Think Twice Next Time About Touching a Receipt with Your Bare Hands -- Your Unborn Child May Thank You for It | Alternet

Think Twice Next Time About Touching a Receipt with Your Bare Hands -- Your Unborn Child May Thank You for It | Alternet
"If you're looking to avoid further hormonal freakouts brought on by the hated Bisphenol A ( BPA) -- a frightening endocrine disruptor reportedly found in 96 percent of women but consumed more by their children, then you might want to clean out your wallet. Or perhaps forego shopping receipts altogether until you hear otherwise from conclusive scientific studies -- which could take many years to straggle in."

Bill McKibbon - Koch-funded study..."Global Warming Real!"

Koch brother-funded climate change skeptic has suddenly reversed course - and now proclaims that humans are "entirely the cause" of global climate change. Three years ago - this guy - physicist Richard Muller - was given $150,000 from the Koch brothers to co-found the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project to debunk climate change arguments. But on Sunday, after three years of intense research, Muller is biting the hand that feeds him by promoting genuine science and ringing the alarm bell that climate change is happening and humans are to blame. As Muller wrote on Sunday in the New York Times: "My total turnaround, in such a short time, is the result of careful and objective analysis... it appears likely that essentially all of this increase [in temperatures] results from the human emission of greenhouse gases." From unprecedented ice melting in Greenland - to unprecedented heat waves and droughts in America - to sudden die-offs of reefs and phytoplankton in the oceans - the world is changing rapidly. And even Koch-funded scientists can't deny it anymore. Unfortunately - it may now be too late. Centuries of hurling toxic greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere may have already pushed the world passed the climate change threshold. Meaning in the coming years, decades, centuries - our planet could be radically different than we are prepared to handle. For more on this - Bill McKibbon joins me - he's an environmental activist and founder of 350.org - as well as the author of the book: "Eaarth."

Wind power gives Romney Iowa problems

Wind power gives Romney Iowa problems
"This has nothing to do with any "level playing fields," obviously, and everything to do with fueling conservative hatred for all things green. Their defense of dirty energy doesn't usually cost them anything. In fact, it helps fill their campaign coffers. But for once, it looks to bite them in the ass."

Peaceful Protest Over Tar Sands Takes a Violent Turn in Burlington, Vt. | Common Dreams

Peaceful Protest Over Tar Sands Takes a Violent Turn in Burlington, Vt. | Common Dreams
"A Sunday tar sands protest in Burlington, Vermont turned violent when riot police shot protesters with pepper spray and rubber bullets."

Bombshell: Koch-Funded Study Finds ‘Global Warming Is Real’, ‘On The High End’ And ‘Essentially All’ Due To Carbon Pollution

Bombshell: Koch-Funded Study Finds ‘Global Warming Is Real’, ‘On The High End’ And ‘Essentially All’ Due To Carbon Pollution: “The decadal land-surface average temperature using a 10-year moving average of surface temperatures over land. Anomalies are relative to the Jan 1950 – December 1979 mean. The grey band indicates 95% statistical and spatial uncertainty interval.” A Koch-funded reanalysis of 1.6 billion temperature reports finds that “essentially all of this increase results from the human emission [...]/p

Contaminated Inquiry: Prof with Money Ties to Industry Led Fracking Study | Common Dreams

Contaminated Inquiry: Prof with Money Ties to Industry Led Fracking Study | Common Dreams
"A recent University of Texas study, which claims to prove that the natural gas extraction process known as fracking does not cause environmental damage or water contamination, was led by a gas industry insider who currently holds up to $1.6 million in stock at a large fracking company. The information was revealed in a new exposé released by the Public Accountability Initiative (PAI)."

Survey: "Climate Skeptics" More Likely to Embrace "Free Market" Ideology, Conspiracy Theories | Common Dreams

Survey: "Climate Skeptics" More Likely to Embrace "Free Market" Ideology, Conspiracy Theories | Common Dreams
"A new survey of so-called "climate skeptics" -- who reject the global scientific community's broad consensus that global warming and climate change are being driven by modern society's emission of greenhouse gasses -- concludes that individuals who hold such views are also much more likely to believe in outlandish conspiracy theories and hold favorable views of the "free market" theory of the economy."

