Friday, December 30, 2011

Our Weather On Steroids: The Mind-Boggling Climate Disasters Of 2011

Our Weather On Steroids: The Mind-Boggling Climate Disasters Of 2011: pThe year 2011 brought the most billion-dollar climate disasters to the United States ever, piling history-making events on top of each other to catastrophic results. The litany of disaster included a scorching drought that rivaled the Dust Bowl summer of 1936, a tornado season twice as bad as the great 1974 tornado outbreak, and flooding [...]/p

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Thom Hartmann: Brazilians Charge Big Oil For Spill.... Why Don't We?

No Time Left to Adapt to Melting Glaciers | Common Dreams

No Time Left to Adapt to Melting Glaciers | Common Dreams

Book Examines America's Turn from Science, Warns of Danger for Democracy | Common Dreams

Book Examines America's Turn from Science, Warns of Danger for Democracy | Common Dreams

Turbocharging Energy Efficiency 1: Utility Efficiency Program Budgets Double to $5.4 Billion

Turbocharging Energy Efficiency 1: Utility Efficiency Program Budgets Double to $5.4 Billion: pby Matthias Bell, RMI, and Dylan Sullivan of NRDC, cross-posted from the Rocky Mountain Institute This is part one in a three part series published at RMI on turbocharging energy efficiency programs. The utilities in Ohio will tell you that they’re nothing like the energy efficiency leaders in California, Oregon, Vermont, or Massachusetts. Their systems [...]/p

The Shocking Republican Attack on the Environment and Our Drinking Water | Water | AlterNet

The Shocking Republican Attack on the Environment and Our Drinking Water | Water | AlterNet

Report: Japan's Response To Fukushima Disaster Was A Mess

Report: Japan's Response To Fukushima Disaster Was A Mess

Portraits of the Southwest in the Shadow of Drought

Portraits of the Southwest in the Shadow of Drought: pNOTE:  NY Times readers who want to see an extended excerpt of my Nature article can go here: “Nature Publishes My Piece on Dust-Bowlification and the Grave Threat It Poses to Food Security.” The NY Times reviews two new books on Dust-Bowlification — A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest, [...]/p

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Climate Sensitivity Higher Than We Thought, Researchers Find

Climate Sensitivity Higher Than We Thought, Researchers Find: pJR:  There’s been a lot of confusion this year on how sensitive the climate is to greenhouse gases (see Media Misleads On Flawed Climate Sensitivity Study: Avoiding “Drastic Changes Over Land” Requires Emissions Cuts ASAP).  Given all the media attention given to one (flawed) study, a little attention to other studies seems worthwhile.   by [...]/p

EPA Issues New Mercury and Toxic Emissions Rules After a 20 Year Wait

EPA Issues New Mercury and Toxic Emissions Rules After a 20 Year Wait

Thank the Obama Administration.

Jim Hightower | PR soap can't scrub off banker greed

Jim Hightower | PR soap can't scrub off banker greed

Season’s Greetings From the Fox News Climate Deniers

Season’s Greetings From the Fox News Climate Deniers: pby Jill Fitzsimmons, cross-posted from Media Matters As winter descends, Fox is keeping with its annual tradition of using snowstorms and cold temperatures to mock global warming. The suggestion that local winter weather somehow disproves global, long-term warming trends is a recurring theme at Fox, despite its faulty logic. During the hot summer months, Fox [...]/p

Breathe In, Breathe Out

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

EPA Rules Target Mercury Pollution, Toxics from Power Plants | Common Dreams

EPA Rules Target Mercury Pollution, Toxics from Power Plants | Common Dreams

On Fox News, Ed Whitfield Denies ‘Any Benefit’ To Babies And Pregnant Women From Reducing Mercury Levels

On Fox News, Ed Whitfield Denies ‘Any Benefit’ To Babies And Pregnant Women From Reducing Mercury Levels: pAs U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administration Lisa Jackson announces the first-ever Clean Air Act rules to limit mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants, Republicans are already attacking this historic advance for public health. The health risks of this potent neurotoxin are enormously well-documented. Methylmercury from coal pollution accumulates in fish, poisoning pregnant women and small [...]/p

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Friday, December 16, 2011

Killing of Wolves from Air Draws Fire | Common Dreams

Killing of Wolves from Air Draws Fire | Common Dreams

Disgusting!

