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By now, you doubtless know a dastardly hacker broke into the e-mail system at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Britain late last month, grabbing and making public more than 1,000 e-mails that expose how these "scientific experts," cited so often to confirm "man-made global warming," have been fudging their data, conspiring to remove global warming skeptics from the teams that "peer-review" their doctored data for publication, and advising each other to delete incriminating e-mails being sought under the public disclosure laws. Wow. I'm about as shocked as Claude Rains' character when he found out there was gambling going on at Rick's Place in "Casablanca." Aren't you? Most Popular Stories # SHERMAN FREDERICK: Reid's chances look really dim # LETTERS: CityCenter: No joy, just a stark grayness # LETTERS: Do-gooders don't always do that much good # EDITORIAL: Lots of cash equals guilty # EDITORIAL: A hefty golden parachute # LETTERS: In praise of neighborhoods where kids can be kids # VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: The global warming fraud is melting # LETTERS: Union not only culprit in auto industry's demise # EDITORIAL: Cost control? # LETTERS: What are they thinking at City Hall? East Anglia is not some cowtown community college. The Climate Research Unit there is one of the world's four major collators and repositories of "global warming" piffle.

By now, you doubtless know a dastardly hacker broke into the e-mail system at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Britain late last month, grabbing and making public more than 1,000 e-mails that expose how these "scientific experts," cited so often to confirm "man-made global warming," have been fudging their data, conspiring to remove global warming skeptics from the teams that "peer-review" their doctored data for publication, and advising each other to delete incriminating e-mails being sought under the public disclosure laws. Wow. I'm about as shocked as Claude Rains' character when he found out there was gambling going on at Rick's Place in "Casablanca." Aren't you? Most Popular Stories # SHERMAN FREDERICK: Reid's chances look really dim # LETTERS: CityCenter: No joy, just a stark grayness # LETTERS: Do-gooders don't always do that much good # EDITORIAL: Lots of cash equals guilty # EDITORIAL: A hefty golden parachute # LETTERS: In praise of neighborhoods where kids can be kids # VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: The global warming fraud is melting # LETTERS: Union not only culprit in auto industry's demise # EDITORIAL: Cost control? # LETTERS: What are they thinking at City Hall? East Anglia is not some cowtown community college. The Climate Research Unit there is one of the world's four major collators and repositories of "global warming" piffle.

Researchers and officials concerned about global warming have focused on oil usage, but scientists on Wednesday said liquefied coal could have a greater affect on global climate change. Global warming scenarios are based on oil reserves, but those reserves will have less impact on global climate than the extent to which liquefied coal replaces oil and gas, scientists said at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is today expected to adopt the most radical global warming plan in the U.S., and possibly the world. If passed, it will force individuals, as well as the state's utilities, refineries and large factories to fundamentally change the way they do business, and slash greenhouse gas emissions. The plan will outline for the first time how people and businesses will be required to meet the state's 2006 'Global Warming Solutions Act' and transform California into a global leader in the fight against climate change. The board will be in session all day to consider approval of the AB 32 Scoping Plan to Reduce GHG Emissions in California. Key aspects of the plan include: * The creation of a carbon-credit 'cap and trade' market designed to give the state's major polluters cheaper ways to cut emissions; * A Low Carbon Fuel standard; * Stringent transport related greenhouse gas targets; * A target of generating 33% of the states's electricity from renewable energy by 2020; * Ambitious vehicle efficiency measures; * Implementation of a high speed rail system; * A radical green building strategy.

Newsweek has an article on how "cleaner energy can create jobs and reignite global growth" - Why It's Time for a 'Green New Deal'. In rented offices on a quiet side street in Paris, not far from the Eiffel Tower, analysts for the International Energy Agency spend long days and nights crunching numbers about oil production and greenhouse-gas emissions. They're the staid, sober global accountants who watch over the power supply for the 30 rich countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and their many reports are dry and technical. But lately, the group's pronouncements have taken on more ominous overtones. With a sense of urgency bordering on desperation, the IEA has begun calling for radical changes in the way the world drives its cars, its factories and, indeed, the global economy. This month the agency will issue a collection of comprehensive reports declaring that "a global revolution is needed in ways that energy is supplied and used." That kind of rhetoric has become familiar to U.S. voters, who've spent months listening to both presidential candidates tout their energy plans. Barack Obama has promised to "strategically invest" $150 billion over 10 years to build a clean-energy economy, one that will create 5 million new green jobs.

