Another Week of GW News, March 5, 2007

Courtesy of H.E.Taylor, here is this week's GW news roundup
(skip to bottom)

• Top Stories, Hurricane Wars, GHG Stats, The Temperature Record, Glaciers, Sea Levels, el Niño, Satellites
• Impacts, Tropical Rainforests, Floods & Droughts, Biofuel & Food
• Mitigation, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Kyoto, Kyoto-2, Carbon Tax, Carbon Trade,
• Politics, American, British, European, Australian, Asian, Canadian
• Ecological Economics, Media, Books, Video, Courts
• Energy, Business, Carbon Lobby
• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

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Let's start with a larf:

• 2007/02/28: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) The Al Gore Joke Book
• 2007/02/28: WFC: (cartoon - TomTom) Once Upon A Time...

  International Polar Year kicked off this week:

  Click here to read more

• 2007/03/01: BBC: Major polar study set for launch
  One of the world's biggest research programmes in the past fifty years is launched on Thursday in Paris. International Polar Year (IPY) is a $1.5bn (£763m) collaborative effort to study the north and south poles. Thousands of researchers will be carrying out more than 200 projects, with climate change top of the agenda.
• 2007/03/01: Q&QBlog: Polar peril [IPY]
• 2007/03/03: BBC: Island people swallowed by the sea [IPY]
• 2007/03/02: PhysOrg: Canada scientists peer into Arctic abyss, to see future [IPY]
• 2007/03/01: SwissInfo: Polar study launched amid global warming [IPY]
• 2007/03/01: ABC(Au): Aust to lead Antarctic climate research program [IPY]
• 2007/03/02: ABC(Au): Researchers begin international climate study into Earth's poles [IPY]
• 2007/03/01: PhysOrg: Scientists Watch Polar Areas for Changes [IPY]
• 2007/03/01: Reuters: Canada to study polar ecosystem for climate clues
• 2007/03/01: Eureka: United States launches new International Polar Year - Multiple research and education initiatives extend through March 2009
• 2007/02/26: NSU: Scientists kick off huge polar research plan - International Polar Year will feature more than 220 separate projects
• 2007/02/27: SciDaily: Polar Scientists [IPY] Welcome 'Strong And Definitive Statement' On Climate Change [by IPCC]
• 2007/02/26: PhysOrg: In International Polar Year, scientists take the planet's pulse
• 2007/02/26: DeSmogBlog: $350-million [IPY] study of North, South polar changes set
• 2007/02/27: PlanetArk: New Study Of Polar Secrets [IPY] in Global Warming Fight
• 2007/02/26: CBC: International Polar Year program to chronicle climate change
• 2007/02/26: BBC: Huge polar study about to begin
  The largest polar research programme for 50 years gets under way this week. International Polar Year (IPY) will see thousands of scientists, from more than 60 nations, working together on 220 projects. Scientists hope to improve their understanding of how changes to the polar regions affect the planet.

The Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development

released a report:

• UN Foundation: Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development (SEG)
• 2007/03/02: Guardian(UK): Build inland, UN climate report warns [SEG]
• 2007/03/02: Guardian(UK): Build inland, UN climate report warns [SEG]
• 2007/03/01: TruthOut: Fighting Warming Key to Anti-Poverty Goals [SEG]
• 2007/02/28: TruthOut: Climate Panel Recommends Global Temperature Ceiling, Carbon Tax [SEG]
• 2007/02/28: GristMill: The SEGCCSD report all the kids are talking about
• 2007/02/28: PlanetArk: Global Warming Debate Over, Time to Act Now - Report [SEG]
• 2007/02/27: USA Today: Study: 'Tipping point' for climate is near [SEG]
• 2007/02/27: UN Foundation: Science Panel Outlines Roadmap for Reducing Risks from Climate Change

  Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:

• 2007/02/28: NEN: 820,000 Years! Carbon Dioxide Levels Are at 820,000-Year High...
• 2007/02/22: EPA: 2007 Draft U.S. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report - Draft Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2005
• 2007/02/26: DeSmogBlog: Global GHG Emissions help

  Here is an interesting map of cumulative CO2 since 1900:

• 2007/02/27: BCLSB: Blame America

  The US CAR has been leaked:

• 2007/03/03: HuffPo: U.S. Projects 19 Percent Emissions Rise [USCAR]
• 2007/03/03: DeSmogBlog: Bush to World: "Let Them Eat Carbon" [USCAR]
• 2007/03/03: IHT: U.S. sees its emissions growing without letup [USCAR]
• 2007/03/03: UPI: [US Climate Action] Report: U.S. slow on cutting emissions
• 2007/03/03: Yahoo: U.S. report sees steady rate [increase] of emissions
• 2007/03/03: NYT: U.S. Predicting Steady Increase for Emissions
• 2007/03/03: EnvEcon: U.S. Climate Action Report is released

  The role of shipping in GHG production came in for scrutiny:

• 2007/03/04: TreeHugger: There Is No Free Trade: Cargo Shippers Emit Twice The C02 Of Airlines, Yet Go Completely Unregulated
• 2007/03/03: Guardian(UK): CO2 output from shipping twice as much as airlines
  Maritime emissions not covered by Kyoto accord - Studies suggest 75% rise in 15 years as trade grows

Meanwhile temperatures are still going up:

