I believe they are calling it the Watergate scandal. Some scientists ignored data that was contrary to their findings in a paper published about two decades ago. Climate Change skeptics are jumping all over it. The article under scrutiny was published in 1990 and is concerned with urban heat bubble heating compared to heating in the atmosphere outside of urban heat bubbles. The scandal does not disprove global warming. Furthermore, global warming is not the only environmental problem. Global warming is only one aspect of global environmental degradation.
The urban heat bubble is due to all of the pavement and black roofs. Painting your roof white is one option, "green roofs" are another option. Scientific American explains.
Obama is trying to create a Green Economy. Part of his plan is increased funding for Nuclear power through research and loans. Depending on your beliefs, this is a victory or a loss.
National Geographic lists resources for learning about freshwater environmental issues.
California attempts to create laws to decrease transportation emissions. The industries being regulated claim that the legislation would violate interstate commerce laws.
Obama wants to uphold his Copenhagen commitments of reducing pollution to 4% below 1990 emissions by 2020. This is pending American National legislation though.
Some centrist democrats are seeking to scrap cap and trade and go for a policy that would do little and give many concessions to polluting industries. Mother Jones reports.
Scientific American attempts to explain some of the many atmospheric characteristics that contribute to the global atmospheric temperature. There are forces both cooling and heating our atmosphere, the temperature we experience is a product of many forces.
And...say hello to genetically modified forests that do not reproduce.
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obama. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Friday, November 27, 2009
Obama is Back on for Copenhagen
Obama has announced that he will attend the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen next weekend. This will be the first international climate change negotiations that a US President has ever attended.
Obama and Hu Jintao (China) have talked about climate change, now Obama and Dr. Manmohan Singh (India) talk about climate change and the possibilities for mitigation.
International climate change negotiations between the industrialized and unindustrialized world always come to money, how are poor countries to advance technology when they don't have the money to do so? Gordon Brown has announced that Great Britain will put over $1 billion into a fund that functions to fast track money to poorer countries so they can fund efforts to mitigate and deal with climate change. The fund will grow quickly in the next decade.
Reuters reports on "Det Norske Veritas, a leading international certifier, has drafted standards which businesses ranging from coffee making to diamond sourcing can use to flag sustainability of supply chains, DNV senior executives said."
This is very important for environmental-economics as the consumer needs as much information about their products as they can get. With the expansion of sustainability certifications consumers will see more transparency in the market and can signal the market more intentionally.
The California Energy Commission bans t.v.s that eat too much energy. It will save California a lot of money. This environmentally friendly move would have never been possible without a financial crisis in California.
Innovation in the wind turbine industry makes wind turbines more efficient in their use of land.
A new study says that Americans waste a large amount of their food. From manufacturing, to transporting and selling to the dinner table Americans throw away their food in large amounts. There is much more room for becoming more conscious about our consumption habits.
Obama and Hu Jintao (China) have talked about climate change, now Obama and Dr. Manmohan Singh (India) talk about climate change and the possibilities for mitigation.
International climate change negotiations between the industrialized and unindustrialized world always come to money, how are poor countries to advance technology when they don't have the money to do so? Gordon Brown has announced that Great Britain will put over $1 billion into a fund that functions to fast track money to poorer countries so they can fund efforts to mitigate and deal with climate change. The fund will grow quickly in the next decade.
Reuters reports on "Det Norske Veritas, a leading international certifier, has drafted standards which businesses ranging from coffee making to diamond sourcing can use to flag sustainability of supply chains, DNV senior executives said."
This is very important for environmental-economics as the consumer needs as much information about their products as they can get. With the expansion of sustainability certifications consumers will see more transparency in the market and can signal the market more intentionally.
The California Energy Commission bans t.v.s that eat too much energy. It will save California a lot of money. This environmentally friendly move would have never been possible without a financial crisis in California.
Innovation in the wind turbine industry makes wind turbines more efficient in their use of land.
A new study says that Americans waste a large amount of their food. From manufacturing, to transporting and selling to the dinner table Americans throw away their food in large amounts. There is much more room for becoming more conscious about our consumption habits.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Climate Change- Coppenhagen and the US Congress
The UN believes that the upcoming Climate Change talks in Copenhagen will not produce a Treaty. And Obama quietly takes himself off of the attendee list. Democrats in the Senate still push for a Climate Change bill. Without a UN agreement we are in for quite a surprise.
Politics unfold with the people in the background mobilizing themselves to show the politicians that representation means legislation. And support for Cap and Trade in America wanes as polluting industries weigh in to change Climate Change legislation into something close to business as usual.
