Another Week of GW News, July 8, 2007

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

• Top Stories, Live Earth, Greenland DNA, US Weather, Hansen, UHI
• Hurricanes, NHC flak, Glaciers
• Impacts, Rainforests, Wacky Weather, Floods & Droughts, Biofuel & Food
• Mitigation, Aviation, Sequestration
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Kyoto, Carbon Tax, Carbon Trading
• Politics, International, Security America, Britain, Europe, Australia, China, Japan, Asia, Canada
• Ecological Economics, Public Relations, Books, Courts, Betting
• Energy, Biofuel, Coal, Nukes, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Insurance Carbon Lobby
• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

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Here's a wee chuckle for y'all:

• 2007/07/06: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) New Sales Pitch by Prius to Conservatives
• 2007/07/03: UCS: (cartoon - Orr) ...and that concludes my federal report on the status of global warming.
• 2007/07/03: UCS: (cartoon - Bors) Global Warming Reports Have Been Coming Back With A Few Edits Lately...

  The big story of the week has to be Live Earth:

• 2007/07/07: ClimateP: Al Gore is in the House
• 2007/07/07: ClimateP: Chris Rock Goes Off Message
• 2007/07/07: ClimateP: KT Tunstall's Trees are Munching?
• 2007/07/08: JEB: Live Earth - I'm going to take the cynical side on this...
• 2007/07/08: TreeHugger: Live Earth Live: London
• 2007/07/07: ThinkP: Right Wing Launches Dishonest, Misinformed Attacks Against Live Earth
• 2007/07/07: Yahoo: Al Gore slams global warming doubters at Live Earth
• 2007/07/07: ePM: Take the Live Earth Pledge
• 2007/07/07: Turkish Press: Live Earth concerts create drumbeat for climate change
• 2007/07/08: AFP: Global green chorus as Live Earth sounds eco-warning
• 2007/07/08: ArabNews: Live Effort
  The chain of Live Earth concerts that began yesterday in Australia and ended on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach is estimated to have attracted television audiences of over two billion to say nothing of the tens of thousands who actually attended the concerts. This global event was an entirely fitting start to the five-year campaign being spearheaded by former US Vice-President Al Gore to address what is absolutely a global crisis.
• 2007/07/07: ClimateP: Live Earth Starts Slow
• 2007/07/07: ClimateP: Crowded House Is In The House
• 2007/07/07: ClimateP: Rihanna is Hot!
• 2007/07/07: ClimateP: Nunatak Rocks Antarctica
• 2007/07/07: ClimateP: Is That Captain Kirk I hear?
• 2007/07/07: ClimateP: Blue and Green Together Again
• 2007/07/08: ABC(Au): Stars rock Live Earth gigs around the world
• 2007/07/07: GWWatch: Live Earth to reach two billion world over
• 2007/07/07: HuffPo: Live Earth Makes Going Green Global - Worldwide Live Earth Concerts Draw Massive Crowds
• 2007/07/07: HuffPo: Live From LiveEarth: Carbon Critics Prove Al Gore's Point
• 2007/07/07: SwissInfo: Zurich rocks to sounds of Live Earth concert
• 2007/07/07: AFP: Live Earth concerts create drumbeat for climate change
• 2007/07/07: CanWest: 'Green' Gore on defensive over concerts
• 2007/07/06: CTV: At Live Earth, Al Gore urges world to take action
• 2007/07/07: BBC: Sydney kicks off Live Earth gigs
• 2007/07/06: Guardian(UK): Why rock won't save the planet
• 2007/07/06: CBS: Gore Defends Live Earth Concerts, Self
• 2007/07/07: Guardian(UK): 150 acts, two billion viewers - and an awful lot of greenhouse gas
• 2007/07/06: ClimateP: Live Earth meets Mother Earth in DC
• 2007/07/06: GristMill: D.C. to host surprise Live Earth show
• 2007/07/06: TCE: Live Earth - Complete Viewing & Listening Guide
• 2007/07/06: TreeHugger: Join the online Zerofootprint Party During Live Earth
• 2007/07/06: ThinkP: Surprise DC Live Earth concert
• 2007/07/06: HuffPo: Why Live Earth Will Fail
• 2007/07/06: BBC: Washington DC has been added as a venue for the series of Live Earth concerts, organised by former US Vice-President Al Gore to highlight climate change
• 2007/07/06: Yahoo: Live Earth adds 9th show to global event
• 2007/07/06: AFP: Live Earth concerts aim to rally action against global warming
• 2007/07/06: Guardian(UK): Rio can rock, says judge, but campaigners fear no one will listen
• 2007/07/05: ENN: Unknown Antarctica Band [Nunatak] Joins Live Earth Megastars
• 2007/07/05: CSM: Could this be the global-warming generation? Live Earth concerts in eight countries hope to inspire action. Will it work?
• 2007/07/05: BBC: Rio's Live Earth 'given go-ahead' [despite a judge's threat to cancel the concert due to safety concerns]
• 2007/07/05: ABC(Au): Second Live Earth concert in firing line [Brazil]
• 2007/07/03: Yahoo: Live Earth aims to cause lasting change
• 2007/07/02: GristMill: Live Earth: How green are the concerts for a climate in crisis?
• 2007/07/02: TreeHugger: Al Gore on Live Earth: Live Webcast on July 5 with Simran Sethi

