EU Vote Allows 'Disastrous Chemical Armageddon' on Bees to Continue | Common Dreams

EU Vote Allows 'Disastrous Chemical Armageddon' on Bees to Continue | Common Dreams
"The "disastrous chemical armageddon on bees" is going to continue, according to one campaigner, after the European Union failed to reach a decision on Friday on the ban of three widely used insecticides linked to the decline of the pollinators."

How Arctic Ice Loss Amplified Superstorm Sandy — Oceanography Journal

How Arctic Ice Loss Amplified Superstorm Sandy — Oceanography Journal: We’ve written extensively about how global warming worsened the impact of Superstorm Sandy. Now a new article, “Superstorm Sandy: A Series of Unfortunate Events?” (PDF here) connects the dots even more explicitly: Cornell and Rutgers researchers report in the March issue of Oceanography that the severe loss of summertime Arctic sea ice — attributed to [...]/p

Superheated American City Dealing with 110 Degrees for 33 Days -- Phoenix Confronts Apocalyptic Climate Change | Alternet

Superheated American City Dealing with 110 Degrees for 33 Days -- Phoenix Confronts Apocalyptic Climate Change | Alternet
"Horrific heat, droughts, windstorms, water shortages and forest fires will plague nation's 13th largest city."

Pesticides for GMOs Driving Monarch Butterfly Populations to 'Ominous' Brink | Common Dreams

Pesticides for GMOs Driving Monarch Butterfly Populations to 'Ominous' Brink | Common Dreams
"Like bees, butterflies provide essential pollinating functions for entire ecosystems."The fruits, nuts, seeds and foliage that everything else feeds on," said Taylor. "If we pull the monarchs out of the system, we're really pulling the rug out from under a whole lot of other species"."

Why Climate Change Matters: A Three-Minute Analogy

Good And Green Reasons To Buy An Electric Car This Year

Good And Green Reasons To Buy An Electric Car This Year: By Felix Kramer and Max Baumhefner, via Switchboard When it comes to consumer products, environmentalists generally don’t encourage people to buy new and buy now. But that’s what we’re about to do because electric cars are significantly cleaner than gasoline vehicles, and driving one can save you serious cash at the pump. Perhaps you’ve already [...]/p

Doomed: Phoenix Arizona Sits Squarely in Climate Change Crosshairs | Alternet

Doomed: Phoenix Arizona Sits Squarely in Climate Change Crosshairs | Alternet
"Phoenix’s pyramid of complexities looks shakier than most because it stands squarely in the crosshairs of climate change. The area, like  much of the rest of the American Southwest, is already hot and dry; it’s getting ever hotter and drier, and is increasingly battered by powerful storms. Sandy and Katrina previewed how coastal cities can expect to fare as seas rise and storms strengthen. Phoenix pulls back the curtain on the future of inland empires. If you want a taste of the brutal new climate to come, the place to look is where that climate is already harsh, and growing more so -- the aptly named Valley of the Sun."

Gag Order: Town Board Decides Community Can No Longer Discuss Fracking at Town Meetings | Alternet

Gag Order: Town Board Decides Community Can No Longer Discuss Fracking at Town Meetings | Alternet
"Still, I had never heard of a town that actually imposed a gag order on its own citizens, until the Natural Resources Defense Council (which publishes OnEarth) received complaints about a town board in Sanford, New York (population: 2,400), that told its residents they could no longer bring up concerns about fracking at town meetings."

Wave of "Ag Gag" Bills Threaten Food Safety and Freedom of the Press

Wave of "Ag Gag" Bills Threaten Food Safety and Freedom of the Press
"In its original form, the "ag gag" bill was a blatant violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression and would have quashed the right of independent investigators to document the truth. So legislators in Iowa and Utah changed the bills to make lying on employment applications a crime. Now factory farms and slaughterhouses can screen out reporters and other investigators by asking on job applications, "Are you affiliated with a news organization, labor union, or animal protection group"?"

'Funeral for our Future' Keystone XL Pipeline Protest

'Funeral for our Future' Keystone XL Pipeline Protest
"Here's some new video footage of the protest at TransCanada's Massachusetts office"

Healthy Kids Need Time in Nature | Common Dreams

Healthy Kids Need Time in Nature | Common Dreams
"It will take public education and awareness-building as well as changes to the way we build cities and live in our communities to bring nature back into our lives. Connecting kids to nature every day needs to be a priority policy objective in any strategy for healthy children and could easily have been integrated into the recommendations from the Ontario Healthy Kids Panel. Taking our kids by the hand and spending time outside with them will have the added benefit of making us healthier and happier adults."

