Renewable Revolution

Environment => Catastrophic Climate Change => Topic started by: AGelbert on October 17, 2013, 07:43:24 pm


Title: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 17, 2013, 07:43:24 pm
Here’s where you’re most likely to die from air pollution

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Feoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov%2Fimages%2Fimagerecords%2F82000%2F82087%2Fpollution_excess_deaths_lrg.png&hash=5ea8f6b888def6ad777fa4c3dd938b803a86a180)
http://grist.org/climate-energy/heres-where-youre-most-likely-to-die-from-air-pollution[/ (http://grist.org/climate-energy/heres-where-youre-most-likely-to-die-from-air-pollution)
Title: Turning This Latino Farmworker Town Into A Toxic Wasteland
Post by: AGelbert on October 21, 2013, 03:51:06 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4qaHCFaF9I&feature=player_embedded
The Dirty Business Of Turning This Latino Farmworker Town Into A Toxic Wasteland
http://www.mycuentame.org/toxicwasteland (http://www.mycuentame.org/toxicwasteland)
Title: U.N. lists air pollution as carcinogen
Post by: AGelbert on October 21, 2013, 08:16:45 pm
U.N. lists air pollution as carcinogen

By John Upton

If you want to avoid lung cancer, the United Nation’s cancer-research body has some advice for you: Don’t breathe.  :P   >:(

The International Agency for Research on Cancer on Thursday added air pollution, and the particulate matter that it contains, to its list of carcinogens.

The airborne poisons were classified as “Group 1″ carcinogens, meaning there is “sufficient evidence” that they cause cancer in humans. They are mostly produced through the burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, power plants, and stoves.

And it’s not just lung cancer that can be triggered by air pollution. In a statement [PDF], the agency noted “a positive association” between polluted air and bladder cancer.

“Our task was to evaluate the air everyone breathes rather than focus on specific air pollutants,” agency official Dana Loomis told Reuters. “The results from the reviewed studies point in the same direction: the risk of developing lung cancer is significantly increased in people exposed to air pollution.”

The decision follows findings that air pollution killed 3.2 million people in 2010, including 233,000 cancer-related deaths. Most of the deaths occurred in India, China, and other developing countries with large populations. The Clean Air Act helped dramatically clean up the air that Americans breathe, but anybody who has visited Los Angeles or California’s Central Valley knows that problems persist in the West.

Air pollution and particulate matter now join a list [PDF] (http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Classification/ClassificationsGroupOrder.pdf), nicknamed the encyclopedia of carcinogens,  that also contains such nasties as
asbestos,
plutonium,
hepatitis, and
tobacco smoke. Oh, and
sun rays,
estrogen therapy,
Chinese-style salted fish, and
booze.


Source

Outdoor air pollution a leading environmental cause of cancer deaths, IARC
 (http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/iarcnews/pdf/pr221_E.pdf)

UN agency calls outdoor air pollution leading cause of cancer, Reuters (http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/10/17/cancer-pollution-idINL6N0I63Q220131017)


John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

http://grist.org/news/u-n-lists-air-pollution-as-carcinogen
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 22, 2013, 11:04:18 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za4r5uWj4AY&feature=player_embedded
Title: Our Responsibility to Care for the Biosphere; REAL Christians Tell it like it IS
Post by: AGelbert on October 25, 2013, 09:15:02 pm

Environmental engineering

‘We continue to abuse the environment as a convenient dump for increasing amounts of wastes, including large quantities of man-made toxic materials. Our efforts to control the risks have had limited success, but have made us painfully aware of how little is known about natural processes and our created life support system. This environmental crisis, which is to a considerable degree the result of greed—a desire to have more and more material possessions— has now reached a critical point where the damage may not be reversible in time to prevent a major catastrophe.

As a Christian who believes we cannot separate our stewardship role from our faith, I believe it is a spiritual issue, a wake-up call from God to greater holiness. The majority of Christians, including myself, have bought into an economic system based on unlimited growth and, hence, unlimited consumption of the Earth’s resources. Materialism—more and bigger cars, houses, gadgets, etc.—interferes with our stewardship obligations, as well as our spiritual growth.’

Dr Lambert Otten,
Director, School of Engineering
Professor of Biological Engineering
Professor of Environmental Engineering
University of Guelph, Canada.


 
Environmental science

‘The Bible teaches that the Curse on nature will end—nature will be restored to its original splendour (Acts 3:21), sharing in the effects of redemption (Romans 8:19–23). Biblical visions of this restoration are of people and nature once again in harmony.

‘Christians are part of a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We share the Gospel message with many people, even though we know that probably only a few will respond. Likewise, we ought to be willing to care for creation, even though we know we can’t bring full restoration.

It is therefore right to care for the natural environment, provided it does not conflict with another Scripture principle. Too often we waste and misuse God’s possessions, like the manager in Luke 16:1 wasted his master’s possessions.’

Dr George Hawke
Senior Environmental Consultant
Pacific Power International, Sydney, Australia.



Environmental management

‘The principle of Ecologically Sustainable Development has been widely accepted by governments all over the world since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. One of its main principles is inter-generational equity, i.e. we shouldn’t eat now the future of our children. It’s not hard to see Biblical ethics behind this idea.’

Geoff Meadows
Manager–Environmental Planning
Environmental Protection Agency, Cairns, Australia.



References and notes

1. This current of warm water from the tropics is probably ‘driven’ by cold water sinking in the freezing Arctic. Return to text.
2. Impact # 339, Acts and Facts, September 2001. Return to text. 
3. Hugh Mackay, The Adelaide Advertiser , 2 May 1990. Return to text.
4. Batten, D., What! … no potatoes?, Creation  21(1):12—14, 1998. Return to text.
5. Some say that a consistent evolutionist should not complain about extinction because it is part of evolution. This is true, but may be a little unfair. The evolutionist believes that it took a very long time for nature to create these things, and that the abnormal selection pressure applied by mankind nowadays is forcing extinction to occur at a far greater rate than new ones could possibly evolve. Return to text.
6. For a discussion of the problem of how ‘bad’ things arose post-Fall, see Chapter 6 of The 7. Creation Answers Book,  Creation Ministries International, Brisbane, 2006. Return to text.
7. Singer, P. (Ed.), In Defence of Animals, Basil Blackwell Limited, Oxford, p. 6, 1985. Return to text.
8. Time, p. 57, 26 March 1990. Return to text.
9. Frey, R. & G., Journal of Medical Ethics  9:94–97, 1983. Return to text.

Fouling the nest  Christianity and the environment (http://creation.com/fouling-the-nest)
Title: The case for a revenue-neutral carbon tax
Post by: AGelbert on October 26, 2013, 09:52:16 pm
The case for a revenue-neutral carbon tax

By John D. Kelley

“Men argue. Nature acts.” Voltaire

No argument will prevent ice from changing into water when the temperature shifts from 32 degrees Fahrenheit to 33 degrees Fahrenheit. The climate of our planet is not controlled by wishes and opinions, it only responds to the natural forces that drive it.


There is no longer any credible scientific debate that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases caused by human activities are warming the Earth in dangerous ways. Worldwide, people are experiencing the effects of climate change with sea level rise, bigger storms, larger floods, extreme heat, longer droughts, and huge wildfires. Four of the five largest wildfires in California history have occurred since 2003. The Rim Fire currently burning near Yosemite is the third largest. It has burned over 400 square miles. >:(

We have a moral responsibility to future generations to take powerful action now to moderate climate change by severely curtailing our greenhouse gas emissions. A revenue-neutral carbon tax that would change the economics of energy and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions is getting support across the political spectrum. The essence of this concept is to tax carbon production and return 100% of the proceeds equally to all citizens. This is a powerful way to cause a shift away from carbon fuels while protecting American families from higher energy prices. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F128fs318181.gif&hash=eff6d5f3831782966c2ff2081f07bf7fc5b22a6b)

 A growing number of people believe that a national carbon tax is the most efficient, transparent, and enforceable mechanism to drive an effective and fair transition to a clean energy economy. To make the economic transition as smooth as possible the tax would start small and increase annually and predictably. At the same time fossil fuel subsidies would be phased out. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F128fs318181.gif&hash=eff6d5f3831782966c2ff2081f07bf7fc5b22a6b)This would mean that energy prices would be predictable for people and businesses.

A national carbon tax would be easy to administer. The tax would be charged at first point-of-sale, the mine, wellhead, or border crossing, and would be collected by the IRS. The funds would be placed in a Carbon Tax Trust Fund and rebated to American households. All adult citizens would receive equal monthly dividends and families would also receive ½ share per child under 18 years old, with a limit of 2 child-shares per family. It is estimated that 70% of families would see a net increase in income.

A national carbon tax would be reconciled with existing state programs such as California’s cap and trade system. There are several ways this would be done: 1. Preemption 2. Stacking 3. Integration.

In Preemption, the CA program would cease to function once the federal law took effect.

In Stacking, the program would continue to function as is on top of the federal regulations.

In Integration, the state and federal programs would work together. To ensure that U.S. made goods remain competitive in international markets carbon tax equivalent tariffs would be charged for goods entering the U.S. from countries without equivalent carbon pricing while carbon tax rebates would reduce the price of exports to those countries. These tariffs and rebates would provide an incentive for international adoption of carbon taxes.

Five years ago British Columbia implemented a revenue-neutral carbon tax. It gradually added to the cost of fossil fuels while cutting both personal and corporate income taxes. A recent study reports that BC’s use of petroleum fuels has dropped by 15.1%.” The study also finds that BC’s “personal and corporate income tax rates are now the the lowest in Canada, due to the carbon tax shift.

Perhaps we are finally approaching a political tipping point regarding climate change policies. Currently the Environmental Protection Agency is under court order to issue climate change rules. The fossil fuel industry is fearful of what the EPA may do, so there is a new congressional debate over climate change policy. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websmileys.com%2Fsm%2Fviolent%2Fsterb029.gif&hash=7a43a0c106eab798f7ba6133dc5cc550647a03d2)As part of this national debate a revenue-neutral carbon tax must be considered.  It would be efficient, transparent, and enforceable because market decisions would select the best clean energy programs and technologies, and the dividends would stimulate the economy. By acting now to implement a revenue-neutral carbon tax we can create a stronger economy and ensure a more livable climate for our children and grandchildren. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl3.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F465%2F465823jzy0y15obs.gif&hash=797efc3cdc025a8263ef125725aae969446489c3)


John D. Kelley AIA, an award-winning architect, specializes in healthy, environmentally-friendly home design. A former President of AIA Santa Barbara, he is a founding member of several local volunteer groups including: The Sustainability Project, the Green Building Alliance, and the Mesa Architects. As a concerned citizen he advocates for immediate action to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

http://citizensclimatelobby.org/oct-11-2013-oped-in-pacific-coast-business-times/
Title: Wide Support For EPA Across State & Party Lines
Post by: AGelbert on October 30, 2013, 07:58:06 pm
Wide Support For EPA Across State & Party Lines  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F128fs318181.gif&hash=eff6d5f3831782966c2ff2081f07bf7fc5b22a6b)


Fighting emissions regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency must be a winning national electoral issue, right? Otherwise why would so many politicians fight so hard to allow power plants to keep spewing pollution into the air?

Um, not so much. :o  ;D  An overwhelming majority of voters in swing states across the country support EPA action to limit the amount of carbon power plants can emit, according to a new survey from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV).

By wide margins, voters in 11 states considered in play for 2014 Senate elections not only support emissions regulation, but trust EPA to administer the policy and say they’re less likely to vote for candidates who either oppose EPA’s proposal or deny climate change.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fcleantechnica.com%2Ffiles%2F2013%2F10%2F2013-10-28-lcvhartgraphic.jpg&hash=c7f3b8b13d1b3681f9bc500af799bc99fbe7b32b)


74% of voters support EPA’s proposals to limit power plant emissions. That support cuts across states Barack Obama (73%) and Mitt Romney (73%) as well as party identification for Democrats (92%), independents (72%), and Republicans (58%). “The anti-environmental message is a losing argument with the American people,” blogged Gene Karpinski, LCV President.

The LCV poll derived these findings from telephone interviews on October 9-13 with 1,113 likely voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Virginia.

It’s also probably not surprising to learn the public wants EPA to regulate emissions, not Congress. At the height of the government shutdown, voters preferred EPA regulation to Congressional action by a 5-to-1 margin, 66% to 12%

Anti-EPA Stance & Climate Denial Cost Votes

In fact, EPA opposition may actually turn out to be a harmful policy position for 2014 candidates. Nearly half (48%) of all voters said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who opposed emissions regulation, while only 17% said they’d be more likely to vote for that candidate. By comparison, 44% of voters said they’d be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported power plant emissions regulations by EPA.

When presented with both sides of the argument (war on coal, higher electricity prices, and job killer were used against regulation while climate change, public health, and protecting the planet were used for regulation), 64% of voters said they wanted their senator to support EPA’s proposal.

Those same trends translate to voter perceptions about the threat of climate change. 65% of voters say climate change is a serious problem nationwide, and surprisingly say so at a higher rate in Romney states (67%) compared to Obama states (64%).

And if candidates deny climate change, they may be shooting their campaigns in the foot. 63% of voters said hearing their Senate candidate deny climate change would make them view the candidate less favorably than one recognizing basic science.

Pro-Climate Trends Taking Shape One Year Out

Election Day 2014 could be a major turning point for clean energy and climate policy – if Republicans keep the House of Representatives and take control of the Senate, action would grind to a halt for the rest of Obama’s term. However, if Democrats cut into the GOP’s House majority and hold the Senate, Obama could cement his progressive legacy by pushing through renewables support and emissions reduction goals.

LCV’s latest survey tracks with a bipartisan poll from July 2013 that found young voters “intensely supportive” of action to fight climate change, and willing to punish those who ignore the problem. Now that those trends are showing up across the wider US population, on broader policy fronts, it might just be time to scrap that climate-denier, anti-EPA playbook.

Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2013/10/30/poll-74-us-voters-back-epa-power-plant-emissions-regulation/#A3wgwACM6TejgZfk.99
Title: Re: Pollution/Devolution of the Seas
Post by: Surly1 on October 31, 2013, 07:11:46 am
This article brought to our attention By Gail Zawacki on the Earth Matters FB page. It appeared in Foreign Affairs (!) and in spite of that, we offer it here. It illustrates the extent to which we are soiling our own nest through apathy and ignorance.

The Devolution of the Seas (https://www.facebook.com/notes/doomstead-diner/the-devolution-of-the-seas/716242245071091)
October 29, 2013 at 2:28pm

 
The Devolution of the Seas: The Consequences of Oceanic Destruction
By Alan B. Sielen

(https://fbcdn-photos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1379207_716244951737487_1069405648_a.jpg)
 
Of all the threats looming over the planet today, one of the most alarming is the seemingly inexorable descent of the world’s oceans into ecological perdition. Over the last several decades, human activities have so altered the basic chemistry of the seas that they are now experiencing evolution in reverse: a return to the barren primeval waters of hundreds of millions of years ago.
 
A visitor to the oceans at the dawn of time would have found an underwater world that was mostly lifeless. Eventually, around 3.5 billion years ago, basic organisms began to emerge from the primordial ooze. This microbial soup of algae and bacteria needed little oxygen to survive. Worms, jellyfish, and toxic fireweed ruled the deep. In time, these simple organisms began to evolve into higher life forms, resulting in the wondrously rich diversity of fish, corals, whales, and other sea life one associates with the oceans today.
 
Yet that sea life is now in peril. Over the last 50 years -- a mere blink in geologic time -- humanity has come perilously close to reversing the almost miraculous biological abundance of the deep. Pollution, overfishing, the destruction of habitats, and climate change are emptying the oceans and enabling the lowest forms of life to regain their dominance. The oceanographer Jeremy Jackson calls it “the rise of slime”: the transformation of once complex oceanic ecosystems featuring intricate food webs with large animals into simplistic systems dominated by microbes, jellyfish, and disease. In effect, humans are eliminating the lions and tigers of the seas to make room for the cockroaches and rats.
 
The prospect of vanishing whales, polar bears, bluefin tuna, sea turtles, and wild coasts should be worrying enough on its own. But the disruption of entire ecosystems threatens our very survival, since it is the healthy functioning of these diverse systems that sustains life on earth. Destruction on this level will cost humans dearly in terms of food, jobs, health, and quality of life. It also violates the unspoken promise passed from one generation to the next of a better future.
Humans are eliminating the lions and tigers of the seas to make room for the cockroaches and rats.
LAYING WASTE
The oceans’ problems start with pollution, the most visible forms of which are the catastrophic spills from offshore oil and gas drilling or from tanker accidents. Yet as devastating as these events can be, especially locally, their overall contribution to marine pollution pales in comparison to the much less spectacular waste that finds its way to the seas through rivers, pipes, runoff, and the air. For example, trash -- plastic bags, bottles, cans, tiny plastic pellets used in manufacturing -- washes into coastal waters or gets discarded by ships large and small. This debris drifts out to sea, where it forms epic gyres of floating waste, such as the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which spans hundreds of miles across the North Pacific Ocean.
 
The most dangerous pollutants are chemicals. The seas are being poisoned by substances that are toxic, remain in the environment for a long time, travel great distances, accumulate in marine life, and move up the food chain. Among the worst culprits are heavy metals such as mercury, which is released into the atmosphere by the burning of coal and then rains down on the oceans, rivers, and lakes; mercury can also be found in medical waste.
 
Hundreds of new industrial chemicals enter the market each year, most of them untested. Of special concern are those known as persistent organic pollutants, which are commonly found in streams, rivers, coastal waters, and, increasingly, the open ocean. These chemicals build up slowly in the tissues of fish and shellfish and are transferred to the larger creatures that eat them. Studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have linked exposure to persistent organic pollutants to death, disease, and abnormalities in fish and other wildlife. These pervasive chemicals can also adversely affect the development of the brain, the neurologic system, and the reproductive system in humans.
 
Then there are the nutrients, which increasingly show up in coastal waters after being used as chemical fertilizers on farms, often far inland. All living things require nutrients; excessive amounts, however, wreak havoc on the natural environment. Fertilizer that makes its way into the water causes the explosive growth of algae. When these algae die and sink to the sea floor, their decomposition robs the water of the oxygen needed to support complex marine life. Some algal blooms also produce toxins that can kill fish and poison humans who consume seafood.
 
The result has been the emergence of what marine scientists call “dead zones” -- areas devoid of the ocean life people value most. The high concentration of nutrients flowing down the Mississippi River and emptying into the Gulf of Mexico has created a seasonal offshore dead zone larger than the state of New Jersey. An even larger dead zone -- the world’s biggest -- can be found in the Baltic Sea, which is comparable in size to California. The estuaries of China’s two greatest rivers, the Yangtze and the Yellow, have similarly lost their complex marine life. Since 2004, the total number of such aquatic wastelands worldwide has more than quadrupled, from 146 to over 600 today.
 
TEACH A MAN TO FISH -- THEN WHAT?
Another cause of the oceans’ decline is that humans are simply killing and eating too many fish. A frequently cited 2003 study in the journal Nature by the marine biologists Ransom Myers and Boris Worm found that the number of large fish -- both open-ocean species, such as tuna, swordfish, and marlin, and large groundfish, such as cod, halibut, and flounder -- had declined by 90 percent since 1950. The finding provoked controversy among some scientists and fishery managers. But subsequent studies have confirmed that fish populations have indeed fallen dramatically.
 
In fact, if one looks back further than 1950, the 90 percent figure turns out to be conservative. As historical ecologists have shown, we are far removed from the days when Christopher Columbus reported seeing large numbers of sea turtles migrating off the coast of the New World, when 15-foot sturgeon bursting with caviar leaped from the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, when George Washington’s Continental army could avoid starvation by feasting on swarms of shad swimming upriver to spawn, when dense oyster beds nearly blocked the mouth of the Hudson River, and when the early-twentieth-century American adventure writer Zane Grey marveled at the enormous swordfish, tuna, wahoo, and grouper he found in the Gulf of California.
 
Today, the human appetite has nearly wiped those populations out. It’s no wonder that stocks of large predator fish are rapidly dwindling when one considers the fact that one bluefin tuna can go for hundreds of thousands of dollars at market in Japan. High prices -- in January 2013, a 489-pound Pacific bluefin tuna sold for $1.7 million at auction in Tokyo -- make it profitable to employ airplanes and helicopters to scan the ocean for the fish that remain; against such technologies, marine animals don’t stand a chance.
 
Nor are big fish the only ones that are threatened. In area after area, once the long-lived predatory species, such as tuna and swordfish, disappear, fishing fleets move on to smaller, plankton-eating fish, such as sardines, anchovy, and herring. The overexploitation of smaller fish deprives the larger wild fish that remain of their food; aquatic mammals and sea birds, such as ospreys and eagles, also go hungry. Marine scientists refer to this sequential process as fishing down the food chain.
 
The problem is not just that we eat too much seafood; it’s also how we catch it. Modern industrial fishing fleets drag lines with thousands of hooks miles behind a vessel, and industrial trawlers on the high seas drop nets thousands of feet below the sea’s surface. In the process, many untargeted species, including sea turtles, dolphins, whales, and large sea birds (such as albatross) get accidentally captured or entangled. Millions of tons of unwanted sea life is killed or injured in commercial fishing operations each year; indeed, as much as a third of what fishermen pull out of the waters was never meant to be harvested. Some of the most destructive fisheries discard 80 to 90 percent of what they bring in. In the Gulf of Mexico, for example, for every pound of shrimp caught by a trawler, over three pounds of marine life is thrown away.
 
As the oceans decline and the demand for their products rises, marine and freshwater aquaculture may look like a tempting solution. After all, since we raise livestock on land for food, why not farm fish at sea? Fish farming is growing faster than any other form of food production, and today, the majority of commercially sold fish in the world and half of U.S. seafood imports come from aquaculture. Done right, fish farming can be environmentally acceptable. But the impact of aquaculture varies widely depending on the species raised, methods used, and location, and several factors make healthy and sustainable production difficult. Many farmed fish rely heavily on processed wild fish for food, which eliminates the fish-conservation benefits of aquaculture. Farmed fish can also escape into rivers and oceans and endanger wild populations by transmitting diseases or parasites or by competing with native species for feeding and spawning grounds. Open-net pens also pollute, sending fish waste, pesticides, antibiotics, uneaten food, diseases, and parasites flowing directly into the surrounding waters.
 
DESTROYING THE EARTH’S FINAL FRONTIER
Yet another factor driving the decline of the oceans is the destruction of the habitats that have allowed spectacular marine life to thrive for millennia. Residential and commercial development have laid waste to once-wild coastal areas. In particular, humans are eliminating coastal marshes, which serve as feeding grounds and nurseries for fish and other wildlife, filter out pollutants, and fortify coasts against storms and erosion.
Hidden from view but no less worrying is the wholesale destruction of deep-ocean habitats. For fishermen seeking ever more elusive prey, the depths of the seas have become the earth’s final frontier. There, submerged mountain chains called seamounts -- numbering in the tens of thousands and mostly uncharted -- have proved especially desirable targets. Some rise from the sea floor to heights approaching that of Mount Rainier, in Washington State. The steep slopes, ridges, and tops of seamounts in the South Pacific and elsewhere are home to a rich variety of marine life, including large pools of undiscovered species.
 
Today, fishing vessels drag huge nets outfitted with steel plates and heavy rollers across the sea floor and over underwater mountains, more than a mile deep, destroying everything in their path. As industrial trawlers bulldoze their way along, the surfaces of seamounts are reduced to sand, bare rock, and rubble. Deep cold-water corals, some older than the California redwoods, are being obliterated. In the process, an unknown number of species from these unique islands of biological diversity -- which might harbor new medicines or other important information -- are being driven extinct before humans even get a chance to study them.
 
Relatively new problems present additional challenges. Invasive species, such as lionfish, zebra mussels, and Pacific jellyfish, are disrupting coastal ecosystems and in some cases have caused the collapse of entire fisheries. Noise from sonar used by military systems and other sources can have devastating effects on whales, dolphins, and other marine life. Large vessels speeding through busy shipping lanes are also killing whales. Finally, melting Arctic ice creates new environmental hazards, as wildlife habitats disappear, mining becomes easier, and shipping routes expand.
 
IN HOT WATER
As if all this were not enough, scientists estimate that man-made climate change will drive the planet’s temperature up by between four and seven degrees Fahrenheit over the course of this century, making the oceans hotter. Sea levels are rising, storms are getting stronger, and the life cycles of plants and animals are being upended, changing migration patterns and causing other serious disruptions.
 
Global warming has already devastated coral reefs, and marine scientists now foresee the collapse of entire reef systems in the next few decades. Warmer waters drive out the tiny plants that corals feed on and depend on for their vivid coloration. Deprived of food, the corals starve to death, a process known as “bleaching.” At the same time, rising ocean temperatures promote disease in corals and other marine life. Nowhere are these complex interrelationships contributing to dying seas more than in fragile coral ecosystems.
 
The oceans have also become more acidic as carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere dissolves in the world’s water. The buildup of acid in ocean waters reduces the availability of calcium carbonate, a key building block for the skeletons and shells of corals, plankton, shellfish, and many other marine organisms. Just as trees make wood to grow tall and reach light, many sea creatures need hard shells to grow and also to guard against predators.
 
On top of all these problems, the most severe impact of the damage being done to the oceans by climate change and ocean acidification may be impossible to predict. The world’s seas support processes essential to life on earth. These include complex biological and physical systems, such as the nitrogen and carbon cycles; photosynthesis, which creates half of the oxygen that humans breathe and forms the base of the ocean’s biological productivity; and ocean circulation. Much of this activity takes place in the open ocean, where the sea and the atmosphere interact. Despite flashes of terror, such as the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 2004, the delicate balance of nature that sustains these systems has remained remarkably stable since well before the advent of human civilization.
 
But these complex processes both influence and respond to the earth’s climate, and scientists see certain recent developments as red flags possibly heralding an impending catastrophe. To take one example, tropical fish are increasingly migrating to the cooler waters of the Arctic and Southern oceans. Such changes may result in extinctions of fish species, threatening a critical food source especially in developing countries in the tropics. Or consider that satellite data show that warm surface waters are mixing less with cooler, deeper waters. This reduction in vertical mixing separates near-surface marine life from the nutrients below, ultimately driving down the population of phytoplankton, which is the foundation of the ocean’s food chain. Transformations in the open ocean could dramatically affect the earth’s climate and the complex processes that support life both on land and at sea. Scientists do not yet fully understand how all these processes work, but disregarding the warning signs could result in grave consequences.
 
A WAY FORWARD
Governments and societies have come to expect much less from the sea. The base lines of environmental quality, good governance, and personal responsibility have plummeted. This passive acceptance of the ongoing destruction of the seas is all the more shameful given how avoidable the process is. Many solutions exist, and some are relatively simple. For example, governments could create and expand protected marine areas, adopt and enforce stronger international rules to conserve biological diversity in the open ocean, and place a moratorium on the fishing of dwindling fish species, such as Pacific bluefin tuna. But solutions will also require broader changes in how societies approach energy, agriculture, and the management of natural resources. Countries will have to make substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, transition to clean energy, eliminate the worst toxic chemicals, and end the massive nutrient pollution in watersheds.
 
These challenges may seem daunting, especially for countries focused on basic survival. But governments, international institutions, nongovernmental organizations, scholars, and businesses have the necessary experience and capacity to find answers to the oceans’ problems. And they have succeeded in the past, through innovative local initiatives on every continent, impressive scientific advances, tough environmental regulation and enforcement, and important international measures, such as the global ban on the dumping of nuclear waste in the oceans.
 
So long as pollution, overfishing, and ocean acidification remain concerns only for scientists, however, little will change for the good. Diplomats and national security experts, who understand the potential for conflict in an overheated world, should realize that climate change might soon become a matter of war and peace. Business leaders should understand better than most the direct links between healthy seas and healthy economies. And government officials, who are entrusted with the public’s well-being, must surely see the importance of clean air, land, and water.
 
The world faces a choice. We do not have to return to an oceanic Stone Age. Whether we can summon the political will and moral courage to restore the seas to health before it is too late is an open question. The challenge and the opportunity are there.
 
If you have a password, see the original here: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/140164/alan-b-sielen/the-devolution-of-the-seas
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 31, 2013, 04:08:12 pm
Quote
The world faces a choice.

And the 99% have made the right one. It's the 1% with their massive financial leverage that need to wake up and smell the coffee. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-032.gif&hash=206ed31c188928738aaf22b85f0f0b6e94cf9f9b)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-281013154742.png&hash=4a0092da1dd87f2e619692adf0abee51d80d4822)
Title: Making "lemonade' out of 600 Year Polluting 'lemons'
Post by: AGelbert on November 02, 2013, 11:34:33 pm
Discarded Fishing Nets Turn Into Carpets And Benefits Communities
 
Reducing Pollution AND Poverty
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-062.gif&hash=88ceb4a34a12b2bea2fd9edd887da26d73308257)


ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqTUOPq6844&feature=player_embedded

An inspiring story of Win Win Win 

 Here is a business that harvests fishing nets from the shorelines of the Philippines and uses the nylon they're made of to create 100% recycled carpeting.

 These fishing nets were traditionally just left on the shores, polluting the environment for 600 years. Worse, they were discarded in the water and caught fish and other marine life that just lingered and died for no benefit.

 "Networks" is a program that takes discarded fishing nets from impoverished communities and recycles them into carpet tile. Not only do the nets turn into something useful instead of polluting the environment, but the program is set up to benefit the community in the long term.

 An inspiring story of Win Win Win that is just getting started. Other materials are next!

 --Bibi Farber

 This video was produced by Sustainable Brands

- See more at: http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/reducing-waste/discarded-fishing-nets-turn-into-carpets-and-benefits-communities.html#sthash.6cLeO4jE.dpuf
Title: Starfish Along West Coast Are Dying, ‘Star Wasting Disease’ Turns Fish Into ‘Goo
Post by: AGelbert on November 05, 2013, 11:35:24 pm
Starfish Along West Coast Are Dying, ‘Star Wasting Disease’ (http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/forum/index.php?topic=785.msg35417#msg35417)

Quote
“Every population has sick animals,” Gaydos said. “Are we just seeing sick animals because we’re looking for it, or is it an early sign of a large epidemic that may come through and wipe out a lot of animals?”

Surly, Thank you for this article. This is FAR more serious than meets the eye.

Quote

WHAT EATS A STARFISH?

What Eats A Starfish? What eats starfish?

What do starfish eat?


To us humans, starfish look like they’d be a bit too hard and crunchy to make a good meal. But starfish do have a few predators, or natural enemies.

Manta rays, some sharks and other large, bony fishes like to pick starfish off the bottom of the ocean, crunch them up and eat them.

In addition, small starfish need to be on the lookout for larger starfish, which will sometimes attack, kill and eat them.

What do starfish eat? Most species eat mussels and other mollusks, or shellfish.
http://www.whateats.com/what-eats-a-starfish (http://www.whateats.com/what-eats-a-starfish)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201604.png&hash=3793102f2f335b7a8fe106d54eac4db31f2674eb)
The reason this is so serious is because the mollusks that starfish eat are mainly FILTER FEEDERS. Why is this important (as in OH ****! :P)? Because filter feeders are THE life form that concentrates radioactive cesium (taking it up into their muscle tissue). I'll bet you dollars to donuts this is a sign of the Fukushima radioisotopes concentrating in mussels starting to move up the chain of sea life that eats them.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.docbrown.info%2Fks3biology%2Fgifs%2FFoodWeb4.gif&hash=53645a61bee57d2c1b2c578a5add6b6ed5e1c677)

It has begun. The BULLSHIT the nuke pukes were always putting out that the "solution to pollution is dilution" DOES NOT WORK with living sea life that sucks in the radioisotopes and concentrates them because, in nature, the non radioactive elements and the elements these God Damned radioisotopes mimic ARE ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS! Radioinuclides are the ULTIMATE poison pill disguised as an attractive natural important nutrient. Another "minor detail" the IDIOTS that back nuclear power never have gotten through their greedy skulls. 

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-061113000555.png&hash=5abca2f8ccb7084adda1e2489968c648ebc300b3)

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/23399560/website-map-tracks-path-of-ocean-pollution-fukushima-radiation-plume (http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/23399560/website-map-tracks-path-of-ocean-pollution-fukushima-radiation-plume)

"Since caesium does not volatilise from water, transport of caesium from water to the atmosphere is not considered likely,except by windblown sea sprays. Most of the caesium released to water will adsorb to suspended solids in the water column and ultimately be deposited in the sediment core. Caesium can also bioconcentrate and has been shown to bioaccumulate in both terrestrial and aquatic food chains. Mean bioconcentration factors (BCF) for 137Cs of 146, 124, and 63 were reported for fish, brown macroalgae, and molluscs, respectively." :P

http://datasheets.scbt.com/sc-203876.pdf (http://datasheets.scbt.com/sc-203876.pdf)

And radioactive cesium is just ONE of the 57 or so radioinuclides STILL getting pumped into the Pacific ocean. UGH! :emthdown: :emthdown: :emthdown: :'(



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 15, 2013, 02:26:43 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXUPDAMc_6o&feature=player_embedded
Corporate Crooks united to hobble enforcement of environmental regulations and eliminate them if possible. It's Profits over planet all the way for A.L.E.C. and their ilk.  >:(
Title: Train loaded with oil derails, explodes, pollutes Alabama wetlands
Post by: AGelbert on November 18, 2013, 01:08:49 am

Train loaded with oil derails, explodes, pollutes Alabama wetlands


By John Upton

Yet another oil-hauling train has derailed and exploded, this one sending flaming cars loaded with North Dakota crude into Alabama wetlands. >:(

The 90-car train derailed early Friday, causing flames to shoot 300 feet into the air.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-036.gif&hash=b6f5dc6262e2019883bb0d97235aa9c84a6606b8)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-034.gif&hash=aaa4624f4728fa49a5a4511b865e35a767958109) No injuries were reported. One family living in the marshy area was evacuated from their home following the accident. The L.A. Times has the details:


A train that derailed and exploded in rural Alabama was hauling 2.7 million gallons of crude oil, according to officials.

The 90-car train was crossing a timber trestle above a wetland near Aliceville late Thursday night when approximately 25 rail cars and two locomotives derailed, spilling crude oil into the surrounding wetlands and igniting a fire that was still burning Saturday.


Each of the 90 cars was carrying 30,000 gallons of oil, said Bill Jasper, president of the rail company Genesee & Wyoming at a press briefing Friday night. It’s unclear, though, how much oil was spilled because some of the cars have yet to be removed from the marsh.

And here’s more from Reuters:


A local official said the crude oil had originated in North Dakota, home of the booming Bakken shale patch. If so, it may have been carrying the same type of light crude oil that was on a Canadian train that derailed in the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic this summer, killing 47 people. …

The accident happened in a wetlands area that eventually feeds into the Tombigbee River, according to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. Booms were placed in the wetlands to contain the spilled oil.

In Demopolis, Alabama, some 40 miles south of the site of the accident, where the rail line runs 300 meters away from the U.S. Jones Elementary School, Mayor Michael Grayson said there hadn’t been an accident in the area in a century of train traffic.

But since last summer, when the oil trains first began humming past, officials discussed what might happen if a bridge just outside of town collapsed, dumping crude into the river.

“Sadly, with this thing, the only thing you can do is try to be prepared,” he said by phone.

Thanks to the North American oil boom, more and more crude is being shipped by rail — and more and more crude is being spilled by rail. The Lac-Megantic disaster isn’t the only previous example. There were 88 rail accidents involving crude oil last year, up from one or two per year during much of the previous decade. Other high-profile accidents in North America this year have included a 15,000-gallon spill from a derailed train in Minnesota in April and a fiery accident near Edmonton, Alberta, last month.

These accidents often fuel debate over whether more pipelines should be built to help safely haul oil and natural gas across the continent. But pipeline spills are on the rise too. Has anybody thought of just leaving the filthy stuff in the ground?  >:(
 


Source

Train carrying crude oil derails, cars ablaze in Alabama, Reuters
Train in Alabama oil spill was carrying 2.7 million gallons of crude, L.A. Times

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

http://grist.org/news/train-loaded-with-oil-derails-explodes-pollutes-alabama-wetlands/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=EDIT%20Daily&utm_campaign=Daily%20Nov%2012
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 18, 2013, 08:23:05 pm
Entire Texan town evacuated after pipeline explosion  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-034.gif&hash=aaa4624f4728fa49a5a4511b865e35a767958109)



By John Upton
milford-explosion.jpg   NBC

A Texas town an hour’s drive from Dallas was a ghost town over the weekend. Plumes of smoke hung ghoulishly over its sky, visible from more than 25 miles away.

Which company ruined the weekend of the entire town, condemning its residents to crappy nearby hotel rooms? Chevron.

One of the company’s pipelines exploded early Thursday as a Chevron crew was working on it, triggering a long-burning fire and the nearby town’s evacuation. No injuries were reported. From a CNN report on Saturday:


Police required all residents of Milford, which has an estimated population of 700, to leave, after the underground pipeline exploded early Thursday, sending up orange flames stories high, said spokesman Malcolm Ward.

The Chevron oil company asked that the safety measure be taken, the company said in a statement Friday. A jet black plume of smoke has been billowing up towards the clouds. The statement mentioned not wanting to risk exposing residents to possible effects on air quality in Milford.

Most of the residents were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday, but the four families who lived closest to the explosion were required to spend at least one more night away from home. That’s because the fire was still burning — three days after the explosion. Meanwhile, crews were working to ignite residual petroleum gas left in the isolated stretch of pipeline to deprive the flames of fuel.
 


Source



Texas oil pipeline fire causes evacuation of town near Dallas, CNN
Four homes still evacuated near Milford gas explosion, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

http://grist.org/news/entire-texan-town-evacuated-after-pipeline-explosion/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%2520Nov%252018&utm_campaign=daily
Title: Just 90 companies CAUSED TWO THIRDS of man-made global warming emissions!
Post by: AGelbert on November 20, 2013, 11:41:38 pm
Just 90 companies caused two-thirds of man-made global warming emissions (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-106.gif&hash=f996659d18df7f3b445e6135e884397ac91f25b1)


theguardian.com, Wednesday 20 November 2013 11.07 EST

Chevron, Exxon and BP among companies most responsible for climate change since dawn of industrial age, figures show (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)

The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.

The companies range from investor-owned firms – household names such as Chevron, Exxon and BP – to state-owned and government-run firms.

The analysis, which was welcomed by the former vice-president Al Gore as a "crucial step forward" found that the vast majority of the firms were in the business of producing oil, gas or coal, found the analysis, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Climatic Change.

"There are thousands of oil, gas and coal producers in the world," climate researcher and author Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute in Colorado said. "But the decision makers, the CEOs, or the ministers of coal and oil if you narrow it down to just one person, they could all fit on a Greyhound bus or two."

Half of the estimated emissions were produced just in the past 25 years – well past the date when governments and corporations became aware that rising greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of coal and oil were causing dangerous climate change.

Many of the same companies are also sitting on substantial reserves of fossil fuel which – if they are burned – puts the world at even greater risk of dangerous climate change.
Climate change experts said the data set was the most ambitious effort so far to hold individual carbon producers, rather than governments, to account.

The United Nations climate change panel, the IPCC, warned in September that at current rates the world stood within 30 years of exhausting its "carbon budget" – the amount of carbon dioxide it could emit without going into the danger zone above 2C warming. The former US vice-president and environmental champion, Al Gore, said the new carbon accounting could re-set the debate about allocating blame for the climate crisis.

Leaders meeting in Warsaw for the UN climate talks this week clashed repeatedly over which countries bore the burden for solving the climate crisis – historic emitters such as America or Europe or the rising economies of India and China.

Gore in his comments said the analysis underlined that it should not fall to governments alone to act on climate change.

"This study is a crucial step forward in our understanding of the evolution of the climate crisis. The public and private sectors alike must do what is necessary to stop global warming," Gore told the Guardian. "Those who are historically responsible for polluting our atmosphere have a clear obligation to be part of the solution."

Between them, the 90 companies on the list of top emitters produced 63% of the cumulative global emissions of industrial carbon dioxide and methane between 1751 to 2010, amounting to about 914 gigatonne CO2 emissions, according to the research. All but seven of the 90 were energy companies producing oil, gas and coal. The remaining seven were cement manufacturers.

The list of 90 companies included 50 investor-owned firms – mainly oil companies with widely recognised names such as Chevron, Exxon, BP , and Royal Dutch Shell and coal producers such as British Coal Corp, Peabody Energy and BHP Billiton.

Some 31 of the companies that made the list were state-owned companies such as Saudi Arabia's Saudi Aramco, Russia's Gazprom and Norway's Statoil.

Nine were government run industries, producing mainly coal in countries such as China, the former Soviet Union, North Korea and Poland, the host of this week's talks.

Experts familiar with Heede's research and the politics of climate change said they hoped the analysis could help break the deadlock in international climate talks.

"It seemed like maybe this could break the logjam," said Naomi Oreskes, professor of the history of science at Harvard. "There are all kinds of countries that have produced a tremendous amount of historical emissions that we do not normally talk about. We do not normally talk about Mexico or Poland or Venezuela. So then it's not just rich v poor, it is also producers v consumers, and resource rich v resource poor."

Michael Mann, the climate scientist, said he hoped the list would bring greater scrutiny to oil and coal companies' deployment of their remaining reserves. "What I think could be a game changer here is the potential for clearly fingerprinting the sources of those future emissions," he said. "It increases the accountability for fossil fuel burning. You can't burn fossil fuels without the rest of the world knowing about it."

Others were less optimistic that a more comprehensive accounting of the sources of greenhouse gas emissions would make it easier to achieve the emissions reductions needed to avoid catastrophic climate change.

John Ashton, who served as UK's chief climate change negotiator for six years, suggested that the findings reaffirmed the central role of fossil fuel producing entities in the economy.

"The challenge we face is to move in the space of not much more than a generation from a carbon-intensive energy system to a carbonneutral energy system. If we don't do that we stand no chance of keeping climate change within the 2C threshold," Ashton said.

"By highlighting the way in which a relatively small number of large companies are at the heart of the current carbon-intensive growth model, this report highlights that fundamental challenge."

Meanwhile, Oreskes, who has written extensively about corporate-funded climate denial, noted that several of the top companies on the list had funded the climate denial movement.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.sodahead.com%2Fpolls%2F000370273%2Fpolls_Smiley_Angry_256x256_3451_356175_answer_4_xlarge.png&hash=15577651daa4c35ff4d6b26217f99db6ebfde0b3)
 
"For me one of the most interesting things to think about was the overlap of large scale producers and the funding of disinformation campaigns, and how that has delayed action," she said.

The data represents eight years of exhaustive research into carbon emissions over time, as well as the ownership history of the major emitters.

The companies' operations spanned the globe, with company headquarters in 43 different countries. "These entities extract resources from every oil, natural gas and coal province in the world, and process the fuels into marketable products that are sold to consumers on every nation on Earth," Heede writes in the paper.

The largest of the investor-owned companies were responsible for an outsized share of emissions. Nearly 30% of emissions were produced just by the top 20 companies, the research found.
By Heede's calculation, government-run oil and coal companies in the former Soviet Union produced more greenhouse gas emissions than any other entity – just under 8.9% of the total produced over time. China came a close second with its government-run entities accounting for 8.6% of total global emissions.

ChevronTexaco was the leading emitter among investor-owned companies, causing 3.5% of greenhouse gas emissions to date, with Exxon not far behind at 3.2%. In third place, BP caused 2.5% of global emissions to date.

The historic emissions record was constructed using public records and data from the US department of energy's Carbon Dioxide Information and Analysis Centre, and took account of emissions all along the supply chain.

The centre put global industrial emissions since 1751 at 1,450 gigatonnes.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/20/90-companies-man-made-global-warming-emissions-climate-change

Which companies caused global warming?
A new paper shows which companies extracted the carbon-based fuels that have caused climate change. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-028.gif&hash=24570cb7e8246617010ce900a07bc85117ff78ca)


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-201113232711.png&hash=4386f670fcb38175c2fda4e2cea025a75feece24)Click Here for Interactive Pie Chart of the Guilty 90 Main Polluters that PROFITED  from Fossil Fuels! (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/interactive/2013/nov/20/which-fossil-fuel-companies-responsible-climate-change-interactive)
Title: Climate debt collectors: Occupy wants the 1% to pay up!
Post by: AGelbert on November 21, 2013, 09:26:18 pm
Climate debt collectors: Occupy wants the 1% to pay up


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jenn98.com%2Fbugs%2Fimages%2Fbugs_gangsta.jpg&hash=c9bb73fc593bcda5a1b993cb63b0a87bcb980f52)


By Heather Smith


Last year, Strike Debt — a small collective of New York-based academics, filmmakers, and business types — published a short book called The Debt Resistors’ Operations Manual [PDF], which alternated between dispensing advice on how to clean up credit scores and chronicling the recent history of the finance industry.

Strike Debt is also known for a project called the Rolling Jubilee, which buys up old medical and mortgage debt that people might be despairing of ever paying off, and then erases it. The Rolling Jubilee earned the somewhat backhanded honor of being named “one of the few good ideas to come out of Occupy Wall Street” by Forbes.

The next edition of the The Debt Resistors’ Operations Manual — currently in the works, and due to be finished next year — will have something that the original lacked: a chapter on climate change.

Why the shift? We recently spoke with Andrew Ross, professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at NYU, who became involved in Occupy in the early days of Zuccotti Park and helped to launch the Occupy Student Debt campaign before becoming a member of Strike Debt. Ross is the author of several books, most recently Creditocracy: The Case for Debt Refusal, which will be published this February by OR Books.

Q.  With all the large social issues that Occupy and Strike Debt have raised, why add climate change to the mix?

A.  Well, Strike Debt focuses on all kinds of debt: medical debt, housing debt, credit card debt. We started the Rolling Jubilee. We really wanted to publicize how the secondary debt market worked. A lot of people didn’t know how cheaply their debts have been sold. How lenders are willing to sell your debt cheaply — but not to you. Knowing how cheaply your debt has been bought by the person who is trying to collect from you changes the dynamic. We hoped to raise $50,000, and now we’ve raised about $630,000 — and abolished $15 million worth of debt.

What changed is, Hurricane Sandy happened. A lot of Strike Debt people became involved in Occupy Sandy. It drove home links we’d been talking about when we did the Strike Debt report. People were waiting for their FEMA loans and these predatory banks were circling around them.

Climate debt isn’t a part of the political discourse, but climate debt needs to be honored and repaid. It’s unusual compared to other kinds of debt because it tends to be the more affluent populations that are the debtors.


Q. And what are you moving towards?

A. International legal recognition. We’re trying to get high-carbon countries to acknowledge their responsibility.

At the U.N., the term of choice is “climate aid,” which suggests that this is an act of benevolence on their part. They avoid anything that smacks of responsibility.

The decision to fast track climate financing by $30 billion in the three years after Copenhagen [PDF] is where it gets complicated. We should finance clean energy technology in developing countries, but in doing so, most of the emissions debt that we owe them is being paid back to us through their emissions cuts. And most of our carbon reductions so far have come from hyrdofracking for gas or from reduced industrial activity during the depression. There’s a lot of slick accounting going on.

These emissions developments are a denial to poor countries of their atmospheric space. To fully acknowledge carbon debt is to acknowledge that it is the cause of climate change in the world.

Q. Like, I feel guilty when I fly somewhere, but I still do it anyway.

A. Oh, don’t feel that.

Q. No?

A. One of the favorite things of really guilty people is to make people feel ashamed individually. I see a similar thing with climate debt. The people who are the most responsible get a pass, and the costs get passed on to us as individuals and the guilt gets devolved individually rather than being laid at the door of those responsible. That’s something that needs to be resisted.

Q. Do you remember if there was any disagreement in putting a climate change chapter into the handbook?

A. The first edition of The Debt Resistors’ Handbook was put together very quickly. Now it’s being expanded.  I don’t think there was any debate about whether to include climate debt.

What happens in an environmental disaster is that the patterns of injustice in our cities become exposed for all to see. The damage is inflicted on the most vulnerable. It takes its toll economically. Battery Park City — these high-end condos  – didn’t even lose their electricity. Now there is this whole debate about the waterfront. What will happen to Zone A? Not just here, but around the world.

Q. Who else is thinking about this?

A. It’s talked about a lot, back to the ’70s and The Limits to Growth. You could see the last 30-40 years of wealth redistribution as a form of hoarding in the face of climate change.

The People’s Summit in Cochabamba called it an “Adaptation Fund.” The IMF  and the World Bank are on board with climate change. But I don’t find them putting any pressure on high climate emitters.

The initial premise of ecological debt was introduced leading up to 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio as a reason for cancelling IMF/World Bank debt. We have five centuries of ecological debt there — extraction of resources. The slave trade. External debts owed to northern states. A lot of that stuff is difficult to quantify.

What you can quantify is carbon debt. There is fairly accurate data from 1750 onwards on emissions. It wasn’t really until Copenhagen that the climate justice movement picked it up.

Q. And so, is the U.S. the biggest emitter?

A. Well, If you break it down per capita, the U.K. is a little greater.

Q. Why?

A.They started the Industrial Revolution a little earlier. They’ve been going at it ever since. We’re the second largest. Germany and Australia are third and fourth. China is the largest emitter now, but they started emitting more recently. If you factor in their history, China is a creditor, not a debtor.

Some say the nation/state framework is the wrong way to look at things. The debts owed are also internal — within the borders of nation states. There are elites within these countries that have profited greatly from resource extraction and the carbon economy.

Q. How would you evenly distribute it, then?

A. That’s one of the problems that’s always at the heart of foreign aid. How do you make sure the money and aid get to the people who need it?

One of the things I argue for is that the system of distribution could be done based on income — the carbon tax goes into a central fund and is paid out.

Q. How did you get interested in this subject personally?

A. I have been writing about this for a while. My last book, Bird on Fire, was about Phoenix, Ariz. [Editor's note: We spoke to Ross about the book last year.] There is an issue there with climate migrants — a lot of the folks who cross borders are economic refugees, displaced by the effects of climate change.

What rights are they due when they reach this country? This is a way that this debate about climate enters the borders of our nation state.

But there is no international legal recognition of what a climate migrant is. They are the most tangible evidence of climate change and we will see a lot more of them. Arizona is a case in point. It’s getting warmer and drier faster than anywhere else in the hemisphere.

Even if we cut our emissions we’re still locked in for a certain amount of climate change. What we can do now is plan for resilience. Which is unfortunate. It does mean that a lot of people have given up on stopping climate change and are focusing on fortifying, shoring up, defending.
 
Heather Smith (on Twitter, @strangerworks) is interested in the various ways that humans try to save the environment: past, present, and future.

http://grist.org/climate-energy/climate-debt-collectors-occupy-wants-the-one-percent-to-pay-up/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%2520Nov%252020&utm_campaign=daily (http://grist.org/climate-energy/climate-debt-collectors-occupy-wants-the-one-percent-to-pay-up/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%2520Nov%252020&utm_campaign=daily)

Agelbert NOTE: Who knows, maybe somebody out there liked the article(s) I have written on the 1% and their liability for this mess. I hope it catches on.


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-281013154742.png&hash=4a0092da1dd87f2e619692adf0abee51d80d4822)
The 1%'s Responsibility to Shoulder 80% of the COST of a 100% Renewable Energy World (http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/10/one-percents-planetary-assets-equals-80-responsibility-for-funding-a-100-renewable-energy-world)
Title: 19 Year Old Boyan Slat Invents Cleanup System For Plastic Choking Our Oceans
Post by: AGelbert on November 21, 2013, 10:47:51 pm
19-Year-Old Aerospace Student Boyan Slat Invents Cleanup System For Plastic Choking Our Oceans


19-year-old Boyan Slat’s impassioned and educated opinion reminds us that youth, with its promising vital force, often taps into genius. If he is correct, Slat has designated some flair for environmental cleanup. He believes with his idea, developed for a student project in Aerospace Engineering, that it is possible the dreadful plastic that is choking the oceans (poisoning animals and human food chains) can thoroughly clean itself in 5 years – that is a lot less than the 79,000 years of another estimate.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.wp.com%2Fcleantechnica.com%2Ffiles%2F2013%2F04%2Foceancleanuparray2.jpg.492x0_q85_crop-smart.jpg&hash=24e379ae82485eb646bb26346b8e4bf701229ef8)
Ocean Cleanup Array. Image Credit: Boyan Slat

Plastic once seemed as a piece of the revolution for a positive future. Presently, however, plastic has multiplied to an unfathomable degree, and as in the science fiction novel mention below, increasing development of plastic is now a twin-edged point of contention.

It reminds me of the War with the Newts, a 1936 satirical science fiction novel by Czech author Karel Čapek, but with plastic replacing the Newts in this novel. Plastic certainly is, in only a few decades, taking over the world. Increases found in the most vulnerable of systems, the globe’s water systems, result in numbers such as 7.25 million tons, and graphic images such as 1000 Eiffel towers (of plastic garbage) floating in water.

Some of the most notable places studied where plastic pollution is evident is in the giant trash gyres (trash vortexes) floating in the oceans. These plastic garbage patches have been written about, and vilified, by many, but that has also served as an excellent visual aid for spurring people to action about plastics, recycling, and waste in general.


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fcleantechnica.com%2Ffiles%2F2013%2F04%2Focean-cleanup-technology.jpg&hash=b2558891541f668e2281b13603a2fe728b214038)
Ocean Cleanup Array. Image Credit: Boyan Slat

79,000 Years of Cleanup to an Efficient 5 Years

Check out Slat’s The Ocean Cleanup for more details on his plans to clean up the ocean at an incredible speed. Boyan explains how he envisions shortening a projection of 79,000 years of cleanup to an efficient 5 years. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020)

And definitely watch this Ted talk below and learn about a future that he considers viable. I believe that as much as the Baby Boomers had their ideals, the best thing they did was give life to younger generations that have a working pragmatism, scientific curiosity, and a healthy dose of idealism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROW9F-c0kIQ&feature=player_embedded

Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2013/04/02/teen-inventor-creats-means-to-clean-giant-ocean-garbage-patches/#j2HgqSIIJVfexLcS.99

The Younger Generation is THINKING WELL!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-anime-047.gif&hash=5d1e21ec37766d785e885157863fa815ab3a6f7e) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-022.gif&hash=3b60da70b71b7109fe66036056cb1dedc1affb43)
Title: What You Learned In Grade School Is Not Working Anymore
Post by: AGelbert on November 23, 2013, 01:26:05 am

Blue Gold: World Water Wars: Official Full Length Film‏
Next World TV
Common Sense Solutions - Starting Now

The Politics And Privitization Of Water

What You Learned In Grade School Is Not Working Anymore


Personally, I was expecting a well produced environmental film about the polluted state of our water.

It's much deeper than that. Blue Gold is about many aspects of the world's fresh water crisis, but the most unexpected and alarming part is the politics of our declining resources and the privitization of water. Multinational corporations are buying up the world's fresh water. Riots leading to revolutions are already happening where the population insists on defending their water rights.

You will learn why the lessons you were taught in grade school about how the water cycling through our atmosphere will never run out, is theoretically true, but not what the situation is today.

The earth is desertifying at an alarming rate. We are pumping 15 times more water up from the ground than is returning into it.

How does that happen? The film educates us about fascinating geological changes, and explains how we got to this point.

And did you know how damaging dams are to the whole eco-system?

Vandana Shiva says: "A river is the lifeblood of an eco-system just like the veins and arteries bring blood to every part of pour organism. When we have choked arteries that's whats called as heart attack. A dam is the chocking of the artery."

This film should be seen by every citizen of the world. Pass it around!

--Bibi Farber

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1a3tjqQiBI&feature=player_embedded

For more info, see: www.bluegold-worldwaterwars.com for a list of organizations you can join or support in fighting water wars.

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/environment/blue-gold-world-water-wars-official-full-length-film.html#sthash.sJgVGX65.dpuf

Renewable Revolution (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl3.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F465%2F465823jzy0y15obs.gif&hash=797efc3cdc025a8263ef125725aae969446489c3)


 (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/index.php)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 29, 2013, 02:30:03 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnOlxeRHigE&feature=player_embedded
Title: Loathsome List of Externalized Costs
Post by: AGelbert on December 04, 2013, 11:18:22 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch??v=xuAWa4JK0KI&feature=player_embedded
And now for a Loathsome List of Externalized Costs, MOSTLY from FOSSIL FUELS and NUCLEAR RADIONCLIDE POISONS.  :P The chemical industry also continues to contribute to the TOXIC MESS our "civilization" is making of the biosphere. :(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 12, 2013, 03:58:19 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfQ-z1FS9e0&feature=player_embedded

Wetlands going up in smoke. It's Criminal and stupid  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da) to make biomass pellets from hardwood forests when duckweed (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/renewables/ethanol/msg218/#msg218) ,hemp,  switchgrass, willow brush and a host of other fast growing species of plants can supply this biomass renewably.  >:(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 14, 2013, 12:47:19 am

The Shale-Oil Boom's Dirty Secret


The US produces 7.8 million barrels of oil a day. Of this, the EIA estimates that 29 percent comes from shale oil formations. Production from these wells declines 60-70 percent in the first year alone. To maintain current production, the US needs to drill 6,000 new wells per year at a cost of $35 billion a year.

On the other hand, solar is on pace to produce over 5,300 MW of solar this year --enough to power 885,600 average American households. The average price of solar has also dropped 60% since 2011, and the average cost of a completed PV system is $3.05/W. Most solar electric systems last 30 years and pay for themselves in 4-5 years.

What if we spent $35 billion on solar instead of shale oil wells? The US could produce nearly 11,500 MW of new clean energy every year. We could power over 11.2 million new homes by 2020, and produce 28 percent of all California energy by 2020.

(https://s3.amazonaws.com/mosaic-landing/Shale-Oil-Boom.jpg)
Infographic created by Aven Satre-Meloy

Learn More:(at link below)

Mosaic President Billy Parish on the fastest way to 100% clean energy.

Get the scoop on impact investing.

Why you should care about crowdfunding.

How to find good investments.

http://joinmosaic.com/blog/shale-oil-booms-dirty-secret
Title: Honor The Earth: Triple Crown of Pipeline Rides
Post by: AGelbert on December 26, 2013, 03:25:13 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v6_1DLth9U&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 28, 2013, 03:24:51 pm


US EPA Nails Fracker With Record Fine   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.naturalgaswatch.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F05%2FChesapeake_energy_operations.jpg&hash=a3a23bd6b62ea227ff7b8f4fe60e644997399019)
(https://events.recruitmilitary.com/uploads/event/sponsor_logo/516/Chesapeake_Energy_Logo.jpg)Chesapeake Energy's "PLAY"-ground toxify the USA areas  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)



The woes just keep piling up for Chesapeake Energy. The company is front and center in the nation’s natural gas fracking boom and it just got hit with one of the largest ever civil penalties for violating Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The penalty was levied against its subsidiary, Chesapeake Appalachia LLC.

Wait, what? We thought the fracking industry was notoriously exempt from the Clean Water Act, thanks to a loophole engineered back in 2005 by former Vice President (and former Halliburton oil company executive) Dick Cheney.

So, how’d they do that?

EPA nails Chesapeake Energy for clean water violations    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F8.gif&hash=c1d98e606d7f558df4040f88e7997b3e11e9448c) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185047.png&hash=384024358ff8d5e7133d19b6e6638da4584a8154)


Fracking And The Clean Water Act


Fracking is an unconventional gas and oil drilling method that involves pumping vast quantities of a chemical brine deep underground, to shake deposits loose from shale formations.

Though natural gas is billed as a clean alternative to coal and oil, fracking has been linked to a raft of local pollution issues, and emissions of methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) from drilling sites may be wiping out any advantage that natural gas has as a fuel.


The Clean Water loophole makes it almost impossible to gather direct evidence that traces fracking to a growing list of water contamination episodes, though the link between fracking waste disposal and earthquakes is becoming beyond dispute.

Under the Obama Administration, the EPA has been doggedly pursuing other avenues to bring fracking companies to account for environmental damage, and one of them is the Clean Water Act’s Section 404.


In announcing the action against Chesapeake last week, EPA described the alleged violations like this:


The federal government and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) allege that the company impounded streams and discharged sand, dirt, rocks and other fill material into streams and wetlands without a federal permit in order to construct well pads, impoundments, road crossings and other facilities related to natural gas extraction.



See what they just did? Section 404 does not apply directly to fracking brine, which is exempt from federal disclosure regulations under the Clean Water Act. It covers general construction activity common across a wide range of industries. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imgion.com%2Fimages%2F01%2FAngry-animated-smiley.jpg&hash=84657bd1a63cad676e3551587daeb4b39411a289)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)


Evidently Chesapeake Energy saw the writing on the wall. Some of the violations were discovered by its own internal audit and the company has been working with EPA since 2010 to comply with remediation orders.

The settlement includes an estimated payment of $6.5 million to restore 27 sites in West Virginia, 16 of which involved fracking operations. It also includes a civil penalty of $3.2 million, which EPA describes as “one of the largest ever levied by the federal government for violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA), under the Section 404 program.”

Fracking In The Headlines Again

For those of you keeping score at home, the EPA announcement follows a string of bad press for the fracking industry and Chesapeake.

Just this past August, Bloomberg News reported that oil and gas land deals have fallen off the cliff, indicating that the natural gas boom is turning into one whopper of a bust (it could turn around if the Obama Administration opens up the export market, but that’s a whole ‘nother can of worms).


As for Chesapeake Energy, this year the company settled with a group of homeowners in Greenbrier, Arkansas for damages from earthquakes, which were linked to fracking waste disposal by the US Geological Survey.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been pursuing the Ponzi-like financial angle of the fracking boom, and in June 2012 he won a “landmark agreement” with Chesapeake Appalachia to renegotiate more than 4,400 leases in New York State.

Also last year, Bloomberg reported that Chesapeake Energy paid a tax rate of less than one percent on profits of $5.5 billion,  legendary investor T. Boone Pickens dumped his Chesapeake stock, and an in-depth report in Rolling Stone compared Chesapeake’s land “flipping” practices to the ongoing mortgage crisis.

This is just a random sample so feel free to add your Chesapeake story to the comment thread.


Author

Tina Casey specializes in military and corporate sustainability, advanced technology, emerging materials, biofuels, and water and wastewater issues. Tina’s articles are reposted frequently on Reuters, Scientific American, and many other sites. You can also follow her on Twitter @TinaMCasey and Google+.

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/12/27/epa-hits-chesapeake-energy-with-record-fracking-fine/#beaP55dZhQFrbGTk.99

Agelbert NOTE: I am CERTAIN that ALEC is busy writing "Clean Water Act IMPROVEMENT" legislation  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)
to exempt frackers from Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA).

The profit over planet bastards are quite predictable.  >:( :P
Title: Woke up
Post by: AGelbert on December 29, 2013, 12:16:42 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru_i_Q3voTk&feature=player_embedded
Title: Texas Supreme Court Favors Landowner Over TransCanada in Keystone XL!
Post by: AGelbert on January 09, 2014, 04:04:41 pm

Texas Supreme Court Favors Landowner Over TransCanada in Keystone XL Eminent Domain Case
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.uglyhedgehog.com%2Fupload%2F2012%2F8%2F14%2F1344970546338-awesome_mc_ht_smiley.gif&hash=3ae7abfc4fed4417a941b6f116204b754f1e587f)

Tar Sands Blockade | January 9, 2014 9:33 am

The Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of landowner Julia Trigg Crawford, ordering

TransCanada to submit information by Feb. 6 as the justices weigh arguments to hear the case regarding eminent domain abuse.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffiles.cdn.ecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F01%2Fbarn.jpg&hash=1ec716c9af22897914602068ab03b16ebb704fca)
The controversial clause of eminent domain benefits oil and gas companies trying to seize private land to extract or transport fossil fuels. Photo credit: Tar Sands Blockade

Texas’s highest court delivered a clear victory for pipeline opponents and landowners fighting TransCanada’s overreach on property rights. At the heart of Crawford’s case is the ability of TransCanada, a foreign corporation, to use eminent domain under the state’s “common carrier” clause since their pipeline transports 90 percent Canadian tar sands and 10 percent North Dakota oil. There is no on ramp for Texas oil therefore violating the definition of a common carrier under Texas law.

Crawford said she looks forward to her family’s day in court, “As a landowner, property rights are key to my livelihood and family legacy. A foreign corporation pumping foreign oil simply does not qualify as a common carrier under Texas law. TransCanada does not get to write their own rules. I look forward to the Supreme Court hearing our case and our plea to protect the fundamental rights of property owners.”

The ruling on Wednesday from the Texas Supreme Court means that Crawford will be able to take the next step in the appeals process against TransCanada. The southern segment of the Keystone XL pipeline, also known as Gulf Coast Segment, stretches from Cushing, OK, to Beaumont, TX, and carries tar sands or dilbit which is a combination of tar sands and chemicals that react very differently when spills occur than traditional Texas oil.

“We’re thrilled, because the Supreme Court has finally ruled in favor of us—the little guys—and against a foreign oil giant,”
  ;D  Julia Trigg Crawford continued. “Basically, TransCanada said that it wanted a waiver from responding to our petition, and the Supreme Court said, ‘No, you must respond’.”   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185047.png&hash=384024358ff8d5e7133d19b6e6638da4584a8154)

Crawford says her case has broad implications, because if she wins, TransCanada and other foreign oil companies will no longer be able to use eminent domain to seize land for their private profit without direct proof their pipeline is carrying Texan oil.

Visit EcoWatch’s KEYSTONE XL and TAR SANDS pages for more related news on this topic.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/01/09/landowner-over-transcanada-keystone-xl-eminent-domain-case/ (http://ecowatch.com/2014/01/09/landowner-over-transcanada-keystone-xl-eminent-domain-case/)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 09, 2014, 06:15:44 pm

8 Sickening Facts About Flame Retardants


December 11, 2013 
 
By Dr. Mercola

Your couch cushions, your child’s car seat, your carpeting, and your mattress all have a toxic secret in common.  >:(

They probably contain flame-retardant chemicals that have been linked to serious health risks like cancer, birth defects, neurodevelopmental delays in children, and more.

How these chemicals have grown to become so ubiquitous is a story of great deception, power and greed, with the chemical industry and Big Tobacco at the helm. As reported in an investigative series “Playing With Fire” by the Chicago Tribune:1

“The average American baby is born with 10 fingers, 10 toes and the highest recorded levels of flame retardants among infants in the world
. The toxic chemicals are present in nearly every home, packed into couches, chairs and many other products.  :P

Two powerful industries — Big Tobacco and chemical manufacturers — waged deceptive campaigns that led to the proliferation of these chemicals, which don’t even work as promised.”  ???


Eight Facts About Flame Retardants That Might Shock You


HBO recently aired a documentary, Toxic Hot Seat, which is based on the Chicago Tribune’s comprehensive investigation. You can watch the trailer above. The film highlights some of the most disturbing facts about flame-retardant chemicals, which were summed up by Rodale News.2 As you read through them, you’ll see how the use of flame-retardant chemicals is easily among the major toxic cover-ups in the US.  >:(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hWwfcsJXHM&feature=player_embedded


1. Studies Have Proven Their Harm


It’s estimated that 90 percent of Americans have some level of flame-retardant chemicals in their bodies, and the chemicals are also known to accumulate in breast milk.

This alone is highly disturbing because many studies have linked them to human health risks including infertility, birth defects, lower IQ scores, behavioral problems in children, and liver, kidney, testicular, and breast cancers.


2. Flame Retardants Produce More Toxic Smoke


If an object doused in flame retardants catches fire (yes, they can still catch fire), it gives off higher levels of carbon monoxide, soot, and smoke than untreated objects. Ironically, these three things are more likely to kill a person in a fire than burns, which means flame-retardant chemicals may actually make fires more deadly.

Flame-retardant chemicals belong to the same class of chemicals as DDT and PCBs (organohalogens), and like the former, they, too, build up in the environment. These chemicals also react with other toxins as they burn to produce cancer-causing dioxins and furans.


3. Banned from Children’s Pajamas but Still Widely Used in Furniture and Baby Products


A flame-retardant chemical known as chlorinated tris (TDCPP) was removed from children's pajamas in the 1970s amid concerns that it may cause cancer, but now it’s a ubiquitous addition to couch cushions across the United States.

It can easily migrate from the foam and into your household dust, which children often pick up on their hands and transfer into their mouths. Tris is actually the most commonly used flame retardant in the US today, used in nap mats, car seats, strollers, nursing pillows, furniture, and more.


4. Female Fire Fighters in California Have Six Times More Breast Cancer


Female firefighters aged 40 to 50 are six times more likely to develop breast cancer than the national average, likely due to California’s early use of flame-retardant chemicals. Firefighters of both genders also have higher rates of cancer, in part because of the high levels of dioxins and furans they’re exposed to when flame-retardant chemicals burn.

According to one firefighter in the HBO documentary:3 “It's Love Canal, and it's on fire… These fires that we're going to now are an absolute toxic soup.”


5. Flame-Retardant Chemicals Provide No Benefit for People


The chemical industry claims that fire-retardant furniture increases escape time in a fire by 15-fold. In reality, this claim came from a study using powerful, NASA-style flame retardants, which did give an extra 15 seconds of escape time.

This is not the same type of chemical used in most furniture, and government and independent studies show that the most widely used flame-retardant chemicals provide no benefit for people while increasing the amounts of toxic chemicals in smoke.

Drops in fire-related deaths in recent decades are not related to the use of flame-retardant chemicals, but instead are due to newer construction codes, sprinkler systems, fire alarms, and self-extinguishing cigarettes.


6. Big Tobacco Was Instrumental in the Spread of Flame-Retardant Chemicals (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)


Flame-retardant chemicals were developed in the 1970s, when 40 percent of Americans smoked and cigarettes were a major cause of fires. The tobacco industry, under increasing pressure to make fire-safe cigarettes, resisted the push for self-extinguishing cigarettes and instead created a fake front group called the National Association of State Fire Marshals. The group pushed for federal standards for fire-retardant furniture…  ;)


7. California’s Misguided Fire Safety Law Led to Countrywide Use of These Toxic Chemicals  >:(

In 1975, California Technical Bulletin 117 (TB117) was passed. It requires furniture sold in California to withstand a 12-second exposure to a small flame without igniting. Because of California's economic importance, the requirement has essentially become a national standard, with manufacturers dousing their furniture with the chemicals whether they're going to be sold in California or elsewhere in the States. As reported by Rodale News:

“Sadly, though the original author of TB117 had specifically included language requiring that any chemical used to make furniture fire resistant be safe for human health, politicians removed that language before the law went into effect.”


8. The Chemical Industry Has Spent Millions to Keep TB117 in Place  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

Numerous bills in California have been introduced that would update TB117 to state that toxic chemicals were no longer required for furniture, but the deep-pocketed chemical industry has defeated them each time.

The industry even went so far as to hire Dr. David Heimback, a burn expert and star witness for the manufacturers of flame retardants, told the tragic story of a 7-week-old baby who was burned in a fire and died as a result, three weeks later, after suffering immensely. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ftissue.gif&hash=f8d05db8e11569882e0effbdd719e2b2e95c6785)The fire was said to have been started by a candle that ignited a pillow that lacked flame retardant chemicals, where the baby lay. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fshame.gif&hash=88b5b0c8644862ef4930e3c7e3556db6c3bf600f)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.u.arizona.edu%2F%7Epatricia%2Fcute-collection%2Fsmileys%2Flying-smiley.gif&hash=a34c2f7344d5f54f7009a4e684bb6c7310cdda03)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imgion.com%2Fimages%2F01%2FAngry-animated-smiley.jpg&hash=84657bd1a63cad676e3551587daeb4b39411a289) 


The story was heard by California lawmakers, who were deciding on a bill that could have reduced the use of flame retardant chemicals in furniture. The problem, as we detailed in a previous article, was that the entire story was a clever hoax, a complete fabrication, from beginning to end!   :o ???   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whydidyouwearthat.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F01%2Ftumblr_l7j9nik8Wf1qaxxwjo1_5001.jpeg&hash=1ddbeb4da161820b2cf932e6f5f740e80f5bada6)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil12.gif&hash=d1822754cefdd0f77369dacd157d00f5f8d3fff9)






Do You Have a Choice About the Flame Retardants Used in Your Furniture and Mattress?

Given the outdated regulations in place about the use of flame-retardant chemicals in consumer products, it’s quite difficult to avoid these toxic chemicals because of their abundant use in household goods and even in the foam insulation used in your walls. Research published in Environmental Science & Technology revealed that 85 percent of couch foam samples tested contained chemical flame retardants.4 The samples came from more than 100 couches purchased from 1985 to 2010.

As of July 1, 2007, all US mattresses are required to be highly flame retardant, to the extent that they won't catch on fire if exposed to a blowtorch.  ::) This means that the manufacturers are dousing them with highly toxic flame-retardant chemicals, which do NOT have to be disclosed in any way.  :P This is probably the most important piece of furniture you want to get right, as you are spending about one-third of your life on it.

However, you can have a licensed health care provider write you a prescription for a chemical-free mattress, which can then be ordered without flame retardants from certain retailers. You can also find certain natural mattresses on the market that don’t contain them. For instance, our wool mattress does not have flame-retardant chemicals added because wool is a natural flame retardant.




Good News! Safer Furniture May Be Coming in 2014


Given the blatant dangers posed by flame retardants, in late November 2013 California’s governor ordered that TB117 be rewritten to ensure fire safety without the use of these chemicals. Starting in January 2014, furniture manufacturers will begin producing furniture that’s not required to use flame-retardant chemicals, and full compliance is expected by January 2015.

Unfortunately, the updated law only states that the chemicals are no longer required; it doesn’t ban them outright. This means that some companies may continue to use them, and if you’re in the market for new furniture, you’ll need to ask for that made without flame-retardant chemicals.

Tips for Reducing Your Exposure to Flame-Retardant Chemicals

Even with California’s revised law, these chemicals are still widely used. Plus, unless you’ve revamped your home using only natural, chemical-free materials, they’re likely lurking in your home right now. Until these chemicals are removed from use entirely, tips you can use to reduce your exposure around your home include:5

•Be especially careful with polyurethane foam products manufactured prior to 2005, such as upholstered furniture, mattresses, and pillows, as these are most likely to contain flame retardants called polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs. If you have any of these in your home, inspect them carefully and replace ripped covers and/or any foam that appears to be breaking down. Also, avoid reupholstering furniture by yourself, as the reupholstering process increases your risk of exposure.

•Older carpet padding is another major source of PBDEs, so take precautions when removing old carpet. You'll want to isolate your work area from the rest of your house to avoid spreading it around, and use a HEPA filter vacuum to clean up.

•You probably also have older sources of the PBDEs known as Deca in your home as well, and these are so toxic they are banned in several states. Deca PBDEs can be found in electronics like TVs, cell phones, kitchen appliances, fans, toner cartridges, and more. It's a good idea to wash your hands after handling such items, especially before eating, and at the very least be sure you don't let infants mouth any of these items (like your TV remote control or cell phone).

•As you replace PBDE-containing items around your home, select those that contain naturally less flammable materials, such as leather, wool, and cotton.

•Look for organic and "green" building materials, carpeting, baby items, mattresses, and upholstery, which will be free from these toxic chemicals and help reduce your overall exposure. Furniture products filled with cotton, wool, or polyester tend to be safer than chemical-treated foam; some products also state that they are "flame-retardant free."

•PBDEs are often found in household dust, so clean up with a HEPA-filter vacuum and/or a wet mop often.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/12/11/8-flame-retardant-facts.aspx
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 10, 2014, 06:54:17 pm

Feather in his cap-and-trade: Brown pledges polluter fees to poor communities  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e)


By Brentin Mock


While free-market environmentalists push cap-and-trade systems as a panacea for climate change worries, many in the environmental justice community have yet to buy into it. Their reasons for this vary, but one major concern is that there’s little guarantee that overburdened communities won’t still catch the brunt of industrial pollution. What stops billionaire companies like ExxonMobil from continuing to pollute poor communities if, rather than rein in their emissions under the established cap, they can simply purchase more permits to pollute?

When California started its cap-and-trade system in late 2011, lawmakers addressed these concerns by requiring 25 percent of all revenue from permit auctions to go toward programs that help disadvantaged communities. Also, 10 percent of the revenue would have to be spent directly in those communities. But last year, when the auction dividends started rolling in, Gov. Jerry Brown reneged on that deal, putting $500 million from the permit auction profits into the state’s rainy day fund.

This obviously didn’t endear many environmental justice activists to the cap-and-trade dream.

The governor is on the path to redemption, though. When he unveiled his budget Thursday, it included plans to not only pay back $100 million of what he “borrowed” from cap-and-trade fees, but also a pledge to make some much needed investments in low-income communities across the state.

“It is encouraging that the governor agrees with the 83 percent of Californians polled who say that these revenues should be directed to communities hardest hit by last century’s carbon pollution generated by fossil fuel companies,”(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039) Miya Yosh itani, executive director of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, said in a press statement.

“Based on what’s been reported, the governor is making critical investments in existing programs that will help disadvantaged communities cope with the worst impacts of the climate crisis, while at the same time creating jobs and saving low-income consumers money,” said Vien Truong, Environmental Equity program director of the Greenlining Institute in Berkeley. “This will bring real benefits to communities hit first and worst by pollution and climate change as well as the recession.”

Of the $850 million available from new polluter fees, said Truong, roughly $600 million will be spent on improving public transit, energy efficiency programs, renewable energy, and urban forestry projects that can provide jobs for youth of color.

But, as is always the case with budget negotiations, the devil is in the details. Consider the $200 million from the fees is supposed to go to low-carbon transportation initiatives. Some of that will go to greening the trucks that serve commercial ports in places like Long Beach and Oakland. As thousands of trucks run in and out of these ports, and idle in traffic as they pass through cities, they spray asthma-causing soot.

California has a fund for greening commercial trucks, but it’s been empty for a while now. The Greenlining Institute is asking for $30 million out of the new budget for the purchase of hybrid and zero-emission trucks and buses throughout the state.

But some of that low-carbon money is also committed for rebates for purchasers of electric vehicles — a perk much less likely to benefit residents of low-income communities. Legislators will have to work out how much of the $200 million will go to each of these line items. That process — and the rest of the state’s budget wrangling — won’t be finished until June, at the earliest.

Still, if Brown’s proposed funding for low-income communities survives the legislative process, this could be a game-changer, proving that it is possible to design cap-and-trade programs to take into account communities that bear the brunt of  industrial pollution. Time will tell.

I’m curious to hear from environmental justice advocates who aren’t sold on cap-and-trade — especially those in living with the system in the Northeast — if you think that Brown’s proposal could adequately address your concerns. After all, as goes California, so goes the country. While cap-and-trade has been a non-starter in Congress so far, I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of it. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F128fs318181.gif&hash=eff6d5f3831782966c2ff2081f07bf7fc5b22a6b) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-081.gif&hash=5981b917cdd5e334cd69d00213b2d119acbfb380)

 

Brentin Mock is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist who writes regularly for Grist about environmental justice issues and the connections between environmental policy, race, and politics. Follow him on Twitter at @brentinmock.


http://grist.org/cities/feather-in-his-cap-and-trade-brown-pledges-polluter-fees-for-poor-communities/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 10, 2014, 09:48:51 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPyTHzNapDs&feature=player_embedded]
3 Billion liters of embalming fluid in the USA (never mind the metals and concrete) is stupid and unsustainable. :emthdown:
I like the Minnesota Mayo clinic approach. ;D
Title: Romanians Resisting Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 13, 2014, 03:58:10 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYaSWWysubA&feature=player_embedded
Title: Amazon Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 13, 2014, 03:59:40 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Gr_j23stg&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 18, 2014, 03:40:53 pm
Letter from Beijing: Pollution turns out to be great leveler in China’s capital

January 17

By Stuart Leavenworth

McClatchy Foreign Staff


BEIJING — Even before the sun started to rise Thursday over this megalopolis of 21 million people, I could sense it would be a miserable lung day. The apartment where my wife and I were staying seemed smoky – even though we don’t smoke. Out the window, the lights from nearby skyscrapers were enveloped in a gray cloud.

When the sun rose, it was obvious – Beijing’s “airpocalypse” had returned. I could barely see the 4th Ring Road, the freeway that hums with cars and trucks just 100 yards from our building. Checking an app, I saw that particulate levels in Beijing had soared above 670 micrograms per cubic meter, or about 26 times higher than the World Health Organization considers safe.


China has many challenges, but air pollution is one that, if left unaddressed, will surely trip up its economic growth, kill its people and derail the Communist Party’s policy of “opening up” to the world. Tourism in Beijing has dropped from a year ago, at least partly because of worldwide publicity about smog. A recent study estimated that the average life expectancy in North China had dropped by 5.5 years because of air pollution generated by coal power production. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)

Last year, Beijing-like bouts of smog spread across the eastern and northern parts of the country, smothering cities such as Shanghai, whose residents thought they were immune. Wealthy Chinese now regularly schedule “lung-cleaning trips,” with Thailand’s Phuket Island and Indonesia’s Bali as top destinations, according to Chinese tourism authorities.

It is not as if China doesn’t recognize the threat. The government says it has pledged to spend $1.7 billion yuan ($281 million) by 2017 to tackle air pollution. Local governments have closed factories, fined polluters and even closed freeways on days when the smog is dangerous or “beyond index.”

The official position is that the problem is caused primarily by weather inversions, auto emissions and coal burning (industrial and residential), and all that is true. Yet as a country where there is little rule of law, China has no comprehensive system of monitoring, permitting and regulating sources of air pollution. Unlike most environmental agencies in the United States, it can’t track a pollution problem back to its source or sources and correct it.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imgion.com%2Fimages%2F01%2FAngry-animated-smiley.jpg&hash=84657bd1a63cad676e3551587daeb4b39411a289)             
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whydidyouwearthat.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F01%2Ftumblr_l7j9nik8Wf1qaxxwjo1_5001.jpeg&hash=1ddbeb4da161820b2cf932e6f5f740e80f5bada6)


On Thursday, I noticed the recommendation by the U.S. Embassy in China that people stay indoors and avoid any strenuous activity. But I didn’t have that option, and neither did millions of other working people here. I had interviews lined up on stories, and properties to inspect in our search for a permanent apartment. And so I set forth to the subway, wearing my N-95 face mask for the first time during our first week in Beijing.

By the time I reached the central business district and started exiting the subway, I felt dizzy. I grabbed the handrail to steady myself. I drank some water, felt better and then walked a few blocks to where I was meeting my assistant, Tiantian. By then, my mask was already speckled with soot.

As the day went on, the pollution decreased, but I could feel the effects of the cumulative exposure. My chest felt heavy, my throat was raspy and my nose was runny all afternoon. I walked through Ritan Park, where elegant older women were dancing, some wearing face masks.


I have little doubt that China will eventually clean up its air, and little doubt the government could accelerate the cleanup with a sustained commitment.

Yet China and elements of its state-controlled media still suffer from denial when it comes to air pollution. Last month, during a major smog bout outside of Beijing, a story on the website of China Central Television listed five benefits of the air pollution problem:

1. It unifies the Chinese people.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400)

2. It makes China more equal.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)

3. It raises citizen awareness of the cost of China’s economic development.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

4. It makes people funnier.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b)

5. It makes people more knowledgeable (of things like meteorology and the English word haze). (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fugly004.gif&hash=c56db4280057389afd154a1cb4057410151579c8)


I feel more equal already.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.sodahead.com%2Fpolls%2F000370273%2Fpolls_Smiley_Angry_256x256_3451_356175_answer_4_xlarge.png&hash=15577651daa4c35ff4d6b26217f99db6ebfde0b3) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F290.gif&hash=38949e35cf58eaa4218b5a8176767c806d2f8537)



Leavenworth became McClatchy’s Beijing bureau chief earlier this month. Email: sleavenworth@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter: @sleavenworth

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/01/17/4759268/letter-from-beijing-pollution.html#storylink=cpy (http://www.kansascity.com/2014/01/17/4759268/letter-from-beijing-pollution.html#storylink=cpy)

Agelbert NOTE: The fossil fuelers in China have the same problem they have all over the world; they CANNOT envision a world where GDP growth DOESN'T track fossil fuel burning growth. With that attitude, the only GROWTH industries they are going to get are CANCER treatment and pollution filtering devices.

China's leaders are willfully blinding themselves simply because they BELIEVE in the "glory" of predatory capitalism and KNOW GOD DAMNED GOOD AND WELL that the smog will kill the poor and middle class who can't afford protection FIRST. This is EXTERNALIZING costs on STEROIDS. It is DIVIDING the people, not "unifying" them.

They will learn, as we will, the HARD way. Reality is a **** for these ORWELLIAN circular logic bull**** artists. Fossil fuels are POISON, not prosperity. But the death worshippers at Wall Street are probably salivating at all the profits to be had from the face mask and anti-pollution filtration equipment on the cars and houses of the wealthy! After, all, THEY are the ony ones that COUNT because THE RICH, being such HARD WORKING (i.e. money grabbing) folks, can afford the COMFORT (i.e. survival of the "fittest" -> meanest, cruelest, conscience free bastards) that fossil fuel caused GDP GROWTH (i.e. pollution poisons) REQUIRES.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fp8.gif&hash=34db9228a959b3b83fc65b38a1aa92a40d56f976) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F72.10.171.98%2Fresources%2Fecommerce%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2F103%2F1%2Fimg1103%2Fproduct-enlarged.jpg&hash=9210d4ce04d1d47cea798a065fad852248a6978a)
January 2015 MKing Corporation outdoor clothing style catalog for the Chinese people that COUNT (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)*

Newest luxury back pack mixes Oxycontin with oxygen for a "spiritual" experience while watching giant traffic jams through your megapixel IR viewer.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185047.png&hash=384024358ff8d5e7133d19b6e6638da4584a8154)



*Raising visor in photo is for demonstration purposes only and  is not recommended outdoors. Raising visor outdoors may result in coverage cancellation of the Executive Golden Parachute Viper Cradle to Grave Comprehensive Total Coverage  Health Insurance Plan.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fd2.gif&hash=98d536bf1047a88ef91e9c45e08b725347c9fe13) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.envisionyourdreamsllc.com%2FGolden-Pig.jpg&hash=b7879c3d56faf2797c99c46b9dfeb644196a3e2d) MKING APEX PREDATOR CLOTHING LLC All Rights Rapaciously Reserved.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 20, 2014, 08:59:06 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtrF4QAVjyM&feature=player_embedded

Quote
What You Can Do Right Now


Our “disposable culture” has left a trail of destruction, in terms of both environmental and human impact. >:(  There is no one single solution to the waste problem. But you can do your part by taking steps to reduce your waste, recycle, and repurpose what you can. The average American produces 4.5 pounds of garbage each and every day. Surely, most people can find ways to cut that down considerably, without going through too much trouble. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

•Compost your food scraps and yard waste: A simple bin in your backyard can greatly cut down on your landfill contributions while rewarding you with a natural fertilizer for your soil. See “Composting Made Easy—Even for City Dwellers” to learn more.

•Reduce plastic use: Purchase products that are not made from or packaged in plastic. Use reusable shopping bags for groceries. Bring your own mug when indulging in a coffee drink — and skip the lid and the straw. Bring drinking water from home in glass water bottles, instead of buying bottled water. Store foods in the freezer in glass mason jars as opposed to plastic bags. Take your own leftover container to restaurants. Request no plastic wrap on your newspaper and dry cleaning.

These are just a few ideas — I’m sure you can think of more.


•Recycle and repurpose what you can:Take care to recycle and repurpose products whenever possible. This includes separating paper, glass, and plastic for recycling. Give clothes or gently used household items to charities, and frequent second-hand stores instead of buying new. Make use of online sites like Freecycle.org that allow you to give products you no longer need away to others instead of throwing them away.


Here are some ideas for what to do with more hard-to-recycle items:

◦Appliances: Salvation Army or the Steel Recycling Institute can help you out with these (see recycle-steel.org).

◦Compact fluorescent light bulbs: Your local Ace Hardware, Home Depot and IKEA store will recycle them. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also lists recycling facilities across the US.7

◦Eyeglasses: Your local Lion’s Club or eye care chain may collect these for redistribution to people in need. Many eyeglass stores offer drop-off boxes as well.

◦Tennis shoes: Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program8 turns old shoes into playground and athletic flooring.

•Choose reusable over single-use: This includes non-disposable razors, washable feminine hygiene products for women, cloth diapers, glass bottles for your milk, cloth grocery bags, handkerchiefs instead of paper tissues, an old t-shirt or rags in lieu of paper towels, and so on.

•Assist Recovery: Return deposits on bottles and other plastic products, and participate in “plastic drives” for local schools, where cash is paid by the pound.

•Support local “greening” efforts: Support legislative efforts to manage waste in your community; take a leadership role with your company, school, and neighborhood.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/01/18/unwasted-documentary-recycling.aspx
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 23, 2014, 06:15:19 pm
Mushrooms Used for Bioremediation to Clean Pesticides From Oregon Waterways (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-081.gif&hash=5981b917cdd5e334cd69d00213b2d119acbfb380)

Beyond Pesticides  | January 23, 2014 3:15 pm



Putting ideas into action, an Oregon-based restoration nonprofit group, Ocean Blue Project, is harnessing the power of mushrooms to clean up pesticides and other pollutants that plague Oregon and national waterways. Yes, mushrooms.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbotit.botany.wisc.edu%2Ftoms_fungi%2Fimages%2Fpost1.jpg&hash=656223f1d647bedde576da0b87421461d15b6bd7)
Pleurotus ostreatus, the oyster mushroom is edible.  ;D
These oyster mushroom have the filtering potential to break down oil, pesticides and harmful bacteria.

The test project launched Sunday, Jan. 19 on the banks of Sequoia Creek, a tributary to the Willamette River. Using recycled burlap bags filled with used coffee grounds, straw and yellow oyster mushroom spawn, the purpose of the unusual potpourri will be to harness the extremely effective filtering capabilities of mycelium.

A kind of root system for fungi, mycelium demonstrate a wide variety of biological powers, from breaking down oil, pesticides and harmful bacteria to acting as natural pesticides against some of the most problematic pests.

Paul Stamets, (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-077.gif&hash=eb438043c93ec6a7daa400b47ad44ad22d4818ce) a leading expert on the power of mushrooms and former speaker at Beyond Pesticides’ National Pesticide Forum in 2006, has a word for the natural properties of fungi to fight human-made pollution: mycorestoration. As Mr. Stamets explained to Discover Magazine in 2013, “Oyster mushrooms, for example, can digest the complex hydrocarbons in wood, so they can also be used to break down petroleum byproducts. Garden Giants use their mycelia to trap and eat bacteria, so they can filter E. coli from agricultural runoff.”

Richard Arterbury, president of the Ocean Blue Project, agrees. Mr. Arterbury explained to reporters at Corvallis Gazette-Times, that the technique could potentially be a low-cost way to use biologic processes to reduce pollution in waterways. Mr. Arterbury thinks the project has huge potential. “If you put enough of these bags by the Willamette River it could potentially change the river,” he said.

Pesticides in Water

And change is needed not just in Oregon. Waterways in the U.S. are increasingly imperiled from various agents, including agricultural and industrial discharges, nutrient loading (nitrogen and phosphorus), and biological agents such as pathogens. Pesticides discharged into our nation’s rivers, lakes and streams can harm or kill fish and amphibians.

These toxicants have the potential to accumulate in the fish we eat and the water we drink. As pesticide use escalates and waterways and drinking water become increasingly polluted with unregulated contaminants like pesticides and other toxicants, low-cost and natural alternatives for restoring waterways are desperately needed.

Discussing innovative new practices and alternatives to address pesticide contamination will be just one of the many exciting topics at this year’s 32nd National Pesticide Forum, Advancing Sustainable Communities: People, Pollinators and Practices. Please join Beyond Pesticides, Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides and Portland State University’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions April 11-12, 2014 in Portland, OR, to help communities everywhere make strides in reducing pesticides and moving communities everywhere towards a more sustainable future. 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-062.gif&hash=88ceb4a34a12b2bea2fd9edd887da26d73308257)



Visit EcoWatch’s BIODIVERSITY and WATER pages for more related news on this topic.


http://ecowatch.com/2014/01/23/mushrooms-bioremedation-clean-pesticides-waterways/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 25, 2014, 10:15:26 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUYJFlObhtA&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 26, 2014, 03:41:26 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyiIBY6GO1Q&feature=player_embedded
Drilling for oil may someday, due to global biosphere damage caused by it, be the new and improved ROOT OF ALL EVIL  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)
Title: Taters Ain't what they SHOULD BE...
Post by: AGelbert on January 27, 2014, 04:32:01 pm
Quote
Little Elise wanted to see vines grow from a potato, but after trying for three weeks, she figured something was wrong. Then she experimented with an organic potato. Watch out!

This sweet yet profound video is perfect for sending around to anyone who still thinks conventionally grown produce is REAL food.

Video (2:32)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exBEFCiWyW0&feature=player_embedded
This Video should be FRONT PAGE NEWS all over the internet and the WORLD!
WHY? Because it has ALL the ingredients of TRUTH from someone who is innocent and is merely looking out for human society with science, not agenda based, methodology to satisfy her curiosity.

Her observations then confirm one more link in the predatory capitalist, conscience free, Big Ag MO that makes the agricultural profit generating COMMODITY (instead of what it's supposed to be - a human health improving tuber) a scourge on human health and a HIGH YIELD - LOW NUTRITION - CHEMICALLY LACED - CROP (i.e. heavier because it forces the potato to put all its energy into starch instead of vines    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113183729.png&hash=d898195c8ae0a55e2e6d84fc47b9d06f8ba13f03)).

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f) = Big Ag (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2rzukw3.gif&hash=f0487b8f0d488ab1126ce5e031b11ea3d74b1cc2)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-106.gif&hash=f996659d18df7f3b445e6135e884397ac91f25b1)Please pass this on. The cancer you avoid may be your own.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 31, 2014, 11:49:28 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyXwfWItPEs&feature=player_embedded
Title: Mega-watts and NEGA-watts
Post by: AGelbert on February 02, 2014, 11:30:40 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5nUXyJkQEk&feature=player_embedded
Waste to Energy
Title: Roundup is Ruining our health
Post by: AGelbert on February 04, 2014, 07:47:23 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_AHLDXF5aw&feature=player_embedded

New Research Fuels Roundup Weedkiller Toxicity Concerns    :P  >:(


February 04, 2014

•Increases in reactive oxygen species 
•Increases in nitrotyrosine formation 
•Increases in superoxide dismutase activity 
•Increases in glutathione levels



http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/02/04/roundup-glyphosate-toxicity.aspx
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 21, 2014, 06:07:03 pm
Air Force aircraft returned from Vietnam identified as postwar source of Agent Orange contamination

From 1971-1982 Air Force reservists, who flew in about 34 dioxin-contaminated aircraft used to spray Agent Orange and returned to the US following discontinuation of the herbicide spraying operations in the Vietnam War, were exposed greater levels of dioxin than previously acknowledged, according to a study published today in Environmental Research.

    

"These findings are important because they describe a previously unrecognized source of exposure to dioxin that has health significance to those who engaged in the transport work using these aircraft," says lead investigator Peter A. Lurker, PhD, PE, CIH, an environmental engineer with many years of experience evaluating environmental exposures in the Air Force.

During the Vietnam War, in an operation known as "Operation Ranch Hand," approximately 20 million gallons of herbicides, including around 10.5 million gallons of dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange, were sprayed by about 34 C-123 aircraft. These aircraft were subsequently returned to the US and were used by Air Force reserve units between 1971 and 1982 for transport operations. After many years without monitoring, tests revealed the presence of dioxin (also known as TCDD). All but three of the aircraft were smelted down in 2009.

The Air Force and Department of Veterans Affairs have previously denied benefits to these crew members. Current policies stipulate that "non-biologically available dried residues" of chemical herbicides and dioxin would not have led to meaningful exposures to flight crew and maintenance personnel, who are therefore ineligible for Agent Orange-related benefits or medical examinations and treatment.

Researchers estimated dioxin body burden using modeling algorithms developed by the US Army and data derived from surface wipe samples collected from aircraft used in Operation Ranch Hand. They compared estimates with available guidelines and standards and discuss the implications with respect to current Air Force and VA policies.

These models suggest that the potential for dioxin exposure to personnel working in the aircraft post-Vietnam is greater than previously believed and that inhalation, ingestion, and skin absorption were likely to have occurred during post-Vietnam use of the aircraft by aircrew and maintenance staff. The estimated dermal and oral exposure exceeded US standards. The estimated airborne contamination exceeded the only available (German) standard.

"Our findings, the results of three different modelling approaches, contrast with Air Force and VA conclusions and policies," concludes senior author Jeanne Mager Stellman, PhD, Professor Emerita of Health Policy and Management at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York. "The VA concept of a 'dried residue' that is biologically unavailable is not consistent with widely accepted theories of the behavior of surface residues. Aircraft occupants would have been exposed to airborne dioxin-contaminated dust as well as come into direct skin contact, and our models show that the level of exposure is likely to have exceeded several available exposure guidelines."



 Explore further: Agent Orange linked to skin cancer risk

More information: "Post Vietnam Military Herbicide Exposures in UC-123 Agent Orange Spray Aircraft," by Peter A. Lurker, Fred Berman, Richard W. Clapp, Jeanne Mager Stellman. Environmental Research, published online on February 21 (Volume 130, 2014), DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2014.02.004

 


Journal reference:  Environmental Research search and more info




http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-02-air-aircraft-vietnam-postwar-source.html#nRlv
Title: Population is NOT the problem; 20% using 80% of the Resources IS!
Post by: AGelbert on February 26, 2014, 08:15:32 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-260214201233.png&hash=2c784ea86c703de06549ce14091214ff7fc0d461)
Title: The Onion takes on Monsanto
Post by: AGelbert on February 27, 2014, 04:11:15 pm
The Onion takes on Monsanto

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)

By Holly Richmond

Quote
Agricultural biotech giant Monsanto unveiled its latest strain of genetically modified corn Wednesday, claiming that the new, hardier seed yields 400 percent more litigation against small independent farms than the company’s previous GMO products.
  ;D

http://grist.org/list/the-onion-takes-on-monsanto/
Title: Suffering Oceans Get Biggest Donation Ever From Bloomberg
Post by: AGelbert on February 28, 2014, 06:57:51 pm
02/28/2014 02:25 PM     

Suffering Oceans Get Biggest Donation Ever From Bloomberg

SustainableBusiness.com News

Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's foundation is making the largest philanthropic donation ever to help the world's oceans, specifically to reform fisheries management.

 Over the next five years, Bloomberg Philanthropies will donate  $53 million to nonprofits Oceana, Rare, and EKO, which will simultaneously attack persistent problems that plague our oceans and are leading to collapsing fish species across the world.

 Under the Vibrant Oceans Initiative, the three groups will focus on boosting fish populations in Chile, Brazil, and the Philippines, which better practices would revitalize 7% of the world's fisheries. Models developed there will hopefully turn into policies that can be applied to many other countries.

There are three major causes of overfishing:

•Industrial fishing is too big - ships can catch twice the fish that exist in the ocean! Inadequate or nonexistent quotas allow species to be depleted to the point where they can't recover  >:(

•industrial bottom trawling, dynamiting and cyanide fishing, which destroy complete habitats  >:(

•bycatch - capturing many unintended species including sea turtles and dolphins.
  >:(

"The good news is that marine ecosystems can rebound relatively quickly if caught in time. The factors that led to mismanagement must be addressed now to replenish fish populations and to help meet the dietary needs of a growing global population," says Bloomberg Philanthropies.   

These problems have been known for decades but have yet to be resolved. With over 80% of the world's fisheries either exploited or threatened, Oceana will work with national governments on policies that reform industrial fishing practices, such as science-based quotas and bycatch.

 Because 12 million local fisherman catch roughly the same amount of fish, Rare will simultaneously help local governments and coastal communities implement sustainable small-scale practices. One reform will be to offer exclusive fishing rights in exchange for creating marine preserves as California, Australia and Costa Rica have done.


 EKO Asset Management is developing an investment model where private capital can reward fisheries that transition to sustainable practices.
 

With the oceans reeling from absorbing much of humanity's carbon emissions, reigning in pressure on fish and their habitats is one of the few ways to make a difference. As climate change advances and it becomes harder to grow food on land, a healthy fish population could make a huge difference.

 Bloomberg Philanthropies has made the same $50 million commitment to end the reign of coal with the goal of shuttering a third of aging coal plants by 2020 in the US. Their other big environmental initiative is $20 million to help cities tackle climate change through the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.

Another emerging threat to oceans is mass industrialization of deep sea ecosystems as people figure out how to mine for minerals there. "Without international cooperation with a focus on 'deep-ocean stewardship,' deep sea mining will follow the destructive examples set by commercial fishing and offshore fossil fuel operations, say scientists.

 Incredibly, a group called the International Seabed Authority has already issued 19 prospecting licenses to governments and private companies.  >:(

Graphic of  Marine Preserves in Northern California at link:

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/25552
Title: Elizabeth Kolbert reports from the frontlines of a dying world
Post by: AGelbert on March 01, 2014, 05:42:40 pm
In “The Sixth Extinction,” Elizabeth Kolbert reports from the frontlines of a dying world :(

By Grist staff

The New Yorker writer and acclaimed author Elizabeth Kolbert has a penchant for depressing topics. Her 2006 book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe, helped push climate change into the mainstream (with bonus points for not mincing words in the title).

Now that climate change is safely keeping most of us up at night, Kolbert turned her pen to another big bummer: the sixth extinction. We’re currently losing species at a rate of 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than unassisted nature wiping out the occasional newt. While humans weren’t responsible for the last five mass extinctions, our fingerprints are all over this one. Yep: We collectively have the force of an asteroid when it comes to erasing species (high five, guys!) and for the most part, our response has been classic Urkel.

Kolbert dropped by the Grist office to chat mass extinctions, climate inaction, and whether there’s any hope (short answer: no. long answer: probably not). Here’s an edited and condensed version of our conversation.

Q. How much do scientists attribute the current wave of extinctions to climate change versus things like deforestation or chemical pollution or invasive species?


book coverA. The fact of the matter is that there are probably, right now, no extinctions that can be directly attributed to climate change. But there are many extinctions that can be pretty directly attributed to invasive species. So if you are just chalking things up, invasive species definitely have a big place.

But people trying to looking into the future with things like modeling — which may or may not be correct, but we won’t necessarily be around to see it — tend to project that the climate is going to become a major driver of extinctions over this century, for all the obvious reasons.

Q. How do we stack up in the extinctions? Like, wow, the Permian extinction is way better, but we’re better than the Chicxulub crater. Are we close to being the best extinction?



A. Well, that’s an unanswerable question, but I will say that I’ve now had several very serious scientists say to me, “We cannot rule out an outcome like the end Permian extinction.” If that ain’t sobering, I don’t know what is.

Q. We’re No. 1?

A. The end Permian extinction was almost certainly caused by a huge CO2 release, and no one is quite sure from where. And the scope of it was quite enormous.

We’re not there yet, but if we burn through everything, I think we could get there. Are we capable of getting there? These are questions that no one can answer at this point.

Q. It wasn’t until the late 1700s or early 1800s that the concept of extinction was even thought about. What process led to that discovery? We now know that there have been five extinctions to date, so a lot has occurred in 200 years in terms of our awareness.


A. As Europeans colonized North America and South America, they found a lot of fossils. One of the major finds was in the 1730s by French soldiers who were going down the Ohio River. They come to this site in what’s now Kentucky and they find mastodon bones, which they shipped to Paris.

Mastodons are interestingly weird because they have tusks like elephants, but teeth like people. So they were very confused by this. People actually speculated that they were two animals that had died, like a hippo and an elephant. Since they didn’t even have this concept of extinction they couldn’t really get their minds around it. (Thomas Jefferson was quite convinced that Lewis and Clark were going to find mastodons.)

People played around with it for a long time until this French naturalist, who’s sort of a main character in the book, came along. [Georges Cuvier] made this (what we would consider) not very scientific observation that if these animals were out there, we would have seen them already, so they were gone. He made that logical leap of faith. And he was right! He was the first person to really theorize extinction.

Q. There have been five extinctions, and each time Mother Nature has brought things back in a different direction — so can’t you see some hope in that? It may not involve humans.

A. If you take the really long view, yeah. Really long. Super long. People make this point about the planet. Well, the non-living planet will be fine. Even most microbial life will be fine, and what are we worried about? Vertebrates? People have said to me, “If the dinosaurs hadn’t been done in, we wouldn’t be here.” That is most certainly true, yeah, but it did take 66 million years, and for a while if you’d been around — I wasn’t there — it would have been pretty grim.

The end Permian didn’t do in life on Earth, and we will not do in life on Earth, but I think most people have a hard time seeing that — something that not even their most distant descendants will be around to see — as a hopeful thing. Geologists take that sort of view.

Q. On the scale of bummed-outed-ness, which one of your books caused you to be the most depressed? Your previous book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe, is probably one of the most important books written on climate change to date, and really helped introduced the topic to a whole new range of readers.


A. For Field Notes, I interviewed a lot of the country’s top climate scientists, and they all agree that [climate change] is a pretty clear and present danger to human society. And yet, we can’t seem to come to terms with that at all. So it seemed to me that a species that can’t even do the sort of things that seem to be called for, for its own self, is that species really going to do the things called for everything else on the planet?

It’s maybe a little bit of writerly vanity — you say, OK, I’m going to put this out there and it true and it’s going to make a difference. The same year that my book came out, An Inconvenient Truth came out. It had a huge impact, but — what happened? Nothing happened. So I was already pretty bummed out, I guess.

Q.  You visited different natural places around the world. What was your favorite thing that you encountered?

A.  I’d say the most astonishing place I went was the Great Barrier Reef. I got to go to this very tiny island — the islands on the Reef are built out of the reef, the height of a table, basically, they’re very low and they’re all made out of coral — and they’re spectacularly beautiful. This tiny little research station was on this island. Going out on the reef — you know, you see nature movies and stuff — it’s even better than the nature movies. Unfortunately I don’t dive, but even just snorkeling was amazing. You never have access to that on land, you never see that many different living creatures. Even if you were in the middle of the Amazon, you’d just see leaves! But when you’re looking underwater, it’s just spectacular. And as you know — I was out there with a bunch of scientists studying ocean acidification — the prognosis for reefs is really, really grim.

Q. You also write about some efforts to save species. Could you share some of those?


A. I happened to go to the San Diego Zoo, where they have a very impressive conservation program. I was there to see something called the “frozen zoo.” It’s just a bunch of vats of liquid nitrogen with cell lines from, in many cases, highly endangered animals and, in one case, an animal that doesn’t exist anymore, a Hawaiian bird. The idea is pretty much what it sounds like: You have these cell lines, you’re going to keep them alive forever, and eventually people are going to figure out how to resurrect some of these species. Or maybe if you don’t want to go quite that sci-fi, we’ll take the cell lines, we’ll do a DNA analysis, we’ll try to figure out why this population is having trouble.

They took me to see this bird named Kinohi, one of the last Hawaiian crows. He’s “reluctant to part with his genetic material,” let’s put it that way. He had been taken from this breeding facility on Maui to San Diego, and he is ministered to by a PhD physiologist who is trying to, let’s say, pleasure this bird, so that he will give up some sperm, so she can artificially inseminate a bird back in Maui. When I visited he had not yet, you know, come through. She was literally preparing to try again — I don’t know if it has ever worked, I should call her.

That was really, to me, emblematic of this crazy situation we find ourselves in. We’re incredibly smart, we’ve figured out how to freeze cell lines and quite possibly bring back extinct animals — we’re willing to pleasure crows. And yet, the Hawaiian Islands are called the extinction capital of the planet — it’s an absolutely devastated ecosystem. Many, many birds are extinct already; those that aren’t are just clinging to existence. Those forces are not changing and, in fact, things are getting worse. There used to be no mosquitoes in Hawaii; there are now mosquitoes. They carry avian malaria, and as the climate warms, avian malaria is moving up the slopes so that even these refugees species that are high on the mountains are increasingly not there. A lot of birds are in terrible trouble there.

All of these things are happening at once and, once again, they’re all true. People are devoting a lot of time and energy and love to trying to preserve these species, and meanwhile the world is increasingly screwed up. So that is how I end the book: They can both be true; it’s not one or the other.

http://grist.org/climate-energy/in-the-sixth-extinction-elizabeth-kolbert-reports-from-the-frontlines-of-a-dying-world/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 08, 2014, 01:59:48 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brvhCnYvxQQ&feature=player_embedded
Title: Fracking in America
Post by: AGelbert on April 25, 2014, 01:12:18 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hERUwnZjI18&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: Surly1 on April 25, 2014, 06:59:56 am
Have you watched any of "Years of Living dangerously" yet?

Just spinning up to speed on what is happening with deforestation in Indonesia alone tends to put a sober global perspective on things. I had no idea of the scope of the destruction, not its impact on global warming, prior to viewing that.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 25, 2014, 06:20:48 pm
Yep. I watched the first one. Good stuff there.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020)

The first full show is on u-tube. That may be the only one I get to see because I don't have, or want, cable. So, if and when the other 8 parts get to u-tube or some other free forum, please let me know.
Your cheapskate friend,
Agelbert  ;D

http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/global-warming-is-with-us/msg919/#msg919
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: Surly1 on April 26, 2014, 11:02:41 am
Quote from: AG
Yep. I watched the first one. Good stuff there.   

The first full show is on u-tube. That may be the only one I get to see because I don't have, or want, cable. So, if and when the other 8 parts get to u-tube or some other free forum, please let me know.
Your cheapskate friend,
Agelbert  ;D

http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/global-warming-is-with-us/msg919/#msg919

I watched the first two on cable, but I'll try to keep an eye out.

BTW, does your "quote" function work properly-- or is is just my browser?
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 26, 2014, 02:13:31 pm
I watched the first two on cable, but I'll try to keep an eye out.

BTW, does your "quote" function work properly-- or is is just my browser?

It's still a pain. You have to right click on "quote", then "open in new tab" and copy the quote in the new tab to your reply like I just did.   :(

Title: Shocking Success! Supreme Court Rules For Clean Air
Post by: AGelbert on April 30, 2014, 03:43:19 pm
Shocking Success! Supreme Court Rules For Clean Air  ;D

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgrist.files.wordpress.com%2F2013%2F11%2Faaa-spill-popcorn-mean-girls.gif%3Fw%3D350%26amp%3Bh%3D219&hash=99f72e20a39f0c4fbd255f2f7d8237849f03f83e)


SustainableBusiness.com News

 Given the decisions issued by the US Supreme Court of late, today's ruling that upholds a critical EPA rule is pleasantly shocking. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)

 In another 6-2 vote, the court ruled in favor of EPA's Cross-State Pollution rule, issued in 2011, which would regulate emissions that travel from coal-heavy states in the Midwest and Appalachia to eastern states that have cleaner air.

 Should a coal plant in Ohio be able to pollute New York's air, for example? Besides sending polluted air their way, it also makes it unfairly harder for states to meet federal ambient air quality standards.


Coal emissions


When it finally goes into effect, an estimated 240 million Americans will benefit from cleaner air.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020)  It cuts sulfur dioxide emissions across the US by 73% (compared with 2005 levels)  and nitrogen oxide emissions by 54%.

 Both pollutants can travel long distances, forming smog and soot, which are linked to respiratory illnesses and other disease. It is expected to save 34,000 lives each year and prevent 400,000 asthma attacks, for example. Overall, the economic and health benefits are in the range of $120 billion to $280 billion in exchange for an $800 million investment by the coal industry. 

Today's vote reverses the US Court of Appeals ruling against the EPA, brought by guess who - coal companies and utilities that use lots of coal, such as Southern Company and Peabody Energy. 14 "upwind" states challenged the rule, while "downwind" states defended it.

In writing the majority decision, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg calls the rule a "permissible, workable, and equitable interpretation" of the "good neighbor" provision of the federal Clean Air Act.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-anime-047.gif&hash=5d1e21ec37766d785e885157863fa815ab3a6f7e) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl2.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F1225%2F1225662m3squ1oj6v.gif&hash=04764acd98565ded05a519757ede60e502342499)



Learn more about the Cross-State Pollution rule:

 
Website: www.epa.gov/airtransport/

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/25677
Title: Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch
Post by: AGelbert on May 02, 2014, 03:56:35 pm
http://www.seafoodwatch.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_whatsnew.aspx?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRoksqvJZKXonjHpfsX66OgpXaO3lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4CT8FkI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFS7jNMbZkz7gOXRE%3D

Quote
Why are farmed Atlantic salmon rated “Avoid”?

The salmon farming industry has made improvements in the past decade to reduce its environmental impact, but additional work is needed in order to address remaining concerns. Though the scope of problems varies by country, chemical use and disease are two areas of environmental concern that exist across each assessment.

Salmon farmed in open net pens are highly vulnerable to infection from diseases, or parasites such as sea lice, and as a result require treatment with antibiotics and pesticides. The use of antibiotics in salmon farms increases the risk of antibiotic resistance in human diseases, and there is a high concern regarding the use of antibiotics that are listed as critically or highly important to human health by the World Health Organization.

Sea lice parasites and viral and bacterial diseases can be passed between farmed fish and wild fish populations, and are a high concern in Norway, Scotland and British Columbia where wild salmon or sea trout populations are vulnerable to such impact.

What salmon should I buy?  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1402.gif&hash=704ddbc7a892750ad55e7a7bea92270b1df3ecba)

Seafood Watch has published recommendations regarding a range of salmon options, from wild to farmed. View our salmon recommendations here (at link).

For what other countries or regions is Seafood Watch assessing farmed salmon?

The four regions assessed represent the large majority of global farmed salmon, but Seafood Watch is currently working to complete assessments for other regions that supply significant amounts of farmed salmon to the U.S. market: the Atlantic coast of North America (Atlantic salmon farmed on the U.S. and Canadian east coasts), New Zealand (Pacific King salmon) and the Faroe Islands (Atlantic salmon).

Why is Verlasso® farmed salmon from Chile rated a “Good Alternative”?

Verlasso® farm operations use a unique feed ingredient that reduces its dependence on fish oil and fishmeal from wild-caught fish sources, but the main reasons for the “Good Alternative” recommendation are that the fish are stocked in the pens at lower densities than in other open-net pen operations and documents show both limited pollution (effluent) levels at its farms, and lower use of antibiotics than the industry average in Chile.

More good info here:

http://www.seafoodwatch.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/Farmed_Salmon_FactSheet.pdf



Title: The Time for Wind and Solar Energy Is Now
Post by: AGelbert on May 04, 2014, 04:34:16 pm
The Time for Wind and Solar Energy Is Now(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fus.123rf.com%2F400wm%2F400%2F400%2Fyayayoy%2Fyayayoy1106%2Fyayayoy110600019%2F9735563-smiling-sun-showing-thumb-up.jpg&hash=09b45642ec6d7943d30b5b87548676e3ee7dbe3d)


 Elliott Negin, Union of Concerned Scientists 
 May 01, 2014

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC's) latest report, which explores ways to cut carbon emissions, put the world on notice. Despite efforts in the United States, Europe and developing countries such as China to ramp up energy efficiency and renewable energy, global carbon emissions have been increasing at a much faster clip than they were just a few decades ago. To avoid the worst of the worst, IPCC scientists say emissions will have to be reduced 40 percent to 70 percent by 2050 and warn that we only have a 15-year window to reverse course.

"We cannot afford to lose another decade," said Ottmar Edenhofer, a German economist who co-chaired the committee that wrote the report. "If we lose another decade, it becomes extremely costly to achieve climate stabilization."

As Edenhofer points out, the cost of doing nothing likely would dwarf whatever we might spend today to address climate change. That said, it makes the most sense to replace fossil fuels with the most cost-effective, safest, carbon-free and low-carbon options that can be deployed as quickly as possible.

For the biggest source of U.S. carbon pollution — electric utilities — the best solution is wind, solar and other renewable energy technologies, which, according to the new IPCC report, "have achieved a level of technical and economic maturity to enable deployment at a significant scale." In other words, renewables are now a lot cheaper and better than they were when the last IPCC report came out seven years ago.

Nuclear Not Economic

What about nuclear power? Although it now provides the most carbon-free electricity in the country, without a national carbon tax or cap-and-trade program, it's not economic, even with more than 50 years of generous federal subsidies.

Over the last decade, the estimated price tag for a new reactor has skyrocketed, jumping from $2 billion in 2002 to as high as $12 billion today. Wall Street won't finance a project unless Uncle Sam co-signs the loan, which leaves taxpayers on the hook if a project fails. So while Southern Company and its partners, with the help of an $8.3 billion federally guaranteed loan, are building two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear plant site in Georgia, it's unlikely the industry will be able to muster more than two or three more in the next decade. As recently as five years ago, utilities applied for licenses to build more than 25 new reactors.

At the same time the nuclear industry's hoped-for renaissance has fizzled, older reactors are shutting down. Four reactors closed last year because of prohibitively expensive safety upgrades or competition from cheaper energy sources, namely natural gas and wind. Economics will close a fifth reactor, Vermont Yankee, this fall, and the nation's largest nuclear plant operator, Exelon, said in February that unless market conditions improve, it will announce plant closings by the end of this year.

Wind, Solar More Affordable


Unlike new reactors, the cost of solar and wind has dropped dramatically. Solar panel prices have plummeted more than 75 percent since 2008, and the cost of generating electricity from wind turbines declined more than 40 percent over the past three years, sparking a construction boom. Last year, solar installations in the United States amounted to a record 5.1 gigawatts, boosting the national total to nearly 13 gigawatts -- enough to power nearly 2.2 million typical American homes. And by the end of December, there were enough wind turbines across the country to power 15.5 million homes and cut annual electric power sector carbon emissions by 4.4 percent.

Given solar and wind's exponential growth, experts see tremendous potential. The Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), for example,projects that wind and solar could produce 15 percent of U.S. electricity by 2020, 27 percent by 2030, and 50 percent by 2050.

Still, naysayers harp on the fact that wind and solar power are intermittent. The sun doesn't always shine, they say, and the wind doesn't always blow. That may be true, but it's not a deal-breaker. Studies by NREL and electricity grid operators in the United States and Europe conclude that larger contributions from solar and wind would not create significant technological problems or impose higher costs.

"Meeting demand in the face of variability and uncertainty is old hat for grid operators," said Mike Jacobs, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) who used to work at NREL. "They're already doing it with wind and solar here in the United States and in Europe.

"Besides, spreading wind and solar installations over a large enough area would help address the intermittency issue," he added. "The wind is always blowing somewhere, and if we increased the percentage of wind and solar to 30 percent — which we should be able to do within the next 15 years — the system's flexibility to manage supply and demand, along with a updated grid, should be able to integrate that power."

Renewables Provide More Resilience

Ramping up renewables not only would cut carbon emissions, it also would diversify the national electricity system and make it more resilient, according to a new UCS report. That system — which includes power plants, transmission lines and fuel delivery networks — was not designed to withstand all of today's extreme weather events, many of which have been linked to climate change.

Sea level rise, for example, threatens nearly 100 coastal electricity facilities, including power plants and substations, the UCS report found. Water temperature and availability also pose major problems. Older coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants rely on a "once-through" cooling process that draws hundreds of millions, if not billions, of gallons of water daily from the closest water body. When that river, lake or ocean gets too hot, which is happening with greater frequency, the plants have to cut back production or shut down temporarily. Likewise, droughts can substantially reduce water availability, while flooding from extreme rainfall can overwhelm a plant, as it did in June 2011 when a record-breaking Missouri River flood forced the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant near Omaha to remain shut down after a scheduled refueling outage two months earlier.

Renewables don't suffer from the same limitations. Rooftop solar panels and wind turbines, for instance, rely on smaller, more distributed units, which make it less likely that extreme weather events would have the same dramatic impact. Moreover, renewables are less vulnerable to drought and heat because they don't require water.

Let's Stop Subsidizing Fossil Fuels


To get where we need to go, the federal government has to turn its outdated energy subsidy policy on its head. The oil and gas industry has been enjoying average annual subsidies and tax breaks of $4.86 billion in today's dollars since 1918, according to a 2011 analysis by DBL Investors, a venture capital firm. The nuclear industry, DBL found, benefited from an average of $3.5 billion a year in subsidies from 1947 to 1999. And coal, which has been getting federal and state subsidies since the early 1800s, currently receives at least $3.2 billion a year, according to a 2011 Harvard study.

Renewables, on the other hand, averaged only $370 million a year in subsidies between 1994 and 2009, according to DBL. The 2009 stimulus package did provide $21 billion for renewables, but that support barely began to balance the scales that still tilt toward fossil fuels. Just last December, for example, Congress allowed a key wind industry tax break toexpire, but it continues to support massive subsidies for coal, oil and gas.

Americans represent less than 5 percent of the world's population, but we're responsible for 19 percent of the world's carbon emissions. Despite the fact that China surpassed us as the world's top carbon emitter in 2006, we're still the worst offenders per capita. So after subsidizing coal for more than 200 years and oil and gas for nearly 100 — which inadvertently got us into this mess — it's long past time to take fossil fuels off the dole and go all out to promote renewables. Fifteen years is just around the corner.

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/05/the-time-for-wind-and-solar-energy-is-now
Title: Minnesotans vs. McDonald’s Toxic Taters
Post by: AGelbert on May 06, 2014, 02:49:32 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF0z4YHuBxY&feature=player_embedded

Minnesotans vs. McDonald’s Toxic Taters
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websmileys.com%2Fsm%2Fviolent%2Fsterb029.gif&hash=7a43a0c106eab798f7ba6133dc5cc550647a03d2)

Maryam Henein, The Green Divas | May 5, 2014 3:59 pm

http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/05/minnesota-mcdonalds-toxic-taters/

http://www.toxictaters.org/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 07, 2014, 10:56:34 pm
Stanford Student Movement Inspires University’s $18.7 Billion Divestment From Coal
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)  ;D


http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/07/stanford-divestment-coal/
Title: Warren Buffett to Close One of Nation’s Dirtiest Coal Plants
Post by: AGelbert on May 09, 2014, 03:12:29 pm
Warren Buffett to Close One of Nation’s Dirtiest Coal Plants in Favor of Solar Energy (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fus.123rf.com%2F400wm%2F400%2F400%2Fyayayoy%2Fyayayoy1106%2Fyayayoy110600019%2F9735563-smiling-sun-showing-thumb-up.jpg&hash=09b45642ec6d7943d30b5b87548676e3ee7dbe3d)


Brandon Baker | May 8, 2014 12:20 pm     

One of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the U.S. will soon shut down, thanks to a well-known billionaire and previously passed legislation.

As part of its acquisition of Nevada’s largest utility, NV Energy, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway also inherited Reid Gardner, a 557-megawatt (MW), coal-fired energy plant near Las Vegas. The massive structure, which has a history of recognition among the country’s dirtiest carbon polluters, won’t be a lasting legacy of NV’s profile.

NV plans on shutting down three of Reid Gardner’s units that generate about 300 MW by the end of this year, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The remaining 257 MW would be closed by the end of 2017. In all, the company wants to end all of its coal operations by 2019.


Coal-fired plants will soon be a thing of the past for NV Energy   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020)

As The Atlantic points out, the utility’s decision is tied to state legislation passed last year requiring the company to eliminate 800 MW of coal energy in favor of renewables. That passage was influenced by years of fighting for cleaner air by the Moapa Band of Paiutes, a Native American community that lives near Reid Gardner.

The state utilities commission has 180 days to approve the plan, which would also include a new solar project totaling 200 MW of clean energy on the Moapa Band of Paiutes reservation. The land is about 70,000 acres and has enough to space to also support the 1.5 gigawatts of renewable energy the Moapa Band of Paiute wants to construct through a joint venture announced last year with Terrible Herbst Inc. and Stronghold Engineering Inc.

“This is going to provide a strong economic base for the tribe,” Sandy King, director of renewable-energy project development at Stronghold, told Renewable Energy World.

Last fall, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a limit of 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour for new coal plants.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/08/warren-buffett-coal-plants-solar-energy/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 12, 2014, 01:24:09 pm
Agelbert NOTE: ANOTHER "cheap" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs3187425.gif&hash=698371058827d6a11faaaa56c2531639421f9477) FOSSIL FUELS MEGA DOLLAR SUBSIDY  >:(  BITES THE DUST!  ;D

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.americanprogress.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fissues%2F2012%2F08%2Fimg%2Fsoot1.jpg&hash=60440d180cf2de642c8d979221ffa8b17a29015f)
Legal trifecta!

Another big EPA court victory — this time on soot pollution
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmaniac.gif&hash=9ecf389a7da25db958f3f63461cbb45a4b316c4e)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.docstoccdn.com%2Fthumb%2Forig%2F26119224.png&hash=549195c63e10f1bfd666b346af97030a74d5a611)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcbsbaltimore.files.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F10%2Fair-pollution.jpg&hash=ca12b03945a6c48d3bf6f3118df1b6889117d49a)

By John Upton

http://grist.org/news/another-big-epa-court-victory-this-time-on-soot-pollution/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 14, 2014, 12:10:42 am
Citing Climate Change, Ethical Reasons, New Zealand Town Divests From Fossil Fuels (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fearthhug.gif&hash=3abcf70466f34337f2d702ebd9e02c650d5c4c20)


Aaron Packard, 350.org | May 13, 2014 9:23 am


Dunedin is closer to Antarctica than it is to the U.S., but this city in New Zealand today joined 23 U.S. cities and one Dutch town by announcing that it will divest from fossil fuels.

The Dunedin city council voted on Tuesday to remove existing fossil fuel extraction investments—close to $2 million—and prevent future investments in fossil fuels by its $75 million Waripori fund. The move sees Dunedin City become the first New Zealand city to divest from fossil fuels for ethical and climate change reasons.

This move by the council comes at a time when the conservative New Zealand Government, led by Prime Minister John Key, has been pushing desperate plans to expand fossil fuel extraction across New Zealand. Yet this vote, along with the divestment announcements last September by five Anglican Dioceses in New Zealand, and the months of campaigning to halt the Denniston Coal Mine and offshore oil drilling reflect a growing disquiet with the government’s fossil fuel plans.

In recent months the Australian owned bank, Westpac, has also come under pressure to take steps to divest. Climate campaigning groups 350 Aotearoa—the New Zealand arm of 350.org—and Coal Action Network Aotearoa, are specifically calling on Westpac to halt its funding of Bathhurst Resources, whose planned coal mining project on the Denniston Plateau and surrounds would be one of the largest new contributors to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from New Zealand.

“It’s time for Westpac to front up and take responsibility for the impacts of their financing, like Dunedin has today,” said 350 Aotearoa National Coordinator Ashlee Gross. “Financing oil, coal and gas companies is playing a major role in determining whether these companies go ahead with plans that would push us well past safe CO2 levels, or whether we start to get serious about the transition to clean energy.”

This growing discontent locally has in recent weeks been backed by the rapidly growing global divestment movement. Last week, Stanford University announced plans to divest its $18 billion USD endowment fund from coal investments. Two weeks earlier, the world’s largest fund manager, BlackRock, announced plans to create a fund that will exclude fossil fuels.

The Dunedin city council’s ethical investment policy will formally exclude the munitions, tobacco, fossil fuel extraction, gambling and p o r n ography industries from its investment portfolio. With an investment policy like that, it sure makes living in Dunedin more tempting. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)

http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/13/climate-change-ethics-divests-fossil-fuels/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 14, 2014, 12:51:41 am

A Look Back at the Town That Didn’t Back Down  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)to Fracking (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fswear1.gif&hash=87347674f9297191f3f8a447208170617da4caf6)


Brandon Baker | May 12, 2014 3:46 pm | Comments
       

A small-town fracking ban took place nearly three years ago in upstate New York, but that doesn’t make it any less monumental.

That’s why Earthjustice produced a new video examining how Dryden, NY’s ban happened and why it remains as an inspiration to cities across the country hoping to fight fracking.

“My voice, by itself, carries very little weight,” said Marie McRae, a resident who galvanized the community to support a ban, “but when I join my voice with my immediate neighbors, with the larger community that I live in, we all together have a voice that’s loud enough for our elected officials to hear.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qxh7f3WJlc&feature=player_embedded


The town’s governing body banned fracking in August 2011 and withstood subsequent, corporate lawsuits attempting to overturn the decision. The short video was selected for the Gasland blog‘s movie of the week. Lee Ziesche, Gasland’s grassroots coordinator, said she thinks, “wow, that’s what democracy looks like,” when watching the video.

“Every community across this nation can do exactly what Dryden did,” resident Joanne Cipolla-Dennis said in the video.

“You have to care about each other. That’s the American dream … you count on your neighbor.”


Agelbert NOTE: You HAVE to care for ALL of the life forms in the biosphere because any other way of thinking and acting is STUPID as well as being WRONG.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53) ;D I admit that I won't make a lot of friends and influence many people with that statement... (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F237.gif&hash=13b71d2444f84b15c53fb1c0272c080f48a165f1)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fnocomment.gif&hash=e2062ee03ac013cc64a2d5285ec05dd9510c141b)

BUT nevertheless, it's TRUE!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F5yjbztv.gif&hash=d3dc6c69f3fc5ad39c44fb5466265476f34e5a76)




Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 14, 2014, 01:02:40 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEB_Wwe-uBM&feature=player_embedded
Title: Oil and Gas Operations Are a ‘Death Sentence for Soil’
Post by: AGelbert on May 14, 2014, 01:14:47 am
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)
Oil and Gas Operations Are a ‘Death Sentence for Soil’

Amy Mall, Natural Resources Defense Council  | May 5, 2014 9:45 am

Yesterday’s Denver Post has a very important story about the toll of oil and gas production(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2rzukw3.gif&hash=f0487b8f0d488ab1126ce5e031b11ea3d74b1cc2) on soil.

Soil sounds like a really boring topic. But, as the Soil Science Society of America says: “soils sustain life.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl6.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F57%2F57396kkkx0l656b.gif&hash=c32645b24e82e03102d98ba7bc1b5f20c8714e24) According to the Society, “soil supports and nourishes the plants that we eat” and that livestock eat; soil “filters and purifies much of the water we drink;” “soils teem with microorganisms that have given us many life-saving medications;” and “protecting soil from erosion helps reduce the amount of air-borne dust we breathe.”

According to the Post:

◦At least 716,982 gallons (45 percent) of the petroleum chemicals spilled during the past decade have stayed in the ground after initial cleanup—contaminating soil, sometimes spreading into groundwater.  >:(

◦Oil and gas drilling produces up to 500 tons of dirt from every new well, some of it soaked with hydrocarbons and laced with potentially toxic minerals and salts.  >:(

◦Heavy trucks crush soil, “suffocating the delicate subsurface ecosystems that traditionally made Colorado’s Front Range suitable for farming.”  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.sodahead.com%2Fpolls%2F000370273%2Fpolls_Smiley_Angry_256x256_3451_356175_answer_4_xlarge.png&hash=15577651daa4c35ff4d6b26217f99db6ebfde0b3)

These impacts from the tens of thousands of wells in Colorado alone led a Colorado soil scientist to state that oil and gas operations are ”like a death sentence for soil.”

The Post points out that no federal or state agency has ever assessed the impact of the oil and gas boom on soil and on human health. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-looney-toons-008.gif&hash=04158afe2649cfc41ac34d90ac720bf253ae6892)

http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/05/oil-gas-operations-death-sentence-for-soil/
Title: 10 Most Toxic Ingredients Used In Coal, Oil and Gas Production
Post by: AGelbert on May 18, 2014, 11:18:10 pm
10 Most Toxic Ingredients Used In Coal, Oil and Gas Production  :P

http://ecowatch.com/2013/12/09/10-toxic-ingredients-used-in-coal-oil-gas-production/
Title: Greenhouse Gas USA State Rankings
Post by: AGelbert on May 19, 2014, 08:36:52 pm
http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/17/greenhouse-gas-state-rankings/


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl10.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F2491%2F2491210ovie015m90.gif&hash=c2edc7e32994c57779427e0df75cabac786a12bf)
The Green Mountain State has the LEAST GHG Emissions!
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-098.gif&hash=ab04cec34d8ac6be10d5db27dc7987012b3a69c4)                  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-060.gif&hash=563ab221a2224107262ffa09357fe39aee4d3b1e)                        (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-103.gif&hash=abb9273d26cc854e790a671a16e9bdb987404066)                     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-041.gif&hash=162ffcc5ac459baecdad5244402edbaf94b877fa)                       (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-022.gif&hash=3b60da70b71b7109fe66036056cb1dedc1affb43)


http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/17/greenhouse-gas-state-rankings/
Title: How Planned Obsolescence HAS NOT GONE AWAY with the light bulb...
Post by: AGelbert on May 22, 2014, 10:48:09 pm
The Light Bulb Conspiracy

Planned Obsolescence is the deliberate shortening of product life spans to guarantee consumer demand.


As a magazine for advertisers succinctly puts it: The article that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b)- and a tragedy for the modern growth society which relies on an ever-accelerating cycle of production, consumption and throwing away.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imgion.com%2Fimages%2F01%2FAngry-animated-smiley.jpg&hash=84657bd1a63cad676e3551587daeb4b39411a289) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil19.gif&hash=6eeb0dbc471743691793f5130640fdcbd1f77b5c)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil12.gif&hash=d1822754cefdd0f77369dacd157d00f5f8d3fff9)

The Light Bulb Conspiracy combines investigative research and rare archive footage to trace the untold story of Planned Obsolescence, from its beginnings in the 1920s with a secret cartel, set up expressly to limit the life span of light bulbs, to present-day stories involving cutting edge electronics (such as the iPod) and the growing spirit of resistance amongst ordinary consumers.

This film travels to France, Germany, Spain and the US to find witnesses of a business practice which has become the basis of the modern economy, and brings back disquieting pictures from Africa where discarded electronics are piling up in huge cemeteries for electronic waste. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.sodahead.com%2Fpolls%2F000370273%2Fpolls_Smiley_Angry_256x256_3451_356175_answer_4_xlarge.png&hash=15577651daa4c35ff4d6b26217f99db6ebfde0b3)

Agelbert NOTE:EXCELLENT VIDEO! DON'T MISS THIS GEM!
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/light-bulb-conspiracy/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 24, 2014, 02:46:36 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fabovethelaw.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F08%2FTurning-the-Tide.jpg&hash=28c460ad82453db008ec201f947725b61c56e9eb)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-062.gif&hash=88ceb4a34a12b2bea2fd9edd887da26d73308257)

'Tide is Turning' as Oregon Voters Overwhelmingly Approve Ban of GE Crops
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)


Ronnie Cummins: "These victories make it clear to agribusiness giants like Monsanto and Dow that the day has come when they can no longer buy and lie their way to victory."

- Lauren McCauley, staff writer

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/21-1
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 25, 2014, 01:28:12 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeiFgSlzeuA&feature=player_embedded
Where there is a will, there is a way.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fpng%2F200%2Femoticons%2Ffingerscrossed.png&hash=d56f8009d18b55f4cea7be68284c0521be92fc5d)
Title: Pollution: Oxfam names major food firms as climate change 'accomplices'
Post by: AGelbert on May 25, 2014, 02:19:54 pm
The food and beverage sector: Accomplices to the climate crisis

Oxfam names major food firms as climate change 'accomplices'

Oxfam, May 21, 2014

Climate change threatens the world's food and beverage industry like few other sectors of business.  It is a major risk to food supply chains, to consumer demands and, ultimately, to companies' future profitability.

The Big 10 food and beverage companies -- Associated British Foods (ABF), Coca-Cola, Danone, General Mills, Kellogg, Mars, Mondelez International, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever -- are significant emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs) across their global operations.

If together they were a single country, these 10 famous companies would be the 25th most polluting country in the world, emitting more GHGs (263.7 million tons per annum) than Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway combined. They are not doing nearly enough to cut their own carbon footprint.

 But worse, they are failing to use their experience, leadership, and power to transform their own industry and push for the level of climate action the world needs. With a few notable exceptions, the Big 10 are being silent accomplices to this unfolding crisis. It is a serious charge because these companies should be fully aware of the impact that climate change is having on the planet's food system, given their dominance and reach into it. Two companies in particular, Kellogg and General Mills, are clear laggards among the Big 10. Both companies are highly vulnerable to climate impacts but also well positioned to lead the industry towards a more sustainable future.

Climate change is contributing to storms, floods, drought, and shifting weather patterns. These are causing crop failures, food price spikes, and supply disruptions. The end result will be more poverty and hunger. By 2050, there could be an extra 25 million malnourished children under the age of 5 because of climate change, and 50 million more hungry people.

This is the human dimension of the climate change crisis that is already unfolding. The poorest, most vulnerable people are being hit first and worst. But all of us will be affected. In major markets like the US and the UK, Oxfam calculates that climate change will drive up the retail price of products like General Mills' Kix cereal by up to 24 percent and Kellogg Corn Flakes by as much as 44 percent over the next 15 years. Such retail price hikes are the consequence of rising prices of commodities like corn and rice, projected to double by 2030, with half the price rise due to climate change.

For the full report:

http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/bp186-standing-sidelines-big10-climate-emissions-200514-en_2.pdf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 26, 2014, 08:38:59 pm
Indians accused over “Devil’s Bend” killings go on trial 26 May 2014

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.survivalinternational.org%2Fpictures%2F307%2Fpolice-attack-protesters_screen.jpg&hash=a2095d9d78d77c0452fe575b7ee4f04e61f14dad)
Police break up road blockade near Bagua, Peru, June 5th © Thomas Quirynen

Fifty-three people go on trial in Peru today, charged in connection with violent clashes between indigenous protesters and police five years ago that left thirty-three dead.

The violence erupted in June 2009 after more than 50 days of nationwide protests led by Peru’s Amazon Indians over government plans to strip the Indians of their rights, and open up the Amazon to oil drilling and mining.

The clashes took place in Peru’s northern Amazon town of Bagua, after police confronted indigenous protesters who had peacefully blockaded a highway at a place known as “Devil’s Bend” for almost two months.

Twenty-three police officers, five Indians and five civilians were killed and more than 200 injured during the incident, according to a report by Peru’s Ombudsman. Unofficial reports have claimed the death toll was much higher.

Amongst those charged is Alberto Pizango, the president of Peru’s Amazon Indian Organization AIDESEP. The prosecution has called for Pizango to be imprisoned for life for “inciting violence”.

Since the clashes, several of the government’s controversial decrees have been repealed. In 2011, Peru’s President Ollanta Humala approved a law designed to guarantee indigenous peoples’ right to free, prior and informed consent to any projects affecting them and their lands.

However, since then the government has approved a controversial expansion of the massive Camisea gas project, even though it will penetrate deep into the territory of uncontacted Indians.

Peru’s government has been heavily criticized by both indigenous people and families of the deceased police officers for its failure to prevent the violence.

No police officers have yet been brought to trial. >:(


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.survivalinternational.org%2Fpictures%2F315%2Fbagua-protester_screen.jpg&hash=67b2b29dd6d7e78f910a15c0251e18b3541b55f7)
Read Survival’s eyewitness report (download includes several pictures :o) of the Bagua killings .here (http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/4687) NOTE: contains images some may find disturbing
http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/10249
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 29, 2014, 10:41:26 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9TE03HcBB4&feature=player_embedded

Study Connects Monsanto’s Roundup to Fatal Kidney Disease Epidemic  :(  >:(

http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/26/study-connects-monsantos-roundup-to-fatal-kidney-disease-epidemic/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 29, 2014, 11:22:21 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.wp.com%2Fcleantechnica.com%2Ffiles%2F2014%2F05%2FPoster-Divestment.jpg&hash=6f6afd9a625380a0ad2be1c04be0a4206f13f284)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 01, 2014, 04:32:50 pm
05/29/2014 12:28 PM     

Big Carbon & Big Tobacco, Same Path to Court


SustainableBusiness.com News

At some point, corporations will be held accountable for their crimes against nature and society by fueling climate change and misinforming the public on this emergency.

A letter to 75 corporate executives of major fossil fuel, insurance and other carbon-intensive companies makes it clear that day is drawing nearer - it says executives could face personal liability for funding climate denial and obstructing policies necessary to fight climate change. 

 The Center for International Environmental Law, Greenpeace International and World Wildlife Fund sent the letter to fossil fuel, mining, insurance and carbon-intensive manufacturers like cement-maker Holcim (here's the list).

 "From asbestos to tobacco to oil spills, history shows that those who mislead the public, the market or the government about the risks of their products, or the availability of safer alternatives, can face substantial legal liability, both as companies and as individuals. As the impacts of climate denialism and regulatory obstruction become clear, we want to understand how corporations, insurers, and officers and directors are allocating those risks among themselves. Just as importantly, we ask what steps they're taking to prevent the misconduct that creates those risks in the first place," says Carroll Muffett, President of the Center for International Environmental Law.

"Sooner or later, those who hide the facts and oppose policies to fight climate change will be held to account by the courts. By signing this letter, we hope to bring attention to the importance of truthful, transparent and responsible corporate reporting and policy engagement on climate change," says Samantha Smith, who leads WWF's Global Climate and Energy Initiative.

50 corporations produce 75% of the greenhouse gases of the 500 largest publicly traded companies. These are the major polluters in the US. 

Climate Change Discussion


Indeed, leading environmental attorneys from around the world are building the case to go after polluters in court to force them (or their government regulators) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)

"Big Carbon is where Big Tobacco was, before it started losing," (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039) says an article in The Nation. The tobacco industry kept spinning doubt long after the science was clear on the health issues caused by its products. "As the tobacco suits lurched forward, documents - as well as some infamous congressional testimony - proved the industry's bad faith, swaying public opinion against tobacco. It was that, along with the massive wave of lawsuits by all 50 state attorneys general, that helped persuade Congress to bring the cigarette makers under the federal regulatory umbrella," explains The Nation.

"While the industry scoffs at the importance of climate-change lawsuits, Big Carbon is thought to be taking them very seriously in private  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-scared005.gif&hash=2de3525707995f1cf9333ecfafd947caca42e8eb) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fwww_MyEmoticons_com__smokelots.gif&hash=094f88de6782c1cd03ed5321b387792046eb3cdd) - especially after a federal appeals court found in 2005 that US cities and even individuals suffering economic and other damages from climate change have standing to sue under the National Environmental Policy Act," climate attorney Matthew Pawa, told The Nation.

"We want to influence the court of public opinion. We have to educate people about the truth after all this industry disinformation. So let the lawsuits produce documents and testimony and all sorts of information for the public. That's one of their functions. That's where the tobacco wars were won. Even [Representative Henry] Waxman's famous tobacco hearings in Congress - the tobacco execs never admitted anything. You didn't need to get to that. By the time they left the hearing room, they were already pariahs. We'd seen through them," says attorney Kert Davies.


Here is the letter:
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)

Dear __(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400)__,

We are writing to you as we are contacting individual members of the Board of Directors and/or Officers of ___ corporation, which ranks among the largest historic contributors to industrial greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, we have contacted Senior Executives of major writers of Directors and Officers (D&O) liability cover. You can view the list of recipients on the Greenpeace International website.

The corporations who share the majority of responsibility for the estimated global industrial emissions of CO2 and methane over the past 150 years may have been or may be working to defeat action on climate change and clean energy by funding climate denial and disseminating false or misleading information on climate risks (see Annex A). These actions are being taken despite increased awareness of the threats associated with climate change among shareholders, the insurance industry, and many others, and the overwhelming body of climate science on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.

While lawful lobbying is a vital part of the democratic process, corporate influence - either directly or through outside organizations - aiming to obstruct action on climate change, coupled with the development, sponsorship or dissemination of false, misleading or intentionally incomplete information about the climate risks associated with fossil fuel products and services to regulators, shareholders, and insurers could pose a risk   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smiley-lol.com%2Fsmiley%2Fexagerent%2Fpolice%2Fenprison.gif&hash=4912c6e4685052e7a6084b2d6740020437d7dae4)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smiley-lol.com%2Fsmiley%2Fexagerent%2Fpolice%2Fboulet.gif&hash=d7b4519fc185b666c4c74a5bc63d4d0a70c0ad21)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2194.gif&hash=5a6b9202f44f22d5ce751c5414683a0944e92e0c)    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6348.gif&hash=9504ceda802b0d93a18efc33727d5044073ea428)  to directors and officers personally. In particular, the threat of future civil or criminal litigation could have major implications for D&O liability insurance coverage (see Annex B).

We ask that you respond within four weeks to the "Questions for fossil fuel company directors and officers". The substance of this letter, along with a list of companies to which we have sent letters is posted on the Greenpeace International website, and your response will also be posted soon after its receipt.

We look forward to receiving your responses.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imgion.com%2Fimages%2F01%2FAngry-animated-smiley.jpg&hash=84657bd1a63cad676e3551587daeb4b39411a289)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)


+++

 Read the article in the Nation, Want to Stop Climate Change? Take the Fossil Fuel Industry to Court:

 
Website: www.thenation.com/article/179459/want-stop-climate-change-take-fossil-fuel-industry-court#

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/25738
Title: A healthy economy OR a healthy environment is a FOSSIL FUEL FOLLEY CHOICE
Post by: AGelbert on June 02, 2014, 10:39:01 pm
Nice EPA new Carbon Regs video. "We will never, in the USA, have to pick between a healthy economy and a healthy environment."  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)


Select Soundbites from the EPA Carbon Rule Announcement June 2, 2014:
http://bcove.me/aldycezl
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 06, 2014, 01:58:40 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.dailykos.com%2Fimages%2F87590%2Flarge%2FKos-Crazy.jpg%3F1401985308&hash=74f350d033e9b33bce6009fe1573c8ab2cbb0669)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.after5catalog.com%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2F125-08110B1.jpg&hash=0853933859e224d8ffb59f912d6235849f313954)                     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F245.gif&hash=67462ab647fbd65cb336e77c93c2601e477da0a9)

Title: The Beautiful Poisoned Children of China
Post by: AGelbert on June 07, 2014, 01:24:10 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsXZeMJACNI&feature=player_embedded

The Beautiful Poisoned Children of China (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2955.gif&hash=ddc12d8bdb1bc63b7998a6b086b79a71b7bda755)

Hard hitting article here:
http://ecowatch.com/2013/05/02/beautiful-poisoned-children-of-china/
Title: Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Companies Guilty of Damaging Streams
Post by: AGelbert on June 07, 2014, 06:59:14 pm
Historic Federal Decision Finds West Virginia Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Companies Guilty of Damaging Streams  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457)

Brandon Baker | June 6, 2014

Believe it or not, no federal court in the U.S. had ever ruled that high conductivity discharges from coal mines were harmful to streams until this week.  >:(

Everything changed with a historic decision in the U.S. District Court  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F8.gif&hash=c1d98e606d7f558df4040f88e7997b3e11e9448c) for the Southern District of West Virginia that found two companies guilty of violating clean water protections. The decision was a result of a citizen lawsuit filed more than two years ago accusing mountaintop removal mines owned by Alex Energy and Elk Run Coal Co. contaminated waters in Laurel Creek and Robinson Fork with sulfate and other dissolved solids, adding toxicity to the ecosystem of aquatic creatures.

Full article here:

http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/06/west-virginia-mountaintop-removal-coal/
Title: Shocking Fracking Film ‘Unearthed’ to Premiere
Post by: AGelbert on June 09, 2014, 04:20:28 pm
Shocking Fracking Film ‘Unearthed’ to Premiere at UK’s Sheffield International Documentary Festival

Brandon Baker | June 7, 2014 9:00 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP0NV-4VBU0&feature=player_embedded

Jolynn Minnaar had no intention of making a documentary exposing the evils of fracking. In fact, the Karoo, South Africa native viewed the arrival of a shale gas extraction industry as an exciting opportunity for development and employment in home district.

Her opinion changed after visiting the U.S.

Full story here:

http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/07/fracking-unearthed-documentary-festival/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 10, 2014, 09:28:40 pm
Bold Nebraska Director Jane Kleeb Explains the Science   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.envisionyourdreamsllc.com%2FGolden-Pig.jpg&hash=b7879c3d56faf2797c99c46b9dfeb644196a3e2d)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imgion.com%2Fimages%2F01%2FAngry-animated-smiley.jpg&hash=84657bd1a63cad676e3551587daeb4b39411a289) Behind Climate Denial

Brandon Baker | June 10, 2014 4:46 pm | Comments

With a decision on Keystone XL postponed indefinitely, Jane Kleeb is busy advocating and campaigning against the pipeline proposal. Still, she took a few minutes out of her day for the recent rash of climate change deniers.

The Bold Nebraska director appeared on MSNBC’s Ed Show this week to explain why legislators across the country see it fit to challenge scientists and admit that they aren’t actually qualified to do so in the same sentence.

When guest host Michael Eric Dyson, an author and professor at Georgetown University, asked why so many Republicans are minimizing the impact of greenhouse gas emissions, Kleeb provided a simple and honest answer.

“I would hate to say that it’s this simplified, but it is—a vast majority of their political donations come from big oil, big gas and big coal,” she said. “We’ve got to start kind of realizing that they are talking not for their constituents, not for carbon pollution that’s consuming the communities in their areas, they’re speaking for the people who are lining their pockets. It’s really that simple.”(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fd2.gif&hash=98d536bf1047a88ef91e9c45e08b725347c9fe13)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

Video at link:

http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/10/bold-nebraska-jane-kleeb-climate-denial/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 17, 2014, 06:01:53 pm
New York Assembly Overwhelmingly Passes Fracking Moratorium
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-098.gif&hash=ab04cec34d8ac6be10d5db27dc7987012b3a69c4)                                 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fza4.gif&hash=2db0a6001703f4089cb64dc38159bb3d467e1bff)                            (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-022.gif&hash=3b60da70b71b7109fe66036056cb1dedc1affb43)


Brandon Baker | June 17, 2014 9:25 am     

New York’s general assembly passed a moratorium on fracking Monday with a sensible question in mind—why rush?

“We have heard from thousands of residents across the state about many issues associated with hydrofracking, and prudent leadership demands that we take our time to address all these concerns,” said New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. “We do not need to rush into this. The natural gas deposits within the Marcellus Shale are not going to go anywhere.”

The assembly passed a three-year moratorium of oil and natural gas drilling permits by an 89-to-34 count to allow for more time to study the environmental impact of the practice. The state has been under a fracking moratorium since 2008, with the most recent one passing in 2013. It would have expired in May 2015.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffiles.cdn.ecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F06%2Ffrackny.jpeg&hash=1b7cb5a58ce0d11c410333a67b5e6940e0f22a9e)
New York environmental groups and medical professionals don't want their communities to end up like the one pictured in Windham Township, Wyoming County, PA. Photo credit: Donald Gilliland/The Patriot-News

Full passage of the moratorium now depends on the New York State Senate and, ultimately, Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The Associated Press reports that the Senate is unlikely to address the issue before adjournment later this week.

“We thank the Assembly for listening to the medical experts by overwhelmingly passing a moratorium on fracking to protect New Yorkers from the devastating health and environmental impacts,” Alex Beauchamp of Food & Water Watch and New Yorkers Against Fracking said in a statement. “Now, we’re urging Gov. Cuomo and the State Senate to stand up against the out-of-state oil and gas industry, and stand up for our state’s health, environment and long-term economy by rejecting fracking.”

Some environmental groups might not agree that more time is needed to study fracking, but they are glad their voices, as well as those of medical professionals, have been heard. In May, a lengthy list of doctors and groups like the American Lung Association in New York wrote a letter to Cuomo stressing the impact fracking has on nearby states like Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

“Oil and gas development utilizing HVHF [High volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing] involves the use and/or production of numerous toxic and hazardous air and water contaminants, a number of them known or suspected carcinogens,” the legislation reads. “Oil and gas development utilizing HVHF has also been associated with a range of adverse environmental impacts, including impacts to water and air quality, land and habitat, and community character.”

Dr. Sheila Bushkin of the Concerned Health Professionals of New York echoed the cautious optimism in the state that the moratorium will continue beyond next May.

“We applaud the New York State Assembly for its leadership in responding to the growing body of science demonstrating that fracking threatens public health and passing a three year moratorium,” Buskin said. “The science is clear that a moratorium on fracking of at least three years is the only responsible course of action, and the New York State Senate and Governor Cuomo should swiftly follow suit.”

http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/17/new-york-fracking-moratorium-senate/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 19, 2014, 04:00:54 pm
Princeton Study: Up to 900,000 Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Pollute Pennsylvania’s Air

Brandon Baker | June 19, 2014 11:22 am

http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/19/princeton-study-abandoned-oil-wells-methane/ (http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/19/princeton-study-abandoned-oil-wells-methane/)


Agelbert NOTE:
Move along, nothing to see here say people like Nicole Foss ("there's money to be made") and other happy-numbers-for-fossil-fuel EROI BULLSHIT ARTISTS. Hello Charles Hall.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imgion.com%2Fimages%2F01%2FAngry-animated-smiley.jpg&hash=84657bd1a63cad676e3551587daeb4b39411a289) 

Guess who gets to pay this "externalized cost" for all those "cheap" fossil fuels that we NEVER demanded but were cleverly stuffed down our collective throats through propaganda and rip off subsidy laws that stifled renewable energy for over a century? NOT BIG OIL!!!
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smilies.4-user.de%2Finclude%2FSpiele%2Fsmilie_game_017.gif&hash=e8548890f80af23241a1d43a1ab1ca8031301f20) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

Big Oil is going to lie 24/7 saying WE demanded  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smileyvault.com%2Falbums%2Fstock%2Fthumb_smiley-sign0105.gif&hash=4b7bdb3cce5fe9dd53544e5635cdbf996f52f716) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smileyvault.com%2Falbums%2Fuserpics%2F12962%2Fnoway.gif&hash=6aaed48c4cb7571f75233f6a34dac66e392c16d5) all those "wonderful", "civilization improving" and "standard of living raising" and "population increasing" Fossil **** fuels! So WE-the-people have to "pick up" after those MINOR DETAILS that involved supplying us with all this "concentrated source of energy". That's just the Free **** Market in action, don'tcha know? What are ya, a Commie or sumptin'? We were and are just doing what YOU WANT us to do! We are your loyal servants supplying a NEED! No we aren't drug pushers!  ;) We are Oil men. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Bzb-1rVB8pc%2FUfXxBekcYVI%2FAAAAAAAAEm4%2FhXUkGCzFIPg%2Fs1600%2Fgiveafuckometer-gif.gif&hash=ba12a8b5eb920e7de0ca2ba5256e06bfc2c040e7)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-190614155113.png&hash=f58ec23290a8fc7a85246066a1fb4f3bf4b5a771)

 
Keep swallowing the LIES of the MKings of this world and keep allowing their profits that poison us are used to buy our government or  sign here!  (http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/Ai3Tb)

Details on how the Fossil fuels profit over planet SCAM of the century was perpetrated:
Hope for a Viable Biosphere of Renewables
Why They Work and Fossil & Nuclear Fuels Never Did


Published July 17, 2012. | By A. G. Gelbert

http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/blog/2012/07/17/hope-for-a-viable-biosphere-of-renewables/ (http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/blog/2012/07/17/hope-for-a-viable-biosphere-of-renewables/)

 Exposed: The 1950s mendacious pro-nuclear propaganda (that most Americans still wrongly believe) for MIC predatory corporate profit that building over 400 nuclear power plants during the postwar period was justified in order to make Weapons Grade Plutonium for "national security". (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/nuke-puke/no-we-never-needed-lwr-nuclear-power-plants-to-make-nuclear-weapons/msg1332/#msg1332)




Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 21, 2014, 01:14:23 pm
Pennsylvania Instructed Its Employees To Ignore Residents Sickened By Drilling

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.sodahead.com%2Fpolls%2F000370273%2Fpolls_Smiley_Angry_256x256_3451_356175_answer_4_xlarge.png&hash=15577651daa4c35ff4d6b26217f99db6ebfde0b3)

By Andrew Breiner on June 20, 2014 at 12:18 pm

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/20/3451311/pennsylvania-frack-gag-health/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 23, 2014, 03:44:49 pm
Report Exposes Companies That Dumped 206 Million Pounds of Toxic Chemicals Into U.S. Waterways  :P  >:(

http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/23/toxic-chemicals-waterways/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 30, 2014, 06:38:03 pm
BREAKING: Court Rules That New York Towns Can Ban Fracking And Drilling  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fza4.gif&hash=2db0a6001703f4089cb64dc38159bb3d467e1bff)

By Katie Valentine on June 30, 2014 at 10:02 am


http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/06/30/3454580/new-york-towns-can-ban-fracking/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 30, 2014, 11:03:56 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300614231619.png&hash=5661a748e1f40d36a365117ab1801822e9c4c9b5)
Monsanto was a BIG DEFENDER OF DDT just like it now defends GMO BT TOXIN and glyphosate (roundup herbicide chemically closely related to AGENT ORANGE!)  :P >:(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w437uQf_A7c&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 04, 2014, 09:23:44 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frcRHW9RcdU&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 09, 2014, 09:31:03 pm
BROKEN GROUND
On the frontlines of a fractured landscape  :(  :P (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113183729.png&hash=d898195c8ae0a55e2e6d84fc47b9d06f8ba13f03)

SNIPPET 1:

Quote
They then began to notice dead spots in the grass where cows had urinated.

Soil samples showed higher levels of strontium, a naturally occurring element usually trapped deep underground, elevated levels of chlorine and hydrochloric acid, commonly used in the fracking process — the first clue that fracking may have contaminated their groundwater.

The second clue was the sudden absence of algae, pointing to the presence of biocides often used in fracking fluids. The cows’ water is kept heated throughout the winter, providing an ideal environment for algae to grow — from time to time Howard had to remove the green muck from the troughs. “Last year he didn’t have to clean it out because the water was crystal clear. The algae were all dead,” Nielle notes.

Howard and Nielle say that their problems are not unique. But neighbours won’t speak out for fear their purebred animal or seed stock businesses will be perceived as tainted. The Hawkwoods’ outspokenness has already caused tensions with some of them.

They feel that we’re against them, and they won’t even talk to us in public. They actually walk on the other side of the street.

“They feel that we’re against them, and they won’t even talk to us in public. They actually walk on the other side of the street.”

Many people have quietly left the community, but word’s getting out about the problems, making it almost impossible for those left behind to sell their properties and move away.

The time is fast approaching when the Hawkwoods will have to make a decision. As grass starts to grow back after winter, patches of barren land are clearly more widespread than last year. Howard estimates they lost between one and two acres of productive land in each of the last two years.

“Now if this keeps up, I would imagine that within about 10 years, my ranch will not exist anymore,” he says.

SNIPPET 2: (a fossil fueler gets a bit of his own "medicine"...)

Quote
After working around the world as an oil and gas engineer for more than 30 years, Dan Thomas knows a thing or two about the petroleum industry. His home in the Lochend area of Cochrane, Alberta, overlooks large cattle-ranching operations, small acreages, the distant Rocky Mountains and, in just the past three years, over 100 oil well sites.

Dan and his wife, Elaine, planned a quiet, country retirement after returning from the Netherlands, in a modest home connected to a small meeting space to rent out for business team-building retreats and meetings. But a drilling rig appeared 400 metres from the property just days before construction was slated to begin. “If I had had two weeks’ notice, I wouldn’t be sitting here,” Thomas says.

Things changed fast. The area went from one oil rig to 110 in three years, without stakeholder engagement or risk assessments.

An expert in the field, Thomas understands the processes. Modern, high-pressure hydraulic fracturing differs from technology used since the 1950s in one major way: pressure. Conventional fracking used water, chemicals and sand pressurized to about 700 pounds per square inch. Today, upwards of 4.5 million litres of fracking fluid and over 200,000 tonnes of sand can be pumped underground — all at pressures well over 10,000 psi.  :P

During the drilling process, the pressurized chemical mixture (known as “slickwater”) causes rock formations deep underground to fracture and open into fissures. Some injected chemicals travel back up, along with naturally occurring ones like benzene and ethylene. The unwanted, chemically laden water and the desirable oil or gas are supposed to be separated. But there are multiple opportunities for failure and release of hazardous materials, Thomas points out, including broken concrete well seals, improper handling and disposal of flow-back water and burning highly carcinogenic compounds. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)

VERY INFORMATIVE VIDEO by Dan Thomas on what FRACKING REALLY IS at the link!   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020)

SNIPPET 3 (in regard to the LACK of environmental safeguards in Alberta) :

Quote
There’s nothing that requires them to do a damn thing. There are no duties to protect the environment, there are no duties to use their powers, there’s no duty to enforce.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-023.gif&hash=e72013122d6634eacda71e7e47240da3c304c286)

http://brokenground.ca/?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRolua7LZKXonjHpfsX66OgpXaO3lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4CRcdlI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFS7jNMbZkz7gOXRE%3D (http://brokenground.ca/?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRolua7LZKXonjHpfsX66OgpXaO3lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4CRcdlI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFS7jNMbZkz7gOXRE%3D)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 10, 2014, 01:44:34 am
Upton is a pro fossil fuel POS that is the Chairman of GUESS WHAT?
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce!
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwebpages.charter.net%2Fkazoobruce%2FFlierUS.jpg&hash=e5b955424a250b3688c0164c8027caa8a3d82633)
http://webpages.charter.net/kazoobruce/DownWithUpton.xhtml
Do your part. Urge Representative (of fossil fuel FRACKING polluters!) to GO AWAY!  >:(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 11, 2014, 01:36:11 am
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fscientificbeekeeping.com%2Fscibeeimages%2Fusebyyear.png&hash=9ca097de5dde9bfd55af75827cbec4e37dfeed7a)
Use by year graph. Use of the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid over time. USGS data

Nature | Editorial

Be concerned


A possible link between neonicotinoid pesticide use and a decline in bird numbers is worrying.  :(


09 July 2014

http://www.nature.com/news/be-concerned-1.15516
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 12, 2014, 05:39:20 pm
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120714172428.jpeg&hash=9bb52f8529e7c4755dfce26752fec87e3fc05d9b)
Graphic courtesy of NRDC


8 Summertime Woes That Will Only Get Worse With Climate Change  :( >:(

EcoWatch | July 1, 2014 2:46 pm

With the Forth of July upon us, summer is in full swing, the dog days are heating up and today, the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) released a fact sheet on eight summertime woes that will only get worse with climate change.

NRDC’s fact sheet also includes tips that individuals—as well as the nation—can take to ease the misery, highlighting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants.

NRDC’s tip sheet highlights the following summertime blues:

1. Heat waves

2. Bad air alert days

3. Ticks and mosquitoes

4. Poison ivy

5. Sneezing and wheezing

6. Food-borne illness

7. Dangerous swimming conditions

8. Ruined visits to national parks and landmarks


“Across America, climate change already is super-charging summer, and with hotter days we’re seeing more risks to our health and happiness,” said Peter Altman, director of NRDC’s Climate Campaign. “We can ease these warm-day woes today, but it would be wrong to doom tomorrow’s families and children to even more heat waves, code red air alerts, disease-carrying ticks, poison ivy rashes, stomach illnesses and degraded national landmarks. That’s not a future they deserve.”(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-028.gif&hash=24570cb7e8246617010ce900a07bc85117ff78ca)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-106.gif&hash=f996659d18df7f3b445e6135e884397ac91f25b1)


Without stronger action on climate change, the summers that lie ahead could very well be unbearable. NRDC’s tip sheet—co-written by two contributing authors to the National Climate Assessment—hopes to help us beat the heat, now and in the future.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/07/01/8-summertime-woes-worse-with-climate-change/

http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2014/06/petition-president-obama-be-delivered-september-demand-liberty-fossil-fuels-through-10
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 17, 2014, 03:39:33 pm
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e)
Quote
For Immediate Release, July 14, 2014

Contact: Jonathan Evans, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 436-9682 x 318

Lawsuit Launched to Protect Air Quality in North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C.— The Center for Biological Diversity submitted a formal notice of intent to sue the Environmental Protection Agency today for failing to ensure that North Carolinians are protected from lead and ozone air pollution. The EPA has failed to make sure the state has a plan in place to meet Clean Air Act standards formalized eight years ago for lead and ozone pollution, which pose serious threats to public health and ecosystems.

“From the highest peaks of the Smoky Mountains to the beaches of the Outer Banks, clean air is the primary building block for healthy ecosystems and strong communities,” said Jonathan Evans, toxics and endangered species campaign director at the Center. “The EPA needs to take steps right now to implement the Clean Air Act to save lives and protect the environment in North Carolina.”

North Carolina elected officials have become increasingly hostile to federal clean-air laws. On Dec. 26 the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources under Gov. Pat McCrory sued the EPA to loosen air-quality requirements related to dangerous soot called particulate matter. The state legislature introduced the Regulatory Reform Act (Senate Bill 734), which included a requirement that the state eliminate the majority of its 132 air-quality monitors that help ensure clean-air requirements are being met. 

“It’s shameful that the elected officials of North Carolina are working at the beck and call of polluters  :evil4: to roll back clean-air protections for the state,”
said Evans. “Clear skies, healthy families and clean ecosystems shouldn’t be bargained away for the next campaign contribution or Tea Party vote.”

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to identify and set “National Ambient Air Quality Standards” for pollutants such as lead and ozone, both of which cause harm to people, especially sensitive populations such as children and the elderly, and to ecosystems. In North Carolina alone, more than 860,000 people have illnesses like asthma and pulmonary disease that may be the result of ozone pollution and can be exacerbated by the pollutant. Despite improvements in air quality since the state enacted the Clean Smokestacks Act in 2002, regions such as the Charlotte metropolitan area still violate the minimum air-quality standards for ozone.

Background
Lead, which does not break down in the environment, is an extremely toxic element that threatens human health, especially that of children. It disrupts their development, causing slow growth, development defects and damage to the brain and nervous system. Ecosystems near lead sources experience decreases in biodiversity, ecosystem production, and increases in invasive species. Many scientific studies have also expressed concern about sublethal effects of atmospheric lead on wildlife.

Ground-level ozone leads to public health problems, particularly in children and adults with lung disease. Ozone reduces lung function, increases respiratory problems like asthma, increases visits to emergency rooms, and can lead to premature death. Repeated exposure to ozone during the growing season damages vegetation and ecosystems. Cumulative ozone exposure can lead to reduced tree growth; visibly injured leaves; and increased susceptibility to disease, damage from insects and harsh weather. Sensitive plant species that are at risk from ozone exposure include trees such as black cherry, quaking aspen, ponderosa pine and cottonwood.

For more on the dangers of lead click here (at link below).

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 775,000 members and supporters dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places
.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2014/lead-ozone-07-14-2014.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 17, 2014, 03:54:11 pm
For Immediate Release, July 17, 2014

Quote
Contact: Mollie Matteson, (802) 318-1487

Lawsuit Filed to Protect Hudson River, Endangered Wildlife From Massive Increase in
 Dangerous Crude Oil Shipments 
  :P

NEW YORK— Responding to a massive increase in shipments of highly explosive crude oil along the Hudson River, the Center for Biological Diversity today filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency for failing to update their oil-spill plans to ensure that spill-response activities do not harm the many endangered species dependent on the river. The lawsuit, filed under the Endangered Species Act, identifies 17 federally protected endangered species, including Atlantic sturgeon, sea turtles and piping plovers that, like the millions of people living along the river, are threatened by the increased risk of spills.

“With little public scrutiny or input, there’s been a massive increase in transport of highly flammable crude oil by rail and barge, which puts communities, rivers and wildlife in danger,” said Mollie Matteson, a senior scientist at the Center. “We need a spill-response plan that actually protects residents and the precious endangered wildlife of the Hudson and northeast coast — animals like the Atlantic sturgeon, red knot and loggerhead sea turtle. We have to take immediate action to make sure these rare and marvelous creatures aren’t casualties of a reckless industry.”

The amount of crude oil being brought by rail to the port of Albany and then barged down the Hudson to East Coast refineries has jumped from essentially nothing, two years ago, to close to 3 billion gallons a year. The recent history of fiery derailments across North America indicates the urgency of addressing this growing threat to the environment from the rapid increase in oil trains. The U.S. Coast Guard and EPA, lead agencies on the region’s spill-response plan, have not completed required Endangered Species Act consultation to keep up with rapid increases of crude oil cargos from North Dakota and the potential impacts of oil-spill response measures.

“Oil trains pose an enormous danger we can’t overlook,” said Matteson. “Further shipments into Albany and along the Hudson River should be stopped until there’s an adequate plan in place to deal with the spills that are almost certain to occur.”

Since last year a series of fiery oil-train derailments have occurred in the United States and Canada, including a wreck of a 72-tank-car train last year in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec that killed 47 people and incinerated part of the small tourist town. The most recent explosive derailment, on April 30, occurred in downtown Lynchburg, Va., where the James River was set on fire by oil leaking out of punctured tank cars. These accidents pose serious threats to endangered species as well as human communities, and the potential response measures, including the use of dispersants, burning the spilled oil and booming of oil, can directly affect protected species and their critical habitat.

The Hudson River has become a major conduit for crude shipped from the rapidly expanding oil fields of North Dakota and eastern Montana to East Coast refineries. In the wake of explosive derailments and mounting evidence that “Bakken” oil from North Dakota is unusually volatile and dangerous, the federal Department of Transportation has issued a series of safety advisories and called for voluntary reforms from the railroad and oil industries. But the agency has not enacted stronger regulations, despite warnings for years from transportation safety experts, including the National Transportation Safety Board, that tank cars are prone to puncture and rail routes, running through the heart of cities and towns across the country, are ill-placed for shipment of hazardous, volatile materials. 

The Center’s lawsuit identifies 17 federally protected endangered species, including shortnose sturgeon, Atlantic sturgeon, sea turtles, whales, roseate tern and piping plover, that are threatened not only by the increased risk of spills from oil trains, barges and tanker ships, but by response measures that often do more harm than good.

The Coast Guard and EPA have never completed formal consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service on the potential impact of oil-spill response on the protected species. 2010’s Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrated that oil-spill responses can sometimes be as harmful to wildlife as the original spill; the use of chemical dispersants and burning of spilled oil, in particular, proved to be lethal to numerous marine species, protected sea turtles among them. The Center's complaint seeks to ensure that these mistakes are not repeated in the Hudson River region.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 775,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2014/crude-oil-transport-07-17-2014.html

More EXTERNALIZED costs courtesy of the FOSSIL FUEL FORKS! I'm glad to see another lawsuit addressing this MURDER of a part of our biosphere for short term profit.
Title: Re: Pollution from Pipelines 1986-2013
Post by: AGelbert on July 17, 2014, 07:45:55 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rxqUXqPzog&feature=player_embedded

Many excellent and revealing graphics at link. See what exactly has caused the deaths, injuries and environmental damage:  >:(

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/americas_dangerous_pipelines/index.html
Title: In Harm's Way: Rare Species in the path of the Keystone Death Pipeline
Post by: AGelbert on July 17, 2014, 08:37:06 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvHKTz6YnVo&feature=player_embedded

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/no_keystone_xl/video.html
Title: Friends SOON TO BE dead ENDS, thanks to the FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY...
Post by: AGelbert on July 17, 2014, 09:12:52 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw_Gv4K-uJ8&feature=player_embedded
More EXTERNALIZED COSTS in the deadly service of fossil fuel short term profits.  >:(

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 21, 2014, 07:48:44 pm

http://viewrz.com/video/impact-on-the-environment
In less than 2 minutes, this video says what Words cannot express... (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2955.gif&hash=ddc12d8bdb1bc63b7998a6b086b79a71b7bda755)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 26, 2014, 09:27:32 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-260714212305.png&hash=90792bd127c5f5ae50c005c7d95118d733a9f179)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 27, 2014, 12:16:24 am
How Dangerous is Air Pollution?   ???

Air pollution is even more dangerous than smoking in terms of causing cancer, according to 2013 conclusions from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancers (IARC). Outdoor air pollution as a whole is considered a carcinogen more harmful than cigarette smoking because of the unavoidable nature of breathing in polluted air on a regular basis from sources such as power plants, transportation, and agricultural and industrial emissions. Air pollution caused approximately 3.2 million deaths in 2010, including 223,000 from lung cancer, according to estimates from WHO.

More about air pollution:

•Pregnant women exposed to high levels of air pollution were found to be 22% more likely to have premature babies, according to a research study of European women from 1994 through 2011.

•WHO estimates that about 25% of all stroke deaths worldwide are attributed to indoor air pollution, such as burning solid fuels indoors for heat or cooking.

•Over 65,000 Americans are estimated to have heart attacks or other cardiac events as a result of exposure to air pollution, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-dangerous-is-air-pollution.htm

MORE "EXTERNALIZED" costs for the "profitable" Fossil Fuel Marquis de Sades  >:(  :(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 27, 2014, 11:57:06 pm
The Vatican is on the right track!

Vatican lists "new sins," including pollution


By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY 
 
(Reuters) - Thou shall not pollute the Earth. Thou shall beware genetic manipulation. Modern times bring with them modern sins. So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of "new" sins such as causing environmental blight.

The guidance came at the weekend when Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican's number two man in the sometimes murky area of sins and penance, spoke of modern evils.

Asked what he believed were today's "new sins," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics.

"(Within bioethics) there are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control," he said.

The Vatican opposes stem cell research that involves destruction of embryos and has warned against the prospect of human cloning.

Girotti, in an interview headlined "New Forms of Social Sin," also listed "ecological" offences as modern evils.


In recent months, Pope Benedict has made several strong appeals for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race.

Under Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, the Vatican has become progressively "green".

It has installed photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity and hosted a scientific conference to discuss the ramifications of global warming and climate change, widely blamed on human use of fossil fuels.  :emthup: :icon_mrgreen:

Girotti, who is number two in the Vatican "Apostolic Penitentiary," which deals with matter of conscience, also listed drug trafficking and social and economic injustices as modern sins.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/03/10/us-pope-sins-idUSL109602320080310 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/03/10/us-pope-sins-idUSL109602320080310)

How about that! Those fish eaters (West Point cadet slang for Catholics) actually beat the Druids!  ;D
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 28, 2014, 12:17:24 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2QrBziPHJw&feature=player_embedded
Thank God for a pope than CAN ADD AND SUBTRACT!   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smile-day.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F12%2FSmiley-Thumbs-Up2.jpg&hash=4c6cf4d5dab0f54b88dfa0c9247ae699eff03821)
Title: Styrofoam Listed As Human Carcinogen
Post by: AGelbert on July 30, 2014, 07:15:29 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-106.gif&hash=f996659d18df7f3b445e6135e884397ac91f25b1)   Styrofoam Listed As Human Carcinogen
SustainableBusiness.com News

Every time a town or city tries to ban take-out styrene (styrofoam) containers there's pushback, but research provides fresh evidence about this problematic, unnecessary material.

The US National Toxicology Program has decided to list styrene conservatively as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen." We've long known that cancer rates are higher in and near styrene manufacturing plants, but it can also leach into hot foods from cups, plates and clamshells. 

 Yuck!

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.orthohealing.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2Ffast-food.jpg&hash=6c0abd630defbcadcb2daf4b05842762ea9768a1)

Scientists say the listing is supported by "limited but credible" evidence of carcinogenicity in human studies, "sufficient" evidence from animal studies, and "convincing relevant information" in studies that observe DNA damage in human cells exposed to styrene.   

It's also linked to vision and hearing loss, impaired memory and concentration, and nervous system issues. Then there's the environmental problem - it never degrades and is rarely recycled.

The substance is of interest because it's so widespread. Besides being the key ingredient in styrofoam, it's used to make a raft of products: plastic containers (look for #6 on the bottom), refrigerator lining, insulation, carpet, latex paint, synthetic rubber and construction materials like pipes, fittings, and lighting fixtures. You can also be exposed to it from cigarette smoke, vehicle exhaust and as a by-product of incinerating products that contain it. 

 One of NYC Mayor Bloomberg's last actions was to ban Styrofoam - which the city tosses out 23,000 tons of each year - and Seattle did so years ago. Recently, Portland, Maine  followed suit. McDonald's is finally phasing it out and Dell ditched it in favor of mushroom packaging awhile ago. Leading sports arenas no longer allow it; six of the biggest public school districts in the US are transitioning to compostable dishware and hospitals are also moving away from it.

Not surprisingly, the ubiquitous product remains common because of industry lobbying.

Learn more about styrene:

 
Website: http://saferchemicals.org/2014/05/26/styrene-and-styrofoam-101-2/

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/25841
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 31, 2014, 01:37:41 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VgSMrZP9rk&feature=player_embedded

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-310714012142.png&hash=7bf3f04f83aea2f20f9bf6279fa1dd26a9b8fe7b)
GOLD BUG --> (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fd2.gif&hash=98d536bf1047a88ef91e9c45e08b725347c9fe13)      (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fengshui-import.com%2Fimages%2Fproducts%2Flarge_2316_b_8122616.JPG&hash=3dada32076d4f8cb91076159046f377889dc1c35) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.envisionyourdreamsllc.com%2FGolden-Pig.jpg&hash=b7879c3d56faf2797c99c46b9dfeb644196a3e2d)            (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300714025456.bmp&hash=f4e4a260bd60d3f34ca86fed93c47d5fb4117cfd)  <--- ME

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 04, 2014, 10:24:39 pm
Taxpayers Clean Up Corporate Pollution, Is That Right?  ???
SustainableBusiness.com News
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/25842
Title: RIP: The woman you never heard of... who changed our world!
Post by: AGelbert on August 05, 2014, 03:14:09 pm
RIP: The woman you never heard of... who changed our world!     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183632.bmp&hash=6511806c9d22bb52be6eac78997c7c3f99a59277)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AM6-NqmzI1I&feature=player_embedded
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/04/1319112/-RIP-The-woman-you-never-heard-of-who-changed-our-world
Title: The REAL world of human polluting stupidity
Post by: AGelbert on August 10, 2014, 04:21:44 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdDSRRCKMiI&feature=player_embedded
Title: Must-See Video: Arctic Emergency, Scientists Speak
Post by: AGelbert on August 10, 2014, 08:09:52 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3XpF1MvC8s&feature=player_embedded
Must-See Video: Arctic Emergency, Scientists Speak

Donna Lisenby | August 5, 2014 8:06 am
Title: Keystone Pipeline is 400% WORSE than estimated by our State Department!
Post by: AGelbert on August 13, 2014, 07:45:40 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOGxJe88TZ8&feature=player_embedded
Title: The Apocalypse for Bats?
Post by: AGelbert on August 22, 2014, 05:24:21 pm
The Apocalypse for Bats?   ???

Posted on August 22, 2014

Regarded by many as disease-carrying pests, bats are often feared and hated among the human populace. Yet, what many people fail to realize is that they play a vital role in our fragile ecosystem — they pollinate flowers, help disperse fruit seeds and eat insect pests, reducing the need for pesticides. With about 1,240 bat species worldwide, they are often taken for granted. Now, they are in major danger.

http://knowbefore.weatherbug.com/2014/08/22/apocalypse-bats/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 22, 2014, 06:04:59 pm
Flesh Eating Bacteria (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-misc-026.gif&hash=8679340267ba14f26731f4ac4a87799c5372ce86)


How do you get it?  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300714025456.bmp&hash=f4e4a260bd60d3f34ca86fed93c47d5fb4117cfd)

An infection often occurs after eating raw seafood, especially raw or undercooked oysters. But be warned — this bacteria does not alter the appearance, taste, or odor of oysters. It can also enter your body through open wounds when swimming in water that is infected, or through a puncture wound from the spines of fish, such as tilapia or stingrays.

http://knowbefore.weatherbug.com/2014/08/21/caution-ocean-bacteria-feasts-human-flesh/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 25, 2014, 10:05:09 pm
Tar sands, trade rules and the gutting of human rights for corporate profit (http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-08-22/tar-sands-trade-rules-and-the-gutting-of-human-rights-for-corporate-profit)

Hundreds of Methane Plumes Erupting Along East Coast (https://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-methane-plumes-erupting-along-east-coast-170504645.html?soc_src=copy&utm_content=bufferc6d0f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 25, 2014, 10:30:10 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmIYzvQ1_0o&feature=player_embedded
MASSIVE SINKHOLE IN ENGLAND!
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 28, 2014, 06:43:16 pm


Methane Monster’s Grumbling Goes Global: 570 Methane Plumes Discovered on Atlantic Ocean Sea Floor (http://robertscribbler.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/is-human-warming-releasing-a-global-methane-monster-570-methane-plumes-discovered-on-atlantic-ocean-sea-floor/)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frobertscribbler.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F08%2Flarge-methane-release-over-east-siberian-sea-august-2014.png%3Fw%3D521%26amp%3Bh%3D468&hash=928e19f27e6bfd0ae5dead2ccb2f9b6cd158b353)

The 'Yellow Dragon' Threatens Florida's Citrus Industry- invasive asian insect. (http://www.boston.com/business/technology/2014/08/25/invasive-insect-threatens-iconic-florida-citrus/YcoYn4n9PPV56TZtLatKrL/story.html)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 02, 2014, 08:57:09 pm
Drought Conditions Wreak Havoc On Latin America- Sao Paulo running out of water, crop losses as high as 70 percent (http://www.npr.org/2014/08/29/344193332/drought-conditions-wreak-havoc-on-latin-america)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 03, 2014, 05:19:40 pm
Wildfire near California-Oregon border 'extreme,' firefighters say
Read more at http://newsdaily.com/2014/09/03/wildfire-near-california-oregon-border-extreme-firefighters-say/#UoxlTGRlB7jDOrMA.99
Title: China’s ‘War on Pollution’ Helps Kick Coal Habit
Post by: AGelbert on September 05, 2014, 01:50:56 pm
China’s ‘War on Pollution’ Helps Kick Coal Habit  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fballoons.gif&hash=a64bb5ff3e76c3e11999996c460fa02de1ee10f7)

Kieran Cooke, Climate News Network | September 5, 2014 9:45 am

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.naturalhistorymag.com%2Fhtmlsite%2F0506%2Fimages%2F0506feature_diagram2.jpg&hash=089e60f947dd9e8c831974e57a053dfdf845eb99)
There are still doubts. The statistics might be proved wrong. But it looks as if China might be starting to wean itself off its coal consumption habit. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F128fs318181.gif&hash=eff6d5f3831782966c2ff2081f07bf7fc5b22a6b)


China produces and consumes nearly as much coal as the rest of the world combined.
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183404.bmp&hash=dc40a133c761f80036b08ef0f6c0427aaa7e9f4b) Coal, the most polluting of all energy sources, has powered the growth of China’s flyaway economy. But as incomes have risen, so has pollution. The country is now the world’s No.1 emitter of greenhouse gases. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)


Latest figures indicate that change is on the way, spurred on by a much-vaunted government “war on pollution” campaign. The state-run National Development and Reform Commission reports that domestic coal output shrank over the first five months of 2014—the first such decline since the start of China’s rapid economic expansion back in the late 1980s.

Virtual Halt

Greenpeace, the environmental NGO, said in a recent analysis of China’s coal sector that growth in coal imports, which had been going up at an annual rate of between 13 percent and 20 percent in recent years, has come to a virtual halt.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183515.bmp&hash=4a3ad9d0a78a7e161f53ddd84f568082a5b0d2ad)

Meanwhile, the official Xinhua news agency says Beijing—a city of nearly 12 million people—will ban the sale and use of coal in its six main districts by 2020.

Coal-fired factories and power plants around the Chinese capital are being shut down and replaced by natural gas facilities. Coal generated 25 percent of Beijing’s energy in 2012, and the aim is to bring that figure down to less than 10 percent by 2017. Other cities and regions are following Beijing’s lead.

Just how meaningful these cutbacks in coal use are is difficult to gauge. Air pollution—much of it caused by the burning of low-grade thermal coal—is not only a big environmental issue in China but also a political one as well.

China’s leaders have promised a population increasingly angry about the low quality of the air they breathe and the water they drink that the government is determined to tackle pollution.

Yet coal-fired power plants are still being built at a considerable pace, and many more are planned.

Some analysts argue that the present slowdown in China’s coal consumption is only temporary, the result of a dip in industrial output that will be reversed as soon as the economy roars ahead again.

Less Reliant


Others say the decline in coal consumption is part of a long-term trend. As China’s economy matures, becoming less dependent on heavy industrial goods and embarking on more hi-tech and service-oriented projects, the country will become ever more energy efficient—and less reliant on coal.

China might be the world’s biggest emitter of fossil fuel emissions, but it also has fast become a global leader in hydro, wind and solar power.


No one is suggesting that coal is going to be absent from China’s energy mix anytime soon. The lung-jarring pollution of many of China’s cities is likely still to be evident for some years yet. But coal is no longer king.

That’s bad news for big coal exporters to China, particularly Australia and Indonesia.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e)
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185441.png&hash=26743778f1a536d8268441c8736c8a6b4cec217b)
But it’s potentially good news for millions in China who crave clean air. And it’s very good news for the planet.  ;D

http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/05/china-war-pollution-kick-coal-habit/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 06, 2014, 06:32:11 pm
Pacific tuna stocks on the brink of disaster, warns outgoing fisheries head (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-02/pacific-tuna-stocks-on-brink-of-disaster-says-glenn-hurry/5704644?WT.mc_id=newsmail) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1593.gif&hash=628238f2fc26695937f6e97b91b050976065743b)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 08, 2014, 06:47:36 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEWCaA78WH8&feature=player_embedded
MORE externalized COSTS courtesy of the Fossil Fuel Industry...  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)
 
https://twitter.com/climate_ice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jImCcBzqp14&feature=player_embedded
This was 2012. If you think that was an "anomaly" never to be repeated, then you believe there really is a tiger in your tank. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fugly004.gif&hash=c56db4280057389afd154a1cb4057410151579c8)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 12, 2014, 02:39:41 pm
The Eruption Grows Stronger :o - Norway and Sweden are getting "Plumed"
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.animatedimages.org%2Fdata%2Fmedia%2F142%2Fanimated-volcano-image-0010.gif&hash=2c78798782d0bdc5fa40b3d592fc04bcd0aedba4) 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyMOVIe23YU&feature=player_embedded

Full Story with ominous unusual and unexplained (yet) water temperature rise  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fwww_MyEmoticons_com__smokelots.gif&hash=094f88de6782c1cd03ed5321b387792046eb3cdd) as well as plume track animation and MANY pictures!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/11/1329129/-B-r-arbunga-Accelerating-Plus-Got-questions-Here-s-your-chance-for-answers
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 15, 2014, 06:24:44 pm
What is the most Critically endangered of the worl's small cetacean species?    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183438.bmp&hash=595bae320aa62ecf987dc15800ccd05ac56ea0e6) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1730.gif&hash=cdaf50326d98ff7b051a9c49e83d51c7bb687407)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-SJXjRyfLGc4%2FT1_wa2QRtCI%2FAAAAAAAAKE8%2FhSekgBGw8is%2Fs400%2FPhocoena%252Bsinus%252B%252528Vaquita%252Bmarina%252529.jpg&hash=a73bca7163e082bc6d9c424d967a021de353ebbf) 
The  vaquita Phocoena sinus is the most critically endangered of the world’s small cetacean species. Its distribution is limited to the Upper Gulf of California, Mexico, and its total population is estimated at about 150 individuals. The biggest threat vaquitas encounter is drowning in gillnets used by local fishermen. While Mexico’s government has declared this species to be a high conservation priority, saving it from extinction requires unprecedented international technical, economic, and political cooperation to ensure local sustainable livelihoods.

http://mission-blue.org/hope-spots-new/  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbglclub.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F10%2Fvaquita.jpeg&hash=6c56c269a0174f8dec9fd0b9cf77cc7879f18e5c)
Hey Homo SAPS, I DIE in your nets! I guess that means I'm not "Fit" for SURVIVAL in your highly "evolved" apex predator industrialized profit over planet world, RIGHT?  >:(  You biosphere math challenged morons  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da) are killing your future by allowing me to be killed along with thousands of other earthlings. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723)
Nevertheless, I am consoled that at least some of you can add and subtract (see video  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3) below). But make no mistake, if it's too late for me and my kind, it's also too late for your kind. Have a nice day.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvaquita.tv%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fvaquita%2Fimages%2Fheader-images%2Fmap-sightings-800.jpg&hash=55cc8bb3d0125da2938470d28d34b65abb29b0c1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3AEQTuhgdM&feature=player_embedded
http://mission-blue.org/hope-spots-new/  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Fp4V28OX2Rg%2FT6emkz5eX_I%2FAAAAAAAAA0A%2F0XIsthmQ97Q%2Fs1600%2Fvaquita-graphic_memuco_ok.jpg&hash=7c0c9fe13a2516ef90de41662f3a21cd95df21a5)
Vaquita is pronounced NOT like VUH-QUIT-A  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drivehq.com%2Ffile%2Fdf.aspx%2FshareID1881227%2FfileID1340120989%2Fsmiley-foot-in-mouth.gif&hash=1ab0f6e760ebcb8b6769773332f8f6010811b683); it's proper pronunciation is Va-Key-Tuh.  8)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 18, 2014, 11:54:21 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-180914235103.png&hash=4597fbfe4a651a2403b64bb09201170e19e12b4f)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-180914234909.png&hash=fc56316b310f0a7da1295846e1001ccd53f221ef)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 25, 2014, 08:03:02 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnZp1jtOhR0&list=UUZaT_X_mc0BI-djXOlfhqWQ&feature=player_embedded

"I have never seen this number of bodies before;" MSF has had to import an incinerator from Europe - normally used for livestock" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/ebola/11118025/I-have-never-seen-this-number-of-bodies-before-Life-at-an-Ebola-clinic-in-Liberia.html)

Climate Scientists Seen As Trustworthy by Americans, Contrary To Reporting (http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/09/24/3571562/climate-scientists-trustworthy/)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkprogress.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F09%2Fshutterstock_195765068.jpg&hash=bc8355f439b9a0fe99355e33b5dc0e856da3d585)

Cargill promises to stop chopping down rainforests. This is huge. (http://grist.org/food/cargill-promises-to-stop-chopping-down-rainforests-this-is-huge/)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgrist.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F09%2Frainforest-e1411587105860.jpg%3Fw%3D1024%26amp%3Bh%3D576%26amp%3Bcrop%3D1&hash=0199d950e90e626a0e2ee3c333136841d3b0db57)

For Oil and Gas Companies, Rigging Seems to Involve Wages, Too (http://www.propublica.org/article/for-oil-and-gas-companies-rigging-seems-to-involve-wages-too?utm_source=et&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marineinsight.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F10%2Foil-riggers.jpg&hash=22af90fe1211902b13c50111a01c1bc78b7f88a3)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 27, 2014, 12:31:45 am
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fcustom%2Fimage%2Ftongue%255E_%255Earial%255E_%255E0%255E_%255E0%255E_%255EBurning+Fossil+Fuels+IS+SUICIDE%255E_%255E.gif&hash=dddc6d85ffcc21075f53bda643372d2383013562)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 27, 2014, 01:38:00 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iwD5J7GX58&feature=player_embedded
Coal Burning Power Plant Pollutes Community with Coal Ash.  >:(


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 27, 2014, 08:21:02 pm
EPA knew pesticides were killing honeybees in the 1970s but punished those who spoke out  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.sodahead.com%2Fpolls%2F000370273%2Fpolls_Smiley_Angry_256x256_3451_356175_answer_4_xlarge.png&hash=15577651daa4c35ff4d6b26217f99db6ebfde0b3)


For decades, top officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (PEA) were aware that a compound approved for agricultural use in the United States was wiping out the honeybee population, but they chose to ignore the compound's effects in deference to pressure from agri-giant corporations.

Worse, the agency reacted harshly to anyone within the EPA who attempted to bring the issue to light, including through firings, forced reassignments and other actions.

According to a scholarly 2014 study [PDF] compiled by researcher Rosemary Mason, "on behalf of a global network of independent scientists, beekeepers and environmentalists," and published on the website of MIT, "We have found historical and chronological evidence to show that the herbicide glyphosate (or other herbicides that are used as alternatives) is responsible for the transformation of garden escapes into super-weeds (in the UK these are termed 'invasive species')."

Further, Mason and her team noted that glyphosate -- the primary substance found in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide -- was introduced in Europe in 1974 "and became a global best-selling herbicide because the public was told by industry and the regulators that it was 'safe.'"

The results have been disastrous. For one, the heavy use of glyphosate has led to the rise of so-called "superweeds" that are resistant to the herbicide. But there is another compound that was approved by the EPA -- over the objections of scientists -- that has had a devastating effect on the nation's honeybee population: clothianidin, which is used for seed treatment on corn and canola, by Bayer.

'Honeybees are going extinct'

According to this EPA document describing clothianidin [PDF], it "is highly toxic to honey bees on an acute contact basis," and "has the potential for toxic chronic exposure to honey bees, as well as other nontarget pollinators, through the translocation of clothianidin residues in nectar and pollen."

"In honey bees, the effects of this toxic chronic exposure may include lethal and/or sub-lethal effects in the larvae and reproductive effects in the queen," the document further states.

Mason and her research team found additional evidence of corporate/EPA cover-up regarding the effects of clothianidin. This 99-page EPA memorandum dated November 2, 2010, [PDF] noted, in part:

The major risk concerns are with aquatic free-swimming and benthic invertebrates, terrestrial invertebrates, birds and mammals. ...

Clothianidin's major risk concern is to non-target insects (that is, honey bees). Clothianidin is a neonicotinoid insecticide that is both persistent and systemic. Acute toxicity studies to honey bees show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis. ... nformation from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident reports involving other neonicotinoids insecticides (e.g., imidacloprid) suggest the potential for long term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects.

A number of EPA scientists -- those with integrity, anyway -- have tried along the way to sound the alarm -- over both glyphosate and clothianidin. In a piece for "" evaggelos-vallianatos="" honeybees-on-the-verge-of_b_4326226.html"="" target="_blank">The Huffington Post, former EPA scientist Evaggelos Vallianatos wrote that honeybees were on the verge of extinction.

http://www.blacklistednews.com/EPA_knew_pesticides_were_killing_honeybees_in_the_1970s_but_punished_those_who_spoke.../38218/0/0/0/Y/M.html?morestories=obinsite
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 04, 2014, 07:45:04 pm
Endangered Sea Turtles Are Getting Nasty, Deadly Tumors, and We’re to Blame  :(
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fa66c7b.medialib.glogster.com%2Fmedia%2F5c%2F5c615c07693a5347b3cc49dc85994b856de362e6617caaf40f0267ad373c32b5%2Fsea-turtle-1024x768-wallpaper.jpg&hash=0bd58cd514c8baf2a5b73abb78bd3f099d002bc2)
Healthy Sea Turtle

by Alicia Graef
October 3, 2014

In sad news for sea turtles, scientists have found that runoff from cities and farms in Hawaii is causing debilitating and deadly tumors, which are believed to be the leading known cause of death for endangered green sea turtles.

Scientists from Duke University, the University of Hawaii and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) teamed up to study what’s causing the tumor-forming disease Fibropapillomatosis, which is clearly a major problem for sea turtles.

The study, published this week in the journal PeerJ, found that nitrogen runoff is ending up in algae that sea turtles eat, which is causing the tumors to grow both internally and externally on their eyes and flippers. According to NOAA, these tumors can interfere with their ability to eat and other essential behaviors, while tumors on their eyes can cause permanent blindness. While it’s a major problem for green turtles in Hawaii, it’s also been found in other places and in other species of sea turtles, including loggerhead, olive ridley and flatback turtles.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041014191842.jpeg&hash=bd3b3a39d71eb6c60d49cf0de55972f353b87e07)
Credit: Chris Starkis/Duke University

“We’re drawing direct lines from human nutrient inputs to the reef ecosystem, and how it affects wildlife,” said Kyle Van Houtan, the study’s lead author, who is also a scientist in NOAA’s Turtle Research Program.

Building on previous research that found the disease was more common in areas with high levels of runoff, researchers tested the hypothesis that the disease might be linked to how algae that the turtles eat stores extra nitrogen.

Algae can store excess nitrogen in arginine, an amino acid, and as they explain in a statement, they found unusually high levels of arginine both in the algae in highly polluted waters and in the tumors of diseased turtles, while levels in cleaner water and tumor-free turtles were comparatively low. Researchers believe arginine is responsible for promoting a virus that causes the tumor-forming disease, although it’s still unclear exactly how it causes the tumors.

Adding to the problem is a non-native red algae that is thriving with the excess nitrogen and taking over native algae that turtles need. The red algae has been found to hold especially high levels of arginine, which researchers believe can make up 90 percent of the turtles’ diet. According to Van Houtan, as a result turtles have approximately 14 times more arginine in their systems than they would if they were eating native algae species in less-polluted waters.

More worrisome is that green turtles, who are uniquely herbivorous sea turtles and only eat plants, have to eat twice as much of the invasive algae to get the same benefit they would from native algae, which is compounding the problem.


Researchers hope this work will help lead to a better understanding of how to protect sea turtles, and other marine plants and animals, that are threatened by pollution.

“It’s not just green turtles, but fish and coral reefs that have similar diseases in these locations,” said Van Houtan, who added that he hopes future research delving into this problem can help impact how we manage reef systems.  “If research continues to support this hypothesis, we probably need to reconsider our current ways of managing coastal nutrients,” he said. 

http://www.care2.com/causes/endangered-sea-turtles-are-getting-nasty-deadly-tumors-and-were-to-blame.html (http://www.care2.com/causes/endangered-sea-turtles-are-getting-nasty-deadly-tumors-and-were-to-blame.html)

The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.u.arizona.edu%2F%7Epatricia%2Fcute-collection%2Fsmileys%2Flying-smiley.gif&hash=a34c2f7344d5f54f7009a4e684bb6c7310cdda03) and conscience free crooks ,    they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 07, 2014, 01:27:17 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H5ISAeeank&feature=player_embedded
Help stop Global Warming.
Title: Town in Japan uses 34 DIFFERENT recycle bins to achieve ZERO waste!
Post by: AGelbert on October 23, 2014, 08:41:39 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkfUArhfTXs&feature=player_embedded
Zero Wasters Dream! 

 This is the most comprehensive zero waste effort we have come across: a whole town in Japan that generates NO garbage. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b)  ;D (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.runemasterstudios.com%2Fgraemlins%2Fimages%2F2thumbs.gif&hash=98130be1edf2bed4a80ac8f134b0126673bd469e)


 In Kamikatsu Japan residents must compost all their own organic waste, there are no collection bins.

 But this is the real game changer: the town has a sorting center with 34 different categories to deposit your non-organic waste! A bin for razors, a bin for batteries, a bin for bottle caps, a mountain of neatly stacked newspapers and more.

 Remember: garbage is a new thing. A few hundred years ago, every place, although not necessarily sanitary, was more or less "zero waste".  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

 --Bibi Farber

This video was produced by the BBC
http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/reducing-waste/zero-waste-village-kamikatsu-japan.html#sthash.CTG4Jp1x.dpuf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 27, 2014, 03:15:25 pm

10 Reasons to Turn Off an Idling Car


Sponsored Content by Sustainable America | October 26, 2014 10:08 pm

It happens, we know. You’re picking up a friend, waiting for a food order or just trying to warm up your car on cold morning—and you leave it running for a little while. It’s easy to let those minutes tick by, but getting into the habit of (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-106.gif&hash=f996659d18df7f3b445e6135e884397ac91f25b1) turning your car off when you’ll be idle for more than 10 seconds can make a big difference.

Here’s why:  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-028.gif&hash=24570cb7e8246617010ce900a07bc85117ff78ca)


1. It saves gas: If you idle for 5 minutes warming up your car in the morning, 3 minutes at the bank drive-thru and 4 minutes listening to the end of an NPR story in your driveway, you’ve burned enough gas to drive 24 miles.

2. It saves money: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Felqahera-trading.com%2Fhome%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F04%2Fdollar-sign-thumbnail1.jpg&hash=e1962ecaa694d312d50a9984ee058a45aed1e860)  Americans spend a whopping $13 million every day on unnecessary idling. (That’s 3.8 million gallons of fuel, wasted!) Also, idling is actually illegal in some states, and violators can pay steep fines if caught.

3. It saves the planet: For every 10 minutes of idling you cut from your life, you’ll save one pound of carbon dioxide—a harmful greenhouse gas—from being released into the atmosphere.

4. It makes us healthier: Idling is linked to increases in asthma, allergies, heart and lung disease and cancer. Kids are especially vulnerable because they inhale more air per pound of body weight, and lots of idling happens near schools.

5. It makes us smarter: Breathing exhaust fumes can damage brain cells and may be linked to autism. A study in New York City showed that kids with a high exposure to combustion engine byproducts had lower IQs by age 5.

6. It’s good for your engine: Idling can damage engine components. According to the California Energy Commission, “Fuel is only partially combusted when idling because an engine does not operate at its peak temperature. This leads to the build up of fuel residues on cylinder walls that can damage engine components and increase fuel consumption.” And did you know that today’s cars warm up more efficiently when they’re driving than sitting in a driveway? They do.

7. It’s quieter: Noise is pollution, too.

8. It’s contagious: Turning off the car sets a good example for your kids and other passengers, and gives a chance for you to educate them about the dangers of idling.

9. It doesn’t stink: Do you enjoy breathing in exhaust fumes? Yuck.

10. It’s easy: Just turn the key when you’ll be stopped for more than 10 seconds. That’s all there is to it.


Sustainable America is committed to helping the United States reduce its oil consumption by 50 percent by 2035. Big changes like more electric vehicles and smarter traffic technology are necessary to getting there, but conservation measures like hypermiling, ecodriving and curbing idling are all important ways individuals can do their part on a daily basis. Be part of the solution by taking our pledge to Turn It Off when you’ll be idle for more than 10 seconds. You can even order a bumper sticker so you can help spread the anti-idling message in your community.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/26/reasons-turn-off-idling-car/

Agelbert comment: Great Article!  And we have another excellent and practical reason to NEVER leave a car idling while one goes into a store or to get a cup of coffee in Vermont.

It's illegal! The cops will give you fossil fuelers a nice fat ticket!

Vermont is shooting for 90% Renewable Energy. We mean business and we are NOT kidding here.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ficare.gif&hash=7a81c13fb045a57fc456f34661fddcf04dbfe8b7) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websmileys.com%2Fsm%2Fviolent%2Fsterb029.gif&hash=7a43a0c106eab798f7ba6133dc5cc550647a03d2)

"May 5, 2014 - It's now illegal to idle your car for more than five minutes during a one-hour period in Vermont.

The law is meant to cut down on carbon emissions and save fuel. Violators will receive a $10 ticket for the first offense, $50 for the second and $100 for the third.

There are exceptions. Police, fire and other emergency vehicles do not have to adhere to the rule."

http://kansasfirstnews.com/2014/05/05/law-makes-it-illegal-to-leave-car-idling/

Remember, every gallon of gas you DON'T burn is LESS profit over planet the fossil fuel industry has to BUY our Politicians and degrade our Democracy.

Don't just sit there, get this law passed for your state too!  Future Generations will thank you!
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-036.gif&hash=8ec7abacc074bac7984d9b80fbca377b3afb119d)
Title: Recycle yourself.
Post by: AGelbert on October 31, 2014, 01:55:00 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEIU67HgaLs&feature=player_embedded
Dust To Dust?

How can we rest peacefully if what we're told in this video is true:

Each year in the United States, the funeral industry dumps into the earth:
- 827,000 gallons of formaldehyde
- 30 million board feet of hardwood caskets
- 17,000 tons of steel/copper vaults
- 1.6 million tons of concrete

And this doesn't begin to address the copious amounts of herbicides and pesticides used to keep those lawns perfect and green. Welcome to Green Springs Natural Cemetery, in New York state where they offer a simple, traditional, dust-to-dust burial, free of toxins.

t's far less expensive than a conventional cemetery as well, at $500 a plot. This land is protected from future development by the fact that they inherit nature preserve status, so the inhabitants can indeed rest peacefully! -- Bibi Farber For more information see: www.naturalburial.org

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/environment/eco-burial-rest-in-peace-without-toxins.html#sthash.6DcpAusS.dpuf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 03, 2014, 08:15:58 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgrist.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F10%2Fheatherairsamples.jpg%3Fw%3D1536%26amp%3Bh%3D864%26amp%3Bcrop%3D1&hash=03a69e9679880198216aa3e4632d334946d3acf1)

Rotten odors rouse citizen sleuths in Pennsylvania gas patch  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-003.gif&hash=ecfc7a65fb45ec6a67dcf3b070c7bed4045acf48)

Full story here: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websmileys.com%2Fsm%2Fviolent%2Fsterb029.gif&hash=7a43a0c106eab798f7ba6133dc5cc550647a03d2)

http://grist.org/climate-energy/rotten-odors-rouse-citizen-sleuths-in-pennsylvania-gas-patch/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 09, 2014, 05:57:47 pm
Some Good News From the Midterm Elections (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fpng%2F200%2Femoticons%2Ffingerscrossed.png&hash=d56f8009d18b55f4cea7be68284c0521be92fc5d)

SustainableBusiness.com News

There's good news on the local level from the midterm elections in addition to the fracking and GMO crop bans we've written about. 

Florida approved an amendment to the state constitution that permanently sets aside funding to protect and restore watersheds and habitats - including the Everglades - which could add up to $20 billion. Voters in 19 states approved 35 land and water protection measures, the most in any election to date. Check out LandVote.org for details.

 In the small city of Richmond, California, all eyes were on Chevron's attempt to buy the local election. Even spending $3 million to control the outcome - electing a mayor and city council who would be more "friendly" to the company - didn't win over voters.   

After decades punctuated by blow-outs at Chevron's massive oil refinery there - sending 15000 people to the hospital in 2012 - the city sued and has been working to tighten regulations. Instead of cleaning up its act, Chevron blanketed residents with attack ads against Tom Butt, who raised $58,000. 

And Chevron lost! Tom Butt won the mayoral election 51% to 35%, and the entire "Team Richmond" won by big margins. 

In Alaska, voters said YES to a ballot measure that allows the  state legislature to ban Pebble Mine if it would endanger the salmon population. Currently, only federal and state agencies control mining permits.

 This largest open-pit mine in North America - up to 2 miles long, 1.5 miles wide, and 1700 feet deep - would extract copper, gold and molybdenum in the heart of the world's largest remaining wild sockeye salmon runs.

While the EPA is trying to block it, lawsuits could make that impossible. Thus, the referendum, which passed 65% to 35%.

 Voters also approved raising the minimum wage and legalized recreational marijuana!

Move to Amend

Voters in Massachusetts, Florida, Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin voted overwhelmingly for their state legislatures to pass constitutional amendments that overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.

"Money in politics affects our lives everyday," says Donna Richards of Move to Amend. "We pay too much for healthcare. Our taxes go towards corporate welfare and wars, instead of education and protecting our environment. Our energy policy is dictated by Big Oil, and we can't even pass reasonable gun background checks because the gun manufacturers have bought half of Congress. This isn't what democracy looks like."

 54 communities in Wisconsin alone have voted in favor of an amendment, representing 41% of residents. 16 state legislatures have voted for an amendment, as well as almost 600 towns, villages, cities and other organizations.

 "Nearly all Americans share the sentiment that corporations should not have the same rights as people, and big money in politics should be removed," states Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, National Director of Move to Amend. "It is time for Congress to pass the We the People Amendment and send it to the states for ratification. The leadership of both parties need to realize that their voters are clamoring for this amendment, and we are only going to get louder."


http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/25991

Agelbert NOTE: Don't hold your breath waiting for the fossil fuel fascist Federal Government and their handmaidens in the irreparably Corrupt Court System to slow Chevron polluting down or get corporations off their "personhood" in the service of profit over people and planet.

(https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/radiofreerichmond/pages/160/attachments/original/1403557887/blogimage.jpg?1403557887)
Tom Butt   Chevron blanketed residents with attack ads against Tom Butt, who raised $58,000.

Tom Butt , the new Mayor of Richmond, California, now is a marked man for fossil fuel skullduggery. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil19.gif&hash=6eeb0dbc471743691793f5130640fdcbd1f77b5c)  >:(  If you live in or near Richmond, HELP THIS GOOD MAN!   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)
 People like him are few and far between. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-102.gif&hash=528930a8e8af7241bb620e4cb06eca642c7666c4)



Quote
Tom Butt: California Attorney General Greenlights Chevron EIR

Posted by Radio Free Richmond 10sc on June 23, 2014 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websmileys.com%2Fsm%2Fviolent%2Fsterb029.gif&hash=7a43a0c106eab798f7ba6133dc5cc550647a03d2)


Two weeks after issuing a 10-page detailed letter highly critical of the Chevron Modernization Draft EIR, the California Attorney General’s Office issue a second letter on June 20, 2014, confirming that all the attorney general’s concerns had been addressed in the Final EIR.

The second letter focused on Alternative 6.5.11, which combines the sulfur processing alternative with no physical increase in greenhouse gas emissions from refinery operations. Alternative 6.5.11 would require Chevron to keep physical emissions of GHGs from Refinery operations at no higher than baseline levels, require no net increase in GHG emissions from any production of hydrogen for export and require that Chevron implement all of the Final EIR’s GHG mitigation measures, including the funding of community-based GHG reduction programs.

Click here for the June 20, letter from the attorney general, which concludes, “Based on our review of the Final EIR and the above understandings, the AGO supports the adoption of Alternative 6.5.11. Adoption of this alternative, along with other improvements made in the Final EIR and the improvements referenced in footnote 2, would resolve the AGO’s concerns associated with the City’s review and approval of this project.”

It appears the first letter from the attorney general was dated June 6, three days before the Final EIR was released on June 9, which was confusing because June 7-8 was a weekend, so the first AG letter and the release of the Final EIR were almost simultaneous. It was widely assumed that the first AG letter addressed the Final EIR rather than the Draft EIR.

It is currently anticipated that the Planning Commission will have one or more hearings the consider certifying the EIR and approving a conditional use permit the week of July 7 and that, if appealed, the Planning Commission’s decision would go to the City Council before the end of July for final action.

Tom Butt E-Forum  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websmileys.com%2Fsm%2Fviolent%2Fsterb029.gif&hash=7a43a0c106eab798f7ba6133dc5cc550647a03d2) - Sunday, June 22, 2014

http://www.radiofreerichmond.com/tom_butt_e_forum_california_attorney_general_greenlights_chevron_eir


Title: Vermonters Save. Polluters Pay. It’s that simple.
Post by: AGelbert on November 13, 2014, 08:45:59 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl10.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F2491%2F2491210ovie015m90.gif&hash=c2edc7e32994c57779427e0df75cabac786a12bf)

I just signed this petition [http://bit.ly/EnergyIndependentVTPetition] for a new Vermont campaign to put a price on carbon pollution.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53) I know that, like me, you are concerned about global warming. This is a really important chance for Vermont to do something real about it. I urge you to take action yourself and spread the word!  You can learn more about the Energy Independent Vermont campaign at www.energyindendependentvt.org (http://www.energyindendependentvt.org).



Sign the Energy Independent Vermont petition with the Sierra Club

Dear Friends,
As Vermonters, we know the damage global warming can cause. Climate change is no longer a thing of the future, it is affecting Vermont now. Tropical Storm Irene took lives, leveled homes, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. According to the Vermont Climate Assessment:

• the average annual temperature in Vermont has increased by 1.3° F since 1960; 45% of this change is since 1990;

• warmer temperatures have caused later “first-fall freeze” and earlier “last-spring freeze”; and

• since 1960, the average annual precipitation has increased 5.9 inches.

The Vermont that we know will change before our eyes. We simply can’t afford to wait any longer to address climate change. And, with more climate-change deniers than ever heading to Congress,
it’s clearly up to states like Vermont to lead the way to find real solutions.


That’s why the Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club is partnering with other environmental groups, low-income advocates, businesses, and knowledgeable academics to launch a new campaign – Energy Independent Vermont. I’m asking you to join us NOW.

Sign the Energy Independent Vermont petition to Vermont’s incoming legislators asking them to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and pass a carbon pollution tax in Vermont.

Our plan tackles the root of the problem–polluting fossil fuels. Fossil fuel companies are making massive profits while we pay the price, with floods, super storms, droughts, and wildfires becoming more frequent and intense. It’s time to put a price on carbon pollution and make them (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457) pay.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e)

With a tax on polluters, the state can establish an Energy Independence Fund to make smart investments in our communities—like helping Vermonters save money by making their homes more efficient and switching to clean energy, and making public buildings (like schools) more efficient to save us all money on our property taxes.

And, we’re proposing that the rest of the money go to cut other taxes that Vermonters and Vermont businesses already pay. Vermonters Save. Polluters Pay. It’s that simple.

But even in Vermont, bold policies don’t just happen. And dirty energy companies will fight us every step of the way. After all, it is their profits on the line.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-scared005.gif&hash=2de3525707995f1cf9333ecfafd947caca42e8eb)

Your part starts by simply signing onto this petition. Our goal is to gather 1,000 signatures in the first week of the campaign.

Let’s remember what’s at stake here. We owe it to our children to protect them from the effects of climate change, and that means taking action now before it’s too late.

Thanks for signing on.

Mark Nelson

Chair, Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club

m.a.nelson@live.com

P.S. If you want to help the Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club raise awareness about this campaign please contact Vermont Organizing Representative Robb Kidd at robb.kidd@sierraclub.org.

Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fearthhug.gif&hash=3abcf70466f34337f2d702ebd9e02c650d5c4c20)

Sierra Club 85 Second St., 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 14, 2014, 10:56:59 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFyFj54zFn4&feature=player_embedded
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183404.bmp&hash=dc40a133c761f80036b08ef0f6c0427aaa7e9f4b)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geoengineeringwatch.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F05%2F2.jpg&hash=f4b76e745dec2860e72d2e1a005c75763fda4243)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 23, 2014, 02:46:30 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mp4ELXKv-w&feature=player_embedded
Gasland FULL FILM! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.runemasterstudios.com%2Fgraemlins%2Fimages%2F2thumbs.gif&hash=98130be1edf2bed4a80ac8f134b0126673bd469e)


Brilliant, Must See Film (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)
 

 This exceptional film, Gasland, directed by Josh Fox, is one of the reasons New York State has rallied and managed to maintain a moratorium on fracking.

 Nominated for an Oscar in 2011, this film is a dramatic and literally explosive story about fracking. It's also just a brilliant, extremely engaging film - outrageous subject matter aside.

 Welcome into the homes of people all along the Marcellus Shale who's health, land, pets and livestock have been sickened beyond words by the staggering amount of chemicals used in the dangerous hydraulic fracturing process.

 Yes, you will see people's water light on fire, coming right out of the tap. But that's a parlor trick compared to the frightening effect of the overall picture Fox presents on the state of fracking in the US.

 Get ready to be shocked and outraged at what you learn here.  :o  >:(


 "It's amazing that what took mother nature millions of years to build can be destroyed in a few hours of a piece of heavy machinery" says one of the regretful landowners who signed away his rights. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2955.gif&hash=ddc12d8bdb1bc63b7998a6b086b79a71b7bda755)                                     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2953.gif&hash=b84c0ae260f7ac760e54bcdc33d788c36faa07c1)


 For more information and to learn about the recently released Gasland Part 2,
 see: http://www.gaslandthemovie.com

 --Bibi Farber
- See more at: http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/anti-fracking/gasland---full-movie.html#sthash.uFugLkAd.dpuf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 26, 2014, 08:37:29 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDw1budbZpQ&feature=player_embedded

Shaking Oil’s Grip  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)


Margaret Brown

Article that accompanies video:

http://ecowatch.com/2014/11/26/the-great-invisible/

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fcustom%2Fimage%2Ftongue%255E_%255Earial%255E_%255E0%255E_%255E0%255E_%255EBurning+Fossil+Fuels+IS+SUICIDE%255E_%255E.gif&hash=dddc6d85ffcc21075f53bda643372d2383013562)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 29, 2014, 02:39:47 pm
On the left is an aerial photo and on the right is a cancerous liver...
(https://33.media.tumblr.com/f83f4cf66f2209ef5604f075e03cf54d/tumblr_n0l7kw969L1qj171uo1_500.jpg)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F9%2F9b%2FBig_Liver_Tumor.JPG&hash=c4a293fb4c64e81473d8d4abc9d78810c008ad0b)
Stunning Aerial Photos Show How Factory Farms Ravage the Earth (at link)

Anastasia Pantsios | November 28, 2014 2:59 pm

Industrial-grade production of livestock animals has become the norm in the U.S. with 99 percent of all farmed animals raised on giant factory farms or CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations).

Tascosa Feed Yard- Bushland- Texas_900

Tascosa Feedyard, Bushland, Texas. Photo credit: Mishka Henner


These feedlots confine thousands of animals in small spaces before they are slaughtered, leading to a litany of abuses: the confinement inflicted on the animals, the use of preventive antibiotics to control the spread of diseases in such close quarters, poor working conditions and worker abuse, destruction of rural communities, small towns and family farms, overconsumption of resources, legendary “manure lagoons” stinking up the countryside holding animal waste unsuitable for fertilizer because of the way they are raised and fed, and climate change-inducing greenhouse gases they produce.

Randall County Feedyard- Texas_900-1

Randall County Feedyard, Texas. Photo credit: Mishka Henner


British artist Mishka Henner, who has had a longtime fascination with the interaction of human activity and the landscape, was flying over the country looking for satellite images of oil fields when the feed lots caught his eye and he began to photograph them and learn more about them. His photos combine an abstract visual beauty with a visceral revulsion to the activities they depict.

“The feedlots are a brilliant representation of how abstract our food industry has come,” Henner told Business Insider. “It’s an efficient system for extracting the maximum yield from animals. That’s the world we live in now. We want to extract the maximum yield from everything (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913), no matter what business you are in.”  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183404.bmp&hash=dc40a133c761f80036b08ef0f6c0427aaa7e9f4b)

Conorado Feeders- Dalhart- Texas_900

Coronado Feeders, Dalhart, Texas. Photo credit: Mishka Henner


Seven states now have so called “ag-gag” laws    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0) which prohibit any kind of filming or recording of these farms, after videos by groups like Mercy for Animals produced an outcry of demands for laws ending the abuses of the CAFOs. Henner did not physically set foot on any of the farms, but he says he’s been warned that his photos might violate these laws and that they are one reason they have not been more widely seen. But you can find out more about his photos and purchase prints here. He is represented by the Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/11/28/factory-farms-photos-mishka-henner/

Aglbert NOTE: Fascism reaches its EFFICIENT hand of profit over people and planet into all corners of society. And it uses the COURT SYSTEM to do it! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

Fascist Big Ag uses Food Disparagement Law and the Patriot Act to threaten Truth tellers! (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/renewables/sustainable-food-production/msg2033/#msg2033)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftenthamendmentcenter.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F07%2FKuper-free_speech.gif&hash=89ae2966b31fa6d123acee242ef77ef3415dabc7)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kenjacobs.com%2Flawyer3ag.jpg&hash=0918aa185387b1a69af13003f1af5ceaf81e7f3d) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fswear1.gif&hash=87347674f9297191f3f8a447208170617da4caf6)


Don't count on our Court System to defend Americans from Fascism - Here's why the solution to Corporate Profit over Planet is EX CURIA (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg2019/#msg2019)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 30, 2014, 01:50:29 am
Who will pay for climate change?
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.redding.com%2Fredding%2Fdcraig%2Fd69af484-e0ff-4abd-a631-7557eed7ffed-620x372-1.jpeg&hash=2d6694967e9db2dd70d74dd744f1eefbfd91f6d5)
November 25, 2013 10:13 PM

Quote
"But now, instead of discussion and argument, brute force rises up to the rescue of discomfited error, and crushes truth and right into the dust. 'Might makes right,' and hoary folly totters on in her mad career escorted by armies and navies." Adin Ballou

Quote

"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." Abraham Lincoln


At the moment the rich and the poor countries are fighting over who will pay for the damage that our collapsing climate is inflicting on the world.
Who should pay?

When I read that the United States was reneging on its obligation to pay into a $100-billion fund to help poor countries cut emissions and adapt themselves to a changing climate, it reminded me of something from 40 years ago.

 The year was 1973 and our war against Vietnam was winding down. President Nixon secretly promised to pay the Vietnamese nation $3.3 billion in reconstruction aid. We never paid a dime of it. We promised but did not pay.

Who cares?


We rarely find truth and justice outside of fairy tales and Hollywood movies. In real life, it is the rich and the powerful who often decide what is right. Might does make right. And who will tell them different? Are we Americans going to rise up and demand that Obama pay money to the poor countries that are suffering and will continue to suffer as our climate disintegrates? Why would we do that?

How many Americans would ever demand we do the right thing by other nations, knowing that it might negatively impact us? It would never happen. We believe in justice when we are wronged, but seldom when we are wrong. Let us be real.

We attacked an innocent nation in Southeast Asia, ended up killing three million men, women and children and "sprayed more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides over parts of southern Vietnam and along the borders of neighboring Laos and Cambodia. The herbicides were contaminated with dioxin, a deadly compound that remains toxic for decades and causes birth defects, cancer and other illnesses. "To this day, dioxin continues to poison the land and the people. The United States has never accepted responsibility for these victims - it denies that Agent Orange is responsible for diseases among Vietnamese that are accepted as Agent Orange-caused among American veterans."

We do not care what we do to others


We did that to one nation. One of dozens. Just about every nation in our hemisphere has a story to tell about how we brutalized them at one time in their history. Believe it or not, I do not say this with any malice or judgment. It is just a fact and one we conveniently and perversely ignore. We are a self-interested nation. We look out for us. Any damage we do to another nation in the pursuit of our interests is forgettable. Forgotten. By Americans anyway.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F237.gif&hash=13b71d2444f84b15c53fb1c0272c080f48a165f1)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F290.gif&hash=38949e35cf58eaa4218b5a8176767c806d2f8537)


Climate change is real. Most of the CO2 in our atmosphere came from America. This is a fact.
China is the main polluter but they have a long way to go to catch up to us in total accumulated pollution. And when we consider per capita in the world's major nations, no one will ever catch us. Look in the mirror. Each of us on average exceeds the average of every other nation's citizens. We win. We are the worst. As Americans we love to blame others but we hate to take responsibility.

As a nation, we have no plans to take responsibility for our contribution for climate change. Ever. And most Americans will never lose sleep feeling guilty about it. We don't take responsibility for our actions in the world. We get defensive. We deny, avoid and evade. And focus elsewhere. And that is human nature. It is what we do. It is what everyone does.

Governments will argue about it for the next few years until eventually it won't matter anymore. Our climate will keep changing until the culprits become irrelevant.

Should the rich pay the poor for what they have done to them?


"Negotiators at the UN climate talks in Warsaw have split over who should pay for the damage caused by climate change. Developing countries have drawn a 'red line' on the issue of loss and damage. They say the US, EU, Australia and other developed nations should take responsibility for the damage caused by their emissions.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)


"The Guardian's John Vidal reports from Warsaw that loss and damage is a defining issue for developing countries.

"'This is a red line for us,' said Munjural Khan, a spokesman for the Least Developed Countries (LDC). 'We have been thinking of ways to harden our position, to the point of walking out of the negotiations.'

"But Vidal says that wealthy nations have been similarly intransigent.

" Meanwhile, "Newly leaked documents have revealed how U.S. negotiators at the U.N. climate summit in Warsaw are opposing efforts to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

"According to an internal U.S. briefing memo seen by Democracy Now!, the U.S. delegation  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) is worried  ;) the talks in Warsaw will 'focus increasingly on blame and liability' and that poor nations will be 'seeking redress   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53) for climate damages  from sea level rise, droughts, powerful storms and other adverse impacts.'"

http://blogs.redding.com/redding/dcraig/archives/2013/11/who-will-pay-fo.html#sthash.Lfw0wN0B.dpuf

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/10/one-percents-planetary-assets-equals-80-responsibility-for-funding-a-100-renewable-energy-world
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 02, 2014, 07:41:48 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F12%2FCarysfort.jpg&hash=8951bbc82e747e246ff91fcd2233ab88a36b307c)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2955.gif&hash=ddc12d8bdb1bc63b7998a6b086b79a71b7bda755)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2953.gif&hash=b84c0ae260f7ac760e54bcdc33d788c36faa07c1)

OMG I Thought You Were Dead!

David Guggenheim | December 2, 2014 9:15 am

Great article at link:  8)

http://ecowatch.com/2014/12/02/omg-thought-dead/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 04, 2014, 09:04:44 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041214205118.png&hash=234e923fab3c82ea63002174add28751d6e9e877)
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmNyNPd76nI&feature=player_embedded
The Battle to Save The Arctic - Trailer
World’s Best Climate Films Featured to Coincide With Lima Climate Talks
http://ecowatch.com/2014/12/04/films-lima-climate-talks/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 04, 2014, 11:34:54 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyers.com.au%2Fimages%2F800x600%2Fadaptive%2F1%2Fe%2Fe%2F9%2F73449_1338259276_answers-jpg&hash=38e5a4b55bf1c68af0b49014b3628036cb8e463f)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oglycx3l4us&feature=player_embedded

Nature's Grand Molecular Disassemblers 

  Paul Stamets  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3), mycologist, author and advocate of bioremediation and medicinal mushrooms, offers us a fascinating story in this video.

 His research proves again and again that mushrooms are exquisitely well designed for breaking down a whole suite of hydrocarbon based contaminants: PCP's, PCP's, dioxins, all pesticides, most herbicides, petroleum based fuels, diesel and gasoline.

 There was a diesel contamination spill at a transportation yard. It was so toxic that it was off limits. They invited 6 biomediation companies to have a contest: Who could break down the diesel contaminated soil the best?  ???

 6 piles were created and everyone applied their treatment. All were fairly conventional methods except for the mushrooms.

4 weeks later, scientists and government officials went to see the results.

Not only did gigantic oyster mushrooms start growing happily in that pile, which was the only one that didn't still stink of diesel, but something even more interesting happened: Life grew back. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-041.gif&hash=162ffcc5ac459baecdad5244402edbaf94b877fa) Plants started growing there!

 To these mushrooms diesel fuel is not toxic but a form of food. They feed on it, and converted the toxins to substances that other life forms can not only tolerate but feed off of, and grow.

 Let's heed Paul Stamets' wisdom and follow his work: mushrooms can heal the world!

 --Bibi Farber

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-160614020239.gif&hash=f40a70a5ed83e4b620438b3da151bc17dea25358)

 This video was produced by Paul Stamets
http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/environment/mycoremediation-for-dummies.html#sthash.2Ebf8xM0.dpuf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 08, 2014, 11:30:21 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuQNqm6dk2g&feature=player_embedded

Article on the above video: ‘Fracking 101′ Narrated by Edward James Olmos

http://ecowatch.com/2014/12/08/fracking-101-video/
Title: Why I Think This World Should End
Post by: AGelbert on December 10, 2014, 06:25:00 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itvnQ2QB4yc&feature=player_embedded
Why I Think This World Should End

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080814213147.png&hash=8caa9e70560c86d7f1e8f5c50cee91c97d9859f1)

Watch this one minute clip to learn why Natural Capitalism is the only REAL Capitalism. Modern so-called "Capitalism" (i.e. Crapitalism!) actually SHRINKS,  DEGRADES and DESTROYS  Capital!
http://viewrz.com/video/real-money

Golden Rule Government: A Lawful System Based on Caring instead of Conquest (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg2043/#msg2043)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 11, 2014, 08:04:29 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvKe2LYy5pk&feature=player_embedded
King Coal keeps Killing the Land and the Life on it to get the coal.

Quote
Mining Coal Faster Than Men Can Mine It...   
 
Come have a beer with a few coal miners in West Virginia, where they are leveling mountaintops every single day, 24 hours a day.

 "If we let them, they'll level this whole place. You might feel bad about it because you're worried about the environment but you're still going to cut the top off of this mountain because hey, I got to eat." says one of the men.

 When they old timers mined coal, it was hard work. But now we need to mine coal faster than men can mine it.

 Taking tops off of the mountains of West Virginia destroys the earth, depositing toxins and threatening the health of all living things.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)

 At 18:57, see the tray full of about 70 medication that one area man has to take daily to survive the toxic onslaught.

 How does he stand it? He just prays.

 --Bibi Farber

 This video was produced by VICE
http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/environment/blowing-up-mountains-destroying-the-environment-for-coal-.html#sthash.GtsGopLJ.dpuf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 14, 2014, 11:57:42 pm
Quote
The commonly repeated history of how water fluoridation came to be states that the practice was spurred on by research from the 1930s, which found that people who drank water containing higher levels of naturally-occurring fluoride tended to have less severe tooth decay.

On the surface, it would appear as though it was a successful government intervention on your behalf. More than 60 years later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared community water fluoridation one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.

However, the real story reveals it was little more than a well-orchestrated PR stunt – a glowing example of the art of disseminating “adjustable truths” to sell an inconveniently toxic reality to an unsuspecting public.

In his book, Bryson describes the deeply intertwined interests that existed in the 1940s and 50s between the aluminum industry, the US nuclear weapons program, and the dental industry, which resulted in fluoride being declared not only safe, but beneficial to human health (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly_QP4rGczo&feature=player_embedded

The Fluoride Deception: An Interview with Christopher Bryson

December 13, 2014 | 196,924 views

Excellent article accompanying video:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/12/13/fluoride-deception.aspx?e_cid=20141213Z1_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20141213Z1&et_cid=DM62058&et_rid=762674348
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 17, 2014, 01:03:22 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWVMeDee4Z0&feature=player_embedded
Pharmaceutical grade fluoride you DO NOT DRINK that is applied directly to teeth while brushing with toothpaste prevents tooth decay.

Fluoridation in the water is a waste product
from the phosphate fertilizer industry formerly considered toxic waste. It does NOTHING to prevent tooth decay and has been scientifically proven to have neurotoxic effects on animals and humans. If you have fluoridated water, DO NOT DRINK IT. Children are the most adversely affected from drinking fluoridated water.

Here's the whole story
of typical profit over people and planet Military Industrial Complex backed propaganda. The Mellon institute, the same one that claimed for several decades, with doctored studies, that asbestos was safe, championed fluoridation of the water.

The CHIEF champion of fluoridation, Harold Hodges  >:(, was the very same chief scientist of the Manhattan Project in charge of determining the toxicity of radionuclides. Under his direction people in Rochester and Oak Ridge were injected with Plutonium in 1945-46.

Guess who was contracted to get the public to accept, clamor for, demand AND PAY the bill (to the delight of the phosphate, aluminum AND nuclear weapons manufacturing corporations) for community fluoridation of a hitherto known pollutant requiring corporations to pay for its disposal and fight lawsuits brought by disabled employees?

Edward Bernays!   :P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly_QP4rGczo&feature=player_embedded


Quote
"I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness." 
 Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 17, 2014, 11:49:56 pm

Families Forced to Flee Their Homes From Out-of-Control Leak at Fracking Well


Anastasia Pantsios | December 17, 2014 4:46 pm

More than two dozen families have been forced to flee their homes in Monroe County in eastern Ohio as natural gas poured from a leak at an unused fracking well, the C0lumbus Dispatch revealed.

Fracking sites have become rampant in eastern Ohio, as have fracking accidents. Photo credit: Ohio Community Rights Network

According to Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle, crews lost control of the well Saturday and have not yet been able to stop the leak. Families were evacuated from homes within a 1.5-mile radius of the well near the Ohio River. “There’s still a steady stream of natural gas coming from the wellhead,” said McCorkle.

Texas-based Triad Hunter, which owns the drilling site, released a statement saying it had “experienced a loss of control of a well, the Stalder 3UH, located in Monroe County, Ohio. The previously drilled and completed Stalder 3UH well had been temporarily plugged and abandoned in preparation for the drilling of three additional Utica horizontal wells on the Stalder pad. However, despite numerous precautionary measures taken in connection with the temporary plugging and abandonment operation, the well began to flow uncontrollably while recommencing production operations. Triad Hunter personnel were removing the well’s night cap flange when a pressure disruption occurred. They attempted to bolt back down this equipment but were not able to safely do so prior to natural gas flowback.”

“Triad Hunter has contacted all necessary regulatory authorities and evacuated field personnel and the residents in the immediate area,” it continued. “Currently, all field personnel are accounted for, and no injuries have been reported. Only critical personnel remain at a command center near the well site to mitigate the incident. Wild Well Control of Houston, Texas has been mobilized and is currently on site preparing for well control operations. Additional details will be released as they become available.”

According to McCorkle, the well had been fracked and plugged a year ago.

“This whole situation is uncommon in general,” she said. “A full investigation will give us more information as to what happened, what led up to the incident and why there was so much pressure.”

That probably won’t be much comfort to the families and others living in the area of Ohio’s growing number of fracking operations.

“There have been other explosions and fires at fracking wells and drilling sites in Ohio,” the Dispatch concluded blandly without providing further details.

Indeed there have—many of them reported in the Dispatch. In October, 400 homes were evacuated in Jefferson County, also on the Ohio River to the north of Monroe County, when a fracking operation there sprung a leak. McCorkle said the ODNR was investigating.

 In June, a fracking site in Clarington, also in Monroe County, caught fire, causing multiple explosions. That accident spilled large amounts of toxic chemicals into a nearby stream, killing fish and wildlife; the well operator company waited several days to disclose what chemicals had been released. The ODNR was investigating.

That was days after another out-of-control gas leak in Bethel Township in Monroe County.

“The out of control natural gas leak at a fracking site in Monroe County demonstrates, once again, the lack of foresight on the part of Ohio Governor John Kasich, the Ohio legislature and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources on the issue of fracking,” said Alison Auciello, Ohio organizer for Food & Water Watch.

“The ODNR must have a short memory because they’re saying these types of accidents are ‘uncommon in general.’ (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.u.arizona.edu%2F%7Epatricia%2Fcute-collection%2Fsmileys%2Flying-smiley.gif&hash=a34c2f7344d5f54f7009a4e684bb6c7310cdda03) Just this past summer residents in Monroe County were evacuated while the Eisenbarth well pad exploded,” said Auciello. “As the Monroe County leak continues to force evacuations, Governor Andrew Cuomo banned fracking in the state of New York today (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e) , citing health concerns from the New York Department of Health.

How many accidents will it take for Governor Kasich (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400)to take a nod from Governor Cuomo, pay attention to the science, listen to his constituents and realize that there is no such thing a safe fracking?”   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

http://ecowatch.com/2014/12/17/families-flee-fracking-leak/

But, but Roamer and Mking say fracking is safe, justified, necessary and prudent!
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Bzb-1rVB8pc%2FUfXxBekcYVI%2FAAAAAAAAEm4%2FhXUkGCzFIPg%2Fs1600%2Fgiveafuckometer-gif.gif&hash=ba12a8b5eb920e7de0ca2ba5256e06bfc2c040e7)
The METER reading of persons claiming that FRACKING is safe, justified, necessary and prudent.


Quote
"I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness." 
 Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 18, 2014, 03:39:03 pm
(https://www.oceannews.com/images/E-news_3-5-14/bristol-bay-alaska.jpg)
President Obama Forever Protects Bristol Bay From Oil/Gas Drilling   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fpng%2F200%2Femoticons%2Ffingerscrossed.png&hash=d56f8009d18b55f4cea7be68284c0521be92fc5d)

SustainableBusiness.com News

President Obama has used his executive authority to make Alaska's pristine Bristol Bay off limits to oil and gas leasing, safeguarding habitat for the largest wild sockeye salmon runs in the world.

Other species that will also benefit from leaving this pristine bay in tact include sea otters, seals, walruses, Beluga and Killer whales, and the endangered North Pacific Right Whale. 

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sageflyfish.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2FKlug_RWA_Sept_2012-25-of-38.jpg&hash=7bed60b327f1226d755b05af5a1868c86f682bee)

It's a wish come true for local citizens, fisherman and Native tribes who have been trying to protect it - and the surrounding Bering Sea - for decades as The Fish Basket Coalition. "The region's incredible fishing, wildlife and cultural values are permanently protected in one of America's iconic marine habitats," says Marilyn Heiman, director of the Pew Charitable Trust's US Arctic Project, and a member of the Coalition.

  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.seafoodnews.com%2Fnews%2Fimages%2FProtectBristolBay.jpg&hash=7cecba4b6f443da108cf1eb7eaf6cc9212e5a72d)

40% of America's wild-caught seafood comes from Bristol Bay, crucial for the $2 billion a year fishing industry. The spectacular, remote area is also an economic engine for tourism.

 Pointing out the Bay's importance as an economic engine and  sustaining Alaska Native communities for centuries, President Obama also says, "With migratory birds, sea otters, whales, and seals, Bristol Bay is truly a place unlike any other. Simply put, these waters are too special and too valuable to auction off to the highest bidder.  They belong to all of us - and to future generations."

 Attempts have been made in the past to open it to oil leases, including Former President GW Bush, who set in motion a lease sale that would have opened about a fifth of the area.

President Obama is exercising his authority under section 12 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which gives him the  authority to withdraw offshore areas from potential oil and gas leasing.
President Eisenhower first used this authority in 1960, withdrawing an area that's now part of Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Since then, Presidents on both sides of the aisle have protected areas from oil and gas leasing.

Under the Outer Continental Shelf Land Act of 1953, the Department of the Interior develops an energy development leasing program every five years for federal offshore waters.

The current program spans 2012-2017, and opens 15 areas to potential leases - over 75% of the estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in US federal offshore waters.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300714025456.bmp&hash=f4e4a260bd60d3f34ca86fed93c47d5fb4117cfd)

 What impact will this have on Pebble Mine? This largest open-pit mine in North America - up to 2 miles long, 1.5 miles wide, and 1700 feet deep - would extract copper, gold and molybdenum in the heart of Bristol Bay. It would be sited at the headwaters of two rivers that feed right into the bay.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26059

Agelbert NOTE: Before we break out the champagne, please understand that fossil fuelers will now use their typical fascist tactics to attempt to reverse this "forever" protection in order to avoid the CRATERING of world class polluter stocks like SLB an HAL, among many other profit over planet piranha stocks that will get whacked if this ruling holds. The polluters  think they can reverse the ruling.

Proof of that is that today's action is mild.
Halliburton Company  HAL  38.63  -0.81 (-2.05%)  33.25B 
Schlumberger Limited.  SLB  82.46  -0.42 (-0.51%)  105.35B
 

You can observe further proof by the "huh hum" reaction of frackers like MKing to this news.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6961.gif&hash=df13f27d25fd180bcc904f19809e2b35dc3309cf)

But DO NOT  think the fossil fuelers aren't taking this "threat" to their dirty energy profits seriously. They WORSHIP at the altar of MONEY. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fd2.gif&hash=98d536bf1047a88ef91e9c45e08b725347c9fe13) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.envisionyourdreamsllc.com%2FGolden-Pig.jpg&hash=b7879c3d56faf2797c99c46b9dfeb644196a3e2d)

One Hundred and thirty five BILLION dollars of Biosphere murderer "equity" will be defended (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)with every bit of low down, 'buy em' or bop em' mafia "free market" tactics fossil fuelers are infamous for. 

Let's hope they do not succeed in getting a "Halliburton LOOPHOLE" * (see short fracking videos below to learn how the LAW now defends poison for profit  >:()" for these "forever" protected lands.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fpng%2F200%2Femoticons%2Ffingerscrossed.png&hash=d56f8009d18b55f4cea7be68284c0521be92fc5d)

But bastards that work best in the dark do not function well in the light of exposure. Do your part. Let everyone know what these fine fellows DO because they CAN. They won't be able to if we are all watching their every move for the sake of future generations.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ficare.gif&hash=7a81c13fb045a57fc456f34661fddcf04dbfe8b7)

Please pass this on. Your children will thank you. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websmileys.com%2Fsm%2Fviolent%2Fsterb029.gif&hash=7a43a0c106eab798f7ba6133dc5cc550647a03d2)


Watch this one minute clip to learn why Natural Capitalism is the only REAL Capitalism. Modern so-called "Capitalism" (i.e. Crapitalism!) actually SHRINKS,  DEGRADES and DESTROYS  Capital!
http://viewrz.com/video/real-money

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-251114234300.png&hash=51842c367517a00ea79aa01afee06164b200d5bc)
All about Fracking LEGAL chemical POISONS (3 minutes 31 seconds):
http://viewrz.com/video/all-about-fracking-legal-chemical-poisons-1

* Fossil Fuel Fascism in Action(3 minute lesson on our Orwellian world):

http://viewrz.com/video/fossil-fuel-fascism-in-action

Fossil Fuel Fascist Jolly Roger "business" model (8 minutes):
http://viewrz.com/video/fossil-fuel-fascist-jolly-roger-business-model

Dr. Richard A. Houghton, acting president of the WOODS HOLE RESEARCH CENTER says TINA to a Low Carbon Economy (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/global-warming-is-with-us/msg2114/#msg2114")

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 20, 2014, 09:13:09 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImDUsctAiao&feature=player_embedded
Southeast Michigan's Reclaimed Wood Marketplace (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fearthhug.gif&hash=3abcf70466f34337f2d702ebd9e02c650d5c4c20)

The dead urban trees in Southeast Michigan could produce almost 73 million board feet of lumber annually. That's according to Urbanwood.org's website, the network of local sawmills who specialize in reclaiming urban timber in the area. Urbanwood.org is Southeast Michigan's "Reclaimed Wood Marketplace"

Recycling urban timber means making boards out of yard trees, storm damaged trees, and trees from municipalities that might end up chipped up and loaded into containers headed to landfills. "200 years ago when you built a house, when you built a barn, you looked around the property where you were building. It was local timber, that's what you built with." says John Haling of Sawmill John Custom Sawing.

How great to be able to make something lasting out of a tree in your yard that has to come down. Why ship in the wood from someplace else? A great example of common sense coming back. Remember, not so long ago, all wood was "reclaimed locally". --Bibi Farber

for more info see www.Urbanwood.org - See more at: http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/reducing-waste/recycling-urban-timber.html#sthash.hxnmGWNT.dpuf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 23, 2014, 09:45:44 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3TRWbN3nrQ&feature=player_embedded
People of Good Will dressed as Santa and Elves ARRESTED for protesting Fracking. >:(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsbMVW9wKbE&feature=player_embedded
Begin at 2:14 to LEARN WHAT FRACKERS DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT (bad AND good) THAT continues TO HAPPEN.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 03, 2015, 05:56:52 pm
VERY brief list (it's now at 8,000 and COUNTING!)
of the Harmed by FRACKING:
   :(  :P >:(
 
-Updated as of December 19th, 2014- *PDF version here List of the Harmed (https://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/list-of-the-harmed59.pdf)

The following is an ever-growing list of the individuals and families that have been harmed by fracking (or fracked gas and oil production) in the US.