Increase in Extreme Storms Causing 'Rapid Ozone Destruction' | Common Dreams

Increase in Extreme Storms Causing 'Rapid Ozone Destruction' | Common Dreams
'Extreme summer thunderstorms are likely causing accelerated damage to the ozone layer over the United States, as the frequency and strength of storms continue to increase, according to a study released Thursday by the journal Science at Harvard University."

Drought in US Intensifying to 'Historic Proportions' | Common Dreams

Drought in US Intensifying to 'Historic Proportions' | Common Dreams
"The drought in the U.S. is intensifying and shows little signs of abating, according the most recent Drought Monitor issued Thursday."

Labeling Genetically Engineered Foods: Whose Side Are You On? | Common Dreams

Labeling Genetically Engineered Foods: Whose Side Are You On? | Common Dreams
"This November, California voters will have an opportunity to vote on a simple, yet important ballot initiative called Prop 37 – the California Right to Know Act. If approved, it would require food sold in California supermarkets be clearly labeled if it has been genetically engineered"

The World is Closer to a Food Crisis Than Most People Realize | Common Dreams

The World is Closer to a Food Crisis Than Most People Realize | Common Dreams
"The world is in serious trouble on the food front. But there is little evidence that political leaders have yet grasped the magnitude of what is happening. The progress in reducing hunger in recent decades has been reversed. Unless we move quickly to adopt newpopulation, energy, and water policies, the goal of eradicating hunger will remain just that.

Time is running out. The world may be much closer to an unmanageable food shortage – replete with soaring food prices, spreading food unrest, and ultimately political instability– than most people realise."

Frightening News - Greenland's Ice Sheet

Top Two Oil Companies Earn $160,000 Per Minute, Paid Low Tax Rate

Top Two Oil Companies Earn $160,000 Per Minute, Paid Low Tax Rate: The top two corporations on the Fortune 500 Global ranking, Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil, announced their 2012 second-quarter earnings today, bringing the total profits for three Big Oil companies to $44 billion for 2012 or $250,000 every day this year. Exxon profited by $16 billion this quarter, bringing its earnings for 2012 to $25 [...]/p

'Not a Mistake': NASA in Disbelief over Rate of Melting Ice | Common Dreams

'Not a Mistake': NASA in Disbelief over Rate of Melting Ice | Common Dreams
"Scientists say there has been a freak event in Greenland this month: Nearly every part of the massive ice sheet that blankets the island suddenly started melting."

Air Pollution In London May Hurt Olympic Athletes, Says Leading Sports Medicine Doctor

Air Pollution In London May Hurt Olympic Athletes, Says Leading Sports Medicine Doctor: High concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in London could increase breathing problems among Olympic athletes, according to a leading sports medicine committee. According to Dr.  William S. Silvers of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), the air quality in London during the 2012 Olympic games — set to start in three days — [...]/p

Bucking The GOP Trend, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie Signs Bill To Strengthen The State’s Solar Industry

Bucking The GOP Trend, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie Signs Bill To Strengthen The State’s Solar Industry: When New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie ran for office in 2009, he campaigned very aggressively on his belief in the value of renewable energy. Yesterday, Christie backed up that belief by signing a bill into law that will help expand and stabilize New Jersey’s robust solar industry. For Christie, expanding the solar industry was [...]/p

What Five Oil Companies Did With $375 Million Profits Per Day In 2011

What Five Oil Companies Did With $375 Million Profits Per Day In 2011: The Big Five oil companies – BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell – are slated to announce their 2012 second-quarter profits later this week. We can expect these companies, all of which rank in the top 10 of the “Fortune 500 Global Ranking,” to announce billions of dollars more in profits, after earning $375 million [...]/p

Global Warming's Terrifying New Math | Common Dreams

Global Warming's Terrifying New Math | Common Dreams
"If the pictures of those towering wildfires in Colorado haven't convinced you, or the size of your AC bill this summer, here are some hard numbers about climate change: June broke or tied 3,215 high-temperature records across the United States. That followed the warmest May on record for the Northern Hemisphere – the 327th consecutive month in which the temperature of the entire globe exceeded the 20th-century average, the odds of which occurring by simple chance were 3.7 x 10-99, a number considerably larger than the number of stars in the universe."

