Global warming, climate change, activism
Posted in Astroturfing, Media, Old King Coal, Politics, USA on Aug 18th, 2009
All I can think of is that old line from Get Smart, the classic television series. If only he had used his powers for niceness instead of evil. This story is about the hardest working man (or woman) in DC. It’s none other than that single employee at Bonner & Associates who was deemed too [...]
Posted in Alberta Tar Sands, Canada, Energy Efficiency, Old King Coal, Renewable Energy on Aug 11th, 2009
Every week, as part of my job, I read hundreds of articles that show where the clean technology and renewable energy industries are heading. And every week, Canada lurches off in the opposite direction. Every week, billions of dollars flow through the European Union, Obama’s America, China, South Korea, India, Japan — in fact, every [...]
Posted in Activism, Alberta Tar Sands, Canada, Climate Change Solutions, Old King Coal on Jul 5th, 2009
Imagine that you’re a tobacco company CEO in the 1960s, and the Surgeon General announces that your product kills people. What would you do? Perhaps you’d experiment with new filters and blends for a few years, trying to minimize the harm. But a decade passes, nothing changes, and you face a horrible truth. Your product [...]
Posted in Alberta Tar Sands, Canada, Clean Technology, Old King Coal, Politics on Jun 16th, 2009
In a wide-ranging and candid interview with The Globe & Mail’s Editorial Board, Canada’s Environment Minister has admitted what environmental activists have been saying for years — that carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology probably won’t work at the Alberta Tar Sands. Nevertheless, over the last 18 months, the provincial and federal governments have offered [...]
Posted in Alberta Tar Sands, Canada, Greenwashing, Old King Coal, Politics on May 5th, 2009
Although many countries are setting ambitious carbon reduction targets, a few are still struggling to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Among G8 economies, Canada has the worst GHG record, and Environment Canada attributes Canada’s poor showing to large increases in oil and gas production. Environment Canada says that carbon dioxide emissions rose [...]
Posted in Double Dumb Ass Award, Old King Coal, Politics, USA on May 5th, 2009
Just six days into office, Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson has signed an agreement that will let Sunflower Electric Power Corp build one 895-MW coal-fired power plant near Holcomb. The company had originally wanted to build two 700-MW coal plants, but this compromise will overcome a two-year stalemate that saw former governor Kathleen Sibelius veto the [...]
Posted in Alberta Tar Sands, Climate Change Consequences, Climate Change Science, Climate Change Solutions, Old King Coal on May 3rd, 2009
Humanity has burned half the fossil fuels required to force a 2°C rise in average global temperatures, and at the current rate, we’ll have 40 years to become a 100 percent renewable-energy society. That’s the message in a new study published in Nature last week which tries to simplify the climate debate by suggesting that [...]
Posted in Activism, Old King Coal, Politics, USA on May 1st, 2009
The Lung Association brought forward astonishing statistics this week — that in the world’s richest country, more than 186 million people live and work in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution. In fact. the air quality results in 2008* were much worse than 2007, according to the advocacy group’s State of the Air report. [...]
Posted in Old King Coal, Politics, USA on Mar 3rd, 2009
The number of climate change lobbyists in Washington, DC has tripled in five years, according to a new report from the Center for Public Integrity. The study says that in 2008, 770 companies and industry groups spent $90 million US on 2,340 lobbyists — about five for every member of Congress. In 2003, slightly more [...]
Posted in Activism, Old King Coal, Politics, USA on Mar 2nd, 2009
In a move rife with symbolism, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have asked a Washington, DC power plant to cut its GHG emissions by switching its fuel from coal to natural gas. “The Capitol Power Plant continues to be the No. 1 source of air pollution and carbon emissions in [...]