Report From Climategate Guardian Debate with Monbiot, McIntyre, Pearce, Watson, Keenan and some uea guy « The Unbearable Nakedness of CLIMATE CHANGE

Bob Watson opening remark was that he hadn’t read the e-mails in question. This was a bad mistake – many in the audience were very familiar with them, and not happy to be lectured by somebody who wasn’t. IPCC was imperfect but the best that could be devised 95% of scientists agree…it is now just a risk management exercise. Errors corrected quickly…As good as having Ravendra, but no need for the extra slot at Heathrow for him to land his jet. Very much the Scientific Establishment figure.

[Healing the planet]: Four Big Questions About The Senate's Energy Push | The New Republic

4) Why isn't the White House leading on this issue? Later this week, Reid will meet with the relevant committee chairs—that's Boxer, Baucus, Lincoln, Bingaman, and Rockefeller—and hash out what to do. Right now, though, it looks like he has to steer this ship himself. According to a variety of sources, President Obama has remained fairly aloof from the whole process. True, the White House has held meetings with various senators, but they've generally been listening meetings—at no point has the president said, look, here's what we need to do and we're not leaving until we figure out how to get it done.

Now, there are plenty of theories as to why this is. Maybe the White House doesn't think it has the power to pressure individual senators. Or maybe it doesn't want to risk failure. A few weeks ago, after all, Obama tried to meet with Scott Brown about climate, and Brown came out of the meeting loudly announcing that he wouldn't support cap-and-trade. It was embarrassing. Yet without a clear leader, the energy bill seems to be drifting, and it's hard to see a strong piece of legislation emerging in the next month.

[Canada: Lack of global warming increases bear encounters]

Siderius says the increase in bear sightings is likely due to months of wet and cold weather this spring, which slowed plant growth in the mountains.

“Last year we had lots of huckleberries and only a few bears in town,” she says, “and I think that was directly related.”