Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Monday, June 04, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Politics and Global Warming
Go here for a general overview of the presidential candidates views on global warming.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Gas prices not high enough
For all their complaining as they pay $3 a gallon or more to fill up their cars, few American drivers have yet to reach the point of cutting back. ( MSNBC)
The solution to high gas prices is simple. If we demand less gasoline, prices will fall. Econ 101. As long as Americans continue to want to drive everywhere they go- no matter how close it is to their home- and want to drive gas-guzzling SUVs and HUMMERs to get there, then they should simply quit complaining and admit that their own gluttony is the source of their problem.
Monday, May 07, 2007
You thought I was nuts
In the post below I said to be prepared for gas at $4 a gallon. Well, CNN makes the same prediction this afternoon.
Get ready for $4 gasoline
With gas prices near record highs, experts say $4-a-gallon gasoline is just around the corner.
Get ready for $4 gasoline
With gas prices near record highs, experts say $4-a-gallon gasoline is just around the corner.
"I think it's going to happen," said Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago. "Unless things change dramatically, I think we're going to see $4 a gallon."
Refinery output in the U.S. has been below normal for several months now, after fires and other accidents combined with longer than normal maintenance shutdowns, hurting production.
This all comes just as the nation gears up for the summer driving season, spurred by vacationing families and students out of school.
Gas prices
A lot of people are clamoring right now over gas prices. Gas prices are at a record high at the pump- $3.07 per gallon. Americans ask, "Why are they so high?"
Check out this post from Faithfully Liberal for an example of this.
The answers are simple.
First, we don't have enough refineries in the US to process the oil that has been extracted from the ground. Oil prices are actually down from all time highs (currently $62/barrel down from $79). So, we cannot turn the oil into gasoline fast enough.
But that begs a question which is the second and more important point. Why can't we refine oil fast enough? Because we use too much of it.
The ultimate problem with gas prices is demand. With 5% of the worlds population, the US demands about 25% of the world's energy. This is not sustainable.
Oil is, at least, a relatively finite resource. If we do not begin to find ways to use less- from conservation to alternative energy sources- then we will continue to see rising gas prices, particularly as emerging economies (ie., India and China) demand more themselves.
I am unimpressed by American complaints about high gas prices, and will remain so, until I see evidence that the prices are actually causing Americans to change their behavior. Right now, Americans are not driving less despite record high prices, and prices that have been high and rising for some time.
In the Pilgrim's view, gas prices are not yet high enough. Only when the predictions of market economics are realized- when prices influence behavior- will they have reached the proper level.
In the meantime, get ready for $4 a gallon.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
This is not the answer
Bush administration nod for oil drilling off Virginia coast
When we need to move away from oil to alternative energies, our President and his Administration demonstrate a decided lack of vision.
When we need to move away from oil to alternative energies, our President and his Administration demonstrate a decided lack of vision.
Are we too late?
Arctic ice cap melting 30 years ahead of forecast
The Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.S. ice expert said on Tuesday.
No ice on the Arctic Ocean during summer would be a major spur to global warming, said Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Center in Colorado.
"Right now ... the Arctic helps keep the Earth cool," Scambos said in a telephone interview. "Without that Arctic ice, or with much less of it, the Earth will warm much faster."
Often in the discussions of climate change, one hears the term 'tipping point.' This is when we cross a point of no return. When too much carbon is released from the permafrost, for example. Or, in this case, when too much ice near the poles has melted.
Have we reached a 'tipping point'? I surely don't know. But I'm worried.
This news adds to the worry:
Netherlands records the hottest April in 300 years
The previous record, April 1794, was exceeded by almost two degrees.
I'm not sure we can expect to pay the price of continued inaction.
The Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.S. ice expert said on Tuesday.
No ice on the Arctic Ocean during summer would be a major spur to global warming, said Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Center in Colorado.
"Right now ... the Arctic helps keep the Earth cool," Scambos said in a telephone interview. "Without that Arctic ice, or with much less of it, the Earth will warm much faster."
Often in the discussions of climate change, one hears the term 'tipping point.' This is when we cross a point of no return. When too much carbon is released from the permafrost, for example. Or, in this case, when too much ice near the poles has melted.
