Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.
Tonight's editor: LaughingPlanet
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While the most useless branch of gov't in history Senate is on hiatus, the gusher in the gulf continues to be more persistent, destructive, and annoying than the gopher in the golf. Perhaps a similar "solution" will be enacted someday.
Also, more green tea leaves will be read about the current status of s3516, the climate bill being formed in the Senate.
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Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.
Quote of the day:
Inclimate weather seems "to contradict Al Gore’s hysterical global warming theories."
- Sean Hannity
With record heat crushing the entire eastern time zone this week, the only good news to be found is that evil, lying rat-bastards like the Manatee have STFU about their pro big oil propaganda for a few days.
As for the weather....
Extreme Heat, a Public Health Emergency, Will Be More Frequent and Severe
Many more US cities projected to join the ranks of Phoenix and Dallas as century progresses
Jul 7, 2010
The intense heat wave that is gripping the crowded metropolitan corridor and toppling records from Washington, DC to Boston, with temperatures hovering near or just above 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the first full week of July, is raising questions about whether events like this are likely to become more common and/or severe as the climate warms in response to greenhouse gas emissions.
The short answer: yes and yes, but with an important caveat. No individual extreme weather event — including this heat wave — can be caused by climate change. Rather, what climate change does is shift the odds in favor of certain events.
TOP PRIORITY!
Watch this video!
NOW.
http://www.youtube.com/...
h/t pakalolo.
Even if you have seen it before.
We need this more than ever.
And if you are REALLY SOOOOOooo busy that you can't take 4 minutes to watch the whole thing, then start at the 3-minute mark and watch to the end from there.
Lyrics:
BLACK WATER (BP version)
Well I spilled something black when my oil rig exploded
The whole mess is icky, and they say I’m to blame
Catfish are floatin’, all the beaches are closin’
Black water keeps rollin’ ashore, what a shame
Old black water, keeps on flowin'
Fill the Gulf soon, but we'll keep refinin’ BP
Old black water, keeps on growin’
Executive goons, we’re nickel-and-dimin' BP
Old black water, keeps on rollin’
Up the Mississippi soon, gotta keep on lyin’ BP
Yeah keep on lyin’ tonight
Gotta say anything, shareholders gotta think everything’s all right
And our high-priced attorneys, say we ain't got no worries, at all
Now if folks complain, I don’t care, don’t make no difference to me
I’ll just ask Congress for a sweet ol’ bail-out
Yeah, I’m gonna meet some oily bureaucrats who'd like to play along
And I’ll be buying all my buddies drinks all 'round
Old black water, beached petroleum
Fill the Delta soon, we won’t be resignin’ BP
Old black water, reachin’ Pensacola
Environmental loons, they're picket-linin' BP
Old black water, up to Minnesota
Raise the price of crude, that's the silver linin', BP
And keep on lyin’ tonight
Gotta say anything, tree-huggers gotta think everything’s all right
With the world at our mercy, it’s the Gulf of New Jersey
We’re gonna screw up most of Dixieland
‘Less Obama gives a big ol’ helping hand
We need a hand (out!)
Got our hand out (hey Obama!)
Some cash would be grand, that’s all we want
We tried golf balls, top kills, Costner fans
But nobody stopped the oil from reaching land
We tried a dam (damn!)
Even cans of Spam (hey, we're desperate!)
And we've locked and loaded a nucular bomb
We're gonna smear some gunk on Dixieland
Give the brown pelicans a darker tan
Dixieland (tan!)
Give the birds a tan (instant bronzer!)
Don'tcha stress 'bout the dolphins 'cause they're all gone
It's like the Gulf got drunk at Disneyland
Then vomited all over Lousianne
Disneyland (land!)
Up to Ketchikan (and Sri Lanka!)
We make Katrina look like a little cold front
All the shrimp and frogs and fish be damned
Soccer mama gotta fuel her minivan
Caravan (van!)
Honda minivan (hockey mama!)
Gotta drive to the Wal-Mart all day long
No need to import oil from Pakistan
When it’s lying all over the Alabama sand
Screw Iran (yeah!)
And Afghanistan (and Venezuela!)
We'll just go to the beach and grab tar balls
We gotta feed the grease monkey on your back
Everybody better cut us lots of slack
Cut us slack (slack!)
Cut us lots of slack (hey Obama!)
Yeah we knew this might happen all along
You can show its creator some love here. Proceeds from each CD or album-download sale go to the Environmental Defense Fund.
And don't think for a second the suits at BP never see or hear about these things.
They do.