  A report on 500 kya DNA samples from Greenland was notable in that nobody seemed quite sure how to take it:

• 2007/07/05: TerraDaily: Oldest DNA Ever Recovered Shows Warmer Planet
• 2007/07/05: NSU: DNA reveals a green Greenland - Old forests hint that the island has been icy for 450,000 years
• 2007/07/05: FuturePundit: Greenland Warmer Half Million Or So Years Ago
• 2007/07/07: GWWatch: Greenland's DNA reveals green past
• 2007/07/06: Reasic: Okay, So Greenland Was "Green"?
• 2007/07/06: KSJT: Lots of ink: DNA deep in Greenland ice cab shows the place really was green. Will it melt again, that's another issue. So's the DNA's age.
• 2007/07/06: PlanetArk: Scientists Find Clues to Ice Cap Longevity - Study
• 2007/07/06: BBC: DNA reveals Greenland's lush past - Ancient DNA samples show that southern Greenland was teeming with insect and plant life 450,000 years ago
• 2007/07/05: Yahoo: Scientists find clues to ice cap longevity: study
• 2007/07/06: Guardian(UK): DNA discovery reveals Greenland's warm past
• 2007/07/05: MongaBay: Lush forests blanked Greenland 500,000 years ago
• 2007/07/05: NewScientist: Oldest frozen DNA reveals a greener Greenland
• 2007/07/05: PhysOrg: Oldest DNA Ever Recovered Suggests Earth Was Warmer
• 2007/07/05: Eureka: Greenland's ancient forests shed light on stability of ice sheet

  The USA is afflicted by drought, flood and heatwave:

• 2007/07/06: TerraDaily: Western US States Swelter Under Record Heatwave
• 2007/07/06: WSWS: Record flooding forces thousands to evacuate in central US
• 2007/07/06: AP: West Sizzles, Little Relief in Sight
• 2007/07/06: TruthOut: Heat Wave Scorches Western States
• 2007/07/06: PhysOrg: Western US states swelter under record heatwave
• 2007/07/06: Yahoo: More rain drenches storm-weary Texas
• 2007/07/06: Yahoo: Western US states swelter under record heatwave
• 2007/07/06: AP: Heat Wave Scorches Western States - Phoenix reached 115 degrees; Baker, Calif., reached 125 degrees
• 2007/07/05: AP: Temps Top 100 in West From Heat Wave
• 2007/07/05: ClimateP: Heat Warning Issued [by NWS] for Western U.S.
• 2007/07/05: ENN: Rain-Swollen Rivers Crest in America's Plains
• 2007/07/04: ClimateP: Brutal Drought Where It's Normally Wet
• 2007/07/04: TreeHugger: Drought Nixes Fireworks Across States
• 2007/07/04: CBC: Rain-swollen rivers crest in U.S. Plains, but flooding may not ease
• 2007/07/03: AP: Oil Plus Floods Turn Kansas Town Slimy
• 2007/07/03: BBC: Oil spill adds to US flood misery
  A major oil spill has added to a flooding crisis across Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas as evacuees wait for water to recede from their homes. Some 42,000 gallons (160,000 litres) of crude oil have escaped from a refinery in Coffeyville, south-central Kansas, into the swollen Verdigris River. Officials are now trying to prevent the slick floating downriver toward Oologah Lake, in Oklahoma. Severe storms in the region have been blamed for 11 deaths in Texas alone.
• 2007/07/02: ABC(US): Weather Hassles Large Portion of the Country - Midwest Suffers Floods as West Deals With Wildfires

  It looks like Monbiot got around to reading Hansen's latest:

• 2007/07/03: Guardian(UK): Global Warming: A Sudden Change of State
• 2007/07/03: Monbiot: A Sudden Change of State [Hansen paper]

  Real Climate did a nice article on UHI:

• 2007/07/02: RealClimate: No man is an (Urban Heat) Island

  No hurricanes this week, but lots of NHC flak:

• 2007/07/06: CCM: Hurricane Wars: Episodes I & II
• 2007/07/06: TVftS: Putting Things in Perspective
• 2007/07/06: Wunderground: Transcript of the NHC press conference; QuikSCAT science
• 2007/07/06: Wunderground: Revolt at NHC; tropical update
• 2007/07/06: ABC(US): Hurricane Center Staff Seeks New Boss
• 2007/07/05: CNN: Hurricane center staff asks for new boss - 23 staff members sign petition asking for [Bill Proenza] director's ouster
• 2007/07/05: PBPost: 23 staffers call for removal of hurricane center chief
• 2007/07/05: SunSentinel: 3 senior forecasters call for firing of National Hurricane Center director [Bill Proenza]
• 2007/07/04: Wunderground: Challenging Bill Proenza's QuikSCAT numbers
• 2007/07/04: TVftS: The News is Out...and Likely So Is Proenza
• 2007/07/04: TVftS: The Storm at the NHC
• 2007/07/04: CCM: Fit Hits Shan at the National Hurricane Center

  Some other hurricane news:

• 2007/07/03: ENN: Hurricanes May Aid Stressed Coral
• 2007/07/02: NewScientist: Hurricanes may be unlikely saviours of coral reefs
• 2007/07/02: Wunderground: First half of July hurricane outlook
• 2007/07/02: CCM: Early July Hurricane Outlook