• 2007/03/02: PlanetArk: France has Warmest Autumn, Winter for Centuries
• 2007/03/02: Eureka: Heatwave on the top of the world [Himalayas]
• 2007/03/01: Yahoo: Tokyo ends first snowless winter
• 2007/02/28: PlanetArk: Germans Experience Warmest Winter on Record
• 2007/02/27: BBC: The UK has experienced its second warmest winter on record, with a mean temperature of 5.47C (41.8F), provisional Met Office figures show

  And in the hurricane wars:

• 2007/03/02: ClimateP: Hurricanes and Global Warming Update
• 2007/03/02: PhysicsWeb: Model puts new spin on hurricane prediction
• 2007/03/03: Guardian(UK): New Orleans sues US Army Corps for $77bn over Katrina
• 2007/03/01: RealClimate: Hurricane Heat
• 2007/03/01: NSU: Hurricane trackers catch storm's 'second eye' - Modelling the eyes of a hurricane should help predictions of intensity
• 2007/03/01: PhysOrg: Hurricane can form new eyewall and change intensity rapidly
• 2007/03/01: TerraDaily: New Evidence That Global Warming Fuels Stronger Atlantic Hurricanes
• 2007/03/01: NewScientist: Journey to eye of the storm reveals hurricane's secrets
• 2007/03/01: Eureka: Hurricane can form new eyewall and change intensity rapidly
• 2007/02/27: PhysOrg: Big storms more important than thought
  U.S. researchers have determined typhoons and hurricanes are the dominant cause of mixing between the Earth's troposphere and stratosphere.
• 2007/02/28: PhysOrg: New evidence that global warming fuels stronger Atlantic hurricanes
• 2007/02/28: Eureka: New evidence that global warming fuels stronger Atlantic hurricanes
• 2007/02/27: WorldChanging: Interview: Kerry Emanuel, Climate Scientist
• 2007/02/25: BSD: Part 3 (Katrina-specific): Legal theories of causation, hurricanes, and climate change
• 2007/02/25: TerraDaily: Cyclone Leaves Dead...Across Slew Of Indian Ocean Islands

  While on the ENSO front:

• 2007/02/28: Wunderground: El Niño gone; La Niña on the way?
• 2007/03/01: PhysOrg: New data linked Indonesian wildfire flare-up to recent El Nino
• 2007/03/01: NASA: NASA Data Links Indonesian Wildfire Flare-Up to Recent El Nino
• 2007/02/28: PhysOrg: La Nina's Brewing, Forecasters Warn
• 2007/02/28: NOAANews: La Niña May Soon Arrive
• 2007/02/28: JFleck: La Niña
• 2007/02/28: SciDaily: La Nina May Soon Arrive
• 2007/02/28: CBC: La Nina could bring hurricanes to the Atlantic
• 2007/02/27: AP: La Nina's Brewing, Forecasters Warn

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2007/03/04: Yahoo: Tibetans carry on as glaciers fall victim to global warming

  A plethora of unknown lifeforms were revealed where Larsen-B detached:

• 2007/02/26: TerraDaily: Antarctic Reveals First Hints of Biological Change After Collapse of Polar Ice Shelves
• 2007/02/26: COML: Antarctic Marine Explorers Reveal First Hints of Biological Change After Collapse of Polar Ice Shelves
• 2007/02/26: OilChange: Melting Ice Reveals New World
• 2007/02/26: CDreams: Independent(UK): Melting [Antarctic] Ice Gives Birth to a Strange New World
• 2007/02/26: Guardian(UK): New species, warm water and whales: the Antarctic's secrets revealed by melting ice

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2007/02/28: PhysOrg: Envisat still going strong after five successful years

  And this will be an interesting data record:

• 2007/02/26: TerraDaily: Satellite Method Measures Water Vapor

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/03/03: Yahoo: India's 'wet desert' hit by global climate change: scientists
• 2007/03/02: DeSmogBlog: Global warming heralds lower timber values and shorter logging seasons in New Hampshire
• 2007/03/02: ADN: 'Threatened' polar bear listing [as threatened] debated
• 2007/03/02: ESF: Climate changes brews trouble for marine life in European Seas, ESF-Marine Board report says
• 2007/03/02: DerSpiegel: Climate Change Impact More Extensive than Thought
• 2007/03/01: IBA: Climate change upsets food chain in Pacific
• 2007/03/01: Eureka: Improved predictions of warming-induced extinctions sought - Researchers say species persist more than models assume
• 2007/02/28: PlanetArk: Global Warming Hits World's Largest Tiger Reserve
• 2007/02/27: ABC(Au): The climate link to big fires
• 2007/02/27: Yahoo: Scientists wary of Lake Superior warming
• 2007/02/26: TerraDaily: Warming Climate And Cod Collapse Have Combined To Cause Rapid North Atlantic Ecosystem [Change]
• 2007/02/27: PlanetArk: Global Warming Could Kill Uganda Coffee
• 2007/02/27: PlanetArk: Drought-Ridden Indian Bird Park [Keoladeo Ghana National Park] Loses Its Birds
• 2007/02/26: PlanetArk: Global Warming Endangers Harp Seal Pups - Report
• 2007/02/25: HuffPo: Water: First Casualty of Climate Change?
• 2007/02/26: CBC: Ice near Baffin Island reduced by half: Environment Canada

  Then there are the tropical rainforests:

• 2007/02/28: Panda: Amazon protection widens into French Guiana

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2007/03/02: NewScientist: Early flurry of killer tornadoes linked to cold winter
• 2007/03/02: Guardian(UK): At least 20 killed as tornado hits southern US