If politicians are not going to do it for us, we must do it for ourselves. Science Journal shows some numbers that empower average citizens to change their lives to change the world.
The American Petroleum Institute weighs in on the Climate Change bill and how it will hurt Americans. What hurts Americans is the oligopoly (oiligopoly) of the oil market, controlled by 5 companies, that raises prices needlessly while reaping the highest profits in world history during a recession.
Solar power is starting to become economical to utilize.
Politics unfold with the people in the background mobilizing themselves to show the politicians that representation means legislation. And support for Cap and Trade in America wanes as polluting industries weigh in to change Climate Change legislation into something close to business as usual.
If politicians are not going to do it for us, we must do it for ourselves. Science Journal shows some numbers that empower average citizens to change their lives to change the world.
The American Petroleum Institute weighs in on the Climate Change bill and how it will hurt Americans. What hurts Americans is the oligopoly (oiligopoly) of the oil market, controlled by 5 companies, that raises prices needlessly while reaping the highest profits in world history during a recession.
Solar power is starting to become economical to utilize.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The world tries to change
Obama is raising the fuel efficiency standards (called CAFE) and as usual the car industry and many others say that it will cost the consumer too much, much of the car industry is not fighting the plan though. A suprising fact is that economists don't talk with industry much. So we get big business making business claims that sound like economics, really they are just saying that they do not want to be forced to change, but constant change is what keeps an economy healthy. Business is not Economics.
This piece from Greenpeace explains the ideal path to dealing with climat change, according to them. They are deffinitely one end of the political spectrum, but their rhetoric is more favorable to our environment than many of our politicians in the US Congress.
Poverty in Africa increased greatly in the last several years, this press release from UNEP address the agricultural needs of Africa.
The United Nations just held a chemical conference that functions to get world governments to produce less toxic and harmful products.
Apparently Bush II held private talks with China about reducing green house gas emissions. Does this change your view of Bush II?
This piece from Greenpeace explains the ideal path to dealing with climat change, according to them. They are deffinitely one end of the political spectrum, but their rhetoric is more favorable to our environment than many of our politicians in the US Congress.
Poverty in Africa increased greatly in the last several years, this press release from UNEP address the agricultural needs of Africa.
The United Nations just held a chemical conference that functions to get world governments to produce less toxic and harmful products.
Apparently Bush II held private talks with China about reducing green house gas emissions. Does this change your view of Bush II?
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
A Climate Change Bill: it is late, but it has arrived
Obama is drafting a climate change bill, finally! The climate bill establishes a cap-and-trade system for CO2, an ambiguous issue thus far is how many of the permits for emissions trading will be auctioned off and how many will be given away. This piece from MotherJones explores the subject.
A short article on how when industrial agriculture has to pay for externalities it is not cheaper than organic agriculture.
As money dwindles for investors people that use money to promote causes (ex: environmental, justice, poverty reduction) are less active. The economist gives an interesting article on the subject.
Climate Change will effect everything, even national parks in the US. The CSMonitor reports.
A short article on how when industrial agriculture has to pay for externalities it is not cheaper than organic agriculture.
As money dwindles for investors people that use money to promote causes (ex: environmental, justice, poverty reduction) are less active. The economist gives an interesting article on the subject.
Climate Change will effect everything, even national parks in the US. The CSMonitor reports.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
2/22/09: The world might turn out all right after all
Manufacturing is on the decline all around this globe. While it is advantageous for the environment to have humans manufacturing less stuff, it is wealth that brings environmental protection to urban areas. If a person is poor no coaxing will get them to put the environment before themselves. First comes wealth, then health, and manufacturing will need to be restored to create wealth and health.
During Hillary Clinton's first voyage out of the US as secretary general she visited China and started a movement with the Chinese to protect our environment. The USA and China are the largest polluters in the world, just our two countries making small changes is more powerful than any action from the rest of the world.
Governments of the world are waking up to environmental degradation and are now moving to regulate mercury on a global level. Mercury is one of the worst pollutants we emit in large amounts and is one of the main pollutants emitted by coal fired power plants. A move to regulate mercury on a global level is a move to regulate coal fired power plants, most of which are in China and the USA. With this movement in regulating mercury and the USA's EPA move to regulate CO2 via coal fired power plants they will hopefully only be a memory in 70 years.
Democrats in Congress are planning to present a climate change bill to Obama by the end of the summer.
In imagining the new economy of "green power" many forget the infrastructure that will need to accompany "green projects." To be sustainable and cost effective we need to act very carefully, the doctrine of "any action is good action" is dangerous at this point.
