Two new studies have revealed new research over the “warm blob” in the northeast Pacific ocean — a 2 degree C temperature anomaly that began in the winter of 2013-2014 in the Gulf of Alaska. “The 2013-2014 “blob” was just the beginning. In the summer of 2014, warm water also showed up off the California coast. And then, in the fall of last year,

“A major change in the wind and weather pattern between Hawaii and the West Coast caused the two warm blobs to merge and expand to fill the entire northeast Pacific Ocean,” says Nate Mantua of NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center.” [The Washington Post]

Green activists staged a big climate change march on Saturday in Quebec City, where provincial premiers will meet early next week to discuss greenhouse gas reductions. “We’ll see more of this leading up to the UN summit in Paris in December to achieve a global climate change plan, when ‘shame Canada’ campaigns are to be expected unless activists are satisfied progress has been made.

Lack of a grand federal climate change vision makes Canada an easy target. But Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford made it clear in Calgary last week that Stephen Harper’s government isn’t about to cave.” [Financial Post]

At Coachella, the annual music festival in the desert east of Los Angeles, the festival’s organizers are not meeting the new statewide regulations over water conservation.”With California facing severe drought for the fourth year in a row, Gov. Jerry Brown this month ordered a 25 percent reduction in water use across the state. Yet that order came just as organizers of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival — one of the country’s biggest and most celebrated music events, drawing up to 100,000 fans a day over two weekends — were finishing preparations for this year’s event.

As a result, the organizers said, there would be few immediate changes to water management.

“The die is cast for the next two weeks,” said Paul Tollett, chief executive of Goldenvoice, the concert’s promoter. “Right after the shows, there are some hard decisions to be made, and we’re ready for them.” [The NY Times]