New-And-Improved Biofuels: Report Predicts Cost-Competitive Cellulosic Ethanol By 2016

New-And-Improved Biofuels: Report Predicts Cost-Competitive Cellulosic Ethanol By 2016: Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from grass, wood chips, and other feedstocks that don’t double as food. So unlike traditional corn-based ethanol, it promises to avoid encroaching upon and destabilizing human food supplies — assuming it can become commercially viable. And according to a survey by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), that time may [...]/p

Republican Reversal On Science, Energy, Puts US At Disadvantage

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As CO2 Emissions Rise, So Will Pollen Counts And Asthma Attacks

As CO2 Emissions Rise, So Will Pollen Counts And Asthma Attacks: Climate change could cause pollen counts to more than double over the next 30 years, according to an ongoing Rutgers University study. The research, presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology conference in November, tested how allergenic plants respond to conditions that mimic those of a warming world, including changing weather patterns [...]/p

Top Navy Brass on Biggest Threat in Pacific: Climate Change, Not North Korea | Common Dreams

Top Navy Brass on Biggest Threat in Pacific: Climate Change, Not North Korea | Common Dreams
"America’s top military officer in charge of monitoring the Pacific region—which currently includes threats of a preemptive strike from North Korea and heightened tensions between Japan and neighboring China—believes the number one threat to stability in the region is climate change."

The Conquest of Nature And What We’ve Lost | Common Dreams

The Conquest of Nature And What We’ve Lost | Common Dreams
"The environmental casualty reports filed from the four corners of the earth over the last two hundred years don’t leave much ground for argument on Montaigne’s question as to who is the beast and who is the man. Whether attempted by men armed with test tubes or bulldozers, the conquest of nature is a fool’s errand. However it so happens that the beasts manage to live not only at ease within the great chain of being but also in concert with the tides and the season and the presence of death, it is the great lesson they teach to humanity. Either we learn it, or we go the way of the great auk."

Nuclear Energy: Technological Insanity

Paul Ryan Budget Contemplates Selling Off ‘Millions Of Acres’ Of Public Land

Paul Ryan Budget Contemplates Selling Off ‘Millions Of Acres’ Of Public Land: This morning House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) offered his fiscal year 2014 budget, which the Wall Street Journal called “almost identical” to the Romney-Ryan presidential platform last year.  In addition to cutting taxes for the rich and preserving tax breaks for Big Oil, the budget offers an extreme and flawed view of public [...]/p

Hot Water, a new documentary exposing the long-term devastation wrought by uranium mining and the nuclear industry

EU Bans Sale of Cosmetics Tested on Animals | Common Dreams

EU Bans Sale of Cosmetics Tested on Animals | Common Dreams
"A ban on the sale of cosmetics tested on animals takes effect in the European Union on Monday."

We Must Make the Whole Planet a 'Nuclear Free Zone' | Common Dreams

We Must Make the Whole Planet a 'Nuclear Free Zone' | Common Dreams
"With the second anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster this week, with North Korea having just threatened a “pre-emptive nuclear attack” against the United States and a U.S. senator saying this would result in “suicide” for North Korea, with Iran suspected of moving to build nuclear weapons, with the continuing spread of nuclear technology globally, the future looks precarious as to humankind and the atom.

Can humanity at this rate make it through the 21^st Century?"

Official: 'Catastrophic Threat' of Antibiotic-Resistant 'Superbugs' | Common Dreams

Official: 'Catastrophic Threat' of Antibiotic-Resistant 'Superbugs' | Common Dreams
"Antibiotic resistant "superbugs" pose a "catastrophic threat" as untreatable infections may prove lethal, Britain's top health official warned in a new report published Monday."

State Efforts To ‘Reclaim’ Our Public Lands Traced To Koch-Fueled ALEC

State Efforts To ‘Reclaim’ Our Public Lands Traced To Koch-Fueled ALEC: By Jessica Goad and Tom Kenworthy via CAP Despite the many problems that states and municipalities face today—from budget shortfalls to unemployment—seven western states have decided to embark on unconstitutional and quixotic battles attempting to force the federal government to turn millions of acres of public lands over to the states. Doing so, however, would [...]/p

'Funeral for Our Future': Protesters Blockade Transcada's Offices to Oppose Keystone XL | Common Dreams

'Funeral for Our Future': Protesters Blockade Transcada's Offices to Oppose Keystone XL | Common Dreams
"Climate activists in Westborough, Massachusetts were being arrested on Monday after blockading the entrance to corporate offices of the TransCanada corporation, the Canandian tar sands pipeline company hoping to receive approval for its controversial Keystone XL project."

