One Mother’s Reaction To The Climate Silence: ‘I’m Angry As Hell And High Water’

Think Progress: Over here at Moms Clean Air Force, I`ve been--I`ll admit it--profoundly depressed that the candidates have blown their chance to talk about the most important issue facing our planet. Climate Change. Two debates down. A moderator who says "Whoops! Ran out of time to ask about climate. So sorry!" Well, I`m sorry too. And I`m angry. Angry as hell and high water. Two debates about "domestic policy" and not one word has been uttered about the chaotic domestic weather we`ve been enduring. Not...

URL: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/10/20/1044641/one-mothers-reaction-to-the-climate-silence-im-angry-as-hell-and-high-water/?mobile=nc

South Korea to house new UN Green Climate Fund

Deutsche Welle: The United Nations has chosen South Korea as the home for its Green Climate Fund. South Korea is reportedly viewed by many as a bridge between developing and developed nations. The new United Nations Green Climate Fund, established to manage billions of dollars to assist developing countries tackle climate change, is to be situated in Songdo, Incheon City, South Korea, the board of the fund announced on Saturday. The former German capital city of Bonn, home to the UN's Climate Change Secretariat,...

URL: http://www.dw.de/south-korea-to-house-new-un-green-climate-fund/a-16320885

Greens divided on whether to hit Obama on climate change

The Hill: The environmental movement is divided over how hard to pressure President Obama on climate change in the homestretch of the 2012 campaign. The contrasting strategies were evident in statements and e-mails to members that green groups released after Tuesday's debate, which saw Obama and Mitt Romney battle at length over energy without once mentioning global warming for the second-straight onstage battle. Some groups praised Obama for strongly touting renewable energy and efficiency, while others...

URL: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/263123-greens-divided-on-whether-to-hit-obama-on-climate-change

In Japan, need of fossil fuels pushes climate change targets to back seat

Washington Post: With Japan's oil and gas plants firing at full capacity, officials here say there is little chance of meeting a pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions significantly over the next decade, a startling retreat for a country that once spearheaded an international agreement on climate change. The earlier, ambitious target to slash emissions 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 has been overrun by a more urgent, short-term need: to burn fossil fuels and maintain a steady electricity supply in the wake...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/in-japan-need-of-fossil-fuels-pushes-climate-change-targets-to-back-seat/2012/10/20/459e2aac-183f-11e2-9855-71f2b202721b_story.html
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_404h/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/10/20/Foreign/Images/2012-10-12T100046Z_01_TOK740_RTRIDSP_3_ENERGY-JAPAN-TAX.jpg

The New Oil and Gas Boom

Time: Back to Article Click to Print Monday, Oct. 29, 2012 The New Oil and Gas Boom By Fareed Zakaria In their second debate, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney began with a spirited discussion on energy, during which they both agreed on the goal of making America more energy independent. This has been part of presidential rhetoric since Richard Nixon declared energy independence his Administration's aim. As it happens, regardless of who is elected President, a tidal shift is taking place in energy...

URL: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2127202,00.html?iid=sci-main-mostpop2

Despite 2012 algae break feds invest in longterm Great Lakes controls

Great Lakes Echo: Is it a political risk for an administration to spend nearly $6 million during an election year on a near-shore issue that was practically non-existent that same summer? Not when that issue is Great Lakes algae. The Obama administration spread about half that sum, or $3 million, among seven Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant recipients in Ohio and nearly as much to four in Michigan, mostly for nutrient-reduction projects aimed to help reduce algae. The administration's support for addressing...

URL: http://greatlakesecho.org/2012/10/19/despite-2012-great-lakes-algae-hiatus-feds-invest-in-longterm-solutions/

The Energy Rush: After the Boom in Natural Gas

New York Times: THE crew of workers fought off the blistering Louisiana sun, jerking their wrenches to tighten the fat hoses that would connect their cement trucks to the Chesapeake Energy drill rig — one of the last two rigs the company is still using to drill for natural gas here in the Haynesville Shale. At its peak, Chesapeake ran 38 rigs in the region. All told, it has sunk more than 1,200 wells into the Haynesville, a gas-rich vein of dense rock that straddles Louisiana and Texas. Fed by a gold-rush mentality...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/business/energy-environment/in-a-natural-gas-glut-big-winners-and-losers.html
Enclosure: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/10/21/business/21-GLUT1/21-GLUT1-articleLarge.jpg

Australia: Climate change bill of $1b for suburbs

Age: WATERFRONT communities from Southbank to the Mornington Peninsula face a damage bill of more than $1 billion from severe storms and rising sea levels over the next 90 years, according to a confidential climate change report. The report, by federal, state and local governments, warns that parts of Rosebud foreshore could be completely submerged by 2100 during coastal flooding, while residents around Elwood's canals face massive annual losses if government and local councils fail to act. Maps...

URL: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/climate-change-bill-of-1b-for-suburbs-20121020-27yli.html
Enclosure: http://images.theage.com.au/2012/10/20/3730681/2110flood-620x349.jpg

Reports: Marcellus reserves larger than expected

Associated Press: There's been plenty of debate over the Marcellus Shale natural gas field, but new research adds a twist that could impact political and environmental battles. Two independent financial firms say the Marcellus isn't just the biggest natural gas field in the country -- it's the cheapest place for energy companies to drill. One of the reports adds that the Marcellus reserves that lie below parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and New York are far larger than recent government estimates, while...

URL: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49488854/Reports_Marcellus_reserves_larger_than_expected

Canada: Ocean fertilization experiment alarms marine scientists

Globe and Mail: A group that did an unsanctioned experiment off the coast of British Columbia, fertilizing a vast expanse of ocean with iron sulphate, is struggling to justify its project in the face of withering attacks from the scientific community. In a press conference at the Vancouver Aquarium on Friday, backers of the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation project said they are doing good research and have collected a treasure trove of data that may show how to combat global warming. "On a changing planet,...

URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ocean-fertilization-experiment-alarms-marine-scientists/article4625695/

Polar bear fight returns to court

Greenwire: Federal appeals court judges gave no indication today that they see any significant legal obstacles to the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is reviewing a June 2011 district court ruling that upheld the George W. Bush administration's decision to list the polar bear as threatened. The state of Alaska, joined by industry and sporting...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/10/19/3

Fears grow over Conservatives' links to fossil fuel lobbyists

Guardian: Government backing for new forms of gas extraction such as "fracking" are coming under acute scrutiny, after a sacked energy minister warned against "betting the farm" on them and green groups expressed alarm at links between the fossil fuel lobby and the Tories. An Observer investigation has established that energy trading giant Vitol, whose boss has given more than £500,000 to the Conservatives, has emerged as a major shareholder in a company bringing "hydraulic fracturing", commonly known as...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/21/conservatives-links-fossil-fuel-lobbyists
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/10/20/1350743158115/Anti-fracking-campaigners-010.jpg

Hillary Clinton puts clean energy, climate change on State's marching orders

ClimateWire: A global clean energy transformation is key to economic development, national security and fighting climate change, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday. In a major speech at Georgetown University on energy diplomacy, Clinton called the transformation to greener pathways "essential to reducing the world's carbon emissions and at the core of a strong 21st-century global economy." Describing policies from sanctions on Iranian oil to navigating tensions in the South China...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/climatewire/2012/10/19/3

African states asked to take climate change seriously

Daily News: THE second annual conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa opened here on Friday with a call for African countries to push hard for scaling up national and international efforts in relation to adaptation, mitigation, finance, technology transfer and development. Addressing delegates, the Prime Minister Federal Republic of Ethiopia, Mr Hailemariam Dessalegn said finance needed for climate change action in Africa must be real and significant. "The performance by developed countries...

URL: http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/10691-african-states-asked-to-take-climate-change-seriously

Oklahoma dust storm shuts down portion of Interstate 35

Associated Press: A massive dust storm swirling reddish-brown clouds over northern Oklahoma triggered a multi-vehicle accident along a major interstate Thursday, forcing police to shut down part of the heavily traveled roadway amid near blackout conditions. In a scene reminiscent of the Dust Bowl days, choking dust suspended on strong wind gusts shrouded Interstate 35, which links Dallas and Oklahoma City to Kansas City, Mo. Video from television station helicopters showed the four-lane highway virtually disappearing...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/oklahoma-dust-storm-_n_1982501.html

Keystone XL pipeline brings out the protest in locals

LA Times: Eleanor Fairchild, 78, a great-grandmother and retired homemaker, became an alleged "eco-terrorist" in the early hours of Oct. 4, crawling through brush on her farm about 100 miles east of Dallas in jeans and a button-down shirt to stop work on the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. Her companion? The actress Daryl Hannah. Fairchild is one of several local landowners-turned-activists joining outside protesters in the fight to stop a Canadian company from building the pipeline across their properties....

URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-texas-pipeline-20121020,0,1638530.story?page=2
Enclosure: http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2012-10/72962496.jpg

Chinese government mulls policies to support solar power industry

Reuters: China is working on policies, including subsidies and easier access to the grid, to help its ailing solar power producers expand in the domestic market, the China Daily reported on Saturday, citing industry officials and government sources. The State Grid Corp, China's largest state-owned utility, is considering giving its subsidiaries at city level the authority to approve solar power plants with less than 10,000 kilowatts of installed capacity to be connected to the grid, said deputy director...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/20/us-china-solar-idUSBRE89J02Z20121020?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20121020&t=2&i=665410234&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE89J0CBI00

United States: Candidates have real chance to talk about climate change

Sun-Sentinel: Many years of hard work, planning, and cooperation among local governments is coming to fruition for the citizens of southeast Florida, as four county commissions, partners to the Southeast Florida Climate Change Compact, will soon consider and vote on a Regional Climate Action Plan for addressing the regional impacts of climate change. Rather than focusing on partisan differences, elected leaders and county staff within Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties have pooled expertise,...

URL: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorials/fl-climate-oped1020-20121020,0,5859110.story

South Korea picked as HQ of new U.N. Green Climate Fund

Reuters: A new U.N. fund meant to manage billions of dollars to help developing nations combat climate change will be based in South Korea, leaders of the fund agreed on Saturday. The Green Climate Fund is to be sited in Songdo, Incheon City, South Korea, the board of the fund said. Germany, Mexico, Namibia, Poland and Switzerland had also sought to be the headquarters. Developed nations agreed in 2009 to raise climate aid, now about $10 billion a year, to an annual $100 billion from 2020 to help developing...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/20/us-climate-fund-idUSBRE89J05P20121020?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

The UN's secret climate adaptation summit

RTCC: COP11 in Hyderabad is probably the biggest climate adaptation conference you have never heard of. Representatives from 192+ countries have travelled to India, drawing a crowd of 14,000 delegates to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) bi-annual summit. But aside from a solitary New York Times journalist who arrived on Monday, media coverage outside India is fairly low-key. This is a pity, as the subjects up for discussion are fascinating, and directly relevant to the climate debate....

URL: http://www.rtcc.org/policy/the-uns-secret-climate-adaptation-summit/

Actress Julianne Moore Asks Washington for a Plan to Fight Climate Change

Huffington Post: It's just a few weeks before the presidential election and the season is heating up with debates, powerful speeches, and truly dreadful TV ads. These all serve to remind us what matters most: our freedom. As parents, we watch democracy in action and cannot help but wonder what the world will be like for our children. Why haven't the presidential candidates talked about their plan to combat climate change? We trust scientists to guide and inform us about global warming and we look to celebrities...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronnie-citronfink/julianne-moore-climate-change_b_1975299.html
Enclosure: http://youtu.be/LMqHSEoWzA4

"Lethally Hot" Earth Was Devoid of Life—Could It Happen Again?

National Geographic: Extinctions during the early Triassic period left Earth a virtual wasteland, largely because life literally couldn't take the heat, a new study suggests. Between 247 to 252 million years ago, Earth was reeling from a mass extinction called the end-Permian event. The die-off had wiped out most life on Earth, including most land plants. The planet was baking, and life at the Equator struggled to survive. Plants gobble up carbon dioxide, which warms the planet. So without them, Earth became "like...

URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/10/121018-triassic-extinctions-hot-global-warming-science-environment/
Enclosure: http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/603/cache/mass-extinction-permian-triassic-ammonites_60330_600x450.jpg

Drilling Payments Cause a Dispute in Pennsylvania

New York Times: Four Pennsylvania townships are challenging a state regulator's decision to withhold their share of proceeds from a statewide levy on drilling by the booming natural gas industry there. The townships, in a heavily drilled area of southwestern Pennsylvania, were excluded from a list of 35 counties and 1,485 municipalities that will receive a total of $108.7 million from a new "impact fee" charged to energy companies to help compensate for the effects of gas drilling on local communities. The payout,...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/us/drilling-payments-cause-a-dispute-in-pennsylvania.html

The Face of Food Security Is Female

Inter Press Service: In a major endorsement for investment in women -- the bulk of food growers in the developing world -- United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said food security could not be achieved without women, and that the world`s hungry also needed leaders to prioritise actions. "Girls and women are society`s best chance to overcome hunger," Ban told a gathering of world leaders, researchers, farmers and policy-makers at the presentation of the 2012 World Food Prize. Global leaders meeting in the...

URL: http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/10/the-face-of-food-security-is-female/

Reckless Coal Expansion Threatens South Africa’s Water Supply

EcoWatch: Water is the foundation of life: we're unable to survive without it. But the problem is that water is scarce, and South Africa is running out of it. More than 98 percent of South Africa's water has already been allocated, and this country is facing a severe water crisis in the coming decade. We're going to face skyrocketing water prices, droughts due to climate change and increasing competition over water--possibly leading to conflict. Already a lack of access to water is leading to service delivery...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/south-africa-water/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/waterhungrycoal.jpg

Why the chill on climate change?

Washington Post: Not a word has been said in the presidential debates about what may be the most urgent and consequential issue in the world: climate change. President Obama understands and accepts the scientific consensus that the burning of fossil fuels is trapping heat in the atmosphere, with potentially catastrophic long-term effects. Mitt Romney's view, as on many issues, is pure quicksilver -- impossible to pin down -- but when he was governor of Massachusetts, climate-change activists considered him enlightened...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-why-no-discussion-of-climate-change/2012/10/18/a3cd74ec-195d-11e2-aa6f-3b636fecb829_story.html

'REDD+ actions can have varying impacts'

SciDev.Net: Impacts of actions under Reduction of Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) -- a UN mechanism to stem deforestation and degradation -- on biodiversity and carbon vary across forest types and landscape conditions, a new global assessment shows. Key findings of the preliminary assessment of links between biodiversity, carbon, forests and people, prepared by the International Union of Forest Research Organisations' Global Forest Experts Panel (GFEP), were released this week (16 October) at the international...

URL: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/news/-redd-actions-can-have-varying-impacts-.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
Enclosure: http://c96267.r67.cf3.rackcdn.com/borneo_forest.jpg

Warming freezing economies

Agence France-Presse: Climate change caused by global warming is freezing the world economy and already leading to the deaths of millions every year, a report commissioned by 20 of the world's most vulnerable countries said. "Climate Vulnerability Monitor: a guide to the cold calculus of a hot planet" says global warming will not only lead to environmental catastrophe, but is choking the international economy. Key findings include estimates that carbon-intensive economies and associated climate change are responsible...

URL: http://main.omanobserver.om/node/116436
Enclosure: http://main.omanobserver.om/files/imagecache/250x250/rbimages/1350589540022705100.jpg

Will Obama and Romney Address Climate Change in Florida Debate?

Huffington Post: What a difference four years makes. In 2008, during the second presidential debate--a town hall format similar to what we witnessed a few days ago--an audience member asked the two candidates: "I want to know what you would do within the first two years to make sure that Congress moves fast as far as environmental issues, like climate change and green jobs?" In response, John McCain and Barack Obama both acknowledged the reality of global warming. Obama said it is "one of the biggest challenges...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elliott-negin/third-debate-climate-change_b_1982523.html
Enclosure: http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2012-10-19-PresidentialDebate10172012.jpg

Koch Brothers Goal: Defeat the Wind Tax Credit

ThinkProgress: The wind energy industry faces a lame duck fight in the House of Representatives over extending the expiring production tax credit. The tax credit has broad bipartisan support, and considering that 81 percent of U.S. wind projects are installed in Republican districts, GOP lawmakers have a good reason to support it. But with Koch Industries and fossil fuel groups mobilizing to defeat the credit, its future after 2012 is uncertain. The American Energy Alliance, which has Koch ties, told Politico...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/defeat-wind-tax-credit/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/wind2.jpg

Climate Talks May Trigger Tighter EU Carbon Target, Rogers Says

Bloomberg: Climate talks starting Nov. 26 in Doha, Qatar, may help trigger a tighter emissions-reduction target in the European Union within three years, according to Chris Rogers, a Bloomberg Industries analyst in London. While Poland, for instance, is not immediately interested in supporting tighter carbon limits, the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention talks through Dec. 7 may prompt the start of negotiations among EU member states, Rogers said today by phone. "Something could be sorted...

URL: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-19/climate-talks-may-trigger-tighter-eu-carbon-target-rogers-says

Why the wildfires still rage

New York Times: THE cooler temperatures of fall may have arrived on the East Coast, but in California and the Pacific Northwest, fire season burns on. There are six large fires raging out West, and this year's season is likely to burn 10 million acres of land, more than in any year since 1960, when federal records began to be kept. Explanations abound: global warming has provided consistently hotter weather, and warmer winters have meant less snow melt during the spring. Drought has plagued the country, and invasive...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/opinion/the-wildfires-still-burn.html

Presidential candidates must take a stand on climate change

Orlando Sentinel: This summer's unbearably hot temperatures resulted in the hottest July on record and likely will result in 2012 being the hottest year on record. The health of all of us -- not just the residents of Florida -- our collective economic well-being and the safety of future generations are now on the line. Could there be a more compelling cry for us to be the good stewards of this earth that we are called to be? Reflecting the growing spirit of religious activism in this realm, the Interfaith Moral...

URL: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-climate-change-presidential-race-102012-20121019,0,1283775.story

Australia: Climate change: journalism's never-ending fight for facts

Guardian: The debate about climate change is dogged – possibly even defined – by its interminable, intractable tug of war over the "facts". A hand grenade is lobbed into no-man's land triggering a volley of return fire. But, when the dust settles, can anyone truly claim to have advanced their position? Of course, the art of "manufacturing doubt" has long been in the playbook of those hoping or needing to divert attention away from evidence. We saw it a generation ago with smoking, just as we see it today...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/oct/19/climate-change-facts-journalism
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/10/19/1350641044940/Leo-blog--DJ-Allan-Jones--008.jpg

Powerful Windstorm Winds Down in Plains, Midwest

Climate Central: A massive windstorm is finally winding down after it snarled traffic, helped burn down a tiny North Dakota town, and caused a dust storm that spawned a multi-vehicle accident in Oklahoma. The winds flipped tractor trailer trucks onto their sides in South Dakota, as drivers were unable to maintain control against hurricane-force crosswinds. The storm, which was centered across the Upper Midwest but has since drifted eastward and weakened, was a powerful area of low pressure fueled by the strong...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/powerful-windstorm-winds-down-in-plains-midwest-15139?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/10_19_12_andrew_i90trucks-500x375.jpeg

NGOs Square Off Over REDD in California

Ecosystem Marketplace: In February of this year, exasperated indigenous leaders from 11 organizations in the Brazilian state of Acre sent an open letter to CIMI (Conselho Indigenista Missionário), a Catholic missionary organization that has won high marks over the years for its support of indigenous rights. The letter (see "Open Letter to CIMI", right) thanked the organization for its past good works but then -- in a stunning and public rebuke -- accused the organization of playing loose with facts and even of adopting...

URL: http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=9375&section=news_articles&eod=1

Native village defends ocean experiment; Canada launches probe

Reuters: Leaders of a tiny, native village off Canada's remote northwest coast on Friday defended their decision to dump 120 tons of iron dust into the ocean as a legal experiment to revive salmon stocks, but Canada said it was investigating a possible breach of environmental law. The village council conducted its C$2.5 million ($2.52 million) experiment in August in the waters around Haida Gwaii, an archipelago some 130 kilometers (81 miles) off the British Columbian coast. In a project that has drawn...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/19/us-environment-dumping-idUSBRE89I1CV20121019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20121019&t=2&i=665323136&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=700&pl=300&r=CBRE89I1NG100

Australia: The role of coastal estuaries in cleansing the atmosphere

Coffs Coast Advocate: AUSTRALIAN estuaries may be more important than previously thought in capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere, according to new research from Southern Cross University's Centre for Coastal Biogeochemistry Research. Dr Damien Maher and Centre director Professor Bradley Eyre have published a paper in Global Biogeochemical Cycles that measured carbon flows and CO2 fluxes in three temperate Australian estuaries. "Knowing carbon fluxes from these ecosystems is important in understanding...

URL: http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/news/estuaries-role-cleansing-atmosphere/1589095/

US on course to notch record year of heat

Reuters: After a hot spring and a scorching summer, this winter is likely to continue a US warming trend that could make 2012 the hottest year since modern record-keeping began, US weather experts said Thursday. Drought that ravaged much of the United States this year may spread in the coming months, said Mike Halpert at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center. "The large majority of that drought we expect to persist," Halpert said. "We even see drought expanding...

URL: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/us-on-course-to-notch-record-year-of-heat-20121019-27uyc.html
Enclosure: http://images.canberratimes.com.au/2011/04/21/2319693/texas-420x0.jpg

Canada: A rogue climate experiment outrages scientists

New York Times: A California businessman chartered a fishing boat in July, loaded it with 100 tons of iron dust and cruised through Pacific waters off western Canada, spewing his cargo into the sea in an ecological experiment that has outraged scientists and government officials. The entrepreneur, whose foray came to light only this week, even duped the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States into lending him ocean-monitoring buoys for the project. Canada's environment ministry says...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/19/science/earth/iron-dumping-experiment-in-pacific-alarms-marine-experts.html

The sad history of climate policy, according to David Brooks

Washington Post: This is, according to David Brooks, the sad history of Washington`s efforts to address climate change. 1) "The period around 2003 was the golden spring of green technology. John McCain and Joe Lieberman introduced a bipartisan bill to curb global warming." 2) "Al Gore released his movie "An Inconvenient Truth" in 2006. The global warming issue became associated with the highly partisan former vice president. Gore mobilized liberals, but, once he became the global warming spokesman, no Republican...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/10/19/the-sad-history-of-climate-policy-according-to-david-brooks/

Threatened species listing for polar bears contested in U.S. court

Reuters: Polar bears' designation as a threatened species was challenged in a U.S. appeals court on Friday, with a lawyer for Alaska and other parties arguing that regulators had failed to back up the listing. Alaska and other plaintiffs that include hunters and the California Cattlemen's Association are appealing a federal court ruling last year that upheld the Interior Department's 2008 designation of the bears as threatened because their icy habitat is melting away. Murray Feldman, a lawyer for Alaska...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/19/us-usa-climate-polarbears-idUSBRE89I10E20121019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29
Enclosure: http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20121019&t=2&i=665317627&w=460&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE89I1CNY00

Cheap weapon against the coral-killer starfish found

SciDev.Net: Scientists have stumbled upon an "effective" way to halt the advance of destructive crown-of-thorns starfish, which feed upon coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific region, causing them severe damage and death. An international research team from the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoERS) at James Cook University, Australia, reports that a protein mixture, commonly used to grow bacteria in laboratories, could destroy starfish in as little as one day. The...

URL: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/news/cheap-weapon-against-the-coral-killer-starfish-found.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_agricultureandenvironment
Enclosure: http://c96267.r67.cf3.rackcdn.com/Crown-of-thorns-Starfish.Flickr.mattk1979_140x140.jpg

Climate, energy crisis could use a co-ordinated dose of star power

Toronto Star: Starpower could do for climate change what it did for global hunger with the We are the World campaign. By Tyler Hamilton Energy and Technology Columnist Back in the mid-1980s dozens of high-profile music artists from the United Kingdom, United States and Canada got together in their respective countries to raise awareness and stimulate discussion of famine in Ethiopia. Bono, David Bowie and Sting helped lead Band Aid, the U.K. supergroup that created the song Do They Know It's Christmas? This...

URL: http://www.thestar.com/business/cleanbreak/article/1274171--climate-energy-crisis-could-use-a-co-ordinated-dose-of-star-power
Enclosure: http://i.thestar.com/images/63/17/e0d1798f40daad51b8d433b48975.jpg

Ecuador says companies join novel Amazon protection fund

Reuters: About a dozen companies are contributing to a novel conservation plan that pays Ecuador to protect part of the Amazon rainforest in return for barring oil drilling, the head of the initiative said on Friday. Ivonne Baki said the scheme to conserve the Yasuni area of the Amazon basin, launched by leftist president Rafael Correa in 2010, has so far raised about $200 million, mostly from foreign governments. "When I started last year it was only governments," she told Reuters by telephone from...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/19/us-climate-ecuador-idUSBRE89I0YG20121019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Stanford Researchers Use Solar Power To Study Wild Elephants in Africa


A team of elephant researchers from Stanford University has transformed a remote corner of southern Africa into a high-tech field camp run entirely on sunlight. The seasonal solar-powered research camp gives scientists a rare opportunity to quietly observe, videotape and photograph wild elephants at Mushara waterhole, an isolated oasis in Etosha National Park in Namibia.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/stanford-researchers-use-solar-power-to-study-wild-elephants-in-africa?cmpid=rss

Congo's $9 Billion Hydropower Plant May Export Power to S. Africa


The Democratic Republic of Congo may provide 2,500 megawatts of power to South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia under a revised plan to build the Inga III hydropower plant, a project official said.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/congos-9-billion-hydropower-plant-may-export-power-to-s-africa?cmpid=rss

Once this landscape was a pristine wilderness

Daily Mail: These incredible pictures show the bleak landscape of bitumen, sand and clay created by the frantic pursuit of 173billion barrels of untouched oil. The Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada, are the world's third largest oil reserve - but lush green forests once blanketed an area there larger than England. The region where the blackened earth now stands has been dubbed as the most destructive industrial project on earth by shocked environmentalists. Amazing scene: Oil floats on the surface of an...

URL: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219240/Tar-Sands-Canada-worlds-largest-oil-reserve-173billion-untouched-barrels.html
Enclosure: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/18/article-2219240-158B07CF000005DC-7_964x641.jpg

As waters warm, predators may go hungry

San Francisco Chronicle: Predators of the North Pacific Ocean - among them many sharks, whales, seals and sea turtles - will be forced to swim farther from their food supplies or go hungry as the world's warming climate shifts their normal habitats, a marine scientist has concluded. Yet the changes pushed by ocean warming may benefit some seabirds and fast-swimming tuna, which are built to forage farther than their competitors, according to a study by Elliott Hazen, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries...

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/As-waters-warm-predators-may-go-hungry-3961643.php
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Why aren't candidates debating climate change?

Philadelphia Daily News: THE PAST 12 months have been the hottest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Throughout the nation, drought, wildfires, floods and other extreme weather have made global warming a visible reality. So it was maddening - and tragic - that both presidential candidates spent significant time during Tuesday's debate trying to one-up each other on how much more fossil fuels they plan to extract, burn and allow into the atmosphere. In three debates so far, climate...

URL: http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20121019_DN_Editorial__Why_aren_t_candidates_debating_climate_change_.html

Profitable climate fixes tempt rogue geoengineers

Guardian: It was only a matter of time before somebody broke the fragile social and political consensus surrounding geoengineering, and had a first crack at "experiment Earth". The news that American businessman Russ George has dumped 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to fertilise algal blooms that absorb carbon dioxide, was received with justified indignation and outrage by campaigners and mainstream scientists. But there have been rumblings (and rumours of shadowy trials)...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/19/climate-fix-geoengineering
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/12/1/1322767916399/Geoengineering-techniques-007.jpg

Okla. dust storm causes highway pile-ups, injuries

MSNBC: A dust storm swirling reddish-brown clouds over northern Oklahoma triggered multiple crashes involving about three dozen vehicles on Thursday, forcing police to shut down part of the heavily traveled Interstate 35 for several hours amid near blackout conditions. More than a dozen people were injured as winds up to 55 mph whipped up the soil off farmlands near Blackwell, NBC station KFOR-TV reported. In a scene reminiscent of the Dust Bowl days, choking dust shrouded Interstate 35, which links...

URL: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/19/14557040-dust-storm-on-oklahoma-interstate-causes-pile-ups-injuries?lite
Enclosure: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/ap/plains%20dust%20storm--2061446666_v2.photoblog600.jpg

Extreme global warming may have caused largest extinction ever

LiveScience: Feverishly hot ocean surface waters potentially reaching more than 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) may have helped cause the greatest mass extinction in Earth's history, researchers say. "We may have found the hottest time the world has ever had," researcher Paul Wignall, a geologist at the University of Leeds in England, told LiveScience. The mass extinction at the end of the Permian Era about 250 million years ago was the greatest die-off in Earth's history. The cataclysm killed...

URL: http://www.livescience.com/24091-extreme-global-warming-mass-extinction.html

Most controversial aspects of Brazil's new Forest Code vetoed as legislation signed into law

Mongabay: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed into law a revised version of the country's Forest Code, vetoing some of the most controversial changes proposed by agricultural interests in Brazil's Congress. The law, signed late Thursday after President Rousseff voted nine clauses Wednesday night, requires landowners to replant millions of hectares of illegally cleared land and retains earlier provisions for maintaining forest cover of 80 percent on private properties in the Amazon rainforest. However...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1019-brazil-forest-code-finalized.html
Enclosure: http://photos.mongabay.com/06/braz_defor_88-05-600.jpg

4 Key Factors for the Sustainable Development Goals

World Resources Institute: Earlier this week, I participated in a United Nations Special Event Panel on "Conceptualizing a Set of Sustainable Development Goals," which took place before an audience of senior policymakers and UN ambassadors and delegates. At the Rio+20 summit in June, world leaders agreed to create global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a means to embed sustainability into economic development. This week's event sought to start a discussion about what these goals might look like and how they could...

URL: http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/10/4-key-factors-sustainable-development-goals
Enclosure: http://insights.wri.org/files/insights/imagecache/story-feature/features/africa_farming.jpg

Beware simple answers?

New Statesman: These are times of profound challenges for the energy industry and for climate change policy both in the UK and globally -- being able to keep prices low, dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid relying on unstable regions for our energy seems an impossible combination. It did not always seem so difficult. Throughout the 1990s, the UK had the luxury of being an oil and gas exporter. The shift from coal to gas in electricity generation helped reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions and...

URL: http://www.newstatesman.com/energy/perspectives-energy/2012/10/beware-simple-answers

U.S. wind industry adding record number of turbines

Reuters: U.S. wind power developers are installing record-high numbers of turbines in 2012 but that growth could weaken if a production tax credit expires at the end of this year, an industry group said. The U.S. wind industry in August for the first time surpassed 50,000 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity - enough to power 13 million homes, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said in a report issued on Thursday. Wind developers have added 4,728 MW of wind power so far in 2012 with another...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/19/us-utilities-windpower-usa-idUSBRE89I0TX20121019?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

No wars for water

Foreign Affairs: The world economic downturn and upheaval in the Arab world might grab headlines, but another big problem looms: environmental change. Along with extreme weather patterns, rising sea levels, and other natural hazards, global warming disrupts freshwater resource availability -- with immense social and political implications. Earlier this year, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a report, Global Water Security, assessing hydropolitics around the world. In it, the authors show...

URL: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138208/shlomi-dinar-lucia-de-stefano-james-duncan-kerstin-stahl-kenneth/no-wars-for-water
Enclosure: http://1.usa.gov/Ruuh8h

New political realities aren't just bad for democracy, they're bad for your health

Fast Company: After the 2000 census, many states used politics and innovative mapping technology to gerrymander new electoral districts to lock in gains for one party or the other. California politicians, for example, drew new "safe" seats and the result was hyper-partisanship and politicians who didn't need to pay attention to anyone that wasn't singing from their sheet music. Alarmed by the partisanship and its resulting gridlock, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (my old boss) led an effort to reform the system...

URL: http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680740/the-new-political-realities-arent-just-bad-for-democracy-theyre-bad-for-your-health

Dusk For Another Solar Pioneer: Stan Ovshinsky Passes Away October


In 1973 Stan Ovshinsky, President of Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) came into my office when I had just become an energy aide to Senator Jacob Javits (NY) in the first few lurching weeks of the first oil embargo. Stan, accompanied by his wife Rose, also a scientist as well as a co-founder of his company, proceeded to tell me the benefits of solar

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/10/dusk-for-another-solar-pioneer-stan-ovshinsky-passes-away-october?cmpid=rss

Ghana Calls for Support to Tackle Climate Change

Public Agenda: Ghana's appreciable level of consciousness about Climate Change is a mark of progress but can be meaningful if the country can translate that consciousness into measures that seek to arrest the consequences of the negative effects of the menace, Hon. Sherry Ayittey, Minister for Environment Science and Technology has observed. But according to the Minister, the desire to translate the consciousness into measures would become a reality if the international community made good their pledges under...

URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/201210190893.html

United Arab Emirates: Expert stresses role of climate change and sustainability for future growth

The Peninsula: Senior professionals from the oil and gas, real estate, construction and banking industry yesterday discussed the system of megaforces important for business leaders and opportunities for future proof economic growth in Qatar. Hosted by the global audit, tax and advisory firm, KPMG, the seminar included a presentation from Yvo De Boer, KPMG's Special Global Advisor, Climate Change and Sustainability. "Increasing strain on infrastructure and natural systems is likely as patterns of economic...

URL: http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/business/211361-expert-stresses-role-of-climate-change-and-sustainability-for-future-growth.html

A U.S.-Made Door for Passivhaus Buildings

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An Oregon builder, Hammer & Hand, is producing high-R doors designed for Passivhaus projects

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Builder Hammer & Hand, based in Portland, Oregon, has developed a design and production strategy for exterior doors that conform to the PassivhausA residential building construction standard requiring very low levels of air leakage, very high levels of insulation, and windows with a very low U-factor. Developed in the early 1990s by Bo Adamson and Wolfgang Feist, the standard is now promoted by the Passivhaus Institut in Darmstadt, Germany. To meet the standard, a home must have an infiltration rate no greater than 0.60 AC/H @ 50 pascals, a maximum annual heating energy use of 15 kWh per square meter (4,755 Btu per square foot), a maximum annual cooling energy use of 15 kWh per square meter (1.39 kWh per square foot), and maximum source energy use for all purposes of 120 kWh per square meter (11.1 kWh per square foot). The standard recommends, but does not require, a maximum design heating load of 10 W per square meter and windows with a maximum U-factor of 0.14. The Passivhaus standard was developed for buildings in central and northern Europe; efforts are underway to clarify the best techniques to achieve the standard for buildings in hot climates. performance standard.

URL: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-news/us-made-door-passivhaus-buildings

Putting the A123 Bankruptcy in Context


You've probably already heard the news this week about a clean energy company that received a government grant filing for bankruptcy. What you may not have heard quite so clearly is that clean tech is working, for the United States and our transformation to a better, stronger, cleaner energy future.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/putting-the-a123-bankruptcy-in-context?cmpid=rss

China Speeds Up Solar Lifeline


A new Chinese media report shows that after more than a year of talk, Beijing is finally turning its aggressive talk on solar energy into action by more than doubling its approval of new solar power plants this year. The main question now is: Will any of its struggling solar panel makers survive long enough to enjoy the expected boom in business wh

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2012/10/chinas-speeds-up-solar-lifeline?cmpid=rss

Drought areas shrink, wheat states see improvement

Reuters: Drought retreated across many areas of the United States over the last week as storm systems pushed through parched areas, bringing coast-to-coast relief from record-breaking dry conditions. Roughly 62.39 percent of the contiguous United States was experiencing at least "moderate" drought as of October 16, down from 63.55 percent a week earlier, according to Thursday's Drought Monitor, a weekly compilation of data gathered by federal and academic scientists. The portion of the United States...

URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/18/us-usa-drought-idUSBRE89H0XQ20121018?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

Canada: Algae bloom caused by salmon 'fertilization' test

NBC: A 3,800-square-mile algae bloom in the Pacific Ocean off Canada's British Columbia has been traced to a California businessman who promised a local tribe he could help their salmon runs by fertilizing the ocean with iron. The Guardian of London reported that Russ George acknowledged that in July his company, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corp., had dropped around 100 tons of ore with traces of iron, calling it the "most substantial ocean restoration project in history." "We've gathered data...

URL: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/16/14487440-huge-algae-bloom-off-canada-triggered-by-companys-fertilization-experiment?lite

China's timber imports plunge

Mongabay: Imports of logs and timber to China plunged 19 percent during the first eight months of 2012 relative to the same period a year earlier reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. The slowdown is attributed to a drop in demand due to reduced construction. China imported $4.3 billion worth of logs and lumber through the end of August, 19 percent last year. Log imports dropped 17 percent by volume, lumber volume fell 5 percent. The biggest decline in log imports were from Russia and the U.S. Prices fell...

URL: http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1017-china-lumber.html

Food: the crisis behind the crisis isn't getting enough attention

Telegraph: It is the forgotten dimension of the growing world food crisis. As this year's grain harvest dips beneath annual consumption – threatening to drive up prices and hunger alike – the world's attention is understandably on immediate concerns. But now a major new UN report, just published, describes in detail for the first time how the very basis of the Earth's food production system is being eaten away by damage to its natural systems. Traditionally experts have concentrated on four factors as determining...

URL: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geoffreylean/100185356/food-the-crisis-behind-the-crisis-isnt-getting-enough-attention/

Climate Change Ignored in Second Debate Despite Fossil Fuel Focus

Think Progress: [Editor's note: I don't know about you, but sitting with my 13- and 15-year-old last night watching the debate was a challenge. Then this morning, my kids had to deal with my reverb, but fortunately they get it. They get that we are not the only species living on this planet and continued reliance on extreme fossil fuels is going to make their future bleak. What they don't get is how our country could completely ignore the importance of biodiversity and the need for a healthy planet. How did the...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/climate-change-ignored-2/

Whistleblower Paid Price for TransCanada Pipeline Complaints

CBC: A former TransCanada engineer says he reported its substandard practices to the federal energy regulator because he believed the company's management, right up to the chief executive officer, refused to act on his complaints. In an exclusive television interview with CBC News, Evan Vokes said he raised concerns about the competency of some pipeline inspectors and the company's lack of compliance with welding regulations set by the National Energy Board (NEB), the federal energy industry regulator....

URL: http://updatednews.ca/2012/10/17/whistleblower-paid-price-for-transcanada-pipeline-complaints/

New Poll Shows More Support for Obama’s Energy Policies, Natural Gas and Renewables

State Impact: Tonight presidential candidate Mitt Romney will face incumbent President Barack Obama in the second of three debates in a tight race for an election just weeks away. Energy has been more of an issue in this election than recent presidential contests, with the candidates squaring off on coal, green jobs and climate change. Today a new nationwide poll of over two thousand people by the University of Texas at Austin provides a glimpse into what voters feel about the policies of both candidates. And...

URL: http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/10/16/new-poll-shows-more-support-for-obamas-energy-policies/
Enclosure: http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/files/2012/10/BestPlatform_570x38033.jpg

How climate change disappeared from the debates

Washington Post: Over at the New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert laments the fact that neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney had anything to say about climate change during the second presidential debate Tuesday. Oh, sure, they talked about energy -- about oil leases, about coal, a few quick nods toward renewable energy. But nothing about this warming planet of ours. Nothing about the summer`s droughts or wildfires or the rapidly melting Arctic. So I was curious to look back at how Obama and John McCain talked about...

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/10/18/how-climate-change-disappeared-from-the-debates/
Enclosure: http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/08/09/National-Economy/Images/na-Drought_Drought.JPEG-0d966.jpg

Measuring bioenergy crops' carbon footprint credentials

BBC: Generation of electricity and heat from plant material is listed in the suite of renewable energy technologies that the UK governments think can help deliver 15% of the nations' energy consumption by 2020. The UK Renewable Energy Roadmap says measures being introduced will "ensure that low-carbon electricity from a diverse range of sources... becomes a more attractive choice for investors, delivering long-term change while minimising cost to the consumer". In its UK Bioenergy Strategy, published...

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19962775#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
Enclosure: http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63523000/jpg/_63523584_dsc_1294.jpg

Mapping the Potential for Solar Power On Every Roof

Atlantic: Within the borders of Cambridge, Massachusetts, are 17,000 rooftops, or 17,000 individual surfaces on which it might make sense one day to install photovoltaic cells. Of course, these roofs are not all equally fit for solar power. Some of them have weird chimneys or sloping architecture or tree shade. Some buildings are oriented in the wrong direction (for the sun's purposes, at least), or they're boxed in by even taller structures that block out natural daylight. From the sun's point of view,...

URL: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2012/10/mapping-potential-solar-power-every-roof-city/3605/
Enclosure: http://cdn.theatlanticcities.com/img/upload/2012/10/16/lead/largest.png

Climate change a no-show again despite debate's energy focus

The Hill: President Obama and Mitt Romney threw plenty of jabs about energy at their second debate Tuesday but said nothing about climate change. Climate was also absent from their first debate, disappointing activists who wanted the candidates to address the topic that has seen little attention on the stump. But the topic's omission this time was perhaps more noticeable because, unlike their Oct. 3 debate, the two men spent lots of time battling over energy Tuesday. Both men sought to claim a pro-oil...

URL: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/262443-climate-change-a-no-show-again-despite-debates-energy-focus

UK Met Office responds: It's still getting warmer

EarthSky: If you were engaging in social media this past weekend, you might have found an October 13, 2012 article suggesting that global warming stopped 16 years ago. The article is here. David Rose of the Daily Mail wrote it. The article says the UK Met Office sent out a news release release saying its data showed that global warming has stopped and that there is no "discernible rise in aggregate global temperatures." It now comes to light that this information is not true. The UK Met Office did not release...

URL: http://earthsky.org/earth/uk-met-office-responds-global-warming-did-not-stop-16-years-ago
Enclosure: http://en.es-static.us/upl/2012/10/hottest_to_coldest_years-300x214.jpg

United Kingdom: Will climate change lead to more droughts?

Guardian: Although climate change is expected to lead to slightly more rainfall at the global level, the timing and distribution of that rain is likely to change, increasing the chance of drought in some regions. The details are very difficult to predict, however. This is partly because regional climate impacts are strongly dependent on large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns like the jet stream, which are hard to model in climate simulations. There is some indication from climate modelling that the Mediterranean,...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/18/climate-change-more-droughts
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/9/13/1347552511883/FAQ-on-drought---Historic-009.jpg

Poor nations spend more on climate change: UNEP

Khaleej Times: Developing countries are allocating more money than the developed world for fighting climate change, the UN said Wednesday, lauding India for pledging $50 million for bio-diversity conservation at a meet here. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner, who is here to attend the 11th meeting of the Conference of Parties on Conservation of Bio-diversity observed that the rich nations are yet to give money promised to poor nations for fighting climate change. "The...

URL: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?section=environment&xfile=data/environment/2012/October/environment_October19.xml

Intercropping with nitrogen-fixing crops leads to increased maize yields, says study

Environmental News Network: Growing maize crops alongside legume trees has been shown to naturally fertilize fields and increase crop yields in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. As a region known for its extremely volatile climate and it's population facing global hunger issues, this discovery is extremely important for the future of agroforestry in the area. In a study published in the Agronomy Journal by researchers at the World Agroforestry Center, researchers compared yield stability in three scenarios: maize intercropped...

URL: http://www.enn.com/climate/article/45095?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClimateChangeNews-Enn+%28Climate+Change+News+-+ENN%29

Study helps pinpoint East Coast sea level rise

Summit Voice: Calculating sea level rise has been vexing for climate and ocean scientists. Melting ice and thermal expansion both contribute, but the water doesn`t just go up evenly like a bathtub that`s filling up. Pinpointing the rate and location of sea level rise is critical for planners tasked with adapting their communities to coastal flooding, said John Boon, emeritus professsor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. "Localized projections of sea-level rise are needed to guide the regional planning...

URL: http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/10/18/study-helps-pinpoint-east-coast-sea-level-rise/
Enclosure: http://summitvoice.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/122.jpg?w=287&h=300

Climate change means conservation ethics must change

Fort Worth Star Telegram: For decades environmentalists have been guided in their work by what became known as the "precautionary principle." This decision-making guide was first put forward in environmental terms by pioneering naturalist and biologist Aldo Leopold in his landmark 1940s essay "Round River." His focus was the complexity of the environment. "If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts? To keep every...

URL: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/10/18/4336678/commentary-climate-change-means.html

Carbon tax can aid clean energy

Atlanta Journal Constitution: My hat is off to Georgia Power following its recent announcement to significantly boost the amount of solar-generated electricity it distributes to customers, 10 times the amount it currently buys and sells. Given what we`ve seen this year with corn-killing drought and record-setting temperatures, any efforts to shift toward clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions is extremely welcome. Georgia could benefit from reduced air pollution, since there are about 10,000 hospitalizations for...

URL: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/opinion/carbon-tax-can-aid-clean-energy/nSfMd/

CCS runs into financial difficulties

European Voice: European Union member states, particularly the UK, are struggling to meet the European Commission's deadlines for securing funding for pilot projects to demonstrate carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. Without the pilot projects, CCS is unlikely to contribute significantly to reducing the EU's carbon emissions. At stake is €1.5 billion of EU funding that had been earmarked for CCS but can be secured only if member states put up co-financing. In theory, CCS offers the prospect of low-carbon...

URL: http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/ccs-runs-into-financial-difficulties/75408.aspx

United States: Ocelots, pro pitcher and pipeline builder tied up in lawsuit

NBC: How did a pro baseball pitcher (Josh Beckett of the L.A. Dodgers), ocelots and a natural gas pipeline builder make it into the same news headline? They're all part of a lawsuit filed by Beckett after the company used eminent domain to clear land on his 7,000-acre hunting ranch in south Texas. Beckett alleges the company, Eagle Ford Midstream, violated the Endangered Species Act by clearing land that was habitat for the ocelot, of which only 100 are thought to be left in the wild in the U.S. On...

URL: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/18/14513539-ocelots-pro-baseball-pitcher-and-pipeline-builder-tangled-up-in-lawsuit?lite

Indonesia Geothermal Sector Attracts Panax, Mitsubishi, BP, Chevron


Indonesia has had the lowest volatility in economic growth of any OECD or BRIC economy over the past decade, while its economy in the short term is conjectured at close to 7% growth per year, according to Proactiveinvestors.com.au.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/indonesia-geothermal-sector-attracts-panax-mitsubishi-bp-chevron?cmpid=rss

What’s Wrong with Putting a Price on Nature?

Yale Environment 360: Ecosystem services is not exactly a phrase to stir the human imagination. But over the past few years, it has managed to dazzle both diehard conservationists and bottom-line business types as the best answer to global environmental decline. For proponents, the logic is straightforward: Old-style protection of nature for its own sake has badly failed to stop the destruction of habitats and the dwindling of species. It has failed largely because philosophical and scientific arguments rarely trump...

URL: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/ecosystem_services_whats_wrong_with_putting_a_price_on_nature/2583/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

NOAA Revives Weather Satellite After Lengthy Outage

Climate Central: Technicians with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boeing, and ITT successfully revived one of the country's main weather observing satellites, which had malfunctioned in September. The satellite, known as "GOES-13," is used for keeping tabs on weather across the East Coast and Atlantic Ocean. The satellite, which was taken offline on September 23, had experienceed increasing vibrations, or "noise,' in its sounder and imaging instruments. In a press release, NOAA said...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/noaa-revives-weather-satellite-after-lengthy-outage-15131?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed

Climate Politics: It's Laugh Lines Vs. 'Not A Joke'

National Public Radio: Scientists view climate change as one of the world's most pressing long-term problems. But the issue has barely surfaced in the U.S. presidential race. President Obama has taken steps to address climate change during his time in office. Republican challenger Mitt Romney would not make it a priority in his administration. In fact, as Romney stood on the stage to accept his nomination at the Republican National Convention, he used global warming as a laugh line. "President Obama promised to begin...

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/10/18/162951173/climate-politics-its-laugh-lines-vs-not-a-joke
Enclosure: http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/10/15/arctic-sea-ice_wide-5de2ce015b408af5622a602a4b6b38923f2367ad-s4.jpg

Three Debate Questions to Break the Climate Silence

Huffington Post: Two presidential debates and a VP debate have come and gone, with no mention of climate change. Instead, there have been some exchanges about energy policy, about whether enough public land has been drilled, and who was more of a "coal man." Both candidates claimed to be pro-oil and pro-coal, and said positive things about oil and gas pipelines such as the KeystoneXL pipeline. To be fair, President Obama also included renewables in his discussion, and he emphasized the need for demand reduction through...

URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-sandler/climate-change-debate_b_1974428.html

New Research Links Health Problems with Oil and Natural Gas Development

EcoWatch: The largest health survey to-date of Marcellus Shale residents living near oil and gas development shows a clear pattern of negative health impacts associated with living near gas facilities, according to a new report released by Earthworks' Oil & Gas Accountability Project today. Titled Gas Patch Roulette: How Shale Gas Development Risks Public Health in Pennsylvania, the project surveyed 108 residents in 14 Pennsylvania counties, and conducted air and water tests at more than half of the households...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/health-problems-fracking/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/frackingplayground.jpg

Scientists Solve Mystery Of Disappearing Salt Marshes

National Public Radio: Marshes along streams and estuaries protect land from storm surges. But they're disappearing fast and now scientists have discovered a previously unknown marsh killer: nutrients. Nitrogen from fertilizers and sewage makes marshes grow faster, but the roots grow smaller so the soil can't hold the bigger plants. That means soil banks collapse and marshes turn to mud.

URL: http://www.npr.org/2012/10/18/163132026/scientists-solve-mystery-of-disappearing-salt-marshes?ft=1&f=1025
Enclosure: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=163132026&m=163132003

Solar Junction Does it Again, Sets New CPV Efficiency Record


World records are broken every day, some to more fanfare than others. While earlier this week the eyes of the world were watching daredevil Felix Baumgartner's 24-mile skydive from the edge of space, a San Jose-based solar energy company called Solar Junction was busy breaking another kind of record.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/solar-junction-does-it-again-sets-new-cpv-efficiency-record?cmpid=rss

Canadian expert says warmer, wetter, weather adding to extreme weather woes

Canadian Press: A gradual warming of the atmosphere coupled with a melting snowpack and receding glaciers is likely to lead to continued incidents of extreme weather, says a Canadian water-policy expert. Bob Sandford, EPCOR Chair for the Canadian Partnership Initiative of the United Nations Water for Life Decade, took some of the world's leading water and climate scientists, engineers, risk managers, municipal planners and policy experts on a tour of the Columbia Icefields on Wednesday. The experts, from the...

URL: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/Canadian%20expert%20says%20warmer%20wetter%20weather%20adding%20extreme%20weather/7407528/story.html
Enclosure: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/7407529.bin

Alan Jones ordered to undergo 'factual accuracy' training

Sydney Morning Herald: CONTROVERSIAL shock jock Alan Jones has been ordered to undergo ''factual accuracy'' training, and to use fact-checkers, in another damaging blow to his credibility. External trainers will conduct training sessions for Jones and other news and current affairs staff at 2GB. But their task could be a challenging one, with many leading journalism academics having been involved in the online ''Destroy the Joint'' campaign against Jones. That campaign led to droves of advertisers abandoning the show...

URL: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/shock-jock-jones-told-to-get-factual-accuracy-training-20121018-27srs.html
Enclosure: http://images.smh.com.au/2012/09/01/3602437/art-lettingrip-620x349.jpg

Shell Canada denied in bid to block critics from Jackpine oil sands hearings

Financial Post: A regulatory panel has denied Shell Canada's efforts to have critics excluded from participation in upcoming environmental assessment hearings for its Jackpine oil sands mine expansion north of Fort McMurray, Alta. Shell had hoped to benefit from the new Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, enacted this summer as part of Ottawa's "Responsible Resource Development Plan." The act is intended to ease the regulatory burden on companies and spur investment in Canada's natural resources by...

URL: http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/17/shell-canada-denied-in-bid-to-block-critics-from-jackpine-oil-sands-hearings/
Enclosure: http://financialpostbusiness.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/shell.jpg?w=620

Columbia River red algae could counter global warming effects

Oregonian: They appear suddenly in mid- to late summer, flushed by tides into the mouth of the Columbia River. Soaking up the warm sun, they multiply like crazy. Sometimes crimson, sometimes the deep red of a hearty cabernet, they paint dramatic swirls of color in the estuary between Oregon and Washington. No one knows exactly when these algae first swarmed into the waterway. But this year they appeared to be more abundant than ever, and they stuck around, showing up in early September and staying through...

URL: http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/10/columbia_river_red_tide_could.html
Enclosure: http://media.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/photo/11718786-large.jpg

Australia: Future Fund declines to reveal climate risk plans

Sydney Morning Herald: Australia`s sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, has snubbed a request to reveal how it plans to manage climate change risks, declaring ''resource constraints`` prevented its involvement, according to an advocacy group. John Hewson, chair of the Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP), said the $77 billion fund needed to disclose its plans for dealing with future challenges posed by global warming. ''It is quite extraordinary that Australia`s largest fund which will have to supply pension...

URL: http://www.businessday.com.au/business/carbon-economy/future-fund-declines-to-reveal-climate-risk-plans-20121018-27uc0.html

Clean Water Act’s Essential Role in Restoring the Great Lakes

EcoWatch: As the Clean Water Act celebrates its 40th anniversary, conservation leaders are asking public officials to not undermine protections which have lead to healthier water to drink; cleaner streams, rivers and lakes in which to swim, fish and play; and dramatically lower rates of natural wetland loss. "The Clean Water Act has been instrumental in improving our environment and economy for people across the nation," said Jan Goldman-Carter, senior manager of Wetlands and Water Resources for the National...

URL: http://ecowatch.org/2012/clean-water-act-turns-40/
Enclosure: http://ecowatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cuyahogariver.jpg

UK drought and flooding 'unprecedented'

Guardian: The dramatic switch from drought and hosepipe bans in England this spring to the wettest April to June ever and widespread flooding was of a magnitude never seen before, water experts said on Thursday. While water supplies have made "dramatic" recoveries from droughts before, such as in 1975/76, "sustained recoveries of this magnitude during the late spring and summer have not been seen before," said Terry Marsh, from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH). Earlier this month, the CEH...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/18/summer-drought-flooding-unprecedented
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/10/18/1350563536584/A-standpipe-008.jpg

Photographer James Balog traces glacial decay in his latest documentary, "Chasing Ice."

Fast Company: When James Balog set out to document decaying glaciers via time-lapse photography, he first had to build a camera that could withstand hurricane winds and temperatures of 40 degrees below zero. Balog talks us through the labor-intensive project--35 cameras were placed at 18 glaciers for more than four years--the results of which can be seen in this month's documentary Chasing Ice. Why build your own equipment? I entered this project thinking I'd be able to buy this equipment off the shelf,...

URL: http://www.fastcompany.com/3001765/photographer-james-balong-traces-glacial-decay-his-latest-documentary-chasing-ice
Enclosure: http://youtu.be/eIZTMVNBjc4

Oracle predicts 'huge' market for UK water smart metering

BusinessGreen: Business software giant Oracle is hoping to tap into a potentially "huge" market for smart water metering in Britain, as utilities try to tackle the loss of billions of litres of water through undetected leakages. Water companies are facing mounting political and consumer pressure to reduce the 3.2 billion litres of water leaking from the UK water network every day, and are increasingly turning to new technology to reduce water stress and predict leak hotspots. Oracle is to publish a report...

URL: http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/analysis/2218164/oracle-predicts-huge-market-for-uk-water-smart-metering?WT.rss_f=Home&WT.rss_a=Oracle+predicts+%27huge%27+market+for+UK+water+smart+metering

Cameron's Proposed UK Energy Plan Causes 'Chaos'


U.K. Energy Secretary Ed Davey promised to give industry more clarity about power market reforms due next month, seeking to allay the concerns of renewable and nuclear power developers that ministers are bogged down in analysis of the problem.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/camerons-proposed-uk-energy-plan-causes-chaos?cmpid=rss

Glacier retreat affects stream ecology, water resources

Calgary Herald: Dozens of scientists took a bus early Wednesday to the middle of the snow-covered Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Icefield, stepping into a site that's known as Canada's hydrological apex. Along the edges, there are signs the glacier was once wider. At the bottom, markers show how much it's retreated — more than 1.5 kilometres in the past 125 years. The tour — led by the University of Calgary's Shawn Marshall and Michael Demuth of the Geological Survey of Canada — is a stark reminder of how...

URL: http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Glacier%20retreat%20Rocky%20Moutnains%20affects%20stream%20ecology/7406416/story.html

Green Growth Still Setting the Pace


Renewable energy markets and policy frameworks have evolved rapidly in recent years. Despite a challenging economic backdrop, reports reveal growth across all sectors.

URL: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/10/green-growth-still-setting-the-pace?cmpid=rss

Adaptation to climate change should be focus

Business Day: ATTEMPTS to control or curb the emission of greenhouse gases, linked by science to the overall rise in global temperatures, were "probably too late to arrest the inevitable trend of global warming", two scientists, one from South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), said in an opinion piece published in the peer review journal Nature Climate Change on Wednesday. Governments and institutions, especially in developing countries, should focus on adapting to climate change, instead of...

URL: http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/science/2012/10/18/adaptation-to-climate-change-should-be-focus

Protesters call on George Osborne to recognise green economy's potential

Guardian: Deborah Meaden, the businesswoman and TV "Dragon", on Thursday attacked what she said was the failure of the chancellor, George Osborne, to promote green energy and businesses, as she led hundreds from business, environment, trade union, faith and women's groups in a protest outside the Treasury. Meaden, a Dragon's Den judge, told the Guardian: "Osborne needs to overcome his blindness for green issues. Businesses need a framework – clarity and stability. You can't get the green economy going without...

URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/18/protest-george-osborne-green-economy
Enclosure: http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/10/18/1350564561359/Activists-from-Stop-Clima-014.jpg

Canada: Panel makes final pitch for national price on carbon

Globe and Mail: A blue-ribbon advisory group that was killed by the Harper government is issuing a final plea for a national price on carbon. The National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy was created 24 years ago by former prime minister Brian Mulroney as he embraced the concept of sustainable development. But after a series of reports that challenged the current government's policies, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty cut off its funding in last March's budget. The roundtable's final report, to be...

URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/panel-makes-final-pitch-for-national-price-on-carbon/article4619758/

Canada missing out on green revolution, panel says

Ottawa Citizen: The Canadian economy will miss out on a booming market of green goods and services worth trillions of dollars if governments fail to steer away from foolish energy and climate change policies, says a new report to be released Thursday. The analysis, the sixth and final report in a research series undertaken by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, concluded that goods and services promoting reductions in greenhouse gas emissions were part of a sector that's growing faster...

URL: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Canada%20missing%20green%20revolution%20panel%20says/7406946/story.html

Is geography behind sea-ice paradox?

Japan Times: When sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean fell to a record-low level last month, much of the analysis in Asia and the Pacific focused on the opening of new and shorter commercial shipping routes to Europe, and increased access to Arctic offshore oil and gas resources. These could be very positive developments for the region, especially for the energy-short trading economies of Northeast Asia led by Japan, China and South Korea. But the dramatic decline in both the extent of Arctic sea ice and...

URL: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/eo20121018mr.html

EU climate committee sets 2013-2020 CO2 limits for non-ETS sectors

Platts: The EU's climate change committee on Thursday approved new annual national limits on greenhouse gas emissions for sectors not covered by the EU's emissions trading scheme, the European Commission said. The climate change committee comprises experts from national governments and is responsible for establishing technical rules implementing EU climate policy. Its draft decision Thursday sets out in metric tons how much non-ETS sectors are allowed to emit in each member state for 2013-2020. "The...

URL: http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/8832242

Obama, Romney cherry-pick energy data to make their case

Greenwire: President Obama touted his oil and gas record while Republican challenger Mitt Romney voiced support for wind energy in a debate last night that saw the candidates sometimes bend the facts and shift priorities to stake their claim on an "all of the above" energy strategy. The town-hall-style debate -- the second in a series of three presidential debates -- marked the first time Obama and Romney have confronted each other on energy issues in such detail. And with details came plenty of opportunities...

URL: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/10/17/1

Sea level rising faster than average in the U.S. northeast

Climate Central: Sea level is rising all over the world thanks to the heat-trapping effect of greenhouse-gas emissions, but according to a new study published in the Journal of Coastal Research, the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada have seen the ocean rise at an accelerating rate in recent decades. Based on readings at 23 tidal gauges stretching along the entire East Coast, John Boon of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science has determined that the rate of sea level rise began to accelerate in 1987 at points...

URL: http://www.climatecentral.org/news/sea-level-rising-faster-than-average-in-the-u.s.-northeast-15129
Enclosure: http://www.climatecentral.org/images/sized/images/uploads/news/10-17-12-Mike-beach-erosion-NJ-450x338.jpg