Remember the difference between weather and climate? We know what happens when the weather changes—it’s obvious. Climate is another story. Read on. When it rains, you put on a raincoat or take your umbrella when you go out. It snows: time for high boots, a heavier coat, scarf, and warm gloves. And sunny days, well,
(All figures are from the 2014 National Climate Assessment draft.) Later today (Tuesday, May 6), at 8 a.m. EDT, the National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee of experts meets by conference call to approve the final version of the Third National Climate Assessment. The gist of their message, as Suzanne Goldenberg of The Guardian
You want solar power? These guys seem unlikely to provide it. (Found on Facebook—thanks to Greenpeace UK.)
If you’ve ever wondered about the composition of the electricity delivered to your home (most of us have no clue), there’s one quick and easy way to find out. The EPA’s ‘Power Profiler’ tool has apparently been around for at least 2 years, but I only discovered it recently. Although the data used to generate
Shell is planning huge new fracking projects in South Africa now. There is historical irony here. It was the Dutch who, three centuries ago, were the first large-scale commercial European settlers in South Africa. Around 1600, the Dutch East India Company began the European settlements
OK, perhaps I’m still a city planning nerd, but this graphic below on city density and gasoline use per person is totally awesome. Basic point is a simple one: people living in denser cities drive less. However, it also pulls out another interesting point: density aside, some countries (and continents) seem to promote automobile
Reportedly, an Oklahoma natural gas drilling rig exploded near the town of Watonga last night. The drilling rig has around-the-clock workers and about a dozen workers were working at the time of the explosion, but they were reported to have evacuated right before it. The explosion occurred at about 10:30pm local time.
Mark Ruffalo is probably the most outspoken Hollywood star opposing hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) for natural gas. But he has gotten quite a few big name Hollywood stars on his side and fighting it now, including Ethan Hawke, Zoe Saldana, Amy Ryan, Nadia Dajani, and Josh Charles.
Well, Russia is one key actor threating grey whales with extinction, but it has also taken a step forward in protecting the critically endangered species. “Companies seeking oil extraction rights to a newly available concession off Russia’s Sakhalin Island will not be permitted to conduct activities while Western gray whales are present,” WWF wrote last week.
Aside from the 73 or so stories we’ve covered in the past week, here are 13 more great green news stories I wanted to highlight (but didn’t have the time to…
On the anniversary of the BP oil spill, I thought I’d do another piece on some recent oil industry news. While the U.S. is struggling to decrease its debt in the midst of efforts to get the economy rolling string again, it seems there is still millions if not billions of dollars in oil and gas company income owed to the nation that is not being collected. Confused?
Pollute our air and water, leave SuperFund sites uncleaned, leave brownfields scattered around the country, and greatly contribute to climate change and you’re a billionaire. Try to prevent any of this and it’s 10 years in prison… Thank you, Tim. More on Tim DeChristopher From Planetsave: Tim DeChristopher found guilty, faces 10 years From Grist:
It’s not surprising, since Judge Dee Benson didn’t allow the eco-activist any real defense. But it’s a sad commentary on our country that while the people who trashed our economy by committing one one of the biggest frauds in our nation’s history get off scot-free, Tim DeChristopher has been prosecuted, found guilty, and could go
Apparently, the sign above has gone viral (become extremely popular on the internet). But it (and almost all the news about gas these days) misses some key points. As I reported in July, 2010, while the raw price of gas as we see or write it has gone up in recent years, gasoline taxes are
The scientists used a general circulation model known as ModelE (developed at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York). The model calculates ocean-atmosphere coupling effects in addition to allowing varying aerosol inputs.
The initial input for the simulation was 5 teragrams (megatons) of black carbon particles injected into Earth’s upper troposphere. This is the estimated result of the surface detonation of 100 Hiroshima-size bombs (each equivalent to 15K tons of TNT).
Reporting her results from a fifth Gulf of Mexico expedition ending this past December, University of Georgia marine scientist Samantha Joye has been to the bottom and back, and her findings are anything but optimistic. Her team has found numerous expanses of oil and soot covered sea floor that were “chemically finger-printed” as deriving from
This is a story I think I’ve touched on in the past on here and surely one I will be covering continuously in the next month or so. It also inspires a ton of ideas in my head for where the environmental and climate action movement should be headed and where I think this blog,
Some of the top green living, activism, and clean energy stories from the past day or so: Activism Greenpeace Gives Facebook “Unfriend Coal” Deadline Greenpeace has been pushing Facebook to “unfriend coal” and go the route of clean energy for awhile. Facebook, for the most part, hasn’t listened. Greenpeace is now telling Facebook it should
Some of the top climate change and environmental stories of the last day or so: Climate Science Graph of the Day: Greenland Ice Sheet Mass Changes Good info and graphs on the page above, but thought I’d share the 3 videos from the post here for you to check out just in case you don’t feel
As you may have heard, the incoming Congressional leaders of the oil and coal company Republican party have shut down the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Just not a big enough issue for them… (or maybe too big of an issue). Anyway, the Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Edward Markey, has sent
The BP oil spill was an accident. There are many things that probably could have prevented it, though. For example, more careful governmental review. Yet, while we are still discovering negative consequences resulting from this tremendous environmental and economic disaster, there are people pushing to streamline oil and gas drilling in the Arctic. The Wilderness
Continuous research and development could soon see wind and solar dominate energy production, according to Nobel laureate Walter Kohn, Ph.D. Speaking at a symposium at the American Chemical Society’s 240’th National Meeting, Kohn said that he believed that with continuous research and development of alternative energies we could see an era in human history where
A new study says that cutting soot emissions is the best way to save the rapidly melting Arctic. Soot emissions are a result of burning fossil fuel, wood, and dung, amongst other things, and according to a new study by Stanford researcher Mark Z. Jacobson, if we were to cut soot emissions we could drastically
[social_buttons] This picture is a picture of the beautiful Monterey, California coastline. This is where I grew up. It is famous for it’s beautiful sea life. Sea otters, jelly fish, sea lions, kelp forests all populate the Monterey coast. The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in the world. Yet, with all that mass of
Salt Lake City, UT – The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) announced that on May 28, 2009 an agreement was made with Equity Oil Company (“Equity”) concerning oil and gas leases on lands in Utah’s San Juan County. The agreement “gives SUWA certainty that oil and gas development in an important part of the Hatch
Is the Iraq War all about oil? Maybe not. But even former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has acknowledged the action was “essential” to protect the world’s access to oil. With many of the world’s top-producing oil and gas fields in decline, is it unreasonable to suggest there will be more military action to defend
Democrats caved came to a new proposal on Wednesday which would allow offshore drilling 50 miles from the coast if the state approves: federal waters within 50 miles of shore would continue to be protected. Waters off Florida’s Gulf coast also would remain protected at least until 2022 under the plan. The proposal is expected
A new report says that Big Oil enticed U.S. government employees with sex, drugs, and other “improper” gifts. If any doubt was left about the complicit corruption of current U.S. energy policy, a report released earlier today by the Interior Department’s inspector general stated that U.S. government employees received what they politely called “improper gifts”
Why is expanded offshore drilling not the lasting solution to the U.S.’s energy problems? Besides many of the other valid reasons (decades to get to market, potential environmental devastation, oil as a global commodity), Satish Nagarajaiah offers another one: Billions and billions of dollars in potential storm-related losses. A civil and mechanical engineering professor at
