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Thomas Friedman calls for noise on Keystone XL

Thomas Friedman uses his column in the New York Times today to call for activists to "go crazy" about the Keystone XL pipeline.So I hope that Bill McKibben and his 350.org coalition go crazy. I’m...

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Test driving Reality Drop, the Climate Reality Project's siege engine

Former Vice President Al Gore helped launch the Climate Reality Project in 2011. The goal was to create a grassroots movement to push for meaningful steps toward a low carbon energy future.The Climate...

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Economic impacts of climate change adding up in Florida

Human intelligence is highly overrated. Let's take a trip to Florida for a little proof.Florida is vulnerable to any rise in sea level. The mere 6-7 inches seas rose during the 20th century are already...

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What you should know if you use Facebook

Everyone who uses Facebook should read this new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (open access article). Applying data mining algorithms to Facebook likes for...

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Can you spare a click (to support a cancer program)?

My son has neuroendocrine cancer, a rare form of cancer known mostly as the killer of Apple's Steve Jobs and Wendy's Dave Thomas. For those without their wealth, it is a trying and very expensive...

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Interior Secretary admits Shell "screwed up" in the Arctic Sea

The headline in the Los Angeles Times says it all: Salazar on Arctic drilling: 'Shell screwed up in 2012'. The story tells us what we already know. Royal Dutch Shell fought for approval to drill off...

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Thinking big on clean energy: What is possible in New York state

While the planet warms from fossil fuel emissions, deployment of clean energy has been slow in the United States. That is not to say there has not been progress as wind and solar dominate new...

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This makes no sense

President Obama has proposed creating an "Energy Security Trust" with a portion of royalties from offshore oil and gas extraction. It would be used to fund research and development of alternative...

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Climate activists irritating the powerful

President Obama came home to Chicago last week to talk about energy policy. Using the Argonne National Laboratory as a backdrop, he promoted the idea of creating an Energy Security Trust to fund...

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"Tired of asking"

Yesterday was a typical blustery and cold March day in Chicago. I was riding home on the El and watching the city flash by. A man sits down next to me. A stop or two down the line, he taps me on the...

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Tech giants embrace clean energy

The "cloud" is going green. Our electronic toys require massive "cloud" storage systems to connect us to the content we crave. Some big names are betting on renewables, particularly solar and wind, to...

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Hiding public comments on the Keystone XL pipeline from the public

Yet another embarrassing detail about the Obama administration's handling of the Keystone XL pipeline has emerged. In order to view the public comments to the State Department's new environmental...

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Oxymoron of the day: Sustainable Shale Fracking

In lieu of tight federal and state regulations of the shale drilling industry, the industry is promoting "certification." Case in point is the new "Center for Sustainable Shale Development" (CSSD)...

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And now a word about oil pipeline safety

The superb consultants that wrote the Keystone XL pipeline's environmental impact statement for the State Department have assured us that spills are going to be rare and small. We should stop worrying...

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The new Arctic

The future of the Arctic is taking shape. Let's take a look at climate change in action.

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A tale of two cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it...

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Keystone XL pipeline economics

The State Department claims the Keystone XL pipeline will have no impact on tar sands development. Their claims are false. The reasons go well beyond the logistics of importing the bitumen sludge.Oil...

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Peak oil and peak silliness

The media is filled with people chanting, "peak oil is dead, peak oil is dead." It is particularly popular among conservatives, egged on by the oil industry and Wall Street. The reasons are not...

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Oil spill surreality

It began on March 29. A pipeline in Arkansas no one but Exxon seemed to know about (code name: Pegasus) spilled thousands of barrels of tar sands "oil" before being shut down. What has followed is a...

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Exxon calls us liars

Poor little Exxon. First, their Pegasus pipeline in Arkansas springs a leak, costing them money. Then people starting saying mean things about them, hurting their feelings (because corporations are...

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#NOKXL Blogathon: Your voice on the Keystone XL pipeline matters

The Keystone XL pipeline is the perfect symbol of our disastrous energy policies and broken political system. Now that $100 a barrel is the new floor for oil prices, the oil industry can finally turn a...

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Puritanism at an organic food company

I have avoided Whole Foods since founder and CEO John Mackey went Galt over health insurance. It turns out he was not alone in marketing organic food with a heaping helping of fruit cake philosophy.I...

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A win in the fight against mountaintop removal mining

There was a win this week in the fight to stop the insane practice of mountaintop removal (MTR) mining in the coalfields of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia.Before getting into the details of the...

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Requiem for a serial killer

Brothers and sisters, this is what unregulated capitalism looks like.A month ago, two coal miners died in West Virginia. Here is the gist from Reuters.May 13 (Reuters) - A West Virginia coal mine...

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A hidden war on women

David Heath, writing for the Center for Public Integrity, tells the fascinating tale of how politicians have colluded with corporations to allow high levels of arsenic to remain in our food, beverages,...

