Another Week of GW News, April 15, 2007

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

• Top Stories, WGII commentary, WGIII leaks, Forests, GHG Stats
• Hurricanes, Sea Levels, NEO,
• Impacts, Tropical Rainforests, Blatant Thievery, Floods & Droughts, Biofuel & Food
• Mitigation, Building Codes, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Kyoto-2, Conferences, Carbon Tax, Carbon Trade, International Politics
• American Politics, Spooks, Gingrich/Kerry debate, Automakers suit, SCOTUS, Ahnold, Step It Up!, David/Crow Tour, ConocoPhillips, Gore
• Australian, British, Canadian
• Role of Banks, Apocalypso, CCD, Media, Framing Science, Books, Video
• Energy, Biofuel, Coal, Nukes, Efficiency, Business, Insurance, Betting Carbon Lobby
• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

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Here's a wee chuckle for ye:

• 2007/04/11: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Decision Time

  There is much residue from the WGII report:

• 2007/04/09: StraightGoods: Southwestern US becoming a dust bowl -

  Climate change means that drought will be permanent.

• 2007/04/12: ENN: Warming Could Spark North American Water Scramble, UN Warns
• 2007/04/12: BostonGlobe: Climate report predicts heat waves, floods, species' end in Europe [WG2]
• 2007/04/12: Edie: Southern Europe 'to become climate change hotspot'
• 2007/04/12: CDreams: Reuters: Warming Could Spark N. American Water Scramble: U.N.
• 2007/04/11: ClimateP: Summary of the IPCC Summary for Policymakers, Part III - North America
• 2007/04/11: TruthOut: Panel Says US Faces Change as Climate Warms
• 2007/04/11: GristMill: Summary of the IPCC Summary for Policymakers, part III
• 2007/04/11: GristMill: Political efforts to water down IPCC report
• 2007/04/11: GristMill: Summary of the IPCC Summary for Policymakers, part II
• 2007/04/10: SPIBlog: Cooling the rhetoric on climate change [Pol & sci on WG2]
• 2007/04/10: CSW: IPCC climate change "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability" assessment chapters available on-line
• 2007/04/12: PlanetArk: Climate Change to Hit Southern Europe Hard - UN
• 2007/04/10: WSWS: Despite interference from US and other countries -

  Climate change report outlines dire impact of global warming

• 2007/04/10: ClimateP: Summary of the IPCC Summary for Policymakers, Part II
• 2007/04/08: ClimateP: Summary of the IPCC Summary for Policymakers, Part I
• 2007/04/10: TruthOut: Millions Face Hunger From Climate Change: Report
• 2007/04/10: ABC(Au): Global warming hits Indigenous people hardest: report
• 2007/04/10: GristMill: Summary of the IPCC Summary for Policymakers, part I
• 2007/04/10: PlanetArk: Warming to Bring Drought, Floods and Hunger to Asia
• 2007/04/10: SciDaily: IPCC Report: Climate Proofing Small Islands
• 2007/04/10: SciDaily: IPCC Report: The Arctic - Thawing Permafrost, Melting Sea Ice And More Significant Changes
• 2007/04/10: SciDaily: IPCC Report: Millions At Risk Of Hunger And Water Stress

  In Asia Unless Global Greenhouse Emissions Cut

• 2007/04/10: SciDaily: IPCC Report Underlines Risks To Africa's Agriculture, Infrastructure, Wildlife And Coastal Zones From Rising Greenhouse Gases
• 2007/04/10: SciDaily: IPCC Report: Climate Change Hits Hard On Latin America

  And The Caribbean

• 2007/04/10: SciDaily: IPCC Report: Climate Proofing North American Cities
• 2007/04/10: SciDaily: IPCC Report: Responding To The Impacts Of Human-caused Climate Change
• 2007/04/10: SciDaily: Gloomy Forecast From Climate Experts
• 2007/04/10: Eureka: 3 scientific societies applaud climate change report -

  Consequences, causes of global warming outlined in assessment

  We're still reeling from the WGII report, and the WGIII leaks have started:

• 2007/04/13: PlanetArk: Re-Brand Global Warming as Economic Woe - UN Draft
• 2007/04/12: Reuters: U.N. draft urges re-brand for global warming
• 2007/04/12: Yahoo: Transport seen surging, damaging climate: U.N. draft
• 2007/04/11: GristMill: A glimpse at IPCC WGIII
• 2007/04/10: PlanetArk: Little Time to Avert Big Temperature Rise - UN Study [WGIII][Bangkok - May 4]

  A paper on forests, CO2 and albedo has triggered a lot of comment:

