See more snowy photos in johnnygunn’s Wyoming post here.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
Climate Hustle Film A Welcome New Genre of Escapism Fantasy written by KGrandia: “ While on one hand, I expect right-wing spindoctor turned corporate think tanker Marc Morano’s latest project Climate Hustle will be the usual tired rants of grumpy old climate deniers, it may also be a welcome new genre of film. We can call it climate change escapism. Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age, but instead of my expected rant about how Marc Morano and the organization he works for are recipients of money from the likes Exxon Mobil, I want to suggest we embrace Climate Hustle. This film has the potential to take us to a strange and happy place, where for a little while we can suspend the hard realities of a warming world where atmospheric disruption, droughts, floods, food scarcity and the resulting conflict and instability are a hoax and do not exist.”
Time to Choose written by Michael Brune: “Does the world need another film about climate change? Absolutely, and the reason why is embedded in the question itself. Everything's changing, fast. That's obvious when you watch Time to Choose, a new film by Academy Award–winning documentary director Charles Ferguson. But although Ferguson's film acknowledges the enormity of the challenges the world is facing, it's even stronger on the rapid rise of available solutions. The film also shows how the same activities that cause climate change also cause many more immediate problems, ranging from air and water pollution to loss of natural beauty and the extinction of species. As the COP21 climate talks begin next week in Paris, Time to Choose will stream on The Huffington Post for free on Monday, November 30. Anyone who cares about the future should set aside 99 minutes to watch. Ferguson's film takes us around a rapidly changing world. In China, we see how coal is shortening life spans, but we also hear from clean-energy executives about their mission to replace dirty fuels with enormous solar, and wind farms. Deforestation in Indonesia, mountaintop-removal mining in Appalachia, and oil development in the Niger Delta are all shocking, yet clean-energy technologies and policies from Brazil to California to Kenya offer hope grounded in reality.”
"We Live Now in a Time of Water Wars": Updates from Detroit and Flint written by Peregrine Kate: “The despoliation and privatization of water continue in Southeast Michigan, but the people also continue to fight back. Brief updates follow about the latest in the ongoing struggles in Flint and Detroit taking place in the courtroom. On Nov. 16, the ACLU of Michigan, Concerned Pastors for Social Action, an association of religious leaders from Flint; Melissa Mays, a Flint resident and leader of the activist group “Water You Fighting For;” and the Natural Resources Defense Council served a Notice of Intent to Sue to officials of the state of Michigan and the city of Flint for numerous and prolonged violations of the Safe Water Drinking Act. While the public health catastrophe that occurred in Flint over the course of 18 months, when the municipal water system delivered contaminated water to tens of thousands of households and poisoned hundreds of people, has been stopped, the effects of this malfeasance will be felt by many for years, perhaps permanently. Lead levels were so high in the water that came from people’s taps that some young children who drank it may be brain damaged for life.
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Daily Bucket: The Johnnie Johnson Nature Center written by Lenny Flank: “The Johnnie Johnson Nature Center is a network of trails behind the Brevard Museum of History and Natural Science, in Cocoa FL. Here are some photos from a recent walk.”
The Daily Bucket - otters 2, Irish Spring 0 written by OceanDiver: “Back in August I reported on an encounter with my local otters who have been making themselves at home on our boat, Elansa. These bold critters had been lounging on it (not so bad) and using it as a latrine (ewww). I caught them in the act last summer actually tearing at the canvas that encloses the boat’s cabin. After chasing them away, I asked commenters in that Daily Bucket if anyone had any suggestions about discouraging otters from boats. A couple of people mentioned soap as a deterrent odor, and a brand called Irish Spring in particular. I decided to give it a try, being really sick of cleaning up otter poop every time we want to go out in the boat. Here’s the story so far.”
The Daily Bucket: Thankful for Mesoplodon carlhubbsi written by matching mole: “This is a bit of an unusual bucket, especially for Thanksgiving. However, never fear, I will tie it in at the end. The image above is a portion of the jaw of Hubb’s Beaked Whale, Mesoplodon carlhubbsi. This specimen is in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia. Seeing it partially fulfills one item on my ‘bucket list’, which is to see one of these most mysterious of marine mammals. The beaked whales are the second largest family (Ziphiidae) of toothed whales containing about 20 species found throughout most of the world’s oceans. Most of them resemble giant dolphins, reaching lengths in the 15-20 foot range, although the very largest species reach lengths well over 30 feet making them longer than all other toothed whales except the Sperm Whale. So how come such a diverse and large group of marine mammals is so little known? After all, most people have never seen a blue whale, but everyone has heard of them.”
