Climate Climate & Energy

Public overwhelmingly opposes drilling on Coloradan plateau, say activists

Conservationists have analyzed public comments on a Bureau of Land Management proposal to drill for oil and gas on Colorado’s Roan Plateau and have come up with a tally: seven comments for drilling; approximately 42,000 against. Hm — guess it’s not a consensus then.

Coal plant application rejected in Washington

Another coal plant application denied. This one was stiffed because of a law Washington passed this year requiring that coal plant proposals include plans for carbon sequestration or, if that’s not possible, plans to purchase offsets in a commensurate amount. But you gotta start with the sequestration plan, and the application from Energy Northwest didn’t […]

Food prices going up, along with everything else

From an article in the Telegraph by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (Hat tip to Gristmill reader KO):

What has abruptly changed is the twin revolution of biofuel politics and Asia's switch to an animal-protein diet. Together, they have shattered the fragile equilibrium.

Investors who want to take advantage of agflation must tread with care, both for moral reasons and questions of timing.

Riiiight ... moral reasons.

The way I see it, you can go the PETA route and call the closest thing the environmental movement has to a hero (Nobel Laureate Al Gore) a hypocrite for eating meat, replete with a bulbous-nosed, pot-bellied caricature, or you can admonish your politicians to stop supporting biofuels. I suppose you could do both. I'm concentrating my firepower on the biofuel side of the equation.

Industrial agrofuels are still in their infancy. They have to be stopped now, before it's too late. As consumers, voters, and peaceful protesters, we have a measure of power. Let's start using it. Find an effective way to convince humanity to eat fewer animal products and I'll support that effort also.

More quotes from the article under the fold:

Notable quotable

“Here is my guess, and I know that I’m right. I will bet my car, in fact. Bush will come out, this president when he leaves office, will come out in the next decade or so as a strong advocate on behalf of ending global warming. He will be … he will have an environmentally […]

Northern Ireland and Japan plagued by jellyfish

We’re sure you have plenty of fodder for eco-nightmares, but let us add another: killer jellyfish. Last week, a horde of jellies covering an area of 10 square miles (!) attacked Northern Ireland’s only salmon farm, killing some 100,000 fish. The mauve stinger jellyfish were well north of their favored Mediterranean habitat, thanks to warmer-than-normal […]

There are some compelling reasons to focus on cleaning up rather than abandoning coal

In my previous post, I argued that if developing nations refuse to alter their escalating reliance on dirty coal, we’re all screwed. If they are willing to consider more expensive (at least in the short-term) options, the question then becomes, which alternatives are fastest, cheapest, most practicable, and most sustainable? "Clean coal" is one alternative. […]

World’s poor to be shafted most by climate change, U.N. report says

It’s official: The world’s poorest people will be the most screwed over by climate change and its ill effects, including drought, agricultural failures, water shortages, disease, flooding, and all the rest, according to a new report from the United Nations Development Program. “For millions of people, these are events that offer a one-way ticket to […]

Cheaper to power Nevada with renewables than coal, says consultancy

Nevada will end up with costlier power if it goes ahead with plans to build three new coal plants instead of relying on renewables, says a study from an independent economic consultancy. Higher construction costs and an inevitable tax on emissions will drive up costs of the black rock in the not-so-long run, according to […]

Is the analogy between climate change and Hitler’s atrocities appropriate?

Andy Revkin has an interesting post on Dot Earth about global warming and Holocaust analogies. On Oct. 22, climate scientist James Hansen testified before the utilities board in his home state of Iowa. He said, among 59 pages of other stuff, this: If we cannot stop the building of more coal-fired power plants, those coal […]

Palm oil may be certified sustainable, some greens skeptical

Hoping to quell criticism from biofuel bashers, palm-oil producers have drawn up criteria for certifying their product as sustainable. It’s a nice idea, but green group Friends of the Earth has threatened to withdraw its support of the standards, saying that Malaysia and Indonesia — which together produce nearly 85 percent of the world’s palm […]