Should you encounter any issues (misinformation, broken links, etc.) or if you are/know someone who should be added to this list, please contact us at pacwainfo@gmail.com

Quote
1. Pam Judy and family
 Location: Carmichaels, PA
 Gas Facility: Compressor station 780 feet away
 Exposure: Air
 Symptoms: Headaches, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, nosebleeds, blood test show exposure to benzene and other chemicals
http://www.marcellus-shale.us/Pam-Judy.htm

2. Darrell Smitsky
 Location: Hickory, PA
 Gas Facility: Range Resources Well, less than 1,000 ft
 Exposure: Water – toluene, acrylonitrile, strontium, barium, manganese
 Symptoms: Rashes on legs from showering.
 Symptoms (animal): Five healthy goats dead; fish in pond showing abnormal scales; another neighbor comments anonymously
http://www.marcellus-shale.us/Darrell-Smitsky.htm

3. Jerry and Denise Gee and family
 Location: Tioga County, Charleston Township, PA
 Gas Facility: Shell Appalachia natural gas well
 Exposure: Water – methane
 Symptoms: Relocated, pond contaminated
http://www.sungazettePond contaminated.com/page/content.detail/id/565860/Tioga-County-family-struggles-with-methane-in-its-well-water.html?nav=5011

4. Stacey Haney
 Location: Washington County, PA
 Gas Facility: Range Resources gas well and 7 acre waste impoundment
 Exposure: Water – glycol and arsenic
 Symptoms: Son – stomach, (liver and kidney) pain, nausea, fatigue and mouth ulcers; daughter – similar symptoms
 Symptoms (animal): Dogs – death; goat – death; horse – sick
http://www.uppermon.org/Mon_Watershed_Group/minutes-23Mar11.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/magazine/fracking-amwell-township.html?pagewanted=all

5. Phyllis Carr and family
 Location: Fayette County, PA
 Gas Facility: Three natural gas compressors operated by Williams and a dehydrator
 Exposure: Air pollution
 Symptoms: Headaches, sore throats, sinus congestion, rashes, blisters, lesions, respiratory distress, and hearing difficulties; blood contains phenol and benzene
http://www.frackcheckwv.net/2011/01/17/a-good-whiff-will-put-blisters-up-your-nose/

6. Julie Kuhne
 Location: Clearville, PA
 Gas facility: Well blowout
 Exposure: Water -toluene.”…My water test came back contaminated with toluene. So did my neighbors.“
Symptoms: Unknown, replacement water or relocated
http://weeklypress.com/shale-shame-clearville-pa-p1910-1.htm

7. Joe A. & Sandra K. McDaniel
 Location: Clearville, PA
 Gas Facility: Steckman Ridge gas storage, wells 1000 ft from pond
 Exposure: Water- MBAS in spring fed fish pond
 Symptoms: Unknown, replacement water or relocated
http://gomarcellusshale.com/forum/topics/aquiferdrinking-water?commentId=2274639%3AComment%3A29839

8. Terry Greenwood
 Location: Washington County. PA
 Gas Facility: Dominion Resources Appalachian and Consol gas wells and impoundment
 Exposure: Water (waste pit overflowed into pond)
 Symptoms (animal): Cows – ten dead
http://www.marcellus-shale.us/Terry-Greenwood.html
http://protectingourwaters.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/gas-drilling-impacts-pa-farmer-terry-greenwoods-cows-gave-birth-to-zero-calves-this-year-after-ten-dead-calves-in-2008/

9. Carol and Don Johnson
 Location: Tioga County, PA
 Gas Facility: East Resources waste impoundment
 Exposure: Water (waste pit overflowed into field) – chloride, iron, sulfate, barium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium, strontium and calcium.
 Symptoms (animal): Stillborn calves, quarantined cows
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2011/09/27/burning-questions-quarantined-cows-give-birth-to-dead-calves/

10. Mary McConnell
 Location: Bedford County,PA
 Gas Facility: Columbia Gas storage field
 Exposure: Air – methane
 Symptoms: Headaches, breathing difficulties, sore muscles and other health issues
http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/543123/Clearville-residents-blame-reduced-property-values-on-natural-gas-project.html
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/forwardblitz/2012/06/16/fracking-friday

11. Wayne and Angel Smith
 Location: Bedford County, PA
 Gas Facility: Spectra Energy Steckman Ridge storage field, pipelines, compressor stations
 Exposure: Air, water – arsenic
 Symptoms: Various health ailments
 Symptoms (animal): Death – 5 cows, 3 dogs, 12 chickens and 4 cats
http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/543123/Clearville-residents-blame-reduced-property-values-on-natural-gas-project.html
http://www.accountability-central.com/nc/single-view-default/article/voices-from-the-shale-citizen-regulators-track-incidents/

12. Steve and Jacki Schilke
 Location: Williston Basin, ND
 Gas Facility: Oasis gas wells
 Exposure: Water- magnesium, manganese, boron and strontium and sulfates; air – benzene, methane, chloroform, butane, propane, toluene and zylene
 Symptoms: Lightheadedness, dizzy and trouble breathing, at times can’t walk without cane
 Symptoms (animal): Dogs and cows sick, death
http://www.greatplainsexaminer.com/2012/01/10/welcome-to-boomtown-oil-production-raises-health-concerns/

13. Mark and Sandy Mangan
 Location: Medina County, Ohio
 Gas Facility: Gas well
 Exposure: Air; water – salts, methane and cement
 Symptoms: Unknown, replacement water or relocated
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/three-years-after-drilling-feds-say-natural-gas-in-medina-county-well-water-is-potentially-explosive-1.255525
http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/227297/6/Medina-County-couple-says-gas-drilling-ruined-their-water

14. William and Stephanie Boggs (Stephanie deceased, age 47)
 Location: Medina County, Ohio
 Gas Facility: Landmark 4 LLC gas well
 Exposure: Water, land, air
 Symptoms: Unknown,replacement water or relocated
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/three-years-after-drilling-feds-say-natural-gas-in-medina-county-well-water-is-potentially-explosive-1.25552
http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/03/medina_county_families_say_fra.htm

15. Susan Wallace Babbs
 Location: Parachute, CO
 Gas Facility: Gas wells
 Exposure: Air- benzene, tetrachloroetheneand 1,4-dichlorobenzene
 Symptoms: Vomiting, diarrhea, lesions, pain, elevated heart rate
http://www.propublica.org/article/science-lags-as-health-problems-emerge-near-gas-fields
*Wallace Babbs’ symptoms mirror those reported by neighbors living near her ranch in Parachute, CO, and by dozens of residents of communities across the country that have seen the most extensive natural gas drilling.

16. Beth and Bill Strudley and sons
 Location: Garfield County, CO
 Gas Facility: Antero Resources gas well
 Exposure: Water; air
 Symptoms: Rashes, nosebleeds, blackouts, (relocated)
 (drilling by the Anschutz Exploration Corp. in New York contaminated the drinking water of  nine families.)
http://www.postindependent.com/article/20110104/VALLEYNEWS/110109981
http://savethewatertable.org/2011/03/colorado-family-sues-oil-and-gas-drilling-firms/

17. Floyd and Lisa Green
 Location: Garfield County, CO
Exposure: Air
 Gas Facility: Gas wells, condensate tanks
 Symptoms: Nosebleeds, headaches, nausea, muscle spasms, (relocated)
 Symptoms (animal): Chicken death, goat gave birth to a head
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/02/26/us/100000000650773/natgas.html?ref=us

18. Beth Voyles
 Location: Washington County, PA
 Gas Facility: Range Resources frack waste impoundment and gas wells
Exposure: Air, water
 Symptoms: Rashes, blisters, inability to concentrate, light-headedness,nose bleeds, lethargy; benzene, toluene and arsenic in blood and urine
 Symptoms (animal): Farm animals and dogs suddenly died, other dogs aborted pregnancies, stillborn offspring
http://canon-mcmillan.patch.com/blog_posts/the-pennsylvania-dep-another-red-herring-2
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/09/25/fracking-future.html

19. Jeremiah Magers
 Location: Cameron, WV
 Gas Facility: Chesapeake well fracked, 1200 feet from water tank.
 Exposure:  Water-methane
 Symptoms: Unknown, replacement water or relocated
http://www.heraldstaronline.com/page/content.detail/id/572105/Lawsuit-filed-for-methane-in-water.html?nav=5010
http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/548291/Marshall-County-Man-Continues-To-Find-Methane-in-His-Water-Well.html

20. Dennis and Tamera Hagy and sons
 Location: Jackson County, WV
 Gas Facility: Equitable gas wells 1,080 feet away
Exposure: Water – arsenic, lead, barium and Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, radon levels were 1,233 pCi/l with the maximum contaminant level set at 300.
 Symptoms: Neurological symptoms, headaches, rashes, and vomiting, eyes burning, oddly tired; one son spitting up blood
http://www.greenlaurel.com/greenlaurel.com/Articles/Entries/2013/2/21_Frackings_catch-22__How_legal_exemptions_shield_natural_gas_and_throw_citizens_under_the_bus.html

21. Danny and Sharon Kinney
 Location: Salem, WV
 Gas Facility: Antero Resources gas well
 Exposure: Water – arsenic at .060
 Symptoms: Unknown, replacement water or relocated; cracking house foundation
http://www.wboy.com/story/17114653/family-suffers-contaminated-water-well-from-oil-gas-industry-on-neighbors-property

22. Bonnie Hall
 Location: Wetzel County, WV
 Gas Facility: Chesapeake gas wells
 Exposure: Water – acrylonitrile, benzene, and styrene
 Symptoms (animal): Horses refused to drink the water
http://www.wtov9.com/news/news/farmers-claim-gas-drilling-contaminated-their-wate/nD5RZ/
“Neighbors had suffered declining health…”
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/lifestyle/health/x1485353677/Rural-residents-say-natural-gas-drilling-has-tainted-their-drinking-water

23. James and Ruth Parsons
 Location: Ripley, WV
 Gas Facility: Fracked well within 600 feet of well casing
 Exposure: Water-high levels of pollutants and contaminates
 Symptoms: Unknown, replacement water or relocated
http://www.opednews.com/articles/EPA-Warned-Of-Water-Contam-by-Jack-Swint-120227-284.html

24. Leann Kiner
 Location: Harrison County, WV
 Gas Facility: Antero gas well
 Exposure: Water – arsenic
 Symptoms: Unknown, replacement water or relocated
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WsY7AMCpAI&feature=player_embedded

25. Lorrie Squibb
 Location: Flower Mound, TX
 Gas Facility: Intensive gas production
 Exposure: Air
 Symptoms: Multiple myeloma, a blood cancer
http://www.scribd.com/doc/75887335/CWA-Health-Workers-Letter-to-GovCuomo-Fracking-2011-12-121
http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/special-projects/gas-well-drilling-headlines/20110831-breast-cancer-rate-climbs-up.ece

26. John Barnes’ niece
 Location: Masontown, PA
 Gas Facility:  Gas well 200 ft away
 Exposure: Water – barium
 Symptoms: Comatose state for three weeks, liver failed and lungs filled with fluid
http://wv4mom.org/content/harrowing-experience-nieces-health

27. Janet and Fred McIntyre and family
 Location: Butler County, PA
 Gas Facility: Rex gas wells
 Exposure: Air; water – high levels of iron, manganese and toluene, high levels of chloromethane and t-butyl alcohol
 Symptoms: Aches, nausea and bouts of vomiting, fingernails curling under, hair loss, headache, eye irritation
 Symptoms (animal): Gagging and throwing up blood, diarrhea, death
http://shalegasoutrage.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Janet-McIntyre-short-version.pdf
She lives in one of 10 households near Connoquenessing, where residents believe nearby drilling has affected their water
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/11/ap-enterprise-docs-say-drilling-law-hurts-health/#ixzz1uDWYnlEF

28. Megan Collins
 Location: Dish, TX
 Gas Facility: Compressor station
 Exposure: Air
 Symptoms: Sinus issues, difficulty with balance and standing, headaches, fainting, dystonia and ataxia, nausea
http://www.earthworksaction.org/voices/detail/dish_texas
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120043996

29. Deborah Rogers
 Location: Forth Worth, TX
 Gas Facility: Chesapeake drilling operations
 Exposure: Water, air- benzene, dichlorodifluoromethane, chloroform, xylenes,
 toluene, disulfides
 Symptoms: Nausea from the strong odors ,nose bleeds ,severe headaches.
 Symptoms (animal): Asphyxiated goats and chickens
http://www.earthworksaction.org/voices/detail/deborah_rogers
http://vimeo.com/40547126

30. Sandra DenBraber
 Location: Arlington, TX
 Gas Facility: Carrizo natural gas operations
 Exposure: Air – benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes
 Symptoms: Blood has Ethylbenzene, m,p-Xylene, Hexane,  2-Methylpentane, 3-Methylpentane; migraines
http://www.texassharon.com/2010/12/14/is-natural-gas-drilling-and-production-making-you-sick/
http://blog.uta.edu/sustainability/2008/04/02/arlington-woman-claims-drill-rig-causes-sickness/
http://www.fwweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2906:breathers-beware&catid=76:metropolis&Itemid=377

31. Kim McEvoy
 Location: Butler County, PA
 Gas Facility: Gas well 1,000 feet from house
 Exposure:  Water – arsenic and methylene chloride
 Symptoms: Sickness
http://www.wtae.com/news/28827499/detail.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRewp6P_J3g&feature=player_embedded
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/04/30/residents-fed-up-with-bad-water-flee-shale-drilling-areas/

32. Carl Stiles (deceased at age 46)
 Location: Bradford County, PA
 Gas Facility: Chesapeake gas wells
 Exposure: Water – strontium, uranium and radium
 Symptoms: Barium, arsenic, and VOCs (volatile organic chemicals) in blood, intestinal cancer, headaches, memory loss, and tremors
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/carl-stiles-fracking-activist-dies-aw
http://www.alternet.org/story/150527/%26quot%3Bthey_are_afraid_their_house_could_blow_up%26quot%3B%3A_meet_the_families_whose_lives_have_been_ruined_by_gas_drilling_%5Bphotos_by_award-winning_photographer_nina_berman%5D/?page=2
“There are so many people in Sugar Run who have water buffaloes…”

33. April Beach and sons
 Location: Erie, CO
 Gas Facility: Five drilling pads within a mile
 Exposure: Air; dust
 Symptoms: Lesion in  spinal cord,  asthma, migraines,  severe  auto immune issues,GI issues and extreme pain
http://www.erierising.com/to-whom-it-may-concern/

34. June and David Chappel (David deceased)
 Location: Washington County, PA
 Gas Facility: Range Resources waste pit the size of a football field, seven gas wells
 Exposure: Air, dust
 Symptoms: Sickness
 Symptoms (animal): Cat – death
http://www.marcellus-shale.us/June-Chappel.htm
http://pafaces.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/hey-june/


35. Sherry Vargson and husband
 Location: Granville, PA
 Gas Facility: Drill pad only 500 ft. from her farmhouse
 Exposure: Water-methane, radium, manganese and strontium
 Symptoms:  Headaches, nausea, light-headedness
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-big-fracking-bubble-the-scam-behind-the-gas-boom-20120301#ixzz1nxynrXpq
http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,902909981001_2065158,00.html
http://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.wordpress.com/the-list/

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PLEASE PASS THIS ON! People need to know.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-028.gif&hash=24570cb7e8246617010ce900a07bc85117ff78ca)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 03, 2015, 07:30:36 pm
Surly: I ran into this and could just NOT stay away. I concentrated on North Dakota in the hopes of communicating to a certain Fracker Doomer (AND his Gaia worshiping pal who is SUPPOSED to be counseling the fracker to stop this **** or lose a friend! ) the REAL WORLD damage he is doing to ALL of nature, including himself.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fpng%2F200%2Femoticons%2Ffingerscrossed.png&hash=d56f8009d18b55f4cea7be68284c0521be92fc5d)

There is no way in hell that the lying sacks of fossil fuel **** that curse the Doomstead Diner (with their endless BULL**** about how "safe" Fracking is when done responsibly, how they are doing it to "help prevent a collapse of civilization",  and how "hysterical" my claims are of the massive damage done to our biosphere by Fracking) can DANCE AROUND THIS (of course they will try  ;) ).

A SUMMARY of what FRACKING has done, AND CONTINUES TO DO, to North Dakota and the life forms that happen to be in the way of Fracking "profits".

12. Steve and Jacki Schilke
Location: Williston Basin, ND
Gas Facility: Oasis gas wells
Exposure: Water- magnesium, manganese, boron and strontium and sulfates; air - benzene,
methane, chloroform, butane, propane, toluene and zylene
Symptoms: Lightheadedness, dizzy and trouble breathing, at times can’t walk
without cane
Symptoms (animal): Dogs and cows sick, death
http://www.greatplainsexaminer.com/2012/01/10/welcome-to-boomtown-oilproduction-
raises-health-concerns/


301. Dustin Bergsing (deceased Jan. 7, 2012)
Location: Dunn County, ND
Gas Facility: Marathon well
Exposure: Air – hydrocarbons
Symptoms: Death from hydrocarbon poisoning
http://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/hydrocarbon-poisoning-blamed-for-n-d-oil-workerdeath/
article_71b31cc6-c716-11e1-88e1-001a4bcf887a.htm

315. Brenda Jorgenson
Location: ND
Gas Facility: Gas wells
Exposure: Air - fumes from fracking chemicals and waste pit
Symptoms: Eyes and throat burn, headaches
http://www.onearth.org/article/north-dakota-boom-health-problems-fracking?page=2

326. Darwin Peterson
Location: ND
Gas Facility: Petro Harvester
Exposure: Spill of 2 million gallons of brine
Symptoms: Farm land ruined
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120608/oil-campanies-north-dakota-boom-gasdrilling-
fracking-wastewater-waterways-pollution-dumping-grounds?page=3

335. Daryl Peterson
Location: ND
Gas Facility: Gas production
Exposure: Drilling waste releases
Symptoms: Farm land ruined

336. Linda Monson
Location: Alexander, ND
Gas Facility: Zenergy Inc. wastewater pipeline
Exposure: Land; water - metals and carcinogenic hydrocarbons in the soil, the million
gallon spill wiped
out the creek's fish, turtles, and other life
Symptoms (animal): Wiped out the creek's fish, turtles and other life
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120608/oil-campanies-north-dakota-boom-gasdrilling-
fracking-wastewater-waterways-pollution-dumping-grounds?page=4

351. Jeffery Todd Kinkaid (deceased 2012)
Location: Mountrail County, ND
Gas Facility: Bakken oil rig
Exposure: Tank explosion
Symptoms: Death, burns to 90% of body
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=22140458

580. Victor Boyd
Location: Watford City, ND
Gas Facility: Precision Drilling rig
Exposure: Air - sprayed by a hose carrying drilling fluid and hydrocarbons
Symptoms: Profound burns
http://eenews.net/public/energywire/2013/02/21/1

779. Mike Krajewski (deceased 2013)
Location: McKenzie County, ND
Gas Facility: Halliburton well site
Exposure: N/A
Symptoms: Death
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/387118/group/homepage/

897. Susan Connell
Location: ND
Gas Facility: Brine tankers
Exposure: H2S
Symptoms: Stabbing pains in her stomach, the prelude to a week-long bout of vomiting
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/bakken-shale-oil/dobb-text

1147. Loren Jepson
Location: Killdeer, ND
Gas Facility: Hess Corp. well pad
Exposure: Water
Symptoms: Clay mud and silt running off the drill pad into his stock dam
http://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/killdeer-rancher-has-muddy-spring-mess-fromunwanted-
wells/article_06c4c334-98a7-11e2-b731-001a4bcf887a.html

1197-1198. Bruce Ford and Rod Law
Location: McKenzie County, ND
Gas Facility: Statoil well
Exposure: Vapors or fumes caught fire
Symptoms: Seriously burned
http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/content/updated-explosion-oil-well-burns-twomen

1354. Coby A Thibodeaux (deceased 2013)
Location: Burke County, ND
Gas Facility: Oasis Petroleum drill site
Exposure: Hit by equipment
Symptoms: Traumatic injury
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article1328492.ece

1761. Steve Jensen
Location: Bismarck, ND
Gas Facility: Tesoro pipeline
Exposure: Land; air
Symptoms: Oil was "spewing and bubbling 6 inches high, spill covered 7.3 acres. Land is no
longer usable for planting."We expect not to be able to farm that ground for several years"
http://news.msn.com/us/nd-farmer-finds-oil-spill-while-harvesting-wheat

1777. Anonymous
Location: Williston, ND
Gas Facility: Oasis Petroleum brine pipeline
Exposure: Land – brine spill
Symptoms: Saltwater affected an area of farm field – soil will be remediated
http://oilpatchdispatch.areavoices.com/2013/11/12/cleanup-underway-after-willistonsaltwater-
pipeline-spill/

2479. Pat Hedstrup
Location: Dickinson, ND
Gas Facility: Oil and gas production
Exposure: Air
Symptoms: “Sometimes the hay has so much dirt the cattle won’t even lay on it.” Open
range cattle in North Dakota have begun to die from dust pneumonia; cattle reject the dustladen
feed.
http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/bombing_north_dakota/

2480. Shelly Ventsch
Location: New Town, ND
Gas Facility: Oil and gas production
Exposure: Land
Symptoms: Property trashed
http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/bombing_north_dakota/

2481. Mike Artz
Location: Bottineau County, ND
Gas Facility: Fractured pipeline
Exposure: Land
Symptoms: Pipeline released a substantial amount of saltwater; samples of barley showed
severely stunted growth.
http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/589090.html

2482. Anonymous
Location: Bottineau County, ND
Gas Facility: Gas and oil production
Exposure: Land - 150 acres contaminated with salts
Symptoms: Owner requested that the site be cleaned up but nothing was done. Several
attempts at planting crops on the contaminated land failed.
http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/589090.html

REMEMBER FOLKS, all the above are just "isolated incidents" and the "science isn't in" that fracking is bad for you and the biosphere as told us by Frackers and other Fossil Fuel supporting perfidious energy "experts" of various levels of bufoonery and erudite baloney spouting.

Here's the latest three "isolated incidents" that people like MKing and Roamer justify as being "necessary" for them to "put food on the table".  SO IT GOES...

6754. Unnamed creek (Sept. 31st, 2014)
Location: Bowman County, ND
Gas Facility: Denbury Onshore pipeline
Exposure: Water – 2,000 barrel leak of fluids used for enhanced oil recovery.
Symptoms: The water had flowed into a nearby creek and no water could be recovered.
Monitoring will continue.
http://www.bowmanextra.com/2014/09/12/oil-fields-source-water-leaks-pipeline-southmarmarth/

6753. Lake Sakakawea tributary
Location: McKenzie County, ND
Gas Facility: Oasis Petroleum pipeline
Exposure: Land; water
Symptoms: 42,000 gallon spill of wastewater, damaged vegetation, 6-inches of topsoil

7512. Blaine Otto (deceased 2013)
Location: Keene, ND
Gas Facility: Newfield Exploration well
Exposure: Air
Symptoms: Death
http://lastbestnews.com/site/2014/10/oil-tank-deaths-raise-serious-questions/



List of the Harmed (https://pennsylvaniaallianceforcleanwaterandair.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/list-of-the-harmed59.pdf)

Agelbert Suggestion to people who can still add and subtract: Do your part. Tell the truth about Fracking. If you have a friend who justifies fracking, tell him he stops fracking or he loses a friend, PERIOD! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F3ztzsjm.gif&hash=8e015ba6a93bc1ec93ebde8fd6b2daa19e537306)

Quote
A study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance showed that the cost of renewable energy is now $80/MWh versus the cost of new build coal fired generation of $143/Mwh and new build gas fired generation of $116/MWh.

Myth Busters: the top 4 myths about renewable energy debunked! (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuel-propaganda-modus-operandi/msg2488/#msg2488)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 03, 2015, 09:02:08 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRewp6P_J3g&feature=player_embedded

The Dog and Rabbit KNEW before the owner did that the water was contaminated and refused to drink it. The human(s) are sick and ALL the animals and flora are getting sicker, thanks to the Fracking OBSCENITY.  >:(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 03, 2015, 09:27:58 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPqD0vBG4y8&feature=player_embedded
More sick people from Fracking.  :P At 4:40 in this video you will see that the ANGER is building against the LIARS that defend Fracking and pretend there is nothing wrong with it. 

PAYBACK is coming SOON to these Perfidious, Prevaricating, Profit over People and Planet Predators.  8) If you are a Fracker or otherwise defend this obscenity, I advise you to NOT relax. You belong in jail and many people are working to see that you get EXACTLY what you deserve. ;D
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 06, 2015, 02:02:55 am
The Bhopal Of Then And The Bhopal Of Now (thanks to Union Carbide)

Agelbert NOTE: This case is a perfect example of how predatory capitalist corporations keep their "losses" at a minimum when they cause massive injury and death. The conscience free ONE, TWO, THREE PUNCH "save the profits" script was written by Warren Anderson of Union Carbide.

ONE: Buy an influential local official to keep a lid on any deaths and downplay the event in the press.

TWO: Buy the Courts to insure the victims get paid PEANUTS (and only after you drag out the litigation as long as possible so more litigants are DEAD - less people to pay off).

THREE: Pretend the whole thing was a "lamentable accident" and vociferously deny that you were given multiple warnings predicting that the UNSAFE corner cutting CRAP you were doing would result in people getting killed one day (see video below for Union Carbide Criminal Negligence. For the other bastards, see double hulls delayed 20 YEARS on behalf of Exxon Mobile by the Reagan Administration, drill baby drill government blank check for British Petroleum and the Halliburton loophole license to KILL for Frackers). This step may also require some puff piece "documentaries" that detail all the "lessons learned" by all these " responsible" corporate officials involved in the "tragedy". (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ftissue.gif&hash=f8d05db8e11569882e0effbdd719e2b2e95c6785) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fshame.gif&hash=88b5b0c8644862ef4930e3c7e3556db6c3bf600f)

I am QUITE CERTAIN that this demonic script was blissfully followed in the "handling" of the Exxon Valdez spill, the British Petroleum Gulf of Mexico out of control oil well, and the response by "authorities" in the USA RIGHT NOW when people, animals, plants and land are irreparably harmed by Fracking.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)

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The above massacre began December 3, 1984 -
BUT IT IS STILL GOING ON...  :P
Predatory Capitalism (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmlkshk.com%2Fr%2F3CER&hash=8a4074823e356e37d685c49c66c351bc44cefeb8)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlgrbk3E0Vw&feature=player_embedded

Quote
This brave documentary is made by a young Bhopali man who grew up listening to his elders' experiences from the night that unleashed one of the most horrendous incidents to have ever taken place -- the Bhopal Gas Tragedy on the night of December 2 -3 1984.

He decided to research, examine and determine exactly what the survivors had experienced in the wake of the tragedy.

From the documentary's description: "And that is when he starts unveiling the true nature of this set of events -- that within the very fabric of the world's worst industrial disaster, something purely sinister yet entirely man-made had taken shape to obscure the ones who died, and how it has only grown in prominence since then to haunt the ones who survived."

A passionate and insightful set of interviews that tell the story of the help that never arrived, the truth that never surfaced and the Bhopal that might forever live in 1984.

--Bibi Farber

This video was produced by Syed Samar Medhi
http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/what-isnt-working-1/bhopal-shed-unsaid.html#sthash.ngxpgzhD.dpuf
[/color]

Agelbert NOTE: OUR Bhopal is Fracking. It's not as dramatic but it's MORE widespread and will ultimately kill a LOT more people AND other life forms! It's the PREDATORY CAPITALISM, STUPID! If you don't think so, you are in for a very rude awakening. 

Quote

"I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness." 
 Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 09, 2015, 07:27:35 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayGJ1YSfDXs&feature=player_embedded
Moose67 gives good advice:
Quote
Don't buy Smithfield products. The company was bought out by a Chinese corporation in July, 2014.  We can't trust their pet food, so why should we trust the quality of their people food?  It looks so nice and neat from above, but the poor animals confined their whole lives plus the horrible pollution - shut 'em down economically.


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/07/1356197/-Drone-flies-over-pig-farm
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 15, 2015, 09:15:08 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeqXZIY03to&feature=player_embedded

If this Nicaragua Grand Canal environmental TRAVESTY by the Chinese is built, countless rain forest biomes and Lake Nicaragua, the largest fresh water lake in Central America, are:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fallsaintspenarth.org.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F11%2Ftoast1.jpg&hash=63e9e3dfd7efaba378b912796e3bcb8bac0fcdf6)

Nicaragua defies canal protests

Scientists call for independent environmental assessment.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)


Lucas Laursen
 
27 December 2014

SNIPPET 1:
Quote

Normally, before a major infrastructure project begins in Nicaragua, an independent commission would generate an environmental impact report and the environment ministry would take 6–8 months to review it and make recommendations, says engineer Víctor Campos, director of the Alexander von Humboldt Centre, an environmental non-profit organization in Managua. But those rules do not apply to the canal: a law passed in 2013 exempts the project from standard environmental review.




SNIPPET 2:

Quote
In 2007, Ortega promised citizens that he would not risk the waters of Lake Nicaragua for all the gold in the world.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16) This October, he said that he had come around to the idea of the canal  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85) because it would be the country’s fastest route to economic development. The nation’s public sector stands to benefit from the deal: HKND  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) will pay the government $10 million annually for the first 10 years of the canal's operation, and hand ownership of the canal to the government gradually at a rate of roughly 10% per decade to a maximum of 99%.


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://www.nature.com/news/nicaragua-defies-canal-protests-1.16623

 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 16, 2015, 01:59:10 am
Chaplin in the lion cage   

Consider this a pictorial metaphor, an allegory, a morality tale or whatever.

There are two possible interpretations that I came up with; one has to do with
(1)Fossil Fuel Pollution and the other with (2) The Scientific Method.

Chaplin does not get eaten, hence this is a cautionary tale. The common ground in both scenarios is that, in matters of life and death, mistaken assumptions will have negative consequences. In the REAL WORLD, those consequences cannot be avoided.

There are six characters in this video:
 
   Character    roll played in (1)   roll played in (2)
   Mule (?)     Ethics      Unvarnished Truth
   Chaplin   The Fossil Fuel Industry   Theory of Evolution
   Tiger   Renewable Energy    Probability and Statistics
   Young Lady   We-the-people   We-the-people
   Small dog    Global Warming Evidence   Natural Selection
   Caged Lion   Biosphere      Intelligent Design Evidence

Enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79i84xYelZI&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 22, 2015, 08:55:00 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speroforum.com%2Fsite%2Farticle_images%2Fsamplebananeras-quemado%2520nemagon.jpg&hash=81eab65da7f1f3697841974e6c51ace3596bf1a5)
Workers receive compensation fourteen years on

After fourteen years 14,000 sick banana workers from Costa Rica have finally received compensation for physical and psychological damage that they suffered after being exposed to the banned crop protection agent Nemagon during the years 1967 to 1979, reports the German website Fruchtnews.de.

It has been proven that Nemagon can cause health issues such as infertility, cancer, miscarriages and genetic malformations.  :(    In 1979 Costa Rica banned the import of Nemagon.


Publication date: 12/18/2014
http://www.freshplaza.com/article/132697/Workers-receive-compensation-fourteen-years-on


Quote
Chemicals Commonly Used and Their Effects  >:(

Fruit companies use chemicals at almost every stage of growing. Fertilizers are used to keep the soil fertile, herbicides to keep the growing area vegetation free, nematicides to protect roots from damage, fungicides to prevent damaging fungi. Chemicals are even used during the packing process. (http://members.tripod.com/foro_emaus/BanPlan...)

In most plantations, workers are not provided with or cautioned to wear protective safety gear.     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df) Workers are potentially exposed to a virtual Molotov cocktail of chemicals on a daily basis. This exposure without protection is a large contributor to the high rates of negative health effects.

One of the most infamous, Dibromo-chloro-propane (DBCP) is also known as Nemagon.
In the 1950's companies that manufactured the chemical and the federal government were aware of this nematicides chromosome disrupting properties but still approved it for use. In 1977, after a group of factory workers in California were discovered to be sterile after working with DBCP, it was outlawed in the U.S. Dole, however, continued to use the chemical until December of 1978.

The United Nations Environmental Programme presented a case study on Nemagon lawsuits. "I was 21 years old, what did I know? Nobody told us anything. For two years, I applied Nemagon without mask, gloves, or protecting clothing. You pump it directly into the ground. Sometimes, the pressure made the liquid splash right in your face. You could feel the hideous smell across 100 meters" stated a banana plantation worker interviewed for the study. Nemagon has been connected to headaches, male sterility, nausea, cancer, and damage to the stomach, lungs, kidneys, brain, spleen, eyes, blood, and liver.

Other toxins often used in fruit plantations are Timex, Paraquat, and Parathion. One of the primary ingredients in Timex, is Aldicarb. The EPA classifies Aldicarb as one of the most acutely toxic pesticides registered. (http://www.pesticide.org/get-the-facts/pesti...) it has been tied to immune system abnormality, stillbirths and tumors.

Paraquat  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c), a herbicide, can cause death with one teaspoonful if ingested.  It can also cause permanent lung damage, skin blistering and ulcers, necrosis, temporary loss of nails, dermal burns, nose bleeds, loss of eyesight, liver/kidney/heart failure, and lung scarring.

The neurotoxin Parathion is used as an insecticide that can cause sweating, dizziness, convulsion, cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, central nervous system depression, paralysis, coma, and death.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)(http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Actives/paraq...) (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12554434) (http://www.epa.gov/ttnatw01/hlthef/parathio....)

From Costa Rica to Nicaragua, to Guatemala, the Honduras, Africa and beyond farm workers have been suffering from the effects of exposure to these chemicals. Employees and their families are effected either by direct contact or a result of environmental contamination of the soil and groundwater. The men and women on these plantations suffer from sterility, miscarriages, depression, cancer, skin infections- basically the host of symptoms associated with the chemicals they work with and are sprayed with every day. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil19.gif&hash=6eeb0dbc471743691793f5130640fdcbd1f77b5c)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

(http://www.bananalink.org.uk/content/view/25...)

The pesticide atrocity of Nicaragua: Nemagon survivors seek justice after being poisoned

http://www.naturalnews.com/032683_Nicaragua_Nemagon.html#ixzz3PbanGGGw
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 23, 2015, 11:43:07 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjT8GG0ETQg&x-yt-cl=84503534&feature=player_embedded
Plastic Pollution  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 28, 2015, 03:42:51 pm
Tue Jan 27, 2015 at 02:13 PM EST
Pipeline Explodes in West Virginia (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-034.gif&hash=aaa4624f4728fa49a5a4511b865e35a767958109)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil12.gif&hash=d1822754cefdd0f77369dacd157d00f5f8d3fff9)

by Fath Gardner


Another day, another gas pipeline bursts—this time in West Virginia, about an hour away from Pittburgh and near the Ohio River.

A number of residents have said they saw what appeared to be a large fireball burning in the sky.

Brooke County Sheriff Chuck Jackson said the explosion is near the former riding stables on Archer Hill Road in Colliers, WV. Jackson said no injuries have been reported and no structural damage has occurred, but several area roads have been closed because of burning gas.

It appears only one home was evacuated and the fire eventually burnt off. At least one home and one power line has been damaged. There were no injuries. The cause of the explosion is still unknown.

Authorities shut off power in the area of Arch Hill Road in Colliers, WV, with some residents receiving their power through a substation.

Follansbee Fire Chief Larry Rea said the weather helped the fire from becoming more of a problem.

Enterprise Products, L.P., said they are working with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to determine the cause of the explosion. The company said in a statement that they did notice a pressure drop earlier in the day prior to the explosion.

The gas line will not be in operation again until PHMSA gives their approval.

This is the fourth major pipeline incident that's occurred this month. In Montana, a 50,000 gallon spill resulted in cancer-causing chemicals leaking into residents' drinking water.

But move along, folks. Nothing to see here.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fd2.gif&hash=98d536bf1047a88ef91e9c45e08b725347c9fe13) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.envisionyourdreamsllc.com%2FGolden-Pig.jpg&hash=b7879c3d56faf2797c99c46b9dfeb644196a3e2d) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szw94vUCscM&x-yt-ts=1422411861&feature=player_embedded
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/27/1360522/-Pipeline-explodes-in-West-Virginiaexp (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/27/1360522/-Pipeline-explodes-in-West-Virginiaexp)

Agelbert NOTE: Three cheers for NATURAL SELECTION in West Virginia!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3) Coming soon to Homo SAP apex (see epitome of stupidity  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)) predators everywhere.  8)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 28, 2015, 04:15:43 pm
Tue Jan 27, 2015 at 02:17 PM EST.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.nationalgeographic.com%2Fwpf%2Fmedia-content%2Fphotos%2F000%2F880%2Fcache%2F88096_990x742-cb1422042939.jpg&hash=a922546d519367e966706acf993e7d8bf51f3044)


What is causing the mass deaths of seabirds on the West Coast?

by
Jen Hayden

What's killing off the seabirds at an alarming rate?

Birdwatchers and researchers in the Western U.S. are sounding an alarm about the mysterious  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe) deaths of seabirds:

"This is just massive, massive, unprecedented," said Julia Parrish, a University of Washington seabird ecologist who oversees the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), a program that has tracked West Coast seabird deaths for almost 20 years. "We may be talking about 50,000 to 100,000 deaths.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) So far."


What's causing the deaths? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1730.gif&hash=cdaf50326d98ff7b051a9c49e83d51c7bb687407) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)

The gruesome auklet deaths come just as scientists around the globe are seeing a significant uptick in mass-mortality events in the marine world, from sea urchins to fish and birds. Although there doesn't appear to be a link to the virus that killed tens of millions of sea stars along the same shores from California to Alaska over the past 18 months, some scientists suspect a factor in both cases may be uncharacteristically warm waters.
The U.S. Geological Survey and others have performed animal autopsies, called necropsies, on several of the emaciated Cassin's auklets. They've found no evidence of disease or trauma—no viruses or bacteria, no feathers coated with spilled oil. The birds appear simply to have starved to death.
Uncharacteristically warm waters. At a time when the oceans are warming at their fastest known rate:

In a study out today in the journal Science, researchers say that the middle depths of a part of the Pacific Ocean have warmed 15 times faster in the past 60 years than they did during the previous 10,000 years.
Most of the heat that humanity has put into the atmosphere since the 1970s from greenhouse gas emissions has likely been absorbed by the oceans, according to the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations-sponsored group of scientists that issues reports every few years about the effects of global warming.

For now, the mass deaths seem to be contained to seabirds. But, scientists warn that it may not end there:

Sydeman predicts that this spring or summer the dying might spread to the salmon and forage fish that eat those same plankton species and then perhaps to the murres or other birds that, in turn, eat those fish.
"I think there's a strong possibility of it escalating to affect other species in the near future," he said.

Let's seriously hope these seabirds aren't our canary in the coal mine.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/27/1360519/-What-is-causing-the-mass-deaths-of-seabirds-on-the-West-Coast

Agelbert NOTE: "CONTAINED" to seabirds? My what an interesting view (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Bzb-1rVB8pc%2FUfXxBekcYVI%2FAAAAAAAAEm4%2FhXUkGCzFIPg%2Fs1600%2Fgiveafuckometer-gif.gif&hash=ba12a8b5eb920e7de0ca2ba5256e06bfc2c040e7) of the massive deaths of innocent birds because of what Homo SAPS do. After all, it's ALWAYS been about US, right? Tough luck for other life forms as long as we can industrially heat, beat and treat our way to prosperity and piggery, RIGHT?

WRONG!
Folks, we are WAY past "canaries", folks. Enjoy our Ecocidal Suicide, fellow Homo SAPS in general and Homo Apex Predatorus (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smilies.4-user.de%2Finclude%2FSpiele%2Fsmilie_game_017.gif&hash=e8548890f80af23241a1d43a1ab1ca8031301f20)
in particular.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-260115193430.png&hash=8e8e27470def1fbcd37e843bf9878e608e1f502f)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 10, 2015, 06:37:21 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2x6TEeknfo&feature=player_embedded
Geo-engineering INSANITY (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fminzdr.gif&hash=f5927d7395d8a28c69df2a0a3a98660932c6903f)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 15, 2015, 04:09:39 pm
They NEVER get to show up at my doorstep and demand money from me for what I "owe" them, they cannot garnish my wages or file liens against me...and it is because I am not in their debt.

This seems to be the big difference between "debts" and regular expenses (the latter do not represent any claim on your assets). However, I think what JM is pointing out, is that many people end up owing debts on unpaid expenses such as rent or some other service, especially in this economic environment. These debts usually don't become too large, because the service provider will simply cut off service until the amount owed is repaid. If payment is not forthcoming, then they will close out the account and sell off the debt (in the case of landlords, they will simply evict you and use your security deposit towards unpaid rent).

This is where the debt collection agencies come in and start harassing the **** out of you for payment. If the debtor does not succumb to their initial attempts, they may start offering to accept partial payment as satisfaction. Throughout this whole process, they literally bank on the fact that most consumer debtors are unaware of any federal or state protections they have from these debt collectors (the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is the federal model).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Debt_Collection_Practices_Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Debt_Collection_Practices_Act)
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Pub. L. 95-109; 91 Stat. 874, codified as 15 U.S.C. § 1692 –1692p, approved on September 20, 1977 (and as subsequently amended) is a consumer protection amendment, establishing legal protection from abusive debt collection practices, to the Consumer Credit Protection Act, as Title VIII of that Act. The statute's stated purposes are: to eliminate abusive practices in the collection of consumer debts, to promote fair debt collection, and to provide consumers with an avenue for disputing and obtaining validation of debt information in order to ensure the information's accuracy.[1] The Act creates guidelines under which debt collectors may conduct business, defines rights of consumers involved with debt collectors, and prescribes penalties and remedies for violations of the Act. It is sometimes used in conjunction with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Rarely do these collectors resort to filing a warrant in debt against the consumer, since they are usually proceeding against people who have very few assets, and the few assets they do have may be protected from lien attachments. Of course a lot of this depends on the specific jurisdiction. If an attorney gets involved, then they usually tread much more carefully. All communications must go through the consumer's attorney. If they don't have proof of the original debt owed (many times they don't), then eventually they will just drop it. No need to feel sorry for them though (in case anyone here actually was  :o), because they still make a **** load of money with that business model.

BTW, if anyone reading this has problems with these creditors/collectors, or knows someone that does, and they live in VA, send me a PM! I may be able to help free of charge.

Thank you Ashvin, for giving a dose of logic about truth and justice to MKing. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fus.cdn2.123rf.com%2F168nwm%2Flenm%2Flenm1201%2Flenm120100200%2F12107060-illustration-of-a-smiley-giving-a-thumbs-up.jpg&hash=2046bc6d662e09d3014a2c404a2af6ba17f8217c) As usual, when MKing can't argue the point with his mindless (and evil) obsession with justifying conscience free predation, he ignores the factual data.

The MKing mantra spewed out OVER and OVER and OVER for the past year or more:
Quote
What it is about taking responsibility for ones actions that you abhor so much?

As Surly pointed out and JRM, WHD and JD have reinforced by their comments, the guy is a walking case of projection. He absolutely ABHORS taking responsibility for any and all DEBTS he incurs with the biosphere in general and his fellow man in particular. In order to push this BULLSHIT, he needs to define VERY NARROWLY what "incurring a debt" IS.

MKing's glial cells were infected through a massive colonization (corporate takeover  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)) by fecal coliforms. However, I suppose it is better to have one's brain full of sh it than being bat sh it crazy (but he may very well be BOTH!)...

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-150215153704.png&hash=ce34de73122f1f70f51eeefd0be1417d341d809b)

MKing, you are in DEBT WAY BEYOND your eyeballs because you and your kind were SUCKERED into believing you could offload costs onto the biosphere and fellow humans. You SIGNED the planetary pollution mortgage that YOU CANNOT PAY. You are an irresponsible POS! You are a welfare queen on steroids and you are a parasite of the first order.

You are bankrupt. In fact, ever since you made that DECISION about "what life is all about" (I.E. **** your buddy is that only thing that pays.  : (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)), you became the biggest sucker in the world. IOW, moral bankruptcy, in this planet, is the ultimate cause of the physical bankruptcy in our biosphere that we are now experiencing BECAUSE OF DELUSIONAL, IRRESPONSIBLE SUCKERS LIKE YOU.

I understand why you keep believing we are pond scum. Pond scum does not have to act responsibly.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-291014182422.png&hash=f5178cb31c0bf9067fb3cf408d7047840a10e3f4)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)


Have a nice day.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185701.png&hash=615e3c1aa9c374cb1eab5bfc1e9494f2cb05e9f7)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 17, 2015, 02:20:39 pm
Apparently it's something the CIA is either (a) worried about...or (b) wants to do to the empire's enemies. Not sure which, but neither is good.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2954933/Can-Russia-control-weather-Climate-researcher-says-CIA-fears-hostile-nations-triggering-floods-droughts.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2954933/Can-Russia-control-weather-Climate-researcher-says-CIA-fears-hostile-nations-triggering-floods-droughts.html)

Eddie,
I believe geo engineering is quite advanced even though they (quote from our government "we will own the weather by 2025"   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)) don't "own" the weather yet. The reflective aluminum particles being sprayed routinely for over a decade now to keep our climate from over heating (see stretching the profits of fossil fuel oligarchs that OWN our government) are having several unexpected results.

1) The temperature extreme ranges have increased in degree span and rapidity of switching from normal to extreme heat or extreme cold. This is killing wildlife.

2) Vitamin D deficiency is now common in the USA when it was RARE just two decades ago. As a medical professional, you know that Vitamin D deficiency can lead to a plethora of deleterious health issues, including giving you lots of dental problems, never mind the weaker bones in growing children, early osteoporosis in adults and less immune system defense of several types of cancers.

3) Allergic reactions to the new toxins ins the air for thousands of different species, including Homo SAPs.


4) There a lot more
but that has to do with government media and medical profession CORKING of the reporting of, medical recognition of and proper treatment of humans experiencing harmful side effects from this profit preserving scheme for fossil fuelers trying to prevent or/and delay global warming.

Anecdotally, I have something to report that has me absolutely raging mad. The temperature is way too low for normal in Vermont. It's been that way for a couple of weeks. That long of a period with temperatures hovering just above or below zero (even in daylight) is NOT Vermont weather and, except for the little ice age centuries ago, never has been.

Even when it gets real cold, the animals survive BECAUSE the longer sunlight period in late February and early March enables them to warm their nests in the day. But when you debilitate the sunlight by putting reflective particles in the air, this VITAL buffer that enables animal life to make it to the spring is gone. This is a DEATH SENTENCE for much of Vermont wildlife that doesn't hibernate.

Today I found an uninjured adult squirrel frozen to death. It was laying on our driveway. It's just another debt the MKing's of this world do not own up to with their profit over planet murderous irresponsibility.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Bzb-1rVB8pc%2FUfXxBekcYVI%2FAAAAAAAAEm4%2FhXUkGCzFIPg%2Fs1600%2Fgivea%2A%2A%2A%2Aometer-gif.gif&hash=fe3c1849b6573e36170149577c8472178089ff62)
MURDERERS!
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 21, 2015, 01:36:58 am
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.dailykos.com%2Fimages%2F129653%2Flightbox%2Fearthhome720.png%3F1424127293&hash=8d95dc4db7160d23b0f5894099937fd3b58e52a3)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 22, 2015, 01:00:53 am
Quote
Sat Feb 14, 2015 at 10:33 PM EST.

Pacific Dying
by New Minas
 
I am sorry to tell you this, I know that you don't want to believe that this is happening, but it is.  I am sorry. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2955.gif&hash=ddc12d8bdb1bc63b7998a6b086b79a71b7bda755)        (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2953.gif&hash=b84c0ae260f7ac760e54bcdc33d788c36faa07c1)


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/14/1364514/-Pacific-Dying
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 23, 2015, 12:17:58 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdwCKzqVRdQ&feature=player_embedded

Corporate Money Vs. Water 


 Hear Native American leaders wisdom about fracking and why it must be banned. It is nothing less than a system that is going to pollute the veins of Mother Earth.

 We hear Senator James Inhofe (R- OK) enthusiastically declare that there is enough natural gas to supply our needs for the next 35 years in the Marcellus Shale (NY- PA).

 The film then directs our attention to the following: It's about our needs vs. our children's future.

 Where is the long term thinking and responsible leadership?


 "Regulations and fines do not protect the environment. There is no way to undo the harm hydro fracking will cause" says Oren Lyons, faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation. "When you sit and you counsel for the welfare of the people, think not of yourself, nor of your family, nor even your generation. Make decisions on behalf of the 7th generation coming... you have to defend and protect them so that they may enjoy what you enjoy today."

 --Bibi Farber

 This video was made by "Reel Change for Nonprofits" participants Tracy Basile and Scott Halfmann of WESPAC and Friends of Turtle Island.
- See more at: http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/anti-fracking/the-unfractured-.html#sthash.zMmaSy4B.dpuf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 23, 2015, 04:16:56 pm
(https://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1769/2330/original.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 28, 2015, 03:43:00 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.populationlabs.com%2Fmaps%2FWorld_Population_Map.png&hash=821783487752d44cc4ddb1a50dd33ff7088fe2b2)

What Percent of Earth’s Surface Do Urban Areas Comprise? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1730.gif&hash=cdaf50326d98ff7b051a9c49e83d51c7bb687407)

Although urban areas account for just 1.5% of the Earth's land area, they contain over 50% of the world's population. Much of Earth's population growth also occurs in urban areas: 54% in 2014, which is up from 34% in 1960. Earth has approximately 37 billion acres of land, with nearly 8 billion acres of that land being arable (land capable of being used to grow crops). If by 2050 the world's population reaches the predicted 9 billion, there would be enough land on Earth for every individual to have 4 acres to themselves.
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffc06.deviantart.net%2Ffs71%2Ff%2F2009%2F347%2F2%2F6%2FWTF_Smiley_face_by_IveWasHere.jpg&hash=8ca673f8cf785d9dac626f9fd91e37a1a318c7ac)



Agelbert NOTE: That last statement takes the prize for biosphere math challenged moronic statistics. A human, because he is a FUNCTION of the biosphere, REQUIRES a LOT MORE than 4 acres of BIOSPHERE, with all the life forms that entails, to survive. That said, the problem is the upper 20% of humanity that CAUSES over 80% of the POLLUTION. Population and biomass are not the problem. The world ant biomass is far greater than the human biomass. The same can be said for the zooplankton. The war loving, conscience free, 1.5% or so of humanity IS the problem.

More about land use:

•Queen Elizabeth II of England owns most of the Earth's land at roughly 6.6 billion acres.  :o  ::)

•In 2009, more than 50% of people were living in urban areas rather than rural areas.

•Non-arable land can be converted to arable land through various techniques such as creating new irrigation canals, planting trees, adding fertilizer, and greenhouses.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F128fs318181.gif&hash=eff6d5f3831782966c2ff2081f07bf7fc5b22a6b)

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-percent-of-earths-surface-do-urban-areas-comprise.htm
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 02, 2015, 01:30:32 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZaD-H_j3pU&feature=player_embedded
Geo-engineering will backfire badly. Count on it. The USAF has its head totally up its descending colon.  >:(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 02, 2015, 01:41:47 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk0DrAf6wUc&feature=player_embedded
Former FBI agent warns that chemtrails are harming the biosphere.

Uploaded on Sep 16, 2011

Quote
What does a Former FBI Special Agent and Chief have to say about ChemTrails? You will be Surprised! Here is the WikiPedia report on who this Great Man was: Theodore L. Gunderson (Ted) (November 7, 1928 - July 31, 2011[1]) was a retired United States Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent In Charge and head of the Los Angeles FBI. He was most famous for handling the Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy cases. Ted Gunderson was born in Colorado Springs. He graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1950. Gunderson joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation in December 1951 under J. Edgar Hoover. He served in the Mobile, Knoxville, New York City, and Albuquerque offices. He held posts as an Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge in New Haven and Philadelphia. In 1973 he became the head of the Memphis FBI and then the head of the Dallas FBI in 1975. Ted Gunderson was appointed the head of the Los Angeles FBI in 1977, In 1979 he was one of a handful interviewed for the job of FBI director, which ultimately went to William H. Webster.

Get involved in what is getting Sprayed right on you, your friends and loved ones! We need MORE people to record whats Going on Above your Heads! Look Up People! Get involved!!! Video Whats going on, Create your OWN YouTube Channel -- UPLOAD and make Public what they are doing to ALL OF US!!! Also I encourage Everyone to search and Watch the Documentary " What In the World Are they Spraying? " It has SCIENTIFIC FACTS and many statements from REAL SCIENTISTS with PhD's that will TELL You that ChemTrails ARE REAL! Spread the Word, POINT the Chemtrails OUT to Others WHEN they are above and just ask them What do you think those are? Hopefully the People will continue researching ChemTrails on their own!

SEE Patent #5003186 owned by Hughes Aircraft Company, this PROVES that chemicals or fine aluminum and or barium particles CAN BE MIXED AND DISTRIBUTED Via the Jet Fuel!
This CLEARLY explain's why some ChemTrails are formed directly from the engine exhaust!
*** US Patent 5003186 Stratospheric welsbach seeding for reduction of global warming (spraying with aluminum) ***
Title: USAF has its head totally up its descending colon.
Post by: AGelbert on March 02, 2015, 06:41:25 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZaD-H_j3pU&feature=player_embedded
Geo-engineering will backfire badly. Count on it. The USAF has its head totally up its descending colon.  >:(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 02, 2015, 08:49:11 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCdEF92oSNA&feature=player_embedded
Since the YEAR 2000, the Department of Energy and Department of Defense have been GEO-engineering a heat shield (that does not work!   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113183729.png&hash=d898195c8ae0a55e2e6d84fc47b9d06f8ba13f03)).

Quote
Published on Mar 23, 2013

Dr. Perlinigieri exposes many aspects of the Chemtrails including nanoparticles as well as aerosol chemtrails loaded with toxins and poisons.


When  jet engine burns a hydrocarbon, CO2 and H2O are produced. THAT water freezes at high altitude (above about 21,000 feet). YOU see a contrail. The contrail dissipates quickly (the ice descends and melts or sublimates into transparent water vapor or very thin high stratus clouds.).

A dead giveaway that a jet is NOT producing contrails is when you see it suddenly stop producing them and start a few seconds later. That is prima facie, irrefutable evidence of a sprayed aerosol. The atmosphere DOES NOT change temperature enough to suddenly NOT FREEZE water for a few seconds and then suddenly decide to freeze it a mile or so later in flight!

Also, commercial jets DO NOT do course reversals unless they have an emergency. Chemtrail patterns show OBVIOUS U-turns according to a spray pattern.

Aerosol CHEMTRAILS STAY in the atmosphere because they are lighter than water AND they reflect sunlight. They spread and form alto-stratus like clouds (but slightly thicker, such as cumulus clouds, that usually occur closer to the surface). The result is, among other harmful effects on biota when these aerosols finally reach the ground, that the surface experiences rapid cooling and temperature extremes.

However, the reflected sunlight DOES NOT make it out of the atmosphere, as was hoped by the NUT CASE DR. Strangeloves from the fossil fuel industry that came up with this scheme to preserve fossil fuel profits.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183404.bmp&hash=dc40a133c761f80036b08ef0f6c0427aaa7e9f4b)

That's right, boys and girls, the climate CONTINUES to warm because the CO2, and now more and more CH4 (methane) keep building up.

THAT MEANS that, when the temperature swings from cold to hot or hot to cold, the daily range swing of temperature is greater, which harms all life that is not sheltered (the wildlife). (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-020.gif&hash=2c15038feed2fef3db86754b39ada55b3c81329a)

THAT ALSO MEANS that storms are more violent because rapid temperature changes fuel storm intensity and duration.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs15.rimg.info%2Fdcda0e08e538cb37431314e6bd49279b.gif&hash=4e8b4ba5ce94991ab2f42c4c663e9f6991bbf4f4) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl2.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F722%2F722242dwt3vpq0qd.gif&hash=e644c0351d73d3d5f1399e027685f7b47a9a6345)


THAT ALSO MEANS that when hot temperatures are BENEATH the "heat shield", as they are during the summer, the IR portion gets TRAPPED - reflected back down to the ground. The result is MORE DROUGHTS and HIGHER TEMPERATURES according to the drift pattern of the aerosols.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-anime-034.gif&hash=58a833931ab09edc67b808927994f92737db0650)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fdesertsmile.gif&hash=293fbde1c87dec2d81c5907e3fbac7d8e5bba7a9)

And THEN there are the documented toxic effects of these poisonous compounds on the flora and fauna.
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)


In short, it is one of the STUPIDEST pieces of brain dead "apex predator" insanity since the Military Joint Chiefs recommended to President Eisenhower that we go to war with the Russians before they got enough nukes to kill more than 20 million or so of the people of the USA. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b) YES, they ACTUALLY recommended that. And YEAH, it was the RAND corporation that passed that bit of game theory BULL**** to the military. Hollywood picked up on it and made a movie. It was called Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Have a nice day. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-070.gif&hash=93009ff65ce639d8cd1cdf1ed3e8c37e93940a2c)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmog.gif&hash=08e6f04144781466148f6693be6dc3451a322669)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 02, 2015, 09:19:24 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fchronicle.su%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fchemtrail-hell1.jpg&hash=9c62286e85066ba088ef82397869b1d583aaef10)
NON-intelligent DESIGN   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89WammWN9p8&feature=player_embedded

Quote
Published on Nov 20, 2014

Chemtrails Exposed By Pilots, Doctors, Scientists, Meteorologists, Neurologists, Biologists, &
Attorneys. Soil & Water Tested High In Aluminum, Barium, & Strontium.


Category
Education
 

(https://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1769/2330/original.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 04, 2015, 05:57:51 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3QmxSWNkc4&feature=player_embedded
Europe is getting "heat shielded" TOO!  :P
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 04, 2015, 07:42:15 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3WmMSrFY14&feature=player_embedded

The courageous scientist above died in 2013.
This was one of her last lectures. Please pass it on.
http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/beloved-environmental-activist-dr-ilya-sandra-perlingieri-has-died-october-6-2013/

(https://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/121/flashcards/353121/jpg/plate_9_from_the_metamorphosis_of_the_insects_of_surinam_1332648720165.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 06, 2015, 07:29:35 pm
Knarf said,
Quote
I just realized how INTENSE the conditioning in the monastery is. I can even liken it to voluntarily entering in prison. There will be no way i will be able to communicate with words, what the experience is of living this lifestyle.

I can thank you all for helping me see that. After 30 years of being here I have become quite rigid because of the structure, and agreements that exist here. To tell you the truth, i have been thinking about leaving and getting free of this sanctuary. But at my age, and physical condition, not to mention the expense, i will likely die here. I can actually see that I appear to have much more rigid conditions, than those of you who are free in the world. At this present time I am tending to agree with that assessment.

Now this is not totally depressing to me, and I do feel I made the right choice to enter......but this has grown to be too predictable. We leave very few "footprints" in the attempt to do no harm to each other or the environment, and raise animals and vegetables and live below the poverty line so we paid no taxes to the feds or state.......and that is the way it has been for 30 years for me, and it started in 1975.

Big freaking deal. If I could figure a way to leave, and still keep those principles going, I would be sorely tempted. I know for sure that all of you are doing the best you can.  

It IS a GIANT VICTORY over the profit over planet biosphere challenged MORONS THAT you HAVE ACHIEVED. NEVER forget that! You have been contributing to a healthy biosphere by your stoic avoidance of a polluting lifestyle. Consider the amount of fossil fuels you DID NOT burn and the amount of innocent life you DID NOT harm. That is REAL. That has given us a fighting chance to give the finger to the morons that do not get it. It might have even convinced many biosphere math challenged idiots, like I used to be, to get with the Renewable Energy and sustainability program.

The legacy of your actions is important. If everyone did what you do for seven generations, the biosphere would be more livable, more viable and more healthy. THAT is the litmus test of a life well lived.

You have NOTHING to be disappointed with in your walk.

Of course it is lamentably true that people that take renewable energy and respect for all life seriously are in the minority. It is also true that we are probably totally forked. SO?

Doing the right thing is all that really matters. WHY? Because doing the wrong thing is stupid. Intelligent people do not engage in stupid behavior.

MKing is quick to bring up the desperate poor who will do whatever it takes to make ends meet. He extrapolates, from the energy seeking nature and example of humans trying to avoid death by starvation, that it's okay to pollute the sh it out of the planet and fix it later. We know that is just self serving bull****. He probably knows it too. He can only make a case for his conscience free behavior with hyperbole.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723)

Therefore, his arguments fail the test of being true in all cases. The fact is that most life forms do what they do in total harmony with the biosphere. Those of us who are self aware can pretend we are tigers with tools in order to justify very UNtiger like polluting piggery, but it's "logic" only a used car salesman could love.

LOGIC dictates that respect for all life is a moral imperative in a biosphere. You take life when you absolutely have to in order to survive, period. MKing's "logic" is that you take life (or harm it by your polluting enterprise) BECAUSE YOU CAN.

That's the "logic" of the snapping turtle in the wash bucket (that I put about 6 frogs in without providing them a place to hide from the snapper). That is NOT logical for a self aware being that realizes that, if he kills all his food supply, he will starve.

Yes Knarf, there are way to many MKings out there. But that does not give those of us who get it an excuse to behave stupidly.

The native Americans understood it. If everybody in the tribe does exactly what you do through six more generations, if the seventh generation experience no degradation of the biosphere, THAT BEHAVIOR IS MORAL=INTELLIGENT=RESPECT FOR ALL LIFE behavior.

As to old age narrowing our choices, that's par for the course. I'm there too.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

Remember what Mark Antony said (according to Shakespeare), "The Evil men do lives long after them. The good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Caesar."

YOU know you did the right thing and that HELPED HUMANITY.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170614152530.gif&hash=52b2fc5e0033f178e37ea4d4312c7189d06e69fa) It matters not what anybody else says.

 I am grateful to you for doing it.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280614160021.gif&hash=c4232ef777279385681440205c65fed5025a6886) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.runemasterstudios.com%2Fgraemlins%2Fimages%2F2thumbs.gif&hash=98130be1edf2bed4a80ac8f134b0126673bd469e) 

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl7.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F2046%2F2046807qoer9uc27q.gif&hash=b4545bdf1fbc3161b81887e3f6eef473e6b4d549)


As for MKing, I will ENJOY his reaction when the EFFECTS of what he continues to do hit THIS generation, never mind the next six generations...
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2FNzyYhZAOjVgxq%2Fgiphy.gif&hash=f662bb8eca45cef2ca36c44e1b96698bd15312a8)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 20, 2015, 09:21:24 pm
Geoengineer, Ken Caldeira Comes Clean On Chemtrails
By Bob Fitrakis (Free Press)
Quote

“Caldeira, then a scientist at Lawrence Livermore Labs, [who] admitted that he had conducted the original computer modeling for the use of chemicals like aluminum oxide to fight global warming.”

Noted climate scientist Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institute for Science at Stanford has finally popped the question.
In an article entitled “One Known Way to Cool the Earth” on the February 16, 2015 USA Today opinion page, Caldeira writes:
Quote
“There is basically only one way known to cool the Earth rapidly.”… “is to reflect more of the sun’s warming rays back to space.”

What will it take to do this? According to Caldeira, only:


The reality is that the U.S. government has been spraying for well over a decade and a half in plain view while attacking anyone pointing it out. They’ve been making a chemical haze of clouds and putting a sunscreen in the sky. Small white planes, some of them associated with Battelle Memorial Institute, have been creating clouds in a criss-cross pattern in the sky.
(https://chemtrailsplanet.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/jasper-chemtrails-aerosols.jpg)
Quote
Jasper Kirkby, PhD – Climate investigator, revealed his knowledge of the covert aerosol dumps in a 2009 lecture at CERN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiNg4equ0fM&feature=player_embedded

Worrying about “Chemtrails” is often derided as a tinfoil hat conspiracy but transparency almost broke out when former Congressman Dennis Kucinich actually introduced a bill (HR-2977) referring to the elimination of Chemtrails as an “exotic weapon” in 2002. The term “chemtrail” was later removed in a later version of the bill.
In December 2001, I had written an article called “Stormy weather — The government’s top secret efforts to control Mother Nature.”

In the story I quoted Caldeira, then a scientist at Lawrence Livermore Labs, who admitted that he had conducted the original computer modeling for the use of chemicals like aluminum oxide to fight global warming.

He told me at the time
Quote
, “We originally did the study to show that this program shouldn’t be done.” He alluded to possibly negative health effects from using massive chemical spraying for weather modification.

At the time, the leading promoter of this “Better living through chemistry” approach to global warming remediation was Edward Teller. The father of the H-bomb and grand promoter of Atoms for Peace, Teller spent his last few years advocating aerial spraying to counter global warming before he died in 2003.

The April 24, 2002 New York Times reported that Teller
Quote
“has promoted the idea of manipulating the Earth’s atmosphere to counteract global warming.”
Two scientists from Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio acknowledged that planes were already spraying barium salt polymer fibers, aluminum oxide and other chemicals in the atmosphere to both modify the weather and for military communication purposes.
Quote
The military has been using spraying to make cloud formations that create “sky antennas” to assist drones and provide over the horizon communication. Kucinich referred me to the military’s document “Joint Vision for 2020″ that outlines a directed energy program designed for “full spectrum dominance of the Earth.”
The Wright Pat scientists pointed to a paper by the United States Air Force entitled: “Weather as a force multiplier: Owning the weather by 2025.” The scientists referred me to U.S. patent #6315213 filed on November 13, 2002. The patent abstract specifically states: “The polymer is dispersed into the cloud and the wind of the storm agitates the mixture causing the polymer to absorb the rain. This reaction forms a gelatinous substance which precipitate to the surface below. Thus, diminishing the cloud’s ability to rain.”

Caldeira explained,
Quote
“With the Earth in a fevered state, the pressure to put on a ‘solar geoengineering’ ice pack could become irresistible, especially if this ice pack could potentially save millions of lives.”
The U.S. government needs to come clean on this top secret program that’s being done without any environmental impact statements. In a democracy we need full transparency and the public needs to know what the government knows that justifies this aerial sunscreen spraying. At least Caldeira spells it out:
Quote
“If current trends in green-house gas emissions continue, unprecedented megadroughts may plague much of the western USA, and the tropics may get so hot that widespread crop failures and famines become commonplace.”
Bob Fitrakis (born November 29, 1955) is an American political author and writer,[1][2] political candidate,[3] and Professor of Political Science in the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department at Columbus State Community College. He has been the editor of the Columbus Free Press since 1993 and wrote extensively about the U.S. presidential election, 2004 and related 2004 U.S. election voting controversies. (Complete Bio)
http://www.aircrap.org/2015/03/20/geoengineer-ken-caldeira-comes-clean-on-chemtrails/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 21, 2015, 04:03:53 pm
Ka said,
Quote
It helps if one realizes that individual freedom tends to be inversely proportional to quantity of possessions, as long as basic necessities are met. It is a hard sell, but I think it will get easier as collapse becomes obvious.


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.runemasterstudios.com%2Fgraemlins%2Fimages%2F2thumbs.gif&hash=98130be1edf2bed4a80ac8f134b0126673bd469e)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-036.gif&hash=8ec7abacc074bac7984d9b80fbca377b3afb119d)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2FHjPbLbmep2aJO%2Fgiphy.gif&hash=3c7f7703f00cb341d3e9bdba607208d4204a294c)


GO and UB's three step reaction to Ka's wisdom:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fbc3.gif&hash=e80a574cef1f1cd31dc58d76fe36b5ffb7fe7d5b)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ffly.gif&hash=b0526635e8b47d751b0e429925d73d78f9d79fc6) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F290.gif&hash=38949e35cf58eaa4218b5a8176767c806d2f8537)

It must be so wonderful to be free as a lark on a beautiful spring day; rather than be bound in chains like poor Mr Blankfein on his way to St. Martin for a long weekend of sun and fun in his Lear jet. He would be thrilled no doubt that folks understand his predicament.  :exp-grin:

He's gonna get his when collapse becomes apparent, yes siree.  :icon_sunny:   [smg id=2742 type=full align=center caption=""]

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010215144837.png&hash=1774f4591d060e132726f0aa6108ecda10b46086)

GO,
Careful, old chum, your ENVY of the super rich (crooks) is showing. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 21, 2015, 04:07:18 pm
The 3 Reasons Money Brings Satisfaction But Not Happiness  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.runemasterstudios.com%2Fgraemlins%2Fimages%2F2thumbs.gif&hash=98130be1edf2bed4a80ac8f134b0126673bd469e)

If money doesn’t bring happiness, then why do people behave as though it does?
 
It seems only natural that happiness should flow from having more money. Even if they don’t admit it, people still behave as though it were true. More money means you can have what you want and do what you want. The house you dream of? It’s yours. The new car you desire? Here are the keys. The freedom to enjoy your favourite pastimes? Here’s your racket, the court is down there, just past the pool.

So the puzzle is this: why do social scientists consistently find only moderate relationships between having more money and being happy? Some have even suggested that this moderate connection might be exaggerated. In reality money might have very little to do with happiness at all.

Most puzzling, though, is that people often seem aware at some level that money won’t make them happy. And yet they continue to work away earning money they don’t objectively need.

First, though, let’s look at the three reasons money doesn’t make us happy:

1.It’s relative income that’s important.
As I’ve noted previously, money is relative. It turns out we don’t mind so much about our actual level of income, so long as we’re earning more than other people around us. Unfortunately as we earn more money we’re likely to be surrounded by richer people so we often end up failing to take advantage of the positive comparison.

2.Material goods don’t make us happy.
Acquiring things like houses and cars only have a transient effect on happiness. People’s desires for material possessions crank up at the same, or greater rate, than their salaries. Again, this means that despite considerably more luxurious possessions, people end up no happier. There’s even evidence that materialism make us less happy.

3.People don’t shift to enjoyable activities when they are rich. People who earn more money don’t spend their time enjoying themselves, they spend their time at work, in activities likely to cause them more stress and tension. This may be because of ‘the focusing illusion’. When people think about earning more money they probably imagine they would use the money on recreational activities. In fact, to earn the money, they have to spend more time at work, and commuting to and from work.

http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/04/3-reasons-money-brings-satisfaction-but.php (http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/04/3-reasons-money-brings-satisfaction-but.php)

Libertarian response to the above proven scientific reality.   ;)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Facademic.reed.edu%2Fbiology%2Fcourses%2FBIO342%2F2012_syllabus%2F2012_WEBSITES%2Fyx_laughter%2Fimages%2Flaughing_chimp.jpg&hash=f4290074419101b6e918ae29e109f6d5cb8f164e)


Agelbert NOTE:
My dear friend GO, fellow Diner and respectful Libertarian debater of the "joys" of getting yours. I suggest you ponder the above truths. They are born of investigation, not religious beliefs (that you happen to have, by the way  ;)) about happiness being inversely proportional to the quantity of material possessions one has. Take a hard look at al those CEOs that you think are so happy. LOOK at their faces in the pictures where they pose with their best foot forward with a look of arrogant smug satisfaction. DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT IS HAPPINESS? I don't.

I used to have the Libertarian World View that "Money isn't everything, but it's way ahead of whatever is in second place".   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0) I learned that is so false as to be an Orwellian statement.

Assuming (something I do not assume at all!) that the Bible is not an objective resource, let us look at what the Documented, Scientifically Observed behavior of Homo SAPS says about how having MORE makes people WANT MORE, be LESS satisfied and happy and be MORE acquisitive than those who have less (i.e. Having more really is inversely proportional to being happy with what you HAVE).

Quote


Existing scientific research on the value of materialism yields clear and consistent findings. People who are highly focused on materialistic values have lower personal well-being and psychological health than those who believe that materialistic pursuits are relatively unimportant.

These relationships have been documented in sample of people ranging from wealthy to poor, from teenagers to the elderly, and from Australians to South Koreans.

Several investigators have reported similar results using a variety of ways of measuring materialism.

The studies document
that strong materialist values are associated with pervasive undermining of people's well-being, from low life satisfaction to happiness, to depression and anxiety, to physical problems such as headaches, and to personality disorders, narcissistic, and antisocial behaviors.

http://lifehacker.com/why-were-so-materialistic-even-though-it-doesnt-make-1486081424 (http://lifehacker.com/why-were-so-materialistic-even-though-it-doesnt-make-1486081424)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210315154750.jpeg&hash=75270f33e13a7d19a309e7a87ec850cff33a2232)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)


 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 21, 2015, 04:44:22 pm
Quote
I used to have the Libertarian World View that "Money isn't everything, but it's way ahead of whatever is in second place".  :evil4: I learned that is so false as to be an Orwellian statement.

Spoken like a person who chased down and fought in the courts for his 200 grand inheritance like a starved lion drooling over fresh bloody meat, and then lost the legal battle. 

Always wondered AG, Had you gotten your paws on the 200 big ones would you have become a Republican or a Libertarian the following day?? 
:cwmddd:     :laugh: 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.runemasterstudios.com%2Fgraemlins%2Fimages%2F2thumbs.gif&hash=98130be1edf2bed4a80ac8f134b0126673bd469e) 


Excellent observation and even more excellent inquiry. I did explain why I did what I did back then, but you forgot that so I will mention it again and fill in any "greed based, money worshipping, and so on" (see your "compliment" about my paws... temper, temper, old boy  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457) no need to get offensive. ;D) impressions you may have received from my quixotic pro se efforts.

If I had gotten $200,000.00 from the inheritance, the plan was for my wife to be able to survive when I am dead. I do not have survivor benefits on my pension. Besides my Federal Government Pension, I collect $49 a month in Social Security due to the small amount of money I earned outside of the Federal Government after I was retired (selling Lifetime kitchenware, reflective film for business and residential energy savings, applying Jan mortar to the concrete facia of large, multi-story buildings (that was exciting!). booth operator at Burlington Airport parking and a paper route with my wife for the Burlington Free Press from 1998 to 2006 (I did enjoy the outdoor work quite a bit!).

NO social security was taken out while I was in the Federal Government (20 years). I managed to get enough Social Security quarters but the "pension" from Social Security (about $150) has Medicare part B subtracted from it.

So, WHEN I die (I'm ten years older than my wife), she will get SNAP fun and games and about half of $150 a month to live on, period. Here in Vermont, Carmen, with a Cum Laude BS degree in chemistry, some experience as a science teacher and assistant lab technician, applied for a job.

They would not hire her, even though she passed the chemistry knowledge questionnaire they gave her for the  ridiculously easy quality control job (a TEMPORARY JOB to fill in for sombody on vacation!) of looking through a scope to check for faults in a nicotine patch, because "she struggled with English". That is TOTAL BULL****. Sure, she has an accent, but EVERY chemistry and biochemistry book and course she ACED was in ENGLISH!

But let us not dwell on the local bigotry. If I do, some fine Diner will suggest I go back where I came from, or some other bit of duplicity to avoid the issue.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)

The point is that my wife will have to sell the manufactured home when I die because she just cannot afford to live in a TRAILER that she owns any more because of the rent payments (and $900 a year property taxes).

If I had gotten the $200,000.00 my wife would have, at $1,500 a month (basic necessity living requirements here), about 130 months of the SAME standard of living we have now. She is 10 years younger than I am. I would have provided for her as much as I provided for myself. I wish I could have done that. That's all I wanted. It was not greed. It is now in God's hands.

I can live with that BECAUSE I did the best I could while maintaining my standards of ethical behavior. My best efforts, born of altruism, not greed, were not enough. Bad stuff happens. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191258.bmp&hash=e4ed21caaca822f7445ccafd39f49a9f84be90ca)
 

Not wanting my wife to be homeless is rather different from greedily fighting for an inheritance, don't you agree? And I would NOT resort to unethical behavior to ensure my wife was not homeless. Anyone that thinks that unethical behavior is justified to feed your family is wrong. I hope you agree. Because if you don't, we will NEVER agree.

The rationalization to do WHATEVER so your FAMILY can be safe, secure and happy is EXACTLY what got Homo SAPdom to the suicidal box canyon it is in now.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723)

 (https://nyppagesix.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/lloyd_blankfein-300x3001.jpg)
Blankfein poses for the camera.  ;D

This is guy is clearly as happy as a used car salesman. This "happiness" requires a constant devotion to finding new and better ways to make a sucker out of fellow Homo SAPS. Psychologically speaking, that "happiness" produces dysfunctional families, physical and mental health problems for all involved with this ethics challenged Homo SAP (including himself) and leads DIRECTLY to exploitation of planetary resources without reflection.

From the scamming, UNJUST behavior to the polluting UNJUST behavior, this is evil.

Now then, if you believe that EVIL behavior produces this brand of "happiness", then you CANNOT believe that the happiness, as we all define it, is related to having more material possessions by whatever means.

I single out Blankfein because YOU, GO, brought him up for the express purpose of ridiculing the validity of the quote from Ka I was celebrating.

But the SCIENCE says that, UNJUST acquisition of material possessions aside, INHERITED, as well as other JUST acquisitions of material possessions makes people LESS HAPPY than they were before they got the goodies. That is because, once they have MORE, they WANT MORE.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723)

There is no way around that, old chum. No, I don't sell used cars.  ;D


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 28, 2015, 08:40:53 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-106.gif&hash=f996659d18df7f3b445e6135e884397ac91f25b1)JUST SAY NO! TO GMO! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-028.gif&hash=24570cb7e8246617010ce900a07bc85117ff78ca)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnN6FFjZBZQ&feature=player_embedded


Great Video!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.runemasterstudios.com%2Fgraemlins%2Fimages%2F2thumbs.gif&hash=98130be1edf2bed4a80ac8f134b0126673bd469e)    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191258.bmp&hash=e4ed21caaca822f7445ccafd39f49a9f84be90ca)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-022.gif&hash=3b60da70b71b7109fe66036056cb1dedc1affb43)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 28, 2015, 08:59:46 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TyAJZVARPw&feature=player_embedded

Bill Gates follows in his father's FOOTSTEPS.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 28, 2015, 09:03:58 pm
Monsanto's Best-Selling Herbicide Has Cut Monarch Population by 90 Percent  >:(

Two videos and an in depth discussion of the biosphere and human health destroying tactics of the most Dangerous Corporation in the World.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/03/28/monsanto-sustainable-agriculture-company.aspx
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 29, 2015, 07:48:16 pm
Rhode Island Legislature Initiates Prohibition Against Geoengineering (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websmileys.com%2Fsm%2Fviolent%2Fsterb029.gif&hash=7a43a0c106eab798f7ba6133dc5cc550647a03d2)



The Rhode Island legislature submitted HB 7655 in April 2014. The Bill was held for review and apparently died in committee;
The 2015 legislature submitted a new Bill – HB 5480 – currently being held for review.

2015 — HB 5480 RHODE ISLAND – 2015 — HB 5480 RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY — GEOENGINEERING (Summary).

http://www.aircrap.org/2015/03/29/rhode-island-legislature-initiates-prohibition-against-geoengineering/ (http://www.aircrap.org/2015/03/29/rhode-island-legislature-initiates-prohibition-against-geoengineering/)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 30, 2015, 12:24:41 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzAV5NFABN4&feature=player_embedded
Now for some gallows humor. Learn ALL ABOUT Patrick Moore. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)


Study Reveals Monsanto's RoundUp Chemicals Are LETHAL Even In Small Doses  


South Berkshire Research Institute   
 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 31, 2015, 10:37:42 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0HL4L6Pa-4&feature=player_embedded

Watch Viral Video: Nebraska Man Asks Oil and Gas Commission One Simple Question: ‘Would You Drink It?’  ;D


http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/31/nebraska-oil-and-gas-commission-fracking-fluid/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 06, 2015, 07:31:43 pm
Published Mar 23, 2015
Life, Death and Chemicals
Quote

Much of America’s strawberry supply is farmed atop a rich deposit of oil. For a family living among the pesticides and drilling, the source of their health problems is a painful mystery. Welcome to the California tar sands.

Story by Natalie Cherot

Snippet 1:
Quote
On the morning of June 21, 2011, a 54-year-old Chevron worker named David Taylor was checking on a well in Kern County, northeast of Oxnard. Cyclic steaming is supposed to happen well below the surface, but, oddly, steam was rising from the ground. When Taylor and two co-workers went to check on it, the earth opened up and sucked him into a hole filled with hydrogen sulfide and water heated to nearly 90 degrees Celsius. A colleague later said, “Other workers could not react in time to save him from falling.” Taylor burned alive.

The state’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, or DOGGR, launched an investigation and found that while Taylor had avoided stepping on wet ground, years of steaming had made even the dry ground at the oil field unstable.

An investigator’s photo of the crater shows Taylor’s hardhat laying beside it. That evening, workers found Taylor’s remains about five feet underground.

Nonetheless, regulators allowed Chevron to continue steaming, even as more of these euphemistically named “surface expressions” cropped up.

On Aug. 4 that year, the surface expressed violently: The ground 12 meters from Taylor’s crater exploded. Large rocks and oil catapulted 45 meters, a tsunami of oil.

DOGGR restricted steaming for 90 meters around the area. Less than two weeks later, on Aug. 17, another crater erupted. Steam billowed into the sky. DOGGR expanded the buffer to 240 meters but allowed drilling to continue. Steaming water and hot oil seeped up from craters on the well pad throughout September and November as Chevron continued its work. Employees said the earth shook beneath them.

In October, just four months after Taylor’s death, instead of imposing further new regulations, California Gov. Jerry Brown sought permitting shortcuts from regulators to let drillers begin steam injection faster. The head of the Department of Conservation, Derek Chernow, wrote a memo asserting that doing so would be illegal. A week later, Brown fired him.

For Taylor’s death, the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health fined Chevron $350.

Delgado saw Taylor’s death and the state’s response as proof that California bureaucrats were not interested in protecting the state from oil drillers. The same cyclic steaming happening in Kern was happening in their backyard.

SNIPPET 2:
Quote
The night before Christmas Eve last year, she called a special council meeting about the construction of a fourth power plant in the city. She invited Delgado and Anguiano to attend and speak out against it.

Locals queued for their three minutes at the podium, where one by one they demanded an end to chemical dumping, methane flares, pesticides, hydraulic fracturing and on and on. Delgado squirmed in his chair, but every position seemed painful. He was not in the mood to address the council. Tonight he would just watch and listen.

“There are too many chemicals here,” declared one resident from the crowd before she got up and walked out of the meeting.

Afterward, Anguiano approached Delgado and said, “My doctor says she wouldn’t even know what out there was making me sick if I got sick.”

“We expect the new city manager to perform miracles,” Delgado replied.

Actually, the miracle came at the end of last year, when the oil companies slowed down their drilling all on their own. And it had nothing to do with Ramirez, Anguiano, Delgado or regulators.

Between December and January, a global oversupply of crude sent the price plummeting so low that it sent shocks throughout the California oil industry. Oil companies and oil field subcontractors laid off workers and withdrew oil permit applications all across Ventura County. Without the drilling tax revenue, local governments were in a panic; Kern, the county where Taylor died, declared a fiscal emergency. On Jan. 19, crude hit $47 a barrel.

There was no celebration, however. That same day, Delgado went in for his first chemotherapy appointment. A week before Ramirez’s pre-Christmas meeting, Delgado’s doctor told him there was a tumor in his stomach. His prognosis is poor.

Natalie Cherot, PhD, is a journalist based in California.

http://latterlymagazine.com/life-death-and-chemicals/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 13, 2015, 10:55:34 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.wp.com%2Fwww.aircrap.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F04%2FAC-Griffith.jpg&hash=fa0b98c1e69e8571fdf6bdc5589ab7234cc9ec40)
Quote
"I have seen my country dissolve before my eyes".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM6P_-Czr-E&feature=player_embedded

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 14, 2015, 12:34:06 am
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.wp.com%2Fwww.aircrap.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F04%2FWeather-Manipulation-Destroying-Earth.jpg&hash=582e8944ba2a59bcaea1c3dbc88555534bb025ec)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOEJTzo1Cnk&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 14, 2015, 01:13:06 pm
04/13/2015 01:54 PM            
25,000 Canadians March Against Fracking & Tar Sands Pipelines
SustainableBusiness.com News

In one of Canada's largest climate marches, 25,000 people rallied in Quebec City this weekend, with concurrent marches in Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia.

They sent provincial premiers three simple messages:

Yes to taking strong action on climate change

No to expanding Canada's tar sands and pipelines

Yes to renewable energy


The march anticipates Tuesday's conference on climate change, where provincial premiers will purportedly work on a national energy strategy and prepare commitments for December's Climate Change Summit. Although he was invited, Canadian Prime Minister Harper will not attend.

Just days before, 2,700 liters of toxic bunker fuel spilled in Vancouver's English Bay.
 
People want the premiers to know, "We've reached our boiling point (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-140415130805.png&hash=23d2e6dc6311a26c399bf0cb60868bcff2781a58) , much like the planet has," say the organizers, a coalition of First Nations and environmental groups across Canada.

In 2012, premiers attempted to develop a national energy strategy, but it became mired in the age-old province versus national governing debate. And while most of Canada will soon price carbon, provincial leaders somehow still support tar sands oil and fracking.

Council of Canadians notes:

Alberta premier Jim Prentice describes the Keystone XL pipeline - which would emit 22 million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions a year - as 'environmentally defensible'.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffc06.deviantart.net%2Ffs71%2Ff%2F2009%2F347%2F2%2F6%2FWTF_Smiley_face_by_IveWasHere.jpg&hash=8ca673f8cf785d9dac626f9fd91e37a1a318c7ac)

Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall says he will be 'disappointed' if President Obama vetoes the Keystone pipeline. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fbc3.gif&hash=e80a574cef1f1cd31dc58d76fe36b5ffb7fe7d5b)

British Columbia premier Christy Clark is championing development of LNG export terminals in the province, even though just five terminals would release 13 million tons of GHG emissions, after fracking and transport generate 15 million tons.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)

Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne, who is shepherding through cap-and-trade, also wants to help Alberta get its tar sands oil to market.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil19.gif&hash=6eeb0dbc471743691793f5130640fdcbd1f77b5c)

New Brunswick premier Brian Gallant has publicly backed the idea of twinning Energy East from Alberta to his province with a fracked gas pipeline that could feed an LNG export terminal in Saint John.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400)

The premier of the Northwest Territories has been promoting the Arctic Gateway pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil to the Arctic Ocean.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)

"A study in the January edition of the journal Nature put our challenge plainly: Canada must leave 85% of tar sands in the soil to help the human race avoid catastrophic climate change.

That means no new tar sands pipelines. No Keystone, no Energy East, no Kinder Morgan, No Northern Gateway. Build even one, and we torpedo our chances of stopping global warming.

We stand on the edge of a precipice, and a lack of political will threatens to send us over it. Our Premiers need to choose. We cannot protect the climate while expanding the tar sands and approving new pipelines," says Maude Barlow, Chair of Council of Canadians.

"We are demanding a Canadian energy strategy which features meaningful regulatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions, a just transition to conservation, energy efficiency and the rapid expansion of public and community-owned renewable energy. Intimately linked to these efforts is our call to oppose the 'free trade' agenda of NAFTA, CETA and the WTO given they undermine the ability of all levels of governments to regulate the sale or extraction of fossil fuels and promote renewable energy (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723) ," says Barlow.

"We are very wary and would oppose a strategy that allows business as usual - namely, the pursuit of an energy superpower status through increased exports based on unfettered ongoing fossil-fuel exploitation.
The social and environmental costs of this are all too clear," adds Andrea Harden-Donahue, an energy and climate justice campaigner.

Read our article, Canadians Rise Up Against Their Own Keystone Pipelines.
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26246

Message to status quo loving, logic challenged, greedball human SCUM:

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-140415130805.png&hash=23d2e6dc6311a26c399bf0cb60868bcff2781a58)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 17, 2015, 08:24:07 pm
Never before seen Whale Calf Mutations.  :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-g8wSucvpA&feature=player_embedded
Quote
Published on Jan 14, 2014

governments, and mainstream media are covering up Fukushimas Radiation Waves hitting the West Coast of the U.S.


As radiation levels spike and mutated wildlife washes ashore, government and media promote delusion.

Radiation hot spots are popping up around the United States thousands of percentages higher than 'background radiation', mutated wildlife is being found dead on the same West Coast beaches where increased radiation levels have been documented by independent researchers and the Fukushima TEPCO plant workers have been caught using duct tape to fix their nuclear equipment. But according to both the Japanese and United States governments, these events mean absolutely nothing.

In fact, you must be a conspiracy theorist if you fail to believe the official story that it was likely red-painted utensils that led to a spike in documented radiation levels along the California coast (yes, the government actually offered this up as an official answer). And you must absolutely be a conspiracy theorist if you have the gall to actually look back to late 2011, when researchers presented their findings regarding the impending wave of Fukushima radiation that was already being recorded within the country.

Information going back to 2011 shows that scientists were already concerned about an increase in radiation levels and the overall fallout from the dilapidated Fukushima plant. We can even go back to the declaration by scientist Marco Kaltofen of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute that radioactive 'hot particles' had been found at 2 out of the 3 radiation monitoring stations in Boston.

The very core of the Fukushima disaster timeline that has been regurgitated by the mainstream media and government agencies alike was almost exclusively based on information provided by plant operator TEPCO — a company that is now on record as having lied to the population of the world in a major way. And there were no signs they would ever tell the truth unless forced to. It wasn't until an independent investigation revealed the actual levels of radiation released from the plant (around 2 1/2 times more than TEPCO would even admit) that TEPCO was forced to go on record and state that the radiation levels they released were indeed much lower than reality.

However, the independent investigation into Fukushima radiation levels not only exposed the lies by TEPCO regarding the radiation explosion at the plant, but it also found that around 78% of the caesium-137 released by the plant was funneling into the Pacific Ocean. The plant now states that the three reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant released about 900,000 Tera-becquerels of radioactive substances. About 20% fell on Japanese land, 2% somewhere on land outside the country, and a whopping 78% remainder is believed to have entered the Pacific Ocean.

At the very least, the Japanese and United States governments should be preparing citizens for what scientists said could last 'thousands of years': the Fukushima nightmare. And that begins with admitting that the threat is real. Because unless we really prepare ourselves and work together as a planet to truly fix the Fukushima plant and ensure that the 1,4000+ rods do not cause yet another massive meltdown (as experts say they likely will during transfer), we really will be facing a radioactive nightmare of epic proportions.

While the spread of radiation to the West Coast of North America was casually acknowledged, the early press reports (AP and Reuters) "quoting diplomatic sources" stated that only "tiny amounts of radioactive particles have arrived in California but do not pose a threat to human health."

Check Below links for more info:

http://fukushimaupdate.com/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/fuk...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/fukushim...

http://www.storyleak.com/scientists-d...

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disa...

http://www.hmbreview.com/news/health-...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/wor...
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 23, 2015, 11:07:32 pm
Quote
Nine workers have been killed over the past four years in circumstances that strongly suggest hydrocarbon poisoning as the likely cause of death, and yet so far, only one of the fatalities has been solely attributed to hydrocarbon vapor inhalation.

As far as the oil & gas industry’s position on the dangers of manual tank gauging is concerned, there appear to be two possibilities: either they did not realize that opening a hatch on top of an oil tank and looking inside might expose workers to dangerous fumes, or they did realize this and chose not to do anything about it. Here’s WSJ:


The deaths of Trent Vigus and at least nine other oil-field workers over the past five years had haunting similarities. Each worker was doing a job that involved climbing on top of a catwalk strung between rows of storage tanks and opening a hatch.

There were no known witnesses to any of the men’s deaths. Their bodies were all found lying on top of or near the tanks. Medical examiners generally attributed the workers’ deaths primarily or entirely to natural causes, often heart failure…

According to some industry-safety and government officials. The industry has been ignoring warning signs for years and has been resistant to implementing some steps that would reduce or eliminate the risk to workers.

“I was trying to get workers into respirators and all kinds of things and running an uphill battle,” said a former industrial hygienist for a large oil company who said he had noticed dangerously high hydrocarbon levels in some of his testing as far back as 2009. “They say, ‘Everyone does it this way.’ But that doesn’t make it any less right or wrong.”

Some industry officials said that companies hadn’t realized there might be a problem  ::) until the pattern of deaths began to emerge, but they now acknowledge the situation needs to be studied further

Full article by Tyler Durden:


Why Are Oil & Gas Workers Mysteriously Dying Across America ? (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-22/why-are-oil-gas-workers-mysteriously-dying-across-america)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 25, 2015, 04:51:53 pm
14-Year-Old ‘Kid Warrior’ Rallies Youth Around the World to Protect the Planet  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websmileys.com%2Fsm%2Fviolent%2Fsterb029.gif&hash=7a43a0c106eab798f7ba6133dc5cc550647a03d2)

Vanessa Black | April 22, 2015 3:55 pm

SNIPPET:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F04%2Fkidwarrior.jpg&hash=4be8e708a612e9644b0e936a0146051fec5de42a)
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)is not your average teen.

At the rebellious age of 14, he has given a Ted Talk and spoken twice at major United Nation’s forums. President Obama awarded him the Youth Change Maker of the Year Award and he is a member of the Presidential Youth Council to advise the president on youth views and policy.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://ecowatch.com/2015/04/22/kid-warrior-xiuhtezcatl-martinez/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 01, 2015, 02:54:58 pm
Mapping the Dangers of Fracking

Briana Kerensky, Food & Water Watch | May 1, 2015 9:10 am

It feels like spring only just arrived, but as of tomorrow we’re less than a month away from the official start of summer: Memorial Day. National parks and forests across the country will welcome millions of hikers, campers, photographers “picnic-ers,” and others this summer: people looking to leave home for a while and enjoy America’s natural beauty.

But oil and gas corporations want to visit U.S. public lands for a very different reason: to profit off their oil and gas reserves via fracking. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

Did you know that about 20 percent of U.S. oil and gas reserves and resources are beneath federal public lands? Some of these public lands are next to our most beautiful national parks, including Glacier National Park in Montana, or national forests like George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in Virginia and Shawnee National Forest in Illinois, to name a few.

But it can be hard to visualize the scope of the danger that fracking poses to our public lands. That’s why Food & Water Watch created a map to help illustrate the vast span of public lands across America, and illuminate where Big Oil and Gas corporations aim to drill and frack through it.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010515142453.jpeg&hash=253e4670efbf857cfd161b256995c3e0ca81a185)

The yellow areas are U.S. federal lands. The red areas in the map are where—given inconsistent data—there are oil and gas deposits. Lands in red are where there’s already been a wave of drilling and fracking for oil and gas, or where companies envision fracking before long. The overlapping orange areas are public lands that are either being fracked now, or could be soon. Check out the blue pins to learn about specific public lands and how they’re at risk from fracking.

Fracking on public lands such as these is dangerous on many levels:

it introduces toxic chemicals to water;  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)

it disrupts the habitats of millions of animals, including endangered species;  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

it poses serious risks to human health, such as breast cancer;  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)

and it spurs on climate change. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1593.gif&hash=628238f2fc26695937f6e97b91b050976065743b)

The production of oil and natural gas in 2013 from federal public lands led to more than 292 million tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions, or about what 61 million cars emit in a year.


No amount of regulation will protect our public lands, health, drinking water and climate from the impacts of fracking. About 90 percent of federally managed lands are available for oil and gas leasing, while only 10 percent are reserved for conservation, recreation, wildlife and cultural heritage.

If we want to preserve our nation’s natural heritage for future generations, we must act. The Protect Our Public Lands Act was recently introduced to Congress, and is the strongest piece of federal legislation against fracking to date. No amount of regulation will protect our public lands or communities from the impacts of this dangerous practice.

http://ecowatch.com/2015/05/01/mapping-dangers-fracking/

Agelbert NOTE: Messaqe to null hypothesis (i.e. gee, there is "insufficient scientific evidence" that fracking is deleterious to human health.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)) MKing and agnotologist friends:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-140415130805.png&hash=23d2e6dc6311a26c399bf0cb60868bcff2781a58)

Agnotology: Part one of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2849/#msg2849)
Agnotology: Part two of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2853/#msg2853)
Agnotology: Part three of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2858/#msg2858)
Agnotology: Part four of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2867/#msg2867)
Agnotology: Part five of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2876/#msg2876)
Agnotology: Part six of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2891/#msg2891)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 02, 2015, 02:01:38 pm
ReThink Energy: ‘We Will Ensure Florida Keeps Fracking Out of Our State’  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websmileys.com%2Fsm%2Fviolent%2Fsterb029.gif&hash=7a43a0c106eab798f7ba6133dc5cc550647a03d2)

Kim Ross, ReThink Energy Florida | May 1, 2015 1:21 pm

In 2013, ReThink Energy Florida was one of the few organizations fighting pro-fracking bills in the Florida Legislature in reaction to public attention on drilling near the Everglades. The bills failed to garner enough votes to make it into law. Each year since, state legislators have attempted to pass similar meaningless, pro-industry regulations. Each year, they have failed. But 2015 will mark the year that the tide turned in the battle to keep fracking out of Florida.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F05%2Ffrack650.jpg&hash=6dd1812fbe458102c27a307fed7bb21f886d2b28)
We will keep moving to ensure Florida does the right thing and keeps fracking out of our state forever. Photo credit: G. Fardner / U.S. National Park Service

We were among the Floridians shocked in 2014 upon learning that, while we’d been going to public hearings on one well permit, another had been secretly and illegally fracked. With this illegal procedure, a more dangerous form of unconventional drilling called “acid fracking” was introduced to the Everglades. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a cease and desist, but the oil company continued in defiance. DEP fined the company for $25,000—an amount that seemed like couch-change to the public.

As ReThink Energy Florida and its allies began to build public awareness, and leaders began to scrutinize the process, DEP got firmer with the company. Eventually, after the company failed to meet several simple demands, DEP revoked their permits.

By 2015’s legislative session, ReThink Energy Florida was one of the organizations in the Florida Anti-Fracking Coalition, which called for a ban on fracking in Florida. This coalition consisted of health and environmental groups, including Stonecrab Alliance, Food & Water Watch, Physicians for Social Responsibility of Florida, Florida Clean Water Network, Our Santa Fe Rivers, Environmental Caucus of Florida, Florida Progressives, and many other grassroots activists and organizations.

Due at least in part to its work educating and engaging the public, bans on fracking were filed in the Florida Legislature by Senators Soto and Bullard, and Rep. Jenne. Unfortunately, other legislators filed fracking regulation bills again, along with trade secrets exemption bills, which required a 2/3 majority in each chamber of the Legislature to pass. While these other legislators claimed to have worked with DEP, industry, and environmental groups, the few environmental groups that they invited to the table eventually withdrew their support because the legislators refused to amend the bills to meet their bottom-line requirements.

While the bans sat unmoving, the regulatory bills began moving quickly through committees. The coalition drove phone calls, emails, press events and public awareness across the state. The primary focus was that we need to ban, not regulate, fracking. The coalition spoke to many of the issues with the bills: they would have kept cities and counties from banning fracking and they were full of loopholes, including trade secret exemption rules written by and for industry. The public testified about these bills in committee, and reminded the legislators that a ban was another option. We knew we were getting better at speaking as a unified body when the opposition attempted to address our points. Still, we knew it was an uphill battle, as we were not only arguing against industry, but also against DEP.

We did hope we could kill the trade secrets exemption bill on the Senate side, and keep it off the Governor’s desk. Our conversations with Senators indicated that even if they felt the fracking regulation bill could be fixed, they didn’t see the need for the trade secrets exemption bill.

The tide began to turn the penultimate week of session, as several leaders in the Senate expressed grave concern about the bills. These leaders told the sponsor they were disappointed in the few changes they’d seen so far.

The last week of session, the bills were scheduled for final debate on both floors. The House voted for the fracking regulatory bills but tabled the trade secrets exemption bill, perhaps because they were unsure it would have the votes to pass in the Senate.

No one expected what happened next, except maybe comedians who enjoy making fun of Florida politics. Because of disagreement between the Republican-led House and Republican-led Senate over Obamacare, the Speaker of the House ended session three days early, but without passing a budget—the one thing that they are constitutionally required to do. The move was a jab at the leadership in the Senate, and left several bills, good and bad, in limbo.

The House had passed the faux regulatory bills on Monday before they went home. While we were overjoyed that the House had not passed the trade secrets bill, rendering it dead on the table, we were worried that the regulatory bill could still pass. It was clear the House had thrown the Senate into chaos right as a final debate on the fracking regulatory bill came up in a hearing. As a result, the bill was “temporarily postponed” while its sponsor determined how to proceed.

The Senate had three options: 1) let the bad regulatory bill die a natural and well-deserved death; 2) amend the bill and send it back to the House—who was not present to hear the amended bill, thereby killing it; or 3) Pass the bill as passed in the House, which would send it on to the Governor.

In these final days of the Senate, very few people still believed the bill should pass as written; seemingly only the head of the Florida Petroleum Council still supported it. Most importantly, several leaders in the legislature had expressed concern about the bill and had worked to come up with “fixes.” However, because the House had ended their session, any amendments would render the bills dead.

Wednesday, after ReThink Energy Florida and its partners had burned the phone lines, held press conferences and written even more op-eds (such as this one from Our Santa Fe River), the Senate bill’s sponsor acknowledged that the bill would not pass.

Our work is not done. Next week, we will begin doubling down on our efforts to create the necessary groundswell for a permanent ban on fracking. But today, we celebrate a victory in the end of this legislative session: the birth of a new movement that calls on leaders to take our concerns about Florida’s Energy Policy and Environment into account. We will keep moving to ensure Florida does the right thing and keeps fracking out of our state forever.

http://ecowatch.com/2015/05/01/keep-fracking-out-of-florida/

agelbert  • 7 minutes ago   

Any port in the profit over planet suicidal, dystopic storm. Good luck to you and may God Damn the Florida Petroleum Council.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 02, 2015, 05:18:28 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqVWm82DQOU&feature=player_embedded
The Everglades are threatened.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1593.gif&hash=628238f2fc26695937f6e97b91b050976065743b)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 07, 2015, 10:45:44 pm
NASA’s Time Lapse Video Shows Humanity’s Impact on the Earth

Lorraine Chow | May 7, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNQ9z_Eb-Jc&feature=player_embedded

Associated article at link:

http://ecowatch.com/2015/05/07/nasa-humanitys-impact-on-earth/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 09, 2015, 09:18:55 pm
This an article from January/2010.....it is 5 years since it was written....has anything changed, or are we still consuming ourselves into total collapse?

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.cdn.turner.com%2Fcnn%2F2010%2FWORLD%2Famericas%2F01%2F13%2Fconsumerism.climate.change.report%2Ft1larg.jpg&hash=f7ca68a1b49451b97b4bb1e768df9f36a388af8f)

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/13/consumerism.climate.change.report/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/13/consumerism.climate.change.report/index.html)


Not really. There is more awareness and acceptance that we are heading for the bottleneck meat grinder but the will of governments, owned by dirty energy greedballs, to actually do anything about that is not there.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)

The progress has been marginal. The inertia of the profit over planet insanity is still holding sway.  :(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 15, 2015, 02:32:24 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F05%2Ffaf650.jpg&hash=60f5738f3f8d4c5ae314f8683d2d1adf6f5d9142)

Quote
Although there will always be powerful voices who seeks to justify exploitative practices as a means of economic advancement, there must also be leaders who stand against this destruction and stand for life affirming economic development that will protect that which cannot be replaced,” Rev. Kelvin Sauls, Pastor of Holman United Methodist Church, said in a letter to Brown. “We ask you to rise to this moral challenge, probably the most significant of your career and one that you have long been preparing for, and declare a moratorium on fracking and other extreme methods of well stimulation and unconventional oil and gas extraction in California.”

At The Church by the Side of the Road, members of Californians Against Fracking, faith leaders and community members screened the premiere of Faith Against Fracking and opened up a broad dialogue on the important role of religious groups in taking environmental action against fracking.

This is what is unethical—the things that we’re doing for money that we know is wrong,” said Rev. Ambrose Carroll, a senior pastor at the church. “The bible says treat others as you would want to be treated. So, why would you allow something to happen on one side of town that you wouldn’t allow to happen in your own backyard? If it’s not good for you, then of course it’s not good for others.”

http://ecowatch.com/2015/05/15/faith-against-fracking/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 15, 2015, 11:03:55 pm
Victory! University of Washington Divests from Coal  ;D

http://ecowatch.com/2015/05/14/university-of-washington-divests-coal/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 17, 2015, 01:22:59 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZJbKunq8Tw&feature=player_embedded
Fracking in Colorado is producing giant methane plume.  >:(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 17, 2015, 01:30:19 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F9ed5E54s4&feature=player_embedded
Grave news.  :(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 17, 2015, 11:11:05 pm
“The Starship vs. Spaceship Earth”

Quote
“What the secular faith of Dysonism offers,” Brower writes” is, first, a hypertrophied version of the technological fix, and second, the fantasy that, should the fix fail, we have someplace else to go.” -

(https://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1780/632/original.jpg)
Quote
Dyson is not doing science, but he is deluding others under the guise of science.

Agelbert NOTE: Great and revealing article about how incredibly closed minded and willfully ignorant an otherwise brilliant scientist can be.

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2011/02/the-starship-vs-spaceship-earth/#more-5430
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 21, 2015, 09:53:34 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-251114234300.png&hash=51842c367517a00ea79aa01afee06164b200d5bc)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uti2niW2BRA&feature=player_embedded
The TRUTH about Fracking.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmog.gif&hash=08e6f04144781466148f6693be6dc3451a322669)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 28, 2015, 02:42:17 pm
EPA’s new rules on river pollution outrage the usual suspects  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-scared002.gif&hash=764898cfbf07ef2c41ffddc5e93fa0e1bed41bae)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-291014182422.png&hash=f5178cb31c0bf9067fb3cf408d7047840a10e3f4)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)

By Nathanael Johnson  on 27 May 2015   

The Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday released a long-awaited and long-debated rule for interpreting the Clean Water Act. The EPA has regulated rivers since the Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, but Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 reduced the scope of government authority to protect water against pollution. Since that time, it has been unclear what the government is allowed to regulate. A New York Times article in 2010 suggested that this rollback was allowing pollution that previously would have been illegal:


“This is a huge deal,” James M. Tierney, the New York State assistant commissioner for water resources, said of the new constraints. “There are whole watersheds that feed into New York’s drinking water supply that are, as of now, unprotected”…

“Cases now are lost because the company is discharging into a stream that flows into a river, rather than the river itself,” said David M. Uhlmann, a law professor at the University of Michigan who led the environmental crimes section of the Justice Department during the last administration.

The new EPA rule doesn’t give the agency as much authority as it previously wielded under the Clean Water Act. But it says the EPA will regulate tributaries of navigable rivers, wetlands, and a few other environmentally important bodies of water, like prairie potholes and vernal pools in California.

If you haven’t been following this, you may wonder why it’s controversial. That’s a fair question. As Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) pointed out in an op-ed, these regulations used to seem like common sense to both Republicans and Democrats:


The draft rule relies on more than 1,200 pieces of peer-reviewed scientific literature that evaluate the critical functions that various types of water bodies perform. It restores protections that the administrations of presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush championed.

Still, the EPA’s critics were outraged by the rule. House Speaker John Boehner called it “a raw and tyrannical power grab.”

That rhetoric provides a clue as to why this is an issue. Some people are convinced that the whole thing is a sneaky way of socializing their private land: First, the government makes you get a permit to pee in your own puddle, and before you know it, Obama is body-surfing in your irrigation ditch.

Now, there’s a legitimate argument from level-headed farmers that things would work more smoothly (and water quality wouldn’t suffer) with fewer rules and less regulation. But the paranoia that drives much of the opposition to this rule is positively Jade Helm level.

The EPA held more than 400 meetings and reviewed over a million comments before making this rule. Most of those comments supported the move. The rule specifically excludes various smaller bodies of water from regulation, including ditches that carry water to fields, artificial ponds, rice paddies, and erosion gullies. Nonetheless, Republicans in Congress are already organizing to draft a bill to override the rule.

http://grist.org/politics/epas-new-rules-on-river-pollution-outrage-the-usual-suspects/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 03, 2015, 03:55:15 pm
This Household Chemical Linked to ADHD in Children and Teens  :(  :P

Learn about Pyrethroids


Quote
A commonly used household pesticide has been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and young teens.

Pyrethroids, a new type of pesticide, were introduced as a supposedly safer alternative to organophosphates.

Organophosphates were banned for residential use in the US 15 years ago.

But the new research may question the safety of their replacement.

Full article at link:

http://www.spring.org.uk/2015/06/this-household-chemical-linked-to-adhd-in-children-and-teens.php
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 05, 2015, 01:03:58 pm
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06/03/2015 04:49 PM   

Fast-Track Vote Down to the Wire, Any Day Now

SustainableBusiness.com News

by Rona Fried 

After the Senate passed Fast-Track legislation, the House is next and the vote could come any day now. About a dozen Democrats hang in the balance and I'm not sure how many Republicans - but the vote will be close.

 As a reminder, the US is the only country in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that is pushing for fast-track - which gives Congress an up or down vote on the completed deal, with no ability to amend it
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 This week, a panel of United Nations experts expressed grave doubts these secret international "trade" agreements pose to human rights.

"Our concerns relate to the rights to life, food, water and sanitation, health, housing, education, science and culture, improved labor standards, an independent judiciary, a clean environment and the right not to be subjected to forced resettlement," they write. That about covers it, doesn't it?

In particular, they point to the "investor-state dispute settlement" system, where corporations can sue local, state or federal governments - at a corporate tribunal, not our justice system - for regulations that impede their profits.

 Intrusive investor state awards have a "chilling effect when States are penalized for adopting regulations, for example to protect the environment, food security, access to generic and essential medicines, or raising the minimum wage."

Wikileaks' $100,000 Reward


This week, WikiLeaks launched a crowd-sourcing campaign to raise $100,000 for "America's Most Wanted Secret: the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNsHAHQh4Es&feature=player_embedded

WikiLeaks published three leaked chapters and they want the other 26. 

Read our article, (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723) WikiLeaks Reveals Environment Chapter of Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal.  (http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/25463)

"The problem is that these deals are put together using a rigged negotiating process. Our trade negotiators tend to come out of giant, multinational corporations - particularly from Wall Street - and tend to return to them. The 600 "advisors" on the TPP are dominated by corporate representatives. Not only does this set up a corporate-favoring (therefore labor-/environmentalist-hating) mindset within the agency, it also creates an understanding that participants should "play ball" and not make waves against corporate interests if they want to obtain a lucrative corporate position after leaving government. The inevitable result is agreements that rig the game in favor of the interests of the giant, multinational corporations and their investors over the interests of the rest of us - and our government," explains Dave Johnson at Campaign for America's Future.

"There is a reason that Wall Street, giant multinational corporations, Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable,  Republican Party leadership and all the other anti-worker lobbying representatives of giant corporations and billionaires are for TPP - and all labor unions, progressives, Democrats (except a few who hope to be lobbyists later), citizen groups, consumer groups, internet freedom, health groups, LGBT groups, food-safety groups, environmental groups and so many others oppose it," he says.

"TPP would follow in the footsteps of other disastrous trade pacts. NAFTA, Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China and other trade deals are a major reason why some 60,000 American factories closed since 2001 as manufacturers shifted jobs to low-wage nations overseas and 4.7 million American jobs disappeared," says Senator Bernie Sanders who is running for President.

Read our article, Progressive Caucus Offers Alternative to Fast-Track Trade Deals.

Examples of Investor (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)  State Dispute

Stop calling TPP a trade agreement. It is a corporate/investor rights agreement, Johnson says.


Where Your Meat Comes From: Last month, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled against US "country of origin labels" (COOL) on meat under NAFTA.

 Mexico and Canada sued the US government on behalf of their meat industries, arguing that labeling is too costly, creates logistical problems, and is protectionist. US meatpackers are also against labels, but they have lost in our courts each time they tried. WTO's ruling is final and can't be appealed. So much for the US judiciary system.

COOL passed in the US Congress as part of the 2008 Farm Bill. It requires that all meat sold in supermarkets be labeled with where the animal was born, raised, and slaughtered. It has overwhelming support of the American public and allows the USDA to quickly determine the source of adulterated meat and food borne illnesses.

TPP's investor-state provision goes even further - corporations can also sue countries.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil19.gif&hash=6eeb0dbc471743691793f5130640fdcbd1f77b5c)

Mining in El Salvador: OceanaGold, a Canadian gold miner, is suing the country under CAFTA for not allowing it to mine there.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffc06.deviantart.net%2Ffs71%2Ff%2F2009%2F347%2F2%2F6%2FWTF_Smiley_face_by_IveWasHere.jpg&hash=8ca673f8cf785d9dac626f9fd91e37a1a318c7ac) El Salvador's water is mostly polluted and doesn't want more mines for social and environmental reasons. The company wants compensation equivalent to 5% of El Salvador's GDP and has already spent over $13 million on legal fees.

Ecuador terminates Occidental Oil's contract and is fined $2.3 billion!  >:(

Vattenfall, a Sweden-based utility that operates two nuclear plants
in Germany is suing for $4.7 billion  >:( because the country is shutting all nuclear plants.

"Arbitrators are paid $600-700 an hour, giving them little incentive to dismiss cases; and the secretive nature of the arbitration process and the lack of any requirement to consider precedent gives wide scope for creative judgments," says The Economist.

Hundreds of tech companies sent a letter to Congress expressing concerns that it threatens fair use, may lead to more costly forms of online copyright enforcement, criminalize whistleblowing and investigative journalism.

Read, Top Reasons to Oppose Fast Tracking the TPP. (http://www.citizen.org/documents/top-reasons-to-oppose-fast-tracking-tpp.pdf) 

Call Your Representative!

Make your views known to your representative, and let your friends and family know. You can follow the action on Twitter at #stopfasttrack and use this service to easily call your rep:
 
Website: http://clicktocallcongress.org/
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26327

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.billmoyers.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F01%2Ftpp.jpg&hash=8eb2cb1aef9480b65afc7b0df55dc9691bfd05d7)
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 06, 2015, 07:47:20 pm
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Ray Kemble of Dimock, Pennsylvania, holds a jug of discolored water from his well, contaminated by nearby fracking operations while standing outside of the U.S. EPA building in Washington, DC. Photo credit: Food & Water Watch

Don’t Be Fooled by Yesterday’s Headlines, EPA Finds Fracking Contaminates Drinking Water

Wenonah Hauter | June 5, 2015 1:45 pm

SNIPPET:

Quote
Don’t be fooled. Headlines in the New York Times and other news media about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) long-awaited study on the impacts of fracking on drinking water are another tragic case of not looking beyond the timid agency’s spin. Despite the lack of new substantive data and the limited scope of the study, the EPA did find instances of water contamination and outlined the areas where this could happen in the fracking process.

http://ecowatch.com/2015/06/05/epa-fracking-contaminates-drinking-water/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 07, 2015, 12:32:15 am
Drone Captures Remarkable Footage Of A Whale Family: It Makes You Think About What We’ve Done

June 6, 2015 by Arjun Walia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J917zEOgzT8&feature=player_embedded

For the first time ever, a mother grey whale has been caught on camera with two calves, thanks to the help of drone technology. Experts are unsure if the second calf was adopted by the mother, which would be extremely unlikely, or if the two calves are twins, which would be a similarly rare occurrence. There are no other known cases of a grey whale with two calves at once. This footage comes from Captain Dave’s Dolphin & Whale Safari, based out of Dana Point, California.

It’s beautiful footage of these majestic creatures. Unfortunately, human activity is literally laying waste to their home.

For example, the nuclear power plant disaster at Fukushima resulted in 300 to possibly over 450 tons of contaminated water containing radioactive iodine, cesium, and strontium-89 and 90 being flooded into the Pacific Ocean every single day. Contaminated water is still leaking and still poses a major problem.

A second example would be the BP oil spill in the gulf of Mexico, which was so large that it could not be concealed from the public. There are plenty of smaller-scale oil spills occurring which we don’t hear about.

A third example would be the fact that whales have been showing up dead on multiple beaches, bringing forth a very powerful message in the form of stomachs full of plastic. This has happened multiple times, and you can read more about it here.

North East of Hawaii, the ocean currents form a giant whirlpool of debris from around the Pacific called the North Pacific Gyre. It’s one of the largest ecosystems on Earth, comprising millions of square kilometres. Today, it’s better known as “The Great Garbage Patch,” an area the size of Queensland, Australia with approximately one million tonnes of plastic collecting in the ocean. You can read more about that here.

These are just a few examples of the impact human activity is having on the oceans. It’s important that we recognize the fact that it’s time to change our ways here and do things differently. Our entire “system” set up here is one that is clearly not working. We can have a planet where all life can thrive, where our activity does not destroy it. We can

If you are asking yourself “how” then I do not know what to tell you, there are thousands of different ways! If you truly want to know, all it takes is a little research. The solutions are out there. Back in 2013, we reported on the story of 19 year old Boyan Slat, who had developed a device with the capacity to remove 7,250,000 tonnes of plastic and garbage from the world’s oceans in just 5 years. Boyan, now 20, and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup Project, has just announced that his project will come into fruition by 2016.

Technology isn’t the problem. From new ways of generating energy and growing food, to advancements in medicine, we have the ability to change things right now, at this very moment. What we need is a shift in the way we think about the world. We need a shift in the way we see ourselves and our relationship with, not only the other life on this planet, but the planet itself.

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”  – Albert Einstein

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/06/06/drone-captures-remarkable-footage-of-a-whale-family-it-makes-you-think-about-what-weve-done/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 07, 2015, 12:47:22 am
A whale is freed from a death trap by decent humans and the whale shows it's gratitude to these good hearted humans that showed interspecies empathy by helping a fellow earthling in distress.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcXU7G6zhjU&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 08, 2015, 02:13:34 pm
Fracking Does Cause ‘Widespread, Systemic’ Contamination of American’s Drinking Water

Josh Fox and Lee Ziesche | June 5, 2015 3:52 pm

In a draft report five years in the making, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed that fracking does indeed contaminate drinking water, a fact the oil and gas industry has vehemently denied.

But instead of dismantling the industry’s “not one single case of groundwater contamination caused by fracking” refrain, the EPA decided to go with the misleading headline “there is no evidence fracking has led
 to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe)


It’s a puzzling conclusion since their study was conspicuously narrow (they did no new case studies, dropped three marquee cases that proved water contamination and dropped all air quality studies from the report).  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.sodahead.com%2Fpolls%2F000370273%2Fpolls_Smiley_Angry_256x256_3451_356175_answer_4_xlarge.png&hash=15577651daa4c35ff4d6b26217f99db6ebfde0b3)

Our Map of the Week shows 313 cases where families reported water contamination due to drilling in just six counties in North Eastern, Pennsylvania. Seems pretty widespread to me for a fracking and drilling campaign that’s still in its infancy.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039) So far there’s been around 9,000 wells drilled in Pennsylvania. One report showed the potential for 200,000 – 600,000 fracked wells in the state.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F06%2Ffrackmap650.jpg&hash=5f6cf151238e36e6cf9a0e3a051f86dbc7e3d07a)
Our Map of the Week confirms widespread, systemic contamination of U.S. regulatory bodies by the oil and gas industry (and that water contamination due to fracking is widespread too!) Map credit: BH/NY Friends of Clean Air and Water CC-BY-NC, All other rights reserved

If the EPA is looking for proof of “widespread” contamination before declaring fracking unsafe, they may not have to wait long. The industry’s own data shows that 5 percent of fracking wells leak upon drilling and that number only grows over time.

What the EPA presented to the public yesterday was PR, not science and proof of the widespread, systemic contamination of our regulatory bodies by the oil and gas industry.

This isn’t the first time the EPA has released a report burying the science with a misleading headline
that supports the Obama Administration’s pro-fracking policies rather than reveal the true dangers of fracking. It’s a disturbing trend we reported on extensively in GASLAND Part II with cases in Dimock, Pennsylvania; Parker County, Texas; and Pavilion, Wyoming.

In Dimock, Parker Country and Pavilion the EPA suddenly dropped water contamination cases when the science proved that fracking was the cause, going as far as slapping a press release claiming Dimock’s water was safe on a report that proved fracking had contaminated the water.

The EPA did this, conveniently, around the same time that President Obama was touting fracking as part of his All-of-the-Above energy policy on the campaign trail. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)

And President Obama has not backed off in his support for natural gas despite mounting evidence that fracking is a climate change disaster. His administration is opening up huge swaths of BLM land for drilling and has even gone so far as to allow fracking offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.

He’s not the only one. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton sold fracking to the rest of the world   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df) and has said nothing to indicate she will do any differently as President, despite claiming that addressing climate change is a pillar of her campaign.  ;)

If President Obama and Hillary Clinton want to know what a fracking legacy looks like they should take a look at the pictures coming from Little Rock, Arkansas where a fracked-gas pipeline ruptured in the Arkansas River within view of Bill Clinton’s Presidential Library.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F06%2Fgasland650.jpg&hash=d0a34f075ed9880be240a3f9b607562c47aaf185)

Millions of Americans know that fracking contaminates ground water and for the EPA to report any differently only proves that the greatest contamination from the industry comes from its influence and ownership of our government.

It’s clear there is no action coming from our politicians to protect our public health and safety from fracking. They will stick with the industry till all our water is contaminated, our air polluted and climate change has made our planet unlivable. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmog.gif&hash=08e6f04144781466148f6693be6dc3451a322669)

It’s up to us to get the truth out.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-106.gif&hash=f996659d18df7f3b445e6135e884397ac91f25b1) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-028.gif&hash=24570cb7e8246617010ce900a07bc85117ff78ca)

If you want to educate your community on the dangers of fracking and the incredible influence of the industry on our government, email us to host a screening of GASLAND Part II.

http://ecowatch.com/2015/06/05/josh-fox-fracking-contaminates-drinking-water/2/

Quote
William Huston   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)

I am extremely humbled and grateful to Josh and EcoWatch for featuring my map. I am happy to explain the methodology I used and details about the dataset. Inquiries: WilliamAHuston@gmail.com.

I cried when I first made this map. It was so disturbing to me. Even my friends who live on the front lines (like Vera Scroggins and Craig Stevens) had no idea how bad things were, before we saw this picture. My family is from Bradford County. The water there was so pure. A sacred place has been defiled. And the industry and Obama's EPA are in denial. I personally know dozens of impacted people living in this area, and many are suffering daily.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mrwallpaper.com%2Fwallpapers%2FSad-Sunflower.jpg&hash=ac9f33a23da8f73b88a002b6f4421f8c42327406)

So thank you Josh and Stephanie (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fthankyou.gif&hash=dddf44270b9e7683ff5cbcca041427744de34fe5) for helping get the word out. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2FLaie_28.gif&hash=cc2f2c34e2eeda4d23ece2f504a2ad2a86525028) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-036.gif&hash=8ec7abacc074bac7984d9b80fbca377b3afb119d)
Quote

JohnR > William Huston 

EcoWatch comments section is over run with pro fracking Trolls and AGW denier Trolls, thanks for taking a stand.







Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 14, 2015, 05:57:37 pm
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Quote
No Bees, No Food  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mrwallpaper.com%2Fwallpapers%2FSad-Sunflower.jpg&hash=ac9f33a23da8f73b88a002b6f4421f8c42327406)


Millions of bees are dying off, with alarming consequences for our environment and our food supply. We rely on bees to pollinate everything from almonds to strawberries to the hay used to feed dairy cows. What happens if the bees disappear? It’s simple: No bees, no food.

Let's give bees a chance
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F170fs799081.gif&hash=ec7f929a28b215e9c00ec270a26b830d596920b2)

In recent years, beekeepers report they’re losing on average 30% of all honeybee colonies each winter — twice the loss considered economically tolerable.

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6,000 times more toxic than DDT

Scientists point to several causes behind the problem, including global warming, habitat loss, parasites and a class of bee-killing insecticides known as neonicotinoids (or neonics).

When seeds are treated with neonics, the chemicals work their way into the pollen and nectar of the plants — which, of course, is bad news for bees and other pollinators. Worse, for the bees and for us, neonics are about 6,000 times more toxic to bees than DDT.

Just one example: After a nearby farm planted corn seeds coated with neonics in 2013, a farmer named Dave Schuit lost 37 million of his bees. “Once the corn started to get planted our bees died by the millions,” said Schuit.

Full article at link:
http://environmentamerica.org/programs/ame/no-bees-no-food (http://environmentamerica.org/programs/ame/no-bees-no-food)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 14, 2015, 06:30:39 pm
Up Up in the Sky by Kate M. Willens, Copyright KM Willens

A protest song to awaken the world to the horrible spraying of toxic aerosols known by many as “chemtrails” into our skies. This is the first track of what will be a fuller piece, featuring Kate Magdalena Willens on vocals and guitar.

http://www.aircrap.org/2015/06/14/up-up-in-the-sky-by-kate-m-willens/

Agelbert NOTE: A hauntingly beautiful voice  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl5.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F3328%2F3328805eipbi6o30e.gif&hash=6b47effe687cb862012c19507f1979f43ff67a02) singing sadly about how the government lies and denies.

The Empathy Deficit Disorder corporate owned government lies and denies about all other industrial polluting activities too.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

Please pass this on. It is a great way to spread the truth and wake people up.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 15, 2015, 07:23:21 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Z2wmgLiTc&feature=player_embedded

There Is No Word For "Disposable" In Native Languages

This is a video featuring some of the most profound, eloquent and enlightened words we have to share here at Nextworldtv.

This is Julia Butterfly Hill  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl5.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F3328%2F3328805eipbi6o30e.gif&hash=6b47effe687cb862012c19507f1979f43ff67a02), an American activist and environmentalist. She is best known for living in a 180-foot (55 m)-tall, roughly 1500-year-old California Redwood tree for 738 days between December 10, 1997 and December 18, 1999.

I feel her words on "disposability consciousness" in this video are epic and truly enlightened. What richness, what truth, what poetry she speaks here. I will quote a few sentences, and please enjoy the rest of her wisdom in this incredible video. "I know in my heart that as long as trashing the planet and trashing each other, a healthy, holistic and healed world is not possible.

We can not have peace ON the earth unless we also have peace WITH the earth. Our disposability consciousness is a weapon of mass destruction." She is referring to how we mindlessly buy a cup of coffee -- or anything-- in disposable packaging. And where is "away" when we throw it away? It's all right here, isn't it? What a monumental disconnect we have come to accept!

She speaks of reclaiming every step of life as a step toward consciousness, and a step toward healing! --Bibi Farber

This video was produced by www.globalonenessproject.org - See more at: http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/reducing-waste/disposability-consciousness-.html#sthash.pp7RltDo.dpuf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 17, 2015, 10:27:39 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl10.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F2491%2F2491210ovie015m90.gif&hash=c2edc7e32994c57779427e0df75cabac786a12bf)
Fundraising success for opponents of the fracked gas pipeline   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)


Press Release Jun. 16 2015
Just Power
 Rebecca Foster
carpegreenum@gmail.com
 646-468-3511

Addison and Chittenden Counties, Vt – A grassroots group opposing the fracked gas pipeline has met its goal to establish a legal fund and hire a lawyer to represent landowners Nate and Jane Palmer in front of the Public Service Board (PSB) next week. The Palmers and other opponents of the project face off with Vermont Gas Systems (VGS) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) on June 22-23 at the technical hearings to reopen the permit for Phase I of the expansion project.

With members from all walks of life and through partnerships with organizations around the state, Just Power has had an impact on the pipeline debate disproportionate to the group’s size. For nearly three years volunteers have scoured VGS filings and statements as well as state agencies’ reviews of the project. “We’ve found mistakes in VGS’ numbers, misleading advertising about potential savings, and unjustifiable statements of ambitious goals,” said Diane Derrick of Hinesburg, “to say nothing of wild claims about benefits Vermont is supposed to get out of this project.”

For the second time in less than a year, the PSB will review the massive increase in project costs and consider whether to reopen VGS’ certificate of public good. With the project now at a price tag of over $154 million, current customers are expected to suffer essentially permanent rate hikes to pay for an expansion that will not benefit them. The average family in Chittenden and Franklin counties will pay around $8,000 above and beyond the gas service they receive over the next 25 years.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723)

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“It’s ludicrous that families may be forced to forego things they need like college tuition, care for an elderly parent, or unpaid parental leave to pay for something that is going to damage our state and our planet,”
said Andy Simon, a Burlington ratepayer. “VGS has been saying right along that up to 3,000 people in Addison County would benefit from lower heating bills, but that’s simply not true. Counting conversion costs, those families won’t save a dime for at least 14 years!”   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

Just Power members say it was inevitable that VGS and longtime supporter of the pipeline, the Department of Public Service (DPS), would have to come before the PSB again to explain themselves. “Many of the problems pro se intervenors in the Section 248 process have predicted have come to pass,” said Bobbie Carnwath from Cornwall. “But they haven’t had high-powered lawyers. Even the organizations with talented and experienced attorneys representing them don’t have the resources to counter the millions of dollars VGS is spending on its fleet of attorneys to bury the truth about this project. Just Power’s contributions have been pure elbow grease, time, and personal funds from our small group.”

The group decided that next week’s technical hearings, which could lead to the reopening of the case by the PSB, were so important that for the first time it went to its supporters asking for money to hire an attorney to represent the Palmers for the two days of technical hearings.

“A lawyer will help provide the respect that the Palmer legal team deserves!” wrote one donor on the group’s GoFundMe site. “The pipeline only serves large industrial customers while placing a large, very risky burden on existing and prospective ratepayers.” Another donor added:
Quote
“We can do better with energy conservation, renewables, and careful and creative planning of safe, non-fracked, and just solutions for the energy needs of all Vermonters. Let’s do that instead!” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)
At the same time that Vermonters were chipping in donations from $5 to $1,000, VGS added yet another law firm to their team to promote the pipeline. Members of the coalition to stop the pipeline have vowed to continue their lean and spirited fight  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.websmileys.com%2Fsm%2Fviolent%2Fsterb029.gif&hash=7a43a0c106eab798f7ba6133dc5cc550647a03d2) no matter how much money VGS pours into defending its project.

Just Power urges Vermonters to attend the technical hearings as well as a ‘Truth-in and Vigil,” organized by a coalition of groups, during which participants will share facts as they emerge from the hearings. Opponents of the project want the PSB, DPS, and VGS to understand that the public is holding them accountable for considering whether the huge rate hikes required to cover VGS’ cost overruns are just and reasonable and whether, with three years of technological advancements in lower-cost and environmentally sound alternatives, this project is necessary at all.

Technical Hearings at the Public Service Board (112 State Street, Montpelier), 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 22 and June 23.

Truth-in and Vigil (State House Lawn, Montpelier), 4 p.m. June 22 to 8 a.m. June 23.

http://vtdigger.org/2015/06/16/fundraising-success-for-opponents-of-the-fracked-gas-pipeline/

Agelbert NOTE: I am in Chittenden County, Vermont. I DO NOT use any natural gas whatsoever.  ;D We need a natural gas pipeline like a hole in the head (and the pocket book too!).
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 20, 2015, 07:55:55 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-031014141830.png&hash=5319d4dcf7ff24e048aa47d746f07b83bedcc1c0)



Exxon Mobil shareholders reject Vermont’s greenhouse gas resolution


Erin Mansfield Jun. 19 2015, 5:57 pm

SNIPPET:


“The overwhelming defeat of the resolution offered by Vermont Treasurer Pearce asking Exxon Mobil to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions proves that simply asking fossil fuel corporations to change their ways does not work,” Sen. Anthony Pollina, P/D-Washington, said in a statement.

The best strategy for Vermont is to divest from fossil fuel companies  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039),” Pollina said. “It makes no sense for us to say we oppose climate change and then invest in the companies that are causing it.”


http://vtdigger.org/2015/06/19/exxon-mobil-shareholders-reject-vermonts-greenhouse-gas-resolution/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 21, 2015, 11:34:39 pm
Chile declares environmental emergency over polluted Santiago air

Sunday, June 21, 2015  Reuters   


SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chilean authorities declared an environmental emergency for the Santiago metropolitan region for Monday, forcing more than 900 industries to temporarily shut down and about 40 percent of the capital’s 1.7 million cars off the roads.

“We’re currently facing unusual conditions, with one of the driest Junes in over 40 years as well as really bad air circulation conditions in the Santiago valley in recent days, which boosts the concentration of contamination,” the Environment Ministry said in a statement.

The emergency, the first since 1999, will be in place for 24 hours and can be extended further if authorities deem conditions have not improved.

The Environment Ministry could not immediately provide Reuters with a list of what industries will be forced to suspend operations on Monday.

People in the Santiago area also were advised to avoid outdoor exercise, though such activity was not prohibited. Chile is in the midst of hosting the Copa America soccer tournament. The next game is scheduled for Wednesday.

A lack of rain and winds have allowed concentrations of small breathable particulate matter known as PM2.5 to build up, shrouding the city in smog. Particulate matter can enter the lungs and bloodstream and has been linked to heart disease, respiratory difficulties and environmental damage.

Cold temperatures this time of year prompt many residents to use wood-burning heaters, which vastly worsens air quality.

(Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Paul Simao)

http://newsdaily.com/2015/06/chile-declares-environmental-emergency-over-polluted-santiago-air/#eQEaeYTgq2Gvb0aD.99 (http://newsdaily.com/2015/06/chile-declares-environmental-emergency-over-polluted-santiago-air/#eQEaeYTgq2Gvb0aD.99)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 25, 2015, 10:52:25 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.dailykos.com%2Fimages%2F149165%2Flightbox%2FRebecca-Hendin-pope-francis-climate-change-cartoon-illustration-3-1000pix.jpg%3F1434662412&hash=d26833d34d06c7398aef7491a4b1e838bc764b01)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/18/1394424/-Cartoon-Pope-politics
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 25, 2015, 11:00:34 pm
Fri Jun 19, 2015 at 09:50 AM EDT.

Cartoon: The Gospel of Denial

Quote
Before there was the Pope’s Encyclical on Climate Change, there was . . .

The Gospel of Denial.  From the Republican Disciples of Fossil Fuel.

In the First Book of Denial, Republicans walk on oil-slicked water— thanks to the miracle of oil viscosity!

Lo, then the Messiahs provide oil-soaked loaves and fishes to the impoverished masses . . . giving them combustible fuel so they may fire factories and prosper by their very bootstraps!

The most-denying Republicans demonstrate their power to raise the dead so that they may ascend to the heavens— and wrap the world in the loving embrace of Holy CO2.

The Disciples of Fossil Fuel know that among the twenty or so, there is a Judas!

Who will poll exceedingly low by the time the **** crows three times.

Verily, the Gospel teaches us that if we have undying faith in Denial and follow our Fossil Fuel Fathers (never mind the ninety-seven percent), we will be rewarded in this life . . . with eternal profits.

This, is the Word of the Oil.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil19.gif&hash=6eeb0dbc471743691793f5130640fdcbd1f77b5c) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

Aaaamen.


VIDEO at link:


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/19/1394215/-Cartoon-The-Gospel-of-Denial
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 27, 2015, 09:35:19 pm

Pope Francis Slams GMOs and Pesticides for Destroying the Earth’s ‘Complex Web of Ecosystems’


Lori Ann Burd, Center for Biological Diversity | June 26, 2015 11:04 am

Pope Francis’s encyclical didn’t just cover climate change, he also denounced pesticides and genetically engineered (GE) crops, declaring
Quote
“the spread of these crops destroys the complex web of ecosystems, decreases diversity in production and affects the present and the future of regional economies.”

Biotech companies claim their products are key to solving hunger, but the Pope knows this isn’t true. No commercial GE crops are engineered for increased yield. Five of every six acres of GE crops are engineered for herbicide-tolerance, i.e. to survive being drenched with what would normally be a toxic dose of herbicide, usually Round-up, or glyphosate.

The Pope’s message couldn’t come at a better time. Pesticide use is at an all-time high.  >:( The U.S. Department of Agriculture says glyphosate use on corn and soy increased from 10 million pounds in 1996, the year Roundup Ready crops were introduced, to 204 million in 2013. The U.S. Geological Survey routinely finds glyphosate in our water. The Word Health Organization just declared glyphosate a probable carcinogen.

Quote
The Pope observed that pesticide use “creates a vicious circle in which the intervention of the human being to solve a problem often worsens the situation further.” He said, “many birds and insects die out as a result of toxic pesticides created by technology … [and this] actually causes the Earth we live in to become less rich and beautiful, more and more limited and gray …”

Pesticides have already made our Earth less rich and more gray by nearly wiping out monarch butterflies, which have declined by 90 percent, largely because increased glyphosate use has wiped out the monarch’s sole host plant, milkweed. Pesticides are a leading cause of our current pollinator collapse.

With one-third of the bites we eat requiring bee-pollination, many world leaders, including President Obama, are waking up to the need for action.

Like Pope Francis, I believe protecting the Earth is our moral imperative. With this encyclical, the Pope reminds us that our fates are intertwined with all species, and calls us to action.

http://ecowatch.com/2015/06/26/pope-francis-pesticides-gmos/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 02, 2015, 11:02:58 pm
Quote
VI. The Common Destination of Goods

93. The principle of the subordination of private property to the universal destination of goods, and thus the right of everyone to their use, is a golden rule of social conduct and “the first principle of the whole ethical and social order”. The Christian tradition has never recognized the right to private property as absolute or inviolable, and has stressed the social purpose of all forms of private property.

94. Rural people must have access to means of technical education, credit, insurance, and markets”.

95. That is why the New Zealand bishops asked what the commandment “Thou shall not kill” means when “twenty percent of the world’s population consumes resources at a rate that robs the poor nations and future generations of what they need to survive".

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2015/06/a-9-minute-guide-to-pope-francis-encyclical-on-climate-change.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 10, 2015, 03:37:01 pm
Excellent comment!

Quote

James Maroney 

July 10, 2015 at 10:43 am


The farm crisis has its roots in the Industrial Revolution, in the opening of the Erie Canal, in Free Market Capitalism, in the federal water reclamation projects of the 1920s, in federal agricultural policies initiated in the 1930s, in the adoption of “advanced” technologies and in state land use policies. In a word, all these developments have contributed to the malaise affecting Vermont’s agricultural economy. To address these symptoms, the state has for two generations allocated roughly $60/80M/year to “save our farms” and “protect the lake,” chiefly by relieving farmers of property and sales taxes. Lower costs undoubtedly eased the pain but Vermont farmers cannot survive without an economic purpose, i.e., they cannot survive without making a profit.

Vermont’s dairy farmers did not devise the policies that brought them to the their present circumstances. Those who wished to survive learned long ago to convert taxpayer support to new capacity. They went to the bank to take on more debt, with which to consolidate their neighbors, with which to build larger barns, in which to house more cows and to acquire more land on which to grow more corn with petroleum-based fertilizers and herbicides.

Rush Limbaugh likes to remind his audience that when the government subsidizes something, we get more of it, but in this case, what we got more of was not farms, which arguably we wanted, but milk, which we did not. In spite of all the happy talk emanating from VAAF&M boasting that Vermont agriculture leads the nation in Farm to School, Farm to Plate and Farmers Markets, Vermont consumers spend 95% of their grocery money for food imported from out of state. Vermont’s largest agricultural sector is conventional dairy, which produces barely 1% of the national supply. Our farms produce no measurable portion of in state demand for meat, fish, grain, fruit or vegetables. If, in fact, Vermont farmers were to all go suddenly out of business tomorrow, no one would notice. We do not, in other words, farm to grow our food; we farm to sustain the illusion that we do, or, to put it bluntly, for appearances only. This means that Vermont allocates $60/80M/year, and with the new “clean water law” another $7.5M/year, for over production, low farm prices, farm attrition and lake pollution.

Vermont has adopted a policy to require that we get 90% of our energy from renewable sources by 2050, which is laudable. But conventional agriculture is the second largest source of global greenhouse gases, behind only electrical and heat generation and ahead of the entire transportation sector. Vermont’s energy policies turn a blind eye toward the profligacy of conventional dairy, planning instead to treat manure as a “renewable” feedstock for methane digesters. In other words, our new energy policy will ask the taxpayers to support the state’s largest contributor to water pollution in its push for sustainable energy. And since the most conspicuous results of Vermont’s agricultural policies are over production, low farm prices, farm attrition and lake pollution, it would appear to this writer that we are working at cross purposes.

Let us suppose that the state has adopted a policy that it is henceforth impermissible for any person or any industry to pollute the lake. All persons and all industries must henceforth adjust their production models to conform to this policy. The state has submitted a plan to the EPA by which it proposes to meet its TMDL, or to “clean up the lake” but the plan imposes virtually no material constraints upon conventional dairy. This means that the state esteems conventional dairy and its attendant environmental and social consequences above the attainment of its federally mandated water quality standards. Call your representative or senator if you think this makes no sense.

Glut of milk leads Vermont farms, co-ops to dump product

Erin Mansfield Jul. 9 2015, 6:31 pm
http://vtdigger.org/2015/07/09/glut-of-milk-leads-vermont-farms-co-ops-to-dump-product/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 10, 2015, 10:46:41 pm
Chris Hedges tells it like it IS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTkgJvAjTIU&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: Pollution - Get to Know Your H20
Post by: AGelbert on July 13, 2015, 07:42:03 pm
Introduction

Quote
As citizens of the consumer-driven economy and culture of the United States of America, we face a plethora of choices throughout our every day lives.

We are consistently bombarded by images and ideas, the purposes of which are to influence our consumer behaviors and purchasing choices.

If we are to be active and educated in our buying patterns, there are countless matters that we can decide to minimize or opt out of completely.

This ILP (Independent Learning Project) is a creative project that focuses on drinking water, an area of human consumption that cannot be avoided and must not be taken for granted. This film intends to inspire people to make sustainable choices in regards to their daily drinking water habits while simultaneously fostering a deep concern for the long-term welfare of the earth’s fresh water supplies.

SNIPPET 1:

The water crisis that the planet is facing is a multi-faceted dilemma with numerous causes and even more solutions. It would not be fair or accurate to lay the blame in just one industry, such as bottled water. The United States uses 46% of its water for industrial purposes, 41% goes to agricultural needs, and a mere 13% for municipal and personal use (Sterling & Vintinner, 2008).

Snippet 2:

For at least the last 150,000 years, water has been the essential beverage for human, plant, and animal life as we know it. (Royte, 2008) Royte summarizes that: From the beginning of human time, access to sufficient clean water was the sine qua non for the establishment of a settlement. Lack of good water cramped expansion, and the search for new sources drew civilization’s map. Waterborne diseases could wipe out entire communities, so fresh springs were protected and fiercely defended.(Royte, 2008, p. 21)

Agelbert NOTE: IOW, polluted water from profit over planet due to industrialization and the extraction and use of fossil fuels is ANOTHER COST those Empathy Deficit Disordered Industries are visiting upon humanity.  >:(

Get to Know Your H20
An Independent Learning Project (ILP)
Presented by Andrea Cohen To Melissa Feldman

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education
with a concentration in humane education.

Cambridge College
Cambridge, Massachusetts
2008
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://humaneeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Andrea-Cohen-ILP-sans-appendix.pdf

Home Water Testing

Discover Testing
www.discovertesting.com

Home Water Testing
www.epa.gov/ogwdw/faq/pdfs/fs_homewatertesting.pdf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 15, 2015, 06:05:53 pm
Renewables Win Again: Landmark Settlement Prompts 200th Coal Plant to Retire

Michael Brune | July 15, 2015 2:49 pm

The skies are looking bluer. Today we announced the 200th coal plant to be retired since the Beyond Coal campaign began working with local communities to shut down old and outdated power plants. Since the current goal of the campaign is to retire half of the nation’s more than 500 coal plants, you can see that we’re making significant headway. That success is the result of a lot of hard work on the part of Sierra Club legal and conservation staff, the support of far-sighted donors and, last but not least, the thousands of ordinary people from every walk and stage of life who’ve worked to kick coal out of their own communities.

But although tallying coal plants retired is a useful gauge of progress, it doesn’t capture the full impact of this campaign. The story doesn’t end once the coal plants are gone. What happens next is at least as important.

Right away, of course, we see a better life for those whose air and water were affected by coal. After all, in 2010, when we were just getting started on coal-plant retirements, the Clean Air Task Force estimated that coal-fired power plants power plants contributed to 13,200 premature deaths, as well as 20,400 heart attacks and 217,600 asthma attacks. Saving those lives is one reason why the Clean Power Plan is so essential. But the benefits don’t stop there. Our responsibility to end the suffering caused by coal brings with it a singular opportunity to build something better to take its place.

Here’s one of my favorite examples. This fall, the last generator will spin down at the Widows Creek coal plant, which was built by the Tennessee Valley Authority during the Eisenhower administration. But the plant site won’t be idle for long. TVA and Google have announced that much of the site’s infrastructure will be repurposed into a new $600 million Google data center. And get this: The new data center will be 100 percent powered by renewable energy.

Google would not be building a data center powered by renewable energy on the Widow’s Peak site, though, if the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign had not helped negotiate the retirement of 18 TVA coal plants, including this one, way back in 2011. At the time, it was the largest coal-retirement agreement the nation had ever seen. We didn’t know that one of those retirements would one day be repurposed into a renewable-energy powered data center. But we did know that something better would take the place of that coal plant, just as it will for all the others.

Already this summer, for instance, two other power producers for Appalachia have announced that investing in wind and solar will be the most affordable way for them to replace power from polluting coal plants that will be retired as a result of the Clean Power Plan.

So while I’m stoked to see 200 coal plants retired—something no one would have predicted a decade ago—what’s really got me excited is the clean energy innovation and investment that’s springing up to take coal’s place. That’s the key to nothing but blue skies from now on.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-062.gif&hash=88ceb4a34a12b2bea2fd9edd887da26d73308257)


http://ecowatch.com/2015/07/15/renewables-win-coal-plant-retire/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 17, 2015, 02:32:27 pm
Quote
Carbon Tracker: $283 billion in LNG plants unneeded

More than a quarter-trillion dollars in planned liquefied natural gas projects will be unnecessary if the world is to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, according to a new analysis by the Carbon Tracker Initiative. The high cost of LNG projects makes those the projects more likely to be economically stranded than conventional gas. Meanwhile, peer-reviewed research sponsored by the Environmental Defense Fund demonstrates that natural gas operations release 50 percent more methane—a potent greenhouse gas—than previously reported. By tracking levels of ethane, emitted by drilled gas but not landfills, the studies were able to pin over 70 percent of the methane on fossil fuels.

Dossier shows how oil firms sowed climate doubt

Top oil companies accepted the realities of climate science in their internal deliberations decades ago, even while outwardly denying the link between carbon pollution and global warming, according to a dossier released last week by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Their refusal to concede that the use of their product endangers the public reminds Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) of the tobacco executives of yesteryear who denied the relationship between smoking and lung disease. Although most Republicans toe that line, one GOP senator’s embrace of clean energy as a way to solve the climate challenge has earned her hefty contributions from a North Carolina entrepreneur.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

- See more at: http://climatesolutions.org/article/1436890756-community-solar-gets-boost-electric-jet-crosses-channel#sthash.phdmr24f.dpuf[/size]





Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 19, 2015, 03:57:41 pm
New Study Shows Glaring Differences Between GMO and Non-GMO Foods
http://ecowatch.com/2014/02/20/study-differences-gmo-non-gmo-foods/#comment-2145308099

INTERESTING COMMENTS  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F3ztzsjm.gif&hash=8e015ba6a93bc1ec93ebde8fd6b2daa19e537306)  ;D


David Keech (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdrphilyerboots.files.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F05%2Fcherry-picking.jpg&hash=c196a0ec409afacfa8f087d5a4556de272d44c6b)

I went looking and I'm fairly certain this is the El-Sayed Shaltout paper:
http://www.scirp.org/journal/P...
And this is the more recent Bøhn study: http://www.sciencedirect.com/s...
They are both open access so you can read through them, which I did.
The corn/rat study only had 6 rats per group for a total of 36 rats. The comparisons were done by gender (as they must be), meaning only 3 rats were compared to 3 other rats in any comparison. This is far less than the Séralini study which was criticised for not having enough rats and eventually retracted. Most of the differences shown in the results table are marked as being not statistically significant. In those that are statistically significant, there is no pattern as to which pair of groups (control, non-GM and GM) will show the difference. This suggests that natural variation is greater than the effect size and the few cases of statistical significance they found are spurious.
While the soybean study cites many other papers on glyphosate and genetic modification, they don't cite any on studies of soybeans in the US. If they had bothered to look, they would have found this study: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10... which shows that soybeans vary more greatly in fat, fibre and protein content depending on where they are grown and how they are processed than they do in this study.
The differences they found between GM and non-GM soybeans are less than the differences found between soybeans of the same type grown using the same methods, which makes of of their statistically significant results meaningless. The only significant remaining result in the paper is that glyphosate is detectable on soybeans sprayed with glyphosate, which is hardly a surprise.
Tellingly, both papers cite the now retracted Séralini study. It was retracted a month before the Bøhn study was submitted for review but it was notorious for a year before that.
Open-Access is a double-edged sword. While it's good to ease the dissemination of knowledge, the Author-pays model leads to the existence of publishers that will publish anything, regardless of its merit. Scientific Research Publishing is one of those: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...

I suspect both papers were written with two purposes in mind:

1. To seed sensational reporting of "nothing" results, such as this article.

2. Increasing citation counts of their buddies.

They certainly weren't trying to increase the sum of human knowledge.

agelbert reply to David Keech


I suspect the precautionary principle has left your mind and your vocabulary. That is, if that time tested principle of the scientific approach to innovation was ever part of your profit over planet mindset.

We have FOOD that got to be the way it is BECAUSE of many reasons that our science STILL DOES NOT UNDERSTAND!

WE are the product of that food. Fuc king around with the genome of life forms REQUIRES generational studies! We HAVE NOT done that with GMO. You know that and you DON'T CARE because you and people like you have shi t canned the PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE in blatant disregard for the scientific method.

In a single tomato, there are THOUSANDS of enzymes that we STILL haven't discovered the biochemical pathways of. It is hubris, and extremely dangerous hubris at that, to believe we have the nutritional package of our food "all figured out".

Your analysis is criminally and irresponsibly flawed. I will trust nature's hundreds of thousands of years of engineering for LIFE before I will trust Monsanto's few decades of engineering for PROFIT!
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geoengineeringwatch.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F05%2F2.jpg&hash=f4b76e745dec2860e72d2e1a005c75763fda4243)

Will  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdrphilyerboots.files.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F05%2Fcherry-picking.jpg&hash=c196a0ec409afacfa8f087d5a4556de272d44c6b) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F165fs373950.gif&hash=ad797fcc08a061d3ae50ee49ccd9f3d517fb7496)reply to agelbert


You said "In a single tomato, there are THOUSANDS of enzymes that we STILL haven't discovered the biochemical pathways of."

That is true.

The reason you are going to have trouble convincing a biologist that GMOs are inherently dangerous, or more dangerous than traditionally modified plants (through selective breeding) is the fact that every organism is made up of hundreds of thousands of different proteins, most of which we don't fully understand.
Think about this, when an organic farmer creates a new variety of a crop, what has happened is they have engineered the plant's DNA to express certain proteins differently that the original plant, so, out of the hundreds of thousand of proteins and unknown number of those proteins have been altered in mostly unknown way. It is always possible that some of those new, randomly generated proteins will have a negative effect on human health. Breeders don't really think about that because after thousands of years of randomly altering a plants DNA through selective breeding, people aren't showing up sick because of it. Most of our modern crops were created using this random process.

Contrast a traditionally altered plant with a plant that was altered in a lab and you will begin to see why it is so difficult to convince a biologist that GMOs (in general) are more dangerous than traditionally modified plants.

A GMO plant is a plant where, out of the hundreds of thousand of proteins, no more than a few protein in that plant have been engineered into the plant by people who already have a better understanding of those proteins than an organic farmer has of the dozens of new proteins that show up in a new traditionally bred variety of plant.

By the logic you are using every single new variety of seed (whether organic or GMO) should be put through the same gauntlet of tests that we put new drugs through.

Should we be concerned about ALL new varieties of crops? Should we make a label to signify "this is a new variety of plant, and contains proteins (chemicals) that have not been thoroughly studied."for every single new variety of plant?

agelbert reply to Will


The logic I am using is the precautionary principle. You want to dance around it by citing the complexity of cellular mechanisms in biota. You wish to ignore the facts about how what we eat is governed more by short term profits, pseudo scientific nutrition marketing hype and outright labeling falsehoods on behalf of corporate profit.

Let's stick to our history of degrading the nutrition in the human food supply by using mechanistic reductionist "scientific" stupidity like fossil fuel based fertilizers and pesticides. The fertilizers themselves, though they produce larger plant products, actually have LESS nutrition due the FACT, as established by several U.N. studies, that essential trace minerals are lacking in them.

Plants need a LOT MORE than a chemical co cktail of  nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (NPK), as any plant biologist not working for big Ag (or/and Monsanto) is keenly aware of.

The Empathy Deficit Disordered segment of our scientists (thank God there ARE scientists who actually do care about human nutrition) did ZERO to request a detailed study of the ACTUAL nutritive value of the "higher yield" crops produced by monoculture, high pesticide, high chemical fertilizer, high fossil fuel, soil degrading industrial "modern" farming.

And then it got worse. Those same scientists who couldn't seem to measure anything but the APPEARANCE and the WEIGHT of the crops, decided to GMO the life forms so they would produce their own pesticide/herbicide. Yes, in nature there are several plant varieties that use certain chemical defense mechanisms to compete for space and nutrition with other plants as well as produce certain toxins to ward off animals. But that is NOT what the Monsanto scientists were mimicking, regardless of what their feverish, profit orientated and empirical data challenged minds believed.

They were VERY SPECIFIC in the GMO product. They were so SPECIFIC, that they patented it. That flies totally in the face of your "logic" that claims that we can't test for "everything". Sorry, we not only CAN test a patented product, we MUST test it.

In fact, Monsanto DOES TEST THEIR GMOs THOROUGHLY. They just keep the results secret. Monsanto had no difficulty whatsoever testing hither and yon to find out if somebody is growing "their" (wind blown seeds and whatnot) product in order to sue a farmer. Monsanto had no difficulty extensively testing the short term effects on life forms that ate the GMO and deep sixing all the "negative" data about  carcinogenic effects. You don't want to go there. That is dissembling. Shame on you.

But, just for the hell of it, let us say that you have a valid point and we just "can't afford" (that's what it's all about to you, isn't it?) to spend money on testing all the many and varied genetic changes in plant products that we eat.

WHY then, do we ONLY have a small sample of the over 250 excellent and highly nutritious (for thousands of years!) vegetable and fruit products routinely eaten by humans reach our food markets?

Because of the "magic" of the marketplace? NOPE. It's because of an INTENSIVE STUDY by the food marketing industry to find the hardiest fruit and vegetables that could be harvested and shipped with low spoilage. This occurred mostly at the beginning of the 20th century. They didn't give a good God Damn how nutritious they were. They just looked for human eye appeal, general taste appeal and ease of shipping, PERIOD.

Advertising and hype took care of the rest. Then, AND ONLY THEN (not before the product was selected, as should have been the case in a sane world that relies on science for nutrition facts) were the scientists brought in to tell us all about the potassium in bananas, the vitamin C in oranges and so on. NEVER MIND that there are fruit MUCH HIGHER in potassium than bananas. NEVER MIND that there are fruit with FAR MORE vitamin C than oranges,

The end result of this poverty of plant products in our markets is monoculture plaguing the biosphere and conscience free scientists out to make said plant species into drought tolerant, pesticide resistant super plants with no care WHATSOEVER about the long term effects on human health and nutrition, never mind the deleterious effects of massive monoculture on the biosphere.

For example, virtually all HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is made from DENT CORN. Dent corn is NOT edible.

Did you know that? Did you know we grow more Dent corn than the "sweet" corn edible types by several orders of magnitude? Did you know that ALL Dent corn is GMOed corn? Did you know that it is impossible to rid HFCS of all the DNA from the plant it was derived from? Did you know that over two THOUSAND processed foods in our supermarkets have HFCS made from DENT CORN in them? Do you think that's A-fuc king-OKAY?

Yeah, you probably do. It's just fine to run an uncontrolled experiment on humans but it's "too hard" and "too complicated" to go back to the over 250 vegetable and fruit products found in nature that could enhance human health, nutrition and vitality.

I don't think you have absolutely any basis for your reasoning except short term profit. That is not science; that is conscience free greed.

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 20, 2015, 02:30:46 pm
13 Arrested Blockading Crestwood Gate With Giant Replica of Pope Francis’ Encyclical

We Are Seneca Lake | July 20, 2015 12:50 pm

In an act of civil disobedience against gas storage in Seneca Lake salt caverns, 13 Finger Lakes residents, led by local members of the Ithaca Catholic Worker Movement, formed a human blockade shortly after sunrise this morning at the north entrance of Crestwood Midstream on Route 14.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F07%2Fmain_seneca650.jpg&hash=b4a1fb92c6046c2d15c5ef4bc7943edc63984875)
Schuyler County deputies arrested the 13 people blockading Crestwood’s gate shortly after 9:30 a.m. today as they sang and read from the Pontifical document. Photo credit: We Are Seneca Lake


 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)
http://ecowatch.com/2015/07/20/crestwood-pope-francis-encyclical/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 24, 2015, 07:04:42 pm
House passes bill to stop states from requiring GMO labels   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

SNIPPET:

Quote
Gov. Peter Shumlin, who signed Vermont’s GMO law, said the fight by lobbyists in Washington would galvanize consumers in favor of such mandates. His office called Vermont “ground zero” in the fight to institute GMO labeling.

“Monsanto and their corporate food allies have millions of dollars to dedicate to this fight, and today’s vote shows that they are quite skilled in using those vast resources to buy votes in Congress,” Shumlin said in a statement.

What the corporation couldn’t do, he said, was win the war.

“Millions of Americans are demanding the right to know what is in their food. And every time Monsanto fights tooth and nail to deny people that right, all they do is grow the ranks of ordinary Americans,” Shumlin said. “So this message is for Monsanto: Bring it on.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)

http://vtdigger.org/2015/07/23/house-passes-bill-to-stop-states-from-requiring-gmo-labels/

https://youtu.be/5xeILj2yYR0
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 25, 2015, 05:33:08 pm
Vandana Shiva: ‘We Must End Monsanto’s Colonization, It’s Enslavement of Farmers’ (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-028.gif&hash=24570cb7e8246617010ce900a07bc85117ff78ca)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)


Dr. Vandana Shiva | July 25, 2015 10:39 am

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)
Excellent and detailed article PLUS Monsanto Trolls get their asses handed to them in the comments section.  ;D

http://ecowatch.com/2015/07/25/vandana-shiva-end-monsanto/



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 29, 2015, 06:01:21 pm
9 Ways Climate Change Is Making Us Sick

Yes, climate change is causing hurricanes, droughts and making sea level rise. But it’s also making us sick. Illnesses related to a warming planet are on the rise. Here are nine specific maladies related to climate change that could be affecting you or those you love and five ways for dealing with them.

http://ecowatch.com/2015/07/29/climate-change-making-us-sick/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 30, 2015, 06:43:32 pm
THURSDAY, July 30, 2015     

MAKING WAVES IN THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY


Maritime shipping produces some 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon War Room's Shipping Efficiency operation and its A to G GHG Emissions Rating are changing that. 

Quote
They noted that one ship — often worth tens of millions of dollars — is the equivalent of a power station on the water, with some of the world’s largest vessels emitting as much SOx, for example, as one million cars.  :o  :( Improve ships, and you could flip a significant amount of carbon and other emissions. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)


If the maritime shipping industry were a country it would be among the top ten producers of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally.


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)


https://medium.com/solutions-journal-summer-2015/making-waves-in-the-shipping-industry-8fc692432ff





Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 31, 2015, 08:30:49 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.naturalhi.com%2Fskin%2Ffrontend%2Fnhi%2Fhcs%2Fimages%2Fh_worthonessalt.jpg&hash=75bd4a2f5aded64b5710f313b83cb2200140ab52)

How Much Salt Is Used to Treat Roads in the US?

Over 40 million tons of salt is used in the US each year in a variety of applications. Roughly 30% of that salt, or around 12 million tons, is used in the process of de-icing roads.

Salt can assist snow-fighters in clearing roads, as it lowers the temperature at which water can freeze. Using salt on roads was a method first adopted state-wide by New Hampshire in the early 1940s and rapidly spread throughout the United States over the 50s and 60s.

While using salt is currently the cheapest method of de-icing highways and is considered very effective at reducing accident rates, it does have drawbacks. Primarily, the introduction of so much salt into waterways each year can disrupt ecosystems and lead to contamination of drinking water supplies.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723)

More about salt:

•The US produces the majority of the salt it consumes, through mining, solar evaporation and vacuum evaporation.

•The salt mine underneath Detroit was started in 1906 and is currently around 1160 feet deep, covering an area of over 1500 acres.  :o
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.squarespace.com%2Fstatic%2F51474db8e4b0090a1cadec29%2Ft%2F51487828e4b0e61bb0acf7e9%2F1363703850891%2Fminetunnel.png%3F&hash=a7b638bb0f2769467e9ddc182a7b07fa51b9a6a2)

•Ancient Roman legionnaires were paid in salt, and this is thought to be the origin of the word "salary".
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.romeacrosseurope.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F06%2Fsalario.png&hash=ea461546e1bf2c0b350cb6f486c8d0a1996b9e30)


http://www.wisegeek.com/how-much-salt-is-used-to-treat-roads-in-the-us.htm

SALT, like Carbon Dioxide, is THERE for a GOOD reason. We just need to know how much is too much.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F129fs238648.gif&hash=bbf8ad9cbaff9e7d3097c40c21a931e6649a237f)

(https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/map-02.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 05, 2015, 06:49:53 pm
Quote
"Slide 8 Population growth, consumption and production patterns
It is important to highlight that it is not population levels per se that are the main cause of environmental degradation, but rather the associated consumption and production patterns. An important challenge in terms of environmental management is to find an appropriate balance in terms of inter and intra-generation equity: how to meet the basic needs of the existing population (such as food, shelter, health, education, and clothing), without unduly impacting on the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs.

As is highlighted in some of the following slides, finding this balance will require significant innovation in terms of our current production and consumption patterns."   


  Module 2: The business case for the Global Compact Environmental Principles (PDF - 305 KB)  Slide 9 The 20% of the world’s population living in the highest income countries are responsible for 86% of total private consumption compared with the poorest 20%, who account for only 1.3%.  (http://www.unep.fr/shared/publications/other/dtix0601xpa/pdf/en/UN_Train_Mod2.pdf)

Here's the Power Point slide show. You need power point software to view it.

 The Global Compact Environmental Principles Training Package - Complete set of training modules, case studies, sources for further information and PowerPoint slides related to each of the module sessions (M2 (Module 2) Session 1: has the slide you are looking for).    (http://www.unep.fr/shared/publications/other/dtix0601xpa/")

Please pass it on.  Too many people are woefully misinformed. Consequently, they are scapegoating the poor masses of the planet, to the joy of the main polluters.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-260214201233.png&hash=2c784ea86c703de06549ce14091214ff7fc0d461)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 07, 2015, 11:50:28 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070815234504.png&hash=985389b97dcdb7597d06de1ad53ff044c1fca800)

The fossil fuel government has the fossil fuel (welfare queen) industry's back!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) And OUR our wallet!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)


Quote
Did you know you could get billions of dollars from the US government to be in the oil business? Or the coal industry? Or fracking? In this satirical infomercial, famous American government grant guru Matthew Lesko shows how you too can get billions of dollars from the government to destroy the environment!

• Seriously, fossil fuel companies are racking in billions from subsidies. Learn more  here. (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/18/fossil-fuel-companies-getting-10m-a-minute-in-subsidies-says-imf)

• This is part of our comedy series, Climate change: too hot to handle

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2015/aug/07/fossil-fuels-govenment-subsidies-satire-video (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2015/aug/07/fossil-fuels-govenment-subsidies-satire-video)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 11, 2015, 06:49:50 pm
Divestment Goes Global (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191258.bmp&hash=e4ed21caaca822f7445ccafd39f49a9f84be90ca)

The student movement to defund the fossil fuel industry graduates and goes to work. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmaniac.gif&hash=9ecf389a7da25db958f3f63461cbb45a4b316c4e)

By Rosie Spinks

http://sierraclub.org/sierra/2015-5-september-october/feature/divestment-goes-global
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 12, 2015, 06:45:04 pm
08/11/2015 03:46 PM     
New Zealand Waves Goodbye to Coal  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

SustainableBusiness.com News

New Zealand made a big announcement: the era of coal is about to end.


 In late 2018, the last two coal-fired power plants will shut down.

"Historically coal has played an important role in ensuring the security of New Zealand's electricity supply, particularly in dry years where our hydro-lake levels are low. But significant market investment in other forms of renewable energy in recent years, particularly in geothermal, means that a coal backstop is becoming less of a requirement," explains Simon Bridges, Minister of Energy and Resources.

The utility, Genesis Energy, decided to close the plants because of the "development of lower cost renewable generation, principally wind and geothermal, investment in the HVDC link, and relatively flat growth in consumer and industrial demand for electricity," says CEO Albert Brantley.

Coal Emissions

 "Advance notice of the unit closures will give the energy industry time to consider further investment in renewables," says Bridges, noting that significant geothermal projects have been approved and are waiting for development.

Hydro is the main source of electricity, and combined with geothermal (about 14%), supplied 80% of power last year. Geothermal is growing rapidly, surpassing natural gas for the first time in 2014. The goal is to run on 90% renewable electricity by 2025.

 New Zealand greatly lags developed nations for solar with just 13 megawatts because of the lack of any policy support. The industry is expected to begin growing anyway now prices are so low  ;D, but right now a mere 13 MW is installed, according to Renewable Energy World. 

 Last month, New Zealand submitted a fairly weak climate target to the UN - emission cuts of 30% by 2030 from 2005 levels. 46% of emissions come from agriculture (even though it leads on organic acreage), in contrast to 11% in most developed countries, according to the Ministry for the Environment. The country has been running a cap-and-trade system since 2010, but it doesn't include agriculture.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26404
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 13, 2015, 07:40:07 pm
If I gave you that impression AG, then you misconstrued what I was trying to say. I view your comments as extremely valuable, and I always listen to them.

Eddie,
I guess I misconstrued your comments. My point is that the status quo is corrupt. It appeared that you were concerned that eroding the authority and legitimacy of the EPA was a bad thing. If they weren't corrupted by profit over planet polluting bastards, that would be the case. It's not. They have a revolving door in the EPA too, you know. I can prove it. To state that "they are a Federal Agency" is true. But to state that while not adding that they are now a kowtowing tool of polluter corporations ignores their 24/7 role in socializing environmental costs and privatizing profits for MKing's pals.

In its early days, the EPA did some good. They cleaned up a lot of rivers, cleaned up sites like Love Canal and St. Joe Mining. Somewhere along the road to Reaganomics, it seems to have turned into what you describe.

Two things desperately need to happen.

(a) the people must be informed about what has happened to the EPA.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)


(b) we need to transform it or eliminate it.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e)


Item (a) is just a means to accomplish (b), and if we choose to eliminate it,  we should then replace it with something that works to protect people and planet.

Rise Up!!

JRM,
A good place to start is Josh Fox, maker of Gasland one and two.. If you didn't see Gasland, please do. It predicted the kind of environmental poison sandwich we are experiencing, as well as documenting the fracking poison sandwich that MKing never stops defending.

Quote

Leading Environmentalist: EPA an Oil Industry Mouthpiece
 
'Gasland' director Josh Fox calls fracking study ‘proof of the widespread, systemic contamination of our regulatory bodies’

BY:  Lachlan Markay   
June 8, 2015 5:00 am

Anti-energy activist and documentarian Josh Fox believes the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency is shilling for fossil fuel companies.

“They will stick with the industry till all our water is contaminated, our air polluted and climate change has made our planet unlivable,” the filmmaker director said on Friday following the release of a widely anticipated EPA study on the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The innovative oil and gas extraction technique has no “widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water,” the agency found. There were isolated incidents of water contamination among the wells tested, but “the number of identified cases … was small compared to the number of hydraulically fractured wells.”

Fox dismissed the findings in a column on the website EcoWatch.

“What the EPA presented to the public yesterday was PR, not science and proof of the widespread, systemic contamination of our regulatory bodies by the oil and gas industry,” Fox wrote.

“It is clear that EPA is a political agency not a scientific one,” he wrote on Twitter.

Fox is one of the country’s most high-profile anti-fracking activists. His 2011 documentary Gasland was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary and won a number of other awards.

The film claimed that fracked natural gas wells had contaminated nearby drinking water supplies. It gained broad attention for footage of a Colorado resident igniting the water coming from his kitchen faucet.

The Colorado town where the scene was filmed had reported naturally occurring methane in its drinking water for decades, before any wells in the area were hydraulically fractured. Fox later said he was aware of that fact, but didn’t include it in the film because “it’s not relevant.”

EPA’s study directly undercuts Fox’s case for water contamination. Gas from fractured shale formations is “unlikely to extend upward from these deep formations into shallow drinking water aquifers,” the study found.

Fox accused EPA of “burying the science with a misleading headline that supports the Obama Administration’s pro-fracking policies rather than reveal the true dangers of fracking.”

He has previously said that rolling electricity blackouts would be preferable to the use of hydraulic fracturing for energy extraction.

http://freebeacon.com/issues/leading-environmentalist-epa-an-oil-industry-mouthpiece/ (http://freebeacon.com/issues/leading-environmentalist-epa-an-oil-industry-mouthpiece/)

The EPA is THOROUGHLY infiltrated (as in COOPTED) by the polluting corporations, be they fossil fuel, nuclear power, mining, chemical or pharmaceutical industries. Predatory Capitalism is the cause, NOT "inefficient" gooberment.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 16, 2015, 04:23:37 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Remember the old "but, but we LIVE LONGER. That's why we get more diseases  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)" EXCUSE the profit over planet polluters have always given? An objective scientific study confirms IT'S NOT TRUE!

The Reason Brain Diseases Have Quadrupled in 21 Years

Given the power of modern medicine, why have brain diseases increased by four times?

Rates of brain diseases are increasing at almost epidemic rates, especially in the US, a new study reports.

Researchers have compared figures for neurological disease from 1989 with those from 2010 across 21 Western countries.

They found that dementia is starting, on average, a decade earlier in 2010 than it was in 1989.

In the US, the figures are particularly worrying.

Women over 75 are suffering five times as many neurological deaths as they were two decades ago.

The same comparison for men over 75 shows a three-fold increase in neurological deaths.

Professor Colin Pritchard, who led the study, said: “The rate of increase in such a short time suggests a silent or even a ‘hidden’ epidemic, in which environmental factors must play a major part, not just aging.

Modern living produces multi-interactional environmental pollution but the changes in human morbidity, including neurological disease is remarkable and points to environmental influences.”

Professor Pritchard continued: “In part, some of the results are explained by more effective treatments for cancer and heart disease, with advances in medicine making such physical illnesses easier to treat, whilst there have been less advances in the treatment of neurological conditions.

Crucially it is not just because people are living longer to get diseases  they previously would not have lived long enough to develop  but older people are developing neurological disease more than ever before.

The environmental changes in the last 20 years have seen increases in the human environment of petro-chemicals — air transport- quadrupling of motor vehicles, insecticides and rises in background electro-magnetic-field, and so on.

These results will not be welcome news as there are many with short-term vested interests that will want to ignore them.


It is not that we want to stop the modern world but rather make it safer.

Essentially, it is time for us to wake up and realize that a major problem we now face is unprecedented levels of neurological disease, not just the earlier dementias and thinking of the USA — `when America sneezes, Europe gets cold a decade later.” The study was published in the journal Surgical Neurology International (Pritchard & Rosenorn-Lanng, 2015).

http://www.spring.org.uk/2015/08/the-reason-brain-diseases-have-quadrupled-in-21-years.php

Quote
"The core responsibility assigned to governments in democracies is the public welfare, protecting the human birthright to basic needs: clean air, water, land, and a place to live, under equitable rules of access to all common property resources.

It is astonishing to discover that major political efforts in democracies can be turned to undermining the core purpose of government, destroying the factual basis for fair and effective protection of essential common property resources of all to feed the financial interests of a few.

These efforts, limiting scientific research on environment, denying the validity of settled facts and natural laws, are a shameful dance, far below acceptable or reputable political behavior. It can be treated not as a reasoned alternative, but scorned for what it is – simple thievery." —George M. Woodwell, Woods Hole Research Center founder


Agelbert NOTE: Now, to the LONG LIST of the "EXTERNALIZED" costs gifted us by the Empathy Deficit Disordered "greed is good" crowd, we must add a three to five fold increase in neurological diseases.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)


The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleteing CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 16, 2015, 07:28:05 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-160815192340.png&hash=7ac0161e9ef776d2d5d3eb3099f6bcda8156391e)
Mining MENS REA AND EPA lies.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.sodahead.com%2Fpolls%2F000370273%2Fpolls_Smiley_Angry_256x256_3451_356175_answer_4_xlarge.png&hash=15577651daa4c35ff4d6b26217f99db6ebfde0b3)



http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/colorful_colorado_20150814
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 01, 2015, 01:08:58 am
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010915010353.png&hash=b340ec80b78b071da22079369f316de990845bb8)
Web Site for the above Interactive Air Quality Map which can be zoomed to your area:

http://www.epi.yale.edu/visuals/airmap/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 02, 2015, 09:00:39 pm
Shilling for Dollars
(https://frackorporation.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/gilbert-ross.gif)

Front groups with official and impressive name such as Medicine and Public Health at the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) tend to lend an air of authoritative credibility to a given issue. It carries the impression of being an expert source.

To increase the “expert credibility” image, add someone with a few letters before and/or after their name to the staff.

But is the front group or its representatives really an expert and credible organization?  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1730.gif&hash=cdaf50326d98ff7b051a9c49e83d51c7bb687407)

Full article:
https://frackorporation.wordpress.com/2015/08/15/shilling-for-dollars/

Agelbert NOTE:
The short answer is NO. The ACSH is funded by a rogues gallery of polluters. The scientists they employ are bought and paid for to distort, dissemble and twist the science of applied physics (see "High Energy Density" of fossil fuels happy talk) and climate science along with several other pro-corporate and anti-people propaganda). The ACSH exists to perpetuate the profit over planet polluting status quo, PERIOD.



Why You Can’t Trust the American Council on Science and Health

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Gary Ruskin

The American Council on Science and Health is a front group for the tobacco, agrichemical, fossil fuel, pharmaceutical and other industries.

Personnel

ACSH’s “Medical/Executive Director” is Dr. Gilbert Ross.[2] In 1993, according to United Press International, Dr. Ross was “convicted of racketeering, mail fraud and conspiracy,” and was “sentenced to 47 months in jail, $40,000 in forfeiture and restitution of $612,855” in a scheme to defraud the Medicaid system.[3]
ACSH’s Dr. Ross was found to be a “highly untrustworthy individual” by a judge who sustained the exclusion of Dr. Ross from Medicaid for ten years.[4]


Funding
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

ACSH has often billed itself as an “independent” group, and has been referred to as “independent” in the press. However, according to internal ACSH financial documents obtained by Mother Jones:

“ACSH planned to receive a total of $338,200 from tobacco companies between July 2012 and June 2013. Reynolds American and Phillip Morris International were each listed as expected to give $100,000 in 2013, which would make them the two largest individual donations listed in the ACSH documents.”[5]

“ACSH donors in the second half of 2012 included Chevron ($18,500), Coca-Cola ($50,000), the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation ($15,000), Dr. Pepper/Snapple ($5,000), Bayer Cropscience ($30,000), Procter and Gamble ($6,000), agribusiness giant Syngenta ($22,500), 3M ($30,000), McDonald’s ($30,000), and tobacco conglomerate Altria ($25,000).

Among the corporations and foundations that ACSH has pursued for financial support since July 2012 are Pepsi, Monsanto, British American Tobacco, DowAgro, ExxonMobil Foundation, Philip Morris International, Reynolds American, the Koch family-controlled Claude R. Lambe Foundation, the Dow-linked Gerstacker Foundation, the Bradley Foundation, and the Searle Freedom Trust.”[6]

ACSH has received $155,000 in contributions from Koch foundations from 2005-2011, according to Greenpeace.[7]

Indefensible and incorrect statements on science
ACSH has:

Claimed that “There is no evidence that exposure to secondhand smoke involves heart attacks or cardiac arrest.”[8]

Argued that “there is no scientific consensus concerning global warming. The climate change predictions are based on computer models that have not been validated and are far from perfect.”[9]

Argued that fracking “doesn’t pollute water or air.”[10]

Claimed that “The scientific evidence is clear. There has never been a case of ill health linked to the regulated, approved use of pesticides in this country.”[11]

Declared that “There is no evidence that BPA [bisphenol A] in consumer products of any type, including cash register receipts, are harmful to health.”[12]

Argued that the exposure to mercury, a potent neurotoxin, “in conventional seafood causes no harm in humans.”[13]

Footnotes

[2] “Meet the ACSH Team,” American Council on Science and Health website.

[3] “Seven Sentenced for Medicaid Fraud.” United Press International, December 6, 1993. See also correspondence from Tyrone T. Butler, Director, Bureau of Adjudication, State of New York Department of Health to Claudia Morales Bloch, Gilbert Ross and Vivian Shevitz, “RE: In the Matter of Gilbert Ross, M.D.” March 1, 1995. Bill Hogan, “Paging Dr. Ross.” Mother Jones, November 2005. Martin Donohoe MD FACP, “Corporate Front Groups and the Abuse of Science: The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH).” Spinwatch, June 25, 2010.

[4] Department of Health and Human Services, Departmental Appeals Board, Civil Remedies Division, In the Cases of Gilbert Ross, M.D. and Deborah Williams M.D., Petitioners, v. The Inspector General. June 16, 1997. Docket Nos. C-94-368 and C-94-369. Decision No. CR478.

[5] Andy Kroll and Jeremy Schulman, “Leaked Documents Reveal the Secret Finances of a Pro-Industry Science Group.” Mother Jones, October 28, 2013. “American Council on Science and Health Financial Report, FY 2013 Financial Update.” Mother Jones, October 28, 2013.

[6] Andy Kroll and Jeremy Schulman, “Leaked Documents Reveal the Secret Finances of a Pro-Industry Science Group.” Mother Jones, October 28, 2013. “American Council on Science and Health Financial Report, FY 2013 Financial Update.” Mother Jones, October 28, 2013.

[7] “Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group: American Council on Science and Health (ACSH).” Greenpeace. See also Rebekah Wilce, “Kochs and Corps Have Bankrolled American Council on Science and Health.” PR Watch, July 23, 2014.

[8] Richard Craver, “The Effects of the Smoking Ban.” Winston-Salem Journal, December 12, 2012.

[9] Elizabeth Whelan, “’Global Warming’ Not Health Threat.” PRI (Population Research Institute) Review, January 1, 1998.

[10] Elizabeth Whelan, “Fracking Doesn’t Pose Health Risks.” The Daily Caller, April 29, 2013.

[11] “TASSC: The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition,” p. 9. Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, University of California, San Francisco. November 21, 2001. Bates No. 2048294227-2048294237.

[12] “The Top 10 Unfounded Health Scares of 2012.” American Council on Science and Health, February 22, 2013.

[13] “The Biggest Unfounded Health Scares of 2010.” American Council on Science and Health, December 30, 2010.

Food For Thought, Hall of Shame

http://usrtk.org/hall-of-shame/why-you-cant-trust-the-american-council-on-science-and-health/

Agelbert NOTE:
Here is an excellent example of pseudo scientific baloney published by the ACSH (it's three years old but the same baloney continues to be peddled by fossil fuelers and those that swallowed their mendacious propaganda):

Energy Density: Why Gasoline Is Here To Stay  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)

By Hank Campbell   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0) | August 2nd 2012 11:00 PM

SNIPPET 1 - The Pretense of Objectivity Wind Up (i.e. tough love "real world" baloney mixed with sympathy laced rhetoric):

Like people who approach geopolitics with the attitude of "If people would just talk to each other, we would all along", there are a lot of naïve assumptions about just dumping gasoline.

We know it causes emissions, and emissions are bad, we know a lot of the money paid for oil goes to fund Middle Eastern terrorism, and that is bad - those things should cause both the left and the right in America to want gasoline gone. And yet it is not gone. The reason is simple: gasoline is a lot more efficient than alternative energy proponents want to believe.


SNIPPET 2 - The pitch:

Energy density is the amount of stored energy in something; in the case of gasoline we talk in America about a 1 gallon volume but I will use both metric and standard for the values. Gasoline has an energy density of about 44 megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg), converted to American values that is 1.3 × 108 J/gallon.


SNIPPET 3 (Just ONE of SEVERAL real world AND applied physics LIES):

Ethanol was the last craze of the Anything-But-Oil contingent yet even they had to succumb to reality and recognize that the lower energy density meant 25% worse gas mileage - worse for people, worse for food prices and worse for the environment.
http://www.science20.com/science_20/energy_density_why_gasoline_here_stay-91403
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-090315203150.png&hash=c52cac3e4572a3609fd1a46ef50b96a57ce04554)


Agelbert NOTE: To begin with, ethanol is not a "craze". It was not a craze in 2012 and, because presently 15 billion gallons of it are made a year (http://www.e100ethanolgroup.com/Can_We_Really_Do_This_.html), it certainly isn't one now.

But the fact that the author is so ignorant of history (Edison labs in partnership with the U.S. Navy, in the first decade of the 20th century, PROVED that ethanol was a superior fuel to gasoline - It was rather convenient for Standard Oil that Prohibition just happened to come along after Rockefeller funded the temperance movement to the tune of several million dollars...) is informative about the questionable scientific objectivity of the author.  ;)

The author puts up a happy talk graph showing gasoline as the high energy density champion over E85. He leaves out E100 (an informative omission that points squarely at a fossil fuel bias).

The chart is accurate. So what's the problem? The problem is that energy density of gasoline and ethanol is a process determined in the lab, by scientists, in certain standardized conditions. I'm CERTAIN fossil fuelers know this. The energy density of about 44 MJ/kg) for gasoline is determined by heating water, in an open flame in standard atmospheric conditions (a fixed temperature and pressure - sea level at 59 degrees F). 

If the above appears irrelevant to you, let me remind you that heating water in an open flame is an EXTERNAL combustion process. It is true that gasoline will heat that water quicker than ethanol.  ;D

But, unless you have a steam engine running your car, you need to consider how much WORK you can get from gasoline versus ethanol in an INTERNAL combustion engine. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457)

The author neglected to mention that ethanol (E100) has a higher octane rating than non-leaded gasoline, even though E100 has a lower energy density.  ;D High octane ratings give a fuel better mileage as long as you oxidize them in a high compression internal combustion engines. That is why tetra-ethyl lead was invented to help our children's IQ... You see, ethanol was outlawed for fuel thanks to Prohibition... And, by the way, leaded gasoline is STILL LEGAL for use in aircraft internal combustion engine, all of which are high compression engines. Do you live under the approach to general aviation airport? Then you are getting the "benefit" of still another "externalized" cost thanks to the fossil fuel industry.

When you mix gasoline with ethanol (e.g. E85) you LOWER the octane rating. IOW, you are making it LESS efficient. You are making it LESS competitive with gasoline. You are getting the waste heat disadvantage of gasoline and losing the a part of the high octane rating of ethanol. That is Inefficient. That is unscientific. That is STUPID. But that is convenient and profitable for the fossil fuel industry. You might ask yourself why E100 is in common use in Brazil, but not in the USA. I'll give you three guesses - the first two don't count.  ;)

Why ethanol's octane rating is higher than that of non-leaded gasoline if ethanol has a lower energy density? Because ethanol is of uniform chemical structure. Consequently, it burns evenly and does not suffer from pre-ignition (like low octane gasoline DOES) which can severely damage an engine.

More thermodynamically important, however,  the consistent chemical structure of E100 ensures complete combustion, aided by the fact that it carries it's own oxygen.

In addition, ethanol has extremely low waste heat because, unlike gasoline, it doesn't produce carbon deposits from incomplete combustion on the cylinder walls that increase friction and decrease engine life.

Unlike an engine running on gasoline, you can touch the block, or the manifold, of an engine running on ethanol with your hand AND KEEP IT THERE without getting burned. This has huge savings implications for engine design that the fossil fuel industry has done it's best to keep from internal combustion engine designers and manufacturers (more on that below).

IN SUMMARY, "High energy density" calculations  are based on EXTERNAL thermodynamic combustion processes. It is true that gasoline will boil water in an open flame faster than ethanol will. That doesn't have beans to do with automobiles.

But when INTERNAL combustion is involved, ethanol produces more useful work than gasoline. That has EVERYTHING to do with automobiles.

But there is more the fossil fuel industry does not want most people to know. Due to the fact that ethanol burns so cleanly and has such low waste heat, a high compression internal combustion engine specifically designed for ethanol would be about 30% lighter (i.e. a lot cheaper) because the metal alloys involved would not have to be engineered to withstand the engine stressing waste heat that gasoline generates. Of course, said internal combustion engine (ICE) could not be approved for running gasoline. Gasoline would trash an engine designed specifically to run on ethanol in short order. The fossil fuel industry would not like that at all.

A lighter ICE running ethanol would then get even more mechanical energy (i.e. WORK) out of each gallon because less engine weight would need to be moved along with the car and occupants.

The Fossil Fuel Industry knows all that. That is why they continuously try to demonize and talk down ethanol biofuel with mendacity and dissembling about "low ERoEI", "water in the fuel" and "corrosion".

I, and many others, have exposed all that fossil fuel industry self serving propaganda. But they just keep throwing it out there to try to preserve the TOTALLY unscientific basis for claiming fossil fuels are a "better fuel" than E100 (pure ethanol).

Don't believe them. And check to see who is doing the funding when you read happy talk about fossil fuels.

The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) is not objective, science based or credible. Hank Campbell, like the fossil fueler MKing that haunts the Doomstead Diner, is not interested in scientific objectivity; preserving the fossil fuel profit over planet status quo with mens rea mendacity is behind everything they write. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)



Further reading that methodically takes apart some relatively recent pseudo scientific baloney by the "illustrious" Professor Charles Hall, friend of fossil fuelers everywhere.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)


Renewables have higher ERoEI than fossil fuels (http://bountifulenergy.blogspot.com/2014/07/renewables-have-higher-eroei-than.html)

  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fus.123rf.com%2F400wm%2F400%2F400%2Fyayayoy%2Fyayayoy1106%2Fyayayoy110600019%2F9735563-smiling-sun-showing-thumb-up.jpg&hash=09b45642ec6d7943d30b5b87548676e3ee7dbe3d)

 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 04, 2015, 06:29:24 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040915182719.jpeg&hash=90bbf211c8b8b7824eae8567b0381a94f8b65136)
Why Did 60,000 Endangered Antelopes Mysteriously Die in Four Days?  ???

Lorraine Chow | September 4, 2015 11:42 am

This past May, a large herd of saigas—a critically endangered antelope in Kazakhstan—died en masse, to the horror of conservationists worldwide. More than 120,000 of these creatures had mysteriously died across the Central Asian country in two weeks, including a whopping 60,000 saigas in central Kazakhstan in just four short days.

In a few short weeks, one-third of the worldwide population of saigas—known for its distinctive bulbous nose and for its key role in steppe grassland ecosystems—were found dead. Scientists had no idea why.  :(

“I’m flustered looking for words here,” Joel Berger, a senior scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, told The New York Times in June. “To lose 120,000 animals in two or three weeks is a phenomenal thing.  :o  :(”

The horrendous population dive stopped suddenly that June, causing even more confusion.

But now, as Live Science reported, scientists believe they have pinpointed the culprit—a common and normally harmless bacteria that lives in the animals’ bodies.

According to Live Science, an extensive analysis revealed that that toxins produced by Pasteurella and possibly Clostridia bacteria caused extensive bleeding in the animals’ organs. Pasteurella, a gut bacteria found in all ruminants such as saigas, is harmless unless the animal already has a weakened immune systems.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F09%2Fsaigadistribution.png&hash=ddcc4b8769ba6343960731dca26eca074031e99b)
The current saiga antelope distribution. Photo credit: Google maps

Scientists have yet to figure out why this typically harmless bacteria has led to mass death.

One possible theory, according to wildlife vet and lead investigator Steffen Zuther, is an exceptionally cold winter followed by a very wet spring that could have caused the bacteria to become widespread in the environment, Live Science reported.

Zuther said that female saigas, which cluster up to calve their young, were hit the hardest. The mothers died first followed by their calves, as they are too young to eat any vegetation. This suggests mothers’ milk transmitted whatever was killing the animals.

Mass die-offs of the antelope—as well many other animal populations—are not unusual in nature. As Inquistr noted, about 270,000 saigas died in 1988, and 12,000 in 2010, but scientists are concerned that another hit could devastate the entire saiga population.

Saigas are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. A few herds live in Kazakhstan as well as one small herd in Russia and Mongolia. It’s currently estimated there are around 50,000 left.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F09%2Fsaigapop.png&hash=fbfda258d198603faa5bd46a985846acca29eeee)
Saiga antelopes are one of the fastest declining mammal species on our planet today. Photo credit: Saiga Conservation Alliance[/i][/size][/center]

E. J. Milner-Gulland, a conservation biologist at Imperial College London, spoke to The Guardian about the saiga die-offs in June, and the importance of future research into this area.
Quote

“If we understand the factors that contribute to these events, we may be able to mitigate or prevent them in the future,” she said. “This is important because three of the four remaining populations of saiga are at such low levels that an event like this could wipe them out completely.”

She also spoke about another very common but serious threat: humans.

“Hunting is a serious problem,” Milner-Gulland said. “We need to get all these populations to a level that is actually resilient enough to cope with the natural mass mortalities that happen in the saiga antelope. Anti-poaching needs to be a top priority for the Russian and Kazakh governments.”

According to the Saiga Conservation Alliance, poaching is a main factor driving the animal’s population decline. “The saiga’s meat and hide are traditionally valued, but nowadays saiga are primarily hunted for their translucent amber horn, which is used Southeast Asian countries for Chinese Traditional Medicine,” the alliance said.
https://ecowatch.com/2015/09/04/antelopes-mysteriously-died/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 06, 2015, 02:10:31 pm
Real-Time Map Reveals China’s Deadly Air Pollution  :(
Cole Mellino | September 6, 2015 9:19 am

Using Google maps and new data on China’s air pollution, Berkeley researchers created a real-time map of the country’s appalling air quality. The map is based on findings that the scientists published last month in the journal PLoS One. Using hourly air pollution data from more than 1,500 sites, researchers concluded that air pollution is responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.6 million people in China every year, or about 4,400 people a day. That’s roughly 17 percent of all deaths, or put another way, nearly 1 in 5 deaths can be attributed to the country’s toxic air pollution.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F09%2Fairpollutionmap.jpg&hash=522e28f29550805f5ecf5824db148053ce8c4e69)
A near real-time map developed by Berkeley researchers exposes how widespread China’s air pollution problem is.

“Earlier studies put China’s annual air pollution death toll at one to two million, but this is the first to use newly released Chinese air monitoring figures,” says South China Morning Post. The authors of the study are members of Berkeley Earth, an independent nonprofit devoted to “expanding scientific investigations, educating and communicating about climate change, and evaluating mitigation efforts in developing and developed economies.”

Though pollution in China’s northeast corridor running from Beijing to Shanghai is “particularly intense,” the problem is widespread. “Consistent with prior findings, the greatest pollution occurs in the east, but significant levels are widespread across northern and central China and are not limited to major cities or geologic basins,” said researchers. They found that during a four month period from April to August 2014, 92 percent of the population experienced more than 120 hours of “unhealthy air” based on the standards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And 38 percent experienced long-term average concentrations that were unhealthy.

“[The] map provides near real-time information on particulate matter air pollution less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5),” researchers said. PM2.5 is microscopic particulate matter that is small enough to “lodge deep inside a person’s lungs and cause health problems in the long term,” says South China Morning Post. “Under typical conditions, PM2.5 is the most damaging form of air pollution likely to be present, contributing to heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, respiratory infections and other diseases,” say the researchers.

Today, the map shows the areas around Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nantong, Nanjing, Yichang, Luzhou, Qíngdao and Laiwu as having “unhealthy” air quality.

Large portions of the map fall under the category of “unhealthy for sensitive groups” and the vast majority of the mapped area falls under the “moderate” health category. Only a very few small areas fall under the category of “good.” The most unsafe air quality index (180.9) can be found near the city of Yichang, a major economic hub for the region. Its PM2.5 air pollution concentration is 113.4.

To put China’s air pollution problem in perspective, look at Madera, California. The American Lung Association lists Madera’s air pollution as the worst in the country. And yet, “99.9 percent of the eastern half of China has a higher annual average for small particle haze than Madera,” said the study’s lead author, Dr Robert Rohde. “In other words, nearly everyone in China experiences air that is worse for particulates than the worst air in the U.S.”

Earlier this year, a documentary exposing China’s abysmal air quality went viral within days of its release. The film was hailed by some government officials, but was ultimately banned by the state. 
http://ecowatch.com/2015/09/06/china-air-pollution-map/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 07, 2015, 07:50:03 pm
Canada Clears Way for Ecuadorean Case Against Chevron Over ‘Amazon Chernobyl’

Posted on Sep 6, 2015

Canada’s Supreme Court ruled Friday that Ecuadorean villagers can go after Canadian assets of the U.S.-based oil company Chevron. The lawsuit has been one of the most bitterly contested environmental cases in history, involving contamination that environmentalists have dubbed the “Amazon Chernobyl.”

From Al-Jazeera:

The plaintiffs, who include about 30,000 villagers and indigenous people, decided to go after the energy giant’s assets in Canada, Brazil and Argentina after the company contested a ruling by Ecuador’s highest court to pay $9.5 billion to clean up the contamination site.

Communities in the Lago Agrio region of Ecuador allege that Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron in 2001, dumped some 16 billion tons of oil and toxic waste in the Amazon rainforest as a cost-saving measure between 1964 and 1992, Telesur reported. That’s 80 times the amount of oil spilled in the 2010 British Petroleum Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, the Latin American news website added.

Ecuadorian villagers and indigenous communities affected by the contamination allege that it has resulted in illness and death, Telesur reported in June, and that they are still suffering the consequences of Texaco’s actions.

Plaintiffs claim that
Texaco attempted to hide the dumping by covering nearly 1,000 oil pits with vegetation. People eventually built homes over some of the pits, and began coming down with mysterious illnesses, it is claimed.

“It has been 33 years … and I never knew that this was a covered pit,” local resident Serbio Curipoma told Telesur.  :(  >:(

“And my water well is only 4 or 5 meters away. My children and myself are always sick, we get skin rashes, high temperatures from fevers, everything,” he added. “It is unfortunate, and I am worried about my family living in these conditions, my wife has had problems with her uterus.” :(  >:(

Friday’s ruling upheld a 2013 decision by the Ontario court of appeal, confirming that Canada was an appropriate jurisdiction for the case. Because Chevron has no assets in Ecuador, plaintiffs pursued its subsidiary Chevron Canada. The case will now proceed to a lower court in Ontario.

“Canadian courts, like many others, have adopted a generous and liberal approach to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments,” the Canadian Supreme Court said in its ruling.

The plaintiffs, who have been fighting for compensation for more than 20 years, initially sued Texaco – which later merged with Chevron – over the mass contamination.

The Canadian court clarified that it was not taking a position on the merits of the case, only providing an opportunity for it to proceed.

“A finding of jurisdiction does nothing more than afford the plaintiffs the opportunity to seek recognition and enforcement of the Ecuadorian judgment,” Justice Clement Gascon wrote for the court, according to Global News.

Chevron said in a statement that it would continue to fight the Ecuadorian judgment, which it characterized as “the product of fraud and other misconduct, and is therefore illegitimate and unenforceable.”

In 2014, a U.S. judge ruled that an American lawyer working on behalf of plaintiffs to secure the $9.5 billion settlement in Ecuadorian court used corrupt means. That ruling was appealed.
Quote

“It is clearer than ever that Chevron’s long run from justice is coming to an end,”   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fpng%2F200%2Femoticons%2Ffingerscrossed.png&hash=d56f8009d18b55f4cea7be68284c0521be92fc5d)
Aaron Marr Page, a U.S. lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement.

The villagers and indigenous communities affected have vowed to see the case against Chevron through until the corporation cleans up the contamination and adequately compensates them for their losses.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-050315175442.gif&hash=244c0486f303979d386a4fa8d77393769e7516eb) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)



http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/9/4/canada-ecuadorians-can-sue-chevron-in-ontario.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 12, 2015, 07:07:15 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-ZAmqQkKw8FA%2FVD39Zyx2kxI%2FAAAAAAAAPLs%2FtTXoxfpy-Iw%2Fs1600%2F800x489.jpg&hash=1875d8e64f7f056e6a313630394dd9dd3d298c95)
Quote
Nick Breeze interview with East Siberian Arctic Shelf researcher (ESAS) Dr. Natalia Shakhova on why the important news about methane news is not reaching mainstream news. Powerful interests seem to be in the way of Arctic methane education.

UB,
Palloy can tell us what a mathematician's definition of a low probability event or a high probability event is. But, if that is an existential threat, what is the cognitive threshold approximate percentage that would spur the average person to dispense with supporting incremental measures to prevent that threat and demand immediate and massive measures?

IOW, do we perceive a 20% or greater chance of Near Term Human Extinction, even though that is technically a relatively low probability (although a statistically significant one!), as a high probability?

Threat response is a bag of worms even without people making money form convincing people to keep bathing in that river in Egypt.  :P

But isn't part of that denial a refusal to OWN the responsibility for the possibility that the threat is significant enough to merit immediate action, rather than incremental measures?

I go blue in the face every time Monsta brings up his "we are all to blame because of population overshoot" business. But at least he recognizes that there IS an existential threat, even if he has difficulties reading pie charts.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpublic.wsu.edu%2F%7Emreed%2F380American%2520Consumption_files%2Fimage002.jpg&hash=7fabb4509d0360d5510bb06fbd819732886ab6f0)

Anyone can see that if you CULL 80% of human population (ALL the poor and MOST of the middle class), you will not DENT the level of pollution being generated by the rest of Homo Sapdom. Monsta doesn't get that. He really thinks that all those dead people will convince the surviving predators to be nice to the environment.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe)


And there is (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251) that Monsta's wet depopulation dream will solve our environmental problems, not simply because the polluting industry facts state otherwise, but because the morally challenged Predators 'R' US world view of the top 20% is at the ROOT of the degradation of democracy and the biosphere.

But Monsta will not go there. And he will not go there because, if he did, the whole population overshoot thing would be exposed for the scapegoating, blame the victim, ethics challenged rhetoric that it is.

NO, Monsta, all those high resource users will NOT use less resources because 80% of the population died.

THAT is because THAT 80% DOES NOT participate significantly  in the MARKET (see GDP fun and games) for all that industrial STUFF we produce in the piggy counties. the FACTORIES will NOT slow down to a sustainable biosphere 'roar' just because the bottom 80% get offed, as you seem to believe.

Thought Experiment (backed up by U.N. study FACTS): About 20% of the Population of humans does about 80% of the damage to the biosphere. Would it then be logical to reduce the population from the main polluters in equal proportion to the low carbon footprint 80%?

Only if you are logic challenged AND belong to the less than 20% doing more than 80% of the damage.

However, if you think critically, you would understand that the culprit is the carbon footprint of the less than 20% pig humans that everybody posting here belongs to. You would also understand that culling the low carbon footprint masses is, besides being useless to stop the environmental damage, a cruel cop out.

The problem is industrial pollution BY THAT less than 20% group AND their big meat and big ag pollution on top of that.

The solution REQUIRES, WITHOUT DELAY, a maximum carbon footprint allowed, FIRST OF ALL, to our polluting piggy 20%.

That means we get OFF of fossil fuels, nuclear power and we start eating insect protein instead of animal protein along with organic veggies.

THEN, an only then, can we address the human population problem.

Here's a nice picture from the U.N. that shows the REAL world out there. Your idea of killing most of humanity will not put a DENT in the pollution problem as long as we in the polluting piggy 20% keep doing what we do.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-260214201233.png&hash=2c784ea86c703de06549ce14091214ff7fc0d461)

http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/forum/index.php/topic,811.msg85182.html#msg85182
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 19, 2015, 12:01:09 am
More evidence for the reality of genetic entropy

by Robert W. Carter

My colleague John Sanford and I have recently published a paper in a secular journal with what we believe are profound implications.1

Our basic claim is that ‘genetic entropy’ works in the real world, which brings questions about the role of natural selection and the long-term survival of species into the future.

A new look at an old virus

The paper analyzed mutation accumulation in the human H1N1 influenza genome using over 95 years’ worth of genetic sequences (figure 1).

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl0.creation.com%2Farticles%2Fp102%2Fc10260%2Frelative-mutation-count-lge.gif&hash=ec3d592100710c300f4a2d879823d47cf7e9f59d)
Figure 1. Mutation accumulation in human H1N1. The published Brevig Mission strain from 1918 was used as the baseline (bold line) for comparison with all available human-infecting H1N1 genomes. There are two distinct trend lines in the data. The 2009–2010 outbreak samples and additional samples from 2011–2012 are circled. These and the scattered points are all derived from swine H1N1 versions. The remaining points represent mutation accumulation in the ‘human’ version of H1N1: from 1918 to its initial extinction in 1957, a break of 19 years, its re-introduction in 1976 (of a strain from approximately 1955, after which the mutation count picks up where it left off), and a second disappearance in 2009.

This type of data is a rarity in the world of genetics, since most sequence data are from recent organisms with long generation times. The influenza virus, however, has been isolated and sequenced from human tissue samples all the way back to 1918.

With a human-to-human transmission on average every three days or so, this makes over 11,000 disease generations and many times more than that number of viral generations.

The number of viral generations is possibly comparable to the number of generations since the supposed human-chimpanzee split.


Full article:
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://creation.com/evidence-for-genetic-entropy
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 19, 2015, 03:40:46 pm
Monsanto Charged with Chemically Poisoning Farmer

Michelle Schoffro Cook
September 18, 2015

Three years ago a French farmer sued Monsanto and won, stating that the company’s pesticide product known as Lasso had poisoned him, causing neurological problems. The company appealed the court decision by taking the lawsuit to a higher French court. Just days ago, the French court upheld the original decision that Monsanto’s product Lasso poisoned the French farmer, causing his neurological concerns.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

While it is likely that Monsanto will appeal the court decision yet again, the victory is being celebrated by many people worldwide as one that sets a precedent for future rulings against the biotechnology giant. Monsanto no longer sells Lasso in the United States, Canada, Britain, France or Belgium, citing commercial reasons for phasing out the product in these markets.

Lasso was specifically an herbicide—used to destroy weeds and grasses—marketed to farmers.

In the U.S. government’s own Health and Human Services Household Products Database, Lasso is warned to cause blindness, respiratory irritation, liver damage, kidney damage, eye nerve inflammation, jaundice, bladder inflammation, the destruction of red blood cells and blood in urine, as well as other serious health effects.

The U.S. government’s database is self-regulated (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df), meaning that companies report whether their own products are toxic, and if so, in which ways. As a result, the database includes little toxicity information about its product Roundup.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)

 The database reports that Monsanto has not provided any information about any possible chronic health effects from use of or exposure to Roundup.  However, the company warns: “When using [Roundup] do not eat, drink or smoke. Wash hands thoroughly after handling or contact. Thoroughly clean equipment after use. Do not contaminate drains, sewers and water ways when disposing of equipment rinse water.”

Yet, because the product is sprayed on soil, it finds its way into water ways and sewers.

Monsanto now focuses its attention on manufacturing and distributing other pesticide products like Roundup as well as genetically-modified seeds. Roundup has also received international attention. In the spring of this year, the World Health Organization indicated that glyphosate—an ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup—as well as other pesticides are probable carcinogens to humans. While the research confirming that the pesticides cause cancer was conducted by a team of nineteen international cancer scientists and published in The Lancet, a peer-reviewed medical journal, the company demanded a retraction from the World Health Organization, claiming the research to be “junk science.”

While it is not clear yet how the French farmer will be remunerated for his neurological illness that includes memory loss, stammering and headaches, Monsanto’s lawyer  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0) indicates that the company will appeal the decision again.  Stay posted to find out how the lengthy lawsuits will end.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/monsanto-charged-with-chemically-poisoning-farmer.html#ixzz3mDL0jgCo
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kenjacobs.com%2Flawyer3ag.jpg&hash=0918aa185387b1a69af13003f1af5ceaf81e7f3d)
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geoengineeringwatch.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F05%2F2.jpg&hash=f4b76e745dec2860e72d2e1a005c75763fda4243)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 20, 2015, 07:14:01 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-106.gif&hash=f996659d18df7f3b445e6135e884397ac91f25b1) Tuna and mackerel populations suffer catastrophic 74% decline, research shows

WWF and the Zoological Society of London found that numbers of the scombridae family of fish, which also includes bonito, fell by 74% between 1970 and 2012, outstripping a decline of 49% for 1,234 ocean species over the same period. 

The conservation charity warned that we face losing species critical to human food security, unless drastic action is taken to halt overfishing and other threats to marine life.

Louise Heaps, chief advisor on marine policy at WWF UK, said:
Quote
"This is catastrophic. We are destroying vital food sources, and the ecology of our oceans.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1593.gif&hash=628238f2fc26695937f6e97b91b050976065743b)


Full article:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/15/tuna-and-mackerel-populations-suffer-catastrophic-74-decline-research-shows (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/15/tuna-and-mackerel-populations-suffer-catastrophic-74-decline-research-shows)

Agelbert NOTE: The typical reaction (by the fossil fuelers and N.T.H.E. threat denying wishful thinkers) to the above will be the wailing and gnashing of teeth about "overpopulation"  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-scared002.gif&hash=764898cfbf07ef2c41ffddc5e93fa0e1bed41bae). However, Global Warming caused CO2 ocean acidification and other industrial and big ag pollutants like chemical fertilizers will be, uh, mentioned in passing, THUS: "we are solving all that with incremental measures. No need to get so excited. We must weigh the benefits to society of business as usual against the "minor" cost of collapsing tuna, mackerel, shellfish, sea cucumbers, sea turtles, etc., populations. There is no reason to let this alarmist news stampede us in to any rash activity that might threaten GDP!".  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

Right after that they will scream for all those "useless eaters" out there to stop driving tuna sandwich prices up! The "job creator" one percent wants to serve champagne and caviar, not tuna casserole!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400)

Palloy tries to downplay the above marine species extinction threat. Palloy does not get it. I will explain why.

At the risk of being called a shill for the fossil fuel industry by AG, again, I should just like to point out that the pH of the oceans varies between 8.1 and 8.4, and that so far climate change hasn't altered that by 0.1 anywhere at all.  It would happen in time of course, IF we continued to burn fossil fuels at the same, or increasing rates.  But if you believe in Peak Fossils then that won't happen - not because THEY wouldn't want to, but because they won't be able to make money out of it.  That's when they will stop extracting fossil fuels, and industrial civilisation will collapse.

Temperatures will continue to rise maybe until 2045, and ocean acidification will continue, but industrialised fishing will be over almost instantly, and fish stocks will replenish quickly.  The mix of species will be different, no doubt, but they have always been different, and nobody is really aware of what the mix is anyway.

So don't worry, just pray the collapse happens soon.

Sigh, you mathematicians don't do much biosphere math, do you? What YOU call "insignificant" pH (you know, the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration) differences have VERY significant (as in homeostatic band required) effects on living systems (you know, the stuff we eat!).

Homeostasis REQUIRES that strict pH (and temperature and pressure and dissolved CO2 and dissolved O2, etc.) bands be adhered to or the organism dies. The reason it dies is because thousands to millions of biochemical reactions per second, vital to living processes, will not take place outside those homeostatic bands.

For mathematicians, the numbers are "significant" if they are, say, 2% or more and INSIGNIFICANT when they vary less than that.

For biologists, the numbers are homeostatic band life or death SIGNIFICANT when they vary by 0.01 % - often even less!).

This is so because the enzymes (catalysts made by living systems to lower the energy of activation for chemical reactions so the organism does not overheat and die from chemical reaction waste heat inefficiencies) will NOT take place when the pH (in combination with the other factors I mentioned) varies by a very small percentage. And all these bands vary in different parts of the human body. The pH band your bloodstream can handle is far less than the one the water in your tissues can handle.

There is a LOT MORE to this.

For example, I'm sure you would agree that being drunk is hazardous to your health because it slows your reflexes, dehydrates you, stresses your kidneys and liver and blinds you to reality because the system thinks it is pigging out on cheap energy - sends your brain a signal that everything is amazingly great (that's called being high).

The change in concentration of alcohol in the blood required to effect all these deleterious changes (that the organism itself perceives INCORRECTLY  as  "good" because it FEELS good") is, from your point of view, tiny.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Relative_risk_of_an_accident_based_on_blood_alcohol_levels_%28linear_scale%29.jpg)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Relative_risk_of_an_accident_based_on_blood_alcohol_levels_(linear_scale).jpg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Relative_risk_of_an_accident_based_on_blood_alcohol_levels_(linear_scale).jpg)

Biosphere math is DIFFERENT from the math applied to non-living matter, Palloy. Stop trying to apply your math to living systems. It is tantamount to peddling rose colored glasses about the severity of our environmental plight.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

Here's one more example of how a pollutant in our atmosphere that kills life is actually made by living systems to preserve life. It's all in the percentages, Palloy. It's all in where the polluting gas is and how much of it there is. The life or death differences in percentage are FAR LESS than 0.01%.

The gas I refer to is Nitric Oxide (NO).

Environmental effects

Nitric oxide in the air may convert to nitric acid, which has been implicated in acid rain. However, it is an important source of nutrition for plant life in the form of nitrates. Furthermore, both NO and NO2 participate in ozone layer depletion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitric_oxide (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitric_oxide)


Humans make Nitric oxide in their noses to kill bacteria before it gets to their lungs. This is why breathing through your nose is a good idea.  ;D

But the percentage is so tiny that a fellow like you would claim it was "insignificant" if it was no longer there (which would guarantee bacterial attacks on the lung tissue  :P).

On the other hand, if we breath too much  Nitric oxide because it's in the atmosphere as a pollutant, it can destroy tissue. And before it does that, it will vasodilate the begeezes out of your blood vessels, depleting your ability to get oxygen to your brain and everywhere else in your body. Too much, by a very small percentage, will kill you.

This is what homeostasis is ALL ABOUT. This is why Lovelock used the homeostatic analogy in his Gaia hypothesis. He understood the incredibly small percentage of variation that our biosphere REQUIRES to be viable. The fact that most people are not aware of this is used by the deluded wishful thinkers to claim the gravity of our situation can be solved by killing off most of the human population. NEVER MIND that the top 20% will still be there doing 80% of the damage.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-190915202124.png&hash=6f6ed341e94b480dbe35861b8b95e465beffecd6)

The collapse of the human population will not allow the fish populations to rebound simply because EATING the fish, though a contributing factor, is not the main reason they are headed for extinction.

Your post is biosphere reality challenged. It's time for you to take of the "culling the population will solve all our problems" rose colored glasses.

 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-190915212112.png&hash=f81aab5add98ec7d47666d900f6580ea4bcb0913)


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpmel.noaa.gov%2Fco2%2Ffiles%2Foareaction.jpg&hash=749cbf99f7c5609cac4780290b6f80865dc77bb1)

Palloy said,
Quote
At the risk of being called a shill for the fossil fuel industry by AG, again, I should just like to point out that the pH of the oceans varies between 8.1 and 8.4, and that so far climate change hasn't altered that by 0.1 anywhere at all.

How can Palloy be right about percentages and WRONG about the deleterious impact on marine species at the same time?  :icon_scratch:  First of all, he refused to state the TREND when he said that  "pH of the oceans varies between 8.1 and 8.4". This is double talk for, "it's no big deal". To cover his illogical ass he then says that "eventually" it's gonna happen. LOL! A brain dead person knows that! His entire post lowballs the  existential threat for marine species due to CO2 caused ocean acidification. This is what irresponsible defenders of the polluting energy status quo DO.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)


Quote

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpmel.noaa.gov%2Fco2%2Ffiles%2Fco2timeseries.jpg&hash=b2f5ffaab2b7e320cab4cc5573716e3bc497b47f)

OA Observations and Data

Follow the links below to access ocean acidification data for each of our observation programs

The field of carbon cycle science depends on well-designed, well-executed, and carefully maintained observations.  The PMEL carbon group primarily focuses on large scale observations of ocean interior carbon through hydrographic cruises and surface ocean carbon dynamics through measurements made on volunteer observing ships, buoys, and other autonomous systems. We work in both the open ocean and in coastal environments. We maintain long-term time series observations as well as conducting short term process studies or exploratory studies.  Since ocean acidification emerged as an important scientific issue, we have been augmenting and expanding our observational capacity by adding pH and other biogeochemical measurements to the platforms listed below.

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/OA+Observations+and+Data (http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/OA+Observations+and+Data)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 20, 2015, 07:34:36 pm
Your alcohol analogy might be just the key to get through to the sceptics. The good time now and hangover later just last a lot longer.

Agreed. But, as you have correctly pointed out in past posts, the "skeptics" with an agenda will remain "unconvinced", so to speak.  :evil4:

We all agree that MKing, Palloy, Snowleapard, Alan, Ashvin, etc, et al are not stupid. So, low IQ is no excuse for being biosphere math challenged.

We all agree that they support incremental measures, rather than drastic ones, to address the environmental problems.

We all agree that they,  even if they aren't biologists or medical doctors, can read scientific journals and watch videos by credentialed climate scientists. 

So, the excuse, often repeated by some of the above luminaries, that "they don't know that much about biology or climate science" does not hold water.

Having an agenda to downplay the existential threat does (see shoe sizes   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)).

To anyone I failed to mention in the list of irresponsible and criminally negligent homo saps that downplay the existential threat to humanity of CO2 Pollution:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgiantgag.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F07%2F5857_627799997233148_702156386_n.jpg&hash=d36f3d24b2ecfdfd841b7ebb4892747f21c60cc7)
UB, I recommend you save his image. It might come in handy when you are debating prevaricating forks.  ;D

http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/forum/index.php/topic,5598.msg85816.html#msg85816

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 22, 2015, 07:16:32 pm
Air Pollution Near Kids’ Homes Linked to Lower Grades at School  :(

Academic performance of minority students shows disproportionate effects from air pollution, according to a study in El Paso.

By Alana Fichman

More than 760,000 trucks pass through El Paso’s two entry points from Mexico each year; it is the highest-ranked city for carbon monoxide levels in Texas and rates eighth in the nation for particulate pollution. Traces of air pollution can be found in the school classroom, affecting minority students disproportionately.

Researchers from the University of Texas show that the overall GPA of fourth- and fifth-graders in public schools dropped 0.02–0.04 points for every one standard deviation increase in greater exposure to toxic substances in the air. Despite excessive truck traffic, non-road sources were shown to have the greatest effect, including pollution from an international airport, a bi-national freight station, and a military base.

Not dramatic, but significant

The effects on student grades aren’t dramatic, acknowledges Sara E. Grineski, Ph.D., University of Texas–El Paso, but she argues that we should definitely still pay attention.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

According to the study, “Air toxic exposures may not dramatically affect children’s school performance at a population level,“ but, researchers add, “Effects appear to be insidious, since they are mild, unlikely to be perceived, and hence unlikely to be addressed in any way.”

Researchers measured air toxicity based on the the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Air Toxics Assessment (NATA). All but one substance was shown to correlate negatively with student performance.

This is not the first study to correlate pollution and academic performance. However, previous studies have used standardized testing and air pollution levels based on school locations rather than students’ homes, where kids spend the majority of their time.

How school performance relates to air quality

School performance and absenteeism are predicted to relate to air toxicity in at least two ways:

•as a cause of asthma and respiratory illnesses, preventing attendance

•as a directly damaging impact on cognitive and neurological development

These researchers “underscore the continuing need to emphasize children as a vulnerable population in EJ [environmental justice] research and activism.”


https://www2.buildinggreen.com/article/air-pollution-near-kids-homes-linked-lower-grades-school
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 26, 2015, 01:26:36 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sW_7i6T_H78


Designed For The Dump     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

Quote
Here is another brilliant, amusing and informative presentation from The Story Of Stuff creator Annie Leonard.

 We know that e-waste is a problem - but Ms. Leonard makes the point clear: it is a global toxic emergency.

 Gadgets are made from thousands of different materials shipped to assembly plants all around the world. They release toxins at every stage of their life cycle, from mining the metals to assembly and production. In the end, whether they sit in landfills or are taken apart for precious materials inside -- toxins continue to be released.

 As it is now, externalizing the costs of the mountains of e-waste allows companies to keep designing for the dump. Good News: there are emerging Product Take Back laws gaining traction in Europe and Asia that may begin to make manufacturers accountable for their products.

 What if electronics designers instead could compete for the longest lasting, most toxic free products? What if gadgets were created in a way that enabled them to be...repaired?

 --Bibi Farber

 This video was produced by the Story of Stuff Project
http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/what-isnt-working-1/the-story-of-electronics.html#sthash.8K0AP016.dpuf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 27, 2015, 10:09:46 pm
Forest Loss and Land Degradation Fuel Climate Crisis  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

Posted on Sep 25, 2015

By Tim Radford, Climate News Network

LONDON—The planet’s forests have dwindled by 3%—equivalent almost to the land area of South Africa—in the last 25 years, according to a new assessment by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

While the planet continues to lose its forests—albeit at a slower rate—through felling, burning or being turned into farmland, another UN study predicts that the economic cost of degraded agricultural land in the form of lost ecosystem services now amounts to up to US$10 trillion a year.

Within 10 years, 50 million people could have been forced to abandon their homes and livelihoods to become migrants. If all those people were assembled in one place, they would constitute the planet’s 28th biggest nation in terms of population.

Increasing levels  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2955.gif&hash=ddc12d8bdb1bc63b7998a6b086b79a71b7bda755)
 

Forest loss and farmland degradation are both part of climate change accountancy. The rise in greenhouse gases is in part linked to the loss of forest cover to soak up the carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels.

But increasing levels of heat and drought are likely to accompany climate change, increasing the area of desert or land too arid to support life and industry.

So in losing forest, and in watching farmland become saline because of over-irrigation, or exhausted by intensive cultivation or overgrazing, or simply increasingly too arid to support vegetation, humans are witnessing the loss of all sorts of valuable services not normally recorded by accountants.

Ideas such as “natural capital” and ecosystem services are attempts to place a practical value on things that nature normally delivers for free.

The percentage of global land area hit by drought doubled between the 1970s and the early years of this century.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300714025456.bmp&hash=f4e4a260bd60d3f34ca86fed93c47d5fb4117cfd)

That is because living things—plants and soil fauna in particular—provide food, fibres, medicines and building materials, as well as helping to provide clean water, regulate disease, and recycle nutrients.

The United Nations University report believes that the loss of these services could now be between $6.3 trillion and $10.6 trillion a year in value. This is between 10% and 17% of global gross domestic product.

Alternatively, the “lost services” per square kilometre amount to between $43,000 and $72,000. Or, to put it yet another way, that is between $870 and $1,450 per person per year for everyone on the planet.

And 57% of world agricultural land is now either moderately or severely degraded, the report says. The percentage of global land area hit by drought doubled between the 1970s and the early years of this century.

Ecosystem services

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-anime-034.gif&hash=58a833931ab09edc67b808927994f92737db0650)One-third of Africa is threatened by desertification (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fdesertsmile.gif&hash=293fbde1c87dec2d81c5907e3fbac7d8e5bba7a9), and land cover changes since 2000 are responsible for half to three-quarters of the value of lost ecosystem services.

Separate from this, but also part of the overall climate change accounting equation, has been the steady loss of forests.

Researchers recently completed the first realistic “census” of the planet’s forests, and arrived at an inventory of more than three trillion trees, but also the conclusion that humans were destroying forests at the rate of 15 billion trees a year.

The latest UN global forest assessment acknowledges that, 25 years ago, around 7.3 million hectares were being lost each year. This slowed to 3.3m hectares a year between 2010 and 2015.

Tropical forests were hardest hit     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df), with a loss rate of 10%. A decline in “natural forest” has been offset by a 66% rise in planted forest, and Australia in particular has actually gained 1.5m hectares of forested land in the last five years.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/forest_loss_and_land_degradation_fuel_climate_crisis_20150925

Agelbert NOTE:
Virtually ALL the biodiversity hotspots for mammals on planet Earth are in the tropics (Professor Gerardo Ceballos in video slide presentation at bottom).

The Earth has entered a new period of extinction, a study by three US universities has concluded, and humans could be among the first casualties.

The report, led by the universities of Stanford, Princeton and Berkeley, said vertebrates were disappearing at a rate 114 times faster than normal.

The findings echo those in a report published by Duke University last year.

One of the new study's authors said: "We are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event." The last such event was 65 million years ago, when dinosaurs were wiped out, in all likelihood by a large meteor hitting Earth.

"If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover and our species itself would likely disappear early on," said the lead author, Gerardo Ceballos.

https://youtu.be/9w1llxpgfOg
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 29, 2015, 02:24:39 pm
Campaigners welcome Drax’s decision to pull out of destructive energy project:   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)


Biofuelwatch Media Advisory, 25th September 2015

Environmental campaigners welcome today’s news that Drax Plc has withdrawn from the proposed White Rose Project. The power station would have been the UK’s first new coal plant since 1974, and the EU’s first commercial power station designed  ;) for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).  ::)

In June this year, Biofuelwatch, together with the London Mining Network and Coal Action Network, handed a petition signed by over 110,000 people to DECC, urging them not to subsidise the White Rose (1).   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

The plant would have burned at least 85% coal and up to 15% wood pellets. Drax’s existing power station imports some of its coal from Colombia, where whole villages have been evicted for opencast coal mines. The mines pollute and deplete water and soils, and have serious impacts on small farming communities (2). Much of the wood burned at Drax is imported from the southern US where conservation NGOs have documented that wood from clearcut, highly biodiverse wetland forests is being turned into pellets destined for Drax in Yorkshire (3). Although the White Rose would have been designed with carbon capture and storage infrastructure, there would have been no legal obligation for it to actually capture any CO2.

The UK government has already spent £50 million   >:( on a feasibility study for this plant and were expected to announce up to £900 million in further upfront subsidies.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biofuelwatch.org.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2FWR-JoSyz-1.jpg&hash=acfc9a2df4b27af71488d40e3da129a92504263f)



Almuth Ernsting from Biofuelwatch states: “Drax’s decision to pull out of the White Rose project should spell the end for this destructive project. It would have resulted in more carbon emissions, more environmental destruction and pollution from coal mining, and more forest destruction for wood pellets. DECC should be supporting sustainable and low carbon renewable energy, such as sustainable wind and solar power, as well as energy efficiency and conservation – not coal, big biomass and false techno-fixes like CCS.”

Biofuelwatch continues to campaign for an end to the vast subsidies that Drax’s existing power station receives (4).

—————————————END————————————————————————

Notes:
•The petition was ran by Care.2:
 http://www.thepetitionsite.com/857/945/308/whiterose/, see

http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/2015/giant-white-elephant-delivers-over-110000-signatures-against-white-rose/ about the hand-over of the petition.

•See http://londonminingnetwork.org/?s=Cerrejon
•http://www.dogwoodalliance.org/2015/06/uncovering-the-truth-investigating-the-destruction-of-precious-wetland-forests/
•http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/axedrax-campaign/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 01, 2015, 07:42:02 pm
K-Dog,

Your posts about methane got to people too. It doesn't matter if they can "handle it" psychologically. What matters is the fact that there isn't any way in hell we are going to avoid the methane bomb if we don't stop burning fossil fuels, like, YESTERDAY. When they don't jump on you here and call you a hysterical, sensationalist, scaremongering nihilist, consider yourself to have scored some debating points.   ;D

As to your view on the Cowspiracy and your, admittedly valid, claim that our meat consumption is unsustainable, I think you lack the proper perspective on the relationship of our unsustainable meat eating habits with the Sixth Mass Extinction Event we are in.

By going vegan the amount of the earth needed to keep a human alive drops by an order of magnitude thus making human survival possible.

Does "going vegan" allow Insect  & Mollusk consumption?

I am OK with this if I can still eat Grasshoppers & Snails.  Also, is it OK to feed Flies to my Frogs and then eat their legs?

RE

In my view yes.  Even just dropping meat and keeping dairy would probably be enough if everyone did it.

Professor Gerardo Cebellos, lead author of the latest study on the evidence we are in the Sixth Mass Extinction, disagrees. So do I.  8)

I prepared a post to counter Ashvin's view, and it seems your your view as well, that concentrated feed operations are a bigger threat than CO2 pollution. I will post it here soon.

The point is that that meat eating is a subset of our unsustainable activity, not the proximate MAIN cause of environmental degradation.

We do have to switch to insect protein, of course. That's a no-brainer. But you are dreaming if you think that is going to stop the Sixth Mass Extinction in any significant way.

WHY? Because there is a LOT more going on out there, due to the CO2 build up, that is contributing to the main cause of BOTH land and marine mammalian vertebrate species extinctions.

Yes, eliminating the concentrated animal feeding operations and all the crop land needed to raise food for them from the energy mix would reduce our CO2 emissions. So we must do that. But, if we don't go 100% renewable energy, it will not be enough to STOP the mass extinction going on now that threatens vertebrate mammals,  which we just happen to be, in particular. WE are destroying OUR habitat by burning fossil fuels, along with the habitat of countless other species.

Since Ashvin appears to have gone away for a while WITHOUT answering the question I asked him on the last post, I'll just post the abridged version of my post. I'll post the whole enchilada with references in an article when I get to it.  ;D Enjoy the short version:

I am all for switching to insect protein powder for yummy hamburgers.
I am all for putting wildlife corridors on all agricultural land where humans (biologist caretakers armed to deal with trespassing humans excluded) are not allowed and will be shot on sight with arrows and used for owl and eagle species recovery efforts.

We need to do that. We need to free range whatever animals we raise and we need to severely cut back on how many of them we raise. We need to make more efficient use of farmed animal droppings for the express purpose of totally eliminating chemical fertilizers.

But if we do all that BEFORE we address the CO2 problem, and continue to burn off present estimates of global carbon reserves, the wildlife extinction will accelerate, not slow down.
WHY?

(https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/21500/area14mp/z9w7w8zh-1363820722.jpg)
Figure 6: The Paleocene-Eocene boundary thermal maximum.

THIS was February of 2013:
Another link between CO2 and mass extinctions of species

In February 2013, CO2 levels had risen to near 396.80ppm at Mauna Loa Atmospheric Observatory, compared to 393.54ppm in February 2012. This rise - 3.26ppm per year - is at the highest rate yet recorded. Further measurements show CO2 is at near 400ppm of the atmosphere over the Arctic. At this rate the upper stability threshold of the Antarctic ice sheet, defined at about 500–600ppm CO2 would be reached later this century (although hysteresis of the ice sheets may slow down melting).

Our global carbon reserves - including coal, oil, oil shale, tar sands, gas and coal-seam gas - contain considerably more than 10,000 billion tonnes of carbon (see Figure 5). This amount of carbon, if released into the atmosphere, is capable of raising atmospheric CO2 levels to higher than 1000ppm. Such a rise in atmospheric radiative forcing will be similar to that of the Paleocene-Eocene boundary thermal maximum (PETM), which happened about 55 million years-ago (see Figures 1, 2 and 4).

Ashvin, please digest the following sentence about the 3.26ppm per year rate referenced above.

But the rate of rise surpasses those of this thermal maximum by about ten times. (http://theconversation.com/another-link-between-co2-and-mass-extinctions-of-species-12906)

Now please look at this graphic:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-190915202124.png&hash=6f6ed341e94b480dbe35861b8b95e465beffecd6)
Mass extinctions due to rapidly escalating levels of CO2 are recorded since as long as 580 million years ago. As our anthropogenic global emissions of CO2 are rising, at a rate for which no precedence is known from the geological record with the exception of asteroid impacts, another wave of extinctions is unfolding. (http://theconversation.com/another-link-between-co2-and-mass-extinctions-of-species-12906)

Ashvin, the most important issue of our time is the existential threat we face from CO2 pollution. The other empathy deficit disordered activites humans are foolishly, greedily and stupidly pursuing need to be addressed. Those activities produce habit a destruction.

But CO2 is the elephant in the high extinctions rate room.

The MOST negatively impacted areas of our biosphere (i. e. THE TROPICS from land deforestation and desertification and ocean acidification plus heat  MORE than from atmospheric temperature increase) from CO2 pollution are PRECISELY where the our biosphere's BIODIVERSITY is concentrated.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-011015183315.png&hash=b60ef9755532c909c4bc0db7a461882e4e12780b)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-011015183438.png&hash=09319098b2f30fe82d2306330b32604e3f195086)


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn2-b.examiner.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fimage_content_width%2Fhash%2Fba%2F4b%2F1368286386_2197_climate.jpg%3Fitok%3DWrZ-sddx&hash=54c4cb67b6306aabb05c2c165a83c91d3a64abb7)

The evidence is clear. That is, along with the increase in CO2 ppm, the annual RATE of rise of annual CO2 is increasing too.

The most important issue of our time is the existential threat we face from CO2 pollution. That is causing far more habitat destruction than all the other unsustainable human activities.

CO2 is the elephant in the high extinctions rate room. If the above has not convinced you of that, I fear hard experience starting around 2040 will.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 04, 2015, 06:57:40 pm
How Did the World's Oldest Creature Die?

A clam named "Ming" by marine researchers was probably born during the time of the Ming Dynasty in China in 1499. Although the world's oldest known living creature, the clam met an unfortunate end while researchers were trying to determine its age.

This particular ocean clam was one of several hundred clams collected from the Icelandic shelf in the year 2006. Although some sources report that researchers killed the clam by opening it to better count the rings that would reveal its age, others report that the clams died when they were frozen to be transported to the labs in the UK.

The researchers eventually made the best calculation by counting the rings on the outside of the clam's shell. Ming turned out to be older than they had initially assumed -- 507 years old. Ming was a member of a type of hard-shelled ocean clam called "quahog."

The marine researches from Bangor University in the UK who made the discovery were strongly criticized for causing the death of the oldest known living creature in the world.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fswear1.gif&hash=87347674f9297191f3f8a447208170617da4caf6)  Others have taken it more lightly saying that researchers may not have known the age of the clam when they first found it, as clams remain the same size after a certain age.  ::)

It is also possible that clams even older than Ming continue to inhabit the Icelandic shelf and the North Atlantic.

More about clams:

•It is possible to tell the age of a clam from the rings on its shell because it grows a new layer every year. So each ring represents one year.

•There are more than 15,000 clam species in the world.

•A soft-shelled clam can pump 10 gallons of sea water per day for oxygen. It's this pump and filtration process that makes clams living in unclean water unfit for consumption.

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-did-the-worlds-oldest-creature-die.htm

https://youtu.be/1fMTsxEKgIs

Agelbert NOTE: Thanks to CO2 caused increased ocean acidification, the expression, "Happy as a clam", is no longer applicable. The fossil fuel industry is a much greater threat to Calcium Carbonate shell forming marine life forms than ethics free scientists who like to take living things apart.

Quote
If business continues as usual, the surface ocean pH will drop to 8.0 by 2050 and to 7.8 by century’s end. At that point the oceans will be 150% more acidic than they were at the start of the industrial revolution. Marine biologists like Jason Hall-Spencer have warned about the catastrophic consequences to marine life if the oceans’ pH reaches 7.8. According to him this represents a tipping point at which the ocean’s ecosystems start to crash.

Quote

If current trends continue, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will be 500 ppm by 2050, double the levels in pre-industrial days. So in a sense, all the progress that civilization has made due to the expenditure of large quantities of energy since 1850 or so has now essentially doomed civilization unless radical changes are made in how this energy is obtained and utilized.

http://sandiegofreepress.org/2014/08/ocean-acidification-could-cause-many-species-to-go-extinct/

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 06, 2015, 06:03:26 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLuX5TjRDdg&feature=player_embedded

Honeybees Face Global Threat: If They Die, So Do We

Reynard Loki, AlterNet | October 6, 2015 12:17 pm

http://ecowatch.com/2015/10/06/honeybees-face-global-threat/

Agelbert COMMENT: This issue is so staggeringly threatening to the entire biosphere, not just humans, that charges of ecocide are merited against Monsanto and any other chemical corporation, stupid and predatory enough to ignore long term harm for short term profits.

The fossil fuel industry falsely claims the world owes them for "feeding millions" with fossil fuel powered farm machines, fossil fuel based pesticides and fossil fuel based chemical fertilizers that "increased the yield per acre of crops". It's a lie. (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/the-'green-revolution'-fossil-duel-based-lie/msg325/#msg325)

What really Happened at the EPA (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg3619/#msg3619)

New Study Shows Glaring Differences Between GMO and Non-GMO Food (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/pollution/msg3485/#msg3485)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 11, 2015, 06:26:04 pm
When Was the First Lawnmower Used?

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.landscapeonline.com%2Fresearch%2Flol%2F2007%2F01%2Fimg%2F12744-1.jpg&hash=a629221cb86d79ddad281a02f79e3ebd259b1442)
The Budding human powered push mower - they later made bigger ones like the above pulled by a horse

The first lawnmower was patented in 1830 by a mechanic called Edwin Beard Budding. Before lawn mowers were invented all cultivated grass was cut by hand or grazed by animals. Lawns were considered to be a sign of great wealth, as they needed considerable hours of effort for maintenance.

Budding designed his machine based around similar devices already used to cut cloth. Allegedly he was worried he would be ridiculed by his neighbors and so only used his prototype at night.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-scared005.gif&hash=2de3525707995f1cf9333ecfafd947caca42e8eb)  ;D

However, Budding's mower machine was a financial success and over 1,000 of them had been made and sold by 1840.

More about lawns:

•In the 17th century, it was considered good practice to regularly use heavy iron rollers pulled by horses to flatten a lawn. The horses would wear woolen shoes to soften their tread on the grass.

•It is estimated Americans spend $40 billion on lawn care every year.
   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)


•A survey of satellite data indicated the total combined space of cultivated lawns in the United States is roughly equal to the size of New York State.  :o  :(

http://www.wisegeek.com/when-was-the-first-lawnmower-used.htm

Agelbert NOTE:
As you can see, the whole lawn thing was an egocentric exercise is status symbol bling, totally unrelated to functionality. Yes, the REALLY ORIGINAL "lawns", called "killing fields", might have started the idea of having a lawn in the first place.

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-064.gif&hash=fecd2d0b2f01fe603ffbe378635c9cb625645372) Castles had the fields cut short around them so they could more easily kill invading armies approaching the castle. They mowed the fields so they could mow down the attackers, so to speak.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.wp.com%2Fgas2.org%2Ffiles%2F2013%2F05%2Fstupid.png&hash=03f34f8c94a314e127f3ee8c4872e721e1b04063)

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Beaumaris_aerial.jpg/300px-Beaumaris_aerial.jpg)
Thirteenth Century Beaumaris Castle in Wales - fortifications and surrounding killing fields

Strictly speaking, a "Killing Filed" has a wall behind it as well as in front of it. But I am certain the land around a castle's outermost wall was also kept trimmed to aid in killing attackers. Now you know why fossil fuelers like such big lawns.  ;D

Quote
Killing fields

A killing field was an area between the main wall and a secondary wall, so when the first wall was breached the attackers would run into the killing field to be confronted by another wall from which soldiers bombarded them. Soldiers would be positioned atop the second wall and armed with any variety of weapons, ranging from bows to crossbows to simple rocks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_fortification


But lawns for homes was a rather stupid custom from the start (unless you are a narcissist, of course).

And then the internal combustion engine came along and added pollution damage to the stupidity and unsustainability of having a lawn.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs2277341.gif&hash=1a8375f11d76a653bcb48e30eaa7b652175f029d)
Quote
... we compared the maximum pollution allowed by federal law for mowers versus cars, and assumed our benchmark grass cutter was a six-horsepower push mower operated at half throttle. We were interested in two types of pollutants: carbon monoxide, or CO, and hydrocarbons plus nitrogen oxides, which we’ll call HC+NOx.

Under current standards, in an hour a push mower will produce the same HC+NOx as a car driven 257 miles  >:(, and the same CO as one driven 401 miles. To put it another way, assuming a car averages 40 miles per hour, a gasoline powered push mower produces more HC+NOx than six cars and the same CO as 10.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)


Things will improve when federal emissions standards for lawn mowers are tightened in 2012. Under the new standards, a push mower may produce as much HC+NOx as a car driven 160 miles—in other words, one lawn mower would equal four cars.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

Big deal, you say. I run my lawn mower 20 minutes a week. How much damage could I be doing? This is narrow thinking. Looking at the big picture, we realize mower emissions are only the beginning of what’s wrong with American lawn care. Consider:

• Estimates vary, but it’s likely Americans burn more than 600 million gallons of gas a year cutting the grass. Hell, the EPA estimates at least 17 million gallons of gasoline are spilled annually just filling lawn mowers.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)


• In 2009, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 86,000 injuries involving lawn mowers required a trip to the emergency room; in 6,400 of these cases the victim died or wound up hospitalized.  :(

But perhaps you remain blasé. Who needs all those toes? OK, one last point:

• In a time of dwindling water supplies, somewhere between a third to half of residential water use is for lawn and garden irrigation   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723), and about half of that water is wasted by poor watering practices.  :P

Fact is, unless you’re a croquet fanatic, you don’t need all that grass. The green parts of the planet generally manage to stay green on their own.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

My natural plantings look like weeds to you? Fine, be a Neanderthal. I’m just saying there’s another way. —Cecil Adams 


How Much Pollution Do Gasoline-Powered Lawn Mowers Cause? A lot, actually—so maybe you don't need that lawn.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039) (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/40022/straight-dope-how-much-pollution-do-gasoline-powered-lawn-mowers/)



 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 13, 2015, 12:15:26 am
Human Business as usual...  :(


https://youtu.be/A1D1WrvuoSY

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) actually has a name for Business as Usual. They have modeled it. They have a number for it. It's called the RCP-8.5.

I am preparing a three part article which provides scientific evidence that the RCP-8.5 scenario is too conservative. I cover what we can expect in the next 85 years or so.

Here's a graph to give you a sneak peak at the article contents:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.architecture2030.org%2Fimages%2Fglobal_temp_projections_rcp_scenarios3.jpg&hash=4963a03d2130c341ff2dbebfb901f59d4de0c977)
Business as usual is a death sentence for over 75% (or more) of life on Earth.

Stay tuned for the article. you won't disappointed. The people that defend business as usual won't like it. Good.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 14, 2015, 12:00:52 am
Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns

A benchmark investigation of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides in umbilical cord blood

Quote
Not long ago scientists thought that the placenta shielded cord blood — and the developing baby — from most chemicals and pollutants in the environment. But now we know that at this critical time when organs, vessels, membranes and systems are knit together from single cells to finished form in a span of weeks, the umbilical cord carries not only the building blocks of life, but also a steady stream of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides that cross the placenta as readily as residues from cigarettes and alcohol. This is the human "body burden" — the pollution in people that permeates everyone in the world, including babies in the womb.

In a study spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in collaboration with Commonweal, researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in umbilical cord blood from 10 babies born in August and September of 2004 in U.S. hospitals. Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals in the group. The umbilical cord blood of these 10 children, collected by Red Cross after the cord was cut, harbored pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage.

This study represents the first reported cord blood tests for 261 of the targeted chemicals and the first reported detections in cord blood for 209 compounds. Among them are eight perfluorochemicals used as stain and oil repellants in fast food packaging, clothes and textiles — including the Teflon chemical PFOA, recently characterized as a likely human carcinogen by the EPA's Science Advisory Board — dozens of widely used brominated flame retardants and their toxic by-products; and numerous pesticides.

Of the 287 chemicals we detected in umbilical cord blood, we know that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. The dangers of pre- or post-natal exposure to this complex mixture of carcinogens, developmental toxins and neurotoxins have never been studied.

Chemicals and pollutants detected in human umbilical cord blood

class icon Mercury (Hg) - tested for 1, found 1
Pollutant from coal-fired power plants, mercury-containing products, and certain industrial processes. Accumulates in seafood. Harms brain development and function.

class icon Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) - tested for 18, found 9
Pollutants from burning gasoline and garbage. Linked to cancer. Accumulates in food chain.

class icon Polybrominated dibenzodioxins and furans (PBDD/F) - tested for 12, found 7
Contaminants in brominated flame retardants. Pollutants and byproducts from plastic production and incineration. Accumulate in food chain. Toxic to developing endocrine (hormone) system

class icon Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) - tested for 12, found 9
Active ingredients or breakdown products of Teflon, Scotchgard, fabric and carpet protectors, food wrap coatings. Global contaminants. Accumulate in the environment and the food chain. Linked to cancer, birth defects, and more.

class icon Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and furans (PCDD/F) - tested for 17, found 11
Pollutants, by-products of PVC production, industrial bleaching, and incineration. Cause cancer in humans. Persist for decades in the environment. Very toxic to developing endocrine (hormone) system.

class icon Organochlorine pesticides (OCs) - tested for 28, found 21
DDT, chlordane and other pesticides. Largely banned in the U.S. Persist for decades in the environment. Accumulate up the food chain, to man. Cause cancer and numerous reproductive effects.

class icon Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) - tested for 46, found 32
Flame retardant in furniture foam, computers, and televisions. Accumulates in the food chain and human tissues. Adversely affects brain development and the thyroid.

class icon Polychlorinated Naphthalenes (PCNs) - tested for 70, found 50
Wood preservatives, varnishes, machine lubricating oils, waste incineration. Common PCB contaminant. Contaminate the food chain. Cause liver and kidney damage.

class icon Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - tested for 209, found 147
Industrial insulators and lubricants. Banned in the U.S. in 1976. Persist for decades in the environment. Accumulate up the food chain, to man. Cause cancer and nervous system problems.


Source: Chemical analyses of 10 umbilical cord blood samples were conducted by AXYS Analytical Services (Sydney, BC) and Flett Research Ltd. (Winnipeg, MB).
 
 

http://www.ewg.org/research/body-burden-pollution-newborns (http://www.ewg.org/research/body-burden-pollution-newborns)

Thanks for everything, Big Oil.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 15, 2015, 06:21:56 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-151015180643.png&hash=ef008edbdaf4853d5321cfb02309875838f6e9e9)

On September 18, indigenous community activist and teacher, Rigoberto Lima Choc, was murdered in northern Guatemala.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)


This happened just after a court upheld charges he filed denouncing massive pollution caused by a palm oil company called Reforestadora de Palma de Petén (REPSA).

On the same day, three indigenous community leaders – members of an ActionAid partner organization which had also supported the case – were kidnapped. These ActionAid partners were released after 12 hours of being threatened with being burned alive.

 >> Sign the petition to demand an immediate investigation and protection for the human rights activists involved in the case. (http://cqrcengage.com/actionaid/app/sign-petition?2&engagementId=137933)

 Rigoberto was shot outside of a courthouse, and the ActionAid partners kidnapped, just one day after a court ordered the palm oil company to suspend operations due to a huge spill of waste from its processing plant. He had been among the first to report the spill.

 >>  The Guatemalan authorities must conduct a full and impartial investigation into his death – sign the petition now. (http://cqrcengage.com/actionaid/app/sign-petition?2&engagementId=137933)

 The waste killed hundreds of thousands of fish in one of the largest environmental disasters in Guatemalan history, putting at risk the livelihoods of thousands of people in riverside communities.

 By reporting and denouncing the spill, Rigoberto did the only responsible thing. Next week, ActionAid’s Guatemalan partners will be here in the United States for a hearing before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights to demand justice for the loss of land and the harms caused to their communities by the massive expansion of oil palm plantations for use in processed foods and biofuels.

 >> Please show your support and sign our petition to demand justice for Rigoberto.  (http://cqrcengage.com/actionaid/app/sign-petition?2&engagementId=137933)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300614160245.gif&hash=26cf0af4ea082bdb608bb7b2656d54ec7199969b)


 Thanks for your support.

Doug Hertzler
 Senior Policy Analyst, ActionAid USA
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 15, 2015, 08:35:52 pm
Nnimmo Bassy and the British journalist sum it up at the end the following video. The entire culture of oil is a morally repugnant curse on human culture. The country of Nigeria became POORER after oil began to be exploited, not richer! The only real product of the oil culture, not just in Nigeria, but every place in the world, is ecocide.


Oil spills in Nigeria: The true price of crude oil | Guardian Investigations


https://youtu.be/JuqLfH1SW98



Here's a recent video interview with Nnimmo Bassy on the MASSIVE level of oil pollution in Nigeria:


https://youtu.be/W5oQOmEdni4
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 15, 2015, 08:45:48 pm

Nnimmo Bassey on Justice for the Earth Community, "Keep the Oil in the Soil"


https://youtu.be/MiGCTmsjT9s

Nnimmo Bassy    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3) discusses the modern biosphere destroying, greed based mechanism of Power without Responsibility for the exploiters and Exploitation with Redress for the people in the exploited areas.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 15, 2015, 09:04:01 pm
McPlanet: Keynote Nnimmo Bassey "Bilanz Rio 1992-2012"

https://youtu.be/RC6WDZ6MRuY

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-077.gif&hash=eb438043c93ec6a7daa400b47ad44ad22d4818ce)Nnimmo Bassy tells it like it IS in regard to FALSE solutions pushed by the "Business as Usual" defending, polluter, profit over people and planet corporations.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 21, 2015, 10:05:34 pm
Mercury said,
Quote
The whole edifice of BAU will supported until the very last day as there is no plan B. When it's all over there'll only be an ocean of dead bodies.  But it will be quick.

! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2FHjPbLbmep2aJO%2Fgiphy.gif&hash=3c7f7703f00cb341d3e9bdba607208d4204a294c)

Meanwhile the biochemical carnage from fracking continues doing what it does.
SNIPPET:

Death by Fracking

Posted on Oct 18, 2015

By Chris Hedges

DENVER—The maniacal drive by the human species to extinguish itself includes a variety of lethal pursuits. One of the most efficient is fracking. One day, courtesy of corporations such as Halliburton, BP and ExxonMobil, a gallon of water will cost more than a gallon of gasoline. Fracking, which involves putting chemicals into potable water and then injecting millions of gallons of the solution into the earth at high pressure to extract oil and gas, has become one of the primary engines, along with the animal agriculture industry, for accelerating global warming and climate change.

The Wall Street bankers and hedge fund managers who are profiting from this cycle of destruction will—once clean water is scarce and crop yields decline, once temperatures soar and cities disappear under the sea, once droughts and famines ripple across the globe, once mass migrations begin—surely profit from the next round of destruction. Collective suicide is a good business, at least until it is complete. It is a pity most of us will not be around to see the power elite go down.

-----------------

Resistance will be local. It will be militant. It will defy the rules imposed by the corporate state. It will turn its back on state and NGO environmental organizations. And it will not stop until corporate power is destroyed or we are destroyed.

“Forty years after the major environmental laws were adopted in the U.S., and 40 years after trying to regulate the damage caused by corporations to the natural environment and our communities, by almost every major environmental statistic things are worse now than they were before,” Thomas Linzey, the executive director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, told me recently.

The fracking industry is omnivorous, biologist Davis noted. It “is so intoxicated and bloated by greed that it has moved into our backyards, near our school playgrounds, our hospitals, universities, our day cares, our state parks, our national grasslands, and has its sights on the rest of our public lands across America unless we stop them,” he said.

