Another Week of GW News, January 13, 2012

Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years

This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup

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Another Week of Global Warming News

Information Overload is Pattern Recognition

January 13, 2013

• Chuckles, Hottest Year, Australia Burning, Holmes Family, Retrospectives
• Bottom Line, Subsidies, Thermodynamics, Cook
• Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy
• Melting Arctic, Orca, Geopolitics, Antarctica
• Food Crisis, Fisheries, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, GMOs, Food Production
• Hurricanes, GHGs, Temperatures, Aerosols, Paleoclimate, Historical Climate
• ENSO, Climate Sensitivity, Oceans, Extinctions, Biomimicry, Satellites
• Impacts, Forests, Weather: Notable, Wacky, Extreme, New
• Tornadoes, Corals, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Floods & Droughts
• Mitigation, Transportation, Sequestration, Geoengineering, Adaptation
• Journals, Other Docs, Misc. Science, DIY Science, Models, Open Science
• International Politics: UN, IPCC, Carbon Trade, Carbon Tax, Hormuz, South China Sea
• Rare Earths, Law & Activism, Activism, Polls, H2O Biz, Religioso, Predictions
• National Politics: America, BP Disaster, Post Sandy, Monnett, Keystone
• Carbon Tax, Birth Control, NCADAC, Obama, USAdmin, Congress
• Britain, Europe, Australia, Off the Charts, MDBP, India, China, South America
• Canada, Idle No More, Bills C-38 & C-45, Mining Suit, Muzzled Scientists
• Northern Gateway, Kinder Morgan, McDougall, Salmon, BC, Tar Sands, Ontario, Maritimes
• Ecological Economics, IPAT, Apocalypso, Media, Books, Video, Podcasts, Courts
• Energy, Transitions, Fracking, Coal, Oil & Gas, Independence, Oil & Economy
• Pipelines, Biofuel, Wind, Solar, Nukes, Grid, Cars
• Insurance, Joe's List, Carbon Lobby, Miscellaneous, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion, .sig

Live and direct from the black humour department:

• 2013/01/10: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) On Setting Records
• 2013/01/09: uComics: (cartoon - Toles) Lines in the Sand
• 2013/01/12: ABC(Au): White House strikes back on Death Star petition
  [...]
  "The Administration does not support blowing up planets."
• 2013/01/10: ERabett: Overly Honest Methods Explains It All
  

  And for those who enjoy challenging Poe's Law:

   

• 2013/01/08: Wonkette: Victoria Jackson: Biking Is The Gateway Drug To Socialism, Hell
  

  NOAA posts a significant record -- America's Hottest Year On Record:

• 2013/01/11: TP:JR: By The Numbers: Breaking Down America's Hottest Year On Record
• 2013/01/10: WSWS: 2012 was hottest year recorded in US
• 2013/01/09: CSW: 2012 the warmest and second most extreme year on record for the U.S.
• 2013/01/09: Guardian(UK): America's hottest year on record: a state by state map
• 2013/01/09: TreeHugger: 2012 Was Hottest Year on Record for U.S. Lower 48 States, Says NOAA
• 2013/01/09: CNN: NOAA: 2012 broke U.S. heat records
  Last year's extreme weather could be "the new normal," environmentalist says - NOAA declares 2012 the hottest on record - Every state in the Lower 48 saw above-average temperatures; 19 set their own records - Droughts, tropical storms and other disasters made it the second-most extreme year
• 2013/01/09: GLaden: NOAA: 2012 Warmest Year on Record for the US 48
• 2013/01/09: BBerg: Last Year Wasn't Just Hot -- It Was a Habanero: Chart
• 2013/01/09: DD: By a wide margin, 2012 was warmest year on record in the U.S.
• 2013/01/08: Wunderground: 2012: warmest and 2nd most extreme year in U.S. history
• 2013/01/08: CSM: How hot was 2012? Hottest on record in US, by a long shot
• 2013/01/08: NYT: Not Even Close: 2012 Was Hottest Ever in U.S.
• 2013/01/08: BBC: US 2012 heat record 'partly due to climate change'
  The US sweltered under its hottest year on record in 2012, breaking the previous yearly average by 0.6C (1F), the US government has said. Last year the average US temperature was 13C (55.3F) amid widespread drought and a mild winter. Scientists said the heat was caused both by global warming and by natural weather variation. But they said the size of the increase over the previous record year, 1998, was unprecedented.
• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): Hottest on record: 2012 was America's warmest ever year, scientists say
  Figures show 2012 was a full degree Fahrenheit hotter than 1998 record - and scientists say they expect more of the same
• 2013/01/08: CapClimate: U.S. Record Warmest Year Confirmed by Unprecedented Margin
• 2013/01/08: TP:JR: NOAA: 2012 Was Officially The Warmest Year On Record For The U.S., Second Most Extreme
  

  The continuing heatwave and wildfire crisis in Australia is grabbing headlines:

• 2013/01/13: ABC(Au): Homes in danger from blaze in northern NSW
  Authorities are warning lives and property are under immediate threat as a large bushfire burns out of control near communities in northern New South Wales. The Rural Fire Service has issued an emergency warning for the large, fast moving blaze near Coonabarabran, which has already destroyed two properties.
• 2013/01/13: ABC(Au): Scorching heat stops outback trains
  Trains have been halted in western Queensland amid fears tracks may buckle in the scorching heat. The state is enduring heatwave conditions, with the mercury climbing into the 40s in many inland centres.
• 2013/01/13: ABC(Au): Tasmanians, tourists return to fire-ravaged towns
  The main highway through Tasmania's bushfire-stricken south-east will re-open today, allowing more residents return to their devastated communities.
• 2013/01/13: ABC(Au): Fire threat eases in Central Australia
• 2013/01/12: Guardian(UK): As Australia heatwave hits new high, warning that bushfires will continue
• 2013/01/12: ABC(Au): Heat waves exacerbated by climate change
  Fire crews in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales have worked through the night to try to contain dozens of bushfires still burning out of control. And there's concern that a return to heat wave conditions today will bring many more blazes. The Federal Government's Climate Commission says we'd better get used to it - heatwaves are set to get hotter, longer, bigger and more frequent. The Climate Commission says the heatwave and bushfires which have dogged Australia this week have been exacerbated by global warming. The Commission is launching its findings in a new report today, called "Off the Charts: Extreme Australian Summer Heat."
• 2013/01/12: BBC: Bushfires rage on in Australia 'helped' by climate change
  Australian firefighters are continuing to tackle more than 100 bushfires, which have gutted houses and thousands of hectares of land.
• 2013/01/12: ABC(Au): Weary crews to battle blazes through the night
  Weary fire crews and residents across New South Wales are bracing for more hot weather as bushfires continue to burn out of control across parts of the state. The bushfire situation remains serious in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, while crews are on standby in Central Australia.
• 2013/01/12: BBerg: Australian Heat Wave Adds to Fire Risk in New South Wales
  Temperatures soared through much of New South Wales, ensuring a total fire ban stayed in place as firefighters battle blazes in the south of Australia's most populous state. Temperatures rose as high as 46.8 degrees Celsius (116 degrees Fahrenheit) in inland parts of the state today, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
• 2013/01/12: ABC(Au): The Queensland Fire and Rescue Service says it urgently needs volunteers to help combat thousands of bushfires this year
• 2013/01/11: IOTD: Australia on Fire
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Authorities brace for renewed fire threat
  Fire authorities are on alert for a dangerous weekend in south-east Australia after crews spent another day fighting blazes still burning out of control. The situation remains serious in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. More than 100 bushfires are burning in New South Wales alone, and 18 are uncontained.
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Weekend holds extreme fire risk for ACT
• 2013/01/11: Guardian(UK): As Australia burns, attitudes are changing. But is it too late?
  Raging wildfires are forcing many to rethink their stance on climate change. But there's little time left to reduce emissions
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au):TDU: Controlled burns are better than the alternative
  Burning off has proven unpopular with land owners fearing legal repercussions and politicians unwilling to make tough decisions, writes Sophie Love. Expect to see more devastating fires as a result.
• 2013/01/11: Grist: Top Australian climate scientist: Heat wave 'encroaching on entirely new territory'
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Alerts issued as NSW heats up
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Red Centre warned of worsening fire danger
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Fire Authorities expecting the worse
  After two days of reprieve, today heatwave conditions returned to south eastern Australia. The mercury again pushed past 40 degrees in western parts of New South Wales. The heat brought with it more fire danger. Close to 100 bushfires are still burning across New South Wales. In Victoria a bushfire has been threatening property near Ballarat. And with the hot weather forecast to continue, preparations are being made for what could be trying days ahead.
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Mixed feelings as residents return to bushfire towns
  Residents and shack owners on Tasmania's fire-ravaged Forestier and Tasman Peninsulas were allowed to return to their properties for the first time today.
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Weather conditions set to stoke fire threat
  Fire authorities are preparing for worsening weather conditions throughout Friday and into the weekend as crews battle to quell blazes across the country. A total fire ban is in place for New South Wales, the ACT and Victoria as the nation continues to suffer a record-breaking heatwave. Over 100 fires are burning across New South Wales, with authorities particularly concerned about three major blazes: one burning at Deans Gap, south of Nowra; a fire west of Yass, near Jugiong; and another at Yarrabin in the Kybeyan Valley, 20 kilometres east of Cooma.
• 2013/01/11: PSinclair: Fever in Oz
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Storms miss fires as state swelters
  Queensland's heatwave will continue into next week with many communities enduring their hottest conditions in decades.
• 2013/01/10: Guardian(UK): Australian heatwave nears 50C inland as severe fire threat declared
• 2013/01/10: TreeHugger: Off the Charts: Australia So Hot, New Colors Added to Weather Map
• 2013/01/10: ABC(Au): Dunalley locals question control-burning regime
  Locals in the Tasmanian fishing village of Dunalley say the fire which ravaged their community would not have been so ferocious if hazard reduction burns had been carried out before the summer. A total of 126 properties were destroyed or damaged in the Dunalley fire, and a photo (above) given to the ABC yesterday and taken from a fire-fighting helicopter shows a giant fireball bearing down on the town at the height of the inferno.
• 2013/01/10: ABC(Au): South West National Park continues to burn
  The biggest fire in Tasmania is burning at Giblin River in the South West National Park - the state's largest national park. The fire has burned 49 thousand hectares and is still out of control.
• 2013/01/10: ABC(Au): Emergency crews gearing up as weather heats up
• 2013/01/10: ABC(Au): Kiwi firefighters hike into Tas wilderness to contain fires
• 2013/01/10: RBroberg: Fire Weather: SE Australia
• 2013/01/10: PSinclair: From Space, Australia Burns
• 2013/01/10: ABC(Au): Fire relief as farmers left to destroy livestock
• 2013/01/09: DemNow: Australia on Fire: Record-Shattering Heat, Wildfires Engulf World's Largest Exporter of Coal
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Conditions ease but fire threat far from over
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Australia's heatwave forecast in one animated map
• 2013/01/09: DeSmogBlog: Australia Scorches In Record Heatwave As Warming Trends Bite
• 2013/01/09: BBC: Australia races to control fires as new heat wave looms
• 2013/01/09: BBC: Australian wildfires add to growing confusion over climate
• 2013/01/09: BBC: Can the body cope with 50C?
• 2013/01/09: BBC: Australia heat sparks chart change
• 2013/01/09: CCentral: Epic Heat, Wildfires Are Scorching Australian Landscape
• 2013/01/09: CCurrents: Australia: Hundreds Of Bushfires As Heatwave Continues
• 2013/01/08: CCP: Gareth Renowden: Too hot: Australia's big heat breaking records
• 2013/01/09: NewAnthropocene: The Week Ahead -- Australia Facing 50+ degrees C
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Recovery talks begin in Tas as fires still burn
  About 40 bushfires are still burning in Tasmania, but already the talk is turning to recovery. The Premier Lara Giddings has announced the formation of an interim committee to work with communities ravaged by fire.
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Hopes are rising that there may not have been any lives lost despite the ferocity of Tasmania's devastating bushfires
  Police have now searched more than 800 properties on the Tasman and Forestier Peninsulas. But they warn it is still too early to definitively say no-one has died in the bushfires.
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Fierce bushfires remain fatality free
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Cooler weather brings reprieve, but fires still burning
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Residents complain about fire information
  People who were in the path of a fire that swept through Snake Valley west of Ballarat have complained about a lack of information about the blaze. Nine houses, including the historic Carngham Station homestead, were destroyed in the fire that burned 1,200 hectares yesterday. Twelve people were injured.
• 2013/01/09: SMH: Firefighters in desperate race to contain fires ahead of more heat to come
• 2013/01/09: OilChange: Purple Haze
• 2013/01/09: CBC: Australian temperatures cool but fires rage on
• 2013/01/09: al Jazeera: Weather cools Australia bush blaze
  Firefighters welcome cooler weather as bushfires continue to wreak havoc in New South Wales state.
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Live blog: cool weather offers respite in fire efforts
  Firefighters across south-east Australia have had another frantic morning trying to get fires under control ahead of the expected return of hot conditions later this week. Homes were destroyed in Victoria yesterday, but concerns over the number of people still unaccounted for in the Tasmanian bushfires have eased The heatwave is shifting north to northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, with temperatures of up to 40C forecast near Brisbane today.
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): The New South Wales premier Barry O'Farrell has warned the state's bushfire emergency is not over
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Long battle to tame Red Centre fires
  A number of uncontrolled fires continue to burn across Central Australia. Emergency services are now focusing on a blaze east of Alice Springs. Crews have spent the night trying to slow the progress of a fire burning at Ross River, about 80 kilometres east of Alice Springs.
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): More pain for Princes Highway drivers after bushfire
  The Princes Highway has been closed again south of Nowra, on the New South Wales south coast, because of the Deans Gap bushfire. Drivers have been stranded and traffic is backed up after the blaze jumped the road last night.
• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): Australia adds new colour to temperature maps as heat soars
• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): Australian heatwave puts south-east on alert as wildfires burn out of control
• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): Australian heatwave sparks fires - in [13] pictures
• 2013/01/08: ERabett: The Color Purple
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Large out-of-control bushfire spreading in south west Vic
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Outback roads 'melt' as Australia records hottest day
• 2013/01/08: NASA: NASA Sees Several Fires in Tasmania
• 2013/01/08: RBroberg: Tasmanian Bushfires
• 2013/01/08: TP:JR: 'Sprawling Heat Wave Of Historical Proportions' Brings 'Horrendous' Wildfires To Australia
• 2013/01/08: BBC: Cooler weather brings relief to fire-ravaged Australia
• 2013/01/08: CBC: Extreme Australian temperatures alter face of country's heat map -- Temperatures to soar past 50 C
• 2013/01/08: al Jazeera: Australia bushfires rage out of control
  More than 100 fires burn in the country's most populous state as intense heat and winds make conditions "catastrophic".
• 2013/01/08: al Jazeera: In Pictures: Wildfires rage in Australia
  Parts of New South Wales were placed on high alert on Tuesday after the risk of wildfires was classed as 'catastrophic'.
• 2013/01/08: DD: 'Exceptional' Australia heatwave challenges records - 'Australia-wide, we are currently well above average by many degrees'
• 2013/01/08: TP:JR: Off-The-Charts Heat Wave Brings Australia Its Hottest Average Temperature And New Map Colors For Temps Above 122°F!
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Catastrophic danger across parts of NSW
  More areas of New South Wales have been given a catastrophic fire danger rating, as high temperatures and winds reach their peak. The northern and eastern Riverina and southern parts of the lower central western plains will stay at catastrophic levels for several hours before a cool change later tonight. The Rural Fire Service says people in these areas should avoid bushland areas and ensure they know what to do if a fire threatens their area. The Illawarra, Shoalhaven and southern highlands remain under a catastrophic fire danger rating.
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Fire threatens homes near Cooma
  An out-of-control fire burning near Cooma in southern New South Wales has crossed the Numeralla River into the Kybean Valley. It is currently burning near properties in The Avenue, Hains Road, Warnocks Road.
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Water bombers attack
  Water bombers and fire spotting planes are in the skies over Thargomindah, as fire crews try to bring a large blaze under control.
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Landholders told to do more to prepare for the rest of the WA bushfire season
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Fire ravaged plantations causes big dollar damage bill
• 2013/01/08: Wunderground: Historic heat wave brings Australia its hottest average temperature on record
• 2013/01/08: TheAge: Temperatures off the charts as Australia turns deep purple
• 2013/01/08: NewsCorp: Fast-moving fire takes properties in central Victoria as NSW battles 135 blazes
• 2013/01/08: WTY: 52C And The Colour Purple In Australia
• 2013/01/08: CBC: Australia bushfires fanned by winds in 'catastrophic' scenario -- More than 100 residents still missing in Tasmania amid blistering temperatures
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Australia swelters through hottest ever day
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Tasmanian fire threats downgraded but alerts remain [pix]
• 2013/01/08: CDreams: Burning 'Deep Purple': Australia So Hot New Color Added to Index -- An 'unparalleled setting of new heat extremes' continues
• 2013/01/08: al Jazeera: Searing heat fuels Australia forest fires
  Prime Minister Gillard warns Australians to keep safe as temperatures soar to "very dangerous" levels.
• 2013/01/08: TheAge: Temperatures off the charts as Australia turns deep purple
• 2013/01/08: WtD: The New Normal: BOM predicting temperatures to reach >50c next week
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Live: Catastrophic fire alerts as heatwave hits
  Fast-moving bushfires are threatening homes in New South Wales and Tasmania amongst some of the most dangerous fire conditions ever seen in southern Australia.
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Red Centre fire alert as heatwave nears record
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Outback town swelters through week of 45C
  Residents in the outback town of Oodnadatta are preparing for their seventh consecutive day above 45 degrees Celsius. The temperature at the town in South Australia's far north is forecast to reach 47C today after reaching 46C on Saturday and 47C on Sunday and Monday. It will be the 10th day in a row above 40C. The last time the town experienced a maximum below 35C was December 10.
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Heatwave tracker: latest weather updates
• 2013/01/07: Guardian(UK): Bushfires in Australia leave path of destruction
• 2013/01/07: GLaden: The Australian Heat Wave
• 2013/01/07: BBC: Residents in south-eastern Australia have been warned of the risk of "catastrophic" fires fanned by high winds and record temperatures
• 2013/01/07: CNN: Firefighters battle blazes on 'dangerous day' in Australia
  Federal government steps in with fuel, personnel to help NSW fire effort - More than 130 fires are burning across NSW during one of the hottest days on record - 90% of the Australian state is under "severe" or higher fire warnings - High temperatures and dry conditions have combined to create "dangerous day"
• 2013/01/07: GLaden: Global Warming Moves South #BigAussieHeat
• 2013/01/07: HotWhopper: A Whopper of a Heat Wave
• 2013/01/07: DD: Over 100 missing in Tasmania as 'catastrophic' fire conditions sweep Australia - 'Perhaps the worst fire danger the state has ever faced'
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Central Australian firefighters get extra resources
  Bushfires NT has sent two fire units from Darwin to Alice Springs to help firefighters during the bushfire season in Central Australia.
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Fire risk heating up this week
  The NSW Rural Fire Service is bracing itself for catastrophic conditions across the state in coming days...
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): CFS helps battle Victorian bushfire
  South Australian firefighters are in Victoria's south-west helping local crews battle a large bushfire about 40 kilometres from the border. The blaze has burnt about 4000 hectares of bushland in the Lower Glenelg National Park and a pine plantation since Friday.
• 2013/01/07: Reuters: Australia braces for "catastrophic" wildfire day
  Australia was bracing on Monday for days of "catastrophic" fire and heatwave conditions, with fires already burning in five states and as a search continued for people missing after devastating wildfires in the island state of Tasmania.
• 2013/01/07: CSM: Australia fires burn 50,000 acres of farmland and forest
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): NSW faces 'worst ever' fire danger day
  New South Wales residents are being warned to prepare for one of the most serious fire threats in the state's history, with conditions rated as "catastrophic". A total state-wide fire ban has been issued for Tuesday, with a catastrophic rating in place for the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern Ranges. Many other areas are expecting extreme danger levels.
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Conditions ease as Tasmanian crews battle bushfires
• 2013/01/07: CBC: Australia hunts for bodies after Tasmanian wildfires -- Fires have burned 20,000 hectares across southern Tasmania since Friday
• 2013/01/06: CDreams: Wildfires Rage Across Tasmania As Australia Swelters Under Heatwave -- Heat, wind, drought bring firey conditions to nation
• 2013/01/07: WSWS: Bushfires hit five Australian states
• 2013/01/06: al Jazeera: Scores still missing after Tasmania bushfires
  Rescue teams search for more than 100 missing people after bushfires swept through Australian island state of Tasmania.
• 2013/01/06: AFTIC: Hot day
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Gillard visits Tasmania as bushfires burn
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Alert issued as Riverina [NSW] fire burns out of control
• 2013/01/06: Guardian(UK): Australian wildfires still raging in Tasmania
• 2013/01/06: P3: Australian Heat Wave Has No Precedent
  

