• 2013/01/23: DerSpiegel: Winter Blitz: Snow and Ice Blanket Germany
  Winter weather threw travel across Germany into turmoil early this week. Snow blanketed much of the country, causing hundreds of cancelled flights and road closures. Conditions began to improve on Tuesday, but not before skiers at ice skaters could have a little fun.
• 2013/01/23: CBC: Canada in deep freeze as cold snap lingers — Freezing temperatures a shock after a mild start to winter
• 2013/01/23: al Jazeera: Spain braces for more bad weather
  Snow, heavy rain and strong winds have all hit the country during recent days.
• 2013/01/22: Wunderground: Major cold blast, epic lake effect snows hit North America
• 2013/01/22: BBC: School snow disruptions continue for fifth day
  Hundreds of schools are closed as disruption due to widespread snow continues for a fifth day. With fresh falls overnight and more forecast for Tuesday, schools in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have opted to stay shut. Travel disruption caused by snow and ice is also continuing.
• 2013/01/22: CBC: Arctic air mass brings frigid blast to much of Canada
  An Arctic air mass continues to cast a deep freeze over large patches of Canada this morning, plunging many parts of the country into the negative double digits and bringing cold air and wind chill warnings.
• 2013/01/21: Wunderground: Coldest air in nearly two years hits the Midwest U.S.
  This week in the New Normal — extreme weather:
• 2013/01/23: Tamino: Extreme Weather: When Worlds Collide
• 2013/01/21: CBC: Extreme weather could be ‘new normal’ says Environment Canada — Heavier rainfall, more storms predicted for East Coast
  Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation? What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?
• 2013/01/26: Earthgauge: Wonder why it’s been so cold recently when the climate is supposed to be warming?
• 2013/01/23: ERW: Climate change brings colder winters to Europe and Asia
  The world is warming, so why have winters been getting colder across much of Eurasia? This question has puzzled climate researchers in recent years. Now a study shows that the icy winter blasts are linked to intensified high-pressure systems hovering over Eurasia during the winter months.
• 2013/01/22: CCP: Polar vortex very anomalously weak; Arctic Oscillation negative for a very long time
  As for heatwaves and wild fires:
• 2013/01/23: Tamino: Hot down under, and up over
• 2013/01/23: ABC(Au): Temperatures soar in Central Australia
  The Health Department is urging residents of Central Australia to take care with temperatures forecast to soar this week. The region is experiencing one of its hottest starts to the year on record, with the temperature at Yulara near Uluru topping 40 degrees on all but two days this month.
• 2013/01/23: ABC(Au): Weather outlook offers heatwave reprieve
  The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting cooler than normal temperatures for south-east Australia over the coming months. The outlook for February to April says warmer than usual temperatures in the Indian and Pacific Oceans will produce cooler days and nights.
• 2013/01/23: IOTD: How Widespread was the Australian Heatwave?
• 2013/01/22: DD: Canberra heading for January heat record as storms spark fire fears
  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean’s health:
• 2013/01/25: DD: Singapore crane ships to extract USS Guardian from coral reef
• 2013/01/25: DD: Typhoon Bopha decimated coral reefs in the Philippines – ‘It is incredible to see the damages’
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Philippines to sue US military over coral damage
• 2013/01/23: DD: USS Guardian damaged at least 1,000 square meters of coral reef
• 2013/01/22: USouthampton: How the purple and pink sunscreens of reef corals work
  Glaciers are melting:
• 2013/01/27: FaGP: Gold Rush Glacier Retreat, Alaska
• 2013/01/24: TP:JR: Study: South American Glaciers In Historic Retreat
• 2013/01/23: CSM: Andes glaciers melting at record rates
• 2013/01/23: TreeHugger: Andean Glaciers Have Shrunk 30-50 Percent …Since the 1970s
• 2013/01/23: FaGP: Svitjodbreen Retreat, Northwest Svalbard
• 2013/01/23: Guardian(UK): Andean glaciers melting at ‘unprecedented’ rates
• 2013/01/23: BBC: Massive melting of Andes glaciers
  Glaciers in the tropical Andes have shrunk by an average of 30-50% since the 1970s, according to a study. The glaciers, which provide fresh water for tens of millions in South America, are retreating at their fastest rate in the past 300 years. The study included data on about half of all Andean glaciers and blamed the melting on an average temperature rise of 0.7C from 1950-1994.
• 2013/01/22: Eureka: Unprecedented glacier melting in the Andes blamed on climate change
  Sea levels are rising:
• 2013/01/21: NYT: Seeking Clues About Sea Level From Fossil Beaches — How High Could the Tide Go?
• 2013/01/21: QuarkSoup: An Upward Spike in Sea Level
• 2013/01/19: HoustonChronicle: Solutions lag as sea quickly rises
  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:
• 2013/01/27: BBC: Serious flooding is possible across many parts of the UK as milder temperatures thaw snow and rain moves in, forecasters have warned
• 2013/01/27: al Jazeera: Northern Thailand is drying up
  A total of 26 provinces severely affected by drought have been declared emergency disaster zones
• 2013/01/26: ABC(Au): At least 36 dead in Mozambique floods
• 2013/01/25: DD: Mozambique floods hit power exports, displace 70 000 – ‘There used to be only a few crocodiles in the Limpopo River. Now there are a lot.’
• 2013/01/23: ABC(Au): Philippines continues search for flood missing
  Six people have been killed and four others are missing after massive flooding hit the southern Philippines island of Mindanao. The floods have displaced more than 150,000 people, many of whom have taken refuge in crowded government shelters.
• 2013/01/26: BBC: Flood fears as snow turns to rain and temperatures rise [in the UK]
• 2013/01/26: al Jazeera: Mozambique flooding displaces thousands
  At least 36 killed and about 70,000 flee homes after days of torrential rains submerge vast swathes of country’s south.
• 2013/01/25: BBC: UN: Floods displace 70,000 and kill 36 in Mozambique
• 2013/01/23: ABC(Au): 55,000 in danger as Mozambique hit by floods
• 2013/01/17: NOAA:NCEP: Seasonal Drought Outlook
• 2013/01/22: al Jazeera: South Africa is inundated — Days of torrential rain have caused widespread flooding
  First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
  Second, put a price on carbon
  And elsewhere on the mitigation front:
• 2013/01/25: Resilience: Biochar 101
• 2013/01/19: EconoSpeak: Mitigation Versus Adaptation in Climate Change
  Consider transportation & GHG production:
• 2013/01/24: CalcRisk: DOT: Vehicle Miles Driven increased 0.8% in November
  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:
• UMontana: Major reports on geoengineering grouped by year and ordered by month
• 2013/01/26: ABC(Au): Indonesia tries to control rainfall
  Authorities in Indonesia will use [acetone] generators and cloud-seeding measures to defuse and push away rain-laden clouds to avoid more flooding that has paralysed Jakarta.
• 2013/01/23: ClimateEngineering: [press review] Olivine impact study with marine biology
• 2013/01/22: ERW: Olivine geoengineering could affect marine life
• 2013/01/22: ERabett: Eli Is Not A GeoEngineer But . . .
• 2013/01/22: Guardian(UK): Mineral dust sprinkled in oceans could absorb vast amounts of carbon: study
• 2013/01/21: ERL: Geoengineering impact of open ocean dissolution of olivine on atmospheric CO2, surface ocean pH and marine biology by Peter Köhler et al.
• 2013/01/22: ABC(Au): ‘Rock’ fix for oceans is badly flawed: study
  Claims that global warming can be braked by dissolving huge quantities of rock in the sea to absorb carbon emissions are laden with flaws, according to a new study. The analysis is the latest scientific appraisal into geo-engineering, or techniques that are being promoted as quick fixes to the climate crisis. Scientists in Germany probed the feasibility of “enhanced weathering”, in which a plentiful magnesium-silicate rock called olivine would be crushed and scattered in the oceans.
• 2013/01/22: RTCC: Climate geoengineering: Is crushed rock the answer?
  Marine scientists in Germany have calculated the effectiveness of “fertilising” the oceans with minerals to change their chemistry and absorb more of the atmospheric carbon dioxide they receive and thus reduce the risk of further global warming.
• 
  What’s new in conservation?

