Progressive Groups Pull Ads From Facebook Over Zuckerberg's Keystone XL Agenda | Common Dreams

Progressive Groups Pull Ads From Facebook Over Zuckerberg's Keystone XL Agenda | Common Dreams
"A group of progressive organizations announced Tuesday that they will be pulling their ads from Facebook following revelations that its CEO Mark Zuckerberg funded a series of political ads promoting the Keystone XL pipeline, which prompted a social media campaigncalling on Zuckerberg to pull his oil-friendly TV spots."

99 One-Liners Rebutting Denier Talking Points — With Links To The Full Climate Science

99 One-Liners Rebutting Denier Talking Points — With Links To The Full Climate Science: Those arguments have been repeated so many times by the fossil-fuel-funded disinformation campaign that almost everyone has heard them — and that means you’ll have to deal with them in almost any setting, from a public talk to a dinner [...]/p

Tribes In Ecuador Will Fight Rainforest Auction

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Big Agribusiness Is Tricking You Into Buying Cruelly Raised Eggs. Here’s How That Might Change.

Big Agribusiness Is Tricking You Into Buying Cruelly Raised Eggs. Here’s How That Might Change.: Everyone has seen labels on the eggs they buy in grocery stores like “organic” or “free-range.” What most people don’t know is that these loosely defined labels are often fig leaves that cover for the brutal abuse of animals. But a new lawsuit by animal advocates may have changed all that, pressuring the Food and [...]/p

GM Aims To Cut Chevy Volt Cost By $10,000 — While Making It Profitable

GM Aims To Cut Chevy Volt Cost By $10,000 — While Making It Profitable: By Nicholas Brown via CleanTechnica I have been following the electrification of vehicles closely since about 2008. I kept wishing that researchers would develop improved battery technology for electric vehicles, and I’ve seen it happen many times. The development of lithium-ion battery technology really is on a roll. There is now a major discovery multiple times [...]/p

Green On-The-Go: A Portable Solar-Powered Electrical Outlet

Green On-The-Go: A Portable Solar-Powered Electrical Outlet: Mother Nature Network just flagged a fun diversion in the solar technology world: the Window Socket. It’s a portable solar charger, roughly the size of a hockey puck, which uses a suction cup to attach to any available window. It also has a standard electrical plug — though right now it’s only the European standard [...]/p

Michael Pollan: How the Processed Food Industry Undermines Healthy Food Culture | Alternet

Michael Pollan: How the Processed Food Industry Undermines Healthy Food Culture | Alternet
"The home cooked family meal presents a threat to big food companies."

House GOP Prepares Fast-Track for Keystone XL | Common Dreams

House GOP Prepares Fast-Track for Keystone XL | Common Dreams
"This month, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives will vote on, and likely approve, a measure that bypasses White House approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, fast-tracking construction of the controversial project."

Climate Change's 'Evil Twin' to Harm for '10s of 1000s of Years' | Common Dreams

Climate Change's 'Evil Twin' to Harm for '10s of 1000s of Years' | Common Dreams
"The rapidly acidifying Arctic Ocean caused by absorbing the world's CO2 emissions have pushed us beyond "critical thresholds," with widespread impacts to be felt for "tens of thousands of years" even if we stopped emissions, say scientists."

Into The Valley Of Death Rode The 600, Into The Valley Of 400 PPM Road The 7 Billion

Into The Valley Of Death Rode The 600, Into The Valley Of 400 PPM Road The 7 Billion: “Forward, the Light Brigade!” Was there a man dismay’d ? Not tho’ the soldier knew Some one had blunder’d: Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do & die, Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. – “The Charge Of The Light Brigade,” Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1854 [...]/p

New Mexico State University’s Next President May Be A Climate Science Denier

New Mexico State University’s Next President May Be A Climate Science Denier: by Brad Johnson, campaign manager for Forecast the Facts On Monday at 4 pm, the New Mexico Board of Regents is prepared to hold a public vote to choose the next president of New Mexico State University (NMSU), the major land-grant institution in Las Cruces, NM. One of the top candidates is Garrey Carruthers, a [...]/p

Environmental Ignorance Is Economic Bliss | Common Dreams

Environmental Ignorance Is Economic Bliss | Common Dreams
"Economics departments must be compelled to integrate ecological considerations into their courses. Professors, department heads, and deans will not voluntarily take action. For decades now, limits-to-growth theorists have been following the Quaker dictum by “speaking truth to power.” Unfortunately, the neoclassical economics discipline and its gatekeepers are either deaf or not listening."

