Wildlife, Livestock Drinking Fracking Fluids? EPA Says OK | Common Dreams

Wildlife, Livestock Drinking Fracking Fluids? EPA Says OK | Common Dreams
"From the depths of the earth, or from the surface of the land, Wyoming's water is under the assault of fracking."

Quebec's Lac-Mégantic Oil Train Disaster Not Just Tragedy, But Corporate Crime | Common Dreams

Quebec's Lac-Mégantic Oil Train Disaster Not Just Tragedy, But Corporate Crime | Common Dreams
"Five days after a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, the rural town resembles a scene of desolation. Its downtown is a charred sacrifice zone. 50 people are likely dead, making the train's toll one of the worst disasters in recent Canadian history."

Fracking Water Injection Could Trigger Major Earthquake, Say Scientists | Alternet

Fracking Water Injection Could Trigger Major Earthquake, Say Scientists | Alternet
"It is already known that pumping large quantities of water underground can induce minor earthquakes near to geothermal power generation and fracking sites. However, the new evidence reveals the potential for much larger earthquakes, of magnitude 4 or 5, related to the weakening of pre-existing undergrounds faults through increased fluid pressure."

New Infographic: The Anti-Science Climate Denier Caucus

New Infographic: The Anti-Science Climate Denier Caucus: Manmade climate change is happening. One would think that with hundreds of climate-related natural disasters declared since 2011, and 97 percent of climate scientists in agreement, elected officials would follow the evidence. But a shocking number — 55 percent — of congressional Republicans refuse to accept it. Most states have at least one representative who [...]/p

Fracking: Causes Water Pollution, Global Warming, and now... 'Earthquake Swarms' | Common Dreams

Fracking: Causes Water Pollution, Global Warming, and now... 'Earthquake Swarms' | Common Dreams
"It's not news that gas drilling causes small, localized tremors around fracking sites, but new research presented by one of the top seismology labs in the world on Thursday shows how "swarms of minor earthquakes"—as Reuters reports—can lead to subsequent and larger ones with much more dire consequences."

GOP ‘Climate Disconnect’ Would Sacrifice Climate Research for Weather Forecasting

GOP ‘Climate Disconnect’ Would Sacrifice Climate Research for Weather Forecasting: Amid a growing “climate disconnect” among House GOP members, as cited in a new report released yesterday by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), the Environment Subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee of Science, Space, and Technology proved true to form earlier this week. On Tuesday, in yet another example of partisan split on climate issues, [...]/p

Factory Farm Workers Are Carrying An Antibiotic-Resistant Pig Bacteria

Factory Farm Workers Are Carrying An Antibiotic-Resistant Pig Bacteria: Shortly before Americans fired up their grills for Independence Day, researchers announced that industrial farm workers have been contaminated with “pig MRSA,” an antibiotic resistant bacteria that is increasingly found in American hogs. According to a new study, workers at factory hog farms that use antibiotics are far more likely to contract the drug-resistant bacteria [...]/p

Fracking and Drinking Water Map: This Map Shows Where You Shouldn’t Drink Tap Water in the USA

Fracking and Drinking Water Map: This Map Shows Where You Shouldn’t Drink Tap Water in the USA: Fracking For Natural Gas is turning the beautiful america into a toxic hell!
On this map you can retrieve two types of information: the US rivers in blue and the fracking ...

It’s Time To Confirm Gina McCarthy

It’s Time To Confirm Gina McCarthy: Thursday, July 11 will mark 130 days since Gina McCarthy was nominated to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. It is the longest period in American history that an EPA Administrator has had to wait for confirmation. In fact, McCarthy’s wait eclipses the old record by nearly a month and a half. Thursday morning, on the [...]/p

Masked Semi-automatic Rifle-toting Paramilitary Unit Targets Environmental Protesters at Wisconsin Mining Site

Masked Semi-automatic Rifle-toting Paramilitary Unit Targets Environmental Protesters at Wisconsin Mining Site
"So what is happening in northern Wisconsin with mercenary personnel is not that different from what is happening to locals who see mines as contaminating their drinking water, polluting their environment, and despoiling their land in Latin America."

