Another Week of GW News, July 29, 2007

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

Another Week of GW News, July 29, 2007

• Top Stories, Extreme weather, Floods, Heatwaves, GW & Precipitation Paper, Ozone, Hansen, Darfur
• Hurricanes, Temperatures, Glaciers, Sea Levels, el Niño, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Floods & Droughts, Biofuel & Food
• Mitigation, Transportation, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Carbon Trading, Carbon Tax, Optimal Strategy
• Politics, International, APEC, Green Consumerism America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Japan, Asia, Canada
• Ecological Economics, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Courts
• Energy, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Ausubel, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Carbon Lobby
• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

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The big story this week has to be the worldwide extreme weather:

• 2007/07/28: Guardian(UK): Southern Europe scorched as rain batters north
  Continent divided by two differing summer climates - Heat and floods both spell disaster for farmers
• 2007/07/27: ABC(Au): Wild weather to worsen with climate change: expert
  A Gold Coast academic says the frequency and severity of storms, floods, droughts and bushfires will increase as climate change takes hold. Griffith University has just released a report that discusses the issues, costs and liabilities involved in adapting to climate change. The Climate Response Program's research director, Professor Ralf Buckley, says meeting the community's changing health, water and electricity needs will be expensive.
• 2007/07/27: C411: Extreme Weather Across Europe
• 2007/07/26: ArgusLeader: 1,100 cattle die in heat wave - Feedlots affected mainly in northeast [South Dakota]
• 2007/07/26: MTobis: Texas Flood - it's still raining and it looks to be getting worse soon...
• 2007/07/26: ENN: Floods, Heat Hit Europe, but Is It Global Warming?
• 2007/07/26: ArabNews: Storm Flattens Over 500 Houses in Bangladesh
• 2007/07/24: TerraDaily: Europe Battles Weather Extremes
• 2007/07/25: PlanetArk: Sudan Urges People Living in Flood Plains to Evacuate [55 dead & 25,000 destroyed homes]
• 2007/07/24: PlanetArk: Indonesia Landslides, Floods Kill 7, Displace Thousands
• 2007/07/23: PhysOrg: Extreme weather batters Europe
• 2007/07/23: TerraDaily: Weather Extremes Hit Europe With Floods And Heatwaves
• 2007/07/22: TerraDaily: China Floods Take More Lives As River Dykes Threatened
• 2007/07/23: PlanetArk: Floods Kill at Least 100 Across China
• 2007/07/23: PlanetArk: Floods Kills 15 in Bangladesh, Thousands Stranded
• 2007/07/22: Turkish Press: Weather extremes hit southeast Europe, England

  We have floods in Britain, German, China, Sudan, Indonesia, India...:

• 2007/07/29: GWWatch: Britain's great flood a reminder of more to come
• 2007/07/27: PlanetArk: UK Forecasters See More Deluges in Years To Come
• 2007/07/26: NewStatesman: What’s really going on here? [UK floods]
• 2007/07/24: NatureCF: Flash floods - a sign of what's in store?
• 2007/07/27: TerraDaily: More Rains Forecast As England And Wales See Wettest Months Since 1766
• 2007/07/27: PlanetArk: China Floods Spread To North After At Least 500 Die
• 2007/07/25: TruthOut: A 21st Century Catastrophe
  Flood-ravaged Britain is suffering from a wholly new type of civil emergency, it is clear today: a disaster caused by 21st-century weather
• 2007/07/24: TerraDaily: Emergency Committee Meets In London As UK Faces Worst Floods In 60 Years
• 2007/07/25: PlanetArk: Britain Battles Worst Floods for 60 Years
• 2007/07/24: BBC: UK flood crisis operation launched - People in flood-hit areas are urged not to panic as massive efforts begin to get drinking water to those stranded
• 2007/07/24: TerraDaily: 58 Dead In Indonesia Floods And Landslides
• 2007/07/23: AP: Floods Strike Britain; Thames Rising
• 2007/07/23: ClimateP: UK: Worst Floods In Modern History
• 2007/07/23: PlanetArk: British Floods Threaten Water Supplies
• 2007/07/23: ENN: Floods Hit Southern Britain, Power and Water Cut
• 2007/07/23: Xinhuanet: Germany hit by heavy rain, flooding
• 2007/07/23: DailyIndia: Swollen U.K. rivers to crest at midweek
• 2007/07/23: BBC: Flood crisis grows as rivers rise
  The flooding crisis in central and western England continues with thousands of homes losing water and electricity supplies. Up to 350,000 people in Gloucestershire will be left without running water by Monday evening, as the Severn and Thames rivers threaten to overflow.
• 2007/07/23: AFP: Britain hit by worst flooding in 60 years
• 2007/07/23: Times(UK): Looting, panic buying - and a water shortage
  Food and drinking water shortages, panic buying and the threat of looting have followed the worst flooding to hit England in 60 years

A heatwave in eastern Europe & the Mediterranean:

• 2007/07/24: VDM: Viridian Note 00495: Serbia and the Flames
• 2007/07/25: TruthOut: Death Toll Rises in Southern Europe's Heat Wave
• 2007/07/26: PlanetArk: Greek Heatwave Peaks at 45 Degrees [Celsius (113F)]
• 2007/07/26: AFP: Southern Europe braces for more fires as arson suspected
• 2007/07/26: Guardian(UK): Tourism fears as heatwave sparks fires across Greece
• 2007/07/24: TerraDaily: Heatwave Claims 500 Lives In Hungary, 16 In Greece
• 2007/07/25: PlanetArk: Heat Wave, Fires Wreak Havoc in Southeast Europe
• 2007/07/25: BBC: South-eastern Europe is sweltering as a heatwave continues, with fears of further power cuts and forest fires
• 2007/07/25: ABC(Au): Heatwave turns south-east Europe into tinderbox as fires rage
• 2007/07/25: Guardian(UK): Death toll rises in southern Europe's heatwave
• 2007/07/23: TruthOut: Warnings Sounded as Mediterranean Melts in Heat
• 2007/07/24: BBC: Hungary heatwave kills hundreds
  About 500 people died in the past week from a heatwave in Hungary, one of the country's top health officials says
• 2007/07/24: AFP: Heatwave claims hundreds of lives in Europe
  Up to 500 people have died in a heatwave in the past week in Hungary, the country's chief medical officer said Tuesday as Europe struggled to cope with extreme weather conditions.
• 2007/07/23: PlanetArk: Southeast Europe Sizzles, North Hit by Storms, Tornado
• 2007/07/23: PlanetArk: Heatwave Kills Six Romanians, Death Toll Reaches 15

  And how have people reacted?

• 2007/07/23: Guardian(UK): We must face up to the flooding, not flee to the sun
  The turbulent weather we've seen is a warning of what lies ahead for us. Only a new politics can address climate change
• 2007/07/24: Guardian(UK): After the flood
  Dealing with the effects of heavy rain is one thing but, if recent climate change research proves correct, how will we cope with what lies ahead?
• 2007/07/24: PlanetArk: Floods Force Many to Face Climate Change Reality
• 2007/07/23: PlanetArk: Worldwide Floods Show Lessons Still Need Learning
• 2007/07/22: Yahoo: Floods force many to face climate change reality

  Meanwhile a paper in Nature shows a correlation between precipitation and GW:

• 2007/07/24: Nature: (abs) Detection of human influence on twentieth-century precipitation trends by Xuebin Zhang et al.
• 2007/07/29: GWWatch: Research to show UK flooding is from global warming
• 2007/07/23: TerraDaily: Global Warming Impacting Global Rainfall Patterns
• 2007/07/24: Yahoo: Are Britain's Floods Linked to Global Warming?
• 2007/07/23: NSU: Rainfall changes linked to human activity - Greenhouse-gas emissions have made the Northern Hemisphere wetter
• 2007/07/23: TruthOut: England Under Water: Scientists Confirm Global Warming Link to Increased Rain
• 2007/07/24: Guardian(UK): Human activity linked to heavier rainfall
• 2007/07/24: KSJT: Canadian Dailies, wires, etc: Canadian study says globe's rain, snow patterns shifted (Right. We did it?)
• 2007/07/23: TruthOut: Study: Humans to Blame for Changes in Rain
• 2007/07/24: ABC(Au): Global warming affecting rainfall: study
• 2007/07/24: PlanetArk: Humans to Blame for Global Changes in Rain - Study
• 2007/07/23: Yahoo: Humans to blame for global changes in rain: study
• 2007/07/24: CCurrents: England Under Water: Scientists Confirm Global Warming Link
• 2007/07/23: BBC: Humans 'affect global rainfall'
  Human-induced climate change has affected global rainfall patterns over the 20th Century, a study suggests. Researchers said changes to the climate had led to an increase in annual average rainfall in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. But while countries such as Canada, Russia and northern Europe had become wetter, areas including India and parts of Africa had become drier, they added.
• 2007/07/23: OilChange: Flooded Britain: Climate Change To Blame

  Tropospheric ozone apparently dimishes carbon sinks:

• 2007/07/27: RealClimate: Ozone impacts on climate change
• 2007/07/26: TruthOut: Smog [Ozone] May Speed Up Global Warming
• 2007/07/27: GristMill: Carbon sinks threatened by increasing ozone
• 2007/07/26: KSJT: Brit press, LA Times, wires: Low-level ozone is crimping plant growth. Could worsen warming
• 2007/07/26: ClimateP: Carbon sinks threatened by increasing ozone
• 2007/07/26: TWM: Ozone...
• 2007/07/25: BBC: Ozone has 'strong climate effect'
  Ozone could be a much more important driver of climate change than scientists had previously predicted, according to a study in Nature journal. The authors say the effects of this greenhouse gas - known by the formula O3 - have been largely overlooked. Ozone near the ground damages plants, reducing their ability to mop up carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere
• 2007/07/25: PhysOrg: [Ozone] Smog to accelerate global warming: scientists
• 2007/07/25: Eureka: Rising surface ozone reduces plant growth and adds to global warming

  Meanwhile a report that natural processes are contributing to Antarctic ozone complicated the picture:

• 2007/07/14: GRL: (abs) Chemical destruction of CH3I, C2H5I, 1-C3H7I, and 2-C3H7I in saltwater by Charlotte E. Jones & Lucy J. Carpenter
• 2007/07/28: NewScientist: Iodine enters the climate-change mix

  James Hansen has been busy:

• 2007/07/28: ClimateP: Hansen on Super Models - for technocrats only
• 2007/07/26: FuturePundit: James Hansen Fears Runaway Ice Sheet Melting
• 2007/07/27: ClimateP: Hansen on "Who Killed the Electric Car?"
• 2007/07/26: GristMill: Hansen on 'trains of death'
• 2007/07/26: ClimateP: Hansen on "Trains of Death"
• 2007/07/25: NewScientist: Huge sea level rises are coming -- unless we act now by James Hansen
• 2007/07/25: MTobis: Hansen Expects Meters of Sea Level Rise Soon
• 2007/07/25: GristMill: NASA's Hansen on Live Earth, Gore, and coal
• 2007/07/25: Atmoz: NASA's Hansen on Live Earth, Gore, and Coal
• 2007/07/24: ClimateP: More of NASA's James Hansen on Old King Coal

  Tamino has posted a good pair of articles on incoming solar radiation metrics:

• 2007/07/27: Tamino: PMOD vs ACRIM (part 2)
• 2007/07/24: Tamino: PMOD vs ACRIM

  Late commentary on Darfur:

• 2007/07/26: Maribo: The mythical lake beneath Darfur
• 2007/07/27: CSM: Climate change escalates Darfur crisis - Less rainfall on the fringes of the Sahara Desert is putting more of a strain on resources than ever before
• 2007/07/23: TruthOut: A Godsend for Darfur, or a Curse?

