News & Comment
Blogs and Opinion
Name Storms After Oil Companies -- They're The Ones Most Responsible For Climate Change by OurFuture.org Staff, OurFuture.org | October 31, 2012
As gutsy New Yorkers begin the task of drying out the city, here’s one thought that occurred to me last night watching the horrifying pictures from a distance. It’s obviously not crucial right now — but in the long run it might make a difference. Why don’t we stop naming these storms for people, and start naming them after oil companies? Global warming didn’t “cause” this hurricane, of course — hurricanes are caused when a tropical wave washes off the coast of Africa and begins to spin in the far Atlantic. But this storm rode ocean waters five degrees warmer than normal, so it’s no great shock that it turned into a monster. By the time it hit land, it had smashed every record for the lowest barometric pressure, and the largest wind field. Sandy had a big head start on flooding out the city. read more »Mitt Romney's Extremist Energy Plan by Michael T. Klare, The Nation | October 30, 2012
As he seeks the support of undecided voters in key swing states, Mitt Romney is portraying himself as a centrist at heart—not as the “severely conservative Republican” he said he was during the hard-fought GOP primaries. This kinder, gentler Romney was very much on display in his televised debates with President Obama. But a close examination of his energy plan, released on August 23, reveals no such moderation; rather, it is a blueprint for the systematic plunder of America’s farm and wilderness areas, coupled with a neocolonial invasion of Canada and Mexico. Essentially, the plan is intended to remove most impediments to the exploitation by U.S. energy firms of untapped oil, gas and coal fields in the United States, Canada and Mexico, regardless of the consequences for national health, safety or the environment. In particular, the plan has five key objectives. read more »Sandy And The Real Climate Change Question by Natasha Lennard, salon.com | October 30, 2012
While Hurricane Sandy batters increasing stretches of the East Coast, she has also thrown up somewhat of a false dichotomy question: “Climate change or freak storm?” Climate scientists remain split on the debate of whether extreme weather can indicate a shifting global climate, as Tom Chivers of UK newspaper the Telegraph noted, “The answer is no, or yes, or better yet ‘you’re asking the wrong question’.” While millions of Americans batten down the hatches and millions more stay glued from afar to Sandy’s ruinous spectacle, no resolution will be found to the climate change/freak storm question. But it is nonetheless the question on millions of minds today, as it is every time an extreme weather event strikes. So why is neither presidential candidate this year exploring the issue with us? read more »Frankenclimate by Sarah Laskow, prospect.org | October 30, 2012
Here is what it’s possible to say for certain: Climate change is happening. It’s likely that we’ll get better at dealing with erratic and extreme weather. There’s a high probability that, over the next decades, we’ll worry more often about crops dying and about monster storms. And just as it’s almost normal now for each passing year to be one of the hottest ten on record, soon it may seem routine to hear that the hurricane that’s currently headed towards your city is the largest ever measured. The two men running for president did not mention this issue when they met in three debates, and neither has shown much interest in addressing it in the next four years. But if the summers stay hot and the hurricanes abnormally large, enough people might start believing that climate change is problem that they’ll have to. read more »Is Hurricane Sandy God's Punishment For Ignoring Global Warming In Debates? by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | October 29, 2012
Conservatives and the Christian Right regularly blame hurricanes on abortion, liberals, government and "teh gay." But Hurricane Sandy actually is an "unprecedented." This "Frankenstorm," with a gale-force wind diameter of 1040 miles, is the largest hurricane in Atlantic history, with the lowest barometric pressure. read more »Frankenstorm: God’s Latest Warning? by Ted Glick, grist.org | October 26, 2012
It is ironic, way beyond ironic really, that the Nation’s Capital – and the entire Northeast – is staring down the barrel of an incredibly powerful storm about which a National Weather Service meteorologist has said, ”I’ve never seen anything like this and I’m at a loss for expletives to describe what this storm could do.” Perhaps this weather scare that may well be much more than just a scare is God’s revenge for the refusal of the U.S. government to take action on the climate crisis. read more »Obama's Environmental Record And The Conservative Response by Dave Johnson, OurFuture.org | October 23, 2012
According to the Washington Post, President Obama "skinned the cat" and used executive powers "to press the most sweeping attack on air pollution in U.S. history." Oil- and coal-backed conservatives can't stand it. read more »Obama And Romney Ignore Climate, Could Learn From Hillary Clinton by Lisa Hymas, grist.org | October 23, 2012
