Another Week of GW News, September 7, 2008

Sipping from the internet firehose...

(skip to bottom)

Information overload is pattern recognition

September 7, 2008

• Top Stories:Pfeffer, Mann, Elsner, Geoengineering, Garnaut, Monsoon Floods
• Melting Arctic, Northwest Passage, Markham, Permafrost, Jasons, Late Comments
• Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, Food Production
• Hurricanes, Ike, Hanna, Gustav, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Aerosols
• Impacts, Forests, Corals, Wildfires, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Adaptation
• Journals, Misc. Science, Hansen
• Kyoto-2, Carbon Trade, GW & Security
• Politics: America, Britain, Europe, Australia, Canada
• Ecological Economics, Media, Books
• Energy, Subsidies, Solar, Coal, Biofuel, Nukes, Peak Oil, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Greenwashing
• Carbon Lobby, The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Live and direct from the laugh, it's funny, damnit department:

• 2008/09/07: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) More Enthusiasm
• 2008/09/01: uComics: (cartoon - Danziger) Get The Story!

  The Pfeffer paper on sea-level rise got twisted every which way:

• 2008/09/05: Science: (ab$) Kinematic Constraints on Glacier Contributions to 21st-Century Sea-Level Rise by W. T. Pfeffer et al.
• 2008/09/04: RealClimate: How much will sea level rise?
• 2008/09/06: Stoat: Sea level rise from IPCC '90
• 2008/09/06: BCLSB: Study: Sea Levels Will Rise More Than Predicted
• 2008/09/05: KSJT: Reuters, some Dailies: New estimate says 21st century sea level rise might be six feet, tops (that's less then some say)
• 2008/09/05: NewScientist: Sea level rise limited to two metres
• 2008/09/05: ClimateP: Stunning new sea level rise research, Part 1: "Most likely" 0.8 to 2.0 meters by 2100
• 2008/09/05: Stoat: Sea level rise? Pfeffer et al.
• 2008/09/05: TreeHugger: Sea Levels Still Will Rise Because of Global Warming: Just Not as Much as We Thought
• 2008/09/05: SciDaily: Global Sea-rise Levels By 2100 May Be Lower Than Some Predict, Says New Study
• 2008/09/05: Yahoo: Experts offer scaled-back sea level rise forecast
• 2008/09/05: CanWest: Study douses rising sea-level predictions
  Warnings that sea level could rise several metres by 2100 greatly exaggerate the threat, according to a new study that says it is more "plausible" to expect waters to rise about a metre this century. That's still daunting, but not nearly as high as some have suggested, says Tad Pfeffer, a glaciologist with the University of Colorado...
• 2008/09/04: BBC: Sea level rise by 2100 'below 2m' -- Sea levels globally are very unlikely to rise by more than 2m (7ft) this century, scientists conclude
• 2008/09/04: PhysOrg: Global sea-rise levels by 2100 my be lower than some predict, says new study
• 2008/09/04: Eureka: Global sea-rise levels by 2100 my be lower than some predict, says CU-Boulder study
  Despite projections by some scientists of global seas rising by 20 feet or more by the end of this century as a result of warming, a new University of Colorado at Boulder study concludes that global sea rise of much more than 6 feet is a near physical impossibility. Tad Pfeffer, a fellow of CU-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and his colleagues made calculations using conservative, medium and extreme glaciological assumptions for sea rise expected from Greenland, Antarctica and the world's smaller glaciers and ice caps -- the three primary contributors to sea rise. The team concluded the most plausible scenario, when factoring in thermal expansion due to warming waters, will lead to a total sea level rise of roughly 3 to 6 feet by 2100.

Mann et al. are back with a reprise of the hockey stick. Expect much fog & thunder, little light in reaction:

• 2008/09/02: PNAS: Proxy-based reconstructions of hemispheric and global surface temperature variations over the past two millennia by Michael E. Mann et al.
• 2008/09/04: ENN: New Study Confirms Accuracy of "Hockey Stick" Global Warming Graph
• 2008/09/03: KSJT: CSMonitor, Telegraph, BBC, Ariz. Star, etc: The climate hockey stick gets a stronger handle and a nice re-polish
• 2008/09/03: ClimateP: Sorry deniers, hockey stick gets longer, stronger: Earth hotter now than in past 2,000 years
• 2008/09/03: AFTIC: Real Climate on latest temperature reconstruction [Mann]
• 2008/09/02: AFTIC: Past decade is warmest in at least 1,300 years [Mann]
• 2008/09/04: TerraDaily: Global Warming Greatest In Past Decade
• 2008/09/03: MTobis: Texas Hockey Sticks
• 2008/09/03: RealClimate: Progess in reconstructing climate in recent millennia [Mann]
• 2008/09/02: DeSmogBlog: Hockey Stick Rises Again
• 2008/09/01: CSM: A gnarlier 'hockey stick,' the same message
• 2008/09/02: NatureCF: Jolly hockey sticks
• 2008/09/01: MongaBay: Past decade is warmest in at least 1,300 years
• 2008/09/02: TreeHugger: More Proof of the Effects of Global Warming? Past 10 Years Were Hotter Than Previous 1,300 in Northern Hempshere
• 2008/09/02: PhysOrg: Global warming greatest in past decade
  Researchers confirm that surface temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere were warmer over the last 10 years than any time during the last 1300 years, and, if the climate scientists include the somewhat controversial data derived from tree-ring records, the warming is anomalous for at least 1700 years
• 2008/09/02: ENN: Global warming greatest in past decade
• 2008/09/02: SciDaily: Global Warming Greatest In Past Decade
• 2008/09/02: OilChange: The hockey stick is "alive and well"
• 2008/09/01: BBC: Climate 'hockey stick' is revived
  A new study by climate scientists behind the controversial 1998 "hockey stick" graph suggests their earlier analysis was broadly correct. Michael Mann's team analysed data for the last 2,000 years, and concluded that Northern Hemisphere temperatures now are "anomalously warm". Different analytical methods give the same result, they report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The 1998 hockey stick was a totem of debates over man-made global warming. The graph - indicating that Northern Hemisphere temperatures had been roughly constant for 1,000 years (the "shaft" of the stick) before turning abruptly upwards in the industrial age - featured prominently in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) 2001 assessment

A paper by Elsner et al. links higher sea surface temperatures and cyclone intensities:

• 2008/09/05: CCurrents: Warming Oceans 'Are The Engine Driving Stronger Hurricanes'
• 2008/09/05: C411: Are Hurricanes Connected to Global Warming?
• 2008/09/05: TP:WonkRoom: Top Hurricane Scientist [Kerry Emanuel]: "Katrina Would Not Have Been As Intense In 1980"
• 2008/09/04: KSJT: Wires, Wall St. Journal, USA Today, more: Heard this before? Top-end Atlantic hurricanes are topping up on extra heat
• 2008/09/03: ClimateP: Nature: Hurricanes ARE getting fiercer -- and it's going to get much worse
• 2008/09/04: NewScientist: Strongest tropical cyclones get more extreme
• 2008/09/04: TreeHugger: Warming Seas Make Strongest Storms Stronger, Scientists Confirm
• 2008/09/04: SciDaily: Global Warming: Warmer Seas Linked To Strengthening Hurricanes, According to New Research
• 2008/09/03: USAToday: World's strongest hurricanes could be getting stronger
• 2008/09/04: OilChange: Warming Oceans are "Engine Drivers" of Stronger Hurricanes
• 2008/09/03: PhysOrg: Warmer seas linked to strengthening hurricanes
  The theory that global warming may be contributing to stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic over the past 30 years is bolstered by a new study led by a Florida State University researcher. The study will be published in the Sept. 4 edition of the journal Nature.
• 2008/09/03: Eureka: Warmer seas linked to strengthening hurricanes: FSU study fuels global warming debate
• 2008/09/03: BBC: Warming boosts strongest storms
  The strongest tropical storms are becoming even stronger as the world's oceans warm, scientists have confirmed. Analysis of satellite data shows that in the last 25 years, strong cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons have become more frequent in most of the tropics. Writing in the journal Nature, they say the number of weaker storms has not noticeably altered.
• 2008/09/03: CBC: Most intense cyclones are becoming stronger as seas warm: study
• 2008/08/31: ClimateP: Why global warming means killer storms worse than Katrina and Gustav, Part 1

  Triggered by a suite of Royal Society articles, geoengineering has received a lot of attention this week:

• 2008/09/01: RoyalSociety: (links to several ab$) Geoscale engineering to avert dangerous climate change
• 2008/08/29: RoyalSociety: Global and Arctic climate engineering: numerical model studies by Ken Caldeira & Lowell Wood
• 2008/09/05: NatureCF: Geoengineering: preparing for the worst
• 2008/09/05: Guardian(UK): Necessity's inventions -- Can the new science of geoengineering save the planet?
• 2008/09/04: Economist: The world in a test tube -- From plug-ins to planktonic algae, technology is part of the solution to climate change. But which technology?
• 2008/09/04: Guardian(UK): Geo-engineers, too, have a vital role in saving the planet
  Cleaner fuel will not halt climate catastrophe. We need to find pioneering solutions that alter the earth's thermal balance
• 2008/09/02: SeattlePI: Can engineering the Earth save it from catastrophe?
• 2008/09/01: Independent(UK): Can engineering the earth save it from catastrophe?
• 2008/09/02: Edie: Fake clouds among drastic climate change solutions
  Clouds could be artificially created over the earth's oceans to block the sun's rays and protect the earth from the increasing threat of climate change
• 2008/09/01: E2Tech: Controversial Globe-Changing Measures Could Be the Only Answer to Climate Change
• 2008/09/02: PeakEnergy: The Methane Trigger For Geoengineering
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Geoengineering: The radical ideas to combat global warming
  Artificial clouds and creating colossal blooms of oceanic algae are among the ideas scientists say must now be considered
• 2008/08/31: Telegraph(UK): Rapid climate change needs a global solution, says scientist
  Global warming is happening faster than expected and planet-wide engineering projects may be needed to buy humans more time, a leading scientist has warned. James Lovelock of Oxford University says schemes to reflect sunlight from the atmosphere or increase the uptake of the greenhouse gas CO2 by the oceans should be considered to hold back disastrous climate change. But the scientist also warned that such projects may do more harm than good and argues the best option could be to let nature take its course.
• 2008/09/01: TreeHugger: Quote of the Day: James Lovelock on Geoengineering & The "Practice of Planetary Medicine"
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Geoengineering is no solution to climate change
  Tinkering with our entire planetary system is not a silver bullet. It's an expression of political despair, writes Greenpeace's Doug Parr
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Medicine for a feverish planet: kill or cure?
  Planetary scale engineering might be able to combat global warming, but, as with nineteenth century medicine, the best option may simply be kind words and letting Nature take its course, says James Lovelock
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Radical ideas to save the planet
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Extreme and risky action the only way to tackle global warming, say scientists
  Geo-engineering 'better than doing nothing' - Fake clouds among ideas in Royal Society papers

In Australia, Ross Garnaut delivered another report (see also below):

• 2008/09/05: BBerg: [Garnaut] Australia Should Cut Carbon Emissions 10% by 2020
• 2008/09/05: ABC(Au): Garnaut wants 10pc emissions cut by 2020
• 2008/09/05: ABC(Au): Analysis: Ross Garnaut's climate change blueprint
• 2008/09/05: SMH: Garnaut wants 10% emissions cut by 2020
  The federal government's top climate adviser recommends Australia cut its emissions by 10 per cent by 2020, a target slammed by conservationists as "laughable". In a major report released on Friday, economist Ross Garnaut says Australia is a special case and should do less to reduce its emissions than every other developed country
• 2008/09/02: PhysOrg: Climate change target may lead to 'dangerously misguided' policies
  The pledge from G8 countries to cut global emissions by 50 per cent by 2050, in an effort to cut global warming to 2ºC, could lead to 'dangerously misguided' climate change adaptation policies, according to new research from The University of Manchester. Stabilising greenhouse gas emissions at a level that will avoid dangerous climate change is no longer viable without an immediate reframing of current climate policy, according to scientists at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Manchester. In a paper published in a special geo-engineering edition of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, which is published online today, Prof Kevin Anderson and Dr Alice Bows say that by focusing on long-term emission targets, such as 50% by 2050, climate policy has essentially ignored the crucial importance of current emission trends and their impact on cumulative emissions. They say that as a consequence, although countries should aim to reduce global emissions in line with a 2ºC target, adaptation policy must focus on climate change impacts associated with 4ºC or more.

The monsoon floods in India & Nepal are grim:

• 2008/09/04: CCurrents: Kosi Flooding: It Has Happened, It Is Happening And It Will Happen Again
• 2008/09/04: CCurrents: Millions Affected By Flooding In India And Nepal
• 2008/09/04: WSWS: Millions affected by flooding in India and Nepal
• 2008/09/05: UN: UNICEF concerned at 'grim' situation in north-east India following floods
• 2008/09/05: CSM: Flooding in India: Why wasn't the government ready? Three million people have been displaced. Critics call for more help from the Indian Army.
• 2008/09/05: DailyIndia: Authorities fear outbreak of communicable diseases in flood-hit areas of Nepal
• 2008/09/05: BBC: 'Surrounded by water and grief'
  Flood-affected in Supaul Rajan Khosla, a 33-year-old programme officer with the Christian Aid charity in Delhi, travelled to Supaul, one of the worst affected districts in Bihar state where severe flooding has displaced half a million people. He told the BBC News website that at every step he encountered grief
• 2008/09/03: TerraDaily: Flood-hit Indian state appeals for more help
• 2008/09/02: TerraDaily: Mass exodus from Indian 'river of sorrow' [Kosi]
• 2008/09/03: ENN: India's flood victims on the move
• 2008/09/02: CCurrents: Even In Flood, India's `Untouchables' Last Rescued
• 2008/09/03: BBC: Efforts to rescue flood victims have entered a "final and crucial" stage in the northern Indian state of Bihar, the senior official in charge has said.
• 2008/09/02: UN: At least 3 million affected by deadly floods in India and Nepal, UN reports
• 2008/09/02: ExpressIndia: 'Bihar floods, Gustav reminders of climate change'
• 2008/09/02: NewScientist: India's monsoon floods drive out humans and rhinos
• 2008/09/02: TerraDaily: Disease fears for flood-devastated India, Nepal
• 2008/09/02: NYT: Half a Million Are Stranded by India Flood
• 2008/09/02: BBC: India flood stranded still wait
  Up to half a million people are still stranded by flood waters in the Indian state of Bihar, aid workers say. Monsoon rains caused the river Kosi to change course, severely affecting areas in Bihar not normally prone to floods
• 2008/09/02: BBC: India's belated flood relief operation
• 2008/09/02: SMH: Disease threat looms over Indian flooding
• 2008/09/01: DailyIndia: Army intensifies rescue work in flood-affected areas of Bihar
• 2008/08/31: BBC: Indian floods cut off thousands -- Half a million people in the Indian state of Bihar remain stranded in villages which have been devastated by massive flooding, officials say
• 2008/08/31: BBC: Uncertainty in India flood camp
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Heavy rain stalls Indian flood relief - Up to 3m people affected and 2,000 dead in Bihar - Battle to rescue 700,000 marooned villagers

  The Arctic melt continues to get a lot of attention:

• 2008/09/07: NYT: Arctic Ice Hints at Warming, Specialists Say
• 2008/09/07: DotEarth: Warming Waters Driving Arctic Ice Retreat
• 2008/09/04: CSM: Shrinking Arctic Ocean sea ice signals climate change -- Global warming may have accelerated the irreversible loss of ice shelves that are thousands of years old, say scientists.
• 2008/09/04: NatureTGB: Ice, ice baby... [Arctic]
• 2008/09/04: ABC(Au): Arctic melt heralds more cyclones and floods: expert
• 2008/09/04: PlanetArk: Arctic Melting Shows Global Warming Serious - Expert
• 2008/09/04: DeSmogBlog: Scientist: Arctic Melt Indicates Warming is "Not Stoppable"
• 2008/09/04: STimes: As goes the Arctic, so may well go the planet -- The Arctic is on the front lines of global climate change
• 2008/09/03: AFTIC: The other Arctic sea ice loss
• 2008/09/02: DeSmogBlog: Arctic Melt Now Second Worst
• 2008/09/02: ChronicleHerald: Arctic icemelt a rising danger -- Disintegrating Greenland glaciers an accelerating coastal threat
• 2008/09/01: Tamino: More Less Ice [Arctic]
• 2008/09/01: PeakEnergy: Arctic Death Spiral

  The northern Northwest Passage is open:

• 2008/09/04: NatPo: Northwest Passage northern route opens
  The Canadian Ice Service has declared as navigable the northerly, deep-water route of the Northwest Passage. It's just the second time in recorded history -- and the second year in a row -- that the Parry Channel corridor has opened enough to let regular ships safely through Canada's Arctic archipelago. The Ottawa-based ice service announced last month that the southerly passage closer to the Canadian mainland was once again safe for trans-Arctic shipping. But the reopening of the northern route -- a direct path between Lancaster Sound in the east and McClure Strait in the west -- is an even more significant sign that Canada's polar region is undergoing a historic transformation and could soon boast a reliable, Atlantic-to-Pacific summer shipping lane for research expeditions, oil companies and tourist cruises.
• 2008/09/06: DotEarth: Experts Confirm Open Water Circling Arctic
• 2008/09/03: DotEarth: Open Water Circling North Pole? Not Quite
• 2008/09/02: ClimateP: North Pole an 'island' for first time in 125,000 years
• 2008/09/02: WSJ:EnvCap: Arctic Island: More Evidence of Melting, Scientists Say

  The Markham ice shelf is gone:

• 2008/09/03: CNN: 4,500-year-old ice shelf breaks away
  4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf in Canada separated in early August - Nineteen-square-mile shelf is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean - Summer's ice shelf loss equivalent to three times the area of Manhattan - Ecosystems that depend on ice shelves are on brink of extinction, scientists say
• 2008/09/03: NewScientist: Massive Canadian Arctic ice shelf breaks away
• 2008/09/03: PhysOrg: Canada's Arctic ice shelves break apart, drift away
• 2008/09/03: TreeHugger: "Massive and Disturbing" Ice Shelf Changes on Ellesmere Island: 83 Square Miles Lost This Summer
• 2008/09/03: Yahoo: Massive Canada Arctic ice shelf breaks away
• 2008/09/03: CCurrents: Major Ice-Shelf Loss In Artic
• 2008/09/03: BBC: Major ice-shelf loss for Canada
  The ice shelves in Canada's High Arctic have lost a colossal area this year, scientists report. The floating tongues of ice attached to Ellesmere Island, which have lasted for thousands of years, have seen almost a quarter of their cover break away. One of them, the 50 sq km (20 sq miles) Markham shelf, has completely broken off to become floating sea-ice.
• 2008/09/02: CBC: Ice shelves suffered major melting over summer
  Canada's ice shelves suffered massive erosion over the summer, losing almost one-quarter of their area, researchers have found. The ice shelves on the north coast of Ellesmere lost 214 square kilometres over the summer, or an area three times larger than Manhattan Island, said a group of researchers from Ontario, Quebec and the United States on Tuesday. The entire Markham ice shelf broke away in early August and is now adrift in the Artic Ocean, carving away 50 square kilometres. Two large sections of the Serson ice shelf also broke off, shrinking it by 122 square kilometres or about 60 per cent. The Ward Hunt ice shelf lost 22 square kilometres

Not much on the geopolitics this week:

• 2008/09/03: Eureka: Unexplored Arctic region [seafloor] to be mapped

  The Damoclean sword etched 'thawing permafrost' is still overhead:

• 2008/09/07: SciDaily: Bad Sign For Global Warming: Thawing Permafrost Holds Vast Carbon Pool
• 2008/09/03: PhysOrg: Bad sign for global warming: Thawing permafrost holds vast carbon pool
• 2008/09/03: Eureka: Bad sign for global warming: Thawing permafrost holds vast carbon pool
  Permafrost blanketing the northern hemisphere contains more than twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, making it a potentially mammoth contributor to global climate change depending on how quickly it thaws.
• 2008/09/01: MongaBay: Melting permafrost will be major driver of global warming
• 2008/09/02: SciDaily: Thawing Permafrost Likely To Boost Global Warming, New Assessment Concludes
• 2008/09/01: PhysOrg: Thawing permafrost likely to boost global warming
  The thawing of permafrost in northern latitudes, which greatly increases microbial decomposition of carbon compounds in soil, will dominate other effects of warming in the region and could become a major force promoting the release of carbon dioxide and thus further warming, according to a new assessment in the September 2008 issue of BioScience. The study, by Edward A. G. Schuur of the University of Florida and an international team of coauthors, more than doubles previous estimates of the amount of carbon stored in the permafrost: the new figure is equivalent to twice the total amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
• 2008/09/01: Eureka: Thawing permafrost likely to boost global warming -- Greenhouse gas emissions from previously frozen organic carbon in soil are seen as larger than previously believed

  A note on rapid climate change:

• 2008/09/02: SciDaily: Earth Has Had Sharp Climatic Shifts In Past: Is Earth Nearing Another Tipping Point?

  A curious 'what-might-have-been' from the Jasons:

• 2008/09/07: Times(UK): Jason and the secret climate change war
  A shadowy scientific elite codenamed Jason warned the US about global warming 30 years ago but was sidelined for political convenience
• 2008/09/07: Deltoid: The secret climate change war

  Late comment on Accra:

• 2008/09/02: C411: Ghana Talks: Reflections from Our International Policy Director

  The food crisis remains a top story:

• 2008/09/06: Google:AP: Price increases push US soy beyond reach of poor
• 2008/09/04: BBC: UK food prices rise 8.3% in 2008
• 2008/09/03: SciAlert: Tackling the global food challenge
  World food security, as Australian consumers and others are fast discovering, is at its lowest in half a century. The precipitous fall in world food stocks in the past seven years is forewarning of what we can expect in the next few decades as civilisation runs low on water, arable land, nutrients and technology, as marine catches collapse, as biofuels grow and energy costs rise, and as droughts intensify under climate change. The chart of grain stocks reveals that, year on year, humanity now consumes more food than it produces.
• 2008/09/03: UN: Ethiopia's food crisis tops agenda on final day of UN humanitarian chief's visit
• 2008/08/31: CCurrents: Global Famine - Is It A Conspiracy?
• 2008/09/02: AEL: 14.5 million people need food assistance in Horn of Africa

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2008/09/05: WSJ:EnvCap: Bad Juice III: Biofuels Really Are Bad for Food Prices
• 2008/09/03: GristMill: Ten strikes and still not out -- Biofuels: not cost-effective or lucrative for climate change or business

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

• 2008/09/07: Guardian(UK): Meat by numbers
• 2008/09/05: GristMill: Slow Food Nation Interview: Raj Patel -- 'Stuffed and Starved' author on the myth of consumer choice
• 2008/09/05: WorldChanging: Wrapping Our Heads Around the Global Food System
• 2008/09/04: Eureka: Researcher says: No-till practices show extended benefits on wheat and forage
• Giannini Foundation Symposium: Causes and Consequences of the Food Price Crisis -- October 10
• 2008/09/03: GristMill: Critiquing the food declaration -- The 12 (annotated) principles for a healthy food and agriculture system
• 2008/09/03: GristMill: Slow Food Nation: The plus-side of high gas prices -- One farmer says 'peak oil' prompted energy-saving steps
• 2008/09/03: C411: The Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture

  Again we have cyclones up the yin-yang with Gustav, Hanna, Ike, Josephine, Karina & Lowell blowing around.
  Beginning with Ike:

• 2008/09/07: CNN: Florida Keys residents told to flee as Ike cuts across Caribbean
  Reporter in Grand Turk says worst has passed, but damage "pretty huge" - Ike could compound flooding danger in Caribbean after Fay, Gustav, Hanna - Ike hits Turks and Caicos islands as Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 135 mph - Florida tourist evacuations began Saturday; residents to evacuate Sunday
• 2008/09/07: PhysOrg: Hurricane Ike ravages Caribbean islands as Hanna hits US
• 2008/09/06: Wunderground: Ike intensifies to Category 4 strength
• 2008/09/06: Wunderground: New model runs push Ike further into the Gulf of Mexico
• 2008/09/07: AFP: Hurricane Ike ravages Caribbean islands as Hanna hits US
• 2008/09/07: CBC: Category 4 Hurricane Ike hits Turks and Caicos
• 2008/09/07: AP: Ike blasts Turks and Caicos as Category 4 storm
• 2008/09/07: Yahoo: Ike damages 80 pct of homes on Grand Turk
• 2008/09/07: BBC: Hurricane Ike threatens islands
  Emergency measures are being taken in the Caribbean as Hurricane Ike sweeps in, just days after Tropical Storm Hanna passed through the region. Ike has regained strength after weakening, with winds of up to 135mph (215km/h) as it nears the Turks and Caicos islands and the Bahamas. Cuba has issued a hurricane watch for its eastern provinces.
• 2008/09/06: Guardian(UK): Caribbean braced for fresh hurricane
  After devastation caused by Hanna, Gustav and Fay, Caribbean islands prepare for Ike
• 2008/09/06: CNN: Ike looms as Haiti counts the dead from 3 storms
  U.N. peacekeepers, aid groups still struggling to get to thousands of hungry Haitians - 163 died in Hanna; 96 in Fay and Gustav, and Hurricane Ike is on the way - Fears arise that more rain will stop aid, recovery of bodies and kill more - Haiti is the Western Hemisphere's poorest country
• 2008/09/06: CNN: Hurricane Ike sends folks packing
  No flights into Key West after Sunday night; airport will reopen after storm - Tourists flee Turks and Caicos, Florida Keys as storm approaches - Hurricane heading toward Cuba and then possibly on to U.S. Gulf Coast - Florida governor declares emergency in anticipation of storm
• 2008/09/06: Wunderground: Keys ordered to evacuate for Ike; likely track shifts south
• 2008/09/06: Wunderground: Ike headed into the Bahamas, and is a major threat to Haiti, Cuba, and the Keys
• 2008/09/06: Reuters: Powerful Hurricane Ike threatens Cuba, Gulf [Cat3]
• 2008/09/03: TerraDaily: Ike strengthens to hurricane status
• 2008/09/03: CNN: Ike ignites into powerful Category 3 hurricane
  Ike goes from 80 mph winds to 115 mph winds in a few hours - Hanna to pound Bahamas, could regain hurricane strength - Hanna expected to make U.S. landfall by Friday or Saturday - Hanna blamed for 16 deaths in Haiti

Hanna dawdled around the Atlantic, then came up the coast:

• 2008/09/06: CNN: Hanna speeding up Atlantic coast
  Tropical storm 55 miles north-northwest of Norfolk, Virginia, at 2 p.m. - Hanna causing airport delays of up to four hours in New York - Little damage reported from storm in U.S. after at least 137 deaths in Haiti - 4 to 6 inches of rain expected all along Atlantic Coast
• 2008/09/06: CBC: Hanna forecast to drench Maritimes on Sunday -- Storm's death toll in Haiti nears 500: reports
• 2008/09/06: AFP: Tropical Storm Hanna death toll in Haiti exceeds 500: UN
• 2008/09/05: AP: Speedy Tropical Storm Hanna charges for Carolinas
• 2008/09/05: CNN: Hanna closes in on Carolina coast
  Hanna's sustained winds near 70 mph, hurricane center says - Tropical Storm Hanna expected to hit North Carolina or South Carolina on Saturday - After landfall, storm expected to quickly move northeast - Hurricane Ike could reach south Florida by Tuesday
• 2008/09/06: McClatchyDC: Flooding is now Hanna's biggest threat
• 2008/09/06: BBC: 'Hundreds' killed by Haiti storm
  Almost 500 bodies have been found in the port city of Gonaives after floodwaters caused by recent storms receded, according to reports
• 2008/09/06: Guardian(UK): Thousands stranded as floods cut off aid in Haiti
• 2008/09/04: TerraDaily: Deadly Hanna churns over Bahamas, heads to US
• 2008/09/05: Wunderground: Hanna closes in on South Carolina; Ike weaker, but a major threat to the Florida Keys
• 2008/09/05: CBC: U.S. southeast coast braces for Hanna
• 2008/09/05: AFP: US east coast braces for deadly Hanna, Hurricane Ike nears
• 2008/09/04: CNN: Hanna closes in on U.S. as Ike becomes major hurricane
  North Carolina governor declares state of emergency - South Carolina governor urges voluntary evacuation of two counties - Hurricane watch in effect for parts of Carolinas; Hanna landfall expected Friday - Ike weakens slightly but still an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 hurricane
• 2008/09/04: Wunderground: Little change to Hanna; Cat 4 Ike slowly weakening
• 2008/09/04: CBC: Hanna bears down on Bahamas -- Haiti hit hardest by storm
• 2008/09/04: CBC: Hanna on track for Maritimes -- Deadly tropical storm is expected to weaken as it moves north
• 2008/09/04: AFP: Hanna leaves 61 dead in Haiti as more storms brew in Atlantic
• 2008/09/02: TerraDaily: Hanna floods Haitain city where 3,000 died four years ago
• 2008/09/03: TerraDaily: Haiti blasted by third deadly tropical storm in 3 weeks
• 2008/09/02: Wunderground: Hanna holding its own against shear; Ike and Josephine continue to strengthen
• 2008/09/03: Wunderground: Hanna still wandering; Ike nearing hurricane strength
• 2008/09/03: Wunderground: Hanna intensifying and on the move; Ike a hurricane
• 2008/09/02: CBC: Tropical Storm Hanna's impact on Haiti 'bad as it can be': UN official
• 2008/09/03: CBC: Florida declares state of emergency as Hanna approaches
• 2008/09/02: BBC: Deadly Hanna batters Haitian city
  A new tropical storm, Hanna, has hit the Caribbean just hours after Hurricane Gustav crossed the coast of the US state of Louisiana. Police say the storm has killed 10 people in the town of Gonaives, much of which is under water. There is also widespread flooding in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Hanna reached hurricane strength on Monday before weakening on Tuesday
• 2008/09/02: BBC: Eyewitness: Haiti's storm ordeals
  Haiti has been battered by a second tropical storm, less than a week after Hurricane Gustav killed more than 70 people there. Hurricane Hanna caused widespread flooding overnight on Monday in northern parts of Haiti, where police say at least 10 people were killed in the town of Gonaives
• 2008/09/02: CNN: Trio of storms stirs up Atlantic
  Florida governor issues state of emergency for Hanna - Ike, Josephine in line behind Hanna in Atlantic - Ten Haitians reported killed by Hanna, AP says - At least one death in Puerto Rico attributed to Hanna, AP reports
• 2008/09/02: CBC: Hanna downgraded to tropical storm -- System could hit the U.S. by Friday

  We were lucky Gustav diminished as it reached shore:

• 2008/09/04: EnvFin: Hurricane Gustav losses could reach $10 billion
• 2008/09/05: CCurrents: Gustav Impact On Louisiana And Haiti
• 2008/09/05: ESA: Hurricane Gustav -- a sequence of satellite images acquired by Envisat's MERIS instrument
• 2008/09/05: Reuters: LOOP [Louisiana Offshore Oil Port] restarts offshore operations after Gustav
• 2008/09/03: Nature: As Gustav subsides, new study says strongest cyclones will pick up speed
• 2008/09/03: NOAANews: NOAA Assists with Post Hurricane Gustav Recovery
• 2008/09/03: GristMill: Warning signs from Hurricane Gustav -- How did so much water get into a New Orleans canal?
• 2008/09/02: KSJT: AP: When the hurricane looked like a whopper...
• 2008/09/02: NewScientist: Why Gustav was no Katrina
• 2008/09/01: CSW: New Orleans Mayor Nagin: Trailers could become "projectiles" -- known BEFORE deployment
• 2008/09/01: TerraDaily: Cuba weighs huge Gustav damage, Castro hails evacuations
  Hurricane Gustav damaged 100,000 homes and devastated schools, power supplies and tobacco crops in western Cuba, officials said Monday, as Fidel Castro hailed preparations that prevented any deaths
• 2008/09/02: TerraDaily: US monitors new storms after Gustav hits southern coast
• 2008/09/02: TerraDaily: Gustav leaves more than 100 dead in Caribbean, US: officials
• 2008/09/02: TerraDaily: Gustav downgraded to a tropical depression: hurricane center
• 2008/09/02: OilDrum: Gustav and the Louisana Offshore Oil Port -- What do we need to know?
• 2008/09/02: BBC: Gustav's 'pure terror' for Cubans
• 2008/09/02: AFP: New Orleans regroups after dodging Gustav bullet
• 2008/09/01: AP: Gustav only sideswipes New Orleans
• 2008/09/02: Guardian(UK): Gustav does its worst, but New Orleans survives
• 2008/09/01: NatureN: Hurricane Gustav barrels ashore - Category-two storm hits the US Gulf Coast
• 2008/09/01: NewScientist: Millions flee as Hurricane Gustav closes on Louisiana
• 2008/09/01: TerraDaily: Hurricane Gustav begins lashing US coast
• 2008/09/01: Wunderground: Gustav storms ashore southwest of New Orleans
• 2008/09/01: Wunderground: Gustav plows inland; Hanna now a hurricane; Ike and Josephine are on the way
• 2008/09/01: OilDrum: Hurricane Gustav, Landfall, Energy Infrastructure and Updated Damage Models -- Thread #5
• 2008/09/01: BBC: Hurricane Gustav batters US coast
  Hurricane Gustav has made landfall south-west of New Orleans, battering the US Gulf coast with torrential rain
• 2008/09/01: CBC: The worst of Gustav misses New Orleans
• 2008/09/01: AFP: New Orleans under flood threat as Gustav tears into US coast
• 2008/09/01: CTV: Gustav slams into shore as Category 2 hurricane
• 2008/09/01: G&M: Energy markets prepare to face Gustav's wrath
  North American energy markets are on tenterhooks in anticipation of the impact of hurricane Gustav on production and refining facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. [...] The New York Mercantile Exchange opened for trading yesterday, giving traders the opportunity to hedge their positions ahead of Gustav. U.S. crude oil futures were up $1.24 at $116.70 a barrel last night, after trading as high as $118.60 after the electronic market was opened.
• 2008/09/01: TStar: Hurricane Gustav a boon for John McCain -- Bush decision to stay away to focus on storm lets senator distance himself from unpopular president
• 2008/09/01: G&M: Storm leaves Republicans with a bare-bones summit
• 2008/09/01: AP: Gustav slams Louisiana coastline west of New Orleans
• 2008/09/01: ETS: Hurricane Gustav Could Send Stocks, Futures on a Wild Ride When U.S. Markets Reopen Tuesday
• 2008/09/01: BBC: Gustav changes Republican plans
• 2008/09/01: SMH: New Orleans waits for storm of the century
• 2008/09/01: SMH: Gustav taunts tragic coast
• 2008/09/01: SMH: Gustav belts US oil and gas
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Hurricane Gustav: New Orleans empties for next storm of the century -- The scars from Katrina are still fresh as the city prepares for the latest onslaught
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): New Orleans battens down for Gustav with curfew and mass evacuation
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Hurricane Gustav: Fuzzy science confounds predictions
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Republican convention thrown into chaos by hurricane Gustav
• 2008/09/03: CBC: New Orleans prepares for hurricane evacuees' return

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

• 2008/09/07: Guardian(UK): Blown off course by Gustav
  It's time to ask why the public's scepticism about climate change is growing, not fading
• 2008/09/07: Guardian(UK): Hurricanes like Gustav and Hanna seem only to matter if they hit America
• 2008/09/05: UN: UN rushing aid to Caribbean nations hit hard by severe weather
• 2008/09/04: TerraDaily: Storms line up to slam western Atlantic, southeastern US
• 2008/09/05: BBC: Flooded Haitians 'in dire need' -- Several hundred thousand people need help in Haiti, which is suffering severe flooding after being hit by a series of tropical storms, the UN says
• 2008/09/05: Guardian(UK): Storm-hit Haitians starve on rooftops
  No food or drinking water as tempests batter nation -- Desolation in Cuba is like Hiroshima, says Castro
• 2008/09/04: BBC: Haiti facing storm 'catastrophe'
  Haiti faces a "catastrophe" after being hit by a series of storms in recent weeks, President Rene Preval has said. Three storms in less than 21 days have killed 170 people and forced thousands to flee their homes in the Caribbean nation, officials say. The latest, Tropical Storm Hanna, has killed 61, caused floods several metres deep and stranded people on rooftops.
• 2008/09/03: NatureN: Q&A - The levee watcher
  Geologist David Rogers lambasted decision-makers after hurricane Katrina breached New Orleans' defences in 2005. As this year's hurricane season heats up, how much has changed?
• 2008/09/03: NatureN: Hurricanes are getting fiercer -- Global warming blamed for growth in storm intensity
• 2008/09/03: KSJT: AP, Mail, etc: Tropical cyclones, depressions, etc lining up from Africa to the New World
• 2008/09/03: Eureka: Hurricane Katrina increased mental and physical health problems in New Orleans by up to 3 times
• 2008/09/02: FPB: Tracking hurricanes in Google Earth
• 2008/09/02: AP: Tropical quartet: 4 storms with more to come
  The tropics seem to be going crazy what with the remnants of Gustav, the new threat from Hanna, a strengthening Ike and newcomer Josephine. Get used to it. Hurricane experts say all the weather ingredients, which normally fluctuate, are set on boil for the formation of storms. And it's going to stay that way for a while, they said.
• 2008/09/02: DotEarth: New Orleans: Still Inevitable, and Impossible?
• 2008/09/02: CSW: Hurricanes and climate change: From the IPCC and recent US Climate Change Science Program reports
• 2008/09/02: Wunderground: Hanna weakens; Louisiana recovers from Gustav; Ike and Josephine strengthen
• 2008/09/02: ENN: Forecaster [Bill Gray] expects four September hurricanes
• 2008/09/02: Eureka: How media covered Katrina aftermath affects response by blacks and whites
• 2008/09/01: ClimateP: Why future Katrinas and Gustavs will be MUCH worse, Part 2
• 2008/09/01: PhysOrg: Hurricane Hanna Not Moving Much Near North of the Caicos Islands
• 2008/09/01: BCLSB: Will Hurricanes Bookend Republican Convention?

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2008/09/06: ABC(Au): Scientists warn Pyrenees will melt by 2050
• 2008/09/06: SciDaily: Glaciers In The Pyrenees Will Disappear In Less Than 50 Years, Study Finds
• 2008/09/05: Yahoo: Pyrenees glaciers will melt by 2050: Spanish study
• 2008/09/05: PhysOrg: Pyrenees glaciers will melt by 2050: Spanish study
• 2008/09/01: TerraDaily: Climate change threatens massive glacier disappearance
• 2008/09/01: CanWest: Surging B.C. glacier threatens to block river
  A mammoth-sized glacier is dangerously on the move in remote northwestern B.C., threatening to seal off the Alsek River and create a lake that would ultimately burst and pose a flood hazard to rafters and anyone else downstream. Glaciers are supposed to be receding in this era of global warming. But a buildup of water beneath the Tweedsmuir Glacier is causing it to surge ahead at a rate of several metres a day. It is now midway across the Alsek River. "There is a reasonable chance this glacier will seal off the route of the Alsek," Garry Clarke, a professor of glaciology at the University of B.C., confirmed in an interview. "The end result has got to be a big flood. It would render the whole river downstream quite dangerous."
• 2008/09/01: PhysOrg: World's glaciers facing huge threat: UN
• 2008/09/01: SwissInfo: Glaciers in poor regions need closer watch
  Not enough attention is being paid to glacier melt in developing countries, which could eventually put at risk water supplies for hundreds of millions of people
• 2008/09/01: AFP: World's glaciers facing huge threat: UN
• 2008/09/01: Yahoo: World's glaciers facing huge threat: UN

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2008/08/31: ScienceCodex: Ice Age lesson predicts a faster rise in sea level
• 2008/09/04: ABC(Au): Global warming forces Dutch to strengthen dykes
  The Netherlands will be forced to spend about $170 billion to extend and strengthen its dykes to protect the country from rising sea levels.
• 2008/09/04: Guardian(UK): Losing the ground beneath their feet
  Climate change means that millions of people now face the risk of catastrophic flooding, but few more so than the char-dwellers of Bangladesh, clinging to tiny impermanent islands of sand in the Jamuna river.
• 2008/09/03: Yahoo: Dutch government warned against rising sea levels
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Global warming: Sea level rises may accelerate due to melting ice sheet
  By the end of the century sea levels may be rising three times as fast as they are at present, as a result of rapid melting of the Greenland ice sheet
• 2008/09/01: NewScientist: Sea level rises could far exceed IPCC estimates
• 2008/08/31: Eureka: Analysis of past glacial melting shows potential for increased Greenland ice melt and sea level rise
• 2008/08/31: Eureka: Ice Age lesson predicts a faster rise in sea level

  What size, what colour of aerosols do what?

• 2008/09/05: PhysOrg: Science paper examines role of aerosols in climate change
• 2008/09/05: Eureka: Science paper examines role of aerosols in climate change
• 2008/09/04: NOAANews: Localized Pollution Potentially Plays Large Role in Future Climate Change

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2008/09/03: DerSpiegel: The Weather in 100 Years -- Predicting the Impact of Climate Change on Germany
• 2008/09/03: NatureTGB: Fight over whale fat
• 2008/09/03: C411: The Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture
• 2008/09/02: SeattlePI: Global warming: Western U.S. feels the heat
• 2008/09/03: SMH: Scientist rejects Japanese study on minke whales
• 2008/09/02: ABC(Au): Experts rubbish Japanese claims on skinny whales
  Australian scientists have expressed serious doubts about a Japanese study which claims whales are losing blubber because more of them are competing for food

And then there are the world's forests:

• 2008/09/03: ABC(Au): Greenpeace activists have stormed on board a [Malaysian] logging ship at a port in Papua New Guinea, preventing stevedores from loading logs bound for China
• 2008/09/04: ABC(Au): PNG logging protest continues amid conflicting ownership reports
• 2008/09/05: ABC(Au): In Papua New Guinea, police have ended a three day protest by Greenpeace activists, who were blocking a shipment of logs to China
• 2008/09/05: Yahoo: Feds warn climate change could harm giant sequoias
• 2008/09/04: SF Gate: Feds [USGS] warn climate change could harm giant sequoias
• 2008/09/04: G&M: Value found in old-growth forests
  Leaving British Columbia's old-growth forests standing may make more economic sense than cutting them down for timber, especially as the province looks to strategies to cut global warming, a new B.C. study suggests. The report from Simon Fraser University challenges the status quo and uses Ministry of Forest data to show that conservation wins out over logging when forests are valued for their role in capturing carbon from the atmosphere, protecting endangered species and providing opportunities for recreation.
• 2008/09/05: Guardian(UK): [Letters] Brazil's forests need protecting
• 2008/09/04: GristMill: I can see clearcuts now -- Google knows what you're doing
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Brazil: Deforestation rises sharply as farmers push into Amazon

  Corals are dying:

• 2008/09/05: NewScientist: Climate change could stop corals fixing themselves

  As for wild fires:

• 2008/09/05: BBC: 'Dozens die' in Mozambique fires
  Bush fires in central Mozambique have killed at least 32 people and left thousands more without shelter, state media and relief officials have said. The fires also destroyed homes and 16,000 hectares of agricultural land.
• 2008/09/01: TerraDaily: 20 die in South African blazes
• 2008/09/01: BBC: South Africa bush fires 'kill 20' -- More than 100 bush fires across South Africa have left at least 20 people dead over the weekend, officials say

  And hydrological cycle disruption [floods & droughts]:

• 2008/09/07: BBC: Heavy rain that has affected parts of England and Wales may continue to cause flooding for several days, the Environment Agency has warned
• 2008/09/06: BBC: England struck by flash flooding -- Heavy rain is causing flash floods across the Midlands and northern England, as storms continue for a second day across swathes of the UK
• 2008/09/06: SMH: Death stalks on a parched lake shore [drought]
• 2008/09/04: TerraDaily: Southern Chile swamped by worst rains in 30 years
• 2008/09/04: BBC: Flood emergency declared in Chile
  Chile has declared an emergency in southern areas where torrential rains have left at least eight people dead and caused widespread flooding. Some 23,000 people have been affected by the rains, said to be the heaviest in more than 30 years.
• 2008/09/04: CBC: 15 bridges in Cape Breton damaged in heavy rain
• 2008/09/03: PeakEnergy: Australian Drought Update
• 2008/09/02: ENN: Drought in Australian food bowl worsens
• 2008/09/02: TerraDaily: Grim prospects for Australian river system as drought bites:official
• 2008/09/02: CBC: More rain batters Manitoba's beleaguered Interlake region
• 2008/09/02: BBC: Drought stories: Murray Darling lives
  As Australia experiences its worst drought in 100 years, farmers and residents across Australia's "food bowl" - the Murray Darling Basin - describe how it has affected their lives

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2008/09/07: AFP: Eat less meat to fight climate change: UN expert
• 2008/09/07: BBC: People should consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming, says the UN's top climate scientist [Rajendra Pachauri]
• 2008/09/07: Guardian(UK): Is our taste for Sunday roast killing the planet?
• 2008/09/07: Guardian(UK): UN says eat less meat to curb global warming - Climate expert urges radical shift in diet
• 2008/09/04: NEN: New idea from Calif -- control urban sprawl, cut driving emissions
• 2008/09/04: JQuiggin: Methane
• 2008/09/02: WorldChanging: Concrete: a 'Burning' Issue

  As for transportation & GHG production:

• 2008/09/03: CBC: Airlines to lose nearly $10B by 2010: IATA
• 2008/09/02: CanWest: Transit can't keep up with Canadians moving to overloaded buses, subways
• 2008/09/01: PhysOrg: Bleeding-heart jetsetters spell bad news for climate

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2008/09/05: Guardian(UK): World's first carbon capture pilot fires up clean-coal advocates
  German project will burn coal in an atmosphere of pure oxygen -- producing CO2 waste which can be buried -- creating enough electricity to power 1,000 homes
• 2008/09/05: Reuters: Norway surveys Troll field for carbon storage
• 2008/09/03: BBC: Geological options for storing CO2
  The final stage of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) chain involves storing the CO2 deep underground in locations where it will remain locked away for thousands of years.
• 2008/09/04: BBC: Germany leads 'clean coal' pilot
  Beneath the gargantuan grey boiler towers of Schwarze Pumpe power station which pierce the skies of northern Germany, a Lilliputian puzzle of metal boxes and shining canisters is about to mark a moment of industrial history. This mini power plant is a pilot project for carbon capture and storage (CCS) - the first coal-fired plant in the world ready to capture and store its own CO2 emissions.

While on the adaptation front:

• 2008/09/06: ABC(Au): Revegetation project greens Sahara
• 2008/09/03: Guardian(UK): Environment: Solar plant yields water and crops from the desert -- Green energy glasshouses may transform arid areas

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2008/09/04: CP: A modeling sensitivity study of the influence of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation on neodymium isotopic composition at the Last Glacial Maximum by T. Arsouze et al.
• 2008/09/01: CP: Uniform climate development between the subtropical and subpolar Northeast Atlantic across marine isotope stage 11 by J. P. Helmke et al.
• 2008/09/05: Science: (ab$) Kinematic Constraints on Glacier Contributions to 21st-Century Sea-Level Rise by W. T. Pfeffer et al.
• 2008/09/03: ACP: CO emission and export from Asia: an analysis combining complementary satellite measurements (MOPITT, SCIAMACHY and ACE-FTS) with global modeling by S. Turquety et al.
• 2008/09/02: ACP: First atmospheric observations of three chlorofluorocarbons by J. C. Laube & A. Engel
• 2008/09/01: ACP: The aerosol distribution in Europe derived with the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model: comparison to near surface in situ and sunphotometer measurements by V. Matthias
• 2008/09/03: ACPD: Carbonyl sulfide in air extracted from a South Pole ice core: a 2000 year record by M. Aydin et al.
• 2008/09/01: ACPD: Past and future conditions for polar stratospheric cloud formation simulated by the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model by P. Hitchcock et al.
• 2008/09/02: PNAS: Proxy-based reconstructions of hemispheric and global surface temperature variations over the past two millennia by Michael E. Mann et al.

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

• 2008/09/03: MongaBay: Did prehistoric farmers drive early global warming?
• 2008/09/04: Eureka: Petascale climate modeling heats up at University of Miami -- NSF funds 3-year study of weather, climate change computation in collaboration with NCAR, COLA and UC-Berkeley
• 2008/09/02: ABC(Au): Scientists uncover key to boosting carbon capture
  Buried under a giant stand of bamboo in northern New South Wales, two Australian soil scientists have made a discovery they believe will help save the planet. [tiny capsules of carbon known as plant stones aka phytoliths]
• 2008/09/02: Eureka: Complex ocean behavior studied with 'artificial upwelling'

  More Hansen:

• 2008/09/05: NatureN: All fired up -- American climate scientist James Hansen explains why he's testifying against coal
• 2008/09/04: Independent(UK): NASA scientist [James Hansen] appears in court to fan the flames of coal power station row

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto-2 front:

• 2008/09/02: Climate-L: UNFCCC Executive Secretary Stresses the Role of Public Understanding of Climate Change in Reaching Strong Outcome in Copenhagen
• 2008/09/02: BBC: Environment needs dose of bold reform
  Reform of the way the UN handles environmental issues is badly needed, argues Joy Hyvarinen. However, she says, governments may be getting mired in a fruitless dispute that will leave the basic flaws untouched.

And at the UN:

• 2008/09/04: SwissInfo: Swiss climatology honoured
  A leading Swiss climatologist is to co-chair one of the three working groups of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC), it was announced on Thursday. Thomas Stocker, head of the climate and environmental physics department of Bern University, has been named to the group, which studies the physical scientific aspects of climate change. The group is to help prepare an assessment report due in 2013
• 2008/09/02: Yahoo: UN climate panel re-elects Rajendra Pachauri as chairman
  The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said Tuesday it has re-elected chairman Rajendra Pachauri for a second term. Pachauri has been head of the organisation since 2002 and oversaw its seminal assessment report in 2007 which gave graphic forecasts of the risks posed by global warming.
• 2008/09/02: UN: Recent natural disasters amplify need for urgent action on climate change -- UN
• 2008/09/02: UN: Climate forecasts crucial to water resources and poverty reduction -- UN agency
• 2008/09/01: Reuters: Hurricanes, floods show risks of climate change: UN
• 2008/08/31: SwissInfo: Ban warns of climate change crisis -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for speed in drawing up a new global pact to address the impending climate change crisis

  While on the carbon trading front:

• 2008/09/02: VnuNet: Carbon price poised to climb as UN lowers credit supply estimates
  Project approval bottlenecks mean fewer UN-approved carbon credits than expected will be available in the run-up to 2012
• 2008/09/02: Reuters: Aid agencies plan CO2 offsets that also help poor
• 2008/09/01: CNN: Trading the carbon market
  Carbon trading is said to be one way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions - Existing carbon trading systems have had limited impact on emissions to date - The European experience serves as a good lesson for new trading systems

As for GW & security:

• 2008/09/04: SMH: There's a storm bigger than terrorism and only we can save ourselves

  And on the American political front:

• 2008/09/05: WDT: Bill McKibben: Earth running out of time -- Action needed now to reduce atmospheric carbon to 350 ppm
• 2008/09/05: WA: LaDuke emphasizes global warming in welcome address
  Renowned environmentalist and activist Winona LaDuke welcomed students this year by passionately urging them to think critically about the current global crisis of climate change and the connection between their lives and the environment. LaDuke, an Anishinabe member of the Makwa Dodaem, or Bear Clan, which is on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, is nationally respected as a champion of the environment and of American Indians.
• 2008/09/05: CSM: How not to rescue the Big Three -- Congress must not loan $25 billion to a US auto industry that isn't doing enough itself
• 2008/09/04: FAS:SN: Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking
• 2008/09/03: inel: Beyond 11/4: From Stephen Schneider, Hunter Lovins, David Orr and Ross Gelbspan
• 2008/09/03: ClimateP: Stunning interview with incoherent GOP denier running for Congress
• 2008/09/02: JFrankel: Anti-Shirking Import Penalties in US Climate Change Bills Could Backfire
• 2008/09/02: NatureCF: US elections: a climate of change?
• 2008/09/02: GristMill: Dem greens -- Where climate/energy issues stand in the Democratic Party
• 2008/09/02: TP:WonkRoom: Bush Exploits Hurricane Gustav To Demand More Offshore Drilling
• 2008/09/02: FDL: Oil Group Joins Alaska in Suing To Overturn Polar Bear Protection
• 2008/09/01: TLC: Down in Flames [Gustav]
  In a grim, dreaded way blue-dog-infested-Democrats never could Mother Nature is finally holding Republicans accountable, threatening more pain and grief for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast with vicious timing that's shut down the Republican Party's first day of the convention. There had been some glee in liberal pixels that George Bush--worst president of all time and popular as head lice--would crown the first night of felon Republican festivities and further trash the Republican brand with his lying flatulence, but to have the president trapped in DC in shame, the convention shut down day one and the Republican candidate flying blind is a total Republican nightmare no Democratic consultant could have ever darkly hoped for
• 2008/09/01: TreeHugger: Industry Groups Suing To Reverse Polar Bear Protection

  They're still wrangling over energy:

• 2008/09/07: TreeHugger: Graphic Of The Day: Eastern States Make Coal Syn-ers Of Us All
• 2008/09/05: IR^2: Extend Renewable Energy Tax Credits
• 2008/09/04: McClatchyDC: Cutting carbon won't cripple economy, expert tells Kansans
• 2008/09/02: REW: The Elephant Under the Rug: Denial and Failed Energy Projects
  Our energy policymaking has been hijacked by the coal and nuclear industries. They have sabotaged appropriations that have real potential for solving our energy problems and directed vast billions instead to keeping their dying industries alive. Technology could solve our energy and pollution problems if we could just free ourselves from the political stranglehold of these heavily subsidized industries.
• 2008/09/02: ClimateP: Congressional Dems get smart on pushing "all of the above" energy vote
• 2008/09/02: GristMill: Exxon concern trolling -- 'War on the Poor' astroturf campaign pushes for increased fossil-fuel production
• 2008/09/02: TreeHugger: Why Won't Congress Just Extend Renewable Energy Tax Credits for 10 Years, Already?

  One hears a lot about the campaigns, not much about their climate & energy policies:

• 2008/09/07: ClimateP: No wonder the race is close: Even Apollo Alliance is suckered by McCain's lies and doubletalk
• 2008/09/05: GristMill: GOP platform: No ethanol mandate -- Energy politics take a weird turn
• 2008/09/05: CSpin: Obama answers Science Debate questions
• 2008/09/03: CJR: Palin and the Environment -- Plenty of record for the press to dissect; Anchorage paper shows the way
• 2008/09/04: CJR: "The Killa from Wasilla"...And other coverage of Palin's environmental record
• 2008/09/: Sefora: 2008 Presidential Candidate Responses [to science questions]
• 2008/09/05: MongaBay: Obama talks science: ocean health, water scarcity, climate change, and more
• 2008/09/04: ClimateP: In HIS big speech, McCain's 10 energy lies top Palin's 4 energy lies
• 2008/09/04: ClimateP: Most revealing Palin energy whopper: Iran could cut off a fifth of the world's energy supplies
• 2008/09/03: ClimateP: In her big speech, Palin repeats the GOP's big energy lie -- plus three other energy lies, too
• 2008/09/04: DenverPost: Why won't the candidates debate science?
• 2008/09/04: WSJ:EnvCap: Palin's Policy: Drill, Baby, Drill
• 2008/09/03: NGE: Only one candidate if you care about climate or clean energy [2008]
• 2008/09/03: NGE: Obama McCain Energy Smackdown
• 2008/09/03: Intersection:SRK: Obama. McCain. Energy.
• 2008/09/02: Stoat: Obama on science
• 2008/09/02: DeSmogBlog: Nature to Palin: "I'm Hotter Than You!"
• 2008/09/02: ThinkP: Conservatives unconcerned about Palin and McCain's 'cognitive dissonance' on climate change
• 2008/09/01: ThinkP: Pataki Is 'Not Concerned' That Palin Doesn't Believe Global Warming Is 'Man-Made'
• 2008/09/01: NatureTGB: Obama speaks on science
• 2008/09/01: TP:WonkRoom: Global Boiling: Palin In Denial About The Greatest Threat To Alaska

  While in the UK:

• 2008/09/05: Guardian(UK): Sunday in the camp with George -- Don't exclude those of us who want to see revolutionary change from the fight against global warming. We're all in this together
• 2008/09/05: BBC: Wilson row over green 'alarmists'
  The Environment Minister Sammy Wilson has angered green campaigners by describing their view on climate change as a "hysterical psuedo-religion". In an article in the News Letter, Mr Wilson said he believed it occurred naturally and was not man-made.
• 2008/09/04: CSM: Britain mulls windfall tax on oil firms -- A growing number of lawmakers are calling for energy companies to pay for fuel costs borne by poor Britons

  The Kingsnorth trial has garnered a lot of press:

• 2008/09/04: Guardian(UK): Kingsnorth trial: Goldsmith defends climate change activists - Millionaire environmentalist tells court direct action against planned coal-fired power station can be justified
• 2008/09/04: NatureTGB: Hanson backs power station damagers
• 2008/09/04: BBC: Flooding budget 'badly handled' [UK pol]
  Ministers failed to budget properly ahead of last year's floods and animal disease outbreaks, an MPs' report says. The public accounts committee said that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs should have ensured enough funds to deal with such events.
• 2008/09/04: Guardian(UK): Brown must halt new coal power stations, scientist tells court
  One of the world's leading climate scientists yesterday called for an immediate halt to the building of all coal-fired power stations to prevent catastrophic global warming. James Hansen, a former White House adviser and Al Gore's science adviser, giving evidence in a British court, said sticking to a "business as usual" approach would see the planet passing its climate change tipping point. Hansen was giving evidence in the case of six Greenpeace supporters charged with causing £30,000 of criminal damage when scaling the 200-metre Kingsnorth power station chimney in Kent last October.
• 2008/09/02: NatureTGB: Climate fights trump property rights, claims Greenpeace [Kingsnorth]
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): Power station protesters caused £30,000 of damage, court hears -- Five activists daubed 'Gordon' on chimney in Kent, jury told
  [,,,] John Price, prosecuting [...] told the jury of three men and nine women that the issue of damage being caused to the chimney was not to be disputed during the trial...
• 2008/09/02: Guardian(UK): Kingsnorth protest: Activists to use climate change as defence for £30,000 tower damage

  And in Europe:

• 2008/09/04: EurActiv: Offshore wind to take EU by storm?
  With an offshore wind plan due from the European Commission in the autumn, environmental campaigners at Greenpeace have presented a study showing that the construction of 10,000 offshore wind turbines in the North Sea could be feasible if supported by a mega electricity grid.
• 2008/09/04: AutoBG: New [EU] CO2 limits for 2015 instead?
• 2008/09/03: EUO: Parliament strongly backs hydrogen cars
• 2008/09/02: EUO: MEPs recommend diluting CO2 cap on cars
• 2008/09/02: AutoBG: European parliament scales back CO2 emissions limits
• 2008/09/01: NatureTGB: Europe goes nuclear

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2008/09/01: SMH: Miner [Waratah Coal] rejects Greens' claims
  The coal company at the centre of a big project in central Queensland has hit back at what it calls "scaremongering" by the Australian Greens. Under the $5.3 billion proposal, Waratah Coal wants to develop a mine, pipeline, railway and port facility in the Alpha and the Shoalwater Bay areas in Queensland. The Queensland Government has held talks on the proposal with Waratah but the Federal Government may use the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act to stop the development in the Galilee Basin going ahead. Last week, Greens Senator Christine Milne raised concerns during question time, saying there were four billion tonnes of coal in the Galilee Basin, which could help drive climate change, and that development could also affect environmentally sensitive areas. The federal Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong, said the Government had not yet decided whether or not to block the development. But the chief executive of Waratah Coal, Peter Lynch, said the Greens claims were "irresponsible scaremongering".
• 2008/09/05: CBC: Canadian coal company [Waratah Coal Inc.] to appeal Australian rejection
  Canadian coal company Waratah Coal Inc. said it will appeal the decision by the Australian government to reject its ambitious proposal to develop a large mine in northeastern Australia. Vancouver-based Waratah said it was not treated fairly when Australia's environment minister and former Midnight Oil lead singer Peter Garrett rejected Waratah's $5.2 billion Cdn proposal to dig a coal mine and build a new port on the coast of Australia's Queensland province.
• 2008/09/04: ABC(Au): Byron Shire Mayor Jan Barham applauds solar heating uptake
• 2008/09/04: ABC(Au): WWF names and shames power firms
  A study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has accused several Australian power generators of doing next to nothing to prepare for a low-carbon future
• 2008/09/04: ABC(Au): Brown pushes for biosequestration boost
  The Greens leader Bob Brown says lifting Australia's reserves of native forests should be part of the Federal Government's solution to climate change.
• 2008/09/04: ABC(Au): Ex-MP promises Sydney climate policy
  The ALP's candidate for Sydney for this month's local government elections says councils have an important role to play in tackling climate change. Dr Meredith Burgmann is the former president of the New South Wales upper house.
• 2008/09/03: SMH: Fuel-efficient cars to get a break, say Greens
• 2008/09/03: SMH: Reaching for the environmental tipping point
• 2008/09/02: ABC(Au): Energy production threatened by limited water: experts
• 2008/09/01: ABC(Au): Wong 'showing contempt' by not disclosing Murray River advice
  The Federal Opposition has accused the Climate Change Minister Penny Wong of being in contempt of the Senate. The Opposition says Senator Wong has failed to provide information on the emergency advice she sought from her Department on what the Government could do in the short term to address the dire situation in the lower Murray River. The Senate voted last week to require Senator Wong to disclose the advice. The Opposition's climate change spokesman Greg Hunt says she has failed to do that.
• 2008/09/01: ABC(Au): Anti-nuclear meeting calls for answers on dump
  There are renewed calls for the Federal Government to announce where it plans to build a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory
• 2008/09/01: SMH: Electricity bills key to emission cuts
  Australia can slash greenhouse emissions and save money at the same time, according to modelling released yesterday. The Climate Institute's chief executive, John Connor, said it was a myth that tackling climate change would cost businesses and households lots of money. More than half the emissions reductions by 2020 could be achieved without losing a cent in the long-term, he said - and the key is lower electricity bills.

Arguments over the Au-ETS continue:

• 2008/09/05: JQuiggin: Double dissolution ahead
• 2008/09/04: ABC(Au): Emissions trading may force councils to lift rates
  Some of the Northern Territory's local councils may have to consider lifting rates to cover extra costs under the Federal Government's proposed emissions trading scheme
• 2008/09/04: ABC(Au): Carbon scheme putting forests at logging risk: academics
• 2008/09/04: SMH: Climate tax may end up in court, says [Chief Justice, Robert] French
  New laws to impose taxes to tackle climate change are likely to end up before the High Court, the new Chief Justice, Robert French, predicted yesterday. Justice French, who walks to work and has a hybrid electric car, said there was "a very powerful body of evidence about climate change issues" and he observed a lot of the debate. "It may be that some of those responses will lead to cases that will in one form or another come before the court," he said. "It's an issue of considerable importance and could well find itself expressed in some form of litigation. If there are taxes involved - taxes always generate litigation."
• 2008/09/04: ABC(Au): Carbon scheme putting forests at logging risk: academics
  Two Canberra academics are warning the inclusion of plantation forests in an emissions trading scheme could drive emissions up not down, by encouraging the logging of native forests.
• 2008/09/03: SMH: Shadow falls over solar panels
  Popular government rebates of up to $8000 for households installing solar panels are one of the most inefficient ways of tackling climate change, according to a report commissioned by the Federal Government. The report by the former head of the NSW Cabinet Office, Roger Wilkins, concludes that many climate-change programs cost taxpayers significantly more than the environmental benefits they delivered.
• 2008/09/02: ABC(Au): Fed Govt's carbon scheme labelled policy armageddon
  A Coalition Senator has launched a scathing attack on the Government's proposed emissions trading scheme, calling it "policy armageddon". Queensland Liberal-Nationals Senator Ron Boswell says the Government should change its planned scheme because it is reckless and will lead to dire costs and job losses. Senator Boswell says Australia's business sector has made a dangerous friend by supporting an emissions trading scheme
• 2008/09/01: ABC(Au): Govt facing '$2.5b emissions trading compo bill'
  The Federal Government is being warned that the community welfare sector, local governments and itself will all need to be compensated to the tune of $2.5 billion for the effects of an emissions trading scheme.
• 2008/09/01: ABC(Au): Govt open to carbon trading scheme alternatives: Wong
  Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says the Federal Government is open to alternatives to a cap and trade emissions scheme. There have been calls for a direct tax on carbon instead of the Government's preferred emissions trading scheme, which would set a limit on carbon. Senator Wong says the Government is considering different options.
• 2008/09/01: PeakEnergy: A Carbon Tax For Australia
• 2008/09/01: SMH: Saving the planet: it's down to business
  Australia's green paper on climate change takes us from pariah state towards leadership, but there is still significant room for improvement...

Ross Garnaut delivered another report this week:

• 2008/09/07: SMH: The emission possible? Getting Garnaut's targets through the Senate would be tricky but probably doable for the Government...
• 2008/09/06: SMH: Great Barrier Reef doomed - and your power and petrol bills
  Power prices would rise by 40 per cent and petrol by 5 cents a litre under a greenhouse plan recommended by the Rudd Government's top climate-change adviser - but he admits it would not be enough to save the Great Barrier Reef or revive the Murray-Darling. Professor Ross Garnaut's cost estimates are based on cutting greenhouse pollution by 10 per cent by 2020, a level he says is practical but not necessarily desirable.
• 2008/09/06: SMH: Carbon tax adviser sets a diamond [Garnaut]
• 2008/09/06: SMH: Green groups slam failure to set firm targets
• 2008/09/06: SMH: Practical but diabolical: Australia's climate change goal
  The head of the Government's climate change review is unlikely to have his latest recommendations endorsed by many mainstream climate scientists. His own report explains why. Ross Garnaut is arguing that, right now, Australia should support an agreement at the UN climate talks that, in his own words, will risk the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, the extinction of a third of the world's species and the collapse of the Great Barrier Reef. Why is Professor Garnaut recommending this course? Because he believes the world is not yet ready to sign an agreement that will cut greenhouse gas emissions enough to avoid catastrophic climate change.
• 2008/09/06: SMH: With smoke in our eyes, we can't see the fog
  Ross Garnaut, the Government's independent climate change adviser, recently posed a highly disturbing question. Is solving climate change too hard? The daily debate in Australia and around the world made one think so, the economics professor wrote in July. "It is too complex. The special interests are too numerous, powerful and intense." With his latest report yesterday, Garnaut's pessimism is evident. He says the world and Australia will risk "catastrophic consequences" to the natural environment, including the extinction of a third of the world's species, if we allow the planet's temperature to rise by 3 degrees over the next century. Yet, in a disturbing conclusion, Garnaut says he does not believe the majority of countries and their vested interests are ready to heed this warning. And so he recommends that Australia should pursue, for now, a global agreement that almost certainly, according to his best scientific advice, risks the very catastrophic consequences he has so painstakingly outlined.
• 2008/09/06: SMH: Sigh of relief from business
  After months of lobbying for protection from the cost of cutting emissions, business groups praised Professor Ross Garnaut's advice not to rush into cuts before the world's largest polluters. Yesterday's draft report says that without an international agreement between the largest emitters to cut emissions, the Government should aim for a 5 per cent reduction. The Business Council of Australia said this supported its calls for a cautious approach.
• 2008/09/05: ABC(Au): 'Weak' Garnaut carbon target under fire
• 2008/09/05: ABC(Au): Garnaut's emissions targets to 'crush' the economy
  The Federal Government is facing strong resistance from key business groups to a deep carbon emissions reduction target. The Government's climate change adviser Professor Ross Garnaut yesterday recommended cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 10 per cent by 2020. Professor Garnaut says a 25 per cent cut would be more effective, but unlikely to attract a global agreement. But Minerals Council executive director Mitchell Hookes says even a 10 per cent cut could "crush" Australia's economy.
• 2008/09/05: SMH: Garnaut to advise caution on cuts
  Australia should not expose itself by adopting an aggressive greenhouse reduction target, but it should make a "proportionate" adjustment as it waits to see how the rest of the developed world reacts, the Federal Government's top climate-change adviser will recommend today. Professor Ross Garnaut will provide the Government with the results of econometric modelling. His report will draw on the modelling to estimate the cuts to carbon emissions needed to deal with climate change. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said at the international climate change conference in Bali in December that he would not set emissions targets until he had Professor Garnaut's work in hand
• 2008/09/05: SMH: Electricity system among the worst polluters in the world
  Despite having one of the world's most advanced economies, Australia has an electricity system that is one of the worst greenhouse-gas polluters. The performance of only a handful of countries, including Cuba, Botswana, Kazakhstan, Libya, Malta and Bahrain, rates more dismally. The extraordinary finding was made by Ross Garnaut, the Government's independent adviser on climate change, in his last report. Today he will deliver his long-awaited advice on how much Australia should aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Professor Garnaut's latest report is expected to supercharge the lobbying by the nation's top mining, energy and industry groups, who argue that any plans by the Government to make deep cuts to emissions by 2020 will damage the economy and create the potential for power shortages.
• 2008/09/03: Yahoo: Garnaut has the answer to climate change [biosequestration]

  In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, has pulled the plug:

• 2008/09/07: CBC: Federal election called for Oct. 14
  [...] Harper took direct aim at the Liberals, led by Stéphane Dion. The prime minister said Dion is going into the election promoting large-scale spending and a new carbon tax.
• 2008/09/05: DeSmogBlog: Is Stephen Harper an Economic Conservative?
• 2008/09/03: Maribo: Elections, elections oh my [Can & USA]

  The Liberal Green Shift carbon tax plan will be a major campaign issue:

• 2008/09/07: WpgSun: Gas tax won't do it -- As price rises, Canadians drive more
• 2008/09/07: TStar: War of words on Green Shift
  The Conservatives are seeing red over the Green Shift. Last week, Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion announced shifts to his Green Shift, some $900 million in concessions for sectors hit hard by the carbon tax plan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper promptly lashed out at the changes as 11th hour improvisations that suggest Dion is rewriting his plan "on the back of envelopes." The changes announced by Dion include credits and incentives to reduce the impact of the carbon tax on the agricultural, forestry, fishery and trucking sectors.
• 2008/09/04: DeSmogBlog: No wonder the Harper government is against a carbon tax
• 2008/09/04: CTV: 'Green Shift' firm steps up legal action against Grits
• 2008/09/05: CanWest: Carbon tax ties B.C. Liberals' Conservatives in knots
  Conservative-minded voters in British Columbia are being told to reject a carbon tax federally and, at the same time, to embrace one provincially. The result is that campaign volunteers who work for the Harper Conservatives and normally support the Campbell Liberals are feeling like pretzels.
• 2008/09/03: BCLSB: Nice [Green] Shift
• 2008/09/03: Far-n-Wide: Take A Seat -- Dion has altered the Green Shift, after the summer consultation process.
• 2008/09/03: JCherniak: How about "Stéphane Dion's tax reform package"?
• 2008/09/03: CBC: Dion to announce carbon tax plan adjustments
• 2008/09/03: G&M: Liberal hoping to win over B.C. on Green Shift
  Expected nomination will pit him against well-known former Liberal MP [Blair Wilson] who's now running as Green Party member Squamish Mayor Ian Sutherland, running for the Liberals in the coming federal election, is hoping he can sell the idea of carbon taxes in the federal Green Shift plan to a B.C. audience despite public anger over provincial carbon taxes.
• 2008/09/03: CanWest: Inconvenient timing
  Canadians' affection for the environment has often been fickle come election time. And the moment for Stéphane Dion's green gamble may already have passed.
• 2008/09/03: WpgSun: 'Green Shift' won't sell -- Voters don't believe tax will be revenue neutral
• 2008/09/02: CanWest: Green Shift support declining, poll shows -- Liberals' carbon tax proposal not enough to beat Tories: pollster [Ipsos Reid]
• 2008/09/01: CTV: Even Liberals don't get carbon tax plan: Kenney
• 2008/09/01: Far-n-Wide: Will Green Shift Be Tweaked?

  Wrangling over the BC climate plan continues:

• 2008/09/03: CanWest: Power producers out to show they are part of the solution to greenhouse gas emissions

  As for miscellaneous Canadiana:

• 2008/09/07: OttawaSun: Ethanol support divides Ontarians, poll says
• 2008/09/07: ChronicleHerald: Refinery emissions higher than estimates - [Alberta Research Council] report
  A recently published report suggests that Canadian refineries are underestimating emissions of greenhouse gases and cancer-causing chemicals
• 2008/09/06: CanWest: What climate change will do to [BC] our province
• 2008/09/05: CBC: Greens tops, Tories flops in Sierra Club climate-change report card
• 2008/09/04: G&M: Grant cut called 'vengeful' act by Baird
  Environmentalists across Canada are accusing Environment Minister John Baird of playing politics after last week's rescinding of a $100,000 grant to the Sierra Club of B.C.
• 2008/09/03: DeSmogBlog: "Green" funding for Ford: Why Government Shouldn't Pick Winners
  The Canadian government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper is reported to be on the verge of giving $200 million from a "green initiatives fund" to Ford and General Motors - to help those failing companies continue to build really big (and increasingly unpopular) cars and trucks
• 2008/09/02: G&M: Ottawa [Environment Canada] pulls $100,000 from B.C. Sierra Club's climate-change initiative

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

• 2008/09/04: CCurrents: Is History So Boring We Keep On Repeating The Same Mistakes? I will tell you the story of Easter Island.
• 2008/09/04: CDreams:CSM: Ecuador Constitution Would Grant Inalienable Rights To Nature
  Ecuador's proposed constitution includes an article that grants nature the right to "exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution" and will grant legal standing to any person to defend those rights in court. Voters will get to decide on Sept. 28 whether to adopt the new constitution, which would allow the president to run for reelection, to dissolve Congress, and to exert great control over the country's central bank. According to Reuters, 56 percent of Ecuadorans approve of the proposed document.
• 2008/09/05: TreeHugger: We Need a "New Operating System" for the Modern World! Yale Univ's Dean of Environmental Studies [Gus Speth] Says

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2008/09/05: GristMill: All the news fit to omit -- Media drops the ball on drilling [EIA report]
• 2008/09/05: OilChange: Official EIA drilling data buried by media
• 2008/09/02: MTobis: WSJ Over the Top Again

  Here is something for your library:

• 2008/09/07: TreeHugger: [Book Review] _The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food_ by Wayne Roberts
• 2008/09/: FP: Seven Questions: Thomas Friedman's Plan for a Hot, Flat, and Crowded World
• 2008/09/06: ClimateP: Must read and must see: [Book Plug] _Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution -- And How It Can Renew America_ by Tom Friedman

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2008/09/05: OilDrum: UK Energy Flow Chart 2007
• 2008/09/05: BBC: Oil prices have dipped below $106 as traders predicted that rising US unemployment would lead to consumers cutting back on petrol use
• 2008/09/04: TreeHugger: The Energy Ball: Another Innovative Option in Home Wind Turbines
• 2008/09/04: TreeHugger: 24,300 MW: US Could Lead World in Installed Wind Capacity by End of 2008
• 2008/09/04: AutoBG: Hawaii's Big Island gets new biomass power plant
• 2008/09/04: NYT: Assessing the Value of Small Wind Turbines
• 2008/09/03: TreeHugger: 5 Ways Geothermal Power is Heating Up Around the World [List of projects]
• 2008/09/03: TreeHugger: Uncovering Energy Elephants in the Room? Hydrogen, Nuclear, Clean Coal
• 2008/09/03: M&M: A Storm Called Cantarell
• 2008/09/03: PeakEnergy: Geothermal electricity powers on in NZ
• 2008/08/26: Discovery: Wiggling Plastic at River Bottom to Generate Electricity
• 2008/09/02: NEN: A conservative's case for new energy
• 2008/09/02: PeakEnergy: Hydro Power In Scotland
• 2008/09/02: WSJ:EnvCap: Gustav and Gasoline: Oil Prices Drop Again as Storm Passes
• 2008/09/02: Missoulian: Green energy companies booming [in Montana]
• 2008/09/02: BBC: Crude oil prices have fallen back toward $100 a barrel, as oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico were spared by Hurricane Gustav
• 2008/09/02: AFP: Oil prices plunge to four-month lows
• 2008/09/01: AFP: Oil prices slide below $110 as hurricane weakens
• 2008/09/01: NGE: The wind and the water
• 2008/08/31: FTimes: Investor interest in algae grows

  A startling (to me, at least) number put on yearly fossil fuel subsidies:

• 2008/08/27: DailyGreen: The World Spends $300 Billion Subsidizing Fossil Fuels -- The Cost of Eliminating Fossil Fuels? Maybe No More than the Cost of Burning Them
• 2008/09/04: PeakEnergy: The World Spends $300 Billion [per year] Subsidizing Fossil Fuels

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2008/09/05: PhysOrg: Solar energy can meet all the world's energy demands: expert
  The world must speed up the deployment of solar power as it has the potential to meet all the world's energy needs, the chairman of an industry gathering which wrapped up Friday in Spain said. "The solar energy resource is enormous, and distributed all over the world, in all countries and also oceans," said Daniel Lincot, the chairman of the five-day European Photovoltaic Solar Energy conference held in Valencia. "There is thus an enormous resource available from photovoltaics, which can be used everywhere, and can in principle cover all the world energy demand from a renewable, safe and clean source," he added.
• 2008/09/05: PeakEnergy: Intensifying the Sun
• 2008/09/05: GTM: Out of Africa: New Concentrating-Solar Tech Inspired by Congo Stint
• 2008/09/04: ClimateP: Nature mag gives short-shrift to baseload solar
• 2008/09/02: NEN: Jordanian business likes solar
• 2008/09/02: PeakEnergy: Freeways Generating Solar Power

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2008/09/06: JFleck: Chinese Cut Back Coal-to-liquids
• 2008/09/06: JQuiggin: Brown coal
• 2008/09/03: Guardian(UK): Coal plans go up in smoke
  Environmentalists in the US have halted a huge new wave of coal-fired power stations. What lessons can Europe learn from them?

Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2008/09/05: DerSpiegel: Africa Becoming a Biofuel Battleground
  Western companies are pushing to acquire vast stretches of African land to meet the world's biofuel needs. Local farmers and governments are being showered with promises. But is this just another form of economic colonialism?
• 2008/09/05: PhysOrg: New technique makes corn ethanol process more efficient
• 2008/09/02: TreeHugger: India's First Demonstration-Scale Cellulosic Ethanol Biorefinery Set to Open

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2008/09/04: Reuters: U.S. must increase nuclear power-Energy Minister [U.S. Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Dennis Spurgeon]

  Yes we have a peak oil sighting:

• 2008/09/05: PCI: The Energy Secret - Understanding What Drives The 21st Century And Why Peak Oil Really Matters
• 2008/09/03: ETS: The Question Wall Street is Ignoring but the World Can't: Is Oil Production Falling Faster Than Demand?
• 2008/09/01: EnergyBulletin: A geopolitical tsunami: Beyond oil in world civilization clash

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2008/09/03: TreeHugger: Raising Energy Efficiency In A New Materials Economy - Part II
• 2008/09/02: PeakEnergy: The Modern Dimmer Switch

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

• 2008/09/06: AutoBG: Tata Motors' unveiles all-electric versions of the Ace and Indica
• 2008/09/06: AutoBG: EPA vs the Chevy Volt: Hybrid or electric car? 48mpg or 100mpg?
• 2008/09/04: FuturePundit: Neighborhood Electric Vehicles Grow In Popularity
• 2008/09/06: AutoBG: EU Parliament votes "aye" on hydrogen cars
• 2008/09/06: AutoBG: How much it will cost to run your electric car
• 2008/09/05: BWeek: The 65 mpg Ford the U.S. Can't Have
  Ford's Fiesta ECOnetic gets an astonishing 65 mpg, but the carmaker can't afford to sell it in the U.S. [because it's a diesel?]
• 2008/09/04: Ananova: British Car Market Runs Out Of Gas -- New car registrations in Britain fell 18.6% in the year to August, signalling the weakest market since 1966
• 2008/09/03: GEA: GM, Ford, Chrysler Sales Collapse
• 2008/09/03: TheBigPicture: Auto Sales Crater
• 2008/09/03: CalcRisk: Ford Sales off 27%
• 2008/09/03: CalcRisk: Chrysler Sales off 34%
• 2008/09/03: AutoBG: Consumer Reports says that some hybrids do pay off - quickly
• 2008/09/01: AutoBG: Ener1: Lithium ion battery prices may be cut in half

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

• 2008/09/04: EnvFin: UPS delivers sustainability reportspacer
  US courier company UPS has published its sixth corporate sustainability report, outlining plans to reduce carbon emissions from its business
• 2008/09/03: Guardian(UK): Tesco chief aims to create a mass movement in green consumption -- Acting now to cut emissions makes perfect business sense, argues Sir Terry Leahy

  Meanwhile in the greenwashing chronicles:

• 2008/09/03: Reuters: UK media watchdog bans ExxonMobil ad
  U.S. oil major ExxonMobil may appeal a decision by Britain's Advertising Standards Authority on Wednesday to ban it from continuing to show a TV advert saying gas is one of the cleanest fuels. Four viewers had challenged Exxon's claim that "natural gas is one of the world's cleanest fuels" and complained that the advertisement, which had been running on British television over summer, falsely implied liquefied natural gas was environmentally friendly.
• 2008/09/02: TreeHugger: Greenwash Watch: Gwyn Morgan on GM Advertising

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2008/09/07: BCLSB: The Decline And Fall Of Surface Stations
• 2008/09/05: ERabett: Other Lands
• 2008/09/04: PNT: Yohe and Lomborg "shake hands", sort of
• 2008/09/05: Deltoid: You can't make this stuff up
• 2008/09/04: AntiMatter: The Denial of Global Warming [Oreskes lecture]
• 2008/09/04: N3xus6: Why Andrew Bolt is a fraud
• 2008/09/03: JEB: Corbyn again
• 2008/09/02: ERabett: Instructions for the hard of learning
• 2008/09/03: MTobis: Sunspots vs Global Temperature
• 2008/09/01: Stoat: Wikipedia: get off your arse
• 2008/09/01: Atmoz: Wikipedia Bias

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2008/09/04: EnvFin: Global index aims to measure sustainability of cities
  An initiative to help cities around the world to become more sustainable -- the Low-carbon City Index -- was launched yesterday by WWF and a group of city representatives from China, India and Denmark
• 2008/09/06: TP:WonkRoom: Global Boiling: Rising To The Threat -- Or Not
• 2008/09/05: OrionMag: Change Everything Now -- One of the nation's most mainstream environmentalists says it's time to get a lot more radical [Gus Speth Interview]
• 2008/09/05: NatureN: The world we avoided -- The Montreal Protocol rescued the ozone layer, but also prevented drastic regional climate changes
• 2008/09/05: NewScientist: UN aims to protect Iraqi wetlands
• 2008/09/05: PhysOrg: Asian soot, smog may boost global warming in US
• 2008/09/05: NYRB: 'The Question of Global Warming': An Exchange by William D. Nordhaus, Leigh Sullivan, Dimitri Zenghelis, Reply by Freeman Dyson
• 2008/09/04: MTobis: The Dunning-Kruger Effect
• 2008/09/02: NYT: Beyond Carbon: Scientists Worry About Nitrogen's Effects
• 2008/09/04: Guardian(UK): Climate change in Bangladesh (17 pictures)
• 2008/09/04: Guardian(UK): Climate change isn't something to be believed or disbelieved
• 2008/09/03: NatureCF: Graphing climate policy progress
• 2008/09/02: SacBee: Climate change is there - and here, too -- From the Sierra to Greenland, evidence is plain and abundant
• 2008/09/02: ClimateP: Gustav, climate, drilling, McCain, Palin -- Some enviros self-censor, but should progressives?
• 2008/09/02: MGS: Question Place 2
• 2008/09/01: MGS: Summary1 of Simplest Climate Model
• 2008/08/31: DenverPost: Nowhere left to hide from the effects of warming
• 2008/09/01: Guardian(UK): How can we save the planet in 99 months? Over to you
• 2008/08/31: JFleck: Tyler Cowen on Climate Models

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

• Warming Law [Note Change of Address]
• Science Codex
• National Teach-In
• Daily Green
• Climate-L
• Edie: Environmental Data Interactive Exchange
• NSIDC: Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis
• AMSR-E: Daily Updated AMSR-E Sea Ice Maps
• MMAB Sea Ice Analysis Page
• NOAA:NCEP: MMAB Sea Ice Concentration -- Northern Hemisphere
• NOAA: Satellite Services Division
• Wiki: Loop Current

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

P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.

"A major fight is brewing -- it may be called war. On the one side, we find the short-term financial interests of the fossil fuel industry. On the other side: young people and other beings who will inherit the planet. It seems to be an uneven fight. The fossil fuel industry is launching a disinformation campaign and they have powerful influence in capitals around the world. Young people seem pretty puny in comparison to industry moguls. Animals are not much help (don't talk, don't vote). The battle may start with local and regional skirmishes, one coal plant or other issue at a time, but it will need to build rapidly -- we are running out of time."
-James Hansen, Yankee Ticket Prices and Fossil Fuels, 10 April 2008

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