Republican Senator Admits He Is Blocking A New EPA Head Over A Pet Project

Republican Senator Admits He Is Blocking A New EPA Head Over A Pet Project: As the Senate’s Democratic majority prepares to meet Thursday to consider filibuster reform for presidential appointees, one Republican Senator is demonstrating precisely why the current system is broken. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), the vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, reaffirmed Tuesday that he will attempt to prevent allowing a confirmation vote on Gina McCarthy, [...]/p

If You Love Nature and Defend It Against Human Destruction, Be Prepared to Be Called a Fascist | Alternet

If You Love Nature and Defend It Against Human Destruction, Be Prepared to Be Called a Fascist | Alternet
"Those of us who defend the planet are increasingly subject to abuse. It is the price we pay for confronting the power of money"

Federal Judge Authorizes Chevron’s Sweeping Subpoena Of Activists’ Internet Data

Federal Judge Authorizes Chevron’s Sweeping Subpoena Of Activists’ Internet Data: It’s not just the NSA that’s collecting massive amounts of personal data with judicial approval. In a ruling publicized by EarthRights International, a federal judge in New York approved a subpoena by Chevron to obtain any documents Microsoft has related to the identity of 30 anonymous individuals allegedly of interest in the litigation, including every [...]/p

Pesticide Use Spikes as GMO Failure Cripples Corn Belt | Common Dreams

Pesticide Use Spikes as GMO Failure Cripples Corn Belt | Common Dreams
"Pesticide use is skyrocketing across the Midwestern U.S. corn belt, as biotech companies like Syngenta and AMVAC Chemical watch their pesticide sales spike 50 to 100 percent over the past two years, NPR reported Tuesday.
The culprit? Bt corn—a type of genetically engineered corn with insecticide built into its genes."

Oil and Blood in Lac-Mégantic | Common Dreams

Oil and Blood in Lac-Mégantic | Common Dreams
"Oil and gas flow throughout the Canadian economy like blood through the body, powering the industries which depend on those resources. The blood of oil is pumped through the body of the country by the veins of pipelines, shipping routes, railways and trucking routes.

Sometimes these veins tear, and the blood spills.

In the middle of the night on Friday in the eastern Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic, one such vein tore in the worst possible way."

Watch: Josh Fox’s Gasland II Premiers Tonight | Alternet

Watch: Josh Fox’s Gasland II Premiers Tonight | Alternet
"Josh Fox’s Gasland II premieres tonight on HBO. The much anticipated anti-fracking documentary continues to highlight the toll hydraulic fracturing takes on the environment. While Gasland may have started the conversation about fracking, the sequel is all about the natural gas industry’s effort to shut that conversation down."

Lac-Megantic: Ecological Tragedy Unfolds Amid Human Loss | Common Dreams

Lac-Megantic: Ecological Tragedy Unfolds Amid Human Loss | Common Dreams
"In addition to the human deathtoll from the disaster in the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec—which local officials say is almost sure to rise—fears over the ecological destruction caused by Saturday's oil train derailment and explosion are also beginning to emerge."

The Real Threat to Our Future is Peak Water | Common Dreams

The Real Threat to Our Future is Peak Water | Common Dreams
"Peak oil has generated headlines in recent years, but the real threat to our future is peak water. There are substitutes for oil, but not for water. We can produce food without oil, but not without water."

Pacific Ocean Floor Is a Huge Underwater Garbage Dump

Pacific Ocean Floor Is a Huge Underwater Garbage Dump
"The horrific report was produced using over 18,000 hours of footage from deep sea remotely-operated vehicles, over a period of 22 years; cameras examined the ocean floor as deep as 13,000 feet and found human-made garbage everywhere.

The Pacific Ocean, which for many carries connotations of beauty and romance, is in fact a huge underwater garbage dump."

CNBC Host Loses It: Climate Science Is A ‘Bona Fide Cult’

CNBC Host Loses It: Climate Science Is A ‘Bona Fide Cult’:
"CNBC has long-misrepresented climate change to its viewers, including Larry Kudlow and Rick Santelli."

