Another Week of GW News - May 13, 2007

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

• Top Stories, CO2 Burp, Carbon cycle, Extreme temperatures, Coral, WGIII comments, Antarctica
• Hurricanes, GHG Stats, Temperatures, Glaciers, el Niño, Satellites
• Impacts, Tropical Rainforests, Wacky Weather, Floods & Droughts, Biofuel & Food
• Mitigation, Transportation, Arcitecture, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Kyoto-2, Kyoto-2, Carbon Tax, Carbon Trade, Optimal Strategy
• Politics, International, UNFCCC at Bonn, G8, Security, America, Britain, France, Australia, China, Japan, Canada
• Ecological Economics, Media, Books, Courts
• Energy, Coal, Biofuel, CFLs, Cars, Business, Indices, Insurance

  Carbon Lobby

• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

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A study has detected a massive CO2 burps at the end of last ice age

• 2007/05/11: Eureka: Climate swings have brought great CO2 pulses up from the deep sea

• 2007/05/10: PhysOrg: Study shows massive CO2 burps from ocean to

  atmosphere at end of last ice age

• 2007/05/10: Eureka: U. of Colorado study shows massive CO2 burps from ocean

  to atmosphere at end of last ice age

  Elsewhere in the carbon cycle:

• 2007/05/09: MongaBay: Global carbon cycle is key to understanding climate change

• 2007/05/11: KSU: Study Sheds Light on Earth's CO2 Cycles, Possible Impacts of Climate Change

• 2007/05/10: SciDaily: Understanding The Global Carbon Budget

• 2007/05/09: Eureka: Understanding the global carbon budget --

  Woods Hole Research Center expert provides insights

  A NASA study has raised the possibility of extreme summer temperatures in the USA:

• 2007/05/11: GISS: An analysis of the potential for extreme temperature change based on observations and model simulations by B.H. Lynn et al.

• 2007/05/09: MongaBay: NASA: U.S. may face extreme summer temperatures

• 2007/05/10: NewScientist: US temperatures 'could rise 5.5 degrees' [C] by 2080

• 2007/05/10: SciDaily: Summers Will Become Extremely Hot In The Future, NASA Prediction

• 2007/05/09: Eureka: NASA study suggests extreme summer warming in the future

  A link between coral disease and warmer ocean temperatures has been documented:

• 2007/05/08: SciAlert: Coral disease linked to warming
  An international team of scientists working on Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has found a clear link between coral disease and warmer ocean temperatures. Worldfirst research at 48 reefs spread along 1500 kilometres of the GBR combined with 6 years of satellite data on sea temperatures has revealed -- a highly significant relationship -- between ocean warming and the emergence of a disease known as white syndrome. White syndrome is one of a number of unexplained coral diseases which scientists have observed to be on the increase globally in recent years.

Some late commentary on the IPCC WG3 report:

• 2007/05/07: EESD: Tackling Climate Change: A bargain

• 2007/05/07: AltEnergy: Brief Analysis of Climate Change Report

• 2007/05/08: ClimateP: Summary of the IPCC Summary for Policymakers, Part II

• 2007/05/09: GristMill: Summary of the [WG3] IPCC Summary for Policymakers, part II

• 2007/05/07: CSpin: Coverage of IPCC WGIII SPM release

• 2007/05/07: EnvEcon: IPCC 3 global warming recommendations will cost YOU at least $6,504

• 2007/05/08: CCurrents: Giving Up On Two Degrees

• 2007/05/07: ClimateP: Summary of the IPCC Summary for Policymakers, Part I

• 2007/05/07: C411: We Can Do It, and at Moderate Cost

• 2007/05/07: CSM: Curbing global warming won't bankrupt economy

• 2007/05/07: PlanetArk: FactBox: UN Findings on Costs of Fighting Global Warming

  Anomaly detected in the Antarctic circumpolar circulation:

• 2007/05/10: PhysOrg: 'Short-circuit' discovered in ocean circulation

• 2007/05/10: UEA: Short-circuit found in ocean circulation [around Antarctica]

  And in the hurricane wars:

• 2007/05/04: GRL: East African lightning as a precursor of Atlantic hurricane activity by Colin Price et al.

• 2007/05/11: NSU: Lightning spurs hurricanes -

  Link shows storms in Africa can cause havoc in the United States

• 2007/05/11: CSM: Hurricane season gets an early start - Andrea, the first named

  storm of 2007, appeared well ahead of the June 1 start date of the Atlantic's

  official season

• 2007/05/09: TerraDaily: First Named Storm [Andrea] Forms Ahead Of Atlantic Hurricane Season

• 2007/05/09: Wunderground: Subtropical Storm Andrea not changing much

• 2007/05/09: Wunderground: Subtropical Storm Andrea forms

• 2007/05/09: CCM: Introducing Subtropical Storm Andrea --

  Way, Way Before the Start of the Hurricane Season

• 2007/05/07: JFleck: While We're On the Subject of Hurricanes

• 2007/05/08: EnvEcon: I predict a hurricane might hit somewhere over an undetermined amount of time