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All hail Lord Rupert of House Murdoch

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Lord Rupert Murdoch is proud to announce the successful repeal of that odious carbon tax in Australia. It required skillful media and political manipulation.Opponents of the carbon...

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Another study of fracking farts

Cornell researchers just published an interesting paper with a dull sounding title: Assessment and risk analysis of casing and cement impairment in oil and gas wells in  Pennsylvania, 2000–2012. In...

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Mountaintop Removal, the perfect symbol for America

When future historians study our time, they really should focus on mountaintop removal strip mining in Appalachia. It will tell them everything they need to know about America in the early 21st...

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Long oil train a coming

The Chicago Tribune just published a series of articles on oil trains passing through Chicago in ever increasing numbers. Kudos to Richard Wronski for the fine series.As many as 40 crude oil trains,...

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NOAA thinks about protecting Pacific bluefin tuna

The human contribution to the extinction of other species continues unabated. Our systematic destruction of bluefin tuna populations in the Atlantic and Pacific is further proof of our inability to...

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Obama administration works to cloak torture and other CIA misdeeds

Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured and forgotten. A society is always eager to cover misdeeds with a cloak of forgetfulness, but no society can fully repress an ugly past...

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The economic cost of ignoring climate change

One common complaint from the climate change "skeptic" crowd is that addressing carbon pollution will hurt our economy. Elected representatives of the fossil fuels industries have even gone so far as...

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Whippet Bad: Fertilizer and fun balloons

When our son was in kindergarten, we took him to see the Grateful Dead in Soldier Field. On the way to the show we passed a street vender selling small balloons. It led to an awkward explanation about...

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The blame game Texas style

Tell me if you have heard this one before. An industry endangers the public because their products are dangerous to produce, store, transport, or use. They further threaten public safety because these...

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Lessons from the Toledo water crisis

Raise a glass to Toledo - it is safe to drink the water. They have finally removed high levels of microcystin, courtesy of an algae bloom on Lake Erie, from the water supply.It is crystal clear that...

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An Act of Environmental Terrorism

Yet another sign that civilization is on the ropes. A terrorist cell unleashed a river of sludge filled with arsenic and mercury into the region's water supply. Here is government footage of the toxic...

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A new counter-culture

I am so so used to reading things that make me want to scream that I am speechless when I encounter something that makes perfect sense. What follows comes from a paper featured at the annual convention...

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Rauner hires supply-side consultant to fleece Illinois

The new Republican governor of Illinois is following the Tea Party handbook to the letter. He just hired Donna Arduin, the business partner of Arthur Laffer, the "economist" whose ideas have increased...

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Mr. President, tear down this wall! Stop reefer madness

Dear Mr. President:I applaud steps taken by your administration to examine the impact of the “war on drugs” on our society. It has filled our prisons, giving us the dubious distinction of having the...

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Solar power booms in 2014

Despite the flat-earth fossils in the U.S. House and Senate, solar power is growing by leaps and bounds. The U.S. Solar Market Insight report for 2014 shows installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the...

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Climate apathy and ignorance

"We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from...

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The general in charge of Katrina recovery now leads a Green Army

Hurricane Katrina revealed the power of nature and the incompetence of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under Michael Brown. The storm shredded the Gulf coast and breached the levees protecting...

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Requiem for glaciers (and climate science) in Canada

Nature Geoscience just published a sobering look at likely deglaciation in Western Canada during the 21st century with continued carbon emissions. The research team led by Garry Clarke of the...

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The Mother Frackers think we are stupid

They are celebrating over in Frackerville. They scored a peer-reviewed paper in a decent journal. According to industry astroturf Energy in Depth, this new paper will "discredit Duke methane papers."...

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Tell your grandchildren to blame Trump for the climate chaos they will...

Today will live in infamy for all of us that take to heart what science is telling us about human-fueled climate change. The President will order the United States government to ignore the science and...

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Iowa Republicans about to kill off prestigious sustainable agriculture...

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”— Aldo Leopold, A Sand County...

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Former head of Koch brothers spy network now works for Trump White House

Here is a brief diversion from Trump’s convenient firing of the FBI director. Propublica is reporting that the former head of the Koch brothers spy network has been hired to be the White House...

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Trump to virtually eliminate clean energy R&D at Energy Department

Our corrupt oligarch has bigly plans for clean energy. Chris Mooney has the story at the Washington Post.The Trump administration is expected to propose massive cuts to federal government research on...

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Exxon loses in court and must turn over documents to NY AG Schneiderman

Exxon must now submit to a document proctological exam conducted by NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. From Reuters:May 23 A New York state appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Exxon Mobil Corp...

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Mercenaries hired to run counterintelligence operations on pipeline protestors

Energy Transfer Partners, the Texas company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, seems to have hired a goon squad to spy on protestors. From The InterceptA SHADOWY INTERNATIONAL mercenary and security...

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