Another Week of Anthropocene Antics, May 26, 2013

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

skip to bottom

Chronicling a new Age of Consequences

May 26, 2013

• Chuckles, COP19+, GWSP, State of Nature, MAHB, Moore EF5, Otto
• Consensus , Warnings, Subsidies, Thermodynamics, Cook, Shrinkology
• Fukushima: Note, News, Policies
• Melting Arctic, Research Station, Methane, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food: Crisis, Fisheries, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Production
• Hurricanes, Notable Weather, Extreme Weather, GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Temperatures, Aerosols
• Paleoclimate, Solar, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Overshoot, Proxies, Volcanoes, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Desertification, Disease, Phenology
• Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Buildings, Geoengineering, Conservation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Free Science, Hansen, Wegman
• International Politics: UN, Carbon Trade, Hormuz, South China Sea, EU ETS & Airlines
• Rare Earths, Solar Spat, Security, Law & Activism, Activism, Divestment, Polls, H2O Biz, Groundwater
• National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Election, MDBP, India, China, Asia, South America
• Canada, Tory PR, Petcoke, Anti-Science, Boreal Forest Agreement, Liberals
• Northern Gateway, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Sask, Ontario, Quebec
• America, BP Disaster, Post Sandy, Keystone, Mayflower, Carbon Tax, Birth Control
• Sequestration, Smith, 2016, Obama, USAdmin, Congress, Lobbyists
• Ecological Economics, Apocalypso, Fixes, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, IEA, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Economy, Pipelines, Independence, Biofuel
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Fusion, LENR, Hydrogen, Grid, Efficiency, Cars, Energy Storage
• Business, FAQs, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Greenwashing, Misc., Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

 

More black humour in a climatic vein:

• 2013/05/25: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) Oklahoma Senators Coburn and Inhofe Explain Their Votes Against Disaster Aid
• 2013/05/22: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Heah come da Fudge
• 2013/05/22: SeppoNet: (cartoon - Seppo) Time to talk about bees and flowers
• 2013/05/24: RealClimate: The scientific debate on climate change
• 2013/05/20: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Northern Fishing
• 2013/05/19: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) Modern Farming
  

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2013/05/24: Wonkette: Tesla Motors Pays Back Gummint Loan 9 Years Early, Proving That Green Energy Is A Scam
• 2013/05/24: Wonkette: Nice Time! Florida Teen Who Constructed Hydrogen Bomb In School Sentenced To Space Camp
• 2013/05/22: DailyMash(UK): Britain to be physically removed from Europe
  

  Looking ahead to COP19 and future international climate negotiations:

• 2013/05/24: RTCC: Ashton: Help Obama sidestep Congress and sign UN climate deal
  World governments should help President Obama to circumvent domestic opposition to a global, binding deal on climate change, the UK's former climate change ambassador has said. John Ashton warned that US attempts to build support for the new 2015 UN climate treaty to be voluntary must be resisted. Instead diplomatic efforts should be made to "creatively" include the country in a legal agreement.
• 2013/05/22: Grist: Could a Chinese carbon cap pave the way for a global climate deal?
• 2013/05/22: TheConversation: Universal and useless? The 2015 global climate agreement
  

  The Global Water System Project released their Bonn Declaration on Global Water Security this week:

• GWSP: Global Water System Project
• 2013/05/24: GWSP: [link to 511k pdf] The Bonn Declaration on Global Water Security
• GWSP International Conference - Water in the Anthropocene
• 2013/05/24: Eureka: A majority on Earth face severe self-inflicted water woes within 2 generations: Scientists
  Bonn Declaration issued by 500 scientists at 'Water in the Anthropocene' conference
• 2013/05/24: TMoS: Of 9-Billion, More than Half will Endure Water Shortage
• 2013/05/24: Guardian(UK): Global majority faces water shortages 'within two generations'
  

  In the UK, several groups have compiled a (partial) State of Nature Report:

• 2013/05/22: RSPB: [links to several pdfs] State of Nature
  For the first time ever, the UK's wildlife organisations have joined forces to undertake a health check of nature in the UK and its Overseas Territories.
• 2013/05/22: RSPB: Sixty per cent of UK species in decline, groundbreaking study finds
• 2013/05/22: BBC: Wildlife stocktake highlights UK's most threatened species
  Some 60% of British animal and plant species have declined in the past 50 years, and one in 10 could disappear, a stocktake of UK nature suggests. The State of Nature report, compiled by 25 wildlife organisations - from the RSPB to the British Lichen Society - collates assessments of 3,148 species. It offers clues to the fate of the UK's 59,000 species.
• 2013/05/22: UKISS: Biodiversity problems in the UK
  

  And the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere released their Consensus Statement from Global Scientists:

• MAHB: Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere
• 2013/05/22: MAHB: [link to 7.6 meg pdf] Consensus Statement from Global Scientists
• 2013/05/22: MAHB: Consensus Statement from Global Scientists
• 2013/05/23: SMandia: Scientists' Consensus on Maintaining Humanity's Life Support Systems in the 21st Century
• 2013/05/24: P3: Maintaining The Earth in the 21st Century
  

  The EF5 in Moore, Oklahoma grabbed a lion's share of headlines this week:

• 2013/05/24: Resilience: Shelter from the Tornado
• 2013/05/23: BBC: Moore tornado: Thunderstorms hamper recovery
• 2013/05/23: CSM: How Moore, Okla., can cut through FEMA's red tape and build safer schools
• 2013/05/23: IndiaTimes: Giant freezer offers shelter from fury
• 2013/05/23: ABC(Au): Oklahoma tornado survivors return home and begin rebuilding their lives
• 2013/05/23: WSWS: The social disaster in Tornado Alley
• 2013/05/23: ABC(Au): More storms forecast for Tornado Alley
• 2013/05/23: BBC: Satellite view of tornado destruction
• 2013/05/22: BBC: Oklahoma tornado: Mayor of Moore pushes for shelter law
  The mayor of the tornado-devastated town of Moore in Oklahoma has vowed to push for a new law on shelters, after a huge twister there killed at least 24. Glenn Lewis said he would propose an ordinance requiring a reinforced shelter to be built in every new home.
• 2013/05/22: BBC: Oklahoma tornado: Insurance bill 'could top $2bn'
• 2013/05/22: Guardian(UK): Oklahoma rescuers wind up search and prepare for tornado clean-up
• 2013/05/22: CSM: For Oklahoma tornado survivors, shock follows storm
• 2013/05/22: RT: Schools devastated by Oklahoma tornado had no safe rooms
• 2013/05/22: RT: Killer tornado devastates Oklahoma [pic]
• 2013/05/22: al Jazeera: Living in Tornado Alley -- Oklahoma City is no stranger to twisters of devastating force
• 2013/05/22: al Jazeera: Moore tornado images
  Pictures of the aftermath following the massive tornado that destroyed a large part of Moore, Oklahoma in the US
• 2013/05/22: al Jazeera: US tornado damage could cost $2bn
  Oklahoma City mayor says up to 13,000 homes were destroyed or damaged and 33,000 people were affected.
• 2013/05/22: Wunderground: Moore Tornado an EF-5; $2 Billion Damage Estimate: 3rd Costliest Tornado in History
• 2013/05/21: DemNow: "The Unimaginable Has Happened": Massive Tornado Kills Dozens, Flattens Suburb of Oklahoma City
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Oklahoma tornado: authorities shift from rescue to recovery with all survivors believed found
  Rescue teams working in the tornado-struck suburbs of Oklahoma City believe they have located all the dead and missing after Monday's devastating storm. Authorities lowered the death toll to 24 overnight after initial fears 91 people had been killed. About 240 people were injured.
• 2013/05/22: BBC: Oklahoma tornado: 'You can rebuild homes, not people'
• 2013/05/22: WSWS: Lack of shelters a factor in Oklahoma tornado death toll
• 2013/05/22: IOTD: Tornado and Severe Thunderstorms Strike Oklahoma [on May 20th]
• 2013/05/21: NASA: Satellites See Storm System that Created Moore, Okla., Tornado
• 2013/05/21: CSM: Oklahoma tornado: Energy dodges a bullet
• 2013/05/21: Atlantic: Why Aren't There More Storm Cellars in Oklahoma?
• 2013/05/21: CSM: Oklahoma tornado: Where the financial relief will come from
• 2013/05/21: CSM: Oklahoma tornado heroes: Teachers saved kids' lives
• 2013/05/21: CSM: Oklahoma tornado was stronger than Hiroshima bomb: How?
• 2013/05/21: CSM: Oklahoma City tornado: more ways to help
• 2013/05/22: Xinhuanet: Aftermath of Oklahoma tornado [pix]
• 2013/05/21: NYT: Crews Search for Survivors in Oklahoma After Tornado
• 2013/05/21: KSJT: On the science of a very bad tornado
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Survivors pulled from Oklahoma tornado debris as death toll lowered
• 2013/05/21: ABC(Au): Massive tornado kills almost 100
• 2013/05/21: CNN: Weather Service: Damage in Oklahoma indicative of EF5 tornado - Death toll revised down to 24
• 2013/05/21: CNN: The day after, tornado survivors tell harrowing stories
• 2013/05/21: CNN: Terrified children, teachers' heroics, no shelter: Inside a tornado-ravaged school
• 2013/05/21: Wonkette: Uh Oh Someone Is Politicizing The Tornado In Moore, Time To Get The Pitchforks
• 2013/05/21: Wonkette: Good News! Massive Killer Tornadoes Just The Normal Kind, Not the Global Warming Kind
• 2013/05/21: Wonkette: A Profanity-Free Rebuttal To All The Poor Dears Whose Feewies Got Hurted When We Did The Tornados
• 2013/05/21: CDreams: Devastating Tornado Cuts Path of Death in Oklahoma
• 2013/05/21: P3: Oklahoma Tornado Relief
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Oklahoma tornado: Survivors share their stories
• 2013/05/21: BBC: US tornado rescue effort nears end
• 2013/05/21: BBC: Oklahoma tornado: [5] Before and after images
• 2013/05/21: Guardian(UK): Oklahoma rescuers comb wreckage for survivors in wake of savage tornado
  Officials searching through the rubble revise death toll in Moore down from 51 to 24, saying every home has been searched at least once
• 2013/05/21: Guardian(UK): Oklahoma tornado - in pictures
• 2013/05/21: Guardian(UK): Oklahoma tornado: is climate change to blame?
• 2013/05/21: Guardian(UK): Oklahoma governor says 237 people injured in tornado - as it happened
• 2013/05/21: RawStory: Sen. Inhofe: Aid for Oklahoma 'totally different' from Sandy relief requests
• 2013/05/21: Grist: Staggering time-lapse footage of the Oklahoma tornado
• 2013/05/21: UCSUSA:B: How the Science of Tornado Forecasting Saved Lives in Moore, Oklahoma -- and How We Can Do Better
• 2013/05/21: Wunderground: Violent Tornado Causes Catastrophic Damage in Moore, Oklahoma
• 2013/05/21: TreeHugger: What you need to know about the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma
• 2013/05/21: ABC(Au): Oklahoma searches for tornado survivors
• 2013/05/21: IndiaTimes: Oklahoma tornado: Many children among 91 feared
• 2013/05/21: ABC(Au): Oklahoma tornado: frantic search for survivors after Moore destroyed
• 2013/05/21: BBC: Oklahoma tornado disaster
• 2013/05/21: WSWS: Devastating tornado kills at least 91 in Oklahoma City
• 2013/05/21: al Jazeera: Massive tornado kills dozens in Oklahoma
  More than 50 people are dead after a powerful tornado - nearly 3km wide - swept through Oklahoma City in the US.
• 2013/05/21: PSinclair: Tornado Drought Officially Over
• 2013/05/20: Wunderground: Violent tornado devastates Moore, Oklahoma
• 2013/05/20: RScribbler: Two Mile Wide Tornado Obliterates Moore Oklahoma
• 2013/05/20: CSM: Tornado season off to a late but deadly start
• 2013/05/20: Cryptome: Moore, OK, Tornado
• 2013/05/20: BBerg: Death Toll Passes 90 After Oklahoma Tornado Hits Suburb
• 2013/05/20: BBC: Dozens killed in Moore, Oklahoma tornado
  At least 51 people have been killed after a huge tornado tore through the Oklahoma City suburbs, with the death toll likely to rise, the Oklahoma chief medical examiner's office has said.
• 2013/05/20: BBC: In pictures: Monster tornado hits Oklahoma
• 2013/05/20: BBC: 'Complete devastation' after "mile-wide" tornado
• 2013/05/21: ABC(Au): Oklahoma tornado live: Scores dead, more missing
• 2013/05/21: ABC(Au): In pictures: Huge tornado hits Oklahoma City
• 2013/05/20: Guardian(UK): Moore, Oklahoma tornado: seven children among 51 dead - live updates [preliminary rating EF-4]
• 2013/05/20: CNN: Tornado emergency for Oklahoma - Tornado tears through southern suburbs of Oklahoma City
  "The motion on this storm is sickening," says a storm chaser - The tornado is estimated to be at least two miles wide - 2 people are confirmed dead after a tornado tears through Shawnee, Oklahoma - "500,000 square miles under the gun for severe weather," a meteorologist says
• 2013/05/20: CDreams: 'Atomic Bomb-Like' Tornado Damage in Oklahoma - A mile-wide tornado
• 2013/05/20: Wunderground: Tornadoes Slam 5-State Area, Killing Two; Outbreak Continues Today
• 2013/05/20: CBC: Tornado outbreak hits 3 states -- 1 dead after twisters hit Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma
• 2013/05/20: al Jazeera: Powerful tornadoes lash US states
  Oklahoma and Kansas battered as weather service issues warning over "complete destruction" of homes and businesses.
• 2013/05/19: BBC: Oklahoma ravaged by deadly tornadoes
  At least one person is reported dead and several others injured by a series of tornadoes that have torn through the US state of Oklahoma
• 
  

  The Otto et al. paper on sensitivity drew comment, mainly because it almost sounded hopeful:

   

• 2013/05/19: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Energy budget constraints on climate response by Alexander Otto et al.
• 2013/05/24: ERabett: Memorial Day Puzzler
• 2013/05/23: ItsNotNova: Climate Sensitivity (the short of it)
• 2013/05/21: QuarkSoup: More Thoughts on Otto
• 2013/05/21: Guardian(UK): Matt Ridley has joined the real climate debate
• 2013/05/20: QuarkSoup: So How Much More Time Does Otto Give Us?
• 2013/05/20: JEB: More on that recent sensitivity paper
• 2013/05/20: JEB: A chink of light at the end of the tunnel?
• 2013/05/20: WtD: Stopped clocks, bad debts and climate sceptics: or why the latest paper on climate sensitivity does not vindicate the sceptics (nor suggests complacency)
• 2013/05/20: TP:JR: 'We Would All Like Climate Sensitivity To Be Lower But It Isn't' Says Lead Scientist Of New Study
• 2013/05/20: ABC(Au): Slow-down in warming, but long-term climate forecast unchanged
• 2013/05/20: ABC(Au): Slower warming 'may give climate reprieve'
• 2013/05/19: Reuters: Extreme global warming seen further away than previously thought
• 2013/05/20: ABC(Au): Global warming could be slower than first thought: report
• 2013/05/19: BBC: Climate slowdown means extreme rates of warming 'not as likely'
• 2013/05/19: Guardian(UK): Climate change meltdown unlikely but human disaster looms, claims new research
  But forecast global temperature rise of 4C heralds disaster for large swaths of planet with oceans absorbing most global warming
• 
  

  This Cook consensus paper will be batted around for some time:

   

• 2013/05/22: CSW: Quantifying, once again, the scientific consensus on human-caused global warming [Cook et al.]
• 2013/05/20: ERabett: A Rabett Exclusive
• 2013/05/20: VVenema: On consensus and dissent in science - consensus signals credibility
• 2013/05/20: SciAm:OI: The Overwhelming Odds Of Climate Change
• 2013/05/19: ERabett: Cross Tabs
  

  What do we have for warnings this week?