  [I predict these predictions are predictably unpredictable]

  Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:

• 2007/05/12: SMH: Ten-year warming window closing [surge of carbon dioxide levels]

• 2007/05/11: Guardian(UK): Surge in carbon levels shows vegetation struggling to cope

• 2007/05/10: PlanetArk: US, Russian Greenhouse Gas Emissions Up, EU's Dip

• 2007/05/08: CDreams: Reuters: US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Up

• 2007/05/08: TerraDaily: Greenhouse Gas Emissions In EU-15 Slip [0.8% since 2004]

  As are the temperatures:

• 2007/05/10: GristMill: Uh oh!

  [observed warming in the 16 years since 1990 is greater than predicted by models]

  While on the el Niño front:

• 2007/05/10: NOAA: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2007/05/12: CDreams: McClatchy: Warming Triggers "Alarming" Retreat of Himalayan Glaciers

• 2007/05/11: TreeHugger: Help Re-Name Glacier National Park

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2007/05/11: BobPark: What's New #3) NASA Budget: Climate Experts Warn That Earth Is Going Blind

• 2007/05/09: TerraDaily: Transcontinental Wildfire Emissions Monitored From Space [EnviSat]

• 2007/05/08: ESA: Transcontinental wildfire emissions monitored from space [by EnviSat]

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/05/12: SunSentinel: Wildfires burn more than 330,000 acres in Florida and Georgia

• 2007/05/11: PhysOrg: Wildfires rage across US, hundreds evacuated

• 2007/05/11: Reuters: Florida wild fires force evacuation of 100 homes

• 2007/05/10: C411: Climate Dangers You May Not Know About - Part 5 of 5:

  The Melting of the North Pole

• 2007/05/10: ENN: Climate Change Threatens California Water Supply

• 2007/05/09: Reuters: Climate change threatens California water supply

• 2007/05/09: PhysOrg: Barents Sea getting warmer, losing ice -

  Norwegian scientists say the extent of summer ice in the Barents Sea

  has fallen by half in a decade

• 2007/05/07: AlterNet: Arctic Ice Melts Create New Land Rush

• 2007/05/08: TruthOut: Migratory Birds, Whales Confused by Warming, UN Says

• 2007/05/08: SciDaily: Healthy Coral Reefs Hit Hardest By Warmer Temperatures

• 2007/05/07: Yahoo: Early Beijing summer indicates climate change

• 2007/05/07: ENN: Famous Caymans Coral Reefs Dying, Scientists Say [50% gone in the last 10 years]

  And then there are the tropical rainforests:

• 2007/05/11: SciDaily: Forested Developing Nations Seek To Combat Climate Change

  By Reducing Deforestation [RED]

• 2007/05/10: MongaBay: Reducing tropical deforestation will help fight global warming

• 2007/05/10: ENN: Uganda Forest Faces Bulldozers, Species at Risk
  Uganda has suffered violent protests in recent weeks over government plans to give at least 7,100 hectares (17,500 acres) of Mabira Forest, a nature reserve since 1932, to a sugar cane company
• 2007/05/10: Eureka: Climate policy: It's good to be in the 'RED' [Reducing Emissions from Deforestation]

• 2007/05/08: MongaBay: Amazon rainforest locks up 11 years of CO2 emissions

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2007/05/12: BBC: At least 27 people were killed and dozens injured when a violent storm hit the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Friday...

• 2007/05/12: AFP: 31 people killed as storm slams northern India

• 2007/05/11: WSWS: After the storm: a New Jersey town struggles to recover

• 2007/05/10: HuffPo: Extreme Weather: Once Every... Well, Every Day Lately

• 2007/05/08: TerraDaily: At Least 14 Killed In Tornado In Southern Chad

• 2007/05/08: NewScientist: 'Tornado Alley' hit by worst twister in 10 years

• 2007/05/08: Wunderground: Hybrid coastal storm pounds Southeast coast

• 2007/05/07: Wunderground: Greensburg tornado an EF-5; coastal storm will bring 3-5' storm surge to Carolinas

• 2007/05/07: BBC: Kansas tornado death toll rises [to at least 10]

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2007/05/09: TruthOut: Flash Floods - An Ominous Sign

• 2007/05/08: JFleck: South Carolina Drought

• 2007/05/08: TruthOut: Drought a Drain on Flora, Fauna [LA]

• 2007/05/07: PlanetArk: Heavy Rains Kill Five in Myanmar's Main City

• 2007/05/07: PlanetArk: Flood Kills At Least 12 in Northern Afghanistan

  More people are noticing the conflict between biofuel and food:

