Photo via the New Republic It's a widely held notion that politicians have long been in the pocket of Big Oil. And there's good reason for that perception: oil companies' huge campaign donations, vast lobbying power, and close ties to politicians have ensured that their taxes remain low , that hidden subsidies are around to provide extra funding, and that they receive preferential treatment in US energy policy. But there could be a new, ... View original post here: The Next Big Oil: Big Smart Grid?
So there really isn't anything that deep to this image. It's just a (more or less) life-sized blue whale eye. And on the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society site you can educate yourself/be mesmerized/ waste some time for a while staring at it while the entire life-sized animal scrolls across your browser window. Believe me, it's way cooler than you might think:... Read more from the original source: Ever See a Blue Whale Life-Sized on Your Computer? Now You Can
published November 3, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo: Reuters The results from the 2010 midterm elections are just about all in, and surprises are few and far between. As expected, the GOP swept back into power in the House of Representatives, taking at least 60 seats so far. John Boehner will be the new Speaker of the House. Democrats hung onto the Senate, with Majority Leader ...
Read more...published October 18, 2010 and has No Comments
President Obama at the Grand Canyon, photo: US Embassy in Bolivia / Creative Commons . Considering the dismal state of American knowledge of climate change science , and seeming dwindling enthusiasm for science and math more broadly, every little bit of effort helps: Towards that, the White House is hosting a science fair and President Obama hi... Read the ...
Read more...published October 12, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo: WN , Creative Commons Aaaaand we're back. Back to the regularly scheduled programming of offshore drilling, dominant oil companies calling the shots, and the same backwards-looking energy policy we had before BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded , killing 11 men and inflicting upon the Gulf of Mexico the worst environmental disaster the US has ever seen. Yes, ...
Read more...published October 11, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo: City-Data Today, president Obama resumed a push for an infrastructure package he first announced a month ago on Labor Day. The $50 billion plan, intended to strengthen American highways, railroads, and runways, would create jobs and provide much-needed repairs to the nation's transit systems. It would especially benefit the construction industry, which has been hit hard by the ...
Read more...published October 8, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo: Britannica Yes, the entire week has gone by, and for one reason or another I haven't yet commented on the New Yorker piece on the climate bill that sent ripples around the climate blogosphere. Hell, it inspired Grist's Dave Roberts to write at least 4 or 5 more pieces about Here is the original post: How the Senate Killed ...
Read more...published October 8, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo via MSNBC While there's good reason for concern that the US is fast losing ground in the global renewable energy market, there's one area where we haven't even broken ground: Offshore wind. The most famous offshore wind project in the United States, the delayed-for-decades Cape Wind project , is far from even beginning construction. And it's one arena ...
Read more...published October 7, 2010 and has No Comments
The high speed rail lines at stake -- red has partial funding, gray is proposed. Image via the Transport Politic As a dreamer of the American high speed rail dream, this news just makes me sad: the Republican candidates running for governor in Ohio, Florida, California, Wisconsin, and elsewhere, have all pledged to kill the rail projects in their ...
Read more...published October 7, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo via David Mixner The Obama administration clamped down on mountaintop removal mining some earlier this year -- MRM is after all one of the most environmentally destructive practices out there. The EPA issued stricter rules, denied permits for multiple projects, and has generally been pretty good about stymieing the worst MRM operations ( there are exceptions ). But ...
Read more...published October 6, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo via Bank Tracks Since proper comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation has crashed and burned, the task of holding the nation's biggest carbon polluters has fallen to the EPA . The EPA will begin regulating these emitters starting in January, and the air pollution permitting process is already underway. But not all of the details of how the ...
Read more...published September 29, 2010 and has No Comments
Photo via Room for Debate But Just How Tough? There's been much speculation about what the EPA's post-2016 fuel economy standards will be when they're announced this week. As of now, thanks to an executive order from the Obama administration, the national fuel economy standard will be 35.5 mpg by 2016 . After that -- well that's where the ...
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A Finnish designer has made a working surfboard from broken skateboards. Read the original here: Hollow Surfboard Is Made from Broken Skateboards
How to grow tastier tomatoes and how to make food taste sweeter without sugar: just two amazing discoveries from a study of the chemical interactions underlying tomato flavor preferences Read the rest here: The Secrets of Tasty Tomatoes Discovered - Can ...
