The Great Move
Posted in Housekeeping on May 30th, 2009
We’re in the middle of a large move from Lunenburg to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. I’ll start posting on One Blue Marble again next week. Salut!
Monthly Archive for May, 2009
The Green Berets: Military Advisory Board & Climate Change
Posted in Climate Change Consequences, Energy Efficiency, Politics, USA on May 25th, 2009
A new report from a dozen retired US military leaders warns that climate change poses significant risks to its national security. Dependence on fossil fuels and the vulnerable energy grid threaten the country, according to Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Securityfrom the Military Advisory Board (MAB) of the Center for Naval [...]
Obama Delivers: New CAFE Standards*
Posted in Clean Technology, Politics, USA on May 20th, 2009
In introducing tough new CAFE measures the Obama administration is hoping to kill three birds with one stone: Resolve outstanding litigation by the Big Three automakers; enhance the administration’s international credibility in the fight to slow climate change; and offer struggling US automakers a chance at salvation by embracing cutting edge technologies. And it appears [...]
Climate Study Doubles MIT’s Warming Predictions to 5.2°C (9.3°F) by 2095
Posted in Climate Change Consequences, Climate Change Science on May 20th, 2009
The newest and most comprehensive climate-change modeling study shows that without “rapid and massive action,” global warming will be about twice as severe as previously estimated — and it could be even worse than that. The MIT Integrated Global Systems Model now predicts that humanity is on a path that will see more than 5.2°C [...]
Climate Models: The Unvarnished Truth
Posted in Astroturfing, Climate Change Science, Global Warming Myths, Social Justice on May 18th, 2009
Before starting One Blue Marble, I spent considerable time visiting political web sites to better understand why conservatives think that global warming is a huge hoax perpetrated by scientists (read: socialists) who are hellbent on destroying our cherished way of life. But I came away empty. There was nothing there, no insight to be gleaned. [...]
Eggs in One Basket: Harper’s Economic Disaster is Barreling Along
Posted in Alberta Tar Sands, Canada, USA on May 16th, 2009
US cap-and-trade legislation will have widespread ramifications, not only for Americans, but for America’s largest trading partner, too.** Canada’s Conservative government has placed all its financial eggs in one basket in making the Alberta tar sands the center of the country’s economic policy.* Unfortunately for Canada, with depressed prices for oil, tar sands companies are [...]
PR Battle Over Cap-and-Trade Reaches a Fevered Pitch
Posted in Astroturfing, Greenwashing, Politics, USA on May 14th, 2009
Oil and coal companies — the most vocal opponents of US cap-and-trade climate legislation — have spent more than $76 million over the last four months on public relations and mass advertising trying to to defeat the climate bill now before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. When you combine that incredible sum with money [...]
Cutting Emissions with Biomass: Ethanol-Fueled Vehicles vs EVs
Posted in Clean Technology, Energy Efficiency on May 12th, 2009
Researchers from the University of California, Merced and Stanford University have determined that EVs charged on biomass-fueled electricity emit far fewer GHG emissions than ethanol-fueled cars. The researchers examined the life cycle of plant-based electricity and ethanol technologies to find which delivered more transportation per acre; they found that biomass electricity provided about 80 percent [...]
Two @ Triple Pundit
Posted in Clean Technology, Climate Change Solutions, Energy Efficiency on May 8th, 2009
You Are the Light of the World The Holy Grail: Carbon-Capturing Cement Plus other writers on Shell, starting an ecodriving school, and much, much more.
A Letter to the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister for the Environment
Posted in Activism, Canada, Politics, Red Letter Campaign on May 5th, 2009
Honorable Jim Prentice Office of the Environment 10 Wellington Street, 28th flr, Gatineau, Québec K1A 0H3 Dear Mr. Prentice: A recent Globe and Mail story (April 28, 2009) outlined an Environment Canada study which suggested that our country’s GHG emissions rose by 4 percent in 2007, and that oil, gas and mining emissions rose by [...]