A Bright Blue, Snowy Thanksgiving in Wyoming written by johnnygunn. Photo Diary.
CLIMATE CHAOS
Need a Break from Turkey Day? NY Times has a Report from Greenland Worth Seeing written by xaxnar: “Climate Research at the End of the World as reported by Josh Haner is a photo essay (with some drone video as well) capturing a little of what it is like to do the basic field work needed to understand what is happening to Greenland. The imagery is of a stark, severely beautiful landscape, and the rough conditions researchers have to deal with in the course of their work. To add to the Times article, here’s some additional information. Summit Station sits on the ice sheet. As the Times report notes, ...10,530 feet above sea level on the Greenland ice sheet, is more than 260 miles from land. In the winter, when the sun does not rise from mid-November until late January, temperatures can dip to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and winds can exceed 60 miles per hour. This remote outpost is one of several Greenland sites where researchers from around the world gather data that will improve climate models and help predict climate change affecting future generations...To put it another way, that’s only about 4,000 feet lower than Pike’s Peak; the air is thin and it makes flying people and supplies in and out a challenge above and beyond what the weather can do. The “260 miles from land” is probably a typo — the station sits on the center of the ice sheet and that probably should read 260 miles from the coast.”
UN's World Meteorological Organisation reports this has been the hottest 5 year period on record written by Lefty Coaster: “Let’s take a moment on this Thanksgiving to reflect on how future generations probably won’t have as much to be thankful for as our generation does as a result of our generation’s carbon intensive lifestyle. [...] “The state of the global climate in 2015 will make history as for a number of reasons,” the WMO’s secretary-general, Michel Jarraud, told a press conference in Geneva. ‘2015 is likely to be the hottest year on record, with ocean surface temperatures at the highest level since measurements began. It is probable that the 1C Celsius threshold will be crossed. This is all bad news for the planet.’”
Report shows 66 world cities are intent on designing their futures with climate change in mind written by Meteor Blades: “When it comes to climate change, it seems good news is too much of a rarity. The rapid recent growth of installation of renewable energy sources despite the efforts of the Kochs and their ilk to stifle this transition away from fossil fuels is certainly encouraging—even though the total amount of electricity so far being generated by these sources remains relatively small. There’s at least hope that we’re headed in the right direction. Another bit of encouragement comes from the just released report Climate Action in Megacities 3.0 from the C40 group. That decade-old organization is now a network of more than 80 cities around the world actually making plans and taking action on climate change. The report assessed current actions underway in 66 of these cities and found that if all their goals are met, carbon dioxide emissions equal to the output of 170 coal-fired power plants will be cut.”
Criticizing Smith’s NOAA Harassing and Anti-science, Hype-driven, Witch-hunting Fishing Expedition written by ClimateDenierRoundup: “Rep. Lamar Smith’s ongoing NOAA witch-hunt has just received the strongest criticism to date with a second letter from ranking minority member of the Committee on Space, Science and Technology, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson. At the outset of Smith's inquisition, Rep. Johnson sent a critical letter to Smith, which he ignored, and now, in response to Smith's direct threats to NOAA leaderships, she’s written another one that clocks in at over five pages. It is arguably one of the most strongly-worded and entertaining things ever written on Congressional letterhead. This will be a long entry, so feel free to just read the letter. You won’t be disappointed. While both letters are strongly-worded, the second is being described as a ‘blistering’ and “brutal’ ‘thing of beauty,’ which, if anything, is an understatement. Johnson's timing is important. Her letter comes alongside Smith's latest claim, which he's based on information from supposed "whistleblowers," that a June study provided to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology was rushed to fit the Administration's climate agenda despite some scientists' concerns. This new accusation has been thoroughly rebutted by Science as well, who says that the review for this took 50% longer than average, and was quite comprehensive. Rep. Johnson takes Smith to task on a number of fronts. She points out that Smith has failed to provide details on the ‘waste, fraud or abuse’ he’s supposedly investigating. In her second paragraph, she says flat out that, ‘the only thing [Smith] accused NOAA of doing is engaging in climate science—i.e., doing their jobs.’”