-----------------------

It behooves us to understand what unfettered, unregulated corporate power looks like, how it operates and what levels of wholesale destruction it inflicts in the lust for profit on human beings and the environment. If we do not know how corporate power works, and the lengths it will travel to exploit us and the ecosystem, we will not be able to fight it. Both in theological terms and literally, these corporate forces are forces of death.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-021114150033.png&hash=1a55bc1a81954375c07d21a43c3a26b4bd15b3be)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/death_by_fracking_20151018 (http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/death_by_fracking_20151018)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 30, 2015, 02:53:09 am
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301015025025.png&hash=6bc37d04cde4177ee65c2fb5cc9b0ebb7ec399b5)
(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)


"We can’t have a healthy business on a sick planet."-- Ashley Orgain, manager of mission advocacy and outreach for Seventh Generation, Burlington, Vermont
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 30, 2015, 08:42:41 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wri.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fuploads%2Ffires_oct14firessat.png&hash=03574c6dc647f419cc8d7d213ebaae5362f23f77)

New analysis reveals even more troubling news about Indonesia’s fires crisis.

Emissions from this year’s fires have reached 1.62 billion metric tons of CO2—bumping Indonesia from the sixth-largest emitter in the world up to the fourth-largest in  just six weeks.   
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300714025456.bmp&hash=f4e4a260bd60d3f34ca86fed93c47d5fb4117cfd)

http://www.globalforestwatch.org/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 02, 2015, 02:42:07 am
PROOF the EPA CONTINUES to IGNORE the FACT that Fracking chemicals are POISONOUS to the ENVIRONMENT.Frackers have put BENZENE and several OTHER TOXIC/CARCINOGENIC chemicals in the ground all over the USA! ALL the CORRUPTION in this fu cking country is BECAUSE of the FOSSIL FUEL (CORPORATE) GOVERNMENT!

https://youtu.be/4whX5-jX9vo

Tesimony Before EPA: Ray Kemble, Bryce Payne, Dr. Zacariah Hildenbrand, Hope Forpeace, Steve Lipsky
Published on Oct 29, 2015

Quote
Testimony of people impacted by fracking and Hugh MacMillan representing Food and Water Watch. Today in front of the EPA Science Advisory Board Hydraulic Fracturing Research Advisory Panel. This is important information that was not included in the EPA fracking study released in June 2015.

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 02, 2015, 02:58:55 pm

Fracking Companies Warned to Scale Back Operations Linked to Earthquakes or Get Sued


http://ecowatch.com/2015/11/02/fracking-oklahoma-earthquakes/

Agelbert COMMENT:
A NOTICE to sue!!?   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffc06.deviantart.net%2Ffs71%2Ff%2F2009%2F347%2F2%2F6%2FWTF_Smiley_face_by_IveWasHere.jpg&hash=8ca673f8cf785d9dac626f9fd91e37a1a318c7ac)

This is rich! The frackers are poisoning land and people from California to Pennsylvania. The frackers are forcing Texas towns to NOT be able to ban fracking and coerce the EPA to ignore all the fracking legal double talk corruption and in-your-face damage to the health of Americans for the sake of Empathy Deficit disordered profit over people and planet.

And the frackers need to "notified" that they may be sued for some earthquakes!!? THE LEAST of the health damage from these BASTARDS is earthquakes!

If the CRIME against Americans that the EPA is aiding and abetting is not proof that we have a Fossil Fuel OWNED Government, I don't know what is. The term that is used for this 24/7 corruption of AND threats to Americans degrading democracy is "Regulatory Capture".

They have it BACKWARDS. The people selected to head ALL the agencies that "regulate" our environment and dirty energy, be it fossil fuels or nuclear, are FROM corporate dirty energy!

They just named a NUKE PUKE to the NREL (National Renewable energy Laboratory).

Dr. Martin Keller is a stalking horse for the new nuclear boondoggle of smaller, "safe and clean" (NOT!) nuclear power technology for your neighborhood. Have a nice nuclear day. (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/nuke-puke/nuclear-power-industry-mendacious-propaganda/msg4039/#msg4039)

Not ONE WEEK after his naming, a layoff of workers in SOLAR RESEARCH is announced. THAT's how it "works", people! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c)

NREL cutting four percent of workforce, lays off solar researchers (http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_28934958/nrel-cutting-4-workforce-lays-off-solar-researchers)

It might have been "regulatory Capture" in the Reagan Administration. But now, please KNOW that it's "CYA for Dirty energy ALL THE WAY".

What really Happened at the EPA (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg3619/#msg3619)

And don't expect the courts to do ANYTHING to help Americans experiencing poisoning form fracking. The courts are part of the FOSSIL FUEL GOVERNMENT.

The Exxon Valdez PITTANCE of a settlement: PROOF we have a Fascist Fossil Fuel Government AND the irreparably DYSFUNCTIONAL Court System is its HANDMAIDEN (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuels-degraded-democracy-and-profit-over-planet-pollution/msg2122/#msg2122)

Learned ethics free  counselor tell us how Exxon did what they did, as if that's just fine and dandy: JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW Vol. 18:151 The purpose of this comment is to describe the history of the Exxon Valdez litigation and analyze whether the courts and corresponding laws are equipped to effectively handle mass environmental litigation. (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuels-degraded-democracy-and-profit-over-planet-pollution/msg2123/#msg2123)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 04, 2015, 06:01:31 pm
I am so NOT shocked by this news.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6961.gif&hash=df13f27d25fd180bcc904f19809e2b35dc3309cf)


11/04/2015 12:33 PM       

Blockbuster Climate News: China Seriously Under-Reports Emissions

SustainableBusiness.com News

Wow.

In a major setback for climate calculations, China quietly revealed it has been under-reporting carbon emissions since 2001, to the tune of 17%.

That increases China's already colossal emissions by nearly a billion tons a year - equal to Germany's total annual emissions, reports the NY Times. That's a big number for a country that contributes 28% of global emissions.

 While this certainly makes China's promise to peak emissions by 2030 much more daunting, it also makes it more urgent.

"This helps to explain why China's air quality is so poor, and that will make it easier to get national leaders to take this seriously," Yang Fuqiang, a former Chinese energy official, told the NY Times.

The gap mostly comes from small companies and factories in heavy industries, such as steel and cement, not power plants, and is highest in the most recent years. It was discovered during the 2013 census of the economy, but economists have long-questioned the accuracy of China's data.

 In the late 1990s, for example, the government ordered the dirtiest small coal plants to close, but many simply stopped reporting altogether. 

 Not only will China have to adjust its data on emissions and reassess its renewable energy goals, the data affects worldwide forecasts of climate change. Estimates are that China's emissions have been 4-11% higher than reported.

Moving to Renewable Energy  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fpng%2F200%2Femoticons%2Ffingerscrossed.png&hash=d56f8009d18b55f4cea7be68284c0521be92fc5d)

Will China still peak emissions by 2030, but at much higher levels? Many people expect China's emissions to peak by 2025 because overall, coal consumption is down for the first time over the past two years.

China Coal Use Trends Down (graphic at link)

But China made no commitment after 2030 - after emissions peak, how long will it take for them to significantly decline? Decades, say many people.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmog.gif&hash=08e6f04144781466148f6693be6dc3451a322669)

The key is how quickly energy efficient and renewable technologies grow. The cheaper they are, the less attractive coal is.

Quote
"China has negative GDP growth if you factor in the healthcare costs of overreliance on coal,"
said Christopher Frei, secretary general of the World Energy Council.

Indeed, the pressure to significantly reduce air pollution as well as greenhouse gases means that China can't continue relying on coal. By 2050, it's feasible for China to get 60% of all energy from renewables and 85% of electricity, says the China National Renewable Energy Center.

After decades of growth-at-all-costs, last year, China announced it would prioritize the environment over the economy, and this year, it extended the ban on burning coal to include suburbs as well as the largest city centers.  The goal is for 60% of cities to meet national pollution standards (three do now) by 2020.   

One big question for scientists to answer is where the extra carbon gases went - most likely into the ocean.  :P China's gaff doesn't affect the total world emissions - that is directly measured from the atmosphere.  ;)

Read our article, Coal Boom Finally Ends.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26460

Agelbert NOTE: If you think we are getting honest emissions reporting in the USA, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. And remember friends, ALL the IPCC scenarios are based on, uh, REPORTED emissions over the past quarter century. They then take the REPORTED emissions and project the alleged effect on temperature and sea level and ice retreat. THAT is why they are so ridiculously WRONG (on the wishful thinking, dirty energy using, GDP defending status quo side) in ALL their scenarios, INCLUDING the "Business as Usual" (their term, not mine!) RCP-8.5 scenario.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)


I'm certain that this news does not shock Doomstead Diner RE  either.  ;D

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200415181232.png&hash=ecd42d1d987bb1d79809bfeec5564a5795ea6633)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 20, 2015, 12:01:24 am
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fapps-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fmedia%2Fphotographs%2FPteropod-no-damage.jpg&hash=d728754d3c01682d17c20f99facdf8ff92cd01ac)
If acidification causes pteropods to die off, a crucial food source for many organisms such as salmon and whales will be gone.



Q&A With Claudine Hauri on her Work in the Southern Ocean

Posted On November 19, 2015 by Sage Melcer

Ocean Conservancy spoke with Claudine Hauri about her publication this week in Nature Climate Change on the future impacts of ocean acidification on the Southern Ocean, the body of water surrounding Antarctica and the southern tip of South America. Claudine is a postdoctoral fellow at the International Pacific Research Center of the University of Hawaii and Research Assistant Professor at the International Arctic Research Center of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and focuses on how physical, chemical and biological systems influence variability of ocean acidification and carbon cycling in the ocean.

[bQ: What does your study show about ocean health?[/b]

A: We found that over the next several decades, ocean acidification will quickly change the chemistry of the Southern Ocean so that pteropods, small snails that are important to the marine food web, may struggle to form their shells. Our results suggest that the duration of conditions that are harmful to pteropods may increase abruptly from one month to more than six months in less than 20 years upon their onset. Given that we expect these conditions to get worse, it’s uncertain whether pteropods can adapt.

Q: How does this research fit into your previous work?

A: My previous work analyzes how ocean acidification may change the intensity, duration and frequency of such harmful conditions along the U.S. West Coast. There, the seawater is naturally enriched with CO2 due to seasonal upwelling of deep, CO2-rich water. Ocean acidification over the last few decades has pushed the seawater closer to becoming harmful for pteropods. As a result, they have to expend more energy to fight dissolution and are exposed to increased risk of mortality and infection. If acidification causes pteropods to die off, a crucial food source for many organisms such as salmon and whales will be gone.

Q: How did you come to focus on ocean acidification in the Southern Ocean for your most recent publication?


A: The Southern Ocean and the U.S. West Coast have a lot in common. Just like the waters along the West Coast, the Southern Ocean is naturally closer to the threshold critical for pteropod survival, and these tiny sea snails also play an important role in the food web. So I decided to look at the Southern Ocean a little closer and get a better understanding of how long and where these ecologically important tiny sea snails may be exposed to harmful conditions over the next century.

Q: What would you most like people to know about your research?


A: Ocean acidification is on the brink of threatening many of our marine ecosystems. The only way to mitigate this risk is to make immediate and significant reductions in our carbon dioxide emissions.

To learn more about the future impacts of ocean acidification on the Southern Ocean, you can find Claudine’s complete study here (at link below); along with a video she produced on her research.
 
Posted in Science & Conservation | Tagged Antarctica, Claudine Hauri, climate change, ice, ocean acidification, Sage Melcer, Southern Ocean


About Sage Melcer

Sage Melcer is a Research Assistant, and provides scientific research support for a wide variety of programs at Ocean Conservancy. Born and raised on the California coast, she spent her entire life learning as much as she could about ocean creatures, from whale watching to exploring local tide pools. After spending the first twenty years of her life in and around the Pacific ocean, she's recently transplanted to DC to share her love of the ocean with our nation's capital.


http://blog.oceanconservancy.org/2015/11/19/qa-with-claudine-hauri-on-her-work-in-the-southern-ocean/#more-11067
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 20, 2015, 09:06:48 pm
This City is the World’s First to Mandate Climate Change Warning Labels on Gas Pumps(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-036.gif&hash=8ec7abacc074bac7984d9b80fbca377b3afb119d)

Cole Mellino | November 20, 2015 2:14 pm

What if every time you fueled up at your local gas station, you were reminded that the world’s addiction to oil contributes to climate change? Would it change your habits? The city of North Vancouver, British Columbia is hoping so. The city council voted unanimously earlier this week to approve mandatory climate change labels on gas pumps.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F11%2Fwarninglabel.jpg&hash=d6d410ec5d28d328b51a14320ed623c69c46fd60)
This is one of the warning labels proposed by the nonprofit Our Horizon. Photo credit: Our Horizon

It’s a “historic global first,” said Rob Shirkey, the founder of the nonprofit Our Horizon which lobbied for the law. He told CBC News that “other Canadian and American cities have come close by supporting similar initiatives, but the city of North Vancouver is the first to make it mandatory.” San Francisco, Berkeley and Seattle have all recently considered instituting warning labels.

The city council still has to approve designs for the stickers, which they are hoping to do by early next year. Once they do, they will require gas pumps to have them as part of a business license. City staff are currently working on pitching ideas for the exact message of the sticker. City officials don’t think that residents of North Vancouver are going to just abandon their cars overnight, but they’re hoping it will shift the way they think about climate change.

“[The goal] is not to have someone drop the pump and walk away from the vehicle,” Shirkey explained. “We have a habitual automatic downstream behavior—we don’t think about pumping gas. We all say in Canada, ‘shame on Alberta, shame on tar sands,’ but by pointing finger up-stream, we distance ourselves from the problem. We’re providing most of the demand for that product.”

In other words, they’re hoping the stickers remind residents of their own complicity in causing climate change and start to change people’s behavior. It’s important to offer “pragmatic solutions an ordinary person could implement,” said North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto.

“The message is that burning fossil fuels causes climate change and … to add a positive spin, here are some tips when using your automobile on how to make it more fuel efficient,” Mussatto added. “I couldn’t live without my vehicle, but I can certainly reduce the number of trips I do use it for.”

Shirkey cautioned, though, that the city shouldn’t “shy away from negative messaging” too much. He said it’s been an effective strategy for health warnings on cigarettes. “If it’s too positive, which is what the industry is advocating for, then we’re avoiding the problem and not addressing the issue of climate change,” Shirkey said.

The stickers will cost the city between $3,000 and $5,000 to make. Here are some sample messages from a city staff report:  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fus.123rf.com%2F400wm%2F400%2F400%2Fyayayoy%2Fyayayoy1106%2Fyayayoy110600019%2F9735563-smiling-sun-showing-thumb-up.jpg&hash=09b45642ec6d7943d30b5b87548676e3ee7dbe3d)


•Benefits of active transportation: “Walking has zero GHG emissions and improves your health”

•Electric vehicle incentives: “Get $5,000 towards a purchase of a new electric car”

•B.C. Scrap-It program: “Trade in your clunker for a transit pass worth $1,360”

•Facts about vehicle idling: “Idling your vehicle for more than 10 seconds wastes more gas than restarting your engine”

•Facts about climate change: “Burning fossil fuel contributes to climate change”


Our Horizon also offered some ideas: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-062.gif&hash=88ceb4a34a12b2bea2fd9edd887da26d73308257)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F11%2Fourhorizons1.jpg&hash=e833319163e4a71284f4630da938f29ff4824b9d)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F11%2Fourhorizons3.jpg&hash=7757c1dff4bcb3a555130d36e39f0d1444b57e92)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F11%2Fourhorizons2.jpg&hash=2d283c880e69da87477d9f8497fc6af2f83989ae)

http://ecowatch.com/2015/11/20/climate-change-label-gas-pumps/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fcustom%2Fimage%2Ftongue%255E_%255Earial%255E_%255E0%255E_%255E0%255E_%255EBurning+Fossil+Fuels+IS+SUICIDE%255E_%255E.gif&hash=dddc6d85ffcc21075f53bda643372d2383013562)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 21, 2015, 03:22:25 pm
11/18/2015 04:01 PM   

Oil Industry Cringes As Another Tar Sands Pipeline is Blocked


SustainableBusiness.com News

In one of his first moves as Canada's Prime Minister, Trudeau effectively blocked the Northern Gateway pipeline, closing off another route to export tar sands oil.

 He banned tankers that carry crude oil along the north coast of British Columbia, where the Enbridge's pipeline would deliver the oil.

 The decision protects the ecologically sensitive coast from becoming an industrial zone where hundreds of dangerous tankers would have traveled each year.  Two pipelines would have carried 525,000 barrels of tar sands oil from Alberta to the coast every day, winding their way across critical salmon habitat in rivers and through coastal rainforests.

Enbridge, of course, still plans to move forward on the pipeline, noting that it's being doing a good job of convincing First Nations and other citizens of its value. 

Former Prime Minister Harper approved the project last year, ignoring widespread protests and blockades. It is currently in appeals court where First Nations and environmental groups are asking for the project to be repealed. 

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-211115151119.jpeg&hash=aa74aaa3de347dad9636cf10fbac6e48b45d3c99)
Tar Sands Northern Gateway Pipeline

The great news comes after President Obama officially rejected the Keystone pipeline earlier this month.

 Options for exporting tar sands oil are becoming fewer by the day.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-062.gif&hash=88ceb4a34a12b2bea2fd9edd887da26d73308257)



http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26474
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 24, 2015, 03:27:09 am
Green Technologies Lead to Clear Waters

Posted by Guest Blogger in Ocean Views on November 23, 2015
 
By: Annie Reisewitz and Sarah Martin

Coho salmon once flourished throughout the North Pacific, from Monterey Bay in central California up to Alaska’s Point Hope and across to Russia and Japan. Today many of those populations are extinct. With less than 10 percent of their historic population left, this iconic species holds an intrinsic economic, recreational, and cultural value. And yet, the remaining coho salmon populations continue to be threatened with extinction today.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvoices.nationalgeographic.com%2Ffiles%2F2015%2F11%2FSpecies-of-Concern-endangered-coho1.jpg&hash=3ec7f618d2e81c3ab82af7a19d8fcd68a684eaa7)
Photo courtesy Reuven Walder, SPAWN/Marine Photobank.

The recent front-page story in the Seattle Times aptly illustrated the deadly effects of runoff from urban roadway on coho salmon. Salmon are entering polluted rivers and dying in as little as 2 ½ hours, before they ever have a chance to spawn.

These salmon are the ‘canaries in the coal mine’ and certainly not the only fish irreversibly damaged by pollutant-filled runoff. We are choking our marine life to death with a coc ktail of toxic metals, pesticides and used motor oil, the main ingredients in storm-water runoff. Storm-water runoff is the number one cause of water pollution in urban areas.

A recent lawsuit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Center forced the Environmental Protection Agency to finally act on a decade-old court order. They are required to update national regulations to protect our waterways from urban runoff by November 2016.

These new U.S. EPA regulations must take a holistic approach to ensure we fully protect our salmon and other living ecosystems and not simply band-aid the problem. First, by preventing the toxins from entering our urban storm system through green technology approaches and, second, by encouraging green infrastructures to filter out any toxins before they make it to our waterways.

For example, over 40 percent of the pollution in America’s waterways is from used motor oil.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)  At 385 million gallons per year, it’s the single largest source of oil pollution in U.S. harbor and waterways. By far the greatest cause of oil in our waterways comes from urban street runoff, much of which is from improper disposal of engine oil.

The U.S. EPA reports that over 200 million gallons of motor oil are tossed in the trash, spilled on the ground or poured down drains and sewers annually. These ‘silent oil spills’ eventually end up in our waterways, as rainwater or as melting snow carried to the nearest water body.

In 2014, U.S. sales in hybrid and plug-in vehicles were just over 570,000. Compare this with the nearly eight million new cars sold that same year, not including all the trucks and buses on our roadways. We are a long way from completely removing motor oil from our lives.

The U.S. EPA uses the term ‘environmentally acceptable lubricant’ to describe motor oils that meet standards for biodegradability, toxicity and bioaccumulation. These oils minimize the likelihood of adverse consequences in the aquatic environment, compared to petroleum-based lubricants, which are highly toxicity to marine life.

According to the U.S. EPA “using alternative products instead of toxic substances drastically reduces the presence of toxics in storm water and receiving waters.” Petroleum-based motor oil is a known toxic substance and a known hazardous waste product.

Mineral oils, like petroleum, have a high potential for bioaccumulation and a measureable toxicity toward marine organisms. In contrast, bio-based oils derived from renewable sources such as algae or plants degrade faster, do not bioaccumulate, and have a near zero toxicity to marine organisms.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

Knowing this, shouldn’t we act to make the oil in our cars greener too? One green technology approach is replacing the petrochemical toxins found in motor oil with environmentally friendly alternatives.

The U.S. EPA recently mandated the use of ‘environmentally acceptable lubricants’ for any vessel in the waters of the United States under the vessel general permit, an encouraging effort to regulate motor oil discharge from vessels under the Clean Water Act. A similar EPA standard should be in place for automotive motor oils that is used for ocean-going vessels.

Quote
With fewer pollutants entering our waterways, we can ensure the green infrastructure solutions, such as organic gardening, permeable pavements, and green roofs, can do the job of filtering out any remaining pesticides, toxic metals or nutrients into waterways.

More used motor oil is illegally dumped every year then from the BP oil spill. We need to listen to the ‘canaries in the water’ and work together to save the salmon and effectively tackle the urban runoff problem through increased public awareness, green infrastructures and clean technologies.

 

About the authors:

 Annie Reisewitz is a communications and marketing consultant for environmental and green technology initiatives. She manages the Silent Oil Spills public awareness campaign.

Sarah Martin has worked in environmental communications for the past several years. She works on the Silent Oil Spills campaign.


http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/23/green-technologies-lead-to-clear-waters/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 01, 2015, 10:18:28 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PijSIbXCK1Q&feature=player_embedded
Racing Extinction

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2953.gif&hash=b84c0ae260f7ac760e54bcdc33d788c36faa07c1)
http://ecowatch.com/2015/12/01/racing-extinction-louie-psihoyos/2/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 03, 2015, 07:20:22 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.earthisland.org%2Feijournal%2Fwinter2016%2Fimages%2Flarger%2FteflonFamily.jpg&hash=b753d4f86d6eef07b5c3f96a5a2b3ef0dd3e4a34)
Teflon’s Toxic LegacyFor more than half a century DuPont hid information that a chemical it was using to make Teflon might be making people sick
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.earthisland.org%2Feijournal%2Fwinter2016%2Fimages%2Flarger%2FbuckBailey.jpg&hash=bd01e34b906629bef9c492e9f3a7a0122a20e563)

Agelbert NOTE: Learn about C8, a toxic carcinogenic compound that bioaccumulates, that is NOW present in the blood of over 98% of all Americans (and other life forms all over the planet!). Learn how the EPA has done it's level best to KEEP the truth about C8 from the public AND lower the liability for disease, death and birth defects caused by the profit over people and planet GREED of DuPont.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.sodahead.com%2Fpolls%2F000370273%2Fpolls_Smiley_Angry_256x256_3451_356175_answer_4_xlarge.png&hash=15577651daa4c35ff4d6b26217f99db6ebfde0b3)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/teflons_toxic_legacy/



 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 04, 2015, 10:41:51 pm

12/04/2015 12:12 PM     
Income Inequality = Climate Inequality, Says Oxfam

SustainableBusiness.com News

In the US, one of the major themes in our presidential campaign is income inequality between the richest 1% and the rest of our citizens.  Not suprisingly, this theme also applies to climate change.

Oxfam's new report - released at COP21 - lays bare "climate-change inequality": the world's richest 1% are also the biggest polluters by far, producing 175 times the carbon emissions as people in the bottom 10% of income.

Quote
The richest 10% are responsible for half the world's emissions, while the poorest half - roughly 3.5 billion people - produce only 10% of all emissions.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041215221521.jpeg&hash=b2f58e5cd51d0437790c2a6186def676df91b08b)
Income inequality

And the poor are - and will - be most negatively affected by climate change. They can't move to safer ground or even insulate their homes the way rich people can. They tend to live in countries with the least capacity to adapt.

"Climate change and economic inequality are inextricably linked and together pose one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century," says Tim Gore of Oxfam.

Another report, "Carbon and Inequality: From Kyoto to Paris" comes to the same conclusion. "It is the rich Europeans, Americans and Chinese that emit the most carbon, while the emissions from the world's poorest citizens are falling. The richest 1% of Americans, Luxembourgers, Singaporeans and Saudis emit more than 200 tonnes of carbon per person per year; 2,000 times more than the poorest in Honduras, Rwanda or Malawi," says author French economist Thomas Piketty (who wrote the best seller, "Capital"). 

Both Oxfam and Pikkety conclude the rich should be held accountable for emissions, no matter where they live. 

Oxfam points out that the super rich in developing countries like China, India, Brazil and South Africa have
 high and rapidly rising emissions, but are still "behind" their advanced country counterparts .. and they will soon catch up. 

 Oxfam says:

"While the richest citizens can and should contribute as individuals to cutting their own emissions through lifestyle changes, wherever they live, they can't solve the climate crisis through voluntary action alone. Their choices are often constrained by the decisions of their governments in all sorts of areas, from energy to transport policy.

 "Without question, a weak agreement in Paris is no more in their interests than it is in the interests of the poorest and least responsible. Increasingly members of the richest 10% are experiencing the impacts of climate change themselves, and are mobilizing to demand action from their governments.

"The only beneficiaries of inadequate climate action in Paris and beyond are a much smaller elite with vested interests in the continuation of a high carbon and deeply unequal global economy.


Quote
The number of billionaires with interests in fossil fuel activities has risen from 54 n 2010 to 88 in 2015, while the size of their combined personal fortunes has expanded by around 50% from over $200 billion to more than $300 billion."


Green Climate Fund

Perhaps you can understand then, why poor nations demand financial assistance from advanced nations, which are responsible for the lion's share of emissions.

Poor nations haven't caused the problem
but they are most vulnerable to it. They need help to adapt so their people can live.

And the world can't afford ANY more emissions, so developing countries must get assistance to leap frog to renewable energy instead of using coal. 

Therefore, a major goal of COP21 is to get the financing established to do this, instead of allowing a conflict between rich and poor to derail an international agreement as it has done in the past. 

Accelerating natural disasters already impacts hundreds of millions of people a year. The Rockefeller Foundation estimates that $1 out of every $3 spent on development is lost to these recurring crises - a total $3.8 trillion worldwide. Resilient societies would suffer less and recover more quickly.

So far at COP21, initiatives adding up to $1 billion have been mobilized:

•a coalition will develop early warning systems for over 50 of the least developed countries and small island states by 2020: Climate Risks and Early Warning Systems (CREWS).

•Provide access to insurance to 400 million vulnerable people in 5 years: G7 InsuResilience Initiative.

•Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative: a wall of trees is being planted across the southern edge of the Sahara desert - across the African continent - to prevent desertification from advancing. It reinvigorates soil and brings back ecosystems, improving food security and rural communities. The World Bank will invest $2.2 billion.

•Global Resilience Partnership is raising funds to invest in innovative resilience measures over the next five years, starting in areas in Africa and Southeast Asia.

•"A2R" (Anticipate, Absorb, Reshape) will build climate resilience in the world's most vulnerable countries by strengthening their ability to anticipate hazards, absorb shocks by increasing insurance and social protection coverage, and reshape development to reduce climate risks. It will address the needs of nearly 634 million people who live in risk-prone coastal areas and areas at risk from droughts and floods.

Read Oxfam's report, "Extreme Carbon Inequality": 

 
Website: www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/file_attachments/mb-extreme-carbon-inequality-021215-en.pdf

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26487

Agelbert NOTE: Not that I haven't been saying the above for over three years now, but it is nice to have hard data to back me up. So, REPEAT AFTER ME: 50% of the poorest humans do 10% of the environmental damage. RESPONSIBILITY to ameliorate climate change goes to the people doing the lion's share of the damage, PERIOD. 

The 1%'s Responsibility to Shoulder 80% of the COST of a 100% Renewable Energy World with a Viable Biosphere for ALL Earthlings. (http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/10/one-percents-planetary-assets-equals-80-responsibility-for-funding-a-100-renewable-energy-world)

Talk that blames the poor people because they "have too many babies" is irresponsible, as well as being IRRELEVANT. But it is an excellent method of avoiding confronting reality.  >:(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 11, 2015, 10:07:48 pm
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-031014141830.png&hash=5319d4dcf7ff24e048aa47d746f07b83bedcc1c0)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220915211154.png&hash=a72353bbc11b90505e2804ba0d8fd2b4679a2998)


"A Rogue Company": Leading Glaciologist on Exxon's Climate Change Cover-Up

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/12/11/a_rogue_company_leading_glaciologist_on

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 11, 2015, 10:18:23 pm
A Rogue country.  >:(

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-140415130805.png&hash=23d2e6dc6311a26c399bf0cb60868bcff2781a58)
Message from Uncle Sam to the world  :evil4:
At COP21, U.S. Allows Mention of Climate Reparations -- Only If It Doesn't Have to Pay Them
December 11, 2015

SNIPPET:

The United States will allow the words "loss and damage" in the Paris accords only if it is agreed that the U.S. is not liable for paying for it. "Loss and damage" refers to compensation for countries already suffering from the impacts of climate change caused by more industrialized nations. We discuss the role of the U.S., China and other major countries at COP21 on this issue and on REDD, a mechanism meant to stem deforestation in countries such as Indonesia. "REDD is labeled as a solution to the climate crisis," says Ruth Nyambura, Kenyan political ecologist, part of the African Ecofeminist Collective. "But it has given polluting countries in the developed world, and corporations, the ability to say, 'I will continue to pollute as long as I pay for forest rehabilitation in the Global South.'"

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/12/11/at_cop21_us_allows_mention_of (http://www.democracynow.org/2015/12/11/at_cop21_us_allows_mention_of)



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 11, 2015, 10:33:24 pm
We are Sacrifice Zones: Native Leader Says Toxic North Dakota Fracking Fuels Violence Against Women

December 11, 2015 Story

SNIPPET:

"What we’re dealing with is a death by a thousand cuts," says North Dakota indigenous leader Kandi Mossett of the impact of the booming fracking and oil-drilling industry in her home state. "We’ve had violence against women increase by 168 percent, particularly in the area of ****," Mossett says. "We have 14-, 15- and 16-year-old girls that are willingly going into man camps [for oil workers] and selling themselves." She says the full impact of toxins from oil drilling won’t be felt for another 20 years. "I’m so worried that at this COP21 my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter won’t have a say, but she will be experiencing the worst impacts. It just doesn’t make any sense to me that this is the 21st COP and we are considered sacrifice zones in my community."

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/12/11/we_are_sacrifice_zones_native_leader
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 20, 2015, 02:31:13 am
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Hundreds of whales found dead in Chile   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2953.gif&hash=b84c0ae260f7ac760e54bcdc33d788c36faa07c1)

More than 300 whales have been found washed up in a remote inlet in Patagonia in southern Chile in one of the largest die-offs on record.


Posted 02 Dec 2015 14:09

SANTIAGO: More than 300 whales have been found washed up in a remote inlet in Patagonia in southern Chile in one of the largest die-offs on record, researchers said Tuesday.

"It was an apocalyptic sight. I'd never seen anything like it," said one of the scientists who made the discovery, Vreni Haussermann of the Huinay Scientific Center.

Scientists launched an expedition to count the animals after 20 sei whales were reported dead in April, beached in an extremely remote region some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) south of the capital Santiago.

When the researchers flew over the region in June, they found the scale of the die-off was much larger: at least 337 dead whales, "including bodies and skeletons," said Haussermann.

"There are still a lot of areas we haven't managed to reach, so it's likely there are more dead whales," she told AFP.

The die-off, the biggest single event of its kind known to science, will be investigated in an upcoming issue of National Geographic magazine, which funded the expedition.

Scientists initially said the whales did not bear any wounds, suggesting they may have died of a virus or a harmful algal bloom known as "red tide."

The gruesome find comes as countries get down to tough negotiations at crunch talks in Paris, which are seeking a pact to curb climate change.

Marine biologists say the warming of the world's oceans is putting dangerous pressure on whale populations by killing off their food supply and changing their age-old migratory routes.

- AFP/jb

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/hundreds-of-whales-found/2312194.htm
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 01, 2016, 02:16:38 pm
(https://hornriver.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/randy-eresman-ceo-of-encana-corp.jpg)
Randy Eresman, CEO, EnCana Corp. (archive photo)

Hey, we like to Frack! If you don't like it, tough luck for you!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil19.gif&hash=6eeb0dbc471743691793f5130640fdcbd1f77b5c)


The "ethics" of Frackers:
“You sign a release of Encana and all of its affiliates from and against any and all claims, actions, causes of action, damages, losses (including but not limited to loss of income and loss of business) and expenses.”    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-F66PxaSGNyM%2FUsVwtcJMdRI%2FAAAAAAAA9uE%2F2t2MW9yYTrw%2Fs1600%2F11shark-lawyers.gif&hash=b50153c99ab6d382229dee759facb670ee9ead09)

Earth Island Journal
Battling Big Oil in Alberta (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmaniac.gif&hash=9ecf389a7da25db958f3f63461cbb45a4b316c4e)

When Jessica Ernst discovered that her community’s drinking water had been contaminated by fracking, she decided to sue energy giant EnCana.


SNIPPET:

Near the end of the summer, Encana invited Rosebud residents to a day of golf and theater. The occasion, the invitation said, would give “Rosebud residents and Encana employees” a chance “to mix, mingle and get to know each other in a relaxing and casual atmosphere.” After a game on the green, the minglers would watch a Rosebud Theatre production of The Village of Idiots. To Ernst, the whole thing sounded like a corporate PR ploy to “come on down, play golf with the devil and shut up.” Another three CBM wells had been drilled north of her property. Given the incessant noise from the drilling and the compressors, Ernst replied to Encana’s invitation tartly.

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http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/battling_big_oil_in_alberta/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 05, 2016, 06:58:13 pm
How Corporate Greed Caused the Massive CA Methane Leak

Thom Hartmann Administrator's picture
Jan. 5, 2016 1:00 pm

If you don't live on the West Coast of the United States, you might not have heard about the massive natural gas well leak that's been venting natural gas into the atmosphere at a rate of more than 100,000 pounds per hour for over two months.

Infrared video that the Environmental Defense Fund captured in December shows that the natural gas is billowing like a volcano just above Burbank, California, on a hilltop in the Aliso Canyon area.

That video was taken over a month after the leak started on October 23, after the well had already ejected an estimated 80,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere.

For perspective, 80,000 tons of methane is equal to about a quarter of what the entire state of California - which is the 8th largest economy in the entire world - emitted between October 23 and November 20 in 2015.

And methane, which is what's mostly in "Natural Gas," is actually a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2 in the short term, during the first 20 years it's in the atmosphere it can be up to 80 times more potent than CO2.

According to the Washington Post, the impact of the gases that have already been released from this one volcanic leak are equivalent to the impact, over 20 years, of six coal-fired power plants - or 7 million automobiles.

But this leak isn't just a crisis for the climate, it has also forced the evacuation of 1700 homes in nearby neighborhoods, the closing of two schools, and countless residents have reported that the stench has made them ill.

So how did all this happen?

Engineers are speculating that a 7-inch pipe ruptured about 500 feet below the surface, but they won't know for sure until they are able to seal the well off completely, something which the Southern California Gas Company says may not happen until March.

But according to a recent report from the LA Times and a lawsuit from local residents, the initial leak isn't what made this an environmental disaster for the history books.

No, the real problem here goes way back to 1979, when the Southern California Gas Company had the original safety valve removed from the gas well, and then simply didn't bother to replace it.  :evil4:

Mind you, it's not like the well was new in 1979 - it was already a quarter of a century old in 1979 - and 36 years after the company cut that corner, the well finally ruptured at 61 years old.

A spokeswoman told the LA Times that they didn't replace the safety valve simply because the company wasn't required to by law. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)

So the company simply didn't replace the safety valve, because the profit motive of a corporation means that it has no incentive - no motivation - to protect anyone or anything that it isn't required to protect by law.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-011214192628.png&hash=cd524da8bb7f13a0606ef1f1d1ed8f6a1e181aed)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-F66PxaSGNyM%2FUsVwtcJMdRI%2FAAAAAAAA9uE%2F2t2MW9yYTrw%2Fs1600%2F11shark-lawyers.gif&hash=b50153c99ab6d382229dee759facb670ee9ead09)

And because the company didn't replace the valve, the company estimates that it could be another 3 months before they can plug the well completely.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ffly.gif&hash=b0526635e8b47d751b0e429925d73d78f9d79fc6)

This is a case where corporate greed and lax regulations have caused a massive disruption in California's energy infrastructure and forced the evacuation of thousands of homes - and it's seriously jeopardized any emissions cuts that California has achieved over the last few years.

And none of it would have happened if we hadn't handed the management of our energy infrastructure over to largely deregulated for-profit corporations that only care about their bottom lines.

Civics has fallen by the wayside in American education, but this case makes it clear that it's time to have a real civic conversation about private and public goods, and about where private ownership ends and where the public commons begin.

This natural gas leak isn't just an environmental disaster - it's an atmospheric catastrophe like we've never really seen before.


Thousands of people have been displaced from their homes, their communities forced to scatter, and the climate has been put even further in jeopardy - just because a for-profit company wasn't required to replace the safety valve on their aging well.

This example proves the importance of treating our nation's energy infrastructure as a part of the Commons.

To do that, we need strict regulations - including enforcement mechanism including fines and jail for executives - that dissuade corporations from cutting corners at the expense of communities and the environment.

And we need to lift the liability cap that allows fossil fuel companies to only pay a fraction of the damages (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)that they cause to communities and to the environment.

It's time to start treating the Commons as something owned by every taxpayer and to be preserved for future generations, instead of something to be exploited for present private profits and left as trash for the taxpayers to pay for and future generations to clean up.

http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2016/01/how-corporate-greed-caused-massive-ca-methane-leak#sthash.6KxN2tZ3.dpuf

When asked about all the above, the fossil fuel worshipping defenders of the "fiduciary capitalist duty" of corporations (ESPECIALLY, but not limited to, upstream, downstream and integrated fossil fuel corporations) to "externalize" any and all costs, REGARDLESS of the responsibility of their "business model" for CAUSING the costs, say, uh, see below:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nkayesel.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F06%2Fcat-nothing-to-see-here-meme.jpg&hash=d16eed6aed338c1ab7ea895870e3e58c5820a5f8)


But this is what these ethics challenged BASTARDS REALLY THINK:

(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_03911.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 06, 2016, 09:47:47 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F01%2Fprfi.jpg&hash=630b56e55639fd00f7be285a32d0b6551d890998)

Porter Ranch Residents Flee, Schools Close as Natural Gas Storage Facility Continues to Spew Toxic Chemicals

Miriam Rotkin-Ellman, Natural Resources Defense Council | January 6, 2016 10:01 am

SNIPPET:

As the natural gas storage facility in the Porter Ranch neighborhood of Los Angeles continues to spew gas for nearly three months, the human face of this environmental disaster becomes even more pressing.

As of Tuesday, close to 2,000 residents have been evacuated, two schools closed and the health department has linked hundreds of health complaints from nausea and vomiting to headaches and respiratory problems to two chemicals in the gas.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/06/gas-leak-porter-ranch/


Agelbert COMMENT:
I went to the California government web site on the methane leak and what they are allegedly doing about it. It consist of mostly happy talk about "VOC not at hazardous levels", even though they ADMIT that Benzene, a KNOWN carcinogen, is spewing out of the well. They are into full PR damage control mode ON BEHALF of the frackers that did this, NOT on behalf of the people of Los Angeles County.   >:(

They are lying BIG TIME about the respiratory and carcinogenic toxin damage being done. The web site says NOTHING about the sulfides (mercaptans and such that smell bad but are considered "harmless" even though they give people headache and nausea - for some strange reason...). In fact, hydrogen sulfide (that rotten eggs smell component in natural gas wells and a large component of this leak, is a KNOWN toxin and health hazard above certain concentrations).

And to top this off, the LAW limits the LIABILITY of these Fossil Fuel Frackers responsible for this disastrous blowout! What is it going to take for us to realize how much the fossil fuel dirty energy welfare queens have corrupted our government and our laws while the degraded the biosphere!!!?

The blowout will continue until MARCH of this year! Methane is 86 time more powerful as a GHG than CO2! That means the pollution from that well is equivalent to that of 7,000,000 cars by the time they plug it!

Full details here:

How Corporate Greed Caused the Massive CA Methane Leak (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/pollution/msg4275/#msg4275)

And the fossil fuel welfare queen crooks and liars say .....

 
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 11, 2016, 09:46:50 pm
Quote
Anthony --

 Thank you for signing my Porter Ranch emergency petition. Please forward this email on to others who may want to sign.

 Richard


 Here's the full petition:

President Obama: Declare The Porter Ranch Gas Leak A National Disaster


"Dear President Obama: Declare Los Angeles County to be a national disaster area due to the massive fracked gas leak at the SoCalGas Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility."


I’m Richard Mathews and I live within smelling distance of the fracked natural gas leak that has been spewing methane and toxins into the Los Angeles air since at least October 23, coming from an underground storage area above the suburb of Porter Ranch and holding fracked natural gas imported from other states. The company responsible is Southern California Gas, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy.

I live four miles from the site of this toxic disaster—the largest natural gas leak in U.S. history—and can smell the nasty fumes. But it’s even worse for people like my 88-year-old mother, who lives with me and is suffering from headaches and nausea but who feels she is too old to handle relocation. Thousands of families have fled their homes, and many more are still getting sick. Others like my mother are on the waiting list to get air purifiers. The leak isn't expected to be fixed until Halliburton completes drilling a relief well around March.

Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas contributing to rapid warming—over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. The greenhouse impact of this leak is the equivalent of the pollution from seven million cars or six coal-fired power plants. I’ve calculated that this leak spews more gas, by volume, into the atmosphere than the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

That global disaster troubles climate hawks like me. But equally worrisome, methane is highly explosive, and the chemicals mixed with the methane are making people sick. These include methyl mercaptan (the rotten-egg-smell they add to natural gas), benzene, radon, hydrogen sulfide, and a mist of crude oil. While the methane spreads around the world, these toxins stay close to the ground and accumulate in our valley.

On January 6, California Gov. Jerry Brown dropped by for an hour and declared it a disaster. Now, President Obama needs to meet with affected residents, understand the havoc wreaked by his pro-fracking policy, and declare the site a national disaster area.

President Obama’s national disaster declaration will help residents get tax benefits, mortgage relief, and federal resources to improve health—and help this nation to start fighting back against the out-of-control fracking industry.

Please add your name to mine today.

"Dear President Obama: Declare Los Angeles County to be a national disaster area due to the massive fracked gas leak at the SoCalGas Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility."



 Sign here: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300614160245.gif&hash=26cf0af4ea082bdb608bb7b2656d54ec7199969b)
 http://www.climatehawksvote.com/porter_ranch_fracking_disaster?recruiter_id=1831045
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 14, 2016, 10:37:54 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUCjipJofgI&feature=player_embedded

Environment IS Life

 Are environmental rights as important as human rights?

Yes they are.

 When people's health and livelihoods are destroyed because of an environment that has become toxic, barren, and sterile the battle is one and the same.

 In this video we meet Pablo Fajardo Mendoza, Ecuadorian lawyer representing 30,000 small farmers and indigenous people in a lawsuit against Chevron. After beginning oil extraction in 1964, the rivers and soil became toxic to the point where hundreds if not thousands of people died from cancer and leukemia. Two tribes became completely extinct. It resulted in an enormous and ongoing humanitarian crisis.

 Deforestation is another way to destroy a people.

 Damage to the eco system IS damage to the lives of the people closest to it.

 This is not any less serious than what we traditionally consider shocking and unacceptable violations of human rights. Let's make the connection clear.

 --Bibi Farber

- See more at: http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/what-isnt-working-1/environmental-rights--human-rights.html#sthash.eKBWiXHM.dpuf

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200914193029.png&hash=728bdda741ba73675753acf67d5deb8e6f9e3ef0)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 16, 2016, 06:03:11 pm
3 Reasons Big Coal Had a Bad Week  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clipartbest.com%2Fcliparts%2Fxig%2Fojx%2Fxigojx6KT.png&hash=6706182c9f1427099a77e10d1758e61d9cadb701)

Sierra Club | January 16, 2016 9:59 am

Here are three reasons Big Coal had a bad week:



1. Sec. of the Interior Sally Jewell
announced Friday that the Obama Administration will be putting an immediate suspension on all future and modified coal leases in order to create time and space to fully review the program for its consequences for taxpayers, our environment and the climate. The announcement followed President Obama’s groundbreaking statement in the State of the Union that he would “push to change the way we manage our oil and coal resources, so that they better reflect the costs they impose on taxpayers and our planet.”


2. Arch Coal, Inc., the second largest coal supplier
in the U.S., announced Monday that it would be filing for bankruptcy after suffering several quarters of losses and being unable to restructure its debt. Arch Coal Inc. added its name to a list of nearly 50 coal companies that have filed for bankruptcy since 2012 (including Patriot Coal, Walter Energy Inc. and James River Coal Co.), according to an analysis by SNL energy.

3. Governor Cuomo announced that New York state will phase out coal completely by 2020
. We’ve seen this trend picking up globally over the past few months, as the UK and the province of Alberta in Canada have also recently announced their plans to completely phase out coal. And as the Washington Post points out, clean energy is on the rise.

“A profound shift is happening right now in America’s energy landscape,” Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said. “One-third of the nation’s coal plants are slated for retirement due to grassroots advocacy, public demand, and increased competition from clean, renewable energy like solar and wind becoming more affordable and more accessible by the day. The markets, the public and our elected officials are increasingly recognizing this transition, making decisions that hit the accelerator on the transition from dirty fuels toward an economy powered by clean energy that works for all.”

http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/16/big-coal-had-a-bad-week/
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-062.gif&hash=88ceb4a34a12b2bea2fd9edd887da26d73308257)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 18, 2016, 06:52:32 pm
Porter Ranch Methane Leak Spreads Across LA’s San Fernando Valley  :P
Lorraine Chow | January 15, 2016 9:36 am

It now looks like the catastrophic Porter Ranch gas leak, which has spewed more than 83,000 metric tons of noxious methane for nearly three months, has spread across Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles City Councilman Mitchell Englander called on the Southern California Gas Co. to extend residential relocation assistance to residents in Granada Hills, Chatsworth and Northridge who live near the Aliso Canyon gas leak above Porter Ranch. These residents reported symptoms related to the exposure of natural gas such as nausea, vomiting, headaches and respiratory problems.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F01%2Fporterranchgasleakmap.png&hash=e0474888ab7377d56bcfe1fda0ae91fa2642657a)
The researchers have developed the Valley’s first comprehensive map of methane exposure. Photo credit: HEET

This latest development compounds with a new analysis from Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET). The Cambridge-based nonprofit sent Boston University Professor Nathan Phillips and Bob Ackley of Gas Safety to take methane measurements around the San Fernando Valley for several days and their findings were disturbing.

As the Los Angeles Daily News wrote, “the researchers recorded elevated levels of the main ingredient in natural gas—10 miles away from the nation’s largest gas leak.”

Quote
“It’s not just in Porter Ranch, it’s going all the way across the [San Fernando] Valley,” Ackley told Inside Climate News.
According to HEET, the researchers drove a high precision GIS-enabled natural gas analyzer down the roads around the gas leak to create a comprehensive map of the leak around San Fernando Valley. The red on the map indicates where they drove and the levels of methane they found is shown by the height of the peaks.

Their monitors showed methane levels at 3.4 parts per billion, about twice the level of natural clean air, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. Another measurement showed 127 ppm, or an astounding 67 times above normal.

“Whatever else may be in the gas—benzene (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c), toluene (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c), xylene (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)that is what people may be breathing,” Phillips told Inside Climate News. “Even though we’re not measuring things other than methane  ;), there is a legitimate concern that there is that other nasty stuff in there.”

As Inside Climate News observed: “The findings challenge assurances from the  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400) South Coast Air Quality Management District , the regional air pollution control agency, and the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment that the leak hasn’t increased residents’ exposure to toxic gases.”   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c)

Dozens of public health and environmental advocates and experts will rally at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, DC tomorrow to press for federal action on the Porter Ranch leak.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/01/15/porter-ranch-methane-leak-spreads/

Agelbert NOTE: The is something you should know that you will not hear about in the six o'clock news:

"The millennial atmospheric lifetime of anthropogenic CO2" by Archer and Brovkin .

"The notion is pervasive in the climate science community and in the public at large that the climate impacts of fossil fuel CO2 release will only persist for a few centuries. This conclusion has no basis in theory or models of the atmosphere/ocean carbon cycle, which we review here.

The largest fraction of the CO2 recovery will take place on time scales of centuries, as CO2 invades the ocean, but a significant fraction of the fossil fuel CO2, ranging in published models in the literature from 20–60%, remains airborne for a thousand years or longer.

Ultimate recovery takes place on time scales of hundreds of thousands of years, a geologic longevity typically associated in public perceptions with nuclear waste.

The glacial/interglacial climate cycles demonstrate that ice sheets and sea level respond dramatically to millennial-timescale changes in climate forcing. There are also potential positive feedbacks in the carbon cycle, including methane hydrates in the ocean, and peat frozen in permafrost, that are most sensitive to the long tail of the fossil fuel CO2 in the atmosphere."
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-008-9413-1#/page-1

  The prolonged existence of atmospheric CO2 (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/future-earth/msg4261/#msg4261)

The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleteing CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 18, 2016, 08:52:29 pm
Why anyone that thinks fossil fuels are okay for now, is WRONG! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-028.gif&hash=24570cb7e8246617010ce900a07bc85117ff78ca)
https://youtu.be/1FN6iB05aUQ

The presentation is in English so you may ignore the subtitles.


(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)

Have a nice day.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 19, 2016, 07:55:15 pm
Blast at Alberta Long Lake oil sands project leaves one dead

Nicolas Torres  January 19, 2016

http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/01/blast-alberta-long-lake-oil-sands-project-leaves-one-dead/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220815161550.png&hash=f95989290a4fca22333fc772d8abd90a6764d4d8)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 26, 2016, 11:12:41 pm
Polarcus Sets Record With Largest Man-Made Moving Object On Earth  :P

January 25, 2016 by gCaptain

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.slidesharecdn.com%2Fpolarcusparetosecuritiesoiloffshoreconferencesept2013-130905020647-%2F95%2Fpolarcus-pareto-securities-oil-offshore-conference-sept-2013-27-638.jpg%3Fcb%3D1378346874&hash=b98b150d157c154e81b14289a6b56905d1da536f)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elpais.com.uy%2Ffiles%2Farticle_gallery%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2F13%2F516986d437dca.jpg&hash=e05491527be0ab7c176e082929172005adbf75e4)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffiregrader.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F04%2FFeaturedImage_Ulsteinsx134_01.jpg&hash=e4bc46e68b0d9f0189884c7ebfcedaa8eda99256)
Polarcus Amani doing its seismic thing. They, OF COURSE, claim it is "environmentally sound" (and painted it GREEN for good measure!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85) ).
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/q4zji1nhGUM/maxresdefault.jpg)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)


Dubai-based  ;) Polarcus is in the process of acquiring an ultra-wide 3D marine seismic project offshore Myanmar, and is breaking acquisition performance records with the largest man-made moving object on earth.

The company’s vessel, Polarcus Amani, is towing an in-sea configuration that measures 1.8km wide across the front ends. With each of the 10 streamers separated by 200m, the total area covered by the spread is 17.6 sq.km.

This is the largest in-sea configuration ever towed by a single seismic vessel as well as the largest man-made moving object on earth, according to Polarcus.

The company is delivering up to 190 sq.km per day, a production rate that is currently unrivalled in the seismic industry.

“Such industry leading operational efficiency in Myanmar by one of our right-sized 3D seismic vessels exemplifies Polarcus’ strategy to deliver fit-for-purpose geophysical solutions to our clients. We work closely with all clients to ensure both their efficiency and data quality objectives are met and exceeded,” Polarcus COO, Duncan Eley stated.

Writing by Nadeem (c) gCaptain

http://gcaptain.com/2016/01/25/polarcus-sets-records-with-largest-man-made-moving-object-on-earth/#.Vqg3Iv9gnm4



Agelbert NOTE: WHAT do these "environmentally sound" seismic vessels DO?        (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191404.bmp&hash=007a2c20b76f970316a559a6e27cfd70c11f5998) You will never guess.     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)

To be filed under breathtakingly ORWELLIAN claims.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-023.gif&hash=e72013122d6634eacda71e7e47240da3c304c286)

Quote
Polarcus Limited OSE: PLCS is an offshore geophysical company operating a fleet of seismic research vessels worldwide. The company describes itself as having a strong environmental focus that aims to decrease emissions to both sea and air.[1]  Polarcus vessels have received high energy efficiency and environmental performance ratings.[2][3]  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)

Polarcus provides worldwide seismic data acquisition services and Multi-Client library data as well as seismic data imaging to help energy companies find oil and gas reserves offshore.     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil12.gif&hash=d1822754cefdd0f77369dacd157d00f5f8d3fff9)

The company was founded in 2008 in Dubai, UAE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarcus

 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.ih8mud.com%2Fattachments%2Fh6a3a1d8f-jpeg.1060027%2F&hash=87f86e6f087faf3da4e4f65ca2a7fd65bbd0c27d)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 29, 2016, 11:39:40 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl10.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F2491%2F2491210ovie015m90.gif&hash=c2edc7e32994c57779427e0df75cabac786a12bf)

Vermont Law School researcher authors analysis of Paris agreement on climate change

Jan. 28, 2016, 10:35 am by Press Release

News Release — Vermont Law School

 Jan. 27, 2016

Contact: Mark Cooper, 301-384-2204, markcooper@aol.com

Analysis: Paris Agreement on Climate Change Makes Economic and Public Policy Sense

100-percent renewables pathway can decarbonize global economy and advance global economic development


SNIPPET 1:


Quote
“Contrary to loud complaints that dealing with climate change will cause a disastrous increase in electricity costs,” Cooper said, “a rigorous, least-cost approach prevents such an outcome and may even result in a reduction in the total cost of energy service, while delivering massive public health and environmental benefits.”(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-022.gif&hash=3b60da70b71b7109fe66036056cb1dedc1affb43)


SNIPPET 2:


Quote
The analysis examines the impact on costs of low-carbon and low-pollution constraints on the selection of resources to meet the need for electricity. The key economic findings are:

The selection of resources on the basis of their environmental characteristics is almost identical to a selection based on their economic cost.


A rigorous least-cost approach to decarbonization leads to an electricity sector based on 100-percent renewables at a cost for energy services that is likely to be lower than a business-as-usual approach based on fossil fuels and nuclear power.

Neither fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage nor nuclear power enter the least-cost, low-carbon portfolio because their costs are much higher than renewables and do not appear to be decreasing. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)

A rigorous, least-cost approach to decarbonization accomplishes the goal of reducing other pollution, rendering it “irrelevant” from a policy perspective.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bativert.ma%2Fimages%2Fimage3.jpg&hash=7c7c27d838504cb1d5c5a4c1efac44e790a39265)

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://vtdigger.org/2016/01/28/174889/

    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-260116192120.png&hash=daf2cd0aaafd9f8140e406ffd5a927e52d036aaf)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 02, 2016, 05:52:42 pm
Norway regualtor finds ‘serious’ breaches tied to 2015 Statoil gas leak

Staff Writers  February 2, 2016   

The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) said Tuesday that it found several “serious” breaches tied to a 2015 leak at Statoil’s Gudrun facility in the North Sea.

An investigation by the PSA into the February 2015 incident found that the leak was caused by a rupture in a two-inch pipe in the bypass line directly downstream of the first-stage separator.

The leak prompted a temporary production shut down at the Statoil operated platform.

Statoil estimated the initial leak rate at eight kilograms per second and found that condensate from the first-stage separator had leaked into the open air.

The PSA concluded that the leak spilled about 2,800 kilograms, or about four cubic meters, of condensate, with over one cubic meter of condensate believed to have been discharged into the sea.

Quote
“The leak on Gudrun is regarded as one of the larger hydrocarbon escapes recorded on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) over the past decade,” the PSA said.

No one was injured during the accident but the PSA said that, under “slightly different circumstances,” the leak could have resulted “in a major accident with loss of life, substantial damage to material assents and consequences for the marine environment.”

An investigation published by Statoil in May 2015 found that the leak could have been fatal if workers had been exposed to released gas.

The PSA identified nonconformities including “weaknesses in Statoil’s fulfillment of its responsibilities,insufficient robustness in the design, deficiencies in information management and competence, inadequate information at shift and personnel changes, weaknesses in experience transfer and learning” and nonconformities related to the execution of work on electrical installations.

The agency added that several of these nonconformities also involve “weaknesses in management follow-up to ensure that activities are conducted in an acceptable manner.”

The PSA has issued a notification of an order to Statoil that asks the company to address the nonconformities.

The notification of an order is not a sanction and is a preliminary step before the agency makes any administrative decisions.

Statoil has until June 1, 2016 to comply with the order.

http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/02/norway-regualtor-finds-serious-breaches-tied-to-2015-statoil-gas-leak/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 02, 2016, 07:20:37 pm
02/01/2016 01:01 PM   

If You Care About Environment & Climate, You'll Love Bernie (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)

SustainableBusiness.com News

by Rona Fried

If you look at what's important to the environmental community, you can't help but notice this is exactly what Bernie Sanders proposes in his platform and legislation he's introduced throughout his career:

•a quick and complete shift to 100% renewable energy - no half measures

•massive investments in energy efficiency

•a carbon tax

•support states that want to ban fracking; bar the fossil fuel industry from public lands; no more dirty pipeline infrastructure

•ban offshore oil drilling and oil and gas exports; ban mountaintop coal mining and place a moratorium on nuclear energy

•an end to fossil fuel subsidies

•move our transportation sector beyond oil through electric vehicles and mass transit, including high-speed rail. Increase fuel economy standards to 65 miles per gallon by 2025, catching up to Europe and Japan.

•real protection and expansion of our public lands for wildlife and biodiversity

•ousting conventional agriculture (ie Monsanto) and fossil lobbyists

•a transition to sustainable agriculture and away from GMO and subsidies for big ag companies

•resources and attention to climate change that treat it as the emergency it is.

Sanders would provide tax incentives for renewable energy permanently and proposes $41 billion for programs that people in the fossil fuel industry transfer their skills to clean energy.

Sanders views climate change as the "single greatest threat facing our planet," at a time when it's still not viewed that way by most of the public. He's correct, of course, and has the nerve to state it.

 He's also correct when he says the reason the US hasn't taken the level of action necessary on climate change is: a "small subsection of the 1% are hell-bent on doing everything in their power to block action."

That's why reversing Citizen's United and getting big money out of politics is so important, he says.

Sanders views a transition to a green economy as we do: the opportunity for new industries to arise that will bring us the next "industrial" revolution, but this time creating tens of milions of well-paying jobs ... that do not foul our environment and peoples' health.

Bernie strongly favors organic agriculture. He co-sponsored legislation to nationally label foods that contain GMOs and wants Monsanto et. al. out of the way.

 And he would nominate Supreme Court justices that reinforce the direction our economy needs to go. 

Bernie says:
Quote

"Right now, we have an energy policy that is rigged to boost the profits of big oil companies like Exxon, BP, and Shell at the expense of average Americans. The wealthiest industry in the history of our planet has bribed politicians into complacency in the face of climate change." 

"Enough is enough. It's time to take on the fossil fuel billionaires, accelerate our transition to clean energy, and finally put people before the profits of polluters."

 "What the scientists tell us is that we have a relatively short window of opportunity to bring about the fundamental changes that we need in our global energy system. It is absolutely vital that we do what many economists tell us we must, and that is put a price on carbon. It is the simplest and most direct way to make the kind of cuts in carbon pollution we need to successfully transition away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy."

Climate Protection and Justice Act of 2015

 Introduced in Congress last year, this bill sets enforceable targets to reduce emissions from 1990 levels: 40% by 2030, and over 80% by 2050.

 A tax on carbon on fossil fuel producers and importers starts at $15 per ton in 2017 and rises to $73 per ton by 2035, adding another 5% a year after that. 

 The proceeds would go to households making less than $100,000 a year (80% of US families) to offset any rate hikes by fossil fuels companies. They are significant - a rebate of about $900 in 2017, growing to $1900 in 2030.

 It also provides $20 billion a year to the most vulnerable communities for climate resiliency projects; implements a "green tariff" that funds improvements in industrial energy efficiency; and programs that helps farms move to sustainable practices and renewable energy.

 While Hillary Clinton strongly supports much of Bernie's platform, she would never go as far, and the Republicans are a joke. Trump, for example, says climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese to kill US manufacturing.

Bernie was there at the historic Peoples' Climate March, where was Hillary and Obama? 

Read, Ahead of Iowa Caucuses: Archie Bunker, Head versus Heart.

Read our article, One Senator Says: We Must Choose Renewables And Give Fossil Fuels the Boot (http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/24250) and Bernie's climate bills introduced in 2013.

Here is Bernie's Climate Platform:
 
Website: berniesanders.com/issues/climate-change/

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26536
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 04, 2016, 10:13:26 pm
Groundwater problem emerges at Vermont Yankee

Feb. 3, 2016, 5:29 pm by Mike Faher

Vermont Yankee 2010
The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. File photo
(at link)

VERNON — Greater-than-anticipated amounts of groundwater — 90,000 gallons so far — are encroaching into a key building at Vermont Yankee, and plant administrators are weighing options to deal with the contaminated liquid.

Those options include shipping the water — which an official described as having “slight radioactive contamination” — to an out-of-state storage facility. There also has been preliminary talk of releasing water that is within allowable pollution limits into the Connecticut River, though state officials say they’ve not received any request to do so from plant owner Entergy.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission also is monitoring the water situation, and it appears to be improving: The agency noted in a recent inspection report that “the groundwater intrusion rate has slowed considerably” at the nuclear plant’s turbine building, and there is still excess storage capacity to handle it.

“Our inspectors will continue to track Entergy’s efforts to address the issue, but it does not pose any threat to public health and safety,” NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.

Entergy spokesman Marty Cohn said that, while the amount of water is unexpected, the issue itself was part of the company’s decommissioning plans and will not cause any significant additional costs. “We anticipated this water management program in our decommissioning costs estimate,” Cohn said. “All we’re doing now is figuring out how to dispose of it.”

Vermont Yankee ceased producing power in December 2014, and Entergy has spent the past year preparing the plant for an extended period of dormancy that will precede decommissioning. The NRC says Yankee is in a “post-operation transition phase.”

Last year, the NRC pulled its resident inspector from the plant. But the agency continues to visit and inspect the site. The most recent quarterly inspection report, dated Jan. 28, was based in part on two site visits and identified “no findings of safety significance.”

Within that report, however, is a paragraph saying the plant’s “radioactive water inventories were increasing due mainly to the intrusion of groundwater.” An NRC inspector “determined that VY is considering options regarding future disposal of on-site radioactive water inventory and is also considering options for future action to further mitigate groundwater intrusion,” the document says.

Sheehan said the issue is ongoing. Since the plant shut down, “Vermont Yankee has experienced greater groundwater intrusion into the lowest level of the turbine building,” he said. “Generally, the groundwater totals a few hundred gallons a day, though there are occasional spikes, including one recent day when the amount rose to about 1,500 gallons.”

He cited increased rainfall as one factor. A bigger problem is that the plant is no longer operational, since higher temperatures from power production had led to greater evaporation of intruding groundwater in the past.

Sheehan said Entergy has been working to slow the flow by hiring a contractor to seal cracks in the turbine building and drilling “interceptor wells” nearby. Cohn clarified that those are not deep wells, but rather horizontal holes that act as drainage routes. “What you’re trying to do is redirect the water,” Cohn said.

The NRC inspection report says Entergy is tracking the plant’s water inventory daily, and Sheehan said the company has been pumping and storing groundwater — about 90,000 gallons at this point. He characterized the liquid as having “slight radioactive contamination” after having come into contact with the turbine building.

Cohn said the location of the water is what dictates its contamination status. “Any water that comes into the protected area — rain, etc. — becomes part of our onsite radioactive water inventory,” he said. “We have to come up with ways to dispose of it.”

The NRC says Entergy is developing a radioactive water management plan for Vermont Yankee. Its scope will extend beyond the current groundwater intrusion issue; Sheehan said the site has more than 1 million gallons of radioactive water. That includes water in the torus, a doughnut-shaped reservoir at the base of the reactor building, and in a condensate storage tank.

Shipping radioactive water away from the plant appears to be the most immediate proposed disposal solution.

“One element of this plan would be to ship approximately 200,000 gallons of the torus water to U.S. Ecology Inc. in Idaho by truck for disposal,” Sheehan said. “Entergy last month submitted an exemption request to the NRC seeking approval for these shipments.” It wants an answer by April 15, he said.

While such a shipment falls under federal regulations, state officials say they are aware of Entergy’s request and want to keep an eye on any transfer of radioactive water. “We’re evaluating what kind of monitoring we would want to do,” said Trey Martin, deputy secretary of natural resources.

Some of the water could end up in the Connecticut River. “All nuclear power plants are allowed to discharge slightly radioactive water to adjoining waterways provided the radioactivity is within allowable federal limits,” Sheehan said.

Any proposed discharges would be likely to cause controversy, and they would be regulated by the state. Martin said his agency has no permit requests to review, so he can’t take a position on the matter at this point.

“(Entergy) would have to come to us to talk about a discharge,” Martin said. “If they do come to that, we’ll obviously take a very hard look at that.”

Also watching closely is Bill Irwin, the state Health Department’s radiological and toxicological sciences chief. At a meeting in Brattleboro last week, Irwin made the case for ongoing, intensive Vermont Yankee groundwater monitoring by both Entergy and the state.

“We certainly are interested in what’s occurring there relative both to the groundwater into the turbine building” and Entergy’s disposal plans, Irwin said Wednesday. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of information about that, and I’ve asked for additional information.”

http://vtdigger.org/2016/02/03/groundwater-problem-emerges-at-vermont-yankee/ (http://vtdigger.org/2016/02/03/groundwater-problem-emerges-at-vermont-yankee/)

Agelbert NOTE: The Vermont wit and humor is showcased below in EXCELLENT comments.     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)


Quote
Bob Stannard  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)

I wonder if Neil Sheehan has ever stopped to think about how many times he’s said “it’s just slightly radioactive”? How much radiation is safe? Zero. There is no such thing as a safe level of radiation. Much like the lead poisoned water we’re hearing about radiation is cumulative. The more you get; the more you get to keep.

Meanwhile, Entergy is doing what it planned to do all along; confiscate as much of the decommissioning fund as possible and abrogate as much responsibility as possible. They would walk away from all of these old, leaking plants if they could. I’ve never had much faith in Neil Sheehan taking any action that was in the public’s best interest.

The NRC is funded by the industry it oversees. In Vermont we call that rabbits watching over lettuce.  ;) ;D


Quote
Terry Allen

Hi there Vermont, Martin Shkreli here (of 5000% price boost on life-saving drug fame) and I have a solution for you guys for the radioactive groundwater challenge. You are looking at it all wrong!! It is NOT a problem. It is an opportunity. Instead of trucking the radioactive toxic waste water to Idaho, send it to Flint, MI, and sell it to the local populace there. First of all it’s safer than their lead-contaminated water they have been drinking, and second, the health consequences are less documented and further out into the future, when likely Entergy will have figured out how to wash it’s hands (in Perrier) of the whole thing before any law suits wend their way to settlement. Win, win win win, win. Glad to help. The consulting bill is in the mail. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F5yjbztv.gif&hash=d3dc6c69f3fc5ad39c44fb5466265476f34e5a76)

    Reply
    Greg Morgan

This is not a big problem – and one that has already been solved. Post 3 Mile Island, SNL’s Garrett Morris entered the reactor building with a mop and bucket. Problem solved. I looked for a link to the skit, but couldn’t dig it up. One of my SNL favorites. I am a bit worried about proposing this, fearing that it might be picked up as a good idea!?  ;)

   Reply 
   Jon Warren Lentz

Ship the tainted water to D.C. & plumb it to the Senator’s & Representative’s  drinking fountains.  :D
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 08, 2016, 03:27:08 pm

Environmental Group Halts Offshore Fracking In California

February 6, 2016 by Reuters 

(https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/reliefmapLG.gif.jpeg)
Gray shading shows area mapped by USGS with interferometric sonar in 2005 (Santa Barbara is off map to left, about 18 km west of Carpinteria). Oil platforms are labeled in white. Bathymetric contours are at 5-m-depth intervals.

Reuters (Reuters) A conservation group said the federal government must stop approving offshore fracking from oil platforms in California’s Santa Barbara Channel under the settlement of a lawsuit it filed.

 The group, the Center for Biological Diversity, in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, had challenged what it said was the U.S. Department of the Interior’s practice of rubber-stamping fracking off California’s coast without engaging the public or analyzing fracking’s threats to ocean ecosystems, coastal communities and marine life.

The settlement reached on Friday prohibits officials from authorizing fracking practices in federal waters until the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement complete an environmental review, the Center for Biological Diversity said.

The pause, however, will not likely affect production at large because California has not been producing much offshore oil lately.

Oil companies have fracked at least 200 wells in Long Beach, Seal Beach, Huntington Beach and in the wildlife-rich Santa Barbara Channel, the Center for Biological Diversity said.

The settlement could potentially affect oversight of all federally permitted offshore fracking, including fracking in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the group said.

The U.S. Department of the Interior could not be reached immediately for comment.

© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

https://gcaptain.com/environmental-group-halts-offshore-fracking-in-california/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 08, 2016, 03:44:31 pm
South Asian Scrapyards Need To Improve Shipbreaking Practices, NGO Says

February 5, 2016 by gCaptain
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Jafrabad_Chittagong_shipbreaking_(7).JPG/1024px-Jafrabad_Chittagong_shipbreaking_(7).JPG)
Jafrabad ship breaking yard Chittagong

A new report by NGO Shipbreaking Platform reveals that more than 60% of 768 ships sold for scrap last year were broken on the beaches of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, where ship owners have to improve shipbreaking practices.

The shipbreaking yards in South Asian do not provide fundamental labor rights, ignore international waste trade law, and fail to respect international environmental protection standards, according to the report.

The data shows that 768 large vessels were sold to the scrap yards last year, with 469 were broken on the beaches of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Last year, Greek owners sold the most end-of-life vessels to dirty and dangerous shipbreaking sites in South Asia, according to the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. Meanwhile, Bangladesh became the world’s number one destination for scrap ships for the first time in many years.

“Despite a lot of international attention on the problems of shipbreaking on the beaches of South Asia, the statistics for 2015 show that the vast majority of ship owners have not changed their practice for the better. On the contrary, most have opted for one of the worst shipbreaking destination in the world – Bangladesh, where children are still illegally exploited to break ships manually on tidal mudflats”, NGO Shipbreaking Platform Director Patrizia Heidegger said in a statement.

The NGO applauds the European Union’s plan to publish a list of approved ship recycling facilities worldwide by the end of 2016.

“This will satisfy the call from those that demand better practices, including investors such as ABN-Amro and cargo owners such as H&M, Stora Enso and Phillips – none of whom wish to be associated with polluting and harmful end-of-life management of old ships,” according to the group.

The NGO wants shipping companies and their investors to only allow their vessels to go to yards listed on the EU list. It also recommends governments to take steps to ensure national use of the EU list.

https://gcaptain.com/south-asian-scrapyards-need-to-improve-shipbreaking-practice-ngo-says/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 09, 2016, 07:47:50 pm
The EU’s diesel problem; glyphosate cancer row; full story of DuPont PFC court battle

February 9, 2016 at 6:51 pm 
Feb 2016 Health & Environment  News Bulletin

Beyond a One-Time Scandal: Europe’s Ongoing Diesel Pollution Problem. (http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/124-A19/) More than half of Europe’s passenger fleet is diesel-powered: the emissions scandal has spotlighted the persistent problem of NOx pollution in Europe, where diesel emissions are a major contributor to poor urban air quality. To understand the potential health consequences of the emissions breach, however, one must first understand the risks associated with different components of diesel exhaust. (Environmental Health Perspectives)

EU scientists in row over safety of Glyphosate weedkiller. (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/13/eu-scientists-in-row-over-safety-of-glyphosate-weedkiller) A bitter row has broken out over the allegedly carcinogenic qualities of a widely-used weedkiller, ahead of an EU decision on whether to continue to allow its use. At issue is a call by the European Food and Safety Authority (Efsa) to disregard an opinion by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) on the health effects of Glyphosate. (The Guardian)

The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare. (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts-worst-nightmare.html?_r=0) “The thought that DuPont could get away with this for this long,” Bilott says, his tone landing halfway between wonder and rage, “that they could keep making a profit off it, then get the agreement of the governmental agencies to slowly phase it out, only to replace it with an alternative with unknown human effects — we told the agencies about this in 2001, and they’ve essentially done nothing.” (New York Times)

Weak EU tests for diesel emissions are ‘illegal’, say lawyers. (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/18/weak-eu-tests-for-diesel-emissions-are-illegal-say-lawyers)Loopholes in planned ‘real world’ tests allow cars to emit double the standard for NOx pollution and are ‘legally indefensible’ say MEPs, after new advice revealed. (The Guardian)

Science-based medicine versus the Flint water crisis. (https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/science-based-medicine-versus-the-flint-water-crisis/)  One aspect of science-based medicine that is not covered frequently on this blog, aside from vaccines and antivaccine pseudoscience, but perhaps should be, is the intersection of SBM and public health. Unfortunately, living as I do in southeast Michigan right now, I’ve been on the receiving end of an inescapable lesson in what happens when the government fails in its mission to enforce science-based public health issues. I’m referring, of course, to what has become known worldwide as the Flint water crisis. (Science-Based Medicine)


http://healthandenvironmentonline.com/2016/02/09/feb-2016-news-bulletin-the-eus-diesel-problem-glyphosate-cancer-row-full-story-of-dupont-pfc-court-battle/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 16, 2016, 03:22:02 pm
French Ecology Minister Calls for Ban on Glyphosate Formulations  ;D

Lorraine Chow | February 16, 2016 2:38 pm

http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/16/france-ban-glyphosate/

Agelbert Comment: YES! Let's hope France joins with Brazil and helps put Monsanto out of business and their chief executives and empathy deficit disordered scientist GMO producers AND the lawyers that defend them  in the poorhouse from heavy fines as legal remedies And/or prison.

Tell Obama to FIRE the Monsanto Mole tools rotting and ruining the US government agricultural and environmental  policies on behalf of profit over planet.

FOR DETAILS, Google any part of the following QUOTE form a revealing article:

QUOTE While there are numerous points of overlap between Monsanto and the United States Government under the Obama administration, the three most important connections are that of Michael Taylor, Roger, Beachy, and Islam Siddiqui—all three of these Monsanto affiliates were appointed to high level positions within the government by the Obama administration.

The Obama administration appointed Michael Taylor, the previous vice president of Monsanto and a current Monsanto lobbyist, to a high level advisory role at the Food and Drug Administration [FDA]. It is virtually inarguable that this appointment constitutes a massive boon for Monsanto and an undeniable conflict of interest for Taylor. Given the fact that Taylor is a lobbyist for Monsanto and is being paid by the agro-giant, it is reasonable to assume that his advice to the FDA is focused upon helping his employer reduce its regulatory burden and improve its profitability. It isn’t a secret who Taylor worked for and we can assume that the Obama administration knew who they were appointing when they did it.

Roger Beachy, the Director of the Danforth Plant Science Center (a Monsanto organization), was appointed by the Obama administration as the Director of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. NIFA is a department of the USDA which focuses on funding research and innovation in the field of agriculture as well developing more efficient ways to produce food. As the major grant-writing division of the USDA, the NIFA department has the ability to grant or reject agricultural research grants. By giving Beachy the Directorship of the NIFA, the Obama administration gave a Monsanto associate the most powerful position in the organization which allocates agricultural research grants. Needless to say, this appointment is a great boon for Monsanto and bad news for any group which disagrees with the agri-business giant.

Islam Siddiqui, a Monsanto lobbyist, was appointed to the post of Agriculture Trade Representative by the Obama administration. Trade representative are tasked with promoting trade of goods within their appointed field (ex. Agricultural trade reps promote the export of American crops). As Monsanto has a controlling interest in American corn production, the appointment of a Monsanto lobbyist to the position of trade representative is a large boon for the corporation. Siddiqui’s government job is to promote the export of American crops and his Monsanto job is to promote the sale of Monsanto crops—it is undeniable that these two jobs present a conflict of interest and will only lead to Siddiqui representing Monsanto’s interests as though they are the interests of the United States.

Appointment of Elena Kagen

The justices that a president appoints to the Supreme Court is one of their most enduring and important contributions to the United States that every president gives the country. During his first term, President Obama appointed two Justices, one of whom was Elena Kagan, the former Solicitor General of the United States. During her time as the Solicitor General, Kagan filed a brief in support of Monsanto.

In 2007, Monsanto was brought to court by growers of alfalfa in California—these growers alleged that their crops were being cross-pollinated with, and thus contaminated by, Monsanto’s GMO crops. After winning an initial legal victory and securing an injunction on Monsanto’s planting of its modified alfalfa, Monsanto appealed the ruling and the case eventually reached the Supreme Court. Despite the fact that the United States government had no interest in the Monsanto alfalfa case, Kagan, the solicitor general wrote an “amicus” brief in favor of Monsanto’s position.

Nobody knows why the Solicitor General’s office decided to get involved in the Monsanto alfalfa case, but it was an unusual act by a supposedly neutral body; there was no rational reason for the US government to get involved in this case. While we don’t know the reason for this brief, it does make many believe that Kagan may be sympathetic to Monsanto’s corporate interests. UNQUOTE

http://www.globalresearch.ca/monsanto-controls-both-the-white-house-and-the-us-congress/5336422
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 17, 2016, 08:24:03 pm
Second Review of EPA’s Fracking Study Urges Revisions to Major Statements in Executive Summary
Wenonah Hauter | February 16, 2016 3:46 pm

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) independent Scientific Advisory Board Members of the Hydraulic Fracturing Research Advisory Panel released today a second review of the U.S. EPA’s draft assessment saying that that they still have “concerns” regarding the clarity and adequacy of support for several findings presented in the EPA’s draft Assessment Report of the impacts of fracking on drinking water supplies in the U.S.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F02%2Fepafrackstudy750.jpg&hash=8692afef8b7b5601eb51fae74604c91e3b58e026)
Ray Kemble of Dimock, Pennsylvania, holds a jug of discolored water from his well, contaminated by nearby fracking operations while standing outside of the U.S. EPA building in Washington, DC. Photo credit: Food & Water Watch

Ray Kemble of Dimock, Pennsylvania, holds a jug of discolored water from his well, contaminated by nearby fracking operations while standing outside of the U.S. EPA building in Washington, DC. Photo credit: Food & Water Watch

This second draft report is still very critical of the EPA’s top line claim of no “widespread, systemic impacts” on drinking water from fracking and urges the agency to revise the major statements of findings in the executive summary and elsewhere in the draft Assessment report to be more precise, and to clearly link these statements to evidence.
Quote

In its own words, the EPA SAB “is concerned that these major findings as presented within the executive summary are ambiguous and appear inconsistent with the observations, data, and levels of uncertainty presented and discussed in the body of the draft Assessment Report.”

We are confident that this tension between President Obama’s EPA and the EPA’s own independent advisory board of scientists is a direct consequence of political considerations trumping scientific evidence on fracking, which demonstrates many instances and avenues of water contamination and many areas of problems and harms.

It is encouraging to see the EPA’s Science Advisory Board once again highlighting concern with what was clearly a mis-titled and misleading draft report (http://ecowatch.com/2015/06/05/epa-fracking-contaminates-drinking-water/) from the Obama Administration on fracking and drinking water. Now it’s time for action. It’s time for the administration to go back, clearly articulate the hazards its own studies have identified, and honestly address the inherent dangers of fracking we know to exist.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/16/epa-fracking-study-revisions/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 18, 2016, 07:59:28 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Below please find a typical slap on the wrist for polluters in the USA. They literally DO get away with murder.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)


Two firms fined for 2014 Colorado vapor exposure death

Staff Writers  February 18, 2016   

Two oil field services firms   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil19.gif&hash=6eeb0dbc471743691793f5130640fdcbd1f77b5c) have been fined a combined $14,800 for violations tied to the 2014 death of an oil field worker.

According to the Denver Post, Colorado-based DJ Basin Transport will pay a $5,000 fine and Texas-based Gibson Energy LLC will pay a $14,800 fine after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited both firms for failing to provide a safe working environment.

The citations were related to an incident of fatal exposure to toxic vapors that killed 57 year old John McNulty in 2014.

According to a forensic pathology report seen by the Denver Post, McNulty was working on catwalk between tanks at an oil site in Weld County, Colorado when he become unresponsive for “unknown reason.”

Federal health officials determined that McNulty likely died after he inhaled toxic vapors as he was measuring storage tanks.

OSHA cited both firms for failing to develop and use gauging and sampling procedures that did not expose employees to an oxygen deficient atmosphere or to hydrocarbon gases and vapors, the Denver Post added.

Neither firm has commented on the matter.

http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/02/two-firms-fined-for-2014-colorado-vapor-exposure-death/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 19, 2016, 08:53:19 pm
UPDATE: California’s Refugio Oil Spill Larger Than Estimated

Posted On February 19, 2016 by Greg Helms

It’s like 16 trucks pulling up to the beach and dumping every drop of oil into the Pacific Ocean.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-190216205146.jpeg&hash=794262c798f8165e7047d4b82fe6ce341b699256)
Oil on the beach at Refugio State Park in Santa Barbara, California, on May 19, 2015. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Controversy is brewing over just how much crude oil fouled pristine beaches and ocean waters in the Golden State as a result of the Refugio oil spill in May 2015.

On February 17, a preliminary factual report issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration indicates an additional 1,000 barrels of oil may have ended up in our ocean. This puts the total spill volume at an estimated 3,400 barrels or 142,800 gallons.

That’s like having 16 trucks pull up to the beach and dumping every drop of oil into the Pacific Ocean to spread towards unique and irreplaceable places like the Naples Reef State Marine Conservation Area and Kashtayit State Marine Conservation Area, which was established to protect and celebrate the coastal culture practiced by Chumash Indians for millennia.

The federal regulators based its calculations on the purging of affected pipelines required as part of an investigation into what caused the spill. The Plains All-America Pipeline Company put the figure at 2,400 barrels (100,800 gallons), which was later raised to 2,860 barrels. Now a third-party investigator is working to reconcile the difference. Also of interest in the report is that 997 barrels of oil were recovered by the oil spill response—far lower than any estimate of the overall spill volume.

Towards recovery and restoration

Federal and state agencies designated as “natural resource trustees” have assembled to conduct a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) to quantify the resource damages Plains All-American must pay as part of a recovery and restoration effort. That sum is separate from any legal liability that could stem from potential findings of negligence or wrong-doing discovered in separate investigations.

One thing is clear: it will be a challenge to assign a price to the loss of the spill zone’s rich ecological, commercial, recreational and aesthetic values and then choose projects that can best restore these losses.

It is relatively straight-forward to put a dollar value to the lost days of commercial fishing during the lengthy fishing closure imposed after the spill but how will monetary value be pinned on potential damage from negative perceptions of the region’s seafood quality?

Reduced access to the area’s favored recreational fishing sites could be tackled through construction or improvements in facilities like boat ramps and launch sites but will that address the full impact to the recreational experience in Santa Barbara?

As agencies and communities grapple with these issues, the investigation into the cause of the oil spill—which the report identifies generally as corrosion—has prompted a full shut down and partial removal of pipelines transporting oil and gas produced offshore to distant onshore facilities. This has resulted in several offshore oil and gas platforms stopping production. Energy companies are requesting permission to move oil via even riskier transportation modes like trucks and rail lines. So far, the only exception made was for oil remaining in affected pipelines and storage tanks to prevent further corrosion and head off another disaster.

Meanwhile, tar balls washed up on beaches over 100 miles from the spill site.

The once pristine beaches and nearshore waters in my state are reeling from a toxic impact that will continue to reverberate through complex ecosystems and habitats. Just how these damages are assessed and addressed, and how accountability for the spill is applied, will remain an important focus for Ocean Conservancy.

Posted in Ocean Life, Science & Conservation | Tagged california, Greg Helms, Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Plains All-America Pipeline Company, Refugio Oil Spill



Greg Helms works on fisheries, ecosystem protection and marine protected areas for Ocean Conservancy. A lifelong passion for water sports such as surfing and diving on both US coasts helped form Greg’s strong ocean conservation ethic. These two commitments result in terribly kinked phone cords and not-quite dry wetsuits around Ocean Conservancy’s Santa Barbara field office.


http://blog.oceanconservancy.org/2016/02/19/update-californias-refugio-oil-spill-larger-than-estimated/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 21, 2016, 03:37:26 pm
The Profit Over Planet PIGGERY continues. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df) Instead of investing in platforms for wind turbines, they keep making platforms for oil and gas extraction. They just don't get it. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)   :(

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The new Marathon Oil Alba platform has been installed after being transported form Heerema’s Dutch fabrication yard to Equatorial Guinea.

Marathon Oil President and CEO, Lee Tillman   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0). said: “we reached a major milestone in Equatorial Guinea with the successful installation of the jacket and topsides for the Alba field compression project,”

The new platform is part of the Houston based oil company’s ongoing expansion   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fp8.gif&hash=34db9228a959b3b83fc65b38a1aa92a40d56f976)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs2277341.gif&hash=1a8375f11d76a653bcb48e30eaa7b652175f029d)into the international sectors.

https://youtu.be/Expgv5ILuBA
http://www.offshorepost.com/video-new-marathon-oil-alba-platform-installation/

The climate is going to hell in a CO2 climate change hand basket.

But all the biosphere math challenged Oil Bastards from TEXAS  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) can say is:


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.ih8mud.com%2Fattachments%2Fh6a3a1d8f-jpeg.1060027%2F&hash=87f86e6f087faf3da4e4f65ca2a7fd65bbd0c27d)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-100216204839.gif&hash=19170c176bf9497627349a00623922c8e88185b1)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 24, 2016, 09:43:58 pm
Tanker Captain Pleads Guilty to Felony Obstruction in ‘Magic Pipe’ Pollution Case

February 22, 2016 by gCaptain

A Filipino ship captain has pleaded guilty to one felony count for obstructing a U.S. Coast Guard investigation into pollution crimes aboard his ship.

Genaro Anciano, 52, who was the highest ranking officer aboard the tanker Green Sky ::), pleaded guilty to one count of Obstruction of an Agency Proceeding in federal court in Charleston, South Carolina.

The charge stems from a Coast Guard investigation in late August 2015 into the bypass of pollution prevention equipment, including the use of a “magic device”, aka a magic pipe, aboard the Green Sky. In court papers, the defendant stated that members of the ship’s engine room, including a senior officer, admitted to illegally discharging oily bilge waste overboard. The admission occurred prior to the August 2015 Coast Guard inspection at the Port of North Charleston, during which Anciano made several false and misleading statements to the Coast Guard to cover up the illegal conduct.

The Liberia-flagged Green Sky is a 30,263 gross ton, ocean-going vessel that operates as a petroleum and chemical tanker and is owned by an entity incorporated in the Marshall Islands. Over the course of several days, the normal operation of the Green Sky generates thousands of gallons of bilge wastes that are contaminated with petroleum products and oil residues.

Both the United States and Liberia are parties to the MARPOL treaty, which regulates the overboard discharge of bilge waste. It was prohibited to discharge bilge wastes from the Green Sky without first running that effluent through the ship’s oily water separator. According to the MARPOL treaty, all overboard discharges from the vessel’s bilges had to be recorded in the Green Sky’s oil record book. A bypass of the oily water separator, which is not recorded in the oil record book, jeopardizes the accuracy and integrity of that document. It is a separate federal crime for oceangoing vessels to enter a U.S. port with a false oil record book.

Anciano’s sentencing has not been scheduled.


(https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/jc/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAKcAAAAJDAwZGZkZjM2LTRlMDktNDNmMi1hNmE0LWY4ZWMzMWRlMmNiNw.jpg)
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The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service with assistance from inspectors from Sector Charleston as well as Legal from U.S. Coast Guard in Miami.

https://gcaptain.com/tanker-captain-pleads-guilty-to-felony-obstruction-in-magic-pipe-pollution-case/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 24, 2016, 10:46:38 pm
180+ Infrared Videos Show Methane Pollution All Across America

Earthworks | February 24, 2016 2:20 pm

Just as the worst methane leak in California’s history is sealed and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acknowledged that America pollutes much more methane than previously estimated, Earthworks—the group that filmed the videos revealing the scope of the methane disaster in Los Angeles County—released a map of 180+ infrared videos of oil and gas methane pollution events across the country.

The map, created with the help of FracTracker Alliance, includes two new videos that epitomize the national methane pollution problem.

The first is of a well near Longmont, Colorado:

https://youtu.be/lO-t_EXeZpk


The second one is of a massive pipeline blowdown in North Dakota’s Bakken shale region:
https://youtu.be/RQNRMPKxEm0
“In November of 2012, the voters in Longmont banned fracking to protect our health, safety and wellbeing, especially because of air pollution,” said Kaye Fissinger, president of Our Longmont.

“The air we breathe in Longmont is still subject to ‘toxic trespass’ from extreme extraction in communities nearby. It’s long past time for government to stop tinkering around the edges and genuinely address the ever-growing damage that fracking and drilling inflict.”

“For the past eight years I have witnessed the rapid increase of oil and gas industrialization and the environmental destruction that comes with it,” said Lisa DeVille of Dakota Resource Council and the Three Affiliated Tribes. “Finally we can see the air pollution that’s all around us. We are concerned about the harmful health and environmental impacts of methane and other air pollutants released from well sites. This is an unmeasurable cost to tribal members on Ft. Berthold and those downwind. We value our health and our lands.”

Full article:

http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/24/infrared-videos-methane-pollution/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 29, 2016, 09:10:13 pm
(https://bakken.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/pipeline-construction-2-620x330.jpg)
photo of pipeline under construction

Agelbert NOTE: I KNOW what brine is. Try drinking that "brine" innocently mentioned in the following news item and you will find, before you pass out and are sent to the ER, that there is a bit more to the "brine" than brackish, high salt content sea water.  :P

The CRAP they call "brine" in this post has a witches brew of solvents and hydrocarbons IN IT that they FAIL to mention poisons the soil. These innocuous sounding terms like "brine" are the typical disingenuous pap that is fed to we-the-people whenever these polluters get caught polluting.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

Marathon Oil pipeline in North Dakota spills 6,250 gallons of brine

Staff Writers  February 29, 2016   

A pipeline spill at a Marathon Oil operated site in North Dakota earlier this week released an estimated 6,250 gallons of produced water.

According the North Dakota Department of Health, the pipeline spill was reported on Tuesday and occurred at a Dunn County well site about 6 miles north of Killdeer.

The pipeline is believed to have spilled about 149 barrels of brine, a byproduct of oil and gas production.

A North Dakota state environmental scientist told the AP that the released fluid traveled about 1,500 feet from the well site after making its way into a dry channel.

The Department of Health added that there is currently no evidence  ;)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0) that the spill impacted nearby wetlands.

Houston-based Marathon told the AP that it’s currently investigating the cause of the release and added the company doesn’t yet know how long the cleanup will take.  ;)

The Department of Health said it is responding to the spill and will work with the company on remediation plans.  ::)

http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/02/41273/ (http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/02/41273/)
(https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/jc/AAEAAQAAAAAAAAKcAAAAJDAwZGZkZjM2LTRlMDktNDNmMi1hNmE0LWY4ZWMzMWRlMmNiNw.jpg)
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.sodahead.com%2Fpolls%2F000370273%2Fpolls_Smiley_Angry_256x256_3451_356175_answer_4_xlarge.png&hash=15577651daa4c35ff4d6b26217f99db6ebfde0b3)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 03, 2016, 03:46:57 pm
Across the country, companies are emitting dangerous pollution into the air, making it difficult to breathe and putting the health of our communities at risk.

https://youtu.be/mNMt1B7jZNg

http://earthjustice.org/?utm_source=crm&_ga=1.145847095.267713393.1456284357

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 07, 2016, 02:47:46 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Our government is  protecting people's health corporate bottom lines.  >:(
Why Is Our Government Working for the Private Good over the Public Good?  ???

It's been over two years since a massive chemical spill in West Virginia left regulators puzzled over basic questions like, how toxic is this chemical? Does it pose a threat to pregnant women and children? How long will this chemical stay in the environment, or in people's bodies?

The reason we couldn't answer those questions was simple.

Chemicals that were invented or discovered before 1976 - thousands and thousands of chemicals that were developed in the early 20th century - were simply "grandfathered in" to the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 and presumed safe until proven dangerous.

There was a massive public outcry in response to the Elk River chemical spill, and Congress quickly took up action to reform and strengthen the Toxic Substances Control Act, also known as "ToSCA".

So, over two years later, how's that new legislation coming along?

If you happen to be on the board of a multi-billion dollar agrichemical giant called Monsanto, it's going great!

Not so much though, if you happen to be a private citizen who actually wants accountability when corporations poison communities or expose them to cancer-causing chemicals.

Right in the middle of the sweeping new chemical safety bill that Congress is working out, Republicans in the House of Representatives have added one paragraph that would save Monsanto, and only Monsanto, hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits.

The clause relates to "PCBs", which are non-flammable Monsanto-produced chemicals that were used extensively in electronics, caulk, paints, pesticides and thermal insulation in buildings for most of the 20th century.

Starting in the 1930s, Monsanto manufactured nearly all of the 1.25 billion pounds of PCBs that were produced and sold in the United States.

In 1977 Monsanto stopped producing PCBs because of health concerns, and the EPA banned the chemical with few exceptions in 1979.

PCBs don't break down easily though: they stay in the environment and in sewage systems, they accumulate in the fat tissues in animals and humans, and they cause health problems like cancer.

Just last year, cities and school systems tried to sue Monsanto for hundreds of millions of dollars to get them to pay part of the cost to reduce PCB levels in sewer discharge and in construction caulk to meet federal and state regulations.

At the same time, another group of individuals with non-Hodgkins lymphoma related to PCB exposure sued Monsanto for damages.

If the House version of the new chemical safety bill passes into law though, those cities and schools will be stuck with the bill to clean up Monsanto's cancer-causing chemical, and individuals will be stuck with the bill to treat the cancers that the chemical caused.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)


Read more HERE (http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2016/03/why-our-government-working-private-good-over-public-good).
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 07, 2016, 10:45:23 pm
Quote
Alan Ducatman, a physician who studies the health effects of these types of chemicals, told The Intercept that the news of GenX hazards “all has an eerie echo.” He writes that GenX has the same trio of biological effects – on the liver, immunity, and the processing of fats – seen with similar chemicals, including C8. “This reminds me a lot of a path we have recently traveled. That journey is not ending well.”


GenX, introduced in 2009 as a substitute for Teflon’s toxic PFOA, doesn't seem safe at all.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

When a massive class-action lawsuit brought the toxic nature of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) to public light, DuPont set their sights on a safer replacement for the surfactant that was a key ingredient in Teflon, that which gives the non-stick to non-stick cookware and other sticky things. In 2009 the company introduced GenX, touting it as having a “more favorable toxicological profile” than PFOA (also known as C8). Yet at the same time, DuPont filed 16 reports of “substantial risk of injury to health or the environment” about its new chemical, according to investigative reporting by The Intercept.

“The reports, discovered in the course of an investigation by The Intercept, were filed under Section 8 (e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and submitted to the EPA between April 2006 and January 2013,” writes Sharon Lerner. “They cite numerous health effects in animals, including changes in the size and weight of animals’ livers and kidneys, alterations to their immune responses and cholesterol levels, weight gain, reproductive problems, and cancer.”

It’s crazy – DuPont actually submitted reports siting cancerous tumors in the liver, pancreas, and testicles of rats from exposure to GenX. Some rats in the same experiment also developed benign tumors, as well as kidney disease, liver degeneration, and uterine polyps.

DuPont’s take on this? It was animals, not people, so no biggie. (Although last time I checked people were animals, too, but what do I know?) One researcher who signed the report downplayed the results by saying that “these tumor findings are not considered relevant for human risk assessment.” Much like what DuPont scientists said about testicular tumors in lab animals from PFOA before it was linked to testicular cancer in people.

(Also, if findings in rats are not considered relevant for human risk assessment, why in the world are we torturing the poor things?)

“It’s the same constellation of effects you see with PFOA,” said Deborah Rice, a retired toxicologist who served as a senior risk assessor in the National Center for Environmental Assessment at the EPA. “There’s no way you can call this a safe substitute.”

Alan Ducatman, a physician who studies the health effects of these types of chemicals, told The Intercept that the news of GenX hazards “all has an eerie echo.” He writes that GenX has the same trio of biological effects – on the liver, immunity, and the processing of fats – seen with similar chemicals, including C8. “This reminds me a lot of a path we have recently traveled. That journey is not ending well.”

Indeed, not well at all. Sharon Lerner digs deep and uncovers a whole dark tangled mess about GenX, a chemical that is neither regulated nor tracked by the EPA, but which is being produced and released nonetheless ... and is known to cause cancer in animals. Read all the nitty-gritty at The Intercept ... and embrace your cast irons pans.

http://www.treehugger.com/health/teflon-replacement-chemical-causes-cancer-animals.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 12, 2016, 06:54:16 pm
Honduran Peasant Leader Berta Cáceres ASSASSINATED for Resisting Profit Over Planet Corporations   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041115022304.png&hash=cd8cb8e28ab8f7fc78c1ea00d30a661bd937aed5)

(https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1496177/berta-caceres.jpg?w=736&h=444&l=50&t=40&q=80)
With ‘Fierce Love and Conviction,’ Women Take Stand for Mother Earth
Posted on Mar 8, 2016 By Lauren McCauley / Common Dreams

Indigenous women, environmentalists, and feminists across the globe on Tuesday marked International Women’s Day with a renewed call to stand up against oppression and resist the intersecting attacks on women and Mother Earth—our Pachamama.

Falling just days after the high-profile assassination of Honduran peasant leader Berta Cáceres, many groups issued specific calls to honor the slayed activist, who dedicated her life to the causes of female and Indigenous sovereignty, and resisting environmental destruction.

Berta Cáceres is a leader who has inspired us for many years as an indigenous woman activist raising her voice in the defense of women’s bodies—our primary territory—and community territory, land, water and the commons,” stated Jagoda Munic, chairperson of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI).

On Tuesday, the global environmental and social justice group called for female activists to “take Berta’s political messages and image onto the streets” and “make visible our struggles to end violence against all women and for women’s autonomy over our bodies, lives and work.” And throughout the week, FoEI has organized actions at Honduran embassies worldwide to “denounce state level violence” and demand “immediate justice for the murder of Berta.”

Quote
Her killing, Munic explains, “has shown us in practice that there is no environmental justice without an end to all forms of violence against women and to the exploitation of women’s reproductive and productive work.”

Munic continued,
Quote
“Capital accumulation in a time of multiple crisis—economic, social, environmental — is made possible through the oppression and domination of both nature and women’s work: both are considered infinite, elastic resources, to be exploited according to the interests of elite groups.”  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)

Similarly, the international peasant movement La Via Campesina (LVC) is celebrating International Women’s Day with a call for action “against capitalist violence all over the world.”

In a statement, the group warns that “with the spread of conservative policies which constitute an attack on women’s human rights and their very lives, there is growing oppression of women by capitalism and the patriarchy around the world.”

Pointing specifically to the murder of Cáceres last week as well as other examples of women across the globe who “continue to be deprived of their most basic freedom,” LVC is calling for March 8th “to be a day of mobilizing and organizing against all forms of oppression ... in order to denounce the destructive capitalist and agribusiness model and to show how it harms the lives of women and jeopardizes the food sovereignty of the world’s peoples—directly affecting women peasants and small-scale farmers.”

Taking up those calls, hundreds of women from the Ecuadorian Amazon on Tuesday are marching in the city of Puyo to call for the cancellation of a new oil contract between the government and the Chinese state-owned oil company Andes Petroleum.

The deal includes the territory of both the Sápara Indigenous people and the Kichwa people of Sarayaku, communities that have both condemned the deal. In a collective statement, women from the two tribes declared that they reject the contract “which will affect our territories, the forest, the water, and the air.”  >:(

Women are the main victims [of oil extraction] and their ability to feed their families becomes impaired,” the statement continues. “There is deterioration of family health, and they suffer the division of their communities and other forms of violence.”

The women of the Ecuadorian Amazon have been on the front lines of this and other fights. “In marches, protests, conferences and international forums,” wrote Emily Arasim and Osprey Orielle Lake, with the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network, these women “are standing with fierce love and conviction for the forests and their communities, and navigating a brutal intersection of environmental devastation, cultural dislocation and violence and persecution as women human rights and land defenders.”

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/with_fierce_love_and_conviction_women_take_stand_for_mother_earth_20160308


Our Responsibility to Future Generations (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/future-earth/msg3885/#msg3885)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 12, 2016, 07:31:57 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F03%2Fdimock750.jpg&hash=5d33733ee8dbf982573554d82ac0b7e586b7c280)

Jury Awards Two Dimock Couples $4.2 Million After Finding Cabot Oil & Gas Negligent in Fracking Contamination Case  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)

Stefanie Spear | March 10, 2016 2:16 pm

http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/10/cabot-dimock-fracking-case/ (http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/10/cabot-dimock-fracking-case/)

YES!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frobservations.ca%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F02%2Fhappy-cat1.jpg&hash=468b07d248f880b63fdda22e22561c5ce8d3ae29)  But expect the polluters to fight dirty in court. They have many bought and paid for judges AND politicians.

Read what this giant polluter and OWNER of most of the fracking machinery says about how to 'handle' environmental legislation: Schlumberger N.V. (SLB): The BIG OIL Planet Polluter you never heard of (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuel-propaganda-modus-operandi/msg2088/#msg2088)

When they can't contest an award, they will try to water down the award to one tenth of the original award like they did with the bought and paid for Scalia court in the Exxon Valdez award to the victims of Exxon piggery.

The "excuse" for lowering the award was then, and will be in the fracking case as well (as you can learn by my "discussions" with bought and paid for lawyers defending Cabot Oil & Gas at the story link), is that the "benefits to society" of the polluting corporation products would be "undermined" by not watering down the award to the plaintiffs (SEE: Too big to fail, fine or jail  ;)).

IOW, the pecuniary "damages" suffered by the corporation for externalizing pollution costs must be reduced because the families that suffered the effects of the pollution are less important to society than the alleged benefits that polluting corporations provide to society.  :P

It's typical sophistry that ignores the massive profits polluting corporations have received from polluting products while focusing exclusively on the "benefits" of these products, instead of weighing the corporate profits against the award. They are clever bastards. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c)


Fascist Victory on June 26, 2008 Supreme Court drastically cuts payouts for plaintiffs in Exxon Valdez oil spill (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuels-degraded-democracy-and-profit-over-planet-pollution/msg2122/#msg2122)

Learned ethics free  counselor tells us how Exxon did what they did, as if that's just fine and dandy: JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW The purpose of this comment is to describe the history of the Exxon Valdez litigation and analyze whether the courts and corresponding laws are equipped to effectively handle mass environmental litigation. (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuels-degraded-democracy-and-profit-over-planet-pollution/msg2123/#msg2123)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 13, 2016, 06:46:10 pm
(https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GALLIA_GRAECA.jpg)
Cyprus-flagged MV Gallia Graeca caught doing what ALL of them do on a regular basis.  :P

Shipping Companies, Engineers Charged with Environmental Crimes in Seattle

March 11, 2016 by gCaptain
   
A grand jury in Seattle has indicted two shipping companies and two engineers for crimes related to the illegal discharge of oily wastewater from the Cyprus-flagged MV Gallia Graeca.

U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes announced the indictment against the ship’s Panamanian operator, Angelakos (Hellas), and its owner, Gallia Greaca Shipping of Cyprus, as well as engineers Konstantinos Chrysovergis and Tryfon Angelou. The two engineers are scheduled to be arraigned on the indictment on March 24, 2016.

According to the indictment, during a voyage from China to Seattle in October 2015, MV Gallia Graeca’s oil water separator was inoperable, resulting in the accumulation of untreated oily water. On October 16, 26 and 27, 2015, the defendants operated the equipment in a way that bypassed safeguards that prevent the discharge of oily water, resulting in the discharge of more than 5,000 gallons of contaminated water. The indictment further alleges that the defendants concealed these incidents from the Coast Guard by making false statements to inspectors, and making false statements and omissions in the ship’s record book. When Coast Guard inspectors asked the engineers to operate the oil water separator during the inspection, the engineers did so in such a way that the equipment appeared to be working properly even though it was not, the Justice Dept. said.

The two engineers and the two companies operating the ship are charged with Falsification of Records in a Federal Investigation, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, with Concealment of Material Information from the United States, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, which is punishable by up to five years of imprisonment. Each count of conviction is also punishable by a $500,000 fine.

https://gcaptain.com/shipping-companies-engineers-charged-with-environmental-crimes-in-seattle/


The truth about OCEAN GOING OIL TANKERS (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuel-propaganda-modus-operandi/msg542/#msg542)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 15, 2016, 09:13:32 pm

Agelbert NOTE: HONEY: Brought to you by better living through chemistry, cancers through pesticides derived from fossil fuel based hydrocarbon feed stock . ENJOY your Fossil Fuel and Chemical Industry EXTERNALIZED COSTS... (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.squarespace.com%2Fstatic%2F52eebd87e4b025a62488780a%2Ft%2F53083be5e4b0c1a4a938b900%2F1393048549381%2Fhoney%2Bbee.gasmask.jpg&hash=b56e76c7a4b237cfb7a15cd89dd29a22769180fa)

57 different pesticides found in honeybees

Melissa Breyer (@MelissaBreyer)
Business / Corporate Responsibility
March 11, 2016

CC BY 2.0 Devcore

Using a new method to detect pesticides, researchers hope to get a handle on the toxic puzzle of bee poisonings.

This may be simplistic, but when an insect is subjected to a battery of pesticides, doesn’t it make sense that their population might suffer?

Since 2003 in North America and Europe the tragedy known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has been wiping out bees. In Europe, the EPILOBEE project concludes that yearly colony mortality rates between 2012 and 2014 were up to 36 percent; in the U.S. data shows that annual colony losses reported by beekeepers reached up to 45 percent. As in, a lot of our bees are dying every year.

Scientists have been unable to pin responsibility to a single source; there seems to be a number of factors thrown into the mix, but not the least of which is pesticide exposure.

Yet even that is complicated. It’s not like there is just a pesticide or two as the culprit ... and the relationship between bees and pesticide is complex, say scientists. But now researchers from the National Veterinary Research Institute in Poland have developed a method for much more detailed analyses of pesticides – they can now analyze 200 pesticides at the same time – and results of their recent study using the method are eye-opening.

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/ec/79/c4/ec79c42004b0838c9d44900fa0b8d25d.jpg)

"Bee health is a matter of public concern
– bees are considered critically important for the environment and agriculture by pollinating more than 80 percent of crops and wild plants in Europe," said Tomasz Kiljanek, lead author of the study. "We wanted to develop a test for a large number of pesticides currently approved for use in the European Union to see what is poisoning the bees."

With so many pesticides currently in use, it's difficult to work out which ones are harming the bees. Certain combinations of pesticides, or their use over time, could affect honeybees in different ways. In order to understand what's really going on, we need to know which pesticides and at what concentration levels are present in honeybees, say the researchers.

What they found after investigating more than 70 honeybee poisoning incidents was the presence of 57 different pesticides present in the bees.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs018.radikal.ru%2Fi520%2F1212%2Fcf%2Fb5707dc1ab71.jpg&hash=59d747eeb8d717513cd6f5173bbf581f4f1c685f)

"This is just the beginning of our research on the impact of pesticides on honeybee health," said Kiljanek. "Honeybee poisoning incidents are the tip of the iceberg.

Even at very low levels, pesticides can weaken bees' defense systems, allowing parasites or viruses to kill the colony. Our results will help expand our knowledge about the influence of pesticides on honeybee health, and will provide important information for other researchers to better assess the risk connected with the mix of current used pesticides."

You can read more of the research in the Journal of Chromatography A.
http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/57-different-pesticides-found-honeybees.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 16, 2016, 09:04:19 pm

Penguin Swims 5,000 Miles Each Year to Visit the Man Who Rescued Him  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-081.gif&hash=5981b917cdd5e334cd69d00213b2d119acbfb380)

Tex Dworkin, Care2 | March 14, 2016 12:20 pm

SNIPPET:

Joao Pereira de Souza lives in a fishing village just outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2011 he found a tiny penguin lying on some rocks at his local beach.

The creature was covered in oil and close to death.  :(

Joao cleaned the penguin, nursed him back to health and named him Dindim. Joao tried releasing the penguin, presumably never to meet again, but Dindim wasn’t ready to leave just yet. Joao recalls, “He stayed with me for 11 months and then, just after he changed his coat with new feathers, he disappeared.”

But that was not the last time the two would meet. So the story goes, over the past five years, Dindim has spent many months of the year with Joao and some believe he spends the rest of the time breeding off the coast of Argentina and Chile.

https://youtu.be/6McB0jhPWqs


http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/14/magellanic-penguin-swims-5000-miles/ "https://gcaptain.com/about/"
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 16, 2016, 09:57:25 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-270615171708.jpeg&hash=761a7b7711de0867a1fb90890bfd59ab009760d9)

Environmental Factors Cause One Quarter of Global Deaths:

An estimated 12.6 million deaths each year are attributable to unhealthy environments (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)

News release

15 MARCH 2016 | GENEVA - An estimated 12.6 million people died as a result of living or working in an unhealthy environment in 2012 – nearly 1 in 4 of total global deaths, according to new estimates from WHO. Environmental risk factors, such as air, water and soil pollution, chemical exposures, climate change, and ultraviolet radiation, contribute to more than 100 diseases and injuries.

Noncommunicable diseases contribute to largest share of environment-related deaths

The second edition of the report, “Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks”, reveals that since the report was first published a decade ago, deaths due to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), mostly attributable to air pollution (including exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke), amount to as much as 8.2 million of these deaths. NCDs, such as stroke, heart disease, cancers and chronic respiratory disease, now amount to nearly two-thirds of the total deaths caused by unhealthy environments.

At the same time, deaths from infectious diseases, such as diarrhoea and malaria, often related to poor water, sanitation and waste management, have declined. Increases in access to safe water and sanitation have been key contributors to this decline, alongside better access to immunization, insecticide-treated mosquito nets and essential medicines.

Healthier environment: healthier people

“A healthy environment underpins a healthy population,” says Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “If countries do not take actions to make environments where people live and work healthy, millions will continue to become ill and die too young.”

The report emphasizes cost-effective measures that countries can take to reverse the upward trend of environment-related disease and deaths. These include reducing the use of solid fuels for cooking and increasing access to low-carbon energy technologies.

“There’s an urgent need for investment in strategies to reduce environmental risks in our cities, homes and workplaces”, said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. “Such investments can significantly reduce the rising worldwide burden of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, injuries, and cancers, and lead to immediate savings in healthcare costs.”

Environmental risks take their greatest toll on young children and older people, the report finds, with children under 5 and adults aged 50 to 75 years most impacted. Yearly, the deaths of 1.7 million children under 5 and 4.9 million adults aged 50 to 75 could be prevented through better environmental management. Lower respiratory infections and diarrhoeal diseases mostly impact children under 5, while older people are most impacted by NCDs.

Burden of disease in WHO Regions

Regionally, the report finds, low- and middle-income countries in the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions had the largest environment-related disease burden in 2012, with a total of 7.3 million deaths, most attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollution. Further regional statistics listed in the report include:

2.2 million deaths annually in African Region

847 000 deaths annually in Region of the Americas

854 000 deaths annually in Eastern Mediterranean Region

1.4 million deaths annually in European Region

3.8 million deaths annually in South-East Asia Region

3.5 million deaths annually in Western Pacific Region


Quote

Low- and middle-income countries bear the greatest environmental burden in all types of diseases and injuries, however for certain NCDs, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancers, the per capita disease burden can also be relatively high in high-income countries.


Top causes of environment-related deaths

Looking across more than 100 disease and injury categories, the report finds that the vast majority of environment-related deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke and ischaemic heart disease:

Stroke – 2.5 million deaths annually

Ischaemic heart disease – 2.3 million deaths annually

Unintentional injuries (such as road traffic deaths) – 1.7 million deaths annually

Cancers – 1.7 million deaths annually

Chronic respiratory diseases – 1.4 million deaths annually

Diarrhoeal diseases – 846 000 deaths annually

Respiratory infections – 567 000 deaths annually

Neonatal conditions – 270 000 deaths annually

Malaria – 259 000 deaths annually

Intentional injuries (such as suicides) – 246 000 deaths annually




Strategies to reduce environmental disease burden
The report cites proven strategies for improving the environment and preventing diseases. For instance, using clean technologies and fuels for domestic cooking, heating and lighting would reduce acute respiratory infections, chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and burns. Increasing access to safe water and adequate sanitation and promoting hand washing would further reduce diarrhoeal diseases.

Tobacco smoke-free legislation reduces exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke, and thereby also reduces cardiovascular diseases and respiratory infections. Improving urban transit and urban planning, and building energy-efficient housing would reduce air pollution-related diseases and promote safe physical activity.
Many cities around the world are already implementing many of these cost-effective measures. Curitiba, Brazil has invested heavily in slum upgrading, waste recycling, and a popular “bus rapid transit” system which is integrated with green spaces and pedestrian walkways to encourage walking and cycling. Despite a five-fold population increase in the past 50 years, air pollution levels are comparatively lower than in many other rapidly growing cities and life expectancy is 2 years longer than the national average.

Through WHO’s water safety plans, which work to identify and address threats to drinking-water safety, Amarapuri, Nepal identified open defecation as a water quality hazard contributing to diseases in the area. As a result, the village built toilets for each household and was later declared an Open Defecation Free Zone by the local government.

Currently, WHO is working with countries to take action on both indoor and outdoor air pollution. At the World Health Assembly in May, WHO will propose a road map for an enhanced global response by the health sector aimed at reducing the adverse health effects of air pollution.

Note to editors:
The second edition of Preventing Disease through Healthy Environments:

Updates the 2006 publication and presents the latest evidence on environment-disease links and their devastating impact on global health.


Systematically analyses and quantifies how different diseases are impacted by environmental risks, detailing the regions and populations most vulnerable to environmentally mediated death, disease and injury.

Is exhaustive in its coverage. It examines the health impacts of environmental risks on more than 100 diseases and injuries. Some of these environmental factors are well known, such as unsafe drinking-water and sanitation, and air pollution and indoor stoves; others less so, such as climate change or the built environment.

Highlights promising areas for immediate intervention and gaps where further research is needed to establish the linkages and quantify the burden of disease for various environmental risk factors.


For more information, contact:

Christian Lindmeier
Communication Officer
Telephone: +41 22 791 3228
Mobile: +41 79 475 5556
E-mail: lindemeierch@who.int

Nada Osseiran
Technical Officer (Communications)
Telephone: +41 22 791 4475
Mobile: +41 79 445 1624
E-mail: osseirann@who.int

Kim Chriscaden
Editor
Telephone: +41 22 791 2885
Mobile: +41 79 603 1891
E-mail: chriscadenk@who.int

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2016/deaths-attributable-to-unhealthy-environments/en/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 16, 2016, 10:03:06 pm
MOL Car Carrier Leaks Oil in Los Angeles Harbor  :P

March 15, 2016 by Mike Schuler

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.pbase.com%2Fg3%2F64%2F585764%2F2%2F87989948.ocVAl7Nx.jpg&hash=f62fe2b2cbc6256c9b100ae4ed7f301c22f4f3d4)
MV Istra Ace

The U.S. Coast Guard and California Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response are investigating an oil spill from a Bahamas-flagged car carrier that occurred on Sunday in the Los Angeles Harbor.

Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach command center received a report at 6:30 p.m., Sunday, of an unknown quantity of oil in the vicinity of the 577-foot cargo ship, Istra Ace. The ship was reported to have been leaking heavy fuel in the Cerritos channel at Berth 198, with oil also observed throughout portions of Cerritos Channel.

The Istra Ace is owned by Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL).
A unified command has been established that includes the Coast Guard, California Fish and Wildlife, and the responsible party.

Coast Guard investigators from Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, along with members of California Fish and Wildlife, Los Angeles Port Police and Los Angeles County Fire are assisting in the investigation and monitoring of the area.

The initial investigation onboard the Istra Ace revealed faulty piping that may have allowed oil to leak from the starboard side of the ship. A Coast Guard helicopter overflight and shoreline clean-up assessments occurred at first light Monday to help determine the extent of the oil spilled.

The Coast Guard issued a safety zone restricting recreational and commercial vessel traffic in the area, ensuring that vessels do not impede clean-up operations as well as avoid any possible contamination.

The responsible party has contracted with the National Response Corporation Environmental Services and other sub-contractors to assist in efforts to contain and clean the oil.

Currently, 15,600 feet of boom has been deployed around the vessel as well as at critical points in the channel. The boom has successfully contained the oil within the affected area preventing further contamination of the harbor. Contractors are continuing to clean with sweepers and sorbent pads in the affected area and also any affected shoreline, as well as deploy resources for removal of contamination from vessels, docks, pilings and other structures.

Due to response efforts, the operations of the Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge have been temporarily suspended, restricting vessel traffic from transiting underneath the bridge. However, automobile traffic is not affected. On a case by case basis, requests to transit through the safety zone will be considered by the Unified Command.

At this time, there have been no confirmed reports of oiled wildlife.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)

https://gcaptain.com/car-carrier-leaks-oil-in-los-angeles-harbor/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 18, 2016, 10:36:30 pm
China Contributes 10% of Human Influence on Climate Change   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)
Roz Pidcock, Carbon Brief | March 18, 2016 9:27 am
http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/18/china-impact-on-climate-change/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 18, 2016, 10:43:13 pm
5 Most Important Things to Know About China’s 5-Year Plan

Geoffrey Henderson, Ranping Song and Paul Joffe, World Resources Institute

March 18, 2016

SNIPPET:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F03%2Fchina5chart1_750.jpg&hash=a70859eb90372313dcd1d5b929a009f7c1db3e55)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F03%2Fchina5chart2_750.jpg&hash=2bbb9b680685fee33c5d7992fe80a7bd2a5c9919)


Full article:

http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/18/china-five-year-plan-climate/

Agelbert COMMENT: Any port in the climate change storm is better than the denier idiocy of clinging to their profit over planet polluting fossil fuel "business model". All of us, including the Chinese, need to stop digging our grave.

There are still too many influential, but grossly irresponsible, people who do not care what damage they do to the environment as long as they profit from the damage ((i.e. "externalize" the costs) now and mostly future generations will have to deal with it.

"When men act for the sake of a future they will not live to see, it is for the most part out of love for persons, places and forms of activity, a cherishing of them, nothing more grandiose. It is indeed self-contradictory to say: 'I love him or her or that place or that institution or that activity, but I don't care what happens to it after my death.' To love is, amongst other things, to care about the future of what we love" (Passmore, 1980, p. 53)

  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300915135643.png&hash=34da07af28fdf36925e39dce5464fb17688d404e)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 19, 2016, 04:09:43 pm
‘This Is the Video Future Generations Will Be Wishing Everyone Watched Today’

https://youtu.be/9dwyPhaUne8

(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 20, 2016, 07:36:07 pm
THE LIE WE LIVE (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041115022304.png&hash=cd8cb8e28ab8f7fc78c1ea00d30a661bd937aed5)

https://youtu.be/ipe6CMvW0Dg
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 23, 2016, 03:24:04 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Another example of "responsible behavior" by a proud, prudent, hard working corporation of the fossil Fuel Industry (i. e. old Chapter 11 TRICK)...

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpm1.narvii.com%2F5869%2F6a64193d6770c3afd17406c78686c0eda32ded1c_hq.jpg&hash=fedf26e48d67cdd1e932380c7336ac18486d3fee)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffm.cnbc.com%2Fapplications%2Fcnbc.com%2Fresources%2Fimg%2Feditorial%2F2016%2F03%2F18%2F103480986-GettyImages-105189939.530x298.jpg%3Fv%3D1458316374&hash=edeea4c55e4ce2155d23a32e456e082a858d9639)
Venoco files for bankruptcy a year after California spill

Nicolas Torres  March 23, 2016   

Colorado-based private upstream Venoco has become the latest firm to file for bankruptcy protection, citing continued financial strain stemming from a 2015 pipeline spill in California.

The company said Friday that it has reached an agreement with its senior lenders to reduce its debt load  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c) and restructure its balance sheet.

Venoco cited low oil prices and the shutdown of Line 901 following a May 2015 oil spill in Santa Barbara as “serious problems” for the firm. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ftissue.gif&hash=f8d05db8e11569882e0effbdd719e2b2e95c6785)

According to a court filing seen by Bloomberg, the shutdown also halted production at the company’s South Elwood Field located about two miles off the coast of Santa Barbara.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said last month that preliminary findings indicate the spill was most likely caused by external pipeline corrosion.

The 48,000 barrel per day Line 901, operated by Plains All American, has been shutdown since the spill along with the nearby Line 903.

Venoco did not disclose the financial impact of the pipeline shutdowns.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F290.gif&hash=38949e35cf58eaa4218b5a8176767c806d2f8537)

“It is unfortunate that a third party pipeline spill has impacted Venoco, but this process  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f) will make it stronger and ensure its continued contributions to the Santa Barbara County community,” Venoco founder Tim Marquez.

Under the terms of the agreement, the company’s senior lenders have agreed to support a restructuring transaction that will eliminate about $1 billion of debt from Venoco’s balance sheet.

To facilitate the restructuring, Venoco filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on March 18.

The company expects to maintain all operations during the restructuring process.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

“While we continue to be in a strong cash position, the declining price of oil and the ongoing closure of Plains All American pipeline 901 continue to be serious problems. With this agreement, Venoco will be in a much stronger position to withstand these challenges and others that may follow,” Venoco CEO Mark DePuy  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) said.

The company said it has sufficient liquidity to continue its normal oil and gas activities and meet its ongoing financial and regulatory obligations.

Venoco expects existing liquidity and generated cash from ongoing operations will be used to support the company during the restructuring process once it receives approval from the Bankruptcy Court.

Marquez will remain executive chairman during the restructuring process and has been retained to “provide leadership and strategic counsel” to the firm after the restructuring is complete.

http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/03/venoco-files-for-bankruptcy-a-year-after-california-spill/


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 26, 2016, 04:17:19 pm
Remembering Exxon Valdez: Obama Should Cancel Leases in Gulf and Arctic

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F03%2Fev7502.jpg&hash=d8e050df4c635ac91fe42211a66d5506fe40dd4a)

Agelbert NOTE:
But the supreme Court Reduced the Damages award to ONE TENTH the original award in a cruel fascist mockery of Ubi Jus Ibi Remedium (Latin legal maxim which means "where there is a right there is a remedy").
The Exxon Valdez settlement numbers (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuels-degraded-democracy-and-profit-over-planet-pollution/msg2122/#msg2122)

Learned ethics free  counselor tells us how Exxon did what they did, as if that's just fine and dandy: JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW The purpose of this comment is to describe the history of the Exxon Valdez litigation and analyze whether the courts and corresponding laws are equipped to effectively handle mass environmental litigation. (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuels-degraded-democracy-and-profit-over-planet-pollution/msg2123/#msg2123)

Margie Alt and Cindy Shogan | March 24, 2016 10:05 am

SNIPPET:

The devastation from the spill lingers. Crude oil remains beneath beaches. The orca whale population continues to struggle. Crab and shrimp populations have yet to fully recover.

The BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has surpassed the Exxon Valdez as the largest catastrophe in U.S. history. Shell’s Kulluk drill rig running aground on New Year’s Eve 2012 offered a new, horrific reminder of the risk of offering up one of the world’s most remote and diverse marine environments to oil and gas development.

And last week, the Obama administration issued its latest plan for more drilling and inevitable spilling. The proposal includes 10 new lease areas for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and three in Alaskan waters – two of which are located in the Arctic Ocean.

But many changes over the last three decades also point to a clean energy future. In fact, the scientific, economic and political momentum to stop new drilling proposals and wean ourselves off fossil fuels altogether is increasingly on our side.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F03%2Fev7501.jpg&hash=8c84d8d95dd641322caa48db3fb5b81c0317fbf3)

http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ev7501.jpg

Aglbert NOTE: Unfortunately, EVERY SINGLE DAY. at least one oil tanker somewhere in the world pollutes the ocean ROUTINELY when it dumps the sea water ballast it took in after delivering the crude oil load. And then there are spills that don't make the papers, but are also "accepted" by the oil industry as "worth it".

Finally, there are the tankers caught using "magic" pipes (failing to record this discharge of oil into the sea by way of the illegal pump system and overboard discharge valve) that bypass environmental laws and severely pollute the sea water around the tanker. ANY ship that uses ballast sea water mixed with some bunker oil doing the "magic pipe" thing also contributes to ocean pollution.Those captains caught are routinely given a slap on the wrist.

Again, we have a hydrocrabon happy talk "cost benefit" analysis that externalizes pollution BECAUSE IT CAN.

This is another reason that, in order to stop this type of ocean pollution (the nitrates from hydrocarbon feed stock based chemical fertilizers from farms is another challenge that must be addressed) degrading the ocean biomes, oil tankers should be scrapped and all other ships should NOT be allowed to run on fossil fuels, PERIOD.

The truth about OCEAN GOING OIL TANKERS (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuel-propaganda-modus-operandi/msg542/#msg542)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 26, 2016, 04:39:12 pm
Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:16am GMT

China to halt construction on coal-fired power plants in 15 regions  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

SNIPPET:

Environmental group Greenpeace said the rules, if fully implemented, could involve up to 250 power projects with a total of 170 gigawatts (GW) in capacity, according to initial estimates.

"China is finally beginning to clamp down on its out of control coal power bubble," said Lauri Myllyvirta, Greenpeace's senior campaigner on coal, in an emailed statement.

"However, these new measures fall far short of even halting the build-up of overcapacity in coal-fired power generation, let alone beginning to reduce it," he said.

China's total generation capacity reached 1,485.8 GW by the end of February, up 11.8 percent year on year, according to the latest figures. Thermal power, which mostly consists of coal-fired capacity, rose 9.4 percent on the year to 1,003.8 GW.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/china-power-coal-idUKL3N16W322
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 26, 2016, 04:52:05 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F03%2Fcoalbiggers_750.jpg&hash=8e6791abdcd99bb9a32c6a580efd89a605659eca)

It’s Beyond Time Coal Mining Outlaws (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fswear1.gif&hash=87347674f9297191f3f8a447208170617da4caf6) Are Held Accountable
Jeff Biggers | March 22, 2016 9:08 am

SNIPPET:

Fracking and natural gas may have brought Big Coal to its knees, but governmental complicity with the recklessness of the outlaw coal industry has left coal-mined regions like my native southern Illinois in utter ruin and despair.

Mr. Peabody and the rest of the Chapter 11 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c) coal cats should be going to criminal court—not bankruptcy court. And their enablers in government service and their bankrolled political cheerleaders should be held accountable, as well.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/22/coal-mining-outlaws/

Agelbert Comment: "Mr. Peabody and the rest of the Chapter 11 coal cats should be going to criminal court—not bankruptcy court. And their enablers in government service and their bankrolled political cheerleaders should be held accountable, as well."

EXACTLY RIGHT!

UBI JUS IBI REMEDIUM (Latin Legal Maxim: where there is a RIGHT, there MUST BE a remedy) needs to become part of our law again!

Impeach the remaining fascist Scalia arm of the supreme court!


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-091114181518.png&hash=406516d30bc3758727adb96414e8460d5d4547b3)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-161014215542.jpeg&hash=c954230a24ac70cb7189e77eaa7b10f1133ace68)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 27, 2016, 05:31:23 pm
03/23/2016 12:52 PM    
        
Big Coal Leaves Montana, Another Success for Fossil Activists  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27)

SustainableBusiness.com News

As protesters occupy New Orlean's Superdome today to stop new oil lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, others are celebrating that big coal has moved out of Montana.

Bankrupt Arch Coal withdrew from Montana, where it's been trying to get a permit to strip mine 1.6 billion tons of coal and export it through Pacific Northwest ports.

While the state's environmental agency says it postponed the permit because of concerns about water supplies (coal ash has already been found in the water), Senator Daines (R-MT) blames Obama's "war on domestic energy production."

Arch says it pulled out because of deteriorating conditions in coal markets and the difficulty of getting a permit, which is it at least partially due to years of opposition from local ranchers, farmers, tribal leaders, and community advocates.

"Montana's beautiful Otter Creek country will be spared from the ravages of surface mining, and local tribes and ranchers can continue their way of life. And thanks to the success of all those across the US who are moving this country beyond coal, it's less likely that the coal industry will be back to make a grab for this place any time soon," says Mary Anne Hitt, Director of Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sustainablebusiness.com%2Fimageupload%2FOtter-Creek-Montana.jpg&hash=3c985501531144438e758befba68aa464b602ee7)
credit: Alexis Bonogofsky



Members of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe formed an organization called ecoCheyenne to fight the mine.

"This is a major victory for our homelands, the people and future generations," says Vanessa Braided Hair, co-founder of ecoCheyenne.
Quote
"Arch Coal's permanent removal of their permit application means there is hope -- hope for our people and our Cheyenne way of life." (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

The victory also likely means the end of Tongue River Railroad, which would transport the coal to mammoth, new export terminals along the Columbia River in Washington.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fsightline.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F06%2FSnaking-Coal-by-Aaron-Hockley-cc.-563x376.jpg&hash=17429e95f9e338dc0606f044e15c67475fe9e61d)
Tongue River Railroad  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)



The railroad faces opposition along the entire route, and in the Pacific Northwest, activists are fighting Millennium Bulk Terminals, as they did (and won) in Portland, Oregon.

About 40% of the coal consumed in the US comes from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming.

What's the next stop for Arch Coal?

The Forest Service is accepting comments through April on whether to allow Arch to expand in Colorado by building roads and well pads  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgaah.gif&hash=e43fa6be4258ba495007b2bbb3e7dd2f60288fcd) in a designated "roadless forest," in Gunnison National Forest.

Roadless areas are there to protect wildlife. The Sunset Roadless Area provides crucial winter habitat for big game herds, denning for the rare Canada lynx, and watersheds that support imperiled Colorado River cutthroat trout.

In 2014, a judge ruled against the expansion, using climate change as the reason for the first time, but Arch hasn't given up  >:(.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sustainablebusiness.com%2Fimageupload%2Fcoal2.jpg&hash=dd6f3834909b07a15b74c35f70b1560a5b7cec48)

Almost 5% of Coal Plants Close in 2015  ;D

Last year, about 4.6% of US coal-fired power plants shut down - about 15 gigawatts, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Another wave is expected this year.
Quote
At an average age of 54 years, they are some of the oldest, dirtiest plants  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c) in the country.

Under Obama, coal miners are getting help transitioning to other jobs. The POWER Initiative released $65.8 million for Appalachia which provides worker training and helps diversify their economies.

That's more than we can say for coal companies. In exchange for working in the most dangerous, unhealthy conditions, they promised health care for life, and pensions. But when they go bankrupt, the first thing they do is wiggle out of those commitments, while still giving hefty salaries to top management. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)


Other Recent Successes

In related news, last week the Interior Department cancelled oil and gas leases on over 6,000 acres in the sacred Badger-Two Medicine area next to Montana's Glacier National Park, thanks to activists. And that came right after the Forest Service denied permits for a mega-mall along Grand Canyon's South Rim.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26585
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 29, 2016, 04:00:25 pm
Is the US putting unfair pressure on the EU to accept genetically modified crops?  ???

William Engdahl, economic researcher, journalist and historian author of Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of GMO, offers his extensively researched wisdom on the subject.

Quote
"The US government has made GMO seeds, patented from Dupont and Monsanto, a national security priority, tantamount to the export of defense weapons for the Pentagon and for the US budget. It's a national security export sector agribusiness, and especially GMO seeds."

He further explains that the US government co-holds the patent with Monsanto on terminator seed technology!


This brief interview illuminates the fact that the political agenda of food control is more than a little chilling. We need to educate ourselves not only about what we buy, but the worldwide implications of GMO crops.

Video:

Quote
"..the US government has made GMO seeds, patented from Dupont and Monsanto, a national security priority, tantamount to the export of defense weapons for the Pentagon and for the US budget. It's a national security export sector -- agribusiness, and especially GMO seeds."

https://youtu.be/NoWepmfH9B0


NextWorldTV.com

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http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/food-choices/is-the-us-forcing-gmo-food-on-europe.html

Agelbert NOTE: After reading and viewing the above, the following news cannot be interpreted any other way than as evidence of FASCIST (Monsanto + (i.e. equals) Government) profit over people and planet.

USDA Deregulates Two Lines of Genetically Engineered Corn From Monsanto, Syngenta

Shannon Van Hoesen, Environmental Working Group | March 29, 2016 12:59 pm

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said last week it will allow farmers to plant two new strains of genetically modified (GMO) corn, one created by Monsanto and the other by Syngenta, without government oversight. The new strains are tolerant (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) of the weed killers dicamba (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c) and glufosinate .(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c).

The decision is likely to lead to ever-greater use of these and other pesticides (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c) to grow genetically engineered crops, giving consumers yet another reason to want food products containing GMO ingredients to be labeled accordingly.

Like earlier GMO crops that were modified to be herbicide-tolerant, the new GMO corn is designed to survive being blanketed with toxic chemicals that kill weeds and other plant life on the field. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

Reuters reported that Monsanto created the new corn strain in response to growing competition facing its signature Roundup herbicide from generic alternatives to glyphosate, Roundup’s key ingredient. But perhaps more notably, Monsanto wants to diversify its herbicide portfolio because more and more weeds have evolved into so-called superweeds that can withstand glyphosate.

This news is the latest illustration of the chemical treadmill created by genetically modified crops. Once one herbicide stops working, manufacturers come up with a new set of chemicals.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs2277341.gif&hash=1a8375f11d76a653bcb48e30eaa7b652175f029d)

We don’t always know the health effects of the increased use of these herbicides, especially in combination with other environmental contaminants, but we do know that the massive expansion of GMO crops has led to an explosion in herbicide use, specifically glyphosate, by U.S. farms.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

American consumers, however, have no way to know whether the food they’re eating was produced with GMOs and thus likely to have been doused with chemicals that have been linked to cancer and other diseases.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-221215212409.png&hash=a468474328aca658690b57ec357614360c510849)

Now that USDA has abdicated responsibility for regulating where and how much of this new GMO corn will be planted, it is more critical than ever that Congress pass a mandatory GMO-labeling law to give consumers the information that 9 out of every 10 Americans want.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/29/usda-ge-corn-monsanto/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 30, 2016, 12:04:53 am
TS Taipei Grounding: Drone Video Shows Environmental Disaster Unfolding in Taiwan  :P

March 28, 2016 by Mike Schuler


A new video of the TS Taipei shipwreck shows the extent of the disaster that is unfolding in northern Taiwan as the vessel continues to break up and spill fuel and containers into the sea.

The ship ran aground March 10 and has been slowly breaking apart, with fears that both ends could capsize at any moment.

The Taiwanese government has been criticized for its slow response to the incident. In a statement Saturday, the Environmental Protection Agency blamed heavy weather for hampering salvage and oil pumping operations.

https://youtu.be/uDv8XF9VI4c


https://gcaptain.com/ts-taipei-grounding-drone-video-shows-environmental-disaster-unfolding-in-taiwan/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 02, 2016, 10:41:09 pm
Agelbert OBSERVATION:  Despite the cratering price of crude and the new all time low land rig count in the USA, other Fossil Fuel Industry IDIOTS just cannot stop TRASHING THE PLANET.       (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

The next FIVE news items today serve as evidence of how INSANE the ocean oil rig business has become.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fp8.gif&hash=34db9228a959b3b83fc65b38a1aa92a40d56f976) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs2277341.gif&hash=1a8375f11d76a653bcb48e30eaa7b652175f029d)


Maersk Drillship Spuds World’s Deepest Well

April 1, 2016 by Mike Schuler
 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmaritime-connector.com%2Fships_uploads%2Fmaersk_viking-9624146-drill_ship-8-169814.jpg&hash=9d1cbf575c445e6fa953e0af986b75bdb54623ff)
Maersk Venturer drillship. Photo: Maersk Drilling

A Maersk drillship has broken the world record for the deepest water depth for an offshore oil rig after spudding a well located more than two miles below the surface of the ocean.
The well, known as the Raya-1 prospect, is being drilled offshore Uruguay in a water depth of 3,400 meters (11,156 feet).

The well is being drilled by the Maersk Venturer drillship for a consortium involving Total SA and ExxonMobil.

The country’s Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining announced that drilling began March 30 in Block 14 located ultra-deep waters approximately 250 km (155 miles) from the Uruguayan coast. Drilling operations are expected to take approximately 100 days.

Raya-1 is the first exploration well offshore Uruguay since 1976.

Maersk Venturer was delivered in 2014 to Maersk Drilling, a subsidiary of Copenhagen-headquartered A.P. Moller – Maersk Group. The drillship can drill in water depths of up to 3,600 meters (12,000 feet).  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)


The previous record for world’s deepest well by water depth was held by Transocean’s ultra-deepwater drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1. The well was drilled in 2013 off the east coast of India in water depths of 3,174 m (10,411 feet).

https://gcaptain.com/maersk-venturer-begins-drilling-worlds-deepest-well/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 02, 2016, 10:49:45 pm
Another Drilling Rig Terminated  ;D

Published at 09:32AM - 30/03/16

Another offshore drilling rig terminated, as Maersk Drilling becomes the latest to receive notice of an early end to an offshore drilling contract.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.offshoreenergytoday.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F10%2Fmaersk-delivere.jpg&hash=3d398e569fce18950881f892088385586f1de2cf)
The Maersk Deliverer

The Maersk Deliverer, an ultra deepwater semisubmersible, was on contract to Chevron via its fully owned affiliate for Angola- Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited (CABGOC).

The long-term contract started in May 2012 and was scheduled to run through to December 2016.

Drilling Rig Terminations Continue

Under the terms of the contract, Maersk Drilling will receive full compensation for the early termination, so will prove cost neutral to the firm.

“With regret we take note of the contract termination, and it is a reminder of the very challenging conditions in the offshore rig market with oil companies restraining activities and capital spending in response to the lower oil price environment.” said Michael Reimer Mortensen, Maersk Drilling head of sales.

“We expect to base the rig in West Africa, and will continue to explore opportunities with our customers in primarily West and East Africa, which remain strategic markets for us,”

Maersk Deliverer Rig

The Maersk Deliverer, is an ultra deepwater semisubmersible drilling rig, delivered in 2009 by Keppel Offshore & Marine’s Pioneer Yard in Singapore.

The Deliverer has the design capability to operate in a maximum water depth of 10,000 feet (3,000m), and drill to a maximum depth of 40,000 feet (12,192m).   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)
 
http://www.offshorepost.com/another-drilling-rig-terminated/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 02, 2016, 10:57:22 pm
New Drilling Rigs Still Being Constructed Despite Stacking

Published at 10:06AM - 28/03/16

New drilling rigs continue to be constructed, despite the record number being stacked worldwide, forcing greater pressure on an industry already struggling to survive.

The news got worse today as Singaporean based Keppel Offshore & Marine, announced that it had delivered a further two of a total five new jackup drillers for work in the Gulf of Mexico.

New Drilling Rigs Still Being Constructed

Both rigs, of Keppel’s own B class design, had been ordered by Mexican based Grupo R for permanent charter to Mexico’s state owned oil and gas company PEMEX.

The CANTARELL I and CANTARELL II jackups, mark the first of five to be delivered to the firm. The latest two deliveries alone, brings the total number of B Class rigs working in the Gulf of Mexico to 10.

A spokesman for Keppel said: “It is the dominant rig design in the region, with those already in operation turning out robust, efficient and economical, performances for Mexico.”

“We are pleased to deliver another two rigs in 2016 to our quality client Grupo R.”, added Mr Wong Kok Seng, Managing Director of Keppel

“Despite the current low oil price environment, the market continues to prefer safe and efficient rigs with a proven track record like our KFELS B Class. We have built strong relationships with our customers and continue to engage them in developing win-win solutions.”

With the deliveries, Keppel FELS has delivered three rigs in 2016 to-date. Besides building new jackup rigs for Mexico, Keppel has also repaired and serviced a total of 18 rigs that have been deployed in Mexico.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fworldmaritimenews.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F06%2FKeppel-FELS-to-Deliver-KFELS-B-Class-Jack-Up-Rig-to-Ukraine.jpg&hash=fdcd7e4e52191caeb35f3f53cc3815dd5f49928c)
Keppel B Class Jackup

The Keppel FELS B Class jackup is designed to operate in water depths of up to 400 feet (122m) and drill to depths of 30,000 feet (9,144m).  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)
 
The Keppel FELS B Class is equipped with an advanced and fully-automated high capacity rack and pinion jacking system, and Self-Positioning Fixation System. It has accommodation with full amenities for 150 persons.

http://www.offshorepost.com/new-drilling-rigs-still-constructed-despite-stacking/

Agelbert NOTE: The only upside I can see to these jackups is that they can be used, with relatively inexpensive modifications, to install offshore wind turbines.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 02, 2016, 11:04:32 pm
Fabrication Starts On Offshore Giant   >:(

Published at 01:00PM - 31/03/16

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ogj.com%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Fogj%2Fonline-articles%2F2015%2F06%2FJune8StatoilJohanSverdrup.jpg&hash=fc1c8ca93439f4cc9e7f39c4609de2e066df25c9)
Proposed  Johan Sverdrup platform

Fabrication starts on offshore giant, the Johan Sverdrup platform, as the first steel is cut for the platform’s utility and living quarters topside.

The platform will have the largest living quarters on the NCS with a capacity of 560 people; accommodating the crew working on the Johan Sverdrup field during the field’s 50 year life.

“Johan Sverdrup is the biggest industrial project in modern times in Norway, and will create considerable value for society for generations to come.” said Statoil’s project director.
Fabrication Starts On Offshore Giant

A ceremony to mark the start of the fabrication was held at Kværner’s yard in Norway, where apprentice, Jens Erik Eriksen, and the Norwegian minister of petroleum and energy Tord Lien cut the first steel.

Norwegian MinisterTord Lien (l) and Apprentice Jens Erik Eriksen (r) At Steel Cutting Ceremony (picture at link)

“Today we are kicking off the construction of the utility and living quarters platform, which is the second of four platform currently under construction in the first project phase,” added Digre.
“The Johan Sverdrup project is growing every day. It is a complex puzzle with activities spread all over the world. We are 14,000 people working on the project every day in 2016, and together we will perform 100 million working hours.”


Kværner

The contract for the utility and living quarters platform was awarded to a joint venture between Kværner and KBR, back in 2015, with work taking place at Kværner’s fabrication facility on the island of Stord, north of Stavanger.

Kværner Stord will fabricate parts of the topside steel frame, and will also assemble all parts for the utility and living quarters platform before the platform is installed on the field in 2019. At peak around 2000 Kværner employees will be involved in Johan Sverdrup deliveries.

Kværner’s sub-supplier Apply Leirvik on Stord will construct the accommodation module for the living quarters platform, which will be the biggest on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).
International Effort

The other modules for the utility and living quarters platform will be constructed at the Energomontaz Polnoc Gdynia (EPG), Mostostal Pomorze Gdansk (MPG), Mostostal Chojnice and Crist Offshore in Poland, as well as in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Detailed engineering is performed at KBR’s office in Leatherhead, London, and at Apply Leirvik on Stord. The fabrication work was also kicked off today at two of the yards in Poland and at Apply Leirvik’s yard.

“We depend on everyone delivering as required, and all pieces of the puzzle falling into place at the right time and with the right quality. Our top priority is a safe working environment. We do not want any injuries among personnel working for the Johan Sverdrup project,” concluded Digre.

The platform will be completed in the first quarter of 2019, before it is installed on the Johan Sverdrup field by use of the world’s largest heavy-lift vessel, the Pioneering Spirit.
The Johan Sverdrup Field

The Johan Sverdrup field was discovered by Swedish based exploration company Lundin Petroleum in 2010.

Located 96 miles (155km) west of Stravanger, Norway, in a water depth of 120 meters, the field has reserves of 1.7 to 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

At its peak, the Johan Sverdrup field is expected to produce 550,000 to 650,000 barrels of oil a day, pumping its produce back ashore via subsea pipeline.

Oil produce will be transported back to the Mongstad terminal in Hordaland, and gas produce transported via the Statpipe subsea line, to the Kårstø processing plant in North Rogaland.

The Johan Sverdrup Field, is a joint venture between Statoil 40.0267%, Lundin Norway 22.12%, Petoro 17.84%, Det norske oljeselskap 11.8933% and Maersk Oil. 8.12%.

Statoil will act as operator during all phases of the fields development, including production operator once the field comes on stream in 2019.

http://www.offshorepost.com/fabrication-starts-offshore-giant/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 02, 2016, 11:17:34 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.raydowding.co.uk%2Fgallery%2FGALLERY%2520H%2Fslides%2FNORTH%2520SEA%2520OIL%2520RIG.jpg&hash=525de93bf5c06bbf9fad6c0a3520fc59d0fc1c8b)

$600 Million Of Drilling Contracts Awarded  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil12.gif&hash=d1822754cefdd0f77369dacd157d00f5f8d3fff9)

Published at 09:08AM - 31/03/16

US$600 million worth of offshore drilling contracts have been awarded by Statoil, extending drilling work across its assets in the Norwegian sector.

“The current contracts will help maintain activity on competitive terms in a market challenged by profitability,” said Geir Tungesvik, Statoil’s senior vice president for drilling.

$600 Million Of Drilling Contracts Awarded

The extensions come as Statoil exercises its first option, on three separate contracts originally awarded in 2012. The extensions, will increase the initial four year term by a further two and, combined are worth a total NOK 5 billion (US$600m).

All three extensions will run from the 1st October 2016 to 1st October 2018, and will see Statoil’s existing drilling contractors, KCA Deutag, Odfjell Drilling and Archer, continue to operate on their respective platforms.

Statoil have stated that the extensions come with some changes to the work-scope of the original contract, but continue to include drilling and well services, the maintenance of drilling facilities, in addition to modifications and any optional work.

“The suppliers have demonstrated innovation and submitted good proposals for continued development of these services, and Statoil is positive to continuing the work with all of the three companies.” concluded Tungesvik.

Statoil Drilling Contractors

Statoil current three drilling contractors, Archer, KCA Deutag and Odfjell Drilling currently operated the drilling facilities on the following platforms:

Archer, a Norwegian based drilling contractor, operate the drilling facilities on Statoil’s: Statfjord A, B, C; Visund; Njord; Sleipner A; Snorre A, B platforms.

KCA Deutag, a UK based drilling contractor, operate drilling facilities on Statoil’s: Oseberg B, C, South, East; Gullfaks A, B, C platforms.

Odfjell Drilling, a Norwegian based drilling contractor, operate the drilling facilities on Statoil’s: Grane and Heidrun platforms.

http://www.offshorepost.com/600-million-drilling-contracts-awarded/

Agelbert SARCASM: Never mind all that GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZED construction of oil industry infrastructure for the PURPOSE of BIG OIL PROFITS by "externalizing" the pollution costs. If we recycle, go vegan and vote for Hillary, everything is going to be just fine.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010215143525.png&hash=5bd7bd57f7d770273b7d73d29697fe3a0cc11e8f)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.offshore-mag.com%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Fetc%2Fmedialib%2Fnew-lib%2Foffshore%2Fprint-articles%2F2011%2Foct%2F75017.res%2F_jcr_content%2Frenditions%2Fpennwell.web.401.267.jpg&hash=5f02b4f3d0e76587cf6d1e83e8e88a8fab1de61d)
Offshore Drilling Profit Over Planet is Not a Victimless Crime.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnoyonews.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F03%2FStop-Offshore-Drilling.jpg&hash=f0da78db79ef832397b963d56e053a1665c9f6e7)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 05, 2016, 04:36:43 pm
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Tongass_national_forest_juneau_img_7501.jpg)
Tongass national forest Juneau

Agelbert NOTE: More evidence that Scalia's absence is a good deal for the biosphere.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191258.bmp&hash=e4ed21caaca822f7445ccafd39f49a9f84be90ca)



04/04/2016 01:37 PM     
Alaska's Tongass Wilderness Will Remain Untouched (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-098.gif&hash=ab04cec34d8ac6be10d5db27dc7987012b3a69c4), Says Supreme Court (minus Scalia  ;D)

SustainableBusiness.com News

The desire to leave some portion of this earth for wildlands and wildlife means a constant battle   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F3ztzsjm.gif&hash=8e015ba6a93bc1ec93ebde8fd6b2daa19e537306), and we just won a round in Alaska's pristine Tongass rainforest. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-052.gif&hash=1baf29ffd25f73a53f1b3129069a22b306c03ac8) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ftreeswing.gif&hash=03d29d18183a2924176defc1df7861676abb0960)

The US Supreme Court decided not to hear a case from the State of Alaska, which wants to open America's largest national forest to logging.

(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/09/16/us/201409_ALASKA-slide-06EG/201409_ALASKA-slide-06EG-jumbo.jpg)
Alaska DOES THIS.  >:(

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.premierguitar.com%2Fext%2Fresources%2Farchives%2Fissue%2Ffeatures%2Fimages%2F200707_goinggreen_3.jpg&hash=9b6259c2c436efbdd24bb945ad9c24ac8345507e)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwilderness.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Flegacy%2Fuserfiles%2FClearcut-in-TongassNationalForest-KarenHardigg.jpg&hash=ee38476830f17955cbce99688fcc513fd195c86e)
Clearcutting in Tongass.   :(

At 17 million acres, Tongass spans 500 miles of coast in southeast Alaska. It's a mix of deep fjords, thousands of islands, calving glaciers, alpine meadows and dense old-growth rainforest.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fs.usda.gov%2FInternet%2FFSE_MEDIA%2Fstelprdb5403031.jpg&hash=1c3ee24887c5f09bcc1220acd46a9a5fc1c6a7ae)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimgc.allpostersimages.com%2Fimages%2FP-473-488-90%2F75%2F7590%2FJ1DF300Z%2Fposters%2Fjaynes-gallery-grizzly-bear-standing-on-boulder-tongass-national-forest-alaska-usa.jpg&hash=845f4d8ae9283cc9e09662aa5b9067e6dfa7fe5c)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-050416145438.png&hash=4c4ca78463d81670a126a93471eb3bef247da31b)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fthehungersite.greatergood.com%2FclickToGive%2Fimages%2Ftakeaction%2Fcampaigns%2FAlaskanForests_250x250_2.jpg%3Fcb%3D1456071183511&hash=ab02a94eaec84f612ca7a7fc8163831cdf54a3d6)


To keep wilderness wild, we have Roadless Rule in the US. Roads fragment ecosystems, making it impossible for many species to survive, and they encourage logging and other extractive development.  Indeed, most of the largest, oldest trees were taken decades ago from the Tongass.


Alaska wants Tongass exempted from the Roadless Rule, and under the GW Bush administration  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978), it got what it wanted . Thanks to conservation groups, that was overturned in court, so Alaska appealed to the Supreme Court.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F165fs373950.gif&hash=ad797fcc08a061d3ae50ee49ccd9f3d517fb7496)



Still Fighting   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27)

Logging can still occur in other parts of the forest where there are already roads.     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)
 

Quote
"Wildlife can't take another 10 years of old-growth logging. In parts of the forest, some species need all the old-growth that remains just to survive,"
exhorts Tom Waldo, an attorney with Earthjustice, who has been in and out of court for 25 years trying to protect the Tongass.


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fearthjustice.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2F141110Tom_Waldo_michael-penn-1066.jpg&hash=6dc7ce2e856480cec8e48d5b41916cd82587fe6b)
Tom Waldo  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bativert.ma%2Fimages%2Fimage3.jpg&hash=7c7c27d838504cb1d5c5a4c1efac44e790a39265)

Now, they are trying to convince the Forest Service to phase out old-growth logging everywhere in the Tongass now, not in 10 years.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)


Amazing how old ideologies   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da) hang on. It's not as if logging makes sense for taxpayers - it supports only about 100 jobs and loses $20 million a year, Waldo points out. Instead, the state's tourism industry is its economic powerhouse(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Felqahera-trading.com%2Fhome%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F04%2Fdollar-sign-thumbnail1.jpg&hash=e1962ecaa694d312d50a9984ee058a45aed1e860) , and it depends on a vibrant Tongass ecosystem.

"Southeast Alaska has moved on. Clearcutting old-growth forests in the remote wildlands of our region, with expensive new logging roads no one can afford to maintain, is a thing of the past. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)
Quote

We are pleased to see the Supreme Court put this issue to rest and call on the State of Alaska  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457) to do the same ,"
says Buck Lindekugel, Attorney for the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council.

Attorneys from Earthjustice and Natural Resources Defense Council represented the following groups in the case: Organized Village of Kake, The Boat Company, Alaska Wilderness Recreation and Tourism Association, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, Tongass Conservation Society, Greenpeace, Wrangell Resource Council, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Cascadia Wildlands, and Sierra Club.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fearthhug.gif&hash=3abcf70466f34337f2d702ebd9e02c650d5c4c20)

Long-Term View

25 years ago, it was impossible to convince the Forest Service that it shouldn't support logging, explains Waldo.

With every forest sale came new roads.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alaska-in-pictures.com%2Fdata%2Fmedia%2F17%2Ftongass-logging_3308.jpg&hash=c3bd74556fbda8c682c934a0dea5eb24163cda5b)

But even with the constant battles, the long-term effect is a change in public opinion. 

Quote
"As we fought back, we helped create a roadless brand. Now, the idea of logging roadless areas is toxic to many people who realize how destructive it is, and how unacceptable to a large population," he says. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-062.gif&hash=88ceb4a34a12b2bea2fd9edd887da26d73308257)


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwalkingin2worlds.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F08%2FTongass.old-growth.jpg&hash=5683841a230a7258cd08c13e89bcb095a550c480)
A mixed composition of Devils Club, Blueberry, Dwarf Dogwood, mosses and ferns, with an overstory of Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock dominate in a typical old growth forest in Alaska's Tongass National Forest, Inside Passage.

 Today, only fragments remain   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041115022304.png&hash=cd8cb8e28ab8f7fc78c1ea00d30a661bd937aed5) in much of the world's original forests.

But in the Tongass, where vast tracts of primeval forests still exist and all of the original wildlife species are still present,
time is of the essence to quickly end large-scale old-growth logging.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.org%2Fcs%2Fgroups%2Fwebcontent%2F%40web%2F%40alaska%2Fdocuments%2Fmedia%2Fprd_017489.jpg&hash=6f517da3258bbce907bcf096d58ff781a177b04f)


http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26593

Agelbert NOTE: The ONLY thing Conservatives want to CONSERVE is the ABYSMALLY STUPID, as well as boundlessly and irrationally greedy, PROFIT OVER PLANET Predators 'R' Us insanity.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301114160603.png&hash=8042af200b941c57fe5e56c1593c262796d3c2f5)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 06, 2016, 04:11:08 pm
Keystone pipeline leak halts flow from Alberta to Cushing  :P

Staff Writers April 5, 2016


Flows through part of the Keystone pipeline were halted on Monday after a leak was discovered along the pipeline’s route in South Dakota.

According to the Argus Leader, the spill was first discovered on Saturday by a landowner near Freeman, South Dakota.

TransCanada said on Monday that emergency crews found “visible signs of oil on [a] small surface area” and are “safely excavating soil” for analysis.

Cleanup efforts were underway on Monday night.

The Calgary-based company said its crew and experts will continue assessing the incident.

The size and cause of the spill are still being investigated.

The portion of the Keystone line that moves oil from Alberta, Canada to Cushing, Oklahoma will be shutdown until at least Friday, CNN Money said.

The section of the line that connects Cushing to the pipeline’s section in Texas is still operating.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration told CNNMoney that it’s investigating the leak and has sent an inspector to the site.

The spill comes about five months after the Obama administration rejected the company’s Keystone XL project after a seven-year long review.

In January, TransCanada filed a notice of intent to initiate a claim under Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in response to the rejection.

http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/04/keystone-pipeline-leak-halts-flow-alberta-cushing/
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecology.iww.org%2Fimages%2FSMcMillan1.jpg&hash=71a5ded42adb67f357b284d15e8292c4e9fb1ad1)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 07, 2016, 06:19:25 pm
I took a picture of an oil train parked in the south end of Seattle on a phone out my front wind-shield.  I extracted this picture.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fchasingthesquirrel.com%2Fpics%2Foiltrain2.png&hash=5c855f179b72ed4ca54d204a59f7d8f8a9831855)

The pic was taken last week and the train had not moved for two days because I had passed it two days earlier.  I would say it was at least a mile long and I counted 105 tank cars.  If anything I was a few cars short.  It was probably empty because there were only three diesel push pull engines.  One on one end and two at the other.  This is a total guess.

I just thought some people might like to see an oil train.  I'm sure they don't pass by everybody.  These tank cars are big for rail-road cars.  That America is addicted to oil there can be no doubt.  Each of these cars holds 30,000 gallons so the whole train would hold 3,150,000 gallons or 75,000 barrels.  I doubt 75,000 barrels is much relative to the Seattle metro area’s daily consumption so looking at this train I realize the volume of the silent flow of petroleum products to American end users is not appreciated very well at all.  Burning quantities of oil like we do has to change the environment.  The flow is enormous and one could say, appreciating the volume, silent like poison.

Taken Monday from a building in the south end of Seattle more tank cars move in the direction of where the longer train was sitting five miles south.  I knew the longer train had been moved when I took this picture.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fchasingthesquirrel.com%2Fpics%2Foiltrain1.png&hash=f653d9be2ec086fee41e54145421a47488fc2bc3)

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf) Silent like poison is right.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) :P Also, there is enough explosive power there to wipe out a small town!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)

We CAN do without that toxic infrastructure. The Midwest is on the way to doing just that.       (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191456.bmp&hash=a239c2fd76d20d142f1c54b961e22ebd0d2a4808)

Of course, the fossil fuelers   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)  there will do absolutely everything they can to prevent progress towards a viable biosphere.

But they will lose that battle because clean energy money talks and polluting energy bullshit walks.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191258.bmp&hash=e4ed21caaca822f7445ccafd39f49a9f84be90ca)

Clean energy jobs benefiting South Dakota

Monday, April 04, 2016 12:56 p.m. CDT by Jack Taylor

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) -The Clean Jobs Midwest survey shows that out of 12 Midwestern states, South Dakota has the third lowest number of clean energy jobs per capita at a little more than 7,000.

However, Gail Parsons with Environmental Entrepreneurs says the state's clean-energy job growth rate is higher than average and that is driving some economic growth.

Parsons says the overall projected growth rate for the region was 4.4%, which is incredibly high for any industry. She says in South Dakota, the businesses are quite optimistic with a projected growth rate of about 5%

An estimated 25,000 new clean-energy jobs are expected to be added to the Midwest over the next year and Parsons says the region is becoming a powerhouse for those careers.

She says many think of corn, or farms, but the Midwest should be known for clean energy. Contributing over a half-million workers, certainly not fly-over country when it comes to the clean energy field.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmuscular.gif&hash=1ebeafc0e4589b9d38ab66d37aa940d757e830e9)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F128fs318181.gif&hash=eff6d5f3831782966c2ff2081f07bf7fc5b22a6b)

The majority of South Dakota's clean-energy businesses says they're having a tough time finding qualified workers.

http://kelo.com/news/articles/2016/apr/04/clean-energy-jobs-benefiting-south-dakota/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 08, 2016, 07:39:58 pm
Maryland Just Became the Most Bee-Friendly State  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F170fs799081.gif&hash=ec7f929a28b215e9c00ec270a26b830d596920b2) in the U.S.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fus.cdn2.123rf.com%2F168nwm%2Flenm%2Flenm1201%2Flenm120100200%2F12107060-illustration-of-a-smiley-giving-a-thumbs-up.jpg&hash=2046bc6d662e09d3014a2c404a2af6ba17f8217c)

Tiffany Finck-Haynes, Friends of the Earth | April 8, 2016 1:27 pm

Yesterday Maryland led the country by being the first state in the country to pass a bill to eliminate consumer use of neonicotinoid pesticides—a leading driver of global bee declines. This is a major victory in the fight to protect bees and will hopefully compel other states and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to follow.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F04%2Fmarylandbees_750.jpg&hash=69c9e96f4c81d210ca610cc4bfe618f7366787ec)
Yesterday Maryland led the country by being the first state in the country to pass a bill to eliminate consumer use of neonicotinoid pesticides—a leading driver of global bee declines. Photo credit: Friends of the Earth

The House and Senate passed the bill with bi-partisan support not a moment too late. Last year, Maryland beekeepers lost more than 61 percent of their hives—twice the national average and far higher than the 10 percent losses considered sustainable. If Maryland hadn’t passed this bill, many beekeepers were concerned that they would become an endangered species alongside bees and other essential pollinators.

If we lose our bees and beekeepers, we risk losing one in three bites of food we eat. Bees are essential to our food system. In Maryland, honeybee pollination directly supports the agriculture industry in the state and is valued at more than $26 million, annually.

This bill reflects the growing body of research that confirms neonicotinoids kill and harm bees and other pollinators, like butterflies and birds as well as aquatic life including molting blue crabs. These pesticides pose a serious threat to our food supply, public health and environment. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)


While neonicotinoids are widely used in agriculture, their use in gardens, lawns and landscapes are an important contributing factor to bee decline. Some garden products containing neonicotinoids can be applied at doses up to 120 times higher than are used on farms and can continue “expressing” these pesticides in home gardens where they can continue to contaminate soil and be taken up by plants for months to years.

Maryland’s bill passed because Marylanders overwhelmingly supported the measures. In a 2015 survey, 78 percent of Maryland voters favored restricting consumer use of this type of pesticides. This support is significant because the last time Maryland passed legislation regulating pesticides use was in 1998 with the Integrated Pest Management in Schools Law, which was expanded to include IPM on school grounds in 1999.

While Maryland is the first state to pass a bill banning all consumer use of neonicotinoids, other states have considered or are currently considering similar legislation. Bills to restrict neonicotinoids were introduced during the 2015-2016 legislative sessions in Alaska, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Virginia and Vermont.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

Aside from states, more than 30 retailers in the U.S., including Home Depot and Lowe’s, have committed to taking steps to eliminate these pesticides from store shelves and more than 20 cities, municipalities and universities have passed policies to eliminate the use of these pesticides.

The EPA is starting to listen to the strong body science by placing a moratorium on new or expanded uses of neonicotinoids, but these regulations still don’t address the more than 500 neonicotinoid products currently on the market, designed for more than 100 uses  :(  :P  >:(. In January, the agency confirmed that the neonicotinoid imidaclodprid is highly toxic to bees.

We know the action of Maryland will help bees. Take Italy—it went from losing 37.5 percent of its hives in 2008 to only 15 percent in 2010 after it restricted neonicotinoids. If bees rebounded that much after just a few years, imagine the impact the EPA could have if it banned all bee-killing pesticides.

The passage of Maryland’s bill is a big victory for bees. Next, it’s vitally important that other states, EPA and Congress follow the lead of Maryland by taking action to ban the use of these pesticides to protect bees, our food supply and the environment.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27)


http://ecowatch.com/2016/04/08/maryland-most-bee-friendly-state/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 11, 2016, 09:18:53 pm
Anti-Fracking Activists in Upstate New York

Sandra Steingraber | April 10, 2016 11:03 am

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F04%2Fsandra_bernie_750.jpg&hash=e25cb47dfe1925fba926e4145076654b1e376f22)

SNIPPET:

Quote
Now that I have kids of my own and now that I make my living as a systems ecologist, here’s what I can tell you:

By trying to run our economy by shattering the bedrock of our nation to exhume oil and methane via fracking, we are destroying and poisoning the nation’s drinking water sources in the aquifers deep below our feet.

And because methane is a such a powerful heat-trapping gas that cannot be wholly contained in the piles of rubble left behind, we are also exacerbating climate change in the atmosphere high above our heads—at a time when we urgently need to be coming up to the rescue with renewable energy.

Fracking is not safe and can’t be made safe. That’s what science shows, and those findings are a direct threat to my own two children, who are 65 percent water by weight. My children’s safety depends on safe sources of water. Their future depends on functioning pollinator systems to provide them food and thriving plankton stocks to make oxygen for them to breathe.

Science shows pollinators and plankton stocks are now in trouble. Hence, it’s my job as a mother to engage with the biological consequences of climate change precisely because it’s my job as a mother to keep my kids from harm and plan for their future.

Quote

I can’t do my job as a mother in a fractured America.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-028.gif&hash=24570cb7e8246617010ce900a07bc85117ff78ca)

I can tell you what I saw in a Romanian village where I was invited to give a lecture on the public health impacts of fracking and where my 12 year old son and I were both pepper-sprayed by military police acting as a private security force for a fracking operation run by the U.S. company called Chevron.

An old woman said to me, “We waited 50 years for Americans to show up here, and you brought Chevron.” It was she who explained to me the foreign policy objectives  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605) for opening eastern Europe to U.S. fracking operations.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)

I can tell you what I saw at the climate treaty negotiations in Paris last December. Renewable energy CEOs, and their would-be financiers, urged political leaders to give them a clear, strong signal that indicates the energy revolution has begun. At the same time, the world’s climate scientists warned those same political leaders that we’re out of time and that signal must come now.

As a biologist, I am looking for a presidential candidate who can be realistic about this science, which says that we cannot frack our way to climate stability.

As a mother, I am looking for a Presidential candidate who can recognize an emergency when they see one, who knows, as the poet Audre Lorde reminds us that “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”

As a citizen, I am looking for a presidential candidate who knows a government tasked with ensuring security and domestic tranquility, cannot do so when seawater is sloshing through New York’s subway tunnels or when vineyards of wine grapes—the economic goose that lays the golden egg in my part of New York—have to compete with flare stacks compressor stations and pipelines. Or when we keep the lights on by shoveling fossil fuels into ovens and lighting them on fire and so threaten to tear up what Abraham Lincoln called our nation’s “salubrity of climate” that makes agriculture possible.

FULL ARTICLE:

http://ecowatch.com/2016/04/10/climate-rally-bernie-sanders/
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-240216160018.png&hash=6be26c9256c76685e93e1ec7dc7b646c3e41bc41)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 11, 2016, 09:29:03 pm
High Levels of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Found Near Fracking Wastewater Site

Lorraine Chow | April 6, 2016 9:23 am

SNIPPET:

Quote
“The major take-homes are that oil and gas injection well operations may be another source for contamination of surface water with EDCs used in oil and gas production,”
Nagel explained to EcoWatch. “We hope that this drives additional research in this area to clearly define how oil and gas wastewater disposal impacts surface and ground water.”

Listen to an interview with Dr. Nagel about the study below.
https://youtu.be/tF2_U9lVnQk


FULL ARTICLE with revealing graphics: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://ecowatch.com/2016/04/06/endocrine-disrupting-chemicals-fracking/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 12, 2016, 04:16:38 pm
Is This The End Of Another North Sea Gas Field?  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fpng%2F200%2Femoticons%2Ffingerscrossed.png&hash=d56f8009d18b55f4cea7be68284c0521be92fc5d)


Published at 01:02PM - 04/04/16

Is this the end of another North Sea Gas field? A question being asked as offshore operator Maersk Oil issues an official notice on the giant Tyra.

The official notice was issued today in relation to the cessation of the Tyra East and Tyra West platforms; part of Denmark’s biggest gas field and often regarded as the nation’s equivalent of the UK’s Brent field or Norway’s Statfjord.

End Of Another North Sea Gas Field?

Maersk Oil’s notice states:
Quote
‘production from Tyra East and Tyra West in the Danish North Sea will cease on 1 October 2018, if an economically viable solution for continued operations is not identified during 2016.’

Tyra is Denmark’s largest gas field and the facilities are the processing and export centre for all gas produced by the Danish Underground Consortium (DUC). More than 90% of Denmark’s gas production is processed through the facilities.

Tyra East and Tyra West are also the hub for a number of smaller facilities in the Tyra field, which will be part of the evaluation. This includes the neighbouring unmanned facility, Tyra Southeast, which was extended in 2015.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.2b1stconsulting.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2FMaersk_DUC_Tyra_Southeast_Ciomplex.bmp&hash=dd1af9c4e5c5bf4965e46cafbe66b97a858cae37)
The DUC Tyra Southeast unmanned facility is on the right.


Unstable Structures

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.maersk.com%2F%7E%2Fmedia%2Fpublications%2Fmaersk-post%2F2015%2F2015-2%2Fan-oil-symphony-in-three%2Fculzean_webb.jpg&hash=94d4fc36ca1cecd29ea6aa4c003d718890079b15)

The two assets, located in the Danish sector of the North Sea, have been in operation for over 30 years; with the operator noting that, apart from having to deal with the fields ageing infrastructure, the reservoirs are continuing to suffer subsistence.

Maersk Oil have stated that over the last 15 years, DUC has spent more than DKK 1 billion (US$153 m) on reinforcing the structures to prolong production.


Tough Decision

“Together with our partners in DUC we are now evaluating long term economically viable solutions for recovery of the remaining resources,” said Managing Director for Maersk Oil Denmark, Martin Rune Pedersen.

“As part of this, we will consider the terms under which a rebuild of the facilities could take place. The basis for a decision needs to be in place by the end of 2016 to ensure future production from the field,”

The Tyra Field
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.dk%2Fpimage%2FTingDok_Archive%2F2015_10%2F1551417%2F1551417_0001.png&hash=5b29a6e1191673b640419a709cc5c95d117ba0c3)
The Tyra field is operated by Maersk Oil on behalf of the DUC, a partnership between A.P. Moller – Maersk (31.2%), Shell (36.8%), Nordsøfonden (20%) and Chevron (12.0%).


http://www.offshorepost.com/end-another-north-sea-oil-field/

Agelbert NOTE: For some strange reason, pictures of these oil platforms in articles avoid showing them doing what they DO while they are pulling oil out of the sea floor drill hole. What they DO is FLARE toxic gases pollution 24/7. Here's some nice pictures to show you what we-the-people are subsidizing so the fossil fuelers can make a lot of money.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Tyra_East.jpg/220px-Tyra_East.jpg)
Tyra East "Externalizing" Pollution Costs. The flaring here is done as high as possible since it is being done where the workers live. No helicopters will land while that is going on  ;D. As you see below, they have other ways of polluting that are less hazardous to the workers.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm9.static.flickr.com%2F8039%2F8001544170_c131b1a17c_m.jpg&hash=8d827026e7d18ecaff73144d63abd685d4cc1977)
Now you know why, (at least at Tyra) they put flaring towers so far away from the main complex (the pollution is for we-the-people, not for the workers on these platforms   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) - it's bad for workplace attendance and job related respiratory illness and cancer costs  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0) ).
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 12, 2016, 08:03:35 pm
TransCanda: South Dakota pipeline leaked 16,800 gallons of oil

Nicolas Torres April 11, 2016

TransCanada has estimated that a pipeline leak detected earlier this week in South Dakota spilled about 16,800 gallons of oil.

According to the AP, the company told the National Response Center and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA) on Thursday that a leak at the Keystone pipeline released 400 barrels of oil.

TransCanda based its estimate on soil excavation work that exposed 100 feet of pipeline and included oil observed on the ground as well as the potential area impacted by the spill in its estimate.

The leak was initially detected on Saturday along the pipeline’s route near Freeman, South Dakota.

TransCanada said on Monday that emergency crews found “visible signs of oil on [a] small surface area” near the line.

PHMSA officials arrived at the site on Tuesday.

The cause of the spill is still being investigated.

The Calgary-based company said earlier this week that it expected flows from Alberta, Canada to Cushing, Oklahoma to be halted until at least Friday.

The section of the line that connects Cushing to the pipeline’s section in Texas is still operating.
TransCanada said on Tuesday that it will “continue to work with regulatory and government agencies on our response efforts.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/04/transcanda-south-dakota-pipeline-leaked-16800-gallons-oil/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 12, 2016, 08:36:07 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-106.gif&hash=f996659d18df7f3b445e6135e884397ac91f25b1)         (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27)           (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Ftuzki-bunnys%2Ftuzki-bunny-emoticon-028.gif&hash=24570cb7e8246617010ce900a07bc85117ff78ca)

Landmark Climate Case Moves Forward Against US Federal Government

SustainableBusiness.com News

The landmark climate lawsuit teenagers filed against the US federal government can go forward, decided Judge Thomas Coffin   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3) of the Federal District Court in Eugene, Oregon.

Coffin ruled against the motion to dismiss the case, requested by the federal government and three fossil fuel trade associations.

This is a huge victory for the 21 youth plaintiffs, ages 8-19, who are suing the government for violating their constitutional rights to life and liberty by allowing the continued exploitation, production and combustion of fossil fuels.

Climate scientist James Hansen and the Global Catholic Climate Movement, which includes Pope Francis are also parties to the lawsuit.

Plaintiffs cheer! (picture at link)


After winning in Washington State, The Children's Trust filed against the US federal government. They also have cases in all 50 states. They want the court to order President Obama to immediately implement a national plan that lowers atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide to 350 ppm by 2100.

Kelsey Juliana, one of the plaintiffs, says: "This will be the trial of the century that will determine if we have a right to a livable future, or if corporate power will continue to deny our rights for the sake of their own wealth."
Judge Coffin wrote: ... The intractability of the debates before Congress and state legislatures and the alleged valuing of short term economic interest despite the cost to human life, necessitates a need for the courts to evaluate the constitutional parameters of the action or inaction taken by the government. This is especially true when such harms have an alleged disparate impact on a discrete class of society."

In January, three fossil trade associations joined the federal government to fight the case, calling it "extraordinary" and "a direct, substantial threat to [their] businesses." Amazingly, the federal government denies they are responsible under constitution or public trust doctrine to protect essential natural resources, such as air and oceans, for the benefit of all present and future generations.

"Science clearly establishes that our planet's increasing energy imbalance - caused in substantial part by our government's support for the exploitation and combustion of fossil fuel - imposes increasingly severe risks on our common future," counters Dr. James Hansen.

"When those in power stand alongside the very industries that threaten the future of my generation instead of standing with the people, it is a reminder that they are not our leaders," says Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh Martinez, another plaintiff.

"The real leaders are the 20 youth standing with me in court to demand justice for my generation and justice for all youth. We will not be silent, we will not go unnoticed, and we are ready to stand to protect everything our "leaders" have failed to fight for. They are afraid of the power we have to create change. And this change we are creating, will go down in history," he adds.

When attorneys presented the case on March 9, hundreds of people packed the courtroom in support of the plaintiffs and hundreds more waited on line. In an unprecedented move, the oral argument was streamed by video into three additional courtrooms in Eugene, Oregon and one in Portland.

Last year, Guatemala became the first country to establish a court dedicated to adjudicating crimes against nature, known as ecocide. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

Read our article, Momentum Builds for Court Action on Climate Change.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26598

(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)

The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleteing CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 15, 2016, 11:59:11 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.oregonlive.com%2Fhome%2Folive-media%2Fwidth620%2Fimg%2Fportland_impact%2Fphoto%2F14455105-mmmain.jpg&hash=4b609f4c5a3a866d06625686fab30a279b72382c)
This Picture is not related to the accident below. I posted it to show an example of pressure release.  8) Technicians from Northwest Natural gas inspect a vent after a large pressure relief valve released natural gas from the Williams Portland west meter station.

Two dead, one injured by Texas pipeline pressure release

Staff Writers April 14, 2016

Two contractors were killed on Tuesday and another was injured after a pressure release accident at a South Texas pipeline.

According to the AP, the two workers were killed after a high-pressure release during repair work at a Southcross Energy Partners plant near Woodsboro, Texas.

Justice of the Peace Lorraine Lopez told the AP that the three men were in a hole repairing the line when part of the pipeline came loose, releasing about 800 pounds of pressure and blowing the men out of the hole.

One of the workers died on scene while the other died at the hospital, according to the AP.

The third injured worker was taken to a hospital for treatment.

According to the Victoria Advocate, Southcross Energy employee Dennis Henneke, 54 of Woodsboro, and contract worker Jesse Gonzalez Jr., 30 from San Diego, were killed in the accident.

Twenty-two year old contract worker Rene Roel Elizondo Jr.,also from San Diego, was injured and is reportedly in stable condition at a local hospital, the paper said.

A statement given to the AP by Dallas-based Southcross said a piece of equipment being used by the workers apparently failed.

An Occupational Safety and Health Administration spokesman told the Victoria Advocate that the agency has begun an investigation into the accident.

http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/04/two-dead-one-injured-texas-pipeline-pressure-release/ (http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/04/two-dead-one-injured-texas-pipeline-pressure-release/)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 16, 2016, 07:00:51 pm
Health & Environment

April 2016 News Bulletin

(https://40.media.tumblr.com/ca5a976c6b1898e13aa0015e12886537/tumblr_nuxprjLi1H1uxjmu4o1_500.png)

How DuPont Concealed the Dangers of the New Teflon Toxin (https://theintercept.com/2016/03/03/how-dupont-concealed-the-dangers-of-the-new-teflon-toxin/). An account of the apparently bizarre situation whereby US CBI rules relating to new chemicals brought to market obstructs investigation even by government agencies into their occurrence in the environment and the risks they might pose. (The Intercept)




Updating the Toxic Substances Control Act to Protect Human Health (http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=2503509&cmp=1). Given the magnitude of human and economic burden associated with these conditions, it might be expected that the passage of bipartisan legislation in both houses of Congress to update the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for the first time in 40 years would meet with widespread approval by the public health and medical community. This Viewpoint endeavors to explain flaws in both bills that have dampened enthusiasm by medical and public health organizations. (JAMA)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.germlineexposures.org%2Fuploads%2F6%2F4%2F0%2F9%2F6409433%2F6761108.png%3F284&hash=0994b8545aa8fe678f8689b34567c431085eeccb)
Quote
Increasing evidence from laboratory and human studies shows that synthetic chemicals contribute to disease and dysfunction across the life course. Of particular emerging concern is the disruption of the hormonal process that has been found to be associated with increasing rates of obesity, diabetes, neurodevelopmental disabilities, infertility, and breast and prostate cancers.1   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fminzdr.gif&hash=f5927d7395d8a28c69df2a0a3a98660932c6903f)


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftoxicfreefiresafety.org%2Fimages%2Fheader.logo.jpg&hash=5428a48a5f83b2585624c8b9acf2517e7cdb7f77)
Fire safety ignites rules rethink (https://issuu.com/endsrpt/docs/ends_report_april_digimag?e=15726361/34316336). (p32) The current fire testing regime does not properly reflect how real furniture behaves in a fire as fabric and fillings are assessed separately. An official familiar with the fire-testing process, says: “quite often we find furniture with a label on it that does not pass. There is an element of fraud  >:(.” BIS has therefore opened a consultation in April 2014 on reforming the test procedures. (ENDS Report)

https://healthandenvironmentonline.com/2016/04/14/april-2016-news-bulletin-new-teflon-jama-on-tsca-fire-safety-rule-rethink/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 16, 2016, 08:56:38 pm
Senator Bernie Sanders calls for nationwide fracking ban (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)
Nicolas Torres April 12, 2016

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has called for a nationwide ban on hydraulic fracturing.

At a campaign event in Binghmaton, New York on Monday Sanders applauded a fracking ban signed into law by New York State in 2014 and called for a national moratorium on the practice, the New York Times said.

Quote
“The growing body of evidence tells us that fracking is a danger to our water supply, our most precious resource. It is a danger to the air we breathe. It has resulted in more earthquakes. It is highly explosive. And it is contributing to climate change,” Sanders said.

Vermont, where Sanders has served as a U.S. Senator since 2007, instituted the first fracking ban in the nation in 2012.

During the Binghamton event, Sanders criticized his rival Hilary Clinton for her “late” opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline and her efforts to promote hydraulic fracturing operations abroad while she served as U.S. Secretary of State , the NY Times said.

President Obama rejected the Keystone XL project in November after a seven year long review, citing a State Department assessment that said the project would not “serve the national interest.”

Calgary-based TransCanada (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F165fs373950.gif&hash=ad797fcc08a061d3ae50ee49ccd9f3d517fb7496) said in January that it intends to file a lawsuit contesting the rejection.

Clinton, a former U.S. Senator of New York, called for tighter regulations  ;) on hydraulic fracturing during the Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan earlier this year but has not proposed an outright ban.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

Clinton’s energy platform has so far focused on using booming U.S. natural gas production  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c) to “transition to a clean energy economy.”  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220216203149.gif&hash=bd184b6edccce4045e246847a0c84e89bd5a18b6)

The Sanders campaign also released a new ad on Monday voiced by actress Susan Sarandon further touting his opposition to hydraulic fracturing.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

Quote

“Do Washington politicians side with polluters over families? They sure do because big oil pumps millions into their campaigns” Sarandon said in ad.

 http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/04/bernie-sanders-calls-nationwide-fracking-ban/ (http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/04/bernie-sanders-calls-nationwide-fracking-ban/)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fearthfirstjournal.org%2Fnewswire%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F3%2F2014%2F07%2FIAFpg1.jpg&hash=2bc0e2dd52643a4102c8e8b9bafdd3e7a3367167)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 17, 2016, 08:13:58 pm
Long-time fishing columnist Ed Killer, who writes for Treasure Coast-Palm Coast newspapers, put it best:

Quote

“I'm sick of this.

“I'm sick of writing about fish kills.

“I'm sick of writing about algae blooms. And discharges. And brown tides, and red tides and toxic bacteria.

“I'm sick of writing about barren flats because the sea grass no longer grows there.

“I'm sick of writing about politicians who can tell us with a wink they're working to fix Florida's water problems. I'm sick of the back hallways where those same elected officials make secret handshakes and accept cash from special interest groups.

“I'm sick of the status quo those special interest groups ensure that pollutes, diverts, abuses, misuses and exploits what once were pristine waters.

“I'm sick of receiving press releases from leaders and agencies whose salaries we pay and whom we entrust to protect our waterways, instead telling us to mind our business, keep our mouths shut and stop being activists. I'm sick of those agencies issuing permits to violate laws of common sense, and then turning their back on clear violations of environmental laws and policies.”




The Massive Fish Kill Florida Could Have Prevented

By David Guest  | Friday, March 25, 2016

http://earthjustice.org/blog/2016-march/the-massive-fish-kill-florida-could-have-prevented
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 22, 2016, 11:58:05 pm
Just Months After The Largest Natural Gas Leak In U.S. History, Porter Ranch Is Hit With Another Leak

by  Apr 19, 2016 4:18 pm

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2016%2F01%2F09%2F18%2F2FF3C36700000578-3391858-image-a-88_1452363952154.jpg&hash=dddfc3ae82281fe30f885afff39d12432c8374e5)
This photo taken Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016 shows a neighborhood in the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles where residents have moved out because of a natural gas leak from a Southern California Gas Co. storage facility.

Porter Ranch already experienced the largest recorded natural gas leak in U.S. history over the winter, when a leak at the Aliso Canyon Storage Facility spewed more than 97,000 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere. Thousands of families were evacuated during the nearly four-month long leak, which was sealed in February.
Over the weekend, the neighborhood was hit with another natural gas leak.

“This is horrible,” Porter Ranch resident Gabriel Khanlian told ThinkProgress. “This issue is not over with in any way.”

Residents had been complaining that the smell of natural gas, recognizable by a potent odorant, was again wafting through their Los Angeles neighborhood. On Saturday, their claims were validated when Southern California Gas (SoCalGas), which owns the facility and the well that failed over the winter, reported that a separate company was responsible for another natural gas leak at Aliso Canyon.

“Earlier today we become aware that a third party company that operates at the Aliso Canyon site experienced a localized oil spill with gas venting at their petroleum well. This well is not owned or operated by SoCalGas,” the company told residents in an email notification Saturday.

A spokesman for Crimson Resource Management told CBS Los Angeles that it was not a significant leak. “It’s something we work very hard at avoiding, but things happen. It was a minor repair — a turn of a wrench — and it’s done,” Scott Buntmann said.

Related Post

The Scariest Part Of California's Gas Leak Wasn't Rashes And Bloody Noses. It's What Happens Next.


This weekend's leak was actually the second reported since this winter's massive blowout. In January, regulators found that yet another company operating in the canyon was illegally, intentionally venting natural gas.

There are 113 natural gas storage wells (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c) at the Aliso Canyon site . Residents in Porter Ranch, the adjoining neighborhood, want the  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2mo5pow.gif&hash=995f9f6c08dcd54f18425f2bfbe138901cf052b1) facility shut down altogether.

SoCalGas and California regulators have reported that shutting Aliso Canyon down will run the risk of blackouts during the hot, energy-intensive summer months in Southern California, although the data behind their reports has been criticized by environmentalists and capacity experts.

Quote
In the meantime, more than 600 plaintiffs are suing SoCalGas and a slew of regulators for failing to protect the Porter Ranch community. On Friday, lawyers filed a claim for $3.5 million per person, including $1.5 million in property and economic damages and $1 million for personal injury damages.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/04/19/3770748/another-leak-porter-ranch/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 23, 2016, 04:03:29 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fens-newswire.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F05%2F20140515_flaringgraveyard.jpg&hash=5b2e7e020a39ca9316aafe08140ed0e2d51f257f)
Cause and effect courtesy of the fossil fuel industry  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)


Three dead, over 100 injured after Pemex plant blast (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-034.gif&hash=aaa4624f4728fa49a5a4511b865e35a767958109)

Nicolas Torres April 21, 2016

Three people were killed and more than 100 others were injured on Wednesday after a blast at a Pemex plant.
According to CNN, an explosion at the Petroquimica Mexicana de Vinilo (PMV) facility in the southern state of Veracruz released toxic fumes across the region, prompting evacuations in the surrounding area.

State-owned Pemex confirmed that three workers were killed by the blast and an estimated 136 workers were injured.

Eighty eight of the injured workers remain hospitalized.

The company  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0) said on Wednesday that the fire was under control and that there was no risk to nearby residents. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c)

Pemex said it immediately activated security protocols after the blast and closed pipes and valves as it proceeded with the evacuation.

The plant, a joint-venture between Mexichem and Pemex, remains closed.

Pemex added that 2,000 people who had to be evacuated from the nearby area have now returned to their residences.

Pemex officials visited the site early Thursday morning to begin assessing damages.

The company does not yet know what triggered the blast.

The explosion is just the latest accident to strike a Pemex facility.

Three workers were killed in February and several others were injured when a fire broke out at the Abkatun A Permanente processing platform in the Bay of Campeche.

http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/04/three-dead-over-100-injured-after-pemex-plant-blast/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 24, 2016, 05:40:33 pm
In the year 2034:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theecologist.org%2Fsiteimage%2Fscale%2F0%2F0%2F374434.jpg&hash=6f6599dab48eb289661fe4d5a4419f8895f5b0e4)

Snake Oil: how fracking's false promise of plenty imperils our future

Paul Mobbs 20th March 2014

Money Quote:

Quote
Fracking is just another step on the fossil fuel treadmill, according to 'Snake Oil' by Richard Heinberg. High costs, diminishing returns and growing pollution will ultimately nail its future.

http://www.theecologist.org/reviews/2315910/snake_oil_how_frackings_false_promise_of_plenty_imperils_our_future.html (http://www.theecologist.org/reviews/2315910/snake_oil_how_frackings_false_promise_of_plenty_imperils_our_future.html)

"Externalized" Costs Courtesy of the Fossil Fuel Industry as of 2010:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.postcarbon.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F09%2Fbiodiversity-loss-since-1970.jpg&hash=ba01aa1609141a4a8865f7158c709f57440e2167)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCi1IdQWYAAcO5Y.jpg)



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 24, 2016, 05:52:16 pm
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/dc/d5/f1/dcd5f1ac950c860ad7839325f4eafc84.jpg)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fminzdr.gif&hash=f5927d7395d8a28c69df2a0a3a98660932c6903f)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 24, 2016, 06:21:49 pm
This is our Energy Reality (a moving video with outstanding graphics)

The video asks, "Which energy future will we choose?".  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1730.gif&hash=cdaf50326d98ff7b051a9c49e83d51c7bb687407)

That was the wrong question.

WHY?  ???

Because the DIRTY ENERGY (fossil fuels plus nuclear) USE "future" guarantees we will not HAVE a future. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmog.gif&hash=08e6f04144781466148f6693be6dc3451a322669)

https://youtu.be/exXqrzhozRI



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 26, 2016, 11:11:52 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Below please find a line of doubletalk and science free bullshit that is typical of the fossil fuel industry influence over the U.S. Government. This "study" is the fig leaf that the fossil fuelers will now use to cut corners on their rig structure and flood the arctic with rigs considered "safe".

A few years from now, the fossil fuel industry lawyers will turn to this very "study" when one of their platforms in the arctic causes a massive oil Deep Horizon style  blow out from a large chunk of ice impacting and toppling a rig, killing thousands of fish and other arctic marine and land life, as well as polluting the beaches nearby.

They will seek, as they successfully did in the Exxon Valdez disaster and the Deep Horizon disaster, to limit the "liability" of the oil rig owner to less than a tenth of the ACTUAL damage visited on the biosphere, true to their fossil fuel government aided habit of "externalizing" pollution costs. 

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Bzb-1rVB8pc%2FUfXxBekcYVI%2FAAAAAAAAEm4%2FhXUkGCzFIPg%2Fs1600%2Fgiveafuckometer-gif.gif&hash=ba12a8b5eb920e7de0ca2ba5256e06bfc2c040e7)

Have a nice day.

Existing Offshore Platforms Strong Enough for Arctic Operations, BSEE Study Finds

April 25, 2016 by gCaptain 

The U.S Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has determined the designs of existing offshore platforms are strong enough to survive extreme Arctic conditions and sea ice experienced offshore northern Alaska in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010215143525.png&hash=5bd7bd57f7d770273b7d73d29697fe3a0cc11e8f)

The determination  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whydidyouwearthat.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F01%2Ftumblr_l7j9nik8Wf1qaxxwjo1_5001.jpeg&hash=1ddbeb4da161820b2cf932e6f5f740e80f5bada6) was made following a recently completed research study by the BSEE, in partnership with the University of Alaska, that examined the ability of current offshore structural designs to successfully survive sea ice demands under extreme Arctic conditions.

The objective of the study was to produce information that will be used to supplement current standards and recommendations such as ISO 19906 Standard: Petroleum and Natural Gas Industries – Arctic Offshore Structures. The findings of the study are to support regulatory decision making and ensures that industry operations offshore incorporate the best available and safest technologies as required by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and Energy Policy Act.

Over a two-year period, researchers gathered data from 16 seasons of ice measurements from the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, providing comparisons of various sea ice parameters like first and last ice occurrence, level of ice, rubble fields, ridges and ice movement. After a full analysis, the research team was then able to analyze a range of annual values to develop averages and draw conclusions from what was witnessed.

The study identified critical keel depth and provided an assessment of the suitability of the current ISO 19906 recommendations for estimating global ice forces on offshore structures. Following the collection of additional data, analysis and thorough review of recorded events, the researchers concluded that it appears the current standard of practice cited in ISO 19906 is conservative for current structural design parameters and is capable of surviving the demands from sea ice.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmemecrunch.com%2Fmeme%2F5L3XX%2Fspiderman-bullshit-detector%2Fimage.jpg%3Fw%3D544%26amp%3Bc%3D1&hash=4825835b92337d62f61a3d37d282105e97ac3ee3)

BSEE has a dedicated program coordinator in Alaska who assists with identifying research that advances BSEE’s regulatory objectives in the Arctic. There are currently seven studies ongoing that assess offshore engineering technology and conditions operators face in harsh Arctic conditions. All of these efforts assist BSEE in understanding how conditions in the Arctic could impact future regulatory standards.

The sea ice study will be presented when the Bureau hosts representatives from regulatory authorities of six Arctic nations next week in Washington, D.C. as part of a meeting of the Arctic Offshore Regulators Forum (AORF).

The AORF, which addresses a specific recommendation of the Arctic Council’s Task Force on Arctic Marine Oil Pollution Prevention, is an Arctic forum of technical and operational offshore petroleum safety regulators whose members are dedicated to the common cause of continually improving offshore safety outcomes.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220216203149.gif&hash=bd184b6edccce4045e246847a0c84e89bd5a18b6) 

Its primary scope is the exchange of information, best practices and relevant experiences learned from regulatory efforts related to developing petroleum resources in the Arctic.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400)

https://gcaptain.com/existing-offshore-platforms-strong-enough-for-arctic-operations-bsee-study-finds/


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 27, 2016, 07:17:34 pm
Viral Video of River Catching on Fire Prompts Call for Ban on  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2mo5pow.gif&hash=995f9f6c08dcd54f18425f2bfbe138901cf052b1)Fracking  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fswear1.gif&hash=87347674f9297191f3f8a447208170617da4caf6)

Max Phillips | April 27, 2016 10:14 am

The Greens New South Wales mining spokesperson Jeremy Buckingham called on governments today to stop the spread of coal seam gas (CSG) and for the true impact of fugitive emissions to be independently assessed after the video of methane gas burning through the Condamine River in Queensland, Australia went viral with millions of views and global media coverage.

https://youtu.be/NvJAKVnK4qM


“The methane gas bubbling through the Condamine River could be just a very visible tip of the iceberg when it comes to fugitive emissions and huge quantities of gas that could be venting into the atmosphere because of unconventional gas extraction,” said Greens MP Buckingham.

“The Greens want a ban on unconventional gas, but at the very least, government should stop the expansion of unconventional gas until the true extent of fugitive emissions is understood. Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas, so significant fugitive emissions caused by coal seam gas extraction could undo efforts to reduce emissions in Australia.

“Depressurizing the coal seams to allow the gas to flow may well be causing gas to migrate up natural or fracked pathways, or water bores or abandoned wells, to seep out of the ground. Farmers complain of gas in their water bores, while people living near gas fields report health complaints,” Buckingham continued.

The phase 2 report of the by CSRIO (funded by GISERA gas industry group), Characterisation of Regional Fluxes of Methane in the Surat Basin, Queensland, found (page V):

•The peak concentration perturbations in these regions ranged from less than 20 parts per billion (ppb) to almost 20 parts per million (ppm) or more than 10 times background levels.

•A number of abandoned or “legacy” boreholes were found to be leaking CH4. The leakage rate from some of these boreholes was significant (~100 L min-1).

•One of the leaking abandoned boreholes located during the project was partially filled with concrete to mitigate gas emissions. While this reduced any safety hazard associated with an open borehole, CH4 continued to be emitted via diffusion through the soil around the concrete plug, although at a considerably reduced rate.

The Queensland Department of Natural Resources Coal Seam Gas Compliance Unit commissioned a study that concludes “free” gas is formed during CSG production, which then migrates from areas of high pressure to low pressure, and that CSG production produces free gas in the Walloon Coal Measures that can migrate approximately 10km “up dip” from the nearest CSG production well.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F04%2FBuckingham_750.jpg&hash=4c3e2895fc2b5bdfe46c0e595a20e97bd78c7090)
“The methane gas bubbling through the Condamine River could be just a very visible tip of the iceberg when it comes to fugitive emissions and huge quantities of gas that could be venting into the atmosphere because of unconventional gas extraction,” said Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham.

Researchers at Harvard University used satellite retrievals and surface observations of atmospheric methane to suggest that U.S. methane emissions have increased by more than 30 percent over the 2002–2014 period. While the authors said there is too little data to identify specific sources, the increase occurred at the same time as America’s shale oil and gas boom.

Research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado in the U.S. has shown leakage of methane in gas fields of between 4 and 9 percent.

The video of Buckingham lighting gas bubbling through the Condamine River has been viewed 4.2 million times on his Facebook page, with many millions more views on other social media pages and global media coverage since last Friday night.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/04/27/jeremy-buckingham-ban-fracking/

Agelbert NOTE: Fossil fuel Industry Wishful Thinking Response to the above:

(https://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1780/632/original.jpg)

The REALITY the fossil fuelers refuse to accept:
(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)




Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 28, 2016, 06:08:36 pm

Recycling Carpet

How Old Carpet Gets New Life As Padding 

https://youtu.be/l-W3Xyl0JMM

Over 5 billion pounds per year of used carpet end up in the landfill in the US, according to the Carpet America Recovery Effort. It takes over 50 years to decompose.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723)


Only 3.6 % of carpet is currently recycled.  :(

See in this video how SF Carpet Recycling in San Francisco collects used carpet, and works with Chamlian Enterprises who actually recycle it.

The carpets are broken down, sanitized, rewoven and turned into carpet underlay felt pad for the commercial industry.

Keep forwarding this video, and we may get more of that 96.4% of the used carpet that is headed to the landfill diverted for recycling, given new life as carpet padding!

 --Bibi Farber

 This video was produced by Planet Green
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bativert.ma%2Fimages%2Fimage3.jpg&hash=7c7c27d838504cb1d5c5a4c1efac44e790a39265)

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/reducing-waste/recycling-carpet.html#sthash.xLXuMlkD.dpuf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 28, 2016, 06:38:52 pm
(https://cdn6.bigcommerce.com/s-5oafr/product_images/uploaded_images/infographic-oilgas.jpg?t=1417198307)
Oil and gas workers are 5 times more likely to die on the job (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

By Xian Chiang-Waren  on Apr 27, 2016

Oil and gas workers are facing a dire situation, with workplace fatality rates nearly five times the national average. A new AFL-CIO report on workplace hazards warns that the oil and gas industry in particular demands “intensive and comprehensive intervention” to improve safety: “Without action, the workplace fatality crisis in this industry will only get worse.”

In 2014, deaths from oil and gas workplaces made up 79 percent of overall fatalities in the mining industry, while coal mining deaths were actually down in both 2014 and 2015. Oil and gas workers may face more hazardous conditions than other mining workers because they are not protected by the Mine Safety and Health Act (MSHA). Instead, the oil and gas industry is regulated (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220216203149.gif&hash=bd184b6edccce4045e246847a0c84e89bd5a18b6) by the Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration (OSHA).

Quote
OSHA’s standards, according to the report, are not “designed  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c)
 to address the additional safety and hazard risks of the industry.”

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-240416154741.gif&hash=759c824d428cd9a49902ccb2ad72b3927edf7cd8)

Making matters worse, the oil and gas sector carved out its own exemptions from a number of OSHA regulations. One such exemption includes regulating benzene  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c), a carcinogen that can cause several types of cancer.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tumblr.com%2Fc6492e4b47cfdbd50e74d285fde3c53e%2Ftumblr_inline_mm3g4yCaZc1qz4rgp.gif&hash=4b1cad5ea13f7430a0c01f3065039d21d78da398)

Unlike the MSHA-regulated coal industry, OSHA does not mandate routine inspections of oil and gas operations sites.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil12.gif&hash=d1822754cefdd0f77369dacd157d00f5f8d3fff9)

Within the oil and gas industry, Latino workers are especially at risk: Their on-the-job fatality rates increased fivefold since 2009.

https://grist.org/people/oil-and-gas-workers-are-5-times-more-likely-to-die-on-the-job/

Agelbert NOTE:
And the above just applies to the employees! MOST of the oil and gas profit over planet deleterious health effects  are "externalized" to the biosphere in general and we-the-people in particular.  >:(

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cartoonmovement.com%2Fdepot%2Fcartoons%2F2015%2F12%2F24%2Fdeath_by_oil_spill__boglo_gbenga.jpeg&hash=259525f392a5448c5a4d1a4205974f928ac9b416)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCi1IdQWYAAcO5Y.jpg)


 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 29, 2016, 08:37:24 pm
U.S. Coal Use Falls 29 Percent

Climate Nexus | April 29, 2016 10:35 am

Power plants in America used 739 million short tons of coal last year, down from a peak of 1.045 billion short tons in 2007, informed a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F04%2Fcoal_drop_750.jpg&hash=52c055f0cb00a965d1006483a077fef8cb0c1834)
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Power Plant Operations Report Form EIA-923

Demand tanked in nearly every state; Pennsylvania’s coal consumption fell by as much as 44 percent. A drop in natural gas prices as well as significant uptake in renewable energy contributed to this decline, said the report.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F04%2Fcoal_use_states.jpg&hash=a58d39746354977eb991f5f196450be7fe3f5ecd)
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Power Plant Operations Report Form EIA-923 Note: Values reflect coal receipts by electric power plants rather than coal consumption. Differences in receipts and consumption are relatively small and attributable to changes in stockpile levels.


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F04%2Fcoal_by_state_750.jpg&hash=771661a5ce1c99a5a9ffaffab8fdc1f1234e3132)
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual
Note: Idaho, Vermont, Rhode Island, and District of Columbia have no coal consumption in the power sector.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/04/29/coal-use-falls-29-percent/

Agelbert NOTE:
Why are Texans ruining the health of their children with this crap when they have enough wind and sun to run their state with 100% PLUS Renewable Energy?

Ask the state officials corrupted by the fossil fuel industry. Profit over planet  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs2277341.gif&hash=1a8375f11d76a653bcb48e30eaa7b652175f029d)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da) Greed and stupidity is ruining everyone's health.     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041115022304.png&hash=cd8cb8e28ab8f7fc78c1ea00d30a661bd937aed5)



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 04, 2016, 06:10:28 pm
‘Apocalyptic’ Inferno Engulfs Canadian Tar Sands City

Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams | May 4, 2016 5:47 pm

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F05%2Fca_raging_fire_750_2.jpg&hash=157191583b64f651cc8605e8c7248af0408e86fd)
Officials estimate 17,000 citizens fled north to industry sites. Another 35,000 headed south, including 18,000 people enroute to Edmonton. Photo credit: Holly Ayeasrt

SNIPPET:

At Climate Central on Wednesday, senior science writer Brian Kahn put it succinctly:

The wildfire is the latest in a lengthening lineage of early wildfires in the northern reaches of the globe that are indicative of a changing climate. As the planet continues to warm, these types of fires will likely only become more common and intense as spring snowpack disappears and temperatures warm.

Fort McMurray is home to the Athabasca tar sands, the largest single oil deposit in the world, containing an estimated 174 trillion barrels of bitumen. Tar sands oil production is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada, and greatly increases the country’s contribution to global warming.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)

http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/04/raging-wildfire-tar-sands/

Agelbert COMMENT: What goes around, comes around. Alberta is experiencing a little pay back from the biosphere for their deranged tar sands profit over planet piggery.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)


(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 05, 2016, 03:52:06 pm

Groups Sue  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2mo5pow.gif&hash=995f9f6c08dcd54f18425f2bfbe138901cf052b1) EPA  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fswear1.gif&hash=87347674f9297191f3f8a447208170617da4caf6) Demanding Stricter Fracking Waste Rules

Natural Resources Defense Council | May 5, 2016 10:14 am

A coalition of community and environmental organizations filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Wednesday calling for regulations to stop oil and gas companies from disposing and handling drilling and fracking wastes in ways that threaten public health and the environment.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F05%2FFracking_waste_750.jpg&hash=434df42f36f9412da24b933ed21269d4efecc432)
Fracking fluid and other drilling wastes are dumped into an unlined pit. Photo credit: Faces of Fracking / Flickr

Quote
Waste from the oil and gas industry is very often toxic and should be treated that way,”
Amy Mall, senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said. “Right now, companies can get rid of their toxic mess in any number of dangerous ways—from spraying it on icy roads, to sending it to landfills with our everyday household trash, to injecting it underground where it can endanger drinking water and trigger earthquakes. EPA must step in and protect our communities and drinking water from the carcinogens, radioactive material and other dangerous substances that go hand-in-hand with oil and gas waste.”

The organizations are pushing the EPA to issue rules that address problems including the disposal of fracking wastewater in underground injection wells, which accept hundreds of millions of gallons of oil and gas wastewater and have been linked to numerous earthquakes in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas.

Quote
“Updated rules for oil and gas wastes are almost 30 years overdue and we need them now more than ever,”
Adam Kron, senior attorney at the Environmental Integrity Project, said. “Each well now generates millions of gallons of wastewater and hundreds of tons of solid wastes and yet EPA’s inaction has kept the most basic, inadequate rules in place. The public deserves better than this.”

The groups filing suit include the Environmental Integrity Project, Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthworks, Responsible Drilling Alliance, San Juan Citizens Alliance, West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization, and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, calls on the court to set strict deadlines for the EPA to comply with its long-overdue obligations to update waste disposal rules that should have been revised more than a quarter century ago.

The organizations are urging the EPA to ban the practice of spreading fracking wastewater onto roads or fields, which allows toxic pollutants to run off and contaminate streams. And the EPA should require landfills and ponds that receive drilling and fracking waste to be built with adequate liners and structural integrity to prevent spills and leaks into groundwater and streams.

The groups filed a notice of their intent to sue the EPA last August, warning the agency a lawsuit would follow unless it complied with its duty under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to review and revise the federal regulations and guidelines governing how oil and gas waste must be handled and disposed. RCRA requires that the EPA review the regulations and state plan guidelines at least every three years and, if necessary, revise them. The agency determined in 1988 that such revisions of the regulations were necessary to address specific concerns with oil and gas wastes, yet has failed to meet its legal responsibility to act for nearly three decades.

Background   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) 

Over the last decade, the oil and gas industry’s fracking-based boom has produced a vast amount of solid and liquid waste. Each well produces millions of gallons of wastewater and hundreds of tons of drill cuttings, which contain contaminants that pose serious risks to human health. These include known carcinogens such as benzene, toxic metals such as mercury and radioactive materials. However, the current RCRA rules that govern oil and gas wastes are too weak because they are the same rules that apply to all “non-hazardous” wastes, including household trash.

As a result, oil and gas companies are disposing, storing, transporting and handling these wastes in a number of troublesome ways. These include: spraying fracking waste fluids onto roads and land near where people live and work; disposing of billions of gallons of oil and gas wastewater in underground injection wells; sending the drill cuttings and fracking sands to landfills not designed to handle toxic or radioactive materials; and storing and disposing of wastewater in pits and ponds, which often leak. Across the U.S., there are numerous instances of wastes leaking out of ponds and pits into nearby streams and the groundwater beneath and operators often “close” the pits by simply burying the wastes on site.“

In 1988, the EPA promised  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85) to require oil and gas companies to handle this waste more carefully,” said Aaron Mintzes, Policy Advocate for Earthworks. “Yet neither EPA nor the states have acted. Today’s suit just says 28 years is too long for communities to wait for protections from this industry’s hazardous waste.”

The following are some examples of problems caused by the improper disposal and handling of fracking and drilling waste:

•Ohio: Underground injection wells in Ohio accepted 1.2 billion gallons of oil and gas wastewater for disposal in 2015, more than double the amount in 2011. Half this wastewater came from out of state. This has resulted in scores of earthquakes in the well-dense Youngstown area, with one well alone linked to 77 earthquakes. The Ohio Oil and Gas Commission recently noted that regulations “have not kept pace” with the problem and that (to an extent) both the state and industry are “working with their eyes closed.” Other states that have experienced increased seismic events in the proximity of injection wells include Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

•Pennsylvania: In May 2012, a six-million-gallon industrial pond holding fracking wastewater in Tioga County leaked pollutants, including arsenic and strontium, through holes in its liner into groundwater and a nearby trout stream.

•West Virginia: Oil and gas wastewater dumped or spilled in rivers in West Virginia and Pennsylvania contains high levels of potentially hazardous ammonium and iodide, according to a study by Duke University scientists.

•North Dakota:
In January 2015, three million gallons of drilling wastewater spilled from a leaky pipe outside Williston, polluting a tributary of the Missouri River. In July 2011, a pipeline serving a well in Bottineau County leaked over two million gallons of fracking wastewater, damaging 24 acres of private land.

•Colorado: A contractor for a pipeline services firm gave a detailed account of sand-blasting pulverized waste buildup (called “scale”) from pipeline seals directly into the air outdoors without a filter, even though such dust can be radioactive and cause damage to lungs.

•Across the Marcellus region: Over the past several years, landfills in states around the Marcellus shale formation—even in New York, where fracking is prohibited—have experienced increasing shipments of drill cuttings that contain high levels of radiation. Many of the landfills do not test for radiation and do not have adequate controls to prevent the often toxic and radioactive “leachate” from seeping into groundwater.

“Although West Virginia has taken some steps to improve regulation, the state’s approach has been to permit horizontal drilling without carefully considering whether current methods of waste disposal are appropriate or adequate,” Julie Archer, project manager at the West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization, said. “It’s past time for the EPA to provide clear guidance on how these wastes should be handled to protect our communities.”

EPA’s current regulations do not take into account the dangerous contents of oil and gas wastes or their unique handling and disposal practices.

Since 1988, the agency has acknowledged the shortcoming of its basic rules for solid waste management and has indicated that it needs to create enhanced rules tailored to the oil and gas industry. However, the agency has yet to take any action to develop these updated regulations.

  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffc06.deviantart.net%2Ffs71%2Ff%2F2009%2F347%2F2%2F6%2FWTF_Smiley_face_by_IveWasHere.jpg&hash=8ca673f8cf785d9dac626f9fd91e37a1a318c7ac)

“A major reason for the industry’s use of injection wells to dispose of toxic fracking waste is the low disposal cost  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil19.gif&hash=6eeb0dbc471743691793f5130640fdcbd1f77b5c),” Teresa Mills, director of the Ohio field office for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, said. “We reject this reasoning because the public’s health and safety must come first.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)
“As an organization representing hundreds of families living in close proximity to oil and gas operations, we see not only the physical pollution, but also the psychological toll that oil and gas waste exacts on communities,” Dan Olson, executive director of the Colorado-based San Juan Citizens Alliance, said. “That the EPA is 30 years overdue in creating common sense rules for managing toxic waste from oil and gas operations is a cause of great concern for everyone living near these sources of improperly regulated industrial pollution.”

http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/05/groups-sue-epa-fracking-waste/

Agelbert: This is why the "promise" of the EPA in 1988 was not worth the paper it was printed on:

What really Happened at the EPA (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg3619/#msg3619)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c)


Cathie Reid: You must get this action through and legislation enacted ... before any further disastrous TTP or other "Investor Protection and profit over Health and environmental/climate sustainability" Acts are passed that strip civilization of the frameworks and levers of equitable/peaceful prosperity.
 
frackugee: If the oil and gas industry are such great companies that we sooo need and are on here all the time saying how awesome they are(matt Jason) then they will have no problem accepting the fact that their waste is hazardous material and pay for that accordingly-oh wait that would stop the fracking they do today immediately as they will not spend 46$ a barrel for its proper disposal, that's right hazardous waste costs more to dispose of correctly then oil and gas are worth and the testing of the waste to determine what it is would blow the lid off the toxic brew they create at every single well. They are not good neighbor companies like they profess, every other corporation in this country plays by rules not these guys and they are called out on it all the time with video and complaints to epa at state and fed level and are never held accountable Shame on all of them

agelbert > frackugee: 

Well said.

There is also ZERO excuse for the oil and gas "externalization" of the toxic brew of gases they flare 24/7 at both land and ocean rig sites. It's time they be ordered to capture and package all those carcinogenic gases that they now dump on us for profit over planet.

They KNOW how toxic those gases are because the ocean rigs have a "water curtain" technology to keep the flared gas fumes from degrading the health of rig workers.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvertassets.blob.core.windows.net%2Fimage%2Fe235b708%2Fe235b708-88c9-4573-95df-3a3ec2845aab%2Fq4000andenterprisesmall.jpg&hash=c83d6aeb93e6090924c18c46bd4e04d8465be91e)
Water curtain in use - cleverly labeled "Water Curtain Rig Cooling Offshore Heat Suppression" as if "heat" was the anything but a side issue in the flared fumes toxins (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)


IOW, the oil and gas pigs are polluting the ocean near the rigs along with the world's atmosphere. Flared gas fumes cause respiratory illnesses in the short term and cancer and global warming in the long term.

It's TIME the oil and gas corporations be STOPPED from polluting for profit!




The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleteing CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)

(https://allthoughtsworkoutdoors.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/p9047017-030close-up.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 08, 2016, 02:30:38 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-anime-034.gif&hash=58a833931ab09edc67b808927994f92737db0650) Canada fire rages for seventh day, pushes away from town  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-anime-034.gif&hash=58a833931ab09edc67b808927994f92737db0650)

A wildfire ripping through Canada's oil sands region looked set to grow rapidly as it entered its second week on Sunday despite cooler weather and light rain, but move further away from heavily populated areas, a fire official said.

Posted 08 May 2016 17:10 Updated 09 May 2016 02:00
 
PHOTOS (at story link)
Service vehicles drive out of the wildfires near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, May 7, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

An Alberta wildfire firefighter crew holds a meeting in front of their helicopter while waiting on stanby to respond to new wildfires at a helipad in Lac la Biche, Alberta, Canada, May 7, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Smoke and flames from the wildfires erupt behind a car on the highway near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, May 7, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Smoke and flames from the wildfires erupt behind cars on the highway near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, May 7, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Smoke and flames from the wildfires erupt behind a car on the highway near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, May 7, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Blinch


GREGOIRE LAKE, Alberta: A wildfire ripping through Canada's oil sands region looked set to grow rapidly as it entered its second week on Sunday despite cooler weather and light rain, but move further away from heavily populated areas, a fire official said.

The fire, which started near the town of Fort McMurray in northeast Alberta, spread so quickly that the town's 88,000 inhabitants barely had time to leave.

The front of the fire was moving southeast, away from Fort McMurray toward the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, said wildfire information officer Travis Fairweather, but was not expected to reach the border on Sunday. While there were some communities near the fire, they were not in its path, he said.

Winds of up to 60 kph (37 mph) were fanning the flames, but there was a chance of rain and cooler temperatures later in the day. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported ash fell in parts of Saskatchewan.

An Alberta government statement issued on Saturday night said the fire had consumed 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) - an area the size of Mexico City - and would continue to grow.

Fort McMurray is the center of Canada's oil sands region. About half of the crude output from the sands, or one million barrels per day, had been taken offline as of Friday, according to a Reuters estimate.

The inferno looks set to become the costliest natural disaster in Canada's history. One analyst estimated insurance losses could exceed CUS$9 billion (US$7 billion).

Canada Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the economic cost of the wildfire would likely eclipse that of the 2013 Alberta floods, which was in the range of CUS$6 billion.

Speaking to CTV television, he noted that when disasters are more expensive, federal funding covers a larger proportion of their costs.

"On something this big, it may well trigger the maximum under the formula, which would mean 90 percent of the cost would be borne by the government of Canada," he said.

Officials have said that, even though the fire has largely pushed through Fort McMurray, the town is still too dangerous to enter.

Thousands of evacuees are camped out in nearby towns but stand little chance of returning soon, even if their homes are intact. The city's gas has been turned off, its power grid is damaged, and the water is undrinkable.

Provincial officials said displaced people would be better off driving to cities such as Calgary, 655 km (410 miles) to the south, where health and social services were better.

"I know today is a bittersweet Mother's Day for many Alberta moms, as you're away from your homes," said Alberta Premier Rachel Notley on Twitter. "All of you are incredibly strong, and I hope you're able to find a small moment for yourself today."

The provincial government has promised evacuees pre-paid debit cards to cover immediate costs, with CUS$1,250 per adult and CUS$500 per dependent, expected to cost about CUS$100 million.

After the scare of her life escaping the fire on Tuesday, housekeeping supervisor Susie Demelo got some welcome good news on Saturday. New satellite images showed the house she rents in Fort McMurray was still standing.

Demelo and her partner had no insurance on their belongings.

"I'm very blessed and grateful," she said. "And nobody has died in the fire."

Through Friday and Saturday, police escorted thousands of evacuees who had been forced to flee north from Fort McMurray back through the burning town, to allow them to head south to Alberta's major cities. By Sunday morning, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman said that process was complete.

Some residents were complaining about the lack of news from the town, fire chief Darby Allen said in a video posted online late on Saturday.

"We know from all the calls that you're getting frustrated because you don't have any information on your homes. We're really working hard on that, it's a complicated process," he said.

More than 500 firefighters were in and around Fort McMurray, along with 15 helicopters, 14 air tankers and 88 other pieces of equipment, officials said.

The strain was so intense that fire crews would be rotated more quickly than usual, Alberta fire official Chad Morrison said. One exhausted fireman told CBC television that members of his team were working up to 40 hours at a stretch without sleep.

(Additional reporting by Ethan Lou, Allison Martell and David Ljunggren; Editing by Digby Lidstone and Alan Crosby)

- Reuters

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/canada-fire-rages-for-sev/2767138.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 10, 2016, 10:07:25 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fharvardpolitics.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F05%2Fcorruption.jpg&hash=a730aaa7e135ca301ad1e017c5ed97fc4fd53829)

EPA's Tie to Monsanto Could Be Disastrous For Us


EPA COULD be? How about, EPA already HAS been disastrous for us? They don't need Monsanto to provide cover for their screwups, they just go do them while the rest of us stand back and watch.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F08%2F3million_650.jpg&hash=9db14e42e3dfba033479fefc759e129cdda9fb25)


It's obvious you didn't read the post. Thom was deliberately understating the case when he said the EPA Tie "could" be disastrous for us. And NO, it wasn't "screw-ups" that caused all this crap, it was profit over planet corruption. But, as usual, you wish to do two things, blame the victim and claim the government is full of "incompetent bean counters" that "make mistakes" you corporate fossil fuelers with "real" scientists in their employ "never make".  ::)

 
Yeah MKing, we-the-people are just cry babies standing back and "irresponsibly letting it all happen", so we deserve all the corporate corruption we "voted" for...  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251)


Says the fossil fueler that claims "we voted for these people". Says the fine fellow who claims the exemption from the Clean Water Act for Fracking that Cheney engineered was a-F U C K ING-okay because it was done by "our government".   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251)


Says MKing who thinks the Precautionary Principle of science is "unscientific" foot dragging that prevents "technological innovation and progress".  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251)


You do not have the RIGHT to even speak on this issue, considering your support for all the damage the fossil fuel industry has visited on the biosphere in general and the people of this planet in particular.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmauicauses.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F05%2FHokua-w-sign-3.jpg&hash=af38a5cd6becb651e0734c33546dc5eea1333a0c)
The above is the part of the Precautionary Principle of Science that the fossil fuel industry AND all the other polluters out there have never been able to get though their Biosphere Math Challenged heads.

SURE, MKing, it's all our fault that the EPA empathy deficit disordered bought and paid fors by Monsanto AND the fossil fuel industry have looked the other way or published happy talk while you polluters trashed the environment. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251)

And, OF COURSE (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0),  the fossil fuel industry and Monsanto "cannot be blamed" because they "have a fiduciary duty" to profit over planet...   

Your typical blame the victim propaganda is rather transparent BECAUSE it evidences your wish to run interference for the polluters so they can continue to pollute for profit. You will say anything to keep your favorite welfare queen corporate polluters from being prosecuted for fraud, corruption and pollution.

You are predictably disingenuous. You are a danger to yourself and the human species.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fharvardpolitics.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F05%2Fcorruption.jpg&hash=a730aaa7e135ca301ad1e017c5ed97fc4fd53829)

EPA's Tie to Monsanto Could Be Disastrous For Us

May. 10, 2016 1:12 pm By Thom Hartmann

Conservative politicians love to talk about how the Environmental Protection Agency only issues "job-killing regulations", especially if they're taking campaign contributions from fossil fuel billionaires like the Koch Brothers or from agrichemical giants like Monsanto.

Republican Chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Lamar Smith  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4), for example, has spent years trying to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from conducting any real research about climate change or passing any real regulations in general.

But apparently it's true that every once in a while, even a blind mouse finds cheese.  ;D

Because for once, it seems like Lamar Smith might actually have a legitimate complaint about an EPA report.

Last week, Smith wrote a letter to the EPA demanding to know why a risk report marked "Final Report" about glyphosate was retracted just three days after it was published.

The EPA's Cancer Assessment Review Committee issued the "Final Report" on glyphosate on April 29 , and 13 members of the Review Committee had signed their name to the report's findings that glyphosate is "not likely to be carcinogenic to humans."

The findings should raise eyebrows to begin with, because they directly contradict a report from the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, which found last year that glyphosate is a "probable carcinogen."

But what's really caused a stir from environmentalists and conservatives alike, and why Lamar Smith has started overseeing the matter, is that the EPA pulled the report after just three days, and claimed that the report was published "inadvertently."  ;)

Smith wrote to Gina McCarthy on May 4 that "the subsequent backtracking on [this report's] finality raises questions about the agency's motivation in providing a fair assessment   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220216203149.gif&hash=bd184b6edccce4045e246847a0c84e89bd5a18b6) of glyphosate."

But Lamar Smith was a few days late to the party condemning the EPA's research, because the Center for Biological Diversity had already issued a press release condemning the EPA finding as "disappointing, but not terribly surprising [because] industry has been manipulating this research for years."

This shouldn't come as any surprise though, because using industry research is part of the EPA's scheme of "cooperative regulation," something that's been in place ever since Reagan appointed Anne Gorsuch  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) to head the EPA in the early 1980s.

During her tenure as head of the EPA, Gorsuch cut the EPA's budget by 22%, she handed many of the duties of the EPA down to states and contractors, and she made a cascade of appointments at lower levels in the agency that led to a fundamental shift in how the EPA regulated industry.

You see, in the world of Reaganism, regulators shouldn't challenge industry.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)


Instead, under "cooperative regulation," regulators are supposed to work together with industry to establish regulations that protect public safety without hurting corporate profits.

"Cooperative regulation" is why regulators in the United States need to prove that a product is unsafe before a corporation will pull that product from store shelves, because corporate profits are at least as valuable as public safety.

It's why over 750 products containing glyphosate are still for sale in the United States nearly a year after the World Health Organization found that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic."  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)

"Cooperative regulation" is also why our regulatory agencies take research from privately funded think-tanks and from industry lobbying groups.

And that's exactly what seems to be at the core of what's going on with this retracted glyphosate report.

Dozens of papers cited in the retracted EPA report on glyphosate are "unpublished regulatory studies", meaning that they weren't peer reviewed and it's unclear how the data was collected or tested.

As Nathan Donley with the Center for Biological Diversity wrote in a press release, "The EPA's analysis relied heavily on industry-funded studies that have not undergone public scrutiny, while the WHO used publicly available research for its analysis.".

And this is a huge problem, because the EPA was established by the Nixon administration "because arresting environmental deterioration is of great importance to the quality of life in our country and the world.".

When Nixon authorized the creation of the EPA, there was bi-partisan consensus that this country needs a single, streamlined regulatory agency dedicated to protecting our air and water.

Now, we're approaching a bi-partisan consensus that the EPA is broken.

And the fact is, it's been broken for over 30 years, ever since the Reagan Administration turned it into a partner of industry, rather than a regulator.

It's time to get federal regulators out of bed from the industries that they're supposed to be overseeing.
Quote

It's time for the EPA and other regulatory agencies to adopt the precautionary principle that says that techniques like fracking and products like glyphosate have to be proven safe BEFORE consumers are exposed to them.

We need to strengthen the EPA and other regulatory agencies so that they can conduct independent research about environmental threats and public health concerns, and so that they don't need to solicit biased, industry-funded research from multinational corporations.

And it's time to end the revolving door between the private sector and government agencies like the EPA, the FCC, the FDA, and the SEC, because the American People deserve government regulators that put public safety ahead of corporate profits.

 http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2016/05/epas-tie-monsanto-could-be-disastrous-us#sthash.Qcd6uhnM.dpuf (http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2016/05/epas-tie-monsanto-could-be-disastrous-us#sthash.Qcd6uhnM.dpuf)


 What really Happened at the EPA (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg3619/#msg3619)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 12, 2016, 03:14:10 pm
Shale gas dirty energy versus solar panels on EVERY U.S. home

(https://flybynews.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/10849956_10152688697178369_7242302811235808893_n.png?w=300&h=300)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCi1IdQWYAAcO5Y.jpg)
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(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 12, 2016, 03:49:41 pm
New Fracking Study Finds Children at Greater Risk of Respiratory Health Problems

Lorraine Chow | May 12, 2016 10:28 am

Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) operations such as fracking might allow for cheaper prices to heat your home, but a growing number of scientists are becoming concerned about its unacceptable health implications.

In the first comprehensive literature review to date on the respiratory health risks associated with UOG, experts from the Center for Environmental Health, the Institute for Health and the Environment, Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments have found that these operations are particularly harmful to infants and young children.

The study, Hazards of UOG Emissions on Children’s and Infants’ Respiratory Health, was published today in the journal Reviews on Environmental Health.

The the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that there are nearly 700 chemicals used in the fracking process. Fracking fluids can contain a toxic slew of hazardous chemicals that can affect human health and the environment, but oil and gas companies are not required to disclose exactly what they are.

According to the study, at least five chemicals associated with unconventional oil and gas operations and fracking—tropospheric ozone, particulate matter, silica dust, benzene and formaldehyde—are linked to respiratory health issues on infants and children, including asthma, reduced lung and pulmonary function, increased susceptibility to infection, chest discomfort, difficulty breathing, lung inflammation and other adverse outcomes.

The heavy industrial processes of unconventional oil and gas such as fracking—which involves the pumping of highly pressurized water, sand and chemicals into underground rock formations—can negatively affect air quality in a number of ways, and not just from the release of the trapped oil and gas. The study states:

Sources of air pollution include emissions from the extraction and processing of natural gas, as well as the transportation via natural gas infrastructure components including compressor stations and pipelines. Pollutants can be emitted during venting, flaring, production and leaks from faulty casings. In addition, truck transportation of materials to and from well pads and vehicular equipment use during construction and maintenance generate air pollution from particulate matter and diesel exhaust.

These processes release numerous contaminants into the air, resulting in elevated concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), methane, ozone, NOx and VOCs [volatile organic compounds] like benzene, formaldehyde, alkenes, alkanes, aromatic compounds, and aldehydes.

Many of these pollutant groups have been recognized by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Centers for Disease Control, Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and National Institutes of Health as hazardous respiratory pollutants.

Unfortunately, children and newborns may suffer disproportionately from exposure to air pollutant emissions from UOG development. According to the review, a young person’s developing respiratory system is particularly vulnerable to air pollution for a number of reasons:

•First, children’s respiratory systems are still growing.

•Second, due to their smaller size, children’s developing respiratory systems are more exposed to air pollution.

•Third
, they have narrower airways, which also contributes to their increased susceptibility to irritation by air pollution.

•Fourth, children are shorter and thus inhale a greater concentration of particulate air pollutants and dust.

•Fifth, children have an increased resting respiratory rate compared to adults.

•Finally, children spend more time outdoors where the concentrations of some air pollutants are highest; and active outdoor play increases ventilation rates, thus increasing exposure to air pollutants relative to adults.


The authors identified an urgent need for more research on air pollutant emissions associated with UOG, as they commonly occur.

They also recommended a number of ways to move forward in order to ensure public health and safety, such as federal standards that reduce air pollutant emissions from oil and gas development, including methane, VOCs, particulate matter and ozone.

“The EPA’s proposed measures to cut methane and VOC emissions from the oil and natural gas industry will not only address climate change, but also reduce the exposure of nearby communities to these pollutants and the subsequent risk of health effects, including respiratory morbidity and mortality,” the authors noted.

The authors pointed out that people who live in close proximity (less than or equal to a half of mile) to high-density drilling areas are at greater risk for health effects from exposure to natural gas development than those living greater than a half of mile from wells. They thus recommended that schools, hospitals and other dwellings where infants and children might spend a lot of time should be at least one mile away from a drilling facility.

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They also strongly recommended policies that strengthen disclosure and transparency about chemicals used in Unconventional oil and gas (UOG)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

“Due to the 2005 Energy Policy Act, a number of chemicals associated with UOG are not reported to the public,” the authors said. “Disclosure of chemicals is critical to be able to understand the full scope of respiratory health effects for infants and children.”

http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/12/respiratory-health-fracking/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fthebakkenshale.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F10%2F2014%2F03%2Fbakken-flaring.jpg&hash=312a135b361c8e28bc0f7e51562605d944b10a3e)
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(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fcustom%2Fimage%2Ftongue%255E_%255Earial%255E_%255E0%255E_%255E0%255E_%255EBurning+Fossil+Fuels+IS+SUICIDE%255E_%255E.gif&hash=dddc6d85ffcc21075f53bda643372d2383013562)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 12, 2016, 09:24:57 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Before we cheer too loudly about this news, please READ the "NEW" and "MODIFIED" fine print. This is EXACTLY the kind of CRAP they came up with over thirty years ago with refineries. THAT is why, since around 1978, no "NEW" refineries have been built in the USA (never mind the fact that EVERY part on them has been replaced over and over).  ;)

You see, this is a fossil fuel government TRICK called "grandfathering" the "old" facilities so as to not hurt the profits of those poor little dirty energy welfare queens.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F165fs373950.gif&hash=ad797fcc08a061d3ae50ee49ccd9f3d517fb7496)

Every single fracked well that has been temporarily capped (the rig COUNT is at all time low!) is NOT a "New" or "MODIFIED" site. SO, they will be able to POLLUTE with their accustomed FLARING with NO new regs on MOST of these sites when they restart them. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)


They pulled this with the refineries nearly 40 years ago and NOW they are trying to do it AGAIN with the THOUSANDS of flaring sites all over this country because they, uh, "aren't new or modified".   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil12.gif&hash=d1822754cefdd0f77369dacd157d00f5f8d3fff9)

Wed May 11, 2016 9:14pm EDT

Related:  Environment,  Global Energy News
 

EPA to set first rule to cut methane from oil, gas sector

WASHINGTON  |  By Valerie Volcovici   
 
The Environmental Protection Agency will unveil on Thursday a rule to target methane emissions from new or modified oil and gas facilities, the first regulations to tackle the greenhouse gas from the sector, two sources briefed on the matter said.

The EPA first proposed the regulation last August and finalized the measure after a public comment period.

The proposal is expected to require new  ;) and modified   ;) oil and gas processing and transmission facilities  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) to find and repair methane leaks, capture natural gas from hydraulically fractured oil wells and limit emissions from pumps and other types of equipment.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)

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It will help achieve a broader Obama administration strategy to cut methane emissions 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025, the EPA said, and forms a key part of its climate change strategy.

Methane is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Though it only lasts in the atmosphere for 20 years, methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat, and environmental groups have pressed the administration for tighter restrictions leaks.
 
Cutting methane will also help the United States achieve the goal it pledged in the Paris climate change agreement to cut its greenhouse gas emissions up to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
 
In January, the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management proposed rules to limit venting and flaring natural gas at wells on public land, practices that let methane into the atmosphere.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Leslie Adler)

http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-naturalgas-methane-idUSKCN0Y3035 (http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-naturalgas-methane-idUSKCN0Y3035)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 13, 2016, 09:51:30 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-230216221448.png&hash=94af4f1b4c63e415fffb3622699c1e3d9910ce19)

Shell Spills 88,000 Gallons of Oil in Gulf   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)

Posted On May 13, 2016 by Bethany Kraft
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fopstatic.com%2Fimg%2Fusermedia%2F4lrbR_9rhkqgFldfvzIy-A%2Foriginal.png&hash=3aa9f92d1a63d37011b17407e3a681eed3b5c6a8)
Et Tu Brute?

Today, the Coast Guard reported that Shell’s Brutus oil platform, about 90 miles off the coast of Louisiana, has spilled more than 80,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This is a bad week for Shell—just Monday, Shell gave up most of its oil and gas leases in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska. Although it is too early to know the extent of environmental damage from the Shell spill, we do know that the Gulf of Mexico is still damaged from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster six years ago.

Thankfully, the leak has been secured, and clean-up efforts are underway, as a result of NOAA and the Coast Guard’s immediate response. There are 52,000 boreholes drilled into the Gulfseafloor, the result of a century-old search for oil and gas. Much of the time, offshore oil production proceeds relatively safely and without much public interest, but when things go wrong in the Gulf of Mexico, they can really go wrong.

Quote
As soon as the news broke last night, my news feed was filled with rhetoric from two extremes: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b) those who say that drilling is an economic imperative and a matter of national security, no matter the cost  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fugly004.gif&hash=c56db4280057389afd154a1cb4057410151579c8), and those who say that all drilling must stop now, no matter what.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

But that cannot be the singular focus when the risk associated with oil and gas exploration and drilling is something that the people who make their homes in the Gulf region grapple with every day. The Gulf is a complex place and the undeniable reality is that thousands of people rely on it for their livelihood.

For our ocean and the people that rely on it, we can and should do better in the Gulf–and other places where drilling occurs.

Here are a few places to start:

1. Better monitoring

Our Charting the Gulf report revealed that that Gulf’s offshore wildlife and habitats are not monitored to the same degree as those in the coastal areas. This monitoring is vital for species like bottlenose dolphins, which will likely need 40-50 years to fully recover from the BP oil disaster, along with deep-water corals, which could need hundreds of years to improve.

2. Commitment to restoring the Gulf beyond the shore

This new spill is one of a long list of stressors on the Gulf’s wildlife and habitats in the open ocean. BP has paid $1 billion to restore the open ocean, but the future of the deep waters of the Gulf is anything but secure. We must hold our Gulf leaders accountable and restore the Gulf’s deep sea, where the BP oil disaster began and where other spills are likely to occur.

3. Better response planning and risk assessment

The BP oil disaster taught us many lessons about the risks associated with oil drilling in the Gulf, especially the lack of updated response technology. We must apply these lessons to not just the Gulf, but in all areas where drilling and shipping pose a critical risk for our ocean.

I’m proud to live and work in the Gulf. While we tend to make national headlines when there’s been a disaster, the Gulf is beautiful, resilient and is on the path to recovery – as long as we stay committed and work together.

http://blog.oceanconservancy.org/2016/05/13/shell-spills-88000-gallons-of-oil-in-gulf/#more-12067

Agelbert NOTE: Bethany Kraft may be "proud" of working in the Gulf, but if she believes that push to stop offshore drilling is "extreme", then she is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnoyonews.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F03%2FStop-Offshore-Drilling.jpg&hash=f0da78db79ef832397b963d56e053a1665c9f6e7)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 14, 2016, 06:40:43 pm
05/13/2016 02:22 PM     

EPA Finally Starts Regulating Methane Emissions

SustainableBusiness.com News

For the first time, EPA will regulate methane emissions, starting with the oil and gas industry.

Last year, President Obama initiated the process in his "Strategy to Reduce Methane Emissions," which directed EPA to set targets and regulations.

 Soon after, EPA announced a goal of cutting methane emissions from oil and gas 40-45% by 2025 from 2012 levels, and today, EPA released the final regulations.

EPA received over 900,000 comments on the proposed rules. 

Although it's notable that EPA is targeting the entire system - leaks from wells, pipelines and valves across drilling, production and transportation - the rules only apply to new and modified oil and gas systems - not existing ones  - which account for 75% of the problem. 

That is next
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978), says EPA (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400), but there's not enough time to finalize more rules  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220216203149.gif&hash=bd184b6edccce4045e246847a0c84e89bd5a18b6) under President Obama's administration.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-111214174727.png&hash=a0ea65f844542e4709bd444bd2f70496c434c56b)


29% of fracked gas is allowed to escape into the atmosphere.
Worth $2 billion a year, it cuts into profits while stoking climate change. As a "climate forcer," methane is about 86 times as potent as carbon dioxide over a 20 year period. It also contains cancer-causing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as benzene. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wyofile.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F11%2Fenvironmental-defense-fund-image-flaring.jpg&hash=37ba63ca4176b7dad5eb58da7a9237d599b4c5a1)

Fracking  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Femoticons%2Femoticon-object-015.gif&hash=8e6486af5151b5eb075de7af5fb71f325d34dc0c)

Basically, the Rules Require: 

•Oil and gas companies must monitor and report on how much methane is released at production, processing and transmission facilities (a few do it voluntarily now). 

•Owners/operators must monitor and repair leaks -twice a year at well sites and quarterly at compressor stations - using methods approved by EPA.

•Phases in requirements for capturing emissions at wells.   

These common sense rules ask the industry to do what any responsible corporation does - implement measures that prevent pollution. Better maintenance practices and low-cost technologies are all that's needed, especially since the methane that's captured can be sold at a profit as natural gas. 

Colorado passed similar regulations a couple of years ago. Most companies find it doesn't cost much to comply, and are either breaking even or profiting from having to inspect and fix leaks, says a report by the industry group, Center for Methane Emissions Solutions. Workers' are doing a better job of attention to details, finding 2-3 leaks per inspection, most of which can be fixed in just a few days. Meanwhile, air quality is improving, as is worker care and safety, while significantly reducing emissions.   

But the industry (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605) is squarely against the national regulations.


Entrepreneurs Respond

US entrepreneurs are jumping in to solve the problem of methane leaks. More than 75 companies across the country are part of a new "methane mitigation industry," such as Rebellion Photonics, which won Wall Street Journal's 2013 "Startup of the Year." Its camera technology helps companies quickly find and repair leaks.

Rising Methane Emissions 

As of 2014, methane emissions account for 10.6% of US greenhouse gases (up 11% since 1990). Without regulations, EPA projects emissions will rise 25% by 2025.

About a third comes from the oil and gas industry - the largest single source - and the rest comes from agriculture/factory farms, landfills and waste treatment plants.   

EPA's rules are complemented by those released this year by the Department of Interior for oil and gas drilling on public lands (not yet finalized  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) ), and the Department of Energy's focus on equipment and modernizing pipelines.  ;)

Satellites show the US flares more than any other country - about 6300 flares, burning off 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas. While there are 1700 flares in Russia, they burn off much more gas - nearly 20 billion cubic meters, reports Climate Central.

The World Bank is piloting methane-reducing auctions to incentivize major emitters to capture and reuse methane gas from factory farms, landfills and waste treatment facilities across the world. 

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26623

Agelbert NOTE: THe FACT that the Oil and Gas pigs are "squarely against" the capturing of nearly one third of the gas coming up their fracked wells (which is now flared onto we-the-people) is evidence that CAPTURING the gas carcinogenic and otherwise toxic poisons costs MORE than will be obtained by stripping the captured gas of toxins and storing and marketing the methane portion.

WHY? Because they will then be $FORCED$ to process and store all the toxic gas products as hazardous waste.

To claim the oil and gas corporations are "responsible" in any way, shape or form is the ultimate in happy talk wishful thinking.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgaah.gif&hash=e43fa6be4258ba495007b2bbb3e7dd2f60288fcd)

They are grandfathering 75% (or more) of their pollution piggery, just like they did by not building any "new" refineries after 1978 (they just replace all the parts OVER AND OVER again in them, even expanding sections while claiming they "aren't new" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)).

Grandfathering is a TRICK to allow the polluters to continue polluting!     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

Don't swallow the EPA BULLSHIT! Don't let these polluters ruin the future!

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 15, 2016, 01:56:48 pm
Federal Toxics Law Still Protecting the Chemical Industry’s Dirty Secrets    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

Melanie Benesh, Environmental Working Group | May 13, 2016 2:12 pm

In lab testing, one chemical, we’ll call it “chemical X,” was linked to decreased fertility and changes in the lungs, spleen, stomach, intestines and ****; and in some cases even death.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

Another chemical, “chemical Y,” was shown to lower the weight of fetuses, which could lead to later developmental health problems.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F05%2Ftoxic_chemicals_750.jpg&hash=b341155acdb5a5001b5e4677941534d7dd209c08)
Federal chemical safety law allows companies to keep secret significant amounts of information about their chemicals, even if they could cause substantial harm. Photo credit: Shutterstock

What chemicals caused these alarming effects?  ??? What products are they used in? Are they still on the market after such worrisome test results?  ??? Who makes them?  ???

Quote
We don’t know. We may never know.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tumblr.com%2Fc6492e4b47cfdbd50e74d285fde3c53e%2Ftumblr_inline_mm3g4yCaZc1qz4rgp.gif&hash=4b1cad5ea13f7430a0c01f3065039d21d78da398)

Why? Because federal chemical safety law allows companies to keep secret significant amounts of information about their chemicals, even if they could cause substantial harm.

In a 2009 exposé on chemical secrecy, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that nearly two-thirds of all new chemicals produced since 1979 had been classified as trade secrets, including substances linked to cancer and hormone disruption. Within weeks of EWG’s report, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took modest steps to control the most blatant overuse of the confidentiality stamp, but secrecy claims remain rampant.

On Monday, EWG released an updated version of its report finding that seven years later, EPA has taken some positive steps—but not enough has changed.

On a positive note, EPA did revoke the trade secret status on nearly 650 chemical identities and has re-visited more than 20,000 other confidentiality claims. Also, far fewer chemicals used in children’s products are still being classified secret.

But these modest improvements don’t go far enough.

The very names of approximately 17,500 chemicals remain secret, including nearly two-thirds of the new chemicals produced since 1979. Even information about chemicals that may pose substantial health dangers—like the two mystery chemicals we’re calling X and Y—can be and often is kept secret.

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Current law requires companies to inform EPA when their chemicals are shown to pose substantial risks. EPA must publish this information, but the companies can request that the company’s name, production volumes and even the chemical’s identity be kept secret. Half of the more than 250 “substantial risk” reports filed to EPA since October of last year masked the chemicals’ identity.

Keeping so much information secret undermines efforts to make chemicals safe and leaves the public in the dark about potentially risky products.

Congress is on the verge of updating the nation’s badly broken and ineffective federal chemical law, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. Many changes will have to be made to the pending legislation for it to be better than current law and one of the most critical is ensuring transparency. That means health and safety studies cannot be allowed to hide the identity of the chemicals, companies should have to renew and re-justify old trade secret claims and EPA should have broad authority to revisit, reassess and revoke trade secret claims whenever safety concerns arise.

It’s been 40 years since the outdated chemical safety law was passed. If Congress doesn’t get it right this time, we could be left in the dark for another 40 years.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil12.gif&hash=d1822754cefdd0f77369dacd157d00f5f8d3fff9)

http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/13/toxic-substances-control-act/


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmauicauses.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F05%2FHokua-w-sign-3.jpg&hash=af38a5cd6becb651e0734c33546dc5eea1333a0c)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 15, 2016, 04:44:09 pm
Agelbert NOTE: A fossil fuel industry propagandist using the MKing handle he WON'T use his NAME     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)) made an interesting claim recently. He said that he spoke to the governor of North Dakota.

Exact Quote from MKing:
Quote
I've actually spoken with the ND Governor back when things were blowing and going, as well as the Federal land managers of MT and ND, and there was a perspective there of 40 years of drilling to be had. Discussing why that might not be the most likely outcome, and that the amount of oil they were counting on might not be as large as they expected, was quite a chore. My presentation on this topic to Lynn Helms went over better.
  ::)

I rather doubt that. People who refuse to make their name public should not resort to such puffery. It looks more like contrived Monday morning quarterbacking by a fossil fuel propagandist trying save face from the woefully wrong projections of profit swag the Frackers previously made.

But if some fossil fuel front man defending Fracking in North Dakota did speak to the governor, I am certain the following was accidently on purpose not mentioned in the conversation.  ;) Yes, the study was just published. But if you think the Frackers were unaware of these ""externalized" costs dumped on we-the-people so they could make more profit over planet, you do not understand the MKings of this world. They know. They know.     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)

Duke Study: Rivers Contaminated With Radium and Lead From Thousands of Fracking Wastewater Spills

Sharon Kelly, DeSmogBlog | May 9, 2016 9:44 am

Thousands of oil and gas industry wastewater spills in North Dakota have caused “widespread” contamination from radioactive materials, heavy metals and corrosive salts, putting the health of people and wildlife at risk, researchers from Duke University concluded in a newly released peer-reviewed study.
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Bakken Oil and Gas in Williston, North Dakota on the Missouri River. Photo Credit: EcoFlight

Some rivers and streams in North Dakota now carry levels of radioactive and toxic materials higher than federal drinking water standards as a result of wastewater spills, the scientists found after testing near spills. Many cities and towns draw their drinking water from rivers and streams, though federal law generally requires drinking water to be treated before it reaches peoples’ homes and the scientists did not test tap water as part of their research.

High levels of lead—the same heavy metal that infamously contaminated water in Flint, Michigan—as well as the radioactive element radium, were discovered near spill sites. One substance, selenium, was found in the state’s waters at levels as high as 35 times the federal thresholds set to protect fish, mussels and other wildlife, including those that people eat.

The pollution was found on land as well as in water. The soils in locations where wastewater spilled were laced with significant levels of radium and even higher levels of radium were discovered in the ground downstream from the spills’ origin points, showing that radioactive materials were soaking into the ground and building up as spills flowed over the ground, the researchers said.

The sheer number of spills in the past several years is striking. All told, the Duke University researchers mapped out a total of more than 3,900 accidental spills of oil and gas wastewater in North Dakota alone.

Contamination remained at the oldest spill site tested, where roughly 300 barrels of wastewater were released in a spill four years before the team of researchers arrived to take samples, demonstrating that any cleanup efforts at the site had been insufficient.

