Another Week of GW News, May 20, 2007

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

• Top Stories, Southern Ocean CO2 Saturation, Antarctic Melting, UNSD meeting, UNFCCC meeting, Upcoming G8 meeting, Pleistocene asteroid
• Hurricanes, GHG Stats, Temperatures, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
• Impacts, Climate Refugees, Tropical Rainforests, Wacky Weather, Floods & Droughts, Biofuel & Food
• Mitigation, Transportation, Architecture, Sequestration
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Strategy
• Politics, International, Security, C40, Clinton Climate Plan America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Japan, Asia, Canada
• Apocalypso, Media, Nature's blog, Framing, Books, Courts, Betting
• Energy, Coal, Biofuel, Efficiency, the Car, Business, Carbon Lobby
• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

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Here's a wee chuckle for ya:

• 2007/05/15: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) GWB Global Warming Leadership Memorial
• 2007/05/17: FergusB: Communication breakdown [A Scientific-Public Dictionary]

  The big story of the week has to be the saturation of the Southern Ocean carbon sink:

• 2007/05/19: TreeHugger: Carbon Sink Weakened 15% Per Decade
• 2007/05/18: CDreams: Independent(UK): Earth's Natural Defenses against Climate Change "Beginning to Fail"
• 2007/05/18: KSJT: LA Times, Australian, wires: Southern ocean losing its appetite for CO2
• 2007/05/17: NSU: Polar ocean is sucking up less carbon dioxide - Windy waters may mean less greenhouse gas is stored at sea
• 2007/05/18: ABC(Au): New global warming threat from Southern Ocean
• 2007/05/19: NEN: [Southern] Oceanful of CO2
• 2007/05/18: TWM: Climate Change Update...The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is so loaded with CO2...
• 2007/05/18: TreeHugger: Oceans around Antarctica Absorbing Less CO2
• 2007/05/18: ENN: Study Shows Southern Ocean Saturated with Carbon Dioxide
• 2007/05/18: CSIRO: Southern ocean carbon sink weakened
• 2007/05/18: OilChange: Defences Against Climate Change --- Beginning to Fail?
• 2007/05/17: BBC: Polar ocean 'soaking up less CO2'
  One of Earth's most important absorbers of carbon dioxide (CO2) is failing to soak up as much of the greenhouse gas as it was expected to, scientists say. The decline of Antarctica's Southern Ocean carbon "sink" - or reservoir - means that atmospheric CO2 levels may be higher in future than predicted.
• 2007/05/18: Times(UK): Rapid rise in global warming is forecast [southern ocean CO2]
• 2007/05/17: MongaBay: Southern Ocean may not absorb more CO2 emissions - Giant carbon sink is saturated
• 2007/05/17: NewScientist: Southern Ocean already losing ability to absorb CO2
• 2007/05/17: PhysOrg: Climate change affects Southern Ocean carbon sink
• 2007/05/17: DeSmogBlog: Scientists Shocked at Full Ocean [CO2] Bloat
• 2007/05/17: SciDaily: Climate Change Affects Southern Ocean Carbon Sink
• 2007/05/17: Eureka: Climate change affects Southern Ocean carbon sink

  A large area of the WAIS melted during January 2005:

• 2007/05/16: MongaBay: California-sized area of snow melt spotted in Antarctica
• 2007/05/16: KSJT: NYTimes, wires, etc: A big, rare dollop of warm air gives West Antarctica a melting spell
• 2007/05/16: NewScientist: Antarctic surface thaw 'most significant' in 30 years
• 2007/05/16: TerraDaily: What Climate Changes Does Antarctica Predict
• 2007/05/15: NASA: NASA Finds Vast Regions of West Antarctica Melted in Recent Past
• 2007/05/15: Eureka: NASA, U of Colorado study shows regions of Antarctica melted in recent past
• 2007/05/15: Yahoo: California-Sized Area of Ice Melts in Antarctica
• 2007/05/16: CDreams: NYT: Analysis Finds Large Antarctic Area Has Melted
• 2007/05/16: ABC(Au): Satellite photos reveal Antarctic melt-off
• 2007/05/15: PhysOrg: Vast Regions of West Antarctica Melted in Recent Past
  A team of NASA and university scientists has found clear evidence that extensive areas of snow melted in west Antarctica in January 2005 in response to warm temperatures. This was the first widespread Antarctic melting ever detected with NASA's QuikScat satellite and the most significant melt observed using satellites during the past three decades. Combined, the affected regions encompassed an area as big as California.
• 2007/05/15: BCLSB: Antarctica Finally Starting To Melt
• 2007/05/15: SciDaily: Vast Regions Of West Antarctica Melted In Recent Past, NASA Finds

  It didn't get a lot of coverage, but the US shut down any chance of a useful UNSD resolution on GW:

• 2007/05/12: SwissInfo: Swiss disappointed with UN environment meeting
  Switzerland says it is disappointed with the outcome of a conference in New York of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. The conference ended without a final declaration, with both Switzerland and the European Union rejecting a draft document. The Swiss delegation said the draft was a step backwards compared with previous decisions but hoped that the failure could be used as an opportunity for the future.Energy, economic development, air pollution and climate change were at the centre of the talks.
  [...]
  The draft of the final declaration in the name of the Group of 77 developing countries and China was approved by Pakistan and the United States. Those countries refuse any specific reference to human activities playing a role in climate change.