Climate Change May Modify Half Earth's Plants | Common Dreams

Climate Change May Modify Half Earth's Plants | Common Dreams

After 20 Years Of Poisoned Babies, EPA Will Finally Cut Coal Industry’s Toxic Mercury Pollution

After 20 Years Of Poisoned Babies, EPA Will Finally Cut Coal Industry’s Toxic Mercury Pollution: pLong-delayed rules to limit toxins like mercury and arsenic from coal-burning power plants will be approved today, after twenty years of delay that protected coal utility profits at the expense of American health. The Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will finalize its mercury rule today, marking the end of an [...]/p

Whistleblowers: Software Monitoring Keystone XL Pipeline's Safety Contains Deliberate Errors | Truthout

Whistleblowers: Software Monitoring Keystone XL Pipeline's Safety Contains Deliberate Errors | Truthout

The Walmartization of America Redux: How the Relentless Drive for Cheap Stuff Undermines Our Economy, Bankrupts Our Soul, and Pillages the Planet | Common Dreams

The Walmartization of America Redux: How the Relentless Drive for Cheap Stuff Undermines Our Economy, Bankrupts Our Soul, and Pillages the Planet | Common Dreams

House GOP Voted 191 Times Against The Planet, Earning ‘Worst Environmental Record Of Any Congress’

House GOP Voted 191 Times Against The Planet, Earning ‘Worst Environmental Record Of Any Congress’: pHouse Republicans waged systematic war against the environment this year, attacking environmental protection through climate denial, oil drilling, weakening public lands and water protection, and obstructing responsible regulation — just to name a few. In summation, a House Committee on Energy and Commerce minority report reveals that the House voted 191 times to undermine the [...]/p

Monday, December 12, 2011

Are Privatized Water Utilities in Cahoots With Shale Gas Companies? | AlterNet

Are Privatized Water Utilities in Cahoots With Shale Gas Companies? | AlterNet

Rachel Pike: The Science Behind A Climate Headline

Solar Power Much Cheaper to Produce Than Most Analysts Realize, Study Finds

Solar Power Much Cheaper to Produce Than Most Analysts Realize, Study Finds: pThe public is being kept in the dark about the viability of solar photovoltaic energy, according to a study conducted at Queen’s University. “Many analysts project a higher cost for solar photovoltaic energy because they don’t consider recent technological advancements and price reductions,” says [co-author] Joshua Pearce, Adjunct Professor, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. [...]/p

Welcome to the new Arctic

Welcome to the new Arctic

Massey Gets Away With Murder: Time To Revoke their Charter | | AlterNet

Massey Gets Away With Murder: Time To Revoke their Charter | | AlterNet

Deal Reached in Durban But Scientists Say it Won't Avert Catastrophic Climate Change | Environment | AlterNet

Deal Reached in Durban But Scientists Say it Won't Avert Catastrophic Climate Change | Environment | AlterNet

Friday, December 9, 2011

NOAA Chief: U.S. Record of a Dozen Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters in One Year Is “a Harbinger of Things to Come”

NOAA Chief: U.S. Record of a Dozen Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters in One Year Is “a Harbinger of Things to Come”: pThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released an analysis, “U.S. sets record with a dozen billion-dollar weather disasters in one year.”  They report: To date, the United States set a record with 12 separate billion dollar weather/climate disasters in 2011, with an aggregate damage total of approximately $52 billion. This record year breaks the [...]/p

