Another Week of Climate Disruption News - May 11, 2014

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

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Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

May 11, 2014

• Chuckles, COP20+, Abu Dhabi, WGx, NCA, Myers, Mengel & Levermann, Landslide
• Energiewende, Bottom Line, Subsidies, Economics, Cook, Meteorologists
• Fukushima: Note, News
• Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Methane
• Food: Crisis, Fisheries, Prices, Land Grabs, GMOs, GMO Labelling, Production
• Hurricanes, Monsoon, Notable Weather, Forecasts, Extreme Weather
• GHGs, Carbon Cycle, Milankovitch Cycles, Climate Sensitivity, Ozone, ENSO
• Temperatures, Satellites Paleoclimate, Attribution
• Oceans, Biosphere, Extinctions, Bees & CCD, Anthropocene
• Impacts, Forests, Climate Refugees, Disease, Smog & Health, Phenology
• Tornadoes, Wildfires, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, GW Deluge, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Cities, Synthetic Biology, Transportation, Geoengineering, Conservation, Restoration, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, Free Science, Hansen
• International Politics: UN, Bank Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea, Ukraine, Treaties, Resources
• FQD, Law & Activism, Activism, Resistance, Divestment, Polls, H2O Biz, Education
• National Politics: Britain, Europe, Australia, Abbott, RET, MDBP, Tas Forest Deal
• India, China, Japan, Asia, Russia, Africa, South America
• Canada, Lac-Mégantic, Abortion, Farley, CCA, Pipelines, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Alberta, Ontario, Maritimes
• America, Keystone, Spills & Leaks, Birth Control, 2016, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
• Ecological Economics, Recycling, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Transitions, Energy Investments, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Oil Transportation, US Tar Sands
• Wind, Solar, Nukes, Nuclear Waste, Utilities, Efficiency, Energy Storage
• Business, Other Lists, Carbon Lobby, Clean Coal, Inaction, Miscellaneous, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, A Simple Plea, .sig

 

Laugh. I dare ya:

• 2014/05/10: TruthDig: (cartoon - Zyglis) Climate Report
• 2014/05/08: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) The Danger in Being a Meathead
• 2014/05/08: TruthDig: (cartoon - Sack) Climate Denial
• 2014/05/07: uComics: (cartoon - Auth) GOP & GW
• 2014/05/07: TruthDig: (cartoon - Luckovich) Early Climate Change Deniers
• 2014/05/05: TruthDig: (cartoon - Enos) Please Help
• 2014/05/04: BRitholtz: (cartoon - Sack) Earth Day Blues

And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

• 2014/05/09: Wonkette: Obama Desecrates Reagan's Adulthood Home With Solar Panels Because He Is A Dumb Hippie
  

  Looking ahead to COP20 and future international climate negotiations:

  • 2014/05/09: RTCC: National proposals show huge work to do on climate deal
    Submissions on a UN climate treaty are starting to flood in - and they show just how many differences remain
  • 2014/05/05: RTCC: UN climate veteran confident 2015 summit won't echo Copenhagen
    Deputy UNFCCC chief Richard Kinley says intensive diplomacy from world's major carbon polluters could pay off in Paris

  There was some sort of conference in Abu Dhabi:

  • 2014/05/10: CleanTechnica: Abu Dhabi Solar Challenge Launched
  • 2014/05/10: CleanTechnica: Revolutionizing The Water Desalination Industry
  • 2014/05/07: CleanTechnica: Abu Dhabi Ascent Opening: Time Is Running Out
  • 2014/05/05: GET: A Renewables Club to change the world
  • 2014/05/06: RTCC: Support builds for global carbon price at Abu Dhabi Ascent
    World Bank and Al Gore call for 'polluter pays' principle to be implemented across global economy Calls for a global price on carbon intensified at a high level meeting in Abu Dhabi this week, with former US vice president Al Gore pinpointing it as his top priority in tackling climate change.
  • 2014/05/05: UN: In Abu Dhabi, UN chief warns still 'too many sitting on the fence', urges bold leadership on climate change
  • 2014/05/05: TreeHugger: Al Gore crushes it in Abu Dhabi Ascent presentation (videos)
  • 2014/05/04: CleanTechnica: Al Gore's Tremendous Presentation At Abu Dhabi Ascent
  • 2014/05/04: CBC: UN chief calls for 'greater action' on climate change -- Ban Ki-moon at 2-day strategy meeting [in Abu Dhabi] on climate deal

  Still some post WG1/WG2/WG3 commentary:

  • 2014/05/10: Economist: Inside the sausage factory -- Scientists versus diplomats at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
  • 2014/05/04: CCP: IPCC SPM report was greatly watered down according to expert reviewer economist Robert Stavins

  The US National Climate Assessment came out this week to much fanfare:

  • 2014/05/06: GlobalChange: National Climate Assessment - Overview
  • 2014/05/06: GlobalChange: [links to several pdfs] National Climate Assessment
  • 2014/05/10: CleanTechnica: US National Climate Assessment Is Direct, Stark
  • 2014/05/09: BBC: Warm Texas wind blows green for Mars
  • 2014/05/08: SkS: 2014 SkS News Bulletin #4: Third U.S. National Climate Assessment by John Hartz
  • 2014/05/08: KSJT: Climate change: Is there anything that can awaken Americans to the danger?
  • 2014/05/08: TheConversation: Obama hits TV with new weather warning, but will viewers tune in?
  • 2014/05/08: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change is Clear and Present Danger That The Fossil Fuel Industry Would Like You To Ignore
  • 2014/05/08: ERW: Climate change is clear and present danger, says landmark US report
  • 2014/05/07: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change "Has Moved Firmly into the Present," Latest NCA Federal Report States
  • 2014/05/07: Eureka: Official statement by ACS: Release of National Climate Assessment demands action
  • 2014/05/07: KSJT: AP etc: Nat'l Climate Assessment says we're in deep. So many such stories lately - reliable reporters slog on.
  • 2014/05/07: CCP: Take Your Pick! News Roundup for 3rd National Climate Assessment from Climate Nexus
  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): White House calls for action on climate change after release of new report
  • 2014/05/07: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: the National Climate Assessment
  • 2014/05/07: P3: Big Climate Push in US: The Future is Now
  • 2014/05/07: DemNow: Foretelling Devastating Impact, Will White House Climate Report Spark Action on Global Warming?
  • 2014/05/07: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change "Has Moved Firmly into the Present," Latest NCA Federal Report States
  • 2014/05/06: HillHeat: Green Responses to the National Climate Assessment
  • 2014/05/06: Grist: Five ways we're killing ourselves with climate change
  • 2014/05/06: SciAm:GB: Climate Report Nails Risk Communication
  • 2014/05/06: Slate:BA: The Heat Is On: In the U.S., Climate Change Is Here and Now and the Future
  • 2014/05/06: SigFig: The Risks to U.S. Water Resources From Climate Change by Peter H. Gleick
  • 2014/05/06: PSinclair: CBS Summary of US Global Change Report
  • 2014/05/06: TP:JR: U.S. Climate Report: For Some Native Groups, There's Literally Nowhere To Run
  • 2014/05/06: ERabett:BSD: You can feel the National Climate Assessment in your bones
  • 2014/05/06: TreeHugger: White House report: Climate change Is here, and it's dire...
  • 2014/05/06: ESA: Third US National Climate Assessment reports our ecosystems are already changing
  • 2014/05/06: NOAANews: Obama Administration releases Third National Climate Assessment for the United States
    Report confirms that climate change is affecting every region of the United States and key sectors of the U.S. economy
  • 2014/05/06: TreeHugger: The one thing everyone needs to know from the National Climate Assessment - It's happening now and we need to pay attention
  • 2014/05/06: CSW: U.S. National Climate Assessment: Resources and media
  • 2014/05/06: CNN: Climate change is here and action needed now, new White House report says
  • 2014/05/06: TP:JR: Authors Of Major U.S. Climate Report: 'The Old Normal Is Broken'
  • 2014/05/06: TDC: Climate science drops the crystal ball
    The strength of the new National Climate Assessment is its focus on change already underway - not forecasts of what may happen in the future, authors say.
  • 2014/05/06: Grist: The 12 things the Obama administration wants you to know about climate change
  • 2014/05/06: ScienceInsider: As U.S. Climate Changes, White House Embraces the Science Like Never Before
  • 2014/05/06: NatureNB: Climate change is present danger, US warns
  • 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: Water, Climate, and You: the 2014 National Climate Assessment
  • 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: If Climate Science Were Your Doctor, You'd Quit Burning Fossil Fuels Immediately [NCA]
  • 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: The Human Toll of Sea Level Rise: What the 2014 National Climate Assessment Doesn't Say about It (But We Can)
  • 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: The Silent Killer: Extreme Heat in the Western U.S. [NCA]
  • 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: The National Climate Assessment and Opportunities to Cut U.S. Emissions
  • 2014/05/06: UCSUSA: National Climate Assessment Highlights Need for Resilience, Risk Reduction, Science Group Says
  • 2014/05/06: RTCC: Climate change 'moves into the present', says US [National Climate Assessment]
  • 2014/05/06: Wunderground: Climate Change Moves Firmly Into the Present: Blockbuster National Climate Assessment
  • 2014/05/06: BBC: Warming 'increasingly disruptive' across US - report
    Climate change is having significant financial, ecological and human health impacts across the US, according to a new report.
  • 2014/05/06: CBC: Climate change 'has moved firmly into the present,' U.S. report says
    Extensive report released Tuesday outlines regional impacts of climate change throughout the U.S. Global warming is rapidly turning America into a stormy and dangerous place, with rising seas and disasters costing citizens from flood-stricken Florida to the wildfire-ravaged West, according to a new U.S. federal scientific report. Climate change's assorted harms "are expected to become increasingly disruptive across the nation throughout this century and beyond," the National Climate Assessment concluded Tuesday.
  • 2014/05/05: CSW: U.S. National Climate Assessment to be released May 6
  • 2014/05/04: Guardian(UK): Climate change is clear and present danger, says landmark US report
    National Climate Assessment, to be launched at White House on Tuesday, says effects of climate change are now being felt

  The Myers et al. paper on nutrition under conditions of higher CO2 generated some interest:

  • 2014/05/07: Nature: (ab$) Increasing CO2 threatens human nutrition by Samuel S. Myers et al.
  • 2014/05/10: CBC:Q&Q: [mp3] CO2 and Crop Nutrients
  • 2014/05/08: BBC: CO2 'significantly reduces' nutrients in major food crops
    Rising levels of CO2 around the world will significantly impact the nutrient content of crops according to a new study. Experiments show levels of zinc, iron and protein are likely to be reduced by up to 10% in wheat and rice by 2050.
  • 2014/05/08: RTCC: Higher CO2 threatens human nutrition - study
  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Rising CO2 could threaten human nutrition
  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Rising carbon dioxide levels reduce nutrients in staple crops
  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Climate change: Rising carbon dioxide levels will reduce the nutrition levels of staple foods, new research shows
  • 2014/05/07: CBC: Rising CO2 levels threaten human nutrition, study says -- Vital crops grown under future conditions have less iron and zinc

  The Mengel & Levermann paper on the East Antarctic ice sheets raised an eyebrow or two:

  • 2014/05/04: Nature:CC: (ab$) Ice plug prevents irreversible discharge from East Antarctica by M. Mengel & A. Levermann
  • 2014/05/06: RTCC: Ocean warming could weaken East Antarctic ice sheets
    Unstable ice sheet could cause ocean to rise by 4 metres in an 'irreversible' cycle of melting, say scientists
  • 2014/05/05: Science2.0: Melting East Antarctica Ice Could Mean Thousands Of Years Of Unstoppable Sea Level Rises
  • 2014/05/05: TP:JR: East Antarctic Melting Could Raise Sea Levels By 10 To 13 Feet, Study Finds
  • 2014/05/05: PSinclair: New Research: East Antarctic at Risk of Unstoppable Melt
  • 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): East Antarctica more at risk than thought to long-term thaw
    An ice shelf previously thought to be resilient to climate change is being held in place by a relatively small plug of ice.
  • 2014/05/04: CCP: East Antarctic ice basin far less stable than thought, at risk for unstoppable discharge
  • 2014/05/04: CCP: "Ice plug prevents irreversible discharge from East Antarctica," by M. Mengel & A. Levermann, Nature Climate Change (2014); doi: 10.1038/nclimate2226

  Late comments on that Afghan landslide triggered by a heavy rainfall:

  • 2014/05/06: NatureN: Afghan landslide was 'an accident waiting to happen' -- Natural-hazards expert Dave Petley discusses the 2 May disaster in Ab Barak
  • 2014/05/05: CNN: Scale of Afghan landslide 'absolutely devastating'
    The death toll from a double landslide may be as high as 2,700, a relief agency says - Authorities have declared the site a mass graveyard - More Afghans died in natural disasters in one week than in the whole of 2013, the U.N. says - Relief agencies are racing to help the survivors, who lack access to clean water
  • 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): Afghanistan landslide: US offers support as country holds national day of mourning for hundreds killed [pix]
  • 2014/05/05: WSWS: 2,700 feared dead as landslide buries rural Afghan town

  How is the German Energy Transition [Energiewende] doing?