“Unlike spilled oil, which starts to break down in soil, these spilled brines consist of inorganic chemicals, metals and salts that are resistant to biodegradation,” said Nancy Lauer, a Duke University PhD student who was lead author of the study, which was published in Environmental Science & Technology. “They don’t go away; they stay.”
Quote

“This has created a legacy of radioactivity at spill sites,” she said.

The highest level of radium the scientists found in soil measured more than 4,600 Bequerels per kilogram [bq/kg]—which translates to roughly two and half times the levels of fracking-related radioactive contamination discovered in Pennsylvania in a 2013 report that drew national attention. To put those numbers in context, under North Dakota law, waste more than 185 bq/kg is considered too radioactive to dispose in regular landfills without a special permit or to haul on roads without a specific license from the state.

And that radioactive contamination—in some places more than 100 times the levels of radioactivity as found upstream from the spillwill be here to stay for millennia, the researchers concluded, unless unprecedented spill clean-up efforts are made.

“The results of this study indicate that the water contamination from brine spills is remarkably persistent in the environment, resulting in elevated levels of salts and trace elements that can be preserved in spill sites for at least months to years,” the study concluded. “The relatively long half-life of [Radium 226] (∼1600 years) suggests that [Radium] contamination in spill sites will remain for thousands of years.”

Cleanup efforts remain underway at three of the four sites that the Duke University research team sampled, a North Dakota State Health Department official asked to comment on the research told the Bismarck Tribune, while the fourth site had not yet been addressed. He criticized the researchers for failing to include any in-depth testing of sites where the most extensive types of cleanup efforts had been completed.

The four sites the researchers sampled instead included the locations of two of the biggest spills in the state’s history, including a spill of 2.9 million gallons in January 2015 and two areas where smaller spills occurred in 2011. The samples from the sites were collected in June 2015, with funding from the National Science Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

Over the past decade, roughly 9,700 wells have been drilled in North Dakota’s Bakken shale and Bottineu oilfield region—meaning that there has been over one spill reported to regulators for every three wells drilled.


brine_fracking_750 (graphic at story link)

“Until now, research in many regions of the nation has shown that contamination from fracking has been fairly sporadic and inconsistent,” Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, said when the study was released. “In North Dakota, however, we find it is widespread and persistent, with clear evidence of direct water contamination from fracking.”

Dealing with wastewater generated by drilling and fracking has proved to be one of the shale industry’s most intractable problems. The industry often pumps its toxic waste underground in a process known as wastewater injection. Every day, roughly 2 billion gallons of oil and gas wastewater are injected into the ground nationwide, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Wastewater injection has been linked to swarms of earthquakes that have prompted a series of legal challenges.

The sheer volume of waste generated by the industry—particularly from the type of high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing used to tap shale oil and gas—has often overwhelmed state regulators, especially because federal laws leave the waste exempt from hazardous waste handling laws, no matter how toxic or dangerous it might be, under an exception for the industry carved out in the 1980’s.

This leaves policing fracking waste up to state inspectors and not only do the rules vary widely from state to state, but enforcing those rules brings its own difficulties.

State inspectors have faced escalating workloads as budgets have often failed to keep pace with the industry’s rapid expansion. In North Dakota, the number of wells per inspector climbed from roughly 359 each in 2012 to 500 per inspector last year. In other states, the ratios are even more challenging, with Wyoming oil and gas well inspectors being responsible for more than 2,900 wells in 2015. And now, with the collapse of oil and gas prices, funds earmarked for oil and gas inspection have also nosedived in many states.

Lax enforcement may help explain why wastewater spills are so common across the U.S. More than 180 million gallons of wastewater was spilled between 2009 and 2014, according to an investigation by the Associated Press, which tallied the amount of wastewater spilled in the 21,651 accidents that were reported to state or federal regulators nationwide during that time.

The naturally occurring radioactive materials in that wastewater have drawn particular concern, partly because of their longevity in the environment and partly because the drilling industry enjoys looser federal standards for their radioactive waste than many other industries.

In January, North Dakota regulators further relaxed their standards for the dumping of radioactive materials, allowing many landfills in the state to accept drilling waste at levels higher than previously permitted, citing tough economic times for drillers.

But environmentalists argue that relaxing the rules for radioactive waste disposal could mean that radioactive materials receive less careful handling. “If people think this study points to a building tragedy, just wait,” Darrell Dorgan, who chairs the North Dakota Energy Industry Waste Coalition, told the Bismarck Tribune, when the Duke University research was released. “The new rules allow radioactive waste that is 10 times more dangerous.”

The spills the Duke University researchers identified often resulted from a failure to maintain infrastructure including pipelines and storage tanks. Roughly half of the wastewater spilled came from failed pipelines, followed by leaks from valves and other pipe connectors and then tank leaks or overflows.

But recent floods in Texas’s Eagle Ford shale region also highlight the risks that natural disasters in drilling regions might pose. Texas regulators photographed plumes of contamination around submerged drilling sites, a repeat of similar incidents in Colorado. “That’s a potential disaster,” Dr. Walter Tsou, former president of the American Public Health Association told the Dallas Morning News.

Risks associated with fracking in flood zones have drawn the attention of some federal agencies in the past, but perhaps not in a way that locals in affected areas might find helpful.

In 2012, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program—a program designed to help people move away from areas subject to recurring floods—ran into a series of conflicts over oil and gas leases on properties that would otherwise be offered buy-outs. Some homeowners in Pennsylvania were denied the chance to participate in the program because of oil and gas leases or pipelines on their properties, as DeSmog previously reported.

In other words, it may be harder for those who have signed oil and gas or pipeline leases to abandon flood-prone areas, meaning that homeowners whose properties frequently flood could potentially face battles over cleanup costs without aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

And the newly published research from North Dakota suggests that the less visible brines may ultimately be more of a long-lasting environmental hazard than the spilled oil.

Even though their study included only leaks that were reported to state regulators, the researchers warned that little is currently being done to clean up sites where spills have occurred—or even to track smaller spills, especially on reservation lands, where roughly a quarter of the state’s oil is produced.

This means that the real amount of wastewater spilled is likely even higher than currently reported.


Quote
“Many smaller spills have also occurred on tribal lands,” Prof. Vengosh said, “and as far as we know, no one is monitoring them.”

http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/09/radium-lead-fracking/
Quote
Gerry Lednicky Seger: Thanks to Cheney/Bush this Toxicity has happened through the "Halliburton Loophole".

Cheney and his Halliburton were only interested in Money and Greed when Cheney wrote the National Policy and deregulated numerous toxic chemicals and also added a clause that "water did NOT have to be protected" thus allowing Halliburton who designed, produces and sells the equipment for the High Volume Hydraulic Fracking into the Marcellus Shale that produces the toxic waste water.

Straight core drilling does NOT produce toxic waste water. Cheney and Bush are the guilty ones that initiated this Toxicity of our drinking water, rivers, streams, deformed animals, etc., across the US.

Quote
richr: This article did not even delve into the other chemicals present like Benzene, Toluene, Naphthalene, Xylene, Ethyl benzenes, and Formaldehyde to mention but a few, which in some sates is a crime to even mention.

We have states so damn corrupt with fracking money owning politicians, that we lost control many years ago. That and having the CEO of Halliburton re-write our clean water act has assured that the entire country will be at risk sooner than later. Remember, all water flows downhill and eventually joins other water systems which we all rely on. Unfortunately in California our food supply is right now being watered with water coming either directly or indirectly from fracking waste water, especially the almond orchards. Think about that fact for a minute. (Oh crap is right)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmauicauses.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F05%2FHokua-w-sign-3.jpg&hash=af38a5cd6becb651e0734c33546dc5eea1333a0c)
The above is the part of the Precautionary Principle of Science that the fossil fuel industry AND all the other polluters out there have never been able to get though their Biosphere Math Challenged heads.


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 15, 2016, 05:53:39 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg06.deviantart.net%2Fbb6a%2Fi%2F2011%2F120%2Ff%2F6%2Fcorporate_pollution_by_jakejames-d3512u1.jpg&hash=30ead896a22d9a93df54de278d32cb3822d4a3ce)

Ending Corporate Hit-and-Runs

By Amanda Goodin  | Thursday, April 07, 2016

SNIPPET:

Under the Superfund law, the EPA was required to take the first step in this important rulemaking process in 1983. Instead, it did absolutely nothing—for decades.

In the meantime, the law’s dedicated tax on oil and chemical companies expired (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f), and the Superfund fund went bankrupt.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df) Though Congress appropriated some money for cleanup of Superfund sites from general tax revenues, the level of funding was drastically cut, meaning cleanups were delayed even further.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

But the EPA continued to stall. An initial Earthjustice victory in 2008 forced the EPA to issue findings on the industries most likely to create these toxic sites. The EPA found that hard rock mines, coal plants, oil refineries and chemical manufacturing facilities were the worst of the worst—the most likely to create the biggest messes.

The EPA even found that in some cases, these companies intentionally set up parent and subsidiary corporations so that the profits from industrial facilities could be funneled to the parent company, but when time came to clean up the mess, the subsidiary could declare bankruptcy and walk away, leaving the public with the bill.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freesmileys.org%2Fsmileys%2Fsmiley-devil12.gif&hash=d1822754cefdd0f77369dacd157d00f5f8d3fff9)

Quote
And yet, even after these findings, the EPA continued to delay.
So Earthjustice went back to court. After years of litigation, fiercely resisted by both the EPA and industry groups, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has finally broken the logjam. The court agreed to enforce a schedule for the EPA to finish the long-delayed rules.

http://earthjustice.org/blog/2016-april/at-last-polluters-must-pay (http://earthjustice.org/blog/2016-april/at-last-polluters-must-pay)

Agelbert NOTE: BUT, as you can see by the EPA newly published regs on Fracking (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/pollution/msg5096/#msg5096), ONCE AGAIN the EPA is STALLING on behalf of profit over planet FOR the fossil fuel (and chemical industry) POLLUTERS.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400)
 
What really Happened at the EPA (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/corruption-in-government/msg3619/#msg3619)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 15, 2016, 07:11:50 pm
05/13/2016 02:36 PM     

Lawsuit Filed Against EPA on Fracking's Other Big Problem
SustainableBusiness.com News


As EPA prepared to release regulations on methane emissions from fracking, a lawsuit was filed to get the agency to address the industry's other big problem - waste. 
 
Every well - and there are tens of thousands in the US - generates millions of gallons of wastewater filled with toxic chemicals and hundreds of tons of fracking debris.

 "Right now, companies can get rid of their toxic mess in any number of dangerous ways - from spraying it on icy roads, to sending it to landfills with our everyday household trash, to injecting it underground where it can endanger drinking water and trigger earthquakes. EPA must step in and protect our communities and drinking water from the carcinogens, radioactive material and other dangerous substances that go hand-in-hand with oil and gas waste," says Amy Mall, senior policy analyst at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fplanetsave.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2Ffracking-pads-in-Wyoming_ecoflight.jpg&hash=a0434fe2ac89118ec930487f287ad01be4848f73)
Fracking Pads Wyoming 

The lawsuit asks the US District Court, District of Columbia, to:

•set strict deadlines for EPA to update waste disposal rules.

•urge EPA to ban the practice of spreading fracking wastewater onto roads or fields, which allows toxic pollutants to run off and contaminate streams.

•EPA should require landfills and ponds that receive drilling and fracking waste to be built with adequate liners and structural integrity to prevent spills and leaks into groundwater and streams.


Under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, EPA is required to review and update federal regulations on oil and gas waste every three years, but these are 25 years overdue. 

Meanwhile ...

Unregulated wastewater disposal has resulted in Ohio and Oklahoma becoming earthquake zones, with the latter experiencing several earthquakes every day now.

"A major reason for the industry's use of injection wells to dispose of toxic fracking waste is the low disposal cost," says Teresa Mills, at the Center for Health, Environment and Justice.

Water - filled with toxic chemicals is dumped or spilled into countless streams in many states. Last year, in North Dakota, for example, 3 million gallons spewed from a leaking pipe into a tributary of the Missouri River.

Drill cuttings that contain high levels of radiation make it into landfills that are not constructed to handle hazardous waste, across the Marcellus region, for example. It can leach into the groundwater.

 
Texas Floods, North Dakota Spills

During the recent floods in Texas, oil wells and fracking sites were inundated, flushing oil and toxic chemicals into rivers. Photos show sheens and plumes spreading from tipped tanks and flooded production sites, reports the Statesman.

"That's a potential disaster. Cattle died within an hour of drinking the water and there are potential carcinogens that can lead to leukemia, brain cancer and other endocrine disruptors, Dr. Walter Tsou, past president of the American Public Health Association, told El Paso Times. 

In North Dakota, even after cleaning up spills, the legacy of radioactivity in the soil remains, where it could last for thousands of years, reports InsideClimate News. More than 4,000 spills have occurred in North Dakota since 2001, prompting the state to finally craft more stringent rules for building and monitoring wastewater pipelines.

Reader Comments (1)

Quote

Author: Insider
  Date Posted: 05/14/16 11:35 PM
 
Keep digging, drilling waste is being applied to fields that grow our food. Research arsenic in rice, then research super accumulators. Look at Oklahoma OCC rules look at Colorado COGCC rules. Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Utah, and Wyoming allow drilling waste on crop land.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26624
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 18, 2016, 09:08:36 pm
Top news stories from Petro Global News:


MTBE’s Long Shadow: Supreme Court rejects Exxon (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F165fs373950.gif&hash=ad797fcc08a061d3ae50ee49ccd9f3d517fb7496) appeal of $236 million pollution judgment
Published on May 17, 2016 12:28 pm
http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/05/court-rejects-exxon-appeal-236-million-pollution-judgement/


SandRidge Energy (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frs165.pbsrc.com%2Falbums%2Fu55%2FBJ_BOBBI_JO9%2FSummer%2520and%2520Spring%2520activties%2Fsterb038.gif%7Ec100&hash=4bfe69c61e0459e68422b031f8e8f2eaf6b5a7bd)  files for bankruptcy
Published on May 17, 2016 11:38 am
http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/05/sandridge-energy-files-bankruptcy/

New wave of wildfire evacuations hit Alberta oil sands camps

Published on May 17, 2016 10:42 am
http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/05/alberta-wildfire-prompts-oil-sands-camps-evacuations/

Report: Driller Ensco (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frs165.pbsrc.com%2Falbums%2Fu55%2FBJ_BOBBI_JO9%2FSummer%2520and%2520Spring%2520activties%2Fsterb038.gif%7Ec100&hash=4bfe69c61e0459e68422b031f8e8f2eaf6b5a7bd) slashing 350 Houston jobs, cold stacking rigs
Published on May 17, 2016 09:41 am
http://petroglobalnews.com/2016/05/ensco-cutting-350-houston-jobs/
 
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbiblepic.com%2F53%2F17761.jpg&hash=ccb3ef94ab234d3b75832e2d956048a379f03eea)
(e.g. The Fossil fuel Industry)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 21, 2016, 09:42:46 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1593.gif&hash=628238f2fc26695937f6e97b91b050976065743b)A Third of North American Birds Face Extinction: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

A new report says 37% of all 1,154 migratory bird species on the North American continent are at risk of extinction, primarily due to sea-level rise, coastal development, human activity and oil spills. The report, by the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, noted that birds living in ocean environments face the most risk due to overfishing, pollution and climate change, as do birds living in tropical and subtropics forests. (Reuters $, ThinkProgress, Christian Science Monitor)

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/19/3779611/state-of-north-america-birds-report/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 25, 2016, 02:59:21 pm
Fracked Gas Isn’t Green or Clean

Wenonah Hauter | May 25, 2016 12:17 pm

When Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo signed on to the Governors’ Accord for a New Energy Future in February, she touted the state’s investment in renewable energy and green jobs. And, she made clear this was just a start: “More work remains and this accord acknowledges the challenges we face and our commitment to addressing them.”

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F05%2Fspectra_750_2.jpg&hash=2cfdfede3aced2e05658624ded8fdf00cd0273e0)

Indeed, more work remains for the governor to provide climate leadership for Rhode Island and the nation. At the very top of the list should be rescinding her support for a controversial fracked gas project in the town of Burrillville.

The community has been fighting the euphemistically-named Invenergy “Clear River” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220216203149.gif&hash=bd184b6edccce4045e246847a0c84e89bd5a18b6) power plant facility and now national advocacy groups have joined the call. We’ve sent a letter to the governor telling her that not only would the proposed plan exacerbate the negative health impacts these gas projects have already had on local residents, it would also release massive amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas and lock us into several more decades of fossil fuel infrastructure.

Welcoming the Clean River Energy Center would be a dirty deal for the governor, Burrillville residents and the planet. Methane leaks from every stage of the natural gas system—from well sites to processing plants and compressor stations to beneath city streets. When it comes to the relative impacts on our climate, methane leaks make natural gas about as bad as coal when used for generating electricity. And natural gas is about as bad as oil when used to fuel cars, trucks, industrial boilers and residential furnaces. More gas infrastructure means decades of more fracking and that will only fuel the ongoing climate crisis.

Supporting this infrastructure is a step in the wrong direction on climate leadership.

The local impacts are terrible as well. Burrillville is already inundated with the toxins and noise that come from gas infrastructure. The town is home to two interstate gas pipelines, two compressor stations and another natural gas-fired power plant. The residents of Burrillville have not consented to Invenergy’s proposed fracked-gas plant, nor have the Nipmuc people, whose traditional territory would be site of the proposed plant.

Compressor stations discharge air and climate pollutants.
Each year, compressor stations emit between 12 and 50 tons of volatile organic compounds, 51 to 99 tons of nitrogen oxides, 1.5 to 6.1 tons of particulate matter and up to 1.9 tons of sulfur dioxides—all associated with negative health impacts.

The intense local opposition to (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2mo5pow.gif&hash=995f9f6c08dcd54f18425f2bfbe138901cf052b1) fossil fuel extraction and pollution  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fswear1.gif&hash=87347674f9297191f3f8a447208170617da4caf6) has been led by The FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas) Collective and BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion).   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)
Working with other groups across Rhode Island, they have appealed to elected officials to stop the Clear River power plant from going forward. It’s time for Gov. Raimondo to rise up and show bold climate leadership. It’s time to pull the plug on the project.

Unfortunately, for now, Gov. Raimondo    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0) seems to want to have it both ways. She is cheering on the state’s commitment to renewable energy while expressing support for a massive new dirty gas power plant.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)

But public attitudes on fracking and climate change are rapidly shifting as the science has made clear we must act quickly to avoid the most catastrophic effects of global warming. A majority of Americans now oppose fracking and an even greater percentage of Democrats are demanding bold action on climate.

And some elected officials, like Gov. Cuomo, who banned fracking in New York and has rejected several fracked gas infrastructure projects, are responding to the science. Gov. Raimondo has a decision to make: she can show bold climate leadership by rejecting this gas power plant or she can approve the Invenergy project, further locking Rhode Island into fossil fuel dependence.

On July 24, thousands from around the region will converge in Philadelphia on the eve of the Democratic National Convention to call on elected officials to ban fracking and related infrastructure and quickly and justly transition to a 100 percent renewable energy future.

Gov. Raimondo’s decision will not only determine the fate of the project. It will also determine whether she is a leader in this revolution or a follower on the same old dirty path.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/25/fracked-gas-isnt-green-clean/ (http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/25/fracked-gas-isnt-green-clean/)

Agelbert COMMENT: Fracking is an obscenity. The flaring of nearly one third by volume of the gases that come up a fracked well ALONE makes them ruinously damaging to our biosphere.

The only truly NATURAL gas is methane from Methane Harvesters using animal feces, NOT methane produced from Fracking.

CH4, otherwise known as methane, can be obtained from animal feces Methane Harvesters without ANY flaring or ANY aquifer polluting side effects that are sine qua non to Fracking.

Fracked CH4 gas is NOT "natural" gas. Methane harvester CH4 IS RENEWABLE ENERGY, POLLUTION FREE, NATURAL GAS. The ERoEI of CH4 from Methane Harvesters is FAR MORE than that of CH4 from Fracking.

When the pollution side effects of Fracked CH4 are figured in, the EroEI (Energy Return on Energy Invested) is negative. Fracked gas is NOT cost effective, no matter what the fossil fuel industry bought and paid for "energy experts" (e.g. Charles Hall) disingenuously claim with their cherry picked energy inputs and returns.

It is high time the subsidy swag for these fossil fuel industry polluting welfare queens was ended so they would, as they should have done decades ago, GO BANKRUPT.


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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 25, 2016, 06:56:46 pm
Fracked Gas Isn’t Green or Clean (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/pollution/msg5150/#msg5150)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgraysondemocrats.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F05%2Fend-oil.jpg&hash=a5cf685d87ceb0f3f17eab91155ebb790707cf10)

Another splendid article.

If we did this one thing ^^^ we would go far towards solving out own problems. That, and make the bastards pay the costs of their own mitigation and cleanup.      (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

Yep. And that is why the fossil fuelers NEVER want to talk abut it and the media presstitutes like the Wall Street Journal consistently ignore the COST to we-the-people of those "subsidies".  :evil4:

Somehow, those costs that we-the-people must bear (in ADDITION to the "externalized" pollution costs that we must ALSO bear the FULL BRUNT OF (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)), never made it into Charles Hall's ERoEI calculations (or those that Palloy routinely trots out either  ;)). It would be rather difficult to claim that fossil fuels are "cost effective" with a straight face if the ERoEI math was not gamed by our loyal servants, the fossil fuel industry moles in government.     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdrphilyerboots.files.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F05%2Fcherry-picking.jpg&hash=c196a0ec409afacfa8f087d5a4556de272d44c6b)


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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 27, 2016, 05:15:47 pm
I know of a county in Wisconsin that is getting most of its natural gas from cow manure.  It is interesting to note that these successes never make the news and one must sleuth or blindly trip over them to find these success stories.  It is almost like anything that would upset the dominance of the fossil fuel extraction industries is suppressed by mainstream media.

Of course we have a free press committed to the the health of the nation and the welfare of its people so that can't happen.  For that to happen TPTB would have to actually embrace evil as a guiding creed and have total distain for their reader and viewerships.  Fortunately that is too far fetched and unpatriotic to actually be the case so there must be another explanation. 

Anyone care to tell me what that is?

The long answer in regard to methane, otherwise known as CH4 is nuanced. The CH4 obtained, after about one third by volume FLARING pollution AND the CH4 obtained from refined crude oil is HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED (see government babied welfare queen).

The CH4 obtained from methane harvesters is MOSTLY not subsidized except through general farming tax breaks and the like. CH4 from animal feces is RENEWABLE ENERGY TRULY NATURAL gas, unlike the CH4 from fossil fuels. This makes the truly NATURAL gas a THREAT to the fossil fuel industry CH4 because the fossil fuel product is NOT cost effective and the animal feces product IS cost effective.

This is a brief summary of how WE-THE-PEOPLE pad Fracking bottom line. Since the 1980's our fossil fuel gooberment has been paving the welfare queen way for the Frackers.

Subsidies are forms of financial assistance paid by federal taxpayers to an industry or business. Fracking subsidies include tax breaks, government funding into research, lost government revenue such as discounted drilling fees, and federally-subsidized external costs, such as health care expenses and environmental clean-up due to negative and harmful effects.

Congress passed a large tax break in 1980 specifically to encourage unconventional natural gas drilling, with the federal tax credit for drillers amounting to $10 billion between 1980 and 2002, according to the AP. The US Department of Energy also invested about $137 million in gas research over three decades.[1]

As documented in The Costs of Fracking report, fracking creates millions of dollars of health costs related to everything from air pollution to ruined roads to contaminated property. 

“Fracking’s environmental damage is bad enough, but it turns out that this dirty drilling imposes heavy dollar and cents costs as well,” said John Rumpler, senior attorney for Environment America Research & Policy Center and a co-author of the report. “And in many cases, the public will be left holding the bag for those costs.”

The report’s documented examples of fracking costs include the following:

• Drinking water contamination:  In Dimock, Pennsylvania, permanently replacing residents’ contaminated drinking water with a new source was estimated at more than $11 million.

• Health costs from air pollution:  in Arkansas’ Fayetteville Shale region, air pollution from fracking operations impose health costs estimated at $9.8 million in one year. In Texas’ Barnett Shale region, those costs reach $270,000 per day during the summer smog season.

• Roads to ruin:  with fracking operations requiring thousands of trips by trucks and heavy machinery, a Texas task force approved $40 million in funding for road repairs in the Barnett Shale region.

Other fracking costs documented in the report range from nearby homeowners losing property value to farmers losing livestock from fracking contamination.

Moreover, the record of prior booms indicates that the public will all too often be stuck with the bill for such fracking costs. For example, Pennsylvania is now stuck with an estimated $5 billion cost for cleaning up mining pollution from decades gone ago. Similarly, the current gas drilling rush is plagued with inadequate financial assurance and the difficulty of proving liability, especially for impacts that are long-term.

“We have seen the tragedy of polluting booms before,” observed Rumpler. “In all likelihood, individual property owners and the public at large will be left holding the bag for the legacy of fracking.”
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 27, 2016, 06:31:38 pm
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Shell Pipeline Leaks 20,000 Gallons of Oil in California’s Central Valley

Ryan Schleeter, Greenpeace | May 27, 2016 10:55 am

For the second time in two weeks, Shell has spilled thousands of gallons of oil, this time in California’s Central Valley.

Less than two weeks after dumping nearly 90,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Shell Oil is at it again. The company’s San Pablo Bay Pipeline, which transports crude oil from California’s Central Valley to the San Francisco Bay Area, leaked an estimated 21,000 gallons into the soil near in San Joaquin County this week.

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In the foreground, hazardous materials responders work to clean up oil from Shell’s spill near Tracy, California. In the background, containers of the oil-contaminated soil sit among wind turbines. Photo credit: Noah Berger / Greenpeace

Responders are on the scene to clear oil that’s reached the surface, which county officials say covered roughly 10,000 square feet of land. As of today, Shell representatives claim the pipeline has been repaired, but have not resumed operations.

Local government officials and Shell responders are investigating the cause of the leak and currently report that no oil has entered drinking water sources or populated areas.

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Responders work to repair sections of the broken pipeline. Photo credit: Noah Berger / Greenpeace

While two large oil spills in two weeks may seem like a pretty epic failure—particularly for a company that just said “no release [of oil] is acceptable“—in reality this is what business as usual looks like for an industry built on polluting our environment and driving climate disaster.

In fact, this same pipeline sprung a leak just eight months ago in almost the same location, spilling roughly the same amount of oil into the ground.

Adding irony to injury, the spill occurred on the site of one the state’s largest wind energy developments, the Altamont Pass Wind Farm. Wind energy, it should be clarified, does not release toxic chemicals into the soil or contribute to runaway climate change. Perhaps Shell responders on the scene will take note.

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Containers of oil-contaminated soil sit among wind turbines at the Altamont Pass Wind Farm near the site of the spill. Photo credit: Noah Berger / Greenpeace

Interestingly, Shell officials decided to wait three days before releasing a statement to the public about the spill—after shareholders convened at the company’s Annual General Meeting in The Hague, Netherlands. The spill was first detected early Friday morning, but not publicly reported until Monday evening Pacific time.

Environmental watchdog groups are still monitoring the impacts of Shell’s spill in the Gulf, some pointing to the oil industry’s history of under-reporting the extent and impact of spills as reason to stay vigilant.

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Hazardous materials responders were on the scene of an oil pipeline rupture along the Alameda County-San Joaquin County border near Tracy, California cleaning up a spill reported to be as much as 21,000 gallons. Photo credit: Noah Berger / Greenpeace

Quote
What’s increasingly clear is that companies like Shell aren’t going to stop polluting in pursuit of fossil fuels we can’t afford to burn on their own—we’re going to have to rise up to stop them.

History shows us that the more fossil fuel infrastructure we have (and we have a lot in this country) the more spills like this we’ll see. So let’s not build more—business as usual for the fossil fuel industry cannot continue.

Help put an end to leaks, spills and fossil fuel pollution while fighting for the climate at the same time. Tell President Obama to end all new offshore drilling today.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/27/shell-pipeline-oil-leak/
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STOP subsidising profit profit over planet POLLUTION!
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 30, 2016, 07:34:28 pm
(https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/1bakken.jpg)

Emails Confirm Hillary Clinton Used Her State Department Role to Press Countries to Embrace Fracking

Posted on May 28, 2016

A campaign commercial that aired in upstate New York in April touted Hillary Clinton’s work as secretary of state forcing “some of the world’s worst polluters” to make “real change.” Then she promised to “stand firm with New Yorkers opposing fracking, giving communities the right to say ‘no.’ ”   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)

Lee Fang and Steve Horn reported at The Intercept on Monday:

The television spot, which was not announced and does not appear on the official campaign YouTube page with most of Clinton’s other ads, implied a history of opposition to fracking, here and abroad. But emails obtained by The Intercept from the Department of State reveal new details of behind-the-scenes efforts by Clinton and her close aides to export American-style hydraulic fracturing — the horizontal drilling technique best known as fracking — to countries all over the world.

Far from challenging fossil fuel companies, the emails obtained by The Intercept show that State Department officials worked closely with private sector oil and gas companies (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605), pressed other agencies within the Obama administration to commit federal government resources including technical assistance for locating shale reserves, and distributed agreements with partner nations pledging to help secure investments for new fracking projects. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

Brought to you by the patriotic profit over planet efforts of the fossil fuel government   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) and their loyal servant, Hillary Clinton.
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The documents also reveal the department’s role in bringing foreign dignitaries to a fracking site in Pennsylvania, and its plans to make Poland a “laboratory for testing whether US success in developing shale gas can be repeated in a different country,” particularly in Europe, where local governments had expressed opposition and in some cases even banned fracking.

The campaign included plans to spread the drilling technique to China, South Africa, Romania, Morocco, Bulgaria, Chile, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Indonesia, and Ukraine.

In 2014, Mother Jones reporter Mariah Blake used diplomatic cables disclosed by WikiLeaks and other records to uncover how Clinton “sold fracking to the world.” The emails obtained by The Intercept through a separate Freedom of Information Act request provide a new layer of detail.

Continue reading. (https://theintercept.com/2016/05/23/hillary-clinton-fracking/)

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 04, 2016, 06:49:34 pm
Oil train derails, erupts in flames in Oregon
By Katie Herzog on Jun 3, 2016

(https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/oiltrainoregon.jpg?w=1455&h=818&crop=1)

Another day, another exploding oil train.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

On Friday, a flimsy metal can carrying crude oil derailed east of Portland in Mosier, Oreg., forcing schools to evacuate and an interstate highway to close. The accident involved 11 train cars, according to KIRO 7 News, and several burst into flames.

Although there were no initial reports of oil leaking into the Columbia River, the Environmental Protection Agency reported on Saturday a light oil sheen.

Every accident reinvigorates fears about bomb trains that regularly route through the Pacific Northwest. In May, Oregon activists occupied railroad tracks to protest the extraction and transportation of crude oil through the region.

Three years ago, an oil-train explosion in Lac-Mégantic Quebec killed 47 people.

http://grist.org/climate-energy/oil-train-derails-erupts-in-flames-in-oregon/ (http://grist.org/climate-energy/oil-train-derails-erupts-in-flames-in-oregon/)


U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse October 29, 2014

Quote

“By making carbon pollution free, we subsidize fossil fuel companies to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars annually,” he continued. “By making carbon pollution free, we fix the game, favoring polluters over newer and cleaner technologies that harvest the wind, sun and waves. Corporate polluters, not bearing the costs of their products, are in effect cheating their competitors.”

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 11, 2016, 08:49:19 pm
Whistleblower Says EPA Officials Covered Up Toxic Fracking Methane Emissions for Years

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Nika Knight, Common Dreams | June 10, 2016 10:31

Why has the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to take adequate action against disastrous, climate-warming methane emissions from the fracking industry?

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Fracked gas flaring at a fracking well near the Pawnee National Grassland in northeastern Colorado. Photo credit: WildEarth Guardians / Flickr

An environmental watchdog alleges that the answer may be a years-long, systematic cover-up of the true data surrounding these toxic emissions. That cover-up, the group says, was at the hands of at least one EPA researcher who accepted payments from the oil and gas industry.

In an incendiary federal complaint filed on Wednesday with the EPA’s Inspector General, the 28-year-old North Carolina-based group NC WARN wrote that “there has been a persistent and deliberate cover-up that has prevented the agency from requiring the natural gas industry to make widespread, urgently needed and achievable reductions in methane venting and leakage across the nation’s expanding natural gas infrastructure.”

“Studies relied upon by EPA to develop policy and regulations were scientifically invalid,” the organization charged.

Specifically, wrote NC WARN in a press statement, “Dr. David Allen (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0), then-head of EPA’s Science Advisory Board, has led an ongoing, three-year effort to cover up underreporting of the primary device, the Bacharach Hi-Flow Sampler and a second device used to measure gas releases from equipment across the natural gas industry. Allen is also on the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin, where he has been funded by the oil and gas industries for years.”

“The EPA’s failure to order feasible reductions of methane leaks and venting has robbed humanity of crucial years to slow the climate crisis,” said Jim Warren, director of NC WARN. “The cover-up by Allen’s team has allowed the industry to dig in for years of delay in cutting emissions—at the worst possible time.”

The cover-up was discovered by NC WARN, the group wrote in its complaint, when it became aware that the very inventor of the Bacharach Hi-Flow Sampler, an engineer named Touché Howard, had been attempting to blow the whistle for years on the crucial instrument’s malfunctioning. The critical failure causes the instrument to under-report methane emissions “up to 100-fold,” the organization wrote.

Studies have shown the EPA underestimating methane leaks from fracked gas production for years and Howard’s own research found that the agency has been “hugely underestimating” methane emissions specifically as a result of the faulty instrument, as Common Dreams reported.

“In the extreme, that kind of failure could lead to catastrophic explosions,” Howard told the Los Angeles Times.

The complaint describes Howard’s repeated attempts to warn the EPA and Allen about the instrument and the silence he received in response.

Quote
“It appears that the goal of the [University of Texas] team was not to critically examine the problems but to convince [Environmental Defense Fund, who co-authored the study] and its production committee members that no problems existed, (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)” NC WARN added.

“We believe Mr. Howard was specifically prevented from providing input because the [University of Texas] team knew that he would be able to show that their counterarguments were faulty and the resulting studies scientifically invalid,” the group concluded.

Howard’s concerns and the specific mechanical problems of the measurement instrument he has repeatedly pointed out have to this date never been addressed, “resulting in the failure of the EPA to accurately report methane emissions for more than two years, much less require reductions,” the complaint noted. “Meanwhile, the faulty data and measuring equipment are still being used extensively throughout the natural gas industry worldwide.”

Indeed, a graphic included in the complaint demonstrates that the malfunctioning Bacharach Hi-Flow Sampler is relied upon to measure methane emissions at nearly every point in the fracked gas production process:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F06%2Fgas_production_750.jpg&hash=f7dd56610c6bcfe9ad5e4c2d09adc82d9bfbc18d)
Natural gas production sectors in which the Bacharach Hi-Flow Sampler (BHFS) is used. Diagram source: EPA, via NC WARN

It’s no mystery why Allen may have been so determined to fudge the data on toxic fracked gas emissions, NC WARN argued: “His disclosure statements […] show his research and consulting have long been funded by the oil and gas industry.”

NC WARN requested that the EPA Inspector General, the agency’s internal watchdog, investigate its allegations of fraud and abuse by Allen and other EPA officials; retract Allen’s studies and examine all EPA standards and policies that relied on those studies; conduct a new, scientifically valid study to “accurately quantify methane” emissions from the fracked gas extraction and production process; as well as investigate the EPA’s reliance on researchers with industry bias and conflicts of interest.

Moreover, the group recommended that the EPA “redress the damage that has been done” by doing the following:

1. EPA should institute a zero emission goal for methane;

2. EPA should initiate a full regimen for oversight, testing and remediation of methane emissions in the natural gas industry; and

3. EPA should take into account the global warming potential of methane emissions over a 20-year (not 100-year) timeframe.

Warren added that the only permanent solution to the problem of methane leaks is a total ban on fracking: “Fracking for gas and oil must also be stopped for a host of reasons. We’re reaching out to communities, workers, advocates and elected officials to join the call for an investigation into EPA’s scientific fraud.”

“The people of this nation,” Warren went on, “must demand that regulators and politicians reject the pervasive pressure of corporate money, stop coddling the polluters—and do their jobs on behalf of the public.”

http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/10/epa-fracking-methane-emissions/

The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleteing CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 13, 2016, 07:48:00 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120616193700.png&hash=58cbcb664babb47b3064a341fc7227c773722390)

For those who can still add and subtract, the following FACTS about fossil fuel ERoEI thermodynamic efficiency (That is, the Fossil fuel ERoEI math, that Gail Tverberg and at least 54% of the Renewable Energy survey participants swear by, including Palloy, DELIBERATELY IGNORES THE FACT that, in the real world of the science of thermodynamics, Energy RETURN MINUS WASTE HEAT EQUALS work (as defined by physics) )  reveal the error of assuming fossil fuels have a higher ERoEI than Renewable Energy technologies.

The fossil fuel industry originated disingenuous trick is to FIRST hammer the "high energy density" (excluding waste heat, of course) Hess Law based thermodynamics into us while avoiding discussions of waste heat like the plague. When they have established the FALSE MEME that fossil fuels have a "higher energy density" than Renewable Energy technologies, they cleverly create a false equivalence between the cherry picked "higher" fossil fuels ERoEI and "higher" MONETARY Profits.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

Massive Fossil Fuel Industry Welfare Queen Subsides, COSTS to we-the-people, which are TOTALLY UNRELATED to ERoEI thermodynamics, ALWAYS make it to the "higher" MONETARY profits happy talk.  ;)

However, the SCC (social Cost of Carbon), like waste heat thermodynamics, never gets included in the fossil fuel ERoEI happy talk OR the false equivalence "higher" MONETARY Profits fossil fuel happy talk, even though ALL MONETARY INVESTMENT DECISIONS, on which energy sources to use, are based on ALL COSTS.

HELLO? Is anybody there?

If we are going to talk about how much MONEY to invest in an energy source, based on how much MONEY it will cost to DO THAT, and how much MONEY we can get in a RETURN on our IVESTMENT, it is customary (if you aren't Gail Tverberg doing the (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdrphilyerboots.files.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F05%2Fcherry-picking.jpg&hash=c196a0ec409afacfa8f087d5a4556de272d44c6b) bidding of the fossil fuel industry) to SUBTRACT all the COSTS of said energy source.
 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010216161405.jpeg&hash=30019c75d68ced7a1be7edcb92daabd1510873a2)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 18, 2016, 11:08:54 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.operaidelcuore.it%2Fromero%2Fimg%2Fsurvival.jpg&hash=6030a5cc84689a60ff3710a6a36ff98140acaf5c)

Amazon tribe blockade railroad in protest against Brazilian mining giant

17 June 2016
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.survivalinternational.org%2Fpictures%2F11873%2Fawa-guaja-na-ferrovia-1_screen.jpg%3Futm_source%3DENGLISH%253A%2Bemail%2Bupdates%26amp%3Butm_campaign%3Db2859850b2-News_as_it_happens%26amp%3Butm_medium%3Demail%26amp%3Butm_term%3D0_241e47c256-b2859850b2-87773793&hash=3543eef66761e8091102bfc2beea74a2a762eaeb)

This is the first time the Awá have initiated a protest of this kind on their own. © Survival

Members of Brazil’s Awá tribe have blockaded a railroad owned by Vale mining company in the eastern Amazon.

The company has moved to expand the railroad, but the Awá say the expansion will increase the number and size of trains which transport iron ore from the Carajás mine to the port of São Luis – and that this will make it harder for them to hunt for food.

Carajás is the world’s largest open pit iron ore mine. To transport the iron ore, trains that are over 3 kilometers in length regularly hurtle through close to Awá territory.

The tribe are calling for a meeting with the company and FUNAI, the Brazilian government’s indigenous affairs department, so that their wishes can be heard and their rights respected.

On Saturday a large group of Awá families occupied a section of the railroad which runs alongside their land.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.survivalinternational.org%2Fpictures%2F11874%2Fscreen-shot-2016-06-16-at-16-02-57_screen.png%3Futm_source%3DENGLISH%253A%2Bemail%2Bupdates%26amp%3Butm_campaign%3Db2859850b2-News_as_it_happens%26amp%3Butm_medium%3Demail%26amp%3Butm_term%3D0_241e47c256-b2859850b2-87773793&hash=081dd70cba784b33f0feb9cea37b46a98815d588)
At over 300 carriages in length, the Carajás train is among the longest in the world, and seriously disrupts the animals the Awá depend on for food © Screenshot

Following a meeting with Vale representatives yesterday, the Awá agreed to suspend the blockade on condition that the company upholds its agreement to mitigate the impacts on the Indians’ forest.

This is the first time that the Awá have blockaded the railroad on their own initiative and reflects their determination to hold Vale to account.

In April 2014 Survival’s international campaign succeeded in pushing the Brazilian government to evict illegal loggers and settlers who had destroyed over 30% of their central territory.

Quote
However, the Awá are still one of the most vulnerable peoples on the planet. Around 100 remain uncontacted and are very vulnerable to diseases brought in by outsiders, to which they have no resistance.

Last year fires, possibly started by loggers, ravaged one Awá territory, home to the largest group of uncontacted members of the tribe.

http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/11328
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 20, 2016, 09:17:19 pm
Agelbert NOTE: EXPECT the fossil fuel industry to try to pass this on to we-the-people, as they usually do.

Business  |  Sun Jun 19, 2016 9:37am EDT


Egypt's Suez Canal charging VLCCs coming from the Arabian Gulf $155,000

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marinelink.com%2Fimages%2Fmaritime%2FSuezTanker-57553.jpg&hash=6be80eec3cf5319176441f48b73c89cf242dd718)
Tanker in Suez Canal

Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
 
Egypt's Suez Canal Authority has set new toll rates for oil tankers as part of a six-month experiment that came into effect on Thursday, it said on its website.

Very large crude carriers (VLCCs) transiting the canal from the Arabian Gulf after discharging at the SUMED oil pipeline will be charged $155,000 if they are carrying more than 250,000 in deadweight tonnage.

VLCCs are to pay $230,000 on their return ballast trip.

 
The canal is one of Egypt's main sources of foreign currency. Egypt has been struggling to revive its economy since a 2011 uprising scared away tourists and foreign investors, other main sources of hard currency.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated an $8 billion expansion of the canal last year that aims to double daily traffic and increase annual revenue to more than $13 billion by 2023.

http://www.marketbeat.com/stories.aspx?story=http%3a%2f%2ffeeds.reuters.com%2f%7er%2freuters%2fbusinessNews%2f%7e3%2fQcaMTubRNgA%2fus-egypt-shipping-idUSKCN0Z50JO (http://www.marketbeat.com/stories.aspx?story=http%3a%2f%2ffeeds.reuters.com%2f%7er%2freuters%2fbusinessNews%2f%7e3%2fQcaMTubRNgA%2fus-egypt-shipping-idUSKCN0Z50JO)

Have you ever WONDERED what the ballast is in the return trip? It's sea water.

Do you KNOW what they DO with that "ballast' when they get ready to load crude? THAT's RIGHT, they POLLUTE THE OCEAN WITH IT. The "regulations", ESPECIALLY in the Arabian Gulf, designed to FILTER the ballast as it is off loaded are a JOKE.

This is unnecessary as well as extremely harmful to marine life. If you would like to know more about these floating polluters, please read the following, still pertinent, post from 2013.

The truth about OCEAN GOING OIL TANKERS (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuel-propaganda-modus-operandi/msg542/#msg542")

OCEAN GOING OIL TANKERS
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.guim.co.uk%2Fsys-images%2FTravel%2FPix%2Fpictures%2F2010%2F6%2F8%2F1276015760960%2FThe-Prestige-oil-tanker-d-006.jpg&hash=e7a93745d895f18aeb7ccac375bdf315c9b98b4b)
One EACH, EXTERNALIZED POLLUTION cost  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)

In 2005, 2.42 billion metric tons of oil were shipped by tanker. In 2006, 76.7% of this was crude oil, and the rest consisted of refined petroleum products. This amounted to 34.1% of all seaborne trade for the year. Combining the amount carried with the distance it was carried, oil tankers moved 11,705 billion metric-ton-miles of oil in 2005.

By comparison, in 1970 1.44 billion metric tons of oil were shipped by tanker. This amounted to 34.1% of all seaborne trade for that year. In terms of amount carried and distance carried, oil tankers moved 6,487 billion metric-ton-miles of oil in 1970.

The main loading ports in 2005 were located in Western Asia, Western Africa, North Africa, and the Caribbean, with 196.3, 196.3, 130.2 and 246.6 million metric tons of cargo loaded in these regions.

The main discharge ports were located in North America, Europe, and Japan with 537.7, 438.4, and 215.0 million metric tons of cargo discharged in these regions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_tanker]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_tanker

No big deal in cost or infrastructure, the fossil fuelers claim (never mind the yearly ocean pollution from spills AND normal operation...). Looky here, how CHEAP it is to move crude around! And please be charitable with their use of the word "efficiency" as if either pipelines or tankers WERE ENERGY GENERATING ENGINES! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe)


Second only to pipelines in terms of efficiency,  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b) the average cost of oil transport by tanker amounts to only two or three United States cents per 1 US gallon (3.8 L).  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_tanker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_tanker)

That COST figure above is a GIANT, BOLD FACED LIE! Only through extremely creative accounting (accelerated depreciation, ignoring energy used to mine, refine and manufacture the tankers and pipes themselves and, OF COURSE, "cooperation" from finance capital for low interest, long term financing and oil loving national NON-regulations) can they come up with that "TWO to THREE cents per US gallon FICTION.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)


The world's largest supertanker was built in 1979 at the Oppama shipyard by Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. as the Seawise Giant. This ship was built with a capacity of 564,763 DWT, a length overall of 458.45 metres (1,504.1 ft) and a draft of 24.611 metres (80.74 ft). She had 46 tanks, 31,541 square metres (339,500 sq ft) of deck, and at her full load draft, could not navigate the English Channel.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F9%2F9e%2FComparison_knock_nevis_with_other_large_buildings.png&hash=aedc58d74b3489adc3874b5e7590adb14f13cf3d)

The above is the 1979 GIANT polluting pig compared with SKYSCRAPERS.  Please NOTE the capacity of 564,763 DWT.

The latest ones aren't quite that big but they are still REALLY BIG PIGS!


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F8%2F82%2FHellespont_Alhambra-223713_v2.jpg&hash=62df98a57537100c935d9c6389d68f035b45dd4d)
Hellespont Alhambra (now TI Asia), a ULCC TI class supertanker, which are the largest ocean-going oil tankers in the world

As of 2011, the world's two largest working supertankers are the TI class supertankers TI Europe and TI Oceania. These ships were built in 2002 and 2003 as the Hellespont Alhambra and Hellespont Tara for the Greek

Each of the sister ships has a capacity of over 441,500 DWT, a length overall of 380.0 metres (1,246.7 ft) and a cargo capacity of 3,166,353 barrels (503,409,900 l). They were the first ULCCs to be double-hulled.  ;) (agelbert note: They were SCHEDULED TO BE BUILT DOUBLE HULLED IN THE 1980S BUT Reagan STOPPED THAT SO THE POOR BABIES   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F165fs373950.gif&hash=ad797fcc08a061d3ae50ee49ccd9f3d517fb7496) WOULDN'T SUFFER PROFIT REDUCTION! Thank you, REAGAN, for EXXON VALDEZ!)To differentiate them from smaller ULCCs, these ships are sometimes given the V-Plus size designation.

OIL TANKER DWT:
1970-1980    8.0 million DWT
1980-1990    8.7 million DWT
1990-2000  20.8 million DWT
In 2005, 475 new oil tankers were built, accounting for 30.7 million DWT.

The average size for these new tankers was 64,632 DWT. Nineteen of these were VLCC size, 19 were suezmax, 51 were aframax, and the rest were smaller designs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_tanker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_tanker)


This looks like an industry that IS EXPANDING, not contracting.
This looks like an industry that will do everything it can to PREVENT a transition Renewable Energy  (30.7 million DWT  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2rzukw3.gif&hash=f0487b8f0d488ab1126ce5e031b11ea3d74b1cc2)).



Renewable Energy really IS cheap. That is why the fossil fuelers want to kill it. As MKing would say, it's not personal; it's just "business".

Unavoidable conclusions about oil tankers from people with a few neurons to rub together that aren't  shills for the fossil fuel industry.   8)

1) The oceans of the world would be much less polluted without them. If you don't agree, just google annual oil tanker spills and accidents for the last 50 years. This cost is IGNORED by the MKings of this world when they study cost/supply curves. Then there are the trains, the trucks, gasoline stations, the giant tank facilities all over the world, the refineries, etc. NONE OF THAT cost exists for Renewable Energy! And don't forget that coal is even WORSE!

2) They don't generate ANY energy, use enormous amounts of energy to build, including the metals and machinery mining, refining and manufacturing. YET, not ONE article from a fossil fueler mentions this when wailing and moaning about those "huge" energy costs to build wind turbines and solar panels!

3) They DO NOT last as long as solar panels or wind turbines, which, unlike oil tankers,  can be nearly 100% recycled without pollution or high energy costs.
Quote
In 2005, the average age of oil tankers worldwide was 10 years. Of these, 31.6% were under 4 years old and 14.3% were over 20 years old.


Consequently, no rational accountant could claim that oil tankers are a prudent investment as a "cost effective business expense".  Do you know how tankers are "recycled"? YEP! Using MORE energy and generating MORE pollution and health problems for the poor saps working in scrapping yards. Another COST that we-the-people PAY and big oil IGNORES.  The fossil fuel industry is 100% WASTE BASED![/color][/size]

Now dear readers, do you expect ANY of these conspiracy theory  FACTS will be discussed rationally by the fossil fuelers like MKing? Of course not. They know what they are defending is, in purely logical terms, not defendable.

So, they use ridicule, hyperbole, exaggeration, denial of facts, avoid apples to apples energy use comparisons like the plague and just generally wing it!

1. For anyone doubting the scale of the massive dead weight on the planet that the fossil fuel industry is, just add up all the pipes, tankers, drill rigs, refineries, gasoline stations, port facilities exclusively used for oil, natural gas and coal, trains, trucks, recycling in scrap yards, pollution and health costs,  bought politicians and last but absolutely essential, the goon squad expenses needed to make fossil fuel "profits".

2. NOW, ADD that to the cost of making internal combustion engines and fossil fuel power plants.

3. Last step: COMPARISON WITH RENEWABLE ENERGY
Add NONE OF THE ABOVE to the cost of making wind turbines, solar panels and any other renewable energy technology you can think of.  :o  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F8.gif&hash=c1d98e606d7f558df4040f88e7997b3e11e9448c)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185701.png&hash=615e3c1aa9c374cb1eab5bfc1e9494f2cb05e9f7)
 


GET IT?  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)

I do. MKing does too. That's why he won't go there. The moment he becomes part of the reality based community, he has no argument.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imgion.com%2Fimages%2F01%2FAngry-animated-smiley.jpg&hash=84657bd1a63cad676e3551587daeb4b39411a289) 
 

We need the fossil fuel industry "business model" like a basket full of dead babies. Enjoy the ride.



(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-060714185706.gif&hash=bd19395e80fdeaff0e65411e22dd6ff03ffde1c3)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 20, 2016, 09:41:55 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fearthjustice.org%2Fsites%2Fall%2Fthemes%2Fearthjustice%2Fimages%2Fej_logo.svg&hash=53e8ae8d4d2f3116f97fdd3a4e4694de5fd5d990)

Groups to Feds: Plan for America’s First Commercial Oil Shale Facility Not in Public Interest

Strip mining plan threatens land, water, wildlife, climate


White River north of the Enefit project area. (picture at article link)
Ray Bloxham / Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance


Enefit’s massive strip-mining and refining operations will unleash significant air and climate pollution in an area that’s already suffering from some of the nation’s most unhealthy wintertime smog.

—Ted Zukoski

Staff Attorney, Rocky Mountain Regional Office, Earthjustice

June 15, 2016

Vernal, UT — Fourteen conservation groups submitted formal comments to the Bureau of Land Management’s Vernal Field Office Tuesday urging the Obama administration to deny rights-of-way across federal public lands that would allow an Estonian energy giant to sidestep environmental review and pave the way for the first commercial oil shale project in the United States, north of Utah’s scenic Book Cliffs. The groups also delivered more than 35,000 comments from citizens opposed to the project.
 
Map of oil shale and tar sands deposits. (at article link)
Map by Stephanie Smith / Grand Canyon Trust


The BLM is moving forward to grant utility rights-of-way to Enefit American Oil, a subsidiary of Estonian government-owned Eesti Energia. Enefit seeks to strip-mine 9,000 acres for oil shale near the Green and White rivers, and ultimately expand its operations to process up to 1.2 billion barrels of kerogen oil.

“The BLM is charged with safeguarding the American public interest and our national inheritance—our federal public lands,” said Anne Mariah Tapp, energy program director for the Grand Canyon Trust. “But instead the BLM is preparing to flip the ‘on’ switch for Enefit’s massive oil shale strip mine and jumpstart development of one of the world’s most polluting industries. The interests of an Estonian mining giant should not trump those of the American public.”

The groups argue the BLM (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) would be allowing Enefit to sidestep critical environmental reviews designed to protect public health, land, air, water, and wildlife. The company has yet to reveal a development plan for its mining project, but requests approval for its rights-of-way nonetheless.

“Enefit’s massive strip-mining and refining operations will unleash significant air and climate pollution in an area that’s already suffering from some of the nation’s most unhealthy wintertime smog,” said Ted Zukoski, an attorney with the pro bono law firm Earthjustice. “But Enefit has refused to provide federal agencies or the public with information about the project’s air and climate pollution until after it gets BLM’s okay to start building access for water, power, and roads. That’s backwards. Enefit can’t be allowed to game the system by getting federal approval first , but only owning up to the project’s damage later.”

The groups’ comments assert that the rights-of-way would amount to a federal subsidy.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

“The Interior Department is working against President Obama’s climate goals here,” said Taylor McKinnon, with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Subsidizing the development of one of the world’s dirtiest fossil fuels is the opposite of climate leadership. Doing so in the Colorado River Basin is the opposite of prudent water policy. The administration should abandon this project now.”  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

The BLM lacks critical information it needs to assess whether or not the project is in the public interest, including the long-term air quality and climate impacts of emissions from mining and processing; the quantity and source of water required; water-quality impacts related to the estimated 23 million tons of spent shale waste a year the project would produce; and potential consequences for endangered species.

Amy Mall, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Land and Wildlife Program, said: “It’s unfathomable—and inconsistent with the administration’s climate goals—for BLM to give Enefit access to public lands so it can damage them, threaten surrounding communities, and worsen both air quality and climate change. Enefit has not provided enough data on the potential impacts of its mining project and BLM shouldn’t make a decision based on an incomplete environmental assessment.”

Local groups draw attention to threats to Utah.
Quote
“The utility corridor will facilitate a massive oil shale development that will further compound the damage to Utah's air, water, wildlife, and land,”
said Denni Cawley, executive director of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. “This is not the right direction to go to secure a sustainable future for those who live in that area."

“Shale waste runoff will contaminate Evacuation Creek, the White River, and the Green River, which are all important for the recovery of endangered fish, and for communities downstream,” said John Weisheit, conservation director for Living Rivers.

An Estonian environmental advocate recently stated in an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune that in her country “the oil shale industry has permanently damaged many of our most important natural resources” and warned Utahns against similar harm.

http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2016/groups-to-feds-plan-for-america-s-first-commercial-oil-shale-facility-not-in-public-interest#
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 21, 2016, 08:32:28 pm
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Northwest Tribes Vow to Continue Opposition to Canadian Pipeline

U.S. Tribes join Canadian First Nations in their disappointment over Canada’s regulatory approval of the TransMountain pipeline

Members of the Tulalip Tribe sing along the banks of the Fraser River in Chilliwack, British Columbia, as part of a ceremony to honor the waters and marine life so integral to the Coast Salish way of life. Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice  (graphic at article link)

The NEB listened politely and then ignored the concerns of U.S. sovereign tribal nations. The recommendation is a slap in the face.

—Kristen Boyles

Staff Attorney, Earthjustice

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TransMountain Pipeline Ecocide Alert: Houston based Kinder Morgan oil pig is funding it,  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)
(http://ecocidealert.com/?tag=transmountain-pipeline)

May 19, 2016

Seattle, WA — Opposition to the proposed TransMountain pipeline ramped up today as Coast Salish Tribes on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border vowed to continue to fight the project.


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Location of the Salish Sea

Protests by tribal and First Nations members came after Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) announced it will recommend approval of the pipeline to the Canadian federal government. The pipeline project is being proposed and bankrolled by Texas oil giant Kinder Morgan.

“The Tulalip Tribes are extremely disappointed with the NEB’s decision to recommend approval of the TransMountain Pipeline. We are facing the very real threat of an oil spill that puts the Salish Sea at risk,” said Mel Sheldon, Tulalip Tribes Chairman. “The fishing grounds of the Salish Sea are the lifeblood of our peoples. We cannot sit idly by while these waters are threatened by reckless increases in oil tanker traffic and the increased risk of catastrophic oil spills.”

Almost three years ago, an alliance of Northwest U.S. Treaty tribes, represented by Earthjustice, intervened in Canadian permit proceedings to oppose the new tar sands pipeline. The U.S. Tribes’ position before Canada’s National Energy Board represented a critical call to safeguard the Salish Sea from increased oil tanker traffic and greater risk of oil spills.

From left, Kristen Boyles, Shaylene Jefferson of the Suquamish Tribe, and Suquamish Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman give testimony at an NEB hearing in October 2014. It's my children's future," said high school junior Shaylene Jefferson. See more photos. Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice (graphic at article link)

The four U.S. tribes, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Tulalip Tribes, Suquamish Tribe and Lummi Nation, along with scores of Canadian First Nations and conservationists, the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, and the Province of British Columbia aligned in opposition to the pipeline proposal

“The NEB listened politely and then ignored the concerns of U.S. sovereign tribal nations,” said Kristen Boyles, an attorney with Earthjustice. “The recommendation is a slap in the face.”

Despite undisputed evidence presented by tribal nations from the U.S. and Canada about the devastation an oil spill would cause to their cultures and livelihoods, the NEB found the level of risk of an oil spill from the terminal or an oil tanker “acceptable.” The NEB also found that the project would cause significant harm to orca whales and that increased tanker traffic would cause significant greenhouse gas emissions, but viewed those harms as outweighed by economic interests in the pipeline.

The TransMountain Pipeline Project calls for tripling the amount of oil shipped from tar sands fields in Alberta to approximately 890,000 barrels per day to the British Columbia coast. The pipeline would cause an almost seven-fold increase in oil tankers moving through the shared waters of the Salish Sea, paving way for an increase in groundings, accidents, and oil spills.

The proposed tar sands pipeline expansion is one of several projects that could dramatically increase the passage of tankers and bulk carriers through the Salish Sea on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice   (graphic at article link)

https://youtu.be/Lk1EAP5pMWE

Dana Wilson and Jim Kelly, members of the Lummi Nation, pull a chum salmon from the Salish Sea. "What are we going to have left for our future generations if we don't start managing and watching where we're at and the direction we're going in?" asks Wilson. See more videos.

“The Lummi Nation has long believed that the NEB should not support or otherwise authorize the TransMountain Pipeline to go further,” said Jewell James of the Lummi Nation. “No actions should be authorized without in-depth consultation with the Nations and Bands impacted by the proposed project.”

“The Suquamish Tribe is disappointed that the NEB approved the TransMountain pipeline project, especially in light of the significant impacts the project will have on treaty fishing activities and the high probability of a catastrophic oil spill that would jeopardize our ancient way of life. We will continue to oppose this and other projects that threaten our ancestral waters in the Salish Sea,” said Leonard Forsman, Suquamish Tribal Chairman.

The NEB recommendation is not the last step in the permitting process. An additional federal panel will review the project this summer, focusing on consultation with Canadian First Nations and assessment of some (but not all) climate change impacts. The final decision, expected no earlier than December 2016, lies with Prime Minister Trudeau and the Canadian federal cabinet.


Brian Cladoosby, elected Chair of the Senate of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, during the ceremony at the Fraser River in October, 2014. See more photos. Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice (graphic at article link)

“For 150 years we have felt the impacts of a pollution based economy,” said Brian Cladoosby, Swinomish Tribal Chairman. “It is time for us to turn the tides and make decisions that reflect the deteriorated state of the Salish Sea’s health and resources. This past week we celebrated a great victory when the United States made a decision to protect Treaty Rights, a constitutional responsibility, by denying a permit for the largest coal terminal in North America.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)


We call on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet to recognize this decision and hear the message from the First People who have called this place home since time immemorial, the Coast Salish, to deny this project.”   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

Resources:

•Read about the TransMountain Pipeline fight through the words of tribal leaders.
•Take a look into the fight to protect the Salish Sea.
•Read our FAQ on the proposed Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipeline expansion.
•View our case page for additional files, including  final arguments.. (http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/2645%20U.S.%20Tribes%20Final%20Written%20Argument%201-12-16.pdf)


http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2016/northwest-tribes-vow-to-continue-opposition-to-canadian-pipeline?



SNIPPET from Final Arguments:

As oil transport increases, so does the risk of an accident and oil spill, which would impact a far greater area than the shipping channels alone.

The U.S. Tribes submit that these impacts and potential risks are too great to be countenanced by the Canadian government; that the impacts to the U.S. tribal interests have not been adequately explored or considered by Kinder Morgan; that Kinder Morgan’s  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605) environmental analysis   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220216203149.gif&hash=bd184b6edccce4045e246847a0c84e89bd5a18b6) lacks sufficient rigor to form the basis of a decision to grant the pipeline application; and that approval of the pipeline would violate international law duties above and beyond violations of Canadian law.

Under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012, the Panel should find that the TransMountain project would have significant effects on the Salish Sea marine environment and coastal communities and that these effects cannot be justified.

The Panel should also find that the TransMountain project is not in the public interest under the National Energy Board Act.

http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/2645%20U.S.%20Tribes%20Final%20Written%20Argument%201-12-16.pdf
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 21, 2016, 09:00:48 pm
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Breaking Americans’ Addiction to ‘Meth’ (Methane Gas, That Is)

Posted on Jun 18, 2016

By Stanley Heller

On June 12, I listened to Dr. Robert Howarth tell a meeting of 350CT, a Connecticut-based group promoting grass-roots environmental organization, about a briefing he had given last month to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Howarth is professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell University and an associate of former top NASA climate scientist James Hansen. In 2011 he was in the running for Time magazine’s “Person of the Year.” His message this summer is that we know what to do to solve our climate worries, but we’re on the wrong path and have only a very short time to change direction.

The COP21 climate meeting in Paris last December finally recognized what ought to be the absolute limit for global warming: no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Beyond that point, we would initiate feedback loops that drive things totally out of control. An example would be a major spike in global temperatures following the melting of the Arctic permafrost.

The politicians talk about the year 2100 and 2050, but we don’t have that long to fix things. Howarth said his best estimates suggest the world will pass the 1.5-degree mark in 13 years and the two-degree mark in 28 years.

The problem therefore is in the short run. To avoid feedback loops, we need to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, we seem to be going in the wrong direction. The Obama administration has been happily pushing fracked natural gas as a “bridge” fuel to the time many decades in the future when we will go 100 percent renewable. Howarth explains that this won’t work because natural gas is a much worse greenhouse gas in the critical short run than carbon dioxide is.
 
Natural gas is almost entirely methane, and Howarth has calculated that the global warming effects of methane over a 20-year period are 105 times that of carbon dioxide.

There’s another problem. In the U.S., we now get a majority of our natural gas by fracking shale rock. Howarth said that getting the gas this way leaks three times as much methane into the air as do traditional extraction methods. In his 2014 State of the Union speech President Obama boasted about how much the U.S. had cut back on carbon dioxide emissions during his presidency. (Some of that was because of the Great Recession.)

Howarth agrees that carbon dioxide emissions have not been rising for the last five years, but that misses the point. Because of fracking, total U.S. greenhouse gas emission since 2008 has risen at the most rapid rate ever, Howarth said. Our “meth” habit—our growing addiction to methane gas—is keeping us on the road to climate catastrophe.

Howarth said part of the problem is that the Environmental Protection Agency is misinforming us. It’s vastly underestimating the greenhouse effects of methane partly because it uses defective equipment to measure it and partly because it talks about effects over 100 years when it should be focusing on a period of 20 years. A report by Harvard climate scientists released this past winter said that though the EPA had been saying human-caused methane emissions have not increased recently, years of satellite data show otherwise. They “suggest that U.S. methane emissions have increased by more than 30% over the 2002–2014 period.”

Now, here’s the good news. Cutbacks in carbon dioxide output are absolutely necessary, but we won’t see the effects for a very long time. Cutbacks on methane (and “black carbon” soot from burning), however, can reduce the effects of global warming in the coming decades. The fight against fracking is thus the fight against global warming.

The world needs to go fossil-free by 2050, and the U.S. must lead the way by going fossil-free by 2035. One means of achieving this, Howarth said, is by imposing a tax on methane emissions that would be 105 times the cost of a tax on CO2 emissions. But the fossil fuel industry would probably spend years or decades tying the effort up in court, as they’re doing with Obama’s modest EPA coal regulations.

I propose an ecosocialist solution: Declare a state of emergency, nationalize the energy industry and go on a crash “Manhattan project” program to completely change energy/heating/transportation. Howarth didn’t call for that, but he did point out that there have been massive changes in energy use in this country in a matter of decades, pointing to a transformation from transportation by horse to automobiles in just 40 years.

A complete ban on fracking would get the ball rolling. On July 24, thousands of people will gather on the streets of Philadelphia to demand an end to fracking. It’s billed as a “March for a Clean Energy Revolution.” The website is cleanenergymarch.org. It’s the day before the Democratic Party Convention and there will be tons of media in the city. The next day, an event called “Socialist Convergence” will examine the proposal of “ecosocialism.”

We don’t have time for the conventional proposals. We don’t have decades to wait while politicians make the usual crummy deals. We are balanced over a chasm, and the tipping points are almost upon us. Drastic changes are necessary, and tens of thousands of us have to get into the streets and start demanding it.

#BanFracking

#KeepItInTheGround

Stanley Heller is Administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace and host of the TV program “The Struggle.”


http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/breaking_americans_addiction_to_meth_methane_gas_that_is_20160619

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 22, 2016, 03:28:53 pm
Interactive Map Shows How 6,500 Factory Farms Put North Carolinians at Risk

Environmental Working Group / Waterkeeper Alliance | June 22, 2016 10:39 am

A first-of-its-kind interactive map revealing the locations of more than 6,500 concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs, across the state of North Carolina was released Wednesday by Waterkeeper Alliance, North Carolina Riverkeeper organizations and Environmental Working Group (EWG).

“Animal agriculture operations are one of the leading sources of water and air pollution in the country and are making people sick,” said Ken Cook, president and co-founder of EWG.

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Poultry housed in North Carolina CAFOs outnumber residents by 20 to one.

In addition to swine and cattle CAFOs, the project documents the locations of more than 3,900 poultry operations, which up until now have been shielded from the people of North Carolina.

The maps, which EWG and Waterkeeper Alliance researchers spent more than three years making, provide a never-before-seen aerial view of the CAFOs blanketing the state. This includes the manure lagoons from swine operations, detailing how close they are to streams, rivers and other public water sources.

“For far too long, North Carolinians have been kept in the dark about the true impact these industrial factory farms are having on communities and waterways,” Marc Yaggi, executive director of Waterkeeper Alliance, said.


“Information is power and now that these sites are definitively identified, we will hold accountable the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for enforcing the Clean Water Act and fixing these massive pollution problems.”

The maps feature satellite photos of each of the thousands of facilities.

The unprecedented mapping project identifies approximate locations of all swine, poultry and cattle CAFO operations in the state, as well as the size of the operations. The online maps allow users to view total estimated waste outputs on a facility, watershed, county or statewide scale. All told, researchers from the groups estimate more than 10 billion pounds of wet animal waste and 2 million tons of dry animal waste is generated annually in North Carolina from CAFOs, leaving tens of thousands of rural residents susceptible to air and water quality contamination.

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“Animal agriculture operations are one of the leading sources of water and air pollution in the country and are making people sick,” Ken Cook, president and co-founder of EWG, said.

“These maps show for the first time, that thousands of CAFOs and the animal waste they produce are often adjacent to communities and vital water sources.”

Last year, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources published a wide-ranging study showing elevated levels of both nitrates and ammonia in waterways near hog CAFOs in eastern North Carolina. Researchers behind the three year USGS/DENR study found that “animal feeding operations have measurable affects on stream water quality in many agricultural watersheds in the North Carolina Coastal Plain” with nearly 60 percent of the watersheds where CAFOs are located having “distinct differences in water quality reflecting swine and/or poultry manure effects.”


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Nitrates at high levels in waterways can kill off fish and when ingested through contaminated drinking water can cause the potentially fatal “blue baby syndrome” in infants, among other illnesses in humans.

Hog manure pits also contain a mix of dangerous pathogens, like Salmonella and pharmaceuticals, among many other agents that can leach into surface water sources. As the maps show, there are more than 4,100 manure pits in North Carolina, with nearly 50 percent of them located Duplin and Sampson counties alone.

Beyond the threat to water, the air in the communities next to many of these CAFOs is often polluted, too. The odor from the hog manure stored in these pits, a mix between rotten eggs and ammonia, regularly drifts into adjacent neighborhoods and homes, forcing residents to cover their mouths and noses with masks when outside. Studies, including one from researchers with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Michigan, found the ammonia released into the air from swine CAFOs in North Carolina “is potentially hazardous for nearby human populations at community locations, particularly homes and schools.”

Additional research has shown the air pollution from CAFOs like those in North Carolina can elevate the risks for respiratory problems, eye and nose irritation and increased mental stress for those who live and work near these animal feeding operations.

The noxious fumes from CAFO operations in Halifax County have sometimes forced nearby residents, who could afford it, to stay in area motels until the plumes that hung over their homes passed.

Other serious health problems associated with these animal agriculture operations include the growing threat of superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics. According to the Pew Charitable Trust’s Antibiotic Resistance Project, roughly 70 percent of all antibiotics in the U.S. are used on hogs, chickens and cattle to make them grow faster. Estimates show farm animals in North Carolina receive more antibiotics than all Americans combined.

The map project also highlights key information, including statistics, that has never before been made available:

•10 billion gallons of wet animal waste are produced each year in North Carolina.

•Across North Carolina, there is the equivalent of more than 15,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools brimming with swine and cattle waste from CAFOs alone.

•Annually, poultry operations in the state produce more than 2 million tons of dry animal waste.

•4,145 waste pits make up 6,848 acres of land (29,831,277 square feet).

•37 waste pits are within 2,500 feet of a school.

•288 waste pits are within 2,500 feet of a church.

•136 waste pits are within 2,500 feet of a public water well.

•170 waste pits are within the state’s 100-year floodplain.

•Poultry housed in CAFO facilities outnumber residents by 20 to one.


Sam Perkins, the Catawba Riverkeeper, regularly flies over his basin in the Piedmont region of North Carolina.

“We have 1,000 poultry houses in the Catawba River basin in North Carolina,” Perkins said. “With the public record exemption afforded by state regulations, the industry has exploded throughout this beautiful region and these maps finally show just how extensive that growth is. Many of these operations cannot even take the simple measure of covering their waste piles with a simple tarp to prevent runoff. Downstream of many of these sites, the Catawba River is dammed into lakes, which serve as major regional drinking water reservoirs and provide tens of billions of dollars of property tax base critical to local economies. The toxin microcystin produced by harmful algal blooms—like those seen in eastern North Carolina and in Toledo, Ohio—fueled by nutrient runoff from these sites, would be disastrous for the Charlotte region.”

The map project will be housed on Waterkeeper Alliance’s and Environmental Working Group’s websites and will continue to be developed. Over the weeks and months ahead, locations of processing plants and feed mills will be added. The team behind this initiative will also produce similar maps for other states in the U.S. with significant CAFO operations to demonstrate the enormous impact the factory farm industry has on human health and the environment.

“For the first time, I can see a map of the entire state and look at where I live in the southeastern part and see the overwhelming concentration of these facilities in my community,” Elsie Herring, a Duplin County resident affected by CAFO pollution, said.

“On a local level, we now have the tools and information we need to protect ourselves and our waterways from the very real impacts of these facilities on our health, homes and community. This will force this industry to finally have transparency, as its lasting impact is projected and amplified for all to see.”

http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/22/north-carolina-cafos/ (http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/22/north-carolina-cafos/)

Agelbert NOTE: Everything said in this article is accurate. These operations are unsustainable and must be stopped for all the  reasons mentioned in the article.

Unfortunately, those unethical reprobates who wish to make a context free, back door defense of those responsible for the  MAIN cause of our greenhouse gas (GHG) caused global warming (i.e. the fossil fuel industry), will deliberately parse this quote from the above article and EXTRACT from it the part I have put in bold.
Quote
“Animal agriculture operations are one of the leading sources of water and air pollution in the country and are making people sick,” said Ken Cook, president and co-founder of EWG.

When called on this subterfuge, the lying sophist (usually a lawyer) will claim the accuser is the one that pretends animal agriculture operations are "not relevant" to pollution in a typical goal post moving bit of clever doubletalk.

The REASON they do this is because they have NO INTEREST in agreeing that there is a hierarchy of pollution causes, with fossil fuels at the top BY FAR, as has been proven repeatedly by scientific observation and measurement.

Animal agricultural operations pollute horribly. BUT, as bad as they are, they DO NOT represent an existential threat to our species from catastrophic climate change, as does the continued use of fossil fuels to power our civilization. This is the peer reviewed scientific observation and measurement based view of 97% of the world's climate scientists.

This is not conjecture. But those who wish to make a false equivalence between the two (and brand those advocating an end to the burning of fossil fuels as "alarmist conspiracy theorists with mental health problems"  ;)) could not care less about animal agricultural operations pollution. Their MOTIVE is to defend the fossil fuel industry profit over planet. When they claim that you are being a "conspiracy theorist" by making that accusation, demand that they justify their claim by comparing the polluting emissions from the two.

They will then claim they "aren't sure" and that YOU are the one that needs to prove it to them. The FACT that 97% plus climate scientists claim fossil fuels are, not just the main source of GHG pollution, but THE ONLY source that is an existential threat, is not mentioned by the ethics challenged clever BASTARDS that spew this verbal effluent. These LIARS are a danger to themselves and future generations.   

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 22, 2016, 08:34:06 pm
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Fossil Fuel Profits Eclipsed By Pollution’s Cost

 A common refrain of those advocating against climate action has been that the economic benefits of the fossil fuel industry outweigh the costs of switching to clean energy.

A new working paper out of Cambridge provides some numbers to show that this is not an even remotely legitimate claim. Researchers compared how much the top 20 fossil fuel companies profited between 2008 and 2012 with the social cost of the carbon emissions in their reserves. (At Vox, Dave Roberts goes into a little detail on the paper and explaining the social cost of carbon, for those who’d like a refresher.)

The results of the analysis show that: "For all companies and all years, the economic cost to society of their CO2 emissions was greater than their after-tax profit, with the single exception of Exxon Mobil in 2008.” So if companies had to pay to clean up their carbon emissions, instead of foisting that expense on the public, none of them would be making any money.

For coal companies, every dollar of revenue translated to somewhere between $2 and $9 in climate costs borne by society. This means that if the world ever gets around to putting a price on carbon that accurately reflects the social costs, it’s doubtful that any fossil fuel company could stay in business without making some major changes.

Despite their current earnings, this tells us that fossil fuel companies aren’t a net positive economic force on the planet, undercutting the popular denier excuse for inaction.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t make them any less of a source of income  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)  for those with "vested interest in carbon dioxide emissions” (http://www.desmog.uk/2015/08/10/matt-king-coal-ridley-admits-fossil-fuel-investments-may-cloud-views-climate-change) who are eager to tell us all about how “Fossil Fuels Will Save The World (Really).”  (http://www.wsj.com/articles/fossil-fuels-will-save-the-world-really-1426282420)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fugly004.gif&hash=c56db4280057389afd154a1cb4057410151579c8)



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 24, 2016, 06:54:04 pm
Fracking Hell: The Untold Story

The True Cost Of America's Gas Rush

Quote
This short documentary offers a clear and concise summary on the risks of natural gas development, that is hydro-fracking, in the Marcellus shale. This is a territory that dominates Pennsylvania and stretches into New York, Ohio and West Virginia.

The industry intends to drill between 3,000 - 5,000 wells per year for the next 30 years in Pennsylvania.

As we know, the fracking process results in unprecedented levels of toxic chemicals and methane gas seeping into drinking water.

Consider the volume: There are about 8 wells at a given drill site. 5,000 gallons in each well is just the toxic chemical mix - so that's 40,000 gallons per site. Again, this is not accounting for the obscene amounts of water used -- this is just volume of the liquid chemicals involved per site.

Now experts fear that unacceptable levels of radioactive Radium 226 in gas development waste as well. That's right-- the waste water is radioactive.

Fracking chemicals
are linked to bone, liver and breast cancers, gastrointestinal, circulatory, respiratory, developmental as well as brain and nervous system disorders.

Obviously they destroy the land, the water, fish and animals. This film interviews people who have been affected by this destruction.

How did a European team come to make this? Because U.S. companies (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) are now trying to sell Europeans on fracking!

-- Bibi Farber

 This video was produced by Earth Focus and UK's Ecologist Film Unit, Linktv.org

https://youtu.be/dEB_Wwe-uBM

Agelbert NOTE: For those naïve enough to think the BREXIT vote had nothing to do with the push to Frack in the UK AND stall the Renewable energy transition mandated by the EU clean energy plan to go to nearly zero emissions by 2050, go ahead and believe BREXIT was about "National sovereignty".  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)

Scientist lady poster "CB" said this about my comment on BREXIT:
 
CB > agelbert 

Quote
To be unregulated to their own detriment seems to be the fossil fuel industry's primary goal!

The suicide pact between business and bigots marches on...

"2015 Unambiguously the Hottest Year on Record... 2015 set the record with 99.996% confidence."

http://berkeleyearth.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2015-Hottest-Year-BE-Press-Release-v1.0.pdf


Whenever you read an innocent sounding piece of fossil fuel industry pollution defending baloney, like the following, please understand that the goal of such doubletalk is profit without ANY regard for the damage said "profitable" activity visits on the biosphere.

Quote
The environmental harm of something must be weighed against benefits or desirable effects.

It's clever, but it's BS meter reading is as shown below.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-111214174727.png&hash=a0ea65f844542e4709bd444bd2f70496c434c56b)

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/anti-fracking/fracking-hell-the-untold-story.html

 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 25, 2016, 02:11:26 pm
Agelbert NOTE: So much for the USA National Sovereignty based  Keystone XL Rejection.  >:(  The lawyer lackeys for the corporate crooks are using NAFTA to bypass national sovereignty as if it was not there.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

TransCanada Files NAFTA (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0) Suit Demanding More Than $15 Billion for Keystone XL Rejection

Michael Brune | June 25, 2016 10:16 am

On June 24, foreign oil company TransCanada filed a lawsuit against the U.S. under NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, arguing that the U.S. rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline violated NAFTA’s broad rights for foreign investors by thwarting the company’s “expectations.” As compensation, TransCanada is demanding more than $15 billion from U.S. taxpayers.

TransCanada’s case will be heard in a private tribunal of three lawyers who are not accountable to any domestic legal system, thanks to NAFTA’s “investor-state” system, which is also included in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The controversial TPP would empower thousands of additional corporations, including major polluters, to follow TransCanada’s example and use this private tribunal system to challenge U.S. climate and environmental policies.

TransCanada’s Request for Arbitration follows the Notice of Intent to submit a claim to arbitration that it filed on Jan. 6.

TransCanada’s attempt to make American taxpayers hand over more than $15 billion because the company’s dirty Keystone XL pipeline was rejected shows exactly why NAFTA was wrong and why the even more dangerous and far-reaching Trans-Pacific Partnership must be stopped in its tracks.


The TPP would empower thousands of new firms operating in the U.S, including major polluters, to follow in TransCanada’s footsteps and undermine our critical climate safeguards in private trade tribunals.

Today, we have a prime example of how polluter-friendly trade deals threaten our efforts to tackle the climate crisis, spotlighting the need for a new model of trade model that supports rather than undermines climate action. We urge our members of Congress to learn from this historic moment and commit to reject the TPP.

Here’s more information on the TPP:

Environmental opposition to the TPP is mounting. Earlier in June, more than 450 environmental, landowner, Indigenous rights, and allied organizations sent a letter to Congress warning that pending trade deals like the TPP threaten efforts to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

Read the Sierra Club’s report on how the TPP would roughly double the number of corporations that could follow TransCanada’s example and challenge U.S. safeguards in private, unaccountable tribunals.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fanticorruptionsociety.files.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fjudge_dees.jpg&hash=bbb59b22a3552918db4be21f035459be0f6a5c5d)

The corporations that would gain this ability include hundreds of foreign-owned fossil fuel firms, such as the U.S. subsidiaries of BHP Billiton, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters and one of the U.S.’s largest foreign investors in fracking and offshore drilling.

The TPP would nearly double the number of foreign fracking firms that could challenge new U.S. fracking restrictions in private tribunals.

The deal also would enable oil and gas corporations with nearly 1 million acres’ worth of U.S. offshore drilling leases to use this private tribunal system to try to undermine new restrictions on offshore drilling. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

No prior U.S. trade deal has granted such broad rights to corporations with such broad interests in maintaining U.S. fossil fuel dependency.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/25/transcanada-nafta-keystone-xl-tpp/

We do not have to let these crooks get away with this THEFT under the color of law.

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_An6iCCo62M/hqdefault.jpg)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 25, 2016, 04:00:41 pm
https://www.global-counsel.co.uk/sites/default/files/special-reports/downloads/Global%20Counsel_Impact_of_Brexit.pdf (https://www.global-counsel.co.uk/sites/default/files/special-reports/downloads/Global%20Counsel_Impact_of_Brexit.pdf)

An excellent think-tank report ordered up by the elites a while back to try to quantify what the Brexit would mean in terms of economic impact on various countries. Very long, but chock full of information
.

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 I scanned though a little over 70% of the report. It is a nice presentation but I found no mention of the economic effects of BREXIT on environmental polices and regulations of member states, except in a round about sort of way (if you make a rough connection between liberals and clean energy).

Quote
The UK is one of the most economically liberal states and along with the Nordics, the Netherlands, and Ireland can be relied upon to oppose illiberal proposals in the Council. Under the voting rules introduced in 2014 the liberal states can typically secure about 25% of the votes. If Germany votes with the liberal states this provides enough votes to achieve a 35% blocking minority. This puts Germany in a powerful position as a swing voter in the Council.

If the UK leaves the EU this will shift the balance of power in the Council away from the liberalisers, who will find it harder to assemble a blocking minority, even with German support. The combined votes of Germany plus the ten most liberal states would by itself be insufficient to achieve the necessary 35% of votes.

Considering that the environmental costs of global warming on the arctic alone have been estimated at over 60 trillion dollars, I find this report lacking because it fails to point out the environmental cost multiplier for all the economies of Europe that a 'leave' vote signifies.

There is a graph in there that has a color coded "environment protection" section for the U.K. and some other countries, but the word "environment" only appears in the report text in the context of the "business environment", not biosphere environment. This produces an incomplete economic picture, to put it mildly.

Anyone reading these paragraphs can see what BREXIT means to polluter fortunes, despite the nod to Renewable energy.

Quote
The UK would gain leeway to run a more active industrial policy unconstrained by EU state aid rules under some models. This might include reinstating a public interest test for takeovers, or introducing more comprehensive R&D tax credits. State aid rules have constrained UK policy in several areas including investment in Hinckley Point, renewables support schemes and the British Business Bank. The UK would, however, still be bound by WTO rules and even an FTA-based approach would impose disciplines in this area.

Hinkley Point is a nuclear power plant that has been the center of a giant funnel of money coerced from the people of England, exceeding all initial cost estimates and even being used to force the people of the U.K. to pay a surcharge on renewable energy in order to make Hinkley point DIRTY energy appear "competitive" (also notice that the authors of this report cling to the erroneous view that nuclear power is "renewable energy"). 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.burnhamandhighbridgeweeklynews.co.uk%2Fresources%2Fimages%2F4315976%2F%3Ftype%3Dmc%26amp%3Bhtype%3D0&hash=bc2cca1ea3de4d3259654a921eae937ef5d1f71a)
Protest against Hinkley nuclear power plant in England

Quote
The UK was an important influence on the 2030 targets for emissions reduction, calling for tighter targets, while successfully fighting off calls for additional binding targets for renewables and energy efficiency. This would have added to the cost to business of meeting the emissions targets.

Uh huh: "added to the cost to business" that BUSINESS now EXTERNALIZES to we-the-people.   ;)

Quote
About Global Counsel

Global Counsel helps businesses across a wide range of sectors anticipate the ways in which politics, regulation and public policymaking create both risk and opportunity. We also help businesses to develop and implement strategies to meet these challenges.

The firm was founded in 2010. Our senior team are former public policymakers who have worked at the highest level in the British government and European Union institutions. They draw on decades of experience and are backed by a global network.

The author of this report is Dr Gregor Irwin, Chief Economist of Global Counsel. Dr Irwin was the Chief Economist of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 2008 to 2013 and a Director of the FCO from 2011 to 2013. He has previously held senior positions at the Bank of England and HM Treasury.

Cherry picking benefits for business that celebrate externalizing pollution costs is the 'business as usual' that is degrading the biosphere.

The truth is that BREXIT is a boon to U.K. polluters and a huge cost multiplier to the people in the U.K. and all of Europe, due to climate change costs exacerbated by unregulated profit over planet. This is irresponsible on the part of this Global Counsel think-tank.


Quote
Many climate and energy experts, including Christiana Figures, had been outspoken about the potential danger for EU and UK climate policy if the UK were to leave.

Without the UK involved, it is unlikely that the EU would revise up its current 40% emissions reduction target, experts say.

The ‘leave’ vote and change in government also raises uncertainty about domestic policies.

Craig Bennett, head of Friends of the Earth, said the leave vote was a “red alert” for the environment.

 (News: Politico Pro $, Grist, New Statesman, Reuters, Wall Street Journal $. Commentary: The Guardian, Damian Carrington column; Climate Home, Ed King column; Politico, Sara Stefani column; BusinessGreen, James Murray column; Carbon Pulse analysis $; Climate Home, Robin Webster op-ed)

If the report had been objective about the climate costs to businesses and the people, I would agree that it was an "excellent" report. But since it is cheerleading business as usual, as would be expected by a "think-tank" influenced by U.K. bankers, then I must conclude that the report is a disservice to both the people and the business community.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 26, 2016, 02:54:25 pm
Methane Emissions From Onshore Oil and Gas Equivalent to 14 Coal Plants Powered for One Year

Andy Rowell, Oil Change International | June 21, 2016 9:49 am

When we talk about climate change all too often we focus on carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. But there is a much more potent greenhouse gas, methane, which is much more efficient at trapping radiation than CO2. Some estimates put it at 87 times more potent over a 20 year lifetime than carbon dioxide.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecowatch.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F06%2Fflare_750-1.jpg&hash=1073224bf662ef63b482d5ef86cebfb2cc1daf1b)
Flaring is the burning of natural gas that cannot be processed or sold *.  Flaring disposes of the gas while releasing methane emissions into the atmosphere. Photo credit: North Dakota Department of Health

And who is the biggest culprit for releasing methane in the U.S.? It is the oil and gas industry, which is the largest industrial source of methane pollution in the country, releasing 33 percent of all methane emissions in 2014.

There are a staggering amount of old and new wells with the potential to release methane. At least 3.5 million wells have been drilled in the U.S., with a quarter of those still active. Many old and new ones are leaking the potent greenhouse gas. Adding to the problem, there will be thousands of old wells leaking methane which the authorities do not even know the whereabouts of.

First let’s look at existing wells.

A new report, published by the Center for American Progress on Monday, reveals that the onshore oil and gas industry’s methane emissions totaled more than 48 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent or CO2e, in 2014.

To put this into perspective, this is the equivalent of 14 coal-fired power plants powered for one year.

The worst culprits were ranked in order and came out as: ConocoPhillips, Exxon, Chesapeake Energy, EOG Resources and BP.


Concern has been growing about the oil industry’s methane emissions for a while. Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized limits on methane emissions from new sources in the oil and gas sector. Indeed, the Obama administration has set a goal of reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 percent from 2012 emissions levels by 2025.

The biggest emitters were not necessarily the biggest natural gas producers. For example, ConocoPhillips was the sixth largest natural gas producer in 2014.

The parts of the country experiencing the worse methane pollution are of course the main oil and gas producing areas including the following: the Anadarko Basin of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas; the Gulf Coast Basin of Louisiana and Texas; the San Juan Basin of Colorado and New Mexico; the Permian Basin of New Mexico and Texas; and the Appalachian Basin in the eastern part of the U.S.

But now let’s look at old wells.

There are other areas too which are suffering from chronic methane leakage from old wells. Yesterday, Bloomberg ran an article on the problems of methane leakage affecting Pennsylvania, the birthplace of the U.S. oil industry, where “century-old abandoned oil wells have long been part of the landscape.”

Bloomberg reports that these abandoned wells as now the “focus of growing alarm,” especially ones close to the new fracking fields, due to them leaking methane.

“We had so much methane in our water, the inspector told us not to smoke a cigar or light a candle in the bath,” Joe Thomas, a machinist, whose 40-acre farm has at least 60 abandoned wells, tells Bloomberg.

Pennsylvania’s Attorney General is now reviewing the rules requiring drillers to document wells within 1,000 feet of any new potential fracking site. The obvious worry is that abandoned wells might interact with new fracking wells, creating an easy methane escape route from the frack well. And in Pennsylvania only ten percent of abandoned wells are documented.

One person searching for these abandoned wells is Laurie Barr, who co-founded Save Our Streams Pennsylvania. Over the last five years she has located almost 1,000 wells, most of which were not recorded.

Bloomberg quotes Mary Kang, a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in California who co-authored a widely cited paper on methane leakage from Pennsylvania’s wells. “These old wells are emitting methane into the atmosphere and they are worth considering in greenhouse-gas emissions inventories,” she said.

http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/21/methane-emissions-fracking/ (http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/21/methane-emissions-fracking/)

* Agelbert NOTE: First, there is a lot more than methane in flared gases. There are a host of VOCs (volatile organic compounds), many of them carcinogenic and/or otherwise toxic. These gases CAN be captured. NOT capturing them constitutes the accustomed fossil fuel industry practice of "externalizing" pollution costs onto the biosphere in general and  we-the-people in particular. The reason oil and gas flare is  because they cannot capture or sell the methane content PROFITABLY.

PERTINENT ARTICLE COMMENTS: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)
 


Jeff
Frackers should be forced to capture all emissions. Allowing them to flare off GHGes and a fuel source is ridiculous.

Bella_Fantasia    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)
Yes, methane may be what finishes us, if not Fukushima, the already out of control geoengineering or the US power structure fomenting WWIII. And the convergence of some or all of these. . . . . well, you get the point.

Thawing permafrost is spontaneously igniting fires across the Arctic. And this is fact, not alarmist diatribe. On the scale these fires occur or will occur, there will be no way to extinguish underground peat fires. Peat bogs release enormous amounts of methane and are up to 60 feet deep. The formerly frozen methane undersea hydrates and clathrates are thawing and releasing. The number of positive feedback loops already in play is disputed, but I've heard the number 16 quoted.

Shell abandoned off shore drilling the Chukchi Sea, saying there was no substantial amount of oil there. All the companies do their homework and know oil exists there in vast quantities. This, after three years of desperately trying and after embarrassing failures that channelled the Keystone cops (but lacking their humor). Shell had built an entire town to service its employees near Barrow. But Shell ran as if demons were chasing it.

This happened less that thirty days after breaking through the oil bearing layer. It returned all its leases except one, claiming an "impairment." Very shortly after all the other companies, except Spanish Repsol, holding leases in the Chukchi quietly returned them.

http://www.adn.com/energy/arti... (http://www.adn.com/energy/arti...)

So what might this impairment be? I think Shell hit methane. The clathrate gun has already fired.
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Agelbert > Bella_Fantasia

Well said.

I applaud this EchoWatch article but wish to point out an error in it. The article stated that Flaring is the burning of natural gas that cannot be processed or sold.

These gases CAN be captured. The technology to capture and process them has existed for over 50 years (at least!). Oil and gas corporations CHOOSE to avoid the expense of capturing them.

WHY?

Frist, there is a lot more than methane in flared gases. There are a host of VOCs (volatile organic compounds), many of them carcinogenic and/or otherwise toxic.

NOT capturing them constitutes the accustomed fossil fuel industry practice of "externalizing" pollution costs onto the biosphere in general and we-the-people in particular. The reason oil and gas corporations flare is because they cannot capture or sell the methane content PROFITABLY.

IOW, they do not have a competitive product if they act responsibly by capturing the leaked gases and processing as hazardous waste all the VOCs to separate them from the leaked methane. So they just dump them onto us. The EPA looks the other way.

lance Geologist
one learns more by thinking and looking up answers. Thus my question, Based on the picture of gas(methane) flaring, what is the end product of the burning of methane? Is the burning of methane gas releasing methane to the atmosphere , or releasing something else? Then, is this article truthful?

agelbert > lance Geologist
You are obviously not a geologist. Geologists are scientists. Look up black body radiation. Look up tri-atomic IR absorption. Learn the fact that the Earth radiates in the IR band. CH4, though not a tri-atomic IR GHG like H2O and CO2, is over 80 times more powerful as a GHG.

Yes, the LEAKED methane THAT IS NOT BURNED degrades within a few months of entering the atmosphere. But before it degrades, it TRAPS MORE IR radiation than the CO2 and H2O produced by a coal burning plant.

If you were a scientist, you would understand that.

Jeff
Congress needs to mandate that they capture all gas, no flare offs. People need to pay the full cost of that gas, end the externalization of environmental degradation costs. If people are forced to pay their full share, they'll stop acting irresponsibly to the extent that they, and you currently do.


Marc McGuire
In Louisiana, where I live, there are 3,000 "ABANDONED" Oil and Gas Wells!
Hillary "WALL STREET JUNKIE" Clinton, "BOUGHT AND PAID FOR" the Oil and Gas Industry is a World Wide "SUPPORTER" of Fracking!

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080814213050.png&hash=1342f07ce8e7e3d3c4e7c4a79a191a19b6a060ed)
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Agelbert NOTE: To paraphrase Bella_Fantasia, this is SCIENCE, not alarmist diatribe.

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 26, 2016, 03:46:31 pm
An excellent think-tank report ordered up by the elites a while back to try to quantify what the Brexit would mean in terms of economic impact on various countries. Very long, but chock full of information.

https://www.global-counsel.co.uk/sites/default/files/special-reports/downloads/Global%20Counsel_Impact_of_Brexit.pdf (https://www.global-counsel.co.uk/sites/default/files/special-reports/downloads/Global%20Counsel_Impact_of_Brexit.pdf)



I scanned though a little over 70% of the report. It is a nice presentation but I found no mention of the economic effects of BREXIT on environmental polices and regulations of member states, except in a round about sort of way (if you make a rough connection between liberals and clean energy).

Quote
The UK is one of the most economically liberal states and along with the Nordics, the Netherlands, and Ireland can be relied upon to oppose illiberal proposals in the Council. Under the voting rules introduced in 2014 the liberal states can typically secure about 25% of the votes. If Germany votes with the liberal states this provides enough votes to achieve a 35% blocking minority. This puts Germany in a powerful position as a swing voter in the Council.

If the UK leaves the EU this will shift the balance of power in the Council away from the liberalisers, who will find it harder to assemble a blocking minority, even with German support. The combined votes of Germany plus the ten most liberal states would by itself be insufficient to achieve the necessary 35% of votes.

Considering that the environmental costs of global warming on the arctic alone have been estimated at over 60 trillion dollars, I find this report lacking because it fails to point out the environmental cost multiplier for all the economies of Europe that a 'leave' vote signifies.


There is a graph in there that has a color coded "environment protection" section for the U.K. and some other countries, but the word "environment" only appears in the report text in the context of the "business environment", not biosphere environment. This produces an incomplete economic picture, to put it mildly.

Anyone reading these paragraphs can see what BREXIT means to polluter fortunes, despite the nod to Renewable energy.


Quote
The UK would gain leeway to run a more active industrial policy unconstrained by EU state aid rules under some models. This might include reinstating a public interest test for takeovers, or introducing more comprehensive R&D tax credits. State aid rules have constrained UK policy in several areas including investment in Hinckley Point, renewables support schemes and the British Business Bank. The UK would, however, still be bound by WTO rules and even an FTA-based approach would impose disciplines in this area.

Hinkley Point is a nuclear power plant that has been the center of a giant funnel of money coerced from the people of England, exceeding all initial cost estimates and even being used to force the people of the U.K. to pay a surcharge on renewable energy in order to make Hinkley point DIRTY energy appear "competitive" (also notice that the authors of this report cling to the erroneous view that nuclear power is "renewable energy").
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.burnhamandhighbridgeweeklynews.co.uk%2Fresources%2Fimages%2F4315976%2F%3Ftype%3Dmc%26amp%3Bhtype%3D0&hash=bc2cca1ea3de4d3259654a921eae937ef5d1f71a)
Protest against Hinkley nuclear power plant in England

Quote
The UK was an important influence on the 2030 targets for emissions reduction, calling for tighter targets, while successfully fighting off calls for additional binding targets for renewables and energy efficiency. This would have added to the cost to business of meeting the emissions targets.

Uh huh: "added to the cost to business" that BUSINESS now EXTERNALIZES to we-the-people.   ;)

Quote
About Global Counsel

Global Counsel helps businesses across a wide range of sectors anticipate the ways in which politics, regulation and public policymaking create both risk and opportunity. We also help businesses to develop and implement strategies to meet these challenges.

The firm was founded in 2010. Our senior team are former public policymakers who have worked at the highest level in the British government and European Union institutions. They draw on decades of experience and are backed by a global network.

The author of this report is Dr Gregor Irwin, Chief Economist of Global Counsel. Dr Irwin was the Chief Economist of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 2008 to 2013 and a Director of the FCO from 2011 to 2013. He has previously held senior positions at the Bank of England and HM Treasury.

Cherry picking benefits for business that celebrate externalizing pollution costs is the 'business as usual' that is degrading the biosphere.

The truth is that BREXIT is a boon to U.K. polluters and a huge cost multiplier to the people in the U.K. and all of Europe, due to climate change costs exacerbated by unregulated profit over planet. This is irresponsible on the part of this Global Counsel think-tank.



Quote
Many climate and energy experts, including Christiana Figures, had been outspoken about the potential danger for EU and UK climate policy if the UK were to leave.

Without the UK involved, it is unlikely that the EU would revise up its current 40% emissions reduction target, experts say.

The ‘leave’ vote and change in government also raises uncertainty about domestic policies.

Craig Bennett, head of Friends of the Earth, said the leave vote was a “red alert” for the environment.

 (News: Politico Pro $, Grist, New Statesman, Reuters, Wall Street Journal $. Commentary: The Guardian, Damian Carrington column; Climate Home, Ed King column; Politico, Sara Stefani column; BusinessGreen, James Murray column; Carbon Pulse analysis $; Climate Home, Robin Webster op-ed)

If the report had been objective about the climate costs to businesses and the people, I would agree that it was an "excellent" report. But since it is cheerleading business as usual, as would be expected by a "think-tank" influenced by U.K. bankers, then I must conclude that the report is a disservice to both the people and the business community.

Good points. I'm not surprised by what you've figured out.


Thank you Eddie.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191456.bmp&hash=a239c2fd76d20d142f1c54b961e22ebd0d2a4808)
         
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 08, 2016, 06:30:33 pm
EcoWatch Jul 06, 2016

https://youtu.be/ATfcpkSvFvQ

IARC Scientist Reaffirms  Glyphosate’s Link to Cancer as Monsanto’s Requests to Dismiss Cancer Lawsuits Denied   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)
Full story: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://www.ecowatch.com/iarc-scientist-reaffirms-glyphosates-link-to-cancer-as-monsantos-reque-1906676980.html

Comments:

Jana Stacy · University of Louisville

of course it is highly carcinogenic. We knew that before they started making GMOs to heap more on. I can't believe it has taken this long to finally call them on it.

Roy Hopke
I never said that it was sprayed on 100% of food crops. It is certainly sprayed on some, enough to be detected for sure. I have an idea that if they only sprayed it on "1%" of crops I doubt that they would have detected it at all (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe), considering it's half life.

The idea and policy of spraying it on corn and oats before harvest is just asking for trouble (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F128fs318181.gif&hash=eff6d5f3831782966c2ff2081f07bf7fc5b22a6b) and the idea and policy of numbskulls.............just asking for trouble and controversy...................
I am a long time user of glyphosate(since 1984) myself and am actually pro-glyphosate.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)

Aaron Pressman · Works at Across the U.S. and Canada REPLY to Roy Hopke
I advise you to limit your exposure. My brother was exposed to large quantities of Roundup on the farm in the 80s. By 1990 he was sick with a strange wasting disease that no doctor or specialist could figure out why.

He went to a naturopathic doctor who sent a stool sample to the lab for analysis. It came back that he had no bacteris for digesting food in his stomach. Essentially the body couldnt get anything from the food and was digesting itself, a slow death.

He started taking probiotics to repopulate his gut bacteria and made a full recovery.

Hopefully he doesn't develop cancer from the exposure in the future. Monsanto has always claimed that Glyphosate has no way to attack the body. But in fact it will attack and kill the good gut bacteria. Since the gut is the main center of your bodies immune system , affecting it in any way will damage your health.

Marissa Shulak · Racine, Wisconsin
ignore in ignorance! feed on toxins!!

Jeff Biss · Northern Illinois University
The problem is far greater than just Round-Up. Most agricultural chemical use should stop. The human load is decimating entire ecosystems to produce enough food to feed our overpopulation. Modern, industrial agriculture is a problem but as we currently waste up to 40% of the food produced, a loss in yield can be more than made up with a reduction in waste; No one would notice a 40% reduction in yield if we cut our waste to zero.

Agriculture will destroy the natural world, from the loss of pollinators, due to the extensive plantings of monocrops, and their resultant replacement of natural flora, to the reduction in fecal recycling, from the loss of dung beetles:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11592612

Of course, meat is murder, as we do not need it to sustain life or health, and the loss of the meat industry would serve to not only reduce the ivermectin used in cattle, but also end the needless slaughter of our sentient victims.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 12, 2016, 09:03:38 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RD07GkmM2fc

LESS Pollution and 90% Energy Savings through ABOVE GROUND "Mining"!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)

Plastics from plastics instead of from MORE oil!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)
Quote
The UN estimates the amount of electronic waste alone is 85 billion pounds per year and growing.

 Over 90% of metals that end up at a recycling facility are in fact recycled because the process is much easier than plastics. By contrast, only 10% of plastics are recycled because they must be sorted into many different categories of density, color and type.

 So most plastic is in fact, not at all recycled.

 Mike Biddle, a plastics engineer, set out to find a solution. He set up a lab in his garage in Pittsburg, California, and began experimenting with complex-plastics recycling, borrowing ideas from such industries as mining and grain processing.

 Since then, Biddle has developed a patented 30-step plastics recycling system that includes magnetically extracting metals, shredding the plastics, sorting them by polymer type and producing graded pellets to be reused in industry. This process takes less than one tenth of the energy required to make virgin plastic from crude oil.     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191258.bmp&hash=e4ed21caaca822f7445ccafd39f49a9f84be90ca)

 His company's recycling process is a breakthrough solution for closing the loop on plastics. He has new plants opening all over the world, and companies are eager to buy the recycled pellets.

 -Bibi Farber

 This video was produced by Ted Talks

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/reducing-waste/breakthrough-in-plastics-recycling.html


Agelbert NOTE:
Fossil Fuel Industry (private) REACTION to the above:  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fwww_MyEmoticons_com__smokelots.gif&hash=094f88de6782c1cd03ed5321b387792046eb3cdd)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 13, 2016, 03:11:25 pm
Food Jul 12, 2016

EU Bans Glyphosate Co-Formulant, Restricts Use in Public Areas    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

Lorraine Chow 

Member states of the European Union voted in favor of a European Commission proposal that limits the use of glyphosate during the herbicide's 18-month extension granted by the commission last month.

Member state experts agreed to the following conditions:
Quote

A ban of a co-formulant POE-tallowamine from glyphosate-based products

Obligations to reinforce scrutiny of pre-harvest use of glyphosate

Minimizing the use in specific areas such as public parks and playgrounds

The conditions will apply for the duration of the extension until the European

Chemicals Agency issues an opinion on the product's safety.

Quote

"Member states will now need to adjust their national legislation to make sure that pesticides containing glyphosate do not contain POE-tallowamine," according to Euractiv.com.

Tallowamine, which aids the effectiveness of glyphosate, was once found in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. The inert ingredient was found to be "more deadly to human embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells than [glyphosate] itself," Scientific American reported in 2009, citing a French study.

"This clearly confirms that the [inert ingredients] in Roundup formulations are not inert," the study authors from France's University of Caen wrote.
Quote
"Moreover, the proprietary mixtures available on the market could cause cell damage and even death [at the] residual levels" found on crops such as soybeans, alfalfa and corn, or on lawns and gardens sprayed with Roundup."

The EU's 28-member bloc has been deeply divided over glyphosate ever since the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified the compound as a probable carcinogen in March 2015.

Two other regulatory agencies, however, have reached contradictory conclusions. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) declared glyphosate as safe in November and the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization and a different regulatory body from the World Health Organization issued a joint report in May concluding that the ingredient is "unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet."

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010215144153.png&hash=cb7da018cde919e11130c32b40331f5d9405e537)

However, the EFSA made a very important admission in its report. Unlike the IARC, the Italy-based EFSA examined glyphosate alone, not glyphosate formulations. The adverse health effects of the herbicide, therefore, could be related to reactions with "other constituents or 'co-formulants,'" the report said.
Germany and France have previously restricted glyphosate and tallowamine formulations within their borders. This past April, France banned glyphosate mixed with tallowamine. The country's health and environmental government agency (ANES) said that "the co-formulants found in glyphosate preparations, tallowamine in particular, [raised] concerns."

Monsanto confirmed to Reuters that since they have shifted away from tallowamine the affect of the French ban would be "minimal," adding that the debate over glyphosate in Europe is "political." The agritech giant has long maintained the safety of their flagship product, which is also the world's most popular herbicide. The company also defended tallowamine-based products in that they "do not pose an imminent risk for human health when used according to instructions."

The bitter fight over glyphosate highlights the pesticide's uncertain fate in Europe. The commission initially proposed to relicense glyphosate for another 15 years ahead of its June 30 expiration, but after failing to secure majority approval from the member states after three votes in a row, the EU executive body was forced to give glyphosate a last-minute 18-month extension.

Monsanto could be hit big by an EU-wide ban on glyphosate. "  ;D The elimination of glyphosate sales in France by itself should not have a material effect on Monsanto, maybe $20 million of earnings impact. If it spreads to the rest of Europe the impact would be greater though, as Europe is a premium market; could lead to up to $100 million of earnings impact," Bernstein analyst Jonas Oxgaard told Reuters via email in April.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fpng%2F200%2Femoticons%2Ffingerscrossed.png&hash=d56f8009d18b55f4cea7be68284c0521be92fc5d)

Opponents of glyphosate have applauded the EU's latest vote.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)

"Despite the restrictions on use not being enforceable in law, Sustainable Pulse has been in contact with many of the Environment Ministries in Europe and we have been assured that serious measures will be taken in France, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Malta, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy and most likely in a number of other countries," Sustainable Pulse director Henry Rowlands said.
Quote
"This is a huge step in the right direction and most European citizens now look forward to a full ban on the use of glyphosate herbicides in the near future."

Last week, Dr. Kurt Straif, a section head with the IARC, appeared in an interview with euronews defending the agency's assessment that glyphosate probably causes cancer in humans.

"Our evaluation was a review of all the published scientific literature on glyphosate and this was done by the world's best experts on the topic that in addition don't have any conflicts of interest that could bias their assessment," Straif said.

"They concluded that, yes, glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans based on three strings of evidence, that is clear evidence of cancer in experimental animals, limited evidence for cancer for humans from real-world exposures, of exposed farmers, and also strong evidence that it can damage the genes from any kind of other toxicological studies."

http://www.ecowatch.com/eu-bans-glyphosate-co-formulant-monsanto-1917259116.html

Agelbert NOTE:
But OF COURSE, glyphosate is NOT banned in the good old USA! Profit over people and planet takes "fiduciary predence"  over scientific truth in this country.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)

Hat tip to Reality of Truth  Internet poster.      (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

Quote
This is all we need to know (Death rate increase graph associated with
Parkinson's and glyphosate application + gmo plantings):

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FFrULVaZ.png&hash=80cb1fccc81be7c2c7a85d54954d8ee1bac029e1)
http://imgur.com/FrULVaZ

Indeed they do, pass this around too! Print it and post it on store windows, give it to friends, keep wallet foldouts and hand them to strangers as you pass by! Let us obliterate the helpless corrupt fools from the face of this world with absolute righteous indignation, no remorse, no mercy, no hesitation and no concern for their nonsense (just like they have no concern for us!).
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 14, 2016, 09:15:09 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280914150743.png&hash=9984ad29849b40430072854768563e47a8ad24a1)

Repeat after me: Mankind's technology  is a primitive, barbaric piece of planet trashing, eating where we poop, SUICIDAL STUPIDITY.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-060914180554.png&hash=e36a3f11f68d43ebcff5cecaa9e706bcbeeafa71)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)




It's time to use energy efficiently and sustainably. If we don't we die, period.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fminzdr.gif&hash=f5927d7395d8a28c69df2a0a3a98660932c6903f) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmog.gif&hash=08e6f04144781466148f6693be6dc3451a322669)


MESSAGE TO THE DEFENDERS OF THE STATUS QUO:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-260914180633.png&hash=2caa418ea42c2a0ea0c364c8a51d87923b8b9507)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 18, 2016, 02:51:25 pm
(https://www.healyounaturally.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Symptoms-of-Mercury-poisoni.jpg)

A new report examining impact of mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows First Nation says obvious symptoms are the “tip of the iceberg,”.

(https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2016/07/18/mercury-levels-enough-to-impact-childrens-brain-development-report/tk20160626-668.jpg.size.custom.crop.1086x724.jpg)
Local members of the Grassy Narrows First Nation prepare signs for an upcoming meeting with government officials. Advocates for Grassy Narrows have been trying to obtain the original cord blood data and other information collected by Health Canada over more than two decades so that their own experts can analyze it.

The level of mercury found in the umbilical cords of babies in Grassy Narrows First Nation was high enough to affect their brain development, according to a new report obtained by the Star.

Between 1978 and 1994 Health Canada tested the umbilical cord blood of 139 infants in Grassy Narrows.

“At these cord blood concentrations, there is consensus from the scientific literature that there would be effects on children’s neurodevelopment,” the report, written by Dr. Donna Mergler, says.

In the report, the leading expert reviews decades of scientific research on mercury’s effects and highlights the hidden impact of contamination on a community.

Mergler said that what recent science tells us is that mercury poisoning occurs at low levels previously thought harmless. At these low levels, a fetus is vulnerable to cognitive damage even if the child’s mother does not show signs of poisoning.

The scientist, whose research specializes in the effects of environmental pollutants such as mercury, wrote it was “surprising” that although world-renowned Japanese researchers had identified many cases of mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows, there has never been a “scientifically sound” community-wide examination of pre- and postnatal mercury contamination.

Advocates for Grassy Narrows have been trying to obtain the original cord blood data and other information collected by Health Canada over more than two decades so that their own experts can analyze it.

For six months, Health Canada said it would not release the data — even with identifying information removed — citing privacy concerns, according to email correspondence obtained by the Star.

On Thursday, one day after the Star asked Health Canada why the information could not be released, First Nation community advocates received an email from the regulator saying they could have the data.

The original contamination began when a Dryden, Ont., paper plant dumped 10 tonnes of mercury, a potent neurotoxin, into the English-Wabigoon River system between 1962 and 1970. The site of the plant, now under different ownership, is about 100 kilometres upstream from Grassy Narrows.

The locals, who’d built a livelihood as fishing and hunting guides, were told to stop eating the fish. The robust fishing tourism industry was decimated. The fishermen and guides went on welfare.

More than 300 residents (50 of them children) from Grassy Narrows and another community were diagnosed with “symptoms consistent with mercury poisoning” —  including loss of muscle co-ordination, vision loss, slurred speech and tunnel vision — and awarded compensation from a Mercury Disability Board. A separate protocol was set up for children that also tests for cerebral palsy and some developmental delays.

(https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2016/07/18/mercury-levels-enough-to-impact-childrens-brain-development-report/tk2016061129.jpg.size.custom.crop.850x567.jpg)
Judy Da Silva of the Grassy Narrows First Nation suffers from mercury poisoning. A new report obtained by the Star says the level of mercury found in the umbilical cords of babies in Grassy Narrows was high enough to affect their brain development.

The board was set up as part of a settlement between the company, Reed Paper, and the provincial and federal governments in the mid-1980s. Roughly 700 people who have sought compensation have been turned down.

Locals are concerned that the long-term impact of the pollution is not recognized or even fully understood by the disability board and government officials.

“There are some children being born, they are like five now … but they can’t talk, they talk gibberish,” said Grassy Narrows resident Judy Da Silva. “They’re being sent to specialists in Winnipeg and the specialists can’t figure it out … so there’s effects like that that we don’t understand.”

Mergler was asked to produce her report by the Canadian Environmental Law Association, which is working on behalf of Grassy Narrows. The 61-page report was filed with Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice last week as part of an ongoing lawsuit challenging Ontario’s plans to open up forest land near Grassy Narrows for clear-cutting — a plan that the community alleges will potentially release more mercury into the environment.

Mergler told the Star she is unable to speak publicly about her report because it is before the courts.

The report says that more obvious symptoms of mercury poisoning are the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to the harmful effects of the metal on human health. Below that tip is a much larger group with subtler yet serious, long-lasting effects.

For kids, mercury exposure in the womb is associated with delayed learning, shortened attention span, memory deficits, delayed language acquisition, poorer motor control or co-ordination.

For adults, the science reviewed by Mergler shows an association between mercury and an increased risk of heart attack and accelerated aging. There is some evidence that mercury exposure increases the risk for Type II diabetes, but it is inconsistent, the report says.

These impacts, the report says, are compounded by socioeconomic conditions.

“If you’ve got kids born with detriments to IQ and neurobehavioural problems, you’ve got parents who are out of work and themselves may be suffering neurobehavioural problems, what does that mean for the kids? It’s a double whammy,” said University of Toronto professor Miriam Diamond, who specializes in human exposure to toxic chemicals and reviewed Mergler’s report for the Star.

Diamond called the report “sound” and “comprehensive” and added it’s an important development in the story of Grassy Narrows because it illustrates how science now appreciates that adverse effects for mercury occur at much lower levels of exposure than originally thought. It also shows a need for a community-wide study of Grassy Narrows, she said.

Mergler’s report also says that Canadian standards for how much mercury is safe to ingest in a day are too high, that the lower guidelines set out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offer better protection against the dangers of mercury.

In 2003 (the last year for which she had data from Grassy Narrows), Mergler found the average mercury intake in the community was above the U.S. safety limit — more than three times the recommended daily dose for men in summer. The analysis included people who didn’t eat fish and would be even higher if those people were not included, she said. (Mergler also points out in her report that the health of people who have stopped eating fish has also been harmed because they are not receiving important nutrients that help with brain and cardiovascular development.)

In an email to the Star, a Health Canada spokesperson said that test results from hair and blood samples of Grassy Narrows residents found that mercury levels declined over the years and by 1995-1997 were “within Canadian safety guidelines for the general population.” As well, that a 2004 research report showed residents’ average exposure to mercury in food was also within Canadian health standards.

Mergler reviewed the same 2004 research report for her recent report and still came to the conclusion that U.S. safety standards for recommended mercury intake offer better protection than Canadian standards. When asked to comment on the assertion that Canadian safety standards are out of date with current research on the impact of mercury on human health the Health Canada spokesperson said Canada’s current tolerable daily intake for mercury is consistent with the position established by the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives.

Meanwhile, there is concern in Grassy Narrows that mercury continues to contaminate the waterways. In late May, a provincial government-funded report commissioned by Grassy Narrows said mercury levels in sediments and fish downstream are still dangerously high (while mercury levels in fish have declined over the years, one meal of Walleye from a lake on the river system contains up to 150 times the safe dose of mercury recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency).The report also raised the concern there is an ongoing source of mercury leaking into the river system.

Last month, the Star published a report that found the province had ignored startling information from retired labourer Kas Glowacki, who said that 40 years ago he was part of a small crew that “haphazardly” dumped drums of mercury and salt into a pit near the old Dryden pulp plant.

The Star then published a report that revealed Ontario’s own former environment minister recommended in 1984 a cleanup of the river system. The government chose instead to let it remediate naturally.

“The Grassy Narrows community has been exposed to high concentrations of mercury in fish for many years and individuals and the community is suffering the effects. It would only add toxic insult to toxic injury to further expose this population to mercury,” Mergler, the scientist, said in her report.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/07/18/mercury-levels-enough-to-impact-childrens-brain-development-report.html (https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/07/18/mercury-levels-enough-to-impact-childrens-brain-development-report.html)
[/quote]
(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 10, 2016, 04:10:12 pm
Court Backs Govt’s Social Cost of Carbon (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

In an unprecedented case, a federal appeals court unanimously upheld the Obama administration’s social cost of carbon (SCC) -- an estimate of the costs of carbon dioxide either released into the atmosphere or avoided due to regulations.

Set at $36 per metric ton of carbon dioxide, the government uses SCC to calculate the economic damage done by the increase in carbon dioxide emissions in a given year.

Ruling on a lawsuit on 2014 energy efficiency standards for commercial refrigerators, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided the Department of Energy has the authority to use SCC as part of cost-benefit analyses for environmental regulations.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/290859-court-backs-obamas-climate-change-accounting

Agelbert NOTE: Don't expect shills for the fossil fuel industry like Charles Hall and Gail Tverberg to even consider plugging the SCC into their happy talk ERoEI formula for fossil fuels. Reality isn't their thing.

$36 per metric ton of carbon dioxide is a low balled figure. Peer reviewed studies have placed it between $44 and $58. Some are higher than that. But considering how infiltrated with fossil fuelers the EPA is, even getting $36 to be the standard is progress.

 
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It is hoped that decisions like the above will usher in reality based government that will eliminate fossil fuel subsidy THEFT and free passes on pollution "externalities".

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 10, 2016, 08:09:09 pm
The idea of putting a dollar cost on a ton of carbon dioxide seems myopic.  After seven days and seven nights the lord had still not created money.  That was done by man who with infinite hubris was so proud of his achievement he decided money could describe everything. Money may describe local circumstances but CO2 goes everywhere.  It even goes places which do not have any money.

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The only thing myopic is your ability to understand cause and effect. WHAT PART of "THERE IS NO FREE FOSSIL FUEL BURNING LUNCH" ARE YOU SO BIOSPHERE MATH CHALLENGED THAT YOU POST SUCH ABYSMALLY IGNORANT BLATHER HERE?
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 10, 2016, 10:14:24 pm
The idea of putting a dollar cost on a ton of carbon dioxide seems myopic.  After seven days and seven nights the lord had still not created money.  That was done by man who with infinite hubris was so proud of his achievement he decided money could describe everything. Money may describe local circumstances but CO2 goes everywhere.  It even goes places which do not have any money.

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The only thing myopic is your ability to understand cause and effect. WHAT PART of "THERE IS NO FREE FOSSIL FUEL BURNING LUNCH" ARE YOU SO BIOSPHERE MATH CHALLENGED THAT YOU POST SUCH ABYSMALLY IGNORANT BLATHER HERE?
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If there is an economic cost the question is to WHOM?  A cost to people who matter or to those who don't?  To people now living now or to those yet to be born in the future?  I have issues with abstracting the social cost of carbon dioxide into simple dollars and cents because too much is lost in the translation.  I do not think it can be done.  My concerns are legitimate and do not warrant the bullshit meter.  Further ithe abstraction promotes the idea that unlimited consumption of fossil fuels is fine as long as you can pay for it.

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School is out, K-Dog. THOUSANDS of scientists who actually KNOW the score on fossil fuel Exploitation Return on Investment have DONE THE MATH on the costs, IN MONEY, for health care COSTS from work absence to reduced longevity to occupational diseases to diseases of impacted NON-WORKERS in exploited areas, ETC. And that's just the humans without the climate change mess. If you want to play STUPID, do it somewhere else.

On the other hand, if you REALLY want to have an objective discussion on this without resorting to broad brush poo pooing of the subject matter with adjectives like "myopic", I will be happy to provide reams of data.

You are AVOIDING the issue by coming up with a threadbare argument about "inappropriate" valuation methods that use currency. WTF!!?

WHAT do you use NOW to pay for your food, clothing, shelter, medical care and fuel?

Not only CAN the Social Cost of Carbon be SPECIFICALLY computed, it MUST be done for the PRICE we pay to CORRECTLY reflect the COST. If YOU "don't think it can be done", that's YOUR problem because it HAS been done.

And YEAH, the cost INCLUDES the effects on ALL the biosphere, not just humans now and in the future. The REASON for that is that the LIVING resources damaged by fossil fuel burning in the biosphere that we need MUST BE REPLENISHED.

But you know all that. You are just trying to pull my chain with a specious argument.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

And SPARE ME the "Fragmentation of Agency" argument that "we don't know who specifically to bill". That's BULLSHIT. The PROFITS from using fossil fuels by the masses are PEANUTS compared with the DIRTY MONEY the polluters have used to game the laws and buy the politicians in order to obtain their fascist wonderland. THEY OWE BIG TIME. They ARE NOT too big to fine, jail or bankrupt.   

The SCC has been THOROUGHLY studied and computed. GOOGLE IT if you do not believe what I am saying.

TINA - There Is No Alternative - in a reality based world to paying the SCC. And YEAH, when it is FINALLY perfected, the cost benefit analysis will bring about the end of the fossil fuel crooks and liars "business model".
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 11, 2016, 03:51:28 pm
The REAL World of POLLUTION & CORRUPTION Since Spindletop in Images & Numbers

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 19, 2016, 07:30:25 pm
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Brazil: Amazon fires threaten to wipe out uncontacted Indians

18 August 2016

 
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Fires are destroying pre-Amazon forest and threatening to wipe out uncontacted Indians for the second time in less than a year © INPE

Forest fires are raging in an indigenous territory on the edge of the Brazilian Amazon, threatening to wipe out uncontacted members of the Awá tribe.

Small groups of neighboring Guajajara Indians were forced to spend days attempting to contain the blaze in the absence of government agents, until an Environment Ministry-led fire-fighting operation began last week.

Forest fires started by loggers destroyed over 50% of the forest cover in the territory in late 2015. The Environment Ministry has stated that the situation is “even worse this year.”

Zezico Guajajara warned the NGO CIMI that the flames are approaching the uncontacted Awá, and said: “We’re in a real battle here and we need help.”

Campaigners are concerned that the current wave of fires could wipe out the tribe and are calling for urgent action.

 
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Franciel and Olimpio, from the Guajajara Guardians © Survival

Uncontacted tribes are the most vulnerable peoples on the planet. Tribes like the Awá are being wiped out by violence from outsiders, and by diseases like flu and measles to which they have no resistance. Unless their land is protected, they face catastrophe.

Among those fighting the fires are members of the “Guajajara Guardians,” who live in and frequently patrol the area in an attempt to crack down on illegal logging, and protect their uncontacted neighbors who are living on the run.

Olimpio Guajajara, the leader of the group, said: “We are defending our territory, so that the uncontacted Awá can survive. We have managed to reduce the number of loggers on our land and we hope to force all of them out. Otherwise, the Awá could be wiped out.  We just want them to be able to live in peace.”

The Guajajara Guardians are receiving very little support from the Brazilian government, despite promises of assistance. Unless they have the resources they require to conduct their expeditions, the territory remains open to invasion.

 
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Vast swathes of forest in Arariboia have been destroyed by illegal loggers and by fires which the authorities have failed to contain. © INPE

Tribal peoples like the Guajajara and Awá have been dependent on and managed their environment for millennia. Evidence proves that tribal peoples are better at looking after their environment than anyone else. They are the best conservationists and guardians of the natural world.

If properly protected, tribal territories are the best barrier against deforestation.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said:
Quote
“This is an urgent and horrific humanitarian crisis. The Brazilian authorities know that fires are going to break out in the dry season, and that they could decimate uncontacted peoples.

Brazil needs to take its eyes off the Olympics and focus proper attention on stopping the annihilation of its tribal peoples.”

 http://www.survivalinternational.org/awa
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 22, 2016, 08:52:37 pm
Northern Marianas Residents Challenge Destruction of Their Homeland by Navy Live-fire Plan  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fswear1.gif&hash=87347674f9297191f3f8a447208170617da4caf6)

The U.S. Navy failed to consider the intense disruption to communities and the environmental destruction that would result from training 5,000 Marines on Tinian and Pagan. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)
 


The Navy blatantly violated mandatory legal duties when it decided to station Marines on Guam without any consideration of the destruction from live-fire training the Navy claims those Marines will need or of other places those Marines could be trained with far fewer impacts.

—David Henkin

Staff Attorney, Earthjustice

July 26, 2016

Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands — Plans by the U.S. Navy to transfer 5,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam and begin staging massive, live-fire war games on the islands of Tinian and Pagan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands would severely disrupt communities on Tinian and shatter the dreams of families who want to return to live permanently on Pagan.
 

Map of Northern Mariana Islands. (at article link) © Mapbox © OpenStreetMap

Tinian and Pagan are two of the fifteen islands in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Northern Marianas are located just north of Guam.

Earthjustice—representing the Tinian Women’s Association, Guardians of Gani, PaganWatch and the Center for Biological Diversity—is challenging this plan. In a complaint filed today, the groups say the Navy failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act by not considering all the impacts associated with the relocation and training in a single environmental impact statement and not evaluating alternative stationing and training locations that could accomplish the Marines’ mission with far fewer environmental impacts.

The training proposed for Tinian and Pagan would be intense and destructive. War games would include artillery, mortars, rockets, amphibious assaults, attack helicopters and warplanes and, on Pagan, ship-to-shore naval bombardment. The training would destroy native forests and coral reefs, kill native wildlife—including endangered species—and destroy prime farmland.

Communities on Tinian—mostly indigenous Chamorro and low-income residents—would be subjected to high-decibel noise, as well as restricted access to traditional fishing grounds, cultural sites and recreational beaches. Cultural and historic sites would be destroyed. Indigenous Chamorro and Refaluwasch (Carolinian) families evacuated from Pagan in 1981 would never be able to return, their former home turned into a militarized wasteland.

“I spent many happy years of my childhood growing up on Pagan,” said Cinta M. Kaipat of PaganWatch. “Close family members of mine were there when the volcano erupted in 1981 and were forced to flee. Many of us want to return and resettle Pagan. For those who lived there, Pagan remains their homeland.
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We do not want to see it obliterated by the military.”

Tinian is a small island with a population of just over 3,000. Currently, the only live-fire training conducted there is limited to a sniper target range. No training currently takes place on Pagan, a remote island that has been largely uninhabited since a volcanic eruption in 1981 forced evacuation of the local population. Many former residents and their children would like to return to live on the island.

The groups represented by Earthjustice have been fighting this proposal since it was first made public in 2013.

“When the Northern Marianas agreed to remain part of the United States, destroying the northern two-thirds of our island with live-fire training and bombing was never part of the deal,” said Florine Hofschneider of the Tinian Women’s Association. “We refuse to accept the Navy’s plans to subject our children to nearly constant bombardment.”

“The Navy’s decision would have devastating consequences for the people of Tinian and Pagan,” said Earthjustice attorney David Henkin. “The National Environmental Policy Act requires the Navy to take a hard look at all of the impacts associated with relocating 5,000 Marines to Guam and to look at alternative ways to accomplish its goals before making such a decision. The Navy blatantly violated those mandatory legal duties when it decided to station Marines on Guam without any consideration of the destruction from live-fire training the Navy claims those Marines will need or of other places those Marines could be trained with far fewer impacts.”

http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2016/northern-marianas-residents-challenge-destruction-of-their-homeland-by-navy-live-fire-plan
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 25, 2016, 02:56:39 pm
Water Is Life, Oil Is Death: The People vs. the Bakken Pipeline in Iowa and the Dakotas

Posted on Aug 22, 2016

By Paul Street
 
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People opposing the Dakota Access pipeline project, also known as the Bakken pipeline, rally in Des Moines, Iowa. (Barbara Rodriguez / AP)

The American version of democracy focuses on elections and candidates. As the venerable left intellectual Noam Chomsky observed in June, “Citizenship means every four years you put a mark somewhere and you go home and let other guys run the world. It’s a very destructive ideology … a way of making people passive, submissive objects.” Chomsky added that we “ought to teach kids that elections take place, but that’s not [all of] politics.” There’s also the more urgent and serious politics of popular social movements and direct action beneath and beyond the election cycle.

We might refine Chomsky’s maxim to read “and let rich guys run the world into the ground” or “let rich guys ruin the world.” With anthropogenic (really “capitalogenic”) global warming, the nation and world’s corporate and financial oligarchs are bringing the planet to the brink of an epic ecosystem collapse.

We might also put some meat on the bones of Chomsky’s pedagogical advice by “teach[ing] kids” about the people’s politics being practiced in the upper Midwest and northern Great Plains by citizen activists fighting to help avert ecological calamity by blocking construction of what North Dakota Sioux leader David Archambault II calls “a black snake” of “greed.” The snake in question is the planet-baking Dakota Access/Bakken pipeline, what Iowa activists call “The Next Keystone XL.”

While Iowa Berned, Dakota Access Worked Behind the Scenes  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

As progressives flocked to presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ impressive rallies in Iowa over the past year, the Texas-based company Dakota Access LLC, a division of the ecocidal corporation Energy Transfer Partners LP, moved methodically ahead with its plan to build the Bakken pipeline. This $3.8 billion, 1,134-mile project would carry 540,000 barrels of primarily fracked crude oil from North Dakota’s “Bakken oil patch” daily on a diagonal course through sacred North Dakota Sioux tribal sites and burial grounds, South Dakota, Iowa, the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and many other major waterways, to Patoka, Ill. It would link with another pipeline that will transport the black gold to terminals and refineries along the Gulf of Mexico for export to the global market.

In March, five weeks after Sanders essentially tied Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucus, the corporate-captive Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) approved the giant Iowa portion of the project, granting Dakota Access eminent domain across the entire route through 18 counties—the last major administrative hurdle for the project. The “regulatory” boards in the other three states had already signed off. There was still some slim hope that the Army Corps of Engineers could be persuaded to block the project. That hope was dashed July 25. 

Dakota Access construction crews have begun moving dirt and tearing up farmers’ crops along the pipeline’s projected path. Pipeline workers with out-of-state license plates are showing up in hotels, motels and camps—and on dating sites like “Plenty of Fish”—along the route. Construction began in South Dakota, North Dakota and Illinois in May. Pipe has been laid in Lee County in Iowa’s southeast corner and Lyon County in the northwest. Last week, a pipeline trench crossed the popular Chichaqua Valley Trail in central Iowa. A young woman from central Iowa reports that a local dating website is “swarming” with out-of-state pipeline workers staying in campsites and elsewhere.

Dakota Access first applied to the IUB for a pipeline permit in the fall of 2014, just before Sanders’ first visit to Iowa. Slowly but surely, as media-driven popular excitement over the largely Iowa-focused presidential contest built last year, the company quietly pressed ahead with a public relations offensive (with a strong emphasis on “jobs for Iowans”) against the opposition of environmentalists and concerned citizens. There was only one formal IUB public hearing, and it lasted just one day. The opponents of the pipeline represented a cross-section of Iowans. The proponents were almost entirely from construction unions, many from out of state. Opponents who attended multiple “informational meetings” staged by Dakota Access reported numerous blatant inconsistencies, contradictions and lies in the “facts” presented by the company. While the state dived further into the quadrennial caucus commotion, Dakota Access moved the pipeline through the required administrative and public relations hoops under the media-politics radar.

The stakes are high in the fight against the project. “If the Bakken Pipeline is built,” the progressive lobbying organization Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) notes, “it would seriously harm Iowa’s already impaired water quality, threaten the integrity of the fertile farmland of thousands of everyday Iowans, and contribute to our dependence on fossil fuels. This steers us away from developing renewable energy infrastructure and curbing the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.” CCI is part of a broad statewide anti-Bakken group called the Bakken Pipeline Resistance Coalition (BPRC) that includes more than 30 organizations. BPRC is engaged in the difficult work of grass-roots politics and direct action—both legal and extra-legal—beneath and beyond the major-party and candidate-centered presidential election extravaganzas that take early root in Iowa (thanks to its first-in-the-nation caucuses) every four years.

A Fake ‘Public Utility’

The IUB’s decision in March was rich with Orwellian irony. Iowa law forbids the condemning of agricultural land for private development. It is true, as Dakota Access argues, that the law excludes utilities under the jurisdiction of the IUB from the private development limitation. And that includes pipelines if they serve a “public purpose.” But this pipeline would simply transport oil through Iowa and therefore serve no discernible public good for the state and, in fact, promises to do considerable harm to the state’s environmental and financial health. Opponents rightly point out that like all pipelines, it will eventually spill, and Dakota Access LLC will leave Iowa holding the bag for the cleanup.

Like something out of Kafka, the IUB will have no power to enforce any kind of public regulations whatsoever on the operators of the private interstate pipeline they approved as a “public utility.” 

The IUB’s decision was another example among many that Iowa is up for sale to big business under the right-wing administration of Republican Gov. Terry Branstad.

The giant Canadian pipeline company Enbridge and Marathon Petroleum are impressed by Dakota Access’ success in gaining the approval of “regulators.” The two corporations recently put up $2 billion ($1.5 billion from Enbridge and $500,000 from Marathon) to purchase 49 percent of the Bakken pipeline. A likely consequence if the project is completed is that Canadian tar-sands oil will flow through the pipeline—and Iowa—toward the Gulf Coast. That oil is one of the most carbon-rich, planet-cooking fossil fuels on earth. Dire environmental concern about the mining of Canadian tar sands oil was the main reason climate activists like Bill McKibben engaged in high-profile protests of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline—a leading news story a few years ago.

Read the other two pages of this three page article at link below:
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/water_life_oil_death_people_vs_bakken_pipeline_in_iowa_dakotas_20160822

Agelbert NOTE: The concentration of Mens Rea Criminal Corporate Corruption of the Federal and many State Governments in the USA (and the world, for that matter) based in TEXAS is evidence that the Nietzsche style Empathy Deficit Disordered Territorial Imperative is an integral part of the MORALLY BANKRUPT Texan culture and world view. TEXANS, of all people on the planet, are the greatest threat to the biosphere that humanity has ever faced.

One way or the other, the TEXAN Oil & Gas worshipping culture will soon end.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210316151047.png&hash=322a7c76731414f0f2ba44f8649e39de889b4bd6)
TEXAN has his morning coffee

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.motherjones.com%2Ffiles%2Finline_0.jpg&hash=415e2785cf02d8ce6f7a3e19e1e13acc96f737bc)

The Fossil Fuelers in general, and TEXANS IN PARTICULAR,    DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID  DOING THE TIME   or   PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it!   Pass it on!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 27, 2016, 12:44:20 am
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2015%2F08%2F04%2F20%2F2B19013100000578-0-image-m-29_1438716510812.jpg&hash=d12a0d38c8b2f8ac74073c48296cf565075f5136)

HOME
Quote
The first image showing Earth in all its colours, was taken by the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) instrument.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3185340/The-PINK-planet-Hi-res-satellite-dramatically-improve-forecasting-reveals-image-Earth-course-shows-storm-clouds-Britain.html#ixzz4IVK50xM3

https://youtu.be/RZhrkdAwJ1M

Directed by photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand and narrated by Glenn Close, HOME is  a unique film that approaches the current debate about climate change from a whole new angle, giving viewers the opportunity to see for themselves how our earth is changing. Going well beyond the scientific reports, charts and graphs, this film is an inspiration that speaks to our hearts and touches our souls.

www.goodplanet.org/en/

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 27, 2016, 03:54:06 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Fncomms%2F2016%2F160823%2Fncomms12558%2Fimages_article%2Fncomms12558-f1.jpg&hash=0899dcbdcf80ca6e5329476512a1c9534215b027)

Science| Aug 26, 2016

97% of Most Species-Rich Places on Earth Have Been Seriously Altered by Humans

By James Cook University

James Cook University's Prof. Bill Laurance has taken part in a study to map the ecological effect of people on the planet. He said the news isn't great.

"The most species-rich parts of the planet—especially including the tropical rainforests—have been hit hardest. In total, around 97 percent of Earth's biologically richest real estate has been seriously altered by humans," he said.

The scientists found environmental pressures are widespread, with only a few very remote areas escaping damage.

"Humans are the most voracious consumers planet Earth has ever seen. With our land-use, hunting and other exploitative activities, we are now directly impacting three-quarters of the Earth's land surface," said Laurance.

Researchers combined data garnered from unprecedented advances in remote sensing with information collected via surveys on the ground.

They compared data from the first survey in 1993 to the last available information set from 2009.

Laurance said that 71 percent of global ecoregions saw a marked increase in their human footprints.

But he said the news was not all bad.  ;)

"While the global human footprint expanded by nine percent from 1993 to 2009, it didn't increase as fast as the human population—which rose by a quarter—or economic growth—which exploded by over 150 percent—during the same period."

Laurance said wealthy nations and those with strong control of corruption showed some signs of improvement.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b)

"In broad terms, industrial nations and those with lower corruption appear to be doing a better job (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe) of slowing the expansion of their human footprint (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251) than poorer countries with weak governance. But the wealthy countries have a much higher per-capita footprint, so each person there is consuming a lot more than those in poorer nations."

Laurance said the suitability of lands for agriculture appears to be a major determinant in where ecological pressures appeared around the globe.

"The bottom line is that we need to slow rampant population growth, especially in Africa and parts of Asia and demand that people in wealthy nations consume less," he said.

http://www.ecowatch.com/human-footprint-1987981440.html

Agelbert NOTE:
While I certainly agree that population growth must be stopped, it is a gross error of perception on the part  of James Cook University's team of scientists to EQUATE in biosphere damaging impact the rampant population growth, especially in Africa and parts of Asia WITH the carbon footprint of people in wealthy nations.

I am rather tired of this type of  backdoor 'blame the victim' rhetorical slight of hand.

These sentences expose the inverted logic of Prof. Bill Laurance:  (https://smileyshack.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/stupid-im-with-arrow-left.gif)

Quote
But he said the news was not all bad.

"While the global human footprint expanded by nine percent from 1993 to 2009, it didn't increase as fast as the human population—which rose by a quarter—or economic growth  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)—which exploded by over 150 percent—during the same period."

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffc06.deviantart.net%2Ffs71%2Ff%2F2009%2F347%2F2%2F6%2FWTF_Smiley_face_by_IveWasHere.jpg&hash=8ca673f8cf785d9dac626f9fd91e37a1a318c7ac)

In what alternate universe does Prof. Bill Laurance consider exploding economic growth a 'good' thing for the biosphere? The Capitalist HAPPY TALK MYTH universe, of course.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs2277341.gif&hash=1a8375f11d76a653bcb48e30eaa7b652175f029d)

So, 'bad' = human population growth while 'good' = lower carbon footprint as computed by AVERAGING the world's total GDP with the world's total population. This is TYPICAL broad brush erroneous logic. WHY? Because the carbon footprint of less than 17% of the human population is the one doing over 80% of the environmental degradation.

What these scientists are ERRONEOUSLY doing is ASSUMING the SAME AGENCY (i.e. biosphere damaging ability) to each and every human that is alive. That is TYPICAL broad brush fragmentation of agency (i.e. share of responsibility for the damage) that absolves the major polluters of the massive pollution they are responsible for.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

The biosphere math facts clearly state that less than 17% of the human population, MOSTLY concentrated in wealthy countries, is DOING over 80% of the damage by consuming over 80% of the resources. Only about half (or less) of the MILITARY budgets alone of the wealthy countries could pay for bio-remediating the most impacted areas, stop the exploitation and care for and educate the high population growth poor there so they become good stewards instead of biosphere destroyers.

When those people are secure, as now occurs in wealthy countries, population growth STOPS. 

And, make no mistake, the corruption in the poor countries that Prof. Bill Laurance laments is DIRECTLY caused by the Capitalist Corruption from the 1% in the wealthy countries, despite the appearance of 'less corruption' in the wealthy countries that the confused Professor is cheering.

Whether Prof. Bill Laurance knows it or not, he is fronting for the guiltiest polluters who are, while the profits are rolling in, claiming they are to be celebrated for boosting GDP. When the damage is exposed, they claim we are "all equally to blame" (i.e. DISTORTED Fragmentation of Agency).

This is clearly false because polluting corporations, in virtually all cases, AREN'T non-profit organizations. If they were NOT PROFITING, THEN, and only then, could they make the claim that "we all benefited equally so we all are equally responsible to pay equally for the cost."

Prof. Bill Laurance, like those who presently benefit economically from the burning of fossil fuels, despite the scientific certainty that this is ushering in a Permian level mass extinction, is grabbing on to a severely distorted and duplicitous version of the 'Fragmentation of Agency' meme, in regard to assigning the proportionate blame for the existential threat our species is visiting on future generations.

Privatizing the profits and socializing the costs is what the polluters have done for over a century in the USA. They have always gotten away with it, thanks to government corruption, propaganda efforts and people like Prof. Bill Laurance.

As for the rest of us, who obtained a pittance in benefits in comparison to the giant profits the polluters raked (and still continue to rake) in, we can expect an army of corporate lawyers descending on our government(s) demanding that all humans, in equal portions, foot the bill for ameliorating climate change.

The lawyer speak will probably take the form of crocodile tears about the "injustice of punitive measures" or, some double talk legalese limiting "punitive damage claims" based on Environmental LAW fun and games (see: "punitive" versus "compensatory" damage claims).

This grossly unjust application of the 'Fragmentation of Agency' is happening as we speak. The poorest humans are paying the most with their health for the damage done by the richest. The richest have avoided most, or all, of the deleterious effects of climate change.

When the governments of the world finally get serious about the funding needed to try to clean this mess up (present incremental measures ARE NOT sufficient), the rich plan to continue literally getting away with ecocide, and making sure they don't pay their share of the damages for it. 

As Kevin Anderson (after showing the alarming rate of increase in CO2 emissions) put it in the graphic below, the 1% bear about 50% of the blame.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-190915202124.png&hash=6f6ed341e94b480dbe35861b8b95e465beffecd6)

Since, according to the U.N., the richest 20% of the world's population uses 80% of the resources, the 'Fragmentation of Agency' pie chart for the damage done to the biosphere should look like this:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-240915212016.jpeg&hash=47c78d80b3447e15bc4cadf79725cd2b1ad0c926)


Prof. Bill Laurance, the fossil fuel industry, and almost half of the world’s 100 largest companies, want that 'Fragmentation of Agency' pie chart to look like is as follows:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-240915212425.png&hash=474f51564604f10ac8a8653c5e6d181e37afbfa8)

The REAL bottom line is that less than 17% of the human population is an existential threat to the ALL of the human population AND a large part of macroscopic species in the biosphere.

Just think of what it cost in resources and pollution to build ONE North Sea Oil platform in the 1980's. Just think of what it costs to build ONE F-35. Just think of what is cost to build the Space Station. Just think of the billions of dollars in 'subsidies' for the Oil & Gas polluters.

There are THOUSANDS of examples of unnecessary government spending that could, AT ANY TIME, stop the damage being done to the high species biodiversity areas. The money is there. It is simply being allocated irresponsibly.

Time is running out. Already, over 40% of the biodiversity in these areas has perished, thanks to industrial Capitalism.

Blaming the poor of the Earth for the environmental HAVOC Capitalist Empathy Deficit disordered 'business models' visit on the biosphere is breathtakingly inaccurate and inexcusably irresponsible.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-140515152155.png&hash=5f8916507de1fcb05d147e025bd69cc103b6b969)


Prof. Bill Laurance does not get it (or he pretends to not get it for the benefit of Industrial Capitalism). 

Quote
"Capitalist ideology claims that the world is perfectly ordered and everybody is in their place (i..e. everybody gets what they deserve). This self legitmating aspect of Capitalism is Socially Catastrophic. This is the Victorian view of the world." Rob Urie - Author " Zen Economics"


 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 27, 2016, 04:42:58 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2015%2F08%2F04%2F20%2F2B19013100000578-0-image-m-29_1438716510812.jpg&hash=d12a0d38c8b2f8ac74073c48296cf565075f5136)

HOME
Quote
The first image showing Earth in all its colours, was taken by the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) instrument.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3185340/The-PINK-planet-Hi-res-satellite-dramatically-improve-forecasting-reveals-image-Earth-course-shows-storm-clouds-Britain.html#ixzz4IVK50xM3 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3185340/The-PINK-planet-Hi-res-satellite-dramatically-improve-forecasting-reveals-image-Earth-course-shows-storm-clouds-Britain.html#ixzz4IVK50xM3)

[embed=640,380]<iframe width="640" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RZhrkdAwJ1M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/embed]

Directed by photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand and narrated by Glenn Close, HOME is  a unique film that approaches the current debate about climate change from a whole new angle, giving viewers the opportunity to see for themselves how our earth is changing. Going well beyond the scientific reports, charts and graphs, this film is an inspiration that speaks to our hearts and touches our souls.

www.goodplanet.org/en/
That's a great trailer AG.

RE


Glad to be of service.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191456.bmp&hash=a239c2fd76d20d142f1c54b961e22ebd0d2a4808)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 28, 2016, 03:19:18 pm
AG put up the trailer to this film on his newz channel, and it turns out the full movie is available on YouTube.  Beautiful visuals from what I have watched so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU&feature=player_embedded

RE

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 10, 2016, 01:33:35 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fearthjustice.org%2Fsites%2Fall%2Fthemes%2Fearthjustice%2Fimages%2Fej_logo.svg&hash=53e8ae8d4d2f3116f97fdd3a4e4694de5fd5d990)

Quote

Dear Anthony,

Today the federal court ruled against the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe but, in a stunning move,   three federal agencies have blocked the pipeline at Lake Oahe (http://earthjustice.org/features/faq-standing-rock-litigation?utm_source=crm&utm_content=ResponsiveHTMLLink1) ;D pending a thorough review and reconsideration of the process.

The Department of Justice, the Department of the Army, and the Department of the Interior today called for a stop to construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline while also calling for national reform to “ensure meaningful tribal input” on infrastructure projects.

 
 
(https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2016/09/09/gettyimages-599437908_custom-c76220958de82b60aab91eda20af978f092718aa.jpg)

 The Department of Justice emphasized that “important issues raised by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other tribal nations and their members regarding the Dakota Access pipeline specifically, and pipeline-related decision-making generally, remain.” As a result the Army will not authorize construction of the pipeline “on Corps land bordering or under Lake Oahe until it can determine whether it will need to reconsider any of its previous decisions regarding the Lake Oahe site under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or other federal laws.”

Thank you for supporting the hundreds of tribes and thousands of tribal members who stood up in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

“Our voices have been heard,” said David Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, to the press. “The Obama administration has asked tribes to the table to make sure that we have meaningful consultation on infrastructure projects.”

But the fight to protect sacred sites and the water source for 17 million people who rely on the Missouri River isn’t over.

“I want to take a moment and reflect on this historic moment in Indian Country,” said Archambault. “But I know that our work is not done. We need to permanently protect our sacred sites and our water. There are areas on the construction route that do not fall within federal jurisdiction, so we will continue to fight.”

Thank you for being part of this victory and for standing with the Tribe as the fight continues to protect the land.

Sincerely,
   
Jan Hasselman
 Staff Attorney 
http://earthjustice.org/features/faq-standing-rock-litigation
 
 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 11, 2016, 01:07:29 pm
Public Service Board to consider re-evaluation of Vermont Gas pipeline permit

Sep. 10, 2016, 7:14 am by Mike Polhamus 2 Comments

The Public Service Board is considering whether to re-evaluate the permit for Vermont Gas Systems’ 41-mile pipeline extension through Addison County.

The Conservation Law Foundation argues that the board should revoke the natural gas company’s permit because the cost of the project has nearly doubled.

Conservation Law Foundation brought a lawsuit against Vermont Gas in 2014, after the company first announced cost estimates for the pipeline had increased from $86 million to $121 million. Projections are now at $165 million. Ratepayers will cover $134 million of the construction costs, based on a memorandum of understanding between Vermont Gas and the state.

State regulators say expenses resulting from poor management were a major driver of those cost increases.

Vermont Gas attributes the cost hikes to unanticipated rock ledges, expensive horizontal drilling, and costs associated with acquiring rights-of-way.

Whether an increase in the project’s cost constitutes a “significant change” was the issue in question at a hearing on Wednesday morning.

According to Public Service Board rules, a significant change is one that “significantly impacts” criteria used to approve a project. The No. 1 criteria considered by the board is whether a project benefits the public.

Opponents argue that the cost increases directly threaten the economic benefits Vermont Gas says the pipeline will generate.

Sandra Levine, a senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, wants to require the board to re-examine pipeline cost estimates and projected economic benefits.

“If its project is as good as [Vermont Gas] keeps claiming, it has nothing to fear,” Levine said.

The project is nearly finished, but Levine and other opponents say it’s still possible that the board could find the pipeline no longer benefits the public. That finding would likely prevent the issuance of a new permit, and Vermont Gas investors, not ratepayers, would be on the hook for the pipeline costs.

An amendment or new-permit process would also establish precedent and would subject Vermont Gas to the same rules that would have applied had the Public Service Board taken up the case in 2014, before the pipeline was under construction, Levine says. The fact that the pipeline is now almost finished is the fault of the board’s schedule, opponents said, and should not dictate the outcome of the case.

An attorney for the Vermont Department of Public Service said the near-doubling of the cost of the pipeline is a significant change to the project, but it is impractical for the board to require Vermont Gas to seek a new permit.

The Public Service Board has thoroughly reviewed the project several times in light of current energy prices and other factors. Each time the board has found that the project benefits the public.

Vermont Gas attorney Peter Zamore said only changes to the project construction, which he described as a transmission line, distribution utilities and three gate stations, should trigger board re-approval.

The Department of Public Service’s attorney, Louise Porter, said that the project’s “cost is part and parcel of the project.” In other words, the increased cost does provide justification for, and might even demand, an amendment process or even a new permit, Porter said. But since those processes have almost no chance of changing the project’s outcome in an appreciable way, she said the Public Service Board should waive the rule requiring a new permit in the event of significant changes to an already-approved project.

After the hearing, Vermont Gas CEO Don Rendall said the project has already withstood scrutiny: The board has rejected arguments advanced against the pipeline through two separate and extensive permit-remand processes, he said.

Vermont Gas provides quarterly updates to the board, on both the project’s costs and expenditures, Rendall said, and has done so for the past two years.

Reviews of the project have found the Addison County natural gas pipeline expansion provides economic benefits to the state that outweigh the cost to ratepayers, Rendall said.

The project is 90 percent complete, Rendall said, and all but approximately 2,200 feet will be finished within weeks. Only a section in Hinesburg, traversing the town’s Geprags Park, will remain after that, he said. That section remains mired in legal challenges raised by Bristol-based attorney James Dumont on behalf of several Hinesburg residents.

Levine said she’s disappointed by the board’s slow response.

If Vermont Gas hasn’t complied with the rules, she told the board it should apply appropriate penalties. These could include fines, or conditions or restrictions placed on the project’s permit, she said.

Levine said the project may not make sense any longer, and even though it is nearly complete, the PSB should not hesitate to halt it. The price of oil in comparison to natural gas has dropped dramatically, and the project may no longer be as good a deal to ratepayers as once thought, she said.

“The bottom line is, this is a risk Vermont Gas Systems took,” Levine said.

Should the board halt construction and later find against issuing a new permit, she said, Vermont Gas investors would eat the millions of dollars already spent on the pipeline.  ;D

http://vtdigger.org/2016/09/10/public-service-board-consider-re-evaluation-vermont-gas-pipeline-permit/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 11, 2016, 01:37:48 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl10.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F2491%2F2491210ovie015m90.gif&hash=c2edc7e32994c57779427e0df75cabac786a12bf)

Quote

stephen whitaker

Talking about FAIRNESS, as much as LAW:

The PSB, being a court, and the Rising Tide folks not being a party, the Board is required to hear from the ‘public’ only by written comment filed with the Clerk or at a duly warned public hearing.

The current ‘Modus Interruptus’ is not entirely a result of a few people not playing nice, but by a continuing grievous failure of those supposed to be representing the interest of the public, the Department of Public Service, simply not doing its job.

When the public feels that the system is rigged, the protections failed, the fix is in, and the captains of industry are going to have their way, with collusion from the Governor and his Commissioner of Public Service, protest and even revolt is a time tested tool of bringing broader attention to the injustice.

The DPS lost it years ago and corrective measures are needed. The statutes provide for the appointment of an Independent Public Advocate. The Board should exercise this option.

up votes  31  |  down votes -11 

Margolis: Drowning in a tide of arrogance

Sep. 4, 2016, 7:54 pm by Jon Margolis 25 Comments

Demonstrators from Rising Tide Vermont   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)and the Vermont Workers’ Center gather at the Public Service Board building in Montpelier last year. File photo (at link) by Erin Mansfield/VTDigger

(Editor’s note: Jon Margolis is VTDigger’s political columnist.)


In early August, a federal judge ruled that the Public Service Board’s decision to ban the public from a hearing “cannot be sustained under the First Amendment.”


The board complied.

Sort of.  ;)

Told that it must allow “public attendance” at its Aug. 4 hearing about extension of a gas pipeline through a park in Hinesburg, the PSB decided to allow six members of the public into the hearing room.

“It turned out to be eight,” said Lisa Barrett, the retired lawyer who was the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed after the board first said it would permit no one (later amended to allow reporters) to enter the hearing room in Berlin, a “training room” of the Agency of Natural Resources that has space for about 70 spectators.

The PSB, Barrett said, “complied with the letter of the court order.”

Now, to be fair to the Public Service Board, it should be noted that some of its antagonists appear equally indifferent to the First Amendment. Members of a group called Rising Tide Vermont have attended earlier hearings neither to listen nor to speak but to shout, thereby depriving others of the right to listen or to speak.

As U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss noted in her ruling, “There is, of course, no First Amendment right to disrupt adjudicatory proceedings. … To the extent disruptive participants make it difficult to see or hear the board’s proceedings, they may impair the First Amendment rights of other members of the public.”

The First Amendment exists primarily to limit the power of the government. Rising Tide is not the government and so may not, strictly speaking, be bound by those limits.

Then again, perhaps private individuals should follow the spirit of the Constitution even if not bound by its letter. John Franco, the lawyer who argued the case in court on Barrett’s behalf, said, “People have a First Amendment right to go to hearings, to speak and to listen. Interfering with (that) right is a very, very bad thing to start doing.”

Rising Tide does not see it that way.

“This is frankly an unjust process,” said Will Bennington, the Rising Tide spokesman. Bennington denied that the protesters had shouted; they were singing. But he did not deny that the aim was to “prevent (the process) from going forward.” In the view of Rising Tide, Bennington said, pipeline owner Vermont Gas Systems is “stealing from 80-something-year-old widows. We have no intention of letting them make their argument.”

Hmm. Let’s parse this for a minute. A small, un-elected band of devoted — arguably zealous — people has arrogated to itself the power to interrupt if not to halt the legal proceedings of a state agency operating according to laws passed by the elected representatives of the people.

The difference between this zealotry and fascism is … just what?

Especially because there is no evidence that the zealots speak for a majority. No one has taken a poll, but state legislators tend to know what their constituents think (otherwise they don’t stay in office), and two who represent the area to be served by the pipeline, Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison, and Rep. Harvey Smith, R-New Haven, report that most of their constituents seem to have accepted the PSB’s earlier decision that the pipeline is in the public good.

“It hasn’t been a hot topic,” Smith said.

Bray, citing cost overruns and apparent inconsistency with state’s renewable energy goals, has his own reservations about the wisdom of the project. But while he noted that a vocal minority in his district opposes the pipeline, “in general, most people accept it as reasonable.”

As long as fairness is in the air, let’s show a little toward the pipeline opponents, too. The Public Service Board, while it operates within the law and its proceedings are available online, is perhaps the most aggravating, imperious and haughty agency in all of state government.

This does not mean the three commissioners and their 24-person staff are imperious and haughty people. They may or may not be. It’s the law that makes the board — a quasi-judicial body — all but impervious to public sentiment. Its job is to determine whether a proposed project is in “the public good.” With precious few exceptions, it decides that it is.

Just the other day, for instance, it ruled that a proposed solar project in Morgan met that “public good” test. The residents of Morgan were almost to a person opposed to the project. That didn’t matter. Perhaps it shouldn’t. The PSB’s decision may have been the right one. But it’s easy to see why many rank-and-file folks don’t like it.

They dislike it even more because, as in the case of the gas line, utilities whose projects get PSB approval often resort to eminent domain, seizing (and paying for) property — or the limited use of property, through easements — whose owners do not want to sell it.

The board itself has no power of eminent domain. The utilities do. The law gives it to them. But it’s all part of the same process, and not everyone makes the distinction. Eminent domain is often necessary. The constitutions of both the United States (Fifth Amendment) and Vermont (Chapter 1, Article 2) specifically authorize it. But it is a sweeping exercise of government power, often maddening to the affected property owners and their friends and neighbors.

To some extent, then, the board and its staff are not responsible for their bad rep. But some of their actions exacerbate it. Just consider its original order to close that hearing:

“Access to the hearing site will be controlled by law enforcement officials, who will only permit the entry of the parties, their counsel, their witnesses, the board members, board staff, and the court reporter. All persons who attend … will be required to present a form of valid photo identification (e.g., a driver’s license, a passport, a government employee badge) in order to enter the hearing site.”

And no one on the PSB staff thought to say something like, “Uh, boss, won’t somebody point out that this sounds like the directive of an agency of a police state?”

Not if an agency doesn’t care what anybody thinks.

Furthermore, as Judge Reiss’ decision points out, the PSB did not bother to take other steps to deal with its (legitimate) concern about protesters disrupting the hearing. It didn’t even bother to ask the disrupters to stop disrupting, or, failing that, to leave the hearing room. It could have arranged with law enforcement to have the disrupters ejected.

It did not. Instead, it just ordered the meeting closed. Two of the three board members, including Chairman James Volz, are lawyers. So are at least six members of its staff. It boggles the mind to suppose that not one of them knew their order could not stand.


Asked whether that had been discussed, PSB chief counsel June Tierney, generally cooperative and accommodating in an interview, declined to answer.

Perhaps the Public Service Board and Rising Tide Vermont deserve each other.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b)


Quote

Barbara Alsop

As you point out, Mr. Margolis, utilities get what they want before the PSB, even when they don’t do due diligence. This has been true from the time of rural electrification, when the naysayers were the current ratepayers who didn’t want to subsidize extension of electricity to rural towns. Then the “public good” was not in much doubt since electricity was obviously the path to the future.

The issue of utilities is not so clear any more. The regulators and the companies have reached an agreement that more is generally better, and they get along just fine without public input. But times are changing, as is the climate, and when the state won’t work to stop the changes, someone else has to assert the true public good. In 1992, the world first tried to slow the leviathan of climate change in Kyoto, and the US said no dice. In the years since, science has become a dirty word in this country, and the people have to protect themselves when their government doesn’t do it any more.

24  |  -12   

http://vtdigger.org/2016/09/04/margolis-drowning-in-a-tide-of-arrogance/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 13, 2016, 01:33:11 pm
Coal Facilities to Shutdown in Colorado
Quote



Dear Anthony,

We took a huge step forward for the climate this month as WildEarth Guardians reached a new agreement that will shutter two coal-fired power plants and a coal mine in Colorado. 

All told, 500 megawatts of coal-fired power are going to be taken offline, opening the door for cleaner energy and more sustainable economies to take hold. 

What’s more, the deal will keep five million metric tons of carbon from being released every year and eliminate millions more tons of toxic air pollution.

That’s like taking more than one million cars off the road.

The agreement, struck between Guardians, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the State of Colorado, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Parks Conservation Association, is huge.

It will close one of the smokestacks at Tri-State’s coal-fired power plant in Craig, Colorado, retire the company’s power plant in the western Colorado town of Nucla, as well as close the coal mine that feeds the Nucla plant.

I believe this is one of the most significant moves away from coal to happen in the Rocky Mountain West, and it is happening exactly where we need to move away from fossil fuels.

Whether it’s Boulder, Colorado committing to 100% clean energy or coal-dependent Craig acknowledging that our latest agreement provides “an opportunity” to diversify and strengthen their local economy. Communities across the American West are realizing it simply isn't worth it to depend on coal.

To be sure, we still have progress to make. In the western U.S., more than 50% of our power still comes from coal. Although renewable energy is catching up, utilities continue to embrace fossil fuels at the expense of wind, solar, and efficiencies.

We’re not going to stop until the entire American West is 100% fossil fuel-free. We can’t afford to. Our climate and our future are depending on us. In the meantime, let’s celebrate our success as we move forward more resolutely than ever.

With your help, we’re making the transition away from coal a reality. We’re shutting down coal and creating an opportunity for a better future. Thank you.

For the wild,

Jeremy Nichols
Climate and Energy Program Director
WildEarth Guardians
jnichols@wildearthguardians.org
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 16, 2016, 05:54:55 pm
09/16/2016 01:18 PM 

International Criminal Court Turns Attention To Environmental Destruction, Protecting Indigenous People From Land-Grabs

SustainableBusiness.com News

In a world where rapacious growth moves profits and stock markets, deadly conflicts are becoming commonplace as what's left of the world's undeveloped land is gobbled up for exploitation. When people stand against this destruction, and being kicked off their land, they too often are murdered.

That's why the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced a new policy. Their mission of investigating "crimes against humanity" is expanding beyond war crimes and genocide to environmental destruction and illegal land grabs from indigenous people.

Corporations and corrupt politicians can now be held criminally responsible under international law. 

This is a landmark shift in international criminal justice and  could reshape how business is done in developing countries, says Global Witness, a non-profit that's been urging and tracking this for years.

Honduran Activist Murdered

 
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Berta Cáceres was murdered in Honduras this year.

Based in The Hague, the Court prosecutes the world's worst crimes where domestic courts are unwilling or unable to act. Other new priorities are: crimes against children; gender-based violence; cultural destruction; arms and human trafficking, terrorism and financial crimes. 

Monsanto will face the ICC October 12-16 for crimes against nature and humanity, and ecocide. It faces a trial for its steady stream of toxic products, which have permanently damaged the environment and caused illness or death for thousands of people: PCBs; 2,4,5 T (dioxin component of Agent Orange); Roundup; and bovine growth hormones.

Millions Evicted From Their Land 

Millions of people have been evicted from their land - illegally and often violently - by the global rush by big agriculture (ie, palm plantations), mining, enormous hydroelectric dams, logging, drilling, toxic dumping etc. Colluding governments have allowed corporations to take over tens of millions of hectares of land in the past 10 years, reports The Guardian.

 Last year was the deadliest yet. Three people were murdered every week as they defended their land from theft and destructive industries, says Global Witness. 

"Chasing communities off their land and trashing the environment has become an accepted way of doing business in many resource-rich yet cash-poor countries," notes Gillian Caldwell, Executive Director. "Today's decision by the ICC shows the age of impunity is coming to an end. Company bosses and politicians complicit in violently seizing land, razing tropical forests or poisoning water sources could soon find themselves standing trial in the Hague alongside war criminals and dictators. The ICC's interest could help improve the lives of millions of people and protect critical ecosystems."

"National governments and legislators should now follow suit. Land rights must be strengthened in countries that sell land, and respected by the companies that invest in it. A far stronger legal architecture is required internationally to bring an end to the human suffering and environmental cost of the global trade in land." 

In Latin America and South Asia, a surge in investments on undeveloped land has led to murders by hired assassins or by police as people defend their rights to the land.   

"Tackling land-grabbing will also help address some of the causes of climate change, since deforestation is very often a result," says Richard Rogers at Global Diligence, an international criminal law firm.

Honduras, The Most Dangerous Country

Global Citizen ranks Honduras as the most dangerous country for environmental activism right now.

 This year, Berta Cáceres won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for leading a successful grassroots effort that forced the world's largest dam builder (China's state-owned Sinohydro), to pull out of building the 17-dam Agua Zarca complex. Months later, she was murdered when two anonymous shooters forced themselves into her home at 1AM.

As co-founder of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), she worked for decades to protect lands from megaprojects like dams, mines and logging, drawing the ire of loggers, palm oil interests, and dam-builders. She and her colleagues faced ongoing harassment and threats for their peaceful protests.

 Two weeks after Berta's death, her colleague, Nelson Garcia, was murdered outside his house, trying to prevent the eviction of 150 families from their land for the dam. "They started to tear down the houses, they destroyed the maize, the banana trees, and the yuca plantations," exclaimed Tomas Gomez, another activist with COPINH.

That prompted the Netherlands Development Finance Company to withdraw from the dam project. But because there are always other financial interests waiting in the wings, the dam remains under construction.

In Brazil, indigenous people are in a "war" against megadams and agriculture moving deeper into the Amazon. 

While financial institutions across the world are implicated in land deals and ensuing destructive projects, China's tentacles are easily felt in Latin America. Since 2005, China has invested $119 billion to finance mines, dams and even a transcontinental railroad. It's a major player in the bigger-than-Panama Canal project in Nicaragua.

The railway, for example, would require cutting and fragmenting forests in one of Peru's most biodiverse areas and where indigenous people still live. 

We've written extensively on renaissance of mega-dams, which are displacing tens of thousands of people and destroying pristine ecosystems across Latin America, and soon Africa. In 2014 alone, 829 new dams got the go-ahead in South America, according to Hydroworld.com. Many of the projects have the sole purpose of supplying cheap energy to corporations building mines and other extractive activities. All this stokes climate change.

Read our article, The Dark Side of Peru and Elsewhere .. For Environmental Activists.  (http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.feature/id/1927)

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26670
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 16, 2016, 07:24:39 pm
PAGE ONE OF AN EXCELLENT THREE PAGE ARTICLE:

How to Stop Capitalism’s Deadly War   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) With Nature

Posted on Sep 13, 2016

By Paul Street
Quote


 So far, 2016 is the hottest year on record. So was 2015. So was 2014. (John McColgan / U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Earth scientists now know that the history of our planet has been set for some time in our current geological age, the Anthropocene. According to leading experts Will Steffen, Paul Crutzen and John McNeill, in this era, “human activities have become so pervasive and profound that they rival the great forces of Nature and are pushing the earth into planetary terra incognita. The Earth is rapidly moving into a less biologically diverse, less forested, much warmer, and probably wetter and stormier era.” We are living in a “no-analogue state” in which “the Earth system has recently moved well outside the range of natural variability.”

The new earth epoch bearing its species’ mark and name is nothing for Homo sapiens to hold up with pride. The unprecedented changes introduced by humanity are ecologically unsustainable for decent life on the planet. Thanks to the Anthropocene, the world is now in the middle of “its sixth great extinction event, with rates of species loss growing rapidly for both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The atmospheric concentrations of several important greenhouse gases have increased substantially, and the Earth is warming rapidly,” according to Steffen et al., bringing us ever closer to the precipice of ecosystem collapse and putting prospects for a decent future at grave risk. The signs are clear to those willing to look: the melting of polar ice and Arctic permafrost, the acid bleaching of global coral reefs, the pronounced warming of the oceans, the drying out of the Amazonian rain forests. All this and more are moving at an unexpectedly rapid pace. Marked by now-predictable epic forest fires and floods, 2016 is the hottest year on record. So was 2015. So was 2014.

The terrible trends and data have led the venerable progressive political scientist and social-justice advocate Susan George to introduce what she calls “a new phenomenon in the history of humankind.” In a recent lecture to the International Centre for the Promotion of Human Rights in Buenos Aires, she names it “geocide,” meaning “the collective action of a single species among millions of other species which is changing planet Earth to the point that it can become unrecognisable and unfit for life.” Humanity, George says, “is committing geocide against all components of nature, whether microscopic organisms, plants, animals or against itself, homo sapiens, humankind.” George is unstinting in her denunciation of the human species: “Homo sapiens has only existed for roughly 200,000 years. The time we’ve spent on this planet compared to its total age is infinitesimally short, just the tiniest sliver of geological time. It amounts to a mere 0.00004 percent of Earth’s existence. And although any given species of plant or animal—vertebrate or invertebrate—tends to last on average about 10 million years, our species seems determined to cause its own extinction, along with the rest of creation, long before its allotted time.”
 
It’s a hard to imagine a more terrible crime. Geocide is bigger than genocide.

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The “Capitalocene”

But is the culprit really Homo sapiens as a whole? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251) The concept of the Anthropocene has rich scientific validity. It holds welcome political relevance in countering the carbon-industrial complex’s denial of humanity’s responsibility for contemporary climate change. Still, we must guard against lapsing into the historically unspecific and class-blind uses of the term “anthros,” and project the recent age of capital onto the broad 100,000-year swath of human activity on and in nature. As the brilliant and prolific environmental historian and political economist Jason Moore reminded Sasha Lilley during a KPFA radio interview in 2015:
Quote
“It was not humanity as a whole that created … large-scale industry and the massive textile factories of Manchester in the 19th century or Detroit in the last century or Shenzhen today. It was capital.”
It is only during a relatively small slice of human history—roughly the last 500 years, give or take a century or so—that humanity has been socially and institutionally wired from the top down to wreck livable ecology.

A compelling case has been made by Moore and other left environmentalists that it is more historically appropriate to understand humanity’s earth-altering assault on livable ecology as “the Capitalocene.” Capitalism has ruled the world since 1600 or thereabouts (by academic calculations), and only during this relatively brief period of history has human social organization developed the capacity and compulsion to transform earth systems. “Geocide” is a capitalist crime, not a transgression of humanity over its long and mostly noncapitalist history.

The Not-So-Golden Age: Capitalism at Its Regulated Best

But when did the Capitalocene really begin? The Industrial Revolution (the starting point for most Anthropocene thinkers) launched in the early 19th century, and capitalism (Moore’s deep culprit) is 500 years old. But it was during the post-World World II era of U.S.-led global corporate monopolies and emergent multinational capitalism that humanity forever altered earth systems in ways that pose grave and fundamental threats to life on the planet. The latest research indicates massive quantitative acceleration of human economic activity around 1950, including “an explosive growth of fossil fuel use,” according to environmental-sciences professor James Hansen and co-authors in an article in Science. This created a qualitative transformation in Homo sapiens’ impact on earth system trends: levels of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, stratospheric ozone, surface ocean temperature, ocean acidification, marine fish capture, coastal nitrogen, tropical forest depletion, land domestication and terrestrial biosphere degradation. Leading earth scientists increasingly see what they call this “Great Acceleration” in the post-World War II era as not a new stage but instead as the actual onset of the Anthropocene.

“The brutal truth,” the dauntless ecocide chronicler Robert Hunziker writes in Counterpunch, is “that the prevailing tenure of political, economic neoliberalism, which revolves around profits (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fd2.gif&hash=98d536bf1047a88ef91e9c45e08b725347c9fe13) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Felqahera-trading.com%2Fhome%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F04%2Fdollar-sign-thumbnail1.jpg&hash=e1962ecaa694d312d50a9984ee058a45aed1e860), is screwing things up.” But the underlying malefactor behind geocide isn’t merely the neoliberal, deregulated and so-called free market capitalism of the last four decades. It’s the profit system itself. The years of U.S.-led global capitalism that locked in the geocidal Anthropocene emerged from a high-growth, mass-consumerist profits system operating at its regulated, high-functioning, middle class-expanding and vaguely social-democratic, Keynesian best. That not-so-Golden Age brought us to the onset of a grave ecological crisis, what the great left eco-socialist Barry Commoner warned about in his book “The Closing Circle,” written at the end of the postwar boom. It pushed us into an environmental calamity that some leftists, even today, treat as the dysfunctional obsession of doomsday “catastrophists” and as “just one of many concerns and possibly a diversion from the ‘real’ class struggle”—the incisive Australian eco-socialist Ian Angus’ accurate and critical characterization of such horrible reasoning.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_to_stop_capitalisms_deadly_war_with_nature_20160913

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No intelligent person should mourn the demise of a “system that consumes unpaid natures as a condition of its existence.”
As Moore almost casually observes in the middle of his monograph: “Calls for capital to pay the ‘true costs’ of resource use ... are to be welcomed, because such calls directly contradict capital’s fundamental logic. To call for capital to pay its own way is to call for the abolition of capitalism.” Let the calls spread wide and far. A system based on private profit from the uncompensated and geocidal extraction of massive value from the earth and its inhabitants surely deserves to die.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_to_stop_capitalisms_deadly_war_with_nature_20160913
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 17, 2016, 12:49:42 pm
| Sep. 16, 2016 12:11PM EST

$90 Billion Whistleblower Suit Filed Against Four of the Nation's Largest Chemical Companies

and Lorraine Chow ByLorraine Chow   

Four of the country's largest chemical companies have been accused of selling billions of dollars worth of harmful isocyanate chemicals but intentionally concealing their dangers to consumers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the past several decades.



(https://allisonkcobbdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/p1010243.jpg)
Better Cancers Through Profitable Chemistry (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)


BASF Corporation, Bayer Material Science LLC, Dow Chemical Company and Huntsman International LLC   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605) have been named in a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit brought by New York law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP on behalf of the U.S. government.

EcoWatch learned that the recently unsealed whistleblower lawsuit was served on the chemical companies on Wednesday. The lawsuit was originally filed under seal in federal court in Northern California.

Kasowitz brought this action on behalf of itself and the federal government to recover more than $90 billion in damages and penalties under the FCA, which imposes penalties for concealing obligations to the government.

According to a copy of the lawsuit seen by EcoWatch,
Quote
"Each of these companies is separately liable to the United States Government for billions of dollars in civil reporting penalties, which continue to accumulate by tens of thousands of dollars daily, and for billions of dollars in similarly increasing breach of contract damages."

In the suit, the law firm said that the defendants manufacture and sell isocyanate chemicals such as methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), polymeric MDI (PMDI) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI). These raw materials make up polyurethane products such as liquid coatings, paints and adhesives; flexible foam used in mattresses and cushions; rigid foam used as insulation; and elastomers used to make automotive interiors.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) states that exposure to isocyanate can irritate the skin and mucous membranes, cause chest tightness and difficult breathing. Isocyanates also include compounds classified as potential human carcinogens and is known to cause cancer in animals.


As alleged in the complaint, the defendants, the isocyanate industry and the EPA have long known that inhalation of isocyanates, including MDI, PMDI and TDI, can cause harm to human health.


Kasowitz believes that the chemical giants obtained scientific evidence that their widely used isocyanate chemicals can cause serious health injuries in ways not known to the EPA or the public, but failed to disclose this information to the EPA, thereby breaching their obligations under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

"Between at least 1979 and 2003, each defendant obtained and developed discrete and separate items of scientific and medical information that TDI, MDI and PMDI can cause and had caused permanent respiratory injury in humans when inhaled at levels below applicable inhalation exposure limits (low-level inhalation)," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit further states that "Each defendant also knew during this time period that a very small quantity of TDI, MDI or PMDI on the skin—as little as one drop or 50 microliters—could cause respiratory injury in humans.

"Defendants knew that this information reasonably supported the conclusion that TDI, MDI and PMDI presented a substantial risk of injury to health, that the EPA was not adequately informed of that information, and that TSCA therefore required that they (each defendant) immediately report the substantial risk information to the EPA."


According to Andy Davenport of Kasowitz, "The defendants' cover-up implicates major human health concerns. Thankfully, the whistleblower law allows us to assist the federal government in holding these companies responsible for their actions while we alert regulators and the public to the serious undisclosed hazards of these chemicals."

http://www.ecowatch.com/whistleblower-lawsuit-chemical-companies-2005784783.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 17, 2016, 01:09:10 pm
Wall Street Is Prepared to Destroy Sacred Burial Grounds of the Sioux

Posted on Sep 16, 2016

By Jerome Irwin
 
Water protectors at Sacred Stone Camp in Cannon Ball, N.D., with a replica of the flag that Gen. Custer’s force (at article link) carried into battle.  (Rob Willson / Bold Alliance)

Major kudos go out to the Texas-based crude oil company Energy Transfer Partners and its multitude of Wall Street financiers. The lineup reads like a Who’s Who of banksters in the world: Sunoco, Bank of America, HSBC, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, U.S. Bank, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Bank of Nova Scotia, Citibank, Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Canada, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Tokyo, Société Générale, Intesa Sanpaolo, BBVA Compass, Phillips 66, Enbridge and Marathon, to name a few of the 30-plus international funders of over $10 billion dollars. Their collective contributions to the Dakota Access pipeline are in keeping with the time-honored, ruthless American tradition of racism, fascism and corporatism toward people of color and the sacredness of land and life.

The moguls of the petroleum industry and reckless abusers of the earth’s finite resources are now intent upon creating an underground pipeline wall 1,172 miles long that winds back and forth across the Missouri River, through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois, with pipeline connections to the Gulf of Mexico and many international destinations beyond. The penchant among politicians and corporatists alike to constantly build walls—whether above or below ground—of various kinds between nations makes this current pipeline controversy especially poignant on the eve of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as voters struggle to decide who is the lesser evil regarding the support of Wall Street, the Pentagon and the establishment’s environmental destruction and warmongers in the world. One wonders what relevant, pithy commentary will be forthcoming from presidential candidates Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson?

Energy Transfer Partners and its coterie of fat cats recently sent in a fleet of Caterpillar tractors to destroy the culturally sensitive, sacred burial grounds of the Standing Rock Sioux people before their legal representatives could address relevant state and federal protocols in a court of law, or North Dakota’s State Historic Preservation Office could do a proper survey of the area. One could either call it a stroke of genius or stupidity, matched only, perhaps, by the diabolical craftiness of North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple, who called in the National Guard and stirred tribal memories of muzzling dissent.

 
Meanwhile, the brutality and ruthlessness continues at the hands of those like the Frost Kennels of Ohio and their ex-police and military dog handlers who’ve been hired to sic their trained German shepherd guard dogs on peacefully protesting men, women, elders and children from all races and nations who have begun to gather in ever-greater numbers to protest what is going on.

This confrontation in the distant, isolated northern plains and prairie lands of the Lakota and Dakota Sioux people has all the earmarks of a potentially brewing, historic Wounded Knee. Will it end up becoming yet another massacre of 1890 or siege of 1973?

Will America and the fat cat corporatists and politicians ever learn to live in peace and harmony with those so different from themselves, who live on ancestral lands they consider forever sacred?

A hopeful answer to that question has been put forth by recent dramatic, stunning interventions. The Obama administration’s departments of the Interior, Justice and Army stepped in to provide a temporary halt of construction. This action is meant to ensure meaningful Sioux tribal input to the dispute and show respect for its treaty laws and natural laws of life, suggesting that some sanity has begun to prevail and a window of higher spiritual consciousness and awakening has been **** ajar.

The world holds its breath as it waits to see if this window can be thrown wide open.

Jerome Irwin is a Canadian author. During the 1960s and early ’70s, he lived with the Dakota and Lakota peoples on the Crow Creek Sioux and Oglala Sioux reservations in South Dakota. He later published “The Wild Gentle Ones: A Turtle island Odyssey,” a book that documents these tribes’ historical plight and those of other indigenous peoples on Turtle Island.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/wall_street_prepared_to_destroy_sacred_sioux_indian_burial_grounds_20160916
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 17, 2016, 01:23:18 pm
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fassets.survivalinternational.org%2Fimages%2Flogos%2Flogo.dark.png&hash=723eccb02f7a39a937d1fd970fda4da7dc97f9f7)

Victory!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040716230142.jpeg&hash=e3e3e3018263d5b26d55382ceaec3f28aac961b9) Canadian oil company pulls out of Matsés territory   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fza4.gif&hash=2db0a6001703f4089cb64dc38159bb3d467e1bff) 
16 September 2016

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"The Matsés have strongly opposed any oil exploration on their land"

© Survival International

A Canadian oil company has pulled out of the territory of an Amazon tribe in Peru. In July 2016, Pacific E&P cancelled its contract to explore for oil, in the face of stiff opposition from the Matsés Indians.

The Matsés’ resistance has prevented the oil company from starting its first phase of oil exploration.

Oil exploration is devastating for tribal peoples. The process uses thousands of underground explosions along hundreds of tracks cut into the forest to determine the location of oil deposits.

The explosions scare away animals, leaving little food to hunt, and the whole process causes enormous disruption.

A Matsés woman said, “Oil will destroy the place where our rivers are born. What will happen to the fish? What will the animals drink?’

The Indians are now campaigning for the oil concession to be cancelled, and to stop the Peruvian authorities awarding a new contract to a different oil company.

Pacific E&P still plans to press ahead with exploration nearby in an area where uncontacted Matsés Indians are known to live.

All uncontacted tribal peoples face catastrophe unless their land is protected. Whole populations are being wiped out by genocidal violence from outsiders who steal their land and resources, and by diseases like flu and measles to which they have no resistance.

Any oil exploration will devastate the tribe and Survival is campaigning to stop it.

http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/11415 (http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/11415)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 18, 2016, 01:06:22 pm
Quote
“Ignorance and shameless economic opportunism will destroy our forest ecosystems if we are not careful"

Op-Ed: Dead trees aren't a wildfire threat, but overlogging them will ruin our forest ecosystems


SNIPPET:

There are now 66 million dead trees in California’s forests due to several years of drought and native bark beetles, creating a “catastrophic” wildfire threat—or so claims U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400).  While Vilsack’s assertion may resonate with many in the general public because it makes intuitive sense, it simply isn’t true.

Among scientists, there is an overwhelming consensus that weather (hot, dry, windy conditions) determines how wildland fires behave, not the density of dead trees or “snags.”

Trees larger than just a few inches in diameter are not consumed in fires — only the outer bark layer and the needles actually burn up — so the great majority of the dead trees in the forest do not significantly influence fire behavior, even if they are dry. Besides, once trees die, the combustible oils in the needles quickly begin to dissipate and the needles fall, making it more — not less — difficult for flames to spread through the forest canopy.


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http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-hanson-dead-trees-fires-vilsack-20160627-snap-story.html



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 18, 2016, 01:42:36 pm
YOLO Economics: Growth  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs2277341.gif&hash=1a8375f11d76a653bcb48e30eaa7b652175f029d) on a Burning Planet
Fossil fuels provided a one-time-only quantum leap in growth. Coming up with a new economic model should be on everyone's bucket list.

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“Sustainable growth” just won’t cut it. We have to come up with something that redefines growth, emphasizes the importance of equity and dignity, and ensures that innovation works for us all.

The economy, we have been taught, is a cat with considerably more than nine lives. The bottom might drop out of the stock market, but it will rebound — again and again. The Chinese were on top of the world, economically, for a thousand years or more, but then the colonial powers cut the country down to size — and now China has regained its former glory. Laptops, which once boosted productivity, no longer do so, but don’t worry: another innovation will soon come along to revolutionize the workplace.

Growth is the sine qua non of every modern economy, from North Dakota to North Korea. Not everyone agrees, of course. Even before global warming appeared on the horizon, environmentalists came up with a persuasive argument about the limits of growth. The earth only has so many resources. There’s just not enough for everybody to own multiple SUVs, indulge in all-you-can-eat sushi buffets, and go on back-to-back cruise vacations. Climate change is just the final warning for a voracious race that ignored all previous recommendations of restraint.

For the last couple decades, however, growth in the industrialized world has slowed down. Europe and Japan have entered a long period of stagnation. The United States has seen various ups and downs, but the purchasing power of your wages really hasn’t budged since 1973. On top of that, U.S. productivity has slumped since 2010, with the most recent decline being the longest since 1979. Where growth has occurred, it has been unevenly distributed. Between 1947 and 1970, the bottom fifth of the U.S. population enjoyed a 3 percent growth increase in real personal disposable income. From 2000 to 2015, it was only .1 percent. The top 1 percent, meanwhile saw a 1.4 percent increase between 1947 and 1970 that swelled to 2.3 percent between 2000 and 2015.


Don’t worry, the optimists coo. Growth will return. It always does.

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So, for instance, in data released by the Census Bureau that made headlines this week, the incomes of middle-class Americans rose by a little over 5 percent in 2015, the kind of increase not seen since the 1960s. “There, you see, we told you so!” trumpet the optimists. The economy has finally recovered from the economic crisis of the late 2000s.

Ah, but if you read the fine print, you find out that, adjusted for inflation, median incomes have not yet recovered to the levels of just before the recent recession. Nor have they returned to the levels of 1999. Our paychecks are bigger, but they don’t go any farther.

The forecast is even gloomier.
Economic growth, when it does return, has been anemic, doesn’t create a lot of jobs, and has increased rather than reduced inequality. That’s the argument of economist Robert Gordon’s compelling new book, The Rise and Fall of American Growth, which builds on a lifetime of research into technology and productivity. Say goodbye to the American dream, Gordon tells us. If you think it’s possible to make America great again — to re-experience the growth rates of the 1950s and 1960s — think again. The enormous growth the United States enjoyed after World War II will never recur. It was a one-time-only occurrence.

This is not anti-Americanism. This is not pessimism or Malthusianism or neo-Marxist millenarianism. It is, simply, data.

And it’s not just a problem for the United States.


Only Once

In an era of the “next big thing,” it’s hard to swallow the idea that we are no longer living in an exceptional period of economic prosperity.

I have an amazing computer in my pocket that can tell me the best Chinese restaurant nearby, record and edit a video, and produce a veritable library of e-books and audio books at a touch of the finger. Oh, and I can use it to make calls and send emails and post updates to thousands of friends and colleagues around the globe. My father would have been amazed by this phone; my grandfather would have been freaked out; go back any further and the owner of such an object would probably have been burned at the stake. How can we not be living in the best of all possible worlds?

In his review of Robert Gordon’s new book, William Nordhaus provides the following startling statistics:
 
Quote
For most of human history, economic progress moved at a crawl. According to the economic historian Bradford DeLong, from the first rock tools used by humanoids three million years ago, to the earliest cities ten thousand years ago, through the Middle Ages, to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution around 1800, living standards doubled (with a growth of 0.00002 percent per year). Another doubling took place over the subsequent period to 1870. Then, according to standard calculations, the world economy took off.


Yes, you read that correctly. For a stretch of three million years, humans experienced a growth rate of .00002 percent per year. That includes the first four decades or so of the Industrial Revolution, which started around 1760. In other words, the contemporaries of Mozart enjoyed an average standard of living virtually indistinguishable from those laboring at the time of King Solomon.

The hundred years between 1870 and 1970, however, was truly a time of miracles. “Manual outdoor jobs were replaced by work in air-conditioned environments, housework was increasingly performed by electric appliances, darkness was replaced by light, and isolation was replaced not just by travel, but also by color television images bringing the world into the living room,” writes Gordon. “The economic revolution of 1870 to 1970 was unique in human history, unrepeatable because so many of its achievements could happen only once.”

Very few people dispute that that was a very special century of human progress, particularly since it lifted an enormous tide of people out of poverty and into a swelling middle class. Much more controversial are Gordon’s assertions that the revolution ended in 1970 and will never be repeated.

Gordon’s argument revolves around the relationship between innovation and productivity. There were, of course, inventions before 1870. But they didn’t prove transformative in terms of human productivity, not like the telegraph, running water, the light bulb or the automobile. These inventions enabled us to make more things, make them more efficiently, and get them into the hands of more people. The information revolution was the latest in this series of transformations. “As the impact of the late-19th-century inventions faded away around 1970, the computer revolution took over and allowed the economy to remain on our historic path of 2% annual growth,” Gordon writes.

Eventually, however, the IT revolution stopped boosting productivity so dramatically and, arguably, started to detract from it through such time sucks as Facebook and Angry Birds. Gordon estimates that the productivity turning point came around 2004 (coincidentally when Facebook was launched) and the real slowdown began in 2010 (shortly after Angry Birds launched).

So, what does Gordon mean by “only once”? After all, the automobile is still around. So are running water, the light bulb, and the computer. They continue to contribute value to the economy. But they no longer provide a quantum leap in growth. New baselines are established for productivity. Technology diffuses, and other countries or regions begin to take competitive advantage of the same improvements.

Gordon identifies six “headwinds” that make future growth less likely, at least for the United States. We’re no longer able to take advantage of the baby boomer bump or women entering the workforce in large numbers. We already benefited from the explosion of higher education, and now students face a huge debt load. Then there’s rising inequality, climate change, globalization and the erosion of the manufacturing sector, and the huge amount of debt held at both the household and governmental level. Combine these six ingredients and you have a recipe for Japanese-style stagnation.

Now let’s take a look at how this “only once” insight affects other countries and geopolitics more generally.


Beyond Innovation

Western Europe experienced enormous growth in the post-World War II era, and it too took advantage of a number of “only once” boosts on top of those Gordon identified for the United States. The first, of course, was the Marshall Plan, which injected a one-time sum into the war-ravaged region that could rebuild what had been destroyed. The second was the European integration process, which created economies of scale for the region, linked supply and demand across borders, and also provided resources for economic laggards to catch up.

After 1989, East-Central Europe did not receive anything like a Marshall Plan. Indeed, the governments that emerged from the collapse of communism still had to pay the debts incurred by the previous regimes. But they did have two “only once” options they could access. The privatization of state-owned enterprises provided an enormous dividend for the new governments, which they either used to modernize their economies or lost in the swamp of corruption. The second option that nearly all the countries have pursued has been membership in the EU, which provided access to EU stabilization funds. Although East-Central Europe made important gains since it experienced its own downturn in the 1990s, the use of these “only once” options has not resulted in the closure of the economic gap with the West.

Following the lead of Japan and then South Korea, China experienced double-digit economic growth in the 1990s and into the 2000s. Virtually all of the “only once” factors converged at one time: agricultural modernization, transportation revolution, and computerization. The state was able to deploy resources in a way to encourage these transformations. It could also take advantage of another “only once” factor: cheap labor. China leveraged its enormous, literate workforce to carve out a competitive position in the global economy, and then work its way up the value chain. India is attempting to do the same now.

The challenge remains: can Europe break out of its rut and China regain its earlier growth figures? Not likely: and that will have important political ramifications.

After all, the global economy faces certain headwinds as well. The industrialized world is struggling with a debt overload, faces a demographic crunch, hasn’t figured out a way to address growing income polarization, and comes up against resource depletion and global warming. The traditional answer to these problems has been: we need to grow our way out of it. Prime the pump! Innovate!   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fp8.gif&hash=34db9228a959b3b83fc65b38a1aa92a40d56f976)

If Robert Gordon is right, however, that option no longer exists. Some developing countries will still be able to take advantage of some “once only” options, if it doesn’t push them over their carbon allowances. But the rest of the world must come to grips with modest growth from here on out. Yes, of course, inventions on the horizon like artificial intelligence could prove to be transformative. AlphaGo recently beat the world’s best Go player with an entirely new approach called “reinforcement learning” where the computer begins to develop a form of intuition about how to play the game. But the evidence so far suggests that such innovations will produce jobless growth — think: automation — and not provide the same lift for the poor and middle class as earlier industrial revolutions.

Economic stagnation, polarization of wealth, anger at an ineffectual and/or corrupt elite: here is the prescription for the rise of Trump-style populism. The global economy has failed us because it hasn’t delivered the growth it once did between 1870 and 1970. Trump and his friends imagine that we can go backward and revive the golden age. The data says: no.
 

Fairy Tale Growth

Robert Gordon discusses the innovations of the late 19th-century but spends less time on the substances that made those transformations possible. Here, too, we encounter the iron rule of “only once,” and it has an almost fairytale quality to it.

Back in the 19th century, we scraped at the earth and released a magic genie from his prisonhouse. In gratitude, the genie granted humanity one wish. We asked to be rich and powerful. And voila: the genie of fossil fuels did just that, making capitalism possible on a global scale, creating a class of the super-rich, and pulling an unprecedented number of people out of poverty and into a swelling middle class.

Ah, but there’s more than one story in The Thousand and One Nights about genies granting wishes. The happier one centers around Alladin, who indeed becomes rich and powerful after rubbing the magic lamp. A perhaps more realistic tale involves a fisherman who releases an evil genie who grants only one very specific wish: the poor fisherman can specify how he wants to be killed.

It’s not yet clear which genie we released when we rubbed the earth and out came coal and natural gas and oil. All those fossil fuels certainly have made us rich and powerful. But ultimately, they may simply grant humanity a single wish: to choose the way we die.

As importantly, the genie comes out of the bottle only once. We are not currently busy burying dinosaurs and massive ferns to create another cache of fossil fuels for some future generation. What we have — whenever it does run out — is all we have. Perhaps if we use them wisely, these fossil fuels will serve as a bridge to a technology, such as solar or fusion, that can provide comparable amounts of energy. Perhaps we can curtail the use of these fuels quickly enough to prevent the earth from becoming a ball of fire.

Either way, the enormous benefits that have accrued from fossil fuels provide a one-time boost in economic growth.

In response to Gordon’s “once-only” rule, we should take develop a YOLO economics. I’m not talking about the individuals who declare that “you only live once” (YOLO) before they splurge on the latest Harley-Davidson. I’m thinking more of the environmentalist take on YOLO, interpreting the “you” collectively: we, the human race, also only live once, and therefore this generation should take care to pass on the planet to the next generation in better shape than we received it.

“Sustainable growth” just won’t cut it. We have to come up with something that redefines growth, emphasizes the importance of equity and dignity, and ensures that innovation works for us all. In the end, coming up with this new economic model should be on everyone’s bucket list.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/09/17/yolo-economics-growth-burning-planet (http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/09/17/yolo-economics-growth-burning-planet)
[/quote]

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 20, 2016, 08:10:52 pm
Kenya to Restore Denmark-sized Area of Degraded Land  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fearthhug.gif&hash=3abcf70466f34337f2d702ebd9e02c650d5c4c20)

by Hayden Higgins Hayden Higgins and Aaron Minnick - September 13, 2016

SNIPPET:


Kenya committed to restore 5.1 million hectares of degraded landscapes. Photo (at link) by Aaron Minnick/WRI

Kenya announced on September 8th that it will restore 5.1 million hectares (12.6 million acres) of degraded land, an area roughly the size of Denmark, to more productive use. The move is poised to improve livelihoods, curb climate change, safeguard biodiversity and more.

Sizing the Problem—and the Opportunity

As a result of poor land use, including overcultivation and overgrazing, Kenya has been quickly losing land to desertification. The drylands that make up much of the country are particularly susceptible.

Kenya’s restoration plan is not only notable because it will reverse some of this degradation, but because of how the country set its international target.

WRI participated in a technical working group that used a novel research approach to map Kenya’s different land areas. That group found 38.8 million hectares (96 million acres)—more than 65 percent of Kenya’s total land area—suitable for restoration. The goal announced last Thursday represents more than 13 percent of the total restorable land area. (View the map here (http://ken.restoration-atlas.org/map/).)

The development of this map goes beyond spurring the commitment—it will help government, civil society and business leaders ascertain how they will achieve it. Local leaders can use the map to identify restoration activities, which could involve everything from planting trees alongside crops to reforesting clear-cut forests to adding vegetation along roads.

http://www.wri.org/blog/2016/09/kenya-restore-denmark-sized-area-degraded-land
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 22, 2016, 01:38:40 pm
(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/all/themes/clew/logo.png)

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Audi deeply involved in emissions scandal

The VW Group subsidiary Audi apparently used software manipulation to stay below US emissions limits in its diesel engines for years, even though it has been denying this charge, reports Süddeutsche Zeitung.

An engineer wrote an email to managers as early as 2007 saying the carmaker wouldn’t manage to stick to official limits “entirely without cheating”, according to an investigation by the newspaper and public broadcasters NDR and WDR.

Thomas Fromm and Klaus Ott write that the software was used in diesel engines with a displacement of three litres. They say Audi is by now considered the “mother of the deceit” within the VW Group. Audi told the journalists it could not comment because of ongoing investigations in the US.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/eil-audi-tief-in-vw-abgasaffaere-verstrickt-1.3172434
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 22, 2016, 01:46:36 pm
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Climate killer for sale
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Utility Vattenfall wants to sell its Hamburg coal power plant Moorburg, according to a report by daily tageszeitung.

Vattenfall CEO Magnus Hall did not rule out a sale within five years, as the company did not need Moorburg in the long term. A Vattenfall Germany spokesperson said there were no concrete plans for a sale yet, but added that the plant did not fit to the company’s philosophy in the long term, as it wanted to become climate neutral by 2050.

http://www.reuters.com/article/vattenfall-coal-idUSL8N1BV32C
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 26, 2016, 12:56:38 pm
Thursday, September 1, 2016

WildEarth Guardians Reaches Western Colorado Clean Air and Clean Energy Agreement  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280416145345.jpeg&hash=c4e7afc08c72dc2f0bda6263e15988db481c2418)

Settlement With Tri-State Generation and Transmission Opens Door for Transition from Coal
Contact: Jeremy Nichols, (303) 437-7663, jnichols@wildearthguardians.org

Denver—A major agreement announced today between WildEarth Guardians, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and the owners of the Yampa Project at Craig Station, National Parks Conservation Association, Colorado, and the Environmental Protection Agency promises certainty for western Colorado’s clean air and energy future.

“With today’s agreement, Tri-State is taking a leading step forward in advancing clean energy for western Colorado and beyond
,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Director. “We applaud their commitment to protecting the air we breathe and charting a healthier and more sustainable future for us all.”

As part of the agreement, Tri-State is committing to retire coal-fired power generation in the western Colorado towns of Craig and Nucla. The company has agreed to retire one of three generating units at its Craig coal-fired power plant by the end of 2025 and to retire its Nucla power plant (and associated coal mine) by the end of 2022.

In total, more than 520 megawatts of coal-fired power generation will be retired to make way for cleaner and more affordable sources of electricity. The move will eliminate more than five million tons of carbon pollution every year, equal to taking around one million cars off the road, and eliminate around 7,000 tons of haze and smog forming emissions. 

Tri-State is also committing to meet stronger emission limits to protect air quality in the years leading up to the retirements.

“With the costs and uncertainties around coal continuing to mount, today’s agreement charts a better path forward,” said Nichols. “Today’s agreement represents a shared commitment from us all to help make Colorado and the American West healthier, cleaner, and more prosperous.” 

Today’s agreement modifies an earlier legal settlement reached with WildEarthGuardians and National Parks Conservation Association in 2014, where Tri-State agreed to upgrade pollution controls at its Craig coal-fired power plant in order to reduce haze pollution in National Parks and Wilderness Areas. 

The modified settlement will ultimately be approved through future state and federal proceedings.

 
 http://www.wildearthguardians.org/site/News2
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 26, 2016, 08:00:04 pm
UVM researcher’s work could provide salvation for bee species
Sep. 25, 2016, 8:27 pm by Mike Polhamus


Leif Richardson is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont. Provided photo (at article link)

One of the most common bees in Vermont as late as the 1990s appears to have been eradicated from the state, but a University of Vermont researcher has provided the federal government with data that could prove critical to the bee’s recovery.

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bombus affinis

That bee, commonly known as the rusty patched bumble bee, and known to scientists as bombus affinis, is being considered for federal protection through the Endangered Species Act, thanks to work by UVM postdoctoral research assistant Leif Richardson.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday proposed listing the rusty patched bumble bee as an endangered species. Although scientists say the insect’s decline has been precipitous and well-documented, the exact cause remains uncertain.

In its report, the Fish and Wildlife Service says the data for its analysis came primarily from Richardson’s work.

A co-author of a North American bee identification guide, Richardson said he collected thousands of records of bee observation in the course of writing the book. This data constitutes all but a few hundred of the observation records on which the Fish and Wildlife Service relied in determining the species may need further protection, Richardson said.
bees
A rusty patched bumble bee. Photo by Dan Mullen/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
An ecologist who studies bee declines and the relationship between flowers and bees, Richardson said he collects thousands of bees every summer and caught one of Vermont’s last known rusty patched bumble bees.

He found it in Huntington in 1999, one of two bombus affinis specimens seen in Vermont that year, Richardson said.

“I’ve looked for it every year thereafter,” he said. “I collect thousands (of bees) every summer. It was never seen again.”

The Vermont Center for Ecostudies collected more than 10,000 Vermont bees in 2012 and 2013 to survey extant species, and researchers involved in the project found not a single bombus affinis. These researchers searched “nearly every town, every county, every eco-region” in Vermont and found “exactly zero” bombus affinis, Richardson said, “which strongly suggests it’s gone from Vermont.”

Rusty patched bumble bee populations have fallen precipitously across the species’ historical range, and not just in Vermont, Richardson said.

As late as the 1990s, when bombus affinis was still one of the most common bee species in Vermont, it was found throughout 28 states and one Canadian province, Richardson said. In the last five years, the bees have disappeared from seven of those states, and in that time only solitary bees have been observed in all but three or four of the remaining states.

“I think the evidence is very clear that this is a case where that law should be brought into play and can actually help preserve a species that’s declining and in danger of extinction,” Richardson said.

The bee could fall under endangered species protection within a year, Richardson said, and the Fish and Wildlife Service is soliciting public comments on the proposed listing until Nov. 21.

About 10 percent of the value of America’s agriculture results from pollination, Richardson said, and protection for the rusty patched bumble bee could go a long way toward preserving other important pollinators.

Vermont legislators, in response to widely publicized die-offs among this and other pollinators in the state, formed a pollinator protection committee this year, and members met for the first time at the Statehouse this month.

Richardson said it’s not yet clear what must be done to address the problem, but said it’s important to preserve bombus affinis and other pollinators not just because of their intrinsic value, but because of their utility to humans.

Across the globe, 75 percent of crops depend on pollinators, he said. Of the total value of American agriculture, 10 percent results from pollinators, he said.

“This is a substantial economic issue,” Richardson said.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

“When we lose these wild species, it’s concerning to ecosystem health, or ecosystem function, but it’s also (worrying) for reasons having to do with human food supply,” he said.

If bombus affinis gets federal protection, he said, the economic impact could go in several directions.

“The conservative estimate is, we’ve actually suffered financial cost from the loss of these species,” due to its role in agriculture, Richardson said.

But in some parts of the bee’s range, farmers and others might have to apply fewer pesticides, and in particular those belonging to a class called neonicotinoids. Municipalities and other governments will need to consider the endangered species before making land use changes. And, Richardson said, grant funding might get allocated preferentially to bombus affinis and away from other topics of research.

“Overall, I don’t think listing of the rusty patched bumble bee will cause a significant financial burden to anyone, and it could actually net us a return in financial terms from the recovery of this species because it’s so important to agriculture,” Richardson said.

It’s not clear that listing them as endangered species will bring rusty patched bumble bees back to Vermont, Richardson said, but it’s possible, and the bee’s not likely to come back without it. Protecting bombus affinis could protect other species too, he said.

“I thinking listing this species could help at the state level to preserve pollinators in general,” Richardson said. “It might be a good umbrella for other” species at risk.

Vermonters can encourage bumble bee preservation by planting flowers or vegetables and by avoiding pesticides, and neonicotinoids in particular, Richardson said.

More broadly, bee recovery is encouraged by preservation of Vermont’s natural ecosystem and its old farm fields and low-intensity agriculture.

Quote
There’s “convincing evidence” that climate change is harming bee populations as well, Richardson said, “so if you’re concerned about bees … do what you can to influence policy to prevent the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”

http://vtdigger.org/2016/09/25/uvm-researchers-work-provide-salvation-bee-species/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 30, 2016, 01:24:39 pm
Energy| Sep. 30, 2016 07:38AM EST

Pro-Fracking Law Ruled Unconstitutional by Pennsylvania Supreme Court   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

Dan Zukowski

SNIPPET:

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that the state's controversial Act 13 is unconstitutional, calling it a special law that benefits the shale gas industry. The massive Marcellus Shale formation, which underlies a large area of Western Pennsylvania, provides more than 36 percent of the shale gas produced in the U.S.


http://www.ecowatch.com/act-13-fracking-law-2023467532.html


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 30, 2016, 01:39:26 pm
Sep. 30, 2016 08:36AM EST

Exxon Sued Again, This Time for Polluting Mystic River

ExxonMobil is facing a first-of-its-kind lawsuit for failing to account for the risks from climate change to its fuel storage terminal outside Boston. The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) claims that sea level rise and accompanying storm surges could damage the facility and lead to further pollution of the Mystic River.

"Communities were put in danger and remain in danger, all to cut costs for one of the most profitable corporations in the world," CLF president Bradley Campbell said. "It's time to make Exxon answer for decades of false statements to the public and to regulators and ensure that its Everett facility meets its legal obligation to protect thousands of people and the Boston Harbor estuary from toxic water pollution."


Exxon is already under investigation by the SEC and a group of state attorneys generals for allegedly misleading its shareholders and the public about climate change.

"As a mom and a representative of my community, I feel I have a responsibility to protect my kids and those I serve against the impacts of pollution in our water," Damali Vidot, Chelsea City, Massachusetts councilor-at-large, said. "I'm standing with CLF today because I believe Exxon must be held accountable for its actions."


Watch this short video about the case:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mOMhgCfVAx8

http://www.ecowatch.com/exxon-lawsuit-mystic-river-2024418598.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 30, 2016, 06:54:41 pm
Energy| Sep. 30, 2016 07:38AM EST

Pro-Fracking Law Ruled Unconstitutional by Pennsylvania Supreme Court   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

http://www.ecowatch.com/act-13-fracking-law-2023467532.html (http://www.ecowatch.com/act-13-fracking-law-2023467532.html)

This is HUGE.


Yep.     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191456.bmp&hash=a239c2fd76d20d142f1c54b961e22ebd0d2a4808)  Common sense in the court system  :o  ;D. Who woulda thunk that was possible in the empire?
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 30, 2016, 07:10:07 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fclimatenexus.org%2Fsites%2Fall%2Fthemes%2Fclimatenexus%2Flogo.png&hash=15b1ba7cb09e37216d4efcca26e9e31ee74ed1a4)

America’s Super Polluters, Mapped

Just 100 facilities out of more than 20,000 nationwide emitted a third of all industrial toxic air pollution in 2014.

A third of industrial greenhouse gas emissions came from just 100 sites as well, mostly coal-fired power plants, according to a nine-month investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.

There were 22 sites that appear on both lists. As many as seven coal plants within 30 miles of Evansville, Indiana contribute emissions “on par with Hong Kong or Sweden” and are leading to major public health issues in the region.

Indiana is suing against the Clean Power Plan, as are Ohio and Kentucky, which both house several of these “super polluters.” 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpm1.narvii.com%2F5869%2F6a64193d6770c3afd17406c78686c0eda32ded1c_hq.jpg&hash=fedf26e48d67cdd1e932380c7336ac18486d3fee)

http://wboi.org/post/indiana-has-more-super-polluters-any-other-state#stream/0


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 13, 2016, 02:57:51 pm
Climate| Oct. 13, 2016 08:27AM EST

EPA: FERC's  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400) Pipeline Environmental Impact Assessment Is Wrong

Climate Nexus

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) did not properly account for climate change in its environmental impact assessment of a $1.4 billion natural gas pipeline, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

FERC found that the 160-mile pipeline would have a limited impact on the environment, but the EPA argues potential emissions from burning the natural gas transported by the pipeline need to be factored in.

In April, FERC found that the 160-mile Leach Xpress pipeline would have a limited impact on the environment, but the EPA argues potential emissions from burning the natural gas transported by the pipeline need to be factored in.

The EPA's statement comes just a few months after the Obama administration called on federal agencies to consider the climate impacts of their projects and at a time of increasing pipeline protests due to environmental justice and climate impacts.

http://www.ecowatch.com/epa-dings-ferc-climate-change-pipelines-2043438769.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 15, 2016, 02:00:55 pm
The battle goes on.

RE


http://grist.org/briefly/a-journalist-arrested-for-filming-a-dakota-access-protest-could-face-more-prison-time-than-edward-snowden/ (http://grist.org/briefly/a-journalist-arrested-for-filming-a-dakota-access-protest-could-face-more-prison-time-than-edward-snowden/)

Briefly
Stuff that matters


Dakota Access
A journalist arrested for filming a Dakota Access protest could face more prison time than Edward Snowden.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Feveryonesbackyard.com%2Fuploads%2F3%2F0%2F9%2F0%2F3090769%2F1341433252.jpg&hash=12bf93b7736758b1c39896ba9c397772bcb6e24a)

Ten activists were arrested on Tuesday for shutting down tar-sands oil pipelines. Among them was Deia Schlosberg, producer of the documentary How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change.

Schlosberg reportedly faces three felony conspiracy charges. If convicted, she could be sentenced to 45 years in prison. To put that in perspective:

Neil Young, Mark Ruffalo, and other celebrities called for the charges to be dropped on Thursday, arguing that Schlosberg was not participating in the protest but documenting the event as a filmmaker. That’s right, folks: In the eyes of the legal system, spilling the NSA’s secrets is less reprehensible than doing a journalist’s job.

In February 1979, John Trudell (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3) led a march in Washington, D.C. to draw attention to Indian difficulties.

He had been warned against speaking out but John was and activist and the FBI hated him.  The FBI does not have a red man's soul in any way.  On the steps of the FBI building John spoke out on the agency's harassment of Indians.  Less than 12 hours later John's wife, Tina and his three children, were burned alive in their family home in Duck Valley, Nevada along with Tina's mother.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fd4%2F5c%2F70%2Fd45c7019d7ffbf9ce3ce29747ea605f2.jpg&hash=cdbadeeeb46d95d5b9c049cbaa69e2fb720d2806)

The hatred in Washington for the Indians goes long and deep.  The hatred was institutionalized long ago and for most people monkey see monkey do explains everything that they do; so the hatred festers as it is imitated by new occupants of the bureaucracy as generations pass.

(https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.treasuresinwriting.com%2Fimages%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F09%2Fhigheagle.jpg%3Faoe%3D1%26q%3D100%26w%3D600%26h%3D372%26hash%3D9384c2372f44880a5ac9aaf9f04f5d91&f=1)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 15, 2016, 06:19:16 pm
Waste From Factory Farms Poses Health Risks in Wake of Hurricane Matthew

Center for Biological Diversity


SNIPPET:

Reports emerging Thursday of dead farm animals and breached manure pits highlight a health risk that will linger long after Hurricane Matthew's floodwaters recede: The threat of pollution from the billions of gallons of animal waste stored at North Carolina's loosely regulated factory farms.

https://youtu.be/pY1UX2ewVEw

Detailed article with several eye opening aerial photographs:   :o  :( (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)
 
http://www.ecowatch.com/hurricane-matthew-flooding-factory-farms-2045975366.html#
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 15, 2016, 06:35:59 pm
Quote
It's important to build local alternatives, we have to do it, but unless we are really going after the source of the problem"—namely, the fossil-fuel industry and its lock on Washington—"we are going to get inundated." - Bill McKibben

Oct. 14, 2016 12:33PM EST

Bill McKibben: The Question I Get Asked the Most

MUST READ!   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

http://www.ecowatch.com/bill-mckibben-climate-change-2041759425.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 15, 2016, 08:06:58 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Expect the fossil fuel crooks and liars to try to make we-the-people pay for the gargantuan cost of the two plus month salvage of this rig so it can be shipped to the scrap yard.  Notice that the article says absolutely NOTHING about the cost. 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpm1.narvii.com%2F5869%2F6a64193d6770c3afd17406c78686c0eda32ded1c_hq.jpg&hash=fedf26e48d67cdd1e932380c7336ac18486d3fee)


More Than Two Months After its Grounding, Transocean Winner Departs Scotland Aboard Heavy Lift Ship

October 14, 2016 by Mike Schuler
 
(https://i1.wp.com/gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/30160523575_d1b3bbcd6f_k.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1)
The Transocean Winner  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220216203149.gif&hash=bd184b6edccce4045e246847a0c84e89bd5a18b6) is loaded onto the submerged OHT Hawk in the Isle of Lewis’ Broad Bay. Photo: MCA


The stricken drilling rig Transocean Winner has started its journey to Turkey aboard a heavy lift ship more than two months after the rig ran aground in Scotland.
 
(https://i1.wp.com/gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Drilling-rig_New-picture.jpg?fit=1200%2C796&ssl=1)

The UK Maritime and Coast Guard Agency has reported that at approximately 8:05 p.m. Friday the semi-submersible heavy lift ship Hawk raised anchor and began its journey transporting the rig Transocean Winner from Broad Bay on the Isle of Lewis.

The Hawk will make a short stoppover in Malta before heading to its final destination of Turkey where the Transocean Winner will be demolished.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

“At 5pm today I advised the Master of the HAWK that he had my permission to weigh anchor and proceed on the voyage in accordance with the agreed passage plan,” said Secretary of State’s Representative (SOSREP), Hugh Shaw. “The UK Coastguard will continue to monitor its passage until it leaves the UK Search and Rescue Region. Weather permitting, the voyage to Malta will take approximately two weeks.”

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftheukbulletin.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F09%2F91304011_hawk.jpg&hash=e9f973d924a58195e84f79ba791faafc9b88c9c4)
Semi-submersible OHT Hawk

Transocean Winner’s departure comes more than two months after the 17,000 ton rig ran aground on Scotland’s Isle of Lewis after breaking free from a tow in heavy weather on August 8. The rig spent about two weeks aground before it was refloated and moved to Broad Bay, where it was anchored as it awaited the arrival of the Hawk.

Transocean Winner’s final destination has actually always been Turkey, where owner Transocean was planning to scrap the 30-year-old rig  ;D after it completed a contract for Marathon Oil in the Norwegian North Sea.

https://gcaptain.com/more-than-two-months-after-its-grounding-transocean-winner-departs-scotland-aboard-heavy-lift-ship/



(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.leftique.com%2Fimg%2Fsections%2F8269.jpg&hash=ded7e726973123dafc2284c3a250c89b91872869)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 25, 2016, 01:15:05 pm
Ship Discharged Oily Waste on Voyage from China to Seattle; False Log Books given to Coast Guard Inspectors  >:(

Greek Shipping Companies to Pay $1.5 Million in Pollution Case  ;D

https://gcaptain.com/greek-shipping-companies-to-pay-1-5-million-in-pollution-case/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 05, 2016, 02:12:28 pm
Canada to Implement Northern B.C. Tanker Ban  ;D This Year -Report (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmaniac.gif&hash=9ecf389a7da25db958f3f63461cbb45a4b316c4e)
 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whistleblowers.org%2Fstorage%2Fimages%2Foil-spill.jpg&hash=fa6dc1d2af83b18c0593dfc709996d17898ae16e)
Typical Tanker Operation Ocean Pollution


November 4, 2016 by Reuters

ReutersTORONTO, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Canada’s Liberal government will this year deliver on its pledge for a moratorium on oil tanker traffic along the northern coast of British Columbia, CBC News reported on Friday.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau confirmed the plan in an interview with CBC Radio’s “The House,” the broadcaster said on its website.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year instructed Garneau to formalize the ban on oil tanker traffic, effectively slamming the door on a pipeline project that was already facing massive development hurdles.

The ban is one of several obstacles to the building of Enbridge Inc’s Northern Gateway pipeline, which would carry oil sands crude from near Edmonton, Alberta, to a deepwater port at Kitimat, British Columbia, for export to Asian markets.

Separately, Garneau said the government was looking at a recommendation that it privatize airports, but that “it’s not a front-burner exercise” and people should not jump to any conclusions, CBC said.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson; Editing by Leslie Adler)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016.

https://gcaptain.com/canada-implement-northern-b-c-tanker-ban-year-report/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 06, 2016, 01:36:57 pm
Energy| Nov. 01, 2016 09:10AM EST


1 Dead, Several Injured in Colonial Pipeline Explosion   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)

and Dan Zukowski Dan Zukowski

SNIPPET:

Less than two months after the Colonial Pipeline in Shelby County, Alabama, spilled 336,000 gallons of gasoline, the same pipeline exploded, killing one and injuring at least five. The pipeline is shut once again, threatening gasoline supplies in the East and sending prices soaring.

Watch here:

https://youtu.be/ofx0ygWHHA4



Quote
Jeff Biss (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3) · Northern Illinois University

Overall, Americans don't give a **** about anything but themselves. While some of us have greatly reduced our footprint and have reduced our use of resources, most haven't even tried and continue to elect "pro-business" pols because they have been inured with a sense of entitlement, that the world consists of resources for our use. That is their baseline and anything that refutes that is seen as "communist" or some other such nonsense. They're wrong.

The universe was not created for our use. That we consider ourselves moral obligates us to not harm and to account for the needs of other living things and to act to ensure that their needs are met. We have no right to take their lives because we don't need meat to sustain our lives or health and their lives are their innate property. And, falling from that, we have no right to degrade the environment as we do to extract fossil fuels or to change the climate as we do through their use.

"Pro-business" ideologues are the problem because their world view is f'ed up and they have lost any claim to rights because they choose to elevate themselves above their victims and inflict their will upon others to the detriment of their victims. Events such as this are due entirely to the selfishness of enough Americans and will continue until we accept our obligations as moral beings.

http://www.ecowatch.com/colonial-pipeline-explosion-2074156930.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 07, 2016, 01:24:34 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-071116130640.png&hash=95c28d2c79428550a9291bd7ea1d838e1bd80d9f)

Energy| Nov. 07, 2016 09:17AM EST

5.0 Earthquake Rattles Oklahoma Oil Town of Cushing

Dan Zukowski
 
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck Oklahoma Sunday night, damaging buildings in the heart of the oil hub town of Cushing. Schools are closed and parts of the downtown area are cordoned off, as the latest in a string of 19 quakes were recorded in Oklahoma last week, an area where such events were virtually unknown prior to the fracking boom.

Bricks and concrete crashed down as windows shattered and residents were rattled at 7:44 p.m. local time. At least one senior living complex was evacuated. Cushing city officials have told people to stay out of the downtown area.

Bloomberg reported this morning that some gas leaks have occurred, but they have been contained. As a precaution, All companies that run intra-state pipelines that fall under the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission have shut down operations.

The quake was felt as far as Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas.

Oklahoma has become the world capital of earthquakes. In neighboring Kansas, injection of wastewater from fracking was determined as the cause of the state's largest-ever earthquake in 2014. A study published in Science determined a link between wastewater injection and earthquakes in Texas. And earlier this year, a study confirmed a causal relationship not only between wastewater injection and fracking, but to the process of hydraulic fracturing itself.

Cushing, a town of 7,900 that calls itself the Pipeline Crossroads of the World, is home to one of the largest oil storage terminals on the planet, and reported 58.4 million barrels of oil in its tanks as of last month. As of this morning, no damage has been reported to either pipelines or the oil storage facility.

But damaged pipelines as a result of earthquakes have happened. In December 2013, an earthquake ruptured a gas pipeline in the Russian city of Sochi, site of the 2014 Winter Olympic games. The 1971 San Fernando earthquake in California damaged water, gas and sewage pipelines. Other earthquakes have caused failures in pipelines in China, Japan and the U.S.

In a paper by Teoman Ariman of the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, he wrote, "The type of severity of pipeline damage in earthquakes are directly related to the patterns of ground movements which can be due to faulting, soil liquefaction, landslides and compaction." Ariman also noted that "steel pipelines withstood ground shaking but were unable to resist the large permanent ground deformations generated by faulting and ground failures."

As daylight broke, the full extent of the damage in Cushing was being evaluated.

http://www.ecowatch.com/earthquake-oklahoma-cushing-2083305092.html

Agelbert NOTE: The irony of the most important and profitable infrastructure (i.e. PIPELINES) being severely damaged  along with the environmental destruction that broken pipelines will wreak scores 10 on the shadenfreude scale. What goes around, comes around.

(https://ofcommonsense.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/free-choice-not-consequences.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 14, 2016, 07:17:15 pm
https://youtu.be/Ajt2d7oQLtE


Big Picture Interview: Josh Fox, Gasland/Gasland II & How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can't Change. So - is this the end of the road for the Standing Rock water protectors? Or has the real fight just begun?

For more information on the stories we've covered visit our websites at thomhartmann.com - freespeech.org - and RT.com. You can also watch tonight's show on Hulu - at Hulu.com/THE BIG PICTURE and over at The Big Picture YouTube page. And - be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter!


Thom Hartmann Administrator's picture
Nov. 11, 2016 5:31 pm
By Thom Hartmann A...
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 14, 2016, 10:46:54 pm
Slashed Budgets and Toxic Chemicals: Planning for Environmental Carnage Under Donald Trump’s EPA (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)

Sharon Lerner

November 14 2016, 12:22 p.m.

https://theintercept.com/2016/11/14/slashed-budgets-and-toxic-chemicals-planning-for-environmental-carnage-under-donald-trumps-epa/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 25, 2016, 01:19:45 pm
Energy| Nov. 25, 2016 08:41AM EST


Another Major Norwegian Investor Divests (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)  From Dakota Access Pipeline

Stefanie Spear
 
http://www.ecowatch.com/divest-dakota-access-pipeline-norway-2110373927.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 01, 2016, 05:02:26 pm
Trump Watch  | Dec. 01, 2016 08:57AM EST

2,300 Scientists to Trump: We’re Watching You

(https://allthoughtsworkoutdoors.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/p9047017-030close-up.jpg)

Climate Nexus

More than 2,300 scientists, including 22 Nobel laureates, released a letter on Wednesday to Donald Trump and the 115th Congress with a wish list that includes respect of scientific evidence and letting scientists work without political or private-sector interference for the public's benefit on policies such as climate change.

"Congress and the Trump administration should ensure our nation's bedrock public health and environmental laws—such as the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act—retain a strong scientific foundation," the letter reads.

The text of the letter in its entirety:

Quote
An Open Letter to President-Elect Trump and the 115th Congress

Scientific knowledge has played a critical role in making the United States a powerful and prosperous nation and improving the health and well-being of Americans and people around the world. From disease outbreaks to climate change to national security to technology innovation, people benefit when our nation's policies are informed by science unfettered by inappropriate political or corporate influence.

To build on this legacy and extend the benefits of science to all people, including Americans who have been left behind, the federal government must support and rely on science as a key input for crafting public policy. Policy makers and the public alike require access to high-quality scientific information to serve the public interest. There are several actions Congress and the Trump administration should take to strengthen the role that science plays in policy making.

First, creating a strong and open culture of science begins at the top. Federal agencies should be led by officials with demonstrated track records of respecting science as a critical component of decision making. Further, recognizing that diversity makes science stronger, administration officials should welcome and encourage all scientists regardless of religious background, race, gender, or sexual orientation.

Second, Congress and the Trump administration should ensure our nation's bedrock public health and environmental laws—such as the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act—retain a strong scientific foundation, and that agencies are able to freely collect and draw upon scientific data to effectively carry out statutory responsibilities established by these laws. They should also safeguard the independence of those outside the government who provide scientific advice.

Third, Congress and the Trump administration should adhere to high standards of scientific integrity and independence in responding to current and emerging public health and environmental threats. Decision makers and the public need to know what the best-available scientific evidence is, not what vested interests might wish it to be. Federally funded scientists must be able to develop and share their findings free from censorship or manipulation based on politics or ideology. These scientists should, without fear of reprisal or retaliation, have the freedom and responsibility to:

•conduct their work without political or private-sector interference

•candidly communicate their findings to Congress, the public, and their scientific peers

•publish their work and participate meaningfully in the scientific community

•disclose misrepresentation, censorship, and other abuses of science

•ensure that scientific and technical information coming from the government is accurate


Finally[/I], Congress and the Trump administration should provide adequate resources to enable scientists to conduct research in the public interest and effectively and transparently carry out their agencies' missions. The consequences are real: without this investment, children will be more vulnerable to lead poisoning, more people will be exposed to unsafe drugs and medical devices, and we will be less prepared to limit the impacts of increasing extreme weather and rising seas.

These steps are necessary to create a thriving scientific enterprise that will strengthen our democracy and bring the full fruits of science to all Americans and the world. The scientific community is fully prepared to constructively engage with and closely monitor the actions of the Trump administration and Congress. We will continue to champion efforts that strengthen the role of science in policy making and stand ready to hold accountable any who might seek to undermine it.

For a deeper dive:

Scientific American, Buzzfeed, Washington Post, Huffington Post, NBC, Guardian

For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News.


http://www.ecowatch.com/scientists-letter-trump-2121872351.html

Agelbert NOTE: The attitude of the Trailer Trash Trump Administration to the reality (that they refuse to admit publicly) of Catastrophic climate Change AND the muzzling of scientists who tell the truth about it (SEE BELOW):

(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_03911.jpg)

 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 02, 2016, 08:28:15 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.greenecoservices.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F05%2FTake_action_-_carnival_cruise_lines-400x400.jpg&hash=e59066b729de76b56d451a4a70f799695222cd17)

Carnival’s Princess Cruises to Pay Record $40 Million Over Illegal Dumping, Cover Up

December 1, 2016 by gCaptain

SNIPPET:

Carnival Corporation’s Princess Cruise Lines has agreed to plead guilty to seven felony charges stemming from illegal oil dumping at sea and intentional acts to cover it up, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday.

Princess will pay a $40 million penalty – the largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate vessel pollution.


https://gcaptain.com/carnivals-princess-cruise-lines-to-pay-record-40-million-over-illegal-dumping/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 05, 2016, 05:51:33 pm
This Man Has Invented a Genius Way to Filter Tiny Bits of Plastic Out of the Ocean (VIDEO)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F8.gif&hash=c1d98e606d7f558df4040f88e7997b3e11e9448c)

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/man-invented-a-way-to-filter-microplastic-out-of-the-ocean/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 05, 2016, 05:56:25 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgrist.files.wordpress.com%2F2013%2F11%2Faaa-spill-popcorn-mean-girls.gif%3Fw%3D350%26amp%3Bh%3D219&hash=99f72e20a39f0c4fbd255f2f7d8237849f03f83e)

Meet the Future of Plastic: 100 Percent Biodegradable, Organic Bags You Can Eat!  :o  ;D


http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/envigreen-biodegradable-edible-plastic-bags/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 07, 2016, 07:28:43 pm
Animals| Dec. 07, 2016 12:55PM EST


10,000 Snow Geese Die (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)
 After Landing on Toxic Mining Waters in Montana

Dan Zukowski
        

SNIPPET:

As many as 10,000 snow geese landed on the remains of an open pit mine near Butte, Montana that was filled with toxic water. Now, they are being found sick and dead in places as unwild as a Walmart parking lot and a nearby casino.


http://www.ecowatch.com/snow-geese-die-montana-2133506920.html

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 08, 2016, 01:09:52 pm
Scott Pruitt  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400) is anti immigration, antiObamacare and anti criminal justice reform—and he doesn't believe in the idea of human-made climate change.

Quote
After weeks of speculation, the president-elect has decided who will head the EPA. His name is Scott Pruitt. As Oklahoma attorney general since 2010, Pruitt has been staunchly anti-EPA: He’s been involved in at least nine lawsuits with the federal agency, often challenging its power over state governments.

Like the majority of President-elect Donald Trump’s staff picks, Pruitt does not agree with the science behind climate change. In May, he wrote for the National Review that the global warming debate “is far from settled”—even though 97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree that climate change is real and that humans are behind it.

Now, as head of the EPA, Pruitt will have the power to enforce—or, rather, not—the federal regulations created by the agency that are meant to protect the health of the planet and its inhabitants. Policies like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act will be under his control. So will the agency's environmental justice program, which arguably already exhibits a lack of concern for environmental discrimination, according to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Pruitt has also argued that the EPA oversteps its duties, so he will likely minimize the agency's involvement in state decisions, granting states the power to pollute and emit carbon as they desire. This aligns with Trump's plan to revive the coal industry, reduce regulation and ignore the climate catastrophe. Trump can't take these actions alone—he needs the support of the EPA, which he has now ensured.

http://www.colorlines.com/articles/3-things-people-color-need-know-about-trumps-epa-pick
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 08, 2016, 01:45:16 pm
Quote
Pascal Molineaux · Professor at Universidad Javeriana Cali

Trump is surrounding himself with corporate lobbyists, Wall Street insiders and billionaires. He has conned the American voter like nine before him.

He will push an agenda that is tailor made to please big business and Fossil Fuel interests. To ensure bigger profit margins for THEM, his cronies in the 1% uberrich class, he will work 24/24 and defunded the EPA, water down all meaningful environmental regulation, stiff hard working middle class as he weakens labor laws and make sure to give big tax cuts, incentives and breaks to these self same cronies.

Why?

Because these other concerns are if no concern to him. He is Money-grubber in chief and simply couldn't care less for anything else.

Agelbert NOTE:
All the above is, sadly, 100% accurate.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 08, 2016, 01:58:08 pm
Victory for New York Waters

Posted On December 8, 2016 by Guest Blogger

This piece was written by Mike Martinsen, Co-founder and Co-president of Montauk Shellfish Company Inc.


For forty years, I have worked as a bayman in New York’s rich waters. You could find me bullraking hard clams, sail dredging oysters, dredging bay scallops and potting lobster. I have earned a living from these waters my whole life. Declines—and the occasional full crash—in  shellfish stocks, however, have forced me to look at other occupations.

Once upon a time, billions upon billions of bivalve shellfish carpeted the bottoms of New York’s bays, harbors, rivers and sounds. But, through unlimited fossil fuel consumption, poor septic planning and a lack of regulation on pesticide and fertilizer purchase and application, we have created a void in the water. The population of bivalve shellfish has declined precipitously.

There is good news on the horizon for me, my fellow baymen and all of you who love our seafood. Last week, New York enacted legislation forming a task force which will identify any sources of acidification in New York waters, and recommend how to address them. Using best available science to fix this problem is written into the law, and this first step to protect the local ocean is a milestone victory in my eyes. This is how smart, comprehensive restoration of our historic oyster reefs, eelgrass beds and coastal ecosystems starts.

Since the beginning of Montauk Shellfish Company Inc., a company I co-founded in 2009, which farms our exclusive Montauk Pearl Oysters, I found that shellfish aquaculture is very important.  Bivalve shellfish in the New York estuaries are probably the most underappreciated living creatures. As filter feeders, they are responsible for maintaining balance with regard to water quality. The beauty of our operation is that each mature oyster will filter approximately 50 gallons of water per day. That means last year our farm filtered approximately 75,000,000 gallons of water each day! Also, the mature oysters had successful reproduction and the spat (tiny little babies) has landed at distant locales helping to promote the wild population growth.

As an aquaculturist, I can take pride in knowing that I am helping to rebuild the wild stock of shellfish in the marine environment. Without those filter feeders, water quality does not stand a chance. Nitrogen has become problematic and algal blooms have wreaked havoc on water quality.

There are things we can do to help mitigate the problems in our local waters. Awareness of how our consumption of fossil fuels and usage of household items can harm the estuary is key. Additionally, promoting shellfish aquaculture and protecting wild stocks will allow balance to be restored. A thriving shellfish stock allows the crucial roles of the natural filtration system, habitat source for juvenile fish and reef-like shoreline structure, to be enjoyed.  All are paramount to the wellness of the estuary.

Monitoring water quality and creating legislation that reduces nitrogen input into the waters will be very important. However there is a very large monster out there that is just beginning to rear its ugly head. Ocean acidification has decimated juvenile shellfish in other places in the world. We know that larval shellfish are strongly affected by ocean acidification and that they cannot form the necessary shell to survive in an acidic environment. Many wonder if this could be as big a factor as nitrogen induced algal blooms in the system collapses we’ve seen.

It’s imperative that we begin to understand the impacts of our current fossil fuel emissions on the ocean. It’s imperative that we take responsibility for the damages that we have caused. And it’s imperative that we begin to act more responsibly toward life as a whole and especially the ocean—the mother of all life, the mother we all share. If the world is your oyster, why not work toward pristine water quality?

http://blog.oceanconservancy.org/2016/12/08/victory-for-new-york-waters/#more-13452
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 09, 2016, 03:10:06 pm
12/08/2016 01:14 PM

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Trump Just Gave Us the Finger With EPA Pick

SustainableBusiness.com News

Given Trump's series of worst-of-the-worst cabinet picks - antagonizing every group concerned about every issue - his choice to "lead" the EPA toward its abolishment comes as no surprise to us.

For Health and Human Services, he chose the person who wrote Obamacare repeal legislation; for Education, he chose the person who most hates public education; for Labor, he chose someone who hates unions and a living wage, so why wouldn't we expect the same for the environment?

And we still have two to go .. for Energy Secretary, we can expect a fossil fuel champion and for Interior, we can expect a fossil fuel champion and wildlife hater.

Republicans have been working for decades to reduce the size of the federal government so it can be "drowned in a bathtub" (Grover Norquist, 2001). Now, they finally have the power to get it done.

Meet Pruitt, Oklahoma Attorney General, and Trump's choice for EPA Administrator ... who hates the EPA!
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What Makes the US Special? 

Trump echoed the GOP's hatred for regulations throughout his campaign, and now he gets to eliminate them, from Dodd-Frank - which protects us from another financial collapse - and any environmental rule that gets in the way of business growth.

Quote
Here's what he and his fellow Republicans don't understand: laws that protect citizens, workers and the environment are at the core of what makes America an advanced country.

Our strong environmental laws are the envy of the world, not the other way around. Clean air and water benefits business and the economy, a finding of multitudes of studies.

Read our articles, Give EPA Some Credit: US Has Cleaner Air and EPA Ranked Most Effective of All Federal Agencies. 

Under Pruitt, our bedrock Clean Air and Clean Water Acts will likely be hollowed out, and when it's too much of a hassle to repeal them, he simply won't enforce them.   

Any action on climate change will happen in the states, and it WILL happen there. 

"As Oklahoma's Attorney General, Pruitt has repeatedly sued the EPA in an attempt to stop the agency from carrying out its work. Pruitt is supported by the very industries he would be responsible for overseeing, particularly fossil fuel producers. He has questioned the clear scientific evidence for climate change and resisted science-based rules that protect our air and water from pollution," says Union of Concerned Scientists.

Every single rule the EPA passes is the subject of endless lawsuits, and Pruitt is right in the center of that. Whether preventing rules that reduce soot, smog, mercury, arsenic and other toxic pollutants from power plants, he's your man. And, of course, he led the suit currently keeping EPA's Clean Power Plan tied up in court - which was filed months before the rules were made public! Just before filing that suit, Pruitt and other Republican state prosecutors held secret, paid meetings with the fossil fuel industry.

Read our article, EPA Crushed By Lawsuits, No Rule Loose Enough For Polluters.
 
"It's no secret that Trump wants to abolish environmental protections. Pruitt, who has fought the EPA on fracking standards on behalf of the fossil fuel industry and has consistently stood for deregulating agricultural pollution in the state, will lead this agenda," says Food & Water Watch.

He's behind Oklahoma's "Right-to-Farm" measure, which voters rejected in the election. This constitutional amendment, more accurately called "Right to Harm," would have prevented citizens and even legislators from making reforms on animal welfare and the quality of the state's land, air, and water.

Pruitt's position is: "EPA was never intended to be our Nation's frontline environmental regulator...the states were to have regulatory primacy. The EPA was to be a regulator of last resort."

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010215143525.png&hash=5bd7bd57f7d770273b7d73d29697fe3a0cc11e8f)

If that were true, he would've taken action in Oklahoma, where fracking has conclusively caused over 20,000 earthquakes - but he has not.

Nothing like picking EPA's biggest enemy to head it (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400)! More to come ...

 http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26700
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 11, 2016, 03:13:55 pm
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Trump’s Picks for EPA and Interior Threaten the Future of Clean Water

Sharon Lerner

December 9 2016, 4:39 p.m.

Environmentalists have been rightly focused on the fact that climate deniers Scott Pruitt, Trump’s pick to run the Environmental Protection Agency, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, whom he is expected to nominate for the Department of the Interior, could devastate the Clean Power Plan, the Paris Accord and, through them, national and even global progress on climate change. But Trump’s picks could permanently damage the country’s waters, too.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

Both have a record of wide-ranging hostility toward the environment. As Attorney General of Oklahoma, Pruitt repeatedly (and often unsuccessfully) sued the EPA to stop the agency from doing its job. McMorris Rodgers, a conservative member of the House from Washington who has received almost a half-million dollars in campaign contributions from oil and gas companies, earned a zero rating from the League of Conservation Voters. Both have already made the dismantling of water protections a particular priority.

If appointed, these two foes of the earth will likely usher in dark days for our nation’s lakes, streams, and rivers. Our waterways are already in serious peril, according to an EPA evaluation of U.S. lakes released Friday. According to the report, 30 percent of lakes now contain the pesticide atrazine.

Water contamination will almost certainly increase if Pruitt declines to issue penalties to polluters and cuts the budgets of divisions responsible for enforcement, as his record and rhetoric has indicated he will.

“A lot of how much protection we get has to do with whether the agency chooses to buddy up to the industry or really hold them accountable for the violation of the laws,” said Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper. Van Rossum is currently involved in fighting fracking and more than a dozen pipeline projects and fears the threats to the river basin will only increase.

Quote
“Under a Pruitt EPA, we’re going to have a whole agency that’s about turning a blind eye, rather than holding industries accountable and protecting the people,” said van Rossum.

While it will take years to feel the full effects of some environmental disasters, the impact of not enforcing water laws will be felt more quickly. “The scary thing about water is there’s no wiggle room,” said Lisa Garcia, vice president of litigation for healthy communities at Earthjustice. “Once you discharge contamination into our drinking water, that’s an immediate impact. This could turn into real impacts to human health. It’s not something you want to play around with.”

Yet Pruitt and McMorris Rodgers already have. Both nominees have vocally opposed the Waters of the United States Rule, which would extend federal protection to thousands of lakes, rivers, and streams and allow the EPA to use the Clean Water Act to prosecute people who pollute them. Last year, Pruitt sued the EPA over the rule because it would harm the “property rights of the average American.”

Though a court is currently reviewing the rule, as EPA head Pruitt could decide not to defend it or even withdraw it. Other water protections in the works that he could snuff out include a tightening of the rules on lead and copper piping. If finalized, those rules could help prevent another Flint.

“We’re really concerned about lead and copper,” said David Goldston, director of government affairs for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “But really it’s everything.”

The fact that Trump has already surrounded himself with so many enemies of the environment makes the threat all the worse. “An entire constellation of anti-environmental people would clearly put in place policies that are counter to the public interest,” said Goldston.

Now environmental groups are turning their energies to fighting the appointments. Some have noted that only a few Republicans would need to break ranks to block Pruitt’s path in the Senate. And the opposition to McMorris Rodgers has already begun. Just hours after Trump’s choice was reported, Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, called on any senator “with a concern for future generations of Americans” to oppose her: “Rep. McMorris Rodgers poses a clear and present danger to our treasured public lands.”

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/09/donald-trumps-picks-for-epa-and-interior-could-doom-u-s-water/

(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 12, 2016, 06:23:08 pm
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December 12, 2016

Climate Change is Ravaging Coral Reefs Throughout the World's Oceans

Constructing new coal mines is the wrong response to the historic devastation of this key part of the ocean ecosystem, says Dr. Selina Ward.

https://youtu.be/sTHdJa2py_w

http://therealnews.com/t2/story:17879:Climate-Change-is-Ravaging-Coral-Reefs-Throughout-the-World%27s-Oceans
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 16, 2016, 03:14:25 pm
Cities, Cars and Other Human-Made Things Weigh 30 Trillion Metric Tons

Posted on Dec 14, 2016

By Tim Radford / Climate News Network

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/cities_cars_and_other_human-made_things_weigh_30_trillion_20161214


Salero21
This is like so DUMB beyond belief.

All of that was already in the Crust of the planet, nothing has been added that wasn't already there. And all of these "Scientists" are getting money from the Government to Spend and Waste in theses DUMB studies.

agelbert > Salero21

Exactly. And as far as measuring the impact of this or that, biomass of a given species is far more important than the weight of our stuff. For example, the biomass of the entire human species is far less than the biomass of ants. The same is true for termites, that output far more methane than cows!

The issue is, and always will be, what part of humanity is threatening the viability of the biosphere (i.e. the empathy deficit disordered oligarchs).

But, they own the media, so the truth, except in very limited forums mostly ignored by the public, is always avoided.

But the truth is as follows:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-140515152155.png&hash=5f8916507de1fcb05d147e025bd69cc103b6b969)
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BarryLong  • 2 days ago 

What I wanna know is: How much mass/weight does the all bullshit from all the oligarch$ and their $pin doctors add up to?
Cause we're suffocating on it.
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 17, 2016, 04:42:13 pm
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How We Are Making Latin America Frack-Free

 
350.org

By Nicole Figueiredo de Oliveira

Earlier this month in Argentina, the people gave another big step in the fight against fracking in the country: legislators, church and civil society representatives, environmental experts, climate scientists, trade unions and human rights activists, along with indigenous and community leaders from various countries met in Buenos Aires to discuss the threats posed by the use of fossil fuels in Argentina and Latin America.

In a full room at the National Congress, the speakers were unanimous: There are no benefits that the fossil fuels industry can bring now or in the future. In the South of Argentina fracking has been polluting the water and the air, damaging the economy, harming people's health and destroying the environment. It's wrecking a whole region and the only way to stop it starts by taking local action together.

Victories against fracking are already coming from many places. In Brazil, for example, more than 200 cities have already prohibited fracking in their territories and the state of Paraná has just placed a ban on this technique for the next 10 years.

The conference in Argentina was the second event organized by the No Fracking Coalition Latin America, emphasizing the need and the will for alliance and collective actions throughout the continent. Participants expressed a shared regional concern for the preservation of the Guarani aquifer, exchanged experiences and vowed to unite forces across Latin America to prevent the expansion of hydraulic fracturing and foster a just transition to 100 percent renewable energy for all.

There is still a lot more to do to make Argentina and Latin America fracking free, but the event showed that communities are organized, strong and keeping the pressure on this deadly industry.

Fighting fracking is just one side of a major battle against the fossil fuel industry. During the last UN Climate Summit in Marrakech, more than 375 nongovernmental organizations delivered a letter to global leaders with an urgent yet simple new demand for climate action: no new fossil fuel development.

With climate impacts hitting hard communities all over the world, and the recent announcement that 2016 is probably going to be the warmest year ever recorded and the potential carbon emissions from reserves in currently operating oil and gas fields alone, even with no coal, are enough to take the world beyond 1.5 C.

Stopping mining, digging and investing in fossil fuels are fundamental steps to keep the planet from warming. Countries need to meet the promises they made to the whole world with the Paris climate agreement—and that includes Argentina and Latin American countries.

Following the conference, the coalition headed to Neuquén and Vaca Muerta, in the North of Patagonia, where the fracking industry is leaving it's mark of great destruction. Fracking wells can be found right in the middle of natural reserves and fruit plantations.

In the words of the president of the fruit growers association in Allen, the apple and pear orchards of that region have become "expendable," as the produce are no longer apt for export due to the contamination from the fracking wells that have been installed by their fields.

If we want to keep the planet from warming 1.5 C there is no more room for fossil fuels in the energy mix. And we need to freeze any sort of fossil fuel investments if we want to prevent the devastating impacts of climate change.


http://www.ecowatch.com/latin-america-frack-free-2151222673.html

(https://350.org/es/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Papa_Francisco_.gif)
https://350.org/es/el-papa-francisco-inspira-a-obispos-padres-y-fieles-en-la-lucha-contra-el-fracking-en-brasil/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 22, 2016, 11:51:25 pm
The deepwater horizon aftermath (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

 by Staff Writers

 Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Dec 22, 2016

http://www.oilgasdaily.com/reports/The_deepwater_horizon_aftermath_999.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 24, 2016, 10:49:05 pm
LOOK UP New, Full Documentary Chemtrails, Geo Engineering, Weather MOD Must Watch!

https://youtu.be/lWoifH5lwJM

Agelbert NOTE: This effort to reduce insolation DOES lower the efficiency of solar panels. So, not only is this effort we-the-people are paying for (without our permission) on behalf of the fossil fuel industry ANOTHER 'subsidy' for the polluters which undermines the price competitiveness of Solar Panel Renewable Energy, but people, animals and the crops are being contaminated, weakened and sickened too!
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)

And on top of all that, it ISN'T WORKING to stop the increase in global warming causing catastrophic climate change. Yeah, the SURFACE is slightly cooled. BUT, the ATMOSPHERE AS A WHOLE is STILL absorbing too much heat because of our CO2 and methane emissions. What IDIOTS these crooks and liars defending the polluting status quo are is absolutely breathtaking! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fp8.gif&hash=34db9228a959b3b83fc65b38a1aa92a40d56f976)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs2277341.gif&hash=1a8375f11d76a653bcb48e30eaa7b652175f029d)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)

Let us hope that soon this insane stupidity is exposed and stopped in its tracks.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 04, 2017, 06:22:10 pm
Cost for Cleanup at Hanford Rises Yet Again (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)

The U.S. Department of Energy has reported that the projected cost to clean up highly radioactive sludge at the Hanford Site in Washington State has risen another $4.5 billion to a current projected total of $16.8 billion. The Waste Treatment Plant is now over four times its original budget and more than a decade behind schedule.