• 2007/05/10: EcoEcon: UN-Energy on Biofuels and Sustainability

• 2007/05/13: BBC: Environmental warning on biofuels
  The drive to switch over to biofuels could lead to rising food prices and deforestation, a report has warned. The government and EU have said by the year 2020 they want 10% of all fuel in cars to come from biofuels. But a study by the Co-op Insurance Society suggests achieving this could have a severe environmental impact. It comes days after a UN report with similar warnings said that biofuels are more effective when used for heat and power, rather than in transport.
• 2007/05/11: CNN: Ethanol seen chomping into corn crops - Corn stockpiles are

  expected to run low into the next crop year as ethanol demand rises

• 2007/05/10: TreeHugger: UN Report on Sustainable Bioenergy Released

• 2007/05/10: PlanetArk: Green Fuel Growth Jeopardizes US Food Exports

• 2007/05/10: Asahi: Biofuel boom leading to price hikes of food products

• 2007/05/09: BBC: UN warns on impacts of biofuels - A UN report warns that a hasty

  switch to biofuels could have major impacts on livelihoods and the environment

• 2007/05/09: TruthOut: Global Rush to Energy Crops Threatens to Bring

  Food Shortages and Increase Poverty, Says UN

• 2007/05/09: NewScientist: Biofuel production may raise price of food

• 2007/05/09: Guardian(UK): Global rush to energy crops threatens to bring

  food shortages and increase poverty, says UN

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

• 2007/05/11: ENN: Climate Change Casts Shadow Over World Agriculture

• 2007/05/11: SciDaily: Declining Bee Numbers Raise Concerns Over Plant Pollination

• 2007/05/10: TreeHugger: The Honeybee Apocalypse

• 2007/05/10: MCP: Oil, Food, and the Coming Crisis in Agriculture [Book Review] _Eating Fossil Fuels_ by Dale Allen Pfeiffer

• 2007/05/02: GNN: Please Lord, not the bees

  "Big 707 overhead, ain't no earthly good to me":

• 2007/05/09: Guardian(UK): Flights reach record levels despite warnings

  over climate change - 2.51m take-offs scheduled worldwide this month

• 2007/05/07: Telegraph(UK): The rough guide to ecology: cut flights

  Building codes for the future (from the past):

• 2007/05/13: TreeHugger: Vacuum Bottle Houses from 1932

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2007/05/08: NEN: CCS: Engineering Coal
  The Good News: With all the emphasis on test projects, Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) technology will soon be clearly seen for what it is. The Bad News: Despite politicians' promises, we still don't know exactly what it is.

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2007/05/10: MTobis: Microsoft Tells Us About Geoengineering

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/05/11: CliPast: Agricultural sustainability in the semi-arid Near East by F. Hole
  [clip from the abstract] In much of the region today, agricultural land use is not sustainable given existing technology and national priorities. The Near Eastern case is instructive because of the quality of information, the length of the record, and the pace of modern change.
• 2007/05/11: CPD: Direct North-South synchronization of abrupt climate change record in ice cores using beryllium 10 by G. M. Raisbeck et al.

• 2007/05/10: CPD: South Atlantic island record reveals a South Atlantic response to the 8.2 kyr event by K. Ljung et al.

• 2007/05/07: CPD: Ice thinning, upstream advection, and non-climatic biases for the upper 89% of the EDML ice core from a nested model of the Antarctic ice sheet by P. Huybrechts et al.

• 2007/05/11: GISS: An analysis of the potential for extreme temperature change based on observations and model simulations by B.H. Lynn et al.

• 2007/05/04: GRL: East African lightning as a precursor of Atlantic hurricane activity by Colin Price et al.

• 2007/05/08: PNAS: Assessing risks of climate variability and climate change for Indonesian rice agriculture by Rosamond L. Naylor et al.

• 2007/05/04: Science: ($$$) Recent Climate Observations Compared to Projections by Stefan Rahmstorf et al.

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

• 2007/05/13: FergusB: Reading between the signs [2 papers]

• 2007/05/11: CSIRO: Confirmed -- deforestation plays critical climate change role
  New research confirms that avoiding deforestation can play a key role in reducing future greenhouse gas concentrations. Dr Pep Canadell, from the Global Carbon Project and CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, says today in the journal Science that tropical deforestation releases 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon each year into the atmosphere.
• 2007/05/08: MongaBay: North Atlantic circulation may be more sensitive

  to Greenland melting than thought

• 2007/05/08: TerraDaily: Tropical Plants May Acclimate As Rainfall Changes

• 2007/05/08: SciDaily: Melting Of The Greenland Ice Cap May Have Consequences

  For Climatic Change

• 2007/05/07: MongaBay: Tropical plants may be more adaptable to climate change

• 2007/05/07: PhysOrg: Tropical plants go with the flow ... of nitrogen

• 2007/05/07: PhysOrg: Scientists: As rainfall changes, tropical plants may acclimate

• 2007/05/07: TerraDaily: Scientists Retrieve Pristine Record of the Continent's Climate Cycles From Beneath Antarctica's Ross Sea

