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 May 3, 2011 and has No Comments
Excerpt from portrait of Donald Trump speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. on February 10, 2011. Image credit, Wikipedia , George Skidmore Republican political strategy. bypassing the the failed 'birther' tactic, is likely to move to ' what you going to do about high gas prices? '. That, naturally, involves attacking EPA generally, resurgent "drill baby drill" chants, demanding ...
Read more...published April 2, 2011 and has No Comments
Illustration depicting both male and female flowers of maize Image credit: Wikipedia Corn is such a cultural cornerstone in America. Lend an ear to John Fahey playing " Give Me Corn Bread When I'm Hungry ." Rememberr Thoreau buying sacks of cracked corn for his Walden Pond stay. Tortillas and Katchina Dolls, and marbled beef, and corn root borers ...
Read more...published April 1, 2011 and has No Comments
Dangerous chicken wire chemicals you need to know about. Image credit: Wikipedia Into the daylight. The fracking industry has declared it's ready to totally change direction from the course set by former VP Dick Cheney (which was to hide from the public, information about the hazardous characteristics of fracking fluids). As you read this, a fracking chemicals Read the ...
Read more...published March 24, 2011 and has No Comments
Image credit: NOAA Today's seminal Lester Brown post about China's escalating grain consumption and coming conflicts over trade and food prices - see Can the United States Feed China? - brought to mind related, climate-driven events in the US. Back in February I wrote : "As we all can see by the latest Federal drought t... Read the full ...
Read more...published February 25, 2011 and has No Comments
photo: mitwa17 / Creative Commons When money gets tight and voters feel especially uncertain about the future, legislators, wanting to look like they are doing something to help, may be tempted to halt the normal environmental rule-making steps. Here's a remarkable example from Wisconsin: Republican lawmakers have stepped in to 'help' their constituents by forbidding the big bad Department ...
Read more...published February 1, 2011 and has No Comments
There are lots of conservative Americans who write in to say that they care about the environment and are worried about dependence on foreign oil, even if they wish we would stop pushing the climate change agenda. I would think they and just about anyone in the country would be worried about the agenda of the The Heritage Foundation, ...
Read more...published January 29, 2011 and has No Comments
Image credit: Amazon , for about US$120. My Milwaukee 12V, 3/8" electric drill (pictured) is extremely handy for infrequent home repairs and bench-top projects. This and similar rechargeable drills have light weight Li-Ion batteries that hold a charge for weeks. My Milwaukee has the entire juice-box built into the handle - so I can holster it in my jeans ...
Read more...published January 25, 2011 and has No Comments
The sneeze. Image credit: Wikipedia I generally think it odd for a public health research paper to have a hypothesis-questioning title, in the manner of a newspaper or blog. Imagine, for example, back in 1970, how people might react to (a fictional): " Do seat belts reduce severity of automobile related injury? " "Need more data," would have been ...
Read more...published January 20, 2011 and has No Comments
Image credit: US Clean Air Task Force (pdf file) There's a 2-page article in the New York Times, Home & Garden section in which it is explained that residential wood burning has recently become a guilt factor for persons with pro-environment leanings. I'd have to agree that burning wood in a big city fireplace can be a silly affect ...
Read more...published January 15, 2011 and has No Comments
Corn field alongside roadway . Image credit:By Beatrice Murch, on Flickr , excerpted. There's a new conservation approach being tested as an alternative to failed earlier efforts to preserve remnant natural forests (which continued to end up as fuel). At a London symposium held last year, 'Linking biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction: what, why and how?' a Nature Conservancy ...
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"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