Despite Claims to the Contrary, Pepsi is Still Using Caramel Coloring Linked to Cancer | Alternet

Despite Claims to the Contrary, Pepsi is Still Using Caramel Coloring Linked to Cancer | Alternet
"The company said they removed the toxic chemical, but a watchdog group reports otherwise."

Koch Brothers' New Pledge for Planet Destruction...

July 3 News: 2001-2010 Hottest Decade On Record, With ‘Unprecedented High-Impact Climate Extremes’, WMO Reports

July 3 News: 2001-2010 Hottest Decade On Record, With ‘Unprecedented High-Impact Climate Extremes’, WMO Reports: GENEVA 3 July 2013 – The world experienced unprecedented high-impact climate extremes during the 2001-2010 decade, which was the warmest since the start of modern measurements in 1850 and continued an extended period of pronounced global warming. More national temperature records were reported broken than in any previous decade, according to a new report by [...]/p

EDF Voices: It’s Time For Latino Leadership On Climate Change

EDF Voices: It’s Time For Latino Leadership On Climate Change: This post originally appeared at the Environmental Defense Fund, and is reprinted here with permission. I love California in the summertime, and Fourth of July weekend is one of my favorite holidays. But it is getting excruciatingly HOT out here, and according to the best science, it is going to get much hotter. This past [...]/p

O'Donnell: Rewrite Laws Governing Car Sales

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Climate Change: "I told you so..."

Scientists Predicted A Decade Ago Arctic Ice Loss Would Worsen Western Droughts. Is That Happening Already?

Scientists Predicted A Decade Ago Arctic Ice Loss Would Worsen Western Droughts. Is That Happening Already?: Scientists predicted a decade ago that Arctic ice loss would bring on worse western droughts. Arctic ice loss has been much faster than the researchers — and indeed all climate modelers — expected (see “CryoSat-2 Confirms Sea Ice Volume Has Collapsed“). It just so happens that the western U.S. is in the grip of a [...]/p

This Week's Killer Heat Wave Threatens To Cause Earth’s Hottest Temps Ever | Alternet

This Week's Killer Heat Wave Threatens To Cause Earth’s Hottest Temps Ever | Alternet
"The Southwest may experience the hottest weather in recorded history. Still don't believe in global warming?"

Massive Tar Mat Dug Up Off Louisiana Coast 3 Years After BP Spill

Massive Tar Mat Dug Up Off Louisiana Coast 3 Years After BP Spill
"Three years after one of the worst environmental disasters in history, workers have dug up a massive chunk of weathered crude from the shallows off a Louisiana beach."

Chronicling The Fracking Revolution

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Comment Period Closing On Bristol Bay Mining, One Of The Most Important Environmental Issues “You’ve Never Heard Of”

Comment Period Closing On Bristol Bay Mining, One Of The Most Important Environmental Issues “You’ve Never Heard Of”: An important chapter in one of “America’s largest natural-resources fights in decades” is coming to a close. The comment period on the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft “watershed assessment” of the potential impacts on mining in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska ends on Sunday. At issue is the Pebble Project, a proposed copper and gold [...]/p

House Republicans’ Response To Obama’s Climate Plan: Drill, Baby, Drill

House Republicans’ Response To Obama’s Climate Plan: Drill, Baby, Drill: President Obama’s speech about climate change at Georgetown University on Tuesday laid out a comprehensive plan to deal with what ClimateProgress editor Joe Romm called “the moral urgency of cutting carbon pollution.” Not surprisingly, the President’s words have fallen on deaf ears on the Republican side of the aisle in the House of Representatives. Today, [...]/p

Renewable Energy Closing In On Natural Gas As Second-Largest Source Of Electricity Worldwide

Renewable Energy Closing In On Natural Gas As Second-Largest Source Of Electricity Worldwide: Renewable energy will soon beat out natural gas as the second-largest source of electricity worldwide, according to projections from the International Energy Agency. Electricity from solar, wind, hydropower and other renewable sources will increase by 40 percent in the next five years, making up about 25 percent of the world’s energy sources by 2018. Renewables [...]/p

Scientists Warn: Largest Ocean 'Dead Zone' in History | Common Dreams

Scientists Warn: Largest Ocean 'Dead Zone' in History | Common Dreams
"The largest 'dead zone' ever recorded is headed for the Gulf of Mexico this summer, as high levels of pollution runoff, elevated by Midwestern floods, seep into the ocean."