  • 2014/05/09: GEB: BDEW: Renewables Account for 27% of German Gross Electricity Consumption in First Quarter of 2014
  • 2014/05/07: GEB: Federal Network Agency Presents Annual Report 2013
  • 2014/05/05: GEB: March 2014 Sees 155.805 MWp of New Solar Capacity, Regular 1% Degression of Tariffs from Mai to July 2014

  And on the Bottom Line:

  • 2014/05/08: EurActiv: Warning of $1tn gamble on high-cost oil projects
  • 2014/05/08: EcoWatch: Report Finds Investments in Alberta's Tar Sands 'Make Neither Economic Nor Climate Sense'
  • 2014/05/08: RTCC: High cost oil reserves pose investment risk
    Exploring for new fossil fuel reserves poses threat of stranded assets, says Carbon Tracker Initiative in new study
  • 2014/05/08: DeSmogBlog: New Report Names Alberta Oilsands as Highest Cost, Highest Risk Investment in Oil Sector
  • 2014/05/07: BBerg: Oil Industry Risks $1.1 Trillion of Investor Cash: Study
    Oil explorers like Exxon Mobil Corp. and OAO Rosneft risk wasting $1.1 trillion of investors' cash through 2025 on expensive, uneconomic projects from the Arctic and deep seas to tar sands, according to a study. That's the sum the industry may spend on developments that need market prices of at least $95 a barrel to break even, the Carbon Tracker Initiative said. The money risks being wasted as the total amount of oil the world can afford to burn without warming the planet to unsafe levels is available from less costly deposits that are economical at $75 a barrel, according to its report.
  • 2014/05/07: TP:JR: The Southeast U.S. Has Had More Billion-Dollar Disasters Than The Rest Of The Country Combined
  • 2014/05/07: 350orBust: [gfx] Our Choice Is Clear: Climate Action, or Global Economic Disruption

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

  • 2014/05/09: RealEconomics: $2 trillion per year solution
  • 2014/05/09: ETI:RRapier: How Fossil Fuels Subsidize Us
  • 2014/05/09: RTCC: Pressure growing for OPEC countries to cut energy subsidies
    Fossil fuel subsidies in oil-rich countries should be replaced with extra money for the poor, says report Oil-rich countries can save billions of dollars by replacing domestic energy subsidies with programmes which hand cash to poor households, a US report found.

  What's up with economists?

  • 2014/05/11: Stoat: Tol goes emeritus
  • 2014/05/10: ATTPh: Richard Tol and the 97% consensus - again!
  • 2014/05/06: EnvEcon: "Economics students call for shakeup of the way their subject is taught"
  • 2014/05/06: ERabett: Tol's Demon
  • 2014/05/05: CCP: John Abraham: Economics is clear on the need for climate action, now it's time to act
  • 2014/05/05: ATTPh: Tol's corrections

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

  • 2014/05/10: SkS: 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #19B by John Hartz
  • 2014/05/09: SkS: We can't count on plants to slow down global warming by John Abraham
  • 2014/05/09: SkS: As Population Surges, Harsh Climate Of Southwest Will Only Get Harsher by Ari Phillips
  • 2014/05/08: SkS: 2014 SkS News Bulletin #4: Third U.S. National Climate Assessment by John Hartz
  • 2014/05/08: SkS: Gavin Schmidt TED talk on Climate Models by greenman3610
  • 2014/05/06: SkS: 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #19A by John Hartz
  • 2014/05/06: SkS: Answers to the top ten global warming 'skeptic' arguments by dana1981
  • 2014/05/05: SkS: Brandis confuses right to be heard with right to be taken seriously by Peter Ellerton
  • 2014/05/05: SkS: 2014 SkS Weekly Digest #18 by John Hartz

  TV Meteorologists typically follow the corporate media line...

  • 2014/05/06: NYT: Using Weathercasters to Deliver a Climate Change Message
  • 2014/05/07: Grist: Obama talks climate with TV weathercasters

  A note on theFukushima disaster:

  It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.]
  And the IAEA is now saying 40 years too.
  [Now some people are talking about a century or more. Sealing it in concrete for 500 years.]
  We'll see.
  At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
  Meanwhile...
  It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.
  How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
  Do they have an agenda?
  Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
  Do they want to write a good news story?
  Do they want to write a bad news story?
  Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
  Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
  One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
  If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

   

  • 2014/05/10: EneNews: Japan Times: Fukushima fallout in N. America at 400,000,000,000,000 Bq of Cesium-137 -- Study: Hazardous on a 'continental scale'...
  • 2014/05/10: EneNews: Professor: Concerns Fukushima is impacting Alaska; "Unusual animals showing up dead... Seals with unknown disease... first cases of avian cholera"...
  • 2014/05/08: FukuLeaks: US Pacific Kelp; Fukushima Radiation Testing Results
  • 2014/05/08: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Unit 4 Fuel Inspection Shows Some More Damaged
  • 2014/05/08: FukuLeaks: OECD Program Teaches Fukushima Students To Sell Contaminated Foods
  • 2014/05/07: EneNews: Expert: "There's just very few of the birds left" in the high contamination from Fukushima plant, "things are not looking good" -- Spider webs looked 'strange'...
  • 2014/05/07: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Unit 4; 814 Spent Fuel Assemblies Removed
  • 2014/05/07: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Worker Files Suit For Exposure
  • 2014/05/07: EneNews: Over 50 dead seals, sea lions, whales, walrus recently stranded in Alaska -- Dozens of seals suffering from baldness, skin sores -- Experts: "Marine transported Fukushima radionuclides... may represent a new stressor to ecosystem"
  • 2014/05/07: FukuLeaks: New Fukushima Containment Investigation Plan Confirmed
  • 2014/05/06: FukuLeaks: Fukushima Frozen Wall Scandal
  • 2014/05/05: FukuLeaks: Fukushima & Nuclear News Roundup

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

  • 2014/05/09: ArcticNews: Outlook for sea ice remains bleak
  • 2014/05/08: Dosbat: April 2014 - Start of the new season
  • 2014/05/08: ASI: PIOMAS May 2014
  • 2014/05/07: ERW: Arctic river ice is less reliable - ice roads
  • 2014/05/07: NSIDC: Spring unloaded
  • 2014/05/05: ASI: 2013/2014 Winter Analysis

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Why do fat polar bears have healthy hearts?
  • 2014/05/08: SciNow: Polar Bear Evolution Was Fast and Furious
  • 2014/05/08: NatureN: Genome reveals polar bear's youth -- Analysis finds the animals diverged from brown bears less than 500,000 years ago

  That Damoclean sword still hangs overhead:

  • 2014/05/08: GreenGrok: Global Warming Alert: Methane Levels Continue to Climb
  • 2014/05/05: EcoNews(Au): Study: Arctic methane to trigger more warming
  • 2014/05/05: UKISS: Arctic methane to trigger more warming

  The food crisis is ongoing:

  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Banana disease hits Palmerston
    The Northern Territory city of Palmerston is in 'banana lock-down' after the fungal disease known as Banana Freckle was discovered in the suburb of Gray.
  • 2014/05/07: Grist: Our alarming food future, explained in 7 charts
  • 2014/05/07: TP:JR: The Impact Of Climate Change On The Midwest: More Heat, More Droughts, More Floods, Fewer Crops
  • 2014/05/07: CCP: 'We Don't Know What Normal Is Anymore': Confronting Extreme Weather on U.S. Farms
  • 2014/05/07: EurActiv: EU counters deadly US pig virus with stricter import rules
  • 2014/05/07: UCSUSA:B: Farms, Forests, and Climate Change: Few Opportunities, Many Challenges
  • 2014/05/07: Tyee: The Real Reasons for the Great Lime Crisis -- And what they tell us about a much bigger squeeze you can expect to feel
  • 2014/05/06: UCSUSA:B: Sugar-coating Science: How the Food Industry Misleads Consumers on Sugar
  • 2014/05/06: UCSUSA: Food Industry Obscures Added Sugar in Products by Marketing Them as Healthy, New Report Finds
  • 2014/05/05: TP:JR: How Climate Change Is Making [corn] America's Favorite Crop More Vulnerable

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

  • 2014/05/11: SciAm:LR: A universe of nothing but shrimp
  • 2014/05/09: CPunch: The Decline and Fall of America's Last Great Fishery -- Oceans Without Fish
  • 2014/05/08: NYT:PK: Economies of Scales

  Food Prices are still problematic:

  • FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
  • 2014/05/08: CCurrents: Weather And Political Tension In The Black Sea Region Make Food Market More Volatile, Says FAO

  So, are these land grabs Colonialism V2.0?

  • 2014/05/07: CPunch: The Corporate Land Grab in Africa

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

  • 2014/05/09: CPunch: GMO Crops Resistant to 'War Herbicide' -- Coming to Your Table?
  • 2014/05/08: MLynas: Bt brinjal in Bangladesh - the true story
  • 2014/05/06: CCurrents: The GM Biotech Sector's Contempt For Democracy: Don't Be Fooled By The Propaganda
  • 2014/05/04: DebunkingD: Choking the Black Swan: GM Crops and Flawed Safety Concerns

  Regarding labelling GM food:

  • 2014/05/09: NatureNB: Vermont to require labeling of genetically modified foods
  • 2014/05/08: CBC: Vermont approves GMO labelling law
    If law takes effect as planned in mid-2016 Vermont would be 1st state to require GMO labelling

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

  • 2014/05/10: WFP: WFP To Expand Assistance In South Sudan As New Analysis Shows Worsening Food Security
  • 2014/05/10: FAO: A third of South Sudanese now severely food insecure due to ongoing conflict -- Urgent action required to prevent famine
  • 2014/05/10: EPOD: Pawpaws
  • 2014/05/10: CleanTechnica: Meet The New Pink Face Of Vertical LED Farming
  • 2014/05/09: WFP: Government Of Pakistan Donates 26,000 Metric Tons Of Wheat To WFP
  • 2014/05/08: IPSNews: Industrial Agriculture: Too Big to Succeed
    [Book Plug] _Consumed: Food for a Finite Planet_ by Sarah Elton
    An estimated one billion small farmers scratching out a living growing diverse crops and raising animals in developing countries represent the key to maintaining food production in the face of hotter temperatures and drought, especially in the tropical regions, says Sarah Elton, author of the book, "Consumed: Food for a Finite Planet." The Canadian journalist travelled to southern France, China, India and the province of Quebec in her own country to observe how small farmers apply their practical knowledge of agriculture - defined as either organic, agroecological or sustainable.
  • 2014/05/07: FAO: Joint action needed to tackle massive global food losses
  • 2014/05/06: DeSmogBlog: Community on Forefront of Climate Change Adaptation Offers Lessons about Food Security
  • 2014/05/06: KSJT: New Yorker: Soylent to end food? A view from the inside ... way inside
  • 2014/05/05: Eureka: Tomato turf wars: Benign bug bests salmonella; tomato eaters win
  • 2014/05/05: Eureka: Food security increased by new scientific model in agricultural production
  • 2014/05/04: Yale360: Soil as Carbon Storehouse: New Weapon in Climate Fight?
    The degradation of soils from unsustainable agriculture and other development has released billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. But new research shows how effective land restoration could play a major role in sequestering CO2 and slowing climate change.

  Another relatively quiet week with no named storms
  In the Eastern Pacific, a numbered storm spun up and faded crossing the Mexican coast:

  • 2014/05/07: NASA: NASA Sees System 90E Moving Toward Southwestern Mexico

  And in the Bay of Bengal:

   

• 2014/05/07: NASA: NASA Sees System 91B Making Landfall in Southwestern India
  

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2014/05/08: Wunderground: Super Typhoon Haiyan Storm Surge Survey Finds High Water Marks 46 Feet High
• 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Residents hope to return to Palau's Kayangal island after Typhoon Haiyan
• 2014/05/07: FAO: Six months after disaster, Philippine farmers bring in the harvest
  

  As for the Monsoon:

  • 2014/05/07: al Jazeera: Pre-monsoon rains hit India
    Torrential downpours cause flooding in Sri Lanka and across southern India.