And the UNFCCC conference in Bonn came up a bust for similar reasons:

• 2007/05/19: ABC(Au): Marathon climate talks end in deadlock
• 2007/05/19: SwissInfo: Swiss hold out hope despite climate deadlock
  A Swiss delegate at an international climate change conference has noted "elements of optimism" despite continuing intransigence from the United States. Deadlock over how to bring the US and big developing nations such as China and India to the climate negotiating table has frustrated the United Nations-hosted meeting, intended to lay the groundwork for UN climate talks in Indonesia in December
• 2007/05/18: Yahoo: No excuse for lack of action on climate change: UN
• 2007/05/18: BBC: Deadlock for UN climate meeting - UN-hosted talks on climate change have ended in deadlock
• 2007/05/14: CBC: Efforts to fight climate change face major hurdles

  at international conference

• 2007/05/14: ENN: U.N. Climate Expert Hopeful on Environment Policies
  Growing public concern at global warming could help put pressure on governments to cut heat-trapping carbon emissions, the top U.N. climate change expert [Rajendra Pachauri] said on Monday.

The US position ahead of the G8 summit meanwhile is getting a lot of press:

• 2007/05/17: TruthOut: US Contests G8 Climate Communique
• 2007/05/18: CSW: 15 House Committee Chairmen urge Bush to stop efforts to weaken G-8 climate change declaration
• 2007/05/19: TreeHugger: Palm Carbon Up, Cap & Trade Down [G8]
• 2007/05/18: ThinkP: Chairmen urge Bush not to gut G8 climate declaration
• 2007/05/17: CSW: [13] National academies of science call on G8 to address global climate change now
• 2007/05/16: TerraDaily: Scientists Tell [G8] Leaders To Tackle Climate Change, Energy Security
• 2007/05/17: PlanetArk: Top Scientists Urge Quick G8 Climate Change Action
• 2007/05/17: CDreams: OneWorld: US Chided for Hindering International Efforts on Climate Change
• 2007/05/14: TruthOut: US Aims to Weaken G-8 Climate Change Statement
• 2007/05/15: ENN: Japan Government Panel To Debate Climate Proposals [at G8]
• 2007/05/14: PhysOrg: Climate Talks Face International Hurdles
• 2007/05/14: PhysOrg: Technology, not emission caps, cure to global warming: US official
  Privately-funded technology will do more to curb dangerous global warming than the mandated capping of carbon emissions favored by the European Union, a senior US official said Monday. "It is the president's view: technology is the solution," said US Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman while attending a meeting of the International Energy Agency in Paris, referring to George W. Bush. Bodman rejected the approach already adopted by European nations of sharply curbing the emissions of greenhouse gases that drive global warming, setting up a potential clash at next month's Group of Eight summit hosted by Germany in the town of Heiligendamm on June 6-8.
• 2007/05/14: GWWatch: Washington wishes world would fry
• 2007/05/14: DeSmogBlog: Where global leadership means stalling and heel-dragging
• 2007/05/13: BBC: US seeks G8 climate text changes
  The US is trying to block sections of a draft agreement on climate change prepared for next month's G8 summit, according to documents seen by the BBC. Washington objects to the draft's targets to keep the global temperature rise below 2C this century and halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The draft, prepared by the German G8 presidency, said action was imperative. With UN talks struggling to extend the current Kyoto targets, the G8 summit is seen as a vital way to regain momentum.
• 2007/05/14: CDreams: BostonGlobe: US Trying to Weaken G-8 Climate Change Declaration

  And here is another opportunity for the Bush administration to squelch:

• 2007/05/18: PlanetArk: UN Climate Change Debate Expected Sept. 24 [during the General Assembly's annual session of world leaders]

  How many more Katrinas will it take before this pattern changes?

• 2007/05/19: CSpin: Climate change and the U.S.
• 2007/05/19: CDreams: Independent(UK): No, Blair! America's Parting Gift to Britain's PM
  NO! to CO2 Emissions Targets. NO! to a Successor to Kyoto. NO! to a Carbon Trading Market. As Blair Leaves Washington, US Hardens Stance on Climate Change
• 2007/05/18: PlanetArk: US Says No Shift in Climate Change Stance [fund clean energy and reject emissions targets or cap and trade schemes]
• 2007/05/18: IHT: How to do nothing about global warming

  An asteroid impact is hypothesized at the end of the Pleistocene:

• 2007/05/: AGU: (abs) The End Pleistocene Extinction Event - What Caused It? by L. Becker et al.
• 2007/05/19: CBC:Q&Q: Ice Age Impact
• 2007/05/20: Guardian(UK): Diamonds tell tale of comet that killed off the cavemen

  And in the hurricane wars:

• 2007/05/17: SciDaily: Hurricane Monitoring System Improved In US [VORTRAC]
• 2007/05/17: PhysOrg: New technique [VORTRAC] provides continual [every few minutes]

  view of approaching hurricanes

• 2007/05/17: CCM: Introducing Cyclone Pierre, Another Storm Out of Season
• 2007/05/16: CCM: If a Category 1 Storm [Akash] Can do This...
• 2007/05/15: Wunderground: East Coast storm on Friday; Eastern Pacific hurricane season begins today
• 2007/05/16: PlanetArk: Monsoon Brings Sorrow For India's Tsunami Victims
• 2007/05/14: CCM: First North Indian Cyclone of the Year;

  Headed for Myanmar/Bangladesh Border

• 2007/05/14: Eureka: NASA's close-up look at a hurricane's eye reveals a new 'fuel' source

  Meanwhile GHGs are still going up:

• 2007/05/18: PlanetArk: UK Carbon Emissions Up 3.6 Percent in 2006

  As are the temperatures:

• 2007/05/19: GristMill: 2007: hottest year on record so far
• 2007/05/18: ClimateP: 2007: Hottest Year on Record So Far
• 2007/05/18: ThinkP: 2007: Hottest year ever thus far
• 2007/05/17: Wunderground: Warmest January-April on record; new record Arctic sea ice minimum

  Glaciers are melting (or not):

• 2007/05/16: Eureka: Permanent ice fields [of Mont Blanc and the Dôme du Goûter] are resisting global warming
• 2007/05/14: ClimateP: Glaciers? We don't need no stinkin' glaciers!
• Rename Glacier National Park -