  Things are quiet on the hurricane front, but there is a lot of talk:

• 2007/07/28: Wunderground: Disturbance 98L forms north of the southern Bahamas
• 2007/07/24: NatureCF: Medicanes?
• 2007/07/26: C411: Gray's Hypothesis Doesn't Hold Water
• 2007/07/27: Wunderground: Steering current forecast
• 2007/07/26: WiredSci: Global Warming Makes Hurricanes Worse: No! Yes! No! Yes!
• 2007/07/27: DeSmogBlog: Mooney: "Science ought to check itself"
• 2007/07/27: DeSmogBlog: Nicely Balanced Look at Hurricane Influence
• 2007/07/26: Wunderground: Tropical update; 4th warmest June on record
• 2007/07/26: PlanetArk: Tropical Storm [Dalila] Wheels Away from Mexico Coast
• 2007/07/24: Reuters: Forecaster [WSI Corp] cuts 2007 hurricane outlook [14 named storms, 6 hurricanes & 3 major hurricanes]
• 2007/07/24: Reasic: Hurricanes in the Mediterranean
• 2007/07/24: Wunderground: Warmer Water, Super Hurricanes
• 2007/07/24: PlanetArk: Tropical Storm Dalila Forms Off Mexican Pacific
• 2007/07/24: Eureka: Survey of hurricane preparedness finds one-third on high risk coast will refuse evacuation order
• 2007/07/23: APP: Big hurricane could flood metro area - Damage would require huge rebuilding effort
• 2007/07/23: Wunderground: Quiet Atlantic; police blow up weather station

  Meanwhile temperatures are going up:

• 2007/07/26: WarmingLaw: Nevada Feeling the Heat? a new report
• 2007/07/25: Yahoo: Study: Nevada has big temperature gains

  While on the el Niño front:

• 2007/07/23: C411: Short-term Change and El Nino
• 2007/07/23: TerraDaily: La Nina Pattern Likely To Play Havoc With Global Weather
• 2007/07/23: PlanetArk: Weak La Nina Event Likely to Develop in 2007 - WMO

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2007/07/25: SciDaily: Measuring The Retreat History Of Alpine Glaciers
• 2007/07/24: NewScientist: Tibet is warming at twice global average
• 2007/07/24: GristMill: To the last glacier
• 2007/07/24: People's Daily: Glaciers melting at alarming speed
  The Tibetan and Xinjiang glaciers - the major source of Asia's biggest rivers - have melted by up to an alarming 17 percent at certain spots in the past four decades
• 2007/07/23: ABC(Au): Tibet warming at record rate

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2007/07/27: IPSNews: Tiny Tuvalu Fights for Its Literal Survival

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2007/07/27: ESA: Floods and fires across Europe captured from space
• 2007/07/26: TerraDaily: New NASA AIRS [Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder] Data To Aid Weather And Climate Research

  So after canning Proenza, partially because of the flack he raised over QuikScat, what is the state of US Earth observation satellites?

• 2007/07/28: CSW: House appropriations for NASA and NOAA would begin to reverse damage to climate observing system
• 2007/07/25: CNN: Earth observation satellites in peril
  Nation's Earth-observing satellites is aging, and badly - The satellites enable scientists to monitor the planet - By 2010, the number of working satellites will drop by 40 percent
• 2007/07/23: KSJT: BBC: US climate and weather satellite woes may be worse than had been reported

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/07/27: CanWest: [Pine] Beetle-killed forests cited as possible climate change factor - Warm winters help insects spread and may lead to even warmer winters, scientist says
• 2007/07/26: ENN: Global Warming Sends Dengue Fever Cases in Indonesia Soaring
  Indonesia is on course for some 200,000 dengue fever infections this year, twice last year's total, a top health official said Thursday, adding the jump may be in part due to global warming. The country has so far this year logged over 100,000 cases of the mosquito-borne disease -- 1,100 of them fatal, said a senior Health Ministry official, Nyoman Kandun. Last year, there were 114,000 recorded cases, with 1,100 fatalities...
• 2007/07/25: ENN: Voracious Seven-Foot Long Jumbo Squid Invade California Waters, Preying on Local Fish
• 2007/07/24: Yahoo: Study: Rising temperatures pose danger [for the Quebec Inuit]
• 2007/07/25: AFP: Drip, drip of global warming spells change in northern Russia
• 2007/07/24: NSU: Jumbo squid invades California - Voracious mollusc sets up home in the North Pacific
• 2007/07/23: Yahoo: Warm Water Creatures May Soon Rule the Oceans
• 2007/07/23: NewScientist: California's attack of the jumbo squid [GW & overfishing]
• 2007/07/23: NewScientist: Climate change linked to a millennium of war in [dynastic] China
• 2007/07/23: TreeHugger: What Could Global Warming do to the Northeastern United States?
• 2007/07/23: PlanetArk: Climate Change Threatens Latin American Water Supply - World Bank
• 2007/07/23: Eureka: Limpets reveal possible fate of cold-blooded Antarctic animals - Antarctic biodiversity and global change
• 2007/07/23: DailyIndia: Global warming may kill Antarctic limpets
• 2007/07/23: CBC: Quebec's warming Arctic becoming unsafe for Ski-Doos, native hunters warned
• 2007/07/24: TerraDaily: Cities And Economy Under Threat, Tourists Despair In Britain's Worst Floods In Memory
• 2007/07/23: BBC: Fires threaten homes in US westThousands of homes have been evacuated in the US states of Idaho and Nevada after a wildfire grew by 200 sq miles (518 sq km) in 24 hours.

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2007/07/25: PlanetArk: World Bank Fund Encourages Developing Countries to Stop Deforestation
• 2007/07/23: MongaBay: Australia funds first global deforestation monitoring system
• 2007/07/24: ENN: World Bank Sees Support for $250 Million Forest Fund
  A planned $250 million World Bank fund to encourage developing countries to stop deforestation in return for access to carbon credits has attracted strong international support, a senior official said on Tuesday
• 2007/07/23: ABC(Au): Aust contributes $10m to stop Indonesian deforestation
• 2007/07/23: ABC(Au): Cut down fewer trees, reduce carbon emissions: [Federal Environment Minister, Malcolm] Turnbull

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2007/07/27: TerraDaily: Climate Change Sucks Water From China's Two Longest Rivers
• 2007/07/27: PlanetArk: Floods, Heat Hit Europe, But Is It Global Warming?
• 2007/07/26: RawStory: Looming drought may bring water, power outages to Philippines
• 2007/07/22: JFleck: Romania This Time - More drought

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2007/07/27: CSM: The unintended consequences of the ethanol quick fix
  The push to increase ethanol production and ease dependence on oil has created a price runup in fuel and food prices
• 2007/07/27: CarsonsPost: Ethanol - the unintended consequences
• 2007/07/24: CSM: Rising food prices curb aid to global poor
  Food commodity prices have risen by 21 percent since 2005, which will stretch aid groups' resources
• 2007/07/24: EnvEcon: Still More Ethanol Dominoes--Starbucks Edition
• 2007/07/22: EconBrowser: Ethanol and food price volatility

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

• 2007/07/27: PlanetArk: Weather Wreaks Havoc on Europe's Grain Crop
• 2007/07/26: PlanetArk: Heatwave, Drought to Halve Bosnian Crops

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front, how does this jibe with accounting principles?

• 2007/07/25: GristMill: Timber industry rent seeking
• 2007/07/24: OilChange: Ecuador: Pay Us to Keep the Oil in the Ground

  Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2007/07/26: AlterNet: Fare-Free Public Transit Could Be Headed to a City Near You
• 2007/07/25: AfterGutenberg: High Speed Electric Rail? Sure. In U.S.? Come Again?

  As for aviation & GHGs:

• 2007/07/27: NuncScio: Heathrow takes Queen, Prince Charles and 5 million others to court over climate change
• 2007/07/25: Guardian(UK): Make your mark and ground the growth of aviation [Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow next month]
• 2007/07/23: TreeHugger: Airline Industry's 'Risible' Attempt at Carbon Offsetting

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2007/07/27: Eureka: Wild weather forces farmers to adapt - Scientists propose new cropping strategies for a variable climate

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2007/07/25: ABC(US): Climate Engineering Is Doable, as Long as We Never Stop

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/07/14: GRL: (abs) Chemical destruction of CH3I, C2H5I, 1-C3H7I, and 2-C3H7I in saltwater by Charlotte E. Jones & Lucy J. Carpenter
• 2007/07/23: CliPast: The LGM surface climate and atmospheric circulation over East Asia and the North Pacific in the PMIP2 coupled model simulations by W. Yanase & A. Abe-Ouchi
• 2007/07/25: CPD: Detecting vegetation-precipitation feedbacks in mid-Holocene North Africa from two climate models by Y. Wang et al.
• 2007/07/24: Nature: (abs) Detection of human influence on twentieth-century precipitation trends by Xuebin Zhang et al.
• 2007/07/24: PNAS: Crossing the final ecological threshold in high Arctic ponds by John P. Smol & Marianne S. V. Douglas

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

• 2007/07/24: TerraDaily: Flying Into A Thunderstorm
• 2007/07/24: TreeHugger: Thirsty Trees Drink Carbon Dioxide Instead

  Meanwhile on the carbon trading front:

• 2007/07/27: GristMill: Same carbon credits sold twice (as CDM and on voluntary market)
• 2007/07/28: TreeHugger: Means to an End: High Profile UK NGOs Defend Offsets
• 2007/07/23: CFO: Linking [EU ETS & other carbon exchanges] could cause carbon price to plummet -- ZEW [Centre for European Economic Research]
• 2007/07/26: EnvFin: Bank of America buys into carbon trading [Climate Exchange, the London-listed company]
• 2007/07/24: Tyee: Selling Doomsday Debits - In BC's wasteful forest biz, carbon credits don't grow on trees
• 2007/07/27: NEN: Offsetting Standards Necessary
• 2007/07/23: TerraDaily: Carbon Trading Exchange Goes Live In Australia
• 2007/07/24: PlanetArk: Carbon Offsetting Needs Code of Practice - UK Report
• 2007/07/24: PlanetArk: Carbon Trading Schemes Around the World [list]
• 2007/07/24: PlanetArk: Australia's First Carbon Trading Exchange Opens
• 2007/07/23: ABC(Au): Carbon trading market opens in Melbourne

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2007/07/26: PlanetArk: Britons Reject "Green" Taxes
• 2007/07/22: RegisterGuard: The Cold Truth
  The crisis presented by global warming demands a response that is simple, comprehensive and effective. A tax on carbon consumption is the only response in sight that both discourages the production of emissions that cause global warming, and finances the rapid transition to a post-carbon economy

The debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:

• 2007/07/27: GristMill: Rule three of offsets: No geo-engineering
• 2007/07/28: NEN: To Tax or Cap, That Is the Question
• 2007/07/26: ClimateP: Rule Three of Offsets: No Geo-engineering
• 2007/07/25: GristMill: Economic effect of cap-and-trade: A wager
• 2007/07/26: PlanetArk: US EPA Sees Little Economic Impact from CO2 Cuts
  A Senate proposal to cap and eventually reduce heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions would stunt economic growth by no more than 1.6 percent by 2030, the US Environmental Protection Agency found Tuesday
• 2007/07/25: ClimateP: Safety Valve Safely Voids Environmental Standards
• 2007/07/24: ClimateP: A Better Idea Than the "Safety Valve"
• 2007/07/25: GristMill: Cost containment for the carbon market: A step toward cap-and-trade
• 2007/07/24: GristMill: A better idea than the 'safety valve'
• 2007/07/25: HuffPo: Cost containment for the carbon market: A step toward cap-and-trade
• 2007/07/22: BSD: Carbon offsets for temperate forestry projects can be fine, just fine
• 2007/07/22: BBC: MPs support carbon offset schemes
  People should be encouraged and offered help to use schemes that offset their carbon emissions, MPs have said. The environmental audit committee acknowledged that some schemes were "less than robust", but the benefits of cutting emissions were worth pursuing. Recently, critics said some projects were failing to deliver on promises.
• 2007/07/23: TreeHugger: Climate Care Defends Carbon Offsets

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/07/23: EESD: Who Cares About Climate Change? Poor countries may be more worried than rich ones...
• 2007/07/27: Xinhuanet: UN chief urges U.S. to combat global warming
• 2007/07/26: ArabNews: Need for Joint Action
• 2007/07/25: TreeHugger: First North American Energy Agreement Inked

  There is an APEC meeting coming up this September in Sydney, Australia:

• 2007/07/26: ENN: Climate Change to Dominate APEC Summit
• 2007/07/25: TerraDaily: Climate Change, Energy Security Top APEC Agenda

  What will be the result of green consumerism?

• 2007/07/26: ZMag: Eco-junk - Green consumerism will not save the biosphere
• 2007/07/26: CSM: Can 'green chic' save the planet?
• 2007/07/24: CDreams: Monbiot: Eco-Junk: Why Buying Less Is More Than Buying Green
• 2007/07/24: CCurrents: Why Buying Less Is More Than Buying Green [Monbiot]

  And on the American political front:

• 2007/07/28: ClimateP: Acronym Smackdown: ACORE vs. CEI
• 2007/07/28: Ocala: Finally, we get the message on fuel economy
• 2007/07/28: NEN: House Energy Bill: Showdown on Renewables Standard
• 2007/07/27: AfterGutenberg: Lawmakers Doubt Voters Would Fund Big Carbon Cuts
• 2007/07/26: WFC: Overwhelming Support for Stronger Fuel Economy Standards
• 2007/07/27: CCM: Promising Bipartisan Proposal in Congress to Deal With Climate Change...Really!
• 2007/07/27: SacBee: Laying down law on global warming - [State Attorney General, Jerry] Brown uses 1970 statute to insist projects assess climate-change impacts
• 2007/07/24: TruthOut: Congress Stymied on Global Warming Bills
• 2007/07/24: GristMill: EPA economic analysis of cap-and-trade program
• 2007/07/24: GristMill: Lieberman and Warner move closer to climate legislation
• 2007/07/24: DeSmogBlog: Energy Association in Full Swing Over Rahall's Energy Bill
• 2007/07/23: ClimateP: House Energy Debate Planned for Next Week
• 2007/07/23: PhysOrg: Americans Warming to Nuclear Power - MIT Survey
• 2007/07/23: WarmingLaw: Reverberations [US state governors]

  EPA head S. Johnson was back in front of a congressional subcommittee:

• 2007/07/27: KSJT: Wires, California dailies: EPA boss getting more flack for going slow on permission slip for California tailpipe CO2 rules
• 2007/07/27: WarmingLaw: Outpouring [Cal, EPA etc]
• 2007/07/26: TruthOut: Lawmakers Grill EPA Chief on California Law
• 2007/07/27: ENN: U.S. Environment [EPA] Chief Draws Fire on Global Warming [Calif car law]
• 2007/07/26: Yahoo: Lawmakers grill EPA chief on Calif. law
  The head of the Environmental Protection Agency refused on Thursday to say whether he knew the Transportation Department was lobbying against a California global warming law

California Air Resources Board has recommended stricter diesel-emission rules:

• 2007/07/28: Yahoo: Panel [California Air Resources Board] recommends climate change [carbon] market
• 2007/07/27: TruthOut: California Air Regulators Weigh Sweeping Diesel-Emission Rules
• 2007/07/28: ABC(Au): California cracks down on vehicle emissions
• 2007/07/28: PhysOrg: Panel Recommends Climate Change Market
  As California begins mapping out its strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions, how industries will be forced to comply is emerging as one of the most complex aspects of the debate. A key component of the state's plan to implement last year's far-reaching global warming law was submitted Friday to California air regulators. The state Air Resources Board received a 107-page report - commissioned last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - that endorses a market-trading program.
• 2007/07/28: BBC: Air-quality regulators in California have introduced tough new rules controlling fuel emissions from some diesel-powered engines

  The Forest Service has setup a carbon offset program:

• 2007/07/25: PhysOrg: Agency, Group to 'Offset' CO2 Emissions
• 2007/07/25: GristMill: Offset mania
• 2007/07/26: LA Times: U.S. offers way to atone for carbon guilt
  To offset emissions, individuals can buy vouchers that the Forest Service will use to plant CO2-absorbing trees...the Forest Service will be the first federal agency to offer personal carbon offsets through an initiative called the Carbon Capital Fund...
• 2007/07/25: ENN: Forest Service Teams with Nonprofit [National Forest] Foundation to Combat Global Warming

  The names on VP Cheney's energy task force has been leaked:

• 2007/07/23: NYT: How the Energy Dice Were Loaded
  The names of some of the corporate big shots and industry lobbyists who helped shape the deliberations and conclusions of the super-secret Cheney energy task force in 2001 are now beginning to surface, thanks to a former White House aide who provided a list to The Washington Post. [...] What this list really does is remind us how and why this administration has squandered six years that should have been devoted to finding innovative answers to the big questions of oil dependency and global warming.
• 2007/07/18: WaPo: [Cheney] Energy Task Force Meetings Participants

  The Gore-apalooza is still kicking over:

• 2007/07/24: GristMill: Climate change message: positive or negative?

  While in the UK:

• 2007/07/27: Nottingham: Nottingham centre to help UK to meet its carbon targets
• 2007/07/25: Guardian(UK): National Trust puts 3.5m members in front line against climate change
• 2007/07/26: BBC: UK forecasts to zoom in on towns [by 2011]
  Weather forecasters will soon be able to zoom in on regions that are the size of a town, UK meteorologists have said. Currently, accurate forecasts are limited to county-sized areas; but a supercomputer to be introduced at the Met Office will give much finer detail
• 2007/07/24: DStrahan: British energy policy is a dangerous farce
• 2007/07/23: ClimateP: UK Prime Minister on "weather extremes" and climate change

  And in Europe:

• 2007/07/26: Euractiv: Europeans reluctant to give up cars despite environmental concerns
• 2007/07/25: PlanetArk: Latvia Considers Legal Action Over EU Carbon Quota

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/07/29: ABC(Au): Coal miners call for emissions target
  The coal miners' union denies it is just trying to get Labor leader Kevin Rudd elected by launching a new ad campaign targeting the Federal Government's record on climate change. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is today launching a million-dollar advertising campaign attacking Prime Minister John Howard's stance.
• 2007/07/28: ABC(Au): Blacktown pilots emissions scheme
  The Blacktown area of north-western Sydney is launching an ambitious program to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 25,000 tonnes and save millions of dollars on electricity bills. Under the "Solar Cities" project, residents of Blacktown Council's 47 suburbs will be offered discounts on solar electricity and hot water systems, as well as packages that encourage consumers to use less power during peak demand periods.
• 2007/07/28: ABC(Au): Opposition claims Green industries forgotten
  The ACT Opposition says the Government's new climate change strategy doesn't have enough in it for environment-based industry development. The Liberals say the Government has failed to fulfill a 2003 commitment to make Canberra a centre for environmental industries
• 2007/07/26: ABC(Au): Climate change to hit far north Queensland hardest: [says Federal Opposition's environment spokesman, Peter] Garrett
• 2007/07/24: ABC(Au): Fed Govt criticised for delaying emissions trading

  While in China:

• 2007/07/23: BBC: China postpones pollution reportChina has indefinitely postponed the release of an environmental report on the costs of economic development. Several local governments are reported to have objected to the release of "sensitive" information about the pollution they cause. Government officials from different departments also appear to disagree on how to calculate the figures. But despite the setback, the man in charge of the scheme says the research should continue. The project - to calculate how much money pollution costs China each year, the so-called "green gross domestic product" - was launched in 2004. But the scheme seems never to have progressed smoothly.

And in Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues his inaction:

• 2007/07/26: TStar: Harper's head stuck in oil sands
• 2007/07/24: CanWest: We're all big energy wasters, says [Natural Resources Minister Gary] Lunn
• 2007/07/24: TStar: Energy pussycat Stephen Harper likes to describe Canada as an "energy superpower." It's a catchy claim, but a ridiculous one. Surely an "energy superpower" would be a country that, at the very least, is assertive in taking care of its own energy needs.

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

• 2007/07/25: CChange: The Extractors and climatocide
• 2007/07/22: CChange: Can ecological economists stop the mainstreamers before it's too late?