PARIS COP21
With the People's Voice cancelled in Paris, people voicing call to climate action everywhere else written by citisven: “With the main march as well as a number of other civic events that were planned to accompany official negotiations at the COP21 climate conference in Paris cancelled, organizers have called on people around the world to step in and come out onto the streets for “the biggest global climate march in history” to protest “on behalf of those who can’t.” While it is somewhat understandable (though a bummer) that the 200,000 people who were expected to show their support for Grandma Earth in the streets of Paris next week won’t be able to do so, it is looking as if this blow to all things life-affirming is only spreading new and diverse spores instead of the deathly silence and fear that terrorism seeks. There are currently 2355 events all over the globe scheduled for next weekend, November 28/29, and the number is growing by the hour. There’s an event finder here and 350.org has a map up to help you find your local events. The hope is that these collective events will surpass the People’s Climate March last year, where 700,000 people showed up around the world to make their voices heard. It would certainly be a strong statement to all the violent nihilists that their destruction evokes an even stronger thirst and commitment among the citizens of the world to advocate on behalf of healing, of resilience, of creation itself.”
Breaking: Global Climate March Activists Arrested, Dissent Stifled Under Emerg Law #Paris #COP21 written by divineorder: “When the French Government announced that in response to terror attacks they would prohibit the long planned Global March For Climate in Paris during the climate talks, stunned citizens around the world who had planned to participate in Paris have scrambled to create other options to pressure leaders to create real solutions rather than pandering to the fossil fuel companies who are part to the talks. Some, already in Paris, decided to go ahead with protests [...] French police arrest activists for flouting ban on organising protests during climate talks next week [...] The author and climate change campaigner, Naomi Klein, accused French authorities of ‘a gross abuse of power that risks turning the summit into a farce’. ‘Climate summits are not photo opportunities to boost the popularity of politicians,’ she told the Guardian. ‘Given the stakes of the climate crisis, they are by their nature highly contested. That is democracy, messy as it may be. The French government, under cover of anti-terrorism laws, seems to be trying to avoid this, shamefully banning peaceful demonstrations and using emergency powers to pre-emptively detain key activists.’ Activists have pointed to the holes in the move by the French Government, citing the fact large groups of people are still being allowed to meet at football games and other activities while this long planned action was being prohibited.”
Homework for the Upcoming Conference on Climate Change written by Nancy Graham Holme: “There are two types of climate change deniers. The first, motivated by commercial or ideological reasons, is a mentality that ignores scientific evidence about global warming and the role of human behavior in creating it. The American GOP is filled with this type and they are most certainly not supporting the upcoming UN conference in Paris. The second form of denial is unintentional; the result of simply not wanting to think about such an ‘inconvenient truth.’ This kind of denial is cousin to the conscious practice of deliberately taking periodic news fasts in order to avoid emotional stress. These folks do not deny the truth about global warming but they're not truly engaged in the debate. They're doing their best, thank you, when this means recycling their solid waste and limiting the number of vehicles the family drives. And that's most of us. Now veteran environmental journalist, Mark Schapiro has written a book to dilute our innocence and dismantle our complacency. Read Carbon Shock and your sensitivity to global warming will be cranked up to code red, the same color as the book's jacket. If you’re willing to climb out of your comfort zone, it’s good reading in preparation for the upcoming UN conference.”
Extreme Weather
UN says: Weather Disasters Occurring More Frequently written by Xaxnar: “Weather-related disasters such as floods and heatwaves have occurred almost daily in the past decade, almost twice as often as two decades ago, with Asia being the hardest hit region, a U.N. report said on Monday. While the report authors could not pin the increase wholly on climate change, they did say that the upward trend was likely to continue as extreme weather events increased. Since 1995, weather disasters have killed 606,000 people, left 4.1 billion injured, homeless or in need of aid, and accounted for 90 percent of all disasters, it said. The report, called "The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters 1995-2015", found there were an average of 335 weather-related disasters annually between 2005 and August this year, up 14 percent from 1995-2004 and almost twice as many as in the years from 1985 to 1994.”