  Climate experts predict that Glacier National Park will lose its glaciers

  by 2030 if current trends continue

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2007/05/17: PlanetArk: Indonesia Counts its Islands Before it's Too Late

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2007/05/13: CDreams: DailyCamera: A Blind Eye: NASA's Shifting Priorities Imperil Satellites Crucial To Tracking Climate Change

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/05/20: PhysOrg: Report: Warming Imperils State Flowers
• 2007/05/19: PhysOrg: Climate Changes Said Harm Sunflowers
• 2007/05/18: DeSmogBlog: Experts cite climate change in European allergy explosion
• 2007/05/18: Eureka: Public health impact of climate change, poverty, disaster

  response and housing design

• 2007/05/17: PhysOrg: Climate Change Said Threatens Ghaf Tree
• 2007/05/17: ENN: U.N. Professor [Janos Bogardi] Says Climate Change

  Is Creating New Refugees Who Deserve U.N. Protection

• 2007/05/17: ENN: Climate Change Threatens Ghaf Tree [on Arabian Peninsula]
• 2007/05/17: SciDaily: How Global Warming Could Affect The World's Fisheries
• 2007/05/16: PhysOrg: Journal details how global warming will affect the world's fisheries
• 2007/05/16: Eureka: Journal details how global warming will affect the world's fisheries
• 2007/05/14: TruthOut: 220 Wildfires Rage Across Florida
• 2007/05/15: Eureka: Palau's coral reefs show differential habitat recovery

  following the 1998 bleaching event

• 2007/05/14: SciDaily: Summer Temperatures And Ozone Levels Expected To Increase, With Significant Health Effects

  The British charity, Christian Aid, has produced a report predicting

  one billion climate refugees by 2050:

• 2007/05/14: ABC(Au): Climate change will create 1b displacements: report
• 2007/05/15: GWWatch: One billion climate refugees in our lifetimes
• 2007/05/14: TerraDaily: Global Warming A Factor In Displacing One Billion By 2050
• 2007/05/14: Guardian(UK): Climate change to force mass migration -

  1bn likely to be displaced by 2050, says [Christian Aid] report

• 2007/05/14: FergusB: One billion refugees by 2050
• 2007/05/14: OilChange: One Billion To Be Displaced By Climate Change
• 2007/05/14: BBC: Charity warns of migration crisis
  The effects of climate change could make at least one billion people homeless between now and 2050, says the charity Christian Aid. The group expects climate change to deepen an already worsening global migration crisis.

And then there are the tropical rainforests:

• 2007/05/16: TerraDaily: Brazil Demonstrating That Reducing Tropical Deforestation

  Is Key WinWin Global Warming Solution

• 2007/05/14: TruthOut: Deforestation: The Hidden Cause of Global Warming
• 2007/05/15: TerraDaily: "Reducing Emissions From Deforestation" Initiative Launched [RED]
• 2007/05/15: SciDaily: Brazil Demonstrating That Reducing Tropical Deforestation

  Is Key Win-win Global Warming Solution

• 2007/05/14: CDreams: Independent(UK): Deforestation: The Hidden Cause of Global Warming

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2007/05/16: ClimateP: The Weather IS Becoming More Extreme
• 2007/05/16: DeSmogBlog: New book cites global warming as extreme-weather cause

  [_Wild Weather -- The Truth Behind Global Warming_ by Dr. Reese Halter]

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2007/05/18: ABC(Au): Drought-declared areas widened in south-east Queensland
• 2007/05/18: BBC: Heavy rains hit parched Australia
  Heavy rains have been falling in south-eastern Australia, bringing welcome relief for the region's drought-stricken farmers. Some areas recorded their best rainfall in years, but farmers warned that much more was needed to end the six-year drought - Australia's worst on record
• 2007/05/16: ABC(Au): Murray-Darling unknowns worse than thought, says

  expert [UNSW Professor Richard Kingsford]

• 2007/05/17: PlanetArk: Floods Kill Dozens, Destroy Houses in Afghan Northeast
• 2007/05/17: PlanetArk: Australian Water Crisis Could Be Worse Than Thought
• 2007/05/17: Eureka: Colorado River streamflow history reveals megadrought before 1490
• 2007/05/16: People's Daily: Drought affects 4.8 million people
• 2007/05/16: ENN: Australian Water Crisis Could Be Worse Than Thought

  [the amount of water flowing into the major Murray-Darling river system

  could be 40 percent less than thought]

• 2007/05/16: PlanetArk: China Drought Threatens Water Supply for Millions
• 2007/05/16: PlanetArk: Australian Drought Forces Tough Decision on Jobs
• 2007/05/15: ChinaDaily: China drought threatens water supply for millions
• 2007/05/14: TechRev: Part I: Planning for a Climate-Changed World
  As the global picture grows grimmer, states and cities are searching for the fine-scale predictions they need to prepare for emergencies -- and to keep the faucets running.

The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2007/05/16: FuturePundit: Ethanol Demand Decreases Corn For Animal Feed
• 2007/05/17: PRNewswire: Study: U.S. Near Tipping Point in Corn-Based Ethanol
• 2007/05/17: ClimateP: China's Uphill Battle for Food and Fuel
• 2007/05/16: Ahora: Biofuel Prodution to Trigger Corn Shortage in Guatemala
• 2007/05/17: NEN: Ethanol vs Food
• 2007/05/14: NewScientist: Biofuels demands eating into US corn stockpiles

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

• 2007/05/18: MarxMail:Science: No organic bee losses - The Case of the Empty Hives
• 2007/05/17: Zone5: Bitter-sweet Harvest
• 2007/05/17: PRInside: The Peak Oil crisis will not just impact on transport

  but also on agriculture in a massive way!