• 2007/05/07: SciDaily: Creating More Accurate Climate Models Based On New Ice Cores [ANDRILL]

• 2007/05/07: Eureka: Melting of the Greenland ice cap may have consequences for climatic change

  Now here is a hypothesis I would like to see replicated:

• 2007/05/11: MongaBay: Climate shift in East Africa due to geology, not global climate change

  The Pielkes fan club is alive & well:

• 2007/05/06: ERabett: Climate Feedback

• 2007/05/06: ERabett: Be kind to Roger

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2007/05/11: PlanetArk: UN Climate Chief Says Time Short to Find 2012 Pact

  That proposed UN Global Climate Change Agency is still a matter of debate:

• 2007/05/07: PlanetArk: Leaders Argue Over Global Climate Change Agency

  And on the emissions trading front:

• 2007/05/12: NEN: Emissions Trading Update

• 2007/05/10: TruthOut: Sale of Carbon Credits Helping Land-Rich, but Cash-Poor, Tribes

• 2007/05/11: EconView: Market Failure in Everything: The Carbon Emissions Edition

• 2007/05/10: JQuiggin: CEDA lunch on emissions trading

• 2007/05/08: ENN: New Zealand Plans Carbon Trading Scheme that

  Won't Damage Economic Growth

• 2007/05/07: PlanetArk: EU Should Link with Kyoto Carbon Trade by December 1

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2007/04/30: MyDD: A Carbon Tax to Combat Climate Change by Congressman Pete Stark

• 2007/05/07: GristMill: Carbon tax news

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

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

• 2007/05/13: NewScientist: Carbon offset cash-in questioned

• 2007/05/11: EcoEcon: What's Best? Carbon Trades or Carbon Tax?

• 2007/05/11: ClimateP: Offsets are Off Target

• 2007/05/07: NEN: The Debate of our Time: Tax or Trade

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/05/10: TerraDaily: UN [Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland] Calls Climate Debate Over

• 2007/05/08: UN: Climate change must be tackled at the international

  political level, say UN envoys

• 2007/05/10: GristMill: UN Secretary-General appoints climate envoys

• 2007/05/08: TerraDaily: Countries Warn UN Weather Agency [WMO] Of Damage Over Fraud Case

• 2007/05/07: GristMill: Quote of the day [Sarkozy]

  The UNFCCC meeting in Bonn has not been widely reported:

• 2007/05/11: PlanetArk: Climate Talks Hot Up as Kyoto Expiry Date Looms

• 2007/05/11: PlanetArk: Suspicions Among Nations Hold Back Climate Pacts

• 2007/05/07: BBC: Experts seek new climate strategy
  Delegates to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol are meeting in the German city of Bonn. The two-week summit of about 2,000 delegates from 190 countries will focus on how to forward the Kyoto Protocol. Kyoto binds 35 nations to cut carbon emissions in a first phase until 2012. Officials will look at how to widen the deal to include the world's richest nations and the growing economies, such as the US, China, Brazil and India.
• 2007/05/07: ENN: Governments Meet on Climate: No Excuse for Inaction
  Governments meet in Bonn from Monday [May 7-18] to seek ways to fight global warming, with the U.N.'s top climate official [Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC head] warning there is "no excuse" for inaction after bleak new forecasts. The Bonn May 7-18 meeting will look at how to widen the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, which binds 35 nations to cut emissions in a first phase until 2012, to include outsiders like the United States, China and India. And the talks will prepare for annual negotiations among environment ministers in Bali, Indonesia, in December. Debate will cover issues such as helping developing nations to protect forests and promoting transfers of clean technology.
• 2007/05/07: Reuters: UN urges world to slow warming after grim reports

  Posturing ahead of the upcoming G8 meeting in Germany has been rampant:

• 2007/05/13: WaPo: U.S. Aims to Weaken G-8 Climate Change Statement

• 2007/05/13: ThinkP: U.S. trying to weaken G-8 climate change statement

• 2007/05/13: HuffPo: U.S. pushing to weaken G8 climate declaration

• 2007/05/12: GristMill: U.S. pushing to weaken G8 climate declaration

• 2007/05/11: Guardian(UK): US 'bids to water down global warming declaration' [for next month's G8 summit]

• 2007/05/09: JTimes: Japan to seek 50% global emissions cut [from present levels by 2050]

  at G-8 meet - Bush ready to go along with plan, sources say

• 2007/05/07: PhysOrg: [Bonn] Diplomats Begin Work on Climate Accord

  The GW security meme has been active:

• 2007/05/12: ClimateP: Jack Bauer might be a Climatologist after all

• 2007/05/11: GristMill: War and global warming

• 2007/05/12: ThinkP: National Intelligence Director knocks down Hoekstra

• 2007/05/11: Guardian(UK): Climate change could lead to global conflict, says Beckett -