Why Do Gen Xers Care So Little About Climate Change? | Environment | AlterNet

Why Do Gen Xers Care So Little About Climate Change? | Environment | AlterNet
"Generation X may not be the stereotypical slackers of those '90s cult classic movies, but here's one issue they have trouble caring about: climate change."

Fukushima Report Blasts TEPCO's On-Going Failures | Common Dreams

Fukushima Report Blasts TEPCO's On-Going Failures | Common Dreams
"he operator of Japan's crippled nuclear power plant is still stumbling in its handling of the disaster 16 months later, by dragging its feet in investigations and trying to understate the true damage at the complex, investigators said Monday."

A Long Hot Summer | Common Dreams

A Long Hot Summer | Common Dreams
"It's turning into a hot climate summer in two ways, only one of which you can measure with a thermometer."

Massive Iceberg 'Twice the Size of Manhattan' Breaks Off Greenland | Common Dreams

Massive Iceberg 'Twice the Size of Manhattan' Breaks Off Greenland | Common Dreams
"A massive iceberg twice the size of Manhattan has broken off one of Greenland's major glaciers -- a development which scientists say is due to alarming warming in the region."

Geoengineers to Start Volcano-Inspired Experiment in Risky Climate Manipulation | Common Dreams

Geoengineers to Start Volcano-Inspired Experiment in Risky Climate Manipulation | Common Dreams
"Two investigators are continuing down the risky path of geoengineering by readying a field experiment involving spraying chemicals into the atmosphere that would theoretically bounce sunlight back into the air to cool the Earth, the Guardian reports. But risks of geoengineering are high, and pinning hopes on a technological fix to climate change may thwart greenhouse gas reduction efforts while doing nothing to change the paradigm that created climate change."

Top Romney Surrogate: Investing In Green Energy Is Turning America Into The Soviet Union

Top Romney Surrogate: Investing In Green Energy Is Turning America Into The Soviet Union: Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (R), a Mitt Romney campaign surrogate, compared the government’s investment in failed energy company Solyndra to the Soviet Union and Cuba, during an appearance on CNN’s Starting Point this Tuesday. “President Obama simply doesn’t understand that it’s the free enterprise systems, the private sector, the productive sector, not the government sector [...]/p

US Drought Disaster Worst In Over 50 Years | Common Dreams

US Drought Disaster Worst In Over 50 Years | Common Dreams
"he 2012 drought disaster is now the largest in over 50 years, and among the ten largest of the past century, according to a new report released by the National Climatic Data Center today.

The current drought actually covers more area than the famous 1936 drought, though other droughts in the Dust Bowl years – particularly the extreme drought of 1934 – still rank higher."

Low Water Levels On The Mississippi River A Major Threat To Commerce: ‘This Is Absolutely Not Normal’

Low Water Levels On The Mississippi River A Major Threat To Commerce: ‘This Is Absolutely Not Normal’: Companies operating along the Mississippi River are seeing a drastic cut in business as severe drought lowers water levels and makes shipping increasingly difficult. The drought, which now covers more than 1,000 counties across the US, has dropped water levels 50 feet below last year’s levels in some places. Last winter’s lack of snow, the [...]/p

Interview: Author William deBuys On Climate Change In The Southwest

Interview: Author William deBuys On Climate Change In The Southwest: By Ari Phillips William deBuys is the author of seven books, including most recently “A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest,” for which I wrote a Dot Earth book review last month. As part of my summer reporting project on energy and climate change in the Southwest, I had the [...]/p

Shell Loses Control Of Arctic Drilling Rig In Alaskan Harbor | Common Dreams

Shell Loses Control Of Arctic Drilling Rig In Alaskan Harbor | Common Dreams
"Royal Dutch Shell’s preparedness to drill offshore in the harsh and remote Arctic Ocean this summer has been called into question by a series of recent events."