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2007/05/19: TreeHugger: Report Links Nanotechnology to Fight Against Climate Change
• 2007/05/17: TruthOut: Inspired by Ancient Amazonians, a Plan to Convert

  Trash into Environmental Treasure [AgriChar]

• 2007/05/19: SciDaily: Gardeners Can Play An Important Role In Reducing Global Warming
• 2007/05/19: EESD: Carbon Footprint Labels Are Expensive
• 2007/05/18: AfterGutenberg: Agri-Char
• 2007/05/15: NewScientist: City parks could cool urban areas by 4°C
• 2007/05/14: PhysOrg: Using soil to lock up carbon could help offset global warming [biochar]
• 2007/05/14: Eureka: 'Build parks to climate proof our cities' -

  Urban green spaces could offset global warming until 2080s

• 2007/05/14: SciDaily: Build Parks To Climate Proof Our Cities

  As for transportation & GHG production:

• 2007/05/17: PlanetArk: Airlines Urged to Copy Costa Rican Firm [Nature Air] on Warming
• 2007/05/16: TreeHugger: Nature Air - The World's Only Zero Emission Airline?
• 2007/05/17: OilChange: Ryanair Fries the Planet for Free
• 2007/05/16: JEB: Guilt Trip
• 2007/05/14: GristMill: Jets destroying the climate: Now with extra tax-avoiding power!

  Building codes for the future!

• 2007/05/18: TreeHugger: The Global Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program
• 2007/05/18: PlanetArk: New Software to Track Cities' Carbon Emissions
• 2007/05/16: TreeHugger: Zero Carbon Development by Will Alsop in UK [architecture]

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2007/05/18: TEB: Alcoa Develops Carbon Capture Technology for Alumina Refineries
• 2007/05/16: PhysOrg: Carbon sequestration field test begins
  The U.S. Department of Energy says its Midwest Geological Sequestration Consortium has started its first enhanced oil recovery field test in Illinois.

Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/05/: AGU: (abs) The End Pleistocene Extinction Event - What Caused It? by L. Becker et al.
• 2007/05/15: CP: Climate of the Last Glacial Maximum: sensitivity studies and

  model-data comparison with the LOVECLIM coupled model by D. M. Roche et al.

• 2007/05/15: CPD: Tropical cooling and the onset of North American glaciation

  by P. Huybers & P. Molnar

• 2007/05/15: PNAS: Climate change implicated in amphibian and lizard

  declines by David B. Wake

• 2007/03/08: ClimaticChange: Frequency and duration of historical droughts

  from the 16th to the 19th centuries in the Mexican Maya lands, Yucatan Peninsula by Blanca Mendoza et al.

  UKCIP has their April Climate Digest up:

• 2007/04/: UKCIP: (46k - pdf) Climate Digest - April 2007

  Particulates are being studied over the pacific:

• 2007/05/17: CSM: Small particles' big impact on climate
  Dust and soot from Asia create air pollution in California, but also temper global warming and may stymie hurricane formation. Scientists are taking a look.
• 2007/05/17: KSJT: Reuters, Chr. Sci. Monitor: Watching dust and smog

  cross the Pacific in storm clouds

• 2007/05/16: ENN: Scientists Predict Asian Dust Plume Might Sway U.S. Climate

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

• 2007/05/16: PhysOrg: Investigating coral reefs to help understand past and future climate change
• 2007/05/16: ESF: Investigating coral reefs to help understand past and

  future climate change

• 2007/05/15: DeSmogBlog: Scientists Cancel The Day After Tomorrow [no THC shutdown]
• 2007/05/16: PlanetArk: Ocean Around Japan Warming Up Fast -

  [Japanese Meteorological Agency] Report

• 2007/05/14: Eureka: Drought sensitivity shapes species distribution patterns

  in tropical forests

  The Pielke fan club now has only the old man to play with:

• 2007/05/19: Deltoid: Peak Pielke
• 2007/05/19: Stoat: Third Time Isn't The Charm
• 2007/05/17: JEB: RIP Prometheus
• 2007/05/17: ERabett: Ethon relocates

  On the emissions trading front:

• 2007/05/18: TreeHugger: World Bank Reports Carbon Market Trends
• 2007/05/18: PlanetArk: China Carbon Market Money-Spinner [HFC23] Near Ending - UN
• 2007/05/18: Eureka: Before selling carbon credits, read this
  Using a soil model may provide farmers and landowners who are looking to trade carbon credits with a way to measure the amount of carbon being stored
• 2007/05/17: PlanetArk: Norway Positive Toward Global Carbon Fund Idea

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2007/05/18: GristMill: Carbon tax: not so regressive after all?

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

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

• 2007/05/18: EnvEcon: CBO on the distributional impacts of CO2 allowance allocations
• 2007/05/19: GristMill: 'Cap and trade': another notion that's past its use-by date
• 2007/05/19: NEN: U.S. Steel Uneasy With CO2 Caps
• 2007/05/18: CasaubonsBook: Making The Change - 90% Emissions Reduction Rules and Regs
• 2007/05/15: GristMill: Cap-and-trade and a carbon tax: two great tastes, but do they taste great together?