• 2013/05/25: DD: UN Secretary-General warns: 'Economic losses from disasters are out of control'
• 2013/05/23: PBS: The Odds of Disaster: An Economist's Warning on Global Warming
• 2013/05/20: CCurrents: Climate Crisis: Disaster Looms
• 2013/05/19: CDreams: Caribbean Scientist [Conrad Douglas] Warns of Climate Change Disaster
  

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

• 2013/05/23: RTCC: Indian MP [Kalikesh Singh Deo]: UK should ditch fossil fuel subsidies
  The UK needs to adopt more ambitious climate change targets and address its fossil fuel subsidies if it is to maintain its climate change leadership, an Indian MP has said.
• 
  

  Explicating the laws of thermodynamics...:

   

• 2013/05/19: CChallenge: Science of Doom - understanding the physics of global warming
  

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2013/05/25: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #21B by John Hartz
• 2013/05/23: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #21A by John Hartz
• 2013/05/23: SkS: On the value of consensus in climate communication
• 2013/05/23: SkS: Matt Ridley's misguided climate change policy by dana1981
• 2013/05/22: SkS: A Rough Guide to the Jet Stream: what it is, how it works and how it is responding to enhanced Arctic warming by John Mason
• 2013/05/21: SkS: 2013 SkS News Bulletin #13: Alberta Tar Sands and Keystone XL Pipeline by John Hartz
• 2013/05/21: SkS: Has the rate of surface warming changed? 16 years revisited by Kevin C
• 2013/05/20: SkS: Help close the consensus gap using social media by Matt Birdoff
• 2013/05/19: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly Digest #20 by John Hartz
  

  Various psychological angles arise in considerations of the ecological crisis:

• 2013/05/25: DD: Why happy people hide from climate change
  

  A note on theFukushima disaster:

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

•  

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

   

• 2013/05/26: IndiaTimes: UN expert urges help for Japan's 2011 nuclear power plant disaster victims
• 2013/05/26: ABC(Au): Nuclear Farming
  More than two years on from the massive earthquake and series of tsunamis that triggered the meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant, some Japanese farmers are returning to their fields, in an effort to rebuild their livelihoods.
• 2013/05/23: JapanTimes: Cesium levels in water, plankton baffle scientists
• 2013/05/22: UN: UN agency [IAEA] to open nuclear emergency preparedness centre in Fukushima
• 2013/05/22: JapanTimes: Researchers find high cesium in some Pacific plankton
• 2013/05/21: PostMedia: Hundreds outside Fukushima affected by Japanese nuclear disaster seek compensation
• 2013/05/21: EneNews: Tepco: M6 quake caused leak at Fukushima Daiichi -- Water coming from pipe of Units 5, 6
• 2013/05/20: EneNews: Japan Times: Discharges of Fukushima nuclear material into Pacific "have effectively contaminated the sea" - Melted reactor cores will burn again if water not perpetually poured in - "Tepco proposing some of it be dumped into ocean"
• 2013/05/21: JapanTimes: Fukushima No. 1 can't keep its head above tainted water
• 2013/05/20: JapanTimes: Rice planted in former no-go zone -- District in Tamura first to resume farming near Fukushima No. 1
• 2013/05/20: RT: Rice seeds sown in former Fukushima evacuation zone
  Farmers in Fukushima have started planting rice in the former radioactive no-go zone, as close as 15 km from the TEPCO plant which suffered a meltdown in March 2011. They intend to sell the grain for mass consumption. The first sowing was on Saturday in Tamura's Miyakojimachi district which had been part of the Fukushima evacuation zone- where locals are still banned from staying overnight. Three farms have plans to seed six hectares. Immediately following the accident, the area was completely sealed off, but day-visits without authorization became possible in April last year.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/05/22: TheConversation: Nuclear futures: Renewables blossom in Germany's post-nuclear vision
• 2013/05/21: Asia Times: Russia leads the way in post-Fukushima world
• 2013/05/21: PSinclair: Germany Continues to Export Power Despite Nuclear Exit
• 2013/05/20: NewScientist: We can let fission fizzle out in a renewable world
  If Germany can phase out nuclear power and still thrive, why would other nations pursue a uranium-fuelled future?
• 
  

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

   

• 2013/05/24: RScribbler: Greenland Melt Speeding Up; Northern Hemisphere Snow Cover Falling Below Average
• 2013/05/23: Dosbat: Summer Acceleration
• 2013/05/22: CBC: Arctic bacteria discovered breeding at record -15 C
• 2013/05/22: TP:JR: Widespread Greenland Melting To Become The Norm In Next Two Decades
• 2013/05/21: DD: Graph of the Day: Observed and modeled September Arctic sea ice extent, 1900-2100
• 2013/05/21: ASI: Arctic sea ice presentation template
• 2013/05/21: MODIS: Open water lead above Canada, Arctic Ocean
• 2013/05/21: IOTD: Ice in Motion
• 2013/05/20: Dosbat: The CT Area June Crash
• 2013/05/20: ASI: The Four Charts That Really Matter
• 2013/05/19: CCP: Jason Box: Greenland ice sheet mass budget theory with surface runoff, meltwater inflow, ice deformational flow and underwater glacial front melting
• 2013/05/16: G&M: Violent Arctic storm a climate-change 'harbinger,' study finds
  The Inuvialuit living in the Mackenzie Delta of the Northwest Territories watched incredulously in September of 1999, as a particularly violent storm swept the Arctic Ocean 20 kilometres inland, killing all vegetation in its path and leaving lakes infused with salt water. Local elders said nothing like it had ever happened in the known history of their people - and it turns out they were right.
• 
  

  The forced evacuation of the Russian Arctic Research Station is an iconic image:

   

• 2013/05/24: CDreams: Evacuation Ordered as Melting Ice Cracks Beneath Arctic Research Station
  Researchers running out of places to set up camp as Arctic ice melts at alarming rate
• 2013/05/24: DD: Russia to evacuate Arctic station over melting ice - 'No chance of surviving through this summer'
• 2013/05/24: Grist: Arctic base evacuated as ice dissolves beneath researchers' feet
• 2013/05/23: BBC: Russia to evacuate Arctic station over melting ice
• 2013/05/23: ERabett: Gone with the floe
• 2013/05/23: ASI: Russia abandoning ice station
  

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

• 2013/05/22: ArcticNews: Is the permafrost's integrity breaking down?
  

  As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2013/05/19: CCurrents: Profits vs. Disaster In Arctic Meltdown
  

  While in Antarctica:

• 2013/05/25: IOTD: Breakup Continues on the Wilkins Ice Shelf
  

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2013/05/24: al Jazeera: [Citrus greening] Disease threatens Florida's orange groves
  Multi-billion-dollar citrus industry faces serious threat as incurable disease spreads across the country.
• 2013/05/23: Asia Times: Bangladesh farmers battle water woes
• 2013/05/22: BPA: Federal Reserve Bank Farmland Price Reports
• 2013/05/22: TreeHugger: Nearly half the rice sold in Guangzhou (pop. 12+ million) is contaminated by cadmium
• 2013/05/22: Grist: Mold responsible for Irish potato famine may be gone for good
• 2013/05/21: SciNow: The Great Famine: Decoded
• 2013/05/21: BBC: Irish potato famine pathogen identified
  Scientists have used plant samples collected in the mid-19th Century to identify the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine. A plant pest that causes potato blight spread to Ireland in 1845 triggering a famine that killed one million people.
• 2013/05/21: NatureN: Pathogen genome tracks Irish potato famine back to its roots
  Strain caused more than a million to die of hunger but was less aggressive than modern ones.
• 2013/05/21: UN: Hunger, poverty rates in Egypt up sharply over past three years - UN report
• 2013/05/21: Guardian(UK): Climate change pushes farmers in India to the tipping point - in [10] pictures
• 2013/05/19: NYT: Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust
  

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

• 2013/05/21: ProMedMail: Undiagnosed die-off, fish - USA (02): (AL) RFI
• 2013/05/20: TP:JR: Ocean Warming Means A New Paradigm For The World's Fisheries
• 2013/05/20: ProMedMail: Infectious salmon anemia - Chile (02): (AY)
• 2013/05/19: Eureka: Why we need to put the fish back into fisheries
• 2013/05/19: CCurrents: Polluted Rivers Worry The Majhi Community
  

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2013/05/25: CSM: Global protests target Monsanto, genetically modified food
• 2013/05/26: Xinhuanet: Argentine residents protest against biotechnology company "Monsanto"
• 2013/05/25: RT: From Alaska to Florida: Americans take to streets against Monsanto and GMOs (photos, video)
• 2013/05/26: al Jazeera: Worldwide protests held against Monsanto
  "March against Monsanto" held in 250 US cities and dozens of other countries over genetically modified foods.
• 2013/05/22: AlterNet: 5 Most Horrifying Things About Monsanto -- Why You Should Join the Global Movement and Protest on Saturday
• 2013/05/25: CBC: Protesters march against GMO giant Monsanto in 430 cities -- American agricultural giant a prime target in fight against modified foods
• 2013/05/25: ArtThreat: We will stop Monsanto: Docs on an agribully
• 2013/05/25: CCurrents: The Growing Global Challenge To Monsanto's Monopolistic Greed
• 2013/05/24: RT: Challenging Monsanto: 200,000 in 40 countries to rally against GMO
• 2013/05/24: UCSUSA:B: Pesticide Use is Actually Much Greater Than Reported
• 2013/05/23: Grist: Gut punch: Monsanto could be destroying your microbiome
• 2013/05/23: Grist:Chemical creep: Farmers return to pesticides as GMO corn loses bug resistance
• 2013/05/23: Xinhuanet: Genetic modification grain may help save world from starvation: expert
  To keep a competitive edge in agricultural production and feed a growing global population, Australia needs to look further into Genetic modified (GM) foods, GrainCorp CEO Alison Watkins told agribusiness representatives Thursday.
• 2013/05/21: RealFarmacy: Monsanto Found Guilty of Chemical Poisoning in Landmark Case
• 2013/05/20: CDreams: 'End the Dictatorship': Senator Leads Call to Repeal 'Monsanto Protection Act'
  Ahead of worldwide protest, Senator Merkley announces effort to repeal the Monsanto Protection Act
• 2013/05/13: MNN: Join the March Against Monsanto on May 25
  All over the world, people who want changes to the way genetically modified foods are grown and used will rally and march to protect our food supply.
• 
  

  Regarding labelling GM food:

   

• 2013/05/23: Grist: Connecticut Senate passes GMO-labeling bill
• 2013/05/23: Guardian(UK): Senate rejects GM food labeling amendment to farm bill
  

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

• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (letter$) Agricultural innovation to protect the environment by Jeffrey Sayer & Kenneth G. Cassman
• 2013/04/29: Europa: [links to huge pdfs] Soil Atlas of Africa
• 2013/05/24: CSM: Time for food aid reform that helps hungry countries -- and the US
• 2013/05/24: FAO: FAO expands support for national food security information systems in South Sudan
• 2013/05/23: CCurrents: Traditional Cultures Can Show Developed World How To Preserve Food
• 2013/05/: Science(Au):Nova: Feeding a hot, hungry world - agriculture in the face of climate change
• 2013/05/23: UKISS: Feeding a hot, hungry world - agriculture in the face of climate change
• 2013/05/22: Eureka: Alleviating hunger in the US -- researcher says, it's a SNAP
• 2013/05/20: BBC: Vaccine for Schmallenberg virus 'available this summer'
• 2013/05/20: TP:JR: California Farmers Explore Water-Conserving Agriculture For A Drought-Filled Future
• 2013/05/19: SciAm:GB: Dear American Consumers: Please Don't Start Eating Healthfully. Sincerely, the Food Industry
• 2011/01/05: PewEnv: Reforming Industrial Animal Agriculture
  