  This week in notable weather:

  • 2014/05/11: MODIS: Storm over southern India [on May 8]
  • 2014/05/09: NASA: NASA's TRMM Satellite See Spring Storms Hit the U.S. Great Plains
  • 2014/05/06: CBC: Collisions abound as May snowstorm hits Newfoundland

  Got any forecasts?

  • 2014/05/07: CBC: Eastern Canada can expect a cool start to summer -- Looking forward to hot weather this summer? Not so fast
    After this winter's wicked weather, Canadians across the country are looking forward to sunny skies and warm breezes -- but they may be out of luck. Brett Anderson, a senior meteorologist with U.S.-based AccuWeather, says the cool weather across parts of Eastern and Central Canada this spring will continue into the summer. He says Western Canada is expected to have a warmer and drier summer compared to normal.

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

  • 2014/05/06: NatureN: Climate change makes extreme weather more likely to hit UK
    Exceptional rains like those of winter 2014 will be more frequent because of greenhouse effect.
  • 2014/05/01: Mashable: Tornadoes, Dust Storms and Floods: What the Hell Happened This Week?

  As for GHGs:

  • 2014/05/08: DenverPost: Scientists flying over Colorado oil boom find worse air pollution - three times more methane than previously believed -- 19.3 tons an hour
  • 2014/05/08: Resilience: Shale Gas Plagued By Unusual Methane Leaks
  • 2014/05/07: EUO: EU's overall CO2 emissions [dropped 2.5% in 2013]
  • 2014/05/06: Tyee: Shale Gas Plagued By Unusual Methane Leaks -- Scientists investigate high levels of damaging gas released in fracked areas
  • 2014/05/06: CCurrents: Agriculture's GHG Emission On The Rise

  And in the carbon cycle:

  • 2014/05/09: UCSUSA:B: Peat Soils vs. the Forests Above: Which Holds More Carbon?

  Regarding Milankovitch Cycles:

  • 2014/05/10: JCBaez: The Stochastic Resonance Program (Part 1) by David Tanzer

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

  • 2014/05/09: ATTPh: Krummer & Dessler on Climate Sensitivity
  • 2014/05/09: TMasters: On forcing enhancement, efficacy, and Kummer and Dessler (2014)

  Regarding ozone:

  • 2014/05/05: UCAR: Climate change threatens to worsen U.S. ozone pollution
  • 2014/05/05: NSF: Climate change may worsen summertime ozone pollution -- Americans face 70 percent increase in unhealthy ozone levels by 2050

  And on the ENSO front:

  • 2014/05/09: SciNow: El Niño Is Coming Back
  • 2014/05/08: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
    Synopsis: Chance of El Niño increases during the remainder of the year, exceeding 65% during summer.
  • 2014/05/08: RealClimate: El Niño or Bust
  • 2014/05/08: PSinclair: New Video: El Nino - What Are the Odds?
  • 2014/05/08: TP:JR: El Niño Chances Jump To Near 80%. Add In Global Warming And We Face Record Heat
  • 2014/05/08: QuarkSoup: El Niño Projections Are Growing
  • 2014/05/08: RScribbler: Dangerous Progress Toward Strong El Nino Continues as Extreme Kelvin Wave Rises in Eastern Pacific
  • 2014/05/08: GLaden: El Nino 2014: Historic?
  • 2014/05/07: al Jazeera: The return of El Nino
    The risk of drought and flood could increase in the coming months as the counterpart to La Nina begins to develop.

  As for the temperature record:

  • 2014/05/11: Moyhu: The necessity of TOBS [Time of Observation adjustment]
  • 2014/05/10: RScribbler: Ocean Heat Anomaly Spikes to New Extreme High of +1.16 C Above 'Average' on May 10, 2014
  • 2014/05/10: TruthDig: Global Warmth Trend Hides Local Variants
  • 2014/05/10: PSinclair: NOAA: March Was Fourth Warmest on Record Globally
  • 2014/05/09: Moyhu: More big errors in monthly GHCN
  • 2014/05/07: QuarkSoup: Latest Ocean Heat Content Numbers
  • 2014/05/07: ATTPh: We've all forgotten about the oceans!
  • 2014/05/06: QuarkSoup: UAH Temperatures Continue to Soar
  • 2014/05/06: Hypergeometric: 1991-2012, United States, Earth: Surface Temperatures
  • 2014/05/05: QuarkSoup: Beautiful Graphic on Surface Temperature

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

  • 2014/05/08: BBC: Sentinel-1a satellite spies ice cap speed-up

  While in the paleoclimate:

  • 2014/05/10: SciAm:GB: When Did Insects Learn to Smell?
  • 2014/05/09: Eureka: Paleontologists discover new fossil organism [Ediacaran 575-540 mya]
    Likely related to our ancestors, 'Plexus ricei' was much like a tapeworm or modern flatworm, say UC Riverside researchers
  • 2014/05/08: Eureka: Extinct kitten-sized hunter discovered
    A Case Western Reserve University student and his mentor have discovered an ancient kitten-sized predator that lived in Bolivia about 13 million years ago -- one of the smallest species reported in the extinct order Sparassodonta.
  • 2014/05/05: Eureka: Tracking turtles through time, Dartmouth-led study may resolve evolutionary debate

  In the attribution debate:

  • 2014/05/10: DeSmogBlog: New Study Links California Drought to Climate Change and Burning of Fossil Fuels

  What's the State of the Oceans?:

  • 2014/05/05: CBC: Goblin shark, rare deep-water species, caught off U.S. coast -- Goblin sharks can live at depths of more than 1,300 metres
  • 2014/05/04: EneNews: Alarm as record numbers of seals & sea lions 'starving to death' along California coast...
  • 2014/05/04: CBC: West Coast starfish being killed by pathogens, scientists suggest -- Scientists just beginning to understand reason for dwindling numbers

  What's the State of the Biosphere?

  • 2014/05/07: TheConversation: The state of Australia: our environment

  And on the extinction watch:

  • 2014/05/10: CBC: U.S.-ranging Selkirk mountain caribou on track to oblivion
    Population of most southerly herd of mountain caribou down to 18 animals
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): WA wildlife sanctuaries join forces to save tammar wallaby from extinction
  • 2014/05/09: CBC: Endangered porbeagle sharks still at risk, say scientists
    Recent DFO estimates put the population at about a quarter of what it was in 1960s
  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Researchers warn captive elephants in Laos could be extinct in 100 years
  • 2014/05/07: SciAm:EC: Solar-Powered Transmitters Reveal Secrets of Endangered 'Little Devil' Seabirds
  • 2014/05/06: SciNow: How Birds Survived the Dinosaur Apocalypse
  • 2014/05/05: SciShot: Female Bats Dictate the Spread of White-Nose Syndrome

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

  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Bees can be harnessed to boost food security, Flinders University researchers say
  • 2014/05/07: Eureka: Scientists link honeybees' changing roles throughout their lives to brain chemistry

  Oh look! The Anthropocene came up again:

  • 2014/05/04: ArcticNews: Will the Anthropocene last for only 100 years?

  More GW impacts are being seen:

  • 2014/05/10: P3: Global Warming Impacts in Texas
  • 2014/05/09: RTCC: OECD: Rich countries will suffer as planet warms
    Disasters will be more frequent and complex across even the most advanced economies, warns OECD report
  • 2014/05/09: TP:JR: Ocean Acidification, Wildfires Are Taking Their Toll On The Pacific Northwest
  • 2014/05/07: BasqueResearch: Phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass are expected to decrease by 6% and 11% respectively by the end of century due to climate change
  • 2014/05/07: CCurrents: Humanity's Destruction of Earth's Climate In Ninety Seconds
  • 2014/05/06: CChallenge: berrens.nl: degree by degree review of CAGW
  • 2014/05/06: TruthDig: Here Are Some Tangible Effects of Climate Change in the U.S.
  • 2014/05/06: Eureka: Hotspots of climate change impacts in Africa: Making sense of uncertainties

  And then there are the world's forests:

  • 2014/05/08: DD: Poachers take chunks from California redwoods, putting majestic trees at risk...
  • 2014/05/08: ScienceInsider: New Hope for Asia's Embattled Forests
  • 2014/05/06: MSU: Emerald ash borers were in U.S. long before first detection
  • 2014/05/05: ICN: Brazil and the Battle Against Deforestation: A Short History
    It wasn't that long ago that Brazil saw deforestation as a measure of progress. Now scientists, officials and police try to end the daily destruction.

  Climate refugees are becoming an issue:

  • 2014/05/11: al Jazeera: Libya threatens EU over African immigrants
    Interior minister says Tripoli will allow migrants to "flood" Europe if it does not help Libya combat illegal entries.

  Emerging diseases accompany ecological change:

  • 2014/05/06: Rabble: You might be allergic to global warming [Suzuki]

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

  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Air pollution: 10 countries with the world's dirtiest air
  • 2014/05/07: BBC: Air pollution 'too high' in most of world's cities
    The World Health Organization says air pollution in many of the world's cities is breaching its guidelines. Its survey of 1,600 cities in 91 countries revealed that nearly 90% of people in urban centres breathe air that fails to meet levels deemed safe.
  • 2014/05/07: Grist: We've cleaned up our air, but now climate change is making it dirty again [via O3]
  • 2014/05/07: RTCC: 7 in 10 cities suffer from 'dangerous' air pollution - WHO
  • 2014/05/06: UN: 'Enveloped in dirty air', most cities fail to meet UN agency's new pollution guidelines

  Changes in natural cycles are showing up:

  • 2014/05/08: TP:JR: From Snow To Sweat: Kansas Skips Spring

  On the tornado front:

  • 2014/05/06: IOTD: Tornado Damage in Mayflower, Arkansas [on May 2]

  As for heatwaves and wild fires:

  • 2014/05/07: IOTD: Wildfire Scars Valparaiso, Chile [on May 4]
  • 2014/05/06: RScribbler: Climatologist: Oklahoma is Burning. USDA Issues Dust Bowl Alert
  • 2014/05/06: EPOD: Forest Regrowth After a Fire
  • 2014/05/05: WaPo:B: "Oklahoma is burning": Heat ignites temperature records, wildfires in Southern Plains
  • 2014/05/05: TP:JR: Photos Show Power Of Deadly Oklahoma Wildfire
  • 2014/05/05: JakartaGlobe: Peatland Fires Biggest Contributor to [Indonesia's] Carbon Emissions: Researcher
  • 2014/05/05: al Jazeera: Wildfire threat grows in California
    The ongoing drought means the US state faces another season-long battle against woodland fires.
  • 2014/05/05: MODIS: Fires in the midwestern United States [on April 11]

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

  • 2014/05/07: NorthEastern: Stuck in the middle with oysters and crabs
  • 2014/05/06: CDesk: Watch: These Reefs Are Beautiful -- But Most of the Coral Is Dead

  Glaciers are melting:

  • 2014/05/09: RScribbler: Constant Arctic Heatwave Sends World's Largest Ice Cap Hurtling Seaward
  • 2014/05/08: BBC: Sentinel-1a satellite spies ice cap speed-up
    One of the largest ice caps on Earth has experienced a dramatic speed-up, according to new satellite pictures. Austfonna on Norway's Svalbard archipelago covers just over 8,000 sq km and has been relatively stable for many years. But the latest space imagery reveals a marked acceleration of the ice in its main outlet glacier to the Barents Sea.
  • 2014/05/06: TreeHugger: Almost 200,000 Glaciers mapped in global inventory baseline for study of global warming effects
  • 2014/05/06: FaGP: Nooksack River Glacier Runoff Importance
  • 2014/05/06: Eureka: The first globally complete glacier inventory has been created
  • 2014/05/06: Eureka: International team maps nearly 200,000 global glaciers in quest for sea rise answers

  Sea levels are rising:

  • 2014/05/09: Eureka: Back to the future to determine if sea level rise is accelerating
  • 2014/05/06: RTCC: Ocean warming could weaken East Antarctic ice sheets
    Unstable ice sheet could cause ocean to rise by 4 metres in an 'irreversible' cycle of melting, say scientists
  • 2014/05/05: TP:JR: East Antarctic Melting Could Raise Sea Levels By 10 To 13 Feet, Study Finds
  • 2014/05/05: Science2.0: Melting East Antarctica Ice Could Mean Thousands Of Years Of Unstoppable Sea Level Rises