• 2007/04/09: PNAS: Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation by G. Bala et al.
• 2007/04/12: Economist: A new tree line - A climate model suggests

  that chopping down the Earth's trees would help fight global warming

• 2007/04/10: NSU: Total destruction of forests predicted to cool Earth -

  Modelling study no excuse for deforestation, researchers warn

• 2007/04/10: Guardian(UK): How trees might not be green in carbon offsetting debate
• 2007/04/10: TruthOut: Deforestation Effects Depend On Location
• 2007/04/10: ABC(Au): Cold-area forests could worsen global warming: report
• 2007/04/10: PhysOrg: Tropical forests: Earth's air conditioner
• 2007/04/10: TerraDaily: Trees To Offset The Carbon Footprint
• 2007/04/10: France24: Deforestation's effect on climate differs in North, South: study
• 2007/04/10: UPI: More rainforests might slow global warming
• 2007/04/10: ENN: Deforestation Effects Depend on Location
• 2007/04/10: CDreams: Guardian(UK): How Trees Might Not Be Green in Carbon Offsetting Debate
• 2007/04/10: BBC: Planting trees in snowy areas may worsen global warming as their canopies absorb sunlight which would otherwise be reflected by the snow, a study says.
• 2007/04/09: Eureka: Trees to offset the carbon footprint?
• 2007/04/09: PhysOrg: Deforestation May Add to Climate Changes

  Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:

• 2007/04/12: BostonGlobe: Report: carbon emissions up 18 percent since 1990
• 2007/04/11: ENS: New York City Tallies Its Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• 2007/04/12: WCAX: [USPIRG] Report: carbon emissions up 18 percent since 1990
• 2007/04/11: PhysOrg: Greenhouse Gas Study: 1 Percent From NYC
• 2007/04/11: ENN: Study Shows New York City Puts Out Nearly One Percent

  of Greenhouse Gases in U.S.

  And in the hurricane wars:

• 2007/04/15: Guardian(UK): Katrina evacuees 'remain poor'
• 2007/04/11: Eureka: Study of coastal disasters yields surprising findings, arresting images
• 2007/04/09: PhysOrg: Study of coastal disasters yields surprising findings, arresting images
• 2007/04/08: USAToday: [US$477 billion] Katrina claims stagger corps [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]
  New Orleans and Louisiana, swamped when the city's storm protections failed during Hurricane Katrina, demand the federal government pay a damage bill that is more than double the entire cost of the massive Gulf Coast rebuilding effort. So many claims have been filed against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the agency needs at least another month even to tally the floor-to-ceiling stacks, spokesman Vic Harris says. Among the more than 70,000 damage claims filed is one for $200 billion by Louisiana's attorney general and another by New Orleans for $77 billion. Those two alone are more than double the $110 billion Congress approved for Florida and the Gulf Coast after Katrina and two other hurricanes struck in 2005. The amount is more than half of what the military has spent fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Homeowners could seek damages of an additional $200 billion or more, says Jerrold Parker, a lawyer whose firm is trying to organize a class-action suit against the corps.

Whisper the dread word, feedbacks:

• 2007/04/12: PlanetArk: Warming Could Damage Arctic, Release Frozen Waste

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2007/04/10: ABC(Au): Scientists develop model to combat sea level rise
• 2007/04/09: ChinaDaily: Rising sea levels trigger fear over Shanghai's future

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit, the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere [AIM]

  spacecraft is set to investigate noctilucent clouds:

• 2007/04/11: PhysOrg: AIM to Clear Up Mystery of Elusive Clouds at Edge Of Space
• 2007/04/11: Eureka: NASA aims to clear up mystery of elusive clouds at edge of space
• 2007/04/10: SciDaily: Spectacular 'Night-shining' Clouds Could Be A Harbinger Of Climate Change

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/04/15: SciDaily: Helping India Prepare For Impact Of Global Warming
• 2007/04/13: C411: Climate Dangers You May Not Know About --

  Part 2 of 5: Drinking Water and Disease

• 2007/04/13: Eureka: LSU professor helps India prepare for impact of global warming
• 2007/04/12: WpgFreePress: Warming water a threat to fish in Lake Winnipeg
• 2007/04/10: NSU: Climate takes aim - Attention is now turning

  to the developing world, where those least equipped to handle it

  will bear the brunt of global warming.

• 2007/04/12: PlanetArk: Global Warming Seen Threat to Coffee Production
• 2007/04/10: PhysOrg: Drought, development killing Australia's koalas
• 2007/04/08: WaPo: Alien Invasion: The Fungus That Came to Canada
• 2007/04/10: ABC(Au): Australian east coast should expect climate change effects: Professor [Colin Woodroffe]
• 2007/04/09: DeSmogBlog: Warming pushing Aussie sea life south

  And then there are the tropical rainforests:

• 2007/04/15: Guardian(UK): The long road to ruin for the Amazon forest
• 2007/04/10: ABC(Au): PNG casts doubt over Aust climate change plan

  Warning: this entry may cause fury and/or make you sick to the stomach:

• 2007/04/11: GreenPeace(UK): (pdf links) Carving Up the Congo
• 2007/04/12: MongaBay: Illegal logging threatens Congo's forests, global climate
• 2007/04/11: TruthOut: Vast Forests With Trees Each Worth £4,000 Sold for a Few Bags of Sugar
• 2007/04/11: NewScientist: 'Protected' Congo forest is logged regardless
• 2007/04/11: Guardian(UK): Selling off the rainforest - a modern-day scandal
  Vast tracts of the world's second-largest rainforest have been obtained by a small group of European and American industrial logging companies in return for minimal taxes and gifts of salt, sugar and tools, a two-year investigation will disclose today. More than 150 contracts covering an area of rainforest nearly the size of the United Kingdom have been signed with 20 companies in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past three years.

