Fifty Years From Now, The Oceans Will Look Nothing Like They Do Today

Cognitive Dissonance: White House Greenlights Arctic Drilling As Congress Sends Billions To Restore Gulf Coast

Cognitive Dissonance: White House Greenlights Arctic Drilling As Congress Sends Billions To Restore Gulf Coast: by Christina DiPasquale and Michael Conathan As soon as today, Congress and the White House could issue decisions with massive and opposing ramifications for oceans in distant corners of our country. The House and Senate are expected to pass a sweeping Transportation bill including a provision to send badly needed dollars to the Gulf Coast [...]/p

Confirming The Human Fingerprint In Global Ocean Warming

Confirming The Human Fingerprint In Global Ocean Warming: Recent warming of the top 2300 feet of the ocean alone corresponds to an energy content of more than one Hiroshima atomic bomb detonation every second over the past 40 years. A new analysis of all the recent data makes clear that this remarkable warming can only be explained with man-made greenhouse gas emissions — JR. by [...]/p

Fish On Fridays: Cape Wind Project And Fishermen Seal A Deal

Fish On Fridays: Cape Wind Project And Fishermen Seal A Deal: by Michael Conathan Earlier this week, Cape Wind—a proposed wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts—quietly turned aside one of its few remaining challenges by coming to a landmark agreement with the Martha’s Vineyard/Dukes County Fishermen’s Association, which had filed a challenge to the project because fishermen feared they would be displaced from traditional fishing [...]/p

Arctic Sea Ice at Lowest June Level Ever | Common Dreams

Arctic Sea Ice at Lowest June Level Ever | Common Dreams
"The sea ice extent in the Arctic is at its lowest level ever for this time of year, according to the latest information from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)."

Romney's energy advisor takes advantage of Citizens United

As Exxon CEO Calls Global Warming’s Impacts ‘Manageable’, Colorado Wildfires Shutter Climate Lab

As Exxon CEO Calls Global Warming’s Impacts ‘Manageable’, Colorado Wildfires Shutter Climate Lab: Fueled by a warming climate, Colorado is experiencing its worst fire season in its history. As researchers at Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) joined 32,000 other Coloradans in fleeing the fires, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations about the “manageable” risks of climate change: Rex Tillerson said at a meeting at [...]/p

The Failure of Rio 20 is a Wake-Up Call for People Power | Common Dreams

The Failure of Rio 20 is a Wake-Up Call for People Power | Common Dreams
"Almost a week since the Rio+20 Earth Summit ended, civil society is coming to terms with the ‘epic failure' of global leaders to agree meaningful action for addressing the worsening planetary and social crises."

In Ohio, the People Push Back on Fracking | Common Dreams

In Ohio, the People Push Back on Fracking | Common Dreams
"Last week nearly 1,000 people took over the Ohio Statehouse. Joined by others from neighboring states, they came together to protest the destructive gas drilling method called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." After rallying and marching to the Capitol building, hundreds poured in—without a permit—to hold a "People's Assembly" to decide how they, the people, could end the practice in their state."

Seismologists Warn Japan Against Nuclear Restart | Common Dreams

Seismologists Warn Japan Against Nuclear Restart | Common Dreams
"Despite widespread public opposition to a restart of nuclear reactors across the country, Japan recently approved the restart of two reactors at the Oi nuclear plant, northwest of Tokyo, which could go back online as early as July 1st. Today, however, two prominent Japanese seismologists, have argued that that plant reactors sit far more precariously than their operator, Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO), has claimed in order to rush their restart, that officials are moving too fast and that grave dangers still exist."

Midwestern Drought Intensifies: ‘I Don’t Remember Anytime It Was This Dry, This Early’

Midwestern Drought Intensifies: ‘I Don’t Remember Anytime It Was This Dry, This Early’: A mild snow-less winter, an unusually dry spring, and debilitating heat in May and June have created serious drought conditions in parts of Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, among other states. Despite recent severe storms that dumped more than 7 inches of rain on Duluth, Minnesota, last week, (causing chaos, especially in the city zoo), much [...]/p

Studies: Rising Oceans to Wreak Havoc this Century | Common Dreams

Studies: Rising Oceans to Wreak Havoc this Century | Common Dreams
"Rates of sea level rise due to global warming and climate change are increasing three-to-four times faster along highly populated sections of the US northeast Atlantic Coast than they are globally, according to a new US Geological Survey report released Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change."