  Regarding the touchy question of population numbers:

• 2007/07/23: TreeHugger: New Museum Head Says Lower Population Would Cut CO2 at Fraction of Renewable Energy Cost

  Apocalypso anyone?:

• 2007/07/27: CanWest: The end isn't near - It seems environmental catastrophe has been right around the corner for decades now -- so what happened?
• 2007/07/25: CasaubonsBook: The Time is Now

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2007/07/24: Denialism: The Independent needs its environmental credentials to be taken away

  Here is something for your library:

• 2007/07/24: Denialism: [Book Review] _Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming_ by Chris Mooney
• 2007/07/24: GristMill: [Book Review] _The Upside of Down_ by Thomas Homer-Dixon

  Meanwhile in the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2007/07/26: CSW: Federal court ruling pending in lawsuit to compel new National Climate Change Assessment

  Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:

• 2007/07/29: Telegram(UK): Earth energy - Drawing warmth from the ground
• 2007/07/29: IR^2: Google Solar, Hydrogen, and Farm Bills
• 2007/07/28: TruthOut: Alternative Energy Guru Reflects on Policy, Fuels -- A conversation with energy guru Amory Lovins
• 2007/07/27: TruthOut: Winds of Change: Project Promotes Community Power Generation
• 2007/07/27: DailyReckoning: As Cheap Oil Ends, American Standard of Living Will Decline
• 2007/07/25: FuturePundit: New Solar Photovoltaic Cell Efficiency Record: 42.8%
• 2007/07/26: FuturePundit: Robert Rapier: Our Future Should Be Electric
• 2007/07/28: TreeHugger: What did the Wind Say to Coal?
• 2007/07/27: PlanetArk: Global Wind Power Rises by 26 Pct in 2006 - Report
• 2007/07/28: TEB: PG&E Signs Agreement With Solel for 553 Megawatts of Solar Power
• 2007/07/28: IR^2: A California Solar Dilemma
• 2007/07/26: Grist: A conversation with energy guru Amory Lovins
• 2007/07/27: GristMill: Adventures in the smart grid no. 2: Demand response
• 2007/07/26: OhMyNews: World Energy: A Slippery Bet - We're gambling on positive hearsay about energy issues, just as we did on global warming
• 2007/07/27: SciDaily: University Of Delaware-led Team Sets Solar Cell Record [42.8% efficiency]
• 2007/07/27: IR^2: A Solar Thought Experiment
• 2007/07/26: KSJT: Der Spiegel: With Germany iffy on nukes, big coal plants are rising
• 2007/07/26: HuffPo: Exxon Mobil 2Q Profit Slips [to US$10.26 billion]
• 2007/07/24: GristMill: PG&E to buy 550 MW of concentrated solar from world's largest CS plant
• 2007/07/24: OilDrum: Facing the Hard Truths about Energy - the NPC report, commented
• 2007/07/24: EnergyBulletin: The free energy delusion
• 2007/07/24: KSJT: High Country News: It'll be a long wait for the hydrogen highway's gas stations
• 2007/07/24: PhysOrg: Team sets solar cell record [42.8% efficiency]
• 2007/07/24: PhysOrg: Scientists say photosynthesis has a key role in future energy supply
• 2007/07/23: GristMill: The future is solar; politics is ethanol
• 2007/07/23: I-RSquared: The Future is Solar

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2007/07/29: RoanokeTimes: To dismay of power utilities, coal emissions are under fire
• 2007/07/26: EnvFin: US groups fight government funding of coal power plants
• 2007/07/25: GristMill: Bad news for coal, lessons for enviros
• 2007/07/25: ENN: China Says Coal Use Surging Despite Environmental Worries
• 2007/07/23: GristMill: Coal is the enemy of the human race: Gloating edition

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2007/07/28: CTV: Should Canadian farmers cash in on biofuel boom?
• 2007/07/25: EESD: A Brief Look at Corn Ethanol
• 2007/07/26: CSM: A dark side to the ethanol boom?
• 2007/07/27: SciDaily: Economists Find Current Biofuel Potential In Oregon May Be Costly And Limited
• 2007/07/25: GRC: The Hidden Agenda behind the Bush Adminstration's Bio-Fuel Plan - Buy Feed Corn: They’re about to stop making it...
• 2007/07/24: ETA: Dramatic increase in [EU] biofuel consumption [78 per cent from 2005 to 2006 - from 3 million to 5.38 million tonnes]

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2007/07/25: IR^2: What's Wrong with Nuclear Power?
• 2007/07/26: HuffPo: PR Nuke Flacks Do the Kashiwazaki Quake Death Spin
• 2007/07/26: Guardian(UK): Nuclear waste is hardly a worry when the climate change threat is so urgent
• 2007/07/24: TruthOut: Japan's Quake Sends Tremors Across Nuclear Industry
• 2007/07/25: PlanetArk: Japan Says Nuclear Closure Could Affect CO2 Target
• 2007/07/25: AlterNet: What to Say to Those Who Think Nuclear Power Will Save Us
• 2007/07/23: GristMill: Alternatives to nuclear power
• 2007/07/23: CDreams: LA Times: No To Nukes
  It's Tempting To Turn To Nuclear Plants to Combat Climate Change, But Alternatives Are Safer and Cheaper.
• 2007/07/23: CDreams: PR Nuke Flacks Do The Kashiwazaki Quake Death Spin

  A nuclear advocate has been getting headlines attacking renewables:

• 2007/07/24: FuturePundit: Renewable Energy Seen As Harmful To Environment
• 2007/07/25: ClimateP: Fatally Flawed Attack on Renewables by Ausubel
• 2007/07/26: GristMill: Fatally flawed attack on renewables by Jesse Ausubel
• 2007/07/26: CanWest: Renewable energy projects harmful, scientist says - Hydro Dams, Wind Farms Seen As Doing More Harm Than Good
• 2007/07/25: KSJT: New Scientist: Renewable energy rapes nature? So go nuke?
• 2007/07/25: Guardian(UK): Renewable energy projects will devour huge amounts of land, warns researcher
• 2007/07/25: NEN: New Energy v. Environment? No
• 2007/07/24: PhysOrg: Renewable energy wrecks environment, scientist claims
• 2007/07/24: Eureka: Renewable energy wrecks environment - Renewables fail environmental test

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2007/07/24: SwitchBoard: The role of conservation in a biofuels economy

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

• 2007/07/28: AfterGutenberg: Tiny, cheap and super fuel-efficient [cars]
• 2007/07/27: ClimateP: Is The Chevy Volt Just More GM Greenwashing?
• 2007/07/27: TreeHugger: No Increase in CAFE or the Dog Gets It
• 2007/07/26: USAToday: What are the Dinosaurs of Detroit thinking? The Big 3 have opposed increased fuel economy standards. Do they know something the rest of us don't?
• 2007/07/26: GristMill: Plug-in hybrids rule; PHEV Hypercars rule even more
• 2007/07/25: ENN: Toyota Develops Plug-In Hybrid Car for Public Road Tests
• 2007/07/25: AfterGutenberg: Toyota Plug-in HV
• 2007/07/24: ClimateP: Plug in Hybrids are Green (Duh!)
• 2007/07/24: GristMill: Clean diesel: General Motors says yes, Toyota, no
• 2007/07/24: DeSmogBlog: Auto Industry on a Very Slow Learning Curve!
• 2007/07/23: GristMill: Alternatives to auto-mobility
• 2007/07/23: ClimateP: Toyota Moves to Test Plug-in Prius in Japan
• 2007/07/23: PlanetArk: US Plug-In Cars Would Cut Greenhouse Gases - Report
• 2007/07/23: TWM: Plug-in Hybrids...

  Has anyone done a critical analysis of this majykal device?

• 2007/07/23: TCE: Turning Car Emissions to Green Fuel

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2007/07/28: WorldChanging: The Gap Between Climate Awareness and Action [US energy corps]
• 2007/07/26: EnvFin: HSBC to set up climate research centre
• 2007/07/27: PeakEnergy: Big Green?
• 2007/07/26: GristMill: GE's climate credit card
• 2007/07/25: TreeHugger: GE Launches Carbon Offsetting Credit Card
• 2007/07/23: GWWatch: [Australian] Business is ready to tackle climate change

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2007/07/23: BBC: The flooding of June and July is expected to cost the insurance industry at least £2bn, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/07/26: GristMill: Bogus accusations of hypocrisy against Gore
• 2007/07/27: DeSmogBlog: Who's on Thin Ice Here?
• 2007/07/26: DeSmogBlog: John Locke Foundation launches a same-ol, same-ol North Carolina misinformation campaign
• 2007/07/26: DeSmogBlog: Sorry Newsbusters, who's alarmist?
• 2007/07/26: HuffPo: Why does Robert Samuelson hate America?
• 2007/07/25: Reasic: Green Myth-Busting: Cosmic Ray Flux
• 2007/07/25: KSJT: NH Union Leader: A retired weatherman says global warming, schwarming?
• 2007/07/25: ClimateP: Climate Confusion in Hong Kong
• 2007/07/23: Atmoz: Debunking in Climate Science 101
• 2007/07/23: S&R: Anti-global heating claims - a reasonably thorough debunking
• 2007/07/24: ERabett: 17 myths demythtified
• 2007/07/23: MediaMatters: On Fox News, Hannity continued to call carbon offsets a "sham" -- still no mention of Murdoch
• 2007/07/24: DeSmogBlog: Fox News Still Spewing Smoke Despite Vows to Clean Up
• 2007/07/24: DeSmogBlog: Sorry Gunter, Even Fox News Doesn't Buy the "Global Cooling" Myth
• 2007/07/24: DeSmogBlog: A bare-faced lie - from a predictable source
• 2007/07/23: EnergyBulletin: No warranty express or implied
• 2007/07/22: ERabett: Our far flung correspondents write: Baton Rouge looks like a great site...
• 2007/07/20: RealClimate: Green and Armstrong's scientific forecast
• 2007/07/23: CanWest: Cold Or Hot, it's always our fault

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/07/27: GristMill: [Dessler] Climate change [Donald Kennedy oped]
• 2007/07/27: GristMill: Jack Bauer is going to stop global warming
• 2007/07/28: GristMill: Congestion pricing saves more than it costs
• 2007/07/28: ERabett: The Stern Gang rides again
• 2007/07/26: CasaubonsBook: Understanding the Demographic Transition
• 2007/07/27: ClimateP: Climate: Game Over [Donald Kennedy, Editor-in-Chief of Science op-ed]
• 2007/07/26: ERabett: Does GISSTEMP overcount rural stations?
• 2007/08/: NatGeo: GeoSigns: The Big Thaw
• 2007/07/26: GristMill: Why does Robert Samuelson hate America?
• 2007/07/25: Maribo: New online voice on coral reefs and climate change
• 2007/07/25: C411: The Greenhouse Effect Explained
• 2007/07/26: DeSmogBlog: Tibet's Warming Provides Global Warning
• 2007/07/26: Globe&Mail: Different views don't make dealing with climate change any easier
• 2007/07/24: GristMill: Technology is the solution
• 2007/07/25: CCD: How should-do becomes do-do
• 2007/07/24: OPB: Hotter NW Summers Consistent With Global Warming
• 2007/07/24: KSJT: Wall Street Journal: How Asia's air darkens US skies
• 2007/07/24: PhysOrg: The Sun Loses its Spots [may have reached solar minimum]
• 2007/07/24: GristMill: A word of caution on climate change and 'refugees'
• 2007/07/24: C411: Scientific Uncertainty
• 2007/07/22: Yahoo: Climate change fears reach even Formula One racing
• 2007/07/23: CDreams: SeattlePI: Global Warming: Identifying The Problem Is Not The Solution

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

• Climate Shifts
• Atmoz - Climate and Weather Explained
• SwitchBoard
• NOAA:GFDL: Tom Knutson's Home Page
• 2006/01/: NOAA:GFDL: Global Warming and Hurricanes
• California Climate Change Portal
• GPM: Global Precipitation Measurement
• 2006/04/: EGU: European Geosciences Union
• OCCC: Swiss Advisory Body on Climate Change
• GWTimes: Global Warming Times
• ClimateWire
• P&P: People & Planet
• Scientist On Ice

---

Typically Low Key Plug

My first novel Water was published May, 2007. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. An overview of my writing is available here.