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2007/07/06: TerraDaily: Global Warming Ravaging Mount Everest
• 2007/07/07: Guardian(UK): Climate change 'is ravaging Everest'
• 2007/07/06: OilChange: A Message from Melting Everest
• 2007/07/06: Yahoo: Global warming ravaging Mount Everest, sons of conquerors say

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/07/08: ABC(Au): Barra [barramundi fish] could head south as climate change hits
• 2007/07/06: Yahoo: Alpine wildlife feeling the heat from global warming
• 2007/07/06: KSJT: LATimes: Skinny gray whales and signs that their Arctic larder is getting bare
• 2007/07/06: GristMill: Global warming: It's hard out here for a gray whale
• 2007/07/06: LA Times: A giant of the sea finds slimmer pickings - Gray whales are skinnier, and scientists suspect Arctic warming is the reason why
• 2007/07/06: ENN: African Farmers Urged To Change Ways Because Weather Is Changing
• 2007/07/06: SciDaily: Elevated Carbon Dioxide In Atmosphere Weakens Defenses Of Soybeans To Herbivores
• 2007/07/06: Eureka: Elevated CO2 in atmosphere weakens defenses of soybeans to herbivores
• 2007/07/02: Yahoo: Warming may impact Asia-Pacific region
  Rising temperatures are expected to have a huge impact on people's health in the Asia-Pacific region, causing more of everything from food poisoning to malaria, scientists said Monday
• 2007/07/05: EnergyBulletin: Energy, climate and the future of health
• 2007/07/04: BBC: Global warming 'made lake vanish' - Scientists in Chile have blamed climate change for the sudden disappearance of a lake in the south of the country.
• 2007/07/04: C4: US wildfire 'could burn all summer'
• 2007/07/03: PhysOrg: Global Warming Blamed for Vanishing Lake [in Chile]
• 2007/07/03: TreeHugger: South Indian Fish Stocks Threatened by Climate Change, Human Development
• 2007/07/03: DeSmogBlog: More Evidence of Global Warming in the Artic [ponds]
• 2007/07/03: ENN: Erosion Slicing Arctic Alaska Habitat
• 2007/07/03: ENN: Northern Canada Ponds Drying Up
• 2007/07/03: Yahoo: Study says erosion slicing Arctic Alaska habitat
• 2007/07/01: AllAfrica: EastAfricanStandard: Crisis Looms as Rivers Around Mt Kenya Dry Up
• 2007/07/02: ClimateP: Report: Climate Change and Environmental Degradation Trigger Darfur Crisis
• 2007/07/02: CBC: Disappearing ponds bad news for High Arctic
• 2007/07/02: ENN: EU Paper Shows Options on Warming Europe
• 2007/07/02: Eureka: Death rates will rise because of global warming
• 2007/07/02: Eureka: Global warming is evaporating Arctic ponds, new study shows
• 2007/07/02: Eureka: 1,000-year-old Arctic ponds disappearing due to global warming
• 2007/07/02: PhysOrg: Global warming is evaporating Arctic ponds, new study shows

  Here's one for the bizarro file:

• 2007/07/06: PhysOrg: Black widows invade Romanian shore - Hotter temperatures may have spawned an invasion of black widow spiders this summer on Romania's sea shore

  And then there are the tropical rainforests:

• 2007/07/02: NewStatesman: Fuelling a Carbon Crisis [Indonesian deforestation]

  Desertification looms:

• 2007/07/03: WorldChanging: Desertification, Climate Change and the Developing World

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2007/07/05: PlanetArk: Tornado Kills 14, Injures 146 in Eastern China
• 2007/07/03: PlanetArk: Storms Sweep Central China, 24 Dead
• 2007/07/06: Stoat: Cr*p weather

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2007/07/08: PhysOrg: [Florida] Drought Renews Pressure to Fix [Ever] Glades
• 2007/07/07: EnergyBulletin: Pray for rain: stories from the drought bus
• 2007/07/04: GristMill: Droughting on our parade
• 2007/07/02: BBC: Pakistan flood death toll rises [to more than 100 people]
• 2007/07/01: TerraDaily: Australian Drought Turns To Flood As California Dries Out
• 2007/07/02: ArabNews: Floods Inundate Hundreds of Pakistani Villages

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2007/07/06: ChinaDaily: Food vs fuel wars just beginning
• 2007/07/06: OilChange: Nestle: Biofuels will Increase Food Prices
• 2007/07/05: Reuters: Inflation fears smother China's ethanol drive
  Beijing is putting the brakes to China's ethanol production drive after increases in corn prices worldwide rekindled worries over inflation and food security.
• 2007/07/05: Guardian(UK): Biofuel demand to push up food prices [says UNFAO & OECD report]
• 2007/07/04: BBC: The rapidly growing biofuel market will keep farm commodity prices high over the next decade, a key [OECD] study has said
• 2007/07/02: ZMag: How the rising price of corn made Mexicans take to streets
• 2007/06/23: Independent(UK): How the rising price of corn made Mexicans take to streets
• 2007/06/28: Mercury: Two necessities, fuel and food, create spiral of rising prices