  These extreme rainfall events are becoming all too frequent:

  • 2014/05/06: PSinclair: A Month's Worth of Rain
  • 2014/05/08: 350orBust: Climate Change Impacts Hit Florida

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

  • 2014/05/10: CBC: Kashechewan First Nation re-declares flooding emergency
    About 700 residents in the James Bay-area community requested to evacuate the area
  • 2014/05/09: al Jazeera: [pix] Torrential rain hits the Middle East -- A huge storm system rages from Yemen to Ukraine
  • 2014/05/09: RScribbler: California Experiencing Driest Year on Record, Epic Drought to Persist or Intensify Through Summer, Godzilla El Nino Waits in the Wings
  • 2014/05/09: TP:JR: Are This Week's Brutal Heat And Drought A Sign Of Things To Come For Plains States?
  • 2014/05/09: ERW: Water-cycle changes will hit half world's population
    It might be extreme rainfall, it might be floods, or it might be very dry weather, but by 2050 more than half of the world's population will be experiencing significant changes in the water cycle. A new study identifies which parts of the world will feel these changes most.
  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Queensland drought: Farmer Alec Walker's photographs capture journey from dry to rain
  • 2014/05/08: TP:JR: As Population Surges, Harsh Climate Of Southwest Will Only Get Harsher
  • 2014/05/08: TP:JR: Not Just Sea Level Rise: Northeast Faces Flooding From The Skies
  • 2014/05/08: al Jazeera: Floods hit central Italy [pix]
    Torrential downpours around the central Mediterranean has left many areas under water
  • 2014/05/08: IOTD: Climate Changes in the United States [1991-2012]
  • 2014/05/05: Yahoo:AP: California city looks to sea for water in drought

  First, stop putting GHGs into the atmosphere,
  Second, begin to reduce current levels of GHGs,
  Third, save as many species as possible,
  Fourth, begin to reduce the human population,
  And elsewhere on the mitigation front:

  • 2014/05/05: KSJT: Times opinion piece says we should protect ourselves, not the planet
  • 2014/05/04: Yale360: Soil as Carbon Storehouse: New Weapon in Climate Fight?
    The degradation of soils from unsustainable agriculture and other development has released billions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. But new research shows how effective land restoration could play a major role in sequestering CO2 and slowing climate change.

  Can cities take up the slack when nations shirk their responsibilities?

  • 2014/05/09: TheConversation: Cities are failing to cope with global challenges

  A momentous development in Synthetic Biology:

  • 2014/05/07: Nature: (ab$) A semi-synthetic organism with an expanded genetic alphabet by Denis A. Malyshev et al.
  • 2014/05/09: NBF: Life created with two synthetic bases for 6 DNA letters with Original Four G, T, C, A and now X and Y and this expands amino acids from 20 to 172
  • 2014/05/08: BBC: Semi-synthetic bug extends 'life's alphabet'
    Scientists have produced a semi-synthetic version of a bacterium that has an extended genetic code. All Earth's lifeforms use four chemical units, or bases, arranged in pairs within DNA, to drive their biology. The modified E. coli bug produced at The Scripps Research Institute in California incorporates two more bases that were wholly designed in the lab. The team tells Nature magazine that its altered bacterium could be used to make a range of novel drugs and materials. Prof Floyd Romesberg and colleagues have been working towards this study result since the 1990s. They had previously shown how the new bases - known as d5SICS and dNaM, or X and Y for simplicity - could be stably incorporated as a pair into the DNA molecule in vitro, in the "test tube". The latest advance sees them introduce this supplemented DNA into a living organism.

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

  • 2014/05/09: NBF: China Rolling out Global high speed rail plans and projects - From Pan-asian plan to future Africa projects and proposed China-Russia-Canada-US line

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

  • 2014/05/10: CE(eu): Video: EGU panel discussion: Geoengineering the climate: the way forward?
  • 2014/05/06: DCGeoConsortium: Climate Engineering and the Contraption Fallacy by Olaf Corry, Open University
  • 2014/05/06: GOC: Climate Engineering and Small Island States: Panacea or Catastrophe? (Opinion Article)

  What's new in conservation?

  • 2014/05/07: RNE: New Caledonia creates world's largest marine park
  • 2014/05/06: ScienceInsider: Mega-Marine Reserve Going Off-Limits to Fishers
  • 2014/05/05: CPunch: Historical Lessons of Successful Conservation Movements
  • 2014/05/05: TP:JR: This Small Island Territory [New Caledonia] Just Created The World's Largest Protected Marine Park
  • 2014/05/05: CBC: City songbirds linked to northern forest, need protection

  What's new in restoration?

  • 2014/05/10: CBC:Q&Q: [mp3] Thinking About De-Extinction
  • 2014/05/09: CBC: Species de-extinction plagued by 'looming questions,' expert says
    Reviving extinct species could be possible sooner than previously thought, research suggests

  While on the adaptation front:

  • 2014/05/09: Grist: 5 exciting new ways New York can deal with storm surges and rising seas
  • 2014/05/06: ABC(Au): New Dutch solution to floods
    The Netherlands thinks it has some of the answers to the increased global threat of flooding and sea level rises and they involve giving the rivers more room to run rather than relying on the traditional defence of dykes.

  Meanwhile in the journals:

  • 2014/05/06: PNAS: (ab$) Climate change, pink salmon, and the nexus between bottom-up and top-down forcing in the subarctic Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea by Alan M. Springer & Gus B. van Vliet
  • 2014/05/06: PNAS: (ab$) Lead in ancient Rome's city waters by Hugo Delile et al.
  • 2014/05/06: PNAS: (ab$) Pronounced zonal heterogeneity in Eocene southern high-latitude sea surface temperatures by Peter M. J. Douglas et al.
  • 2014/05/06: PNAS: (letter$) Salmon, seabirds, and ecosystem dynamics by James A. Estes
  • 2014/05/06: PNAS: (letter$) Reply to De Coster et al.: Exploring the complexity of ecosystem-human health relationships by Samuel S. Myers et al.
  • 2014/05/06: PNAS: (letter$) Human health risks of forest conservation by Greet De Coster et al.
  • 2014/05/07: Nature: (ab$) Increasing CO2 threatens human nutrition by Samuel S. Myers et al.
  • 2014/05/06: HESS: Exploring drought vulnerability in Africa: an indicator based analysis to be used in early warning systems by G. Naumann et al.
  • 2014/05/06: HESS: A general framework for understanding the response of the water cycle to global warming over land and ocean by M. L. Roderick et al.
  • 2014/05/06: HESS: Selection of intense rainfall events based on intensity thresholds and lightning data in Switzerland by L. Gaál et al.
  • 2014/05/06: HESS: Decomposition analysis of water footprint changes in a water-limited river basin: a case study of the Haihe River basin, China by Y. Zhi et al.
  • 2014/05/05: HESSD: Uncertainty in runoff based on Global Climate Model precipitation and temperature data - Part 2: Estimation and uncertainty of annual runoff and reservoir yield by M. C. Peel et al.
  • 2014/05/05: HESSD: Uncertainty in runoff based on Global Climate Model precipitation and temperature data - Part 1: Assessment of Global Climate Models by T. A. McMahon et al.
  • 2014/05/06: OS: Physical forcing and physical/biochemical variability of the Mediterranean Sea: a review of unresolved issues and directions for future research by P. Malanotte-Rizzoli et al.
  • 2014/05/06: OS: Simulated melt rates for the Totten and Dalton ice shelves by D. E. Gwyther et al.
  • 2014/05/06: TC: Modelling environmental influences on calving at Helheim Glacier in eastern Greenland by S. Cook et al.
  • 2014/05/05: TC: Seasonal thaw settlement at drained thermokarst lake basins, Arctic Alaska by L. Liu et al.
  • 2014/05/07: BG: Spatial variability in iron nutritional status of large diatoms in the Sea of Okhotsk with special reference to the Amur River discharge by K. Suzuki et al.
  • 2014/05/07: BG: Phytoplankton primary production in the world's estuarine-coastal ecosystems by J. E. Cloern et al.
  • 2014/05/05: BG: Long-term trend of CO2 and ocean acidification in the surface water of the Ulleung Basin, the East/Japan Sea inferred from the underway observational data by J.-Y. Kim et al.
  • 2014/05/06: BGD: Assessing the spatial variability in peak season CO2 exchange characteristics across the Arctic tundra using a light response curve parameterization by H. N. Mbufong et al.
  • 2014/05/06: BGD: Soil CO2 efflux from mountainous windthrow areas: dynamics over 12 years post-disturbance by M. Mayer et al.
  • 2014/05/05: BGD: A red tide alga grown under ocean acidification up-regulates its tolerance to lower pH by increasing its photophysiological functions by S.-W. Chen et al.
  • 2014/05/09: CP: Impact of solar versus volcanic activity variations on tropospheric temperatures and precipitation during the Dalton Minimum by J. G. Anet et al.
  • 2014/05/05: CPD: Late Holocene environmental reconstructions and the implications on flood events, typhoon patterns, and agriculture activities in NE Taiwan by L.-C. Wang et al.
  • 2014/05/07: Nature: (ab$) A semi-synthetic organism with an expanded genetic alphabet by Denis A. Malyshev et al.
  • 2014/04/28: WoL:EF: (ab$) Earth's future in the Anthropocene: Technological interventions between piecemeal and utopian social engineering by Stefan Schäfer et al.
  • 2014/05/08: ESDD: Impact of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) on deriving anthropogenic warming rates from the instrumental temperature record by G. R. van der Werf & A. J. Dolman
  • 2014/05/07: ACP: Prescribed burning of logging slash in the boreal forest of Finland: emissions and effects on meteorological quantities and soil properties by A. Virkkula et al.
  • 2014/05/05: ACP: Relationship between Amazon biomass burning aerosols and rainfall over the La Plata Basin by G. Camponogara et al.
  • 2014/05/08: ACPD: Inverse modeling of CH4 emissions for 2010-2011 using different satellite retrieval products from GOSAT and SCIAMACHY by M. Alexe et al.
  • 2014/05/07: ACPD: Source sector and region contributions to BC and PM2.5 in Central Asia by S. Kulkarni et al.
  • 2014/05/07: ACPD: Greenhouse gas network design using backward Lagrangian particle dispersion modelling - Part 2: Sensitivity analyses and South African test case by A. Nickless et al.
  • 2014/05/07: ACPD: Megacity emission plume characteristics in summer and winter investigated by mobile aerosol and trace gas measurements: the Paris metropolitan area by S.-L. von der Weiden-Reinmüller et al.
  • 2014/05/06: ACPD: Air quality simulations of wildfires in the Pacific Northwest evaluated with surface and satellite observations during the summers of 2007 and 2008 by F. L. Herron-Thorpe et al.
  • 2014/05/09: ACP: Borneo vortex and mesoscale convective rainfall by S. Koseki et al.
  • 2014/05/09: ACPD: Airborne characterization of smoke marker ratios from prescribed burning by A. P. Sullivan et al.
  • 2014/05/09: ACPD: Sensitivity of high-temperature weather to initial soil moisture: a case study with the WRF model by X.-M. Zeng et al.
  • 2014/05/08: HESS: Intensively exploited Mediterranean aquifers: resilience to seawater intrusion and proximity to critical thresholds by K. Mazi et al.
  • 2014/05/08: HESS: China's water sustainability in the 21st century: a climate-informed water risk assessment covering multi-sector water demands by X. Chen et al.
  • 2014/05/07: HESS: Comparison of drought indicators derived from multiple data sets over Africa by G. Naumann et al.
  • 2014/05/09: HESSD: Spatial analysis of precipitation in a high-mountain region: exploring methods with multi-scale topographic predictors and circulation types by D. Masson & C. Frei
  • 2014/05/07: TC: High-resolution 900 year volcanic and climatic record from the Vostok area, East Antarctica by E. Y. Osipov et al.
  • 2014/05/08: TCD: Changes in Imja Tsho in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal by M. A. Somos-Valenzuela et al.
  • 2014/05/08: TCD: Inferred basal friction and surface mass balance of North-East Greenland Ice Stream using data assimilation of ICESat-1 surface altimetry and ISSM by E. Larour et al.
  • 2014/05/07: TCD: The effect of changing sea ice on the vulnerability of Arctic coasts by K. R. Barnhart et al.
  • 2014/05/06: AGWObserver: New research - April 2014
  • 2014/05/04: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) An ice core record of near-synchronous global climate changes at the Bølling transition by Julia L. Rosen et al.
  • 2014/05/04: Nature:CC: (ab$) Evolution of land surface air temperature trend by Fei Ji et al.
  • 2014/05/04: Nature:CC: (ab$) Ice plug prevents irreversible discharge from East Antarctica by M. Mengel & A. Levermann
  • 2014/05/05: WoL:E&D: (ab$) Toward consilience in reptile phylogeny: miRNAs support an archosaur, not lepidosaur, affinity for turtles by Daniel J. Field et al.