The attached video was "BP spills coffee," which has been viewed almost 9 million times in the last month.
How did Dudley respond? He spoke of the effect on BP’s employees, saying: "It makes their shoulders go down because they feel terrible about what happened."
Now that you're in a better mood (after watching that video), you are ready for the eco news.
Hint: It's mostly bad.
Most eco wonks have recently adopted a gloomier outlook for the prospect of legislation to address the largest and most dire problem in the history of mankind.
David Roberts @ Grist says it's "a safe wager that cap-and-trade won't make it over the finish line this year."
Others have even gloomier views on what might pass the Senate this year.
David Doniger write about How an energy bill could fuel more global warming.
What say you guys?
Where do we got from here?
Item 7 from Roberts' piece above is the rosiest lense to peer thru:
Terry Tamminen: I would stop focusing on the glass that's empty and focus instead on the one that's full. We already have a price on carbon in 10 Northeastern states, at least as it pertains to the electricity sector, under RGGI [Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative]. We are in the final stages of designing a similar cap-and-trade system in the majority of the Western states, and the Midwestern states have said they'll copy what we do. So by 2012, regardless of what Congress does, if we support these state actions -- which are much more deeply rooted and have a lot more political support and practical demonstration of success -- we are much more likely to have a price on carbon in the U.S. in the near-term.
These next three items all come via RLMiller. Show her some love for her eco-wonkiness.
Breaking!
CBO scores Kerry-Lieberman as big deficit cutter:
http://www.cbo.gov/...
Warning: (9 pg pdf)
From mark louis' diary on the subject today:
CBO and JCT estimate that enacting this legislation would increaserevenues by about $751 billion over the 2011-2020 period and direct spending by $732 billion over that 10-year period. In total, CBO and JCT estimate that enacting the legislation would reduce future deficits by about $19 billion over the 2011-2020 period (see the following table). CBO estimates that enacting this legislation would not increase the deficit in any of the four 10-year periods following 2020 because additional direct spending would be less than the additional net revenues attributable to the legislation in each of those periods.
This is a better deficit reduction than the ACES bill that passed the House of Representatives last year. That bill would reduce the deficit by $9 billion. It does not perform as well as the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, passed by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. CEJAPA reduces the deficit by $21 billion.
EPA tells old coal power plants to upgrade pollution controls.
A new rule aims to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide around and downwind of old coal-fired power plants east of the Mississippi, in keeping with an Obama campaign promise.
In a move that portends cleaner air in communities east of the Mississippi River, the Obama administration cracked down Tuesday on smog- and soot-forming pollution from coal-fired power plants in 31 states and the District of Columbia.
The proposed rule, which follows through on one of President Obama's campaign promises, renews an attempt by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce pollution in areas around coal plants and in states downwind where air quality is hampered by sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.
Waxman: State Dept. review of Canadian pipeline ignores environmental impact.
The chair of the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee is challenging the Obama administration’s review of a proposed pipeline transporting tar sands-based crude oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries for ignoring its impact on climate change.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), in a letter sent Friday to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and made public Tuesday, said the department has "failed to analyze the most significant environmental impacts" of TransCanada's Keystone XL project. The department’s permitting review also "lacks transparency and limits the ability of other relevant agencies to participate," he wrote.
"This pipeline is a multi-billion dollar investment to expand our reliance on the dirtiest source of transportation fuel currently available," Waxman wrote. The State Department’s decision whether to permit the project "represents a critical choice about America’s energy future," he added.
Warren S never sleeps, I tells ya:
It was only a few months ago that climate-change deniers were trumpeting the unusual snowfall in Washington, DC as proof that global warming was a hoax. Senator Jim DeMint said, "It’s going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries ‘Uncle,’ " and Senator James Inhofe built an igloo with Gore’s name on it. And at the time, people who understood even a little bit about science knew that climate scientists had predicted exactly what was happening: more extreme weather events, everywhere. Extreme snow, extreme rain, extreme heat. Now an early-July heat wave is debilitating cities throughout the Northeast. Is the heat wave proof of global warming? No — local weather doesn’t prove anything by itself. But the fact that more places all over the globe are experiencing unusual and destructive weather than ever before is a confirmation that climatologists had it right all along. When will the rest of us pay attention?
Thanks, Warren.
Keep up the great work!
And yes, we steal your letters!
:-)
Image? ...hmmm....
gimme a sec....
Thanks, Twitter.
Oil and gas drilling threatens Utah's Redrock Wilderness.