NASA Projects Carbon Pollution Impact: ‘Some Regions Outside The Tropics May Have No Rainfall At All’

NASA Projects Carbon Pollution Impact: ‘Some Regions Outside The Tropics May Have No Rainfall At All’: In September, NOAA put together a video showing how climate change means wet areas get wetter and dry gets drier. Now NASA has a video of their own with similar findings. Here is a screen-shot (NASA didn’t make the video embeddable): Model simulations spanning 140 years [video here] show that warming from carbon dioxide will change [...]/p

Killer Air: Study Links Pollution to Heart Disease, Stroke | Common Dreams

Killer Air: Study Links Pollution to Heart Disease, Stroke | Common Dreams
"A new study which appears in the April issue of PLoS Medicine found that long-term exposure to air pollution similarly suffocates our primary arteries, a condition linked to increased instances of both heart disease and stroke."

A Fracking Pipeline in Manhattan?! | Alternet

A Fracking Pipeline in Manhattan?! | Alternet
"Safety concerns are predictably grave."

New GMO Labeling Bill Will Be the Ultimate Test Between the Will of the People Versus the Greed and Power of the Biotech Industry

New GMO Labeling Bill Will Be the Ultimate Test Between the Will of the People Versus the Greed and Power of the Biotech Industry
"In an exciting move in Washington, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) together have sponsored new federal legislation that requires the labeling of all genetically engineered food in the U.S. The Genetically Engineered Food Right-to-Know Act is the first national labeling bill to be introduced in Congress since 2010. U.S. citizens have demonstrated overwhelming support to label GMO foods in this country."

North Carolina Republicans Push Through Anti-Renewable Energy Bill in 'Banana Republic' Vote

North Carolina Republicans Push Through Anti-Renewable Energy Bill in 'Banana Republic' Vote
"Democrats in North Carolina say they could have defeated a bill to repeal renewable energy subsidies on Wednesday if Republicans had not pushed it through committee without counting the votes."

Big Oil Profits—and Tax Breaks—Remain High Despite Sequestration Cuts

Big Oil Profits—and Tax Breaks—Remain High Despite Sequestration Cuts: Despite the severe budget cuts facing many middle-class programs, the five biggest oil companies continue to rake in tens of billions of dollars in profits, while still receiving unnecessary and wasteful tax breaks. Middle-class families have gotten some relief at the pump this spring due to declining gasoline prices. AAA reported that U.S. drivers paid [...]/p

Fukushima: A Dire SOS Message

Fukushima: A Dire SOS Message
"Since the Fukushima nuclear disaster first began back in March of 2011, there have been near-daily updates on the condition of that stricken plant, updates which have been getting worse and worse, painting a very dire scene at the Dai-ichi nuclear power plant."

FDA Finally Reviewing Controversial Ingredient In Soap After 40 Years Of Procrastination

FDA Finally Reviewing Controversial Ingredient In Soap After 40 Years Of Procrastination: In 1972, Congress passed a law requiring the U.S. Food and Drug Administration set guidelines for anti-bacterial chemicals commonly used in soap. In a tentative draft published in 1978, the FDA identified one such chemical, triclosan, as potentially dangerous. Yet 35 years later, the FDA still has not finalized those guidelines, and triclosan has become [...]/p

‘Banana Republic’ In North Carolina: GOP Committee Chair ‘Approves’ Bill To Gut Clean Energy Without Counting Votes

‘Banana Republic’ In North Carolina: GOP Committee Chair ‘Approves’ Bill To Gut Clean Energy Without Counting Votes: The ALEC-sponsored bill to gut North Carolina’s clean energy standard failed last week in one House committee. But as the Charlotte Observer reports, last night it passed a Senate committee over shouted objections to do something most people take for granted in a democracy — counting votes to see which side has more. Over the [...]/p

Illinois Ranks As Worst Rogue Coal State: Strip Mine Permit To Serial Violator Stuns Residents | Alternet

Illinois Ranks As Worst Rogue Coal State: Strip Mine Permit To Serial Violator Stuns Residents | Alternet
"With state coal production soaring against national trends, Illinois cemented its reputation as the worst rogue state for coal operations last Friday, when the rubber-stamping operations of the state's EPA issued a pollutant discharge permit to a company already cited by the state for over 600 toxic discharge violations at its central Illinois non-union strip mine.

Translation: Imagine the Department of Motor Vehicles renewing the driver's license of a toxic-laden truck driver with 600 DUI's."