One of the greatest humanitarian efforts and economic efforts is underway in India. A company has created the 2,500 USdollar car. This will bring wealth and opportunity to millions and will bring millions of tons of pollutants to the environment. At 50mpg this little car does little damage for the amount of benefit it will bring the people of India. Wealth before health i say, let them build themselves up then let them sustainably develop. If the industrialized world wanted to address the issues of environmental degradation and poverty at the same time they would help industrialized countries develop sustainably. We talk about it in UN conferences but we do little of it.
The internet is cool, google is cool, but there is much more to come:
This is an article about the future of the internet.
And this is a video about the future of the internet.
During Hillary Clinton's first voyage out of the US as secretary general she visited China and started a movement with the Chinese to protect our environment. The USA and China are the largest polluters in the world, just our two countries making small changes is more powerful than any action from the rest of the world.
Governments of the world are waking up to environmental degradation and are now moving to regulate mercury on a global level. Mercury is one of the worst pollutants we emit in large amounts and is one of the main pollutants emitted by coal fired power plants. A move to regulate mercury on a global level is a move to regulate coal fired power plants, most of which are in China and the USA. With this movement in regulating mercury and the USA's EPA move to regulate CO2 via coal fired power plants they will hopefully only be a memory in 70 years.
Democrats in Congress are planning to present a climate change bill to Obama by the end of the summer.
In imagining the new economy of "green power" many forget the infrastructure that will need to accompany "green projects." To be sustainable and cost effective we need to act very carefully, the doctrine of "any action is good action" is dangerous at this point.
One of the greatest humanitarian efforts and economic efforts is underway in India. A company has created the 2,500 USdollar car. This will bring wealth and opportunity to millions and will bring millions of tons of pollutants to the environment. At 50mpg this little car does little damage for the amount of benefit it will bring the people of India. Wealth before health i say, let them build themselves up then let them sustainably develop. If the industrialized world wanted to address the issues of environmental degradation and poverty at the same time they would help industrialized countries develop sustainably. We talk about it in UN conferences but we do little of it.
The internet is cool, google is cool, but there is much more to come:
This is an article about the future of the internet.
And this is a video about the future of the internet.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
2/8/09: Few seem to really know what "being green" means but atleast it gets people interested in Change.
This is a great article from the Wall Street Journal on changes you make to your home for cheap that both save energy and give you real monetary savings in a couple of months to a couple of years.
"Buy American" has been a popular war cry in America in the past couple of decades as a response to Globalization. Globalization has been occurring since humans had enough free time to create excess goods. With modern economics we have brought great wealth to a growing part of the population. During hard economic times increased protectionism (i.e. "buy american")is called "beggar thy neighbor" and it is directly connected to a spiraling economic situation. We are so interconnected in this modern age that global economic stability is local economic stability. This article is "the economist" begging for the USA not repeat the same mistake she made during the Great Depression.
This is a breakdown, department by department of the federal government, of the mess that Obama has inherited. We must understand the depth of our problems. Our problems are so deep because no one has wanted to look at the ugly truth for many decades, both Dem. and Rep. Bush was a blessing because he disturbed our slumber and now we want CHANGE. But, we must know the problem before we can make intelligent change. Obama may want to help but he still needs skeptical eyes, and we still need to keep up with the problems as Bush inspired us to do.
On the subject of change, this article is a great comment on opulence in American and how we don't resent the rich enough to bring them down, but we resent them nonetheless. I include this article because of its comment on our reluctance as a general public to become activists, we are really just voters in a Democrat-Republic. Also, if you want to talk about true environmentalism it starts with living more efficient lives of less conspicuous consumption creating excessive excess.
Iraq voted in its first election without the military support of the USA. Only 50% of the population voted, but there was no violence and %50 is better than the USA has mustered in the past several decades. This is two short articles about the election: Article 1......Article 2.
One if the proposed technological cures for the excessive amounts of CO2 currently being pumped into our atmosphere is called carbon sequestration. The idea is to take CO2 from the atmosphere and somehow get it to stay underground. Some ideas involve just pumping it underground in gas form and hope that it wont leak out, other ideas though involve transforming CO2 from gas to rock form. This article highlights one effort Iceland that is being undertaken. As a side note: As the USA has elected its first non-white president, Iceland has elected the worlds first publicly lesbian Prime Minister. I am glad that our leaders are starting to look like the public that they represent.
Wind power is one of the technologies that is supposed to usher us into a future of sustainability. It will be hard to do, especially with low oil and coal prices and a global recession, but: the USA is throwing up wind turbines....as well as Europe.
