Saturday, April 16, 2016

Landmark Climate Lawsuit: Meet the Youth Activists Suing the U.S. Government & Fossil Fuel Industry

Michigan's 1 Percent Just Endorsed the Flint Water Crisis @alternet

Michigan's 1 Percent Just Endorsed the Flint Water Crisis @alternet:

"With that standing ovation, Michigan’s one percent effectively endorsed the poisoning of Flint and closed ranks around its chief perpetrators. Their message is clear: there will be no concessions, no reprieve from lethal austerity measures, not even in the wake of the greatest public health disaster in recent U.S. history."

Flint water crisis unaddressed, Snyder keeps talking

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Tesla’s Model 3 Is Already Shattering Expectations

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/04/06/3766982/next-apple-tesla-model-3-presales/
"The Model 3 could end up as the best-“selling” vehicle this year — or at least the most ordered."

One Fact About Climate Change That’s Worth Repeating

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/04/06/3766659/fact-97-percent-climate-scientists-climate-change/
"the ongoing disinformation campaign funded by the fossil fuel industry (together with false balance by the media) has left the public with the impression that there is considerable scientific debate on a subject where there isn’t."

House Republicans Say Oil Spill Prevention Rule Should Be Easier On Oil Companies

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/04/04/3766124/offshore-drilling-republican-revision/
"Almost five years after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill sent millions of barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration announced a set of new offshore drilling rules that it hoped would prevent another massive oil spill. Now, as those rules appear to be racing towards finalization, House Republicans are asking the administration to revise the rules to lessen the burden on the oil industry."

Science and Engineering for the Public Good

Report: Health Impacts from Climate Change a 'New Kind of Threat' (with No Easy Cure)

Report: Health Impacts from Climate Change a 'New Kind of Threat' (with No Easy Cure)

"The report was produced by eight government agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It comes just ahead of the April 22 meeting between world leaders in New York, where they are expected to formally sign the landmark climate agreement finalized in Paris in December."

Melting ice sheets changing the way the Earth wobbles on its axis, says Nasa

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/09/melting-ice-sheets-changing-the-way-the-earth-wobbles-on-its-axis-says-nasa?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+USA+-+Version+CB+header&utm_term=166240&subid=14675834&CMP=ema_565
"Since 2003, Greenland has lost on average more than 272 trillion kilograms of ice a year, and that affects the way the Earth wobbles in a manner similar to a figure skater lifting one leg while spinning, said Nasa scientist Eirk Ivins, the study’s co-author. On top of that, West Antarctica loses 124 trillion kgs of ice and East Antarctica gains about 74 trillion kgs of ice yearly, helping tilt the wobble further, Ivins said."

New Report Details Big Oil's $500 Million Annual Climate Obstructionism

New Report Details Big Oil's $500 Million Annual Climate Obstructionism

"The dark channels through which corporations influence legislation are notoriously hard to trace, but a new detailed report estimates that the world's largest fossil fuel companies are spending upwards of $500 million per year to obstruct climate laws"

Toxic Teflon Chemical, C8, Found In Tap Water in Several States @alternet

Toxic Teflon Chemical, C8, Found In Tap Water in Several States @alternet:

"New information emerged last month about toxic contamination from chemicals used to manufacture Teflon pots and pans and many other consumer, military, and industrial products. Water tests in several states have revealed a growing number of sites where the groundwater is polluted by the most well studied of these chemicals — C8 or PFOA — prompting calls from a group of state governors for federal action.  Meanwhile there are new indications that another perfluorinated chemical (PFC), heavily promoted by chemical manufacturers as a safer substitute for C8, is also toxic and just as persistent in the environment as C8"

Mass Extinction Is Closer Than You Know

Last Month Was The Hottest March In The Global Satellite Record, And The Arctic Is Still Sizzling

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/04/04/3765965/hottest-march-satellite-record/
"as Arctic warming speeds up, it boosts global greenhouse gas levels, which leads to even more warming of the Arctic and so on."

Florida Will Vote This Year On Measure That Would Block Solar Leasing In The State

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/04/01/3765695/florida-voters-are-going-to-be-confused/
"Sponsored by utility companies and other groups tied to the Koch brothers, the measure will prevent people from selling their electricity to third parties."

GOP Policies Always Lead to Death and Destruction

British Columbia’s Carbon Tax Has Been So Successful That Businesses Want To Increase It

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/03/31/3765312/canadian-business-support-carbon-tax-increase/
"A carbon tax may be a controversial topic in the United States, but in one Canadian province, this eight-year-old policy has been such a success that on Wednesday more than 100 businesses said they support a tax increase."

Climate Disruption in Overdrive: Submerged Cities and Melting That "Feeds on Itself"

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35398-climate-disruption-in-overdrive-submerged-cities-and-melting-that-feeds-on-itself
"A major study published in Nature Climate Change shows that the planet is warming a stunning 50 times faster than when it comes out of an ice age. The implications of the rapidity of this warming, for those who care to digest it emotionally, are horrifying. The study shows that even if carbon reduction targets are achieved and the planet's temperature is kept below the 2 degree Celsius warming threshold, sea-level rise will still inundate major coastal cities around the world, forcing one-fifth of the total world population of humans to migrate away from the coasts. New York, London, Rio de Janeiro, Jakarta, Cairo, Kolkata and Shanghai will all be underwater. As though to reinforce this point, NASA recently released data confirming that February was the warmest month ever measured globally, at 1.57 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial baseline temperature average. The new record easily smashed the old global temperature record, which was set just one month before, in January. This means that while it took from the advent of the industrial age until October 2015 to warm the planet 1 degree Celsius, humans have managed to warm the planet another .57 degrees Celsius in just the next four months since then. Let that sink in for a moment before reading further. As if that isn't enough, a study recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience revealed that carbon emissions are now the highest they have been since the age of dinosaurs, 66 million years ago. According to the study, the current pace of emissions is even beyond the highest-known natural surge of carbon that exists in fossil records, an event that occurred 56 million years ago that was believed by many to be caused by the release of frozen stores of greenhouse gases from the seabed."