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Groups urge action as report finds black Americans are more likely to suffer in changing climate

A new report finds that African-Americans in the United States will suffer the effects of climate change more severely than white Americans. They are twice as likely to live in cities where the heat-island effect makes already-high temperatures more severe. They’re also likely to be “fuel poor.” Increases in energy demand due to greater use […]

The jig is up

Mainstream news is catching on to Big Oil greenwashing:

Low doses of radiation can cause harm; coal plants worse than nuclear plants

The effect of radiation is not a subject I blog on a great deal, although it is a subject I have studied a great deal. Indeed, my uncle, a former nuclear physics professor at MIT, started our family Radon testing business, which was sold off years ago.

I asserted that people should be worried about low doses of radiation, especially cumulatively over time. Charles Barton of The Nuclear Green Revolution commented, "Your low doses over time assertion has been repeatedly falsified by empirical studies." Quite the reverse is true. As the National Research Council's Committee to Assess Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation (!) reported definitively three years ago:

Notable quotable

"Listen, I'm skinny but I'm tough."

-- Barack Obama as quoted in a Wall Street Journal article that questions if he is too fit to be president.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory has new climate website that shows global sea-level trends

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a very good new website on global climate change. It offers a nice summary of the relevant science in a variety of areas: key indicators, evidence, causes, effects, uncertainties, and solutions. The website is a good place to send people who are uninformed on global warming, but looking for basic information.

JPL has a very nice front-page banner with pulldown menus providing data on "Vital Signs of the Planet," including Arctic sea ice, carbon dioxide, sea level rise, global temperature, and the ozone hole. Here is the expanded chart showing the recent 70 percent jump in sea level rise:

Trash becomes treasure for this freegan

We’ve written about freegans many times before, but this video shows exactly what kind of treasures are sometimes thrown out with the trash:

McCain says he trusts Big Oil over energy and economic experts

John McCain said today that he believes what Big Oil says about the amount of oil still available in the United States’ outer continental shelf, rather than estimates offered by energy experts, economists, and the government’s Energy Information Administration. A questioner in the crowd at the National Urban League conference in Orlando, Fla., asked the […]

Snippets from the news

• U.K. is delusional that it’s cutting emissions. • Canada releases climate change report, denies playing it down. • Lawsuit brought in Everglades, sugar deal. • Brazil launches fund to preserve Amazon. • Aral Sea restoration a “partial success.” • Lakota radio station installs wind turbine.

Notable quotable

"The military-industrial complex needs enemies."

-- Brian Williams, news anchor of NBC, on The Daily Show with John Stewart, July 31, 2008.

The WSJ alleges that our use of hybrids increases oil prices

The Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital blog is a must-read. But what exactly were they thinking with this column:

So you think you're being virtuous by trading in the SUV for, say, a Prius? What if, instead, you're really sticking the next guy in line with higher pump prices?

Yes, The WSJ is revoking the law of supply and demand. Less demand translates into higher pump prices! How is this possible, you ask?