"Buy American" has been a popular war cry in America in the past couple of decades as a response to Globalization. Globalization has been occurring since humans had enough free time to create excess goods. With modern economics we have brought great wealth to a growing part of the population. During hard economic times increased protectionism (i.e. "buy american")is called "beggar thy neighbor" and it is directly connected to a spiraling economic situation. We are so interconnected in this modern age that global economic stability is local economic stability. This article is "the economist" begging for the USA not repeat the same mistake she made during the Great Depression.
This is a breakdown, department by department of the federal government, of the mess that Obama has inherited. We must understand the depth of our problems. Our problems are so deep because no one has wanted to look at the ugly truth for many decades, both Dem. and Rep. Bush was a blessing because he disturbed our slumber and now we want CHANGE. But, we must know the problem before we can make intelligent change. Obama may want to help but he still needs skeptical eyes, and we still need to keep up with the problems as Bush inspired us to do.
On the subject of change, this article is a great comment on opulence in American and how we don't resent the rich enough to bring them down, but we resent them nonetheless. I include this article because of its comment on our reluctance as a general public to become activists, we are really just voters in a Democrat-Republic. Also, if you want to talk about true environmentalism it starts with living more efficient lives of less conspicuous consumption creating excessive excess.
Iraq voted in its first election without the military support of the USA. Only 50% of the population voted, but there was no violence and %50 is better than the USA has mustered in the past several decades. This is two short articles about the election: Article 1......Article 2.
One if the proposed technological cures for the excessive amounts of CO2 currently being pumped into our atmosphere is called carbon sequestration. The idea is to take CO2 from the atmosphere and somehow get it to stay underground. Some ideas involve just pumping it underground in gas form and hope that it wont leak out, other ideas though involve transforming CO2 from gas to rock form. This article highlights one effort Iceland that is being undertaken. As a side note: As the USA has elected its first non-white president, Iceland has elected the worlds first publicly lesbian Prime Minister. I am glad that our leaders are starting to look like the public that they represent.
Wind power is one of the technologies that is supposed to usher us into a future of sustainability. It will be hard to do, especially with low oil and coal prices and a global recession, but: the USA is throwing up wind turbines....as well as Europe.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
1/25/09: Obama the Environmentalist and some more realistic rhetoric on energy and the economic crisis
Obama, he might not fix all of our problems, but he is trying. He is finally doing something that i forgot could happen politically; Obama is raising the the fuel-efficiency standard of vehicles for the nation and not only allowing but encouraging states to follow the more strict standards that California is allowed to set but has been prevented from doing so by the former president Bush II.
So, yes, we all know that according to Global Warming things are heating up including Antarctica, but this article from the BBC discusses the heating of that giant ice cube. If Antactica really does break into pieces it will greatly speed up the rising of the oceans and will augment oceanic patterns. The changes will reverberate. When reading the article notice the language used by the BBC regarding global warming, they seem to still be in the stage of appeasing and addressing global climate change deniers.
Energy Independence is a mine in the battle field of environmentalism dressed up as an end to be sought after. As with the "buy local" movement, it is a good idea so long as you do not do it completely. MotherJones gives a good commentary on the myths of energy independence, be critical of MotherJones' criticalism, but this article is part of the corrections that need to be made to environmental theory and policy.
The CATO Institute is a great place to learn about what is really going on with the economy and what are the purely economic fixes. There has been a lot of political rhetoric and explanation for our current situation. Read this from CATO and make some adjustments to your beliefs and facts.
For political news, Obama is altering the executive order that allows former presidents to control the public releasing of sensitive documents. Obama is making it so that Bush II has to sue Obama just to attempt to keep documents unreleased.
So, yes, we all know that according to Global Warming things are heating up including Antarctica, but this article from the BBC discusses the heating of that giant ice cube. If Antactica really does break into pieces it will greatly speed up the rising of the oceans and will augment oceanic patterns. The changes will reverberate. When reading the article notice the language used by the BBC regarding global warming, they seem to still be in the stage of appeasing and addressing global climate change deniers.
Energy Independence is a mine in the battle field of environmentalism dressed up as an end to be sought after. As with the "buy local" movement, it is a good idea so long as you do not do it completely. MotherJones gives a good commentary on the myths of energy independence, be critical of MotherJones' criticalism, but this article is part of the corrections that need to be made to environmental theory and policy.
The CATO Institute is a great place to learn about what is really going on with the economy and what are the purely economic fixes. There has been a lot of political rhetoric and explanation for our current situation. Read this from CATO and make some adjustments to your beliefs and facts.
For political news, Obama is altering the executive order that allows former presidents to control the public releasing of sensitive documents. Obama is making it so that Bush II has to sue Obama just to attempt to keep documents unreleased.