  And other significant documents:

  • 2014/05/06: GlobalChange: [links to several pdfs] National Climate Assessment

  As for miscellaneous science:

  • 2014/05/08: V V: Modelled climatic changes in weather variability
  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Seabed mapping: Sensor aims to improve seagrass checks off SA coast
  • 2014/05/07: NatureNB: Global scientific output doubles every nine years

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Open Science?

  • 2014/05/06: BetaBoston: The Exploitative Economics of Academic Publishing

  Regarding Hansen:

  • 2014/05/10: SimpleC: How lessons from space put the greenhouse effect on the front page

  Meanwhile at the UN:

  • 2014/05/06: WMO: South-West Pacific Regional Association Meets
  • 2014/05/06: UN: Regional Workshop on Capacity Development to Support National Drought Management Policies in Asia

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

  • 2014/05/06: EurActiv: UK, Sweden attack FTT statement by euro nations
  • 2014/05/06: EUO: Ministers near deal on 'step-by-step' transactions tax

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

  • 2014/05/09: CPunch: Blame Without Evidence -- Bill Clinton and the Bogus Iran Threat
  • 2014/05/08: Rediff:B: Iran talks nearing bridge not too far by M K Bhadrakumar
  • 2014/05/08: flc: Fmr. French ambassador to Tehran: "The Iranians are set to resolve the conflict over their nuclear program as fast as possible, once and for all"
  • 2014/05/07: AntiWar: Israel's New Demands on Iran Fueling a Dispute With US -- Rice Heads to Jerusalem to Hear More Condemnations of Talks
  • 2014/05/06: Harpers: Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare -- Gareth Porter on the true history of Iran's nuclear program
  • 2014/05/05: BBerg: IAEA Inspectors Commence Iran Visit Ahead of Nuclear Talks

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists, as the empire leans on China:

  • 2014/05/11: al Jazeera: Sea dispute dominates Southeast Asian summit
    Ten-member bloc's annual meeting in Myanmar comes after China relocated oil rig into territory claimed by Vietnam.
  • 2014/05/09: Asia Times: Obama resets the 'pivot' to Asia by M K Bhadrakumar
  • 2014/05/08: CNN: China, Vietnam, Philippines collide amid escalating South China Sea tensions
    China has started drilling for oil in a part of the South China Sea also claimed by Vietnam - Vietnam says Chinese ships have made violent attacks on Vietnamese vessels - Chinese fishermen arrested by Philippines authorities in a separate dispute - Situation could escalate into armed conflict, analyst says
  • 2014/05/08: BBerg: China Says Vietnam Rammed Ships Near Rig in Disputed Seas
  • 2014/05/08: WSWS: Tensions flare between China and Vietnam in South China Sea
  • 2014/05/08: Asia Times: China drills its hardpower reserves
  • 2014/05/07: BBerg: China Accuses Vietnam of Ramming Ships Near Rig in Disputed Seas
  • 2014/05/07: BBC: Vietnam and China ships 'collide in South China Sea'
  • 2014/05/07: AntiWar: Vietnam, China Trade Warnings After Naval Collision in Disputed Waters -- Six Vietnamese Naval Police Injured in 'Clashes'
  • 2014/05/07: BBC: Vietnam and China ships 'collide in South China Sea'
    Vietnamese naval ships and Chinese vessels have collided in the South China Sea, Vietnamese officials say. The incident happened as the Vietnamese navy was trying to prevent the Chinese from setting up an oil rig in an area claimed by both nations. No shots were fired, reports say. But Vietnamese officials said that water cannons were used on their ships. The incident is the most serious between the countries at sea in years, with dozens of boats now in the area.
  • 2014/05/07: WSWS: US military intensifies training for a war with China
  • 2014/05/07: al Jazeera: Philippines seizes Chinese boat in dispute
    Release of fishermen sought after capture of boat with haul of endangered turtles in contested area of South China Sea.

  Tensions continue as the empire leans on Syria, Ukraine, Russia...:

  • 2014/05/09: Asia Times: The Roving Eye - Putin displays Ukraine chess mastery
  • 2014/05/09: BBerg: Putin's Export Machine Rolls Right Over Sanctions, Outcry
    Vladimir Putin's incursion into Ukraine and the international condemnation that followed haven't put a dent in Russia's exports of gas and raw materials. The world's largest energy producer shipped 2 percent more gas to Europe in the first three months of 2014 than it did in the same period last year, government data show. Diesel output for export increased, while cargoes of grains, palladium and nickel either climbed or were about the same. Russia's crude oil exports fell 0.2 percent from last year.
  • 2014/05/09: CPunch: Don't Gloss it Over -- The Russian Perspective
  • 2014/05/09: EurActiv: US advises Ukraine ahead of winter gas subsidy cuts
  • 2014/05/08: EurActiv: Ukrainian cities unite to send out energy efficiency SOS
    A bloc of 35 Ukrainian cities has sent an urgent plea for European help in scaling up the efficiency of their buildings, district heating and transport networks in a bid to curb Russian energy dependence.
  • 2014/05/09: EurActiv: Balance of power: a renewed case for renewable energy for Europe
    Reinier de Graaf argues that in the midst of the Ukrainian crisis and the energy risks looming over Europe, EU member states should look more seriously into the Roadmap 2050 project initiated in 2009, and aim at cutting Europe's greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 through renewable energy use.
  • 2014/05/08: CBC: Syria opposition gets aid, new sanctions for Assad backers from Washington
    Russia's Tempbank, believed to have sent cash to Syria, sanctioned by U.S.
  • 2014/05/08: CCurrents: NATO Uses Ukraine Crisis To Wage War On Russia
  • 2014/05/08: CPunch: Down the Path of Austerity -- Ukraine, the EU and the IMF
  • 2014/05/08: BBC: Ukraine refuses Russian demand for advance gas payment
    Ukraine will not pay in advance for Russian gas at Gazprom's new, higher price, the Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan has said. Russia made the demand after saying Ukraine had failed to pay the bill for its April natural gas deliveries.
  • 2014/05/07: RT: The IMF goes to war in Ukraine
    The IMF has approved a $17 billion loan to Ukraine. The first $3.2 billion tranche has arrived on Wednesday. It's essential to identify the conditions attached to this Mafia-style "loan." Nothing remotely similar to reviving the Ukrainian economy is in play. The scheme is inextricably linked to the IMF's notorious, one-size-fits-all "structural adjustment" policy, known to hundreds of millions from Latin America and Southeast Asia to Southern Europe.
  • 2014/05/07: EurActiv: G7 wants to end dependence on Russian gas
  • 2014/05/07: RTCC: Ukraine crisis should boost renewables, says G7
    [Two day] G7 energy security meeting [in Rome] focuses on renewables, but also pushes for new fossil fuel supplies and infrastructure Renewable energy will be central to enhancing energy security, said the G7 energy ministers in a meeting to discuss the implications of Russia's actions in Ukraine.
  • 2014/05/07: WSWS: Europe's 9/11
    In an interview Sunday in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen compared the annexation of Crimea by Russia with 9/11 and the "war on terror." This comparison says more than Rasmussen and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung perhaps intended. For over twelve years, the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 have served the US government as a pretext for illegal wars and a massive buildup of its military forces. In the name of the "war on terror," the US has attacked Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya; abducted, tortured and murdered suspected terrorists; spied on billions of people around the world; and built up the structure of a police state in America.
  • 2014/05/07: OFW: Russia and the Ukraine - The Worrisome Connection to World Oil and Gas Problems
  • 2014/05/06: DerSpiegel: Cold Turkey: How Germany Could End Russian Gas Dependency
    The crisis in Ukraine has made painfully obvious just how dependent Germany and other European countries are on Russian natural gas. There are serious alternatives for supplying the vital natural resource, but they all come at a price.
  • 2014/05/06: EurActiv: Italy looks at Mediterranean for alternatives to Russian gas
  • 2014/05/06: EUO: New Russian pipeline is 'no priority' for EU
  • 2014/05/06: WSWS: Civil war spreads in eastern Ukraine amid attacks by Kiev government
  • 2014/05/06: WSWS: Washington, Ukrainian puppet regime prepare new fascist slaughter in Odessa
  • 2014/05/05: EurActiv: Trilateral gas talks with Russia fail

  These 'free trade' treaties should be called the corporate control treaties:

  • 2014/05/09: Rabble:SH: No CETA deal, 'thorny' issues remain
  • 2014/05/09: CBC: Canada-EU trade pact final wording delayed
    Intellectual property, financial services, tariff rates, investment protection listed as irritants
  • 2014/05/05: Resilience: The anti-localization agenda in TTIP
  • 2014/05/04: Resilience: Could NAFTA force the Keystone XL pipeline on the United States?

  In the "global competition for natural resources":

  • 2014/05/06: UBardi: The invasion of the resource zombies

  Looks like Canada's Harperites are trying to twist the Ukraine conflict to nullify the FQD:

  • 2014/05/06: CBC: G7 energy ministers send message to Russia over 'coercion'
    Canada receives 'positive signals' on Europe's plan to rate Alberta oilsands emissions A special meeting of G7 energy ministers has affirmed that energy should not be used to coerce countries politically or threaten their security -- a statement Greg Rickford says is aimed squarely at Russia.
    [...]
    [Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford] said he had talks with EU representatives about their proposed fuel quality directive, or FDQ, which would calculate the greenhouse gas emissions of various sources of oil.
  • 2014/05/06: FinPo: Europe softens stance on Canada's oil sands as relations with Russia sour

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

  • 2014/05/07: DD: Prosecutors file murder charges against turtle egg poachers who allegedly murdered Jairo Mora

  What are the activists up to?

  • 2014/05/06: CensoredNews: Desmond Tutu to speak on treaties and tarsands at Fort McMurray [on May 31]
  • 2014/05/05: 350orBust: Archbishop Desmond Tutu: No Excuse For Climate Ignorance

  Native Resistance takes many forms across Turtle Island:

  • 2014/05/07: CensoredNews: Lakotas keeping it real in South Dakota, building resistance to protect Mother Earth for future generations
  • 2014/05/07: CensoredNews: Joye Braun: Proud to be Lakota in the KXL fight at Bridger

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

  • 2014/05/09: NYT: Why Divestment Fails
  • 2014/05/07: CSW: Stanford joins divestment campaign; Obama should be next
  • 2014/05/07: Grist: Stanford will dump its coal company investments
  • 2014/05/07: TP:JR: Stanford University Will Purge Coal Investments From Its $18.7 Billion Endowment
  • 2014/05/07: RTCC: Stanford University divestment is a warning to coal industry
  • 2014/05/07: CCurrents: Campaigners Release 'Hit List' Of 200 Largest Fossil Fuel Companies
  • 2014/05/07: DemNow: Stanford Divests: Student-Led Movement Forces Elite School to Pull Its Money From Coal Companies
  • 2014/05/06: ERabett:BSD: Stanford University to divest from coal
  • 2014/05/06: QuarkSoup: Where is the Reaction to Stanford's Coal Announcement?
  • 2014/05/06: CCP: Stanford University to purge its endowment of coal stock investments
  • 2014/05/05: CCP: Australians Divest From the 'Big Four' Banks That Fund Fossil Fuel Projects

  Polls! We have polls!