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2007/04/10: Wunderground: Hot, then cold!

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2007/04/15: BBC: The death toll in a flash flood that swept away holidaymakers in southern Thailand has reached 35
• 2007/04/10: JFleck: Drought Looms!
• 2007/04/10: Yahoo: India to get 38 percent less water by 2050
• 2007/04/07: WaterCrunch: Third-driest Year on Record for Florida
• 2007/04/08: JFleck: Florida Drought
• 2007/04/09: MSNBC: Where China's Rivers Run Dry
• 2007/04/08: Zone5: The Curse of Akkad

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2007/04/14: CNN: Solving the corn supply problem

  [with what's left behind from the ethanol-making process]

• 2007/04/12: EESD: Crop Prices Pushing Up Cost Of Food Globally
• 2007/04/12: Times(UK): Dash for green fuel pushes up price of meat in US
• 2007/04/11: Globe&Mail: Appetite for ethanol spurs food price inflation
  It began with the Mexican tortilla crisis, and is now spreading to the price of everything from meat and milk to Coke. North America's love affair with ethanol -- produced mainly from corn -- is unleashing a surprising surge of inflation through the global food supply chain. The U.S. Department of Agriculture warned yesterday that record high corn prices, caused in part by the crop's diversion into ethanol production, is likely to produce a sudden drop in the supply of meat.

And the troubling matter of falling food production is not going away:

• 2007/04/13: EnergyBulletin: Peak Soil: Why cellulosic ethanol, biofuels

  are unsustainable and a threat to America

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2007/04/09: MSNBC: Curbing Emissions Won't Be Enough -

  We're great at spewing CO2 into the air.

  Visionaries are now devising ways to suck it out.

  How long until we all have R2000 houses?

• 2007/04/14: TreeHugger: Beyond Generalities: Buildings, Climate Change, And Policy Making
• 2007/04/13: TreeHugger: Hillary Clinton Introduces Zero Emissions Building Act

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2007/04/13: PhysOrg: CO2 storage in coal can be predicted better
• 2007/04/13: SciDaily: Carbon Dioxide Capture And Storage Could Help Offset Global Warming
• 2007/04/10: NWO: CO2 storage in coal can be predicted better
• 2007/04/10: NWO: Prepare CO2 capture and storage now for greater environmental benefit later
  CO2 capture and storage can make a major contribution to CO2 reduction in the Netherlands. By the mid-21st century 80 to 110 million tonnes of CO2 per year could be avoided in the sectors energy, industry and transport. This is half of the current CO2 emission. Moreover, this can be realised against acceptable costs concludes Dutch researcher Kay Damen.
• 2007/04/09: PhysOrg: Australians to store CO2 underground

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2007/04/10: CBC: Adapt policies to climate change, scientists say

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/04/09: PNAS: Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation by G. Bala et al.
• 2007/04/10: GRL: Climate change in Amazonia caused by soybean cropland expansion, as compared to caused by pastureland expansion by Marcos H. Costa et al.
• 2007/04/10: PNAS: Assessing the water challenge of a new green revolution in developing countries by Johan Rockström et al.

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

• 2007/04/12: PhysOrg: By airship to the North Pole

  [create a continual profile of ice thickness in the Artic]

• 2007/04/12: Eureka: By airship to the North Pole --

  Zeppelin expedition will survey sea ice in the Arctic [in 2008]

• 2007/04/11: PhysOrg: Climate key to species invasion by air
• 2007/04/10: PhysOrg: Scientists develop ecological early warning device

  [a method for constantly measuring climate change impacts at ecosystem scales

  using the stable isotope composition of atmospheric CO2 in plants]

• 2007/04/10: Eureka: Ancient coral reef tells the history of Kenya's soil erosion
• 2007/04/09: SciDaily: Coral Reef Collapse Spells Danger For Millions
• 2007/04/09: SciDaily: Abrupt Climate Change Far More Common Than Previously Thought

  Eli points to an interesting controversy:

• 2007/04/14: ERabett: We got big trouble in ocean heat content measurement...

  An EGU conference next week will generate press:

• 2007/04/14: MTobis: Annan vs Hegerl goes Nuclear in a Hurry

  And on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2007/04/12: TreeHugger: China Open To Post-Kyoto Framework
• 2007/04/12: PlanetArk: Japan, China to Take Part in Post-Kyoto Talks

  The UN is still pushing for a major conference:

• 2007/04/11: Guardian(UK): UN considers climate change summit
• 2007/04/13: PlanetArk: UN 2009 Climate Summit Might Spur Treaty Talks
• 2007/04/12: PlanetArk: UN Chief [Ban Ki-moon] Eyes Climate Change Summit - FTimes

  And Britain is pushing climate change in the UNSC:

• 2007/04/12: Reuters: Britain hopes U.N. climate debate spurs policy push

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2007/04/11: GristMill: Doing carbon taxes right
• 2007/04/09: EnvEcon: The Daily Show's ultimate guest is going for a carbon tax