Willapa Bay oyster grower sounds alarm, starts hatchery in Hawaii | Local News | The Seattle Times

Willapa Bay oyster grower sounds alarm, starts hatchery in Hawaii | Local News | The Seattle Times
"A Willapa Bay shellfish company is shifting some of its business to Hawaii because of ocean acidification that scientists believe is killing tiny oyster larvae in shellfish farms along Washington's coast."

Germany Swaps Nuclear for Solar and Wind Power

Germany Swaps Nuclear for Solar and Wind Power
"Germany, the world’s most aggressive adopter of renewable energy, is taking a bold leap toward a future free from nuclear energy. In March, the German government announced a program to invest 200 billion euros, or approximately $270 billion, in renewables. That’s 8 percent of the country’s GDP, according to the DIW Economic Institute in Berlin."

Injection Wells: The Poison Beneath Us

Injection Wells: The Poison Beneath Us
"Over the past several decades, U.S. industries have injected more than 30 trillion gallons of toxic liquid deep into the earth, using broad expanses of the nation's geology as an invisible dumping ground."

REPORT: Most Anti-Environment House Of Representatives In History Voted 109 Times To Enrich Big Oil

REPORT: Most Anti-Environment House Of Representatives In History Voted 109 Times To Enrich Big Oil: The House of Representatives holds the title of the most anti-environment House in congressional history. Led by Republicans, the House has voted against the environment 247 times in the last 18 months, averaging one anti-environmental vote for every day the House has been in session. The newest report, released by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed [...]/p

House Energy Bill Fuels Dirtier Air, More Lung Disease

House Energy Bill Fuels Dirtier Air, More Lung Disease: Today, the House of Representatives passed the Strategic Energy Production Act of 2012, H.R. 4480. This bill puts oil and gas profits above the health of the most vulnerable Americans, especially infants, children and senior citizens, in a concentrated attack on air pollution safeguards under the Clean Air Act. The House passed this bill by [...]/p

The BLM’s Corrupt Coal Leasing Program: Billions In Subsidies To Peabody, Gigatons Of Carbon Pollution For The Rest Of Us

The BLM’s Corrupt Coal Leasing Program: Billions In Subsidies To Peabody, Gigatons Of Carbon Pollution For The Rest Of Us: by Joe Smyth Next week, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is scheduled to hold an “auction” for 721 million tons of taxpayer-owned coal in the Powder River Basin. This is for the North Porcupine tract, and like the South Porcupine tract that BLM leased to Peabody last month — even though this coal is owned by [...]/p

Study: Exponential Leap In LA's 95-Degree Days By Mid-Century

Study: Exponential Leap In LA's 95-Degree Days By Mid-Century
"By the middle of the century, the number of days with temperatures above 95 degrees each year will triple in downtown Los Angeles, quadruple in portions of the San Fernando Valley and even jump five-fold in a portion of the High Desert in LA County, according to a new UCLA climate change study."

Greenpeace: Save the Arctic

VIDEO: Fox Pundits Dismiss Fracking Risks

VIDEO: Fox Pundits Dismiss Fracking Risks
"Fox News pundits have repeatedly claimed that fracking poses no risk to water supplies, even though there are several documented cases where extraction of shale gas and activities related to fracking have contaminated water. Watch how their blanket denials of risk contrast with real news reports on the damage natural gas extraction has done to water supplies"

Latino Public Health Professionals To The White House: It’s Time To Limit Carbon Pollution!

Latino Public Health Professionals To The White House: It’s Time To Limit Carbon Pollution!: by Jorge Madrid Earlier this month a group of 12 Latino doctors, nurses, and other public health professionals from across the country met in Washington, D.C. to deliver a clear message to the White House: Climate change and carbon pollution is a serious public health issue that affects the Latino community – and we want [...]/p

System Failure: We Are Approaching the End of Society As We Know It -- And That May Be a Good Thing | Environment | AlterNet

System Failure: We Are Approaching the End of Society As We Know It -- And That May Be a Good Thing | Environment | AlterNet
"Paul Gilding talks about his new book, "The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring on the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World"."

