Archive for the ‘Anti-Environmentalism’ Category

Mann is Off the Hook, So Let’s Look at the Real Crime [Video of Mann]

Michael Mann, the somewhat infamous climate scientist from Penn State, shouldn’t be so infamous after all, we find out yet another time!

“An academic inquiry into the so-called ‘climategate’ email scandal has concluded that a well-known U.S. scientist [Mann] did not directly or indirectly falsify data in his research,” according to Mike De Souza of the National Post.

The investigation made it very clear (as other peer-reviewed analyses have done) that Mann’s “trick,” so horribly taken out of context and demonized by anti-science media and followers, was nothing unscientific, misleading or to be concerned about.

They were not falsifying data,” said the report. “They were trying to construct an understandable graph for those who were not experts in the field. The so-called ‘trick’ was nothing more than a statistical method used to bring two or more different kinds of data sets together in a legitimate fashion by a technique that has been reviewed by a broad array of peers in the field.”

Furthermore, the report went on to praise Mann for how he dealt with this greatly unfounded skepticism and criticism of his scientific work. “The report praised Dr. Mann for his ‘composure’ and ‘forthright response’ to all questions, finding no evidence that he had attempted to hide or destroy information, emails or data from his research. It also cleared him of allegations of misusing any privileged or confidential information he had access to as an academic scholar.”

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It’s Time to Get Angry

It’s time to get angry. This is what John Kerry, not exactly the most extreme guy, is saying to us. Is it the best solution?

This is what Kerry told advocates of climate legislation recently:

“I want you to go out there and start knocking on doors and talking to people and telling people this has to happen. You know, if the Tea Party folks can go out there and get angry because they think their taxes are too high, for God’s sake, a lot of citizens ought to get angry about the fact that they’re being killed and our planet is being injured by what’s happening on a daily basis by the way we provide our power and our fuel and the old practices that we have. That’s something worth getting angry about.” (emphasis mine)

As part of my Bachelor’s thesis in sociology and environmental studies, about 6 years ago, I studied the history of the environmental movement in great depth. Since then, I have been keeping my eye on things, on the bigger picture, as I work in different fields — natural and organic foods, city planning and sustainable development, alternative transportation, and, now, online journalism with a green tint.

The underlying question, consistently, is: “How do we avoid, or — worst case scenario — deal with, huge environmental collapse?”

The issues have only gotten bigger (see: Global Warming in the Arctic — Much Worse than We Thought!, Greenland Ice Sheet Melting Faster than Ever and Oceans Absorbing CO2, Preventing Climate Change — Good, Right? No). But we seem to be going down the same road consistently, despite all the amazing efforts of people trying to turn this car around (and transform it into something green-friendly). The environmental movement, perhaps bigger than ever, still seems on the brink of failure.

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Greenpeace Exposes Oil Industry’s Really Dirty Face


We can’t expect much from the oil industry, but Greenpeace’s newest finding is as ugly as it gets.
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Trophy Hunting Pushing Marco Polo Sheep Toward Extinction

A rare species of sheep discovered by Marco Polo in the 13th century is edging closer to extinction due to increased trophy hunting in Central Asian countries, new research reports.

The species, once prominent in the Pamir Mountains on the border of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, now numbers around 10,000, according to George Schaller of the Science and Exploration Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

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Residents Sue Over Coal Ash Dump Disguised as Golf Course

Residents of Centerville, Virginia have sued Dominion Virginia Power to the tune of $1 billion for supplying 1.5 million tons of toxic fly ash to fill the hills of a nearby golf course.

The attorneys representing 400 Centerville residents claim that Dominion knew that the substance they supplied to the Battlefield Golf Club would eventually seep into the water supply. The suit also names the golf course’s developer and Dominion’s ‘coal-ash management consultant.’

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Importing Bear Bile Into the US Could Get You 20 Years in Jail

A South Korean woman living in Los Angeles has been charged with importing bear bile from China to illegally sell as an aphrodisiac. She faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Investigators intercepted a package addressed the Seongja Hyun while waiting for transport to Los Angeles from a San Francisco sorting facility. Inside the package they found four containers of bear bile, leading them to further investigate Hyun.

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Riding Bikes = Good… Dragging Dogs Behind Bikes = Bad

If you have a dog who likes to run, taking him along for a bike ride isn’t a bad idea. But when a man in Oklahoma decided to drag his pit bull behind the bike, after a while the dog didn’t want to run along.

Instead of stopping, the man continued to pedal his bike with the dog dragging on his stomach for nearly half a mile. Residents of Ardmore, Oklahoma noticed the blodied dog and notified authorities.

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Water Not the Only Weapon Used on Water Forum Protesters

While my post earlier this week about police spraying water cannons at World Water Forum protesters was intended to point out the irony, the truth is that the situation in Turkey was out of control, with unprovoked police attacks on peaceful protesters.

In addition to water cannons, police in riot gear fired rubber bullets and tear gas into a crowd, arresting 17 Turkish activists and forcing international activists to leave. The group peacefully gathered outside the official forum for the “People’s Forum” formed to oppose the “commercialization of water.”

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Earth Hour Opponents Plan Lame “Human Achievement Hour”

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has announced their own plans for March 28th from 8:30 to 9:30 pm: instead of shutting of lights with millions of people across the globe for Earth Hour, they’ll be celebrating Human Achievement Hour.

CEI is a libertarian organization that advocates for human innovation. Interestingly, green innovation doesn’t ever seem to impress them, but they did recently throw a “Celebrate Coal!” rally. Anyway, the group seems to have struck a new low with their recently announced opposition to Earth Hour.

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Against Reason, Canada Increases Seal Hunt Quota by 55,000

Despite evidence that increasing the seal hunt quota could bring the harp seal population down the dangerous levels, the Canadian government has approved a 55,000 seal increase to quota for the upcoming commercial seal hunt.

The increase brings the total to 338,000 young seals scheduled to be brutally killed. Canada’s Humane Society said the higher quota could bring the downfall of the species, much like times in the past when the population dropped two-thirds in a decade with an inflated quota.

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