ENERGY
Nuclear, Coal, Oil and Gas
gas prices tank again; oil output steady despite a 65% drop in drilling written by rjsigmund: “While last week saw oil prices crash, this week it was the benchmark price for natural gas that took a nosedive, with most of the drop coming at the end of the week, when prices fell 5.8% in the Friday trading session alone...the current contract price for natural gas had closed last week at $2.361 per mmBTU and was priced as high as $2.371 per mmBTU at the close on Tuesday, but slipped back to close at $2.347 per mmBTU on Wednesday, ahead of theWeekly Natural Gas Storage Report from the EIA, released as usual on Thursday...that report showed that gas producers had added 15 billion cubic feet of gas to storage to bring the total stored in the lower 48 to an even 4,000 billion cubic feet, a new record high for the amount of natural gas in storage in the US … so even thoughtraders had expected around 23 billion cubic feet to be added to storage this week, they sold off gas contracts on Thursday afternoon, when prices fell to $2.276 per mmBTU, after which prices fell steadily on Friday to close the week at $2.145 per mmBTU, capping the largest weekly decline in natural gas prices since January. ...once again, so we can visualize how those prices relate to recent prices for the fuel, we'll include a graph that tracks the daily closing price of the current natural gas contract on the NY Mercantile Exchange over the past 2 years.”
Impact of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster on Marine Animals Along the Coast of Japan written by MarineChemist: “The purpose of this diary is to share the results of a recently published, peer reviewed, study that examined the radiological impact of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) meltdowns on invertebrates living in coastal waters close to the disaster site in Japan. This diary is the most recent in a series dedicated to communicating what scientific studies are learning about the impact of the FDNPP accident on environmental and public health. The paper by Sohtome and colleagues measured the activity of artificial radionuclides 134-Cesium (134Cs half life ~ 2 years) and 137-Cesium (137Cs half life ~ 30 years) in 592 specimens representing 46 different taxonomic families collected in coastal waters in Fukushima Prefecture between July 2011 and August 2013. The authors found 137Cs in 77% of the samples with highest activities in the organisms near to or south of the FDNPP where highest levels in seawater and marine sediments were found after the large initial releases in 2011. Levels of 137Cs decreased exponentially with time with differences between the various taxonomic groups. This is consistent with lower seawater activities with time after the large initial releases of radionuclides from the plant diminished exponentially in Spring 2011. Observations of the decreasing 137Cs in the organisms allowed the biological half life (time it takes for the half of the 137Cs activity in the organism to go away) to be determined which was found in the range of 102 to 487 days. Longer biological half life and higher, more persistent 137Cs levels in organisms that tend to feed on organic matter in the sediments suggest that contaminated sediments in the area are the most likely source of continued contamination of organisms living on or in the sediments. Even the maximum activities measured within 4 months of the of the disaster and within 20 km of the power plant did not reach levels known to cause negative health impacts for invertebrates. The authors note that benthic marine communities in these coastal waters were not changed greatly by the earthquake and tsunami or by the FDNPP accident.”
Emissions Controls
Alberta introduces carbon tax, plan to end coal, cap on tar sands emissions written by RabbleON: “Sometimes maybe I’m too cynical. Oh I was very happy for Albertans when the NDP won for the first time and Rachel Notley became premier. Because they had never had a chance of winning, there wasn’t enough time for the Alberta NDP to become the focus grouped “pocketbook populists” that I’ve seen in lots of NDP campaigns across the country. Instead they ran on solid if not too adventurous social democracy: $15 minimum wage, infrastructure spending, higher corporate taxes, higher taxes for the rich, cancellation of the previous government’s drastic budget cuts and contracting out of health services. And they followed through and did all that — but I didn’t expect much of anything on the environment because ‘it’s Alberta.’ It’s nice to be wrong sometimes, although it could be argued this doesn’t go far enough. But it’s still quite a bit more than I had expected. I had thought maybe they would do something about coal, but that would be about it.”
Anti-CPP Senators are Pro-Coal For Industry's Money written by ClimateDenierRoundup: “As Republican lawmakers intensify their efforts to obstruct national and global climate action, a new analysis by Maplight exposes the likely impetus behind their actions. Maplight's analysis finds that senators who recently voted in favor of two resolutions intended to block President Obama's Clean Power Plan (CPP) received 17 times more money from the coal mining industry between April 1, 2009, and March 31, 2015, than senators who voted in support of CPP. The analysis also finds that, among the senators who voted in favor of both resolutions to block the CPP, there were 13 who received over $100,000 from the coal industry over the six-year period. In this case, however, the money would have been better spent elsewhere. President Obama has threatened to veto the resolutions, and the EPA has a long history of prevailing against opposition to regulations enforced under the Clean Air Act. ‘There is a history of us moving forward under the Clean Air Act, and there is a history of us winning time and time again,’ said EPA administrator Gina McCarthy. ‘We are not seeing our large initiatives go down because a Republican has gone into the presidency, or because Congress has decided to to take it up.’”