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

• 2007/07/05: CasaubonsBook: Notes from Ozymandias [sand, erosion, drought, water and agriculture]
• 2007/07/03: ICWales: _Empty Plates Tomorrow_ by Dr Patricia Dodd Racher [Book Plug]
  A Welsh economist has given an apocalyptic warning that Wales and the rich West face a potentially catastrophic famine, as energy reserves run out. Dr Patricia Dodd Racher, who lives in Porthyrhyd, Carmarthenshire, says that a "lethal cocktail" of climactic change, multinational corporate power and fuel shortages herald the end of the "cheap food era" over the coming decades
• 2007/07/02: CBC: Rainy conditions likely to keep wheat prices climbing - Farmers say prices not rising fast enough, given tight supply worldwide

  In researching food energy and agriculture issues, I mined a couple of sites:

• 1999/03/: MNForSustain: The Post-Petroleum Paradigm --- and Population by Walter Youngquist
• 2005/05/04: NPG: Energy and Population: Transitional Issues and the Eventual Limits by Paul J. Werbos
• 1995/01/: NPG: Land, Energy and Water: The Constraints Governing Ideal U.S. Population Size by David and Marcia Pimentel
• 1994//: WISC:CIAS: Energy Use in the U.S. Food System: a summary of existing research and analysis by John Hendrickson
• 2007/02/07: FSF: Did you know dinosaurs are in your food?
• 2007/02/12: FSF: Here's how agricultural energy consumption is broken down in the U.S.
• 2007/02/14: FSF: Canned Fuel Corn
• 2007/03/05: FSF: Food or Fuel?
• 2007/03/08: FSF: Energy Use in Food, Part 2
• 2007/03/08: FSF: Energy Use on the Farm
• 2007/03/09: FSF: So What is a Quad?
• 2007/03/12: FSF: So how much energy do we use to make ... energy?
• 2007/03/20: FSF: Climate Change Impact on Harvest Yields
• 2007/04/01: FSF: Ag Emissions and their Global Warming Potential, part 1
• 2007/04/01: FSF: Ag Emissions and GWP, part 2
• 2007/04/22: FSF: Ag Energy Compared to Oil Production Per Day
• 2007/05/18: FSF: Brand Exposure to Climate Change
• 2007/07/03: FSF: Nitrous Oxide in Ag, Part 1: EPA definitions
• 2007/07/03: FSF: Nitrous Oxide in Ag, Part 2: Nitric Acid Production
• 2007/06/06: FSF: More Energy in Food
• 2007/06/30: FSF: UK Food System Energy Use
• 2007/04/08: FGuide: Deep Economy or Undermining Capitalism?
• 2007/04/20: FGuide: Econ-Atrocity: The economics, and the politics, of environmentalism
• 2007/06/20: FGuide: Econ-Utopia: The Bloodless Revolution, part 1: A review of Peter Barnes' CAPITALISM 3.0
• 2006/06/21: FGuide: Econ-Utopia: Food for Thought: How Buying Local Food Contributes to Sustainability

  As for aviation & GHGs -- Plane Stupid:

• 2007/07/08: Guardian(UK): Back down to earth
  When two students decided something had to be done about climate change, they levelled their sights on flights. Now, with 150 fully committed activists behind them, Plane Stupid is giving the aviation industry a bumpy ride

And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2007/07/05: OilDrum: CO2 Capture and Storage: The Energy Costs
• 2007/07/05: NEN: Experts [Statoil] At Sequestration Call It Off/Not Viable?

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/07/02: CliPast: Modelling the Early Weichselian Eurasian Ice Sheets: role of ice shelves and influence of ice-dammed lakes by V. Peyaud et al.
• 2007/07/02: CliPast: Synchronisation of the EDML and EDC ice cores for the last 52 kyr by volcanic signature matching by M. Severi et al.
• 2007/07/06: CPD: Non-linear statistical downscaling of present and LGM precipitation and temperatures over Europe by M. Vrac et al.
• 2007/07/06: CPD: Changes in C₃/C₄ vegetation in the continental interior of the Central Himalayas associated with monsoonal paleoclimatic changes during the last 600 kyr by M. Mampuku et al.
• 2007/07/06: PNAS: Quantifying and mapping the human appropriation of net primary production in earth's terrestrial ecosystems by Helmut Haberl et al.
• 2007/07/05: PeteDecarlo: (pdf 280k) No solar hiding place for greenhouse sceptics
• 2007/07/02: PNAS: Crossing the final ecological threshold in high Arctic ponds by John P. Smol & Marianne S. V. Douglas
• 2007/07/02: PNAS: Hurricanes benefit bleached corals by Derek P. Manzello et al.

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

• 2007/07/03: NewScientist: Monster icebergs left deep scratch marks on seabed [12 kya]
• 2007/07/02: Eureka: Satellite images reveal link between urban growth and changing rainfall patterns

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2007/07/02: TSun: China, U.S. are key to Kyoto

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2007/07/06: TruthOut: In London's Financial World, Carbon Trading Is the New Big Thing
• 2007/07/06: NEN: Is stopping deforestation offsetting?
• 2007/07/04: DeSmogBlog: Romm on trees and carbon offsets
• 2007/07/03: ClimateP: Offset Rule 2: Two RARE Exceptions To Rule 1
• 2007/07/03: ClimateP: CalEPA Disses Safety Valve
• 2007/07/02: ClimateP: Safety Valves Won't Make Us Safer
• 2007/07/02: TruthOut: How Can Carbon Trading Save Peatlands and Rainforests?
• 2007/07/02: KSJT: Reuters: Carbon traders eying Indonesias huge (and flammable) peatlands
• 2007/07/02: ENN: How Can Carbon Trading Save Peatlands and Rainforests?
• 2007/07/02: ENN: Climate Deals Turn up Heat in Indonesia's Dark Peatlands