<regards>
-het

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

---

"If we are to embark on a Manhattan Project to get off of our petroleum dependence, we should direct our efforts toward an eventual electric transportation infrastructure." -Robert Rapier

• Global Warming Links
• Global Warming News Archive
• ---
• Energy
• Energy News
• Environmental Issues
• ---
• H.E. Taylor (homepage)

Another Week of GW News, July 22, 2007

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

• Top Stories, Australian Cap&Trade, CU-Boulder SLR Report, North Pole Swim, Darfur
• Hurricanes, Proenza, Temperatures, el Niño, Glaciers, Tuvulu, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Wacky Weather, Floods & Droughts, Rats, Biofuel & Food
• Mitigation, Aviation, Building Codes, Adaptation, Planktos
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Optimal Strategy
• Politics, International, America, Britain, Europe, Australia, India, China, Canada
• Ecological Economics, Apocalypso, Books
• Energy, NPC Report, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Carbon Lobby
• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

---

Click here to read more

It's always nice to start with a larf:

• 2006/10/10: ClimateCartoons: Easter Bunny Island
• 2007/07/16: AFTIC: Climate Chaos Labrats
• 2007/07/21: ClimateP: Climate Cartoon of the Week (Stivers)

  John Howard has announced a cap-and-trade system just in time for the next election:

• 2007/07/19: NEN: Australian Cap-and-Trade Test Set For 2011
• 2007/07/17: ABC(Au): [Victorian Premier, Steve] Bracks backs PM's carbon emissions plan
• 2007/07/17: ABC(Au): Carbon emissions plan needs targets: lobby group [Climate Institute of Australia]
• 2007/07/17: ABC(Au): Businesses urge Govt to put price on carbon
• 2007/07/18: ABC(Au): Major [Australian] parties take climate change row online
• 2007/07/18: ABC(Au): WA Greens critical of PM's climate change plan
• 2007/07/17: NewScientist: Australia announces 'cap and trade' CO2 scheme
• 2007/07/17: ABC(Au): Howard announces emissions trading system
• 2007/07/22: ABC(Au): Govt climate change initiatives a 'PR exercise' [says GreenPeace]

  A report from CU-Boulder on sea level rise has twisted and turned through the media:

• 2007/07/20: TruthOut: Sea Levels May Rise By Nine Inches This Century
• 2007/07/21: ClimateP: The Independent blows the sea level rise story
• 2007/07/16: WaPo: Clues to Rising Seas Are Hidden in Polar Ice
• 2007/07/20: PhysOrg: Study: Glaciers And Ice Caps To Dominate Sea-Level Rise Through 21st Century
• 2007/07/20: TerraDaily: Glaciers And Ice Caps To Dominate Sea Level Rise This Century
• 2007/07/20: ENN: Beware Melting Glaciers This Century
• 2007/07/19: Yahoo: Melting glaciers raise sea level more than polar ice sheets
• 2007/07/20: OilChange: Sea Levels May Rise by 9 Inches This Century
• 2007/07/19: NewScientist: Melting glaciers will dominate sea-level rise
• 2007/07/19: Eureka: Glaciers and ice caps to dominate sea level rise this century, says CU-Boulder study
• 2007/07/19: Colorado: Glaciers And Ice Caps To Dominate Sea-Level Rise Through 21st Century, CU-Boulder Study Says

  Meanwhile in the mad dogs & Englishmen department:

• 2007/07/16: ABC(Au): Man swims in North Pole sea
• 2007/07/16: CBC: North Pole swim 'hostile' and 'surreal,' says British man
• 2007/07/15: Canoe: Ice man swims Arctic waters
  A British swimmer who says he wants to wake up politicians around the world to the threat of climate change has successfully completed a kilometre-long swim in the freezing water of the North Pole.
• 2007/07/16: TCE: Man Swims at the North Pole
• 2007/07/16: DailyMail: Briton astounds the world by becoming the first person to swim to North Pole

  This smells like magical thinking, but eventually the truth will out:

• 2007/07/20: BBC: Ancient Darfur lake 'is dried up'
  A vast underground lake that scientists hoped could help to end violence in Sudan's Darfur region probably dried up thousands of years ago, an expert says. Alain Gachet, who used satellite images and radar in his research, said the area received too little rain and had the wrong rock types for water storage. But the French geologist said there was enough water elsewhere in Darfur to end the fighting and rebuild the economy. Analysts say competition for resources such as water is behind the unrest.
• 2007/07/19: Guardian(UK): Ancient lake could help ease Darfur tensions
• 2007/07/18: KSJT: AP, Boston Globe, etc: Old lake water under desert may bring relief, better chance of peace to Darfur
• 2007/07/18: TCE: Darfur, Climate & Responsibility
• 2007/07/18: BBC: Water find 'may end Darfur war'
  A huge underground lake has been found in Sudan's Darfur region, scientists say, which they believe could help end the conflict in the arid region. [...] The discovery is "very significant", Hafiz Muhamad from the lobby group Justice Africa told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme. "The root cause of the conflict is resources - drought and desertification in North Darfur." He says this led the Arab nomads to move into South Darfur, where they came into conflict with black African farmers.

Greenpeace is having fun in Switzerland:

• 2007/07/19: ABC(Au): [Swiss] Greenpeace plan nude global warming stunt
• 2007/07/19: CanWest: Greenpeace seeks nude models for glacial protest

  And in the hurricane wars:

• 2007/07/21: Wunderground: Tropical update
• 2007/07/17: JFleck: The Hurricanes We Missed
• 2007/07/17: CCM: The Caribbean is a Hurricane Trampoline Right Now
• 2007/07/16: Wunderground: Atlantic hurricane outlook for the last half of July

  The Proenza saga grinds on:

• 2007/07/20: Wunderground: QuikSCAT science at yesterday's hearing
• 2007/07/20: Wunderground: Probe recommends Proenza's permanent removal - Atlantic and Hawaiian tropical update
• 2007/07/20: DailyIndia: U.S. Hurricane Center facing major changes [Proenza]
• 2007/07/19: Wunderground: New NHC revelations; Atlantic tropical update; Hawaii watches Cosme
• 2007/07/18: CCM: National Hurricane Center Saga Shifts to Congress
• 2007/07/18: Wunderground: Congressional NHC hearing tomorrow; Hawaii eyes Cosme

  I always like it when these easily verified projections show up:

• 2007/07/17: CCM: Will Global Warming Cause More "Medicanes"?
• 2007/07/16: Reuters: Warming may bring hurricanes to Mediterranean

  Meanwhile the temperatures are going up:

• 2007/07/20: Yahoo: Central and southern Europe sizzling [at least 13 dead this week]
• 2007/07/20: PhysOrg: California to Study Heat-Wave Deaths
• 2007/07/19: PlanetArk: Heatwave Grips Balkans, Kills Five in Romania
• 2007/07/17: ClimateP: 2007: First or second hottest year on record so far
• 2007/07/15: MTobis: UKMO: Hot summers increasing in Europe
• 2007/07/22: Guardian(UK): Over-heated Med stokes tourism fears
  As temperatures in southern Europe reach record heights, traditional holiday playgrounds may soon become unbearably hot and dangerously dry

While on the el Niño/la Niña front:

• 2007/07/20: PhysOrg: La Nina pattern likely to play havoc with world's weather: UN
• 2007/07/16: ENN: Experts Plan Rating System for El Nino
  The ENSO Intensity Scale varies based on a a three-month temperature index, updated monthly. The scale varies from W1 to W5 for warm episodes and C1 to C5 for cool episodes, allowing climate researchers to develop comparisons with past ENSOs

Glaciers are melting:

• 2007/07/20: SciDaily: Melting Glaciers On The Tibetan Plateau
• 2007/07/17: Yahoo: Swiss glacier [Aletsch] retreats at a rapid clip
• 2007/07/17: KSJT: NY Times ScienceTimes: Intimate story of shrinking Indian glaciers, teaching physics that'll stick, Islamic creationism, more...
• 2007/07/17: OilChange: Crisis in the Himalaya

  Sea levels are rising at Tuvalu:

• 2007/07/16: CCurrents: Tuvalu Sounds The Alarm
• 2007/07/16: OilChange: S.O.S South Pacific [Tuvalu]

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2007/07/19: SciBlog: NASA satellite data can warn of famine
• 2007/07/19: JFleck: Modeling Famine
  A NASA group has come up with a new model that incorporates both remote sensing data and food prices to try to help anticipate food shortages
• 2007/07/19: Eureka: NASA researchers find satellite data can warn of famine
• 2007/07/17: TerraDaily: Extreme Weather Monitoring Boosted By Space Sensor [Envisat]
• 2007/07/16: PhysOrg: Extreme weather monitoring boosted by space sensor [Envisat]