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/05/18: BBC: Climate and the UN: A new bid for control?
  At a recent United Nations debate, the UK argued that the Security Council should take a central role in responding to climate change...is this yet another way for rich nations to protect their own borders and interests?
• 2007/05/15: TruthOut: Climate Change: New Global Plan to Tie In Worst Polluters
• 2007/05/14: TerraDaily: Britain Appeals To US, China Over Climate Change

  The GW security meme is still active:

• 2007/05/19: CSpin: More Climate Change and National Security
• 2007/05/17: SMH: Climate threat in military's sights
  The Australian Defence Force has identified climate change as a national security threat for the first time, as it predicted the military would become more involved in stabilising failing states than fighting conventional wars.
• 2007/05/15: TruthOut: Intelligence Chief Backs Climate Study
• 2007/05/14: GristMill: Climate change as national security threat
• 2007/05/13: BostonGlobe: Intelligence chief [DNI, Michael McConnell]

  OK's global warming study

  Forty international cities held a [C40] conference in NYC:

• 2007/05/18: PlanetArk: Mayors Urge G8 to Stabilize Greenhouse Gas Levels [C40]
• 2007/05/18: PlanetArk: UN Climate Adviser Seeks Fast Guidance for Cities
• 2007/05/16: TruthOut: [Australian] Drought a World Wake-Up Call
• 2007/05/15: TreeHugger: Toronto Mayor Miller and Zerofootprint Launch New Footprint Simulator
• 2007/05/15: CBC: World's mayors meet at summit in New York, say cities can fight climate change [C40]
• 2007/05/14: CSM: Mayors think green at N.Y. summit [C40]
  Leaders of the world's biggest cities, which produce the most greenhouse gases, explore how to cut emissions.
• 2007/05/14: GristMill: Bloomberg and the C40 Summit
• 2007/05/14: Yahoo: World's city mayors eye climate change at New York summit

  Bill Clinton arranged a climate plan & some financing for some of them:

• 2007/05/17: TruthOut: 16 Cities to Go Green Under Clinton Plan
• 2007/05/18: ABC(Au): Melbourne following Clinton's green lead [Climate Initiative]
• 2007/05/17: KSJT: Wires, Dailies: Bill Clinton gathers a bucket of money

  for 16 cities to go green

• 2007/05/17: PhysOrg: 16 Cities to Get Financing to 'Go Green'
• 2007/05/17: GristMill: Clinton foundation energy efficiency plan:

  An offset by any other name...

• 2007/05/16: TerraDaily: Bill Clinton Unveils Energy-Saving Plan For 15 Cities
• 2007/05/17: DeSmogBlog: Broad coalition of cities and banks pledge billions

  to curb carbon emissions

• 2007/05/17: EnvFin: Cities offered $5bn to 'green' old buildings
• 2007/05/16: ENN: Sixteen Cities To Go Green Under [former President Bill] Clinton Plan

  And on the American political front:

• 2007/05/20: GristMill: Back room jostling over climate legislation
• 2007/05/19: CDreams: McClatchy: Bush Administration Ruling Throws Cold Water

  on Environmental Whistleblowers

• 2007/05/19: ClimateP: Policies in Need of Californication
• 2007/05/18: TruthOut: Political Climate Changing on Global Warming -

  The scientific debate may be over, but the [US] political fight has just begun

• 2007/05/18: CSW: Comment deadline on U.S. Fourth Climate Action Report extended until June 1
• 2007/05/17: GristMill: Bill Richardson's climate and energy plan
• 2007/05/17: GristMill: Bill Richardson introduces climate and energy plan
• 2007/05/17: HuffPo: Stepping Up To the Plate [US pol 2008]
• 2007/05/16: GristMill: Influencing the Farm Bill [US pol]
• 2007/05/16: GristMill: The great Cornholio [US Pol & biofuel]
• 2007/05/16: ENN: Senate Defeats Provision To Require Army Corps

  To Consider Climate Change

• 2007/05/16: Yahoo: Senate defeats climate change measure

  [requiring the Army Corps of Engineers to consider the impact of climate change in designing water resources projects]

• 2007/05/15: Forbes: Dingell: Climate Change Bill Will Pass [by the end of next year]
• 2007/05/16: PlanetArk: Calif. to Change Fuel Mix by Ranking Carbon Output
• 2007/05/14: SPTimes: Poll: Most Floridians favor action on global warming

  GWB has signed an executive order designed to maybe do something after he is gone:

• 2007/05/15: KSJT: Wires, dailies: White House, with deliberate speed, to pursue better gas mileage and unleash innovation on CO2 emission?
• 2007/05/15: TruthOut: US Mileage Rules Ignore Global Warming, Foes Say
• 2007/05/15: PhysOrg: Bush Moves to Counter Gas Emissions
• 2007/05/14: TerraDaily: Bush Vies To Wean US Off Foreign Oil [20 in 10 plan]
• 2007/05/14: WarmingLaw: Bush Response to Mass. v. EPA
• 2007/05/14: ENN: Bush Reveals New Pollution Regulations Designed To Find Way in 18 Months To Curb Emissions
• 2007/05/14: AFP: Bush vies to wean US off foreign oil
  President George W. Bush, facing mounting disquiet about global warming and sky-high fuel prices, Monday ordered his government to slash America's dependence on foreign oil. Bush said his directive to cut gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next 10 years will make the United States "more secure for generations to come," help economic growth and safeguard the environment.

It turns out an old law is subsidizing coal power plants to the tune of US$35 billion:

• 2007/05/14: ERabett: Full circle...[Federal Loans for Coal Plants]
• 2007/05/14: DeSmogBlog: America's Real Climate Policy -- $35 Billion for New Coal Plants
• 2007/05/14: WaPo: Federal Loans for Coal Plants Clash With Carbon Cuts
• 2007/05/14: MSNBC: U.S. loans for coal plants clash with carbon cuts -

  Federal effort comes in conflict with move to limit greenhouse gases

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2007/05/17: GristMill: Gore in Time
• 2007/05/16: Time: The Last Temptation of Al Gore
• 2007/05/15: HuffPo: We Guarantee Al Gore Will Be Attacked Next Week, We Absolutely Guarantee It

  Anticipation of the Live Earth concerts is building:

• 2007/05/19: Yahoo: Live Earth's hot air, burn oil instead: Daltrey
• 2007/05/16: GristMill: Live Earth: 7+ concerts on 7ish continents on 7/7/07
• 2007/05/15: GristMill: Ouch! [Geldoff on Live Earth]

  While in the UK:

