Home » Environment (Page 336)
Category Archives: Environment
Nuclear Radiation, Kierkegaard, and the Philosophy of Denial
Nuclear Radiation, Kierkegaard, and the Philosophy of Denial It used to be, and indeed children are still taught in schools, that the advances that have been made in the last five hundred years (antibiotics, electricity, computers etc) resulted from the application of Science and its overthrow of dogmatic belief. All ideas are put to the […]
In Supreme Court, a Battle Over Fracking and Citizens’ Rights
In Supreme Court, a Battle Over Fracking and Citizens’ Rights Jessica Ernst’s long fight to challenge legislation putting energy regulator above the law reaches top court. Jessica Ernst on her land in Alberta. Photo: Colin Smith. After years of legal wrangling, Jessica Ernst and Alberta’s powerful energy regulator finally squared off in the Supreme Court […]
The Company Behind LA’s Methane Disaster Knew Its Well Was Leaking 24 Years Ago
The Company Behind LA’s Methane Disaster Knew Its Well Was Leaking 24 Years Ago Last fall, a 7-inch injection well pipe ruptured 500 feet below the surface of Los Angeles, after ferrying natural gas for six decades. The resulting methane leak is now being called one of the largest environmental disasters since the BP oil spill, […]
California’s Massive Gas Leak: Hazards of Industry Long Known
California’s Massive Gas Leak: Hazards of Industry Long Known Expert research, public record details many risks of underground gas storage. Overhead photo of the leaking Aliso Canyon well pad near the Porter Ranch community in Los Angeles County, Dec. 17, 2015. Credit: Earthworks, Creative Commons licensed. A massive methane leak from an aging underground gas […]
Climate Insurgency After Paris
Climate Insurgency After Paris NASA. In December of 2015 – the earth’s hottest year since recordkeeping began — 195 nations met in Paris to forge an agreement to combat global warming. The governments of the world acknowledged their individual and collective duty to protect the earth’s climate — and then willfully refused to perform that […]
Extreme Weather and Global Growth
Extreme Weather and Global Growth CAMBRIDGE – Until recently, the usual thinking among macroeconomists has been that short-term weather fluctuations don’t matter much for economic activity. Construction hiring may be stronger than usual in a March when the weather is unseasonably mild, but there will be payback in April and May. If heavy rains discourage […]
Toxic ‘Reform’ Law Will Gut State Rules on Dangerous Chemicals
TOXIC “REFORM” LAW WILL GUT STATE RULES ON DANGEROUS CHEMICALS A NEW SET OF BILLS that aims to update the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act may nullify the efforts of states such as Maine and California to regulate dangerous chemicals. The Senate’s bill, passed last month, just before the holidays, is particularly restrictive. The Frank R. […]
Flint’s Contaminated Drinking Water is Third Water Crisis For Michigan Governor
Flint’s Contaminated Drinking Water is Third Water Crisis For Michigan Governor Residents put at risk by ideology, misguided decisions. Photo courtesy Michigan Municipal League via Flickr Creative Commons Michigan Governor Rick Snyder is at the center of criticism over a public health crisis in Flint, where a state decision to switch the city’s water source ended […]
Weather extremes slash cereal yields
Weather extremes slash cereal yields Wheat and other cereal crops in developed countries such as Australia have been decimated. Image: CSIRO via Wikimedia Commons Increasing intensity of heat and drought as a result of global warming may have caused worldwide cereal harvests to be cut by up to a tenth since the mid-1960s. LONDON, 8 January, 2016 – Climate […]
Rice University’s Baker Institute and the Academic Cover It Provides for Fossil Fuel Interests
Rice University’s Baker Institute and the Academic Cover It Provides for Fossil Fuel Interests When thinking about influential academic policy think tanks, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy doesn’t necessarily come first to mind. Slowly and steadily, however, the institute has turned into one of the nation’s most powerful outfits. In the 2009 “Global […]
Wilderness and Economics
Wilderness and Economics “A national park will not save the area. Rather, the restrictions and red tape that come with federal control would inhibit growth. Survival requires economic development, but a national park will limit our options.” — Kathy Gagnon editorial opposing a national park in Maine published in Bangor Daily News May 11, 2014 [i] Wildland preservation […]
Charter Rights at Issue in Fracking Supreme Court Case
Charter Rights at Issue in Fracking Supreme Court Case Jessica Ernst’s long battle over rights, well contamination reaches highest court Tuesday. Jessica Ernst stands in front of Encana compressors in Rosebud, Alberta. Photo by Tor Lundberg Tuorda. An Alberta woman’s landmark eight-year battle over fracking regulation, water contamination and Charter rights will take centre stage […]
More Droughts May Mean Less Power
More Droughts May Mean Less Power The powerful flow of rivers such as the Columbia in Oregon, US, could be greatly reduced. (National Weather Service Forecast Office via Wikimedia Commons) LONDON—Climate change could threaten the electricity supply around the world, according to new calculations. That is because the power generation depends on a sure supply of water. […]