Myths And Facts About Natural Gas

Myths And Facts About Natural Gas
"Natural gas can help the U.S. transition away from reliance on coal in the near-term if it is produced responsibly. But conservative media have dismissed the risks involved with the rapid spread of natural gas extraction to push for deregulation, attack the Obama administration, and ignore the need for a comprehensive energy policy to transition to renewable energy."

What’s Good For Women is Good for the Planet

What’s Good For Women is Good for the Planet: by Maggie L. Fox This week marks the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit, the pivotal 1992 event that put climate change on the international map. The theme of this year’s Rio+20 summit is sustainable development  — economic growth that sustains us in the present without placing the lives and welfare of future generations [...]/p

New Report: Outdoor Recreation Industry Jobs Outnumber Those In Oil And Gas Nearly Three to One

New Report: Outdoor Recreation Industry Jobs Outnumber Those In Oil And Gas Nearly Three to One: By Jessica Goad A new report from the Outdoor Industry Association released today shows that outdoor recreation is an enormous economic powerhouse.  The report finds that 6.1 million American jobs are directly supported by the outdoor industry, as well as the fact that Americans spend $646 billion each year on activities like camping, hunting, and [...]/p

Trouble brewing at the San Onofre nuclear power plant in CA

Romney Signals Support For Sen. Inhofe’s Push To Nullify Mercury Pollution Standard

Romney Signals Support For Sen. Inhofe’s Push To Nullify Mercury Pollution Standard: Today, the Senate votes on Sen. James Inhofe’s measure to derail the first Environmental Protection Agency regulation to reduce mercury pollution and other toxics. The EPA projects the new standard will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths. The push by the coal industry’s GOP allies isn’t likely to move forward, however, with a White House [...]/p

Senators Try to Kill EPA Effort to Reduce Mercury and Toxic Air Pollution

Senators Try to Kill EPA Effort to Reduce Mercury and Toxic Air Pollution
"the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association, agree with the EPA."

The Most Anti-Environment Congress in History: Here's the Record | Common Dreams

The Most Anti-Environment Congress in History: Here's the Record | Common Dreams
"Why are these conservative politicians so anxious to gut environmental laws and cripple US regulators? That's easy-- just follow the money. The people who gained the most from these votes, according to Markey and Waxman, were, you guessed it, the oil and gas industry."

10 Great Reasons to Kill Our Absurd Ban on Growing Hemp | Drugs | AlterNet

10 Great Reasons to Kill Our Absurd Ban on Growing Hemp | Drugs | AlterNet
"America's industrial ban on hemp is "a poster child for dumb regulation," argues lazy ass pothead! Wait, sorry, scratch that. Make that Senator Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, introducing an amendment last week to the densely contested 2012 Farm Bill, which is either a subsidies and sustainability savior or callous food austerity, depending on who you ask. But if you askWyden, "the best possible Farm Bill" is one that repeals a ban on industrial hemp the United States is already quite busy, and expensively, importing from the few feet it takes to cross the Canadian border."

America Could Have Dropped Big Oil Decades Ago -- What Happened? | Environment | AlterNet

America Could Have Dropped Big Oil Decades Ago -- What Happened? | Environment | AlterNet
"This story is not new. Today, solar energy is picking up momentum. But despite the current numbers and the recent raves, the solar saga, and that of renewable energy as a whole, has been going on for decades. It is a history of false starts and stutter steps."

Endangered Species Coalition

Endangered Species Coalition

Among the list is an amendment that would remove Endangered Species Act protections frompolar bears, Florida panthers, and any other species that only exists in a single state.

The Fukushima Gyre » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

The Fukushima Gyre » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
"Unfortunately, nuclear radiation is heading toward the West Coast from Fukushima, Japan. How safe are we? What can we do?"

'Shock Doctrine' in Action: Vital Freshwater Resources Under Attack by Privatization Capitalists | Water | AlterNet

'Shock Doctrine' in Action: Vital Freshwater Resources Under Attack by Privatization Capitalists | Water | AlterNet
"I don't consider this an environmentalist point of view; I'm just a human who is scared shitless of the future," says the director of the new film "Patagonia Rising."

