Another Week of GW News, August 5, 2007

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

• Top Stories, South Asian Floods, GWB's Summit, European Heatwaves, Asian Particulates, North Pole Flag, Hansen
• Hurricanes, Hurricane Frequency, el Niño, Glaciers, Sea Levels, Satellites
• Impacts, Wacky Weather, Floods & Droughts, Biofuel & Food
• Mitigation, Transportation, Architecture, Sequestration, Geoengineering
• Journals, Misc. Science
• Kyoto, Carbon Tax, Optimal Carbon Reduction Strategy
• Politics, International, UN General Assembly Meeting, APEC, Security America, Britain, Europe, Australia, Brazil, China, Canada
• Economics, Apocalypso, Media, Video
• Energy, Coal, Biofuel, Efficiency, Cars, Business, Insurance Carbon Lobby
• The Usual, Useful Links
• Shameless Self Promotion
• .sig

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Last week it was Britain. This week the big flood story is South Asia:

• 2007/08/04: CNN: South Asia flood death toll rising
  Death toll from floods in South Asia rises to 240, officials say - Helicopters drop food to hundreds of thousands of people left homeless - 19 million driven from their homes by floods, officials say - India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal all hit by rising waters
• 2007/08/05: WP: South Asian Floods Uproot 20 Million
• 2007/08/05: SwissInfo: Disease fears rise as South Asian floods kill 320
• 2007/08/05: BBC: South Asia flood toll passes 200
  At least 240 people are now known to have died in floods affecting India, Bangladesh and Nepal, where millions of people face continuing misery. Hundreds of thousands of people in the Indian state of Bihar are short of food and isolated while rescue services are struggling to deliver aid
• 2007/08/05: AFP: Officials warn aid too slow for SAsia flood victims
• 2007/08/04: METimes: South Asia flood death toll at 1,400
• 2007/08/04: AFP: South Asia floods displace 25 million and kill 1,400
• 2007/08/04: AP: South Asian Monsoons Displace Millions
• 2007/08/04: ArabNews: Floods Claim More Lives
  Dozens more people perished in torrents of monsoon rains that have marooned some 20 million in northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal, officials said yesterday. In India alone the number of dead topped 1,000 with new victims reported from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam where 25 of 27 districts are inundated
• 2007/08/04: Guardian(UK): Millions forced to flee and 1,100 die after heavier than usual monsoon hits south Asia
• 2007/08/03: OilChange: South Asia Floods Strand Millions
• 2007/08/03: CBC: Millions in South Asia reeling from monsoon floods
• 2007/08/03: AFP: Floods hit 20 million and claim dozens more lives in South Asia
• 2007/08/02: BBC: South Asia struggles with floods
  Almost 250 people have died and over 17 million people have been displaced or marooned in severe flooding across India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The floods are being described as the worst in living memory, according to BBC correspondents in the region. Vast stretches of fertile countryside are under water, damaging farmland and flooding thousands of villages
• 2007/07/31: TerraDaily: Death Toll In India Floods Reaches 112
• 2007/08/01: BBC: Flood evacuees die in India storm
  At least 28 people died when an overcrowded boat carrying flood evacuees and aid workers capsized in northern India, officials have said
• 2007/07/31: PlanetArk: More Flood Misery, Deaths for Monsoon-Hit S.Asia

  Climate change is being blamed:

• 2007/08/05: ClimateP: A deluge of extreme weather, thanks to climate change
• 2007/08/02: ENN: China Blames Climate Change for Extreme Weather
• 2007/08/02: WaPo: Europe's Summer of Wild, Wild Weather - Fires, Droughts and Floods Leave Wake of Destruction
• 2007/07/30: NewScientist: Extreme weather brings flood chaos round the world
• 2007/07/30: Yahoo: Global warming blamed as China endures freak weather

  GWB has called a climate summit:

• 2007/08/04: WaPo: Bush Sets Emissions Summit - World Powers Are Invited to Discuss Climate Change, Growth
• 2007/08/04: ABC(Au): Bush to hold world climate change talks
• 2007/08/04: BostonGlobe: Bush, UN choose same week for climate conferences
• 2007/08/04: ABC(Au): Bush announces plans for global climate conference
• 2007/08/03: BBC: Bush calls climate change talks
  US President George W Bush has announced that his government will host a multinational conference on climate change in Washington next month. The US has invited the UN, EU and 15 of the world's leading economies to the high-level talks on 27-28 September, the White House said in a statement
• 2007/08/03: Yahoo: Bush sets global climate meeting
  The Bush administration unveiled plans on Friday for global warming talks next month that will bring together the world's biggest polluters to seek agreement on reducing greenhouse gases. U.S. President George W. Bush has invited the European Union, the United Nations and 11 other countries to the September 27-28 meeting in Washington to work toward setting a long-term goal by 2008 to cut emissions

Reactions have ranged from gushing to jaundiced:

• 2007/08/05: ABC(Au): US climate forum will eclipse APEC: Greens
  [Australian] Greens leader Bob Brown says the proposed US global warming forum will eclipse the significance of next month's APEC meeting. The US government has invited world leaders to attend a meeting in Washington in September, just two weeks after the APEC summit. Mr Brown says APEC will now be seen as a lead-up to the American forum and will no longer be considered the main event
• 2007/08/04: ABC(Au): PM [J. Howard] welcomes US climate change meeting plan
• 2007/08/03: CSpin: Will anyone come to Bush's climate party?
• 2007/08/04: GWWatch: Bush pushes for international inaction on global warming
• 2007/08/04: DeSmogBlog: Bush Rains on UN's Parade
• 2007/08/03: ClimateP: Bush pushes climate meeting, shuns solution

  A paper on the statistics of European heatwaves raised a few eyebrows:

• 2007/08/03: GRL: (ab$) Doubled length of western European summer heat waves since 1880 by P. M. Della-Marta et al.
• 2007/08/04: BBC: European heatwaves 'have doubled' - The duration of heatwaves in Western Europe has doubled since 1880, a study has shown
• 2007/08/03: NewScientist: Europe's recent heatwaves aren't a mirage
• 2007/08/03: JFleck: Europe Hotting Up
• 2007/08/03: Eureka: European heat waves double in length since 1880 [the frequency of extremely hot days has nearly tripled in the past century]

  Particulates from Asia garnered some attention, but few mentioned those from Europe or America:

• 2007/08/02: ABC(Au): Big brown Asian cloud blamed for glacial melting
• 2007/08/02: KSJT: BBC, Agence France Presse, etc: Asian Brown Cloud warms lower atmosphere
• 2007/08/02: TreeHugger: "Brown Clouds" Over India Just as Bad as Greenhouse Gases
• 2007/08/01: Scripps: Pollution Amplifies Greenhouse Gas Warming Trends to Jeopardize Asian Water Supplies
• 2007/08/01: BBC: Asia's brown clouds 'warm planet'
• 2007/08/01: NSU: Brown clouds boost global warming - Aerosols over Asia incriminated in Himalayan glacial melting
• 2007/08/01: NewScientist: Asia's brown clouds heat the Himalayas
• 2007/08/01: PhysOrg: 'Asian Brown Cloud' Particulate Pollution Amplifies Global Warming

  The Russians planted an underwater flag on the North Pole in a nice little PR stunt:

• 2007/08/03: TerraDaily: Arctic Wealth And Why Countries Are Jockeying Over The Roof Of The World
• 2007/08/02: EnergyBulletin: Tensions around North Pole hydrocarbons raise the specter of new (bitter) Cold War
• 2007/08/01: TruthOut: White House Sees Black Gold in Melting Sea Ice
• 2007/08/02: PhysOrg: Arctic wealth: Why countries are jockeying over the roof of the world
• 2007/08/02: CTV: [Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter] MacKay dismisses Russia's Arctic claim
• 2007/07/30: USAToday: White House sees black gold in melting sea ice

  James Hansen continues to make waves:

• 2007/08/03: BSD: James Hansen and the albedo flip
• 2007/08/03: ERabett: You say tomato, I say tomahto [Hansen]
• 2007/08/04: AfterGutenberg: Simple is As Simple does [Hansen]
• 2007/08/03: ClimateP: Hansen's Declaration of Stewardship
• 2007/07/31: GristMill: Hansen thinks we're going under water
• 2007/07/31: ClimateP: Hansen on "Fossil Fuel Subsidies"
• 2007/07/30: ClimateP: Hansen's "Two Plus Two Solution" to Global Warming

  Late commentary on Live Earth:

• 2007/07/30: TruthOut: Sex, Rock 'n' Roll and Global Warming
• 2007/07/30: FramingScience: Gore Concert Generates Talk Media Attacks But Not News

  The hurricane wars are warming up with Chantal & Usagi:

• 2007/08/03: BBC: Typhoon Usagi hits southern Japan
  Eighteen people were injured and thousands sought shelter as Typhoon Usagi struck Japan's southern island of Kyushu
• 2007/08/04: PhysOrg: Prediction of major hurricanes lowered [William Gray]
• 2007/08/04: Wunderground: A Quiet Weekend In The Tropics
• 2007/08/03: CSW: Hurricane Center Director Proenza charges NOAA violated Whistleblower Protection Act
• 2007/08/02: TerraDaily: Typhoon [Usagi] Slams Into Japan...
• 2007/08/03: Yahoo: Forecaster lowers '07 hurricane estimate
  Hurricane researcher William Gray lowered his 2007 forecast slightly Friday, calling for 15 named storms, with eight becoming hurricanes and four becoming intense
• 2007/08/03: Mercury: Katrina victims lose flood insurance case
  Hurricane Katrina victims whose homes and businesses were destroyed when floodwaters breached levees in the 2005 storm cannot recover money from their insurance companies for the damages, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday
• 2007/08/02: Wunderground: Usagi Landfalls in Southern Japan
• 2007/08/03: PlanetArk: Typhoon [Usagi] Buffets Southwestern Japan
• 2007/08/01: PhysOrg: Typhoon Usagi Gathers Strength, Heads for Japan
• 2007/08/01: GristMill: [Dessler] Hurricane update
• 2007/07/31: CCM: Typhoon Usagi, Cat 4, Targets Japanese Island of Kyushu
• 2007/08/01: Wunderground: Japan Prepares for Usagi
• 2007/07/31: Wunderground: Busy Times in the Tropics This Week!...continued
• 2007/08/01: PlanetArk: Tropical Storm Chantal Forms in Atlantic - NHC
• 2007/08/01: CBC: Flooding brings havoc to Newfoundland towns
• 2007/08/01: CTV: Tropical Storm Chantal soaks Newfoundland - Emergencies declared in several N.L. communities
• 2007/07/31: CCM: Tropics Hotting Up? (And Meet Chantal)
• 2007/07/31: Wunderground: Busy Times in the Tropics This Week! [Usagi, Chantal, TD-3, 99L]
• 2007/07/31: PlanetArk: Typhoon Usagi Heads for Japan, Picking Up Strength
• 2007/07/30: CCM: Look Out for Typhoon Usagi

  A paper purports to show that hurricanes frequency has doubled over the last century:

• 2007/07/30: RoyalSoc: (pdf - 568k) Heightened tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic by Greg Holland & Peter Webster
• 2007/08/02: GWWatch: Royal Society: Hurricanes doubled over century
• 2007/07/31: TerraDaily: Frequency Of Atlantic Hurricanes Doubled Over Last Century And Climate Change Suspected
• 2007/07/30: SciDaily: Frequency Of Atlantic Hurricanes Doubled Over Last Century, Climate Change Suspected
• 2007/07/31: ERabett: First hurricane paper of what promises to be a busy season
• 2007/07/31: CCM: Is Global Warming Leading to an Increase in the Total Number of Atlantic Storms? (Part II: Policy Implications)
• 2007/07/30: KSJT: AP, dailies, etc: Hurricanes and global warming, another roundy-round among dueling researchers
• 2007/07/30: ABC(Au): Climate change contributing to hurricane numbers: study
• 2007/07/30: NewScientist: Tropical storms stepping up with climate change
• 2007/07/30: PhysOrg: Frequency of Atlantic hurricanes doubled over last century
• 2007/07/29: UCAR: Frequency of Atlantic Hurricanes Doubled Over Last Century; Climate Change Suspected
• 2007/07/30: CCM: Is Global Warming Leading to an Increase in the Total Number of Atlantic Storms? (Part I: The Debate)
• 2007/07/30: ENN: Study Blames Climate Change for Rise in Hurricanes
• 2007/07/29: Eureka: Frequency of Atlantic hurricanes doubled over last century, climate change suspected
• 2007/07/30: MiamiHerald: Global warming debate is stormy
  A new report claims global warming is causing a doubling of hurricane activity, but other researchers express deep doubts
• 2007/07/30: CBC: Atlantic hurricanes doubled over the last century: study
• 2007/07/29: Reuters: Study blames climate change for hurricane rise
• 2007/07/30: BBerg: Global Warming Causing More Atlantic Hurricanes, Study Finds
• 2007/07/30: Scotsman: Hurricane count doubles
  A dramatic increase in the frequency of Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms can be fully explained only by global warming, scientists said yesterday. In the past 100 years, the average number of tropical cyclones forming in the Atlantic each year has doubled. Of these, roughly 55 per cent have been powerful enough to be categorised as hurricanes. The new evidence suggests rising sea surface temperatures, largely attributed to global warming, are almost certainly spawning more cyclones
• 2007/07/30: BBC: Hurricane boost 'due to warm sea' - A new analysis of Atlantic hurricanes says their numbers have doubled over the last century

  While on the el Niño front:

• 2007/07/30: BBC: Where El Nino means hunger
  The notoriously unpredictable El Nino weather system spells hunger for West Timor villagers as crops fail...

Glaciers are melting:

• 2007/08/02: UN: Pollution adds to greenhouse gases melting Himalayan glaciers - UN-backed study
• 2007/08/01: KSJT: SF Chronicle: In China's Anyemagen Mountains, melting glaciers spell trouble
• 2007/08/01: CDreams: SF Chronicle: Warming of Glaciers Threatens Millions in China

  Sea levels are rising:

• 2007/08/02: CourierMail: Torres Strait islands at risk from global warming
• 2007/08/02: GWWatch: Torres Strait Islands drowning
• 2007/07/31: MTobis: The first meter

  Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

• 2007/08/03: PhysOrg: NASA researchers find satellite data can warn of famine
• 2007/08/03: Eureka: NASA researchers find satellite data can warn of famine
• 2007/08/03: Eureka: NASA helps Texas respond to most widespread flooding in 50 years
• 2007/07/30: ESA: ESA mission highlighted at remote sensing conference

  More GW impacts are being seen:

• 2007/08/03: CNN: Lake Superior changes puzzle scientists
  Lake Superior's level is at its lowest point in eight decades - The average water temperature has surged 4.5 degrees since 1979 - Lake changes could be a sign of climate change, but scientists aren't sure
• 2007/08/01: Telegraph(UK): 'Siberian forest fires due to climate change'
• 2007/08/04: TreeHugger: Legionnaires' Disease Spreading Rapidly Across U.K.
• 2007/08/05: SciDaily: Climate Change Threatens Siberian Forests
• 2007/08/02: ABC(Au): Workshops focus on climate change reef impact
• 2007/08/02: TerraDaily: Pollution Amplifies Greenhouse Gas Warming Trends To Jeopardize Asian Water Supplies
• 2007/08/02: BBC: Climate change worries for bird [ring ouzel]
• 2007/08/02: BBC: European fires near record levels
  Forests fires that have ravaged southern Europe during the past month were some of the worst on record, the European Commission has said. More than 3,000 sq km (1,200 sq miles) of forest had already burned this year, almost as much as in the whole of 2006, the commission said. It warned of more fires in the days ahead, with Spain and Portugal, where temperatures are soaring, most at risk
• 2007/08/01: ClimateP: Climate-Driven Pest Devours N. American Forests
• 2007/08/01: Guardian(UK): Canaries forest fires force evacuation of 10,000
• 2007/07/31: PhysOrg: 'Dead Zone' Returns to Oregon Coast...a sign of a warming climate...
• 2007/07/30: TerraDaily: Firefighters Struggle To Contain Blazes In South Europe
• 2007/07/30: SciDaily: Wild Weather Forces Farmers To Adapt
• 2007/07/30: SciDaily: Global Warming Threatens Pacific Northwest Coast
• 2007/07/30: TacomaNewsTrib: Forest Service worries about bigger fires, climate change
• 2007/07/30: Missoulian: Wildfires take shape in western Montana

  Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

• 2007/07/30: CBC: 'Jungle-like' heat, humidity continue in Manitoba

  And speaking of floods & droughts:

• 2007/08/05: DailyIndia: Southwest China suffers drought
  More than 1 million people and hundreds of thousands of farm animals are suffering from water shortages in drought-stricken southwest China
• 2007/08/03: WSWS: More devastating floods hit China
• 2007/08/04: JFleck: Expanding Alabama Drought
• 2007/08/04: SciDaily: NASA Helps Texas Respond To Most Widespread Flooding In 50 Years
• 2007/08/03: BBC: Water cut in drought-hit Ankara
  The water supply to residents of the Turkish capital Ankara has been reduced to two days on, two days off because of a severe drought. The water level in reservoirs supplying the city has dropped to less than 5% of capacity, as the country suffers one of its driest years on record
• 2007/08/03: Guardian(UK): Turkey rations water as cities hit by drought
• 2007/08/03: PlanetArk: Flooded China Warns of Heat, Drought - And Snow?
• 2007/07/31: TerraDaily: China Faces Twin Woes Of Floods And Drought
• 2007/08/01: PlanetArk: Drought Hits 1.2 Million in Central China
• 2007/08/01: ENN: Powerful Farmers Negotiate Deal for Billions of Gallons of Water in Parched California
• 2007/08/01: ChinaDaily: 1.2m people parched in Hunan
• 2007/08/01: PlanetArk: Greece Declares Emergency on Drought-Stricken Isles
• 2007/07/31: PlanetArk: Deadly Fires and Flooding Hit South Africa
• 2007/07/31: PlanetArk: Flooded South Sudan Declares Disaster, 12,000 Hit
• 2007/07/30: BBC: China rain storms claim 650 lives
  More than 650 people have been killed during weeks of flash flooding and landslides triggered by heavy rains, Chinese media reports. The violent summer downpours have affected 119 million people, destroyed 450,000 homes and nearly eight million hectares of crops, Xinhua said. Seventeen people were killed across four provinces this weekend alone. The Red Cross has launched a $7.7m appeal, calling it some of the worst flooding to hit China for a decade
• 2007/07/30: BBC: Floods, fires ravage South Africa
• 2007/07/30: AFP: 500 dead in China's worst flooding for a decade: Red Cross

  I can't imagine a worse place to be during a flood than in a mine:

• 2007/08/01: ChinaDaily: All 69 Chinese coal miners trapped underground by flood waters for more than three days emerged in broad daylight blindfolded, soaked but safe on Wednesday
• 2007/07/30: BBC: Flash floods have trapped 69 workers in a coal mine in central China's Henan province, Chinese media has reported
• 2007/07/30: People's Daily: 69 trapped in coal mine flooding in central China

  The conflict between biofuel and food persists:

• 2007/08/04: CCurrents: The End Of Cheap Food
• 2007/08/03: DailyJournal: Professor urges 'sustainable' solution
  Contrary to the hope of rural America, ethanol and biodiesel aren't the "silver bullet" solution to the nation's looming energy shortage. In fact, the use of food crops to fuel Pontiacs, not people, is something akin to a crime against humanity -- at least in a world where Third World, peasant farmers allegedly are being pushed off their land by wealthy investors who want to capitalize on the biofuel boom
• 2007/08/03: TaT: Ethanol Makers Join Food Vs. Fuel Debate
• 2007/08/03: EnergyBulletin: Memory and vision: The Apollo Alliance and eco-apartheid
• 2007/08/02: CCurrents: Climate Criminals And Climate Genocide
• 2007/08/01: PlanetArk: EU to Use 18 Pct Cereals Crops by 2020 for Biofuel
• 2007/07/31: PlanetArk: Biofuels to Keep Global Grain Prices High - Toepfer [German grain trading house Toepfer International, part of ADM]

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

• 2007/08/03: SciAlert: Food, water and oil - the hidden link
• 2007/07/29: EconView: "Some People Worry about Peak Oil. I Worry More about Peak Grain."

  Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

• 2007/08/03: PhysOrg: Ceramic tubes could cut greenhouse gas emissions from power stations
• 2007/07/30: BBC: Focus on carbon 'missing the point' -- The focus on reducing carbon emissions has blinded us to the real problem - unsustainable lifestyles...
• 2007/07/30: Guardian(UK): Scientists attempt to roll back emissions
  The technology to reverse global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere already exists - the biggest problem is making it commercially viable

Consider transportation & GHG production:

• 2007/08/02: GristMill: Coach buses provide long-distance, low-emission convenience
• 2007/07/30: Tyee: Free Transit? Experts Are Wary
• 2007/07/30: ENN: Hybrid Train in Japan Does Its Tiny Part to Fight Global Warming

  As for aviation & GHGs:

• 2007/08/02: OilChange: "Bullying" BAA Seeks "Mother of all Injunctions"
• 2007/08/02: Guardian(UK): BAA denies seeking blanket ban on airport protest - Injunction request targets climate change activists
• 2007/07/31: TreeHugger: Join Your Friends at [Heathrow] Camp for Climate Action
• 2007/07/28: WaPo: U.S. Airlines Under Pressure To Fly Greener
• 2007/07/26: GreenPeace(UK): Aviation industry takes five million people to court

  The idea of a traffic congestion tax is becoming more popular:

• 2007/08/01: BBC: The Swedish capital, Stockholm, has introduced a road tax on vehicles in an effort to cut traffic volumes and noise and air pollution

  Consider the role of building codes:

• 2007/07/30: ABC(Au): Insulation rebate to help cut emissions

  And on the carbon sequestration front:

• 2007/07/31: CSM: Earth too warm? Bury the CO2 - Texas alone could hold 40 years' worth of US emissions
• 2007/07/31: SciDaily: Carbon-capture Technology To Help UK Tackle Global Warming
• 2007/07/30: E2T: The Cost of Carbon Capture
• 2007/07/30: OilDrum: CO2 capture and storage: The economic costs
• 2007/07/30: NEN: Carbon capture: a research project, not a reality

  Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

• 2007/08/05: JFleck: A Problem with Geoengineering
• 2007/08/02: NewScientist: 'Sunshade' for global warming could cause drought

  Meanwhile in the journals:

• 2007/07/31: CliPast: Repeated temperature logs from Czech, Slovenian and Portuguese borehole climate observatories by J. ?afanda et al.
• 2007/08/03: GRL: (ab$) Doubled length of western European summer heat waves since 1880 by P. M. Della-Marta et al.
• 2007/07/30: RoyalSoc: (pdf - 568k) Heightened tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic by Greg Holland & Peter Webster

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

• 2007/08/02: PhysicsWorld: New statistical analysis confirms human role in climate change
• 2007/08/03: SciDaily: A 30,000-year Record Of Sea Surface Temperatures Off South Australia
• 2007/08/02: SciDaily: Synchronized Chaos: Mechanisms For Major Climate Shifts
• 2007/08/02: SciDaily: Surface Warming And The Solar Cycle
• 2007/07/31: MTobis: Climatological Culture, Wunsch and Ruddiman
• 2007/07/30: PhysOrg: Stronger evidence for human origin of global warming [Verdes]
• 2007/07/30: SciDaily: Stronger Evidence For Human Origin Of Global Warming

  Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

• 2007/07/31: Yahoo: U.N. rejects big Kyoto project in Equatorial Guinea
• 2007/07/30: AfterGutenberg: UN Climate Change Conference [Bali] December 2007

  The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

• 2007/08/04: GMB: The Fundamental Theorem of Carbon Taxation
• 2007/08/02: EcoEcon: Fundamental Theorem of Carbon Taxation [Cap-and-trade = Carbon tax + Corporate welfare]
• 2007/08/02: EnvEcon: Environmental economists advocate a carbon tax for China
• 2007/08/02: ENN: UN Climate Chief [UNFCCC head, Yvo de Boer] Skeptical about Global Carbon Tax

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

• 2007/08/02: ClimateP: "The Great Green Smoke Screen"
• 2007/08/02: TreeHugger: Zerofootprint Guides: Offsetting, Part 5 - So, you think you don't offset?
• 2007/07/31: GristMill: Against a gas tax
• 2007/07/30: BSD: Another offset overstatement at Gristmill, this time about geoengineering
• 2007/07/31: AlterNet: Exposed: The Truth Behind Popular Carbon Offsetting Schemes
• 2007/07/29: ClimateP: Amtrak's Arte boards the offset tree train

  Meanwhile on the international political front:

• 2007/08/03: ENN: Western North American Group [Western Climate Initiative] Works on Carbon Goals
• 2007/07/31: TerraDaily: UN Chief Urges New Climate Change Deal By 2009

  The UN General Assembly held a two day GW talk fest:

• 2007/08/02: IHT: General Assembly needs extra day for first climate change meeting because worried nations wanted to speak
• 2007/08/03: KSJT: Wires: UN getting into high gear for a post-Kyoto protocol treaty [GA meeting]
• 2007/08/03: TruthOut: Climate Deal Talks Gain Global Support - Nearly 100 worried countries back negotiations to tackle warming
  Nearly 100 countries speaking at the first U.N. General Assembly meeting on climate change signaled strong support for negotiations on a new international deal to tackle global warming. There was so much interest among worried nations - many facing drought, floods and searing heat - that the two-day meeting was extended for an extra day so that more countries could describe their climate-related problems, how they are coping, and the help they need
• 2007/08/01: TerraDaily: Developing World Seeks Funds And Technology To Tackle Climate Change [UN meeting]
• 2007/08/01: ENN: UN Climate Change Meeting Aims at Rich Countries
• 2007/07/31: Yahoo: U.N. climate change meeting aims at rich countries
• 2007/07/31: ENS: UN Debates Urgent Action to Avert Global Warming
• 2007/07/31: Yahoo: UN General Assembly to hold informal debate on climate change
  The UN General Assembly is to kick off a two-day debate on climate change Tuesday to lay the groundwork for upcoming high-level international meetings on how to tackle the burning issue. The informal debate, which will bring together prominent scientists, business leaders and UN officials, is "to consider how to translate the growing scientific consensus on climate change into a broad political consensus for action," a UN statement said. The debate aims to prepare the ground for a high-level meeting to be held next month, on the sidelines of the General Assembly, at UN chief Ban Ki-moon's behest, and a major climate change conference scheduled for December in Bali, Indonesia

The APEC finance ministers met this week ahead of the main meeting coming up this September:

• 2007/08/01: ABC(Au): Costello hopes for APEC carbon emissions agreement
  Federal Treasurer Peter Costello says he is hoping this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Finance Ministers Meeting at Coolum will result in an agreement on managing carbon emissions. More than 250 delegates from 21 APEC member economies and international financial institutions are involved in the talks on Queensland's Sunshine Coast

The GW security meme is still around:

• 2007/08/03: C411: Sen. Warner and the generals on climate

  And on the American political front:

• 2007/08/02: CSpin: What Adam said [We must get climate legislation right first time]
• 2007/08/01: ClimateP: Big media misses a key climate censorship story
• 2007/07/31: GristMill: Attribute-based CAFE standards
• 2007/07/31: TreeHugger: U.S. Forest Service Takes Aim at Global Warming
• 2007/07/31: WarmingLaw: California: Global Warming Ambassador?
• 2007/07/30: SacBee: Polls find global warming generating heat - Voters call it high priority, with politicians joining in.
  "Thank God for Al Gore," said McGlashan, organizing the forum along with Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, and state Assemblyman Jared Huffman. "For the first time in my life, I'm not just a progressive radical talking about climate change and environmental management. I'm in the groundswell of public opinion." According to a recent Public Policy Institute of California poll, 78 percent of state residents support the 2006 landmark Global Warming Solutions Act -- Assembly Bill 32 -- that requires a 25 percent reduction in California's greenhouse gases by 2020. Another 84 percent of poll respondents say they support a 2002 state law requiring automakers to cut emissions in new cars sold in California. "I think there is a movement under way," Topping said. "And I expect people feel anything that government does is still short of what needs to happen."
• 2007/07/30: ABC(US): Senators Go to Global Warming's Front Lines
• 2007/07/30: CSW: Bush Administration submits evasive report on U.S. climate change impacts to the UN

  Among the proposed energy bills:

• 2007/08/05: ABC(Au): US House passes clean energy Bill
• 2007/08/04: HillHeat: House Passes Energy Package with Renewable Energy Standard Provision
• 2007/08/05: BBC: US House passes clean energy bill
  The US House of Representatives has passed a radical new energy bill, which aims to expand the use of renewable fuels and cut tax breaks to oil firms
• 2007/08/04: Reuters: U.S. House shifts $16 bln toward renewable energy
• 2007/08/03: ClimateP: Congress establishes ARPA-E, more pointless bureaucracy
• 2007/08/03: GristMill: Federal renewable portfolio standard update
• 2007/08/02: FuturePundit: Congress To Give Nuclear Power Industry Loan Guarantees?
• 2007/08/03: HillHeat: House Energy Package Votes Likely Delayed to Saturday
• 2007/08/02: HillHeat: Amendments to House Energy Bill Announced: RES, No CAFE 1
• 2007/08/03: Maribo: US Congress to debate Energy Bill
• 2007/08/02: ClimateP: Dems do in fact wimp out on CAFE for now
• 2007/08/02: GristMill: It's time for a national renewable portfolio standard
• 2007/08/02: GristMill: Congress debates whether 'clean coal' is awesome or supercool
• 2007/08/02: GristMill: Renewable energy in the House [HR 969, the Udall-Platts Amendment]
• 2007/08/01: WaPo: Democrats Lack Unity in House Over Energy Bill
• 2007/07/30: TruthOut: Energy Bill Will Test Pelosi's Command - Democrats in auto states oppose increasing gas mileage standards
• 2007/07/31: NYT: Energy Bill Aids Expansion of Atomic Power
  A one-sentence provision buried in the Senate’s recently passed energy bill, inserted without debate at the urging of the nuclear power industry, could make builders of new nuclear plants eligible for tens of billions of dollars in government loan guarantees. Lobbyists have told lawmakers and administration officials in recent weeks that the nuclear industry needs as much as $50 billion in loan guarantees over the next two years to finance a major expansion
• 2007/07/31: DeSmogBlog: Nukes Mount Stealth Attack in Congress
• 2007/07/31: GristMill: 50 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear power, the public-teat suckingest industry in history

  Meanwhile IEER has published their proposals:

• 2007/08/01: GristMill: Carbon- and nuclear-free America possible by 2050
• 2007/07/30: IEER: Landmark Energy Policy Study Points the Way to U.S. Energy Future without Fossil Fuels or Nuclear Power
  Protecting Climate Will Require Essentially Complete Elimination of U.S. Carbon Dioxide Emissions by 2050

Among the proposed climate change bills:

• 2007/08/02: ClimateP: Lieberman, Warner seek 70% emissions cut by 2050
• 2007/08/03: WarmingLaw: Pre-Emptive War? [Lieberman - Warner]
• 2007/08/03: ENN: Senators Line Up Behind [Lieberman-Warner] Economy-Wide Approach to Slow Global Warming
• 2007/08/02: Yahoo: Senators map new plan for climate bill
  Senators are lining up behind a carbon trading plan to slow global warming, with the aim of cutting 70 percent of U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 2050. The approach draws on the United Nations' Kyoto Protocol, the controversial system begun in 2005 but rejected by President Bush. That accord has produced little overall reduction in greenhouse gases but has enriched some traders with huge profits. Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and John Warner, R-Va., outlined a plan Thursday to create a federal Climate Change Credit Corp. to auction pollution credits among electric utilities, transportation and other industries. A new government board could give more credits to companies suffering too much economically.
• 2007/08/02: HillHeat: Lieberman-Warner Plan Unveiled

  Dingell's carbon tax proposal continues to raise controversy:

• 2007/08/03: TruthOut: The Power in the Carbon Tax by John D. Dingell
• 2007/08/02: ClimateP: Dingell defends his poison pill plan in a confusing, misleading op-ed
• 2007/08/02: HillHeat: What's Missing from the House Energy Bill; Dingell on Carbon Tax
• 2007/08/02: WaPo: The Power in the Carbon Tax by Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich)
• 2007/08/02: EnvEcon: Dingell buries command and control
• 2007/08/01: ClimateP: Democrats poised to wimp out on CAFE for now, Dingell pursues "poison pill" strategy on climate

  The California EPA ruling by the SCOTUS looms over the Bush administration:

• 2007/07/31: HillHeat: EPW Committee Sets A Deadline for the California Waiver
• 2007/08/02: WarmingLaw: The Boxer Rebellion [Cal, EPA]
• 2007/07/30: WarmingLaw: Standing Should Not Be A One-Way Street [Mass. v. EPA]

  The 2008 campaign is kicking over:

• 2007/08/03: EnergyBulletin: Edwards, Obama, Richardson and Clinton on energy

  While in the UK:

• 2007/08/05: TreeHugger: Carbon Trust Award £1 Million in Green Grants
• 2007/08/03: Telegraph(UK): Air [Travel] Emissions excluded from [UK] draft Climate Change Bill
• 2007/08/02: BBC: Tougher carbon targets law urged
  The government's proposals to tackle climate change need to be tougher and legally enforceable, say MPs and peers. A report said the government's target of a 60% cut in carbon emissions by 2050 may not be adequate. International aviation emissions should be included in targets and there should be a cap on the use of "carbon credits" to meet them, the joint committee said. It backed the government's five-yearly carbon targets, but said there should be annual "milestones" and reports
• 2007/08/03: TreeHugger: UK Canal Freight Under Scrutiny: 80% Less CO2 Than Road Haulage
• 2007/07/31: Guardian(UK): Reap what we sow - The ruin of the floods underlines the urgency of achieving national self-reliance in food crops
• 2007/07/31: TreeHugger: New Report Claims a Zero Carbon Britain is Within 20 Years Reach
• 2007/07/30: Yahoo: UK launches CO2 car rankings Web site

  And in Europe:

• 2007/08/01: EUO: Latvia becomes sixth country to fight EU emissions caps
• 2007/08/01: PlanetArk: Latvia to Take EU to Court Over CO2 Allowance Cut
• 2007/07/30: Guardian(UK): Mittal says EU emission cap will limit growth

  Meanwhile in Australia:

• 2007/08/02: ABC(Au): Greens Senator Kerry Nettle has called on the Federal Government to support renewable technology like Port Kembla's wave energy plant, instead of research into clean coal technology
• 2007/08/01: ABC(Au): NSW electricity supply at risk: Iemma
  New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma has accused the Commonwealth of putting the state's future electricity supply at risk by failing to spell out details of a carbon emissions trading scheme

Brazil is getting alarmed by climate change:

• 2007/08/01: TruthOut: Brazil, Alarmed, Reconsiders Policy on Climate Change
• 2007/07/31: CDreams: NYT: Brazil, Alarmed, Reconsiders Policy on Climate Change

  The Chinese Finance Minister talks a good line, but note he is talking about "energy intensity":

• 2007/08/04: TheAge: China emissions proposal gives hope
  In what could be a crucial step towards getting global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, China's Finance Minister, Jin Renqing, has proposed setting up an emissions trading scheme within China, linked to those in other countries. Speaking after APEC finance ministers met on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, Mr Jin said China has set ambitious targets to reduce the energy intensity of its output, and would need to rely mainly on "a market-based mechanism" to achieve them. If China were to set up an emissions trading scheme it would open the way for the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters to work together to cut emissions under a post-Kyoto agreement, as envisaged by the United Nations.

And in Canada, minority neocon PM Harper, continues to do nothing useful:

• 2007/08/05: CanWest: "Don't mess with Alberta," Stelmach tells counterparts - Premier Refusing To Toughen Climate Change Approach
• 2007/08/03: CBC: Political dispute flows into N.L. flooding cleanup
• 2007/07/30: CanWest: Cap on wind power riles critics - Alberta limiting production of green energy
• 2007/07/31: ROB: Ottawa can't shift green rebates into gear - Qualified car buyers have not been paid
  More than four months after announcing rebates for those who buy fuel-sipping cars and trucks, the federal government has not paid a cent to buyers of 2006 and 2007 models that qualify, and automakers are voicing complaints as 2008 models flow on to dealers' lots.

The tricky question of the oil sands looms:

• 2007/08/05: CanWest: Green groups target oilsands projects
• 2007/07/31: OilChange: Shell to Build $25 Billion Oil Sands Plant

  A handful of interesting economic articles showed up this week:

• 2007/07/: MoJo: Market Meltdown: Understanding Climate Economics
• 2007/08/03: CCurrents: Demand Destruction - Market FailureStern and others have pointed out that markets for coal, then oil and gas never quantified or priced their greenhouse gas emissions. As the potential serious consequences of climate change are now being understood, this externality can now be considered the biggest market failure ever
• 2007/08/03: VoxEU: Why economists don't know all the answers about climate change
• 2007/08/03: EconView: "Why Economists Don't Know All the Answers about Climate Change"
• 2007/08/01: JEB: John Quiggin on the costs of climate change
• 2007/07/27: TheDay: There Are Dire Consequences To Continued 'Growthmania'
• 2007/07/31: JQuiggin: How much does it cost to save the planet?
• 2007/07/29: GristMill: Baskets, eggs, and the precariousness of Homo Economicus
• 2007/07/30: CCM: Fire! Questionably Perverse Externalities of Carbon Sequestration
• 2007/07/29: EnergyBulletin: Upside down economics

  Somebody is always trying to keep the elephant alight:

• 2007/07/31: TreeHugger: The Elephant in the Room: Overpopulation

  Apocalypso anyone?:

• 2007/07/30: TPV: Building Circles of Community: 'Lone Rangers' Cannot Survive Collapse
• 2007/07/30: AfterGutenberg: Ecocidality

  As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

• 2007/08/01: DeSmogBlog: Nature to newsroom: "Get Me Rewrite!"
• 2007/08/01: DailyGreen: Doubt Global Warming? Read Different News - Major U.S. Papers Less Likely Than International Counterparts To Confront Threat
• 2007/07/29: CSW: Washington Post coverage of aviation and global warming should look at federal NextGen program

  And for your film & video enjoyment:

• 2007/08/03: ClimateP: This is the Planet's 11th Hour [Film Preview]

  Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

• 2007/08/04: Yahoo: Energy search goes underground [geothermal]
• 2007/08/03: RTE: A plan to install the world's biggest tidal energy turbine in Northern Ireland has been put on hold [for want of a jack-up installation vessel]
• 2007/08/04: NEN: Solar Microbe -- Pure research -- nobody knows where it will lead
• 2007/08/03: AfterGutenberg: Competitive Solar Cells at 25% of Typical Cost
• 2007/08/02: EESD: Wind Energy Market Outpacing Manufacturing Capacity
• 2007/08/01: GristMill: More on thin-film solar
• 2007/08/02: PlanetArk: Nothing to Hear Here, UK Wind Turbine Study Shows
• 2007/08/02: ENN: Australia Says Clean Electricity Key to Greenhouse Cuts
• 2007/08/02: MTobis: Tiltin' at Windmills - Texas ought to be leading the way on energy...
• 2007/08/02: EnvFin: E.ON [German utility company] to invest 3 billion [euros] in renewables
• 2007/08/02: AfterGutenberg: In Europe, New Wind Farm Construction Sets Record
• 2007/07/31: ClimateP: For Peat's Sake, Stop the Palm Oil Madness
• 2007/07/31: NEN: German Wind Grew 39% in 2006...
• 2007/07/30: KSJT: Canadian Dailies: Wind power - booming, or cooling?
• 2007/07/30: GristMill: LS9 promises 'renewable petroleum'
• 2007/07/30: E2T: 10 Questions for Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen
• 2007/07/30: ENN: Cloudy Germany Unlikely Hotspot for Solar Power

  The arithmetic of coal carbon is striking home:

• 2007/07/30: GristMill: Coal is the enemy of the human race: Harry Reid edition

  Biofuel bickering abounds:

• 2007/08/03: TreeHugger: One Last Kick at the Ethanol Can
• 2007/08/01: GristMill: Jeff Goodell doesn't like ethanol
• 2007/08/01: Asia Times: The great biofuel fraud
• 2007/08/01: ENN: New Zealand's First Ethanol Blend Fuel Reaches Market; Step to Carbon Neutrality

  And then there is the matter of efficiency & conservation:

• 2007/08/01: EESD: Energy Efficiency Index from Merrill Lynch
• 2007/07/31: C411: Mercury Risk in CFLs: The Facts

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

• 2007/08/04: AfterGutenberg: Automotive Energy Supply Corporation [New Nissan & NEC company to produce lithium-ion batteries]
• 2007/07/30: Reuters: U.S. vehicles rank bottom in world fuel efficiency
• 2007/07/31: TreeHugger: Honda Bringing 62.8 MPG Diesel to the US by 2010
• 2007/07/31: CNN: Have you driven a Fjord lately?
  Think's zippy little Web-enabled, carbon-free electric driving machine could help reverse 100 years of automotive history...
• 2007/07/30: PhysOrg: E-Dragsters Go for Gas-Powered Records
• 2007/07/30: C411: Plug-in Cars: The Lowdown - Part 1 - Vehicle Fuels and Technology
• 2007/07/30: AfterGutenberg: Ultra Cap E Bike

  The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

  Meanwhile in the "every problem is an opportunity in disguise" crowd:
• 2007/07/31: ClimateP: G.E. brings good irony to offsets [credit card]

  Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

• 2007/08/01: SciAm: Insurers Claim Global Warming Makes Some Regions Too Hot to Handle
  As the nation braces for an active hurricane season, private insurers jump ship, leaving federal and state governments liable for ever increasing payouts
• 2007/08/02: EnvFin: UK summer floods could cost insurers £3.25 bn

  The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

• 2007/08/04: CSpin: With Murdoch, will Wall Street Journal come around on global warming?
• 2007/08/03: DeSmogBlog: Who is Marc Morano? And why should we care?
• 2007/08/03: DeSmogBlog: Senator Inhofe and the difference between science and point-of-view
• 2007/07/30: TCE: Board Approves Swindel for Surrey Schools [TGGWS]
• 2007/07/30: TCE: Skeptics, This Way Please

  Glen Beck seems to be trying to see how low he can go:

• 2007/07/30: TWM: Science...the accusation of a "new eugenics"
• 2007/07/30: GristMill: Global warming and eugenics

  The attack on the temperature record via surface stations has come in for attention this week:

• 2007/08/04: ERabett: Trashburning dynamics
• 2007/08/03: Reasic: Temperature Data Manipulation?
• 2007/08/02: ERabett: Watts up Doc?
• 2007/08/01: BCLSB: Climate Audit: Climate Science Or Political Semiotics?
• 2007/07/30: ERabett: There's a hot time in Marysville or how not to RTFR
• 2007/07/31: Deltoid: Cherry picking stations.org
• 2007/07/31: BCLSB: Pielke and Surface Stations: What Is The Connection?
• 2007/07/30: Tamino: Surface Stations

  Then there was the usual news and commentary:

• 2007/08/04: ClimateP: Climate Progress, Green Herring, and Fireblades - Two blog mentions.
• 2007/08/03: GristMill: Pricing carbon
• 2007/08/02: ENN: Sailboat Island Odyssey Has Grim Message for Earth
• 2007/08/02: UCAR: Forecasting System Provides Flood Warnings to Vulnerable Residents of Bangladesh
• 2007/07/31: Maribo: A good tool for calculating your emissions - If you're looking for a carbon calculator...
• 2007/07/31: GristMill: Magical Pony Plans: A public service announcement
• 2007/07/31: NYT: Into the Limelight, and the Politics of Global Warming [Heidi Cullen interview]
• 2007/07/30: ClimateP: [4 articles] Worried About the Weather, and the Land
• 2007/07/30: ClimateP: Apres nous le deluge
• 2007/07/29: TD: How Efficiency Maximizes Catastrophe
• 2007/07/31: Maribo: Still no lake beneath Darfur

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

• HillHeat - Science Policy Legislation Action
• It's Getting Hot In Here - Dispatches from the Youth Climate Movement
• DFT: Act On CO2
• E2T: Earth2Tech
• CAN: Climate Action Network - Canada
• CaCC: Campaign against Climate Change
• CCA: Climate Change Action
• NOAA: Paleotempestology Resource Center
• GristMill: How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic
• MongaBay
• IGHIH: It's Getting Hot In Here
• GCP: Global Carbon Project

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Typically Low Key Plug

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

<regards>
-het

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

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"The stage is now set for frontal competition for grain between the 800 million people who own automobiles, and the world's two billion poorest who will need it to survive." -Lester Brown

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