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

  and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:

• 2007/04/12: GristMill: Beyond carbon taxes
• 2007/04/13: NEN: The Debate of our Time: The Cost of Carbon
• 2007/04/13: NEN: The Debate of our Time: Carbon Tax Advocate
• 2007/04/11: EcoEcon: The Case for Carbon Taxes and Against Cap-and-Trade

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/04/12: PlanetArk: US Uses India [& China] as Global Warming Excuse - Ex Minister
• 2007/04/10: DeSmogBlog: Border taxes cited to spur transition to low-carbon economy
• 2007/04/09: WaPo: Europe's Problems Color U.S. Plans to Curb Carbon Gases

  And on the American political front:

• 2007/04/14: SunTimes: Don't argue about climate change, plan for it - Arctic meltdown creates hot policy issues
• 2007/04/14: ClimateArk: United States: State sues to get data on meetings with carmakers
  California sued the Bush administration for its records of meetings with automakers that preceded federal regulators' decision that U.S. law preempted California's carbon emission reduction rules.
• 2007/04/13: TruthOut: President Bush Expands Influence Over Regulatory Agencies -

  Scientific assessments by environmental agencies could be delayed

• 2007/04/13: TruthOut: Labor Confronts Global Warming
• 2007/04/12: ClimateP: Climate Progress at D.C. Public Event on Managing Climate Change
• 2007/04/13: CDreams: Bush's Greatest Impeachable Crime
• 2007/04/13: BostonGlobe: [Boston] Mayor moves to counter global warming
• 2007/04/12: Mercury: [California] Survey finds 81% worried about global warming
• 2007/04/11: Yahoo: U.S. offers renewable fuel standards for vehicles

  [but stopped short of committing to regulate greenhouse gases]

• 2007/04/10: GristMill: Kicking emissions to the curb
• 2007/04/10: BrownDH: It's time we stopped debating global warming
• 2007/04/08: FresnoBee: Conservatives warm to climate concerns -

  From dams to power plants, GOP suggests its own fixes

• 2007/01/16: Thomas: S.309: A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, and for other purposes.
• 2007/04/09: PhysOrg: Ethanol plant restrictions may be lifted [by the Bush administration]
• 2007/04/09: GristMill: Robin Hood approach to global warming [Calif law]
• 2007/04/09: WarmingLaw: Christine Todd Whitman Calls on President and Congress to Limit Greenhouse Emissions
• 2007/04/09: CSM: Many new constraints for Bush on the environment --

  Congress and US courts have hit the administration with a series of policy setbacks...

• 2007/04/09: LCSun: [Senator Jeff] Bingaman (D-N.M.) finds climate votes hard to come by
• 2007/04/09: GlobalPolitician: Was Rationality Banned From American Politics?

  A bill has been presented to have the CIA & Pentagon investigate GW:

• 2007/04/10: CDreams: IPS: Grasping the Geopolitics of Warming [spooks]
• 2007/04/09: TruthOut: Bill Ties Climate to National Security -

  Seeks assessments by CIA, Pentagon

• 2007/04/09: IHT: CIA and the Pentagon urged to assess warming's effect on security

  Senators Newt Gingrich & John Kerry had a pseudo-debate in D.C.:

• 2007/04/11: TreeHugger: Gingrich: "There Has to Be a Green Conservatism"
• 2007/04/11: CPunch: The Carbon Offset Tax is Just Another Nuke Bailout
• 2007/04/11: WaPo: Kerry and Gingrich Hugging Trees -- and (Almost) Each Other
• 2007/04/10: GristMill: A Newt paradigm
• 2007/04/10: ThinkP: Kerry Forces Gingrich To Admit Inhofe Is Off-Base

  On Global Warming Science

• 2007/04/10: Yahoo: Kerry, Gingrich debate global warming
• 2007/04/10: HuffPo: Newt Tries To Shift The Global Warming Debate

  [from the definitively answered "is global warming happening?" to "what do we do about it?"]

  The automakers are back in court in Vermont this time:

• 2007/04/12: CSM: Automakers pitch first climate-change court fight in Vermont
• 2007/04/11: ENN: U.S. Automakers Challenge Vermont Emissions Law
• 2007/04/10: TruthOut: Challenge to Emissions Rule Is Set to Start [Vermont]
• 2007/04/10: WarmingLaw: Vermont Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trial Begins Today
• 2007/04/10: ClimateArk: Challenge to Emissions Rule Is Set to Start [in Vermont court]
• 2007/04/10: Yahoo: Automakers challenge Vermont emissions law
• 2007/04/10: HuffPo: The Auto Industry Sues Vermont;

  Detroit is Running on Fumes and Stupidity

• 2007/04/09: ENN: States' Effort To Reduce Vehicle Emissions Gets First Court Test in Vermont
• 2007/04/09: Yahoo: Vt. bid to curb emissions heads to court [automakers]

  Some late comment on that SCOTUS ruling:

• 2007/04/13: WarmingLaw: More on the direct impact of Mass v. EPA
• 2007/04/10: WarmingLaw: Mass. v. EPA and Federalism
• 2007/04/09: WaPo: Carbon Ruling: A Welcome First Step
• 2007/04/08: NYT: For the Chief Justice, a Dissent and a Line in the Sand
• 2007/04/09: C411: Supreme Court Reverberations

  The Governator made a trip to D.C. pushing his of conservative green:

• 2007/04/12: TruthOut: Governor Exports His Brand of "Green"
• 2007/04/12: Mercury: Schwarzenegger gives Washington a pep talk on going green
• 2007/04/13: C411: Quote of the Week
  "Who are the fanatics now? The ones that live in denial - political denial, economic denial, and environmental denial." -Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
• 2007/04/13: ABC(US): From Governator to Green Giant -

  Arnold Schwarzenegger's Latest Cause Is the Environment

• 2007/04/12: Ecocene: Schwarzenegger's Environmentalism
• 2007/04/13: CDreams: LA Times: Schwarzenegger's "Green" Credentials Questioned
• 2007/04/12: TreeHugger: Arnold to Detroit: "Get Off Your Butt!"
• 2007/04/12: SF Gate: Schwarzenegger's guiltless green -

  He touts keeping muscle cars, but filling up on biofuel

• 2007/04/12: ENN: Schwarzenegger in Washington: Make Environment Sexy
• 2007/04/11: BBC: The environmental movement must become "hip and sexy"

  if it is to succeed, California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said

• 2007/04/12: ABC(Au): Schwarzenegger urges greenies to get 'sexy'

  Bill McKibben's Step It Up! campaign marched on Saturday:

• 2007/04/14: GristMill: Step It Up Seattle
• 2007/04/14: HuffPo: Step It Up
• 2007/04/14: PhysOrg: Hundreds of Climate Rallies Planned

  [1,350 actions planned Saturday across all 50 states.]

• 2007/04/14: GristMill: Step It Up media coverage
• 2007/04/14: GristMill: Step it up!
• 2007/04/14: CDreams: SF Chronicle: Activists Stepping up Fight Against Warming With Rallies, Lobbying
• 2007/04/14: HuffPo: Global Warming Protests Begin Saturday
• 2007/04/13: ClimateP: Step it Up 2007
• 2007/04/13: TruthOut: Over 1,000 Climate Rallies Planned This Weekend
• 2007/04/13: CDreams: Nation: The Green Festival - Step It Up!
• 2007/04/13: BrickBurner: Bill McKibben, Step it Up!
• 2007/04/13: DemNow: Step It Up: Thousands Gather this Weekend for Largest Ever-Rally Against Global Warming
• 2007/04/11: CDreams: OneWorld: Over 1,000 Climate Rallies Planned This Weekend
• 2007/04/11: WorldChanging: Interview: Bill McKibben on Creating the Durable Future

  Laurie David & Sheryl Crow are touring US campuses:

• 2007/04/13: HuffPo: Day 4 of the Rocking the Globe-L Warming Tour
• 2007/04/12: TreeHugger: Laurie David & Sheryl Crow Team for the "Stop Global Warming College Tour"
• 2007/04/12: HuffPo: Dispatch from the Stop Global Warming Tour, Day 3
• 2007/04/10: HuffPo: Musings from the Road...
• 2007/04/10: HuffPo: Stop Global Warming College Tour
• 2007/04/10: BBC: Singer Sheryl Crow has taken to a biodiesel-powered bus

  for a US tour to persuade university students to do more to combat climate change.

• 2007/04/10: HuffPo: 40 Degrees In April
• 2007/04/08: HuffPo: No Turning Back Now [Laurie David & Sheryl Crow on tour]
• 2007/04/09: HuffPo: Sheryl Crow And Laurie David's Winding Road

  For whatever reason, ConocoPhillips has come out in favour of emissions cap:

• 2007/04/13: EESD: ConocoPhillips First Major U.S.-Based Oil Company To Call For Emissions Cap
• 2007/04/12: OilChange: ConocoPhillips Calls For Mandatory Caps on Emissions
• 2007/04/12: PlanetArk: Conocophillips, AIG Back Greenhouse Gas Cuts
• 2007/04/11: ENN: ConocoPhillips Joins Climate Group, Supports Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• 2007/04/11: CNN: ConocoPhillips: The anti-Exxon
  The Texas-based oil company breaks with the other U.S. majors to support mandatory national regulation of greenhouse gas emissions

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2007/04/12: AlGoreBlog: Training in Nashville
• 2007/04/11: FramingScience: Gore favorable rating up only slightly
• 2007/04/11: TCE: Help Put An Inconvenient Truth in Every High School
• 2007/04/10: TCE: A Dose of "Truth" for Every Canadian High School
• 2007/04/11: OilChange: Carbon Cost of "Live Earth" Criticised
• 2007/04/10: Guardian(UK): Madonna and Red Hot Chili Peppers on Live Earth line-up
• 2007/04/10: GristMill: Giants Stadium new home for 7/7/07 climate concert
• 2007/04/10: PlanetArk: Gore Pins Hopes on Live Earth Environment Concerts
• 2007/04/10: CDreams: Reuters: Gore's Climate Concert Finds Home in New Jersey

