Here is your Thursday late morning linkage. Let’s start with a couple of stories about getting out to the field.

• Kim Yi Dionne writes about the challenges of taking her toddler to Malawi during field work (on second thought, maybe not!)
• U.S. diplomats confined to Kabul and can’t visit aid projects as military drawdown deprives them of protection for field visits

In environmental news, here is some fracking and Google-related chatter and more:

• Environmental research group study claims efficiency more than fracking drove U.S. greenhouse gas emissions reductions of late
• Back and forth by Cornell profs on the virtues and vices of fracking vis a vis climate change
• Why measuring methane leakage is tricky
• Seventeen former Google Climate Science Communication fellows take issue with Google hosting a fundraiser for climate science denialist James Inhofe
• Obama provides a low estimate of Keystone XL-related construction jobs (signal of intent on pipeline approval?), WaPo Kessler challenges, NRDC defends
• Big increase in Japan’s carbon intensity in energy sector after post-Fukushima nuclear sector shutdown
• Is German move from nuclear leading to increase in coal use? Contrarian perspective