  A relatively quiet week. The Eastern Pacific is talking but so far has only developed Tropical Depressions... While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2013/05/25: Wunderground: NOAA, TSR, UKMET, PSU, WSI, and WU Community Predict Active Atlantic Hurricane Season
• 2013/05/25: QuarkSoup: A New Hurricane Metric - TIKE: Track Integrated Kinetic Energy
• 2013/05/24: BBC: US could see seven to 11 hurricanes in 'active' season
• 2013/05/24: CBC: Big hurricane season expected this year -- Environment Canada forecast comes 1 day after U.S. experts warned of 'busy' seasonCanadian forecasters are warning warmer-than-average ocean waters and the lack of an El Nino warming of the central Pacific Ocean will contribute to an "active" hurricane season this year. Environment Canada's annual forecast, released Friday in Dartmouth, N.S., comes a day after forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the U.S. said there could be 13 to 20 named Atlantic storms this year, of which seven to 11 could become hurricanes, including three to six major hurricanes.
• 2013/05/23: CBC: Atlantic hurricane season forecast to be busy -- U.S. forecasters predicting 3 to 6 storms will become major hurricanes
• 2013/05/23: NOAANews: NOAA predicts active 2013 Atlantic hurricane season
• 2013/05/23: NOAANews: NOAA predicts below-normal Eastern Pacific hurricane season
• 2013/05/23: CSM: Hurricane forecast: Three to six 'major' storms could emerge this year
• 2013/05/22: SciAm:Obs: U.S. Hurricane Forecasts Could Be Better
• 2013/05/21: NOAANews: NOAA expects below-normal Central Pacific hurricane season
  

  This week in notable weather:

• 2013/05/25: al Jazeera: Snow blankets parts of Europe [pix]
  A few days before summer starts, much of the continent is still in winter's grip.
• 2013/05/20: CBC: Central Newfoundland digs out from freak snowfall -- 58 centimetres of snow falls in Gander between Saturday and Sunday
  

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

• 2013/05/25: CCP: Monitoring and Understanding Trends in Extreme Storms: State of Knowledge -- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 94(4) (April 2013) 499-514; doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00262.1
• 2013/05/21: CNN: Bracing for Round 3: 73 million under severe weather threat
• 2013/05/20: PSinclair: Jeff Masters on May's Tornado Drought: More Evidence of Extremes
  

  Meanwhile on the GHG front:

• 2013/05/22: WRI: Nitrogen Trifluoride [NF3] Now Required in GHG Protocol Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventories
• 2013/05/22: CCurrents: NASA Scientists On 400 ppm CO2
• 2013/05/23: NakedCapitalism: Martin Khor: No Solution Yet As Climate Threshold Crossed
• 2013/05/20: Grist: This awesome mobile lab travels the country measuring methane air pollution
  

  And in the carbon cycle:

• 2013/05/20: UW: Amazon River exhales virtually all carbon taken up by rain forest
  

  As for the temperature record:

• 2013/05/26: IOTD: Arctic Amplification [2000 - 2009]
• 2013/05/24: QuarkSoup: Big Jump in Ocean Warming
• 2013/05/22: UCSUSA:B: What Is All the Fuss Over the Last Decade of Global Average Temperature?
• 2013/05/21: TMasters: Another "reconstruction" of underlying temperatures from 1979-2012
  

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2013/05/22: MODIS: Dust storm in Sudan
  

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2013/05/23: Eureka: Scientists offer first definitive proof of bacteria-feeding behavior in green algae
• 2013/05/22: BBC: Climate change 'spurred modern human behaviour'
  Abrupt climate change in Africa helped trigger technological and cultural advances in early modern humans, according to new research.
• 2013/05/21: Eureka: Origins of human culture linked to rapid climate change
• 2013/05/21: Eureka: Comprehensive analysis of impact spherules supports theory of cosmic impact 12,800 years ago
• 2013/05/20: UC: The Mammoth's Lament: UC Research Shows How Cosmic Impact Sparked Devastating Climate Change
• 2013/05/19: Eureka: Sea level influenced tropical climate during the last ice age
  

  Regarding the solar hypothesis:

• 2013/05/20: APOD: Blue Sun Bursting
  

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

• 2013/05/26: WottsUWT: The Transient Climate Response and the Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity
  

  What's new in Biodiversity?

• 2013/05/23: Eureka: Scientists announce Top 10 New Species -- Researchers call for massive mission: discover 10 million species in 50 years
  

  And on the extinction watch:

• 2013/05/25: SciAm:EC: A Monkey with Human Eyes and Other Links from the Brink
• 2013/05/24: DD: Florida manatees dying in record numbers - 11 percent of total population died in January-May 2013 period
• 2013/05/23: RawStory: Scientists: Frog and toad declines signal of 'collapse of the world's ecosystems'
• 2013/05/23: CDreams: Study: Alarming Loss of Amphibian Populations Across US
• 2013/05/23: DD: Study finds alarming declines in U.S. amphibians, even in protected areas - Many species will disappear from half of habitats in 20 years
• 2013/05/23: TreeHugger: 11 Critically endangered turtle species
• 2013/05/23: SciAm:EC: Amphibians in U.S. Declining at 'Alarming and Rapid Rate'
• 2013/05/23: TheConversation: Australian endangered species: Desert gobies
• 2013/05/23: BBC: Scottish wildcat could be extinct 'within two years'
• 2013/05/22: Eureka: Thinking 'big' may not be best approach to saving large-river fish
• 2013/05/22: USGS: USGS Study Confirms U.S. Amphibian Populations Declining at Precipitous Rates
  

  The bees and Colony Collapse Disorder are a constant concern:

• 2013/05/25: PeakEnergy: Researchers find high-fructose corn syrup may be tied to worldwide collapse of bee colonies
• 2013/05/24: CBC: EU pushes through restrictions to protect bees
• 2013/05/21: EurActiv: Pesticide firms compete to showcase bee-protection programmes
  Monsanto's "Bee Summits" and Bayer AG's "Bee care centre" are the latest examples of how pesticide makers are competing to showcase their goodwill to policymakers in Europe and the US that they are taking the necessary steps to protect bee populations. The companies say their pesticides are not the problem, but critics say science shows the opposite.
• 
  

  Intimations of Overshoot:

   

• 2013/05/22: CDreams: Stressed Ecosystems Leaving Humanity High and Dry
  

  What's new in proxies?

• 2013/05/20: Xinhuanet: Mt. Everest ice cores to offer glimpse into climate change
  

  What's up with volcanoes this week?

• 2013/05/24: MODIS: Activity at Pavlof, Alaska [on May 14th]
• 2013/05/23: IOTD: Pavlof Volcano, Alaska Peninsula
• 2013/05/21: ABC(Au): Eruption of Alaska volcano Mount Pavlof disrupts flights
  

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2013/05/24: IOTD: New Landsat Finds Clouds Hiding in Plain Sight [sats]
• 2013/05/23: WaPo:B: Weather Service systems crumbling as extreme weather escalates
• 2013/05/23: AccuW: GOES-East Fails for Second Time in One Year
• 2013/05/23: IBTimes: Main U.S. Weather Satellite Fails, GOES-13 Failure Equals Trouble For East Coast Hurricane Season
• 2013/05/22: NASA: NASA's Landsat Satellite Looks for a Cloud-Free View
• 2013/05/22: SatelliteToday: NOAA's GOES-13 Fails for the Second Time in Two Years
  

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2013/05/23: Grist: Screwed by climate change: 10 [US] cities that will be hardest hit
• 2013/05/21: RTCC: Fish migration charts climate change in the oceans
  Canadian scientists have devised a new scale for measuring ocean change - the fish. They have used the changing make-up of the global fisheries catch to detect the signature of global warming.
• 2013/05/20: GLaden: Why Global Warming's Effects Will Be Worse Than You Were Thinking
• 2013/05/20: CDreams: Study: Human Disaster Looms if Global Temps Rise 4ºC -- 'A calamity for large swaths of the planet'
  

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2013/05/20: TreeHugger: Amazon deforestation rate up 88 percent over last year
• 2013/05/23: ABC(Au): Wildlife group busts illegal loggers in Cambodia
  An illegal logger in Cambodia has dropped an address book during a bust, leaving behind details of corrupt government officials and spying rangers. The man fled after being intercepted by police over an illegal haul of rare rosewood in Koh Kong province earlier this month. Beth Eisenstaedt from Wildlife Alliance helped coordinate the bust and has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia the perpetrator left behind an address book of his clients and an accounts book including details of bribes.
• 2013/05/23: Eureka: Reforestation study shows trade-offs between water, carbon and timber -- Panama canal watershed offers test bed for ecosystem services
• 2013/05/22: Eureka: Drought makes Borneo's trees flower at the same time
• 2013/05/21: CCurrents: Standing Up To The 'Land Grabbing' Foresters In Mozambique
• 2013/05/21: RTCC: Crime and corruption threaten African forest carbon
• 2013/05/21: RTCC: Ecuador reveals plan for OPEC to save the Amazon
  Ecuador has said it wants OPEC to establish a fund to compensate countries who keep Amazon oil in the ground.
• 2013/05/20: BBC: UK Tree health recommendations aim to 'stop the spread'
  Strengthening biosecurity at UK borders and a plant health risk register would help protect the nation's trees from pests and diseases, a report concludes.
• 2013/05/20: UDW: Indigenous Nicaraguans Fight to the Death for Their Last Forest
• 2013/05/11: SwaB: Weekend Diversion: The Top 10 Forests in the World
• 2013/05/20: Yale360: A Plague of Deforestation Sweeps Across Southeast Asia
  Illegal logging and unchecked economic development are taking a devastating toll on the forests of Vietnam and neighboring countries, threatening areas of biodiversity so rich that 1,700 species have been discovered in the last 15 years alone.
• 
  

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

   

• 2013/05/25: DD: Graph of the Day: Philippines internal displacement due to extreme weather events, 2009-2012
• 2013/05/24: RadioNZ: Kiribati welcomes chance to highlight climate change plight
  The vice president of Kiribati, Teima Onorio, says consultations on legal protections for those displaced by natural disasters are an opportunity for Kiribati to focus attention on climate change. One of those involved in the Nansen Initiative, Swiss academic and human rights expert, Professor Walter Kaelin, says people forced to cross borders by natural disaster are not refugees because they are not being persecuted. He says the Nansen Initiative aims to develop a legal framework to cover these people.
• 2013/05/21: DD: Displaced by disasters: 32 million people uprooted in both rich and poor countries in 2012
• 2013/05/20: Guardian(UK): Climate disasters displace millions of people worldwide
  

  Desertification looms as a threat:

• 2013/05/21: P3: Desertification of New Mexico
  

  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

• 2013/05/20: DD: New temperature norms under climate change will increase heat-related deaths in metropolitan areas...
• 2013/05/19: Eureka: Heat-related deaths in Manhattan projected to rise -- Killing season may push into spring and fall, says study
• 2013/05/19: Guardian(UK): Heatwave deaths in New York city could rise by up to 22%, study shows
  New temperature norms under climate change will increase weather-related deaths in metropolitan areas in coming decades
• 
  

  Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

   

• 2013/05/21: ERW: Early springs spell trouble for northern forests
  

  There was a lot of attribution talk after the Moore EF5 last weekend:

• 2013/05/24: TreeHugger: Are tornados connected to climate change? Maybe, but resilient design is needed now.
• 2013/05/24: Grist: Tornadoes - another argument for American exceptionalism
• 2013/05/23: QuarkSoup: The Oklahoma Tornado and Global Warming
• 2013/05/23: Wunderground: Tornadoes and Climate Change: Huge Stakes, Huge Unknowns
• 2013/05/22: UCSUSA:B: Evidence to Date Does Not Show Clear Link Between Tornadoes and Climate Change
• 2013/05/21: TP:JR: Tornadoes, Extreme Weather And Climate Change, Revisited
• 2013/05/21: ARussell: Tornadoes and climate change
• 2013/05/21: RawStory: Can we blame the Oklahoma tornado on climate change?
  

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

• 2013/05/23: al Jazeera: India heats up
  High temperatures are making every day life extremely difficult in many cities. Blistering heat is affecting much of central and northern India ahead of the summer monsoon rains. Temperatures are generally around four or five degrees above average both by day and by night. New Delhi has seen temperatures up around 45 Celsius over the last three day and dip no lower than 30C overnight. Wednesday's maximum of 45.6C was a new record for the month of May. Meanwhile, Nagpur saw the mercury rise to 47.9C, but top of the table were Ganganagar and Chandrapur hitting highs of 48.2C. Locals have been struggle to cope, and there has been a surge in the number of heat stroke patients at the hospitals.
• 2013/05/22: BBC: In pictures: Keeping cool in India's heat wave
• 2013/05/20: USDA:SRS: Climate Change and Wildfire
  

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Coral reef spread 'ruled' by volcanoes
• 2013/05/21: DerSpiegel: 'Death By a Thousand Cuts': Coal Boom Could Destroy Great Barrier Reef
  Australia's Great Barrier Reef is rapidly losing its coral, to the point that UNESCO may soon place the natural wonder on its "in danger" list. Climate change is one culprit, but so is the country's booming extraction industry. Environmentalists warn that time is running out for the reef.
• 2013/05/20: Eureka: Abundance and distribution of Hawaiian coral species predicted by model
  

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2013/05/25: CCurrents: Mount Everest's Glaciers Are Retreating At Increasing Rate
• 2013/05/24: Grist: Disappearing glaciers: Now you see them, now you don't
• 2013/05/23: Guardian(UK): Mount Everest's glaciers shrinking at increasing rate, say researchers
• 2013/05/23: FaGP: Jiongla Glacier Retreat, Tibet, China
• 2013/05/21: FaGP: Galaxy Glacier Rapid Retreat, Pukulkul Basin Glacier disappears, British Columbia
  

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2013/05/25: DD: Floods could overwhelm London as sea levels rise, unless Thames Barrier is upgraded...
• 2013/05/24: TheConversation: If the tide is high, our sewerage systems won't hold on
  

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2013/05/26: Xinhuanet: Flooding kills two in U.S. city of San Antonio
• 2013/05/26: al Jazeera: San Antonio submerged -- Torrential downpours have left one person dead and another missing
• 2013/05/25: P3: Droughtbuster: Flooding in San Antonio
• 2013/05/25: CNN: 2 women dead after being swept away in severe San Antonio flooding
  A woman swept away as firefighters tried to rescue her is found dead, spokesman says - Her car was in the water when it struck her would-be rescuers' boat - She's the second woman in San Antonio to die due to the flooding - Several rivers and creeks in and around the Texas city are well above flood stage
• 2013/05/25: DD: Record rainfall causes severe flooding in San Antonio, Texas...
• 2013/05/25: al Jazeera: Flooding grips Norway -- Melting snow and torrential rain force thousands from their homes
• 2013/05/24: CSM: In soggy North Dakota, hopes rise that floodwaters won't
• 2013/05/20: al Jazeera: Flooding hits southern China -- Over 1.5 million people are effected as the rain continues to pour
• 2013/05/19: NYT: Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust
  

