Originally published on EdenKeeper.org By calling on Oklahomans to pray for oil, Governor Mary Fallin has stretched the limits of my patience and perhaps a little bit of my better judgment. Governor Fallin would have us all believe that it’s been a really tough year for the oil industry. In fact, it’s been so bad
Originally published on EdenKeeper.org Navigating through the icy waters of the Arctic, the Greenpeace ship “Arctic Sunrise” is delivering solar panels to the Inuit community of Clyde River, Nunavut. Delivering solar panels and a team to install the systems for the Clyde River community is Greenpeace’s way of offering a better solution to meet increasing
Aquafina, Dasani, and Poland Spring are names on the water bottle that have come to evoke images of pristine waterfalls, swift cool streams, and shimmering, unspoiled mountain lakes. As well they should. These three carefully selected names are among the largest selling brands of bottled water in the United States. They play a vital role
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,
By now, many of us have heard that the President spent a little time this morning at a Wal-Mart store in in Mountain View, California, near San Jose. Solar deployment and energy efficiency were the two main thrusts of his speech. He spoke about more than 300 recent private and public sector commitments to create
(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.)
A firefighter pauses at the $2013 Rim Fire in Yosemite National Park, August-September 2013 (Calfire photo on facebook). President Obama released the federal budget for 2015 last week. Overall, it involves the lowest deficit ($514 billion) of his five-year tenure in office and restores some funding cut in last year’s sequester. Parts of the new
Crude oil is a fossil fuel and was made naturally from decaying plants and animals, like this prehistoric dunkleosteus, living in ancient seas millions of years ago. Damn dunkleosteus, why couldn’t your decayed remains have become solar PV cells? Joe Mohr is a cartoonist for a variety of publications and children’s writer and illustrator. His
Arctic methane emissions this month were recorded at historic-high levels, causing great concern among climatologists, who cite rapidly melting Arctic sea-ice and warming oceans as the main causes. As reported in the blog Arctic News, “huge amounts of methane are now escaping from the seabed of the Arctic Ocean, penetrating the sea ice, and entering the
Public opposition to the Keystone “Tar Sands” Pipeline continues to increase, with protests against ‘the dirtiest fuel on the planet‘ taking new and increasingly organized public forms of civil disobedience in the United States and around the world. Last week, the “National Week of Action Against Tar Sands Profiteers” resulted in over 50 protest actions against
The Canadian fossil fuel giant Transcanada (net earnings 2011: $1.5 billion) is encountering increased resistance from the “Tar Sands Blockade” in eastern Texas — now in its 18th day of an extensively constructed “tree sit-in.” And it is employing increasingly draconian police measures to prevent any public awareness of the protests and confrontations. Today, two
Dear Ms. Rimel, I am an independent writer with an interest in environmental issues. I am a father, and an informed citizen. The credentials I hold as a writer and citizen are no less important than those of yours, which, I presume, may be bred from similar motivation: intellectual curiosity and, mostly, a committed
Protest against the controversial Keystone XL “Tar Sands” Pipeline has escalated dramatically in recent days, largely unreported in the national media. Protesters have established a human blockade in front of the construction path of the pipeline, in an old oak forest outside of Winnsboro, Texas. The confrontation is shaping up to be a defining
This is a guest post by Dan Ritzman, Senior Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club. “We recognize that industry’s license to operate in the offshore is predicated on being able to operate in a safe, environmentally sound manner. Shell’s commitment to those basic principles is unwavering. Our Alaska Exploration Plans and Oil Spill Response Plans
Following the catastrophic explosion and subsequent spill of oil from the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, scientists have embarked upon a 3-week expedition aboard the R/V Walton Smith to determine how surface ocean currents near the site influence the fate and transport of pollutants. This research is an important next step in understanding
Following weeks of Obama railing on the $4 billion a year oil companies receive in tax breaks, in the midst of record profits and after about a century of tax breaks and subsidies, the White House put in one strong push today to try to cut those oil subsidies. Here’s a post from the