Fact Sheet: The United States and Caspian Energy Security * The U.S. continues to support multiple, independent and commercially-viable export routes to global markets for Caspian energy. * The U.S. government encourages Caspian countries to increase regional cooperation to develop energy solutions for the region. * Southern Corridor energy export routes will give Turkish and European consumers greater freedom of choice, increase competition and bring additional and diverse energy supplies to market, thus augmenting global energy security. * Since becoming independent in 1991, the former Soviet Republics of the Caspian region have attracted significant international investment in its oil and natural gas reserves, making it an important source of energy exports. * The Caspian region produces roughly 2.8 million barrels per day (bbl/d). * The Caspian region has significant natural gas resources, making it an ideal source for diversification of the European market. * Continued investment by international firms, bringing management expertise and technological advantages, is crucial to expanding energy production and increasing benefits to the host countries. * Diversity of supplies, suppliers and supply routes is a key component to enhancing global energy security.

Sarah Palin just helped clarify McCain's double-talk on global warming: He doesn't think the government should do anything to stop it. Voters who care about either global warming or clean energy have only one choice -- and it isn't McCain-Palin. It's time to stop trying to guess whether the latest McCain campaign gaffe revision on global warming means the Arizonan has walked away from his previous support for mandatory government control of greenhouse gases. He has.

President Barack Obama declared Friday a "meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough" had been reached among the U.S., China and three other countries on a global effort to curb climate change but said much work was still be needed to reach a legally binding treaty. "It is going to be very hard, and it's going to take some time," he said near the conclusion of a 193-nation global warming summit. "We have come a long way, but we have much further to go." The president said there was a "fundamental deadlock in perspectives" between big, industrially developed countries like the United States and poorer, though sometimes large, developing nations. Still he said this week's efforts "will help us begin to meet our responsibilities to leave our children and grandchildren a cleaner planet."

President Barack Obama declared Friday a "meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough" had been reached among the U.S., China and three other countries on a global effort to curb climate change but said much work was still be needed to reach a legally binding treaty. "It is going to be very hard, and it's going to take some time," he said near the conclusion of a 193-nation global warming summit. "We have come a long way, but we have much further to go." The president said there was a "fundamental deadlock in perspectives" between big, industrially developed countries like the United States and poorer, though sometimes large, developing nations. Still he said this week's efforts "will help us begin to meet our responsibilities to leave our children and grandchildren a cleaner planet."

As part of a public strategy to offset global warming, the president and Congress are considering possible "cap and trade" laws to limit the United States' carbon dioxide emissions. One question raised in this debate is the amount that such limits would cost United States taxpayers and consumers. Many scientists argue that carbon dioxide emissions are a significant contributor to global warming, and that humanity would benefit if the government did something to stop, or partly offset, global warming.

President Obama's energy secretary, Nobel prize-winner Steven Chu, arrives in Europe this week to discuss global warming. But his recent policy decisions on coal-fired power stations and hydrogen cars have angered many environmentalists US energy secretary Steven Chu will fly to Europe this week to begin talks that will be crucial in the global battle against climate change. The 61-year-old physicist will hold key discussions with energy ministers from the G8 nations in Rome before travelling to London to take part in a debate with Nobel prize winners on global warming.

"Dreams of braking global warming by storing carbon emissions from power plants could be undermined by the risk of leakage, according to a study published on Sunday. Rich countries have earmarked tens of billions of dollars of investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology that is still only at an experimental stage. Under CCS, carbon dioxide (CO2) would be snared at source from plants that are big burners of oil, gas and coal. Instead of being released into the atmosphere, where it would contribute to global warming, the gas would be buried in the deep ocean or piped into underground chambers such as disused gas fields. CCS supporters say the sequestered carbon would slow the pace of man-made warming. It would buy time for politicians to forge an effective treaty on greenhouse gases and wean the global economy off cheap but dirty fossil fuels."

The global economic downturn has hit clean energy investments and their growth is no longer on track for the world to avert the worst impacts of climate change, said clean energy and carbon market analysts New Energy Finance today. The analysts presented findings of their new report, Global Futures 2009, to senior investors, industry executives and policy makers in clean energy and the carbon markets at the second New Energy Finance Summit in London. Summit participation is by invitation only and is limited to 200 people.