Over 56 million gallons of radioactive sludge, currently stored in leaking underground tanks, await the opening of the proposed facility, which will turn the waste into glass. The facility has been under a stop-work order for three years because of serious technical doubts.

Ralph Vartabedian, "The Price Tag for Cleaning Up Nuclear Waste at Hanford Site Just Went Up Another $4.5 Billion," Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2016.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-hanford-cost-20161216-story.html



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 05, 2017, 06:10:35 pm
(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/all/themes/clew/logo.png)
Germany subsidises climate damage  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)
/ Lignite plant “in a coma”  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

#Climate & CO2 #Finances

Federal Environment Agency


“Reduction of subsidies detrimental to the environment still stalling”

Germany in 2012 provided 57 billion euros in subsidies that were detrimental to the environment, of which more than 90 percent were harmful to the climate, according to a report by Federal Environment Agency (UBA).

“It’s paradoxical: Germany commits itself to more climate protection on an international level. At the same time, in our own country, we reward behaviour that is detrimental to the climate with tax money,” said UBA president Maria Krautzberger in a press release.

Transport received the largest share of harmful subsidies with 28.6 billion euros, followed by the energy sector with 20.3 billion euros.

UBA criticises that lignite profited from tax benefits despite not facing international competition. UBA for the first time classifies VAT reductions for animal products as subsidies detrimental to the environment. It says that the VAT on those products should be raised from 7 percent to the usual 19 percent, freeing money to make fruits and vegetables or public transport cheaper.


#Fossil fuels

Frankfurter Rundschau

“Power plant in a coma”  ;D

Five people are employed around the clock in the control room of the first German lignite plant switched off to protect the climate, according to a feature by Steffen Höhne in Frankfurter Rundschau. They are there to keep the station fit for service but the head of the Buschhaus plant admits it is a challenge to motivate the team to manage a standstill.

In the coming years, seven more plants are to follow Buschhaus into the lignite emergency reserve with a total capacity of 2.7 gigawatts, equivalent to 13 percent of Germany’s lignite capacity.

The stations are to remain operational for a period of four years so they can produce power within eleven days’ notice in case of emergency. But many experts doubt that will ever be the case.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/germany-subsidises-climate-damage-lignite-plant-coma
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 06, 2017, 07:50:22 pm
https://youtu.be/1aeIy0-LltQ
Industrial Scars: The Hidden Costs of Consumption - Book Trailer 

Sep 29, 2016

J Henry Fair (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)

Quote
Industrial Scars, the new book by environmentalist and photographer J Henry Fair, who brings our attention to the tragic effects created by the human impact on our planet. The book will be published by Papadakis Publisher in October 2016: http://papadakis.net/books/industrial...

At first, his photographs are mesmerisingly beautiful: taken at bird’s eye perspective from a small plane, their shapes, colours and details give them an aesthetic quality that entrance and capture the imagination, yet concern and horror creep in on the realization of the true reality of the subject. Our ever-increasing demand for energy, regularly-changing eating habits and rampant consumerism are rapidly leading to the degradation of our planet.

Industrial Scars reveals unseen views of the effects of such production on our environment, exposing the secrets from oil drilling, hydro-fracking and coal-ash waste, to large scale agricultural production and abandoned mining operations. Each of Fair’s striking images are accompanied by detailed explanations from award-winning science writer, Lewis Smith, who writes about the effects of rampant consumerism on our environment and describes the development of industries through time and across the world. The overall message is clear – Fair is committed to reveal the evidence of the devastating costs of our choices on our planet. It is up to us to accept a consumer responsibility and environmental awareness, and to change our habits if we want to ensure a better world for future generations to enjoy.

------

Our thanks to Michael Roberts for the music and Dirk Vandenberk for his help creating this video.

Earlier Video of TED presentation by J Henry Fair:

https://youtu.be/sjXXtSvFAIg

Published on Mar 11, 2013

Photojournalist J Henry Fair talks about the impact industry has on our environment. TEDxWakeForestU was held for the second time on February 23, 2013 on the campus of Wake Forest University.

Agelbert NOTE: Corpus Christi, Texas was named "Body of Christ". Thanks to the Koch Brothers and other Oil Polluters in Texas, that town will have to be renamed Mortis Corpus. And while we are at it, let's just rename a certain portion of the Mississippi for it's refinery earned nickname:  Cancer Alley (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

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(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.picturequotes.com%2F2%2F588%2F587699%2Fit-has-come-to-my-attention-that-air-pollution-is-polluting-the-air-quote-1.jpg&hash=ccb83d65d4025826827a4555bf3b0d9c2f25543f)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsplus.org%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F04%2FEarthDay2.jpg&hash=b2b7b140db6f5b37309b4ec9bf5de79e9ae67a52)
And plutocratic Democrats too! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 07, 2017, 02:21:39 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241216151049.png&hash=78206393ea158485b779ed06d0fb0f84172b645d)
Here’s What You Need to Know on Six of Trump’s Cabinet Nominations

By Jo Miles

We all expected that Trump's cabinet would mean trouble for many of the things we care about, from clean energy and healthy communities to our very democracy itself.

But his chosen nominees are worse than we could have imagined.

These individuals, responsible for the policies and decisions that affect the lives and well-being of all Americans, have a combined net worth of more than $13 billion so far—that's five times the net worth of President Obama's cabinet and more wealth than a third of American households. As you might expect, their ties to corporations run deep and those ties are reflected in their positions and past actions.

Here's what you should know about what Trump's nominees (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605) mean for our food, water, environment and democracy—and how you can oppose their confirmations:
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http://www.ecowatch.com/pruitt-tillerson-zinke-perry-2182272584.html?page=1 (http://www.ecowatch.com/pruitt-tillerson-zinke-perry-2182272584.html?page=1)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 14, 2017, 03:06:14 pm
END PHOSPHATE MINING IN FLORIDA

Phosphate mining is one of the most destructive practices on Earth — a brutal process that completely destroys landscapes and leaves behind 200-foot-tall, radioactive waste piles and threatens people and wildlife, from gopher tortoises to sandhill cranes.

In August 2016, a sinkhole opened under one of these waste piles, causing more than 200 million gallons of contaminated wastewater to enter the Floridan Aquifer. Yet now Florida's largest phosphate mining company wants to dig up an additional 50,000 acres of the state's beautiful, biodiverse lands, creating more radioactive waste.  >:(  :P

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 14, 2017, 03:24:26 pm
(https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Center_for_Biological_Diversity_logo.jpg)

For Immediate Release, January 12, 2017

Contact: Lori Ann Burd, (971) 717-6405, laburd@biologicaldiversity.org


 Same Day: EPA Acknowledges Proven Dangers of Bee-killing Pesticides But Refuses to Restrict Them (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ffly.gif&hash=b0526635e8b47d751b0e429925d73d78f9d79fc6)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffc06.deviantart.net%2Ffs71%2Ff%2F2009%2F347%2F2%2F6%2FWTF_Smiley_face_by_IveWasHere.jpg&hash=8ca673f8cf785d9dac626f9fd91e37a1a318c7ac)

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today acknowledged for the first time that three of the nation’s most-used neonicotinoid pesticides pose significant risks to commercial honeybees. But in a second decision that represents a deep bow to the pesticide industry, the agency refused to restrict the use of any leading bee-killing pesticides despite broad evidence of their well-established role in alarming declines of pollinators.

The new analyses released today indicate that honeybees can be harmed by the widely-used pesticides clothianidin, thiamethoxam and dinetofuran. The agency also released today an updated assessment for a fourth leading neonicotinoid — imidacloprid — showing that in addition to harms to pollinators identified last year, the pesticide can also harm aquatic insects.

Yet on the same day the EPA revealed the dangers these pesticides pose to pollinators, it  reversed course and backed away from a proposed rule to place limited restrictions on use of the bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides when commercial honeybees are present in a field. Instead, the agency announced voluntary guidelines that impose no mandatory use restrictions.

“It’s outrageous that on the same day the EPA acknowledged these dangerous pesticides are killing bees it also reversed course on mandating restrictions on their use,” said Lori Ann Burd, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Environmental Health program. “This is like a doctor diagnosing your illness but then deciding to withhold the medicine you need to cure it.”

Neonicotinoids are a class of pesticides known to have both acute and chronic effects on honeybees, birds, butterflies and other pollinator species, and they are a major factor in overall pollinator declines. These systemic insecticides cause entire plants, including their pollen and nectar, to become toxic to pollinators. These chemicals are also slow to break down, and they build up in soil, where they pose an especially grave threat to thousands of species of ground-nesting native bees. In November the largest and most comprehensive ever global assessment of pollinators found that 40 percent of pollinating insects are threatened with extinction, naming neonicotinoids as a significant driver of wild pollinator declines.

“The new policy does virtually nothing to protect America’s thousands of declining native bee species or to curb the escalating use of these harmful neonicotinoid pesticides across hundreds of millions of acres in the United States,” said Burd. “It’s shocked that the EPA’s response to the crisis of declining pollinators and the abundant science linking that decline to neonicotinoid insecticides is to meekly offer a policy encouraging industry to consider restricting pesticide use in limited situations where plants are blooming while commercial honeybees have been brought in to work the fields. This is a rejection of science that should be deeply troubling to all Americans as we move into a Trump administration.”

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Neonicotinoids have already been banned by the European Union, and in 2016 they were banned on all U.S. national wildlife refuges due to their harmful impacts on wildlife, including threatened and endangered species. Canada has also proposed a ban on a neonicotinoid because of its unacceptable threats.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/pesticides-01-12-2017.php
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 17, 2017, 05:04:42 pm
82 False Killer Whales Dead in Massive Stranding Off Everglades National Park

January 16, 2017

Lorraine Chow

SNIPPET:
Ninety-five false killer whales were stranded off the coast of Hog Key in Florida's Everglades National Park over the weekend.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) wrote in a Facebook post this morning that 82 animals are now confirmed dead and 13 are unaccounted for. Earlier reports put the death toll at 81.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2953.gif&hash=b84c0ae260f7ac760e54bcdc33d788c36faa07c1)

https://youtu.be/wCSfYOksq6Y

http://www.ecowatch.com/false-killer-whales-dead-florida-2197384172.html

Quote
Grace Alexander · Denver, Colorado

Geoengineering & the ramifications of Industrial Corporations who refuse to STOP their environmental terrorism. Mainstream media will NOT tell you how precarious our earth is now.

Jean-Pierre Turcotte ·
Designer/Artist at RavensArt-RavenFashions

Only those who choose to be ignorant would be surprised at such developments while we, as a species, continue to poison our only environment that we share with all other creatures on this planet. To remain ignorant or not? That is the question. To action is the resolution.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 18, 2017, 02:36:09 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Enjoy the good news while you can. Trump will ENSURE that this common sense DOJ policy is reversed.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)

Justice Department: Vessel Pollution Cases Set New Record in 2016

January 17, 2017 by Mike Schuler

The U.S. Department of Justice says 2016 was record year for prosecuting shipping companies and crew for illegal discharges from ocean-going vessels in U.S. waters.

At the end of fiscal year 2016, the Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division imposed criminal penalties of more than $363 million in fines and more than 32 years of imprisonment from cases related to intentional discharges of pollutants from vessels.

Often times these cases involve a crew’s use of a so-called “magic pipe” to dump oil-contaminated water overboard, which is almost always followed by an attempt to cover the illegal dumping up by failing to record these discharges in the ship’s oil record book. Charges, which can range from violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships to obstruction of justice or even conspiracy, can carry steep fines for shipping companies and lengthy prison sentences for any crewmembers involved.

In December 2016, the ENRD handed down its largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate vessel pollution after prosecuting Princess Cruise Lines, part of Carnival Corp, on felony charges related to illegal oil dumping at sea and intentional acts to cover it. The company ended up pleading guilty to seven felony charges and has been sentenced to pay a $40 million penalty.

The ENRD said that overall 2016 was one its most successful years in its history. Among its most notable enforcement successes were completing the historic settlement with BP arising from the tragic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010; and bringing a Clean Air Act case against Volkswagen.

“I am extremely proud and grateful to have led the men and women of this division through a landmark year in its long history of protecting, defending and preserving the environment and natural resources of this great nation,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden. “Together, we brought justice and an immense restoration effort to the Gulf shores spoiled by Deepwater Horizon, and resolution to automobile consumers and all Americans deprived of clean air by Volkswagen’s deceit. And we ended, fairly and honorably, the vast majority of protracted litigation that has stood in the way of a stronger nation-to-nation relationship between the United States and American Indian tribes.”

http://gcaptain.com/justice-department-vessel-pollution-cases-in-2016-set-new-record/
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241216151049.png&hash=78206393ea158485b779ed06d0fb0f84172b645d)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 24, 2017, 05:38:20 pm
Let the Pipelines Commence!

RE

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/politics/trump-keystone-xl-dakota-access-pipelines-executive-actions/ (http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/politics/trump-keystone-xl-dakota-access-pipelines-executive-actions/)

Trump advances controversial oil pipelines with executive action

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi2.cdn.turner.com%2Fcnn%2F2017%2Fimages%2F01%2F23%2Fwebtag-site-promo.jpg&hash=8adb803152bc087750dc5f95eb95737192a68f33)

By Athena Jones, Jeremy Diamond and Gregory Krieg, CNN

Updated 4:27 PM ET, Tue January 24, 2017
Trump signs oil pipeline executive actions

dakota pipeline Tribe Announcement sot _00000000.jpg
Tribe chief on Dakota pipeline: 'We made it'
CANNON BALL, ND - NOVEMBER 30: Snow covers Oceti Sakowin Camp near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on November 30, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country have been gathering at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The proposed 1,172 mile long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Officials: Pipeline will be re-routed
exp Amy Goodman on standing rock_00011414.jpg
Amy Goodman describes covering Standing Rock
Pipeline protesters vow to remain
Pipeline protesters defy evacuation order
Protester: 'It will be a battle'
Police unleashed a water cannon on people protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.
Protesters fighting pipeline are staying put
Meet Mni Wiconi, or Water is Life
Now Playing
Trump signs oil pipeline executive actions
Tires burn as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers stand in formation on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction. The pipeline is to carry oil from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)
What's up with the Dakota Access Pipeline?
US Navy veteran John Gutekanst from Athens, Ohio, waves an American flag as an activist approaches the police barricade with his hands up on a bridge near Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country gather at the camp trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Police have their say about Standing Rock
Veterans stand in solidarity in Standing Rock
CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 05: Military veterans are briefed on cold-weather safety issues and their overall role at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 5, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Over the weekend a large group of military veterans joined native Americans and activists from around the country who have been at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Yesterday the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Protesters stand strong despite blizzard
Dakota Access Pipeline fight isn't over
Victory for Native Americans in pipeline fight
A crowd celebrates at the Oceti Sakowin camp after it was announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won&#39;t grant easement for the Dakota Access oil pipeline in Cannon Ball, N.D., Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Drumming, chanting over Dakota pipeline halt
dakota pipeline Tribe Announcement sot _00000000.jpg
Tribe chief on Dakota pipeline: 'We made it'
CANNON BALL, ND - NOVEMBER 30: Snow covers Oceti Sakowin Camp near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on November 30, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country have been gathering at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The proposed 1,172 mile long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Officials: Pipeline will be re-routed
exp Amy Goodman on standing rock_00011414.jpg
Amy Goodman describes covering Standing Rock
Pipeline protesters vow to remain
Pipeline protesters defy evacuation order
Protester: 'It will be a battle'
Police unleashed a water cannon on people protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.
Protesters fighting pipeline are staying put
Meet Mni Wiconi, or Water is Life
Trump signs oil pipeline executive actions
Tires burn as armed soldiers and law enforcement officers stand in formation on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016, to force Dakota Access pipeline protesters off private land where they had camped to block construction. The pipeline is to carry oil from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)
What's up with the Dakota Access Pipeline?
US Navy veteran John Gutekanst from Athens, Ohio, waves an American flag as an activist approaches the police barricade with his hands up on a bridge near Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country gather at the camp trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Police have their say about Standing Rock
Veterans stand in solidarity in Standing Rock
CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 05: Military veterans are briefed on cold-weather safety issues and their overall role at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 5, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Over the weekend a large group of military veterans joined native Americans and activists from around the country who have been at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Yesterday the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Protesters stand strong despite blizzard
Dakota Access Pipeline fight isn't over
Victory for Native Americans in pipeline fight
A crowd celebrates at the Oceti Sakowin camp after it was announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won&#39;t grant easement for the Dakota Access oil pipeline in Cannon Ball, N.D., Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Drumming, chanting over Dakota pipeline halt
Story highlights

    The decision to advance the pipelines would cast aside decisions by President Barack Obama's administration
    Trump during his campaign said he would streamline the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed executive actions to advance approval of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines.
The decision to advance the pipelines cast aside efforts by President Barack Obama's administration to block construction of the two pipelines, while making good on one of Trump's campaign promises.

As he signed the documents Tuesday in the Oval Office, Trump also vowed to "renegotiate some of the terms" of the Keystone bill and said he would then seek to "get that pipeline built."

Trump also issued executive actions declaring oil pipelines constructed in the US should be built with US materials, streamlining the regulatory process for pipeline construction and shortening the environmental review process.
Trump during his campaign said he would streamline the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which was stalled for years in the Obama administration until Obama denied approval for the pipeline's construction altogether in November 2015.
And Trump said for the first time in December that he supported construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which stalled last year amid protests opposing its construction on Native American lands. The Obama administration denied the company a permit it needed to complete the pipeline late last year.
CNN Politics app
Protesters of the pipeline projects quickly condemned the decisions Tuesday.
"President Trump is legally required to honor our treaty rights and provide a fair and reasonable pipeline process," said Standing Rock Sioux Tribe chairman Dave Archambault II in a statement. "Americans know this pipeline was unfairly rerouted towards our nation and without our consent. The existing pipeline route risks infringing on our treaty rights, contaminating our water and the water of 17 million Americans downstream."
Environmental groups and activists were also quick to slam the decision, with Tom Steyer, the president of NextGen Climate, accusing the Trump administration of putting "corporate interests ahead of American interests."
"The pipelines are all risk and no reward, allowing corporate polluters to transport oil through our country to be sold on the global market, while putting our air and water at serious risk," he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat from North Dakota where the Dakota Access Pipeline is being built, welcomed the move, as did Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia.
"What this country needs is more jobs, and that is why I have always been a proponent of the Keystone XL Pipeline and was an original cosponsor of legislation approving the Keystone XL Pipeline project," Manchin, who has already supported several of Trump's nominees and initiatives, said in a statement. "With a majority of Americans in support of the Keystone XL pipeline's construction, I'm glad we are finally moving forward with this important project."
Just as Trump on Tuesday flicked to the need to "renegotiate" the Keystone XL pipeline terms, Trump during his campaign argued not just for quick approval of the pipeline, which would shuttle oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, but also said he would push for a deal that would grant US taxpayers a share of the profits. Trump said that the US would approve the pipeline while also seeking a "better deal."
Trump's approval of both pipelines are early signs of how his administration will take a drastically different approach to energy and environmental issues. Beyond approving the pipelines, Trump has also vowed to slash environmental protection regulations and has nominated several skeptics of the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change to key Cabinet posts dealing with environmental issues.
New wave of protests expected
Environmental groups and their progressive allies have already begun to mobilize against Trump's directive.
The Indigenous Environmental Network, a leading tribal organization dedicated to blocking further construction of the Dakota Access project, promised a new round of "massive mobilization and civil disobedience."
The documents signed by Trump have not yet been made public or provided to the tribes or their legal advocates. But Phillip Ellis, a spokesman for Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization that represents the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, told CNN they were prepared to act.
"Whatever the decision from the President and whatever the mechanism, we will pursue on behalf of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe all legal outlets to oppose the permitting (of pipeline construction)," he said. "We just don't know what that is yet."
A lawyer with Earthjustice, Jan Hasselman, said it was his understanding that the memorandum signed by Trump "directs the Army to review and approve the easement quickly, 'to the extent permitted by law.'"
Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the pipeline, needs an easement -- or legal permission -- from the Army Corps of Engineers to drill under Lake Oahe -- about a half-mile upstream from the Standing Rock tribe reservation border -- to complete the project.
"The Army Corps of Engineers still needs to make a decision on the easement and if they issue it without the (Environmental Impact Statement) process we will amend our complaint to challenge it legally on behalf of the tribe," he said.
The headsman council at the Oceti Sakowin camp, home to a large protest site during demonstrations last year, issued a call on Tuesday for "allies and people to stand up where they are" and engage in "mass civil disobedience as a showing of solidarity for Standing Rock."
Desiree Kane, who spent seven months at the Oceti Sakowin Camp as a media volunteer, told CNN she ready to answer the call.
"I leave tomorrow morning," she said in an email.
Organizers from 350.org, the Sierra Club, CREDO, and other groups have already planned a rally outside the White House at 5 p.m. Tuesday to protest the decision.
"The Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines would be a disaster for the land and water, the rights of Indigenous peoples, and the climate," they said in a statement. "Both pipelines ignited widespread grassroots resistance worldwide, and Trump's executive orders are renewing mass opposition to the projects."

I am surprised that ANYBODY would be surprised at the above actions of the Racist, Fascist fossil fuel industry PUPPET Trump.

Trump is perfectly in agreement with the following "Free Market Policy" (and he ALWAYS HAS BEEN!):
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecology.iww.org%2Fimages%2FSMcMillan1.jpg&hash=71a5ded42adb67f357b284d15e8292c4e9fb1ad1)


There are three legs to the fascism stool:


1) A melding of corporate and civil governance.

2) A foreign policy predicated on an aggressive nationalistic worldview.

3) An authoritarian government.

A political system that recognizes corporations as individual persons certainly provides one of those legs. Trump just completed the last two legs.

Have a nice day.

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 24, 2017, 08:56:04 pm
Environment | Tue Jan 24, 2017 | 2:17pm EST
Canada oil pipeline spills 200,000 liters on aboriginal land



The site of an oil pipeline spill is seen in an aerial photograph provided by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, near Stoughton, Saskatchewan, Canada taken on January 23, 2017. INAC/Handout via Reuters (at article link)


SNIPPET:

By Ethan Lou and Alastair Sharp | CALGARY, Alberta/TORONTO

A pipeline in the western Canadian province of Saskatchewan has leaked 200,000 liters (52,834 gallons) of oil in an aboriginal community, the provincial government said on Monday.

The government was notified late in the afternoon on Friday, and 170,000 liters have since been recovered, said Doug McKnight, assistant deputy minister in the Ministry of the Economy, which regulates pipelines in Saskatchewan.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-pipeline-leak-idUSKBN1572UJ (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-pipeline-leak-idUSKBN1572UJ)

Agelbert NOTE: In other news, the Trump Adminstration just put a gag order on all US Government scientists (read: Prohibited to disseminate Climate Change DATA info to the public OR Congress) until further advised.

Have a nice fascist day.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.wp.com%2Fgas2.org%2Ffiles%2F2013%2F05%2Fstupid.png&hash=03f34f8c94a314e127f3ee8c4872e721e1b04063)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 25, 2017, 05:51:56 pm
  January 25, 2017

Thousands Take to the Streets Across the Country to Oppose the Dakota Access and Keystone Pipelines

Real News speaks to indigenous leaders and environmentalists who gathered in Washington, DC to oppose Trump's decision to revive two massive pipelines.

https://youtu.be/vwt5nIxKxDs

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=18205

Agelbert COMMENT: This was so predictable. Trump is a puppet of the fascist fossil fuel industry.  The Trumpers will rue the day they were made fools of by this profit over planet racist cretin.

Below is the TRUMP "jobs" plan:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecology.iww.org%2Fimages%2FSMcMillan1.jpg&hash=71a5ded42adb67f357b284d15e8292c4e9fb1ad1)

Below is the TRUMP plan to drown Social Security and Medicare in a Mulvaney bathtub:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210117202856.png&hash=eed8faee1699ddd975e793858488ac52004d88f0)

 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 27, 2017, 05:34:14 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.museumoffamilyhistory.com%2Fw-pogrom-bialystok.jpg&hash=a30311572ba4b827b012c1d3a012536949d382f8)
Trump Climate Deniers in the Service of the Fossil Fuel Industry Polluters to carry out a POGROM at the EPA

Ebell: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)  Purge Necessary at EPA to Rid 'Scientists Who Believe the Global Warming Alarmist Agenda'

 Climate Nexus

In various interviews on Thursday, former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition chief Myron Ebell confirmed the Trump team would probably seek significant cuts to the agency's workforce and budget, but would not provide details of specific policy recommendations he made to the president.

Ebell, who told the AP that the federal government has "been staffed with scientists who believe the global-warming alarmist agenda," floated the idea of downsizing EPA from 15,000 to 5,000 employees as an "aspirational goal" but acknowledged that getting cuts that significant past Congress would be a challenge for the administration.

On the Hill, Sen Tom Harper, D-DE, blasted EPA Administrator nominee Scott Pruitt for giving answers "shockingly devoid of substance" to senators' written follow-up questions, as Oklahoman environmental lawyers lobbied lawmakers Wednesday to highlight Pruitt's cozy relationship with industry during his time as Oklahoma attorney general.

http://www.ecowatch.com/ebell-epa-purge-2218823381.html

Agelbert NOTE: The future looks BRIGHT, for Tardigrades.  Welcome to Fossil Fuel World. If humanity survives the current Fascist Fuel Industry PUPPET (Trumplethinskin (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fp8.gif&hash=34db9228a959b3b83fc65b38a1aa92a40d56f976) ) at the White House, it will be a miraculous event. Have a nice day.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fourwinds10.net%2Fresources%2Fuploads%2Fimages%2Fdissolving%2520the%2520planet%2520for%2520oil.jpg&hash=4e454194b388f35b4beee87072d010f6bf35af46)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg06.deviantart.net%2Fbb6a%2Fi%2F2011%2F120%2Ff%2F6%2Fcorporate_pollution_by_jakejames-d3512u1.jpg&hash=30ead896a22d9a93df54de278d32cb3822d4a3ce)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)

DOOM WEEK ON PLANET EARTH
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200415173810.png&hash=1fb0b0ce108410936220e3ce43d93e5c617979f3)
It REALLY WAS a good ride, not for you and me, but for TPTB. So expect them to do WHATEVER to prolong their RIDE, against all scientific evidence that EXPLOITATION WITHOUT REFLECTION OF FELLOW EARTHLINGS OF ALL SPECIES (not just humans) AND THE BIOSPHERE FOR PROFIT OVER PLANET is deleterious (i.e. SUICIDAL/abysmally STUPID) to the Homo SAP species.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 28, 2017, 02:33:23 pm
Agelbert NOTE: This nearly two year old post is even more applicable today. I have modified the final note to appropriately classify the insanely polluting plans of the Trump Administration lackeys like Pruitt and Ebell, to name just two of MANY  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fwww_MyEmoticons_com__burp.gif&hash=8ff3ef6c016d8baf5f61ed5e8db58f069b64da00).

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241216151049.png&hash=78206393ea158485b779ed06d0fb0f84172b645d)
Mapping the Dangers of Fracking

Briana Kerensky, Food & Water Watch | May 1, 2015 9:10 am

It feels like spring only just arrived, but as of tomorrow we’re less than a month away from the official start of summer: Memorial Day. National parks and forests across the country will welcome millions of hikers, campers, photographers “picnic-ers,” and others this summer: people looking to leave home for a while and enjoy America’s natural beauty.

But oil and gas corporations want to visit U.S. public lands for a very different reason: to profit off their oil and gas reserves via fracking. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

Did you know that about 20 percent of U.S. oil and gas reserves and resources are beneath federal public lands? Some of these public lands are next to our most beautiful national parks, including Glacier National Park in Montana, or national forests like George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in Virginia and Shawnee National Forest in Illinois, to name a few.

But it can be hard to visualize the scope of the danger that fracking poses to our public lands. That’s why Food & Water Watch created a map to help illustrate the vast span of public lands across America, and illuminate where Big Oil and Gas corporations aim to drill and frack through it.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010515142453.jpeg&hash=253e4670efbf857cfd161b256995c3e0ca81a185)

The yellow areas are U.S. federal lands. The red areas in the map are where—given inconsistent data—there are oil and gas deposits. Lands in red are where there’s already been a wave of drilling and fracking for oil and gas, or where companies envision fracking before long. The overlapping orange areas are public lands that are either being fracked now, or could be soon. Check out the blue pins to learn about specific public lands and how they’re at risk from fracking.

Fracking on public lands such as these is dangerous on many levels:

it introduces toxic chemicals to water;  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

it disrupts the habitats of millions of animals, including endangered species;  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

it poses serious risks to human health, such as breast cancer;  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

and it spurs on climate change. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1593.gif&hash=628238f2fc26695937f6e97b91b050976065743b)

The production of oil and natural gas in 2013 from federal public lands led to more than 292 million tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas emissions, or about what 61 million cars emit in a year.


No amount of regulation will protect our public lands, health, drinking water and climate from the impacts of fracking. About 90 percent of federally managed lands are available for oil and gas leasing, while only 10 percent are reserved for conservation, recreation, wildlife and cultural heritage.

If we want to preserve our nation’s natural heritage for future generations, we must act. The Protect Our Public Lands Act was recently introduced to Congress, and is the strongest piece of federal legislation against fracking to date. No amount of regulation will protect our public lands or communities from the impacts of this dangerous practice.

http://ecowatch.com/2015/05/01/mapping-dangers-fracking/

Agelbert NOTE: Messaqe to null hypothesis (i.e. gee, there is "insufficient scientific evidence" that fracking is deleterious to human health.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)) Trump Administration fossil fuel industry lackeys and agnotologist friends:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-140415130805.png&hash=23d2e6dc6311a26c399bf0cb60868bcff2781a58)

Agnotology: Part one of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2849/#msg2849)
Agnotology: Part two of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2853/#msg2853)
Agnotology: Part three of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2858/#msg2858)
Agnotology: Part four of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2867/#msg2867)
Agnotology: Part five of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2876/#msg2876)
Agnotology: Part six of six parts  (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/who-can-you-trust/resisting-brainwashing-propaganda/msg2891/#msg2891)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 28, 2017, 10:25:21 pm
From the article Eddie put up:

Quote
Since 2006, some 1.2 million acres in Nebraska and the Dakotas that had never been tilled have been converted to corn and soybean production. This is even worse than converting conservation acreage into tilled farmland—since much of the conservation land had once been tilled. When virgin prairie is converted to farmland, along with losing the biodiversity on that land, a significant amount of carbon that was stored as organic matter in the soil is released into the atmosphere—contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

This is the kind of **** which really ticks me off.  We can't measure this in any sort of energy terms, frankly. As important as EROEI may be (and it's important), the destruction of large amounts of an intact, pre-Columbian ecosystem can't be measured in such terms. Humans are NOT the only species that matters in such equations.  We may not find intact prairie ecosystems as inspiring as an intact stand of old growth forest, but if we get down closer to the ground and open our hearts, minds and eyes to such majesty we may wonder why.

“There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot," said Aldo Leopold in Sand County Almanac.  In that context, he meant this in a spiritual (of the psyche, the soul, our "inner life") sense more than a biological one.  And about this I agree with him.  Some could care less about wild nature. Others care a great deal.  But on a purely biological basis, all of us simply cannot live without wild nature, and turning the whole world into a "resource base" for the human economy can only result in unthinkable disasters, spiritual and biological -- for humans and for all of life on Earth.

Those who do not love wild nature are as good as dead, if you ask me. They are machines with ticker tape in their minds and television sets for eyeballs.  And dollar bills where hearts should be.  They are the scourge of the earth.

Enough destruction already!


  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)


Quote
Human inequity is directly proportional to the amount of human iniquity. - A. G. Gelbert
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 29, 2017, 11:27:53 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg06.deviantart.net%2Fbb6a%2Fi%2F2011%2F120%2Ff%2F6%2Fcorporate_pollution_by_jakejames-d3512u1.jpg&hash=30ead896a22d9a93df54de278d32cb3822d4a3ce)

Donald Trump Puts Coal Lobbyist in Charge of Prosecuting Environmental Crimes  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)

Lee Fang

January 27 2017, 3:07 p.m.

A lobbyist for a utility company that heavily relies on coal-fueled power plants and has clashed with regulators is the new acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Department of Justice division that oversees environmental crimes.

The appointment of Jeffery H. Wood, who up until last week was a lobbyist for Southern Company, was announced only with a modest notice posted on January 23 on the Environment and Natural Resource Division’s website.

It’s the latest personnel move that signals the coal industry’s return to power in the Beltway.

President Trump has yet to nominate anyone to hold the assistant attorney general job on a permanent basis, but for the time being Wood will be overseeing the division that enforces civil and criminal environmental laws to reduce pollutants discharged into the air, water and land, and brings cases to enable the clean-up of contaminated waste sites.

The division has previously prosecuted coal firms and utilities, including a 2015 case against Duke Energy, which pled guilty for spilling coal ash into the Dan River in North Carolina. The division also led a major initiative against companies for illegally operating coal-fire power plants, winning settlements that have forced firms to install pollution controls to reduce emissions.

Wood has worked for the last two years as a lobbyist for Southern Company, an investor-owned utility that generates 33 percent of its power from coal. The firm’s “clean coal” plant in Kemper, Mississippi is the current target of a Securities and Exchange Commission probe over disputed “accounting measures.”

Southern Company is also one of the more politically active coal-reliant utility firms. The company provided funding for the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that lobbies state lawmakers to undermine environmental regulations, as well as at least $409,000 to Dr. Willie Wei-Hock Soon, a controversial scientist who doubts that the Arctic is warming.

Lobbying disclosures show that Wood, formerly a partner with the Alabama law and lobbying firm Balch & Bingham, worked to influence the licensing of nuclear power plants, the Clean Air Act and climate change issues on behalf of Southern Company. His deregistration forms were filed on January 17, three days before taking the Justice Department position potentially overseeing his former client.

Trump has not yet announced his promised ethics reform package, but the lobbying ban Trump promised on the campaign trail was focused on preventing Trump administration officials from lobbying after they leave government, rather than preventing lobbyists from joining the administration in the first place.

Wood’s biography on his lobby firm web page, now taken offline, touts his experience in working to influence Congress on EPA regulations and on advising industrial clients on Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act, among other environmental laws. Wood, a former legal counsel to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., President Trump’s nominee for attorney general, also advised Trump during the campaign.

In 2016, he filed an amicus brief in a suit against the Environmental Protection Agency to block the enforcement of the Clean Power Plan, the rule-making that represents that primary Obama administration push to address climate change. He was also the attorney for a similar suit on behalf of lawmakers seeking to block the plan.

In a Q&A published by his former law firm last year, Wood explained that “[t]o the disappointment of many in the regulated community,” the 2016 budget bill failed “to block the most contentious environmental rules issued recently such as the Clean Power Plan, the ozone standard, or the ‘Waters of the U.S.’ rule.”

Republican lawmakers appear poised to roll back Obama administration rules as soon as next week. Meanwhile, Trump administration appointees are also well-positioned to block enforcement of any environmental regulation opposed by industry.

https://theintercept.com/2017/01/27/coal-doj-trump/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 30, 2017, 08:50:01 pm
Mongolians Demonstrate in Capital Demanding Action on Smog

Continued severe air pollution in Mongolia's capitol of Ulaanbatar led to widespread protest this weekend, as thousands of protestors demonstrated in freezing temperatures to demand increased government response to the city's chronic problem.

A political scientist in Ulaanbatar told the AP that extreme weather intensified by climate change has forced citizens to leave livestock-based lifestyles behind, cramming more citizens into the city's already overcrowded districts.

Half of Ulaanbatar's 1.3 million residents primarily burn raw materials, including coal and rubber tires, in their homes to heat food and stay warm.

In December, air pollution levels in the capitol exceeded nearly 80 times the recommended level set by the WHO, five times worse than the levels in Beijing during that city's December smog crisis.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/28/world/asia/mongolia-smog-capital-demonstration.html?_r=0
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 31, 2017, 06:03:52 pm
Judge Blocks Monsanto's Bid to Stop California From Listing Glyphosate as Carcinogenic  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fza4.gif&hash=2db0a6001703f4089cb64dc38159bb3d467e1bff) 

SNIPPET:

California could become the first state to require Monsanto to label its glyphosate-based herbicide, Roundup, as a possible carcinogen following Fresno County Superior Court Judge Kristi Kapetan's tentative ruling on Friday.

http://www.ecowatch.com/california-glyphosate-kennedy-2225578913.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 31, 2017, 06:10:09 pm

9,442 Citizen-Reported Fracking Complaints Reveal 12-Years of Suppressed Data

 Laurel Peltier

Jan. 30, 2017 02:54PM EST

SNIPPET:

Guess what was found in Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) filing cabinets after gas operators drilled 10,027 fracking wells over the last 12 years? Only 9,442 citizen-reported fracking complaints. And 44 percent of those are drinking water-related. Pennsylvania's DEP finally released the complaints to Public Herald, an investigative journalism nonprofit. There's much to learn from Pennsylvania's now-public 9,442 fracking complaints as legislators decide to frack or not to frack in Western Maryland.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://www.ecowatch.com/fracking-complaints-pennsylvania-2225509887.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 01, 2017, 02:13:51 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Anchor dragging on a ship the size of a U.S. Navy’s guided missile cruiser is more evidence that the extremely rough ocean conditions predicted due to Catastrophic Climate Change are increasingly being experienced.  :o  :(

U.S. Navy Ship Runs Aground Off Japan

January 31, 2017 by gCaptain .3K

USS Antietam (CG54). U.S. Navy file photo (at article link)


The U.S. Navy’s guided missile cruiser USS Antietam ran aground off the coast of Yokosuka, Japan on Tuesday, damaging the ship’s props and causing hydraulic oil to spill into the water.

The incident was first reported by the Navy Times. The report, citing two Navy officials familiar with the incident, says the ship grounded after dragging anchor in high winds near its home port of Yokosuka. The grounding caused the ship to dump some 1,100 gallons of oil into the water, the officials said.

The extent of the damage and grounding is unclear, but the U.S. Navy did confirm that the ship damaged during anchoring in a statement obtained by gCaptain.com.

In the statement, the Navy confirmed that the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) damaged its propellers while anchoring in Tokyo Bay in the vicinity of Yokosuka, Japan, Jan. 31. The ship was towed back to port following the incident.

“The ship safely returned to Fleet Activities Yokosuka with the help of tugs. There were no injuries to U.S. or Japanese personnel. The incident did result in the discharge of hydraulic oil into the water,” the Navy statement said.

“The Navy is cooperating with the Government of Japan and Japanese Coast Guard in response to this issue and is taking appropriate measures to minimize impacts to the environment,” the statement added.

The Navy has launched and investigation to assess the full extent of the damage. 

The USS Antietam is homeported in Yokosuka, Japan.

http://gcaptain.com/report-us-navy-ship-antietam-runs-aground-off-japan/


Agelbert NOTE: Meanwhile, the Phillipines is requesting help from the NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fthumbs.dreamstime.com%2Fz%2Fchinese-emoticon-22648577.jpg&hash=e5f417f773692d246a108dcc451657cb8b2c6e05) (I'm sure the Trumpers are overjoyed... (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F4fvfcja.gif&hash=34a9a570347d39a0a892bc1f376c5e8b88add6b5)).

Philippines Asks China :o to Patrol Piracy-Plagued Waters

January 31, 2017 by Reuters l 

International Maritime Bureau map showing reported incidents of piracy in southeast Asia during 2016. Image: IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (at article link)

ReutersMANILA, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said he had asked China to help in the fight against Islamic State-linked militants by sending ships to patrol southern waters plagued by raids on commercial vessels.

Speaking to newly promoted army generals, Duterte said he had sought China’s help in dangerous waters in the south to check the activities of Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim rebel group sustained by piracy and kidnap-for-ransom activities.

A surge in piracy off parts of the Philippines Government is forcing ship-owners to divert vessels through other waters, pushing up costs and shipping times.

Duterte said piracy in the Sulu Sea between eastern Malaysia and the southern Philippines would escalate to levels seen in Somalia, and raise insurance costs for firms and increase prices of consumer goods and services.

“We would be glad if they have their presence there … just to patrol,” Duterte said, adding that China could send coastguard vessels, not necessarily “gray” warships.

“In the Malacca Strait and here in Sulu Sea remains to be a big problem,” he said. The Malacca Strait, between Malaysia’s west coast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, has over the years also been plagued by pirates.

He did not say if China had responded.

The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia had an agreement to patrol and tackle the Abu Sayyaf in the Sulu and Celebes Sea after they kidnapped the crew of Indonesian and Malaysian tug boats and South Korean and Vietnamese merchant ships.

Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana last week said cooperation might be expanded to include Brunei and Singapore. The United States has also expressed concern about the security problem and held exercises with Malaysia and the Philippines last year.

Lorenzana said on Tuesday the military had intensified operations on land with the aim of defeating Abu Sayyaf within six months. (Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Martin Petty, Robert Birsel)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017.

http://gcaptain.com/philippines-asks-china-patrol-piracy-plagued-waters/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 09, 2017, 10:46:06 pm
The Congressman (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)  who’s trying to make the environment worse, again  >:(  :P

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-congressman-whos-trying-to-make-the-environment-worse-again

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 09, 2017, 10:57:57 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F_IPZX1n_gnIM%2FTBxKST8wgBI%2FAAAAAAAAFxM%2F52D2UaemhQE%2Fs400%2FGas-Oil-Petroleum385.jpg&hash=733743a5d6af9b5085d12db935373e34c5e356fd)

The GOP Plan to Prevent a Repeat of Obama's Climate Action

John Light, Moyers & Company

SNIPPET:

 Congress is moving to get rid of a legal precedent that allowed the Environment Protection Agency to tackle climate change under President Obama. The push is part of a larger package of laws that passed the House earlier this month called the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39420-the-gop-plan-to-prevent-a-repeat-of-obama-s-climate-action
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 11, 2017, 06:27:18 pm
https://youtu.be/pbFA0mxzgjY

New Nukes Make Global Warming Worse: CO2 Smokescreen w/ Arnie Gundersen

Published on Oct 19, 2016


What you’re about to see is a profound presentation that’s taken Fairewinds almost a year to develop. The topic today is the CO2 smokescreen.
I was in the nuclear industry and built nuclear power plants in the 70’s and the 80’s, and I can assure you that when those plants were built, they had absolutely nothing to do with carbon dioxide and global warming.
The bottom line here is that 35 years in the future, that this nuclear plants that are proposed are only going to mitigate carbon dioxide by about 6 percent. And what I’d like you to do today – I’m going to ignore for the purposes of this presentation the desecration of native lands from mining, the desecration of Fukushima Prefecture and other areas that might be destroyed from nuclear disasters; and also, of course, the long-term storage for a million years of the nuclear waste. So let’s just set all of those liabilities aside and talk about money.
And what I’d like to do for the first half of this presentation is focus on the impact that the nukes that are running right now are having on the environment.
438 plants that the nuclear industry will tell you are critically needed, and if we shut them down, we’re going to melt the arctic ice – are only contributing 3 percent.
So each power plant reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 7/1000’s of 1 percent. (...)
FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE: http://www.fairewinds.org/nuclear-ene...

CO2 Smoke Screen: New Nukes Make Global Warming Worse uncovers the ludicrously small impact that nuclear power has on saving the Earth from CO2 emissions in contrast to the promises of the atomic power industry. Well received by fellow experts in the field and filmed by award winning photographer Martin Duckworth, the CO2 Smoke Screen is the culmination of one year’s worth of research and hard work by the Fairewinds Crew, Fairewinds science advisors, and a group of amazing interns from the University of Vermont (UVM).

CO2 Smoke Screen: New Nukes Make Global Warming Worse had its debut presentation at the 2016 World Social Forum at the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM). Invited to present both a keynote speech and during workshops, Fairewinds’ Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen and Program Administrator Caroline Aronson attended the Montreal Forum and made presentations at UQAM and McGill University, where Mr. Gundersen shared a condensed version of the “CO2 Smoke Screen” keynote and addressed the issue of radiation releases from Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean.

A groundbreaking presentation like the CO2 Smoke Screen takes time, hard work, and funding for the Fairewinds Energy Education Crew to conduct the necessary research and create the videos, podcasts, and newsletters we share with you.

Your donations to Fairewinds Energy Education non-profit provide the funding necessary to produce work of this quality, and it also feeds the fire to push forward, to do more for you, our viewers and listeners. The information we provide on www.fairewinds.org is free for all to read and share, but it takes money to produce. That’s where you can step in and help support Fairewinds. http://tinyurl.com/gp7yrwy

Keep Fairewinds’ work accessible to all; please donate today! http://www.fairewinds.org/donate

CO2 Smoke Screen: New Nukes Make Global Warming Worse Presentation http://tinyurl.com/zm72d2r

FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE: http://www.fairewinds.org/nuclear-ene...
~~~~~

or listen here https://soundcloud.com/fairewinds-energy

BONUS LINK: Donald Trump Addresses this topic in the following campaign speech last week: https://youtu.be/PJAjoQ4J5pk?t=56m10s called Donald Trump Disassembles Teleprompter In The Middle Of Campaign Rally In North Carolina! at 56:10 into the video.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 16, 2017, 11:44:17 am
Farmers in 10 States Sue Monsanto Over Dicamba Devastation

SNIPPET:

Farmers across 10 states are suing Monsanto, alleging that the agrochemical company sold dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybean crops knowing that illegal spraying of the highly volatile and drift-prone herbicide would be inevitable.

Steven W. Landers, et al v. Monsanto Company was filed on Jan. 26 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Southeastern Division. Kansas City law firm Randles & Splittgerber filed on behalf of Steven and Deloris "Dee" Landers and similarly harmed farmers in 10 states—Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

http://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-lawsuits-dicamba-drift-2265408929.html


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 16, 2017, 11:51:42 am
Toxic Chemicals (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) Banned in 70s Found in Deep Ocean Creatures  :(

SNIPPET:

Dr. Alan Jamieson led the team and is lead author of the study, Bioaccumulation of persistent organic pollutants in the deepest ocean fauna, which was published online in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution in February.

"Here we identify extraordinary levels of persistent organic pollutants in the endemic amphipod fauna from two of the deepest ocean trenches … " the study abstract states. The study also explains that the creatures tested contained more pollutants than similar crustaceans from some of the earth's most polluted waters, including China's Liaohe River and Japan's Suruga Bay.

The amphipods held "10 times the level of industrial pollution than the average earthworm," a Newcastle press release stated.

The researchers employed remotely-operated vehicles to trap the amphipods.
https://youtu.be/3k-Bp4LmvV8

http://www.ecowatch.com/deep-sea-trenches-pcbs-2264067589.html




Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 17, 2017, 05:41:43 pm
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Fri Feb 17, 2017 | 7:02am EST
Air pollution linked to 2.7 million premature births a year: scientists


LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - (This story has been refiled to clarify institute's full name in paragraph 10.)

Curbing outdoor air pollution may help prevent 2.7 million premature births a year, a condition that threatens children's lives and increases their risk of long-term physical and neurological problems, scientists said on Thursday.

Fine particles in the air from diesel fumes, fires and other sources, may increase the risk of premature births - alongside other risks including a mother's age and health - according to a study published in the Environment International journal.

"Air pollution may not just harm people who are breathing the air directly - it may also seriously affect a baby in its mother's womb," said Chris Malley, lead author of the study which is based on data for 2010.

The majority of premature births linked to air pollution occur in South and East Asia, the researchers said. India alone accounts for about 1 million premature births, and China for another 500,000.
 
Diesel vehicles, forest fires, crop burning, and cooking with wood, dung or charcoal, are major contributors to the problem, the researchers said.

A pregnant woman in a city in China or India may inhale more than 10 times as much pollution as she would in rural England or France, the report said.

In Western sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East premature births were mainly linked to exposure to desert dust, the research showed.
 
Every year, an estimated 15 million babies are born prematurely and nearly 1 million of them die of complications, the World Health Organization says.

Pre-term birth complications are the leading cause of death among children under 5 years old, the U.N. agency says.

Countries need to work together to address pollution, a cross-border problem, said Johan Kuylenstierna, co-author of the study, and policy director of the Stockholm Environment Institute centre at the University of York.

"In a city, maybe only half the pollution comes from sources within the city itself – the rest will be transported there by the wind from other regions or even other countries," he said.

(Reporting by Alex Whiting @Alexwhi, Editing by Katie Nguyen.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, resilience, women's rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit news.trust.org/climate)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-pollution-idUSKBN15V2BE
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 18, 2017, 12:42:28 pm
https://youtu.be/0sAyCaVy-3U
Pruitt WORKS for the Fossil Fuel Industry, NOT we-the-people

Published on Feb 17, 2017

On tonight’s Big Picture, Thom discusses Scott Pruitt’s confirmation to head the EPA and what it means for environmental protections in the United States with Naomi Ages of Greenpeace.

Then, Thom talks to Scott Greer of the Daily Caller and political strategist Sam Bennett about Trump’s bizarre press conference and interaction with the media, and a House vote paving the way to defund Planned Parenthood.

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 20, 2017, 11:47:42 am
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Monarch Populations Plummet: 27% Decrease From Last Year

SNIPPET:

Populations of this once-common iconic black and orange butterfly have plummeted by approximately 90 percent in just the last two decades. The threats to the species are the loss of habitat in the U.S.—both the lack of availability of milkweed, the only host food plant for monarch caterpillars, as well as nectar plants needed by adults–through land conversion of habitat for agriculture, removal of native plants and the use of pesticides and loss of habitat in Mexico from illegal logging around the monarchs' overwintering habitat. The new population numbers underscore the need to continue conservation measures to reverse this trend.

http://www.ecowatch.com/monarch-butterfly-populations-2265703408.html

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 20, 2017, 12:22:48 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcatastrophemap.org%2Fimages%2Fanniston-alabama-pcb-poisoning.gif&hash=cd8e676dbb3dc128f02dadc4056661f8a439fdad)
99% of U.S. PCBs produced by Monsanto, and MON knew they were toxic (http://www.okraparadisefarms.com/blog/2013/08/99-of-u-s-pcbs-produced-by-monsanto-and-mon-knew-they-were-toxic.html)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)


Major Victory for California Cities vs. Monsanto Over PCB Contamination

Feb. 18, 2017 03:44PM EST

Lorraine Chow
 
SNIPPET:

Monsanto may be looking forward to turning a new leaf with its potential $66 billion mega-merger with Bayer AG, but the agrochemical giant just can't shake its notorious past as the primary manufacturer of highly toxic and banned substances called polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, that were once used for paints, electrical equipment and other products.

Monsanto manufactured about one billion pounds of PCBs for between the 1930s-70s before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned the chemical in 1979. PCBs are harmful to humans, wildlife and the environment. To this day, the toxins are dispersed throughout landfills, water bodies and even in the deepest part of the ocean.

In recent years, eight West Coast cities, the Port of Portland as well as Washington state have taken legal action against Monsanto to recover PCB cleanup costs. In Washington, for instance, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said that the state has spent tens of millions of dollars on cleanup efforts in bays, rivers, streams, sediment, soil and air throughout the state, all while the pollutants cause harm to protected salmon and orcas.

Monsanto has been dismissive of the lawsuits for a number of reasons, including "having nothing to do with the company's current business."


But the litigation is gaining momentum. Earlier this month, a California federal judge denied Monsanto's motion to dismiss separate public nuisance lawsuits filed by the cities of San Jose, Oakland and Berkeley. The cities are suing Monsanto for costs associated with PCB cleanup and stormwater system retrofit damages.

The cities also allege that Monsanto knew for decades that PCBs were dangerous but continued to sell them anyway. As stated in U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila's Feb. 3 order, an internal Monsanto report identified PCBs as "nearly global environmental contaminants" but urged "a number of actions which must be undertaken to prolong the manufacture, sale and use of these particular Aroclors," which was the trade name of commercial PCB mixtures. Furthermore, an internal memo declared that despite the hazards of PCBs, Monsanto "can't afford to lose one dollar of business." (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)

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http://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-pcb-lawsuits-2268543132.html

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 22, 2017, 06:35:06 pm
(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/all/themes/clew/logo.png)

February 22, 2017

Süddeutsche Zeitung

Signal to Berlin

Stuttgart had run out of options to cut nitrogen dioxide pollution, a poison that makes people ill and even kills them, writes Jan Heidtmann in a commentary for Süddeutsche Zeitung.

He argues the state government also wants to put pressure on federal transport minister Alexander Dobrindt, from CDU sister party CSU, who resists federal regulation to introduce driving bans using a “blue badge” to label cleaner cars. Heidtmann argues this is why it’s partly the minister’s fault that nitrogen dioxide levels now exceed legal limits in almost 80 German cities, including Berlin and Munich.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 23, 2017, 11:05:49 pm
Fracking Spills - More Than You think!
https://youtu.be/ah9RtDP0wJM
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 24, 2017, 12:57:41 pm
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Study Links Childhood Leukemia With Living Near Oil and Gas Development

SNIPPET:

But a key takeaway of the study seems to be that fracking and horizontal drilling have enabled oil and gas development to encroach more and more into places where people live (something the city of Greeley, Colorado, is grappling with firsthand) and as the researchers noted, "This has the potential to expose a large population to oil and gas development related pollutants."

http://www.ecowatch.com/leukemia-oil-gas-wells-2280665249.html

The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleteing CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 26, 2017, 03:55:37 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-fUYuaKz_Gy8%2FUtKwfsF6SZI%2FAAAAAAAAJhQ%2FcGmrt-e-uJw%2Fs1600%2Fteflon%2Btoxic%2Bkills.jpg&hash=c14b08cb1100729efdf348289642c33123c86ff9)

(https://www.afsc.org/sites/afsc.civicactions.net/files/u1752/Truthout%20logo.jpg)

DuPont and Chemours Settle Teflon Toxin Lawsuit for Up to $921 Million

Sharon Kelly, Earth Island Journal: C-8, also known as perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA, is a soap-like powder that DuPont used for decades at its Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia, to smooth lumps in freshly made Teflon. It is has caused cancers, pregnancy complications and chronic health conditions like thyroid disease. Finally, those harmed by C-8 have won some restitution.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39585-dupont-and-chemours-settle-teflon-toxin-lawsuit-for-up-to-921-million

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flivemoho.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F06%2Fad72e3cbdaec9aebf40983188c90b996.jpg&hash=b4799363e339e5e9f8f821f7ba30163d17134fba)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 26, 2017, 05:46:35 pm
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Trump Gives Pen to Dow Chemical CEO (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) After Signing Executive Order to Eliminate Regulations  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgaah.gif&hash=e43fa6be4258ba495007b2bbb3e7dd2f60288fcd)

Feb. 24, 2017 08:43PM EST

Lorraine Chow

President Donald Trump has signed another executive order aimed at eliminating regulations that he claims are damaging to the U.S. economy, but some worry that the measure will roll back critical environmental protections.

The order, called "Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda," directs each government agency to create a task force to evaluate existing federal regulations and recommend whether they should be kept, repealed or modified.

A White House official told POLITICO that the task forces will "focus on eliminating costly and unnecessary regulations."

The new order also directs agency heads to appoint "regulatory reform officers" to ensure that agencies are carrying out the president's other executive orders, such as his recent 2-for-1 rule that requires federal agencies to repeal two old regulations for every new one.

"Excessive regulation is killing jobs," Trump said during the signing ceremony. "Every regulation should have to pass a simple test: Does it make life better or safer for American workers or consumers? If the answer is no, we will be getting rid of it."
Quote

"We will stop punishing companies for doing business in the United States," Trump added. "It's going to be absolutely just the opposite. They will be incentivized to doing business."

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The president was flanked by leaders of major U.S. corporations, including Lockheed Martin, Johnson & Johnson, Dow Chemical Co. and Campbell Soup.

Dow Chemical Co. chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris, who leads Trump's advisory council on manufacturing and received the presidential signing pen. Just yesterday, Liveris praised the Trump administration for being "the most pro-business administration since the Founding Fathers."

Bloomberg Politics pointed out that The White House already has an entire agency, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, that reviews all government regulations before they are issued. It is unclear how the existing office will be working with the new officials.

Environmental groups have criticized Trump's latest executive order, saying that it is crafted to help the country's biggest polluters.

"The Trump administration wants less government, except when it wants more to carry out its oil and gas industry agenda (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)," Greenpeace spokesperson Travis Nichols said in a statement. "This executive order will put Trump's unvetted corporate minions above experts at our federal agencies in charge of protecting our water, our land and our climate."  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

"We can only hope that the resistance inside these agencies will be strong enough to stop these destructive Trump toadies from dismantling protections for the American people," Nichols continued. "This administration and its deluded enforcers will never understand what it feels like to worry about the water their families are drinking, the food their families are eating or if their houses will survive the next superstorm. It's up to all of us outside the billionaire bubble to resist the ways in which the Trump administration is destroying this country."


Tiernan Sittenfeld of the League of Conservation Voters had similar sentiments.

"President Trump is rigging the system so corporate lobbyists can lower standards that protect the public health and safety of all people in this country," Sittenfeld told NPR . "These task forces will attempt to roll back common-sense protections for the air we breathe, the water we drink and the lands we cherish."

Waterkeeper Alliance said that Trump's latest order will only help destroy agencies and regulations that are designed to protect people and the environment. For instance, rules that ensure that tap water does not contain pollutants that cause cancer or brain damage could be on the chopping block.

"President Trump's action to slash regulation is more like a pollution prison sentence, subjecting our communities to increased exposure to polluted water, toxins, disease and economic burden for generations to come. There is no justification for this type of brazen policy that only benefits the richest and most powerful corporations in the world," said Waterkeeper Alliance Executive Director Marc Yaggi. "Americans and all world citizens want and deserve clean water and clean air. President Trump will face massive resistance to this misguided executive order."

The Waterkeeper Alliance pointed out that the assumption that regulations have a negative impact on job creation is false  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)

"The reality is that only two-tenths of one percent of layoffs are caused by all governmental regulations, including environmental ones,"  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53) the organization said. "Earlier this month, job loss was cited as a major reason for overturning the Stream Protection Rule despite the fact that the Congressional Research Service found the rule would have created as many jobs as it eliminated. If implemented, the Stream Protection Rule would have protected an estimated 6,000 miles of streams over the next two decades from the devastating effects of mountaintop removal coal mining."

Earlier at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on Friday, Trump promised to slash 75 percent of regulations all while claiming he wanted to "protect our environment." (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-111214174727.png&hash=a0ea65f844542e4709bd444bd2f70496c434c56b)

"We're going to put the regulation industry out of work and out of business. And by the way, I want regulation. I want to protect our environment. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251) I want regulations for safety," (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe) Trump said, according to CNBC. "I want all of the regulations that we need and I want them to be so strong and so tough. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fugly004.gif&hash=c56db4280057389afd154a1cb4057410151579c8) But we don't need 75 percent of the repetitive, horrible regulations that hurt companies, hurt jobs."  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c)

But Trump's first month (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605) in the White House has been a nightmare for environmentalists and the planet alike.

(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c9604f5a5b095bd9b9cef8602a0211319abf5b194eb41e5b7a39136f1c19bc5.jpg)

He has appointed a cabinet full of polluters with ties to the fossil fuel industry
, and signed executive orders to push through the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipeline and nullify Obama-era climate policies such as the Stream Protection Rule.

And as Scott Faber, Environmental Working Group's senior vice president for government affairs, put it, "President Trump is engineering the most hostile assault on public health, and mark my words, his administration's planned destruction of many rules will put the health of millions of hard-working Americans and their families in jeopardy."

Incidentally, it emerged Friday morning that his daughter, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner pushed the president to exclude language that criticized the Paris agreement from an upcoming executive order, the Wall Street Journal reported.

http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-executive-order-regulations-2282814216.html
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 27, 2017, 05:43:10 pm
International team reports ocean acidification spreading rapidly in Arctic Ocean  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2955.gif&hash=ddc12d8bdb1bc63b7998a6b086b79a71b7bda755)

February 27, 2017


(https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2017/4-internationa.jpg)

Over the last decade, the Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE) and US collaborators have studied the environmental and climate changes of the western Arctic Ocean and has witnessed rapid expansion of the 'acidified' water in the upper water column. This photo shows the science team working on an ice station in front of the icebreaker XueLong during the summer 2010 cruise in the northern Canada Basin, very close to the North Pole. Credit: Zhongyong Gao and Di Qi

The research shows that, between the 1990s and 2010, acidified waters expanded northward approximately 300 nautical miles from the Chukchi slope off the coast of northwestern Alaska to just below the North Pole. Also, the depth of acidified waters was found to have increased, from approximately 325 feet to over 800 feet (or from 100 to 250 meters).

"The Arctic Ocean is the first ocean where we see such a rapid and large-scale increase in acidification, at least twice as fast as that observed in the Pacific or Atlantic oceans," said Cai, the U.S. lead principal investigator on the project and Mary A.S. Lighthipe Professor of Earth, Ocean, and Environment at UD.

"The rapid spread of ocean acidification in the western Arctic has implications for marine life, particularly clams, mussels and tiny sea snails that may have difficulty building or maintaining their shells in increasingly acidified waters," said Richard Feely, NOAA senior scientist and a co-author of the research. Sea snails called pteropods are part of the Arctic food web and important to the diet of salmon and herring. Their decline could affect the larger marine ecosystem.

Quote
Among the Arctic species potentially at risk from ocean acidification are subsistence fisheries of shrimp and varieties of salmon and crab.

Other collaborators on the international project include Liqi Chen, the Chinese lead principal investigator and scientist with the Third Institute of Oceanography of State Oceanic Administration of China; and scientists at Xiamen University, China and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, among other institutions.


Pacific Winter Water

The researchers studied water samples taken during cruises by Chinese ice breaker XueLong (meaning "snow dragon") in summer 2008 and 2010 from the upper ocean of the Arctic's marginal seas to the basins as far north as 88 degrees latitude, just below the North Pole, as well as data from three other cruises.

Scientists measured dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity which allows them to calculate pH and the saturation state for aragonite,  a carbonate mineral that marine organisms need to build their shells.

(https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2017/5-internationa.jpg)
This graphic, produced by the University of Delaware, shows where ocean acidification is spreading in the Arctic Ocean, both in area and in depth. Credit: Tammy Beeson, University of Delaware


International team reports ocean acidification spreading rapidly in Arctic Ocean
This graphic, produced by the University of Delaware, shows where ocean acidification is spreading in the Arctic Ocean, both in area and in depth. Credit: Tammy Beeson, University of Delaware

Data collected by ship and model simulations suggest that increased Pacific Winter Water (PWW), driven by circulation patterns and retreating sea ice in the summer season, is primarily responsible for this OA expansion, according to Di Qi, the paper's lead author and a doctoral student of Chen.
 
"This work will help increase our understanding of climate change, carbon cycling, and ocean acidification in the Arctic, particularly as it affects marine and fishery science and technology," said Chen.

PWW comes from the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait and shelf of the Chukchi Sea and into the Arctic basin. In recent years, melting sea ice has allowed more of the Pacific water to flow through the Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean. Pacific Ocean water is already high in carbon dioxide and has higher acidity. As the ocean mass moves north, it absorbs additional carbon dioxide from decomposing organic matter in the water and sediments, increasing acidity.

The melting and retreating of Arctic sea ice in the summer months also has allowed PWW to move further north than in the past when currents pushed it westward toward the Canadian archipelago.

Arctic ocean ice melt in the summer, once found only in shallow waters of depths less than 650 feet or 200 meters, now spreads further into the Arctic Ocean.

"It's like a melting pond floating on the Arctic Ocean. It's a thin water mass that exchanges carbon dioxide rapidly with the atmosphere above, causing carbon dioxide and acidity to increase in the meltwater on top of the seawater," said Cai. "When the ice forms in winter, acidified waters below the ice become dense and sink down into the water column, spreading into deeper waters."

https://phys.org/news/2017-02-international-team-ocean-acidification-rapidly.html

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/db/93/99/db93999f0f0b897cb0069b4d704c38d7.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 28, 2017, 04:57:10 pm
Chief Engineers Convicted in ‘Magic Pipe’ Pollution Case

February 24, 2017 by gCaptain
(https://images.vesseltracker.com/images/vessels/midres/Green-Sky-1392205.jpg)
Agelbert NOTE: Yep, this ship rigged to pollute (built in 2014!  :o) is named "Green Sky".  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

SNIPPET:

Evidence presented to the jury showed that the Green Sky was regularly pumping this contaminated and oily water directly overboard, while failing to disclose the discharges on the vessel’s oil record book as required. The illegal overboard discharges were falsified from February to August 2015.

“Methods of falsification included omitting illegal bypass operations, claiming that the oil water separator was used when it had not been, and a series of false entries regarding the levels of the bilge holding tank, which were designed to further the cover-up. While most of these discharges occurred in international waters, evidence at trial revealed that at least two of these discharges were within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the United States during the ship’s voyage from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to Houston, Texas in May 2015,” the Department of Justice said in a statement on Thursday.

The evidence presented during the fifteen-day trial demonstrated that the chief engineers covered up illegal overboard discharges that took place through two systems of “magic” hoses and a separate “magic” valve system designed to bypass the ship’s oil water separator. Koutoukakis and Julian falsified the oil record book to hide their illegal discharges. The vessel arrived in Charleston, South Carolina on August 26, 2015, when the false record was presented to the U.S. Coast Guard during an inspection of the vessel. The U.S. Coast Guard was tipped off by three whistleblowers who came forward to report the crimes and ask for protection from U.S. authorities.

Full article with "magic pipe" picture included for your viewing pleasure: 8)

http://gcaptain.com/engineers-convicted-in-magic-pipe-pollution-case/

Agelbert NOTE: As usual, the top dogs who influenced the crew members to do this creative criminal exercise in profit over planet will not be caught, charged, fined or imprisoned. This "magic pipe" trick is the tip of the massive pollution iceberg in the shipping industry. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

Do you want to guess who the champion polluter ships in the oceans are? If you said, CRUDE OIL Tankers, you win the prize. The foot dragging on regulating them began with Reagan and has continued pretty much until today.

And now that Trump is there to make sure the Coast Guard looks the other way when the tankers do their ballast fun and games after discharging the crude, the pollution will be TOTALLY UNREGULATED. That means more of THIS (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) for marine life in and around ports.

Have a nice day.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 28, 2017, 05:22:39 pm
 (https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/545693884664119297/mCDJfUgm.jpeg)

WOTUS On the Chopping Block Today

President Trump is expected to sign an executive order today repealing the Obama-era Waters of the United States rule, administration officials told multiple outlets Monday. The EO, which an official told Politico directs the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers to "review and reconsider the rule," will have no immediate legal impact on its own but will serve as a signal to new EPA administrator Scott Pruitt to prioritize undoing WOTUS, a lengthy task which experts say could last well beyond this administration. Today's EO is also expected to be the first in a series of executive actions targeting the EPA. Finalized by the Obama administration in 2015, WOTUS gives the federal government authority to regulate pollution in smaller streams and wetlands feeding into larger bodies of water, and has been fiercely opposed by industry interests. (New York Times $, Washington Post $, Bloomberg, Politico Pro $, The Hill, Greenwire $, Reuters, Time)


EPA May Have 3,000 Empty Desks

The Trump administration proposed slashing the EPA's funding by nearly 25% in a budget plan it sent to the agency Monday, agency sources told various outlets. The proposal cuts the EPA's $8.1 billion budget by nearly $2 billion, and would also potentially eliminate one-fifth of the agency's 15,000-person workforce, reducing the EPA to its funding and staffing levels of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The White House is seeking an additional $54 billion in military spending by cutting funding across agencies, with the EPA reportedly one of the top targets for cuts. The administration will send its first submission to Congress by March 16, and could face backlash from lawmakers over the radical changes proposed at EPA. (E&E $, Politico, Bloomberg, The Hill, Vox, Huffington Post, Climate Central)

DC: EPA removes mention of "climate change" in water utilities program (InsideClimate News), records show EPA’s Pruitt used private email, despite denial (Washington Post $), dumping Interior rules means tossing waste safeguards (EnergyWire $), Senate moves closer to final Zinke vote (Politico Pro $)

DIPLOMACY: Marshall Islands first to ratify global HFC greenhouse gas pact (Reuters, Climate Home), EU clashes with maritime industry over ship emissions (Climate Home)

JUSTICE: Judge to hear arguments today on Dakota Access oil pipeline work (AP), is Pa. pipeline fight on Amish farm the next Standing Rock? (Penn Live), in Portland, one plan tackles climate change and racial discrimination (Governing)

INT'L ENERGY: Japan accelerates wind power development as govt support pays off (Reuters), China's coal consumption falls for 3rd year in a row (AP, Climate Home), Pakistan races to tap virgin coal fields to meet energy crunch (Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Guardian)

SCIENTISTS: Scientists are at the Vatican discussing how to save the planet (Fusion), Bill Nye warns Trump administration could have ‘catastrophic’ effect on the planet (Huffington Post)

INFRASTRUCTURE: Water shut from Oroville Dam's damaged spillway in race against Mother Nature (LA Times $), California moves to ease pressures on aging dams (New York Times $), Senate GOP to investigate Oroville failure (Washington Examiner)

STATES + RENEWABLES: Minnesota: Legislation would boost standard for renewable energy (Minnesota Star Tribune), clean energy advocates ask Iowa regulators to reconsider solar ruling (Midwest Energy News), a Texas energy company offers a glimpse of what carbon capture could look like (Texas Monthly)

LOCAL ACTION: How will Alaskans talk climate change with the Trump administration? (Alaska Dispatch News), Indiana’s forests are for sale — but this bill tries to stop them from being cut down (Nexus Media News)

CALIFORNIA: California is likely to see more flooding due to climate change (KQED), how California's utilities are mapping their grids for distributed resources (Utility Dive), wrong statements by lawmaker on solar energy stir backlash (Sacramento Bee)

COLORADO: Climate change is already reducing flows in the Colorado River, scientists report (Washington Post $), new study sheds light on how climate change affects Colorado's snowpack (AP, CPR, EcoWatch)

BUSINESS: Warren Buffett says global warming is not impacting the way Berkshire writes insurance (CNBC), Hawaiian Airlines joins international climate change study (AP)
 
ARCTIC: Scientists just measured a rapid growth in acidity in the Arctic ocean, linked to climate change (Washington Post $), for some Arctic plants, spring arrives almost a month earlier (New York Times $)

SHELL: ‘Shell knew’: oil giant's 1991 film warned of climate change danger (The Guardian), Shell shuns new oil sands projects as low prices force cost control (Bloomberg)

WILDLIFE: Before Vaquitas vanish, a desperate bid to save them (New York Times $)

HEALTH: "A sense of despair": (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2955.gif&hash=ddc12d8bdb1bc63b7998a6b086b79a71b7bda755) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2953.gif&hash=b84c0ae260f7ac760e54bcdc33d788c36faa07c1) The mental health cost of unchecked climate change (CBS News)

FUTURE OF FOOD: Robots are raising your kale now (Grist), bread's environmental costs are counted (BBC)

READ UP: American teachers may soon face several state restrictions on teaching climate science (Mother Jones), rogue librarians are in a race to save the truth from Trump (GOOD Magazine), 6 words that could go extinct because of climate change (Outside)

•Senate should stand up for environment and not block Obama methane regulation (LA Times editorial $)

•Develop 'renewables first' energy strategy (Philadelphia Inquirer, David J. Murphy op-ed)

•Just who are these 300 'scientists' telling Trump to burn the climate? (The Guardian, John Abraham column)

•What Is Wrong with a Carbon Tax (Scientific American, Keith Harrington op-ed)

•New York's nuclear subsidies contradict economic principles (UtilityDive, Devin Hartman guest post)

•RGGI is good for NH businesses (New Hampshire Union-Leader, David Worthen op-ed)

•Is February Washington’s new May?  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F128fs318181.gif&hash=eff6d5f3831782966c2ff2081f07bf7fc5b22a6b) Freak thunderstorms pound area for second straight year. (Washington Post, Ian Livingston analysis $)

•Severe heatwaves show the need to adapt livestock management for climate (The Conversation, Elisabeth Vogel & Christin Meyer op-ed)

•Trump Is Very Wrong About Clean Coal (Gizmodo, Sidney Fussell analysis)

•Did President Trump save 77,000 coal mining jobs? (Washington Post, Glenn Kessler fact-check $)    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs3187425.gif&hash=698371058827d6a11faaaa56c2531639421f9477)

•The mobile solar boom is just beginning (The Hill, Craigh Erhlich op-ed)

DENIER ROUNDUP

Pruitt’s Private Emails Bad, Scientist’s Public Participation good
 
 Hey, remember that time the GOP and climate deniers made a huge stink over an ex-EPA administrator using a private email address? Or all those times deniers sued for climate scientists’ emails? Or the time the GOP made a massive fuss over a presidential candidate’s emails?
 
 They, apparently, do not. Because despite explicitly telling the Senate during his confirmation hearing that he never used a personal email account for state business, the Oklahoma attorney’s general office has confirmed that Scott Pruitt... used a personal email account to conduct state business.
 
 We eagerly await the months of investigations, hearings and op-eds to discuss this circumvention of transparency laws and abuse of process.  ;)
 
 Just kidding! Obviously, that’s not going to happen, because as we all know those “concerns” were pretense for pointed political attacks.
 
 And those political attacks aren’t slowing down anytime soon. Take, for example, the list of 300 so-called “experts” who called on Trump to pull out of the UNFCCC. John Abraham took a quick look at the signatories, and, surprise surprise, there are not many actual climate scientists on the list. The few who are nominally credible on climate (like Richard Lindzen) are far from consistently correct on the issue.
 
 On the other hand, actual scientists across the country are gearing up for the March for Science in DC at the end of April. With major groups like AAAS coming on board, there seems to be a growing acceptance of the fact that scientists are feeling more comfortable speaking up about politics.
 
 For those who oppose the effort and claim that it’s a bad idea that will damage the credibility of science, well, science says you’re wrong. A new study found that climate scientists can speak out on social media about recent findings, the risks and impacts of climate change, policy options available, broad actions and specific co2 reduction policies without losing any credibility with a Facebook audience. The only message that resulted in a dip in trustworthiness was a proposal to build more nuclear power.
 
 So all you scientists wondering if joining the march is going to cost you, fear not! You’re safe to engage with the public. Just maybe don’t talk about nuclear power!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)
 
 Or send too many emails...  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)



 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 01, 2017, 06:04:26 pm
Analysis: Clean Power Plan repeal could cost $600B, result in 120,000 premature deaths (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

SNIPPET:

Dive Brief:

•Repealing the Clean Power Plan would have significant impacts on the United States' economy and the health of its citizens, according to new analysis from Energy Innovation, a clean energy think tank.

•Rolling back the carbon rule would lead to $100 billion in extra costs by 2030, rising to $600 billion by 2050, according to the organization's power sector modeling tool. And the resulting impacts to air quality would lead to more than 40,000 premature deaths in 2030, and 120,000 in 2050.

•President Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) campaigned on rolling back regulations, focusing on energy production and undoing the CPP. He has now installed former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, and is preparing a budget that is expected to slash the agency's finances and resources.

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/analysis-clean-power-plan-repeal-could-cost-600b-result-in-120000-prema/437036/


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 04, 2017, 01:40:06 pm
Agelbert NOTE: It's going to flood again in Texas. So, you Texans that still have two neurons to rub together had better take precautions. Trumpers be warned: No Regulations means NO CLEANUP of oil and gas "industry"  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605) produced toxins in the water.

Flooding sweeps oil, chemicals into rivers (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

SNIPPET:

AUSTIN — Scores of photographs taken by state emergency-management officials show that when floodwaters rise in Texas, they inundate oil wells and fracking sites, sweeping crude and noxious chemicals into rivers throughout the Lone Star State.

Most recently, rainbow sheens and caramel plumes can be seen radiating from tipped tanks and flooded production pads during the March flood of the Sabine River, which forms much of the state’s boundary with Louisiana. Similar scenes are visible in photos from last year’s floods of the Trinity, Red, and Colorado rivers.

Quote
“In other areas, cattle that drank the fracking fluid actually died an hour after drinking it. There are potential carcinogens that can lead to leukemia, brain cancer and other endocrine disruptors that can affect premature births.”

http://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2016/04/30/flooding-sweeps-oil-chemicals-into-rivers/83671348/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fkenburridge.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F11%2FFracking-Fluid-in-Flood-Water.png&hash=9864b5a16c2e52145f660a7d0b041df044336a4a)
2013 photo of a flooded fracking site.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdingo.care2.com%2Fpictures%2Fcauses%2F2893%2F2892988.large.jpg&hash=6031f7294adb1d1f7cb24593bc0a9afca8531638)

  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smilies.4-user.de%2Finclude%2FSpiele%2Fsmilie_game_017.gif&hash=e8548890f80af23241a1d43a1ab1ca8031301f20)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 06, 2017, 10:52:51 pm
 (https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/545693884664119297/mCDJfUgm.jpeg)
EPA Comforts "Harassed" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F165fs373950.gif&hash=ad797fcc08a061d3ae50ee49ccd9f3d517fb7496)Industry

The EPA will not require oil and gas producers to provide information on methane emissions at drilling sites, withdrawing a late Obama-era request that was meant to be a first step in a larger crackdown on methane emissions. The EPA withdrew the request a day after receiving a letter from 11 state attorneys general  - including Scott Pruitt's successor (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) in Oklahoma - alleging that the request amounted to "harassment" of fossil fuel companies and asking the EPA to withdraw the "unnecessary and onerous burden" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ftissue.gif&hash=f8d05db8e11569882e0effbdd719e2b2e95c6785)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)  on oil and gas producers.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)

Methane regulations may come under friendly fire during the administration's budgetary bloodbath as well: a source tells Reuters that the EPA's budget plan currently includes a 70 percent budget reduction in a climate program intended to reduce "emissions of greenhouse gases like methane."

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-methane-idUSKBN1692ZR

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg06.deviantart.net%2Fbb6a%2Fi%2F2011%2F120%2Ff%2F6%2Fcorporate_pollution_by_jakejames-d3512u1.jpg&hash=30ead896a22d9a93df54de278d32cb3822d4a3ce)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 07, 2017, 02:28:13 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi0.kym-cdn.com%2Fentries%2Ficons%2Ffacebook%2F000%2F004%2F099%2Fshitstorm.jpg&hash=31556d399fe04469911c5c58676f9b221aed6b61)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/545693884664119297/mCDJfUgm.jpeg)


Forecast: Trump to Shower Industries with Gifts This Week
 
 The forecast this week calls for flurries of climate (in)action from the White House. Let’s run through the list of nightmares.
 
 Today, the EPA and DoT are expected to announce that they’re starting the process to revise fuel economy standards. The rollbacks will be a gift to the auto and oil industries, while the American public will pick up the tab at the pump. There are also murmurs that Pruitt will also go after California’s right to create stricter fuel efficiency standards than the federal government--a remarkably hypocritical position for Scott “States’ Rights” Pruitt to take.
 
 Also expected this week is an executive order instructing the EPA to begin the long and intensive process of undoing the Clean Power Plan while also lifting the moratorium on coal leasing on public lands. This will be framed as energy independence or security, but we all know it’s just another piece of corporate welfare for Trump’s fossil fuel buddies.
 
 Speaking of which, here’s a scary sentence from E&E: “The Inhofe (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400)  infantry   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)continues to grow at U.S. EPA.” Apparently a number of alums from Inhofe’s staff have found positions within the EPA and across the Trump administration. Which is just lovely. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)
 
 On a slightly sunnier note, Team Trump has not yet figured out what to do about the Paris Agreement, despite conflicting reports. While they deliberate, we’ll read and re-read Andrew Freedman’s perfect explanation of why “Leaving the Paris Agreement would be Trump's worst move yet.”
 
In the meantime, there are still clouds on the horizon to worry about. One big storm cloud we’re watching: Trump’s proposed budget. While Congress’s budget will most likely be better than the bloodbath of Trump’s initial proposal, it will still be bad. It’s not surprising that the proposed cuts to the EPA’s scientific research would be so severe as to cause the department to “implode,” but Trump’s even going after bipartisan-supported efforts like the Energy Star program, turning it over to industry.
 
 Fortunately even GOP appropriators have said the money that pours from the EPA to states will make it difficult for Congress to cut the budget to the degree Trump is asking. And if the pork barrel rationale doesn’t save the budget, maybe the GOP majority will actually listen to their constituents?
 
 That might be a good idea: a new survey out of Yale shows there is widespread support for reducing carbon pollution and increasing our investment in renewables. Even 62% of Trump supporters think there should be taxes or regulations on carbon pollution.
 
 Unfortunately, not polled were the only voices Trump appears to listen to: the corporate overlords he will apparently do just about anything to appease.
 
 So while uncertainty rains in the Trump camp, one thing is certain: we’re bracing for a SHITSTORM.


 
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 08, 2017, 05:43:46 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F_IPZX1n_gnIM%2FTBxKST8wgBI%2FAAAAAAAAFxM%2F52D2UaemhQE%2Fs400%2FGas-Oil-Petroleum385.jpg&hash=733743a5d6af9b5085d12db935373e34c5e356fd)


Trump(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) Cuts Regulations as  Oceanic Dead Zones Release Massive Amounts of Methane

Wednesday, March 08, 2017 

By Dahr Jamail, Truthout | Report

SNIPPET:

The Trump administration's campaign to roll back as many government regulations as possible is well underway. On the environmental front, Trump administration officials have already -- in one day alone, and without allowing any opportunity for public comment -- delayed the dates of 30 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules. A rule that restricted animal welfare requirements for organic poultry and livestock has been delayed by two months, and a bumble bee which was about to be added to the endangered species list has just found itself in jeopardy of extinction since the Trump administration said it would postpone the listing until at least March 21.

Meanwhile, Trump administration officials are indicating that they will be making marked changes in oil and gas industry regulations. In November, the Obama administration's EPA requested that nearly 20,000 oil and gas companies measure their methane emissions within two to six months, depending on their type of facility. Methane is a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than CO2, and reducing methane emissions is a critical part of mitigating climate disruption. However, the Trump administration has been granting a 90-day extension on the measurement regulation to every oil and gas company that wants one. Many oil and gas officials now expect the methane survey to be scaled back dramatically, or altogether abandoned.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c)


http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39752-trump-cuts-regulations-as-oceanic-dead-zones-release-massive-amounts-of-methane

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 09, 2017, 05:49:32 pm
Quote
Pascal Molineaux  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3) · Professor at Universidad Javeriana Cali

Trump's priorities are crystal clear. His proposed budget speaks volumes. As a corporate stooge who couldn't care less for our health, our well-being, worker rights and the environment. He is literally doing an EVE (extinction level event) with his power, bending backwards as far as he possibly can to ease their "burden" and deregulate all federal oversight and defunded all institutions meant to protect the common good.

While throwing even more massive amounts of money at the world's most bloated military budget (the USA is already out spending the next big seven spender countries TOGETHER). Such waste, such blusterful nonsense, such blind hubris, such a know-nothing approach to our most pressing and urgent issues.

By GOD, I hope the American voter soon gives him a kicking. That's all Pumpkin head deserves!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)

Trump Proposes Cutting Great Lakes Funding by 97%

Mar. 08, 2017 08:55PM EST '

Sierra Club By Melinda Pierce

SNIPPET:

New findings revealed Wednesday show which U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) programs will be most affected by the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts, including a 97 percent budget cut for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative strategically targets the biggest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem, including toxic substances, invasive species and pollution. As the Senate currently works to finalize 2017 appropriations and develop legislation to fund the federal government in 2018, it is up to them to make sure that the EPA receives the funding it needs to fulfill its mission of protecting public health and the environment, through programs such as the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Quote
Budgets are statements about values and priorities. Trump's budget (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Bzb-1rVB8pc%2FUfXxBekcYVI%2FAAAAAAAAEm4%2FhXUkGCzFIPg%2Fs1600%2Fgiveafuckometer-gif.gif&hash=ba12a8b5eb920e7de0ca2ba5256e06bfc2c040e7)
shows his priorities are corporate profits  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978), not our communities or drinking water for the 1 in 10 Americans who live in this region.

Don't miss the Graphic at article link:

http://www.ecowatch.com/great-lakes-restoration-initiative-2306413346.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 10, 2017, 12:43:27 pm
March 7, 2017 | Rona Fried | Policy/Trends

War on Regulations Takes Off (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)

Last week, Trump ordered supervisors installed in all federal agencies to carry out his “2 for 1” scheme to eviscerate big bad regulations that supposedly hold our economy back. Only regulations that cost industries $0 in 2017 can stay in place – forget any benefits of holding corporations accountable, such as saving lives, protecting human health, safeguarding fundamental rights, worker rights, environmental rights, and caring for wildlife and wildlands. And for any regulation that is put in place, two must be eliminated even if they are entirely unrelated.

“This fundamentally changes our government’s role from one of protecting the public to protecting corporate profits, and will lead to a dangerous new era of deregulation and corporate “self-regulation,” says Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen, which is suing Donald J. Trump for the regulations assault.

But this is just the beginning. If the Midnight Rules Act, REINS Act and Regulatory Accountability Act pass, major items long on the Republican wish list will finally be fulfilled. The bills have passed in the House and now await Senate action.
◾Midnight Rule Relief Act allows Congress – in just one vote – to repeal all regulations passed over the past year.

◾REINS Act (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) (Regulations From The Executive In Need of Scrutiny  ::)) gives Congress control over major new regulations, taking it out of the hands of professionals in federal agencies. For the first time, Congress would be in charge of approving regulations. If not approved within 70 days, the regulation dies and the agency is barred from taking it up again.

◾Regulatory Accountability Act  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400) makes it very hard to set new regulations by bogging the process down with over 60 new steps. Until now, agencies balance costs and benefits when considering new rules, but this law requires them to choose the “least costly” option as opposed to the “most effective” option.

The House passed the REINS Act several times during Obama’s term, but it was stopped in the Senate. The House voted down Democrat amendments to exempt rules that affect veterans’ health care, nuclear reactor safety, transportation of hazardous materials, and the safety of products used by children under the age of 2, reports USA Today.

Read our article, REINS Act Would Increase Toxic Pollution (http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/reins-act-would-increase-toxic-pollution-48691/)

These bills “give Congress sweeping authority to substitute political judgement for scientific judgement. It gives Congress permission to ignore all the years of technical work and public comment used to develop public health, safety, and environmental protections, and simply dismantle all these vital safeguards in one fell swoop,” says Union of Concerned Scientists. It’s ironic, because federal agencies develop regulations at the behest of Congress in the laws they pass!

The REINS Act “could, in effect, impose a slow-motion government shutdown, and would replace a process based on expertise, rationality and openness with one characterized by political maneuvering, economic clout and secrecy. The public would be less protected, and the political system would be more abused. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a more far-reaching, fundamental and damaging shift in the way the government goes about its business of safeguarding the public,” says Natural Resources Defense Council.

Conservative think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute is helping out with a 193-page agenda with a long list of regulations to eliminate, and Rep. Meadows (R-NC) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)has offered a list of 232 regulations that can be repealed immediately.

And who did Trump put in charge of advising on which regulations to gut? Billioinairre corporate raider Carl Icahn. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) With $16.5 billion, Icahn has plenty of money to protect (and grow!).

Corporations are Thrilled  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smilies.4-user.de%2Finclude%2FSpiele%2Fsmilie_game_017.gif&hash=e8548890f80af23241a1d43a1ab1ca8031301f20)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)

Real estate developers, for example, are thrilled with the rollbacks. Eliminating the “Waters of the US” rule makes it much easier to build without worrying about protecting wetlands and the streams half of Americans rely on for their drinking water. When the Endangered Species Act is gone, that will take a big pain out of the way.

Environmental Protection (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251)  Agency

Federal contractors are thrilled that the House repealed Obama’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order, which requires them to comply with worker health and safety laws before getting new contracts. 30% of the worst violators received $81 billion in federal contracts, according to a 2013 Senate report.  It affects the family of Rodney Bridgett, who was killed when a piece of heavy equipment crushed him and Calvin Bryant, crippled by a workplace explosion that killed 14 co-workers, for example. A vote in the Senate is imminent.

On the chopping block:

◾lead safety standards in drinking water

◾unsafe chemicals to be removed from the market under the Toxic Substances Control Act

◾gut enforcement of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts

◾prohibit payday lenders from praying on consumers with high interest rates

◾gut Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform,  Consumer Protection Act, Food Safety Modernization Act, Pipeline Safety Act and many more.

◾gut food safety regulations, net neutrality rules that protect he Internet from monopolies, energy efficiency standards for appliances and vehicles, and of course, the Clean Power Plan that reduces emissions from power plants.

◾no more restrictions on oil drilling or coal mines on public land

◾no more standards for healthy school lunches

◾standards that protect health workers from exposure to infectious diseases

◾a rule to prevent mining equipment from crushing miners

◾rules that protect communities from oil trains from exploding

◾protections for endangered species

Visit rulesatrisk.org to keep up (if you can!) with the rules on the chopping block.


“It’s horrifying that even after the Wall Street crash, the massive BP oil spill and numerous other public health and safety disasters across the country due to a lack of strong regulations, Americans will once again have to pay the price for the consequences of corporate recklessness, greed and lawbreaking,” says Weissman.

“Congress totally lacks the technical competence to review these kinds of complex rules. Do we really want members of Congress deciding whether a chemical can safely be used in food packaging? Or the proper procedures for approving new drugs as safe and effective? Or setting the allowable safety standard for heavy metals in drinking water?,” asks Carl Pope, former Sierra Club president.

Say Goodbye to Class Action Lawsuits?


HR 985, which would make it almost impossible for citizens to join class action lawsuits – among the most effective tools for victims of corporate abuse – will soon get a vote. Think about the BP oil spill or Wells Fargo’s illegal bank accounts. HR 720, HR 725 and HR 732 would make it harder for victims of corporate wrongdoing to sue and hold them accountable.

How About a Rule that Requires the President to Reveal His Taxes? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fnocomment.gif&hash=e2062ee03ac013cc64a2d5285ec05dd9510c141b) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

Although the vast majority of Americans want Trump to reveal his taxes, House Republicans don’t like that rule either.  Every single one of them voted to block a resolution that would force Trump to do what all other presidents have done on their own volition.

The House Ways and Means Committee has the power to demand Trump’s taxes, but the full House voted it down (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F237.gif&hash=13b71d2444f84b15c53fb1c0272c080f48a165f1) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ffly.gif&hash=b0526635e8b47d751b0e429925d73d78f9d79fc6) when Rep. Pascrell (D-NJ) brought it to the floor.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/war-regulations-takes-off/

Agelbert NOTE: Message from the Trump Team to we-the-people:

  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-140415130805.png&hash=23d2e6dc6311a26c399bf0cb60868bcff2781a58)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 13, 2017, 02:16:20 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210516165122.jpeg&hash=d773f8f1ecba3640f8e56b034781204d35319f2b)

Opening Arctic Waters to Drilling Is Trump Priority(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4), Key Senator (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) Says

March 12, 2017 by Bloomberg

SNIPPET:

Bloomberg) — Senator Lisa Murkowski said President Donald Trump is interested in opening up new coastal waters for oil and gas drilling and reversing Obama-era policies that restrict energy development in Alaska.

Both Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke are weighing ways to expand opportunities to drill in Arctic waters though the changes could take years to accomplish administratively, Murkowski said in an interview on the sidelines of the CERAWeek conference in Houston.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)


http://gcaptain.com/opening-arctic-waters-to-drilling-is-trump-priority-key-senator-says/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg06.deviantart.net%2Fbb6a%2Fi%2F2011%2F120%2Ff%2F6%2Fcorporate_pollution_by_jakejames-d3512u1.jpg&hash=30ead896a22d9a93df54de278d32cb3822d4a3ce)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 15, 2017, 02:09:02 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-150317134140.jpeg&hash=a4a9f5561a49455c2e952efd32c247e8ffe353ea)
Agelbert NOTE: What you see above is a Tanker Dumping Ballast Polluted Water with BMS (Ballast Management System). When a tanker offloads its crude oil, it must take on ballast ocean water to keep it stable in the return voyage. This water CAN be cleaned up, but it is NOT actually cleaned up as they claim. And yeah, they DO NOT put the ballast water in separate tanks form where they had the crude oil (which is toxic to marine life), no matter what you may have heard. They could do that, but they won't because then they would not be able to carry as much crude (ALL the tanks are filled with crude oil, not half, as would be required for separate tanks).

BMS is a fig leaf for in-your-face ocean pollution for fossil fuel industry profits. Ballast Management Systems (BMS) are a cruel joke. They are nothing but a threadbare excuse used to make the mendacious claim that tankers are not polluting the oceans willy nilly for the sake of fossil fuel industry profits.

THEY ARE POLLUTING!

THEY DO IT FOR PROFITS.

THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT THE BIOSPHERE DAMAGE THEY DO.

The article published with this photo is wishful thinking.

Shipping On Right Course (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251) for the Ballast Water Management Convention

March 14, 2017 by Editorial

By Peter Hinchliffe, Secretary General, International Chamber of Shipping (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smilies.4-user.de%2Finclude%2FSpiele%2Fsmilie_game_017.gif&hash=e8548890f80af23241a1d43a1ab1ca8031301f20)

The Ballast Water Management Convention (the Convention), aimed at establishing standards and procedures to prevent the spread of aquatic organisms  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16), enters into force and takes effect on 8 September this year  ;). While it represents a significant environmental milestone for our planet, the Convention also means that the maritime industry has to gear up for a huge operational change. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fugly004.gif&hash=c56db4280057389afd154a1cb4057410151579c8)

Under the Convention, ships trading in international waters will need to ensure they are fitted with a ship-specific Ballast Water Management System (BWMS), according to the agreed implementation schedule. The BWMS installed must be approved by the Flag State in accordance with approval process defined by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-270117175421.png&hash=cf39e823dd9156833bfa885808a876bf518bd0d6)

Even vessels from countries which have not acceded to the Convention are required to comply with the standards when entering the ports of IMO Member States that have ratified the Convention.

In addition to meeting the requirements of the Convention, ships entering U.S. waters will also need to meet the stringent standards laid down in the U.S. Ballast Water Regulations and enforced by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). The U.S. has not acceded to the Convention but adopted its own ballast-water regulations in 2012.

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Agelbert NOTE: What you just read means that the U.S. "standards" are EVEN MORE LAX, NOT "more stringent", than the new BMS standards BECAUSE we have a fossil fuel corrupted government.
This disconnect in requirements has left many shipowners wondering if their vessels will be able to operate in U.S. waters when the Convention comes into force. The uncertainty in this area has been compounded by the fact that only three equipment makers – Optimarin, Alfa Laval and Ocean Saver – have systems that are approved and considered fully compliant with both the Convention and US Ballast Water regulations. A fourth system is currently being considered by the USCG for full approval.

With the Convention entering into force in less than 7 months, the pressure is certainly on for shipowners who must find a suitably robust BWMS for their operations and in the case of existing ships have the system installed by the date of their first International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP) Renewal Survey after 8 September this year.

Absorbing costs


Industry watchers expect that the global maritime industry will spend upwards of USD75 billion on equipping their vessels with ballast water treatment systems. Depending on the size of the vessel, its ballast water capacity and type of treatment, estimates show that the cost of implementation of the treatment systems can range from half a million to five million USD per vessel with some 40,000 ships to be equipped. This is in addition to other maintenance and operational costs.

Given these costs, there is the consideration that it may be more economically feasible to scrap a substantial number of older ships rather than modify them to meet the Convention’s standards.

Moreover, individual shipowners will also need to invest in training crew members to handle new equipment, ensuring that appropriate safety protocols are well established, and costs associated with disruptions due to dry-docking and equipment installation are contained.

In the current depressed market, these compliance costs, and other ancillary costs have been of significant concern to shipowners. For many countries, they have even been a barrier to ratification.

Making progress

In spite of the nervousness about the ratification, shipowners are generally confident of meeting the standards in time. Having a firm date for the Convention’s implementation provides certainty for timelines and budget.

Furthermore, faced with the pressure of the Convention, equipment manufacturers and engineering companies are innovating to ensure that effective equipment and systems are made commercially available to help shipowners move forward. Currently, there are over 60-type approved systems, some of which make use of UV.

To spur greater trust in ballast water systems, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has also been collaborating with the IMO to ensure a more rigorous type approval process exists and as a result, the IMO adopted the more robust 2016 Guidelines for the Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems (G8) in October 2016.

The IMO also agreed in 2016 that the approval guidelines should be made into a mandatory code and the Convention amended accordingly following its entry into force. As a result, the availability of commercial equipment that can be considered to effectively treat ballast water in conditions normally encountered in the daily operation of ships should grow as systems gain approval in accordance with the latest revision of the approval guidelines (G8). The availability of systems approved in accordance with the 2016 Guidelines (G8) and with USCG approval will fuel confidence in the Convention.

Navigating the way forward

It has taken 13 years to take the Convention from adoption to ratification and while there have been significant concerns and challenges in its ratification, the long-term benefits should outweigh the costs. The risks to aquatic biodiversity and human health arising from the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms in ballast water will be eradicated with the implementation of treatment systems.

As an aside, some in the industry are saying the Convention may address existing vessel over-supply in the market, by encouraging shipowners to consider scrapping vessels that are over 15 years old.

More importantly, compliance with the Convention offers shipowners the opportunity to feedback on the efficacy of treatment systems, to help shape the Convention, and the industry as a whole. Here, the ICS provides a key avenue for shipowners to collaborate with other industry players and the IMO to refine the Convention and help facilitate implementation.

The success of the Convention is ultimately dependent on multi-level collaboration within the global maritime industry. On a macro level, inter-agency coordination amongst the flag States is necessary for effective enforcement of ballast water management strategies. On a micro level, careful planning and coordination is vital if shipowners are to meet the requirements of the Convention while minimising preparatory and compliance-related costs.

This multi-level collaborative approach will also be in action during the Sea Asia 2017 conferences. Held in April in Singapore, Sea Asia 2017 will bring together leaders from across the industry and around the globe to analyse, debate and find solutions to issues confronting the maritime industry.

One of the areas we will discuss is the Convention and its expected impact on the sector. I look forward to continuing the discussion on how we can work together as an industry to navigate these challenges moving forward.

Peter Hinchliffe is a speaker for the ‘Navigating Challenges: The Way Forward’ session at Sea Asia 2017.

http://gcaptain.com/shipping-on-right-course-for-the-ballast-water-management-convention/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 16, 2017, 04:16:06 pm
(https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Center_for_Biological_Diversity_logo.jpg)

Big Win Over Oil Trains in California -- Thank You (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fza4.gif&hash=2db0a6001703f4089cb64dc38159bb3d467e1bff)

We're celebrating the news this week that the San Luis Obispo Board of Supervisors rejected Phillips 66's proposed oil-train offloading terminal.

 The oil-train terminal would have allowed more than 7 million gallons of crude oil to be shipped via rail to its local refinery each week, and made it possible for Phillips 66 to refine volatile and carbon-intensive tar sands crude from Canada. These trains also would have jeopardized numerous ecologically sensitive areas along California's coast.

More than 25,000 Californians opposed the project -- many thanks those who spoke out. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fthankyou.gif&hash=dddf44270b9e7683ff5cbcca041427744de34fe5)


 "This is a huge victory for public safety, health and California's environment," said the Center's Valerie Love. "Hopefully it spells the end for this reckless plan. Our communities will be safer and our air will be cleaner because of it."

 Read more in the East Bay Times.
http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/03/14/east-bay-activists-hail-crude-oil-by-rail-rejection-in-san-luis-obispo/

(https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Center_for_Biological_Diversity_logo.jpg)
The Center for Biological Diversity released a groundbreaking report this week identifying the top 15 members of Congress trying to seize, destroy, dismantle and privatize America's public lands. These "Public Lands Enemies" are part of a growing movement to industrialize public lands for profit -- increased exploitation for oil and gas drilling, fracking, logging, mining and development.

 The Center's report analyzed 132 anti-public-lands bills that were introduced in the past three congressional sessions and the lawmakers who authored and cosponsored those bills.

 "These 15 members of Congress are trying to turn America's public lands into an open cash register for corporations," said Randi Spivak, the Center's public lands director. "Everyone who cares about our national forests, wildlife refuges, national parks and monuments need to watch these elected officials very closely -- and oppose them at every step."

These 15 Public Lands Enemies are:

1. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah)
2. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah, 1st District)
3. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
4. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz., 4th District)
5. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)
6. Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah, 2nd District)
7. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska, At Large)
8. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)
9. Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho, 1st District)
10. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah, 3rd District)
11. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev., 2nd District)
12. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
13. Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M., 2nd District)
14. Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif., 4th District)
15. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.)


 Check out our new Public Lands Enemies website, where you can download shareable "Wanted" posters and find out if your congressional rep is on our list.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/public_lands_enemies/index.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 18, 2017, 07:23:26 pm
Monsanto Isn't Feeding the World -- It's Killing Our Children (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

 Saturday, March 18, 2017 

By Katherine Paul, Organic Consumers Association | News Analysis

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"How could we have ever believed that it is a good idea to grow our food with poisons?" -- Dr. Jane Goodall

SNIPPET:

Two new reports published in recent weeks add to the already large and convincing body of evidence, accumulated over more than half a century, that agricultural pesticides and other toxic chemicals are poisoning us.

Both reports issue scathing indictments of US and global regulatory systems that collude with chemical companies to hide the truth from the public, while they fill their coffers with ill-gotten profits.

According to the World Health Organization, whose report focused on a range of environmental risks, the cost of a polluted environment adds up to the deaths of 1.7 million children every year.

A report by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council, focused more narrowly on agricultural chemicals. The UN report states unequivocally that the storyline perpetuated by companies like Monsanto -- the one that says we need pesticides to feed the world -- is a myth. And a catastrophic one at that.

Full article:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39866-monsanto-isn-t-feeding-the-world-it-s-killing-our-children
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 23, 2017, 07:56:31 pm
Action After Tragedy: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Posted On March 22, 2017 by Andrew Hartsig

SNIPPET:

Friday will be the twenty-eighth anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Nearly 11 million gallons of oil spewed into the ocean over the course of three days. Even today, there are still some places in Prince William Sound where you can find oil that is as toxic as it was 28 years ago.   :( :P

But, I’m optimistic that we can learn from the mistakes of the past and work together to make sure another Exxon Valdez doesn’t occur off the coast of Alaska. We saw first-hand what happens when we don’t take preparedness seriously.

Will you join me in taking action to ensure it doesn’t happen again?

Now, nearly three decades after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, the Arctic Ocean is facing threats from increasing vessel traffic in the Bering Strait.

As Arctic sea ice continues to melt, the Bering Sea—including the narrow Bering Strait—is experiencing more and more ship traffic. As ship traffic increases, so do the risks, including oil spills, vessel strikes on marine mammals, air pollution, discharge of waste into the water and production of underwater noise. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help protect the Arctic.

Take action today by asking the U.S. Coast Guard to take steps to reduce the risks of increasing vessel traffic in the Bering Sea. This can’t wait—we need to put in place key measures to increase safety and reduce risk in the Arctic waters.

The Bering Sea is used by millions of seabirds and an array of marine mammals including whales, seals, walruses and polar bears. Alaska Native communities rely on these resources for food security and cultural practices that date back millennia.

There’s no doubt that the Arctic Ocean is unique and important—there is a lot at stake if we don’t work together to do all we can to protect this region. Please take action today by asking the U.S. Coast Guard to reduce the risks from increasing vessel traffic in the Bering Sea.

http://blog.oceanconservancy.org/2017/03/22/action-after-tragedy-the-exxon-valdez-oil-spill/exxon-valdez-2/

Agelbert NOTE: I do not share the optimism of the author. I think it is bad and it will get a LOT worse. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2955.gif&hash=ddc12d8bdb1bc63b7998a6b086b79a71b7bda755)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120317124929.jpeg&hash=ab1e11c607068bcd0356884206be71773adee56d)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 25, 2017, 03:48:48 pm
Historic Win in Colorado Fracking Lawsuit (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e)

Mar. 24, 2017 03:55PM EST

Our Childrens Trust

In a 2-1 decision Thursday, the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's order denying a youth-brought rulemaking petition against fracking and a lower court's order upholding the denial. The court remanded the case to the district court and the commission, finding that the commission erred in its interpretation of Colorado law:

"We therefore conclude that the commission erred in interpreting [the Oil and Gas Conservation Act] as requiring a balance between development and public health, safety and welfare."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote

"The clear language of the act ... mandates that the development of oil and gas in Colorado be regulated subject to the protection of public health, safety and welfare, including protection of the environment and wildlife resources."
   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

The commission  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400) had argued that the Oil and Gas Conservation Act required it to strike a balance between the regulation of oil and gas operations and protecting public health, the environment and wildlife resources.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-090315203150.png&hash=c52cac3e4572a3609fd1a46ef50b96a57ce04554)

The six plaintiffs in the case are Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Itzcuahtli Roske-Martinez, Sonora Brinkley, Aerielle Deering, Trinity Carter and Emma Bray. All are members of the Boulder-based youth group Earth Guardians.

The youth hand-delivered their petition for rulemaking in November 2013 to the commission. Their petition asked the commission to develop and implement a rule to stop the permitting of fracking until and if, oil and gas development can be done without causing harm to humans and without impairing Colorado's natural resources, including atmospheric resources and climate change.

"By its decision today, the court has concluded that the commission has full statutory authority to adopt Petitioner's proposed rule," Julia Olson, plaintiffs' counsel and executive director of Our Children's Trust, said. "The commission can no longer decide to prioritize oil and gas development over the health and safety of Coloradans. This is an enormous victory for these youth. We look forward to helping the youth of Colorado go back before the commission on remand."

Martinez, youth director of Earth Guardians, shared his excitement on the win. "Our movement to fight for the rights of people and our environment is evolving," he said.

"From the streets to the courtroom, the voices of the younger generation will be heard and the legal system is a tool for our resistance. Small wins build up to create massive change. I'm very optimistic about the potential this lawsuit has to protect my Colorado. Now more than ever, we will see people reclaiming the power."

Martinez is one of 21 youth plaintiffs in Juliana v. United States, a climate case brought in federal court and headed to trial this fall in U.S. District Court in Oregon. The American Petroleum Institute (API) is an intervenor defendant in both Martinez's Colorado and federal case. API represents the interests of the oil and gas industry supporting the commission in Colorado and the Trump administration in federal court. On Friday, attorneys representing Martinez and his co-plaintiffs in that case, served API and the federal government with requests for emails to or from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's pseudonym,Wayne Tracker.

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Judges ruling on the side of youth plaintiffs were Judge Terry Fox and Judge JoAnn Vogt, with Judge Laurie Booras dissenting. In Booras' dissent, she wrote:

"I respectfully dissent from the majority's conclusion that the statutory scheme of the Oil and Gas Conservation Act (the Act), §§ 34-60-101 to -130, C.R.S. 2016, requires protection of public health, safety and welfare as a determinative factor, instead of requiring balancing between those considerations (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ffly.gif&hash=b0526635e8b47d751b0e429925d73d78f9d79fc6) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) and oil and gas production."
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Agelbert NOTE: Don't you just love how the defenders of fossil fuel POLLUTION like Judge Laurie Booras can prettify Profit over Planet with innocuous jargon about "balance"?  ;)  The Koch Brothers must pay her well to BETRAY future generations.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fwww_MyEmoticons_com__burp.gif&hash=8ff3ef6c016d8baf5f61ed5e8db58f069b64da00)


In this Colorado case, however, the youth won their right to have their health, safety and welfare take precedence over oil and gas drilling. They will head back to district court with the support of Coloradans from across the state, hundreds of whom marched in support of their case prior to their hearing before the Colorado Court of Appeals last month.

Martinez v. Colorado Oil and Gas is one of many related legal actions brought by youth in several states and countries, all supported by Our Children's Trust, seeking science-based action by governments to stabilize the climate system.

http://www.ecowatch.com/colorado-fracking-lawsuit-2327849684.html

MESSAGE TO Judge Laurie Booras
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Femilysquotes.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F01%2FIf-you-think-the-economy-is-more-important-than-the-environment-try-holding.jpg&hash=aff8496a63efd4b57c75b75eb544bd8002327dba)

The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 26, 2017, 01:59:55 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fl450v.alamy.com%2F450v%2Fektxwc%2Fflame-coming-off-perdido-oil-rig-in-gulf-of-mexicocorpus-christi-texas-ektxwc.jpg&hash=11a5ab716d48d06d3c06ccee06b71f5c45379ed2)
Flame coming off perdido oil rig in gulf of mexico;Corpus christi texas usa

Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale Yields $274 Million in High Bids

March 22, 2017 by gCaptain

The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced that Wednesday’s lease sale for all available oil and gas parcels in the central Gulf of Mexico yielded over $274 million in high bids.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) said Lease Sale 247 garnered $274,797,434 in high bids for 163 tracts covering 913,542 acres in the Central Planning Area of the Outer Continental Shelf offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. A total of 28 offshore energy companies submitted 189 bids. The sum of all bids received totaled $315,303,884.

Secretary Zinke said the sale reflects strong market conditions (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe) and industry interest  ;) in Federal offshore oil and gas resources under the new Administration.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)

“Today’s strong sale reflects continued industry optimism and interest in the Gulf’s Outer Continental Shelf, a keystone of the Nation’s offshore oil and gas resources and a vital part of President Trump’s plan to make the United States energy independent,” Secretary Zinke said. “In cooperation with the Gulf offshore industry, we are committed to responsible energy development that spurs economic opportunities, generates jobs for American workers, and produces revenues for local, state, and federal partners. Expanded Gulf production is critical to America’s economic and energy security, and will play a greater role as we move to break our dependence on foreign oil and strengthen the Nation’s energy independence.”

Wednesday’s sale included all unleased and non-protected areas in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. The two previous lease sales in the Central Planning Area yielded $156 million and $538 million in March 2016 and March 2015, respectively.

The sale is the final to be held in the Gulf of Mexico under the current Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program). The first eleven sales in the Five Year Program offered nearly 73 million acres for development and garnered more than $3 billion in bid revenues.

For Lease Sale 247, Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) offered 9,118 unleased blocks, covering 48 million acres, located from three to 230 nautical miles offshore Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,115 feet (three to 3,400 meters).

“The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most productive oil and gas basins in the world, and its mature offshore and onshore infrastructure supports safe and responsible development of our domestic energy resources,” Secretary Zinke said.

BOEM estimates the lease sale could result in the production of 460 to 890 million barrels of oil, and 1.9 trillion cubic feet to 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Earlier this month Secretary Zinke announced that the Department will offer 73 million acres offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida for oil and gas exploration and development. The proposed region-wide lease sale scheduled for August 16, 2017 would include all available unleased areas in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Quote
“Opening more federal lands and waters to oil and gas drilling is a pillar of President Trump’s plan (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs2277341.gif&hash=1a8375f11d76a653bcb48e30eaa7b652175f029d) to make the United States energy independent,” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251) Secretary Zinke said. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c)  “The Gulf is a vital part of that strategy to spur economic opportunities for industry (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978), states, and local communities, to create jobs  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs3187425.gif&hash=698371058827d6a11faaaa56c2531639421f9477) and home-grown energy (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fugly004.gif&hash=c56db4280057389afd154a1cb4057410151579c8) and to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmemecrunch.com%2Fmeme%2F5L3XX%2Fspiderman-bullshit-detector%2Fimage.jpg%3Fw%3D544%26amp%3Bc%3D1&hash=4825835b92337d62f61a3d37d282105e97ac3ee3)

As of March 1, 2017, about 16.9 million acres on the U.S. OCS are under lease for oil and gas development (3,194 active leases) and 4.6 million of those acres (929 leases) are producing oil and natural gas. More than 97 percent of the leases are in the Gulf of Mexico; about 3 percent are on the OCS off California and Alaska.

http://gcaptain.com/gulf-of-mexico-lease-sale-yields-274-million-in-high-bids/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg06.deviantart.net%2Fbb6a%2Fi%2F2011%2F120%2Ff%2F6%2Fcorporate_pollution_by_jakejames-d3512u1.jpg&hash=30ead896a22d9a93df54de278d32cb3822d4a3ce)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-031214183622.png&hash=38b369692492ff0cea1d3f83b533fea4a281ee91)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 29, 2017, 08:10:55 pm
Tipping Point? ??? Largest Area of Acidified Ocean Water Found…
https://youtu.be/cNu6Z2R9Wdg

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 29, 2017, 09:47:23 pm
A Major Step Forward in the Flint Water Crisis (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

March 28, 2017 Rhea Suh 

SNIPPET:

The residents of this Michigan city will finally have access to a basic right: safe drinking water. But the fight isn't over.

For once, I am excited to report that there is good news on the Flint water crisis front. The pipes at the heart of the disaster are going to be replaced. For the first time in the three years since this Michigan city’s water was turned to poison, Flint’s citizens have a guarantee that the resources are in place to replace its estimated 18,000 lead pipes. And for the first time, they know when the pipes will be gone.

Let’s be clear, Flint is not fixed. But things are going to get better.

This did not happen because of the city, state, or federal governments that failed them. It happened because brave people in Flint stood up for their neighbors. They went to court. One of the genius parts of American environmental protections are the citizen suit provisions in our major environmental laws. When the government fails to protect its citizens, we are all empowered to go to court and force the government to do its job.

Full article and pictures of polluted pipes at link: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

https://www.nrdc.org/experts/rhea-suh/major-step-forward-flint-water-crisis
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 31, 2017, 06:51:32 pm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/839282280044470272/12CwAIaT.jpg)

Ice-Class LNG Tanker Forges Path for Arctic Shipping Super-Highway (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)

March 30, 2017 by Reuters

ReutersBy Olesya Astakhova

SABETTA, Russia, March 30 (Reuters) – An ice-breaking tanker docked for the first time at Russia’s Arctic port of Sabetta to test a new route that could open the ice-bound Arctic Ocean to ships carrying oil and liquefied gas.

The route is eagerly anticipated by energy firms that want to develop resources in the Arctic but face obstacles in getting oil and gas from remote and freezing fields to world markets.

Environmental activists fear commercial shipping in the Arctic — now possible because climate change has thinned the ice for part of the year — will allow exploitation of a region that up to now has been a pristine wilderness.

The 80,000 tonne-capacity Christophe de Margerie, an ice-class tanker fitted out to transport liquefied natural gas, docked in the icy port of Sabetta, with Russian President Vladimir Putin watching via live video-link.

Putin congratulated the crew and energy company officials gathered on the ship’s bridge, saying: “This is a big event in the opening up of the Arctic.”

The South Korean-built vessel was not picking up a cargo on its maiden voyage, but will eventually be used to transport gas from Russia’s Yamal LNG plant, which is near the port.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lngworldnews.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F11%2Fdsme-first-arctic-lng-carrier-to-test-icebreaking-capabilities-during-sea-trials.jpg&hash=3ce40722f32b6788b4861838935ae2388c8c185c)
File photo: The ice-class ARC7 LNG carrier Christophe de Margerie during sea trials.

The project, scheduled to start production in October, is led by Russian firm Novatek and co-owned by France’s Total , and China’s CNPC and the Silk Road Fund.

The ship is named after a former Total chief executive who died at a Moscow airport in 2014 when a snow-clearing tractor crossed the runway as his private jet was taking off.

The Yamal LNG consortium sees Asia as the biggest market for its gas in the long term. Shipments to China from Yamal should take about 18 days using the Northern Sea route.

That journey would take vessels east through the Arctic Ocean, down through the Bering strait that separates Russia from Alaska, and into the Pacific.

By contrast the alternative route involves heading west into the North Atlantic, south into the Mediterranean, and then through the Suez Canal into the Indian Ocean. That would typically take about 32 days.

The tanker arrived at Sabetta earlier this week, after departing South Korea in November and sailing around Africa into the Atlantic, according to Reuters data.

The aim of the voyage was to prove the port can receive a tanker of that class. Other LNG tankers have already sailed via the Northern Sea route from Scandinavia to the Pacific.

ARCTIC PUSH   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)

The Arctic’s energy resources offer huge promise for Russia, heavily dependent on oil and gas exports. Many of its Siberian fields are growing old, forcing it to look to more remote areas for new reserves.

Its push into the Arctic — accompanied by a military build-up — has alarmed the West. U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis has described Moscow’s Arctic moves as “aggressive steps.”

Putin said projects such as the Northern Sea route would allow Russia to become the world’s largest LNG producer. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)


Qatar is currently the world’s top LNG producer, followed by Australia, Nigeria, and Trinidad and Tobago.

After the Yamal plant reaches its full capacity, combined with the existing Sakhalin-2 LNG plant in the Pacific, Russia will produce almost 27 million tonnes of LNG annually, equal to the amount imported by China per year.

Novatek is studying whether to build another LNG plant, Arctic LNG-2, with capacity comparable to Yamal or higher and first production in around 2023.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)

Putin said Russia’s energy projects in the Arctic were guided by the principle that they should do no harm. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fugly004.gif&hash=c56db4280057389afd154a1cb4057410151579c8)

The Christophe de Margerie, built by South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), belongs to a class of vessel which, ship designers say, can safely operate in icy waters.

Ice-class tankers usually have double hulls, strengthened structures to withstand battering from the ice, and reinforced propellers. The Christophe de Margerie is capable of moving through ice as thick as 2.1 meters.

The ship will only be able to navigate the northern route from July to September each year, because the ice is too thick at other times, according to Sovcomflot, the Russian state shipping firm that owns the vessel.

A total of 15 gas tankers will be built for the Yamal project by Daewoo.

Environmentalists say too little is known about the impact of the new route on the Arctic’s ecology. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c)

Alexei Knizhnikov, Russian oil and gas environmental policy officer for international campaign group WWF, said measures were needed to mitigate the risk of heavy oil from the ship’s engines leaking into the sea.  ::)

He said ships could (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16) disturb wildlife such as walruses and whales. (Additional reporting by Oksana Kobzeva and Denis Pinchuk in ARKHANGELSK, Gleb Stolyarov in MOSCOW; Writing by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Christian Lowe)

http://gcaptain.com/ice-class-lng-tanker-forges-path-for-arctic-shipping-super-highway/

Agelbert NOTE:  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgaah.gif&hash=e43fa6be4258ba495007b2bbb3e7dd2f60288fcd)

Polar Bears Are Definitely Screwed - The Arctic Heat Wave Is Literally Off the Charts Right Now (http://gizmodo.com/polar-bears-are-definitely-screwed-1786618215)

 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn2.theinertia.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F03%2Fwarm.jpg&hash=ddb929d877c49358047aae0a93b2b584be1eca4a)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 02, 2017, 12:54:56 pm
So Simple A Child Can Understand

https://youtu.be/wj_7kt51iJc

Quote
"Things always find a way to happen ... A pen leaking. Your shoelace coming untied. Toxic chemicals in your drinking water. What?!"

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tumblr.com%2Fc6492e4b47cfdbd50e74d285fde3c53e%2Ftumblr_inline_mm3g4yCaZc1qz4rgp.gif&hash=4b1cad5ea13f7430a0c01f3065039d21d78da398)

 This short animation is a great addition to the more lengthy and serious videos, explaining why the process of hydro-fracking is highly toxic and dangerous.

 Retro hip, sharp and funny - it hits the nail on the head when it come to getting across the basic message.

 "Oil and gas companies drill into the ground. They take good water, mix it up with not so good stuff and shoot it into the wells to force out the gas. By 2010 they'll be drilling 32,000 wells a year."

 So simple a child can understand. Let's spread the message so enough grown-ups do too!

 --Bibi Farber

 This video was produced by Earthjustice.org

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/anti-fracking/delightful-animated-short-on-fracking-.html

Agelbert NOTE: We all now know that the EPA has IS FINISHED its "study" of Fracking risks to the polluter profits  environment  ;), thanks to BOTH Obama and Trump. But for those masochists who want ALL the details on what FRACKING IS and what FRACKING DOES, watch this delightfully detailed video below.  :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uokmsSi7LTY

The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)










Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 03, 2017, 08:52:30 pm
Fox News  :o  ;D Grills Pruitt  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) Over Climate Denial in Must-See Interview 

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace confronted new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt on Sunday about his controversial statement last month that carbon dioxide is not "a primary contributor" to climate change.

"Mr. Pruitt, there are all kinds of studies that contradict you," the Fox News Sunday host remarked. "The UN's panel on climate change says it is 95 percent likely more than half of the temperature increase since the mid-20th century is due to human activities."

Wallace also cited the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's findings that there is more carbon dioxide now than in the last 400,000 years and that 2015 and 2016 are the two hottest years on record.

"Mr. Pruitt, are we supposed to believe that's all a coincidence?" Wallace asked.

Remarkably, Pruitt's response acknowledged that there is a "warming trend" and that human activity increases global temperatures "in some measure." However, he contended that the EPA should not have the power to regulate greenhouse gasses.

Wallace then shot back, "But sir, you're kind of sugar-coating what you have said."

"You said that you would not agree that carbon CO2 is a primary contributor to global warming," Wallace continued. "And the question I have is, what if you're wrong? What if, in fact, the earth is warming, what if it is causing dramatic climate change and that we as humans through carbon emissions are contributing to it?"

"Don't you think the fact that we have these coal power plants belching carbon emissions into the air, you don't think that plays a role?" Wallace pressed.

Pruitt replied, "I think that we've done it better than anybody in the world at burning coal clean, in clean fashion."

The tense 14-minute interview covered a number of topics including the Trump administration's devastating environmental rollbacks and the proposed 31 percent spending reduction for the EPA, the biggest cut of any federal agency.

Watch the interview here:

https://youtu.be/DRHKB7Vmxzk

http://www.ecowatch.com/wallace-pruitt-climate-change-2342442096.html

Agelbert NOTE: Pruitt, like his boss, is a TRAITOR. not just to this country, but to all of humanity (he is the one in RED below).

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241216151049.png&hash=78206393ea158485b779ed06d0fb0f84172b645d)
Left to right: Tillerson, Pruitt, Sessions, Price

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 09, 2017, 11:08:21 pm
(https://www.afsc.org/sites/afsc.civicactions.net/files/u1752/Truthout%20logo.jpg)

(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c9604f5a5b095bd9b9cef8602a0211319abf5b194eb41e5b7a39136f1c19bc5.jpg)

Pruitt's Rejection of Chlorpyrifos  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) Ban Seems Based on "Alternative Facts"

Sunday, April 09, 2017 

By Paul Koberstein, Earth Island Journal | News Analysis

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40154-pruitt-s-rejection-of-chlorpyrifos-ban-seems-based-on-alternative-facts

Agelbert NOTE: Pruitt behavior is par for the Repuklian course  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fwww_MyEmoticons_com__burp.gif&hash=8ff3ef6c016d8baf5f61ed5e8db58f069b64da00) (The Dumocrats aren't worth a plug nickel either).  >:(


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170317122516.jpeg&hash=03f66f0278dc72c0984f8436b415fbe2c48edae5)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 10, 2017, 02:30:06 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-270117175421.png&hash=cf39e823dd9156833bfa885808a876bf518bd0d6)
A Pen Isn't the Only Gift Trump Gave Dow Chemical (http://www.ecowatch.com/epa-pruitt-chlorpyrifos-2352337722.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=3d64b53a63-MailChimp+Email+Blast&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-3d64b53a63-86021645)

Agelbert NOTE: For those of you who doubt that rather long each of Polluters in the USA, this is a great example of how the FACTS about some toxic product they make are twisted to defend MORE profit over people and planet.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smilies.4-user.de%2Finclude%2FSpiele%2Fsmilie_game_017.gif&hash=e8548890f80af23241a1d43a1ab1ca8031301f20) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

The following legalese disclaimer (posted IN MARCH OF 2017) by Wikipedia placed just above the cleverly MASSAGED description of the effects of Chlorpyrifos (see "moderately toxic to humans" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)), a SARIN GAS derivative that has been PROVEN TOXIC to humans in general, and CHILDREN IN PARTICULAR, says it ALL:

Quote
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clipartkid.com%2Fimages%2F358%2Flegal-symbols-clipart-best-EnsX1H-clipart.png&hash=4cef022aaf333bc8209c3c5e47a59a4df3cdc46a) This article may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (March 2017)

Quote
Chlorpyrifos (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)  is a crystalline organophosphate insecticide, acaracide and miticide. It was introduced in 1965 by Dow Chemical Company and is known by many trade names including Dursban, Lorsban, Bolton Insecticide, Nufos, Cobalt, Hatchet, and Warhawk [5]. It acts on the nervous system of insects by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase.

Chlorpyrifos is moderately toxic to humans, and exposure has been linked to neurological effects, persistent developmental disorders and autoimmune disorders. Exposure during pregnancy retards the mental development of children, and most home use was banned in 2001 in the U.S.[6] In agriculture, it is "one of the most widely used organophosphate insecticides" in the United States  :P, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and before being phased out for residential use was one of the most used residential insecticides.[7] On March 29, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)denied a petition to ban chlorpyrifos.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorpyrifos
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 10, 2017, 02:47:09 pm
Great Barrier Reef Reaches 'Terminal Stage' (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2953.gif&hash=b84c0ae260f7ac760e54bcdc33d788c36faa07c1)  (http://www.ecowatch.com/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-2353658528.html)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-021114150033.png&hash=1a55bc1a81954375c07d21a43c3a26b4bd15b3be)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 15, 2017, 12:57:42 pm
April 10, 2017 | Rona Fried | Fossil Fuels

Maryland Bans Fracking   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9), As Activists Fight (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27) 9000 Miles of New Pipelines
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sustainablebusiness.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F06%2FBan-Fracking-1.jpg&hash=68e5a81db444f3e54670c95137cd8713e1519458)

Maryland is the third state to ban fracking, after New York and Vermont did a couple of years ago. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

In a rare case of bipartisanship, Maryland’s Republican Governor, Larry Hogan, signed a bill passed overwhelmingly by the Democratically controlled legislature. He says, “The possible environmental risks of fracking simply outweigh any potential benefits. Protecting our clean water supply and our natural resources is critically important to Marylanders and we simply cannot allow the door to be open for fracking in our state.”

Activists have been pushing for a ban since 2012. Food & Water Watch talks about how it came to fruition. After lots of rallies and knocking on doors, they say:  “In March of 2013, we helped pass a ban on fracking wastewater in the Baltimore City Council, and in 2014, we worked with Montgomery County to ban fracking there. When the state legislature passed a fracking moratorium in 2015, things really started to pick up steam. Working with partners, we passed fracking bans in Prince George’s County, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City and Friendsville in Garrett County. We also passed fracking resolutions in Frederick County and about a dozen other jurisdictions across the state. These local actions brought thousands of people into the anti-fracking movement, and set us up to win big at the state level.”

138 communities in the US have banned fracking, including Los Angeles, Mendocino, San Benito, Santa Cruz and Butte counties in California and Cincinnati and Athens in Ohio.  Colorado has been at outlier, suing towns that  have passed bans.

In the past, Hogan called fracking an economic goldmine, so we’re not sure what changed his mine  ;D  :exp-grin: – especially since he vetoed a bill to expand renewable energy in Maryland. Democrats overrode the veto, raising the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard to 25% renewables by 2020, up from 20% by 2022. A bill to expand energy efficiency – utilities must cut electricity demand 2% a year by 2020 – became law without the Governor’s signature.

Pipeline Spills All Too Common

Banning fracking is completely separate from the threat of pipelines, however. Even with 2.7 million miles of oil and gas pipelines across the US, there are plans for 9,000 more miles, according to The Gas Rush: Locking America into Another Fossil Fuel for Decades, by Sierra Club. 19 new pipelines are planned for Appalachia alone, and fights are on-going in 10 states.

Bayou Bridge pipeline, for example, would connect refineries in Louisiana with North Dakota oil fields, putting 700 watersheds at risk. And a bill introduced in the House would allow oil and gas drilling in 40 National Parks!

Last week, New York denied a permit for the Northern Access Pipeline – which would have stretched from Pennsylvania to Canada – after turning down another pipeline last year. Portland, Oregon passed a resolution that bars new fossil infrastructure and new terminals are blocked in Vancouver, Washington. 28 pipelines, oil-by-train, and terminals have been stopped by activism and market conditions.

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Center for Biological Diversity

Incredibly, only 528 government employees are in charge of inspecting pipelines – one inspector per 5,000 miles of pipelines. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is severely understaffed with just 188 inspectors (the rest are state employees) and is due for big  budget cuts under Trump. Inspectors are also responsible for 148 liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants and 418 gas storage facilities, many of them old and deteriorating.

About 16% of fracked gas wells rupture per year according to a new study published in Environmental Science & Technology.  Over the past 10 years, there have been 6,648 spills in Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota and Pennsylvania alone, where there are 31,481 wells. Half the spills are from pipelines and poor storage and the rest  from failed equipment and loading/unloading trucks.

Since 2009, over 175 million gallons of wastewater spilled from ruptured pipes, overflows from storage tanks and even deliberate dumping,” reports Associated Press, poisoning agricultural land and drinking water, and causing mass die-offs of plant and animals. There have been almost 22,000 spills in 11 states.


Watch this time-lapse video that shows significant spills since 1986 – causing a total $7 billion in damages, over 2,000 injuries and more than 500 deaths.  All told, 3 million gallons have spilled every year.

https://youtu.be/MEIerHQ9IAw (https://youtu.be/MEIerHQ9IAw)

Agelbert GRAPHIC NOTE: SEE  BELOW
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How About Offshore?

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Fracking is also happening in the Gulf of Mexico. With a court order in hand, the Center for Biological Diversity found that 1200 fracking permits were issued by the Obama administration’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the EPA allowed the wastewater dumped in the Gulf – without environmental review, public input or monitoring. It’s also been occurring in federal waters off California.

“Fracking has largely been in a shroud of secrecy,” says Miyoko Sakashita, the group’s Oceans Director. “Even regulators, until recently, were not really aware it was happening. The EPA doesn’t know which chemicals   are being discharged into the Gulf of Mexico.”

76 billions gallons of wastewater were dumped in the Gulf in 2014 alone. On land, the EPA requires wastewater to be relatively clean before it goes into streams, for example, but there are no rules offshore.  They don’t even keep track of  wastewater dumping offshore, Sakashita told ThinkProgress.

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Fracking locations in Gulf of Mexico:

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Center for Biological Diversity

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/maryland-bans-fracking-activists-fight-9000-miles-new-pipelines/ (http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/maryland-bans-fracking-activists-fight-9000-miles-new-pipelines/)

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/05/c7/d8/05c7d881009dec85c4f24ed8561bf288.jpg)

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The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 15, 2017, 05:14:24 pm
Seven Gulf Animals Worth Protecting

Posted On April 14, 2017 by Marja Diaz

It goes without saying that all Gulf animals are worth protecting. But we couldn’t share them all. So like a mother’s abundant, yet somewhat hierarchical, love for her batch of offspring, our list of seven Gulf animals exists with a twinge of favoritism.

In recognition of next week’s seven-year anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, we’ve compiled a list of seven incredible Gulf animals. From ocean Einsteins to bus-sized carnivores, here are seven Gulf animals worth protecting:

1. Whale Shark

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Visuals of whale sharks are breathtaking. These gigantic yet gentle globs of mass can live up to 150 years, and are often found gliding with mouths wide open—mouths as wide as five feet. As the largest fish in the world, whale sharks can reach up to 40 feet long and weigh up to 20,000 pounds.

While primarily solitary animals, whale sharks rely on a sixth sense (not the one you’re thinking) to detect the presence of other animals through electromagnetic fields. However, whale sharks are relatively harmless, choosing to feed on plankton instead.

As for the official debate of whale versus shark? Whale sharks are just plain sharks. This means they are fish, and not mammals—the classification of whales. The name “whale” simply comes from a denomination of its enormous size.


2. Bottlenose Dolphin

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Fun fact: humans aren’t the only species on a first name basis.

Researchers discovered that, like us, dolphins have unique ways of addressing individual members of a pod. In the way that we use first names to call each other’s attention, dolphins use signature whistles to call specific members of their pod.

As Einsteins of the sea, dolphins are some of the smartest mammals around, known for their craft, cunning and social skills.


3. Sperm Whale

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Perhaps best known for the role of “whale” in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, sperm whales didn’t have the best reputation in the past. These carnivores are known for their massive size (longer than the average transit bus) and gigantic heads—holding the largest brain of any living mammal on earth! While brain size does not equal intelligence, they are relatively vocal and communicative animals.

Sperm whales often travel in groups, up to twenty large, and even practice communal childcare! Pods are typically made up of female and their young, while males tent to travel solo, or drift between groups.

Finally, their heads account for one third of their body and are filled with a curious substance called spermaceti. Although scientists still aren’t 100% sure of its use, some believe the spermaceti help these toothed whales regulate their buoyancy, helping them to dive down to 3,000 feet deep.


4. Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

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When you think of tuna, whether in the context of small metal cans on store shelves or gripping tales from tanned fisherman, these apex predators play a major role in a balanced Gulf ecosystem. Prized by recreational and commercial fisheries, bluefin tuna are the largest of the tuna species, reaching up to 6.5 feet and swimming at speeds up to 45 mph. Oddly enough, these top predators are warm-blooded, meaning they can regulate their own body temperature.


5. Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle

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The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is one of the smallest turtles in the sea, weighing in at about 100 pounds. These stalwart swimmers will travel hundreds of miles to reach their nesting grounds, and often return to the same beach where they hatched.  Sadly, many of their nesting areas on the Gulf Coast are threatened by urban development and sea level rise, and the lives of these reptiles have become increasingly difficult since the BP oil disaster. Today, their female nesting population is estimated at only 1,000 individuals.


6. Brown Pelican

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Brown pelicans are both stunning flyers and impressive divers. While relatively clumsy on firm ground, they spend their time between water and air, plunge diving into the ocean to stun small fish upon impact and scooping them up into their extendable throat pouch. They can also hold up to three gallons of water in their pouch.

Although pelicans were once placed on the Endangered Species List due to pesticide pollution such as DDT, they’ve since become a recovery success story.

7. Manatee

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Everyone’s favorite sea cow comes in at number seven as a staple of the Gulf ecosystem. These warm water drifters can eat about 120 pounds, or 10% of their body weight, each day. As a distant relative of the elephant, these buoyant animals have thick, wrinkled skin that often hosts growing algae.  Finally, despite their small eyes and tiny ear holes, manatees can see and hear very well!

As we approach the seven-year anniversary of the BP oil disaster, we are seven years closer to fully restoring the Gulf and better understanding the ecosystem and wildlife that speeds, drifts and thrives off its shores. This month, the first payments of the $20.8 billion BP settlement are being issued—something we’re lucky to have seven years after the disaster began. The Exxon Valdez oil spill case dragged on for 20 years in court, resulting in a much lower penalty. This seven-year anniversary is an opportunity, and we are lucky to continue improving our Gulf ecosystem for the incredible wildlife beyond its shores.

Looking for more information on ocean animals? Check out our wildlife fact sheets.

Posted in Ocean Life | Tagged BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, gulf of mexico, manatee, manatee facts, Marja Diaz, ocean animals, whale sharks

About Marja Diaz

Marja G. Diaz is a RAY Marine Conservation Fellow and Digital Coordinator at Ocean Conservancy, based in Washington D.C. She grew up along the beaches of Southern California, and recently graduated from Stanford University, class of 2016. Her passion for travel has led her to every continent but Antarctica (it's on the list), and inspired a love for photography. She ultimately hopes to combine film and photography to spread awareness on the current and future state of the world's ocean and marine life.


http://blog.oceanconservancy.org/2017/04/14/seven-gulf-animals-worth-protecting/#more-14151
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 21, 2017, 03:09:10 pm
(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/all/themes/clew/logo.png)

21 Apr 2017 | Benjamin Wehrmann, Julian Wettengel   

The diesel fairy tale / Making nuclear exit a business

Tags: #Cars #Climate & CO2
 
tageszeitung (taz)

The diesel fairy tale

Diesel cars use more fuel and thus emit more CO₂ than carmakers specify, according to previously unreleased test results by Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), reports Bernhard Pötter for tageszeitung (taz).

In the course of investigations surrounding NOx emissions from diesel cars in 2016, KBA also examined CO₂ emissions and found that they were 10 to 36 percent higher than specified in the 30 inspected models, according to documents seen by taz. Tests were carried out according to the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), not real-life conditions, writes Pötter.

Until now, the transport ministry has not published the 2016 findings on CO₂ emissions. VW confirmed that they adjusted their models’ specifications in reaction to the KBA’s test results.

For background read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.


Tags: #Cars #Climate & CO2
 
tageszeitung (taz)

Fraud and self-deception

By not publishing CO₂ emissions test results, the federal government is protecting Germany’s auto industry and thus hindering important innovation in efficiency and climate protection, writes Bernhard Pötter in an opinion piece in taz.

Quote
“If in ten years the auto industry collapses like the big power utilities do now, the federal government will also be to blame,” writes Pötter.

For background read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.


 
Tags:  #Elections & Politics #Energiewende
 
(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/all/themes/clew/logo.png)

BDEW: Energy transition to enter crucial stage only after next legislative period

Germany’s energy transition will face a critical phase after the next legislative period in 2021, according to the national utility association BDEW. “The real challenges lie between 2021 and 2030, when the nuclear exit has been completed and excess power capacities are drastically reduced," the lobby group’s head Stefan Kapferer told journalists in Berlin.

Germany's last nuclear plant will shut down in 2022.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

Quote
“After that, we’ll have to see how fossil power plant capacity, which will still be needed for the foreseeable future, will be structured,” Kapferer said.

Other crucial issues are building high-voltage transmission lines and electrifying the transport and heating sectors, he said. The BDEW expects wholesale power prices to pick up after 2022, he said. According to the BDEW, Germany's next government after September's elections had to prepare the right conditions for the critical 2020s.

This meant hurdles for storage solutions and decentralised supply had to be lowered, taxes and levies on power reduced, and a modernisation of the heating sector made a priority, it explained.

For more information, see the CLEW dossier Vote2017 - German elections and the Energiewende.



Tags: #Nuclear phase-out
 
WirtschaftsWoche

The most expensive construction site of our time  :P

Dismantling Germany’s nuclear power plants is a lucrative business for companies carrying out the task, and final costs are hard to predict, writes Konrad Fischer in WirtschaftsWoche. “Nobody has experience with such a task, so how is one supposed to calculate the costs?” asked Michael Klein, director of the nuclear power plant Stade in northern Germany, in the magazine.

In the future, companies that now gain experience in Germany will face a global market of dismantling nuclear power stations “virtually without competition,” writes Fischer.

For background read the CLEW dossier The challenges of Germany’s nuclear phase-out and the CLEW factsheet Nuclear clean-up costs.


Tags: #Finances #Fossil fuels #International
 
EurActiv

EU should pave the way for G20 fossil fuel subsidy phase-out   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

The EU needs to take a leadership role in addressing fossil fuel subsidies and the G20 platform is “an obvious way for EU leaders and ministers to showcase their efforts and actions to eliminate” them, writes Maeve McLynn, finance and subsidies policy coordinator at Climate Action Network Europe, in a guest commentary for EurActiv.

http://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/opinion/eu-should-pave-the-way-for-g20-fossil-fuel-subsidy-phase-out/?nl_ref=36031397


Tags: #Wind
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Wind power can be cheaper  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)

Companies for whom offshore wind parks are a core business, but were not successful in Germany’s first competitive auction for the technology, will “have a problem”, as only one more auction was planned for offshore expansion until 2025, writes Andreas Mihm in an opinion piece in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

This explained the low average successful bid. “The result of the tender is a setback for companies like RWE carve-out innogy or Sweden’s Vattenfall,” writes Mihm.

On the topic, read the updated CLEW article Operators to build offshore wind farms without support payments.


Tags: #Efficiency #International
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

EU states say no to ambitious energy saving goals    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)

Several EU countries are rejecting an ambitious and binding energy efficiency goal proposed by the EU Commission in its winter package, reports Hendrik Kafsack in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). The EU Council Presidency, currently held by Malta, aims to make the target non-binding, according to documents seen by FAZ. Germany, France, Luxemburg, Denmark and other member states will now try to prevent this weakening of proposals, the article says.

For background read the CLEW article German reactions to the EU energy package and the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and Efficiency.



Tags: #Efficiency

Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) / The Energy Collective

“Efficiency first: A crucial building block for the Energiewende”  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_0293.gif&hash=b1af4868ed8f18c30e637f8cbcb79002f6f71039)

Prioritising efficiency measures that cost less or deliver more value than planned investment in supply resources and infrastructure is “a crucial building block” for Germany’s Energiewende, writes Andreas Jahn of the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) in an article carried by The Energy Collective.

Since the German government published its green paper on energy efficiency, it is now up to citizens and organizations to “step up to ensure that this topic becomes part of the next election platform and, thus, part of the next coalition agreement,” writes Jahn.

http://www.theenergycollective.com/raponline/2402729/efficiency-first-crucial-building-block-energiewende

For background read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and Efficiency.




Tags: #Fossil fuels #International
 
Climate Home

EU should block Nord Stream 2 on climate grounds   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

The EU should block the Russian-German gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2 not only for reasons of energy security,  but also on climate grounds, writes Marcin Stoczkiewicz, head of Central & Eastern Europe at ClientEarth in a guest commentary on Climate Home. “If EU member states are serious about their commitments to tackle climate change, they should use every tool in the box to stop Nord Stream 2,” writes Stoczkiewicz. Nord Stream 2 would risk locking in fossil fuel use for decades. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/04/20/eu-block-nord-stream-2-climate-grounds/

For background read the CLEW dossier The Energiewende and its implications for international security.

All texts created by the Clean Energy Wire are available under a “Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0)”. They can be copied, shared and made publicly accessible by users so long as they give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/diesel-fairy-tale-making-nuclear-exit-business
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 21, 2017, 08:11:28 pm
Epic Video Captures the Moment Rescuers Dive From a Cargo Ship to Save a Trapped Whale  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3)

https://youtu.be/zOF2j62drzs

Plastic waste, the culprit behind one of the most burning environmental issues we are facing today, is an immense threat to a number of animals, especially marine mammals like whales. Whales, like many other animals, often mistake plastic trash for potential food and ingest it. During necropsies performed on whales after deadly in their consequences strandings, specialists found an increasing amount of plastic debris in the animals’ stomachs. Another danger posed by our waste is that of entanglement. For whales, even despite their size, abandoned fishing nets still pose a very serious risk.

In the video above we see the crew of a cargo ship “Sheikh Mokrani,” rescue a massive whale from a ghost fishing net. After struggling to free the massive animal, the crew managed to liberate the whale and send him back to deep waters!

This amazing rescue illustrates how real the dangers of plastic waste are for the animals in the oceans. Every year, we throw into the oceans around 8.8 million tons of plastic! Because of that unbelievable overflow of debris, 700 marine animals species are now faced with extinction, 50 percent of all sea turtles have plastic in their stomachs, and it is estimated that by 2050, 99 percent of all seabird species will have ingested plastic waste. The conclusions are obvious – we have to do something about our plastic problem now or else it will be literally too late for an overwhelmingly huge number of animals.

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/rescuers-dive-from-a-cargo-ship-to-save-a-trapped-whale/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 01, 2017, 06:51:54 pm
What is the Social Cost of Carbon Emissions?
https://youtu.be/2rcxngFS1Y0


https://youtu.be/oBBFJNhwnz8

THE SOCIAL COST OF CARBON 
 
Douglas Hendren

Published on May 7, 2016

Fossil fuels are a lot more expensive than you might think. This music video explains why, and what you can do about it. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191258.bmp&hash=e4ed21caaca822f7445ccafd39f49a9f84be90ca)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 01, 2017, 07:34:49 pm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/839282280044470272/12CwAIaT.jpg)

Oil and Gas Spills Are Happening So Regularly They're Barely Being Reported On

https://youtu.be/NXkeAWoTd8k

Thom talks with a caller concerned with various gas leaks and oil spills lately and their lasting effects on the environment around them, while mostly being ignored by the corporate owned media. Meanwhile, renewable energy prices continue to fall. Can we really afford fossil fuels any more?

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 07, 2017, 03:21:19 pm
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/Survival_International.png)

WWF (https://c402277.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/photos/9031/images/original/WWF_25mm_no_tab.png) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457)wins Survival’s “Greenwashing of the Year” award

2 May, 2017

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Widespread logging has been an acute problem for rainforest tribes for many years. © Margaret Wilson/Survival

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has won Survival International’s “Greenwashing of the Year” award for partnering with seven companies logging nearly 4 million hectares of forests belonging to the Baka and Bayaka “Pygmies” in central Africa.

The award is given to companies or organizations who dress up the destruction of tribal peoples’ forests as conservation.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), based at the Bronx Zoo in New York, has been named as runner-up, also for its activities in the Congo Basin. It has partnered with two logging companies, neither of which have obtained the consent of the tribal peoples in the areas in which they work.

WWF describes logging companies as “forest operators.” According to WWF, its partnerships with these companies are intended to “advance sustainable forest management."

In reality, however, all of WWF’s partners have been accused of illegal logging and none have received the consent of the Baka and Bayaka “Pygmies.” A recent study found that approaches like WWF’s have failed to slow the break-up of the Congo Basin rainforest.

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This picture was taken by Baka “Pygmies” in late 2016 when they reported finding Rougier employees logging illegally on their land. © Survival

In a 2011 report, the environmental NGO Global Witness said that the partnerships “allow some… member companies to reap the benefits of association with WWF and its iconic Panda brand while continuing unsustainable logging, conversion of forests to plantations, or trading in illegally sourced timber.”

The partnerships also violate WWF’s own policy on indigenous peoples, which requires all projects to be undertaken with the full consent of tribal communities.


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Baka and other tribes have been forcibly removed from much of their ancestral land, and forced to live on roadsides. © Survival International

A Baka man said: “It’s the Baka’s forest, which we’ve conserved for a long time. It’s the loggers who bring guns and their brothers who hunt all the animals.”

A Baka woman added that “we need to fight against this because our forest is being finished off completely.”

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said: “WWF’s supporters might be surprised to learn that it’s working so closely with the loggers who are destroying one of Earth’s great rainforests. Congo Basin tribes, the original guardians, are being pushed aside and their societies wrecked. Across Africa and Asia, the big conservation organizations partner with industry and tourism and destroy the environment’s best allies. It’s a con, and it’s harming conservation. Perhaps this “award” might encourage people inside WWF and WCS to put pressure on their organizations for reform. It’s time to listen to tribal conservationists.”

VIDEO of Baka “Pygmy” at link:

http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/11677

Baka “Pygmy” speaks out against destructive loggersSome of the world’s largest logging groups are destroying the Baka’s ancestral forests in the Congo Basin.

This Baka man lives near logging concessions run by the French giant Rougier  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978), one of the World Wildlife Fund’s main partners. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)
Despite claiming it never partners with logging companies without the Baka’s consent, it has done precisely that for over 15 years.

Note to editors: WWF has partnered with: Bolloré Group, Danzer Group, Decolvenaere Group, Pasquet Group, Rougier Group, SEFAC Group and Vicwood Group. WCS has partnered with Danzer Group and the Olam Group. Full report here. at story link

http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/11677

“Pygmy” is an umbrella term commonly used to refer to the hunter-gatherer peoples of the Congo Basin and elsewhere in Central Africa. The word is considered pejorative and avoided by some tribespeople, but used by others as a convenient and easily recognized way of describing themselves.

http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/11677


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 07, 2017, 06:40:44 pm
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Judge to Exxon: Pay $20 Million for Violating Clean Air Act More Than 16,000 Times

ExxonMobil must pay $20 million for violating the Clean Air Act more than 16,000 times at a Texas plant, a district judge ruled this week.

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The ruling against Exxon in a suit brought by Environment Texas and the Sierra Club found that the oil giant failed to update emissions-reductions technology at its Baytown, Texas refining and chemical plant.

In their suit, the groups alleged the plant illegally released more than 10 million pounds of pollutants between 2005 and 2013, while Exxon gained more than $14 million in economic benefits.

"Today's decision sends a resounding message that it will not pay to pollute Texas," Neil Carman, clean air program director for the Sierra Club's Lone Star Chapter, said in a statement. "We will not stand idly by when polluters put our health and safety at risk." (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)

http://www.ecowatch.com/exxon-clean-air-act-baytown-2383090378.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 09, 2017, 10:58:47 pm
Breakthrough In Plastics Recycling
https://youtu.be/RD07GkmM2fc
Above Ground Mining
   
The UN estimates the amount of electronic waste alone is 85 billion pounds per year and growing.

 Over 90% of metals that end up at a recycling facility are in fact recycled because the process is much easier than plastics. By contrast, only 10% of plastics are recycled because they must be sorted into many different categories of density, color and type.

 So most plastic is in fact, not at all recycled.

 Mike Biddle, a plastics engineer, set out to find a solution. He set up a lab in his garage in Pittsburg, California, and began experimenting with complex-plastics recycling, borrowing ideas from such industries as mining and grain processing.

 Since then, Biddle has developed a patented 30-step plastics recycling system that includes magnetically extracting metals, shredding the plastics, sorting them by polymer type and producing graded pellets to be reused in industry. This process takes less than one tenth of the energy required to make virgin plastic from crude oil.

 His company's recycling process is a breakthrough solution for closing the loop on plastics. He has new plants opening all over the world, and companies are eager to buy the recycled pellets.

 -Bibi Farber

 This video was produced by Ted Talks
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 11, 2017, 06:48:42 pm
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Endangered Earth: Victory Protects 1 Million Acres From Drilling, Fracking

For Immediate Release, May 4, 2017

Contact:  Patrick Sullivan, (415) 517-9364, psullivan@biologicaldiversity.org
 Jeff Kuyper, Los Padres ForestWatch, (805) 617-4610 x 1, jeff@LPFW.org
 Greg Loarie, Earthjustice, (415) 217-2000


Legal Settlement Halts Effort to Open 1 Million Acres in California to Oil Drilling, Fracking

Agreement Preserves Moratorium on Leasing Public Lands to Oil Industry


LOS ANGELES— Conservationists have forced the Trump administration to halt plans to open more than 1 million acres of public land and mineral estate in California to oil drilling and fracking. The victory preserves a four-year-old moratorium on leasing federally owned land in the state for oil and gas development. 

The legal settlement, approved Wednesday, resolves a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres ForestWatch, represented by Earthjustice. The agreement requires the Bureau of Land Management to rework a resource-management plan that would have auctioned off drilling rights on vast stretches of public land in California’s Central Valley, the southern Sierra Nevada, and Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties. 

“This is a big victory for California and a major blow to Trump’s plan to turn our public lands over to oil companies,” said Brendan Cummings, the Center’s conservation director. “Despite the petroleum industry’s stranglehold on the White House, these beautiful wild places are still off limits to drilling and fracking. That protects our water, wildlife and climate from fracking pollution.”

The BLM has not held a single lease sale in California since 2013, when a federal judge first ruled that the agency had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by issuing oil leases in Monterey County without considering the environmental dangers of fracking. The new settlement will continue that de facto leasing moratorium.

“This agreement ensures that public lands along California’s central coast — and the communities that depend on them — are protected from the harmful effects of oil drilling and fracking,” said ForestWatch Executive Director Jeff Kuyper. “Our region’s wildlife, clean water and scenic landscapes are too valuable to sacrifice to development.”

 “Our hope is that this settlement puts the final nail in the coffin for BLM’s illegal practice of rubberstamping fracking in California without environmental review,” said Earthjustice attorney Greg Loarie, who represented the groups. “Fracking has no place in California’s clean, renewable energy future.”

The settlement means that the BLM must now complete a new analysis of the pollution risks of fracking, which blasts toxic chemicals mixed with water underground to crack rocks.

The public lands at stake in today’s settlement encompass “numerous groundwater systems that contribute to the annual water supply used by neighboring areas for agricultural and urban purposes,” a federal judge noted last year.

A 2015 report from the California Council on Science and Technology concluded that fracking in California happens at unusually shallow depths, dangerously close to underground drinking water supplies, with unusually high concentrations of chemicals, including substances dangerous to human health and the environment.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.3 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

Los Padres ForestWatch is a local nonprofit conservation organization working to protect wildlife, wilderness landscapes, and the great outdoors in the Los Padres National Forest and other public lands along California’s Central Coast.
 
 
Agelbert NOTE: Thank you, conservationists. Anything that gives fossil fuel TOOL TRUMP some grief is welcome news!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191258.bmp&hash=e4ed21caaca822f7445ccafd39f49a9f84be90ca)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 16, 2017, 06:52:45 pm

12 Farmworkers Poisoned by Toxic Pesticide Only One Month After EPA Denies Ban  >:(

By Lorraine Chow

15 May 2017

More than 50 agricultural workers southwest of Bakersfield, California in Kern County were inadvertently exposed to pesticide drift from a nearby field earlier this month. According to local reports, 12 farmworkers reported symptoms of vomiting, nausea and one person fainted due to exposure to Vulcan, an organophosphate-based chemical.

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Notably, the active ingredient in the insecticide is chlorpyrifos, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Trump administration decided not to ban in March.

"Anybody that was exposed, that was here today, we encourage them to seek medical attention immediately. Don't wait. Particularly if you're suffering from any symptoms. Whether it's nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, seek medical attention immediately," Michelle Corson, public relations officer for Kern County Public Health, said.

As the Environmental Working Group detailed, research shows that even small amounts of chlorpyrifos can damage parts of the brain that control language, memory, behavior and emotion. Multiple independent studies have documented that exposure to chlorpyrifos impairs children's IQs and EPA scientists' assessments of those studies concluded that levels of the pesticide found on food and in drinking water are unsafe.

But on March 29, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt sided with the pesticide lobby over scientists in his decision to nix an Obama-era proposal to ban chlorpyrifos(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) from use on food crops.

http://www.ecowatch.com/farmworkers-poisoned-chlorpyrifos-2408574673.html

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 19, 2017, 03:33:17 pm
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New method can remove small, but dangerous, amounts of chemicals from freshwater

Last updated on May 12th, 2017  at 6:30 pm by Elena Motivans

SNIPPET:

So many chemicals enter our water, often in tiny amounts. For example, pesticides from fields can run off into rivers, medicine is peed out into toilets, not to mention the chemicals produced by factories that enter rivers. With fresh water being increasingly scarce, it is important to have sources of safe, clean drinking water. One stumbling block is that it’s hard to remove small amounts of pollutants from water. Current methods use a lot of energy or chemicals. Now, researchers at MIT have created a very efficient method for removing even a tiny amount of pollutants from water. They use an electrochemical process that binds dangerous chemicals and lets clean water go through.

Taking out chemicals

MIT postdoc Xiao Su and a team of researchers at MIT and at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany developed this new method to remove contaminants from water. Even small amounts of these chemicals can be harmful if consumed through drinking water. The researchers were able to remove even very small amounts of pesticides, chemical waste, and pharmaceuticals with 96% success. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

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Pesticides and other pollutants can enter drinking water in small quantities, and be hard to remove. Image credits: PROFrits Ahlefeldt Hiking.org.

So here’s how it works:

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http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/pollution-ecology/new-method-can-remove-small-dangerous-amounts-chemicals-freshwater/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 19, 2017, 03:46:04 pm
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Diesel cars sold in 2015 emit 50% more NOx emissions than anyone thought

Last updated on May 16th, 2017  at 3:56 pm by Tibi Puiu

SNIPPET:
Quote
Key findings from the SEI report include:

•Heavy-duty vehicles, such as commercial trucks and buses, were by far the largest contributor worldwide, accounting for 76% of the total excess gas emissions.

•Five of the 11 markets that were analyzed, Brazil, China, the EU, India, and the US, produced 90% of that.

•For light-duty vehicles, such as passenger cars, trucks, and vans, the European Union produced nearly 70% of the excess diesel nitrogen oxide emissions.

•On-road diesel vehicles contribute 55% of global surface transportation NOx emissions, consistent with other estimates.

•The excess diesel vehicle NOx emissions in 2015 were linked to 38,000 premature deaths worldwide. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)Most of these deaths were linked to the European Union, China, and India.

Full article:
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http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/climate/diesel-emissions-nox/

Agelbert NOTE: I am not surprised.

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Diesel fumes cause cancer (https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/diesel-fumes-cause-cancer/)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 21, 2017, 05:20:15 pm
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7 Potted Plants that Will Remove Indoor Air Pollution from Your Home, Proven by Science

Last updated on October 31st, 2016  at 5:03 pm by Tibi Puiu

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Credit: Flickr // ProFlowers

The advent of agriculture some 12,000 changed human culture forever. Free from the stress of having to constantly scour the land in search for game and fruits, humans could now divide labour and massively expand their communities. Despite the domestication of plants and animals had a very practical purpose, it didn’t take humans too long for them to find out they could breed plants for aesthetic purposes.

A brief history of indoor plants

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Credit: Public Domain

We don’t know who were the first to extensively use houseplants, but one of the first records suggests the Chinese used penjing trees and plants of different varieties in interior spaces as ornamental features as early as 4,000 years ago. These indoor plants were considered a sign of wealth and prosperity and gave many the chance to practice their gardening skills because the plants would grow and flourish all year round.

Perhaps the most famous example of both outdoor and indoor gardening dates from the time of Emperor Nebuchadnezzar who in 610 B.C.E. completed The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

The widespread use of houseplants that we see today, however, can be traced back to Victorian England in the late 1800s. While the sumptuous outdoor British gardens kept their gates closed until springtime, many Brits began growing a wide variety of cheery and colourful plants. The included English ivy, dracaenas, and Chinese evergreens to name a few.

Things have moved on, thankfully, and the range of indoor plants available now has arguably never been greater.

But plants aren’t just for show

There’s a growing body of evidence that house plants help improve indoor quality not only by producing oxygen but also by absorbing various pollutants like allergy-irritating dust and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In today’s modern household, the latter quality is the most desirable out of your potted plants because VOCs have never been more abundant. These are produced or released by the household’s walls, paints, wood preservatives, cleansers, and disinfectants, glues and adhesives, and other chemical products.

“We all know, but most of the time we completely forget, that air is the most consumed material by humans,” said Vadoud Niri, a chemist at the State University of New York at Oswego, who is one of the authors of an important study that assessed the performance of various potted plants as VOC absorbers.

“Each of us breathes over 3,000 gallons of air each day, and even though you could go days without food and hours without water, you would last only a few minutes without air.”

“That’s why air quality is extremely important and air pollution is an important environmental threat to human health.”

Since the 1980s, NASA has been researching houseplants for the purpose of purifying space stations. Since then, various studies have come up with a list of particularly able plants which have a higher than average VOC filtering ability. Here are just a few.


Aloe vera

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Credit: Pixabay

Aloe vera
, a common household plant, does more than provide a home decor boost. Research suggests its a great absorber of  formaldehyde and benzene, which are compounds commonly released by cleaning products and paints. The plant also has various therapeutic properties and has been used as a medicinal plant for at least 6,000 years. It’s used to treat skin conditions, accelerate healing of wounds, and even as a laxative.


Spider plant

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Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) likes to chow on benzene, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and xylene, the latter being an air pollutant that clogs the atmosphere in leather, rubber, and printing shops.

Spider plants are very easy to grow, prefer dry soil and thrive in cooler homes.


Gerbera daisy

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Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Also known as Transvaal daisy, Gerbera daisy (Gerbera jamesonii), is a daisy-like bloomer that comes in a variety of jewel tones. Besides splashing your home with colour, this daisy is very effective against trichloroethylene, which you might find on your dry cleaned clothes. This makes the houseplant great for bedrooms or laundries.


Snake plant

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Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Snake plant (Sansevieria Trifasciata), also hilariously known as the Mother-in-Law’s tongue, is one of the best formaldehyde filters, commonly found in cleaning and personal care products. It thrives in low light conditions so this makes it an ideal bathroom potted plant. If you’re particularly bad with plants, like I am, this may be your soul plant. It can go on for weeks without having to be watered.



Red-edged dracaena

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Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Dracaena (Dracaena spp.) is grown for its dramatic foliage and carefree nature. Besides freshing up your home, dracaena is an effective filter against xylene, trichloroethylene and formaldehyde. But if you’re after air quality, look for the red-edged variety because there are many kinds of dracaena. Look for purple-red edges on ribbon-like leaves.


Bamboo palm

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Credit: Flickr

Native to Mexico and Central America, this dwarf plant doesn’t grow taller than five feet. It loves bright light and humidity, but also benzene and trichloroethylene.


Peace lily 

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Credit: Flickr

Perhaps the most beautiful VOC filter you’ll find on this list, the peace lily (spathiphyllum) topped NASA’s list for air quality  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3) proving effective at absorbing all three main VOC compounds — formaldehyde, benzene and trichloroethylene.

http://www.zmescience.com/science/potted-plants-air-quality-home-0423/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 24, 2017, 02:15:38 pm
April 28, 2017

Environmental InJustice: The Poisoning of East Chicago


 Lead in the water. Arsenic in the soil. East Chicago residents sound off on representatives from EPA and HUD, about how their community resources were contaminated for decades by industry.

https://youtu.be/JSwAuYdhEpg

http://therealnews.com/t2/story:18943:Environmental-InJustice%3A-The-Poisoning-of-East-Chicago
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 24, 2017, 02:27:53 pm
So Goes Nature So Goes Us

May 22, 2017

Leading conservationist, Jamie Rappaport Clark speaks about the dangerous levels of species extinction and deforestation

https://youtu.be/oce5kRKmBTI

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-060714185706.gif&hash=bd19395e80fdeaff0e65411e22dd6ff03ffde1c3)


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-270716175152.png&hash=b70c2464becd1a34ba8ac64a9a410881246bc249)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 27, 2017, 07:32:57 pm
World's Largest Beach Clean-Up: Trash-Ridden to Pristine in 2 Years
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.uglyhedgehog.com%2Fupload%2F2012%2F8%2F14%2F1344970546338-awesome_mc_ht_smiley.gif&hash=3ae7abfc4fed4417a941b6f116204b754f1e587f)
By Joe McCarthy

A lot of people take part in community clean-up efforts—spending a Saturday morning picking up litter in a park, mowing an overgrown field or painting a fence.

But not everyone has the drive to do what a young lawyer and environmentalist in Mumbai recently accomplished.

In 2015, Afroz Shah moved to an apartment near Versova beach, an ignored strip of ocean near slums. He was shocked by the pollution that he saw—the beach was covered in rotting garbage. Nobody could walk along the beach, let alone swim in the water, without being assaulted by the smell.

"[The plastic] was 5.5 feet high. A man could drown in the plastic," Shah told CNN. "I said I'm going to come on the field and do something. I have to protect my environment and it requires ground action."

At first, Shah and his neighbor, an 84-year old man, would go out and pick up as much trash as they could.

https://youtu.be/FnALkpJ89zo

After a while, Shah realized that he had to expand his team if he was going to make a dent in what was essentially an environmental crisis. He began knocking on doors and talking with local residents, explaining the harm caused by marine pollution. His determination inspired a lot of people and soon dozens, hundreds and eventually more than a thousand volunteers from all walks of life pitched in.

https://www.ecowatch.com/beach-clean-up-mumbai-2421608193.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 28, 2017, 03:40:04 pm
Carz Go Off the Seneca Cliff (http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/forum/index.php/topic,9688.msg132254.html#msg132254)

May 27, 2017, 03:49:13 AM

Agelbert Note: Quote from the above article:

Quote
Innovation does not solve problems, it creates them.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fbc3.gif&hash=e80a574cef1f1cd31dc58d76fe36b5ffb7fe7d5b)

The above is an excellent example of a half-truth. The author is focusing, without mentioning it, on Dilworth's  idea that humans are too smart for their own good, as discussed in his the peer reviewed book Dilworth wrote showing how we-the-people had to pay about $468 a barrel  :o  :P (effective price to police the middle east for oil) in the FIRST Gulf war instead of using that money to become independent of Middle East oil. He showed how TPTB "justified"  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) that stupidity in the quote below:

Quote
Dilworth (2010-03-12). Too Smart for our Own Good (pp. 399-400). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.

"As suggested earlier, war, for example, which represents a cost for society, is a source of profit to capitalists. In this way we can partly understand e.g. the American military expenditures in the Persian Gulf area. Already before the first Gulf War, i.e. in 1985, the United States spent $47 billion projecting power into the region. If seen as being spent to obtain Gulf oil, It AMOUNTED TO $468 PER BARREL, or 18 TIMES the $27 or so that at that time was paid for the oil itself.

In fact, if Americans had spent as much to make buildings heat-tight as they spent in ONE YEAR at the end of the 1980s on the military forces meant to protect the Middle Eastern oil fields, THEY COULD HAVE ELIMINATED THE NEED TO IMPORT OIL from the Middle East.

So why have they not done so? Because, while the $468 per barrel may be seen as being a cost the American taxpayers had to bear, and a negative social effect those living in the Gulf area had to bear, it meant only profits for American capitalists. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)
 
Note: I added the bold caps emphasis on the barrel of oil price, money spent in one year and the need to import oil from the Middle East.


Yes, making we-the-people pay for war and other polluter fun and games IS a form of INNOVATION that CREATES problems and certainly DOES NOT solve problems; it exacerbated TWO problems: 1) the pollution problem AND 2) the concentration of wealth in fewer hands democracy destroying problem.

But it continues to be a half truth. From Dilworth's point of view, the innovation in human medicine of washing our hands and other other methods of antisepsis CREATES a bigger problem than it solves, simply because that boosts the human population beyond the available resources. (see: bacteria consuming agar n a petri dish quicker as the population increases, thereby hastening their demise - despite the instinctive ring circling delay attempt).

To take that argument to its logical end, the "innovation" of a large brain that gave us tool making created more problems than it solved for our ancestors, who proceeded to kill and eat anything or anybody that was either in their way, was edible, or both.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210316151047.png&hash=322a7c76731414f0f2ba44f8649e39de889b4bd6)

However, despite the above logic, which boils down to "Humans, like T-Rex, just DO WHAT THEY DO",  the argument is flawed. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

HOW SO ? ???
 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F036daf1.netsolhost.com%2FTheprimaryline%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2FFEE-questiions-answer-construction.jpg&hash=fd476da59795ac54dd7fe6254616fd20a9697ab2)

The argument ignores the FACT that at each and every innovation event in human history, a bifurcation of he future viability level of the species, projected just before that innovation, occurred. The ASS-U-MEption that a more stable biosphere would have been obtained had our population been kept in check by disease, dumbness or whatever cannot be proven because we didn't go that route. It's just an assumption, like the deep ecologists have that humans are a disease on earth and the biosphere will be better off without us.

True, innovations SEEM to increase the rate we use up available resources in a fixed biosphere area, which temporarily increases the species footprint on the biosphere while decreasing the long term viability of that species as its increasingly bigger footprint crowds out the other species it needs to survive.

They way things look NOW, the trajectory is extinction for humans, of course. That cannot be denied by any person with critical thinking skills (unless they work for the fossil fuel industry - they don't hire people with those skills  ;D).

BUT, at each and every bifurcation brought by innovation, an ETHICS BASED QUESTION WAS ASKED AND ANSWERED BY TPTB. Consistently, corrupt leaders with short term horizons ignored the Precautionary Principle of Science. And as specialization in human fields of endeavor increased, less and less people in decision making authority at the top had the skills or the inclination to look at the total biosphere cause and effect picture to determine if the human innovation was deleterious to it, to our eventual detriment. And EVEN when an obvious detriment to life was evidenced, profit over people and planet prevailed. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

So, the PROBLEM is NOT the INNOVATION itself, but LACK OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR by TPTB.

So, are we doomed if we CONTINUE to allow TPTB to refuse to make ETHICAL BEHAVIOR sine qua non in our society?

Absolutely. But we are not doomed because we are self aware, can innovate and do stupid things. WE are doomed because we made a conscious CHOICE to do so. It's called SIN (missing the mark). We DO have free will, despite what many, like the deep ecologists, claim to the contrary. But all these modern Darwin worshiping "highly evolved" intelliburros out there want to eschew, demean, disdain, ridicule and reject forget all concepts of ethics, right and wrong, morality, the concept of SIN or absolutely anything that gets in the way of them doing their selfish thing.

So much do the intelliburros fastidiously cling to to their relativist and rebellious mindset, that rather than ADMIT humanity made mistakes, and needs to correct them through ethical behavior, they claim that we rigidly just DO WHAT WE DO and throw up their hands, as the author of the article is doing. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723)

I wrote some time ago, when discussing Dilworth's information about the Fossil Fuel Industry Capitalists:

The Fracking, pollution and GW we are being assaulted with are SYMPTOMS of the DISEASE killing our biosphere, not the disease itself.

If we don't seriously address this DISEASE of Sh it Canned Ethics for Short Term Profits of the fossil fuel FOOLS that are despoiling our biosphere and accelerating planetary pollution, the big die offs (including large segments of the human population) begin at 2030.

This totally unjustified profit, never mind the needless lose of lives, then increases the power of the fossil fuel corporations to perpetuate a biosphere harming dirty fuel status quo. How? By "funding" politicians with rather large "donations" to keep renewable energy from competing with dirty energy.

If all this was just about power politics, I might not be that concerned. Humans, particularly the overly ambitious and aggressive ones, have always fought and schemed to control and fleece the population at large.
 
But now we know the future of our biosphere is at stake. Now we know the entire edifice of dirty energy is a knife in the back of the biosphere that will destroy our species and many others.

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-021114150033.png&hash=1a55bc1a81954375c07d21a43c3a26b4bd15b3be)

The system, as defined by the fossil fuel fascist dystopia that currently runs most of the human affairs among the 1 billion population in the developed world that is saddling the other 6 billion, who are totally free of guilt for causing it, with this climate horror we are beginning to experience, IS quite stubborn and does not wish to change the status quo.

Mother nature will force it to do so.

Whether it is done within the next two decades or not (i.e. a switch to 100% PLUS bioremediation Renewable Energy steady state economy) will dictate the size of the consequent die off, not only of humans but thousands of other species as well.

We are now in a climate cake that has been baked for about 1,000 years according to atmospheric, objective, proven with experimental data, science.

If the crash program to switch to renewable energy is to begin soon, I expect the trigger for the crash program will be the first ice free arctic summer (according to my estimates) in 2017. But millions of people demanding a transition to 100% renewable Energy will give us a fighting chance to win the Climate Victory.

You can help us leave dirty energy sources that are killing us behind.


All we have to do is use Common Sense, admit we were WRONG, and make ETHICAL BEHAVIOR sine qua non in human affairs.

We HAVE A CHOICE. But how can we make that choice if people no longer believe there is a difference between good and evil behavior? The short answer is that we can't. The apparently "easy" choice will always be taken. THAT IS WHAT GOT US HERE. THAT IS WHAT UNTHINKING, NON-TOOLMAKING, NON-SINNING BACTERIA DO in a petri dish with agar running out (after their instinctive ring 'circling' attempts collapse).

WE ARE NOT BACTERIA. WE HAVE A CHOICE TO DO THE right THING.

All we have to do is stop pretending otherwise. WE understand nature pretty well. It's time we obeyed her and put everybody who doesn't in jail. THAT is the INNOVATION in human affairs that would NOT create a bigger problem than the one it solved. You don't have to believe in God to admit you were wrong and that biosphere math MUST be our guide, but it helps.  ;D

(https://www.brainyquote.com/photos_tr/en/f/francisbacon/104978/francisbacon1.jpg)
(https://ofcommonsense.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/free-choice-not-consequences.jpg)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 29, 2017, 08:14:04 pm
Churches, Schools and Water Tanks: Made of Bottles!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020)  ;D

https://youtu.be/BVCY3n8Tvjc

Plastic Bottles To Build With

This is just beautiful to behold: buildings of all kinds in South America, made using earth and plastic bottles.

You will see not just residential structures, but water tanks, aqueducts, churches and schools made of water bottles!

Enjoy this video in full screen mode, because only then can you see that these are indeed made with the soda and water bottles we throw away every day.

According to this video, 80% of the 160 billion bottles we throw away every day are not recycled. This type of architecture can be a durable, inexpensive solution all over the world.

--Bibi Farber

This video was produced by Eco Tec.




Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 30, 2017, 01:34:48 pm
Gas Cars Much Dirtier Than Expected

May 29th, 2017 by Steve Hanley

Originally published on Gas2.

For years, the conventional wisdom has been that pollution from diesel engines was far worse than from gasoline engines for two reasons: First, diesel exhaust fumes are known to contain nitrous oxide emissions. Second, they also contain particulates, small molecules that are too small to see. Both are believed to cause serious damage to human lungs.

(https://c1cleantechnicacom-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/files/2017/05/Direct-Gas-Injection-Bosch.jpg)
Particulate Emissions From Gasoline Engines

Now it turns out that conventional wisdom is wrong. ;D A study by researchers at the Materials, Science, and Technology Laboratory in Switzerland claims that particulate emissions from gasoline engines can be far greater than those from diesel engines.

The laboratory studied the emissions of 7 gas engine vehicles equipped with direct-fuel-injection systems. The research found that they emit from 10 to 100 times more particulates than modern diesel engines. In fact, they have higher particulate emissions than older diesel without particulate filters.

Wait, did you read that right? Gasoline engines spew out up to one hundred times more particulates that a modern diesel engine equipped with a particulate filter? Yes, you read that right. Yikes. And people wonder why the incidence of asthma and other lung related diseases is on the rise!

Researchers Find Carcinogens In Gas Engine Exhaust

The researchers, led by Norbert Heeb, who has 25 years of experience analyzing emissions from diesel engines and designing filter systems, showed that the particles are the same size as those from older diesel engines. They measure between 10 and 20 nanometers and clump together into particles between 80 and 100 nanometers before they leave the exhaust system.

The gas engines were also found to discharge unburned hydrocarbons in the form of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), along with other liquid and solid toxins which accumulate on the surface of the emitted particles.

Particulates Penetrate The Lungs

Heeb says the particles are so small they penetrate lung tissue and pass into the bloodstream, bringing those toxins with them. Is this beginning to sound like the days when researchers first told the world about all the nasty stuff contained in cigarette smoke? It should, because it turns out there is a connection to smoking. The researchers also found that the exhaust gasses coming out ot the tailpipes of the cars with gas engines also contain benzo-α-pyrene, a carcinogenic produced when tobacco is burned.

A Call For Particulate Filters

He urgently suggests that carmakers begin equipping their gas-powered cars with particulate filters. “New exhaust emission technologies launched on the market typically need about 13 years to become fully effective. Only after that period of time will 9 out of 10 cars in the vehicle fleet be replaced,” he says. “So, the faster particle filters are mandatory in gasoline cars, the better it will be for everyone’s health.”

Direct Injection Is The Cause


The culprit in all of this appears to be direct-injection systems themselves. Gasoline engines do not inherently form particulates in the exhaust. In older electronic fuel injection systems with an injector located in the intake tract, fuel is added at the end of the exhaust stroke as the piston is travelling away from the combustion chamber.

In direct injection engines, the fuel is added as the piston is headed back toward the combustion chamber after the end of the intake stroke. This gives the fuel less time to evaporate, claims Heeb, which results in more more unburned hydrocarbons, which means more soot.

Direct injection allows more precisely controlling the fuel delivery process, leading to better fuel economy and lower carbon dioxide emissions. Apparently, few people have tested gas-powered cars equipped with direct-injection systems for anything other than CO2 until now.

Another Reason To Go Electric   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)


What’s the bottom line? Just this: Thanks to the Swiss researchers, now we know that our cars are slowly killing us and the planet we live on. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frealsociology.edublogs.org%2Ffiles%2F2010%2F08%2F460_0___30_0_0_0_0_0_shell_skull_colour.jpg&hash=a4c0baea5ec89328a16e21f3820975938465eadf) It is time to end the reign of the internal combustion engine and push forward with the transition from fossil fuel cars to zero-emissions electrics. Our health depends on it.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2FHjPbLbmep2aJO%2Fgiphy.gif&hash=3c7f7703f00cb341d3e9bdba607208d4204a294c)

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/05/29/gas-cars-much-dirtier-expected/

Agelbert NOTE: Take THAT, Charles Hall, Gail Tverberg  and all you other bought and paid for "energy expert" prevaricating propagandists cheerleading fossil fuels to the detriment of people and planet! LIARS! CROOKS! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457)

And you too, you propagandized intelliburros defending the "real world" of fossil fueldom "high energy density" BALONEY!   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2rzukw3.gif&hash=f0487b8f0d488ab1126ce5e031b11ea3d74b1cc2)

  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200914193029.png&hash=728bdda741ba73675753acf67d5deb8e6f9e3ef0)

The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 02, 2017, 10:33:41 pm
The 6th Mass Extinction Event is here * Geologic History shows why CO2 caused Global Warming before (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)
Marc Haneburght

https://youtu.be/XY4mH6tokBE

Published on Jun 1, 2017

Runaway Climate Change is causing exponential major flooding (happening now) due to more heavy rainfall on Earth, and are taking too much nutrients by rivers into the oceans, creating anoxia events. A deadly purple sulfur bacteria. Too much is never a good thing. It's what made oil deposits happen in the past.

In the past the dinosaurs roamed the planet during the start of an extinction event, now it will be us. The next clever beings might learn in time what we did wrong, maybe not.

The planet might turn into Mars because of nobody being at the controls of nuclear power plants that will destroy the ozone with massive amounts of radiation.

Oceanic anoxic events or anoxic events (anoxia conditions) refer to intervals in the Earth's past where portions of oceans become depleted in oxygen (O2) at depths over a large geographic area. During some of these events, euxinia, waters that contained H2S hydrogen sulfide, developed. Although anoxic events have not happened for millions of years, the geological record shows that they happened many times in the past.

Anoxic events coincided with several mass extinctions and may have contributed to them. These mass extinctions include some that geobiologists use as time markers in biostratigraphic dating. Many geologists believe oceanic anoxic events are strongly linked to slowing of ocean circulation, climatic warming, and elevated levels of greenhouse gases.

Global warming. The biggest story ever. Too big for the general public.  >:(

Agelbert NOTE: MUST SEE video! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53) To skip ancient history, begin at the 32 minute mark.

This video is tremendously educational and instructive because it demonstrates exactly how our scientists accurately determined CO2 levels in the distant past, as long ago as 200 million years, when today's oil deposits are believed to have been formed.

How did they do it? ??? They found 200 million year old fossils of a plant called a Ginko, that did NOT "evolve" AT ALL  ;D, all the way to the present (leaf structure is identical to modern Ginko leaves).

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Ginkgo_biloba_MacAbee_BC.jpg)(https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/ginkgo-leaf-5470640.jpg)
Permian Ginko leaf fossil on left  - Modern Ginko Leaf on right

The Ginko has pores in the underside of the leaves. The number of pores it forms is a function, as has been determined by empirical evidence, of the available atmospheric CO2. IOW, the more  CO2, the more pores.

The fossilized Ginkos leaf pore totals, exactly as the leaf pore totals of modern Ginko test plants grown in increasingly higher CO2 containing atmospheres, evidence 4 times the CO2 level of pre-industrial human civilization. THAT was an ice free world.

HOWEVER, that was NOT a "tropical paradise", as the fossil fuel fascist propagandist crooks and liars want you to believe. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b)

Once the ice is GONE, some death dealing chemical processes begin until just about every macroscopic oxygen breathing life form is dead. It begins with the death of most of the species populating the Marine Trophic Pyramid. HOW? ???

When the ice is gone, the ocean currents that circulate oxygen throughout the oceanic depths in a 500 year cycle come to a HALT. This makes more and more parts of the ocean anoxic, so all the oxygen breathers die or flee closer to the still oxygenated shallows.

Meanwhile, the high CO2 levels acidify the oceans, killing off the Oxygen producing phytoplankton (can't make their Calcium Carbonate structure - like mollusks also can't - despite having more CO2 "food" available) that had become widespread with the early initial increase of CO2 levels (see massive algae blooms going on as we speak).

The dead Phytoplankton begin to sink through the shallows, triggering bacterial feeding frenzy activity of a type of purple bacteria that decomposes phytoplankton, hates oxygen, but needs sunlight (it uses the sun but excretes H2S - Hydrogen sulfide poisonous gas, not  oxygen).

So THEN the shallows become anoxic too. Then what is left of the oxygen breathers die. This not "just evolution", as the idiots who compare our fossil fuel based civilization's stupid and suicidal greedy activity to massive volcanic eruptions, as if  humans have as little free will as a volcano, ridiculously claim. But the imbeciles who wish to perpetuate the fossil fuel burning status quo frequently resort to this craven attempt to avoid responsibility for the harm being done. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

Allowing the CO2 to get so high that it triggers the death of most marine life is Genocidal Criminal Negligence.

https://youtu.be/3D3JWiMDtds

What just happened in the death of the Great Barrier reef is just the beginning of the heating process resulting from too much CO2. There is still a lot of ice. There is still oceanic circulation and oxygenation.

But ALREADY, JUST THE HEAT is killing the most important marine life nurseries in the oceans. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210316151047.png&hash=322a7c76731414f0f2ba44f8649e39de889b4bd6)

SO WHAT, you might ask. The dinosaurs were around for millions of years. Don't we have lots of time too?   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs3187425.gif&hash=698371058827d6a11faaaa56c2531639421f9477)

WHY? ???

Because the RATE we are putting CO2 in the atmosphere is THOUSANDS of TIMES FASTER than when the massive volcanic eruptions caused CO2 triggered extinctions!

When the  ice is gone and that rotten egg  smell from ubiquitous  Hydrogen sulfide poisonous gas reaches your nostrils, expect a VERY brief growth industry in canned oxygen.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fdesertsmile.gif&hash=293fbde1c87dec2d81c5907e3fbac7d8e5bba7a9) But don't expect the Fossil Fuel Fascist "industry"   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-140415130805.png&hash=23d2e6dc6311a26c399bf0cb60868bcff2781a58) to admit they destroyed the biosphere for short term profit.

Coming soon to your home: DOOM WEEK ON PLANET EARTH
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200415173810.png&hash=1fb0b0ce108410936220e3ce43d93e5c617979f3)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftext.glitter-graphics.net%2Fgloss%2Fg.gif&hash=f929ea997a30ab392a923bd9a6aa276fe40c891b)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftext.glitter-graphics.net%2Fgloss%2Fo.gif&hash=e8eac7ff3912c1d3c1b73fc4f35a973f4b80ef33)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftext.glitter-graphics.net%2Fgloss%2Fo.gif&hash=e8eac7ff3912c1d3c1b73fc4f35a973f4b80ef33)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftext.glitter-graphics.net%2Fgloss%2Fd.gif&hash=b2968e60b4084e0415b93ba9c7c823d427ccd897)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl3.glitter-graphics.net%2Fempty.gif&hash=6a16fafb5ad93375e3558fd744950953c2e5ed24)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftext.glitter-graphics.net%2Fgloss%2Fn.gif&hash=049f89f2c6e68b4e220f5e11c9eb64f1a9675524)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftext.glitter-graphics.net%2Fgloss%2Fi.gif&hash=e61468182a1aa082a9f44bc0d4ab3254d61f249b)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftext.glitter-graphics.net%2Fgloss%2Fg.gif&hash=f929ea997a30ab392a923bd9a6aa276fe40c891b)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftext.glitter-graphics.net%2Fgloss%2Fh.gif&hash=21fc5e9e55ec109eaf4b111aada068f7de2acd23)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftext.glitter-graphics.net%2Fgloss%2Ft.gif&hash=1f4b14f7f90f3276f614e1016e9e39ee9fe23137)

The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 04, 2017, 04:29:13 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgreenwave.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F12%2FNRDC_Logo_FullName.jpg&hash=7e7c19f999cf06484ed5d3b05f221da664088684)

WATCH NOW: We're Taking Trump to Court

President Trump is waging an all-out war against our climate, our clean air and water and our health. But NRDC is striking back against every attack from his administration — and one of our best shots at winning is by taking them to court.

Please, take a moment to watch this powerful new video from NRDC Chief Counsel Mitch Bernard about our legal strategy to face off against Trump in the pivotal months and years ahead — then please consider making a tax-deductible gift to NRDC's Stop Trump Legal Fund to help support our critical litigation work for as long as it takes to win.

https://youtu.be/jiChFCLNGAc

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 11, 2017, 08:47:07 pm
Biological Extinction | Paul R. Ehrlich

https://youtu.be/1j7TpoLmR60

ublished on Mar 2, 2017
How to Save the Natural World on Which We Depend(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bativert.ma%2Fimages%2Fimage3.jpg&hash=7c7c27d838504cb1d5c5a4c1efac44e790a39265)


PAS-PASS Workshop
Casina Pio IV, 27 February-1 March 2017

On our 4.54 billion year old planet, life is perhaps as much as 3.7 billion years old, photosynthesis and multi-cellularity dozens of times independently around 3.0 billion years old, and the emergence of plants, animals, and fungi onto land, by at least the Ordovician period, perhaps 480 million years ago, forests appearing around 370 million years ago, and the origin of modern groups such as mammals, birds, reptiles, and land plants subsequently.

The geological record shows that there have been five major extinction-events in the past, the first of them about 542 million years ago, and suggests that 99% of the species that ever lived (5 billion of them?) have become extinct. The last major extinction event occurred about 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, and, in general, the number of species on earth and the complexity of their communities has increased steadily until near the present.


Agelbert NOTE:
Biodiversity hot spots of 80% of biosphere's species endangered by Global Warming Pollution 

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-110617203715.png&hash=fe038f10e73af1b0c6673c78ba8a9e8908ffd150)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 06, 2017, 01:34:16 pm
Here's some news that brightened my day: Columbia Court of Appeals judges rule against Pro-Pollution Pruitt.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183515.bmp&hash=4a3ad9d0a78a7e161f53ddd84f568082a5b0d2ad)

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200317134631.png&hash=3ec83ab2cb9a9acaf485fff7312df6381c25c2fd)
The lid stays shut on methane emissions despite Pruitt’s wishes, Columbia Court of Appeals judges rule (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e)
 

LAST UPDATED ON JULY 6TH, 2017 AT 5:51 PM BY ALEXANDRU MICU 

SNIPPET:

Quote
The Trump administration has shown great interest in making these rules (good rules in general) go away. Trump’s EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt first announced his intention of starting a reconsideration process for these rules back in April but changing legislature set in place is an often lengthy and difficult task.

So Pruitt also announced that the Environmental Pruitt Agency won’t bother with mere technicalities such as “law,” “facts,” or “ethics” and will simply not enforce four items specified in the rules — including regulation of low-production wells and the requirement that a professional engineer certify well vent system designs — in the meantime. This was a reasonable course of action, Pruitt argued, as Obama’s administration didn’t give all stakeholders an opportunity to comment on the rules’ final wording.

Nope!  ;D

A host of environmental groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Integrity Project, Earthworks, the Clean Air Council, and the Sierra Club, naturally challenged this in court. A panel of three judges was appointed to the case, and on Monday they announced their ruling: the rules still stand, so EPA has to enforce them.

“As we have explained, ‘an agency issuing a legislative rule is itself bound by the rule until that rule is amended or revoked’ and ‘may not alter [such a rule] without notice and comment.'”

“The administrative record […] makes clear that industry groups had ample opportunity to comment on all four issues on which EPA granted reconsideration, and indeed, that in several instances the agency incorporated those comments directly into the final rule,” the panel wrote.

The judges further pointed out that the EPA can start a reconsideration process for the rules at any time, but until they’re overturned the agency is obligated to stand by and enforce them.


http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/methane-regulation-court-ruling/ (http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/methane-regulation-court-ruling/)

Agelbert NOTE: It is refreshing to see that these judges have learned biosphere math.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ftreeswing.gif&hash=03d29d18183a2924176defc1df7861676abb0960)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-270716175152.png&hash=b70c2464becd1a34ba8ac64a9a410881246bc249)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 10, 2017, 02:07:53 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftherealnews.com%2Ft2%2Ftemplates%2Fgk_twn%2Fimages%2Flogo3.png&hash=4b5cf976827a8d50b9a86730b78230c107b3cf62)

July 10, 2017

Has the Environmental Movement Failed?  :(

A Conversation with Dr. David Suzuki

Dr. David Suzuki discusses the environmental movement's failure to sustain its victories and the vision that will be needed to ensure public support for environmental protection

https://youtu.be/0TefEIoMz3g


SNIPPET from video interview above:


Dr. David Suzuki: So long as we look at air, water and soil as resources, and all we're debating is how much will it cost to use them, we haven't really come to grips with the reality that we are biological creatures. If you don't have air for more than three minutes you're dead. If you have to breathe polluted air, you're sick. So, I would've thought clean air is the highest priority of any group of people on the planet, and it's the same with water. You and I are 60 to 70% water by weight, but the water leaks out of our skin, and our mouth, and our crotch, and we lose water. If you don't have water for four to six days you're dead. If you have to drink polluted water you're sick.

So, clean water is like clean air. And I can go through; clean soil that gives us our food and clean energy that comes from the sun. Those things are what keep us alive and healthy. I would've thought that any society would have used those as the foundation of the way that we live. Indeed, I call those things, that indigenous people around the world call the four sacred elements; earth, air, fire and water. Those are sacred. You can't put a value on them — they're sacred. I would've thought any group would fight like mad to protect those sacred things.

The problem today is that we're constantly left with saying, "Well, you environmentalists, you want to do this. What about the jobs? You're going to destroy the economy." We had a prime minister for 9-1/2 years who said we can't do anything about climate change, it'll destroy the economy. I don't think he believed that climate change was real, but Stephen Harper elevated ... the very air that keeps us alive, he elevated the economy above that. If that isn't suicidal, I don't know what is. The challenge, I believe, is to shift people's way of seeing the world, and realizing that we are biological creatures embedded in a world that allows us to live happily and healthily and with prosperity.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=19507

(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 10, 2017, 06:03:59 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-100717174505.gif&hash=1f615551589f3486485241107776ae5ae719fbab) A jaw-dropping list of all the terrible things Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) has done to Mother Earth (Mother Jones (http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/07/a-jaw-dropping-list-of-all-the-terrible-things-trump-has-done-to-mother-earth/))



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Investor-Owned Companies  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)
 Are Huge Emitters (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913), Report Finds

Only 25 countries are responsible for half of all global industrial emissions since 1988, a new study has found.

CDP's latest Carbon Majors Report, which focuses on emissions from investor-owned companies, also finds only 100 companies  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smilies.4-user.de%2Finclude%2FSpiele%2Fsmilie_game_017.gif&hash=e8548890f80af23241a1d43a1ab1ca8031301f20) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f) are responsible for more than 70 percent of industrial emissions since 1988.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg06.deviantart.net%2Fbb6a%2Fi%2F2011%2F120%2Ff%2F6%2Fcorporate_pollution_by_jakejames-d3512u1.jpg&hash=30ead896a22d9a93df54de278d32cb3822d4a3ce)
The report also identifies oil giants ExxonMobil, (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frealsociology.edublogs.org%2Ffiles%2F2010%2F08%2F460_0___30_0_0_0_0_0_shell_skull_colour.jpg&hash=a4c0baea5ec89328a16e21f3820975938465eadf), BP and Chevron as some of the highest-emitting investor-owned companies.

The amount of investor-backed emissions illustrated in this report "puts a significant responsibility on those investors to engage with carbon majors and urge them (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457) to disclose climate risk,” Pedro Faria of CDP told the Guardian.

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10072017/fossil-fuel-companies-responsible-global-emissions-cdp-report (https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10072017/fossil-fuel-companies-responsible-global-emissions-cdp-report)
[/quote]
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 11, 2017, 08:42:59 pm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/527210744178167809/z6CbCdS5.jpeg)

Amory Lovins:  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F34y5mvr.gif&hash=835b3a3f26d5d1b7f0acc379ad8ebd3fe9eea488) Natural Gas is worse than Coal

Climate State

https://youtu.be/yCdFGRAnp0g

Published on Jul 6, 2017

In this July 2017 interview with CarbonBrief, Amory Lovins talks about gas plants, nuclear, and about Germany's Energiewende. Read the interview summary at https://www.carbonbrief.org/carbon-brief-interview-amory-lovins (https://www.carbonbrief.org/carbon-brief-interview-amory-lovins)

Agelbert NOTE: Fracked "Natural" Gas has never been anything but a Bridge (Fuel) to Nowhere. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tKBsTGeWsKc/VznRUcnfo1I/AAAAAAAAyok/paDRwKq7pxQvOB0MOBc7Y7FOeBpjxwj6wCLcB/s1600/fracked+gas+is+a+bridge+to+nowhere.PNG)

A bridge to nowhere- methane emissions and the greenhouse gas footprint of natural gas

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/24906340/methane-as-a-greenhouse-gas-and-food-web-fuel-in-some-boreal-lakes (https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/24906340/methane-as-a-greenhouse-gas-and-food-web-fuel-in-some-boreal-lakes)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 12, 2017, 03:06:53 pm
Agelbert NOTE: The Sixth Mass Extinction is here, no matter how much wishful thinkers deny it!

(https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/mt/2017/06/RTREQIM/lead_960.jpg?1496871544)

“As scientists we have a responsibility to be accurate about such comparisons.”

Like all extinction events, so far this one has been phased and complex, spanning tens of thousands of years and starting when our kind left Africa. Other mass extinctions buried deep in earth’s history have similarly played out over tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years. To future geologists, then, the huge wave of extinctions a few thousand years ago as First Peoples spread out into new continents and remote archipelagoes will be all but indistinguishable from the current wave of destruction loosed by modernity and its growing appetites. Surely we’ve earned our place in the pantheon next to the greatest ecological catastrophes of all time: the so-called Big Five mass extinctions of earth history. Surely our Anthropocene extinction can confidently take its place next to the juggernauts of deep time—the Ordovician, Devonian, Permian, Triassic and Cretaceous extinctions.

Erwin says no. He thinks it’s junk science. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fugly004.gif&hash=c56db4280057389afd154a1cb4057410151579c8)

“Many of those making facile comparisons between the current situation and past mass extinctions don’t have a clue about the difference in the nature of the data, much less how truly awful the mass extinctions recorded in the marine fossil record actually were,” he wrote me in an email. “It is absolutely critical to recognize that I am NOT claiming that humans haven’t done great damage to marine and terrestrial [ecosystems], nor that many extinctions have not occurred and more will certainly occur in the near future. But I do think that as scientists we have a responsibility to be accurate about such comparisons.”

I had a chance to sit down with Erwin after his talk at the annual geology conference. My first question—about a rumor I had heard from one of his colleagues that Erwin had served as a sort of mass extinction consultant to Cormac McCarthy while the notoriously secretive author was constructing the post-apocalyptic world of The Road—Erwin coyly evaded. But on the speculative sixth mass extinction, he was more forthcoming.

“If we’re really in a mass extinction—if we’re in the [End- Permian mass extinction 252 million years ago]—go get a case of scotch,” he said.

If his power-grid analogy is correct, then trying to stop a mass extinction after it’s started would be a little like calling for a building’s preservation while it’s imploding.


“People who claim we’re in the sixth mass extinction don’t understand enough about mass extinctions to understand the logical flaw in their argument,” he said.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-111214174727.png&hash=a0ea65f844542e4709bd444bd2f70496c434c56b)  “To a certain extent they’re claiming it as a way of frightening people into action, when in fact, if it’s actually true we’re in a sixth mass extinction, then there’s no point in conservation biology.”   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b)

“The only hope we have in the future,” Erwin said, “is if we’re not in a mass extinction event.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe)

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/06/the-ends-of-the-world/529545/?single_page=true (https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/06/the-ends-of-the-world/529545/?single_page=true)

  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010215143525.png&hash=5bd7bd57f7d770273b7d73d29697fe3a0cc11e8f)


Erwin is wrong. We ARE in the Sixth Mass Extinction. The evidence is overwhelming, and can't be ignored with pejorative descrptive adjectives like "facile" to describe the serious scientific research that proves we are in the Sixth Mass Extinction.


Wishful thinking
is the flaw in Erwin's argument (see Erwin having his morning coffee below:).
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210316151047.png&hash=322a7c76731414f0f2ba44f8649e39de889b4bd6)


Erwin is CLEARLY ignorant (or in willful denial) of the following empirically obtained, irrefutable scientific evidence:

Industrial civilization has BOTH exceeded the maximum upper margin of the GHG (Greenhouse Gases) band by a huge margin AND has done it at a rate far above the ability of most complex non-microscopic organisms to adapt to these violent changes. Mammalian vertebrates, among the complex organisms on Earth, are the least able to adapt to rapid GHG concentration changes.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-181015183028.png&hash=12199b2760915e2600cca9f00f26213bbd48f2da)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 12, 2017, 10:47:13 pm
Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction Already Underway (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fminzdr.gif&hash=f5927d7395d8a28c69df2a0a3a98660932c6903f)


Biodiversity hot spots of 80% of biosphere's species endangered by Global Warming Pollution 

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-110617203715.png&hash=fe038f10e73af1b0c6673c78ba8a9e8908ffd150)


Scientists warn in a new study that Earth is undergoing a sixth mass extinction that is "more severe than perceived."

Not only that, human activity—including pollution, deforestation, overpopulation, poaching, warming oceans and extreme weather events tied to climate change—is to blame for this massive loss in biodiversity, according to an analysis published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

For the study, researchers from Stanford University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico analyzed data on 27,600 species of birds, amphibians, mammals and reptiles, comprising nearly half of known terrestrial vertebrates.

The results were shocking—about one-third of the species decreased in population size and range. Even common species are in decline.

"We find that the rate of population loss in terrestrial vertebrates is extremely high—even in 'species of low concern,'" the authors wrote.

Ecologist Gerardo Ceballos, an author in of the study, explained to the Atlantic how barn swallows, for instance, still number in the millions but are declining in many parts of their range.

"Even these common species are declining," Ceballos said. "Eventually, they'll become endangered, and eventually they'll be extinct."

Furthermore, in a detailed study of 177 mammals, the scientists found that all of the mammals have lost at least 30 percent of their geographic ranges between 1900 and 2015. More than 40 percent of those mammals—including rhinos, orangutans, gorillas and many big cats—have seen the land they once roamed shrink by more than 80 percent.

Without mincing words, the scientists described Earth's ongoing loss of wildlife as "biological annihilation" that will have "negative cascading consequences on ecosystem functioning and services vital to sustaining civilization."

Earth has witnessed five mass extinctions in its geological past during which the majority of living species were wiped from existence. The most well-known and recent extinction killed the dinosaurs. But instead of a massive asteroid, volcanic activity or other natural causes kicking off such an event, researchers in the new study argue that humans are to blame.

"In the last few decades, habitat loss, overexploitation, invasive organisms, pollution, toxification, and more recently climate disruption, as well as the interactions among these factors, have led to the catastrophic declines in both the numbers and sizes of populations of both common and rare vertebrate species," the study stated.

"Several species of mammals that were relatively safe one or two decades ago are now endangered," such as cheetahs, lions and giraffes, it said.

Biologist Paul Ehrlich, one of the scientists in the study, told the Guardian that their paper serves as a serious warning to humanity's own survival.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funny-emoticons.com%2Ffiles%2Ffunny-animals%2Fblue-bird-emoticons%2F801-listen-up%21.png&hash=f7fb2b5263a68b91c628fc597877983f813843e5) "The serious warning in our paper needs to be heeded because civilization depends utterly on the plants, animals and microorganisms of Earth that supply it with essential ecosystem services ranging from crop pollination and protection to supplying food from the sea and maintaining a livable climate," he said.

Quote
"The time to act is very short," Ehrlich added. "It will, sadly, take a long time to humanely begin the population shrinkage required if civilization is to long survive, but much could be done on the consumption front and with 'band aids'—wildlife reserves, diversity protection laws—in the meantime."

https://www.ecowatch.com/earth-sixth-mass-extinction-2457269841.html

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 14, 2017, 02:12:58 pm
(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/all/themes/clew/logo.png)

Severe diesel accusations against Daimler / "My home, my power plant"

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/severe-diesel-accusations-against-daimler-my-home-my-power-plant

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 14, 2017, 09:06:27 pm
Mass Animal Die-Offs from Abrupt Climate Mayhem

Paul Beckwith

Published on Jul 14, 2017

Accelerating, abrupt climate change is an enormous threat to humanity, as outlined in the well written, long-overdue article "Uninhabited" published in New York Magazine. But it is even worse for non-human animals and plants. At least we regulate our body temperatures and some of us have access to air-conditioning.

What about animals that have body temperatures the same as their surroundings? Their metabolic rate doubles with a temperature rise of 18 F (10 C). Even a 2 C rise (Paris Agreement) increases metabolism 20%, decreasing lifetime 20%. Many species around our planet are today undergoing mass die-offs.

To me, it appears that Earth is losing its ability to sustain life, under the onslaught of human stupidity. Countries are dropping like dominos as infrastructure is decimated from abrupt climate change induced extreme weather.


Abrupt Climate Mayhem Now, in Spite of Main-Stream-Climatologist Posturing

https://youtu.be/M2KLqSq8O9E



Paul Beckwith

Published on Jul 13, 2017

Quite frankly, I am sick and tired of people, especially main-stream-talking-head-scientists, downplaying the huge unprecedented threats that are accumulating daily and will soon take down our civilizations. Our world is one that is full of specialists, with no ability to join-the-dots and recognize that humanities existence, and that of our entire ecosystems of plants and animals is degrading rapidly. Even exponentially.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)
 

From my chair, I categorically state that anybody who downplays the significance and importance of our planets peril is part of the problem, and needs to get with the program or step aside so that the rest of us can do what is needed. The public needs the truth, no matter how bad it is to have any hope of changing course. And the truth is truly awful, at present
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 15, 2017, 12:11:57 pm
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftherealnews.com%2Ft2%2Ftemplates%2Fgk_twn%2Fimages%2Flogo3.png&hash=4b5cf976827a8d50b9a86730b78230c107b3cf62)


July 12, 2017

Jerry Brown: Climate Champion (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe) or Big Oil Ally? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fd2.gif&hash=98d536bf1047a88ef91e9c45e08b725347c9fe13) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

California Gov. Jerry Brown poses as an anti-Trump climate-change savior, but his policies support Big Oil's agenda, says Adam Scow, California director at Food & Water Watch

Adam Scow is the California Director at Food & Water Watch. Adam oversees the California organizing program, which tackles some of California's greatest challenges to the long-term health of its water, energy and food.

SNIPPET from video interview:

DIMITRI LASCARIS:   Adam, I had the privilege of being in California earlier this year and I actually passed through some beautiful vineyards in the central valley area. To my astonishment, I saw oil pumps nestled among certain of the vineyards. These pumps were sucking oil out of the ground in the heart of one of the world's great wine producing regions. It struck me that such images simply don't fit with the mainstream media's narrative, where California is typically depicted as an environment leader. When it comes to support for the fossil fuels industry in particular, and fracking especially, how much do the policies of Jerry Brown's government actually differ from those of the Trump administration?

ADAM SCOW:   Well, it's a great question. The unfortunate fact is that they're not all that much better. California is a major oil-producing state. It's the third largest oil producing state in the country. In particular, Kern County is about 10% of the nation's crude. Indeed there are toxic oil operations, fracking, coexisting near agricultural fields, and creating a lot of pollution to our water and to our air. For the most part, the Brown administration here has supported big oil and their agenda. We've seen it in his refusal to ban fracking. In his current support of cap and trade, which allows big oil just to pay for its pollution, instead of making them reduce it, which is what we should be doing.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301014183629.gif&hash=15481fa08b581c624351cc14f949b1557f851476)

https://youtu.be/KmJ7bEsD7dY
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 23, 2017, 05:04:17 pm
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Air pollution limits in U.S. inadequate to prevent deaths (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

Published June 28, 2017

(Reuters Health) - With the Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-270117175421.png&hash=cf39e823dd9156833bfa885808a876bf518bd0d6) Administration threatening to loosen air pollution controls, a new study is showing that even existing rules are causing tens of thousands of extra deaths in the United States each year.

Researchers used 12 years of data - health records from nearly 61 million Medicare beneficiaries, combined with a massive databank of pollution readings - to link specific air quality levels to death rates.

They found that for every increase of just 10 micrograms in small-particle pollution known as PM2.5, the death rate went up 7.3 percent. That's the equivalent of 120,000 fatalities among people age 65 and older, lead author Qian Di of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston told Reuters Health in a telephone interview.

For every 10 part-per-billion rise in ozone concentration, the mortality rate rose by 1.1 percent, producing an extra 19,000 deaths just among the elderly.

Even in years when the concentrations in a region were low, "we continued to see significant associations between exposure and mortality," Di and his colleagues write in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Their conclusion: current U.S. rules are not strict enough to prevent pollution-related deaths and further reductions in pollution will produce a big drop in fatalities.

"It is clear from this study that there is not really a safe level of air pollution," said Dr. Brian W. Christman, vice chair of the department of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, who was not involved in the research.

"The Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency have done great work, but the data indicates that additional effort to reduce PM2.5 and ozone would save lives," Christman, who is also a spokesman for the American Lung Association, told Reuters Health by phone. "As a matter of fact, further reduction in PM2.5 below the (federal standard) of 12 micrograms per cubic meter are likely to be even more effective than previous reductions."

Senior study author Francesca Dominici, a professor of biostatistics at Harvard, told Reuters Health in a telephone interview that she hoped the findings "will change the course of recent discussions about dismantling EPA and EPA research and leaving the Paris agreement" designed to slow global climate change by reducing pollution levels.

"The evidence we're seeing here is very compelling," she said. The results come at a time when the Trump administration has begun "to dismantle guidelines intended to reduce emissions from coal-fired electricity plants" and may revoke the waiver that allowed California to adopt stricter vehicle emission standards, according to an editorial accompanying the study.

"Revoking this waiver could have the effect of exposing more than 100 million Americans to higher levels of automobile emissions," the Journal warns. "Trump’s proposed budget includes crippling cuts to the EPA, including cuts in funding for both federal and state enforcement of regulations. The increased air pollution that would result from loosening current restrictions would have devastating effects on public health."

The particles studied are dangerous because their tiny size - only visible with an electron microscope - allows them to get deep into the lungs to do damage, and from there they can also enter the bloodstream. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, from 2000 to 2015 the average concentration of PM 2.5 pollution nationally has declined by 37 percent thanks to stricter air standards.

According to the new study, the two regions that saw the greatest improvements in air quality were the central and southeastern United States.

Satellite and weather data, computer models and data from 1,928 particle monitoring stations and 1,877 ozone modeling stations were used to estimate exposure over each square kilometer of the country.

The task was so massive the number crunching had to be done by supercomputer over Harvard's Christmas break, Di noted.

Because the database was so large, Di and his colleagues were also able to determine that subgroups, including men, blacks, Asians, Hispanics and people eligible for the Medicaid health plan for the poor faced the highest risk from small particle pollution.

It shows "this is not just a health issue, but a social equality issue as well," said Di, a doctoral student in Harvard's department of environmental health.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2sPKef2 New England Journal of Medicine, online June 28, 2017.

http://www.lifescript.com/health/news/reuters/2017/06/28/air_pollution_limits_in_us_inadequate_to_prevent_deaths.aspx

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 24, 2017, 01:36:18 pm
The Fossil Fuelers   DID THE Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)

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Environmental devastation, ruined economy and deteriorating health afflict Bodo community years after Shell oil spill.

Bodo Village, Nigeria - In 2008 and 2009, a 55-year-old pipeline owned by Shell ruptured twice, throwing up 600,000 barrels, according to UK court claims, of crude oil into the surrounding creeks of the Niger Delta.

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In 2015, after many years of battles with campaigners, Shell announced it would pay out $83.2m in compensation for the spill. This was split up among the community. Most families received about 600,000 naira ($3,000). Yet after more than eight years that have passed, the community is still waiting desperately for the cleanup efforts promised to them. The creeks and shores of this once thriving fishing community remain decimated by the oil damage.

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In January 2017, a British court blocked a lawsuit brought against the Anglo-Dutch Shell company by the devastated Nigerian communities, saying it must be filed in Nigeria. 

On January 26, 2017, as reported by the Associated Press, Kay Holtzmann, the former director of the project funded by Shell to clean up the oil spills, wrote a letter saying there are "astonishingly high" levels of pollution affecting the Nigerian community.

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The letter was addressed to the chairperson of the Bodo Mediation Initiative, Inemo Samiama,  and outlined the potential health effect of the contamination on the Bodo community. "Although the locals are accustomed to their environment they are exposed to hazards and especially negative long-term effects on their health are unpredictable. The results dictate the need for a health screening of the Bodo people," Holtzmann stated.

Joyful Paango, a resident in Bodo village, says she and her family have struggled with their health since the spill. She is concerned for her six younger siblings, who have been directly affected by the contamination. "I pray that God will take me and my family from Bodo one day."


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http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2017/07/long-term-effects-oil-spills-bodo-nigeria-170717090542648.html

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The fossil fuel Industry is kiilling us all over the world, not just in Nigeria. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)

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Response by the fossil fuel industry to the above irrefutable evidence of their criminal polluting profit over people and planet behavior:

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 24, 2017, 07:12:36 pm
Hat Tip to Azozeo for this news:

AG,
I tell you, this planet is gonna light up like a roman candle & then some with all this gas oozing out.

Check this out from Johnny Mneomic today......


2017-07-22 - Animal life dying off hard, odor of hydrogen sulfide present, at Lake Karasun in Krasnodar (Russia):
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/news/Dead-fish-spark-fears-of-Karasun-Lakes-contamination.html

"The inhabitants of Krasnodar reported that something strange was going on in Lake Karasun. A video appeared on the Internet, the author of which declares that the local fauna is dying massively in the Karasun lakes. In addition, there is a stable smell of hydrogen sulfide in the district, Live Kuban reports."

I know you are right. Peter (New Testament) said something about fire eventually consumiing the planet a couple of thousand years ago. It sure looks like we are almost there.   :(

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 28, 2017, 05:28:52 pm
You can bet this will be cleaned up faster than Flint.  Scarsdale is where RICH people live.

RE

https://patch.com/new-york/scarsdale/cancer-causing-pollutants-found-scarsdale-drinking-water-study-shows


Cancer-Causing Pollutants Found In Scarsdale Drinking Water, Study Shows
A new study found 11 harmful contaminants in the state's drinking water. How clean is your community's water supply?

(https://cdn20.patchcdn.com/users/57069/20170727/021057/styles/T600x450/public/processed_images/water_ewg-1501103972-7662-1501178666-8829.jpg)

By Michael Woyton (Patch Staff) - Updated July 27, 2017 4:45 pm ET
ShareTweetGoogle PlusRedditEmailComments0
Cancer-Causing Pollutants Found In Scarsdale Drinking Water, Study Shows

SCARSDALE, NY — When water flows out of the faucet and into a glass, it usually appears clean and healthy. A report released Wednesday, though, found hundreds of harmful contaminants across the American water supply that can cause cancer, developmental issues in children, problems in pregnancy and other serious health conditions.

In the communities served by Westchester County Water District #1, nine contaminants above health guidelines were detected across the district's water supply, according to data from the Environmental Working Group that was released on Wednesday.

EWG notes, however, that tap water provided by this water utility was in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards in the latest quarter address by the Environmental Protection Agency, which was from January to March 2017.

From 2010 to 2015, EWG collected results of tests conducted by the water utility, which was provided to them by the New York Department of Health-Bureau of Public Water Supply Protection, as well as information from the U.S. EPA Enforcement and Compliance History database.

The following contaminants were detected above health limits in communities served by Westchester County Water District #1:

    Bromodichloromethane
    Chloroform
    Dichloroacetic acid
    Radiological contaminants
    Trichloroacetic acid

Long Island Water Conference Legislative Committee Co-Chair Paul Granger did not agree with this study. "This report is nothing more than a fear mongering scare tactic for the sole purpose of selling unnecessary water filters," he said.

Read Granger's full statement below:

    "The premise of this report is patently false and the information portrayed is extremely misleading. This report is nothing more than a fear mongering scare tactic for the sole purpose of selling unnecessary water filters. The water being delivered to our customers is meticulously regulated by federal, state and local authorities on a weekly basis. Under no circumstances would water containing harmful levels of these chemicals, or any other chemical for that matter, come out of our treatment plants and be sent to the public. In fact, water providers publicly release information about their water quality on an annual basis. The authors of this report should be ashamed of themselves for purposely broadcasting misinformation about the safety of drinking water to the public for the sake of selling water filters."

“There are chemicals that have been linked to cancer, for example, that are found above health-based limits, or health guidelines, in the water of more than 250 million Americans,” said Nneka Leiba, director of Healthy Living Science at EWG.

In New York, EWG tracked 140 contaminants across the state’s water supply. The following contaminants have been detected above health limits in New York (contaminants in bold have been linked to cancer):

    Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) which are linked to bladder cancer, skin cancer and fetal development issues
    Chloroform which is linked to cancer and fetal development issues
    Bromodichloromethane which is linked to harm to child and fetuses, as well as reproductive difficulties
    Radium-226 and -228 which is linked to cancer
    Dibromochloromethane which is linked to cancer and harm to fetuses
    Dichloroacetic acid which is linked to cancer and harm to reproduction and child development
    Trichloroacetic acid which is linked to cancer, and harm to reproduction and child development
    Chromium (hexavalent) which is linked to cancer, liver damage and productive system damages
    1,2,3-Trichloropropane which is linked to cancer

These contaminants were detected above legal guidelines:

    Trihalomethanes which are linked to bladder cancer, skin cancer and fetal development issues
    Haloacetic acids (HAA5) which is linked to cancer and harm to fetuses
    Arsenic which is linked cancer, harm to the central nervous system, harm to the brain and nervous system, skin damage, changed to the heart and blood vessels, heart disease, stroke and diabetes
    Barium which is linked to harm to the kidney, high blood pressure and harm to the heart and blood vessels
    Radium which is linked to cancer

EWG, in conjunction with outside scientists, assessed health-based guidelines for hundreds of chemicals found in drinking water across the country and compared them to the legal limits. The law often permits utilities to allow these dangerous chemicals to pollute our waters.


Contaminants in Your Water

EWG has released a public database cataloguing contaminants in water systems in every state in the country — the first comprehensive database of its kind that took two years to build. First select the state where you live, and you'll see state-level data. For more local information, enter your zip code.

After you enter your zip code, you'll be directed to a page showing the water utilities in your county. Select your town to see which contaminants put your families at risk.

No single group has collected all this information for all 50 states in an easily searchable database — until now. And it’s incredibly easy to use it to see what contaminants are coming through your faucet.
What You Can Do

Once people know about the high levels of dangerous contaminants lurking in their water, the question becomes what they can do to protect their health.
Get free real-time news alerts from the Scarsdale Patch.
By clicking "Subscribe", you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

”There’s a way to reduce those levels simply by buying a water filter,” said Leiba.

“We don’t want to scare the population by saying there are 250 chemicals and just leaving it there,” she continued. “As a consumer you may look at it and get a little overwhelmed."

For this reason, EWG provides a guide to buying water filters.

Hudson Valley based-Consumer Reports also has a buyers guide for water filters. See it here.

The EWG website allows you to search for filters that block particular chemicals and pollutants. If you find that your local water supply has a particularly high level of a dangerous chemical, you can search for a filter that blocks that substance.

There are many types of filters, including carbon filters, deionization filters and distillation filters. Each type has its own strengths and weakness, so sometimes a filter will include multiple filtration methods to eliminate more potential threats.

To find the most effective filter, look for certifications from the Water Quality Association and NSF International. Different filters remove different contaminants.

It’s important to remember, though, that even high-quality filters are not 100 percent effective.

“Filters don’t remove everything,” Scott Meschke, professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at Washington University, told Patch. He emphasized that it’s important to make sure you’re using a filter that is designed to fit your local needs.

He also said that users should change water filters on a regular basis. Old filters that are never replaced can host bacterial, which also pose potential dangers.

People who don’t get their water through a public utility will have different needs.

“If you are on a private well, I would say that you need to be monitoring your water. You should be paying on a regular basis to have it tested,” Meschke said.

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 28, 2017, 05:44:38 pm
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-unspoken-failures-of-save-the-earth-science-world-destruction-with-nuclear-weapons-the-poisoning-of-the-earths-ecology/5587796 (http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-unspoken-failures-of-save-the-earth-science-world-destruction-with-nuclear-weapons-the-poisoning-of-the-earths-ecology/5587796)

The Unspoken Failures of “Save the Earth Science”: World Destruction with Nuclear Weapons, The Poisoning of the Earth’s Ecology
By Edward Curtin
Global Research, May 01, 2017
Theme: Environment
In-depth Report: Nuclear War

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“In our society those who have best knowledge of what is happening are also those who are furthest from seeing the world as it is. In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion: the more intelligent, the less sane.” – George Orwell, 1984

“This has inspired me to new heights, to wage war against these forces [‘the unfruitful ocean’] and subdue them.”  Faust from Goethe’s Faust

The recent marches on April 22nd to promote science and to celebrate Earth Day were perhaps well-intentioned, but they were delusional and conducted without any sense of irony. They served power and its propaganda. Obviously science has benefited us in certain ways, but it has become untethered from any sense of moral limits in its embrace of instrumental rationality and its unending efforts to sabotage faith in human freedom by rationally “proving” its illogical deterministic credo. And in doing so it has created and sustained a nightmarish world on the brink of destruction and undermined people’s will to resist this death march. Ostensibly rational, it has engendered a spiritual alienation that goes to the roots of the world crisis.

“In short,” says Dostoyevsky’s underground man,
Quote
    “one may say anything about the history of the world – anything that might enter the most disordered imagination.  The only thing one can’t say is that it’s rational.”

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For two of the major problems the world faces – world destruction with nuclear weapons and the poisoning of the earth’s ecology and atmosphere – are the result of the marriage of science and technique that has given birth to the technological “babies” (Little Boy and Fat Man) that were used by the U.S. to massacre hundreds of thousands of Japanese and now threaten to incinerate everyone, and the chemical and toxic inventions that have despoiled the earth, air, and water and continue to kill people worldwide through America’s endless war-making and industrial applications.

The Save-the-Earth-Science marchers failed, for self-serving reasons or ignorance, to see the obvious.  But their failure goes even deeper than omitting the links between science, war, and pollution.

In our technopoly, logical thinking has become illogical; cause and effect, means and ends have been inverted.  The causes of our problems are touted as the means to end them. These “solutions” are always offered with a straight face, as if they made perfect sense.  This is how societies operate when in the grip of myths.  In this case, the myths of science, progress, and history.  Such myths render the obvious invisible as they create a hopeless inevitability in people who can imagine no alternative and have been convinced that science is the secret to salvation and the means to the things they have learned to desire, including longevity and perhaps “immortality.”And these things have become the means to additional means in an endless loop from which, by definition, ends are absent.  As a result, the search for truth, celebrated as a goal of science, is slyly eliminated.

In this comforting yet absurd myth, science is viewed as the “miraculous knight of reason.”  John Saul Ralston elaborates:

    Science led the way in the battle against the forces of darkness. Discoveries were celebrated as if new territories were won on the road to a place of eternal light where knowledge would reign. And yet these very real advances in the uncovering of nature’s secrets seemed increasingly to create a world which escaped the control of society. New knowledge and new positive powers in the hands of man seemed inevitably to be matched with new inaccessible elites and a new sophistication in the arts of violence and destruction….As for the scientists, the vast majority of whom continue to believe in the inviolability of progress, they still do so with the driven purity of terrorists.

Comforted and paradoxically terrorized by our creations, yet immobilized by our myths, we seem to lack the imaginations to conceive a different approach.  So we applaud what seems so “sensible”: marching for science to save the planet.  Meaning well becomes a substitute for missing the meaning of our contradictory thinking and the myth that sustains it.

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Delude ourselves as we might, the probability of making all possibility impossible is very real.  Poised on the edge of nuclear conflagration and environmental collapse, we tell ourselves that reasonable minds will prevail, knowing, if we choose to think at all, that the central experiences of the past century – the mass slaughter of human beings with progressively more “advanced” weapons and ecological destruction as a result of scientific/technological “advances” (we are always advancing in the myth) – were not prevented by such “reasonableness.” In fact, instrumental reason and its perverted logic of efficiency – our Gods – caused them.

We inhabit a nightmare, and reason is insufficient to awaken us.

    “The madman,” wrote G. K. Chesterton, “is the man who has lost everything except his reason.”

This is true even when the reasoning is faulty.

This scientific/technological nightmare is a world where everything has become a means and the ends no longer exist.  We are travelling at breakneck speed to nowhere, but as long as long as we keep moving in our “usefulness,” no one seems to notice that we are travelling in circles and getting nowhere.

    He’s a real nowhere man
    Sitting in his nowhere land
    Making all his nowhere plans for nobody

    Doesn’t have a point of view
    Knows not where he’s going to
    Isn’t he a bit like you and me?

 I’d say the boys – the Beatles – have a point, wouldn’t you?  But what do artists know?

We can’t conceive of our ends since they conjure up nothing, having been swallowed by the means, while the purpose of our lives is reduced to staying alive as long as possible.  The Faustian goal has always been immortality, and we have been infected with the fear that death, and therefore life, may be meaningless.  The quest for scientific “immortality” is a means to a means without end.  It is a symptom of the profound spiritual crisis of the age.

Writing about our twisted logic that has banished anything “useless” or “gratuitous,” – including art, people, and nature – the great French sociologist Jacques Ellul says this about modern science:

    Once, knowledge of truth was what mattered, but then after the philosophers came the scientists.  They developed their theories, which were then applied, first in order to prove the truth of these theories, and then because of their usefulness. From that point on, science was lost!  Technical means gradually came to dominate the search for truth.  Science became more and more about the effectiveness of technical means. Science today takes its meaning from technique; it is completely oriented to application.  It is in the service of means.  It has become a means of perfecting the means.  The ab- straction ‘science,’ to which we still pay lip service, has replaced the search for truth.

Yes, marching for science is marching for science, but not in the way the demonstrators think.  It is marching for a means to a means.  Wedded to government support and instantaneously applied to technical applications, science serves no ultimate end but its own existence. Holding signs supporting science as a cure for the planet’s ills that science has created is like taking psychotropic drugs for depression because you were told the “cause” of your depression is a brain abnormality for which no causal scientific evidence exists since there are no definitive empirical lab tests. In the former case the cause becomes the solution; in the latter, the imagined cause is remedied by an imagined solution. In both cases, delusional thinking prevails.

Such inverted logic about cause and effect is the way the myth of science works today. No evidence required. The cause is the solution. The means justifies the means.

It is the same “logic” used to support the materialistic, murderous, and imperialistic American empire. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, etc. – bomb, invade, kill, destroy – and when those means don’t work, double down on them.

Paul Virilio, the great scholar of dromology (the study of speed), asks:  “Has the prohibition to prohibit – the basic law of scientific progress – become the only law of a lawless globalism?”  His answer: Yes.  This prohibition to prohibit informs our science, war-making, rapacious globalization, and capitalist death trip – everything – as we accelerate toward global suicide.

It was Dostoevsky who long ago warned us of the path we were on and the spiritual nihilism that lay at its heart:

Quote
    That is not all; then, you say, science itself will teach man (though to my mind it’s a superfluous luxury) that he never has really had any caprice or will of his own, and that he himself is something of the nature of a piano-key or the stop of an organ, and that there are, besides, things called the laws of nature; so that everything he does is not done by his willing it, but is done of itself, by the laws of nature.  Consequently, we have only to discover these laws of nature, and man will no longer have to answer for his actions and life will become exceedingly easy for him.

But “easy” turned out to be hard, as an uneasiness of profound proportions wed to the spiritual crisis of free will created by science has been dismissed as the rantings of religious fanatics who want to return us to the dark ages.  Blinded by the myth of science, we fail to see that the loss of our belief in our own freedom is connected to the instrumental rationality that threatens all life.

Nature and all living creatures, including ourselves, have become our enemies and are rejected as ends in themselves. Everything and everyone is a means. We must bomb, bulldoze, manipulate, drug, control, poison, etc.– all in the service of a diabolical willfulness that brooks no resistance.

American society is nihilistic and the ruling political and intellectual elites are of course the leading nihilists. But this nihilism is widespread because it works at the mythic level. Unable to grasp the circular and repetitive nature of instrumental reason and its propaganda that have resulted in a spiritual/existential crisis that is leading to world destruction, average people fall into a deeper malaise that leads to widespread despair, unhappiness, and hopelessness. Everything becomes a means to a means in a kaleidoscopic death trap.

The question is: how can we break out of this mystification of experience that has resulted in a double-bind that has trapped us?

I thing Goethe hints at a solution in a “warning” that the devil, Mephistopheles, gives to a student in Faust, and which Faust failed to heed:

    Who would study and describe the living, starts

    By driving the spirits out of the parts:

    In the palm of his hand he holds all the sections,

    Lacks nothing, except the spirit’s connection.

But are we capable of taking such a hint? Or have we passed a point of no return?

I will take up this hint in a sequel to this article, and explore the possibility of a path out of the seeming impossibility of escaping the cul-de-sac of our spiritually disinherited current condition.

Edward Curtin is a writer whose work has appeared widely.  He teaches sociology at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. His website is http://edwardcurtin.com/]http://edwardcurtin.com/
The original source of this article is Global Research


Copyright © Edward Curtin, Global Research, 2017

Yep.  :(

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“The world says: "You have needs -- satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.”
― Fyodor Dostoyyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Quote
“I think the devil doesn't exist, but man has created him, he has created him in his own image and likeness.” ― Fyodor Dostoyyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Human Inequity is directly proportional to the amount of human iniquity. - A. G. Gelbert
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 30, 2017, 02:52:19 pm
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2017-07-27 - 100 fossil fuel companies are responsible for 71 Percent of carbon emissions since 1988, and they’re being sued for it:
http://robertscribbler.com/2017/07/26/100-fossil-fuel-companies-responsible-for-71-percent-of-carbon-emissions-since-1988-and-theyre-being-sued-for-it/ (http://robertscribbler.com/2017/07/26/100-fossil-fuel-companies-responsible-for-71-percent-of-carbon-emissions-since-1988-and-theyre-being-sued-for-it/)


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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 31, 2017, 07:48:43 pm
A Republican Candidate's Campaign is Being Funded by Corporate Polluters (w/guest Dr. Kyle Horton(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3))

https://youtu.be/9Ptqt0AMg40 (https://youtu.be/9Ptqt0AMg40)

Jul. 28, 2017

Thom speaks with guest Dr. Kyle Horton (Internal Medicine Physician and Democratic Candidate for Congress - NC, 7th District) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)
 
about her run for Congress and what she hopes to achieve if she wins. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 03, 2017, 02:55:58 pm
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Sixth Mass Extinction Event is Under Way - video 17min. 7/31/2017

https://youtu.be/143ivuwYYoM

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Biodiversity hot spots of 80% of biosphere's species endangered by Global Warming Pollution
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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/climate/mass-extinction-animal-species.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 04, 2017, 07:57:28 pm
2017-08-02 - Why many people are naively optimistic about climate change:
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/08/02/541095519/why-we-are-naively-optimistic-about-climate-change (http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/08/02/541095519/why-we-are-naively-optimistic-about-climate-change)

Quote: "The dead zones spur the growth of oxygen-eating bacteria, making it impossible for fish to survive. Decomposing organic matter generates hydrogen sulfide, a highly poisonous gas that shuts down the nerves regulating breathing, killing in seconds even at low concentrations. Hydrogen sulfide played a key role in the most severe of all mass extinctions in Earth's past, when 97 percent of all life died 252 million years ago."

Note: We don't have any 70 years either. Anybody could drop dead or burn to death by tomorrow. The problem isn't far off into the future; it's rising all around us right now, a tidal wave of death. It's well past Wake-Up-Or-Die O'Clock...


Agreed. As to why people are so "naive", I have an explanation.  ;D

A long time ago and in a military academy far far away (USMA), I was a lowly plebe for a while. The upperclassmen had some very creative ways of insulting plebes. Plebes are otherwise known as fourth classmen (i.e. college freshmen). All those eggheads at the USMA hate to be called stupid, so the upperclassmen made sure they called us that often. The most creative way to do that is to arrange the back and forth dialog so that we had to insult ourselves. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81)

It went like this:
Upperclassman: Mister, you are a wedge.
Plebe: Yes sir!
Upperclassman: Do you know what a wedge is?
Plebe: Yes sir!
Upperclassman: Mister what is a wedge?
Plebe: Sir, a wedge is the simplest tool!
Upperclassman: Post! (that means the plebe can now leave)
Plebe: Yes sir!

Agelbert thinks most people who are "naive" about climate change are part of the wedge family of Homo saps. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)

The sub-human group of wedge brains is over-represented in the fossil fuel, chemical, military, political and financial segments of the human population.

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The wedges are in the driver's seat of the trajectory of human civilization (see below). 

https://youtu.be/az_Vlgy5dbM

https://youtu.be/oCCNNpmt8ds

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EVERYONE at Zero Hedge is a WEDGE!
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 04, 2017, 11:51:35 pm
The Sport of Plutocrats: Golf Is Trump

Thursday, August 03, 2017

By Robert Lipsyte, TomDispatch | News Analysis

SNIPPET:

To understand golf is to understand Trump. He uses golf as a social lubricant for business, which is its most important function in American culture. Since it operates on the honor system, golf is convenient for lying cheats. As the joke goes, the difference between boastful golfers and fishermen is that golfers don't have to produce proof. Golf jokes, invariably evoking sex or religion, are a staple of stale pale-male humor. The locker-room quip for which "golf" is an acronym -- "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden" -- may no longer be totally accurate but it certainly captures the sensibility of the game. And as a perfect complement to Trump's own relentless boasts about his wealth, the most popular ranking of professional golfers has always been "the money list." There are no batting averages in golf. It's all about prize money and endorsement fees.

Trump is more than a golfer. He owns and operates golf courses. The Trump Golf website lists 18 "iconic" ones in "the world of Trump Golf," stretching from upstate New York to Dubai. And yet none of the domestic ones even made the list of Golf Digest's 100 top American courses. Despite widespread protests last year about his 2005 ****-grabbing remarks, the U.S. Women's Open was held this July at Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey, course, also the site of his green desecration. Only recently was it revealed that The Donald had threatened to sue the United States Golf Association if it dared move the event as some in the Ladies Professional Golf Association had evidently suggested.

For him, golf isn't just a sideline presidential activity, it's central to his plutocratic vision of his presidency and of the promoting of the Trump brand (clearly synonymous in his mind). His golf courses, after all, are considered a critical part of his family's revenue stream, although typically, actual financial information on them is scanty and may eventually reveal less profit than he claims.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/41494-the-sport-of-plutocrats-golf-is-trump
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 05, 2017, 04:56:31 pm
Agelbert Note: Luciddreams is a good man forced to seek other employment in order to feed his family. He prefers permaculture and farming bamboo, which he is experienced in and has done for some time, but he cannot make enough money doing it. He was also an EMT for a few years. He is now driving a truck to earn the money to better care for his wife and two small boys while saving enough money to buy a large piece of land to grow bamboo on.

I know I'm being taken advantage of.  But isn't that just the nature of money?  We sell our time for it, and there ain't no time that works out is there?  Because our time is not worth money.  Our time is priceless.  Our time can't be quantified with money, but we all quantify our time with money based on how much of it we can get.  Based on what we are willing to do for it. 

Yeah, I'm tired of reality, but what choice do I have?  We deal in reality whether we want to or not.  Our time may not be worth money, but reality is.


The fastest growing, and also reasonably paid, job in the USA is that of a Wind Turbine Technician.  If you are not afraid of heights, I recommend you pursue a career there. If we even have a future, which is highly doubtful, it will be in Renewable Energy jobs that CANNOT be outsourced AND NO profit over people and planet CAPTALISM, period.

Anyone that thinks human civilization can survive with Capitalism controlling everything is a wedge (see my other post defining Homo Sap  Wedge).  ;D

Which brings me to my decision to go trucking. 

Look, I Been There, Done That, Own the T-Shirt.

I will tell you one more time this life **** SUCKS on all levels, and that is even if you are single with no kids.

Get a Janitorial Bizness going.  It will be a fuckload better than driving around a **** truck.

RE
Nothing wrong with trucking.  It is as you say one of the last well paid trades that does not involve years of college. The homestead game is expensive.  We were lucky we built a nest egg before kids and the move so the land and house shell went up from savings. It's a small town so we just moved in at that stage and nobody cared.
I wish you luck. 
David B.

Thanks David.  Ultimately this is a way to get my family into a situation similar to yours.  I plan to buy land and a domicile with the proceeds...at some point...hopefully.  I plan to build a new permaculture/bamboo paradise.  On land that I own, and in a home that is ours.  It takes money.  I can get that money truckin', and so that's what I'm going to do.  There are other ways I could get that money...but none that I have seen that I will be able to stomach.  I'm betting that I can stomach truckin', so I'm going to find out...and soon.  If all goes well I'll be up in Wisconsin September 1st.

Good luck, Lucid. I'm sure you will have a few years before the future of Trucking "persuades" you to look elseware for a job. RE knows of what he speaks. So do I.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

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Quote
According a recent report from management magazine strategy + business, fleets could save billions across the industry by switching from human controlled trucks to those that drive themselves. Overdrive sister site CCJ‘s Senior Editor Kevin Jones has a full write-up on the latest on autonomous trucks on CCJ‘s site, where he says the economic upside for fleets would immediately include productivity, as hours of service rules would no longer be a worry.



Nor would driver wages, says one analyst in Jones’ story.


The numbers now are roughly this: It costs $200,000 to outfit a truck and trailer to run autonomously, which would yield savings of about $100,000 every year, which, obviously, would put any fleets that made the switch in the black on the change in just two years.

The analyst also says fleets that do adopt autonomous trucks early will set establish “industry-leading positions.”

Do drivers need to be watching their backs? Click here to see Jones’ full post on autonomous trucks

http://www.overdriveonline.com/robotic-trucks-set-to-push-drivers-out-of-a-job/ (http://www.overdriveonline.com/robotic-trucks-set-to-push-drivers-out-of-a-job/)


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It's not the driverless truck that is the problem it's the entire system built up around trucks that would have to be rebuilt. Just imagine the simple act of backing up in the built up areas involving convincing traffic to stop for you and give you a window for doing it.  Imagine the tens of thousands of docks that predate 18 wheelers let alone autonomous trucks.  Do you honestly think the money is there at that end to replace anything.  How about unloading.  Have you even seen some of the sketchy places freight gets dropped off at? A robot would go into convulsions.   It will happen but it will take at least 10-20 years for the wet ware at the delivery points to be ready to accept autonomous freight...
Just an opinion of course I did run a warehouse in a previous life though...


The short answer is, of course there is money to do that.

Every objection you present to robotic driving, including enroute challenges, delivery constraints, docking in non-automation friendly arreas, etc. is being addressed successfully. Automated driving is going to be far more accident free than human controlled driving.

I was an air traffic controller for many years. I used to say, and I was right in 1972 when I first said it, that I was in the most short lived profession in the history of the human race. WHY? Simply because computers are far better, quicker and more reliable at spacial visualization, vector probabilities, etc. (which is what is involved in keeping airplanes from hitting each other)  than humans. There still are human ATC specialists, but the computer is gradually taking over the ATC to aircraft (bypassing the pilots too!) commands.

Now if you think that moving things from here to there is not going to be nearly 100% automated (with human supervisors overseeing an entire trucking fleet, not just one vehicle at a time), you are not fully cognizant of the present abilities of computer software with the appropriate sensor IO. I know what I am talking about. I was an automation specialist after being an air traffic contoller. The technology is OLD to move trucks without humans. What is NEW is the lower price for the sensor package needed to do that reliably and safely.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 05, 2017, 05:37:55 pm
It's not the driverless truck that is the problem it's the entire system built up around trucks that would have to be rebuilt. Just imagine the simple act of backing up in the built up areas involving convincing traffic to stop for you and give you a window for doing it.  Imagine the tens of thousands of docks that predate 18 wheelers let alone autonomous trucks.  Do you honestly think the money is there at that end to replace anything.  How about unloading.  Have you even seen some of the sketchy places freight gets dropped off at? A robot would go into convulsions.   It will happen but it will take at least 10-20 years for the wet ware at the delivery points to be ready to accept autonomous freight...
Just an opinion of course I did run a warehouse in a previous life though...

The short answer is, of course there is money to do that.

Every objection you present to robotic driving, including enroute challenges, delivery constraints, docking in non-automation friendly arreas, etc. is being addressed successfully. Automated driving is going to be far more accident free than human controlled driving.

I was an air traffic controller for many years. I used to say, and I was right in 1972 when I first said it, that I was in the most short lived profession in the history of the human race. WHY? Simply because computers are far better, quicker and more reliable at spacial visualization, vector probabilities, etc. (which is what is involved in keeping airplanes from hitting each other)  than humans. There still are human ATC specialists, but the computer is gradually taking over the ATC to aircraft (bypassing the pilots too!) commands.

Now if you think that moving things from here to there is not going to be nearly 100% automated (with human supervisors overseeing an entire trucking fleet, not just one vehicle at a time), you are not fully cognizant of the present abilities of computer software with the appropriate sensor IO. I know what I am talking about. I was an automation specialist after being an air traffic contoller. The technology is OLD to move trucks without humans. What is NEW is the lower price for the sensor package needed to do that reliably and safely.


Look, there ain't **** that any of us can do about the robots.  They are going to put us out of work.  Work can be done by robots, robots are getting cheaper by the day.  At this point it's still a viable career option.  Hopefully I can make the money I need in the time I have before robots put me out of work. 

On another note, we just signed a contract for our land...37k.  I'm probably going to pay to have the water, power, and septic dove tailed onto my mom's build with that cash.  Then we'll finance our own double wide and be set, in a doublewide down by the river...a far bit better then a van down by the river. 

11 acres for the bamboo and food forest, a double wide down by the river, and maybe a decade of 50k a year before the robots put me out of work.  Bamboo is virile, it doesn't require tender loving care.  My groves will grow just fine while I'm OTR trucking and so will my food producing trees and shrubbery.  The income will enable me to buy infrastructure for animals and whatnot.  I'll save as much of it as I can.

In the end, the robots will put us all out of work and we'll run out of oil which will put the robots out of work.  It will be game over, and then we can all learn how to be uncomfortable while we transition into 21st century third world dystopian ghettos.
 

Say what you want about my decision to go truckin'...at least I'm not delusional about it.

True.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-050817173211.png&hash=b62d032a375947eca1a95040f937009de2cbc364)    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300714025456.bmp&hash=f4e4a260bd60d3f34ca86fed93c47d5fb4117cfd) 


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 05, 2017, 06:24:48 pm
I don't doubt the robots will come for trucking I just find all the optimistic time lines you read about are for the truck automation not the end destinations.  In the context of this conversation it's the time frame that matters.  I would say there is 10 to 20 years of driving left for humans to do which is LD's target anyways.
David B.


True. The security problem of keeping somebody from using the five finger discount on the truck contents is probably going to contribute more to delaying full automation implementation than the what drives the truck. Humans are very creative at stealing stuff that isn't being watched by another human.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 08, 2017, 02:47:27 pm
30-Year EPA Veteran Writes Farewell Letter, Warns of Environmental Catastrophe Under Pruitt

Environmental Responsibility

Aug. 02, 2017 08:01AM EST

SNIPPET:

Her letter concluded with this overall assessment:

"Today the environmental field is suffering from the temporary triumph of myth over truth. The truth is there is NO war on coal, there is NO economic crisis caused by environmental protection, and climate change IS caused by man's activities. It may take a few years and even an environmental disaster, but I am confident that Congress and the courts will eventually restore all the environmental protections repealed by this administration because the majority of the American people recognize that this protection of public health and safety is right and it is just."(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fpng%2F200%2Femoticons%2Ffingerscrossed.png&hash=d56f8009d18b55f4cea7be68284c0521be92fc5d)

Full eye opening article:
https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-pruitt-2467950563.html

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241216151049.png&hash=78206393ea158485b779ed06d0fb0f84172b645d)
Left to right: Tillerson, Pruitt, Sessions, Price

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 11, 2017, 06:09:23 pm
2017-08-07 - High-rise five-star hotel damaged by fire in the Marina District in coastal Dubai (UAE):
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-dubai-fire-idUKKBN1AN0NM (http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-dubai-fire-idUKKBN1AN0NM)
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-08/07/c_136506202.htm (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-08/07/c_136506202.htm)
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/fire-breaks-out-in-dubai-hotel-no-casualties-reported/448532.html (http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/fire-breaks-out-in-dubai-hotel-no-casualties-reported/448532.html)
http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/third-dubai-fire-in-days-forces-evacuation-of-hotel-near-marina-district-1734463 (http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/third-dubai-fire-in-days-forces-evacuation-of-hotel-near-marina-district-1734463)
http://zeenews.india.com/world/fire-breaks-out-in-dubai-hotel-marina-third-blaze-within-a-week-2030861.html (http://zeenews.india.com/world/fire-breaks-out-in-dubai-hotel-marina-third-blaze-within-a-week-2030861.html)
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/08/07/Fire-breaks-out-again-in-Dubai-Marina-third-blaze-in-a-week.html (http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/08/07/Fire-breaks-out-again-in-Dubai-Marina-third-blaze-in-a-week.html)
http://gulfbusiness.com/fire-breaks-out-movenpick-jbr/ (http://gulfbusiness.com/fire-breaks-out-movenpick-jbr/)

Quote: "A fire erupted at a Dubai five-star hotel in the Marina tourist hotspot on Monday, with no casualties or injuries reported. The fire in Movenpick Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) Hotel, which was quickly brought under control, was the third blaze in less than a week in Dubai, reports Xinhua news agency."

Quote: "On Sunday, another minor fire occurred on a balcony at the Tiger Tower, causing the building to be evacuated. No injuries were reported. It followed a massive blaze across the road at Torch Tower early on Friday morning – the second time the 86-floor building has caught fire in two years."

Note: So three high-rise fires in four days in Dubai, plus some vehicle fires too...


Great catch!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

What I find amazing about the Dubai fires is that, even though high ambient temperatures always aid in spontaneous combustion, the CO2 levels there are very high, which tends to inhibit combustion. This link (https://earth.nullschool.net/)is to a continuosly updated global graphic data set for temperatures, GHG levels, jet stream, ocean currents, wave heights, etc. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clipartbest.com%2Fcliparts%2Fxig%2Fojx%2Fxigojx6KT.png&hash=6706182c9f1427099a77e10d1758e61d9cadb701)

I just went over there right now. The CO2 level in Dubai is 407 PPM. Of course that is peanuts compared to the area in Canada I just checked out where there is a lot of fire (and tar sands piggery). THAT area has 446 PPM of CO2!  :o :P
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 11, 2017, 06:31:36 pm
 This link (https://earth.nullschool.net/)is to a continuosly updated global graphic data set for temperatures, GHG levels, jet stream, ocean currents, wave heights, etc. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clipartbest.com%2Fcliparts%2Fxig%2Fojx%2Fxigojx6KT.png&hash=6706182c9f1427099a77e10d1758e61d9cadb701)

Good to have that link handy. Thanks.

The Schumann resonance link is on that corresponding thread as well.


I didn't know what that was so I looked it up. Thanks for the  information. I suspect Global Warming will jack up the Schuman Resonance, which will cause more frequent fires.  :( I'll be watching that too.

(https://www.nasa.gov/images/content/645644main_SchumannAnim_946-710.jpg)

For other readers not in the know:

Schumann Resonance

SNIPPET:

At any given moment about 2,000 thunderstorms roll over Earth, producing some 50 flashes of lightning every second. Each lightning burst creates electromagnetic waves that begin to circle around Earth captured between Earth's surface and a boundary about 60 miles up. Some of the waves - if they have just the right wavelength - combine, increasing in strength, to create a repeating atmospheric heartbeat known as Schumann resonance. This resonance provides a useful tool to analyze Earth's weather, its electric environment, and to even help determine what types of atoms and molecules exist in Earth's atmosphere.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/schumann-resonance.html


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 11, 2017, 06:37:29 pm
2017-08-09 - 1100 cattle suddenly die at farm in Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil):
http://g1.globo.com/mato-grosso-do-sul/noticia/morte-de-11-mil-cabecas-de-gado-por-suspeita-de-botulismo-causa-prejuizo-de-aproximadamente-r-2-milhoes-em-ms.ghtml (http://g1.globo.com/mato-grosso-do-sul/noticia/morte-de-11-mil-cabecas-de-gado-por-suspeita-de-botulismo-causa-prejuizo-de-aproximadamente-r-2-milhoes-em-ms.ghtml)
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fg1.globo.com%2Fmato-grosso-do-sul%2Fnoticia%2Fmorte-de-11-mil-cabecas-de-gado-por-suspeita-de-botulismo-causa-prejuizo-de-aproximadamente-r-2-milhoes-em-ms.ghtml&edit-text=&act=url (http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fg1.globo.com%2Fmato-grosso-do-sul%2Fnoticia%2Fmorte-de-11-mil-cabecas-de-gado-por-suspeita-de-botulismo-causa-prejuizo-de-aproximadamente-r-2-milhoes-em-ms.ghtml&edit-text=&act=url)

Az,
I watched the video. I don't speak Portugese but it is enough like Spanish that I understood most of it. Those cattle are special cattle. Unlike most of the cattle in the USA, those cattle are heat tolerant Brahman cattle (the ones in India that those folks think are sacred). Most tropical areas imported them for beef and milk in the 20th century because they do well in the heat.

Butolism is suspected in these cows. But whatever it was that poisoned them, I'm sure there is a link to Catastrophic Climate Change. The fact is that increased heat helps the worse kind of microscopic life (and fungi) to make life more miserable for macroscopic life.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 11, 2017, 09:07:04 pm
Limit to growth in our finite world.

Yeah, right.  ::) I know EXACTLY what growth you wish to limit (see: poor and not-white  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)) and what horrendous polluting profit over people and planet GROWTH you have never failed to DEFEND.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400)

For other readers who can think logically, please view the following graphics. Edpell is allergic to them. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)

Population is NOT the problem
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-260214201233.png&hash=2c784ea86c703de06549ce14091214ff7fc0d461)

THIS is how Edpell, the fossil fuel industry, and almost half of the world’s 100 largest companies want that 'Fragmentation of Agency' (to PAY to mitigate Catastrophic climate Change) pie chart  to look like (that is, when he and his fossil fuel worshipping pals can no longer pretend that isn't a "Chinese myth"):

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-240915212425.png&hash=474f51564604f10ac8a8653c5e6d181e37afbfa8)

The biosphere math facts clearly state that less than 17% of the human population, MOSTLY concentrated in wealthy countries, is DOING over 80% of the damage by consuming over 80% of the resources. Only about half (or less) of the MILITARY budgets alone of the wealthy countries could pay for bio-remediating the most impacted areas, stop the exploitation and care for and educate the high population growth poor there so they become good stewards instead of biosphere destroyers.

Since, according to the U.N., the richest 20% of the world's population uses 80% of the resources, the 'Fragmentation of Agency' pie chart for the damage done to the biosphere should look like this:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-240915212016.jpeg&hash=47c78d80b3447e15bc4cadf79725cd2b1ad0c926)

The REAL bottom line is that less than 17% of the human population is an existential threat to the ALL of the human population AND a large part of macroscopic species in the biosphere.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-140515152155.png&hash=5f8916507de1fcb05d147e025bd69cc103b6b969)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-181015183028.png&hash=12199b2760915e2600cca9f00f26213bbd48f2da)



Edpell's world view does not allow him to think logically (see below):

Quote
"Capitalist ideology claims that the world is perfectly ordered and everybody is in their place (i..e. everybody gets what they deserve). This self legitmating aspect of Capitalism is Socially Catastrophic. This is the Victorian view of the world." Rob Urie - Author " Zen Economics"
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 12, 2017, 02:05:13 pm
2017-08-07 - High-rise five-star hotel damaged by fire in the Marina District in coastal Dubai (UAE):
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-dubai-fire-idUKKBN1AN0NM (http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-dubai-fire-idUKKBN1AN0NM)
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-08/07/c_136506202.htm (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-08/07/c_136506202.htm)
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/fire-breaks-out-in-dubai-hotel-no-casualties-reported/448532.html

http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/third-dubai-fire-in-days-forces-evacuation-of-hotel-near-marina-district-1734463

http://zeenews.india.com/world/fire-breaks-out-in-dubai-hotel-marina-third-blaze-within-a-week-2030861.html

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/08/07/Fire-breaks-out-again-in-Dubai-Marina-third-blaze-in-a-week.html
http://gulfbusiness.com/fire-breaks-out-movenpick-jbr/

Quote: "A fire erupted at a Dubai five-star hotel in the Marina tourist hotspot on Monday, with no casualties or injuries reported. The fire in Movenpick Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) Hotel, which was quickly brought under control, was the third blaze in less than a week in Dubai, reports Xinhua news agency."

Quote: "On Sunday, another minor fire occurred on a balcony at the Tiger Tower, causing the building to be evacuated. No injuries were reported. It followed a massive blaze across the road at Torch Tower early on Friday morning – the second time the 86-floor building has caught fire in two years."

Note: So three high-rise fires in four days in Dubai, plus some vehicle fires too...


Great catch! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

What I find amazing about the Dubai fires is that, even though high ambient temperatures always aid in spontaneous combustion, the CO2 levels there are very high, which tends to inhibit combustion. ]This link (https://earth.nullschool.net/[/size)is to a continuosly updated global graphic data set for temperatures, GHG levels, jet stream, ocean currents, wave heights, etc. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clipartbest.com%2Fcliparts%2Fxig%2Fojx%2Fxigojx6KT.png&hash=6706182c9f1427099a77e10d1758e61d9cadb701)

I just went over there right now. The CO2 level in Dubai is 407 PPM. Of course that is peanuts compared to the area in Canada I just checked out where there is a lot of fire (and tar sands piggery). THAT area has 446 PPM of CO2!  :o :P


I have a hard time believing that atmospheric concentrations of CO2 which are always well below a tenth of one percent (for now) can possible be a significant modulator of spontaneous combustion.   A tenth of one percent is 1000 ppm.  Temperature has a far more significant effect.  Things which are not really comparable can''t balance each other out.  Temperature impacts the rate of chemical reactions which are the very causes of spontaneous combustion.  CO2 will only displace a tiny amount of oxygen and trying to measure the difference CO2 does cause would be very difficult.

Science could prove me wrong but I doubt it.  Besides which the overall concentration of CO2 can't possibly vary much from place to place.


K-Dog, WHY do you have such difficulties reading what is written (by me (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85) )?

Yes, of course the ambient temperature, AS I POINTED OUT, is the main issue in spontaneous combustion. But, lo and behold, CO2 molecules, even in teeny tiny amounts, TRAP HEAT, don't they, K-Dog? So, ANY added amount of CO2 contributes to INCREASE the ambient temperature somewhat. So your claim that the "relatively tiny" increase in CO2 concentration is "irrelevant" to spontaneous combustion, if that is what is indeed going on in Dubai, is scientifically inaccurate because any amount of heat increase is relevant to enabling spontaneous combustion. Please do not lecture me on the energy of activation needed to initiate an exothermic chemical reaction. Anyone with a science background (as well as anybody with common sense) knows that combustion is one of those chemcial reactions that just happens to occur much easier when it is hotter out there.

A tiny amount of CO2 PPM increase (as opposed to all the other atmospheric gases), as this graphic from a lecture by an IPCC scientist clearly states, causes a HUGE increase in atmospheric heating. If YOU do not think a 10 PPM CO2 increase is a large amount, then you are in error.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070817205636.png&hash=ead37b59ac35be5b0bff1a2cbee3975ba932dcf2)

And I also POINTED OUT that the CO2 level in Dubai is PEANUTS compared with Canada where some fires and tar sands piggery is going on.

If you had been objective, you might have mentioned the one thing I missed (on any of those fires that started in daylight hours, of course). That is, that reflection from glass surfaces on skyscrapers might have aided in combustion on other buildings. I missed that one. So did you.

K-Dog SAID, "Besides which the overall concentration of CO2 can't possibly vary much from place to place." (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe)

It is clear that you are NOT in the know about how MUCH CO2 PPM (and CO PPM, by the way) concentrations vary from place to place.

After you go to the site at this link (https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/chem/surface/level/overlay=co2sc/orthographic=-120.81,52.40,3000/loc=-123.328,52.655), you may admit at your leisure that SCIENCE just proved you wrong on that incorrect assumption (not just Agelbert  ;D ). No need to rush to admit your error, K-Dog. I understand that you have always been rather reticent to admit  I am right about anything.  ;)

But if you don't admit it within 24 hours, I will return to this thread with screen shots of CO, CO2, SO2, and maybe some particulate matter concentrations in different parts of the globe DIRECTLY CAUSED by the BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS, which are the irrefutable cause of Global Warming caused Catastrophic Climate change (for you to try to talk your way around).

Dinner is served, K-dog:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flucidating.files.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F01%2Featcrow.gif&hash=40fab0b2775d3fb285afd6c24535120837141e04)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 12, 2017, 02:51:47 pm
I favor a decline in human numbers to 8 million world wide. That will require contributions from all nations. As to what it does to profits I do not care.

If that 17% I pointed out to you does not stop degrading our biosphere, within a century there will be less humans (and 90% or more of all other vertebrate species extinct) than that.

When you are in a hole, it is customary to stop digging. You think that the "shovel" is population growth. I KNOW that the "shovel" digging our grave is the burning of fossil fuels and the unestrained pollution from mining, manufacturing and chemical industry piggery. All that can be done without polluting. But that requires 100% Renewable Energy and a steady state economy that protects the biosphere (IOW, an economy run by governments that respect ALL life including ALL humans in an egalitarian fashion).

THAT economy would destroy the profits of the 1%. Whether you care about that or not, the 75 million or so ONE PERCENTERS out there certainly do care about their ill gotten profits and are presently in the drivers seat.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)

You may not wish to connect the dots, but if the 1% finally do not get their head out of their profit over planet worshipping descending colon, they will, along with all the rest of humanity, perish. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmog.gif&hash=08e6f04144781466148f6693be6dc3451a322669)

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 12, 2017, 03:17:32 pm
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August 10, 2017

U.S. Pipelines Spill 9,000 Gallons of Dangerous Chemicals a Day

Leading anti-pipeline campaigner Diana Best discusses hearings in Nebraska that may mark Keystone XL's last stand and a new Greenpeace warning that four proposed Tar Sands oil pipelines threaten water resources

Diana Best  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.haleakalasolar.com%2Fimages%2Findex-infobox2.jpg&hash=c49806321315171df0f26c7f0f47adb61cf632eb) is a senior climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace USA, based in Denver, CO. She began working with Greenpeace in 2008 on federal climate legislation and has since worked on reforming federal fossil fuel leasing programs and fighting new infrastructure projects around the US. She is currently leading Greenpeace's pipeline resistance work aimed at halting proposed tar sands pipelines as well as undermining the political and social influence of the oil industry during Trump's administration.

transcript

U.S. Pipelines Spill 9,000 Gallons of Dangerous Chemicals a Day

DHARNA NOOR:   Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Dharna Noor joining you from Baltimore. For the past 10 years, pipelines have spilled an average of 9,000 gallons of hazardous liquids every single day in the U.S. alone. This is according to Greenpeace USA. In a recent study, Greenpeace found that over the past decade these spills in the U.S. have led to 20 fatalities, 35 injuries, $2.6 billion in cost and over 800,000 total barrels spilled, that's 34 million gallons. They also concluded that the Tar Sands oil pipelines are virtually guaranteed to spill.

The release of this report comes at the moment that hearings are taking place in Nebraska, where regulators have yet to approve the expansion of the Keystone XL Pipeline. On Thursday, environmental groups, including Greenpeace, and also Bold Nebraska, The Indigenous Environmental Network, and others are set to deliver over 300,000 public comments against the Keystone XL to the Nebraska Public Service Commission. The deadline for public comment is this Friday.

Our next guest is here to discuss the Nebraska Keystone XL hearings and Greenpeace's important report titled Four Proposed Tar Sands Oil Pipelines Pose A Threat To Water Resources. We're very pleased to be joined from Denver, Colorado, by Diana Best. She is the Senior Climate and Energy Campaigner with Greenpeace USA. Thanks so much for joining us today.

DIANA BEST:   Thank you so much for having me.

DHARNA NOOR:   First of all, what are the four proposed Tar Sands oil pipelines that your new report says will pose a threat to water resources?

DIANA BEST:   Great. Yeah, there's four proposed Tar Sands pipelines, all starting at the Alberta Tar Sands fields. One of those is Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Pipeline that will go out west to the B.C. coast. Another one, of course, is the Keystone XL Pipeline, which is the subject of these hearings this week. The third is the Line 3, Enbridge's Line 3, which goes through Canada and then cuts through a portion of Northern U.S. territories. Then, the final one is Energy East.

DHARNA NOOR:   Why is Greenpeace saying that Tar Sands oil pipelines are guaranteed to spill? What makes them virtually guaranteed to spill?

DIANA BEST:   Great. As you mentioned, Greenpeace U.S. released a report very recently, which details the spill record of some of these companies behind the four proposed pipelines that I just mentioned. Those companies have had a terrible track record of spills since 2010, which is detailed in our report. The U.S. crude oil pipeline system, as a whole, has had an average of one significant incident, about a total of 570 barrels release per a year per a 1,000 miles of pipelines over the past 10 years. As I mentioned, they don't have a great track record.

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What is really scary about this right now is that instead of actually seeing a downward trend in the number of spills, this investigation also found that the long-term trend data shows a significant pipeline incidents have actually increased since 2007. Assuming that some of this data holds true, that means that these pipelines, if they are built, are virtually guaranteed to spill.

DHARNA NOOR:   Let's talk a little bit about the hearings currently going on in Nebraska. These hearings may shape up to be the final battle against the expansion of the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline. Nebraska regulators have, again, get to approve the pipeline. Talk a little bit about the significance of these hearings and why people are concerned about the expansion of the Keystone.

DIANA BEST:   Definitely. I think, one of the best opportunities we have right now to slow pipeline construction down in the U.S. is through these state permitting processes. Pipelines in general need a handful of both federal and state permits. The state permits are really where, I think, we're seeing a lot of opposition at the pipelines, and a lot of the activism around the pipelines really taking shape.

What's happening right now in Nebraska is that The Nebraska Public Service Commission has been tasked with essentially having open hearings and taking public comments to review the risks and rewards of this pipeline and whether or not to approve this critical state permit, the last permit that the Keystone XL Pipeline needs to complete its route from Alberta, through Montana, South Dakota and then Nebraska. This is a really critical window for people to share their stories, to talk about the impacts of what this pipeline will mean for their communities, for their property, for their climate. It's a huge moment right in Nebraska.

We saw on Sunday thousands of people, hundreds of people coming together in Lincoln from Indigenous community leaders, to First Nations and tribes, landowners, climate activists, people from all over the state and all over the region coming together to give Key XL the boot. It was a big, powerful march on Sunday to kick off these hearings. Now, we're in day three of what will be a five-day all day hearings at the Public Service Commission.

DHARNA NOOR:   One of the Keystone XL pipeline actually already runs through Nebraska, right? This last is really contentious because of its proximity to a major underground water aquifer. Why is that important? Does it matter that it's so close to this water aquifer?

DIANA BEST:   Yeah. I think Tar Sands pipelines really pose a threat to a lot of water resources, from where they start in the oil fields of Alberta, all the way throughout. There are countless streams and rivers and aquifers that those pipelines intersect and go over. I think what's particularly scary about the Keystone XL Pipeline is that it actually crosses the Ogallala Aquifer, which is one of the biggest freshwater resources that we have. Millions of people rely on it for drinking water and then you start to incorporate some of the indirect ways that people depend on having a clean, fresh water source. For agriculture, for growing crops and food. This is the heartland of our country, where a lot of our food does come from. To think that that water could be contaminated at all by, hopefully not, a disastrous pipeline spill, it certainly starts to increase the stakes of what this pipeline could potentially have for people in that region.

DHARNA NOOR:   Some, of course, in the pipeline or oil and natural gas industry, say, spills are just part of the cost of doing business and that they factor in spills and are prepared for those emergencies. What's your response to this sort of pushback?

DIANA BEST:   Yeah, certainly. I think there's a lot of responses. One, let's start with the economic. Spills cost money, that's the bottom line. We've discussed in the report, the billions have been associated already with previous spills that have happened. When you start to add up the various high-price tag costs of these pipelines, which include not only the cost of cleaning up spills, the cost of delays, the uncertainty of the permitting process, the reputational risk of these pipelines, the protest risks, all of these risks, we start to really add up the cost quite quickly.

All of this is coming, of course, in a fairly uncertain and unpredictable oil market, when we're also seeing the cost of renewable energy go down, we're seeing a boom in post-fossil fuel technology, like electric cars. I think one has to ask, and I'm certain key investors are asking themselves, or should be asking is it worth it? At what point do the risks outweigh the very limited rewards of pushing forward these pipelines?

Each of these companies right now that are proposing these pipelines are looking to finance these pipelines and going to major Wall Street investors and banks. One of our objectives at Greenpeace, and I know a lot of our allies and partner groups are also making similar demands. One of the things that we're trying to do is go to some of these big investors and some of the groups bankrolling and banks bankrolling these projects and say, "You have to look at what the increased price tag of this is and you should consider just not funding these at all."

DHARNA NOOR:   I have to ask you, what about the talking point, of course, that these pipelines will create jobs?

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DIANA BEST:   Yeah, I think this is something ... We've seen president Trump use this as a justification. We've seen the industry uses as a justification for pushing these pipelines forward for almost a decade. The reality is there's been numerous reports, which dispel the myth that this is a long-term job creator. In fact, the permanent job growth from pipelines is under 100 for a pipeline, I think Keystone XL Pipeline. I think you also have to look at where the job market is going and where the long-term trend is right now.

There is a huge boom in the solar and renewable energy industry right now. We know that there are jobs that are going to take us into a fossil-free future, and those jobs are going to be there to last. While there may be a short-term boom in job growth in the region for the construction, in the long-term, is this going to be this sort of economic boom that the industry and Trump and the oil and gas cronies claim it will be? No.

DHARNA NOOR:   The recent Greenpeace report says that the decades of spills averaging 9,000 barrels a day have amounted to $2.6 billion in cost. Is that the pipeline or oil companies who are paying those costs? Or are taxpayers also having to foot the bill?

DIANA BEST:   That's a really good question. According to the EPA, by law, companies responsible for the use or transport, storage, disposal of hazardous substances and oil, they're actually technically liable for the cost. That can include spills, cleanup, damages, you name it. I don't think it's a surprise to anyone and we've seen this in the past that some companies refuse to comply. In the past, the EPA, among other places, have had public funds put aside to help deal with some of the cleanup, or damages, just basically getting some of these contaminations in order.

I think what is nerve-wracking about the situation that we're in, is that the Trump administration is both, pushing forward new pipelines, they are undercutting the regulatory process that we're in, and they're de-funding or underfunding some of the EPA regulatory programs that we rely on. A lot of the safety nets that we've seen in the past come to play in moments of disaster might not be there and that's an uncertainty that I think we're going to have to face. Who ultimately foots the bill for that? Will it be the companies? Will it be local taxpayers? Will it be the federal government? I think that's an unknown and something that we should be considering very closely.

DHARNA NOOR:   When might we know the outcome of the Nebraska hearings and the ultimate fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline?

DIANA BEST:   Right. At this point, the Public Service Commission of Nebraska is hearing this testimony, there is cross-examination. The company also has a chance to testify and share their testimony. They're going to go back, they're going to review all of that, including the thousands and thousands of public comments that are being delivered on Thursday, the final comment period, of course, closes on Friday. They're going to review all of that. What we're hearing right now is that we should expect an up or down final vote on whether or not to approve the Nebraska permit sometime in the late fall, that could be sometime in November.

DHARNA NOOR:   How much of the American public is at risk, in terms of their drinking water from oil and gas pipeline spillage? Are there specific at-risk populations?

DIANA BEST:   Yeah. I think, the pipeline network across the U.S. has certainly expanded in recent years. I think the risks from a pipeline spill are numerous. From contaminating our water that we depend on to drink, to a fossil fuel leakage and spills of hazardous materials, and of course, the risk to our climate. I think who is at risk? It's technically all of us. I think when we look at Key pipelines, like the Keystone XL Pipeline that's currently on the table and being debated of whether or not to approve this, it crosses the Ogallala Aquifer, as I mentioned, a water source that millions of people rely on directly for drinking water, and indirectly countless people rely on for food. A contamination and a key drinking water source like that would be absolutely disastrous.

DHARNA NOOR:   Can you talk a little bit more about the long-term effects of these kinds of pipeline spills?

DIANA BEST:   Yeah. I think we can look at other places that we've seen oil spills. I think Deepwater Horizon is still in everyone's recent memory. We can also look at Michigan's Kalamazoo River spill that happened in 2010, when 20,000 plus barrels of oil spilled into that river, what the cleanup costs were. I think it brings a lot more than just direct impacts. Of course, there is water contamination, not being able to drink water, not being sure if your water is safe, to some of the other environmental hazards that happen. Can you appreciate and enjoy the outdoors without fear of contamination? I think there is also just a perception risk. It affects people's property values. It affects people's desire to want to spend time in that region. I think there's a tourism angle here that is also not widely discussed.

DHARNA NOOR:   Let's turn to the owner and the builder of the would be Keystone XL Trans Canada. What's their track record for spill rates?

DIANA BEST:   Yeah. Their track record, like all of these companies, is not great. In our report, we use pipeline incident data maintained by the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration. That is a mouthful. We looked through that report, and what we found is that Trans Canada was responsible for 13 spills totalling about 829 barrels of crude oil since 2010. They had two significant spills. One in 2011 and one in 2016.

DHARNA NOOR:   Greenpeace's recent study also concluded that we could expect 59 significant spills over the next 50 years. The study said there's even more to concern when it comes to the Alberta Tar Sands, because of the mining and processing of bitumen. What exactly is bitumen and why does that pose a particular concern for Greenpeace?

DIANA BEST:   Sure. Bitumen is a fancy term for Tar Sands oil. Unlike conventional crude oil, bitumen has a consistency of almost like a thick tar. It's too thick to just pump straight out of the ground and pushed through pipelines. In order to actually get it to flow through the pipelines, which are being considered right now, bitumen must be mixed with light crude oil, or natural gas to give it the consistency that it can actually flow through those pipelines. That's called diluted bitumen, or dilbit for short.

DHARNA NOOR:   Did a Trans Canada's Pipeline competitors Kinder Morgan or Enbridge and their subsidiaries fare any better in your report in terms of their track records for spills?

DIANA BEST:   They actually fared a lot worse, in fact. Kinder Morgan was involved in approximately 213 spills. 35 of those were crude oil and six were highly volatile liquids. 22 of those were actually deemed significant spills by the regulators. Enbridge, as well, had about 147 spills. 17 of those were classified as significant.

DHARNA NOOR:   All right. Diana Best, thank you so much for joining us today.

DIANA BEST:   Thank you so much for having me, take care.

DHARNA NOOR:   Thanks so much for joining us on The Real News. We'll keep tracking these unfolding developments for the Keystone XL and other pipelines and the environmental health battle against them.

Video at link:

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=19736

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 12, 2017, 03:30:51 pm
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Gigantic Pipes Beach in England After Breaking Free from Tow

August 11, 2017 by Mike Schuler

More pictures and story:

http://gcaptain.com/gigantic-pipes-wash-ashore-in-england-after-breaking-free-during-tow/ (http://gcaptain.com/gigantic-pipes-wash-ashore-in-england-after-breaking-free-during-tow/)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 13, 2017, 04:19:15 pm
There could be methane releases as well as sulfur dioxide.
I'm limited in my chemistry knowledge, however those two gases are combustible.

Wind mixes it.  It will only vary if there is a feed.  Even if there were no wind diffusion would mix it but that would take a long time.  It is like mixing two fluids, the difference being gases mix themselves.  I always liked the kinetic theory of gases.  So pure simple and satisfying.

I don't have to take this abuse.  I graduated college physics.  Radiant energy from the sun to which the atmosphere is transparent hits the earth and is converted into heat.  Heat is then radiated back out into space but small concentrations of CO2 trap heat photons on the way as to get to outer space many miles of atmosphere must be transversed.  The probability is high that a photon will be trapped and released several times along the way despite a low concentration of atmospheric CO2 because of the large distance involved.  The situation will find and balance about a point where an increase in surface temperature steps up the rate of energy radiated away from the earth so that once again the amount of energy radiated out equals the amount coming in less what plants and solar panels store.  It is always a balanced equation.  With the new balancing point being a hotter earth.  A computer should be able to model the effect just fine which had climate change deniers hearts, souls, and most particularly, brains would be another blow against them.

A part per thousand of CO2 in the air is not going to do twiddly didily squat about spontaneous combustion.  Global warming is a macro phenomena because of the size of the petri dish we live in.  I make a legitimate contribution and the green eyed monster goes apeshit on me seeing a pattern of fires that is most likely random chance.(https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F_UhI31VnlT50%2FTBXlbEBfc_I%2FAAAAAAAAAEQ%2F6nvqr_kZidI%2Fs320%2Fnerd%2Bdomo.jpg&f=1)

The above was an excellent example of a straw grasping, arrogant, appeal to authority fallacious debating technique that deliberately dances around K-Dog's woeful denial of the DATA I pointed out to him. Az did not, and I did not, claim that spontaneous combustion is the known cause of all those fires. But K-Dog continues to ridicule the mere POSSIBILITY of it having occurred, and adds a BROWN colored ( ;)) screaming stuffed toy to underline the fact that he will NOT accept ANYTHING comin' from folks like me. Besides the usual racist fun and games which have no place at all in this discussion, but racists like to use to undermine the argument of an opponent of color, the issue that K-Dog does NOT want to address, is the connection of Global Warming with the Burning of Fossil Fuels. So, he arm waves in as many slightly, but mostly insignificant, distracting relevant directions as possible. K-Dog is a Bad Doggie but he ain't stupid.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)

The "pattern of fires" CO2 PPM HIGH Concentrations I pointed out to him is NOT "random chance". If he had bothered to look all over the globe, he would have learned that uttering that added bit of ignorance makes him look rather silly. K-Dog has much confusion in his head about the physics of gases. He probably learned about molecular diffusion, Brownian movement and such in college, which both tend to scatter molecules of gases and liquids until they are thoroughly and proportionately mixed. That leads K-Dog to the incorrect assumption that gases do not concentrate appreciably anywhere in the atmosphere.

You see, depending on their HEIGHT (i.e. atmospheric pressure variances and wind velocities affect both dispersion and concentration of gases) above the surface of the earth, gases VARY in the amount they diffuse equally in the atmosphere. But K-Dog, if he has been exposed to that info, passes it off as irrelevant to his ass-u-me-ption that gases MUST be equally distributed because, "that's what he learned in physics". If that's all K-Dog learned about how gases diffuse, K-Dog had a lousy teacher!

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2017-08-07 - High-rise five-star hotel damaged by fire in the Marina District in coastal Dubai (UAE):
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-dubai-fire-idUKKBN1AN0NM (http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-dubai-fire-idUKKBN1AN0NM)
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-08/07/c_136506202.htm (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-08/07/c_136506202.htm)
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/fire-breaks-out-in-dubai-hotel-no-casualties-reported/448532.html (http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/fire-breaks-out-in-dubai-hotel-no-casualties-reported/448532.html)


http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/third-dubai-fire-in-days-forces-evacuation-of-hotel-near-marina-district-1734463 (http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/third-dubai-fire-in-days-forces-evacuation-of-hotel-near-marina-district-1734463)
http://zeenews.india.com/world/fire-breaks-out-in-dubai-hotel-marina-third-blaze-within-a-week-2030861.html (http://zeenews.india.com/world/fire-breaks-out-in-dubai-hotel-marina-third-blaze-within-a-week-2030861.html)
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/08/07/Fire-breaks-out-again-in-Dubai-Marina-third-blaze-in-a-week.html (http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/08/07/Fire-breaks-out-again-in-Dubai-Marina-third-blaze-in-a-week.html)
http://gulfbusiness.com/fire-breaks-out-movenpick-jbr/ (http://gulfbusiness.com/fire-breaks-out-movenpick-jbr/)

Quote: "A fire erupted at a Dubai five-star hotel in the Marina tourist hotspot on Monday, with no casualties or injuries reported. The fire in Movenpick Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) Hotel, which was quickly brought under control, was the third blaze in less than a week in Dubai, reports Xinhua news agency."

Quote: "On Sunday, another minor fire occurred on a balcony at the Tiger Tower, causing the building to be evacuated. No injuries were reported. It followed a massive blaze across the road at Torch Tower early on Friday morning – the second time the 86-floor building has caught fire in two years."

Note: So three high-rise fires in four days in Dubai, plus some vehicle fires too...


Great catch!  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

What I find amazing about the Dubai fires is that, even though high ambient temperatures always aid in spontaneous combustion, the CO2 levels there are very high, which tends to inhibit combustion. This link (https://earth.nullschool.net/)is to a continuosly updated global graphic data set for temperatures, GHG levels, jet stream, ocean currents, wave heights, etc. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clipartbest.com%2Fcliparts%2Fxig%2Fojx%2Fxigojx6KT.png&hash=6706182c9f1427099a77e10d1758e61d9cadb701)

I just went over there right now. The CO2 level in Dubai is 407 PPM. Of course that is peanuts compared to the area in Canada I just checked out where there is a lot of fire (and tar sands piggery). THAT area has 446 PPM of CO2!  :o :P

I have a hard time believing that atmospheric concentrations of CO2 which are always well below a tenth of one percent (for now) can possible be a significant modulator of spontaneous combustion.   A tenth of one percent is 1000 ppm.  Temperature has a far more significant effect.  Things which are not really comparable can''t balance each other out.  Temperature impacts the rate of chemical reactions which are the very causes of spontaneous combustion.  CO2 will only displace a tiny amount of oxygen and trying to measure the difference CO2 does cause would be very difficult.

Science could prove me wrong but I doubt it.  Besides which the overall concentration of CO2 can't possibly vary much from place to place.


K-Dog, WHY do you have such difficulties reading what is written (by me (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85) )?

Yes, of course the ambient temperature, AS I POINTED OUT, is the main issue in spontaneous combustion. But, lo and behold, CO2 molecules, even in teeny tiny amounts, TRAP HEAT, don't they, K-Dog? So, ANY added amount of CO2 contributes to INCREASE the ambient temperature somewhat. So your claim that the "relatively tiny" increase in CO2 concentration is "irrelevant" to spontaneous combustion, if that is what is indeed going on in Dubai, is scientifically inaccurate because any amount of heat increase is relevant to enabling spontaneous combustion. Please do not lecture me on the energy of activation needed to initiate an exothermic chemical reaction. Anyone with a science background (as well as anybody with common sense) knows that combustion is one of those chemcial reactions that just happens to occur much easier when it is hotter out there.

A tiny amount of CO2 PPM increase (as opposed to all the other atmospheric gases), as this graphic from a lecture by an IPCC scientist clearly states, causes a HUGE increase in atmospheric heating. If YOU do not think a 10 PPM CO2 increase is a large amount, then you are in error.

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And I also POINTED OUT that the CO2 level in Dubai is PEANUTS compared with Canada where some fires and tar sands piggery is going on.

If you had been objective, you might have mentioned the one thing I missed (on any of those fires that started in daylight hours, of course). That is, that reflection from glass surfaces on skyscrapers might have aided in combustion on other buildings. I missed that one. So did you.

K-Dog SAID, "Besides which the overall concentration of CO2 can't possibly vary much from place to place." (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe)

It is clear that you are NOT in the know about how MUCH CO2 PPM (and CO PPM, by the way) concentrations vary from place to place.

After you go to the site at this link (https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/chem/surface/level/overlay=co2sc/orthographic=-120.81,52.40,3000/loc=-123.328,52.655), you may admit at your leisure that SCIENCE just proved you wrong on that incorrect assumption (not just Agelbert  ;D ). No need to rush to admit your error, K-Dog. I understand that you have always been rather reticent to admit  I am right about anything.  ;)

But if you don't admit it within 24 hours, I will return to this thread with screen shots of CO, CO2, SO2, and maybe some particulate matter concentrations in different parts of the globe DIRECTLY CAUSED by the BURNING OF FOSSIL FUELS, which are the irrefutable cause of Global Warming caused Catastrophic Climate change (for you to try to talk your way around).

Dinner is served, K-dog:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flucidating.files.wordpress.com%2F2012%2F01%2Featcrow.gif&hash=40fab0b2775d3fb285afd6c24535120837141e04)



K-Dog, your 24 hours are up.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040817183318.gif&hash=85dbde0ecc986da6385d09f4df76d45028b7062d)

As predicted, Mr. ARROGANCE INCORPORATED, K-Dog, refuses to admit that he is WRONG. WRONG and, in case I forgot to mention it, WRONG.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fus.cdn2.123rf.com%2F168nwm%2Flenm%2Flenm1201%2Flenm120100200%2F12107060-illustration-of-a-smiley-giving-a-thumbs-up.jpg&hash=2046bc6d662e09d3014a2c404a2af6ba17f8217c)

Quote
K-Dog SAID, "Besides which the overall concentration of CO2 can't possibly vary much from place to place." (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c) 

The following screen shot is from  this link (https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/chem/surface/level/overlay=co2sc/orthographic=-120.81,52.40,3000/loc=-123.328,52.655). Those readers who, unlike the bad Doggie K-Dog, respect objective scientific data, instead of splitting irrelevant hairs about "random readings" or "faulty climate models" or using pejorative (see: diddly squat - darn! that sounds just like the fossil fueler MKing!), may wish to peruse our sad climate situation. Please pass it on, but not to closet defenders of the fossil fuel polluting status quo like K-Dog.     (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191329.bmp&hash=4764bfbe6bb0e11ca61102efa97a932a824f47e0)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130817150608.png&hash=e8c2d6f6507198f30a4afd879abee895bee619a0)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 13, 2017, 04:43:40 pm
(https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/article_large/public/thumbnails/image/2017/08/09/17/deadzone.jpg)
The 'dead-zone' in the northern Gulf of Mexico is one of the world's biggest 'biological deserts' NOAA

The ocean is slowly being suffocated with levels of oxygen falling at a similar rate to 94 million years ago when there was a mass extinction of marine life, scientists have warned.

While that event was caused naturally, humans are responsible for several different factors driving the increase in “dead zones” in our seas.

One is that sewage and fertilisers running off farmers fields are causing massive blooms of algae that die and then decompose in a process that consumes oxygen. This kills most marine life or forces mobile animals such as fish to flee.

One of the world’s biggest “biological deserts” is in the northern Gulf of Mexico, centred on the mouth of the Mississippi River. The Baltic Sea is also severely affected.

Another factor driving the process is that global warming is gradually increasing the amount of erosion of the land, adding extra nutrients to the sea. However this process is expected to take tens of thousands of years.

The loss of oxygen from the ocean is yet another problem facing marine life along with rising temperatures and ocean acidification, caused by absorption of increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Writing in the journal Science Advances, the researchers said that current rates of deoxygenation were similar to those 94 million years ago during what is known as Oceanic Anoxic Event-2 (OAE-2).

“Increased ocean deoxygenation is already apparent in the modern ocean, because marine dioxygen has decreased by two per cent over roughly the last half century, and recent models predict a continued loss of 0.5 to 3.5 per cent over the next half century, which would result in huge expansions of ocean anoxia within the next few thousand years,” they said.

“Should anthropogenically induced oxygen loss occur at similar rates as in the period leading up to OAE-2, then the current area of seafloor hypoxia would double in about the next 102 to 344 years.

“Localised oxygen loss is already apparent in the modern ocean, and the ability to observe more widespread perturbation seems realistic under currently projected carbon emissions.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-global-warming-sewage-fertilisers-mass-extinction-ocean-life-trigger-scientists-warn-a7884861.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 13, 2017, 04:52:41 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-110617203715.png&hash=fe038f10e73af1b0c6673c78ba8a9e8908ffd150)

Climate Change & Anthropocene Extinction 10: Biodiversity loss accelerates under warming, metastudy shows

Climate change leads to species extinctions and exponentially so: the loss of biodiversity is set to accelerate under continuation of global average temperature rise.

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This graph illustrates two important things: (1) the pattern of exponential decline of biodiversity for a linear increase in global temperatures (which means that for the preservation of Earth’s biodiversity a business as usual emissions scenario is much worse than ambitious global climate policy) – and (2) that there is large variation among individual published biodiversity projections (illustrating high complexity/uncertainty).

We learn this from a very interesting metastudy performed by ecologist Mark Urban of the University of Connecticut that was published in Science in 2015. In this study Urban assessed 131 existing studies in scientific literature investigating extinction risk under anthropogenic climate change.

Models are simplifications, real world ecological responses are very complex – and for instance differ geographically…

All assessed studies contain extinction predictions and focus on multiple species – and most of the climate-biodiversity models used define extinction as species habitat falling below a critical limit, yet, as the author notes, often ignore further complexities as species interactions (both ecosystem interdependance and competition), dispersal differences and evolution.

Main conclusions from the meta-analysis are that extinction risk varies geographically and that overall biodiversity loss increases exponentially with climatic warming.

The latter may be unsurprising if you give it a thought (for instance due to the cascading nature of extinctions), but it’s also a very important realisation. It means that if we want to prevent biodiversity loss – we do, of course – then raising the global climate policy ambition can be very rewarding:

For instance the average values from Urban’s assessment show that the RCP8.5 scenario that (under conservative climate sensitivity assumption) is linked to a global average warming of slightly more than 4 degrees would lead to more than three times as much biodiversity loss as a 2 degrees warming scenario. Meanwhile the difference in biodiversity decline comparing the 2 degrees and the more ambitious 1.5 degrees scenario could also be significant.

What can we learn from variation in climate-biodiversity studies?

Another thing Urban’s meta-analysis clearly shows, is that there is a large variation in studies assessing extinction risk under anthropogenic climate change, ‘depending on the specific assumptions and geographic and taxonomic focus of each study’. However when he synthesised these studies it showed that extinction risk did not vary by taxonomic group – in other words, the damaging effect of climate change on biodiversity is universal. Variation was however strongly correlated with geography, with significant differences per continent:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bitsofscience.org%2Fwordpress-3.0.1%2Fwordpress%2Fimages%2F2017%2F08%2Fextinction-risk-climate-change-geographically-continents.png&hash=c91f8a7d96c2d10ea326d7020698e20864550b1b)

Extinction risk under climate change per continent, reflecting higher vulnerability for hot regions (tropics) and smaller land masses/islands. [Speculation from our side: used biodiversity-climate models may ignore full extent of regional climate warming feedbacks, that lead to dramatic increase of relative warming at high latitudes, aggravating local ecological effects – thereby possibly evening out above geographical pattern.]

This shows two overlapping phenomena: the immediate biodiversity decline in hot, tropical regions (where species do not migrate to) plus the relatively high sensitivity of relatively small and geographically isolated habitats, most notably islands – which goes for Australia and New Zealand, and to some extent also South America – as the Panama Isthmus is still an ecological bottleneck for northward climate migration. (Rule of thumb: having many islands and complicated coastlines is good for biodiversity.)

Within the larger pool of biodiversity-climate research, the more pessimistic publications seem to deserve special attention, as Urban writes that those studies that used ‘realistic assumptions about extinction debt and dispersal capacity’ showed ‘substantially increased extinction risks’.

Hmm… that does not sound like good news. We’ll try to find out more.

http://www.bitsofscience.org/climate-change-anthropocene-extinction-biodiversity-loss-accelerates-warming-metastudy-7426/

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 16, 2017, 07:13:50 pm
(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/all/themes/clew/logo.png)

Dieselgate: Green group grumbles over 'Mickey Mouse' summit (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457)

SNIPPET:

The recent diesel summit agreement to upgrade software (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)  in five million vehicles, set up a mobility fund, and offer buyer’s bonuses can be described as “Mickey Mouse policies” that may cut harmful emissions by five percent at best, Jens Thurau quoted Environmental Action Germany (DUH) head Jürgen Resch as saying, in an article for Deutsche Welle.

(https://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/25/2014/10/mickey.png)
  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

Many diesel car owners have realised “that the placebo software updates   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fwww_MyEmoticons_com__burp.gif&hash=8ff3ef6c016d8baf5f61ed5e8db58f069b64da00) won’t prevent their cars from being affected by driving bans”, said Resch in a press release. DUH has called on all political parties to make clear before the September general elections if they were willing to push for the measures necessary to enable cities to comply with air quality limits, including “dirty diesel vehicle” driving bans.

http://www.dw.com/en/dieselgate-green-group-grumbles-over-mickey-mouse-summit/a-40106902

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 19, 2017, 04:54:59 pm
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Pakistan just planted one billion trees to tackle deforestation and climate change (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fearthhug.gif&hash=3abcf70466f34337f2d702ebd9e02c650d5c4c20)

LAST UPDATED ON AUGUST 15TH, 2017 AT 2:01 PM BY MIHAI ANDREI

While the US president complains that his country is being treated unfairly and others aren’t pulling their weight, others are in fact pulling their weight. In less than two years, a province in Pakistan just planted 1 billion trees.


Pakistani provincial leader Imran Khan started the Billion Tree Tsunami Afforestation Project in 2015 and it now reached fruition. In less than two years, 1,000,000,000 trees were planted, even faster than anticipated (by the end of 2017). This is just one province in one country.

You don’t even need to care for the environment to understand why this is a good idea — it’s not just that they store CO2, trees provide a whopping number of environmental services. They regulate water regimes by intercepting rainfall and regulating its flow through the hydrological system.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fus.cdn2.123rf.com%2F168nwm%2Flenm%2Flenm1201%2Flenm120100200%2F12107060-illustration-of-a-smiley-giving-a-thumbs-up.jpg&hash=2046bc6d662e09d3014a2c404a2af6ba17f8217c) They maintain and ensure soil quality, preventing erosion, and they’re key components in a wide array of ecosystems.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ftreeswing.gif&hash=03d29d18183a2924176defc1df7861676abb0960)


“If you plant trees, we have discovered, by the river banks it sustains the rivers. But most importantly, the glaciers that are melting in the mountains, and one of the biggest reasons is because there has been a massive deforestation. So, this billion tree is very significant for our future,” Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, told Voice of America.

We’re also dealing with a deforestation planetary crisis. According to the World Bank data, the planet has lost 1.3 million square kilometers of forests since 1990. This is why the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) set up the Bonn Challenge in 2011. The Bonn Challenge calls for the global restoration of 150 million hectares of deforested and degraded lands by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030. So far, less than 30 countries have signed up to the challenge, but even so, there are reasons for optimism. This milestone achieved in Pakistan is one of them, one which will inspire others, Inger Anderson, director general of the IUCN says.

Quote
“IUCN congratulates the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [where the trees were planted] on reaching this momentous milestone,” Anderson said. “The Billion Tree Tsunami initiative is a true conservation success story, one that further demonstrates Pakistan’s leadership role in the international restoration effort and continued commitment to the Bonn Challenge.”

(https://i2.wp.com/www.zmescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/4CFB1220-BA47-4F1D-A6FF-531CE081261D_w650_r0_s.jpg)
Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, Pakistan. Image via VOA.
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Pakistan is one of the countries experiencing the most deforestation, and also one of the most at risk of global warming. Decades and decades of deforestation have cleared the country to the point where only 3% of it is covered by forests. Nowadays, the government in the north-western region has banned the cutting and felling of most trees in the area, but the so-called “timber mafia” still operates around the region, illegally destroying trees and forests. While enforcing the law is still problematic, projects such as this one could determine the local communities to play a more active role. Up until now, this is exactly what they’ve been doing.

“But we could not have done it if the local communities were not involved,” Khan said. “The local communities first grew the nurseries and then amongst them people who then protected the trees, the saplings when they were planted. It is one of the most successful experiments ever, and we have 85 percent survival rate.”

In order to ensure the success of this story, over 13,000 small-scale nurseries, producing up to 25,000 saplings each, have been involved in the project. The provincial government offered a cash advanced and a guaranteed purchase after the trees mature. Several species were planted, including pines, walnuts, and eucalyptus, officials say. The estimated cost of this project was $123 million, but it’s not just the trees — the project also generated green jobs, and empowered unemployed youth and women in the province. Given its success, it’s been decided that an additional $100 million will be allocated to maintain the project through June 2020. This will ensure even more environmental services and benefits for the locals, the entire country, and the entire world.

“If the trend continues, there will be more birds (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040716230142.jpeg&hash=e3e3e3018263d5b26d55382ceaec3f28aac961b9), there will be more microbes, there will be more insects  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdl5.glitter-graphics.net%2Fpub%2F3328%2F3328805eipbi6o30e.gif&hash=6b47effe687cb862012c19507f1979f43ff67a02), so there will be more animals  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614220442.gif&hash=ee321f111b9bb5a954ee463c133f2bec5e616c9a), so more habitats. The ecosystem will kind of literally revive in certain places. There will be more rains because we do need rains,” Hamaad Khan Naqi, WWF-Pakistan’s director general, told VOA.

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http://www.zmescience.com/ecology/pakistan-trees-climate-change-15082017
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 21, 2017, 01:20:29 pm
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(https://earthtrack.net/sites/default/files/u10/oilchange%20logo.jpg)

Trump Disbands Climate Advisory Panel

By Andy Rowell

August 21, 2017

As Trump's presidency spirals like a toxic vortex from one crisis to another, and with the global news media reacting to one venomous tweet after another, it is easy to miss the slow assault against science and the environment that continues below the radar.

The crisis for Trump could get a whole lot worse, with his ex-Chief of Staff, Steve Bannon, who was sacked last week, promising that he was "prepared to go to war with his adversaries in the White House."

Such is the downward spiral of the presidency that many commentators believe it is no longer a matter of "if" but "when" Trump leaves the White House. In the meantime, the president will try to drag as many people down with him and continue his assault against tens of millions of Americans.

What few friends he had have vanished after last week's outrageous defense of white supremacy and neo-Nazis in the wake of the Charlottesville atrocity. As Frank Bruni so eloquently put it in the New York Times, "He abdicated his responsibilities so thoroughly and recklessly that it amounted to a letter of resignation."

Earlier the Times' Mark Landler said that Trump had "relinquished what presidents from Roosevelt to Reagan have regarded as a cardinal duty of their job: set a moral course to unify the nation."

The president, who has no moral or ethical compass, also continues his disingenuous assault on science. Earlier this month, I blogged how in their fight back against Trump, a major report on climate change had been leaked by scientists, fearful that the president would try and suppress it.

The executive summary of the report, written by scientists from 13 agencies, said, "The last few years have seen record-breaking, climate-related, weather extremes, as well as the warmest years on record for the globe.

"Evidence for a changing climate abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans," the report continued. "Thousands of studies conducted by tens of thousands of scientists around the world have documented changes in surface, atmospheric, and oceanic temperatures; melting glaciers; disappearing snow cover; shrinking sea ice; rising sea level; and an increase in atmospheric water vapor".

The Washington Post reported Sunday that Trump wreaked revenge on the scientists by disbanding the federal advisory panel—the National Climate Assessment—that had drafted the report.

According to the Post, "On Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's acting administrator, Ben Friedman, informed the committee's chair that the agency would not renew the panel."

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray (D) told the Post that Trump's actions represent "an example of the president not leading, and the president stepping away from reality."

This is not an isolated incident, though.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) boss, Scott "Polluting Pruitt," has also "purged" dozens of scientists from advisory positions, "leaving a key EPA office without important scientific guidance."

As Trump gets rid of real scientists with expert credentials, in their place come his cronies without any scientific knowledge.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whydidyouwearthat.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F01%2Ftumblr_l7j9nik8Wf1qaxxwjo1_5001.jpeg&hash=1ddbeb4da161820b2cf932e6f5f740e80f5bada6)
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The person nominated by Trump to be the top scientist at the Department of Agriculture, Sam Clovis  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) , used to run a rightwing blog where he called progressives "race traders and race 'traitors'" and likened Barack Obama to a "dictator." He is also a climate denier and conspiracy theorist.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.dailykos.com%2Fimages%2F367763%2Fstory_image%2FClovis-Sam.jpg%3F1487408098&hash=231f2c6958aafd8e5113efb58731af27c68d6924)
Sam Clovis  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fwww_MyEmoticons_com__burp.gif&hash=8ff3ef6c016d8baf5f61ed5e8db58f069b64da00) : Bought and paid for Pollution Pushing Pig of the Fossil Fuel Fascists (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)

Clovis, who is perfect for the Trump Administration but totally unfit to hold a top scientific post, joins the downward vortex into the abyss.

https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-climate-panel-2475369330.html

Agelbert NOTE: The downward vortex will take all of us with it if we do not stop the Polluter Subsidizing Insanity VERY SOON! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F301.gif&hash=0291ed4abf2d80e420d1aa00d4eb3c5dd6bbfb53)

(https://c1cleantechnicacom-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/files/2015/11/fossilfuel_infographic_5.png)

(https://mosaic-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/goodsubsidiesinfographic.jpeg)

(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a9/2d/d1/a92dd147abb515cf6c942f92434c1a70--oil-change-fossils.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 22, 2017, 08:44:58 pm
Scott Pruitt’s EPA Is Crazyland (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fp8.gif&hash=34db9228a959b3b83fc65b38a1aa92a40d56f976)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F126fs2277341.gif&hash=1a8375f11d76a653bcb48e30eaa7b652175f029d)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

August 22nd, 2017 by Guest Contributor

SNIPPET:

Until now, Ronald Reagan-appointed Anne Gorsuch Burford [mother of nepotistic stolen-seat Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch] was the worst administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in its nearly half-century of existence. She cut its budget by a fifth and worked diligently to please polluting industries that she claimed were over-regulated. She was just one appointee during Reagan’s terms chosen to run agencies or departments they didn’t even think should exist. But in six months, Scott Pruitt, the EPA-hating head of the EPA, has stolen the worst-ever title from her.

(https://i0.wp.com/redgreenandblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/toles-2011-03-21.gif?zoom=2&resize=400%2C379)

By Meteor Blades Trump budget attacks science, clean energy

Coral Davenport and Eric Lipton at The New York Times report that Pruitt has injected a sense of paranoia at the agency, making career employees feel as if they are the enemy. Those staffers say floors at EPA HQ are frequently locked, and if they wish to see Pruitt, they must have an escort. They are often told to leave their cellphones behind and not to take notes in meetings with him:

“Mr. Pruitt, according to the employees, who requested anonymity out of fear of losing their jobs, often makes important phone calls from other offices rather than use the phone in his office, and he is accompanied, even at E.P.A. headquarters, by armed guards, the first head of the agency to ever request round-the-clock security.

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/08/22/scott-pruitts-epa-crazyland/

Agelbert NOTE: If I were busy degrading the biosphere on behalf of the polluters, I would want 24/7 security too. People have a tendency to take offense to being poisoned for polluter profit...

But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. -- Proverbs 2:22 KJV
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 26, 2017, 03:27:00 pm
(https://www.afsc.org/sites/afsc.civicactions.net/files/u1752/Truthout%20logo.jpg)

We Can't Stop Our Exposure to Toxic Chemicals Until We Rein In the Corporations Releasing Them

Saturday, August 26, 2017

By Lauren Orlando, Rural America In These Times | News Analysis

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SNIPPET:

Quote
The tobacco industry's playbook gets bounced from one industry to the next, with the highly remunerative process of seeding doubt enough to perpetuate another generation of exposures and another decade or two of profits.

The issue is not whether or not we own up to the real role that lifestyle factors play in causing cancer.

It is that we understand how the lifestyle excuse is
used to diminish or deny the role played by industry, by social prejudice and by economic disadvantage in perpetuating the circumstances that lead to many cancers and that influence cancer survival rates.

Yet when we raise these issues we are shouted down and we are financially out-gunned by the same corporate interests that benefit from the cancer status quo. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)
Full article with video:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/41704-we-can-t-stop-our-exposure-to-toxic-chemicals-until-we-rein-in-the-corporations-releasing-them
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 27, 2017, 02:05:52 pm
Exxon's PITTANCE offering $500,000 to victims won't even begin to dent the MASSIVE cost to insurance corporations taking the BRUNT of Climate Change costs Big Oil SHOULD BE PAYING, while biosphere polluting, democracy destroying, people poisoning corporations like Exxon keep getting welfare queened with direct AND INDIRECT MASSIVE subsidies.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)
 
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(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a9/2d/d1/a92dd147abb515cf6c942f92434c1a70--oil-change-fossils.jpg)

(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 27, 2017, 02:32:57 pm
... they believe gas prices will increase 5 cents to 25 cents per gallon. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smilies.4-user.de%2Finclude%2FSpiele%2Fsmilie_game_017.gif&hash=e8548890f80af23241a1d43a1ab1ca8031301f20)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)


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Hurricane Harvey closes key oil, gas operations in Texas

DAVID KOENIG, AP Business Writer 17 hrs ago

DALLAS (AP) — Key oil and gas facilities along the Texas Gulf Coast have temporarily shut down as Harvey pounds the region with torrential rain and high winds, virtually assuring gasoline prices will rise in the storm's aftermath.

Even before the Harvey made landfall late Friday, dozens of oil and gas platforms had been evacuated, at least three refineries had closed and at least two petrochemical plants had suspended operations.

How soon they reopen depends on the severity of flooding and the resumption of power to the areas. Experts say it's still too early to say, with the storm still moving through the region Saturday evening. But they believe gas prices will increase 5 cents to 25 cents per gallon.

Harvey also continued to take a toll on U.S. air travel Saturday, with more than 1,000 flight cancellations as of the early evening, according to FlightAware. Nearly 850 of the canceled flights were scheduled to either depart from or land at Houston's two airports.

The shipping industry also is expected to be disrupted by the worst hurricane to hit the refinery-rich Texas coast in more than 50 years.

Here's how Harvey is likely to affect business and pocketbooks:

— REFINERIES: Nearly one-third of the nation's refining capacity sits in low-lying areas along the coast from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Several refineries at greatest risk of suffering a direct strike from high winds have already shut down, but it is the potential for flooding in the Houston and Beaumont areas that could really pinch gasoline supplies.

Flooding and power outages caused by a storm surge are considered the biggest risk.

"The biggest driver of how much this will increase gas prices is how much rain falls in Houston during the next three days," Andy Lipow, president of consultant Lipow Oil Associates, said Saturday. "We are in a wait-and-watch mode."

For now, Lipow is predicting gasoline prices will rise 10 cents per gallon east of the Rockies.

Tom Kloza, an analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, predicts that prices could rise by up to 25 cents a gallon, but that an increase of 5 cents to 15 cents is more likely, assuming that the hurricane doesn't cause lasting damage to refineries.

Flint Hills Resources announced that it would shutter a refinery before Harvey hit and Valero Energy Corp. said it was closing two facilities in Corpus Christi.

The prospect of supply interruptions sent gasoline futures to $1.74 a gallon, their highest level since April, before they retreated to around $1.67 by Friday afternoon.

In addition to the refinery closures, Formosa Plastics shut its petrochemical plant in Point Comfort, Texas, and OxyChem suspended operations at its petrochemical plant in Ingleside, Texas, according to Platts, an S&P Global division that tracks the commodities and energy industry.

— OIL AND GAS: Companies have been evacuating workers from oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, and that is crimping the flow of oil and gas.

As of Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said workers had been removed from 86 of the 737 manned platforms used to pump oil and gas from beneath the Gulf.

The agency estimated that platforms accounting for about 22 percent of oil production and 23 percent of natural gas output in the Gulf had been shut down.

"We could see more production be taken offline in the Gulf of Mexico" if the path of the storm wanders farther east, said Jenna Delaney, an oil analyst for PIRA Energy. But, she noted, oil companies announced fewer platform shutdowns on Friday than they had on Thursday, which is an encouraging sign.

Exxon Mobil closed two of its platforms and was evacuating all personnel in the expected path of the storm, said spokeswoman Suann Guthrie. Shell halted operations on a big floating oil-production platform, and Anadarko evacuated workers and shut down four facilities in the western Gulf while continuing to operate those east of the storm's predicted path.

On shore, ConcoPhillips stopped all operations in the Eagle Ford shale formation, which lies across a swath of South Texas inland from the Gulf. A company spokeswoman cited safety and potential disruptions in getting oil and gas from the wells to market during the storm.

— SHIPPING: Shipping terminals along the Texas coast shut down as the storm approached. Port operations in Corpus Christi and Galveston closed, and the port of Houston said container terminals and general cargo facilities closed around midday Friday.

Rates for carrying freight between the Gulf of Mexico and the U.S. East Coast rose.


— TRAVEL: After more than 1,200 flight cancellations Friday and Saturday, airlines already had canceled an additional 823 flights scheduled for Sunday, according to FlightAware's calculations on Saturday evening.

Airlines were offering customers the chance to reschedule trips that would take them to Houston, San Antonio or Austin from Friday through the weekend.

— UTILITIES: Researchers at Texas A&M University estimated that the storm would knock out power for at least 1.25 million people in Texas. They said the hardest-hit areas will include Corpus Christi, which is on the coast, and San Antonio, which is about 140 miles inland.

— INSURANCE: A firm that does forecasts for insurance companies said wind-damage claims could top $6 billion, although it said losses in the low billions are more likely.

Risk Management Solutions Inc. said losses from storm surges and inland flooding could be a bigger source of losses. If the firm is correct, that would put homeowners and the government-backed National Flood Insurance Program at risk.

The flood program is run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which owes the Treasury about $23 billion in funds borrowed to cover the cost of past disasters, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Homeowner policies with insurance companies don't typically cover flood damage, yet a relatively small percentage of homeowners have flood insurance through the federal program.

___

AP Business Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this story.

http://www.fortworthbusiness.com/news/hurricane-harvey-closes-key-oil-gas-operations-in-texas/article_efd3c8c6-8ab1-11e7-9e16-e7d70ce37e71.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 27, 2017, 06:26:52 pm
Quote
What You Can’t See in Your Indoor Air May Be One of the Biggest Threats to Your Health

You breathe more than you eat or drink, but most likely you don’t give nearly as much thought to what you may be inhaling. With the possibility of over 1,500 invisible and potentially toxic substances contaminating your air space right now, isn’t it time you took control over what you’re breathing?

https://youtu.be/eMzpiFjkqLI

Whether you’re relaxing at home, working in your office, driving in your car or riding on public transportation, you’re exposed to a wide variety of airborne particles and contaminants.

While many people focus on outdoor air when they hear ‘air pollution’, you may be surprised to learn that the EPA has discovered indoor air contains 2 to 5 times and potentially as much as 100 times more contaminants than the air outdoors!

Indoor air pollution has truly become one of the most serious environmental threats to your health. Yet, no government agency monitors or controls it and studies on its health effects are limited.

So I ask you… Are you paying as much attention to what you’re breathing into your lungs as you are to what you’re eating and drinking? It may be just as important.

Over the next few minutes, I hope to increase your awareness of what you may be inhaling. And I’d like to share with you options I’ve discovered to help you protect yourself and your loved ones from these contaminants lurking out-of-sight in indoor air, wherever you go.

How Can You Tell If Your Indoor Air Is Polluted?

Full detailed article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://airpurifier.mercola.com/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 28, 2017, 10:29:11 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg06.deviantart.net%2Fbb6a%2Fi%2F2011%2F120%2Ff%2F6%2Fcorporate_pollution_by_jakejames-d3512u1.jpg&hash=30ead896a22d9a93df54de278d32cb3822d4a3ce)

August 28, 2017

Nation's 2nd-largest refinery is flooded
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fww4.hdnux.com%2Fphotos%2F65%2F26%2F63%2F13987035%2F3%2Fcore_centerpiece_tab_small.jpg&hash=f821ea2a63a66d24ab589285291689267d94d98e)
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Exxon's Baytown refinery, the nation's 2nd-largest facility, has been shut down due to flooding. According to CNN Money, Exxon filed a report to Texas environmental regulators, saying air emissions related to flood damage (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c) will last until Friday. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fugly004.gif&hash=c56db4280057389afd154a1cb4057410151579c8)  Exxon shut down the refining and chemical plant as floodwaters rose over the weekend.

According to the CNN story, Exxon was fined $20 million for violating the Clean Air Act at that plant more than 16,000 times between October 2005 and 2013.

The New Republic is reporting that noxious chemical smells have been reported in neighborhoods surrounding that plant and other chemical facilities and refineries that have been affected by flooding.

http://mashable.com/2017/08/25/hurricane-harvey-weather-geek-live-blog/#HBLiQtpLe8qI

(https://conservationco.org/admin/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/exxon-knew.png)

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 30, 2017, 02:52:00 pm
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FILE PHOTO: An oil tank damaged by Hurricane Harvey is seen near Seadrift, Texas, U.S. August 26, 2017. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo

More U.S. Gulf Refineries dama ged by Harvey as Others Remain Underwater

August 29, 2017 by Reuters

http://gcaptain.com/harvey-threatens-more-u-s-gulf-refineries-as-others-remain-underwater/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 31, 2017, 01:11:14 pm
 
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(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-310517125550.jpeg&hash=d06642600f3b99f0e3933e485766e704610364bb)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fslideplayer.com%2Fslide%2F5842021%2F19%2Fimages%2F8%2FMatthew%2B18%3A7%2BWoe%2Bunto%2Bthe%2Bworld%2Bbecause%2Bof%2Boffences%21%2Bfor%2Bit%2Bmust%2Bneeds%2Bbe%2Bthat%2Boffences%2Bcome%3B%2Bbut%2Bwoe%2Bto%2Bthat%2Bman%2Bby%2Bwhom%2Bthe%2Boffence%2Bcometh%21.jpg&hash=77e791ed0dbe3bd9aae7071fe3af1d96a534a92d)
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 31, 2017, 07:25:14 pm
Harvey triggered the release of more than a million pounds of toxic pollutants (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

By Emily Atkin on Aug 30, 2017

SNIPPET:

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the number of chemical plants, refineries, and other industrial facilities. So when one of the worst storms in American history hit the heart of Texas’ petrochemical industry, it also triggered one of the biggest mass shutdowns the area has even seen. At least 25 plants have either shut down or experienced production issues due to Hurricane Harvey’s unprecedented severe weather and flooding, according to industry publication ICIS. But those closures are not only disrupting markets; they’re also causing enormous releases of toxic pollutants that pose a threat to human health.

Take Chevron Phillips Chemical plant in Sweeny, Texas. When it shut down due to Hurricane Harvey, it released into the atmosphere more than 100,000 pounds of carbon monoxide; 22,000 pounds of nitrogen oxide, 32,000 pounds of ethylene, and 11,000 pounds of propane, according to a report the company submitted to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). A couple thousand pounds of 1,3-butadiene, benzene, and butane were released as well. All of these releases were far more than what was legally allowed. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

Read more

http://grist.org/article/harvey-triggered-the-release-of-more-than-a-million-pounds-of-toxic-pollutants/

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FILE PHOTO: An oil tank damaged by Hurricane Harvey is seen near Seadrift, Texas, U.S. August 26, 2017. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo

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(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 02, 2017, 01:55:57 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Left out of this otherwise very informative article is the massive chemical pollution all this damage is now causing, and will continue to cause even more in the immediate future, to the ocean, to the land and to the aquifers. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

As usual, tears are shed for the fossil fuel industry, that created this polluting infrastructure in the first place, and no tears or shouts of outrage at the fact that we-the-people will have to pay for the clean up while we CONTINUE to subsidize these polluters MORE THAN EVER.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b)

Why do I say, "more than ever"? ??? Because ALL the damages you are about to see are TAX DEDUCTIBLE!

And, BY THE WAY, the Federal Government is going to PAY for the repair of a lot of the direct damages (never mind all the indirect costs we-the people PAY for having the Coast Guard and the military provide monitoring and towing services FREE) to all the polluter infrastructure, even while those clever bastards deduct the "estimated" damages from their tax return. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c) Now you know that, despite the corporate happy talk front of being "highly profitable",  the Fossil fuel Industry is actually the champion WELFARE QUEEN in the USA.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smilies.4-user.de%2Finclude%2FSpiele%2Fsmilie_game_017.gif&hash=e8548890f80af23241a1d43a1ab1ca8031301f20)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)

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Enjoy the pictures and try to add up how much money we-the-people will be fleeced for by these polluter crooks (most of that money is NOT going to come from from the pittance the fossil fuel industry bought and paid for crooks in Congress have approved for "Houston relief".).  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgaah.gif&hash=e43fa6be4258ba495007b2bbb3e7dd2f60288fcd)


Texas Ports Update – Houston-Galveston, Corpus Christi, Port Arthur – Damage Photos and Video

By Mike Schuler on Sep 01, 2017 11:40 am

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The U.S. Coast Guard conducted several overflights Thursday to assess the damage to ports along the Texas Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey as many of the affected ports began opening.

Hurricane Harvey has significantly impacted the entire Texas coast, home to petroleum refining centers in Corpus Christi, Houston, Port Arthur, Beaumont, and Lake Charles Louisiana. The storm forced many to either completely shutdown or significantly scale back operations.

As of Friday, the Port of Houston resumed partial operations after being closed for nearly a week due the storm. The Port of Houston Authority said both the Barbours Cut and Bayport container terminals resumed operations on Friday, with three vessels waiting to come into Barbours Cut and one for Bayport as of early Friday morning.

Below is Friday’s update from the Port of Houston Authority:

Port Houston Barbours Cut and Bayport terminals have resumed operations.
Gates are open Friday, 0700 – 1700, in-gate closing at 1600. Vessels will be worked as they are cleared for transit.
Port Houston Turning Basing Facilities: Both Upper level and Lower level road are open for operations.
Jacintoport: Open for business

Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4th: Vessels will be worked at Port Houston Container Terminals. Gate operations TBA.

Over the last week, several vessels have ended up skipping Houston altogether. A FAQ said seven containerships omitted Bayport while five containerships omitted Barbours Cut. As for damage to Port Houston container terminals, the port authority said there is no evidence of flooding at the terminals and no visible damage to containers, cranes, or other terminal equipment.

In a news conference late Thursday, Janiece M. Longoria, chairwoman of the Port of Houston Authority, said heavy current into the Houston Ship Channel at the Port of Houston was making it unsafe to bring in vessels.

Check the Port Houston website for the most up-to-date information on port operations.

As Friday Coast Guard Port Conditions at Houston-Galveston were set to “OPEN WITH RESTRICTIONS”. All vessels transits are being limited to daylight hours and the following draft restrictions are currently in place:

Freeport: Draft restricted to 33 feet or less.
Galveston: Draft restricted to 33 feet or less.
Houston: Draft restricted to 37 feet or less.
Texas City: Draft restricted to 33 feet or less.


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Agelbert NOTE: Draft restrictions put a severe crimp on channel navigability. The dredging costs to make the channel navigable for the fossil fuel industy's ships and barges will be astronomical and WE-THE-PEOPLE are going to FOOT THE BILL!(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300115234833.gif&hash=20e82f36f361174e6f8f07e11c36330842502bab)

In the Port Arthur and Lake Charles area, which includes the port of Beaumont, the ports remained closed as of Friday.

Coast Guard port conditions can be found on the Coast Guard’s Homeport website.

Some aerial photos of the damage to other facilities located on the Houston Ship Channel are below (keep scrolling for update on Corpus Christi and Brownsville):

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The Port of Corpus Christi has been open since 2:15 PM, August 31, 2017, but restricted to vessels with a draft no greater 43 feet. In addition, all foreign registered vessels 100 gross registered tons or larger, all domestic tank vessels 10,000 gross registered tons or larger, and all domestic non-tank vessels 1,600 gross registered tons or larger must conduct one way transits only; have a minimum of 2 pilots for each transit; and transit during daylight hours only.

As of Thursday’s update, the Port of Brownsville was open with no restrictions.

“Mariners are advised that although some channel surveys have been conducted, the Coast Guard has not completed channel surveys of all inlets, harbors and channels to confirm safe transit,” the Port of Christi said in an update. “Mariners are to proceed with caution as navigational aids may be missing or off station and debris, shoaling and hazardous substances may be present. All other waterways of the COTP zone remain closed.”

Mariners are reminded that the Corpus Christi Inner Harbor Security Zone (33 CFR 165.809) remains in effect during severe weather and therefore recreational, commercial fishing and passenger vessels are not permitted to enter the security zone without permission of the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port. Vessels must have a prearranged agreement with the COTP to enter the Inner Harbor.

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Agelbert NOTE: Check out where three barges like the ones above ended up in the video below:  :o

Below is a video of Thursday’s flyover of the port of Corpus Christi area.

https://youtu.be/IbPjDWoWPZQ

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The Paragon Offshore drillship (the former Noble Phoenix  ::)) which at the entrance to the ship channel in Port Aransas, leading to Corpus Christi, is still aground as of Friday.The Coast Guard assessed damage and offered search and rescue assistance during an overflight from Port Aransas to Port O’Connor, Texas, Aug. 26, 2017.. U.S. Coast Guard Photo

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The above picture appears to show Southwest Shipyard’s facility on Brady Island, located on the Buffalo Bayou which flows into the Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Bay.

http://gcaptain.com/texas-ports-update-houston-galveston-corpus-christi-port-arthur-damage-photos-video/


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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 03, 2017, 01:45:10 pm
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Texans Face Soaring Levels of Toxic Pollution After Harvey

By Emma Niles —  Oil refineries and petrochemical plants in Houston report the release of more than 2,700 tons of additional pollution—a result of Hurricane Harvey's damage.

(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/304fa75d7ed32d56ae1ff3a796933cb65eac738511bb960bc4a77bb2f67c0af6.gif)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201604.png&hash=3793102f2f335b7a8fe106d54eac4db31f2674eb)

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/texans-face-soaring-levels-of-toxic-pollution-after-harvey/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 05, 2017, 03:29:12 pm
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Before Hurricane Harvey                                         After  :P

 (https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/545693884664119297/mCDJfUgm.jpeg)

Houston Awash in Chemicals & Toxic Waste    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1593.gif&hash=628238f2fc26695937f6e97b91b050976065743b)

Toxic waste and pollution are emerging as a top concern as cleanup continued in Houston over the long weekend. Owners of the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, which suffered multiple explosions and fires last week, announced Sunday it would conduct controlled burns of the rest of the chemicals stored at the damaged facility as a "proactive measure."

According to the EPA, at least 13 Superfund sites in the Houston area have been damaged by flooding.

Runoff from chemical plants and oil and gas facilities has also mixed with the city's overflowing sewage system to create a toxic soup in the remaining floodwaters, causing concerns around drinking water systems.

And filings accumulated by the Center for Biological Diversity estimate that over 1 million pounds of toxic pollutants from damaged oil and gas and chemical facilities, including several types of carcinogens, have been released into the air since the hurricane made landfall.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/nidhisubbaraman/harvey-texas-superfund-spat

Agelbert NOTE: Fossil Fuel and Chemical Industry reaction to the above irrefutable news (see below):

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The Fossil Fuelers DID THE Clean Energy  Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)

Democracy Now!

George Monbiot: We Can't Be Silent on Climate Change or the Unsustainability of Capitalist System
https://youtu.be/siladGzSKJI

Published on Aug 31, 2017

https://democracynow.org - While Houston continues to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, we look at the media silence on the human contribution to the record-breaking storm. British journalist and author George Monbiot wrote that despite 2016 being the hottest year on record, the combined coverage during the evening and Sunday news programs on the main television networks amounted to a total of 50 minutes in all of last year. "Our greatest predicament, the issue that will define our lives, has been blotted from the public’s mind," he wrote. The silence has been even more resounding on climate-related disasters in areas of the world where populations are more vulnerable—most recently, on the devastating floods across the globe, from Niger to South Asia. Over the past month, more than 1,200 people have died amid flooding in Bangladesh, Nepal and India. This year’s monsoon season has brought torrential downpours that have submerged wide swaths of South Asia, destroying tens of thousands of homes, schools and hospitals. Meanwhile, in Niger, West Africa, thousands of people have been ordered to leave their homes in the capital Niamey after several days of heavy downpours. We speak with Monbiot, columnist at The Guardian. His book, "Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis," will be out this week.

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 07, 2017, 09:06:04 pm
Agelbert NOTE: NOAA Accurately predicted the massive bleaching of 2016 (see video and explanation below).

https://youtu.be/gI6UPqFkJ0k

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NOAA declares third-ever global coral bleaching event]

Oct 08, 2015

As record ocean temperatures cause widespread coral bleaching across Hawaii, NOAA scientists confirm the same stressful conditions are expanding to the Caribbean and may last into the new year, prompting the declaration of the third global coral bleaching event ever on record. This animation shows how warmer than normal sea surface temperatures are creating heat stress along with large areas of bleaching events, using satellite data from the NOAA Coral Reef Watch Program. Data includes sea surface temperature anomaly data from October 2015, year-to-date Degree Heating Week data for 2015, and maximum bleaching area alert data for 2015.

Waters are warming in the Caribbean, threatening coral in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, NOAA scientists said. Coral bleaching began in the Florida Keys and South Florida in August, but now scientists expect bleaching conditions there to diminish. This bleaching event, which began in the north Pacific in summer 2014 and expanded to the south Pacific and Indian oceans in 2015, is hitting U.S. coral reefs disproportionately hard. NOAA estimates that by the end of 2015, almost 95 percent of U.S. coral reefs will have been exposed to ocean conditions that can cause corals to bleach.

The biggest risk right now is to the Hawaiian Islands, where bleaching is intensifying and is expected to continue for at least another month. Areas at risk in the Caribbean in coming weeks include Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and from the U.S. Virgin Islands south into the Leeward and Windward islands. The next concern is the further impact of the strong El Niño, which climate models indicate will cause bleaching in the Indian and southeastern Pacific Oceans after the new year. This may cause bleaching to spread globally again in 2016.''



Continue to monitor real-time global bleaching conditions in NOAA View.

https://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/MediaDetail2.php?MediaID=1791&MediaTypeID=3&ResourceID=104958
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 08, 2017, 03:06:29 pm
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First Responders Sue Over “Chaos” at Houston-Area Chemical Plant (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

A group of Texas first responders filed suit against chemical company Arkema Thursday, alleging the company did not adequately warn them of the risks of chemical exposure while they attended to a plant fire outside of Houston last week.

In the suit, the seven plaintiffs say they were "overwhelmed" by vomiting after coming in contact with fumes at the plant, describing a scene "nothing less than chaos." The suit also accuses the company of failing to properly secure chemical facilities after Hurricane Harvey.

The EPA separately ordered Arkema to provide details of the explosion last week, which was caused by flood-related power outages that cut off refrigeration for the plant's chemical stores.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/first-responders-file-suit-against-exploding-houston-chemical-plant/539154/

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 08, 2017, 06:41:05 pm
 (https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Center_for_Biological_Diversity_logo.jpg)

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Harvey: Refineries Spewed 1 Million Lbs. of Seven Air Toxics (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

Amid Harvey's devastation the Center for Biological Diversity analyzed industry data. We found that south Texas refineries and petrochemical plants released nearly 1 million pounds of seven dangerous air pollutants through flaring and spills during storm flooding.

A staggering 951,000 pounds of pollutants known to seriously harm people — including by causing cancer — were emitted by Aug. 31 from oil and gas facilities. The pollutants are benzene, 1,3-butadiene, hexane, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, toluene and xylene.

"Oil-industry facilities spewed tons of truly dangerous chemicals into defenseless communities, despite ample warnings about hurricane risk," said Shaye Wolf, the Center scientist who compiled the analysis. "The petroleum industry seems unwilling to take responsibility for operating safely, even as climate change makes storms like Harvey more destructive."

Full article:
http://www.salon.com/2017/09/07/bigger-stronger-storms-will-mean-more-post-hurricane-pollution-does-trump-even-care/

Agelbert NOTE: Please remember that there is NO ZONING in Houston. So when you look at the following pictures, do not be lulled into thinking that the waters and the air and the ground in those fancy neighborhoods is not being subject to toxic chemicals after the flood, even if the polltion went mostly to the poor and middle class before.

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"We've seen the future and it looks a lot like Houston."  Rhea Suh President, NRDC

The irony for the fossil fuel and chemical industry polluters (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978) that set up this toxic profit over people and planet "business friendly" MESS in Houston is that after this storm, all those privileged zip codes (that had a much higher life expentancy than the poorer neighborhoods near the refineries and chemical plants) will NOW be visited with silent, but deadly, attacks on the immune system of the people living there.

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 09, 2017, 01:31:38 pm
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Study: Ship Emissions Make Thunderstorms More Intense

September 8, 2017 by gCaptain
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Photo: Nexus J / Shutterstock

Thunderstorms directly above two of the world’s busiest shipping lanes are significantly more powerful than storms in areas of the ocean where ships don’t travel, according to new University of Washington research.

A new study mapping lightning around the globe finds lightning strokes occur nearly twice as often directly above heavily-trafficked shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea than they do in areas of the ocean adjacent to shipping lanes that have similar climates.

The difference in lightning activity can’t be explained by changes in the weather, according to the study’s authors, who conclude that aerosol particles emitted in ship exhaust are changing how storm clouds form over the ocean.


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The study published Sept. 7 in Geophysical Research Letters is the first to show ship exhaust can alter thunderstorm intensity. The researchers conclude that particles from ship exhaust make cloud droplets smaller, lifting them higher in the atmosphere. This creates more ice particles and leads to more lightning.

The results provide some of the first evidence that humans are changing cloud formation on a nearly continual basis, rather than after a specific incident like a wildfire, according to the authors. Cloud formation can affect rainfall patterns and alter climate by changing how much sunlight clouds reflect to space.

“It’s one of the clearest examples of how humans are actually changing the intensity of storm processes on Earth through the emission of particulates from combustion,” said lead author Joel Thornton, a UW professor of atmospheric sciences.

All combustion engines emit exhaust, which contains microscopic particles of soot and compounds of nitrogen and sulfur. These particles, known as aerosols, form the smog and haze typical of large cities. They also act as cloud condensation nuclei – the seeds on which clouds form. Water vapor condenses around aerosols in the atmosphere, creating droplets that make up clouds.

Cargo ships crossing oceans emit exhaust continuously and scientists can use ship exhaust to better understand how aerosols affect cloud formation.

Co-author Katrina Virts, a former UW postdoctoral researcher who is now an atmospheric scientist at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, was analyzing data from the World Wide Lightning Location Network, a UW-based network of sensors that locates lightning strokes all over the globe, when she noticed a nearly straight line of lightning strokes across the Indian Ocean.

Virts and her colleagues compared the lightning location data to maps of ships’ exhaust plumes from a global database of ship emissions. Looking at the locations of 1.5 billion lightning strokes from 2005 to 2016, the team found nearly twice as many lightning strokes on average over major routes ships take across the northern Indian Ocean, through the Strait of Malacca and into the South China Sea, compared to adjacent areas of the ocean that have similar climates.

“All we had to do was make a map of where the lightning was enhanced and a map of where the ships are traveling and it was pretty obvious just from the co-location of both of those that the ships were somehow involved in enhancing lightning,” Thornton said.

Water molecules need aerosols to condense into clouds. Where the atmosphere has few aerosol particles – over the ocean, for instance – water molecules have fewer particles to condense around, so cloud droplets are large.

When more aerosols are added to the air, like from ship exhaust, water molecules have more particles to collect around. More cloud droplets form, but they are smaller. Being lighter, these smaller droplets travel higher into the atmosphere and more of them reach the freezing line, creating more ice, which creates more lightning. Storm clouds become electrified when ice particles collide with each other and with unfrozen droplets in the cloud. Lightning is the atmosphere’s way of neutralizing that built-up electric charge.

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Ships burn dirtier fuels in the open ocean away from port, spewing more aerosols and creating even more lightning, Thornton said.

“It is the first time we have, literally, a smoking gun, showing over pristine ocean areas that the lightning amount is more than doubling,” said Daniel Rosenfeld, an atmospheric scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who was not connected to the study. “The study shows, highly unambiguously, the relationship between anthropogenic emissions – in this case, from diesel engines – on deep convective clouds.”  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)


Other co-authors are Robert Holzworth, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences who directs lightning network, and Todd Mitchell, a research meteorologist at the UW’s Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean.

This was originally posted as a press release by the American Geophysical Union.

http://gcaptain.com/study-ship-exhaust-makes-thunderstorms-more-intense/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funny-emoticons.com%2Ffiles%2Ffunny-animals%2Fblue-bird-emoticons%2F801-listen-up%21.png&hash=f7fb2b5263a68b91c628fc597877983f813843e5) STOP subsidizing POLLUTION!
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgraysondemocrats.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F05%2Fend-oil.jpg&hash=a5cf685d87ceb0f3f17eab91155ebb790707cf10)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 12, 2017, 03:01:37 pm
(https://twinstogether.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/colombia-673.jpg)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200317134631.png&hash=3ec83ab2cb9a9acaf485fff7312df6381c25c2fd)

Death of a dynasty: west North America lost over 95% of its monarch butterflies in 35 years

LAST UPDATED ON SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2017 AT 8:45 PM BY ALEXANDRU MICU

SNIPPET:

Quote
“In the 1980s, 10 million monarchs spent the winter in coastal California,” says lead researcher Cheryl Schultz from Washington State University Vancouver. “Today there are barely 300,000.”

“This study doesn’t just show that there are fewer monarchs now than 35 years ago. It also tells us that, if things stay the same, western monarchs probably won’t be around (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)  as we know them in another 35 years,” says Schultz.

Full article:

http://www.zmescience.com/science/monarch-butterflies-death-america/

Agelbert NOTE: Big Agriculture in general, and Monsanto in particuar, are DIRECTLY responsible for this wanton destruction of a precious life form. As usual with these scientific articles that do not want to offend the bought and paid for corporate scientists, they claim that "more research is needed to determine the cause". (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-111214174727.png&hash=a0ea65f844542e4709bd444bd2f70496c434c56b)

Monsanto(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605) is GUILTY of  directly causing Monarch butterfly habitat loss. HOW? By wreaking herbicide havoc on the Monarch Butterfly life cycle through a decline of the summer milkweed which Monarchs use to reproduce, along with producing the pesticides that kill them outright.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C61Y6YSVsAA4ZQ1.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 12, 2017, 04:36:19 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgeothermalexpo.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F06%2FREW-logo-new.jpg&hash=7d8fc0fe077063b22ad6ea5565b7366c128b757b)

This Is Why More Companies Aren’t Disclosing Their Environmental Strategies

September 12, 2017

By Jennifer Delony Associate Editor

       
HSBC today said that 53 percent of companies now have an environmental strategy in place, but only 43 percent actively disclose it. Why is that number so low?    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpm1.narvii.com%2F5869%2F6a64193d6770c3afd17406c78686c0eda32ded1c_hq.jpg&hash=fedf26e48d67cdd1e932380c7336ac18486d3fee)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2017/09/this-is-why-more-companies-aren-t-disclosing-their-environmental-strategies.html


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 13, 2017, 01:54:45 pm
EcoWatch September 13, 2017

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.doomsteaddiner.net%2Fforum%2FMGalleryItem.php%3Fid%3D550&hash=d4f945bd1ed1f689d0155cb8174bb232085f17e8)

Hurricanes Irma and Harvey Cast Spotlight on Toxic Sites In Our Midst

By Diane Carman

SNIPPET:

Our country has just witnessed two of the worst hurricanes in our history and the work of rebuilding shattered lives in Texas, Florida, and elsewhere has barely begun. Toxic cleanup will be a part of the work ahead.

This is an area dotted with oil refineries, chemical plants, Superfund sites and coal-fired power plants. All of these structures represent toxic waste and contamination threats during the best of weather times; with storms, these issues become even more dire.

Full article:

https://www.ecowatch.com/irma-harvey-toxic-sites-2484405562.html

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.doomsteaddiner.net%2Fforum%2FMGalleryItem.php%3Fid%3D557&hash=eb5824d09dc1d093b92c250ebe453e6f1834cbb5)

U.S. Air Force Is Spraying 6 Million Acres With Chemicals in Response to Harvey

By Whitney Webb

SNIPPET:

Naled's Toxicity (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) Not Confined to Mosquitoes

While the Pentagon has framed its efforts to "assist" as seeking to eliminate a potential human health risk, the particular chemical it is using to control insect populations is likely to do more harm than good. According to the Air Force, the mosquito control protocol involves spraying the "Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved and regulated material, Naled," which the Air Force insists will not be used in amounts large enough to "cause any concern for human health."

However, the insecticide Naled, manufactured and sold by a strategic partner of Monsanto, is currently banned in the European Union due to the "unacceptable risk" it presents to human health.

Naled is a known neurotoxin in animals and humans, as it inhibits acetylcholinesterase—an enzyme essential to nerve function and communication—and has even been known to have caused paralysis. Mounting scientific evidence, including a recent Harvard study, has also pointed to Naled's responsibility for the mass die-off of North American bees. Just one day of Naled spraying in South Carolina killed more than 2.5 million bees last year.

Full article:

https://www.ecowatch.com/harvey-pesticide-naled-2484385387.html

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.doomsteaddiner.net%2Fforum%2FMGalleryItem.php%3Fid%3D608&hash=456b20419e2cd1b4036f1d879dd9752b27bd1f72)

EPA Grants Florida Utilities Blanket Pollution Waiver After Irma

by Lorraine Chow

SNIPPET:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted all Florida power plants a "no action assurance" on Monday as the state tries to turn the lights back on post-Hurricane Irma.

The waiver, given at the request of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and effective through Sept. 26, allows the utilities "to operate without meeting all pollution controls in order to maintain the supply of electricity to customers and critical facilities across the state as a result of Hurricane Irma," EPA said.

But as the Associated Press noted in a report, the waiver basically means that electric companies can get away with violating clean air and water standards without penalty for the next two weeks.

Full article:

https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-irma-2484439400.html

(https://previews.123rf.com/images/iqoncept/iqoncept1007/iqoncept100700021/7352606-The-planet-Earth-is-flushed-down-a-toilet-symbolizing-the-wasting-of-its-resources-Stock-Photo.jpg)



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 14, 2017, 02:55:46 pm
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200317134631.png&hash=3ec83ab2cb9a9acaf485fff7312df6381c25c2fd)


Follow the last 30 years of humanity shaping the planet through the eyes of Google’s Timelapse

LAST UPDATED ON SEPTEMBER 14TH, 2017 AT 7:04 PM BY ALEXANDRU MICU 


SNIPPET:

Timelapse of Miami, Florida. You can see some of the islands disappearing in the lower right.

The drying of the Aral sea, which is regarded as one of the worst environmental disasters in modern history. Originally one of the largest inland seas/lakes in the world, with an area of 68,000 sq km (26,300 sq miles,) by 2014 it had largely dried up. Its eastern basin is now known as the Aralkum Desert.

Colombia Glacier, in Alaska, becoming Colombia Water as average temperatures increase.

It’s an awesome testament to how far we’ve come as a species — but also a terrible sight of how much damage we can unintentionally (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251) wreak upon the world around us.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041115022304.png&hash=cd8cb8e28ab8f7fc78c1ea00d30a661bd937aed5)

Full article with graphics referred to above:

http://www.zmescience.com/science/google-timelapse-humanity-earth/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 14, 2017, 03:34:47 pm
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Large Oil Spill Washes Ashore in Greece After Tanker Sinks

September 13, 2017 by gCaptain

(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/304fa75d7ed32d56ae1ff3a796933cb65eac738511bb960bc4a77bb2f67c0af6.gif)

http://gcaptain.com/oil-slick-washes-ashore-on-greek-island-after-tanker-sinks/

(https://rlv.zcache.co.uk/no_planet_b_round_sticker-rcb9b00ae55034b85b5cb888d8eb0a2c6_v9waf_8byvr_324.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 18, 2017, 11:12:18 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280817124736.png&hash=05804179fbea9247f087ca91185b6d7d47f19a10)



(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F09%2Foil-spill-cleanup.jpg&hash=7a5d4be48bf86adcaec7c2e80a79c859b7be7995)

Harvey Spilled 22,000 Barrels of Oil and Chemicals (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) , Says Coast Guard

September 16, 2017 by Reuters

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http://gcaptain.com/harvey-spilled-22000-barrels-oil-say-coast-guard/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F09%2FDamage-7.jpeg&hash=0e7eb3775167af6e608fb9f0afe72a07125d40fa)


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(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F09%2FDamage-5.jpeg&hash=dff6623d16a0bb2cc34ca4204b84ba16a0ea89eb)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 20, 2017, 05:15:43 pm
(https://www.afsc.org/sites/afsc.civicactions.net/files/u1752/Truthout%20logo.jpg)

(https://www.texasobserver.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Houston_Ship_Channel.jpg)
Profit Over People and Planet Pollution Sources next to Houston Ship Channel  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817132239.gif&hash=c555fae59d64f84fedf7c850401a5d9610527816)

Analyzing the 5.5 Million Pounds of Air Pollutants (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frealsociology.edublogs.org%2Ffiles%2F2010%2F08%2F460_0___30_0_0_0_0_0_shell_skull_colour.jpg&hash=a4c0baea5ec89328a16e21f3820975938465eadf)  Released in Texas After Harvey

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

By Janine Jackson, FAIR | Interview

SNIPPET:

Janine Jackson: The story of devastating weather events like hurricanes is many stories, really. There's no need to compete; they're all critical. But there is something about the oil industry spurring climate disruption, lobbying against preventative or preparatory measures, and then adding to its harmful impact with their methods of operation. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817134648.gif&hash=d24c66a26329a19150a175d576b631d10f631ee8) As Texas continues to reel under the effects of Harvey, it's been noted that besides massive flooding, some communities were also faced with dangerous chemicals released into the air by refineries and petrochemical plants.

How did that happen, and what can prevent it from happening again? Our next guest has been investigating that. Shaye Wolf is climate science director for the Center for Biological Diversity. She joins us now by phone from Oakland. Welcome to CounterSpin, Shaye Wolf.

Shaye Wolf: Thank you for having me.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/41987-climate-change-is-making-these-facilities-even-more-dangerous
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 21, 2017, 07:23:19 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fourwinds10.net%2Fresources%2Fuploads%2Fimages%2Fdissolving%2520the%2520planet%2520for%2520oil.jpg&hash=4e454194b388f35b4beee87072d010f6bf35af46)

EcoWatch

UN Environment Chief:  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funny-emoticons.com%2Ffiles%2Ffunny-animals%2Fblue-bird-emoticons%2F801-listen-up%21.png&hash=f7fb2b5263a68b91c628fc597877983f813843e5)Make Polluters, Not Taxpayers, Pay For Destroying Nature (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

Erik Solheim, the head of the United Nations' Environment Program, made an interesting point during a recent speech in New York: Companies, not taxpayers, should pay the costs of damaging the planet.

Quote
"The profit of destroying nature or polluting the planet is nearly always privatized, while the costs of polluting the planet or the cost of destroying ecosystems is nearly always socialized," Solheim said Monday, per Reuters, at the annual International Conference on Sustainable Development at Columbia University.

Quote
"That cannot continue," Solheim added. "Anyone who pollutes, anyone who destroys nature must pay the cost for that destruction or that pollution. "

In a recent article, climate experts Peter C. Frumhoff and Myles R. Allen argue that companies like Exxon and other Big Oil and Gas giants—which purportedly knew about the link between fossil fuels and climate change for decades—should shoulder the billions of dollars in damages caused by extreme weather events such as hurricanes that are exacerbated by Earth's rising's temperatures.

(https://conservationco.org/admin/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/exxon-knew.png)

Frumhoff and Allen write:

Using a simple, well-established climate model, our study for the first time quantifies the amount of sea level rise and increase in global surface temperatures that can be traced to the emissions from specific fossil fuel companies.

Strikingly, nearly 30% of the rise in global sea level between 1880 and 2010 resulted from emissions traced to the 90 largest carbon producers. Emissions traced to the 20 companies named in California communities' lawsuits contributed 10% of global sea level rise over the same period. More than 6% of the rise in global sea level resulted from emissions traced to ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP, the three largest contributors.

The scientists point out: "It may take tens to hundreds of billions of dollars to support disaster relief and recovery among Gulf coast communities affected by Hurricane Harvey. ExxonMobil, Chevron and BP (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605) have collectively pledged only $2.75m."  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)


During his comments in New York, Solheim noted that economic growth and environmental preservation are not mutually exclusive. In India, for example, the promotion of renewable energy is bringing human health and environmental benefits as well as spurring the economy.

"Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi realized he can electrify the villages and provide any number of green jobs—he can provide high economic growth, he can take care of his people, and take care of the planet by the same policies," said Solheim.

Solheim said that a "pollution-free planet" is achievable but the world must take immediate action to meet that goal.

"Change is happening," he said. "Economic-wise, we are on the right track, but we need to speed up because the challenge is so big."

https://www.ecowatch.com/u-n-environment-chief-2487568725.html

Quote
Kae Bender  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F19.gif&hash=3f9f2fc2285bc756137e21463bc2a4c420b15ac3) · Editor at EverydayEditing.com

Interesting point? No, it's a logical and long overdue point that companies should clean up their messes. It's a cost of doing business that these corporations have too long ignored with the tacit understanding that if they make a big enough disaster, taxpayers will step in. Really, there's NO logic or rationale to that except they have the politicians in their pockets. It's time to change that dynamic and put the people back in charge. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F47b20s0.gif&hash=cc48c9af9d29b8836023c7db21103e52d1ed439e)

Agelbert NOTE: Fossil Fuel Industry reaction to above irrefutable scientific evidence that they are dangerously, and delberately, degrading our biosphere for short term profit (see below):

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimage.blingee.com%2Fimages17%2Fcontent%2Foutput%2F000%2F000%2F000%2F6a0%2F604681651_739399.gif&hash=d6c6ba2550ac35ee2f620df728b847031ee5e119)

The Fossil Fuelers DID THE Clean Energy  Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 21, 2017, 08:05:39 pm
Oil Tanker Grounds on Scheldt River After Run-In with Bulk Carrier


MT Seatrout aground on Scheldt river. Photo: Port of Antwerp Authority
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F09%2FDKKT0eNW0AA5a5z.jpg&hash=afde08b98c59afd3cd461630132b417a4390a068)
(https://i.imgflip.com/eghas.jpg)

September 20, 2017 by Mike Schuler

A 188-meter oil tanker ran aground on the Western Scheldt while departing the Port of Antwerp on Wednesday following a close encounter with a bulk carrier, according to reports.

The Port of Antwerp posted pictures showing the German-flagged MT Seatrout aground at low tide near Bath, Netherlands. After closing the port to vessels less than 200m, tugs helped refloat the tanker at high tide and the ship was brought to Vlissingen for inspection.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F09%2FDKLAdG5XcAEJYgJ.jpg&hash=7b5e3bff38ffebe607e19f459b829c1bf9d24895)
The MT Seatrout after refloating.

According to some media reports, the Seatrout may have had a close encounter or even a minor collision with a bulk carrier which led to the grounding.

A look at AIS shows the Seatrout was outbound on the Scheldt when it ran aground at the Bath corner at about 03:43 UTC:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F09%2FSeatrout.jpg&hash=25f1f06c14b8cbd9ba8fba52a55bdeb58c0a7781)

The second vessel in the incident has been identified as the 225-meter MV Usolie, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier.

AIS data from the Usolie shows it was also outbound on the river and in the vicinity of the grounding at the same time as the incident (03:43 UTC):

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F09%2FUsolie.jpg&hash=18406414d40987782a01785998201c60f17935c9)

Both vessels were in ballast the time of the incident, AIS showed.

As of 19:00 UTC showed that the MV Usolie had already left the Scheldt for its next destination.

So far no damage has been reported to either vessel.

Coincidentally, MT Seatrout ran aground in nearly the exact same location where the large containership CSCL Jupiter ran aground in August.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F08%2FDHM5-XeW0AATKru.jpg-large-800x533.jpeg&hash=8ae9804a8c2bc43a49baa66cbc2416cf325e1fc8)
CSCL Jupiter hard aground on river Scheldt near Bath, Netherlands, August 14, 2017. Photo: Anton v/d Aarssen

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AIS screenshot shows the CSCL Jupiter’s track before the grounding. Credit: MarineTraffic.com

http://gcaptain.com/oil-tanker-grounds-on-scheldt-river-after-run-in-with-bulk-carrier/

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 22, 2017, 03:47:33 pm
Greenpeace Activists Scale Car Carrier in Thames Estuary (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185047.png&hash=384024358ff8d5e7133d19b6e6638da4584a8154) 

September 21, 2017 by Reuters

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F09%2F2017-09-21T140825Z_1074291206_RC18FED99B70_RTRMADP_3_VOLKSWAGEN-EMISSIONS-BRITAIN-1.jpg&hash=b515b65d6bd5ad39d698c43bfaef33a6fa69e5d6)

SNIPPET:

By Costas Pitas LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) – Greenpeace activists boarded a ship arriving in Britain on Thursday to stop the delivery of more than 1,000 Volkswagen cars from Germany while others sought to immobilize vehicles at a port in anti-diesel protests.

VW admitted cheating diesel emissions tests in 2015, triggering political and consumer pressure that has caused a slump in sales of diesel cars in major markets, with governments announcing plans to ban vehicles powered by conventional combustion engines.

full article:

http://gcaptain.com/greenpeace-activists-scale-car-carrier-in-thames-estuary/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 29, 2017, 07:38:12 pm
SEP 28, 2017 TD ORIGINALS

Trump's  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f) Cruel Indifference to Puerto Rico

"Puerto Rico is Trump’s Katrina, times 1,000,” says Rosa Clemente, comparing the aftermath of Hurricane Maria to the humanitarian crisis in New Orleans in 2005.

Clemente is a community organizer active with Black Lives Matter and a doctoral candidate in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, although she is best known for her 2008 Green Party vice presidential candidacy.

With family members in Puerto Rico, Clemente knows through direct testimony how desperate circumstances are in the U.S. territory right now. “This is 3.5 million human beings that, in a couple of days, if relief is not provided, we’re going to see massive amounts of deaths,” she explained to me in an interview earlier this week.

When the storm made landfall in Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, President Trump issued a single brief tweet to Gov. Ricardo Rosselló: “We are with you and the people of Puerto Rico. Stay safe!” He then spent his weekend manufacturing a controversy over NFL players who were protesting racism by refusing to stand during the national anthem. He first raised the issue at a campaign speech for a fellow Republican in Alabama on Sept. 22, and went on to engage in a massive tweet storm through Monday, in what some speculated was an attempt to rally his base in the face of flagging poll numbers.

Finally, five days after his initial tweet about the island, Trump published a series of three more tweets that were incredibly callous. “Much of the island was destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks, which, sadly, must be dealt with,” the tweets said. For the president to bring up Puerto Rico’s economic crisis and its debt to corporate America during a time of tremendous suffering is shocking, even for Trump. The fact that he accompanied this statement with very little action to actually help Puerto Ricans intensified the cruelty of his words.

“Everything [Trump] says enrages Puerto Ricans in the diaspora like me. It should be enraging everyone,” Clemente says. While a majority of Puerto Ricans have been without power, water or cellphone service for nearly a week, Trump’s White House decided to wait until nearly two weeks after the hurricane hit to even consider an aid package. Waiting that long means that “a lot of people are going to die,” Clemente believes.

“What’s going to happen, I think, in the next 48 hours is panic,” she said. “Full-on panic.”

On Tuesday—seven days after the hurricane hit the island—Trump rolled out a public relations effort, supported by heads of government agencies, to convince reporters that his administration is taking action. He then raised the issue at a press conference, where he mostly bragged, saying, “Everybody has said it’s amazing, the job we’ve done in Puerto Rico.” He concluded by announcing that he would visit the island a whole week later.

Puerto Rico today is ground zero for American disaster capitalism. The electrical grid, which, Trump lamented, “was in terrible shape,” was neglected because the Republican Gov. Rosselló “for the last two years has been paying the debt as opposed to fixing the electrical grid,” Clemente says. The island’s crumbling infrastructure was apparently less important than its debt repayments. Then, the hurricane hit and Puerto Rico went dark. The governor estimates it could take months to restore power.

On the mainland, Puerto Rico rarely enters into our national consciousness, even though it has a population greater than more than half the states in the nation—roughly the same as Connecticut.

“Because Puerto Ricans have always been relegated to second-class citizenship, I even wonder how many Americans know that Puerto Ricans are American citizens,” Clemente says. A new poll answers her question: Only 54 percent of Americans realize that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

What Puerto Rico needs immediately is action from the executive branch. If Trump cared even slightly about Puerto Ricans, not only would he expedite the aid package, he would have immediately suspended the Jones Act, a shipping restriction that prevents nations from docking at Puerto Rico’s ports and directly delivering aid. The Trump administration’s initial refusal to grant a waiver for the rule invited harsh criticism from his fellow Republican, Arizona’s Sen. John McCain, who called it “unacceptable” in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security.

But Trump cited economic interests as being more important than actual human beings—he initially justified keeping the restriction in place by saying, “We have a lot of shippers and a lot of people … who work in the shipping industry that don’t want the Jones Act lifted.”

Only under massive public pressure did he decide to lift the restrictions on Thursday.

Puerto Ricans had to wait more than a week after the hurricane hit before their colonial master decided to allow supplies to be shipped directly to the island. Just as it is impossible to separate Puerto Rico’s economic crisis from its status as a U.S. territory, it is impossible to disentangle the devastation of the hurricane from the man-made disaster stemming from the island’s subservient relationship with the U.S.

With Trump in charge, there is a deep irony about the U.S. government’s inaction. First, as Clemente points out, “Because we’re a colony, we can’t even file for bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the president was able to file for personal bankruptcy four times in his life to start over.”

Second, Trump himself is part of the problem in Puerto Rico’s economy. His business made money from taking over a failing golf course on the island. After promising to turn it around, Trump International called it quits. Snopes.com explains: “His role in the bankruptcy of the company, which ended up costing Puerto Rican taxpayers $32.6 million, was significant but limited.” Corporations similar to Trump’s have taken advantage of subsidies and handouts in Puerto Rico, leaving islanders saddled with more problems and more debt.

More than 10 years ago, musician Kanye West remarked that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” during a fundraising telethon for victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Clemente expressed similar sentiments about Trump this week. “He is a soulless human being. He has no empathy. He does not care,” she says.

Although so far Hurricane Maria has caused fewer deaths in Puerto Rico than Hurricane Katrina caused on the U.S. mainland, in Clemente’s eyes the scale of the catastrophe facing Puerto Ricans potentially eclipses that of Katrina and its aftermath. “When I went down to New Orleans and to the areas affected by the levee breach, we weren’t talking about millions of people [as we are with Puerto Rico],” she said. “Look at what that slow response did, how many people died, how many people were never able to come back.”