This month marks the 23rd anniversary of the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. When the Valdez ran aground, more than 11 million gallons of oil gushed out into the fragile eco-system of the sound and onto the nearby beaches. The oil covered 1,300 miles of coastline and 11,000 square miles
Greenpeace activist and researcher decides to change the script on a fossil fuel astroturfing campaign/commercial. Check it out: Here’s a little bit from the activist, Connor Gibson, in text too: If you had the chance to talk to Big Oil directly to its big oily face, what would you want to say? I recently
The wealth of air pollutants that were generated in the atmospheric plume as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 amounted to levels similar to the pollution created by a large city, says a new study led by researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “The levels of ozone were similar
Chiquita (yes, the banana company) has agreed to drop the use of fuel that comes from oil refineries that use oil from Canada’s dirty tar sands. Chiquita is working with ForestEthics to get off this dirty energy source. Kudos to Chiquita! (And, of course, a big “Thank You” to ForestEthics.) “Chiquita accounts for roughly
It is no secret that there is often a striking discord between how we speak about environmental issues and how we actually live our lives. As we extol the benefits of “green energy” such as wind power, solar power, or geothermal energy, we will inevitably hop back into our fossil-fueled cars for our routine
Some more green news of the week: 1. The Weekly Standard Does Horrible Job Covering “Climategate 2”. The full post The Weekly Standard apart over on Media Matters is worth a read, but here are the key points from the piece (note: Hayward is the author): Hayward Cites Email About Page Limits To Claim That
#1: Ringling Circus Gets Largest Fine of Its Kind for Animal Cruelty — Thank USDA & PETA! From PETA: “Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, must now pay the largest settlement of its kind in U.S. history―$270,000―for alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) dating back to 2007.” More
1. Activists occupied KFC on two continents last week. More from the Dogwood Alliance: “Colonel Sanders and various woodland creatures made appearances at over 150 KFC restaurants across the country and various locations in Europe to deliver a message, ‘Stop destroying Southern forests for your throwaway packaging.’ The iconic KFC bucket and other KFC
Everybody is tired of Big Oil making record profits and getting billions in tax breaks while the country suffers economically. The League of Conservation Voters is the latest to create a petition on the matter. I encourage you to sign it. From the petition page (points I’ve already made in past articles): The big five
I just reported yesterday that BP’s profits doubled in the 3rd quarter of this year. Now, news is Shell’s have as well. Those poor oil companies. They are getting hit so hard by the economic hardship of the US and the EU. And, for some reason, in the midst of their struggles, people are pushing for
I received a petition this week from Oceana, one of my favorite organizations in the world. It’s a petition to cut the $4 billion dollars in tax breaks oil companies get each year. It was announced today that BP’s profits doubled in the 3rd quarter of this year. It’s common knowledge that oil company executives
NRDC Trustee Robert Redford’s moving new video, recently released to the New York Times, is a strong critique which quietly tears apart the sales pitch for the unnecessary and dangerous Keystone XL pipeline.
Highlights of Redford’s video are a repetition of all honest voices questioning the integrity of this issue and asking our government for accountability in regards to the tar sands. It is timely that we demand foresight with business, especially oil, and shine a light on the sheer lack of ethics and legitimacy in this process.
Everything is connected: the things we do, the things others do, affect people’s lives. The aura of our material planet is a body of energy that is part of us and extends around us from the inside out. This connectivity is showing up willfully in our streets. Bill Mikkiben points out: “We cannot solve the carbon problem until we solve the power problem.” He also acknowledges the good timing of now-linking movements of activism. The time of putting positive energy into a collective force is in action now as a space to heal these gaping wounds in culture and environment unfolds.
The Obama administration opened up huge areas of Wyoming for coal mining earlier this year. Now, it has also opened up the Arctic to oil drilling.
On September 19 President Barack Obama announced his plan to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years, including raising $1.5 trillion by closing special interest loopholes and other revenue raisers. This includes eliminating $41 billion in tax loopholes for the oil and gas industry (p. 63) over the next decade.