Dark Ages Redux: American Politics and the End of the Enlightenment | Common Dreams

Dark Ages Redux: American Politics and the End of the Enlightenment | Common Dreams
"We are witnessing an epochal shift in our socio-political world.  We are de-evolving, hurtling headlong into a past that was defined by serfs and lords; by necromancy and superstition; by policies based on fiat, not facts."

BREAKING: Obama Would Veto Pro-Mercury Pollution Resolution

BREAKING: Obama Would Veto Pro-Mercury Pollution Resolution: The White House has threatened Congress with a possible veto if S.J. Res. 37 is presented to President Obama. Today, the Executive Office of the President released a statement disapproving of Sen. Inhofe’s (R-OK) bill that would prevent the EPA from limiting mercury and other air toxins from power plants. If S.J. Res. 37 is enacted, [...]/p

Air Watch

Major Design Flaws Uncovered at Calif. Nuclear Plant; Watchdog Groups Petition for Closure | Common Dreams

Major Design Flaws Uncovered at Calif. Nuclear Plant; Watchdog Groups Petition for Closure | Common Dreams
"On Sunday, Federal investigators reavealed the findings of a months long investigation into a radiation leak discovered at California's San Onofre nuclear power plant in January. Officials maintain that major design flaws in new equipment were the leading cause of the malfunction. Nuclear Watchdog groups are now calling on officials to keep the reactors shut down."

Kaiser Permanente: Climate Change ‘Will Impact Our Ability To Provide Quality Health Care’

Kaiser Permanente: Climate Change ‘Will Impact Our Ability To Provide Quality Health Care’: One of America’s largest health care companies is warning that climate change will worsen public health problems and make it more difficult to provide services. Kaiser Permanente is the biggest non-profit health care company in the U.S., serving more than 9 million people with an operating revenue of $44 billion. Speaking to Andrew Winston of [...]/p

Suzuki: 'Absurd' to Let Corporations Profit in Name of 'Saving Planet' | Common Dreams

Suzuki: 'Absurd' to Let Corporations Profit in Name of 'Saving Planet' | Common Dreams
"Allowing economic forces to be a role player in saving the environment is “absurd,” says Canada’s most prominent environmentalist."

10 Things You Should Know About the Rio 20 Earth Summit | Common Dreams

10 Things You Should Know About the Rio 20 Earth Summit | Common Dreams
"he Rio Earth Summit is presenting us with a false choice between environmental protection through private profit on the one hand and state-sponsored green growth on the other. What we really need is a multilateral process that supports local living economies, and public institutions to democratically manage the commons."

'Heat is On' Is Front & Center on Rachel Maddow Show | Climate Central

'Heat is On' Is Front & Center on Rachel Maddow Show | Climate Central
"the facts, the actual temperature records, as Klein notes, which is what makes the map so compelling. Some states — Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Texas among others — are warming far faster than most states, but even so, warming has accelerated in every state since 1970, with the pace jumping to more than three times the rate of heating over the past century."

Paul Gilding: The Earth is full

Power Plant Mercury Emissions Poisoning the Great Lakes

Power Plant Mercury Emissions Poisoning the Great Lakes: by Thom Cmar, via NRDC’s Switchboard This week we released a report, Poisoning the Great Lakes: Mercury Emissions from Coal Fired Power Plants in the Great Lakes Region, which highlights the impacts of mercury emissions from Great Lakes power plants on the people, fish, birds, and wildlife of our region.  EPA recently issued new nationwide Mercury [...]/p

Must-Read: Scientists Uncover Evidence Of Impending Tipping Point For Earth

Must-Read: Scientists Uncover Evidence Of Impending Tipping Point For Earth: JR: If we stay anywhere near our current greenhouse gas emissions path, we will cross many climate tipping points this century. There’s the nearby tipping point for an ice-free arctic, with all that means for making our weather much more extreme and for triggering another tipping point, the rapid loss of carbon from the permafrost. [...]/p

Public Understanding Of Climate Science Rebounds, 72% of Independents Say There Is ‘Solid Evidence’ Of Global Warming

Public Understanding Of Climate Science Rebounds, 72% of Independents Say There Is ‘Solid Evidence’ Of Global Warming: Brookings has released a new survey that confirms other recent polls: Public understanding of climate science is rebounding, and the recent record-smashing extreme weather events are playing a key role. As you can see, the biggest jump is from independents, demonstrating once again that global warming has become a major wedge issue. Many other recent [...]/p