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2007/03/01: PhysOrg: Colombia Drought Suffocates Tons of Fish [an estimated 3 million fish]
• 2007/02/28: TerraDaily: Drought Threatens Power Shortages In Vietnam
• 2007/03/01: SciDaily: U.S. Needs To Plan For Climate Change-induced Summer Droughts
• 2007/02/26: JFleck: China Drought
• 2007/02/26: TerraDaily: One Million In China Face Water Shortage

  The conflict between biofuel and food is not going away:

• 2007/03/03: CincyPost: Ethanol to bump up food prices - Demand for fuel cuts into corn crop
• 2007/03/02: CPunch: The Ethanol Scam -- Food or Fuel?
• 2007/03/02: CBC: Oil, grain prices now on same track: ag economist
• 2007/03/01: IHT: Funds: Going with the grain on fuels
• 2007/02/28: TruthOut: How Global Warming Goes Against the Grain
• 2007/02/27: OilDrum: We'll run out of beer before we run out of oil
• 2007/02/28: TEB: Ethanol Forces Farmland Prices Up
• 2007/02/22: BellinghamHerald: Rising corn prices put squeeze on dairies - Everson dairyman's cost increased from $130 to $200 a ton
• 2007/02/25: FTimes: Blow for beer as biofuels clean out barley
• 2007/02/26: GristMill: Now they've done it!
• 2007/02/26: CBT: How will thirst for biofuels affect global hunger?
  Experts are talking about a permanent change in food economics. -- "We're into a new structure of markets," says British food aid expert Edward Clay. "It could have profound implications on poor people."

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2007/02/26: EnergyBulletin: The silliest possible way to save the earth [Branson's $25 million]
• 2007/02/25: EnergyBulletin: Richard Branson's curious contest

  The idea of promoting CFLs is taking off around the world:

• 2007/03/03: BBC: Welsh assembly Conservative leader Nick Bourne has said the party will give every household £20 of low energy light bulbs if they win power in May's poll
• 2007/02/28: IHT: Moscow is urging its residents to switch to energy-saving light bulbs
• 2007/02/27: STimes: Light-bulb industry at a "tipping point"
• 2007/02/26: EUO: Call to ban inefficient lightbulbs in EU
  Germany's environment minister Sigmar Gabriel has written to the European Commission proposing that inefficient light bulbs be banned in the EU. "Europe can no longer afford products that, like conventional light bulbs, are only five percent efficient," Mr Gabriel wrote in the letter, according to German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
• 2007/02/26: PeakEnergy: How Many Legislators Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb?

  While on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2007/03/03: Telegraph(UK): EU power station carbon to be buried [from all Europe's coal fired power stations]
• 2007/03/02: ABC(Au): New South Wales Govt launches carbon capture project

  And on the adaptation front:

• 2007/02/28: BBC: Germans tackle climate change riddle

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/03/02: GRL: (abs) Property loss potentials for European midlatitude storms in a changing climate by Gregor C. Leckebusch et al.
• 2007/03/01: CP: Quasi-100 ky glacial-interglacial cycles triggered by subglacial burial carbon release by N. Zeng
• 2007/02/28: CP: The DO [Dansgaard-Oeschger] climate events are probably noise induced: statistical investigation of the claimed 1470 years cycle by P. D. Ditlevsen et al.
• 2007/03/01: CPD: Synchronisation of the EDML and EDC ice cores for the last 52 kyr by volcanic signature matching by M. Severi et al.
• 2007/02/27: CPD: Increased aeolian activity during climatic regime shifts as recorded in a raised bog in south-west Sweden during the past 1700 years by R. de Jong et al.
• 2007/03/02: Wisc: (pdf - 376k) A globally consistent reanalysis of hurricane variability and trends by J. P. Kossin et al.
• 2007/02/27: PNAS: An estimate of anthropogenic CO2 inventory from decadal changes in oceanic carbon content by Toste Tanhua et al.

  Before we get into politics, there was some science done:

• 2007/03/03: ABC(Au): Scientists study impact of [east Australian] sea current on environment
• 2007/02/20: Cornell: While global warming is fatal to many reefs, some corals are able to fight the heat, Cornell researcher reports
• 2007/03/01: NSU: Antarctic 'sandbags' may protect ice - Glacial deposits could help to protect against sea-level rise
• 2007/03/01: Eureka: Sediment wedge key to glacial environmental stability
• 2007/02/28: CanWest: Scientists ponder Greenland mysteries
• 2007/02/26: JEB: Interesting...The EGU sessions are up...
• 2007/02/27: Stoat: Rapid Changes in Ice Discharge from Greenland Outlet Glaciers
• 2007/02/27: TerraDaily: A Climate-Change Amplifying Mechanism
• 2007/02/27: SciDaily: New Evidence Of Link Between Carbon Dioxide Emissions And Climate Change In Boreal Ecosystems
• 2007/02/26: Eureka: A climate-change amplifying mechanism -- a close link between the circulation of the North Atlantic and the tropical hydrology of Central America

  If you cup your ear, you can hear

  the Pielkes fan club larfing still:

• 2007/02/26: ERabett: Ethon cracks up laughing...

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2007/03/02: PlanetArk: - Turkey Plans Measures to Cut Emissions
  Turkey is planning measures to curb its fast-rising greenhouse gas emissions as its economy booms, but cannot afford to sign the Kyoto protocol now, the minister of environment and forestry [Osman Pepe] said on Thursday.

