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 February 11, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo: Heat USA We're already well aware that the American Southwest, which is naturally hot and dry, is seriously strapped for water. And the situation is getting worse every day, with populations in California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico continuing an unimpeded growth trend that began decades ago. The fact there are too many people vying for limited resources ...
Read more...published February 10, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo: avlxyz , Flickr, CC Ocean acidification has been covered extensively in these pages, but remains largely unknown to the public at large. But a revelation from a new study recently completed by Australian researchers gives us yet another reminder of how severe this problem is: if oceans continue warming and acidifying at the rate they currently ar... Read ...
Read more...published February 10, 2011 and has No Comments
If you read just one article about climate change this week, make it Dave Roberts' piece on the climate science vs. climate economics . Climate scientists are becoming increasingly worried as the evidence mounts that our current emissions path is leading us to some of the worst-case scenarios that climate models project -- sea level rise, increased precipitation, more ...
Read more...published February 9, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo: Wikimedia Commons , Cherie A. Thurlby, CC And I thought I'd never have to write another post about Bush again. Alas, here's yet another revelation perfectly befitting the post-office portrait emerging of our last president -- a man with perhaps the best intentions, but easily influenced by the men around him. It turns out that Steven Johnson, the ...
Read more...published February 8, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo: EPL Don't pay attention to those oil company ads that claim they're devoting time and resources towards working on clean energy solutions -- just look at the graph below. The chart, which Climate Crocks reminds us of today , shows just how little the energy sector spends on research and development compared to other innovation-based industries. 0.3%. That's ...
Read more...published February 8, 2011 and has No Comments
Plays about climate change are all the rage in London right now. What with The Heretic at the Royal Court and Greenland at The National playing simultaneously, it appears theater land is suddenly making a conscious effort to get involved in the climate conversation. Nicholas Hytner, director of The National, Britain's largest theatre complex, commissioned Greenland with the express ...
Read more...published February 4, 2011 and has No Comments
In case you hadn't heard, the chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, Fred Upton (R-MI) wants to scrap EPA plans to to regulate carbon emissions from power plants and other large industrial sources altogether . While on the face of it, Upton and fellow Congressmen Inhofe (R-OK) and Whitfield (R-KY) argue that it should be up to ...
Read more...published February 4, 2011 and has No Comments
photo: Center for American Progress Action Fund / Creative Commons I normally wouldn't want to waste too much of my time or yours parsing what Fox News does, but putting up what Huffington Post describes as "little more than a personal ad" seeking out people who can debunk a comment that Al Gore made to Bill O'Reilly--wherein Gore accurately ...
Read more...published January 31, 2011 and has No Comments
Photo: Flickr, ca2hill , CC When I wrote my reactions to Obama's State of the Union address last week, I mentioned how disappointing it was that he didn't take the chance to engage the American public on the issue of climate change. The most common retort to this was along the lines of well, actions speak louder than words ...
Read more...published January 28, 2011 and has No Comments
The blueprint for Masdar City. Masdar City is intended to be big. Big in all regards, besides population and geographical size. It's founded on a big idea; a carbon neutral oasis outside the oiliest city on Earth. It's supposed to be a big deal; a city that will attract the best clean energy researchers and pioneering renewable companies from ...
Read more...
"The stakes are very high and scientists are not the best people to deal with the social, ethical or political issues that geoengineering raises." View original here: Geoengineering is a Technical Fix for a Political Problem
Google leads the pack in Greenpeace's annual ranking of IT companies based on their efforts to use clean energy and reduce their environmental impact. Here is the original: Google Tops Greenpeace's Clean IT List