Warning...End of the World as you Know it

Virginia Lawmaker Says ‘Sea Level Rise’ Is A ‘Left Wing Term,’ Excises It From State Report On Coastal Flooding

Virginia Lawmaker Says ‘Sea Level Rise’ Is A ‘Left Wing Term,’ Excises It From State Report On Coastal Flooding: Virginia’s legislature commissioned a $50,000 study to determine the impacts of climate change on the state’s shores. To greenlight the project, they omitted words like “climate change” and “sea level rise” from the study’s description itself. According to the House of Delegates sponsor of the study, these are “liberal code words,” even though they are [...]/p

Romney Energy Plan Includes Drilling ‘Virtually Every Part’ Of U.S., No Protections For National Parks

Romney Energy Plan Includes Drilling ‘Virtually Every Part’ Of U.S., No Protections For National Parks: By Jessica Goad Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is no stranger to attacks on the environment, as seen in his ads against clean energy jobs, his pledge to roll back fuel economy standards that protect public health and reduce carbon pollution, and the fact that he doesn’t know “the purpose of” public lands that belong [...]/p

Bill McKibben: Stand up to the Fossil Fuel Industry, or Start Growing Some Gills | Common Dreams

Bill McKibben: Stand up to the Fossil Fuel Industry, or Start Growing Some Gills | Common Dreams
"Bill reminded us that Exxon Mobil and the other big oil, coal and gas companies are by far the richest in the world.  Why should they be getting subsidies for doing business when those funds are sorely needed by citizens for basic services like education, health care and retirement?"

The Real Obscenity of Mountaintop Removal | Common Dreams

The Real Obscenity of Mountaintop Removal | Common Dreams
"Number of minutes award-winning mountaintop removal mining activist Maria Gunnoe of Boone County, W.Va. was questioned by U.S. Capitol Police over a photo she submitted to a congressional panel showing a five-year-old girl bathing in mine-polluted water: 45"

Hold that “Hot” Fukushima Sushi! » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Hold that “Hot” Fukushima Sushi! » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
"Radioactive tuna has been caught off the coast of California.  The fingerprint of cesium 137 is unmistakably from the exploded reactors at Fukushima."

Power Plant Mercury Emissions Poisoning the Great Lakes

Power Plant Mercury Emissions Poisoning the Great Lakes: by Thom Cmar, via NRDC’s Switchboard This week we released a report, Poisoning the Great Lakes: Mercury Emissions from Coal Fired Power Plants in the Great Lakes Region, which highlights the impacts of mercury emissions from Great Lakes power plants on the people, fish, birds, and wildlife of our region.  EPA recently issued new nationwide Mercury [...]/p

Killer Insect Virus Helping to Decimate World's Bee Population | Common Dreams

Killer Insect Virus Helping to Decimate World's Bee Population | Common Dreams
"A new study published in the journal Science has revealed that, in addition to the destruction of natural habitats and the widespread use of industrial chemical pesticides, the global bee die-off witnessed in recent years is also caused by a deadly virus carried by bloodsucking parasitic mites."

Earth Facing Imminent Environmental 'Tipping Point': Report | Common Dreams

Earth Facing Imminent Environmental 'Tipping Point': Report | Common Dreams
"Humankind is facing an imminent threat of extinction, according to new research released on Wednesday by the science journal Nature. The report Approaching a state shift in Earth’s biosphere reveals that our planet's biosphere is steadily approaching a 'tipping point', meaning all ecosystems are nearing sudden and irreversible change that will not be conducive to human life."

Global Cancer Rates To Increase 75 Percent By 2030

Global Cancer Rates To Increase 75 Percent By 2030: Cases of cancers worldwide are expected to rise by nearly 75 percent in 20 years, according to a study published Friday in the Lancet Oncology. Demographic and lifestyle factors, such as more people adopting a “western” diet higher in sugar, starch, and meat, are driving the increase. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) researchers [...]/p

Conservatives Attack Scientific Findings About Why They Hate Science (Helping to Confirm the Science) | Books | AlterNet

Conservatives Attack Scientific Findings About Why They Hate Science (Helping to Confirm the Science) | Books | AlterNet
Some would like to dismiss the inconvenient findings about the political right, but the science won’t let them.