  • 2014/05/06: PSinclair: 75 Percent in US Want to Know More About Climate
  • 2014/05/06: CBC: Confidence in safe transport of oil falls, polls suggest
    Pipelines have most support, but confidence in Ottawa's ability to protect environment slipping

  Regarding Water Politics and Business; See also:

  • 2014/05/08: UN: Too many people still lack basic drinking water and sanitation - UN report
  • 2014/05/08: Resilience: An Innovative Conservation Fund for the Colorado River
  • 2014/05/08: JFleck: Rio Grande pulse flow
  • 2014/05/08: JFleck: Sandra Postel on new Colorado River initiative
  • 2014/05/07: Grist: Don't freak out, but you may be drinking recycled toilet water
  • 2014/05/07: BND:AP: Water rationing begins in Venezuela amid drought
  • 2014/05/07: SciAm:GB: Emerging Contaminants Taint Drinking Water Supply
  • 2014/05/06: PSinclair: As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls. Tapping Toilets.
  • 2014/05/05: Yahoo:AP: California city looks to sea for water in drought
    Santa Barbara - This seaside city thought it had the perfect solution the last time California withered in a severe drought more than two decades ago: Tap the ocean to turn salty seawater to fresh water. The $34 million desalination plant was fired up for only three months and mothballed after a miracle soaking of rain. As the state again grapples with historic dryness, the city nicknamed the "American Riviera" has its eye on restarting the idled facility to hedge against current and future droughts.
  • 2014/05/04: JFleck: With Colorado River water, growing Brussels sprouts
  • 2014/05/04: JFleck: Wilkinson on the environmental shift in western water policy

  Regarding science education:

  • 2014/05/08: P3: Climate Change Impacts on Wildlife - Free Webinar - on May 29 at 12:00 EST
  • 2014/05/08: Yahoo:AP: Wyoming is 1st state to reject science standards
    Wyoming, the nation's top coal-producing state, is the first to reject new K-12 science standards proposed by national education groups mainly because of global warming components.

  While in the UK:

  • 2014/05/10: BCLSB: UK Climate Change Deniers Forced To Clean Up Act?
  • 2014/05/08: S&R: Fracking in the UK? Don't hold your breath.
    Lord MacGregor's silly Telegraph op-ed is little more than a recitation of energy industry talking points.
  • 2014/05/08: RTCC: Britain must emulate US shale gas success - House of Lords
  • 2014/05/08: BBC: British Gas: No price rise in 2014
  • 2014/05/07: RTCC: MPs must fight for the planet to win [UK] 2015 election
  • 2014/05/06: BBerg: Europe Must Embrace Fracking, U.K. Energy Minister Says

  And in Europe:

  • 2014/05/09: RNE: Is Europe paying the price for its solar leadership?
  • 2014/05/09: EUO: New Green party shakes up Croatia's political landscape
  • 2014/05/08: DerSpiegel: Expanding Influence: EU Parliament Has More Power Than You Think
    European voters generally pay little attention to European Parliament, but over the years, the body has become increasingly powerful. Already, a representative in Brussels wields more influence than one in Berlin. And the gap is growing.
  • 2014/05/08: EurActiv: Oxfam: German food project 'ignores subsistence farmers'
    A wide range of NGOs are criticising Germany's development policy, claiming Berlin is increasingly accommodating the interests of big agricultural companies. Meanwhile, a recent Oxfam report describess devastating effects for smallholders. EurActiv Germany reports.
  • 2014/05/08: EurActiv: Council rubber stamps private-public partnerships in biomass, air, energy, electronics, medicine
  • 2014/05/06: RealEconomics: Danish trailblazing with renewables
  • 2014/05/06: EurActiv: EU tables free carbon permit proposal for heavy industries
    Most of Europe's heavy industries should keep receiving free carbon permits to help them compete in global markets, the European Commission said in new proposals tabled on Monday (5 May). The Commission, the EU's executive, proposed that 175 industry sectors out of the 245 in total that it assessed should be entitled to get most of their allowances for free over 2015-2019 to help meet obligations under the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS).

  Meanwhile in Australia:

  • 2014/05/11: ABC(Au): Faulty solar panels: Statewide recall over part linked to 40 fires
    The Queensland Government has announced a recall of a faulty solar panel part which has sparked about 40 fires. The Government's Electrical Safety Office has banned the sale or installation of Avanco and PV Power-branded DC isolators. Master Electricians Australia chief executive Malcolm Richards says the recalled isolator may overheat or catch fire.
  • 2014/05/09: RNE: CEFC key to unlocking huge renewables market
    The chief of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation has made another pitch for the cause of the $10 billion green bank, describing its role as a "specialist financier" for Australia's renewables industry as critical.
  • 2014/05/09: RNE: ARENA defends renewables role, fights for funds and independence
  • 2014/05/09: RNE: UBS: Australian households could go off-grid by 2018
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Money problems and coal mine fears behind decision to sell Tarwyn Park in the Bylong Valley
    The owner of the famous Tarwyn Park property in the Bywong Valley has revealed he decided to sell the property to a mining company due to financial concerns. South Korean energy company KEPCO is proposing to build a coal mine in the valley and has bought Tarwyn Park.
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): LNG: the energy projects they'd rather you didn't notice
    Liquid Natural Gas rivals coal in terms of both financial investment and greenhouse gas emissions. Yet it manages to go almost unnoticed by Australian environment campaigners.
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Banana disease hits Palmerston
    The Northern Territory city of Palmerston is in 'banana lock-down' after the fungal disease known as Banana Freckle was discovered in the suburb of Gray.
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Gladstone dredging project inquiry finds conditions on port expansion too vague to be enforced
    An independent inquiry into a major dredging project in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area has found environmental conditions on a central Queensland port expansion were too vague to be enforced. The Federal Government commissioned a scientific inquiry into the Gladstone Port dredging project.
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Iconic conservation farm sold to for Coal mine
    The owners of a Conservation farm in central west New South Wales have been forced to sell the property, along with their family home, to make way for a coal mine.
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Gladstone harbour inquiry 'doesn't pull any punches'
    The independent State MP for Gladstone, Liz Cunningham, says she's 'encouraged' by the findings of an inquiry into the Gladstone Port dredging project.
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Landholders unhappy with Carmichael mine approval
    Landholders near Clermont, in central Queensland, say the development of Adani's Carmichael coal project will be an 'environmental disaster'. The Queensland Government yesterday approved the $16 billion project which is set to become Australia's largest coal mine. The mine is forecast to produce 60 million tonnes of thermal coal per annum over a 90 year operating life.
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Hobart scientists trial gene technology to eradicate carp
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Home insulation royal commission: bureaucrat admits he always thought scheme rollout was risky
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Farmers accuse Queensland Government of favouring generous coal company
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au):TDU: Hands off our hard-fought abortion rights
    Yet another male politician is trying to wind back the clock on abortion laws. All these pieces of legislation are designed to do is oppress and control women, writes Clementine Ford.
  • 2014/05/08: CDreams: Great Barrier Reef Be Damned, Australia's Biggest Coal Mine Project Moves Forward
    In the wake of warnings over the industry's threats to the Great Barrier Reef, the Australian state of Queensland on Thursday gave the OK to one of the world's biggest coal mines. The slated project is the Adani Enterprises-owned Carmichael Mine in the state's Galilee Basin, and it is expected to produce as much as 60 million tonnes of coal a year and also include a rail line and water infrastructure.
  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Queensland Government announces $16b coal mine in Galilee Basin, subject to Federal approval
    The Queensland Government has signed off on a $16 billion coal development in the Galilee Basin in the state's central region that could become the largest coal mine in Australia. Adani's Carmichael Coal Mine north-west of Clermont will produce up to 60 million tonnes of coal each year and includes a 189-kilometre rail line. The project now goes to the Federal Government for final approval.
  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): NSW Government attacked over rumours 800 police will be sent to break up Bentley anti-gas protest
  • 2014/05/08: RNE: Rooftop solar industry backs new panel standard for Australia
  • 2014/05/08: RNE: Oz solar seen at 23GW by 2030, driven by 'unstoppable' rooftop PV
  • 2014/05/08: RNE: From car parts to solar frames - evolution of an Australian manufacturer
  • 2014/05/07: TheConversation: The state of Australia: our environment
  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Prime agricultural land safeguarded for future [in WA]
  • 2014/05/07: RNE: Nature needs us: Ten eco issues you need to know about - now
  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Clive Palmer serves Queensland Premier Campbell Newman with defamation writ
  • 2014/05/06: UKISS: climate, coal, conservatives and corruption
  • 2014/05/06: ABC(Au): Renewable energy may trump growth in Australian coal exports to India
    Hopes of strong growth in exports of Australian coal to the fast-growing economy of India may be dashed as cheaper alternative energy sources become more attractive. A new report by the Institute for Energy, Economics and Financial Analysis predicts the sub-continent won't be able to afford imported coal and it will turn instead to either its own reserves or renewables such as solar and wind.
  • 2014/05/06: RNE: Pollie Watch: New addition to small pod of pro-wind Liberals
  • 2014/05/06: RNE: No market for Galilee coal, not even in energy poor India
  • 2014/05/06: RNE: UK will install 3 times more solar than Australia in 2014
  • 2014/05/06: DeSmogBlog: Global Fossil Fuel Companies Running Multiple PR Campaigns Targeting Australians
  • 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): Gloucester Dialogue group slammed by anti-CSG activists
    A mid north coast anti-coal seam gas (CSG) group has slammed the creation of a new committee to oversee the industry in Gloucester. The Gloucester Dialogue includes representatives from government agencies, local council, the community and the company AGL. But Groundswell Gloucester Vice President David Hare-Scott said it simply adds another mechanism to several that already exist but don't work. He said the Gloucester Dialogue is unnecessary and lacks substance.
  • 2014/05/05: RNE: Demand, emissions and wholesale prices still going down
  • 2014/05/05: RNE: Coal: Australia's major problem with power sector emissions
  • 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): QCoal's James Mackay developing environmental policy for Newman Government in Queensland
    The head of corporate affairs for a mining company at the centre of an environmental dispute has been in charge of developing policy on the environment for Queensland's ruling Liberal National Party (LNP) since 2012. James Mackay also worked full-time for the LNP during the 2012 election, while he was being paid $10,000 a month by the company, QCoal. QCoal is embroiled in controversy over plans to divert Coral Creek in north Queensland to mine the coal underneath. The company's owner, reclusive billionaire Chris Wallin, is one of the LNP's biggest donors.
  • 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): Vic Government could save $ 2.5 billion in heating bills
    Winter is coming. Victorians shivering against the chill could be insulated with considerable savings to the state budget, if only the government will listen.
  • 2014/05/05: WSWS: Australia: Plunging coal prices herald new mine closures and job cuts

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

  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au):TDU: Abbott unveiled, and we don't like what we see
    Tony Abbott is in trouble now, not because of some misjudged promises he made just before the election, but because he can no longer hide the reality of his vision for Australia, writes Tim Dunlop.
    [...]
    The trouble Tony Abbott is having at the moment - which is reflected in falling approval ratings for himself and his party - has arisen because of a long-term commitment to a particular ideological point of view. In other words, his problem is that it is getting harder for him to hide what he really wants to do to the country.
  • 2014/05/10: ABC(Au): PNG immigration minister says he will choose which refugees on Manus Island are resettled
  • 2014/05/10: ABC(Au): Budget 2014: People on disability support pension to have ability to work reassessed
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announces new Australian Border Force
  • 2014/05/09: WSWS: Australian corruption inquiry could ensnare prime minister
  • 2014/05/09: RNE: ACT energy minister slams Hockey's "offensive" wind comments
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): High Court to hear challenge to Manus Island detention centre
  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Budget 2014: Motorists to pay more with Coalition poised to reintroduce indexation of fuel excise
  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Budget 2014: Government MP speaks out against 'broken promise' on fuel tax rise
  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Company directors losing faith in Abbott Government
    A survey shows company directors have become much less confident in the Abbott Government since it was first elected. Back in the second half of 2013, just after the Abbott Government took office, almost 70 per cent of company directors expected the new administration to have a positive impact on their business decision making. In the latest Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) survey, this figure has slumped to just 30 per cent.
  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Ag Minister [Joyce] outlines deregulation expectations
  • 2014/05/07: RNE: Abbott's 'barren' policy could derail most basic climate goals: [Bernie] Fraser
  • 2014/05/07: RNE: Direct Action could bypass Senate, but business will bypass Direct Action
  • 2014/05/07: CCurrents: A New Wave Of Direct Action Against Coal And Gas In Australia
  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Asylum seeker push-back: [Foreign Minister Julie] Bishop says Australia has not broken international law
  • 2014/05/07: WSWS: Australia: Storm of corporate protest against deficit levy
  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Budget 2014: Teresa Gambaro says proposed debt levy will 'devastate the economy'
    Federal Government MP Teresa Gambaro says the proposed debt levy will "devastate the economy" and is urging the Cabinet to ditch the idea when it meets in Canberra today. The Member for Brisbane says the tax hike being proposed for higher income earners will be a broken promise, and has lashed out at the Prime Minister and his office's way of dealing with the backbench.
  • 2014/05/06: ABC(Au): Farmers desperate for help but drought loans not available yet
  • 2014/05/06: ABC(Au): Indonesia says Australia allegedly adding passengers to asylum seeker boat a 'serious development'
  • 2014/05/06: RNE: Hockey & Co keep China, Germany & Buffet guessing on offensive wind
  • 2014/05/06: BBerg: Abbott Sees Popularity Decline as Australian Budget Cuts Loom
    Support for Prime Minister Tony Abbott's coalition dropped to the lowest level in four years as the government prepares to raise the pension age and cut welfare benefits to curb Australia's deficit in next week's budget. The Liberal-National coalition is trailing on 47 percent to Labor's 53 percent on a two-party preferred basis, according to a Newspoll published in The Australian newspaper today. Voter satisfaction with Abbott fell five points from the previous poll to 35 percent, the lowest level since he won office in September.
  • 2014/05/05: TheConversation: The Direct Action path to poverty
  • 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): PM defends political donation system
    Despite the public scandals over political fundraising, the Prime Minister Tony Abbott today defended the system of political donations, saying the alternative is that taxpayers take a hit.
  • 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): Mining industry says diesel rebate is not a subsidy
  • 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): QFF warns against research funding cuts
    The Queensland Farmers' Federation, says the Commission of Audit recommendation to cut public funding for research and development is 'ironic', given the current Federal Government push to increase farm productivity. QFF chief executive Dan Galligan, warns any drop in research spending would erode the competitive advantage of Australian agriculture, at a rapid rate.
  • 2014/05/05: SkS: Brandis confuses right to be heard with right to be taken seriously by Peter Ellerton
  • 2014/05/05: RNE: Clean energy is only "offensive" because it works
  • 2014/05/05: RNE: Direct Action vs the World: How Australia's climate policy stacks up
  • 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): Budget 2014: Joe Hockey moves to assure miners over diesel fuel rebate
  • 2014/05/04: TheConversation: Sorry, Joe Hockey - Canberra is Australia's home of wind farms
  • 2014/05/04: CCP: SMH: Australian climate scientists in audit commission's crosshairs

