Climate Climate & Energy
All Stories
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Target Practice
BP fires up carbon-offset program Oil giant BP, eager to show that it’s Beyond (all the) Petroleum (it’s leaked on the Alaskan tundra), has launched a carbon-offset program for drivers in the U.K. The new “targetneutral” website lets drivers log on to estimate their car’s annual carbon dioxide emissions, then calculate how much they should […]
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How “merchant coal” is changing the face of America
From his rolling green soybean fields above a slow river in eastern Iowa, Don Shatzer looks out over the farm where he was raised, across land he and his neighbors have farmed all their lives. Below him are the garden beds where his wife Linda grows organic vegetables to safeguard the family’s health, and the […]
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Be Careful What You Don’t Wish For
FBI investigates Illinois environmental activist Add Jim Bensman of Alton, Ill., to your ever-growing list of People the Feds Think You Should Fear. Mild-mannered Bensman is a coordinator with an environmental group (terror level yellow!). In late July, he attended an Army Corps of Engineers public meeting on the proposed construction of a fish-bypass channel […]
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Is It Frogs Next, or Locusts?
Warmer climate could lead to increased bubonic plague Ever feel like we live in End Times? Well, you may be right. Apparently, in coming years we can expect more bubonic plague — yes, plague, as in “bring out your dead!” Researchers publishing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that a rise […]
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To Everything, Tern, Tern, Tern
Buzzards Bay wind farm faces tough obstacles Amidst the hype over the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound, developer Jay Cashman unveiled a proposal to erect up to 120 wind turbines in nearby Buzzards Bay. But a recent report by Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs Stephen Pritchard concludes that Cashman’s project would violate state law […]
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Damned If … OK, Just Damned
CFC alternatives contribute to global warming When signatories to the 1989 Montreal Protocol phased out ozone-depleting, heat-trapping chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in foams and refrigerants, most replaced them with more-ozone-friendly-but-still-heat-trapping hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Too bad: HCFCs and HFCs will add the equivalent of 2 billion to 3 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere by […]
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Yes, Virginia, There Is Global Warming
Va. governor asks climate skeptic to avoid state climatologist title Patrick Michaels is a noted skeptic about global warming, cited frequently in the mainstream press and funded amply by fossil-fuel interests. He goes by the title of “Virginia state climatologist.” That makes the commonwealth of Virginia uncomfortable, apparently, and it seems determined to distance itself […]
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Hey Man, Nice DOT
More Alaska drilling proposed as DOT considers new pipeline regulations Spurred by oil giant BP’s many Alaska leaks, the Department of Transportation will soon propose tighter rules for minor petroleum pipelines. BP’s North Slope lines were exempt from certain federal regulations because they operated at low pressure in a rural area, and weren’t near commercially […]
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IMBY
Residential wind systems gain popularity It’s somewhat ironic, considering all the NIMBY opposition to wind farms, that more and more consumers are seeking out wind power for, well, their back yards. Three-bladed turbines are popping up at personal abodes across the country, with the potential to save consumers 30 to 90 percent on their electric […]
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Spill ‘er Up!
Oil spills from Japanese and Philippine tankers It’s been an oil-spillarific few days. A Japanese tanker, en route from Jordan, collided yesterday with a distressed cargo ship and spilled about 1.4 million gallons of crude into the eastern Indian Ocean. The ship’s owner claims the spill has been contained and there’s no need to clean […]