Remember the APPCDC?

• 2007/02/28: TruthOut: Climate Pact Is "No Post-Kyoto Answer"
• 2007/02/28: Yahoo: Climate pact [APPCDC] is "no post-Kyoto answer"

  And on the emissions trading front:

• 2007/03/04: TheAge: Why more firms are getting emissions credit bug
• 2007/03/04: MSNBC: The Carbon Folly - Policymakers have settled on 'emissions trading' as their favorite global-warming fix. But it isn't working.

  The controversy over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets

  and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs is getting louder:

• 2007/03/02: USAToday: Can you be traveling green by buying offsets?
• 2007/03/01: NEN: Controversy: Carbon Offsetting
• 2007/03/01: NEN: Islamic Carbon Offsets

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/02/28: SF Gate: EU can offer U.S. ideas on climate change
• 2007/03/02: BBC: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that climate change poses as much of a danger to the world as war
• 2007/03/01: Scotsman: [U.N. Secretary-General] Ban [Ki-moon] calls climate change as dangerous as war
• 2007/03/02: Guardian(UK): Climate change is our top priority, says UN chief
• 2007/03/02: BBC: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned that climate change poses as much of a danger to the world as war
• 2007/03/01: DeSmogBlog: Climate change is as dangerous as war, says UN chief
• 2007/02/27: Hindu: Dangerous denial -- If all the people of the world had the same living style as the average American, the holocaust would have already visited us
• 2007/02/26: Guardian(UK): The global revolution - All countries, both rich and poor, must come together to confront climate change
• 2007/02/27: Yahoo: Stern urges China, U.S. to talk on warming

  And on the American political front:

• 2007/03/01: UN: UN launches climate initiative in San Francisco [Principles on Climate Leadership] as model to fight global warming
• 2007/03/03: GristMill: Window into the [California energy policy innovation] incubator
• 2007/03/03: GristMill: Up or down?
• 2007/03/03: TreeHugger: Watch Their Backs - Lobbyists Are At The Public Trough Again [US pol]
• 2007/03/03: HuffPo: Up or down?
• 2007/03/02: TruthOut: Nickels Warns US Senate to Not Rein In Cities Fighting Global Warming
• 2007/03/02: GristMill: State and local leaders to Congress: First, do no harm
• 2007/03/02: GristMill: The Democrats should do nothing about climate change [US Pol]
• 2007/03/02: CCM: Who You Gonna Trust: The IPCC, or the Senate Republican Policy Committee?
• 2007/03/02: DeSmogBlog: California touts new warming law as boon to economy
• 2007/03/02: TruthOut: Climate-Change Victims Chip Away US Procrastination
• 2007/03/01: ERabett: A private individual [Jim Hansen] speaks
• 2007/03/02: SeattlePI: [Seattle Mayor, Greg] Nickels warns U.S. Senate to not rein in cities fighting global warming
• 2007/03/02: ENS: [US] State, Local Officials Call for Federal Climate Action
• 2007/03/02: Eureka: Carnegie Mellon researchers urge regulators [EPA] to rethink strategies for soot emission
• 2007/03/01: TruthOut: Group Says Ocean Harm Should Force US Carbon Regulation
• 2007/03/01: ENN: Group Says Ocean Harm Should Force U.S. Carbon Regulation
• 2007/02/28: DemNow: Atmosphere of Pressure: Union of Concerned Scientists Finds Widescale Political Interference in Global Warming Research
• 2007/02/28: GristMill: Hillary's new energy bill
• 2007/02/27: BSD: Making sense in South Carolina [US Pol]
• 2007/02/26: DailyKos: Hill Global Warming Week: Schweitzer, Google, Funding, More! (CCP)
• 2007/02/27: Roanoke: RFK Jr. rips President Bush for environmental policy
  Speaking at Virginia Tech, the son of a 1960s Democratic icon said the nation is living a "science-fiction nightmare."
• 2007/02/26: CSW: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to hold March 1 hearing on global warming
• 2007/02/26: TomPaine: Climate Change Comes To D.C.

  First we had RGGI, now we have WRCAI:

• 2007/02/27: TCE: 5 Western States Join to Fight Global Warming
• 2007/02/27: TruthOut: Western States Agree to Cut Greenhouse Gases
• 2007/02/26: Yahoo: Western states united to bypass Bush on climate [WRCAI]
• 2007/02/27: EnvEcon: A Western Reggie [WRCAI]
• 2007/02/26: Jurist: Five western governors sign agreement to reduce greenhouse gases [WRCAI]
• 2007/02/26: PhysOrg: 5 Governors Agree to Work on Climate [WRCAI]
• 2007/02/26: GristMill: The Western Regional Climate Action Initiative [WRCAI]
• 2007/02/27: PlanetArk: Five U.S. Western States to Bypass Bush on Climate
• 2007/02/26: TP: Western states [Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon & Washington] to bypass Bush on climate

  There is war in evangelical heaven:

• 2007/03/03: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change and Evangelism
• 2007/03/03: ClimateArk: Evangelical's Focus on Climate Draws Fire of Christian Right
• 2007/03/03: WaPo: Evangelical Angers Peers With Call for Action on Global Warming
• 2007/03/03: NYT: Evangelical's Focus on Climate Draws Fire of Christian Right
• 2007/02/27: TCR: Falwell sees climate conspiracy with Satan, liberals, and The Weather Channel
• 2007/02/27: TreeHugger: Falwell to Arms: Christians Being Duped by Global Warming?
• 2007/02/27: ThinkP: Global warming is a "myth"
• 2007/02/26: GristMill: Jerry Falwell on global warming: it's a myth
• 2007/02/26: HuffPo: Jerry Falwell on Global Warming: It's a Myth

  Is the DOE ignoring conservation & efficiency?