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/07/20: CBC: Climate change could ruin fisheries: scientist
• 2007/07/20: WaPo: Warming Poses Threats To Chesapeake, Group Says
• 2007/07/20: DeSmogBlog: Ontario acknowledges polar-bear extinction, other widespread threats due to global warming
• 2007/07/20: ENN: Climate Change Threatening Canada's Polar Bears, Will Unleash Insect-Borne Diseases
• 2007/07/20: WarmingLaw: A Compelling Interest
• 2007/07/19: KSJT: LA Times: The weeds that will be - Higher CO2 means higher dandelions, more poison ivy
• 2007/07/19: ENN: Snowless in a Warming World, Ski Resort in French Alps Bids Adieu
• 2007/07/18: ABC(US): West Under Highest Wildfire Alert - Fire Officials Raise Nation's Wildfire Preparedness As Blazes Rage in the West
• 2007/07/19: AP: West Under Highest Wildfire Alert
• 2007/07/17: Yahoo: Climate change threatens Italy's Po River delta
• 2007/07/18: LA Times: Weeds shown to feed on rising carbon - Poison ivy and dandelions grow bigger and stronger as levels of CO2 increase, two studies find
• 2007/07/17: GristMill: It ain't natural [NCPA parks & GW report]
• 2007/07/18: PlanetArk: Effort to Curb Climate Change May Hurt African Farms
• 2007/07/17: OSU: Increase in Creeping Vines Signals Major Shift in Southern U.S. Forests
• 2007/07/16: ABC(Au): Claims climate change drying up China's major rivers
• 2007/07/21: DailyIndia: Three major wildfires burning in Utah

  Then there are the tropical rainforests:

• 2007/07/19: TerraDaily: Peru Launches Drive To Regrow Lost Forests And Jungles
• 2007/07/19: MongaBay: Is peat swamp worth more than palm oil plantations?
• 2007/07/18: ENN: Picking Berries Protects Rain Forests Best, Study Shows
  Small community projects for picking fruits and nuts are the best way to alleviate poverty and protect the Amazon and other tropical forests, but are largely ignored by governments, a study showed Monday. Communities harvesting natural products generate more long-term income than many national parks or big timber companies, said a report by the International Tropical Timber Organization, or ITTO, released at a forestry conference in northeastern Brazil. "Someone depending on a forest for income and habitat will look after it," said Andy White, one of the report's authors. "We need people in forests."

This is supposed to be good news about desertification but he's claiming success for a 0.04% improvement, which is undoubtably within the margin of error:

• 2007/07/17: ENN: Problem with Desertification in China Decreasing as Area of Sanded Land Shrinks
  China said Tuesday it was winning the struggle against encroaching deserts, with the threat to vulnerable land steadily decreasing over the past half-decade. Desert coverage has been falling by about 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) each year for the past five to six years, Zhu Lieke, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, said at a news conference. "This has been a trend that has been ongoing," he said. "This is a good thing that we have witnessed." Zhu said his data was backed up by satellite imagery and scientists in the field. China has planted thousands of hectares (acres) of vegetation to stop the spread of deserts in its north and west, which had been gradually expanding into populated areas and worsening sand storms that strike cities. Chinese officials said last year that deserts still cover 2.64 million square kilometers (1.05 million square miles), or about 27 percent of the country. Since 1981, China has planted 49.2 billion trees -- the equivalent of 219,000 square kilometers (84,500 square miles), said Jia Zhibang, head of the forestry administration, who also spoke at the briefing.

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2007/07/18: ChinaDaily: Worst storm in 115 years lashes Chongqing
• 2007/07/17: AzFamily: Large dust storm headed toward Valley
• 2007/07/17: KARE: Dust storm rolls across Arizona
• 2007/07/17: C411: Extreme Weather: This Season's Norm?
• 2007/07/16: CBC: Hail as large as baseballs falls on central Alberta
• 2007/07/22: PhysOrg: Weather extremes hit southeast Europe, England
• 2007/07/22: GWWatch: World Wide Weird Weather #2
• 2007/07/22: KVOA: Hail storm buries Mexican town just over the border

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2007/07/20: PlanetArk: More Than 50 People Killed in Sudanese Flooding
• 2007/07/20: PlanetArk: Weeks of Heavy Rain Show No Let-Up in China
• 2007/07/20: BBC: Torrential rain sweeps across UK - Torrential rain is sweeping across the UK, with flash floods leaving some homes waterlogged and schools closed.
• 2007/07/18: EUO: Droughts could be the rule rather than the exception in Europe
• 2007/07/18: TerraDaily: Sudan Flood Toll Hits 100, While Nairobi Panics As Tremors Rattle City
• 2007/07/18: ChinaDaily: Rainstorms kill 32 in Chongqing
• 2007/07/18: TerraDaily: Violent Thunderstorms Kill Dozens In China
• 2007/07/19: PlanetArk: Storm Kills 37, Floods Cities in Southwest China
• 2007/07/18: PlanetArk: More Heavy Rain Hits Flood-Battered China
• 2007/07/15: JFleck: Australian Drought Easing
• 2007/07/16: CBC: Climate change shrinking Chinese rivers, scientists say
• 2007/07/22: DailyIndia: Texas rain [17 inches] strands Amtrak riders
• 2007/07/22: BBC: China storms kill more than 100
• 2007/07/21: PhysOrg: Torrential rain causes chaos in Britain
• 2007/07/21: BBC: [UK Press Review] Torrential rain soaks the papers
• 2007/07/21: BBC: Hundreds rescued as floods strike - More than 750 people stranded in cars, caravans, houses and boats have been rescued from floods in Worcestershire.

  That story on flood water driven mice in China is still echoing:

• 2007/07/20: CSM: Rising floodwaters play the cat to billions of Chinese mice
• 2007/07/18: TreeHugger: Two Billion Rats Invade China: From Eco-Disaster To Exotic Delicacy
• 2007/07/17: Guardian(UK): 'Rats' on the menu after China swamped by 2 billion rodents - Field mice plague caused by worst floods in 50 years

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2007/07/18: Globe&Mail: Ethanol fuels global run-up in food prices
• 2007/07/17: CCurrents: Biofuel Mania Ends Days Of Cheap Food
• 2007/07/16: TreeHugger: Corn Prices: Now It's Getting Serious
• 2007/07/16: EnvEcon: More and More Ethanol Dominoes [UN food report]
• 2007/07/16: Times(UK): Ice-cream makers frozen out as corn price rises

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

• 2007/07/20: SciDaily: Insufficient Protection Of Crop Diversity Centres Threatens World Food Security, WWF Report Contends
• 2007/07/20: PlanetArk: Drought Threatens to Halve Hungary's Maize Crop
• 2007/07/15: FTimes: UN warns it cannot afford to feed the world
  Rising prices for food have led the United Nations programme fighting famine in Africa and other regions to warn that it can no longer afford to feed the 90m people it has helped for each of the past five years on its budget.
• 2007/07/16: TerraDaily: Organic Farming Can Feed the World [UMich study]

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2007/07/19: Telegraph(UK): Eating beef 'is less green than driving'
• 2007/07/18: NewScientist: Meat is murder on the environment
• 2007/07/16: EnvEcon: The costs of climate mitigation in the WaPo

  As for aviation & GHGs:

• 2007/07/18: BBC: Ryanair's green claims criticised
  Ryanair has been ordered not to repeat an advertisement that played down the impact of aviation on the environment

While in the endless quest for sustainable building codes:

• 2007/07/16: TreeHugger: 88% of New [US] Homes are Crappy GHG Spewing Energy Hogs

  And on the adaptation front:

• 2007/07/21: TreeHugger: Italy Dresses Down to Fight Global Warming
• 2007/07/16: PlanetArk: Coral "Shuffle" Helps Reefs Survive Warmer World - Study

  Planktos keeps popping up:

• 2007/07/20: GristMill: Washington Post notes Planktos
• 2007/07/20: WaPo: Iron to Plankton To Carbon Credits - Firm's Emission Plans Have Critics Aplenty
• 2007/07/20: DailyIndia: [Planktos] Carbon dioxide plan reviewed in Washington

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/07/19: CliPast: Climatic Conditions for modelling the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets throughout the ice age cycle by A. Abe-Ouchi et al.
• 2007/07/18: GRL: ($) Is the number of North Atlantic tropical cyclones significantly underestimated prior to the availability of satellite observations? by Edmund K. M. Chang & Yanjuan Guo
• 2007/07/18: NEChoices: [link to 2.8M pdf] The Rush to Ethanol: Not All Biofuels are Created Equal
• 2007/07/17: PNAS: Hurricanes benefit bleached corals by Derek P. Manzello et al.
• 2007/07/17: PNAS: Late Pleistocene and Holocene environmental history of the Iguala Valley, Central Balsas Watershed of Mexico by D. R. Piperno et al.

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

• 2007/07/20: Eureka: By ice floe to the North Pole
  An eight-month voyage through the Arctic Ocean, without ship or travel route: the North Pole drifting station NP-35 represents an unusual project of the International Polar Year
• 2007/07/20: Eureka: Researchers plumb mysteries of Antarctic Mountains
• 2007/07/19: PhysOrg: Flying Into a Thunderstorm
• 2007/07/18: PhysOrg: A new dawn for climate prediction
  Scientists must develop new, more adaptive approaches to predicting and monitoring climate, say climate modellers from the University of Exeter. In a 'perspectives' article published in leading journal Science, Professor Peter Cox and Professor David Stephenson argue that new prediction tools are required to help us to limit and adapt to climate change
• 2007/07/17: WarwickU: Decoding mushroom’s secrets could combat carbon, find better biofuels & safer soils
• 2007/07/16: Tamino: Lapse Rate

  While on the carbon trading front:

• 2007/07/19: PlanetArk: World Voluntary CO2 Market Tripled in '06 - Report
• 2007/07/19: PlanetArk: EU-UN Carbon Market Link Decision Due Autumn - UK
• 2007/07/19: EnvFin: US dominates booming voluntary carbon market

  The idea of a carbon tax endures:

• 2007/07/17: GristMill: Interview with green tax swap guy

  And the debate over the optimal strategy [carbon trading, carbon offsets and/or a carbon tax] to use in dealing with GHGs continues:

• 2007/07/19: GristMill: Oh, jeez, not another carbon offset post...
• 2007/07/20: EnvEcon: Cap-and-trade with a safety valve
• 2007/07/19: GristMill: More fresh, hot data nuggets on carbon offsets
• 2007/07/19: TreeHugger: Zerofootprint Guides: Offsetting, Part 4 - Why Offset With Trees When Fossil Fuels Are To Blame?
• 2007/07/18: GristMill: Carbon offsets: now with data!
• 2007/07/16: GristMill: The economic and political foolishness of paying for carbon reduction
• 2007/07/17: EnvEcon: Thomas Friedman on carbon offsets
• 2007/07/16: GristMill: The My final word on carbon offsets