David Letterman Interviews Climate Activist Tim DeChristopher

David Letterman Interviews Climate Activist Tim DeChristopher
"Climate activist Tim DeChristopher visited "The Late Show" with David Letterman on Tuesday to discuss the documentary "Bidder 70," which tells the story of his stunning act of civil disobedience in a time of global climate chaos."

Maine Governor Vetoes Bill Moving State Toward Climate Change Adaptation

Maine Governor Vetoes Bill Moving State Toward Climate Change Adaptation: The Maine legislature fell short — by a single vote — to override Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s (R) veto of a bill that would move Maine toward climate change adaptation. On Monday, the day before President Obama told the country why it is critical to prepare for climate change, LePage vetoed a bill creating a [...]/p

‘Invest, Divest’: Obama Goes Full Climate Hawk In Speech Unveiling Plan To Cut Carbon Pollution

‘Invest, Divest’: Obama Goes Full Climate Hawk In Speech Unveiling Plan To Cut Carbon Pollution: Obama delivered a real stemwinder on the moral urgency of cutting carbon pollution (video, transcript below). So of course Politico reports, “Cable news skips Obama’s climate speech.” The President surprised everyone by bringing up the Keystone XL pipeline, even though aides had said he wouldn’t. Obama left his Administration very little room for approving it. [...]/p

The Anti-Science Climate Denier Caucus: 113th Congress Edition

The Anti-Science Climate Denier Caucus: 113th Congress Edition: Climate change is happening, humans are the cause, and a shocking number — more than 65 percent — of congressional Republicans refuse to accept it. 155 elected representatives from the 113th Congress have taken over $51 million from the fossil fuel industry that is the driving force behind the carbon emissions that cause climate change. [...]/p

Climate Champion Ed Markey Wins Massachusetts Senate Race

Climate Champion Ed Markey Wins Massachusetts Senate Race: Representative Ed Markey will soon have a new title: United States Senator. In Tuesday’s special election to replace current Secretary of State John Kerry, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly backed the longtime congressman over private equity investor Republican Gabriel Gomez. Throughout his 37 years in Congress, Markey has fought for an array of clean energy and environmental [...]/p

The Texas-Oklahoma Red River Smackdown Foreshadows Water Fights To Come

The Texas-Oklahoma Red River Smackdown Foreshadows Water Fights To Come: Here’s a preview of the way climate change and human-driven global warming could upend our society, in the form of a recently decided Supreme Court case. Over the last few years, a dispute between Texas and Oklahoma over the 35-year old Red River Compact has been winding its way through the court system. The compact [...]/p

Possible And Profitable Action On Climate Change: Danish Minister Praises Obama’s New Plan

Possible And Profitable Action On Climate Change: Danish Minister Praises Obama’s New Plan: President Obama’s Climate Action Plan is promising. Curbing global warming will demand serious action from all of us. Needless to say, US leadership makes a great difference. Denmark is a mouse compared to the US elephant, but our experience proves that the President’s Plan is indeed possible and can be profitable. Over the past 30 years, the [...]/p

How The Supreme Court Just Undercut The Environmental Progress Obama Envisions

How The Supreme Court Just Undercut The Environmental Progress Obama Envisions: On the day that President Obama made a major announcement on his commitment to protecting the environment, the U.S. Supreme Court had other ideas. In a 5-4 ruling that could dramatically expand challenges to environmental land use laws, the court held Tuesday that a state’s regulation of privately owned wetlands was subject to severe constitutional [...]/p

Cable News Virtually Ignores Obama’s Major Climate Speech

Cable News Virtually Ignores Obama’s Major Climate Speech: On Tuesday, President Obama rolled out a plan to cap carbon emissions at existing power plants, improve efficiency standards on automobiles, double the amount of electricity produced with renewables, and lead a global movement to address climate change. But the media virtually ignored it. All of the three major news networks spent mere minutes on [...]/p

The Oil Industry Must Pay for Their Waste

Why the U.S. Is Becoming Ground Zero For the Dirtiest Energy [With Slideshow] | Alternet

Why the U.S. Is Becoming Ground Zero For the Dirtiest Energy [With Slideshow] | Alternet
"The practice that has devastated parts of Canada is already underway in the U.S. and things could get a lot worse."