Five Things I’m Thankful for This Season written by Mary Anne Hitt: “2. Strong support for the Clean Power Plan. This month, hundreds of volunteers and advocates turned out - yet again - for another round of Environmental Protection Agency public hearings on the Clean Power Plan. From Pittsburgh to Atlanta, and from DC to Denver, eight days of testimony were filled by supporters of clean energy and climate action. We heard from doctors and nurses, business and community leaders, parents and grandparents, and many others, who demonstrated the overwhelming public support for EPA’s plan to reduce carbon pollution from our biggest source - coal-fired power plants. 3. U.S. climate leadership. As international climate negotiations begin this weekend in Paris, the U.S. is providing leadership, thanks in large part to our work moving this country beyond coal. Earlier this month, we released a report that found our work to replace coal plants with clean energy has brought U.S. carbon emissions to the lowest levels since 1995, and as a result, the U.S. has led the world in cutting carbon over the past decade. Our national leadership is one of the main reasons that so many are optimistic about the results that will come from the Paris summit.”
Renewables & Conservation
Renewable Energy - 2 Degrees is Too Much, 33% is Not Enough written by delphine: “Yesterday Secretary Clinton unveiled her plan to move us to 33% clean energy by 2030. It’s great news to hear any candidate talking about moving us from fossil fuels to clean energy. I know that many might dismiss this diary seeing that it comes from me. I’m a total Bernie partisan. But I’m also a huge proponent of renewable energy and am deeply committed to addressing climate change. If you are too, you might find the following elucidating. 33% is ‘enough to power every home,’ presumably because 33% of our power is used in homes, but it won’t be powering every home. According to EcoWatch, 70% of all new energy that went live between January and July 2015 was renewable: renewable sources—biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind—accounted for nearly 70 percent (69.75 percent) of new electrical generation placed in service in the U.S. during the first six months of 2015. More than 17% of our energy is already coming from renewable sources, and we’re on track to add 1% per year. In 10 years, that would conservatively result in 27% of our energy coming from renewable sources if we just stay the course we’re on. [...]We can do better. We must do better. We must push our nominee to do better — whoever it is — no excuses. Perhaps “To hell with the fossil fuel industry” is brash, but it’s the right mindset to start the monumental change that needs to happen. That industry needs to die, before we do. We need to leave it in the ground. It’s time we saved our own lives. We don’t have 10 years to do it.”
AGRICULTURE, Food & gardening
Saturday Morning Garden Blogging- Turkey Leftovers written by skohayes: “Good morning gardeners, and welcome to the Leftovers edition of SMGB! In light of the fact that it looks like the apocalypse happened in my garden and it’s covered with ice and snow right now, I thought I’d do a diary on some of my favorite garden hacks. [...] If you’re really ambitious, and have access to LOTS of plastic bottles, you can even build your own greenhouse (how about a cold frame?)”
The (Real) Green Revolution written by Robocop: “Just as I believe that no one benefits from Republican Party policies but rich white men, so too do I think that proponents of GMO crops are either paid by Big Ag to vilify anyone questioning the value of those crops or are allowing themselves to be misled by propaganda issued forth by the very companies that profit from them. But that is neither here nor there. Vociferous proponents of GMOs are becoming more and more irrelevant as the two truly biggest players, the consumer and the farmer, are slowly changing the face of agriculture in this country. Public distrust of GMOs is growing. A Pew Research Center study conducted this year shows that 57% of Americans believe GMOs are unsafe. The study made no claims on the veracity of the majority belief; it simply illustrates a fact. And industry is responding. A recent example of how consumers shape the market can be found in the approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of AquaBounty’s genetically altered salmon. Immediately after the announcement sixty grocery store chains, including Walmart and Costco, have stated they won’t sell the product. Other chains include Safeway, Kroger, Target, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. Given the strength of consumer demand, more and more farmers are switching from growing GMOs to organic, and most are doing so simply to satisfy their bottom line. Even though the market for organically grown products is relatively small, it continues to grow as demand dictates.”