On Fracking and Irony | Common Dreams

On Fracking and Irony | Common Dreams
"Ohio residents are blocking access to an injection well in Trumbull County - with at least one activist chained to the gate - to protest the failure of Ohio regulators to test toxic fracking wastewater after a spill at one of the state's other 170 wells."

Mitt Romney Supports An End To Wind Tax Credit, Which Could ‘Mean The Loss Of Several Thousand Jobs’

Mitt Romney Supports An End To Wind Tax Credit, Which Could ‘Mean The Loss Of Several Thousand Jobs’: Staffers for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign say the candidate wants to end the wind production tax credit. That federal credit has allowed the wind industry to compete with heavily-subsidized fossil fuels that do considerable harm to the environment and public health — impacts that are not reflected in their price. The production tax credit provides [...]/p

Record Amount of Arctic Sea Ice Melted in June, Plus Amazing Video Of Greenland Ice Melt

Record Amount of Arctic Sea Ice Melted in June, Plus Amazing Video Of Greenland Ice Melt: Andrew Freedman, via Climate Central The Arctic melt season is well underway, and sea ice extent — a key indicator of global warming — declined rapidly during June, setting a record for the largest June sea ice loss in the satellite era. Sea ice extent is currently running just below the level seen at the same [...]/p

Pfizer Refuses To Pull Funding From Anti-Science Front Group, Says $45,000 Grant To Heartland Is ‘Best For Shareholders’

Pfizer Refuses To Pull Funding From Anti-Science Front Group, Says $45,000 Grant To Heartland Is ‘Best For Shareholders’: After Pfizer Contribution, Heartland Continues Attacks On Climate Science And Tobacco Risks By Brad Johnson, campaign manager of Forecast the Facts Despite rising pressure from scientists and doctors, top Pfizer executives defended their affiliation with the Heartland Institute, brushing aside concerns that the group mocks the risks of tobacco smoking and vilifies climate scientists. In [...]/p

Leaked Docs Reveal 'Off the Charts' Damage at US Nuke Plant | Common Dreams

Leaked Docs Reveal 'Off the Charts' Damage at US Nuke Plant | Common Dreams
"Problems with the steam generators and miles of tubing at the San Onofre nuclear plant are the most severe found in comparable generators in the US and much more severe than previously reported, according to a new report."

The Biggest Threats We Face From Conservative Religion | Belief | AlterNet

The Biggest Threats We Face From Conservative Religion | Belief | AlterNet
"These views impact all the rest of us who must share the planet with these people. We all live on this world together, and we're all connected by what happens to it. Sulfur emitted into the air in one country causes acid rain in another; fertilizer dumped into a river upstream causes toxic algae blooms downstream; carbon emitted by the United States causes melting glaciers in Asia and Africa and global warming in the Arctic. We can't solve the problem of environmental degradation in one place without solving it everywhere. Yet Christian fundamentalists such as MacArthur shrug off these efforts because they consider the planet "disposable," and they're willing to make that decision on behalf of all of us -- and let future generations suffer the consequences if they turn out to be wrong."

GOP Doubles Down On ‘Pants On Fire’ Claims About Clean Energy That Fact Checkers Call ‘Ridiculous’

GOP Doubles Down On ‘Pants On Fire’ Claims About Clean Energy That Fact Checkers Call ‘Ridiculous’: Once again, the clean energy industry is collateral damage in an election year war of words. After being repeatedly called out by fact-checkers for straight-up lying in political ads attacking clean energy jobs, the GOP is doubling down on claims about the stimulus package that the Washington Post has called “ridiculous.” The Republican National Committee [...]/p

Drought Covers One-Third Of U.S. Counties, The Largest Agricultural Disaster Area Ever Declared

Drought Covers One-Third Of U.S. Counties, The Largest Agricultural Disaster Area Ever Declared: The U.S. Agriculture Department has issued a natural disaster declaration for more than 1,000 U.S. counties facing severe drought. This disaster declaration is the largest ever from the Agriculture Department and includes one-third of counties and spans 26 states. Some 53 percent of the Midwest is facing moderate or severe drought, but areas beyond the [...]/p

A Grand Threat: Outdated Environmental Studies Used to Bring Uranium Mining to Grand Canyon

The Republican Fight for Dirtier Air | Common Dreams

The Republican Fight for Dirtier Air | Common Dreams
"Some of the main beneficiaries of weaker laws are the oil, gas and coal industries, which spend millions each year lobbying legislators and government officials. According to data published by the Center For Responsible Politics, House Republicans received more than four times the campaign contributions as Democrats from these industry groups.

