Climate Climate & Energy
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Al Gore does both
Both: “What we’re facing worldwide really is a planetary emergency,” Gore said. “I’m optimistic, but we’re losing this battle badly.” That’s in an article about Al Gore at the Aspen Institute. It’s going to take a 90-percent decrease in carbon emissions from developed fossil fuel guzzlers like the U.S. and a 50-percent decrease worldwide to […]
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Just Call Us the Rainmakers
Study confirms connection between human activity and increased rainfall A study led by Canadian scientists shows that peeps have an effect on precip: “For the first time, climate scientists have clearly detected the human fingerprint on changing global precipitation patterns over the past century,” the team says. Comparing rainfall records from 1925 to 1999 against […]
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Viva Zap
Canada, U.S., Mexico sign five-year energy pact Will an energy pact between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico pave the way for alternative fuels or grease the skids for business as usual? Maybe a little of both. The five-year agreement, signed yesterday by Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Gary Lunn, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, and […]
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They exist
In an unsigned editorial, the L.A. Times makes the case against nuclear power. IMHO, the strongest stuff comes at the bottom: The accelerating threat of global warming requires innovation and may demand risk-taking, but there are better options than nuclear power. A combination of energy-efficiency measures, renewable power like wind and solar, and decentralized power […]
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Necessary
This op-ed from Rick Cole, city manager of Ventura, Calif., will be music to the ears of all you Gristians: The feel-good stage of California’s leadership on global warming is unsustainable. Kudos to the pop stars with their calls to switch lightbulbs and unplug cellphone chargers when not in use. But we can’t pretend that […]
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Just stay out of it, won’t you?
In an article about the Bush administration’s halting, grudging baby steps toward maybe, somewhat, possibly considering the eensiest-beensiest mandatory restrictions on carbon emissions, perhaps, some day, if it doesn’t cost any industry any money, we get this beautiful capper of a final paragraph: A number of big businesses, including some oil, chemical and utility companies, […]
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In which I rejoice
Count me among those rejoicing: Citigroup analyst John Hill downgraded coal company stocks across the board in a report this week, saying that expected U.S. greenhouse gas regulations on coal, which emits more of the main heat-trapping gas carbon dioxide than any other fuel, paint a bleak outlook for the sector. Downward pressure on stock […]
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My product rules!
So, I’m reading this incredibly weak defense of corn ethanol, and I’m thinking, "who the hell would put their name on this swill?" Then I get to the bottom: Robert Gallant is president and chief executive officer of GreenField Ethanol, Canada’s largest ethanol producer. Ah.
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Thames Fugit
England walloped by historic floods It’s a “summer of suffering” in England, as severe flooding wreaks havoc across the country. This weekend, floods in the central and southern part of the country left more than 350,000 people without drinking water and forced the evacuation of hundreds from their homes. The worst part, observers say, is […]
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Madness Takes Its Toll
Siberia attack leaves one anti-nuclear protester dead, others injured A pre-dawn attack on an anti-nuclear protest camp in Siberia this weekend left one person dead and several others seriously injured. Twenty suspects have been detained for the crime, in which attackers wearing dark clothes and masks brandished metal pipes, chanted nationalist slogans, attempted to set […]