  First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
  Second, put a price on carbon
  Third ... begin to reduce the population
  And elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2013/05/21: CDreams: For Climate Solution, Look to the Ground -- Soil, that humble brown stuff we call dirt, is part of the answer to saving our future
• 2013/05/21: Resilience: Half of oil burnable in 2000-2050 to keep us within 2 degrees warming has been used up as we hit 400 ppm
  

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2013/05/21: UCSUSA:B: Charting a Course to Transform California's Freight System - Part 2
• 2013/05/20: CalcRisk: DOT: Vehicle Miles Driven decreased 1.5% in March
• 2013/05/19: NBF: Inductrack III for superefficient leviation and movement of shipping containers
  

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

• 2013/05/23: TreeHugger: Alex Wilson calls Bullitt Center "one of the most important commercial buildings of the past 50 years"
• 2013/05/20: TheConversation: How to heat your house efficiently
  [...] As with anything to do with thermodynamics the answer is complicated, but there are some solid rules to help shape your thinking. Insulate, insulate, insulate; then add more insulation
• 
  

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

   

• 2013/05/24: CBC: Leader of B.C. ocean fertilization project fired
  First Nation still backs iron dump off coast of Haida Gwaii The California businessman behind a controversial ocean fertilization project off B.C.'s west coast has been fired, but the group behind the project says it still supports the concept. Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation says it has removed Russ George as a director and terminated his employment as an officer of the Haida Gwaii-based corporation. But newly-appointed interim CEO John Disney says the company remains confident in the iron dumping technology, while recognizing "process and buy-in are key."
• 2013/05/24: TDC: Opinion: Dreams we cannot afford
• 2013/05/23: NewsWire: Haida announce termination of Russ George
• 2013/05/22: NanoWerk: Carbon capture: Making use of minerals
• 2013/05/21: Redding:DCraig: The age of climate engineering is upon us (1)
• 2013/05/21: Redding:DCraig: The age of climate engineering is upon us (2)
• 2013/05/21: Redding:DCraig: The age of climate engineering is upon us (3)
• 2013/05/20: DemNow: Geoengineering: Can We Save the Planet by Messing with Nature?
• 2013/05/18: DigiJo: Australia presses for international ban on geoengineered oceans
• 2013/05/18: TI: Nature Has No Allegiances: An Argument for Geoengineering
  

  What's new in conservation?

• 2013/05/20: BBC: First crane egg in 400 years laid at Slimbridge
  Nesting cranes have laid the first egg in southern Britain in more than 400 years. The Great Crane Project has been rearing cranes and reintroducing them to the West Country since 2010.
• 
  

  Meanwhile in the journals:

   

• 2013/05/21: GMDD: A bulk parameterization of melting snowflakes with explicit liquid water fraction for the COSMO model version 4.14 by C. Frick et al.
• 2013/05/22: Springer:CC: (ab$) Carbon sequestration via wood harvest and storage: An assessment of its harvest potential by Ning Zeng et al.
• 2012/07/03: RSC: (ab$) Mechanochemical processing of serpentine with ammonium salts under ambient conditions for CO2 mineralization by James Highfield et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Evolution of the plankton paleome in the Black Sea from the Deglacial to Anthropocene by Marco J. L. Coolen et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Consumers mediate the effects of experimental ocean acidification and warming on primary producers by Christian Alsterberg et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Prochlorococcus can use the Pro1404 transporter to take up glucose at nanomolar concentrations in the Atlantic Ocean by María del Carmen Muñoz-Marín et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Retargeting of the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin Cyt2Aa against hemipteran insect pests by Nanasaheb P. Chougule et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Sulfur isotopes in coal constrain the evolution of the Phanerozoic sulfur cycle by Donald E. Canfield
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Zoonosis emergence linked to agricultural intensification and environmental change by Bryony A. Jones et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Innovations in capture fisheries are an imperative for nutrition security in the developing world by Stephen J. Hall et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Interactive effects among ecosystem services and management practices on crop production: Pollination in coffee agroforestry systems by Virginie Boreux et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Scope for improved eco-efficiency varies among diverse cropping systems by Peter S. Carberry et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) New technologies reduce greenhouse gas emissions from nitrogenous fertilizer in China by Wei-feng Zhang et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Innovative grassland management systems for environmental and livelihood benefits by David R. Kemp et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Green Revolution research saved an estimated 18 to 27 million hectares from being brought into agricultural production by James R. Stevenson et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Addressing uncertainty in adaptation planning for agriculture by Sonja J. Vermeulen et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (ab$) Ten principles for a landscape approach to reconciling agriculture, conservation, and other competing land uses by Jeffrey Sayer et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (letter$) Agricultural innovation to protect the environment by Jeffrey Sayer & Kenneth G. Cassman
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to Morel: Cadmium as a micronutrient and macrotoxin in the oceans by Tristan J. Horner et al.
• 2013/05/21: PNAS: (letter$) The oceanic cadmium cycle: Biological mistake or utilization? by François M. M. Morel
• 2013/05/23: Springer:CC: Ecological limits to terrestrial biological carbon dioxide removal by Lydia J. Smith & Margaret S. Torn
• 2013/05/22: ACP: Extreme winds over Europe in the ENSEMBLES regional climate models by S. D. Outten & I. Esau
• 2013/05/22: ACP: The temporal evolution of three-dimensional lightning parameters and their suitability for thunderstorm tracking and nowcasting by V. K. Meyer et al.
• 2013/05/22: ACP: Automated thunderstorm tracking: utilization of three-dimensional lightning and radar data by V. K. Meyer et al.
• 2013/05/23: ACPD: The Arctic Summer Cloud-Ocean Study (ASCOS): overview and experimental design by M. Tjernström et al.
• 2013/05/22: ACPD: Cross-validation of inferred daytime airborne CO2 urban-regional scale surface fluxes with eddy-covariance observations and emissions inventories in Greater London by A. Font et al.
• 2013/05/22: ACPD: Asymmetric and axisymmetric dynamics of tropical cyclones by J. Persing et al.
• 2013/05/21: Nature:Comm: (ab$) Development of Middle Stone Age innovation linked to rapid climate change by Martin Ziegler et al.
• 2013/05/23: BG: High-resolution measurements of atmospheric molecular hydrogen and its isotopic composition at the West African coast of Mauritania by S. Walter et al.
• 2013/05/22: BG: Pathway of CH4 production, fraction of CH4 oxidized, and 13C isotope fractionation in a straw-incorporated rice field by G. B. Zhang et al.
• 2013/05/23: BGD: Predicting tree heights for biomass estimates in tropical forests by Q. Molto et al.
• 2013/05/22: BGD: The iron budget in ocean surface waters in the 20th and 21st centuries: projections by the Community Earth System Model version 1 by K. Misumi et al.
• 2013/05/24: CPD: Dynamic soil feedbacks on the climate of the mid-Holocene and the Last Glacial Maximum by M. Stärz et al.
• 2013/05/24: CPD: Siple Dome shallow ice cores: a study in coastal dome microclimatology by T. R. Jones et al.
• 2013/05/24: CPD: A high-resolution multi-proxy record of late Cenozoic environment change from central Taklimakan Desert, China by X. Wang et al.
• 2013/05/22: CPD: Geochronological reconsiderations for the Eastern European key loess section at Stayky in Ukraine by A. Kadereit & G. A. Wagner
• 2013/05/21: CPD: Biological proxies recorded in a Belukha ice core, Russian Altai by T. Papina et al.
• 2013/05/22: PLoS One: Trends in Amphibian Occupancy in the United States by Michael J. Adams et al.
• 2013/05/24: ACP: Global impact of smoke aerosols from landscape fires on climate and the Hadley circulation by M. G. Tosca et al.
• 2013/05/24: ACPD: A long-term satellite study of aerosol effects on convective clouds in Nordic background air by M. K. Sporre et al.
• 2013/05/24: GMD: The Norwegian Earth System Model, NorESM1-M - Part 1: Description and basic evaluation of the physical climate by M. Bentsen et al.
• 2013/05/22: TCD: Characterization of L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter from floating and grounded lake ice in arctic Alaska by M. Engram et al.
• 2013/03/14: ERL: Potential for rooftop photovoltaics in Tokyo to replace nuclear capacity by B L Stoll et al.
• 2013/05/20: arXiv: Indication of anomalous heat energy production in a reactor device by Giuseppe Levi et al.
• 2013/05/14: Springer:CC: (ab$) If climate action becomes urgent: the importance of response times for various climate strategies by Detlef P. van Vuuren & Elke Stehfest
• 2013/04/: BAMS: Monitoring and Understanding Trends in Extreme Storms: State of Knowledge by Kenneth E. Kunkel et al.
• 2013/05/19: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Degradation of terrestrially derived macromolecules in the Amazon River by Nicholas D. Ward et al.
• 2013/05/19: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) A middle Eocene carbon cycle conundrum by Appy Sluijs et al.
• 2013/05/19: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) The effect of sea level on glacial Indo-Pacific climate by Pedro N. DiNezio & Jessica E. Tierney
• 2013/05/19: Nature:CC: (ab$) Projections of seasonal patterns in temperature- related deaths for Manhattan, New York by Tiantian Li et al.
• 2013/05/19: Nature:CC: (ab$) Changes in rainfall seasonality in the tropics by Xue Feng et al.
• 2013/05/19: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Energy budget constraints on climate response by Alexander Otto et al.
  

  And other significant documents:

• 2013/05/24: GWSP: [link to 511k pdf] The Bonn Declaration on Global Water Security
• 2013/05/22: MAHB: [link to 7.6 meg pdf] Consensus Statement from Global Scientists
• 2013/05/22: RSPB: [links to several pdfs] State of Nature
  For the first time ever, the UK's wildlife organisations have joined forces to undertake a health check of nature in the UK and its Overseas Territories.
• 2013/04/29: Europa: [links to huge pdfs] Soil Atlas of Africa
• 2013/05/10: USGS: Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900-2008) by Leonard F. Konikow
  

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2013/05/25: RealClimate: Introducing PubPeer.com
• 2013/05/24: ScienceInsider: Brazil Announces Funding for a Second Round of Multidisciplinary Research Centers
• 2013/05/24: RBroberg: Selvam: Universal Inverse Power Law Distribution for Indian Region Rainfall
• 2013/05/23: RBroberg: Dear Dr Russell ...
• 2013/05/23: UCSUSA:B: Cautiously Open to Open Science
• 2013/05/21: ClimateSight: Milestones
• 2013/05/19: Stoat: Bad Science
• 2013/05/17: KIT: First Comprehensive Analysis of Sulfur Dioxide Concentration in the Stratosphere - 10 Years Measurements on Board of ENVISAT - No Identifiable Anthropogenic Sources of Sulfur Dioxide
  

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

• 2013/05/23: Nucambiguous: Craigslist Killed the Newspaper, but Science Publishing Thrives (for All the Wrong Reasons)
• 2013/05/24: P3: What's Wrong with Science
• 2013/05/24: SciAm:IC: It's not about predators, it's about journal quality
  

  Regarding Hansen:

• 2013/05/23: ERabett:BSD: Live blogging Jim Hansen et al.
• 2013/05/20: CPW: Dr. James Hansen: Keystone XL, tar sands expansion "can be stopped"
• 2013/05/19: Guardian(UK): Tar sands exploitation would mean game over for climate, warns leading scientist
  Prof James Hansen rebukes oil firms and Canadian government over stance on exploiting fossil fuel, which he says would make climate problem unsolvable
• 
  

  Regarding Wegman:

   

• 2013/05/23: DeSmogBlog: FOIA Facts 4 - George Mason Takes The Money And Breaks The Rules
• 2013/05/22: DeSmogBlog: FOIA Facts 3 - More Plagiarism - Get Grants Or Claim Credit
• 2013/05/21: DeSmogBlog: FOIA Facts 2 - No Pro Bono - Federal Funds Mis-Used For Wegman Report And Much More
• 2013/05/20: DeSmogBlog: FOIA Facts 1 - More Misdeeds By Ed Wegman, Yasmin Said, George Mason University
  

  Meanwhile at the UN:

• 2013/05/23: WMO: Hydrometeorological Early Warning System in Costa Rica
• 2013/05/23: WMO: Climate Services for Managing Disaster Risk
• 2013/05/23: WMO: Building Drought Resilience in a Changing Climate
• 2013/05/22: DD: Climate-change disasters worry UN - 'Natural disasters are not only becoming more frequent but are becoming more vehement'
• 2013/05/20: UN: In Mozambique, Ban calls for push to achieve Millennium Development Goals
• 2013/05/20: UN: UN praises Bangladesh's preparedness, response to tropical storm Mahasen
  

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2013/05/23: RealEconomics: Why cap-and-trade is failing in the E.U.
• 2013/05/22: Guardian(UK): China unveils details of pilot carbon-trading programme
  Nation's first trading scheme in the southern city of Shenzhen will cover 638 companies when it begins next month
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/05/23: Asia Times: US moves toward full Iran trade embargo
  

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

• 2013/05/23: Xinhuanet: China continues Diaoyu Islands patrols
• 2013/05/23: IndiaTimes: Three Chinese ships in disputed waters: Japan
• 2013/05/21: Asia Times: Philippine 'pivot' in the South China Sea
  

  Now that the EU-ETS for airlines is in year long limbo, will it ever be resurrected?

• 2013/05/24: BBerg: Airlines May Delay Emissions Measure for Extra Year: ICAO
• 2013/05/21: DD: China 'will not accept' EU measures on emissions
• 2013/05/20: RTCC: WWF: EU must hold nerve on aviation climate deal
  The EU must not back down from its threat to "restart the clock" on including international airlines in its emissions trading scheme, WWF has warned. The EU attracted the ire of a number of emerging economies including Brazil, India and China, after it stipulated that any flight landing or taking off from an EU airport had to account for its emissions in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). It dropped the rule with the so-called 'stop the clock' announcement last November but warned it would return if "significant progress" was not made this year at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Official talks on a global emissions market for aviation will resume in the next few weeks at ICAO, ahead of the body's General Assembly in September.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/05/24: RdTheSci: Much ado about phosphorus
  

  I don't believe it! Progress in the solar squabbles?!?