Another Government Is Necessary: The People Can Rule Better Than the Elites

Another Government Is Necessary: The People Can Rule Better Than the Elites
"More people are taking action in their communities to meet their basic needs because of government corruption at all levels that protects the status quo when urgent change is needed. People are moving on many fronts to challenge the system and create the world they want to see."

Report: Toxic Chemicals Found in Thousands of Children's Products | Common Dreams

Report: Toxic Chemicals Found in Thousands of Children's Products | Common Dreams
"Walmart alone reported a total of 459 instances of products containing chemicals including arsenic, cadmium, phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and mercury."

May 1 News: North Carolina Legislators Still Trying To Gut Clean Energy Laws

May 1 News: North Carolina Legislators Still Trying To Gut Clean Energy Laws: The North Carolina bill trying to repeal the state’s successful clean energy standard that died in the sponsor’s committee is back from the dead. [News & Observer] Meet the bill with nine lives – and twice as many votes cast against it. Lawmakers on Wednesday could once again attempt to end a state renewables policy [...]/p

PERRspectives: Republican Bills Declare Numbers, Science Enemy Combatants

PERRspectives: Republican Bills Declare Numbers, Science Enemy Combatants
"But while climate change denier Lamar Smith wants the GOP to intervene in scientific research, his Republican colleague from South Carolina wants the U.S. Census Business out of the business of measuring the American economy"

'Huge Win': California Committee Votes to Halt Fracking | Common Dreams

'Huge Win': California Committee Votes to Halt Fracking | Common Dreams
"Californians gained a key victory in the fight to protect the state's water and air Monday when three bills that halt the practice of fracking won votes in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee."

Facebook Rejects Ad Highlighting Zuckerberg Group’s Support For Keystone XL

Facebook Rejects Ad Highlighting Zuckerberg Group’s Support For Keystone XL: When a subsidiary of Mark Zuckerberg’s new political group started airing ads for expanded oil drilling and the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, CREDO Action decided to post an ad of their own calling Zuckerberg out — on Facebook. This morning, Facebook rejected CREDO’s Facebook ad (pictured right). According to CREDO Action, Facebook initially [...]/p

BP Posts $4.2 Billion In Q1 Profits As Its Chemical Dispersants Continue To Harm The Gulf

BP Posts $4.2 Billion In Q1 Profits As Its Chemical Dispersants Continue To Harm The Gulf: BP announced its 2013 first-quarter profits this morning, reporting earnings of $4.2 billion — down 10 percent from this time last year but higher than analysts’ forecasts. Here are some key facts about BP’s profits: The company is sitting on nearly $28 billion in cash reserves. In the first three months of 2013, BP spent [...]/p

Climate Change Is An Existential Threat To Humanity, Just Don’t Mention Protecting ‘The Environment’

Climate Change Is An Existential Threat To Humanity, Just Don’t Mention Protecting ‘The Environment’: A recent study found that some conservatives would not choose an efficient lightbulb with an environmental message, even when they would choose the same bulb without the message. The Atlantic Cities details this cognitive dissonance: The study then presented participants with a real-world choice: With a fixed amount of money in their wallet, respondents had [...]/p

Republican Tries to Bend Science to Anti-Science Agenda

Study Reveals 30 Toxic Chemicals at High Levels at Exxon Arkansas Tar Sands Pipeline Spill Site | Common Dreams

Study Reveals 30 Toxic Chemicals at High Levels at Exxon Arkansas Tar Sands Pipeline Spill Site | Common Dreams
"An independent study co-published by the Faulkner County Citizens Advisory Groupand Global Community Monitor reveals that, in the aftermath of ExxonMobil's Pegasus tar sands pipeline spill of over 500,000 gallons of diluted bitumen (dilbit) into Mayflower, AR, air quality in the area surrounding the spill has been affected by high levels of cancer-causing chemicals."

'Flood of Highly Radioactive Wastewater' Overwhelms Fukushima Crews | Common Dreams

'Flood of Highly Radioactive Wastewater' Overwhelms Fukushima Crews | Common Dreams
"Japan's battle against the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant has intensified as "a flood of highly radioactive wastewater" overwhelms emergency crews and highlights just how intractable the cleanup effort is proving."

Northeast US Ocean Temperatures Highest on Record: Report | Common Dreams

Northeast US Ocean Temperatures Highest on Record: Report | Common Dreams
"Ocean surface temperatures off the Northeast U.S. coast last year were the highest in 150 years, according to a new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."