U.S. Pacific Commander: Climate Change Greatest Threat In Region

U.S. Pacific Commander: Climate Change Greatest Threat In Region: Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, gave a striking answer when asked about the greatest threat the region faces: climate change. Locklear spoke to the Boston Globe on the topic after spending two days in the Boston-area talking to scholars and foreign policy experts on the situation in the Pacific. [...]/p

The Inevitable 2014 Headline: ‘Global CO2 Level Reaches 400 PPM For First Time In Human Existence.’

The Inevitable 2014 Headline: ‘Global CO2 Level Reaches 400 PPM For First Time In Human Existence.’: By Peter Gleick, via Science Blogs Sometime, about one year from now, the front pages of whatever decent newspapers are left will carry a headline like the one above, announcing that for the first time in human existence (or in nearly a million years, or 3 million years, or 15 million years), the global atmospheric [...]/p

Fukushima's Fallout Is Already Harming Our Children | Common Dreams

Fukushima's Fallout Is Already Harming Our Children | Common Dreams
"Fukushima's airborne fallout came to our west coast within a week of the catastrophe.  It's a virtual certainty American children are being affected.  As health researcher Joe Mangano puts it:  "Reports of rising numbers of West Coast infants with under-active thyroid glands after Fukushima suggest that Americans may have been harmed by Fukushima fallout.  Studies, especially of the youngest, must proceed immediately"."

Oil Company Lawsuit May Set Dangerous Precedent For Local Government

Oil Company Lawsuit May Set Dangerous Precedent For Local Government
"San Luis Obispo County's Huasna Valley is one of the most beautiful open space areas along the California coast. As a native Californian who has passed through it many times, I can recall times where the landscape was awash in California poppies and winters where it was green and lush, dotted with winter-barren trees. It's home to hawks and deer, with patches of coastal vineyards criss-crossing the landscape."

Bombshell: Recent Warming Is ‘Amazing And Atypical’ And Poised To Destroy Stable Climate That Enabled Civilization

Bombshell: Recent Warming Is ‘Amazing And Atypical’ And Poised To Destroy Stable Climate That Enabled Civilization: New Science Study Confirms ‘Hockey Stick’: The Rate Of Warming Since 1900 Is 50 Times Greater Than The Rate Of Cooling In Previous 5000 Years Temperature change over past 11,300 years (in blue, via Science, 2013) plus projected warming this century on humanity’s current emissions path (in red, via recent literature). A stable climate enabled the development [...]/p

Across US, Health Concerns Vie with Fracking Profits | Common Dreams

Across US, Health Concerns Vie with Fracking Profits | Common Dreams
"Formally termed “high pressure hydraulic fracturing”, fracking is a method used to capture natural gas from shale rocks. It requires horizontal drilling deep beneath the earth’s surface, then pressurising fluid to fracture shale rocks, which allows natural gas to escape.

According to the letter, health risks associated with fracking include hazardous air pollutants; improper disposal of radioactive wastewater; and climate-altering methane emissions."

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Sets the Record Straight on Climate Change

Fox And Friends: Polar Bears Prove Climate Change Is ‘Not Really Real’

Fox And Friends: Polar Bears Prove Climate Change Is ‘Not Really Real’: Polar bears can’t catch a break anywhere, least of all Fox News. On Fox and Friends this morning, Fox Legal Analyst Peter Johnson Jr. was asked about last week’s ruling by the D.C. Circuit to uphold the decision to protect polar bears as a “threatened” species. He made the case that environmentalists use polar bears [...]/p

Climate Catastrophe - Closer Than We Think

NY Assembly Passes Two Year Fracking Moratorium, Senate Hoped to Follow | Common Dreams

NY Assembly Passes Two Year Fracking Moratorium, Senate Hoped to Follow | Common Dreams
"In a roll call vote of 95-40, the New York State Assembly has passed a two-year moratoriumon hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), the toxic horizontal drilling process through which oil and gas is procured that's found within shale rock basins across the country and the world."

Visions of the Arctic

Big One-Year Jump In Atmospheric CO2 Brings Climate Catastrophe Closer

Big One-Year Jump In Atmospheric CO2 Brings Climate Catastrophe Closer: The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere underwent one of its biggest single-year jumps ever in 2012, according to researchers at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. Between the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2013, carbon dioxide levels increased by 2.67 parts per million — a rise topped only by the spike in [...]/p

US Climate Bomb is Ticking: What the Gas Industry Doesn't Want You to Know

US Climate Bomb is Ticking: What the Gas Industry Doesn't Want You to Know
"There is another climate bomb in the United States, shale gas hydraulic fracking, which emits methane, more dangerous than CO2. While many rhetorically call natural gas a bridge to the clean energy future, new information is showing the opposite; natural gas will hasten climate change, poisons the air, land and water, and carries unacceptable risks to our health."

