carbon emissions
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Critical List: Gas prices could drop; Poland blocks E.U. carbon reforms
Gas prices could be heading down. Poland, which depends on coal-fired power, keeps vetoing European Union plans to crack down on carbon emissions. Climate scientists predicted the spread of mountain pine beetles, which due to warming temperatures are decimating tree populations in the American West. Andrew Steer, who was working at the World Bank as […]
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Nicaraguan military builds a battalion of climate-change-fighting soldiers
In Nicaragua, the military has a new mission — fighting climate change and, specifically, the illegal loggers that are exacerbating deforestation in the country. The Ecological Battalion’s 580 soldiers are currently engaging in Operation Green Gold, finding and intercepting loads of illegally logged timber.
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Iceland plans to turn excess carbon into stone
Instead of smokestacks belching carbon into the air, plants and factories in Iceland may soon have well injectors to push the greenhouse gases underground. You might think this would inflate the Earth like a balloon and lift it out of orbit (okay, you probably don’t think that, but it’s a good image). But in fact, […]
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Critical List: TransCanada reboots KeystoneXL; the most energy-dense battery ever
TransCanada is going to reapply for a Keystone XL permit and wants to start work on the Oklahoma-to-Texas portion of the pipeline. Envia Systems has created the most energy-dense battery ever, which could bring down the price of electric vehicles and extend their range. Rick Santorum thinks gas prices caused the recession. No, he really […]
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How to cut carbon emissions: Get rid of middle-aged people
Don’t trust anyone over 30 (or under 70) when it comes to carbon emissions. According to data from the Max Planck Institute, your individual emissions rise steeply from birth through the early 20s, then keep rising a little less sharply for the next 40 years. Your carbon footprint doesn’t peak until after age 60, at […]
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Critical List: Canadian minister hates tar-sands opposition; airlines charge for free carbon permits
Canada's natural resources minister is not happy that all of you with your "radical ideological agenda" think Canada's turning into a creepy petrostate.
Japan is releasing those three whaling activists who boarded a Japanese whaling vessel.
Carbon emissions are delaying the next ice age.
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Critical List: Patagonia becomes a Benefit Corporation; oil industry threatens Obama
Patagonia has become a Benefit Corporation, which means it can prioritize goals other than profit.
The oil industry is sending a message to Obama: Approve the Keystone XL pipeline, or face the political music in 2012.
It is possible to avoid earthquakes when disposing of fracking wastewater. It's just really, really expensive.
The U.S. isn't the only country leery of the EU's carbon trading airline scheme: China's protesting, too. -
A New Obsession
“This obsession with a legally binding treaty [to tackle climate change] is an obstacle for countries achieving targets they have committed to,” declared Paul Bledsoe, a climate change advisor to President Clinton. “What we need is national will to reach stated goals.” Given that the only international agreement so far, the Kyoto Protocol, expires in […]
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The Greenie Pig is on a (carbon) diet
I’ve become quite the calorie-counter lately. With the holiday season upon us, I’m really tightening my belt, carefully calculating the number of calories I’d consume from all kinds of daily choices and sniffing out ways to trim the buggers from my diet. Like many a calorie-counter before me can attest, it’s frustrating work. Of course, […]