By Dan Vergano3 March 2013 (USA TODAY) – Deforestation by early farmers likely kicked off an era of man-made climate change long before our present era, suggests a climate scientist taking a hard look at agriculture’s early effects. Chopping down trees with flint axes, planting peas and shearing sheep — those all sound like the […]
[UPDATE: Keystone XL pipeline: US government report drew on analysis by oil consultants] By Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson1 March 2013 (Washington Post) – The State Department released a draft environmental impact assessment of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline Friday afternoon, suggesting that blocking the project would not have a significant impact on either the […]
By Emily Heffling, Virginia Campus Organizer22 February 2013 If Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was featured on the TV show, Are you smarter than a 5th grader?, he would have been out before the first commercial. In his new book, The Last Line of Defense, Cuccinelli has a chapter called “Weird Science” dedicated to his […]
By Avery Fellow 25 February 2013 (Bloomberg BNA) – Shareholders are filing resolutions asking companies to disclose physical risks posed by climate change for the first time this proxy season, according to representatives of sustainable investor groups. Shareholders also are continuing to file an increasing number of sustainability related resolutions asking companies to set greenhouse […]
20 February 2013 (AP) – The company that wants to build a controversial oil pipeline from western Canada to Texas said on Tuesday said that shutting down the oil sands at its source would have no measurable effect on global warming. “You could shut down oil sands production tomorrow and it would have absolutely no […]
30 January 2013 (Bloomberg News) – Beijing’s air, which has exceeded the World Health Organization’s “healthy” limit every day this year, is similar to that in an airport smoking lounge. The CHART OF THE DAY shows Beijing’s daily peak and average concentrations of PM2.5, the airborne particulate matter that raises risks for lung and heart […]
DES MOINES, Iowa, 19 November 2012 (CBS/AP) – Scientists are saying that due to climate change caused by greenhouse gases, Iowans should brace themselves for more bad weather like the 2012 drought. More than 130 scientists from Iowa colleges and universities said in a statement on Monday that this year’s drought is consistent with a […]
By CHARLES LYONS30 June 2012 A confrontation between the insatiable appetite for energy and the enduring need for habitability is under way in Brazil as it moves aggressively to harness the power of its rivers with plans for dozens of hydroelectric dams. Such projects are engineering and aesthetic marvels that provide hydroelectric power and can […]
By George Webster, CNN27 June 2012 (CNN) – At first glance, Austrian artist Klaus Pichler’s spell-binding photographs could be mistaken for a set of stylish advertisements. It takes a moment to digest — excuse the pun — that you’re staring at pictures of rotting food. Among them, a pineapple hangs suspended in negative space […]
By Associated Press TOKYO – The Fukushima crisis is eroding years of Japanese efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, as power plants running on oil and natural gas fill the electricity gap left by now-shuttered nuclear reactors. Before last year’s devastating tsunami triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, Japan had […]