• 2013/05/20: NYT: U.S. and Europe Prepare to Settle Chinese Solar Panel Cases
• 2013/05/20: BBerg: U.S., EU Said to Be in Talks With China to End Solar Spat
  

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

• 2013/05/24: TFTJO: Climate change: reframing the issue
  

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

• 2013/05/21: CCP: Corporations and Koch brothers using taxpayer-subsidized off-duty police with arresting authority
• 2013/05/20: CDreams: Dissent as 'Terrorism': Targeting Public Protest in the Post-9/11 Era
  New report finds Homeland Security 'apparatus' frequently turned against 'political and social dissidents'
• 
  

  What are the activists up to?

   

• 2013/05/25: CSM: Global protests target Monsanto, genetically modified food
• 2013/05/25: RT: From Alaska to Florida: Americans take to streets against Monsanto and GMOs (photos, video)
• 2013/05/26: al Jazeera: Worldwide protests held against Monsanto
  "March against Monsanto" held in 250 US cities and dozens of other countries over genetically modified foods.
• 2013/05/25: ArtThreat: We will stop Monsanto: Docs on an agribully
• 2013/05/24: RT: Challenging Monsanto: 200,000 in 40 countries to rally against GMO
• 2013/05/24: Xinhuanet: Edinburgh to host Int'l Conference on Climate Justice
• 2013/05/23: ABC(Au): Environmental activist [Bill McKibben] campaigns against fossil fuel industry
• 2013/05/: CoC: Fracking is not a right -- Tell Lone Pine to drop its NAFTA lawsuit against Quebec's moratorium on fracking! [activism & frack]
  

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

• 2013/05/25: UKISS: Divest - Bill McKibben - it makes sense
• 2013/05/23: ABC(Au): Stop investing in carbon intense industries - says Bill McKibben
• 2013/05/21: Guardian(UK): Fossil fuel divestment campaign's victory in Australia will be a moral one
  Global climate divestment campaigns led by 350.org and Bill McKibben will have a larger moral impact than financial one
• 
  

  Polls! We have polls!

   

• 2013/05/24: Grist: Support for climate action is the new normal in U.S.
• 2013/05/22: TreeHugger: Survey shows 70% of Americans think global warming should be a priority, but...
  

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2013/05/22: CDreams: UN Warns of World Without Water
• 2013/05/22: RTCC: Ban Ki-moon: World on course to run out of water
  Ban Ki-moon has warned the world is on course to run out of freshwater unless greater efforts are made to improve water security.
• 2013/05/22: UN: UN urges collective efforts to achieve 'water secure world' on Day for Biological Diversity
• 2013/05/22: DD: Forget Peak Oil, start worrying about Peak Water - Between 1900 and 2008, the US lost 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles) of groundwater
• 2013/05/21: JFleck: Getting nature right is hard, Episode XVII: restoring the Elwha
• 2013/05/20: PEF: Regina Hosed by P3 Waste Water
• 2013/05/19: CSM: Water may reshape energy industry
  There is a broad and growing consensus that freshwater is undervalued. It is a limited, but vital, commodity without a price. In nearly every region the price of water is the cost of water access rights, treatment costs, and transportation costs. There is no price or market for the water itself. That will begin to change. Prolonged drought and overuse have depleted freshwater reserves at the same time that demand is rising rapidly. The resulting imbalance has some projections of demand for freshwater exceeding supply by as much as 40% by 2030 . Increasingly, water starved regions have begun to look to ways to both reduce overall use and to prioritize different types of use. While there are a number of policy approaches, one that seems to have wide support is the idea of regional exchanges where water could be priced (with adjustments for preferred uses) and sold.
• 2013/05/17: Slate:A_O: G-Cans, The World's Largest Drain
  

  And on the groundwater front:

• 2013/05/22: TexasTrib: Ogallala Aquifer in Texas Panhandle Suffers Big Drop
  The Ogallala Aquifer suffered its second-worst drop since at least 2000 in a large swath of the Texas Panhandle, new measurements show. The closely watched figures, published this week by the High Plains Underground Water Conservation District, cover a 16-county area stretching from south of Lubbock to Amarillo. The Ogallala wells measured by the district experienced an average drop of 1.87 feet from 2012 to 2013. That makes it one of the five or 10 worst drops in the district's more than 60-year history, said Bill Mullican, a hydrogeologist with the district.
• 2013/05/20: USGS: Deficit in Nation's Aquifers Accelerating
• 2013/05/20: DD: Vast stretches of Texas and Kansas farmland over the High Plains Aquifer no longer support irrigation...
  

  While in the UK:

• 2013/05/25: BBC: Grass verge wildlife 'destroyed by councils'
  Councils in the UK are destroying wildlife habitats by cutting grass verges too often, a charity has warned. Plantlife said verges supported hundreds of species of flowering plants and should be cut twice a year.
• 2013/05/25: Guardian(UK): Britain resists EU bid to set new target on renewable energy
• 2013/05/23: RTCC: Indian MP [Kalikesh Singh Deo]: UK should ditch fossil fuel subsidies
  The UK needs to adopt more ambitious climate change targets and address its fossil fuel subsidies if it is to maintain its climate change leadership, an Indian MP has said.
• 2013/05/23: LoE: A letter to UKIP MEP Roger Helmer
• 2013/05/22: OilChange: Is Shale Gas Britain's New North Sea?
• 2013/05/22: WSWS: Six million suffer fuel poverty in UK
• 2013/05/22: BBC: Ministers approve plans for world's biggest wave farm in Western Isles
  

  And in Europe:

• 2013/05/24: CBC: EU pushes through restrictions to protect bees
  Legislative body approves limits on pesticides to protect dwindling bee population The European Union has approved restrictions on three pesticides to better protect dwindling bee populations, to enter into force by December. EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg called Friday's decision a "milestone towards ensuring a healthier future for our honeybees." The move is backed by environmentalists but opposed by chemical companies.
• 2013/05/24: EurActiv: Energy savings hopes dashed by EU leaders' 'political cowardice'
• 2013/05/23: RTCC: EU: 2030 climate policy must address global UN deal
• 2013/05/23: EurActiv: Leaders hesitate between common EU response and 'silver bullets' on energy
  Several EU leaders attending a summit in Brussels announced yesterday (22 May) they would prioritise 'silver bullet' solutions - such as the development of shale gas - to reduce energy prices. The European Commission, meanwhile, said simultaneous action was needed "on several fronts."
• 2013/05/23: EurActiv: Hollande calls for EU 'harmonisation' on renewable energy
  European Union countries should consider dropping their national support schemes for renewable energies in favour of a harmonised EU approach that would send a clearer signal to investors, French President François Hollande said at the conclusion of an EU summit yesterday (22 May).
• 2013/05/23: EUO: Millions of Italians unable to afford heating: Report
• 2013/05/22: EUO: EU leaders back shale gas 'revolution'
• 2013/05/22: EurActiv: Parliament fails to approve ambitious 2030 renewables target
  The European Parliament yesterday (21 May) approved a non-binding resolution calling for a mandatory EU-wide share for renewables for 2030, but failed to set the target in the 40-45% range.
• 2013/05/22: EurActiv: EU summit set to turn climate agenda upside down
  Europe's plan to decarbonise its economy by 2050 could be turned on its head at a summit today (22 May) if EU heads of state and government sign off on measures prioritising industrial competitiveness over climate change in draft conclusions seen by EurActiv.
• 2013/05/20: EurActiv: German minister calls EU move on China solar 'grave mistake'
  German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said the European Commission made a "grave mistake" by agreeing to impose punitive import duties on solar panels from China and urged the Commission to work to prevent the eruption of a trade conflict.
• 2013/05/20: EurActiv: EU energy chief says Brussels to look at fracking this year
  Environmental concerns over the practise of hydraulic fracturing to tap shale gas will be on the European Union's agenda this year, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told a German newspaper.
• 
  

  Meanwhile in Australia:

   

• 2013/02/18: UKISS: New pages added -- Election 2013 Reps - Election 2013 Senate
• 2013/05/26: ABC(Au): Renewed push to recognise Indigenous Australians in Constitution
• 2013/05/25: ABC(Au): Joe Ludwig launches national food plan to grow industry
  Federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig has unveiled a new plan designed to grow the local food industry and put Australia on the world food map. First promised in the 2010 election campaign, the National Food Plan includes a multi-million-dollar research fund to help Australian producers capitalise on the so-called Asian "dining boom". There is also funding to better brand Australian food exports.
• 2013/05/25: ABC(Au): National Food Plan focuses on exports to Asia
• 2013/05/23: ABC(Au): Labor 'tricked' on plan to phase out coal
  New South Wales Opposition Leader John Robertson is backpedalling after he told an anti-mining forum [the Beyond Coal and Gas conference at Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley] that Labor was developing a plan to phase out the use of coal.
• 2013/05/23: TheConversation: Can we trust Clive [Palmer]? Commercial-in-confidence coal mines
• 2013/05/23: ABC(Au): Rubbish power plant approved by WA Government
  A power plant that would convert rubbish to electricity in the north-west of Western Australia has been approved by the State Government. The New Energy plant is slated for development near the town of Port Hedland, and would turn over 250,000 tonnes of waste a year into gas. That would then be burnt to produce 15 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 21,000 homes.
• 2013/05/23: ABC(Au): Hartcher's CSG amendments introduced into Parliament
• 2013/05/23: ABC(Au): Peter Slipper pleads not guilty to misusing Cabcharge vouchers to visit wineries
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Plan to protect community from sea level rise
  Lake Macquarie Council has started work on a plan to protect Marks Point and other lakeside suburbs from flooding as a result of rising sea levels. Council says it has begun the community consultation process on the adaptation plan which will take 18 months to complete.
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Australia's most comprehensive electric car network scrapped [after Better Place wound down operations in Australia]
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Fertiliser price fall threatens phosphate company
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Go-ahead for [Port Hedland in the Pilbara] plant to convert waste into electricity
• 2013/05/21: ABC(Au): GhostNets funding goes missing at sea
  An organisation which removes abandoned fishing nets from oceans will shut down at the end of June because of a lack of funding. Since 2002, GhostNets Australia has removed more than 12,000 fishing nets, saving thousands of sea creatures. Working closely with Indigenous communities and Indigenous ranger groups, the project has won a number of innovation and environmental awards. Project co-ordinator Riki Gunn says the Federal Government's decision to pull funding is upsetting for everyone involved.
• 
  

  It's a long way to the September election:

   

• 2013/05/25: ABC(Au): Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott rally party faithful ahead of election
• 2013/05/24: UKISS: Denier contradictions - CSP contradictory beyond belief.
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Craig Thomson faces 19 new charges including 15 counts of fraud
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Independent Senator Nick Xenophon trying to register own political party
• 2013/05/21: ABC(Au): Academic urges united approach to climate change
  A Gold Coast academic says there needs to be a consistent, long-term approach to dealing with climate change. Professor Brendan Mackey from the Griffith Climate Change Response Program says the lead-up to September's federal election would be a good time for all parties to commit to a united approach. Professor Mackey says the Opposition could be right in rejecting the carbon tax but policies need time to work and be assessed.
• 2013/05/20: WSWS: Why the SEP does not endorse the WikiLeaks Party
  

  After years of wrangling, the Murray Darling Basin plan is in place, but the water management fights are far from finished:

• 2013/05/26: ABC(Au): Academic surveys farmers about 'water banking'
  A survey of more than 200 farmers in the Namoi Catchment has found two-thirds support the idea of storing surplus water from large floods underground. The survey was conducted by the National Centre for Goundwater Research and Training. The process - called water banking - can potentially be used to re-charge depleted water aquifers.
• 2013/05/23: ABC(Au): Wycheproof's water saving efforts win gong
  An East Wimmera town has been recognised for its water conservation efforts in a national awards ceremony.
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Water broker says less money for buybacks
  The Federal Government will spend less money on water buybacks and infrastructure investment in the Murray-Darling Basin in the next financial year. Spending on the Sustainable Water Use and Infrastructure item in this year's Budget is down by about half a billion dollars.
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Water plunderers warned of crackdown
  The Department of Water says it is stepping up its enforcement measures across Western Australia after a grower was found guilty of using excessive amounts of water.
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Vegie grower prosecuted for taking too much water
  The Western Australian Department of Water has prosecuted a Gnangara vegetable grower for using more than double his water allocation. 63-year-old Tan Nguyen was fined $4,000 for illegally taking 79,000 kilolitres of water.
• 2013/05/21: ABC(Au): Irrigators want bigger investment to manage Basin water
• 2013/05/21: ABC(Au): Lower Murray flows 'normal this time of year'
• 2013/05/20: TheConversation: Regulating water: debate swirls around Commonwealth's role
• 2013/05/20: ABC(Au): Shires back irrigation revamp
  Two central Victorian shires have thrown their support behind a planned $40 million upgrade of irrigation channels south of Bendigo.
• 
  

  While in the Indian subcontinent:

   

• 2013/05/22: CCurrents: The Koodankulam Mystery : Indian Officials' Exodus
• 2013/05/21: Guardian(UK): Climate change pushes farmers in India to the tipping point - in [10] pictures
  

  And in China:

• 2013/05/21: Independent(UK): China agrees to impose carbon targets by 2016
  Beijing's thaw over greenhouse gases seen as major step in battling climate change The battle against global warming has received a transformational boost after China, the world's biggest producer of carbon dioxide, proposed to set a cap on its greenhouse gas emissions for the first time. Under the proposal China, which is responsible for a quarter of the world's carbon emissions, would put a ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions from 2016...
• 2013/05/22: RTCC: China to cap carbon emissions by 2016
• 2013/05/22: RT: China going green? World's no. 1 polluter to cap emissions by 2016
  China has agreed to cap greenhouse emissions by 2016, after previously refusing to commit to global guidelines. Beijing's regime change signaled a move to a greener policy, as rising levels of toxic pollution in China are suffocating industrial centers. China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) - the government organ responsible for socio-economic growth planning - announced the initiative, which must now be approved by the Cabinet before it is enacted.
• 2013/05/22: TP:JR: Bombshell: China May Be Close To Implementing A Cap On Carbon Pollution
  

  While elsewhere in Asia:

• 2013/05/20: CCurrents: Nepal, Climate Change And Brick Factories
  

  And South America:

• 2013/05/24: BBC: Ecuador's President, Rafael Correa, has been sworn into office for an unprecedented third term in the capital, Quito
  

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

• 2013/05/20: iPolitics: Things fall apart in the Harper PMO
• 2013/05/22: TheCanadian: Preston Manning, Michael Ignatieff Warn Canada Losing Democracy to Chinese Oligarchy
• 2013/05/21: Resilience: What Kind of Example Is Canada Setting?
• 2013/05/23: SixthEstate: Dodos, Efficient Governments, and the Unsolvable Problem of Climate Change, Part 3
  

  The Harper gang is still pushing their tar sands PR campaign:

• 2013/05/23: DeSmogBlog: Harper Government Keeps Details Of $16.5M Oil Industry Ad Campaign Under Wraps
• 2013/05/22: Grist: Canada's government is spending millions to get you to like the Keystone pipeline
• 2013/05/20: TP:JR: Canadian Government Pursuing Aggressive Lobbying Push On Keystone XL
• 2013/05/20: HillTimes: Climate drifts into uncharted global warming territory, feds still pushing fossil fuels
  One week after the NOAA records 400 parts per million CO2 for the first time in recorded history, the federal government pushes fossil fuels and Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes the case for Keystone to New York City.
• 
  

  Somebody should take Joe Oliver to Detroit to show him how clean tarsands oil is:

   

• 2013/05/20: OilChange: Canadian MP Calls for Petcoke Inquest
• 2013/05/20: GreenGrok: A Tar Sands Byproduct: Mountains of Coke
• 2013/05/20: Grist: Huge tar-sands waste pile grows alongside Detroit River
• 2013/05/17: NYT: A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit
  

  The Harper gang is pushing some fundamentally destructive science policies:

• 2013/05/20: Confessions: The Canadian War on Science: A long, unexaggerated, devastating chronological indictment
• 2013/05/22: Slate:BA: Update: Canadian Research Agency Still Selling Out Science
• 2013/05/21: TheCanadian: Harper's War on Science
• 2013/05/19: TStar: Cutbacks to basic science threaten future innovation -- Basic research is the seed corn for economic growth
• 2013/05/19: TStar: Four scientists tally the cost of science funding cuts -- Moratorium on the Major Resources Support (MRS) program will have a negative impact
  

  Looks like the Boreal Forest Agreement is toast:

• 2013/05/21: CBC: Deal [Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement] to protect boreal forest caribou fails
  

  The Justin Trudeau's Liberal leadership race was notable for how few his policy pronouncements were. Sooner or later, what he stands for will come out:

• 2013/05/23: P3: Disappointing Development in Canada
• 2013/05/23: BCLSB: Justin Gives West/East Pipeline Yellow Light
• 2013/05/23: CBC: Trudeau raises environmental questions over pipeline
  [...]
  The federal Liberal leader told the CBC's Information Morning Fredericton on Thursday he has specific questions about potential toxins that may be used in the pipeline. "I think it is a proposal that is extremely interesting. We are waiting to look at how they are going to deal with both the community, local, aboriginal concerns and the environmental concerns," Trudeau said.
• 2013/05/23: NatPo: Trudeau's Liberals hit historic highs as senate scandal has 'drastic effect' on Tories: poll
• 2013/05/23: iPolitics: Remember, Justin: Vague is good [policy]
  

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2013/05/23: Tyee: Bitumen Doesn't Float -- Study debunks Enbridge claims that oil sands crude spill is standard clean-up
  

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

• 2013/05/23: AlexandraMorton: In answer to the controversy around Salmon Confidential
  

  Now that Christy Clark has a mandate, what will she do?

• 2013/05/26: TheCanadian: BC's Crushing Debt Absent From Election Discussion
• 2013/05/23: POGGE: BC provincial election elaboration 1: Narrative?!
• 2013/05/22: TheCanadian: BC Liberal Re-election Renews Pipeline Debate
• 2013/05/22: TheCanadian: Pete McMartin: New Fossil Fuel Ports Could Raise BC's Carbon Emissions by 12 FOLD!
• 2013/05/21: TheCanadian: Province, Public Opposition Halt Raven Coal Mine Proposal
• 2013/05/21: CBC: B.C. mine's temporary foreign workers case dismissed -- HD Mining International calls ruling 'a complete vindication'
  

  And what will become of the NDP leader, Adrian Dix?

• 2013/05/24: TheCanadian: Dix Takes 'Full Responsibility', Learns Nothing from Defeat
• 2013/05/22: TheCanadian: The Tyee: Should Adrian Dix Resign?
• 2013/05/22: Tyee: Dix to Sit Tight, For Now
  The NDP leader announced his party will launch post-election review sparing 'nothing and no one, least of all me.'
• 2013/05/22: CBC: Adrian Dix to stay on as B.C. NDP leader despite election loss
• 2013/05/22: WSWS: Canada: NDP suffers debacle in British Columbia election
• 2013/05/20: Tyee: Should Dix Step Down? Or can the NDP leader make a case to reinvent his party?
  

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2013/05/24: DeSmogBlog: The Beaver Lake Cree Judgment: The Most Important Tar Sands Case You've Never Heard Of
• 2013/05/23: BBerg: Crude Landlocked as Canadians Join U.S. to Halt Pipelines
• 2013/05/23: PI:B: Moving oilsands to market -- by pipeline or rail?
• 2013/05/25: CBC: Railway conduit planned to ship oilsands bitumen
  Businessman has plan to move bitumen 2,400 kilometres by rail from Alberta to Alaska
• 2013/05/23: CPW: Extreme Energy development is a risk for investment and the planet, Indigenous delegates tell Royal Dutch Shell shareholders
• 2013/05/23: CPW: Today Big Oil's spin gets a much-needed reality check
• 2013/05/22: BCLSB: Oil Spilling, Redux
• 2013/05/22: Tyee: Difficult Truths about 'Difficult Oil'
  As we work down the hydrocarbon pyramid, energy gets messier and much more costly.
• 2013/05/21: CBC: Train carrying crude oil derails east of Saskatoon -- No reported injuries on CP Rail train
• 2013/05/21: OilChange: Indigenous Activists Challenge Shell [at AGM]
• 2013/05/21: SkS: 2013 SkS News Bulletin #13: Alberta Tar Sands and Keystone XL Pipeline by John Hartz
• 2013/05/21: BCLSB: Ethical Oil: Its Purpose Served?
  

  While in Saskatchewan:

• 2013/05/25: BBerg: Deep Earth Plans Canada's First Geothermal Power Amid Oil Wells
  Deep Earth Energy Production Corp., a closely help developer, is planning Canada's first geothermal power plant that will tap into heat resources underneath oil and natural gas fields in Saskatchewan, according to Chief Executive Officer Kirsten Marcia. The project may cost C$35 million ($33.9 million) and would have 5 megawatts of generating capacity, Marcia said today in a telephone interview. Construction is expected to begin in 2014.
• 
  

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

   

• 2013/05/24: BCLSB: Who Funds Ontario Anti-Wind Groups?
• 2013/05/22: TheCanadian: Ontario's wildlife needs continued protection by David Suzuki
  

  While in la Belle Province:

• 2013/05/23: G&M: Quebec to hold own hearings on Enbridge pipeline plan
  The Quebec government has announced plans to hold its own hearings on Enbridge Inc.'s proposed pipeline project to bring western oil to Montreal, a move that could raise roadblocks to Alberta's efforts to access new markets for its growing oil production.
• 2013/05/: CoC: Fracking is not a right -- Tell Lone Pine to drop its NAFTA lawsuit against Quebec's moratorium on fracking! [activism & frack]
  

  And on the American political front:

• 2013/05/25: NYT:PK: The Closing of the Conservative Mind
• 2013/05/25: CDreams: The New Crime of Eating While Homeless -- By outlawing dumpster diving, Houston is making life impossible for the most vulnerable
• 2013/05/24: CSM: Time for food aid reform that helps hungry countries -- and the US
• 2013/05/24: DD: Delaware's Sussex county declines to vote on proposed sea-level rise responses...
• 2013/05/24: TP:JR: Offshore Drilling In Virginia Would Threaten Coastal Economy, Environment, And Naval Operations
• 2013/05/24: DD: Colorado state climatologist says the High Park Fire gave him the courage to talk about climate change...
• 2013/05/23: CCP: Jason Samenow, WaPo: National Weather Service systems crumbling as extreme weather escalates
• 2013/05/23: CDreams: Censoring Our Food
  If farms and slaughterhouses are rife with repulsive and sadistic abuses, why should we pass laws to help hide it?
• 2013/05/24: P3: Jerry Brown Sells Out Too
• 2013/05/23: TP:JR: Oil Rigs Make Bad Neighbors: Americans Harmed By Oil And Gas Drilling, Seek To Be Heard
• 2013/05/23: PSinclair: Republican Reps: Terror in the Climate Closet [This American Life]
• 2013/05/23: SF Gate: Gov. Brown keeps pressing climate change crusade
• 2013/05/23: TreeHugger: The conversation about climate change is stuck. This American Life investigates why
• 2013/05/23: UCSUSA:B: Policymakers Issue Flurry of Misleading Statements on Climate Science
  Scientists have gone to great pains to differentiate between extreme weather than can or cannot be definitively linked to climate change. Yet, public and policymaker confusion about these connections abounds.
• 2013/05/23: Grist: Connecticut Senate passes GMO-labeling bill
• 2013/05/22: Eureka: Alleviating hunger in the US -- researcher says, it's a SNAP
• 2013/05/21: JaredB: SNAP Rolls: They're Elevated for a Reason
• 2013/05/22: TP:JR: Chu On Climate: 'If We Don't Change What We're doing, We're Going To Be Fundamentally In Really Deep Trouble'
• 2013/05/21: TP:JR: Chris Christie Denies Climate Change Has Anything To Do With Hurricane Sandy
• 2013/05/21: PSinclair: Guest Post: Same Old GOP on Climate?
• 2013/05/21: DD: Minnesota Republican on climate change: 'It's just a complete United Nations fraud'
• 2013/05/20: Redding:DCraig: The conservative flip-flop on climate change (2)
• 2013/05/20: Redding:DCraig: The conservative flip-flop on climate change (1)
• 2013/05/20: WaPo:B: What's the best way to pass a climate bill? Fix the economy first
• 2013/05/21: BRitholtz: NY/NJ/CT Congressional Delegation Should Demand Apology from Oklahoma Senators Inhofe and Coburn [Sandy]
• 2013/05/20: Grist: Everyone relax, Sarah Palin has proven there's no such thing as climate change
• 2013/05/20: Grist: "If people aren't pissed off, it ain't working": A chat with green billionaire Tom Steyer
• 2013/05/20: Grist: New York Times editorial calls for Obama to get moving on climate
• 2013/05/19: P3: Do We Need to Remember How to Plan?
• 2013/05/19: TP:JR: Minnesota State Rep [Glenn Gruenhagen (R-Glencoe)] Calls Climate Change 'Complete United Nations Fraud And Lie'
• 2013/05/19: TP:JR: Worse Than Watergate: Growing Scandal Brings Nation To The Brink Of Ruin
  

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2013/05/20: Grist: BP wants U.S. government to reduce court-ordered oil-spill payouts
• 2013/05/18: Yahoo:Reuters: Texas joins flood of states suing BP over 2010 Gulf spill
  

  Post-Sandy commentary and news:

• 2013/05/24: HillHeat: New York Sandy 'Climate Resilience' Plan Won't Address Climate Pollution
• 2013/05/23: TP:JR: Former NY Army Corps Commander On Post-Sandy Reality: 'Climate Change Is Real,' 'We've Got To Stop Ignoring It'
• 2013/05/22: HillHeat: Former New York Army Corps of Engineers Commander Warns Sandy Survivors To Stop Ignoring Climate Change
  

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

• 2013/05/24: P3: Wherein Our Hero Yells at a Hurricane and Scares It A Little Bit
• 2013/05/24: BBerg: State Department Releases Keystone Pipeline Comments
• 2013/05/24: ICN: Analysis: Bill to Fast-Track Keystone Pipeline Loses Democratic Support. But Why?
• 2013/05/24: RTCC: The Keystone XL debate in 10 letters to John Kerry
• 2013/05/23: BBerg: Texas Farmers Lose Another Bid to Block Keystone Pipeline
• 2013/05/23: FuelFix: Keystone XL's southern leg nears completion
• 2013/05/23: TheHill:e2W: Keep climate change out of Keystone decision, GOP warns in letter to Obama
  Two dozen Senate Republicans are warning President Obama not to link "wholly unrelated" climate change policies to approval of the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.
• 2013/05/23: ICN: To Defeat Keystone, Environmental Movement Goes From Beltway to Grassroots
• 2013/05/22: Grist: Canada's government is spending millions to get you to like the Keystone pipeline
• 2013/05/22: OilChange: House Supporters of Keystone XL Took $56 Million From Fossil Fuel Industry
• 2013/05/22: CSM: Keystone XL: Hot topic in D.C. Ho-hum in rest of US
• 2013/05/22: CBC: U.S. Republicans aim to take hold of Keystone XL decision
• 2013/05/21: BBerg: Keystone Lobby Works on Democrats to Win Obama: Corporate Canada
  Canadian energy producers lobbying for U.S. approval of the Keystone XL pipeline are targeting undecided Democratic lawmakers in Washington in advance of a decision on the $5.3 billion project. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, which represents more than 100 energy producers including Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. (COS) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM)'s Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO), will travel to the U.S. capital next month to promote TransCanada Corp. (TRP)'s plan to carry Alberta oil-sands crude to Gulf Coast refineries. A decision by U.S. President Barack Obama on the pipeline is expected this year.
• 2013/05/21: P3: How Much Does Keystone Really Cost?
• 2013/05/21: ICN: With U.S. Awash in Oil, Nat'l Interest Argument for Keystone Weakens
• 2013/05/20: CDreams: Keystone XL Opponents Turn Up Heat on Obama's Faux "Grassroots"
  Organizing For Action, say critics, cannot address climate change and remain silent on tar sands pipeline
• 2013/05/20: NewYorker: Lines in the Sand
  