President Obama’s Second-Term Plan To Address Climate Change

President Obama’s Second-Term Plan To Address Climate Change: On Tuesday, at 1:35 p.m. in a speech at Georgetown University, President Obama will tell the country in detail how he will address climate change during his second term. The plan, according to senior administration officials, has three pillars: cutting carbon pollution in America, leading international efforts to cut global emissions, and preparing the U.S. [...]/p

Why You Shouldn’t Be Surprised That The National Zoo Lost A Red Panda

Why You Shouldn’t Be Surprised That The National Zoo Lost A Red Panda: Rusty, the adorable red panda pictured above, escaped from Washington’s National Zoo today. While everyone is hoping for Rusty’s safe return, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the decrepit state of America’s zoo system — and what that says about America’s budget priorities. Though zoo officials still aren’t sure how Rusty got out, [...]/p

How Hot will it Get?

The Price of Sand

The Price of Sand
'The industry can't do without the silica - hence the gold rush in sand that is destroying landscapes, particularly in Wisconsin and Illinois, but increasingly in Minnesota."

Scientist: ‘Miami, As We Know It Today, Is Doomed. It’s Not A Question Of If. It’s A Question Of When.’

Scientist: ‘Miami, As We Know It Today, Is Doomed. It’s Not A Question Of If. It’s A Question Of When.’: pJeff Goodell has a must-read piece in Rolling Stone, “Goodbye, Miami: By century’s end, rising sea levels will turn the nation’s urban fantasyland into an American Atlantis. But long before the city is completely underwater, chaos will begin.” Goodell has talked to many of the leading experts on Miami including Harold Wanless, chair of University [...]/p

Obama Will Announce Regulation Of CO2 From Existing Power Plants On Tuesday

Obama Will Announce Regulation Of CO2 From Existing Power Plants On Tuesday: The White House tweeted on Saturday that Obama’s long-awaited climate speech will come Tuesday afternoon at Georgetown University. The President said in an accompanying video (below): In my inaugural address, I pledged that America would respond to the growing threat of climate change for the sake of our children and future generations. This Tuesday, I’ll [...]/p

Massive Flooding In Alberta Canada Forces 75,000 To Flee

Massive Flooding In Alberta Canada Forces 75,000 To Flee: Parts of Alberta, Canada were hit by extreme flooding the size of New York State on Friday, forcing 75,000 to evacuate their homes. Hit by heavy rain, people have abandoned their cars and low-lying residences in flooded waters Mayor Naheed Nenshi described as “an ocean at the moment.” Across the world, cities in Germany have [...]/p

The Alarming Science Behind Climate Change’s Increasingly Wild Weather: Ostro And Francis On Video

The Alarming Science Behind Climate Change’s Increasingly Wild Weather: Ostro And Francis On Video: Earlier this month, Chris Mooney moderated a terrific Climate Desk event featuring top climate researcher Jennifer Francis along with senior Weather Channel meteorologist (and former skeptic) Stu Ostro. Climate Desk summarizes their findings: Ostro’s observations suggest that global warming is increasing the atmosphere’s thickness, leading to stronger and more persistent ridges of high pressure, which [...]/p

Nurses, Environmentalists Lead Keystone XL Protest in San Francisco

NASA ScienceCasts: Arctic Permafrost

Climate Change, Migration and Security in South Asia

Tennessee Official Says Complaining About Water Quality Could Be Considered 'Act of Terrorism' | Alternet

Tennessee Official Says Complaining About Water Quality Could Be Considered 'Act of Terrorism' | Alternet
"The claim was made during a meeting with residents who say the "cloudy, odd-tasting water" is making their children sick."