  Foreign secretary warns of battle for scarce resources

• 2007/05/09: GristMill: More on climate and national security

• 2007/05/09: ClimateP: More on Climate and National Security

• 2007/05/08: ClimateP: Conservatives Don't Know Jack

• 2007/05/09: GristMill: Conservatives don't know Jack [security meme]

• 2007/05/09: FramingScience: Framing Climate Change as a National Security Threat

• 2007/05/09: ThinkP: Right Wing's Global Warming Denial Takes New Form, Now Attacks Advice Of Military Generals

• 2007/05/07: ThinkP: Head Of IPCC Warns Of Adverse National Security Impact

  From Climate Change

  And on the American political front:

• 2007/05/11: GristMill: Barack Obama is not serious about global warming

• 2007/05/09: EnvDef: States Pave Way for Global Warming Action -

  Several states ahead of Washington in global warming fight
  We won't solve the global warming crisis without comprehensive, economy-wide global warming action at the national level. But, states from coast to coast are not using that as an excuse to sit on the sidelines. State and local officials are paving the way and showing that with the right mix of political courage and policy innovation, global warming action is possible. At least 300 global warming bills have been filed in 40 states, and more than 400 mayors have committed their cities to reduce emissions.

• 2007/05/09: EESD: Carbon Currency: Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

• 2007/05/10: TruthOut: Fuel Economy Back on US Agenda

  [bipartisan bill seeks to boost average car mileage by about 10 mpg from 2011 to 2020]

• 2007/05/11: SF Gate: To cool the planet
  California's groundbreaking global warming law, AB32, along with executive orders signed by the governor, requires California to cut its greenhouse gas emissions about 35 percent below current levels by 2020 and a staggering 90 percent below current levels by the year 2050. How in the world will California meet those aggressive goals?
• 2007/05/10: CPunch: Developers and the South Florida Drought

• 2007/05/09: CSW: Whistleblower Week in Washington: Panel on "Scientific Integrity & Individual Conscience"

• 2007/05/09: CSW: Environmental Science & Technology: Top 10 [stupid] environmental policies of the Bush administration

• 2007/05/10: ENN: Climate Change Issue Heats Capitol Hill
  Global warming was impossible to avoid on Capitol Hill Wednesday, with a trio of hearings on the consequences or cures for climate change and another on the related question of endangered wildlife
• 2007/05/08: GristMill: The Overton window keeps moving

  [Two bills floating around Congress]

• 2007/05/09: DeSmogBlog: Senate [Environment and Public Works] Committee debates

  climate change action costs today

• 2007/05/07: GristMill: CAFE news; Obama's speech

  GM has joined the US Climate Action Partnership:

• 2007/05/08: C411: USCAP Doubles in Size and Adds GM

• 2007/05/09: PlanetArk: GM First Automaker to Join US Carbon Cap Group

  31 states and 2 provinces have decided to use one carbon registry:

• 2007/05/10: GristMill: State emissions registry

• 2007/05/09: KSJT: SF Chronicle, others: A "Carbon registry" spreads

  across US, no thanks to the feds

• 2007/05/09: TruthOut: 31 States Target Global Warming

• 2007/05/11: WarmingLaw: States Pave the Way

• 2007/05/09: TreeHugger: Climate Registry Signs On 31 US States, 2 Canadian Provinces

• 2007/05/09: Reuters: 31 U.S. states form registry to cut carbon emissions

• 2007/05/09: EnvEcon: Climate Federalism - States Ally to Track Greenhouse Gases

• 2007/05/09: LA Times: 31 states target global warming - They form a climate registry

  that will measure and track greenhouse gas emissions by industry.

  Remember the USCAR?

• 2007/05/08: CSW: IPCC North America climate change impacts chapter shows

  evasiveness of U.S. Climate Action Report

• 2007/05/07: CSW: "Impacts and Adaptation" chapter of U.S. Climate Action Report 2007

  is an evasive failure

• 2007/05/06: CSW: Public review of administration?s Fourth U.S. Climate Action Report until May 18

  While in the UK:

• 2007/05/12: BBC: Summit into climate change opens
  Government, business and consumers need to cooperate to reduce climate change, Environment Secretary David Miliband has said. Mr Miliband was speaking at the first Climate Change Citizens' Summit in London, part of a draft Climate Change Bill consultation process.