  The Abbott government's phony inquiry is set to gut the Renewable Energy Target:

  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Solar industry slams Coalition's renewables policy
    The peak body for the Australian solar industry has delivered a broadside at the Coalition government, saying 'ideology' is driving energy policy in Australia.
  • 2014/05/08: RNE: RET Road Trip #4 - Wind farms keep council budgets healthy
  • 2014/05/08: RNE: Vestas 'perplexed' by renewable energy policy debate in Australia
  • 2014/05/07: RNE: Renewable energy target can go all the way to 100% - if we let it
  • 2014/05/07: RNE: Australia's conservative politicians railing against renewables
  • 2014/05/06: TheConversation: Renewable energy target can go all the way to 100% - if we let it

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

  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): More flexibility for irrigators to trade water: ACCC
  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): SMS leak detection saving farmers money
    Farmer's water bills are already big enough without a pipe leak adding to the costs. This is where a new SMS system has come into play that can tell farmers straight away if they have a leak somewhere.
  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): National water bank to boost water security
  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Water bank proposed to combat looming shortages
  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Outback councils pipe up over funds for Great Artesian Basin water-saving scheme
    Western Queensland councils have called for the Federal Government to end uncertainty and allocate funding for a water-saving program across the Great Artesian Basin. The Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative provides state and federal funds to help landholders to cap uncontrolled artesian bores and pipe open bore drains and has run over 15 years.
  • 2014/05/07: ABC(Au): Fears for the future of the great GABSI
    There are fears the Federal Government's budget will not allow room for one of the most successful environmental programs on offer in western Queensland. The Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative (GABSI) delivers federal and state funding to cap uncontrolled artesian bores and pipe open bore drains. GABSI has worked in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory. However, the program is only funded until the end of June.
  • 2014/05/05: ABC(Au): A taste for drinking recycled water
    Why do our elected leaders wait until crisis point before making decisions about water supply for Australians? We should start talking about solutions to the next drought now.

  The Federal and now the State Liberals are bent on trashing the hard won Tasmanian forest deal:

  • 2014/05/08: ABC(Au): Tasmanian Liberals unveil details of legislation to repeal forest peace deal
  • 2014/05/06: ABC(Au): Outside advice not sought over forest heritage delisting, inquiry hears
    Outside experts were not consulted over Commonwealth plans to delist part of Tasmania's World Heritage Area (WHA), a Senate hearing has been told. A Senate committee examining the Federal Government's push to delist 74,000 hectares of forests is taking evidence in Canberra.

  And in the Indian subcontinent:

  • 2014/05/07: al Jazeera: India votes in penultimate phase
    Voting under way in seven states for 64 parliamentary seats as staggered elections set to end on May 12.
  • 2014/05/06: NatureN: Indian elections fall flat on science
    Researchers concerned about country's competitiveness as most party manifestos neglect innovation

  While in China:

  • 2014/05/06: PSinclair: Oops. China Choosing [Coal to Gas] Carbon Dead End for Part of Air Pollution Solution

  In Japan:

  • 2014/05/09: ABC(Au): Japan restarts whaling program in north-west Pacific from base at port of Ayukawa

  And elsewhere in Asia:

  • 2014/05/05: RTCC: Marshall Islands primed for climate survival fight

  In Russia:

  • 2014/05/09: GET: How realistic is an Energiewende in Russia?
    Renewable energy and energy efficiency are not widely discussed in Russia for many reasons. Germany has certainly been an excellent example of energy transformation, an example other governments would do well to follow, but let's take a look at the present situation in Russia. Vladimir Slivyak reports from Moscow.

  While in Africa:

  • 2014/05/09: al Jazeera: Another five years of Jacob Zuma
    ANC scores a major electoral victory despite hopes for change on the political scene of South Africa.
  • 2014/05/08: BBC: South Africa election: ANC wins ...
    [...] With about 80% of the results in, the ANC has 63% of the vote, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) on 22%.
  • 2014/05/08: CCurrents: Climate Crisis Hotspots In Africa
  • 2014/05/06: TP:JR: With A Little Help, Africa Could Become Renewable Energy Powerhouse

  And South America:

  • 2014/05/06: TreeHugger: Indigenous Amazonian people threatened by oil drilling
  • 2014/05/05: Guardian(UK): Brazil's 'chainsaw queen' takes on environmentalists
    Ambitious politician Kátia Abreu leads agricultural lobby in loosening controls on Amazon deforestation
  • 2014/05/05: BBC: Outsider Juan Carlos Varela wins Panama election
    Opposition leader Juan Carlos Varela has won the presidential election in Panama with almost 40% of the votes.

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

  • 2014/05/09: DeSmogBlog: New Federal Regulations Allow Fisheries and Environment Ministers to Authorize Pollution in Fish-Bearing Waters
  • 2014/05/08: NorRe: The Europeans Get It
  • 2014/05/08: FSC: Agriculture Bill (C-18) will Undermine Canada's Food Sovereignty
  • 2014/05/09: Rabble:SH: No CETA deal, 'thorny' issues remain

  Resonances of the Lac Mégantic tragedy echo yet:

  • 2014/05/11: CBC: Petty cash box lost in Lac-Mégantic tragedy finds rightful owner
    Yannick Gagné is reunited with Musi-Café's petty cash box nearly a year after Lac-Mégantic explosion
  • 2014/05/06: CBC: Crude by rail shipments increase 9-fold since 2012
    [...] The NEB said Tuesday that 15,980 barrels a day were exported by rail in the first quarter of 2012. By the last quarter of 2013, that figure had jumped to 146,047 -- a more than nine-fold increase in under two years.
  • 2014/05/06: CBC: Confidence in safe transport of oil falls, polls suggest
    Pipelines have most support, but confidence in Ottawa's ability to protect environment slipping

  The abortion issue ot some play this week:

  • 2014/05/09: Creekside: The March of the Catholic Schoolchildren
  • 2014/05/08: CBC: Topless pro-choice protesters [yelling "my body, my rules"] interrupt anti-abortion rally
  • 2014/05/08: CBC: 3 things to know about abortion in Canada
    Annual anti-abortion March for Life protest hits Hill as Justin Trudeau says new MPs must be pro-choice
  • 2014/05/07: CBC: Anti-abortion candidates need not apply in 2015, Justin Trudeau says

  Mowat has passed:

  • 2014/05/09: CPunch: Farley Mowat: the Greatest Canadian? by Paul Watson
  • 2014/05/08: Sierra: Farley Mowat: Legend
  • 2014/05/07: CBC: Farley Mowat dead at 92 -- Award-winning author was also a noted environmentalist

  Late commentary on that CCA report:

  • 2014/05/05: Resilience: Fracking Growth Outpacing Scientific Knowledge in Canada: Report

  There are getting to be so manyoil [2] andnatural gas [2]pipelines, one almost needs a scorecard:

  1. The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on
  2. The Kinder Morgan expansion hearings are coming up

The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2014/05/08: CBC: Northern Gateway opponent says investor money will 'sit there and rot'
  Anti-pipeline activists attend Enbridge AGM in Calgary, tell shareholders pursuing project a waste of money
• 2014/05/07: BWeek: Enbridge Opponents Prepare for 'Show-Down' on Gateway Pipeline
  After a decade of saying 'no' to Enbridge Inc.'s proposed Northern Gateway oil pipeline, Canadian aboriginals are preparing to stop the project with protests in front of bulldozers and police barricades if needed. With a decision by the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper only weeks away, opponents of the 1,177-kilometer (731-mile) pipeline across British Columbia aim to send a message to Enbridge shareholders when they attend an annual meeting today.

There is wrangling over the NEB trying to restrict the Kinder Morgan expansion hearings:

• 2014/05/06: Tyee: Legal Challenge Filed over Restricted Pipeline Hearings -- Citizens shut out of Kinder Morgan review process strike back at regulator [NEB]
• 2014/05/06: CBC: Kinder Morgan backtracks from oil spill benefit claim
• 2014/05/05: Creekside: Rachel Maddow rips Kinder Morgan
• 2014/05/05: Grist: Pipeline builder says oil spills can be good for the economy

What's the state of the West Coast salmon fishery?

• 2014/05/06: AlexandraMorton: 60 Minutes Looks at BC Salmon Farming

Meanwhile in BC:

• 2014/05/10: TheCanadian: BC gas regulator ignoring public's LNG concerns
• 2014/05/10: Tyee: Enviro Ed 'Won't Be Taught' in New Curriculum, Teachers Say -- Educators keep pressure on ministry to rethink changes
• 2014/05/08: Tyee: No Rush to Build Site C Dam, Review Finds -- Panel finds pros to $8-billion project, critiques BC Hydro's timetable
• 2014/05/08: Tyee: Agricultural Land Reserve Changes Make Way for Pipelines: Conservationist
• 2014/05/08: CBC: Site C dam review says benefits outweigh costs
  The $8B hydroelectric project on Peace River the most affordable way to generate power, panel concludes
• 2014/05/08: TheCanadian: Site C Dam: "The benefits are clear"...as mud
• 2014/05/07: DeSmogBlog: Fears of Cost Overruns, Flooding of Peace Valley Loom on Eve of Site C Dam Report
• 2014/05/06: DeSmogBlog: Why Super Natural British Columbia Still Has Super Pathetic Campaign Finance Laws
• 2014/05/06: TheCanadian: NDP Leader Horgan opposes BC's proposed Site C Dam

Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2014/05/08: EcoWatch: Report Finds Investments in Alberta's Tar Sands 'Make Neither Economic Nor Climate Sense'
• 2014/05/08: DeSmogBlog: New Report Names Alberta Oilsands as Highest Cost, Highest Risk Investment in Oil Sector
• 2014/05/07: CBC: Bear attack at Suncor site kills 1 worker
• 2014/05/06: CensoredNews: Desmond Tutu to speak on treaties and tarsands at Fort McMurray [on May 31]

Also in Alberta:

• 2014/05/09: Tyee: Ernst Argues Alberta's Energy Regulator Not Immune to Charter -- Court hears appeal as part of landowner's ongoing fracking lawsuit
• 2014/05/08: DeSmogBlog: Alberta Government Bans Environmental Groups From Oilsands Hearing, Again
• 2014/05/07: Tyee: Alberta Landowner Takes Fight with Energy Regulator Back to Court -- Jessica Ernst's appeal of previous ruling in fracking case starts Thursday

In Ontario, Wynne has been forced into an election. Poll date is June 12th:

• 2014/05/10: CBC: Kashechewan First Nation re-declares flooding emergency
  About 700 residents in the James Bay-area community requested to evacuate the area
• 2014/05/09: TStar: Andrea Horwath's right-wing populism: Salutin
  After years of possibly delusional but honourable attempts by the NDP to stay anchored to its social democratic principles, Andrea Horwath marks a change.
• 2014/05/08: CBC: Kathleen Wynne continues to poke at Stephen Harper over pensions
• 2014/05/07: CBC: Ontario Votes: Clement keeps up federal pressure on Wynne
  Treasury Board President Tony Clement is the latest federal Conservative to jump in to the Ontario election campaign -- accusing Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne of inflaming the pension debate to draw attention away from her party's "disastrous record."
• 2014/05/07: SudburySteve: Andrea Horwarth's Decision to Exclude Greens from Debates is Shameful for ONDP Supporters
• 2014/05/06: WSWS: Ontario voters offered rival big-business austerity agendas
• 2014/05/05: TRR: Kathleen Wynne's environmental ups and downs
• 2014/05/04: NorRe: Things Could Get Very Nasty
• 2014/05/05: ElectionPrediction: Ontario Provincial Election 2014

In the Maritimes:

• 2014/05/09: CBC: Frank Coleman wants Ottawa to turn over Hibernia stake
  Ottawa should consider giving Newfoundland and Labrador its stake in the lucrative Hibernia offshore oilfield, says incoming premier Frank Coleman.