Acid Test

Durban Climate Hero Abigail Borah: ‘I Am Speaking On Behalf Of The United States Of America Because My Negotiators Cannot’

Durban Climate Hero Abigail Borah: ‘I Am Speaking On Behalf Of The United States Of America Because My Negotiators Cannot’: pRead all the ThinkProgress coverage from the Durban climate talks. The delegates assembled in Durban, South Africa to tackle the civilizational challenge of manmade climate destruction burst into sustained applause on Thursday when a young American interrupted the proceedings to speak on behalf of the United States people. Abigail Borah, a 21-year-old student from Middlebury [...]/p

Naomi Klein: Addicted to Risk

How the US Is Undermining Critical Climate Talks and Putting the World in Jeopardy | Environment | AlterNet

How the US Is Undermining Critical Climate Talks and Putting the World in Jeopardy | Environment | AlterNet

U.S. Denounced For "Startling Level Of Obstruction And Defeatism"

"Get It Done": Urging Climate Justice Mic Check At UN Summit

U.S. Publicly Shifts Climate Stance in Face of Widespread Criticism -- Then Quietly Backtracks

U.S. Publicly Shifts Climate Stance in Face of Widespread Criticism -- Then Quietly Backtracks

Poll: Majority of Americans Understand Global Warming Worsens Extreme Weather and Want Nation to Act

Poll: Majority of Americans Understand Global Warming Worsens Extreme Weather and Want Nation to Act: pYale released the above chart in November.  Now they have released “the second and third reports from our latest national survey on Americans’ climate change and energy beliefs, attitudes, policy support, and behavior.”  Key findings: Public understanding that global warming is happening stayed at 63 percent, while belief that it is caused mostly by human activities [...]/p

Bill McKibben: Saving The Planet From The Bottom Up

Bill Mckibben: Eaarth Discussion

Blue Carbon: The Role of Oceans in Climate Change

Blue Carbon: The Role of Oceans in Climate Change: pOceans make up 70% of the earth’s surface and hold 90% of natural carbon. So why do they only make up a small portion of the research on the global impact of carbon emissions? The role of “blue carbon” in climate change is getting more interest from the international community. With a growing body of [...]/p

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Cannibal Polar Bears | Common Dreams

Cannibal Polar Bears | Common Dreams

Radiation From Cell Phones and WiFi Are Making People Sick -- Are We All at Risk? | Environment | AlterNet

Radiation From Cell Phones and WiFi Are Making People Sick -- Are We All at Risk? | Environment | AlterNet

The Wall Street Journal's /Unreliable Take On EPA's Air Pollution Limits

The emWall Street Journal's /emUnreliable Take On EPA's Air Pollution Limits

Fracking Compounds Found in Drinking Water | Common Dreams

Fracking Compounds Found in Drinking Water | Common Dreams

Naomi Klein’s Inconvenient Climate Conclusions | Common Dreams

Naomi Klein’s Inconvenient Climate Conclusions | Common Dreams

The Fanatics of the Center

The Fanatics of the Center

The Most Important News Story of the Day/Millennium | Common Dreams

The Most Important News Story of the Day/Millennium | Common Dreams

Fox Still Pushing Discredited Keystone XL Pipeline Jobs Claims

Fox Still Pushing Discredited Keystone XL Pipeline Jobs Claims

Australian Green Party Leader: U.S. Climate Denial Machine “Being Directed Straight into Australia” Via Murdoch’s News Corp

Australian Green Party Leader: U.S. Climate Denial Machine “Being Directed Straight into Australia” Via Murdoch’s News Corp: pThe Winning Aussie Strategy: Fighting Back Against Deniers and Talking About Climate Change If President Obama needs a role model for his stance (or lack thereof) on climate change, he should look no further than the Deputy Leader of Australia’s Green Party, Christine Milne. In a wide-ranging interview with Climate Progress at the COP 17 [...]/p