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/04/14: ABC(Au): [Federal Treasurer, Peter] Costello warns against emissions trading 'zealotry'
• 2007/04/13: EnergyBulletin: Climate Change and Peak Oil: An Integrated Policy Response for Australia
• 2007/04/12: ABC(Au): Garrett praises premiers' push for emissions reduction
• 2007/04/12: ABC(Au): Govt accused of failing to legislate on climate change
• 2007/04/12: ClimateArk: Australia: Carbon trading still under scrutiny: PM
• 2007/04/12: Yahoo: Global warming turns up political heat in Australia [Howard has undergone an election-year conversion from sceptic to activist]
• 2007/04/11: ABC(Au): Howard says climate change on COAG agenda
• 2007/04/12: ABC(Au): New climate change spokesman [Rick Colless] promotes farmers' role
• 2007/04/12: ABC(Au): [South Australian Premier, Mike] Rann wants rethink on national emissions trading scheme

  The Council of Australian Governments [COAG] held a meeting this week:

• 2007/04/12: ABC(Au): Premiers to push for emissions reduction
  State and territory leaders say they will push Prime Minister John Howard to agree to a 60 per cent reduction in Australia's greenhouse gas emissions within the next 50 years. The premiers and chief ministers will meet Mr Howard in Canberra tomorrow for the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting.
• 2007/04/13: ABC(Au): [Queensland Premier, Peter] Beattie says emissions scheme will create jobs
• 2007/04/13: ABC(Au): PM [John Howard] refuses to set target for carbon emissions
• 2007/04/13: NewScientist: Australian states commit to greenhouse gas cuts
• 2007/04/13: GWWatch: Let them eat my gasses
• 2007/04/13: AdelaideNow: A$170m for climate change strategy
  Prime Minister John Howard has committed $170 million to a new climate change adaptation strategy, including a new $126 million centre to examine global warming effects already underway. But while the new money represented a win for Premier Mike Rann - who advocated the proposal, it came at the expense of broader action on the environment. A concerted push to establish ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets and a national emissions trading scheme was rejected yesterday.
• 2007/04/13: Reuters: Australian states commit to greenhouse cuts
  Defying Prime Minister John Howard, Australia's states vowed to make significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions on Friday and to set up a national system of carbon trading by 2010 to combat global warming. Howard, who faces a tough election battle later this year, refused to join the plan and said setting greenhouse targets would damage the economy

  and standing as the world's largest coal exporting country.

• 2007/04/13: ABC(Au): Rann vows to press on with emissions trading
  South Australian Premier Mike Rann says the state and territory governments will set up an emissions trading scheme with or without Federal Government support. At the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting, the Prime Minister John Howard refused to set emissions targets or set up a trading scheme.

While in the UK:

• 2007/04/13: CDreams: Independent(UK): Stirring Speeches Won't Tackle Climate Change -

  Overall There is Little Prospect of Action On the Scale Needed On Either Side of the Commons

• 2007/04/10: Guardian(UK): New green ministry could endanger DTI

  And in Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues to do as little as possible:

• 2007/04/13: TreeHugger: The Real Reason Canadians Are Worried About Climate Change
• 2007/04/10: CJAD: Canada's biggest funder of climate research has run out of money

  [Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences]

• 2007/04/09: BCLSB: Myth Vs. Fact On Climate Science Budgets And Global Warming

  Attention is focussing on the role of banks in financing unfortunate policies:

• 2007/04/13: GRC: World Bank Still Fuelling Climate Change
• 2007/04/13: OilChange: G8 debates real climate action as Bank support for fossils rising
• 2007/04/11: BBC: World Bank 'must act on climate'
  The World Bank needs to set bold new targets to help tackle climate change, UK International Development Secretary Hilary Benn has said.
• 2007/04/09: TreeHugger: Tell the Wall Street Seven to Start Financing Clean Energy!
  Utilities are proposing the construction of more than 150 coal-fired power plants largely funded by JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley

Apocalypso anyone?:

• 2007/04/12: Tyee: Cold Reality in the High Arctic -

  North of Greenland, climate apocalypse glimpsed

  Here is a new (to me, at least) theory about the disappearing bees:

• 2007/04/15: Independent(UK): Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?

  Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2007/04/12: HuffPo: The Media's Moral Responsibility on Climate Science
• 2007/04/10: FramingScience: Despite the IPCC report and the Supremes, global warming accounted for only 5% of total news index

  The "Framing Science" meme is exploding:

• 2007/04/15: CCM: "Framing Science", Round II
• 2007/04/14: CCM: Responding to PZ (and Others) in The Washington Post
• 2007/04/13: GristMill: Scientists and social power [Framing]
• 2007/04/12: GristMill: Scientists and framing
• 2007/04/13: FramingScience: What George Will Understands about Framing
• 2007/04/11: FramingScience: More on framing and media influence
• 2007/04/12: CCM: Another Great Reaction to "Framing Science"
• 2007/04/10: MTobis: Frames and Frames
• 2007/04/09: MTobis: Authority and Trust [Framing]
• 2007/04/08: MTobis: More on the Framing Frame
• 2007/04/11: CCM: "Framing Science" Article Now Available
• 2007/04/09: FramingScience: Framing Science sparks a seismic blog debate
• 2007/04/09: RealClimate: A Tale of Three Interviews
• 2007/04/08: RI: Fear of the frame
• 2007/04/09: CCM: Framing Science: Blog Overload

  Here is something for your library:

• 2007/04/11: TreeHugger: [Book Review] _Deep Economy_ by Bill McKibben

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2007/04/08: CSW: Upcoming screenings of global warming documentary "Everything's Cool"
• 2007/04/08: CSW: The Supreme Court, global warming, clean energy, and "Everything's Cool"

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2007/04/15: Oikos: Hot rocks: a cheap and clean energy solution?
• 2007/04/14: Reuters: World Bank aims for ok to boost clean energy 40 pct
• 2007/04/14: HuffPo: Financially Speaking, the End of the World Doesn't Make Sense
• 2007/04/13: TerraDaily: 3D Solar Cells Boost Efficiency And Reduce Size
• 2007/04/13: TreeHugger: 3D Solar Cells Make Trackers Obsolete
• 2007/04/13: PlanetArk: Oregon State Senators Okay Renewable Energy Bill

  [requiring electric utilities to use 25% renewable energies by 2025]

• 2007/04/11: IBTimes: New Solar Panel Design Traps More Light
• 2007/04/12: Eureka: 3-D solar cells boost efficiency while reducing size, weight and complexity - Resembles 'nano-Manhattan'
• 2007/04/11: Yahoo: Pentagon Considering Study on Space-Based Solar Power
• 2007/04/11: BWeek: China Aims to Clean Up in Solar Power
• 2007/04/10: GristMill: Maryland: Solar victory
• 2007/04/09: AfterGutenberg: Cleaner Transit with Hybrid Buses, Now with Ultra Caps
• 2007/04/09: AfterGutenberg: In Spain and California Solar Thermal is Hot
• 2007/04/11: HuffPo: "Scheer Nonsense" -- The Damage Idealistic Environmentalists Can Do
• 2007/04/11: IRNA: India to depend on renewable sources to meet energy needs [50% by 2050]
• 2007/04/10: SciDaily: Cheap, Efficient Solar Power: What's Needed Now To Get There?
• 2007/04/10: ABC(Au): [A$200 million] Barunga Ranges wind farm construction begins

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2007/04/14: QCO: Report blames coal-fired plants for carbon dioxide increases
• DOE: World Coal Production, 1995-2004
• 2007/04/13: ClimateArk: Australia: Coal exports to double
• 2007/04/11: GristMill: Energy Group report on peak coal
• 2007/04/09: ClimateArk: Australia: Reserves to dry up as clean coal becomes viable

  Nuclear energy continues to split the crowd:

• 2007/04/11: M&M: Uranium prices rise 19% in one week!
• 2007/04/12: PlanetArk: Japan, China Agree to Expand Nuclear Power
• 2007/04/11: MongaBay: Concentrating solar power better option than nuclear
• 2007/04/10: BSD: The main nuke power question [legal liability]

  solves itself under greenhouse gas regulation

  Biofuel bickering continues:

• 2007/04/10: AlterNet: Ethanol Will Not Be Our Clean, Green Savior!
• 2007/04/11: BBerg: Chavez Guarantees Latin American Energy Supply for 100 Years

  [Calls Bush ethanol plan "craziness"]

• 2007/04/10: SciDaily: Evaluating Biodiesel Fuel For Tractors In Canada

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2007/04/09: EnvEcon: Shocking News of the Week: Improved Fuel Efficiency Saves Money

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2007/04/09: TreeHugger: GM Promises 40% Less Manufacturing Emissions

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2007/04/12: GristMill: Insurers starting to balk in climate-threatened Florida
• 2007/04/12: EnvFinance: US insurers respond to climate disclosure demands

  A commercial enterprise has picked up on GW betting and garnered much free publicity:

• 2007/04/13: TruthDig: Cash In on Global Warming
• 2007/04/14: Deltoid: Parting fools from their money
• 2007/04/13: GristMill: Gambling on global warming
• 2007/04/13: Yahoo: Gambling on Global Warming Goes Mainstream
• 2007/04/14: JEB: Gambling on Global Warming Goes Mainstream?
• 2007/04/13: SeattlePI: Online gambling on global warming