Clean Air, Safe Communities, and Good Jobs? It’s Ours If We Want It. | Common Dreams

Clean Air, Safe Communities, and Good Jobs? It’s Ours If We Want It. | Common Dreams
"The challenges our country faces have never been more daunting. With nearly 50 million Americans struggling just to get by, it’s time to take a different economic route.  And the way forward begins with finding common ground and a path that will benefit all of us—not just a few.
We can do it by investing in clean energy innovation, green infrastructure, and community resilience. We can stand up to big polluters—and stand up for our vulnerable neighbors. Together, we can restore American leadership and create a healthier, brighter, more prosperous future for all of our children and grandchildren."

Third Maine Town Passes 'No Tar Sands' Resolution to Fight Pipeline | Common Dreams

Third Maine Town Passes 'No Tar Sands' Resolution to Fight Pipeline | Common Dreams
"The small town of Waterford, Maine over the weekend became the third town in the state to pass a resolution declaring opposition to a plan aimed at bringing Canadian tar sands oil through an existing oil pipeline running from Montreal to the New England coast."

With Climate Change, a Bad Deal Gets Even Worse for the Global South | The Nation

With Climate Change, a Bad Deal Gets Even Worse for the Global South | The Nation
"On the heels of 40,000 people taking to the streets of DC in the largest climate change mobilization in US history, the pressure on President Obama is building to take decisive action to curb carbon emissions. However, what’s often missing from the US climate change movement are conversations about those people who are already most harmed by carbon emissions, and a historical understanding about how we got to this point. Along with Crystal Lameman (Beaver Lake Cree) and Ellen Dorsey, I was asked to give a keynote address at the Power Up! Divest Fossil Fuels: Student Convergence on February 23, 2013 at Swarthmore College. In my speech, I talked about why the climate justice movement would do well to also think about immigrant justice. The full transcript of my speech is below."

What it Means that Monsanto Holds the Patents on Life | Alternet

What it Means that Monsanto Holds the Patents on Life | Alternet
"The real issue is this: Why have we surrendered control over something so basic to human survival as seeds? Why have we bought into the biotech industry’s program, which pushes a few monoculture commodity crops, when history and science have proven that seed biodiversity is essential for growing crops capable of surviving severe climate conditions, such as drought and floods?"

Keystone: Exporting Canadian Oil Across America’s Backyard

Keystone: Exporting Canadian Oil Across America’s Backyard: Cross-posted from Huffington Post Given the relentless “all of the above” energy strategy pursued by the Obama Administration, the release this past Friday of a positive environmental impact report for the proposed Keystone oil pipeline was no big surprise. The U.S. State Department essentially declared that since the extra-dirty tar sands oil designated for the [...]/p

'Survival of Great Apes' Imperiled as 3,000 Lost to Illegal Trade Each Year | Common Dreams

'Survival of Great Apes' Imperiled as 3,000 Lost to Illegal Trade Each Year | Common Dreams
"Roughly 3,000 great apes are stolen, traded, or killed each year, according to a new report by the UN Environment Program, which warns that the vast disappearance of primates will do great harm to the forest ecosystems of Africa and South-east Asia."

"BP Stands for Bad People": Film Brings Heartbreaking Stories From Residents of the Louisiana Bayou

"BP Stands for Bad People": Film Brings Heartbreaking Stories From Residents of the Louisiana Bayou
"Dirty Energy is a powerful wake-up call, showcasing the dangers of offshore drilling, the lackadaisical response of the industry to potential environmental and health crises and the inevitable result of government pandering to corporate donors."

The Loophole That’s Letting Conservatives Manipulate Renewable Energy Standards

The Loophole That’s Letting Conservatives Manipulate Renewable Energy Standards: By Tiffany Germain and Matt Kasper As the Heartland Institute and the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, continue to target states’ renewable energy standard (RES) with their model legislation — the Electricity Freedom Act — conservative lawmakers are using other unethical tactics to weaken or repeal standards. Currently, at least five states — Connecticut, [...]/p

Enbridge Refuses to Pay for Onoing Damage Study of Michigan Tar Sands Disaster | Common Dreams

Enbridge Refuses to Pay for Onoing Damage Study of Michigan Tar Sands Disaster | Common Dreams
"Canadian pipeline company Enbridge Inc. is refusing to pay for an independent review designed to the ongoing environmental impacts caused by the nearly one million gallons of tar sands oil that spilled into Michigan's Kalamazoo River following a pipeline rupture in 2010."