  The Holmes family is destined to become the icon of survival defying the Tasmanian wildfires:

• 2013/01/10: CCP: Grandparents save five kids from 'tornadoes of fire' in Australia: pics
• 2013/01/09: CBC: Australian family escapes wildfires by huddling in water -- Sought refuge under jetty as flames tore through home nearby
• 2013/01/09: Guardian(UK): Wildfires: an astonishing photograph of survivors in an age of catastrophe
• 2013/01/09: Guardian(UK): Australian wildfires: clinging to life, a family defies wall of flame
• 2013/01/09: Guardian(UK): Pictured: the dramatic moment a family fleeing Australia's wildfires shelter in the water to escape the flames
• 2013/01/07: WtD: Stunning images of family sheltering in water as fire rages around them
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Dunalley family shares amazing story of surviving Tasmania's bushfire
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Stories of survival emerge from Tas inferno
  

  Yet more year end retrospectives:

• 2013/01/11: DeSmogBlog: The Biggest Little Black Lie of 2012
• 2013/01/11: Wunderground: Top Ten Global Weather Events of 2012
• 2013/01/07: TP:JR: What Did We Learn About Climate And Energy In 2012?
  

  And on the Bottom Line:

• 2013/01/09: CCurrents: Who Should Pay For The Costs Of Climate Change?
• 2013/01/10: DD: Kansas City Star: The costly ignorance of climate change
• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): Climate change, debt and inequality 'threaten financial stability' [WEF's Global Risks report]
• 2013/01/08: WEForum: [link to 12.2 meg pdf] Global Risks 2013 - Eighth Edition
• 2013/01/08: IIASA: Shareholder responsibility could spur shift to sustainable energy
  Allowing shareholders to be held liable for the damages that companies cause to the environment and people could help transform the world's energy system towards sustainability, according to new research published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
• 2013/01/07: CDreams: Who Should Pay for the Costs of Climate Change?
  Increasingly frequent disasters like Hurricane Sandy and Typhoon Bopha raise the question of global sharing
• 2013/01/06: TP:JR: Nature: Limiting Climate Change Will Become Much Harder 'And More Expensive If Action Is Not Taken Soon'
  

  Who's getting the subsidies, tax exemptions, loan guarantees & grants?

• 2013/01/09: TP:JR: Big Oil Lobby Claims The Industry 'Gets No Subsidies, Zero, Nothing'
  

  Delving into the laws of thermodynamics this week:

• 2013/01/13: TSoD: Visualizing Atmospheric Radiation - Part Seven - CO2 increases
• 2013/01/12: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #2 by John Hartz
• 2013/01/12: TSoD: Visualizing Atmospheric Radiation - Part Six - Technical on Line Shapes
• 2013/01/10: TSoD: Visualizing Atmospheric Radiation - Part Five - The Code
• 2013/01/09: TSoD: Visualizing Atmospheric Radiation - Part Four - Water Vapor
• 2013/01/08: TSoD: Visualizing Atmospheric Radiation - Part Three - Average Height of Emission
  

  John Cook and friends continue their point-counterpoint articles:

• 2013/01/12: SkS: Nature Confirms Global Warming and Temperature Record Accuracy by dana1981
• 2013/01/11: SkS: Met Office decadal forecasting explained: the reality by John Mason
• 2013/01/10: SkS: 16 ^more^ years of global warming by Kevin C
• 2013/01/10: SkS: Resolving Confusion Over the Met Office Statement and Continued Global Warming by dana1981
• 2013/01/09: SkS: Observed Warming of the Ocean and Atmosphere is Incompatible with Natural Variation by Rob Painting
• 2013/01/09: SkS: A Brief Note on the Latest Release of Draft IPCC Documents by dana1981
• 2013/01/08: SkS: Temperatures Continue Up the Escalator by dana1981
• 2013/01/07: SkS: Dark matter for Greenland melting by Jason Box
  

  A note on the Fukushima disaster:

  It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.] We'll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
  Meanwhile...
  It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.
  How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
  Do they have an agenda?
  Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
  Do they want to write a good news story?
  Do they want to write a bad news story?
  Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
  Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
  One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
  If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

  Not much good news coming out of Fukushima:

• 2013/01/11: EneNews: Legal Expert: 3 police died of acute leukemia after being sent to Fukushima within 50 kilometers of plant
• 2013/01/11: Guardian(UK): Fukushima 50: 'We felt like kamikaze pilots ready to sacrifice everything'
  Nuclear plant staff live unseen in the shadow of the disaster, says worker Atsufumi Yoshizawa, as Japan grapples with the fallout from the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl
• 2013/01/10: EneNews: 'First Time': Radioactive rice with more than double gov't cesium limit found outside Fukushima Prefecture
• 2013/01/10: Asahi: Crooked Cleanup: Environment Ministry failed to act on Asahi tip-off
• 2013/01/09: Asahi: Crooked Cleanup: Decontamination workers say cutting corners came naturally
• 2013/01/09: Asahi: [Editorial] More data needed to make decontamination work effective
• 2013/01/08: EneNews: Cover for Fukushima Spent Fuel Pool No. 4 - Tepco starts installing giant steel frame (photos)
• 2013/01/08: EneNews: NYTimes: Japan's cleanup denounced - "A disgrace... absolutely irresponsible" - Company that built all six Fukushima reactor buildings is leading 'decontamination'
• 2013/01/07: NYT: In Japan, a Painfully Slow Sweep
• 2013/01/07: Asahi: Crooked Cleanup: Government to investigate Fukushima decontamination
  

  Post Fukushima, nuclear policies are in flux around the world:

• 2013/01/11: Guardian(UK): Japan seeks to reverse commitment to phase out nuclear power
  

  The Arctic melt continues to garner attention:

• 2013/01/12: CCP: Extremely unusual Arctic sea ice goings on for January
• 2013/01/11: CCP: NSIDC Arctic Sea Ice Report, January 8, 2013: Arctic Oscillation Switches to Negative Phase
• 2013/01/10: ASI: Arctic snow cover shows steep decline
• 2013/01/10: ArcticNews: Dark Snow Project - Research into soot on Greenland
• 2013/01/09: CCP: West Greenland warming anomaly hits 10 °C
• 2013/01/09: ASI: PIOMAS January 2013
• 2013/01/08: CCP: PIOMAS: Arctic sea ice volume figures for December 30, 2012, show increased decline
• 2013/01/08: NSIDC: Arctic Oscillation switches to negative phase
• 2013/01/07: ERW: West Greenland warming hits 10°C
  Some parts of west Greenland have warmed more than 10°C in winter in the last 20 years. That is according to a team from the UK, US, Denmark and Switzerland, which has conducted the first major systematic analysis of Greenland's temperatures since 2002.
• 2013/01/08: IOTD: Snow Cover Extent Declines in the Arctic
• 2013/01/06: PSinclair: Sampling Greenland: The Dark Snow Project
• 2013/01/06: ASI: Looking for winter weirdness 5
  

  As for the charismatic megafauna:

• 2013/01/11: BBC: Killer whales escape as Canada's Hudson Bay ice shifts
  A dozen killer whales trapped under sea ice with only a single breathing hole have reached safety in Canada's Hudson Bay, local villagers have reported.
• 2013/01/10: Guardian(UK): Stranded killer whales break free from Hudson Bay ice
  The dozen trapped orcas swam free after changing weather conditions cracked the sea ice in northern Canada

• As for the geopolitics of Arctic resources:

• 2013/01/11: ADN: Point-Counterpoint: Shell superb in Kulluk response
• 2013/01/11: ADN: Point-counteroint: Kulluk grounding shows Shell not ready for Arctic
• 2013/01/10: CSM: Arctic drilling mishaps challenge promise of Alaskan oil
• 2013/01/10: CCP: Investigation of Shell, Kulluk fiasco, and other problems by Federal authorities
• 2013/01/09: TP:JR: Salazar On Arctic Drilling: "It May Be That Shell Isn't Even Ready To Move Forward In 2013"
• 2013/01/08: NYT: Interior Dept. Expedites Review of Arctic Drilling After Accidents
  The Interior Department on Tuesday opened an urgent review of Arctic offshore drilling operations after a series of blunders and accidents involving Shell Oil's drill ships and support equipment, culminating in the grounding of one of its drilling vessels last week off the coast of Alaska.
• 2013/01/08: TP:JR: LOOK: Map Reveals How Poorly Equipped Shell Would Be To Handle An Oil Spill In The Arctic
• 2013/01/07: BBC: Kulluk: Shell drill rig towed to safety in Alaskan bay
• 2013/01/07: CBC: Shell drilling rig [Kulluk] towed after running aground off Alaska
• 2013/01/07: BBerg: Shell's Grounded Arctic Drilling Rig Successfully Refloated
• 2013/01/07: TP:JR: Coast Guard Conducts Investigation Of Arctic Drilling Ship Contracted By Shell
• 2013/01/07: OilChange: "Blundering" Shell Has to be Banned from Arctic
• 2013/01/07: Guardian(UK): Stricken Shell oil vessel [Kulluk] towed away after being successfully refloated
• 2013/01/06: FDL: Alaska Blog and Media Coverage of the Kulluk Grounding
• 2013/01/06: CDreams: Will Shell's Rig Grounding Thwart Its Arctic Oil Plans?
• 2013/01/06: DeSmogBlog: A Timeline of Shell's Arctic Drilling Debacle in 2012
  

  While in Antarctica:

• 2013/01/11: Discovery: Russians Nab First Sample of Lake Vostok
• 2013/01/11: ScienceInsider: Russian Team Retrieves First Sample From Lake Vostok
  

  The food crisis is ongoing:

• 2013/01/11: ProMedMail: Late blight, potato: new strains threat
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Sheep die in outback Queensland blaze -- It's believed fires in western Queensland have killed more than 100 sheep
• 2013/01/10: BizInsider: More And More Of America's PhDs Are On Welfare [Food stamps]
• 2013/01/10: BBerg: Corn Supply Dropping Most Since 1995 Signals U.S. Rally
  U.S. corn supplies, the world's biggest, are dropping at the fastest pace in 17 years as drought damage exceeds government forecasts and five months of declining prices spur demand from livestock producers. Inventories on Dec. 1 were 15 percent lower than a year earlier at 8.22 billion bushels (208.8 million metric tons), the smallest post-harvest stockpile since 2003, according to the average of 26 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Macquarie Group Ltd. expect prices to rebound at least 17 percent to $8.14 a bushel in 2013.
• 2013/01/09: CCP: Kansas loses 30% of winter wheat crop to drought
• 2013/01/09: TheConversation: Can crops withstand more heat waves?
• 2013/01/09: Reuters: USDA declares drought disaster in much of Wheat Belt
• 2013/01/10: TreeHugger: Historic Droughts and Wildfires Caused Hay-Bale Theft in U.S.
• 2013/01/11: CNN: Australia's farmers on the front line of global weather extremes
  Extreme weather pushing up cost of doing business in the Australian agricultural sector - Primary food producers have had to run a gauntlet of climatic extremes - Australia's $2 billion-a-year wine industry is one area at risk from bushfires - But volatile weather events threaten food security well beyond Australia
• 2013/01/11: BPA: The U.S. Will Again Produce More of the Nitrogen Fertilizer it Uses for Agriculture
  In the interim, we will work like mad to extract more natural gas through fracking. We will turn that fracked gas into nitrogen fertilizer to grow more corn than we need. We will use that fracked gas to convert that great surplus of corn into ethanol. And, finally, we will burn that ethanol in our cars, which we will use to drive to our grocery stores to pay higher prices for our food.

  This is not the best picture of an efficiency model.

• 2013/01/09: DailyCaller: New data show 1 in 4 children on food stamps in FY 2011
• 2013/01/06: PressTV: US government spent $80.4 bn on food stamps in 2012
  The US government has spent a record USD 80.4 billion on food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that helps Americans who cannot afford to buy food.

• The state of the world's fisheries is a concern:

• 2013/01/11: NOAANews: NOAA to work with 10 nations to address illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and stem the bycatch of protected species
• 2013/01/09: NatureN: Fish biologists claim political interference over salmon studies
  Seven US fisheries scientists have raised a formal complaint claiming that a supervisor threatened to eliminate their research division after the team produced controversial model predictions of survival and recovery of the threatened coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in the Klamath River Basin in Oregon. "This falls into the basket of obstruction of science for policy or political ends," says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), based in Washington DC. The watchdog group filed the complaint of scientific misconduct on 7 January to the Department of Interior on behalf of the scientists who work at the US Bureau of Reclamation in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

• Food Prices are still problematic:

• FAO: World Food Situation - Food Price Indices
• 2013/01/10: FAO: FAO Food Price Index down 7 percent in 2012 -- Declines for third month running in December
• 2013/01/10: UN: UN reports drop in food prices for third consecutive month
• 2013/01/10: NBF: World food prices were 7.0 percent cheaper than last year
  

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2013/01/09: MoJo: What Does Biofuel Have To Do With the Price of Tortillas in Guatemala?
  In Guatemala, US and EU biofuel mandates are jacking up food prices for the urban poor and pushing subsistence farmers off of land.
• 2013/01/07: TP:JR: How U.S. Biofuel Policy Is Destroying Guatemala's Food Supply
• 2013/01/05: NYT: As Biofuel Demand Grows, So Do Guatemala's Hunger Pangs
  

  Regarding the genetic modification of food:

• 2013/01/12: MLynas: Response to UCS "Science, Dogma and Mark Lynas"
• 2013/01/11: UCSUSA:B: Science, Dogma, and Mark Lynas
• 2013/01/10: EcoWatch: Hundreds Protest Demanding Monsanto End Intimidation Campaign Over GMOs and Obama Halt Approval of GE Foods
• 2013/01/08: CDreams: Family Farmers Mobilize in Ongoing Battle Against Monsanto
  Group heads to federal appeals court to be free from "legal threats and intimidation" from genetically modified giant
• 2013/01/08: NewYorker: An Environmentalist's Conversion
  

  And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?