• 2007/03/02: ThinkP: Energy Dept. misses all 34 efficiency deadlines
• 2007/03/01: SF Gate: Govt.[DOE] Routinely Misses Energy [Efficiency] Deadlines
• 2007/03/02: GristMill: Energy efficiency perpetually neglected by the feds

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2007/03/01: HuffPo: Warming Up To Al Gore
• 2007/02/28: DicksonHerald: Gore says media miss climate message
• 2007/02/28: DailyHowler: Slave Times! Nexis recalled Cohen’s trashing of Gore -- and our own published rebuttal
• 2007/02/28: SeattlePI: Here's hoping it's Gore to the rescue
• 2007/02/27: W2Pottersville: Maureen Dowd: Ozone Man Sequel
• 2007/02/26: GWWatch: Best Documentary: An Inconvenient Truth
• 2007/02/26: InformedComment: Al Gore, Global Warming, the Oscars and the Iraq War
• 2007/02/26: ClimateP: Kudos to Al Gore and the Oscars
• 2007/02/26: GristMill: Gore's acceptance speech
• 2007/02/26: CSW: "An Inconvenient Truth" -- Best Documentary Feature
• 2007/02/26: NEN: Oscar Loves Al!
• 2007/02/26: CDreams: Reuters: Gore's "Inconvenient Truth" Wins Documentary Oscar
• 2007/02/26: TCE: Two Oscars for An Inconvenient Truth
• 2007/02/25: ERabett: An Inconvenient Truth won Oscars for best documentary and best song
• 2007/02/26: PlanetArk: Gore Climate Change Oscar Entry Has Cuba's Vote

  The right wing media machine attacked the messenger:

• 2007/03/02: BSD: I'm with Al on the travel thing, but not entirely on the house thing
• 2007/03/02: Deltoid: The Latest Desperate Attack on Gore
• 2007/03/02: TCE: Gore Rebuttals
• 2007/03/01: WaPo: War on Warming Begins at (Al Gore's) Home
• 2007/02/28: GristMill: Talking points on the Gore pseudo-scandal
• 2007/02/26: AnonLib: Gore's Energy Use
• 2007/02/28: GristMill: Studies in right-wing narrative constuction [GDS]
• 2007/02/28: Deltoid: Gore Derangement Syndrome
• 2007/02/27: MediaMatters: Headline News' Stouffer called "free market" group that attacked Gore an "environmental group"
• 2007/02/28: TheLede: An Inconveniently Easy Headline: Gore's Electric Bills Spark Debate
• 2007/02/27: BBC: Former US Vice-President Al Gore has been accused of hypocrisy for apparently guzzling energy while he lectures the world on climate change
• 2007/02/28: Guardian(UK): An inconvenient truth: eco-warrior Al Gore's bloated gas and electricity bills
• 2007/02/27: TCE: Tennessee Drudge-A-Muck Over Gore Mansion
• 2007/02/26: ThinkP: Gore Responds To Drudge's Latest Hysterics
• 2007/02/27: ThinkP: ABC, Fox pick up Drudge's attack on Gore

  While in the UK:

• 2007/03/01: WorldChanging: London's Climate Change Action Plan
• 2007/03/03: ClimateArk: United Kingdom: Ministers urged to extend grants for solar panels as demand soars
• 2007/03/02: Guardian(UK): [UK environment secretary, David] Miliband faces calls for tougher carbon target
• 2007/03/02: OneWorld: 'Katrina-style catastrophes' needed to get people’s attention [says UK MP Colin Challen]
• 2007/02/27: TCE: London's Leadership
• 2007/02/27: BBC: Mayor unveils climate change plan
  London Mayor Ken Livingstone has called on Londoners and businesses to unite in the fight against global warming. Unveiling his Climate Change Action Plan, the mayor appealed to people to stop wasting energy.
• 2007/02/27: Guardian(UK): Green group sets environmental targets for [UK] politicians
• 2007/02/28: Guardian(UK): Cleaning up the Big Smoke: Livingstone plans to cut carbon emissions by 60%
• 2007/02/27: Yahoo: [London Mayor, Ken] Livingstone to announce climate change strategy
• 2007/02/27: OilChange: London Aims [for a] 60 per Cent Cut in Carbon Emissions

  And in Europe:

• 2007/03/02: PlanetArk: [German Chancellor, Angela] Merkel Urges Bold EU Climate Moves
• 2007/03/02: PlanetArk: France Digs Heels in on EU Renewables Target [20% by 2020 opposed]
• 2007/02/28: PlanetArk: US Steel Slovakia Sues EU Over CO2 Emission Caps
  Bratislava - A Slovak unit of United States Steel Corp, US Steel Kosice, has sued the European Commission over proposed carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions cap for 2008-2012, its spokesman said.
• 2007/02/27: PlanetArk: Surging Transport Threatens EU Kyoto Goals - [EEA] Report
• 2007/02/27: PlanetArk: EU Limits Spanish Firms' Use of Kyoto CO2 Credits
• 2007/02/26: PlanetArk: New Cars in Germany Barely Cut CO2 Emissions-Data
• 2007/02/26: PlanetArk: [European Commission President, Jose Manuel] Barroso Urges Less Talk, More EU Action on Climate