Weeding Corporate Power Out of Agricultural Policies: Communities Mobilize for Food and Farm Justice | Common Dreams

Weeding Corporate Power Out of Agricultural Policies: Communities Mobilize for Food and Farm Justice | Common Dreams
"From the school cafeteria to rural tomato farms, and all the way to pickets at the White House, people are challenging the ways in which government programs benefit big agribusiness to the detriment of small- and mid-sized farmers. Urban gardeners, PTA parents, ranchers, food coops, and a host of others are organizing to make the policies that govern our food and agricultural systems more just, accountable, and transparent."

A Win for the Bees: EU Votes to Ban Bee-Harming Pesticides | Common Dreams

A Win for the Bees: EU Votes to Ban Bee-Harming Pesticides | Common Dreams
"In a historic vote on Monday the European Union banned the use of bee-harming pesticides across the continent for a minimum of two years, garnering praise from environmental groups who have said that the population of the vital pollinators, along with the global food supply are in grave danger, due to the widespread use of the chemicals."

Climate Collision Course: CO2 Levels About to Hit 400 PPM | Common Dreams

Climate Collision Course: CO2 Levels About to Hit 400 PPM | Common Dreams
"The world is likely days away from a "sobering milestone" in our planetary history.
Concentrations of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide will likely reach 400 parts per million (ppm) for first time in human history, say scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and unless drastic action is taken, we're on track to hit 450 ppm in the near future."

US Plans to Drop Protections for Gray Wolves in Lower 48 | Common Dreams

US Plans to Drop Protections for Gray Wolves in Lower 48 | Common Dreams
"Federal authorities are preparing legislation to remove endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Lower 48 states."

Fracking Debris Ten Times Too Radioactive for Hazardous Waste Landfill | Common Dreams

Fracking Debris Ten Times Too Radioactive for Hazardous Waste Landfill | Common Dreams
"A truck carrying cuttings from a Pennsylvania fracking site was quarantined at a hazardous-waste landfill and sent back after its contents triggered a radiation alarm showing the load was emitting 96 microrem of radiation per hour; the landfill rejects waste with levels above 10 microrems."

Do the Math - The Movie

Los Angeles to San Onofre: "Not So Fast!" | Common Dreams

Los Angeles to San Onofre: "Not So Fast!" | Common Dreams
"The move reflects a deep-rooted public opposition to resumed operations at reactors perched in a tsunami zone near earthquake faults that threaten all of southern California."

Mark Zuckerberg’s New Political Group Spending Big On Ads Supporting Keystone XL And Oil Drilling

Mark Zuckerberg’s New Political Group Spending Big On Ads Supporting Keystone XL And Oil Drilling: Mark Zuckerberg’s new political group, which bills itself as a bipartisan entity dedicated to passing immigration reform, has spent considerable resources on ads advocating a host of anti-environmental causes — including driling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and constructing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The umbrella group, co-founded by Facebook’s Zuckerberg, NationBuilder’s [...]/p

James Hansen: The One Thing We Should Be Doing to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change | Alternet

James Hansen: The One Thing We Should Be Doing to Prevent Catastrophic Climate Change | Alternet
"The country's leading climatologist talks about what our future looks like if we continue along with business as usual -- and what we could do to prevent catastrophe."

Radiation Of The Pacific Ocean In The Next 10 Years - Japan Nuclear Disaster

Houston’s Most Polluted Neighborhood Draws the Line at Alberta Tar Sands | Common Dreams

Houston’s Most Polluted Neighborhood Draws the Line at Alberta Tar Sands | Common Dreams
"The refineries around Houston have been called the “keystone to Keystone” because they’re expected to process 90 percent of tar sands crude from Alberta if the controversial Keystone XL pipeline is completed.

It’s one of the most polluted neighborhoods in the U.S., one where smokestacks grace every backyard view. But it’s taking on a new significance as the terminus of Keystone because the pipeline is at the center of the highest-stakes environmental battle in recent years. As international pressure builds, residents are beginning to organize, educate themselves, and speak out for the health of their families."

New Report Details How National Parks Are Threatened By Oil And Gas Drilling

New Report Details How National Parks Are Threatened By Oil And Gas Drilling: Here’s another example of how “the score card shows that the industry is winning,” as the NY Times put it last year. The National Parks Conservation Association today released a new report warning of the risks that oil and gas drilling pose to national parks. In “National Parks and Hydraulic Fracturing:  Balancing Energy Needs, Nature, and [...]/p

Divestment Calls Grow: 'Take Our Planet, and We'll Take Your Money' | Common Dreams

Divestment Calls Grow: 'Take Our Planet, and We'll Take Your Money' | Common Dreams
"This is the warning 10 cities across the U.S. are issuing the fossil fuel industry as the campaign to divest from the industry wreaking havoc on the planet gains steam."