Something's fishy – all about GMO salmon written by SkepticalRaptor: “The approval process, taking nearly 20 years, for this transgenic salmon far exceeded the process required for pharmaceutical drug approval. The original application was filed in 1996, and data from 10 generations of the salmon had to be submitted to the FDA. It would be a ridiculous myth to claim that the FDA just bowed to the GMO salmon industry. Of course, just like every other genetically-modified food ever developed, fear and loathing takes precedence over logic and scientific evidence. A major grocery store chain in the USA, Costco, has refused to market the fish, followed by other expensive grocery chains like Whole Foods, a promoter of pseudoscience in foods. A few countries have even written new regulations to block its import. As can be expected, any group that doesn't agree with the scientific evidence, turns to courts to help them out. Anti-vaccine and anti-climate change radicals love to do this, though they usually fail. In the case of the GMO salmon, the radical anti-GMO group, Center for Food Safety, has announced that they will proceed with a lawsuit to block introduction of this fish. Once again, scientific evidence is ignored or cherry-picked in lieu of the pre-existing conclusion that GMO salmon is unsafe.”
Open Letter to Craig Jelinek CEO, Costco, Regarding the Sale of GM Salmon at Costco Stores written by Worldchangeguy: “Dear Mr. Jelinek, (Alert: Friday, Nov. 20, Costco decided not to carry GM salmon ‘at this time.’) It’s time to wake up, wise up and rise up (evolve), if we wish to survive as human beings. My wife, S, and I love and respect Costco. We’ve been members almost as long as your Santa Rosa, CA store has been open. Known for your concern about quality and safety in your products, the controversy surrounding the sale of genetically modified salmon in your stores damages Costco’s credibility and threatens its relationship with its customers. Large companies like Monsanto want us to accept GMOs, like GM salmon, corn, soybeans and other food products without knowing their long-term effects on the health of our children, ourselves and the world.”
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
Can a WA State climate policy train wreck be averted? written by PacificShift: “A group of spunky citizens frustrated by the long-term failure to enact climate policy in Congress or the state legislature takes matters into its own hands and seeks to place a carbon tax initiative on the ballot. As the signature gathering deadline approaches they close on their target. Labor and social justice organizations that were once only marginally engaged in the climate issue elevate it to a top-priority concern. They join in a new alignment to advance climate policy at the state level, emphasizing the opportunity to build equity in the process of reducing pollution. These two developments in Washington state evidence a growing climate movement, one that now is spreading widely among progressive organizations and the citizen grassroots. Facing accelerating climate chaos across the planet – from deep droughts to massive storms to polar ice loss – this is a movement that needs to inspire hope. And its spread is one of the most hope-building trends around. The climate movement is finally growing to the scale of the climate challenge. But more people coming to the table creates a profound challenge, now fully realized in the Evergreen State. A movement that could once be coordinated by a small number of groups and players has grown beyond that possibility. Multiple approaches and philosophies are in play. With that have come conflict and division. Prospects loom for snatching climate-policy defeat from the jaws of movement-growth victory.”
GOP Candidates Fail Climate Change Test written by dannyjames: “Seth Bernstein in an Associated Press article shows that when it comes to climate science, two of the three Democratic presidential candidates are A students, while most of the Republicans contenders are flunking. At the request of The Associated Press, eight climate and biological scientists graded for scientific accuracy what a dozen top candidates said in debates, interviews and tweets, using a 0 to 100 scale. To try to eliminate possible bias, the candidates' comments were stripped of names and given randomly generated numbers, so the professors would not know who made each statement they were grading. Also, the scientists who did the grading were chosen by professional scientific societies.”
PUBLIC LANDS, WILDERNESS, FOREST
Five Things I’m Thankful for This Season written by Mary Anne Hitt: “2. Strong support for the Clean Power Plan. This month, hundreds of volunteers and advocates turned out - yet again - for another round of Environmental Protection Agency public hearings on the Clean Power Plan. From Pittsburgh to Atlanta, and from DC to Denver, eight days of testimony were filled by supporters of clean energy and climate action. We heard from doctors and nurses, business and community leaders, parents and grandparents, and many others, who demonstrated the overwhelming public support for EPA’s plan to reduce carbon pollution from our biggest source - coal-fired power plants. 3. U.S. climate leadership. As international climate negotiations begin this weekend in Paris, the U.S. is providing leadership, thanks in large part to our work moving this country beyond coal. Earlier this month, we released a report that found our work to replace coal plants with clean energy has brought U.S. carbon emissions to the lowest levels since 1995, and as a result, the U.S. has led the world in cutting carbon over the past decade. Our national leadership is one of the main reasons that so many are optimistic about the results that will come from the Paris summit.”