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

• 2013/05/22: CDreams: Documents Show Exxon Lied in Aftermath of Tar Sands Pipeline Rupture
  Oil giant knew of dangerous toxins in Arkansas' Lake Conway, yet claimed waterway was "oil free"
• 2013/05/22: DeSmogBlog: Exxon Knew of Dangerous Contamination from Arkansas Spill, Yet Claimed Area "Oil Free"
• 2013/05/20: ICN: Exxon: No Plans Yet To Reopen Ruptured [Mayflower] Pipeline, and No Answers Why
  

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

• 2013/05/23: EnvEcon: CBO: Carbon tax an option to avoid 'catastrophic' outcomes
• 2013/05/23: TP:JR: The Congressional Budget Office Says We Need A Price On Carbon Emissions
• 2013/05/22: TheHill:e2W: CBO: Carbon tax an option to avoid 'catastrophic' outcomes
  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) noted Wednesday that a carbon tax could generate "significant" revenues for the United States and avert "catastrophic" effects of climate change.
• 
  

  The GOP War on Women continues:

   

• 2013/05/23: ACLU: ACLU Statement on Proposed 20 Week Abortion Ban
• 2013/05/23: CDreams: Another Abortion Ban? You've Got to be Kidding Me
• 2013/05/23: Wonkette: Oklahoma Senate Holds Sneaky Hush-Hush Vote To Defund Planned Parenthood While No One's Looking
• 2013/05/23: MoJo: Mississippi Could Soon Jail Women for Stillbirths, Miscarriages
  The state's manslaughter laws weren't supposed to apply to women who lose pregnancies. Prosecutors don't seem to care.
• 2013/05/23: RawStory: Republican congressman fined $500 over sexual misconduct
  Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) was fined on Thursday in connection to inappropriate sexual affairs with his patients. Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners hit the pro-life Republican and doctor with a $500 fine and reprimand. The medical ethics board held DesJarlais violated Tennessee law by having affairs with at least two woman while serving as their physician more than a decade ago. "I take responsibility for past mistakes and am happy to get this resolved," DesJarlais told The Tennessean. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed the medical complaint against DesJarlais in 2012 after several news reports detailed the affairs. Desjarlais was accused of pressuring one of the women into get an abortion.
• 2013/05/21: ACLU: Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Arizona Abortion Ban
• 2013/05/20: Wonkette: Democrats Want To Deprive Women of Chance To Be Called Baby-Murdering Sluts
• 2013/05/20: Wonkette: Virginia Loses Its Damn Mind, Steals Control of Crazy Train
  

  The impacts of budgetary sequestration will begin to add up:

• 2013/05/25: Grist: Sequester guts wildfire prevention, sets up bigger blazes
• 2013/05/25: WSWS: Sequester cuts shut down four government agencies for one day
• 2013/05/22: NatureN: Financial blow for Alaskan volcano monitoring
  As government funding ebbs, scientists launch commercial company to continue analysis efforts.
• 2013/05/21: ScienceInsider: Sequester's 5% Cut Rolls Through Biomedical Labs
• 2013/05/21: NatureN: US budget cuts hit Earth monitoring
  Sequestration threatens records of snow and stream levels in western United States.
• 
  

  It's too bad the House Science Committee chair doesn't know science:

   

• 2013/05/23: Grist: In GOP-run House, has science left the building?
• 2013/05/22: GreenGrok: On Science, Politics and Climate Change
• 2013/05/20: TP:JR: 7 Very Wrong Things About Climate Science And Energy In House Science Chair Lamar Smith's WashPost Op-Ed
• 2013/05/20: CSW: House Science Committee chair [Lamar Smith (R-TX)] twists climate science in Washington Post
  

  Looking forward to 2016 election:

• 2013/05/25: CSM: Clinton leads 2016 poll in Iowa, but Rand Paul is close
  

  At what point do you stop listening to the pretty lies and decide/realize you've been had?

• 2013/05/22: ERabett: Wish-Washing
• 2013/05/22: Grist: Climate activists to protest at Obama group's climate events
  

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2013/05/24: CSM: Energy secretary calls for review of US natural gas exports
• 2013/05/23: WaPo:B: Weather Service systems crumbling as extreme weather escalates
• 2013/05/22: TP:JR: Tesla Motors Pays Back Energy Department Loan 9 Years Early
• 2013/05/23: RTCC: New US energy secretary defends clean tech investments
• 2013/05/23: Grist: New Energy Secretary Moniz is all about energy efficiency
• 2013/05/21: TheHill:e2W: Moniz vows to help advance big efficiency bill, sees 'real chance'
• 2013/05/21: TP:JR: BLM's New Draft Fracking Rules Give Industry a Free Pass, But Were They Written By ExxonMobil?
• 2013/05/20: DeSmogBlog: Obama Admin. Approves ALEC Model Bill for Fracking Chemical Fluid Disclosure on Public Lands
• 2013/05/16: 4EffGov: BLM Fracking Rule Violates New Executive Order on Open Data
  

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2013/05/25: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) Oklahoma Senators Coburn and Inhofe Explain Their Votes Against Disaster Aid
• 2013/05/26: Guardian(UK): The new farm bill is an economic disaster
  Just when you think Congress can't get any dumber, it crafts a $1tn farm bill that harms the poor and promotes unhealthy food
• 2013/05/24: CDreams: Congressman [Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn)] Quotes Jesus in Bid to Gut Food Stamps
• 2013/05/24: CDreams: 100 Environmental/Clean Energy Groups Submit Comments in Opposition to Senate Energy Committee Draft Radioactive Waste Legislation
• 2013/05/23: CDreams: Congress: From "Starving the Beast" to Starving Real People -- New budget proposals tighten belts by emptying stomachs
• 2013/05/23: Grist: House votes to take Keystone decision out of Obama's hands
• 2013/05/23: TP:JR: House Attempts To Force Approval Of Keystone Pipeline That Would Create Just 35 Permanent Jobs
• 2013/05/23: Guardian(UK): Senate rejects GM food labeling amendment to farm bill
• 2013/05/22: OilChange: House Supporters of Keystone XL Took $56 Million From Fossil Fuel Industry
• 2013/05/22: Grist: Inhofe supports tornado aid, says it's "totally different" from Hurricane Sandy aid
• 2013/05/22: Omaha: After House, rocky road looms for Lee Terry's Keystone XL pipeline bill
• 2013/05/22: TP:JR: Senator Menendez: The Oil Conservation Revolution
• 2013/05/21: Wonkette: Tornado Only The Third-Biggest Bag Of Wind In Oklahoma This Week
• 2013/05/21: Wonkette: Tenn Rep. Stephen Fincher Pocketed $9 Million in Ag Subsidies, Says Jesus Hates Food Stamps
• 2013/05/21: RawStory: Sen. Inhofe: Aid for Oklahoma 'totally different' from Sandy relief requests
• 2013/05/21: Grist: Bill aims to tackle climate-caused health problems
• 2013/05/21: Grist: Could the Monsanto Protection Act get repealed?
• 2013/05/21: NatureN: Log-jam in agency confirmations -- Political squabbles leave US science agencies without heads
• 2013/05/20: Wonkette: Congress Argues Over Whether Bible Allows Giving Free Food to Poors
• 2013/05/20: CDreams: 'End the Dictatorship': Senator Leads Call to Repeal 'Monsanto Protection Act'
  Ahead of worldwide protest, Senator Merkley announces effort to repeal the Monsanto Protection Act
• 
  

  What are the lobbyists pushing?

   

• 2013/05/21: TP:JR: Why Exelon Is Lobbying Against The Production Tax Credit
  

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

• 2013/05/25: CCurrents: The World of Our Children
• 2013/05/24: Rabble:MG: Who profits from blasting away water resources and valuable ecosystems?
• 2013/05/24: Resilience: Supply Shock: Ecological Economics Comes of Age, Part 1
  

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2013/05/23: CDreams: The Biggest Criminal Enterprise in History
  Terracide and the Terrarists Destroying the Planet for Record Profits

• Why am I reminded of that take off on Desiderata? Remember, the universe is laughing behind your back...:

• 2013/05/24: Guardian(UK): Have the climate sceptics really won?
  Despite recent fears of sceptics winning public debates, they are not all powerful, but have cast a spell upon their opponents
• 2013/05/24: LowyInterp: Martin Wolf's climate change column
• 2013/05/20: LowyInterp: Climate change: After activism
• 2013/05/21: EconView: 'The Climate Skeptics Have Already Won' - Martin Wolf
  

  How are we going to deal with this mess?

• 2013/05/25: TMoS: The Future is Staring Us in the Face. We Must Stop Looking Away.
• 2013/05/22: RealEconomics: This time I won't wag my finger
  

  How do the media measure up?

• 2013/05/23: CJR: Rooting out bad science -- Big scandals grab headlines, but journalists can do more to expose misconduct
• 2013/05/22: TP:JR: No-Water-Gate: Scandalous NY Times Piece On Dust-Bowlification Never Mentions Climate Change
• 2013/05/21: DeSmogBlog: Frackalypse Now: Mark Fiore Spoofs Oil Industry's PSYOPS Campaign To Derail Fracking "Insurgency"
• 2013/05/21: DeSmogBlog: "Gasland 2" Grassroots Premiere in Illinois Highlights Industry PSYOPS and Ongoing Fracking Fights
• 2013/05/20: TP:JR: As Koch Industries Ramps Up Attack On 'Left-Leaning' Media, WNET Dumps David Koch From Board
  

  Here is something for your library:

• 2013/05/22: Resilience: [Book Review] _The Seed Underground - A Growing Revolution to Save Food_ by Janisse Ray
  

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2013/05/25: RT: From Alaska to Florida: Americans take to streets against Monsanto and GMOs (photos, video)
• 2013/05/25: ArtThreat: We will stop Monsanto: Docs on an agribully
• 2013/05/24: TFTJO: Climate change: reframing the issue
• 2013/05/22: CSW: "The US disconnect over climate change"
• 2013/05/20: Grist: Feeding the trolls: Meeting with a climate denier, face to face
• 2013/05/19: PSinclair: Sheldon Whitehouse: Time to Wake up From Magical Thinking
  

  As for podcasts:

• 2013/05/25: CBC:Q&Q: #1) Arctic Bacteria Survives Below Freezing #2) Earliest Evidence of Cooking Pots #5) The Origin of Feces
  

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2013/05/23: BBerg: Texas Farmers Lose Another Bid to Block Keystone Pipeline
  TransCanada Corp. won another of the remaining Texas state-court challenges by landowners trying to block construction of the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline across their property. A state appeals court in Beaumont, Texas, denied a bid by David Holland and his partners in a southeast Texas rice farm to overturn a lower-court order that let TransCanada install its pipeline before the landowners' appeals were completed.
• 2013/05/22: ACLU: Federal Appeals Court Hears First For-Profit Challenge to Contraception Rule
  ACLU Brief States Employers Cannot Impose Beliefs on Workers by Denying Basic Healthcare
• 2013/05/20: WSWS: US Supreme Court rules for agribusiness giant Monsanto
  

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

• 2013/05/21: SciAm:PI: What unconventional fuels tell us about the global energy system
• 2013/05/22: TreeHugger: Technology can turn waste heat into electricity at temperatures as low as 86 degrees
• 2013/05/22: ABC(Au): Go-ahead for [Port Hedland in the Pilbara] plant to convert waste into electricity
• 2013/05/21: NBF: [Fuel cell maker] Bloom Energy has raised $130 million to bring total raised to $1.1 billion and are on track to be profitable in 2013
• 2013/05/23: EUO: Millions of Italians unable to afford heating: Report
• 2013/05/22: BBC: Ministers approve plans for world's biggest wave farm in Western Isles
  Ministers have approved plans for the world's largest commercial wave farm. Full consent has been given for a 40MW farm off the north-west coast of Lewis - enough to power nearly 30,000 homes.
• 2013/05/23: CSM: The race against time for liquefied natural gas
• 2013/05/25: BBerg: Deep Earth Plans Canada's First Geothermal Power Amid Oil Wells
  

  Comments on that IEA report last week:

• 2013/05/23: CCurrents: Will The International Energy Agency's Oil Forecast Be Wrong Again?
• 2013/05/20: CSM: When oil forecasts get it wrong [Cobb]
• 2013/05/19: Resilience: Will the International Energy Agency's oil forecast be wrong again?
• 2013/05/18: flc: Revaluation of a strategic importance: "The Middle East lost its status as the default energy supplier to the US!"
  

  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

• 2013/05/20: ERW: Solar could replace nuclear power in Japan
• 2013/05/20: PSinclair: Why Coal and Nuclear Plants Kill Far More Birds than Wind Power
  

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

• 2013/05/25: DeSmogBlog: Gas Industry Successfully Overturns Colorado Fracking Ban
• 2013/05/24: Grist: Fracking accident leaks benzene into Colorado stream
• 2013/05/24: TheCanadian: German Brewers Attack Fracking
• 2013/05/23: DerSpiegel: Purity Concerns: German Beer Brewers Foaming over Fracking
  Forget environmental concerns: When it comes to fracking, Germans are worried about how it might affect beer quality. In a letter to several ministries in Berlin, brewers expressed concern that the exploitation of shale gas could contaminate water supplies and thus violate the beer purity law of 1516.
• 2013/05/20: CSM: Does the US need federal fracking regulations?
• 2013/05/19: Times-Trib: Sunday Times review of DEP drilling records reveals water damage, murky testing methods
  [Pennsylvania] State environmental regulators determined that oil and gas development damaged the water supplies for at least 161 Pennsylvania homes, farms, churches and businesses between 2008 and the fall of 2012, according to a cache of nearly 1,000 letters and enforcement orders written by Department of Environmental Protection officials and obtained by The Sunday Times.
• 2013/05/18: AWFI: Open Data and Wishful Thinking
  

  On the coal front:

• 2013/05/23: ABC(Au): Coal demand expected to boom [by Colorado Mining Association president Stuart Sanderson]
• 2013/05/21: BBerg: Adaro Energy Chief Says Coal at $100 a Ton Is New Normal
• 2013/05/19: QuarkSoup: Australia: Power from Coal Down Sharply
  

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2013/05/24: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....102.64
  WTI Cushing Spot.....94.15
• 2013/05/26: OilDrum: Tech Talk -Cutting back on supply in the presence of optimism
• 2013/05/24: DeSmogBlog: Is Houston a Tar Sands "Sacrifice Zone"?
• 2013/05/23: TP:JR: Oil Rigs Make Bad Neighbors: Americans Harmed By Oil And Gas Drilling, Seek To Be Heard
• 2013/05/22: EarlyWarning: April Saudi Oil Production
• 2013/05/22: Grist: Gulf Coast refineries accidentally belch out a lot of chemical pollution
• 2013/05/22: Tyee: Difficult Truths about 'Difficult Oil'
  As we work down the hydrocarbon pyramid, energy gets messier and much more costly.
• 2013/05/21: CPI: 'Upset' emissions: Flares in the air, worry on the ground
• 2013/05/20: Grist: BP, Shell, Statoil accused of fixing oil prices
• 2013/05/20: NOAANews: New NOAA report examines national oil pollution threat from shipwrecks -- Report presented to U.S. Coast Guard for use in contingency plans
• 2013/05/18: Economist: Trading in oil - Libor in a barrel
  Oil markets fall under the suspicion of price-fixing on a global scale
• 
  

  Regarding oil and the economy:

   

• 2013/05/25: CSM: Energy economics: What's next for gas prices? [Mark Thoma interview]
  

  And in pipeline news:

• 2013/05/22: CSM: Are oil pipeline spills inevitable?
  