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/07/22: GWWatch: Ban Ki-moon calls for UN action on climate change
• 2007/07/19: GristMill: Exporting our greenhouse gases to China
• 2007/07/17: ChinaDaily: Climate change is reshaping global politics
• 2007/07/18: ClimateP: Exporting Our Greenhouse Gases to China
• 2007/07/16: SF Gate: Save the Earth, buy less
  China will over take the United States next year to become the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases. China and the United States together emit 40 percent of the planet's carbon dioxide, according to the International Energy Agency. [...] China's growth, however, is powered by America's demand for consumer products -- and this growth is fueled by coal. These two factors lie at the heart of the political impasse. China and the United States each worry that if they agree to binding greenhouse-gas reduction targets, their respective house of economic cards will collapse. This unhealthy symbiotic relationship needs to be unraveled if any global post-Kyoto global warming agreement is to be reached.
• 2007/07/17: ClimateP: Department of "Not Gonna to Happen" [Bush & Ban this Sept]
• 2007/07/17: TruthOut: UN Chief Will Ask President Bush to Give Top-Level Support to UN Meeting on Climate Change
• 2007/07/17: ENN: U.N. Chief Will Ask President Bush to Give Top Level Support to U.N. Meeting on Climate Change
• 2007/07/17: Yahoo: UN head [Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon]: US should be at climate meeting [in September]

  And on the American political front:

• 2007/07/19: ClimateP: [Ed] Markey (D-Mass) writes FTC after offset hearing
• 2007/07/18: PhysOrg: Teachers to Learn About Climate Change
  School teachers from across Alaska are getting lessons this month at the University of Alaska Fairbanks so they can more effectively teach their students back home about climate change.
• 2007/07/18: WarmingLaw: As Goes Arnold...
• 2007/07/18: WarmingLaw: Sorry Jack...[Cheney, EPA, GHGs, SCOTUS]
• 2007/07/18: CSW: Federal NextGen aviation planning is ignoring global warming
• 2007/07/18: Yahoo: House boosts energy efficiency programs
  The House voted Tuesday to award increases to programs aimed at making cars and buildings more energy efficient and boosting research and development of alternative energy sources. [...] But GOP leaders promise a veto could be sustained given the fact that almost 150 Republicans have signed a letter promising to uphold any of his vetoes of Democratic-drafted spending bills
• 2007/07/17: NYT: Albany Rebuffs City Traffic Plan
  Lawmakers on Monday shelved Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan to charge a fee to drivers entering the busiest parts of Manhattan, dealing a setback to the mayor as he tries to raise his national profile and promote his environmental initiatives. The State Senate, which had convened in a special session, adjourned without taking up the plan after it became apparent that the votes for passage were not there.
• 2007/07/17: KSJT: Wash. Post: Slowing climate change will cost us, and politicians don't like the sound of that
• 2007/07/17: WarmingLaw: How Do You Like 'Dem Apples?
• 2007/07/17: TruthOut: Solar Power Wins Enthusiasts, but Not [federal R&D] Money
• 2007/07/17: GristMill: Carbon credit allocation [US legislative approaches]
• 2007/07/16: GristMill: Bipartisanship on the environment
• 2007/07/16: GristMill: Helpful energy legislation guides
• 2007/07/15: CSW: Union of Concerned Scientists Northeast climate change report does the government's job
• 2007/07/16: JFleck: The Albuquerque Journal on the Bingaman Climate Bill
• 2007/07/16: TreeHugger: Solar Power Wins Enthusiasts but Not [Government R&D] Money
• 2007/07/16: DeSmogBlog: Pollution control doesn't curb greenhouse-gas emissions, Utah task force says
• 2007/07/16: PlanetArk: Governor Signs Florida Greenhouse Gas Targets
• 2007/07/16: NEN: Cutting California Emissions Costs
• 2007/07/16: CDreams: AFP: Bush Administration Accused of Putting Ideology Above Science
• 2007/07/16: Missoulian: Park climate study urges new measures
  You would think that Glacier National Park might lead a list of America's parks threatened by changing climate, what with Glacier's glaciers on track to melt away within the next 25 years. You might think so, but you would be wrong. Turns out, there's more than enough examples to go around, and not only did Glacier not lead the list, it didn't even make the list. Last week, the National Parks Conservation Association released a report on climate change and its effects on parks, detailing more than two dozen specific case studies and calling for action from both Congress and the White House. "Global warming is harming our national parks," said Tom Kiernan, president of NPCA. "If our national parks are to survive and thrive into their second century, we must act now."
• 2007/07/21: ClimateP: Maryland Embraces California-style Decoupling
• 2007/07/22: PhysOrg: Governors Address Climate Change [at National Governor's Association conference]
  States should develop creative approaches to climate change, just as they have with challenges such as health care, despite their different economic interests, governors said Saturday

That Dingell bill is getting a lot of attention, mostly flak:

• 2007/07/19: TruthOut: Dingell's Energy Bill Blind Spot
• 2007/07/20: GristMill: Details on Dingell's carbon tax
• 2007/07/19: DeSmogBlog: Antediluvian Dingell Diddles Democrats' Prospects
• 2007/07/18: LA Times: Dingell's energy bill blind spot
  Once again, the Michigan Democrat is sabotaging energy policy in favor of playing politics
  Dingell's mockery of a solution that many of the nation's most prominent economists and environmentalists (as well as this editorial page) have endorsed is juvenile and destructive. Carbon taxes represent the simplest, most effective and economically least damaging option to fight global warming, because they encourage market solutions and their costs can be offset; higher prices for gas or power could be balanced by lower payroll taxes, for example. Yet a carbon tax comes with built-in political headaches, because voters are allergic to taxes and feel they're already paying enough for energy.
  To succeed, a carbon tax bill would have to be carefully crafted to avoid hurting consumers and the poor, and political leaders would have to explain its benefits. Instead, Dingell wants to propose an unpalatable tax that would be political suicide for any lawmaker to support. This could harm or kill more reasonable tax proposals and stall responsible policymaking for years --- time the world can ill afford to waste.
• 2007/07/21: NYT: Veteran House Democrat [Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich)] Guards Turf on Energy

  The 2008 campaign is always in the background:

• 2007/07/18: BSD: Health08 kicks HeatIsOn's butt

  The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2007/07/19: Yahoo: Indonesians told 'inconvenient truth' of climate change
• 2007/07/19: CCM: Shifting Focus from Gore to Improving Ocean Communication
• 2007/07/19: ThinkP: Attacks on Gore backfire [fishy biz]
• 2007/07/19: AspenDN: Gore: human species in a race for its life

  While in the UK:

• 2007/07/21: TreeHugger: UK Desalination Plans Attacked
• 2007/07/19: PlanetArk: London to Get Desalination Plant in Climate Battle

  And in Europe:

• 2007/07/18: EUPolitix: EU parliament signals tough line on car CO2
• 2007/07/17: BBC: MEPs signal tough line on car CO2
  The European Parliament's industry committee has backed proposals to sharply cut CO2 emissions from cars, but failed to specify a deadline. The committee is the first of several that will be commenting on a European Commission plan for a 20% cut in average car emissions by 2012. The industry committee called for a bigger cut, of 25%. It did not support a proposal to give industry longer - until 2015 - to reach the target.
• 2007/07/17: NEN: Estonia Wants More Carbon Credit [from EU]
• 2007/07/16: PlanetArk: EU Court Denies Fast Verdict in Polish CO2 Case - Source
  A European Union court has denied Poland's request for a quick decision in a case it has brought against the European Commission fighting future carbon emission limits, an EU source told Reuters on Friday. Earlier this year the Commission, the EU's top regulator, cut Poland's proposed annual cap on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2008-2012 to 208.5 million tonnes, down from 284.6 million tonnes, prompting a lawsuit from Warsaw, which argued the tight limits would hurt its economic growth. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovakia and Hungary are also challenging the limits set by the Commission.
• 2007/07/15: BBC: Emissions don't make Europe happy
  Europe's carbon emissions have risen markedly over the last 40 years, but the extra fuel use has brought little increase in happiness, a report says.

Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/07/19: ABC(Au): NSW Govt accused of breaking greenhouse promise
• 2007/07/19: PhysOrg: Save our [Great Barrier] reef, save our heritage
• 2007/07/18: ABC(Au): Young farmers raise concerns about climate change [Aus pol]
• 2007/07/18: ABC(Au): Parties' climate change policies lack detail: Flannery
• 2007/07/18: ABC(Au): AgForce calls for more climate change research
• 2007/07/18: ABC(Au): Worst polluters 'off the hook' under Howard
• 2007/07/18: GWWatch: John Howard 2.0 launched on stiff, clunky platform
• 2007/07/17: ENN: Australian Prime Minister Announces Carbon Trading System by 2011
• 2007/07/22: ABC(Au): Canadian expert calls for Aust renewable energy tariffs

  And in India:

• 2007/07/16: TreeHugger: India Announces New Climate Change Strategy
• 2007/07/16: PlanetArk: Five Facts on India and Climate Change
• 2007/07/16: PlanetArk: India Plans Global Warming Roadmap by Year-End
• 2007/07/22: GWWatch: India to develop climate change mitigation policy

  While in China:

• 2007/07/18: TerraDaily: Environment Protection Efforts In China Not Sufficient Warns OECD
• 2007/07/16: TerraDaily: China Vital Wetlands Shrinking Due To Climate Change
• 2007/07/18: ChinaDaily: China's forest coverage soars
• 2007/07/17: GristMill: China and the environment

  In Canada, the minority neocons show there is more than one way to shut up critics:

• 2007/07/17: Canoe: Green network faces funding crisis
  The Canadian Environmental Network, a backbone of communications within Canada's environmental movement, has warned its staff they may be laid off next week because of federal funding cuts.