A Message From Ken Salazar written by ban nock: “America’s national parks are our country’s masterpieces of nature and history. The Italians have the Coliseum, the French have the Mona Lisa, but we have Yosemite and Yellowstone. And, like the most famous castles and canvasses of Europe, we take for granted that our most prized places are safely guarded for future generations.’ Those words are from Ken Salazar, former Secretary of Interior, senator from my state, and all round good guy. The reason Ken is writing about our parks is because a large piece of budget neutral funding has been in limbo for a few months ever since it failed to get renewed in the House. (I’d highly recommend reading Ken’s own words at the link above, it’s not long and it’s a lot better than my post here.) The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is about as non controversial bi partisany piece of government to come down the pike. Oh, congress steals money out of it regularly, but never before have they killed the program by failing to renew it. Usually it’s about $300 million for doing good which is a ton of money for conservation. What Ken and a whole lot of other people like about the LWCF is that it funds the purchase of private inholdings within National Parks, Wilderness Areas, Wildlife Refuges etc. The fund allows us to shore up our public lands and make them whole. I like that it is used to buy access to public land that is inaccessible due to being blocked by private.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
The rich don't take the California drought seriously because they aren't made to written by Meteor Blades: “The reporters found that 365 California households had each pumped more than a million gallons of water during the year ending in April. A million gallons is enough for eight families a year, according to a state estimate. Of those households, 73 homes used more than 3 million gallons apiece. Fourteen used more than 6 million. Drawing heavily on the CIR investigation, The New York Times weighed in with its own piece Monday. It’s not just that the rich are guzzling far more than their fair share of the water. Because there are more than 400 separate state water districts, both public and private, all of them making up their own rules about how the conservation mandate is to be met, many low-income residents are paying fines while many of the rich go unpenalized. While the ‘Wet Prince’ keeps pumping water faster than it falls from the sky, folks like part-time food-service worker Debbie Alberts in Apple Valley 90 miles to the east of L.A. has, among other things, torn out her lawn and stopped showering every day. She only washes clothes once a week and flushes the toilet every third use. This has cut her usage in half, to 178 gallons a day. The “Wet Prince” consumes 30,000 gallons a day.”
MISCELLANY
Koch Industries Repeatedly Touts Marginal "Awards" As Evidence of Good Environmental Stewardship written by WeAreKochs: “At least as far back as 2009, Koch Industries has repeatedly touted awards and recognition from an organization called the Wildlife Habitat Council. Widely circulated press releases with titles like “Koch Industries Subsidiaries Honored by Wildlife Habitat Council” tout the company’s “achievements” while the official Koch Industries website even has an Environmental Stewardship page with the following text: Twelve Koch companies’ sites are accredited by Wildlife Habitat Council for employee-led conservation and environmental education programs. So, who is the Wildlife Habitat Council as what is their mission?Given that the corporate membership page includes companies like BP, Exxon-Mobil, Monsanto, Chevron, and, of course, Koch Industries, Inc. & Subsidiaries, it is immediately clear that this is not Greenpeace. Furthermore, both Exxon-Mobil and Monsanto have representatives on the organization’s board. In 2003, the organization also received a donation of $15,000 from the Charles G. Koch Foundation, according to Sourcewatch.”
"Environmental Goods." Really? written by Lee Anderson via bgalliance: “ For the last year and a half, while much of the world has been focused on two of the largest international trade agreements ever proposed—the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)—the United States has been simultaneously working on an under-the-radar trade agreement with a seemingly benign title, the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA). Working with 13 other World Trade Organization (WTO) members, the U.S., to hear the U.S. Trade Representative’s office tell it, has simply been negotiating the EGA in order to remove tariffs on hundreds of items deemed to be ‘environmental goods.’ So, what’s wrong with that, you ask? After all, wouldn’t it be great if environmentally beneficial things like clean energy technologies could be traded around the world as easily as possible? Well, maybe, but first we’d all have to agree what is meant by that innocent sounding term: environmental good. For instance, would you consider a yacht to be an environmental good? How about bulldozers, lasers or, my personal favorite, human blood? All those things, and many, many more items of uncertain relation to the environment are on a lengthy list of goods slated for inclusion in the EGA and, as a result, a removal of tariffs on their trade.”