Toll from Weather Disasters in US This Year Hits $52 Billion | Common Dreams

Toll from Weather Disasters in US This Year Hits $52 Billion | Common Dreams

Noam Chomsky And Bill McKibben On Global Warming

Gas Company That Contaminated 18 Wells Through Fracking Refuses To Continue Providing Clean Water To Residents

Gas Company That Contaminated 18 Wells Through Fracking Refuses To Continue Providing Clean Water To Residents: pAs Republican lawmakers rush headlong to open up land to fracking, their constituents should heed the cautionary tale told by the town of Dimock, Pennsylvania. The small town of 1,400 people agreed to let Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Company employ hydraulic fracturing on local land to obtain natural gas in 2008. The result: 18 [...]/p

Koch Political Group Brags About Bullying GOP Lawmakers Into Denying Climate Science

Koch Political Group Brags About Bullying GOP Lawmakers Into Denying Climate Science: pIn its cover story this week, the National Journal explores a curious phenomenon: while the science supporting climate change has only gotten stronger, the onetime Republican consensus on the issue has fallen apart. The reason, quite simply, is the right-wing polluter Koch Industries and its political front group Americans for Prosperity. As Political Correction notes, [...]/p

Thom Hartmann: ALEC, Children And Rat Poison

Thom Hartmann: Climate Change Facts

Thom Hartmann: Climate Change vs Professional Wrestling

Acid Test

Sailing The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Marching Off the Cliff | Truthout

Marching Off the Cliff | Truthout

She's Alive

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Saving Valentina



A very positive and heart warming video.

Fiddling on Climate | Common Dreams

Fiddling on Climate | Common Dreams

The Story Of Bottled Water

US College Student Shames US Climate Delegation in Durban | Common Dreams

US College Student Shames US Climate Delegation in Durban | Common Dreams

Polar Bears Are Turning To Cannibalism As Arctic Ice Disappears

Polar Bears Are Turning To Cannibalism As Arctic Ice Disappears: pPolar bears are now being observed by scientists resorting to cannibalism, and expect to see more as Arctic sea ice declines. In “Observations of cannibalism by polar bears (Ursus maritimus) on summer and autumn sea ice at Svalbard, Norway,” published in the journal Arctic, polar bear biologist Ian Stirling and photojournalist Jenny Ross describe seeing [...]/p

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The U.S. Wastes 7 Billion Gallons of Drinking Water Every Day

The U.S. Wastes 7 Billion Gallons of Drinking Water Every Day

What Would Ben Franklin Do?

What Would Ben Franklin Do?

Washington Post Edits Out Climate Change from Its Sea-Level Rise Story

Washington Post Edits Out Climate Change from Its Sea-Level Rise Story: pProjected sea level rise IF we don’t get off our current emissions path (which is between A2 and A1FI).  The WashPost omitted any mention of climate change in its sea level rise story, even though a key source talked about it with the reporter. by Elliott Negin, Union of Concerned Scientists, in a HuffPost repost. [...]/p

Fox Denigrates The “ ENTIRE Solar Industry“

Fox Denigrates The “ ENTIRE Solar Industry“

Thousands Protest in India Over Dow Chemical's Olympic Sponsorship | Common Dreams

Thousands Protest in India Over Dow Chemical's Olympic Sponsorship | Common Dreams

What Would Ben Franklin Do? Influences of America’s First Environmentalist

What Would Ben Franklin Do? Influences of America’s First Environmentalist: pby Lauren Simenauer, cross posted from Science Progress In the late 18th century, Benjamin Franklin was something of an icon in Europe. The French hung portraits of Franklin on their walls much in the same way college students pay tribute to John Belushi or Jim Morrison in their dorms. Everywhere Franklin went, his feisty personality [...]/p

Radiation From Cell Phones and WiFi Are Making People Sick -- Are We All at Risk? | Environment | AlterNet

Radiation From Cell Phones and WiFi Are Making People Sick -- Are We All at Risk? | Environment | AlterNet