Lawmakers On Both Sides Of The Aisle Call On The FDA To Label Genetically Engineered Food

Lawmakers On Both Sides Of The Aisle Call On The FDA To Label Genetically Engineered Food: Health and environmental advocates have fought for years for a federal labeling program for genetically engineered food. Now, for the first time, their battle has bipartisan support in Congress. On Wednesday, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced the Genetically Engineered Food Right-To-Know Act, a bill whose nine cosponsors in the Senate [...]/p

US Accused of Skirting Responsibilities for Egregious Philippine Reef Disaster | Common Dreams

US Accused of Skirting Responsibilities for Egregious Philippine Reef Disaster | Common Dreams
"The United States is trying to skirt its responsibility to pay for damages after a US Navy minesweeper rammed into a pristine coral reef in the Philippines, a Filipino advocacy group and lawmaker warned this week."

Bipartisan Vote Stops ALEC Plan to Kill NC's Renewable Energy

Bipartisan Vote Stops ALEC Plan to Kill NC's Renewable Energy
"Crossing ALEC and Americans for Prosperity might just be a way to draw a primary. But in a state with an unemployment rate of 9.2 percent, voting to kill the renewable energy sector isn't the way to win friends and influence voters. It would also kill jobs and jeopardize investments."

Bloomberg Study: 70 Percent Of New Global Power Capacity Added Through 2030 Will be Renewable

Bloomberg Study: 70 Percent Of New Global Power Capacity Added Through 2030 Will be Renewable: According to Bloomberg’s renewable energy research team, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), 70 percent of the power generation the world will add between now and 2030 will most likely be renewable. That would mean $630 billion in new renewable capacity investments in 2030 alone — over three times what was built in 2012, and 35 [...]/p

GMO Labeling Fight Heads to Maine | Common Dreams

GMO Labeling Fight Heads to Maine | Common Dreams
"Monsanto and the Grocery Manufacturers Association also poured money into California's defeated Prop. 37, which sought to label GMOs."

Breaking: North Carolina ALEC-Modeled Bill To Repeal Clean Energy Standard Fails In Committee

Breaking: North Carolina ALEC-Modeled Bill To Repeal Clean Energy Standard Fails In Committee: North Carolina’s renewable energy industry is safe from legislative threats, for now. Republicans and Democrats in the sponsor’s own committee voted down his bill which mimicked “model legislation” from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). WRAL NC Capitol reports: [Bill sponsor] Rep. Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, had pulled House Bill 298 from the House Committee on [...]/p

New ALA Report: Clean Air Act Working, Yet 42% Of Americans Still Breathe Dangerous Air

New ALA Report: Clean Air Act Working, Yet 42% Of Americans Still Breathe Dangerous Air: The American Lung Association today released their annual State of the Air report. In general, it says that the air is cleaner than it was a decade ago, thanks to the Clean Air Act. Despite this progress, over 131 million Americans live in areas where the air can often be too dangerous to breathe. This [...]/p

Ohio Manufacturers Fight To Keep The Energy Efficiency Standards The GOP Is Trying To Weaken

Ohio Manufacturers Fight To Keep The Energy Efficiency Standards The GOP Is Trying To Weaken: Ohio is one of many states trying to scale back energy efficiency standards set for utility providers — even though these standards have lowered costs and reduced energy consumption by customers, according to the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. OMA, the state’s largest manufacturing trade group, is fighting against Republican-led efforts to weaken the laws that require [...]/p

Report: Deadly Human-Made 'Cocktail' Threatening World’s Pollinators | Common Dreams

Report: Deadly Human-Made 'Cocktail' Threatening World’s Pollinators | Common Dreams
"A "cocktail" of human-made "pressures" are threatening insect pollinators across the world, whose decline will have "profound environmental, human health and economic consequences," according to a new report released Monday by the Insect Pollinators Initiative."

Report: Renewables Could Power Nearly All US Energy Usage by 2050 | Common Dreams

Report: Renewables Could Power Nearly All US Energy Usage by 2050 | Common Dreams
"If the US ceases to burn coal and ratchets down both nuclear and natural gas usage, the resulting reliance on wind, solar and other renewables "could meet or exceed demand in 99.4 percent of hours" by 2050, according to a recent report (pdf) by Synapse Energy Economics for the nonprofit think tank Civil Society Institute (CSI)."