Now there is a new fight in the offing over EPA rules announced earlier this month which would tighten restrictions on soot, tiny particles which are a risk factor in a variety of diseases including heart attack, lung cancer, stroke and asthma."

Odds That The Record Heat Was a Fluke: 1 in 1.6 Million | AlterNet

Odds That The Record Heat Was a Fluke: 1 in 1.6 Million | AlterNet
"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released its chart-filled “State of the Climate Global Analysis” for June 2012:"

We're Already Topping Dust Bowl Temperatures -- Imagine What'll Happen if We Fail to Stop 10°F Warming | | AlterNet

We're Already Topping Dust Bowl Temperatures -- Imagine What'll Happen if We Fail to Stop 10°F Warming | | AlterNet
"The Earth has warmed only a bit more than 1°F since the catastrophic Dust Bowl, and we are poised to warm an astounding 9-11°F this century."

Canadian Scientists 'Mourn Death of Evidence' under Harper Government | Common Dreams

Canadian Scientists 'Mourn Death of Evidence' under Harper Government | Common Dreams
"A funeral procession of scientists wearing white lab coats and mourners dressed in black will take to the streets of Ottawa today to "mourn the death of Evidence" and protest what they see as an attack on environmental science by the Harper government."

US Has Warmest Year-to-Date As Drought Expands | Common Dreams

US Has Warmest Year-to-Date As Drought Expands | Common Dreams
"The U.S. just recorded the warmest first half-year on record, according to statistics released Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The national temperature of 52.9°F was 4.5°F above the 20th century average for the January-June period. Most of the contiguous U.S. was record and near-record warm for the six-month period."

Investigation: As Black Lung Cases Doubled In The Last Decade, The Coal Industry Fought New Health Protections

Investigation: As Black Lung Cases Doubled In The Last Decade, The Coal Industry Fought New Health Protections: In the last ten years, as cases of black lung among American coal miners doubled — hitting “epidemic” scale — the coal industry and anti-regulatory politicians have fought to prevent federal agencies from creating new standards that would improve miner safety. That’s according to an investigation from National Public Radio, The Center for Public Integrity, [...]/p

Rate of Climate Change's 'Evil Twin' Has Scientists Worried | Common Dreams

Rate of Climate Change's 'Evil Twin' Has Scientists Worried | Common Dreams
"Climate change's "evil twin" -- ocean acidification -- has been increasing at a rate unexpected by scientists, says Dr. Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)."

Climate Change: ‘This Is Just the Beginning’ | | AlterNet

Climate Change: ‘This Is Just the Beginning’ | | AlterNet
"If our news media continue to ignore the essential link between extreme weather and climate change, then we may not act in time to avert even greater catastrophe."

Public Lands, Private Profits

'Staggering': 4,500 Heat Records and Counting | Common Dreams

'Staggering': 4,500 Heat Records and Counting | Common Dreams
"A heatwave that began weeks ago in the western Rockies before spreading to the midwest with sweltering temperatures and monstrous thunderstorms, has continued eastward leaving records highs, loss of life, and intense weather events all along the way. Heat records have been smashed in over 4,500 locations, and with Saturday temperatures showing no relief, that number is expected  to grow."

Farmers Continue Fight Against Monsanto | Common Dreams

Farmers Continue Fight Against Monsanto | Common Dreams
"Organic farmers' fight against Monsanto continues as they filed an appeal against the agricultural giant on Thursday hoping to reverse a February decision dismissing their protective legal action against the company."