While getting oil from the Saudi Arabia is not something I support, this ridiculous video (below) about “ethical oil” is trying to make my blood boil. I’m barely managing to keep my cool. If you think that getting oil from the tar sands of Canada could be ethical, check out this post: Tar Sands Oil Pipeline = Backwards Thinking (Humongous Climate Change Impact).
Here’s the completely deceitful video passed on to me via email:
On September 3rd, hundreds of people gathered in Lafayette Park for the final day of the rally against the Tar Sands at the end of the two week sit down protest at the White House. An estimated 1252 people were arrested during this two week continuous peaceful protest, making it the largest collective act of Civil Disobedience in the U.S. in decades.
2 weeks ago a Cargo vessel M V Rak carrying about 290 tonnes of Furnace Oil(much more worse than crude oil), 50 tonnes of Fuel Oil and 60,000 tonnes of Coal sinked about 25 nautical miles from the Mumbai coast. The state government’s environment body MPCB has taken water samples from various places including Mahalaxmi Temple , juhu beach and INS kunjali and they contained oil in it.
Fossil fuel companies are using the same tactics as the tobacco industry once used to keep from losing their massive, incomprehensible profits — lies, lies, and more lies. Their lying is even going beyond words and statistics and are whole processes. This is known as astroturfing. For example, what seems to be an oil industry employee and Republican, as the title says, is creating tons of fake twitter accounts (something too easy to do) to make it look like there’s broad citizen support for the horrible tar sands oil pipeline project, the Keystone XL pipeline, that is on the line right now.
I recently conducted this interview with The Wealth of Nature author John Michael Greer. Some really interesting answers. Happy he took the time to share with us! Here’s the interview:
More on Koch Industries From SourceWatch: All About Koch Industries From Greenpeace: Koch Industries: Still Fueling Climate Denial (2011 Update) From Daily Kos: Koch Brothers Limerick & Song Challenge From Me: Koch Brothers–Tilting at Clean Energy (cartoon and article=”cartoonicle”) More on Coke From SourceWatch: All About the Coca-Cola Company From Slate: Coke and Pepsi’s plant-based
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), in a letter to Chu, said the public’s understanding of climate change is “diminishing” in part because there are “powerful vested interests in the oil and coal industries successfully fanning disbelief.”
Some top environmental, climate, animal activism news from the past week or so….
Yet another oil spill has occurred this time it happened in northwestern Montana, even worse the oil company failed to report the spill. Almost a month went by before a neighboring landowner discovered the spill.
TreeHugger had an extremely disturbing piece on mass penguin deaths occurring year after year off the coast of Argentina recently. Every year, hundreds or thousands of penguins wash up on the shores of Argentina covered in oil. Most of the time, no one seems to have a clue as to how they got covered in oil. The only guesses people venture (often biologists) is that there was an oil spill somewhere.
But where? And why every single year?
Over one year since the horrible BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, media attention on the matter has waned, politicians have gone back to their old ways, and oil companies.. well, you know what they do (all while residents and wildlife are still being tremendously harmed by the disaster). But many (beyond those clearly harmed) have not forgotten and have been continuously working to prevent another such disaster in the Gulf of Mexico or anywhere else in the United States.
Good (or crazy) environmental politics stories from the past week or so.
Other than the 50+ stories we covered in the past week, here are 15 more green stories I thought were worth a share:
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.
Following up on a post last week on the two Greenpeace ships that were in the Arctic’s “Iceberg Alley” shadowing a Cairn Energy oil rig looking to do what no other oil company is doing — drill for oil in the Arctic) — the news is now that Greenpeace activists have scaled the rig and are hanging from it in an “Arctic survival pod” that includes food and water for up to 10 days.
Greenpeace, as I wrote two days ago, is not at all comfortable with oil companies drilling in the Arctic (and who could be!)… and to show their disapproval, they had a polar bear blocking the headquarters to Cairn Energy (the only company looking to drill for oil in the Arctic this year) yesterday morning and they have two ships shadowing the Cairn Energy oil rig in the Arctic (which is protected by a Danish warship).