Ontario is pushing green so much there must be an election coming:

• 2007/07/19: Globe&Mail: Ontario launching climate-change website
• 2007/07/16: CBC: Smog kills, groups warn, urging ban on coal power exports [from Ontario]

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

• 2007/07/19: OnlineOpinion: Addressing climate change through true cost pricing

  Apocalypso anyone?:

• 2007/07/17: NWN: In The Petri Dish: The Plight of our Energy-Sucking Species
• 2007/07/16: EnergyBulletin: On the precipice: Energy security and economic stability on the edge

  Here is something for your library:

• 2007/07/: WWI: Vital Signs 2006 - 2007
• 2007/07/: WWI: Vital Signs Online
• 2007/07/18: TreeHugger: [Book Review] _Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming_ by Chris Mooney
• 2007/07/16: GristMill: Storm World: Understanding hurricanes today

  Developing a new energy infrastructure is a fundamental challenge of the current generation:

• 2007/07/18: REA: National RPS: July's U.S. House Vote Crucial
  The message is the same in report after report: The U.S. needs a National Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) or Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) to spur the country's renewable energy market, generate millions of new jobs over the next decade, and lower electric bills for consumers and businesses alike -- not to mention help slow the devastating impacts of global warming.
• 2007/07/20: NewScientist: Taking the fossil out of fossil fuel [CH4]
• 2007/07/20: TerraDaily: US And Russia Facing Energy Crises
• 2007/07/20: TreeHugger: 50% Extra Free on Solar Installations: Solarcentury Moves Us Closer to the Tipping Point
• 2007/07/20: NEN: DOE Says Utilities Need Incentive To Be Efficient
• 2007/07/19: GristMill: Who says solar is expensive?
• 2007/07/19: TreeHugger: US Department Of Energy "Best Practices" Solar Guidebook
• 2007/07/19: HuffPo: Enrolling in the "University of Energy"
• 2007/07/18: Eureka: NJIT researchers develop inexpensive, easy process to produce solar panels
• 2007/07/18: TStar: Oil to hit $100 in 2008, predicts bank [CIBC World Markets report]
• 2007/07/18: SF Gate: Power burst - Bay Area and state warm up to solar energy, survey says
• 2007/07/17: GristMill: Benefits of large-scale energy storage
• 2007/07/18: PlanetArk: Solar Power Sector Will Need to Cut Costs [says Iain Dorrity, Chief Executive of PV Crystalox]
• 2007/07/17: NEN: Big Oil Buys Big Waves
• 2007/07/16: I-R-Squared: Storing Renewable Energy
• 2007/07/16: PlanetArk: Rooftops Key to Florida Green Energy Goal

  The US National Petroleum Council issued a report that reinforces last week's IEA report:

• 2007/07/19: DailyGreen: Oil Execs Push Doubling Of Fuel Efficiency - Serious Shortages Near On The Horizon: National Petroleum Council
• 2007/07/19: TEB: "Facing the Hard Truths about Energy" [NPC]
• 2007/07/17: EnergyBulletin: National Petroleum Council report comes up a dry hole
• 2007/07/18: OilChange: US Urged to Act on Energy [NPC report]
• 2007/07/17: Yahoo: [NPC] Report: Demand to outpace crude supplies

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2007/07/20: ABC(Au): Greenpeace challenges 'clean coal' claims
  Greenpeace says the word 'clean coal' is misleading, and has taken their complaint against the new coal-fired power station to the ACCC. The company behind a new coal-fired power station to be built in Victoria's Latrobe Valley has been taken to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over its use of the term 'clean coal'. Greenpeace says it has legal advice that the words 'clean coal' are deliberately misleading and could be in breach of the Trade Practices Act
• 2007/07/20: TomPaine: Coal Story's Next Chapter
• 2007/07/18: GristMill: Coal bashing: good, and good for you

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2007/07/20: TerraDaily: The Future Of Biofuels Is Not In Corn
• 2007/07/19: DesMoinesRegister: Ethanol stirs fear of water shortage - Some say Iowa fuel plants may be depleting supplies
• 2007/07/19: SciAGoGo: Report Pooh-Poohs Corn Biofuels
• 2007/07/18: EnergyBulletin: Agrofuels - Towards a reality check in nine key areas
• 2007/07/18: PhysOrg: The future of biofuels is not in corn
• 2007/07/18: NewScientist: Corn biofuel 'dangerously oversold' as green energy
• 2007/07/18: Eureka: The future of biofuels is not in corn - New, comprehensive analysis shows how ethanol is being oversold
• 2007/07/18: PlanetArk: Polish Refinery Resumes Biofuels Production

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2007/07/21: CPunch: Atomic Blowback by Ralph Nader
• 2007/07/19: TruthOut: Accidents Dim Hopes for Green Nuclear Option
• 2007/07/19: TerraDaily: Energy Worries Grow For Japan As Nuclear Plant Shut
• 2007/07/19: E&C: Uranium Spot Prices Fall - Is this the End of Uranium?
• 2007/07/19: PlanetArk: Fast Facts About Japan's Nuclear Power Industry
• 2007/07/17: CSM: Russia plans big nuclear expansion
  Leading the globe in construction of new plants, it also hopes to export as many as 60 plants in the next two decades
• 2007/07/20: Asia Times: Japan's nuclear plans in disarray [after the Niigata earthquake]
• 2007/07/19: CDreams: The Earthquake That Screamed "NO NUKES!!!"
• 2007/07/17: TerraDaily: Russia Will Build Floating Nuclear Power Plants
• 2007/07/17: CPunch: California's New Nukes War - Nuclear Surge
• 2007/07/16: DeSmogBlog: Global warming puts nuclear power on the hot seat in climate-change struggle
• 2007/07/16: CDreams: California's New Nukes War - A major pro-nuke "surge" against the renewable solution to global warming is about to erupt in California
• 2007/07/22: GWWatch: Australia's nuclear power created in Kirribilli

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2007/07/19: CNN: New Energy [Star] Guidelines For PCs Aim To Cut Energy Use By 60%
• 2007/07/17: GristMill: Green computing: Hope or hype?
• 2007/07/16: GristMill: Blue dogs for energy efficiency
• 2007/07/16: NEN: U.S. Wastes Energy, Can Do Better

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

• 2007/07/20: P&P: Booming car industry fuels climate crisis
• 2007/07/20: GristMill: New study finds that plug-in hybrids rule in all possible futures
• 2007/07/20: ENN: Study Shows Plug-In Hybrids Could Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• 2007/07/19: PhysOrg: Study: Plug-In Hybrids May Cut Emissions
• 2007/07/19: IHT: Plug-in hybrids would slash carbon output by 2050, report says
• 2007/07/20: CanWest: Canadians continue to go green - hybrid vehicles sell briskly
• 2007/07/17: ClimateP: The Hottest Energy Policy Article [The car and fuel of the future]
• 2007/07/16: GristMill: Why can't Detroit take the same approach? [as Boeing]
• 2007/07/16: GristMill: Study: Raising mileage standards creates jobs
• 2007/07/16: AfterGutenberg: Xinri Electric Bicycle Company in Jiangsu Province
• 2007/07/15: AfterGutenberg: Electric taxis can't hack it
• 2007/07/22: ClimateP: Toyota moves to corner the "plug-in" market

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2007/07/20: Crikey: How are you going to make millions from climate change?
• 2007/07/19: DeSmogBlog: Businesses, worried about climate change, believe they must provide solutions
• 2007/07/19: EnvFin: Investors can cut carbon without sacrificing returns - Trucost [UK-based environmental research firm]
• 2007/07/19: EnvFin: US [Business Roundtable] CEOs call for quick action on climate change
• 2007/07/17: TAP: Environmentalism for Billionaires
  How businesses are looking to cash in on global warming with green-washed plans that aren't as eco-friendly as they seem
• 2007/07/18: DeSmogBlog: Corporate honchos [Business Roundtable] acknowledge global warming but falter on emission cuts
• 2007/07/18: PlanetArk: Action Needed on Climate Change - US Business Group [Business Roundtable]
• 2007/07/22: GWWatch: Is green-washing a global phenomenon?

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2007/07/19: TerraDaily: RAND Study Finds Wind Insurance Costly And Scarce On Gulf Of Mexico Coast

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/07/19: ClimateP: Nonplussed at Planet Gore - PG Disinfotainment Watch #39 and #40
• 2007/07/19: Reasic: Green Myth-Busting: 70's Ice Age Predictions
• 2007/07/19: DeSmogBlog: NRSP Launches Nationwide Radio Campaign
• 2007/07/18: DeSmogBlog: Is Fox News finally turning the Climate Change Corner?
• 2007/07/18: GristMill: Your media at work [anti-Gore intrigues]
• 2007/07/19: Deltoid: Joining the dots on an anti-Gore story
• 2007/07/18: TreeHugger: Shell Told To Pull Greenwashing Ad [by Dutch Advertising Code Authority]
• 2007/07/18: DeSmogBlog: Exxon Apologist Attacks Hoggan Campaign to Clean Up PR Industry
• 2007/07/18: DeSmogBlog: Denier Cult Strengthens as it Shrivels
• 2007/07/16: BSD: Hoisting myself up from the comments - Slagle versus the WMO and IPCC [denial]
• 2007/07/17: ERabett: The bunny curve - Kristen Byrnes has thrown in the towel...
• 2007/07/17: BCLSB: Tim Ball: He Was Denying Stuff Years Ago
• 2007/07/17: TreeHugger: What Makes Global Warming Skeptics Tick?
• 2007/07/17: DeSmogBlog: So What's the "Smog"-o-sphere?
• 2007/07/17: DeSmogBlog: Shell's Greenwashing Advertisements 'misleading'
• 2007/07/16: GWWatch: Global warming caused by too much science [GWB's global warming policy]
• 2007/07/16: SciBlog: Solar link to global warming ruled out
• 2007/07/16: Stoat: Wasting time on glaciers with RP Sr

  Late commentary on TGGWS:

• 2007/07/19: TCE: The Death of The Great Global Warming Swindle
• 2007/07/17: Deltoid: ABC makes lemonade [from the lemon that is TGGWS]
• 2007/07/16: DeSmogBlog: ABC Australia's Tony Jones and Durkin Transcript
• 2007/07/15: PRWatch: The Great Global Sceptic Swindle
• 2007/07/14: ABC(Au): [transcript & mp3] Study of climate sceptics
• 2007/07/15: MObjectivist: Swindler Inaction

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/07/20: GristMill: Playing climate change poker
• 2007/07/20: ClimateP: Playing Climate Change Poker
• 2007/07/20: GristMill: Brit's Eye View: Lose the doom and gloom
• 2007/07/19: ERabett: Tropopausing - Eli has been fooling with his Spectra Calc...
• 2007/07/19: C411: Global Warming from Soot
• 2007/07/19: CasaubonsBook: Talking Population With the Old Men
• 2007/07/19: ClimateP: Best Lifecycle Climate Footprint Calculator
• 2007/07/19: ERabett: Wanna see some pictures lil' girl?
• 2007/07/19: C411: Climate Models: How Good Are They?
• 2007/07/19: TreeHugger: New Poll Identifies Global Warming as Top Environmental Problem
• 2007/07/19: OilChange: Celebs Target India in Climate Change Drive
• 2007/07/17: GristMill: First grants from $100 million Duke Foundation Climate Initiative announced
• 2007/07/16: GristMill: So much for green consumerism
• 2007/07/16: GristMill: Climate change big picture
• 2007/07/15: MTobis: Should science drive policy?

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

• Climate Cartoons
• GGO: Go Green Ontario
• UCSUSA: Global Warming Skeptic Organizations
• VLS: Environmental Law Center
• The Network for New Energy Choices
• Canadian Environmental Network
• Ecotality Blog
• I-R-Squared
• GRL: Published This Year in Geophysical Research Letters
• 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

---

Low Key Plug

My first novel Water was published May, 2007. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk. An overview of my writing is available here.

<regards>
-het

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

---

Bumper sticker: "Good planets are hard to find."

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