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News Archive 2010 back to archive main page

Arctic explorers get nasty surprise: rain OTTAWA (Reuters) - In what looks to be another sign the Arctic is heating up quickly, British explorers in Canada's Far North reported on Tuesday that they had been hit by a three-minute rain shower over the weekend.	29th April 2010
Climate change not slowing: German weather service BERLIN (Reuters) - Climate change is showing no signs of slowing despite a severe winter in Germany that helped reduce public concerns about the threat of global warming, Germany's leading meteorologist said on Tuesday.	29th April 2010
Scientists link ocean acidification to prehistoric mass extinction (PhysOrg.com) -- New evidence gleaned by analyzing calcium embedded in Chinese limestone suggests that volcanoes, which spewed massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for a million years, caused the biggest mass extinction on Earth.	29th April 2010
German scientists suggest per-person carbon emission quotas Potsdam, Germany - German scientists called Tuesday for the world to accept per-person quotas for carbon dioxide emissions to kick-start a global trading scheme where poor nations will benefit....	29th April 2010
Cape Wind to become America's first offshore windfarm Green light for 130-turbine project in Nantucket Sound overcomes nearly a decade of resistance from the Kennedy clan and local environmental oppositionThe Obama administration gave the go-ahead today to America's first offshore windfarm in the Nantucket Sound, overcoming nearly a decade of resistance from the Kennedy clan and other famous denizens of the favourite holiday destination of America's liberal elite.The announcement provides a much-needed boost for President Obama's green energy credentials in the week that his proposed climate change laws were relegated down the agenda and the Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster highlighted the potential dangers of any expansion of near-shore drilling.The Cape Wind project will comprise 130 turbines that are expected to generate 75% of the electricity for Cape Cod and nearby islands like Martha's Vineyard.	29th April 2010
Niger - UN warning over total crop failure Niger is threatened with total crop failure in some areas and the situation is worse than the 2005 crisis, the UN humanitarian chief has told the BBC. Nearly 8m people are affected by the drought this year and the UN says up to $130m (£85.5m) is needed to help them.	29th April 2010
Climate Change Starts to Shake Up Wine Industry There is much more to the question of wine and climate change than the character of pinot noir. Because wine grapes are extraordinarily sensitive to temperature, the industry amounts to an early-warning system for problems that all food crops and all industries will confront as global warming intensifies.	29th April 2010
Green transport losing share to polluters: EU study BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Europe's greenest modes of transport are falling behind the biggest polluters, which is contributing to a steep rise in climate-warming emissions, the European Environment Agency said on Tuesday.	29th April 2010
Big Oil is awash in big profits - while Gulf of Mexico is awash in spilled oil - Oil company profits underscore need for reform BP just announced first quarter profits of $5.6 billion, a 135% increase over the first quarter of 2010. This profit was 50% higher than predicted by the Financial Times. BP owns the oil rig that sunk in the Gulf of Mexico last week, with 11 employees still unaccounted for and presumed dead. It is also leaking 42,000 gallons of oil per day. This growing oil slick is expected to hit Louisiana's fragile coast on Saturday. CAP's Daniel J. Weiss and Susan Lyon have the whole story on Big Oil's big profits in this repost. The big five oil companies-BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell-are poised to report their first quarter profits this week.	29th April 2010
Is climate change South Asia's deadliest threat? South Asian leaders under pressure over climate change	29th April 2010
Australia shelves climate scheme Australia says a key emissions trading scheme will not start until 2013 at the earliest, after it was repeatedly blocked in the Senate.	29th April 2010
Unnamed Physicist Sponsors Global Warming Denial Video Targeting High Schoolers cassiopeia logo.png Providing high quality educational resources to science classrooms is a noble task, but when those resources include deeply flawed global warming denial material, produced with funding from an anonymous source, red flags ought to go up. That is the scenario with The Cassiopeia Project's video suggesting that climate change is bunk. Cassiopeia was previously known for producing excellent videos exploring complex scientific concepts, but now all of its good work is being compromised by an unscientific and dishonest attack on global warming research. That has fans of Cassiopeia's more well-regarded videos flummoxed. Incredibly, three of the twelve sources cited in the global warming video credits are the exact same press release posted in diferent locations and written by Marc Morano while he still worked for Senator James Inhofe (R-OK).	29th April 2010
Cochabamba postscript: lessons, reflections, and the road to Cancun The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (CMPCC, for its Spanish acronym) ended on Thursday in Cochabamba and every airport I've stopped in (more than a few now) has been filled with people heading home with new energy, new direction, and excitement to get back to work. But before the movement moves on I want to share some last reflections that we'll be taking forward. read more	29th April 2010
GOP Senator Engages in 'Cynical Political Ploy' to Derail Immigration and Climate Bills Supposedly 'bipartisan' Sen. Lindsay Graham is threatening to take his marbles and go home - refusing to work with Democrats on either issue.	29th April 2010
One myth about the Washington Post: It still practices serious journalism - No myth: Wind power HAS reduced Denmark's CO2 emissions a lot The Washington Post has adopted many strategies to stave off its collapsing circulation. It has, for instance, gone tabloid, repeatedly publishing falsehood-filled op-eds by Sarah Palin, including one on climate science! It also strains to print an unconventional 'contrarian' analysis ever week in its '5 Myths' series, which is supposedly 'a challenge to everything you think you know.' Of course, lots of what you know is true, and that means the Post has to print lots of stuff that isn't. In its 5 Myths about China's economic power piece two weeks ago, 'Myth' 4 was 'China's hunger for resources is sucking the world dry and making major contributions to global warming.' You may notice something about that myth - it isn't one.	29th April 2010
CLIMATE CHANGE: Forests Not for Absorbing Carbon, Say Activists COCHABAMBA, Bolivia, Apr 27 (Tierramérica) - The UN-led global initiative to use forest conservation as a way to offset greenhouse gas emissions heated things up at the people's summit against climate change in Bolivia. In the end, the participants reached a consensus - and rejected the plan.	29th April 2010
Claude Allègre: The Climate Imposter Guest Commentary by Georg Hoffmann In mathematical proofs, it's a well-known fact that if at some point you divide by zero accidentally or on purpose, then you end up being able to prove absolutely anything you want " for instance, that 2+2=5 or that 1+1=0. The same phenomena appears to govern any number of publications that conclude that climate science is all a fraud " at some point, an impossible calculation is performed and from then on, anything (and everything) can be proven. Critical thinking appears to vanish. The latest example is that of Claude Allègre " whose recent book 'The climate imposture' would have you believe at least six impossible things before breakfast and a great many more before dinner.	29th April 2010
Over 100,000 rally for climate and clean energy action - Washington Post downplays this amazing show of support In its main environmental story today " 'On climate bill, Democrats work to overcome Graham's immigration objections' - the WashPost said: In some ways, the problem that proponents of climate legislation face is that they're pursuing a policy goal that is not much of a hot-button political issue. Environmental activists had a well-attended event Sunday on the Mall, with musical stars Sting and John Legend, but immigration reform advocates are likely to dwarf that turnout with dozens of rallies across the country Saturday. Yes, the biggest single climate rally in U.S. history is dismissed by comparison with the hypothetical cumulative turnout of dozens of future rallies on immigration.	26th April 2010
German nuclear protesters form 75-mile human chain BERLIN (Reuters) - Opponents of nuclear power formed a 120-km (75-mile) human chain between reactor sites in Germany Saturday to protest against government plans to extend the power plants' operation.	26th April 2010
World’s first taxis with easily swapped batteries hit Tokyo by Agence France-Presse Electric taxi in Tokyo.Photo: Better PlaceTOKYO-The world's first taxis with easily replaceable batteries hit the streets of the Japanese capital Monday in a government-funded experiment. The purpose-built cars that can run on easily swapped batteries-rather than wait to be recharged or switch to other fuels-were launched in Tokyo by Japan's energy agency. Three cars based on the Nissan Dualis will operate as normal taxis on the city's streets during the 90-day experiment, a joint project with Better Place, a U.S. firm specializing in providing electric vehicle infrastructure.	26th April 2010
A mighty blow for Britain The south westerly wind occupies a special place in our national life. So where has it been when we've needed it, asks Horatio Clare.	26th April 2010
Setback for hopes of Senate climate deal Democrats' hopes of unveiling a long-awaited climate change bill on Monday were dashed at the weekend when the Republican senator working on a bipartisan deal walked away from the legislation, citing a 'cynical political ploy' by the majority leadership. Months-long efforts to come up with a form of a bill that senators on both sides of the upper chamber could support appeared to be coming to a close last week, with John Kerry, the Democratic senator steering the negotiations, saying he would present the package on Monday. See Also: Last chance for climate change legislation? US Senate climate bill postponed over immigration row	26th April 2010
Mainstream Green Groups Cave In On Climate By Gary Houser Cory Morningstar With climate scientists warning that we are in a global emergency and tipping points leading to runaway catastrophe will be crossed unless carbon pollution is rapidly reduced, one would expect groups identified as environmental defenders to be shifting into high gear. Instead, we are witnessing the unspeakably tragic spectacle of a mainstream environmental movement allowing itself to be seduced and co-opted by the very forces it should be vehemently opposing	26th April 2010
US research paper questions viability of carbon capture and storage Document from Houston University claims governments overestimated CCS valueA new research paper from American academics is threatening to blow a hole in growing political support for carbon capture and storage as a weapon in the fight against global warming.The document from Houston University claims that governments wanting to use CCS have overestimated its value and says it would take a reservoir the size of a small US state to hold the CO2 produced by one power station.Previous modelling has hugely underestimated the space needed to store CO2 because it was based on the "totally erroneous" premise that the pressure feeding the carbon into the rock structures would be constant, argues Michael Economides, professor of chemical engineering at Houston, and his co-author Christene Ehlig-Economides, professor of energy engineering at Texas AM University"It is like putting a bicycle pump up against a wall.	26th April 2010
How Bjørn Lomborg deceives the public Bjørn Lomborg is articulate, attractive, youthful-looking and the supposed voice of reason in the debate over environmental policy. So, it is no surprise that he is making the rounds in the media this Earth Day season. In a piece in USA Today he recycles claims from previous work that "many key environmental measures" are getting better.As you sift through the piece, you will see that his "key environmental measures" relate almost exclusively to the health and well-being of humans. And, this is what he uses to build a three-fold strategy to deceive the public. First, he equates human well-being with the well-being of the planet as a whole largely ignoring declines in the functioning of the very ecosystems that support human life.	26th April 2010
Climate bill gives polluter and nuclear breaks WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. climate change bill expected to be unveiled on Monday contains incentives to spur development of a dozen nuclear power plants, but delays emissions caps on plants that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, industry sources said on Friday.	26th April 2010
On the frontline of climate change | Joseph Huff-Hannon For many of North America's indigenous activists at the Bolivia summit, the fight against climate change is rooted in local issues. This week's massive climate conference in Bolivia played host to a geographically diverse group of diplomats from the US, well-versed in advancing tough negotiating postures, and working within a framework of international treaties often not worth the paper they're printed on. The US delegation didn't come from the state department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the department of energy. Yet one delegate was given central billing in the inaugural event that kicked off the conference earlier in the week."We remain firm in our inalienable, sovereign rights," Faith Gemmill told a crowd of thousands that filled up Tiquipaya Coliseum on a sun-scorched morning, to a loud round of applause. See aslo: Building a Climate Justice Movement	26th April 2010
Deep Climate exposes more cheating by team Wegman Wegman.jpg Plagiarism and poor scholarship rife in statistician's tight circle The blogger Deep Climate has released another devastating analysis of the shoddy scholarship and obvious cheating that characterized the work of the statistician Edward Wegman and his team, authors of a report to Congress that Deep Climate calls "nothing more than a politically motivated attack on climate science and scientists from the start." DeepC, surely on of the most careful, thorough and tireless researchers currently working the climate blogosphere, has been here before, collecting evidence that demonstrated massive plagiarism by Wegman and his proteges when they were preparing their Republican-commissioned attack on Michael Mann's oft-vindicated, but still controversial hockey stick graph.	26th April 2010
Geothermal energy summit in Bali Indonesia is hosting what is being called the world's biggest Geothermal energy conference, with 80 countries attending.	26th April 2010
Coal activists arrested after chaining themselves to railway track Seven coal activists arrested after chaining themselves to railway track leading to Ffos-y-Fran mineSeven protesters have been arrested by police after chaining themselves to the train line connecting an open cast coal mine with a power station in South Wales. Police are currently dealing with a second group of activists who have now locked on further up the line.The Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine near Merthyr Tydfil has already been the target of several occupations (including one by Guardian writer George Monbiot), the Welsh climate camp last summer, and a sustained local campaign from the residents.The activists, part of the Bristol and Bath Rising Tide direct action group, reached the rail track at midday today, and phoned the security at the coal mine to warn them about the protest.	26th April 2010
George Monbiot confronts 'climate ministers' on fossil fuels At the Guardian's climate debate, George Monbiot confronted Ed Miliband, Greg Clark and Simon Hughes on their party's policies on exploiting fossil fuelsGeorge Monbiot	26th April 2010
Soil Microbes Produce Less Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Than Expected With Climate Warming (PhysOrg.com) -- In dark, rich soils on every continent, microbes dealing with the effects of climate change aren't accelerating global warming the way scientists had predicted, a study by researchers at the University of California at Irvine, Colorado State University and Yale University shows.	26th April 2010
For one night only? Climate change back on election agenda climate change came back into the election as a live issue yesterday when the three main parties clashed over each other's credentials for fighting global warming.	26th April 2010
Leading article: The unfinished green revolution One of the most pleasing aspects of this election campaign is the fact that climate change has become part of the discourse of mainstream politics. All three of the major parties have signed up in their manifestos to cut our national carbon emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050.	26th April 2010
How Cap And Trade Was 'Trashed' Climate-change legislation has suffered a major setback in the Senate, with its key GOP supporter backing away. Even if it can be revived, it won't contain the centerpiece idea of the House-passed bill: a proposal to use free market techniques to reduce carbon emissions.	26th April 2010
Ocean chemistry changing at 'unprecedented rate' WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming are also turning the oceans more acidic at the fastest pace in hundreds of thousands of years, the National Research Council reported Thursday.	23rd April 2010
'Paltry' carbon curbs point to 3C Pledges made at the Copenhagen summit are very unlikely to keep global warming below 2C, researchers find.	23rd April 2010
Bolivian President Blames Capitalism for Global Warming COCHABAMBA, Bolivia, April 20, 2010 (ENS) - Bolivian President Evo Morales said capitalism is to blame for global warming and the accelerated deterioration of the planetary ecosystem in a speech today opening an international conference on climate change and the "rights of Mother Earth."	23rd April 2010
Like Sept.11, volcano plane ban may hold climate clue OSLO (Reuters) - Plane-free skies over Europe during Iceland's volcanic eruption may yield rare clues about how flights stoke climate change, adding to evidence from a closure of U.S. airspace after September 11, 2001, experts say.	23rd April 2010
National carbon calculator: How Labour would cut emissions Our approach is not only to cut carbon, but to create clean energy jobs, finance low-carbon infrastructure and empower individuals Test the national carbon calculator hereAlongside the economic crisis and the political crisis of expenses, the climate crisis is fundamental to the choices we have to make as a country in the years ahead. But despite the threat that global warming poses, we must also seize the moment to inspire people with the positive vision we can achieve as we tackle it.The mission to create green jobs through clean energy and low-carbon manufacturing is at the heart of our manifesto. Test the national carbon calculator here	23rd April 2010
Foreign Policy mag spotlights ‘peak phosphorous’ by Tom Philpott Where your food comes from: a phosphate mine in Florida run by the fertilizer giant Mosaic. Mosaic is two-thirds owned by Cargill, the globe's largest agribusiness company, with interests in meat, feed, biofuels, and more. Photo: Susan Dracket, via FlickrAs Grist's recent special series showed, our reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has serious ecological, geopolitical, public-health, and agricultural consequences. Yet N isn't our only fertilizer problem. To grow robustly, plants need sufficient access to three key macronutrients: N,P, and K, or nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. In non-industrial and organic farming systems, recycling these nutrients is a paramount task.	23rd April 2010
Bolivia's fight for survival can help save democracy too | Naomi Klein The people's summit to tackle climate change is a radical, transformative response to the failure of the Copenhagen clubIt was 11am and Evo Morales had turned a football stadium into a giant classroom, marshalling an array of props: paper plates, plastic cups, disposable raincoats, handcrafted gourds, wooden plates and multicoloured ponchos. All came into play to make his main point: to fight climate change "we need to recover the values of the indigenous people".Yet wealthy countries have little interest in learning these lessons and are instead pushing through a plan that, at its best, would raise average global temperatures 2C. See also: Wanted: World Referendum, Climate Justice Tribunal	23rd April 2010
Finland plans 'massive' renewable energy boost Finland's government on Tuesday outlined a plan to massively boost renewable energy production to meet European Union requirements on slashing greenhouse gas emissions.	23rd April 2010
Stirling Is Gold Salt River Project announced the opening of a new concentrating solar power pilot project in late January. The 1.5 MW Maricopa Solar installation is the first commercial project for the SunCatcher, a 25 kW dish/Stirling power system developed by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Stirling Energy Systems (SES).	23rd April 2010
Interview: Senator Cantwell on Her Alternative to Cap-and-Trade As energy and climate legislation continues to founder in the U.S. Senate, one Democratic senator, Maria Cantwell of Washington, says it's time for a new strategy. Her legislation, co-sponsored by Republican Susan Collins of Maine and praised by many for its simplicity, would make the country's major suppliers of fossil fuels buy permits to emit C02, and return most of the proceeds to taxpayers. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Cantwell explains how her 'cap-and-refund' bill avoids the potentially murky financial Maria Cantwell mechanisms of the traditional cap-and-trade approach, while at the same time winning over the public in the transition to a post-fossil fuel economy. Read the interview	23rd April 2010
Larger Number of EU Nations Impose CO2 Vehicle Tax, Promote Electric Cars More European nations are levying carbon taxes on passenger vehicles and providing tax incentives for electric vehicles, according to a new report by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. Seventeen of the 27 European Union nations now impose a tax based on carbon emissions, compared with 11 in 2007 and nine in 2006. In 2009, motor vehicles taxes of all kinds generated about 377 billion ($505 billion), or 3.4 percent of total GDP, in the 15 nations Click to enlargeACEAEU nations with CO2 vehicle tax that originally made up the EU. Fifteen of the EU's current 27 members provide incentives for electric vehicles, including tax reductions and bonus payments.	23rd April 2010
Climate scientist sues newspaper for 'poisoning' global warming debate One of the world's leading climate scientists has launched a libel lawsuit against a Canadian newspaper for publishing articles that he says "poison" the debate on global warming. In a case with potentially huge consequences for online publishers, lawyers acting for Andrew Weaver, a climate modeller at the University of Victoria, Canada, have demanded the National Post removes the articles not only from its own websites, but also from the numerous blogs and sites where they were reposted. Weaver says the articles, published at the height of several recent controversies over the reliability of climate science in recent months, contain "grossly irresponsible falsehoods".	23rd April 2010
UK offshore wind breezes through 1GW barrier Wind farms at Gunfleet Sands and Robin Rigg mean the UK can now power up to 700,000 homes. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkThe UK cemented its position as the leading player in the global offshore wind energy market today with the announcement that it has attained one gigawatt of installed offshore wind capacity.Trade association RenewableUK said that the completion of Dong Energy's Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm and E.ON's Robin Rigg development means that the UK now boasts 11 working offshore wind farms, featuring 336 wind turbines capable of generating power for up to 700,000 homes.The association said that the rapidly expanding sector was also poised to accelerate further, with more than 40GW of capacity now at various stages of the development pipeline.	23rd April 2010
Plan to use satellites to monitor British motorists (PhysOrg.com) -- Britain may soon be using global positioning satellites and advanced speed cameras with number plate recognition technology to track speeding motorists, and according to a report released by the House of Commons, the system can be installed and operated at relatively low cost.	23rd April 2010
"Eaarth": Earth is over A climate pioneer declares the planet -- with its rising humidity and hot oceans -- dead	23rd April 2010
Our Big Challenge on Earth Day: Stop the Nuke Industry from Pretending It Can Prevent Climate Change The global grassroots green movement must work to transform the pending climate bill into something that can actually save the planet.	23rd April 2010
UK university ordered to give data to climate sceptic Queens University Belfast must accept a freedom-of-information request for its tree-ring data from an amateur climate analyst and climate sceptic	23rd April 2010
A Watershed Month For The Truth About Peak Oil By Matthew WildBy any measure, March was a watershed month for the truth about peak oil. Estimates on the timing of the peak have narrowed dramatically, and now center on the 2012-2015 time frame. The range of estimates on the peak rate of production remain a bit broader and shrouded in caveats, but they are rapidly drawing closer to 90 mbpd. And the globally averaged, post-peak annual decline rates are settling in around 2%	23rd April 2010
Free carbon permits plan a $20 billion waste: report A review of the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme has described its plans for free carbon permits to heavy emitters as a $20 billion waste of money.	23rd April 2010
Fossil-fuel subsidies hurting global environment, security A comprehensive assessment of global fossil-fuel subsidies has found that governments are spending $500 billion annually on policies that undermine energy security and worsen the environment.	23rd April 2010
Congress may push immigration over climate bill WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic leaders in the Congress may try to win passage of contentious immigration reform legislation this year in a move that could further harm prospects for a climate-change bill, congressional aides said on Wednesday.	23rd April 2010
Planet going backward: Suzuki David Suzuki remembers the first Earth Day 40 years ago today as a watershed moment in the history of the budding environmental movement. The UBC geneticist was already on a trajectory to becoming the iconic scientist and broadcaster who would raise public awareness of ecological issues for decades to come.	23rd April 2010
Whale poop is vital to ocean's carbon cycle Protecting endangered baleen whales in the Southern Ocean could help restore its carbon storage capacity	23rd April 2010
Come to the largest climate rally ever on the D.C. mall on April 25 Earth Day Network is organizing a huge event on the Mall in Washington D.C. on April 25. The goal is to demand tough, effective climate legislation and a swift transition away from 19th century energy sources. read more	23rd April 2010

Ice cap thaw may awaken Icelandic volcanoes OSLO (Reuters) - A thaw of Iceland's ice caps in coming decades caused by climate change may trigger more volcanic eruptions by removing a vast weight and freeing magma from deep below ground, scientists said on Friday. See also: Iceland volcano unlikely to slow global warming: scientists Volcano emitting 150-300,000 tonnes of CO2 daily: experts 'Observations suggest that the ongoing rise in global average temperatures may already be eliciting a hazardous response from the geosphere.' Grounding of Europe's Jets Cancels Out CO2 Emissions from Volcano	20th April 2010
Pumping tax dollars to big oil - Getting priorities right on tax subsidies for oil companies ExxonMobil paid no U.S. federal income tax in 2009. In fact, it was entitled to a $156 million tax refund. Why? CAP's Sima J. Gandhi, has the answer in this repost. The answer is more boring than you think: It overpaid its 2008 taxes. ExxonMobil was required to bolster its pension plan by $3 billion when the market went down in 2008. According to Alan Jeffers, Exxon's media relations manager, this overpayment reduced the amount of taxes owed in 2008, but the tax adjustment wasn't made until one year later, which led to an overpayment and the refund in 2009.	20th April 2010
Where's the apology from the right for lying about Climategate? At last! The controversy is over. It turns out the "scientific" claims promoted for decades by whiny self-righteous liberals were a lie, a fraud, a con--and we don't need to change after all. The left is humiliated; the conservatives are triumphant and exultant. The year is 1954, and the "science" that has been exposed as a "sham" by conservatives is the link between smoking and lung cancer. Welcome to Tobaccogate, as Fox News would call it. The conservatives are championing professor Clarence Cook Little, who says he has discovered insurmountable flaws in the use of statistics and clinical data by "anti-tobacco" (and quasi-commie) scientists.	20th April 2010
Betting on climate change Last year, Beluga Shipping discovered that there's money in global warming. Beluga is a German firm that specializes in 'super heavy lift' transport. Its vessels are equipped with massive cranes, allowing it to load and unload massive objects, like multi-ton propeller blades for wind turbines. It is an enormously expensive business, but last summer, Beluga executives hit upon an interesting way to save money: Shipping freight over a melting Arctic. Beluga had received contracts to send materials on a sprawling trip that would begin in Ulsan, South Korea, head north and west to the Russian port city of Archangelsk-located near the border with Finland-and wind up in Nigeria.	20th April 2010
Video: Emily Hunter Investigates the Tar Sands - Part 1 Tar Sands TV-documentary	20th April 2010
Cutting climate Why the EU can and must cut emissions faster	20th April 2010
Some Of Our Heat Is Missing As seen on a YouTube here : [link]. The Earth is heating up, as evidenced by a number of direct measurements. However, we do not know where all the heat is located. Here's what Kevin Trenberth has written, which should be clear for anybody who has a reasonably good command of the English language :- [link]	20th April 2010
ENVIRONMENT: European Activists Against Economic Growth BERLIN, Apr 18 (Tierramérica) - The global environmental crisis requires replacing the existing capitalist model of production with one that promotes "selective degrowth" of the economy and the restricted and responsible exploitation of natural resources, according to European experts and activists.	20th April 2010
CLIMATE CHANGE: Voice of Civil Society Loud and Clear in Cochabamba SANTIAGO, Apr 19 (Tierramérica) - The success of the climate change conference taking place in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba will depend on how unified civil society ultimately is in its efforts to influence the United Nations climate summit, in Mexico, say Latin American activists.	20th April 2010
Norway cuts Lofoten oil view, boosting greens OSLO (Reuters) - Norway on Friday slashed about a third off its oil and gas resource estimate for the waters off the Lofoten and Vesteraalen islands, bolstering those who oppose opening up the pristine Arctic region for drilling.	20th April 2010
UK water imports 'unsustainable' The amount of water used to produce food and goods imported to the UK is worsening global shortages, a report concludes.	20th April 2010
White honey grows scarce as bees abandon Ethiopia's parched peaks Drought forces bees into valleys in search of flowers, meaning they produce yellow honeyThe truffle of the apiary world " rare white honey from Ethiopia's highest peaks " is in danger of disappearing, according to beekeepers in the Tigray region. "No rain for the flowers,'' said Ashenaf Abera as he stood on his rocky, parched slope in the northern Ethiopian region whose famine inspired Bob Geldof to stage Live Aid in 1985. "The bees need high-altitude flowers for the white honey. When they cannot find them, they go to other plants and produce yellow honey.''Abera is paid £65 a month to mind 270 hives for the Asira Metira monastery, one of a dozen religious centres in an area whose 4th-century rock churches are among the wonders of the world.	20th April 2010
Frogspawn study reveals climate change dangers A study of thousands of records of when UK frogs spawn revealed the amphibians are closely adapted to local conditions - which could put them at risk as the climate changes.	20th April 2010
'Off-the-Charts' Pollen Counts Bring Misery to Millions FRIDAY, April 16 (HealthDay News) -- A cold winter followed by a sudden and sustained warming trend, not to mention the botanical blossoming that global warming has brought, has boosted pollen counts to near-record highs across the United States this spring, experts say. "Some types of pollens have doubled because of climate change,"	20th April 2010
U.S. Air Force Concerns Threaten World's Biggest Wind Farm Project The U.S. Air Force is threatening to halt construction of a 845-megawatt wind farm in eastern Oregon that would be the world's largest wind project, citing concerns that the wind turbines would interfere with a nearby military radar station. Clean energy advocates are concerned that the confrontation could jeopardize other major wind projects in the region and elsewhere in the U.S., threatening 16,000 jobs and undermining President Obama's push to develop renewable sources of energy. Concerned that the blades of the 338 massive wind turbines might interfere with radar signals when positioned at certain angles, the Department of Defense moved to reject a Federal Aviation Administration permit.	20th April 2010
Air heads Alain de Botton imagines a plane-less world	20th April 2010
Book review: Straight Up, by Joe Romm Climate Progress blogger says: Deploy without delay. Buried on page 95, midway through his chapter titled "The Clean Energy Solution," Joe Romm summarizes the only workable strategy for saving the planet from catastrophic climate change. That strategy focuses on rapid commercialization of existing renewable energy technologies. Our plan, he says, must be "Deployment, deployment, deployment, RD, deployment, deployment, deployment." That's a powerful message for wind, solar and geothermal businesses to run with. Straight Up is a collection of short articles from Romm's blog ClimateProgress.org. If you read that blog, you're probably a passionate fan. If you don't, you should know that Romm, an MIT Ph.D.	20th April 2010
Why You Should Come to the 'Largest Climate Rally Ever' on the DC Mall April 25 Come hear everyone from James Hansen to James Cameron, from Sting to me. Let's show the Tea Partiers what a real crowd looks like.	20th April 2010
Green policy: We need a seismic shift in thinking Tackling climate change is essential " but it must be achieved through bold strategies, not volcanic activity General election 2010: What is your MP's environmental record? Environment policies the parties should adopt in election 2010The massive disruption to European air travel from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland is a stark reminder of the massive force of nature " and the powerlessness of our actions when we feel its full might.It's a timely reminder of the urgent need to heed warnings from the world's leading climate scientists about the huge threat we face unless we slash greenhouse gas emissions and tackle global warming.But despite widespread agreement among the main political parties that climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face, the issue has taken a back seat since Gordon Brown blew the general election whistle earlier this month.Before the economic crisis took hold, all the ...	20th April 2010
Iceland volcano: Kenya's farmers losing $1.3m a day in flights chaos 5,000 workers laid off and tonnes of vegetables and flowers dumped as ash cloud engulfs EuropeFarmers in Kenya are dumping tonnes of vegetables and flowers destined for the UK, four days after the volcanic ash cloud over Europe grounded cargo shipments from Africa.Kenyan farms have laid off 5,000 staff, and growers have warned thousands more workers could be told to stay at home if flights did not resume by Tuesday, which would deal a serious blow to the country's economy."We usually ship 10-15 tonnes of produce every day to different parts of the world and that's come to a complete halt," said Ariff Shamji, managing director of AAA Growers in Nairobi.	20th April 2010
Heathrow aiport expansion will result in £5 billion loss Calculations on the cost of building a third runway at Heathrow are outdated and do not make economic sense says a new report. From the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkCalculations on the cost of building a third runway at Heathrow are outdated and do not make economic sense says a new reportExpanding Heathrow airport will result in a loss to the economy of £5 billion and lock the UK into a high carbon future, says a report from an independent thinktank.The Government gave the green light for a third runway in January 2009, saying the economic benefit of the expansion to the economy would be £5.5 billion.However, a report by the New Economics Foundation (nef) says this calculation did not take full account of all social and economic impacts and ignored the cost of additional noise and poorer air quality, congestion and ...	20th April 2010
Forever and a day Talk with many green technology advocates and you might get the impression that we have forever and a day to make the transition from an unsustainable society to a sustainable one. Of course, they will tell you that one day far into the future, if we don't make the transition, we will have serious problems.Their view is based on not one, but two assumptions. First, as I said, it is based on the notion that we have a comparatively long time to make this transition, usually claimed to be several decades. Second, it is assumed that technology will appear and be deployed in time to prevent the worst problems that might result from fossil fuel depletion, climate change and a variety of other environmental and resource challenges.	20th April 2010
Global warming monitoring needs to find 'missing heat', say scientists Further study on oceans needed before hidden heat 'comes back to haunt us', say researchers in ColoradoExperts need to beef up ways to measure the heat content of oceans as a way to track more reliably the course of global warming, scientists say today.Kevin Trenberth and John Fasullo, climate scientists at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, say that only about half of the heat believed to have built up in the Earth in recent years can be accounted for. New instruments are needed to locate and monitor this missing heat, they say, which could be storing up trouble for the future."The heat will come back to haunt us sooner or later," Trenberth said.	16th April 2010
Peak Wood The combination of accelerated deforestation and fossil fuel use has resulted in the climate change crisis we face today.	16th April 2010
State of the Climate Global Analysis March 2010 * The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for March 2010 was the warmest on record at 13.5°C (56.3°F), which is 0.77°C (1.39°F) above the 20th century average of 12.7°C (54.9°F). This was also the 34th consecutive March with global land and ocean temperatures above the 20th century average. * The March worldwide land surface temperature was 1.36°C (2.45°F) above the 20th century average of 5.0°C (40.8°F)—the fourth warmest on record. * The worldwide ocean surface temperature was 0.56°C (1.01°F) above the 20th century average of 15.9°C (60.7°F) and the warmest March on record. * For the year-to-date, the global combined land and ocean surface temperature of 13.0°C (55.3°F) was the fourth warmest January-March period. This value is 0.66°C (1.19°F) above the 20th century average.	16th April 2010
What to Do When the Current Climate Change Legislation Threatens to Do More Harm Than Good Unfortunately, when it comes to climate change legislation, all signs are pointing to system failure.	16th April 2010
Extract: Requiem for a Species by Clive Hamilton In an exclusive extract from his new book addressing the resistance to the truth about climate change, Clive Hamilton examines the roots of the denial lobby in US conservatism's reaction to the fall of communismIf we search for the roots of climate denial it soon becomes apparent that they lie in the reaction of American conservatism to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. As the threat of the 'red menace' receded, the energy conservatives had put into opposing communism sought other outlets. Islamism had for some time been building as a threat, as it seemed to challenge the achievements of the West and the inevitable march of its influence.	16th April 2010
The environment: not an election issue | George Monbiot As the three main political parties focus on the economy, green issues have hardly featured in the election debateIt's the dog that didn't bark, the issue that no one feels pressed to talk about. Where, in the election battle, is the environment? To judge by the manifestos of the three biggest parties, it's a long way down the list.Even before you read what they have to say, you can see that it's hardly at the front of their minds. The environment section is three-quarters of the way down both the Labour and Conservative documents: third to last in Labour's ...	16th April 2010
Iceland volcano: not yet a global cooling eruption OSLO (Reuters) - A vast cloud from an intensifying volcanic eruption in Iceland is too small so far to slow global warming as happened in 1991 with the explosion of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, experts say.	16th April 2010
France, Italy demand EU consider carbon tax on imports France and Italy urged Brussels Thursday to consider an EU carbon tax on imports, jointly pressuring the bloc after Paris was forced to abandon the initiative at national level.	16th April 2010
'Black box' plankton found to have huge role in ocean carbon fixation Carbon fixation by phytoplankton in the open ocean plays a key role in the global carbon cycle but is not fully understood. Until now researchers believed that cyanobacteria overwhelmingly accounted for phytoplankton's role in carbon fixation in the open ocean. But now scientists at the University of Warwick and the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton have opened 'the black box' of ...	16th April 2010
Oil sands and ethical investing at a price At BP's AGM on Thursday, ethical investors including the Co-Op and Calpers failed in their effort to convince BP to review its biggest planned investment in Canada's oil sands. Nonetheless, 9 percent of investors voted in favour of a review - a much bigger venting of shareholder angst about a single project than oil companies are used to hearing. Was this a vote for the environment or a vote for ethical fund managers' own businesses? The oil sands business produces even more CO2 than traditional oil and the investor group, which also included environmental and faith groups, said they were concerned that if governments sought to fight climate change by hiking charges for emitting CO2, the Sunrise project may turn prove an economic catastrophe for BP.	16th April 2010
Leading article: A Green vote is not wasted The Green Party has been on quite a journey these past two decades. In the 1989 European elections, the party won an astonishing 15 per cent of the national vote. Two Brussels seats followed in 1999. And on 6 May Caroline Lucas has a strong chance of becoming the Greens' first representative in the Westminster parliament, as the party's leader contests the constituency of Brighton Pavilion.	16th April 2010
Police quiz climate change sceptics Local police are being helped by officers from the National Domestic Extremism Team, leading the climate sceptics to question the involvement of a unit set up to counter home-grown terrorists and radicals. A unit spokesman said the two officers were assigned because of their expertise in computer forensics and because they had experience of dealing with environmental activists. There have been indications that the hackers could have been based in Russia, and some experts believe they may have been hired by sceptics based in the US. See also: 'No malpractice' by climate unit	15th April 2010
The peak oil crisis: China's latest drought There will be at least three major consequences of recurring drought conditions in southwestern China. First will be that millions of people and head of livestock will have to find a source of water or move. Next comes the food supply. The third problem of a lasting drought is the collapse of hydro-generated power in China. Should the hydro-power shortages continue for long we can expect that higher oil imports and world prices will not be far behind. read more	15th April 2010
Arctic oil drilling threatens Norway government OSLO (Reuters) - A classic battle pitting the oil industry against environmentalists and fishermen in Norway's Arctic seas is set to intensify on Thursday when the most thorough environmental study of the project to date is released.	15th April 2010
Say Noah to climate change "Looks like we've scaled back our climate goals"	15th April 2010
It can't possibly be that easy Over the weekend, I read Paul Krugman's big essay on climate economics, Building a Green Economy. Now, it's important to note that the goal of the Waxman Markey bill is to reduce US carbon emissions by 83% by 2050. So essentially, the CBO is saying, and Krugman is endorsing, that this level of emissions reduction will have so small an effect on economic growth that it's going to be indistinguishable from noise. I don't dispute that environmental economists think this, but I find it to be a completely facially implausible conclusion. read more	15th April 2010
Beyond green growth: why we need a world without economic growth Beyond concepts of green growth or sustainable growth there is also that of 'no growth'. From OurWorld 2.0, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkLast March, Tim Jackson put forward the idea of prosperity without growth in a report published by the United Kingdom's Sustainable Development Commission and followed up with a book of the same name released last November. The book is a best seller (ranked 1,729 on Amazon) and in it he argues convincingly that we can still prosper without adhering to the encoded mantra of expansion and growth that permeates modern market economies. More recently, in January 2010, Andrew Simms and Victoria Johnson at the new economics foundation (nef) published a more emphatic message in their report entitled Growth isn't possible.	15th April 2010
Taxpayer dollars subsidizing destruction by Lester Brown One way to correct market failures is tax shifting-raising taxes on activities that harm the environment so that their prices begin to reflect their true cost and offsetting this with a reduction in income taxes. A complementary way to achieve this goal is subsidy shifting. Each year the world's taxpayers provide at least $700 billion in subsidies for environmentally destructive activities, such as fossil fuel burning, overpumping aquifers, clearcutting forests, and overfishing. As the Earth Council study Subsidizing Unsustainable Development observes, 'There's something unbelievable about the world spending hundreds of billions of dollars annually to subsidize its own destruction.' A fishing trawler.Photo via winkyintheuk via FlickrThe perverse nature of harmful subsidies is especially apparent in the case of oceanic fisheries.	15th April 2010
The Economist does not disappoint The March 20th -26th cover story of The Economist, 'Spin, science and climate change,' deftly bypasses the politics surrounding 'climategate', to tackle the more important issue: whether any of this has any bearing on climate change science and policy. This is a refreshing bit of journalism that everyone should read. It is no secret that we have been unimpressed by the quality of reporting of climate science or late. From the insinuation that data were manipulated (for which there remains no evidence, primae facie or otherwise), to the suggestion that 'climate skeptics' had somehow been kept from publishing in peer reviewed literature (how, we wonder, does Lindzen keep getting published?), to the blind repetition of false claims of major errors in the IPCC (when only a couple of actual errors " and none of them in the primary ...	15th April 2010
Canadian Ice Sheet Is Melting Rapidly, Study Shows One of the largest ice sheets in Canada's high Arctic has been swiftly shrinking in recent decades as as a result of warmer summers, according to a new study. The 895-square-mile ice cap on Devon Island, an uninhabited island in Baffin Bay, has declined steadily since 1985, according to analysis by scientists at the University of Calgary. Because the remote Arctic area is essentially a desert, with minimal annual precipitation, any increase of snow takes years to accumulate as glaciers and ice sheets, said Sarah Boon, lead author of the paper published in Arctic, a journal of the university's Arctic Institute of North America.	15th April 2010
The complete guide to modern day climate change - All the data you need to show that the world is warming According to the IPCC 4th Assessment Report (2007): Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level. At continental, regional, and ocean basin scales, numerous long-term changes in climate have been observed. These include changes in Arctic temperatures and ice, widespread changes in precipitation amounts, ocean salinity, wind patterns and aspects of extreme weather including droughts, heavy precipitation, heat waves and the intensity of tropical cyclones. Paleoclimate information supports the interpretation that the warmth of the last half century is unusual in at least the previous 1300 years.	15th April 2010
Body Heat: Sweden's New Green Energy Source In Sweden, engineers are using body heat generated by commuters at a trainstation to keep a nearby office building warm -- a test of a futurepossible low-cost energy source	15th April 2010
Iceland volcanic ash disrupts flights April 15 2010: Plumes of volcanic ash following an eruption in Iceland are causing severe disruption to flights across the UK and Europe [Earth's new geo-engineering and and anti-aviation emissions experiment?]	15th April 2010
Postal Service as a Giant Battery? A Plan for Cashing In The U.S. Postal Service may earn millions by storing and stabilizing some of the nation's energy supply in its trucks.	15th April 2010
Ten emerging potato pest and disease threats International trade and climate change are just two reasons why new potato pest and disease threats could emerge. Philip Case with the help of Gerry Saddler from Scottish government agency SASA pinpoints 10 potential threats.	15th April 2010
Shrubs are cool! They protect permafrost against climate change (PhysOrg.com) -- Tundra shrubs can reduce the thawing of permafrost caused by climate change. This unexpected finding is from research done by Wageningen University in the Siberian tundra. It means that shifts in the plant population of the tundra can slow permafrost thawing.	15th April 2010
Honda unveils zero-emission electric scooter Japan's Honda Motor on Tuesday unveiled its latest electric scooter, saying it initially plans to target domestic business customers such as pizza delivery services.	15th April 2010
Senators consider gasoline tax as part of climate bill Estimates put it in the range of 15 cents a gallon. Some oil companies are on board with the plan because it would cost them far less than other proposals to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Leading voices in the Senate are considering a new tax on gasoline as part of an effort to win Republican and oil industry support for the energy and climate bill now idling in Congress.	15th April 2010
Vote for the Green party so climate goals can be met with a fairer society | Chris Goodall Those who want action on climate change must be committed to building the sense of fairness to make those reductions possibleMyles Allen: Why I won't be voting GreenIn his piece today about why he will not be voting for the Green party, the climate scientist Prof Myles Allen wants the Greens to revert to being a party solely concerned with the environment. He says that by offering a full slate of policies we are weakening our appeal to people who those want a focus on climate change and other urgent ecological issues.He says that by linking our policies on the environment to wider ambitions for improving Britain, we are diluting our appeal to our natural supporters.	15th April 2010
Consumer Product Carbon Footprints Up to 60% Higher than Necessary, with Simple Solutions Being Ignored by Manufacturers Research from Bureau Veritas, the leading specialist in Quality, Health, Safety Environment, Conformity and Supply Chain Risk Management, conducted on more than 2,000 products, highlights that consumer products carbon footprint is up to 60% higher than necessary and that simple steps by manufacturers could save UK 1 million tonnes each year in carbon. (PRWeb Apr 15, 2010) Read the full story ...	15th April 2010
Can Cochabamba Pick Up Where Copenhagen Failed? By Sarah van GelderPresident Barack Obamas offshore drilling announcement is bad news for efforts to stop runaway climate change, especially following Decembers failed climate talks in Copenhagen. But there is hope and a whole new approach coming from an unusual gathering later this month. Representatives of 50 governments will meet with ordinary people and social movement leaders from around the world in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to work on solutions to what may be the biggest threat ever faced by humankind	15th April 2010
Report: Climate bill to stop EPA from regulating carbon James Murray, BusinessGreen , Thursday 15 April 2010 at 12:06:00 Senator Graham confirms long-awaited US climate bill is expected next week The draft US climate bill that is expected to be formally unveiled next week will attempt to end the patchwork of carbon legislation that has developed across the US in recent years, according to a Senate source familiar with the proposed bill. The source ...	15th April 2010

Beyond the Limits of Earth Day: Turning Up the Heat on Climate This month marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, an event that has attracted millions to environmental causes. But winning passage of meaningful legislation on climate change requires more than slogans and green talk - it demands intense, determined political action. BY DENIS HAYES	13th April 2010
EU 'must double spending on energy projects' Europe must double spending on energy infrastructure by 2025 and aggressively' step up energy-efficiency if it is to meet a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by the middle of the century, according to the European Climate Foundation (ECF), a group promoting action on climate change in Europe.	13th April 2010
'Reef rat run' on the coastal coal highway Once again, the words "resources," "exports," "China" and "controversy" feature in the same blog. But this time they refer, of course, to the grounding of the China-bound coal carrier Shen Neng 1, which rammed into a sand bar on Saturday afternoon. Brisbane's Courier Mail has a story today which speculates that the ship might have been taking an illegal short-cut - "a Reef rat run" which saves time and money on the voyage to China. Conservationists have also complained that the federal and state governments have encouraged the growth of the resources sector but failed to acknowledge the environmental risks involved. [..the fossil fuel industry finds a novel way to bash the enviroment...]	13th April 2010
Bye-bye, global cooling myth: Hottest March and hottest Jan-Feb-March on record It was the hottest March in both satellite records (UAH and RSS), and tied for the hottest March on record in the NASA dataset. It was the hottest (or tied for hottest) January through March in all three records. The record temperatures we're seeing now are especially impressive because we've been in 'the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century.' It now appears to be over. It's just hard to stop the march of anthropogenic global warming, well, other than by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that is. NASA's prediction from last month is standing up ... See also: Early Bud Catches Warm	13th April 2010
Glacier breaks in Peru, causing tsunami in Andes LIMA (Reuters) - A huge glacier broke off and plunged into a lake in Peru, causing a 75-foot (23-meter) tsunami wave that swept away at least three people and destroyed a water processing plant serving 60,000 local residents, government officials said on Monday.	13th April 2010
Heatwave roasts Rio, kills 32 in southern Brazil RIO DE JANEIRO, April 12 (AFP) - The worst heatwave to hit Rio de Janeiro in 50 years turned the city into a pre-Carnival furnace Wednesday, and killed 32 elderly people farther south, officials said. According to the Inmet national weather service, recorded temperatures were six degrees (10 degrees Fahrenheit) above average for the month: 39.7 degrees Celsius instead of 33.8 degrees Celsius (103 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 93 degrees Fahrenheit). But strong sunlight and lack of wind meant they felt much higher, around 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas.	13th April 2010
India's global warming fears Was this caused by global warming? In India, weather-related natural disasters already cause annual chaos. Two months ago, whole regions of West Bengal disappeared under water - rescue workers had to use boats to give emergency help to more than 16 million affected people.	13th April 2010
Geothermal Grows 26% in 2009 WASHINGTON----The US geothermal power industry continued strong growth in 2009, according to a new report by the Geothermal Energy Association . The April 2010 US Geothermal Power Production and Development Update showed 26% growth in new projects under development in the United States in the past year, with 188 projects underway in 15 states which could produce as much as 7,875 MW of new ...	13th April 2010
Solarbuzz Reports Soaring German Solar Photovoltaic Demand in December Global 2009 PV Market Size Reaches 7.3 GW (PRWeb Apr 12, 2010) Read the full story at [link]releases/Solarbuzz/solar_photovoltaic/prweb3863584.htm	13th April 2010
Threats to Mangrove Species Growing Rapidly Worldwide, Report Says One in six mangrove species faces extinction as coastal ecosystems are being destroyed or damaged by development, aquaculture, logging, and climate change, according to a new study. Following an extensive survey of coastal ecosystems, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Conservation International placed 11 of 70 mangrove species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Mangrove forests, which grow in tropical and subtropical regions where salt water meets the land, protect coastal environments from erosion and storms, and serve as a nursery for marine species. On the Atlantic and Pacific Sterling Zumbrunn/CIMangroves in Madagascar coasts of Central America, as many as 40 percent of mangrove species are threatened, the report said.	13th April 2010
West Virginia Mining Disaster CEO: safety regulators as "silly as global warming" From Think Progress: The death toll from Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine explosion last week has reached a total of 29 miners, the worst coal disaster in 40 years. When the disaster occurred, Massey was contesting millions of dollars in major safety violations levied against the mine. At his Labor Day anti-union rally last year, Massey CEO Don Blankenship attacked the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), claiming it 'seeks power over coal miners.' He mocked both 'Washington politicians' and local elected officials who attempt to ensure miner safety, calling their efforts 'as silly as global warming' ...	13th April 2010
Tax Day Tea Party Features Lord 'Hitler Youth' Monckton and Cast of Koch Industries' Favorites lord+monckton.jpg Lord Christopher Monckton, infamous for his 'Hitler Youth' comments at the Copenhagen climate summit, is among the guest speakers at this week's Tax Day Tea Party in Washington, DC. Organized by FreedomWorks, the sister organization of Americans for Prosperity, the Tax Day Tea Party at the Washington Monument will also feature appearances from FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey and President Matt Kibbe, right wing publisher Andrew Breitbart, Texas Congressman Ron Paul and Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson.With a cast of characters this deep, sparks are sure to fly. Lord Monckton has continued the crazed rampage he started at the Americans For Prosperity event at the Copenhagen climate summit, where he repeatedly called American college students advocating for clean energy the 'Hitler Youth' and 'Nazis.' Monckton took it way too far when he told Jewish student Ben Wessel, whose grandparents escaped the ...	13th April 2010
Shell fights shareholders' campaign for oil sands review Investors table special resolution prior to May meeting Campaigners argue project is an environmental liabilityShell has dismissed shareholder calls for a review of its controversial oil sands developments.A group of institutional investors, led by campaign group FairPensions, had tabled a special resolution ahead of the Anglo-Dutch company's annual meeting next month. They want Shell to review the commercial and environmental viability of going ahead with its new projects in Canada's boreal forests.But the Anglo-Dutch oil company today urged other investors to vote down the resolution. "Whilst the issues raised by the group of shareholders ...	13th April 2010
Green policies lack detail Green policies lack detail but some experts detect 'seismic shift' in new era of regulations, sanctions and subsidiesDisappointment greeted the Labour environment manifesto today as experts from all quarters suggested there was nothing new, it was too cautious about cutting climate change emissions, and there was not enough detail about policies they liked.Buried in section 8 of the party's manifesto, however, was a radical statement which might also herald a very different time ahead if Labour is elected to government for a fourth term.Introducing the Green Growth chapter, it says: "Only active governments can shape markets to prioritise green growth and job creation.	13th April 2010
Bolivia’s alternative climate conference to kick off next week by Agence France-Presse LA PAZ-The alternative 'people's conference' on climate change called by socialist Bolivian President Evo Morales is expecting 7,500 delegates from more than 100 countries, officials said Monday. Among those set to attend the gathering in Cochabamba April 20-22 include Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, according to Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca. Named the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, the gathering is intended to 'give a voice to the people' on climate change after the perceived failure of the United Nations-sponsored Copenhagen summit on the same issue, organizers say.	13th April 2010
Conservative manifesto: Tories plan controversial reform to UK renewable energy incentives Conservative manifesto plan to extend feed-in tariff in attempt to phase out the Renewables Obligation. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkThe Conservative Party has responded to rumours that it is preparing a major overhaul of the UK's renewable energy policy by confirming that if elected it plans to effectively phase out the government's Renewable Obligation scheme.The news was met with considerable disquiet from across the renewable energy industry, with insiders warning that any disruption to the current Renewable Obligation scheme could lead to delays for major renewable energy projects such as new wind farms.Writing in response to inquiries from BusinessGreen.com about the finer detail of the Conservative's renewable energy policy, a spokeswoman confirmed the party would like to see the Renewable Obligation and system of Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) replaced with an extended feed-in tariff scheme."It is important that we support ...	13th April 2010
The climate-change nightmares of military strategists WHEN a climate scientist forecasts that global warming will trigger mega-famines, floods of refugees and geopolitical meltdown, we may fear that they have a myopic world view. When a security specialist says the same thing, we should start to wonder. Gwynne Dyer has been a lecturer on international affairs for two decades. In Climate Wars he eloquently explores the "grim detail" of how governments will grapple with a challenge unprecedented since before there were governments.	12th April 2010
Global climate deal impossible in 2010: U.N. BONN, Germany (Reuters) - The world will be unable to agree a full deal in 2010 to fight global warming, the U.N.'s top climate official said Sunday, as 175 nations struggled to revive talks after the antagonistic Copenhagen summit. See also: Lost Opportunities at Copenhagen, Life at 3.6 Degrees Warmer Copenhagen destroyed by Danish draft leak, says India's environment minister Bonn climate talks: picking up the pieces after Copenhagen | Saleemul Huq	12th April 2010
Can capitalism fix the climate? Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It has taken capitalism about 250 years to generate enough waste and pollution to press dangerously against nature's limits. With such a damning record, there should be no grounds to expect a different outcome in the future.	12th April 2010
Climate: How we got here The notion that greenhouse-gas emissions might affect the Earth's climate was first flagged up by scientists, and became a matter of politics only in the early 1990s. Now, much of the negotiating is done by lawyers.	12th April 2010
Coastal communities to face food crisis KOTA KINABALU: Rising sea level and death of corals from warmer waters will cause food sources for coastal communities in the Coral Triangle region, of which Sabahs east and north coasts are part of, to go down by half in 40 years.	12th April 2010
'Food hero' says to value soil, not oil: Factory farms extending reach of global hunger crisis, she says. GOSHEN -- Vandana Shiva was on the fast track for a career as a nuclear physicist in the 1970s, working in an atomic research center in Bombay in her native India.	12th April 2010
Biogas: The green gas? Biogas has become an attractive alternative source of energy in Europe as the renewable fuel serves several policy priorities, ranging from increased domestic energy production to the reduction of greenhouse gases and more efficient waste treatment.	12th April 2010
Going carbon neutral: California pours a foundation for cities to build on Communities adapt with own brands of sustainability planning and conservation. From SolveClimate, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkState governments are beginning to set the stage for widespread climate action with emissions laws, energy efficiency rules and renewable energy standards, but the hands-on work of actually achieving carbon-neutral status is happening in cities.Let's look at California as an example. The state is leading the nation down the green path overall, adopting statewide policies that encourage residents to reduce their carbon footprints and change their wasteful ways.It is implementing the first-ever law that uses regulatory and market mechanisms to reduce green house gas (GHG) emissions.	12th April 2010
Heatwave sweeps north India, Bengal; Ganganagar hottest at 44.8 C NEW DELHI : Heatwave swept many parts of northern and eastern India on Sunday, with Ganganagar in Rajasthan reeling at 44.8 degree Celsius and the national capital recording the season's highest temperature. Soaring mercury, coupled with power woos, made life miserable for people in West Bengal where Purulia recorded 44 degrees and Kolkata 41 degrees, five notches above normal. Heatwave warnings were issued in many districts like West Midnapore, Birbhum, Bankura, and Burdwan. Many areas suffered power black outs with several units of Kolaghat, Bakreshwar and Purulia power generating stations breaking down.	12th April 2010
Climate expert vows to fight the 'naysayers' ONE of Britain's most distinguished climate scientists is taking legal action to silence an internet campaign against him.	12th April 2010
Senators prepare compromise climate change bill WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Six months after introducing a sweeping climate change bill that flopped in the Senate, Democrat John Kerry is preparing to offer a compromise measure that seeks to reel in reluctant senators.	12th April 2010
When the air turns brown: Scientists discover reactions that create climate-changing brown carbon aerosol (PhysOrg.com) -- A recent study led by Drs. Julia and Alexander Laskin from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Prof. Sergey Nizkorodov from the University of California, Irvine revealed atmospheric chemistry processes that turn white organic carbon aerosol into brown carbon particles. The white aerosol has no warming effect, but brown does. Also, this research presents the first application of a new analytical approach for studying transformations of organic aerosols developed at EMSL.	12th April 2010
Australian Climate Minister Rejects Nuclear Power SYDNEY, April 12 (Bernama) -- Australian Climate Change Minister Penny Wong on Monday rejected nuclear power in favor of renewable energy and storage of emissions from coal.	12th April 2010
Climate 'more urgent than ever' The need for a new global climate deal is "greater than ever", say developing country delegates at UN climate talks in Bonn.	10th April 2010
Climate deal fear as talks resume The first round of UN climate talks since the bitter Copenhagen summit face divisions and mistrust on key issues.	10th April 2010
'World needs a barometer of life' The world needs a "barometer of life" to ensure threatened species and vital ecosystems are not lost forever, say scientists.	10th April 2010
Greenwasher of the month: Canada's Husky Energy sells 10% ethanol blend as 'Mother Nature's Fuel' - And they refine oil from the tar sands! Americans may not have heard of Husky Energy. But thanks to an eagle-eyed reader up north who snapped this picture, we all get to see their uber-greenwashing effort. Here's how 'Mother Nature' makes her fuel, at least on the Bizarro world of Htrae. First, you take some heavy oil or tar sands from Canada. If you're a Canadian oil producer, you call tar sands 'oil sands' (see Memo to all: They ain't 'oil sands'). Everyone else can call it the 'biggest global warming crime ever seen.' See also Canadian bishop challenges the 'moral legitimacy' of tar sands production.	10th April 2010
Must-read Krugman piece: Building a Green Economy Nobelist Paul Krugman has a long piece in the upcoming Sunday NY Times Magazine, basically climate economics 101. It is nearly 8000 words, so while you should read the whole thing, I'll post some of the highlights below. I'll also throw some links to the scientific and economic literature that the NYT, in its infinite wisdom/stupidity, refuses to include. The essay isn't primarily about the science, but this is what Krugman has to say on that, starting with the opening paragraph: If you listen to climate scientists - and despite the relentless campaign to discredit their work, you should - it is long past time to do something about emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. See also: Krugman weighs in	10th April 2010
World Bank needs to do better on energy sector investments post South African coal project by Jake Schmidt Today the World Bank approved a loan to build the fourth largest power plant in the world. The project is to be financed with a $3 billion loan to Eskom-the South African electricity company-and is the largest coal-plant loan in the Bank history. The 4,800-megawatt Medupi power plant would emit 25 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere-an amount equivalent to about half the annual emissions of Norway. This was a challenging and complicated project and was less about South Africa than about the World Bank's role in helping (or hindering) the world's efforts to address global warming. See also: World bank vote on South African coal power station - Friends of the Earth statement South Africa : Coal Plant Won't Promote Development, Say Groups	10th April 2010
Carbon cap would deny Iran precious petrodollars: Over $100 million a day by Brad Johnson Cross-posted from Wonk Room. A strong cap on carbon would significantly cut the flow of petrodollars to Iran's hostile regime, a Wonk Room analysis shows. The economic and political strength of Iran's dictatorship is a threat to the national security of the United States and the world, and its nuclear ambitions threaten to destabilize the Middle East. Yesterday, diplomats from 'six world powers have met for the first time to discuss imposing new sanctions on Iran for its failure to suspend work on its controversial nuclear program,' but negotiators have not yet figured how to achieve President Barack Obama's goal of being 'consistent and steady in applying international pressure.' Iran, 'which holds the world's second-biggest oil and gas reserves and supplies about 4.5 percent of the world's oil production,' uses its oil ...	10th April 2010
Traumatized trees: Bug them enough, they get fired up Whether forests are dying back, or just drying out, projections for warming show the Pacific Northwest is becoming primed for more wildfires. The area burned by fire each year is expected to double or even triple if temperatures increase by about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit (2 C) in our region, according to University of Washington and USDA Forest Service research.	10th April 2010
Which climate changes can be blamed on humans? Michael Marshall, reporterThe conclusions of the last IPCC report were unequivocal: it said, with 90% certainty, that greenhouse gases released by human activity were warming the planet. That was then and this is now, and since the IPCC's report came out in 2007 climate science has come under some criticism - rather a lot of it in fact. So it's no surprise that when new papers confirm the IPCC's conclusions, climate scientists are not shy about advertising them.The latest example of such a paper, in press in WIREs Climate Change, reviews a number of studies that have been done since 2007.	10th April 2010
US breaks wind energy record during 2009 Rachel Fielding, BusinessGreen , Friday 9 April 2010 at 10:55:00 American Wind Energy Association annual report shows that despite the recession the US installed a record-breaking 5,700 turbines last year The US retained its pole position in the global race for wind power supremacy last year, achieving a record number of wind turbine installations, according to new figures from the American Wind ...	10th April 2010
Closing in on a carbon-based solar cell To make large sheets of carbon available for light collection, Indiana University Bloomington chemists have devised an unusual solution -- attach what amounts to a 3-D bramble patch to each side of the carbon sheet. Using that method, the scientists say they were able to dissolve sheets containing as many as 168 carbon atoms, a first.	10th April 2010
China: low carbon sources to supply quarter of electricity by end of 2010 New government figures reveal the breakneck pace of China's renewable energy revolution, confirming growth in renewables is now outstripping expansion in coal power. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment Network. Low carbon energy sources will account for more than a quarter of China's electricity supply by the end of 2010, according to official statistics released yesterday to the state-backed Xinhua news agency.	10th April 2010
Home truths on domestic solar There's another green rush: NSW residents are flat-out installing rooftop solar panels, due to the state's generous new feed-in tariff.	10th April 2010
Climate talks reopen at Bonn summit Diplomats from more than 180 countries gather in Bonn for the first time since the widely perceived failure of last year's Copenhagen summitDiplomats from more than 180 countries are meeting in Bonn over the next three days to reopen global climate change negotiations for the first time since last year's Copenhagen summit, which was widely perceived as a failure.Top of the agenda is how countries respond to the Copenhagen accord, the non-legally binding deal that was pushed through by a small group of countries in a bitter atmosphere in the last few hours of the UN conference.Some 110 countries have now backed the agreements made in the accord.	10th April 2010
Climate negotiators urged to meet monthly to reach binding deal Developing nations say countries must meet once a month to make enough progress for a binding deal to be reached at Mexico summitDeveloping countries today called for climate talks to be stepped up in order to each a global deal at a crucial meeting in Mexico in November - even if it means negotiators getting together once a month.Countries were setting out their positions at the re-opening of climate talks in Bonn in Germany, the first time countries have met after the UN climate summit in Copenhagen failed to reach a legally binding deal in December.But rich countries were noticeably cool on their proposals, suggesting that only one more meeting would be held and that the talks could take another year to reach a binding agreement.In a noticeable U-turn since Copenhagen, when rich countries expressed urgency and tried to push through a legal agreement over ...	10th April 2010
Ontario, Quebec say they won't shoulder oilsands burden View of the Syncrude oil sands extraction facility near the town of Fort McMurray in Alberta Province, Canada on October 25, 2009. Speaking at the climate change conference in Copenhagen, delegations from Ontario and Quebec said they would not be made to take on a higher burden of emissions reductions in order to accommodate oilsands expansion in Alberta and Saskatchewan.	10th April 2010
Where is the fuss over the UN climate talks? Today, one of the most important meetings in our history begins, though you probably wouldn't know it. The 2010 UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, won't make the front page of the newspaper, and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd won't attend. Since Copenhagen in December, the media, politicians and public have shifted their attention from climate change to other things. Dinner-table chatter now focuses on health reform, population growth or Tony Abbott's abs Where has climate change gone? As Peter Costello aptly put it in an article for the National Times last week: "Can a momentous moral challenge fizzle out like this?"	10th April 2010
Green party targets disaffected Labour voters with pledge to fill 'gap on left' Green party fielding 316 candidates and campaigning on social and economic justice The Greens will unveil their manifesto next week with a pitch to voters highlighting the "yawning gap" on the left they say has been made vacant by New Labour.Caroline Lucas, the Greens leader, said the party planned to shake off its single-issue image by emphasising policies on social justice and the economy.	10th April 2010
Recession Chills Zeal for Highly Touted Co2-Capture Technology FREIBERG, Germany -- Climate regulations pushed electricity generators and chemical manufacturers into each other's arms. ...	10th April 2010
Scientists turn to Innuit traditions to collect data on Arctic weather Using traditional Inuit weather knowledge passed down through generations, environmental scientists have uncovered new data on Arctic climate change.	10th April 2010
Bolivia protests US suspension of climate aid - The Associated Press 910 NewsBolivia protests US suspension of climate aidThe Associated PressBONN, Germany - Bolivia has protested the suspension of US climate aid as "a very bad practice," but says it won't change its policies on global warming. ...10/04/2010Procedure battles dominate future of UN climate talksExpatica Germanyall 83	10th April 2010
Bonkers article: Will global warming spell the end for your favourite tipples from around the world? The vineyards are sinking! Well, maybe not quite, but climate change looms large over the industry, with opinions colliding and statistics bent into arguments to support multiple viewpoints. But let's assume for a moment that our vineyards are in danger - what should we be drinking before they vanish altogether? You might think that marginal climates such as the Champagne region are the frontiers in these weather-beaten times. And they could well be - if the Champagne region heats up, all that fresh zesty ping that makes its fizz so elfish and bright could become sugary and plump, creating a completely different drink. [OK - if global warming gets this bad, do you really think a) it will be possible to move vinyards, b) that where the next glass of plonk comes from will be any sort of priority?]	10th April 2010
Who's Hosting the Tea Party? Big Oil funds tax rallies and global warming deniers. Our Country Deserves Better has organized campaigns against health care reform and in support of new Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. The PAC spent $347,670 on ads supporting Brown’s recent candidacy. But that’s chump change compared to what Americans for Prosperity has spent on its PR campaigns. AFP is funded by the owners of the second largest privately held corporation in the country—the Wichita, Kan.-based Koch Industries Inc., an oil conglomerate with business interests throughout North America, including Wisconsin. In addition to being an astute businessman, Koch Industries’ founder, Fred Koch, also held strong political beliefs. In fact, Fred was a founding member of the radically conservative John Birch Society in the 1950s. The group, although less prominent than in its 1960s heyday, is headquartered in Appleton, Wis., and remains a strong supporter of limited government and Christian principles. Two of Fred’s four sons, Charles and David, have expanded their father’s business empire—for example, the company bought Georgia-Pacific Corp. for $13 billion in 2005, and the Lycra and Stainmaster brands from DuPont Corp. for $4.2 billion in 2004. In 2008, the company’s annual sales totaled $100 billion. Charles and David are each worth $16 billion—wealthier than the founders of Google ($15.3 billion each) and financier George Soros ($13 billion), but not as rich as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ($17.5 billion) or Bill Gates ($50 billion), currently the richest man in America. That’s why tea party critics like Scot Ross, executive director of the progressive watchdog group One Wisconsin Now, said AFP’s real aim is to make the rich richer and the middle class and low-income workers even worse off than they are now. See also: Irony-gate 2: Modern day Tea Partiers outsource denial to Lord Monckton - a British peer!	8th April 2010
Energy production vs. environmental protection: The partisan divide by Josh Nelson Via Samantha Thompson, a new Gallup poll found that, for the first time in 10 years of polling, Americans prioritize energy production over the protection of the environment. Here is the key chart: While the chart is compelling, it falls short on multiple levels. 1. The options it presents are a false dichotomy. We have several energy sources at our disposal that are environmentally sustainable such as wind, solar and geothermal. It would be interesting to see how this poll would have played out had they included a third option: methods for increasing U.S. energy production in environmentally sustainable ways should be given a priority over less environmentally friendly methods. See also: Public supports energy over environment: poll	8th April 2010
Exxon Mobil paid no federal income tax in 2009 - Steve Martin lives! The joke goes, The economy is so bad Exxon Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen. If only. Turns out the economy is never really bad for the oil giant, and the last thing they would want to do is cut off support to members of Congress who allow them to pull off the remarkable trick of making $45 billion in profits last year but paying no federal income tax. Think Progress reports the stunning news, which, sadly, is not a Steve Martin routine: Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year. Most egregious, Forbes notes, is General Electric, which generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam.	8th April 2010
Arctic Sea Ice: Brace Yourself for the Spin Arctic Sea Ice 1978-2010.png The extent of Arctic sea ice peaked on March 31, 2010, the latest date for the maximum Arctic sea ice extent since the start of the satellite record in 1979, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Co. The ice also reached an extent that was 670,000 square kilometers (260,000 square miles) above the record low for the month, which occurred in March 2006. From these two factoids, you may expect a round of stories in the DenierSphere trumpeting a return to global cooling - an end to the worrying decline of Arctic ice that hit a low point in 2006. See also: Arctic winter ice recovers slightly despite record year low, scientists say	8th April 2010
Cap and Trade Loses Its Standing as Energy Policy of Choice WASHINGTON " Less than a year ago, cap and trade was the policy of choice for tackling climate change. Matthew Cavanaugh/European Pressphoto Agency Environmental groups and their foes in industry joined hands to embrace the approach, a market-driven system that sets a ceiling on global warming pollution while allowing companies to trade permits to meet it. President Obama praised it by name in his first budget, and the authors of the House climate and energy bill passed last June largely built their measure around it. Today, the concept is in wide disrepute, with opponents effectively branding it cap and tax, and Tea Party followers using it as a symbol of much of what they say is wrong with Washington.	8th April 2010
The peak oil crisis: countdown at the Guri Now, if you are wondering why a falling water level in the Venezuelan highlands should be if interest to Americans, the answer is easy. Despite years of political tensions between the Chavez government and Washington, the U.S. is still importing some 800,000 barrels a day of crude from Venezuela.	8th April 2010
Weather Channel asks, July in April? - Record smashing heat-wave hits nation CP: So it's friggin hot in DC and much of the country. Audience: How hot is it? CP: It's so hot that: I saw a dog chasing a cat and they were both walkin . The robins are laying their eggs sunny side up. I saw squirrels fanning their nuts. Even meteorologists are doing stories about human-caused global warming. Settle down, anti-science disinformers who try to shout down any talk of a link between climate change and extreme weather " these are only jokes. We all know that you can t use a single weather event as evidence for or against climate change " unless of course that weather event is a big snowstorm [see "Massive moisture-driven extreme precipitation during warmest winter in the satellite record " and the disinformers say it disproves (!) climate science].	8th April 2010
Summer Heatwave Could Be on the Way - Bettingpro.com Summer Heatwave Could Be on the WayBettingpro.comThis summer could be one of the hottest on record, and WilliamHill are worried that temperatures could pass the 100f mark. The bookmaker has trimmed the ...	8th April 2010
2 more glaciers gone from Glacier National Park (AP) -- Glacier National Park has lost two more of its namesake moving icefields to climate change, which is shrinking the rivers of ice until they grind to a halt, a government researcher said Wednesday.	8th April 2010
U.S. forecaster CSU sees 8 Atlantic hurricanes in 2010 MIAMI (Reuters) - The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season is likely to be "above-average" and produce eight hurricanes, four of them major, the Colorado State University hurricane forecasting team said on Wednesday.	8th April 2010
A glass half empty: Hydrologist calls much-needed attention to California's dwindling groundwater supply (PhysOrg.com) -- It may have been a rainy winter, but there's still cause for concern about California's water supply. Just ask Jay Famiglietti, UC Irvine Earth system science professor and founding director of the new UC Center for Hydrologic Modeling, which aims to help the state tackle its drought-induced water crisis.	8th April 2010
Southern China turning into arid plain The government has embarked on a massive rain-making operation, firing thousands of cloud-seeding rockets into the sky In pictures: Drought in south-west China and the Mekong basinIt is hard to imagine a less fitting environment for a mollusc than the arid plain of Damoguzhen in south-west China.There is not a drop of water in sight. The baked and fissured earth resembles an ancient desert. Yet shellfish are scattered here in their thousands; all so recently perished that shriveled, blackened bodies are still visible inside cracked, opened shells.Far out of water, the aquatic animals are not the advance guard of evolutionary progress ...	8th April 2010
Blooming amazing - earliest UK flowering for 250 years British plants are flowering earlier now than at any time in the last 250 years, according to new analysis.	8th April 2010
Heatwave sweeps Jharkhand - Press Trust of India Heatwave sweeps JharkhandPress Trust of IndiaJamshedpur, Apr 6 (PTI) The heatwave continued to sweep across the region, with the mercury soaring to 42.5 degree celsius in the the city and its adjoining ...	8th April 2010
New study shows rising water temperatures in US streams and rivers New research by a team of ecologists and hydrologists shows that water temperatures are increasing in many streams and rivers throughout the United States. The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, documents that 20 major U.S. streams and rivers - including such prominent rivers as the Colorado, Potomac, Delaware, and Hudson - have shown statistically significant long-term warming.	8th April 2010
Photos: Ten U.S. Species Feeling Global Warming's Heat NoneClimate change is turning up the heat on some of the U.S.'s already threatened species, including ten highlighted by a new Endangered Species Coalition report.	8th April 2010
Uganda Coffee Exports Fell 15% in March as Drought Cut Yields April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Coffee exports from Uganda , Africas biggest producer of the robusta variety of the crop, fell 15 percent in March after a drought cut yields, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority said.	8th April 2010
Bless Bolivia for recharging the fight to rescue our climate Maybe we'll get a jolt of political energy from the south, courtesy of the groups and leaders assembling from across the world in Cochabamba, Bolivia. This People's Summit on Climate Change will be seen as naive by precisely the kind of people applauding the president for turning on the oil spigots today--after all, its by definition a People's Summit, free from the kind of corporate interference that helped sink the Copenhagen conference in December. read more	8th April 2010
U.S. climate scientist Hansen wins $100,000 prize U.S. climate scientist James Hansen won a $100,000 environmental prize on Wednesday for decades of work trying to alert politicians to what he called an unsolved emergency of global warming. See also: Hansen calls climate change predominant moral issue of the 21st century, slams Congress, Cantwell-Collins - NASA Scientist wins major environmental prize	8th April 2010
Against the Odds, a Green Economy Keeps Growing People are betting on a future of stricter environmental regulations -- and corporations are listening.	8th April 2010
Smart grid gets green light in Western Australia US-based company, American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC), has been brought on to build a smart grid for the 111 turbine Collgar wind farm in Western Australia.	8th April 2010
Lowering income taxes while raising pollution taxes reaps great returns by Lester Brown As economic decisionmakers"whether consumers, corporate planners, government policymakers, or investment bankers"we all depend on the market for guidance. In order for markets to work and economic actors to make sound decisions, the markets must give us good information, including the full cost of the products we buy.Unfortunately, markets largely ignore the indirect costs of goods and services, thus grossly distorting the structure of the economy. The market price of burning coal, for example, includes only the direct costs, those of mining the coal and transporting it to the power plant. By neglecting the substantial indirect costs of burning coal"the costs of air pollution, acid rain, devastated ecosystems, and climate change"the market is giving us bad information.	8th April 2010
Report Says Algal Biofuels May Not Cut Carbon Emissions, But Read More Closely Growing algae to make biofuels is less effective than growing land-based crops such as soya, canola	8th April 2010
Poll: California's greenhouse gas law has majority support The state's controversial global warming law still has the support of a majority of Californians despite growing doubts about its potential impact on the economy, according to a Field Poll released Tuesday. The poll shows 58 percent of registered voters support Assembly Bill 32, which will require significant reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions. The poll was commissioned by Next 10, a San Francisco nonprofit group that supports green technology and reducing gases blamed for global warming. See also: Texas Oil Firms Oppose California Climate Law	8th April 2010
Can we survive climate change? Bill McKibben sees a chance - USA Today USA Today. "We're not going to solve climate change one house household at a time," McKibben, 50, says in a Green House interview. "What we need is a law, national and international, that puts a cap on carbon and raises its price."	8th April 2010
Al Gore's igloo Funny while it lasted! (See today's sketchpad.) Ha ha! Climate isn't completely ruined YET! It was cold for few days! Al Gore is FAT! Okay, but don't environmentalists do the exact same thing but the other way around? Don't they point to a hot day as proof of global warming? No. And we don't say that Al Gore is skinny, either. More about that in a minute (not Al Gore's weight but weather-related tactical arguments.) But first of all, the warmth of a given year isn't the real issue, anyway. Certainly the evidence for the warming trend line is compelling, not that that seems to make any impression on deniers.	8th April 2010
Science Story: the Making of a Sea Level Study Guest commentary by Martin Vermeer On December 7, 2009 the embargo expired, and my and Stefan's joint paper Global sea level linked to global temperature appeared in the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. It had been a long time coming! But this post is not so much about the science as about the process, and about how a geodesist from Helsinki and an oceanographer from Potsdam, who to this day have never even met, came to write, to the surprise of both of us, a joint paper on sea level rise. My own entry into climatology happened only a few years ago.	8th April 2010
ASEAN to urge for legally binding climate change pact Southeast Asian leaders will call for a legally binding global pact on climate change, according to a draft summit statement seen by AFP on Wednesday.	8th April 2010
Movement - Apr 7 -The Ecological Revolution! (review)-How the Corporations Broke Ralph Nader and America, Too -10 Lessons for the Climate Movement	8th April 2010
Climate scientist bashing A new popular sport in some media these days is climate scientist bashing . Instead of dealing soberly with the climate problem they prefer to attack climate scientists, i.e. the bearers of bad news. The German magazine DER SPIEGEL has played this game last week under the suggestive heading Die Wolkenschieber " which literally translated can mean both the cloud movers and the cloud traffickers (available in English here ). The article continues on this level, alleging sloppy work, falsifications and exaggerations . By doing so DER SPIEGEL digs deeply into the old relic box of climate skeptics and freely helps itself on their websites instead of critically researching the issues at hand.	8th April 2010
Vote for your MP only if they act on climate change NGO groups targeting marginal seats to pressure candidates into raising the profile of climate change in their election campaigns See also: Environment policies the parties should adopt in election 2010	8th April 2010
Solar panels won't clean up Chevron oilfield Chevron plans to use solar energy to power pumps at one of the oldest and dirtiest oilfields on the planetProject Brightfield has a nice ring to it. Chevron, the California-based oil giant, is turning the site of an old oil refinery into an eight-acre field of solar panels, showcasing seven new technologies from an array of cutting-edge companies. It seems to fit the company's current online slogan: "Finding newer, cleaner ways to power the world".But there is a problem for Chevron, which has over a thousand Texaco filling stations in Britain. It plans to use the solar energy to help power pumps and pipelines at what will remain one of the oldest, dirtiest and most greenhouse-unfriendly oil fields on the planet " the Kern River heavy oil facility near Bakersfield.The company is proud enough of the solar panels to have a promotional video on ...	8th April 2010
URUGUAY: Fighting Climate Change from the Countryside SAN JOSé, Uruguay, Apr 7 (IPS) - "We would get up and go to bed every day looking up at the sky, hoping for something to fall, but nothing happened, not even a drop fell," says Mara Inés Queiros, who makes artisanal cheese in the southern Uruguayan province of San José.	8th April 2010
George Monbiot : Wrong Call There was a long time during my life when I refused to read British newspapers. They irritated me. The stories hinged on the opinions of a few unresearched writers; facts were dubious; the ideological cultures distinguishing the publications were artificial; and the constructed narratives offended me. I distinctly recall the day I decided I needed to read the newspapers again. It was a chance glance at the Guardian Weekly, on the shelf in an international bookshop in Brussels. In there, I read a piece by George Monbiot, and my reaction was, in paraphrase, how can he be allowed to write such a thing for publication ? I was impressed, both at his audacity and his plainspeaking, and the facts to back up his position looked credible.	8th April 2010
FACTBOX-National goals for combating global warming Source: Reuters April 8 (Reuters) - U.N. climate talks in Bonn from April 9-11 will review efforts to tackle global warming after the Copenhagen summit in December fell short of a legally binding text sought by many ...	8th April 2010
U.N. climate talks resume, scant chance of 2010 deal BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Climate negotiators meet in Bonn on Friday for the first time since the fractious Copenhagen summit but with scant hopes of patching together a new legally binding U.N. deal in 2010.	8th April 2010
The Natural World Vanishes: How Species Cease To Matter Once, on both sides of the Atlantic, fish such as salmon, eels, and, shad were abundant and played an important role in society, feeding millions and providing a livelihood for tens of thousands. But as these fish have steadily dwindled, humans have lost sight of their significance, with each generation accepting a diminished environment as the new norm. BY JOHN WALDMAN	8th April 2010

Paleo Lorraine A very intriguing study from Lorraine Lisiecki, published as a Letter in Nature Geoscience, researching the Milankovitch-sourced theories, and hinting that messing with the natural Climate cycle could have very serious consequences, shaking up five million years of progress, through feedbacks, towards relative Climate calm.	6th April 2010
Nature's defences When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its assessment report on global warming in 2007, it was faced with a tough decision. In estimating how sea levels might rise in response to temperature, the panel had a wealth of factors to consider, such as how much the oceans will expand as they warm and how much water will be added from melting mountain glaciers and ice caps. But there was little information on the extent to which changes in the large ice sheets covering Greenland and West Antarctica could raise sea levels this century. After some consideration, the panel estimated a total sea level rise of 18 to 59 centimetres by the 2090s, a projection that excluded the contribution of the world's largest ice sheets on the basis that understanding was too limited to provide a best estimate or an upper bound .	6th April 2010
Mankind leaves mark on the planet with the end of the 12,000-year Holocene age Biologists have their principles of evolution, physicists have their laws of thermodynamics and chemists have their periodic table. For geologists, perhaps the most hallowed reference source is the Geological Time Scale, a complex timeline depicting the entire history of the Earth as a series of distinct periods, epochs and ages, from the birth of the planet 4.7 billion years ago to the present ...	6th April 2010
The Rain in Sudan The account of extreme weather continues to mount up, but some Climate models have not been distinguishing between rainfall (preciptation event) changes in tropical regions and mid-latitude regions. Here's one piece of research that goes some way towards a new understanding of increased serious flooding in Tropical countries See also: Study: Northeast seeing more, fiercer rainstorms	6th April 2010
Vietnam Faces Power Shortage as Drought Hurts Hydroelectricity April 6 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnam faces a power shortage this year as a drought threatens production of hydroelectricity when economic expansion has increased demand for energy.	6th April 2010
The war against carbon starts now - Part 1: The Carbon War Room starts to bust barriers in shipping Readers are always asking what can been done to cut carbon beyond pushing for the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill. I m launching a new series aimed at the kind of serious action people can push for at a local and state level " and even at a national and global level " without waiting for politicians. After all, the biggest, most money-saving strategies to cut carbon are already profitable (see McKinsey must-read: U.S. can meet entire 2020 emissions target with efficiency and cogeneration while lowering the nation's energy bill $700 billion! ) The impetus for this new series is my interview today (below) of Jigar Shah, the uber-innovative clean energy financing guru who founded Sun Edison and now heads the new nonprofit, the Carbon War Room.	6th April 2010
Offshore Wind Turbines Could Power Atlantic Seaboard A chain of 11 offshore wind power generators could provide all the power needed from Massachusetts to North Carolina, according to a new study.	6th April 2010
Berkeley Researchers Light Up White OLEDs (PhysOrg.com) -- Light-emitting diodes, which employ semiconductors to produce artificial light, could reduce electricity consumption and lighten the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. However, moving this technology beyond traffic signals and laser pointers to illumination for office buildings and homes -- the single largest use of electricity -- requires materials that emit bright, white light cheaply and efficiently. White light is the mix of all the colors, or wavelengths, in the visible spectrum.	6th April 2010
Hold the salt: Engineers develop revolutionary new desalination membrane (PhysOrg.com) -- The new reverse-osmosis membrane resists the clogging that typically occurs when seawater and brackish water are purified.	6th April 2010
Tokyo to trial electric 'filling stations' to boost green transport First step in Californian firm's bid to build the world's first infrastructure networks for electric cars by next yearThe first public trial of a system that "refills" electric cars in minutes will be launched this month. The Californian company Better Place will test its automated battery-swap stations in Tokyo.It is the latest element in the company's ambitious plans to build the world's first infrastructure networks for electric cars by the start of next year.Globally, road vehicles generate around a fifth of carbon dioxide emissions. The figure is the same for the UK. According to a study for the Department for Transport, widespread adoption of electric vehicles with a range of 30 miles or more could halve road transport emissions.One of the biggest challenges, however, to the large-scale implementation of electric cars is the problem of infrastructure for recharging.Better Place has come up with a ...	6th April 2010
We need birth control, not geoengineering The pill, condoms and IUDs are some of the most effective " and cheap " weapons the world has to fight climate change. From Grist, part of the Guardian Environment Network>I've written about my choice not to have children. What's all too easy to forget is that many women still don't have any reasonable choice about their fertility. An estimated 200 million women around the world don't have access to family-planning tools. If they did, 52 million unwanted pregnancies could be averted every year, according to the Guttmacher Institute [PDF]. I'm not talking government mandates or coercion or heavy-handed tactics " those approaches aren't just ethically dubious, they're wholly unnecessary.	6th April 2010
China's Wind Energy Sector Begins Expansion in Offshore Zones China's surging wind power industry will increasingly move offshore, experts say, as the nation's first offshore wind farm reaches full power this month and government officials push several additional projects. The 102-megawatt Shanghai wind farm is the first of several offshore wind projects planned by China, which last month opened bids for three to four large-scale offshore wind farms that officials say could generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity. Beijing-based energy consultants Azure International predict that by 2020 China will have invested $100 billion to install 30,000 megawatts of capacity off the Chinese coast.	6th April 2010
Impact of climate change on Indian agriculture Small and marginal farmers practising agriculture on rain-fed farms will bear the brunt of climate change	6th April 2010
What You're Eating Could Make or Break Our Planet -- 7 Principles of a Climate-Friendly Diet Anna Lappe talks about her new book "Diet for a Hot Planet" and explains how to change our diet so it becomes part of the solution, not the problem.	6th April 2010
Obama's second chance on the predominant moral issue of this century Why not use the president's tack: just talk about the need for clean energy and energy independence? Because that approach leads to wrong policies, ineffectual legislation larded with giveaways to special interests, such as the Waxman-Markey bill in the House and the bills being considered now in the Senate. The fundamental requirement for solving our fossil fuel addiction and moving to a clean energy future is a rising price on carbon emissions. read more	6th April 2010
Filling our short-term fossil-fuel needs by Terry Tamminen Like many Americans, I battle with my waistline, watching the same twenty pounds come and go year after year. Eating everything from Tootsie Rolls to asparagus, at times the healthy fare wins over the junk food, but usually the other way around. No food is either good or bad, because consumption isn t measured against a real plan to lose weight and get fit. It now appears that President Obama has adopted this Tootsie Roll approach to the nation's energy needs.Last week the President said he would facilitate more oil drilling in U.S. coastal waters.	6th April 2010
'Cheated' for going green too early Hailed by ministers as a flagship initiative for reducing Britain's carbon emissions, the Clean Energy Cashback system will pay 27p for every unit of electricity generated by a small wind turbine. But the new payments – also called Feed-in Tariffs – will only be paid to householders who installed green technology after 15 July 2009. People like the Billings, who invested before that date, will receive just 9p per unit.	6th April 2010
In pictures: Satellite eye on Earth: March 2010 Sandstorms in China, dark days in Dakota and hydrogen sulphide eruption along the coast of Namibia - this month's stunning shots from space	6th April 2010
Aviation Q&A: the impact of flying on the environment Flying is a heated topic. But if there is no such thing as an 'eco-friendly' flight, is grounding planes the only option?Does air travel really have a big environmental footprint?There's no way around the fact that flights are bad news for the environment. It's not just that planes are worse than most other forms of transport in terms of the impact of greenhouse gases per passenger mile. Just as important is the simple fact that flying allows us to travel a far greater number of miles than we otherwise could. Thanks to these two factors, individual trips by air can have a remarkably large carbon footprint " which helps explain why aviation has become such a heated issue in the climate change debate.What is the total impact of flying on the climate?As the aviation industry is usually keen to point out, planes account for only ...	6th April 2010
Paleo Lorraine A very intriguing study from Lorraine Lisiecki, published as a Letter in Nature Geoscience, researching the Milankovitch-sourced theories, and hinting that messing with the natural Climate cycle could have very serious consequences, shaking up five million years of progress, through feedbacks, towards relative Climate calm.	6th April 2010
Will special paint keep my house cooler in summer? By Cecil Adams I ran across your 1984 Straight Dope column about whether water freezes or boils in outer space. (You said it boils, then freezes.) You mentioned that polished aluminum in space can absorb enough solar radiation to reach 850 degrees, but some types of white paint will absorb so little they will reach only -40 degrees. Are any of these paints suitable for use on houses to keep them ...	6th April 2010
Charities warm to climate Philanthropic support for climate-change issues tripled in 2008.	6th April 2010
For more news, click here >> News from previous days is below
Faith-based economics in two graphs It took a French newspaper to unearth information put out by the U. S. government more than one year ago that provides a worrisome projection for world oil supplies from an agency that for years said such supplies would be no problem for the foreseeable future. Glen Sweetnam of the U. S. Energy Information Administration acknowledged in an interview that total liquid fuel supplies could actually fall between 2011 and 2015 "if the investment [in new capacity] is not there."While this report has been circulating on peak oil sites in the last week, it is a graph which accompanied Sweetnam's 2009 presentation (PDF) which I found particularly illustrative.	5th April 2010
Arctic thaw frees overlooked greenhouse gas: study OSLO (Reuters) - Thawing permafrost can release nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, a contributor to climate change that has been largely overlooked in the Arctic, a study showed on Sunday.	5th April 2010
EPA may try to use Clean Water Act to regulate carbon dioxide The Environmental Protection Agency is exploring whether to use the Clean Water Act to control greenhouse gas emissions, which are turning the oceans acidic at a rate that's alarmed some scientists. With climate change legislation stalled in Congress, the Clean Water Act would serve as a second front for the Obama administration.	5th April 2010
Collapse Competitively We are heading toward economic, political and social collapse, and every day that passes brings it closer. But we just don't know when to stop, do we? Which part of "the harder we try, the harder we fail" can't we understand? Why can't we understand that each additional dollar of debt will drive us into national bankruptcy faster, harder and deeper? Why can't we grasp the concept that each additional dollar of military spending further undermines our security? Is there some sort of cognitive impairment that prevents us from understanding that each additional dollar sunk into the medical industry will only make us sicker?	5th April 2010
Big thaw kills seals spared by cull NATURE can be as cruel as man. Hunters of the harp seal may be staying away from Canada's east coast this year, but many of this season's pups still face certain deat	5th April 2010
Even in the Desert, Plants Feel the Heat of Global Warming This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.	5th April 2010
Carbon trading on backburner THE Rudd Government has transferred its entire emissions trading team into the strife-prone household insulation program, putting plans for carbon trading this year on the backburner.	5th April 2010
How Will Climate Change Impact Bread? Climate change may already be hitting you--in the stomach. A new analysis reveals that higher average temperatures in Montana over the last six decades equal less wheat. Plant scientist Luther Talbert of Montana State University and his colleagues looked at weather records for the Mountain State from 1950 to 2007. The month of March has had the most warming overall, increasing by nearly 0.1 ...	5th April 2010
Establishing a Policy Objective Last week I was in Washington for the 30th MIT Global Change Forum. This slightly more than annual event is a core part of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. Shell has been a sponsor of the program for over a decade now and the forum is always rich in content and a valuable opportunity to learn and gain a better understanding of the complexities of climate change and the potential society has for dealing with it. This was also true of the Washington event. Given the recent rancour around climate science, it was refreshing to hear Professor Ron Prinn, co-director of the program and a leading atmospheric chemist, give a very down-to-earth assessment of the state of the climate as his opening address.	5th April 2010
Climate-change research in Canada waning: scientists - CTV.ca Climate-change research in Canada waning: scientistsCTV.caClimate change or global warming, science or hype, truth or fabrication... does nobody understand that, regardless of one's opinions or beliefs, ...Climate-change research in Canada waning: scientistsCTV.caall 2	5th April 2010
UK Treasury lukewarm on plan for Iceland to pay debt in energy Iceland could pay the £3.48bn it owes the UK and Holland by providing the two countries with a steady stream of green electricity instead of cash, if an ambitious proposal by a small Dutch think-tank takes hold.	5th April 2010
Climate-change skeptics have it wrong, memo to minister says OTTAWA " Canadian scientists from six different federal departments have shot down a recent controversy that raised doubts about whether humans are causing global warming and have urged the government to base its climate-change policies on peer-reviewed research. In a memorandum, prepared for Environment Minister Jim Prentice prior to his participation at the Copenhagen conference last December, the top-ranking official at Environment Canada said a controversy surrounding stolen e-mails from a climate-research centre in the United Kingdom does not call into question the reliability of the science. The personal e-mails exchanged by climate scientists wound up in the hands of special-interest groups who say they are skeptical about peer-reviewed research that concludes humans are causing global warming.	5th April 2010
CLIMATE CHANGE: Native Peoples Reject Market Mechanisms SAN JOSé, Apr 1 (IPS) - Solutions to global warming based on the logic of the market are a threat to the rights and way of life of indigenous peoples, the Latin American Indigenous Forum on Climate Change concluded this week in Costa Rica.	2nd April 2010
Northern sea ice growth a fluke, not end of climatechange: researcher Arctic sea ice is nearly back to average global levels for the first time in at least a decade after years of spectacular declines. The surprise growth at a time of year when ice is normally melting has triggered a blizzard of I-told-you-sos among online climate change skeptics.
U.S.: Big Energy Firms Blocking Solar Power in South Source: IPS As citizens, businesses and non-profit organisations seek to transition to cleaner power sources like solar and wind, some big energy firms whose business models rely on polluting sources are standing in the way. See also: Renewable Energy is Struggling against Polluting Firms	2nd April 2010
Economists Warn against Setting Price for Carbon Too Low PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In its first attempts to regulate carbon emissions, the U.S. government is hindering its own efforts by using flawed economic models that grossly underestimate the impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) on the climate and on our economic future, says a new report issued today by America's largest network of independent climate economists.	2nd April 2010
UK pushes for twin-track deal on climate change Britain proposed a new twin-track climate deal yesterday to end the logjam which has affected international talks on global warming since the failed Copenhagen climate conference last December.	2nd April 2010
Northeast hit by record global-warming-type deluge - U.S. media misses the story, while "China spends big to counter severe weather caused by climate change" It's pretty remarkable that we are having record rainfall and record flooding in the cold season month of March. It's much easier to set records in August, when there is much more moisture in the air available for record rains. The Northeast has been walloped with record-smashing deluges and flooding. I have called this type of rapid deluge, global warming type record rainfall, since it is one of the most basic predictions of climate science " and it's an impact that has already been documented to have started, as I ll discuss. Of course, in this country, you ll be hard pressed to find any discussion of global climate change in connection with this deluge.	2nd April 2010
Cap and Trade is Going Down Cap and Trade is….going….down. And that’s probably a good thing.You can expect various commentators to wring their hands and try and fight it,But remember, the guys selling you Cap-and-Trade are the same guys who brought you the Financial Services Bubble.	2nd April 2010
Plug-In Cars Aren't 'Zero-Emissions' Under New US Rules Plug-In Cars Aren't 'Zero-Emissions' Under New US Rules	2nd April 2010
A Hard Look at the Perils and Potential of Geoengineering The Asilomar conference on geoengineering had been touted as a potentially historic event. What emerged, however, were some unexpected lessons about the possibilities and pitfalls of manipulating the Earth's climate to offset global warming. BY JEFF GOODELL	2nd April 2010
Why is South Africa becoming high-carbon? With its proposed Medupi power station, South Africa is an industrialised global climate player and major polluterJohn Vidal on Britain's key vote for the Medupi World Bank loanWith its sky-high poverty levels and average life expectancy of just 51 years, South Africa is not a country we generally associate with extravagant binge-flying lifestyles, turbo-consumerism, and shopping trips to New York. How bizarre then that per capita carbon emissions in South Africa are now higher than in many European countries. While most South Africans are unlikely to ever own a plasma screen TV or Hummer, their carbon footprints still appear to be only slightly less than your average Japanese, and their national carbon emissions are now greater than those of France.The situation becomes more comprehensible when you look at South Africa's industrial base, with 60% of South Africa's electricity being guzzled by heavy industry, and most of ...	2nd April 2010
Ice plumbing is protecting Greenland from warm summers Greenland gets warmer than Antarctica but it's not losing as much ice " surprisingly, the heat helps, and the plumbing is also better up north	2nd April 2010
Wind-power lobby warns of tariff 'Trojan horse' Wider subsidies pose risk to renewables, claim firms as Tories, green activists and Ofgem review schemeThe large energy companies that dominate the wind-power market fear the feed-in tariff that was introduced today for domestic rooftop generation could be a "trojan horse" that might endanger the wider green energy sector.RenewableUK, the former British Wind Energy Association, warned that a debate around whether the feed-in tariff could be expanded as a subsidy regime for larger schemes was "extremely unhelpful".The major wind-power groups benefit from subsidies handed out through a Renewable Obligation (RO) but fear that the government and the energy regulator, Ofgem, are looking for alternatives, while the Conservatives and Friends of the Earth have stated their interest in such a move.Gordon Edge, head of economics and markets at RenewableUK, said ...	2nd April 2010
Coal-Fired Plants Gulp 1.5 Trillion Gallons of Water and We're Left to Drink the Dirty Backwash In many respects, some folks might use more water flicking on their lights, than chugging back a glass of that wondrous stuff.	2nd April 2010
Pre-order Joseph Romm's new book, Straight Up Anyone who has specific ideas for marketing the book or knows someone who might need review copy should email me at the address here. My new book doesn t come out until the week of April 19th. But you can pre-order it on Amazon.com (click here). You know you want to after getting all these Climate Progress posts for free for so long . Seriously, though, the timing couldn t be better for Straight Up: America's Fiercest Climate Blogger Takes on the Status Quo Media, Politicians, and Clean Energy Solutions. We were always planning for it to come out the week of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and roughly the same time as when the Senate would start taking up the bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill.	31st March 2010
Washington Considers A Decline Of World Oil Production As Of 2011 By Matthieu Auzanneau The U.S. Department of Energy admits that a chance exists that we may experience a decline of world liquid fuels production between 2011 and 2015 if the investment is not there, according to an exclusive interview with Glen Sweetnam, main official expert on oil market in the Obama administration	31st March 2010
Climate change sceptics on your TV | Richard Adams A survey of America's television weather forecasters finds that one in four of them think 'global warming is a scam'Winning over hearts and minds in the fight against climate change has run into a cold front: America's television weather forecasters.An academic survey of more than 500 US television meteorologists found that one in four of them say there is no global warming, and 27% agree with the statement "global warming is a scam".Perhaps even more worrying for the climate change camp are the 63% of weather presenters who think global warming is caused mainly by natural environmental change. A mere 31% agree with the scientific consensus that human activity is the cause.That's important, because TV weather forecasters have a daily direct line into American homes and are regarded as credible sources of information.	31st March 2010
Coal fuels much of Internet "cloud", says Greenpeace SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The 'cloud' of data which is becoming the heart of the Internet is creating an all too real cloud of pollution as Facebook, Apple and others build data centers powered by coal, according to a new Greenpeace report.	31st March 2010
Climate-row professor Phil Jones should return to work, say MPs - Times Online The climate scientist at the centre of the row over stolen e-mails has no case to answer and should be reinstated, a crossparty group of MPs says.	31st March 2010
Renewable Synergy The news is that there is continuing progress towards a fully Renewable Europe. It is, after all, the only means to ensure a sustainable Economy into the future, given the twin blended threats of Climate Change Carbon Mitigation and Peak Fossil Fuels. Dr Gregor Czisch's meisterwerk is being translated into English for publication this Summer :- Scenarios for a Future Electricity Supply: Cost-Optimised Variations on Supplying Europe and Its Neighbours with Electricity from Renewable Energies You would never know from the plainspeaking title just how exciting this is : seriously cheap Energy and peacemaking collaboration all in one shot !	31st March 2010
That Which May Be Gained: A Return to Scale, Community, and Morality Bound by the tangled cord of its own sins, Industrial Civilization sits immobilized -- with the gun of reality pressed to its temple. Monumental changes are imminent " probably (hopefully) a swirling mix of both bad and good. In order to maintain our present sanity and maximize chances for the best possible futures, we need to both envision and embody the positive change we wish to see in the coming post-carbon era. As such, I suggest this: a return to life at a proper human scale, the reclamation of functional human communities, and the widespread internalization and application of a true morality.	31st March 2010
Global solar power capacity grew 44 pct in 2009 LONDON (Reuters) - Global installed solar photovoltaic power grew by 44 percent in 2009 on the back of German subsidies now under threat, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association said on Tuesday.	31st March 2010
The EPA weighs the hidden costs of carbon by Michael A. Livermore This week, the Environmental Protection Agency will do more than set new fuel efficiency standards for cars. It will put a price on carbon. Within this historic climate change regulation is a powerful new way of thinking about greenhouse gas emissions: as costs that will borne by society. Burning oil in cars imposes a steep price tag, from dirtier air now, to more expensive flood insurance in a decade, to potential climate catastrophe for our grandchildren. The federal government has taken note of these hidden costs and is now using them to weigh the benefits of curbing our emissions.	31st March 2010
Global water crisis and cheaper technology sparks surge in desalination Fresh water production increases to 9.5m cubic metres a day " twice the annual flow of the Thames " as one-third of world goes thirstyThe world's unquenchable thirst for clean water drove a record increase in the desalination of seawater and reuse of sewage last year, new figures reveal, as water-stressed countries around the world try to build their way out of trouble.Making fresh water from the sea was once the preserve of cruise ships and oil-rich Gulf states that could afford the huge cost of energy required to remove the salt. But as rivers, lakes and aquifers dry up, rains become less reliable, and the cost of desalination has fallen, communities in all parts of the world have begun to build and plan plants to turn oceans, river estuaries, salty ground water and even sewage into clean water for factories, farms and homes.The ...	31st March 2010
We Have Solutions in Hand: an interview with Dr. Michael Webber I think we can solve this problem. If we look at it from an engineering or technical perspective, we have solutions in hand that we can build out in the next decade that would reduce our carbon dramatically. We could double our nuclear, we could double our natural gas for electric power, ramp up wind and solar dramatically while cutting back our coal use 80 percent...Just because we could do it as engineers with off-the-shelf technology that exists today within a decade does not mean that the policy, economic, or cultural hurtles are not real. read more	31st March 2010
ESA satellite to measure polar ice melt The European Space Agency's CryoSat satellite will measure the effects of climate change on the size and thickness of the polar caps	31st March 2010
People's Petition to Cap Carbon Dioxide Pollution at 350 Parts Per Million Join half a million people in calling on the EPA to scientifically establish national safe limits for CO2 and other greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act. In December 2009 the Center for Biological Diversity and 350.org formally petitioned the EPA to have greenhouse gases designated as "criteria" air pollutants and atmospheric CO2 capped at 350 parts per million, the level leading scientists say is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming.	31st March 2010
Chu: A price on carbon is essential Do you think that having a price on carbon is crucial? I do. I absolutely believe a price on carbon is essential " that will send a very important long-term signal. [But] if it's five years from now, I think it will be truly tragic, because other countries, notably China, are moving ahead so aggressively. They see this as their economic opportunity to lead in the next industrial revolution. That's from an interview of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, by Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek and WashPost. Here's more Q&A with the Nobel Prize-winning physicist: Q ...	31st March 2010
"Below" 2C Opens New Rift In U.N. Climate Battle A goal to limit global warming to "below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) is opening a new rift for 2010 talks on a U.N. climate treaty as developing nations say it means the rich must deepen cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. An alliance of 101 developing nations and island states says the temperature target, endorsed by major emitters since the Copenhagen summit in December, is tougher than a previous goal by industrialized nations of 2 degrees as a maximum rise. "2.0 degrees is unacceptable," said Dessima Williams, Grenada's ambassador to the United Nations who represents the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) which wants to limit temperatures to below 1.5 Celsius above pre-industrial times.	31st March 2010
Suicidal Tendencies or Addiction? Earth Day Hijacked by Climate Wealth Opportunists April 21st, 2010 will Mark the fall of the Mainstream Environmental Movement For many in the climate justice movement, the growing trend of cozy alliances between many of the mainstream ENGOs with multinational corporate partners has been a toxic recipe; the price of which may be nothing less than complete ecological devastation. The result of these unscrupulous relationships is undeserved legitimacy for transnational corporations, as compromised NGOs run hand in hand with CEOs and executives in a race to the lowest common denominator. The common denominator is money and the finish line is paved in gold " but at what cost?	31st March 2010
German film offers answers to Gore climate concerns BERLIN (Reuters) - Al Gore raised some alarming questions about climate change in his Oscar-winning 2006 film "An Inconvenient Truth" that a German filmmaker has now tried to provide some answers for in a new documentary.	31st March 2010

Study: It is clear that the precipitous decline in September sea ice extent in recent years is mainly due to the cumulative loss of multiyear ice. - Physicist: "If temperatures change just a few tenths of a degree then this oh-so-thin ice cap is doomed." Memo to media: Ignore the misreporting on the Arctic that focuses on sea-ice extent or area. The big Arctic news is the staggering decline in multiyear ice " ice volume. No study has yet been published undermining our understanding that human emissions are the primary cause of that long-term decline " a decline that shows no sign of reversal. The real news from the Arctic is the staggering decline in thicker, multi-year ice [red line] " as seen in the above figure from leading cryoscientists who authored the 2009 study, Thinning and volume loss of the Arctic Ocean sea ice cover ... See also: New study of Greenland under more realistic forcings concludes collapse of the ice-sheet was found to occur between 400 and 560 ppm of CO2	24th March 2010
NASA Study Concludes That No Cooling Evident in Past Decade A comprehensive analysis of global air and sea temperatures by NASA climatologists shows that the planet has not experienced a cooling trend in the past decade and is continuing to warm at a rate of about .3 degrees F per decade. The NASA scientists, affiliated with the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said the warming trend has continued despite the sun's irradiative power being at one of its lowest points in a century. The preliminary study, which NASA scientist James Hansen said will be submitted soon to a peer-reviewed scientific journal, said that only one of the past 10 winters and two of the past 10 summers were cooler than the long-term average in recent Click to enlargeGoddard Institute for Space StudiesGlobal warming trends decades.	24th March 2010
Uncle Tom's Cabal Even if atmospheric composition were fixed today, global-mean temperature and sea level rise would continue due to oceanic thermal inertia. These constant-composition (CC) commitments and their uncertainties are quantified. Constant-emissions (CE) commitments are also considered. The CC warming commitment could exceed 1°C. The CE warming commitment is 2° to 6°C by the year 2400.	24th March 2010
Study: The Environmental Cost of Doing Business Could Erase a Third of Corporations' Profits Environmental "externalities," says one expert, "pose a major risk to the global economy and markets are not fully aware of these risks, nor do they know how to deal with them." See also: Climate change to cost 6% of GDP each year: IMF	24th March 2010
France backs down on carbon tax The French government signals that it is dropping a plan for a tax on domestic carbon dioxide emissions. [surprised?]	24th March 2010
Climate Union I m in the Climate Union. Are you ? Finally, I have to admit that I have an personal stake in the outcomes of Climate Change and Energy policy. I have to confess to a utilitarian, yet enlightened, self-interest. And so say all of us. In the future, I want there to be jobs. New jobs, for young and old, for me. Productive, worthwhile employment, green jobs that don t permanently wreck the atmosphere for future generations. When I get sick, unabled or old, I want there to be social services. Not run on a shoestring budget owing to Carbon Taxes or Carbon Trading, but Low Carbon hospitals with well-motivated, sufficient staff ...	24th March 2010
Kevin Grandia: Mark 10:10:10 on your calendar for a global work party! - The Huffington Post I know, I know, work is pretty hard to sell as a party, but the Global Work Party being held on October 10, 2010 (10:10:10) is different.	24th March 2010
Its Time To Deal With Peak Oil What should we do about Peak Oil? Start with what the U.K. Industry Task Force on Peak Oil (which included Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines) has done: Acknowledge the reality of supply limits. Then study the vulnerabilities of transport and food systems to high and volatile oil prices, and start making those systems more resilient and less oil-dependent. But do it fast. Adaptation will take decades, and we are starting very late	24th March 2010
Ethical funds feel investment surge Global meltdown and worries about the climate have prompted a new way of looking at funds. Lisa Bachelor reportsThe global banking crisis, coupled with an increased awareness of issues such as climate change, has seen a surge in money being poured into ethical funds in the past few months.The Investment Management Association reckons investors put £62.2m into ethical funds in the fourth quarter of last year, the highest since the same three months of 2007. And the enthusiasm looks set to continue with the end-of-tax-year Isa season in full swing. Research from ICM conducted last month on behalf of Cooperative Financial Services shows 13% of investors are planning to opt for ethical or sustainable funds with their Isa allowance.Ten years ago ethical investment was seen as a high-risk gamble.	24th March 2010
Revkin: The idea that we re going to fix the climate change problem or solve global warming has always been a fantasy, totally wishful, from my standpoint. File this under Self-fulfilling prophecy. Below is an excerpt from the Friday Greenwire story (subs. req d), Treaty, regs won t solve warming problems, former NYT reporter warns. If the quotes are inaccurate or incomplete, the former lead climate reporter for the paper of record can clarify and/or expand upon his remarks here or at DotEarth: Policymakers should abandon the notion that a binding international agreement will be the primary tool for curbing greenhouse gas emissions, a former New York Times climate reporter told an environmental law conference here yesterday. Andrew Revkin, who left the Times last year and is now a fellow at Pace University's Academy for Applied Environmental Studies, said regulations probably aren t the best way to address global warming. See also: From Wishful Thinking to Real-World Action on Climate	24th March 2010
Does healthcare win leave climate in better shape? The passage of President Obama's healthcare reform package prompts the question: what might it mean for climate change legislation? Barack ObamaWill it clear the path for a climate bill this year, as some believe? Or has politicking over the healthcare bill poisoned the well of goodwill in Washington, as others argue? Around the turn of the year, things were looking fairly bleak for proponents, with delays in bringing the Kerry-Boxer bill (which evolved from the Waxman-Markey bill approved by the House of Representatives in the summer) into the Senate.	24th March 2010
Does carbon-eating cement - still deserve the hype? People here because of the NYT link might want to start with An Introduction to Climate Progress. My bio is here. I m quoted in today's NY Times article on Calera. The Silicon Valley start-up says it has found a way to capture the carbon dioxide emissions from coal and gas power plants and lock them into cement. I wrote about the company " and its critics " last April (see Exclusive: Does carbon-eating cement deserve the hype? ). The hype is still there, as this absurd quote from Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla makes clear ...	24th March 2010
Institute for Energy Research Admits It Was Behind Anti-Wind Study IER-Screen-Shot.png Danish journalists have confirmed that The Institute for Energy Research commissioned and paid for the anti-wind energy study released last year by a Danish think tank that claimed Denmark exaggerates the amount of wind energy it produces (it doesn t), questioned whether wind energy reduces carbon emissions (it does), and asserted that the U.S. should choose coal over wind because it's cheaper (it's not when you count the true costs of coal). The Copenhagen Post reports: A controversial report critical of the wind energy industry from conservative think tank CEPOS was commissioned and paid for by an American think tank with close ties to the coal and oil industries. That American think tank is the Institute for Energy Research, which has received $307,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998 and unknown additional sums ...	24th March 2010
CO2 Market Rift Over Hungary May Shrink Trading, Investors Say - Bloomberg March 23 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations carbon market, the world's second largest, is at risk of shrinking until regulators close a loophole that allowed Hungary to sell credits that aren t valid in Europe.	24th March 2010
Ships Can Cut Third From Emissions by Slowing, Lobby Group Says - Bloomberg March 24 (Bloomberg) -- The global shipping industry can cut a third off its emissions by better utilizing an oversupply of vessels competing for cargoes, a lobby group said.	24th March 2010
Resolving the Global Warming Paradox - Huffington Post France24Resolving the Global Warming ParadoxHuffington Post (blog)Then what makes a menace of equivalent magnitude, the one potentially posed by global warming, so divisive? Proponents of emissions-induced climate change ...Global Warming Is Fact, and Denial Won't Change Climate BackU.S. News World ReportEarth Hour 2010 is opportunity to take action against climate changeExaminer.comGlobal WeaningSt. Norbert TimesWoodland Record -Wall Street Journal -BusinessWeekall 86	24th March 2010
Profile: Caroline Lucas - BBC News A profile of the leader of the Green Party in England and Wales, Caroline Lucas.	24th March 2010
Green advertising rules are made to be broken | Fred Pearce A UK government checklist of claims for advertisers will fail to stop cynical greenwash without a legally enforceable frameworkFrom this week, we have a new checklist of dodgy green claims that advertisers should avoid. The list comes from the UK government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). They are only guidelines and they won't save the planet. But, in keeping with its own strictures on greenwash, at least the department doesn't pretend that they will.Among the biggest bugbears revealed in the consultation document " the draft ppdate guidance on green claims - are general, untestable claims like products being "eco-" or "environmentally friendly".	24th March 2010
Zero Point Of Systemic Collapse By Chris Hedges All resistance must recognize that the body politic and global capitalism are dead. We should stop wasting energy trying to reform or appeal to it. This does not mean the end of resistance, but it does mean very different forms of resistance. It means turning our energies toward building sustainable communities to weather the coming crisis, since we will be unable to survive and resist without a cooperative effort	20th March 2010
Peak Oil In Four Years? Mobility And Economic Vulnerabilities By Warren Karlenzig Last week, a report was put out by a Kuwaiti research institution forecasting global peak oil production by 2014. This follows a report last month by a broad-based British industry group that also predicted a global oil crunch, or shortage of supply, by the same period	20th March 2010
Spin, science and climate change - Economist Action on climate is justified, not because the science is certain, but precisely because it is not. If records of temperature across the past 1,000 years are not reliable, it matters little to the overall story. If there are problems with the warming as measured by weather stations on land, there are also more reliable data from ships and satellites. Plenty of uncertainty remains; but that argues for, not against, action. If it were known that global warming would be limited to 2°C, the world might decide to live with that. But the range of possible outcomes is huge, with catastrophe one possibility, and the costs of averting climate change are comparatively small. Just as a householder pays a small premium to protect himself against disaster, the world should do the same.	20th March 2010
VIETNAM: Salinisation, Drought Bring Worries to Mekong Delta MEKONG DELTA, Vietnam, Mar 18 (IPS) - He has worked this land for half of 64 years and is known among his fellow farmers in Kien Giang province here in the Mekong Delta as lao nong , or the old master of rice.	20th March 2010
Butterflies emerging earlier because of climate change For the first time, climate change has been shown to alter the timing of a natural event " the emergence of the common brown butterfly	20th March 2010
NASA: It is nearly certain that a new record 12-month global temperature will be set in 2010 - Must-read draft paper: "We conclude that global temperature continued to rise rapidly in the past decade" and "that there has been no reduction in the global warming trend of 0.15-0.20°C/decade that began in the late 1970s. " NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) has released a draft paper Current GISS Global Surface Temperature Analysis. It is a must read for warming junkies, but, as James Hansen notes in an e-mail, it is too long for popular use. So Hansen offers some of the main conclusions, as well as a description of a rather shocking hack of the GISS website (all of which is reprinted below). The first conclusion is: 1) Contrary to popular belief, global warming has not stopped nor has the rate of warming even slowed down in the past decade (Figure 21).	20th March 2010
Drought drives monkeys out of forests, into streets - Philippine Daily Inquirer LACK of food due to drought has forced monkeys to leave their sanctuaries in Barangay New Israel here and take refuge in nearby forested areas.	20th March 2010
From Nepal to the Maldives, Eye Witness Sees Impact of Warming and Melting Glaciers Bursting glacial lakes, storm surges, and drought among the current dangers.	20th March 2010
Living in defiance of a drying climate - The Age When Premier John Brumby travelled deep into the suburbs to relax Melbourne's water restrictions, the surprise was not in the announcement but in the bold statement that followed.	20th March 2010
Memo to policymakers: Public STILL favors the transition to clean energy Conservatives have been doing their best to torpedo the movement toward clean energy by hyping controversies about the science behind global warming. But whatever effect these controversies have had on the public they do not appear to have undermined support for action on the clean energy front, as polling expert and CAP Senior Fellow Ruy Teixeira explains. Take support for a cap-and-trade approach to limiting carbon dioxide emissions. Back in October, views on this approach were running 50-39 in favor according to a Pew Research Center poll. Recently, Pew tested this approach again and actually found a slight widening of support to 52-35 in favor.	20th March 2010
Bolivia creates a fresh start for climate talks Bolivia will host an international meeting on climate change next month because it is not prepared to 'betray its people'In the aftermath of the Copenhagen climate conference, those who defended the widely condemned outcome tended to talk about it as a "step in the right direction". This was always a tendentious argument, given that tackling climate change can not be addressed by half measures. We can't make compromises with nature.Bolivia, however, believed that Copenhagen marked a backwards step, undoing the work built on since the climate talks in Kyoto. That is why, against strong pressure from industrialised countries, we and other developing nations refused to sign the Copenhagen accord and why we are hosting an international meeting on climate change next month.	20th March 2010
Aiming for a no-carbon economy | Mike Mason Taking the 'low-carbon' path means we are designing an economy not fit for purposeWho would get on a flight across the Atlantic if most of the aeronautical engineers in the world were saying that the plane had a 50% chance of crashing before it got to the destination? No one. So why then are we prepared to take our chances on a planet which the vast majority of serious scientists say has a high chance of catastrophic system failure? I don't care whether the odds are 50% or 10% or even 1% - this is the only planet going and we're all on it.In that case, when governments talk of aiming for a "low-carbon economy" by 2050, shouldn't we all rejoice?	20th March 2010
Report Warns Oil Sands Investors of Toxic Waste Water's Financial Risk A handful of companies are at a financial disadvantage because of their exposure to waste water remediation liabilities. Others, like Chevron, will remain relatively unaffected.	20th March 2010
Oil industry emissions 'underestimated', study warns - EurActiv An underestimation of the expected surge in emissions from oil-based fossil fuels could undermine the EU's climate goals, the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) warned yesterday (18 March).	20th March 2010
CLIMATE CHANGE-BRAZIL: The Threat Posed by Livestock RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 18 (IPS) - The livestock industry has less economic clout than the oil industry, but ranchers say it has better arguments to defend itself from accusations regarding its share of responsibility for global warming.	20th March 2010
Regulate geoengineering before it's too late, say MPs Climate manipulation must be regulated at the UN level to avoid countries taking matters into their own hands, says a committee of MPs	20th March 2010
IPCC is right: Amazon still at risk from drought, global warming - FavStocks IPCC is right: Amazon still at risk from drought, global warmingFavStocks (blog)Most climate change models predict that unless global greenhouse gas emissions are substantially reduced in coming years, forest in a large part of the ...and more	20th March 2010
Senate climate bill to give free permits: sources WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. power generating companies would get free pollution permits, at least initially, as part of a compromise climate change bill being written in the Senate that also would give the coal industry $10 billion to develop "clean" technology, sources said on Friday.	20th March 2010
Top-Emitting Countries Differ on Climate Change Threat - Gallup As leaders meet in Copenhagen to discuss climate change, Gallup's surveys of five top-emitting countries finds awareness is lowest in India and highest in Japan and the United States. Chinese respondents are least likely to perceive global warming as a serious threat, Japanese are the most likely. See also: Poll: Developed and Emerging Nations Should Cut Emissions - Gallup	20th March 2010
NOAA: Sixth warmest February in combined global surface temperature, 5th warmest December-February - NOAA Last month's combined global land and ocean surface temperature made it the sixth warmest February ever recorded. Additionally, the December 2009 " February 2010 period was the fifth warmest on record averaged for any similar three-month Northern Hemisphere winter-Southern Hemisphere summer season, according to scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.	18th March 2010
China drought leaves millions short of water Millions of people face drinking water shortages in southwestern China because of a once-a-century drought that has dried up rivers and threatens vast farmlands, state media reported Wednesday.	18th March 2010
Global boiling: Freak storms on every continent - Second known tropical cyclone forms in "cooler" South Atlantic, while Red River braces for fourth "ten-year flood" in a row! I actually think the science around climate change is real. It is potentially devastating, Obama told reporters Monday [March 24, 2009]. If you look at the flooding that's going on right now in North Dakota and you say to yourself, If you see an increase of two degrees, what does that do, in terms of the situation there? That indicates the degree to which we have to take this seriously. The media love to focus on the few extreme weather events that they (mistakenly) believe are inconsistent with human-caused climate change [see "Was the 'Blizzard of 2009' a 'global warming type' of record snowfall " or an opportunity for the media to blow the extreme weather story (again)?"].	18th March 2010
Unseasonable winds in Southern California - UPI ANAHEIM, Calif., March 16 (UPI) -- A warm spell in Southern California has brought unseasonable Santa Ana winds along with warnings to motorists on one Orange County highway, officials said.	18th March 2010
Low rains to hit plantation crops in Kerala - Express India Scorching temperature in the absence of summer rains is likely to impact the production of plantation crops in Kerala. Cardamom could be the worst hit and the absence of rains in Idukki district could lead to permanent damage to the plants.	18th March 2010
Severe drought cracks runway at China airport BEIJING (Reuters) - A severe drought in southwestern China has claimed a new victim -- a runway at one of the region's busiest airports.	18th March 2010
Asia swelters in heatwave - Straits Times Straits TimesAsia swelters in heatwaveStraits TimesBy Grace Chua & Alastair McIndoe in Manila February is on track to become Singapore's driest month, as well as one of the hottest on record. ...Could this be the driest February on record?TODAYonlineall 2	18th March 2010
An Interview with David Orr, author of Down to the Wire . Part One David Orr was in the UK recently, and the two of us were part of a panel at an event organised by the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment. After the event, we retired to the bar of a rather grand London hotel, and chatted for an hour about energy, climate change, the Precautionary Principle, Transition and whether or not we are beyond talk of solutions . Part two will follow shortly. read more	18th March 2010
Entropy : One-Way Change On the big red sofa with a highly intelligent polyglottal friend after a smoking vegan roast supper, discussing the notion of pricing Carbon Dioxide emissions, with some mint tea. She said like, the Polluter pays ? Yes , I said, that Polluter pays principle ; except it should be the Polluter pays to clean up , but it doesn t work like that. Either the corporates mess up and the governments take the money and don t clean up; or the corporates mess up, pay the money, then try to recoup the cost from their customers, and don t clean up ...	18th March 2010
Greenhouse Gas Regulations Might Aggravate Climate Change (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Arizona engineers find swapping one chemical for another may actually result in greater energy use, compounding the problems the new chemical was supposed to fix.	18th March 2010
Americans Increasingly Unworried About the Environment People grasp what their drinking water has to do with them. Overwhelmingly, I think they do not fully grasp what global warming has to do with them - and that's a rhetorical failure...At the same time that highly effective movements are arranging million person demonstrations in the streets, most of the people who will actually tell their congressfolk whether to vote for change were watching Law and Order SVU. read more	18th March 2010
Methane May Be Building Under Antarctic Ice - Wired News Microbes living in lakes beneath the ice of Antarctica and Greenland could be producing methane. The greenhouse gas could be building up and released if the ice melts.	18th March 2010
What if we all traded energy between ourselves? The time may soon be coming when every government will need to think about rationing fossil fuel usage. What's the quickest and most equitable way to do it?	18th March 2010
Climate Crock video on Flogging the Scientists The anti-science crowd isn t satisfied with merely spreading disinformation about climate scientists (see Error-riddled articles and false statements destroy Daily Mail's credibilty ). Now many, like Marc Morano, are unrepentantly calling for violence against them (see The rise of anti-science cyber bullying: Morano says climate scientists deserve to be publicly flogged ). Peter Sinclair, our favorite climate de-crocker, has a new video on the subject: Sinclair, of course, is the guy who proved former TV weatherman Anthony Watts knows as much about copyright laws as about climate science. More Climate Crock of the Week videos here.	18th March 2010
Clouds and the Alternative Energy Grid California's goal of generating 33 percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2020 will be challenging on days when clouds shade acres of solar photovoltaic panels or when thousands of wind turbines spin more slowly during calm weather. However, researchers at the University of California, San Diego are developing sophisticated forecasting tools that will give California electricity distributors advance notice of meteorological changes that affect solar output. The technology is being developed to allow energy suppliers to more efficiently schedule their fossil-fuel fired plants or energy-storage facilities to meet the state's demand for electricity.	18th March 2010
UN climate envoy expects dual-track negotiations - San Francisco Chronicle Talks on a new global climate change accord, bogged down for years in contested negotiations among nearly 200 countries, will increasingly move outside the sluggish U.N. framework and focus on a streamlined group of countries, special U.N. envoy Gro Harlem...	18th March 2010
'Arrogance' undid climate talks The "disappointing" outcome from December's UN climate summit was largely down to rich nations not listening, says Lord Stern.	18th March 2010
Global warming's grand bargain takes shape - CNNMoney.com via Yahoo! Finance The horse trading over climate change law is in full swing, and Senators are trying to appease interests on both sides of the aisle.	18th March 2010
Scotland's soil a 'carbon threat' - BBC News Soils in Scotland store more than 3,000 megatonnes of carbon posing a potential threat to the environment, an agency says.	18th March 2010
Science Times stunner: a majority of the section's editorial staff doubts that human-induced global warming represents a serious threat to humanity. Okay, it's not a stunner for CP readers that the NY Times doesn t get it. Still, it's nice to see independent confirmation. What's the point of having a blog if you can t say, I told you so ? In an otherwise silly article criticizing efforts to improve climate science messaging, John Horgan, a former Scientific American staff writer who directs the Center for Science Writings at Stevens Institute of Technology, reports: I teach at an engineering school, and about one third of my students identify themselves as global-warming skeptics. They tend to know more about global warming than students who accept it as a fact.	18th March 2010
Polluting ships have been doing the climate a favour New restrictions on sulphur emissions from shipping will save thousands of lives " but cutting back will take another brake off global warming	18th March 2010
Carbon traders voice fears over recycled carbon credits Resale of surrendered Certified Emission Reduction credits by Hungarian government prompts warning that "double counting" could damage the integrity of the EU emissions trading scheme. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkThe integrity of the EU's emissions trading scheme could be badly undermined unless governments resist the temptation to sell on "recycled" certified emission reduction (CERs) credits that have already been surrendered by businesses.That is the stark warning from the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), after the Hungarian government last week agreed to sell on two million "recycled" CERs to an undisclosed intermediary.Government officials confirmed the CERs had been provided by Hungarian companies that had surrendered the UN-approved carbon offset credits to help them comply with the emission caps imposed on them through the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS).The government subsequently swapped the CERs with Assigned Amount Units, cheaper carbon ...	18th March 2010
E.U. Greenhouse Gas Plan: Better Than It Sounds - Forbes Why the U.S. should consider a similar system.	18th March 2010
Climate change: why do Africans blame themselves? - BBC News Africa is responsible for only about 3-4% of global carbon emissions and yet Africans are disproportionately exposed to the effects of global warming. Despite that, a research study called "Africa Talks Climate" suggests many Africans continue to take the blame for the impact of climate change, citing local activities like tree cutting and bush burning rather than global industrial emissions.	18th March 2010

Up is Down, Brown is Green - with apologies to Orwell In the alternate universe of Fox News, Anthony Watts, and many others, up is down. Now, it appears, brown is green. Following the total confusion over the retraction of a paper on sea level, claims of another mistake by the IPCC are making the rounds of the blogosphere. This time, the issue is the impact of rainfall changes on the Amazon rainforest. A study in 2007 showed that the forest gets greener when it rains less. A new study, by Samanta et al. in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the earlier work was flawed. Aided by an apparently rather careless press release, this is being used as evidence that the Amazon is less sensitive to rainfall changes than the IPCC claimed. See also: How well have journalists covered climate change? Howell Raines: Why has our profession helped Fox legitimize a style of journalism that is dishonest in its intellectual process, untrustworthy in its conclusions and biased in its gestalt? - Former NYT Exec Ed: "Why haven't America's old-school news organizations blown the whistle on Roger Ailes, chief of Fox News, for using the network to conduct a propaganda campaign against the Obama administration -- a campaign without precedent in our modern political history?"	16th March 2010
Toxic troubles for climate 'fix' Spreading iron in the oceans as a climate "fix" could poison marine mammals and birds, scientists show.	16th March 2010
Hot Start Hot Start by Jo Abbess 04 February 2010 An assessment of the technology and policy for de-Carbonising the Energy systems of developed societies 1. The Aligned and Related Risks from Climate Change and Peak Fossil Fuels 1a. Key Conclusions The Low Carbon Transition in Energy in developed countries is inevitable (Climate Change Act, 2008; EU Package, 2008; UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol, 1997); yet policy thinking and decision-making seems to still focus on the debateable how to do it rather than the more essential how long do we have ? If the window of opportunity for industrialised society to de-Carbonise proves to foreshorten rapidly, then the next few decades could be a story of economic collapse, unless there is concentrated, concerted endeavour (Sustainable Business, 2010).	16th March 2010
CO2 at new highs despite economic slowdown OSLO (Reuters) - Levels of the main greenhouse gas in the atmosphere have risen to new highs in 2010 despite an economic slowdown in many nations that braked industrial output, data showed Monday.	16th March 2010
False profits - Center for Investigative Reporting Knowing they will face climate legislation sometime in the future, a number of U.S. corporations have already begun to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. The utility giant American Electric and Power is buying forest projects in Brazil and the disposal company Waste Management is recovering methane from landfills to use in its trash trucks in California. But a preliminary report commissioned ...	16th March 2010
It's still real and it's still a problem - BBC News Recent controversies have failed to undermine the fundamental findings of climate science, and the need to address them. See also: Report: The Case for Global Warming Stronger Than Ever - TIME	16th March 2010
The Lomborg Deception: The Septical Environmentalist - sic says 16 feet of sea level rise wouldn t be so bad, absurdly claims it would only force the relocation of 15 million people Another op-ed by Bjorn Lomborg, another Gish Gallup of non-stop disinformation. The good news is that the task of debunking the Septical Environmentalist (sic), has been made easier by the publication of whole book dedicated to that tedious task, The Lomborg Deception. And yes, Septical Environmentalist is not a typo. Sure, it may seem like a mistake to use the word environmentalist to describe Lomborg. But it's the very fact that he calls himself an environmentalist while dedicating his life to spreading disinformation and delaying serious action on the seminal environmental issue of our time that makes him septical.	16th March 2010
Charlie Brooker | My plan to save mankind The hands of time move slowly. And they're tightening round your neck . . . but fear notTime is the strangest substance known to man. You can't see, touch, hear, smell, taste or avoid it. Time makes you stronger-minded but weaker-bodied, gradually transforming you from blushing grape to ornery, grouching raisin. Time is the most precious thing you have, yet you're happiest when you're wasting it. Time will outlive you, your offspring, your offspring's robots and your offspring's robots' springs. It will outlive the wind and the rocks, the sun and the moon, Florence and the Machine. Time, in short, is King of Things.Because time is invisible, it's hard to work out which bit to focus on at any given moment.	16th March 2010
China, Not UN, Controls Supply for CO2 Offsets, Stanford Says - Bloomberg March 15 (Bloomberg) -- China's power to set prices for electricity from windfarms is dictating the supply of tradable emission credits in the UN carbon market, the world's second biggest, according to a report from Stanford University.	16th March 2010
We climate scientists are not ecofanatics - Times Online If the IPCC has a fault, it is that its reports have been too cautious, not alarmist. In the UK only about 26 per cent of the population believe the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and is man-made. Many feel they are being steamrollered into believing something false or flakey that will make them poorer or stop them flying. Given this dangerous mood of scepticism, it is no surprise that the IPCC - the body that represents the integrity of climate-change scientists across the world - is being attacked.	16th March 2010
Money spent on tar sands projects could decarbonise western economies Production from tar sands will rise to 4m barrels a day by 2025 Shareholders seek review of environmental impact of tar sandsThe £250bn cost of developing Canada's controversial tar sands between now and 2025 could be used to decarbonise the western economy by funding ambitious solar power schemes in the Sahara or a European wide shift to electric vehicles, according to a new report released today.The same amount of investment would also help the world to hit half of the Millenium Development Goals in the 50 least-developed countries, says the research from The Co-operative and conservation group, WWF, which is released to coincide with a new film, Dirty Oil, being premiered in 25 cinemas around the UK today.	16th March 2010
Two Robin Hood Taxes for the Price of One The subject of taxes certainly isn t the most riveting topic for cocktail party conversations...But we believe that the time has come to reframe the debate on taxes and build up some popular passion and energy for a few basic adjustments to the tax code. With these simple, easy-to-implement changes, it turns out that we could move the economy in a direction that works much better for people and the planet, including a more stable climate. read more	16th March 2010
Carbon Trust launches green fuel consortium - vnunet.com Cath Everett, BusinessGreen , Monday 15 March 2010 at 15:56:00 New £7m research project to accelerate the development of pyrolysis-based biofuels made from waste materials The Carbon Trust has today launched a new consortium of UK businesses committed to developing a commercially viable process for converting municipal and wood waste into a biofuel boasting higher levels of environmental ...	16th March 2010
British sea power - BBC News Tidal energy plans for thousands of green jobs	16th March 2010
Hot water for Chile's slums, courtesy of the sun By Helen Hughes " Special to GlobalPost SANTIAGO, Chile " Jacquelin Marin has no running hot water at home. For a while, she had no real home at all. But soon she ll have both, with the sun heating water for her showers. Marin and her neighbors are part of a pilot program to install solar water heaters in the houses of low-income families. For Chile " a country with stark economic inequality and few fossil fuels " it's a way to help the poor while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Chile's drastically different climate zones mean it's hard to devise any nationwide energy solution.	16th March 2010
New London Tower Will Generate 8 Percent Of Its Own Electricity A new 42-floor London skyscraper will be the world's first building to incorporate wind turbines in the design, an innovation developers say will generate 8 percent of the building's electricity needs. The Strata Tower, a 408-unit apartment building scheduled to open in July, will be topped with three 19-kilowatt turbines " each with five 29.5-foot blades designed to suck wind from various angles and accelerate it through tubes, generating as much as 50 megawatt-hours of electricity annually. It will also generate about £16,000 to £17,000 annually through the nation's new feed-in tariff, the developers say.	16th March 2010
The Woman Who Just Might Save the Planet and Our Pocketbooks What if our economy was not built on competition? Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom talks about her work on cooperation in economics.	16th March 2010
Cuba's green revolution - achieving sustainability Cuba's successful models of sustainable development " in areas of food, housing and health " are now being widely replicated throughout Latin America.	16th March 2010
Climate report shows Australia getting warmer SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's top scientists on Monday released a "State of the Climate" report at a time of growing scepticism over climate change as a result of revelations of errors in some global scientific reports.	16th March 2010
What's Killing the Great Forests of the American West? Across western North America, huge tracts of forest are dying off at an extraordinary rate, mostly because of outbreaks of insects. Scientists are now seeing such forest die-offs around the world and are linking them to changes in climate.	16th March 2010
The Gospel According to NASA Here at the Church of Holy Science, we believe the precept of Following the Truth of the Data, wherever that data leads us. The two month period January to February 2010 was the (wait for it ) third warmest January-February out of the whole 131 years of the instrumental record. Yeah, I know what you re thinking. It was cold where I was, as well. But cold here does not mean cold everywhere. The Blog Chart tells the story of the warming trend of Earth, and February 2010 gets a resounding HOT marker :- The surface of the Earth is warming up.	16th March 2010
Drought drives Cotabato monkeys deeper into forests - Philippine Daily Inquirer Lack of food due to the drought has forced monkeys to leave their sanctuary in the village of New Israel here and seek refuge in nearby forested areas.	16th March 2010
Australian cities must transform for population growth SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia circa 2050, population 35 million, climate change induced rising sea levels have flooded the Gold Coast resort region, apartment blocks are now used to grow food and people commute in monorail pods above the sea.	16th March 2010
Deep-sea volcanoes play key climate role: scientists SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A vast network of under-sea volcanoes pumping out nutrient-rich water in the Southern Ocean plays a key role in soaking up large amounts of carbon dioxide, acting as a brake on climate change, scientists say.	16th March 2010
Climate Exchange climbs as emissions trading volumes jump - Guardian Unlimited Climate Exchange , the carbon emissions exchange operator, has pleased the market with better than expected full year profits. The company, whose marketplaces include the European Climate Exchange and the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange, said pre-tax profits had climbed from £2.8m to £6.8m, helped by a jump in trading volumes. Chairman Richard Sandor said: Some political momentum is returning ...	16th March 2010
EU should step up climate cut, report says - AP via Yahoo! Finance European Union governments can and should step up cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions because the economic recession has already made significant reductions for them, according to research commissioned by the European Green lawmakers.	16th March 2010
Is Canadian Government Muzzling the Messengers? A dramatic reduction in Canadian media coverage of climate change science issues is the result of the Harper government introducing new rules in 2007 to control interviews by Environment Canada scientists with journalists, says a newly released federal document. "Scientists have noticed a major reduction in the number of requests, particularly from high profile media, who often have same-day deadlines," said the Environment Canada document. "Media coverage of climate change science, our most high-profile issue, has been reduced by over 80 per cent." <!--break-->	16th March 2010
The best argument against global warming - San Francisco Chronicle - blog Here is the best argument against global warming: . . . . Oh, right. There isn't one. Deniers don't like the idea of climate change, they don't believe it is possible for humans to change the climate, they don't like the implications of climate change, they don't like the things we might have to do to address it, or they just don't like government or science. But they have no alternative scientific explanation that works.	16th March 2010
Climate activists threaten direct action against Scotland's 'Kingsnorth' Ayrshire Power starts planning process for power station which would be UK's first to use carbon capture and storage	16th March 2010
Climate change is real and it's here: report - Sydney Morning Herald AUSTRALIA's two leading scientific agencies will release a report today showing Australia has warmed significantly over the past 50 years, and stating categorically that ''climate change is real''.	14th March 2010
Curry and Rice The Royal Statistical Society publishes a truly readable magazine called “Significance”, and until today I hadn’t realised it’s available online.The front cover of the March 2010 Volume 7 Issue 1 edition shows an artist’s mock-up of severe drought and the headline question is “After Copenhagen : What can be done ?” The magazine contains three really helpful articles on Climate Change :- “Copenhagen 1 : Climate change : making certain what the uncertainties are” “Copenhagen 2 : The perfect storm : food security and nutrition under climate change” “Copenhagen 3 : The behavioural wedge : reducing greenhouse gas by individuals and households”.	14th March 2010
Ocean acidification: Why the climate change deniers don't want to talk about it Most people know that the release of carbon dioxide into the air from human sources has contributed to rising global temperatures and massive increases in the rate of melting of the ice at the poles and on Greenland. One of the major consequences they may not know about is the acidification of the oceans.The chemistry is quite straightforward. It's the same process that occurs when bottled water is carbonated. Most of the carbon dioxide simply dissolves in the water. But some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid. And, that's what's happening in the world's oceans as humans release more and more carbon dioxide into the air.Climate change deniers love to dispute climate modeling, to talk about short-term weather phenomena, and to pick on minor citation errors in official reports.	14th March 2010
It's Easy Being Green: The Pentagon Goes Green One Wedge at a Time The Pentagon is going full steam ahead on a massive renovation project focused on efficiency, recycling, and conservation.	14th March 2010
China looks to 'combustible ice' as a fuel source - PhysOrg (PhysOrg.com) -- Buried below the tundra of China`s Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a type of frozen natural gas containing methane and ice crystals that could supply energy to China for 90 years. China discovered the large reserve of methane hydrate last September, and last week the Qinghai Province announced that it plans to allow researchers and energy companies to tap the energy source. Although methane hydrate is plentiful throughout the world, the key challenge for China and other nations will be to develop technologies to excavate the fuel without damaging the environment.	14th March 2010
China's Wen says not to blame for Copenhagen problems BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Premier Wen Jiabao hit back on Sunday at critics who blamed China for the feeble outcome of the Copenhagen climate conference, saying he was not even invited to a key meeting he was accused of skipping.	14th March 2010
For more news, click here >> News from previous days is below
	12th March 2010
Sealevelgate Imagine this. In its latest report, the IPCC has predicted up to 3 meters of sea level rise by the end of this century. But climate sceptics websites were quick to reveal a few problems (or tricks , as they called it). First, although the temperature scenarios of IPCC project a maximum warming of 6.4 °C (Table SPM3), the upper limit of sea level rise has been computed assuming a warming of 7.6 °C. Second, the IPCC chose to compute sea level rise up to the year 2105 rather than 2100 " just to add that extra bit of alarmism.	12th March 2010
Aquatic 'dead zones' contributing to climate change The increased frequency and intensity of oxygen-deprived "dead zones" along the world's coasts can negatively impact environmental conditions in far more than just local waters. In the March 12 edition of the journal Science, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science oceanographer Dr. Lou Codispoti explains that the increased amount of nitrous oxide (N2O) produced in low-oxygen (hypoxic) waters can elevate concentrations in the atmosphere, further exacerbating the impacts of global warming and contributing to ozone "holes" that cause an increase in our exposure to harmful UV radiation.	12th March 2010
New Gallup poll shows sharp partisan divide in understanding of climate change The partisan divide on climate science has been growing for a while, as I discussed in a 2008 review of the Gallup polling. No surprise, really, since the anti-science disinformation campaign uses experts that are more credible to conservatives, and that disinformation is repeated to death on conservative media outlets. Now Gallup has updated its polling and just now released its own analysis, Conservatives Doubts About Global Warming Grow, with this fascinating ideological breakdown that shows how the divide has grown in the past 2 years: Josh Nelson at Enviroknow explains further: Newly released Gallup polling seems to show a sharp drop in the percentage of Americans who know about, are concerned about and understand the threat of global warming. [don't get belief and truth muddled now...]	12th March 2010
Battle over climate science spreads to US schoolrooms In three states, alternatives to the scientific consensus on global warming must be taught " and there seem to be links to efforts to teach creationism	12th March 2010
Climate change makes birds shrink Songbirds on the US east coast are becoming smaller, a trend thought to be driven by the warming temperatures caused by climate change.	12th March 2010
US: List polar bear as endangered species Melting sea ice in the Arctic will kill thousands of bears in coming years, the US says, and continued commercial trade must not be allowed to make the situation worseIt is a familiar story in the climate change debate. The US government is at odds with the rest of the world and, despite criticism, wants other countries to change their minds and fall in line behind Uncle Sam.This time, the tale comes with an unexpected twist. This weekend, the US will warn that the threat from climate change to the future survival of the polar bear is so great that the world must grant the animal the highest possible protection.At the annual meeting of the international body that regulates trade in animals, the US will push for a total ban on the sale and movement of polar bear products that are used for furs, rugs and taxidermy.	12th March 2010
Central American shrimp, lobster fast disappearing Illegal fishing and climate change are decimating shrimp and lobster populations in Central America, threatening a two-billion-dollar industry and 136,000 jobs, regional experts said Thursday.	12th March 2010
All American oceanic birds threatened by climate change, research finds - NatGeo News Watch NatGeo News Watch: Many land-based birds are also at risk as habitat and food sources change. The findings are published in the State of the Birds 2010 report, a collaborative effort as part of the U.S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative, involving federal and state wildlife agencies, and scientific and conservation organizations.	12th March 2010
Difficult summer in store after warm winter? - CNews A senior climatologist with Environment Canada says the balmy winter conditions seen across the country have left him shaking his head and worrying about what's in store for the summer.	12th March 2010
Erik Assadourian: our society needs some serious cultural engineering The editor of the influential Worldwatch 'State of the World' report on the best ways to transform cultures from consumerism to sustainability	12th March 2010
Big Oil uses fake Americans to attack fake energy taxes. The American Petroleum Institute is using fake Americans to defend billions in tax subsidies, as WonkRoom's Brad Johnson explains in this repost. API is running full-page ads in Politico and Roll Call that attack Congress for new energy taxes " using stock photos: Congress will likely consider new taxes on America's oil and natural gas industry. These new energy taxes will produce wide-reaching effects, and ripple through our economy when America " and Americans " can least afford it. These unprecedented taxes will serve to reduce investment in new energy supplies at a time when most Americans support developing our domestic oil and natural gas resources.	12th March 2010
US carbon traders fear pink slips - Sydney Morning Herald Wall Street was supposed to become the capital of a global carbon trading market worth a trillion dollars a year but now many who thought green trading desks would be the next big thing are fearing the pink slip.	12th March 2010
Europe should forget about emissions cuts, say policy experts Study says neither China, India or US likely to accept legally binding cuts and that new approach is needed on reducing greenhouse gas emissions	12th March 2010
Nathanael Greene: Study shows tax payers subsidizing ethanol at $4.18 per gallon - The Huffington Post A new study by University of Missouri Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (PDF) reveals that the current corn ethanol tax credit is effectively costing tax payers $4.18 per gallon and is driving up grain prices. The study estimates that the tax credit, which would cost about $5.85 billion next year if extended, will lead to 1.4 billion gallons above the 12.6 billion gallons required by law through the Renewable Fuel Standard (see page 64). In other words, next year the oil companies will be required to buy 12.6 billion gallons of conventional corn ethanol, but because tax payers are giving them $5.85 billion they'll consume 1.4 billion more than required. That works out to $4.18 per extra gallon.. See also: More Maize Ethanol May Boost Greenhouse Gas Emissions - PollutionOnline	12th March 2010
Study Tracks 'Outsourcing' of Greenhouse Gas Emissions More than one-third of the carbon dioxide emissions associated with consumer goods used in developed nations is actually emitted in other nations where the products are made, according to a new study. In the U.S., about 2.5 tons of carbon produced per person annually " or about 11 percent of U.S. per capita emissions " are emitted elsewhere, researchers at the Carnegie Institution for Science say. In Europe, it's about four tons of carbon per person. In fact, in smaller European nations like Switzerland, the emissions associated with products manufactured outside the borders exceed the actual emissions produced at home.	11th March 2010
The forest scheme that fails to protect trees Forest conservation project in Bolivia proves that unless a nation as a whole cuts deforestation, individual carbon offset schemes are worthlessIt is the ultimate greenwash nightmare. A tough international deal to curb emissions of greenhouse gases is passed in Mexico later this year. Companies then meet their targets not by cutting their own pollution but by buying into hundreds of forest "conservation" projects round the world. But those projects then fail to deliver real benefits for forests or staunch the flow of carbon into the atmosphere.Some big-time green groups prosper but the planet burns.Exhibit A in this doomsday scenario is a 14-year-old forest conservation project in Bolivia called the Noel Kempff Climate Action Project, one of the world's largest schemes to fix carbon in protected forests.	11th March 2010
Political ads: new weapon in US climate change war? - Reuters Political ads: Big business is now free to blitz the airwaves to attack politicians who support action against climate change, which could smother messages from environmentalists. "At this time we don't plan on using corporate funds for this purpose..." [said the long nosed wooden source]	11th March 2010
Protecting Taxpayers from a Financial Meltdown - Calculating the Credit Subsidy Fee on a Loan Guarantee for a New Nuclear Reactor A few weeks ago, Obama tripled the budget for the nuclear loan guarantee program, though there hasn t been a single promising application in two years. CAP Policy Analyst Richard W. Caperton explains what that risky move means for American taxpayers in this repost. President Obama has made two major announcements in recent weeks regarding loan guarantees for nuclear power. Loan guarantees commit the government to repaying a loan if the original borrower can t pay back the loan. His proposed fiscal year 2011 budget would triple nuclear loan guarantees to $54.5 billion. And on February 16, the Department of Energy issued an $8 billion guarantee for two proposed Southern Company nuclear reactors in Georgia. See aslo: How Much Will Obama's Nuclear Blind Spot Cost America? Academics demand independent inquiry into new nuclear reactors	11th March 2010
The Scalability of Biochar In order to also offset carbon emissions entirely with biochar, we'd need to char and bury an amount of carbon three times larger than current off-farm usage of biological products in the economy. Given that the existing level of take that humanity makes on the biosphere is pretty impactful, what you don't want to do is create some kind of general payment incentive for commercial operations to char and bury carbon. That would be disastrous and lead to bulldozers wiping out tropical forests on a huge scale in order to pile them up, char them and bury them. What would be potentially more reasonable is an incentive, on existing farmland only, to do biochar of agricultural residues. That might be environmentally beneficial on the whole (improve the soil in-situ, without incentivizing spillovers onto marginal soils or tropical forest ecosystems) though the interaction with current no-till agricultural practices should be thought about carefully.	11th March 2010
Is "More Jobs" Sustainable or Necessary in the Post-Peak Oil World? What was required for a growing economy, that was supposed to uplift all of modern humanity, is at root a false notion for the manipulated public: the overwhelming majority must work for others to enrich the few so that all of society benefits through unlimited expansion. This problematic profit-scheme is failing to hold up, what with general economic uncertainty on the rise (apart from "Hope") and the advanced depletion of easily extracted, cheap oil.	11th March 2010
New Naomi Oreskes Talk Available University of California (San Diego) science historian Naomi Oreskes has a new lecture on line, promoting her upcoming book: Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming <!--break-->	11th March 2010
Open Season on Science Like several commentators, I am picking out a trend in Internet communications that indicates that there is a tribe of "doubt believers" out there, proselytising for their cause : bringing down the Science of Climate Change. These evangelists often write and reply to web posts with statements of alarmingly high confidence levels, assuming authority they cannot possibly claim, sometimes using anonymity to cloak their network connections. Here are just a few examples :-	11th March 2010
Sun won't stop global warming if dims as in 1600s OSLO (Reuters) - A dimming of the sun to match conditions in the "Little Ice Age" of the 17th century would only slightly slow global warming, a study indicated on Wednesday.	11th March 2010
Vietnam forest fires rise sharply in drought - EARTHtimes.org Hanoi - Drought-driven forest fires in Vietnam this year have already consumed an area greater than the entire area burned in 2008 or 2009, officials said Tuesday. Fires have destroyed 1,600 hectares of forest so far this year, said Do Thanh Hai, a senior official at Vietnam's Forest Protection Department. That area is more than 10 times the rate measured in the first two months of 2008 or 2009, which each saw just more than 140 hectares destroyed. Hai blamed the fires on a drought that has left Vietnam's north-western provinces with almost no rainfall from October to February. "Such a long-lasting drought is somewhat strange..."	11th March 2010
Parched island Politicians look away as Cyprus dies of drought	11th March 2010
RIGHTS: "Famine Marriages" Just One Byproduct of Climate Change UNITED NATIONS, Mar 9 (IPS/TerraViva) - The negative fallout from climate change is having a devastatingly lopsided impact on women compared to men, from higher death rates during natural disasters to heavier household and care burdens.	11th March 2010
TANZANIA: Weather Changes Turn Farming into Gamble with Nature DAR-ES-SALAAM, Mar 10 (IPS) - Changes in weather patterns have turned agriculture into a gamble with nature for Tanzanian farmers. Prolonged droughts and floods have made the lives of small-scale farmers, who don t have access to irrigation, extremely difficult.	11th March 2010
Drought ravages famed Philippine rice terraces - AFP via Yahoo! News A worsening drought is exacting a terrible toll on the world-famous mountain rice terraces of the northern Philippines, local officials said Tuesday.	11th March 2010
EU to exceed 2020 green energy target: forecasts BRUSSELS (Reuters) - New forecasts suggest the European Union will exceed its target of getting 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources in 2020, the European Commission said Thursday.	11th March 2010
IEA calls for low-carbon revolution - UPI PARIS, March 10 (UPI) -- The International Energy Agency and technology officers from 30 global companies in Paris called Wednesday for dramatic action to usher in a low-carbon economy.	11th March 2010
China unsure on warming cause, to stick with CO2 cuts BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top climate negotiator said on Wednesday that the cause of global warming was still not clear but the problems it was creating were so serious that the world must anyway act to cut greenhouse gas emissions.	11th March 2010
Scientists figure out way to convert CO2 into carbon monoxide using visible light - Sify News A team of scientists has figured out a way to efficiently turn carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas, into carbon monoxide using visible light, like sunlight.	11th March 2010
The 'waterless' washing machine that could save you money New machine by Xeros cleans clothes with beads and a tiny amount of water and may cut household bills by 30%"Dry" cleaning is set to become a domestic activity with a washing machine that uses 90% less water than a normal laundry cycle and could be available by the end of 2011. The device, developed by Leeds-based Xeros Ltd, replaces water with tiny plastic beads that suck up stains and its producers claim it will shift stubborn pounds from household energy bills as well.The Xeros process uses 3mm-long nylon beads that can get into all the crevices and folds of clothing and can also be re-used hundreds of times.	11th March 2010
New Process Uses Concentrated Solar Heat to Vaporize Biomass A U.S. startup has developed a process that uses concentrated solar heat to vaporize biomass into synthetic fuels, a system the company says is cleaner and more efficient and can produce twice as much fuel per ton of biomass as existing systems. In the process, a network of solar mirrors direct sunlight at a mounted gasifying unit, heating ceramic tubes to 1,200 to 1,300 degrees C. Any biomass, such as wood and crop waste, that is passed through the tubes becomes vaporized and is converted into synthetic gas, the company says. At such extreme temperatures, the process leaves behind little tar residue, which the developers say can be expensive to get rid of and can kill the catalysts that reform the product into liquid fuel later in the process.	11th March 2010
South Korea unveils ‘recharging road’ for eco-friendly buses by Agence France-Presse Online electric vehicleCredit: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology SEOUL"South Korean researchers on Tuesday launched an environmentally friendly public transport system using a recharging road "with a vehicle sucking power magnetically from buried electric strips. The Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV), towing three buses, went into service at an amusement park in southern Seoul. If the prototype proves successful, there are plans to try it out on a bus route in the capital. The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), which developed the system, says OLEV needs a battery only one-fifth the size of conventional electric vehicles and eliminates the need for major recharging.	11th March 2010
U.S. "cap and trade" rebranded "pollution reduction" WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Like a savvy Madison Avenue advertising team, senators pushing climate-control legislation have decided to scrap the name "cap and trade" and rebrand their product as "pollution reduction targets."	11th March 2010
On rooftops worldwide, a solar water heating revolution by Lester Brown The harnessing of solar energy is expanding on every front as concerns about climate change and energy security escalate, as government incentives for harnessing solar energy expand, and as these costs decline while those of fossil fuels rise. One solar technology that is really beginning to take off is the use of solar thermal collectors to convert sunlight into heat that can be used to warm both water and space. China, for example, is now home to 27 million rooftop solar water heaters. With nearly 4,000 Chinese companies manufacturing these devices, this relatively simple low-cost technology has leapfrogged into villages that do not yet have electricity.	11th March 2010
The global race to extinction | Adam Rutherford Not all dinosaurs were wiped out by the Chicxulub meteorite. We too may be in the midst of mass extinctionEveryone loves an apocalypse, and none more so than the one that sped the dinosaurs to their now legendary status. Having been a popular theory for 30 years, last week scientists finally reached a consensus that it was indeed the after-effects of a juggernaut meteorite crashing 65 million years ago into what we now call Chicxulub in Mexico that triggered the end of the dinosaurs' reign on Earth.The reasons for loving this particular catastrophe are easy to understand. Dinosaurs are awesome.	11th March 2010
Earth Hour 2010 Being involved in a collective effort may yet help the human race overcome its problem with excessive emissions. It will look like the United Nations’ Climate Change Conferences, yet it will be an standing session, not just one fortnight a year. And it will be distributed over the entire world, not just in one location. And it will involve a whole lot more people than just official national delegates. Help start the process by taking part in a token gesture of support for a cleaner, greener, cooler Earth : switch everything off for an hour on Saturday 27 March 2010, starting at 8.30pm 20:30 where you are, in your time zone :- http://www.earthhour.org http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/	11th March 2010
Gas emissions law once again a target in California On Monday, the state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office concluded that the landmark 2006 law that mandates cuts in greenhouse gas emissions would cost the state jobs in the near term, and have uncertain effects in the long term. On Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has ardently championed the law, dismissed the LAO report as so much armchair analysis.	11th March 2010
Scientists to review climate body The UN Secretary-General asks the world's leading science academies to review the UN's climate science body.	11th March 2010
The Do-Nothing Energy Tax: $3 Gasoline Dead Ahead As long as we keep taking no serious action on climate and clean energy, there's nothing to stop the energy bills of Americans from rising. Daniel J. Weiss, CAP's Director of Climate Strategy, explains what's in store this summer. The mounds of snow blackened by auto exhaust have barely melted in Washington, D.C, yet the Energy Information Administration's Short Term Energy Outlook already predicts that: Average U.S. pump prices likely will exceed $3 per gallon at times during the forthcoming spring and summer driving season. EIA projects gasoline consumption will begin to show modest, but consistent, increases over the previous year, growing by 60,000 bbl/d in 2010 and 70,000 bbl/d in 2011.	11th March 2010
The Dutch Will Get Wet When are the Media going to get their own School of the Environment, where all the journalists can come and learn the Science of Climate Change ? The Times of London continues to mangle the facts, it seems to me; this time from the pen/fingers of Ben Webster, perhaps a Mini-Me version of that accreditable journalist Jonathan Leake :- [link]tol/news/environment/article7056173.ece [The IPCC] also claimed that global warming could cut rain-fed North African crop production by up to 50 per cent by 2020. A senior IPCC contributor has since admitted that there is no evidence to support this claim I don t think that quite pins it down accurately.	11th March 2010
Sarkozy to press G20 on climate funding - Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News France will push the Group of 20 countries to impose a tax on financial transactions to raise billions of dollars to help developing nations fight climate change, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday.	11th March 2010
Dying duck pics sent to Alberta premier - CNews An admission by Premier Ed Stelmach that he had not seen recent photos of dying ducks at a Syncrude tailings pond has ruffled the feathers of Greenpeace.	11th March 2010
American Petroleum tells lawmakers it supports carbon fee because it’s easier to demonize by Brad Johnson Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The effort of Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to craft comprehensive clean energy legislation that caps global warming pollution has brought some positive words from Big Oil and their political allies. In particular, the senators are considering a proposal by ConocoPhillips, BP America, and Exxon Mobil to exclude petroleum producers and refiners from a carbon market and instead levy a carbon fee. Once you have oil people saying, We can live with this, this was our idea, then hopefully everybody else begins to look at this thing anew, Graham told reporters.	9th March 2010
We're All Sunk It's almost too easy to vilify corporations. What, with all the evil stuff they do. Take the coal industry for example, who blow up our mountains, poison our air and water, contribute massively to global climate change, and spend untold millions of dollars on disinformation campaigns, lobbying Congress, buying Senators, and lying to block efforts to tackle the climate crisis. I mean, they are practically begging for our hatred, right? Right. read more	9th March 2010
Using behavioral science to make smarter energy policy On Friday, journalist John Fleck made a great point, comparing coverage of two new pieces in Science. One is about the latest potential climate disaster: methane venting from the seafloor in the Arctic. The second is about a promising new climate solution: using behavioral science to influence energy use. Not surprisingly, the disaster got tons of coverage. The solution got none. This is entirely typical. As Fleck says, "The problem space gets more attention than the solution space." read more	9th March 2010
EU climate chief delivers treaty blow - Financial Times The world will almost certainly fail to draw up a new treaty on climate change this year, the minister in charge of last year's Copenhagen summit has admitted, delivering a heavy blow to the barely flickering hopes for a swift global settlement. Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister who masterminded the summit of world leaders on global warming last year and is now the European commissioner for climate change, told the Financial Times negotiations were not progressing fast enough for a treaty to be signed soon.	9th March 2010
How You Were Taken In : The Manufacture of Doubt Please do watch Naomi Oreske's magristral (not magisterial , since she's female) presentation on her new publication Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming in the YouTube above. The presentation is somewhat marred by poor audiovisual capture, but it's fascinating, all the same, and good to hear her logical argumentation; and be reminded of what has been happening for the last 50 years in the public debates on Science.	9th March 2010
US still responsible for most CO2 emissions Europeans import nearly twice as much carbon dioxide per head as US citizens " but the US is still the world's largest emitter See also: UK import emissions are the highest in Europe, figures show	9th March 2010
Debate the controversy! The serial misinformers and misrepresenters demand equal time for their misinformation and misrepresentations. What should climate science defenders and the media do? Here's how the strategy works: Step 1: Some misinformer or anti-science group puts out misinformation on the science or misrepresents the views of some scientist or expert. Step 2: They get debunked, by that person and/or others. Step 3: They demand equal time for their misinformation or misrepresentation, either through formal debates or balanced media coverage. Step 4: If they get the equal time, their strategy has worked, and they can go on to fabricate more misinformation and misrepresent the views of other scientists.	9th March 2010
The trouble with trusting complex science | George Monbiot There is no simple way to battle public hostility to climate research. As the psychologists show, facts barely sway us anywayThere is one question that no one who denies manmade climate change wants to answer: what would it take to persuade you? In most cases the answer seems to be nothing. No level of evidence can shake the growing belief that climate science is a giant conspiracy codded up by boffins and governments to tax and control us. The new study by the Met Office, which paints an even grimmer picture than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will do nothing to change this view.The attack on climate scientists is now widening to an all-out war on science.	9th March 2010
The Local Food and Farming Revolution Most of us know in our bones that a sea change is coming in agriculture. But the biggest driver of that change is not going to come from the issues that I ve mentioned so far. The biggest driver is going to be the increasing cost and decreasing availability of fossil fuels, especially oil. Because agriculture is so dependent on oil, the entire system is extremely vulnerable to oil depletion"and to oil price spikes. The situation brewing on the horizon regarding oil compels us to begin rethinking how we grow our food, and even how we eat.	9th March 2010
Drought sends farmers rushing to rescue rice - Vietnam Net VietNamNet Bridge - Unusually hot, dry weather has put thousands of hectares of rice in the country's central and Mekong Delta regions at risk of a poor harvest. Residents and local leaders are now undertaking drastic measures to ensure the winter-spring crop does not go to waste.	9th March 2010
Sweden Labels Food With CO2 Data Experts say these guidelines, if heeded by consumers, could decrease Sweden's emissions by 20 to 50 percent.	9th March 2010
German fishing boat flies giant kite to save fuel IJMUIDEN, Netherlands (Reuters) - Germany's largest fishing vessel will leave the Netherlands this week, towed by a giant kite harnessing trade winds for South America that will help cut its fuel consumption by up to a third.	9th March 2010
Oceans Losing Oxygen Is A Sign Of Climate Change Yahoo! News : Lower levels of oxygen in the Earth's oceans, particularly off the United States' Pacific Northwest coast, could be another sign of fundamental changes linked to global climate change, scientists say.	9th March 2010
Football: Drought scorches World Cup host - The New Straits Times PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa: The green pitch at Port Elizabeth's World Cup stadium has become an island in a sea of brown, exempt from water limits imposed due to a drought that has scorched the land outside.	9th March 2010
Cool model for a hot planet In his recent book, "Strategic Bargaining and Cooperation in Greenhouse Gas Mitigations," Binghamton University's Zili Yang suggests ways governments might realistically work together to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. He also makes a case for curbing the use of fossil fuels - whether they contribute to climate change or not.	9th March 2010
Record Wind Generation Tests Texas's Transmission System Wind power generation in Texas is growing so quickly that it is testing the limits of the state's electrical grid. The state set a record on March 5 when wind turbines generated 6,272 megawatts of energy, or about 19 percent of the electricity on the state's main power grid. That peak far exceeded the 6.2 percent average for wind power in Texas, whose 9,410 megawatts of total wind capacity make it the nation's wind power leader. But wind power's growth poses a critical challenge for the state's booming wind industry, which includes a 180-megawatt wind farm completed last fall near Corpus Christi in South Texas.	9th March 2010
EPA chief slams attempted delays by lawmakers WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Environmental Protection Administrator Lisa Jackson fought back on Monday against Senate attempts to challenge EPA's authority to regulate emissions while lawmakers work on a climate bill, saying delaying agency action would be bad for the economy.	9th March 2010
For Developing Nations, Exports Boost CO2 Emissions - NPR China is criticized for being the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide, but a new report shows that a quarter of that is emitted while making things for Western consumers. Researchers say that climate policy must account for emissions resulting from trade.	9th March 2010
Global warming doubts could hamper climate legislation - The Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! News A recent poll suggests that high-profile controversies regarding climate science are weakening public confidence in the validity of global warming, And that could endanger congressional efforts to pass climate legislation.	9th March 2010
Worldwide Earth Hour switch off - Scoop.co.nz What do Te Puke's kiwi fruit and Paeroa's LP bottle have in common with the world's tallest building - the Burj Khalifa, London Eye and Table Mountain? They are all taking action against climate change in the biggest environmental event the world has seen.	9th March 2010
Don’t buy Obama’s greenwashing of nuclear power by Erich Pica On Feb. 16, while President Obama was in Maryland announcing an $8.3 billion taxpayer-backed loan guarantee for Southern Company to build two new nuclear reactors in Georgia, inspectors at the Vermont Yankee reactor were finding dangerously high levels of tritium, a radioactive cancer-causing chemical, in the groundwater near the plant. The next week, the Vermont state Senate voted overwhelmingly to shut down Vermont Yankee when its current license expires in 2012. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) called the timing of the nuclear loan guarantee announcement and the Vermont Senate's decision ironic. More than just some coincidence, though, the Vermont Yankee situation demonstrates that from the mining of uranium ore to the storage of radioactive waste, nuclear reactors remain as dirty, risky, and as costly as they ever were.	9th March 2010
India backs Copenhagen climate deal: minister - AFP via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News India has decided to formally back a climate change accord struck in Copenhagen last year that includes non-binding limits on global warming, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Tuesday.	9th March 2010
Post Carbon - Washington Post Washington PostThe researchers found "adults under the age of 35 are significantly less likely than their elders to say that they had thought about global warming before ...	9th March 2010

Evidence provided in UK parliamentary Inquiry Into climate scientists Was Prepared by oil and gas industry consultant The Guardian just broke the news that a consultant to Shell and other oil and gas interests was the source of evidence provided by the Institute of Physics in the current UK parliamentary review of the controversy in England over climate scientists emails stolen from servers at the University of East Anglia.The Guardian reports: Evidence from a respected scientific body to a parliamentary inquiry examining the behaviour of climate-change scientists, was drawn from an energy industry consultant who argues that global warming is a religion hellip;The Guardian has established that the institute prepared its evidence, which was highly critical of the CRU scientists, after inviting views from Peter Gill, an IOP official who is head of a company in Surrey called Crestport Services.According to Gill, Crestport offers "consultancy and management support services hellip ...	8th March 2010
Energy Bulletin Deep thought - Mar 5 -Empires on the Edge of Chaos -Majoring in Idiocy -Climate-Resilient Industrial Development Paths -Can we design cities for happiness? -What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism	8th March 2010
Wanted: an eco prophet | Peter Preston People are drifting into a lethal slumber on climate change. More of the same won't wake them upIt's an exceptionally inconvenient truth. Only one American in three believes that human beings are responsible for climate change: a polling result 10% down on where opinion rested the year before. Worse, the number of Americans who believe that climate change is a hoax or a scientific conspiracy " not doubting, just damned blank certain " has doubled since 2008. Add in those who assert that the changes, if any, are of "no significant concern", and you've got 30% of the US denying, scoffing and just walking on by.Are the issues clearer, the people more committed, here in Britain?	8th March 2010
The Real Climategate Why did America's leading environmental groups jet to Copenhagen and lobby for policies that will lead to the faster death of the rainforests--and runaway global warming? Why are their lobbyists on Capitol Hill dismissing the only real solutions to climate change as "unworkable" and "unrealistic," as though they were just another sooty tentacle of Big Coal? At first glance, these questions will seem bizarre. Groups like Conservation International are among the most trusted "brands" in America, pledged to protect and defend nature. Yet as we confront the biggest ecological crisis in human history, many of the green organizations meant to be leading the fight are busy shoveling up hard cash from the world's worst polluters--and burying science-based environmentalism in return.	8th March 2010
US Defense dept warns of danger from climate change In January this year the US Department of Defense, that bastion of socialists, published its Quadrennial Defense Review Report. The report not only implicitly accepts climate change but also points to the dangers it poses to national security. It's worth reading how it expects climate change to impact the armed forces: Crafting a Strategic Approach to Climate and Energy (pg84) Climate change and energy are two key issues that will play a significant role in shaping the future security environment. Although they produce distinct types of challenges, climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked. The actions that the Department takes now can prepare us to respond effectively to these challenges in the near term and in the future.	8th March 2010
Is Population Growth a Ponzi Scheme? - The Globalist The basic pitch of those promoting population growth is straightforward in its appeal: "More is better."	8th March 2010
Arctic Methane on the Move? Methane is like the radical wing of the carbon cycle, in today's atmosphere a stronger greenhouse gas per molecule than CO2, and an atmospheric concentration that can change more quickly than CO2 can. There has been a lot of press coverage of a new paper in Science this week called Extensive methane venting to the atmosphere from sediments of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf , which comes on the heels of a handful of interrelated methane papers in the last year or so. Is now the time to get frightened? No. CO2 is plenty to be frightened of, while methane is frosting on the cake.	8th March 2010
EU's 'carbon fat cats' get rich off trading scheme: study - Eu Business (PARIS ) - Europe's system for industrial carbon quotas has enriched the continent's biggest polluters, with ten firms together reaping permits for 2008 alone worth 500 million euros, a new report revealed.	8th March 2010
Warming data said stronger than IPCC claim - UPI LONDON, March 5 (UPI) -- Evidence of manmade global warming is stronger than the besieged U.N. climate panel claimed, with rainfall changes altering the Earth, British scientists said.	8th March 2010
SHRINKING GLACIERS THREATEN TAJIKISTAN's ECONOMIC DREAMS - EurasiaNet Like many other farmers in the remote village of Barchid, lying in the shadow of Tajikistan's Pamir Mountains, Makbulsho Yakinshoev knows little about issues like greenhouse-gas emissions or global warming.	8th March 2010
Canada has had its warmest, driest winter on record - CTV Toronto While parts of Asia, Europe and the United States have suffered through unusually cold and snowy winter months, Canada is emerging from its warmest and driest winter in at least six decades, a senior climatologist says.	8th March 2010
Humans driving extinction faster than species can evolve, say experts Conservationists say rate of new species slower than diversity loss caused by the destruction of habitats and climate changeFor the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared, humans are driving animals and plants to extinction faster than new species can evolve, one of the world's experts on biodiversity has warned.Conservation experts have already signalled that the world is in the grip of the "sixth great extinction" of species, driven by the destruction of natural habitats, hunting, the spread of alien predators and disease, and climate change.However until recently it has been hoped that the rate at which new species were evolving could keep pace with the loss of diversity of life.Speaking in advance of two reports next week on the state of wildlife in Britain and Europe, Simon Stuart, chair of the Species Survival Commission for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature " the body which ...	8th March 2010
Arctic sea ice: the data behind the climate change fightback visualised Scientists are fighting back over climate change. Get the data behind the latest battle - and see how we visualised it Get the dataClimate change scientists have started a fightback against sceptics who argue that the observed changes in the Earth's climate can largely be explained by natural variability. This comes after the email hacking furore.A major Met Office review of more than 100 scientific studies tracking the observed changes in the Earth's climate system finds that it is an "increasingly remote possibility" that human activity is not the main cause of climate change.We visualised this information for the Guardian today - click on the image above to see how we did it.	8th March 2010
CLIMATE: The Thirsty Caribbean PORT OF SPAIN, Mar 4 (Tierramérica) - Caribbean countries are considering options like desalination plants and cloud seeding to confront a drought that threatens the regional economy and which experts warned about years ago.	8th March 2010
Team Finds Way to Clean Up Coal, Harvest Hydrogen (PhysOrg.com) -- The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy has awarded researchers at UT Dallas $1 million over three years to create a new class of membranes that produce hydrogen from coal while scrubbing out greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.	8th March 2010
EU considers general carbon tax - BBC News The European Commission plans an EU-wide tax on carbon as part of the EU's green energy agenda - but the UK opposes such a move.	8th March 2010
How ocean bacterium turns carbon into fuel - Science Daily Researchers have uncovered details about how cyanobacteria, one of the most abundant organisms on Earth, digest carbon. These bacteria build miniature factories inside themselves that turn carbon into fuel. A new study shows the bacteria organize these factories spatially, lining them up in a neat row, revealing a structural sophistication not often seen in single-celled organisms.	8th March 2010
Environment Agency maps hydropower hotspots Report identifies thousands of potential small-scale hydropower sites in English and Welsh rivers that could power 850,000 homesThousands of small-scale hydroelectric schemes could power 850,000 homes and produce 1.5% of the UK's electricity needs, according to an Environment Agency study (EA) published today (pdf).The agency mapped the energy hotspots of English and Welsh rivers and identified almost 26,000 locations where turbines could be installed to generate electricity from the water.Not all those sites could be developed, as some could damage the environment or are in places with practical constraints, such as difficulty accessing the local electricity grid.Around half the sites are in environmentally sensitive areas and would need fish-friendly measures such as screens to stop fish getting killed by turbines.But the EA said that with many of the potential locations in areas where humans have interfered ... See also: Rivers' potential for electricity - BBC News	8th March 2010
Solar panels the hot new item as pay-as-you-save launches Get a loan of up to £15,000 to green your house " but the scheme could falter if the government loses the electionIf you want to install solar panels on your roof and take advantage of lucrative new feed-in tariffs but have been put off by a lack of funds, you could soon get a loan to cover the whole cost.This week the government unveiled plans to offer homeowners 20-year loans of up to £15,000 to allow families to invest in green technologies, safe in the knowledge that their loan would be taken over by the purchaser if they move before it's paid off.This follows an announcement by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) that it will start paying feed-in tariffs to households installing green technologies, most notably solar water heaters, typically costing £4,000, and electricity ...	8th March 2010
VIETNAM: Record drought threatens livelihoods - IRIN HANOI, 5 March 2010 (IRIN) - As temperatures rise in Vietnam, a nationwide drought has dried up riverbeds, sparked forest fires and now threatens one of the world's richest agricultural regions, upon which millions depend for their livelihoods.	8th March 2010
How food and water are driving a 21st-century African land grab An Observer investigation reveals how rich countries faced by a global food shortage now farm an area double the size of the UK to guarantee supplies for their citizens Read the expert's viewWe turned off the main road to Awassa, talked our way past security guards and drove a mile across empty land before we found what will soon be Ethiopia's largest greenhouse. Nestling below an escarpment of the Rift Valley, the development is far from finished, but the plastic and steel structure already stretches over 20 hectares " the size of 20 football pitches.The farm manager shows us millions of tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables being grown in 500m rows in computer controlled conditions.	8th March 2010
MALAWI: Climate Change Is Changing Farming Methods LILONGWE, Mar 5 (IPS) - As they slept soundly on the night of Feb. 28, a family of four was killed when their house collapsed over their heads in Malawi's southern district of Chikhwawa.	8th March 2010
Japan rift risks watering down climate bill TOKYO (Reuters) - A rift within Japan's government over legislation to fight climate change has raised the risk of it watering down plans for an emissions trading system that is at the core of its drive for greener policies.	8th March 2010
EU tempers hopes of binding climate deal this year BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union executive is tempering its hopes of securing a legally binding climate deal in talks this year culminating in Cancun, Mexico, focusing instead on a 2011 summit in South Africa, a source said.	8th March 2010
Green Energy : Stuck in the Sidings If you can imagine the engine for new, renewable and sustainable Energy systems as a train which should by now be thundering down the tracks, get this : it left the depot only to get stuck in the sidings. Enough of the locomotive metaphors, already. On to the analysis. Here's an excerpt from Catherine Mitchell's fine book The Political Economy of Sustainable Energy (2008, 2010) :- Breaking Free of the Band of Iron : Over the last few years, in response to climate change, the UK Government has produced a range of policies to stimulate the development of sustainable energy technologies.	8th March 2010
Cannibalizing Environmentalism: Tzeporah Berman under attack berman campbell.jpg There's nothing mainstream media loves more than the spectacle of environmentalists ripping one another limb from limb. Witness, for example, the CBC Vancouver Early Edition interview this morning (starting at 1:23:21) in which a little-known activist (Macdonald Stainsby) was invited to slag Tzeporah Berman, co-founder of Forest Ethics, founder of PowerUp Canada and, soon, the chief climate campaigner for Greenpeace International. Stainsby was all fired up, questioning Berman's environmental bona fides and calling her "a Trojan horse" whose true purpose was to "hand all power over to corporations." As proof, Stainsby said that "Ms.	8th March 2010
High-carbon ice age mystery solved It turns out carbon dioxide levels at the time of the Ordovician ice age were not that high after all	8th March 2010
EU warns climate loopholes could lead to CO2 rise BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Loopholes in the United Nations climate treaties could actually amount to an increase in global climate-warming emissions over the next decade, and must be closed, a draft European Union report shows. European Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard will announce her strategy on Tuesday for advancing international climate talks after the conclusion of a weak deal in Copenhagen in December.	8th March 2010
Methane releases from Arctic shelf may be much larger and faster than anticipated - EurekAlert! ( National Science Foundation ) A section of the Arctic Ocean seafloor that holds vast stores of frozen methane is showing signs of instability and widespread venting of the powerful greenhouse gas, according to the findings of an international research team led by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov. See also: Science stunner: Vast East Siberian Arctic Shelf methane stores destabilizing and venting - NSF issues world a wake-up call: "Release of even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger abrupt climate warming.	5th March 2010
Why Is this Apocalypse Different than All Other Apocalypses? A lot of what I write works from the assumption that we all agree that peak oil and climate change are happening and going to be life-changing events. And yet, some people who read this blog don't necessarily agree on this subject, or they don't see the effects has being as profound as I do, or perhaps the idea of peak oil or climate change is fairly new to them, and they don't know what to believe.	5th March 2010
Which climate changes can be blamed on humans? Human "fingerprints" have been detected on all sorts of aspects of the climate, from rainfall to the salt content of the oceans See also: Humans must be to blame for climate change, say scientists	5th March 2010
Life After Growth By Richard Heinberg We are in for some very hard times. The transitional period on our way toward a post-growth, equilibrium economy will prove to be the most challenging time any of us has ever lived through. Nevertheless, I am convinced that we can survive this collective journey, and that if we make sound choices as families and communities, life can actually be better for us in the decades ahead than it was during the heady days of seemingly endless economic expansion	5th March 2010
Climate change commitments There is an interesting letter in Nature Geoscience this month on what climate changes we have actually already committed ourselves to. The letter, by Mathews and Weaver (sub. reqd.), makes the valid point that there are both climatic and societal inertias to consider. Their figure neatly demonstrates the different issues: The upper line is often what is referred to as the climate change commitment (for instance Wigley, 2005). This is the warming you get if we keep CO2 (and other GHG and pollutant levels) constant at today's values. (Technically, the figure shows the case staying at year 2000 values).	5th March 2010
Recession Kills Dissent The Economic Recession has been an excellent excuse to stop funding Charities, Aid and Development agencies and other Non-Governmental Organisations. Whether or not there is still money in the pot for campaigns and other kinds of communicating with the public on subjects of philanthropic interest, funders (which include Government bodies) have been finding reasons to cut off the lifeblood of groups with large memberships. NGOs that have been targeted with funding cuts recently include Stop Climate Chaos.	5th March 2010
The rise of anti-science cyber bullying - Morano says climate scientists "deserve to be publicly flogged." Researchers must purge e-mail in-boxes daily of threatening correspondence, simply part of the job of being a climate scientist That's the subhed for a new Scientific American piece on cyber bullying. It comes fast on the heels of Bullying, lies and the rise of right-wing climate denial, the first part of the terrific series by Clive Hamilton, reprinted below (followed by an excerpt of the SciAm piece): Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at Australia's Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethic, is the author of the forthcoming book Requiem for a Species. Two years ago the Labor Party won a decisive election victory in part by riding a public mood demanding action on climate change after years of stonewalling. See also: Inhofe Wants to Prosecute "Criminal" Scientists	5th March 2010
The climate change debate is Science vs. Snake Oil This is a Wonkroom repost. According to the mainstream media, there is a controversy over the validity of climate science, in particular the conclusion that the warming of the planet by greenhouse gas emissions poses a risk to the public: Iceberg Ahead: Climate scientists who play fast and loose with the facts are imperiling not just their profession but the planet " Newsweek, 2/19/10 Controversies Create Opening for Critics " Wall Street Journal, 2/17/10 Series of missteps by climate scientists threatens climate-change agenda " Washington Post, 2/14/10 Climate-Change Debate Is Heating Up in Deep Freeze " The New York Times, 2/11/10 Let's take a look at who is on either side of this so-called climate-change debate ... See aso: The Truth-Tellers Collective Intelligent Designers Enlist Climate Skeptics in the War on Reality The Climate Obstructers Gameplan	5th March 2010
We're Screwing the Environment the Same Way We Screwed the Economy The captains of industry and government admittedly blew the economic meltdown; too bad the environmental meltdown is following the same, lame script.	5th March 2010
The new world order The United States and European Union will face off against China and Russia as climate change starts to alter the geopolitical gameboard. See also: War over the Arctic? Global warming skeptics distract us from security risks. - The Christian Science Monitor	5th March 2010
Elephants, Other Iconic Animals Dying in Kenya Drought - National Geographic Scores of animals are dying of thirst, starvation, and disease amid the country's worst drought in over a decade, conservationists say.	5th March 2010
Glacier melting a key clue to tracking climate change SINGAPORE/ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - The world has become far too hot for the aptly named Exit Glacier in Alaska. See also: Settling the science on Himalayan glaciers	5th March 2010
Out of step Recent changes in the seasonal timing of biological events such as flowering and migration have been linked to warmer temperatures. Now a study shows that such seasonal shifts are becoming increasingly common in the UK and could wreak havoc across ecosystems as they disturb the delicate balance of nature.	5th March 2010
Souring seas Marine plankton survived a period of intense ocean warming and acidification some 55 million years ago. But their future descendants might not be so lucky, suggests a new study. They found that in the future the deep ocean could become undersaturated with carbonate, the mineral form of carbon used by calcareous organisms for building shells and skeletons, to an even worse extent than during the PETM. At the ocean surface, the rate of acidification could exceed that experienced during the PETM, potentially challenging the ability of plankton to adapt.	5th March 2010
Do melting ice caps affect salt levels? - Boulder Weekly Dear EarthTalk: If the ice caps are melting, what is happening to the salt content of the oceans? And might this contribute to weather patterns or cause other environmental problems?	5th March 2010
Olives, pomegranates to rule farms - Sydney Morning Herald Australian farmers will be told to grow olives, jojoba, pomegranates and other hardy crops in a bid to foil the impending climate change threat.	5th March 2010
The Century of Famine Humanity has struggled to survive through the millennia in terms of balancing population size with food supply. The same is true now, but population numbers have been soaring for over a century. The limiting factor has been hidden, but this factor -- oil and natural gas, or petroleum -- is close to or beyond its peak extraction. Without ample, free-flowing petroleum, it will not be possible to support a population of several billion for long.	5th March 2010
The N of an era: America’s nitrogen dilemma—and what we can do about it by Tom Philpott There are three things onwhich the mighty engine of U.S. agriculture depends: water, fuel, and syntheticnitrogen. Like water, nitrogen is elemental to life. It's the essentialbuilding block of the plants we eat.Farmers remove it from the soil when they harvest the year's crop, and theymust replenish it for the following year s.Compared with water and fuel,nitrogen is actually in one sense quite plentiful: it makes up about 80 percentof the air we breathe. Yet for all that ubiquity, it's also in a sense scarce:its extremely strong chemical bond"it exists in the air in triple-bondedpairs of nitrogen known as N2"makes it difficult for plants to use.The N of the world as we know it Less than 100 years ago, welearned"in the process of perfecting bomb-making technology"how to createreadily available nitrogen on a ...	5th March 2010
Drought Threatens Syria Economy as Refugees Flee Parched Farms - Bloomberg March 2 (Bloomberg) -- A few miles beyond an irrigated golf course on the outskirts of Damascus, scores of refugees fleeing drought in Syria's northeastern breadbasket have settled into tents on a rocky field.	5th March 2010
New energy saving targets to cost homeowners more than £7bn Homeowners will be able to take out loans for thousands of pounds to pay for insulation and solar panels, under legislation proposed by the governmentWell-off homeowners will be expected to borrow more than £7bn over the next decade to meet ambitious government energy saving targets announced today.Local authorities will be encouraged to borrow the money needed to make buildings greener and meet local carbon emission reduction targets, for example by entering into public-private partnerships.Energy suppliers will be required to meet about 60% of the estimated £18.6bn cost of insulating most of the UK's homes, for which the poorest households will not have to pay. See also: Green loans Q&A: how does Pay As You Save finance work?	5th March 2010
Norway plans the world's most powerful wind turbine Norway plans to build the world's most powerful wind turbine, hoping the new technology will increase the profitability of costly offhsore wind farms, partners behind the project said Friday.	5th March 2010
Trade row looms as adviser calls for carbon tax on China Lord Turner proposes levy on cheap imports Tariffs could antagonise developing countriesMinisters should consider a carbon tax on imports to help struggling British manufacturers, according to one of the government's key advisers, despite fears such a measure could lead to a global trade war.Lord Turner, who heads the UK committee on climate change, said the government should "rigorously assess" bringing in levies on cheap imports from countries outside the European Union, which are not subject to carbon-related costs such as the EU emissions trading scheme.Ministers have in the past resisted calls from European counterparts to introduce such carbon levies, arguing they would be anti-competitive.	5th March 2010
An Australian Group Rolls Out Plan for 100 Percent Renewable Energy by 2020 This is huge considering Australia now gets nearly 80 percent of its power from coal plants. Is their plan feasible?	5th March 2010
'Climate Hope': How a New Rebellion Against Coal Is Fueling the Drive for Clean Energy Ted Nace talks about his new book, "Climate Hope," and gives a behind-the-scenes look at the intense mobilizations that are working to overturn Big Coal.	5th March 2010
Sweden to build 2,000 new wind turbines: minister - AFP via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News Sweden will build 2,000 new wind turbines over the next decade as part of a bid to dramatically increase its production of renewable energy, Enterprise and Energy Minister Maud Olofsson said Tuesday.	5th March 2010
Spain proposes doubling of renewable energy capacity - vnunet.com Rachel Fielding, BusinessGreen , Tuesday 2 March 2010 at 11:09:00 Government sets out plan to generate over 22 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020 Spain is hedging its bets on renewable energy sources as a means to revive its recession-hit economy " with a proposal to more than double production from clean energy to over 20 per cent of total energy use by 2020. According to Reuters ...	5th March 2010
India proposes coal tax to pay for clean energy push - vnunet.com James Murray, BusinessGreen , Wednesday 3 March 2010 at 00:15:00 Levy on coal production and imports to help pay for new renewable energy fund The Indian government is expected to back up its recent commitment to curb carbon emissions with a controversial move to levy a new tax on coal in order to pay for the roll out of renewable energy technologies. Speaking in his annual budget speech to the ...	5th March 2010
Scientists discover how ocean bacterium turns carbon into fuel - EurekAlert! ( Harvard Medical School ) Researchers have uncovered details about how cyanobacteria, one of the mostabundant organisms on Earth, digest carbon. These bacteria build miniaturefactories inside themselves that turn carbon into fuel. A new study showsthe bacteria organize these factories spatially, lining them up in a neatrow, revealing a structural sophistication not often seen in single ...	5th March 2010
Solar panels are not fashion accessories | Jeremy Leggett Economies of scale in manufacturing are causing rapid reductions in costs and solar energy has a bright futureGeorge Monbiot's attack on solar energy and the government's "cash-back" solar photovoltaic (PV) market-building scheme paints a distorted picture of the industry I work in, and government policy towards it (Are we really going to let ourselves be duped into this solar panel rip-off?, 2 March).First, Monbiot gets the workability of solar wrong. He says: "The amount of power PV panels produce at this latitude is risible, [and] they also produce it at the wrong time." Those who buy panels, therefore, will own a mere "fashion accessory". See also: Are we really going to let ourselves be duped into this solar panel rip-off? | George Monbiot	5th March 2010
China May Start Its First City-Wide Carbon Cap-and-Trade System - Bloomberg March 5 (Bloomberg) -- China may start its first city-wide carbon cap-and-trade system by June as the world's biggest polluter seeks to rein in emissions, a project adviser said.	5th March 2010
China to build industrial system of low-carbon emissions: Wen's report - People's Daily China will build an "industrial system" and "consumption pattern" with low carbon emissions, according to a government work report to be delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao at the parliament's annual session Friday. China will work hard to develop low-carbon technologies as well as new and renewable energy resources to actively respond to climate change. The report also outlines plans to increase ...	5th March 2010
The US in a high emissions scenario I ended up spending much of my weekend going through Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, and I have to say I'm pretty gutted by the experience. The report is written by a large collaboration of 30 or so authors, and a slew more reviewers, drawn from a variety of US agencies, with NOAA as the lead. So it's in the character of an official US government assessment of the science. It seems worth while really understanding humanity's best guess about what the situation is. read more	5th March 2010
81 months and counting | Andrew Simms Like a bad disaster film, the naysayers have been in charge over climate change. It's not too late to rewrite the final scenesEvery disaster movie has a stock character " the person who tells everyone else that there's nothing to worry about. Shark? There's no shark. What could possibly go wrong with that tower block, ship, plane, volcano, dinosaur safari park or paramilitary robot cop with a slightly psychopathic glint in its eye?Such "don't worry" confidence is always bullish and reassuring. The motives are mostly financial: to open in time for the holiday season or launch the product ahead of a few safety checks.	5th March 2010
How the Mountain of Climate Change Evidence Is Being Used to Undermine the Cause As the backlash against climate science grows, the number of Americans who believe humans are to blame for warming the planet is shrinking.	5th March 2010
Water vapour warming A loss of water vapour in the Earth's upper atmosphere may have slowed the rate of global warming over the past decade, suggests new research. Although the decade 2000–2009 was the warmest on record, average global temperatures levelled off during this period despite a continued rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Now a team led by Susan Solomon of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado, reports that water vapour concentrations in the stratosphere fell by 10 per cent from 2000, offsetting — by 25 per cent — the warming that would otherwise have occurred since then.	5th March 2010
North-South Divide And Tackling Global Warning By Helena Norberg-Hodge As signs of climate instability increase, radical and rapid action is becoming ever more urgent. One of the biggest obstacles to global collaboration, however, has been the foot-dragging and obstructionism of the US government, much of it based on the fear of giving Southern economies a competitive advantage if they are permitted to emit greenhouse gases at higher rates than the North. Yet even within the environmental movement there is no unanimity on this thorny question: should the countries of the South have the right to increase their emissions as they industrialize and develop?	5th March 2010
James Delingpole vs George Monbiot [link]iplayer/episode/b00r9-9n/The_Daily_Politics_04_03_2010/ James, James, yet again you betray your apparent lack of comprehension about Science, the way it works, the things it says, the truth it holds. Your accusations are in my opinion completely unfounded, baseless. It seems your inquiring mind has been corrupted by the Climate Obstructers continual rant of denial after denial. Here's a challenge : read up about the time lag , the warming inertia in the Climate system, and then come back with an alternative scenario that other people can accept, with facts, figures and falsifications of mainstream opinion.	5th March 2010
Cap-and-Trade under the Clean Air Act Last week the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) held a seminar in Washington on the Clean Air Act and its potential role in the management of greenhouse gases in the US economy. Specifically, the IETA seminar focussed on the potential for a cap-and-trade system under the Clean Air Act. The seminar had an excellent turnout, with about 70 people from US industry, Capitol Hill, various Washington based concerns and a spattering of international visitors such as myself. For starters, there was little disagreement amongst the speakers that a cap-and-trade type construction is feasible under the Clean Air Act, so the discussion quickly progressed from feasibility to possibility. See also: Senator Graham calls cap-and-trade plan dead	5th March 2010
Fuel Taxes Must Rise, Harvard Researchers Say Harvard researchers find that fuel taxes may need to go up in order to meet the Obama administration's greenhouse gas emission targets. See also: Increasing the federal gasoline tax would have only minimal effects in reducing vehicle carbon dioxide emissions, says a University of Michigan economist.	5th March 2010
UN Carbon Board Concerned as Offset Prices Slump - Bloomberg March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Regulators overseeing the world's second-biggest emissions market are concerned that low prices for emissions credits are sapping support for carbon trading, a UN board member said.	5th March 2010

Good news: Met Office wants re-examination of 150 years of climate data - Now let's hope they'll fix the problems that have caused them to lowball recent warming. The Met Office has called for a re-examination of more than 150 years of global temperature records as part of a new comprehensive approach for analysing temperature data " to better assess the risks posed by changes in extremes of climate. Great idea, especially since an independent December 2009 analysis found The global temperature rise calculated by the Met Office's HadCRUT record is at the lower end of likely warming. Everybody but the anti-science disinformers has known for a long time that the Hadley/CRU (Climatic Research Unit) temperature data UNDERestimates " not OVERestimates " the recent global temperature rise.	28th February 2010
A quiet sun won't save us from global warming Even if there's a "grand minimum" in the sun's output over the next century, it won't be enough to counter rising temperatures caused by humans	28th February 2010
Is the climate change movement splintering? | Bibi van der Zee Climate change activists are regrouping post-Copenhagen – and some are reasserting their radical roots	28th February 2010
Key senators do not see climate bill in 2010 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate is unlikely to pass a comprehensive climate change bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions this year, according to a Reuters survey of 12 key Democrat and Republican Senators who could hold the swing votes. See also: Why Climate Change Is Dead In The Senate - Newsweek	28th February 2010
U.N. says emissions vows not enough to avoid rise of 2 degrees C NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Emission cuts pledges made by 60 countries will not be enough to keep the average global temperature rise at 2 degrees Celsius or less, modeling released on Tuesday by the United Nations says.	28th February 2010
Al Gore's must read op-ed in the NY Times - annotated: We Can t Wish Away Climate Change It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it. That how Al Gore’s op-ed big Sunday NY Times op-ed begins.	28th February 2010
How the Mountain of Climate Change Evidence Is Being Used to Undermine the Cause We've gotten to a point where fewer Americans believe humans are warming the planet than before -- here's how it happened.	28th February 2010
Toward the Collapse: Growth-Economy = Climate Disaster - interview with Keith Farnish Is global warming unstoppable now? Could we be saved by total economic collapse? If so, should we help civilization fall? Last night I recorded another glimpse of the climate apocalypse, with the author of Climate Wars Gwynne Dyer. He outlined the short distance from here to the cliff where long-known natural feed-backs leading to runaway global warming begin, and continue on for millennia. That limit is known as two degrees. Beyond that, great forests melt into fire, liberating their carbon. Beyond that, the Arctic permafrost melts, likely doubling atmospheric greenhouse gases. Five to seven degrees Centigrade of average global temperature rise. Utter disaster. Dyer says world governments quickly agreed to the 2 degree limit at Copenhagen, without telling the public why. No need to panic the herd. Dyer says we won't make it in time, before the big climate switch is pulled. You'll hear clips from that speech in an upcoming Ecoshock Show. I can't run the whole speech, because as usual, Gwynne is developing his new work toward another radio or TV program. I appreciate Gwynne sharing his "working notes" with our Radio Ecoshock audience. Kind of a sneak preview. Find out more at gwynnedyer.com.	28th February 2010
Giant Antarctic iceberg could affect global ocean circulation An iceberg the size of Luxembourg that contains enough fresh water to supply a third of the world's population for a year has broken off in the Antarctic continent, with possible implications for global ocean circulation, scientists said today. The iceberg, measuring about 50 miles by 25, broke away from the Mertz glacier around 2,000 miles south of Australia after being rammed by another giant iceberg known as B-9B three weeks ago, satellite images reveal. The two icebergs, which both weigh more than 700m tons, are now drifting close together about 100 miles north of Antarctica. Rob Massom, a senior scientist at the Australian Antarctic Division and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre in Hobart, Tasmania, said the location of the icebergs could affect global ocean circulation and had important implications for marine biology in the region. The concern is that the massive displacement of ice would transform the composition of sea water in the area and impair the normal circulation of cold, dense water that normally supplies deep ocean currents with oxygen.	28th February 2010
World warming unhindered by cold spells: scientists SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The pace of global warming continues unabated, scientists said on Thursday, despite images of Europe crippled by a deep freeze and parts of the United States blasted by blizzards.	28th February 2010
Coffee hit by global warming say growers Coffee producers say they are getting hammered by global warming, with higher temperatures forcing growers to move to prized higher ground, putting the cash crop at risk.	28th February 2010
Arctic arch failure leads to sea-ice exodus Dams of ice that usually plug straits leading out of the Arctic Ocean are failing to form, letting sea ice escape to the Atlantic and Pacific	28th February 2010
900 ships stranded amid drought in's China - China Daily NANNING: Nine hundred ships jammed before a navigation lock of a reservoir in south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region amid falling water level caused by severe drought, local authorities said Saturday.	28th February 2010
Food & agriculture - Feb 25 -Health: the challenge of improving nutrition-Small family farms in tropics can feed the hungry and preserve biodiversity-Jonathan Safran Foer: the truth about fish farming-Scientists unite to combat water scarcity; solutions yield more crop per drop in drylands-Potatoes, Not Just Pistons, Take Root in Detroit-She Farms-New Investments in Agriculture Likely to Fail Without Sharp Focus on Small-Scale 'Mixed' Farmer read more	28th February 2010
ENERGY: Coal-Fired Power on the Way Out? - AlertNet Source: IPS The past two years have witnessed the emergence of a powerful movement opposing the construction of new coal-fired power plants in the United States.	28th February 2010
British firms face onslaught from tar sands campaigners British companies spearheading the drive to exploit the Canadian tar sands will come under renewed assault this week from an increasingly vocal group of shareholders and environmentalists who are planning to turn the forthcoming BP, Shell and Royal Bank of Scotland annual meetings into a referendum on these controversial operations. The Co-operative and the Fair Pensions lobby group are releasing a special briefing paper designed to counter recent statements by the oil companies that sought to justify their involvement in carbon-intensive oil extraction in Alberta on the basis that it was needed to meet rising oil demand. Friends of the Earth, Platform and other green groups are publishing a new report, Cashing in on Tar Sands – RBS, UK Banks and Canada's Blood Oil, which claims RBS has provided loans of $7.5bn (£4.9bn) in the past three years to companies carrying out this kind of mining in North America.	28th February 2010
China says moving to enforce greenhouse gas goals BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Sunday it will spell out greenhouse gas emissions goals and monitoring rules for regions and sectors in its next five-year plan, with monitoring to show it is serious about curbing emissions.	28th February 2010
Road transportation emerges as key driver of warming: NASA analysis In a new NASA analysis, motor vehicles emerged as the greatest contributor to atmospheric warming now and in the near term. Cars, buses, and trucks release pollutants and greenhouse gases that promote warming, while emitting few aerosols that counteract it. read more	28th February 2010
Electric vehicle grants scheme backfires as taxpayers subsidise £87,000 sports cars Slow roll-out of electric vehicles means pricey Tesla Roadster and Mitsubishi i-Miev will be only two cars eligible for new £5,000 grantSubsidising expensive sports cars is not the most obvious way to fight global warming. But soon, anyone with £87,000 will be able to claim a UK taxpayer-funded £5,000 grant to help them buy Tesla's electric car, the Roadster, in the name of cutting carbon emissions.The Guardian has learned the Tesla Roadster is one of just two cars that will be available from the start of a new government grants scheme announced today to encourage the take-up of greener cars.	28th February 2010
Caveat investor: Wind may let you down John Laforet is president of Wind Concerns Ontario, a coalition of 42 grassroots organizations aiming to curtail development of wind farms in the central Canadian province of Ontario. He is also running for municipal public office. Governments around the world are actively seeking private development of renewable energy projects by offering generous feed-in tariffs that often see developers paid many times the market rate for the power they produce. This has encouraged a surge of applications, but the volume of applications and other challenges associated with these projects present potential risks to prospective investors. Projects require transmission capacity to carry their energy to market, but the agencies accepting applications for a given jurisdiction often aren t responsible for managing transmission systems.	28th February 2010
Drax power plant is no greener than the coal it burns | Fred Pearce Drax has shelved its biofuel plans, yet still boasts publicly about 'undertaking the largest biomass co-firing project in the world'Drax is Britain's biggest power station. In fact, it is western Europe's biggest. It produces 7% of the country's electricity. By burning coal. For years, it has promised to replace some of that coal with locally grown biofuel. But last week, its chief executive, Dorothy Thompson, appeared to tear up those plans.If you travel north on the train from London towards York, you will have seen Drax. It is one of three gigantic power stations near the River Trent, in an area of lowland often called Megawatt Valley.	28th February 2010
Per capita carbon dioxide emissions to rise 3-fold - rediff.com India's per capita carbon dioxide emissions will increase by nearly three-fold to 3.5 tonnes by 2030, the Economic Survey 2009-10 said on Thursday.	28th February 2010
No emissions cap yet: China - Straits Times BEIJING - CHINA'S top climate change negotiator has said the world's biggest carbon polluter has no intention of capping greenhouse gas emissions for the time being, state media reported on Thursday.	28th February 2010
Nuclear Energy's Comeback Is Fueled By Lobbying Dollars, Not By Safer or Better Technology Over 10 years, the industry has spent $1 million per every U.S. Senator and Representative, plus another $100 million for the White House, courts and media.	28th February 2010
If Fossil Fuel Reserves Rise Carbon Should Be Left Where It Belongs: In The Ground By George Monbiot Peak oil should be good news for the environment, but not if it stimulates investment in even dirtier sources of energy	28th February 2010
After Copenhagen: How Can We Move Forward? By Tom Athanasiou For all its complexity, the core of this problem can be stated simply enough: What kind of a climate transition would be fair enough to actually work?	28th February 2010
Climate change a global danger, Ban says - UPI.com BALI, Indonesia, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Global leaders must work to advance climate initiatives that have teeth as the window of opportunity closes, the U.N. secretary-general said in Indonesia.	28th February 2010
Climate-denier's Bible is a pack of lies - Boing Boing - blog The Lomborg Deception: Setting the Record Straight About Global Warming a new book by Howard Friel, reveals that Bjørn Lomborg's infamous climate-change-denying book Cool It (a favorite among climate deniers) grievously misreported much of the science it cited. Friel painstakingly investigated the pages and pages of references in Cool It, and found a "pattern of nonexistent footnoted support for assertions in the text."	28th February 2010
EPA Plans to Phase in Regulation of Emissions - New York Times Facing wide criticism over their recent finding that greenhouse gases endanger the public welfare, top Environmental Protection Agency officials said Monday that any regulation of such gases would be phased in gradually and would not impose expensive new rules on most American businesses.	28th February 2010
Sceptics derail climate action - The Australian Global warming is a real problem, despite the ill-informed claims of the climate deniers "IF in doubt vote no" may be the five most powerful words in politics. Those arguing against action on climate change certainly are entitled to think so. They have shifted public opinion merely by raising a few instances where claims about the effects of global warming have been exaggerated or not sufficiently documented, and by catching a few scientists playing politics. Heaven forbid that anyone involved in a highly charged political debate should sex up their case through the selective use of material and exaggeration. Nevertheless, while that is stock in trade for politicians, it is not a good look for scientists. But some perspective is in order.	28th February 2010
The case for ecosocialism The rapid melting of the Arctic sea-ice is one of the most alarming examples of the looming climate change catastrophe. But where most see disaster, some of the world's richest corporations see a business opportunity.	28th February 2010
Sidetracked Sidetracked by Jo Abbess 19 February 2010 A number of prevalent ideological frameworks employed for constructing policy to address Global Warming appear to have faulty foundational analysis and are therefore ineffective in addressing Carbon Dioxide Emissions. Politically implementable options that could lead to effective action to combat Climate Change are being kicked into the long grass at every turn, in policy, in investment and in society. Reasonable proposals are being made over-complex to implement, or delayed by every means possible. The dominant memes of economics hinder good decision-making; for example, not all natural capital can be valued as a commodity, and yet Carbon markets and Carbon tax regimes are the most ubiquitous proposals.	27th February 2010
WashPost editorial: If current trends persist, it's likely that in coming decades the globe's climate will change with potentially devastating effects for billions of people. - IPCC errors are "trivial mistakes" THE EARTH is warming. A chief cause is the increase in greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere. Humans are at least in part responsible, because the oil, gas and coal that we burn releases these gases. If current trends persist, it's likely that in coming decades the globe's climate will change with potentially devastating effects for billions of people. Contrary to what you may have read lately, there are few reputable scientists who would disagree with anything in that first paragraph. That's the opening of a pretty good editorial on climate from the paper that has all but destroyed the credibility of its opinion pages (see and the 2009 Citizen Kane award for non-excellence in climate journalism goes to ).	27th February 2010
We're Headed for the Greatest Resource-Sharing Problem of All Time For all its complexity, the core of this problem can be stated simply enough: What kind of a climate transition would be fair enough to actually work?	27th February 2010
The O.J. tactic - Los Angeles Times Climate change skeptics sound like Simpson's lawyers: If the winter glove won't fit, you must acquit.
Post-Peak Economics In pragmatic terms the coming collapse can be equated with the phases of what will happen to money. The first phase will be "stagflation": high prices combined with high unemployment. During the second phase, as government starts to fade, currency will collapse: money will have no use as a medium of exchange. Of course, economic trends can always be seen in terms of either materials or money. We can say that the near future will be one of diminishing fossil fuels, and hence a depletion of plastic, asphalt, fertilizer, electricity, and so on.	27th February 2010
No ice It isn t often that you actually see something that surprises you and makes you really think about what is happening to the climate. I am in Washington, D.C. at the moment and flew here yesterday. We passed over Newfoundland and the southern part of the Gulf of St Lawrence on the way into Washington. I had a right hand side window seat and the all the way from Newfoundland to the Canadian mainland there was blue sky and crystal clear visibility for miles. As we passed over Newfoundland I was thinking that it didn t appear quite as white as normal, with very visible features showing.	27th February 2010
Climate change melts Antarctic ice shelves: USGS WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Climate change is melting the floating ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula, giving scientists a preview of what could happen if other ice shelves around the southern continent disappear, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said on Monday.	27th February 2010
New research: synthetic nitrogen destroys soil carbon, undermines soil health For all of its ecological baggage, synthetic nitrogen does one good deed for the environment: it helps build carbon in soil. At least, that's what scientists have assumed for decades. If that were true, it would count as a major environmental benefit of synthetic N use...Well, that logic has come under fierce challenge from a team of University of Illinois researchers led by professors Richard Mulvaney, Saeed Khan, and Tim Ellsworth. See also: China's soil deterioration may become growing food crisis, adviser claims	27th February 2010
Successful wind tunnel test of controllable rubber trailing edge flap for wind turbine blades - PhysOrg Today's wind turbine blades, which can measure more than 60 metres in length, are subjected to enormous loads, which means that a blade can flex as much as 4-6 metres during strong gusts. However, the blades are also so long that there can be considerable differences in the loading from the gusts along the blade. In wind farms, surrounding wind turbines also exert considerable influence and ...	27th February 2010
Waste Could Meet 7 Percent of Spain's Electricity Demand, Study Says The burning of solid urban waste, sludge from water treatment plants, and livestock slurry could generate more than 7 percent of Spain's electricity needs, according to a new report. Researchers at the University of Zaragoza say incineration of these materials has the potential to produce up to 20.95 terawatt hours annually. In 2008, that would have met 7.2 percent of the nation's electricity demand, according to the report published in the journal Renewable Energy. And burning solid urban waste rather than allowing it to reach landfill sites could prevent pernicious impacts, such as the release of methane and other gases into the atmosphere, researchers said.	27th February 2010
CU-Boulder prof speaks on mass media role in climate change skepticism Mass media have been a key vehicle by which climate change contrarianism has traveled, according to Maxwell Boykoff, a University of Colorado at Boulder professor and fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES.	27th February 2010
Scientists withdraw low-ball estimate of sea level rise " media are confused and anti-science crowd pounces The 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) report ignored dynamic ice-sheet disintegration, which was already happening (see Nature: Dynamic thinning of Greenland and Antarctic ice-sheet ocean margins is more sensitive, pervasive, enduring and important than previously realized ). The IPCC therefore low-balled sea level rise estimates, suggesting seas might rise only a foot or two this century, greatly delighting the anti-science crowd (see Debunking Bjørn Lomborg: Misrepresenting Sea Level Rise ). Within a year, even a major report signed off on by the Bush administration itself was forced to concede that the IPCC numbers were simply too out of date to be quoted anymore (see US Geological Survey stunner ...	27th February 2010
British poll shows sharp decline in belief Climate change survey raises fears it will be harder to persuade the public to support costly policies to curb emissionsPublic conviction about the threat of climate change has declined sharply after months of questions over the science and growing disillusionment with government action, a leading British poll has found.The proportion of adults who believe climate change is "definitely" a reality dropped by 30% over the last year, from 44% to 31%, in the latest survey by Ipsos Mori.Overall around nine out of 10 people questioned still appear to accept some degree of global warming. But the steep drop in those without doubts will raise fears that it will be harder to persuade the public to support actions to curb the problem, particularly higher prices for energy and other goods.The true level of doubt is also probably underestimated because the poll only questioned 16 to 64-year- ...	27th February 2010
Coal emissions: the burning issue | Tim Yeo Unless the energy bill mandates tighter emissions standards for coal-fired power stations, the UK will miss its carbon-cut targetsThe future of coal-fired power stations is a burning issue. The outcome of Wednesday's vote on emissions performance standards in the energy bill could have serious implications for our success in cutting climate-changing emissions, because Britain cannot meet its carbon budgets in the long term if it allows the prolonged operation of unabated coal-fired power stations.Coal happens to be one of the cheapest, but also one of the most polluting ways to generate electricity. In Britain, coal is crucial to our energy mix and will remain so for some time.	27th February 2010
U.N. says emissions vows not enough to avoid rise of 2 degrees C NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Emission cuts pledges made by 60 countries will not be enough to keep the average global temperature rise at 2 degrees Celsius or less, modeling released on Tuesday by the United Nations says.	27th February 2010
EPA may soften greehouse gas permit requirement WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday it was considering reducing the number of big industrial plants that would be required to get permits to fight climate change.	27th February 2010
Bonn to host extra U.N. climate talks, treaty unsure OSLO (Reuters) - Germany will host an extra session of U.N. climate talks in April but it is too early to say if the world will agree a new treaty this year after falling short at a summit in Copenhagen in December, Denmark said on Monday.	27th February 2010
Souith Africa - Heatwave kills more than 2000 ostriches - Meattradenewsdaily - blog Souith Africa - Heatwave kills more than 2000 ostrichesMeattradenewsdaily (blog)Fortunately, southern Cape farmers haven't reported higher-than-normal ostrich fatalities during the heatwave, said Francois de Wet of Mostrich in Mossel ...	27th February 2010
Bullying, Lies And The Rise Of Right-Wing Climate Denial By Prof. Clive HamiltonClive Hamilton tracks the progress of climate denialism in Australia. He reveals how it works, who organizes it, where the raw material that fuels it come from, how popular perceptions are diverging from scientific facts, and what the effects are on politics and public debate. He begins by exposing an ugly campaign of cyber-bullying directed at leading scientists	27th February 2010
CO2 Mass Extinction Of Species And Climate Change By Andrew GliksonThe release of more than 370 billion tons of carbon (GtC) from buried early biospheres, adding more than one half of the original carbon inventory of the atmosphere (590 GtC), as well as the depletion of vegetation, have triggered a fundamental shift in the state of the atmosphere	27th February 2010
Corporate Media Are Using Industry Talking Points to Lie to Us About Nuclear Power The media should reject the use of industry rhetoric, stop using Nukespeak talking points, and start telling us the truth about nuclear power!	27th February 2010
'No intention' of capping emissions - China Economic Net China has no intention of capping its greenhouse gas emissions even as authorities are committed to realizing the nation's target to reduce carbon intensity through new policies and measures, the country's top climate change negotiators said yesterday.	27th February 2010

Tom Toles	22nd February 2010
Methane levels may see 'runaway' rise, scientists warn Atmospheric levels of methane, the greenhouse gas which is much more powerful than carbon dioxide, have risen significantly for the last three years running, scientists will disclose today " leading to fears that a major global-warming "feedback" is beginning to kick in.	22nd February 2010
Q&A: "We Have a Take-Make-Waste Economy" UNITED NATIONS, Feb 21 (IPS) - To halt the planet's declining biodiversity and loss of critical natural resources, both the economy we live in and communication about science needs to be changed profoundly, says a prominent Dutch ecologist.	22nd February 2010
Ecological Intelligence: Do Humans Have What it Takes to Survive? Society has lost touch with what may be the singular sensibility crucial to our survival as a species.	22nd February 2010
Bank Of America And Barclays See Looming Oil Crunch By Ambrose Evans-PritchardBank of America and Barclays Capital, two leading oil traders, have told clients to brace for crude above $100 a barrel by next year, before it pushes relentlessly higher over the decade. Oil has the potential to flirt with $100 this year. We forecast an average price of $137 by 2015, said Amrita Sen, an oil expert at BarCap	22nd February 2010
Governments 'misjudging' scale of CO2 emissions Policy makers in Europe and United States are markedly underestimating the changes needed to mitigate CO2 emission required to prevent dangerous climate change because they work in 'silos', according to pioneering research.	22nd February 2010
Start preparing Sydney, warming is inevitable - Sydney Morning Herald Start preparing Sydney, warming is inevitableSydney Morning Herald... infrastructure as sea levels rise, building new water supply systems and devising plans to minimise heatwave-related deaths, said Michael Oppenheimer, ...and more	22nd February 2010
A Simple Carbon Tax Would Cost Only $2.50 A Gallon And Could Save The World - The Business Insider The Business InsiderA Simple Carbon Tax Would Cost Only $2.50 A Gallon And Could Save The WorldThe Business InsiderTrue, it is not certain that global warming will destroy the earth. But nothing is certain when you're talking about climate change. ...	22nd February 2010
New design raises hopes for renewable targets Aerogenerator turns conventional windmills on their side, with a 100m tall V-shaped blade rotating on a vertical axisA radical windmill design could hold the key to making offshore wind power more economical and helping the UK meet its ambitious renewable energy targets.The Aerogenerator turns conventional windmills on their side, with a 100m tall V-shaped blade rotating on a vertical, rather than the usual horizontal, axis. By building all the moving parts and machinery at the base of the windmill rather than the top of a tower, its designers claim it will be easier to build and maintain, making its renewable electricity cheaper.Nova (Novel Offshore Vertical Axis Demonstrator) " which came up with the design " is one of three projects being funded by the government-backed Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) as part of a project to find ways of bringing down the cost of ...	22nd February 2010
Information is Beautiful: When Sea Levels Attack What does a metre sea level rise actually mean? This is how we visualised some of the data confusionAnother day, another set of bewildering climate figures. Today, key climate scientists withdrew their predictions. of a metre sea-level rise by 2100. Other scientists meanwhile claimed the 1m figure was way too conservative anyway. They predict anything up to 2m sea level rises over the next century. It's difficult to keep track of all this shifting research. And, in the midst of this reporting, there is one consistent but bewildering assumption made of us: that we understand what a one metre sea level rise means in reality.A "1 metre sea level rise" is in the same domain as "1 ton of carbon" or "£1 billion".	22nd February 2010
Let the Met Office shine on There's a big difference between the weather and the climate. And the Met Office is good at predicting both"Climate is what we expect," Mark Twain observed, "weather is what we get." At a time when both terms have become politically charged, it's more important than ever to observe the distinction.The Met Office, whose story is told in the Observer magazine today , started out saving the lives of those in peril on the sea. Today it finds itself in the stormy waters of the news agenda, making judgments on when to dispatch gritting lorries in winter and whether barbecues will be fired up in summer, while predicting average temperatures in 50 years' time.	22nd February 2010
Acidified landscape around ocean vents foretells grim future for coral reefs Underwater vents allow scientists to assess the acidic effect of carbon dioxide on ocean lifeHuge vents covering the sea-floor " among the strangest and most spectacular sights in nature " pour carbon dioxide and other gases into the deep waters of the oceans.Last week, as researchers reported that they had now discovered more than 50,000 underwater volcanic springs, they also revealed a new use for them " as laboratories for measuring the impact of ocean acidification on marine life.The seas are slowly being made more acidic by the increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from factories and cars being pumped into the atmosphere and then dissolved in the sea.	22nd February 2010
Study: Warming to bring stronger hurricanes (AP) -- Top researchers now agree that the world is likely to get stronger but fewer hurricanes in the future because of global warming, seeming to settle a scientific debate on the subject. But they say there's not enough evidence yet to tell whether that effect has already begun.	22nd February 2010
Global Warming May Hurt Some Poor Populations (first)- redOrbit Household incomesIn the study, Lobell, former FSE researcher Marshall Burke and Purdue University agricultural economist Thomas Hertel focused on 15 developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Hertel has developed a global trade model that closely tracks the consumption and production of rice, wheat and maize on a country-by-country basis. The model was used to project the effects of ...	22nd February 2010
U.S. Aims for Legally Binding Climate Change Agreement in 2010 - Bloomberg Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. said it wants to reach a legally binding climate-change agreement at a summit in Mexico in December, a sign President Barack Obama hasn t given up the fight for a global accord to limit greenhouse gases.	22nd February 2010
Are We Willing To Risk It ? It transpires that Carbon Dioxide levels during some of the hot house periods of Earth history may have been relatively low. Is it possible that hellish conditions could emerge from having a concentration of 1,000 ppm of Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere ? Some projections have residual airborne levels of Fossil Fuel and deforestation emissions reaching that kind of count by the year 2100. Are we willing to risk it ? [link]climate/2010/1002/full/climate.2010.03.html Published online: 14 January 2010 : Insights from earth : Alicia Newton ...	20th February 2010
Hostage to US hot air | Isabel Hilton The climate debate in the US " and so the world " is mired in political weakness and infightingIn Delhi last week, -Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the guru of -sustainable development from Columbia University, delivered a sobering message about US climate -politics. There was very little chance, he said, that the US would pass climate legislation this year, and almost no chance the Senate would ever adopt cap and trade, the system by which enterprises trade permits to emit within ever tighter limits. He himself, he added, was not sorry. He strongly preferred a carbon tax as a simpler and more effective mechanism.There are many who share his -preference, but the chances of the US legislating such a tax seem equally remote.	20th February 2010
Whatevergate It won t have escaped many of our readers notice that there has been what can only be described as a media frenzy (mostly in the UK) with regards to climate change in recent weeks. The coverage has contained more bad reporting, misrepresentation and confusion on the subject than we have seen in such a short time anywhere. While the UK newspaper scene is uniquely competitive (especially compared to the US with over half a dozen national dailies selling in the same market), and historically there have been equally frenzied bouts of mis-reporting in the past on topics as diverse as pit bulls, vaccines and child abductions, there is something new in this mess that is worth discussing.	20th February 2010
Environmental Advocates Are Cooling on Obama - New York Times Times OnlineEnvironmental Advocates Are Cooling on ObamaNew York Times... the administration did not designate the polar bear as endangered by global warming and that it could not push a climate change bill through Congress. ...Obama Goes Nuclear in a Tough Winter for EnvirosPolitics Daily (blog)US energy chief struggles to shift debateFinancial TimesSupreme Court decision blocks global warming efforts; Commission looks into ...Mass High TechCounterPunch -The Guardian -Reutersall 2,150	20th February 2010
Obama's Support for 'Clean Coal' Opens a Pathway to Make the Most Polluting Industry Profitable With solar and wind technology both ready for commercial-scale deployment today, is it just political calculation driving the policy support for technology that is 20 years out?	20th February 2010
Scientists dispute climate sceptic's claim that US weather data is useless - Guardian Unlimited Ex-weatherman Anthony Watts says many US weather stations produce unreliable data because they are located next to artificial heat " but a scientific analysis suggests that, if anything, such stations underestimate warming It appeared to have shaken the credibility of one of the most important global warming data sets in the world. A blog-inspired campaign by amateur climate sceptics seemed to ...	20th February 2010
Two-Thirds of Peru's Amazon Threatened by Oil and Gas Development Petroleum companies have leased 41 percent of the Peruvian Amazon for oil and gas drilling and could soon hold drilling concessions on 70 percent of the highly diverse rainforest, according to a new study. Conducted by researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the conservation group Save America's Forests, the study said that a second wave of oil and gas drilling is spreading so rapidly through the Peruvian Amazon that roughly 20 percent of officially protected areas, as well as more than half of reserves set aside for indigenous people, are now leased for drilling. The oil and gas boom is so intensive that it now extends to many of the remotest corners of the Peruvian Amazon, including an area deep in the rainforest " known as Block 67 " that may sit atop 300 million barrels of oil.	20th February 2010
The price of environmental destruction? There is none | Andrew Simms Putting a price on nature becomes meaningless if we treat the ecosystems upon which we depend as mere commodities with a price for trading World's top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage, report warnsThe economy is no stranger to creating its own fantasy world with little or no relation to the real one. We witnessed the damage that can cause when the banks thought they had stumbled on financial alchemy and could transform bad debt into good " economic base metal into gold.Now it's possible that a much bigger error is coming to light. The rise and rise of global corporations lifted on a wave of apparent productivity gains may have been little more than a mask for the reckless liquidation of natural capital.	20th February 2010
Climate scientists losing ground - Guardian Unlimited The IPCC and scientific community urgently need to focus on rebuilding trust and could learn a few tactics from Barack Obama There's an incredibly powerful movement opposed to action on climate change. Without doubt it had more influence on the outcome of the climate negotiations in Copenhagen than many of the world's countries combined. Obama knew if he signed up to something that would truly ...	20th February 2010
Climate skeptics exploiting scandal: US envoy - PhysOrg The US pointman on climate change on Tuesday accused vested interests of exploiting recent scientific scandals, saying there was an overwhelming case for the world to take action.	20th February 2010
Penguins in Antarctica to be replaced by jellyfish due to global warming - Daily Telegraph Rising temperatures in the oceans around Antarctica could lead to the continent's penguins being replaced by jellyfish, scientists have warned.	20th February 2010
Tajikistan facing water shortages and climate extremes, report warns Falling supplies due to rising temperatures and retreating glaciers could spark conflict between water-stressed countries in the region, says OxfamIt has been occupied by the Russians, the Mongols, the Turks, the Arabs and the Uzbeks, the Chinese, as well as Genghis Khan. But the ancient, mountainous state of Tajikistan, which has been at the crossroads of Asian civilisations for over a thousand years, is in danger of being overwhelmed by water shortages, rising temperatures and climate extremes.A report released today by Oxfam details fast-rising temperatures, melting glaciers in the Pamir mountains, increased disease, drought, landslides and food shortages.	20th February 2010
Is Global Weirding here? - Humans are warming the globe and changing the climate. But what should we call it? Tom Friedman has a new column, Global Weirding is Here. He mentions my new effort to post summaries of the best scientific papers on every aspect of climate change. Readers interested in that project should click here. If you want to know more about me or this website, start with An Introduction to Climate Progress. You can get daily email updates on climate science, solutions, and politics by clicking here. Friedman spells out why he suspects China is quietly laughing at us right now and why Iran, Russia, Venezuela and the whole OPEC gang are high-fiving each other ...	20th February 2010
The Climate Science Project, Part 2: How we know global warming is happening -It's the oceans! Memo to climate scientists, environmentalists, and others: If you re going to give an interview or speak in public, you need to know the FULL scientific literature. If you just stick to reading up on your area of expertise, you won t have the sharpest answers for reporters or for a tough questioner in the audience. Reading the BBC's interview of Dr. Phil Jones, the climate scientist at the center of the hacked e-mail scandal, makes clear that even an experienced and widely published researcher like Jones doesn t appear to know the full climate literature or the clearest answers to basic questions.	20th February 2010
Arctic sea ice vanishing faster than 'our most pessimistic models': researcher WINNIPEG - Sea ice in Canada's fragile Arctic is melting faster than anyone expected, the lead investigator in Canada's largest climate-change study yet said Friday - raising the possibility that the Arctic could, in a worst-case scenario, be ice-free in about three years. University of Manitoba Prof. David Barber, the lead investigator of the Circumpolar Flaw Lead System Study, said the rapid decay of thick Arctic Sea ice highlights the rapid pace of climate change in the North and foreshadows what will come in the South. "We're seeing it happen more quickly than what our models thought would happen," Barber said at a student symposium on climate change in Winnipeg. "It's happening much faster than our most pessimistic models suggested."	20th February 2010
Canada's permafrost retreats amid warming trend WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The permanently frozen ground known as permafrost is retreating northward in the area around Canada's James Bay, a sign of a decades-long regional warming trend, a climate scientist said on Wednesday.	20th February 2010
The World Warms Up The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center in their monthly State of the Climate , state :- [link]sotc/index.php Selected Global Highlights for January 2010 : The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for January 2010 was 0.60°C (1.08°F) above the 20th century average of 12.0°C (53.6°F). This is the fourth warmest January on record How can this be ? The newspapers have been saying that Global Warming is just a confused scare story, or perhaps a tax-begging scam, or a bunch of self-important technologists on a gravy train creating false alarm to justify their funding streams " nothing to worry about.	20th February 2010
Yemen's water crisis eclipses al Qaeda threat SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni water trader Mohammed al-Tawwa runs his diesel pumps day and night, but gets less and less from his well in Sanaa, which experts say could become the world's first capital city to run dry.	20th February 2010
Climate change threatens fog and redwoods: study WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The coastal fog that gives San Francisco its romantic ambience is thinning out, a boon to drivers but a real threat to the giant redwoods there, researchers reported on Monday.	20th February 2010
Jordan enlists army in climate fight OSLO (Reuters) - Jordan has unveiled plans to help fight climate change, including upgrading its armed forces by 2020, an area usually overlooked in the global warming debate.	20th February 2010
Vancouver 2010 to Be Warmest Winter Olympics Yet - National Geographic The Vancouver 2010 games will be the warmest Winter Olympics yet, experts say. And that may actually be good news for Olympians.	20th February 2010
Climate 'affecting wetland birds' - BBC News Climate changes are behind a dramatic shift in the numbers of wetland birds visiting the UK, a study suggests.	20th February 2010
Warmer planet temperatures could cause longer-lasting weather patterns Whether it's never-ending heat waves or winter storms, atmospheric blocking can have a significant impact on local agriculture, business and the environment. Although these stagnant weather patterns are often difficult to predict, University of Missouri researchers are now studying whether increasing planet temperatures and carbon dioxide levels could lead to atmospheric blocking and when this blocking might occur, leading to more accurate forecasts.	20th February 2010
Nature Geoscience study: Oceans are acidifying 10 times faster today than 55 million years ago when a mass extinction of marine species occurred - Unrestricted burning of fossil fuels threatens a new wave of die-offs If you re looking for summaries of the best scientific papers on every aspect of climate change that Tom Friedman's promised in his column yesterday, you ve come to right place. If you want a review of the best papers in the past year (with links), click here. If you want a broader overview of the literature in the past few years, focusing specifically on how unrestricted emissions of greenhouse gas emissions are projected to impact the nation and the world, try Intro to global warming impacts. Marine life face some of the worst impacts.	20th February 2010
Drought could cause US$14.7m in crop losses - Trinidad Express Drought conditions in Guyana, caused by a lingering El Nino, is threatening to cause billions of dollars in damage to the agriculture sector and officials say they are doing all they can to, at least, limit the losses.	20th February 2010
Philippines Bracing for the Worst in Drought - New York Times The drought has destroyed millions of dollars worth of crops, reduced the country's water supply and is threatening widespread blackout.	20th February 2010
Drought concerns plague Syrian farmers - UPI ALEPPO, Syria, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Pervasive drought in northeastern Syria sparked the largest wave of internal displacement in the region in years, U.N. agricultural officials said.	20th February 2010
Climate change threat to berries - BBC News Scientists in Scotland join an international forum working to safeguard the future of the multi-million pound soft fruit industry.	20th February 2010
Jonathan Safran Foer: Why I lost my appetite for meat For years he was happy to be a 'selective omnivore'. So what made the author give up eating meat for good?When I was young, I would often spend the weekend at my grandmother's house. On the way in, on Friday night, she would lift me from the ground in one of her fire-smothering hugs. And on the way out, on Sunday afternoon, I was again taken into the air. It wasn't until years later that I realised she was weighing me.My grandmother survived the second world war in eastern Europe barefoot, -scavenging other -people's inedibles: rotting potatoes, -discarded scraps of meat, skins and the bits that clung to bones and pits.	20th February 2010
Time to think small on climate change Copenhagen's failure has created an opportunity for individuals to fill the void left by politicians.	20th February 2010
Solar water heaters come to the boil as cash incentive is dangled Payments of £400 a year offered to far-sighted households, but you'll need a south-facing roof, says Miles BrignallGovernment incentives are about to make solar water heating panels a financial no-brainer for millions of households across Britain, as long as they have a south-facing roof.Two weeks ago Guardian Money outlined the attractiveness of electricity generating panels as a result of the introduction of "feed-in" tariffs, which will pay households for the extra energy they produce. However, the installation cost " at around £12,500 " will put many people off.Less off-putting are solar water heating systems, which cost some £4,000-£5,500 for a typical 2kW system and are likely to pay an annual return of around £500 for the next 20 years.	20th February 2010
Norway outlines ways to reach deep 2020 CO2 cuts OSLO (Reuters) - Norway laid out ways to reach one of the world's toughest climate goals on Wednesday with measures to clean up sectors from oil to transport that it said would trim just 0.25 percent from the economy by 2020.	20th February 2010
Energy and Global Warming News for February 19: German Industrial Giant partners with U.S. Concentrated Solar Startup; $8 billion to jump-start work on 13 high-speed rail lines; CO2 Capture and Storage System Gains Foothold German Industrial Giant partners with U.S. Concentrated Solar Startup The German industrial giant Ferrostaal will use solar technology from the California startup eSolar in power plants to be built in Europe, the Middle East and South Africa. The partnership, announced on Thursday, comes a month after eSolar, which is backed by Google and other investors, signed an agreement with a Chinese industrial company to build solar power plants that would generate 2,000 megawatts of electricity. Last year, eSolar agreed to license its technology to an Indian developer that plans to build solar projects with a total capacity of 1,000 megawatts.	20th February 2010
Throw your iPhone into the climate debate Who says that the climate debate is not evolving? According to the daily newspaper the Guardian, a new application ( app ) has been written for iPhones that provides a list of climate dissidents arguments, and counter arguments based on more legitimate scientific substance. The app is developed by John Cook from Skeptical Science . It's apparently enough to have the climate dissidents up in arms " meaning that it's likely to have some effect? Some dissidents are now thinking of writing their own app. Here on RC, we have developed a wiki, to which I also would like to bring the reader's attention.	20th February 2010
The Transition Towns Movement: Its Huge Significance and a Friendly Criticism Editor's note: "Transition Towns" is one of the best ideas in decades, and is being put into practice widely. Author Ted Trainer has a respected track record among energy realists and devotees of sustainability. He wishes to help along a good movement. Culture Change also attempts to support the cause, mainly via activism that has articulated a similar vision vis- -vis Transition Towns since the early 1990s.	20th February 2010
Big firms drop support for US climate bill BP America, Caterpillar and Conoco end support Opponents claim climate law is dead in the waterBarack Obama suffered a setback to his green energy agendatoday when three major corporations " including BP America " dropped out of a coalition of business groups and environmental organisations that had been pressing Congress to pass climate change legislation.The defections by ConocoPhillips, America's third largest oil company, Caterpillar, which makes heavy equipment, and BP rob the US Climate Action Partnership of three powerful voices for lobbying Congress to pass climate change law.They also undercut Obama's efforts to cast his climate and energy agenda as a pro-business, job-creation plan.Only hours earlier, Obama and other cabinet officials had made a high-profile announcement that $8.3bn (£5.3bn) was being awarded in loan guarantees for a company building the first new nuclear reactors in America in nearly ...	20th February 2010
U.S.: Nuke Plants Back in Vogue, as Climate Bill Stalls WASHINGTON, Feb 16 (IPS) - After decades of debate, the United States is poised to build its first new nuclear reactors since the early 1970s.	20th February 2010
Daily Mangle Yesterday, the Daily Mail of the UK published a predictably inaccurate article entitled Climategate U-turn as scientist at centre of row admits: There has been no global warming since 1995 . The title itself is a distortion of what Jones actually said in an interview with the BBC. What Jones actually said is that, while the globe has nominally warmed since 1995, it is difficult to establish the statistical significance of that warming given the short nature of the time interval (1995-present) involved. The warming trend consequently doesn t quite achieve statistical significance. But it is extremely difficult to establish a statistically significant trend over a time interval as short as 15 years"a point we have made countless times at RealClimate.	20th February 2010
Stern says to stay in climate pact even without China WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States would remain a participant in the newly struck Copenhagen Accord on global warming even if other major polluting countries like China and India did not formally "associate" themselves with the deal, a high-ranking U.S. official said on Tuesday.	20th February 2010
More media misinformation on climate change 1. On 14th Feb the Mail on Sunday published a story titled Climategate U-turn as scientist at centre of row admits: There has been no global warming since 1995 Typically of the Daily Mail and its coverage on the issue: it was a distortion. Real Climate points out: What Jones actually said is that, while the globe has nominally warmed since 1995, it is difficult to establish the statistical significance of that warming given the short nature of the time interval (1995-present) involved. The warming trend consequently doesn t quite achieve statistical significance. But it is extremely difficult to establish a statistically significant trend over a time interval as short as 15 years"a point we have made countless times at RealClimate.	20th February 2010
Nature imposes the real bottom line - CNews Where is the 24-hour network dealing with the biosphere?	20th February 2010
California tilts towards cap and refund -- John Kemp is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are his own -- California is set to auction all or almost all allowances under its emissions trading programme, and rebate up to 75 percent of the proceeds to households through a lump sum payment or reductions in income and sales taxes. The proposals, contained in a draft recommendation from the Economic and Allocation Advisory Committee (EAAC) to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), are in sharp contrast to the proposed federal programme, stalled in Congress, which would give away most permits to utilities and other energy intensive industries.	20th February 2010
Climate Change As A Major Geological Event By Dr Andrew Glikson Major mass extinctions in the history of Earth were related, among other factors, to runaway rise in the level of atmospheric CO2	20th February 2010
Climate policy and jobs: What economists know This repost comes from economists at E3 Network: Eban Goodstein, Kristen Sheeran, Director, Peter Dorman, Jonathan Isham, and John Laitner. I. Addressing Climate Change Can Lead to Net Job Growth in the United States Many economists believe that due to the global downturn, the US will experience high rates of unemployment (>6%) for a number of years to come. However, a steady shift toward climate protection will likely boost net job growth in the US: Reduced oil imports would create jobs. Reducing oil imports can save hundreds of billions of dollars each year on imported oil. Rather than send this money abroad, it can be spent at home, creating jobs.	20th February 2010
A surreal argument for biofuels | David Cronin A leaked paper has set out the idea that palm oil plantations can be considered 'forests' " and the EU seems to be buying itCould destroying the rainforests make good environmental sense? This barmy idea is set out, albeit less explicitly, in a paper on biofuels under discussion by senior Brussels officials.Even though palm oil plantations are a major source of tropical deforestation " and hence a major contributor to climate change " the leaked paper suggests that such plantations can often be deemed as ecologically sustainable. And if that isn't puzzling enough, it also indicates that forests that have been chopped down to make way for biofuel plantations can still be considered as forests.Not since René Magritte completed the "This is not a pipe" painting has something as surreal been produced in the Belgian capital.	20th February 2010
ENVIRONMENT-HONDURAS: Forest Corruption a Major Challenge TEGUCIGALPA, Feb 17 (Tierramérica) - The effects of climate change in Honduras have a local accomplice. Not only are forests suffering from global warming; they are also the victim of illegal logging.	20th February 2010
Yvo de Boer resigns and admits Copenhagen failure The head of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is going to work for business, says Jessica Hamzelou	20th February 2010
Scientists hit by climate doubt fallout Fallout from a loss of public confidence in climate science is affecting other fields of research, a top US academic claimed.	20th February 2010
ENVIRONMENT-LATIN AMERICA: Glass Half Empty MEXICO CITY, Feb 18 (IPS) - The countries of Latin America have made progress in terms of access to clean water and sanitation, but have failed to curb greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation, says a new United Nations report.	20th February 2010
Glenn Beck : Open Season I trust that my devoted following of a few will be generally amused by this tube. It is to be hoped that Glenn Beck reflects on how ridiculous his position is. Now before anyone accuses me of telling Glenn Beck to resign from his media programmes (sigh), which I m patently not, let me be clear that when I said how ridiculous his position is , I meant how ridiculous his position on Global Warming is . Glenn Beck has repeatedly declared open season on Global Warming science and Climate Change politics from a position of apparent ignorance.	20th February 2010
Smoke bomb: The other climate culprits Carbon dioxide may be the villain of the piece when it comes to atmospheric pollution, but we ignore its henchmen at our peril	20th February 2010
Geoengineering takes a ride in the shipping lanes Ships blowing off steam are helping researchers understand how manmade particles might be useful against global warming. New results from modeling clouds like those seen in shipping lanes reveal the complex interplay between aerosols, the prevailing weather and even the time of day the aerosol particles hit the air, according to research presented Saturday morning at the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting.	20th February 2010
Deep in sediments off Antarctica, Stanford scientists find insight into past -- and possible future -- climates (PhysOrg.com) -- From the Antarctic Ocean, Earth scientist Rob Dunbar blogs about the challenges of drilling ancient deep-sea sediments -- and what he's found in them.	20th February 2010
Understanding global climate change through new breakthroughs in polar research The latest findings from research on Antarctica's rich marine life are presented this week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Marine Biologist Huw Griffiths from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is involved in a major international investigation into the distribution and abundance of Antarctica's vast marine biodiversity - the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML).	20th February 2010
Good news for the earth's climate system? Guest Commentary by Jim Bouldin (UC Davis) How much additional carbon dioxide will be released to, or removed from, the atmosphere, by the oceans and the biosphere in response to global warming over the next century? That is an important question, and David Frank and his Swiss coworkers at WSL have just published an interesting new approach to answering it. They empirically estimate the distribution of gamma, the temperature-induced carbon dioxide feedback to the climate system, given the current state of the knowledge of reconstructed temperature, and carbon dioxide concentration, over the last millennium. It is a macro-scale approach to constraining this parameter ...	20th February 2010
CO2 Capture and Storage Gains a Growing Foothold The drive to extract and store CO2 from coal-fired power plants is gaining momentum, with the Obama administration backing the technology and the world's first capture and sequestration project now operating in the U.S. Two questions loom: Will carbon capture and storage be affordable? And will it be safe? BY DAVID BIELLO	20th February 2010
Carbon prices too low - Financial Times Carbon prices and other incentives for renewable energy are not high enough to make it worthwhile for the UK's biggest coal-fired power generator to burn environmentally friendly fuels.	20th February 2010
Goldilocks and the three fuels " Richard Heinberg is the author of eight books, including Peak Everything , Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis and The Party's Over . He is also a senior fellow with the Post Carbon Institute. The views expressed are his own. " Recent shale gas projects, including those involving the massive Marcellus Shale in several northeastern states, have been yielding significant quantities of fuel. Reserves of the stuff are enormous. But drilling costs and per-well decline rates are high, so producers can make a profit only if gas prices are near historic highs.	20th February 2010
How the 'climategate' scandal is bogus and based on climate sceptics' lies | Fred Pearce Claims based on email soundbites are demonstrably false " there is manifestly no evidence of clandestine data manipulationAlmost all the media and political discussion about the hacked climate emails has been based on brief soundbites publicised by professional sceptics and their blogs. In many cases, these have been taken out of context and twisted to mean something they were never intended to.Elizabeth May, veteran head of the Canadian Green party claims to have read all the emails and declared: "How dare the world's media fall into the trap set by contrarian propagandists without reading the whole set?"If those journalists had read even a few words beyond the soundbites, they would have realised that they were often being fed lies. See also: 'Climategate' scientist speaks out - Nature	15th February 2010
More acid, less iron Rising carbon dioxide in the oceans may hinder, not help, marine phytoplankton blooms - because increasingly acidic waters could stifle their supply of iron, a crucial nutrient. Dalin Shi and researchers at Princeton University, New Jersey, recorded a decrease in the uptake of iron by four species of plankton as their laboratory-controlled culture medium was acidified, changing from pH 8.6 to 7.7. At the same time, the concentration of bioavailable dissolved iron - in other words, iron not chemically bound by organic matter - dropped proportionately, suggesting that the phytoplankton's enforced diet was due to pH-induced changes in iron chemistry that made the nutrient less available to them, and not because of a physiological reaction to more acidic conditions. In samples of Atlantic surface waters, the team saw the same effect: on average, iron uptake by a marine diatom in these field experiments dropped 1020% as ocean acidity increased by 0.6 pH units.	15th February 2010
Copenhagen number crunch The Copenhagen Accord leaves a gap between climate impacts that can be dealt with through adaptation and those that will be avoided through mitigation. But how big is the gap? See also: Nations Pledge CO2 Cuts that Will Not Meet 2 C Goal On Warming	15th February 2010
Society ignores the oil crunch at its peril | Jeremy Leggett Warnings of a crash in oil production are no longer limited to a prescient few individuals - major British companies and oil CEOs are now sounding the alertIn the years approaching the credit crunch, whistleblowers were limited to a few insightful economists and financial journalists. Now whistles are blowing again about another grave threat to the global economy and the security of nations. They warn of an oil crunch: an unexpected crash in global production such that supply can no longer meet demand, even if China and India throttle back.This time the warning is not limited to a prescient few individuals.	15th February 2010
IPCC errors: facts and spin Currently, a few errors "and supposed errors" in the last IPCC report ( AR4 ) are making the media rounds " together with a lot of distortion and professional spin by parties interested in discrediting climate science. Time for us to sort the wheat from the chaff: which of these putative errors are real, and which not? And what does it all mean, for the IPCC in particular, and for climate science more broadly? Let's start with a few basic facts about the IPCC. The IPCC is not, as many people seem to think, a large organization. In fact, it has only 10 full-time staff in its secretariat at the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, plus a few staff in four technical support units that help the chairs of the three IPCC working groups and the national greenhouse gas inventories group.	15th February 2010
EPA's Effort to Limit CO2 To Be Fought by Chamber of Commerce The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has announced it will mount a legal challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to limit greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. Steven J. Law, the chamber's chief legal counsel, said the business group would not question the science behind global warming but rather would challenge the process by which the EPA decided it had the right to control carbon dioxide emissions as a threat to human health. The Obama administration has said it would prefer that Congress pass a law regulating carbon emissions, but with the passage of such a law looking increasingly unlikely, a battle is shaping up over the EPA's possible efforts to control CO2 emissions.	15th February 2010
Copenhagen response 'is pathetic' - BBC News India's negotiator at the Copenhagen climate change summit says industrialised nations have responded in a "pathetic" way to the need to cut carbon emissions.	15th February 2010
Strengthened storms The number of strong storms in the western Atlantic could double by the end of the century, despite a drop in the overall number of storms, finds new research. Previous studies have hinted at an increase in hurricane intensity, but scientists have now used a modelling approach capable of capturing storms of category-3 or higher intensity, enabling them to simulate twenty-first-century storms realistically.	15th February 2010
The bottom line The stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is the largest source of uncertainty in estimating future sea level rise. Grounded on rock below sea level, the 3,000-metre-thick ice sheet could disintegrate rapidly if it becomes unstable at its base. A new theoretical study by Richard Katz at the University of Oxford and Grae Worster at the University of Cambridge, UK provides evidence of the conditions under which the ice sheet becomes unstable at its grounding line, where it floats free of its base. Katz and Worster applied a novel theoretical and mathematical model to explore what will happen to the ice sheet as the climate changes. Most notably, their model suggests that grounding-line recession - a precursor to ice-sheet loss - may already be underway in Pine Island Glacier, the largest stream of fast-moving ice on the WAIS.	15th February 2010
An amazing, though clearly little-known, scientific fact: We get more snow storms in warm years! Everybody talks about the weather, but few read the scientific literature about it. The anti-science crowd has been doing a killer job pushing the myth that the big recent snowstorms somehow undercut our understanding of human-caused global warming. But aside from the fact the precipitation isn t temperature, it turns out that the common wisdom the disinformers are preying on " lots of snow means we must be in a cold winter " isn t even true. Let's look at the results of an actual, detailed study of the relationships of the storm frequencies to seasonal temperature and precipitation conditions for the years 1901"2000 using data from 1222 stations across the United States. The 2006 study, Temporal and Spatial Characteristics of Snowstorms in the Contiguous United States (Chagnon et al., 2006) found we get more snow storms in warmer ... See also: CLIMATE CHANGE: The Day After Tomorrow Might Have Been Yesterday	15th February 2010
Greenland's glaciers disappearing from the bottom up Water warmed by climate change is taking giant bites out of the underbellies of Greenland's glaciers	15th February 2010
Rate of ocean acidification the fastest in 65 million years (PhysOrg.com) -- A new model, capable of assessing the rate at which the oceans are acidifying, suggests that changes in the carbonate chemistry of the deep ocean may exceed anything seen in the past 65 million years.	15th February 2010
Climate change affecting Kenya's coffee output MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Climate change has affected Kenyan coffee production through unpredictable rainfall patterns and excessive droughts, making crop management and disease control a nightmare, a researcher said on Thursday.	15th February 2010
Wind can power regeneration | Adam Bell Using old shipyards to manufacture turbines will bring jobs to some of Britain's most disadvantaged areasUnemployment stands at 2.5 million people. Even though the economy is (marginally) picking up, we can't waste the opportunity to generate new jobs and income that the expansion of wind power in the North Sea represents. That's why EmbraceMyPlanet, the campaign for renewables, welcomes Nick Clegg's plans for linking the regeneration of disused shipyards to creating green jobs and supporting windfarms.The Lib Dem leader has outlined an initiative to convert old shipyards into wind turbine production centres, by providing a £400m redevelopment fund.	15th February 2010
Global Wind Energy Capacity Grew 31 Percent in 2009, Study Says Wind power capacity grew by 31 percent globally in 2009, with the steepest rise occurring in China, according to a new study. About 37.5 gigawatts of capacity were added last year, boosting the total capacity worldwide to 157.9 gigawatts, says the Global Wind Energy Council, an industry trade group based in Belgium. The growth occurred despite the weak global economy as major nations made renewable energy a priority of their economic stimulus plans, said Steve Sawyer, the council's secretary general. Copenhagen didn t bring us any closer to a global price on carbon, Click to enlargeGWECSince 2003, wind power capacity growth has been steepest in Asia and North America.	15th February 2010
UCLA Develops Synthetic Gene Designed to Capture CO2 Emissions Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have created a synthetic gene they say can capture carbon dioxide emissions. Omar M. Yaghi, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has developed thousands of so-called crystal sponges that absorb gases and have proven effective in the lab at storing CO2. The synthetic crystals, which code information in a DNA-like manner, have nanoscale-sized pores that Yaghi says allow molecules to go in and out. The latest results, which Yaghi says could lead to more efficient carbon capture at factories and power plants, are published in the journal Science.	15th February 2010
Vestas forecasts boost in orders - Financial Times Vestas , the world's biggest wind turbine maker, did little for hopes of a recovery in the renewable energy sector on Wednesday when it announced fourth-quarter results that showed growth was still sluggish.	15th February 2010
Zero emissions possible - at $40bn a year - The Age Australia could move to 100 per cent renewable energy within a decade if it spent heavily on cutting-edge solar thermal and wind technology, according to an analysis by advocacy group Beyond Zero Emissions.	15th February 2010
Pulling carbon out of the air - and out of coal smokestacks just might be possible by Tom Laskawy Admittedly, no one thinks clean coal is oxymoronic and misleading more than me. That said, we do appear to be hell bent on funding carbon capture and sequestration systems for coal-fired power plants. The real problem with CCS, of course, isn t so much the capture part as the sequestration part. What do you do with all that carbon that you re pulling out during coal combustion. The main technologies under consideration involve pulling the carbon out of the exhaust gases, then liquifying it and injecting it underground. That last part is a technology originally developed by the oil industry for keeping dying oil wells productive (the carbon dioxide forces more oil out of the ground).	15th February 2010
Interview: David King Interview: David King Nature Reports: Climate Change22 (2010). doi:10.1038/climate.2010.05 Authors: Olive Heffernan & David King Former chief science advisor to the UK government David King once said that last month's talks in Copenhagen would be the last chance saloon for tackling climate change. But there is hope beyond Copenhagen, says King. Olive Heffernan reports.	15th February 2010
Insights from earth Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels during some of the hottest periods of the Earth's past may have been much lower than once thought. An analysis of soils shows that during eras of extreme warming 25165 million years ago and 55 million years ago, carbon dioxide concentrations were similar to those anticipated for 2100 under a worst-case emissions scenario.	15th February 2010
Osborne red-faced after Lord Stern backs away We noted on LC this morning that Lord Stern, who is a strong critic of climate change deniers, was to be named as George Osborne today as an advisor. Lord Stern has said this in the past: Those who say that climate change doesn t exist are being understood as the flat-earthers that they are, as the people who deny the link between smoking and cancer, as the people who denied the link between HIV and AIDS. Nevertheless, in order to shore up their green credentials, George Osborne announced that Lord Stern would help the Tories develop ideas for a new Green Investment bank.	15th February 2010
ENERGY: Nuclear Does Not Make Economic Sense Say Studies BERLIN, Feb 12 (IPS) - The enormous technical and financial risks involved in the construction and operation of new nuclear power plants make them prohibitive for private investors, rebutting the thesis of a renaissance in nuclear energy, say several independent European studies.	15th February 2010
Climate change deniers and our human nature Anyone who has been following the news on climate change recently already knows about the release of hacked emails of British climate scientists. The emails were used by so-called skeptics--most of whom get their funding from fossil fuel interests--to claim that there was something rotten in climate science. As far as I can tell, there isn't much to the so-called skeptics' claims about the emails. But even if their claims were to involve legitimate questions about some aspects of climate science, this would be nothing new.That's because there is nothing that is absolutely settled in science.	15th February 2010
Bangladesh rejects £60m of climate aid from UK - Guardian Unlimited The Bangladeshi government objects to grant money being channelled through the World Bank, which it says will attach unfavourable "strings and conditions" The Bangladeshi government is refusing to accept a £60m donation from Britain to help it cope with the impact of global warming, because of a dispute over how the money will be provided. Officials in the Department for International ...	15th February 2010
Oil groups mount legal challenge to Schwarzenegger's tar sands ban - Guardian Unlimited Californian legislation branded 'unconstitutional' Lobby group includes UK energy companies A lobby group that includes BP and Shell in its membership has launched a legal challenge against low-carbon legislation in California that in effect rules out the use of oil from Canadian tar sands . The action by the National Petrochemical Refiners Association (NPRA) comes amid growing political ...	15th February 2010
Canada looks to China to develop boycotted oil sands projects - Guardian Unlimited Canada courts Chinese investment in Alberta oil projects as US firms boycott tar sands fuel Canada, faced with growing political pressure over the extraction of oil from its highly polluting tar sands , has begun courting China and other Asian countries to exploit the resource. The move comes as American firms are turning away from tar sands because of its heavy carbon footprint and damage to ... See also: China Condemns "Conniving" Canadians	15th February 2010
Weather model shows where California will burn - New Scientist A new wildfire risk map is the first to take into account the winds that stoke many of the worst fires	15th February 2010

Pentagon to rank global warming as destabilising force US defence review says military planners should factor climate change into long-term strategyThe Pentagon will for the first time rank global warming as a destabilising force, adding fuel to conflict and putting US troops at risk around the world, in a major strategy review to be presented to Congress tomorrow. The quadrennial defence review, prepared by the Pentagon to update Congress on its security vision, will direct military planners to keep track of the latest climate science, and to factor global warming into their long term strategic planning."While climate change alone does not cause conflict, it may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden on civilian institutions and militaries around the world," said a draft of the review seen by the Guardian.Heatwaves and freak storms could put increasing demand on the US military to respond to humanitarian crises or natural disaster.	2nd February 2010
The wisdom of Solomon A quick post for commentary on the new Solomon et al paper in Science express. We ll try and get around to discussing this over the weekend, but in the meantime I ve moved some comments over. There is some commentary on this at DotEarth, and some media reports on the story " some good, some not so good. It seems like a topic that is ripe for confusion, and so here are a few quick clarifications that are worth making. First of all, this is a paper about internal variability of the climate system in the last decade, not on additional factors that drive climate.	2nd February 2010
The bottleneck century In his documentary What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire filmmaker Tim Bennett notes that many of the book authors now writing about peak oil, climate change, species extinction and myriad other urgent environmental and resource topics usually end their otherwise grim analyses with what he calls "the happy chapter," a chapter with solutions and responses which will supposedly help us to avert catastrophe.In a new book, Bottleneck: Humanity's Impending Impasse, William Catton, Jr. dispenses with "the happy chapter" altogether and simply gives us the grim prognosis. Human society is now on an unstoppable trajectory for a significant die-off.	2nd February 2010
'Climate emails hacked by spies' A highly sophisticated hacking operation that led to the leaking of hundreds of emails from the Climatic Research Unit in East Anglia was probably carried out by a foreign intelligence agency, according to the Government's former chief scientist. Sir David King, who was Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser for seven years until 2007, said that the hacking and selective leaking of the unit's emails, going back 13 years, bore all the hallmarks of a co-ordinated intelligence operation " especially given their release just before the Copenhagen climate conference in December. See also: Global warming: Undeniable evidence 'Climategate' is bogus and based on lies	2nd February 2010
Obama budget seeks to end oil, gas subsidies WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Monday asked Congress for a second time to end some $36.5 billion in subsidies for oil and gas companies, saying it would help fight global warming.	2nd February 2010
U.K. to Pay Higher Rates for Clean-Power Production - Update2 - Bloomberg Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. will begin offering above- market rates for clean energy produced by homes and businesses, following policies pioneered by Germany and Spain to spur small- scale use of wind and solar plants to reduce carbon emissions.	2nd February 2010
Germany Greenhouse-Gas Emissions Fall 22%; Kyoto Target Achieved - Bloomberg Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Germany's greenhouse-gas emissions fell 22 percent between 1990 and 2008, the environment ministry said today, adding that the nation of 82 million people has now exceeded the cuts required of it under the Kyoto Protocol climate-change treaty.	2nd February 2010
Obama's nuclear error - $54 billion in loan guarantees make little policy or political sense Today's guest post is by Daniel J. Weiss, Senior Fellow and Director for Climate Strategy at American Progress. For more on the Texas reactor, see Toshiba tells San Antonio its new twin $13 billion nukes will cost $4 billion more! The city balks. This looks like a job for clean energy. President Barack Obama's proposed FY 2011 budget includes some important proposals to invest in clean energy, but it also includes a nuclear bombshell. The budget will seek at total of $54 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear power. This would require a $36 billion increase over the existing $18.5 billion for nuclear loan guarantees, a program created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 " none of which has been issued yet.	2nd February 2010
Follow the Money Some killer facts from Oxfam: Over 60 percent of the world's poorest people live in countries rich in natural resources " but they rarely share the wealth. 12 of the world's 25 most mineral-dependent countries and six of the world's most oil-dependent countries are classified by the World Bank as highly indebted poor countries. In Africa, about 3/4 of the continent's trade relates to the natural resource sector. In 2003, US investment in African oil exceeded 10 billion per year, some 2/3 to 3/4 of all its total investment in the continent.	2nd February 2010
Climate Science: Shooting the Messenger Regarding the recent attacks on top climate scientists, Radio Ecoshock takes the case of Richard B. Alley. He is the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences, at Penn State University. Alley is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His popular book about ice cores is called "The Two Mile Time Machine." Alley was expected to give one of the best speeches of the December 2009 annual meeting of the AGU in San Francisco, and he did not disappoint. Here is a short digest of that hour-long Bjerknes Lecture to the AGU in San Francisco in December.	2nd February 2010
A Review of Climate Cover-up by James Hoggan This very timely book is essential reading for those bewildered by the recent backlash against climate science. It takes things back to basics, and rather than being an exploration of the climate science itself, it seeks to equip the reader with the tools to be able to distinguish between the sources of climate-related information. read more	2nd February 2010
Global deal on climate change in 2010 'all but impossible' - Guardian Unlimited A global deal to tackle climate change is all but impossible in 2010, leaving the scale and pace of action to slow global warming in coming decades uncertain, according to senior figures across the world involved in the negotiations.	2nd February 2010
How Can We Talk About Transformational Change Without Losing Hope? Every time we're subjected to more dramatic predictions of global warming without being given solutions, a seed of helplessness is planted in our souls.	2nd February 2010
Time to clean up the oilsands, Prentice says - Toronto Star Environment Minister Jim Prentice says that business needs to work closely with governments to ensure a more sustainable oilsands in Alberta. See also: Canada dilutes target for greenhouse emissions cut	2nd February 2010
UN says nations' greenhouse gas pledges too little - Seattle Times The reduction goals announced by the nations responsible for the bulk of the world's greenhouse gas emissions are likely to fall short of what many scientists say is needed to limit the disastrous effects of climate change, a U.N. official said Monday. See also: World's Nations Set Emissions Reduction Targets: Who's Pledging What?	2nd February 2010
Lobbyists for foreign corporations begin fight to ensure foreign money can influence American elections This is Think Progress repost. Last week, the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision invalidated a sixty-three year-old ban on corporate money in federal elections. The ruling gives corporations essentially the same rights as individuals in their ability to spend freely on political advertising, even if those advertisements explicitly advocate the election or defeat of a federal candidate. One consequence of this decision is that foreign corporations with U.S.-subsidiaries are likely to be able to now spend unlimited amounts on American elections. Congressional Democrats, led by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), Rep.	29th January 2010
This corruption in Washington is smothering America's future This week, a disaster hit the United States, and the after-tremors will be shaking and breaking global politics for years. It did not grab the same press attention as the fall of liberal Kennedy-licking Massachusetts to a pick-up truck Republican, or President Obama's first State of the Union address, or the possible break-up of Brangelina and their United Nations of adopted infants. But it took the single biggest problem dragging American politics towards brutality and dysfunction " and made it much, much worse. Yet it also showed the only path that Obama can now take to salvage his Presidency.	29th January 2010
Smart grid could reduce emissions by 12 percent (PhysOrg.com) -- A smart electrical power grid could decrease annual electric energy use and utility sector carbon emissions at least 12 percent by 2030, according to a new report from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.	29th January 2010
Water vapour caused one-third of global warming in 1990s, study reveals Experts say their research does not undermine the scientific consensus on man-made climate change, but call for 'closer examination' of the way computer models consider water vapourScientists have underestimated the role that water vapour plays in determining global temperature changes, according to a new study that could fuel further attacks on the science of climate change.The research, led by one of the world's top climate scientists, suggests that almost one-third of the global warming recorded during the 1990s was due to an increase in water vapour in the high atmosphere, not human emissions of greenhouse gases. A subsequent decline in water vapour after 2000 could explain a recent slowdown in global temperature rise, the scientists add.The experts say their research does not undermine the scientific consensus that emissions of greenhouse gases from human activity drive global warming, but they call for "closer examination" of the way ...	29th January 2010
Climate data sound - science head The UK government's chief scientist says his confidence in climate science is unshaken, but calls for more openness.	29th January 2010
Fusion energy hurdle swept aside A potential obstacle to producing energy by laser fusion is swept aside, along with the record for the highest-energy laser pulse.	29th January 2010
Bin Laden blames industrial nations for global warming by Agence France-Presse DUBAI"Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden blamed industrial nations for global warming and urged a boycott of the U.S. dollar to end slavery in an audio tape aired by Al-Jazeera television on Friday. All industrial nations, mainly the big ones, are responsible for the crisis of global warming, bin Laden said in the message attributed to him by the pan-Arab news channel based in Doha.In an unusual message possibly timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, he warned of the impact of global warming by saying that discussing climate change is not an intellectual luxury, but a reality. This is a message to the whole world about those who are causing climate change, whether deliberately or not, and what we should do about that, he said.The Al-Qaeda ...	29th January 2010
Q&A: Rage and the Economics of the Environment TORONTO, Canada, Jan 28 (Tierramérica) - "Rage is sometimes the appropriate response" to the failure of the world's leaders to craft a new climate treaty at the Copenhagen summit, says British economist Tim Jackson.	29th January 2010
Stop Climate Chaos - Ask the Climate Question There is an unelected, shadowy organisation in the United Kingdom; a cultish community of thousands, and their minions, that plots to dictate the leadership of the whole world, starting with the minds of the central Government. You ll see them at work in the run-up to the General Election, possibly suspicious figures masquerading as angels of light in brightly coloured costumes and carrying jokey banners; meddling in democracy at every level " leafletting, holding meetings, putting posters in their front windows and holding consciousness-raising green-fests in their local Town Halls. These people will propagandise the nation, wearing stickers and tee-shirts in an eerily ominous pink.	29th January 2010
Climategate university 'breached data laws' The University of East Anglia may have breached Freedom of Information act laws, says Catherine Brahic	29th January 2010
Germany aims to delay solar incentive cuts: sources BERLIN (Reuters) - German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen wants to delay some of the proposed cuts for solar power incentives, government sources told Reuters on Friday, a move that is unlikely to alter the gloomy outlook for the industry.	29th January 2010
U.S. embraces Copenhagen pact, Senators rework bill WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama Administration formally embraced the Copenhagen Accord on global warming on Thursday, a day after the president urged a fractious U.S. Congress to get to work on comprehensive legislation to stem the nation's emissions.	29th January 2010
On Weather Stations and Climate Trends A new paper throws cold water on the allegation that bad weather stations have amplified America's warming trend.	29th January 2010
RIP GDP Economic growth and climate action 'is not possible'	27th January 2010
Depletion of Key Resources: Facts at Your Fingertips Editor's note: The author presents a definitive essay. Learn why: "Those who expect to get by with 'victory gardens' are unaware of the arithmetic involved." "There are already too many people to be supported by non-mechanized agriculture." "To meet the world's present energy needs by using solar power, then, we would need... a machine the size of France. The production and maintenance of this array would require vast quantities of hydrocarbons, metals, and other materials -- a self-defeating process. Solar power will therefore do little to solve the world's energy problems."	27th January 2010
Ministry of Justice lists eco-activists alongside terrorists Campaigners lumped in with al-Qaida and far right Government criticised for tarring peaceful protesters Government officials have labelled environmental campaigners extremists and listed them alongside dissident Irish republican groups and terrorists inspired by al-Qaida in internal documents seen by the Guardian.The guidance on extremism, produced by the Ministry of Justice, says: "The United Kingdom like many other countries faces a continuing threat from extremists who believe they can advance their aims by committing acts of terrorism."It was sent to probation staff who were writing court reports or supervising a range of activists, including environmental protesters.The advice lists "environmental extremists" alongside far-right activists, dissident Irish republicans, loyalist paramilitaries and al-Qaida-inspired extremists as among groups "currently categorised as extremist [that] may include those who have committed serious crime in pursuit of an ideology or cause".David Howarth, the Liberal Democrats' justice spokesman, ...	27th January 2010
Constituent harassed by Telegraph readers after sending email to Tory PPC How did a private email to a would be Member of Parliament come to be published, with the name and address of the sender, on a blog post at the Daily Telegraph? Methinks, that Edwin Northover has a considerable amount of explaining to do. After all, if he, or perhaps his constituency office, cannot respect the privacy of a constituent when he’s a candidate, how can either be trusted to respect his constituents’ right to privacy and confidentiality should he become an MP.	27th January 2010
Carbon traders quit emissions market amid drop in demand Banks are pulling out of the carbon-offsetting market after Copenhagen failed to reach agreement on emissions targetsBanks and investors are pulling out of the carbon market after the failure to make progress at Copenhagen on reaching new emissions targets after 2012.Carbon financiers have already begun leaving banks in London because of the lack of activity and the drop-off in investment demand. The Guardian has been told that backers have this month pulled out of a large planned clean-energy project in the developing world because of the expected fall in emissions credits after 2012. See also: The death knell for comprehensive cap-and-trade	27th January 2010
National Geographic: greenhouse gases Scientists in Wisconsin are discovering that increased greenhouse gases are having some unexpected effects ...	27th January 2010
Eastern Syria grapples with drought, poverty DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian officials addressing a rare public forum have revealed the full impact of a drought that ravaged the 2008 wheat crop and displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the east of the country.	27th January 2010
U.S. Wind Energy Capacity Grew 39 Percent in 2009, Report Says The U.S. wind power industry continued to grow in 2009 despite a global recession, adding 9,900 megawatts " a capacity increase of about 39 percent " according to a new report. That growth, which was boosted by a federal stimulus package that extended the tax credit for wind energy production and offered other incentives, represents the largest single-year jump on record for the industry, according to the annual report released by the American Wind Energy Association. The added capacity was 18 percent greater than the growth in 2008. But that momentum could slow in 2010, the report said, since the sluggish economy has slowed orders for new turbines and will likely mean fewer installations this year.	27th January 2010
Bill Gates disses energy efficiency, renewables, and near-term climate action while embracing the magical thinking of Bjorn Lomborg - and George Bush - Coincidentally, Gates is funding geoengineering research Billionaires say the darndest things! The above screen shot of a nonsensical Bill Gates piece dissing energy efficiency came from his website, The Gates Notes, which turned into a HuffPost piece, and then Yahoo News. Yes, even the very rich are very confused about energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate policy, and global warming " mainly because they keep bad company (see Error-riddled Superfreakonomics , Part 2: Who else have Nathan Myhrvold and the Groupthinkers at Intellectual Ventures duped and confused? Would you believe Bill Gates and Warren Buffett? ): The Gates Foundation mostly ignores global warming (see here) Warren Buffett are so wrong " and outspoken " about cap and trade (see here) Gates and Buffett visited the Athabasca tar sands " the biggest global warming crime ever " to satisfy their own curiosity but also with investment in ...	27th January 2010
Climate sceptics distract us from the scientific realities of global warming | John Cook Is the goal of climate sceptics to lead us into greater scientific truth " or merely to sow doubt about the temperature record?When you peruse the many sceptic arguments against man-made global warming, you find a tendency to focus on a narrow piece of the puzzle while ignoring the broader picture. This narrow focus serves as a useful distraction from the scientific realities of global warming.A recent example is the campaign to sow doubts about the US temperature record. To achieve this, an army of volunteers traversed the US photographing weather stations. Pictures were posted on surfacestations.org, showing weather stations positioned near heated buildings, air conditioners and other sources of artificial heat.Each new photo was greeted with a clucking of tongues and a sense of reaffirmation among sceptics that global warming was largely the product of suspect temperature data.	27th January 2010
Ignore James Hansen's climate predictions at your peril I started reading James Hansen's new book, Storms of My Grandchildren, at the edge of a vanishing Arctic. I sat on a bare brown Greenland hillside listening to the ferocious crack and crash of the dying glaciers in the distance. As I watched the corpse of the ice sheet float by, broken into a thousand icebergs, it seemed the right place to begin the leading NASA scientist's explanation for what I was seeing. Since the year I was born, 1979, 40 percent of the Arctic sea ice has vanished. If we don't change our behavior fast, Hansen says I will live to see the day when it is all gone, and the North Pole is a point in the open ocean, reachable by boat.	27th January 2010
Designer Starck turns to micro wind turbines MILAN (Reuters) - French designer Philippe Starck, creator of chic hotels, high-tech lamps and modern-style furniture, has turned his attention to energy with the design of two sleek micro wind-power turbines aimed at domestic use.	27th January 2010
EU agrees to make lowest climate offer to U.N BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union has decided to stick to its lowest offer for cutting carbon emissions under a U.N climate accord, but will maintain a conditional pledge to do more if others follow suit, EU diplomats said on Wednesday.	27th January 2010
Concern About Global Warming Continues to Drop in the U.S., Polls Show Concern about global warming among U.S. adults has dropped significantly, a new poll says, with fewer than 50 percent of Americans saying they are somewhat or very worried " a 13 percent decrease from a poll taken in October 2008. The percentage of Americans who believe global warming is occurring fell 14 percent to 57 percent, and the percentage who think global warming is caused primarily by human activities fell 10 percent to 47 percent, according to the poll funded by the Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication. The poll also found that 40 percent of the public now believes there is a lot of disagreement among scientists over whether global warming is occurring.	27th January 2010

Cash for influence Can influence on environmental policy be bought? The chances of a global climate deal this year have taken the second major blow in a week in the US. In the latest development, the US Supreme Court has ruled that corporations can spend as much money as they like to influence elections. See also: When Corporations Rule The World - thanks to the Supreme Court [VIDEO] Supreme Court Sanctioned Murder Of Democracy! Keith Olbermann Special Comment ptI ptII	23rd January 2010
A distraction of Himalayan proportions It was one of the most startling predictions in climate science. By 2035 the great glaciers of the Himalayas were supposed to have largely disappeared, threatening the water supplies of tens of millions of people who rely on the ice to feed the great rivers of Asia, from the Indus and the Ganges in the west to the Brahmaputra and the Yangtze in the east. See also: Glaciergate was a blunder, but it's the sceptics who dissemble | Robin McKie Climate Denial Industry Blowing Hot Air On Himalayan Glaciers	23rd January 2010
NASA makes it official: 2000s were the hottest decade on record, 2009 tied for second warmest year - "In total, average global temperatures have increased by about 0.8°C - 1.5°F since 1880." There's a contradiction between the results shown here and popular perceptions about climate trends, [NASA's James] Hansen said. In the last decade, global warming has not stopped. NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) released its final report on 2009 surface temperatures Thursday, concluding: 2009 was tied for the second warmest year in the modern record, a new NASA analysis of global surface temperature shows. The analysis, conducted by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City, also shows that in the Southern Hemisphere, 2009 was the warmest year since modern records began in 1880 .	23rd January 2010
NOAA: December Global Ocean Temperature Second Warmest on Record - NOAA The global ocean surface temperature was the second warmest on record for December, according to scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Based on records going back to 1880, the monthly NCDC analysis is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides. Scientists also reported the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the eighth warmest on record ...	23rd January 2010
Climate change: Chinese adviser calls for open mind on causes China's most senior negotiator on climate change says more research needed to establish whether warming is man-madeChina's most senior negotiator on climate change said today he was keeping an open mind on whether global warming was man-made or the result of natural cycles.Xie Zhenhua said there was no doubt that warming was taking place, but more and better scientific research was needed to establish the causes.Xie, Premier Wen Jiabao's special representative on climate change, was speaking in Delhi at the end of a two-day meeting of ministers from four of the most powerful emerging economies " China, India, Brazil and South Africa.The four countries, known as the Basic group, called on rich nations to ensure that $10bn pledged to combat climate change was handed over before the end of the year.	23rd January 2010
Climate Slips Off US Agenda - CommonDreams.org by Mitch Potter WASHINGTON – The Canadian government's strategy to let Washington set the pace on climate change has fallen into disarray as American lawmakers lose their appetite for aggressive carbon-cutting legislation in 2010. Public anger exposed by Tuesday's electoral uprising in Massachusetts is resetting Washington priorities across the board, as Democrats and Republicans scramble to address economic issues in a bid to outpace an anti-incumbent mood ahead of November's midterm elections.	23rd January 2010
NREL study shows 20 percent wind possible by 2024 - Half a million jobs, 25% drop in utility carbon pollution for just 2 cents a day per household Back in May 2008, I reported on an amazing study on U.S. wind potential by the Bush Adminstration (see Bush DOE says wind can be 20% of U.S. power by 2030 " with no breakthroughs). The study concluded 20% penetration was straightforward: Annual installations need to increase by only a factor of three from current levels by 2018. Costs of integrating intermittent wind power into the grid are modest. 20 percent wind can be reliably integrated into the grid for less than 0.5 cents per kWh. No material constraints currently exist. This would require 300,000 MW of wind, delivering electricity for about 6 to 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour, unsubsidized (i.e.	22nd January 2010
Thames eel populations crash by 98% in five years, scientists warn Eel populations in the river Thames have crashed by 98% in just five years, scientists warned today. The eel, which has been a traditional east London dish for centuries, now appears to be vanishing from the capital's river, according to researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Each year, ZSL's Tidal Thames Conservation Project places eel traps in a number of the river's tributaries, to catch the fish and allow scientists to record numbers before setting them free. While 1,500 were captured in the traps in 2005, just 50 were recorded last year.	22nd January 2010
World's glaciers melting at accelerated pace, leading scientists say From the Alps to the Andes, the world's glaciers are retreating at an accelerated pace - despite the recent controversy over claims by the United Nations' body of experts, leading climate scientists said today.Lonnie Thompson, a glaciologist at Ohio State University, said there is strong evidence from a variety of sources of significant melting of glaciers - from the area around Kilimanjaro in Africa to the Alps, the Andes, and the icefields of Antarctica because of a warming climate. Ice is also disappearing at a faster rate in recent decades, he said."It is not any single glacier," he said.	22nd January 2010
Finnish winters less icy by century's end: study Freezing weather could be a thing of the past in parts of Finland by the end of the century as climate change leads to rising temperatures, Finland's Meteorological Institute said Tuesday.	22nd January 2010
Send a Sceptic to Siberia Yawn. Yet another anti-Science web log page floats into my field of vision. It's so boring, trying to keep up with the Global Warming Deniers. I can barely keep awake. Here's an example of the trite, and frankly, petulant genre :- [link]news/jamesdelingpole/100023339/james-hansen-would-you-buy-a-used-temperature-data-set-from-this-man/ Actually, don t bother reading it. It's a waste of column inches. If only the Climate Change Sceptics would just go away and let us get on with the gargantuan task of revitalising the Energy industry around sustainable technologies.	22nd January 2010
German solar subsidy cut to spur price dip SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Germany's decision to cut solar subsidies would result in a significant fall in both the price of and demand for photovoltaic panels in the second quarter, research firm iSuppli said on Thursday. See also: Will Germany kill its energy golden goose?	22nd January 2010
One quarter of US grain crops fed to cars - not people, new figures show One-quarter of all the maize and other grain crops grown in the US now ends up as biofuel in cars rather than being used to feed people, according to new analysis which suggests that the biofuel revolution launched by former President George Bush in 2007 is impacting on world food supplies. The 2009 figures from the US Department of Agriculture shows ethanol production rising to record levels driven by farm subsidies and laws which require vehicles to use increasing amounts of biofuels. "The grain grown to produce fuel in the US [in 2009] was enough to feed 330 million people for one year at average world consumption levels," said Lester Brown, the director of the Earth Policy Institute, a Washington thinktank ithat conducted the analysis.	22nd January 2010
Reflections on a hugely changed climate It's hard to overstate how much the events of the last two months have altered the global picture of climate politics. Picture the scene you'd have found on any day towards the end of last year: more prime ministers and presidents talking publicly about climate change than ever before; the vast majority of the world's governments apparently committed to making some kind of agreement that would restrain the growth in greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to avoid "dangerous" climate change; the world's two biggest emitters - China and the US - announcing targets to take into the maelstrom of Copenhagen; rafts of mayors and business leaders and activists straining every sinew to encourage everyone across the finishing line. How different things look now	22nd January 2010
Winner of climate change denial award revealed John Tomlinson, the Michigan Mauler, wins the one and only Christopher Booker prize for falsehoods about global warmingSo now ladies and gentlemen, the moment you have all been waiting for. I am about to unveil the winner of one of the 300 most prestigious awards in environmental journalism: the Christopher Booker prize, awarded for falsehoods about climate change.The winner will receive this stylish trophy, lovingly fashioned by master craftsmen in mid-Wales, which, believe it or not, is made entirely of recycled materials!Even more exciting is the super soaraway holiday of a lifetime (possibly the final holiday of a lifetime) which the winner will be encouraged to take, and which the Guardian is assisting with a fabulous THREE bars of Kendal mint cake.	22nd January 2010
Bob Lutz On Peak Oil, Climate Change and Electric Cars - EV World Senior General Motors executive Bob Lutz has slammed scientists and environmentalists, saying global warming has little to do with humans and more to do with solar flares and sunspots. The self-confessed petrolhead and man who proudly claims to be a progenitor of the Chevrolet Volt electric car (due in Australia in 2012) still scoffs at global warming.	22nd January 2010
Studies Predict Fewer But More Devastating Hurricanes - TIME It's no accident that the documentary An Inconvenient Truth opens with a satellite image of Hurricane Katrina bearing inexorably down on a helpless New Orleans. Since hurricanes draw their destructive power from heat in seawater, you would expect that global warming would intensify these terrifying storms and multiply their number, leading to increased devastation on land. All other things being equal, that's probably what would happen. But all other things are not equal, which is why the relationship between climate change and hurricanes is anything but settled. Two new studies released this week have moved the ball significantly forward, however. The first, appearing in Science, says the frequency of Atlantic hurricanes will actually decrease during this century but that the most powerful Category 4 and 5 storms will likely double in number.	22nd January 2010
Scrutinizing Swamp Gas: Model Helps Predict Global Wetland Greenhouse Emissions - Scientific American Methane ranks only behind water vapor and carbon dioxide among principal greenhouse gases, in terms of its abundance and global warming potential. Even though it is less abundant and has a shorter lifetime in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, methane in the atmosphere accounts for nearly 20 percent of the heating effect of greenhouse gases compared with carbon dioxide's 50 percent. And similar to CO2, methane in the atmosphere emanates from both anthropogenic and natural sources.	22nd January 2010
Is progressive messaging a massive botch ? - Part 3: How bad messaging creates a self-fulfillling failure of will. Here's an anonymous Senate staffer in an email published by TPM Josh Marshall: The worst is that I can t help but feel like the main emotion people in the caucus are feeling is relief at this turn of events. Now they have a ready excuse for not getting anything done. While I always thought we had the better ideas but the weaker messaging, it feels like somewhere along the line Members internalized a belief that we actually have weaker ideas. They re afraid to actually implement them and face the judgement of the voters. That's the scariest dynamic and what makes me think this will all come crashing down around us in November.	22nd January 2010
As the World Burns How Big Oil and Big Coal mounted one of the most aggressive lobbying campaigns in history to block progress on global warming	20th January 2010
Memo to IPCC: Please reanalyze ALL of your conclusions about melting ice and sea level rise - Good news: The Himalayan glaciers will probably endure past 2035. Bad news: If we don't reverse our emissions trend soon, their disappearance is likely to become irreversible before then. MEMO TO IPCC: If you are going to review the apparently mistaken claim in your 2007 report that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035 " please review all of the latest scientific literature and observations on that subject AND please update your equally outdated sea level rise projections. MEMO TO MEDIA: It isn t news that the 2007 projections by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are not accurate. The real news is that the 99% of their mistakes are UNDERestimates of likely impacts. See also : The IPCC is not infallible - shock!	20th January 2010
Spikes & Slopes by Jo Abbess 3 December 2009 One Hot Year 1998 was a very hot year. Worldwide, the land and sea surface temperatures spiked sharply upwards. Scientists said it was supposed to get hot, but not this hot. Yet by the year 2000, things had cooled back down again. In fact, they were a little cooler than 1995. [1] The detailed analysis made it seem like a murder mystery " who killed the heat ? What happened to Global Warming ? Part of the forensic evidence came from analysis of Mount Pinatubo. On 15th June 1991, it experienced massive volcanic eruption causing an enormous plume in the sky, easily visible from space.	20th January 2010
Carbon Plummets as Traders See Oil Booming in Failed Copenhagen - Bloomberg Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The inability of government leaders to agree on stricter pollution controls at meetings in Copenhagen last month is showing up in commodity markets, where it's getting cheaper to emit greenhouse gasses.	20th January 2010
Hanging EPA regulations around Democrats’ necks It has been taken for granted on the left that if Congress doesn t pass clean energy legislation, the EPA will step in to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The threat of that eventuality was supposed to bring intransigent industries and legislators to the table. Only it hasn t really worked as intended" prospects for legislation are looking increasingly dim, particularly with Brown's win last night in Massachusetts.Does that mean EPA regulations are inevitable? Har har. Nothing in politics is inevitable. If legislation goes down in flames, expect a huge fight.[Want to catch up on the why's and wherefore's of EPA regs? See also: Obama faces emissions U-turn with new Congress challenge - The Guardian Foe of EPA Carbon Rules Is Top Recipient of Industry Contributions	20th January 2010
Arctic Tundra is Being Lost as Far North Quickly Warms The treeless ecosystem of mosses, lichens, and berry plants is giving way to shrub land and boreal forest. As scientists study the transformation, they are discovering that major warming-related events, including fires and the collapse of slopes due to melting permafrost, are leading to the loss of tundra in the Arctic. BY BILL SHERWONIT	20th January 2010
Perth sizzles, power consumption soars - Sydney Morning Herald ABC OnlinePerth sizzles, power consumption soarsSydney Morning HeraldMore than 1000 Perth households lost power as electricity consumption peaked to an all-time high as the city sizzled its way through a heatwave. ...Power blackouts to be rectified by this eveningABC Onlineall 12	20th January 2010
Cost of 2007 floods put at £3.2bn Flooding in England in the summer of 2007 cost the economy £3.2bn, a report by the Environment Agency says.	20th January 2010
The Oceans Are Coming - Part III: Remaining Afloat [The first two parts of this series drew a surprising amount of vitriol from people who vehemently deny the merits of the case for adapting to rapid climate change and rising sea levels - greater even than the piece ridiculing the Teabaggers ( [link]2009/09/caution-white-people.html). The torrent of comment spam got so bad that I had to shut down comment submission altogether. It was probably fed to some extent by the various interests which were fighting to make the Copenhagen Conference a fiasco.	20th January 2010
Hedegaard says now is not the time for carbon tax But carbon levy 'could come later' says candidate for future EU climate commissioner role. From BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment NetworkThe debate surrounding the relative merits of carbon taxes and emissions trading schemes heated up today after Connie Hedegaard, leading nominee for EU climate commissioner and the chair of last year's Copenhagen Summit, rejected calls for the introduction of a carbon levy.However, she did not rule out the idea of a carbon tax completely, raising the possibility that an EU charge on carbon emissions could be introduced at a later date."It would be wrong timing at this stage to turn to the tax tool," Hedegaard told the European Parliament, before adding that "it could come later".The EU already has a cap-and-trade scheme in the form of its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), but green groups have consistently criticised the scheme, arguing that ...	20th January 2010
Farm emissions 'far higher than thought' - Farmers Weekly Interactive Livestock farming accounts more than half of all agricultural greenhouse emissions, according to a new report.	20th January 2010
'Cash for Caulkers' aims to make Americans greener at home - The Christian Science Monitor The White House and business leaders team up to craft a program to encourage energy efficient home improvements.	20th January 2010
Copenhagen & Economic Growth - You Can't Have Both Before and during Copenhagen (and after, too, we can be sure), politicians and central bankers across the globe have worked tirelessly to return the global economy to a path of growth. We need more jobs, we are told; we need economic growth, we need more people consuming more things...But the consensus coming out of Copenhagen is that carbon emissions have to be reduced by a vast amount over the next few decades. These two ideas are mutually exclusive. You can't have both. read more	20th January 2010
Buildings 'threaten carbon hope' A dearth of skills and low uptake of known building technologies are threatening the UK's emissions targets, says a report.	20th January 2010
Senate not seen passing climate bill in 2010 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate is unlikely to pass climate change legislation this year after going through the contentious health care debate, and will focus on a separate energy bill that has more bipartisan support, a key Democratic senator said on Tuesday.	20th January 2010

2009 temperatures by Jim Hansen This is Hansen et al's end of year summary for 2009 (with a couple of minor edits). If It's That Warm, How Come It's So Damned Cold? by James Hansen, Reto Ruedy, Makiko Sato, and Ken Lo The past year, 2009, tied as the second warmest year in the 130 years of global instrumental temperature records, in the surface temperature analysis of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). The Southern Hemisphere set a record as the warmest year for that half of the world. Global mean temperature, as shown in Figure 1a, was 0.57°C (1.0°F) warmer than climatology (the 1951-1980 base period).	18th January 2010
Exclusive: Dr. Mojib Latif sets the record straight on what his work says about global warming and what it doesn t say about global cooling - Warming might or might not stall for "several years" but we risk "an unprecedented warming in the history of mankind if no measures are taken to cut global carbon dioxide emissions" Here is Dr. Mojib Latif, perhaps the world's most misquoted climate scientist, in a previously unpublished op-ed (boldface in original). Given all the warnings about and plans to forestall global warming, people may be surprised to find, over the next several years that, over parts of the Northern hemisphere, summers are no warmer than before, maybe even a bit cooler"and that winters are as cold, or a bit colder, than they have been in the past couple of decades. This is because the climate may go through a temporary halt in warming. It's nothing unusual, just a natural fluctuation.	18th January 2010
Wilder weather exerts a stronger influence on biodiversity than steadily changing conditions An increase in the variability of local conditions could do more to harm biodiversity than slower shifts in climate, a new study has found.	18th January 2010
Australia suffers hottest decade as globe warms - AFP ABC OnlineAustralia suffers hottest decade as globe warmsAFPAn unusual winter heatwave hit large parts of inland Australia mid-year and resulted in the country's warmest August on record, while another hot spell in ...Second-warmest year recordedThe Australian2009: The second hottest year on recordNEWS.com.auAustralia bakes through warmest decade on recordABC OnlineDigitalJournal.com -Times Online -The Ageall 168	18th January 2010
Glaciers Melting in the Himalayas Video Credit : Asia Society The satellites and cameras do not lie : glaciers in the Himalayas are melting, and the loss of any part of this third pole ice cover threatens the freshwater supply for billions. This weekend's Media clamour on the subject focuses on the trail of a mis-attribution of a claim regarding the complete meltdown of the mountain glaciers. Just because somebody's got their references wrong, doesn t mean that the glaciers have magically not been melting after all. Yes, the IPCC process has failed to pick up this prediction error. No, it doesn t throw the whole of the IPCC reports into the trash can.	18th January 2010
Breaking: 2009 hottest year on record in Southern Hemisphere and tied for second globally - 2010 still poised to be hottest year on record despite cool start in parts of Northern Hemisphere Note: The NASA results are not yet official, but should be Friday. The figure above does not have the December data, but the final figure will look almost identical. Eli Kintisch at Science Magazine just published, 2009 Hottest Year on Record in Southern Hemisphere. He quoted NASA mathematician Reto Ruedy of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies on the as-yet-not-released December and yearly data. We ve all been waiting for NASA's final report on the year " to see whether 2009 will be the second hottest year on record (see Must-see NASA figures compare 2009 to the two hottest years on record ...	18th January 2010
Michael Winship: Global Cooling? Tell It to the Jellyfish - The Huffington Post There are certain newspaper headlines that catch your eye and stop you in your tracks. Like the New York Post's famous "Headless Body in Topless...	18th January 2010
Paging Neil Cavuto: UAH global satellite data has record WARMEST day for January - "It's almost certain by now that January 2010 will also be the globally warmest January on the UAH record" Yes the anti-science crowd, from WattsUpWithThat to FoxNews, have been touting cold snaps over a small fraction of the globe as evidence of the non-exist cooling trend (see disinformers to media: Please make case for something that isn t true using data we don t believe ). Well now even they have been forced to acknowledge that the global record that's going to be set this month is, in all likelihood, for warming " because it is showing up on their beloved satellite data (click to enlarge). Yes, a Revkin tweet put me on to this " and no, I still don t like green eggs and tweets!	18th January 2010
Antarctica is Losing Ice Quickly, Melting Away Another Climate Skeptic Myth Two popular climate skeptic "facts" which are claimed to disprove anthropogenic global warming are: 1. Surface ice melting on Antarctica is decreasing. 2. Sea ice around Antarctica is increasing. Despite what climate skeptics assert, neither of these arguments disprove global warming. Actually, they highlight quite the contrary: Antarctica is in fact losing mass (ice). Even more, ice is melting and breaking away from the continent at an incredibly accelerating rate. This isn't opinion, there is data to prove it. A recent article published by NASA thoroughly explains why these arguments are misleading. The article also offers multiple streams of scientific data to show how alarming the rate of glacial retreat on Antarctica is.	18th January 2010
Drought drives Middle Eastern pepper farmers out of business, threatens prized heirloom chiles by Gary Nabhan Editor's note: This marks the launch of Climate Change and Food Culture, a series of posts by Gary Nabhan about how climate change threatens to stamp out some of the globe's most celebrated foodstuffs, and along with them the farming and cooking cultures that created them. """"""-Dazzling diversity under threat: a woman sells peppers in a Central Asian bazaar. Most Turks live on the water's edge in the far western reaches of their vast country. But many of the spices that perfume the air in Turkey's famous urban bazaars come from the nation's southeastern farming areas of Sanliurfa and Kahramanmaras.	18th January 2010
Even Plants May Not Like a Warmer World - TIME Even Plants May Not Like a Warmer WorldTIMEFor the plants that form the very foundation of the food chain, though, an argument can be made that both global warming itself and the rising carbon ...and more	18th January 2010
Solar Power Is Now an Option for Even the Most Cash-Strapped Suburbanites Residential solar leases offer a no-money-down, low-monthly plan that makes solar electricity cheaper than the stuff we get by wire -- and you don't have to buy the panels.	18th January 2010
EU pushes for deeper carbon emissions cuts - AFP via Yahoo!Xtra News SEVILLE, Spain (AFP) - The EU on Saturday stood by its offer to move to a 30 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 despite the failure of last month's UN climate summit to secure a legally-binding deal.	18th January 2010
Shell faces shareholder revolt over Canadian tar sands project Investors call for review of oil production in Alberta Tar sands deliver less than 2.5of total oil and gas production Shell chief executive Peter Voser will be forced to defend the company's controversial investment in Canada's tar sands at his first annual general meeting, after calls from shareholders that the project be put under further scrutiny.A coalition of institutional investors has forced a resolution onto the agenda calling for the Anglo-Dutch group's audit committee to undertake a special review of the risks attached to the carbon-heavy oil production at Athabasca in Alberta.Co-operative Asset Management and 141 other institutional and individual shareholders raise "concerns for the long-term success of the company arising from the risks associated with oil sands."Shell, which will hold its AGM in May, has been one of the lead companies in moves to develop oil reserves that are ...	18th January 2010
The Disingenuous Environmentalist offers a solution with no funding model Bjorn Lomborg.jpg Bjorn Lomborg, the Disingenuous Environmentalist, is (with the generous assistance of the Washington Post opinion page editor) once again fighting against any tax or regulation that might inconvenience his buddies in the fossil fuel industry. But, perhaps out of character, Lomborg is also proposing a very specific global investment - $100 billion US - in alternative energy research. This is probably a good idea, although anyone who is even slightly skeptical of government might worry about empowering politicians to try to pick winners when it comes to financing research and innovation. Smart economists (clearly a group to which Lomborg has no affiliation) tend to agree that the best way to address climate change is to ask the market to do it.	18th January 2010
Electric cars struggle to spark enthusiasm All the big carmakers at the Detroit motor show had electrically powered and hybrid cars on display, but Americans still aren't buying green vehiclesWith a curiously squashed, elongated body, the Tango electrically-powered car is as narrow as a single passenger and as nippy as a motorbike. Billed as the world's fastest urban car, it can reach a speed of 130mph. Satisfied customers include the actor George Clooney, and its inventor describes the bizarre vehicle as a "chick magnet".Built by a US start-up called Commuter Cars, the Tango takes up only half a traffic lane. It can carry two people tandem-style in slightly cramped comfort.	18th January 2010
If the climate were a bank, they'd have saved it by now The formal outcome of the Copenhagen climate summit was a huge fiasco. It confirmed the world's corporate rulers were simply unwilling to act in defence of people and the planet.	18th January 2010
EU climate nominee warns on green energy leadership - Financial Times Connie Hedegaard, poised to become the European Union's first climate commissioner, yesterday defended her handling of the Copenhagen climate summit and warned that the bloc was losing its leadership in green energy.	18th January 2010
Useful work versus useless toil revisited It was the contention of William Morris, the great progenitor of the modern arts and crafts movement and the historic preservation movement, that the signal qualities of industrial society are waste and useless toil. One hundred and twenty-six years after Morris gave a lecture entitled "Useful work versus useless toil" to a group of workingmen in London, little has changed except perhaps that the amount of waste and useless toil has grown exponentially.The waste, of course, is obvious: wasteful consumption (tied neither to survival nor beauty but rather status); planned obsolescence as an industrial principle (which helps create repeat sales as well as ever higher mountains in our landfills) ...	18th January 2010
Arctic permafrost leaking methane at record levels, figures show Experts say methane emissions from the Arctic have risen by almost one-third in just five years, and that sharply rising temperatures are to blameScientists have recorded a massive spike in the amount of a powerful greenhouse gas seeping from Arctic permafrost, in a discovery that highlights the risks of a dangerous climate tipping point.Experts say methane emissions from the Arctic have risen by almost one-third in just five years, and that sharply rising temperatures are to blame.The discovery follows a string of reports from the region in recent years that previously frozen boggy soils are melting and releasing methane in greater quantities. See also: Wetlands' Carbon, Methane Emissions Boost Global Warming - Time Magazine Warming 'speeds' up gas emissions	15th January 2010
The truth is out there: And they re trying to keep it out Maclean's writer Andrew Coyne shows how The theft and distribution of the East Anglia University Climatic Research Unit (CRU) emails last fall provided a stunning victory to the forces of climate change denial. The emails were received and disseminated in the denial industry as evidence that climate scientists had overplayed their hands or acted inappropriately. And that was used, very effectively, as proof that the science of climate change is, after all, in doubt. But that was only the beginning. Per the case study below, in 2010, we will be treated to a barrage of stories that reference the emails without even including an attempt present or argue their content.	15th January 2010
Was Copenhagen the Death of Multilateral Environmental Agreements? - AllAfrica.com Johannesburg " What do secret declassified documents from the Clinton era tell us about the future of climate negotiations? See also: Pershing Missile Strikes United Nations	15th January 2010
Soros Says U.S. Needs Carbon Cap to Unlock Clean-Energy Finance - Bloomberg via Yahoo! News Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. law to curb carbon emissions would spur billions of dollars of spending on green-energy projects in developing countries, billionaire George Soros said. See also: Investors urge governments to act on climate change	15th January 2010
How High Will Seas Rise? Get Ready for Seven Feet As governments, businesses, and homeowners plan for the future, they should assume that the world's oceans will rise by at least two meters " roughly seven feet " this century. But far too few agencies or individuals are preparing for the inevitable increase in sea level that will take place as polar ice sheets melt. BY ROB YOUNG AND ORRIN PILKEY See also: Radical sea defence rethink urged	15th January 2010
Climate & environment - Jan 14 -The year climate science caught up with what climate scientists have been saying privately for years -Where on earth is it unusually warm?-Britain's cold snap does not prove climate science wrong -Coral Can Recover from Climate Change Damage, New Research Suggests -The resurgence of El Niño means that 2010 could yet be the hottest year on record -The sinking Sundarbans-Major Antarctic glacier is 'past its tipping point' read more	15th January 2010
Errors and lies thrive in cold weather Claims that a cold snap disproves climate change are dangerous nonsense, says Michael Le Page	15th January 2010
The End of Magical Climate Thinking One year ago, America's president said he was going to start a green-energy revolution. Here's why the Obama administration failed -- and what needs to come next.	15th January 2010
Major Antarctic glacier is 'past its tipping point' A major Antarctic glacier has passed its tipping point " it is poised to collapse in a catastrophe that could raise global sea levels by 24 centimetres	15th January 2010
Next few weeks vital for Copenhagen accord, says US climate change envoy Obama administration to work closely on formal details US will not give full ownership of accord to UNThe next few weeks will be critical in deciding whether the Copenhagen accord succeeds in halting global warming, America's top climate change envoy said today."We have an accord that is lumbering down the runway, and we need it to get enough speed so it can take off," Todd Stern, the state department climate change envoy, told an investor meeting at the United Nations in his first public remarks after the Copenhagen summit. "We need to get this up and running."He said the next year would be critical in fleshing out the details of an accord that - because of the chaos and acrimony surrounding the talks - was only 12 paragraphs long.	15th January 2010
Chaperones for climate protection (PhysOrg.com) -- The World Climate Conference recently took place. Reports about carbon dioxide levels, rising temperatures and melting glaciers appear daily. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biochemistry and the Gene Center of Ludwig Maximilians University Munich have now succeeded in rebuilding the enzyme Rubisco, the key protein in carbon dioxide fixation.	15th January 2010
Forest CO2 market in the balance: report LONDON (Reuters) - The global market for carbon offsets from planting trees and preserving forests, worth nearly $150 million to date, could stall without a U.S. climate bill or a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol, a report said on Thursday.	15th January 2010
The Ends And Means Of Climate Change Mitigation By Stephen Roblin Confusion over the means and ends of radical left activism can be potentially fatal for the causes we strive to advance. And for the case of climate change mitigation, confusion can be fatal, literally speaking, for the human species. Given the potential opportunity to enact binding reductions in carbon emissions at the Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Mexico next year, any confusion that plagues the Left must be lay to rest immediately in order to ensure we play our indispensable role in combating this threat	15th January 2010
US cult of greed is now a global environmental threat The average American consumes more than his or her weight in products each day, fuelling a global culture of excess that is emerging as the biggest threat to the planet, according to a report published today. In its annual report, Worldwatch Institute says the cult of consumption and greed could wipe out any gains from government action on climate change or a shift to a clean energy economy.Erik Assadourian, the project director who led a team of 35 behind the report, said: "Until we recognise that our environmental problems, from climate change to deforestation to species loss, are driven by unsustainable habits, we will not be able to solve the ecological crises that threaten to wash over civilisation."The world's population is burning through the planet's resources at a reckless rate, the US thinktank said.	13th January 2010
U.S. farm group: Stop EPA on greenhouse gases SEATTLE (Reuters) - The largest U.S. farm group called on Congress on Tuesday to prevent the government from regulating greenhouse gases if lawmakers kill climate change legislation.	13th January 2010
Oil Dependence Is a Dangerous Habit - Center For American Progress A recent report on the November 2009 U.S. trade deficit found that rising oil imports widened our deficit, increasing the gap between our imports and exports. This is but one example that our economic recovery and long-term growth is inexorably linked to our reliance on foreign oil. The United States is spending approximately $1 billion a day overseas on oil instead of investing the funds at home, where our economy sorely needs it. Burning oil that exacerbates global warming also poses serious threats to our national security and the world’s security. For these reasons we need to kick the oil addiction by investing in clean-energy reform to reduce oil demand, while taking steps to curb global warming.	13th January 2010
Massey Energy running attack ads against "tree hugging extremists" coal power.JPG Massey Energy (NYSE: MEE), the 4th largest coal producer in the country is running political-style attacks in West Virginia claiming that "tree hugging extremists and self-serving politicians" are killing jobs, while the coal industry is "fighting hard for Appalachian jobs" and "what's right." I am assuming that when Massey talks about fighting for Appalachian jobs they aren't referring to the fact that earlier in 2009 they cut employee pay by 6% and then recently increased the performance bonus for Massey's CEO, Don Blankenship, by $600,000. And I think it's also safe to assume that when Massey talks about fighting for "what's right" they aren't talking about the major environmental violations over the years culminating in a record $20 million settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency.	13th January 2010
Rightwing climate change deniers are all for free speech - when it suits them Frank Furedi's witchhunt comparsion exposes double standards when UK snow does not undermine global warming consensusRead the piece on cold weather and global warming by George Monbiot and Leo HickmanConservatives are no longer allowed to be wrong. As soon as you point out that someone on the right has made misleading claims, you are accused of pursuing a witch-hunt or behaving like the Inquisition. The delicate sensibilities of rightwingers somehow forbid debate: contradict them, point out their mistakes and falsehoods, and you are immediately charged with persecution.This is profoundly ironic, as the very people who make such charges " Melanie Phillips is a good example " spend the rest of their time waging war on political correctness.	13th January 2010
Search for ice sheet 'tipping point' (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study examines how ice sheets, such as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, could become unstable as the world warms.	13th January 2010
A Smoking Dragon in Sheep's Clothing - New York Times NEW DELHI — China presents itself as a schizophrenic power: a developing country on select international issues, but in other matters a rising superpower with new muscular confidence that supposedly is in the same league as the United States. At the recent Copenhagen climate-change summit, China was the former: It loudly emphasized its membership in the developing world and quietly used poor countries, especially from Africa, to raise procedural obstacles in the negotiations.	13th January 2010
Firm signs new trial for energy saving device - Reuters via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News VPhase has signed a further trial deal for its energy-saving voltage product, highlighting how small energy efficiency firms could come to the fore as Britain enforces stringent emissions targets.	13th January 2010
German Greens at 30, world's No. 1 green party Germany's Greens party celebrated their 30th birthday on Wednesday. The world's most successful environmental party spent seven of those 30 years as junior partner in the government of one of the world's biggest industrial nations and are now part of three state governments. They were the driving force behind the country's Renewable Energy Act (EEG) 10 years ago that has made Germany the world's leader in wind energy and photovoltaic and the world's first major renewable-energy economy " laws promoting the development of renewable energy that led to the creation of some 280,000 jobs in the last decade.	13th January 2010
Avoiding dangerous warming by 2100 'barely feasible' It may be impossible to get low-carbon energy sources online fast enough to prevent global temperatures rising beyond 2 °C by the century's end See also: Climate scientists convene global geo-engineering summit	12th January 2010
Leading climate scientist challenges Mail on Sunday's use of his research Mojib Latif denies his research supports theory that current cold weather undermines scientific consensus on global warmingA leading scientist has hit out at misleading newspaper reports that linked his research to claims that the current cold weather undermines the scientific case for manmade global warming.Mojib Latif, a climate expert at the Leibniz Institute at Kiel University in Germany, said he "cannot understand" reports that used his research to question the scientific consensus on climate change.He told the Guardian: "It comes as a surprise to me that people would try to use my statements to try to dispute the nature of global warming.	12th January 2010
James Hansen rails against cap-and-trade plan in open letter Nasa scientist advocates using fee-and-dividend approach to reducing carbon emissions"You are choosing the path focused on corporate greed," climate scientist James Hansen has told carbon traders in a open letter which he and climate activists attempted to deliver to a carbon trading conference in New York today.In below-freezing temperatures, climate change campaigners gathered at midday at the Irish Hunger Memorial in Vesey Park, near the Embassy Suites Hotel where the conference is being held, to hear Hansen read parts of his open letter. Tomorrow there will be another demonstration at the same spot, at which an unconfirmed number of activists have pledged to commit acts of nonviolent civil disobedience.Hansen's letter advocates using the fee-and-dividend approach to reducing carbon emissions, rather than cap-and-trade.	12th January 2010
Butterflies Reeling From Impacts of Climate and Development (PhysOrg.com) -- California butterflies are reeling from a one-two punch of climate change and land development, says an unprecedented analysis led by UC Davis butterfly expert Arthur Shapiro.	12th January 2010
Oceans losing ability to absorb greenhouse gas (PhysOrg.com) -- Like a dirty filter, the Earth's oceans are growing less efficient at absorbing vast amounts of carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas produced by fossil-fuel burning, reports a study co-authored by Francois Primeau, UC Irvine Earth system science associate professor.	12th January 2010
Melting tundra creating vast river of waste into Arctic Ocean The increase in temperature in the Arctic has already caused the sea-ice there to melt. According to research conducted by the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, if the Arctic tundra also melts, vast amounts of organic material will be carried by the rivers straight into the Arctic Ocean, resulting in additional emissions of carbon dioxide.	12th January 2010
Unusual Arctic warmth as north hemisphere shivers WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While much of the Northern Hemisphere has shivered in a cold snap in recent weeks, temperatures in the Arctic soared to unusually high levels, U.S. scientists reported.	12th January 2010
Melbourne Swelters Through Warmest Night in a Century - Update2 - Bloomberg Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Residents of Melbourne sweltered through the warmest night in more than a century as warm winds swept the city in Australia's southeast, straining air conditioners and sending crowds to area beaches for relief.	12th January 2010
Deadly jellyfish could see tourism heading south - ABC via Yahoo!7 News Swimmers in far north Queensland have long lived with the threat of irukandji and box jellyfish stings, but the dangerous marine creatures could soon be headed further south.	12th January 2010
U.S. eyes new nuclear plants in climate battle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration wants to help the nuclear industry build a power plant for the first time in years to help diversify U.S. energy supplies and fight climate change, the White House said on Monday.	12th January 2010
The solar cell that builds itself Researchers have used a property of salad dressing to get electronics to self-assemble on a range of surfaces.	12th January 2010
Three Britons charged over 3m carbon-trading 'carousel fraud' Belgium alleges VAT scam over carbon emissions permits Europol fears fraud will be used in energy trading marketsBelgian prosecutors highlighted the massive losses faced by EU governments from VAT fraud today after they charged three Britons and a Dutchman with money-laundering following an investigation into a multimillion-pound scam involving carbon emissions permits.The three Britons, who were arrested last month in Belgium, were accused of failing to pay VAT worth 3m (£2.7m) on a series of carbon credit transactions.European authorities believe the EU has lost at least 5bn to carbon-trading VAT fraud in the last 18 months.	12th January 2010
Trees invading warming Arctic will cause warming over entire region, study shows (PhysOrg.com) -- Contrary to scientists' predictions that, as the Earth warms, the movement of trees into the Arctic will have only a local warming effect, University of California, Berkeley, scientists modeling this scenario have found that replacing tundra with trees will melt sea ice and greatly enhance warming over the entire Arctic region.	12th January 2010
Obstacle No. 64 to dealing with climate change: The cult of celebrity - ScienceBlogs The news that Sarah Palin has found a new platform for her particular take on reality brings to mind one of the biggest obstacles to the development of meaningful action on the climate change front -- or any other serious public policy challenge, for that matter. Palin is more akin to Paris Hilton or Pia Zadora than she is to most other public figures in two ways. First, she brings no obvious talent or experience to the public sphere, just popularity afforded her first by the electorate of a small and politically quirky state, and by the last man standing in one of the weakest fields of Republican presidential hopefuls in the party's history.	12th January 2010
Vestas gains $97 million wind-turbine order - Denver Post Vestas Wind Energy Systems " which temporarily halted turbine production at its Windsor plant in December " said Monday it had received an order for 18 turbines from Canadian utility TransAlta Corp.	12th January 2010
EU trade nominee warns on carbon tax - Financial Times Karel De Gucht, Europe's trade commissioner-designate, warned on Tuesday that a carbon border tax could lead to a trade war as he rejected a policy that had gained traction in Europe following last month's disappointing Copenhagen summit on climate change.	12th January 2010
U.S. Carbon Output to Climb 1.5% on Economic Growth, EIA Says - Bloomberg Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. carbon dioxide output from energy use should rise 1.5 percent this year as the economy recovers from the worst recession since the Great Depression, the Energy Information Administration said today.	12th January 2010

Climate confusion Scientists need to ensure their work is understood	11th January 2010
Largest U.S. farm group rallies against climate bill SEATTLE (Reuters) - The largest U.S. farm group will oppose aggressively "misguided" climate legislation pending in Congress and fight animal rights activists, said American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman on Sunday.	11th January 2010
UK climate is warming despite big freeze Despite the big freeze Britain's climate is getting distinctly warmer " and we may feel it this summerIt may be a hard notion to accept after a week that has seen the nation paralysed by snow and ice. Nevertheless, meteorologists are adamant that our world is still getting warmer. Indeed, many now believe that 2010 may turn out to be the hottest year on record.Britain may be shivering, the Met Office may have issued emergency weather warnings for the entire country and hundreds of trains and flights may have been cancelled, but our future is destined to be a hot and sticky one.	11th January 2010
Arctic Tundra is Being Lost As Far North Quickly Warms The treeless ecosystem of mosses, lichens, and berry plants is giving way to shrub land and boreal forest. As scientists study the transformation, they are discovering that major warming-related events, including fires and the collapse of slopes due to melting permafrost, are leading to the loss of tundra in the Arctic. BY BILL SHERWONIT	11th January 2010
Rice Export Prices Unlikely to Decline, Mohanty Says - Update2 - Bloomberg Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Rice export prices will probably be sustained at about $600 per metric ton after drought and floods damaged crops in India and the Philippines, an agricultural economist said. Rice futures rallied in Chicago.	11th January 2010
Massive crop losses predicted from heatwave - ABC Online The heatwave across south east Australia is worrying fruit and vegetable growers, with one table grape grower predicting a 70 per cent drop in yields. As the heat continues today across South Australia and Victoria, fire authorities say conditions are at their worst in the south east of the country since the Black Saturday fires just over a year ago.	11th January 2010
L&C, GRL, comments on peer review and peer-reviewed comments I said on Friday that I didn t think that Lindzen and Choi (2009) was obviously nonsense. Well, a number of people have disagreed with me, and in doing so, have presented some of the back story on the how the response was handled. I think this deserves to be more widely known in the hope that it will generate some discussion in the community for how such situations might be dealt with in the future. From Chris O Dell: Given the large number of comments on the peer-review process in general and in the LC09 case in particular, it is probably worthwhile to give a bit more backstory to our Trenberth et al.	11th January 2010
EU Carbon May Avoid Drop on Utility Buying, Deutsche Bank Says - Bloomberg Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- European Union emission-permit prices may avoid a decline in coming weeks as utilities buy the allowances, according to Mark Lewis , Deutsche Bank AG's carbon analyst in Paris.	11th January 2010
Geist: Ottawa pulls own Internet hoax - Toronto Star The Canadian delegation at the Copenhagen climate conference was targeted by the Yes Men in a widely publicized hoax. Soon after, Canadian officials quietly set out to shut down the two websites. See also: Canadians believe planet in peril: Poll - CNews	11th January 2010
UK to Meet Carbon Goals Only Due to Recession, Lawmakers Say - Bloomberg stv.tvUK to Meet Carbon Goals Only Due to Recession, Lawmakers SayBloombergThe panel's findings match those of the Climate Change Committee, which advises the government and said on Oct. 12 that the slump may trim polluting ...Ministers urged to provide environmental leadershipPublic Financeall 20	11th January 2010
Calculating the Odds on Climate Change - World Politics Review OutlookCalculating the Odds on Climate ChangeWorld Politics ReviewWhether consciously or not, we are all parties to a massive wager on just how much global warming human societies will be able to cope with. ...Making sense of climate changeAuburn CitizenPolitical climate changeSarasota Herald-TribuneAfter Copenhagen: Jamaica and climate changeJamaica ObserverSunday Standard -China Daily -Nepal Monitorall 116	11th January 2010
The resurgence of El Niño means that 2010 could yet be the hottest year on record Despite the big freeze Britain's climate is getting distinctly warmer " and we may feel it this summerIt may be a hard notion to accept after a week that has seen the nation paralysed by snow and ice. Nevertheless, meteorologists are adamant that our world is still getting warmer. Indeed, many now believe that 2010 may turn out to be the hottest year on record.Britain may be shivering, the Met Office may have issued emergency weather warnings for the entire country and hundreds of trains and flights may have been cancelled, but our future is destined to be a hot and sticky one.	10th January 2010
The end of consumerism: Our way of life is 'not viable' - Independent Ditch the dog; throw away (sorry, recycle) those takeaway menus; bin bottled water; get rid of that gas-guzzling car and forget flying to far-flung places. These are just some of the sacrifices we in the West will need to make if we are to survive climate change.	10th January 2010
Chokehold Sought on EPA Over Carbon Rules - CBS News N.D. Rep's Bill Would Reverse Supreme Court Ruling, Remove Authority From EPA to Regulate Greenhouse Gases See also: US climate change legislation Q&A: what will happen in 2010? - Guardian Unlimited	10th January 2010
Venezuela drought raises risk of devastating power collapse - Denver Post Venezuela is at risk of a power collapse as drought pushes water levels precariously low in the country's biggest hydroelectric dam, posing a serious political threat for President Hugo Chavez.	10th January 2010
Voyage around the Americas sees evidence of acidic Arctic Scientists aboard the Ocean Watch, a 64-foot yacht on a year-long voyage circling the Americas, are testing the waters as they go. Instruments on the vessel have picked up evidence of ocean acidification, another result of the spewing of carbon dioxide from tailpipes and smokestacks, they say. Much of CO2 pollution ends up in the atmosphere, but some is absorbed in the ocean, where it is converted into carbonic acid. The average pH of the word's oceans is about 8.1 and the lower the reading, the greater the acidity. Scientists are concerned that if pH levels keep falling ocean waters could eat away the shells of organisms large and small.	10th January 2010
Polar bears in southern Beaufort Sea spending more time on land and open water A long-term study showing the changes in habitat associations of polar bears in response to sea ice conditions in the southern Beaufort Sea has implications for polar bear management in Alaska.	10th January 2010
NIGERIA: Lake Communities Left High and Dry DORON-BAGA and KANO, Nigeria, Jan 8 (IPS) - The fittest are fleeing the shores of Lake Chad: Adamu Modu, a young fisherman, is joining a stream of able-bodied men heading south to find work in the southern part of the country.	10th January 2010
Pine Beetle Turns Trees To Carbon Emitters - OfficialWire Canadian researchers say the pine beetle has killed so many trees, the forests of British Columbia now put more greenhouse gases into the air than they store.	10th January 2010
CLIMATE CHANGE: Watch the Birdies TEL AVIV, Jan 8 (IPS) - Ornithologists say that climate change is having a profound effect on bird behaviour and suggest that this phenomenon can act as an early warning system to the dangers posed to Earth.	10th January 2010
Freezing Europe, warming world - The Age People across the northern hemisphere are facing the fact that a warming planet doesn't get rid of winter.	10th January 2010
Energy supplies: When the wind blows Beware of suspiciously round figures. The only certain thing about the prime minister's claim yesterday that Britain's offshore wind industry "could be worth £75bn and support up to 70,000 jobs by 2020" is that none of those three numbers will turn out to be correct. He also omitted the most important fact, which is that the immense schemes given the go-ahead this week may eventually generate 32 gigawatts of electricity. On a windy night, that could be close to half of the national demand. Throw in other renewable sources and " one day " new nuclear plants, and Britain's low-carbon future suddenly seems like much more than rhetoric.The advantages of offshore wind " and Britain already has more turbines at sea than any other country " are obvious.	10th January 2010
There is an alternative to our unhealthy culture of overwork This year, we all need to become more like Utah, under its Republican governor " and then go further. No, dear reader, don t panic " I have not converted to Mormonism, nor have I tossed out my sanity with my old Santa hat and Christmas decorations. The people of one of the most conservative states in the US have stumbled across a simple policy that slashes greenhouse gas emissions by 13 percent, saves huge sums of money, improves public services, cuts traffic congestion, and makes 82 percent of workers happier. It can do the same for us " and point to an even better future beyond it " without the need for the Arch-Angel Moron (yes, Mormons really do believe in him) to offer his blessing.	10th January 2010
Paint away the carbon dioxide Repeated coatings of special paint absorb CO2 and deposit layers of "biolime" on a building, adding strength and insulation	10th January 2010
Obama awards $2.3 billion clean energy tax credits WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a $2.3 billion tax credit on Friday to boost jobs by promoting clean energy, as new data showed the country's unemployment rate remained stuck in the double digits.	10th January 2010
A PENNY A MILE: Hull couple leads the charge with zero-emissions vehicle - The Patriot Ledger USA: HULL — While gas prices have jumped to an average of $2.65, Michael Connelly and Judeth VanHamm are spending only a penny per mile to get around. The Hull couple’s zero-emissions Club Car Village 2+2 became the first vehicle registered in Massachusetts as a “low-speed vehicle.”	10th January 2010
Vietnam predicts drought and rising sea level, damage to crops - Asia News Network Serious drought in the north and rising sea levels in the south may cause significant losses to farmers in the winter-spring harvest, according to a forecast by the National Centre for Hydrometeorology Forecasting.	10th January 2010
Carbon tariffs resurface in Copenhagen aftermath - EurActiv The idea of a carbon tax at the EU's borders is gaining momentum after the Copenhagen climate talks, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy leading calls for a tariff on imports from China and other nations with less stringent environmental protection rules. See also: EU to pursue climate deal through G-20 - San Francisco Chronicle	10th January 2010
China says it achieved its goal in Copenhagen climate deal Chinese negotiators achieved their goal at Copenhagen climate talks in ensuring financial aid for developing nations was not linked to external reviews of China's environmental plans, its top climate envoy said today.	10th January 2010
Why Antarctica isn't melting much - yet Antarctica is warming, but not melting anything like as much as expected. The apparent contradiction is explained by the seasonal pattern of warming	10th January 2010
Lindzen and Choi Unraveled Guest Commentary by John Fasullo, Kevin Trenberth and Chris O Dell A recent paper by Lindzen and Choi in GRL (2009) (LC09) purported to demonstrate that climate had a strong negative feedback and that climate models are quite wrong in their relationships between changes in surface temperature and corresponding changes in outgoing radiation escaping to space. This publication has been subject to a considerable amount of hype, for instance apparently [LC09] has absolutely, convincingly, and irrefutably proven the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming to be completely false. and we now know that the effect of CO2 on temperature is small, we know why it is small, and we know that it is having very little effect on the climate .	10th January 2010
Warmer Climate Could Stifle Carbon Uptake By Trees - redOrbit Image Caption: A surprising new CU-Boulder study indicates subalpine forests in the West will soak up less carbon dioxide as the climate warms and the growing seasons lengthen. Image courtesy Steve Miller, CIRES.	10th January 2010
Comparing Earth's current warming to the Pliocene - The Christian Science Monitor The early Pliocene period might be the best analog for the warmer world scientists expect in the not-too-distant future.	10th January 2010
Echinoderms Contribute To Global Carbon Sink - redOrbit The impact on levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere by the decaying remains of a group of marine creatures that includes starfish and sea urchin has been significantly underestimated."Climate models must take this carbon sink into account," says Mario Lebrato, lead author of the study.	10th January 2010
Methane release 'looks stronger' Scientists have uncovered a further apparent increase in the leakage of methane gas that is seeping from the Arctic seabed.	7th January 2010
Crime in the Post-Peak World As humanity plunges ever more deeply into the age of declining resources, what will be the future of law and order? The particular problem of which I am thinking might be called, more specifically, "future violence," since other acts that are now deemed criminal may seem trivial in later days. Unfortunately all discussion of violence becomes an emotional issue, and a rational answer may be elusive. After all, for most human beings the most terrifying actions on the planet Earth are probably those involving physical assault by other humans. It is therefore hard to get a calm or rational response from people with whom one discusses the matter.	7th January 2010
Earth itself has become disposable Consumerism has, as Huxley feared, changed all of us " we'd rather hop to a brave new world than rein in our spendingWho said this? "All the evidence shows that beyond the sort of standard of living which Britain has now achieved, extra growth does not automatically translate into human welfare and happiness." Was it a) the boss of Greenpeace, b) the director of the New Economics Foundation, or c) an anarchist planning the next climate camp? None of the above: d) the former head of the Confederation of British Industry, who currently runs the Financial Services Authority. In an interview broadcast last Friday, Lord Turner brought the consumer society's most subversive observation into the mainstream.In our hearts most of us know it is true, but we live as if it were not.	7th January 2010
Tipping elements in the Earth System: How stable is the contemporary environment? - Science Daily A Special Feature of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents the latest scientific insights on so-called tipping elements in the planetary environment. These elements have been identified as the most vulnerable large-scale components of the Earth System that may be profoundly altered by human interference. If one or more of those components is tipped -- especially in the course of global warming -- then the age of remarkably stable environmental conditions on Earth throughout the Holocene may end quickly and irreversibly.	7th January 2010
2020: China Rises, the U.S. Declines and the Planet Strikes Back Much will change in 10 years. China will rise, the global South will grow in importance, the U.S. will decline. These phenomena will be eclipsed by devastating planetary changes.	7th January 2010
Boiler scrappage scheme launched Households with a working G-rated boiler will get £400 towards the installation of an A-rated boiler or renewable heating system	7th January 2010
Sarkozy wants French carbon tax to take effect in July by Agence France-Presse PARIS"The French government decided Tuesday that a new carbon tax to fight global warming will go into force in July, a week after the constitutional court struck down a previous version of the measure.President Nicolas Sarkozy told the council of ministers that the revamped tax would be presented to the cabinet later this month and that it would go into force on July 1, government spokesman Luc Chatel told reporters.The Constitutional Council last Tuesday declared the tax illegal, just days before it was to kick in, dealing a severe blow to Sarkozy, who had championed the measure aimed at encouraging French consumers to stop wasting energy.	7th January 2010
12 Innovations That Could Save Us With climate disruption, war, and a faltering economy, that was a tough decade. Still, seeds were sown for a more green and egalitarian 2010s.	7th January 2010
'No conflict' between Big Freeze and climate change The current cold weather gripping the UK does not undermine the fact the world is warming, experts said today.	7th January 2010
Investors Buy Silver Bullion After Global Warming Revelations - PRWeb via Yahoo! News How global warming will affect silver bullion demand and prices?	7th January 2010
Carbon trading expands in volume but not in value - USA Today The global trade in carbon emissions credits expanded last year, with a regional cap-and-trade market in the northeastern USA and Canada taking a growing share, a market analysis company reported Wednesday.	7th January 2010
The 15 Most Heinous Climate Villains The worst and most vile of the corporate-funded climate science deniers responsible for subverting public understanding of climate change, and risking civilization.	7th January 2010
'Joseph E. Stiglitz: Overcoming the Copenhagen failure Time is of the essence. While the world dawdles, greenhouse gases are building up in the atmosphere, and the likelihood that the world will meet even the agreed-upon target of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius is diminishing. We have given the Kyoto approach, based on emission rights, more than a fair chance. Given the fundamental problems underlying it, Copenhagen's failure should not be a surprise. At the very least, it is worth giving the alternative a chance.	7th January 2010
Scepticism will surge in 2010: IPCC chief Rajendra Pachauri predicts lobbying will intensify to impede progress to agreement on binding treaty in Mexico City. Climate change scepticism is likely to surge in 2010 and could exacerbate "hardship" for the planet's poorest people, one of the world's leading authorities on climate change has told the Guardian.Writing on environmentguardian.co.uk today, Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also dismisses suggestions that he is personally profiting from policies to tackle global warming.Climate sceptics gained media attention in the run up to the Copenhagen climate summit after alleging that hacked emails between senior climate scientists showed that an important temperature record was flawed " a charge rejected by governments and scientific bodies. See also: Climate change has no time for delay or denial	4th January 2010
Climate science in 2009 For climate science, the year 2009 brought significant discoveries and startling controversies. Kurt Kleiner reports.	4th January 2010
Planning for plan B Controlling the climate with technology was once the stuff of science fiction. But with tests already underway, there's an urgent need for global governance of geoengineering. Mason Inman reports. [It's interesting to compare the problems of global governance of geo-engineering with that of reducing emissions]	4th January 2010
Consumer Hell How do we break a system which now permeates every aspect of our lives?	4th January 2010
Greenhouse Gases: Who's Cheating? - BusinessWeek The amounts of carbon in the atmosphere are out of whack with predictions and reported output	4th January 2010
Sun, wind and wave-powered: Europe unites to build renewable energy 'supergrid' North Sea countries plan vast clean energy project 30bn scheme could offer weather-proof supply.It would connect turbines off the wind-lashed north coast of Scotland with Germany's vast arrays of solar panels, and join the power of waves crashing on to the Belgian and Danish coasts with the hydro-electric dams nestled in Norway's fjords: Europe's first electricity grid dedicated to renewable power will become a political reality this month, as nine countries formally draw up plans to link their clean energy projects around the North Sea.The network, made up of thousands of kilometres of highly efficient undersea cables that could cost up to 30bn (£26.5bn), would solve one of the biggest criticisms faced by renewable power " that unpredictable weather means it is unreliable.	4th January 2010
Geoffrey Lean is dead wrong, and here’s why by Ken Ward So where do we go from here? asks Geoffrey Lean. How do we get from the ... debacle of Copenhagen to a new and worthwhile climate treaty? The question reminds me of the old Bert & I tale about the Maine farmer who, when asked by a motorist for directions to Millinocket, answers, You cahn t get theyah from heea. Lean observes that Rarely have such high hopes [for Copenhagen] been dashed so swiftly, and says the summit was only saved from total disaster by unprecedented negotiations between the leaders themselves. I’m more inclined to see the unprecedented, last-minute, let’s-save-ourselves-from-complete-embarrassment negotiations as adding final insult to grievous injury, but be that as it may, what’s most interesting in Lean’s analysis are the “7 Steps” he outlines to get from debacle to a worthwhile treaty.	4th January 2010
2009 was our second warmest year ever - Adelaide Now AUSTRALIA'S second warmest year on record 'is consistent with global warming', report finds.	4th January 2010
Who Will Grow Your Food? Part I: The Coming Demographic Crisis in Agriculture This is the beginning of a multi-part series on agricultural education, the farming demographic crisis and the question of who will grow our food - what the problems are, how we will find new farmers, how they will be trained. To me, this is one of the most urgent questions of our time. read more	4th January 2010
Heat cuts Australian citrus crops - Fruitnet.com Unseasonal spring heat has had a drastic effect on Australia’s citrus crops, with exporters fearful of a large reduction in crop yields	4th January 2010
Manufacturing sector savages Darling claim that Labour supports green jobs EEF says 90% of £2bn earmarked for London Array wind farm is being spent abroad. The manufacturing sector has savaged suggestions from the chancellor, Alistair Darling, that Britain is benefiting from government support for a "green" jobs revolution, warning that the UK was instead in danger of "missing the boat".The industry body, the EEF, points out that over 90% of the 2bn earmarked for the world's biggest wind farm in UK waters " the London Array, off Kent " is being spent abroad and ministers must take some of the blame."In Germany you get government sitting down with business and saying, this is what the targets are for renewable energy and what do you need to provide the kind of necessary capacity," said the EEF's head of climate change and environment policy, Gareth Stace.	4th January 2010
Climate deal 'satisfies' Saudis The world's largest oil producer says it is satisfied by the outcome of UN climate talks, but warns of tensions ahead.	4th January 2010
Dude, Where's My Climate ? Some of you are probably thinking, what a crummy out-of-date cliched non-joke of a title ! , but I m hoping for some web hits on the basis that corny can be cute, sometimes. But what on Earth do I mean ? Well, just where is Climate Change in the Media ? It is the Number One story of all human time, so why does it still only occupy so few column inches and Tweets and Press Releases and web logs and TV programmes and printed communications, and why do the Westerner populations still think that money is still more important than an inhabitable Biosphere ?	4th January 2010
Scrap the carbon tariff Despite their political popularity, carbon tariffs will be next to impossible to implement effectively, and as such will do little to solve the climate problem.	4th January 2010
EU Carbon Permits Jump Most in Five Months as Oil, Gas Advance - Bloomberg Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon-dioxide permits jumped the most in five months as crude oil and natural-gas prices advanced, boosting demand for emission allowances.	4th January 2010
James Hansen vs. Cap-and-Trade NASA climate scientist James Hansen has a new book out about climate policy, with excerpts in this month's issue of The Nation. And in my view, he's got a pretty good policy idea: tax carbon, and use the revenue to give out rebates in equal, per capita shares to every U.S. citizen. It's a twofer"the carbon tax helps drive down emissions, and the rebate makes sure that it's fair to middle- and lower-income folks who d otherwise bear the brunt of the tax.If I were the globe's climate czar, Hansen's tax-and-dividend plan is one of the top 5 to 10 ideas I d give serious consideration.That's the good news. See also: James Hansen says goodbye to "scientific reticence" [The Island of Doubt] - ScienceBlogs	4th January 2010
Where the Action Is on Climate - New York Times Congress should fashion a national response to climate change after green initiatives made by states and cities.	4th January 2010
The comparative costs of climate change - The Christian Science Monitor How much will mitigating global warming or climate change cost the world? Here are some comparisons.	4th January 2010
Climate Problem Is Really A Justice Problem By Tom AthanasiouDespite its disappointments, the climate summit in Copenhagen marks a turning point- the end of denial. Whats next is recognizing that our climate problem is really a justice problem	2nd January 2010
Africa's apocalyptic mood | Cameron Duodu Religious fervour and the effects of climate change may combine with explosive effect over the coming months and yearsThe story is told of how two Ghanaian old ladies emerged from church one Sunday morning in June 1967. During the service, the minister had asked for prayers for the people of Israel, who were at war."Akosua", one lady turned to the other, "what are we going to do?""Do about what?" the other asked, perplexed."Didn't you hear the priest? Jerusalem is about to be destroyed!""Oh that ""Yes. You and I have been paying our church dues regularly.	2nd January 2010
James Hansen : More Right Than Wrong You know, back in 1988, James Hansen had some fairly basic FORTRAN computing code and an embarrassingly uncomplex model of the World Ocean, and yet he still came up with shockingly accurate projections of Global Warming. The data is in. The models were right (more or less).	2nd January 2010
California's renewable pipeline hits nearly 70 GW LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Renewable energy projects proposed in California total nearly 70 gigawatts, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Tuesday, a large pipeline that could help the state meet its renewable energy goals.	2nd January 2010
Quebec adopts California's auto emission standards TORONTO (Reuters) - Quebec will become the first province in Canada to adopt California's strict auto emissions standards, the province's environment ministry said on Tuesday.	2nd January 2010
CLIMATE CHANGE: Doors Opening for Carbon Tax BERLIN, Dec 30 (Tierramérica) - With the chance for a global climate change treaty on hold, a tax on greenhouse gases could be an effective alternative for discouraging the activities that create emissions, say economists and environmentalists.	2nd January 2010
Green technology to be harnessed by top firms and academics to overhaul UK infrastructure Sustainability scheme could create tens of thousands of jobs 'Retrofitting' homes could make Britain a pioneer in field. Some of Britain's leading firms are partnering top academic institutions to develop projects that will overhaul household energy, water, transport and waste provision to drastically cut carbon emissions.The groundbreaking partnership, led by Arup's global planning chief, Peter Head, involves 25 international companies including GE (the world's biggest company, according to Forbes). HSBC, French energy firm EDF, Thames Water, Marks Spencer and waste management firm Biffa are also behind the plan.Politicians and regulators are calling for a "green new deal" to help lift the economy out of recession.	2nd January 2010
What's Tipping & What's Toppling ? What's toppling already in the Earth System ?	2nd January 2010
Snow isn't erasing lingering drought - San Francisco Chronicle The recent dose of foul weather has raised the spirits of California's water lords, but measurements taken Wednesday in the Sierra Nevada show there is still not enough snow to ease drought conditions.	2nd January 2010
Roundup: Climate science in 2009 For climate science, the year 2009 brought significant discoveries and startling controversies. From Climate Feedback part of Guardian Environment NetworkWarming goes globalThe year started out with some sobering, if not altogether surprising, news: overall, the Antarctic continent is warming. Although some of the Antarctic Peninsula had previously shown rapid warming, parts of the continent " especially near the South Pole " seemed to be unaccountably cooling.In January, climatologist Eric Steig of the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues reported (Nature 457, 459"462; 2009) that warming was widespread across the continent. Using satellite measurements combined with historical weather station data to interpolate Antarctic temperatures over the last 50 years, they found that the average temperature in West Antarctica had increased 0.1 °C per year.	2nd January 2010
Hope, hopelessness and faith For those involved in issues of sustainability, peak oil, climate change, and relocalization it might be better to feel a certain hopelessness in our situation. For hope implies dependence on forces outside ourselves. Once we abandon that hope, we can get down to the tasks at hand, the tasks that need to be done--for which we need to ask no politician or government official permission--tasks that we can get started on today. In this way hopelessness concerning the current political and economic arrangements becomes an ally. read more	2nd January 2010
How Dare You Be Optimistic ! How dare you be pessimistic ?	2nd January 2010
Gore: Carbon Polluters Like Big Tobacco - CBS News CBS NewsGore: Carbon Polluters Like Big TobaccoCBS News... topic in the climate change debate. So, does the political will to save the planet from the potential harm from global warming still exist in the US? ...Matters to Contemplate: Is planet doomed by a 'Climate Crisis?' Scientists ...Reno Gazette JournalSUBJECT: CLIMATE CHANGE INTERVIEWER: HARRY SMITHFederal News Service (subscription)Gore: Polluters like big tobaccoThe Hill (blog)all 8	2nd January 2010

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