• 2007/05/19: Guardian(UK): [UK Foreign Secretary, Margaret] Beckett to focus on

  climate change on Japan visit

• 2007/05/15: OilChange: Blair Pushes New Global Plan on Climate
• 2007/05/15: Guardian(UK): Climate change: new global plan to tie in worst polluters
  Britain and Germany lead effort to get US, China and India to agree to carbon trading scheme

And in Europe:

• 2007/05/16: PlanetArk: EU Tells Italy to Cut its CO2 Cap by 6.3 Pct

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/05/18: ABC(Au): $50m package to research climate change [West Australia]
• 2007/05/18: GreenLeft: Imagine: a real alternative energy plan [Aus pol]
• 2007/05/16: ABC(Au): CSIRO warns Victoria on global warming impact

  Speculation over an upcoming APEC meeting has begun:

• 2007/05/20: ABC(Au): Carbon trading deal unlikely at APEC: Govt

  [Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull]

• 2007/05/19: ABC(Au): Govt 'has no credibility' to set-up regional emissions

  trading [at APEC, says Labor leader Kevin Rudd]

  While in China:

• 2007/05/17: PlanetArk: Copyright Fear Hampers West's Climate Work in China

  In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, does nothing while scientists complain:

• 2007/05/17: CDreams: SeattlePI: Protect Canada's Boreal For Real
• 2007/05/16: TruthOut: Scientists Urge Half of Canada's Forests Be Protected
• 2007/05/14: TerraDaily: Global Scientists Urge Canada To Save Boreal Forest
• 2007/05/15: ENN: [1500] Scientists Urge Half of Canada Forest Be Protected
• 2007/05/14: CBC: Scientists call for Canadian boreal forest's protection

  BC's big plans are up for scrutiny:

• 2007/05/14: Tyee: BC's Billion-Dollar Wind Power Giveaway -

  We're heavily subsidizing private power developers. Will Californians profit big?

  Apocalypso anyone?

• 2007/05/20: TLP: Humans face extinction claims star
• 2007/05/17: TruthOut: Scientists Foresee Extinction Domino Effect
• 2007/05/17: CasaubonsBook: The Juggler's Lament, Ecological Collapse and Making Change
• 2007/05/18: CultureChange: Pivotal Moment in the Green Scare /

  Civilization sabotages itself

• 2007/05/17: DailyScare: Unprepared, Uncompensated, and Clueless:

  Prophets Have Become Historians

• 2007/05/16: OilDrum: Ecological Footprint, Energy Consumption, and the Looming Collapse
• 2007/05/16: CDreams: InternationalNews: Starving The Poor by Noam Chomsky

  Nature's blog got off to a rough start:

• 2007/05/16: ClimateFeedback: Teething troubles
• 2007/05/16: ERabett: Teething troubles...Nature's Climate Feedback is relaunching

  Meanwhile in the don't scare the horses department:

• 2007/05/15: BBC: Climate messages are 'off target'
  Alarmist messages about global warming are counter-productive, the head of a leading climate research centre says. Professor Mike Hulme, of the UK's Tyndall Centre, has been conducting research on people's attitudes to media portrayals of a catastrophic future.
• 2007/05/15: GristMill: The alternative to fear is not lack of emotion
• 2007/05/15: EnvEcon: "We're all doomed!" and other reasons the public

  doesn't care about climate change

  Framing put in a brief appearance:

• 2007/05/17: JFleck: The Innovation Frame
• 2007/05/17: SpeakingScience: A Reply to Former House Science Chair Sherwood Boehlert

  Rupert & the 11 foot pole paradox:

• 2007/05/16: Grist: Murdoch, She Wrote - An interview with Rupert Murdoch

  about News Corp.'s new climate strategy

• 2007/05/16: ClimateP: Rupert Murdoch (!) on Climate Change Action

  Here is something for your library:

• 2007/05/17: TruthOut: Gore Book Excerpt: "The Assault on Reason"
• 2007/05/17: ERabett: A defense of reason - Excerpts from Al Gore's new book...
• 2007/05/17: C411: Soon To Hit the Bookstores [_Harnessing Farms and Forests in the Low Carbon Economy_ by Bill Chameides]
• 2007/05/15: WarmingLaw: New book on global warming & the law [Global Climate Change and U.S. Law :ABA]

  Meanwhile in the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2007/05/18: Warming Law: Litigation Round-up
• 2007/05/: Columbia: (2.6 meg pdf) Hansen Vermont Declaration
• 2007/05/15: WarmingLaw: "The Little Guy Needs Protection"
• 2007/05/14: WarmingLaw: Update on Connecticut v. American Electric Power Co.

  (nuisance action against power plants)

  The betting meme rolls on:

• 2007/05/16: BSD: Will Marc Morano or Senator Inhofe bet over climate change?
• 2007/05/16: BSD: Skeptical about policy versus skeptical about climate

  Developing a new energy infrastructure is the fundamental challenge of

  the current generation:

• 2007/05/18: REA: Mixed Reviews for Ontario's Feed-in Tariff
• 2007/05/19: MTobis: Statement of the Obvious [energy costs]
• 2007/05/19: AzCentral: Scientists link world's big dams to methane and global warming
• 2007/05/19: TEB: Southern California Edison Proposes Clean Hydrogen Power Generation to Reduce GHG Emissions
• 2007/05/18: ENN: Americans Discover the Allure of Off-Grid Living
• 2007/05/18: SciDaily: Meeting Energy Demand And Stopping Global Warming Both Possible, WWF Says
• 2007/05/18: IHT: More [US] people leaving power lines and going "off the grid"
• 2007/05/18: NEN: Alliant, MidAmerican Build Big Wind in Iowa
• 2007/05/18: EESD: Polysilicon Costs and Solar Companies
• 2007/05/16: ABC(Au): Climate change to increase utility bills: CSIRO
• 2007/05/17: ABC(Au): Wave technology could be 'holy grail' of renewable

  energy [says Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane]