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/04/09: HuffPo: Climate Crisis Skeptics And The Sasquatch
• 2007/04/13: GristMill: Newsweek blesses Richard Lindzen, ignores pay-offs from fuel companies
• 2007/04/14: GWWatch: One Bolt doeth not a thunder-storm maketh
• 2007/04/13: TruthOut: Newsweek Hides Global Warming Denier's Financial Ties to Big Oil
• 2007/04/12: GristMill: [Dessler] Coming soon to a skeptic near you...
• 2007/04/12: ERabett: Found in the margins
• 2007/04/13: C411: George Will Gets It Wrong -- Again
• 2007/04/13: HuffPo: Dear Mr. Limbaugh
• 2007/04/13: Vanity: Rush to Judgment
  Attacking environmentalists as hippie-dip "wackos" who care more about spotted owls than people and use polar bears for propaganda, Rush Limbaugh has blinded millions of Americans to the climate crisis.
• 2007/04/12: ERabett: The Ill-Stars take the field
• 2007/04/12: Deltoid: A new flavour of Global Warming denial
• 2007/04/12: N3xus6: Ian Plimer: Doin' Oz proud.
• 2007/04/12: N3xus6: Some mad revel
• 2007/04/12: NewScientist: Editorial: Nowhere to turn for climate change deniers
• 2007/04/11: DeSmogBlog: Oil-a-palooza, Newsbusters attempts to resurrect the Friends of Science
• 2007/04/11: DeSmogBlog: National Post apologizes for "denier" smear
• 2007/04/11: DeSmogBlog: Exxon to dislose political donations, waffles on trade association pay-outs
• 2007/04/11: DeSmogBlog: Newspaper prescribes "the Swindle" for schoolchildren
• 2007/04/11: BCLSB: National Post Caught In Global Warming Lie
• 2007/04/11: TreeHugger: Where Have All the Climate Deniers Gone?
• 2007/04/10: Guardian(UK): There is climate change censorship -

  and it's the deniers who dish it out

• 2007/04/10: TruthOut: There Is Climate Change Censorship -

  and It's the Deniers Who Dish It Out

• 2007/04/10: ERabett: Where that came from [Oekologismus, a German denial blog & Lindzen]
• 2007/04/10: Australian: Sceptics [CEI] forced to contain hot air on gases -

  Mounting evidence of global warming is leaving climate-change deniers in the cold

• 2007/04/10: DeSmogBlog: IPCC summary report culled and

  it's the deniers who claim censorship?

• 2007/04/10: JEB: Wag TV threatens to sue Wunsch
• 2007/04/10: Deltoid: Bob Carter claims it's not warming
• 2007/04/10: Deltoid: WSJ in denial about Global Warming
• 2007/04/10: C411: Lindzen's Lame Claims
• 2007/04/10: CDreams: Guardian(UK): There Is Climate Change Censorship - And It's The Deniers Who Dish It Out
  Global Warming Scientists Are Under Intense Pressure to Water Down Findings, and Are Then Accused of Silencing Their Critics
• 2007/04/08: MTobis: The Science Budget Talking Point [Lindzen]
• 2007/04/08: ERabett: Richard "wrong way" Lindzen
• 2007/04/09: DeSmogBlog: National Post: Defending the Insensible
• 2007/04/09: Deltoid: Global Warming links
• 2007/04/09: EnvEcon: Do climate change solutions do more harm than good?
• 2007/04/09: MSNBC: Why So Gloomy?

  The Pielke Fan Club has a pulse:

• 2007/04/08: ERabett: Hope springs in Boulder. A misunderstanding in the burrow

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/04/14: MTobis: Is climatology a real science?
• 2007/04/15: Guardian(UK): Beware the noxious fumes of eco-extremism
• 2007/04/13: GristMill: A minister, a congressman, and a student activist walk into a climate rally
• 2007/04/13: MTobis: Isotope evidence
• 2007/04/13: ERabett: Rabett Reads...Tellus 28 (1976) 552...
• 2007/04/12: GristMill: CSM's new climate change site
• 2007/04/12: MTobis: The Invisible Audience Problem
• 2007/04/11: GristMill: Climate solutions of the rich and poweful
• 2007/04/11: TCE: How To Meet Kyoto? Live Like a New Yorker
• 2007/04/09: WorldChanging: True Cost Clearinghouse
• 2007/04/08: AfterGutenberg: This is the Sinking of the Age of Environment
• 2007/04/10: RealClimate: Learning from a simple model
• 2007/04/09: TreeHugger: TIME Magazine Launches the Global Warming Survival Guide
• 2007/04/13: PlanetArk: Airlines Should Buy More CO2 Credits in EU Plan - MEP
• 2007/04/12: RadioNZ: Glaciers will shrink, scientists predict

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

• MetOffice(UK): [5] Climate change myths
• DOE: World Coal Production, 1995-2004
• Ecocene
• EnvFinance: Environmental Finance - Emissions Trading | Socially Responsible Investment | Weather Derivatives | Renewable Energy
• Global Footprint Network
• AfterGutenberg
• WaterCrunch
• Zone5
• PCCRC: Purdue Climate Change Research Center
• NOAA News mag
• James Annan's Work Page (with list of publications)
• 2005/06/: AIP: The Discovery of Global Warming - A hypertext history
• 2005/06/: AIP: Basic Radiation Calculations
• CACC: Campaign against Climate Change
• EPICA: European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica
• CRU: STARDEX - Statistical and Regional dynamical Downscaling

  of Extremes for European regions

---

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

---

"If you understand, things are just as they are.
If you do not understand, things are just as they are."
-Zen Buddhist Saying

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