The government’s botched response to hurricane damage in New Orleans caused devastation that the city never fully recovered from. Today, Puerto Rico faces a proportionately larger dilemma. Clemente warns: “It’s a crisis of epic proportions that we’ve probably never seen in this country.”

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/trumps-cruel-indifference-puerto-rico/

Agelbert COMMENT: Still another "once in 500 year event" in less than a MONTH!

How long are we going to let bought and paid for TOOLS of the fossil fuel Industry like TRUMP continue to pretend that we can continue the profit over planet business as usual of burning fossil fuels? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)

Catastrophic Global Warming is here and will only get WORSE!

"When we are swiftly shuttling ourselves down the path of irreversible climate cataclysm, the only unreasonable option is to double down on the status quo."

Quote
"There is a nice legal concept called estoppel. If you argue that you didn't kill the Major in the library with the Ming vase because you were in bed with his wife, you are estopped from pleading self-defence. In the same way, polluters are estopped from arguing that they were only complying with public policy as laid down in the law, because they spent tens of millions shaping those policies and laws to their advantage." James Wimberley

Quote
“Subsidizing fossil fuel companies in the face of rapid climate change is like spraying jet fuel on a burning home. To put out the fire, we must first stop making the problem worse,” Doukas continued. “Ignoring the problem just because fossil fuel industry mascots like Trump demand it is like agreeing to take the warning labels off of cigarettes because they offend Joe Camel. Our leaders must act now to stop burning our tax dollars and stop trashing the climate.”
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 11, 2017, 02:17:03 pm
(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/all/themes/clew/logo.png)

Germany set to widely miss climate targets, env ministry warns (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1593.gif&hash=628238f2fc26695937f6e97b91b050976065743b)

(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/default/files/styles/lightbox_image/public/images/news-digest-entries/20170320-uba-greenhousegasemissions1990-2016-first-estimate-and-environment-ministry-forecast.png?itok=3aaIslxz)
     
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DETAILS AT LINK:

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/climate-targets-grave-danger-union-wants-energiewende-ministry
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 11, 2017, 08:59:05 pm
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftherealnews.com%2Ft2%2Ftemplates%2Fgk_twn%2Fimages%2Flogo3.png&hash=4b5cf976827a8d50b9a86730b78230c107b3cf62)

October 11, 2017
'Unprecedented' California Wildfires: 21 Dead, More than 500 Missing

Despite studies linking increasing wildfires to climate change, the Trump administration (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) scrapped an important Obama-era climate regulation this week--just as deadly wildfires spread across Northern California.

https://youtu.be/jNu0y_7Aq58

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=20198

(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c9604f5a5b095bd9b9cef8602a0211319abf5b194eb41e5b7a39136f1c19bc5.jpg)

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 12, 2017, 06:11:21 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Nikola Tesla is proven right again.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcutelovequotesforher.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F12%2FNikola-Tesla-Quotes-with-Photos.jpg&hash=9ee5be8ffc38ed4b56472b1e2f249bce97a9a08c)


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200317134631.png&hash=3ec83ab2cb9a9acaf485fff7312df6381c25c2fd)

(https://cdn.zmescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/antarctica_omi_2006267.jpg)

The ozone layer over Antarctica follows a natural thinning cycle each year, which man-made pollutants exarcerbates. Ozone depletion is usually worse the further from the equator and recently an Ozone hole (as defined by a distinct area of very low ozone levels) has been detected above the North Pole in the arctic. Credit: NASA.

Human activity is destroying the ozone layer — again (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)

LAST UPDATED ON OCTOBER 12TH, 2017 AT 8:13 PM BY TIBI PUIU  E-mail author

After scientists discovered a huge hole in the ozone layer above the Antarctic in 1987, an emergency UN panel banned the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) under the Montreal Protocol. CFCs build up in the atmosphere and react with the triple oxygen molecule to break it down. Thirty years later, the ozone hole is widely considered plugged — problem solved. Not so fast, caution scientists at the University of East Anglia in the UK. According to a new study, there are still threats to the delicate cushion in the stratosphere shielding us from harmful UV rays, which are due to harmful substances not regulated by the treaty.

A hole in the ozone (and the Montreal Protocol)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)

Many of the substances still harming the ozone layer were not included(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) in the Montreal Protocol because their impact on the ozone layer was not considered damaging. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whydidyouwearthat.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F01%2Ftumblr_l7j9nik8Wf1qaxxwjo1_5001.jpeg&hash=1ddbeb4da161820b2cf932e6f5f740e80f5bada6) Chemicals like dichloromethane, which has applications in paint stripping, agricultural fumigation, and pharmaceutical production, were thought to be “too short-lived (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Ffly.gif&hash=b0526635e8b47d751b0e429925d73d78f9d79fc6) to reach the stratosphere in large quantities,” explained David Oram, a research fellow at the UK’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)

At ground level, ozone or smog is a poisonous chemical often expelled by vehicle exhaust. High up in the stratosphere, ozone builds up at altitudes between 10 and 50 km where it acts as a shield against the harmful ultraviolet rays, which can cause cancer. Ozone holes occur naturally from cooling, but man-made chemicals greatly accelerate their formation. Currently, the ozone hole above Antarctica is the size of North America.

Besides dichloromethane, another highly concentrated chemical identified in the stratosphere includes 1,2-dichloroethane — an ozone-depleting substance used to make PVC, a popular construction material. PVC manufacturing has surged in the last couple of years in China, its main hotspot. What was unexpected, however, was the steep rise in dichloromethane emissions (mainly sourced from China) since this is not only expensive but also toxic. “One would expect that care would be taken not to release [dichloroethane] into the atmosphere,” Oram commented in a public statement. Over the past decade, dichloromethane became approximately 60% more abundant in the atmosphere as compared to the early 2000s.

“Our estimates suggest that China may be responsible for around 50-60% of current global emissions [of dichloromethane], with other Asian countries, including India, likely to be significant emitters as well,” says Oram.

Even though these emissions originate in China and other locations around East Asia, these industrial pollutants can easily leach into the tropics, where the air is more readily lifted into the upper atmosphere. In other words, these chemicals, albeit short-lived, have the time to interact with the ozone layer before breaking down.

“We found that elevated concentrations of these same chemicals were present at altitudes of 12 km over tropical regions, many thousands of kilometres away from their likely source, and in a region where air is known to be transferred into the stratosphere,” says Oram.

Ozone layer recovery could be delayed by as many as 30 years by rising industrial pollutants



Right now, the chemicals in question are not present in quantities significant enough to tear a new hole in the ozone layer but at the current rate of development, that may change. As such, the authors of the new paper published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics suggest this gap in the Montreal Protocol should be addressed by banning the chemicals or, at least, limiting their capability to leach into the atmosphere. According to Oram, the average date for ozone recovery, now set to 2050, could be delayed by 20-30 years, “depending on future emissions of things like dichloromethane.”

This is not the first study that identifies ‘very short-lived substances’ (VSLS) — chemicals which break down in less than six months — as ozone depleters. In 2015, a study published in Nature Geoscience found VSLS, dichloromethane included, are increasingly contributing to the depletion of the stratospheric shield.

“In the Antarctic region, where the ozone hole forms each year and where ozone decreases are the most dramatic, we estimate that VSLS account for about 12.5 per cent of the total ozone loss.”

“Globally averaged, the ozone loss due to VSLS in the lower stratosphere could be as much as 25 per cent, though it is much smaller at higher altitude,” Ryan Hossaini of the University of Leeds, UK, and lead author of the study said at the time.

https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/new-threats-ozone-layer-043242/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg06.deviantart.net%2Fbb6a%2Fi%2F2011%2F120%2Ff%2F6%2Fcorporate_pollution_by_jakejames-d3512u1.jpg&hash=30ead896a22d9a93df54de278d32cb3822d4a3ce)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 12, 2017, 10:36:46 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-101017185421.png&hash=bc1719110376e0df2ae3420968d0b1c7779fe5e9)
California Wildfires: Death Toll Rises to 23, 'Worst Air Quality Ever Recorded' in Bay Area

October 11, 2017 By Lorraine Chow

https://youtu.be/8PMuxx_de4E

Firefighters continue to battle the unprecedented wildfires ravaging Northern California.

As of Wednesday, the fast-moving blazes—aided by high winds and low humidity—have burned nearly 170,000 acres and destroyed at least 3,500 homes and commercial structures since the outbreak started Sunday.

The confirmed death toll has risen to 23, with 285 reported missing. Thousands have been forced to flee due to mandatory evacuations.

A forecast of of high winds on Thursday could deteriorate conditions.

"We're not going to be out of the woods for a great many days to come," Cal Fire director Ken Pimlott said at a news conference yesterday.

California's drought-busting rains from last winter led to "explosive vegetation," as Pimlott said, and a hot and dry summer left the brush and other vegetation tinder-dry, stoking the flames.

While the cause of the infernos has yet to be determined, some scientists have said that climate change may play a role.

"It's very clear that the increasingly hot summers are the product of climate change," Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, told NBC News.

Alex Hall, a climate researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, also told the New York Times that global warming may at least be making the winds drier.

"That is a pretty key parameter for fire risk," he said.

The region's main utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, has acknowledged that gale-force winds downed some of their power lines.

"These destructive winds, along with millions of trees weakened by years of drought and recent renewed vegetation growth from winter storms, all contributed to some trees, branches and debris impacting our electric lines across the North Bay," company spokesman Matt Nauman told the Mercury News.

"In some cases, we have found instances of wires down, broken poles and impacted infrastructure. Where those have occurred, we have reported them to the CPUC and CalFire. Our thoughts are with all those individuals who were impacted by these devastating wildfires."

The wine country fires have released devastating air pollution.

"We are reporting the worst air quality ever recorded for smoke in many parts of the Bay Area," Tom Flannigan, a spokesman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, told the East Bay Times. "This is similar to what you see in Beijing, China in bad air days there."

The air pollution could even equal a year's worth of traffic, Sean Raffuse, an air-quality analyst at the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory at University of California in Davis, said. Raffuse estimates the fires have produced about 10,000 tons of fine particulate matter, about the same amount generated by the state's 35 million vehicles.

California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for the affected areas as well as for Orange County in the southern part of the state.

The National Weather Service has also issued Red Flag Warnings, the highest alert, for much of Northern California.

https://www.ecowatch.com/california-wildfires-air-2495879541.html

(https://rlv.zcache.co.uk/no_planet_b_round_sticker-rcb9b00ae55034b85b5cb888d8eb0a2c6_v9waf_8byvr_324.jpg)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 15, 2017, 06:16:09 pm
Almost 400,000 gallons of oil spilled into Gulf of Mexico  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgaah.gif&hash=e43fa6be4258ba495007b2bbb3e7dd2f60288fcd)

BY JEFF CLARK jclark@sunherald.com

OCTOBER 14, 2017 12:45 PM

SNIPPET:

The Coast Guard is responding to the report of a crude oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Coast Guard Sector New Orleans said it received a report from the National Response Center at 1:30 p.m. Friday of a discharge from a damaged pipeline associated with a subsea well about 40 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana.

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/article178904441.html

San Francisco Is Suing Major Oil Companies to Protect its Citizens from Climate Change

Sea level rise could lead to catastrophic flooding, and the city blames ExxonMobile and BP. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457)

AMY THOMSONOCT. 14, 2017 6:00 AM

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmaniac.gif&hash=9ecf389a7da25db958f3f63461cbb45a4b316c4e)

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/10/san-franciscos-sea-level-rise-daniel-herrera-port-seawall/

With No Clean Water, Some Puerto Ricans Tap Toxic Waste Sites (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)

OCT 12, 2017

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SNIPPET:

As Donald Trump waffles between cruelly threatening to pull aid from Puerto Rico and pathetically whining about criticism of his terrible relief efforts there, the island continues to deal with ongoing devastation. According to a FEMA report, nearly 40 percent of Puerto Ricans have no access to clean drinking water. The situation is so dire that some residents are attempting to get water from polluted, contaminated and toxic sources.

“There are reports of residents obtaining, or trying to obtain, drinking water from wells at hazardous waste ‘Superfund’ sites in Puerto Rico,” the Environmental Protection Agency notes in a press release cited by Reuters. CBS News Correspondent David Begnaud tweeted an image of the report.

The EPA cites reports of Puerto Ricans “obtaining, or trying to obtain, drinking water from wells at hazardous waste “Superfund” sites” pic.twitter.com/UW4ZW7RBUG

— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) October 11, 2017

On the ground, groups of volunteer veterans have taken to social media to get out the message about how poorly this administration is handling aid efforts. In a widely shared video posted Monday, a group of four veterans, including a man identified as former Staff Sergeant and Cavalry Scout Jason Maddy, describe the lack of supplies coming in.

“We have an urgent message to get out about what’s really going on here in Western Puerto Rico,” Maddy says into the camera. “Right now, we’re only giving out, to people in the mountains, one small meal and six bottles of water per family. That is all they’re getting.”

“And the meals are really just kind of a snack pack,” another veteran, Chris Davis, says. “We can’t figure out why supplies aren’t coming in from San Juan. The local government here is doing all that they can.”

“In this area, we’re really the only ones here—we’re 12 volunteer veterans,” Maddy adds. “And people are hurting really bad right now.”

Full article:        (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041115022304.png&hash=cd8cb8e28ab8f7fc78c1ea00d30a661bd937aed5)

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/puerto-ricans-trying-drink-toxic-water-hazardous-waste-sites/

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 18, 2017, 01:00:18 pm
Video of Oil Rig Fire in St. Charles Parish
https://youtu.be/Bzexnm-ySTY
https://youtu.be/o7vT1sF637A

One Missing, Six Injured in Platform Explosion on Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana

October 15, 2017 by gCaptain

Full article with a photo:

http://gcaptain.com/multiple-injuries-in-platform-explosion-on-lake-pontchartrain-louisiana/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 20, 2017, 06:12:17 pm
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Global pollution linked to one in six premature death, (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) It’s worse than wars, AIDS and road accidents combined


LAST UPDATED ON OCTOBER 20TH, 2017 AT 2:57 PM BY TIBI PUIU

An extensive study carried out by environmental experts found an alarmingly high percentage of all global premature deaths are linked to pollution, specifically airborne pollution. In 2015, nine million premature deaths or roughly 16 percent of all deaths can be attributed to pollution, according to the findings published in The Lancet. That’s one-and-a-half times more than the number of people killed by smoking, three times the number killed by AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined, more than six times the number killed in road accidents, and 15 times the number killed in war or other forms of violence.

“There’s been a lot of study of pollution, but it’s never received the resources or level of attention as, say, AIDS or climate change,” said epidemiologist Philip Landrigan, dean of global health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, and the lead author on the report.

The elephant in the room no one’s talking about

The international collaboration that included over 40 scientists from leading research instituted around the world examined data on premature mortality from Global Burden of Disease dataset, which estimates mortality from major diseases and their causes across populations. Researchers gauged the effects of air pollution (particle matter, toxic compounds), water pollution (contamination, unhygienic sanitation), and workplace pollution (toxins and carcinogens).

The investigation revealed a harrowing landscape where pollution is causing a massive death toll, especially in the developing world which is burning fossil fuels at an alarming rate.

Air pollution was linked to 6.5 million premature deaths;

Water pollution was linked to 1.8 million premature deaths;

Workplace pollution was linked to 1 million premature deaths;

Premature deaths resulting from pollution-related diseases like heart disease and cancer outnumbered AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined 3 to 1;

About 92% of all premature deaths linked to pollution occur in low and middle-income countries.

Up to one in four deaths can be attributed to pollution in countries like China, India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh.

In absolute numbers, China (1.8 million) and India (2.5 million) had the most pollution-related deaths for the year 2015.

The United States, home to the world’s biggest economy, saw 155,000 premature deaths linked to pollution in 2015.


In reality, the scope of pollution may be even worse
since the researchers used conservative data which likely underestimates the burden of pollution on people’s livelihoods. For instance, the study didn’t take into account the effects of endocrine disruptors, pesticides, or flame retardants, all of which are widely used and known to contribute to premature death.

Most of these premature deaths occur in developing countries and disproportionately affect the poor. Nations like India or China have grown their economies at full throttle using cheap fossil fuels as gas but in doing so they’ve sacrificed the health of their population. Yet this isn’t an indispensable trade-off. The United States or the European Union have shown that pollution can be curbed without sacrificing economic output through legislation that protects the environment and regulates water use.

The findings serve as a wakeup call to policymakers but also to the public which is often unaware of the full scope of pollution and how it affects livelihoods for generations to come.

https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/pollution-ecology/pollution-premature-deaths-s0534543/

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 21, 2017, 01:26:11 pm
One Killed, One Still Missing After Explosion on Crude Oil Barge Off Port Aransas, Texas

October 20, 2017 by Mike Schuler

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F10%2F171020-G-G0108-1011.jpg&hash=aedf06c1cac37097428b8653de22eed787f8e3ea)
A barge on fire approximately three miles from Port Aransas, Texas, jetties Oct. 20, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard Photo

Update: The U.S. Coast Guard has confirmed that one person has died and another person was still missing after a fire on barge operated by Bouchard Transportation.

The company issued the following statement about the accident.

Bouchard Transportation reports that a fire occurred today aboard one of their barges at approximately 4:30 am local time near Aransas Pass, Texas.

For privacy purposes, we are not releasing any information about our crew and trust you respect this decision.

We have no information regarding pollution or the cause of the fire at this time.

Our tug which, was pushing the barge, had 6 crew members on board and we are working closely with the Coast Guard to ensure their safety.

All proper emergency notifications have been made and response resources have responded.

The incident is under investigation and Bouchard Transportation, as operator of the tug and barge, is working closely with the appropriate authorities.

The Company will provide further information on this incident as it becomes available.

The tug involved is the Buster Bouchard.

Earlier: The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for two missing crew members following an explosion and fire onboard a barge loaded with crude oil off Port Aransas, Texas on Friday.

A vessel with the Corpus Christi Fire Department was fighting to extinguish the fire.

The barge is located approximately three miles from the Port Aransas, Texas, jetties, according to the Coast Guard.

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A Corpus Christi Fire Department vessel attempts to extinguish a fire onboard a barge approximately three miles from the Port Aransas, Texas, jetties Oct. 20, 2017. A Coast Guard Corpus Christi MH-65 Dolphin and HC-144 Ocean Sentry are searching for two missing crewmembers. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

A Coast Guard Corpus Christi MH-65 Dolphin and HC-144 Ocean Sentry are searching for two missing crewmembers.

There were a total of eight crew members on board, according to reports.

The barge was carrying 140,000 barrels of crude oil to a refinery when the incident occurred, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.

The fire is believed to have started about 4:30 a.m. local time.

gCaptain has learned that the barge in question is the 158,000 barrel capacity B255, which was connected to the tug Buster Bouchard.

The articulated tug-barge (ATB) unit belongs to Bouchard Transportation, the United States’ largest independently-owned ocean-going petroleum barge company.

A safety zone has been established surrounding the vessel. There are reports of minor pollution in the water.

Bouchard has not yet responded to gCaptain’s request for comment.

https://youtu.be/QDxuQJvAT_Y

http://gcaptain.com/two-missing-after-explosion-on-crude-oil-barge-off-port-aransas-texas/

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 21, 2017, 01:50:25 pm
New Estimate Doubles the Size of Last Week’s Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

October 20, 2017 by gCaptain

Authorities have doubled the size estimate of last week’s offshore oil spill from a damaged pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 40 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana.

On Wednesday, LLOG Exploration, which operates the pipeline, issued a revised estimated volume of unaccounted-for oil to the Coast Guard and BSEE. The new calculations indicate that the total volume of oil discharged may be as much as 16,000 barrels (672,000 gallons), nearly double the maximum 9,350 barrels (392,700 gallons) initially reported.

The pipeline was secured upon discovery of the leak.

The oil was discharged last week from a small crack in a subsea pipeline located approximately 5,000 feet under water, which was pressurized to more than 3,000 psi. “This high-pressure discharge through a small opening likely caused the oil to be broken down into small particles and disperse into deep-water currents prior to reaching the surface,” the Coast Guard said in a statement late Wednesday.

The Coast Guard and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement continue their response the oil spill, coordinating with the responsible party and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to locate and respond to any oil that reaches the surface.

Multiple daily over flights and remotely operated underwater vehicle inspections have been conducted with no recoverable oil detected, according to the Coast Guard.

Skimming vessels from Clean Gulf Associates and the Marine Spill Response Corporation remain on standby.

Surface and subsea trajectory models indicate that any discharged oil will drift in a southwesterly direction and is not expected to impact the shoreline. The calculations indicate that the discovery of any recoverable oil is unlikely due to the depth and pressure at which the oil was released, the Coast Guard said.

Water samples taken along the trajectory path at various depths have not detected the presence of oil.

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“While the reported discharge amount is very significant, we are confident in the calculations completed by the LLOG and NOAA scientists,” said Cmdr. Heather Mattern from U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Morgan City, Louisiana. “Additionally, the lack of any recoverable oil identified by over flights and subsea inspections conducted throughout the past week supports this explanation.”
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The Coast Guard and BSEE will continue to coordinate with the responsible party  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) throughout the investigation into the cause of this incident. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)


The BSEE initiated a Panel Investigation into the incident. The five-member panel is made up of inspectors, engineers and accident investigators, who will issue a report containing findings, recommendations and any potential violations for consideration.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c)

The oil spill is believed to be the largest in the U.S. since the 2010 blowout at BP’s Macondo well that sank the Deepwater Horizon, killing 11 people and resulting in the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

http://gcaptain.com/new-estimate-doubles-the-size-of-last-weeks-oil-spill-in-the-gulf-of-mexico/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200415173810.png&hash=1fb0b0ce108410936220e3ce43d93e5c617979f3)
It REALLY WAS a good ride, not for you and me, but for TPTB. So, expect them to do WHATEVER to prolong their RIDE, against all scientific evidence that EXPLOITATION WITHOUT REFLECTION OF FELLOW EARTHLINGS OF ALL SPECIES (not just humans) AND THE BIOSPHERE FOR PROFIT OVER PLANET is deleterious (i.e. SUICIDAL/abysmally STUPID) to the Homo SAP species.

International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) ‘Deeply Concerned’ by Canada’s Proposed Tanker Ban in Northern British Columbia Waters October 20, 2017 by gCaptain (http://gcaptain.com/ics-deeply-concerned-by-canadas-proposed-tanker-ban-in-northern-british-columbia-waters)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fourwinds10.net%2Fresources%2Fuploads%2Fimages%2Fdissolving%2520the%2520planet%2520for%2520oil.jpg&hash=4e454194b388f35b4beee87072d010f6bf35af46)



Senate Okays the Destruction of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge  October 20, 2017

https://youtu.be/rEV7f6ad8a4

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=20279

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 22, 2017, 06:23:21 pm
(https://www.workforgood.org/getasset/94faf2cd-34c2-4855-9221-ead0608380d5/)


TRUMP’S BRAZEN ATTEMPT TO OPEN THE ARCTIC UP TO DRILLING

By Rebecca Bowe | Wednesday, October 11, 2017

(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/ANWR%20caribou_1002_anwr_usfws.jpg?itok=N8GtQoJJ)
The way of life of the Gwich’in people, who have depended on the caribou of the Arctic Refuge for millennia, is threatened by plans for oil drilling. PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 

UPDATE, October 11, 2017: The House has approved a budget resolution that paves the way for drilling in the Arctic Refuge, and soon the Senate is expected to vote. This represents one of the greatest legislative threats facing the Arctic Refuge in years. Please take a moment to TAKE ACTION by contacting your Congressional representatives and urging them to protect the Arctic Refuge.

September 25, 2017: Summer in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge doesn’t last for long, but in that brief burst, millions of migratory birds flock to this vast wilderness expanse from every direction. Taking wing from Asia, South America, Africa, Antarctica and all 50 U.S. states, they congregate to nest in the refuge, a national treasure that’s one of the last wild, intact landscapes on the planet. Caribou, polar bears, Arctic foxes and wolverines roam the vast expanse, which spans 19.6 million acres in Northeast Alaska.

The 1.5-million acre coastal plain within the refuge is a biologically rich swath that borders the Beaufort Sea. It’s considered sacred by the indigenous Gwich’in people, whose way of life has for millennia depended on the caribou that calve there each summer.


(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/ANWR%20wolf.jpg)
An Alaskan tundra wolf leaps through the blowing snow in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. TROUTNUT/GETTY IMAGES


(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/anwr%20field.jpg)
For years, Earthjustice has partnered with a diverse coalition of groups to protect the refuge from oil and gas (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) development. PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/ANWR%20tree_sparrow.jpg)
These baby tree sparrows are some of the millions of birds that call the Arctic Refuge home. PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/anwr_reflective.jpg)
Legal policy has prohibited new oil exploration for the last 35 years in this pristine wilderness area. PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/ANWR%20caribou2%20in%20field.jpg)
Herds of caribou roam the vast expanse of the Arctic Refuge, which spans 19.6 million acres in northeast Alaska. PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

For decades, the Arctic Refuge and its coastal plain have been at the center of a political tug-of-war over fossil fuel extraction. Earthjustice has long partnered with a diverse coalition of groups on the side of protecting the refuge from oil and gas development. That battle reignited last week with news that the Trump administration is planning an attack on laws protecting the refuge, in order to accelerate oil drilling on the plain.

As the Washington Post revealed, the acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service instructed the agency’s Alaska regional director in an August memo to change a rule on “exploratory activity.” This precursor to oil drilling includes ear-piercing seismic blasting and underground shock waves to identify where oil deposits may lie.

The regional director was told to erase the part of the rule spelling out that these harmful exploratory tests were only allowed from Oct. 1, 1984 until May 31, 1986. This one shady little edit flies in the face of 35 years of established legal policy barring new oil exploration in the pristine wilderness area, throwing the biological heart of the refuge into immediate peril.

Quote
“We cannot and should not play politics with our national heritage, just to line the pockets of the oil and gas industry.”

Trump’s political appointees appear to be orchestrating this assault on the Arctic Refuge. Former commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, Joe Balash (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4), who was nominated to a high-ranking Interior post, has submitted multiple proposals to conduct harmful seismic exploration on the Coastal Plain. And David Bernhardt, who Trump appointed to the second-highest position at Interior, represented the state of Alaska in a lawsuit in 2014 against the Interior Department to allow for seismic testing in the coastal plain, but lost. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency that is suddenly pressuring for this rule change, answers to Interior.

Under federal law, only Congress can allow drilling in the refuge, and a 1980 law protects the coastal plain from oil and gas leasing and development. Yet other efforts that could jeopardize the refuge are moving forward simultaneously in Congress.

The House budget resolution for FY 2018 includes provisions that will be used to advance drilling in the refuge, signaling an attempt by congressional allies of the oil industry to insert a highly controversial policy issue into must-pass budget legislation. Meanwhile, the refuge isn’t the only Arctic landscape in the oil and gas industry’s sights. Earthjustice is currently opposing Arctic drilling proposals on multiple fronts, including offshore territories and public lands in the western Arctic.

(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/ANWR%20polar%20bears.jpg)
Oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge threatens the habitats of a wide range of wildlife, including polar bears, Arctic foxes and wolverines. SARKOPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES


(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/Zinke%20swearing%20in.jpg)
Secretary Zinke (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c)swears in David Bernhardt (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) as the Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior. PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR


(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/anwr2_usfws.jpg)
Trump’s political appointees have submitted multiple proposals to conduct harmful seismic exploration on the Coastal Plain of the refuge.PHOTO COURTESY OF US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE


(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/carnivorecreek10_anwr_eric_rorer.jpg)
This beautiful, expansive Arctic landscape is too precious not to protect from the oil industry’s destructive plans to drill. ERIC RORER/ISTOCK

Even as cries of “drill, baby, drill” seem to be echoing off the walls of smoky backrooms from Alaska to D.C.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978), one might be surprised to learn that there isn’t actually any shortage of oil. Supplies have reached historic highs, and gas prices have dipped – which means the industry has little to gain financially by opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“The Arctic Refuge is just too special to drill for oil and gas that we don’t need and should be kept in the ground,” says Earthjustice Associate Legislative Counsel Marissa Knodel. “For 30 years, Congress has respected the will of the vast majority of American people, who want to protect the Arctic Refuge. Drilling there should be excluded from any budget proposal. We cannot and should not play politics with our national heritage, just to line the pockets of the oil and gas industry.”

https://earthjustice.org/blog/2017-september/arctic-refuge-at-risk-for-drilling
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 23, 2017, 07:32:24 pm
China Shuts Down Tens Of Thousands Of Factories In Unprecedented Pollution Crackdown  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funny-emoticons.com%2Ffiles%2Ffunny-animals%2Fblue-bird-emoticons%2F801-listen-up%21.png&hash=f7fb2b5263a68b91c628fc597877983f813843e5)Listen· 3:51

October 23, 20174:52 AM ET

Heard on Morning Edition  Rob Schmitz 2016 square

http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/10/23/559009961/china-shuts-down-tens-of-thousands-of-factories-in-unprecedented-pollution-crack
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 25, 2017, 01:58:58 pm
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Oil Cleanup Continues in Texas After Barge Explosion, Fire

October 24, 2017 by gCaptain

SNIPPET:

A Unified Command made up of representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office, and Bouchard Transportation continue to respond to an oil discharge after a crude oil barge exploded and caught fire three miles off the jetties of Port Aransas, Texas.

As of Monday evening, beach cleanup operations had removed approximately 48 cubic yards of oily solids from the impacted shoreline on Mustang Island and North Padre Island. Six cleanup teams, totaling over 120 people, are actively engaged in beach cleanup.

Two wildlife response teams and one wildlife response vessel continue to assess any impacted wildlife between the Padre Island National Seashore and Port Aransas. Any recovered wildlife will be taken to the Amos Rehabilitation Keep at University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, Texas.

fulll article with more pictures:

http://gcaptain.com/oil-cleanup-continues-in-texas-after-barge-explosion-fire

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 28, 2017, 12:49:48 pm
China Declares War On Polluters — Shutters 40% Of Factories (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clipartbest.com%2Fcliparts%2Fxig%2Fojx%2Fxigojx6KT.png&hash=6706182c9f1427099a77e10d1758e61d9cadb701)

October 28th, 2017 by Steve Hanley

China is getting serious about curbing pollution. According to sources, up to 40% of its factories have been closed at least temporarily recently as the country has struggled to meet its year-end pollution reduction goals. Officials from more than 80,000 factories have been charged with criminal offences for breaching emissions limits over the past year.

(https://c1cleantechnicacom-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/files/2017/10/Pollution-in-Beijing-J.-Aaron-Farr-Flicker.jpg)
Pollution in Beijing Air Pollution in Beijing. Credit. J Aaron Farr/Flickr


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-191017143841.jpeg&hash=21f142befe4ed82f10ef0bdba11c22bbd3051289)“{B}asically, you’re seeing these inspectors go into factories for surprise inspections,” supply chain consultant Gary Huang from 80/20 Sourcing tells NPR (h/t Futurism). “They’re instituting daily fines, and sometimes — in the real severe cases — criminal enforcement. People are getting put in jail.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fcowboypistol.gif&hash=2dc97f743dffca22404e6e4e0822765e60b33f38)

How is the crackdown affecting China’s sprawling manufacturing sector? The government says total output will not be affected, but it is hard to see how the stepped up enforcement could fail to have a negative economic effect.

In prior years, factory shutdowns only lasted a few weeks at most, but environmental protection minister Li Ganjie says the number and length of closures this year is “unprecedented.”

“For those areas that have suffered ecological damage, their leaders and cadres will be held responsible for life,” Yang Weimin told the New York Times recently. He is the deputy director of the Communist Party’s Office of Financial and Economic Affairs. “Our people will be able to see stars at night and hear birds chirp,” he promises.

At the Communist Party annual congress this week, China announced that it plans to reduce the amount of fine particulate matter (that’s the stuff in the air that is less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which is small enough to cross over into the bloodstream from the lungs) from 47 micrograms per cubic meter in 2016 to 35 micrograms per cubic meter by 2035.

“It will be very difficult to reach the goal, and we need to make greater efforts to achieve it,” Li says. “These special campaigns are not a one-off, instead it is an exploration of long-term mechanisms. They have proven effective so we will continue with these measures.”

The tougher enforcement of pollution laws is putting pressure on China’s industrial sector, which will need to adapt by instituting better, smarter, and safer ways of doing business.

“It’s a huge event. It’s a serious event. I think many of us here believe it will become the new normal,” exporter Michael Crotty from China-based MKT & Associates told NPR. “The consumers of China don’t want red and blue rivers. They don’t want to see grey skies every day.”

Unlike the United States, where polluters are rewarded with generous government subsidies at taxpayer expense, China is determined to do what is necessary to protect its citizens from environmental harm. Some would call that leadership.

Source: Futurism

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/10/28/china-declares-war-polluters-shutters-40-factories/

Agelbert NOTE: China (FINALLY!) gets it. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020) Trump's wrecking crew NEVER will.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgen152.gif&hash=d5b10968fe56c4cb95fae17cee3cb420a5f4e2da)

(https://d3pcsg2wjq9izr.cloudfront.net/files/40866/images/Edison-solar-energy.jpg)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 01, 2017, 01:58:05 pm
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UN Predicts Greenhouse Gas Emissions Set to Bust Paris Agreement by 30 Percent

October 31, 2017 by Reuters

SNIPPET:

By 2030, annual emissions are likely to be 53.0-55.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, far above the 42 billion tonne threshold for averting a temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) this century, the U.N. environment agency said.

full article:

http://gcaptain.com/un-predicts-greenhouse-gas-emissions-set-bust-paris-agreement-30-percent/

 
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 02, 2017, 02:55:37 pm
Over 2,100 cities exceed recommended pollution levels

Submitted by SueN on 2 November 2017 - 12:41pm

Climate change is a looming public health emergency, say experts in a new report, due to high pollution levels, warming temperatures and increased opportunities for disease.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/30/health/climate-change-report-pollution-dengue-heat-wave/index.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 03, 2017, 02:41:00 pm
(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tKBsTGeWsKc/VznRUcnfo1I/AAAAAAAAyok/paDRwKq7pxQvOB0MOBc7Y7FOeBpjxwj6wCLcB/s1600/fracked%2Bgas%2Bis%2Ba%2Bbridge%2Bto%2Bnowhere.PNG)

World’s Largest Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) Departs Samsung Heavy Industries

November 2, 2017 by Mike Schuler

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F11%2FEGINA-FPSO.jpg&hash=bcb7599a4a356aa86a6eda6e5aa88c546e642f43)
Photo: Samsung Heavy Industries

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg06.deviantart.net%2Fbb6a%2Fi%2F2011%2F120%2Ff%2F6%2Fcorporate_pollution_by_jakejames-d3512u1.jpg&hash=30ead896a22d9a93df54de278d32cb3822d4a3ce)
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egina oil field Credit: Total (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fpirates5B15D_th.gif&hash=32438e1ed2c4d1823d4ed2a193286525c840a605)

The world’s largest Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel left the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in Geoje, South Korea under tow on Tuesday for its voyage to Nigeria.

The Egina   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-140415130805.png&hash=23d2e6dc6311a26c399bf0cb60868bcff2781a58) FPSO was ordered by Total in 2013 for a total investment $3 billion covering the entire engineering, procurement, construction, transport, and commissioning phases of the project.

The 60,000 ton vessel will be moored at the Egina oil field some 200 km off the coast of Nigeria and has a storage capacity of 2.3 million barrels. The massive facility measures in at 330 meters long by 61 meters in breadth and 34 meters tall.

The offshore oil field is one of the flagship ultra-deepwater projects in Total’s portfolio. The field consists of a total of 44 subsea wells that will be connected to the FPSO using umbilicals and risers.

Once on stream, the field will have a production capacity of 200,000 barrels per day, with the Egina boasting (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2z6in9g.gif&hash=771b084a0f186d9cc14f31defd98a6c90b69b84f)  2.3 million barrels of storage capacity.

Tuesday’s departure of the gigantic floater marks the latest of three offshore mega-projects completed by SHI this year. In April, SHI delivered the Ichthy’s CPF, the world’s largest floating gas processing facility. The delivery was followed by the sail-away of the Prelude FLNG, touted as the largest offshore structure ever constructed, this past June.

SHI says Egina’s voyage to Nigeria will take about 3 months. From there, the installation of the remaining topside modules and commissioning will be carried out by a local partner of SHI, with delivery scheduled for for the second half of 2018.

http://gcaptain.com/worlds-largest-fpso-departs-samsung-heavy-industries/

Agelbert expletive deleted: ******* INSANE Fosssil Fuel Industry IMBECILES! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: GWarnock on November 06, 2017, 02:57:25 pm
Today on cleantecnia.. crying...  :'(

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/11/06/new-photos-highlight-ocean-plastic-scourge-bottle-deposit-plans-help/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 06, 2017, 03:12:01 pm
Today on cleantecnia.. crying...  :'(

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/11/06/new-photos-highlight-ocean-plastic-scourge-bottle-deposit-plans-help/

Yes, it is absolutely heartbreaking.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041115022304.png&hash=cd8cb8e28ab8f7fc78c1ea00d30a661bd937aed5)
(https://c1cleantechnicacom-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/files/2017/11/Caroline-Power-1.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 07, 2017, 02:34:35 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210516165122.jpeg&hash=d773f8f1ecba3640f8e56b034781204d35319f2b)

EcoWatch


Marine Sanctuaries: The Secret Report the White House (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) Doesn’t Want You to Read

Nov. 02, 2017 12:28PM EST

By Pete Stauffer

SNIPPET:

It's a simple choice, really. Do we want our National Marine Sanctuaries to be used for recreation, education, fishing and ecological protection? Or do we want to hand these ocean gems over the oil and gas industry so they can expand offshore drilling off our coasts?

Full article:

https://www.ecowatch.com/marine-sanctuaries-secret-report-2505498028.html
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: GWarnock on November 07, 2017, 02:47:49 pm
I don't know how, but we have Got to get this crap STOPPED!!

 >:(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 08, 2017, 02:17:08 pm
November 2017

India: Delhi closes schools as air pollution hits hazardous levels

SNIPPET:

The Indian capital is covered in a blanket of thick smog as the concentration of harmful particulate matter in the air reached hazardous levels. Local officials have asked schools to remain shut until Sunday. 

Read more:

http://www.dw.com/en/india-delhi-closes-schools-as-air-pollution-hits-hazardous-levels/a-41272486

Gas flaring in the Niger Delta ruins lives, business

SNIPPET:

Oil companies in the oil-rich Niger Delta in Nigeria's south destroy gas that could be used as a source of energy. The illegal practice hurts both the environment and business. Meet the people who are fighting back.

Full article:

http://www.dw.com/en/gas-flaring-in-the-niger-delta-ruins-lives-business/a-41221653
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 09, 2017, 10:37:04 pm
Agelbert Snark: Shell just lost the whole enchilada ...LOL!

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(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F11%2Fenchilada.jpg&hash=28ededcc8e4c9d03493faeee0af01bdaae1ab8f4)
File photo shows Shell’s fixed-leg Enchilada platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico

Shell’s Enchilada Platform Evacuated Due to Fire

November 8, 2017 by gCaptain

SNIPPET:

 Shell platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico had to be evacuated early Wednesday morning after a fire broke out on board. Coast Guard Sector New Orleans watchstanders received a report at 1:20 a.m. that Shell’s Enchilada platform was on fire approximately 112 nautical miles south of Vermilion Bay, Louisiana. The 46 crew members reported […]

Full article:

http://gcaptain.com/shell-platform-enchilada-in-gulf-of-mexico-evacuated-due-to-fire/ (http://gcaptain.com/shell-platform-enchilada-in-gulf-of-mexico-evacuated-due-to-fire/)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.leftique.com%2Fimg%2Fsections%2F8269.jpg&hash=ded7e726973123dafc2284c3a250c89b91872869)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 13, 2017, 07:22:00 pm
Is Trump's EPA The Environmental Pollution Agency ??? :P(w/John O'Grady)
https://youtu.be/QdfG3Fwjub8

Donald Trump's EPA is not protecting the environment instead it protects the interest of corporations, polluters and bad guys who like to loot and plunder.

Thom Hartmann Nov. 12, 2017 2:00 pm

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 15, 2017, 04:51:03 pm
Agelbert NOTE: The polluters AGAIN find a way to KEEP POLLUTING while they CONTINUE to shaft mostly the poor and people of color with greenwashing baloney cap and trade. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftherealnews.com%2Ft2%2Ftemplates%2Fgk_twn%2Fimages%2Flogo3.png&hash=4b5cf976827a8d50b9a86730b78230c107b3cf62)

November 15, 2017

Is Carbon Trading Just a License to Pollute?

Market-based pollution credit schemes undermine environmental laws and disproportionately affect lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color, says Food & Water Watch's Scott Edwards

https://youtu.be/br1Ph6uyEL4

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=20461%27%20style=%27color:#000;
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 17, 2017, 11:51:50 am
TransCanada Keystone pipeline leaks 795,000 litres of crude oil in South Dakota


CALGARY — TransCanada Corp. said its Keystone pipeline has leaked an estimated 795,000 litres of oil in Marshall County, S.D. just days before Nebraska is set to decide the fate of its Keystone XL pipeline

The company (TSX:TRP) said its crews shut down the Keystone pipeline system early this morning between Hardisty, Alta. to Cushing, Okla, and a line to Patoka, Ill. and that the line is expected to remain shut while it responds to the spill.

The leak, which it said happened about 35 kilometres south of its Ludden pump station on a right-of-way, comes as Nebraska Public Service Commission is set to vote on the Keystone XL project on Nov. 20 to clear the last major regulatory hurdle for the $8 billion project.

Opponents of Keystone XL say the pipeline would pass through the Sandhills, an ecologically fragile region of grass-covered sand dunes, and would cross the land of farmers and ranchers who don’t want it.

“Just days before the Nebraska Public Service Commissions decides on whether to approve Keystone XL we get a painful reminder of why no one wants a pipeline over their water supply,” said Greenpeace campaigner Mike Hudema.

The Sierra Club was also quick to condemn the spill, urging the commission not to vote for the project.

“We’ve always said it’s not a question of whether a pipeline will spill, but when, and today TransCanada is making our case for us,” said campaign director Kelly Martin.

The pipeline would transport oilsands oil from Alberta through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines that feed Texas Gulf Coast refineries.

http://business.financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/transcanada-keystone-pipeline-leaks-795000-litres-of-crude-oil-in-south-dakota
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 22, 2017, 02:00:39 pm
Now That Keystone XL Could Go Forward, Let's Talk About That Oil Spill a Bit More

Yessenia Funes

November 20, 2017 2:39pm Filed to: KEYSTONE XL

SNIPPET:

Meshkati has traveled around the world to visit sites that have seen true devastation at the hand of humans: Fukushima, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Chernobyl Power Plant.

“I have seen what a manmade disaster can do,” he said. “[TransCanada was] very lucky.”

Full article (with map and pictures):

https://earther.com/now-that-keystone-xl-could-go-forward-lets-talk-about-1820613026
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 22, 2017, 07:07:56 pm
How Pipelines Put You In Danger For Profit! (w/Guest Greg Palast)

https://youtu.be/IgcHhWHTw84

Greg Palast joins Thom to share his investigation into the alteration of pipeline safety equipment to avoid the cost of repairing old pipelines, the results are explosive.

Thom Hartmann Nov. 21, 2017 5:00 pm


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 03, 2017, 04:08:45 pm
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December 2, 2017
Real Media: Doctors Against Diesel

Co-founder of Doctors Against Diesel Chris Griffiths on why he has expanded his work from research to lobbying and protesting about what he sees as a medical emergency in our cities


https://youtu.be/YwrY1l2Vwn4

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=20588
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 05, 2017, 02:47:43 pm
Killing the Biosphere to Fast-track Human Extinction (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fdesertsmile.gif&hash=293fbde1c87dec2d81c5907e3fbac7d8e5bba7a9) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) (http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/forum/index.php/topic,10366.msg141925/topicseen.html#msg141925)


 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020)

Excellent collection of references!

They all add up to indisputable evidence of our devastating Mammon worshipping, multi-species extinction trajectory. :(  Bertrand Russell was right.


Quote
Organic life, we are told, has developed gradually from the protozoon to the philosopher, and this development, we are assured, is indubitably an advance. Unfortunately it is the philosopher, not the protozoon, who gives us this assurance.  Bertrand Russell


(https://d3by36x8sj6cra.cloudfront.net/assets/images/book/large/9781/4214/9781421417189.jpg)

The Annihilation of Nature : Human Extinction of Birds and Mammals

By (author)  Gerardo Ceballos , By (author)  Anne H. Ehrlich , By (author)  Paul R. Ehrlich
 
Gerardo Ceballos, Anne H. Ehrlich, and Paul R. Ehrlich serve as witnesses in this trial of human neglect, where the charge is the massive and escalating assault on living things. Nature is being annihilated, not only because of the human population explosion, but also as a result of massive commercial endeavors and public apathy.

Despite the well-intentioned work of conservation organizations and governments, the authors warn us that not enough is being done and time is short for the most vulnerable of the world's wild birds and mammals. Thousands of populations have already disappeared, other populations are dwindling daily, and soon our descendants may live in a world containing but a minuscule fraction of the birds and mammals we know today.

The Annihilation of Nature is a clarion call for engagement and action. These outspoken scientists urge everyone who cares about nature to become personally connected to the victims of our inadequate conservation efforts and demand that restoration replace destruction. Only then will we have any hope of preventing the worst-case scenario of the sixth mass extinction.

https://www.bookdepository.com/Annihilation-Nature-Gerardo-Ceballos/9781421417189

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-181015183028.png&hash=12199b2760915e2600cca9f00f26213bbd48f2da)

(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/img_03911.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 10, 2017, 02:50:06 pm
I have removed the disinformation posted here by K-Dog questioning the serious scientific studies (there are MANY studies confirming CO2 will continue to grievously heat the atmosphere for centuries even if we stopped burning fossl fuels today) predicting increased atmospheric heating for centuries after we stop burning fossil fuels.

This is just one of them:
Quote
Even if carbon dioxide emissions came to a sudden halt, the carbon dioxide already in Earth’s atmosphere could continue to warm our planet for hundreds of years, according to Princeton University-led research (http://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2060) published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

If he has no interest in objective scientific inquiry, he has no business posting here on that issue. K-Dog is in denial of the grievous harm fossil fuels do to our planet. He will not even acknowledge the empirical data from the following web site (available 24/7) that shows how much pollutants are in our atmosphere.

For example, because of the fires in the Los Angelos Area, parts of the atmosphere there have over 469 PPM of CO2.  :(  :P
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/chem/surface/level/overlay=co2sc/orthographic=-120.04,34.85,3000/loc=-119.558,33.721

While you are there, don't miss the CO levels. They are OFF THE CHARTS! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-150715183719.png&hash=7b222546f30a032efc31223d85eea0535ed42a49)
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/chem/surface/level/overlay=cosc/orthographic=-120.04,34.85,3000/loc=-119.558,33.721


If K-Dog wants to wallow in la la land, that's his business. I am done trying to get him to think logically and objectively in regard to Catastrophic Climate Change causes.

All that said, K-Dog can be quite objective and logical when it comes to Cannabis. He and I are on the same page in that area. ;D

Big Pharma Tries to Monopolize CBD Oil Market

December 11, 2017 • 129,805 views

Story at-a-glance

֍ The cannabinoids in cannabis — cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — work by way of naturally-occurring cannabinoid receptors embedded in cell membranes throughout your body

֍ The fact that your body is replete with cannabinoid receptors, key to so many biological functions, is why there's such enormous medical potential for cannabis

֍ South Dakota has rescheduled CBD from a Schedule I to a Schedule IV substance by excluding it from the definition of marijuana

֍ GW Pharmaceuticals failed in its efforts to restrict Schedule IV classification to FDA approved CBD products only, which prevented the company from creating a monopoly in South Dakota

֍ The legal status of CBD oil as a nutritional supplement is now threatened by drug companies (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241013183046.jpeg&hash=51c9c4f17e747698c76c65c7c1814eff4f32c400) seeking FDA approval for CBD-containing drugs

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/12/11/big-pharma-tries-to-monopolize-cbd.aspx (https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/12/11/big-pharma-tries-to-monopolize-cbd.aspx)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 11, 2017, 03:09:09 pm
California's Thomas Fire scorches area larger than New York City

The most destructive wildfire raging in southern California has expanded significantly, scorching an area larger than New York City.

The Thomas fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties has consumed 230,000 acres (930 sq km) in the past week.

Fanned by strong winds, it has become the fifth largest wildfire in recorded state history after it grew by more than 50,000 acres in a day.

Residents in coastal beach communities have been ordered to leave.

(https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/3272/production/_99141921_hi043472430.jpg)
Satellite imagery shows the vast Thomas Fire, north of Los Angeles, which has spread as far as the Pacific coast

On Sunday, firefighters reported that 15% of the blaze had been contained but were forced to downgrade that to 10% as it continued to spread.

"This is a menacing fire, certainly, but we have a lot of people working very diligently to bring it under control," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said.

The containment operation is not only being hampered by dry winds. It is proving challenging for firefighters because of the location and mountainous terrain.

An analyst with the California fire protection department, Tim Chavez, said the emergency services were struggling because "a hot interior" was in parts practically meeting the ocean, making access difficult.

"It's just a very difficult place to fight fire," Mr Chavez said, adding: "It's very dangerous and has a historical record of multiple fatalities occurring over the years."

The other fires hitting California are largely controlled, but 200,000 people have evacuated their homes and some 800 buildings have been destroyed since 4 December.

Evacuation orders were issued overnight on Sunday for parts of Carpinteria close to Los Padres National Forest, about 100 miles (160km) northwest of Los Angeles.

Forecasters said wind speeds were expected to increase throughout the day, before dying down again overnight.

The local fire department tweeted pictures of a wall of flames advancing on homes on the outskirts of Carpinteria early on Sunday morning.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DQsJE1fVwAAmjUV.jpg)

Meanwhile, actor Rob Lowe, who lives in Santa Barbara, a city of close to 100,000 people, tweeted that he was praying for his town as fires closed in.

"Firefighters making brave stands. Could go either way. Packing to evacuate now," Lowe added.

 Rob Lowe

@RobLowe

Praying for my town. Fires closing in. Firefighters making brave stands. Could go either way. Packing to evacuate now.
10:37 AM - Dec 10, 2017

    596 596 Replies
    328 328 Retweets
    4,343

California has spent the past seven days battling wildfires. Six large blazes, and other smaller ones, erupted on Monday night in southern California.

The Thomas Fire - named according to where it started, near the Thomas Aquinas College - is by far the largest of the fires.

They swept through tens of thousands of acres in a matter of hours, driven by extreme weather, including low humidity, high winds and parched ground.

The authorities issued a purple alert - the highest level warning - amid what it called "extremely critical fire weather", while US President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency.

On Saturday, California Governor Jerry Brown described the situation as "the new normal" and predicted vast fires, fuelled by climate change, "could happen every year or every few years".

Several firefighters have been injured, but only one person has died - a 70-year-old woman who was found dead in her car on an evacuation route.

There are also fears the blaze will seriously hit California's multi-million dollar agricultural industry.

Are you in the area? If it is safe to do so, share your experience with us by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:

    WhatsApp: +447555 173285
    Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay
    Upload your pictures / video here
    Send an SMS or MMS to 61124 or +44 7624 800 100

hytp://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42303203]http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42303203
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 14, 2017, 01:46:40 pm
‘A different dimension of loss’: inside the great insect die-off

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Scientists have identified 2 million species of living things. No one knows how many more are out there, and tens of thousands may be vanishing before we have even had a chance to encounter them.

The Earth is ridiculously, burstingly full of life. Four billion years after the appearance of the first microbes, 400m years after the emergence of the first life on land, 200,000 years after humans arrived on this planet, 5,000 years (give or take) after God bid Noah to gather to himself two of every creeping thing, and 200 years after we started to systematically categorise all the world’s living things, still, new species are being discovered by the hundreds and thousands.

In the world of the systematic taxonomists – those scientists charged with documenting this ever-growing onrush of biological profligacy – the first week of November 2017 looked like any other. Which is to say, it was extraordinary. It began with 95 new types of beetle from Madagascar. But this was only the beginning. As the week progressed, it brought forth seven new varieties of micromoth from across South America, 10 minuscule spiders from Ecuador, and seven South African recluse spiders, all of them poisonous. A cave-loving crustacean from Brazil. Seven types of subterranean earwig. Four Chinese cockroaches. A nocturnal jellyfish from Japan. A blue-eyed damselfly from Cambodia. Thirteen bristle worms from the bottom of the ocean – some bulbous, some hairy, all hideous. Eight North American mites pulled from the feathers of Georgia roadkill. Three black corals from Bermuda. One Andean frog, whose bright orange eyes reminded its discoverers of the Incan sun god Inti.

About 2m species of plants, animals and fungi are known to science thus far. No one knows how many are left to discover. Some put it at around 2m, others at more than 100m. The true scope of the world’s biodiversity is one of the biggest and most intractable problems in the sciences. There’s no quick fix or calculation that can solve it, just a steady drip of new observations of new beetles and new flies, accumulating towards a fathomless goal.

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But even as thousands of new species are being discovered every year, thousands more seem to be disappearing, swept away in an ecological catastrophe that has come to be known as the sixth extinction. There have been five such disasters in the past. The most famous (and recent) is the end-Cretaceous extinction, the one that killed off the dinosaurs 66m years ago. The most destructive was the Permian, the one that cleared the way for the dinosaurs 190m years before that.

To know if we are really in the midst of a sixth extinction, scientists need to establish both the rate at which species are currently vanishing, and the rate at which they would go extinct without human activity (known as the “background rate”). In 2015, using a census of all known vertebrates, a team of American and Mexican scientists argued that animal species are going extinct “up to 100 times” faster than they would without us – a pace of disappearance on a par with the extinction that took out the dinosaurs.

But as Terry Erwin, the legendary tropical entomologist, pointed out to me, these sixth-extinction estimates are “biased towards a very small portion of biodiversity”. When it comes to invertebrates – the slugs, crabs, worms, snails, spiders, octopuses and, above all, insects that make up the bulk of the world’s animal species – we are guessing. “Conservationists are doing what they can, without data on insects,” he said.

To really know what’s going on with the state of the world’s biodiversity, ecologists need to start paying more attention to the invertebrates and spend less time on the “cute and cuddlies” – Erwin’s term for the vertebrates. (Years of hearing about the wonders of gorillas and humpback whales can make a staunch bug man resentful.) After all, there are far, far more of them than there are of us.

We live in an invertebrate world. Of all known animal species, less than 5% have backbones. About 70% are insects. Fewer than one in every 200 are mammals, and a huge proportion of those are rodents. Looked at from the point of view of species diversity, we mammals are just a handful of mice on a globe full of beetles. The great majority of those beetles are herbivores native to the tropics. So if you really want to understand the total diversity of life on Earth – and the true rate at which it is disappearing – you need to figure out how many types of beetle munch on every variety of tropical tree.

But before you can count species, you have to name them. That’s where the taxonomists come in. The idea of species has been notoriously hard for biologists to define, especially since organisms so often exist on a continuum, becoming harder and harder to distinguish the closer they are to each other. The most widely accepted definition comes from the evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr, who defined species as groups of animals that breed with one another, but not with others – at least not in the regular course of events. (If you force a zebra and a donkey together to make a zonkey, you’ve created one hybrid, not disproved the fact that they are two different species, since such a mating would not normally occur in nature.)

Taxonomists do not just name individual species; they also have to figure out how species are related to each other. Over the centuries, many scientists have tried to fit the world’s creatures into a coherent system, with mixed results. Aristotle tried to classify all life forms based on their essential traits, and in particular, the way they moved. Sedentary animals gave him the most trouble. He seems to have spent a lot of time on the island of Lesbos, puzzling over whether sea anemones and sponges were animals, plants, or plant-like animals.

The real revolution in taxonomy came in the 18th century, during the age of Enlightenment. It was largely the work of one man, Carl Linnaeus, who was hailed as the Isaac Newton of biology. Linnaeus was an odd figure to rise to such heights: a brilliant, headstrong, egotistical showoff with a prodigious knack for remembering the sexual characteristics of plants. He made one major expedition – to Lapland, in Sweden’s north – but mostly relied on the discoveries of others. He inspired 17 “apostles” to venture into the world in search of specimens to complete his system. Seven never came home. Based on their collective work, he named 7,700 species of plants and 4,400 species of animals.

Later biologists found much to quibble with in Linnaeus’s system. For instance, he grouped hedgehogs and bats together as “ferocious beasts”, and shrews and hippos together as “beasts of burden”. Linnaeus’s lasting achievement was not in creating the groups themselves, but the system by which all subsequent species would be named. He decreed that all species should have a two-part name. The first part indicates the genus to which a species belongs, and the second part is the species name.

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This is a brilliantly efficient system for both naming and sorting. With it, we can tell in an instant that we, Homo sapiens, are both related to, and distinct from, our evolutionary relatives Homo erectus and Homo habilis. It is also a source of considerable fun for taxonomists. Presidential names – the bushi, obamai and donaldtrumpi (a remarkably coiffed moth) – reliably grab headlines. Less frequently, species names invoke politics or recent events. A Brazilian mayfly received the species name tragediae, to commemorate the catastrophic collapse of a dam in 2015. Taxonomists are also not above the occasional pun or rhyme. Terry Gosliner, an expert on nudibranchs, or marine sea slugs, once giving the name Kahuna to a species belonging to genus Thurunna from Hawaii, to make Thurunna kahuna.

Gosliner found his first nudibranch while still at high school. Since then he has travelled the world in search of them, and has named more than 300 in his 40-year career. As denizens of coral reefs, sea slugs are particularly sensitive to rising sea temperatures. Some scientists think climate change and ocean acidification might cause reefs to vanish entirely in the next 50 to 100 years. Gosliner tends to be a bit more optimistic, emphasising the reefs’ ability to bounce back from stress. But while corals reefs face peril in the seas, an even greater crisis could be developing for insects on land – the true dimensions of which entomologists are only beginning to grapple with.

Before entomologists could ponder the terrifying possibility of an insect mass extinction, they first had to come to grips with the true scale of insect diversity. They are still struggling to do that now. But for many, the breakthrough moment came in 1982, with a brief paper published by a young beetle specialist named Terry Erwin.

Erwin wanted to figure out how many species of insect lived on an average acre of rainforest in Panama, where he was working. To do this, he covered a single tree in sheeting and “fogged” it, by blasting it with insecticide from a device resembling a leafblower. He waited several hours while dead bugs cascaded on to the plastic sheeting he had spread on the ground. He then spent months counting and sorting them all. What Erwin found was startling: 1,200 species lived on this one tree. More than 100 lived on this particular tree and nowhere else. Scaling this result up, Erwin estimated that there are 41,000 different species in every hectare of rainforest, and 30m species worldwide.

This estimate quickly became famous, and controversial. Erwin is widely respected in the field. He has been commemorated in the names of 47 species, two genera, one subfamily and one subspecies – a good gauge of respect in the entomological community, where, according to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, naming a species after yourself is forbidden by custom, but not law. Still, many entomologists are sceptical about Erwin’s wilder estimates, and more recent studies have tended to revise the 30m number down somewhat. But Erwin remains intransigent. “It’s like Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid, these kids out here taking potshots at me. None of them have any data,” he told me recently. “They’re just sitting in that office throwing numbers around.” He thinks the real number might be as high as 80m, or even 200m – and that a large number of these species are in the process of vanishing without anyone being around to even notice.

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Everywhere, invertebrates are threatened by climate change, competition from invasive species and habitat loss. Insect abundance seems to be declining precipitously, even in places where their habitats have not suffered notable new losses. A troubling new report from Germany has shown a 75% plunge in insect populations since 1989, suggesting that they may be even more imperilled than any previous studies suggested.

Entomologists across the world have watched this decline with growing concern. When Brian Fisher, an entomologist at the California Academy of Sciences with a particular expertise in ants, arrived in Madagascar in 1993, he expected he would be able to describe some new species, but he had no idea of the extent of the riches he would find there. “Everything was new. It was like it was in the 1930s,” Fisher said. In that time, he has identified more than 1,000 new species of ant, including some whose adults feed exclusively on the blood of their own young, a group he has nicknamed the “Dracula ants”.

A thousand ants is quite a lot, but scientists have identified 16,000 species – so far. To a layperson like me, they all seem basically alike. Some are brown, some are black, some are cinnamon-coloured, but other than that, they look pretty much like the (invasive, Argentine) ants that swarm my kitchen in California every time it rains. To an expert like Fisher though, they are as different from one another as warblers are to a birder. Under a microscope, each ant positively bristles with identifying features in their flagellate hairs, their segmented antennae, and most of all, in their mandibles, which under magnification look like diabolical garden shears.

In the decades since Fisher started making expeditions to Madagascar, deforestation has accelerated, and today only 10% of its virgin forests remain intact. Fisher says that “in 50 years I can’t imagine any forest left in Madagascar”. According to Wendy Moore, a professor of entomology at the University of Arizona, who specialises in ant nest beetles, “There is a sense of running out of time. Everyone in the field who is paying attention feels that.” Because many insects depend on a single plant species for their survival, the devastation caused by deforestation is almost unimaginably huge. “Once a certain type of forest vanishes, thousands, or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of species will vanish,” Erwin told me. “Deforestation is taking out untold millions of species.”

While we still don’t have a clear idea of what’s happening to insects at the species level, we are in the midst of a crisis at the population level. Put simply, even if many kinds of insects are holding on, their overall numbers are falling drastically. The alarming new data from Germany, which was based on tracking the number of flying insects captured at a number of sites over 35 years, is one warning sign among many. According to estimates made by Claire Régnier of the French Natural History Museum in Paris, in the past four centuries, as many of 130,000 species of known invertebrates may have already disappeared.

Various kinds of anecdotal evidence appear to support these observations. The environmental journalist Michael McCarthy has noted the seeming disappearance of the windscreen phenomenon. Once, he writes, “any long automobile journey,” especially one undertaken in summer, “would result in a car windscreen that was insect-spattered”. In recent years this phenomenon seems to have vanished.
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Although insecticides have been blamed for the declines in Europe, Erwin thinks the ultimate culprit is climate change. The location he has been observing in Ecuador is pristine, virgin rainforest. “There’s no insecticides, nothing at all,” he said. But gradually, almost imperceptibly, in the time he has been there, something has changed in the balance of the forest. Studying the data, Erwin and his collaborators have found that over the past 35 years, the Amazon rainforest has been slowly dying out. And if the forest goes, Erwin tells me, “everything that lives in it will be affected”.

If this trend were to continue indefinitely, the consequences would be devastating. Insects have been on Earth 1,000 times longer than humans have. In many ways, they created the world we live in. They helped call the universe of flowering plants into being. They are to terrestrial food chains what plankton is to oceanic ones. Without insects and other land-based arthropods, EO Wilson, the renowned Harvard entomologist, and inventor of sociobiology, estimates that humanity would last all of a few months. After that, most of the amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals would go, along with the flowering plants. The planet would become an immense compost heap, covered in shoals of carcasses and dead trees that refused to rot. Briefly, fungi would bloom in untold numbers. Then, they too would die off. The Earth would revert to what it was like in the Silurian period, 440m years ago, when life was just beginning to colonise the soil – a spongy, silent place, filled with mosses and liverworts, waiting for the first shrimp brave enough to try its luck on land.

Conserving individual insect species piecemeal, as is done with most endangered mammals, is extremely difficult. Not only are the numbers mind-boggling, but insects and other invertebrates don’t tend to have the same cachet. Polar bears and humpback whales are one thing; soft-bodied plant beetles from the Gaoligong mountains of Yunnan are quite another.

Not long ago, I took a trip to the first wildlife refuge established with the express purpose of protecting an endangered insect, the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge, about an hour’s drive north-east of Berkeley, California. The reserve is small – only 55 acres, hemmed in on three sides by a chain-link fence, and by the San Joaquin river on the fourth – and, in truth, the Dunes do not dazzle the eye. The terrain resembles an unlovely, overgrown plot of land intended for development at some unspecified point in the future. The day I went, three vultures huddled around the body of a cat while the turbines of a wind farm spun lazily on the opposite bank of the river.

Once, however, these dunes were a miniature Sahara, home to a number of animals and plants that existed nowhere else. It took decades before that fact became apparent to biologists, and by then, it was very nearly too late. When white settlers arrived in California, the dunes were seen simply as a source of raw materials. The dune sand was unusually well-suited for brickmaking, and between the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the postwar housing boom, most of the sand was mined out and turned into buildings. Once the dunes were gone, most of the land they formerly stood on was built up.

It wasn’t until the 1960s that biologists began to realise how special the Antioch Dunes were. By that point, only three native species remained. There were two plants – the Contra Costa wallflower and the Antioch Dunes evening primrose – and one insect, the Lange’s metalmark butterfly. The metalmark butterfly is tiny, with a wingspan about the size of thumbnail. A pretty brown-and-orange with white spotting, they are weak flyers, capable of travelling a maximum 400 metres (1,300ft) after they emerge from their chrysalises for seven to nine days every August.

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After the Dunes Reserve was established in 1980, the butterfly enjoyed a brief resurgence. Today, it is struggling. At last count, there were only 67 individuals in the park. The Lange’s lay their eggs on one plant and one plant only: the naked-stemmed buckwheat, which is currently being choked out by weeds. The only other population of Lange’s is kept in a captive-breeding programme at Moorpark College in Simi Valley, California. If something should happen to these, it would be the end of the species.

In a bid to save the butterfly, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has recently begun a bold experiment in habitat restoration, covering much of the refuge in sand. Spread a metre deep, the sand suffocates invasive plants, allowing the species that originally evolved on the dunes to reclaim their lost ground. “If we can bring back the environment, we can bring back the butterfly,” wildlife refuge manager Don Brubaker told me. The day I visited, his co-worker, refuge specialist Louis Terrazas, spotted a hopeful sign. The season’s first shoots of native primrose had just started peeking out above the sand. Given time, this remnant of a remnant might spring back to life.

When I asked Brubaker if his painstaking efforts on behalf of the Lange’s was worth all the trouble, he replied: “Why protect the species? Why not? Because it’s what we do – we’re enabling the planet to keep functioning.”

In some ways, the tiny ranges of invertebrates like the Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly make them perfect targets for protection. Sarina Jepsen is the director of endangered species and aquatic conservation at the Xerces Society, a Portland, Oregon-based non-profit focusing on invertebrates. She told me that for insects, “often small patches of land can make a huge difference,” unlike what is needed for, say, wolf or tiger conservation. “We don’t necessarily need hundreds of thousands of acres to make a difference with these species,” she said. Even so, the amount of work that goes into saving even a single species can sometimes feel overwhelming. It isn’t enough to save one in a lab. You have to rescue whole environments – the products of complex interactions between plants, animals, soil and climate that have built up over millennia.

At a certain point, it becomes clear that to even think about extinction in terms of individual species is to commit an error of scale. If entomologists’ most dire predictions come true, the number of species that will go extinct in the coming century will be in the millions, if not the tens of millions. Saving them one at a time is like trying to stop a tsunami with a couple of sandbags.

Like many of the species they study, taxonomists are presently at risk of becoming a dying breed. Faculty hires, museum posts and government grants are all declining. Fewer students are drawn to the field as well. All too often, taxonomy gets dismissed as old-fashioned and intellectually undemanding, the scientific equivalent of stamp collecting. Molecular biology, with its concern for DNA, proteins and chemical processes within individual cells, dominates curriculums and hoovers up grant money. “All the university courses are oriented towards it, and so is the funding,” says Terry Erwin.

Meanwhile, the new species keep piling up. Already today, as I’m writing, ZooKeys and Zootaxa, two of the largest and most prolific taxonomic journals, have announced the discovery of a potter wasp from South America, a water scavenger beetle from the Tibetan plateau, an erebid moth, an Andean scarab beetle, two Korean crustaceans and a whole genus of parasitoid wasps (don’t worry, we’re safe – the bastards prey on aphids), and it isn’t even noon yet.

What to do with this onrush? Many taxonomists I spoke to admit that it simply isn’t manageable. Brian Fisher confessed that many taxonomists find themselves awed at some point by “the immensity of what we don’t know”. Kipling Will, of the University of California, Berkeley, who has spent two decades studying one subfamily of ground beetles, told me, while gesturing at boxes of samples that had just flown in from Australia: “We do what we can. I have so much undescribed material. It takes decades just to get where we are.” With any species, it takes time to do a proper dissection, test their DNA, compare them to their nearest relatives, and compile all the information necessary to publish something as new. With so many invertebrates being found each year, it’s common for them to spend years, or even decades, in a queue waiting for their coming-out party.

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So what to do? And why bother? There are plenty of practical reasons to worry about the fate of invertebrates. They are a vital part of the ecosystems that function as the heart, lungs and digestive system of our planet. Some might carry, inside their exotic biochemistries, cures for any number of diseases. Recently, chemicals harvested from sea slugs have been tested in clinical trials in the US for use as cancer-fighting drugs. Others could be used as natural alternatives to pesticides. But ultimately, it’s not certain that any of these will be enough on its own. The answer could have more to do with aesthetics, or enthusiasm for the living world – the quality EO Wilson named “biophilia”.

When you ask people who work in invertebrate taxonomy why they have devoted their lives to a particular type of insect, snail or clam, the word you hear most often is “beautiful”. Their eyes light up in front of their chosen genus or subclass. The occupants of a case full of slightly iridescent, mostly black beetles will be described as “rather huge and incredibly beautiful”. (Huge is relative, too – they are the size of the final joint of a little finger.) Surrounded by jars full of tiny sea slugs, they will gush about their beauty and the glorious variety of their colour, shape and behaviour. Amy Berkov, a professor of tropical ecology at the City College of New York who works on wood-boring beetles, came to entomology from a background in art and chose her new field, in part, because “there’s nothing more amazing than looking at insects”. Even the ant specialists – generally a pretty hard-nosed-bunch – will trade Latin names of rare ants with the affection you usually hear reserved for old friends.

It’s easy to care about the cute and cuddlies. Soon we’ll be living on a planet that has lost its last mountain gorilla, its last leatherback turtle. A world without tigers or polar bears; what a sad place that will be.

But to think about the coming invertebrate extinctions is to confront a different dimension of loss. So much will vanish before we even knew it was there, before we had even begun to understand it. Species aren’t just names, or points on an evolutionary tree, or abstract sequences of DNA. They encode countless millennia of complex interactions between plant and animal, soil and air. Each species carries with it behaviours we have only begun to witness, chemical tricks honed over a million generations, whole worlds of mimicry and violence, maternal care and carnal exuberance. To know that all this will disappear is like watching a library burn without being able to pick up a single book. Our role in this destruction is a kind of vandalism, against their history, and ours as well.

Take Strumigenys reliquia, one of the ants I heard discussed with such warmth at the California Academy of Sciences. Strumigenys is a predator, a native of the undergrowth, and very rare. It was first discovered in 1986 by Phil Ward of the University of California, Davis. He spotted this incredibly rare species on a two-hectare patch of woods a few miles from his office. It has never been seen anywhere else. Ward thinks there is a reason for this. California rivers were once flanked by giant forests of hardy, flood-resistant, evergreen oaks. Geologists think these riverine forests were a feature of the landscape for at least 20m years. Accounts from early settlers and explorers give an idea of what they might have been like. They write of flocks of geese “blackening the sky”, salmon choking the streams and grizzly bears gathering under the oaks to feed on acorns in troupes of a hundred or more.

Today, except for a few scattered acres like the one Ward found in Yolo County, those forests are gone. They were chopped down long ago for firewood and ploughed under to make way for tomato farms and almond orchards. The salmon, the geese and the grizzlies have all gone too. Only the ant remains. Only it remembers.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/14/a-different-dimension-of-loss-great-insect-die-off-sixth-extinction

Agelbert WARNING: Already many vertebrates are going extinct. The mass die-off of insects is accelerating vertebrate extinctions. That means YOU AND ME!

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(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 15, 2017, 05:05:03 pm
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Men work on a natural gas valve at a fracking site in South Montrose, Pa. An analysis of more than 1.1 million Pennsylvania births finds that that babies born to mothers living within 1 kilometer of active “fracking” wells are 25% more likely to exhibit low birthweight.

Babies born to moms who lived near fracking wells faced host of health risks, study suggests

December 13, 2017

After combing through a decade's worth of Pennsylvania birth records, researchers have found that pregnant women living within two-thirds of a mile of a hydraulic fracturing well were 25% more likely to give birth to a worryingly small infant than were women who lived at least 10 miles outside that zone during pregnancy.

Over these babies' lifetimes, their low birth weights raise the likelihood they will suffer poorer health and lower achievement, including reduced earnings and educational attainment.

The authors of the new research estimated that, in 2012, about 29,000 of the close to 4 million annual births in the United States — roughly 0.7% of babies born each year — were to women who lived within about two-thirds of a mile of a hydraulic fracturing operation during their pregnancies.

The study was published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

Nationally, the advent and expansion of hydraulic fracturing operations have reduced gasoline prices, decreased some air pollution emissions and driven down U.S. dependence on foreign oil. But in areas surrounding the nation's roughly 1.2 million fracking wells, the extraction technique has increased pollution of air, soil, groundwater and surface water.

Many of the toxic chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process are known carcinogens. Toxic gases, including benzene, are released from the rock by fracking. And the high-pressure pumping of a slurry of chemicals into the ground is widely thought to release toxins and irritants into nearby air and water. The noise and pollution emitted by trucks and heavy machinery also may affect the health of people living nearby.

Research by some of the new study's authors — all economists — has detailed the powerful impact of fracking on local communities, where it boosted employment, household incomes and housing values. It also has made the extraction technique's local effects on human health a subject of heated debate and growing research.

Based on an analysis of more than 1.1 million births in Pennsylvania between 2004 and 2013, the new research found that babies born to mothers who lived within 1 kilometer (0.64 miles) of a fracking well weighed, on average, 1.38 ounces less than babies whose gestation occurred 3 kilometers or more from a fracking site.

The researchers compared the birth weights of babies born to mothers living within 1, 2 or 3 kilometers of fracking wells, both before and after the wells were active. In a bid to capture health influences specifically related to well proximity, the authors compared the birth weights of siblings born at different distances to wells — both close enough to be exposed to fracking in utero, and too far away.

The largest health impacts were found in infants born to mothers living the closest to active wells. Compared to those whose pregnant mothers lived about 10 miles or more away, these infants were 25% more likely to weigh less than 5 1/2 pounds and be classified as low birth weight, the authors found.

For babies whose mothers lived between 1 and 3 kilometers from a well, researchers found birth-weight effects, but they were greatly diminished — less than half those found among babies born to women living within 1 kilometer of a well.

The findings suggest that fracking's impacts on newborns' health "are highly local," the authors wrote.

"This study provides the strongest large-scale evidence of a link between the pollution that stems from hydraulic fracturing activities and our health, specifically the health of babies," said coauthor Michael Greenstone, an economist and director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago.

A representative of the oil and gas industry criticized the study for failing to take account of a wide range of factors that can contribute to low birth weight, as well as for measuring women's proximity to fracking wells instead of their exposure to actual pollutants.

"It's just one of many examples of research that has similar limitations," said Nicole Jacobs, Pennsylvania director for Energy in Depth, a research, education and lobbying arm of the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America.

Jacobs also cited Pennsylvania Health Department statistics showing that in the most heavily drilled counties in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale region, infant mortality rates not only have declined, but actually have improved more than overall state levels. To the extent that low birth weight drives infant mortality, such data would appear to contradict the findings reported Wednesday, Jacobs said.

Notwithstanding such limitations, the results add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that fracking exacts a toll on the health of populations living in close proximity to wells.

A study of Pennsylvania published in August 2016 found higher rates of migraine headaches, fatigue, and nasal and sinus symptoms in people who were at greater proximity to fracking operations. Another study, conducted in southwest Pennsylvania, where fracking wells are heavily concentrated, found an increase in cases of bladder cancer, but not of thyroid cancer or leukemia, that was steeper in counties where well density was highest.

In research that examined a Colorado registry of cancer cases, another study found that people aged 5 to 24 who were diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia were more likely to live in areas with a high concentration of oil and gas activity.

Other studies have focused on pregnancy outcomes and infant health. In one conducted in North Texas — where fracking wells abut diverse populations of urbanites — researchers found an increased risk of preterm birth, and a slight increase in fetal death, among pregnant women living close to greater concentrations of fracking wells. But it failed to find an association between a pregnant woman's proximity to fracking wells and her likelihood of giving birth to a child who was either small for its gestational age or who was born at term at less than 5½ pounds.

Many of these studies have been faulted for methodological weaknesses, and their findings have been assailed by oil and gas industry groups.

Weill Cornell public health researcher Madelon L. Finkel, who has conducted some of the early research, acknowledges that the findings are preliminary. Cancer and many other outcomes can take decades to become evident, while the widespread practice of hydraulic fracturing is not quite a decade old, Finkel said.

Firming up conclusions on fracking's health effects, she added, will take years of further research. "But we're beginning to see a pattern: that living near these sites does elevate risk compared to living further away," said Finkel, who was not involved in the Science Advances study.

University of Pennsylvania neonatologist Dr. Rebecca Simmons praised the new study's design and the researchers' focus on low birth weight as a factor potentially affected by proximity to fracking wells.

"Birth weight is a proxy: it gives us an insight into what's going on in gestation, and we worry a lot when we see changes like this," said Simmons, who is deputy director of the Penn's Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology. "We know that babies born at low birth weight have a much, much higher risk of diseases such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes and obesity."

Simmons, who was not involved in the Science Advances study, acknowledged that many factors contribute to low birth weight, including poverty and poor nutrition. Increasingly, however, environmental factors are gaining their share of attention and research.

Coauthor Katherine Meckel, an assistant professor at UCLA, acknowledged that the study could not pinpoint the source of the environmental hazards that affect human health and birth weight.

"Until we can determine the source of this pollution and contain it, local lawmakers will be forced to continue to make the difficult decision of whether to allow fracking in order to boost their local economies — despite the health implications — or ban it altogether, missing out on the jobs and revenue it would bring," she said.


http://beta.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-fracking-infant-health-20171213-story.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 20, 2017, 01:38:07 pm
EcoWatch

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Beauty and Despair Collide in These Murals of the Great Lakes

By onEarth
 
Dec. 06, 2017 11:32AM EST

By Clara Chaisson

With loons and trout alongside allegorical monsters, the fantastical murals at the center of artist Alexis Rockman's new exhibition don't just look like a dream sequence; they are a dream come true.

Alexis Rockman: The Great Lakes Cycle emerged out of a 2013 phone call with Rockman's longtime friend and collaborator Dana Friis-Hansen, director of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, where the series will make its debut on Jan. 27 2018. "[Dana] asked me if I had any dream projects up my sleeve," Rockman said. "I looked at the map and thought of the Great Lakes."

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Pioneers, 2017. Oil and acrylic on wood panel, 72 x 144 inches. Alexis Rockman and Sperone Westwater, New York

Though he was born and raised in New York City, Rockman said Lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior appeal to him because they are both natural wonders and human-made disaster zones. These massive freshwater lakes—the world's largest by surface area—formed from glacial movement and melting during the Pleistocene. They now hold 20 percent of the Earth's freshwater and provide drinking water for 40 million people, but threats ranging from massive algal blooms and industrial pollution to rapidly warming temperatures and voracious invasive species now plague these vital resources. "It's a perfect cocktail of awe, despair, and melancholy," Rockman said.


Rockman tells the lakes' story through five large-scale paintings, each measuring 6 by 12 feet, beginning with the Pleistocene, exploring the present day, and imagining the future (which includes opportunities for recovery and preservation). The exhibit also features six large watercolors and 28 field drawings made from organic materials collected from Great Lakes sites.

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Spheres of Influence, 2016. Oil and alkyd on wood panel, 72 x 144 inches. Collection of Jonathan O'Hara and Sheila Skaff. Alexis Rockman

The paintings abound with Rockman's unique style, which combines his passion for natural history and landscape painting with a dark, hallucinatory flair. He refers to this particular blend of influences as "natural-history psychedelia." Director Ang Lee was so taken with Rockman's approach that he asked the artist to create visual inspiration for his 2012 film Life of Pi.


For his latest work, using an itinerary developed by the Grand Rapids museum, Rockman set out on a tour of eight U.S. states and Canadian provinces in the Great Lakes region. Along with extensive reading, his studies included fishing trips, a circumnavigation of Lake Michigan, and meetings with museum directors and biologists. Rockman had previously painted the lakes in the 1980s, becoming familiar with many of their woes, such as their infamous zebra mussel infestation. But his latest research introduced him to new horror shows, like tiny spiny water fleas that gunk up fishing gear and botulism outbreaks that paralyze and kill birds. The Great Lakes "are under incredible pressure from so many things, it's just mind-boggling," said Rockman.

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Watershed, 2015. Oil and alkyd on wood panel, 72 x 144 inches. Collection of Jonathan O'Hara and Sheila Skaff. Alexis Rockman

Each painting in the series is accompanied by a map key that that identifies the species and references at play. "As I have worked on this project for the past five years, the environmental issues facing the lakes have become even more critical," Rockman said. "My expedition in the region, observations of the area, and conversations with experts have helped me tell a story that is, I hope, a compelling call for action on behalf of this natural treasure."


Alexis Rockman: The Great Lakes Cycle will be on view at the Grand Rapids Art Museum from Jan. 27 through April 29, 2018, before traveling to Chicago, Cleveland and Minneapolis.

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Forces of Change, 2017. Oil and acrylic on wood panel, 72 x 144 inches. Collection of Jonathan O'Hara and Sheila Skaff. Alexis Rockman

https://www.ecowatch.com/murals-great-lakes-2515369495.html

Agelbert NOTE: Capitalism is reaping what it's God of Profit over people and planet has sowed. It will get much worlse. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041115022304.png&hash=cd8cb8e28ab8f7fc78c1ea00d30a661bd937aed5)

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Psalm 49 King James Version (KJV)

1 Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:

2 Both low and high, rich and poor, together.

3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

4 I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?

6 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:

8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)

9 That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.

10 For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

11 Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.

12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.

13 This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.

14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.

15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.

16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.

18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.

19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.

20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 28, 2017, 12:37:59 pm
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By Muhammad Fazri Bin Muhri / Shutterstock

North Sea Forties Pipeline Pumping at Half Capacity -Source

December 27, 2017 by Reuters

SNIPPET:

LONDON, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Britain’s biggest and most important oil pipeline, Forties, was ramping up throughput after repairs and was currently pumping at around half its normal rates, a trading source familiar with the operations said on Wednesday.

Forties normally pumps about 450,000 barrels per day. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070815234504.png&hash=985389b97dcdb7597d06de1ad53ff044c1fca800)

Read more:

http://gcaptain.com/north-sea-forties-pipeline-pumping-at-half-capacity-source/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 03, 2018, 08:46:15 pm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/545693884664119297/mCDJfUgm.jpeg)

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January 3, 2018

Quote
Trump Admin is Pro-Pollution, For All Intents and Purposes

Welcome to 2018! What do you intend to do this year? Anything new, or more of the same? If you’re in the Trump administration, odds are you intend to do exactly what you did all of last year: help polluters in any way possible.

The Washington Post ended 2017 with a look at how Scott Pruitt has reshaped the EPA into a more industry-friendly organization. One particular word stood out to us as emblematic of how Pruitt is treating the relationship between regulator and industry: intent.

Pre-Pruitt, EPA administrators from both parties knew industry would try to be as cheap as possible about their pollution problems. In the past, part of the agency’s responsibility to ensure public health was protected from bad actors cutting corners was to make sure polluters weren’t hiding pollution--for example, by having someone independent double-checking reported emissions. But Pruitt seems to believe that as long as industries promise not to pollute and don’t intend to pollute, well then by golly, we should just take their word for it.

The Post describes a Dec. 7th memo from Pruitt on pollution restrictions on a DTE Energy power plant, the subject of a court case Pruitt inherited from Obama’s EPA. The EPA had been asking to double-check the company’s emission projections. Pruitt reversed that position, saying instead that so long as the company expresses an “intent” to reduce pollution, the EPA will trust DTE at its word to reduce emissions. It seems suspiciously naive to believe a company would voluntarily spend money to reduce pollution with only a scouts’ honor level of enforcement.

Even when an industry has proven it can’t be trusted with the public’s health, the Trump administration keeps rolling back regulations. The administration began its rollback of key offshore drilling protections last week, instead choosing to trust the industry’s “recommended practices” for testing safety equipment. These “recommended practices” were in place before the Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed eleven and polluted the Gulf of Mexico. Clearly these practices aren’t perfect. Nor are the energy industry’s practices regarding migratory birds, but the Interior department’s lifting protections for those species, so long as it’s not industry’s intention to kill birds.

And then there’s Trump and his intentions. He campaigned on a promise to save the forgotten coal miners, and has even begun claiming victory. But as always, intentions and actions are a world apart. Not only are the coal industry and West Virginia far from “doing fantastically now,” as Trump claims, but in fact, there were more coal fatalities in West Virginia in 2017 than there were in all states in 2016. So of course, Trump’s celebrating by considering putting more miners’ lives at risk by repealing regulations inteded to protect miners from black lung disease.
 
Time and again, we’re seeing that the Trump administration is going to trust industry’s professed intentions--even when it’s proven that the intentions aren’t good enough to protect the industry’s own employees. We should be smart enough to know better than do the same with the Trump administration’s intentions, and always keep an eye on the actions.

If the sudden reappearance of the Mooch has you genuinely questioning what Trump really thinks about climate change, after 99 tweets and after Paris and the Clean Power Plan pullouts and his administration’s pro-polluter agenda...well, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn we intend to sell you.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 03, 2018, 09:12:46 pm
Russia Posts Highest-Ever Natural Gas Output in Expansion Drive

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The Christophe de Margerie, the first of 15 icebreaking LNG carriers ordered for the Yamal LNG project to provide transport of LNG year-round in the Arctic, loads its first cargo at the Yamal LNG plant at the Port of Sabetta on the Yamal Peninsula, December 8, 2017. Photo: SCF Group


January 2, 2018 by Bloomberg

By Elena Mazneva and Jake Rudnitsky (Bloomberg) — Russia registered its highest-ever natural gas production last year amid plans to expand into China and boost sales of liquefied natural gas.

The nation’s output of the fuel jumped 7.9 percent to 690.5 billion cubic meters, according to data emailed Tuesday by the Russian Energy Ministry’s CDU-TEK unit. That beat the previous record, set in 2011, by 2.9 percent.

Russia, the world’s largest gas exporter, is working to boost output with plans to increase production of LNG with new plants in an area that stretches from the Baltic region to its Pacific coast. That will put the country up against the biggest producers of the super-chilled fuel, including Qatar, Australia and the U.S. Russia has resources to increase its LNG production almost 10 times by 2035, led by the privately-owned Novatek PJSC in the Arctic, according to the nation’s Energy Ministry.

Full article:

http://gcaptain.com/russia-posts-highest-ever-natural-gas-output-in-expansion-drive/

Agelbert NOTE: "Enjoy" that fossil fuel celebrated in political circles as the "BRIDGE FUEL" to a "clean energy future".

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tKBsTGeWsKc/VznRUcnfo1I/AAAAAAAAyok/paDRwKq7pxQvOB0MOBc7Y7FOeBpjxwj6wCLcB/s1600/fracked%2Bgas%2Bis%2Ba%2Bbridge%2Bto%2Bnowhere.PNG)
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And don't forget to laugh in any person's face who claims that fossil fuel use is going down. Gallows humor is appropriate at this time of abysmal Russian AND U.S. stupidity.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 03, 2018, 09:34:58 pm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/545693884664119297/mCDJfUgm.jpeg)

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January 3, 2018

Even when an industry has proven it can’t be trusted with the public’s health, the Trump administration keeps rolling back regulations. The administration began its rollback of key offshore drilling protections last week, instead choosing to trust the industry’s “recommended practices” for testing safety equipment. These “recommended practices” were in place before the Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed eleven and polluted the Gulf of Mexico. Clearly these practices aren’t perfect. Nor are the energy industry’s practices regarding migratory birds, but the Interior department’s lifting protections for those species, so long as it’s not industry’s intention to kill birds.

And then there’s Trump and his intentions. He campaigned on a promise to save the forgotten coal miners, and has even begun claiming victory. But as always, intentions and actions are a world apart. Not only are the coal industry and West Virginia far from “doing fantastically now,” as Trump claims, but in fact, there were more coal fatalities in West Virginia in 2017 than there were in all states in 2016. So of course, Trump’s celebrating by considering putting more miners’ lives at risk by repealing regulations inteded to protect miners from black lung disease.
 
Time and again, we’re seeing that the Trump administration is going to trust industry’s professed intentions--even when it’s proven that the intentions aren’t good enough to protect the industry’s own employees. We should be smart enough to know better than do the same with the Trump administration’s intentions, and always keep an eye on the actions.

If the sudden reappearance of the Mooch has you genuinely questioning what Trump really thinks about climate change, after 99 tweets and after Paris and the Clean Power Plan pullouts and his administration’s pro-polluter agenda...well, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn we intend to sell you.


the sudden reappearance of the Mooch

(https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/images_users/tiny_mce/AntonioEsfandiari/phpDSRCbr.jpeg)

Mooch?.....or Molloch?

He/she/it/they have a lot of names. Belial is one of them. Basically, I believe it is composed of a coterie of evil spirits who want to off we-the-critters of Earth by manipulating us into offing ourselves. It is working.

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 04, 2018, 09:23:25 pm
17 Ways the Trump Administration Assaulted the Environment Over the Holidays (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2) 

New rules could affect everything from clean power to migratory birds, and they’re just a hint of what’s yet to come.

News  January 2, 2018 - by John R. Platt

While visions of sugarplums danced in some of our heads, the Trump administration had a different vision — of a country unbound by rules that protect people, places, wildlife and the climate. Over the past two weeks, the administration has proposed or finalized changes to how the government and the industries it regulates respond to climate change, migratory birds, clean energy, pesticides and toxic chemicals. Here’s a timeline:

Dec. 18: Announced a plan to possibly replace the Clean Power Plan, one of President Obama’s signature climate actions.

Dec. 18: Dropped climate change from the list of global threats affecting national security. (Oddly enough, Trump did this just five days after he signed off on next year’s military budget, which just so happens to call climate change a national security threat.)

Dec. 19: Hid language that would exempt the Federal Emergency Management Agency from following requirements set by the Endangered Species Act in an an $81 billion emergency supplemental funding bill.

Dec. 20: Indefinitely postponed the previously announced ban of three toxic chemicals, methylene chloride, N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and trichloroethylene (TCE).

Dec. 20: Signed an executive order requiring the “streamlining” of the leasing and permitting processes for exploration, production and refining of vaguely defined “critical minerals” (a list of which will be announced later by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke).

Dec. 21: Halted two independent studies by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, one to improve the safety of offshore drilling platforms and another to look at the health risks of mountaintop-removal coal mining in central Appalachia.

Dec. 21: Revoked the Obama-era Resource Management Planning Rule (Planning 2.0 Rule), which advocated new technologies to improve transparency related to mining on public lands. A Federal Register filing said this rule “shall be treated as if it had never taken effect.”

Dec. 22: Signed the massive, unpopular Republican “tax reform” bill. The bill, which strongly benefits the richest Americans, contains numerous anti-environmental elements, including opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Dec. 22: Ruled that “incidental” killings of 1,000 migratory bird species are, somehow, not illegal under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The legal opinion is considered by many a giveaway to the energy industry — which applauded the change — and was written by a former Koch staffer turned Trump political appointee.

Dec. 22: Reversed a previous Obama-era Interior Department decision to withdraw permits for a proposed $2.8 billion copper mine in Minnesota. The mine lease is owned by the Chilean billionaire who also happens to own Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s rented D.C. mansion.

Dec. 27: Announced a plan to consider dramatically expanding the use of a neonicotinoid insecticide called thiamethoxam, which has been proven damaging or deadly to bees.

Dec. 27: Prioritized oil and gas leasing and development near and even inside greater sage-grouse habitat management areas, yet another Obama-era reversal.

Dec. 28: Declared the beaverpond marstonia snail extinct, the first such extinction under the Trump administration. (Obviously this is a failure of the administrations that preceded Trump, but the declaration still comes under his watch.)

Dec. 28: Announced a plan to repeal yet another Obama-era rule, this one governing fracking standards on federal and tribal lands. The rule, which never actually took effect, would have required companies to disclose chemicals used in their fracking fluids, set standards for well construction and required surface ponds holding fracking fluids to be covered.

Dec. 28: Trump sent yet another tweet mocking climate change during a period of record cold temperatures, a not-so-subtle hint about his legislative agenda and personal intractability on the subject.

Dec. 29: Proposed to remove or rewrite offshore-drilling safety regulations put in place by the Obama administration after the deadly Deepwater Horizon disaster, saying “it’s time for a paradigm shift” in regulations.

Now that the New Year has arrived, how many other changes will follow? In all likelihood, this is just the beginning. President Trump’s “Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions,” announced Dec. 14, contains hundreds of provisions affecting endangered species, energy development and just about every other major environmental issue. Those will all start to move forward in the months ahead.

John R. Platt   is the editor of The Revelator. An award-winning environmental journalist, his work has appeared in Scientific American, Audubon, Motherboard, and numerous other magazines and publications. His “Extinction Countdown” column has run continuously since 2004 and has covered news and science related to more than 1,000 endangered species. John lives on the outskirts of Portland, Ore., where he finds himself surrounded by animals and cartoonists.


http://twitter.com/johnrplatt
http://johnrplatt.com

Get The Revelator Newsletter

http://therevelator.org/trump-administration-environment-holidays/

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 12, 2018, 06:29:27 pm
U.S. Senators From 12 States Seek Offshore Drilling Exemptions Like Florida’s  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

January 11, 2018 by Reuters

SNIPPET:

“Just like Florida, our states are unique with vibrant coastal economies,” wrote the 22 senators, who include Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Kamala Harris of California. “Providing all of our states with the same exemption from dangerous offshore oil and gas drilling would ensure that vital industries from tourism to recreation to fishing are not needlessly placed in harm’s way,” they wrote.

Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said Zinke intends to meet with every coastal governor affected by the agency’s proposed offshore drilling plan, a process that could take a year.

full article:
http://gcaptain.com/u-s-senators-from-12-states-seek-offshore-drilling-exemptions-like-floridas/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120118181944.png&hash=bd1f420590db5a3213f18c2338839318746c937a)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 12, 2018, 08:22:29 pm
EcoWatch

Exposed: Chevron's Secretive Drilling Site in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

By Jonathan Rosenblum  AlterNet

Jan. 11, 2018 10:09AM EST

Learn about the damage to Alaska's fauna and flora that Drilling causes, in addition to boosting catastrophic climate change by accelerating the melting of the permafrost:

https://www.ecowatch.com/arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-drilling-2524505765.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 16, 2018, 04:49:55 pm
40% of India’s Thermal Power Plants Are in Water-Scarce Areas, Threatening Shutdowns

by Tianyi Luo - January 16, 2018
         
New WRI research finds that 40 percent of the country’s thermal power plants are located in areas facing high water stress, a problem since these plants use water for cooling. Scarce water is already hampering electricity generation in these regions—14 of India’s 20 largest thermal utilities experienced at least one shutdown due to water shortages between 2013-2016, costing the companies $1.4 billion.

It’s an issue that’s only poised to worsen unless the country takes action—70 percent of India’s thermal power plants will face high water stress by 2030 thanks to climate change and increased demands from other sectors.

Billions of Tons of Freshwater, Consumed

Thermal power—power that relies on fuels like coal, natural gas and nuclear energy—provides India with 83 percent of its total electricity. While these power plants fail to disclose how much water they’re using in their operations, WRI developed a new methodology using satellite images and other data to calculate their water use.

What's the Difference Between Water Withdrawal and Consumption?
Water withdrawal: The total amount of water that is diverted from a water source (e.g. surface water, groundwater) for use.

Water consumption: The portion of water that is not returned to the original source after being withdrawn.

Much of the water withdrawn by plants is returned to the lakes and ponds from which it came, but a lot is also consumed, and not returned to its original source. We found that almost 90 percent of India’s thermal power generation depends on freshwater for cooling, and the industry is only growing thirstier. Thanks to increased energy demand and the growing popularity of freshwater-recirculating plants, which consume the most water of any thermal plant, freshwater consumption from Indian thermal utilities grew by 43 percent from 2011-2016, from 1.5 to 2.1 billion cubic meters a year.

To put this in perspective, India’s total domestic water consumption in 2010 was about 7.5 billion cubic meters, according to the Aqueduct Global Water Risk Atlas. That means power plants drank about 20 percent as much water as India’s 1.3 billion citizens use for washing dishes, bathing, drinking and more.


40 Percent of Thirsty Plants Are in Water-Stressed Areas

More than a third of India’s freshwater-dependent plants are located in areas of high or extremely high water stress. These plants have, on average, a 21 percent lower utilization rate than their counterparts located in low or medium water-stress regions—lack of water simply prevents them from running at full capacity. Even when controlling the comparison analysis by unit age, fuel type and plant capacity, the observation was always the same: Plants in low- and medium-stress areas are more able to realize their power output potential than those in high water-stress areas.

Scarce Water Dries Up Revenue

There are practical and financial implications of power plants’ thirst. Between 2013 and 2016, India’s thermal plants failed to meet their daily electricity generation targets 61 percent of the time due to forced power plant outages. The reasons ranged from equipment failure to fuel shortages. Water shortages were the fifth-largest reason for all forced outages—the largest environmental reason.

In 2016 alone, water shortages cost India about 14 terawatt-hours of potential thermal power generation, canceling out more than 20 percent of the growth in the country’s total electricity generation from 2015.

The Way Forward

Quote
As India develops, water competition will continue to grow and climate change will likely disrupt predictable water supply. Thermal utilities will become even more vulnerable to water shortages, power outages and lost revenue.

But there’s a better path forward: Upgrading cooling systems, improving plant efficiency, and ultimately shifting toward water-free renewables like solar photovoltaics and wind can all curb water risks to power generation.

It’s worth noting that the government of India already has plans in place that give reason for hope, such as the notification on power plant water withdrawal limits and the “40/60” renewable energy development plan. If these ambitious policies are enacted and enforced, our estimates show that India will save 12.4 billion cubic meters of freshwater from being withdrawn by power plants. That’s a year’s worth of showers for 120 million people – more than live in the Philippines.

But change won’t happen overnight. Even with proactive policies in place, the key lies in their implementation. In the coming years, the Indian government, utility companies and international investors all have a role to play in making the power sector more resilient to water risks.

LEARN MORE:
Read the full paper, Parched Power: Water Demands, Risks and Opportunities for India's Power Plants (http://www.wri.org/publication/parched-power)

http://www.wri.org/blog/2018/01/40-indias-thermal-power-plants-are-water-scarce-areas-threatening-shutdowns

Agelbert NOTE: Thermal power plants are a ruinously polluting, as well as wasteful, way to generate electricity. The totally inexcusable massive waste of fresh water is just one more COST the fossil fuelers refuse to compute in their happy talk Energy Return on Energy Invested (ERoEI) baloney formulas. I'm glad that India is finally starting to realize that Renewable Energy sourced power (see below for water demand of Renewable versus Thermal) is the only sane way to generate electricity.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcleantechnica.com%2Ffiles%2F2011%2F09%2Fpower-plant-water-use.png&hash=46a445f4f9e4e1b23c3d57f815392b8647cb65da)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 24, 2018, 05:24:07 pm
Ninth U.S. city sues(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F2mo5pow.gif&hash=995f9f6c08dcd54f18425f2bfbe138901cf052b1)big oil 🦍firms (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fswear1.gif&hash=87347674f9297191f3f8a447208170617da4caf6) over climate change

#ENERGY JANUARY 23, 2018 / 2:24 PM

Sebastien Malo

NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A California city has filed a lawsuit against 29 oil companies seeking damages to pay for the costs of rising sea levels it blames on climate change, the ninth U.S. community to take the fossil fuel industry to court.

The San Francisco suburb of Richmond filed a civil case in a California court on Monday against the energy giant Chevron, its biggest employer, and other oil companies for planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions dating back to 1965.

“Defendants 🦍 have known for nearly 50 years that greenhouse gas pollution from their fossil fuel products has a significant impact on the Earth’s climate and sea levels,” the complaint said.

“Defendants 🦍 concealed the dangers, sought to undermine public support for greenhouse gas regulation, and engaged in massive campaigns to promote the ever-increasing use of their products at ever greater volumes.”

New York City announced earlier this month that it filed a multibillion dollar lawsuit against five top oil 🦖 companies, citing their “contributions to global warming,” following similar lawsuits filed last year by California cities.

A Chevron spokesman 🦍 questioned the benefits that could come from Richmond’s lawsuit, filed on Monday.

“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a global issue that requires global engagement,” said Braden Reddall 🐉 in emailed comments.

Chevron employs nearly 3,500 people at its Richmond refinery, municipal data shows.

Richmond is “uniquely vulnerable” because it is surrounded by water on three sides, with 32 miles (52 km) of shoreline and is one of the poorest communities in the Bay area, the mayor’s office said in a statement.

“Taxpayers of this low-income city should not have to pay for the damages that these companies are causing,” Alex Knox, Richmond mayor’s chief of staff, said in emailed comments.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s 🦀 move to pull out of the global Paris climate change accord and roll back environmental regulations means campaigners are increasingly resorting to litigation.

Legal scrutiny of oil companies is growing in the United States, said Michael Gerrard, an environmental expert at Columbia Law School.

Quote
"Each new lawsuit is incrementally more pressure on the oil companies,"(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)
he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. (Reporting by Sebastien Malo @sebastienmalo, Editing by Katy Migiro. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit news.trust.org)

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/usa-climatechange-lawsuit/ninth-u-s-city-sues-big-oil-firms-over-climate-change-idUKL2N1PI0XA

(https://image.cagle.com/170043/1155/170043.png)

The Fossil Fuelers DID THE Clean Energy  Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 27, 2018, 06:03:12 pm
Agelbert NOTE: This pre-2012 video predicted how polluted the ground water would become in thousands of communities all over the USA from Fracking. Now, the fossil fuel 🦖 owned fox in the EPA hen house (Pruitt (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c)) is doing everything he can to prevent the polluters from being prosecuted for all the damage now visiting US community water sources.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)


Delightful Animated Short on Fracking (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)
 

https://youtu.be/wj_7kt51iJc

So Simple A Child Can Understand

"Things always find a way to happen ... A pen leaking. Your shoelace coming untied. Toxic chemicals in your drinking water. What?!"

This short animation is a great addition to the more lengthy and serious videos, explaining why the process of hydro-fracking is highly toxic and dangerous.

Retro hip, sharp and funny - it hits the nail on the head when it come to getting across the basic message.

"Oil and gas companies drill into the ground. They take good water, mix it up with not so good stuff and shoot it into the wells to force out the gas. By 2010 they'll be drilling 32,000 wells a year."

So simple a child can understand. Let's spread the message so enough grown-ups do too!

--Bibi Farber

This video was produced by Earthjustice.org

Earthjustice.orgwww.nextworldtv.com/videos/anti-fracking/delightful-animated-short-on-fracking-.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 29, 2018, 10:33:51 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftherealnews.com%2Ft2%2Ftemplates%2Fgk_twn%2Fimages%2Flogo3.png&hash=4b5cf976827a8d50b9a86730b78230c107b3cf62)

Chris Hedges (Jan 26, 2018) - On The Fall Of America

9,556 views

https://youtu.be/ZbrkKN6S1NU

Published on Jan 25, 2018
Quote

"The fossil fuel industry swallows up $5.3 trillion a year worldwide in hidden costs to keep burning fossil fuels, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
 
This money, the IMF noted, is in addition to the $492 billion in direct subsidies offered by governments around the world through write-offs and write-downs and land-use loopholes.

In a sane world these subsidies would be invested to free us from the deadly effects of carbon emissions caused by fossil fuels, but we do not live in a sane world. "  -- Chris Hedges

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 01, 2018, 03:07:37 pm
EcoWatch

5 Million Gallons of Freshwater Used to Frack 🐉 Just One Well (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817122018.gif&hash=74d86c1f35e2f61ea38c9bfa392f84a92631b96e)

By Lorraine Chow

Jan. 31, 2018 02:31PM EST

A lot has been said about the toxic slurry of fracking fluids and its impact on water quality, but what about the millions of gallons of water that's sucked up by the drilling process and its impact on water quantity?

A new study highlights how the five million gallons of freshwater used to fracture just one gas well in the U.S.—or more than enough to fill seven Olympic-size swimming pools—has depleted water levels in up to 51 percent of streams in Arkansas, as Motherboard reported from the research.

The paper, published in the American Chemical Society's journal Environmental Science & Technology, also finds that high-volume, short duration water withdrawals used for fracking fluids creates water stress to aquatic organisms in Fayetteville Shale streams.

These streams—which also supply drinking water to thousands of people in the region—are home to 10 aquatic species that are declining at a concerning rate, according to a release on the study. Depending on the time of year, freshwater usage for fracking could potentially affect aquatic organisms in 7 to 51 percent of the catchments, the research team found. Even if 100 percent of the fracking wastewater were recycled, between 3 to 45 percent of catchments could still be affected.

In the summer especially, drawing out millions of gallons of water from a stream for fracking fluids likely has a significant impact on stream temperatures and stream flow, which affects aquatic insects, fish and bottom-dwelling mussels, the study said.

The purpose of the study is to flesh out the potential impact of fracking on streams around the Fayetteville Shale play, an active gas field in Arkansas where more than 5,000 gas wells were drilled using fracking techniques between 2004 and 2014.

But the task wasn't exactly simple. As Motherboard reported, the researchers "could not obtain detailed data on how much water was pumped from which stream and when."

"Little is known about how much water can be withdrawn from these streams without impacts on fish and other aquatic species," lead author Sally Entrekin, a biologist at University of Central Arkansas, told the publication.

"We don't know if there has been an impact on the streams because there isn't any site-specific monitoring," she added.

The researchers concluded that more accessible and precise withdrawal and streamflow data are critical moving forward to assess and mitigate water stress in streams that experience high-volume withdrawals.

https://www.ecowatch.com/fracking-water-use-2530261256.html

Agelbert NOTE: And you can be Damned Sure that Pruitt(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) at the EPA  is going to guarantee that there ain't NEVAH going to be any site-specific monitoring.
(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f269a0531f54fd1c1618278fe0144f1a4c83cc284aa96b523caece2ad390f752.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 03, 2018, 03:20:38 pm
Sanchi Oil Spill Drifts Toward Japan

February 2, 2018 by Reuters

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F02%2Fr.jpeg&hash=f17067317d4c3f17f2bc78567d6305733a21b7e4)
The oil spill from a stricken Iranian tanker Sanchi that sank on Sunday is seen in the East China Sea, on January 16, 2018 in this photo provided by Japan’s 10th Regional Coast Guard. 10th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters/Handout via REUTERS

by Osamu Tsukimori (Reuters) – Clumps of oil have washed up on the shores of southern Japan and there are fears they may be leaking from an Iranian crude tanker that sank in the world’s worst such disaster in decades, the Japanese Coast Guard said on Friday.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51g45TxKVvL._SX327_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Related Book: Deepwater Horizon Book: The Untold Story of the Gulf Oil Disaster by John Konrad (https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Horizon-Untold-Story-Disaster/dp/0062063006/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?tag=%3Ftag%3Dgcaptaincom-20)

Black clumps have reached the shores of the island of Amami-Oshima, a coast guard official told Reuters by phone. Authorities are checking to see if it is from the Sanchi (IMO:9356608) tanker that sank in the East China Sea last month, after being alerted to its presence by the public.

The government had set up a special unit within Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office to coordinate Japan’s response to the latest development, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

“The government, while working closely with local authorities, is looking into how broad the range (of oil clumps washed ashore) is and what has caused it,” Suga said.“We are doing all we can, including dispatching a Coast Guard unit” to remove the oil, he said.

Amami-Oshima is part of a chain of islands that includes Okinawa, an area famous for pristine beaches and reef systems. The Iranian tanker sank nearly three weeks ago, raising worries about damage to the marine ecosystem.

The bodies of two sailors were recovered from the ship while a third body was pulled from the sea near the vessel. The remaining 29 crew of the ship are presumed dead.

Earlier the Chinese government said the sunken tanker had created two oil slicks. The ship, which was carrying 136,000 tonnes or almost 1 million barrels of condensate – an ultra-light, highly flammable crude oil – sank after several explosions weakened the hull.

Japan’s environment ministry had said last month it saw little chance that the spill would reach Japanese shores.

Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori, Kiyoshi Takenaka; Writing by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Tom Hogue and Kenneth Maxwell. Reuters

http://gcaptain.com/sanchi-oil-spill-drifts-toward-japan/

Agelbert NOTE: As I have documented at  this link about Ocean Going Oil Tankers (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/fossil-fuel-folly/fossil-fuel-propaganda-modus-operandi/msg542/#msg542) and several other posts describing, in detail, the Modus Operandi of fossil fuel corporations' 🦖 profit-over-planet "business model 🦀", there can be no doubt that it is, not just unsustainable, but an existential threat (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) to much of the biosphere.

The dirty energy corporations[size =18pt]🦖[/size] have never seriously addressed pollution issues. Instead, they mendaciously claim through vigorous public relations propaganda efforts that they respect the environment and are merely providing energy to "improve" our standard of living.

They ALWAYS work behind the scenes   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmocantina.gif&hash=d013c741bcf9a78776eec19c2c3aac449c35d75c) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Facigar.gif&hash=dc9dccf92c6c88c99611b06c86d92629d69f2978), corrupting government, in order to socialize the costs of their pollution while they rob we-the-people through totally unjustified government subsidies.

The Fossil Fuelers DID THE Clean Energy  Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 05, 2018, 06:19:28 pm
The Unfractured Future

https://youtu.be/pdwCKzqVRdQ

(https://i1.wp.com/farm1.staticflickr.com/435/31498732716_8452ea1881_b.jpg)
Corporate Money Vs. Water

Hear Native American leaders wisdom about fracking and why it must be banned. It is nothing less than a system that is going to pollute the veins of Mother Earth.

We hear Senator James Inhofe (R- OK) 🦕 enthusiastically declare that there is enough natural gas to supply our needs for the next 35 years in the Marcellus Shale (NY- PA).

The film then directs our attention to the following: It's about our needs vs. our children's future.

Where is the long term thinking and responsible leadership? ???

"Regulations and fines do not protect the environment. There is no way to undo the harm hydro fracking will cause" says Oren Lyons, faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation. "When you sit and you counsel for the welfare of the people, think not of yourself, nor of your family, nor even your generation. Make decisions on behalf of the 7th generation coming... you have to defend and protect them so that they may enjoy what you enjoy today."

--Bibi Farber

This video was made by "Reel Change for Nonprofits" participants Tracy Basile and Scott Halfmann of WESPAC and Friends of Turtle Island.


What it Means to be Responsible - Reflections on Our Responsibility for the Future by Theresa Morris, State University of New York at New Paltz (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/future-earth/msg7563/#msg7563)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 07, 2018, 01:53:58 pm
EcoWatch


A Six-Step Guide to Combat (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27)the Fossil Fuel 🦖 Industry's Climate Lies

By Jessica Corbett

SNIPPET:

After examining more than 40 common climate change myths pushed by those who are hell-bent on discrediting scientific conclusions about the global crisis, three researchers teamed up to create a six-step critical thinking tool that helps people combat misinformation by "neutralizing" the lies.

https://youtu.be/XAp1Foj7BzY

Full must read article:

https://www.ecowatch.com/combat-climate-myths-2531934384.html

The Fossil Fuelers 🦖  DID THE Clean Energy  Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks 🦀, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or     PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2F176.gif&hash=121533221905789c6b8d57a9603883266d349266)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 15, 2018, 02:47:35 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200317134631.png&hash=3ec83ab2cb9a9acaf485fff7312df6381c25c2fd)

There are vast quantities of mercury in the permafrost. With global warming, it’s now seeping away (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913)


LAST UPDATED ON FEBRUARY 15TH, 2018 AT 2:44 PM BY MIHAI ANDREI

Full article with eye opening graphics:

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/scientists-find-massive-quantities-mercury-seeping-thawing-permafrost/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 19, 2018, 02:54:34 pm
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(https://www.afsc.org/sites/afsc.civicactions.net/files/u1752/Truthout%20logo.jpg)

Why Are More Cities Divesting 🌼 From Big Oil 🦖? It's Moral -- and Practical  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.haleakalasolar.com%2Fimages%2Findex-infobox2.jpg&hash=c49806321315171df0f26c7f0f47adb61cf632eb)

Monday, February 19, 2018

By Sylvia Chi, YES! Magazine | News Analysis

SNIPPET:

Activists around the world are effectively pressuring the fossil fuel industry by taking on the financial institutions that make pollution possible. In Europe and elsewhere, financial institutions and insurers are already disentangling from the fossil fuel industry. In Australia, for example, energy company Adani's proposed Carmichael coal mine, once slated to be the biggest coal mine in the world, is now imperiled after lenders around the world have ruled out participation. European insurance companies, including Axa, Zurich Insurance Group, and Munich Re, are planning to stop insuring new coal investments.


Full article: ✨

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/43588-why-are-more-cities-divesting-from-big-oil-it-s-moral-and-practical

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 20, 2018, 06:02:54 pm
(https://www.afsc.org/sites/afsc.civicactions.net/files/u1752/Truthout%20logo.jpg)

"Anyone who cares about their health needs to get informed about military operations," she said. "Anyone who cares about the environment needs to understand that the Pentagon is the biggest environmental threat to Planet Earth. The military does not care about the environment, whether human or natural; it's all just terrain to them."


The Pentagon Is Using an Environmental Law Meant to Protect Us, Against Us (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300115234833.gif&hash=20e82f36f361174e6f8f07e11c36330842502bab)
 

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

By Dahr Jamail, Truthout | Report

SNIPPET:

While it has long been known the US military 🦖 is one of the biggest polluters in the world, the egregious and intentional nature (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) of its actions is less well known.

Full article:

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/43596-the-pentagon-is-using-an-environmental-law-meant-to-protect-us-against-us

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.quickmeme.com%2Fimg%2Fbe%2Fbead363502f8e7564038c7072c490cfc0da55bf30c42bb1f04983157e9ae7125.jpg&hash=d25668b2bf3b320d4d3ea2f30ed3c71741c21bbd)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 20, 2018, 07:22:52 pm
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February 19, 2018

A New 'Cancer Alley' for Appalachia  >:(

https://youtu.be/fBWgn0FlhkY

The Trump 🦀 administration, the Chinese government, and major petrochemical companies 🐉🦕🦖 are moving forward with a new multibillion-dollar petrochemical hub in Appalachia. The project raises health and environmental concerns, and suffers from serious conflict of interest problems, journalist Steve Horn reports

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=21157
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 20, 2018, 07:53:55 pm
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Make Nexus Hot News part of your morning: click here (http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa) to subscribe.

Pennsylvania May See Sky-High Methane Rates

Methane leaks from oil and gas production in Pennsylvania could be five times higher than what industry reports to the state, according to new research. A report published last week from the Environmental Defense Fund collated peer-reviewed research to show how official state emissions tallies underestimate leaks from the Marcellus shale region, including how the state misses emissions estimates from particularly leaky gas wells. The report estimates that the state's overall methane emissions "causes the same near-term climate pollution as 11 coal-fired power plants and results in nearly $68 million worth of wasted energy resources."

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16022018/methane-leaks-oil-natural-gas-data-global-warming-pennsylvania-edf-study

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 25, 2018, 09:02:03 pm
February 23, 2018

City Council Moves Forward With Ban on Crude Oil Facilities

The proposal would ban new crude oil terminals in Baltimore and prevent two existing terminals from expanding, which advocates say would stop the city from becoming a crude oil hub and mitigate the risk of an oil train explosion

https://youtu.be/hSzbEAesnp0

http://therealnews.com/t2/story:21201:City-Council-Moves-Forward-With-Ban-on-Crude-Oil-Facilities
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 26, 2018, 03:12:11 pm
Chemicals in Everyday Products Rival Cars as Source of Air Pollution

IN THE NEWS

By Monica Amarelo, Director of Communications and Samara Geller, Database & Research Analyst.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018

SNIPPET:

The study “shows that everyday consumer choices can have an impact on air quality,” Christopher Cappa, an engineering professor at the University of California at Davis and a co-author of the paper, said in a news release. The release also notes that for one type of pollution particularly harmful to health – tiny particles that lodge deep in the lungs – such products contribute twice the emissions as auto exhaust.

VOCs include many different hazardous chemicals, including formaldehyde, toluene and acetone. They come from a wide array of products, including cleaners, air fresheners, pesticides, composite wood or particle board, glues, sealers, finishes, fiberglass, carpets and gas stoves. VOCs are also found in some of the products we use on our bodies every day, like hairspray, rubbing alcohol, nail polish, nail polish remover, colognes and perfumes.

VOCs can irritate your eyes and nose, or trigger asthma attacks. Possible long-term effects include liver, kidney and central nervous system damage, and cancer. Because air pollution ranks fifth as a health risk factor worldwide, it is critical to identify, quantify and control the major sources of VOC emissions. But unlike auto emissions, regulation of VOCs in consumer products is lagging.

The federal government has not updated the law that regulates the personal care industry since 1938. While the European Union has banned or restricted more than 1,300 ingredients in personal care products, the U.S. has only banned or restricted less than a dozen.


Full article:

https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/02/chemicals-everyday-products-rival-cars-source-air-pollution

Agelbert NOTE:
A study has just come out that SHORT TERM EXPOSURE to polluting particles of as low as 2.5 microns actually increase mortality among seniors and children in the USA. Although the study does not specifically say it, I am certain the internal combustion engine is front and center as the main causative agent. The study covered SEVERAL decades and the use of the super computer at Harvard for number crunching, correlation and collation to isolate mortality increase cause and effect.

Radio Ecoshock has the details in a podcast with the lead scientist on the team, Dr. Francesca Dominici, that published the study. (https://www.ecoshock.org/2018/02/dirty-air-or-sudden-heat.html)


The pro-fossil fuel industry propagandists will not be able to talk their way around this exhaustive and detailed study.

That study is a massive nail in the coffin of the internal combustion engine, whether as the power for a car, a generator, or a power plant.

VOCs in home cleaning (and other) products are a serious health problem, but the nternal combustion engine is a much greater threat to human health and longevity.

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 27, 2018, 07:08:14 pm
(https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Center_for_Biological_Diversity_logo.jpg)

Feb. 26, 2018 03:18PM EST

California Court Ruling Ends Decades of State Pesticide Spraying   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

A judge has ordered the California Department of Food and Agriculture to stop using chemical pesticides in its statewide program until the agency complies with state environmental laws.

The injunction, issued late last week, is a sweeping victory for 11 public-health, conservation, citizen and food-safety groups and the city of Berkeley. The coalition sued the state after unsuccessfully attempting for years to persuade the agency to shift to a sustainable approach to pest control that protects human health and the environment.

Despite thousands of comment letters urging the department to take a safer approach, officials in 2014 approved a program that gave them broad license to spray 79 pesticides, some known to cause cancer and birth defects, anywhere in the state, including schools, organic farms, public parks and residential yards.

Spraying was allowed indefinitely and required no analysis of the health and environmental impacts of the chemicals at the specific application sites and no public notice or scrutiny of treatment decisions. Many of the pesticides are also highly toxic to bees, butterflies, fish and birds.

This injunction follows a Jan. 8 ruling by Judge Timothy M. Frawley voiding approval of the agency's statewide program for numerous violations of state environmental laws, including relying on "unsupported assumptions and speculation" to conclude that pesticides would not contaminate water bodies. The ruling also cited the state's "woefully deficient" analysis of the cumulative danger of increasing the more than 150 million pounds of pesticides already being used in California each year.

The court process culminating revealed not only far-reaching flaws in the state's analysis of the environmental harm caused by the department's pesticide use but also the agency's decades-long history of evading disclosure of the human health and environmental impacts of its activities by granting itself repeated "emergency" exemptions from environmental laws.

"After more than 30 years of disregard for state environmental laws, the agency's chemical weapons have finally been taken off the table," said Nan Wishner of the California Environmental Health Initiative. "We hope the department will take this opportunity to shift course and apply sound science, partner with the public, and develop a more sustainable, transparent approach."

The court also held that the agency had to give public notice of its activities, which officials had insisted was not required.

"The court rejected the agency's blank check to spray people's yards, exposing children and pets to a range of pesticides that can cause serious long-term problems, including cancer, asthma and IQ loss," said Debbie Friedman, founder of MOMS Advocating Sustainability. "If only the $4.5 million in taxpayer dollars used to develop this outdated program had been spent to develop a modern, sustainable approach that does not rely on toxic chemicals, just imagine what progress we could have made toward a healthier environment for everyone."

"Now California must ensure these pesticides aren't harming our water supplies and imperiled species like salmon," said Jonathan Evans, environmental health legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "This ruling affirms that people should have a voice in pesticide use in their neighborhoods."

The state's attorney told the court that the Department of Food and Agriculture had already carried out more than 1,000 pesticide treatments since the program was approved in 2014. Program pesticides include these dangerous chemicals:

• Chlorpyrifos, known to cause brain damage in children and to threaten 97 percent of endangered wildlife;

• Neonicotinoid pesticides that are highly toxic to pollinators like bees and aquatic invertebrates like crustaceans and mollusks;

• The toxic fumigant methyl bromide, which depletes the protective ozone layer;

• The chemical warfare agent chloropicrin, which causes genetic damage.


"The judge has told the state that harmful pesticides simply can't be sprayed indiscriminately, without robust consideration of impacts on people, animals and water," said Bill Allayaud, California director of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group. "The ruling also affirms that Californians have the right to know about pesticides being sprayed around them and the ability to challenge spraying that endangers public health and natural resources."

The suit was brought by the city of Berkeley, the Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Working Group, California Environmental Health Initiative, MOMS Advocating Sustainability, Center for Food Safety, Pesticide Action Network North America, Center for Environmental Health, Environmental Action Committee of West Marin, Beyond Pesticides, Californians for Pesticide Reform, and Safe Alternatives for Our Forest Environment.

The plaintiffs are represented by Arthur Friedman of Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, along with Jason Flanders of ATA Law Group.

https://www.ecowatch.com/california-pesticides-health-2539988928.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 28, 2018, 01:09:59 pm
German Cities Allowed to Ban Diesel
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 Cars using diesel fuel can now be banned from German cities to combat air pollution, the country's top court ruled on Tuesday. The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig said that the cities of Stuttgart--home to automotive giants Daimler and Porsche and one of the most polluted cities in the country--and Dusseldorf could impose "proportional" limits on certain diesel vehicles, effectively setting a precedent for cities to create their own rules for banning diesel engines.

One in three cars in Germany run on diesel, and the country ranks at the top of the EU for air pollution: 26 German cities routinely exceed EU air pollution limits.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-emissions/diesel-cars-can-be-banned-from-german-cities-court-rules-idUSKCN1GA2XD
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 03, 2018, 04:54:11 pm
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March 2, 2018

Electric Power Companies 🐘 Top the List of Greenhouse Gas Emitters

The top three companies on the newest edition of PERI's Greenhouse 100 Index are all electric power generators, and they're responsible for a full five percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, says researcher Michael Ash

https://youtu.be/0PN0V6VeJE4

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=21238
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 03, 2018, 06:36:47 pm
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Fake science: University disavows study EPA 🦖cited to approve old dirty diesels in "glider" trucks

John Voelcker

87 Comments Feb 27, 2018

SNIPPET:

Under the Obama administration, the EPA had calculated that gliders using older, dirtier engines produced emissions 20 to 40 times higher than do the latest diesel engines today, including higher levels of both soot and smog-forming nitrogen oxide.

The study cited in the EPA decision was paid for by Fitzgerald Glider Kits, the country's single largest maker of glider trucks, located just 50 miles from the university in Byrdstown, Tennessee.

Not only did Fitzgerald pay the costs of conducting the study, according to a lengthy report in The New York Times last Wednesday, it offered to build the university a new research center on land owned by the company.

University president Philip Oldham's letter to Pruitt noted that “experts within the university have questioned the methodology and accuracy” of the study.

The interim dean of the university's college of engineering called its conclusion "far-fetched" and "scientifically implausible" in an earlier written to faculty leaders about the study:


No qualified, credentialed engineering faculty member (1) oversaw the testing, (2) verified the data or calculations of the graduate student, (3) wrote or reviewed the final report submitted to Fitzgerald, or (4) wrote or reviewed the letter submitted to Diane Black with the far-fetched, scientifically implausible claim, that remanufactured truck engines met or exceeded the performance of modern, pollution-controlled engines with regards to emissions.


Full article:

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1115486_fake-science-university-disavows-study-epa-cited-to-approve-old-dirty-diesels-in-glider-trucks (https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1115486_fake-science-university-disavows-study-epa-cited-to-approve-old-dirty-diesels-in-glider-trucks)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 03, 2018, 06:37:53 pm
JUN 8, 2016 @ 03:16 PM 26,825 2 Free Issues of Forbes

World Sets Record For Fossil Fuel Consumption


Robert Rapier , CONTRIBUTOR

Robert Rapier is a chemical engineer in the energy industry. Robert has 25 years of international engineering experience in the chemicals, oil and gas, and renewable energy industries, and holds several patents related to his work. He has worked in the areas of oil refining, oil production, synthetic fuels, biomass to energy, and alcohol production, and currently serves as Director of Engineering for Arizona-based ZHRO Power. He is author of The Energy Strategist at Investing Daily, and of the book Power Plays: Energy Options in the Age of Peak Oil. Robert has appeared on 60 Minutes, The History Channel, CNBC, Business News Network, CBC, and PBS, and his energy-themed articles have appeared in numerous media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, and The Economist.

SNIPPET:

While global coal consumption did decline by 1% in 2015, the world set new consumption records for petroleum and natural gas. The net impact was a total increase in the world's fossil fuel consumption of about 0.6%. That may not seem like much, but the net increase in fossil fuel consumption -- the equivalent of 127 million metric tons of petroleum -- was 2.6 times the overall increase in the consumption of renewables (48 million metric tons of oil equivalent).

As a result, despite the record increase in renewable consumption, global carbon dioxide emissions once again set a new all-time record high. Carbon dioxide emissions in 2015 were 36 million metric tons higher than in 2014, and marked the 6th straight year a new record high has been set. But perhaps the silver lining is that 2015 marked the 2nd straight year that the increase was smaller than the year before. Carbon dioxide emissions in 2013 were 505 million tons higher than in 2012, but then 2014 and 2015 respectively saw increases of 224 million metric tons and 36 million metric tons.


The primary reason for the slowdown in the growth of carbon dioxide emissions was the reduction in global coal consumption, but this was offset by a nearly 2 million barrel per day (bpd) increase in global oil consumption. Notably, oil consumption in the U.S. rose for the 3rd straight year, and is now at the highest levels since 2008. U.S. crude oil consumption is now back to within 6% of the all-time high consumption level set in 2005.

Global crude oil production increased by 2.8 million bpd in 2015, led by a 1 million bpd increase in U.S. production. The bulk of the rest of the world's oil production increase came from OPEC, which cumulatively boosted production by 1.6 million bpd over 2015. BP's definition of crude oil "includes crude oil, shale oil, oil sands and NGLs (natural gas liquids - the liquid content of natural gas where this is recovered separately)." Per this definition, the U.S. was the world's top crude oil producer with 12.7 million bpd of oil production in 2015 (the highest production number ever recorded for the U.S.). Saudi Arabia was in 2nd place at 12.0 million bpd.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2016/06/08/world-sets-record-for-fossil-fuel-consumption/#58774088365f (https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2016/06/08/world-sets-record-for-fossil-fuel-consumption/#58774088365f)

Agelbert NOTE: Palloy has problems with reality. He likes to post umpteen charts that back up absolutely nothing at all in regard to his claims about 'peak oil' and the 'coming collapse' that will 'save us' from Catastrophic Climate Change.

MORE fossil fuels are being consumed, not less, as the article linked evidences.

Palloy, DO NOT post any more crap from the EIA or the IEA or any other energy stat outfit. I will delete them gratuitously. WHY?

Because, the MAIN issue here is that there is a FUNDAMENTAL METHODOLOGICAL FLAW in the IPCC GHG math (i.e. LOW BALLING of radiative forcing) for ALL the scenarios. Until you agree that said flaw exists, you have NOTHING to contribute here in regard to IPCC math and world fossil fuel consumptiom. Have a nice day.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 03, 2018, 06:39:02 pm
World’s Heavy Dependence on Fossil Fuels Projected to Continue

By Randy Showstack  18 September 2017

SNIPPET:

Fossil Fuels Continue to Dominate

The report projects that natural gas will be the world’s fastest growing fossil fuel, increasing by 1.4% annually, whereas petroleum and other liquids will increase 0.7% and coal will see just a 0.1% increase, with declined usage in China and OECD regions offset by growth in India and other non-OECD countries.

full article:

https://eos.org/articles/worlds-heavy-dependence-on-fossil-fuels-projected-to-continue (https://eos.org/articles/worlds-heavy-dependence-on-fossil-fuels-projected-to-continue)

Agelbert NOTE: As you may have noticed, the word "decrease" is not associated with ANY fossil fuel consumption, no matter what heinous, lying bullshit artists claim. The polluting fossil fuel status quo will KILL US ALL.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fmog.gif&hash=08e6f04144781466148f6693be6dc3451a322669)

The Natural Gas Bridge to the Future 🌪 🔥

(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tKBsTGeWsKc/VznRUcnfo1I/AAAAAAAAyok/paDRwKq7pxQvOB0MOBc7Y7FOeBpjxwj6wCLcB/s1600/fracked%2Bgas%2Bis%2Ba%2Bbridge%2Bto%2Bnowhere.PNG)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 05, 2018, 01:09:58 pm
Agelbert NOTE: The story of a 7.5 billion dollar hole in the ground with a lot of liars on top.  >:(

How Lies, Greed, & Mismanagement Blew Up The “Clean Coal” Myth

March 5th, 2018 by Steve Hanley

SNIPPET:

Clean coal. It was supposed to be the alchemist’s dream, the real world equivalent of spinning straw into gold. Or making a silk purse from a sow’s ear, if you are a Linda Ronstadt fan. What clean coal is all about is taking lignite, the lowest grade of coal, often called brown coal, and putting it into a pressurized chamber, then heating it to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit under great pressure. The resulting gas is collected and used to make electricity, sequestering most of the carbon emissions from the lignite at the same time.

Carbon Capture Is The Key
(https://c1cleantechnicacom-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/files/2014/12/itQWX4c8EeMc.jpg)
Kemper clean (NOT) coal plant,

Kemper clean coal plant, If it worked, the clean coal and carbon capture process would not only make electricity, it would do so with the lowest carbon footprint of any fossil fuel, including natural gas. It would be a two-fer, a daily double, and a twin killing all rolled into one. The carbon capture piece of the puzzle is what attracted attention from people around the world, including Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Norway.

According to an article in The Guardian, Jukka Uosukainen, the United Nations director for the Climate Technology Center and Network, toured the site of the proposed plant in Kemper County, Mississippi in 2014 and said, “I’m impressed,” before adding, “Maybe using coal in the future is possible.”

Clean Coal Technology Fails — Big Time

The problem is, the clean coal technology, which was helped along by hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants and research, doesn’t work. The problems started when the first of two high pressure, high temperature gasifier units arrived. During testing, moisture trapped in the concrete liner turned to steam and exploded, ruining the unit. No one had any realistic idea how to fix the problem.

Later, the 174-foot tall concrete sphere where the coal would be stored began to crack almost as soon as it was completed. Soon, there was a hole in the dome a large as small house. The entire structure had to be torn down and rebuilt. The original budget of around $2.5 billion arrived at a decade ago ballooned over time to more than $7.5 billion before the Southern Company called a halt to the project last year.

Lies And Deception Abound

But that’s not the real story. Not all new technologies are able to make the leap from the laboratory to the real world. What is really at issue here is the lies, double dealing, deliberate misrepresentations, and obfuscations carried out at the highest levels of the Southern Company with the aid of Mississippi officials. In America today, nuns protesting insane immigration policies get arrested and charged with crimes.  Officials involved in covering up a massive scandal that bilked stockholders and utility customers out of billions are allowed to retire quietly to their oceanside mansions. The United States has a legal system. What it lacks is any semblance of a justice system.

As the first concrete dome was being torn down and before it was rebuilt, Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company, was telling a bald faced lie to investors. During an April 24, 2013 earnings call he told them that “tremendous progress” was being made at the construction site and that “the scheduled in-service date” was feasible. He added that most of the key components for the facility — including the dome — were already “in place.” They were not.

Bureaucracy Fails

The Mississippi Public Service Commission was part of the problem as well. On March 15, 2012, the Mississippi supreme court ruled in favor of a petition by The Sierra Club to shut the project down. Shortly thereafter, the PSC renewed the company’s permission to build the plant, effectively bypassing the supreme court ruling. But it insisted on an absolutely final, no wiggle room, hard cap on the cost of the project of $2.8 billion. The company was way beyond that limit at the time. The next few years were taken up as much with cooking the books to keep the PSC in the dark as continuing construction on the Kemper plant.

The Guardian reviewed more than 5,000 pages of documents and e-mails in order to put its story together and we encourage you to read its entire exposé if  you want all the gory details. They also interviewed several current and former engineers who worked on the Kemper program. The story that unfolds details in exquisite detail the pressure put on those people to fudge the numbers to keep the state authorities from pulling the plug.

Lying From The Start

One of the key components to the clean coal plant — which would feature more than 900,000 feet of piping — was the availability rate, the percentage of the time it could be expected to be up and running versus down for maintenance and repairs. The Kemper facility needed to have an availability rate of 80% in order to be financially successful.

An independent audit requested and paid for by Southern Company just as construction was getting underway found the actual availability rate would be more in the range of 30% to 45% during the first 3 to 5 years of operation with the 80% figure not likely until at least 10 years out — if ever. Later, an internal review came to much the same conclusion. None of that information was shared with federal or state officials or investors. Instead, Southern Company employees were pressured to alter key documents to make it appear as thought things were moving along as planned.

Incentivizing Greed

A large part of the Kemper clean coal debacle involved the way utility companies earn their living. In many parts of the country, they are able to attract investors because they are guaranteed a designated rate of return on the investments they make in power generation facilities and infrastructure. Want to make more money? Spend more money. It’s easy. The law guarantees a fixed rate of return whether your investments are wise or not. Great for utility company executives and their generous compensation plans. Not so great for the members of the public who see their rates increase to cover the costs of those expansionist policies.

Mississippi and several of its neighboring states have only themselves to blame. Like giving free money to compulsive gamblers, they passed laws in the early years of this century that allowed utility companies to start earning their financial rewards before projects were even completed. This “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” philosophy ratcheted up the incentives to spend big by Southern Company and other utilities.

Full article:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/03/05/lies-greed-mismanagement-blew-clean-coal-myth/

Agelbert COMMENT:  These scam artists never stop doing what they do. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) once noted their mens rea modus operandi in regard to gold mines.
Quote
"A gold mine is a hole in the ground with a liar on top."
The "Carbon Capture" Technology is, and always will be, baloney. When they tell you a nuclear submarine can keep the atmosphere below 350 PPM of carbon dioxide, THEN, and ONLY then, can it be said that mankind has the carbon capture technology to keep us from becoming crispy critters from Catastrophic Climate Change.

At present, nuclear submarine CO2 scrubbing technology can achieve around 8,000 PPM of CO2 levels, and that for about six months, at which time they are forced to surface to keep the CO2 levels from harming the crew.

When the fossil fuelers tell you that carbon capture and sequestration is doable with present technology, please show them the following meter reading:

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As if that wasn't enough to warrant a crash program to get back to 350 PPM of CO2, the methane bomb is orders of magnitude worse.

Eminent Russian Scientist Dr. Natalia Shakhova (International Arctic Research Center) (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/global-warming-is-with-us/msg9195/#msg9195)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 10, 2018, 02:20:17 pm
The Nature Conservancy 🦋

March 10, 2018

Meet Our Chief Scientist 👨‍🔬

For The Nature Conservancy’s chief scientist, Dr. Hugh Possingham, a gift in his youth helped guide his path in the field of conservation. Learn what inspires him and share in his reflections on the Conservancy’s successes around the globe.

You grew up in South Australia. How did your childhood experiences shape your career?

As a child, my father and I would explore the bush around Adelaide. He was a keen birder, and when I was 12 he gave me the book “Competition and the Structure of Bird Communities,” written by Martin Cody, which showed me that mathematics was useful—even in ecology. This realization led to my pursuit of applied math at university.


You used mathematics to develop Marxan, the world’s most widely used conservation planning tool. Is that how you got involved with the Conservancy?

I developed a lot of relationships with Conservancy colleagues through Marxan’s application to their work, so I was very familiar with our science-based, collaborative approach and clear focus to save as much of our planet’s biodiversity as possible. It is somewhat unusual for someone like myself to leave the academic world, and I don’t think I would have accepted a position with any other conservation organization.


Which types of conservation strategies do you find most encouraging?

Much of our core work is focused on reducing habitat loss and degradation, which is essential for halting climate change and saving biodiversity. For example, with a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions caused by forest loss, there is great potential in sustainable forestry initiatives. Projects like these are especially promising because they are good for the economy, good for nature and good for mitigating climate change.


Can you give some examples of how the Conservancy tackles big conservation challenges?

We look at how to generate renewable power while improving wildlife habitat; how to use habitat restoration in cities to provide cleaner water; how to lessen the impacts of climate change by restoring natural infrastructure, like coral reefs.


Why is the Conservancy so effective?

Our organization is unique because we are global problem solvers, and we are exceptionally inclusive and collaborative in our work. We recognize that people have basic needs—food, energy, clean water, sanitation—hence calling a halt to development isn’t an option. So we align with many stakeholders—from governments and corporations to farmers and indigenous communities—and we work with them to find solutions that meet human needs and improve biodiversity

The Nature Conservancy (https://www.nature.org/about-us/careers/index.htm)
Attn: Treasury
4245 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 100
Arlington, VA 22203 USA

By Phone:
(800) 628-6860

Biodiversity hot spots of 80% of biosphere's species endangered by Global Warming Pollution
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 11, 2018, 03:36:35 pm
Striking teachers in West Virginia call for raising taxes on coal 🦕  and gas 🦖  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9) (https://grist.org/briefly/striking-teachers-in-west-virginia-call-for-raising-taxes-on-coal-and-gas/)

It turns out, most of us prefer our beaches nice and clean. That’s probably why a January proposal from Trump’s Interior Department to open up the Atlantic coast for offshore drilling was met with op…

Agelbert NOTE: Don't reward the polluters for pollution, TAX THEM! (https://allthoughtsworkoutdoors.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/p9047017-030close-up.jpg)

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 11, 2018, 04:14:10 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-110318161100.png&hash=3408e362575cf6b767cf9f799e8cf06a2f585dbf)
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/particulates/surface/level/overlay=pm10/orthographic=80.98,25.86,473

India’s air pollution crisis 😓 risks becoming humanitarian catastrophe 😨🔫 (http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2018/03/indias-air-pollution-crisis-risks.html)

(ABC News) – Before heading off on a foreign assignment, journalists take a course about working in hostile environments — learning about things like trauma first aid, weapons effects, and how to sur…

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Agelbert NOTE: Stop subsidizing profit over people and planet! 
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TAX THEM 🦍 INSTEAD OF REWARDING THEM 😈 FOR POISONING THE BIOSPHERE! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)
 

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 11, 2018, 04:33:59 pm
Plastic, plastic, plastic' 👀: British diver films sea of rubbish off Bali (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/06/plastic-british-diver-films-sea-rubbish-bali-indonesia)

A British diver has captured shocking images of himself swimming through a sea of plastic rubbish off the coast of the Indonesian tourist resort of Bali. A short video posted by diver Rich Horner on …


(https://rlv.zcache.co.uk/no_planet_b_round_sticker-rcb9b00ae55034b85b5cb888d8eb0a2c6_v9waf_8byvr_324.jpg)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 12, 2018, 11:26:19 pm
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The Big Wobble Headlines: Quick Read (http://www.thebigwobble.org/p/front-page.html)

Marxh 11, 2018

https://youtu.be/4VOtYZSXWYY

Headlines

Extreme Weather

The second Nor'easter in a week has dumped more than 2ft of snow in some places as it continues to dump wet, heavy snow on New England on Thursday.

The late-winter storm left more than 800,000 customers without power in the Northeast — counting some who have been without electricity since last Friday's destructive nor'easter.

Montville, New Jersey, got more than 26 inches from Wednesday's nor'easter. North Adams, Massachusetts, registered 24 inches, and Sloatsburg, New York, got 26 inches.

Thousands of flights across the region were cancelled according to the Boston Herald.

A foot (30 cm) of snow and fierce wind gusts of up to 55 miles per hour (88 km/h) were expected from eastern New York through northern Maine on Thursday after the storm slammed the region on Wednesday, the National Weather Service said in several watches and warnings.

Hurricanes and cyclones

Category 4 Tropical Cyclone Hola to hit New Caledonia on Friday after battering the South Pacific island of Vanuatu

Tropical Cyclone Hola is barreling toward New Caledonia on Friday after battering the South Pacific island of Vanuatu damaging buildings and  knocking out communications

Tropical Cyclone Hola will bring heavy rain and strong winds to parts of New Caledonia from Friday into Saturday before heading towards New Zealand.

Hola is currently a Category 4 tropical cyclone on the Fiji intensity scale, comparable to a Category 2 hurricane in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific basin.

Spaceweather

Wonderful Auroras as far south as Maine and Scotland tonight as the Earth is entering a possible G1-class geomagnetic storm

Our sun has been spotless for almost a week now but that doesn't mean it has gone to sleep.
Earth is entering a stream of solar wind today at speeds of over 600km per second from a northern coronal hole in the sun's atmosphere.

The stage is set for a possible G1-class geomagnetic storm.

According to Spaceweather.com, NOAA computer models show more than 60 gigawatts of power currently surging through our planet's auroral oval:

Sky watchers in Canada and Alaska should be alert for auroras as night sweeps across North America on March 9-10.

Volcano Activity

The Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica awakes erupting gases, ashes and incandescent fragments of fresh lava with a strombolian eruption phase

The Turrialba Volcano in Cartago, Costa Rica had for the past weeks presented a diminished seismic activity and also a decreased degassification; however, the volcano raised its voice again this March 7th when it entered a strombolian eruption phase (relatively mild blasts).

The phase which began at 00:00 hours included the emission of gases, ashes and incandescent fragments of fresh lava which lasted through the first hours of the morning of this Wednesday. According to Dr Mauricio Mora from the National Seismology Network, a volcanic tremor (signal generated by the flow of fluids, water, gas of magma through the interior conducts of the volcano) was registered along with the activity.

Earthquakes

Another massive aftershock rocks Papua New Guinea magnitude 6.7 quake is the 4th mag 6 + quake since the initial mag 7.5 struck last weekend

Another massive aftershock rocks Papua New Guinea this afternoon, the powerful magnitude 6.7 quake is the 4th mag 6 + quake since the initial mag 7.5 struck last weekend, in all nearly 150 aftershocks have rocked the area since.
Almost 100 people have died with thousands homeless and without food and clean water.

The recovery effort has been slow as aid workers grapple with blocked roads and power outages to reach cut-off villages after the 7.5-magnitude quake struck on February 26 in the Pacific nation's mountainous interior.

Terrified locals in the Southern Highlands, Western, Enga and Hela provinces have also had to deal with more than 150 strong aftershocks, including four 6.+ magnitude tremors.

Man-made-disasters

Fukushima the disaster that changed our world forever: 27% increase of radiation levels found in salmon and halibut off the coast of Alaska

On the 7th anniversary of the Fukushima’s Nuclear Disaster, I received another mail from our friend in Alaska, Bill Laughing Bear, regarding increasing radiation levels of fish he himself has monitored in the coastal waters off Alaska since 2012.

It is a timely revelation after Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) announced recently their  "BIG HOPE" the 'ice wall' has failed to freeze Fukushima's toxic water buildup resulting in another million tons of toxic waste will be dumped into the Pacific. Full story

With no known technology to fix the problem and TEPCO claiming it will take at least 40 years to repair (how do they arrive at 40 years if there is nothing out there to stop it?) it is the disaster that changed our world forever.

Climate Change

NOAA: January 5th warmest on record for the globe but try telling that to most of the Northern Hemisphere with record cold and snow in strange places

An annotated map of the globe showing notable climate events that occurred in January 2018.
January was 5th warmest on record for the globe

Despite the cooling influence of La Nina this winter, the global temperature ranked among the five warmest on record in January. Earth’s polar regions continued to experience record-low ice conditions.


Disease

Shellfish contaminated with Hepatitis E found in Scottish supermarkets for the first time after a huge spike in laboratory-diagnosed cases

Shellfish contaminated with a bug that can cause vomiting, fever and potentially deadly liver failure in the most serious cases have been found on sale in Scottish supermarkets for the first time.

Blue mussels and an oyster harvested from Scottish waters tested positive for the hepatitis E virus. They had been purchased from four supermarkets in the Glasgow area and a fishmonger on the east coast.

It comes in the wake of a surge in the number of people struck down with the virus, with the number of laboratory-diagnosed cases in Scotland climbing from 13 in 2011 to 206 in 2016.

The latest results follow an analysis of 310 shellfish samples collected by researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU).

They found traces of Hepatitis E in eight blue mussels and one oyster.


Animal Die-offs

Incredible photo of bird frozen alive under the water in Holland as 100's of thousands of dead creatures reported in aftermath of "The Beast Of The East"

An incredible photo has surfaced showing a kingfisher bird frozen solid mid-dive into a Dutch canal.

On inspection of the picture, it is obvious the bird froze solid at the split-second it dived into the water for a fish.

The unfortunate bird froze during the big freeze "The Beast Of The East" which plunged Europe into Arctic conditions.
Christoph van Ingen, who spotted the kingfisher in the town of Oostzaan, just north of Amsterdam, said he believed it might have dived into the canal to catch fish as the water was turning solid and been unable to escape.

Around a 100 people died across Ireland, the UK and Europe during the cold snap.

Environment

Disaster unfolding after mag 7.5 struck Papua New Guinea with 100+ strong aftershocks leaving thousands without food and water: 67 dead

At least 67 people were killed by a major earthquake that devastated Papua New Guinea's remote highlands last week, the Red Cross said Monday, with thousands homeless and without food and clean water.

The recovery effort has been slow as aid workers grapple with blocked roads and power outages to reach cut-off villages after the 7.5-magnitude quake struck on February 26 in the Pacific nation's mountainous interior.

Terrified locals in the Southern Highlands, Western, Enga and Hela provinces have also had to deal with more than 100 strong aftershocks, including three 6.0-magnitude tremors.

Wildfires

Continued "climate instability" 60,000 people affected by Argentina's deadly floods in the north: At least 600,000 hectares destroyed by fire in the east

At least 10,000 residents in northern Argentina forced to evacuate their homes.

More than 60,000 people have been affected by Argentina's ongoing deluge, with at least 10,000 in the north forced to evacuate their homes, the Argentine Red Cross reports.

"So far there are more than 60,000 affected; the most complicated situation is in Santa Victoria Este, where 10,000 people have been evacuated and hundreds of families are isolated and without communication," said Cristian Bolado, director of response to emergencies and disasters of the Argentine Red Cross.

The Red Cross is predicting continued "climate instability" throughout the remainder of the weekend in Chaco, Tucuman and Formosa, with Salta falling under "critical watch."

http://www.thebigwobble.org/p/front-page.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 13, 2018, 09:54:38 pm
EcoWatch

March 13, 2018

Court Rules Pruitt 😈 Broke the Law for Smog Rule Delay

SNIPPET:

 federal judge ruled Monday that Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), broke the law for failing to implement his agency's ozone pollution rule.

Judge Haywood Gilliam of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said Pruitt violated the Clean Air Act for failing to announce by Oct. 1, 2017 which areas in the country have unhealthy levels of smog, a rule set by the 2015 ozone standard.

Full article:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Freading.gif&hash=63e3e644b39258d4c4eedbcdaf322315b1856723)

https://www.ecowatch.com/pruitt-ozone-pollution-smog-2546861345.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 16, 2018, 05:02:05 pm
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Quote
Ju-Hyun Park - 350.org

March 16, 2018

Friends,

What’s your vision for a Fossil Free world?

The world we’re trying to build can be difficult to imagine at times. What will life be like after the fossil fuel economy ends? How will we correct the social injustices created by fossil fuel billionaires and their profiteering? What will a transition to 100% renewable energy look like in each of our communities?

The transition of our energy system is an opportunity to chart a path towards a world that centers workers and communities. In order to do that, we’ll need to meet everyone’s needs, which is why we need to hear everyone’s voice.

The speakers at our Fossil Free Fast event in January shared their vision of a Fossil Free world with us. Check out the short video here.

https://youtu.be/k6BrpkwNhWA

Quote
People across the U.S. are holding Community Planning Meetings to learn more about the Fossil Free Resolutions Campaign and begin to explore how it will look in their community. Community Planning Meetings are an opportunity to come together and start to build the foundation for a Fossil Free world at the local level.

https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/fossil-free-us-events

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 20, 2018, 07:34:10 pm
(https://i1.wp.com/farm5.staticflickr.com/4503/37009944474_1d0be6f93d_b.jpg)

Evolutionary Dead-Ends (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) (http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/forum/index.php/topic,6480.msg150257.html#msg150257)

“It may seem impossible to imagine that a technologically advanced society could choose, in essence, to destroy itself, but that is what we are now in the process of doing.” ~ Elizabeth Kolbert

Have things improved since I wrote my last essay a year ago for this blog? Have we miraculously transformed our entire energy system into one that does not poison and degrade the natural world? Have we slowed the onslaught of plastic pollution choking the planet’s rivers, lakes, and oceans? Have we done anything meaningful to halt the deterioration of the planet’s biodiversity toward mass extinction? Has this global, hi-tech civilization done anything significant to avert its own demise? Despite a constant flow of warnings from the scientific community and even a letter signed by more than 20,000 scientists, the simple answer is no. We have failed to address the complexity of our rising population and a degrading environment. Yes, we are self-conscious and thus able to recognize the fact that we are destroying the only home we have, but will the end result differ much from a population overshoot of bacteria in a Petri dish? Dependent on a continuous stream of finite resources imported from across the globe, modern megacities contain the seeds of their own destruction and that of all other life forms upon which humanity depends for its survival. The exponential growth of modern civilization ensures that one of the next doubling times will produce an absolute increase in overshoot that tips the world into unavoidable collapse. Enough damage may well have already been done; we’re just waiting for inertia to catch up to the impacts.

2017 set a global record for the most skyscrapers built in a single year and 2018 is predicted to eclipse it. The fossil fuel energy spent to construct those concrete and steel buildings translates into a melting cryosphere. Not to mention the fact that the carbon footprint of some of the world’s biggest cities is 60% bigger than previously estimated. “Renewable energy” still only comprises a tiny fraction of global energy consumption and plans for a total transition will take decades, if it’s even possible. Any growth in ‘renewable energy’ has been offset by increased consumption of fossil fuels in the developing world. 2017 marked a new record high in CO2 emissions with 2018 set to break that record. Global CO2 emissions have yet to peak, and the UN has warned that we are on course for a 3C world. It doesn’t help that the current U.S. administration plans to cut funding for alternative energy R&D, with the Energy Department expecting no drop in the U.S. carbon footprint through 2050. Having embedded itself in the U.S. government over a century ago, the fossil fuel industry has consistently worked to block climate change action and undermine environmental laws. A UK shipping executive recently admitted his industry is guilty of doing the same to protect their bottom line. The utilities companies knew the dangers as well. Like most corporations, the viability of their business model depends on perpetuating an unsustainable way of life. With warnings ignored since the late 1800s starting with the work of Svante Arrhenius, it should be obvious by now that intelligence without sapience has produced deadly results. A new study finds “the most accurate climate change models predict the most alarming consequences.” The recently released U.S. National Climate Assessment has similar findings:

While climate models incorporate important climate processes that can be well quantified, they do not include all of the processes that can contribute to feedbacks (Ch. 2), compound extreme events, and abrupt and/or irreversible changes. For this reason, future changes outside the range projected by climate models cannot be ruled out (very high confidence). Moreover, the systematic tendency of climate models to underestimate temperature change during warm paleoclimates suggests that climate models are more likely to underestimate than to overestimate the amount of long-term future change (medium confidence). (Ch. 15)

In a new ominous research finding, the evil twin of climate change(ocean acidification) is threatening the base of the marine food chain by disrupting the production of phytoplankton. This is yet another positive feedback loop increasing the rate of global warming. Climate feedback loops and ice sheet modeling are two weak areas of climate science, which means many unpleasant surprises. This is why researchers are constantly astonished. Adaptation is not a luxury most organisms have at the present rates of change. Techno-fixes are but a pipe dream.

(https://i2.wp.com/farm5.staticflickr.com/4795/40204587114_929dbe7c34_b.jpg)

A diet reliant on animal agriculture is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases, biodiversity loss, and oceanic dead zones, yet global per capita meat consumption is increasing rapidly in both developing and industrialized countries. Investments have been made to increase global plastic production by 40% over the next decade, even as all the world’s natural bodies of water become inundated with microplastics. Coca Cola alone produces 110 billion throwaway plastic bottles every year – an astounding 3,400 a second. Plastic waste from the military is another massive contributor that cannot be overstated. Half of all plastics have been made in just the last thirteen years. Over 90% of the so-called purified bottled water sold to the public has been shown to be contaminated with hundreds and even thousands of microplastic pieces. A byproduct of petroleum and the epitome of our throw-away society, plastics have truly become ubiquitous in the environment, entering the food chain at every level.

A study published last year pulls no punches by describing the mass extermination of billions of animals in recent decades as a “biological annihilation.” Extinction risks for many species are vastly underestimated. Insects, the base of the terrestrial food chain, are faring no better. With the steep loss of invertebrates, multiple studies indicate the world is “on course for an ecological Armageddon”. Trees are dying at an unprecedented rate from extreme weather events, portending profound effects to Earth’s carbon cycle. Coral bleaching events are now happening four times more frequently than a few decades ago. Dr Charlie Veron, a renowned scientist specializing in corals and reefs, said this last year:

“Half of all coral colonies on the Great Barrier Reef died over the past two years due to coral bleaching,’’ Dr Veron said.

“It’s going to be a horrible world. Young people now are going to curse the present generation for what we’ve done. We’ll have left them a planet in dire straits.’’

“Between a quarter and a third of all marine species have part of their life cycle in a coral reef. Taking away the reefs precipitates ecological collapse of the oceans. It’s happened twice in the past due to volcanoes releasing carbon dioxide and lava flows, but that was nothing like the amount of carbon dioxide being released now.’’

No one thought that ecosystems such as The Great Barrier Reef would be circling the drain this soon. How these changes are affecting flora and fauna as well as human societies is critical, but it’s like trying to predict the outcome of a high speed car crash as it’s happening. Hindsight is 20/20, but it only serves a purpose if you are still around to learn from it. Abrupt climate change is happening now and we’re not prepared for it. Fighting to protect the very life support system we all share, environmentalists are under attack worldwide and being murdered in record numbers. The problem of poaching is so bad that scientists are advising people to scrub all GPS data from their nature photos before publication to help protect endangered species from being ransacked. The voracious consumption and defilement of the planet continues unabated, despite clear signs the once-stable biosphere that enabled the establishment of human civilizations is quickly unraveling(Puerto Rico, Houston, never-ending wildfire seasons, melting Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, widespread glacial retreat, shrinking lakes, and many other signs of a destabilized climate). The following picture taken in Oregon last summer illustrates my point; seemingly oblivious to the massive wildfires raging in the background, a group of golfers continues playing a round…“We’re trading a habitable climate for a few generations of easy living.”

(https://i0.wp.com/farm5.staticflickr.com/4504/37010320434_4ac1318129_b.jpg)

Climate change is just one of many factors in mankind’s planetary overshoot. We even have a day designated in recognition of our oversized ecological footprint which comes earlier every year, with nary a mention of it in official economic reports. As Herman Daly has explained, the global economic system treats the earth as a business in liquidation. The destruction of the natural world is enshrined in our positive economic indicators, i.e. rising GDP. And if need be, those numbers will be massaged to meet expectations. On a subconscious level, the growth imperative applies to all species including humans:

Humans share two behavioral traits with all other species that are critically important to (un)sustainability. Numerous experiments show that unless or until constrained by negative feedback (e.g., disease, starvation, self-pollution) the populations of all species:

• Expand to occupy all accessible habitats.

• Use all available resources.

Like mindless bacteria bent on their own success, humans are victims of their own DNA and ingenuity. Any civilization that develops energy harvesting technologies allowing for rapid population growth will generate entropy which will in turn almost certainly have strong feedback effects on the planet’s habitability. Our exponentially growing economy is on a collision course with an immovable ecosphere.

The end of the world is coming for the naked ape, not by a cabal of bankers or any sort of cockamamie conspiracy tale like chemtrails, but by us –the entire human race– and the economic system we have developed. We’ve become hostages to the complex structures and ever more intricate specialization of an economic system designed to exploit diminishing resources. Pollution and waste are of little concern for capitalism until they become a significant drain on overall profitability and new frontiers to exploit are exhausted. When profitability on a global scale is finally threatened by climate change, it will be far too late. The response will be militarized and authoritarian.

On a more insidious note, capitalism is driven by a deep instinctive drive to accumulate which was a very survival-positive compulsion during our several million years of evolving into Homo sapiens to overcome dry periods and other threats. Capitalism hits on this genetic proclivity, and when we get a clear opportunity to grab a big time accumulation, get rich and all, social good be damned. Our big and powerful cerebral cortex is hard-pressed to find a cure.

“I am rather pessimistic. The maladaptive assumptions of prevailing cultures are deeply ingrained. The notion that economic growth must take precedence over all other considerations and general ignorance of biological and ecological realities do not augur well for the future.” ~ Professor Stephen Boyden, human ecologist

In Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Jared Diamond found that a common factor was the myopic and self-serving decision-making of elites who believed they could insulate themselves from the consequences of societal disasters. As the elites reaped the rewards, the resulting damage to everyone else built up over time until calamity struck. The grim reality is that history has proven such cycles of extreme wealth inequality have only been broken by catastrophes –plagues, revolutions, massive wars, and collapsed states. The U.S. has now reached a degree of wealth disparity unequaled in history:

Overall, the highest-ever historical Gini the researchers found was that of the ancient Old World (think Patrician Rome), which got a score of .59. While the degrees of inequality experienced by historical societies are quite high, the researchers note, they’re nowhere near as high as the Gini scores we’re seeing now…”it is safe to say that the degree of wealth inequality experienced by many households today is considerably higher than has been the norm over the last ten millennia,” the researchers write in their paper.

The crisis of civilization is planet-wide this time. We’ve turned a utopian world of plenty into a dystopian world of fascist-leaning governments, industrial disasters, collapsing ecosystems, and technological addiction. We have a Commander in Chief who tweets bizarre debunked conspiracies at 3 am, gets his intel briefings from right-wing TV shows, dismantles any remaining hindrances to unbridled capitalism, and doesn’t know the difference between weather and climate. Public discourse has been dumbed down to the level of Fox news talking points and tribal groupthink. Those who can discern actual ‘fake news’ from scientific fact are left to watch in horror as mainstream scientific projections continue to prove overly optimistic. Not only are regulations being cut left and right, they are not being enforced. Government science advisors are being purged and replaced with mouthpieces for industrial polluters. In fact, this administration is actively working to delegitimize and destroy government institutions. A sizable population of low information voters supports such actions, but it’s only to their own detriment. Of course, both major parties are under the sway of corporate power, but Trump and company represent an exceptionally predatory class of people. The Union of Concerned Scientists is monitoring the current administration’s war on science and public health; their latest report is here:

The administration’s one-year record shows an unprecedented level of stalled and disbanded scientific advisory committees, cancelled meetings, and dismissed experts. The consequences for the health and safety of millions of Americans could be profound.

We live in an age of unparalleled technological advancement, while at the same time we turn a blind eye to the disintegrating natural world that gave birth to us, having forgotten that our destiny lies in our relationship with the earth. Like Icarus who, in his exuberance, ignored his father’s warnings and flew too close to the sun, modern man with his technology has ascended to great heights without heeding sound advice.

“We’ve arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster.” ~ Carl Sagan

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Evolutionary Dead-Ends (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) (http://www.doomsteaddiner.net/forum/index.php/topic,6480.msg150257.html#msg150257)



Quote
“Half of all coral colonies on the Great Barrier Reef died over the past two years due to coral bleaching,’’ Dr Veron said.

The Good News   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coh2.org%2Fimages%2FSmileys%2Fhuhsign.gif&hash=3732d0427be65896527fc3805c5be54a33cffd3b)

I expect he did say that, but it is not quite true - typical of Xraymike to pick that quote out of all the others.  Only half of the most northern third of the GBR was damaged, and has already been recolonised by the tougher corals. Only reef specialists who have done an exhausting analysis would notice any difference.  The only video people have seen on TV is of the very worst damage that could be found.

The reef will migrate southwards towards colder habitat using offshore currents, and more offshore to avoid sediments washed from rivers and pollution.  The biggest damage to reefs is done by Crown Of Thorns starfish.

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The Bad News

Sadly the last male Northern White Rhino has died.  He leaves a daughter and granddaughter, without mating with them.  But most people don't know that there are Southern White Rhinos, and Black Rhinos and Indian, Javan and Sumatran versions.

So fu ck, it's all good, right? Barrief Reef picking up and moving, plenty of White Rhinos to breed.

Drill drill drill, and burn, baby, burn, right?


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My thoughts as well.   :(

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 20, 2018, 08:27:04 pm
Quote
“Half of all coral colonies on the Great Barrier Reef died over the past two years due to coral bleaching,’’ Dr Veron said.

The Good News

I expect he did say that, but it is not quite true - typical of Xraymike to pick that quote out of all the others.  Only half of the most northern third of the GBR was damaged, and has already been recolonised by the tougher corals. Only reef specialists who have done an exhausting analysis would notice any difference.  The only video people have seen on TV is of the very worst damage that could be found.

The reef will migrate southwards towards colder habitat using offshore currents, and more offshore to avoid sediments washed from rivers and pollution.  The biggest damage to reefs is done by Crown Of Thorns starfish.

The Bad News

Sadly the last male Northern White Rhino has died.  He leaves a daughter and granddaughter, without mating with them.  But most people don't know that there are Southern White Rhinos, and Black Rhinos and Indian, Javan and Sumatran versions.

I'm glad the Aussie reef is more resilient than Mike is suggesting. I've been watching for bleaching in the Caribbean for several years. I know there have been a couple of bad bleaching events, but generally the coral has still been living at least. Not like Florida, where most of it died years ago now. I do think it's been degraded, but it's hard to know how much of that is from boats and tourists who break the coral and poison it with their sunblock.

I expect the hurricanes did a lot of damage. I'm going back next week, although I doubt I'll get to visit St. John since the planned trip is to Virgin Gorda, and the ferry schedules are still messed up. It'll be hard to get there and back in the time I'll have. I don't really know Virgin Gorda that well. Only been to the Baths on day trips. So I won't have any idea of what it was really like before the storms.

I heard about the rhino. Another victim of the vanity of old men who can't get it up. The radio show I heard was so discreet, talked about rhino horn being poached for markets in  "Asia". I suppose it isn't PC to say the Chinese are responsible.


The Aussie reef is in as much trouble as Mike said. The biggest damage to reefs is from bleaching caused by high water temperatures. The Crown of thorns starfish is a minor opportunistic player here in comparison. You are being fed fossil fuel industry Happy Talk misleading information. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183312.bmp&hash=02dafef2fe739676600fdc9bd56271f0f5ab3723)

Scientists are learning how to stop said starfish. They CANNOT stop the increasing water temperatures which are the main cause of coral death. It's the BURNING of Fossil fuels that is the overwhelmingly greatest cause of coral death!

Palloy's post should be deleted for pushing misleading information. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457)

Crown-of-thorns starfish DNA reveals coral killer's weakness
ABC Science
By Dani Cooper
Updated 5 April 2017 at 5:41 pm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-04-06/crown-of-thorns-starfish-dna-reveals-coral-killers-weakness/8415058 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-04-06/crown-of-thorns-starfish-dna-reveals-coral-killers-weakness/8415058)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 21, 2018, 06:29:37 pm
The Link Between Crown-of-thorns Starfish Reef Damage and Climate Change

Agelbert NOTE: The following well referenced article contains a statement that defenders (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) of the polluting fossil fuel burning status quohave deliberately cherry picked a portion of in order to distort the intent of said statement. Why do these clever fossil fueler propagantists  play these mendacious word games? I'm glad you asked ;D. They engage in this type of MISLEADING baloney so that the MAIN cause of worldwide reef degradation in general, and the Great Barrier Reef off Australia in particular, appears conveniently 😇😈 to be the Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS). Totally left out of the discussion, of course, is the contribution of fossil fuel based fertilizer land runoff to phytoplankton blooms which, in turn, favor a COTS population increase.

This positions fossil fuel pollution DIRECTLY causing massive coral bleaching death from increased water temperatures, AND other direct climate change stressors like increased acidity, conveniently in the "less of a problem" category. This is bullshit, of course. However, the fossil fuel propagandists never tire of spewing misleading information. They must continue to obfuscate the overwhelming importance of climate change in the degradation of our biosphere in order to defend the Fossil Fuel Crooks and Liars🦖 they work for. The truth would bankrupt the polluters. So, they 😈 LIE 24/7 on behalf of profit over people and planet. 😠

This is the statement:

Quote
However, anthropogenic and other stresses combined with more frequent COTS outbreaks can result in significant damage to reefs, and COTS are now considered a main source of coral mortality on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

This is the part a certain bullshitter that curses this forum cherry picked out of the above scientifically accurate statement:


Quote
... more frequent COTS outbreaks can result in significant damage to reefs, and COTS are now considered a main source of coral mortality on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Do you see how this (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) works? I certainly do. 🕵️

Enjoy the following article and please pass it on to your friends.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fus.cdn2.123rf.com%2F168nwm%2Flenm%2Flenm1201%2Flenm120100200%2F12107060-illustration-of-a-smiley-giving-a-thumbs-up.jpg&hash=2046bc6d662e09d3014a2c404a2af6ba17f8217c) The next time some Fossil Fuel defending LIAR tries to tell you, "COTS feeding habits is a bigger problem than Climate Change" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251), kindly remind them that COTS wouldn't be able get out of hand, so to speak, if they weren't being fed all those fossil fuel based fertilizers from land runoff (that cause phytoplankton blooms the COTS pig out on) AND the reefs COTS also feed on were not stressed by CLIMATE CHANGE. Or, just tell them to push their lies somewhere else.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_6869.gif&hash=f94938471d343a09155d1f60eefacdb2ceab2457)

MONEY QUOTES from the article:

Quote
Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) (Acanthaster planci) naturally occur on coral reefs.  They are corallivores (i.e., they eat coral polyps).

Quote
Healthy reefs can recover from COTS outbreaks within 10 to 20 years, but degraded reefs facing a variety of stressors and climate change are less resilient and may not recover between outbreaks.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reefresilience.org%2Fimages%2FStressors_COTS.jpg&hash=82ee06ff44dbcc1cff41b4b1ac46fc8052355bba)

Crown-of-thorns starfish. Photo © Stacy Jupiter/Marine Photobank

Reefs and Resilience
Crown of Thorns Starfish


Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) (Acanthaster planci) naturally occur on coral reefs. They are corallivores (i.e., they eat coral polyps). Covered in long poisonous spines, they range in color from purplish blue to reddish-gray to green. They are generally 25-35 cm in diameter, although they can be as large as 80 cm.

Crown-of-thorns starfish are found throughout the Indo-Pacific region, occurring from the Red Sea and coast of East Africa, across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, to the west coast of Central America. Predators of COTS include the giant triton snail, the stars and stripes pufferfish (Arothron hispidus), the titan triggerfish (Balistoides viridescens), and the humphead maori wrasse (Cheilinus undulates).

Crown-of-thorns starfish prey on nearly all corals, and their feeding preferences and behavior patterns vary with population density, water motion, and species composition. ref COTS typically prefer to feed on branching and table corals (e.g., Acropora), which are the same genera that are most vulnerable to bleaching. However, when branching coral cover is low due to overabundance of COTS or environmental conditions, COTS may eat other corals such as Porites or foliose corals (e.g. Montipora). In addition to hard corals, COTS may also eat sponges, soft corals, algae, and encrusting organisms.

COTS Outbreaks

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Top: COTS on table Acropora. Old dead coral to right (gray), moving into algal covered (greenish-brown), to white newly dead coral. Bottom: COTS with white feeding scar on coral. Photos © The Nature Conservancy

Although COTS occur naturally in low numbers on coral reefs, they sometimes appear in high densities called “outbreaks”. The natural density of COTS is 6-20 km2 which is less than 1 per hectare. ref An outbreak is usually defined as 30 or more adult starfish per hectare on reefs, ref or when they reach densities such that the starfish are consuming coral tissue faster than the corals can grow. ref  COTS can consume live coral at a rate of 5-13 m2 per year. ref

Through occasional outbreaks, COTS can play a valuable role in reef ecosystems by helping to maintain coral species diversity. In some cases, the frequency of outbreaks and associated coral mortality is about the same as coral growth and recovery rates. ref COTS may help create space for slow-growing massive corals because COTS prefer to eat the faster-growing corals. However, anthropogenic and other stresses combined with more frequent COTS outbreaks can result in significant damage to reefs, and COTS are now considered a main source of coral mortality on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. ref Healthy reefs can recover from COTS outbreaks within 10 to 20 years, but degraded reefs facing a variety of stressors and climate change are less resilient and may not recover between outbreaks. ref

COTS outbreaks appear to be increasing in frequency over the last several decades, and they have caused widespread damage to coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific.ref  Dense aggregations of COTS can strip a reef of 90% of living coral tissue. ref In the 1970s on the northern Great Barrier Reef, a COTS outbreak occurred that lasted eight years. This outbreak peaked with about 1000 starfish per hectare, leaving 150 reefs devoid of coral, and 500 reefs damaged. ref  In the Togian Islands in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, over 80% of coral on a reef was destroyed by a COTS outbreak. ref Damage from COTS can indirectly affect fish populations that depend on coral reefs for habitat. On the Great Barrier Reef, two species of butterfly fish that eat coral and two species of plankton feeding fish dramatically declined following outbreaks of COTS. ref

What Causes COTS Outbreaks?

Scientists are not sure what causes outbreaks of COTS, but one of the most widely accepted hypothesis is that COTS outbreaks are predominantly controlled by phytoplankton availability.ref Nutrient enrichment from agricultural land runoff may lead to COTS outbreaks because elevated nutrient levels cause phytoplankton blooms which provide a necessary food source for COTS larvae. ref For example, in the Great Barrier Reef, doubled concentrations of large phytoplankton were linked to nearly a 10-fold increase in larval development, growth and survival of COTS. Other scientists believe that COTS outbreaks are linked to the timing of El Niño events ref or are driven by removal of COTS predators. ref

Control of COTS

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A diver collects crown-of-thorns starfish as part of a Project AWARE underwater cleanup event held at Tenggol Island, Malaysia. Photo © 2010 Mohd Halimi Abdullah/Marine Photobank

Programs have been developed to control COTS. Methods for COTS control include taking starfish ashore and burying them, injecting them with compressed air, baking them in the sun, injecting them with toxic chemicals (e.g., formalin, ammonia, copper sulphate), and building underwater fences to control COTS movement. The recommended method on the Great Barrier Reef is to inject bile salts into the starfish which kills the starfish but does not harm the surrounding reef ecosystem. ref Mechanical methods for controlling COTS are expensive and labor intensive, thus may only be justified in small reefs that have high socioeconomic or biological significance, such as important spawning sites, tourist attractions, or areas with extremely high biodiversity. ref

Resources

Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS): Crown-of-Thorns Research

The AIMS Long Term Monitoring Program Surveys

Crown-of-Thorns Starfish on the Great Barrier Reef (pdf, 356k)

Case Study on Community-Based COTS Management in the Philippines (pdf, 2.8 )

http://www.reefresilience.org/coral-reefs/stressors/predator-outbreaks/crown-of-thorns-starfish/ (http://www.reefresilience.org/coral-reefs/stressors/predator-outbreaks/crown-of-thorns-starfish/)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 21, 2018, 07:29:11 pm
The article clearly states that both climate change and CoT outbreaks are significant factors, and I agree, but you decide that CoT outbreaks are LIES and Climate Change is TRUTH because that fits your PoV.

Are GBRMPA and David Attenborough and Palloy paid by FF industry?  Before you call them liars, you should PROVE the payments happen.  Why would they pay me, who has spent a lifetime attacking them?

YOU are the one who has NEVER presented ANY "proof" that "you have spent a lifetime atttacking them". And you know what, that isn't the issue here.

The issue here is your CONSTANT attempts to resist the IRREFUTABLE causal link between Climate Change and the vast majority of biosophere degradation going on today.

The issue is NOT whether you have a solar panel on your roof and live frugally. If you do, then good for you and the planet. The issue is as stated above.

NOBODY is paying me to advocate for Renewable Energy. Nevertheless, there is no way I could prove I'm a not a "shill" for Renewable Energy.

All I have is facts and logic. YOU cherry pick and distort facts so much it is breathtaking.

The greatest threat to mankind is Climate Change, PERIOD. YOU REFUSE to say that! YOU have ZERO VALID REASON for denying that Climate Change is the greatest threat to our species.

Competing threats like asteroids and solar coronal discharges and nuclear war are ALL statistically less important. YOU KNOW THAT!

When you get of your God Damned High Horse and admit the REALITY of Climate Change being the GREATEST THREAT to mankind, then we can talk.

But until then, the FACT that you REFUSE TO ADMIT THAT means that YOU are defending the Fossil Fuel Profit over people and planet polluting status quo, whether ANYBODY IS PAYNG YOU TO DO THAT OR NOT!

NO CLIMATE CHANGE EQUALS NO COTS PROBLEM! WE MUST RETURN TO 350 PPM of CO2 or we are ALL DEAD! YOU REFUSE TO ADMIT THAT!

NINETY SEVEN PERCENT OF THE CLIMATE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY DISAGREES WITH YOU!

Have a nice day.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185701.png&hash=615e3c1aa9c374cb1eab5bfc1e9494f2cb05e9f7)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 21, 2018, 07:30:01 pm
Are GBRMPA and David Attenborough and Palloy paid by FF industry?  Before you call them liars, you should PROVE the payments happen.  Why would they pay me, who has spent a lifetime attacking them?

It is pretty ludicrous to make the case you are a paid shill for the energy industry, just as it would be quite ludicrous to make the case I am a paid shill for Vlad the Impaler.   The only likely paid shill to grace these pages was MKing.  Everybody else simply has their own ideological POV.  These ideologies often come into conflict of course, which is why we have such lively arguments on the Diner!    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185701.png&hash=615e3c1aa9c374cb1eab5bfc1e9494f2cb05e9f7)
RE

RE, Palloy is using a fallacious debating technque called an apppeal to authority. He is trying to equate his position with that of respected individuals. That is simply more obfuscation. I answered him in my comment.

The bottom line here is NOT who gets paid to do what.

The bottom line here, which is the subject of this thread, is that: NO CLIMATE CHANGE, NO COTS (Crown-of-thorns starfish Acanthaster planci)  PROBLEM!

I am 100% CERTAIN that David Attenborough would agree.

Fallacious debating techniques are spurious and distracting bullshit.

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 22, 2018, 03:04:26 pm
Agelbert NOTE: The following is still more evidence that the world economy is in a BOOST phase, with no evidence of a "collapse" from "peak oil".

We are in deep environmental trouble. But, it is Catastrophic Climate Change trouble, not "peak oil causing a collapse" trouble. The continued world increase in energy demand makes a mockery of all the IPCC RCP scenarios, including the alleged "Business as Usual" RCP-8.5. "BUSINESS" as the NEW HIGHER WORLD ENERGY DEMAND "USUAL" 😨🔫 is now WORSE than the IPCC's overly conservative "Business as Usual" (see video after article).

Also, when you read the article, please keep in mind that the International Energy Agency (IEA) is infamous for happy talk about fossil fuel "resources" 😇. They are the last place you will find anything but overly conservative figures about biosphere harming/species killing emissions spewed 24/7 by the increased use of fossil fuels for energy. IOW, the IEA figure of 32.5 gigatonnes of Carbon Emissions is probably LESS (MUCH less!  >:() than what is actually being dumped on our biosphere, thereby accelerating us towards Catastrophic Climate Change Doom. 🤬

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Global Energy Demand & Carbon Emissions Increase In 2017  >:(

March 22nd, 2018 by Joshua S Hill

Global energy demand increased by 2.1% in 2017 at more than twice the previous year’s rate at the same time that carbon emissions increased for the first time since 2014, jumping by 1.4%.

These are the two key messages from the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) newest resource, the Global Energy and CO2 Status Report, 2017, which was published on Thursday, providing what the IEA describes as “an up-to-date snapshot of recent trends and developments across all fuels.”

Cape Town South Africa Electricity“The robust global economy pushed up energy demand last year, which was mostly met by fossil fuels, while renewables made impressive strides,” explained Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA’s Executive Director. “The significant growth in global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2017 tells us that current efforts to combat climate change are far from sufficient. For example, there has been a dramatic slowdown in the rate of improvement in global energy efficiency as policymakers have put less focus in this area.”

According to the IEA, energy demand rose by 2.1% in 2017 thanks in large part to strong global economic growth. As Birol suggested, fossil fuels met most of the increase in demand for energy — accounting for 81% of total energy demand in 2017 — but the IEA did note that renewables were “seeing impressive gains.” Oil demand increased by 1.6% in 2017, more than twice the average annual rate seen over the past decade, and driven primarily by the transport sector and rising petrochemical demand. Natural gas consumption increased by 3%, the most of all the fossil fuels, with China accounting for nearly a third of this growth, and the buildings and industry sectors contributing 80% to the increase in global demand. Coal demand only increased by 1%, but this still nevertheless reversed the declines seen over the last two years.

Renewable electricity generation increased by 6.3%, the most of any fuel , and met a quarter of world energy demand growth, thanks to massive expansions to wind, solar, and hydropower.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020)


(https://c1cleantechnicacom-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/files/2018/03/IEA-29-570x286.jpg)
Average annual growth in energy demand by fuel

Emissions for 2017 increased for the first time since 2014, growing by 1.4% and an increase of 460 million tonnes (Mt), reaching an unfortunately historic high level of 32.5 gigatonnes. This followed three years of flat emissions and is a worrying sign in a world where emissions are needed to decline if we are to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

According to the IEA, 2017’s increase in emissions was the equivalent of adding 170 million cars to the roads and was the result of “robust global economic growth of 3.7%, lower fossil-fuel prices, and weaker energy efficiency efforts” all of which also led to the aforementioned increase in energy demand.

(https://c1cleantechnicacom-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/files/2018/03/IEA-30.jpg)
Global energy-related CO2 emissions, 2000-2017

Thankfully, though there was an overall emissions increase, that does not mean there were not more regional emissions declines. While many major economies saw their emissions increase, there were declines in the United States, the UK, Mexico, and Japan. Surprisingly — if we consider the state of the world and the country — the United States actually posted the largest emissions decrease of 0.5%, or 25 Mt, down to 4,810 Mt.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/03/22/global-energy-demand-carbon-emissions-increase-2017/

Screenshot of RCP scenarios from Video below:
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220318220950.png&hash=28e91b44da9b140cfd8887f5cd13ee968679b6fe)

IPCC RCP 8.5 business as usual scenario is too conservative. ALL the climate models low ball global warming
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https://youtu.be/8PdM9_cDL5Y

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 23, 2018, 09:20:00 pm
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Oil Explorers 🦖 Push U.S. Drilling to Pace Last Seen in 2015  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pic4ever.com%2Fimages%2Fgaah.gif&hash=e43fa6be4258ba495007b2bbb3e7dd2f60288fcd)

By Baily Shutz

March 23, 2018, 1:03 PM EDT Updated on March 23, 2018, 1:37 PM EDT

SNIPPET:

Rig count in U.S. fields rises for eighth time in nine weeks

U.S. oil benchmark approaching 2018 high above $66 a barrel

Crude explorers boosted drilling activity in U.S. oil fields to levels not seen in three years amid rising confidence that worldwide demand will keep energy prices elevated.

Full article: 
https://www.bloomberg.com//news/articles/2018-03-23/oil-explorers-expand-u-s-work-for-eighth-time-in-nine-weeks

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 25, 2018, 06:53:07 pm
EcoWatch

🚩 Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is Now Twice the Size of Texas :(

By Lorraine Chow

Mar. 22, 2018 01:46PM EST

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) floating off the coast of California now measures 1.6 million square kilometers (about 1 million square miles), according to a startling new study. To put that into perspective, the clump of trash is about the size of three Frances, or twice the size of Texas.

Not only that, the analysis, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, also revealed that the massive Pacific trash vortex contains up to 16 times more plastic than previous estimates—and could rapidly get worse.

The researchers estimated there are about 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic weighing 80,000 metric tons, the equivalent of 500 Jumbo Jets, are currently afloat in the area. That's largest accumulation zone for ocean plastics on Earth.

(https://assets.rbl.ms/17462005/980x.jpg)

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains up to 16 times more plastic than previously estimated.

The Ocean Cleanup

The study is the result of a three-year mapping effort conducted by an international team of scientists affiliated with Dutch non-profit The Ocean Cleanup Foundation, six universities and an aerial sensor company.

According to a press release provided to EcoWatch, to analyze the full extent of the GPGP, the team conducted a comprehensive sampling effort by crossing the debris field with 30 vessels simultaneously, supplemented by two aircraft surveys. The fleet collected a total of 1.2 million plastic samples, while the aerial sensors scanned more than 300 square kilometers of ocean surface.

(https://assets.rbl.ms/17462800/980x.jpg)

About 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic weighing 80,000 metric tons are currently afloat in the area.

The Ocean Cleanup

The results showed that 92 percent of the mass was represented by larger objects—such as discarded fishing nets several meters in size—and 8 percent consisted of microplastics smaller than 5 millimeters in size.

"We were surprised by the amount of large plastic objects we encountered," said Dr. Julia Reisser, chief scientist of the expeditions in a statement. "We used to think most of the debris consists of small fragments, but this new analysis shines a new light on the scope of the debris."

The team found that plastic pollution levels within the garbage patch have grown exponentially since measurements began in the 1970s.

"This plastic accumulation rate inside the GPGP, which was greater than in the surrounding waters, indicates that the inflow of plastic into the patch continues to exceed the outflow," said Laurent Lebreton, lead author of the study.

The Ocean Cleanup team is preparing to launch its highly anticipated cleanup system in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch this summer with the goal of collecting 50 percent of the trash in five years.

"To be able to solve a problem, we believe it is essential to first understand it," said Boyan Slat, founder of The Ocean Cleanup and co-author of the study. "These results provide us with key data to develop and test our cleanup technology, but it also underlines the urgency of dealing with the plastic pollution problem. Since the results indicate that the amount of hazardous microplastics is set to increase more than tenfold if left to fragment, the time to start is now."

Slat, who shot to fame five years ago with claims that his invention could clean up the seas, explains the methodology and results of the new study in the video below:

https://youtu.be/VxMATP5oRx4

https://www.ecowatch.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch-texas-2551330463.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 25, 2018, 08:34:12 pm
Global Ocean Phytoplankton in Severe Decline 😓
4,595 views

https://youtu.be/LwRZ85j-_2E

Paul Beckwith

Published on Feb 9, 2016

Phytoplankton are about half the global biomass, and they are the base of the ocean food chain, and produce the oxygen in every other breath you take.

In 2010 a landmark paper reported that from 1950 to 2010 the global oceans suffered a severe drop in phytoplankton of almost 1% per year (40% drop). What has happened since then; find out in this video. My only support for my work is you, so please consider a donation at paulbeckwith.net
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 25, 2018, 10:43:47 pm
Here’s where you’re most likely to die ☠️ from air pollution

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SNIPPET:

In good news, areas painted in blue show where humanity has managed to lower its output of choking smog since the 1850s. These safer havens include spots in the middle of South America and the Southeastern United States, where the amount of agricultural burning has decreased since the mid-19th century.

This representation of our befouled atmosphere is based on the work of Jason West, an earth scientist at the University of North Carolina who’s investigating the health effects of bad air. According to computer models that West and his team constructed, an incredible 2.1 million deaths a year can be attributed to one type of pollution alone — fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, which are teensy specks that fly out of car-exhaust pipes, industrial smokestacks, and other things. (They’re also what the NASA map is referencing.)

Full article:

http://grist.org/climate-energy/heres-where-youre-most-likely-to-die-from-air-pollution[/ (http://grist.org/climate-energy/heres-where-youre-most-likely-to-die-from-air-pollution)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 26, 2018, 05:17:59 pm
Global Ocean Phytoplankton in Severe Decline 😓
4,595 views

https://youtu.be/LwRZ85j-_2E

Paul Beckwith

Published on Feb 9, 2016

Phytoplankton are about half the global biomass, and they are the base of the ocean food chain, and produce the oxygen in every other breath you take.

In 2010 a landmark paper reported that from 1950 to 2010 the global oceans suffered a severe drop in phytoplankton of almost 1% per year (40% drop). What has happened since then; find out in this video. My only support for my work is you, so please consider a donation at paulbeckwith.net

https://youtu.be/dsx2vdn7gpY


Agreed. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2953.gif&hash=b84c0ae260f7ac760e54bcdc33d788c36faa07c1)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 26, 2018, 06:42:56 pm
EcoWatch

Biodiversity hot spots of 80% of biosphere's species endangered by Global Warming Pollution
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Biggest Biodiversity Study in a Decade Finds Current Biodiversity Loss Dangerous for Human Well-Being

By Olivia Rosane

March 26, 2018

According to a new report, more than 50 percent of African mammal and bird species could be extinct due to climate change by 2100. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_1593.gif&hash=628238f2fc26695937f6e97b91b050976065743b)

Full article:

(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/304fa75d7ed32d56ae1ff3a796933cb65eac738511bb960bc4a77bb2f67c0af6.gif)

https://www.ecowatch.com/biodiversity-human-well-being-2553170130.html

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 05, 2018, 06:08:54 pm
Power Sector Carbon Index Highlights Falling Levels (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clker.com%2Fcliparts%2Fc%2F8%2Ff%2F8%2F11949865511933397169thumbs_up_nathan_eady_01.svg.hi.png&hash=599691109af22b33f1d59dd61eb97448a9427020) Of Carbon Pollution

April 5th, 2018 by Steve Hanley

SNIPPET:

In 2005, each megawatt hour of electricity was responsible for 1,321 pounds of carbon dioxide. Today, the number is down to 967 pounds per megawatt hour, a reduction of more than 25%. The Power Sector Carbon Index is a joint creation of Carnegie Mellon University and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS). Begun a year ago, it has recently been updated to permit regional analysis of the US market allowing for greater insight into the impact of regional trends on fuel types, usage, and emissions.

According to a recent press release, “[T]he index will begin to incorporate emissions data from other countries across North and South America. As the Index continues to expand, it will serve as a source of objective insight regarding emissions trends across the Americas for policy makers, regulators, utilities, industry analysts and the public.”

Full article:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/04/05/power-sector-carbon-index-highlights-falling-levels-of-carbon-pollution/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 06, 2018, 05:23:13 pm
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Photo: By Mr Nai / Shutterstock

Global Shipping Is Part of the Climate Problem, Too: Editorial

April 5, 2018 by Bloomberg

By James Gibney and Clive Crook (Bloomberg View)

SNIPPET 1:

Already, international shipping accounts for about as much carbon dioxide each year as Germany’s whole economy. On current trends, its share of the total will rise quickly. It could account for roughly 15 percent of the global carbon budget set by the Paris accord for 2050.

SNIPPET 2:

The main thing next week is to acknowledge that confronting climate change is too urgent a goal for any sector of the global economy to be given a pass.
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Full article:
http://gcaptain.com/global-shipping-part-climate-problem-editorial/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 07, 2018, 07:16:46 pm
EcoWatch

By Mongabay

Apr. 06, 2018 09:47AM EST

Oil Spill Now Larger Than Paris Ravages Indonesian Island, 5 Dead

By Basten Gokkon

SNIPPET:

An oil spill in Borneo that began over the past weekend has now spread across an area greater than the city of Paris and is heading out to the open ocean, the Indonesian government said.

The spill, first reported on March 31, stems from a pipeline operated by state-owned oil firm Pertamina in the city of Balikpapan, in East Kalimantan province. A report released April 4 by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry said the slick was spreading out from Balikpapan Bay and into the Strait of Makassar, covering some 130 square kilometers (50 square miles).

Pertamina 🦖, which for days had denied responsibility for the disaster, finally admitted on April 4 that one of its pipes used for transporting crude oil was the source of the slick.

Read more:

https://www.ecowatch.com/oil-pipeline-spill-indonesia-death-2556835512.html

(https://collapseofindustrialcivilization.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/snap-2013-11-06-at-14-31-28.png)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 08, 2018, 01:39:34 pm
EcoWatch

By Olivia Rosane

Apr. 05, 2018 12:22PM EST

Proposed Rule Change Would Be 'Death Sentence' for Nearly 300 Species 🤬, Activists Warn

In all the media attention gobbled by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt 🦖, it's important to remember that Trump's appointed Department of Interior (DOI) leader Ryan Zinke (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) is also extremely dangerous for the environment.


Before being chosen to head the DOI, Zinke 🦀 was a Montana representative with a three percent environmental voting record who was especially hostile to the Endangered Species Act: He spearheaded efforts to remove protections for wolves, sage grouse and lynx, among other actions, according to Center for Biological Diversity executive director Kierán Suckling.  (https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Center_for_Biological_Diversity_logo.jpg)

Under his leadership, the DOI is continuing that hostile legacy. On Monday, the department sent a proposal to the White House that would remove essential protections for almost 300 threatened species, The Center for Biological Diversity reported Wednesday.

The proposal would reverse a rule made by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in 1975 which grants threatened species the same protections under the Endangered Species Act as listed endangered species, unless the FWS determines those protections are unnecessary on a case-by-case basis.

"The Trump administration just issued a death sentence to nearly 300 threatened species," Center for Biological Diversity Endangered Species director Noah Greenwald said in a release.

The species left vulnerable by the rule change would include southern sea otters, northern spotted owls, piping plovers, red knots, Yosemite toads, delta smelt, Santa Catalina Island foxes, gopher tortoises and manatees, according to the Center for Biological Diversity and CNN.

FWS spokesman Gavin Shire told CNN that the Center for Biological Diversity's characterization of the proposal was not accurate and that it would not overturn blanket protections, but he also refused to explain exactly what the rule change would do or to provide CNN with a copy. He said it was a "draft" and that discussing it in detail would be "premature."

Greenwald told CNN that an overhaul of protections would benefit agribusiness interests and oil companies that would no longer have to worry about protecting the threatened species' habitats.

"If these critical protections for threatened species are eliminated, Trump will go down in history as the extinction president," said Greenwald in the Center for Biological Diversity release.

The proposal was filed within days of a American-Statesman report that Susan Combs, who resisted federal Endangered Species Act restrictions as Texas comptroller, would be named acting assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, which oversees FWS. In Texas, Combs protested the listing of the dune sagebrush lizard, whose habitat coincides with Texas oil fields, and the federal government eventually heeded her request.

Combs' appointment is temporary while she awaits Senate confirmation for another DOI role as assistant secretary for policy, management and budget.

https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-ryan-zinke-2556479220.html

Agelbert NOTE: One thing is for sure, the Trump 🦀 wrecking crew is destructively consistent (see below).  >:(

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 11, 2018, 08:47:00 pm
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April 11, 2018

Amid Scandals, Pruitt 😈 Puts the Brakes on Auto Regulation

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt's spending habits and association with energy lobbyists are under scrutiny, but the bigger scandal is the rollback of more than 20 environmental protections, including Obama-era clean-car regulations. We speak to retired autoworker Frank Hammer, UC Berkeley's Climate Program Director Ethan Elkind, and Greenpeace USA's Natalie Nava

https://youtu.be/3jvsQhLvtN4


http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=21547

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 13, 2018, 05:18:41 pm
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Nasty Oil Spill Closes Mississippi River Near New Orleans After Cargo Ship Hits Pier 🤬

April 12, 2018 by Mike Schuler

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MV Pac Antares. File Photo: MarineTraffic.com / Patrick Lawson

The U.S. Coast Guard and local agencies are responding to reports of an oil spill after a cargo ship struck a pier near mile marker 100 on the lower Mississippi River near New Orleans on Thursday.

The Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a report at 10:30 a.m. that the Singapore-flagged ship Pac Antares had collided with a pier and was reportedly leaking diesel fuel into the river.

The spill was later estimated to be about 4,200 gallons of fuel oil.

The vessel is currently moored at Nashville Avenue Wharf and the leak has been plugged, the Coast Guard reported.

The Mississippi River is closed to vessel movement from mile marker 91 to mile marker 101.

Photos and video posted online showed globs of thick, black oil in the river in New Orleans’ downtown French District.  🏴‍

Photos:

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Photo: Rex_da_Cajun via Twitter

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Photo: Rex_da_Cajun via Twitter

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the incident is still under investigation.

The 27,659 dwt Pac Antares was built in 2003 and has a length of 178 meters.

AIS ship tracking data showed the vessel arrived in New Orleans on Thursday after sailing from Houston.

“First responders continue to work to minimize the environmental impacts and protect the public so the river can be opened to commercial traffic as soon as possible,” said Capt. Wayne Arguin, commander, Sector New Orleans.

http://gcaptain.com/nasty-oil-spill-closes-mississippi-river-near-new-orleans-after-cargo-ship-hits-pier/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 13, 2018, 05:58:16 pm
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Agelbert NOTE: The destruction of the arctic biome continues. The article describes the melting of the ice as an "opportunity for the shipping industry to expand", as if there isn't a brutal extinction cost 🚩 thousands of species will be forced to pay because of this profit over planet expansion. The effect of increased shipping in the arctic will be 💣 the accelerated degradation of the global biosphere. 😨🔫 So it goes. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2955.gif&hash=ddc12d8bdb1bc63b7998a6b086b79a71b7bda755)

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Researchers Map Seven Years of Arctic Shipping

April 12, 2018 by gCaptain

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By knyazev vasily / Shutterstock

The Arctic’s declining sea ice has meant more opportunities for the shipping industry to expand its use of the region that in decades past was unnavigable for the vast majority of the year.

The Northwest Passage through Canada and the Northern Sea Route, or Northeast Passage, north of Russia and Siberia, are both valued because they could significantly shorten ship transit times between Asia, Europe, and North America.

In August 2017, a newly designed LNG carrier with an ice-hardened hull became the first merchant ship to sail across the Arctic Ocean without the aid of an icebreaker. The vessel, the Christophe de Margerie, made the voyage in just 19 days, nearly a week faster than the traditional route through the Suez Canal.

In February, a similar tanker, the Eduard Atoll, completed its own unescorted trip through the region in the dead of winter, marking another historic first. During that voyage, the vessel sailed South Korea to Sabetta terminal in northern Russia, where it loaded LNG produced at a new $27 billion plant and transported it to France.

To illustrate this increase in ship activity in the Arctic, a team of scientists has banded together to analyze and map more than 120 million data points in order to track where ships are most using the region.

To make the map, the team, led by Paul Arthur Berkman, director of the science diplomacy center at Tufts University, and Greg Fiske, a geospatial analyst at the Woods Hole Research Center, used data compiled by SpaceQuest, a company designs microsatellites that can monitor the track Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals from ships.

Once the data was plotted, there were some interesting observations to be made.

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This map shows unique ship visits to Arctic waters  between September 1, 2009, and December 31, 2016. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Looking at the data, Berkman, Fiske, and their colleagues found that the mean center of shipping activity moved 300 kilometers north and east—closer to the North Pole—over the 7-year span.

Notably, they were particularly surprised to find more small ships, such as fishing boats, wading farther into Arctic waters. The team also plotted the AIS ship tracks against sea ice data from NSIDC and found that ships are encountering ice more often and doing so farther north each year.

Despite the seemingly growing opportunities for shipping, the increasing number of ships in the region has given rise to serious concerns about pollution, oil spills, and disturbances to marine life, among other possible impacts.

Berkman is the coordinator and lead investigator of Pan-Arctic Options, which provides objective information that can guide the placement of infrastructure and the management of activities such as search and rescue and pollution response.

Now whether or not open Arctic waters will be long-term boon for shipping remains to be seen, but scientists agree that the melting trend does not bode well for the Arctic environment as we have known it.

“Arctic sea ice cover continues to be in a decreasing trend, and this is connected to the ongoing warming of the Arctic,” said Claire Parkinson, a climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “It’s a two-way street: the warming means less ice is going to form, and more ice is going to melt. But also, because there is less ice, less of the Sun’s radiation is reflected off of Earth, and this contributes to the warming.”

http://gcaptain.com/researchers-map-seven-years-of-arctic-shipping/


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Profit over planet greed guarantees that humans will follow shortly after the polar bears into extinction.

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 14, 2018, 05:05:37 pm
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Reactions to the IMO’s Initial Strategy to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships

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April 13, 2018 by gCaptai

SNIPPET:
Quote

“In truth, there is widespread understanding that in the long-term the industry needs to be powered by carbon-free fuel, and that will almost certainly mean a mix of battery, hydrogen and other zero-carbon fuels.

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

http://gcaptain.com/reactions-to-the-imos-initial-strategy-to-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-ships/

Aglbert NOTE:  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202829.png&hash=a4ec201b97ad269ff59a6a1c0f1c19a04b57803a) It's a start but this action was sine qua non three decades ago! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)  What is needed now is a crash program to completely eliminate fossil fuel powered shipping. These incremental, glacially slow, measures to reduce polluting emissions will not stop, or even slow, the dangers to shipping, never mind the rest of the increasingly trashed biosphere, from Catastrophic Climate Change. Apparently they think they have the rest of this CENTURY to stop using fossil fuels to power ships. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-TzWpwHzCvCI%2FT_sBEnhCCpI%2FAAAAAAAAME8%2FIsLpuU8HYxc%2Fs1600%2Fnooo-way-smiley.gif&hash=b8545bd420b1e2f2c7b9f665d2093523e4ad2251)  That is magical thinking. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183337.bmp&hash=fd5a6df63c32bd65dda7b6d93e788647ca3829df) Shipping will be severly affected within less than a decade. By the end of the century it will be almost impossible to navigate the routinely stormy oceans full of giant waves (read the linked article below for details). So it goes. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2955.gif&hash=ddc12d8bdb1bc63b7998a6b086b79a71b7bda755)

Climate Change, Blue Water Cargo Shipping and Predicted Ocean Wave Activity: PART 1 of 3 (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/future-earth/msg7380/#msg7380)


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Here is the IMO’s Full Briefing on Its Strategy to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships

April 13, 2018 by gCaptain

The IMO today adopted what some are calling a historic agreement on a climate change strategy by significantly reducing CO2 emissions from ships. You can some of the reactions to the agreement here. Below is the IMO’s full Press Briefing on the agreement.

(International Maritime Organizations) – Nations meeting at the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London have adopted an initial strategy on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ships, setting out a vision to reduce GHG emissions from international shipping and phase them out, as soon as possible in this century. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817122018.gif&hash=74d86c1f35e2f61ea38c9bfa392f84a92631b96e)

The vision confirms IMO’s commitment to reducing GHG emissions from international shipping and, as a matter of urgency, to phasing them out as soon as possible.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Femilysquotes.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F01%2FIf-you-think-the-economy-is-more-important-than-the-environment-try-holding.jpg&hash=aff8496a63efd4b57c75b75eb544bd8002327dba)

More specifically, under the identified “levels of ambition”, the initial strategy envisages for the first time a reduction in total GHG emissions from international shipping which, it says, should peak as soon as possible and to reduce the total annual GHG emissions by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008, while, at the same time, pursuing efforts towards phasing them out entirely.

The strategy includes a specific reference to “a pathway of CO2 emissions reduction consistent with the Paris Agreement temperature goals”.

The initial strategy was adopted by IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), during its 72nd session at IMO Headquarters in London, United Kingdom. The meeting was attended by more than 100 IMO Member States.

The initial strategy represents a framework for Member States, setting out the future vision for international shipping, the levels of ambition to reduce GHG emissions and guiding principles; and includes candidate short-, mid- and long-term further measures with possible timelines and their impacts on States. The strategy also identifies barriers and supportive measures including capacity building, technical cooperation and research and development (R&D).

IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim said the adoption of the strategy was another successful illustration of the renowned IMO spirit of cooperation and would allow future IMO work on climate change to be rooted in a solid basis.

He told delegates, “I encourage you to continue your work through the newly adopted Initial GHG Strategy which is designed as a platform for future actions. I am confident in relying on your ability to relentlessly continue your efforts and develop further actions that will soon contribute to reducing GHG emissions from ships.”

According to the “Roadmap” approved by IMO Member States in 2016, the initial strategy is due to be revised by 2023.  ::)

Continuing the momentum of work on this issue, the Committee agreed to hold the fourth Intersessional meeting of the Working Group on Reduction of GHG emissions from ships later in the year. This working group will be tasked with developing a programme of follow-up actions to the Initial Strategy; further considering how to progress reduction of GHG emissions from ships in order to advise the committee; and reporting to the next session of the MEPC (MEPC 73), which meets 22-26 October 2018.

IMO has already adopted global mandatory measures to address the reduction in GHG emissions from ships. IMO is also executing global technical cooperation projects to support the capacity of States, particularly developing States to implement and support energy efficiency in the shipping sector.

****

Initial IMO strategy on the reduction of GHG emissions from ships

The initial strategy includes the following:

Vision:   


IMO remains committed to reducing GHG emissions from international shipping and, as a matter of urgency, aims to phase them out as soon as possible in this century.

Levels of ambition

The Initial Strategy identifies levels of ambition for the international shipping sector noting that technological innovation and the global introduction of alternative fuels and/or energy sources for international shipping will be integral to achieve the overall ambition. Reviews should take into account updated emission estimates, emissions reduction options for international shipping, and the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC ). Levels of ambition directing the Initial Strategy are as follows:

.1 carbon intensity of the ship to decline through implementation of further phases of the energy efficiency design index (EEDI) for new ships to review with the aim to strengthen the energy efficiency design requirements for ships with the percentage improvement for each phase to be determined for each ship type, as appropriate;

.2 carbon intensity of international shipping to decline to reduce CO2 emissions per transport work, as an average across international shipping, by at least 40% by 2030, pursuing efforts towards 70% by 2050, compared to 2008; and

.3 GHG emissions from international shipping to peak and decline to peak GHG emissions from international shipping as soon as possible and to reduce the total annual GHG emissions by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008 whilst pursuing efforts towards phasing them out as called for in the Vision as a point on a pathway of CO2 emissions reduction consistent with the Paris Agreement temperature goals.

****
Note: The Paris Agreement on climate change was agreed in 2015 by Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and entered into force in 2016. The Paris Agreement central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Paris Agreement does not include international shipping, but IMO, as the regulatory body for the industry, is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping.

______
Background on IMO’s contribution to the global efforts to address climate change

IMO’s contribution to the global efforts to address climate change features prominently in IMO’s Strategic Plan. 

In 2011, IMO became the first international body to adopt mandatory energy-efficiency measures for an entire industry sector with a suite of technical and operational requirements for new and existing vessels that entered into force in 2013. By 2025 new ships built will be 30% more energy efficient than those built in 2014.

The mandatory data collection system for fuel oil consumption of ships, which entered into force in March 2018, will provide robust data and information on which future decisions on additional measures, over and above those already adopted, can be made.

The mandatory data collection system is intended to be the first in a three-step approach in which analysis of the data collected will provide the basis for an objective, transparent and inclusive policy debate in the MEPC, under a roadmap (through to 2023) for developing a “Comprehensive IMO strategy on reduction of GHG emissions from ships”. The roadmap was agreed in 2016.

Support for implementation of IMO’s energy-efficiency measures is provided, in particular, through two major global projects executed by IMO:

• The Global Maritime Energy Efficiency Partnerships Project (GloMEEP Project) is aimed at supporting the uptake and implementation of energy efficiency measures for shipping, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. The GloMEEP project was launched in 2015 in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Development Programme. A “Global Industry Alliance to Support Low Carbon Shipping” (or GIA), launched in 2017 under the auspices of the GloMEEP Project, is identifying and developing solutions that can support overcoming barriers to the uptake of energy efficiency technologies and operational measures in the shipping sector. Website: http://glomeep.imo.org/

• The global maritime technology network (GMN) project, funded by the European Union, has established a network of five Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres (MTCCs) in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific. Through collaboration and outreach activities at regional level, the MTCCs will focus their efforts during 2018 and beyond to help countries develop national maritime energy-efficiency policies and measures, promote the uptake of low-carbon technologies and operations in maritime transport and establish voluntary pilot data-collection and reporting systems. Website: http://gmn.imo.org/

___________

 
IMO – the International Maritime Organization – is the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships.

Web site: www.imo.org

http://gcaptain.com/here-is-the-imos-full-briefing-on-its-strategy-to-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-ships/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 20, 2018, 02:05:18 pm
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Shipping Industry Switch to LNG Bunker Fuel Not Enough to Meet Strict Carbon Regulations – Analyst

April 17, 2018 by Reuters

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http://gcaptain.com/shipping-industry-switch-to-lng-bunker-fuel-not-enough-to-meet-strict-carbon-regulations-analyst/


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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 23, 2018, 02:33:25 pm
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Make Nexus Hot News part of your morning: click here (http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa) to subscribe.

April 23, 2018

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Pruitt is Wasting Your Money but the Real Scandal is How He’s Letting Polluters Sicken You  >:(


When embattled EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt appears in front of Congress next week, he’ll likely face tough questions about his illegal phone booth, his why his lobbyist/landlord resigned, his luxury travel, exorbitant pay raises and other scandals that have even the GOP expressing concern. That said, Pruitt’s made it a point to meet with tons of Koch and Mercer-funded climate denial organizations, and hardly any environmental groups, so he’s done a commendable job of shoring up support among those who value the “free market” over public well-being.

But while all the scandals over wasting taxpayer money are of course bad, wasting taxpayers’ lives is worse. And that’s what Pruitt’s “factory of bad ideas” is trying to do. Because not only is Pruitt actively rolling back public health protections, but what few new rules he is proposing are designed make things worse.

For example, one new policy is described by The Hill as “aimed specifically at helping polluters in the oil and gas industry” by letting them regulate themselves, in essence.

Another great new Pruitt idea, the Red Team attack on climate science, is also potentially back on the table, according to E&E. That’s because one of the main White House voices opposed to the effort was energy advisor Mike Catanzaro, who is being replaced by Francis Brooke,  a 28-year-old known as “the kid.” We know the Red Team exercise is just a trick meant to confuse Americans about climate science. In this case, let’s hope tricks aren’t for “the kid,” but we won’t know until Brooke takes over.

On the rollbacks, EPA air chief Bill Wehrum told an environmental law conference that the Trump administration is still pondering what to do with regulations to limit mercury emissions from coal plants. Apparently the costs are too high to keep the rule in place, because as we all know, mercury is a totally benign and not at all worrisome pollutant. After all, it’s not mercury poisoning makes you mad as a hatter, or anything.. Oh and also, mercury makes the skin of children who are exposed turn pink and peel off. But who cares about pink kids, we’ve got coal to burn!

Yet somehow, it gets worse. Because Pruitt’s pro-smoking, Lamar Smith-pushed and front-group-backed policy to disqualify broad swaths of public health studies is moving forward, the EPA sent the proposed guidance to the White House Office of Management and Budget last week for interagency review.

But it’s such a bad idea, even one of Pruitt’s own aides, former chemical lobbyist Nancy Beck, expressed concerns in emails FOIA’d by the Union of Concerned Scientists. But she 😈 wasn’t worried that it would eliminate peer-reviewed, independent science. No, her concern was quite the opposite: that it would bar the use of industry studies. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-280515145049.png&hash=84e87515e750391c1f1bca6d6ae06485972bfa81) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)

And we all know how much industry loves its studies to find its products to be a public health hazard…


Pruitt's Troubles Mount With Lobbyist Revelations & Shell Company Investigations

EPA chief Scott Pruitt held meetings with the lobbyist married to his DC landlord despite previous statements from the agency and the lobbying firm to the contrary. On Friday, The Hill reported that filings from lobbying firm Williams & Jensen revealed that the firm's principal, Kevin Hart, reached out to the EPA this year on behalf of client Smithfield Foods. Multiple outlets reported Saturday that Pruitt had taken meetings with Smithfield executives and Hart, whose wife rented Pruitt a condo on Capitol Hill on a $50-night basis, in July of 2017. Hart announced Saturday that he would step down as the chairman of Williams & Jensen, while the New York Times this weekend ran an extensive investigation into Pruitt's hidden potential conflicts of interest linking the EPA to Oklahoma, including Pruitt's use of a shell company to purchase a home from a lobbyist.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/22/epa-chief-scott-pruitt-lobbyist-condo-lease
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 28, 2018, 08:17:22 pm
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NGO Shipbreaking Platform: 152 Ships Broken Up on South Asia’s Beaches in First Quarter of 2018

April 27, 2018 by gCaptain


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Shipbreaking at Alang, India.

Of the 206 ships dismantled worldwide up in in the first quarter of 2018, a total 152 ships ended up on beaches in South Asia, according to a quarterly report from the NGO Shipbreaking Platform.

So far this year, 10 workers have lost their lives and 2 workers have been severely injured
when breaking ships in Chittagong, Bangladesh, the organization said their report. At least two workers also lost their lives due to a toxic gas leak at a shipbreaking yard in Alang, India in March, according to the report.

During the first quarter of 2018, 27 ships were also dismantled in Turkey, 7 in China, 11 in Europe and 9 in the rest of the world, the report showed.

“Ship owners continue to sell their ships to the beaching yards despite the well documented deplorable conditions. The prices offered for ships this first quarter have been high in South Asia, especially when compared to the figures of last year. Whilst a South Asian beaching yard can pay about USD 450/LDT, Turkish and Chinese yards are respectively currently paying USD 280/LDT and USD 210/LDT. This situation led to especially a significant decrease in number of vessels recycled in China, where only 7 vessels were scrapped this quarter,” the NGO Shipbreaking Platform said.

According to the NGO, South Korean and UAE ship owners sold the most ships to South Asian yards the first quarter of 2018 with 14 beached vessels each, followed by Greek and Russian owners. Shipping companies from the United States beached 5 vessels.

“South Korean Sinokor is, for now, the worst corporate dumper with seven vessels beached in South Asia in 2018. South Korean H-Line Shipping is a close runner-up, with five ships sold for dirty and dangerous scrapping on the beach. Following the ban on the import of tankers to Pakistan due to major explosions that occurred in 2016 and 2017, no tankers were sold to the Gadani yards this first quarter. However, Pakistan has re-opened to the import of tankers this week,” the organization said.

Meanwhile, only 3 ships had a European flag – Belgium, Italy and Norway – when they arrived on the beach.

“All ships sold to the beaching yards pass via the hands of scrap-dealers, also known as cash-buyers, that often re-register and re-flag the vessel on its last voyage,” the NGO Shipbreaking Platform said. “In this regard, flags of convenience, in particular those that are grey- and black-listed under the Paris MoU, are used by cash-buyers to send ships to the worst breaking locations. Almost half of the ships sold to South Asia this quarter changed flag to the grey- and black-listed registries of Comoros, Niue, Palau and St. Kitts and Nevis just weeks before hitting the beach. These flags are not typically used during the operational life of ships and offer ‘last voyage registration’ discounts. They are grey- and black-listed due to their poor implementation of international maritime law.”

According to 2017 data released by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform in February, of the 835 large ocean-going commercial ships that were sold for scrap in 2017, a total of 543 ships were intentionally run ashore and dismantled by hand at shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, where the controversial ‘beaching’ method continues to be the predominant means of disposal for end-of-life vessels.

The 543 ships represent just over 80% of the total tonnage scrapped worldwide last year, according to the organization.

http://gcaptain.com/ngo-shipbreaking-platform-152-ships-broken-up-on-south-asias-beaches-in-first-quarter-of-2018/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 30, 2018, 09:56:08 pm
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Kingston Coal Ash Spill photo

April 30, 2018

Coal Ash Concerns Mount From Puerto Rico to DC

PBS NewsHour reported this weekend from Guayama, Puerto Rico, where the island's only coal-fired power plant and coal ash industrial facility may be contributing to the high incidences of cancer, respiratory problems and heart disease in surrounding neighborhoods.

Local concern is growing over how Hurricane Maria may have further compromised public health, after the plant's owner failed to cover ash piles during the storm and released a report last month showing "dramatic" increases in arsenic and chromium in groundwater in the months following Maria.

Polluters across the country could soon be held accountable: Politico Pro reports this morning on how green groups in DC are successfully suing utilities for coal ash contamination under the Clean Water Act. (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/coal-ash-raising-concerns-over-health-risks-in-puerto-rico)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 03, 2018, 02:25:28 pm
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Eighteen U.S states are taking the EPA to court over weakening emission regulations

LAST UPDATED ON MAY 2ND, 2018 AT 10:29 PM BY ALEXANDRU MICU

A coalition of 18 U.S states is suing the current administration over “arbitrary and capricious” moves to weaken air quality regulations.

Eighteen states will take representatives of the Trump administration to court. In a move championed by the golden state of California, they will fight against the administration’s revisions of Obama-era car greenhouse gas emission rules — one of his most significant measures against climate change.

“Arbitrary and capricious”

New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, the District of Columbia, and California are suing the EPA and its Administrator Scott Pruitt.

Together, the states hold roughly 43% of the U.S.’s cars and are understandably angry at the EPA’s moves to weaken current car emission regulation. They aim to “set aside and hold unlawful” the newer (and weaker, compared to those adopted in 2012) fuel economy standards, which are slated to take effect in 2022.

According to The New York Times, the Trump administration said the standards were too stringent and began legal procedures to revise them. The EPA hasn’t offered any new standards, instead choosing to draft regulation that weakens existing ones post-2020. In other words, we’re not talking about a different take or a paradigm shift here — just a simple, old-fashioned cut.

The NYT explains that after executives from General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler visited the White House to request more lenient emissions rules, Trump’s administration began to try and roll back the standards. The Agency claims that the standards are “based on outdated information” and that new data suggests “the current standards may be too stringent.” For context, these standards aimed to raise efficiency requirements to about 50 miles per gallon by 2025.

The states, however, contend that the EPA acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in changing these rules, in direct opposition to their citizens’ best interests. Furthermore, they hold that the EPA under Pruitt violated the Clean Air Act and didn’t follow its own regulations.

The lawsuit comes just days after learning that the Department of Transportation is planning to propose freezing fuel economy standards at model year 2020 levels, Politico adds.

“The federal standard the states are suing to protect is estimated to reduce carbon pollution equivalent to 134 coal power plants burning for a year, and save drivers $1,650 per vehicle,” the states said.

Which, you have to admit, sounds pretty sweet. There’s something for everybody, no matter if you care about the environment or your bottom line. No matter how this plays out, we’re likely to look at a protracted legal battle as both sides seem intent to see it through to the bitter end.

“My message to the EPA and Administrator Pruitt is simple: Do your job. Regulate carbon pollution from vehicles,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at a press conference on Tuesday. “We are not looking to pick a fight with the Trump administration, but we are ready for one.”

“This is about health, it’s about life and death,” adds California Gov. Jerry Brown. “I’m going to fight it with everything I can.”

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

https://www.zmescience.com/science/epa-lawsuit-air-quality-8525323/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 05, 2018, 01:23:51 pm
Agelbert NOTE: The following educational video with excellent graphics is rather optimistic. WHY? To begin with, the available carbon budget (the amount of GHG emissions we can still generate without exceeding the 2 degree celsius increase in temperature) is actually in the rear view mirror. IOW, we have already blown through that budget and are well on the way to a 4 degree C increase (with an accelerating RATE of increase, NOT a linear or slowing rate of increase) BEFORE the end of this century. Also, there is no discussion of the methane contribution. both from fracking activity and from the melting of the permafrost and the release of the vast (over a HUNDRED times 🔥🌡️ the current GHG emissions warming 🔥🌡️ effect) shallow arctic sea methane clathrates, all of which require the immediate banning of the burning of fossil fuels and a crash program to get the CO2 level back to 350 PPM (at least - 300 PPM would be ideal).

 
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While the following graphics are correct in portraying the vast amount of fossil fuels that can still be extracted to be burned (which is irrefutable evidence that "peak" oil will NOT save us from Catastrophic Climate Change (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)), the claim that we can still burn SOME fossil fuels (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.desismileys.com%2Fsmileys%2Fdesismileys_2932.gif&hash=0eaec4791a5825821998245e7fcd7744b56557fe) is not based on the reality of the Runaway Greenhouse Situation we are in.

(https://media.mnn.com/assets/images/2015/05/unburnable-fossil-fuels.jpg.696x0_q80_crop-smart.jpg)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgualerzi.blogautore.repubblica.it%2Ffiles%2F2015%2F07%2Fcarbon_bubble_graphic-532x350.png&hash=b05d5320788d08ec1612b2e7111a990eecfec8a2)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fourwinds10.net%2Fresources%2Fuploads%2Fimages%2Fdissolving%2520the%2520planet%2520for%2520oil.jpg&hash=4e454194b388f35b4beee87072d010f6bf35af46)

A Brief History of CO2 Emissions

https://youtu.be/EQ7S0D1iucY

Potsdam Institute

Published on Sep 13, 2017

An animated short film on greenhouse gas emissions.

Together with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the Urban Complexity Lab of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (FHP) developed an animated short movie that visualizes the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of the past – and the possible future.

https://uclab.fh-potsdam.de/projects/co2

-----

Credits:
“A Brief History of CO2 Emissions”
A film by the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (FHP) and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

Design and Production: Julian Braun
Concept: Julian Braun, Jürgen Claus, Susanne Droege, Elmar Kriegler, Boris Müller und Mareike Schodder

Creative Lead: Boris Müller (FHP)
Scientific Lead: Elmar Kriegler (PIK)
Data Research: Lavinia Baumstark

Music: Leo Brunnsteiner
Voice: Andy Bramhill 
Sound Design: Manfred Bauche
Translation to Arabic: Ali Hydar

A project by the
Gesellschaft der Freunde & Förderer der Fachhochschule Potsdam e.V.

Supported by the Lottery Fund of the Ministry of Rural Development, Environment and Agriculture of the Federal State of Brandenburg (MRDEA)

Category Science & Technology

 
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 05, 2018, 02:57:41 pm
CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica’s work via donations on Patreon or PayPal!

Or just go buy a cool t-shirt, cup, baby outfit, bag, or hoodie. (https://cleantechnica.com/shop/#!/)


410 PPM & Rising — CO2 Levels Reach Dangerous Levels 😨 😟

May 5th, 2018 by Steve Hanley

Carbon Dioxide & You — A Cautionary Tale

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https://cleantechnica.com/2018/05/05/410-ppm-rising-co2-levels-reach-dangerous-levels/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 10, 2018, 07:04:44 pm
GLOBAL CITIZEN

mAY 10, 2018

Scientists Discovered a Dead Zone the Size of Florida 😨 in the Gulf of Oman

But the damage doesn’t have to be permanent.

SNIPPET:

Scientists recently identified a dead zone as large as Florida in the Gulf of Oman. The 65,755 square mile area is now devoid of marine life due, in large part, to climate change and human pollution.

The increasing size of dead zones in the ocean is threatening the animal populations in our oceans and leading to the destruction of underwater life. But scientists say the damage doesn’t have to be permanent. One study has called for further investigation of the Gulf of Oman to understand how to manage the fisheries and ecosystems of the Western Indian Ocean to prevent dead zones from widening.

Full article:

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/scientists-discovered-a-dead-zone-the-size-of-flor/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 16, 2018, 05:07:54 pm
EcoWatch

By Lorraine Chow

May. 16, 2018 07:39AM EST

1,400 Tons of Contaminated Soil Hauled From Montana Reservation Oil Spill Site

SNIPPET:

Quote
The wellhead has crac ked along the length of the pipe. It's believed the crack formed in December when the well was shut in over the winter. EPA

Trucks have removed more than 1,400 tons of contaminated soil following a large oil spill on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, The Billings Gazette reported.

Cleanup is still ongoing. So far, more than 50 large dump trucks full of soil have been removed with more to come, the publication noted.

An estimated 600 barrels of oil and 90,000 barrels of brine (production water) leaked from an Anadarko Minerals Inc. wellhead that was shut in and last inspected in December. It is believed that the wellhead might have frozen and crac ked over the winter, leading to the spill.

Read more:

https://www.ecowatch.com/oil-spill-montana-reservation-2569319391.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 16, 2018, 05:26:13 pm
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Investors Worth $2.5 Trillion Don’t Want Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418201112.png&hash=679f4583d6861313c256e8762c40929af1ac667e)

By Yessenia Funes

May 15, 2018 Filed to: MONEY TALKS

SNIPPET:

Basically, the investors are saying this type of drilling doesn’t make sense anymore. It’s time to start thinking of more long-term ways to make money (like, uh, renewables). (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)  On top of that, the American public is not down with tearing up ANWR. Investors gotta protect their reps. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185047.png&hash=384024358ff8d5e7133d19b6e6638da4584a8154)

Most important of all, however, is the way this drilling sacrifices human rights in the name of profit. The letter acknowledges the Gwich’in’s cultural ties to these lands, and how any drilling that causes the Porcupine caribou herd to suffer would in term harm this indigenous group.

The Gwich’in, for their part, have been actively fighting potential drilling in ANWR since at least the 1980s, when the idea first started gaining steam. They put out their own letter Monday alongside the investors’.

read more:

https://earther.com/investors-worth-2-5-trillion-don-t-want-drilling-in-th-1826046725
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 16, 2018, 05:34:03 pm
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Judges Rule Against Controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline Because Wildlife Matters

By Yessenia Funes

May 16, 2018 2:00pm Filed to: AND SO DO HUMAN LIVES

SNIPPET:

Three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals issued a decision that canceled a key permit for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile long project that would travel from West Virginia to North Carolina. The panel found that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) didn’t set clear limits on how the Dominion Energy-owned pipeline would impact threatened or endangered species in the Biological Opinion required under the Endangered Species Act.

This opinion includes an Incidental Take Statement, which is the issue here. “Take” means “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect,” per the FWS. As plaintiffs argued—and the court agreed—the federal agency granted Dominion Energy this permit under “indeterminate” limits on the “take” of certain species, including a migratory shorebird called the piping plover, and sea turtles. The federal agency never clarified what percentage of threatened or endangered species are allowed to be killed during construction, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Plaintiffs, which include the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Virginia Wilderness Committee, filed this lawsuit (among others) against the Department of Interior and FWS back in January. The pipeline has met serious opposition from environmentalists throughout its proposed route—and not only for the ways it could harm wildlife.

Local advocates worry about air pollution from compression station sites concentrating near a black community in North Carolina. There’s also the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe, which feels it wasn’t properly consulted.

“This fracked gas project has been proven to be perilous to our health, our communities, and wildlife, and now, thanks to tonight’s ruling, must be stopped,” said Sierra Club Attorney Nathan Matthews, in a press release.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is set to be completed by the end of this year. This decision won’t halt all construction, so the project should stay on schedule for now. Earther contacted Dominion Energy for comment and will update upon a response.

read more:

https://earther.com/judges-rule-against-controversial-atlantic-coast-pipeli-1826078504

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 16, 2018, 05:50:13 pm
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Shipping’s Financiers Turning the Tide On Controversial Shipbreaking Practices

May 15, 2018 by Reuters

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Workers carry a rope line to fasten a decommissioned ship at the Alang shipyard in Gujarat, India, in this March 27, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Amit Dave/Files

By Jonathan Saul and Simon Jessop LONDON, May 15 (Reuters)

SNIPPET:

The shipping industry has long been criticized by campaigners for allowing vessels to be broken up on beaches, endangering workers and polluting the sea and sand.  >:(

Now, it is being called to account from a quarter that may have a bit more clout – its financial backers.

Norway’s $1 trillion Oil Fund, a leader in ethical investing, in February sold its stake in four firms because they scrap on the beach.

Three of the firms excluded by Norway’s fund – Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine, Precious Shipping and Thoresen Thai Agencies (TTA) of Thailand – say they have been unfairly singled out. The fourth, Korea Line, declined to comment.

Norwegian life insurer KLP soon followed, selling shares in the one of the four it owned and blacklisting the other three.

Further exclusions are likely, said KLP, the fund and its advisory Council on Ethics. The council’s chief adviser, Aslak Skancke, said the divestments had already effected wider change, including encouraging companies to seek cleaner scrapping.

The fund contacted several firms in its portfolio during its investigation, Skancke said, “and when we made them aware of the possibility of exclusion from the fund, they … decided to change their policy.” He declined to name the companies.

hree leading pensions funds – Caisse de Depot, CCP and OMERS – are reviewing their investments in shipping over ethical and green considerations, a finance source familiar with the matter said. OMERS declined to comment. Caisse de Depot and CCP did not respond to requests for comment.

The steps add to momentum on the issue from European Union regulators and courts, in particular pressure to measure up to standards for inclusion on the EU’s list of approved ship-breaking yards, which is due to be updated later this year.

It’s a revolution that has been a long time coming, environmental, labor and human rights activists say. But a transition won’t be easy, for owners or breakers.

More than 80 percent of aging commercial ships are broken up on the beaches of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

Industry leaders in South Asia say they cannot afford to upgrade their sites and remain competitive. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-191017140758.jpeg&hash=8c0a35a928dcda3c1a8714ab03f4924a1a775851)

Full article with important details:

http://gcaptain.com/shippings-financiers-turning-the-tide-on-controversial-shipbreaking-practices/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 25, 2018, 10:23:40 pm
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Sharp Exchanges   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202144.gif&hash=428452d9f67a5253ca122e59a06c9b3c9434e50e) Highlight BP Fears of Climate Legal Jeopardy

May 22, 2018 by Bloomberg

SNIPPET:
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The Deepwater Enterprise conducts operations to mitigate the effects of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill, May 23, 2010. U.S. Coast Guard Photo


By Kelly Gilblom (Bloomberg) — After paying more than $65 billion in legal costs for the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, BP Plc is wary of the risk of lawsuits related to climate change.

Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley raised the topic of class-action lawsuits twice during the company’s annual general meeting in Manchester, England on Monday, saying he wouldn’t disclose certain climate targets, or even answer some questions from activist investors, because the risk of legal action in the U.S. was too high.

“You want to get us to make statements here in front of you that you can document that will lead to a class action,” Dudley said in response to one question from the Union of Concerned Scientists about pending U.S. litigation against energy companies. Such legal actions are “a business model in the United States,” he said.

The sharp exchange between BP and two advocacy groups — Amnesty International  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf) and the Union of Concerned Scientists  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf) — shows the growing pressure on major oil companies to acknowledge their responsibility for emissions of greenhouse gases. It also reflects the burgeoning efforts to hold them legally responsible for the potentially disastrous consequences of rising global temperatures.

Lawsuit Fodder

“BP could be on the hook for millions, if not billions of dollars,” Kathy Mulvey, accountability campaign director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement. “Why wouldn’t shareholders want to know about the risk of legal liability, a risk that’s growing rapidly as climate costs multiply.”

In response to another questioner who suggested that selling oil and gas should be considered a violation of human rights(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838), Dudley warned shareholders this could be another attempt to mire BP in a class-action suit. An open letter from shareholders including Aviva Plc last week urging more transparency could also end up providing lawsuit fodder, he said.

BP 😈 absolutely believes in being transparent.(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-191017140758.jpeg&hash=8c0a35a928dcda3c1a8714ab03f4924a1a775851) Transparency is beneficial to all,” Dudley said. “But we don’t want climate disclosures to be a tool for class-action lawyers.”


Full article:

http://gcaptain.com/sharp-exchanges-highlight-bp-fears-of-climate-legal-jeopardy/ (http://gcaptain.com/sharp-exchanges-highlight-bp-fears-of-climate-legal-jeopardy/)

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 27, 2018, 07:33:49 pm
Families hit by climate change sue the EU

Date 25.05.2018

Author Anne-Sophie Brändlin

SNIPPET:

A group of families have filed a lawsuit against the European Union for failing to protect citizens against the impacts of climate change. It's the first climate lawsuit at EU level.

A total of ten families from five EU countries, Kenya and Fiji, as well as a Swedish youth organization, are taking the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to court. They say the EU is violating their fundamental rights of life, health, livelihood and property by failing to combat global warming.

The People's Climate Case, as the lawsuit has been dubbed, was filed with the European General Court on May 24. It argues that the EU's 2030 climate target of reducing domestic greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent compared to 1990 levels, is inadequate. Instead, they are demanding a reduction of at least 50 to 60 percent by 2030.

The plaintiffs argue that three EU emission regulation legal acts, issued as part of the 2030 climate target, still allow for high levels of greenhouse gases to be emitted. They are asking the EU to raise the target in defense of the fundamental rights of citizens — not just of those living in Europe, but also beyond its borders, who suffer from climate change as a result of EU emissions.

Unprecedented case

"This court case is incredibly important and unique because it's addressing the European Union as a whole and not individual states," Stefan Küper, press spokesperson for the NGO Germanwatch, which is supporting the People's Climate Case, told DW.

"This is vital, because it's the EU that's responsible for setting minimum thresholds for the climate policy of EU member states, not the member states themselves. They can be more ambitious than the set guidelines if they want, but they have to stick to the minimum threshold."

The EU is responsible for 10 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, which makes it the third largest emitter after China and the United States.

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"What also makes this court case so unique is that it's about fundamental rights. It's asking the EU to take its own values seriously and base its policies on the values the EU stands for," Küper said.

Full article with video:

http://www.dw.com/en/families-hit-by-climate-change-sue-the-eu/a-43933608
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 03, 2018, 06:39:10 pm
Across U.S., Toxic (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070814193155.png&hash=144ce9330e49ee84060db8753a8db69c39a14913) Blooms Pollute Lakes

By Bill Walker, Editor in Chief and Emily Wathen, Digital Journalist

TUESDAY, MAY 15, 2018

SNIPPET:

TOLEDO, Ohio – In the middle of a muggy summer night, Keith Jordan got an urgent text: Toledo’s tap water wasn’t safe to drink.

“I thought it was a joke," said Jordan, who works with at-risk youth in Toledo’s inner city. He went back to sleep. When he got up a few hours later, he took a shower and had a cup of coffee, then turned on the news.

“They were saying don't drink the water, don’t take a shower – the water is messed up,” Jordan said. “You couldn’t even touch the water. It was something you could not believe was happening here in Toledo.”

That was Aug. 2, 2014. For the next three days, half a million people in and around this industrial city at the western edge of Lake Erie scrambled to find safe water.

https://youtu.be/LqXKWT9cyOk

Many drove hours across state borders to stand in long lines at stores that hadn’t sold out of bottled water. Some stores were charging $40 for a case of water that usually costs less than $5. Jordan, unaffected by his shower and coffee, helped set up distribution centers for free water, and helped deliver it to seniors and mothers with babies. The National Guard sent tanker trucks full of drinking water to the city.

The panic was set off by a toxin called microcystin, the byproduct of an enormous bloom of blue-green algae that had invaded Lake Erie. The bloom – technically not algae, but photosynthetic single-celled organisms called cyanobacteria – blanketed vast expanses of the lake with what looked like thick, sickly green split-pea soup. It was triggered by chemical pollution from farm fertilizers and industrial sources into the lake, which supplies the region’s tap water.


(https://static.ewg.org/reports/2018/algalblooms/img/EWG_AlgalBloomGraphics_Stat-1_C03.jpg)

Toledo was the first large U.S. city where toxic blooms made tap water unsafe for human consumption. But it may not be the last.

No government agency collects nationwide data on toxic blooms. But EWG’s research found news reports of almost 300 blooms in lakes, rivers and bays in 48 states and the Gulf of Mexico since 2010. Based on those reports, the problem appears to have worsened over the past few years.

In 2010, there were just three reports of toxic blooms in the U.S. In 2015, there were 15, including the largest to date in Lake Erie, although the bacteria did not get into Toledo’s drinking water. In 2016, there were 51, including a huge bloom in Florida that prompted the state to declare an emergency in four counties on the Atlantic Coast. Last year, 169 blooms were reported. And in March, Ohio Gov. John Kasich declared the open waters of western Lake Erie “impaired for recreation” – an unprecedented designation that under the federal Clean Water Act will require the development and enforcement of plans to reduce toxic blooms.


(https://static.ewg.org/reports/2018/algalblooms/img/EWG_AlgalBloomGraphics_Stat-2_C02.jpg)

EWG’s interactive nationwide map shows locations of reported toxic blooms in green. Orange locations have links to vivid satellite photos of blighted lakes from California to Florida.

Full EWG article with interactive map of affected areas:

https://www.ewg.org/toxicalgalblooms/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 04, 2018, 10:26:25 pm
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Video Shows Insane Tanker Fire 🔥 That Led to Two Houston Pilots Being Awarded the IMO Bravery at Sea Award

June 4, 2018 by Mike Schuler

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The MT Aframax River after the allision with the dolphi. Tractor tugboat David B is in the foreground rendering assistance. Image courtesy of ITC City Dock security video / NTSB

On the morning of September 6, 2016, Houston harbor pilots Michael McGee and Michael Phillips found themselves surrounded by towering walls of flames after the tanker they were piloting, the MT Aframax River, lost propulsion and struck two mooring dolphins on the Houston Ship Channel.

The allision punctured the tankers hull plating, causing the release of about 88,000 gallons of low-sulfur marine gas oil which suddenly ignited in a massive fire ball.

Despite the danger, the pilots remained on the bridge and managed to maneuver the vessel away from facilities and other ships in the area while coordinating with first responders. Amazingly, they sustained only minor burns, the only injuries resulting from the fire.

For their efforts, Captain McGee and Phillips were awarded the International Maritime Organization’s Bravery at Sea Award, the IMO’s highest honor for bravery at sea, in recognition of their role in preventing a major disaster on one the nation’s busiest commercial waterways.

While details of the accident have since been chronicled in a NTSB Marine Accident Brief and as well as other recounts of the event, a new video posted online last week gives us the best look yet at what exactly what the pilots, crew members, and responding tugboats were faced with that night.

The video was recorded by a security at the Intercontinental Terminals Company facitility where the tanker was mooring Check it out:

https://youtu.be/x4bvRC1OcHk

More on the incident as described by the International Maritime Organization:

Captain McGee and Captain Phillips were surrounded by a towering wall of burning fuel as the raging fire quickly spread across the channel, threatening other tank ships and nearby waterfront facilities.

Both pilots remained at their stations on the bridge of the ship during the fire. Captain McGee managed to manoeuvre the stricken and blazing vessel away from surrounding ships and facilities.

Captain Phillips coordinated communications and firefighting efforts with the United States Coast Guard and numerous local fireboats. Captain Phillips rushed to grab a fire extinguisher and put out a fire raging on the port bridge wing.

The inferno was finally extinguished after 90 minutes, leaving both pilots exhausted and suffering minor burns. Captain McGee, using tugs, was then able to bring the damaged tanker safely to a mooring facility.

Read the NTSB Marine Accident Brief: Allision of Tanker Aframax River with Mooring Dolphins

Update: After scouring Youtube for an earlier version of the video above, I came across the following interview with Captain McGee and Captain Phillips in which they describe what happened. It also includes snippets of the same footage:

https://youtu.be/h7LRJFY9TZY

http://gcaptain.com/video-shows-insane-tanker-fire-that-led-to-in-two-houston-pilots-being-awarded-the-imo-bravery-at-sea-award/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 06, 2018, 08:30:05 pm
June 6, 2018

Government Not Paying Attention to Oil & Gas Cleanup

The government is failing to adequately track the cost of cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells on federal and American Indian lands, according to a new government watchdog report. The analysis from the Government Accountability Office shows that the average cost of cleaning up an abandoned well, based on data collected from over a dozen Bureau of Land Management field offices, was $267,600--a far higher figure than the $171,500 BLM reported in 2010 when it last examined the issue.

"Despite what Republicans keep telling us, the fossil fuel industry🐉🦕🦖 isn't being regulated into the ground," Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), one of the lawmakers who requested the review, said in a statement. "Too often, it's freeloading off the American people, and this report tells us we don't even know how much it's costing us."

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/390739-watchdog-government-isnt-sufficiently-tracking-costs-from-orphaned

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 08, 2018, 10:07:03 pm
EcoWatch

By Lorraine Chow

Jun. 07, 2018 01:52PM EST

TransCanada Pipeline Explodes 💥 in West Virginia

SNIPPET:

A newly installed TransCanada natural gas pipeline exploded early Thursday in the remote Nixon Ridge area of Marshall County in West Virginia.

No injuries were reported but flames and smoke from the blast could be seen as far as 20 miles away, residents told local media. Area police told CBS News the fire was "very large—if you can see it from your house, evacuate."

"It sounded like a freight train coming through, or a tornado, and the sky lit up bright orange, and then I got up and looked out the window and flames were shooting I don't know how far into the sky," Tina Heath-Chaplin, of Moundsville, told WPXI.

TransCanada—the same company behind the Keystone pipeline—said the explosion has been contained and an investigation is underway.

"As soon as the issue was identified, emergency response procedures were enacted and the segment of impacted pipeline was isolated. The fire was fully extinguished by approximately 8:30 a.m," the company commented Thursday.

"The cause of this issue is not yet known," TransCanada continued. "The site of the incident has been secured and we are beginning the process of working with applicable regulators to investigate, including the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration."

Full article:

https://www.ecowatch.com/transcanada-pipeline-explodes-west-virginia-2576042392.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 09, 2018, 01:47:45 pm
EcoWatch

Health  Olivia Rosane

Jun. 08, 2018 06:20AM EST

EPA 😈 to Ignore 68 Million Pounds of Chemical Emissions in Limited Risk Assessment

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will limit the criteria it uses to determine the health risks of 10 dangerous chemicals including asbestos, The New York Times reported Thursday.

A 2016 amendment to the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 required the EPA to evaluate hundreds of hazardous chemicals to decide if they should face more restrictions or be banned entirely. But documents released by the EPA last week suggest the EPA is kowtowing to the chemical lobby in the narrow criteria it is using the asses the safety of the first 10 chemicals, restricting its analysis to the risks posed by direct exposure to a chemical, and not the risks associated with exposure to contaminated air, soil and water.

In the case of asbestos, which kills almost 15,000 U.S. citizens annually, the EPA will only consider risks from new uses of asbestos and not risks from asbestos already present in tiles, adhesives and pipes, Newsweek reported Thursday.

President Donald Trump has dismissed health concerns about asbestos, calling it "100 percent safe, once applied," Newsweek pointed out. In 1997's The Art of the Comeback, he blamed the asbestos scare on the mob. "I believe that the movement against asbestos was led by the mob, because it was often mob-related companies that would do the asbestos removal. Great pressure was put on politicians, and as usual, the politicians relented," he wrote, according to Newsweek.

Quote
EPA spokesperson Jahan Wilcox told The New York Times that the agency felt chemical contamination of the broader environment was already regulated by the Clean Air and Water Acts.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-251117175700.png&hash=00439d30db6e35817ea0d1fbcba614f1f971448e)

But Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, who helped pass the 2016 amendment, countered that the limited risk analysis was not in keeping with the spirit of the law.

"Congress worked hard in bipartisan fashion to reform our nation's broken chemical safety laws, but [Administrator Scott] Pruitt's E.P.A. is failing to put the new law to use as intended," Udall said in a statement.

The Environmental Defense Fund calculated that the EPA's limited analysis would ignore 68 million pounds of emissions yearly.

For example, one of the 10 chemicals is perchloroethylene, a likely carcinogen used as a dry-cleaning solvent and metal degreaser. The analysis will consider harm posed by exposure while cleaning clothes or carpets, but not harm posed by its presence in drinking water in 44 states.

read more:

https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-limited-risk-assessment-2576231762.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 14, 2018, 05:55:58 pm
(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/all/themes/clew/logo.png)

June 14, 2018

VW fined one billion euros by German prosecutors in diesel emissions scandal

Car giant Volkswagen has been fined one billion euros by German prosecutors over diesel emissions cheating, reports the BBC. The carmaker said it did not plan to appeal the fine, which is one of the highest ever imposed by German authorities on a company, according to the report. But BBC business correspondent Theo Leggett writes in a short analysis that “the fine pales into insignificance compared with the fines and compensation the group has had to pay out in the US - which add up to well over 20 billion euros. If this puts an end to criminal proceedings in Europe, VW may well think it's a relatively small price to pay.”

Find the VW press release in English here (https://www.volkswagen-media-services.com/en/detailpage/-/detail/Administrative-order-imposing-a-fine-being-issued-by-the-Braunschweig-public-prosecutor-against-Volkswagen-in-the-context-of-the-diesel-crisis/view/7172867/7a5bbec13158edd433c6630f5ac445da?p_auth=mhomVUQn).
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 17, 2018, 08:04:49 pm
(https://www.workforgood.org/getasset/94faf2cd-34c2-4855-9221-ead0608380d5/)


Montana Court Agrees Yellowstone Gateway More Valuable Than Gold

Thanks to Earthjustice litigation, a district court judge has ruled that state regulators illegally ignored impacts to water quality and wildlife when approving the exploratory drilling project.

By Jessica A. Knoblauch | May 30, 2018

Jessica is a former award-winning journalist. She enjoys wild places and dispensing justice, so she considers her job here to be a pretty amazing fit. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185701.png&hash=615e3c1aa9c374cb1eab5bfc1e9494f2cb05e9f7)

(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/Yellowstone%20RE_01.jpg)
An access road for drilling rigs and heavy equipment would run through this landscape if two proposed mines are constructed near Yellowstone’s northern entrance. PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAM CAMPBELL

Sleeping bag, check. Bug spray, check. Backpack, check.

As people across the country eagerly prepare for their summer vacations, residents and businesses of Park County, Montana, are gearing up to greet them. As the northern gateway to Yellowstone National Park, the aptly named Paradise Valley is itself a destination.

Enjoyed by locals throughout the year, tourists flock to this area to enjoy the full array of the Yellowstone region’s iconic wildlife and magnificent landscapes and to catch a native cutthroat trout in the Yellowstone River’s blue-ribbon fishery. With a lot riding on the tourist season, one thing Park County locals shouldn’t have to worry about is a massive new gold mine driving away tourists. The likelihood of that happening is much less now that a district court has ordered Montana’s regulators to reconsider allowing intensive mineral exploration in the area.

Double Your Impact — Fund Critical Courtroom Fights!

Proposed in 2015 by Canada-based Lucky Minerals, mineral exploration is just the first step in the company’s plans to develop a large-scale gold mine in Paradise Valley that would cause irreversible environmental harm to the park and fray the economic fabric of the region. Travelers gazing at the majestic Emigrant Peak jutting up from the Absaroka Mountains—a refuge for bighorn sheep, elk, grizzly bears, wolverines, and other creatures—would be confronted with the destruction of an industrial mining operation.

But a blemished view of the cinematic Yellowstone landscape is just one of the problems anticipated with this proposal. At full scale, the Emigrant mine would threaten to send acid runoff flowing into tributaries of the Yellowstone River, while nearly 100,000 tons of waste rock containing elevated levels of arsenic would be dumped near tributary headwaters. Even mineral exploration alone threatens to pollute these waters with heavy metals and acid runoff.

(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/Emigrant%20Mine_001.JPG)
Emigrant Gulch aerial view looking east from Emigrant Peak. Lucky Minerials has mine claims on both sides of the gulch on both private and public land. PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAM CAMPBELL

Mining and mineral exploration would also carve up precious habitat for endangered grizzly bears, which are already in peril after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife delisted the species in June 2017. (Earthjustice is challenging the agency’s decision.) Wolverines, lynx, elk and other species would also be harmed, as would the local community, which relies on large swaths of connected wildland to support sustainable recreation and a healthy tourist economy. Barreling ahead with gold mining and exploration for short-term financial gain could come at the expense of the primary driver of economic growth in the Yellowstone area: an intact landscape that attracts millions of visitors from around the globe and supports a diverse business community and highly skilled workforce.

Earthjustice, together with local and regional groups, challenged the gold exploration proposal in September 2017 under the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), arguing that state regulators 😈 downplayed and dismissed some very serious environmental risks posed by the project. Those include potentially long-term harm to the iconic wildlife of the Yellowstone region, particularly grizzly bears and wolverines, and threats to clean water 💧 in Yellowstone River tributaries. We also argued that the state didn’t seriously consider the potential that this exploration could lead to much larger-scale development. The court agreed with us on all of our claims.

Subscribe to Earthjustice emails, to learn more ways we’re working to defend public lands.

Quote
“The court’s ruling recognized that exploratory drilling is the leading edge of a much larger threat to these sensitive lands in Yellowstone’s gateway,” says Earthjustice attorney Jenny Harbine, who represented the groups. “We will continue our fight to stop Lucky’s plans to profit by placing our water, wildlife, and magnificent natural landscapes at risk.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

Though this latest decision is a substantial victory, the fight is far from over. Lucky Minerals could insist on proceeding with gold exploration this summer while regulators conduct a new environmental analysis. If that happens, Earthjustice will go back to court to defend the park and all of its beauty from this short-sighted proposal.

An earlier version of this blog post was published in November 2016.

https://earthjustice.org/blog/2018-may/montana-court-agrees-yellowstone-gateway-more-valuable-than-gold
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 18, 2018, 02:08:51 pm
(https://www.workforgood.org/getasset/94faf2cd-34c2-4855-9221-ead0608380d5/)


Montana Court Agrees Yellowstone Gateway More Valuable Than Gold

Thanks to Earthjustice litigation, a district court judge has ruled that state regulators illegally ignored impacts to water quality and wildlife when approving the exploratory drilling project.

By Jessica A. Knoblauch | May 30, 2018

Jessica is a former award-winning journalist. She enjoys wild places and dispensing justice, so she considers her job here to be a pretty amazing fit. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-141113185701.png&hash=615e3c1aa9c374cb1eab5bfc1e9494f2cb05e9f7)

(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/styles/image_800x600/public/Yellowstone%20RE_01.jpg)
An access road for drilling rigs and heavy equipment would run through this landscape if two proposed mines are constructed near Yellowstone’s northern entrance. PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAM CAMPBELL

Sleeping bag, check. Bug spray, check. Backpack, check.

As people across the country eagerly prepare for their summer vacations, residents and businesses of Park County, Montana, are gearing up to greet them. As the northern gateway to Yellowstone National Park, the aptly named Paradise Valley is itself a destination.

Enjoyed by locals throughout the year, tourists flock to this area to enjoy the full array of the Yellowstone region’s iconic wildlife and magnificent landscapes and to catch a native cutthroat trout in the Yellowstone River’s blue-ribbon fishery. With a lot riding on the tourist season, one thing Park County locals shouldn’t have to worry about is a massive new gold mine driving away tourists. The likelihood of that happening is much less now that a district court has ordered Montana’s regulators to reconsider allowing intensive mineral exploration in the area.

Double Your Impact — Fund Critical Courtroom Fights!

Proposed in 2015 by Canada-based Lucky Minerals, mineral exploration is just the first step in the company’s plans to develop a large-scale gold mine in Paradise Valley that would cause irreversible environmental harm to the park and fray the economic fabric of the region. Travelers gazing at the majestic Emigrant Peak jutting up from the Absaroka Mountains—a refuge for bighorn sheep, elk, grizzly bears, wolverines, and other creatures—would be confronted with the destruction of an industrial mining operation.

But a blemished view of the cinematic Yellowstone landscape is just one of the problems anticipated with this proposal. At full scale, the Emigrant mine would threaten to send acid runoff flowing into tributaries of the Yellowstone River, while nearly 100,000 tons of waste rock containing elevated levels of arsenic would be dumped near tributary headwaters. Even mineral exploration alone threatens to pollute these waters with heavy metals and acid runoff.

(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/Emigrant%20Mine_001.JPG)
Emigrant Gulch aerial view looking east from Emigrant Peak. Lucky Minerials has mine claims on both sides of the gulch on both private and public land. PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAM CAMPBELL

Mining and mineral exploration would also carve up precious habitat for endangered grizzly bears, which are already in peril after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife delisted the species in June 2017. (Earthjustice is challenging the agency’s decision.) Wolverines, lynx, elk and other species would also be harmed, as would the local community, which relies on large swaths of connected wildland to support sustainable recreation and a healthy tourist economy. Barreling ahead with gold mining and exploration for short-term financial gain could come at the expense of the primary driver of economic growth in the Yellowstone area: an intact landscape that attracts millions of visitors from around the globe and supports a diverse business community and highly skilled workforce.

Earthjustice, together with local and regional groups, challenged the gold exploration proposal in September 2017 under the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), arguing that state regulators 😈 downplayed and dismissed some very serious environmental risks posed by the project. Those include potentially long-term harm to the iconic wildlife of the Yellowstone region, particularly grizzly bears and wolverines, and threats to clean water 💧 in Yellowstone River tributaries. We also argued that the state didn’t seriously consider the potential that this exploration could lead to much larger-scale development. The court agreed with us on all of our claims.

Subscribe to Earthjustice emails, to learn more ways we’re working to defend public lands.

Quote
“The court’s ruling recognized that exploratory drilling is the leading edge of a much larger threat to these sensitive lands in Yellowstone’s gateway,” says Earthjustice attorney Jenny Harbine, who represented the groups. “We will continue our fight to stop Lucky’s plans to profit by placing our water, wildlife, and magnificent natural landscapes at risk.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

Though this latest decision is a substantial victory, the fight is far from over. Lucky Minerals could insist on proceeding with gold exploration this summer while regulators conduct a new environmental analysis. If that happens, Earthjustice will go back to court to defend the park and all of its beauty from this short-sighted proposal.

An earlier version of this blog post was published in November 2016.

https://earthjustice.org/blog/2018-may/montana-court-agrees-yellowstone-gateway-more-valuable-than-gold (https://earthjustice.org/blog/2018-may/montana-court-agrees-yellowstone-gateway-more-valuable-than-gold)

Driving south into Yellowstone along the river is one of the more picturesque routes I've ever hd the pleasure of experiencing. And....it's on the Hot Spring Tour. I'm only sorry the pine beetles got there before I got to see it. The Yellowstone River flows due north. If you're from Texas, something doesn't seem right about that.

(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQwjkQBk7wtQWJdEKoMadd62bmz6foy0ADskekB1e-pt3JgPYLXJw)

I've only seen Yellowstone in pictures. I am saddened by what is happening there now. The best times are behind us. :(

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 22, 2018, 06:22:27 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200317134631.png&hash=3ec83ab2cb9a9acaf485fff7312df6381c25c2fd)

How long before the world runs out of fossil fuels? ???

LAST UPDATED ON JUNE 8TH, 2018 AT 3:57 PM BY TIBI PUIU 

Fossil fuels are the main source of energy in the world, powering much of modern civilization as we know it, from transportation to industrial applications. But this paradigm can’t last forever.

Millions of years to make, only hundreds of years to spend

Fossil fuels have formed over an extensive period of time from the remains of plants and animal that lived hundreds of millions of years ago. Humans have been using them in ample amounts since the 19th century and with our current rate of consumption, fossil fuel resources are depleting much faster than their formation. Naturally, the question arises: how long before we run out?

In the 1950s, geologist M. King Hubbert predicted that the world will experience an economically damaging scarcity of fossil fuels. This idea has remained in the collective consciousness as the Peak Oil theory, according to which the production of oil, as a finite resource, will peak at some point and ultimately decline and deplete. According to some researchers, Hubbert included, Peak Oil is already behind us, and we are now living in a decline.

So, how long before we run out of fossil fuels? In order to project how much time we have left before the world runs out of oil, gas, and coal, one method is measuring the R/P ratios — that is the ratio of reserves to current rates of production. At the current rates of production, oil will run out in 53 years, natural gas in 54, and coal in 110. This is bearing in mind a 2015 World Energy Outlook study by the International Energy Agency, which predicted fossil fuels will constitute 59% of the total primary energy demand in 2040, even despite aggressive climate action policies.

Other researchers, organizations, and governments have different deadlines for fossil fuel exhaustion, depending on the data and assumptions that they make, as well as political affiliation and interests. The American Petroleum Institute estimated in 1999 the world’s oil supply would be depleted between 2062 and 2094, assuming total world oil reserves at between 1.4 and 2 trillion barrels. In 2006, however, the Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) predicted that 3.74 trillion barrels of oil remained in the Earth — three times the number estimated by peak oil proponents. 👀


Is Peak Oil behind us? Not clear

While we know for sure that the exploitation of fossil fuels is limited, estimates can vary wildly because new deposits are sometimes found and new technology enables access to previously untapped oil or gas fields or allows more efficient extraction. So, the challenge in estimating a timescale for fossil fuel depletion lies in the fact that new resources are added fairly regularly. Therefore, we have to keep in mind that all of these estimates are based on R/P ratios and thereby only consider proven reserves, not probable or possible reserves of resources. For instance, in 1980, the R/P ratio suggested only 32 years of oil production from existing reserves. 

A 1977 report issued by the Energy Information Administration concluded that the United States could only access 32 billion barrels of oil reserves and 207 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. But from then to 2010, the country extracted 84 billion barrels of oil (2.6 times more than the initial estimate) and 610 trillion cubic feet of gas (2.9 times the initial reserve estimate). What’s more, reserves are growing. Today, the U.S. has increased the size of its reserves by a third since 2011 thanks to horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking which enable access to oil and gas trapped in underground rock formation. Previously, it wasn’t economically feasible to extract these resources.

As technology continues to improve, both governments and oil & gas companies will be able to access new reserves — some that can’t currently be exploited and others that are still unidentified.

Japan, for instance, is planning to one day extract methane from undersea hydrate deposits — these types of deposits may contain more than twice the amount of carbon as Earth’s fossil fuels. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-300714025456.bmp&hash=f4e4a260bd60d3f34ca86fed93c47d5fb4117cfd) 


Elsewhere, climate change is opening corridors in the Arctic — ironically facilitated by the burning of fossil fuels — that enable extraction of oil that was previously logistically impossible to undertake. It was Russian company Gazprom that brought home the first barrels of oil from the Arctic in 2014, and more have followed since.

Again Russia, this time in partnership with France’s Total and China’s CNPC, wants to start drilling the Arctic in 2019 for natural gas. The $27 billion plant is expected to extract 16.5 million tonnes of natural gas per year.


Keep the oil in the soil

Some might fear that we’ll run out of oil and coal before we get the chance to replace them with renewable energy, thereby triggering a planetary-wide collapse of human civilization.

But that’s an unlikely scenario. First of all, if we burn even 50% of the world’s reserves, we’re screwed ☠️. Forget about the prospect of not being able to turn the lights for a second, and think greater perils: runaway climate change.

Despite having used only a small fraction of fossil fuels, the planet’s atmosphere is already around one degree Celsius warmer on average than it was prior to the Industrial Revolution. A 2016 study published in Nature Climate Change assessed what would happen if we burned all the fossil fuels known to exist on Earth. Assuming a scenario where there are no efforts to curb global warming, by 2300 CO2 would stabilize at roughly 2,000 parts per million (ppm), five times higher than today’s level (~408ppm) — resulting in a total of 5tn tons of carbon dioxide finding its way into the atmosphere.

In this nightmare scenario, global average temperatures would be pushed by 8 degrees Celsius past Industrial levels, with the Arctic bearing the grunt of warming, experiencing temperatures rising by as much as 17 degrees Celsius.

As such, the limiting factor on humans’ fossil fuel use is not the depletion of recoverable fossil fuels, but the crossing of a dangerous threshold past which the planet is no longer able to withstand the byproducts of burning fossil fuels.

Knowing oil and gas won’t ever run out in your lifetime shouldn’t be an excuse to keep using them. Rather, knowing this, we should all take action to ensure that our children and grandchildren actually have a future.   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcliparts.co%2Fcliparts%2FBig%2FEgq%2FBigEgqBMT.png&hash=e7eec62f009cdd686ce795fad0a53c6befe748e9)

https://www.zmescience.com/other/feature-post/how-long-fossil-fuels-last-43432/

Agelbert NOTE: The part not mentioned in this well referenced article is that our species has NEVER lived in a world where an average 3º Celsius past Industrial levels exists, never mind 8º Celsius past Industrial levels. Anyone who thinks we can delay transitioning to 100% Renewable Energy until the end of this century is dreaming. With PRESENT CO2 levels, 4º Celsius past Industrial levels is guaranteed BEFORE 2100. That means massive sea level rise and severe ocean acification, along with all the other biosphere degrading Catastrophic Climate Change effects. Add to that the FACT that Fossil Fuel Inndustry methane leaks have been seriously underestimated, (https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21062018/methane-leaks-oil-gas-climate-change-risks-natural-gas-slcp-global-warming-pollution-science-edf-study) and you have to move up every negative effect (i.e. positive feedbacks that accelerate heating) closer to us in time, making the situation even more urgent than it already is.   

The problem is GHG caused Catastrophic Climate Change, not lack of hydrocarbons to burn.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fgualerzi.blogautore.repubblica.it%2Ffiles%2F2015%2F07%2Fcarbon_bubble_graphic-532x350.png&hash=b05d5320788d08ec1612b2e7111a990eecfec8a2)

Unburnable fossil fuels to stay below 2º C limit
(https://media.mnn.com/assets/images/2015/05/unburnable-fossil-fuels.jpg.696x0_q80_crop-smart.jpg)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-240318144053.png&hash=103269aba4a7ae936ff86a180a7a15090190a1a0)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 22, 2018, 07:38:36 pm
(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/all/themes/clew/logo.png)

June 22, 2018

#Cars #Cities #Transport

Environmental Action Germany

Diesel plaintiff DUH wants driving bans in Germany’s most populous state

Environmental Action Germany (DUH) is pushing for driving bans in polluted cities of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany’s most populous state, for all diesel cars that do not meet the Euro 6 emissions standard, the environmental NGO says in a press release. “State premier Armin Laschet continues to ignore the Federal Administrative Court’s ruling that air quality standards for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) have to be respected,” DUH says.

The NGO, which set the ball rolling on diesel driving bans in Germany, therefore made an application for compulsory execution of the ruling, i.e. the introduction of driving bans in heavily polluted cities like the state’s capital of Düsseldorf by 2019.

The DUH says that, contrary to Germany’s first diesel bans, which took effect in early June in Hamburg, all roads affected by heavy air pollution should be subject to a driving ban, and that these zones should be extended if diesel drivers simply choose alternate routes.

Otherwise, diesel cars should be banned from entire inner cities. “This is the best way forward,” the DUH says. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817121649.png&hash=4554f7e59701d12857946aece16bceb973c997b3)

https://www.duh.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/pressemitteilung/diesel-fahrverbote-ab-2019-in-duesseldorf-deutsche-umwelthilfe-leitet-zwangsvollstreckungsverfahren/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 22, 2018, 10:47:55 pm
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Paris MoU Releases 2017 “White, Grey and Black” List: United States Falls to Grey as Korea, Poland Move to White

June 19, 2018 by gCaptain

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F04%2Fshutterstock_396579595.jpg&hash=52fdca8869f0088e0c86fece25ffb26a9648b7b7)
bulk ship in egypt By Igor Grochev / Shutterstock

The Paris MoU has approved its 2017 port state control inspection results for 2017 and adopted its new “White, Grey, and Black” performance lists for flag states and Recognized Organizations (ROs).

The Paris MoU’s annual “White, Grey and Black (WGB) List” ranks flag states from best to worst, from flags with a high performance (White) to flags with poor performance that are considered high or very high risk (Black). The List is based on the total number of inspections and detentions over a 3-year rolling period for flags with at least 30 inspections in the period.

The new “White, Grey and Black List” for 2017 is to take effect from 1 July 2018, at which point it is used to calculate an individual Ship Risk Profile. Typically, flags on the “Grey List” and “Black List” are subject to more stringent banning measures.

The Paris MoU consists of 27 participating maritime Administrations and covers the waters of the European coastal States and the North Atlantic basin from North America to Europe. Its mission is to eliminate the operation of sub-standard ships through a “harmonized system” of port State control.

Each year, more than Annually more than 18,000 individual inspections take place on board foreign ships in the Paris MoU ports, ensuring that these ships meet international safety, security and environmental standards, and that crew members have adequate living and working conditions.

In its newly adopted 2017 “White, Grey and Black List”, the Paris MoU included a total of 73 flags – the same number as last year.

This year’s list had a total of 40 on the “White List”, 20 on the “Grey List” and 13 on the “Black List”. This compares with 42 on the “White List”, 19 on the “Grey List”, and 12 on the “Black List” last year.

New to the “White List” this year, i.e. flags with a consistently-high performance record, are the Republic of Korea and Poland. The top performer this year is France, followed by the Cayman Islands, Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom, respectively.

Korea’s move to “White List” comes after one year on the “Grey List”.

Flags with an average performance are shown on the “Grey List”. On this year’s “Grey List” a total number of 20 flags are recorded, an increase of one compared to last year’s list.

New to the “Grey List” this year is the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and the United States, which were all on the “White List” last year.

The United States moved back to the “Grey List”, ranking as the 43rd best performer behind Algeria and Kazakhstan on the “Grey List”.

From being a non-listed flag last year, Tuvalu is now on the “Grey List”.

The only change to the “Black List” this year is the addition of the Ukraine. The Republic of Congo came in last as the worst performer.

For several years, the Committee has also closely monitored the performance of ROs acting on behalf of flags.

To calculate the performance of the ROs, the same formula to calculate the excess factor of the flags is used. A minimum number of 60 inspections per RO are needed before the performance is taken into account for the list. In the RO performance table to be used for the calculation of the Ship Risk Profile from 1 July 2018, 34 ROs are listed.

In 2017, there was a only a small shift in RO performance compared to last year.

This year, three ROs are in the very low performing position against none last year. Three ROs are in the low performing positions compared to four last year and 17 ROs are in the medium position of the list compared to 19 last year.

Details of the responsibility of the ROs for detainable deficiencies have been published since 1999. When one or more detainable deficiencies are attributed to an RO in accordance with the Paris MoU criteria, this is recorded as “RO responsible” and the RO is informed. Out of 685 detentions recorded in 2017, 99 or 14.5% were considered RO related compared to 13.9% in 2016.

Port State Control regimes carry out inspections on ships to monitor and enforce compliance with international regulations. Since the first regional PSC agreement was signed in 1982 (the Paris MoU), the IMO has since supported the establishment of a global network of eight additional regional PSC regimes.

The nine regimes now cover Europe and the North Atlantic (Paris MoU); Asia and the Pacific (Tokyo MoU); Latin America (Acuerdo de Viña del Mar); Caribbean (Caribbean MoU); West and Central Africa (Abuja MoU); Black Sea (Black Sea MoU); Mediterranean Sea (Mediterranean MoU); Indian Ocean (Indian Ocean MoU); and Persian Gulf (Riyadh MoU). The United States Coast Guard maintains the tenth PSC regime.

During an IMO workshop in October 2017, the world’s Port State Control regimes agreed to consider moving away from black/grey/white lists and towards expanding an individual ship risk profile approach.

You can view the Paris MoU’s complete 2017 “White, Grey and Black” list here (opens as pdf) (https://www.parismou.org/system/files/2017-%20Performance%20Lists%20ParisMoU.pdf)

http://gcaptain.com/paris-mous-2017-white-grey-and-black-list-united-states-falls-to-grey-as-korea-poland-move-to-white/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 25, 2018, 11:20:06 pm
Truthout

June 25, 2018

Area of Global Dead Zones Doubling Every 10 Years

Dahr Jamail, Truthout: Oceanic dead zones -- areas of low oxygen that are caused by warming waters, human pollution and runoff from fertilizers used in industrial agriculture -- number more than 400, and are growing rapidly. These dead zones not only impact marine life but also fishing industries.

SNIPPET:

Impacts on Marine Life

Scavia described how organisms unable to swim away from the dead zones — like worms and other animals that many fish feed on — will die.

“Fish that can swim will avoid the dead zone, but that often forces them into habitats that are less suitable for them, resulting in slower growth,” Scavia said. “Sometimes the fish (especially shrimp) are forced into more confined areas, making them more vulnerable to predators, including human fishing nets.”

Rabalais added that the ocean’s ability to recover from dead zones can take time. “Improvement of oxygen conditions following excess nutrient flux may take years to decades,” she said.

Rota pointed out how the commercial fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico is impacted negatively by the dead zone. “This has impacts on some of the key prey species in the gulf, such as shrimp, crabs and Atlantic croaker,” he said, while adding that the only dead zone larger than that in the Gulf of Mexico is one in the Baltic Sea.

Scavia said we should be concerned that thousands of square miles of water on Earth have low oxygen levels. “These regions are basically ‘taken out of production,’ and if this amount of land was taken out of production, there would be significant concern,” he explained. “These dead zones also put some of our most important fisheries at risk.

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

https://truthout.org/articles/area-of-global-dead-zones-doubling-every-10-years/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 27, 2018, 02:59:17 pm
Agelbert NOTE: These hunter gatherer tribes who, unlike most of us, live in harmony with God's Creation, are being victimized by "civilized" human criminals because of greed. Some tribes are acting as Guardians for the uncontacted tribes.

Survival International is celebrating the good work of these Guardians. I applaud this work. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)

Unfortunately, this is an ultimately quixotic endeavour.  WHY? Because, Catastrophic Climate Change will kill humans in the tropics before it begins to kill them in large numbers in most other places. These hunter gatherer tribes, the most innocent of all human groups responsible for this profit over planet predatory stupidity by the hydrocarbon producing conscience free crooks, are doomed by that hydrocarbon ERoEI COST, left out of most calculations, Catastrophic Climate Change.

At present, that is not the case. At present, millions of humans annually die from breathing the particulates, and from other toxic effects visited on the land and sea, produced by the burning of hydrocarbons ☠️. One of the leading causes of death among humans in poverty stricken areas, where they cannot boil water due to the lack of hydrocarbons, dysentery, is a drop in the death toll bucket ☠️ in comparison.

This is one of the reasons I get so exercised about people so concerned with a collapse from a LACK of hydrocarbons, when many millions MORE are NOW perishing each year from the burning of them.

This inexcusable profit over people and planet death dealing PRESENT irrefutable reality, as sad as it is, does not even address Greenhouse Gas(es) caused Catastrophic Climate Change, which is 100% unavoidable at this point (I will post on the inevitability and centuries long duration of the multi-species harm by GHG caused Anthropogenic Global Over-Heating at another time).   

I have common ground with Professor Palloy in the respect and admiration I hold for these hunter gatherer tribes. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf) However, for the reasons I just stated above, I do not share his belief that they will survive when most other humans begin to perish from profit over planet stupidity.

There will be no collapse for at least 50 years, if ever, from lack of hydrocarbons to burn. The hydrocarbons will, of course, being a finite resource of energy, eventually run out, but the corollary that the lack of hydrocarbons to burn will trigger a collapse of civilization is not, at least for a half century or so, a valid assertion.

Quote
Definition of corollary

1 : a proposition inferred immediately from a proved proposition with little or no additional proof

2 : something that naturally follows

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corollary (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corollary)

There will continue to be a larger and larger death toll from the PRESENT AVAILABILITY of hydrocarbons that are burned annually. I share with Professor Palloy the duty of all humans to be as frugal as possible and to do all we can to reduce our carbon footprint, not just to zero, but negative. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

Our main point of contention (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418201903.png&hash=f7b1f3e1f363fe16e0e17f9c2d82b60fa83b8731)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418201722.png&hash=5299cc10ee42beae76e4d3b7c79dbf5f4c0addac)  ;D is that he believes the greatest threat to human civilization is Peak Hydrocarbons, while claiming that GHG pollution mitigation is of secondary importance. I believe he has that exactly backwards. Prima Facie evidence that I am right and he is wrong is the FACT that many millions more humans annually die from hydrocarbon burning pollution than from the lack of hydrocarbons (e.g. death for dysentery due to not being able to boil water to make it potable). Added evidence supporting my claim is that ZERO plants and animals, from microscopic to macroscopic, perish from the LACK of hydrocrabons we stupid humans burn. Sure, life and death is part of nature. They die from lots of causes in the natural course of events. BUT, hydrocarbon pollution PLUS Global Warming IS killing them off even more wantonly than the particulates pollution from hydrocarbon burning is killing humans! As Catastrophic climate Change gathers velocity, more and more biosphere fauna and flora will be destroyed by "natural" disasters that would NOT have taken place if we had not overheated the atmosphere.

There is just no excuse for continuing this charade of placing biosphere degrading hydrocarbon use in a privileged, civilization "protecting", position.

The world needs hydrocarbons like a dog needs ticks. I'm sure the tribes in the following articles agree wholeheartedly. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/Survival_International.png)

June 25, 2018

Exclusive! Catch a glimpse of an uncontacted tribe.

(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ozoPPBZZsb59qE1SOdj9ke2ZLP9eydEmkOs7aZNSdlpAVj8lybeUdZQD2w3NSod6JEDildmkje59_PpSc3xbnnOURf1lO-OdWETSa-PgcQkbZBfPQeU4An-nQqpOa-YCCOHCzZ1pqH__fc-NJUPP_q4hRFES9Xb-duppy9U=s0-d-e1-ft#https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b14580b05b832fb959c4ee444/images/c995d6d5-3161-4b60-98bc-083b64d80926.jpg)

These photos, also taken by the Guardians of the Amazon🕊 (https://www.survivalinternational.org/actnow/emails/guajajara_guardians/actions/new), show an old camp site that was once the home of the uncontacted people in the video. They’re hunter-gatherers, often on the move, and these small huts are their homes. The shelters, called tapiris, are constructed quickly and skilfully from branches and palm leaves. The bundle is a homemade lunchbox for carrying their food around with them. Societies such as this are the most eco-friendly and sustainable on Earth.

(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/kQaYzLMR7_cJC-4HiBc9u5gNy1KXMAl5TOgXipOMiU5DqvnrbVO3zUoltURljtPjvuPORp_gEBLY_jWvBvh5XCPeLKJrFS5y7ZvEymhDEqurx3hM7XCPbMk1PSX6JgEvaFyPMcG6YC3dSRZ7KCb11pq6-Ls77krZmPRRufI=s0-d-e1-ft#https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b14580b05b832fb959c4ee444/images/43ab9256-10b9-43b5-8979-e22b8a4b00f2.jpg)




(https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/AkD-xJSaq9ktWkliGEX6glIzZ8EVCZ8hMP6McUX1wYpRndFTaffuLlIhkTBcbL3CaLxk8Ds12KSrlbJL934xfOQBH3UumiWF20WyyYIYkEawsjmDHQwiOnr9Tm31xR-EKuhLOObgd6IW85YptfEzxvwjPCCkYitMJRWBwyVUlIxZ594=s0-d-e1-ft#https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b14580b05b832fb959c4ee444/_compresseds/b1c06153-38b2-4aea-b4d4-eee2d643cd85.jpg)

This astonishing footage was passed to us by the Guardians of the Amazon🕊. It was captured by chance, and shows a close encounter with uncontacted Awá Indians. The forests around are swarming with loggers 👹and any encounter is likely to be fatal for the Awá. That is why it's so important for us to show this footage; it proves there are uncontacted people living in this forest and so the loggers must be kept out at all costs.
https://vimeo.com/271124270 (https://vimeo.com/271124270)

Quote
We’re excited to share some good news stories with you!

The Guardians of the Amazon 🕊 are a brave group of men from the Guajarara tribe who are working tirelessly to defend the territory they share with uncontacted neighbors from illegal loggers.

The Guardians are struggling alone against violent logging mafias with very little support from the Brazilian government. We used your donations and your emails to put pressure on Brazil to act. It worked! A few weeks ago, environmental police finally showed up to help the Guardians kick loggers out of their territory. Though the police didn't stay long, and the Guardians are still in grave need of more support from the authorities, this goes to show that together we can make a real difference.

The Guardians are re-energized and inspired by this intervention: “Thank you for helping us with our fight, and with the situation we are facing here now…It was thanks to you and your pressure that the back-up appeared here at our village. So, thank you once more. We are fighting for what is ours. We're in this together."

But that’s not all. A few years ago, Survival supporters fought hard to persuade the government to remove loggers from the uncontacted Awá tribe’s territory. We succeeded, and now we’re pleased to announce that one of the loggers’ ring-leaders is being brought to justice.  It’s extremely rare for cases like this ever to reach trial, so this is real cause for celebration – and proof that persistent campaigning pays off.

These are two rays of hope in an increasingly anti-indigenous climate in Brazil which is allowing illegal logging of tribal peoples’ forests to flourish. Although we’re encouraged and spurred on by these successes, our work in this area is very far from over. Driven by ruthless greed, the loggers just keep coming – and they won’t give up easily…

With your help, neither will we. We have to keep piling on the pressure and pushing harder and harder to ensure the loggers stay out forever. And any help you can give us to do this will be hugely appreciated. Don't forget, one of the most useful things you can do is help spread the word about our vital work. Please share our posts on social media and take every opportunity to talk about the global movement for tribal peoples.

Thank you once again for being a part of these successes. We look forward to sharing many more with you in the future.

With thanks,

Survival International

Survival International USA, PO Box 26345, San Francisco, CA 94126 | A 501(c)(3) organization
Survival International, 6 Charterhouse Buildings, London EC1M 7ET, UK | Charity no. 267444

You are receiving this email because you signed up to receive updates from Survival International.
If you're unhappy with the frequency of our emails, you can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
Since 1969 | Supporters in over 100 countries
Offices in Berlin, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris and San Francisco
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 27, 2018, 04:17:07 pm
Quote
Area of Global Dead Zones Doubling Every 10 Years 😟

Every 10 years?  How many 10 year periods has that trend been measured over? 3. Hardly enough to establish a trend exists.
 
These dead zones are caused by the fertiliser run-off from farms and by sewerage outlets (that is, by YOU).  Time for YOU to DO SOMETHING.

Fortunately the oceans are VERY BIG and the impact of dead zones is TINY %agewise.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmemecrunch.com%2Fmeme%2F5L3XX%2Fspiderman-bullshit-detector%2Fimage.jpg%3Fw%3D544%26amp%3Bc%3D1&hash=4825835b92337d62f61a3d37d282105e97ac3ee3)

The Hydrocarbon Cummulative Pollution Dot Connecting Challenged "Professor" Palloy strikes again. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sherv.net%2Fcm%2Femoticons%2Fsick%2Fbarfing-smiley-emoticon.gif&hash=36f6791510582d9f9f48af1d4d1a006a5681103b)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fpm1.narvii.com%2F5869%2F6a64193d6770c3afd17406c78686c0eda32ded1c_hq.jpg&hash=fedf26e48d67cdd1e932380c7336ac18486d3fee)

Agelbert NOTE: Watch Palloy try the "it's a big world and this is just a tiny, tiny pollution drop in the bucket" TRICK that all Climate Change Deniers/Hydrocarbon Loving BS Artists reach for, like Palloy just did with the Ocean Dead Zone increase article, to try to claim this crude oil pollution in the river is "not significant".
 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-100216204839.gif&hash=19170c176bf9497627349a00623922c8e88185b1)

Deniers alway try to isolate each and every article about pollution in a deliberately disingenuos attempt to undermine the massive pollution downside of using hydrocarbons to run our civilization. Palloy is a bit more nuanced in that he makes a show of being pro-environment. For a person that is so "peo-environment" he is alwys trying to make light of hydrocarbon pollution spills or GHG polltuion global warming trends. This gives the lie to his claim to be "pro-environment". Palloy (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) is a specialist in the morally bankrupt, but extremely effective, use of  GASLIGHTING (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201701/11-warning-signs-gaslighting).         

[EcoWatch

Olivia Rosane

Jun. 25, 2018 06:27AM EST

Derailed Train Spills 230,000 Gallons of Crude Into Flooded Iowa River

https://youtu.be/9Rz_c1JRtVQ


A train derailment spilled 230,000 gallons of crude oil into an already-flooded Iowa river Friday, endangering downstream drinking water, the Des Moines Register reported Sunday.

Thirty-two cars of a Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) train derailed, 14 of which leaked crude oil into the Rock River in Doon, Iowa. The cause of the derailment is unknown, but officials including Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds attributed it to heavy rain Wednesday and Thursday which led to flooding.

To aid recovery from extreme weather and its consequences, including the derailment, Reynolds issued a proclamation of disaster emergency Saturday for Lyon County, where the train derailed, as well as Plymouth, Sioux and Woodbury counties.

Workers so far have contained nearly half the spill—around 100,000 gallons—using booms, BNSF told Reuters.

The oil spill hit the town of Rock Valley, Iowa, which was coping with its second flood in four years, especially hard.

"Our city administrator said to me, 'The only thing we need now is a plane crash,'" Rock Valley mayor Van Otterloo told the Des Moines Register. "Everything came at once."

Rock Valley acted quickly to shut off water wells following the spill and plans to drain the wells and use rural water until the well water tests safe.

There are also concerns that oil could contaminate drinking water in Omaha, Nebraska, 150 miles downstream, since the Rock River merges with the Big Sioux River, which then feeds into the Missouri. Omaha's Metropolitan Utilities District said they were monitoring water pulled from the Missouri, the Des Moines Register reported. The Metropolitan Utilities District said they could source water from unconnected rivers if needed, according to Reuters.

Reynolds told the Des Moines Register it was still unknown how many communities were affected by the oil spill and how it would impact the surrounding environment.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070817214841.gif&hash=d17961689b0d96b1ffc75389a5d1282158e244ab)

While none of the initial responses mentioned it, last week's flooding and the resulting derailment could be related to climate change. A pre-Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assessment of climate change impacts in the Midwest found that precipitation and storms were projected to increase this century, and precipitation in some areas had already increased by 20 percent.

Cristi Moore, who lives in a trailer park near Rock Valley on land that was flooded both in 2014 and 2018, didn't mention climate change but had noticed a difference in the severity of recent floods. She told the Des Moines Register that before 2014, her levees would have been high enough to combat the highest flood levels.

"This is really weird. That's why I'm saying, 'I'm not smart. I don't know. This is an engineer thing,'" Moore told the Des Moines Register. "What's going on that now we're getting flooded again?"

https://www.ecowatch.com/train-derailment-iowa-river-2581127525.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 28, 2018, 08:29:33 pm
 (https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/545693884664119297/mCDJfUgm.jpeg)

June 28, 2018

Bye, Trees 🌳 😟

Tropical forests lost an area the size of Bangladesh worldwide in 2017--the second-worst year of tree loss on record after 2016, according to new data from the World Resources Institute.

The WRI analysis, which uses satellite data to survey forest cover worldwide, finds that the rate of deforestation amounts to 40 football fields worth of trees disappearing each minute. "We simply won’t meet the climate targets that we agreed to in Paris without a drastic reduction in tropical deforestation and restoration of forests around the world," Andreas Dahl-Jorgensen, deputy director of the Norwegian government’s International Climate and Forest Initiative, told the New York Times.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/tropical-deforestation-forest-loss-2017/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 28, 2018, 08:54:52 pm
The US is losing 36 million urban trees a year

Melissa Breyer

May 29, 2018

(https://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2018/05/urban-trees.jpg.860x0_q70_crop-scale.jpg)
Urban trees CC BY 2.0 USDA/Flickr

The USDA Forest Service reveals that cities and communities are losing 175,000 acres of tree cover annually, while pavement, roads, and buildings are increasing.

Trees that grace cities and other residential areas are truly a treasure. Not only do they provide habitat for non-human city creatures, but they offer all kinds of health benefits to us human animals as well. And aside from the boosts of wellness they so generously proffer, the annual benefits of U.S. urban forests in considering air pollution removal, carbon sequestration, and decreased building energy use and the subsequent altered power plant emissions are estimated at $18 billion.

So you'd think that city planners and local governments would be all gung-ho about trees, right? But alas, the trees appear to be losing. Research from scientists with the USDA Forest Service estimate that between 2009 and 2014, tree cover in the country's urban and community areas declined each year by 36 million trees, or around 175,000 acres of tree cover.

Meanwhile, pavement and other impervious cover (like roads and buildings) increased at a rate of about 167,000 acres a year during the same period. Cue the Joni Mitchell.

"Nationally, urban/community tree cover declined from 42.9 percent to 42.2 percent. Twenty-three states had a statistically significant decrease in tree cover, with a total of 45 states showing a net decline," notes a statement for the research. "Trees improve air and water quality, reduce summer energy costs by cooling homes, reduce noise, mitigate runoff and flooding, and enhance human health and well-being, making them important to human health and urban and community infrastructure."

States or districts that have lost the greatest net percentage in urban/community tree cover were Rhode Island, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Alabama and Nebraska. Meanwhile, states with the greatest annual net loss in tree cover acreage were Georgia with 18,830 acres lost year, Florida with 18,060 acres and Alabama with 12,890 acres.

Mississippi, Montana and New Mexico fared slightly better with (albeit non-significant) increases in urban/community tree cover. Of all the states, Maine has the highest percentage in urban/community areas with 68 percent tree cover. At the other end, North Dakota ranked as having the lowest amount of urban/community tree cover with a mere 10 percent. (Note that grassland states like North Dakota historically only have trees along rivers – as was pointed out to me by a biologist on Twitter – which could account for lower percentages among those states' urban areas as well.)

“Urban forests are an important resource,” says co-author Dave Nowak from the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station. “Urban foresters, planners and decision-makers need to understand trends in urban forests so they can develop and maintain sufficient levels of tree cover – and the accompanying forest benefits – for current and future generations of citizens.”

A table showing tree cover 🌳 and impervious cover change by state is available here (https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/news/release/resources/cities-communities-losing-tree-cover/). And you can download the whole study here (https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/jrnl/2018/nrs_2018_nowak_005.pdf).


https://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/us-losing-36-million-urban-trees-year.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 29, 2018, 12:45:42 pm
I have mentioned here many times and still remained puzzled at this Christmas tree game. What a horrible waste of beautiful greenery for so little in my view. At least if you were building something viable with it one could make sense of it but to stick it in a room for a few weeks and throw it away seems so absurd to me. The transportation and fuel waste of hauling these beautiful trees from Canada and Maine or whatever is another terrible wast IMO.    (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191404.bmp&hash=007a2c20b76f970316a559a6e27cfd70c11f5998)


Agreed. It might have been one thing when you went up the hill and brought back a likely sapling.  When you consider that entire business is exist to cultivate these trees, cut them and ship them, and then  waste them within a period of weeks incredibly wasteful. Especially at scale.

If the problem was limited to the unjustified harvest of blue spruce and other conifers for Christmas Trees 🎄, that waste, though inexcusable, would still not constitute much of a threat to our environment.

The problem is orders of magnitude bigger than that. You can check how many acres of trees any state lost at the links below.

Quote
“Urban forests are an important resource,” says co-author Dave Nowak from the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station. “Urban foresters, planners and decision-makers need to understand trends in urban forests so they can develop and maintain sufficient levels of tree cover – and the accompanying forest benefits – for current and future generations of citizens.”

A table showing tree cover 🌳 and impervious cover change by state is available here (https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/news/release/resources/cities-communities-losing-tree-cover/). And you can download the whole study here (https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/pubs/jrnl/2018/nrs_2018_nowak_005.pdf).
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 02, 2018, 02:31:51 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Ground-Level Ozone is another Hydrocarbon Hell "gift", compliments of the profit over planet fossil fuel fascist WELFARE QUEENS, who champion the suicidally stupid continued use of hydrocarbons to power human civilization. 🤬

Quote
What Causes

Ground-level ozone
is caused when the sun reacts with pollutants from cars and industrial plants to form ozone at or near the surface of the earth.

The sunny weather you enjoy in many parts of the world may, unfortunately, be increasing the chances of the formation of ground-level ozone.

Summertime is especially dangerous in many traditionally sunny areas, especially those areas with large populations. The EPA issues warnings and advisories for five major air pollutants.

🚩 ground-level ozone

🚩 particle pollution

🚩 carbon monoxide

🚩sulfur dioxide

🚩nitrogen dioxide


https://www.thoughtco.com/ozone-not-all-ozone-is-good-for-earth-3443718

Vermont is NOT a traditionally sunny area. However, thanks to the Hydrocarbon Hustlers🐉🦕🦖, who are DIRECTLY responsible for each and every one of the red flagged items listed above, we are getting MORE OZONE hazard alerts.

Quote
🚩 Air Quality Alert

1131 AM EDT Mon Jul 2 2018

🚩...Air quality alert in effect from 2 PM to 10 PM Monday...

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources has issued an air quality action day for all of Vermont today.

This afternoon and evening hours, levels of ozone may register in the `unhealthy for sensitive groups` (USG), range across Vermont. Note that elevated ozone concentrations will only occur later in the day or evening in Northern Vermont. Ozone will be transported from the Atlantic Coast urban corridor region to New England as a southerly wind develops in the region, and very hot conditions continue.

Note that ozone concentrations are predicted with the Air Quality Index (AQI), scale. The Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups AQI is 101 to 150. Although general public is not likely to be affected at this AQI range, people with lung disease, older adults and children are at a greater risk from exposure to ozone.


https://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=VTZ005&warncounty=VTC007&firewxzone=VTZ005&local_place1=5+Miles+WNW+Colchester+VT&product1=Air+Quality+Alert

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 03, 2018, 06:53:06 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Isn't it just AMAZING how now it is "mankind" in general, and not the Fossil Fuel 🦕🦖 Crooks and Liars IN PARTICULAR, that created one of the biggest environmental disasters in history?  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85) Sure, Yeah, we are "all guilty".

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Read about the horrendous habitat destroying effects that continue to degrade the ocean environment in the Gulf of Mexico PLUS harm the flora and fauna in the USA and Mexican land areas. That oil dispersant Corexit ☠️ POISON that Halliburton (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78) was paid for, which FURTHER polluted the Gulf on the U.S. taxpayer dime, added MORE grievous harm to numerous species.

The Hydrocarbon Hustlers are destroying this planet's biosphere for short term profit. We stop burning hydrocarbons or we are all dead, PERIOD.

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The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was 8 years ago. The ocean is still struggling to recover

LAST UPDATED ON JULY 3RD, 2018 AT 3:36 PM BY MIHAI ANDREI 

Eight years ago, mankind created one of the biggest environmental disasters in history. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill led to the discharge of 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m3) of oil, and nature still hasn’t recovered, a new study has found.

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill approaching the coast of Mobile, Alabama, on May 6, 2010. (at article link)

The spill area hosts 8,332 species, all of which are threatened by the hydrocarbon leaks. A 2014 study of the effects of the oil spill on bluefin tuna found that toxins from oil spills can cause irregular heartbeats leading to cardiac arrest. A further study also found that the toxins could severely damage the internal organs of predators and even humans in the area — directly contradicting BP, the oil company responsible for the spill.

To make matters even worse, the oil dispersant Corexit, previously only used as a surface application, was released underwater in unprecedented amounts. The goal was to make oil more easily biodegradable, but the plan backfired as the oil and dispersant mixture permeated the food chain through zooplankton — from which it proceeded to spread across the entire ecosystem. Chemicals from the spill were found in migratory birds as far away as Minnesota, with a devastating effect on marine wildlife. A 2016 study reported that 88% of 360 baby or stillborn dolphins within the spill area “had abnormal or underdeveloped lungs”, compared to 15% in other areas.

Birds were also severely affected, both directly and indirectly. Here, an oiled brown pelican near Grand Isle, Louisiana. Image credits: Governor Bobby Jindal. (at article link)

No matter where and how you look, the scale of the disaster is shocking. Alas, it gets even worse: new study found that the basic building blocks of life in the ocean have been altered, indicating that the ocean still hasn’t recovered from the oil spill.

“At the sites closest to the spill, biodiversity was flattened,” study lead author and University of Southern Mississippi microbial ecologist Leila Hamdan told The Guardian. “There were fewer types of microbes. This is a cold, dark environment and anything you put down there will be longer lasting than oil on a beach in Florida. It’s premature to imagine that all the effects of the spill are over and remediated,” she said.

Researchers took sediment samples from shipwrecks scattered up to 150 km (93 miles) from the spill site to study how and if micro-biodiversity has recovered. Shipwrecks are biodiversity hotspots, so it’s a good place to see how life recovered. Researchers wrote:

“More than 2,000 historic shipwrecks spanning 500 years of history, rest on the Gulf of Mexico seafloor. Shipwrecks serve as artificial reefs and hotspots of biodiversity by providing hard substrate, something rare in deep ocean regions. The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) spill discharged crude oil into the deep Gulf. Because of physical, biological, and chemical interactions, DWH oil was deposited on the seafloor, where historic shipwrecks are present. This study examined sediment microbiomes at seven historic shipwrecks.”

Results weren’t encouraging. Microbes are still struggling to recover, and since they are affected, the entire food chain that’s built upon them is also affected. There’s a good chance we have still yet to see all the far-reaching consequences of this event.

“We rely heavily on the ocean and we could be looking at potential effects to the food supply down the road,” she said. “Deep sea microbes regulate carbon in the atmosphere and recycle nutrients. I’m concerned there will be larger consequences from this sort of event.”

The timing of the study is also very fitting — it comes just as a new measure by the Trump 🦀 administration opens up 90% of U.S. coasts to offshore oil drilling, dismantling ocean conservation measures put in place by former president Barack Obama in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon calamity. This means that this type of disaster will become much more likely in the future, much to the chagrin of scientists and conservationists.

Journal Reference: Leila J. Hamdan, Jennifer L. Salerno, Allen Reed, Samantha B. Joye & Melanie Damour. “The impact of the Deepwater Horizon blowout on historic shipwreck-associated sediment microbiomes in the northern Gulf of Mexico,” Scientific Reports.

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/deepwater-oil-spill-disaster-01072018/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 09, 2018, 11:52:01 am
Agelbert NOTE: This old article is more applicable than ever today. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)

TAE (The Automatic Earth web site is the home of fracked gas cheerleader "energy expert" Nicole Foss 🦖)
 
Waste Based Society: Solutions and Alternatives

Published June 12, 2012

Quote
Are there viable solutions and alternatives to the Energy intensive Waste Based Society we currently live in, which do not entail a return to Paleolithic levels of technology?  Diner and TAE Commentariat member A. G. Gelbert outlines a myriad of technologies which might be employed to maintain a higher technological base for society.

RE

Solutions and Alternatives to the Waste Based Society

by A. G. Gelbert

We are cursed with a rather effective propaganda machine that defends the status quo and works mightily to provide allegedly iron clad arguments exposing our desperate dependence on fossil fuels and the enormous debt we owe to them for our ‘wonderful civilization’. The media has cleverly weaved fact and fiction to present plausible arguments against the practicality of going cold turkey on fossil fuels and 100% on renewables.

Not one word about the fact that fossil fuels are easy to meter and conveniently provide a constant revenue stream for the rich along with governmental control of a populace that simply cannot move or function without daily use of fossil fuels ever seems to be mentioned. Not one word about how renewables cannot be metered or taxed easily and how that feature gives everyone a large degree of independence aand flexibility in disaster situations to help themselves or a less fortunate neighbor is mentioned.

On the other hand, the continuous and vociferous denial of the link between fossil fuels and environmental problems, regardless of scientific concensus on this very real link, never seems to go away either. The actual history of the industrial revolution involving some very brutal measures to coerce humans to abandon horses, as only one of many coercive measures, for tranportation and farming are always ignored and replaced with a stream of pejorative comments about horse dung in big cities. People did not want to get rid of their horses!

I am not simply talking about city ordinances and fines targeting horses. Right around 1865 a big push began to sell farm machinery. Amazingly, a huge horse plague hit the U.S. that year that killed a massive amount of horses. No explanation beyond “Civil War stress” blarney was ever given. These horses were not just city horses in population centers but out in the country as well.

The move to horseless carriages began on the farm with steam power and hydrocarbon lubricants. The automobile came later along with the bone cancer. Bone cancer from the original automoblie fuel, benzene, is seldom mentioned by the media and apparently is considered no big deal in comparison to horseshit odor. Moving on to the early 20th century, Rockefeller has a waste product in his refinery cracking towers (after separating all those great heavy and light lubricants) called gasolene and he talks Henry Ford into modifying the carburators to run on it.

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Of course the ‘minor’ problem with benzene fuel may have helped make the switch. There were electric cars on the road at the time. Cleveland had wind generators creating electricity at that time! You’ll never guess what happened to them and the electric trolleys all over many towns in the USA. So, enough of that. Everyone here knows how predatory capitalism attempts to game the system to achieve price control and a monopoly. Once much more efficient and sustainable technologies are shoved aside by hook or by crook, the distorted and mendacious meme that our current technology is the result of friendly capitalist competition in the ‘free market’ is pushed.

Predation occurs followed by propaganda versions of history. That is the real history of the industrial revolution in regard to our choices of energy production. Renewables got squeezed out, not because they couldn’t compete favorably, but because the pollution and health costs of fossil fuels got ‘externalized’. Along the way, the independence of the mostly agrarian American in energy production and use was crushed.

A love afffair with the car was fostered to the point that in the late 1920’s more Americans had cars than flush toilets. Of course they were better off, ecologically speaking, without flush toilets, but the point is the job of selling Americans on fossil fuels was a done deal by that time.

So please remember that nobody was doing us any favors, like the media wants to claim; they were selling us something in order to concentrate wealth and power in a few hands. They were using us as a cash cow to the point of introducing planned obsolecence, rampant consumerism to keep the factories going and simultaneously thwarting moves to sustainability like Henry Ford’s plan to make cars out of hemp plastic in the early1940s.

We like new stuff and are always looking for the latest model year of the car or whatever because we have been manipulated by experts to do so. It has absolutely nothing to do with our health, well being or happiness. Bernays really messed us up. Fast forward to the present where the witches brew of ecological harm brought about by industrialization has caught up with us. And NOW, all of a sudden, we just can’t live without all this ‘wonderful’ energy packed fossil fuel economy.

Methinks somebody wants to slap a guilt trip on the chumps so they agree to clean up the mess even though the media keeps claiming there isn’t really that much of a mess. We, the masses, are accused of being wasteful pigs that bred like rats thanks to fossil fuels.

Where to begin? How about the fact that family size has been decreasing, not increasing, througout the industrial revolution? That’s right. The numbers were baked in by 1800 and the wars slowed them down a bit. Louis Pasteur and Lister did a hell of a lot more to create our present population ‘problem’ than fossil fuels. Most of the key scientific advancements in medicine were not exactly high tech and fossil fuel dependent. A human makes it past 5 years of age and he has a huge chance of living out his 3 score and ten. It was the enormous reduction in infant mortality brought about by antiseptic procedures that caused the population explosion, not fossil fuels. It’s a stretch to say that fossil fuels alowed people to obtain clean water to wash their hands before delivering a baby, but I’m sure the media verbal contortionists would toss it out there to further muddy the waters of historical truth.

The much touted plumbing advancements that require machinery and factories powered by fossil fuels, while they did reduce disease in population centers and prolonged life, were setting us up for more fossil fuel use through improper humanure handling. I maintain that the main cause of our population explosion is knowledge of disease microbes, their propagation methods and our changes in hygiene as a result.

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Edward Bernays (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6)

What about all this waste we now produce that we have been folded, spindled and mentally mutilated through Freud’s nephew Wall Street amygdala reptilian brain control propaganda? They set us up and now WE are the bad guys? They want us to shop till we drop and WE are the problem? And how much ‘waste’ do WE actually produce on a carbon footprint basis compared to the global 1%?

Well, Senator Bernie Sanders stated recently that less than 1% of the U.S. owns about 40% of the assets (I’m not talking about income increases although they have gotten the lion’s share over the last ten years as well). Yes, I know he talks about banks too but he mentions those 400 or so elite families every now and then. Now figure the carbon footprint of those people and compare it with the rest of us. All those endless films about diapers, milk gallons and so on used in our middle class lifetimes with the obligatory landfill mountains thrown in are nothing compared with the horrendous and gigantic amount of crap these families generate. Isn’t it amazing that when it comes to pollution and wasteful habits, we are ‘all in this together’? No attempt is made to segregate out the worst offenders. On the contrary, the poor and middle class are constantly demonized as being irresponsible useless eaters. It’s all quite Orwellian on the part of the media.

But yeah, we do waste, and we have a waste problem that is real, so let’s talk about it.

Waste can certainly destroy a society, species or most of the ecosphere if, as many point out, we continue with the ridiculous paradigm that we can industrially do multi-generational damage to the life support systems humans depend on and not define this as suicide. It’s almost like our nuclear nuts and oil fetish **** have morphed us into a mass version of the heaven’s gate cult. Those people thought they could hitch a ride on a comet by commiting suicide. Every single step in industrializaton has, for anyone willing to do the TOTAL math, NOT been ecospherically cost effective. The fact that a small group of humans has temporarily benefited at the expense of the overwhelming majority of humans and all other earthlings right now, not to mention the obvious acceleration in environmental degradation promising a super bleak future, seems to go right over the heads of way to many otherwise intelligent people.

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Heaven's Gate Cult Leader that convinced many to commit suicide

Just like the heaven’s gate cult, people are addicted to a dream that never was, PERIOD. All talk about this and that from our youth and how much fun we all had and how nostalgic we are for those nicer times is the exact same phenomenum of a drug addict longing for his first high. LISTEN UP! We are a function of the ecosphere. We DO NOT, despite all the best propaganda efforts of our scientific community, understand the mechanism of the ecosphere sufficently to tinker with it, let alone wantonly pollute it with “externalisms”. EXTERNALISMS!? That’s just some economist bullshit! There are NO externalisms inside the life bubble called the ecosphere; it just takes a while to catch up with you when you mine, bomb and toxify with chemicals NIMBY areas for a few centuries. We are there and yet our scientific community and our financial community and our political wheeler and dealer con-artists with their new techno death toys and ‘miracle’ GMO crops and drug after drug to replace patent expirations, new ripoff scams, more war profiteering and emotional button pushing divide and conquer racist crap just DO NOT GET IT (or maybe they do get it and are insanely trying to make hay out of it).

The people in charge of our dysfunctional clusterfuck are akin to that psycho Whiteapple that led the heaven’s gate cult. They will not change to a sustainable paradigm because THAT requires subordination to the reality that we are a product of the ecosphere and the humble acceptance that we do not understand it yet so, until we do, we must henceforth emulate natural processes of cradle to grave recycling in all industrial technology and outlaw destructive activities like war or perish. No, they prefer to insanely reduce the world population by environmental collapse in the ridiculous la-la land elite hope that then the ecosphere will cure itself and they can continue their merry resource extraction paradigm as if nothing happened. It won’t work because these reductionist morons in power with their scientific priesthood of techno nut balls are so full of pride from all their tremendous ‘contributions’ over the last two centuries that they cannot see the monstrous downside of the technology explosion and that, yes, technology can be developed and used in an environmentally friendly manner. They don’t want to do the work. They are supremely irresponsible and supremely greedy and incredibly stupid.

Instead of doing a rethink, they are just flooring the accelerator and increasing their propaganda blitz.

I am not against technology. Since about 1970 we have had the knowledge to use technology to produce an environmentally friendly and sustainable society free of poisons in food and industry in the scientific literature. It has been deliberately supressed time and time again. Imagine what it cost to cover the country with roads and power lines. Well, decentralized power, food and transportation would cost a hell of a lot less. It’s total bullshit that we can’t do this or that we are ‘hooked’ on oil or nuclear or natural gas. We could have switched away decades ago. In the 70s NASA used solar panels to bring electricity to a Navajo community which was not served by the local electric utilities in a southwestern state. It worked great and the utilities went ballistic. They wrote to NASA requesting the solar panel project be stopped because, even though those areas targeted by NASA were not adequately served by the utilities, the fossil fuel free energy would ‘force’ the utilities to lower their rates. NASA stopped the project.

The planet earth DOES NOT have an energy crisis. For you engineering types out there, just do the math on the energy required daily to lift trillions of tons of water vapor out of the rivers, lakes and oceans and deposit this at higher elevations in the form of rain and then try to tell me about how much it COSTS (ZERO!) and how we are running out of energy. What the planet earth has, is a HUMAN GREED AND STUPIDITY crisis among the 1%. But suppose we could dispense with all the agenda laced perjorative propaganda about renewables, agree to clean up the planet and eliminate fossil fuel, nuclear and any other kind of poisonous technology because we have no other choice?

Can it be done? Yes. Will it be done? Probably not. I just heard today (June 11, 2012) on the Thom Hartmann show that phytoplankton replacement in a bay in Maine has dropped 500% over a period of a decade or so. The phenomenum has now been confirmed as occurring globally. Phytoplankton produce approximately 50% of the oxygen on this planet through photosynthesis. They are not regenerating adequately because increased ppm of CO2 (now 400 ppm) is acidifying the oceans and killing them. Can the elite be so insane that they plan to meter our oxygen? I hope not. At any rate, we must accept that the fossil fuel economy is not an exercise in fun conveniences or a requirement to maintain ‘civilization’; it’s killing our oxygen supply now as well. We must switch to renewables.

In regard to available energy to maintain some level of ‘civilization’ with renewables, when I mentioned the world evaporation energy example,  I wasn’t alluding to energy collection through hydroelectric power (although dams certainly help as long as salmon runs aren’t thwarted), but using this vast amount of energy available free to shed light on the scientifically bankrupt view of quantifying energy by using bomb calorimeters like we did in college and energy mass per mole in rapid oxidation. Nature has never done it that way. Everything in our culture always wants to scale up a process or else judge it as wanting. That is assbackwards from a sustainable biological process point of view. In our bodies, the reason we have enzymes lowering the energy of activation in myriad chemical reactions occurring per second is to keep us from overheating and/or rapid ph changes that would kill us but the fact is that the enzymes accomplish a task with less energy than a straight forward math computation of the chemical reaction energy requires.

Capillary processes in us are unconcerned with “stream head'” like scientists or engineers are when they want to build a dam yet they work just fine manipulating Bernoulli forces to use the absolute minimum energy needed to move that blood so the heart pump doesn’t have to work as hard against vessel friction and pressure changes. In our techno-love affair, everything we do is geared to centralized and maximum power. For example we really do not need a lot of stream head to power a house because we can gradually pump water up to a reservoir in our house to give us electricity on demand. But the techno math says you need X amount of head for Y amount of kilowatts. That’s only true if you need all of that all the time. Sure, not everyone lives by a river or a stream but that is simply a small example. A giant Sequoia pumps over one hundred gallons of water hundreds of feet up every day through transpiration. The tracheal elements can stretch water molecules 27 atmospheres as long as the vacuum holds. The technology to make artificial tree water pumps has been around for decades but our society is STUCK on the energy density per mole fixation like a teenager that wants a hot car to ride to school instead of a small electric rechargable scooter.

Have you heard about the roaring forties?

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That’s an area of latitude in the oceans of the southern hemisphere that is always turbulent. They alone could power the world’s energy demands after a ten year installation of wave and undersea current power collection systems that are already being deployed off of England and Scotland. In regard to corrosion issues with sea water and maintenance of deep water (massive pressures to deal with), I only ask that you consider technology equivalence hurdles that have long since been surmounted in nuclear power plants (the ultimate in corrosion challenges including hydrogen embrittlement that is not present with sea water) and oil undersea pipelines (pump sea water to a land reservoir and start the power cables from there as a cost effective low maintenance option).

At present, ocean oil rigs (which are mostly metal) have sacrificial anodes placed on them so electrolysis in most areas is thwarted. The anodes are replaced as they are used up.  And remember all we have learned through space exploration about metallurgy, high temperature insulation during re-entry and don’t forget microwave power transmission technology. We can do all this stuff. It’s really not as hard as putting a robot vehicle on Mars or building a space station in orbit.

It’s telling that Einstein described the photoelectric effect at the very beginning of the 20th century but the US government has had to be dragged kicking and screaming to develop solar panels (we only did it when we needed them in space) but it spent a fortune on the development of the bomb in the 30s while a large part of our populace was going hungry.

Have you ever wondered why the oil lobby never attacks nuclear power but spares no expense to demonize renewables with disingenuous propaganda and mendacity? Think about that a while. If you come to the conclusion that the nuclear power plants were put out there to make bomb material and get you to pay for it and were never, ever considered a viable alternative to fossil fuels for the production of electricity or a serious source of oil lobby competition, you win the prize.