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2007/07/07: AfterGutenberg: Sacrifice is for Suckers
• 2007/07/01: JFleck: A Climate Tax

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/07/05: EUO: Germany plans climate deal with US states
• 2007/07/02: MTobis: Developing Countries' View

  The GW security meme has been active:

• 2007/07/01: VDM: Viridian Note 00494: Climate Change and Nuclear War
• 2007/07/04: ABC(Au): Govt told to plan for 'enviro soldiers' [to consider the ways climate change could affect how the Australian Defence Force operates]

  And on the American political front:

• 2007/07/07: CSW: OSTP Director Marburger's misleading testimony on NPOESS space-based climate observations
• 2007/07/07: TreeHugger: Detroit Area Congressman Lofting Fake Trial Balloon For Carbon Tax
• 2007/07/05: REA: Slimmed-Down U.S. Energy Bills Raise Major Questions
• 2007/07/07: NYT: Counting on Failure, Energy Chairman [Dingell] Floats Carbon Tax
• 2007/07/07: EnvEcon: Fun with a carbon tax in Washington, DC
• 2007/07/06: TruthOut: Utilities Must Do Their Part to Fight Climate Change by John Kerry
• 2007/07/05: WaPo: [Letter] Utilities Must Do Their Part To Fight Climate Change by John Kerry
• 2007/07/05: TreeHugger: [Federal] Department of Transportation Tried Blocking California's GHG Cap Legislation
• 2007/07/03: ClimateP: Global Warming Imperils 4th of July
• 2007/07/03: C411: Global warming and the Fourth of July
• 2007/07/03: TreeHugger: New CAFE Standards? Don't Break Out the Champagne Yet
• 2007/07/01: TruthOut: Feds Working Against CA Emissions Law
• 2007/07/01: CSW: Letter to the House Science and Technology Committee on global change research legislation

  New Jersey has enacted a tough anti-global warming law:

• 2007/07/07: Reuters: New Jersey governor signs toughest U.S. carbon law
• 2007/07/07: PhysOrg: NJ Enacts Anti-Global Warming Law
• 2007/07/06: Yahoo: NJ enacts anti-global warming law

  A California kafuffle ensued after Arnold terminated the Air Resources Board head:

• 2007/07/06: GristMill: Schwarzenegger in dispute with staff who wants to implement global warming legislation
• 2007/07/05: WarmingLaw: New California Air Resources Board Leader
• 2007/07/03: TruthOut: Governor Accused of Playing Politics on Warming Rules
• 2007/07/04: ENN: Environmentalist Tapped To Lead California Air Board
  California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named a veteran environmentalist to lead a pivotal pollution board Tuesday, hoping to defuse criticism that the state is moving too slowly on its landmark legislation against global warming. Schwarzenegger's choice of Mary Nichols to chair the California Air Resources Board earned praise from environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense. The governor fired chairman Robert Sawyer last week after sharply criticizing the board's vote to delay a plan to reduce smog in the state's central valley. But on Monday, Air Board executive director Catherine Witherspoon resigned from her post, saying Schwarzenegger's staff was trying to slow implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act to reduce carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in California by 25 percent by 2020. "Every signal the board got from the governor's office staff was 'Slow down, don't hurt the industry, don't get ahead of us on greenhouse gases,"' Witherspoon said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. Some lawmakers have said the shake-up -- coming as Schwarzenegger rides a wave of popularity for taking a prominent role in addressing global warming -- shows the governor's climate-change agenda is faltering amid confusion within his administration.
• 2007/07/03: WarmingLaw: Mayhem Over CA Warming Rules
• 2007/07/03: ENN: California Environmental Official Quits, Citing Meddling by Schwarzenegger's Office
• 2007/07/03: SacBee: Blowup over global warming
  Air board director [Catherine Witherspoon] quits after governor fires her boss [California Air Resources Board -- Chairman Robert F. Sawyer]

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

• 2007/07/05: TruthOut: Gore Slams US-Led Climate Pact [APPCDC] as Sham
• 2007/07/06: PlanetArk: Gore Slams US-Led Climate Pact [APPCDC] as Sham
• 2007/07/02: TruthOut: Moving Beyond Kyoto by Al Gore
• 2007/07/03: DeSmogBlog: Gore blames carbon polluters for climate doubt in UK
• 2007/07/01: CDreams: NYT: Moving Beyond Kyoto by Al Gore

  While in the UK:

• 2007/07/07: BBC: Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced a £14m relief package for areas devastated by the recent floods
• 2007/07/05: EnvFin: UK climate policy not biting on business
  Half of UK businesses think current environmental policies are not tough enough to address climate change, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey published today
• 2007/07/03: Guardian(UK): Climate bill does not go far enough, say MPs [UK cross-party environment select committee]
• 2007/07/03: Guardian(UK): Stop doing the CBI's bidding, and we could be fossil fuel free in 20 years
  Prospects for renewable power are promising. But it means nothing if the public interest is drowned by corporate power

And in Europe:

• 2007/07/05: EnvFin: France and Germany signal shake-up of climate policy
• 2007/07/04: EurActiv: EU states slow on energy-efficiency, environment
• 2007/07/03: Yahoo: Merkel rejects call to moderate emissions cuts
• 2007/07/03: OilChange: EU: A More "Robust" ETS Scheme Needed
• 2007/07/03: PlanetArk: Renewables Key to Meeting German CO2 Goals - BEE

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/07/06: ABC(Au): Clean coal may rule out nuclear power: [Federal Environment Minister, Malcolm] Turnbull
• 2007/07/04: ABC(Au): [Tasmanian] Farmers warned of climate change
• 2007/07/04: ABC(Au): Portland aluminium smelter gets increased emission levels [despite breaching its level by double]
• 2007/07/03: ABC(Au): Carbon trading can't wait: [Victorian Premier, Steve] Bracks
• 2007/07/03: ABC(Au): Garrett slams Govt over Kyoto 'failure'
• 2007/07/03: ENN: Aussie Farmers Launch Tree-Felling Protest [to protest against strict land-clearing laws designed to help the country curb its rising greenhouse gas emissions]

  While in Asia:

• 2007/07/03: PhysOrg: Asian Countries Eye Warming Problems
• 2007/07/03: ENN: Asia-Pacific Countries See Effects of Climate Change on Health, Brace for More
• 2007/07/03: PlanetArk: WHO Urges Asia to Prepare for Climate Change Crises

  And in China:

• 2007/07/06: Guardian(UK): China rejects binding target to cut greenhouse gas emissions
  China will not agree any form of binding target to reduce its soaring greenhouse gas emissions as part of a new international deal on climate change, a senior official confirmed yesterday.
  Lu Xuedu, deputy director of the Chinese government's office of global environmental affairs, said it "was not the time" for China to consider binding commitments, and he criticised developed countries for playing what he called the "games of children" over global warming. But Mr Xuedu said China had not ruled out binding targets in future. "For the time being we don't have that capability to make those commitments. We hope we will have that capability very soon but it depends on the development process," he said in evidence to the UK joint committee on climate change. "When we can take such binding commitments will depend on our capability, our economical development level."
• 2007/07/06: CDreams: Independent(UK): The Future of the Earth Depends on China
• 2007/07/05: EthicalCorp: Global warming in Asia: Six degrees and China

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

• 2007/06/28: CanadianDimension: Labour and the Environment
  Buzz Hargrove recently ignited controversy over the environment and auto-industry jobs. While seemingly criticizing federal environmental policy, Buzz may have played into the Harper government's unprecedented campaign of deception and trickery on climate change
• 2007/07/06: CanWest: The frozen North is so hot politically it has its own 'Vision'
• 2007/07/05: TCE: Guilting the Public is Not a Global Warming Solution
• 2007/07/04: CBC: Canadians willing to fork out more to help environment: polls
• 2007/07/04: Globe&Mail: O Canada, we must price carbon

  The movement toward ecologically based economics is glacial:

• 2007/07/03: MTobis: Environmental Economics vs Ecological Economics

  From a PR perspective, why did the GW issue become popular?

• 2007/07/06: ABC(Au): How global warming became cool
• 2007/07/06: CCM: Why Did Global Warming "Tip"? (Part II)
• 2007/07/06: HuffPo: Why Did Global Warming "Tip"? (Part II)
• 2007/07/05: HuffPo: Why Did Global Warming "Tip"? (Part I)

  Here is something for your library:

• 2007/07/03: TreeHugger: _Sixty Days and Counting_ by Kim Stanley Robinson [Book Tease]

  Meanwhile in the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2007/07/03: WarmingLaw: Update on D.C. Cir. Challenge to GHG rules

  Yes we have no betting action:

• 2007/07/04: BSD: Don Easterbrook won't bet over global warming
• 2007/07/03: BSD: Emily Yoffe won't bet over global warming

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

• 2007/07/05: TerraDaily: Nearly Half Of Electricity From Renewable Resources By 2030 Says Berlin
• 2007/07/03: REA: Oregon Approves 50% Solar Tax Credit
• 2007/07/06: TreeHugger: More Damming Evidence in India: Dams Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• 2007/07/06: I4U: Steorn Orbo Demo delayed until further Notice
• 2007/07/04: USAToday: New battery packs powerful punch
  A new type of a room-size battery, however, may be poised to store energy for the nation's vast electric grid almost as easily as a reservoir stockpiles water, transforming the way power is delivered to homes and businesses. Compared with other utility-scale batteries plagued by limited life spans or unwieldy bulk, the sodium-sulfur battery is compact, long-lasting and efficient.
• 2007/07/05: ENN: UN Official Says Cuba Has Solved Its Energy Crisis Without Sacrificing Its Environment
• 2007/07/05: ENN: India Invests US$595 Million in International [Fusion] Reactor Project [ITER] To Combat Global Warming
• 2007/07/05: Yahoo: Nearly half of electricity from renewable resources by 2030: Berlin
• 2007/07/06: ChinaDaily: Nearly half of electricity from renewable resources by 2030: Berlin
• 2007/07/04: ENN: The Hague Announces Project To Warm 4,000 Houses Using Geothermal Heating
• 2007/07/03: Eureka: Today's waste, tomorrow's fuel - Sustainable energy from urban waste

  How do you reduce carbon dioxide levels _and_ use the tar sands?