• 2007/05/16: GristMill: Flying [jet stream] wind generators:

  maybe more than just another techno toy

• 2007/05/17: OilDrum: The Man Who Wrote the Book on Algal Biodiesel
• 2007/05/17: NEN: Energy Tiles Are Hot [BIPV]
• 2007/05/16: GristMill: Solar's inevitable dominance
• 2007/05/16: PhysOrg: New process generates hydrogen from aluminum alloy

  to run engines, fuel cells

• 2007/05/15: PhysOrg: U.S. to fund multiple hydrogen projects
• 2007/05/14: R-SquaredEnergyBlog: Algal Biodiesel: Fact or Fiction?
• 2007/05/15: Eureka: Sandia invention to make parabolic trough solar collector

  systems more energy efficient

• 2007/05/12: GreenOptions: Amish In Ohio Turned On To Solar Power

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2007/05/17: DesertSun: Coal at crossroads as energy progenitor
  With global warming propaganda and "going green" overwhelming corporate defenses, most energy companies are signing on to CO² and greenhouse gas restrictions. Several bills are working their way through Congress, spurred by an intergovernmental panel. Their report has concluded that evidence of global warming is unequivocal and predicted dramatic changes in the environment. A lone, but powerful, holdout to this otherwise universal acceptance of upcoming federal environmental restrictions is Gregory H. Boyce, chief executive officer of St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corporation, the world's biggest coal company. To put Peabody's coal reserves in perspective, its 10.2 billion ton coal pile stocks have nearly twice the energy content of global corporate energy leader Exxon's petroleum hoard.
• 2007/05/16: BBC: Coal 'can be clean and reliable'
  New technology means coal can be both a clean and secure source of energy, according to a UK think-tank [Centre for Policies Studies] report.
• 2007/05/14: CleanTech: Peak Coal?

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2007/05/19: GristMill: All so predictable -

  The shine is off corn ethanol, and oh, what a comedown it has been

• 2007/05/19: SciDaily: New Biofuel From Trees Developed
• 2007/05/17: EESD: A Brief Look at Corn Ethanol
• 2007/05/19: TWM: Is Ethanol Green?
• 2007/05/14: WSWS: Brazil: Bush-Lula biofuel plans based on conditions worse than slavery
• 2007/05/15: KhaleejTimes: Starving the poor

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2007/05/18: GristMill: Efficiency and market failure
• 2007/05/17: DeSmogBlog: Pssst! Wanna Buy a Cheap, Inefficient, Illegal Lightbulb
• 2007/05/17: PlanetArk: UN [energy efficiency] Project Cuts Carbon Emissions in Rural China
• 2007/05/16: C411: The Next Big (Light bulb) Idea
• 2007/05/10: TechRev: LEDs emerge to challenge fluorescents as bulbs may be pushed

  from lighting throne

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

• 2007/05/19: ClimateP: California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard
• 2007/05/17: ENN: Toyota Banking on Hybrids Despite Expected Arrival of Ecological Rivals
• 2007/05/16: PlanetArk: EU Car Companies Seek 3-Year Reprieve on CO2 Rules

  Meanwhile in the "every problem is an opportunity in disguise" crowd:

• 2007/05/13: FuturePundit: Silicon Valley Investing In Clean Energy Companies
• 2007/05/18: WorldChanging: Principle 11: Socially Responsible Investment, Patient Capital and Carbon Disclosure
• 2007/05/15: Oikos: More on weather markets and climate change
• 2007/05/17: EnvFin: Weather derivatives market slumps in 2007
• 2007/05/17: EnvFin: UK insurer scrutinises biofuels investments
• 2007/05/17: EnvFin: Climate issue now 'conventional' in US, S&P says
• 2007/05/16: MWatch: The opportunities for investors in global warming
• 2007/05/14: Guardian(UK): Alternative energy market lures controversy and venture capitalists

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/05/18: ClimateP: PGDW#4: Utterly Misrepresenting Research
• 2007/05/18: FergusB: Never mind the precautionary principle
• 2007/05/19: DeSmogBlog: Inhofe: Out of Mind but Not Out of Sight
• 2007/05/19: Stuff(NZ): Global warming debunked [by Augie Auer]
• 2007/05/17: JQuiggin: Reply to Davidson and Robson
• 2007/05/17: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science VIII
• 2007/05/17: Stoat: The significance of 5 year trends
• 2007/05/16: DeSmogBlog: Petroleum Geologists Association changing its climate change tune
• 2007/05/16: IHT: Czech president [Vaclav Klaus] calls for rational debate

  on global warming, rejects "current hysteria"

• 2007/05/15: ClimateP: James Hansen 1, Michael Crichton and Pat Michaels 0
• 2007/05/15: ClimateP: Planet Gore Disinfotainment Watch #2: The Misleading Paraphrase
• 2007/05/14: ClimateP: New Feature: Planet Gore Disinfotainment Watch
• 2007/05/15: TCE: [Surrey] School Board Swindles Global Warming Education
• 2007/05/15: BCLSB: Al Gore's Canadian Censor A Christian Radical
• 2007/05/15: PRWatch: Greenwashing, or "Positioning Environmentalism"
• 2007/05/13: Deltoid: The Australian's War on Science VII
• 2007/05/14: Stoat: Citizendium: cr*p or what?
• 2007/05/14: DeSmogBlog: Inconvenient Truth blocked by a Swindle-touting trustee

  New Scientist has put up a guide to denial tactics:

• 2007/05/16: NewScientist: [multi links] Climate change: A guide for the perplexed

  A. Cockburn is back with more opinions:

• 2007/05/13: CPunch: The Earth is Warming, We Did It, Gore Won't Solve It --

  Humans, CO2 and Climate Change

  It looks like Exxon fibbed. Who woulda thunk?