• 2013/01/10: CNN: World wastes half its food, study finds
  Globally about 4.4 billion tons of food is produced, engineering group said - Consumers in developed countries throw as much as 50 percent away - Waste comes at all stages - harvesting, storage, transportation, and purchasing
• 2013/01/10: EurActiv: Almost half of the world's food thrown away, report finds
  As much as half of all the food produced in the world -- equivalent to 2bn tonnes -- ends up as waste every year, engineers warned in a report published on Thursday. The UK's Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) blames the "staggering" new figures in its analysis on unnecessarily strict sell-by dates, buy-one-get-one free and Western consumer demand for cosmetically perfect food, along with "poor engineering and agricultural practices", inadequate infrastructure and poor storage facilities.
• 2013/01/09: Grist: Thought for food: New think tank looks for global solutions to our broken food system
• 2013/01/10: BBC: Half of all food 'wasted' report claims
  As much as half of the world's food, amounting to two billion tonnes worth, is wasted, a UK-based report has claimed. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers said the waste was being caused by poor storage, strict sell-by dates, bulk offers and consumer fussiness. The study also found that up to 30% of vegetables in the UK were not harvested because of their physical appearance. The institution's Dr Tim Fox said the level of waste was "staggering".
• 2013/01/12: MoJo: Why the Government Should Pay Farmers to Plant Cover Crops
  This and a few other relatively simple steps could go a long way toward readying America's farmland for climate change.
• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): Qatar builds farms in the desert
  The Gulf emirate is growing flowers, and has ambitious plans to grow fruit and vegetables to reduce its imports
• 2013/01/08: TheConversation: Australia can't feed the world but it can helpP>
  

  In the South Indian Ocean, Narelle spun up to Cat 5 threatening the western Australian coast:

   

• 2013/01/13: ABC(Au): Cyclone Narelle downgraded
  Tropical Cyclone Narelle appears to have spared Exmouth from destructive weather, as it continues to move down Western Australia's Pilbara coast. Narelle was downgraded to a category four storm overnight, and was most recently located about 330 kilometres west north-west of Exmouth.
• 2013/01/13: ABC(Au): Weakened Narelle moves away from WA coast
  Tropical Cyclone Narelle has been downgraded to a category three system as it moves away from the West Australian coast. The cyclone is 350 kilometres off Exmouth and is expected to pass west of the Northwest Cape today. At its peak, Narelle was considered a category five system but it is expected to weaken to a category one tomorrow afternoon.
• 2013/01/12: ABC(Au): Volatile Cyclone Narelle starts to weaken
  Authorities say Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is showing signs of weakening and is becoming increasingly unlikely communities along Western Australia's West Pilbara coast will be impacted by dangerous weather. Narelle intensified overnight and was upgraded to a category five tropical cyclone early this morning. However, it has since been downgraded back to a category four system and is expected to weaken to a category three on Monday.
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Cyclone Narelle expected to bypass WA coast
  The town of Exmouth is preparing for the potential impact of Tropical Cyclone Narelle, which is moving down Western Australia's Pilbara coast. Local authorities have decided not to upgrade cyclone warnings after the latest forecast shows Narelle moving away from the coast. However, the cyclone, which is currently a category 4 system located about 495 kilometres north, north-west of Exmouth, is still expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain.
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Cyclone Narelle hits category 4 off WA
• 2013/01/11: Eureka: NASA gets an eyeful from major Cyclone Narelle affecting Western Australia
• 2013/01/10: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Narelle approaching Western Australia coast
• 2013/01/10: ABC(Au): Tropical Cyclone Narelle - Jan 2013 [Cat 4]
• 2013/01/09: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Narelle intensifying
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Bureau warns of Cyclone Narelle in WA's North West
• 2013/01/08: Eureka: NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Narelle form in Southern Indian Ocean
  

  In the South China Sea, Sonamu curled away from Malaysia and faded:

   

• 2013/01/08: Eureka: NASA watches a slow-moving Tropical Depression Sonamu
• 2013/01/08: MODIS: Tropical Storm Sonamu (01W) in the South China Sea
• 2013/01/07: Eureka: Wind shear and dry air bashing Tropical Depression Sonamu
  

  While elsewhere in the hurricane wars:

   

• 2013/01/13: ABC(Au): 40,000 emergency shelter kits still needed weeks after [Typhoon Bopha]
• 2013/01/12: MODIS: Tropical Cyclone Dumile (07S) over La Réunion [on Jan 3rd]
• 2013/01/13: MODIS: Tropical Cyclone Dumile (07S) off Madagascar [on Jan 4th]
• 2013/01/07: Wunderground: Hurricane Isaac's legacy: wetland destruction, and a test of the New Orleans levees
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Philippines typhoon [Bopha] after effects linger on
  

  As for GHGs:

• 2013/01/10: TheConversation: Fact check: do bushfires emit more carbon than burning coal?
• 2013/01/12: BBerg: California Power Generation Carbon Emissions Slid 22% in 2011
  Carbon emissions from power generation in California tumbled 22 percent in 2011, countering increases from other industrial sources and helping drive statewide plant emissions down 5.6 percent.
• 2013/01/07: UCI: Major cuts to surging CO2 emissions are needed now, not down the road, study finds
  

  And the temperature record:

• 2013/01/12: CBC: Toronto sets record, basks in warm weather -- Toronto sets record at 14.6 C
• 2013/01/08: Moyhu: December TempLS Global Temp down 0.29°C!! (early est.)
• 2013/01/06: CCP: Australia's average temperature for 5 days above 39 C (102 F) -- never before in history
  

  Aerosols are making their presence felt:

• 2013/01/12: IOTD: A River of Haze
  

  While in the paleoclimate:

• 2013/01/12: SciAm:TAA: Archaea Are More Wonderful Than You Know
  

  And in historical times:

• 2013/01/10: QuarkSoup: Vikings, Greenland, and the Medieval Warm Period
• 2013/01/10: DerSpiegel: Abandoned Colony in Greenland -- Archaeologists Find Clues to Viking Mystery
  For years, researchers have puzzled over why Viking descendents abandoned Greenland in the late 15th century. But archaeologists now believe that economic and identity issues, rather than starvation and disease, drove them back to their ancestral homes.

• While on the ENSO front:

• 2013/01/10: NOAA:NCEP: El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion
  Synopsis: ENSO-neutral is favored through Northern Hemisphere spring 2013.
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Researchers contend an El Nino and climate change link
• 2013/01/07: SpaceDaily: US study says El Nino, climate change link fuzzy
  

  Regarding Climate Sensitivity:

• 2013/01/10: GreenGrok: Climate Sensitivity Revisited
  

  And the State of the Oceans:

• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Heatwave causing massive jellyfish blooms
• 2013/01/09: DerSpiegel: Artificial Resuscitation -- Pumping New Life into Brackish Baltic Sea
  Polluted and virtually cut off from the restorative flow of other bodies of water, Europe's Baltic Sea is slowly running out of oxygen. But one scientist hopes to artificially oxygenate it with pumps. Critics worry there could be unforeseen consequences.

• What's new on the extinction front?

• 2013/01/10: SciAm:EC: Critically Endangered Parakeet Population Grows on Predator-Free Island Reserve
• 2013/01/09: Eureka: Low extinction rates made California a refuge for diverse plant species
• 2013/01/10: BBC: Rhino poaching in South Africa reaches record levels
  Figures from the South African government indicate that poaching for rhinoceros has increased substantially in the last year. A record 668 rhinos were killed for their horns in 2012, up almost 50% on the number for 2011. The majority of the animals were killed in the Kruger national park, the country's biggest wildlife reserve. Experts say that growing demand for rhino horn in Asia is driving the slaughter. South Africa is home to around three quarters of the world's rhinoceros population of around 28,000 animals. In 2007 a mere 13 animals were lost to poachers.
• 2013/01/08: al Jazeera: Kenya hunts for armed elephant-poachers
  Wildlife rangers are searching for poachers in what officials say is the worst elephant killings in three decades.
• 2013/01/08: DD: An avalanche of decline: Snow leopard populations are plummeting
• 2013/01/08: BBC: Kenya hunts ivory poachers after elephant family killed
  Kenya's Wildlife Service says it is pursuing a gang of poachers they suspect of killing an entire family of 11 elephants.

• What's new in biomimicry?

• 2013/01/08: Eureka: Scientists mimic fireflies to make brighter LEDs
  Optics Express papers detail new bio-inspired coating that increases LED efficiency by 55 percent

• The campaign to uncover DSCOVR [Deep Space Climate Observatory] rolls on:

• 2013/01/12: ERabett: But We Are Going to L1
  

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2013/01/10: Grist: Heat: Hell on poor countries, no biggie for the rich
• 2013/01/10: NatGeo:News: The Climate Change Conundrum: What the Future is Beginning to Look Like for Wildlife
• 2013/01/12: WSWS: Recent climate change research points to a growing global crisis
• 2013/01/08: Eureka: Global warming beneficial to ratsnakes
• 2013/01/05: SF Gate: Projecting warming's impact on Bay Area
  

  And then there are the world's forests:

• 2013/01/10: CCP: Dying forests are the latest victims of climate change
• 2013/01/10: CBC: Pine beetle infesting new B.C. tree species
  The mountain pine beetle is on the move to higher elevations and threatening new species of trees and entire sensitive forest ecosystems, according to a new study. The resilient beetle has wreaked havoc mainly on lodge pole pine in B.C., ruining 18 millions hectares of forest -- the equivalent of about five Vancouver Islands. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say the bug is now attacking whitebark pine forests in the northern Rockies in the western U.S. and B.C.
• 2013/01/08: DD: Mountain pine beetle threatening high-altitude, endangered trees
• 2013/01/07: CCentral: Why Bark Beetles are Chewing Through U.S. Forests
  

  This week in notable weather:

• 2013/01/13: al Jazeera: California "Dreaming" of warmer weather
  Frosty temperatures could put southern California's delicate orchards at risk of freezing Freeze warnings have been issued for southern California as Los Angeles and San Diego are expected to see their lowest temperatures in years. A deep dip in the jet stream across the western United States is helping to usher in a very cold polar air mass from Canada.
• 2013/01/11: al Jazeera: Winter storms pound Levant region
  More than a dozen people die as Eastern Mediterranean countries face severe mix of snow, wind and cold temperatures.
• 2013/01/11: al Jazeera: Deadly cold spreads to Bangladesh
  The death toll from severe winter weather is spreading across northern parts of South Asia.
• 2013/01/11: CBC: Blizzard knocks out power across Newfoundland -- Many roads in eastern Newfoundland considered unsafe
• 2013/01/10: USAToday: Cold in China kills about 180,000 cattle, threatens power
• 2013/01/10: BBC: Deadly storms blanket parts of Mid-East in snow
  The worst storms to hit the Middle East in a decade have claimed several lives and left large parts of Israel and Jordan blanketed in snow. Across the region, many schools are shut and thousands of homes are without power. Heavy snow in Jerusalem on Thursday brought transport to a standstill.
• 2013/01/10: ABC(Au): 80 die in record Bangladesh cold snap
  A cold snap which saw temperatures drop to 40-year lows in Bangladesh has killed around 80 people, officials said. Shah Alam, the deputy head of the weather office, said the lowest temperature was recorded at 3 degrees Celsius in the northern town of Syedpur.
• 2013/01/10: CBC: Heavy snow leaves Jerusalem in unfamiliar territory
• 2013/01/09: BBC: In pictures: Storms sweep Middle East
• 2013/01/09: al Jazeera: Severe winter storms
  The eastern Mediterranean is struck by heavy rain, damaging winds and heavy snow.
• 2013/01/08: IndiaTimes: Biting cold brings spectre of Global Warming closer, farmers worried but wheat crop safe
  Icy Siberian winds have chilled northern India and will intensify in the days ahead, making the winter even more severe, and highlighting the uncanny rise in extreme weather patterns such as droughts, hot spells and torrential downpours...
• 2013/01/08: al Jazeera: Two die in Lebanon storms
  Torrential rain and strong winds batter the eastern Mediterranean.
• 2013/01/07: al Jazeera: Winter causes chaos in China
  Dozens of provinces in China have been battling with extreme weather conditions

• Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2013/01/13: CNN: Weird weather: Temperature extremes coast to coast
  Storm damage reported in western Kentucky - Freeze warnings in California and Arizona - The cold front is moving east - Effort to warm cold cats backfires in Tucson
• 2013/01/12: Guardian(UK): Picture of the day: A towering red dust storm in Perth, Australia - picture of the day
• 2013/01/11: Independent(UK): Sand ahoy, captain! Vast dust storm hits Western Australia ahead of cyclone
• 2013/01/10: Wunderground: Freakish Dust Storm Sweeps Over Western Australia
• 2013/01/10: Grist:These photos of the Australian dust storm will blow your mind
  

  This week in the New Normal -- extreme weather:

• 2013/01/11: GreenGrok: Climate Change: Going to Extremes
• 2013/01/10: NYT: Heat, Flood or Icy Cold, Extreme Weather Rages Worldwide
• 2013/01/08: SciAm:PI: Australia's Climate Bureau: get used to record breaking heat
• 2013/01/10: CCP: Australian heat wave new normal -- Get used to record-breaking heat
  

  Rossby Waves? Blocking Patterns? Arctic Oscillation? What is the Arctic melt doing to our weather?

• 2013/01/06: DosBat: Northern Hemisphere Blocking
  

  On the tornado front:

• 2013/01/10: Wunderground: A record 199 days without a tornado death; 1st tornado of 2013 hits Louisiana
  

  Corals are a bellwether of the ocean's health:

• 2013/01/08: Grist: Coral fights back against warming seas
• 2013/01/07: SciNow: A Glimmer of Hope for Coral Reefs
• 2013/01/07: NatureN: Why some corals can take the heat -- Gene-expression study offers clues to how reefs will handle climate change
• 2013/01/07: SciNews: Corals beat the heat by being prepared -- Once waters begin to warm, a study finds, it's too late to adapt
• 2013/01/07: Eureka: Heat-resistant corals provide clues to climate change survival
  

  Glaciers are melting:

• 2013/01/12: FaGP: Dodge Glacier and Storm Glacier Retreat, Northern Greenland
• 2013/01/11: SciNews: Glaciers carve path for future buildup
• 2013/01/09: FaGP: Sepu Kangri Glacier Retreat, Tibet, China
• 2013/01/06: FaGP: Glacier Blanc on Ecrins Retreat, France
  

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2013/01/10: CCurrents: Sea Level Could Rise Up To Three Feet By 2100
• 2013/01/09: RealClimate: Sea-level rise: Where we stand at the start of 2013
  Progress has been made in recent years in understanding the observed past sea-level rise. As a result, process-based projections of future sea-level rise have become dramatically higher and are now closer to semi-empirical projections. However, process-based models still underestimate past sea-level rise, and they still project a smaller rise than semi-empirical models.
• 2013/01/11: RealClimate: Sea-level rise: Where we stand at the start of 2013 - Part 2
• 2013/01/09: CCentral: Sea Level Rise May Eclipse 3 Feet By 2100, Study Finds [Bamber & Aspinall]
• 2013/01/07: CCurrents: Sea Level Rise Threatens The Sunderbans
• 2013/01/07: CDreams: New Study: Meter Rise in Oceans Would Create Coastal Exodus of 200 Million People
  Assessment much more severe than those made just six years ago
• 2013/01/07: DD: 'Horrible' sea level rise of more than 3 feet plausible by 2100, experts say
• 2013/01/06: LNJ: Gulf swallowing Galveston faster than thought
  Rising sea levels are likely to cover the coastal highway on the unprotected west end of Galveston sooner than previously predicted. A 2007 study underwritten by the city of Galveston that anticipated rising sea levels would cover the highway within 60 years appears to have been overly optimistic.
• 2013/01/06: Eureka: A new approach to assessing future sea level rise from ice sheets
• 2013/01/07: Independent(UK): Fear of 'catastrophic' sea-level rise as ice sheets melt faster than predicted
• 2013/01/06: NBC: 'Horrible' sea level rise of more than 3 feet plausible by 2100, experts say
  

  As for hydrological cycle disruptions [floods & droughts]:

• 2013/01/12: al Jazeera: Nigeria's vital Lake Chad left out to dry
  What was once one of the largest water reservoirs in Africa runs risk of drying up by end of century.
• 2013/01/10: al Jazeera: Drought grips northeastern Brazil
  While SE Brazil struggles with floods and the threat of landslides, the NE is tackling extreme drought conditions
• 2013/01/09: ABC(US): Drought could reverse flow of Chicago River
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Flood work continues two years after disaster
  A city on Queensland's Darling Downs is still considering how to warn people about impending natural disasters two years after a fatal flood. This week marks the second anniversary of floods which swept through Toowoomba killing two people.
• 2013/01/07: DD: Worst drought in decades hits Brazil's Northeast
• 2013/01/08: BBerg: Barge Owners Say Drought May Wipe Out Mississippi Gains
  Barge operators on the Mississippi River say the worst drought in 80 years may put at risk gains from emergency dredging and rock removal aimed at keeping the nation's busiest waterway open at least for this month.
• 2013/01/07: Kansas: Kansas drought isn't easing up; forecasters optimistic for later in the year
  

  First, stop subsidizing fossil fuels
  Second, put a price on carbon
  And elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2013/01/08: TP:JR: Rethinking Wedges: We Need A Lot of Clean Energy To Stabilize Near 2°C Warming So We Better Start Deployment ASAP
• 2013/01/10: ScienceInsider: Wedge Issue: Climate Researchers Debate an Iconic Climate Study
• 2013/01/10: SciAm:Obs: What Will It Take to Solve Climate Change?
• 2013/01/12: SimpleC: Delays raise emission halt urgency
• 2013/01/07: UCI: Major cuts to surging CO2 emissions are needed now, not down the road, study finds
• 2013/01/06: VoxEU: Imperfect climate policy unlikely to increase domestic emissions by Corrado Di Maria et al.
  By promising to reduce fossil fuel demand in the future, some claim that climate policies will induce supply side responses today; firms will pump out emissions now before demand restrictions tighten. However, this column argues that the 'green paradox' is a red herring. Evidence from US coal prices suggests that, in industrialised countries, there is little danger of an increase in domestic emissions in response to imperfect climate policies.

• Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2013/01/13: TP:JR: Will 2013 Continue The 7-Year Downward Trend In American Driving?
• 2013/01/08: AutoBG: US average fuel economy reaches all-time high [23.8 mpg]
• 2013/01/07: BBerg: Megabus, BoltBus Overcome U.S. Stigma With Cheap Travel
  A U.S. bus-transportation boom that began seven years ago is accelerating as travelers ditch their cars and avoid airport security lines to buy cheap tickets on Wi-Fi equipped motorcoaches.
• 2013/01/07: BBC: UK new car registrations rose 5.3% in 2012 to 2.04 million - the highest level since 2008, according to the SMMT car industry body
  

  As for carbon sequestration:

• 2013/01/11: Stoat: Funding and politics hobble CCS technology, seen as the best hope for cleaning up coal?
  Or so says Richard Van Noorden, in Nurture. But that's not right. What hobbles CCS is that its uneconomic: so why would you do it?
• 2013/01/08: GEP: IEA Renews Push for CCS
• 2013/01/08: NatureN: Europe's untamed carbon -- Funding and politics hobble CCS technology, seen as the best hope for cleaning up coal
  

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2013/01/09: EJOLT: Geoengineering conflicts: the ETC map
• 2013/01/05: SF Chronicle: Once-'totally wacky' idea may work to shield earth from heat
• 2013/01/09: TP:JR: Hacking The Planet: World Economic Forum Raises Concerns About 'Rogue' Geoengineering
• 2013/01/10: ArcticNews: Anthropogenic Arctic Volcano can calm climate
• 2013/01/10: GEP: WEF Warns of Unilateral Deployment
• 2013/01/08: TMoS: Geo-Engineering Could Be the Road to War
• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): Rogue geoengineering could 'hijack' world's climate
  Techniques aimed at averting global warming could lead to an unpredictable international crisis, a report has warned
• 2013/01/05: SF Gate: Cloud brightening: theory to prototype
• 2013/01/06: SF Gate: Looking to sky to fight climate change
  

  While on the adaptation front:

• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au):TDU: Controlled burns are better than the alternative
  Burning off has proven unpopular with land owners fearing legal repercussions and politicians unwilling to make tough decisions, writes Sophie Love. Expect to see more devastating fires as a result.
• 2013/01/10: TheConversation:Adapting to bushfires means accepting their place in Australia
• 2013/01/09: Grist: Climate-proofing cities: Not something conservatives are going to be good at
• 2013/01/06: NYT: Storm Panel Recommends Major Changes in New York
  

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2013/01/04: Cambridge: (abs) Situating and Abandoning Geoengineering: A Typology of Five Responses to Dangerous Climate Change by Clare Heyward
• 2013/01/04: Cambridge: (abs) The Desperation Argument for Geoengineering by Stephen M. Gardiner
• 2013/01/08: PNAS: (ab$) Potential impact of microbial activity on the oxidant capacity and organic carbon budget in clouds by Mickael Vaïtilingom et al.
• 2013/01/08: PNAS: (ab$) A continuous climatic impact on Holocene human population in the Rocky Mountains by Robert L. Kelly et al.
• 2013/01/08: PNAS: (ab$) Persistent effects of a severe drought on Amazonian forest canopy by Sassan Saatchi et al.
• 2013/01/08: RSPB: Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided? by Paul R. Ehrlich & Anne H. Ehrlich
• 2013/01/10: ACP: Fluorescent biological aerosol particles measured with the Waveband Integrated Bioaerosol Sensor WIBS-4: laboratory tests combined with a one year field study by E. Toprak & M. Schnaiter
• 2013/01/09: ACP: The Arctic response to remote and local forcing of black carbon by M. Sand et al.
• 2013/01/08: ACP: On the relationship between total ozone and atmospheric dynamics and chemistry at mid-latitudes - Part 2: The effects of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, volcanic eruptions and contributions of atmospheric dynamics and chemistry to long-term total ozone changes by H. E. Rieder et al.
• 2013/01/08: ACP: On the relationship between total ozone and atmospheric dynamics and chemistry at mid-latitudes - Part 1: Statistical models and spatial fingerprints of atmospheric dynamics and chemistry by L. Frossard et al.
• 2013/01/07: ACP: The effect of climate and climate change on ammonia emissions in Europe by C. A. Skjøth & C. Geels
• 2013/01/10: ACPD: Extreme winds over Europe in the ENSEMBLES regional climate models by S. D. Outten & I. Esau
• 2013/01/08: ACPD: Estimate of surface direct radiative forcing of desert dust from atmospheric modulation of the aerosol optical depth by A. di Sarra et al.
• 2013/01/07: ACPD: Long term changes in the upper stratospheric ozone at Syowa, Antarctica by K. Miyagawa et al.
• 2013/01/07: ACPD: Why unprecedented ozone loss in the Arctic in 2011? Is it related to climatic change? by J.-P. Pommereau et al.
• 2013/01/07: ACPD: Multiannual changes of CO2 emissions in China: indirect estimates derived from satellite measurements of tropospheric NO2 columns by E. V. Berezin et al.
• 2008/06/: NBER: Climate Change and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century by Melissa Dell et al.
• 2013/01/09: ESDD: Estimation of the climate feedback parameter by using radiative fluxes from CERES EBAF by P. Björnbom et al.
• 2013/01/07: ESDD: Consistent increase in Indian monsoon rainfall and its variability across CMIP-5 models by A. Menon et al.
• 2013/01/11: CP: Long-term summer sunshine/moisture stress reconstruction from tree-ring widths from Bosnia and Herzegovina by S. Poljansek et al.
• 2013/01/08: CP: Influence of orbital forcing and solar activity on water isotopes in precipitation during the mid- and late Holocene by S. Dietrich et al.
• 2013/01/07: CP: Stalagmite water content as a proxy for drip water supply in tropical and subtropical areas by N. Vogel et al.
• 2013/01/11: CPD: Excursions to C4 vegetation recorded in the Upper Pleistocene loess of Surduk (Northern Serbia): an organic isotope geochemistry study by C. Hatté et al.
• 2013/01/10: CPD: Modeling dust emission response to MIS 3 millennial climate variations from the perspective of East European loess deposits by A. Sima et al.
• 2012/11/20: arXiv: Climate Sensitivity, Sea Level, and Atmospheric CO2 by James Hansen et al.
• 2013/01/09: ERL: Rethinking wedges by Steven J Davis et al.
• 2013/01/11: ACP: Efficient determination of vehicle emission factors by fuel use category using on-road measurements: downward trends on Los Angeles freight corridor I-710 by N. Hudda et al.
• 2013/01/11: ACP: Further examination of the thermodynamic modification of the inflow layer of tropical cyclones by vertical wind shear by M. Riemer et al.
• 2013/01/11: ACP: Optical properties of Saharan dust aerosol and contribution from the coarse mode as measured during the Fennec 2011 aircraft campaign by C. L. Ryder et al.
• 2013/01/11: ACP: Future methane, hydroxyl, and their uncertainties: key climate and emission parameters for future predictions by C. D. Holmes et al.
• 2013/01/11: ACPD: Radiative effects of desert dust on weather and regional climate by C. Spyrou et al.
• 2013/01/11: ACPD: Free troposphere as the dominant source of CCN in the Equatorial Pacific boundary layer: long-range transport and teleconnections by A. D. Clarke et al.
• 2013/01/11: GMD: Quantifying the model structural error in carbon cycle data assimilation systems by S. Kuppel et al.
• 2013/01/10: OS: The CORA dataset: validation and diagnostics of in-situ ocean temperature and salinity measurements by C. Cabanes et al.
• 2013/01/11: OSD: Eddy measurements, coastal turbulence and statistics in the gulf of Lions by J. M. Redondo et al.
• 2013/01/10: OSD: Oceanic dominance of interannual subtropical North Atlantic heat content variability by M. Sonnewald et al.
• 2013/01/11: TCD: Density assumptions for converting geodetic glacier volume change to mass change by M. Huss
• 2013/01/10: TCD: Hoar crystal development and disappearance at Dome C, Antarctica: observation by near-infrared photography and passive microwave satellite by N. Champollion et al.
• 2013/01/08: GMD: Sensitivity analysis and calibration of a soil carbon model (SoilGen2) in two contrasting loess forest soils by Y. Y. Yu et al.
• 2013/01/08: GMD: Porting marine ecosystem model spin-up using transport matrices to GPUs by E. Siewertsen et al.
• 2013/01/08: GMDD: On the parallelization of atmospheric inversions of CO2 surface fluxes within a variational framework by F. Chevallier
• 2013/01/07: GMDD: Ice sheet dynamics within an Earth system model: coupling and first results on ice stability and ocean circulation by D. Barbi et al.
• 2013/01/08: TCD: Numerical simulations of Gurenhekou Glacier on the Tibetan Plateau using a full-Stokes ice dynamical model by L. Zhao et al.
• 2013/01/07: PNAS: (abs) Legacy of a half century of Athabasca oil sands development recorded by lake ecosystems by Joshua Kurek et al.
• 2012/12/28: ABS: (abs) Leading Voices in the Denier Choir: Conservative Columnists' Dismissal of Global Warming and Denigration of Climate Science by Shaun W. Elsasser & Riley E. Dunlap
• 2013/01/07: AGWObserver: Papers on the role of the Sun in recent global warming
• 2013/01/06: Nature:CC: (ab$) An expert judgement assessment of future sea level rise from the ice sheets by J. L. Bamber & W. P. Aspinall
• 2013/01/06: Nature:CC: (ab$) The role of mineral-dust aerosols in polar temperature amplification by F. Lambert et al.
• 2013/01/06: Nature:CC: (ab$) Impacts of biofuel cultivation on mortality and crop yields by K. Ashworth et al.
• 2013/01/07: EHJ: Economic benefits of methylmercury exposure control in Europe: Monetary value of neurotoxicity prevention by Martine Bellanger et al.
• 2013/01/06: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Sea surface temperature in the north tropical Atlantic as a trigger for El Niño/Southern Oscillation events by Yoo-Geun Ham et al.
• 2013/01/06: Nature:GeoSci: (ab$) Hotspots of anaerobic ammonium oxidation at land-freshwater interfaces by Guibing Zhu et al.
  

  And other significant documents:

• 2013/01/: ACC: [link to 205k pdf] Off the Charts: Extreme Australian summer heat
• 2013/01/11: NCADAC: [links to many pdfs] Federal Advisory Committee Draft Climate Assessment Report Released for Public Review
• 2013/01/07: TheCanadian: [link to 600k pdf] New Federally Funded Report Confirms Tar Sands Pollutes Lakes up to 90 km Away
• 2013/01/08: WEForum: [link to 12.2 meg pdf] Global Risks 2013 - Eighth Edition
  

  As for miscellaneous science:

• 2013/01/09: Guardian(UK): 'Frackademia': how Big Gas bought research on hydraulic fracturing
  Thanks to fossil fuel industry sponsorship, we know all about the benefits of natural gas -- but we don't have the data on its risks
• 2013/01/11: KSJT: Whistleblower site Science Fraud goes dark
• 2013/01/11: ScienceInsider: Japan Stimulus to Boost Science
• 2013/01/12: TreeHugger: NASA to Send ATTREX [UAV] Probe 65,000 Feet Over Pacific Ocean to Study Changing Climate
  

  More DIY science:

• 2013/01/08: Moyhu: GHCN Stations color map, all years and months, with WebGL
  

  What's new in models?

• 2013/01/10: CCP: Polar mesoscale storms missing from models
• 2013/01/08: BBC: Climate model forecast is revised
  The UK Met Office has revised one of its forecasts for how much the world may warm in the next few years.
  [...]
  The earlier model had projected that the period 2012-16 would be 0.54C above that long-term average - within a range of uncertainty from 0.36-0.72C. By contrast the new model, known as HadGEM3, gives a rise about one-fifth lower than that of 0.43C - within a range of 0.28-0.59.
• 2013/01/06: RBroberg: GREB Decomposition: Hydrology
• 2013/01/06: SEasterbrook: New Grad Course on Computational Models of Climate Change
  

  What developments in the ongoing struggle for Free Science?

• 2013/01/13: JQuiggin: More than a hacktivist
  

  Meanwhile at the UN:

• 2013/01/09: TheHill:e2W: UN climate official wants 'strong' response to record heat
  

  More of the Fifth IPCC report was leaked. Nobody much cared:

• 2013/01/10: DenierRoundup: More leaks of the AR5, including mock outrage over "expert reviewers"
• 2013/01/09: SkS: A Brief Note on the Latest Release of Draft IPCC Documents by dana1981
  

  And on the carbon trading front:

• 2013/01/07: EurActiv: Carbon market worth plunged by over a third in 2012: Bloomberg
  The value of the world's carbon market fell by 36% last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the first annual contraction to hit the CO2 reduction mechanism since 2008
• 2013/01/07: BBerg: European Carbon Permits Climb Most in Two Weeks After Auction
  

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2013/01/10: CSM: The beauty of a carbon tax -- and its exemption for the poor
• 2013/01/12: Dispatch: Carbon tax would help kill two birds [Friedman]
  

  On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:

• 2013/01/10: ABC(Au): Australia announces new Iran sanctions
• 2013/01/08: ICH: Destabilizing Iran as a Nation State: Targeted Sanctions as an "Alternative" to War?
• 2013/01/06: WaPo: New Iran sanctions target industry in bid for deal curbing nuclear program
  New U.S. sanctions have broadened the front in the West's escalating economic conflict with Iran, targeting large swaths of the country's industrial infrastructure even as Iranian leaders are indicating a willingness to resume negotiations on the country's nuclear program. With Iran's economy already reeling from previous sanctions, the new measures passed by Congress and signed by President Obama last week are intended to deliver powerful blows against key industries ranging from shipping and ports-management to the government-controlled news media, congressional officials and economic experts say. While some previous U.S. sanctions targeted individuals and firms linked to Iran's nuclear industry, the new policies are closer to a true trade embargo, designed to systematically attack and undercut Iran's major financial pillars and threaten the country with economic collapse, the officials say.
• 2013/01/07: BBC: Iranian oil revenues 'drop 45%' because of sanctions
  

  South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

• 2013/01/12: WSWS: Japan, Philippines boost ties as tensions with China escalate
• 2013/01/11: Guardian(UK): Japanese PM criticises China's response to protests over islands dispute
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Japan's tougher stance over disputed islands
  Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered his defence minister to strengthen surveillance around islands at the heart of a territorial feud with China. Earlier, the Deputy Foreign Minister summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest against what he called an incursion by four Chinese maritime surveillance ships near the islands.
• 2013/01/08: BBerg: China-Japan Dispute Takes Rising Toll on Top Asian Economies
• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): China and Japan step up drone race as tension builds over disputed islands
• 2013/01/08: WSWS: Island dispute continues to fuel China-Japan tensions
• 2013/01/08: al Jazeera: Chinese vessel intrusion angers Japan
  Ambassador summoned after entry of four Chinese maritime surveillance ships into waters near East China Sea islands.

• In the global competition for Rare Earths and other natural resources:

• 2013/01/11: BBC: US to build $120m rare earth research institute
  The US Department of Energy is giving $120m (£75m) to set up a new research centre charged with developing new methods of rare earth production. Rare earths are 17 chemically similar elements crucial to making many hi-tech products, such as phones and PCs. The Critical Materials Institute will be located in Ames, Iowa.
• 2013/01/10: ABC(Au): Japan to survey Pacific seabed for rare earth
  Japan will launch a survey of its Pacific seabed in the hope of finding rare earth deposits large enough to supply its high-tech industries and reduce its dependence on China. Researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology will start the probe from January 21 on the seabed near Minamitorishima island, some 2,000 kilometres southeast of Tokyo.
• 2013/01/09: NetworkWorld:L8: US spots $120M for lab to tackle rare earth shortages
• 2013/01/09: SlashDot: Worldwide Shortage of Barium
  

  The issue of the law and activism is playing out around the world:

• 2013/01/12: JQuiggin: Who are the criminals here?
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Greens back anti-coal activist after media hoax
• 2013/01/08: TheConversation: ANZ imposter takes up new climate tactic
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Twelve arrested as CSG protest escalates
  Twelve protesters have been now been arrested at an anti-coal seam gas (CSG) blockade south of Grafton, on the New South Wales north coast. About 150 people are trying to stop a Metgasco drill-rig getting onto a property at Glenugie.
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Glenugie CSG blockade broken
  The blockade of a coal seam gas drilling site on the state's north coast has been broken. Police have arrested at least a dozen protesters at Glenugie, near Grafton. A blockade has been in place for the last seven weeks, despite gas company Metgasco having landowner and government permission for exploratory drilling. ABC reporter Margaret Burin says the protesters made their feelings clear. "There's people from right around the region here today and they're very angry," she said.

• What are the activists up to?

• 2013/01/12: LoE: We need a global power shift
• 2013/01/09: DeSmogBlog: RFK, Jr. & Bill McKibben: Time To Act On Climate Change
• 2013/01/09: 350orBust: 350.org divest from fossil fuels campaign: 2013 - 'year zero'
• 2013/01/07: Grist: Solar Mosaic: Kind of a big deal for clean energy [McKibben]
  

  Polls! We have polls!

• 2013/01/11: DeSmogBlog: Poll Shows Strong Bipartisan Support For Healthy Environmental Choices From Congress
  

  Regarding Water Politics and Business:

• 2013/01/10: Resilience: Greeks stand up to protect their water from privatization
• 2013/01/10: NOLA: New Orleans needs new approach to water management
• 2013/01/09: UCSUSA:B: Connecting the Dots: What Recent Events Mean For Our Energy-Water Future
• 2013/01/08: JFleck: River Beat: Another Bad Year on the Colorado
• 2013/01/06: JFleck: Irrigation optimism, circa 1869
  

  Among the world's religions:

• 2013/01/10: ICN: Climate Change Divestment Campaign Spreads to America's Churches
  Religious communities were crucial participants in many great American social movements. Is climate change next? A fast-spreading movement to persuade universities to rid their endowments of fossil fuel assets is now taking root in America's churches.

• Who's making predictions this week?

• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): Temperatures to rise by six degrees in Middle East countries
  World Bank report says there will be lower rainfall, higher temperatures and continuing desertification in the region

• And on the American political front:

• 2013/01/12: DelawareOnline: State [Delaware] turns to climate analyst [Katharine Hayhoe]
• 2013/01/12: Dispatch: Carbon tax would help kill two birds [Friedman]
• 2013/01/12: MoJo: Why the Government Should Pay Farmers to Plant Cover Crops
  This and a few other relatively simple steps could go a long way toward readying America's farmland for climate change.
• 2013/01/11: TP:JR: Green Jobs 2.0: Re-Framing The Politics Of Clean Energy Around The Climate-Informed Economy
• 2013/01/11: DeSmogBlog: Poll Shows Strong Bipartisan Support For Healthy Environmental Choices From Congress
• 2013/01/11: Grist: House GOP shafts rural America, still gets their votes
• 2013/01/11: Grist: A new grand strategy for the U.S., built around sustainability
• 2013/01/11: Grist: Shell gets massive, involuntary aid package from Alaska, U.S. Coast Guard, and you
• 2013/01/11: BPA: The U.S. Will Again Produce More of the Nitrogen Fertilizer it Uses for Agriculture
• 2013/01/10: BizInsider: More And More Of America's PhDs Are On Welfare [Food stamps]
• 2013/01/10: ColumbusDispatch: PUCO deals blow to AEP solar project
  A plan that was to give Ohio the largest solar array east of the Rockies is all but dead, potentially costing hundreds of jobs. American Electric Power is saying that actions yesterday by regulators make it difficult to see how the 49.9-megawatt project southeast of Zanesville could ever come together. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio voted 3-1 to strip the Turning Point Solar plan from a larger report about AEP's projected power needs. The majority wrote that AEP did not prove that the project is needed, and the panel left it up to AEP to provide further justification.
• 2013/01/10: TP:JR: New York Governor Announces $1 Billion Green Bank And $1.5 Billion Solar Program
• 2013/01/10: TP:JR: Republican And Democratic Scientists: Leaders Must 'Speak To The Reality Of Human Caused Climate Change' [vid]
• 2013/01/09: CSM: Couple fined for having garden: Take that, urban vegetable gardening trend
• 2013/01/09: TP:JR: Virginia Democrat Wants To Roll Back Key Environmental Rules: 'I'm Not Going To Be Here' To Suffer Consequences
• 2013/01/09: NatureN: Fish biologists claim political interference over salmon studies
  Seven US fisheries scientists have raised a formal complaint claiming that a supervisor threatened to eliminate their research division after the team produced controversial model predictions of survival and recovery of the threatened coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in the Klamath River Basin in Oregon. "This falls into the basket of obstruction of science for policy or political ends," says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), based in Washington DC. The watchdog group filed the complaint of scientific misconduct on 7 January to the Department of Interior on behalf of the scientists who work at the US Bureau of Reclamation in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
• 2013/01/09: DailyCaller: New data show 1 in 4 children on food stamps in FY 2011
• 2013/01/08: TP:JR: 4 New Year's Resolutions For Transforming The U.S. Electricity System
• 2013/01/08: DenverPost: Environment groups decry proposed rule for water testing in Colorado
  Colorado's proposed new rule to protect water from expanding oil and gas operations would not apply to more than 25 percent of wells or to the tanks, pipelines and other production facilities that are frequent sources of leaks. Environmental groups that worked with Shell Oil to develop a tougher before-and-after groundwater-testing rule are calling the state's proposal a farce.
• 2013/01/08: SciAm:PI: Oil Might Be a Natural Resource, and Other Things You Did Not Know
• 2013/01/07: BizJournals: Progress bid to cut solar payments denied
• 2013/01/06: OWH: Solar panels evicted in Southshore Heights Homeowners Association dispute
• 2013/01/06: PressTV: US government spent $80.4 bn on food stamps in 2012
  The US government has spent a record USD 80.4 billion on food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that helps Americans who cannot afford to buy food.
• 2013/01/06: CNN: America isn't ready for superstorms
  Stephen Flynn: Hurricane Sandy shows how poorly prepared U.S. is for major storms - He says we need to stop behaving as if such disasters are so rare, unpredictable - There are steps governments can take to get ready in advance of storms, Flynn says - Flynn: Storms should be closely studied to yield clues about how to prepare better

  Major storms are always dangerous. Superstorm Sandy left 132 Americans dead, damaged and destroyed tens of thousands of homes, left millions without power, and crippled the largest metropolitan area in the United States.
  The massive human and economic toll of this disaster came just seven years after Hurricane Katrina. It marked only the latest in a spate of deadly and destructive weather events, including the May 2011 tornado that leveled much of Joplin, Missouri. Not being well prepared for dealing with extreme weather events is very expensive.

• 2013/01/07: Grist: Could Chuck Hagel, likely defense secretary nominee, turn out to be a climate hawk?
  

  The BP disaster continues to twist US politics:

• 2013/01/12: EneNews: Beach covered in BP oil within hours of being cleaned - TV: "How quickly things can change" (video & photo)
• 2013/01/08: WSWS: Transocean settles for $1.4 billion in criminal and civil charges
  

  Post-Sandy commentary and news:

• 2013/01/12: TP:JR: Weathering The Coming Storms: Governor Cuomo's Climate Panel Offers Smart Plan For Adaptation And Mitigation
• 2013/01/12: CSM: Objections raised over additional projects lumped with Sandy relief
• 2013/01/10: TP:JR: Climate-Informed Development: How To Rebuild In A Warming World
• 2013/01/07: NYT: Landlords Are Blocking Rewiring of Cable After Hurricane, Verizon Says
• 2013/01/12: Guardian(UK): Cuomo greets findings of Hurricane Sandy commission
• 2013/01/12: WSWS: Hurricane lays bare social misery in New York's public housing complexes
• 2013/01/07: NewYorker: Adaptation -- How can cities be "climate-proofed"?
• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): Chris Christie praises 'indomitable spirit' of New Jersey after Sandy
• 2013/01/06: NYT: Storm Panel Recommends Major Changes in New York
• 2013/01/07: Cagle: Hurricane Sandy Relief: A Flood of Hypocrisy
  

  Remember that Charles Monnett strangeness?

• 2013/01/09: P3: Eli Explains the Monnett Saga
• 2013/01/07: CCP: Shell Oil, the Kulluk, Charles Monnett, PEER, BOEM -- small world
• 2013/01/07: ASI: The bunny explains
• 2013/01/06: ERabett: It was Dr. Monnett in the Email, Leaking to Rick Steiner and PEER [US pol section]
  

  The Keystone XL saga grinds slowly. And it grinds woe:

• 2013/01/06: CCurrents: Keystone XL: DilBit Through The Heartland
• 2013/01/09: EmbassyMag: Keystone XL would be initial test for Kerry
• 2013/01/08: RawStory: Keystone XL protesters raid TransCanada's Houston office
• 2013/01/07: Platts: TransCanada lauds Nebraska Keystone XL report; cites 'minimal environmental impacts'
• 2013/01/08: ICN: Keystone XL Activists Arrested Outside TransCanada Houston Office
• 2013/01/07: CDreams: Tar Sands Blockaders Take Over TransCanada Offices in Texas, Elsewhere [KXL]
• 2013/01/07: Guardian(UK): Environmentalists urge Obama to block Keystone XL and act on climate change
  

  With the deficit hawks panicking about the debt, the trillion dollar coin, whatever is handy ... there has been talk of a carbon tax solution:

• 2013/01/07: EnvEcon: Will 2013 be the year of the carbon tax blog post?
• 2013/01/07: EnvEcon: After increased taxes for the .01%, could a carbon tax be the least onerous tax increase?
• 2013/01/06: EnvEcon: Robert Frank on Pigouvian taxes
• 2013/01/05: NYT: Heads, You Win. Tails, You Win, Too. [ctax]
  

  The GOP War on Women continues. See also:

• 2013/01/11: Salon: A déjà vu Congress targets reproductive rights, again
  Whether fulminating on rape or trying to defund Planned Parenthood, the GOP returns to its pre-election playbook
• 2013/01/09: RawStory: Paul Ryan signs on as cosponsor of new 'fetal personhood' bill
• 2013/01/09: FAIR: Bill O'Reilly's Fact-Free War on Planned Parenthood
• 2013/01/08: RawStory: Rep. Blackburn (R-Tn): Now is the time to defund Planned Parenthood Tuesday on Mike Huckabee's radio program, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said she hoped to start the year off right by cutting federal funding for Planned Parenthood. "It is the right fight to have on so many different levels," she said (MP3). "We know that Planned Parenthood is basically big abortion business."
  

  The Draft National Climate Assessment was released this week:

• 2013/01/11: NCADAC: Draft Report Information
• 2013/01/11: NCADAC: [links to many pdfs] Federal Advisory Committee Draft Climate Assessment Report Released for Public Review
• 2013/01/13: Guardian(UK): [Editorial] Now no one can deny that the world is getting warmer
  Last week's report by America's National Climate Assessment reveals the full horror of what's happening to our planet
• 2013/01/12: Guardian(UK): US scientists in fresh alert over effects of global warming
  US National Climate Assessment reveals that severe weather disruption is going to be commonplace in coming years
• 2013/01/12: BBerg: [NCADAC] Climate Panel Says Coast, Midwest at Risk of Extreme Weather
  Average U.S. temperatures may jump as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2 Celsius) in the coming decades, and efforts to combat the effects are insufficient, a government advisory panel on climate change said. The 60-member panel approved and released a draft report today that says many coastal areas face "potentially irreversible impacts" as warmer temperatures lead to flooding, storm surges and water shortages.
• 2013/01/11: Grist: Climate change set to make America hotter, drier, and more disaster-prone
• 2013/01/11: NatureNB: Draft US climate assessment released for review
• 2013/01/11: UCSUSA: Federal Scientists Release Draft National Climate Assessment
• 2013/01/12: Reuters: Impact of climate change hitting home, U.S. [NCA] report finds
  The consequences of climate change are now hitting the United States on several fronts, including health, infrastructure, water supply, agriculture and especially more frequent severe weather, a congressionally mandated study has concluded.
• 2013/01/11: TheHill:e2W: Major report warns climate change could raise temperatures by 10 degrees
• 2013/01/11: CSW: Draft U.S. National Climate Assessment report released for public review
• 2013/01/11: TP:JR: End Climate Silence Now: Draft Climate Assessment Warns Of Devastating 9°-15°F Warming Over Most Of U.S.
• 2013/01/11: ERabett: Start Reading -- The draft US National Climate Assessment Report was released today
• 2013/01/11: Guardian(UK): Climate change set to make America hotter, drier and more disaster-prone
  Draft report from NCA makes clear link between climate change and extreme weather as groups urge Obama to take action

• Now that Obama doesn't need their vote any more, how will Obama treat liberals and their policy issues?

• 2013/01/11: ArcticNews: President Obama, here's a climate plan!
• 2013/01/11: EurActiv: EU cautious about new Obama climate policy buzz
  The EU has reacted coolly to speculation about a potential new direction in US climate policy during President Barack Obama's second term.
• 2013/01/10: TP:JR: Chart: Obama Has Protected Fewer Public Lands Than Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, And George W. Bush
• 2013/01/09: Guardian(UK): Barack Obama 'seriously considering' hosting climate summit
• 2013/01/09: DeSmogBlog: Dirty Energy Lobby Optimistic About Obama's Second Term
• 2013/01/08: TreeHugger: Now's the Time to Act on Climate, Writes MIT's Technology Review in Open Letter to Obama
• 2013/01/08: LoE: Please tell Obama to stop Shell drilling in the Arctic
• 2013/01/08: CDreams: An Open Letter to Obama: Take Lead on Climate Change
• 2013/01/08: al Jazeera: Obama versus physics: Why climate change won't wait for the president by Bill McKibben
  With climate change, we should act fairly soon in response to the timetable set by physics, argues author
• 2013/01/07: TP:JR: Tell President Obama To Back Away From The Climate Cliff
• 2013/01/06: Guardian(UK): Our protest must shortcircuit the fossil fuel interests blocking Barack Obama
  The pace of climate change action promised by this pragmatic president is just too slow to tackle the physics of global warming
• 2013/01/06: CDreams: Obama Versus Physics: Why Climate Change Won't Wait for the President
  

  The actions of the Obama administration are being watched closely:

• 2013/01/11: NOAANews: NOAA to work with 10 nations to address illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and stem the bycatch of protected species
• 2013/01/11: CSM: EPA cites Shell for air pollution in Arctic drilling
• 2013/01/10: Guardian(UK): Drought-damaged [American] states face poor outlook as dry weather persists
  Obama administration declares large areas of mid-west a natural disaster area due to long-lasting drought conditions
• 2013/01/09: TP:JR: Salazar On Arctic Drilling: "It May Be That Shell Isn't Even Ready To Move Forward In 2013"
• 2013/01/09: ICN: Federal Offshore Drilling Safety Committee May Disband Even as Concerns Mount
• 2013/01/09: Grist: Who will serve on Obama's second-term green team?
• 2013/01/08: NYT: Interior Dept. Expedites Review of Arctic Drilling After Accidents
  The Interior Department on Tuesday opened an urgent review of Arctic offshore drilling operations after a series of blunders and accidents involving Shell Oil's drill ships and support equipment, culminating in the grounding of one of its drilling vessels last week off the coast of Alaska.
• 2013/01/09: Reuters: USDA declares drought disaster in much of Wheat Belt
  The government declared much of the central and southern Wheat Belt a natural disaster area on Wednesday due to persistent drought that imperils this year's winter wheat harvest.
• 2013/01/09: WSWS: Behind the newly proposed US food regulations
  The federal Food and Drug Administration unveiled two proposed food safety rules on January 4, exactly two years after President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act. While the proposals have been hailed as "landmark" improvements to US food oversight, they are not likely to be implemented for yet another three years, and will provide FDA inspectors with no meaningful enforcement powers. In fact, the rules are part of the drive of the Obama administration to deregulate industries across the board, allowing corporations to police themselves.
• 2013/01/08: CSM: Energy Department to increase biofuel funding by $10 million
  

  As for what is going on in Congress:

• 2013/01/09: AustinStatesman: House science panel wears blinders
  "All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell." That scientific opinion comes courtesy of Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia, who also apparently sees geology as originating in the devil's realm, since he also has said he believes the earth is only "about 9,000 years old" and "was created in six days as we know them." We wish that what we're about to report was a joke but, alas, it is not. Broun is a member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
• 2013/01/09: TheHill:e2W: Sen. Sanders, after US hits heat record, floats new climate bill
• 2013/01/09: ScienceInsider: Surprise Choices Mark New Leadership on U.S. House Science Panel
• 2013/01/09: TP:JR: Keep Pollution Cops On The Beat: Congress Proposes Stripping $100 Million From Clean Air Enforcement
  

  While in the UK:

• 2013/01/11: Guardian(UK): David Cameron is irresponsible to omit climate change from his G8 priorities
• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): Meteorology needs bold leadership to build public trust in climate research
• 2013/01/07: Guardian(UK): Stephen Lovegrove appointed new permanent secretary at DECC
• 2013/01/07: Guardian(UK): David Cameron's black ops speak louder than green words
  The prime minister discarded the best candidate to lead [DECC] the energy and climate change department to pander the right wing fringe of his party. We are all the losers
  [...]
  ... in a nakedly political move, Cameron appointed Lovegrove after carrying out a highly unusual political hit on the candidate chosen by energy secretary Ed Davey and senior civil servants: David Kennedy, the chief executive of the government's official advisers, the Committee on Climate Change. Lovegrove took part in the initial recruitment round, I understand, but was ranked several candidates behind Kennedy.
  However Kennedy holds the inconvenient belief that the lowest cost, least risk route to a sustainable economy includes setting a target to clean up the UK's electricity by 2030, a move loathed by the Tory dinosaurs yet to realise that the green economy is one of the few growing parts of UK plc.
• 2013/01/06: Guardian(UK): Green deal's upfront fees 'put people off upgrading homes'
  

  And in Europe:

• 2013/01/09: BBerg: European Lawmakers Propose 35 New Amendments to Carbon Law Fix
• 2013/01/08: EurActiv: 19 EU states face court action over buildings' CO2 emissions
  More than 70% of EU states could face court action over defiance of building efficiency measures which are slated to account for up to a quarter of the EU's planned energy savings by 2020, EurActiv has learned.
• 2013/01/07: Eureka: A French nuclear exit?
  

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2013/01/13: BrisbaneTimes: Climate-change denial feels the heat
  Scepticism about climate change in Australia may be something else that will melt during the nation's great heatwave.
• 2013/01/13: PlanetJ: Liberals Part 2: Their "Direct Action" is neither
• 2013/01/13: ABC(Au): Mixed emotions as Brisbane locals remember floods
  Two years on from the devastating 2011 floods, many Brisbane and Ipswich families are only now getting back on their feet. The anniversary of disaster which ruined hundreds of homes and businesses in the cities is being met with mixed emotions.
• 2013/01/11: STW: One world, two realities: BigAussieHeat by Stephan Lewandowsky
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Miners lobbied against activist legal service
  The New South Wales Minerals Council has confirmed that it lobbied the State Government to cut funding to an environmental legal service. In October, the Council wrote to the Premier, saying that the Environmental Defender's Office was supporting a 'campaign of economic sabotage' against the coal export industry. Last month the State Government announced it was directing funding away from groups that provide legal advice to activists.
• 2013/01/11: PlanetJ: [Australian] Liberals Part 1: Climate denial and deregulation
• 2013/01/10: CCP: George Monbiot: New Weather, New Politics. The extremes now hammering Australia leave old perspectives stranded
• 2013/01/09: JQuiggin: Wouldn't even know ...
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Greens back anti-coal activist after media hoax
  Greens leader Christine Milne has backed an anti-coal activist whose actions temporarily wiped more than $300 million from the value of Whitehaven Coal, arguing it was part of a "long and proud history" of civil disobedience. Jonathan Moylan issued a fake ANZ media release on Monday claiming the bank had pulled a $1.2 billion loan from Whitehaven's Maules Creek project on environmental grounds, prompting a share-market sell-off.
• 2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Labor MP sorry for Abbott firefighting 'stunt' tweet
  A federal Labor frontbencher has apologised for describing Tony Abbott's work as a volunteer firefighter as a "stunt". The Opposition Leader has been a volunteer firefighter for more than a decade, and was this morning deployed to fight fires at Nowra on the NSW south coast with the Davidson Rural Fire Service.
• 2013/01/08: Guardian(UK): Heatwave: Australia's new weather demands a new politics by George Monbiot
  Climate change clashes with the myth of a land where progress is limited only by the rate at which resources can be extracted
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Major [600 megawatt] wind farm project causes a stir
  Plans for what would become one of the nation's biggest wind farms are now in the hands of the South Australian Government. Developer REpower has lodged a formal application with the state's Development Assessment Commission to build the 199-turbine project on the state's Yorke Peninsula. The $1.3 billion wind farm known as the 'Ceres project' was first announced 18 months ago.
• 2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Ashby seeks leave to appeal Slipper ruling
  A request to appeal has been lodged with Federal Court over the judgment on the Peter Slipper sexual harassment lawsuit. Mr Slipper's former staffer James Ashby is seeking leave to appeal against the decision that his case was an "abuse of process". In his ruling last month, Justice Steven Rares declared the predominant purpose of Mr Ashby's case was to cause "significant public, reputational and political damage" to the former speaker. Justice Rares also ordered Mr Ashby pay Mr Slipper's legal costs. Mr Ashby does not have an automatic right to contest the decision. His request will now be considered by the court.
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Slipper to be charged over Cabcharge winery tour
  Former parliamentary speaker Peter Slipper is alleged to have used taxpayer-funded taxi vouchers to visit a string of Canberra wineries, according to documents filed in the Magistrates Court.

• The Australian Climate Commission released their _Off the Charts: Extreme Australian Summer Heat_ report this week:

• 2013/01/: ACC: [link to 205k pdf] Off the Charts: Extreme Australian summer heat
• 2013/01/12: UKISS: Australia getting hotter - Climate Commission
• 2013/01/12: ABC(Au): Heatwave exacerbated by climate change: Climate Commission
  A new report from the Federal Government's Climate Commission says the heatwave and bushfires that have affected Australia this week have been exacerbated by global warming. The report - Off the Charts: Extreme Australian Summer Heat - warns of more extreme bushfires and hotter, longer, bigger and more frequent heatwaves, due to climate change. It says the number of record heat days across Australia has doubled since 1960 and more temperature records are likely to be broken as hot conditions continue this summer.

• After years of wrangling the Murray Darling Basin plan is in place. Now the real fight begins:

• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Water restrictions under review after pipeline opens
  Water restrictions for two central Victorian towns will be reviewed now that a new pipeline is servicing the area. Work on the $6 million Raywood-Sebastian pipeline started in October 2010. But the project was plagued by problems, including wet weather and contractual matters, leading to long delays.
• 2013/01/07: TheConversation: Banking water underground for our future
• 2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Tougher water restrictions considered for Willow Tree
  Willow Tree residents will know in a matter of days if they're to face Level Five water restrictions. Level Three restrictions were imposed on the town last month. Liverpool Plains Shire Council says if residents cannot curb their current high usage Level Five restrictions will be enacted.

• And in the Indian subcontinent:

• 2013/01/12: al Jazeera: The 'genocide' of India's daughters
  We ask if the patriarchal mindset that runs across castes and class can be changed to prevent foeticide and infanticide.

• While in China:

• 2013/01/13: ABC(Au): Beijing pollution reaches hazardous level
• 2013/01/13: al Jazeera: Beijing pollution 'worst on record'
  Municipal environmental centre says that poor air conditions likely to last another two days. Residents of Beijing have been refusing to step outdoors due to fears sparked by the dangerous levels of pollutants in the air. The air quality in Beijing on Saturday and Sunday was the "worst on record", according to an environmentalist group as the pollution levels in the city were at 30-45 times the safety level.
• 2013/01/12: BBC: Air pollution in the Chinese capital Beijing has reached levels judged as hazardous to human health
• 2013/01/12: CSM: Beijing air pollution at dangerous high
  

  And South America:

• 2013/01/07: Reuters: Brazil's hot, dry summer may lead to energy rationing
• 2013/01/06: RT: Ecuadorian president warns of possible 'CIA attack' before elections
  Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has said the CIA may try to kill him prior to upcoming elections. Citing reports of a plot to "destabilize the region," Correa said the threats were "credible," given the history of US involvement in Latin America.
• 2013/01/07: BBC: Bolivia accuses United States of plotting against Morales
  Bolivia has "irrefutable evidence" that the US has been working to destabilise the government of President Evo Morales, a senior minister has said. Minister of the Presidency Juan Ramon Quintana said proof of improper activities involving the US embassy would be given to President Obama.

• In Canada, neocon PM Harper pushes petroleum while ignoring climate change:

• 2013/01/09: Resilience: Why did Harper invite the Chinese government to buy Canada's tar sands?
• 2013/01/11: WCEL: The Smoking Gun: Who was the real author of the 2012 omnibus bills?
• 2013/01/10: DeSmogBlog: Letter Reveals Harper Government Granted Oil and Gas Industry Requests
• 2013/01/09: CBC: Energy industry letter suggested environmental law changes -- Greenpeace says oil and gas companies got what they wanted from OttawaA letter obtained by Greenpeace through access to information laws and passed on to the CBC reveals the oil and gas industry was granted its request that the federal government change a series of environmental laws to advance "both economic growth and environmental performance." Within 10 months of the request, the industry had almost everything it wanted.

• The IdleNoMore movement continues to grow:

• 2013/01/12: CfC: Wake up and smell the magnolias
• 2013/01/12: MSimon: Idle No More and the Great Day of Protest
• 2013/01/12: PostMedia: Canadian chief is no Gandhi, but hard truths are being revealed
• 2013/01/12: CBC: Idle No More protests continue, with larger events planned
• 2013/01/11: CBC: Chief Spence vows to continue hunger strike after GG meeting
• 2013/01/11: TStar: Harper squanders chance to set new course with First Nations
• 2013/01/11: CBC: Stephen Harper, First Nations and an opportunity lost
• 2013/01/11: TStar: No excuse for inaction at aboriginal meeting
• 2013/01/11: TStar: [Editorial] After a show of respect, Ottawa must act on First Nation grievances
• 2013/01/11: BBC: Canada native meeting ends with pledge of further talks
• 2013/01/11: Rabble: Why Idle No More has resonated with Canadians
• 2013/01/11: CPW: AFN calls for "real change", "remedies and actions" for First Nations
• 2013/01/11: CPW: AFN to Harper: "We need answers to take to our peoples"
• 2013/01/11: TStar: First Nations leaders want in on natural resources boom
• 2013/01/11: MSimon: The Media Assault on Idle No More
• 2013/01/11: WMTC: dr. dawg on the extraordinary acts of ordinary people, and the pundits who cannot abide them
• 2013/01/11: MediaCoop: Map of January 11th Idle No More Events
• 2013/01/11: CBC: PM meets chiefs amid First Nations boycotts and protests -- Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence condemns government, takes no questions
• 2013/01/11: CBC: Idle No More protests held across Canada -- First Nations chiefs, demonstrators threaten to escalate protest movement
• 2013/01/11: CBC: Idle No More targets North America's busiest border -- Demonstrators will rally at Ambassador Bridge in Windsor on Jan. 16
• 2013/01/10: iPolitics: First Nations: The media misses the point -- again
• 2013/01/10: DawgsBlawg: Ordinary people
• 2013/01/10: MSimon: Idle No More and the Great Confusion
• 2013/01/10: Tyee: Idle No More, Meet the Norwegians -- Canada's elite lack guts dealing with oil giants. First Nations might embolden all of us.
• 2013/01/10: Rabble: Justice will remain absent
• 2013/01/10: CBC: First Nations meeting with PM thrown into disarray
• 2013/01/09: YesMag: Idle No More: Indigenous Uprising Sweeps North America
  Idle No More has organized the largest mass mobilizations of indigenous people in recent history. What sparked it off and what's coming next?
• 2013/01/09: CBC: Theresa Spence pulls out of meeting with Harper
  Hunger-striking Attawapiskat chief says Gov. Gen. David Johnston should be at meeting Friday
• 2013/01/09: MSimon: Idle No More and the Racist Backlash
• 2013/01/09: CBC: Duncan McCue: The cultural importance of Idle No More
• 2013/01/09: CBC: Voices of the Idle No More movement -- Unlike previous native protests, Idle No More's reach is buoyed by moden tools
• 2013/01/09: APTN: Attawapiskat Chief Spence won't attend Friday's meeting if GG sticks to planned no-show
• 2013/01/08: Resilience: From Occupy to Idle No More
• 2013/01/08: JCMorton: What does Idle No More portend?
• 2013/01/08: 350orBust: Idle No More Challenges Canadians' Commitment to Truth & Reconciliation
• 2013/01/08: CBC: Is Idle No More the new Occupy Wall Street?
• 2013/01/07: CDreams: 'Idle No More' Prepares for Global Day of Action -- First Nations' fight for indigenous rights to hit worldwide
• 2013/01/07: MSimon: The Harper Cons and the Big Smear
• 2013/01/07: TStar: [Editorial] Attawapiskat audit is no excuse for denying native grievances
• 2013/01/07: NatPo: Andrew Coyne: Meeting with Harper won't settle aboriginal people's problems
  If it does nothing else, the Idle No More movement of the past few weeks will have provided a valuable lesson in why so many aboriginal Canadians remain so chronically destitute -- why progress has been so frustratingly elusive, and why it is likely to remain so. The movement, with its vast and ill-defined agenda, its vague and shifting demands, its many different self-appointed spokespersons, is open to any number of different interpretations. But the absolutist rhetoric, the dismissal of dissenting opinion as so much "racism," and above all, the rigid insistence on adhering to the same approaches that have so signally failed to date, do not suggest a happy future for aboriginal relations.
• 2013/01/07: DeSmogBlog: Moment of Truth As Harper Preps For Meeting With First Nations

  Keep the Indians off the front-page.

  That, in a phrase, is the Harper approach to aboriginal issues in Canada. With the exception of former prime minister Paul Martin, that has pretty much been the playbook for all federal governments -- out of sight, out of mind. Mostly, he's succeeded.

• 2013/01/07: DbP: C-45 and the targeting of Indigenous peoples: Idle No More
• 2013/01/07: MSimon: Stephen Harper and the Sounds of Resistance
• 2013/01/07: CDreams: Idle No More: Native Peoples Challenge Canada's Gutting of Environmental Laws
• 2013/01/06: iPolitics: Theresa Spence, Stephen Harper and the moment of truth
• 2013/01/06: CPW: Harper government bills that enraged First Nations, Theresa Spence, and birthed #IdleNoMore
  

  Demonstrations are one thing, but a court case could make things very uncomfortable for the Harper gang:

• 2013/01/07: G&M: First nations take treaty-rights conflict to the courts
• 2013/01/07: CBC: Native bands challenge government's failure to consult them -- Mikisew Cree and Frog Lake First Nation say budget bill will impact aboriginal way of life
  Two native bands are attempting to challenge parts of the federal government's omnibus budget bill in court. The bands are the Mikisew Cree and the Frog Lake First Nation, both from Alberta. The chiefs of both bands arrived in Ottawa Monday to present their application to the Federal Court on Tuesday. They are asking for a judicial review of the environmental provisions in two budget bills -- Bill C-38 and Bill C-45 -- because of proposed changes to the Fisheries Act and the Navigable Waters Protection Act.
• 2013/01/11: Rabble: Manitoba Chiefs invite all Canadians to demand immediate repeal of Bills C-38 and C-45
  

  And it will be interesting to see what happens with this ruling:

• 2013/01/10: WCEL: Yukon court decision could force BC to overhaul its antiquated mining laws
  The decision of the Yukon Court of Appeal in Ross River Dena Council v. Government of the Yukon - delivered just days before the end of 2012 (on Dec 27th) -- may force governments across Canada -- including in BC -- to rewrite their mining laws. The decision essentially holds that the "free entry system" -- a system of allocating mineral rights that is central to mining law in much of Canada, including BC -- is inconsistent with the obligation of the Crown to consult First Nations on decisions that may impact their Aboriginal Title and Rights.

• Oh those pesky scientists:

• 2013/01/06: G&M: Unshackle government scientists and let them do their jobs by Yolande Grisé, President of the Royal Society of Canada
• 2013/01/06: TMoS: The Royal Society of Canada Tells Harper to Unshackle Our Scientists
  

  The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

• 2013/01/11: PostMedia: Tankers too risky on B.C.'s north coast, oil-spill expert says -- Major spill could be 'catastrophic and irreversible'A marine consultant involved in B.C. oil-spill issues for a quarter century says the risks of a tanker oil spill associated with Enbridge Northern Gateway are simply too great for the project to proceed. Gerald Graham of Victoria-based Worldocean Consulting Ltd. said that calculations based on Enbridge's own research show there is a 8.7-to-14.1-per-cent chance of at least one tanker spill greater than 31,500 barrels over a 50-year period, depending on whether the pipeline has a 525,000 or 850,000 barrel per day capacity. "The consequences of a major oil spill along B.C.'s north coast ... could be catastrophic and irreversible," he says in a submission to the Joint Review Panel studying the Enbridge proposal. "Couple this potentially disastrous outcome with a one-in-seven chance of one or more major spills occurring, and the overall threat level posed by Northern Gateway becomes unacceptably high."
• 2013/01/10: VanObs: Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel hearings in Victoria:criticism of project continues
• 2013/01/06: PostMedia: Northern Gateway pipeline risk assessment to be conducted by U.S. Coast Guard
  Concerns south of the border over oil tanker traffic from British Columbia have spurred a U.S. Coast Guard review of proposed increases in Canadian oil exports. A legislative amendment proposed by Washington state Sen. Maria Cantwell and signed into law by President Barack Obama a couple of weeks ago gives the U.S. marine safety agency six months to conduct a risk assessment of the planned expansion of oil pipeline capacity to the West Coast. While several proposed projects would see oil from the Alberta oil sands brought to the B.C. coast for export primarily to China, the legislation deals specifically with tanker traffic out of the Vancouver area.
• 2013/01/06: TMoS: U.S. Coast Guard Probes Ottawa-Beijing's Tanker Scheme
• 2013/01/06: NI: Enbridge: into the truth machine
  In an extended campaign, advertising promoting the Enbridge pipeline has become incessant noise. One problem with this particular ballyhoo is that its words are not believable.

• And the Kinder Morgan expansion:

• 2013/01/11: Maribo: New oil sands pipeline plan would even more dramatically increase carbon emissions [KM]
• 2013/01/10: Reuters: Kinder Morgan boosts size of Canadian pipeline project
  Capacity raised to 890,000 bpd from 750,000 - Price tag climbs to $5.4 billion from $4.1 billion - Project will increase Vancouver tanker traffic
• 2013/01/11: BCLSB: Omnibus Bills, Pipelines, First Nations
• 2013/01/10: CBC: Kinder Morgan hikes scale of Trans Mountain expansion
  Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is increasing the scope of its Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion in Western Canada. Subsidiary Kinder Morgan Canada said Thursday that increased long-term commitments from shippers have convinced it to ramp up the proposed expansion capacity to 890,000 barrels per day from a previously planned 750,000. The expansion represents a capital investment of $5.4 billion and will complete the twinning of the existing pipeline from Strathcona County, Alta., to Burnaby, B.C.

• Canada's representative at the IPCC --- deluded or just another liar?

• 2013/01/09: iPolitics: Canada's climate change ambassador looks beyond Kyoto
  Back from his first United Nations conference as Canada's climate change ambassador, Dan McDougall offered reassurance: our international reputation is not in tatters. "We have very good relations with our colleagues and countries around the world. Canada's positions are respected," McDougall said Friday. "We're very active in all of the negotiation sessions and making very positive contributions."

• The ISA/PRV/IHN/Alpha virus in Canadian waters is potentially disastrous:

• 2013/01/07: AlexandraMorton: Silenced
• 2013/01/09: NatureN: Fish biologists claim political interference over salmon studies
  Seven US fisheries scientists have raised a formal complaint claiming that a supervisor threatened to eliminate their research division after the team produced controversial model predictions of survival and recovery of the threatened coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in the Klamath River Basin in Oregon. "This falls into the basket of obstruction of science for policy or political ends," says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), based in Washington DC. The watchdog group filed the complaint of scientific misconduct on 7 January to the Department of Interior on behalf of the scientists who work at the US Bureau of Reclamation in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

• In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?

• 2013/01/09: CBC: Progress Energy picks TransCanada for $5B pipeline expansion
  Progress Energy has awarded a $5-billion natural gas infrastructure project across northern British Columbia to TransCanada Corp., the Calgary-based pipeline company. TransCanada will design, build, own and operate the proposed Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project for Progress. It will also extend an existing transmission line to connect with the Prince Rupert line to serve Progress and other gas suppliers. The Prince Rupert transmission line will carry gas from the North Montney region in northeastern British Columbia to a proposed export facility near Prince Rupert, B.C.
• 2013/01/11: TheCanadian: For Frack's Sake
• 2013/01/07: TheCanadian: Shooting the Messenger: BC's Stalwart Auditor General Pushed Out
• 2013/01/07: Tyee: Memo to Media: Questions to Ask BC Candidates -- Journalists wishing to be relevant this provincial election must zero in on environment
  

  Meanwhile in that Mechanical Mordor known as the tar sands:

• 2013/01/11: DeSmogBlog: The Biggest Little Black Lie of 2012
• 2013/01/09: DD: Carcinogen levels soar in Canada's tar sand lakes
• 2013/01/09: SaskBoy: Tarred and Feathered
• 2013/01/08: CSM: Canadian oil sands pollute nearby lakes. Report is blow to Keystone pipeline
• 2013/01/08: Grist: Tar-sands operations dump carcinogenic pollution in Canadian lakes
• 2013/01/07: NYT: Oil Sands Industry in Canada Tied to Higher Carcinogen Level
• 2013/01/07: TheCanadian: [link to 600k pdf] New Federally Funded Report Confirms Tar Sands Pollutes Lakes up to 90 km Away
• 2013/01/07: Tyee: It's Official: Bitumen Mining Pollutes Northern Waterways -- Fed funded oil sands study confirms toxic PAHs alter lakes 90 km away
• 2013/01/07: G&M: How big is Canada's oil subsidy to the U.S.?
• 2013/01/08: NatureN: Oil sands leave toxic traces -- Pollutants in Canadian lakes are linked to exploitation of energy source
• 2013/01/08: OilChange: "Smoking Gun" Research Reveals Tar Sands Cancer Legacy
• 2013/01/08: BBC: Oil sands' toxins 'accumulate in freshwater ecosystems'
  Toxic pollutants released by oil sands mining operations are accumulating in freshwater ecosystems, research by Canadian scientists suggests.
• 2013/01/07: PNAS: (abs) Legacy of a half century of Athabasca oil sands development recorded by lake ecosystems by Joshua Kurek et al.
• 2013/01/07: CBC: Alberta lakes show chemical effects of oilsands, study finds -- Pollutants from 50 years of oilsands production found in lake 90 km from facilities
  A new study released today shows chemicals from 50 years of oilsands production are showing up in increasing amounts in lakes in Northern Alberta. And the effects are being felt much further away than previously thought. The joint study between scientists at Queens University and Environment Canada looked at core samples from five lakes close to the oilsands mining and upgrading operations in Fort McMurray, Alta. They also studied samples from Namur Lake, 90 kilometres northwest. The authors focused on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. These are cancer-causing chemicals that are released when things are burned. They can occur naturally -- from forest fires, volcanic activity and geological deposits -- but burning petroleum in the production of the oilsands leaves a particular fingerprint, so the scientists were able to trace where the PAHs in the core samples came from. The study found that the levels of PAHs in all six lakes had increased anywhere from 2½ times to 23 times background levels in the early 1960s, before the start of oilsands mining in the region.
• 2013/01/07: BCLSB: Ethical Auctions: E-Bay Rejects Oil From Tar Sands
  

  Now that Dalton has quit, the Liberal leadership is in play and then probably an election:

• 2013/01/10: Reuters: Ontario moves ahead plans to close two coal power plants
  Nanticoke, Lambton power plants to close by end of 2013 - Province aims to end coal power generation by end 2014
• 2013/01/10: PI: Pembina reacts as Ontario announces early end to coal power use
• 2013/01/07: BCLSB: How Much Will It Cost Tim Hudak To Unwind The Green Energy Act?
  

  In the Maritimes:

• 2013/01/12: CBC: Thousands still without power after Newfoundland blizzard
• 2013/01/11: CBC: Blizzard knocks out power across Newfoundland -- Many roads in eastern Newfoundland considered unsafe
  

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

• 2013/01/10: Grist: The sharing economy, from soup to nuts
• 2013/01/08: Resilience: From Green New Deal to New Economy Coalition (Part I)
• 2013/01/11: OilDrum: Why Malthus Got His Forecast Wrong
• 2013/01/11: DerSpiegel: Better than Buying -- Barter Economy Matures from Niche to Trend
  Once derided as an eccentricity of the environmental movement, the recent economic crisis has helped transform the sharing economy from a niche trend to a full-scale phenomenon. In the coming years, sharing cars, bikes and even clothing may become as viable as buying.
• 2013/01/11: al Jazeera: The post-crisis crises
  As we struggle with today's crises, we should ask if we are responding in ways that exacerbate our long-term problems.
• 2013/01/07: CDreams: Climate Change and Poverty: The Post-Crisis Crises by Joseph Stiglitz
  An economic and political system that does not deliver for most citizens is one that is not sustainable in the long run
• 2013/01/07: Guardian(UK): Climate change and poverty have not gone away
  An economic and political system that does not deliver for most citizens is one that is not sustainable in the long run

• IPAT [Impact = Population * Affluence * Technology] raised its head once again:

• 2013/01/11: DD: Human population may peak in 2070 and decline to extinction in the next few centuries
• 2013/01/11: al Jazeera: China's one-child policy still breeds dissent
  Study shows Chinese born around time of policy are less trusting, more risk-averse and unlikley to be entrepreneurs.

• Apocalypso anyone?

• 2013/01/11: CDreams: 'Catastrophic Mass Extinction' Likely if Temperatures Rise 6 Degrees in Next Century
• 2013/01/09: TDC: Opinion: Climate disruption is not the whole story of our sad predicament by Paul R. Ehrlich & Anne H. Ehrlich
  We risk a global collapse of our civilization as we know it. Climate change is just one of our problems. We cannot avert calamity without tackling it and other pressing ecological concerns in concert.
• 2013/01/08: Grist: No Venus envy here: Earth's evil twin shows us the climate change endgame
• 2013/01/08: CDreams: Avoiding a Climate-Change Apocalypse
• 2013/01/07: ClimateNN: Mass extinction forecast with 6C temperature rise
  

  How do the media measure up?

• 2013/01/10: TP:JR: Study: Sunday Talk Shows Still Terrible At Covering Climate Change, Nightly News A Bit Better
• 2013/01/10: ERabett: The Flak Catchers Mau Mau Delingpole
• 2013/01/09: MediaMatters: After Hottest Year On Record, Fox News Buries Its Head In The Sand
  Fox News Ignores Announcement That 2012 Is The Hottest Year On Record For U.S.
• 2013/01/09: TreeHugger: Since 2009, Sunday TV Shows Have Not Quoted A Single Scientist On Climate Change
• 2013/01/09: KSJT: US temperatures for 2012 shatter historic records. Australia burns up. Reporters crank it up.
• 2013/01/11: KSJT: New York Times dismantles environment desk, eliminates position of environment editor
• 2013/01/11: ClassM: NY Times kills environment desk
• 2013/01/11: ICN: New York Times Dismantles Its Environment Desk
• 2013/01/06: PressThink: Mounting costs for the default model of trust production in American newsrooms
• 2013/01/07: CJR: Climate coverage rebound? Maybe, but the press has a long way to go
• 2013/01/10: MetOffice: Addressing the Daily Mail and James Delingpole's 'crazy climate change obsession' article
• 2013/01/11: Guardian(UK): Met Office hits back at 'inaccuracies' in James Delingpole article
• 2013/01/12: HC: The never ending War on Science at The Australian
• 2013/01/08: TheConversation: Media is missing climate in heatwave story
• 2013/01/08: ScienceInsider: Familiar Face at Rival Chosen for Science's Next News Editor
• 2013/01/07: CChallenge: Conservative Columnists: Leading Voices in the Denier Choir
• 2012/12/28: ABS: (abs) Leading Voices in the Denier Choir: Conservative Columnists' Dismissal of Global Warming and Denigration of Climate Science by Shaun W. Elsasser & Riley E. Dunlap
• 2013/01/07: TP:JR: CNN Veteran Dykstra Slams Network For Climate Special Lacking 'A Single Mention Of What Causes Climate Change'
• 2013/01/06: P3: The 2012 Golden Horseshoe Award - David Rose of the Daily Mail
• 2013/01/06: TP:JR: Silence Of The Lambs 3: Media Coverage Of Climate Mixed In 2012, But Still Down Sharply From 2009
  

  Here is something for your library:

• 2013/01/06: QuarkSoup: Another Review of "The Eskimo and the Oil Man" [by Bob Reiss]
  

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2013/01/11: Grist: Explained in 90 seconds: What the @#% is climate change doing to El Nino?
• 2013/01/10: PSinclair: The Self Healing Smart Grid. Live in Chattanooga
• 2013/01/10: PSinclair: Paul Douglas with Climate Extremes Live at Five
• 2013/01/11: CSM: Natural gas vs. Matt Damon: the furor over 'Promised Land'
• 2013/01/10: DeSmogBlog: Skeptical Science Video Debunks "No Warming for 16 Years" Denialist Claim
• 2013/01/07: TreeHugger: Extreme Weather During 2012 Second Only to 2005 in Ferocity (Video)
• 2013/01/05: TheHill:e2W: Matt Damon's 'Promised Land' fuels a real-world battle over 'fracking'
• 2013/01/06: SciAm:Obs: Matt Damon's Fracking Movie Depicts Gas Companies as Liars
• 2013/01/06: Resilience: Why the natural gas industry hates the movie 'Promised Land' so much
  

  As for podcasts:

• 2013/01/12: CBC:Q&Q: Athabasca Oil Sands Pollute Nearby Lakes - Manitoba on the Ancient Equator
  

  Meanwhile among the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

• 2013/01/09: JFleck: Stuff I wrote elsewhere: original jurisdiction
• 2013/01/08: CDreams: Family Farmers Mobilize in Ongoing Battle Against Monsanto
  Group heads to federal appeals court to be free from "legal threats and intimidation" from genetically modified giant
• 2013/01/09: ENS: Court Upholds Public Process in Nuclear Plant Safety 'Exemptions'
  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must permit public participation in decisions about exempting nuclear power plants from federal regulations or explain to the public why it will not do so, following a ruling by a federal appeals court this week. With this ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has created a new legal standard and legal presumption in favor of public participation in "exemption" decisions at nuclear power plants. The appeals court ruled in a case brought by Richard Brodsky, a former New York State Assemblyman representing Westchester County who is currently a senior fellow at the progressive think tank Demos in New York City and at the NYU Wagner School for Public Service. Brodsky v. NRC challenged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's practice of issuing "exemptions" to its own health and safety regulations at Entergy's Indian Point nuclear power plant on the Hudson River in Westchester County, and doing so in secret. The coalition that brought the litigation to court includes the Sierra Club-Atlantic Chapter and Westchester's Citizens Awareness Network, or Westcan.
• 2013/01/03: CapPress: Deal struck in antitrust lawsuit -- Fertilizer buyers to continue class action lawsuit against other potash makers
  Two foreign fertilizer companies have agreed to turn over information about an alleged price-fixing cartel and pay nearly $13 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit over potash. A federal judge recently granted preliminary approval for two deals that would end litigation between fertilizer buyers and the Russian potash companies, Uralkali and Silvinit, and their affiliates. However, the fertilizer buyers will continue to pursue a class-action lawsuit against other major global potash producers who didn't sign on to the settlement, including Agrium, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and the Mosaic Co. Uralkali and Silvinit agreed to two settlement deals -- the companies will pay $10 million to farm suppliers who bought potash directly from them and $2.75 million to farmers and others who bought the product through middlemen.
• 2013/01/10: BuckDog: Lawsuit For Price-fixing Continues Against Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, Agrium And Mosaic Corp In US Courts
• 2013/01/07: TreeHugger: Tesla Wins Lawsuit to Protect its Apple-Like Distribution Model
• 2013/01/07: DeSmogBlog: W&T Offshore Fined $1 Million for Using Coffee Filters to Doctor Water Samples
• 2013/01/06: DeSmogBlog: Citizens Take Action Against Coal Company For Clean Water Act Violations
  A citizens group in Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against Emerald Coal Resources LP (ECR) for polluting waterways in their state.

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

• 2013/01/08: Grist: Energy localism update: Boulder, Colo., wants to take control of its own power
• 2013/01/09: NBF: EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook
• 2013/01/11: MWEN: Q&A: Can renewables alone (with storage) power the grid?
• 2013/01/10: TheHill:e2W: Manufacturers go to war with oil industry over gas exports
• 2013/01/13: OilDrum: Tech Talk - Some Thoughts on Energy in 2013
• 2013/01/12: SF Gate: Geothermal takes a technological step forward
• 2013/01/08: TP:JR: 4 New Year's Resolutions For Transforming The U.S. Electricity System
• 2013/01/07: Eureka: Engineered bacteria make fuel from sunlight
• 2013/01/07: Reuters: Brazil's hot, dry summer may lead to energy rationing
  Brazil faces the possibility of widespread energy rationing for the first time since 2001, as a hot, dry summer has deprived hydroelectric dams of needed water while boosting power use to run air conditioners in sweltering cities.

• The US DOE's EIA department did a series of 2012 Briefs this week:

   

• 2013/01/11: EIA: 2012 Brief: Retail gasoline prices vary significantly across the country
• 2013/01/10: EIA: 2012 Brief: Average 2012 crude oil prices remain near 2011 levels
• 2013/01/08: EIA: 2012 Brief: Average wholesale natural gas prices fell 31% in 2012
• 2013/01/07: EIA: 2012 Brief: Coal and mid-continent crude oil prices declined during 2012
  

  What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

• 2013/01/07: AJC: Georgia Power to close 15 coal, oil units
  Georgia Power said Monday it will shut down 15 coal and oil-fired units, cutting nearly one-sixth of its power grid capacity to comply with federal rules aimed at reducing air pollution. The move, which comes after the utility and parent Southern Co. spent years unsuccessfully fighting the regulations, further cuts coal out of the electricity mix of a company once known as the dominant provider of coal-fired electricity. Currently, the amount of coal that Georgia Power uses to produce electricity stands at 47 percent, down from 70 percent five years ago.

• Hey! Let's contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It'll be a fracking gas!

• 2013/01/07: Tyee: Shale Gas: Myth and Realities
• 2013/01/08: Tyee: Shale Gas: How Hard on the Landscape?
  Industry's claim that clustered wells preserve forests and farms is a myth, says expert.
• 2013/01/09: Tyee: Shale Gas: How Often Do Fracked Wells Leak?
  When industry says hardly ever, that's a myth. It's a documented, chronic problem.
• 2013/01/10: Tyee: Shale Gas: How Clean Is It?
  Fracked fuel far more dirty than industry, governments claim.
• 2013/01/10: Grist: 1,500 protesters swarm Albany to call for continued fracking ban in N.Y.
• 2013/01/09: Guardian(UK): 'Frackademia': how Big Gas bought research on hydraulic fracturing
  Thanks to fossil fuel industry sponsorship, we know all about the benefits of natural gas -- but we don't have the data on its risks
• 2013/01/09: Reuters: No contamination from fracking found in 2 Arkansas counties-USGS
  USGS sampled 127 wells in Fayetteville shale area - Study shows fracking can be done safely, author says - Draft EPA study linked fracking, water pollution in Wyoming
• 2013/01/11: TheCanadian: For Frack's Sake
• 2013/01/09: DeSmogBlog: DNA Tracers Could Put End to Fracking Guessing Game On Water Contamination
• 2013/01/08: Resilience: Shale Gas: Myth and Realities
• 2013/01/08: DeSmogBlog: Shale Gas Uncertainty: How an Industry Talking Point Misses the Mark
• 2013/01/08: DenverPost: Environment groups decry proposed rule for water testing in Colorado
  Colorado's proposed new rule to protect water from expanding oil and gas operations would not apply to more than 25 percent of wells or to the tanks, pipelines and other production facilities that are frequent sources of leaks. Environmental groups that worked with Shell Oil to develop a tougher before-and-after groundwater-testing rule are calling the state's proposal a farce.
• 2013/01/07: Grist: Natural gas: It's a hedge, not a bridge
• 2013/01/06: Resilience: Why the natural gas industry hates the movie 'Promised Land' so much
  

  On the coal front:

• 2013/01/08: Grist: U.S. coal continues its slow fade to black
• 2013/01/08: UCSUSA: Georgia Power Announces Closure of Power Plants Science Group Identified As Ripe For Retirement
  

  On the gas and oil front:

• 2013/01/11: BBerg: Closing oil prices Friday
  OIL (US$/bbl)
  Dated Brent Spot....110.64
  WTI Cushing Spot.....93.56
• 2013/01/10: DD: Image of the Day: Nighttime satellite view of North Dakota gas flares
• 2013/01/10: TP:JR: Picture: Look How Much Natural Gas Gets Flared At Oil Fields In North Dakota
  

  Rash American triumphalism pervades the energy independence PR campaign:

• 2013/01/09: BBC: US oil production will jump by a quarter by 2014 to its highest level in 26 years, figures suggest
• 2013/01/08: al Jazeera: US to become 'net energy exporter'
  Shale gas boom rewrites geopolitical rules, as US is set to produce more petroleum than Saudi Arabia within a decade.
• 2013/01/06: TMoS: Americans' Forever Blowing Bubbles, This Time It's Gassy
• 2013/01/06: TMoS: Gwynne Dyer Also Gets Gassy
  

  Regarding oil and the economy:

• 2013/01/07: Resilience: Why peak oil threatens the International Monetary System
  

  And in pipeline news:

• 2013/01/11: EurActiv: Nabucco to become 'a real pipeline' soon, owners say
  The companies behind the Nabucco pipeline have agreed to give Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas group a stake in the project to pipe the country's gas to Europe, boosting its prospects against the rival TAP project. The Shah Deniz II consortium, which has already signed a funding deal with the rival Trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP), has said its acquisition of a stake would be critical for the Nabucco project to go ahead. TAP plans to pipe Azeri gas to Italy while Nabucco will transport Caspian supplies to Europe.
• 2013/01/09: CBC: Progress Energy picks TransCanada for $5B pipeline expansion
  

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2013/01/09: Eureka: Tree seeds offer potential for sustainable biofuels -- Seeding new sources of raw materials for biodiesel
• 2013/01/10: Eureka: Lower nitrogen losses with perennial biofuel crops
• 2013/01/10: AutoBG: As E15 fight continues, arguments getting stronger and stranger
• 2013/01/07: CER:RRapier: A Look at DuPont Biofuel's Work on Cellulosic Ethanol and Butanol
• 2013/01/08: CSM: A look at the future of biofuels
  

  The answer my friend...:

• 2013/01/08: CBC: Caisse invests in Canadian and U.S. wind farms
• 2013/01/08: PNNL: A new point of reference for offshore energy development
  

  Meanwhile among the solar aficionados:

• 2013/01/10: REA: Chile Approves 3.1 GW of Solar PV Projects
• 2013/01/10: Mercury: California hits a renewable energy milestone - 1 gigawatt of solar power installed
• 2013/01/09: GigaOM: There will be blood: Solar shakeout expected to slash solar makers by 70%
• 2013/01/10: ABC(Au): Fiji solar project gathering energy
  A village on the Fiji island of Kadavu has become the first in the country to benefit from a Japanese aid program to provide solar power to rural households. The village of Matasawalevu received solar panels as part of the 'Fiji 1000 Solar Home Systems Project', a USD $2.3 million initiative developed and implemented by the Government of Fiji. The program was funded through the Pacific Environment Community (PEC) Fund, which is financed by the government of Japan and administered by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
• 2013/01/09: TreeHugger: CES 2013: Powerful Solar Generator Launched by Goal Zero
• 2013/01/09: CSM: In Kenya solar lamps reduce childbirth risks
• 2013/01/09: Reuters: China's plans to ramp up capacity in 2013 adds to solar shine
• 2013/01/08: CNN: High-tech iShack brings solar power to slums
  The iShack aims to improve living conditions for people in slums - The 'shack' is equipped with a solar panel that can power lights and a mobile phone charger - The project will be scaled up using a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - U.N. Habitat: More than 60% of Sub-Saharan Africa's urban population lives in slums
• 2013/01/06: OWH: Solar panels evicted in Southshore Heights Homeowners Association dispute
• 2013/01/07: BizJournals: Progress bid to cut solar payments denied
• 2013/01/04: REA: Is Your Utility Ready? New Report Says Local Solar Could Power 10% of Country in 10 Years
• 2013/01/05: Reuters: German solar power installations at record high in 2012 [7.6 gigawatts]
  

  The nuclear energy controversy continues:

• 2013/01/11: EurActiv: Flaws make restart of two Belgian nuclear plants 'hazardous': Study
  Restarting two Belgian nuclear power plants which have been shut since the discovery of micro-cracks in their reactor vessels would be a hazardous move with potentially "catastrophic consequences", according to a new study commissioned by the Green Party group in the European Parliament.
• 2013/01/09: ENS: Court Upholds Public Process in Nuclear Plant Safety 'Exemptions'
• 2013/01/06: Xinhuanet: China building nuclear power plant with fourth-generation features
• 2013/01/07: ChinaInc: China builds new nuclear plant
  China has broken ground on a 3 billion-yuan (476 million-U.S. dollar) nuclear power project, which is China's largest planned nuclear facility, a Chinese energy company said Sunday. The nuclear power project will be the first in the world to put a reactor with fourth-generation features into commercial use.
• 2013/01/08: KSJT: Telegraph: China to lead world to long-pondered thorium-based, abundant, meltdown-proof nuclear power stations?
• 2013/01/07: CDreams: Showdown at San Onofre and a Resurgent 'No Nukes' Movement [Wasserman]
• 2013/01/07: NBF: Thorium reactor projects getting increased funding and effort
• 2013/01/06: NBF: Huaneng Shandong Shidao Bay Nuclear Power plans
  

  More people are talking about the electrical grid:

• 2013/01/07: Reuters: Great Plains wind farms limited by grid links: Kemp
  

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• ThisOldHouse: How to Get Rid of Ice Dams
  

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

• 2013/01/09: CSM: Hybrids, electric cars may be too quiet, says DOT
  

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2013/01/11: LOE: Insuring for Climate Change
• 2013/01/09: DD: Time for action as disaster risks rise, insurer says
• 2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Insurance companies count rising cost of fires
  Insurance companies are already starting to count the financial cost of the Tasmanian bushfires, with fires in New South Wales and Victoria expected to greatly add to the tally of property damage. The estimated cost of property losses from the Tasmanian bushfires has already passed $42 million, with further damage possible as fires flare up again and threaten more homes.

• Joe Romm posts a daily list of top energy and climate stories:

• 2013/01/11: TP:JR: January 11 News...
• 2013/01/10: TP:JR: January 10 News...
• 2013/01/09: TP:JR: January 9 News...
• 2013/01/08: TP:JR: January 8 News...
• 2013/01/07: TP:JR: January 7 News...
  

  Other (weekly) lists:

   

• 2013/01/09: GreenGrok: While We Were Away: Circa 2012-13
• 2013/01/07: BPA: Plant Genetic Modification Technology. Plus, More Agriculture News This Week
• 2013/01/12: SkS: 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #2 by John Hartz
  

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2013/01/10: HotWhopper: A Whopper of a HeatWave III: Climate Rage!
• 2013/01/10: HotWhopper: HotCopper Deniers - Spinning on the Sun
• 2013/01/10: NewAnthropocene: Why is Anthropogenic Climate Change a Myth?
• 2013/01/09: Wonkette: Stupidest Man On Internet Delighted: 175 Cold-Weather Deaths In India Mean That Climate Change Is Fake
• 2013/01/08: Reuters: UN climate experts deny secrecy after new leak [by D. Laframboise]
• 2013/01/09: JQuiggin: Wouldn't even know ...
• 2013/01/10: PSinclair: Skeptical Science on the "16 Years" nonsense
• 2013/01/10: WtD: The era of vocal science denial: Big Bang denial and the search for truth (reprint)
• 2013/01/11: DeSmogBlog: The Science of Why Comment Trolls Suck
• 2013/01/12: GLaden: So, is global warming stopping all of the sudden? (No)
• 2013/01/09: P3: "Global warming standstill?" Leo Hickman collates some sanity
• 2013/01/13: BrisbaneTimes: Climate-change denial feels the heat
  Scepticism about climate change in Australia may be something else that will melt during the nation's great heatwave.
• 2013/01/11: STW: One world, two realities: BigAussieHeat by Stephan Lewandowsky
• 2013/01/10: ERabett: RTFB
• 2013/01/12: CChallenge: #3 Debunking GWPF Briefing Paper No3 - The Truth About Greenhouse Gases
• 2013/01/12: CChallenge: #2 Debunking the GWPF Briefing Paper No2 - The Sahel Is Greening
• 2013/01/13: CChallenge: #1 What Does Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) Really Stand For?
• 2013/01/08: PSinclair: Lord Monckton Heads Down Under to Remind Australians there is No Global Warming
  I have to keep reminding myself, "..this is not The Onion".
• 2013/01/08: DeSmogBlog: On The Fringes With Climate Denialist Lord Monckton And An Anti-Islam, Anti-Abortion Creationist Pastor
• 2013/01/08: HotWhopper: HotCopper Dumbest Post Award
• 2013/01/09: HotWhopper: A Whopper of a Heatwave II: HotCopper Deniers
• 2013/01/07: CChallenge: Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) and the hockey stick
• 2013/01/08: ERabett: Annoying the Auditors
• 2013/01/07: TP:JR: Deniers Finally Discover Twitter, Social Media, Where Climate Hawks Soar [media]
• 2013/01/07: CCP: Countering Monckton's climate denial on college campuses
• 2013/01/07: CChallenge: Conservative Columnists: Leading Voices in the Denier Choir
• 2013/01/06: WottsUWT: A Cool White Christmas -- almost two thirds of the continental USA has snow cover
• 2013/01/07: NewAnthropocene: Why Climate Change Denial Is Just Hot Air
  

  Meanwhile in the 'clean coal' saga:

   

• 2013/01/10: CSM: Mercury emissions on the rise; UN calls for treaty
• 2013/01/11: BBC: UN: Rising mercury emissions increase risk to humans
  Developing nations are facing growing health and environmental risks from increased exposure to mercury, according to a UN report. It says a growth in small-scale mining and coal burning are the main reasons for the rise in emissions.
• 2013/01/06: Eureka: Counting the cost of mercury pollution
  Cleaning up mercury pollution and reducing prenatal exposure to the neurotoxin methylmercury (MeHg) could save the European Union E10,000 million per year ... While some mercury occurs naturally in the environment for example from volcanic eruptions or forest fires, most is generated by burning fossil fuels.
• 2013/01/06: NBF: Mercury damages US$10 to 40 billion per year in Europe alone [clean coal]
• 2013/01/06: DeSmogBlog: Citizens Take Action Against Coal Company For Clean Water Act Violations
  A citizens group in Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against Emerald Coal Resources LP (ECR) for polluting waterways in their state.

• As for climate miscellanea:

• 2013/01/09: Guardian(UK): Perceived timings of economic crisis and climate change prevent action
  Fighting economic woes in the near future is preventing the long-term threat of climate change from being tackled
• 2013/01/06: CCurrents: Climate-Change Summary And Update
• 2013/01/11: EarlyWarning: The Human Response Function to Climate Change
• 2013/01/11: P3: The colour of hot or inadequate heatmaps
• 2013/01/10: Grist:If you aren't alarmed about climate, you aren't paying attention
• 2013/01/11: Guardian(UK): [Editorial] Unthinkable? Coping with the snow
  Please can we stop making such a drama out of the prospect of snow? Give us the forecast and we'll manage the rest
• 2013/01/12: ClimateSight: Counting my Blessings
• 2013/01/09: MLynas: Don't be fooled: man-made global warming does exist
• 2013/01/08: Tamino: Deep Heat - Shallow Thinking
• 2013/01/07: Maribo: We have work to do
• 2013/01/06: CDreams: Climate Inaction Is a Clear Failure of Democracy [Leahy]
• 2013/01/06: TheCanadian: Climate Change a Failure of Political Will
  

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

• On the Commons
• Climate Connections
• ThisOldHouse: How to Get Rid of Ice Dams
• OSGATA: Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association
• Wiki: Enhanced geothermal system
• CCL: Citizens Climate Lobby - Creating the political will for a sustainable climate
• Tar Sands Action
• BOM: Interactive Weather and Wave Forecast Maps
• UMt: Geoengineering Bibliography
• Pew Environment Group
• Climate Reality Check
• Fedco - Co-op Seeds, Gardening Supplies, Trees, Potatoes, Bulbs

Low Key Plug

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(which includes some quotations), An overview of my writing is available here.

A Simple Plea

Webmasters, web coders and content providers have mercy on your low bandwidth brethren. Because I am on dial-up, I am a text surfer -- no images, no javascript and no flash. When you post a graphic, will you please use the alt text field ... and when you embed a youtube/vimeo/flash video, please add some minimal description. Thank you.

<regards>

-het

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

I notice moyhu has set up a monster index to old AWoGWN on AFTIC.

"The problem that faces our societies is that we have developed industries and policies that were appropriate at a certain moment, but now start to reduce human welfare, like for example the oil and car industry. Their political and financial power is so great and they can prevent change. It is my expectation that they will succeed. This means that we are going to evolve through crisis, not through proactive change." -Dennis Meadows

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