And on the American political front:

• 2014/05/10: CSW: Remarks at Stanford on the Obama administration and the role of scientists as citizens [US pol]
• 2014/05/09: PSinclair: Republican Senate Candidates Laugh at Climate Change
• 2014/05/09: TP:JR: South Carolina's Solution To Sea Level Rise: Build More Walls
• 2014/05/09: NatureNB: Vermont to require labeling of genetically modified foods
• 2014/05/08: CensoredNews: Dine' CARE: Four Corners Power Plant meetings ignore impacts on Navajos
• 2014/05/08: CBC: Vermont approves GMO labelling law
  If law takes effect as planned in mid-2016 Vermont would be 1st state to require GMO labelling
• 2014/05/08: TP:JR: Ohio Senate Votes To Kill The Buckeye State's Renewable Energy Standard
• 2014/05/08: TP:JR: Marco Rubio: Obama's 'Not A Meteorologist' And His Policies Won't Fix Climate Change
• 2014/05/07: Grist: Beverly Hills just banned fracking
• 2014/05/07: DeSmogBlog: Residents Deliver Petition to Ban Fracking to City Hall in Denton, Texas
• 2014/05/06: WaPo:B: On climate change, Republicans can't deny reality forever
• 2014/05/06: QuarkSoup: Mark Callahan, Oregon Candidate for Goofball
• 2014/05/06: CleanTechnica: California's AB 2145 Threatens Community Choice Aggregates
• 2014/05/06: NakedCapitalism: Enron 2.0: Goldman-Linked Investors Set to Manipulate East Coast Electricity Prices
• 2014/05/02: al Jazeera:USA: Enron-style price gouging is making a comeback
  Wall Street makes naked attempt to jack up electricity prices in New England
• 2014/05/05: TP:JR: Missouri's Solar Problem: Too Many People Like It

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

• 2014/05/09: 350orBust: The Real TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline Commercial
• 2014/05/08: CCP: Cowboy Indian Alliance: farmers, ranchers and tribal communities protest Keystone XL pipeline
• 2014/05/08: SciAm:GB: Keystone XL Spotlights History of Environmental Analysis
• 2014/05/08: NatJo: More Than Just Keystone Died in the Senate Wednesday
  The collapse of a bipartisan energy-efficiency bill on the floor has imperiled the Senate's vote on the Keystone XL pipeline, but it's also got members sweating that their chance to move any other energy measures has all but slipped away.
• 2014/05/08: ICN: Keystone XL: Bush's No-Brainer, Obama's Dilemma -- In Infographics
• 2014/05/08: ICN: The Thinking Behind 'Keystone and Beyond': Author's Note
  Author of new ICN book explains why and how he used the past to illuminate Obama's historic Keystone pipeline decision, and what he learned.
• 2014/05/08: ICN: Keystone XL: Bush's No-Brainer, Obama's Dilemma
• 2014/05/06: Guardian(UK): It's game over for the Keystone pipeline by Michael Mann
• 2014/05/06: DeSmogBlog: American Minimum Wage Earners Held Hostage Over Keystone XL
• 2014/05/06: OilChange: As KXL Vote Nears in Senate, Big Oil Begins Ad Blitz
• 2014/05/05: FAIR: Silly Environmentalists, Getting Upset Over a Little Pipeline
• 2014/05/05: DeSmogBlog: For First Time, TransCanada Says Tar Sands Flowing to Gulf in Keystone XL South
• 2014/05/05: DeSmogBlog: Details of TransCanada Pipeline Safety Whistleblower Scandal Emerge Amid Keystone XL Delay
• 2014/05/04: RI: Could NAFTA force the Keystone XL pipeline on the United States?

Leaks and spills:

Jeez! It's getting hard to keep all the spills and leaks straight. You need a map. Let's see...:

1. In West Virginia, Freedom Industries spilled coal cleaning chemicals into the Elk river
2. In the Gulf of Mexico, BP and company had the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
3. Colorado fracking - spills galore

In West Virginia, Freedom Industries spilled coal cleaning chemicals into the Elk river:

• 2014/05/04: TP:JR: Four Months After Massive West Virginia Spill, EPA To Test Safety Of Inhaling Chemical Fumes
  Nearly four months after a coal-cleaning chemical mixture spilled into the Elk River and contaminated the water supply for 300,000 West Virginia residents, the Environmental Protection Agency will test the chemical in air and set a corresponding safety limit for breathing the fumes.

The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2014/05/06: TP:JR: Researcher: BP Oil Is Becoming 'Part Of The Geological Record' Of The Sea Floor

Colorado fracking is messy:

• 2014/05/06: Grist: Colorado drillers are spilling 200 gallons of oil and other poisons every day

The GOP War on Women continues. See also:

• 2014/05/07: TruthDig: Check Out These Sex Laws Proposed to Reveal the Inherent Misogyny in the Legal System
• 2014/05/07: ACLU: LA Legislature Advances Texas-style Abortion Restriction
• 2014/05/06: WSWS: Maternal death in childbirth up 50 percent in America -- Mortality rate higher than China and Saudi Arabia

Looking ahead to the 2014 & 2016 elections:

• 2014/05/05: TP:JR: In Texas, A New Bush [George Prescott Bush] Launches Political Career With Leap Into Oil And Gas Interests

Obama exercised a symbol this week:

• 2014/05/10: TruthDig: No Sense of Urgency: Obama's New Solar Energy Commitments Are Still Just Baby Steps
• 2014/05/10: Lenz: "Security Concerns" Keep White House Solar at Minimal Size
• 2014/05/09: SciAm:Obs: Fight over Solar Power Returns to White House Roof [Video]
• 2014/05/09: Grist: It only took 28 years to get solar panels back on the White House roof!
• 2014/05/09: PSinclair: 30 Years Later: Solar Panels Return to the White House
• 2014/05/09: CleanTechnica: White House Finally Gets Its Solar Panels... Again (video)

The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2014/05/09: BBerg: EPA Takes First Step Toward Regulating Fracking Chemicals
• 2014/05/09: Grist: Obama lays out plan to boost solar energy and energy efficiency
• 2014/05/09: NOAANews: Dr. Richard W. Spinrad named NOAA's chief scientist
• 2014/05/08: ScienceInsider: NOAA Gets First Chief Scientist in More Than a Decade
• 2014/05/08: RTCC: US backs advanced offshore wind with $140m
  US to test 'hurricane-resilient' wind turbines in three projects, supplying extra 67MW of clean energy to grid The United States will back three advanced offshore wind farms, including floating and hurricane resistant foundations, with up to $47 million each, the Department of Energy said on Wednesday.
• 2014/05/08: Grist: EPA's next challenge: Protect communities in nation's industrial dumping grounds
• 2014/05/07: UCSUSA:B: More Progress for Offshore Wind: DOE Awards and Whale Protections
• 2014/05/07: CBC: Oil-hauling trains under emergency U.S. safety order
• 2014/05/05: Grist:Should we be calling it "climate disruption"?
• 2014/05/05: NOAANews: NOAA selects two areas in the North Atlantic for targeted habitat conservation efforts

As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2014/05/09: ScienceInsider: U.S. House Passes Permanent R&D Tax Credit
• 2014/05/09: ScienceInsider: Salmon Over Science: House Spending Panel Goes Fishing at the Expense of NSF and Census
  Although most U.S. researchers probably think it exists, and both Republican and Democratic administrations play along, there is no federal science budget. Instead, there is one pot of money to be divvied up as legislators see fit. A congressional spending panel made that very clear yesterday by choosing salmon over science. The case in point is an amendment passed on a voice vote by the House of Representatives' Appropriations Committee. It would move $5 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and $10 million from the Census Bureau's research activities to strengthen a Pacific salmon recovery program run by the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service.
• 2014/05/08: TP:JR: Bipartisan Energy Efficiency Bill Stalls Again, Along With Keystone Vote
• 2014/05/07: TP:JR: How Some Simple Changes To Building Codes Could Revolutionize The Electric Car Market
• 2014/05/07: ScienceInsider: Conflict Swirls as U.S. House Nears Vote on Permanent R&D Tax Break
• 2014/05/07: ScienceInsider: Embattled NOAA Lab in North Carolina Would Get New Life in U.S. Spending Bill
• 2014/05/07: GreenGrok: The Senate Takes on America's Energy Future: On Pipelines, Posturing and Politics
• 2014/05/06: TP:JR: Colorado Congressman Called A 'Terrorist' For Pushing Community Control Of Fracking
• 2014/05/05: Grist: GOP leader calls anti-fracking congressman a terrorist
• 2014/05/05: CleanTechnica: Republican Senator Slams Fossil & Nuclear Energy Subsidies In Face Of Wind Energy Tax Credit Attacks

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

• 2014/05/07: Resilience: Will Co-ops Spark a New Civil Rights Movement?
• 2014/05/05: Resilience: The Benefits and Impacts of Cooperatives

In nature, there is no garbage:

• 2014/05/09: DOE:TiE: Recycling is the primary energy efficiency technology for aluminum and steel manufacturing

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

• 2014/05/09: ABC(Au):TDU: Hands off our hard-fought abortion rights
  Yet another male politician is trying to wind back the clock on abortion laws. All these pieces of legislation are designed to do is oppress and control women, writes Clementine Ford.
• 2014/05/08: BBC: NI women not entitled to free NHS abortions in England says High Court
• 2014/05/08: CBC: 3 things to know about abortion in Canada
  Annual anti-abortion March for Life protest hits Hill as Justin Trudeau says new MPs must be pro-choice
• 2014/05/06: CBC: Maternal death rates rose in Canada, U.S. over 20 years
  In Canada, deaths rose from 6 to 11 per 100,000 births between 1990 and 2013.

Apocalypso anyone?

• 2014/05/10: PaiD: "I've Gone To The Dark Side": A Guest Post From The Mound Of Sound

How do the corporate media measure up?

• 2014/05/10: NYT:PK: Abusing Relativity
• 2014/05/09: CSW: Wall Street Journal's attempts to politicize National Climate Assessment fall flat
• 2014/05/09: FAIR: Can Crossfire Have a Climate Change Debate Without Climate Change Denial?
• 2014/05/09: TDC: End game: What happens when the White House press corps seizes the agenda?
  To get the public to move on climate change, President Obama won't just need to end-run Congress. He'll need to end-run his own press corps, too. A news analysis.
• 2014/05/09: GLaden: Bill Nye vs. CNN
• 2014/05/08: TP:JR: How Cable News Covered The Landmark Climate Change Report
• 2014/05/07: MediaMatters: Front-Page Climate Story Cast To Bottom Sidebar Of Wall Street Journal
• 2014/05/07: TP:JR: Media Figures Out American Climate Beliefs Are Outliers -- But Do They Share The Blame?
• 2014/05/07: Grist: Bill Nye keeps fighting the good fight, debates climate change on CNN
• 2014/05/07: ITracker: Presented without comment: Neil deGrasse Tyson on AGW
• 2014/05/07: GET: The wrong lessons at the New York Times
  On May 1, the entire editorial board at the New York Times published an article revealing an astonishing ignorance of easily accessible facts. The NYT argues that Germany's energy transition proves that the world needs nuclear.

While activists search for effective communication techniques: