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What are the Best Recent Stories on Climate and Energy?

I am going on vacation over the next 10 days, which means I’ll only be working a few hours a day. Just kidding. I probably won’t even be blogging 2 hours a day.

The good news is that Stephen Lacey and the trusty CAP staff and interns will keep delivering high-quality content in my absence.

But if any of you have suggestions for some good recent blog posts or stories that merit reposting, please put the URL in the comments. I already have a few Skeptical Science pieces I intend to run, but I’ve been a bit busy to scour the blogosphere for the other gems. Bring ‘em.

Below are old comments from the earlier Facebook commenting system:

Possible blog… Is 100% Renewable Energy Possible for Japan?

Earthfuture.com: An Open Letter to the Japanese People.docJune 5th, 2011 Dear friends in Japan, We have been emotionally shocked by the earthquakes and tsunami that have hit…www.earthfuture.com3 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 5 at 1:31pm

Prokaryotes — · Top Commenter (signed in using Hotmail)

Ha ha, you will be online all day 😀 (just kiddding) Climate Hawks need vacation and time outs from time to time! Not an easy task to report about this stuff and everything…

3 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 4 at 3:43pm

Mike twotwo · Top Commenter (signed in using Hotmail)

COLLEGE STATION, Aug. 4, 2011 — As Texas continues to bake in record heat, the drought news for the state continues to be bleak — Texas is now in the midst of its most severe one-year drought on record, according to John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas State Climatologist and professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University. http://tamunews.tamu.edu/2011/08/04/texas-drought-officially-the-worst-ever/2 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 4 at 1:39pm

John Tucker · Top Commenter · Tulane University

There are a few warnings of rolling blackouts in Texas and Oklahoma now from high consumption. Tomorrow a large geomagnetic storm is expected to hit. ( http://spaceweather.com/ ) Not predicted strong enough to cause blackouts but at least raising the possibility of such an occurrence at a unfortunate time. ( http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/08/110803-solar-flare-storm-electricity-grid-risk/ )

1 · Like · Reply · August 4 at 4:43pm

Joe Solomon · Burlington, Vermont

currently on the homepage of Al Jazeera… “New pipeline to challenge Obama’s promises” by Bill McKibben, http://t.co/x79yNY7 by the looks of it, the 2-weeks of Tar Sands Action civil disobedience at the White House later this month is going to be big stuff.

2 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 4 at 4:47pm

Nicholas Berini · Hoboken, New Jersey

Tim Dechristopher!

Wit’s EndTim DeChristopher has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for civil disobedience, in a sickening display of…witsendnj.blogspot.com1 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 4 at 1:57pm

Dana Nuccitelli · Top Commenter · West Sacramento, California

A little shameless self-promotion, but I thought the Skeptical Science post on Loehle and Scafetta’s paper was pretty good.http://skepticalscience.com/loehle-and-scafetta-play-spencers-curve-fitting-game.html1 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 5 at 12:27am

Cherie B Palumbos · Portland Community College

Well have good vaKay {:>).

1 · Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 4 at 1:12pm

Ted (signed in using Hotmail)

Comment on new system: I dislike that the old printable version is no longer available.

That system was great for a couple things: Printing onto standard paper to show other people and give your work more exposure.

Also the list of all links at the bottom was invaluable.…See More

Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 8 at 1:59pm

Christopher Winter · University of Iowa

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/175535-interior-backs-shells-arctic-offshore-drilling-plan-The Hill — Interior Department backs Arctic drilling.

Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 6 at 4:36pm

Paul Magnus · Top Commenter

The Power struggle down under…http://tinyurl.com/3wztkeyOpposition frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull has hit out against climate change sceptics on his side of politics, saying there has been a war on science that contradicts common sense.

Nissan wants you to power your house with your electric car.…See More

Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 4 at 1:02pm

Christopher Winter · University of Iowa

http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2011/08/russia-forests-burn-for-second.htmlRussian forests burn for second successive year, breaking last year’s record 1 million hectares.Posted by Jim — Tuesday, August 09, 2011.

Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 10 at 4:52pm

Christopher Winter · University of Iowa

About Congressman Henry Waxman’s letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu requesting a campaign for global warming literacy in America.

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http://globalwarmingisreal.com/2011/08/03/education-campaign-to-combat-climate-change-denial/Education Campaign to Combat Climate Change Denial.By Richard Matthews — 3 August 2011.

Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 6 at 2:41pm

Michael Pettengill · Earlham College

Any thing tying the high SO emissions from Asia (China and India) to the US drought?

I recall some paper or reporting tying the US SO emission in the 60s and 70s to the West Africa drought, along with the cooling around that time. As I recall the basic theory was something like the SO nucleates water vapor reflecting energy from sun back into space, cooling to reduce vaporizing oceans and also promoting rains before the moisture is carried over the Africa continent.

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Asian coal burning has gone through several phases of burning without pollution control, adding controls to clean up local air, and then another nation repeats the cycle. But the report that China has had a rapid surge 7–10 years ago, and the incredible drought in parts of the West and South like those I read about year after year in Africa just make me wonder if there is a connection.

Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 5 at 2:13am

Thomas A. Lewis · Romney, West Virginia

IMHO, this was pretty fair…http://www.dailyimpact.net/2011/08/01/a-new-tragedy-of-the-commons-water-banks/

Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 5 at 8:22am

Joan Savage · Top Commenter · SUNY-ESF

After Joe Romm’s vacation I’d appreciate his take on recent scientific papers that look at the amplitude of ENSO variability. Unless one of the Energy Interns has a doctorate in geophysics (and I don’t myself) it can wait.

Li et al. 2011. Interdecadal modulation of El Niño amplitude during the past millennium. Nature Climate Change.

T Zhang et al. 2011. Physics of US surface temperature response to ENSO.(available in pdf) Journal of Climate.

Like · Reply · Subscribe · August 4 at 4:27pm