  A rush of American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign. Think it will last?

• 2013/05/24: RealEconomics: The economic absurdity of fracking
• 2013/05/23: EurActiv: Cheap shale gas bubble 'will burst within 2-4 years': Expert
  The current shale gas boom which has bathed the US economy in cheap energy will soon go bust, a former gas industry geologist has told EurActiv. The future of shale gas in Europe was high on the agenda at an EU summit in Brussels yesterday (22 May), with leaders stressing the "crucial" role that such indigenous energy resources could play in reviving industry. But according to David Hughes, a geoscientist and former team leader on unconventional gas for the Canadian Potential Gas Committee, the US boom on which many base their expectations is founded on shifting sands.
• 
  

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

   

• 2013/05/21: PNNL: Going green: Nation equipped to grow serious amounts of pond scum for fuel
• 2013/05/20: Resilience: So Much Wasted Energy - Rethinking food waste
  

  The answer my friend...:

• 2013/05/24: ABC(Au): Opponents of King Island wind farm challenged
• 2013/05/23: BBC: Google acquires kite-power generator, Makani Power
  Google has acquired a US company that generates power using turbines mounted on tethered kites or wings. Makani Power will become part of Google X - the secretive research and development arm of the search giant. The deal comes as Makani carries out the first fully autonomous flights of robot kites bearing its power-generating propellers.
• 2013/05/22: PSinclair: The Truth about the Anti-Wind Movement: A Tiny, Paranoid, Disinformed, Koch-Funded Fringe
• 2013/05/22: TreeHugger: Hairy skyscraper to collect energy through piezo-electric straws
• 2013/05/21: UKISS: Follow the money
• 2013/05/16: DeutscheWelle: 2012 record-breaking year for wind power
  

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2013/05/25: PeakEnergy: Breakthrough in solar efficiency by UNSW team ahead of its time
• 2013/05/23: Resilience: Rooftop Revolution: How Solar Energy Is Putting Power Back in the Hands of the People
• 2013/05/22: Resilience: For Africa's Solar Sisters, Off-Grid Electricity Is Power
• 2013/05/22: Grist: This solar panel printer can make 33 feet of solar cells per minute
• 2013/05/21: TreeHugger: Researchers nuke up new solar cell material in microwave that used to make lunch
• 2013/05/22: BBC: Solar Impulse plane's trans-America bid continues
• 2013/05/24: DerSpiegel: Electric Avenue: Solar Road Panels Offer Asphalt Alternative
  An American couple has found a surprising alternative to conventional asphalt motorways: solar road panels. In addition to providing electricity, saving oil and melting fresh snow, it could also prevent accidents.
• 2013/05/20: ArtThreat: Mapping the world's largest solar farm with Project 929
• 2013/05/20: TreeHugger: Moth eyes inspire more efficient thin-film solar cells
  

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2013/05/24: MLynas: 'Like a bride left at the altar' - latest news from Hinkley C
• 2013/05/21: Kentucky: Greenpeace drops item on Swedish reactor from glider to make point
• 2013/05/22: EneNews: 'Amazing': Plutonium leak at U.S. nuclear site hidden from public - Official: "A very deliberate cover up... I will use the word that we were lied to" (video)
• 2013/05/21: Grist: Nation's biggest uranium mine planned in New Mexico
• 2013/05/20: TAE: Widely Visible Symbols Of Human Folly
• 2013/05/19: IndiaTimes: Thousands rally against nuclear power in Taiwan
  Taipei: Thousands of Taiwanese marched through the capital Taipei on Sunday urging the government to halt construction of a nearly completed nuclear power plant, citing the Japanese atomic crisis. The demonstrators chanted slogans like "No Nuke for Our Children" during the march which extended for miles as they evoked memories of the March 2011 Fukushima crisis sparked by an earthquake and tsunami. Police estimates of the turnout were not immediately available while the organisers claimed 30,000 people took part. They said some protesters would hold an overnight sit-in outside parliament.
• 
  

  Nuclear waste storage requires _very_ long term thinking:

   

• 2013/05/24: CDreams: 100 Environmental/Clean Energy Groups Submit Comments in Opposition to Senate Energy Committee Draft Radioactive Waste Legislation
  

  Nuclear fusion projects around the world limp along:

• 2013/05/24: NBF: 10 Tesla superconductors could enable Tokomak fusion to actually be affordable and workable in reasonable time
• 2013/05/24: NBF: Nuclear Fusion Summary - Prospects for breakthrough commercial reactors 2018-2025
  

  Low energy nuclear keeps coming up:

• 2013/05/21: SwaB: The E-Cat is back, and people are still falling for it!
• 2013/05/25: CassandrasLegacy: E-Cat: fool me n-times.....
• 2013/05/21: NBF: Rossi LENR convinces some but many are not convinced and say it is a fraud
• 2013/05/20: Forbes: Finally! Independent Testing Of Rossi's E-Cat Cold Fusion Device: Maybe The World Will Change After All
• 2013/05/20: arXiv: Indication of anomalous heat energy production in a reactor device by Giuseppe Levi et al.
• 2013/05/20: NBF: Third Party ECat report on Arxiv
• 2013/05/20: NBF: Rossi, NASA and Low energy nuclear reactions and Nickel 62 and Nickel 63 Speculation
  

  Like a mirage, the dream of a Hydrogen Economy shimmers on the horizon:

• 2013/05/21: Eureka: New method for producing clean hydrogen
  

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2013/05/24: Resilience: Microgrids: A Utility's Best Friend or Worst Enemy?
• 2013/05/23: Grist:Utilities for dummies, part 2: Why we need competitive electricity markets (with fennec foxes!)
• 2013/05/21: Grist: Utilities for dummies: How they work and why that needs to change
  

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2013/05/20: TreeHugger: LEDs in greenhouses deliver same yield as grow lights, using just 25% of the energy
  

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

• 2013/05/22: NBF: Tesla Repays $451 million Government loan ten years early and will get about $188 million this year selling Zero Emission credits
• 2013/05/22: TP:JR: Tesla Motors Pays Back Energy Department Loan 9 Years Early
• 2013/05/22: TreeHugger: Long Beach to get wireless chargers for their new electric buses
• 2013/05/21: Grist: More than 100,000 electric vehicles now on the roads in U.S.
• 2013/05/20: TreeHugger: Milestone: U.S reaches 100,000 plug-in vehicles sold
  

  As for Energy Storage:

• 2013/05/22: TreeHugger: Toyota increases lithium-ion battery production 6x to upgrade Prius
• 2013/05/21: RealEconomics: Electrical storage alternatives
• 2013/05/20: PNNL: Not just blowing in the wind: Compressing air for renewable energy storage
  

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2013/05/22: RTCC: Comment: Business needs a carbon budget to hit 2°C target
  Japan's former climate ambassador Yoshi Nishimura says paying more attention to the carbon we emit than setting arbitrary reduction targets is the best way to get the private sector to steer us away from dangerous levels of warming...
• 2013/05/20: RTCC: UN: Businesses underestimating climate risk
  

  Who's fielding the FAQs?

• 2013/05/24: ASI: Everything you want to know about the jet stream
• 2013/05/22: CBC: What is 'Tornado Alley'?
• 2013/05/22: SkS: A Rough Guide to the Jet Stream: what it is, how it works and how it is responding to enhanced Arctic warming by John Mason
• 2013/05/21: TheConversation: Explainer: what is ocean energy?
• 2013/05/21: TheConversation: Explainer: why are tornadoes so destructive?
  

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

• 2013/05/24: TP:JR: May 24 News...
• 2013/05/23: TP:JR: May 23 News...
• 2013/05/22: TP:JR: May 22 News...
• 2013/05/21: TP:JR: May 21 News...
• 2013/05/20: TP:JR: May 20 News...
  

  Other (weekly) lists:

• 2013/05/23: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #21A by John Hartz
• 2013/05/25: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #21B by John Hartz
  

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2013/05/21: CCP: Corporations and Koch brothers using taxpayer-subsidized off-duty police with arresting authority
• 2013/05/21: ItsNotNova: Nova's Ocean of Doubt
• 2013/05/21: DD: Barton Paul Levenson: No warming for 15 years!
• 2013/05/22: WottsUWT: Hmm, Willis tries to be clever again!
• 2013/05/22: HotWhopper: The Mice Play - More Fake Forcings from Willis on WUWT
• 2013/05/22: WtD: The Maginot Line Defence and moral imagination: climate change isn't real; maybe it is; we should all give up!
• 2013/05/21: VVattaUWT: Reaping The Whirlwind
• 2013/05/20: BBerg: How to Humble a Wing Nut
  [...]
  Their central finding is that if you ask people to explain exactly why they think as they do, they discover how much they don't know -- and they become more humble and therefore more moderate.
• 2013/05/23: ERabett: Anyone Eli Knows?
• 2013/05/22: DeSmogBlog: IRS Sleuths Were on the Right Track: Big Tobacco Created Tea Party in 1994
• 2013/05/24: ItsNotNova: Argo We Go Again
• 2013/05/24: UKISS: Denier contradictions - CSP contradictory beyond belief.
• 2013/05/24: HotWhopper: An economist should know better, maybe ...but what about Anthony Watts?
• 2013/05/24: NewAnthropocene: There's consensus and then there's consensus: Climate "Sceptics" Just Don't Get It
• 2013/05/23: QuarkSoup: The Deniers New Tactic... ... outright lying
• 2013/05/23: RBroberg: Dear Dr Russell ...
• 2013/05/23: WottsUWT: Watt about the anti-information?
• 2013/05/25: RBroberg: Dear Willard: Who needs words when one has letters and operators?
• 2013/05/22: CBrief: Scientists: How Matt Ridley misinterpreted new climate sensitivity paper
• 2013/05/25: HotWhopper: Wondering Willis, Volcanoes and the Dunning-Kruger Effect
• 2013/05/21: CJR: Under the bridge -- Climate Desk tracks down its 'most pernicious' troll
• 2013/05/24: EconView: 'The Noble and Ancient Tradition of Moron-Baiting'
• 2013/05/21: HotWhopper: Today's Menu from Anthony Watts - Fruitcake (Nutty As)
• 2013/05/20: Guardian(UK): Heartland Institute wastes real scientists' time -- yet again
• 2013/05/20: CCP: John Abraham: Heartland Institute wastes real scientists' time -- yet again
• 2013/05/21: HotWhopper: More denier weirdness - Anthony Watts praises a paper as a sea change, but sneers at the author's findings
• 2013/05/20: GLaden: The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism...
• 2013/05/26: UKISS: Why do people deny science?
• 2013/05/19: PSinclair: Science Denial Alive and Well Among Policy Makers and Right Wing Heroes
• 2013/05/19: WottsUWT: Dangerously low levels of carbon dioxide!
• 2013/05/19: HotWhopper: WUWT Gets Weirder by the Day - Now burning fossil fuels doesn't produce CO2?
  

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

• 2013/05/24: TreeHugger: Coal Pollution in North Omaha, Nebraska: "Kids Deserve Better Than This"
  

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2013/05/24: CDreams: Groups Slam Environmental Defense Fund for Fracking "Greenwash"
  Criticism follows news that EDF president has partnered with gas companies in pro-fracking coalition
• 
  

  As for climate miscellanea:

   

• 2013/05/22: CBC: How the weather info that storm chasers use can keep you safe
• 2013/05/21: DerSpiegel: Miracle in the Sahara: Oasis Sediments Archive Dramatic History
  A marvel of nature, the lakes of Ounianga in the Sahara Desert have lasted thousands of years and withstood dramatic climate change. Now, a German geologist has analyzed lakebed sediments to shed light on a spectacular chapter in human history.
• 2013/05/21: ERabett:JF: The Tornados of Tomorrow
• 2013/05/23: Guardian(UK): Running shoes leave large carbon footprint, study shows
• 2013/05/23: Guardian(UK): Matt Ridley's misguided climate change policy
• 2013/05/20: ERabett:BSD: The "doing something that's short of everything is nothing" fallacy
• 2013/05/20: TMoS: There's Good News and Bad News on the Climate Change Front
• 2013/05/25: DD: Is Australia the face of climate change to come? Extreme weather Down Under may foreshadow events on a global scale
• 2013/05/20: TheConversation: Long-term warming, short-term variability: why climate change is still an issue
• 2013/05/19: Dosbat: Mid May Miscellanea - Housekeeping
  

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

• Wiki: Lakes of Ounianga
• RSPB: The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
• NASA: Global Climate Change
• GWSP: Global Water System Project
• MAHB: Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere
• DEEP: Deep Earth Energy Production Corp.
• GWSP International Conference - Water in the Anthropocene
• NOAA:NODC: Global Ocean Heat and Salt Content
• Wiki: Halbach array
• Farm Land Grab
• Carbon Brief
• Oceana
• NOAA:ERD: Incident News
• IETA: International Emissions Trading Association
• Wiki: Bakken formation [Bakken oil shale]
• ForestWatchers

Low Key Plug

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

A Simple Plea

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

<regards>

-het

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

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

"Humanity has decided to yawn and let the real and present dangers of climate change mount. ... Judged by the world's inaction, climate skeptics have won..." -Martin Wolf

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