And in France:

• 2007/05/07: BCLSB: French Right Winger Throws Left Hook
  French President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy's first public statement after his resounding election victory was to urge tough action on Global Warming. He even chided the Bush administration, albeit gently: "...a great nation like the United States has the duty to not create obstacles in the struggle against global warming." "Quite the contrary, it should take the lead in this battle because what is at stake is all of humanity," said the rightwinger, who won 53 percent of the vote, according to projections. "France will make this battle it's first battle," he said.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/05/08: ABC(Au): Govt acknowledges threat of climate change with Budget spending

• 2007/05/09: ABC(Au): Budget funds CSIRO-led climate change adaptation body

• 2007/05/06: TINA: Scorcher: Clive Hamilton's damning new book and Australia's decade of climate sabotage

• 2007/05/06: Impolitical: The politics of climate change in Australia

• 2007/05/09: PlanetArk: Australia Budget - Climate Change Wins Some Spending

• 2007/05/07: ABC(Au): Climate change threatening Yorke Peninsula wildlife: report

  In the Middle East:

• 2007/05/11: TreeHugger: New carbon emission-reducing projects approved in Israel

  While in China:

• 2007/05/11: PlanetArk: China Warns of More Typhoons, Floods, Drought - Paper

• 2007/05/10: Yahoo: China says threat from global warming 'urgent'

• 2007/05/10: BBC: China warns over climate change
  The Chinese authorities have announced that the country is likely to be hit by more adverse weather this year than at any time in the past decade.
• 2007/05/09: TruthOut: Clean Power That Reaps a Whirlwind [China CDM]

  While in Japan:

• 2007/05/10: PlanetArk: Japan Approves CO2 Emission Reduction Projects

  In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, does as little as possible:

• 2007/05/12: WorldChanging: The Provinces Take the Lead

• 2007/05/11: GristMill: Laboratories of democracy

• 2007/05/09: Globe&Mail: Federal worker arrested in Green Plan leak

• 2007/05/09: DeSmogBlog: Environment Canada employee arrested for leaking climate plan

• 2007/05/08: Rabble: Czechoslovak carbon versus Tyrannosaurus Rex

  Bill Rees is looking to a challenging future:

• 2007/05/07: CanWest: Pushing the planet to its limit -

  Gateway project, sprawling suburbs widen the province's ecological footprint, says UBC planning professor [Bill Rees]

  The movement toward ecologically based economics is glacial:

• 2007/05/08: MTobis: Economists vs Engineers
  For those wandering in here without context, I am advocating a rethinking of economics in the light of sustainability issues in general and climate change in particular.
• 2007/05/06: MTobis: It's time to upgrade the OS --

  Economics isn't the machine, it's just the operating system.

• 2007/05/06: MTobis: What I'm complaining about [headline reading Fixing Climate Change Is Cheap]

  Apocalypso anyone?:

• 2007/05/08: Times(UK): Fiddling with figures while the Earth burns
  The latest initiatives to stop global warming won't save us [says James Lovelock]

As for the media & climatology, that new Nature blog has seen a bit of a tussle:

• 2007/05/10: ERabett: Nominations are open [nature blog]

• 2007/05/10: Stoat: Who's in, who's out? [at nature blog]

  Rupert Murdoch's recognition of the GW problem continues to draw comment:

• 2007/05/13: Independent(UK): Murdoch: I'm proud to be green. News Corp boss orders

  his entire empire to convert and become a worldwide enthusiast for the environment

• 2007/05/10: ABC(Au): Corporations urged to follow Murdoch's carbon neutral move

• 2007/05/10: EnvFin: Murdoch empire to go carbon neutral by 2010

• 2007/05/10: ABC(Au): Murdoch to make News Corp carbon neutral

• 2007/05/09: Grist: Rupert Murdoch launches effort to green News Corp.'s operations

  and programming

• 2007/05/09: HeraldSun: Murdoch sets emissions goal
  The world's top media company, News Corporation, will slash its global carbon footprint to zero under a bold plan revealed by its chairman, Rupert Murdoch.

Here is something for your library:

• 2007/05/08: DeSmogBlog: Monbiot goes state-side

  [_Heat, How to Stop the Planet From Burning_ available from South End Press]

  Meanwhile in the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2007/05/11: Yahoo: Vermont could clear way for new emissions rules

• 2007/05/09: NEN: Massachusetts Presses Feds On CO2

• 2007/05/08: WarmingLaw: Update on D.C. Cir. Power Plant Case

• 2007/05/08: WarmingLaw: Oral Argument Monday in Ninth Circuit Cafe Standards Case

• 2007/05/08: ENN: Massachusetts Challenges Federal Energy Rules
  Massachusetts sued the federal government Monday, accusing energy regulators of failing to tighten standards that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and eliminate the need for major new power plants. The suit filed in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenged the U.S. government's March 7 decision not to strengthen energy efficiency requirements for heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems.

Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2007/05/12: NEN: Utilities' Problem with New Energy

• 2007/05/12: NEN: South Korea Goes Solar [20 megawatts in 2008] and Tidal [812 megawatts in 2014]

• 2007/05/11: AfterGutenberg: Soliant Photo Voltaic Panels

• 2007/05/11: TruthOut: US Issues Loan Guarantee Rules for Energy Projects

• 2007/05/10: PlanetArk: S.Korea Dongyang to Build 20-Megawatt Solar Plant

• 2007/05/10: NEN: Trouble Over [California's] Million Solar Roofs

• 2007/05/10: EnvFin: UK solar firm [solar materials supplier, PV Crystalox Solar] to raise £50m in IPO

• 2007/05/10: EnvFin: China and India to top renewables investment league - E&Y [Ernst & Young]

• 2007/05/09: BBC: Grants cut for home energy scheme
  The government's decision to reduce individual grants for homeowners wanting to produce their own renewable energy has been criticised. Changes to the Low Carbon Buildings Programme mean that future applicants will be limited to £2,500 for domestic micro-generation projects. Previously, grants of up to £15,000 and £5,000 were available for solar energy and micro-turbine schemes respectively.
• 2007/05/10: ENN: [EU] Environmentalists Say Low-Carbon Power Should Replace Coal Plants

• 2007/05/10: TEB: Next Generation Superconducting Cable Tested

• 2007/05/10: NEN: Money for Carbon [why California's fumbling on the solar initiative matters]

• 2007/05/09: WorldBank: A World of Difference in Energy Access

• 2007/05/09: TEB: Nuclear for Oil Sands?

• 2007/05/09: LA Times: Rebate rule chills sales of solar
  Installers fear collapse as many homeowners choose to avoid associated higher utility costs. California homeowners are rejecting new rebates for solar power equipment, saying the state has made installing the rooftop panels far more costly than expected. As a result, Public Utilities Commission reports show a decline of 78% in rebate requests in the first three months of this year, compared with last year, and the solar installation industry says it is threatened with collapse across much of California. At issue is a requirement the state added Jan. 1 for getting a rebate under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Million Solar Roofs program. Applicants must first sign up for costly pricing plans offered by utilities that charge more for their electricity during hours of peak demand.
• 2007/05/07: SF Gate: Scientists look high in the sky for power -

  Jet stream could fill global energy needs, researchers say

• 2007/05/08: E&C: Printing Solar Cells as Fast as Your Sunday Paper ["disruptive technology"]

• 2007/05/08: NEN: No Clouds on German Solar

• 2007/05/08: ABC(Au): Delay possible for [Enviromission] solar tower [near Mildura, in north-west Victoria]

• 2007/05/08: ABC(Au): Budget to energise solar power [A$150 million over the next five years]

• 2007/05/07: GWWatch: Could Spanish cities run on tower power?

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2007/05/12: ABC(Au): [Australian coal] Industry pledges $1b for 'clean coal'

• 2007/05/12: Panda: Are the costs of using coal higher than the cost of cleaning it up?

• 2007/05/09: GPM: Coal's Future in Doubt

• 2007/05/07: GristMill: [Sen. Jon] Tester (D-Mont) kills liquid coal amendment

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2007/05/11: CSM: With US ethanol boom, corn is king this season -

  Farmers plant most acreage since 1944, hoping to cash in while corn demand is high

  As more countries promote CFLs, they are being examined more closely:

• 2007/05/11: GristMill: Bulb News

• 2007/05/11: TCE: CFLs & Mercury: A Small Problem That's Getting Smaller

• 2007/05/10: ENN: Worldwide Shift to Compact Fluorescents Could Close 270 Coal-Fired Power Plants

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

• 2007/05/09: PhysOrg: 'Intelligent' cars as fuel-efficient as hybrids

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2007/05/10: EnvFin: Citigroup aims $50 billion at climate over 10 years

  [through investments and financing of renewable energy and clean technologies]

  More on GW indices:

• 2007/05/10: BSD: Yet another market signal about climate change, but it'll take work to get the answer [GC100]

• 2007/05/10: EnvEcon: A new CO2 market

• 2007/05/08: BSD: Promising start for a "Global" Warming Index

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2007/05/07: Reuters: Floods and drought: Lloyd's assesses climate change
  Lloyd's of London, the world's oldest insurer, offered a gloomy forecast of floods, droughts and disastrous storms over the next 50 years in a recently published report on impending climate changes. "These things are fact, not hypothesis," said Wendy Baker, the president of Lloyd's America in an interview on Monday. "You don't have to be a believer in global warming to recognize the climate is changing. The industry has to get ready for the changes that are coming."
• 2007/05/08: GWWatch: Catastrophe reinsurance buffeted by hurricanes, global warming

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/05/12: CSW: MacCracken on Lindzen's misleading Newsweek Op-Ed

• 2007/05/11: GristMill: Epistemological standards, arbitrarily applied [by GW deniers]

• 2007/05/12: JFleck: Evaluating the IPCC [Peiser - call for papers by July 31]

• 2007/05/12: ERabett: Mr. Coffin, meet Ms. Nail [PFC & nature blog]

• 2007/05/12: ERabett: The Earth opens and swallows...[AAPG]

• 2007/05/11: Stoat: Another failed Pielke [Sr.] attempt to poke holes in the SPM

• 2007/05/09: CSpin: Glen Beck's piece on Headline News

• 2007/05/10: DeSmogBlog: Richard Pombo -- A New Breed of Environmental Leader [Partnership for America]

• 2007/05/10: Stoat: Suggestive correlations between the brightness of Neptune, solar variability, and Earth's temperature?