The Obama Administration has taken important steps to protect redrock country, but now these wildlands must be permanently safeguarded.
It took millions of years to create the delicate sandstone arches and swirling crimson towers that rise over southern Utah's Redrock Wilderness. But it would take only days for unbridled oil and gas development to destroy this world-renowned natural treasure.
We have learned that our beloved eKos widget code is very sick. We are monitoring her vitals, but she seems to be beyond repair. We will send good thoughts her way as she passes away into a world without volcanoes of oil.
And of course, she will soon be reincarnated as a bigger, better, and stronger widget code soon.
(All times Eastern!)
Today's eKos diaries:
Author | Diary | Time | Tags |
Gulf watchers |
BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 43 |
07/07/10 06:00AM Eastern |
Oilpocalypse, BP, Recommended, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico |
chefdan |
CRU climate scientists 'did not withold data' |
07/07/10 09:39AM Eastern |
climate change, climatgate, eKos |
Duino |
Independence Day Along Gulf (w/ photos) |
07/07/10 11:31AM Eastern |
tar balls, Deepwater Horizon, BP, oil spill, Florida |
mark louis |
A Bill That Reduces the Deficit & Creates Jobs |
07/07/10 02:06PM Eastern |
American Power Act, renewable energy, deficit, jobs, Senator John Kerry |
The Food Forest Part II - Strategies for Urban Green Infrastructure
by environmentalist
Gangster Octopus |
Independent Review of 'Climategate': NO Dishonesty |
07/07/10 02:22PM Eastern |
Climategate, global warming, eKos |
grannycarol |
Climate Change Has Changed Me |
07/07/10 02:33PM Eastern |
climate change, global warming, gardening, perennials, eKos |
Keith Pickering |
Yet another panel exonerates climate e-mailers |
07/07/10 02:52PM Eastern |
climategate, CRU, hacked emails, Michael Mann, George Will |
Richard Lyon |
The Future Of Water In California |
07/07/10 03:08PM Eastern |
eKos, California water |
Yesterday's eKos diaries:
Author | Diary | Time | Tags |
Meteor Blades |
Green diary rescue & open thread |
07/06/10 12:10AM Eastern |
green diary rescue, Mike Stagg, green, environment, ekos |
Steven D |
Global Cooling is the Hoax |
07/06/10 12:59AM Eastern |
eKos, Climate Change, Global Warming, Global Warming Skeptics, Global Warming Denialists |
Gulf watchers |
BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 42 |
07/06/10 06:00AM Eastern |
Recommended, Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico |
vets74 |
BP Oil Disaster v4.1: Pics & Vids & Media Lies |
07/06/10 08:44AM Eastern |
BP oil disaster, Greenpeace, British Petroleum, Halliburton, Coast Guard |
Britethorn |
New BP Scheme |
07/06/10 11:53AM Eastern |
BP, Commercial, Clean Up, British Petroleum, McDonalds |
Jed Lewison |
Tar balls make their way into Lake Pontchartrain |
07/06/10 12:00PM Eastern |
BP, Oil, Lake Pontchartrain, NOLA, Gulf Coast |
Lowell Feld NRDC Action Fund |
More Nails in the Coffins of the Climate Change Deniers |
07/06/10 12:43PM Eastern |
Climate change, Clean Energy, NRDC Action Fund, Michael Mann, IPCC |
rperks |
Mountaintop Prison a Bust |
07/06/10 04:45PM Eastern |
appalachia, dirtycoal, mountaintopmining, mountaintopremoval, MTR |
Gorette |
BP exposed. 1/500th of the oil.... skimmed. Promises. |
07/06/10 05:04PM Eastern |
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, BP, skimming, journalism, eKos |
Richard Lyon |
The Exploitation Of Water In California |
07/06/10 05:13PM Eastern |
eKos, California, Water, irrigation, Rescued |
Troubadour |
Personal Energy Independence: A Thought Experiment |
07/06/10 05:42PM Eastern |
energy, economics, energy independence, clean energy, renewable energy |
ericlewis0 |
Animal NUZ: An Original DKos Exclusive Cartoon Strip |
07/06/10 07:12PM Eastern |
Animal Nuz, News, Satire, Cartoon, eKos |
RLMiller |
Hike On! Chasing the Sky in Sequoia National Park |
07/06/10 08:07PM Eastern |
Recommended, Hike On, eKos, Sequoia National Park, personal |
Ellinorianne |
Some Good Advice for an Environmentally Friendly Beach Trip |
07/06/10 08:43PM Eastern |
Summer, ekos, beach, picnics |
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