Top U.S. Science Official: ‘Climate Change Is Underway…It’s Having Consequences In Real Time’

Top U.S. Science Official: ‘Climate Change Is Underway…It’s Having Consequences In Real Time’: One of America’s top science officials says the current onslaught of extreme weather in the U.S. is raising awareness of climate change among Americans. Speaking at a university forum today in Australia, Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Americans are increasingly connecting the dots between climate change and the severe [...]/p

'Shut Down San Onofre': The New Front Line in the Fight Against Nuclear Power | Common Dreams

'Shut Down San Onofre': The New Front Line in the Fight Against Nuclear Power | Common Dreams
"Not long after the meltdown at Fukushima, workers at the San Onofre nuclear power plant, north of San Diego, discovered radioactive steam leaking into the air. Hundreds of steam tubes had been banging together and vibrating, investigators said, until one of them sprung a leak. And the tubes had been installed less than two years ago."

New Film Hammers Democrat Andrew Cuomo's Plan to Frack New York | Common Dreams

New Film Hammers Democrat Andrew Cuomo's Plan to Frack New York | Common Dreams
"Gasland director Josh Fox released a short film last month targeting the Democratic governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, for his plan to open economically distressed parts of the state to hydraulic fracturing or "fracking"."

New Dust Bowl? | Common Dreams

New Dust Bowl? | Common Dreams
"As record temperatures and drought leave corn fields parched in the Midwest, some farmers fear a new Dust Bowl is lurking, the New York Times reports."

June Heat Wave Broke 3,215 Temperature Records

June Heat Wave Broke 3,215 Temperature Records: A scorching heat wave has fueled a rare derecho leaving millions without power, destructive wildfires, and thousands of record-setting temperatures. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administartion reports 3,215 temperature records set or matched in June, with more than 2,100 of those records occurring in one week, between June 25 to July 1. Five states saw [...]/p

New Report on the Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods | Common Dreams

New Report on the Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods | Common Dreams
"These questions are posed by Earth Open Source, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to assuring the sustainability, security, and safety of the global food system. They answer their own questions in a new study “GMO Myths and Truths.” The myth, they say, is that GM foods have been proven safe. The truth is that there are hidden dangers which corporate-funded research has not yet adequately investigated."

Why the media is not reporting the truth on Fukushima?

Climate Scientists Warned Us - Freak Weather & Rising Sea Levels

As Drought Hits Key Crops, Fears of Food Crisis Loom | Common Dreams

As Drought Hits Key Crops, Fears of Food Crisis Loom | Common Dreams
"Fears of a continued heatwave and drought across the US midwest -- which many scientists credit to climate change associated with global warming -- are leading analysts to predict lower yields of corn, soybean, and wheat in the nation's agricultural belt this growing season."

Sizzling Heat, Storms, Wildfires: 'This Is Just the Beginning' | Common Dreams

Sizzling Heat, Storms, Wildfires: 'This Is Just the Beginning' | Common Dreams
""This is just the beginning," warns Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the Weather Underground, of what life with the impacts of climate change will look like. His message follows a week in which 2000 heat records were matched or broken and the month of June in which over 3200 heat records were matched or broken."

Factory-Fed Fish: Monsanto and Cargill's Plan for the Ocean | Common Dreams

Factory-Fed Fish: Monsanto and Cargill's Plan for the Ocean | Common Dreams
"Agribusiness behemoths including Monsanto and Cargill are set to cash in big from industrial fish farming or “aquaculture” as the soy industry spreads its reign to the seas, a new report from environmental and consumer watchdogs shows."

Sea Level Rise Unstoppable, say Scientists | Common Dreams

Sea Level Rise Unstoppable, say Scientists | Common Dreams
"Even if nations across the globe can agree on effective schemes to mitigate their carbon emissions in significant ways the world's ocean levels will continue to rise far into the future, according to a new scientific study released on Sunday."

It's No Longer Enough to Regulate Corporate Greed: The Global Water Crisis Demands a Paradigm Shift | Water | AlterNet

It's No Longer Enough to Regulate Corporate Greed: The Global Water Crisis Demands a Paradigm Shift | Water | AlterNet
"When it comes to water, the corporate green economy is about using the environmental crisis to further entrench corporate rights and access to scarce water resources."