• 2007/05/18: CNN: Claim: Exxon funding climate 'skeptics'
  Greenpeace says oil giant continues to dole out money, including $2M in '06, to organizations that downplay the risks of carbon dioxide emissions
• 2007/05/19: DeSmogBlog: Science Committee Chair Demands Exxon reveal 2007 think

  tank grants

• 2007/05/17: DeSmogBlog: eXXon caught with fingers crossed, new report
• 2007/05/18: GristMill: Exxon still up to no good
• 2007/05/18: ThinkP: ExxonMobil Lied, Continues to Lavishly Fund Prominent

  Global Warming Deniers

• 2007/05/18: HuffPo: Catching the Tiger in the Act:

  Exxon Continues Its Reckless Campaign To Delay Action on Global Warming
  Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson said about global warming in January, "It is clear that something is going on. It is not useful to debate (the issue) any longer."
  If that's the new company line, Mr. Tillerson, then how do you explain the $2.1 million that ExxonMobil and its corporate foundation spent in 2006 to fund dozens of global warming denier groups?
  According to a new analysis by Greenpeace for the Exxpose Exxon Coalition, Exxon funded 41 climate skeptic groups last year, with the biggest checks going to fill the coffers of notorious denier groups including the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Heartland Institute, the George C. Marshall Institute, Annapolis Center, Frontiers of Freedom and others.
  This 'Carbon Cabal' has worked for a decade to mislead and confuse the public about the urgent threat from global warming due to manmade CO2 pollution. These groups gladly accept Exxon's support, which enables them to keep churning out misleading reports, to flood newspaper op-ed pages with bizarre arguments against action to curb rampant carbon emissions, and to appear on right-wing TV and radio where they're invited by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to tick off blatant distortions of climate science without challenge by actual climate experts.

• 2007/05/18: OilChange: Exxon Still Funding Climate Skeptics

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/05/20: TreeHugger: Leo DiCaprio: "I Took a Train Across the Atlantic"
• 2007/05/18: TruthOut: Climate Change Despair and Empowerment -

  An interview with Australian climate change and rainforest protection

  activist Ruth Rosenhek

• 2007/05/18: PA: Talking about a [energy] revolution: Calls for action

  on global warming, inequality

• 2007/05/16: EESD: We Need to Bring Climate Idealism Down to Earth [Summers excerpt]
• 2007/05/19: DailyStar: Middle East faces dual threat from climate change, energy insecurity
• 2007/05/19: DailyStar: Tomorrow's challenges demand action from today's leaders
• 2007/05/18: GristMill: A bit of philosophy
• 2007/05/18: HuffPo: Countries Without Borders: How the War Against Climate Change Will be Won
• 2007/05/17: HuffPo: Vanity Fair: The Unbearable Whiteness Of Green
• 2007/05/16: TCE: Charities Issue Dire Warnings on Warming
• 2007/05/17: Prospect: What Stern got wrong [the imminent decline in global oil production]
• 2007/05/15: Sky: 'Five Years Left To Save The Planet' [says WWF]
• 2007/05/16: TruthOut: Greenpeace Builds Replica of Noah's Ark
• 2007/05/16: RealClimate: A bit of philosophy [conference on the ethical and moral issues raised by the spectre of anthropogenic climate change]
• 2007/05/16: TreeHugger: Crochet Coral Reef
• 2007/05/16: ENN: Arctic Islands Invite Tourists To See Climate Woes
• 2007/05/16: PS: Greenpeace building a replica of Noah's Ark [on Mount Ararat] in an appeal for action on climate change
• 2007/05/15: Grist: An interview with renowned climate scientist James Hansen
• 2007/05/15: ClimateP: Another "Must Read" from NASA's James Hansen
• 2007/05/15: TruthOut: Ten-year Warming Window Closing -

  Climate change may have passed a key tipping point...

• 2007/05/15: ABC(Au): Sisters thread story of global warming through reef crochet
• 2007/05/15: Stoat: Help me here: defining dangerous climate change
• 2007/05/15: RealClimate: Hansen's 1988 projections
• 2007/05/15: C411: Inside a Carbon Calculator
• 2007/05/15: DeSmogBlog: Are We Outsourcing Our Sinks?
• 2007/05/15: TreeHugger: The Economist: Africa's Global Warming Challenge
• 2007/05/16: PlanetArk: Africa Fights Climate Change But Already Suffering
• 2007/05/15: ENN: Clean Energy Spending Can Curb Climate Change, WWF Says
• 2007/05/15: Yahoo: [Pan African Parliament] Panel: Climate change will hurt Africa
• 2007/05/14: PhysOrg: Yahoo Puts Marketing Muscle into Climate Campaign
• 2007/05/14: C411: A Good Side to Global Warming?

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

• Dr. Luann Becker
• CasaubonsBook
• CTB: Cleantech Blog
• Rename Glacier National Park - Climate experts predict that

  Glacier National Park will lose its glaciers by 2030 if current trends continue

• R^2EB: R-SquaredEnergyBlog
• IPCC:WGIII: Fourth Assessment Report (Mitigation)
• Green Options
• Pembina: Ecological Fiscal Reform (EFR)
• Fire Ecology
• Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast [Draft of a textbook by David Archer]
• The Yes Men
• JIW: Jim Inhot Water
• Argo [world ocean temperature and salinity collection project]
• U.S Climate Emergency Council
• CCNB: Conservation Council of New Brunswick

---

Low Key Plug

My first novel Water is now available from

Thistledown.

You can find an

Introduction

to the novel on my site along with the

Unpublished Foreword

and the

Launch Talk.

An overview of my writing is available

here.

<regards>

-het

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

---

"The Earth is not dying, it is being killed, and the people killing it have names and addresses." -Utah Phillips

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