Latest Articles
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Republican platform acknowledges climate change but spurns ‘no-growth’ radicalism
The Republican Party approved its 2008 platform yesterday, which it hailed in a press release as containing “the most aggressive and innovative energy policy in Republican Party history.” But the approved version differs significantly from earlier drafts in the climate and energy realm. This line, which appeared in an earlier draft, was dropped: “Increased atmospheric […]
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Snippets from the news
• Efforts to clean up Naples trash blocked by the mob. • Amazon deforestation jumped 69 percent in last year. • Melting of Greenland ice sheet could lead to accelerated sea-level rise. • Are fireflies endangered? • Climate change could mean less plague. • Rajendra Pachauri reelected as head of IPCC.
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RNC: Spotted in downtown St. Paul
A T-shirt: “The Bible talks all about St. Paul. It doesn’t mention Minneapolis.” Civic pride!
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Deniers’ talking points spread via the same process as that of all urban legends
John McGrath, a contributor to Grist, made an important comparison between how the internet contributes to making urban legends look legitimate and how it is used in spreading climate chaos denialism: It highlights the odd dynamic of the Internet: tiny, vocal, crazy-ass minorities can nevertheless be numerous enough on the Internet to appear more impressive […]
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Wis. utilities want customers to cover all fuel volatility
Wisconsin’s five regulated electric utilities have asked to have fuel increases in gas and coal costs automatically passed along to their customers rather than wait until they can file a formal rate case. Their regulator said no. In a bizarre bit of doublespeak, the utilities argued that passing 100 percent of fuel volatility risk along […]
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Conclusions of ‘hockey stick’ graph stand up to further scrutiny
The infamous “hockey stick” graph, which shows the northern hemisphere beginning to rapidly warm around the industrial age, has been backed up by new research. Michael Mann, who helped develop the 1998 graph that climate skeptics love to hate, is the lead author of the new study to be published in the Proceedings of the […]
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Palin asked folks to pray for natural-gas pipeline
The Huffington Post did some digging on the church that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin spent most of her life attending. Apparently the church films and posts all of its services. In June, Palin gave a speech to the graduating class of commission students at her former church, Wasilla Assembly of God. In the video, […]
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EPA puts kibosh on wetland-destructive Army Corps project
The U.S. EPA has vetoed a giant, expensive plan to build the world’s largest water pump in the Mississippi River delta. The so-called Yazoo Pump flood-control project would have sucked 6 million gallons of water a minute from 67,000 acres of wetlands along the Yazoo River. The scheme, proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of […]
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A presidential pop quiz on energy, water, scientific integrity, oceans, and climate change
Barack Obama’s answers to the 14 top science questions facing America. (McCain is still working on his answers.)