The end of the fossil fuel era may end with a whimper, not a bang -- just with lines for gasoline that are too long. Consider these two pieces of unsettling data: (1) The number of cars on the road globally will hit 1 billion by 2011. (2) The world's oil will peak by 2015, according to the CEO of Shell.

"This story is part of a special series that explores the global water crisis. For more clean water news, photos, and information, visit National Geographic's Freshwater Web site. As climate change throws Earth's water cycle off-kilter, the world's energy infrastructure may end up in hot water, experts say. From hydropower installations in the Himalaya to nuclear power plants in Western Europe, energy resources are already being impacted by flooding, heat waves, drought, and more. (Explore an interactive map of global warming effects.) Traditionally power plants and energy facilities have been built for the long haul-the circa-1936 Hoover Dam in Nevada is still a major hydroelectric generator."

Most climate experts accept that, in order to avoid catastrophic effects of global warming, greenhouse gas emissions (mostly CO2) must be cut by 60-80% by 2050 (though the figure may need to be a 95% cut in the US). The belief that replacing fossil fuels with solar and wind technology can accomplish this reduction tends to overlook several factors: 1. Corporations bombard the world with the message that everyone should consume like Americans do; 2. Corporations tell those in the US that they should ape after the playthings of the rich; 3. Population is growing; 4. Market economics force pathological expansion; and, 5. Solar and wind comprise a minute fraction of current energy. Let's combine these to get an idea of how much solar and wind would need to expand to replace coal, oil, nukes and gas by 2050. First, the US consumes about 25% of the world's energy while having only 5% of the world's population. For the rest of the world to consume at the rate of the US would require global production to increase by a factor of 6.33.

It's stuff we all know about - compact fluorescent lighting, wind energy, efficiency, green jobs - the kind of stuff we talk about incessantly on TreeHugger. Yet seeing all these solutions in Earth School's 4-minute trailer of the upcoming documentary Carbon Nation makes them feel more real, just like seeing Al Gore do his shtick in An Inconvenient Truth brought the reality of global warming home (whether or not each individual fact he uttered could be 100 percent proven). And that's a good thing. Global warming gets scarier the more you think about it, but Carbon Nation, scheduled to be released late in the year, aims to dwell not on the scary but on the possibilities for solving the problem.

For the first time in history the human family as a single entity is faced with multiple global crises, each of which has far-reaching implications for the future of our species. These crises are not just the consequences of specific events or even systemic flaws in say the global economic architecture. They are related to fundamental values and deeply entrenched worldviews. The solutions to these crises may require an unprecedented paradigm shift --- a radical shift in the way in which we look at ourselves, at others, and at the planet that we inhabit.

A speech delivered to the Energy Forum: "The Global Energy Market: Comprehensive Strategies to Meet Geopolitical and Financial Risks," at the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, on May 21, 2008. The purpose of this talk is twofold: First, I will briefly cover some of the highlights of a paper co-authored with my colleague at the Naval Postgraduate School, Daniel Moran, titled "The Militarization of Energy Security."[1] This paper was published in the January 2008 issue of our e-journal Strategic Insights and is the opening chapter in an edited volume that will be published by Routledge in the summer of 2008 titled: Energy Security and Global Politics: The Militarization of Resource Management.

Humanity is sitting on a railroad track, and a train is speeding toward us. The name of that train is global oil shortages. But, let's start at the beginning. Oil was discovered in 1859 in the United States. However, we did not appreciate its many uses, so production and consumption began slowly. During the years between World War I and World War II we learned of its many uses, but only in the last few decades have we built our dependency on oil. Now, all our clothes, food, transportation, construction depend on petrochemicals. As the oil production/consumption line has risen, the food production line has followed and also the global population line.

For those who didn't happen to notice, perhaps because it wasn't exactly front-page news in most of the country, NASA's James Hansen, the man who first alerted Congress to the dangers of global warming 20 years ago, returned to testify before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming this week. This time around, he was essentially offering a final warning on the subject.

The UN's top climate official has given an upbeat assessment on the prospects of a global deal at a climate summit which opens in Copenhagen on Monday. Yvo de Boer told the BBC things were in "excellent shape" as officials from 192 nations began gathering in Denmark

The UN's top climate official has given an upbeat assessment on the prospects of a global deal at a climate summit which opens in Copenhagen on Monday. Yvo de Boer told the BBC things were in "excellent shape" as officials from 192 nations began gathering in Denmark