• 2007/07/06: Yahoo: Global warming threatens alternative-oil projects
  Oil-sand, oil-shale, and coal-to-oil projects - alternative fuel sources that could enhance US energy security - have always faced one hurdle. They look good only when oil prices are high. Now, they have another challenge: global warming. California has enacted new climate-change policies that make energy companies responsible for the carbon emissions not just of their refineries but all phases of oil production, including extraction and transportation. If that notion catches on - at least two Canadian provinces have already signed on to California's plan - then the futures of oil-sand, shale, and coal-to-oil projects may look less attractive. The reason: Extracting these alternative sources of oil requires so much energy that their "carbon footprint" may outweigh their benefits. The issue has gained fresh currency because of the new state legislation and predictions that Congress will call for mandatory carbon controls in the next two years.

The coal industry is getting dcidedly testy:

• 2007/07/06: AfterGutenberg: No Coal is Clean Coal
  "I'm afraid clean coal is a dirty lie, there's no such thing as clean coal, you burn coal and you get carbon, I'm afraid it's a last ditch grab for continuing profits for the coal industry and it won't help them in the long run." -Jan Davis, president of the Hunter Environment Lobby group
• 2007/07/06: ClimateP: James Hansen on Stopping New Coal Plants
• 2007/07/05: EnvFin: Capturing carbon from coal is 'essential' for climate - Stern, Soros
• 2007/07/05: TreeHugger: Big Coal's Back Is Covered, Business-As-Usual Climate Scenario Looks Increasingly Plausible
• 2007/07/02: DeSmogBlog: Big Coal Bites Back
• 2007/07/01: Reuters: Carbon backlash: coal divides corporations
  U.S. coal mining companies, which for years have been branded the bad guys of global warming, are fighting back. They are questioning not only the science but also the motives of some of the big-name corporations who have made well-publicized commitments to cleaning up their act.
• 2007/07/02: GristMill: Why economics (and coal) matter
• 2007/07/02: TreeHugger: Coal Industry Executive Terms Green US Corporations "Un-American"

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2007/07/05: TreeHugger: Don't Bet on Biofuels
• 2007/07/04: BFR: Wilmar reacts angrily to "defamatory" FoE palm oil report
• 2007/07/03: KSJT: Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald: Humans already feasting on plant crop energy. Not much room for biofuels?
• 2007/07/03: ClimateP: First U.S. Cellulosic Ethanol Plant
• 2007/07/03: ClimateP: Can Biofuels Be Made Sustainably?
• 2007/07/02: SciDaily: Cutting Greenhouse Gases: Biofuels That Don't Involve Food Crops Or Microbial Fermentation

  And the arguments over nukes:

• 2007/07/06: KSJT: Atlanta Journal: Anti-nukes release a study that warns against new reactors. It blows up (the study, that is?)
• 2007/07/05: TruthOut: Oxford Research Group: Nuclear Industry's Proposal for Clean Power Is a Myth
• 2007/07/05: NEN: Yet Another Look at Nuclear
• 2007/07/02: KSJT: AP: Nuclear energy hot again --- and that makes the old guard enviros hot too
• 2007/07/02: ENN: Nuclear Energy Hot Topic Once Again [Thanks to global warming...]

  Of course peak oil is an illusion:

• 2007/07/06: EnergyBulletin: Canaries in the coal mine - Below is a list of countries with reported energy shortages occurring within the past few months

  Then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2007/07/02: ClimateP: Energy Efficiency is Not Science Fiction

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

• 2007/07/07: TreeHugger: Enertia Electric Motorcycle To Hit Stores In Early 2008
• 2007/07/07: AfterGutenberg: FMC, SCE and V2G, Oh, Mi
• 2007/07/05: Tyee: 17 Reasons (or More) to Stop Charging People to Ride the Bus
• 2007/07/06: PhysOrg: For some, it's comfort vs. global warming [autos in Sweden]
• 2007/07/05: GristMill: From SUVs to solar panels
• 2007/07/03: GristMill: The catch phrase of the millennium [The Future Has Pedals]
• 2007/07/02: AfterGutenberg: Series Hybrid Signifies Electrifying Changes
• 2007/07/03: CalcRisk: GM: June sales decreased 21% [Toyota up 10%]
• 2007/07/02: ClimateP: Car companies back wimpy House CAFE plan
• 2007/07/02: TreeHugger: Nissan CEO Sparks Talk of Electric Cars [2010+]
• 2007/07/01: EnergyBulletin: Unrealized benefits of transport electrification are within reach

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2007/07/06: WorldChanging: LiveEarth, Investors and Climate Change
• 2007/07/05: ENN: UN Chief [Ban Ki-moon] Tells Business Leaders To Do More To Fight Climate Change
• 2007/07/02: MTobis: US equivocation called costly from business perspective

  Funny how this compares with the June UN report...:

• 2007/07/04: HoustonChronicle: Few Are Investing in Alternative Energy
• 2007/06/20: Eureka: UN issues analysis of global investors' sustainable energy 'gold rush'

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2007/07/06: BBC: Flood claims 'will reach £1.5bn'
  Claims relating to the UK's June floods will total £1.5bn, the insurance industry estimates. The Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (CILA) calculates domestic claims will reach £825m, while those from businesses will add up to £680m.

The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/07/07: ERabett: Pinatas!! The Lavoisier Group 2007 Meeting to Rehabilitate Carbon Dioxide
• 2007/07/05: ClimateP: Planet Gore Wrong on CAFE Rebound Effect
• 2007/07/04: GreenOptions: Green Myth-Busting: Martian Warming
• 2007/07/03: PRWatch: How to Cool Down Global Warming
• 2007/07/02: Deltoid: Glenn Reynolds calls Al Gore a Fuddy-Duddy
• 2007/07/02: Stoat: Alarmist global warming claims melt under scientific scrutiny?
• 2007/07/02: Stoat: Heat or Temperature?

  A couple of recent reports have skewered the solar variation & cosmic ray hypotheses:

• 2007/07/05: PeteDecarlo: (pdf 280k) No solar hiding place for greenhouse sceptics
• 2007/06/28: Arxiv: Cosmic Rays and Global Warming by T.Sloan & A W Wolfendale
• 2007/07/06: PeteDecarlo: Solar variations not the cause of recent tropospheric temperature increase
• 2007/07/06: Stoat: No solar hiding place for greenhouse sceptics?
• 2007/07/05: ERabett: Throwing in the towel [cosmic ray theory]
• 2007/07/06: BCLSB: The Sun Sets On That Little Theory
• 2007/07/03: WiredScience: No Link Between Cosmic Rays and Global Warming
• 2007/07/04: Deltoid: No link between cosmic rays and global warming

  A dodgy poll in the UK garenered some attention:

• 2007/07/03: BBC: 'Scepticism' over climate claims [Ipsos Mori poll]
• 2007/07/03: ABC(Au): Britons believe climate change threat 'exaggerated'
• 2007/07/05: DeSmogBlog: Be skeptical of the latest 'skeptical' UK pollster headlines

  This is just getting bizarre:

• 2007/07/07: MTobis: Not about polar bears
• 2007/07/05: ERabett: NOAA The Fish and Wildlife Service muzzles the polar bears

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/07/07: JFleck: "Stationarity is Dead"
• 2007/07/06: GristMill: Rule zero: Heal thyself
• 2007/07/06: GWWatch: Rain in Spain falls mainly on the forest
• 2007/07/05: ERabett: Pressure broadening - the effects of increasing CO2 concentrations on the greenhouse effect
• 2007/07/04: ERabett: Temperature [CO2 absorption and emission in the atmosphere]
• 2007/07/05: C411: How We Know Humans Cause Global Warming - Part 4 of 5: Medieval Warming Period
• 2007/07/06: DeSmogBlog: Chemical engineering, not carbon offsetting, is key to a low-carbon future
• 2007/07/05: Tamino: The Power of Large Numbers
• 2007/07/05: Terrain: New Breed Rising - Q&A with Markos Moulitsas Zuniga
• 2007/07/05: GristMill: Daily Kos founder misfires on 'clean coal'
• 2007/07/02: Guardian(UK): HSBC hires Stern as adviser
• 2007/07/02: Guardian(UK): Public 'still sceptical on climate change'
• 2007/07/04: PhysOrg: Pollution Leaves 200,000 Without Water [in eastern China, for 40 hours]
• 2007/07/04: ERabett: Mice bearing gifts [CO2 spectra calc]
• 2007/07/04: MTobis: RC on Monitoring and Modeling
• 2007/07/04: CCM: "I want to grow oranges in the Arctic!"
• 2007/07/03: Celsias: Warming Trend Continues Despite Anomalies
• 2007/07/03: MongaBay: The Arctic Battered by Careless Humanity
• 2007/07/03: ClimateP: Warming up to Mass Migrations
• 2007/07/03: TreeHugger: Voting Opens on Scientific Integrity Cartoons
• 2007/07/02: Tamino: Posts about the Thermometer Record
• 2007/07/02: Tamino: Facts [the U.K. Meteorological office's facts about global warming]
• 2007/07/02: KSJT: ABC(Au) The Science Show: To and fro, mostly to, on global warming
• 2007/07/03: GWWatch: Global warming shapes society. Part 1 - Migration
• 2007/07/02: C411: Climate Models: How They Work
• 2007/07/02: TreeHugger: Kyoto Treaty of Design: Designers' Call to Arms
• 2007/07/02: KentSU: Do People Listen to Heat Warnings?

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

• PeteDecarlo: Thoughts From a Cold House
• Yahoo: Full Coverage: Climate Change
• Yahoo: Wildfires & Forest Fires
• BFR: BioFuel Review
• Spectral Calculator
• Minnesotans For Sustainability
• CIAS: Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
• Sustainable Table: The Issues
• FSF: Food System Factoids
• Econ-Atrocity / Econ-Utopia
• Celsias
• New Scientist
• Nature Science Update
• Science Daily
• Eureka Alert
• CDIAC CO2 Info Analysis Centre

---

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

---

"At present and projected world population levels, the current pattern of human development is not ecologically sustainable. The world economic system is built on depleting, as fast as possible, the very natural resources on which human survival depends. Clearly, this is a flaw in human logic." -Mario Giampietro and David Pimentel, _The Tightening Conflict: Population, Energy Use, and the Ecology of Agriculture_, October 1993

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