The climate silence is complete: Climate change got not a single mention in any of the three presidential debates nor in the vice presidential debate this year. That hasn’t happened for 24 years. In the final debate on Monday night, focused on foreign policy, moderator Bob Schieffer didn’t ask anything about energy or climate, but he posed a couple of open-ended questions that would have given easy entrée to either candidate had they any inclination to bring up the topic: “What is America’s role in the world?” and “What do you believe is the greatest future threat to the national security of this country?” In a debate about global challenges and global threats, Romney and Obama both chose to say nothing at all about the climate crisis, the most global of all challenges and threats. read more »A Report from Tar Sands Blockade in Texas by Julia Butterfly Hill, earthisland.org | October 22, 2012
In January 2012, I, like many other people, thought the Keystone XL pipeline controversy was over. We had won a hard-fought victory in suspending the proposed tar sands pipeline from crossing the border from Canada into the USA. But shortly after reveling in the victory, I read the words of President Barack Obama said during a March speech in Cushing, OK. “And today, I’m directing my administration to cut through the red tape, break through the bureaucratic hurdles, and make this project a priority, to go ahead and get it done,” the president said. To my horror and disappointment, that is exactly what he did. Today TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline, has already started construction on the southern leg of the pipeline. Some residents in Texas and other allies who have come from all over the country are trying to stop this from happening. I am honored and humbled to be able to share part of their story. read more »Why The Chill On Climate Change? by Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post | October 19, 2012
Not a word has been said in the presidential debates about what may be the most urgent and consequential issue in the world: climate change. President Obama understands and accepts the scientific consensus that the burning of fossil fuels is trapping heat in the atmosphere, with potentially catastrophic long-term effects. Mitt Romney’s view, as on many issues, is pure quicksilver — impossible to pin down — but when he was governor of Massachusetts, climate-change activists considered him enlightened and effective. Yet neither has mentioned the subject in the debates. Instead, they have argued over who is more eager to extract ever-larger quantities of oil, natural gas and coal from beneath our purple mountains’ majesties and fruited plains. read more »
The Latest
Dumping Solar: Study Sheds Light on US-China Solar PV Trade Flows, cleantechnica.com | February 14, 2012
Mitsubishi Unveils Solar-Powered Vehicle Charging Station, cleantechnica.com | July 26, 2011
The reality of a standalone fueling station along the highway, not dependent on an energy supply chain reaching over the world into the bowels of a Saudi oilfield is almost here. more »Safe nuclear does exist, and China is leading the way with thorium, telegraph.co.uk | June 22, 2011
US technological lead abandoned in the sixties because it didn't produce enough plutonium for nuclear bombs.
A few weeks before the tsunami struck Fukushima’s uranium reactors and shattered public faith in nuclear power, China revealed that it was launching a rival technology to build a safer, cleaner, and ultimately cheaper network of reactors based on thorium. more »
Solar Powered Wheelchair Sets World Records, alternative-energy-news.info | January 26, 2011
In a sometimes cynical world there is something just so inspiring about the journey Haidar Taleb, a 47 year old man from UAE, m more »Huge Solar-Plant Project Approved, The Wall Street Journal | October 26, 2010
A proposal to build the world's biggest solar-thermal power plant in the Southern California desert got the go-ahead Monday from the Obama administration, which used the announcement to bolster its message that renewable energy creates jobs. more »
Climate Regulations Coming for Trucks, Buses, Politico | October 22, 2010
China Plans to Reduce Its Exports of Minerals , The New York Times | October 19, 2010
Time Right to Resume Deepwater Drilling, CNN | October 19, 2010
Last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar lifted the moratorium on deepwater drilling almost two months before it was set to expire. It was the right decision at the right time, because developments over the last three months, including new rules and regulations, will make deepwater drilling far safer than it was before.
Governors Races: Losing The Western Climate Initiative, wonkroom.thinkprogress.org | October 19, 2010
The Western Climate Initiative — a regional cap-and-trade compact between California, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Montana and four Canadian provinces — was established in 2007 and scheduled to go into effect in 2012. There are governors’ races in all the states except Montana and Washington. more »
In Kansas, Climate Skeptics Embrace Cleaner Energy, The New York Times | October 19, 2010
Residents of this deeply conservative city do not put much stock in scientific predictions of climate change. “Don’t mention global warming,” warned Nancy Jackson, chairwoman of the Climate and Energy Project, a small nonprofit group that aims to get people to rein in the fossil fuel emissions that contribute to climate change. “And don’t mention Al Gore. more »