• 2007/05/10: Stoat: TGGWS / IPCC '90 fig 7.1.c

• 2007/05/08: CDreams: CapeCodTimes: The Global Warming Conspiracy?

• 2007/05/09: GristMill: Is the science of climate change settled? [SHayward denial]

• 2007/05/09: GristMill: Maybe you can go broke underestimating the taste of the American public [Beck]

• 2007/05/09: RealClimate: Fun with correlations!

• 2007/05/08: MediaMatters: CNN's rodeo clown

• 2007/05/08: Deltoid: McIntyre tries moving the goalposts

• 2007/05/08: Deltoid: Monckton's Ripping Yarns

• 2007/05/08: BCLSB: Who The Heck Is Reid Bryson?

• 2007/05/08: DeSmogBlog: Beck's "Climate of Fear" crashes and burns

• 2007/05/06: Deltoid: Do not cite or quote [TGGWS]

• 2007/05/06: Stoat: Durkin or McIntyre? [TGGWS credits]

  A. Cockburn is coming in for a fair amount of ridicule & disbelief:

• 2007/05/12: CPunch: Who are the Merchants of Fear?

• 2007/05/11: DeSmogBlog: Meet the Devil: Hansen and Mann are "Fearmongers"

• 2007/05/09: CJRDaily: Hansen v. Cockburn in the The Nation, With Nothing at Stake

  The denial crowd will pick up on this:

• 2007/05/07: DerSpiegel: Global Warming - Not the End of the World as We Know It

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/05/12: GristMill: Class, not dismissed [Harper's June 2007 prevu]

• 2007/05/12: NJO: ERAU professor seeks balance in global warming debate [AIT vs TGGWS]

• 2007/05/12: SciDaily: Simpler Way To Counter Global Warming Explained:

  Lock Up Carbon In Soil And Use Bioenergy Exhaust Gases For Energy

• 2007/05/12: GWWatch: Climate tipping out faster than forecast

• 2007/05/12: HuffPo: To Our Three Daughters [open letter from Laurie David and Cambria Gordon]

• 2007/05/11: GristMill: How do we restrain global warming?

• 2007/05/11: ZMag: This fatal complacency by Desmond Tutu

• 2007/05/11: FergusB: The Environmental Imperative

• 2007/05/09: TerraDaily: Urban Poor Part Of Climate Change Equation

• 2007/05/10: FergusB: What are the odds?

• 2007/05/10: C411: What is a Carbon Footprint?

• 2007/05/10: NEN: World Gets to Work on Carbon

• 2007/05/09: ERabett: It's good work if you can get it

• 2007/05/08: WorldChanging: Personal Planets and the Little Prince

• 2007/05/08: WorldChanging: Principle 2: Ecological Footprints and One Planet Thinking

• 2007/05/09: FergusB: Climate, environment, economics

• 2007/05/08: N3xus6: The blind men and the elephant

• 2007/05/09: ZMag: Climate: Time Is Short, Part Two

• 2007/05/09: CCurrents: Carbon Call
  Instead of sitting in this luxurious blue lifeboat and arguing over the size of the hole in the hull, or arguing about how to slow the leaking -- rather than risking a sinking, perhaps it's time we started bailing. Tweaking emission levels at this point are just so much arguing about that hole, because carbon dioxide we've already emitted tends to persist in the atmosphere about a century. And major systems we've already sent into positive feedback increasingly threaten to make anything we do or don't do now virtually irrelevant.
• 2007/05/09: TomPaine: A World Of Katrinas by Desmond Tutu

• 2007/05/08: TruthOut: Do Climate Change Experts Agree ... Yet?

• 2007/05/08: FergusB: Dangerous climate change - meaning?

• 2007/05/07: TruthOut: UN Scientists Warn Time Is Running Out to Tackle Global Warming

• 2007/05/07: GristMill: [Bright Lines] What to do now?: Conclusions and recommendations

• 2007/05/07: Guardian(UK): How condoms could save planet

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

• 2007/05/11: NASA:EO: Global Warming Factsheets (updated)

• The Mountain Sentinel: energy depletion, sustainability, fascism, socioeconomic

  collapse, democracy, equality, activism, peak oil [Dale Allen Pfeiffer]

• Green Buildings NYC: Green Design, Construction, and Real Estate in NYC and Beyond

• ScienceAlert - Australia & NZ - News

• TreeHugger

• Head in a Cloud - Troposphere and Stratosphere meet Blogosphere

• CCN: Climate Change News

• Climate Justice - enforcing climate change law

• True Cost Economics

• 2006/07/18: ISIS: Global Warming Is Happening

• The Canary Project

• ET: Earth Times

---

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

---

"Only after the last tree has been cut down,

only after the last river has been poisoned,

only after the last fish has been caught,

only then will you find that money can not be eaten."

-Cree prophecy

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