• 2013/01/23: TreeHugger: How 15 Island Nations Are Changing Ocean Conservation (Video)
  Meanwhile in the journals:
• 2013/01/23: Nature: (ab$) Eemian interglacial reconstructed from a Greenland folded ice core by the NEEM community
• 2013/01/22: PNAS: (abs) Genomic basis for coral resilience to climate change by Daniel J. Barshis et al.
• 2013/01/22: PNAS: (abs) Midlatitude cooling caused by geomagnetic field minimum during polarity reversal by Ikuko Kitaba et al.
• 2013/01/22: PNAS: (ab$) Relationship between sea level and climate forcing by CO2 on geological timescales by Gavin L. Foster & Eelco J. Rohling
• 2013/01/22: PNAS: (ab$) Water, plants, and early human habitats in eastern Africa by Clayton R. Magill et al.
• 2013/01/22: PNAS: (ab$) Ecosystem variability and early human habitats in eastern Africa by Clayton R. Magill et al.
• 2013/01/22: PNAS: (letter) Beatings in electronic 2D spectroscopy suggest another role of vibrations in photosynthetic light harvesting by Tõnu Pullerits et al.
• 2013/01/22: PNAS: (letter$) Capturing climate variability during our ancestors’ earliest days by Brett J. Tipple
• 2013/01/22: ACP: Decadal record of satellite carbon monoxide observations by H. M. Worden et al.
• 2013/01/22: ACP: Characteristics and sources of carbonaceous aerosols from Shanghai, China by J.-J. Cao et al.
• 2013/01/22: ACP: Field investigations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exchange between plants and the atmosphere by C. Breuninger et al.
• 2013/01/22: ACPD: Aerosol extinction to backscatter ratio derived from passive satellite measurements by F.-M. Bréon
• 2013/01/22: ACPD: Low-level jet characteristics over the Arctic Ocean in spring and summer by L. Jakobson et al.
• 2013/01/21: ACPD: Aerosol composition, sources and processes during wintertime in Beijing, China by Y. L. Sun et al.
• 2013/01/02: PLoS One: How Deep-Sea Wood Falls Sustain Chemosynthetic Life by Christina Bienhold et al.
• 2013/01/25: ESD: The exponential eigenmodes of the carbon-climate system, and their implications for ratios of responses to forcings by M. R. Raupach
• 2013/01/23: ESD: A scaling approach to project regional sea level rise and its uncertainties by M. Perrette et al.
• 2013/01/22: ESDD: Hydrological cycle over south and southeast Asian river basins as simulated by PCMDI/CMIP3 experiments by S. Hasson et al.
• 2013/01/25: CP: Large-scale features of Pliocene climate: results from the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project by A. M. Haywood et al.
• 2013/01/24: CP: Does Antarctic glaciation cool the world? by A. Goldner et al.
• 2013/01/23: CP: Response of methane emissions from wetlands to the Last Glacial Maximum and an idealized Dansgaard-Oeschger climate event: insights from two models of different complexity by B. Ringeval et al.
• 2013/01/22: CP: Modern sedimentation patterns in Lake El’gygytgyn, NE Russia, derived from surface sediment and inlet streams samples by V. Wennrich et al.
• 2013/01/22: CP: Past climate changes and permafrost depth at the Lake El’gygytgyn site: implications from data and thermal modeling by D. Mottaghy et al.
• 2013/01/22: CP: Stable isotopes in caves over altitudinal gradients: fractionation behaviour and inferences for speleothem sensitivity to climate change by V. E. Johnston et al.
• 2013/01/21: CP: Simulated European stalagmite record and its relation to a quasi-decadal climate mode by G. Lohmann et al.
• 2013/01/25: CPD: Bayesian parameter estimation and interpretation for an intermediate model of tree-ring width by S. E. Tolwinski-Ward et al.
• 2013/01/24: CPD: Cyclone trends constrain monsoon variability during Late Oligocene sea level highstands (Kachchh Basin, NW India) by M. Reuter et al.
• 2013/01/24: CPD: Albedo and heat transport in 3-dimensional model simulations of the early Archean climate by H. Kienert et al.
• 2013/01/24: CPD: Temperature changes of the past 2000 yr in China and comparison with Northern Hemisphere by Q. Ge et al.
• 2013/01/23: CPD: Mass movement deposits in the 3.6 Ma sediment record of Lake El’gygytgyn, Far East Russian Arctic: classification, distribution and preliminary interpretation by M. A. Sauerbrey et al.
• 2013/01/21: CPD: Assessing the impact of late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions on global vegetation and climate by M.-O. Brault et al.
• 2013/01/21: CPD: Inorganic data from El’gygytgyn Lake sediments: stages 6-1 by P. S. Minyuk et al.
• 2013/01/25: AGWObserver: Yesterday’s papers
• 2013/01/25: Science: (ab$) Can We Name Earth’s Species Before They Go Extinct? by Mark J. Costello et al.
• 2013/01/25: ACP: Missing OH source in a suburban environment near Beijing: observed and modelled OH and HO2 concentrations in summer 2006 by K. D. Lu et al.
• 2013/01/25: ACPD: Brown carbon: a significant atmospheric absorber of solar radiation? by Y. Feng et al.
• 2013/01/25: GMD: Global high-resolution simulations of CO2 and CH4 using a NIES transport model to produce a priori concentrations for use in satellite data retrievals by T. Saeki et al.
• 2013/01/24: OSD: Transit and residence times in the surface Adriatic Sea as derived from drifter data and Lagrangian numerical simulations by P.-M. Poulain & S. Hariri
• 2013/01/23: TC: Glacier changes and climate trends derived from multiple sources in the data scarce Cordillera Vilcanota region, southern Peruvian Andes by N. Salzmann et al.
• 2013/01/24: TCD: Speedup and fracturing of George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula by T. O. Holt et al.
• 2013/01/23: TCD: Surface motion of active rock glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA: inventory and a case study using InSAR by Lin Liu et al.
• 2012/12/20: ERL: Weakened cyclones, intensified anticyclones and recent extreme cold winter weather events in Eurasia by Xiangdong Zhang et al.
• 2013/01/22: GMDD: A semi-implicit, second order accurate numerical model for multiphase underexpanded volcanic jets by S. Carcano et al.
• 2013/01/22: GMDD: Calibration of the Crop model in the Community Land Model by X. Zeng et al.
• 2013/01/21: GMDD: Sensitivity of remote aerosol distributions to representation of cloud-aerosol interactions in a global climate model by H. Wang et al.
• 2013/01/21: GMDD: Regional atmospheric composition modeling with CHIMERE by L. Menut et al.
• 2013/01/22: TC: Current state of glaciers in the tropical Andes: a multi-century perspective on glacier evolution and climate change by A. Rabatel et al.
• 2013/01/21: TC: An analysis of present and future seasonal Northern Hemisphere land snow cover simulated by CMIP5 coupled climate models by C. Brutel-Vuilmet et al.
• 2013/01/22: TCD: Radar stratigraphy connecting Lake Vostok and Dome C, East Antarctica, constrains the EPICA/DMC ice core time scale by M. G. P. Cavitte et al.
• 2013/01/21: TCD: Area and volume loss of the glaciers in the Ortles-Cevedale group (Eastern Italian Alps): controls and imbalance of the remaining glaciers by L. Carturan et al.
• 2013/01/18: Science: (ab$) The Closing Door of Climate Targets by Thomas F. Stocker
• 2013/01/18: WOL:GRL: (ab$) Biogeochemical carbon coupling inuences global precipitation in geoengineering experiments by J.C. Fyfe et al.
• 2012/11/: Springer:CC: (ab$) Carbon sequestration via wood harvest and storage: An assessment of its harvest potential by Ning Zeng et al.
  And other significant documents:
• 2013/01/21: PI: [link to 426k pdf] Renewable Energy Opportunities in the Oil and Gas Sector
• 2013/01/22: PI: [link to 6.9 meg pdf] Competing in Clean Energy — Capitalizing on Canadian innovation in a $3 trillion economy
• 2002/01/09: EEA: [links to component pdfs] Late lessons from early warnings: the precautionary principle 1896-2000
• 2013/01/23: EEA: [links to component pdfs] Late lessons from early warnings: science, precaution, innovation
• 2013/01/22: GreenPeace: [link to 2.1 meg pdf] Point of no return
  As for miscellaneous science:
• 2013/01/26: P3: Show Me Code or It Didn’t Happen
• 2013/01/26: ERabett: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Throws Itself Into the Trash
• 2013/01/25: TMasters: Could the multiple regression approach detect a recent pause in global warming?
• 2013/01/25: ScienceInsider: Turkish Science Agency’s Book Selections Prompt Questions
• 2013/01/23: VV: A real paper on the variability of the climate
• 2013/01/23: AGWObserver: Non-English climate science
• 2013/01/22: SciNews: Watering fields in California boosts rainfall in Southwest — Irrigation has downstream effects on climate and runoff to Colorado River
• 2013/01/25: ClimateSight: Then and Now
• 2013/01/22: BBC: Opal report marks landmark in UK citizen science
  The interim findings of a massive five-year citizen science project, involving more than 25,000 surveys and 500,000 people, have been published.
• 2013/01/20: Eureka: Warmer soils release additional CO2 into atmosphere; Effect stabilizes over longer term
  What’s new in models?
• 2013/01/25: ArcticNews: Coded modulation of computer climate models for the prediction of precipitation and other side-effects of marine cloud brightening by Stephen Salter & Alan Gadian
• 2013/01/25: SEasterbrook: Simple Climate Models to play with in the classroom
  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?
• 2013/01/22: Tyee: Honouring Aaron Swartz, Internet Activist — Digital rights advocate’s death places spotlight on more open access to info
• 2013/01/23: Guardian(UK): Those who publish research behind paywalls are victims not perpetrators
  Labelling scientists who publish in traditional journals as ‘immoral’ only hinders the cause of open access publishing
• 2013/01/22: TheVerge: Memory to myth: tracing Aaron Swartz through the 21st century
  Regarding Chen:
• 2013/01/24: CCP: Long-Qing Chen and Michael E. Mann have been conferred the status of distinguished professorship in Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
  Regarding Mann:
• 2013/01/24: GLaden: Congratulations to Michael Mann
• 2013/01/20: ERabett: Mann vs. National Review and CEI pleadings
  Regarding Church:
• 2013/01/18: DerSpiegel: Interview with George Church: Can Neanderthals Be Brought Back from the Dead?
  In a Spiegel interview, synthetic biology expert George Church of Harvard University explains how DNA will become the building material of the future — one that can help create virus-resistant human beings and possibly bring back lost species like the Neanderthal.
• 2013/01/22: NBF: George Church talks about resurrecting Neanderthals, engineered longevity and synthetic fuel for about twenty cents per gallon
• 2012/09/22: NBF: Regenesis Highlights
  Regarding Muller:
• 2013/01/20: Stoat: BEST is published
• 2013/01/20: TP:JR: Koch-Funded [BEST] Study Finds 2.5°F Warming Of Land Since 1750 Is Manmade, ‘Solar Forcing Does Not Appear To Contribute’
• 2013/01/21: JEB: BEST laugh of the day
  Meanwhile at the UN:
• 2013/01/25: UN: Philippines: UN and partners call for additional funding for post-typhoon recovery
• 2013/01/26: FAO: FAO’s José Graziano da Silva at CELAC-EU Summit: “No sustainable development while there is hunger”
• 2013/01/20: CCurrents: ‘Minamata’ Convention Agreed By Nations At UNEP Governing Council In 2013
• 2013/01/22: Guardian(UK): Ban Ki-moon: climate agreement tops 2013 wishlist
• 2013/01/22: UN: General Assembly creates group to work on sustainable development goals
  And on the carbon trading front:
• 2013/01/25: DerSpiegel: Wake-Up Call: A Disastrous Week for Carbon Trading
  Drop in Carbon Price Underscores Disastrous Week for Carbon Trading – The European cap-and-trade system has slid into near meaninglessness as Germany bickers on the sidelines. Hopes that the election in Lower Saxony might resolve the high-level bickering were misguided. Now Europe’s carbon market has hit a new low.
• 2013/01/25: RTCC: EU carbon market faces bleak future after vote defeat
  The EU carbon market faces a sustained period of low prices after planned reforms were voted down by a European Parliament committee. The Industry, Research and Energy committee (ITRE) rejected plans to postpone the sale of 900m carbon credits, also known as backloading, in an effort to tackle the glut of credits and lift the price. This sent prices tumbling to a record low of E2.81.
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Europe carbon price crashes
  As Europe’s carbon price shrinks, calls for the abandonment of a new permit auction are ridiculed. The collapse of Europe’s controversial market for carbon emissions rights is “an extremely serious” matter and an EU Comission proposal to freeze a related auction for 2013-2015 is simply a “patch” for the problem, a French economist warned lawmakers on Wednesday. “We are in an extremely serious situation regarding the development of the European quotas market,” Christian de Pertuis told the French Senate’s finance commission in a hearing.
• 2013/01/25: EurActiv: EU carbon market in ‘freefall’ after backloading vote
  EU carbon prices briefly slid 40% to a record low after politicians opposed plans to support the market, raising concerns prices could hit zero and sending a warning to European governments to pull together in lowering carbon emissions. Prices in the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) on Thursday (24 January) dropped to €2.81 a metric tonne after a vote in the European Parliament’s energy and industry committee opposing a scheme known as “backloading” – or supporting prices by extracting allowances from the market and reinjecting them later.
• 2013/01/25: RTCC: Airlines reject carbon trading ‘windfall profit’ claims
• 2013/01/23: TheConversation: Let’s link up: joining our carbon price to California’s
• 2013/01/24: Guardian(UK): EU carbon price crashes to record low [E2.81]
• 2013/01/22: EurActiv: Airlines pocketed E1.36bn from EU carbon scheme: Report
  Airlines profited up to E1.36 billion last year by passing “imaginary” costs from the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) onto consumers, says a study by a Dutch environmental consultancy published today (22 January).
• 2013/01/22: EUO: Carbon price hits all-time low
• 2013/01/22: Reuters: EU carbon law hands airlines a windfall
  Airlines could have already made up to 1.36 billion euros in windfall profits from an EU law that forces them to pay for carbon emissions, a study by a Dutch consultancy said on Tuesday. International fury at the law led the European Commission in November to freeze it for a year for intercontinental traffic to give a U.N. aviation body another chance to agree on an alternative global plan to curb airline emissions. The law will still be enforced for internal EU flights. Airlines and plane manufacturers have been at the forefront of opposition, saying the EU law is a financial burden in difficult economic times. The report by Dutch consultancy CE Delft said, however, that airlines generated windfall profits by passing on the expected cost of carbon allowances to cover their emissions obligations. The bulk of allowances (some 85 percent) is handed out free each year, but CE Delft said many airlines would pass on the full cost and not just the value of allowances they had to buy.
• 2013/01/22: BBC: Carbon price under EU emissions Trading System hits all-time low
  The price of carbon hit a record low in Europe on Monday as the over-supply of emissions permits during the global economic downturn continued to undermine the carbon market. The price fell below 4.8 euros in early trading, before recovering to above 5 euros by late afternoon. Carbon permits are a mechanism designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, as companies have to pay to emit C02. A sharp drop in demand for energy has led to a massive oversupply of permits.
• 2013/01/21: RTCC: Davos 2013: Time to save the global carbon markets?
  The Robin Hood tax, aka the Tobin tax, aka the Bank tax, aka the Financial Transaction tax keeps coming up:
• 2013/01/25: CNN: [EU Internal Markets Commissioner, Michel] Barnier: Europe’s ‘Robin Hood’ tax ‘politically and morally right’
  European Commissioner Michel Barnier has endorsed a planned “Robin Hood” tax – The European tax on financial transactions was morally right, he said – He would like to see it extended internationally – He said capitalism had become a “caricature” of itself, and wanted to restore its morality
• 2013/01/22: EurActiv: FTT deal ignites debate on how to allocate funds
  Development aid organisations hailed an agreement, approved by 11 EU countries today (22 January), to set up a financial transactions tax (FTT), and called on the European Commission to follow France’s example by allocating 10% of the revenue “to the benefit of the poorest in the world”. EU finance ministers gave the green light for the 11 countries to move forward with a harmonised FTT, opening a tricky debate on how the money should be used. The countries are Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. Under the ‘enhanced cooperation’ procedure, other EU countries can join at any time.
• 2013/01/22: EUO: EU finance ministers to greenlight Tobin tax
• 2013/01/22: EUO: Group-of-11 get go ahead for financial transaction tax
• 2013/01/22: RTCC: Oxfam call for climate finance to benefit from EU Robin Hood tax
  Oxfam is leading calls for funds from a newly agreed EU financial transactions tax to be directed towards climate initiatives.
• 2013/01/22: BBC: Financial transactions tax in Europe given go-ahead
  EU finance ministers have given the green light for 11 eurozone members, including France and Germany, to ready a new tax on financial transactions.
• 
  On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:

• 2013/01/23: CCurrents: US Cooks Up Nuclear Fairy Tale on Iran
• 2013/01/20: CCurrents: Sanctions: Weapons of Mass Death and Destruction
• 2013/01/20: CCurrents: Sanctions As Collective Punishment
• 2013/01/22: FAIR: Sanctions Not Really Hurting Ordinary Iranians, Says Anonymous U.S. Official
  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:
• 2013/01/25: al Jazeera: Japan and China look to cool island tensions
  Japan sends envoy to Beijing to discuss disputed islands in an effort to improve relations.
• 2013/01/25: BBC: An envoy for Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has met China’s leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, amid a growing territorial dispute
• 2013/01/24: Reuters: U.N. to consider validity of China’s claim over disputed islands
  The United Nations is planning to consider later this year the scientific validity of a claim by China that a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea are part of its territory, although Japan says the world body should not be involved. Tensions over the uninhabited islands – located near rich fishing grounds and potentially huge oil-and-gas reserves – flared after Japan’s government purchased them from a private Japanese owner in September, sparking violent anti-Japanese protests across China and a military standoff. Taiwan also claims the islands, known as the Diaoyu islands in China, the Senkaku islands in Japan and Tiaoyutai in Taiwan.
• 2013/01/24: al Jazeera: Taiwan enters fray in China, Japan sea spat
  Taiwan, which is seen by China as a breakaway province, claims disputed islands are within its territory.
• 2013/01/22: CCurrents: Powder Keg In The Pacific by Michael T. Klare
  Will China-Japan-U.S. Tensions in the Pacific Ignite a Conflict and Sink the Global Economy?
• 2013/01/22: BBC: Philippines ‘to take South China Sea row to court’
  The Philippines says it will challenge Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea at a UN tribunal. Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the decision came after Manila had exhausted “almost all political and diplomatic avenues” to resolve the maritime dispute with Beijing. He said he hoped arbitration would help bring a “durable solution” to the row. Tensions between the two have been high since a stand-off at the Scarborough Shoal – which both claim – last year. China claims a U-shaped swathe of the South China Sea; its claims overlap those of several South East Asian nations.
• 2013/01/22: WSWS: US inflames island dispute between Japan and China
• 2013/01/21: Guardian(UK): China rebukes US over ‘ignorant’ comments on island dispute with Japan
  Beijing smarts at Hillary Clinton’s warning against unilateral action in East China Sea over disputed Senkaku island chain
• 2013/01/21: BBC: China anger at US remarks on East China Sea islands
  China’s foreign ministry has strongly criticised the US for backing Japan’s control of a disputed group of islands in the East China Sea. Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the view, expressed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “neglects the facts”. Mrs Clinton had warned that the US opposed any action that would undermine Japanese administration of the islands.
• 
  Regarding the EU Fuel Quality Directive:

• 2013/01/25: EurActiv: Canada’s tar sands charm offensive hits the rocks
• 2013/01/23: OilChange: Canadians Continue to Undermine EU Climate Effort
  Climate Change is a threat multiplier exacerbating existing conflicts in food, energy, water, race, resources, religion, ideology … etc.:
• 2013/01/22: GaianEcon: Of Resources and the Origins of War
  The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:
• 2013/01/22: Reuters: Canadian resource firms step up legal fight against green groups
  What are the activists up to?
• 2013/01/23: TP:JR: Climate Patriotism: Sierra Club Endorses Civil Disobedience For First Time In Its History
• 2013/01/24: TreeHugger: Sierra Club’s Board of Directors Endorses Act of Peaceful Civil Disobedience
• 2013/01/23: FDL: Sierra Club Will Engage In Civil Disobedience To Fight Climate Change
• 2013/01/24: LoE: Greenpeace big splash in the Daily Telegraph
• 2013/01/23: CPW: Sierra Club to engage in civil disobedience to stop Canadian tar sands
• 2013/01/26: CCP: Tar sands oil opponents march in Portland
• 2013/01/22: CCP: Sierra Club to Engage in Civil Disobedience for the First Time in Organization’s History to Stop Tar Sands
  Polls! We have polls!
• 2013/01/23: EnvEcon: What does the public think about climate change?
• 2013/01/22: TheConversation: Climate of doubt: what Australians think about climate change
  There is growing evidence that public opinion about climate change is shifting over time. In many countries, surveys reveal that people are becoming less worried, and in some cases more sceptical about climate change, even while awareness of climate change is increasing.
• 2013/01/22: TheHill:BR: Poll shows country split on climate change
  Regarding Water Politics and Business:
• 2012/05/10: CoB: The Price of Water 2012: 18 Percent Rise Since 2010, 7 Percent Over Last Year in 30 Major U.S. Cities
• 2013/01/21: Eureka: Cotton with special coating [PNIPAAm] collects water from fogs in desert
  And on the American political front:
• 2013/01/23: ICN: Boulder Likely to Adopt Its Own Green Utility — and Risks of Going Solo
• 2013/01/24: TP:JR: Fewer Swords, More Plowshares: A Marine Rethinks National Security And The Threat From Unsustainability
• 2013/01/26: JFleck: Jerry Brown: all in on #cawater
• 2013/01/17: GreenLeft: We Kid You Not: More Republicans believe in demonic possession than climate change
• 2013/01/22: CSM: Virginia governor proposes fee for hybrids, electric cars
• 2013/01/23: al Jazeera: The fears of fearless white men
  From global warming to gun safety, status loss trumps all else in the ‘white male effect’.
• 2013/01/22: PSinclair: Ben Franklin, an Al Gore for his Time
• 2013/01/21: DeSmogBlog: They BuyPartisan: ExxonMobil Donates $260,000 to Obama Inauguration
• 2013/01/24: FP: You Can’t Change the Climate from Inside Washington by Theda Skocpol
• 2013/01/21: Resilience: Drought Fuels Water War Between Texas and New Mexico
  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:
• 2013/01/26: NatureN: Dirty blizzard buried Deepwater Horizon oil — One-third of oil from 2010 spill may be mixed with sea-floor sediments
  Post-Sandy commentary and news:
• 2013/01/25: TP:JR: As The Music Stops For Superstorm Sandy Funding, NOAA Left Without A Chair
• 2013/01/21: Yahoo:AP: Should worst-flooded areas be left after Sandy? Superstorm Sandy renews rebuild-vs.-retreat debate in chronically storm-damages areas
• 2013/01/24: CSM: Polar air takes toll on Superstorm Sandy survivors
• 2013/01/20: CSW: Climate change preparedness “Guardian of Gotham”
  The Keystone XL saga grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:
• 2013/01/25: Grist: After Nebraska setback, greens regroup on Keystone XL
• 2013/01/25: CBC: Kerry unlikely to block Keystone XL, experts say
• 2013/01/24: ICN: John Kerry Says He’ll Control Keystone XL Review as Secretary of State
• 2013/01/24: TreeHugger: Will Obama Approve Keystone XL? Tracking the Latest Speculation
• 2013/01/24: ICN: John Kerry Divests Oil Sands Holdings In Suncor, Cenovus
• 2013/01/24: ICN: Kerry to Field Keystone XL, Other Questions from Panel He Chairs
• 2013/01/23: TheCanadian: Keystone XL Pipeline Clears Another Hurdle as Nebraska Senate Clears New Path
• 2013/01/23: OilChange: Pro-Keystone XL Letter Dripping in Fossil Fuel Money
• 2013/01/23: CSM: Keystone XL pipeline: Nebraska’s approval puts Obama in a bind
• 2013/01/23: TStar: Climate change has to be part of Keystone pipeline debate
• 2013/01/23: TheHill:e2W: Freshman Dem senators quickly join Keystone pipeline push
  Two freshman Senate Democrats have jumped into the fight over the Keystone XL oil pipeline, joining seven other Democrats and dozens of Republicans in pressuring President Obama to approve the project. Freshman Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) both backed the proposed pipeline well before they arrived in the Senate.
• 2013/01/23: CCP: Senators who signed pro Keystone XL dripping with dirty oil money — $27.5 million dirty dollars
• 2013/01/23: CBC: 53 U.S. senators urge approval of Keystone XL pipeline
• 2013/01/22: Reuters: State Department delays Keystone pipeline decision
• 2013/01/22: CSM: Keystone XL pipeline approved by governor, now in Obama’s hands
• 2013/01/22: USA Today: Nebraska governor approves Keystone pipeline
• 2013/01/22: CBC: Nebraska OK’s alternate Keystone XL route — New plan would divert pipeline around sensitive Sandhills ecosystem
• 2013/01/22: Guardian(UK): Obama under pressure after Nebraska governor signs off on Keystone XL
• 2013/01/22: DeSmogBlog: Keystone XL North: TransCanada’s Controversial Shale Gas Export Pipeline Plan
• 2013/01/21: BBC: A decision on the XL pipeline could define Obama’s green agenda
  The GOP War on Women continues. See also:
• 2013/01/24: HuffPo: New Mexico Bill Would Criminalize Abortions After Rape As ‘Tampering With Evidence’
  A Republican lawmaker in New Mexico introduced a bill on Wednesday that would legally require victims of rape to carry their pregnancies to term in order to use the fetus as evidence for a sexual assault trial. House Bill 206, introduced by state Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R), would charge a rape victim who ended her pregnancy with a third-degree felony for “tampering with evidence.”
• 2013/01/24: DemNow: After Tiller: 40 Years Since Roe v. Wade, Abortion Providers Continue Work of Slain Kansas Doctor
• 2013/01/25: FAIR: ‘Divided’ on Abortion Rights?
• 2013/01/26: al Jazeera: Anti-abortion march held in US capital
  Demonstrators march on the US Supreme Court to protest [Roe vs. Wade] a landmark decision made 40 years ago that legalised abortion.
• 2013/01/24: TMoS: Legislator (Female) Wants Jail Time for Rape Victims Who Abort
• 2013/01/22: Salon: Support for abortion rights at an all-time high
  A majority of Americans say Roe v. Wade should stand. Now activists on both sides are shifting strategies
• 2013/01/23: al Jazeera: America is not as ‘divided’ on abortion as you think
  Despite claims to the contrary, polls show that Americans from all political parties are overwhelmingly pro-choice.
• 2013/01/22: al Jazeera: Making women the actor in the abortion story
  Forty years on after Roe v Wade, it is imperative we challenge the women-as-victim narrative.
• 
  The NorthWest coal export debate remains heated:

• 2013/01/22: TP:JR: Governor Inslee Calls Coal Exports ‘The Largest Decision We Will Be Making As A State From A Carbon Pollution Standpoint’
• 2013/01/09: Stranger: Stop the Coal Trains
  Everybody knows that coal trains are bad for our health, our economy, and our planet. So how do we stop them?
• 2013/01/22: Grist: Big Coal to meet its fate in tiny Northwest town
  Lots of chatter about BHO’s inaugural speech. Let’s see what he actually does:
• 2013/01/24: CSW: What does Obama mean by “Sustainable Energy”?
• 2013/01/23: CJR: Climate policy, act two — Reactions to Obama’s second inaugural overlook Skocpol report
• 2013/01/23: TheConversation: Inauguration speech a real source of climate change hope
• 2013/01/23: ABC(Au): Rhetoric easy, action harder for Obama on climate change
• 2013/01/23: CCurrents: Obama Is “Coming Out” on Climate Change
• 2013/01/22: SciAm: What Can Obama Do about Climate Change?
  Pres. Obama seemed to signal in his inaugural address that climate change would become a greater priority in his second term, but his goals remain unclear
• 2013/01/22: Grist:Climate change and the cult of the presidency
• 2013/01/22: TreeHugger: Obama Mentions Climate, But Action Depends On Us
• 2013/01/22: CSW: “We will respond to the threat of climate change” – Looking ahead from the Inaugural Address
• 2013/01/21: NYMag: Obama’s Second Term Not Really Up to Him
• 2013/01/22: EUO: Obama to focus on climate change
• 2013/01/21: NYT: Climate Change Prominent in Obama’s Inaugural Address
• 2013/01/22: WtD: Obama on climate: “some may deny the overwhelming judgement of science”
• 2013/01/22: PSinclair: Why I Believe Obama on Climate
  [...]
  If he approves the Keystone pipeline in coming months, I’m well aware I’ll have to revisit and perhaps eat these words.
  But I have kids.
  I have to believe that, with a critical mass of a newly awakened citizenry at his back, the President can and will do what he says.
  One thing’s for sure. He won’t be able to do it unless we stop taking sour cheap shots, get behind him and push like our planet depended on it.
• 2013/01/25: PSinclair: Why I Trust Obama on Climate — Part 2
• 2013/01/22: SciAm:PI: A New Presidential Term for Climate Change
• 2013/01/22: UCSUSA:B: President Obama’s Second Inaugural Address and Self-Executing Truths
• 2013/01/22: RTCC: Obama reaction: Sierra Club, WWF & scientists on climate pledge
• 2013/01/21: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: President Barack Obama on Climate Change
• 2013/01/21: TheHill:e2W: Climate change featured prominently in Obama’s second inaugural address
• 2013/01/21: ClimateShifts: Climate Change Given Prominence in Obama’s Address
• 2013/01/21: Tamino: Game On. Obama Throws Down the Challenge on Climate Change
• 2013/01/21: Guardian(UK): Obama inaugurates renewed energy on climate change
• 2013/01/21: Guardian(UK): Climate change moves to forefront in Obama’s second inaugural address
• 2013/01/21: Guardian(UK): How serious is Barack Obama about climate change?
• 2013/01/21: PSinclair: Obama Throws Down on Climate
• 2013/01/21: TP:JR: Obama Goes Hawkish: Failure To Respond To Threat Of Climate Change, ‘Would Betray Our Children And Future Generations’
• 2013/01/21: Grist: Obama: ‘We will respond to the threat of climate change’
• 2013/01/21: RTCC: Obama calls on US to seize opportunity of clean energy revolution
  US President Barack Obama made climate change a central theme of his inauguration speech today calling for business to embrace a green revolution.
• 2013/01/21: OilChange: The Time to Act on Climate is Now, Mr. President
  Now that Obama doesn’t need their vote any more, how will Obama treat liberals and their policy issues?
• 2013/01/25: Grist: From words to deeds: How to push Obama toward climate action
• 2013/01/24: CCP: Obama DOE Fracked Gas Export Study Contractor’s Tobacco Industry Roots
• 2013/01/24: TheHill:e2W: Democrats send wish list to Obama for executive action on climate change
  Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on Thursday outlined a slate of climate change actions that President Obama could execute with his own authority.
• 2013/01/24: WaTimes: Obama won’t propose carbon tax — EPA to expand emission rules to existing power plants
• 2013/01/23: DailyCaller: Carney rejects carbon tax proposal
  White House spokesman Jay Carney Jan. 23 deflated environmentalists’ hope of a major federal program to counter climate change, by declaring that the “we have no intention of proposing a carbon tax.”
• 2013/01/22: GreenGrok: Climate Change Change Gonna Come?
• 2013/01/22: Guardian(UK): Can Obama make defeating climate change his legacy?
• 2013/01/22: TP:JR: White House: “We Are Going To Achieve The President’s Goal Of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions By 17 Percent By 2020″
• 2013/01/21: DD: Joe Biden to climate activists: ‘Keep the faith’ – ‘There is science in the White House’
• 2013/01/21: TP:JR: Climate Silence Lives: White House Insists Mayors’ Discussion Of Climate Change Occur ‘Behind Closed Doors’
• 2013/01/20: CCP: U.S. mayors focus on ‘local warming,’ urge Obama to act
  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:
• 2013/01/25: Grist:Where Obama’s new chief of staff stands on climate change
• 2013/01/24: GreenGrok: Who Will Succeed Lisa Jackson at EPA?
• 2013/01/21: ICN: Obama Administration Again Delays Proposed Fracking Rule
  The Interior Department is again delaying a proposed rule that would require companies drilling for oil and natural gas on federal lands to publicly disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations.
• 2013/01/21: ICN: E.P.A. Extends Deadline for Navajo [coal] Plant’s Pollution Controls
  As for what is going on in Congress:
• 2013/01/24: CSM: John Kerry: Global climate change is threat to US
• 2013/01/24: TP:JR: Waxman-Whitehouse-Markey Lead Charge for Climate Action
• 2013/01/22: TheHill:OtM: Boehner: GOP to focus on debt, not immigration or climate
• 2013/01/22: TP:JR: GOP Declares War On Democratic Senators Who Won’t Betray Our Children And Future Generations
• 2013/01/21: DD: US climate fears mount, but political action wanes – ‘We still do not see any prospect for major legislation in Congress’
• 2013/01/21: SciAm:CW: Monday morning levity: Louisiana senator asks if E. coli evolve into persons
  What are the lobbyists pushing?
• 2013/01/22: ICN: Unlikely Firms Bring Clout and Cash to Clean Energy Lobbying Effort
  While in the UK:
• 2013/01/24: EurActiv: Climate policy could be ‘collateral damage’ of UK exit from EU
  Fears are growing in Brussels that climate policy could become a political football in any referendum on EU membership, following British Prime Minister David Cameron’s declaration of intent yesterday (23 January) to hold an in/out poll.
• 2013/01/24: BBC: Ireland to build ‘giant’ wind turbines to power UK homes
  UK and Irish ministers will today sign an agreement that could see some of the world’s largest wind turbines built across the Irish midlands.
• 2013/01/24: BBerg: U.K. to Import Electricity From Irish Clean Energy Plants
• 2013/01/21: Guardian(UK): Boris Johnson says snow casts doubt on climate change science
  The mayor of London uses his Telegraph column to signal to the Conservative party’s right-wing that he is their man
• 2013/01/21: SkS: Open Letter to London Mayor Boris Johnson – Weather is not Climate by dana1981
• 2013/01/21: CarbonBrief: Climate scientists on Boris Johnson’s climate whiff-whaff
• 2013/01/21: RTCC: [London Mayor] Boris Johnson casts doubt on climate change science
  And in Europe:
• 2013/01/25: EurActiv: World Bank, MEPs call for climate-oriented EU budget
  Governments must rally to make sure the EU’s next long-term budget is geared towards curbing climate change, said an envoy from the World Bank and European lawmakers, warning that the globe was on track for a 4°C temperature rise.
• 2013/01/25: EurActiv: MEPs back a less green, more ‘flexible’ CAP
  The European Parliament’s agriculture committee has voted to weaken key environmental proposals made by the European Commission while agreeing to reduce subsidies to big farms. These and other proposals will be considered by the full Parliament in March.
• 2013/01/24: EurActiv: CAP reform far from a done deal
  The European Parliament’s agricultural committee began adopting dozens of amendments to the EU’s future farm policy on Wednesday (23 January), but approval remains far from certain when the full Parliament considers compromise proposals in March.
• 2013/01/24: EUO: EU law to create market for electric cars
• 2013/01/24: RTCC: Electric car industry boosted by EU’s rapid rollout plans
  The EU has given a massive boost to the electric car market by issuing binding targets for the installation of charging points to its 27 member states.
• 2013/01/23: EurActiv: US ‘shale boost’ provokes EU fears and indecision
  A US industrial boost following its ability to tap abundant shale gas reserves is provoking fears that imperilled energy-intensive European businesses will find it harder than ever to compete.
• 2013/01/24: BBC: Farm double payments clear hurdle
  Farmers could be paid twice for measures to protect the environment under a European Parliament deal. The Agriculture Committee agreed that EU rules forbidding double payments should be waived to help farmers. Green campaigners say the vote is a scandal and must be over-turned by the full Parliament and member states. The motion was passed because many MEPs want to shield farmers’ incomes from the Commission’s planned reform of the costly Common Agricultural Policy.
• 2013/01/23: Grist: Will Germany banish fossil fuels before the U.S.?
• 2013/01/24: Guardian(UK): EU referendum: Climate efforts could be ‘collateral damage’, warn MEPs
• 2013/01/23: LoE: End ecocide in Europe
• 2013/01/22: EurActiv: Industry claims EU climate laws are squashing recovery
  Heavy industries claim to be unfairly hit by rising energy prices caused by the EU’s climate policies. But manufacturers are simultaneously being accused of profiteering from the bloc’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) amidst controversy over the real impact of climate policies on industrial activity.
• 2013/01/21: BBC: Farmers could get paid twice over for ‘greening’
  Plans to force Europe’s farmers to earn their subsidies by protecting the environment are under attack by MEPs. The European Commission is attempting to reform the EU’s agriculture policy, under which farmers get subsidies based on the amount of land they own. The Commission says part of their subsidy should be tied to environmental benefits like, say, leaving a portion of arable land uncultivated. But many MEPs are fighting the proposed changes. And some are backing an amendment which would effectively see farmers get paid twice over for protecting the environment. Green campaigners say the double payment row is further sullying the reputation of the already-controversial Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
• 2013/01/21: EurActiv: Central Europeans restive over German renewables
  Three Central European policymakers – a civil servant, an academic and a business leader – lined up to question the EU’s renewables policy at a Brussels think tank last week, expressing concern over the instability of the German power grid.
• 2013/01/21: BBerg: EU Parliament Industry Panel Verdict on Carbon Fix Due Jan. 24
  The European Parliament’s industry committee is scheduled on Jan. 24 to give its view about a plan to curb oversupply of carbon permits, according to an agenda of its meeting.
• 
  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2013/01/27: PlanetJ: Liberals Part 4: Australia has a legitimate government
• 2013/01/26: al Jazeera: The decay of Australia’s nuclear ethic
  Australia must use its new position in the UN Security Council to push for conciliation with Iran.
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Court to hear Wandoan coal objections
  The Supreme Court in Brisbane will hear a judicial review of the Queensland Government’s approval of a $7 billion coal mine in the state’s southern inland. A handful of farming families from Wandoan are fighting Xstrata’s proposal to build Australia’s biggest coal mine on their land.
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): NT investigates carbon farming potential
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Green light for [5 MW] solar farm near Koorlong
• 2013/01/23: UKISS: Our idiotic politicians — John Forrest
• 2013/01/23: ABC(Au): Wheatstone’s carbon emission restrictions waived
  The [WA] Environment Minister, Bill Marmion, has waived carbon emission restrictions for Chevron’s Wheatstone project in the Pilbara, rejecting independent recommendations.
• 2013/01/21: ABC(Au):TDU: After the fires, climate change debate rages on
  The fires and the heatwave that provoked them have inevitably reopened the debate on global warming and climate change, and it has brought out the sceptics and the deniers in plague proportions, writes Mungo MacCallum.
• 2013/01/22: TheConversation: Climate of doubt: what Australians think about climate change
• 2013/01/22: ABC(Au): Activists doubt river gas study
  The Lock the Gate Alliance has questioned the validity of a State Government investigation into gas seeping into a western Darling Downs river in the state’s south. The report found the gas, which is bubbling to the surface of the Condamine River, near Chinchilla, does not pose a threat to the environment or public health. The alliance says the gas is linked to nearby coal seam gas (CSG) wells. Secretary Sarah Moles says the Government has a vested interest in the CSG industry and cannot be trusted.
• 2013/01/22: ABC(Au): Step forward for ActewAGL solar farm
  ActewAGL will pursue plans for a large-scale solar farm south of Canberra after receiving environmental clearance.
• 2013/01/22: ABC(Au): New avenue for gas hub opponents
  Aboriginal families opposed to the Kimberley gas hub will have another chance to try and derail the project at a meeting in Broome next week.
• 2013/01/21: ABC(Au): Questions over bushfire response
  Criticism is mounting over the Tasmanian Government’s response to the state’s bushfire crisis.
• 2013/01/22: ABC(Au): Power demand down despite record heatwave
• 2013/01/21: ABC(Au): Thousands of Qld flood victims join possible lawsuit
  A large shale oil find in South Australia elicited hopes and doubts:
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au):TDU: SA’s black gold: big potential, long horizons
  Don’t get too excited by the discovery of oil under a vast swath of South Australia, says Alexis Clark. It’s too early to know whether the find is commercially viable, yet alone suggest Australia is on the cusp of energy independence.
• 2013/01/25: TheConversation:Can shale oil fuel Australia?
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Hype and caution on massive shale gas project
  The US shale oil industry claims that it can help deliver the United States from its dependence on external oil sources. Now the industry is floating some massive numbers about a shale oil project in South Australia. The company backing the project says the reserves could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): And up from the ground came a bubblin’ crude
  A mining company in South Australia says it’s found an oil field that’s big enough to turn the country from an oil importer, to an oil exporter. Miner Linc Energy has released two independent surveys, saying there’s up to 200 billion barrels of oil in a shale gas field near Coober Pedy.
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): Major oil discovery in outback SA
  Brisbane company Linc Energy says independent studies have confirmed a major shale oil source in the Arckaringa Basin in South Australia’s far north. The company says US-consultants have carried out drilling and geological and seismic surveys around Coober Pedy. Linc Energy holds rights over more than 65,000 square kilometres of land in the area and started explorations in 2008. In a statement to the Stock Exchange, the company said reports from US-based consultants indicate underlying rock formations “are rich in oil and gas prone kerogen.” The company says up to 233 million barrels of oil are estimated to be trapped in the shale.
• 2013/01/24: CBC: Australian shale oil discovery could be larger than Canada’s oilsands
  After years of wrangling the Murray Darling Basin plan is in place. Now the real fight begins:
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Meetings over environmental flows in ‘Bidgee
  Public meetings soon will discuss how to put more water down the Murrumbidgee River near Gundagai, to deliver flows under the Murray Darling Basin Plan. The New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage says it is working with Gundagai Shire Council, State Water and the Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority on ways to pass higher flows by either raising or replacing the current low level Mundarlo bridge.
• 2013/01/23: ABC(Au): GMW sued over cherry farm flooding
  Northern Victoria’s big rural water authority is being sued for millions of dollars by the owners of a cherry farm that was flooded two years ago. The January 2011 floods inundated huge areas of farmland in northern Victoria. Among the properties affected was a big cherry farm near Kerang. Three companies associated with the farm have launched legal action against Goulburn-Murray Water (GMW).
• 2013/01/23: ABC(Au): Premier says desal will ‘drought-proof’ Perth
  The Premier Colin Barnett has opened the second stage of the Southern Seawater Desalination plant near Binningup. The $450 million expansion will see the plant’s capacity doubled to 100-billion litres. Mr Barnett says that is about half of the metropolitan area’s water needs.
• 2013/01/23: ABC(Au): The rains are ‘ere!
  It’s not often a cyclone brings good news, but Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald has done exactly that for cane farmers in north Queensland who’ve been struggling with dry conditions. The ex-cyclone has turned into a tropical low 40 kilometres west to north-west of Cooktown and combined with the monsoon trough currently over the Coral Sea, it’s helping to dump heavy rain across the region. In the past 48 hours Tully has received 515 millimetres of rain, while some nearby areas recorded as much as 650 millimetres.
• 2013/01/22: ABC(Au): Town water supply critically low in Mungindi
  Mungindi residents have been placed on Level Five water restrictions after two-thirds of the village’s water supply was lost on Monday night.
• 
  While in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2013/01/26: CCurrents: Indian Farmers Trapped And Desperate
  Losing the will to live
  London : India has the largest number of smallholder farmers in the World, 600 million by some estimates. From this army of workers one impoverished desperate man, or indeed woman, with a noose of debt around their neck takes his or her own life on average every thirty minutes, A statistic barely comprehensible, representing the tidal wave of suicides that has swept through the farming community in the last 15 years. The agrarian crisis of which farmer suicides are a tragic consequence is a mega calamity, rooted in one fundamental cause,which P. Sainath (i) ,rural editor for The Hindu describes as ‘the drive towards corporate farming’, predicated by the “predatory commercialization of the countryside”, that is forcing “the biggest displacement in Indian history”.
• 2013/01/21: CCurrents: The Dream Of A Three Year Old
  And in China:
• 2013/01/24: ABC(Au): China closes down coal plant
  Chinese authorities have halted production at a huge coal-to-chemicals plant for breaching environmental regulations, as pollution levels rise again in Beijing. Environmental officials shut down the Shenhua Baotou factory in the country’s northern Inner Mongolia on Tuesday, media reports said.
• 2013/01/24: Guardian(UK): China says major pollutant levels dropping
• 2013/01/23: TheConversation: Deadly air: the smog shrouding China’s future
• 2013/01/22: BBC: China firms to invest $2bn exploring shale gas reserves
  China has stepped up its efforts to explore shale gas reserves as it looks to meet growing energy demand at home.
• 2013/01/21: AutoBG: Hyundai plant one of 100 factories shutting down in wake of Beijing pollution scare
  [...] the area’s children’s hospitals are receiving up to 10,000 patients per day with respiratory ailments.
• 2013/01/21: PSinclair: This is Not from the Remake of BladeRunner [Beijing smog]
  And South America:
• 2013/01/25: CBC: Clash at Canadian-owned Peru mine leaves at least 4 hurt
  Vancouver-based company involved in dispute with local officials over drilling at copper mine
• 
  In Canada, neocon PM Harper pushes petroleum while ignoring climate change:

• 2013/01/26: TMoS: EnviroCan Coddles Big Fossil
• 2013/01/24: NorRe: The Blue Eyed Sheiks
• 2013/01/24: Impolitical: A blog post that fits the icy weather
• 2013/01/21: iPolitics: Environment [minister Peter Kent] letter calls Postmedia reporter [Mike De Souza] an ‘activist’
• 2013/01/21: CBC: Government unprepared for CFL disposal fallout: report — Mercury in bulbs can cause major environmental harm
  A recent report from Environment Canada says the federal government is unprepared to deal with the challenges posed by the disposal of compact fluorescent lamps. Each CFL contains a small amount of mercury, which can add up to big environmental challenges when incandescent bulbs are phased out across Canada next January.
• 2013/01/21: DeSmogBlog: Retreat from Science: Interview with Federal Scientist Peter Ross Part 2 of 2
• 2013/01/17: AdBusters: #SwaggerNoMore — The time has come for all of us to get involved.
• 2013/01/21: CPW: Adbusters’ project to “take down Harper”: #SwaggerNoMore
• 2013/01/21: CBC: Progress slow on marine protection areas, [CPaWS] report finds
  A new report from an environmental group says the federal government is moving too slowly in setting aside marine areas for environmental protection. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society was urging Ottawa to have a network of 12 protected sites by the end of 2012. In its report released Monday, the group says that while that didn’t happen overall, progress is also too slow.
• 2013/01/21: PostMedia: Canada not ready to dispose of mercury-laden light bulbs — Few facilities exist to deal with compact fluorescent light bulbs
  Canada’s mercury-waste facilities are either patchwork or non-existent as millions of light bulbs containing the highly toxic chemical are set to flood the marketplace. That’s a key finding of a report commissioned by Environment Canada in the run-up to a major change in the way Canadians light their homes. Beginning next January, a new regulation will effectively ban the sale of standard incandescent bulbs in favour of energy-efficient versions, most of which contain mercury.
• 
  The IdleNoMore movement is changing:

• 2013/01/25: Rabble: ‘When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty’: Allies join Idle No More
• 2013/01/25: ITBM: Idle No More 2013 — His Feast: Her broken Fast by Rosanna Deerchild
• 2013/01/25: DeSmogBlog: Canadian Scientists Must Speak Out Despite Consequence, Says Andrew Weaver
• 2013/01/25: APTN: PM Harper believes Idle No More movement creating “negative public reaction,” say confidential notes
• 2013/01/24: iPolitics: Forget the polls — Theresa Spence changed things
• 2013/01/25: TStar: Tim Harper: Theresa Spence’s unfulfilling end to 44-day fast
• 2013/01/24: 350orBust: Chief Spence Ends Her Hunger Strike, But The Struggle Continues
• 2013/01/24: SaskBoy: Newspaper Comments Highlight Canadian Racism
• 2013/01/22: CCurrents: Fossil Fuel Intransigence and Idle No More
• 2013/01/23: CBC: Talks aimed at ending Spence’s hunger strike intensify
• 2013/01/23: WpgFP: Search for solution to Theresa Spence’s protest reaches critical point
• 2013/01/21: NatPo: Harper leaves no doubt: Governor-General will not be included in any future First Nations policy discussions
• 2013/01/21: CD: The Power of Idle No More’s Resurgent Radicalism
  A legal challenge to FIPPA? This could get interesting:
• 2013/01/23: CPW: Council of Canadians supports First Nations legal challenge to Canada-China investment treaty (FIPA)
• 2013/01/22: CBC: B.C. First Nation asks court to block Canada-China deal
  Hupacasath First Nation says Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Act guts resource rights
• 2013/01/21: WpgFP: First Nation wants Federal Court to stop ratification of Canada-China deal
  A B.C. First Nation has asked the Federal Court to stop Canada from ratifying an investment treaty with China until it and other bands have been consulted. In documents filed with the court in Vancouver, the Hupacasath First Nation said the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Act, or FIPPA, would gut its aboriginal right to resources subject to foreign investment. Councillor Brenda Sayers said Monday the band is seeking the injunction because Chinese investors would ultimately control major assets such as coal on its 232,000-hectare territory. She said extraction of resources by foreign firms would strip negotiating powers for First Nations such as hers, which are involved in the treaty process.
• 
  The Federal Liberal party leadership race is on:

• 2013/01/25: NorRe: Leading The Lemmings
• 2013/01/20: CO2Art: Proportional Representation? *check* Legalize and Tax Marijuana? *check* Carbon Tax? *check* Anyone But Harper Cooperation? *check* -Joyce Murray [Liberals]
  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:
• 2013/01/20: DeSmogBlog: 4000 Reasons Not to Build the Northern Gateway Pipeline
  And the Kinder Morgan expansion:
• 2013/01/22: CPW: Forest Ethics Responds to New Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion Proposal
  A Warning from Environment Canada:
• 2013/01/21: G&M: Dramatic temperature increases could threaten Canadian health, infrastructure
  Every community in the country is getting a new definition of “normal” weather. Environment Canada is rolling out updated benchmarks to reflect a rapidly changing climate. These adjusted figures for precipitation, temperature and other factors change the calculations for anyone trying to build a bridge, insure a house or predict mosquito season. In a best-case scenario, the adaptive cost is incremental and can be factored into planning; at worst, it could mean expensive cleanups as sewers back up and power lines fail. While applying new normals at Canada’s weather stations is not unusual (the 30-year rolling average is updated every decade), the degree of change this time is notable: Average temperatures are rising across the board, during winter most of all. In the past 65 years, Canada’s national average winter temperature has risen 3.2 degrees.
• 2013/01/22: TMoS: EnviroCan’s Blunt Warning
  The Pembina Institute is beating the energy policy drum:
• 2013/01/21: PI: [link to 426k pdf] Renewable Energy Opportunities in the Oil and Gas Sector
• 2013/01/22: PI: [link to 6.9 meg pdf] Competing in Clean Energy — Capitalizing on Canadian innovation in a $3 trillion economy
• 2013/01/22: PI: Report shows federal policy, access to capital major barriers to Canadian clean energy industry
• 2013/01/22: PostMedia: Report urges federal support for clean tech
  Energy strategy should be implemented to help hold off foreign competition, research suggests The federal government should create a national clean energy plan to stabilize the playing field and foster growth for emerging clean technology companies, says a report to be released Tuesday by the Pembina Institute, an Alberta-based research organization. Based on interviews with leading executives, entrepreneurs and academics, the report concluded that clean energy growth in Canada was at risk from foreign competition. But it said Canada could catch up to the rest of the world and increase the market share of its clean technology companies from $9 billion to $60 billion by 2020 by introducing the right financial tools and policies.
• 
  The ISA/PRV/IHN/Alpha virus in Canadian waters is potentially disastrous:

• 2013/01/21: AlexandraMorton: Salmon Feedlots – this was not a mistake
• 2013/01/23: TheCanadian: Cooke Aquaculture to Sell 240,000 Farmed Salmon Infected with ISA Virus
• 2013/01/25: TheCanadian: [Book Plug] _The Salmon Recipes: Stories of Our Endangered North Coast Cuisine_ edited by Luanne Roth
  In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?
• 2013/01/21: Tyee: Betting on Natural Gas Brings Public Concerns
  Will politicians vying to lead BC forthrightly address two key fears?
  Risk one: What if boom goes bust?
  Risk two: Fracking’s impacts
• 2013/01/17: Straight: Delta expansion projects threaten farms and wildlife
• 2013/01/17: TheCanadian: Delta ‘Monster Port’ Threatens Farmland, Wildlife
• 2013/01/23: TheCanadian: 749 Infractions from BC Private River Power Operations Unearthed
• 2013/01/24: WCEL: The case of the tankers and the missing insurance money
• 2013/01/22: CBC: B.C. developing polluter pays system for oil spills
  B.C. is developing a polluter pays system as part of an overhaul of its oil spill response policies, according to Environment Minister Terry Lake. Lake is meeting with industry officials in Vancouver on Tuesday to discuss how oil and hazardous materials spills should be handled in B.C.
• 2013/01/21: CBC: Chinese miner’s human rights complaint rejected
  Canadian Human Rights Commission rejects complaint from Tumbler Ridge mine worker The United Steelworkers Union says the Canadian Human Rights Commission has rejected a complaint filed last month by a Chinese worker at a coal mine in northern B.C.
• 2013/01/21: TheCanadian: Environment Still an Afterthought to BC Media in Election Run-up
  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:
• 2013/01/26: CCP: Tar sands oil opponents march in Portland
  People march down Commercial Street in Portland on Saturday to protest what they say is an emerging proposal to send tar sands oil from Canada through a pipeline to Portland harbor. Officials with the Portland Pipeline Corp., which owns the pipeline, says there is no existing proposal to send tar sands oil through the pipeline.
• 2013/01/25: EurActiv: Canada’s tar sands charm offensive hits the rocks
  A Canadian bid to persuade EU policymakers to soften proposed fuel quality laws has come unstuck, with one Canadian minister publicly disputing her government’s admission that tar sands are damaging Ottawa’s image abroad, and MEP’s complaining about “undiplomatic power plays”. Ottawa has intensely lobbied EU states for years over plans to tag oil from its highly-polluting tar sands – also known as oil sands – as more polluting than crude, under a stalled review of the Fuel Quality Directive, which sets a 6% emissions reduction target for transport fuels. An EU impact assessment intended to break the logjam is due out this spring, and two ministers from the Canadian province of Alberta are visiting 11 EU countries this month to make the case that tar sands use can help tackle climate change. But fallout from the ongoing row over the fuel’s environmental impact has been taxing minds in Ottawa, according to documents obtained by Friends of the Earth under access-to-information laws.
• 2013/01/23: SciAm: How Much Will Tar Sands Oil Add to Global Warming?
• 2013/01/23: TMoS: The Full Measure of High-Carbon Bitumen
• 2013/01/23: Grist: How to make gasoline from tar sands, in six simple steps
• 2013/01/23: Rabble: Ethical Enbridge? The real story of Line 9 and the tar sands giga-project
• 2013/01/23: BuckDog: “Canada Considering Nuclear Reactors in Alberta Tar Sands Fields”??
• 2013/01/22: DeSmogBlog: Oil Change International: The Coal Hiding in the Tar Sands
• 2013/01/22: BCLSB: Nukes In The Tar Sands: Deja Vu
• 2013/01/21: TreeHugger: It’s Time To Nuke the Tar Sands! (Again)
  Also in Alberta:
• 2013/01/25: CBC: Calgary judge OK’s $10M fine for company in Chad bribery case — Foreign bribery crime involving Griffiths Energy an ‘embarrassment to all Canadians’
• 2013/01/24: PostMedia: Redford and the blame game: the burst bitumen bubble batters Alberta finances
  Premier Alison Redford took eight minutes to deliver her televised fireside chat to Albertans Thursday night. She needn’t have taken so long.
  Two seconds would have sufficed to deliver the nub of her message: “It’s not my fault.”
  The province is facing a massive $6-billion drop in energy revenue, painful cuts to programs and services are on the way, and there’s no relief in sight. But don’t blame Redford or her government. She never actually said “it’s not my fault” but the message might as well have been flashing at the bottom of the screen throughout her address.
• 2013/01/25: CoC: Fracking review flawed, relies on industry information: Council of Canadians
• 2013/01/25: PostMedia: Alberta can’t rely on resource wealth to balance budget: Redford
  Alberta must tackle a “once in a generation” restructuring of its budget, Premier Alison Redford said Friday, saying the province can no longer rely on oil and gas windfalls to make up more than a quarter of its spending.
• 2013/01/24: CBC: Oilsands company fined $1.5M in Chinese workers’ deaths [in 2007] — 2 workers killed, 2 others injured in workplace accident
• 2013/01/22: PostMedia: Alberta paying the price for relying too heavily on oil and gas revenue: economist
  Now that Dalton has quit, the Liberal leadership is in play and then probably an election:
• 2013/01/27: WpgFP: It’s a Wynne win as Ontario gets first female and openly gay premier
• 2013/01/26: CBC: It’s a Wynne-win for Ontario Liberals
• 2013/01/26: CBC: Kathleen Wynne, Ontario’s groundbreaker — On 3rd ballot, Wynne defeated Sandra Pupatello
• 2013/01/21: PSinclair: Ontario Phasing Out Coal
• 2013/01/21: BCLSB: Pupatello And Wynne Support Offshore Wind
  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:
• 2013/01/22: Reuters: Canadian resource firms step up legal fight against green groups
• 2013/01/23: iPolitics: Canada’s two new solitudes: one wealthy, one wanting
• 2013/01/22: SaskBoy: Climate Change Is Here [misc]
• 2013/01/22: DClimenhaga: With no market for hate and right-wing drivel, Sun News comes cap in hand for public subsidy
• 2013/01/21: PEF: GHG Cap & Trade
  The movement toward a long term ecologically viable economics is glacial:
• 2013/01/24: CCurrents: What Is ‘Socialist’ About ‘Green Socialism’?
• 2013/01/21: CCurrents: The Precautionary Principle
• 2013/01/23: Rabble: Time for a paradigm revolution: Seeking an alternative to neoliberalism
• 2013/01/21: CassandrasLegacy: Ugo Bardi speaks about limits to growth
  IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:
• 2013/01/22: RawStory: ‘Population Bomb’ scientist: ‘Nobody’ has the right to ‘as many children as they want’
  How are we going to deal with this mess?
• 2013/01/23: Yale360: Charting a New Course for The U.S. and the Environment
  After more than four decades as a leading environmentalist, Gus Speth is disillusioned with what has been accomplished. What’s needed now, he says in an interview with Yale Environment 360, is a transformative change in America’s political economy that will benefit both society and the planet.
• 
  How do the media measure up?

• 2013/01/26: CCP: U.S. media self-censors on Koch brothers’ secret manipulation of climate change news – Quelle surprise!
• 2013/01/26: TP:JR: WashPost And AP: Obama Is ‘Liberal’ Because He Agrees With Most Americans We Need More Climate Action
• 2013/01/26: Tamino: Where there’s a Will … theres a way to distort the truth
• 2013/01/25: QuarkSoup: Today’s Sea Level Stupidity: Las Vegas Review-Journal
• 2013/01/25: CSW: In Wall Street Journal op-ed, Bjorn Lomborg urges delay with misleading stats
• 2013/01/25: KSJT: Not Much Ink for ARkStorms that could wreck the West Coast, but Scientific American spells out the near-Noachian peril
• 2013/01/26: Rabble:CN: From quarks to quirk: A critical look at science journalism
• 2013/01/21: CJR: Science journalism’s great divide — Study finds pessimism in the West, optimism in the Global South
• 2013/01/25: CJR: Quinoa’s quagmire — One-sided Guardian article incites media scare
• 2013/01/25: FAIR: ‘Divided’ on Abortion Rights?
  While activists search for effective communication techniques:
• 2013/01/23: ASI: Slogan contest
• 2013/01/22: Guardian(UK): Could Green Ninja become the new Captain Planet?
  Here is something for your library:
• 2013/01/26: JapanTimes: How Kan-do attitude averted the meltdown of Japan
  [Book Discussion] _My Thoughts as Prime Minister on the Tepco Fukushima Nuclear Plant Accident_ by former Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan.
• 2013/01/25: MoJo: A Quick, Awesome Must-Read on Climate Change
  [Book Plug] _What We Know About Climate Change_ by Kerry Emanuel
• 2013/01/25: TheCanadian: [Book Plug] _The Salmon Recipes: Stories of Our Endangered North Coast Cuisine_ edited by Luanne Roth
• 2013/01/26: Resilience: Excerpts from the Webs of Varok (New sci-fi book about a steady-state economy)
• 2013/01/22: GLaden: [Book Plug] _Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis: Volume 1 – The Physical Climate_ by John Cook & Tom Farmer
• 2013/01/21: Guardian(UK): Dieter Helm’s Carbon Crunch left me frustrated and disappointed
  [Book Review] _The Carbon Crunch: How We’re Getting Climate Change Wrong – and How to Fix it_ by Dieter Helm
• 2013/01/21: SciAm:CC: Why I Want My Students to Read Jared Diamond’s Latest Blockbuster, Part II
  [Book Plug] _The World Until Yesterday_ by Jared Diamond
• 
  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2013/01/24: PSinclair: Masters, Mann, Hayhoe, Douglas: 2012 Review – 2013 Outlook
• 2013/01/24: Moyhu: SST – the 3D movie
• 2013/01/25: ASI: New PIOMAS vid
• 2013/01/25: PSinclair: Report from Down Under: Everything Was on Fire, Everywhere…
• 2013/01/27: Moyhu: SST movies – ENSO, ice
• 2013/01/26: SkS: Video on Climate Change Lines of Evidence by the National Academy of Science
• 2013/01/22: PSinclair: Paul Douglas on Winter Cold, Jet Stream, and Hot Chocolate
• 2013/01/21: PSinclair: Ontario Phasing Out Coal
  Meanwhile among the ‘Sue the Bastards!’ contingent:
• 2013/01/25: ABC(Au): Court to hear Wandoan coal objections
• 2013/01/23: ABC(Au): GMW sued over cherry farm flooding
• 2013/01/22: SF Gate: Wyoming judge hears fracking disclosure case
• 2013/01/22: BBerg: EPA Soot-Screening Rule Thrown Out by U.S. Appeals Court
  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t have authority to waive mandatory tests intended to determine whether projects at large power plants would increase soot pollution, a federal appeals court ruled. Regulations challenged by the Sierra Club, which allow some power plants and other industrial facilities to avoid testing, violate the intent of the Clean Air Act, Circuit Judge David Sentelle wrote for a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. The court today also struck down the authority of the EPA to issue waivers for monitoring soot before construction to establish a baseline on pollution for future testing.
• 2013/01/24: AutoBG: Massachusetts dealers appeal ruling in Tesla store case
• 2013/01/25: NYT: Court Overturns E.P.A.’s Biofuels Mandate
  A federal appeals court threw out a federal rule on renewable fuels on Friday, saying that a quota set by the Environmental Protection Agency for incorporating liquids made from woody crops and wastes into car and truck fuels was based on wishful thinking rather than realistic estimates of what could be achieved. The ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia involved a case brought by the American Petroleum Institute, whose members were bound by the 2012 cellulosic biofuels quota being challenged.
• 2013/01/22: Reuters: Supreme Court won’t hear challenge to EPA rulemaking
  The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to consider reducing the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to set air quality standards, leaving intact a tough new limit on sulfur dioxide emissions in a victory for the Obama administration.
• 
  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2013/01/25: DeSmogBlog: Renewable Energy Capacity Surging, But America Betting On Shale Gas
• 2013/01/20: CSM: The right way to fail in cleantech
• 2013/01/20: Resilience: Political transformation in the age of energy scarcity
  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?
• 2013/01/25: Grist: Solar power cheaper than coal: One company says it’s cracked the code
• 2013/01/22: TP:JR: Wind Beats Out Natural Gas To Become Top Source Of New Electricity Capacity For 2012
• 2013/01/21: FuturePundit: Biofuels Seen As Inferior To Solar Panels For Car Power
  Hey! Let’s contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It’ll be a fracking gas!
• 2013/01/22: SF Gate: Wyoming judge hears fracking disclosure case
  A judge heard arguments Tuesday over whether Wyoming regulators should empower the public to look up the ingredients in the chemical products used for hydraulic fracturing, the petroleum industry practice that splits open oil and gas deposits with pressurized water.
• 2013/01/25: CoC: Fracking review flawed, relies on industry information: Council of Canadians
• 2013/01/22: NPR: Tracing the Culprit if Fracking Pollutes Water Supplies
  Scientists are developing ways to add non-toxic tracers to drilling fluid so if groundwater is contaminated, investigators would be able to pinpoint if an oil or gas drilling operation was to blame.
• 2013/01/22: 350orBust: Oil & Gas Consultant: “No Healthy Community On the Planet Would Allow Hydraulic Fracking”
• 2013/01/21: CornellSun: Fracking Fight in Tompkins County Intensifies
  Bringing the region’s concerns over hydraulic fracturing to fever pitch, the Tompkins County Legislature slammed the state last week for purportedly failing to be transparent as it moves to regulate ‘fracking’ in New York.
• 
  On the gas and oil front:

• 2013/01/25: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot….113.28
  WTI Cushing Spot…..95.88
• 2013/01/23: CSM: Oil prices are still high. Ten reasons that’s a problem
• 2013/01/23: Resilience: U.S. rig count for oil and gas and future economic growth
• 2013/01/24: BBC: Ukraine has signed a major shale gas deal with Royal Dutch Shell – a move seen as an attempt by Kiev to reduce its dependency on Russian gas imports
• 2013/01/22: CSM: Oil and climate change in the age of energy scarcity
• 2013/01/20: OilDrum: Tech Talk – Miles Driven, Gas Used, and OPEC Projections
• 2013/01/21: CSM: Energy politics: Who really leads the world in oil?
  Marvelous. Now the USA can have their own Mechanical Mordor:
• 2013/01/22: TreeHugger: What Wastes Enough Energy to Power 2.5 Million Cars and Can be Seen From Space?
  A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?
• 2013/01/22: CER:RRapier: The Amazing Reversal of the US Oil Industry
  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:
• 2013/01/21: Reuters: Peak oil and other fallacies: John Kemp
  Biofuel bickering abounds:
• 2013/01/25: NYT: Court Overturns E.P.A.’s Biofuels Mandate
• 2013/01/25: BBC: Sugar-rich willow can boost biofuels’ green credentials
• 2013/01/22: UCSUSA:B: The Coming Fork in the Road for Biofuels
• 2013/01/21: ABC(Au): Scientists mimic plants to make zero-carbon fuel
  The answer my friend…:
• 2013/01/21: NewScientist: Wind power delivers too much to ignore
  Although aesthetic concerns need to be heard, qualms about wind’s reliability are wide of the mark, argues energy policy researcher Reg Platt
• 2013/01/22: TreeHugger: December 2012 Saw Record-Breaking 5.5 GW of New Wind Power in US
  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:
• 2013/01/23: AutoBG: VW starts up largest solar park at US auto factory in Chattanooga, TN
• 2013/01/23: NBF: China will ramp up synthetic gas from coal perhaps to 35% of total gas supply by 2020
• 2013/01/24: CSM: ‘Solar Mamas’: Barefoot College women turn on the lights in off-grid villages
• 2013/01/17: Aalto: Black silicon can take efficiency of solar cells to new levels
• 2013/01/22: TP:JR: Solar Panel Prices Continue ‘Seemingly Inexorable Decline’
  The nuclear energy controversy continues:
• 2013/01/22: WNN: First criticality for Hongyanhe unit
• 2013/01/22: EneNews: NYTimes: ‘Prophetic’ warning of Fukushima-type nuclear disaster
• 2013/01/22: CCurrents: Questions On The Rooppur Nuclear Deal Between Russia And Bangladesh
  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:
• 2013/01/21: ICN: New Federal Report Critical of Hanford Nuke (waste treatment) Plant Work
  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:
• 2013/01/21: NatureN: South Korea makes billion-dollar bet on fusion power — Reactor to be built in 2030s represents a step towards commercial use
  More people are talking about the electrical grid:
• 2013/01/27: TP:JR: Chicago Suburb Oak Park Joins International Solar-Powered Smart Grid Test
• 2013/01/25: Grist: Oak Park test drives a blackout-proof, solar-powered smart grid
  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:
• 2013/01/24: SciAm:Obs: Does Increased Energy Efficiency Just Spark Us to Use More?
• 2013/01/23: Grist:Why are greens so defensive about the rebound effect?
  Automakers & lawyers, engineers & activists argue over the future of the car:
• 2013/01/24: TP:JR: China Is Getting Into The Patent Game For Alternative-Energy Cars
• 2013/01/23: NBF: Hybrid Air system would have Emissions like a Plug in Hybrid and get 81.1 mpg
  As for Energy Storage:
• 2013/01/26: ABC(Au): Humble battery ‘deserves more research’
• 2013/01/23: ORNL: ORNL research paves way for larger, safer lithium ion batteries
• 2013/01/25: MWEN: With new battery hub, Chicago seeks to lead nation on electric vehicles
• 2013/01/17: Reuters: Belgium plans artificial island to store wind power
• 2013/01/23: NBC: Boeing’s battery woes could short-circuit e-cars
  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:
• 2013/01/24: RTCC: Unilever says waste is history for 50% of factories
• 2013/01/23: TP:JR: Ikea Doubles Renewable Energy Investments To Cut Costs
• 2013/01/22: BBerg: Ikea to Double Renewable Energy Investment by 2020
  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:
• 2013/01/25: Grist:2012 was a record year for worldwide crop insurance claims
  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:
• 2013/01/22: CCurrents: Turtles And Tomahawk Missiles, Together at Last? War is Not the Answer to Climate Change
  Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:
• 2013/01/25: TP:JR: January 25 News…
• 2013/01/24: TP:JR: January 24 News…
• 2013/01/23: TP:JR: January 23 News…
  Other (weekly) lists:
• 2013/01/26: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #4 by John Hartz
• 2013/01/24: Grist: Everything is awful
  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:
• 2013/01/23: QuarkSoup: Gordon Fulks PhD Physics, Gets Smacked
• 2013/01/23: NewAnthropocene: Are the Climate Sceptics Melting Away?
• 2013/01/23: DeSmogBlog: Dick Armey’s Tobacco Ties: The Early Years – Part 1
• 2013/01/24: DeSmogBlog: Dick Armey’s Long History of Working With Industry-Backed Groups – Part 2
• 2013/01/25: DeSmogBlog: FreedomWorks Continues Dick Armey’s Defense of Big Tobacco – Part 3
• 2013/01/23: HillHeat: Big Oil Starts 2013 With Sponsorship of Barack Obama and Huffington Post
• 2013/01/23: Grist: How to respond to people who say the cold weather disproves global warming
• 2013/01/24: DD: Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science – ‘Anonymous giving and unaccountable power is being exercised in the creation of the climate countermovement’
• 2013/01/25: TP:JR: Bjorn Legacy: Lomborg Urges Climate Inaction With Misleading Stats In Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal
• 2013/01/25: QuarkSoup: How They Lie (George Will edition)
• 2013/01/25: PSinclair: The Weekend Wonk: How Climate Deniers are Like Moon Landing Deniers
• 2013/01/26: WtD: The continuing Lomborg deception: the “skeptical” environmentalist latest cherry picked wall street journal article
• 2013/01/25: IBTimes: Koch Family Uses Fund To Channel Millions To Anti-Climate Science Groups: Report
• 2013/01/24: Independent(UK): Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science
  Audit trail reveals that donors linked to fossil fuel industry are backing global warming sceptics
• 2013/01/24: QuarkSoup: Another Contrarian Wrong About Sea Level
• 2013/01/24: QuarkSoup: More Gordon Fulks (PhD) Shenanigans
• 2013/01/25: DailyMail(UK): Revealed: Secretive funding organisation ‘providing millions to climate change counter-movement on behalf of fossil fuel industry’
  * Koch family operates fund that gave $4.5m to support climate change denial
  * Charles Koch ranked as the 45th most powerful person in the world
  * He runs Koch Industries, an oil, gas and chemical conglomerate
  * Fund set-up helps backers involved in fossil fuel industry to retain anonymity
• 2013/01/24: Independent(UK): How the ‘Kochtopus’ stifled green debate — Behind the climate ‘countermovement’ are two billionaire brothers
• 2013/01/26: DailyKos: Dollars for Deniers: Big Oil Funds Climate Science Denialism
• 2013/01/26: GLaden: Dollars for Deniers: Big Oil Funds Climate Science Denialism
• 2013/01/26: ERabett: The Web Page Editors Invite George Will to Bend Over and Cough
• 2013/01/22: NewAnthropocene: Monckton on the UN Ice Age
• 2013/01/21: ERabett: Jerry Ravetz, Roger Pielke Jr. and the Diggers Game
• 2013/01/20: ERabett: Reader Rabett
  This week in intimidation:
• 2013/01/23: KSJT: Are abusive blog comments altering readers’ perceptions of news on the web?
  Particularly clumsy astroturfers:
• 2013/01/25: DeSmogBlog: Mystery Company Posts Job Opportunity For Anti Wind Power Protesters
• 2013/01/25: PSinclair: WindBaggers hire “Grassroots” Anti Wind Activists: 20 Bucks a Head to Break Wind
• 2013/01/24: Grist:Cool job posting: Earn $20 pretending to hate wind energy
• 2013/01/24: TP:JR: Astroturf Gone Wrong: Fake Protesters Offered $20 To Stand At Anti-Wind Energy Rally
  As for climate miscellanea:
• 2013/01/23: P3: Jon Foley on why environmentalists disagree with each other
• 2013/01/24: Eureka: Climate change beliefs of independent voters shift with the weather, UNH study finds
• 2013/01/22: SciAm:GB: The Citizen Science of Climate Change: We are not bystanders
• 2013/01/22: OilChange: The No-Spin Zone on Climate Change
• 2013/01/24: RCN: Global warming less extreme than feared?
• 2013/01/25: BYU: The storm that never was: Why the weatherman is often wrong
• 2013/01/25: al Jazeera: Why should resource-based economies diversify?
  Despite its abundance of oil resources, Norway exhibits a viable management solution to the curse of the rentier state.
• 2013/01/25: SciAm:CS: Age of Miracles: What If Climate Change Were Sped Up?
• 2013/01/21: ArcticNews: Call for High-Level Risk Assessment
• 2013/01/25: GreenGrok: Climate Change Chatter [quotes]
• 2013/01/21: NYT: The Climate Change Endgame
• 2013/01/22: TreeHugger: David Attenborough Calls Humans a “Plague Upon the Earth”
• 2013/01/22: UMissouri: Public Acceptance of Climate Change Affected by Word Usage, Says MU Anthropologist — Better science communication could lead to a more informed American public
• 2013/01/22: OilChange: “We are in a car running off a cliff, and the car is running on oil”
• 2013/01/20: SciAm:LR: Making sugar from carbon dioxide: The Calvin Cycle
• 2013/01/20: TheCanadian: 10 Ways to See Earth’s Temperature Rising
• 2013/01/09: Onion: 2012 Was Once Considered Hottest Year On Record, Man In 2024 Remembers Wistfully
  And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:
• UMontana: Major reports on geoengineering grouped by year and ordered by month
• Greenland Melting
• USP Food Fraud Database
• RinkWatch, where backyard skating meets environmental science
• University of Colorado – Sea Level Research Group
• Circle of Blue WaterNews
• BOM: Australian Bureau of Meteorology
• Wiki: List of large volcanic eruptions
• CPaWS: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
• B-Corporation
• DEFRA(UK): NAEI: National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory
• Land Matrix – an online public database of large-scale land deals
• NASA:GSFC: ICESat & ICESat-2
• The Plant List – A working list for all plant species

Low Key Plug

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

A Simple Plea

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

-het

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

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

“It is really unbelievable that when we have insufficient food in our world that we give it to cars. I plead very openly, no food for fuel. Give the food to people but not to cars.” -Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Nestle Chairman

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

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