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/03/05: TheAge: The countdown to climate change [Aus. pol]
• 2007/03/05: Australian: Fires have turned into an uncontrollable monster
  This summer, Australia feels like a war zone. Cities and towns across the country are enveloped in a perpetual smoke haze, and the braying of fire sirens is as commonplace as birdsong. Every evening television commentators deliver grim-faced reports from the front lines.
• 2007/03/05: TheAge: Emissions trading deadline at risk as report battle rages
• 2007/03/01: ABC(Au): The V8 Supercars championship plans to offset its greenhouse gas emissions by planting thousands of trees around Australia
• 2007/02/28: ABC(Au): Expert says global warming an urgent issue for Govt
• 2007/03/01: ABC(Au): Campaign delivers practical tips on cutting emissions
• 2007/03/01: ABC(Au): Landcare unveils carbon trading market to help farmers
• 2007/02/26: ABC(Au): Australia's power industry wants the Federal Government to bring in a national carbon emissions trading scheme
• 2007/02/27: ABC(Au): Mining giant Rio Tinto has made its case to Federal Parliament for the development of a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme

  In Canada, the 'who is greenest contest' continues:

• 2007/03/02: FramingScience: Nuclear Energy as a Middle Way: In Canada, Global Warming Sparks a Renaissance for the Technology
• 2007/03/01: FramingScience: In Canada, The Liberal's Big Kyoto Problem
• 2007/03/02: Globe&Mail: Carbon tax a possibility, Dion confirms after Conservative attack
• 2007/02/27: Globe&Mail: Ottawa's climate plans don't match promises, ex-watchdog [environment commissioner, Johanne Gélinas] says
• 2007/02/26: CanWest: 'Northern wilderness could disappear' - Environmentalists challenge Arctic pipeline with dire warnings of 'catastrophic risks'
• 2007/02/26: CTV: Flaws found in Tory climate-change draft plan

  Skeptical eyes are pondering BC's new GHG policy:

• 2007/02/26: TYee: BC's Deep Emissions Cuts: How? What it will take to make good on premier's global warming promise?
• 2007/03/02: CPunch: Connecting the Dots - Hot Air from BC Government
• 2007/02/28: TechRev: Zero Tolerance for Carbon-Dioxide Emissions - A Canadian government [British Columbia] decides that coal plants must clean up their act
• 2007/02/27: TCE: BC Energy Plan Released

  The tricky question of the oil sands looms:

• 2007/03/04: CanWest: Layton zeroes in on oilsands
• 2007/03/03: BCLSB: Environmental Policy We Can All Agree On [scrapping oil sands tax breaks]
• 2007/03/03: Globe&Mail: Scrap oil sands tax breaks, MPs' report [Commons natural resources committee] urges
• 2007/02/26: Globe&Mail: Climate draft allows spike in oil-sands emissions - Ottawa low-balling future development, environmentalists say of proposed plan

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2007/03/02: CCM: Nisbet Talk on Framing
• 2007/03/01: TreeHugger: Al Gore Re-Frames The Climate Risk Communication Problem
  "Back in Tennessee on Tuesday, Gore told a crowd of about 50 people at the U.S. Media Ethics Summit II that the presentation's single most provocative slide was one that contrasts results of two long-term studies. A 10-year University of California study found that essentially zero percent of peer-reviewed scientific journal articles disagreed that global warming exists, whereas, another study found that 53 percent of mainstream newspaper articles disagreed the global warming premise". Here's the money quote from the Tennesean:- "I think [if] it is important to look at the pressures that made it more likely than not that mainstream journalists in the United States would convey a wholly inaccurate conclusion about the most important moral, ethical, spiritual and political issue humankind has ever faced."
• 2007/03/01: GristMill: Tales of the bizarre [Fox, Roberts, Coulter]
• 2007/02/27: FramingScience: The Massive Failure of the IPCC Report to Break Through to the Wider Public Means New Communication Strategies Are Sorely Needed

  A poll of right-wing bloggers turned up a regrettable attitude:

• 2007/03/02: GristMill: Who made global warming a partisan issue?
• 2007/03/02: Deltoid: Right-wing blogs reject science
• 2007/03/02: TWM: Off the Cliff...

  Here is something for your library:

• 2007/02/26: ERabett: Book Review - Andrew Dessler challenged Eli to expand his book list to the wood chip pile...
• 2007/02/25: ERabett: A new feature [Textbooks]

  Meanwhile in the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2007/03/01: BBC: US CO2 emissions 'violate rights'
  A delegation of Inuit has travelled to Washington to argue that the US government's climate change policies violate human rights
• 2007/03/01: PhysOrg: [Inuit] Group: Global Warming Effects Hunting

  Developing a new energy infrastructure is the fundamental challenge of

  the current generation:

• 2007/03/04: ClimateP: Navajo Nation Battleground for the Climate Debate [coal]
• 2007/03/04: AberdeenNews: Global warming threatens - corn-based ethanol not solution
• 2007/03/04: MDN: No magic bullet for energy crisis [Steve Chu]
• 2007/02/28: DOE: DOE Selects Six Cellulosic Ethanol Plants for Up to $385 Million in Federal Funding
• 2007/03/02: GristMill: Another early skirmish in the coming coal war
• 2007/03/03: RigZone: Canadian Firm Plans to Export Cuban Reserves [a plan that could complicate the U.S. embargo on Cuba]
• 2007/03/02: UPI: Analysis: Demand to stress uranium supply
• 2007/03/02: NSU: Ethanol grants come through - Blueprints for cellulose plants get US funding
• 2007/03/02: CNN:Fortune: Coal plants get burned
  As concerns mount about climate change, getting new coal-fired plants built is harder than ever for American businesses
• 2007/03/02: BBC: Wave farms show energy potential
• 2007/03/02: Rochester: Genome Sequencing Reveals a Key to Viable Ethanol Production
• 2007/03/01: TEB: DOE Selects Six Cellulosic Ethanol Plants for Funding
• 2007/03/01: MSNBC: U.S. 'stuck in reverse' on fuel economy
• 2007/03/01: ClimateP: Slowing Down the Coal Train
• 2007/02/27: BBerg: Japan, Canada to Start Test-Production of Frozen Natural Gas
• 2007/02/20: ADN: Officials seek key to unlock frozen gas - Slope test well yields 'gold mine of data' on huge hydrate deposits
• 2007/02/23: Yale:WSJ: The New Math of Alternative Energy - Does going green finally make economic sense?
• 2007/02/28: TStar: Rapid ramp-up seen in U.S. wind power capacity
• 2007/02/28: TEB: Ban Coal Fired Power Plants?
• 2007/02/28: NEN: Big Energy Dukes Global Warming
• 2007/02/28: NEN: Super Cala Phrajellistic Cellulosic
• 2007/02/28: HuffPo: Clean Energy Battle Royale? [Apollo Summit for Clean Energy & Good Jobs]
• 2007/02/27: TruthOut: Global Warming Worries to Boost Renewables
• 2007/02/27: TerraDaily: Banning New Coal Power Plants Will Slow Warming
• 2007/02/27: CNN:Fortune: Solar wunderkind [SunEdison] sees a bright future
• 2007/02/27: HuffPo: Nuclear Power is Not Rational or Forward-Thinking, Even If You Say So Over and Over Again
• 2007/02/26: TechRev: Will Cellulosic Ethanol Take Off? Fuel from grass and wood chips could be big in the next 10 years-- if the government helps
• 2007/02/25: ClimateP: Geothermal Resources
• 2007/02/26: TEB: High Grain Prices Threaten Viability of Ethanol

  Nuclear energy is getting a lot of attention:

• 2007/03/02: NEN: Nuclear: Radioactive Economics
• 2007/03/01: OilDrum: Is Nuclear Power a Viable Option for Our Energy Needs?
• 2007/03/02: CSM: Splitting atoms to cool the planet - Before building more nuclear plants to curb global warming, we need a reality check on safety regulation
• 2007/03/02: CSM: Nuclear industry sees fertile ground in green Europe - It is redoubling efforts to promote its product as a climate-friendly alternative to fossil fuels
• 2007/02/27: DeSmogBlog: An early environmentalist [Stewart Brand] is embracing heresy [nukes] in climate-change battle

  An International Biofuel Forum has been set up

  by Brazil, USA, China, India, South Africa and the European Commission:

• 2007/03/04: PhysOrg: U.S., Brazil Launch Biofuels Forum
• 2007/03/03: IHT: Bush seeks ethanol alliance with Brazil, the world's renewable energy leader
• 2007/03/03: Yahoo: Initiative launched at UN to promote international biofuels market
• 2007/03/03: Xinhuanet: Forum launched to promote development of biofuels
  Brazil, the United States, China, India, South Africa and the European Commission announced on Friday the launching of the International Biofuels Forum. At a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York, the six sides announced the mechanism with a view to develop the production and sustainable use of biofuels on an international scale.

Some players realize they are in the energy business, not the oil business:

• 2007/03/02: GristMill: The beginning of a deluge [Shell & BP invest in renewable energy]
• 2007/03/02: BostonGlobe: Two oil giants plunge into the wind business - Shell, BP intend to play major role
• 2007/03/02: DeSmogBlog: BP, Shell Put Real Wind Behind Their Rhetoric

  A lot of chatter following the TXU coal plant deal:

• 2007/03/04: MSNBC: The Street Turns Green - Goldman Sachs got environmentalists to embrace a utility they loved to hate-and sealed a $45 billion deal
• 2007/02/27: VDM: Viridian Note 00491: Massive Green Buyout
• 2007/02/27: NSU: Big green buyout - Texan takeover may signal changes in the way America generates electricity
• 2007/02/28: NEN: TXU Deal: New Energy Implications
• 2007/02/27: C411: TXU Buyout tied to Environmental Agreement
• 2007/02/26: WaPo: Energy Firm [TXU] Accepts $45 Billion Takeover - Buyers Made Environmental Pledge
• 2007/02/27: CSM: Wall Street adds climate change to bottom line - The environmentally tinged takeover of TXU Corp. illustrates global warming's increased financial relevance
• 2007/02/26: PlanetArk: TXU Buyout May Include Environmental Deal
• 2007/02/26: BostonGlobe: Environmentalists hail takeover plan for Texas utility

  Automakers, lawyers and activists argue over the future of the car:

• 2007/03/03: TEB: UCS Minivan Exceeds Global Warming Standards
• 2007/03/03: EconBrowser: CAFE standards
• 2007/03/02: TCE: $300 Extra for an Eco-Friendly Car
• 2007/03/02: CSM: Coal in cars: great fuel or climate foe? A key problem is that liquid from coal emits twice as much carbon as gasoline. Still, Washington likes the idea.
• 2007/03/01: DeSmogBlog: New vehicle design surpasses California's emission standards