Wenohah Hauter, Author of "Foodopoly," Discusses Why Corporate Control of America's Food System Affects YOU

Wenohah Hauter, Author of "Foodopoly," Discusses Why Corporate Control of America's Food System Affects YOU
"Since 2005, Food and Water Watch has lead the fight against corporate control of the U.S. food system, against the privatization of the U.S. water supply and against water contamination by hydraulic fracturing or fracking."

King Tides Offer California a Preview of Sea Level Rise (With Photo Slideshow) | Alternet

King Tides Offer California a Preview of Sea Level Rise (With Photo Slideshow) | Alternet
"Recent King Tides in the San Francisco Bay area gave a glimpse of what sea level rise could look like."

The Environmental Impact of the Sequester Cuts | Common Dreams

The Environmental Impact of the Sequester Cuts | Common Dreams
"Environmental programs within the United States – everything from wildlife refuges to clean air and water programs – have already been grossly underfunded for years, and the sequester cuts are only going to make things much, much worse for our environment."

Atmospheric Warming Altering Ocean Salinity And The Water Cycle

Atmospheric Warming Altering Ocean Salinity And The Water Cycle: Taking the opportunity I'm in the hospital to clear out some old unpublished posts -- JR.] Lawrence Livermore Lab News Release A clear change in salinity has been detected in the world’s oceans, signaling shifts and acceleration in the global rainfall and evaporation cycle tied directly to climate change. In a paper published … in [...]/p

Return of the Wild: Will Humans Make Way for the Greatest Conservation Experiment in Centuries? | Common Dreams

Return of the Wild: Will Humans Make Way for the Greatest Conservation Experiment in Centuries? | Common Dreams
"Making ecosystems whole. That is the aim of rewilding. The science is there: We now know that even parts of the East, once written off as untenable sites for reintroduction, are capable of supporting wolves and cougars. If given the opportunity, there is little doubt that they would continue to expand their range. The question is whether humans will allow for their return."

10 Stunning Things You Should Know About the Environmental Movement -- 'A Fierce Green Fire' Film Inspires | Alternet

10 Stunning Things You Should Know About the Environmental Movement -- 'A Fierce Green Fire' Film Inspires | Alternet
"With runaway global warming threatening to annihilate climate stability and perhaps life on Earth as we know it, there's no bigger issue on humanity's crowded docket and no better time to catch up on the history of the environmental movement. So let's give thanks that writer, producer and director Mark Kitchell's A Fierce Green Fire has arrived to exhaustively school us all. Especially since the Obama administration has gone long on rhetoric but short on activism, and practically begged to be pushed into action by the American people."

Kansas Legislature Rejects Koch-Backed Effort To Chip Away At Renewable Energy Standards

Kansas Legislature Rejects Koch-Backed Effort To Chip Away At Renewable Energy Standards: The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that twin votes in Kansas State House and Senate on Thursday put the kibosh on legislative efforts to roll back and delay Kansas’ renewable energy standard (RES). Passed in 2009, Kansas’ RES requires investor-owned utilities to generate 20 percent of peak demand electrical capacity from renewable sources by 2020. The American [...]/p

USDA Considers Reintroducing Horse Slaughter to US | Common Dreams

USDA Considers Reintroducing Horse Slaughter to US | Common Dreams
"Animal rights advocates are voicing outrage over attempts to push the US Department of Agriculture to expand the slaughtering of horses within the United States. "

State Dept. Releases Keystone XL Environmental Impact Statement | Common Dreams

State Dept. Releases Keystone XL Environmental Impact Statement | Common Dreams
"The US State Department on Friday afternoon released a newly updated draft of its Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which, if approved, would dramatically increase the extraction and transfer of Canadian tar sands oil to the Gulf coast."

Hanford Nuclear Waste is Leaking...on the way to the Columbia River

ALEC Sham Chemical Disclosure Model Tucked Into Illinois Fracking Bill | Common Dreams

ALEC Sham Chemical Disclosure Model Tucked Into Illinois Fracking Bill | Common Dreams
"Illinois is the next state on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)'s target list for putting the oil industry's interests ahead of the public interest. 98 percent funded by multinational corporations, ALEC is described by its critics as a "corporate bill mill" and a lobbyist-legislator dating service. It brings together corporate lobbyists and right wing politicians to vote up or down on "model bills" written by lobbyists in service to their corporate clientele behind closed doors at its annual meetings.
These "models" snake their way into statehouses nationwide as proposed legislation and quite often become the law of the land."