Friday, December 26, 2008
12/26/08: Oil prices, Oil prices, Oil prices
I have been writing a lot about the price of oil, but only because not enough is being done to protect the health and wealth of humans and the environment. Since not enough is being proactively done we have to wait for the markets to signal investment in alternative energies. What economists are really trying to say in this scenario is that as long as oil is cheaper than wind or solar power there will always be large numbers of humans that will accept the cost to themselves and their environment for prices to be lower in the current moment.
This is an article from the "christian science monitor" commenting on how great it is that oil prices are low and expected to be low in the next year.
These two articles from "business week" are about decreased investment in a sustainable economy because of low oil prices, and this one is about Obama trying to do something governmentally about a market that is not signaling the long term costs and supplies of energy sources.
This is an article from the "christian science monitor" commenting on how great it is that oil prices are low and expected to be low in the next year.
These two articles from "business week" are about decreased investment in a sustainable economy because of low oil prices, and this one is about Obama trying to do something governmentally about a market that is not signaling the long term costs and supplies of energy sources.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
12/21/08: The envionment, Obama and his appointees & our financial crisis
Obama has identified most of his environmental appointees already. If these guys can not turn as around in the environmental sector then we are hopeless. I have confidence in them because the ideas and infrastructure already exist to create a sustainable economy, we just need to do it. Mainly, we need support & money behind science. It is technology that improves our lives, not men in suits talking politics. Politicians just bicker over who gets what when and how, scientists and engineers are the ones that bring us increased productivity and comfort.
The secretary of the interior is going to be Ken Salazar. The secretary of the Interior in the Executive branch holds a lot of power over land even if the name does not quite imply it. They manage "public lands, national parks, oil and gas resources, and even the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey." This is an article by motherjones that shows what some major environmental groups thinks of the appointee. And this is an article by the NYTimes that gives some good background to who Salazar is
It will be interesting to see how many environmental issues Obama focuses on. Of course there is Climate Change. But, a deeper issue is industrial chemicals in our life. The testing for chemicals before they are allowed to be manufactured is inadequate for a couple of reasons. One of the main reasons is that chemicals are tested in isolated circumstances instead of in mixture with other chemicals that it may interact with in the world. This article explains this and focuses on men's reproductive health.
Shall we forget the crimes of Bush and Cheney. Many groups have been trying to bring Cheney to court for international and national crimes.
Our financial situation is in a strange situation. Banks borrowed a lot of money from the US government so they could still function and survive as a bank. The problem is that when they got lots of money they hoarded it instead of lending it. The other problem is that Henry Paulson, the Treasury Secretary, is not spending the $4 trillion relief money as Barny Frank intended him to as dictated in the recent bail out billC. Part of the relief money was supposed to go to the US government buying risky home-loans from banks and refinancing the loan to suit the borrower. This is not happening though, instead Paulson is charged with just protecting investors. It is important to protect the economy by creating an environment that is conducive to investment, but the economy represents the wealth of people and if the economy is not providing for the people this is when the government steps in.
The secretary of the interior is going to be Ken Salazar. The secretary of the Interior in the Executive branch holds a lot of power over land even if the name does not quite imply it. They manage "public lands, national parks, oil and gas resources, and even the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey." This is an article by motherjones that shows what some major environmental groups thinks of the appointee. And this is an article by the NYTimes that gives some good background to who Salazar is
It will be interesting to see how many environmental issues Obama focuses on. Of course there is Climate Change. But, a deeper issue is industrial chemicals in our life. The testing for chemicals before they are allowed to be manufactured is inadequate for a couple of reasons. One of the main reasons is that chemicals are tested in isolated circumstances instead of in mixture with other chemicals that it may interact with in the world. This article explains this and focuses on men's reproductive health.
Shall we forget the crimes of Bush and Cheney. Many groups have been trying to bring Cheney to court for international and national crimes.
Our financial situation is in a strange situation. Banks borrowed a lot of money from the US government so they could still function and survive as a bank. The problem is that when they got lots of money they hoarded it instead of lending it. The other problem is that Henry Paulson, the Treasury Secretary, is not spending the $4 trillion relief money as Barny Frank intended him to as dictated in the recent bail out billC. Part of the relief money was supposed to go to the US government buying risky home-loans from banks and refinancing the loan to suit the borrower. This is not happening though, instead Paulson is charged with just protecting investors. It is important to protect the economy by creating an environment that is conducive to investment, but the economy represents the wealth of people and if the economy is not providing for the people this is when the government steps in.
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