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2007/03/03: AlterNet: The New, Green Face of Wall Street
• 2007/03/01: ConserveMag: Business Gets Religion on Global Warming
• 2007/02/27: TruthOut: Wall Street Adds Climate Change to Bottom Line
• 2007/02/27: TCE: 90 Global Corporations Can't Be Wrong......this time anyway
• 2007/02/27: USAToday: Global warming a hot spot for investors

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/03/04: Guardian(UK): Why Channel 4 has got it wrong over climate change
• 2007/03/04: ClimateArk: Global warming: An inconvenient truth or hot air? "The Great Global Warming Swindle" a film by Martin Durkin
• 2007/03/03: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science IV
• 2007/03/03: TreeHugger: The Denial Industry: How The Culture War over Climate Started
• 2007/03/01: Telegraph(UK): All those scientists may still be wrong [Livermore]
• 2007/03/02: Guardian(UK): Conservapedia - the US religious right's answer to Wikipedia
• 2007/03/01: JFleck: More From the Federal Government's Top Something-or-Another
• 2007/03/01: ERabett: Sitemeter reveals all...[LaRouche denial]
• 2007/03/01: ERabett: Been there, done that...[the denialist deck of cards]
• 2007/02/28: JQuiggin: Warwick McKibbin on climate change
• 2007/02/28: C411: The Water Vapor Fallacy
• 2007/02/28: AdelaideNow: Climate change 'a campaign of alarmism' [says Parbo]
• 2007/02/27: Stoat: Global warming explained [screwball physics denial]
• 2007/02/26: GristMill: Denialist deck of cards
• 2007/02/27: NewsHounds: Ann Coulter's Latest FOX News Gig: Global Warming Expert
• 2007/02/26: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science

  What to call 'them' arises once more. The options so far are: septics, greenhouse mafia, permanently uninformed, carbon lobby, denialist, fossil fools, climate contrarian, biostitutes, the Slick 60 Climate Change Denial Gang and now, delusionists:

• 2007/03/01: BCLSB: A Minor Etymological Point [deniers, warmers, sigh]
• 2007/02/26: Deltoid: Delusionists
• 2007/02/26: JQuiggin: Another bad day for delusionists

  A Russian scientist [Abdussamatov] has been making 'interesting' statements:

• 2007/03/03: DeSmogBlog: Climate Change Deniers Herald the Melt on Mars
• 2007/02/28: NatGeo: Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says
  Habibullo Abdussamatov, head of the St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, says the Mars data is evidence that the current global warming on Earth is being caused by changes in the sun. "The long-term increase in solar irradiance is heating both Earth and Mars," he said.
  [...]
  Abdussamatov remains contrarian, however, suggesting that the sun holds something quite different in store.
  "The solar irradiance began to drop in the 1990s, and a minimum will be reached by approximately 2040," Abdussamatov said. "It will cause a steep cooling of the climate on Earth in 15 to 20 years."

Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/03/04: WorldChanging: Hansen Offers Options for Addressing Global Warming
• 2007/02/27: Desastres: Lecture at Coast Guard Academy Focuses on Global Warming
• 2007/03/03: GWWatch: Gaia warns America, "Don't get me mad"
• 2007/03/02: CDreams: Teachers: Before Using an "Inconvenient Truth" in Classrooms, Show "Oil on Ice" -- A strategy for igniting climate action in our nation's schools
• 2007/03/01: C411: Teaching Teachers about Climate Change [link to a 90-minute course]
• 2007/03/01: ConserveMag: When Homo Colossus Roamed the Earth
• 2007/03/02: C411: Encroaching Sea Haiku
• 2007/03/01: NEN: Opportunity: Carbon
• 2007/03/01: NEN: Strangling on Gases
• 2007/03/01: TreeHugger: Climate Progress [plug]
• 2007/02/28: OilChange: Scientists Urge Global Action on Clean Energy
• 2007/02/27: GWWatch: Neville Chamberlain of Climate Change
• 2007/02/27: ClimateP: Climate News: The Most Plentiful Resource
• 2007/02/27: TreeHugger: Global Warming in Argentina - Our Part in the Matter
• 2007/02/27: Deltoid: Subsidising Pollution
• 2007/02/27: TWM: Global warming watch...More good news on the global warming front...
• 2007/02/26: HoustonChronicle: Top scientist [James Hansen] wants halt on new coal power plants

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

• NuclearInfoNet - Everything you want to know about Nuclear Power
• ConserveMag
• ClimatePolicy
• UN Foundation: Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development
• CEJ NewsViews (blog)
• GCI: Global Commons Institute
• EDGAR: Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research
• Kyoto USA
• Sierra: Petition - Global Warming
• Climate Audit [M&M]
• CTW: Carbon Trade Watch
• Plausible Futures
• PNT: Post-Normal Times
• NODC: Publication summary of the NODC Ocean Climate Laboratory, 1990-2005

---

Announcing the book launch of my forthcoming novel _Water_.

Time: 20:00

Date: Thursday, May 17th

Place: McNally Robinson, Grant Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba

You can find a short introduction to _Water_ here.

<regards>

-het

PS. You can access the previous postings of this series here

"How could I look my grandchildren in the eye and say I knew about this [global warming] and I did nothing?" -David Attenborough

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