The Economist: EU carbon credits will rate below junk bonds for years | JunkScience.com

“EUROPE’S flagship environmental policy has just been holed below the water line. On April 16th the European Parliament voted by 334 to 315 to reject proposals which (its supporters claimed) were needed to save the emissions-trading system (ETS) from collapse. Carbon prices promptly fell 40% (see chart). Some environmentalists fear that the whole edifice of European climate policy could start to crumble.”

THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: New paper discovers a 'major source' of alkalinity that might protect reefs from 'acidification'

A new paper published in Biogeosciences finds groundwater and porewater are "major sources" of alkalinity to reefs which are not taken into account by computer models of ocean 'acidification'. The authors "suggest that porewater and groundwater fluxes of TA [total alkalinity] should be taken into account in ocean acidification models in order to properly address changing carbonate chemistry within coral reef ecosystems." Note also that studies in the laboratory of the effect of 'acidification' upon various organisms also fail to consider this moderating "major source" of alkalinity.

THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: New paper finds another non-hockey-stick in Iceland

A new paper published in Quaternary Science Reviews reconstructs temperatures in Iceland and finds summer temperatures during the 1930's were about the same as at the end of the record in ~2002. Following the 1930's, temperatures plunged almost 2C by the time of the ice age scare of the 1970's, and then recovered to temperatures similar to the 1930's. The authors attribute these climate changes to cycles of natural ocean oscillations [NAO & AMO], and there is obviously no relation to the slow steady rise in CO2 levels over this period.

THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: New paper predicts a sharp decline in solar activity until 2100

A new paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Research shows solar activity peaked at the end of the 20th century, but predicts a strong decrease in solar activity until around 2100 AD to low levels similar to the Dalton Minimum.