There is also no excuse whatsoever for not using solar and electric power to run every single ship in the ocean. It would be child’s play to switch all automobiles and trucks to full electric as long we had geothermal, wind, tide and ocean current derived power 24/7, not to mention solar panels.

Do you know what oil tankers do after they offload the oil? They fill huge portions of the holds with sea water (for ballast) and then dump it when they get back to reload with oil. This massive pollution goes on day in and day out. We have a guaranteed continuous oil spill as long as we have a fossil fuel ocean tanker economy.

As for fertilizers and food production machinery requiring a massive amount of fossil fuels to feed 7 billlion humans, the fact is that using decentralized permaculture with humanure (after appropriate and low tech local processing to avoid disease pathogens) along with greenhouse technology for nordic climates can replace the fossil fuel required to run tractors, make fertilizer and insecticides and herbicides.

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I mention farm machinery because there is increasing evidence that plowing needs to be replaced by non-plowing with perennial crops in order to stop the massive top soil loss and lowered nutrition of crop yield (they look the same but don’t have the same nutritional content). Other posters here are up on humanure and they are right. I recommend anyone repulsed by this to think again. Feces are an inseparable part of being human and it’s high time we stopped with this Victorian idiocy of seeing it as bad stuff; it’s part of our salvation as a species. An added plus with humanure through the avoidance of chemical fertilizers is no more ocean dead zones and massive top soil degradation. Also the energy and water savings in not pumping human waste to be treated with chemicals (made with fossil fuels) in a sewage treatment plant would save billons of dollars.

Examples of how renewables can switch us off of fossil fuels  quickly: www.euronews.com/2012/05/27/germany-breaks-solar-energy-record
www.euronews.com/2012/06/06/solar-plane-completes-maiden-intercontinental-flight www.euronews.com/2012/03/05/sea-solution-to-future-energy-needs www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/renewableenergy/3535012/Ocean-currents-can-power-the-world-say-scientists.html

Pelamis wave power device that looks like a giant snake: www.weirdlyodd.com/10-renewable-energy-sources/

Zero energy balance hotel: www.euronews.com/2012/05/16/go-green-get-growing

I think this can be done in TEN years, not forty: www.euronews.com/2012/05/18/in-40-years-every-home-every-building-will-be-a-power-plant-says-jeremy-rifki

Growing food and the fossil fuel ‘requirement’ is a dependency created by the fossil fuel industry but we CAN shake that dependency without mass starvation and depopulation: www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/85/1/Fuel-and-food.html

“The strategic goal of biofuel is to supplement or even replace fossil fuels, the amount of which is constantly and rapidly diminishing.” haitireconstruction.ning.com/page/biofuel-1

I’ve already mentioned my views on the population explosion and its causes but I wish to point out how the oil lobby has tried to make fossil fuel brownie points out of it.

Remember the green revolution of the 60s, 70s and 80s that supposedly caused the population explosion? The numbers are in. The yields are not statistically different with all the fossil fuel fertilizer, herbicides and insecticides than without them. The green revolution is a lie fostered by, you guessed it, the fossil fuel lobby.

Their only valid claim is the fuel for machinery which now turns out to lower crop nutrition from top soil plowing degradation. This degradation is caused by a combination of chemical fertilizers and plowing (bare soil tends to blow away when dry or erode when wet) which leaches the soil of trace minerals needed to produce nutritious and tasty as opposed to bland crops. The way things stand right now, agricultural guidelines in the U.S. state that it’s okay to lose 4 tons of top soil per acre per year from ‘modern’ farming techniques. The government claims it is the price we pay for high ‘yields’. Are you comfortable with that? I’m not. Considering top soil regeneration takes over 100 years, I cannot believe we are doing anything but losing massive amounts every year.

And last but not least, the militaries of the world are the most voracious users of fossil fuel. We sure as hell do not need them to keep 7 billion fed and clothed. The U.S. Navy, in particular, has the top spot as fossil fuel user AND polluter.

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We need gradual, decentralized trickle charge or slow pumping energy storage systems for sustainable humanity. Anything else is not viable for the planet. If we want to zip around at high speed and be able to have instant this and that, yes we have an energy crisis. If we want to emulate biological processes and eschew the love affair with higher energy density per mole of fossil and or nuclear poisons killing the planet, we don’t have an energy crisis.

Nature paces everything; so should we.

All that said, there is the 1% with their hubris and arrogance and there is the rest of humanity. The agenda of the 1% is a tad different from the rest of us. I agree the knockdown is coming. The people controlling the levers of innovation and adaptation in our governments and the elite parasites that own them want this knockdown so it will come. I maintain that the false notion of a causal relationship between a large population and a polluted, unsustainable, fossil fuel dependent human society is the driving force behind this elite desire for a knockdown. The elites are the only truly unsustainable population on this earth because of their mega-carbon footprints.

So, in true Wall Street Orwellian fashion, they blame the bulk of the 7 billion humans for THEIR piggery and slavish dependency on fossil fuels. The 1% that owns our governments loves the predatory resource extraction paradigm despite the fact that some of them probably suspect that it will cause a population knockdown, not from lack of fossil fuels, but from environmental collapse. Billions of humans dying is considered a good thing by the 1%. They think it will solve the world’s environmental problems and provide a more manageable population of slaves. The 1% probably grumble about minimum gene pool diversity species population required in order to perpetuate homo sapiens. The 1% think robots will take care of all the ‘important’ work while medical technology available to the 1% will provide them with 150 year plus lifetimes. They are wrong and they are the cancer that is destroying humanity.

There’s a way to clean up this world and live sustainably. Killing off several billion is a straw man. It’s typical elite bullshit adding two an two and getting whatever answer keeps them in the catbird seat. The media will continue to block the truth from the people 24/7.

I apologize if I tried to cover too much ground here but this situation we are in has matured for well over a century and we need to see how we got here to understand, if we survive, how to prevent a new set of snakes from selling us snake oil in the future.

Feel free to pass all or any part of this rant with or without attribution.

Everything I wrote can be researched free on the internet if you want to post links about horse plagues, NASA correspondence with utilities, Henry Ford and hemp plastic, Rockefeller chicanery, U.S. solar panel development reasons, Americans starving while the bomb was being developed, Bernays propaganda tools, etc.

A.G. Gelbert

Posted in Energy, Home | Tagged Automobiles, Energy, Fetilizer, Horses, Oil, Permaculture, Propaganda, Sustainability, Waste


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 12, 2018, 11:53:10 am
CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica’s work via donations on Patreon or PayPal!

Or just go buy a cool t-shirt, cup, baby outfit, bag, or hoodie. (https://cleantechnica.com/shop/#!/)

5 Ways China’s Now A Global Climate Leader

July 11th, 2018 by Guest Contributor

Originally published on Climate Reality Project.

The world’s biggest emitter decided to take some serious climate action – and in the process renewed our hope that we will beat the climate crisis.

(https://cleantechnica.com/files/2018/07/Screenshot-2018-7-6-After-the-Airpocalypse-%E2%80%93-5-Ways-China-is-Becoming-a-Global-Climate-Leader-e1530880261199.png)

Ten years ago, the idea that China – the planet’s single biggest carbon polluter – would be a global leader on climate in 2018 would have sounded, well, a stretch.

But with terrifying levels of air pollution threatening to spark social unrests in earlier years and the US stepping back from the global stage under President Trump, that’s exactly what’s happened.

The story begins with a massive public health crisis, but how China responded – and five steps in particular – lays out a practical path to a low-carbon future for countries around the world.

Airpocalypse Now ☠️

How did the world’s biggest polluter become the world’s leader on climate?

It all goes back to the “Airpocalypse.”

Not too long ago, many in some of the Chinese cities were going about their business engulfed in a cloud of pollution. The gray haze could be so dense, that buildings and trees would quite literally disappear in front of your eyes. And stepping outside, even for just a minute, required wearing a facial mask to avoid directly breathing the toxic air.

How to Keep Climate Action on Track After the Paris Agreement

The source of much of that pollution wasn’t hard to find either: coal-fired power plants and vehicles on the road. Since the early 2000s, China’s economy had been growing rapidly, powered largely by coal.

The unchecked use of coal on such a huge scale didn’t take long to generate real problems. In 2005, China surpassed the United States to become the world’s biggest CO2 emitter (a title that the country has held since the 20th century). And in 2008, 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the entire world were in China, according to the World Bank.

Enough Is Enough

In 2013, the Chinese government finally decided that enough was enough, introducing a national action plan to curb air pollution, including a set of coal consumption limits for key regions including Beijing and the Pearl River Delta.

In 2016, China released its national plan for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and committed to lowering the country’s carbon intensity of GDP by 60–65 percent (below 2005 levels) by 2030 in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to Paris Agreement. As the world’s second-largest economy – and home to nearly 1.4 billion people – that’s a big deal to the world.

Growing Pains and Growing Progress

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Emissions are still rising as the country continues to grow. And although China has halt many coal projects over the past years, environmentalists have called it out for investing coal energy in other countries such as Turkey and Pakistan to satisfy its immense need for energy.

On the other hand, China has made real progress. Between 2013 and 2017, Chinese cities cut the amount of fine pollution particulates(PM2.5) in the air by an average of 32 percent. And the capital Beijing has seen a lot more sunny days as PM 2.5 concentration dropped 54 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017, in comparison to the same period of 2016.

On a global level, there’s also good news. China has been instrumental in keeping the Paris Agreement process going, continuing to curb emissions and expand renewables even as the US (another huge polluter) has dramatically backed down at the federal level.

So how’s China done it? There’ve been many steps, but five have been especially key.

1. Bye-Bye, Coal

China has been slowly (but surely) moving away from coal energy. Last year, the government announced plans to cancel 103 new plants and closed the very last coal plant located in the capital, Beijing.

From 2014 to 2015, coal consumption reduced after a decade of steady increase.

2. Putting a Price on Carbon


One of China’s most impressive moves was to launch the world’s largest national carbon trading market in 2017. The goal is to encourage companies to become greener by allowing them sell or buy excessive carbon emissions. The first phase of the project only covers the power generation sector, but the initiative is expected to expand across many other areas of the economy.

3. Clean Bus Rides

China is showing the world how to move many people around quickly and cleanly.   Around 17 percent of the country’s municipal buses are electric, and the city Shenzhen holds the record for the globe’s largest electric bus fleet, with all of its 16,359 buses had gone electric last year. The achievement was only possible due to government subsidies. But in the long run, operation and maintenance costs of electric buses are significantly lower than those fueled by diesel.

4. Making the Investment in Renewables

Moving away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy is not just an effective way to clean up the planet. It’s also a good investment.

In 2017, China invested a staggering US$ 126.6 billion in renewable energy – 45 percent of the total worldwide investment. The country has been using a whole lot of green technology internally  – nearly doubled its solar generation from 2016 to 2017. But it also has its eyes on a much larger international market.

5. New Forests

China is so keen on green that it’s deploying soldiers to plant trees across the country. The goal is to replant many of the forests that were cut down for industrialization and farmland, all with an eye to removing carbon from the atmosphere on a massive scale and doing it naturally.

Sowing seeds is actually one of the country’s Paris Agreement goals – China wants to increase forest stock volume by 4.5 billion cubic meters by 2030, from its 2005 level. China is also planting a different kind of forest on its buildings to help sequester carbon.


The Takeaway


The catalyst was the sight of millions choking on industrial and power sector pollution, but the result has been one of the most influential for emissions reduction and energy transformation the world’s ever seen.

Five steps in the process have been critical:

Cutting coal

Putting a price on carbon

Cleaning up public transit

Investing in renewables

Conserve and rebuild the forest


The good news is that it doesn’t take a public health crisis for countries to embrace these and other practical solutions. The world’s second-largest economy has already shown they work, and now it’s time for other nations to follow its lead.

Want to stay updated on climate action across the globe? Join our email activist list. We’ll deliver the latest on climate science and innovative ways you can get involved in the climate movement right to your inbox.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/07/11/5-ways-chinas-now-a-global-climate-leader/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 13, 2018, 12:33:06 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-061217183404.png&hash=51932b5d38303829f7e7fe72cc20951ed138f3e6)

Why Florida's Largest Lake Is Filled With Toxic Algae, Again

By Maddie Stone

July 12, 2018 Filed to: FLORIDA

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

https://earther.com/why-floridas-largest-lake-is-filled-with-toxic-algae-a-1827524577
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 18, 2018, 01:44:52 pm
Agelbert NOTE: This is a great article packed with cartoons revealing the battle going in in Germany between Renewable Energy advocates and hydrocarbon addicts refusing to recognize the dangers in Greenhouse Gas fueled Catastrophic Climate Change:

(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/all/themes/clew/logo.png)

July 18, 2018

(https://www.cleanenergywire.org/sites/default/files/styles/lightbox_image/public/images/article/2018/07/finding-verdict-coal-mwelwatax.jpeg?itok=sgNrRUiR)

Germany's coal mines seen from space, the talk on electric cars and Chinese-German battery production cooperation - CLEW's visiting cartoonist Mwelwa Musonko presents his view of the Energiewende and its many big and small peculiarities. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

Elephants and aliens - a cartoonist's take on the Energiewende (https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/elephants-and-aliens-cartoonists-take-energiewende)



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 22, 2018, 12:10:49 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F0%2F3-220718120325.png&hash=8b71cd75a9e056e7ff7a33fe96512553e1bd0708)

Poisoning Our Children: The Parent's Guide to the Myths of Safe Pesticides

July 22, 2018 • 71,521 views 👀

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS0_SHVDTsA&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0NyidgFBgE&feature=player_embedded

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.zaazu.com%2Fimg%2FIncredible-Hulk-animated-animation-male-smiley-emoticon-000342-large.gif&hash=db736c8c06568f1aa878171ad53d1f0301cfdff2)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210215010009.jpeg&hash=ddc749d82983168f0195dd08f35a6e1b74568cae)

SNIPPET 1:

Story at-a-glance

• In the U.S., there are about 80,000 registered chemicals. Of these, only a few hundred have been tested for safety, and even that testing is considered inadequate by most toxicologists

• Chemicals are tested in isolation. In real world application however, chemicals are used in combination, and the few studies done on synergetic effects reveal even nontoxic chemicals can become toxic when mixed together

• The agricultural and global chemical industries have manipulated the system to control and suppress safety concerns. Through regulatory capture, regulators end up working for the industry’s rather than the public’s interest

• Regulators make decisions on the safety of poisons in our food and environment based on data provided by the company selling the toxin, and outsiders cannot review that evidence

There’s no specific safety testing done for children, but studies show there is no lower level of pesticides that is safe for children

Agelbert NOTE: The second half of the second video deals with some facts about healthy soils everytone should know. In the earlier part of that video I learned that children DO NOT have certain enzymes in the liver, that human adults DO have, that are extremely important.

SNIPPET 2:

Quote
"There’s no specific testing done for children,” he says. “There’s absolutely no published scientific evidence to show any level of safety. On the other hand, studies show there is no lower level that is safe for children.

Children, when we talk about the unborn, the newborn and grown children up to puberty, they do not have the detoxification enzymes in their livers that we have as adults. Particularly for young children, that means they have no way of detoxifying even the smallest amount of a pesticide or a chemical.

The evidence shows that even small amounts, when children are exposed in the womb, through breastfeeding or at a young age, it severely affects the way they develop. It affects the nervous system, the hormone system and the reproductive system.

When you look at the science, there are so many areas that can be negatively affected by these small amounts. Unfortunately, a lot of these effects last a lifetime. And also, we know some are intergenerational. Those children's grandchildren will be affected."

Read more:

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/07/22/no-safe-limit-for-pesticides-for-children.aspx
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 27, 2018, 07:56:52 pm
EcoWatch

Lorraine Chow

Jul. 26, 2018 02:34PM EST

Only 13% of World's Oceans Remain Wild

A new study has unveiled humanity's sweeping impact on the world's oceans. Commercial fishing, climate change, agricultural runoff and other human-caused stressors have wiped out nearly 90 percent of Earth's marine wilderness, researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Queensland, Australia revealed.

Just 13 percent of the world's seas can be classified as truly wild, with most being located in the high seas, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

"Those marine areas that can be considered 'pristine' are becoming increasingly rare, as fishing and shipping fleets expand their reach across almost all of the world's oceans, and sediment runoff smothers many coastal areas," said Kendall Jones, researcher at the University of Queensland and lead author of the paper, in a press release.

https://youtu.be/yUYPSAhpqBA

What's more, less than 5 percent of the world's remaining marine wildness is protected.

"Improvements in shipping technology mean that even the most remote wilderness areas may come under threat in the future, including once ice-covered places that are now accessible because of climate change," Jones said.

To map out these areas, the research team used fine scale global data to analyze 19 human stressors on the seas, including industrial shipping, sediment runoff and several types of fishing.

The areas that were least affected by these stressors were classified as wilderness, amounting to 21 million square miles or 13.2 percent of the marine environment.

The study shows that most marine wilderness is located in the Arctic, Antarctic and in remote Pacific island nations with low human populations. Conversely, in coastal regions with intense human activities, very little marine wilderness remains. These coastal habitats are home to coral reefs, salt marshes and kelp forests.

The researchers said that preserving the ocean's remaining wilderness is more urgent than ever.

"We know these marine wilderness areas are declining catastrophically, and protecting them must become a focus of multilateral environmental agreements," James Watson, professor at the University of Queensland, director of science at the Wildlife Conservation Society and senior author of the paper, said in the press release. "If not, they will likely disappear within 50 years."

https://www.ecowatch.com/oceans-wilderness-destruction-13-percent-2590138332.html

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fcleantechnica.com%2Ffiles%2F2013%2F05%2Ftime.jpg&hash=1eac5daac15593ed01c69f5b690e62d2eaba36eb)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-260718183407.png&hash=90c66eacce2242457b4868c0ba4242f0202557ef) Zero Hour Just 🦅 Transition (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/global-warming-is-with-us/msg10489/#msg10489)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 13, 2018, 01:49:53 pm
Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)

Understanding FSMA Video Series 1 of 4 – FSMA Overview & Finalized Rules

The objective of this first video is to explain what this new Food Safety Modernization act means to YOU. While there was a lot of information provided, in just a few short minutes, we’ve provided a summary and key take-aways after the video.

https://youtu.be/XGpzMbmtHsU

SUMMARY:


The FDA has created new legislation to ensure that consumers and animals are protected from the unnecessary risks they’ve become exposed to over the last decade. Every part of the supply chain is now accountable for ensuring that the food arrives, from farm to table, in a manner that is fit for consumption.

Transportation companies will now be required to have documented plans and objectives that demonstrate they have a plan in place that is being followed, to comply with the new guidelines.

The next video will explain how the 7th rule mentioned earlier, the Sanitary transportation of human and animal food (STHAF) directly impacts fleets and outline what you need to know.

Learn more: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818184310-1635923.gif&hash=5e2530db4748ed6c7163e1d478fdfa3cd1108668)

https://ironapple.net/1-understanding-fsma-overview-and-finalized-rules/


(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ow8wjiW672zOap2mTMgM-XjeJuSTc46rwJ_CTsxVTw0KxMrAJQadiAwGDbAVzt_x2vUn3srbwzla5SpIUZNHnpyAwka-3u0v8hyhuk1Nfj3Nfl19W5nI4qEv__ozanNo9LD8H6kfhbcn9cummHe9iPebYpAg9_tmyXCTfs0ZZi5D4eJiAch3XroCoO3CDKdL=s0-d-e1-ft#https://aaf1a18515da0e792f78-c27fdabe952dfc357fe25ebf5c8897ee.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/1927/CSPI_Logo_RGB+2.png?v=1510167555000)

August 13, 2018

Romaine Lettuce E. Coli Outbreak by State

210 cases total reported through June 27, 2018 from 36 states

(https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/U_IiLq3jO5bmPGEdc6XJeHqSjiQDdhjZvhGlZe9kP-XSF_acCpqv_-86ITe3EbifZxO-At99zxUQkEL-R2c59j2sRoVPSTyGtUubI6xwruaJRY1YQbbzy0rCyczpZUEQpQNlXohQlywwZomhYacYL3i6IcSGyoy9uGVbTG2fDKfUfy72wu_2m4Jf5JKeHmZn=s0-d-e1-ft#https://aaf1a18515da0e792f78-c27fdabe952dfc357fe25ebf5c8897ee.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/1927/big-map-6-28-18.jpg?v=1533822743000)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16271224.gif&hash=c2a9bfbff23e2414975829eb4b3655af12eb02cc)

Lives are quite literally at risk, and the Trump administration’s (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418201722.png&hash=5299cc10ee42beae76e4d3b7c79dbf5f4c0addac)refusal to implement the key parts of FSMA is inexcusable.  (https://action.cspinet.org/page/28636/donate/1) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 13, 2018, 06:35:53 pm
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200317134631.png&hash=3ec83ab2cb9a9acaf485fff7312df6381c25c2fd)

Jury Finds Monsanto liable in the first Roundup cancer trial – here’s what could happen next

LAST UPDATED ON AUGUST 13TH, 2018 AT 6:35 PM BY CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR

SNIPPET:

Much of the plaintiff’s case was based on a widely criticized 2015 statement by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, that glyphosate was a “probable human carcinogen” (Group 2A on its scale). A classification of “human carcinogen” (Group 1) means that a panel of scientists convened by the IARC believes the agent is a cancer hazard to humans, like smoking and ionizing radiation. The 2A classification is not as strong. It means that there is credible evidence, but it does not reach the standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The IARC’s process for determining carcinogenicity has come under heavy criticism before. In particular, in the early 2000s some observers worried that industry was actually influencing the agency to downgrade its classification of chemical agents. In the Roundup cases, the accusation against the IARC cuts the other way. According to some accounts, it was biased against industry and sought a harsh classification for glyphosate.

The IARC has provided a detailed defense of its process in the glyphosate evaluation. It has also published a monograph on glyphosate with all the gory details of the science behind its evaluation.

I served on a monograph working group in 2007 for an IARC assessment of whether shift work was a potential cancer hazard. I have also participated in three other meetings sponsored by IARC over the years, so I have seen the agency’s process up close. In my view, IARC personnel go to great lengths to ensure objectivity and scientific rigor. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817121649.png&hash=4554f7e59701d12857946aece16bceb973c997b3)

This does not mean that their classifications are the last word. In fact, the agency has often changed its classification of an agent based on new evidence after initial evaluation. Sometimes it has become more certain that the agent poses a hazard, but in other cases it has downgraded the hazard.

https://youtu.be/dx9pQe7d-sI

Full article:
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/monsanto-cancer-trial-042343/

Agelbert NOTE: I'll save you some time. Monsanto 👹 is lying about not having tested glyphosate to detertmine whether or not it is a Carcinogen. They 🔬 have AND they know the EXACT concentrations that produce the Carcinogenic results in test animals, but they 👹 have made very sure that it cannot be proven in court.

But, that's not where THAT skullduggery ends, not by a long shot. Monsanto 👹 uses the old reliable Tobacco Propaganda Mense Rea Modus Operandi (SEE BELOW) to obfuscate/prevent any attempt at attempt to present evidence of glyphosate carcinogenicity by honest third parties 👨‍🔬🔬 that tested glyphosate. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718210509.gif&hash=0537e8f85b932c57cd8d4d4750d0e22a518984f0)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-070417182049.png&hash=9a68129daa409aeca77baae4023d42727ccfef6f)

Monsanto will do everything possible to avoid paying the amount determined by the court BECAUSE, if they pay (as they would if they had any ethics whatsoever!), the floodgates will be open to destroying their "doubt is our product" multi-decade stall/scam which has poisoned millions of people and animals surreptitiously.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F775_2.jpeg&hash=59402f356363096fab10dc1c03aa8eacf2eb473e)

So, in order to continue profiting from the crime and NOT paying the fine or doing the time, Monsanto 😈 will take this all the way to the Supreme Fascists Court (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c), where the "award" will be reduced to a pittance or overturned. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185039-1650578.gif&hash=f338daee4cd9cad66dc5bc5437615c9725fbc67d)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-130818183343.png&hash=24619de38894b06548f1a2a193303336c2bf9c0a)

How Safe is Roundup?

Controversy Plagues Roundup, a Popular Weed Killer Made by Monsanto


BY MARC LALLANILLA Updated 10/03/17

Great video in the article: 👍

https://www.thespruce.com/how-safe-is-roundup-1709066
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 14, 2018, 04:52:40 pm
CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica’s work via donations on Patreon or PayPal!

Or just go buy a cool t-shirt, cup, baby outfit, bag, or hoodie. (https://cleantechnica.com/shop/#!/)


Solar Farms Can Become Pollinator Habitats & Help Save the Bees! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.haleakalasolar.com%2Fimages%2Findex-infobox2.jpg&hash=c49806321315171df0f26c7f0f47adb61cf632eb)

August 14th, 2018 by Carolyn Fortuna

They buzz and swarm, hover and dart. In the process of gathering pollen and nectar for their hives, bees and other insects pollinate flowers, ensuring that plants reproduce and yield fruit and other products. They contribute to pollinating nearly 75% of all human food crops worldwide, and yet humans have put tremendous stress on insect pollinator habitats with pesticides, land development, altered hydrologic patterns, and other actions. As a result, insect species have declined significantly. Ultimate loss of these insect species could have global scale impacts — wiping out crops, elevating food production costs, and compromising human nutrition.

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, however, are investigating ways to use pollinator-friendly solar power as a way to reinvigorate pollinator habitats. By studying solar energy facilities with pollinator habitats on site, researchers hope to rehabilitate pollinator populations that play a crucial role in national and global agricultural industries, plant species, and thriving pollinator numbers.

(https://cleantechnica.com/files/2018/08/solar-farm.jpg)
pollinator habitat

Concerns regarding the conservation of pollinators have risen to the global scale as countries have seen severe pollinator declines and have begun developing strategies to sustain pollinator species in the face of an ever-expanding human population. Although the total land area projected to be required for solar development through 2030 is less than 0.1% of the contiguous US surface area, a need exists to improve the landscape sustainability of large-scale solar developments to avoid or minimize potential impacts to local agriculture and cultural, ecological, and other natural resources.

With goals to conserve habitat, maintain ecosystem function, and support multiple ongoing human land uses in the landscape, researchers in Argonne’s Environmental Science (EVS) division have found that the area around solar panels could provide an ideal location for the plants that attract pollinators. This study outlines opportunities for investigating the environmental benefits of pollinator habitats, such as water conservation, land management, and carbon dioxide reduction.

(https://cleantechnica.com/files/2018/08/conventional-solar-farm-array-1.jpg)
pollinator habitat


Background about Rural Energy Development and Agricultural Intensification

Utility-scale solar energy (USSE) developments (≥1 megawatt [MW]) are increasing in agricultural landscapes, specifically on former agricultural fields. Driven variously by economics, rejection of fossil fuels, global climate change actions, air and water pollution, and energy security, USSE grew at an average rate of 72% per year between 2010 and 2016. By the end of 2016, USSE facilities accounted for approximately 22 GW of installed US electricity generation capacity, with an additional 13 GW of planned USSE construction. Interest in on-site vegetation management approaches to USSE farms is increasing, as it could restore ecosystem balance such as crop pollination that also maintains or even enhances agricultural production on nearby lands.

Recent emphasis has been placed on the creation and maintenance of pollinator habitats at USSE facilities. “Pollinator habitats” describes the practice of planting seed mixes of regional native plants such as milkweed and other wildflowers, within the solar infrastructure footprint after construction. Sowing could occur among solar panels or other reflective surfaces, or in off-site areas adjacent to the solar facility. Sowing has the intent to attract and support native insect pollinators by providing food sources, refuge, and nesting habitat.

Despite their ecological differences, all types of solar-pollinator habitats have the potential to improve biodiversity and ecosystem function as compared to conventional USSE vegetation management practices.


Conventional USSE management practices are intended to minimize or prohibit the growth of vegetation within the facility footprint:

• placement of gravel

• establishment and maintenance of turf grass

• mowing

• herbicide application

Such practices provide little or no habitat suitable for pollinator species, especially if these vegetation management practices occur frequently during operation of the solar facility.

Solar-pollinator habitat and related activities provide ecological benefits for pollinators and non-pollinators alike:

֍ limited mowing

֍ no herbicide or pesticide applications

֍ planned seed sowing to attract pollinators

(https://cleantechnica.com/files/2018/08/wildflower-field.jpg)
pollinator habitats

Reclaiming Pollinator Habitats through Cultivated Solar Farms

In response to the population decline of pollinating insects, such as wild bees and monarch butterflies, the Argonne researchers have examined the potential benefits of establishing pollinator habitats at USSE facilities to conserve pollinators and restore the ecosystem they provide. Examining over 2,800 existing and planned USSE facilities in the contiguous US, the researchers determined whether solar-sited pollinator habitat could benefit agriculture. They found over 3,500 square kilometers of agricultural land near existing and planned USSE facilities that could benefit from rehabilitation and which could help reinstate the declining pollinator population with few subsequent side effects.

For example, one team looked at 3 example crop types to measure the agricultural benefits of increased pollinator habitats. These crops – soybeans, almonds, and cranberries – depend on insect pollinators for their annual crop yields. If all existing and planned solar facilities near these crop types included pollinator habitat and increased yield by just 1%, crop values could rise $1.75 million, $4 million, and $233,000 for soybeans, almonds and cranberries, respectively.

Solar-sited pollinator habitats can help optimize the land-use efficiency of solar energy developments while not compromising solar panel efficiency. Often filled with gravel or turf grass, much of the land in a solar farm is untended. Research has shown that in many locations these grounds offer an ideal place to establish native plant species, such as prairie grass or wildflowers, which are prevalent pollinator habitats and can encourage steady insect population growth. There are economic benefits to pollinators, too — honey bee pollination alone adds more than $15 billion in value to agricultural crops each year in the US.

By increasing the ability of pollinators to pollinate adjacent agricultural fields, solar-sited pollinator habitat may boost farmers’ crop yields and create companion income revenues to neighboring agricultural farms. Rejuvenating local pollinator habitat is one way that local farmers can augment trends to lease land for solar arrays, as the practice has proven more lucrative to them at times than cash crops.

(https://cleantechnica.com/files/2018/08/pollinator-habitats.jpg)
pollinator habitats

Final Thoughts

Studies in the UK support findings that solar panels enhance biodiversity and wildlife abundance — botanical diversity within solar farm landscaping is responding to favorable management practices.

Most UK sites studied point out that herbicide application to date at USSEs has been limited to spot treatment of weeds. They conclude that a reduction in the use of broad-spectrum herbicides will lead to greater diversity of broadleaved plants. High soil fertility of arable farmland favors a few dominant species of plants, but, as soil fertility reduces in the absence of fertilizer, diversity of both grasses and broad leaved plants is able to and is anticipated to increase. Where suitable USSE management exists, botanical diversity increases over time, with plants emerging from seed banks as well as airborne or animal-carried seed.

The symbiosis of solar farms and pollinator habitats may widen appreciation among community members and local governments for the pollinators’ role in agricultural production. It may persuade solar developers to rethink the landscape design around their installations.

Many US states are catching up to their European counterparts and acknowledging the need to address pollinator population declines through legislation. Solar facilities are beginning to respond by sowing in pollinator-friendly areas. Illinois recently passed a “Pollinator-Friendly Solar Energy Bill” in May, 2018. Other states like Maryland and Minnesota have made part of their legislative agendas to transition to USSEs that incorporate landscape compatible environs.

Photos on Foter.com and  solartradeassociation on Trend Hype / CC BY-SA and USDAgov on TrendHype / CC BY-ND and by oatsy40 on Trend hype / CC BY

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/08/14/solar-farms-can-become-pollinator-habitats-help-save-the-bees/

Agelbert COMMENT: There is a destructive mentallity in much of the USA in regard to vegetation in general and lawns in particular. This attitude has influenced most of the non-indigenous population for centuries.

What am I talking about❓ I'm talking about the destructive practice of maintaining manicured lawns. The Zoning Nazis in most towns in the USA prohibit home owners form growing food in their front yards or even allowing the yard to be "wild" with wild flowers or other local vegetation.  👎

All this adds pollution from gasoline powered lawn mowers (which pollute massively because those small engines have no pollution controls whatsoever!)  AND poisons the soil with (hydrocarbon feed stock) chemical pesticides and herbicides. 👎👎👎

Where did this unhealthy practice come from⁉️

 It came from the Midieval Castle use of "Killing fields".

Look at this picture:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-100718163757-14452356.jpeg&hash=f5570928c3662fbd885fbb4537c72775020930e8)

We are all very familiar with the concept of a moat. BUT, most castles did not have one.

The castles were subject to attack, so the grounds around the walls were cleared so attacking troops could not use tall foliage as cover to get near the walls. These areas were called "killling fileds" because the archers on the walls  would kill anyone attacking the castle in the cleared areas.

When peace was more routine, castle grounds went from large manicured (i.e. short) lawns to manicured bushes and fastidiously ordered flower gardens with mazes and walks for the "nobles" to stroll along in a 100% "tamed" nature area.

(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/ef/51/9def51447ab9ab9d20e5835013ab0c1c.jpg)

(https://www.kentonline.co.uk/_media/img/620x0/HSBPO2C5W5WDHDZNUJE8.jpg)

This Victorian idea of ordering natue obsessively was, unfortunately, transferred to the "new" world along with the genocide of the native population. 🤬

It's time to stop being stupid with lawns, people. We do not need a killing field (for people AND bees, butterflies, ladybugs, worms, beetles, trillions of soil health providing microbes, etc.) in our front yard.

📢 Vote the Zoning Nazis OUT in your town!

We DO need to take seriously our RESPONSIBILITY as stewards of the biosphere to work to promote and preserve biodiversity, as Carolyn Fortuna 👍🌞 advocates here.

Thank you, Carolyn Fortuna 🍃, for being part of the solution. 💐 God bless you.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-251117174622.jpeg&hash=c88507a51ced12d3dd0f41b367418348a76e9891)

 
What it Means to be Responsible - Reflections on Our Responsibility for the Future  by Theresa Morris, State University of New York at New Paltz (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/future-earth/msg7563/#msg7563)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 14, 2018, 10:37:03 pm
Truthout

August 14, 2018

Chevron Must Pay for Environmental Damage in Ecuador, Court Rules  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

Staff, Mongabay: The Constitutional Court of Ecuador has found that Chevron deliberately dumped billions of gallons of toxic oil waste in the Amazon rainforest on Indigenous lands.

Chevron will now have to pay $9.5 billion for the repair and remediation of social and environmental damage caused as a result of the oil company's operations in the Amazon.

Read more:

https://truthout.org/articles/chevron-must-pay-for-environmental-damage-in-ecuador-court-rules/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 19, 2018, 07:33:00 pm
Over 2,000 Cities with Higher Lead Levels than Flint  >:(

August 19, 2018

Baltimore, Milwaukee, Chicago and Cleveland all have been victim to high lead and other toxins in the water. Eddie Conway and Eugene Puryear discuss the frustrations of citizens and the struggles to get clean water in communities of color

https://youtu.be/J5dfJZ10CzY

https://therealnews.com/stories/over-2000-cities-with-higher-lead-levels-than-flint
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 21, 2018, 03:14:29 pm
The New Republic

(https://images.newrepublic.com/438c0b5fe877b18767de36c3b8b43266a5385bfe.jpeg?w=1200&q=65&dpi=1.25&fm=pjpg&fit=crop&crop=faces&h=800)

The Modern Automobile Must Die (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-060518153110.png&hash=39d587c31b7f7e66b30d7e59bb560e2ad0662eee)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.funny-emoticons.com%2Ffiles%2Ffunny-animals%2Fblue-bird-emoticons%2F801-listen-up%21.png&hash=f7fb2b5263a68b91c628fc597877983f813843e5) If we want to solve climate change, there's no other option.

By EMILY ATKIN

August 20, 2018

SNIPPET:

Germany was supposed to be a model for solving global warming. In 2007, the country’s government announced that it would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by the year 2020. This was the kind of bold, aggressive climate goal scientists said was needed in all developed countries. If Germany could do it, it would prove the target possible.

So far, Germany has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 27.7 percent—an astonishing achievement for a developed country with a highly developed manufacturing sector. But with a little over a year left to go, despite dedicating $580 billion toward a low-carbon energy system, the country “is likely to fall short of its goals for reducing harmful carbon-dioxide emissions,” Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. And the reason for that may come down not to any elaborate solar industry plans, but something much simpler: cars.

“At the time they set their goals, they were very ambitious,” Patricia Espinosa, the United Nations’ top climate change official, told Bloomberg. “What happened was that the industry🦕🦖—particularly the car industry 😈🐉🦕🦖didn’t come along.”  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

Changing the way we power our homes and businesses is certainly important. But as Germany’s shortfall shows, the only way to achieve these necessary, aggressive emissions reductions to combat global warming is to overhaul the gas-powered automobile and the culture that surrounds it. The only question left is how to do it.

In 2010, a NASA study declared that automobiles were officially the largest net contributor of climate change pollution in the world.

Full article:

https://newrepublic.com/article/150689/modern-automobile-must-die
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 03, 2018, 06:48:01 pm
Environmental medicine explained

William Rea of the Environmental Health Center

https://youtu.be/kuHFpghQCUg

Roughly 80% of illnesses are created by the environment and diet.

And what do average doctors know about these things?

NOTHING.

Here's an interview with one of the pioneers of this most important and still neglected area of medicine.

Electrical sensitivity is often paired (80%) with chemical sensitivity and illnesses created by mold.

The science is in and has been for many years.

Doctors are, predictably, completely ignorant. 😠

The news media which makes billions every year selling ads for the makers say nothing. 👎

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/environment/environmental-medicine-explained.html

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 15, 2018, 03:14:49 pm
Dave Murphy: Will Monsanto's 😈 Loss Result In Less Poison ☠️ In Our Food? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163123-16662165.gif&hash=0c278af5ea445d20e48640c4f39f951df986eed6)

09/15/2018

Authored by Adam Taggart via PeakProsperity.com

https://youtu.be/4vlsptzr1QI

Read more:

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-13/dave-murphy-will-monsantos-loss-result-less-poison-our-food

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 16, 2018, 07:24:40 pm
Media Coverage of Hurricane Florence Leaves Out Crucial Information

September 15, 2018

Analyses of the media coverage of hurricane Florence show that most outlets leave out the link to climate change and the real dangers the hurricane presents for creating toxic spills. 😠

We speak to Lisa Hyams 👍 of Media Matters for America 👍

https://youtu.be/nj4pRlk7Nkk

Story Transcript

DIMITRI LASCARIS: This is Dimitri Lascaris, reporting for The Real News Network from Montreal, Canada.

Today we look at Hurricane Florence and two important issues that relate to this major event. One is the media’s coverage of the ties between climate change and hurricanes. Another is a story that demands media attention, how hurricane-caused spills from coal ash pits and hog manure ponds in North Carolina, which is in the path of the hurricane, could harm low income People of Color. Our guest is longtime climate journalist, Lisa Hymas, director of the climate and energy program at Media Matters and senior editor at Grist. She joins us from Washington, D.C. Thank you for joining us today, Lisa.

LISA HYMAS: Thank you for having me. Happy to be with you.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: So, Lisa, let’s start with something Media Matters and Public Citizen reported on last year. They found that major outlets dropped the ball while covering hurricanes. They often did not connect them to climate change, and after Hurricane Harvey, a devastating hurricane, two groups of scientists published studies that link the record breaking rainfall to climate change. Now scientists are warning of a similar pattern of rainfall and effects from climate change, and last year, your reporting revealed that the media’s lack of coverage on this connection was quite significant. Thus far in your view, have the media done a better job of covering Florence and its to global warming?

LISA HYMAS: Well, it’s been a mixed bag so far. I mean, you are definitely right that coverage last year was very poor, coverage that connected the devastating hurricanes that we saw to climate change. So, we here at Media Matters did an analysis of broadcast news coverage of Hurricane Harvey and found that both the ABC and NBC never once mentioned climate change in all of their coverage of Hurricane Harvey. And we found that they didn’t do much better on Irma or Maria either. And as you said, Public Citizen is another organization that has done some analysis on this, and they looked at TV coverage and radio and newspapers last year, major newspapers, and found that just four percent of the stories about last year’s hurricanes mentioned climate change.

So, that is much less coverage than this issue deserves. I mean, not every story about a hurricane needs to mention climate change, but we should be seeing a lot more explanation to Americans of the ways that climate change exacerbates hurricanes and makes them more dangerous. So, this year so far, we have seen some good coverage explaining how climate change is making hurricanes worse, and even making Hurricane Florence in particular worse. So, I’ve been encouraged by some of the coverage that I’ve seen in outlets like The Washington Post, but also some regional newspapers like The Baltimore Sun and The Miami Herald have been explaining this connection.

On the other hand, we’ve seen some bad work in this area. Particularly, I’ve been looking at what USA Today has been doing. So, the paper USA Today ran a decent editorial this week talking about the connections between climate change and hurricanes, but then they ran a couple of pieces on their editorial page that disputed the link. And one of one of them outright denied that climate science is a settled thing. And another piece that they published was by a known climate denier who argued, contrary to the science, that we can’t see any influence of climate change on hurricanes. So, I’m optimistic by the good coverage that I’m seeing, but we still have a ways to go.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: And you mentioned The Washington Post was one of the more responsible media outlets. Do you know how the readership of The Washington Post compares to USA Today? I would imagine that USA Today has a substantially larger readership. Is that fair?

LISA HYMAS: You know, I believe you’re right but I’m not actually sure.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: Okay. Now let’s move on to the recently loosened rule on coal ash disposal. This was the first Obama-era EPA rule changed by new incoming acting head of the EPA Andrew Wheeler. This move saves power companies like Duke Energy in North Carolina millions of dollars. But as Duke University’s Avner Vengosh observed in terms of the environmental impacts of coal ash, scaling back requirements in particular could leave communities vulnerable to potential pollution. And he said, “We have clear evidence that coal ash ponds are leaking into groundwater sources.

The question is, has it reached areas where people use it for drinking water? We just don’t know. That’s the problem.” How do you assess this problem, and is there anywhere in the country where sufficient groundwater testing is taking place?

LISA HYMAS: That’s a good question. I mean, we’re really concerned and a lot of people are concerned right now about these coal ash pits in North Carolina in the path of the storm. Coal burning power plants create massive amounts of toxic waste and they’re stored oftentimes alongside rivers and waterways in these pits, or sometimes they’re called ponds, that oftentimes aren’t properly lined, they’re not properly covered. Even when there isn’t bad whether, they can leak into waterways. So, there’s a lot of worry right now that if there is substantial flooding, major winds, that could really contaminate water supplies.

I mean, one of the real problems here is that that is likely to hurt low-income folks the most. They’re the ones who tend to live near power plants. They don’t put power plants in rich neighborhoods, they tend to be located near low-income people and minority communities. And so, the media and public health officials definitely need to be watching whether there are spills that will affect drinking water supplies.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: And I understand another important aspect of this that you have been imploring the media to cover is hog farms and their impact on low-income communities of color in North Carolina. While some of the print press seem to be on top of one aspect of the story namely, the dangers of hog waste getting into local waterways, you bring up a part that they are missing, which could potentially have profound impacts on the type of pollution on People of Color, and also, the role of the Trump administration loosening of regulations that could make these spills more likely.

North Carolina is home to thirty-one coal ash pits that house around, as I understand it, one hundred and eleven million tons, a stunning amount, of toxic waste produced by hogs. These ponds store about ten billion pounds of waste. Now, with the heavy rain from Hurricane Florence, this creates, as you call, it a “noxious witch’s brew that might be headed into people’s homes and drinking water. Please elaborate a little bit about the nature of this threat and whether you think enough is being done both to deal with the threat and to cover the threats, to make the public aware of the threat.

LISA HYMAS: Yeah, so you’re are exactly right. I’ve been glad to see that some outlets in the past few days have written about the danger of spills from hog manure waste pits as well as coal ash pits, but none of them have been picking up on the environmental justice angle and the people who will be hurt the most by this. Just as power plants tend to be located by low-income and minority communities, so do hog facilities.

So, North Carolina is home to many, many industrial hog facilities. You might call them factory farms, or the industry calls them concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs, but factory farms pretty much captures it. So, you have huge numbers of hogs in small confined spaces, and they produce massive amounts of waste. And that waste is, again, like the coal ash, oftentimes stored in pits that aren’t properly protected, that can overflow near waterways. And that waste is really noxious stuff that could have serious impacts on water quality.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: As most of the nation’s scientific community has expressed, extreme weather patterns appear to be on the rise. And as California’s governor Jerry Brown discusses, his state’s devastating wildfires are the new normal. North Carolina appears to have seen it a little differently in 2012, when the GOP-controlled state legislative body passed a law banning state officials from considering the latest science regarding sea level rise when doing coastal planning. The law was drafted in response to an estimate by the state’s Coastal Resources Commission that sea level will rise by thirty-nine inches in the next century, prompting fears of costly were home insurance and alarm from many quarters.

But residents and developers in the state’s coastal Outer Banks region pushed the bill, signed by a Republican Governor, saying, “if science gives you a result you don’t like, pass a law saying the result is illegal.” I’m sorry, that actually was a comment by Stephen Colbert, not by the Republican governor. However, as you write, the problem is not solved. Will Hurricane Florence and the pro-environmental Democrat Roy Cooper, who was elected governor in 2016, in your view, be able to mute the influence of developers and Republican majority legislature in that state? How does this become something that we solve in North Carolina given the political realities?

LISA HYMAS: I think it’s going to be a challenge. I mean, you’re right to contrast California, which is really pushing ahead and trying to prepare for climate change and trying to fight climate change, with a state like North Carolina, where they really have been trying to move backward and pretend that climate science doesn’t even exist. I’ll be curious to see whether Hurricane Florence has some influence on that. When people’s homes are damaged or destroyed and their lives are affected and their communities are hurt, sometimes they can get a new view on things and maybe come to realize that climate change isn’t just an idle threat, but it’s something that’s already happening right now to communities.

So, I am hopeful that North Carolina can start moving in a more realistic direction, both preparing for climate change and fighting it, but we we will have to see. They don’t have a great record so far.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: Well, we’ve been speaking to Lisa Hymas about Hurricane Florence, the media’s coverage of this major weather event and its connection to climate change, and the political rallies in North Carolina. Thank you very much for joining us today, Lisa.

LISA HYMAS: Thank you for having me on, it’s been great to talk to you.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: And this is Dimitri Lascaris, reporting for The Real News.

https://therealnews.com/stories/media-coverage-of-hurricane-florence-leaves-out-crucial-information

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.mediamatters.org%2Fstatic%2Fimages%2Fitem%2Fucsfox.jpg&hash=91821684cdc39f8255c637a14f6055d60e440d13)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 19, 2018, 02:08:44 pm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/545693884664119297/mCDJfUgm.jpeg)

September 19, 2018

💥Gas Explosion Rocks MA

Pressure in a natural gas pipeline that fatally exploded last week in the Boston suburbs was 12 times higher than what "the system intended to hold," Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren said in a letter to the pipeline's parent company Tuesday.

The explosion, the largest natural gas pipeline accident in the US since 2010, killed an 18-year-old, injured at least 25, damaged dozens of homes and forced more than 8,000 people to evacuate.

The senators are seeking answers to 19 questions about the explosion, while residents of the three impacted towns filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday against Columbia Gas and its parent company NiSource.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-massachusetts-explosions/lawsuit-targets-massachusetts-utility-over-deadly-gas-explosions-idUSKCN1LY2QX

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-270718182509.png&hash=8110b0df1390c9a9c94421957777b40a38eb1cae)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 23, 2018, 02:50:35 pm
CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica’s work via donations on Patreon or PayPal!

Or just go buy a cool t-shirt, cup, baby outfit, bag, or hoodie. (https://cleantechnica.com/shop/#!/)

Is It Time To Ditch That Loud, Polluting, Hard-To-Start, Smelly, Obnoxious Gas-Powered Weed Whacker❓  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163123-16662165.gif&hash=0c278af5ea445d20e48640c4f39f951df986eed6)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185040-1659929.gif&hash=0a9ca0c1f083655b821cbf024422e55e009a6d8d)

September 23rd, 2018 by Steve Bakker

SNIPPET:

Good question. Has the battery-powered device revolution evolved enough to make the gas-fired weed eater an endangered species? Could be. I’m going to share with you the experience I recently had when purchasing a weed eater to whack some seriously overgrown vegetation on my property. Since my past experience with such implements of mass destruction have always been of the gas-powered variety I started pricing just such a beast online. In spite of the fact that I’ve spent quite a bit of time educating myself on advances in Lithium-ion battery tech, converted every battery-powered tool and gizmo in my house to rechargeable batteries, and even have a battery-powered car on order (Tesla Model 3), it didn’t occur to me to think green when buying a weed eater.

Very informative article and comments:

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/09/23/is-it-time-to-ditch-that-loud-polluting-hard-to-start-smelly-obnoxious-gas-powered-weed-whacker/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-191017143841.jpeg&hash=21f142befe4ed82f10ef0bdba11c22bbd3051289) Agelbert comment: I have an old Sears electric weed whacker I purchased 20 years ago. It still works fine on a one third acre lot with a LONG extension cord. I never have to worry about batteries to recharge. 😀

I purchased a push lawn mower at the same time. We still use it. 😎

The last time I had a gasoline powered weed whaker was from 1983 - 1986. It was a bad investment.

ALL gasoline powered yard maintenance machines are horribly polluting and should be banned. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)

Quote
EPA Statistics: Gas Mowers represent 5% of U.S. Air Pollution

Cleaner Air : Gas Mower Pollution Facts

Noisy Noisy Mowers make bad neighbors...Noise Charts

And if that weren't enough...calculate your gas mowers emissions.

FACT: one hour of mowing is the equivalent of driving 350 miles in terms of volatile organic compounds. 😨

Fact: One gas mower spews 87 lbs. of the greenhouse gas CO2, and 54 lbs. of other pollutants into the air every year.

Fact: Over 17 million gallons of gas are spilled each year refueling lawn and garden equipmentmore oil than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez. 🤬

Gardeners Spill More than the Exxon Valdezcleaner mowing, the effect of gas powers for one hour

Each weekend, about 54 million Americans mow their lawns, using 800 million gallons of gas per year and producing tons of air pollutants. Garden equipment engines, which have had unregulated emissions until the late 1990's, emit high levels of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, producing up to 5% of the nation's air pollution and a good deal more in metropolitan areas.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a new gas powered lawn mower produces volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides emissions air pollution in one hour of operation as 11 new cars each being driven for one hour.

In addition to groundwater contamination, spilled fuel that evaporates into the air and volatile organic compounds ☠️ 🚩 spit out by small engines make smog-forming ozone when cooked by heat and sunlight.


The EPA does NOT admit that electric everything can do all our yard work (AND farm work AND transportation needs) without polluting, but it does say almost the same thing (see below). Of course the Hydrocarbon Loving Hellspawn 😈 will jump in and say that coal power plants are giving us all that electricity (NOT true!), but we know that is a BALONEY excuse to perpetuate the planet killing hydrocarbon "business model".

The replacement of every 500 gas mowers with non-motorized mowers would spare ✨ the air (https://www.peoplepoweredmachines.com/faq-environment.htm)

✔ 212 pounds of hydrocarbons (smog ingredient)

✔ 1.7 pounds of nitrogen oxides (smog ingredient)

✔ 5.6 pounds of irritating particles 1,724 pounds of carbon dioxide


We can limit global warming to 1.5°C — but we need to change how we travel, heat homes, and use devices (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/global-warming-is-with-us/msg10564/#msg10564)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 26, 2018, 06:06:40 pm
North Carolina CAFOs Turning Waterways Into Toxic Toilets

September 26, 2018
 
These factory farms produce enough pig waste to fill more than 15,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools each year. And that doesn't even include the 2 million tons of dry waste created by the poultry CAFOs. So where does it all go? Normally, thousands of waste lagoons contain it. That is, until a devastating hurricane hits.

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

֍ Following Hurricane Florence, at least 132 CAFO waste lagoons had released pig waste into the environment or were at risk of doing so

֍ It’s estimated that 5,500 pigs and 3.4 million chickens drowned due to Florence flooding

֍ Before-and-after satellite images from the U.S. Geological Survey of a section of North Carolina coastline clearly show massive amounts of brown sludge pouring from inland waterways to the coast

֍ Liquefied pig waste may sicken people and contaminate water with pathogens like salmonella, giardia and E-coli

֍ Hog waste leaching or overflowing into waterways can also lead to algae overgrowth, depleting the water of oxygen and killing fish and other marine life in expansive dead zones

 Full article >> (https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/10/02/cafo-lagoons-have-released-pig-waste-into-the-environment.aspx)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 02, 2018, 12:52:31 pm
Toxic building materials

A hidden epidemic

https://youtu.be/Dthe_j0Dek4

How manufacturers lie on safety data sheets

This summer I was severely poisoned and made chronically ill by a combination of two factors:

1. Toxic mold

A negligent landlord failed to repair water damage and allowed toxic black mold to grow hidden in the walls and ceiling of an office they owned. Then they rented the office to me.

They knew the mold was there because they periodically came (at night) to patch things up. I had no idea there was a problem and neither did the dozens of people who visited my office over the years.

For five years, my immune system was quietly being chipped away at until it finally collapsed one day "suddenly."

2. "Legal" toxins

Toxic chemicals were used to put a finish on some cabinets in my home.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183404.bmp&hash=dc40a133c761f80036b08ef0f6c0427aaa7e9f4b)

Because of my weakened immune system, the fumes from these cabinets had an immediate and catastrophic impact on my health.

I won't go into all the grim details - it would take a book - but I wouldn't wish what's happened to me on my worst enemy.

Getting information about the chemicals used in construction is nearly impossible.

Manufacturers are given all kinds of "outs" and - would you believe it? - they lie.  >:(

Here's why this is important: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)

People with weakened immune systems are often pushed "over the edge" by home renovation work because of the toxic chemicals used. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040718162655-14212306.gif&hash=ac1ba9a4062a66706644a3a889fa54d31c5eb4f0)

How many people are impacted this way? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163123-16662165.gif&hash=0c278af5ea445d20e48640c4f39f951df986eed6)

80% of the people who experience a sudden catastrophic collapse of their immune systems have it as the result of home or office renovations.

Have you ever heard of this before?  ???

Probably not.  >:(

You or someone you know may be gravely or chronically ill for a "mysterious" reason that the so-called doctors can't figure out. (If they can't write a prescription based on 3 seconds of evaluation they can't figure ANYTHING out.) 🤬

In my case, I was lucky. The impact on me was massive and immediate. There was no doubt I was poisoned by the fumes.

Then I realized I'd been tired and sick-feeling at the end of every work day in my office for years, so, on a hunch, I spent the many hundreds of dollars necessary to have the place tested for mold and the test discovered toxic mold.

Dozens of people had been in and out of my office over the years and no one noticed anything. I sure didn't and I'm usually pretty observant. Then again, the building's owner - a church! - took great pains to keep a lid on the problem.

Mold from shoddy building and maintenance practices and "modern" chemicals are silently destroying the health and lives of millions of people each year.

The multi-billion dollar chemical industry (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78)  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) makes sure you NEVER hear about this because their liability would be astronomical.

A source to start your research: Book - "The E.I. Syndrome: An Rx for Environmental Illness" by Sherry Rogers MD.

http://www.nextworldtv.com/videos/environment/toxic-building-materials.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 26, 2018, 03:16:42 pm
Truthout

Octobert 26, 2018

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-231014212330.jpeg&hash=c256f59f7e0e14e05edbffee22f8d77a46d53a91)

Air Pollution Causes Up to 33 Million ER Visits for Asthma Annually

https://truthout.org/articles/air-pollution-causes-up-to-33-million-emergency-room-visits-for-asthma-annually/

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 09, 2018, 06:41:05 pm
EcoWatch

By Ken Roseboro

Nov. 05, 2018 11:01AM EST

SNIPPET:

Of all the genetic engineers who have renounced the technology—Arpad Pusztai, Belinda Martineau, Thierry Vrain, John Fagan and Michael Antoniou, among others—because of its shortsighted approach and ability to produce unintended and potentially toxic consequences, Caius Rommens' story may be the most compelling.

Rommens was director of research at Simplot Plant Sciences from 2000 to 2013 where he led development of the company's genetically engineered Innate potato. But over time, Rommens started to have serious doubts about his work and worried about potential health risks from eating the GMO potatoes, which are now sold in 4,000 supermarkets in the U.S.

Rommens' concerns about the GMO potato led him to write a book, Pandora's Potatoes, which was recently published. The book is a case study on how a scientist's initial enthusiasm about genetic engineering turns to doubt and fear as he realizes the hazards the technology can create.

I recently interviewed Caius Rommens about his work developing the GMO potato and the misgivings he now has about it.

The title of your book is Pandora's Potatoes. What led you to choose this title?

Caius Rommens: During the five years after my departure from Simplot, I realized that I had not been rigorous enough in considering the possibility that my modifications might have caused unintended effects. I then studied the publicly available literature that was relevant to my past work, and identified a number of issues that had been hidden from my view. My GM potatoes had "hidden" issues—like Pandora's Box.

What do you think should be done with these GMO potatoes?

Caius Rommens: I believe that, for the short term, GM potatoes entering the consumer market should be evaluated for the incidence of hidden bruise and infections and the range in levels of toxins such as alpha-aminoadipate and tyramine. 👨‍🔬  🔬 👀

Full Eye Opening 😲 article:

GMO Potato Creator Now Fears Its Impact on Human Health (https://www.ecowatch.com/gmo-potato-simplot-health-fears-2618087647.html)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 13, 2018, 02:42:37 pm
EcoWatch

(https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/KrqvigKxCVdj3JVGO6hvHLjc_ZKKEy4Y7J9xphNuKQWzapb9oWX2phUDxdNIrXepqdWhrAVdRvBsVy_mDBH6G8Ff0TX4u8KVXODZwMxhlrLXJ5g8x0GyTleIbTvdCo1J7nUbt-SfUS3uBGB-1V67zdULzUhA-N9PcWY=s0-d-e1-ft#https://gallery.mailchimp.com/214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec/images/9c18a984-8b4f-49bd-92ac-21972cababd6.jpg)

This World War I Battlefield Is a Haunting Reminder of the Environmental Costs ☠️ of War ☠️

By Olivia Rosane

Nov. 12, 2018 12:14PM EST

SNIPPET:

World War I ended 100 years ago on Sunday, but 42,000 acres in northeast France serve as a living memorial to the human and environmental costs of war.

The battle of Verdun was the longest continuous conflict in the Great War, and it so devastated the land it took place on that, after the war, the government cordoned it off-limits to human habitation. What was once farmland became the Zone Rouge ☠️, or Red Zone ☠️, as National Geographic reported.

An excellent Twitter thread by writer Paul Cooper, excerpted here, explains more:

Full article with more graphics:

https://www.ecowatch.com/world-war-environmental-costs-2619382756.html
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 15, 2018, 02:30:05 pm
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/zZrmEdig0XkLj4i1xgItoAetZM9Wo-bCbDFZfojf2El7kVx_99biMcwT2V8qqrUFW_EfI13hISvlP8CobJDFVxKREId6igDYyUKWZbfVk34sEokri-5HOnrJaaMjvYGrKaKmAyPd83FUzuM5rLoRZFQIV17PgDJgCNvq9Nc9KkdkMqKgm1pc3fSflyWfOMFC-g=s0-d-e1-ft#https://nvlupin.blob.core.windows.net/images/van/CBD/CBD/1/61429/images/Actions/Email600x250/Revelator_600x214_WithSubline.jpg)

Quote

No. 54, Nov. 15, 2018

SNIPPET:

Scientists are calling for more research to understand why many insect populations are declining (https://therevelator.org/insect-decline/)and what we can do about it.

Subscriber bonus:

We have a special thank you for our subscribers this week: a free copy of Corrupted Science: Fraud, Ideology and Politics in Science [/font]by John Grant, courtesy of publisher See Sharp Press. This must-read new book dives into the sordid history of how corporations and politicians — including the Trump administration — have twisted or attacked scientific expertise. As a subscriber, you can download the e-book in any of these formats: PDF,  (http://www.seesharppress.com/CorruptedScience.pdf)Mobi (Kindle) or Epub. Enjoy — and thanks for subscribing!

In case you missed it:

Wildfires are on top of our minds right now as California battles its most deadly and destructive wildfire in state history. Wildfire historian Stephen Pyne explains why we need to have different strategies for fighting different kinds of wildfires 🔥 (https://therevelator.org/wildfires-fight-same/), especially those at the intersection of wildlands and our developed communities.

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 24, 2018, 02:09:31 pm
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/dc/d5/f1/dcd5f1ac950c860ad7839325f4eafc84.jpg)

The Guardian

Fri 23 Nov 2018 23.38 EST

By Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro @domphillips

Brazil records worst annual deforestation for a decade

Nearly 8,000sq kms lost in the year to July amid alarm new president Jair Bolsonaro will make situation worse

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/24/brazil-records-worst-annual-deforestation-for-a-decade
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 28, 2018, 10:02:34 pm
How Inequality (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040718162656-14241872.gif&hash=6c39a3206e2b2a3d652adee626b5eee8ab5b15bf) Increases Environmental Damage for Everyone (But Not Equally) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)

November 27, 2018

https://youtu.be/V54H7p5dQYs

James Boyce of PERI discusses how inequalities in power encourage the creation of environmental damage. Inequality disempowers some communities while allowing the powerful to profit at the environment’s and everyone else’s expense

https://therealnews.com/stories/how-inequality-increases-environmental-damage-for-everyone-but-not-equally
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on November 29, 2018, 11:36:22 am
November 29, 2018

How Climate Change is Impacting Health Now

Rising temperatures as a result of climate change are already exposing populations around the world to an unacceptably high health risk, new research published in The Lancet medical journal shows.

The 2018 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change, produced by 150 experts from 27 global institutions, documents how vulnerability to heat is rising in all regions of the world, with 157 million more vulnerable people subjected to a heatwave last year than in 2000, and 18 million more than in 2016.

The dire and wide-ranging report also finds that 153 billion hours of work were lost in 2017 due to extreme heat as a result of climate change, that rising temperatures and unseasonable warmth are responsible for cholera and dengue fever spreading, and that aging populations—especially those living in cities in Europe and the East Mediterranean—are particularly at risk to heat exposure. "These are not things happening in 2050 but are things we are already seeing today," Countdown executive director Nick Watt told the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/28/climate-change-already-a-health-emergency-say-experts
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 05, 2018, 09:49:26 pm
The Most Toxic Retailers on the Planet

Written by Dr. Joseph Mercola

December 05, 2018

(https://media.mercola.com/ImageServer/Public/2018/December/Nonlead/toxic-chemicals-in-consumer-products.jpg)

toxic chemicals in consumer products

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

► In recent years, researchers and scientists have raised warnings about mounting toxic exposures, leading to efforts to rein in the use of chemicals known to be hazardous to human health

► About half of the 40 retailers evaluated by the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families’ Mind the Store campaign have made “slow but meaningful progress at improving the chemical safety of the products, food and packaging they sell”

► Retailers that received a failing grade include Trader Joe’s, McDonald’s, Subway, Publix, Panera Bread, Macy’s, Ulta, Nordstrom, Office Depot, Dollar General, Sally Beauty, TJX Companies and Ace Hardware

► Apple, Target, Walmart and IKEA received A-grades “for their work to protect customers from toxic products and packaging”

► Walgreens, Rite Aid and Amazon were ranked “most improved” during 2018

Full article with detailed list of "F" grade retailers: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/12/05/toxic-chemicals-in-consumer-products.aspx
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 16, 2018, 05:42:36 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

U.S. Coast Guard to Tackle 14-Year-Old (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817122018.gif&hash=74d86c1f35e2f61ea38c9bfa392f84a92631b96e) Oil Leak in the Gulf of Mexico

December 14, 2018 by Mike Schuler

(https://3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/oilonwatertaylorenergy2.jpg)
Oil slick at the Taylor MC20 site. Credit: U.S Coast Guard

The U.S. Coast Guard has partially assumed federal control over the operation to contain an oil dishcarge from the site of MC20 platform in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that has likely been leaking since the platform toppled back in 2004.

The platform, owned by Taylor Energy 🦕, LLC, was located in Mississippi Canyon Block 20, approximately 11 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It toppled in September 2004 during Hurricane Ivan after storm surge triggered an underwater mudslide. The incident left the platform well conductor pipes buried in more than 100 feet of mud and sediment, impacting 25 of 28 connected wells. The spill went unnoticed (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-191017140758.jpeg&hash=8c0a35a928dcda3c1a8714ab03f4924a1a775851) for years until 2008 when it was identified as the source of daily sheen reports. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718202127.gif&hash=acc63221521ebaf3f238088fd92d1ae3a08b6e48)

Now more than fourteen years after the hurricane, crude oil continues to discharge from the site and surface on the Gulf waters. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818204546.gif&hash=ffeafdfa24208fe5070639ffa682bb2ad041737c)

IN 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement estimated that oil continues to leak at a rate of approximately 1 to 55 barrels of oil per day. >:(  Satellite imagery and overflights have shown oil slicks on the surface varying in size, sometimes ranging up to 30 miles in length.

Even still, the specific source, or sources of the discharge at the MC20 site are not fully known. 🙉 🙊 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202829.png&hash=a4ec201b97ad269ff59a6a1c0f1c19a04b57803a)

Federal officials have directed Taylor Energy 🦕, as the Responsible Party, to remove the platform deck, remove sub-sea debris, decommission the oil pipeline, attempt to contain the leaking oil, and plug nine of the 25 impacted wells that were deemed highest risk.

Following several scientific studies conducted over several years by federal and industrial experts, the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) issued Taylor Energy an administrative order back in October requiring it to propose a final viable plan to install a containment system. Last month, however, the FOSC ultimately issued Taylor Energy a Notice of Federal Assumption, and assumed authority for containing the oil.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)

Under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the Coast Guard will now be able to access the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and assume authority for containing and disposing the oil.

“While the safety of response personnel is paramount, we don’t want to delay response activities,” said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Kristi Luttrell, the Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) for the MC20 response. “We plan to leverage every weather window available from now until the system is installed and collecting oil,” she said.

In November, Coast Guard contracted a specialized team to conduct a comprehensive site survey, fabricate a containment system, and install it at the source to start collecting the oil, however, as of now, the team is still in the planning phase. The Coast Guard says weather and sea state will largely dictate operations, which is expected to involve cumulative weeks at sea, extensive dive and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operations, and underwater equipment installation.

“We are committed to public safety and preserving the Gulf marine environment,” said Luttrell. “As we move swiftly to develop and install the containment system, we will continue working with our federal, state, and local partners to ensure a permanent solution is in place,” she said.

As the Responsible Party, Taylor Energy 🦕, which is now defunct 😈, is required (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718210558.gif&hash=9234ac544277d3924347404eb52489dfe64e3ca4)to pay for oil spill recovery and response costs under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). It also has a continuing legal obligation to respond to the ongoing oil discharge and also must comply with the Coast Guard Administrative Orders.

https://gcaptain.com/u-s-coast-guard-to-tackle-mc20-oil-spill-containment-fourteen-years-after-it-began/

Agelbert NOTE: It's the CAPITALISM, stupid! WHY? Because the people that ran Taylor Energy (into the ground) are NOT "defunct". They have money. They have assets. THEY should be made ro PAY. BUT, since the LIABILITY is deliberately, AND ARTIFICIALLY "LIMITED" under CAPITALISM's "rules" for
😈 corporations, the COST of this cleanup will be SOCIALIZED to WE-THE-PEOPLE. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040718162656-14241872.gif&hash=6c39a3206e2b2a3d652adee626b5eee8ab5b15bf)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183404.bmp&hash=dc40a133c761f80036b08ef0f6c0427aaa7e9f4b)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040718162655-1422241.gif&hash=c395eada6e18bf2d9b9c2c7079a45ee8fb2f2c34) A "responsible LLC" is an oxymoron. It is a SICK JOKE for the Coast Guard to talk about "responsibility for cleanup"
under this or that Law  "ensures compliance" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-251117175700.png&hash=00439d30db6e35817ea0d1fbcba614f1f971448e) when applied to ANY Corporate polluter in the USA, ESPECIALLY the Fossil Fuelers, who are well practiced in the ethically bankrupt "art" of declaring bankruptcy and running off with the profits to start another Hydrocarbon Hellspawn operation with "limited liability".  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78)

We are all dead if we do not stop pretending this IRRESPONSIBLE AND CRIMINAL behavior is "okay". What's it gonna take, people?

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-060714185706.gif&hash=9932d82415b237fb967aecef52a48ba55d405f10)


 
The Fossil Fuelers 🦖 DID THE Clean Energy  Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME,   but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks 🦀, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or   PAYING THE FINE!     Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!   
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 21, 2018, 06:21:10 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

Spain’s Supreme Court Upholds 1.6 Billion Euro Prestige Oil Spill Ruling  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-080515182559.png&hash=d4dfa952fa0f817bf30a8059a4c88d6fb05ee1bf)

December 20, 2018 by Mike Schuler

 
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The bow of the Prestige oil tanker floats above water moments before sinking in waters off northwestern Spain in this November 19, 2002 file photo. REUTERS/Paul Hanna

The bow of the Prestige oil tanker floats above water moments before sinking in waters off northwestern Spain in this November 19, 2002 file photo. A Spanish court on November 13, 2013 found the crew and the government not guilty of responsibility in Spain’s Prestige disaster, a 2002 accident caused by a leaking tanker which coated the northwestern coastline with thousands of tonnes of oil. REUTERS/Paul Hanna (SPAIN – Tags: ENVIRONMENT DISASTER)

Spain’s Supreme Court upheld Thursday a lower court’s ruling that Spain is to be paid 1.6 billion euros in damages over the 2002 Prestige oil spill.

The definitive ruling confirms an earlier ruling handed down by a lower court in La Coruna, Galicia, where the oil spill occurred, in November 2017. France will also be awarded 61 million euros as its coastline was also impacted by the oil spill.

The bulk of the damages will be paid by Prestige’s insurer, the London P&I Clud, as well as Prestige’s captain.

The single-hulled oil tanker Prestige broke in half and sank off the northwestern coast of Spain after being denied a port of refuge after one of its tank was damaged in a storm.

The wreck is estimated to have spilled some 63,000 tonnes of oil, which severely impacted Spain’s Galicia coast and closed some of the country’s richest fisheries. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183404.bmp&hash=dc40a133c761f80036b08ef0f6c0427aaa7e9f4b) The oil spill is considered one of Europe’s worst-ever environmental disasters. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)

Prestige’s captain, Apostolos Mangouras, was initially clear of criminal wrongdoing, but Spain’s Supreme Court in 2016 overruled and convicted Mangouras of recklessness resulting in catastrophic environmental damage. Mangouras was sentenced to two years in prison, and the ruling opened the door to damage claims against him and the insurer.

https://gcaptain.com/spains-supreme-court-upholds-1-6-billion-euro-prestige-oil-spill-rulingspains-supreme-court-upholds-1-6-billion-euro-prestige-oil-spill-ruling/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241015211435.jpeg&hash=0f32cdc4f164e417964b4afe0e3489c62b8bba40)
Is this the Writing on the Oil Tanker Hull Wall for Big Oil? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-221017161839.png&hash=7d34712243960aa20883775dad728bc2115ed6fe)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 05, 2019, 01:00:34 pm
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Structural Issue Forces U-Shaped Ocean Cleanup System to Leave Great Pacific Garbage Patch, But Return Planned for 2019

January 4, 2019 by Mike Schuler

 
(https://3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Ocean-Cleanup-Project-800x533.jpg)
Ocean Cleanup Project’s System 001 during sea trials off the coast of California with the Maersk Launcher. Photo: Ocean Cleanup Project

The u-shaped cleanup system that was deployed to the Pacific Garbage patch last fall is headed back to port for repairs due to a “structural malfunctioning” of the system, the company behind the project has announced.

In a blog post published this week, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup Project, Boyan Slat, said crews had discovered that an 18-meter end-section of System 001 had detached, requiring the entire system to be towed back to port for repairs and upgrades earlier than initially planned.

Both the 580-meter main section and the 18-meter end section are both reported to be completely stable. System 001 has now been safely opened and reconnected to the Maersk Transporter, which has commenced the tow back to the United States.

System 001, dubbed “Wilson”, departed from San Francisco for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch back in September as the world’s first large-scale system that would attempt to remove some of the nearly 2 trillion pieces of plastic that is estimated to be floating on or near the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

Despite early performance issues, which Slat openly detailed in a blog post published in November, plus these new developments, Slat admits that although disappointing, the system is returning to port with terabytes of data that will be used to make upgrades so that the system can return to the Garbage Patch again in 2019.

The Maersk Transporter is also carrying around 2000 kg of plastic that was recovered over the past few weeks through a combination of the cleanup system and ghost net fishing. For comparison, Slat notes, System 001 is expected to harvest 1000 kg per week

“Although we would have liked to end the year on a more positive note, we believe these teething troubles are solvable, and the cleanup of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch will be operational in 2019. The fact that the cleanup system orients itself in the wind, is able to follow the waves well and is able to catch and concentrate plastic gives us confidence in the technology,” Slat writes.

Down the road, the Ocean Cleanup Project envisions System 001 to be the first of around 60 systems focused on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch over the next two years. According to the group, the fleet could be enough to remove half of the plastic in the Garbage Patch within just five years’ time.

https://gcaptain.com/structural-issue-forces-u-shaped-ocean-cleanup-system-to-return-from-great-pacific-garbage-patch-but-return-planned-for-2019/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 06, 2019, 05:03:36 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-180315223400.png&hash=809d51d678bc13bd5bd4c19c65f0fa75d9482206)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-180315223316.png&hash=030f4e4846c1a77d538d94de95ea8bb503608998)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 08, 2019, 01:00:05 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

Bunker Fuel Spilled from Maersk Ship at Port of Hong Kong

By Mike Schuler on Jan 07, 2019 12:47 pm

(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/Kqn1nzXWT8FLIljqcmV7KUdvljKNRpYiRQ-UcpiSdPypBb9Zpj48A3yplsdhAFhmYmJEzvXJyluw_aKmcASaZC2YV5LzDy9j9WAz8yaoaCOy_YU_9F6jkDTDhgeNHTs3=s0-d-e1-ft#http://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/DwO3NlyUwAAHfv8.jpg-large.jpeg)

An unknown quantity of bunker fuel was spilled at the Port of Hong Kong on Sunday during bunkering operations on a Maersk ship at berth, A.P. Moller Maersk confirmed Monday. The bunkering was taking place on the 4,340 TEU Maersk Gateshead as it was berthed at the Modern Terminal Limited. At this time, the amount […]  Read full story... (https://gcaptain.com/bunker-fuel-spilled-from-maersk-ship-at-port-of-hong-kong/)


Tug to Retrieve Burning 🔥 Yantian Express in North Atlantic

By Mike Schuler on Jan 07, 2019 01:13 pm

(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/fmoKsSQ07_S4Pm30Cd8oYPIxxYxQB3VQgyOkSJ6GlpcC6gwdyWJP5paTJyJ_RmuSma7nOZDEL2qzS1HKIK-2aIywXwcE7y6XwvGPnlTx69m9nBN559U=s0-d-e1-ft#http://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/SHANGHAI_EXPRESS.jpg)
Yantian express

The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday is continuing to coordinate the response to a container fire on board the now abandoned Yantian Express located approximately 1,015 miles northeast of Bermuda. Saturday evening, 11 non-essential crew members were evacuated from the Yantian Express to the tugboat Smit Nicobar, following by the remaining crew Sunday morning. All […]Read full story... (https://gcaptain.com/tug-to-retrieve-burning-yantian-express-in-north-atlantic/)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 09, 2019, 05:22:25 pm
EcoWatch

By  Olivia Rosane

Jan. 09, 2019 07:40AM EST

 
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An oil tanker caught fire off of Hong Kong's Lamma Island Tuesday morning, leaving one person dead and two missing.

Oil Tanker Fire 🔥 Near Hong Kong Kills 1, Potential Spill Could Threaten Endangered Turtles and Dolphins

SNIPPET:

"We could see that the victim who passed away had been burned," police representative Wong Wai-hang said in a briefing reported by The New York Times. "There were clear injuries on his head and fractures in his hands and feet."

An additional 23 crew members were rescued from the water. Four were injured and one was being treated in intensive care.

The explosions 💥 were strong enough to be felt by residents of the nearby island, CNN reported.

"My windows shook really badly but (there) was no wind," Lamma resident Deb Lindsay told CNN. "I thought there had been an earthquake!"

Lamma Island residents worried about a potential oil spill reaching their coastline. Southern Lamma Island hosts a protective nesting site for green turtles, a severely endangered species. An endangered colony of white dolphins also calls Hong Kong waters home.

https://youtu.be/fWjAeLgomn8

Full article:

https://www.ecowatch.com/oil-tanker-fire-hong-kong-2625515032.html

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on January 27, 2019, 05:35:36 pm
(https://www.workforgood.org/getasset/94faf2cd-34c2-4855-9221-ead0608380d5/)

JAN. 17, 2019

Trump’s (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F780_9adc777a0e08428257b76ece69d18ee52006bb5e39d60d966bb2440d29d17641.jpeg&hash=4d8f2f9ea7b952c63ad0441a4619e9b370ddcb0a) anti-environment scheme (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) is no match for the law

The Trump administration spent the last two years relentlessly attacking our environment. Nearly all of those attacks have failed in court — thanks to Earthjustice. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203111.png&hash=e8f61baab9b9d36eaf1c4087927f321bf883250c)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27)

Executive Summary: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

(https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/feature/2019/overruling-report/two-years-overruling45_logo.svg) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-060518153110.png&hash=39d587c31b7f7e66b30d7e59bb560e2ad0662eee) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818180844.png&hash=d74cfbba22967e53f7eb6202dffdd50b3e520fe2)



The record shows that Trump’s efforts to weaken environmental regulations are no match for the law. (https://earthjustice.org/features/two-years-overruling-trump)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 28, 2019, 05:53:25 pm
(https://www.brainyquote.com/photos_tr/en/f/francisbacon/104978/francisbacon1.jpg)

(https://therevelator.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/logo-black.png)

(https://www.watsonvillewetlandswatch.org/images/guides/birds/barnowl.jpg)
Barn Owl

SNIPPET:

Matthew Johnson, a professor of wildlife habitat ecology at Humboldt State University, used GPS tags on barn owls 🦉 to determine that they spend a third of their time hunting in vineyards in Napa wine country. He put infrared cameras in owl nest boxes, documenting that a pair of owls 🦉🦉 with four chicks can eat up to 1,000 rodents (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-1626482.gif&hash=068d5ba96cc9a0d9b824d58bf6e532eeee05b706) in a breeding cycle. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185039-1655102.gif&hash=1a13ffad2c8451cba6f45b04a1249447d50c3e73)

Full article:  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-060914180936.jpeg&hash=5e39d70fafe4e7190a6eebce34b740c58721de3f)


(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR3lRN_iKqxOMnjq_pwRtYznaysGjEu0bBCwQGLqQPMDzdNwWoXBg)
Red Tailed Hawk

Raptors to the Rescue: Using birds to help get rid of pests is proving to be more effective than poisons — and less expensive. (https://therevelator.org/raptors-rescue/)


Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 05, 2019, 11:33:35 pm
Insect Apocalypse: New Study Reveals Stunning Decline in Insect Populations 😨

March 5, 2019

Dr. Francisco Sanchez-Bayo explains that, if current trends persist, insects could be essentially wiped out within 100 years

https://youtu.be/TEEjSoOxPmk

https://therealnews.com/stories/insect-apocalypse-new-study-reveals-stunning-decline-in-insect-populations
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 12, 2019, 06:35:54 pm
March 12th, 2019 by The Beam

Burning Issues About Plastic Pollution (https://cleantechnica.com/2019/03/12/burning-issues-about-plastic-pollution/)

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 14, 2019, 12:26:06 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

By Mike Schuler on Mar 13, 2019 06:25 pm

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The MV Grande America on fire in the Bay of Biscay, March 12, 2019, shortly before sinking. Photo: Marine Nationale

Oil Slick Spotted Near Sunken Grande America Off France

French authorities said an oil slick measuring several miles long has been spotted in the vicinity of the sunken ship Grande America in the Bay of Biscay one day after its sinking.

The oil was spotted during an overflight of a French Navy Maritime Patrol Aircraft and confirmed by the response vessel VN Sapeur which remains in the area.

France’s Maritime Prefecture for the Atlantic has ordered the immediate departure of the anti-pollution vessel Argonaute from Brest. The vessel is expected to arrive in the area on Thursday morning. The agency reports that the the spill measures ten kilometers long by one kilometer wide. It has requested the assistance from the European Agency for Maritime Safety (EMSA).

Weather on scene on Wednesday was reported to be force 6 winds of 39 to 49 km per hour and seas of 4 to 6 meters.

Background

The Italian-registered Grande America sank Tuesday approximately 180 nautical miles from the French coast after fire 🔥 broke out on the deck of the combination roll-on/roll-off vessel Sunday night. All 27 crew members on board were rescued safely. The vessel is located in a water depth of 4,600 meters.

The Grande America is owned by the Italian shipping group Grimaldi. French authorities said they are working with the shipowner on the response to the incident.

Quote
[#GrandeAmerica] La frégate multi-missions (FREMM) Aquitaine et le BSAA (Bâtiment de Soutien et d’assistance affrété) VN Sapeur sont toujours sur zone. Ils continuent d’assurer la sécurité et la surveillance de la navigation. @SGMer @MarineNationale pic.twitter.com/rz98mZlf8B

— Premar Atlantique (@premaratlant) March 12, 2019

https://gcaptain.com/oil-slick-spotted-near-sunken-grande-america-off-france/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 18, 2019, 07:27:52 pm
 
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Make Nexus Hot News part of your morning: click here (http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa) to subscribe.

March 18, 2019

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-121217195108.png&hash=34ddc1fd5afeb976b36342e73738ef155008be6d)

No, Air Pollution Isn’t Racist. But People Are, and the Trump Administration is No Exception.


Last week, research published in PNAS documented how white people cause more PM2.5 air pollution than their communities experience, while black and brown communities experience significantly more pollution than their consumption produces. In the absence of systemic racial inequities, one would expect the ratio of pollution produced to pollution experienced to be even. But in our country, per the study, “Blacks and Hispanics on average bear a ‘pollution burden’ of 56% and 63% excess exposure, respectively, relative to the exposure caused by their consumption.”

The reaction from the deniersphere was, of course, denial. Preeminent scholar of all things science and race Donald Trump Jr. tweeted that “now we have RACIST AIR. This insanity has to stop.” (Surely it’s “just a joke”...)

Meanwhile, per Media Matters, black Fox host David Webb  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) told Fox and Friends that the study is “gobbledy gook.” Webb explained that, and we’re not kidding about this, the study was done by “a ‘peer-reviewed group’” and that “these enviro-terrorists, these eco-terrorists, they want to sell you a narrative. So they peer review it and say it’s a study, they don’t apply the scientific method.”

While on some level it is hysterical that Webb chose to criticize the study for being peer reviewed (huh?), there are lives on the line here. Lives that, in part because they’re more likely to be brown and black, the Trump administration is all too happy to sacrifice in the name of protecting polluters’ profits.

It’s happening right now on the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC). We raised this issue back in November 2017, when Scott Pruitt followed the instructions of former tobacco defender and current fossil fuel promoter Steve Milloy and installed a handful of tobacco and fossil-fuel supported deniers on to advisory committees. Then it came up again last October when some, but not all, of Pruitt’s pro-polluter PM2.5 denial policies were backbenched, not long after reporting showed how Trump’s own paperwork acknowledged that the PM2.5 regulatory rollbacks would lead to some 40,000 additional deaths. 

As expected, the tobacco and fossil fuel hacks installed on the committees are fighting against the science showing that PM2.5 kills people. Though it is a complicated story in the details, Marianne Lavelle at InsideClimate News provides some concise (and un-paywalled) coverage of the story.

In broad strokes, it looks like this. Tony Cox 🦕, who has worked on behalf of the American Petroleum Institute, is now chair of the CASAC. He sent a letter to the EPA attacking the draft of a recent EPA report on PM2.5, criticizing it for not including (bogus) studies he and his buddies have been paid by polluters to produce in order to make it seem like that pollution is no big deal.

In response, one of the scientists whom Pruitt 🦖 kicked off the panel, Christopher Frey 👍of UNC, submitted his own comments indicating that Cox was out of line for sending that letter to the EPA as though he spoke for the entire advisory council, because doing so  would be a violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

It’s now in the hands of the EPA to finalize the report on PM2.5 pollution, and it can choose whether or not to incorporate the PM2.5 denial studies suggested by Cox. Meanwhile, House Democrats are working on legislation to protect these panels, as well as science in general, from politicization by the administration.

But while we wait for the slow wheel of Congress to legislate, the science is clear that PM2.5 air pollution is deadly ☠️. And though communities of color are responsible for producing less of it, they’ll bear more of the burden. A cost they will pay with their bodies.

Not all racists use guns to kill the people they consider unwelcome in their white nation, but that doesn’t make them any less deadly. The Trump administration is pushing for policies that, if allowed to go forward, will literally kill tens of thousands of people. And black and brown communities will continue to bear the greatest burden of that suffering

But please, do go on about how the Green New Deal is wrong to incorporate racial justice, and is “tantamount to genocide.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818204546.gif&hash=ffeafdfa24208fe5070639ffa682bb2ad041737c)

Read more: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-111018132422-1692935.gif&hash=94922268ae283c7009e29067ba89220f466726ec)

Trump's (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205137.gif&hash=7a79df8ecf1b29d8599c26fe550e664c6c5e24bd) latest gifts to oil & gas 🦕🦖, nuclear  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fen%2Femoticons%2Fn%2Fnuclear-emoticon.gif&hash=e4e4a2a7087fe69ad666bbc193626b4bf13857a8)
 industry (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) asking for favors from regulators, & more
(https://mailchi.mp/climatenexus/trumps-latest-gifts-to-oil-gas-nuclear-industry-asking-for-favors-from-regulators-more?e=0fd17c5b57)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 22, 2019, 10:24:14 pm
Monsanto’s Weed Killer is “Substantial Factor” in Cancer, Says Jury

March 22, 2019

Monsanto is about to face 11,200 more trials over the potential carcinogen in Roundup, which has prompted legislation to limit the chemical’s use

https://youtu.be/hZqP19_usPg

Story Transcript

MARC STEINER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Marc Steiner. Great to have you all with us once again.

One of the largest biotech agribusiness chemical companies on the planet is Monsanto, the makers of Roundup, now that it merged with Bayer, that is, especially. They were back in the news again because a federal jury ruled that the weed killer Roundup was a substantial factor in causing the cancer of defendant Mr. Edwin Hardeman. While Trump’s EPA said Roundup is probably not carcinogenic to people, the World Health Organization and independent researchers have found Roundup’s main ingredient, glyphosate, is most likely a carcinogen. Thousands more cases are being filed. What will this mean and what will this portend for Monsanto and the future of their products, the battles with agribusinesses, and for the rest of us?

Well, we’re joined today by Samara Geller, who is a Senior Research and Database Analyst for the Environmental Working Group. And Samara, welcome. Good to have you with us.

SAMARA GELLER: Thank you for having me.

MARC STEINER: So I want to start with this short video of the lawyer who won the case. This took place last month in February when he was commenting on the case and his deposition he took with the folks from Monsanto. Let’s listen to what he had to say.

ROBERT BRENT WISNER: When I took Monsanto’s deposition, I took their corporate representative deposition. He said to me that there is no evidence across the board that there’s any association with cancer. That’s just nonsense. There is a mountain of evidence and this company needs to get straight and to be honest with its customers and say listen, there is evidence that it’s associated with cancer, and let people make a choice about whether or not they use the product. This case is about failure to warn. And the simple fact is they haven’t warned, and they’re going to keep being sued until they do so.

MARC STEINER: I’m curious, your perspective on this. You have what he was saying here as he was taking the deposition before the verdict took place. And clearly, our EPA in the United States has been saying that there’s probably no real connection between that product, Roundup, and their products, and cancer. The World Health Organization, some independent researchers, have found just the opposite, that there probably is. And nobody’s really spoken definitively as I’ve read or seen so far. But talk about this debate going on and what that really means.

SAMARA GELLER: So there is mounting evidence showing a link between glyphosate and cancer, specifically non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. So in 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, or IARC, which is part of the World Health Organization, they classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. Also in 2017, the state of California included glysophate on its Proposition 65 registry. So this Proposition 65 registry is a list of chemicals that the state of California publishes every year. That list contains carcinogens, also reproductive and developmental toxicants. And so, we have the World Health Organization which is fiercely defending its position on glyphosate as being a probable human carcinogen. We have the state of California, which is also aligned with the World Health Organization.

But we also have emerging evidence coming out of the University of Washington. So these researchers recently did a meta-analysis. So they actually pooled data from studies that were published between 2001 and 2018, and this particular subset of studies actually found a 41 percent increased risk in non-Hodgkin’s in the highest exposed group. That’s pretty damning evidence right there, so that’s a very compelling link between glyphosate and the development of cancer, specifically non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. But we also know that the judge in this case recently in San Francisco unsealed internal documents from Monsanto that showed that the company worked behind the scenes with the EPA to promote the claim that glyphosate was safe and to point the finger away from the evidence showing to the contrary.

MARC STEINER: And this is the second phase of these trials, is that correct?

SAMARA GELLER: Right. So we’re actually in that second phase right now, so the jury will have an opportunity to review this evidence, this batch of unsealed documents from Monsanto. Also, Monsanto publicly worked to discredit the valid work of researchers and the valid conclusions of scientists revealing the harms of this chemical.

MARC STEINER: So I’m going to play another clip here for all of you and for our guest. This is a gentleman who actually won the first case last year leading up to this year’s case, and this is what he had to say. I found it really interesting and compelling, and I want to see where we think this might take this entire struggle.

SPEAKER: Why was the label important?

DEWAYNE JOHNSON: The label is important because as a pest controller and as those guys out there doing this in the professional field of applying herbicides, it’s a requirement to understand your label and to look at your label. It’s very serious. There’s a whole chapter on reading the label, how to read it, and what to look for. So if that was on the label, people can make an informed choice.

SPEAKER: What did that verdict mean to you?

DEWAYNE JOHNSON: The verdict really meant to me that this thing was not done in vain. And I remember standing there saying to myself, if I lose this case, this company is going to be able to get away. And then they’ll be able to say see, we told you our stuff didn’t do that.

MARC STEINER: So that was Dewayne Johnson, whose case came before this one last year. And so, the question really in all this for me is what this means for the future of Monsanto. I mean, there’s a battle going on with Monsanto across the globe on numbers of fronts. And while they can lose a lot of money in these court cases, there’s 11,200 cases that are in various stages against Monsanto around this very same issue. So I’m curious in terms of regulation, in terms of the health of the people who are eating, the health of the people who are farming, the health of the people who are lawn workers and farm workers. I mean, what does this all mean for this? I mean, where do you think we’re going with this?

SAMARA GELLER: So this is the second time in less than a year that Monsanto’s signature weed killer has been implicated as the cause of a person’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. And as you said, there’s now more than over 11,000 lawsuits that are coming from farm workers, they’re coming from licensed pesticide applicators, they’re coming from groundskeepers, they’re coming from those most heavily impacted among us. They have repeated exposure to this pesticide from the highest levels of exposure. So these lawsuits are really just the beginning of a long list of cases that will keep coming against Bayer. And so, the chickens are really coming home to roost here. We really think the scientific evidence is mounting, and so there will be similar verdicts and similar outcomes to the last two.

MARC STEINER: So Samara, since there are like 11,200 cases we talked about that are now going to be brought against Monsanto, and that we’ve heard these last two cases were not precedent setting in regard to these other cases coming, but they clearly are going to have an effect. So this is a huge company, and we’re talking about settlements that are tens of millions and hundreds of millions of dollars and more maybe that could be set against Monsanto and Bayer. So what’s the significance of all of this in terms of the entire things that have gone before this when it comes to dealing with Monsanto and Roundup?

SAMARA GELLER: Well, it certainly puts Roundup in the spotlight. It certainly gets consumers, regulators, policymakers thinking differently about the way we regulate pesticides and the way we regulate tolerances of pesticide residues in foods. So this is all having an impact on a lot of different platforms. So EWG actually commissioned tests of popular oat-based products, a lot of them marketed to children. And so, in our tested based products, we detected glyphosate in nearly all of the samples, 95 percent of the samples we tested for glyphosate were positive. And so, we’re actually pushing consumers to do a number of things.

First of all, eat organically if possible, so purchase organic food when you have the means and the opportunity to do so, and the choice to purchase organic. That will help reduce your exposure to glyphosate. But what’s really important to note about the way that the EPA regulates pesticides is that they often set the tolerances far too high to be adequately protective of children’s health. We know children are heavily impacted by pesticides. We know that there are children eating oat-based products that are growing, their bodies are developing, and they’re more susceptible to harms, including cancer.

MARC STEINER: I’ve covered those things in the past and that’s very real. I think most people don’t know about that and people need to know about that. And finally, I’m just curious… These cases, we’ll see what happens in the second part of this case, but I’m wondering what effect you think this has on the work of your organization, other organizations in the political struggles with Monsanto, as well as the legislative battles in this country and in Europe. What effect do you think this will have on all that?

SAMARA GELLER: Well, we’re urging the EPA to actually re-evaluate the evidence of harms from glyphosate. We’re urging them to prohibit this use of glyphosate as a pre-harvest desiccant. And so, we’re assuming this trial will definitely elevate these issues for those EPA regulators. We’re also looking to the FDA to really step up their game. They’ve been really woefully inadequate at releasing information that would help us to fully understand the scope of the problem. So right now, FDA recently released data on the detection of glyphosate in corn and soy, but they’ve really withheld data on some other food crops. We know it’s in wheat, we know it’s in barley, we know it’s in beans. So we’re pressuring the FDA to release data that would help shed light on the full scope of where it’s located in our food supply.

We’re actually looking toward some recently introduced legislation by Representative DeLauro. She’s a representative from Connecticut and she’s promoting the idea that we should prohibit use of glyphosate as a pre-harvest desiccant on oats. The bill is also calling to reduce the permissible residue level of glyphosate by 300 fold, from 30 parts per million down to 0.1 parts per million. So that’s pretty significant. So this bill would dramatically lower people’s exposure to glyphosate, including children’s exposure. They want the USDA to routinely test these products that are marketed to children. That’s one component of DeLauro’s bill.

MARC STEINER: Clearly this is kind of pushing some new issues out here and kind of extending this in ways that hasn’t happened before. We’ll have to really follow this closely. And Samara Geller, first, a, thank you for your work, and b, I look forward to talking to you again as we follow Monsanto and see where this goes.

SAMARA GELLER: Great. Thank you so much.

MARC STEINER: Thank you so much. And I’m Marc Steiner here for the Real News Network. Thank you all so much for joining us. Take care.

https://therealnews.com/stories/monsantos-weed-killer-is-substantial-factor-in-cancer-says-jury
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 22, 2019, 10:49:56 pm
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(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--h23Ny3vZ--/c_fill,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_center,h_80,q_80,w_80/ovtboohdg0mjoyky6xwf.png)

March 22, 2019

How Flooding is Messing Up Soil

The Midwest's catastrophic floods may do irreversible harm to the crucial agriculture industry following serious damage to the region's soil, farmers and experts say.

The floods, which caused an estimated $1 billion in agricultural losses in Nebraska alone, ripped up inches of valuable and nutritious topsoil, soaked fields and deposited debris like concrete and trees in planting areas, forcing some farmers who were preparing to plant crops this spring to reconsider their plans.

Nebraska's farming industry is already facing a serious decline, and trade conflicts and tariffs cooked up in DC have caused farmers to lose more than $1 billion. "We need to be really clear [the flooding] is not just farmers’ problem," soil specialist Mahdi Al-Kaisi told Gizmodo. "This is society’s problem."

Read more:

https://earther.gizmodo.com/farmers-in-the-midwest-face-decades-of-recovery-as-floo-1833436732
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 23, 2019, 01:57:47 pm
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on March 30, 2019, 12:14:12 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

Maersk Tests Biofuel as It Sets Sail for 2050 Carbon Neutrality 🤔

March 22, 2019 by Bloomberg

(https://3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/shutterstock_1041272500.jpg)
Fotokon / Shutterstock.com

By Christian Wienberg (Bloomberg) — A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S is about to conduct the shipping industry’s biggest test yet of biofuel as it seeks to cut emissions and meet its target of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050.

The Mette Maersk, one of the company’s biggest vessels, will this month set off on a 25,000 nautical miles round trip from Rotterdam to Shanghai using a blend containing 20 percent of so-called second-generation biofuel produced from plant waste. The switch should save the environment 1.5 million kilograms of CO2, the equivalent of what 200 households emit in a year.

“This biofuel project is the first concrete action in our effort to reach our goal of becoming carbon-neutral,’’ Soren Toft, Maersk’s chief operating officer, said in an interview in Copenhagen. “We’re looking for ways to make carbon-neutral sailing commercially viable, because that’s key if the industry is to move ahead.”

Maersk, which operates about a fifth of the world’s container fleet, has invested $1 billion over the last four years to improve energy efficiency. 👍

The test is being organized by the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition and Maersk is partnering with some of its biggest clients in the Netherlands, including Heineken, Unilever and Philips. Shell will sponsor the fuel and all the parties will share the costs, which will be “significantly” higher than for a trip using normal marine fuel, Toft said, declining to elaborate.

Alternative Solutions

About 90 percent of the world’s goods are transported by the shipping industry, which is responsible for about 3 percent of global CO2 emissions. Maersk estimates that this rate could rise to 15 percent by 2050 if the industry doesn’t come up with less polluting alternatives.

Toft said using biofuel only removes “a fraction’’ of the CO2 that a ship normally emits, meaning it may only offer a “short-term or medium-term solution.’’

“We can’t say if biofuel will end up being the future that will help the industry,’’ Toft said. “We’re hoping to find some of the answers here with this trial.’’

Maersk is also working on other, cleaner, fuels for its more than 600 ships. These include ammonia, hydrogen and electric ⚡ (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185038-16442135.gif&hash=52927992b43007fa5c5eb6ffcb453ae29948c356) batteries , Toft said.

“Batteries would obviously only work for short trips close to the coast line, because the technology isn’t very developed yet (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163125-16722324.gif&hash=fd301340fefe90d81ed8826dfa0568be12a1c0d8) and, like with cars, you would need to recharge often,” he said. ::)

Last year, D/S Norden completed what it said was the world’s first test voyage with a large commercial ocean-going vessel powered by biofuel. The trip was with a product tanker vessel (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16181943.gif&hash=0b93e71ee5e24bbe02555e0d648a1283e0e9651d), which sailed the short stretch from Rotterdam to Tallinn, Estonia.

The Mette Maersk, which can carry 18,000 containers, is expected back in Europe in June.

© 2019 Bloomberg L.P

https://gcaptain.com/maersk-tests-biofuel/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 01, 2019, 05:04:27 pm
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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 05, 2019, 01:25:14 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

Singapore Will Seek Prison (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.smiley-lol.com%2Fsmiley%2Fexagerent%2Fpolice%2Fenprison.gif&hash=4912c6e4685052e7a6084b2d6740020437d7dae4) for Captains and Owners Breaking 2020 Low Sulphur Fuel Rules

April 3, 2019 by Bloomberg

(https://3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/shutterstock_765469201.jpg)
]Singapore  Photo: joyfull / Shutterstock

By Saket Sundria and Ann Koh (Bloomberg) — Singapore has a message for shipping companies considering cheating on rules starting next year to combat pollution to save a few dollars on their fuel bills: don’t.

Captains and owners of vessels that burn overly sulfurous fuel in the Asian country’s territorial waters could face as long as two years in prison from the start of 2020, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. If enforced, such a penalty would probably be among the strongest deterrents yet to dodging regulations that are supposed to cut emissions of a pollutant blamed for asthma and acid rain.

From next year, the ships must emit 85 percent less sulfur in most parts of the world than they do in most places today. The world’s second-biggest port said that ships that fail to use an approved abatement technology such as a scrubber, alternative fuel or compliant fuel will also be considered non-compliant.

The MPA didn’t clarify precisely what rule infringement would incur a prison sentence. Other penalties include a fine of up to S$10,000 ($7,400).

Based on precedent in the the U.S., the harshest penalties would likely be imposed if there were exacerbating factors like falsification of documents or obstructing justice, according to Magdalene Chew, a director at AsiaLegal LLC and Wole Olufunwa, a senior associate at Holman Fenwick Willan in Singapore.

“Presumably, this may be used as a yard stick comparison for what penalties imposed for breach of the sulfur cap may look like,” Chew and Olufunwa, who specialize in shipping at the law firms, said in a joint email.

The most severe penalty Singapore ever imposed for breaches of maritime air pollution regulations was more than two decades ago, said Chew and Olufunwa. Then, a vessel’s owners, master and agents, who all pleaded guilty, were fined S$400,000 each for “flagrant disregard of any concern for the marine environment.” The ship’s master also received a three-month prison term for an oil spill charge, according to the law firms.

Such penalties matter far beyond the confines of individual port states because there’s an expectation that many owners — particularly in Asia — could start by ignoring the sulfur-emission rules. The extent to which that happens will have an impact on the maritime industry’s fuel-buying patterns. However, with thousands of ships each year stopping at the island state to refuel while en route to other parts of Asia, the country’s deterrent could make many owners — and ship captains — more wary of cheating.

The penalties could mean tougher times for shipping firms as they prepare for the rules. To comply, companies can either purchase more expensive, cleaner fuel with less than 0.5 percent sulfur content, or they can install pollution-reducing scrubbers that let them keep using oil with a higher sulfur content. To make matters worse, analysts question whether sufficient low-sulfur fuel will be available in time.

“MPA is also working closely with the industry to ease the transition to the requirements under the IMO 2020 regulations,” a spokesperson said, adding that the authority has issued technical guides, along with the Singapore Shipping Association, on options available for ship operators to comply.

The authority will inspect both Singapore-registered ships as well as foreign-flagged vessels visiting the port, and employ fuel-testing service providers for detailed laboratory analysis of fuel samples. It will also deploy electronic systems for ships to declare their method of compliance before arrival.

Along with other nations, Singapore already banned open-loop scrubbers from discharging washwater, the waste liquid containing impurities after airborne sulfur emissions have been removed.

© 2019 Bloomberg L.P

https://gcaptain.com/singapore-imo-2020-low-sulphur-fuel-penalties/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 05, 2019, 07:23:35 pm
Good news - strangely ;) censored
Roundup ☠️ is under attack worldwide (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185037-16412296.gif&hash=c8a4038d309a0f49ca4a7a464f30f9a340049cac)- even in the US! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27)

https://youtu.be/mNNtiC0EJVY

The trend seems unstoppable

Good news - strangely censored...

Roundup - which contains the deadly biocide glyphosate implicated in many serious health problems - is being banned by countries and cities all over the world.

Even in the US!

It's headline news, right?

No it isn't.

FOX and CNN and the New York Times and the Washington Post and all the other news outlets that have covered for Monsanto for decades are keeping quiet about this global trend.

I find even many activists are unaware of the scope and scale of this post positive development.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818184308-16341405.gif&hash=c3db04f198c4a3fe775201772f4ec72faf8e15a6) Well, now the cat is out of the bag.

Brasscheck brings you the news that matters when no one else will - again.

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 14, 2019, 04:17:23 pm
CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica’s work via donations on Patreon or PayPal!

Or just go buy a cool t-shirt, cup, baby outfit, bag, or hoodie. (https://cleantechnica.com/shop/#!/)

April 14, 2019

Air Pollution Increases ER Visits — Largest US Study On The Topic Confirms It

By Cynthia Shahan

We may not even see them, but tiny particles, particulates in the PM2.5 size range, are able to travel deeply into the respiratory tract. PM2.5 infiltrates the lungs, all the way to the alveoli, where oxygen is transferred into the bloodstream. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter, or PM, can cause grave trouble with one’s health.

(https://cleantechnica.com/files/2019/04/pm2.5_scale_graphic-color_2.jpg)
Image courtesy US EPA

Those fine particles get into our bloodstream which affects every part of one’s body, and go to our brain as well. They worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease.

Eye, nose, throat, and lung irritation, coughing, sneezing, runny nose and shortness of breath can all emerge from an overload to vulnerable human immune responses.

CleanTechnica reports continuously on air pollution studies, and there is always more study going on to examine the effects on babies, kids, adults, and the elderly. The BBC has a good piece titled “What does air pollution do to our bodies?“ Along with known links to cancer and other diseases, these fine particulates are suspected to offset growth in the young.

Emissions from traffic and poor choices in transit are one of the major causes of our dangerous air. Fresh air, a precious commodity, disappears as many fossil-powered cars, trucks, buses, and off-road vehicles (e.g., construction equipment, snowmobile, locomotive) emit fine particulates from their tailpipes.

A US study published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine signals that, as levels of ozone and fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) rise, more patients end up in the ER.

The reason: they struggle to breathe. It is not a comfortable experience. Worse, it can be life-threatening. Breathing problems due to air pollution, according to the study, have led to increased emergency room visits from patients of all ages.

“In ‘Age-specific Associations of Ozone and PM2.5 with Respiratory Emergency Department Visits in the U.S.,’ Heather M. Strosnider, PhD, MPH, and colleagues report on the associations between ground-level ozone and fine particulate pollution and ER visits for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and respiratory infections.”

“Previous studies of ER visits related to respiratory illness have shown that children are particularly susceptible to air pollution, but those studies were mostly confined to a single city,” said Dr. Strosnider, lead health scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (Tracking Program). This study, however, looked at ER visits across hundreds of US counties.

“Ozone, the main ingredient of smog, and fine particulate pollution, microscopic particles that penetrate deep into the lung, are two important forms of air pollution in the U.S. The study looked at the levels of these two pollutants in 869 counties in the week prior to an ER visit for a breathing problem. The study included nearly 40 million ER visits for breathing problems from the counties, which represent 45 percent of the U.S. population.” The study found:

🚩 An association between ozone and respiratory ER visits among all age groups, with the strongest association in adults under age 65. Per 20 parts per billion (ppb) increase in ozone, the rate of an ER visit for respiratory problems increased 1.7 percent among children, 5.1 percent among adults under 65 and 3.3 percent among adults over 65.

🚩 Increased levels of ozone resulted in increased ER visits for asthma, acute respiratory infections, COPD and pneumonia. Overall the association was strongest for asthma among adults under 65. An association was found between fine particulate pollution (PM5) and respiratory ER visits among children and adults under the age of 65, with the strongest association among children. Per 10 microgram per cubic meter (µg/m3) increase in PM2.5, the rate of an ER visit increased 2.4 percent in children and 0.8 percent among adults under 65.

🚩 Increased levels of fine particulate matter resulted in increased visits for asthma, acute respiratory infections and pneumonia.


The authors wrote that their study findings support the Environmental Protection Agency’s “determination of a likely causal relationship between PM2.5 and respiratory effects and a causal relationship between ozone and respiratory effects.” However, they emphasized that their study also found important variations in those relationships based on the age of the patient, the pollutant, and the respiratory illness under consideration.

A CleanTechnica favorite, the movie The Human Element, takes this issue to heart and features some of the heroic voices of the children affected. Don’t miss hearing the children describe the daily work of breathing compromised air. The new film shows first hand the struggle affecting young students who must go to a special school rather than miss months of formal education.

This ATS study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (cdc.gov/ephtracking).

Tags: air pollution, Air Pollution and Respiratory Health, alveoli, American Thoracic Society, bloodstream, coughing, EPA, ER, fine particulates, Lungs, ozone, particulates, PM2.5, public health, Respiratory Emergency, Respiratory Health, runny nose, shortness of breath, sneezing, throat, tiny particles, truck


About the Author

Cynthia Shahan started writing by doing research as a social cultural and sometimes medical anthropology thinker. She studied and practiced both Waldorf education, and Montessori education. Eventually becoming an organic farmer, licensed AP, anthropologist, and mother of four unconditionally loving spirits, teachers, and environmentally conscious beings born with spiritual insights and ethics beyond this world. (She was able to advance more in this way led by her children.)


https://cleantechnica.com/2019/04/14/air-pollution-increases-er-visits-largest-us-study-on-the-topic-confirms-it/

Agelbert COMMENT:
Thank you Cynthia Shahan 👍, for this truth filled article.

THIS is the 🦖😈🦕 Fossil Fuel Industry's attitude towards the pollution they produce (and profit from):

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-100718163957-14481568.png&hash=f923ce4d7ef43213760bfe87c48477be898bb171)

To think that we-the-people are being coerced 24/7 to subsidize the government welfare queen fossil fuel polluters that are killing us and the rest of the biosphere is very depressing. A study should be conducted to find out how many people are now medicating themselves due to the realization that our government is corrupt and stupid beyond measure.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-230717132319.png&hash=1ede940fc3f651f4cd5da64c8a2443edecaae476)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-231014212330.jpeg&hash=c256f59f7e0e14e05edbffee22f8d77a46d53a91)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-041118151828.jpeg&hash=9544470f20d58b9b74f8e9ef04af22f3a486bd67)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 16, 2019, 01:30:49 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

Sulphur-Sniffing Drone to Sniff Out Polluters in Danish Waters (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185039-1655102.gif&hash=1a13ffad2c8451cba6f45b04a1249447d50c3e73)
April 15, 2019 by gCaptain

(https://3kbo302xo3lg2i1rj8450xje-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Danish-Maritime-Authorities-Denmark-800x533.jpeg)
sulphur sniffing drone Photo courtesy Danish Maritime Authority

Authorities in Denmark have deployed a large sulphur-sniffing drone to literally sniff out ships breaking EU rules governing the sulphur content of marine fuel.

The drone is being used by the Danish Maritime Agency to monitor ship emissions around the area of the Great Belt, where a number of large tankers transit to and from the Baltic Sea. The first aerial sulphur emission inspection took place on a ship in the area on April 11.

Known officially as a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System, the drone is fitted with a so-called gas “sniffer” system that capable of measuring sulphur emissions by flying into the ship’s exhaust gas plume.

The payload also includes daylight and infrared cameras, as well as an AIS receiver.

The drone technology is provided by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) as a means of preventing ship pollution by ensuring compliance with the legal requirements for European Emission Control Areas (ECA), limiting the amount of sulphur in marine fuel to 0.10%.

“These kinds of RPAS operations are expected to contribute to a more efficient enforcement of the Sulphur Directive, thereby reducing air pollution from ships while ensuring a level playing field for the companies involved,” the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) says.

In Denmark, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for enforcing the sulphur rules, while the the Danish Maritime Authority conducts ship inspections in Danish ports and now also with drone monitoring.

https://gcaptain.com/denmark-sulphur-limit-drone/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 16, 2019, 02:01:51 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

April 15, 2019 by The Loadstar

Quote
The French proposals, submitted at the end of last month and seen by The Loadstar, call for a two-step approach of short-term measures to cut GHG emissions in shipping. 👍

They include regulating ship speeds on a sector by sector basis 👍, followed by the adoption of globally applicable annual emissions caps 👍 based on each ship’s output.

Carriers Shudder at France’s Proposed Speed Limit for Ships (https://gcaptain.com/france-ship-speed-limit-reaction/) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 17, 2019, 08:34:43 pm
APRIL 12, 2019

By Joe McCarthy

How Drones Are Saving Myanmar's Mangrove Forests   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163125-16722324.gif&hash=fd301340fefe90d81ed8826dfa0568be12a1c0d8)

Conservationists are using drone technology to plant thousands of trees per day (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-1626482.gif&hash=068d5ba96cc9a0d9b824d58bf6e532eeee05b706) to restore areas affected by deforestation.

(https://media.globalcitizen.org/thumbnails/28/eb/28ebaa89-4ef1-4613-8a73-4c1d9b9f2d61/screen_shot_2019-04-12_at_30805_pm.png__597x449_q85_crop_subsampling-2_upscale.png)

SNIPPET:

Biocarbon Engineering is working with the Myanmar-based nonprofit Worldview International Foundation (WIF) to oversee the project. WIF has already worked with local villages to plant six million trees since 2012, but the drones now make the project exponentially easier.

The drones work by first mapping deforested areas and analyzing the topography. Then they fire biodegradable pods into ideal locations. Sometimes the pods get displaced, so it’s essential for local communities to be involved to make sure the saplings can flourish.

Mangroves are resilient trees that thrive in coastal areas, where their tendril-like roots weave through swamps and shallow bodies of water. In many parts of the world, mangroves are critical to the integrity of coastal communities — they foster food sources, absorb carbon, improve air and water quality, and defend areas against sea level rise and storms.

Despite these benefits, mangroves are being destroyed at an alarming rate — up to five times faster than forests elsewhere in the world, according to the United Nations. So far, nearly a quarter of all mangroves have been destroyed. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185038-1649349.gif&hash=17e5f9a00437fbab9a49c6ce2bd7d563eb15ed9c)

The primary drivers of this deforestation are development for coastal communities and aquaculture. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183404.bmp&hash=dc40a133c761f80036b08ef0f6c0427aaa7e9f4b)


Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/drones-myanmar-mangroves/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on April 28, 2019, 02:40:03 pm
Video: Dried-up Aral Sea springs back to life
1,125,690 views

https://youtu.be/pk4v0uu5rkY

FRANCE 24 English

Published on Sep 18, 2017
Subscribe to France 24 now:
http://f24.my/youtubeEN

FRANCE 24 live news stream: all the latest news 24/7
http://f24.my/YTliveEN

Straddling the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea was once the fourth-largest saline lake in the world, an inland sea of 66,000 square kilometres. But in 1950, the Soviets diverted the two rivers that fed it in order to irrigate fields and grow cotton. Little by little, the Aral Sea dried up, ruining thousands of livelihoods. Since the construction of a dam in 2005, the water is slowly beginning to rise, and with it residents' hopes. FRANCE 24 went to meet them.

http://www.france24.com/en/taxonomy/e...

Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Title: Fully Recyclable Plastics Breakthrough! This Could Change Everything
Post by: anonymous on May 11, 2019, 06:24:24 pm
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CZOIzkFVWJs/WacyOI6EKII/AAAAAAAAA90/FGamPzsklE4QzHwhC9xxHc6awkXFEJ2FwCLcBGAs/s1600/plastics.png)
👨‍🔬

May 9th, 2019 by Steve Hanley

Fully Recyclable Plastics Breakthrough! This Could Change Everything

Plastics today are made up of large molecules called polymers which in turn are created from shorter compounds called monomers. Then those polymers are mixed with additives that make them suitable for a particular purpose. Some make a plastic tough. Others make it flexible. Still others change its color. But those additives create strong chemical bonds with the polymers. Breaking those bonds is next to impossible in any cost effective way.

That’s what makes it so hard to recycle plastics. All recycling plants do is chop up all the waste plastic that comes in the door into small bits. When the chopped-up plastic is melted to make a new material, it’s hard to predict which properties it will inherit from the original plastics.

“Circular plastics and plastics upcycling are grand challenges,” says Brett Helms, a staff scientist at Berkeley’s Molecular Foundry. “We’ve already seen the impact of plastic waste leaking into our aquatic ecosystems, and this trend is likely to be exacerbated by the increasing amounts of plastics being manufactured and the downstream pressure it places on our municipal recycling infrastructure.”

The researchers went back to basic principles. This time, instead of inventing plastics that never breakdown, they focused on recyclability from the beginning. The result is a new kind of plastic called polydiketoenamine or PDK. Their report on PDKs has been published recently in the journal Nature Chemistry. “With PDKs, the immutable bonds of conventional plastics are replaced with reversible bonds that allow the plastic to be recycled more effectively,” Helms says.

Unlike conventional plastics, the monomers of PDK plastic can be recovered and freed from any additives simply by dunking the material in a highly acidic solution. The acid helps to break the bonds between the monomers and separates them from the chemical additives that give plastics their look and feel, according to a report by Science Daily.

Read more:

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/05/09/fully-recyclable-plastics-breakthrough-this-could-change-everything/
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 11, 2019, 07:38:03 pm
(https://medsocietiesforclimatehealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/GMU_MapGraphic_FINAL-01-1024x791.jpg)

http://medsocietiesforclimatehealth.org/learn/health-harmed-climate-change-map/


(https://i1.wp.com/fritsahlefeldt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/global-trends-climate-change-extreme-weather-illustration-by-frits-ahlefeldt.jpg?fit=945%2C945&ssl=1)
(https://www.climate.gov/sites/default/files/2018-billion-dollar-disaster-map-620.png)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 03, 2019, 04:00:06 pm
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200317134631.png&hash=3ec83ab2cb9a9acaf485fff7312df6381c25c2fd)

LAST UPDATED ON JUNE 3RD, 2019 AT 3:02 PM BY ALEXANDRU MICU 

(https://cdn.zmescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/bee-839761_960_720.jpg)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-310119164115.gif&hash=1f6e8c58bc6dac8dbce60f7d9ba64fb0f0f62cca)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

Agrochemicals harm bees even at ‘safe’ levels, and collapse whole colonies (https://www.zmescience.com/science/bee-colonies-agrochemicals-935252/)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 10, 2019, 05:02:59 pm
Corporations Are Poisoning People in Puerto Rico With Coal Ash

BY Jack Aponte, Truthout

PUBLISHED June 10, 2019

Studies show that Guayama in Puerto Rico, the location of AES Corporation's coal-fired power plant, has seen a notable increase in the rates of cancer, asthma, and other diseases typically linked to the effects of ash contamination of air and water. Since Hurricane Maria, the contamination has spread farther and wider, and people are demanding an end to this inefficient, expensive and dangerous form of energy generation.

 
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4) Read the Article → (https://truthout.org/articles/corporations-are-poisoning-people-in-puerto-rico-with-coal-ash/)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: Surly1 on June 13, 2019, 07:52:23 am
First global look finds most rivers awash with antibiotics (https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2019/05/first-global-look-finds-most-rivers-awash-antibiotics)
Almost two-thirds of the rivers studied contained enough antibiotics to contribute to the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.


(https://static.nationalgeographic.co.uk/files/styles/image_1900/public/01_river_nationalgeographic_1425522.jpg)
The Bramaputra River, Bangladesh. Some river locations in Bangladesh carry antibiotic levels 300 times higher than is considered safe for the environment.
PHOTO BY JONAS BENDIKSEN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION


Each year, humans produce, prescribe, and ingest more antibiotics than they did the year before. Those drugs have done wonders for public health, saving millions from infections that might otherwise have killed them.

But the drugs' influence persists in the environment long after they've done their duty in human bodies. They leach into the outside world, where their presence can spur the development of “antibiotic resistant” strains of bacteria. In a new study that surveyed 72 rivers around the world, researchers found antibiotics in the waters of nearly two-thirds of all the sites they sampled, from the Thames to the Mekong to the Tigris.

That's a big deal, says Alistair Boxoll, the study's co-lead scientist and an environmental chemist at the University of York, in the U.K. “These are biologically active molecules, and we as a society are excreting tons of them into the environment,” he says.

That leads to the potential for huge effects on the ecology of the rivers—as well as on human health.

Resistance is growing

Antibiotics prevent harmful infections, saving millions of lives each year. But the populations of the bacteria they fight against can evolve in response, morphing and changing in ways that let them evade death by the drugs designed to kill them. That means an infection by one of these “resistant” bacteria strains is harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat. The U.K. Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, says the problem is getting worse each year, and poses a "catastrophic threat" to doctors' ability to treat basic infections in the future.

A 2016 report found that each year around 700,000 people worldwide die of infections that are resistant to the antibiotics we have today. Scientists, medical experts, and public health officials worry that number could skyrocket as resistance to commonly used medicines increases. In 2014, a U.K.-commissioned study warned that by 2050, antimicrobial-resistant infections could be the leading cause of death worldwide.

And antibiotic “pollution,” in which excess antibiotics enter natural systems and influence the bacteria living there, helps speed along the development of resistant strains. It also disrupts the delicate ecological balances in rivers and streams, changing the makeup of bacterial communities.

That can affect all kinds of ecological processes, says Emma Rosi, an aquatic ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, in Millbrook, New York, because many bacteria play critical roles in river ecosystems, like helping to cycle nutrients like carbon or nitrogen.

One big problem for scientists is that no one has had a good picture of exactly where, when, and how many antibiotics are flowing into the natural world. Many countries have little or no data about antibiotic concentrations in their rivers. So Boxall and his colleagues decided to start mapping out the scope of the problem.

London's Thames was one of the rivers in the UK-commissioned study, which warns ’that by 2050, antimicrobial-resistant infections could be the leading cause of death worldwide.’

Fishing for antibiotics

The team—which presented their results on Monday at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry in Helsinki—gathered a group of collaborators from around the world, each of whom sampled their nearby rivers: 72 in all, on all continents but Antarctica. The scientists would go out on a bridge or jetty and dangle a bucket into the river water, pull up a sample, carefully push some through a filter, freeze their sample and airmail it back to the U.K. to be analysed.

The samples were screened for 14 different types of commonly used antibiotics. No continent was immune: They found traces of at least one drug in 65 percent of all the samples they studied.

“The problem really is global,” says Boxall.

That’s not particularly surprising, says Rosi, because “anywhere people use pharmaceuticals in their everyday lives, we see the evidence downstream.”

Bodies don’t break down the drugs, so the excess comes out in urine or waste. In many developed countries, the waste—and its load of antibiotics—passes through a wastewater treatment plant, but even the state-of-the-art plants don’t clear away all of the drugs. In places with no treatment plants, the antibiotics can flow even more directly into rivers and streams.

The data matched up with those expectations. The concentrations of many of the antibiotics were highest downstream of treatment plants and river-adjacent trash dumps, and in places where sewage was routed directly into river waters.

In one river, in Bangladesh, concentrations of metronidazole, a commonly prescribed treatment for skin and mouth infections, was 300 times higher than a recently determined limit deemed “safe” for the environment. In the Danube, the second-longest river in Europe, the researchers detected seven different types of antibiotics. They found one—clarithromycin, which is used as a treatment for respiratory tract infections like bronchitis—in concentrations four times higher than “safe” levels.

“In many ways it's like the plastic pollution problem,” says Boxall. “The issue is we don't think about where our waste goes, and that it has a life beyond us.”

Even faint traces of antibiotics could have big effects on the development of resistance, says William Gaze, a microbial ecologist at the University of Exeter. Bacteria are particularly good at swapping genes around in ways that let them quickly evolve in response to a threat, like an antibiotic. That evolution can happen in the presence of even very low concentrations of the drugs, concentrations like those the research team found in rivers worldwide.

Gaze stresses that there is much more research to be done before scientists understand exactly how the evolution of antibiotic resistance works. But, he says, now is the time for communities to find solutions that will keep antibiotics from flooding into rivers, because the potential outcomes for human health are so serious.

"There's a tendency to say we should use a precautionary approach," he says. "But by the time we have all the scientific evidence, it may be too late. We may have gotten ourselves to a post-antibiotic era when people are dying after being scratched by a rose in their garden and ending up with an untreatable infection.”

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 16, 2019, 06:56:58 pm
EcoWatch

By Jordan Davidson Jun. 11, 2019 12:07PM EST

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(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185038-1647640.gif&hash=2ef54cdc4f328b2b5315f424b6c41978252e8e49)

Near Record ‘Dead Zone’ Predicted for Gulf of Mexico (https://www.ecowatch.com/gulf-of-mexico-dead-zone-2638775648.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=81100e7451-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-81100e7451-86021645)
Title: REVELATOR: 🐳 Whale Migration Turns Deadly plus more News
Post by: AGelbert on June 27, 2019, 02:05:48 pm
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/zZrmEdig0XkLj4i1xgItoAetZM9Wo-bCbDFZfojf2El7kVx_99biMcwT2V8qqrUFW_EfI13hISvlP8CobJDFVxKREId6igDYyUKWZbfVk34sEokri-5HOnrJaaMjvYGrKaKmAyPd83FUzuM5rLoRZFQIV17PgDJgCNvq9Nc9KkdkMqKgm1pc3fSflyWfOMFC-g=s0-d-e1-ft#https://nvlupin.blob.core.windows.net/images/van/CBD/CBD/1/61429/images/Actions/Email600x250/Revelator_600x214_WithSubline.jpg)
      
John R. Platt
No. 86, June 27, 2019

🐳 Whale Migration Turns Deadly

The Revelator bioactivist@biologicaldiversity.org

Hello Revelator readers, 

(https://therevelator.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gray-whale-lydon-riverbed-2-1000.jpg)

It's been a terrible year for gray whales. So far about 170 dead whales have been found along their West Coast migratory route. Many of them, it turns out, suffered from malnutrition. Is climate change the cause, or could it be something else? Alaskan writer Tim Lydon, who encountered one of the dead whales not far from his home, explores the deadly mystery. (https://therevelator.org/gray-whale-deadly-migration/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=no86)

Speaking of deadly, the new book Up in Arms takes a deep dive into the world of range wars and so-called "patriot" militia groups in the West, including the infamous Bundy clan. If you want to understand the threats to America's public lands, this book is essential reading. Check out our interview and review. (https://therevelator.org/bundy-book-temple/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=no86)

Did you know that cigarette butts are the world's most-littered items? Well, some people want to solve that problem and are working on a range of new solutions, including groundbreaking legislation that could hold tobacco companies accountable for their products' waste. (https://therevelator.org/cigarette-butt-litter-solutions/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=no86)

Finally this week, one more great reason to conserve 🐘 elephants:
(https://therevelator.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Elephant-track-with-water-CREDIT-Steven-Platt-1000.jpg)
🐸Frogs love their footprints. (https://therevelator.org/elephants-frogs-feet/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=no86)

Subscriber bonus: The Wild 5

Let's go a little deeper. Here are five additional stories we're watching this week.

1. President Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205137.gif&hash=7a79df8ecf1b29d8599c26fe550e664c6c5e24bd) has worked to grease the wheels for a copper mine that would threaten pristine Minnesota wilderness (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/climate/trump-minnesota-mine.html) and enrich the owner of a Chilean conglomerate with personal ties to his family.

2. A 2004 hurricane damaged an oil platform owned by Taylor Energy, and it's been spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico ever since 100 to 900 times more oil (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818204546.gif&hash=ffeafdfa24208fe5070639ffa682bb2ad041737c) (https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060652095) than the company has claimed, a new report finds.

3. Dozens of peer-reviewed studies by Department of Agriculture scientists (https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/23/agriculture-department-climate-change-1376413) uncovered far-reaching impacts from climate change — but they're being buried by the Trump administration.

4. A large number of loggerhead turtles are nesting  (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/13/science/sea-turtles-georgia.html) on the Georgia coast this year, a sign that years of conservation work in the region is paying off.

5. There's still a lot we don't know about our oceans' depths, but a project launched two years ago has increased the mapped area of the ocean floor (https://www.oceannews.com/news/science-technology/gebco-data-of-the-world-s-ocean-floor-has-more-than-doubled) from 6 to 15 percent, with a goal of 100 percent by 2030.

In case you missed it:

Take a look inside Hawaii's snail extinction crisis (https://therevelator.org/hawaii-snail-extinction-crisis/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=no86).

What should we cover next?

Drop us a line anytime. We welcome your ideas and inside scoops.

Coming up:

Come back to the site tomorrow for a look at the awful government program that's responsible for millions of animal deaths.

After that, stay tuned for some great writing and important stories throughout the month of July. We'll continue our series on floods, keep talking about extinction rates, dive into some forgotten environmental history, look at July's best environmental books, reveal some secrets about koala conservation — and a whole lot more.

Look for our links in next week's newsletter — or follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the headlines as they go live. We share other interesting news there, too!

As always, thank you for reading.


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John R. Platt
Editor, The Revelator
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on June 28, 2019, 08:19:06 pm
June 28, 2019

https://youtu.be/jo4YAX79U2E

associated article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

Philadelphia Refinery Will Close After Fire, Could Become Renewable Energy Hub (https://cleantechnica.com/2019/06/28/philadelphia-refinery-will-close-after-fire-could-become-renewable-energy-hub/) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-221017161839.png&hash=7d34712243960aa20883775dad728bc2115ed6fe)
Title: BAYER’S HIDDEN FRANKENSTEIN WORKSHOP IN THE US CARIBBEAN
Post by: AGelbert on July 14, 2019, 05:06:46 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fperiodismoinvestigativo.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F03%2FengPortadaI.ComunidadArusJuanaDiaz.jpeg&hash=6f6be4a0319194e37a834b60d1d74fe4bae2c9e3)
Arús in Juana Díaz is right in the middle of the farms used by Monsanto, Illinois Crop Improvement and Syngenta Seeds for their work on GMOs. Photo by Abimael Medina | Centro de Periodismo Investigativo

BAYER’S HIDDEN FRANKENSTEIN (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818184307-1632656.gif&hash=a05eb1265a82fece710980651991a0e153bc3062) WORKSHOP IN THE US CARIBBEAN FINANCED BY TAX DOLLARS (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818204546.gif&hash=ffeafdfa24208fe5070639ffa682bb2ad041737c)

What is 👹 Monsanto doing in Puerto Rico?

As you can imagine, it’s not good and it’s hurting the residents there.


The blades of the windmills revolve over crops of genetically modified plantations of soybean and corn, plantain and farms that have been crushed by the extended use of concrete. The Caribbean Sea appears, with green areas to the left, and to the right an exit leading to an occupied territory: multinational seed corporations, such as Monsanto, control 31% of the land with the greatest potential for agriculture in the municipality of Juana Díaz. It is the transgenic epicenter of Puerto Rico.

From north to south, from east to west, seed corporations already dominate about 9,712 public and private acres in the island. The area controlled by these corporations is equivalent to the area destined in 2016 for the cultivation of plantains, which the territory’s Department of Agriculture identifies as the most important crop in the country, economically speaking.

No one knew of the silent boom of agrochemical and transgenic corporations on the island’s finest farms, until the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, for its Spanish acronym) completed an inventory of the properties after field visits and consultations with public documents, and then analyzed the area with digital geographic information provided by the Planning Board. With the advance of seed corporations in Puerto Rico, the Island became, between 2006 and 2015, the locality with more permits to do experiments with transgenics in the United States and its territories.

Click here (http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2017/03/the-boom-of-monsanto-and-other-seed-corporations-blows-in-the-south-of-puerto-rico/) for the complete article

Click here (https://realfoodchannel.com/support-the-real-food-channel/) to support: The Real Food Channel

Associated Video:
https://realfoodchannel.com/bayers-hidden-frankenstein-workshop-in-the-us-caribbean/

Title: Would Jay Inslee Take on the Military to Fight Climate Change?
Post by: AGelbert on July 15, 2019, 10:29:35 pm
Would Jay Inslee Take on the Military to Fight Climate Change?

July 15, 2019

At Netroots Nation 2019, we asked Democratic presidential candidate Jay Inslee, focused on climate change, if he'd take on the largest institutional emitter of fossil fuels: the Pentagon

https://youtu.be/rtAfCVGYN4A

https://therealnews.com/stories/would-jay-inslee-take-on-the-military-to-fight-climate-change
Title: The abandoned chemicals plant that could trigger ‘an environmental disaster akin to Chernobyl’ ☠️
Post by: AGelbert on July 26, 2019, 07:10:43 pm
The abandoned chemicals plant that could trigger ‘an environmental disaster akin to Chernobyl’ ☠️

By The Siberian Times reporter 25 July 2019

The Usolyekhimprom facility, disused due to bankruptcy in 2017, is a ‘toxic catastrophe waiting to happen’.

(https://siberiantimes.com/upload/information_system_40/7/6/6/item_7664/information_items_7664.jpg)

The chilling warning about the dangers at this abandoned plant was sounded by Svetlana Radionova, head of state environment watchdog Rosprirodnadzor. 'This is essentially the territory of an environmental catastrophe. We need to act now otherwise we will have an ‘ecological Chernobyl’,’ she said.

Radionova warned of ‘huge’ quantities of mercury and oil waster that could gush into the Angara River, which flows out of Lake Baikal.

Pictures here show the plant in Irkutsk region which manufactured chlorine and other chemicals on a 600 hectare site and began work in the Stalin era in 1933.
(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_1.jpg)
(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_31.jpg)
(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_4.jpg)
(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_5.jpg)
(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_6.jpg)
(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_10.jpg)

'This is a huge, chemically dangerous enterprise which is in a half-destroyed state,’ she warned. 'Its negligent owners exhausted its final resources and chucked it.’

'No one knows what’s there,’ she said. She had personally witnessed a huge amount of mercury residue plus tanks of dangerous, unknown chemicals, at the plant which stopped production in 2010. The mercury needs to be ‘de-mercurised’, she said. A mercury electrolysis department covered an area of more than one hectare.

Her warning about a second Chernobyl appears apocalyptical.

The meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986 was the world’s worst nuclear accident and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate as it spewed clouds of nuclear material across Europe.

(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_radionova_1.jpg)(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_radionova_2.jpg)
Svetlana Radionova visits Usolyekhimprom.

But the Russian official is plainly deeply concerned. Radionova told how a collection of tanks containing unspecified chemically dangerous substances were stored in the factory premises. Some are pressurised while no-one knows what exactly is inside.

'They pumped oil refinery wastes into boreholes which once had saline solutions in them,’ she told newspaper Izvestia. ‘The Angara River flows nearby, and it’s crystal clear that if such a borehole exploded, the river would be all polluted.’

She complained that it is not the only case of owners of the abandoned plant neglecting industrial infrastructure. Usolyekhimprom is the most vivid example of such ugly behaviour,’ she said.

’All of this, including the soil, groundwater and underground water, is impregnated with highly toxic organochlorine pollutants and heavy metals.'
(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_13.jpg)
(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_14.jpg)
(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_15.jpg)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sherv.net%2Fcm%2Femoticons%2Fsick%2Fbarfing-smiley-emoticon.gif&hash=36f6791510582d9f9f48af1d4d1a006a5681103b)
(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_16.jpg)
(https://siberiantimes.com/PICTURES/ECOLOGY/Usolyekhimprom/inside_17.jpg)

She wants the government to act to ‘recultivate’ the plant. The Ministry of Natural Resources was working on the cost of eliminating the ecological damage, she said.

The ministry’s spokeswoman Natalia Khlopunova said: 'The checks of Rosprirodnadzor at this facility were conducted on the instructions of the Minister, Dmitry Kobylkin.” Some remedial work had been done already. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718202127.gif&hash=acc63221521ebaf3f238088fd92d1ae3a08b6e48) ‘The findings of this review will be analysed to decide on the timing, cost and scope of work,’ she (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-080419191019.png&hash=a449294ee6fe2dfdea44c1c501f4439b9ac69c26) said.

https://youtu.be/f7HJ98xQU0Y

Irkutsk regional natural resources minister 🙉 Andrey Kryuchkov said the ‘elimination’ of pollution here was ‘one of the priority issues in ensuring the environmental safety of residents of the Irkutsk region’. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718202127.gif&hash=acc63221521ebaf3f238088fd92d1ae3a08b6e48)

But he hit back at likening the threat to Chernobyl. The Usoliekhimprom enterprise comprises  more than 200 industrial facilities. There are some 140 workshops - the mercury electrolysis facility which halted work in 1998  is only one of them - around 60 auxiliary buildings and structures, a railway track with a total length of over 20 kilometres, surface and underground utilities and collectors, about 50 kilometres long.

Kryuchkov said: ’All of this, including the soil, groundwater and underground water, is impregnated with highly toxic organochlorine pollutants and heavy metals.
'But even this does not give serious scientists the right to make incorrect comparisons between Usoliekhimprom and Chernobyl.' (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-251117175700.png&hash=00439d30db6e35817ea0d1fbcba614f1f971448e)

https://siberiantimes.com/ecology/casestudy/news/the-abandoned-chemicals-plant-that-could-trigger-an-environmental-disaster-akin-to-chernobyl/
Title: Gas Explosion 'Like An Atomic Bomb Went Off'
Post by: AGelbert on August 02, 2019, 03:01:16 pm
 
(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/7Iwt1Obw1A9OF4rmgyl-UYRo4MEJDf68gFtbGNW6JHUtpykjdICNc8oASCFbrYsucF5Fg17XbLG86FfHFO8yE4EkX6gjGVlOvmRAD7s5dGscLlHcisQ_pzhkscbiV_-D4oBdJi6nkSe_a2el9qT1VJhzoNSsAEZvHHg=s0-d-e1-ft#https://gallery.mailchimp.com/d1f5797e59060083034310930/images/2f11cead-050f-4018-bfed-c12fb45691e5.png)
Make Nexus Hot News part of your morning: click here (http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa) to subscribe.

August 2, 2019

(https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/kpvi.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/2/08/2089e9fa-4d14-512b-bd2d-2c80cc4ce6ea/5d4465301770a.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C721)

(https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/kentucky-explosion1-ht-usa-today-ml-190801_hpEmbed_23x9_1600.jpg)

 
Gas 🦕 pipeline 💥 explosion  'like a nuclear bomb' in Kentucky, things go wrong for right whale, & more (https://mailchi.mp/829095c17ba4/gas-pipeline-explosion-like-a-nuclear-bomb-in-kentucky-things-go-wrong-for-right-whale-more?e=0fd17c5b57)

  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.ih8mud.com%2Fattachments%2Fh6a3a1d8f-jpeg.1060027%2F&hash=87f86e6f087faf3da4e4f65ca2a7fd65bbd0c27d)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-110217171320.png&hash=ce2d04bf18b3ed3114a9164a1694684e359e4f1c)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-160619134142.jpeg)



Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 08, 2019, 12:45:49 pm
August 7th, 2019 by Carolyn Fortuna

(https://cleantechnica.com/files/2019/08/States-with-Plastic-Bag-Bans.png)

SNIPPETS:

By 2050, the oceans will contain more plastic than fish by weight. A May, 2019 report from the Center of International Environmental Law outlines that by 2050 plastic will be responsible for 10 to 13% of the total “carbon budget” — which is the amount of CO2 we can emit globally and still remain below a 1.5 degree Celsius temperature rise.

As I walked the Florida beach on this August morning, I surveyed the wrack line. Interspersed with shells, empty turtle eggs, drying seaweed, skate egg cases, coconut fronts, dead coral pieces, and sea glass, I could see small and large bits of plastic. A lost flip flop. Water bottle cap. Snack packaging. Toys. Plastic pollution is a serious problem, and many regions in the US are now restricting or eliminating many kinds of plastics in their communities due to its effects on the world’s oceans.

(https://cleantechnica.com/files/2019/08/Plastics-on-Florida-Beach-Fortuna.jpg)

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-111018132422-1692935.gif&hash=94922268ae283c7009e29067ba89220f466726ec)

 
How Concerned Is Your US Region With Plastic Pollution? (https://cleantechnica.com/2019/08/07/how-concerned-is-your-us-region-with-plastic-pollution/)

Title: Big freshwater fauna declined by 88% since 1970
Post by: AGelbert on August 09, 2019, 02:32:06 pm
(https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jaime_Garcia_Moreno2/publication/264930043/figure/fig2/AS:614033879216138@1523408493345/The-Living-Planet-Index-LPI-tracks-the-fate-of-populations-of-thousands-of-vertebrate.png)
     
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-041115022304.png&hash=cd8cb8e28ab8f7fc78c1ea00d30a661bd937aed5)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200317134631.png&hash=3ec83ab2cb9a9acaf485fff7312df6381c25c2fd)

The decline is twice as severe as for land or ocean vertebrates. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185038-1647640.gif&hash=2ef54cdc4f328b2b5315f424b6c41978252e8e49)


Big freshwater fauna declined by 88% since 1970

By Tibi Puiu on Aug 08, 2019 03:00 pm

SNIPPET:

Lakes and rivers cover only 1% of the Earth’s surface but house a third of all vertebrate species. It’s been getting far less crowded in the last couple of decades, though. :(

Scientists have found that the global population of freshwater megafauna such as dolphins, beavers, crocodiles, giant turtles, and sturgeon has declined by a frightening 88%. The prime driver is unsurprising: overexploitation.

Twice the loss of vertebrate populations on land or in the ocean

Freshwater megafauna, such as 🐬 dolphins, (https://image.shutterstock.com/image-vector/cute-cartoon-beaver-flat-style-260nw-1145320592.jpg) beavers, 🐊 crocodiles, 🐢 giant turtles and (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.gettyimages.com%2Fvectors%2Fsturgeon-freshwater-fish-vector-id857965570%3Fs%3D170667a%26amp%3Bw%3D1007&hash=f3404d92b9ced48bf41806ffbae88999582b9343) sturgeon, include all animals that swim in rivers or lakes and weigh over 30 kilograms (i.e. 66.14 lbs).

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/big-freshwater-fauna-declined-by-88-since-1970/

Title: Neonicotinoids poses significant threats to insects, soil and water
Post by: AGelbert on August 10, 2019, 03:06:39 pm
A new study shows that the class of insecticides called neonicotinoids poses significant threats to insects, soil and water

Kendra Klein and Anna Lappé

Wed 7 Aug 2019 06.00 EDT

 
America's agriculture is 48 times more toxic than 25 years ago. Blame neonics (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/07/americas-dependence-on-pesticides-especially-neonics-is-a-war-on-nature)
Title: HOW CORPORATIONS LIE TO US - PLANNING + COORDINATION
Post by: AGelbert on August 14, 2019, 09:59:45 pm
HOW (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) CORPORATIONS LIE TO US
PLANNING + COORDINATION

https://youtu.be/0Ency3ji6Qk

“TRADE SECRETS” – A DOCUMENTARY BY BILL MOYERS

Many people assume that dangerous products are kept off the market by the honesty and integrity of Big Business.

That would be a big mistake.

The opposite is true.

Big corporations routinely coordinate with each other to suppress scientific information from the public about the dangers of their products.

It’s called conspiracy – and anyone who thinks that companies don’t routinely plan and coordinate to protect (i.e. “inspire”) their profits needs an IQ check.



“Trade (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) Secrets” – the full documentary by Bill Moyers'
 (https://realfoodchannel.com/how-corporations-lie-to-us/)
Title: Arctic sea ice loaded with microplastics
Post by: Surly1 on August 17, 2019, 07:14:47 am
Arctic sea ice loaded with microplastics (https://phys.org/news/2019-08-arctic-sea-ice-microplastics.html)

Arctic sea ice loaded with microplastics

by Marlowe Hood

Scientists who collected the Arctic sea ice were shocked at the amount of plastic of all kinds it contained—beads, filaments, ny

At first glance, it looks like hard candy laced with flecks of fake fruit, or a third grader's art project confected from recycled debris.

In reality, it's a sliver of Arctic Ocean sea ice riddled with microplastics, extracted by scientists from deep inside an ice block that likely drifted southward past Greenland into Canada's increasingly navigable Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

"We didn't expect this amount of plastic, we were shocked," said University of Rhode Island ice expert Alessandra D'Angelo, one of a dozen scientists collecting and analysing data during an 18-day expedition aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden.

"There is so much of it, and of every kind—beads, filaments, nylons," she told AFP from Greenland, days after completing the voyage.

Plastic pollution was not a primary focus of the Northwest Passage Project, funded by the US National Science Foundation and Heising-Simons Foundation.

Led by oceanographer Brice Loose, the multi-year mission is investigating how global warming might transform the biochemistry and ecosystems of the expansive Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

'Punch to the stomach'

One key question is whether the receding ice pack and influx of fresh water will boost the release into the atmosphere of methane, a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent that CO2.

The Arctic region has warmed twice as quickly as the global average, some two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Average Arctic sea ice extent set a record low for July, nearly 20 percent below the 1981-2010 average, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported on Thursday.

But plastics has inserted itself onto the research agenda all the same.

Map showing the likely path of a drifting Arctic sea ice block in which samples extracted by scientists showed microplastic cont

"The ubiquity of plastic, for us it was kind of a punch to the stomach," Loose said.

"Just to see what looked like a normal ice core in such a pristine environment chock full of this completely foreign material."

A study published Thursday in Science Advances concluded that a large quantity of microplastic fragments and fibres are transported by winds into the Arctic region, and then hitch a ride Earthward in snowflakes.

At the same time, several million tonnes of plastics find their way each year directly into oceans, where waves and the Sun break them down into microscopic bits over time.

'Acts like a sieve'

For the samples collected by Loose's team—near the hamlet of Resolute—the low salinity and thickness of the ice left no doubt that it was more than a year old, and had originated in the northern Arctic Ocean.

The concentration of plastic bits in the ice was far higher than in surrounding water.

"As water freezes it forms crystals," explained Jacob Strock, another member of the team from the University of Rhode Island.

"Water passes through these crystals as they form," he told AFP. "The ice acts like a sieve, filtering out particles in the water."

Tiny plants and animals, called plankton, also get trapped in the ice. Some plankton ingest the plastic bits, which then work their way up the ocean food chain.

Plastic particles have recently been found inside fish in the deepest recesses of the ocean, called the Mariana Trench, and blanketing the most pristine snows in the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain.

In the last two decades, the world has produced as much as during the rest of history, and the industry is set to grow by four percent a year until 2025, according to a recent report by Grand View Research.

Title: Dangerous Lake Erie Algal Bloom Is Now Eight Times the Size of Cleveland
Post by: Surly1 on August 17, 2019, 07:23:04 am
Dangerous Lake Erie Algal Bloom Is Now Eight Times the Size of Cleveland (https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2019-08-16-lake-erie-algal-bloom-space)

(https://s.w-x.co/util/image/v/1565969228083_0816toxicalgae_on_lake_erie.jpg?v=at&w=815&h=458)

By Pam Wright

19 hours ago

weather.com

At a Glance

  • An outbreak of microcystis cyanobacteria, the organism responsible for harmful algae blooms, has become a yearly occurrence on Lake Erie.
  • NASA captured an image the massive bloom on July 30, when it covered 300 square miles, roughly the size of New York City.
  • By Aug. 13, the bloom had doubled to more than 620 square miles, eight times the size of Cleveland.

A harmful algae bloom that began growing in western Lake Erie in July has more than doubled in size in a few weeks.

On July 30, NASA captured an image of the bloom from space. At the time, the bloom covered 300 square miles, roughly the size of New York City. By Aug. 13, the bloom had doubled to more than 620 square miles, according to NASA. That's eight times the size of Cleveland, which sits on the shore of Lake Erie.

Outbreaks of microcystis cyanobacteria, the organism responsible for harmful algae blooms, has become a yearly occurrence on Lake Erie. Earlier this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted a severe bloom this summer, which became a reality in July primarily as a result of calm winds and abundant rainfall.

"Calm winds in July allowed algal toxins to accumulate at the surface (instead of being dispersed). Strong winds in August have since mixed some surface algae to deeper depths. Heavy rains carry excess nutrients (often fertilizer) from farms into the lake," NASA said in a statement.

NOAA noted in its prediction that this summer's bloom was expected to be larger than the mild bloom in 2018 and would measure greater than a 7 on the severity index, which is based on a bloom’s biomass, or the amount of its harmful algae, over a sustained period.

The largest blooms, 2011 and 2015, were 10 and 10.5, respectively, according to NOAA.

NOAA's 2019 harmful algae bloom outlook on Lake Erie, compared to previous years.
(NOAA)

On July 29, NOAA reported unsafe toxin concentrations in Lake Erie and have since advised people and their pets to stay away from areas where "scum is forming on the water surface."

"Green patches show where the bloom was most dense and where toxicity levels were unsafe for recreational activities," NASA said in its statement.

On Thursday, NOAA said in a weekly Lake Erie bulletin that measured toxin concentrations had decreased since the previous week but "may continue to exceed the recreational threshold where the bloom is most dense (appearing green from a boat)." The agency continued to warn people to keep themselves and their pets out of water where scum had formed.

Harmful algal blooms come from the runoff from nearby farms and ordinary neighborhoods that contain human waste and fertilizers. Nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as other nutrients in the polluted runoff, can act like fertilizer for the algae, creating large and extensive blooms.

(MORE: Millions in Major Cities Lack Access to Safe, Reliable Water Systems, and It's Getting Worse, Report Says)

NASA noted that this spring's heavy rainfall was a mixed blessing: It helped create the bloom in the first place but also prevented the situation from becoming worse.

"Nutrient runoff may have been less than anticipated this year because heavy spring rains and flooding prevented many farmers from planting crops," NASA said.

NOAA said the bloom is expected to continue into early fall.

If ingested, water contaminated with toxic cyanobacteria can cause nausea, vomiting and, in severe cases, acute liver failure, according to Florida's FWCC. While there have been no documented cases of anyone becoming ill from drinking water containing these toxins, it remains a concern.

The Centers for Disease Control says coming in direct contact with the algae can cause a rash and some research indicates a link between long-term inhalation of toxic algae fumes and neurological disorders like Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s diseases.

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 17, 2019, 04:11:16 pm
Dangerous Lake Erie Algal Bloom Is Now Eight Times the Size of Cleveland (https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2019-08-16-lake-erie-algal-bloom-space)

SNIPPET: If ingested, water contaminated with toxic cyanobacteria can cause nausea, vomiting and, in severe cases, acute liver failure, according to Florida's FWCC. While there have been no documented cases of anyone becoming ill from drinking water containing these toxins, it remains a concern.

The Centers for Disease Control says coming in direct contact with the algae can cause a rash and some research indicates a link between long-term inhalation of toxic algae fumes and neurological disorders like Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s diseases. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-150715183719.png&hash=7b222546f30a032efc31223d85eea0535ed42a49)

👍 Excellent article.

Not a problem, say the fossil fuelers! We can make lots of plastic bottles made from hydrocarbons to put "potable water" (we 😇 charge you only a small fee for purifying the water, using hydrocarbon feedstock chemicals, of course) in. Clean water is a national security thing, so make sure you keep providing all those subsidies for your loyal servants, the Hydrocarbon Industries, so they can do what "you want". Don't worry about the plastics in your water. CATO institute studies confirm that they are good for you! In fact, plastics have some of the same elements in them that vitamins do! Don't worry, we won't charge you for all those "vitamin building blocks" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85) we are providing out of the goodness of our hearts.  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-200419205434.png&hash=f935da2cb5d2746b1d817ec9a4feb3a04f3f8075)


You know, the 🐍 denier BULLSHIT artists, on behalf of the 🦕🦖 Hydrocrabon Hellspawn, have been yammering about all that CO2 "FOOD" that is gonna "green the planet" (and so on), so it's just fine and dandy to keep burnin' those hydrocrabons for the, uh, "good of the biosphere" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718210558.gif&hash=9234ac544277d3924347404eb52489dfe64e3ca4). Well, it looks like they forgot that algae just loves CO2. The more of it is around, the more algae will bloom, producing toxins and death in water bodies all over Earth's overheated biosphere. ☠️ (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sherv.net%2Fcm%2Femoticons%2Fsick%2Fbarfing-smiley-emoticon.gif&hash=36f6791510582d9f9f48af1d4d1a006a5681103b) A 'bottled water for humans' scheme by the Hydrocarbon Hellspawn will NOT stop the Sixth Mass Extinction now accelerating the killing off of every single high order mammalian vertebrate life form we depend on in the web of biosphere life.

At any rate, the planet WILL look a lot greener from space. I'm sure that's the next 🙉🙊 denier talking point...

Tomorrow is Yesterday...
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210316151047.png&hash=322a7c76731414f0f2ba44f8649e39de889b4bd6)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 18, 2019, 08:10:55 pm
The “Toxic ☠️ 100” Worst Polluters

August 18, 2019

Michael Ash of PERI discusses the “Toxic 100” index, which ranks the top 100 corporations in the US, including the U.S. government, according to the degree to which they pollute the air, the water, and contribute to greenhouse gases. The index assists in divestment campaigns and in identifying opportunities for green growth

https://youtu.be/RSxQDjpkp_s

Story Transcript

GREG WILPERT: Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Greg Wilpert in Baltimore.

Since 2004, the Political Economy Research Institute, PERI, has published an annual list of the world’s top polluting companies. Initially, this was just about air pollution. But in 2013, PERI launched an index of the top 100 water polluters, and in 2016, the index of greenhouse polluters. This year, PERI published all three indices individually as well as in a combined index.

The top three air polluters in the 2019 report are the chemical company, LyondellBasell; the arms and airplane manufacturer, Boeing; and the number one position is the oil company, Huntsman. The top three water polluters are the appliance manufacturer, Parker Hannifin; the arms manufacturer, Northrop Grumman; and in the top place, the chemical company, DowDuPont. Then finally, in the top three greenhouse polluter category are the energy companies, Duke Energy; Southern Company; and in top place, Vistra Energy.

Joining me now to discuss this report is Michael Ash. He’s professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and directs the Corporate Toxics Information Project together with James K. Boyce, which publishes the Toxic 100 Index. Thanks for joining us today, Michael.


MICHAEL ASH: Thanks for having me on, Greg.

GREG WILPERT: So, let’s start with the purpose of the Toxic 100 Index. What do you hope to achieve by publishing it?


MICHAEL ASH: The main point of the Toxic 100 Index is it’s a tool. And it’s a tool for socially responsible investors or communities that may be affected by toxics–pretty much every community in America–and for regulators and for the general public to understand what toxics they’re being exposed to, and which companies are releasing the most greenhouse gases. As a tool, it’s going to enable communities, socially responsible investors, socially or environmentally oriented corporate managers to make better decisions so that we can realize the right to clean air and clean water that we have in many of our state constitutions, and I think implicit in our national governance.

We’ve learned a lot about what we’re exposed to. The road from knowing what we’re exposed to to having a cleaner environment is not always a straight and easy path. We’re trying to make that easier for effected communities to use these tools, understand what we’re being exposed to, and then take action to do something about it.

GREG WILPERT: Now, is it safe to assume that the larger a company is, the more likely it will appear on the list, and the higher up it will appear, since larger companies presumably produce more pollution? Or do you take the company’s size into account so that you could find, in theory, a smaller, but highly polluting company towards the top of these lists?


MICHAEL ASH: We’re focused, in the case of toxics, really on the risk that human populations are exposed to. And there tends to be a bigger-is-worse phenomenon here. A small company that releases very toxic material or large quantities of highly toxic materials or happens to be in an urban area where it exposes large numbers of people, such a company could end up on this list. But in general, if you look at the top of the list, you’re looking at corporate giants. So, there is a little bit of a bigger-is-worse aspect to the data. Now, that’s not actually irrelevant because when you have those bigger companies, a small number of corporate decisions can really affect the exposure of large numbers of people.

So, if you want to do something about toxicity, you have to go where the pollution is. It’s like bank robbers robbing banks because that’s where the money is. We need to look where a small number of decision makers make decisions that can affect very large numbers of people. And it turns out there’s a lot of disproportionality in these data. Toxic releases and greenhouse gas releases, they’re very highly concentrated among a fairly small number of actors, and those actors are entities that can actually make decisions that affect people’s lives. So, there is a little bit of a focus on bigger, but bigger is also bigger decisions and more clean up is possible if we look in those places.


GREG WILPERT: OK. Yeah, that makes sense. Now, but I noticed one thing about the list is that the usual suspect suspects aren’t always dominating each category. For example, arms manufacturers such as Boeing and Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are present on each one of these lists. Why is that? What is it that they do that is so polluted?

MICHAEL ASH: There are very toxic substances used in defense or military industries. So, my guess is that ethylene oxide, which was recently upgraded as a toxic by the USEPA for purposes of rating these companies on their toxicity is the key feature that has generated the high rankings for those corporations. So, again, there are many toxics that go into the defense industry, that go into both producing military material and then also to cleaning up afterwards. So, those are probably the chemicals that are most responsible. One of the nice features of the list is it’s possible for any company to drill down to see exactly the list of facilities and the list of chemicals that’s responsible for the company being high on the list of toxic polluters.


GREG WILPERT: Now, the other thing that jumps out in looking at the index is that the U.S. government is ranked seventh in the greenhouse polluter index. However, the U.S. government actually isn’t a corporation, obviously. Now, this raises the question, how do you differentiate between the manufacturers of polluting products and energy on the one hand, and institutional consumers such as the U.S. government, which presumably pollutes mostly on the consumption side of things? That is, how do you avoid calculating the same pollution perhaps twice; once during production and once during consumption? And did you look at also the pollution that other governments cause?


MICHAEL ASH: So, that’s a great question, and let me answer in a couple of parts. The first is that we’re looking really exclusively at the production of pollution, so we are not looking at the life cycle on these products. Many of these products may have very unpleasant toxic life cycles after they’re produced. And again, we’re focused exclusively on point-source production of these toxics, or in the case of greenhouse gasses, these climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. government is ranked number seven on the greenhouse gas list. That’s the U.S. government as producer. Again, I encourage your listeners to visit toxic100.org and drill down, but the U.S. government is a pretty large electricity producer. Projects like the Tennessee Valley Authority is direct energy production by the U.S. government, sometimes for sale on a retail basis, sometimes to power things like defense establishment military bases.

But if you take a look at why the U.S. government is on the greenhouse gas list, I think it’s largely around electricity production, I think very heavily focused on older electric plants in the Middle West, in the Tennessee Valley. So, that’s one question. Second question really gets to the heart of some issues in federalism. The federal government is on this list because the federal government, which passed the laws, which enabled the toxics release reporting and the greenhouse gas reporting, can give itself orders.

So, it’s possible to legislate the inclusion of federal facilities in the toxics list and in the greenhouse gas list.

That’s true also for the private facilities that are regulated this way. State and local governments are effectively off the hook. They’re not reporters into the greenhouse gas and toxics release inventory. And that involves the limited ability of the federal government to regulate, to exercise authority over state and local governments. Many states–and I encourage your viewers to follow up–many states have state-specific reporting where you can learn more about how state facilities and local facilities, like universities for example, contribute to greenhouse gas production. But the federal lists are really limited to private entities and to the federal government, which are authorized for reporting under the Enabling Act.


GREG WILPERT: And is this just limited to the United States or do you also look internationally?

MICHAEL ASH: Oh, that’s a great question. So, unfortunately, the output we’re looking at is limited to the United States. So, we should think about large-point sources, large factories, large electrical generators located here in the U.S. The factories can be owned by entities all over the world. So, there could be an Indian-owned metal processor, for example, that owns facilities in the U.S. There could be a French-owned electrical-generating facilities, again, in the United States. If you don’t mind a quick digression, there’s a savage irony in this. These laws were largely enacted after the Bhopal chemical spill, where a Union Carbide pesticide-making facility in Bhopal, India spilled a spilled a toxic into the environment, killing close to 10,000 people in the period that followed the spill and changing the lives for the worst of tens of thousands more people. That law, which rightly horrified people all over the world, led to the legislation in the U.S. that protects U.S. citizens. So, the savage irony here is that a U.S.-owned plant which had done terrible damage in another country would not be reporting under this legislation.


GREG WILPERT: Now, finally, has publishing the index had an effect on the behavior of investors or on the companies themselves? I mean, do companies that find themselves in the top of this index respond to it in any way?


MICHAEL ASH: Yes. I think companies take very seriously showing up on these lists. We have some contact with corporations. In some cases, the leadership of companies themselves are unaware of what their facilities are doing. So, we’ve had some conversations with the chief environmental officer of an organization that was listed in the top ten in one of our earliest indices, and her response after learning more about the list from us was, “In the future, we’re going to have our facilities send their reports to headquarters as well as to the EPA.” So, that was shocking to us that the head did not know what the hands were doing.

There’s also some indication… We see, occasionally, shareholder initiatives that are brought to shareholder meetings and corporations will reference the Toxic 100 as a reason that their companies should engage in improved environmental practice or improved environmental reporting. So, we’ve seen, for example, in the ExxonMobil shareholder resolutions a call that has included the Toxic 100 among the reasons for improved reporting. So, we hope that we’re reaching people, and this is a tool that they can use.

Let me mention in passing, if I may, that in addition to listing the top 100 facilities, we also have a search tool easily linked from the toxic100.org website that allows visitors to the site to look up any corporation with reporting activity to the USEPA. So, we highlight the Toxic 100. People tend to focus on lists and it’s kind of salient for people, but in fact, people can look up any corporation in the U.S. and learn more about its toxic performance or its greenhouse gas performance.


GREG WILPERT: OK. Well, that’s really good to know. We’re going to link to it, of course, once we published this story. I was speaking to Michael Ash, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and co-director of the Corporate Toxics Information Project. Thanks again, Michael, for having joined us today.


MICHAEL ASH: Thanks, Greg, for having me on.

GREG WILPERT: Thank you for joining The Real News Network.

SPEAKER: Thanks a lot for watching. Appreciate it. But do us one more solid favor. Hit the Subscribe button below. You know you want to stay up on the videos.

https://therealnews.com/stories/the-toxic-100-worst-polluters-of-the-world

Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on August 19, 2019, 11:47:16 pm
Monday August 19th 2019

By David Cay Johnston, DCReport Editor-in-Chief

Team Trump: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) ‘The Only Good Forest Is A Dead Forest’

Forest Service Weighs Plan to Lay Waste to Tens of Thousands of Acres of Old-Growth Trees

https://www.dcreport.org/2019/08/15/trump-the-only-good-forest-is-a-dead-forest/
Title: Wildfires 🔥 are also raging in Bolivia in an area the size of the US state of Delaware 😨
Post by: AGelbert on August 22, 2019, 11:04:02 pm
Channel NewsAsia

23 Aug 2019 09:34AM (Updated: 23 Aug 2019 10:06AM)

(https://cna-sg-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/q_auto,f_auto/image/11835232/16x9/768/432/c4da3e8405295fdc81c13cb6daffc622/xm/satellite-image-shows-fires-burning-in-rondonia--brazil-in-the-upper-amazon-river-basin.jpg)
A satellite image showing fires 🔥🔥🔥 burning in the State of Rondonia, Brazil, in the upper Amazon River basin, on Aug 15, 2019. (Photo: Satellite Image 2019 Maxar Technologies/via AP)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
As Amazon 🔥 burns, Brazil's 😈 Bolsonaro tells rest of world not to interfere (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817122018.gif&hash=74d86c1f35e2f61ea38c9bfa392f84a92631b96e) (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/brazil-amazon-fire-bolsonaro-un-france-reject-aid-11833770)
Title: Why Did Trump 🦀 EPA Approve Brain Damage Causing Pesticide?
Post by: AGelbert on August 24, 2019, 10:16:06 pm
Why Did Trump 🦀 EPA Approve Brain Damage Causing Pesticide? >:(
1,786 views

https://youtu.be/zLPgnEFERos

Thom Hartmann Program
Published on Aug 22, 2019

The Trump EPA just approved a pesticide that is linked to Brain damage. Tiffany Finck-Haynes joins the program to discuss just how dangerous these chemicals are to you and to the environment.

Title: 🚩 Playing with Amazon Fire will get us all Burned 🔥 😱
Post by: AGelbert on August 29, 2019, 11:58:19 am
🚩 Playing with Amazon Fire will get us all Burned 🔥 😱
3,380 views

https://youtu.be/XCgoLXZGDOw

Paul Beckwith
Published on Aug 27, 2019

According to the Wiki on Amazon Rainforest: “In 2018 about 17% of the Amazon Rainforest was already destroyed. Research suggests that upon reaching about 20-25% (hence 3-8% more), the tipping point to flip it into non-forest ecosystems - degraded savannah - (in eastern, southern and central Amazonia) will be reached.” Given 3 recent century scale droughts in the Amazon Rainforest in 2005, 2010, and 2015-2016, and slash-and-burn human practices accelerating again, we are quite literally playing with fire in a game we cannot win.

Please donate at my blog http://paulbeckwith.net to support my efforts to analyze, and present to you significant developments in abrupt climate change.

Category Science & Technology

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-251218182412-2045476.jpeg)
Title: Gail Zawacki: "You're Not Gonna Be Able to Survive This, No Matter How Much You Prepare"
Post by: AGelbert on August 30, 2019, 08:42:10 pm
Agelbert NOTE: Published 9 months ago, the information in this interview is sine qua non for all reality based humans:

Gail Zawacki: "You're Not Gonna Be Able to Survive This, No Matter How Much You Prepare" 👀
8,351 views

https://youtu.be/sBv36JRUkL0

Collapse Chronicles
Published on Dec 16, 2018

In this week's edition of my Collapse Chronicles interview, I have the pleasure and honor of speaking with the Diva of Doom herself, Gail Zawacki. Here is a link to Gail's classic primer for neophyte doomers, "Doom for Dummies":
http://doomfordummies.blogspot.com/

Category News & Politics
Title: Re: Gail Zawacki: "You're Not Gonna Be Able to Survive This, No Matter How Much You Prepare"
Post by: Surly1 on August 31, 2019, 08:23:53 am
Agelbert NOTE: Published 9 months ago, the information in this interview is sine qua non for all reality based humans:

Gail Zawacki: "You're Not Gonna Be Able to Survive This, No Matter How Much You Prepare" 👀
8,351 views

https://youtu.be/sBv36JRUkL0

Collapse Chronicles
Published on Dec 16, 2018

In this week's edition of my Collapse Chronicles interview, I have the pleasure and honor of speaking with the Diva of Doom herself, Gail Zawacki. Here is a link to Gail's classic primer for neophyte doomers, "Doom for Dummies":
http://doomfordummies.blogspot.com/

Category News & Politics

BTW, Gail's site is just a wonder to behold!
Title: BLACK BEAR NEWS 8.28.19 The Earth Looks Better In Green
Post by: AGelbert on August 31, 2019, 06:52:30 pm
Agelbert NOTE: EXCELLENT (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185039-1655102.gif&hash=1a13ffad2c8451cba6f45b04a1249447d50c3e73) PROGRESSVE (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-210614221847.gif&hash=54129e3b65760aaddc6f2d7f42b34a7d839d2f27) RANT by
Black Bear News host about Corporate BS demonizing everything Senator Sanders says and does.

BLACK BEAR NEWS 8.28.19 The Earth Looks Better In Green
1,314 views

https://youtu.be/M2RLdkue38c
Black Bear News
Published on Aug 28, 2019

Earth Stopped Getting Greener 20 Years Ago
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-stopped-getting-greener-20-years-ago/

Cory Booker Wants to Pay Many More Farmers to Practice Carbon Farming
https://civileats.com/2019/08/08/cory...

Bernie Sanders Gets a D- for His Climate Plan
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-dru...

Twitter @BlackBearNews1

Support via Paypal:  https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...

Support via Square: https://cash.me/$RedLlamaMusic

Red Llama Music
PO Box 132
So Pasadena, CA 91031
Category People & Blogs
Title: U.S. Beekeepers File Suit Against EPA Charging "Illegal" Approval of Insecticide
Post by: AGelbert on September 07, 2019, 07:13:07 pm
(https://d210i8t551lxm.cloudfront.net/images/contents/000/005/822/original/11535954114_f52c310289_b.jpg?1502445323)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818204546.gif&hash=ffeafdfa24208fe5070639ffa682bb2ad041737c)
U.S. Beekeepers File Suit Against  EPA Charging "Illegal" Approval of Insecticide

JON QUEALLY, COMMON DREAMS

A group of beekeepers joined forces on Friday against (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) Trump's EPA by filing a lawsuit over the agency's move to put a powerful insecticide back on the market. The lawsuit charges that the EPA's approval of sulfoxaflor was illegally rendered as it put industry interests ahead of the health of pollinators and ignored the available research. Scientists warn the chemical is part of the massive pollinator die-off across the U.S.

Read the Article → (https://truthout.org/articles/us-beekeepers-file-suit-against-epa-charging-illegalapproval-of-insecticide/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=cf23b66d-d3e5-4f18-a353-8046aedcb1c3)
Title: Shipping’s Carbon-Neutral Dream Seen Drifting Further Away
Post by: AGelbert on September 12, 2019, 04:19:54 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

September 11, 2019 by Bloomberg

Shipping’s Carbon-Neutral Dream Seen Drifting Further Away (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-231218145827.png&hash=8d3bbb761cf17fcddac83f24088d26e316b65e33) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-310119164317.gif&hash=870c66e6ad21133a740ba1583280577f05ccb4ac)  (https://gcaptain.com/shippings-carbon-neutral-dream-seen-drifting-further-away/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Gcaptain+%28gCaptain.com%29&goal=0_f50174ef03-6414b0fb52-169600093&mc_cid=6414b0fb52&mc_eid=1855a0727e)
Title: Documentary “Blowout” Follows Climate ☠️ Cost of 🦖 Oil Boom from 🦕 Fracking to Exports
Post by: AGelbert on September 21, 2019, 04:44:22 pm
Documentary “Blowout” Follows Climate ☠️ Cost of 🦖 Oil Boom from 🦕 Fracking to Exports

September 20, 2019

The new film follows the U.S. oil supply chain, covering health, climate and environmental justice impacts. And it points to the president who was central (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040718162655-14231561.gif&hash=98b427175ee380f6d3c313520cc8668c10f2172a) 🦖(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78)to creating the current reality: 😈 Barack Obama.

https://youtu.be/-BSOgaODVWE

Story Transcript

DIMITRI LASCARIS: The United States fracking boom has entered a new phase as massive amounts of oil are now being exported to the global market. This is Dimitri Lascaris reporting on this subject for The Real News from Montreal, Canada.

Dozens of coal-fired power plants too have been converted into natural gas power plants and about 200 more are now under proposal across the country, according to a recent story by USA Today. A decade ago, a new technique called fracking inspired films such as Gasland and Promised Land due to the impacts it was having on rural community water resources in the United States, but today the horizontal drilling process has unleashed impacts which are truly global in nature. For most Americans, those impacts remain out of sight, rarely looked at from either a macro or micro point of view. A new movie aims to change that, however. That film, Blowout: Inside America’s Energy (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-010519192253-22021843.png&hash=dc42f0b14e3fa46ca7e6c5b89050bf204bf0cbb4), is a cross-newsroom collaboration between the outlets, The Associated Press, Newsy, Center For Public Integrity and The Texas Tribune. Here’s part of the trailer for that film.

BLOWOUT FILM TRAILER: Right now we’ve got energy policies that are really being dictated by a handful of fossil fuel producers. Energy companies are looking to develop kind of this blank canvas, if you will. We started seeing the pads pop up. I started having vomiting episodes. Those impurities are going into my air. We are the sacrifice. No drills, not in our neighborhoods. It will never be safe. We’re sacrificing people’s health so that the oil and gas industry can ship overseas and make a profit.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: An ongoing seven-part print companion series is now also up online. The film is now streaming on platforms such as Amazon Prime, Fire TV, Roku, VIZIO, and Apple TV. Joining us here to talk about the film is Zach Toombs, the film’s director. He is also the Executive Producer of Newsy Documentaries. And thank you for coming onto The Real News, Zach.

ZACH TOOMBS: Thanks for having me.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: So Zach, let’s start out with this simple question. How did you come up with the idea behind Blowout, and why did your team choose a supply-chain based approach to tell the story?

ZACH TOOMBS: Right, so the Center For Public Integrity were really the driving force behind the core story idea, putting together this cross-newsroom partnership, and doing some really great journalism around the global exports boom that has come from this production boom in the US. And so the Center For Public Integrity, The Associated Press and The Texas Tribune all looked at different aspects of this global oil and gas trade fueled by the US. From Newsy’s perspective, we knew that we have this story that spanned the globe and a feature-length documentary seemed like a great way to tell that story because we could basically follow the physical path from drilling in West Texas and Colorado to shipping through the Panama Canal, to where the oil and gas is being bought in India, where it’s being burned off, and what the global climate impact looks like.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: Now, for the film, you managed to examine how many people live within 2,000 feet of a drilling pad in the United States. That number is remarkable. You’ve concluded that, as I understand it, 1.2 million Americans live within that health-risk zone based on US Census data.

ZACH TOOMBS: 1.4

DIMITRI LASCARIS: And as I understand, nearly half a million of them live in that zone in Texas. What are the health risks for those living in that zone?

ZACH TOOMBS: Yeah. It’s 1.4 million people across the US who live within 500 feet of active oil and gas production in the US. And the impact within that zone is well documented by scientists, by researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, by researchers at the University of Colorado. And those health impacts can look like anything from nosebleeds and respiratory issues to an increased risk of cancer. The risk of cancer is actually eight times higher within 500 feet of active oil and gas production than the EPA’s accepted threshold for cancer risk. And so that’s about eight in 10,000. It seems like a small number, but given the scale of US oil and gas production right now, that puts a lot of people in a dangerous position.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: In 2015, in the midst of a presidential election season, the world changed when President Barack Obama signed legislation reversing the crude oil export ban, which had been in place since the 1970s, and here’s a clip from the film dealing with that issue.

BLOWOUT FILM CLIP: And for decades, it kind of went and challenged until around 2008 when fracking really took off. And that’s the only time when you start to hear the oil and gas groups, like the American Petroleum Institute, start to suggest that this old ban that was put in place back in the 1970s, “maybe you should throw it out.” And around 2013, you see maybe under a dozen companies lobbying on the crude oil export ban. And then a year to two years later, that number grows to 300 lobbyists on this, converging on Capitol Hill.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: For Blowout, Zach, you took trips to the port of Corpus Christi and the Panama Canal to explore exports. Talk about what you learned in these places and how it relates back to the 2015 legislation.

ZACH TOOMBS: Well, one major thing that we took away from the whole process of filming this story across the world are the global impacts that decisions made in Washington can have, and the global impacts of an increase in drilling that has had a positive economic impact on some pockets of the US, but has severe public health and climate impacts across the world. And so, for example, in Corpus Christi—I mean, take the Gulf coast, for example. The port of Corpus Christi has seen tremendous growth, hundreds of new jobs, a lot of opportunity economically. But if you go further north up the Gulf coast, you get into places like Port Arthur, Texas, which is this town surrounded by refineries, which has essentially been dealing with poisonous air for the better part of the last few decades.

And now, the activity at these refineries that surround this town and a lot of refinery towns along the Gulf Coast, is only ramping up as us oil and gas production ramps up. At the Panama Canal, they’ve actually installed whole new sets of infrastructure within the canal to handle the increase in US traffic headed to Asia. So, that’s just one of the examples that we saw of a global impact that the US oil and gas boom is having right now.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: And you just mentioned Asia, you did not confine yourself in the making of this film to the Western hemisphere. You also went across the Pacific to South Asia, reporting in both India and Bangladesh. How is the US oil boom and exports impacting those regions?

ZACH TOOMBS: [inaudible] where they have this ambitious renewable energy plan based on solar energy, and then there’s the natural gas option, which is provided by the US— cheap, abundant fuel, and fuel that is certainly cleaner than coal. But the question is, the bridge that natural gas forms, and that’s what it’s often talked about as is, “Okay, natural gas will be this bridge between really dirty fossil fuels like coal, and renewable energy.” The question right now is how long will that bridge be for countries like India, countries that are pretty significant when you’re looking at a global scale, just because of their population. If they invest in infrastructure for natural gas, terminals to handle imports, pipelines, those are investments meant to last 30, 40, 50 years into the future. So, the countries that are now becoming customers for the US, buyers of the US natural gas, how long will natural gas delay a transition to renewable energy?

DIMITRI LASCARIS: And lastly, Zach, climate change. When you were out in the field in West Texas, you could see methane, as I understand it, a very potent greenhouse gas, methane plumes emitted into the sky via an infrared camera. What exactly is the current state of play for ethane/methane emissions and climate impacts for oil drilling in the United States?

ZACH TOOMBS: I mean, a lot of the legislative action and the executive action from the White House lately has been around methane. It’s something that is not talked about as much as it should be. When we talk about climate impact, we’re always talking about carbon emissions. Everybody knows about CO2, but what’s less discussed, but also very important, are methane emissions. Natural gas puts out less CO2, but it puts out a lot more in methane. And so, that’s something to consider when you’re thinking about greenhouse gases overall because methane has incredible potency in warming the Earth’s atmosphere. That’s something that Gabrielle Patron and researchers at NOAA break down for us in the film. And so, as natural gas is being sold as this relatively clean energy source, we have to look at the methane. The Obama administration, when they rolled back this export ban, they also tried to counter that because they knew more drilling would come and more natural gas would be produced.

They tried to counter that with some new restrictions and limitations on methane, which there’s a serious problem in the industry right now with methane leaks. The Trump administration has basically said, “Go for it.” They’ve rolled back those restrictions that were put in place, or delayed some that were planned. They don’t seem to be terribly worried about it. They want to take what they see as the shackles off of the natural gas industry and drilling. But that’s going to have a major methane impact, which is a major greenhouse gas impact, which is a climate impact.

DIMITRI LASCARIS: Well, I’ve been speaking to Zach Toombs, Director of the new film about the global fracking industry in America’s fracking boom. It’s called Blowout: Inside America’s Energy (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-010519192253-22021843.png&hash=dc42f0b14e3fa46ca7e6c5b89050bf204bf0cbb4). Recommend you see it. And this is Dimitri Lascaris reporting for The Real News Network from Montreal. Zach, thank you for joining us today.

ZACH TOOMBS: Thank you.

DHARNA NOOR: Hey, y’all. My name is Dharna Noor, and I’m a climate crisis reporter here at The Real News Network. This is a crucial moment for humanity and for the planet. So, if you like what we do, please, please support us by subscribing at the link below. Thank you.

https://therealnews.com/stories/documentary-blowout-follows-climate-cost-of-oil-boom-from-fracking-to-exports

 
The 🦕🦖 Hydrocarbon 👹 Hellspawn Fossil Fuelers DID THE Clean Energy  Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting CRIME, but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and conscience free crooks 🦀, they are trying to AVOID   DOING THE TIME or   PAYING THE FINE! Don't let them get away with it! Pass it on!   
Title: Rubber Tires - A dirty business | DW Documentary
Post by: AGelbert on September 24, 2019, 08:53:30 pm
Rubber Tires - A dirty business | DW Documentary
602,487 views•Published on Sep 17, 2019

https://youtu.be/-fusUxEPwsw

DW Documentary
933K subscribers
The booming global tire market is worth billions - but this comes at a high price, both to humans and the environment. Over 50 million car tires are sold each year in Germany alone. But where does the natural rubber for them come from?

The biggest producer of natural rubber for tires is Thailand. More than four million tonnes of rubber are harvested annually in plantations there. And demand for rubber is ever growing - because ever more tires are needed. But the labor conditions in Southeast Asia are harsh - with working days of up to 12 hours and very low wages. In addition, toxic herbicides banned in Europe are used to fight weeds on the plantations. After the harvest, the ‘white gold’ rubber is sold to brokers, who, in turn, sell it on. German tire manufacturers, like Continental, for example, are keen to stress that they use "natural commodities conscientiously.” But many car drivers don’t give a second thought about where the rubber in their tires comes from - and why we don’t recycle used tires more effectively.

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Category Education
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 25, 2019, 01:17:27 pm
(https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/H_B4B6nZZDIZE-MGV-I0nlqF0BzgrUT6NUyN8cDPXbXVC91KLMWTMJESTOq_RQa2b9Eyd6JEZIY2YTSHWFvX9yy3ntG2krZgfW4wFshf3en2afbDxhE43JNobc_K-Q=s0-d-e1-ft#https://www.truthdig.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/53_229967-1-693x500.jpg)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-251218182854-20872494.png&hash=58e757be1db55c41a6651df17cfbba97b037853b)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 25, 2019, 02:13:55 pm
EcoWatch

By Truthout Sep. 24, 2019 02:17PM EST

EPA, Trump and DoD: Greed, Corruption and Collusion (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-111018132422-1692935.gif&hash=94922268ae283c7009e29067ba89220f466726ec)

How U.S. Government (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78) Conceals Truth About 'Forever Chemicals' and How You Can Help Avoid Exposure (https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-veto-action-forever-chemicals-2640582540.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=3064b2646f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-3064b2646f-86021645)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 28, 2019, 05:57:04 pm
Rising seas 🌊 threaten hundreds of Native American heritage sites along Florida's Gulf Coast
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
Doomstead Diner Daily 9/28 (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/general-discussion/doomstead-diner-daily/msg13790/#msg13790)

True. In addition, there is an even greater threat to Florida in general, and Miami in particular, that should concern anybody that lives there. There is a superfund site very close to the Biscayne Aquifer, the main source of fresh water for Miami. Superfund sites all over the USA were designated as such decades ago by the EPA, when a national effort was undertaken to clean up all the poisonous chemicals in certain industrial areas going back to the early 1940's (and  some before that!).

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftherevelator.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F10%2Fflorida_flood_cancer_superfund.gif&hash=c299af9d465272d4a3568c3b5f8c16177ba0039f)

Not widely known by the American public (of course - we can't have Capitalism's Industrial Poisonous ☠️ Pollution waste by-product "Externalities" making Capitalism look like the biosphere destroying cancer that it is, now can we? 😈) is the FACT that some of those superfund sites are so chemically toxic that they have been designated as PERMANENT superfund sites. IOW, our good gooberment does not have the ability to de-toxify them. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818204546.gif&hash=ffeafdfa24208fe5070639ffa682bb2ad041737c)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftherevelator.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F10%2Fflorida_phosphate_radioactive_sinkhole.gif&hash=be0ceeb7cb82472d50ea25d053180b363fc65439)

As the sea level rises, and long before it actually is a threat to even the coastal land areas, salt water encroachment through the coral base of Florida will reach that superfund site near Miami.

(https://www.miamidade.gov/environment/images/water/aquifer-sized.jpg)

(https://pubs.usgs.gov/ha/ha730/ch_g/jpeg/G028.jpeg)

When it does, in less than a decade from now, the chemicals in that superfund site will leach through the sea water to the ONLY fresh water aquifer that feeds the Miami metropolitan area and points south, as well as Ft. Lauderdale and some points north.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Biscayne_Aquifer_USGS.jpeg)

Tap water will be poisonous. Never mind what all those leached toxic chemicals, that DO NOT DEGRADE and CANNOT BE FILTERED OR CHEMICALLY SEPARATED OUT through present water purifying technology, will DO ☠️ to all the flora and fauna in the Everglades, absolutely everyone that does not own a water generator which extracts H2O out of the air will have to move or die.

And how long will the rich bastards with their water generators hold out while the flora and fauna dies all around them? Not long, I'll wager.

That will be the end of Miami. No potable water, no life.

The only upside (I'm the eternal straw grasping optimist ;D) to that TOXIC MESS is that, at that point, rather than blaming CAPITALISM'S Superfund toxic site COST for this horror (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-101118134711.png&hash=95656a8745d64029834962eaf709ab2a1042866a), TPTB 😇 will blame Climate Change. There will be ZERO credibility among the public for deniers who try to continue pushing the LIE that Catastrophic Climate Change is not happening.

THEN, at long last, "subsidies" (i.e. Oil and Gas CORPORATE WELFARE QUEEN HANDOUTS) for hydrocarbons will be cut off, some punitive measures will be imposed and EVERYONE in the Corporate Media will get behind the big push to go 100% Renewable.

Except for aircraft and other machines that run some type of renewable energy based biofuel or hydrogen, electric EVERYTHING will be mandatory for all our machines within a few years. 👍

EVs will be massively subsidized so we can all trade our CO2 belching gas guzzlers for an ⚡ EV with similar range at no cost. 👍

I know, that's not much of an upside, considering the record breaking heat, fires, storms, drought, flooding, and so on will continue to worsen for at least a century, but it's the right thing to do, even if it's too late to stop most of the multiple mammalian vertebrate species extinction damage. We reap what we sow.

You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else. - Winston Churchill

(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Iqseo2pRwtg/XRTayEokARI/AAAAAAAArfA/X1tzXpYlE0g5QxX8edsA2vP4Fr155VuNwCLcBGAs/s640/book.jpg)
Title: Hannah Arendt ✨ spoke about an entire society is being lied to consistently
Post by: AGelbert on September 29, 2019, 07:24:58 pm

True. In addition, there is an even greater threat to Florida in general, and Miami in particular, that should concern anybody that lives there. There is a superfund site very close to the Biscayne Aquifer, the main source of fresh water for Miami. Superfund sites all over the USA were designated as such decades ago by the EPA, when a national effort was undertaken to clean up all the poisonous chemicals in certain industrial areas going back to the early 1940's (and  some before that!).

Not widely known by the American public (of course - we can't have Capitalism's Industrial Poisonous ☠️ Pollution waste by-product "Externalities" making Capitalism look like the biosphere destroying cancer that it is, now can we? 😈) is the FACT that some of those superfund sites are so chemically toxic that they have been designated as PERMANENT superfund sites. IOW, our good gooberment does not have the ability to de-toxify them.

As the sea level rises, and long before it actually is a threat to even the coastal land areas, salt water encroachment through the coral base of Florida will reach that superfund site near Miami.

//

Tap water will be poisonous. Never mind what all those leached toxic chemicals, that DO NOT DEGRADE and CANNOT BE FILTERED OR CHEMICALLY SEPARATED OUT through present water purifying technology, will DO ☠️ to all the flora and fauna in the Everglades, absolutely everyone that does not own a water generator which extracts H2O out of the air will have to move or die.

And how long will the rich bastards with their water generators hold out while the flora and fauna dies all around them? Not long, I'll wager.


Brilliant deep dive on this topic, of which I was completely unaware. Sea level rise will make toxic seeps of these sites and corpses of the residents.

I am more cynical about the endgame: we'll blame the poor, and the dead.

Thanks bro. :)

I admit your endgame analysis may be more reality based than mine. After all, there is the massive post-Nixon spin machine that was spelled out in an article you posted yesterday. That spin machine has been as hostile to climate change reality as it has been to irrefutable historical 🐘 right wing serial corruption and coverup of crimes reality.

Quote
The right has devoted decades of careful, patient investment to creating this system, which has three main arms.

First, there’s a gigantic media ecosystem, with Fox News at the apex and innumerable smaller creatures. Second, there’s an intelligentsia based in think tanks and Ivy League professorships funded by conservative foundations. Third, there’s a legion of right-wing judges carefully selected for monomaniacal partisan loyalty.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-020818215621-15692431.jpeg&hash=608b7ae8d851bb57ff3c22f842c306060400a6e2)(https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f269a0531f54fd1c1618278fe0144f1a4c83cc284aa96b523caece2ad390f752.jpg)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-130818183343.png&hash=24619de38894b06548f1a2a193303336c2bf9c0a)
NIXON’S REVENGE: THIS TIME, REPUBLICANS ARE READY TO FIGHT IMPEACHMENT (https://theintercept.com/2019/09/28/impeachment-republicans-nixon-watergate/)

BUT, the article, though stating many truths, does not acknowledge a more basic truth that goes to heart of the rot destroying this country's hope for a better future. That is, TPTB have TOTALLY embraced an Orwellian inversion of Ethical Standards (see: Darwinian based "triumph of the best liar and crook" game theory INSANITY). I'll get to that in a moment, but the entire Watergate Republican pious 😇 weeping and gnashing of teeth noise was, itself, a 😈 cover up of Nixon's treasonous greater crimes. The article fails to point out that the purpose of the Republican public pity party for Nixon was, in itself, a disingenuous (see: game theory) ploy to KEEP the public focused EXCLUSIVELY on Watergate. It worked. >:(

Most people do not give any importance to that Nixon quote on the tapes:"other stuff we do not want to get out there". The "OTHER" business was Nixon's link, through Howard Hughs, and Howard Hughs' lawyer, to the Cuba sabotage and Castro hit team members that NIXON, as a VP under Eisenhower (who fully approved), ordered to be created and funded. That "Plumbers" team was the very same team that participated in the Watergate burglary AND, in 1963, the assassination of JFK. "Other" stuff, indeed. 

Pelosi, a card carrying member of the pseudo-left fascists, is doing exactly the same thing now by trying to keep the impeachment "narrowly focused" on the Ukraine shakedown. That will probably work, though not if Maxine Waters has anything to say about it. I hope she has good security.

TPTB will, after cleverly firing up the Republican Base with so much outrage at Trump's "crucifixion by the libruls" that they will vote for ANY Republican Candidtate for ANY political office, quietly, but firmly. ask Mr. Trump to spend more time with his family, or something similar. Trump will then be the new Nixonian "martyr".(https://stickershop.line-scdn.net/stickershop/v1/product/1451400/LINEStorePC/main.png) 😉😈

I predict that evil trick will NOT work this time around. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838)

Though the game theory adverts fervently wish otherwise (most people at Fox News and the CIA are true believers in this psycho-babble mindfork), no amount of right wing coordinated spin machine brainwashing can achieve that "1984" BALONEY of convincing most people, NOT so much that 'up is down' and 'down is up', but that WHATEVER YOU SAY IS THE "TRUTH", even if it is exactly the opposite of what you said yesterday, especially when said spin machine pushes the bold faced LIE that any and all historical examples of political corruption in the USA, even though far less significant than Trump's in-our-faces self enrichment corruption, "do not apply" to Trump. The "everybody does it" BULLSHIT is NOT going to fly either.

These fascists who think you can warp people's brains so badly that you can consistently fool them are only right to a point. That point was reached with Nixon. The same point has now been reached with Trump. TPTB want to save their monstrous planet eating cancer at all costs. Trump is, like Nixon was, a darling, but expendable to save the BIG ORWELL cognitive dissonance machine. As with Nixon, the corrupt system will be preserved. Trump is a 🐒 dispensable tool of the (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) system, even if he deludes himself into thinking he runs it. 

I'm not a psychologist, but I know my stuff here. The right wing spin machine has a fatal weakness. That weakness is that, while you CAN, using Hitler's MO, fire up people to engage in violence against the "other", you have to be VERY careful to NOT trigger cognitive dissonance. WHY? Because the human brain goes TILT when incapacitated by cognitive dissonance.   

Cognitive dissonance is the most effective totally unethical psychological tool there is to produce paralysis and INaction. IOW, if you keep piously and loudly repeating, over and over, for years and years, about the "justice" of impeaching and/or arresting the Clintons and Obama, only to claim NOW that Trump, who has done the same and much, much worse, is the victim of "INjustice", you are in danger of generating cognitive dissonance among Trump supporters.

Yes, I know the fascists think they have all that figured out and can get around that pesky "old school" psychological stuff. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185036-1638694.gif&hash=648d3b7e5567fa4f349a5fbfbfc1df8b27355704)
BULLSHIT. Fascists are known for their overreach zeal, so I expect them to generate so much UNPLANNED cognitive dissonance in Trump supporters, that despite those chumps continuing to ideologically support Trump, a significant percentage of them will be too demoralized (it will actually be cognitive dissonance, but they will perceive it as lack of energy, depression or despair) to vote in the 2020 elections.

(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/68/96/fb/6896fb1793cb18e0cf313794254ff36f.jpg)

As an aside, cognitive dissonance among Democratic Party supporters has been the right wing spin machine goal since Nixon. Though that certainly was instrumental to Trump's 2016 "win", it has NOT worked as effectively as they hoped (SEE: 2018 elections). That is why the fascists are always trying to disenfranchise anyone that does not support Republican candidates.

I am certain that the modern day true believer liars populating the right wing spin machine have embraced Nietzsche's Orwellian inversion of lying, which makes the (SEE: Darwinian BULLSHIT) pretzel logic argument that liars are "mentally stronger".
Quote
Friedrich (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) Nietzsche suggested that those who refrain from lying may do so only because of the difficulty involved in maintaining the lie. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16181943.gif&hash=0b93e71ee5e24bbe02555e0d648a1283e0e9651d) This is consistent with his general 🦍 philosophy that divides (or ranks) people according to strength and ability; thus, some people tell the truth only out of weakness. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718202127.gif&hash=acc63221521ebaf3f238088fd92d1ae3a08b6e48)
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-010215143525.png&hash=5bd7bd57f7d770273b7d73d29697fe3a0cc11e8f)


You can see how these cowardly evil bastards who love to lie, like Hitler then, and the right wing spin machine tools now, happily eat up any self serving horseshit about being "superior humans" because they are such "good" liars. Darwin helped way to many ethics rejecting crooks and liars justify happy horseshit, not just to calm their mostly calloused conscience, but to CELEBRATE MIGHT OVER RIGHT, the more cruel and/or mendacious, the BETTER! If you are the "fittest", you can do whatever you want! Never mind all that yammering about ethics, rule of law and respect for your neighbor and the rest of creation. That's for the WEAK. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4)

Which brings me back to the Climate Change and the three armed profit over people and planet monster.

Quote
The right has devoted decades of careful, patient investment to creating this system, which has three main arms

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-231014212330.jpeg&hash=c256f59f7e0e14e05edbffee22f8d77a46d53a91)

The spin machine is inexorably committing the same mistake with Climate Change Propaganda as it is in regard to Trump's Crimes. Consequently Cognitive Dissonance among the deniers is slowly, but surely, taking hold.

While your view that we will blame the poor and the dead accurately reflects exactly where the spin machine will attempt to place the blame, when a city like Miami is lost, the reality of a planet full of humans that overwhelmingly GET IT about who is really responsible for this Catastrophic Climate Change will expose the 🐍 spin machine as the handmadien of the 🦕🦖 Hydrocarbon Hellspawn.

The true believing deniers will be mostly INactivated due to Cognitive Dissonace (SEE: Coal, Oil, Gas, CO2 = "good" but Solar Panels, Cheap Wind Electricity, etc. = "bad" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-200419205434.png&hash=f935da2cb5d2746b1d817ec9a4feb3a04f3f8075)), while the masses who just want to LIVE will be more energized to take ACTION against the polluters than ever.

The spin machine is a basically a LIE machine. We know who the (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817135149.gif&hash=b4a8748d7cf56a31dd0a6aae5828ed2c1ac2815c) Father of lies is. But even if you don't believe that Satan is a real entity, it is just plain impractical, often dangerous and occasionally even suicidally stupid, to live your life believing LIES from the spin machine created for the express purpose of covering up the despicable crimes of the Profit Over People and Planet evil elite. 

Quote
Once a lie has been told, there can be two alternative consequences: it may be discovered or remain undiscovered. Under some circumstances, discovery of a lie may discredit other statements by the same speaker and can lead to social or legal sanctions against the speaker, such as ostracizing or conviction for perjury.[30] When a lie is discovered, the state of mind and behavior of the liar is no longer predictable.

Hannah Arendt spoke about extraordinary cases in which an entire society is being lied to consistently. She said that the consequences of such lying are "not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end you get not only one lie—a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days—but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie

Hannah Arendt saying that "nobody believes anything any longer" is refering, not to all sources of information, but SPECIFICALLY to the Government doing the consistent lying and modification of lies (In our case, it's the Fascist Government/Corporate 🐍 Media Spin Machine). THAT DECISION on the part of those consistently lied to is a product of Cognitive Dissonance. It's the consequence of the spin machine's embrace of the FLAWED LOGIC (see: Orwellian mindfork) that, as long as the source of the lie is offically celebrated as the source of "TRUTH", you can lie 24/7 to the chumps.

Quote
Lies are the greatest murder. They kill the Truth. -- Socratres (https://www.quotetab.com/quote/by-socrates/lies-are-the-greatest-murder-they-kill-the-truth#HKrfd85YyxZ0Kk5p.99)

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/How_to_Spot_Fake_News.pdf/page1-440px-How_to_Spot_Fake_News.pdf.jpg)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-020818213436-15401143.jpeg&hash=ed6871fae2f3d2b8f00c6807f8df41f1d90906ce)
Title: New Video Shows Stolt Tanker 💥 Explode 👀 in South Korea
Post by: AGelbert on October 03, 2019, 06:19:33 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

New Video Shows 🦕 Stolt Tanker 💥 Explode 👀 in South Korea

By Mike Schuler on Oct 02, 2019 01:36 pm

A new video obtained by Tradewinds shows the moment a Stolt tanker exploded while preparing for a ship-to-ship cargo transfer in Busan, South Korea over the weekend.

https://youtu.be/MXIO4_r5MOc

As we reported, about a dozen people suffered only minor injuries when the explosion rocked the cargo section of the 25,000 dwt chemical tanker Stolt Groenland. Stolt Tankers […]  Read full story... (https://gcaptain.com/new-video-shows-the-moment-a-stolt-tanker-exploded-in-south-korea/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Gcaptain+%28gCaptain.com%29&goal=0_f50174ef03-c214cecfb8-169600093&mc_cid=c214cecfb8&mc_eid=1855a0727e)
Title: Can Monsanto Be Sued For Creating Carcinogenic Crops?
Post by: AGelbert on October 05, 2019, 09:35:07 pm
Can Monsanto Be Sued For Creating Carcinogenic Crops?
1,297 views•Oct 3, 2019

https://youtu.be/z-iUTaB7EhY

Thom Hartmann Program
182K subscribers

Can Monsanto or Bayer, the manufacturer of Round Up, be sued for turning our crops carcinogenic?

Timestamps
0:59 Is Glyphosate a Carcinogenic?
2:14 Does Glyphosate Cause Gluten Intolerance and Obesity?


➡️Please Subscribe to Our Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thomhart...
Title: Fracked Gas 💥 Blowout in Louisiana Could Burn 🔥 for Two More Months
Post by: AGelbert on October 08, 2019, 08:21:14 pm
October 8, 2019

Quote
“I absolutely have issue with residents being told there is nothing to worry about,” Melissa Troutman, from the advocacy group Earthworks, told DeSmog. “If this blowout had been handled justly and responsibly, residents would have been given a full report of what produced water contains and alternative housing during cleanup.”

“This is an 🦕industry that doesn’t have to disclose the toxic  ☠️ chemicals it uses or manage its hazardous waste ☠️ as hazardous because of special exemptions from laws that the rest of us have to follow,” she added.

Fracked Gas 💥 Blowout in Louisiana Could Burn 🔥 for Two More Months (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16271224.gif&hash=c2a9bfbff23e2414975829eb4b3655af12eb02cc)

JULIE DERMANSKY, DESMOGBLOG

(https://truthout.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/gas-blowout-fire-haynesville-Oct1_credit-Phin-Percy-Jr.jpg)
A screen shot from a drone video of the site of a fracked gas well blowout, at wells operated by GEP Haynesville, LLC, in Red River Parish, Louisiana, on October 1, 2019.

For the fifth week since the blowout began, a large flare is still burning at the site of GEP Haynesville, LLC's blown-out fracked gas wells in northwestern Louisiana. The flare has gone out at times, resulting in fluid from the well, including what the oil and gas industry calls "produced water," spreading a mist into the sky over a mile away, alarming nearby residents.

https://youtu.be/zuH-SUmYnt8

Read the Article → (https://truthout.org/articles/fracked-gas-blowout-in-louisiana-could-burn-for-two-more-months/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=36b0c2c4-529b-4e4c-9668-cdbc0fce5b0b) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
Title: 😠 ... a titanium casket is normal and wrapping them in a shroud and burying them isn’t.
Post by: AGelbert on October 16, 2019, 02:45:34 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-061217183404.png&hash=51932b5d38303829f7e7fe72cc20951ed138f3e6)

October 3, 2019

By Brian Kahn

(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_1600/n043suitgysfd7mggzgj.jpg)
John Davis’ grave-in-waiting filled with water after heavy rain and snow. Photo: Brian Kahn (Earther)

SNIPPET:

“It’s bizarre we’ve ended up in a place where we spend thousands of dollars pumping our loved ones full of chemicals and painting their faces and putting them in a titanium casket is normal and wrapping them in a shroud and burying them isn’t,” Michelle Acciavatti, Spirit Sanctuary’s “death doula,” told Earther.

It wasn’t always this way. In the U.S., 18th and 19th century burials involved at most, a pine casket and a plot in a cemetery or on your land. But embalming techniques pioneered during the Civil War so thousands of soldiers could be brought home helped spawn the modern funeral industry. The death of Abraham Lincoln and the public viewings of his embalmed body as it was brought from Washington, D.C. to its final resting in Springfield, Illinois likely also contributed to the shift in how Americans conceive of death.

“The reports we get from that era is he [Lincoln] looked pretty doggone good for being dead after being assassinated with a bullet to the head,” Bill Hoy, an end of life expert at Baylor University, told Earther. “That confirmed that [embalming] is especially helpful for two things: One, when our dead’s death occurs a few days from home, and two, when an injury or disease process was such that dead just look horrible, and people thought ‘I don’t want that to be my last picture.’”

But while the growth of arterial embalming fluid gave loved ones more time to say goodbye and create a last memory, the processes also cuts bodies off from what some would argue is their final purpose, of giving life the Earth.

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185039-1657732.gif&hash=9603daf4915af82db32da1719a8ace9774055496)

I Dug a Green Grave and Learned the Truth About the Dirty Death Industry (https://earther.gizmodo.com/i-dug-a-green-grave-and-learned-the-truth-about-the-dir-1831175305)
Title: New Data Show Severity of Water Contamination in Poor Neighborhoods
Post by: AGelbert on October 23, 2019, 05:13:34 pm
New Data Show Severity of Water Contamination in Poor (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040718162656-14241872.gif&hash=6c39a3206e2b2a3d652adee626b5eee8ab5b15bf) Neighborhoods

DANIEL ROSS, TRUTHOUT

A new comprehensive report on tap water shows that low-income communities are more likely than their wealthier neighbors to be served drinking water that is of poorer quality, with higher levels of potentially toxic contaminants. Based on Environmental Protection Agency data from 2016-19, the report found that race, ethnicity, language spoken and access to transportation had the strongest relationship to (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) ineffective enforcement of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
 

Read the Article → (https://truthout.org/articles/new-data-show-severity-of-water-contamination-in-poor-neighborhoods/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=87f1959f-32d0-4946-9724-700d0246e499) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817134648.gif&hash=d24c66a26329a19150a175d576b631d10f631ee8)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 23, 2019, 06:16:22 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-061217183404.png&hash=51932b5d38303829f7e7fe72cc20951ed138f3e6)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

By Yessenia Funes

October 22, 2019

• Filed to: DAMMIT (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185039-1650578.gif&hash=f338daee4cd9cad66dc5bc5437615c9725fbc67d)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-100718163957-14481568.png&hash=f923ce4d7ef43213760bfe87c48477be898bb171)

Air Pollution Is Increasing for the First Time in a Decade Under (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205137.gif&hash=7a79df8ecf1b29d8599c26fe550e664c6c5e24bd) Trump

SNIPPET:

After a decade of improvements in air pollution, the U.S. is backsliding. And that means more people are dying prematurely, according to new research. The paper authors don’t point to a specific reason why the increase happened, but the numbers are clear that it occurred under the presidency of  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205137.gif&hash=7a79df8ecf1b29d8599c26fe550e664c6c5e24bd) Donald...

Full article: (https://earther.gizmodo.com/air-pollution-is-increasing-for-the-first-time-in-a-dec-1839257516?utm_source=earther_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019-10-23)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-041118151828.jpeg&hash=9544470f20d58b9b74f8e9ef04af22f3a486bd67)

Title: Massive mining waste dams could pose deadly risks, say investors
Post by: AGelbert on October 31, 2019, 11:34:45 am
Reuters

OCTOBER 31, 2019 / 6:47 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

(https://www.mining-technology.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2019/03/1.png)

Massive mining waste dams could pose deadly risks, say investors
(https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/458746798270447616/U-eXuzjf.jpeg)

Barbara Lewis, Ernest Scheyder
6 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) - A global inquiry into how mining companies store billions of tonnes of waste in huge dams, launched after a collapse in Brazil killed hundreds, shows about a tenth of the structures have had stability issues, investors said on Thursday.

The research was led by the Church of England (CoE) 😇  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-051113192052.png&hash=93c42ef9f18fc5d9da50fd91fc19f70009f95f85)  and 💵🎩 fund managers after the collapse of a Vale (VALE3.SA) dam in January unleashed an avalanche of mining waste on the Brazilian town of Brumadinho, killing an estimated 300 people.

The investor review, which found at least 166 dams have had stability issues in the past, relied on companies’ disclosures about their dams holding mining waste, known as tailings.

However less than half of the 726 companies contacted have responded, with most Chinese and Indian miners not providing information, leaving a significant hole in efforts to create a global picture of safety risks posed by these dams and avoid another disaster.

“Tailings dams are amongst some of the largest engineered structures in the world and we have seen the catastrophic consequences earlier this year in Brazil when they collapse,” said Adam Matthews, ethics director at the CoE Pensions Board, a global investor with assets worth more than $3 billion.

“We note that many companies already operate to a very high standard (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718211017.gif&hash=1b5b289486b9429bdbdcb938b21ef1a2b66d30fc) as evidenced by (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-010519192158-2201430.jpeg&hash=e912e1f5bdc041c35e217478b14ba3f7960e2037) some of the disclosures, but this is not universal across the sector and dams are continuing to fail, putting lives and the environment at risk.”

Tailings dams are the most common waste disposal methods for (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) mining companies, whether they’re extracting iron ore, gold or copper. Some tower dozens of meters high and stretch for several kilometers. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-231218145827.png&hash=8d3bbb761cf17fcddac83f24088d26e316b65e33)

There are no established global mining industry standards (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013200859.png&hash=a7aaaa9f04c1e3e2c948723b5f8c13fe814dacd4) defining what a tailings dam is, how to build one and how to care for it after it is decommissioned.

The major investors, who manage assets worth a combined $13.5 trillion across a range of industries, wrote to mining companies in April asking for information about tailings dams to be disclosed about every mine they control.

They warned they might have to divest their shares unless they had clear information on potential risks, in what has become one of the largest shareholder mobilizations in history in reaction to a single event.

The CoE and the some other funds sold their Vale shares after the Brumadinho dam collapse, and the Brazilian miner lost a quarter of its market value immediately after the disaster.

‘MORAL IMPERATIVE’ (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163125-16722324.gif&hash=fd301340fefe90d81ed8826dfa0568be12a1c0d8) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718210558.gif&hash=9234ac544277d3924347404eb52489dfe64e3ca4)

Of the 726 companies contacted by investors, 43% responded. All the major listed miners, including Vale, were among those who replied, according to the investors, jointly led by the CoE Pensions Board and the Swedish AP Funds Council of Ethics.

Initial analysis of company disclosures found tailings ☠️ dams across the globe hold more than 44 billion square meters of waste.

The disclosures so far showed 166 out of 1,635 of tailings dams have had stability issues in their history, although it was unclear how severe those issues had been and the miners (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-080419191019.png&hash=a449294ee6fe2dfdea44c1c501f4439b9ac69c26) said the problems had been addressed, the investors (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-080419191019.png&hash=a449294ee6fe2dfdea44c1c501f4439b9ac69c26) said.

The investors aim to complete a global database of risks posed by dams by the first anniversary of the Brazilian disaster on Jan. 25, and ultimately create global safety standards. Many dams will have to be forcibly closed, investors told Reuters.

Slideshow (3 Images)
John Howchin, secretary general of the Council on Ethics of the Swedish National Pension Funds, said the investors would redouble efforts to secure the missing disclosures.

“There is simply no excuse to not disclose on a material risk, that as owners of these companies, we need to urgently understand. It is clear that investors’ patience with non-disclosing companies will not remain for much longer,” he said. ::)

Anglo American (AAL.L) CEO Mark Cutifani said the sector faced a “clear ethical and moral imperative” to use new technologies to ensure the highest safety standards for tailings.

“Rather than simply scaling up mining’s processes to meet demand, the industry will need to find new, more efficient and more sustainable ways of working,” he told a meeting of executives in London.  (https://stickershop.line-scdn.net/stickershop/v1/product/1451400/LINEStorePC/main.png)

INDIA AND CHINA

While the Americas are home to most of the world’s tailings dams, India and China also store vast amounts of waste in these structures, including the Weikuang dam in northern China which is about 11 km long.

The Weikuang dam is owned by Baotou Iron & Steel Group [IMARGC.UL], which did not respond to the investors’ request for data or a Reuters request for comment.

Coal India Ltd (COAL.NS) and Metallurgical Corp Of China Ltd (601618.SS), two of the world’s largest coal miners, said they were not aware of the investor initiative and never received the request. Both companies are controlled by their respective governments.

The CoE said it aimed to work with Chinese and Indian miners over time to compile a truly global database.

“There is, we hope, a cumulative effect where bit by bit in personal relationship with these countries, we hope there’ll be a tipping point,” said David Urquhart, the CoE’s Bishop of Birmingham (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202829.png&hash=a4ec201b97ad269ff59a6a1c0f1c19a04b57803a) and a former 🦖 BP (BP.L) executive.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040817140651.png&hash=c43dc47dbb4ef892fb7c5680dba982b56fdad700)

The eventual aim of the initiative is to set the global standards for tailings dams, together with the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) industry group. The ICMM said in March it was working on new standards with the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) and the ethical investors. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718202127.gif&hash=acc63221521ebaf3f238088fd92d1ae3a08b6e48)

Reporting by Barbara Lewis and Ernest Scheyder; Additional reporting by Tom Daly, Sudarshan Varadhan, Min Zhang, Moira Warburton, Helen Reid, Suzanne Barlyn and Jeff Lewis; Editing by Pravin Char

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mining-tailings/massive-mining-waste-dams-could-pose-deadly-risks-say-investors-idUSKBN1XA1CS

Agelbert NOTE: "Ethical Investors" is an oxymoron. It's the 😈 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78) CAPITALISM, stupid! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818204546.gif&hash=ffeafdfa24208fe5070639ffa682bb2ad041737c)


(https://revisesociology.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/crimogenic-capitalism.jpg)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-161218193528.png&hash=638de94da4704f04462bf03a8a6af48a526382b3)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-220815161550.png&hash=f95989290a4fca22333fc772d8abd90a6764d4d8)
Title: This not just happening only in Germany, but all over the world.
Post by: AGelbert on October 31, 2019, 05:19:32 pm
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200317134631.png&hash=3ec83ab2cb9a9acaf485fff7312df6381c25c2fd)

by Tibi Puiu October 31, 2019 in Animals, Environmental Issues, News

(https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800/2019/thecontentso.jpg)

🦋🐛🐜🐝🐞🦗 Insects in Germany have declined by up to two-thirds in ten years

This not just happening only in Germany, but all over the world. 😱


In 2017, researchers sounded the alarm when they found that the number of flying insects had dramatically fallen in recent times in Germany. A new study that analyzed a broad range of species in three protected German areas confirmed these fears, finding that some populations had declined by up to two-thirds in the last decade.

Two years ago, an international team of researchers reported that over the last 27 years, flying insect biomass has plummeted by 75 percent in Germany. Land use or changes in weather could not alone explain this dramatic drop in insect biomass.

Insects, be they land-loving or wind trailing, are essential to ecosystem functioning and health. They’re responsible for pollinating 80 percent of wild plants and provide food for a wide range of species, including 60 percent of all 🐦🐧🕊🦅🦆🦉 birds.

In a new study, researchers led by Sebastian Seibold and Wolfgang Weisse, both professors of terrestrial ecology at the Technical University of Munich, analyzed data on flying insects from 290 sites within forest and grassland habitats. The sites were surveyed by biologists between 2008 and 2017, who counted flying insects, as well as arthropods like 🕸 spiders and millipedes, using nets and traps.

The results suggest that both in meadows and in forests, the number of species decreased by about a third during the study period. Their biomass, which indicates population size, decreased by 67% in grasslands and 40% in forests.

Among the factors that may be responsible for the decline, the researchers have identified deforestation, invasive species, urbanization, global heating, wetland and river alterations, and agriculture. The latter is believed to be responsible for roughly half of the impact.

The German researchers found that insect decline was particularly enhanced in grasslands surrounded by arable land. Species that did not cover long distances shrank the most in such areas. Meanwhile, in forests, it was mainly species that traveled long distances that suffered the most, possibly because they come into contact with agriculture during their migration.

“The decline affected rare and abundant species, and trends differed across trophic levels. Our results show that there are widespread declines in arthropod biomass, abundance and the number of species across trophic levels. Arthropod declines in forests demonstrate that loss is not restricted to open habitats,” the authors wrote in the journal Nature.

These frightening findings suggest that insect decline is very much real and just as bad as previously reported by other studies. And, this certainly isn’t happening just in Germany.

Earlier this year, a metastudy found that half of all the world’s insect species are in decline and a third are already endangered. The orders Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, and Coleoptera (butterflies, bees, and beetles, respectively), are the worst-hit groups. One of the studies included in the analysis shows that the number of widespread butterfly species on farmed land in the UK fell by 58% between 2000 and 2009. Bees are also struggling: Oklahoma lost half of its bumblebee species between 1949 and 2013. The number of honeybee colonies in the US was 6 million in 1947, but 3.5 million have been lost since. Beetle species are also declining, especially dung beetles, according to this meta-analysis.

“Our results suggest that major drivers of arthropod decline act at larger spatial scales, and are (at least for grasslands) associated with agriculture at the landscape level. This implies that policies need to address the landscape scale to mitigate the negative effects of land-use practices,” the German researchers wrote.

Since agriculture is the main driver of this decline, policymakers, farmers, and conservation efforts have to work in sync in order to coordinate a reversal of this dire trend. There is some progress in this respect. This year, Germany’s Farmers’ Association voluntarily ceded arable land back to nature, creating a 230,000 km-long and 5-meter-wide flower strip corridor. Insecticides such as neonicotinoids ☠️ and the herbicide glyphosate ☠️ (Roundup) have also come into scrutiny for their potential ill effects on biodiversity. Measures that restrict their use may also play a major role in reviving insect populations.

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/insect-decline-germany-04235/

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on October 31, 2019, 05:49:20 pm
 (https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Center_for_Biological_Diversity_logo.jpg)
(https://therevelator.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/logo-black.png)
Wild, Incisive, Fearless.

Essays

October 30, 2019 - by H. Christopher Frey (https://therevelator.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/file-20181101-83648-qj6905.jpg)

H. Christopher Frey is the Glenn E. Futrell Distinguished University Professor of Environmental Engineering in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at NC State. From 2012 to 2015, he chaired the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

(https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/science/2018/08/30/air-pollution/air-pollution-gettyimages-625667928.jpg)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) EPA Disbanded a Clean Air Science Panel. We Met Anyway (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-111018132421-16902.gif&hash=deba9f0f91ecd7d65bbdeb78786bef4a98cb1a7e) – And Here’s What We Found

The nongovernmental panel of experts found that particle pollution regulations aren’t protecting public health, but that's not the only worrying trend at 🐉🦕🦖😈 EPA.

Since 1980, emissions of six common air pollutants have decreased by 67 percent, thanks largely to government regulation. At the same time, U.S. gross domestic product has increased by 165 percent. While some assert that regulation acts as a drag on the economy, this record indicates that environmental protection does not have to undercut economic growth.

I have studied air pollution and air quality for over 30 years, and have been directly involved for a decade with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s reviews of scientific findings on air pollution. This includes seven years of service on the agency’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and stints on 10 specialized panels focused on individual pollutants.

The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee is currently reviewing the national standard for regulating particulate matter — tiny solid particles and droplets that measure a fraction of the width of a human hair and penetrate deeply into the lungs when inhaled. Health effects of exposure to fine particulate air pollution include respiratory, cardiovascular and other diseases and premature death.

But on Oct. 10, 2018, I and other scientists on a panel that advised the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee on this issue learned that the EPA abruptly disbanded our panel. Now the particulate matter review is moving forward without the scientific expertise and experience that it needs.

To help fill this gap, we reconvened ourselves independently, and have met over the past year to produce scientific advice for EPA aimed at protecting public health. The Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit group that advocates for the use of rigorous, independent science to solve global problems, hosted our most recent meeting on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11. We reported our conclusions directly to the EPA, and panel members donated their time and expertise.

In contrast, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee has been restructured over the past several years with new appointees who appear to be developing advice aimed at pleasing the EPA administrator.


A Serious Threat to Public Health

Fine particle air pollution comes from many sources, including burning fossil fuels. Today more than 20 million Americans live in areas with high levels of fine particles.

Average annual fine particulate levels in the U.S. fell by nearly 25 percent between 2009 and 2016, but this trend may be reversing. Increasingly frequent and severe wildfires, such as those currently raging in California, are one likely source.

A recent study found that fine particle levels rose 5.5 percent between 2016 and 2018 and estimated that this increase was associated with some 9,700 premature deaths in 2018 that would not have occurred otherwise. Our panel noted the recent uptick in fine particle levels in our latest report, released last week.


Science-based Standards

The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to conduct regular reviews of national air quality standards. The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee’s job is to review the “latest scientific knowledge” underpinning regulations for major air pollutants. If the science indicates that existing standards are not adequately protecting public health, the agency must revise them.

(https://therevelator.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-29-at-10.40.59-AM.png)
National fine particulate matter concentrations for 2015 to 2017 (annual average, left, and daily average, right). Readings coded yellow approach current standards; those coded red exceed them. Source: EPA

The committee has seven members, appointed by the EPA administrator. But air pollution standards draw on many scientific disciplines, including air quality, epidemiology, toxicology, medicine, biostatistics, ecology, climate and risk assessment. For decades, EPA has organized panels of additional experts to help the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee review the latest research — until now.

Our nongovernmental panel has multiple experts in epidemiology, toxicology, medicine, exposure assessment, risk assessment, statistics, air quality measurement and modeling. The Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee doesn’t have an epidemiologist, although epidemiology is a central discipline in analyzing health effects from exposure to fine particle pollution.

In fact, the committee admitted this, and asked the EPA in April 2019 to reinstate our panel. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler refused. Instead he appointed a smaller group that is not allowed to deliberate with the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee.


Breaking the Review Process

EPA officials began undermining the scientific review process in 2017, when then-Administrator 🦕😈 Scott Pruitt wrote a memorandum that bars scholars who hold EPA research grants from serving on the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. But often these are precisely the highly respected scientific leaders that the committee needs.

The federal government has long recognized that holding a research grant does not infringe on a scientist’s “ability to offer independent scientific advice.” In contrast, Pruitt allowed people who received funding from regulated industries to serve on the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee.

On Oct. 10, 2018, Pruitt’s successor, 🐍 Andrew Wheeler, replaced five Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee members. The committee now includes one researcher, staff from one federal and four state agencies and an (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78) industry  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) consultant. Wheeler has also shortened the science review schedule and dropped key assessment documents from the review.

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Ignoring the Science

Past Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee reviews of national air quality standards took three years on average. They focused on three major EPA staff reports that 1) summarized scientific findings on health effects, 2) established the scientific basis for quantifying health risk and 3) identified potential options for retaining, revising or rescinding current standards or setting a new ones. These steps were carefully designed to clearly establish the science before making judgments about policy.

Now, however, the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee’s Integrated Science Assessment on particulate air pollution — the first step in the three-stage sequence — is still in draft form, and EPA is introducing policy issues before the science is settled. We expect that the agency will be sued for this and other procedural irregularities.

Our panel met publicly to carry out a scientific review of EPA’s policy assessment. We concluded that existing annual and 24-hour standards for fine particle air pollution are not protective of public health.

Currently, federal regulations set an annual standard of 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air, or ug/m3. We recommend lowering this standard to a range of 8-10 ug/m3. Similarly, we recommend revising the existing 24-hour standard — which applies to short-term pollution spikes — from 35 ug/m3 to 25-30 ug/m3.

These scientific findings are based on consistent epidemiological evidence from multiple studies, at ambient concentrations below the levels of the current standards. The epidemiologic results are supported by results from toxicological and controlled human studies.

In contrast, when the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee met on Oct. 24 and Oct. 25, two of its six members supported tightening the relevant standards, but the other four concluded that existing standards are good enough. This view ignores compelling new evidence, including the largest-ever U.S. epidemiologic study for fine particles, published in 2017. This study and others clearly show adverse health effects — including premature death — at exposure levels below current U.S. standards.

We believe the EPA should follow the law (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418202709.png&hash=7503265ec59e4c28d735afb762bc39f4674bd838), which requires a thorough review of the science underpinning air pollution standards. A first step would be reappointing our panel to provide the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee with the expertise on particulate matter that it needs. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-060518153110.png&hash=39d587c31b7f7e66b30d7e59bb560e2ad0662eee)

The opinions expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Revelator, the Center for Biological Diversity or their employees.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

Tags: EPA | Human Health | Pollution | Science | Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) Administration

https://therevelator.org/epa-clean-air-panel/

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Title: 😲 Research Links Pesticide Harmful to 🐝 Bees With Collapse of 🐟 Fisheries
Post by: AGelbert on November 02, 2019, 02:26:43 pm
Quote
“This study highlights cascading harms to aquatic life from neonicotinoids that our (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-301216165623.jpeg&hash=1ccfee6aaf9d939cca294a849774cff11e462e59) 🐉🦕🦖 EPA has known about but shrugged off,” said Donley. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-300919160019-22721213.gif)


Research Links Pesticide Harmful to 🐝 Bees With Collapse of 🐟 Fisheries (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714183404.bmp&hash=dc40a133c761f80036b08ef0f6c0427aaa7e9f4b)

ANDREA GERMANOS, COMMON DREAMS

A new study provides further evidence of harm caused by a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, which have been linked to declines in bees, other insects, birds and other animal populations. Researchers linked use of the chemicals on fields of rice paddies nearby Lake Shinji in Japan with impacts to an entire food web that resulted in the collapse of two fisheries.

Read the Article → (https://truthout.org/articles/research-links-pesticide-known-harmful-to-bees-with-collapse-of-fisheries/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=b4a64809-eae6-47c8-a28b-626c82157f7e)  (https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/304fa75d7ed32d56ae1ff3a796933cb65eac738511bb960bc4a77bb2f67c0af6.gif)
Title: The 😈 company denied spill had any impact on drinking water, a claim that was met with skepticism
Post by: AGelbert on November 03, 2019, 12:30:20 pm
EcoWatch

By Common Dreams Oct. 31, 2019 09:22AM EST

(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/_9oA41nDYrN-k3Cu8hXiCUsxbC76aEIY6kDidcgAvl_UaSPAWqQSiXmQ3H-tCZAC5yzd9dqmNF6SCktYoxK1BSUoBh_ltqIwisuHsNoC_D9pHtQqUvhkvfi8-Xi4Eetgfb6QjfbE6K-aTBX8t_ftvfF2VIrd5WVLsyc=s0-d-e1-ft#https://gallery.mailchimp.com/214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec/images/99aebf9d-c014-40cf-9b4e-6e538bc79ea4.jpg)
Keystone Leaks Crude Oil in North Dakota on Same Day as 🦀 Trump 🦖 State Department Pipeline Hearing  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-120716190938.png&hash=01feab1c7345a4e98764e0f9d24b2d69171b93c2) (https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-pipeline-oil-spill-2641172426.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2)

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Title: Toxic Chemicals Found In Nearly Everyone's Blood (w/ Dr. David Andrews)
Post by: AGelbert on November 13, 2019, 07:19:26 pm
Toxic Chemicals Found In Nearly Everyone's Blood (w/ Dr. David Andrews)😟
1,931 views•Nov 12, 2019

https://youtu.be/WvOroWtC2NA

Thom Hartmann Program
193K subscribers

How toxic is your blood? Toxic "Forever" chemicals that don't break down are being found in almost everyone's blood.
 
🔴 Subscribe for more clips like this: https://www.youtube.com/user/thomhart...

Dr. David Andrews from the Environmental Working Group joined Thom to discuss new research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The report finds running - any amount at all - is associated with a significantly reduced chance of dying from any cause. Yes, you heard me - Even Small Amount of Running Decreases Risk of Death by Nearly 30% - so - get out your sneakers folks.

⭐ Join our Membership and Support the Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/user/thomhart...
Title: PFAS Contamination in the U.S.
Post by: AGelbert on November 13, 2019, 07:30:47 pm
Quote
Hundreds of everyday products are made with highly toxic ☠️ fluorinated chemicals called PFAS. They build up in our bodies and never break down in the environment. Very small doses of PFAS have been linked to cancer, reproductive and immune system harm, and other diseases.

For decades, chemical companies covered up evidence of PFAS’ health hazards. Today nearly all Americans, including newborn babies, have PFAS in their blood, and up to 110 million people may be drinking PFAS-tainted water. What began as a “miracle of modern chemistry” is now a national crisis.

PFAS Contamination in the U.S. (interactive map) 👀 (https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/2019_pfas_contamination/map/)
Title: Pipeline 💥 Explosion Kills 7, Injures 25 in Bangladesh 😟
Post by: AGelbert on November 18, 2019, 05:58:47 pm
EcoWatch

By Olivia RosaneNov. 18, 2019 08:43AM EST

Pipeline 💥 Explosion Kills 7, Injures 25 in Bangladesh 😟

(https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/lNNzSA9x3CqOb15qvXXyW2koU5MU9iC9r69C56a2PWOLfxjdPAHQQG4mIuskUHXzgp7oJzbg4ssohcBbWNXGoeUaDixd1uAIAK8nnh_Gevad0gADzHcjR4dirkjtgVoPhVTYmmbuYl497P8PEB028TtdPvZ-eLX_j-w=s0-d-e1-ft#https://gallery.mailchimp.com/214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec/images/4eee3abc-62b0-4a40-807e-524e3eaab833.jpg)

SNIPPET:

Boshak told Anadolu Agency that the seven who died were rushed to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead on arrival.

Among the injured, one suffered burns, and the rest were wounded when the walls collapsed, according to reports from local channel Shomoy TV shared by Anadolu Agency. Boshak said the death toll could rise, since some of the people admitted to the hospital were in critical condition.

The gate of a nearby building and a minibus in its garage were also damaged by the blast.

Fire service official Amir Hossain told Reuters that the cause of the explosion was not yet known, but was being investigated.

"We primarily came to know that due to the gas pipeline blast, a part of a building collapsed," Boshak told Anadolu Agency.

The explosion comes one month after seven children died when a gas cylinder used for inflating balloons exploded in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, Reuters noted.

The news agency further pointed out that poorly monitored gas pipelines and cylinders are a frequent cause of accidents in Bangladesh.

Pipeline explosions aren't the only danger that fossil fuels pose to the low-lying country, however.

Bangladesh faced the third-most risk from hazards related to the climate crisisof any country in the world 😨, according to the 2019 Global Peace Index.

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

https://www.ecowatch.com/bangladesh-pipeline-explosion-2641379031.html
Title: How Europe is wrecking US carbon reductions
Post by: AGelbert on November 24, 2019, 10:39:37 pm
How Europe is wrecking US carbon reductions   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163125-16722324.gif&hash=fd301340fefe90d81ed8826dfa0568be12a1c0d8)
4,983 views•Nov 24, 2019

https://youtu.be/6RP-jYDgiMg

Just Have a Think
39.9K subscribers

Mr Beast, otherwise known as Jimmy Donaldson, is a 21 year old American YouTuber and philanthropist who, back in May 2019, set in motion a global online initiative which has so far resulted in 16 million new trees being planted. Team Trees' target is to get 20 million new saplings in the ground by January 1st 2020. And it's just as well, because the European Union  (including the United Kingdom!) is busy destroying millions of trees across the south-eastern United States as a result of it's rapacious desire for the deceptively marketed 'sustainable' fuel source that we all know as wood pellets. This week we investigate what's going on.

You can help support the channel AND become a key influencer in how the channel and wider Just Have a Think project grows into the future by visiting
www.patreon.com/justhaveathink

Research links -

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/10...

https://thefern.org/2019/04/the-looph...

https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/un-...

https://easac.eu/fileadmin/user_uploa...

https://ec.europa.eu/environment/acti...

https://www.leonardodicaprio.org/auth...

https://teamtrees.org/ (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185039-1655102.gif&hash=1a13ffad2c8451cba6f45b04a1249447d50c3e73)
 
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Title: What 🦀 Trump's 🐉🦕🦖 EPA Really Wants
Post by: AGelbert on December 04, 2019, 02:50:33 pm
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The EPA Says It Wants “Scientific Transparency.” (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F_9HT4xZyDmh4%2FTOHhxzA0wLI%2FAAAAAAAAEUk%2FoeHDS2cfxWQ%2Fs200%2FSmiley_Angel_Wings_Halo.jpg&hash=13281f1944b60773bf12b29387b70be77cc1fe16) What It Really Wants Is 😈 Control Over Research.

A newly proposed rule would let 🦕 Andrew Wheeler decide what kind of science is—and isn’t—allowed to inform our country’s public health protections.

(https://assets.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/styles/full_content--retina/public/media-uploads/gettyimages-875956750_2400.jpg?itok=wUsvtHJr)
Kena Betancur/VIEWpress via Getty Images

NRDC

November 15, 2019 by Jeff Turrentine

It’s no secret that under the (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78) Trump administration, a politicized U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been doing all that it can to make life easier for polluting industries—first under disgraced former administrator Scott Pruitt and now under his successor, Andrew Wheeler. Rollbacks of our country’s environmental regulations have been streaming out of the agency since 2017.

Even so, it’s difficult to weaken pollution laws when decades of peer-reviewed scientific research holds that doing so would sicken and kill Americans. Now it appears that Wheeler has latched onto a plan to seed doubt into the validity of that science—and, ultimately, to discount it altogether.

First proposed in April 2018, the Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science rule—an aptly Orwellian name, in keeping with this administration’s dystopian leanings—would allow the agency to disregard any research containing data that are not made available to the public. In Wheeler’s words, the rule is intended to promote “the highest-quality science.” But notably, if any research relied on anonymous patient data culled from confidential medical records—as much of it does, by law and by necessity—the EPA could then claim that it didn’t meet the rule’s transparency threshold and reject any proposed regulation based on the conclusions of that research.

This plan to undermine science—and ultimately public health— shouldn’t work, and it likely won’t, unless America under Trump has gone completely through the legal looking glass. But the fact that a rule like this is being floated at all points to Wheeler’s (coal-) burning desire to reinvent the EPA as the official policymaking arm of corporate polluters.

There’s more. A recent update to the rule would grant the EPA authority to apply it retroactively. That tiny tweak gives birth to a scary scenario that places both past and future protections in jeopardy. As John Walke, the director of NRDC’s Clean Air program, puts it, the new rule “would let the EPA reopen and weaken existing safeguards for air, water, and public health, or sabotage these protections whenever they come up for renewal.” Among the existing safeguards that could fall under the new rule’s purview are key components of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.

Walke says the administrator’s real goal “is to prevent the EPA from adopting safeguards against air and water pollution, dangerous climate change, and toxic chemicals and pesticides.” In other words, Andrew Wheeler may very well want scientists to continue using confidential medical data in their studies showing how air and water pollution pose a risk to human health—so he can have a pretext for rejecting those same studies and keeping that kind of science out of the policymaking equation altogether.

On Wednesday, as much of the country was following the televised hearings on impeachment before the House Intelligence Committee, members of the House Science Committee were posing questions to—but getting very few substantive answers out of—the sole representative sent by the EPA to defend its new rule. Dr. Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, a career scientist whose tenure at the agency stretches back nearly 40 years, appeared supremely uncomfortable as she tried to put the best face on this demonstrably bad idea. (Much of the hearing was captured, in all of its cringeworthy glory, as an epic 68-tweet thread in Walke’s Twitter feed; read it for a valuable lesson in how to avoid answering congressmembers’ pointed questions without permanently damaging your own professional credibility.)

The hearing didn’t go very well for the EPA. Serious questions were raised as to whether the agency even had the legal authority to do what it wants to do. At one point, the EPA’s stone-faced witness was invited by a cheeky congressmember to rebel against her employer and publicly refute the new rule, an invitation that she didn’t accept—but, interestingly, didn’t decline either.

But perhaps the most damning indicator of the rule’s vacuity came during the expert-witness portion of the hearing. Of the various scientific and public-health experts who appeared before the committee to discuss the rule—individuals who had been invited to testify by members of both political parties, mind you—not a single one endorsed it. Next time Andrew Wheeler needs to drum up congressional support for a phony scientific-transparency rule, he should send a chemical company CEO, or perhaps a coal baron. They would undoubtedly have something nice to say about such a horrible policy.

https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/epa-says-it-wants-scientific-transparency-what-it-really-wants-control-over-research

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Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on December 04, 2019, 04:50:56 pm
(https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/aBebJKbD2EPr_Kq2kSgSvwS8zLZ0tMV-bIJuBPfYLNs0nQWS6tNalZNQar8qsXAHmCNlD-BSXJpWNsJIfOn4SOEomF3-U2TLqrLMTu9_9PnTlZpgvigxo9MAeULeKR_zzvIpNFKqLQOM2xx2WjsQgij_LlzM6XcZQj8=s0-d-e1-ft#http://image.emails.sierraclub.org/lib/fe8f1372746d007871/m/11/6e5db8e8-e14b-459f-b15b-b443d312ede4.png)

(https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/styles/flexslider_full/public/sierra/articles/big/SIERRA-AP_16215686825585-WB.jpg?itok=UMluxzkN)
IN 2014, THE DAN RIVER STEAM STATION IN EDEN, NORTH CAROLINA, RELEASED 39,000 TONS OF COAL ASH INTO THE DAN RIVER. DUKE ENERGY AGREED TO PAY $3 MILLION FOR THE COST OF CLEANUP, WHICH POLLUTED 70 MILES OF THE RIVER WITH ARSENIC, LEAD, AND MERCURY. WITH THE NEW ROLLBACKS FROM THE EPA, DUKE MAY BE ABLE TO TRANSFER FUTURE COSTS ONTO (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-040718162656-14241872.gif&hash=6c39a3206e2b2a3d652adee626b5eee8ab5b15bf) NEARBY COMMUNITIES. | PHOTO BY AP PHOTO/GERRY BROOME

Coal Ash Comeback (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16271224.gif&hash=c2a9bfbff23e2414975829eb4b3655af12eb02cc)

Last month, Trump’s EPA rolled back Obama-era regulations that limited contamination from the 737 toxic coal-ash sites in the US. In justifying the move, EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler said the old rule placed “heavy burdens on electricity producers” and the revisions would “protect public health and the environment.”

Coal-ash experts say Wheeler’s (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-080419191019.png&hash=a449294ee6fe2dfdea44c1c501f4439b9ac69c26) claims are phony and the EPA “should be ashamed.” (http://click.emails.sierraclub.org/?qs=0aadad3fd1ec9ea6bc226c6474dda3e2d346955c4482df847cc0d65a52e547172f6fbfe28ed938a0f56164b184a0c02f7493e767b0dd0571)

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Title: While ExxonMobil et al are no doubt celebrating their New York win, they still have plenty to worry
Post by: AGelbert on December 16, 2019, 06:56:53 pm
 
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Make Nexus Hot News part of your morning: click here (http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa) to subscribe.

December 16, 2019

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New Study Links Half of Ocean Acidification To 🦕😈🐍👹🦖 88 Polluters (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-190419235756.png&hash=ddd7a71acf6ff0420a63e797c27fdcad27734e3e)

Last week was not a great one for climate litigation, with New York losing its case against Exxon for securities fraud. But while the fossil fuel industry is trumpeting that ruling as the end of such suits, the fact that the case was narrowly defined as a financial fraud case means it’s not as relevant to the other ongoing suits as the industry might want you to think.

And there may still be more to come, particularly as the science linking polluters with impacts continues to sharpen.

On that front, a new study published last week in Environmental Research Letters attributes half of the observed ocean acidification to 88 major emitters from the gas, oil, coal and cement industries. As coverage at ClimateLiability mentions, several of those crazy 88 are already facing lawsuits related to climate change, including Exxon, Chevron, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips and Total.

With this line of research, “scientists can now quantify how much more acidic the ocean has become as a result of each fossil fuel company’s products,” lead author Rachel Licker said.

To do this, researchers used the Climate Accountability Institute’s dataset of pollution from those 88 largest emitters, and then applied the methodology they used for a 2017 study linking emissions to warming temperatures.

But because acidification happens at different rates in different places, depending on local conditions, researchers had to get a little more precise. They used 3-D models to explore the differences in acidification, and focused on five regions where acidification and rising temperatures are impacting the coastal communities whose economic well-being depends on a thriving ocean.

In the end, the research found that not only are those 88 companies responsible for half the acidification, but nearly a quarter of the 25% increase in acidification observed can be blamed on the 20 biggest investor-owned or state-owned companies, including ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron and Shell.

And in case you were wondering, acidification is just as nasty as it sounds. As Scott Doney, the study’s co-author, explained, acidification “makes it more difficult for many marine organisms to construct their shells and skeletons.”

This means big trouble for some very delicious, and economically important, sea life. As Doney describes, the species at risk “form the foundation of the marine ecosystem food chain- including some types of plankton, algae, shellfish, and coral that may struggle to grow and survive in a future warmer, more acidic ocean.”

So while 🦕😈🦖 ExxonMobil et al are no doubt celebrating their New York win (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78), they still have plenty to worry about. Although the shells of clams and oysters and shrimp are growing weaker, the case against polluters is only getting stronger.

Read more Nexus Hot News: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

COP ends in disappointment  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201604.png&hash=3793102f2f335b7a8fe106d54eac4db31f2674eb), how 😈 railroads keep coal in business, & more (https://mailchi.mp/0b66aa84d57e/cop-ends-in-disappointment-how-railroads-keep-coal-in-business-more?e=0fd17c5b57)

Title: New Satellite Data Reveals One of the Largest Methane Leaks in U.S. History
Post by: AGelbert on December 17, 2019, 09:31:29 pm
EcoWatch

New Satellite Data Reveals One of the Largest Methane Leaks in U.S. History (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16271224.gif&hash=c2a9bfbff23e2414975829eb4b3655af12eb02cc)

Olivia Rosane Dec. 17, 2019 08:01AM EST

https://youtu.be/D0F450ESHP8

In February 2018, a blowout at a fracked natural gas well in Belmont County, Ohio forced around 100 nearby residents to flee their homes, as The New York Times reported. Now, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Monday has revealed that the local incident had major implications for the global climate crisis.

Researchers used satellite data to determine that the blowout caused one of the largest methane leaks in U.S. history. It released more methane in around 20 days than the oil and gas industries of France, Norway and the Netherlands do in a year, Bloomberg News reported. The results raise questions about the ability of the oil and gas industry to control methane leaks.

"When I started working on methane, now about a decade ago, the standard line was: 'We've got it under control. We're managing it,'" study coauthor and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) scientist Dr. Steven Hamburg told The New York Times. "But in fact, they didn't have the data. They didn't have it under control, because they didn't understand what was actually happening. And you can't manage what you don't measure."

The research is one example of how satellites can help accurately measure the problem. The paper's Holland and U.S.-based authors used data from the spaceborne Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) to determine that the well leaked methane at a rate of about 120 metric tons per hour, double the rate of leakage from the largest ever methane leak in U.S. history, which took place in 2015 at a California oil and gas storage facility. The satellite measurements also estimated that the leak spewed 60 kilotons of methane in total into the atmosphere, Stuff.co.nz reported. That's five times the amount estimated by 🦖 ExxonMobil, whose subsidiary XTO Energy owns the well.

"We deeply regret this incident occurred and are committed to identifying and managing risks associated with our activities to prevent recurrence," (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-191017140758.jpeg&hash=8c0a35a928dcda3c1a8714ab03f4924a1a775851) ExxonMobil spokeswoman Julie King told Stuff.co.nz in an email. "We are eager to learn more about their study. ExxonMobil is working with government laboratories, universities, NGOs and other industry participants to identify the most cost-effective and best-performing technology, including satellites, that can be adopted by all producers to detect, repair and accurately measure methane." (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-251117175700.png&hash=00439d30db6e35817ea0d1fbcba614f1f971448e)

The study also raises questions about the climate safety of fracking and natural gas. While burning natural gas only emits half the greenhouse gases that burning coal does, methane is as much as 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Methane leaks can therefore undermine the relative advantage of gas when it comes to lowering emissions.

The study's authors wrote that satellite measurements can help keep track of methane leaks that might otherwise be missed in calculating greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental groups are also increasingly embracing satellites as a tool. The EDF is even partnering with an aerospace company to build and launch a satellite dedicated to finding and monitoring methane leaks.

"We're entering a new era. With a single observation, a single overpass, we're able to see plumes of methane coming from large emission sources," satellite expert and study coauthor Ilse Aben told The New York Times. "That's something totally new that we were previously not able to do from space."

https://www.ecowatch.com/satellite-methane-leak-2641613644.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3
Title: Chile’s Warning To The World + The Untold Story Of Fracking
Post by: AGelbert on December 20, 2019, 08:31:19 pm
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Chile’s Warning To The World + The Untold Story Of Fracking

By Eleanor Goldfield, Act Out!
December 19, 2019 | RESISTANCE REPORT

 COP 25 is over and the people have spoken – from Chile to Madrid, largely indigenous-led protests are highlighting the uselessness of these climate summits and the danger of falling for greenwashed false solutions in the age of climate chaos.

Next, you've likely heard of fracking, but do you know about frac sand mining? Ted Auch from Frac Tracker takes us into this seldom-discussed world of environmental destruction.

https://youtu.be/8nlUl6Q8yNg

https://popularresistance.org/chiles-warning-to-the-world-the-untold-story-of-fracking/
Title: Air & Water Pollution Cause More Deaths Than War, Tobacco, Drugs Or Alcohol
Post by: AGelbert on January 02, 2020, 08:06:53 pm
And, according to two Natural Resources Defense Council experts, senior advocate Juanita Constible and senior scientist Kim Knowlton, the U.S. pollution-related death will likely “climb in the coming years if the Trump Administration has its way.” Massive deregulation by Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency, they warned, could “reverse decades of progress toward a cleaner environment and healthier people.”
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Quote
Trump has acted as “the lapdog of the fossil fuel industry,” Magavern says. “Unfortunately, we have a President who has really made himself the polluter-in-chief and is making our air and water dirtier rather than cleaner.”

Air & Water Pollution Cause More ☠️ Deaths Than War, Tobacco, Drugs Or Alcohol

By Michelle Chen, Progressive.org
January 1, 2020 | EDUCATE!

By Michelle Chen, Progressive.org. Pollution

Whether it comes from a car’s tailpipe, a coal-fired power plant, or a toxic waste dump—claimed more than eight million lives around the world in 2017, fully 15 percent of all deaths. That’s according to a new report published by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, a coalition of environmental and health institutions and agencies. In fact, pollution is the world’s leading cause of death, ahead of tobacco use, drug and alcohol use, and even war. And the 🦖 United States is one of the leading sources of pollution-induced death.    -more- (https://popularresistance.org/air-water-pollution-cause-more-deaths-than-war-tobacco-drugs-or-alcohol/)      (https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/304fa75d7ed32d56ae1ff3a796933cb65eac738511bb960bc4a77bb2f67c0af6.gif)
Title: BREAKING: PFAS contamination crisis spreads!
Post by: AGelbert on January 22, 2020, 02:18:08 pm
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/gdgIcj55smTLluGYbHOS2H-rrW2JCePLmHxQiaa_XFhpZj8R2hG7TQpoTW8SMQiBx3k5WdIh7bKZxG2x0B90uHeQq1IWXKxx3YW_0TvVTMP4VfNHREA1a3aDUwFZENbWbjmrAk631w=s0-d-e1-ft#https://nvlupin.blob.core.windows.net/images/van/EWG/EWG/1/71381/images/logo2015.png)


January 22, 2020

BREAKING: PFAS ☠️ contamination crisis spreads!


New research from EWG has found PFAS chemicals, commonly called “forever chemicals,” in the drinking water of dozens of U.S. cities. Nearly all Americans’ blood is polluted with PFAS chemicals, which have been linked to cancer and other serious diseases.

Our new report (https://www.ewg.org/research/national-pfas-testing/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=202001PFASTestingReportNews&utm_medium=email&emci=4c9f300e-223d-ea11-a1cc-2818784d084f&emdi=4d9f300e-223d-ea11-a1cc-2818784d084f&ceid=1975104) shows that previous estimates of the number of Americans exposed to PFAS chemicals were dramatically underestimated. Of the tap water samples from 44 places across 31 states and the District of Columbia, only one location had no detectable PFAS chemicals. Even more alarming, the highest levels of PFAS were found at an elementary school!

(https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ozfPGAmOJkn0O0dk7OaBj2l5qbijUgt162q0r9v5AaCs0W9jsuBCWFNSI0oEBrzVD-F2rxL7-nXY0kZVGBHZX9TPCsjHR86nl36HPTgeEnABEQPJN51Ao-TaBix5AhhsZ3cKNnXuw735P3ff5CDCeeshT2D76kE_67c=s0-d-e1-ft#https://nvlupin.blob.core.windows.net/images/van/EWG/EWG/1/71381/images/EWG_Email_PFAS-Report-1_C01.jpg) (https://www.ewg.org/research/national-pfas-testing/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=202001PFASTestingReportNews&utm_medium=email&emci=4c9f300e-223d-ea11-a1cc-2818784d084f&emdi=4d9f300e-223d-ea11-a1cc-2818784d084f&ceid=1975104)

(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/nSee0RrGn-qbuLN4rPG4ArE87gHw0ovAfZwTCpSwO-YsgD5O_n8rIs63SBoIAKznUV4GWE7paDDsrYRWbEiG0oGUd7yKxdY1mYvvBp1SQoVFaq6vVuP5LUMkNb4koNr--Ad4OsZtqCyPYKTiCbrniFbQgQL_HcbbfKcNhQ=s0-d-e1-ft#https://nvlupin.blob.core.windows.net/images/van/EWG/EWG/1/71381/images/EWG_Email_PFAS-Report-2_C01-1.jpg) (https://www.ewg.org/research/national-pfas-testing/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=202001PFASTestingReportNews&utm_medium=email&emci=4c9f300e-223d-ea11-a1cc-2818784d084f&emdi=4d9f300e-223d-ea11-a1cc-2818784d084f&ceid=1975104)
Title: a rule today that would roll back protections for millions of miles of US streams and waterways
Post by: AGelbert on January 23, 2020, 01:41:50 pm
🦀 Trump Readies WOTUS 😈🐍  Replacement (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418201722.png&hash=5299cc10ee42beae76e4d3b7c79dbf5f4c0addac)

The Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) administration is expected to finalize a rule today that would roll back protections for millions of miles of US streams and waterways, in a significant favor to the agricultural, real estate and fossil 🦕🦖 fuel industries. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78)


The Obama-era Waters of the US rule, known as WOTUS, has been a key target for Trump since he took office, and his administration took its first step by repealing the rule in September. The replacement legislation will remove protections for up to half the country’s wetlands and one-fifth of streams, and the Trump campaign is expected to use the rollback’s purported benefits for farmers as a key talking point on the road to November.

This administration’s eliminating clean water protections to protect polluters instead of protecting people,” Blan Holman, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, told the AP. (AP, New York Times $, Axios (https://www.axios.com/trump-waterways-protections-repeal-366966b4-4ac8-478b-9a8e-c2ed65182e96.html))

 
How Redlining Created Heat Islands

Racist housing policies from the 1930s are creating hotter and hotter American neighborhoods today as the climate changes, new research has found. A study published last week in the journal MDPI looks at the temperatures in neighborhoods in 108 US cities, finding that neighborhoods subjected to redlining in earlier decades are, on average, 5 degrees hotter than the non-redlined neighborhoods in the same cities. “The patterns of the lowest temperatures in specific neighborhoods of a city do not occur because of circumstance or coincidence,” coauthor Vivek Shandas told The Oregonian. “They are a result of decades of intentional investment in parks, green spaces, trees, transportation and housing policies that provided ‘cooling services,’ which also coincide with being wealthier and whiter across the country.” (The Guardian, Nexus Media News (https://nexusmedianews.com/racist-housing-practices-have-left-communities-of-color-at-greater-risk-of-extreme-heat-801ead143422), NPR, The Oregonian)
Title: More 🦀 Trump bold faced lies on behalf of his owners, the 🦕🦖 Hydrocarbon POLLUTERS
Post by: AGelbert on January 24, 2020, 04:54:11 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

Jan 23, 2020 02:15 pm By Catherine Traywick, Stephen Cunningham, Naureen Malik and Dave Merrill (Bloomberg)

Gas 🦕 Export’s Dirty Secret: A Carbon Footprint Rivaling Coal’s (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818204546.gif&hash=ffeafdfa24208fe5070639ffa682bb2ad041737c)

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The six export terminals currently in operation aren’t yet running at full capacity. At current operating levels, their maximum potential CO2 emissions are equivalent to those of 5.2 coal-fired plants, according to Bloomberg calculations.


In May, while President 🦀 Donald Trump toured a new $10 billion plant designed to prepare natural gas for export, he made a vow. Such facilities would be good for the environment, he said, or they won’t get approved. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-030815183114.gif&hash=2bf1553e87e8605311feb874231953d5fb88ee9c)  The (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205137.gif&hash=7a79df8ecf1b29d8599c26fe550e664c6c5e24bd) president has greenlit 11 projects […]  Read full story... (https://gcaptain.com/gas-exports-dirty-secret-a-carbon-footprint-rivaling-coals/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Gcaptain+%28gCaptain.com%29&goal=0_f50174ef03-a57579dcbf-169600093&mc_cid=a57579dcbf&mc_eid=1855a0727e)

Quote
If the amount of methane leaked during gas production and transportation exceeds 3.1% over a 20-year period, LNG’s lifecycle emissions become comparable to those of locally mined coal, according to the agency. A 2018 report published in the journal Nature found that leaks across the U.S. now total 2.3% of oil and natural gas production. In the Permian basin, the world’s highest-producing oil field, the largest 🦕😈🦖 producers are 🔥 burning off methane at a rate of 5.1%, according to Rystad Energy.
Title: 🦀 Trump erodes water protections - Wuhan Coronavirus update
Post by: AGelbert on January 25, 2020, 04:27:03 pm
BLACK BEAR NEWS: 🦀 Trump erodes water protections (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16271224.gif&hash=c2a9bfbff23e2414975829eb4b3655af12eb02cc) - Wuhan Coronavirus update (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200018.png&hash=3956d547ef9dca7c073db857379c97e82faeb139)
717 views•Jan 24, 2020

https://youtu.be/acPF2wylDHE

Black Bear News
2.59K subscribers

#FridayGasStrike #ExtinctionRebellion #ClimateStrike
#GretaThunberg #ClimateChange #CompassionateDegrowth
#BlackBearNews

Trump erodes water protections: 6 things to know
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/23/trump-epa-curbs-water-protections-102779

Enormous Crowds at Iraq’s Million Man March Tell America to Leave for Good 👍
https://www.mintpressnews.com/iraq-million-man-march-tell-us-troops-leave-good/264293/

Coronavirus Death Toll Rises in China as U.S. Reports Second Case
https://www.wsj.com/articles/spreading-chinese-coronavirus-death-toll-rises-as-more-cities-are-locked-down-11579860808

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Category People & Blogs
Title: MASSIVE Pollution from 🦖 Oil & 🦕 Gas Well Brine AND your favorite Leaf blower!
Post by: AGelbert on January 27, 2020, 07:40:19 pm
BLACK BEAR NEWS: America's Radioactive (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emofaces.com%2Fen%2Femoticons%2Fn%2Fnuclear-emoticon.gif&hash=e4e4a2a7087fe69ad666bbc193626b4bf13857a8) Secret
215 views•Jan 27, 2020

https://youtu.be/gIXhSltdwFY

Black Bear News
2.59K subscribers

America’s Radioactive Secret
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/oil-gas-fracking-radioactive-investigation-937389/

The 🦕 Gas Powered Leaf Blower Is the Most Polluting Yard Tool Ever Invented 👀
https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/the-gas-powered-leaf-blower-is-the-most-polluting-yard-tool-ever-invented-ca0a9857969e

Climate change and pathogens [Wuhan Coronavirus]
http://climatestate.com/2020/01/25/climate-change-and-pathogens-such-as-the-wuhan-coronavirus/

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Category People & Blogs
Title: Air Pollution in Utah is Dangerously BAD
Post by: AGelbert on January 28, 2020, 12:43:40 pm
SNIPPET:

(https://utah.sierraclub.org/sites/utah.sierraclub.org/files/CLAY4402-Edit-72.jpg)

Recent data related to air pollution in Utah presents the following:

🚩 A recent Forbes magazine study ranked Salt Lake City as the ninth most toxic city in the United States (Forbes Magazine, 2/28/11).  Of these top 10 most toxic, SLC has the highest Toxic Release Inventory.

🚩 The American Lung Association gives Salt Lake County a rank of "F" for the two most important components of air pollution, ozone and particulate matter (PM2.5).

🚩 Salt Lake County is officially classified by the EPA as “non-attainment” with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM10, PM2.5, SO2.

🚩 Air pollution monitors recently installed in the Uintah Basin measured ozone concentrations exceeding federal health standards more than 68 times in the first three months of 2010.   

🚩 Air pollution exacerbates existing asthma in adults and children and causes asthma and respiratory infections in those who are not otherwise predisposed.

🚩 Air pollution increases the incidence of SIDS, low birth weight syndrome, premature birth, and infant mortality.

🚩 Air pollution increases the incidence of the most common forms of childhood cancers, especially leukemia.

🚩 Air pollution increases genetic damage in newborns, which may lead to increased morbidities as an adult including heart disease, strokes, diabetes and cancers. These genetic aberrancies can be passed on to subsequent generations.

🚩 Air pollution increases rates of sudden death, heart attacks and strokes.  It increases blood pressure and shortens life expectancy.  Using the formula published by the American Heart Association, between 1,000 and 2,000 Utahns die prematurely annually because of air pollution.

Despite alarming statistics and mounting public pressure, state leaders continue to support a development-focused agenda that only acts to exacerbate air pollution:

Full article:
https://utah.sierraclub.org/content/utah-air-quality

Please Sign this PETITION: The Air in This State Is So Bad, It's Dangerous to Leave Your House (https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/914/854/821/)

(https://dingo.care2.com/pictures/petition_images/petition/821/914854-1546555566-wide.jpg)
Title: 🦀 Trump's New Rule Favors Pollution Over US Waterways 😠
Post by: AGelbert on February 21, 2020, 12:07:27 am
🦀 Trump's New Rule Favors Pollution Over US Waterways
2,226 views•Feb 20, 2020

https://youtu.be/qvMfBGP4MqM

The Real News Network
387K subscribers

Trump's years of dogged attacks on the Clean Water Rule have finally succeeded, and👹 big ag and 🦕🦖 fossil fuel industries are rejoicing. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817134648.gif&hash=d24c66a26329a19150a175d576b631d10f631ee8)

Subscribe to our page and support our work at https://therealnews.com/donate.
Category
News & Politics
Title: Plastics in the 3 to 7 numbered category are a HUGE PROBLEM for recycling
Post by: AGelbert on February 23, 2020, 01:11:48 pm
America's 'recycled' plastic waste is clogging landfills, survey finds
8 views•Feb 23, 2020
https://youtu.be/LujFYrxeNYw

Black Bear News
2.6K subscribers

America’s 'recycled' plastic waste is clogging landfills, survey finds
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...

#FridayGasStrike #ExtinctionRebellion #ClimateStrike
#GretaThunberg #ClimateChange #CompassionateDegrowth
#BlackBearNews

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Category People & Blogs
Title: Study: Methane Emissions from Fossil Fuels Vastly Underestimated
Post by: AGelbert on February 28, 2020, 05:03:17 pm
Study: Methane Emissions from Fossil Fuels Vastly Underestimated (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16271224.gif&hash=c2a9bfbff23e2414975829eb4b3655af12eb02cc)
February 28, 2020

https://youtu.be/QO7huXC_pTQ

A new Rochester University study raises new grave questions about fossil fuel production and climate change. The author of the first major study on methane and fracking, Cornell University's Bob Howarth, explains its implications.

https://therealnews.com/stories/methane-emissions-fossil-fuels-vastly-underestimated
Title: ... 📢 oil giant 🦖 Citgo liable for a clean up of a 2004 oil spill in the Delaware River, ...
Post by: AGelbert on April 01, 2020, 05:17:35 pm
EcoWatch

By  Jordan Davidson Mar. 31, 2020 02:05PM EST

(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/nTpzRynnJF-4aQ5ag5xF7uqEPQJ537zUa0wu0oO0RwM2uZDawmTuvgCEpbVCfsdYlIVyB0Dw3_HOQ0QGtXx5bWU036tHlpuZylZDGbjqaFlxWESbHuxcb_6qjK3sCjSLq83WCS2EYjTNms8EmSyOCIVFDA3Vyg=s0-d-e1-ft#https://mcusercontent.com/214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec/images/86b43ad0-c54d-490c-a4c2-0a8059c68b6e.jpg)
The🦖 Athos I tanker was carrying crude oil from Venezuela when a collision caused oil to begin gushing into the Delaware River. U.S. Department of the Interior

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

🦖 Citgo Must Pay $143M for a Delaware River Oil Spill, Supreme Court Orders (https://www.ecowatch.com/citgo-oil-spill-delaware-river-2645600905.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=5cfc204c97-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-5cfc204c97-86021645) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818180844.png&hash=d74cfbba22967e53f7eb6202dffdd50b3e520fe2)
Title: Can Coronavirus cool our climate?
Post by: AGelbert on April 12, 2020, 10:09:21 pm
Can Coronavirus cool our climate?
5,682 views•Apr 12, 2020

https://youtu.be/Y1e7zXAGMKQ

Just Have a Think
59.3K subscribers

Coronavirus, or more specifically COVID-19, is understandably dominating our thoughts and everyday lives right now. Staying safe and saving as many lives as possible are, quite rightly, top priority for our governments. But buried away in the back rooms of power, teams of bureaucrats are also trying to agree exactly what policies to employ as we come out of this pandemic, and whether we might actually have a once in a lifetime opportunity to reshape the way we run our societies.

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Title: Trump’s EPA Weakens Justification for Life-Saving Mercury Pollution Rule 🤬
Post by: AGelbert on April 17, 2020, 05:29:05 pm
EcoWatch

April 17, 2020

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-241216151049.png&hash=78206393ea158485b779ed06d0fb0f84172b645d)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-100718163957-14481568.png&hash=f923ce4d7ef43213760bfe87c48477be898bb171)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-221216141740.jpeg&hash=bc039c277ca3c552a17daf10e9598f51be5e14a0) Trump’s EPA Weakens Justification for Life-Saving Mercury Pollution Rule (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-221218213323-1936774.gif&hash=f838dbfe77d4195bb628b8f95d5a40a6e09dda2f) (https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-mercury-pollution-rule-2645741580.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=3f94a4d94b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-3f94a4d94b-86021645)
Title: furor over the Waters Of The United States rule played a significant role in Donald Trump’s election
Post by: AGelbert on April 25, 2020, 12:39:46 pm
CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica’s work via donations on Patreon or PayPal!

Or just go buy a cool t-shirt, cup, baby outfit, bag, or hoodie. (https://cleantechnica.com/shop/#!/)


April 24th, 2020 by Steve Hanley


(https://cleantechnica.com/files/2020/04/US-aquafer-map.png)
US Aquifers. Credit: USGS

SNIPPETS:

This is a huge deal. Until now, polluters have insulated their nefarious conduct from judicial review by claiming the law does not apply if pollution travels through groundwater. That fiction has now been dismissed by the Supreme Court. ... ...

Fun & Games In High Places

Who says lawyers don’t have a sense of humor? The arguments presented to the court included such amusing hypotheticals as whether whiskey added to punch from a flask could be said to be “from” the original bottle or, indeed, from a barrel in Scotland.

The judges themselves joined in the fun by debating among themselves whether a traveler could be said to have simultaneously come from the train station, Baltimore, and Europe, and whether a recipe calling for adding drippings from meat to gravy made sense when the drippings were collected from a pan. Such frivolity is seldom seen in the exalted halls of justice.

Justice Breyer, writing for the majority, chided both sides for taking extreme positions, apparently unaware that extreme positions are the norm these days outside the august halls of the Supreme Court. In his decision, he said the standard should be whether “the addition of the pollutants through groundwater is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge from the point source into navigable waters.” The decision will now create a whole new class of attorneys who spend their entire careers arguing over the meaning of the phrase “functional equivalent.”

Full article:

US Supreme Court Decides Clean Water Act Applies To Groundwater (https://cleantechnica.com/2020/04/24/us-supreme-court-decides-clean-water-act-applies-to-groundwater/)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185039-16521065.gif&hash=9eef5dcea9de04ac83b42acf07d77409f0493a81)


Are Hansen • 8 hours ago
Amazing that the rat hole of reactionaries currently constituting the US Supreme Court made a rational decision, Kavanaugh and all

Steve Hanley > Are Hansen • 5 hours ago
Yeah, that really is the big news about this decision.

agelbert >  Steve Hanley • 13 minutes ago • edited
I predict the rational actions of these reactionaries will turn to a complete reversal back to "profitable" irrationallity on the issue of Fracking wells presently polluting the aquifers all over the USA. As you are correctly predicting, the definition of "Functional Equivalent" will be subject to Orwellian Legalese mendacity.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16271224.gif&hash=c2a9bfbff23e2414975829eb4b3655af12eb02cc) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-300919160019-22721213.gif)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-231014212330.jpeg&hash=c256f59f7e0e14e05edbffee22f8d77a46d53a91)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-280220135718.png)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-071019193745.jpeg)

Title: Methane 👉 the CAUSE of 25% of climate change, reached a 20-year high last year. 😡
Post by: AGelbert on April 27, 2020, 05:03:40 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-020818201645-1486464.jpeg&hash=bfa44b2ee2b1d6d1ea71a024b1bd6e9cf1328326)

U.S. Oil and Gas Methane Emissions Are 15 Percent Higher Than We Thought(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16271224.gif&hash=c2a9bfbff23e2414975829eb4b3655af12eb02cc)

KRISTINA MARUSIC, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH NEWS

An unprecedented analysis from Pennsylvania uncovers flaws in the national data.
Read the Article → (https://truthout.org/articles/us-oil-and-gas-methane-emissions-are-15-percent-higher-than-we-thought/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=5cc4c7bd-8536-4d3b-8904-0c7dc4005a33)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-100718163957-14481568.png&hash=f923ce4d7ef43213760bfe87c48477be898bb171)
Title: UCS reported this scientific integrity violation to the EPA
Post by: AGelbert on May 05, 2020, 12:12:03 pm
May 5th, 2020 by Guest Contributor

Originally published on blog of Union of Concerned Scientists.
by Taryn MacKinney, Investigative Researcher


(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/pHFyrKGlFB6LYcRapOwTeyUJdoccUwtuQ8RMFDjdtA9PnoaAz_DK7yrQEnNsFxVTbz80J2FTqmhLhp3JPWe5_WJbC30adCFqMCV0m1WUW_sulV7qsqXkOn_ANAab1FQGo9YWyzOzJGReXbE=s0-d-e1-ft#http://media.lion.com/9281/Shared/Newsletter%20-%20New%20Images%202018/EPAMoneyImage.jpg)


SNIPPET:


(https://cleantechnica.com/files/2020/05/chemical-toxin-1.jpg)

Under (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205137.gif&hash=7a79df8ecf1b29d8599c26fe550e664c6c5e24bd) President Trump’s (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) EPA, these proposed bans were buried, but scientists persevered. In December 2019, EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) conducted a draft risk evaluation of TCE, which used fetal heart defects as a baseline for determining unsafe exposure levels. Given that heart malformation “is the effect that is most sensitive,” it reads, “it is expected that addressing risks for this effect would address other identified risks.”

But this draft evaluation never went public.

The (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205137.gif&hash=7a79df8ecf1b29d8599c26fe550e664c6c5e24bd) White House rewrote the risk evaluation for a toxic chemical

An investigation by Reveal outlines what happened to it, and how things went wrong — namely, when the document reached the White House’s Executive Office of the President (EOP). The EPA routinely sends its evaluations to other agencies for review, but the EOP’s “review” was far from routine: in unsigned emails and anonymous redline edits, EOP officials directed EPA scientists to discard the science on TCE’s role in fetal heart defects.

The EOP-edited version pays lip service to TCE’s connection to heart defects but notes “uncertainties which decrease EPA’s confidence in this endpoint.” The better bet, the new version continues, is to rely on immunosuppression, or the weakening of the immune system, as the baseline for “unreasonable risk.”

However, the exposure levels at which TCE triggers immunosuppression is almost 500 times higher than the levels found to trigger congenital heart defects. In other words, the EOP changes echo a common industry argument: TCE might be linked to poor health outcomes, but only at very high or chronic exposures. To cement this reversal, the White House deleted every one of the scientists’ 322 uses of the phrase “cardiac toxicity,” and bumped up mentions of “immunosuppression” more than 30-fold.

We don’t know for sure who orchestrated these changes, but we have our suspicions. 😈 Nancy Beck, a former lobbyist for one of the chemical industry’s largest trade associations, began working at EPA under the Trump administration.

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

Scientists Discovered Trichloroethylene Causes Fetal Heart Defects, (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F809_84688966.jpeg&hash=7f3e84eea23fef901b7df618784dc2005290f591) Trump White House Overrode The Findings (https://cleantechnica.com/2020/05/05/scientists-discovered-trichloroethylene-causes-fetal-heart-defects-trump-white-house-overrode-the-findings/)

Quote
Steve_S • 3 hours ago
1) The Depopulation process is underway and aided by "natural events" which could have been prevented.
2) For Profit Pharma & Medical care money stream is more guaranteed for the profiteers of illness.
3) Anyone earning less than $1,000,000 is a disposable peasant / serf and only serve to funnel cash into the profiteer agencies.
4) Anyone earning less than $100,000 per anum are of no concern and irrelevant if they require any support, they are only to service the income streams for The Corporate "New Order".

Environmental Events boosted by increasing toxicity of land / water & air all reduce the populations without incurring the costs of military actions. It is also passive as it is non-military and therefore as non-aggressive it warrants no international condemnation or action on the part of others.

What a perfect little situation for the few profiteers... known as The New Order...

agelbert > Steve_S • 2 minutes ago
You are right on all counts. You have presented a near perfect description of the Social Darwinist Ideology/Religion mens rea modus operandi.

Human Inequity is directly proportional to the amount of human iniquity.
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on May 27, 2021, 04:28:29 pm
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-270521170028.png&hash=92129a17735574ea3529027b3624336a00cc89b9)
Make Nexus Hot News part of your morning: click here (https://climatenexus.org/climate-change-news/) to subscribe.

May 27, 2021

ORPHANED WELLS: Several injured after gas well ignites in St. Mary Parish oil and gas field (KATC (https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VW5rzl92v0nsW30SRQX5ZkMjJVBzM2_4s4td_N7lCf0N3p_b1V1-WJV7CgHKBW3gz34X5N75QTW4JphhS6D6HfbW4fNyBt3FH3-gN6pKcTrgj2V1N2bW0-mbSKdZW2KffhX6YYpLFW2CtgwP31Py1xN81PddqFtxdKW64bKpS9lKGKQVjVFYQ4f_6TBW5TKM1c409cXWW5_V4_T4Yd2-jW2ZmJdJ84h-6gW6Xxmmp6MHBGTVh8GfT96trSTW86ym7H7YMJr3W6Hnxtx8rjQxKW3j-9Tf8f32bdW2SVQMF669myqW7bJvnC93c79cW1w7XrN3ltjcfN8mFYy75NYxXW64lK4q4fmYFJW5FKq8Y912WVGF2WHrtmPdndW2jJG_x7gFKHVW2PzZzR7pTk6KW41fLXc5-1MDCW4SqFGb1BQzwlW7CcNMW8MPksm32kv1), AP, WAFB, KLFY)

HEALTH: Climate crisis inflicting huge ‘hidden costs’ on mental health (The Guardian (https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e2t/tc/VW5rzl92v0nsW30SRQX5ZkMjJVBzM2_4s4td_N7lCd-J5nxG7V3Zsc37CgVnMW5mjTRL2k7KVSW2qc63n9fSWxFW3_qX1Q8F4LJBW3ng1vk2yWDtdW3BlXXW8x04P8W4Fv4D72W6XN7N9f6sPp5RbQVW3KY8yG2kVdWtVbGDnQ4f-tkLW1R_Xhv8k5S67W2Qp6wz1K1qFTW966smL2F__q5W94Ybjm3Ml17sW8QWyXn3B0XnsW2nln7x8PVgXXW6m14qX3-w0BxW11bcDJ4rCC1vN5bM_TQp1d-xW3Yghf49jR1gPW6nw1Rv92Wf5lW35hCsK4GkPsmW8xMScG9bQd2LW689lvl6qk_fTW3y17mF8FQv7dN7TXF6xVSCmsW5mrsFy6kmcWRW66Zs7g6JF2FXW6GY1SF4dsSHXW2Jy1qm74x74wW32Y2bT8xF-3KW2zDkbg2SHS3DN4n2jPl612313fDV1), Thomson Reuters Foundation)
Title: Louisiana regulators allow much higher pollution levels at Exxon's Baton Rouge plant than at other state refineries.
Post by: AGelbert on June 01, 2021, 10:09:26 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-100718163957-14481568.png&hash=f923ce4d7ef43213760bfe87c48477be898bb171)

June 1, 2021 REUTERS

Three 🦖 Exxon refineries top the list of U.S. ☠️ polluters (https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/three-exxon-refineries-top-list-us-polluters-2021-05-28/) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818204546.gif&hash=ffeafdfa24208fe5070639ffa682bb2ad041737c) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817134648.gif&hash=d24c66a26329a19150a175d576b631d10f631ee8)


Title: For those who think 🦀 Trump "wasn't that bad" (SEE: greed based selective memory)
Post by: AGelbert on June 13, 2021, 12:41:19 pm
CleanTechnica
Support CleanTechnica’s work via donations on Patreon or PayPal!

Or just go buy a cool t-shirt, cup, baby outfit, bag, or hoodie. (https://cleantechnica.com/shop/#!/)

(https://d38hokjm2drjyk.cloudfront.net/?url=ichef.bbci.co.uk%2Fnews%2F1024%2Fbranded_news%2F11615%2Fproduction%2F_110598117_p0810d35.jpg&w=300&h=190&secure=yes&token=84be393ccc8ade2d78b226e088e420972a6da410)

June 12, 2021

By Guest Contributor 👉 Originally published on EPA.

EPA To Reexamine Health Standards For Harmful Soot That (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718205137.gif&hash=7a79df8ecf1b29d8599c26fe550e664c6c5e24bd) Trump (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c)Administration Left Unchanged

This week, EPA announced that it will reconsider the previous administration’s decision to retain the particulate matter (PM) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), which were last strengthened in 2012. EPA is reconsidering the December 2020 decision because available scientific evidence and technical information indicate that the current standards may not be adequate to protect public health and welfare, as required by the Clean Air Act.

“The most vulnerable among us are most at risk from exposure to particulate matter, and that’s why it’s so important we take a hard look at these standards that haven’t been updated in nine years,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “EPA is committed to ensuring this review, and other upcoming NAAQS reviews, reflect the latest science and public health data.”

The strong body of scientific evidence shows that long- and short-term exposures to fine particles (PM2.5) can harm people’s health, leading to heart attacks, asthma attacks, and premature death. Large segments of the U.S. population, including children, people with heart or lung conditions, and people of color, are at risk of health effects from PM2.5. In addition, a number of recent studies have examined relationships between COVID and air pollutants, including PM, and potential health implications. While some PM is emitted directly from sources such as construction sites, unpaved roads, fields, smokestacks or fires, most particles form in the atmosphere as a result of complex reactions of chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which are pollutants emitted from power plants, industrial facilities and vehicles.

EPA’s 2020 Policy Assessment concluded that the scientific evidence and information support revising the level of the annual standard for the PM NAAQS to below the current level of 12 micrograms per cubic meter while retaining the 24-hour standard. The agency also received numerous petitions for reconsideration as well as lawsuits challenging the December 2020 final action.

EPA will move expeditiously to reconsider the decision to retain the particulate matter NAAQS, in a manner that adheres to rigorous standards of scientific integrity and provides ample opportunities for public input and engagement. As part of this process, the agency will develop a supplement to the 2019 Final Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) that will take into account the most up-to-date science, including new studies in the emerging area of COVID-related research.

This supplement will be reviewed at a public meeting by the chartered Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), supported by a particulate matter review panel of scientific experts on the health and welfare impacts of PM. The CASAC and the PM panel will also review a revised policy assessment and formulate advice to the Administrator. As with all reviews, the public will have opportunities to comment on these documents during the CASAC review process, as well as to provide input during the rulemaking through the public comment process and public hearings on any proposed decision.

EPA expects to issue a proposed rulemaking in Summer 2022 and a final rule in Spring 2023, following an open, transparent process with opportunities for public review and comment. In accordance with Executive Orders and guidance, the agency will be considering environmental justice during the rulemaking process.

For more information on the NAAQS review process and documents related to prior PM NAAQS reviews, visit https://www.epa.gov/naaqs/particulate-matter-pm-air-quality-standards

https://cleantechnica.com/2021/06/12/epa-to-reexamine-health-standards-for-harmful-soot-that-trump-administration-left-unchanged/

Agelbert NOTE: For those who think Trump "wasn't that bad" (SEE: greed based selective memory), here's a brief summary of just the first year (it got WORSE after that) of the despicably damaging to human health actions mayhem by bought and paid for (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-270117175421.png&hash=cf39e823dd9156833bfa885808a876bf518bd0d6) Trump on behalf of his 🦖 Hydrocarbon 😈 Hellspawn Enablers:

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-191217132907.jpeg)
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F4144_Hotter%2520than%2520you%2520think.png&hash=0ccf7a7864d66a26122b4e50b6e2481c56187073)



Title: PFAS Great Lakes POLLUTION
Post by: AGelbert on June 15, 2021, 12:06:40 pm
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/N8W2fj8BiGBiy2UYlltg9OrpIikFAeAoJUtajCXmgjUWleYgvCCt3vru7WknqzU1CNvQB57DmV7oM9QLHCycKc-HOly8wnIAJ4KAiHCoI5X9dCEpdwX-jxaeR0O0F-WICSrs4YINI1jO4Iy0BJRR2qDmCEHeAA=s0-d-e1-ft#https://mcusercontent.com/214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec/images/999815be-df6f-4b4e-8fe1-f453982fa2c7.png)

By  Audrey Nakagawa Jun. 11, 2021 11:15AM

(https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNjY0MDM4MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3NzI1MzQwM30.JHrYPokl5RN6VDO8N8lxNqqBffhKCsF39DJaM_QDXGI/img.jpg)
Eric Hansen / 500px / Getty Images


It's Raining 'Forever Chemicals' Around the Great Lakes (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185038-1649349.gif&hash=17e5f9a00437fbab9a49c6ce2bd7d563eb15ed9c)

It's raining toxins in the Great Lakes region. A team of American and Canadian scientists found high levels of PFAS chemicals, known as "forever chemicals," after studying the rainfall in six different sites across the region.

PFAS are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. First used in the U.S. in the 1940s, the chemicals don't break down and can accumulate as time goes on. The PFAS can continue to be ☠️ toxic to humans years later and have shown up in both snow and rain. Samples of rainwater from the area contained PFAS levels of 100 to 400 parts per trillion (ppt) :o — the EPA's safe limit for drinking water is 70 ppt.

Read More: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
https://www.ecowatch.com/forever-chemicals-rain-great-lakes-2653326949.html

Title: Mexico’s Pemex Battles Crazy Fire 👀 Near Offshore Oil Platform in Gulf of Mexico
Post by: AGelbert on July 03, 2021, 02:56:04 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

July 2, 2021

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-030721145326.png)
Fire next to Pemex’s Ku Maloob Zaap offshore platform complex


Mexico’s 🦕 Pemex Battles Crazy Fire Near Offshore 🦕 Oil Platform in Gulf of Mexico
Bloomberg

SNIPPET:

An update from Pemex said the fire was extinguished at about 10:45 a.m.

By Amy Stillman (Bloomberg) —

A fire has broken out near Pemex’s Ku Maloob Zaap offshore platform complex after a submarine pipeline valve broke, leaking oil into the country’s Gulf Coast.

A video posted on social media showed three ships trying to suffocate a fire emerging from the sea, very close to an offshore platform. A Pemex representative didn’t respond to a request for comment or confirm the video footage.

Full article with eye opening graphics: 👀
https://gcaptain.com/mexicos-pemex-battles-crazy-fire-near-offshore-oil-platform-in-gulf/
Title: The History of Trash
Post by: AGelbert on July 08, 2021, 12:00:33 pm
(https://www.clf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Detail-history-of-trash-titlepage-e1594750018606.jpg)
(https://www.clf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/History-of-Trash_panel2-e1594749950383.jpg)

View 12 illustrations by by Maddie Dennis & Olivia Pecini (https://www.clf.org/blog/history-of-trash/) (https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/304fa75d7ed32d56ae1ff3a796933cb65eac738511bb960bc4a77bb2f67c0af6.gif)
Title: How Pesticide Companies ☠️ Poisoned America
Post by: AGelbert on July 10, 2021, 03:37:44 pm
 (https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Center_for_Biological_Diversity_logo.jpg)
(https://therevelator.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/logo-black.png)
Wild, Incisive, Fearless.

If you haven’t already, sign up (https://therevelator.org/subscribe-to-the-revelator) for The Revelator’s weekly e-newsletter. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817121424.gif&hash=384c17a4d2be4831084933b91808f8a60f73f7f5)

July 8, 2021

(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/cccajstz30w__1ZbvG4hiIZjSRQ1TapGv9j-9CvorUUPIknbc0WWsPQ1Q53f5KyX9q_vKifQ4JHnwdJrUVJcdX8u-YK0pMB2zV4s9js5Umb5kueDf4dKvuMOBmPTJCFxSNfpE-XdhRfs7gCwSPUDXWsuPTKMWI7lYWyjlUCY=s0-d-e1-ft#https://nvlupin.blob.core.windows.net/images/van/CBD/CBD/1/61429/images/Actions/pesticide-spraying-USDA.jpg)

How Pesticide 😈 Companies ☠️ Poisoned America (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-120716190938.png)

In 1970 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was established to “fight a war on pollution,” in the words of President Richard Nixon. But in short order, powerful agrochemical companies weakened — and sometimes completely eviscerated — the agency’s ability to protect human health, wildlife and the environment from pesticides.

A new article at The Intercept (https://click.everyaction.com/k/32087955/294678225/1442176075?nvep=ew0KICAiVGVuYW50VXJpIjogIm5ncHZhbjovL3Zhbi9DQkQvQ0JELzEvNjE0MjkiLA0KICAiRGlzdHJpYnV0aW9uVW5pcXVlSWQiOiAiMzdlNjdhMTgtMjdlMC1lYjExLWE3YWQtNTAxYWM1N2I4ZmE3IiwNCiAgIkVtYWlsQWRkcmVzcyI6ICJhbnRob255ZzE1NEBnbWFpbC5jb20iDQp9&hmac=LYRBdQ_G9YvLasN1xTYp5ZzW8KJ-M_pKW5_haWeKs9o=&emci=2a58c809-74db-eb11-a7ad-501ac57b8fa7&emdi=37e67a18-27e0-eb11-a7ad-501ac57b8fa7&ceid=1950629) documents how this happened and what it’s cost us. Citing a report by the Center’s Nathan Donley and sharing the perspective of our Environmental Health Program Director Lori Ann Burd, it’s the most comprehensive account we’ve seen yet of the tragic failures of the EPA’s pesticide office.  >:(
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on July 21, 2021, 01:45:16 pm
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/N8W2fj8BiGBiy2UYlltg9OrpIikFAeAoJUtajCXmgjUWleYgvCCt3vru7WknqzU1CNvQB57DmV7oM9QLHCycKc-HOly8wnIAJ4KAiHCoI5X9dCEpdwX-jxaeR0O0F-WICSrs4YINI1jO4Iy0BJRR2qDmCEHeAA=s0-d-e1-ft#https://mcusercontent.com/214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec/images/999815be-df6f-4b4e-8fe1-f453982fa2c7.png)

July 21, 2021

(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/sKPocWbWiW7o72QvuTnp5n0FbJfJqyFYFql2zapFmP1GF3SAncVcE9rtvjOYfI0LV40OlD1wl24q8w7ywHSky0JVNdIeWyVD-iXGhviVHCQws4W_oRibk1-ouslQoMPtAJCP-mZ5fbgOmt4IdjjFz_sBpDegc66DY-j-E03o82X28OxEo462p-P7mUQgnBHapO8LtyZFe3knW1SyiAXauZY-psC13vH4vqkd3aHb7VoM7h0kNoz1rl1l4ynRyEWs5hbezwcQX7lvirdqeWESLR8c9uTvNrKzEX13ZRTFJuN4T6aqqxzcoyreL_j3YNWZjSf5VtRvDvDGrcg=s0-d-e1-ft#https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNzAwMjE1Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2ODI4NjEzNn0.uMKukGhr6subvakwKptF93Hby_hEtAxQyS4ZDTd4uRo/img.jpg?width=600)

The red tide kills Tampa fish (https://www.ecowatch.com/red-tide-fish-dead-tampa-bay-2653844544.html)

The deadly red tide has returned to Florida's Tampa Bay killing up to 600 tons worth of fish since this past June. In response, more than 100 protestors marched along the St. Petersburg waterfront this past weekend calling for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency so that Florida can allocate the funds to address the mass death of marine life. However, DeSantis responded by saying that there is enough funding available from the state's Department of Environmental Protection without the declaration.

The reoccurring red tide is caused by an overabundance of the algae Karenia brevis naturally occurs in the Gulf of Mexico, but is made worse by nutrient pollution. The previous major outbreak was in 2018 and this year's bloom may be even worst.


(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/xPrqb0DwkYE5iYnGZP42IysU9ivdAot3S-5bYqs0iYl0h7lRirJSZonvexo986ELeazh3_UWQPTK6xDHCOrRBNLHnaEl_7MnkWKD30UEJ_87s6zIrr-qZztH4SbD0NivWNPaXHXYuxCnoY0j3MFzlCZZr4nEU0SPBibPa-kNoHL3w-XVf2Di0dGQtxalTM9c0XmFywtM7FC9OEB_FVuiSDZz8jip71U-How4G40af9QGUR3yO8PRi2QZ8wV8W8ZXzvCcskwf9uAbuZvUHpdJALwbTcz11xGn9YYVYLa0N_M_qfLwUnr6_638ONHAvpt1VaIoiBh6WTjydt8=s0-d-e1-ft#https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNzAxNjE3Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MzI2MzM0Mn0._buenwuGGuAmv2E40BTQEPDfkizjeQgdNpEGU90TQkk/img.jpg?width=600)

Why land runoff is dangerous for water ecosystems (https://www.ecowatch.com/runoff-plastic-pollution-oceans-2653861272.html)

With #PlasticFreeJuly upon us, there has been a necessary, global focus on curbing plastic pollution and other trash that comes from land and often ends up in the sea. Now, in partnership with Plastic Oceans International, EcoWatch is highlighting the dangers of another land-based source of ecological harm: runoff.

According to the United States Geological Survey, runoff naturally occurs after rain falls onto a landscape. The water doesn't just sit on top of the ground; some seeps into soils to refresh groundwater, but most flows across ecosystems as surface runoff. In this way, runoff is an important part of the natural water cycle.
Title: The decision is effective nationwide. It affects permit requirements for discharging pollutants to the water and permits
Post by: AGelbert on September 07, 2021, 12:12:39 pm
September 3, 2021

Federal Judge Vacates Major  🦖(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-311013201314.png&hash=0715eb72631014310634eb56176ff860c6d542f6) Clean Water Act Regulation (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163125-16762116.gif&hash=dcf93619f3c0ebb651977b3dae2d1398f7705823)

SNIPPETS:
A Federal judge has vacated and remanded EPA's (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-270117175421.png&hash=cf39e823dd9156833bfa885808a876bf518bd0d6)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418203402.gif&hash=b2691028ba683a0039a5811f5775c68d7ccae01c) 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule, a regulation that narrowed the Agency's enforcement jurisdiction following legal challenges to a 2015 Clean Water Act rulemaking. ...  ...

In the decision to vacate and remand the 2020 NWPR, the Arizona judge expressed concern that the rule failed to adequately protect the nation’s waters. The Rule’s “fundamental, substantive flaws,” the judge wrote, “cannot be cured without revising or replacing the NWPR’s definition of ‘Waters of the United States.’”

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818184310-1635923.gif&hash=5e2530db4748ed6c7163e1d478fdfa3cd1108668)
https://www.lion.com/Lion-News/September-2021/Federal-Judge-Vacates-Trump-era-Clean-Water-Rule
Title: Lastly, the site improperly disposed of 1,190 barrels of liquid waste in saltwater disposal wells not authorized to rece
Post by: AGelbert on September 07, 2021, 12:36:01 pm
LION TECHNOLOGY NEWS UPDATES & INSIGHTS FOR EHS PROS

September 7, 2021

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-070921123859.jpeg&hash=b7655347fe295488a8a1798995bdcde6aa3dfab2)

Chemical Blending Facility Pays $30K for Haz Waste Violations (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-190419235756.png&hash=ddd7a71acf6ff0420a63e797c27fdcad27734e3e)

SNIPPET:

An oilfield chemical blending facility in Sonora, TX faces a $31,404 penalty for alleged industrial and hazardous waste violations after inspectors discovered oily discharge on the ground near a chemical storage area.

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
https://www.lion.com/Lion-News/September-2021/Chemical-Blending-Facility-Pays-$30K-for-Texas
Title: As of Thursday, the Coast Guard had assessed 1,539 reports of Hurricane Ida caused pollution
Post by: AGelbert on September 11, 2021, 04:10:14 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

September 10, 2021

By Mike Schuler

(https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/hurricane-ida-waterways-response-1536x951.jpg)
A Coast Guard Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew conducts an overflight of the Mississippi River for potential pollution threats and environmental impacts from Hurricane Ida Sept. 3, 2021 in Luling, Louisiana. U.S. Coast Guard

Coast Guard Continues Effort to Re-Open Waterways Impacted by Hurricane Ida

SNIPPETS:

The U.S. Coast Guard is continuing to respond to impacts to waterways and assess the environmental threats across Southeast Louisiana nearly two weeks post-Hurricane Ida.

The Coast Guard is working in partnership with with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) in continuing efforts to re-open waterways impacted by the storm in the areas of Bayou Lafourche, Houma Navigation Canal and portions of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Obstructions to the affected waterways are being identified and removed to restore the area to pre-storm conditions.

To date as of Thursday, the Coast Guard reported 25 obstructions comprised primarily of fishing vessels, crew vessels, and offshore supply vessels identified in the Bayou Lafourche channel. Additionally, 30 submerged targets have been identified in the Houma Navigation Canal. Fifteen of those targets in the Houma Navigation Canal have been cleared or removed. ... ...

As of Thursday, the Coast Guard had assessed 1,539 reports of pollution, including:

► 694 reports that have been closed or transferred to appropriate jurisdictions,

► 197 reports where the reports were unverified as there was no remaining evidence of pollution on-site,

► 564 reports where the Coast Guard is actively supervising the mitigation efforts that are being carried out by responsible parties,

► 84 reports that are under investigation by the Coast Guard.

📢 Anyone who sees pollution is encouraged to contact the NRC at 1-800-424-8802.

Full article:
https://gcaptain.com/coast-guard-continues-effort-to-re-open-waterways-impacted-by-hurricane-ida/
Title: Climate TRACE Lifts The Veil On Oil & Gas Emissions
Post by: AGelbert on September 20, 2021, 06:19:29 pm
CleanTechnica

September 19, 2021

Courtesy of (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-200921181340.png) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185037-16412296.gif&hash=c8a4038d309a0f49ca4a7a464f30f9a340049cac) By Deborah Gordon & Frances Reuland


(https://cleantechnica.com/files/2021/09/SectorFocus-OilGas-Figure1-WorldMapPieChart-v6-1-1.png)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163123-1664600.png&hash=d609f7e4847e25e034ca7c7b11e75234ba2a0afd) Climate TRACE Lifts The Veil On  🦖 Oil & 🦕 Gas Emissions (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-160921144626.png)

SNIPPET:

When it comes to climate, oil and gas are the 800-pound gorilla in the room. The production and refining processes for oil and gas account for about one-tenth of human-made greenhouse gases (GHGs), making the sector one of the world’s largest emitters. But it is far less clear where in the world these emissions actually come from, which parts of the supply chain are responsible for them, and how much they shift over time. This climate-critical sector has historically been too opaque, making it difficult to create credible climate pledges and nearly impossible to take immediate and meaningful action to mitigate emissions.

However, with today’s launch of Climate TRACE, we are a step closer to having clearer answers about the origins and amounts of GHGs in the atmosphere. Climate TRACE is the world’s first comprehensive accounting of global GHGs based primarily on direct, independent observation. It was named by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best inventions of 2020 and now, we are excited to share why.

Driven by satellites, remote sensing, and advanced applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning, Climate TRACE identifies when and where greenhouse gases are emitted. This enables leaders to pinpoint and prioritize specific decarbonization efforts to yield the greatest reductions. This level of focus is critical, as we have just nine years to halve emissions and stay on track to hold global temperature rise to 1.5°C.

Informing Effective Climate Action

Read more: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
https://cleantechnica.com/2021/09/19/climate-trace-lifts-the-veil-on-oil-gas-emissions/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-010519192158-2201430.jpeg&hash=e912e1f5bdc041c35e217478b14ba3f7960e2037) And now a word from the Fossil Fuel "Industry":

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-100216204839.gif&hash=19170c176bf9497627349a00623922c8e88185b1)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-170821161152.jpeg)

Title: George Washington University Professor Susan Anenberg tells it like it IS!
Post by: AGelbert on September 23, 2021, 04:09:55 pm
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September 23, 2021

WHO Halves Acceptable PM2.5 Standard

The World Health Organization released new air quality guidelines on Wednesday, aiming to reduce, from more than 7 million, the number of people who die prematurely each year thanks to particulate matter from pollution. Fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, comes from burning fossil fuels, wildfires, and agriculture, and can get embedded into the lungs when inhaled and lead to a number of health complications including asthma, heart disease, chronic bronchitis, and other respiratory illnesses.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F4140_Edvard%2520Munch%2520Painting%2520-%2520The%2520Scream.jpeg&hash=811c610a90eaa7b3c5127602532f33b1ef254764)

The new targets halve the recommended maximum average annual concentrations of fine particulate matter to no higher than 5 micrograms per cubic meter, half the 10 µg/m3 recommendation established in 2005.

Much of the world already fails to meet the previously recommended PM2.5 levels: According to WHO, more than 90% of the world’s population lives in conditions that don’t meet the 2005 standard. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-310119164317.gif&hash=870c66e6ad21133a740ba1583280577f05ccb4ac)

Observers noted that nations’ ability to achieve improvements in air quality in line with the new health guidance will go hand-in-hand with the commitments coming out of the upcoming global climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-111018132401-16881856.gif&hash=ef5bd30cec7a50a81f3507f9bd328189dead7aa2)  The world has “to stop burning fossil fuels,” said Susan Anenberg, associate professor of environmental and occupational health and global health at George Washington University. “What the world decides to do about climate change in the coming weeks will have major impacts on whether or not we’re able to follow a guideline like that.” (AP, CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/22/world/air-pollution-climate-change-health/index.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=162755657&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9GTxgMzrMNSgjq2LmNWsoc3sHZqm_S1GKtKVX6Li_kWugeT8KSEV7-hkMSCr9rWuIPE8F9_mAHpHRFPwmia2-nYBWfMg&utm_content=162755657&utm_source=hs_email), Reuters, Bloomberg $)

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Title: Oil spill is just south of more than 82 anchored ships awaiting to enter the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as of F
Post by: AGelbert on October 04, 2021, 12:52:30 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

October 3, 2021 by Mike Schuler

(https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-10-01T234422Z_353931136_RC291Q938192_RTRMADP_3_USA-HOLIDAYSHOPPING-SUPPLY-CHAIN-1536x834.jpg)
Container ships wait off the coast of the congested Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in Long Beach, California, U.S., October 1, 2021. REUTERS/ Alan Devall

Everything We Know About the Southern California Oil Spill Right Now

SNIPPET:

A unified command consisting of 🦖 Beta Offshore Amplify Energy, the U.S. Coast Guard, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (CDFW-OSPR) is responding to the oil spill first reported Saturday approximately 3 miles off the coast of Newport Beach, California, near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The National Transportation Safety Board says it is now investigating the matter.

Here’s what we know so far.

The Coast Guard received an initial report of an oil sheen off the coast of Newport Beach Saturday at approximately 9:10 a.m. The size of the spill was initially reported to be 13 square miles.

The Coast Guard and Huntington Beach Police Department have dispatched aircraft to access the situation.

CDFW-OSPR is monitoring for oiled wildlife. Members of the public who encounter oiled wildlife, do not approach, rather call the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at 1-877-823-6926.

Members of the public are also asked to avoid any oiled areas, as oil spill response contractors are working to clean up. Public volunteers are not needed and could actually hinder response efforts, and the Unified Command is requesting that members of the public stay away from the area altogether. The cause of the spill, volume and type of oil are under investigation, according to the Unified Command.

However, the City of Huntington Beach, located just north of Newport Beach, has reported the spill at 126,000 gallons and has blamed a broken pipeline belonging to 🦖 Beta Offshore, which would be confirmed by the company’s involvement in the Unified Command. The City of Huntington Beach issued a statement Sunday, reading in part:

“Approx. 126,000 gallons of oil leaked from a broken pipeline and are entering HB beaches and wetlands :( >:(. Beta Offshore is responsible for the spill and is working with the Incident Management Team on repairs and cleanup efforts. The City will work to ensure the responsible parties do everything possible to rectify this environmental disaster…. Our ocean and shorelines are closed indefinitely, FROM SEAPOINT TO THE SANTA ANA RIVER JETTY. Please do not enter the shoreline or water…Protecting our wetlands is one of our highest priorities. The City has deployed over 2,000 feet of protective booms at 7 locations. However, we are seeing oiled wildlife wash ashore.”

The City has also cancelled the Pacific Airshow scheduled for Sunday, a major event for the area.

The map below was shared Sunday by the City of Huntington Beach and shows approximately size and location of the spill:

(https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/FAzRZ9jWEAUTl4J.jpeg)
Map published by City of Huntington Beach

🦖 Beta Offshore, a subsidiary of Amplify Energy (NYSE: AMPY), proclaims to be “one of the largest (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418193910.gif&hash=633dd399cd6006279afd7efb5ef953673b96bd78)😈 oil producers in Southern California. We operate three offshore platforms in the Beta Field, located 12 miles south of Long Beach.” Those three platforms are named Ellen, Eureka and Elly. Platform Elly is a processing platform for both production platforms Ellen and Eureka, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environment.

According to Amplify’s website, “The Beta properties also include the San Pedro Bay Pipeline Company, which owns and operates a 16- inch diameter oil pipeline [on the seabed] that extends approximately 17.5 miles from one of the Beta platforms to the Beta pump station located onshore at the Port of Long Beach, California, and an onshore tankage and metering facility.” Amplify lists Beta’s production as 3.6 thousand barrels of oil per day on average in Q2 2021.

Here’s where it gets a little interesting… 👀

The location of the spill, 3 miles off Newport Beach and Huntington Beach, also happens to be just south of where there were more than 82 ships anchored and awaiting to enter the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as of Friday, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California.

(https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/243951109_3016490851926609_2455439383558564775_n-2.jpg)
Credit: Marine Exchange of Southern California

The southernmost anchorage, the Huntington Beach Contingency Anchorage, was occupied with 8 containerships and 2 🦕 tankers as of last Wednesday, the Marine Exchange of Southern California reported on Sep. 29. It’s likely this anchorage has remained full.

(https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-03-at-3.38.54-PM-1536x964.jpg)
AIS screenshot as of 3:38 PM PT, Sunday, October 3, 2021. Image courtesy MarineTraffic.com
Did an anchor strike cause the pipeline leak reported as the source of a major oil spill afflicting Huntington Beach this weekend? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163123-16662165.gif&hash=0c278af5ea445d20e48640c4f39f951df986eed6)

Full article with Updates: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
https://gcaptain.com/everything-we-know-about-the-southern-california-oil-spill-right-now/

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fstyles%2Frenewablerevolution%2Ffiles%2F3114_Business%2520as%2520usual.png&hash=fd83c55bdd8a6becd193e40a1c1267d8356b49bc)
Title: 📢 This recent catastrophe shows we don’t have a moment to waste.
Post by: AGelbert on October 12, 2021, 04:36:11 pm
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/FOZUn8QY3i-9kQ46c1c6MzfOIgrtFj7H9l3Weg1FX3JSTdNTb4C5W6zzQvCgtv03uUhoQIsPJFiZfNapthoArUriFrG3fXVzGfios2Dqay5wyjcS4Nd3uAtpIC8EQTJWkzE7k3i9QUsHXmn_hN9gPIxIV35U24es9-8D9g-HcfGMTP06LhUPTUnAQdU=s0-d-e1-ft#https://aaf1a18515da0e792f78-c27fdabe952dfc357fe25ebf5c8897ee.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/1991/oco-email-logo.png?v=1495236947000)

October  12, 2021

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-121021163912-29651107.jpeg)

The photos and videos coming out of the Huntington Beach oil spill are deeply disturbing. So far, more than 140,000 gallons of oil have spilled into the ocean. Dying and dead fish, birds—including pelicans—have been found coated in oil. People have been advised not to eat the fish and to stay out of the oily surf rolling onto our beloved beaches. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Orange County.

The oil spill in Southern California is just the latest disaster to prove that offshore drilling is dirty and dangerous for marine wildlife and crippling to our coastal communities, economies and climate goals.

If you think enough is enough—join us in taking action today! (https://takeaction.oceanconservancy.org/page/91606/action/1)

The evidence is clear—offshore oil and gas development is a dangerous and risky business with far-reaching consequences for our ocean and the planet. We must prevent any new offshore oil and gas activity and accelerate a just and equitable transition to clean energy alternatives. Taking this bold step could prevent future offshore oil disasters and would be a vital step toward addressing the climate crisis. This recent catastrophe shows we don’t have a moment to waste.

Take two minutes out of your busy day to tell Congress to end new offshore oil and gas drilling and accelerate a just and equitable transition to clean energy alternatives in the Build Back Better Act (https://takeaction.oceanconservancy.org/page/91606/action/1).

Devastating oil disasters occur in an instant—but the damaging effects are long-lasting. The BP Deepwater Horizon experience taught us that when toxic oil is released at the bottom of the ocean, as happened here, it can impact the entire ocean ecosystem, from seafloor habitats to coastal wetlands. A decade after Deepwater Horizon and 30 years after Exxon Valdez, ecological impacts from these spills continue.

Right now, Congress is debating the Build Back Better Act. If passed, this legislation would be the most significant climate action in U.S. history and currently includes provisions that would end new oil and gas leasing in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, Congress is considering provisions that would end fossil fuel subsidies. We need ambitious action from Congress to address climate change and protect the ocean.

Congress needs to hear from YOU. Tell your representatives to support climate action in the Build Back Better Act, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and protect our ocean and communities before it is too late.

TAKE ACTION (https://takeaction.oceanconservancy.org/page/91606/action/1) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-060518153110.png&hash=39d587c31b7f7e66b30d7e59bb560e2ad0662eee)

For our ocean,

George Leonard, PhD
Chief Scientist
Ocean Conservancy
Title: "So our question to Rep. Steel is this: where should they all go?"
Post by: AGelbert on October 14, 2021, 04:47:46 pm
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October 13, 2021 By Mike Schuler

(https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Screen-Shot-2021-10-03-at-3.38.54-PM-1536x964.jpg)
AIS screenshot as of 3:38 PM PT, Sunday, October 3, 2021. Image courtesy MarineTraffic.com

"So our question to Rep. Steel is this: where should they all go?" (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-210818163123-16662165.gif&hash=0c278af5ea445d20e48640c4f39f951df986eed6) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-200714191404.bmp&hash=007a2c20b76f970316a559a6e27cfd70c11f5998)


(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
Congresswoman Proposes Ship Anchoring Ban Off Southern California, Home to the Nation’s Busiest Ports (https://gcaptain.com/congresswoman-proposes-ship-anchoring-ban-off-southern-california-home-to-the-nations-busiest-ports/)
Title: 🤦‍♂️ McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Chipotle and Taco Bell
Post by: AGelbert on October 28, 2021, 06:20:08 pm
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/N8W2fj8BiGBiy2UYlltg9OrpIikFAeAoJUtajCXmgjUWleYgvCCt3vru7WknqzU1CNvQB57DmV7oM9QLHCycKc-HOly8wnIAJ4KAiHCoI5X9dCEpdwX-jxaeR0O0F-WICSrs4YINI1jO4Iy0BJRR2qDmCEHeAA=s0-d-e1-ft#https://mcusercontent.com/214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec/images/999815be-df6f-4b4e-8fe1-f453982fa2c7.png)

Oct. 27, 2021 By Olivia Rosane

Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals Found in Fast Food  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185038-1649349.gif&hash=17e5f9a00437fbab9a49c6ce2bd7d563eb15ed9c)

New research has revealed yet another potential health risk from eating fast food: it contains hormone-disrupting chemicals known as phthalates that have been linked to a variety of health problems.

The study, published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology Wednesday, analyzed 64 food samples from six burger, pizza and Tex Mex restaurants in San Antonio, Texas.

"We found phthalates and other plasticizers are widespread in prepared foods available at U.S. fast food chains, a finding that means many consumers are getting a side of potentially unhealthy chemicals along with their meal," lead author Lariah Edwards, a postdoctoral scientist at George Washington University, told Gizmodo. "Stronger regulations are needed to help keep these harmful chemicals out of the food supply."

Read more: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-111018132422-1692935.gif&hash=94922268ae283c7009e29067ba89220f466726ec)
https://www.ecowatch.com/phthalates-hormone-disrupting-fast-food-2655409137.html
Title: COP-OUT 26?
Post by: AGelbert on October 29, 2021, 05:06:40 pm
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/IhRbxIHjCkKmfmA7yzMaqAIRD7hfDU-uy9xeahBZ-xRmd52edxNs-O2Yi0mYrLgso21gyUA8_l4o6kaF4gPbhdHxqeLxsSKiKwZN3kiF8sWvV-b4k8H1856LyeSnq2ONb9s=s0-d-e1-ft#https://worldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/WBWlogo-emailheaderv2.png)

October 29, 2021

COP26 is almost upon us. Will it be a cop-out? (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818204546.gif&hash=ffeafdfa24208fe5070639ffa682bb2ad041737c)

The petition (https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-excluding-military-pollution-from-climate-agreements-2/?link_id=1&can_id=f6a3d966836d5b36db494f1237d9b97d&source=email-stop-excluding-military-pollution-from-climate-agreements-3&email_referrer=email_1337423&email_subject=cop-out-26) that we'll be delivering has almost topped 500 organizations and 25,000 signers.

We encourage groups and individuals to organize events to advance this message (Stop excluding militaries from climate agreements!) on or about the big day of action in Glasgow on November 6, 2021. Resources and ideas for events are here (https://worldbeyondwar.org/environment/?link_id=2&can_id=f6a3d966836d5b36db494f1237d9b97d&source=email-stop-excluding-military-pollution-from-climate-agreements-3&email_referrer=email_1337423&email_subject=cop-out-26).

(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/aFeBJLU-GDhiW08TJUfvBF7XGA3zgok90jSXfvtC9duBunz5ovB_sltpgnrYiEYpor-JveXCBxSDF1EeKpGSQt5KeiFzxiiz0Haer6d9jCVjYaQeRmEGcZ1RNHkOMZLteQ=s0-d-e1-ft#https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/data/000/588/228/original/cop26.png) (https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-excluding-military-pollution-from-climate-agreements-2/?link_id=1&can_id=f6a3d966836d5b36db494f1237d9b97d&source=email-stop-excluding-military-pollution-from-climate-agreements-3&email_referrer=email_1337423&email_subject=cop-out-26)
Title: Hearts of STONE
Post by: AGelbert on October 30, 2021, 04:24:30 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-301021141215.jpeg)

The Biosphere's most species prolific areas (see below) are the MOST THREATENED by Hydrocarbon Hellspawn CAUSED Catastrophic Climate Change
.
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(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-220120202323.png&hash=afeddcc9bad607d81d50693f64511a06b88ac680)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-020221173639.jpeg&hash=b7a75e8cf016fc1fc8cfaa1c9d11ec34954dd542)

Title: The Verge: 🚨 "Go read this investigation on the toxic air crisis plaguing American communities,"
Post by: AGelbert on November 03, 2021, 02:38:02 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-160619134142.jpeg)

 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-270521170028.png&hash=92129a17735574ea3529027b3624336a00cc89b9)

November 3, 2021

G20 Responsible For Half Of World's Particulate Pollution Deaths

Half of the people killed globally by fine particulate pollution died because of fossil fuel consumption by the world's 20 richest nations, a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26348-y?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=178375072&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--WqwRgDprpqoNQQoHmMdz2JFyOGoW3kYnQ_9ePZGTDnDasYnr0mibM9zsLaUSfgpBiUUbjzDhaLg1DAk7mjkSKDcBXaQ&utm_content=178375072&utm_source=hs_email) found. Two million of the 4 million premature deaths from particle pollution each year are tied to goods sent to and consumed by G20 countries, meaning that the consumption of 28 G20 residents is responsible for each premature death. (Washington Post $)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-100718163957-14481568.png&hash=f923ce4d7ef43213760bfe87c48477be898bb171)

Cancerous Air Pollution Hotspots

An extensive analysis by ProPublica reveals a detailed map (https://newsletter.climatenexus.org/e3t/Btc/OP+113/cK5Tq04/MXgnmsb4nGpN55qF_0rh2r6W74N_GZ4zrrBYN2C5cyw3q3npV1-WJV7CgX48W4fFRWh3Nk54DW6sczQq8G16rHW28B9S55ThNSkW4jM9M42K5NcfW3Vzrys3mdBJHW6XzkNX7jK6SRW6GwSp18fLgBRVSNLQ46vTfPrV1x2791BQs94W4s7B8w67PWq1W6m_Hm284M9Q2W3x5V7Z5LmnfmW6h44dg5rXYshW7w16Wb5DF9lbW2hv5zz2GzWHtW7yRh0Q4R38FPW6HPpQ74mN-D6N9kf_18kFhgjW2g2qsF5x4QGFW65J3H02vVkQlW5tlRY62Q6dbKW3j8QpG1r1W9q36mf1) of more than 1,000 American communities that are hotspots for carcinogenic air pollution. The worst three are in Louisiana's "Cancer Alley," five of the top 20 are in Texas, and predominantly Black areas experience double the cancer risk of white areas. "Go read this investigation on the toxic air crisis plaguing American communities," the Verge wrote of ProPublica's investigation. (ProPublica, The Verge (https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/2/22759135/air-pollution-cancer-epa-reuglations-propublica?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=178375072&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9ezZSJcgjxWlSqtoAK5Jf88oV9ELBBPNxeuMSyPqQG9Csu0fJ4d8UEh8BPytrBUJ4ROw0VBBEII_R2IgZcKwSudccirw&utm_content=178375072&utm_source=hs_email))
Title: Crowley does the "Net-Zero" 😇 Greenwash Dance
Post by: AGelbert on December 08, 2021, 05:38:17 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

December 7, 2021

By Mike Schuler

(https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/CM-ElCoqui-ElMorro-52x40-1-1536x898.jpeg)
The Jensen Maritime-designed MV El Coqui, a combination container and roll-on/roll-off vessel powered by liquefied natural gas. Photo courtesy Crowley Maritime Corporationd

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-240718213433-14592370.png&hash=303e851c5feb196224d3a901ee609fed6437375d) Crowley Commits to Net-Zero GHG Emissions By 2050(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-250718202127.gif&hash=acc63221521ebaf3f238088fd92d1ae3a08b6e48)

SNIPPET:

U.S.-based shipping company Crowley has committed ::) to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across by 2050 across its entire business. To track progress and promote visibility into its emissions reductions, Crowley will be linking up with tech giant Salesforce to develop a maritime-specific GHG monitoring and modeling platform.

In order to reach its target, Crowley estimates that it will need to reduce overall emissions by 4.2 million metric tons of greenhouse gases per year, or the equivalent of removing more than 900,000 cars from the road every year. The company says the commitment is “aligned with the latest climate science to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”

“Crowley is on a mission to become the most sustainable and innovative maritime and logistics company in the Americas,” said Tom Crowley, chairman and CEO. “Working together with our customers, suppliers, policymakers and others across our value chain, we can meet the climate crisis head on.”

Full article: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818185036-1638694.gif&hash=648d3b7e5567fa4f349a5fbfbfc1df8b27355704)
https://gcaptain.com/crowley-commits-to-net-zero-ghg-emissions-by-2050/
Title: Rio Tinto Plunders: This mining conglomerate harms land, wildlife and people.
Post by: AGelbert on January 04, 2022, 12:44:24 pm
 (https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Center_for_Biological_Diversity_logo.jpg)

Rio Tinto Plunders: This mining conglomerate harms land, wildlife and people. (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-250817134648.gif&hash=d24c66a26329a19150a175d576b631d10f631ee8)

https://youtu.be/_KkOapMJWYo

Learn more: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)
https://biologicaldiversity.org/
Title: The US military is poisoning the water in O’ahu
Post by: AGelbert on January 17, 2022, 03:59:29 pm
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O'ahu, Hawai'i earthobservatory.nasa.gov 4481 × 3509
(https://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/76000/76244/oahu_ast_2010013_lrg.jpg)

January 17, 2022

The US 🦍 military is poisoning ☠️ the water in O’ahu 🤦‍♂️

(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/rbj4l2-wB2vhtOJ5SoXSrOiYr6DZ1clJAtuCVnS0EY06RyZ-KWyvpNARVXDNKA55fWIxhUeBT_qofi7T-Xvahy0XnjQCN8PD5-2hj_zLp7WUd4Q7__UJsvWG=s0-d-e1-ft#https://therealnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG_1028-300x225.jpg)
Near the US Navy’s Red Hill 🦖 Fuel Storage Facility on the island of O'ahu, a sign installed by the State Department of Health on the shore of a local lake surrounded by residential homes warns of ☠️ contaminated fish and shellfish. Photo taken on Jan. 8, 2022, and provided by O'ahu Water Protectors.


Native Hawaiians have been leading a drawn-out fight against the US military’s poisoning of the local water supply from leaking petroleum at the Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility in O’ahu.

Continue reading… (https://therealnews.com/the-us-military-is-poisoning-the-water-in-oahu) 👀
Title: Residents of Fort Wright, KY were asked to shelter in place on January 11, after multiple 💥 booms were reported coming
Post by: AGelbert on January 18, 2022, 01:38:37 pm
LION TECHNOLOGY NEWS UPDATES & INSIGHTS FOR EHS PROS

January 18, 2022

(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/lqyLlVauIdpEM8ie3U8Y2ffyF4yrSXqGE6tRfME35f71fJh0vtU05wYFc_LhmbmsTovRZfD9WdD7S2yW-g_IAGQSB2y1bLzh6VOy0tGdJCtSjj7fTyFdbxjop8aWBEepXGK2uo0qXBbXHqoXfDtl_mBIuKgsyKriFlw=s0-d-e1-ft#https://i.emlfiles4.com/cmpimg/8/9/2/5/5/2/files/imagecache/764335/w660_1345555_chemicalplantkynews.jpg)

Kentucky Chemical Explosion 💥 Results in All-night Shelter-in-Place

Residents of Fort Wright, KY were asked to shelter in place on January 11, after multiple 💥 booms were reported coming from a 🦖 plastics manufacturing plant starting around 8:15 p.m.

KEEP READING (https://www.lion.com/Lion-News/January-2022/Chemical-Explosion-Results-in-Shelter-in-place?utm_campaign=764335_Newsletter_011822&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Lion%20Technology&dm_i=5GZM,GDRJ,3OF7V6,1R2M6,1)

(https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/iKhefrAUbxFdQlGjDgpAGpt98nsSzVAkOZ4l_9G0PmX6UElShIMmRnpo8HND8UpNVxGxIZIWULgkHourso7FFBBauRnqYiMtO5iHDPjNhxhSaHugPpnJ3wE4LVPbt5C8LWHxTPA-g341Tws=s0-d-e1-ft#https://i.emlfiles4.com/cmpimg/8/9/2/5/5/2/files/imagecache/764335/w660_925670_smoke.jpg)

EPA (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-110821160125.png) Enforcement Roundup: Week of 1/17

In this week's Roundup, two workers died and one was injured when a rail 🦖 tanker car  💥 exploded during routine maintenance. Plus, a power company agrees to pay $610,000 after alleged water discharge violations.

KEEP READING (https://www.lion.com/Lion-News/January-2022/EPA-Enforcement-Roundup-Week-of-1-17?utm_campaign=764335_Newsletter_011822&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Lion%20Technology&dm_i=5GZM,GDRJ,3OF7V6,1R2M6,1)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-110217171320.png&hash=ce2d04bf18b3ed3114a9164a1694684e359e4f1c)

(https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/rvpl2-2wJw0KsKnT_zWi0VF64UVKTw88P44pmweKIOSG-34J-_3ff75eXA3QSeX-lF1w9kGOsH29cMgCQqhRZC27mG1ESv8nNrjcQ166LEWPkHgFlnrTN-Ykvpg4Hk3beGEaQu5QN9wDo67HbVNPQwExU4OYYKxJAw=s0-d-e1-ft#https://i.emlfiles4.com/cmpimg/8/9/2/5/5/2/files/imagecache/764335/w660_1226033_hazmatpackagesnews.jpg)

Coast Guard, USPS Increase Hazmat Shipping Civil Penalties

The US Coast Guard and the US Postal Service increased civil penalties for violations of hazardous materials shipping regulations in vessel transportation and in the mail system, respectively.

KEEP READING (https://www.lion.com/Lion-News/January-2022/Coast-Guard,-USPS-Increase-Hazmat)

(https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/yl_MxVJbKlgqt1a6KOqfEbUqpegQCpv9pv9Lz6uVK1u1k0DDhCOKeES8DrRUbhONLCMrwGnFSXN-eFs3LhbRqpScEc_p14fNxaoh-pvykYCo4r8IdvS4hLjYzAMWiDe0ZGGk82oRXpRpATQcGN-bq8Cf=s0-d-e1-ft#https://i.emlfiles4.com/cmpimg/8/9/2/5/5/2/files/imagecache/764335/w660_637043_epalogo_gray.jpg)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-110821160125.png) EPA Increases Penalties for Environmental Noncompliance (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-190419235756.png&hash=ddd7a71acf6ff0420a63e797c27fdcad27734e3e)

US EPA increased its maximum monetary civil penalties for violations of air, water, chemical, and hazardous waste programs on January 12. The Final Rule increases the maximum penalty amounts to keep pace with inflation.

KEEP READING (https://www.lion.com/Lion-News/January-2022/EPA-Increases-Penalties-for-Environmental-Non?utm_campaign=764335_Newsletter_011822&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Lion%20Technology&dm_i=5GZM,GDRJ,3OF7V6,1R2M6,1)

Agelbert NOTE: I did the math on the increases. It comes to 6.22%, so when you read some baloney from the BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-080419191019.png&hash=a449294ee6fe2dfdea44c1c501f4439b9ac69c26) "justifying" an inflation 😈 "adjusted" CPI number that is below that, remember the government knows it is well above that but wants you to believe it is below that (see: graphic below).
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3/3-151121170208.png)

(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/kOGomkmh0XLKOUKscs-E1tehNjJqFHA3JtMctTnZLLjMA0BfABeWUL9qj0EvA6Z6TvwEY8r2kz8PM8qzV0RfGLu8Rnpw7l-7yxkqoXGL5Znb777CTIZXvm38KearHOM1sS8Dl7MU3nHGcpQaR8wq7XnJs-ZdD3M=s0-d-e1-ft#https://i.emlfiles4.com/cmpimg/8/9/2/5/5/2/files/imagecache/764335/w660_1294911_covidvaccinenews.jpg)

🐘 SCOTUS Grants Stay of OSHA Vax-or-Test ETS

On January 13, 2022, the US Supreme 🐘😈 Court granted a stay of OSHA's vaccination-or-testing emergency temporary standard (ETS) until a final decision about the Rule's legality is reached.

KEEP READING (https://www.lion.com/Lion-News/January-2022/Final-Rule-Alert-COVID-19-Vaccine,-Testing?utm_campaign=764335_Newsletter_011822&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Lion%20Technology&dm_i=5GZM,GDRJ,3OF7V6,1R2M6,1)
Title: Re: Pollution
Post by: AGelbert on February 02, 2022, 10:27:29 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3/3-020222221709-31291842.png)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3/3-020222221700-31281885.png)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3/3-020222221650-31271025.png)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3/3-020222221641-31261481.png)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-190119153601.gif&hash=336ba78f7f18ff5829ef3722f89b4258d2315284)   (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-020821163331.png)
Title: Have you REALLY been listening?
Post by: AGelbert on February 04, 2022, 07:59:17 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/styles/renewablerevolution/files/5612_We%20Missed%20the%20Window.png)
Growth Incompatible with Survival
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-020919153905.png)

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F2%2F3-310119164115.gif&hash=1f6e8c58bc6dac8dbce60f7d9ba64fb0f0f62cca) Climate 'catastrophe-check' for UN Agencies

https://youtu.be/_Deaz3UN0rw
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-020818213436-15401143.jpeg&hash=ed6871fae2f3d2b8f00c6807f8df41f1d90906ce)

Title: Lawns AREN'T Green!
Post by: AGelbert on February 17, 2022, 05:24:31 pm
Freeze Peach 🍑 > agelbert • 2 hours ago
Duckweed is already being used, eaten, fed to livestock. It's field tested.

I'm going to rant about lawns now. Law says lawns have to be mowed. It's not just a city thing. Drive out in the country, see homes sitting on 5 acres of mowed land.

Jan 15, 2019

Lawns Aren't Green

https://youtu.be/CPFUyFTdZLM

EatTheWeeds 79.3K subscribers

EatTheWeeds Editorial: Lawns Aren’t Green. A decade ago I recorded a 3.5 minute editorial that I wrote for National Public Radio Holland. It was for their Earthbeat series. They set it to music. I’ve been wanting to put it to photos for several years. It’s as relevant today as it was a decade ago. Lawns consume the majority of treated drinking water in the United States, are a major source of water pollution as home owners use more pesticides and fertilizer than farmers, and also cause millions of gallons of gasoline and oil to be spilled.

agelbert > Freeze Peach 🍑
Excellent video! (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-301021140910.gif) I agree wholeheartedly. I have often ranted about lawns and the insane practice of using a lot of weed killer chemical toxins on them, adding insult to the carcinogenic pollution injury from small gas guzzler lawn mowers, leaf blowers, lawn tractors, weed whackers, etc., that ruin our health and keep lawns from being used to grow wild flowers, like sun flowers that clean the land of heavy metals and other toxins in preparation for using that land to grow veggies.

The whole love affair with lawns, as you undoubtedly know (I am writing this for those reading here that don't know this) came from the "killing fields" lawns all around the moat of castles centuries ago. Their function then was to have open ground where archers could pick off attacking armies when they approached the castle.
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3/3-080222175102-39002280.jpeg)

It is a prideful, arrogant practice that should be terminated. However, instead of urging people to plant wild flowers to help flower biodiversity that, in turn, gives beneficial insect pollinators like bees a helping hand and growing veggies on a part of the land, too many zoning nazis in the US require people, under ordinance pain of fines, to NOT grow food or plant wild flowers on the land where they have lawns. 

The zoning stupidity "rules" where I live in Vermont: "Lawns are to be kept mowed and trimmed in summer and leaves raked off the lawns in the fall.". (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16271224.gif&hash=c2a9bfbff23e2414975829eb4b3655af12eb02cc)

This was one of my demands on the list of actions that need to be taken, like yesterday:
3. Small engines, like those used for lawn mowers, leaf blowers or weed whackers are to be outlawed. All ordinances requiring lawns are to be outlawed. (http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/climate-change/future-earth/msg7422/#msg7422) All lawn, gardening or snow removal power equipment not running on E100 is to be electrically powered without any exceptions or grace period.
Title: For more information or to request a refund, consumers can contact the company at 1-866-615-0976 or go to its website.
Post by: AGelbert on February 19, 2022, 02:21:08 pm
MedicineNet

FRIDAY, Feb. 18, 2022  (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-130418200416.png&hash=15d789b29124aa5a1f1ea397ce630913734b20a4)

Similar recalls have been issued for other consumer products that surprisingly contained benzene in the past six months: Pantene/Herbal Essence dry spray shampoos; Old Spice spray deodorants; and Neutrogena/Aveeno spray sunscreens.

(https://consumer.healthday.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yOTM3MTE0My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY4NDc3ODMwN30.XgKqgDdsFAwSAr7NeuDORQMl4TcWIDv6PrqIMWBjph8/image.jpg?width=800)

📢 Popular Deodorants Recalled Due to 🦖☠️ Benzene (https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=272435&ecd=mnl_day_021822)(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-120818180835-16181943.gif&hash=0b93e71ee5e24bbe02555e0d648a1283e0e9651d)
Title: "They should have brought her back to port instead of asking her to go with 8 tons of fuel in her hold."
Post by: AGelbert on February 22, 2022, 03:34:05 pm
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F3-170218174357.png&hash=296cf589ab13b3bca649d79db1953fa2289b1563)

February 21, 2022 By Vel Moonien in Mauritius

(https://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/tresta-star-1536x864.jpg)
MT Tresta Star pictured February 4, 2022. Photo courtesy Lé bon la Réunion

Grounded Tresta Star Breaking Up on Reunion Island

The Mauritian-flagged tanker that ran aground earlier this month on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean is in the process of breaking up.

A breach on the port side of the MT Tresta Star, exposed to the heavy swell caused by the recent passage of tropical cyclone Emnati, has “widened significantly” in size, according to an update from the Préfet of Reunion Island.

Parts of the hull have also been torn off, revealing a gaping hole of “several meters” through which water can enter the vessel, the Préfet reported. The Préfet also says it fears “an “imminent dislocation” with pieces of the vessel breaking off and sinking on the spot or coming aground on the coast.

It is also dismayed by “new discharges of oily water” expected in the coming days after an oil slick of 2.5 km in length has been reported off the coast of Saint-Philippe.

A trail of brownish water, symptomatic of an oily substance emulsified with sea water is the proof of a sea pollution,” said the Préfet. A marine pollution plan will be initiated after the passage of Cyclone Emnati.

The MT Tresta Star grounded on February 3rd along the east coast of Reunion Island, at Tremblet’s Point, after losing power during Tropical Cyclone Batsirai. All 11 crew members were rescued by zip-line. The ship was not carrying any cargo at the time.

Three local non-governmental organizations, namely Attac, Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace, have accused the Préfet of Reunion Jacques Billant and the French Minister of Overseas Territories Sébastien Lecornu, among others, of not taking appropriate measures to avoid such pollution, as fuel oil remains in the ship’s tanks.

With the vessel now breaking up, members of the Chinese salvage company Lianyungang Dali Underwater Engineering and the Greek firm Polygreen, recruited immediately following the grounding, have decided to pack up. They will leave Reunion Island this Tuesday due to a default in payment by the ship owner, Tresta Trading.

The ship owner is a subsidiary of an Indian company, also called Tresta Trading, and is owned by Shiny Shipping and Logistics, a company based in India. It had agreed with Lianyungang Dali Underwater Engineering and Polygreen, which had just completed the dismantling of the MV Wakashio’s bow in Mauritius, that a first oil transfer would be made two days after their arrival in Reunion.

“From two days, the delay has increased to two weeks. Unfortunately, we cannot continue to work without payment. Such an operation costs money. There is, among other things, the rental of a helicopter and various equipments. But nothing has been released so far,” says one of the team members in Reunion Island.

It is very likely that Five Oceans Salvage (FOS) will take over the operation. A team of the Greek firm was on the island a week ago for an assessment of the Tresta Star’s hull.

In July 2016, FOS had removed the MV Benita, a 44,183-ton cargo ship, which had run aground a month earlier on volcanic rocks near Le Bouchon, Mauritius, not far from where the MV Wakashio wrecked. Following its refloating, the Benita unfortunately sank while being towed to the shipbreakers.

FOS was also involved in the wreck removal of the South-East Asian trawlers KT Seroja, Ruang Lap and Hoi Siong from Mauritius’ Port-Louis’s harbor. Five years earlier, it had also removed the Angel 1 from the Poudre-d’Or reefs, in the northern part of the Mauritius.

Regarding the Tresta Star, an investigation has been launched by the Mauritian authorities and interviews are being conducted with crew members. “It is inconceivable that neither the ship owner, nor the shipping agent, nor the port authorities, took the initiative to give sufficient fuel to this barge to go to the high seas with the passage of the intense tropical cyclone Batsirai”, says one marine operator.

They should have brought her back to port instead of asking her to go with 8 tons of fuel in her hold. Of course she will break down! She can hold up to 250 tons of fuel. 8 tons! 🤦‍♂️ That’s the dregs at the bottom of a wine bottle… We’re going to go to another catastrophe with such superficial procedures”, he added.
https://gcaptain.com/grounded-tresta-star-breaking-up-on-reunion-island/
(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frenewablerevolution.createaforum.com%2Fgallery%2Frenewablerevolution%2F1%2F3-020818213436-15401143.jpeg&hash=ed6871fae2f3d2b8f00c6807f8df41f1d90906ce)
Title: U.S. Industrial facilities are subject to complex, overlapping environmental regulations concerning air e
Post by: AGelbert on March 07, 2022, 09:31:01 pm
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/lf_JT546TtfdvDbivZNdSUuPj3tdNt54e1VABCPb0TUZcHdtdCoLYbgKee7JvjiYj5VaVUwl9SdWljsftp011J6fXfyUFjzxrLJO-Z6i2E8aBOeaz7JgURRab9Vqiob6G39ZX_Vz3Koru0zpWbQ7evicIlKbWcui=s0-d-e1-ft#https://i.emlfiles4.com/cmpimg/8/9/2/5/5/2/files/imagecache/780282/w660_1277980_newsletterv101921.jpg)

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Lauren Scott

(https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-110821160125.png) EPA Enforcement Roundup: Week of 2/28

In this week's Roundup, a steel manufacturer pays a $3 million civil penalty after an alleged discharge of contaminated wastewater. Plus, chemical reporting violations cost one oil refinery $12,500.

Read more: (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418200416.png)
https://www.lion.com/Lion-News/February-2022/EPA-Enforcement-Roundup-Week-of-2-28
Title: Redlining is (still) in the air
Post by: AGelbert on March 10, 2022, 08:04:20 pm
 (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-270521170028.png)
Make Nexus Hot News part of your morning: click here (https://climatenexus.org/hot-news/) to subscribe.

March 10, 2022

Redlining's Racism Is Polluting The Air (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-120818185039-1650578.gif)

45 million people in redlined communities continue to breathe dangerously polluted air more than half a century after the racist practice was outlawed, a new study reveals. The research, published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c01012?utm_campaign=Hot+News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=206403359&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8MU0uriHFcdIGsihDsUcVYkmPfKIyFslNOnyfYksesbPvUSByZ5RxAbYwZEDriKyZ8V9JsKuvp5EAP_2zn0RbAi7OAqw&utm_content=206403359&utm_source=hs_email&#), finds that communities redlined in the 1930s have worse air pollution today, including smog-causing nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate pollution (also known as PM2.5) from cars, trucks, power plants, and other industrial sources.

The fact that Black and Latino Americans — across income levels — live in areas with higher pollution today, however, suggests other more recent racist and discriminatory policies continue to cause environmental inequities.

The study confirms the lived experience of people of color around the country, Beverly Wright, head of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, told the Washington Post. “Any time we can get a study that takes the anecdotal stories of communities and we end up having scientific findings to support those anecdotal stories, that’s a good thing,” she said. “It supports community claims on the ground.” (Washington Post $, The Hill, New York Times $, The Guardian, EcoWatch (https://www.ecowatch.com/redlining-air-pollution-us-cities.html?utm_campaign=Hot%20News&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=206403359&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-99SRqOKY1A9HwOz3uIYtkWCYMb2_Oa6Xw0Pe6ah3_Qz4ZAnMWcP1a26yM3xuc_4XodkTs35yoiPxk67U6m6GjZGTd6MA&utm_content=206403359&utm_source=hs_email))

"In human society, the amount of inequity is directly proportional to the  amount of iniquity." -- A. G. Gelbert (https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418202709.png)

Title: Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) CAUSED immunosuppression
Post by: AGelbert on March 11, 2022, 12:22:55 pm
(https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/N8W2fj8BiGBiy2UYlltg9OrpIikFAeAoJUtajCXmgjUWleYgvCCt3vru7WknqzU1CNvQB57DmV7oM9QLHCycKc-HOly8wnIAJ4KAiHCoI5X9dCEpdwX-jxaeR0O0F-WICSrs4YINI1jO4Iy0BJRR2qDmCEHeAA=s0-d-e1-ft#https://mcusercontent.com/214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec/images/999815be-df6f-4b4e-8fe1-f453982fa2c7.png)

Friday, March 11, 2022

Exposure to Toxic Forever Chemicals May Increase COVID Risk, Studies Find 🤦‍♂️

One of the many negative health impacts associated with per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is immunosuppression.

Now, evidence is emerging that exposure to these toxic forever chemicals may increase a person’s risk of contracting COVID-19 and experiencing a serious or potentially fatal case.

Read more: (https://www.ecowatch.com/forever-chemicals-exposure-covid-risk.html) 👀