Have we reached a 'tipping point'? I surely don't know. But I'm worried.
This news adds to the worry:
Netherlands records the hottest April in 300 years
The previous record, April 1794, was exceeded by almost two degrees.
I'm not sure we can expect to pay the price of continued inaction.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The need to change
Given this story about US CO2 contributions to the atmosphere, this testimony seems rather a no-brainer.
More expeditious and clear, concise standards are needed to quickly implement carbon capture and storage, experts at a hearing in Washington said Monday.The United States leads the world in the technology of CO2 injection to recover oil from depleted oil reservoirs -- a process known as enhanced oil recovery, said George Guthrie, program director for fossil energy and environment at Los Alamos National Laboratory at the second panel of a full hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
"I'm very worried about why it is taking us so long to get where we are, and I think I understand, now having heard the testimony of the three of you, how difficult it is to move along very fast," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., ranking member of the committee.
More expeditious and clear, concise standards are needed to quickly implement carbon capture and storage, experts at a hearing in Washington said Monday.The United States leads the world in the technology of CO2 injection to recover oil from depleted oil reservoirs -- a process known as enhanced oil recovery, said George Guthrie, program director for fossil energy and environment at Los Alamos National Laboratory at the second panel of a full hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
"I'm very worried about why it is taking us so long to get where we are, and I think I understand, now having heard the testimony of the three of you, how difficult it is to move along very fast," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., ranking member of the committee.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
The results of inaction
Carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. have risen by 18 per cent during the 1990-2004 period, a recent study by an advocacy group has indicated. The state-wise study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group showed that CO2 emissions came down in only two states -- Delaware and Massachusetts -- and the District of Columbia, while Texas and Nevada headed the list where the emissions grew at the highest rate. The group used data from the U.S. department of energy for the study.
And the problem continues to grow, as we make no serious national effort to deal with the looming crisis.
And the problem continues to grow, as we make no serious national effort to deal with the looming crisis.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Footprint
I'm not sure how accurate this is, but this website claims to provide you with your ecological footprint. Pretty rough estimate, I think, but may be a place to start a self-evaluation.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Hitting Home
U.N. report spells out U.S. warming impacts
Chicago and Los Angeles will likely face increasing heat waves. Severe storm surges could hit New York and Boston. And cities that rely on melting snow for water may run into serious shortages.
"Canada and the United States are, despite being strong economies with the financial power to cope, facing many of the same impacts that are projected for the rest of the world," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, which co-founded the panel.
"Heavily-utilized water systems of the western U.S. and Canada, such as the Columbia River, that rely on capturing snowmelt runoff, will be especially vulnerable," the report said.
A temperature warming of a few degrees by the 2040s is likely to sharply reduce summer flows, at a time of rising demand, it said.
By then, the panel estimated that Portland, Ore., will require over 26 million additional cubic meters of water as a result of climate change and population growth, but the Columbia River's summer supply will have dropped by an estimated 5 million cubic meters.
Meanwhile, it said, just over 40 percent of the water supply to Southern California is likely to be vulnerable by the 2020s due to losses of the Sierra Nevada and Colorado River basin snow packs.
More potential impacts are reported.
The poorest in the world will be hurt most, but we will all suffer.
Unless we ACT.
Chicago and Los Angeles will likely face increasing heat waves. Severe storm surges could hit New York and Boston. And cities that rely on melting snow for water may run into serious shortages.
"Canada and the United States are, despite being strong economies with the financial power to cope, facing many of the same impacts that are projected for the rest of the world," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, which co-founded the panel.
"Heavily-utilized water systems of the western U.S. and Canada, such as the Columbia River, that rely on capturing snowmelt runoff, will be especially vulnerable," the report said.
A temperature warming of a few degrees by the 2040s is likely to sharply reduce summer flows, at a time of rising demand, it said.
By then, the panel estimated that Portland, Ore., will require over 26 million additional cubic meters of water as a result of climate change and population growth, but the Columbia River's summer supply will have dropped by an estimated 5 million cubic meters.
Meanwhile, it said, just over 40 percent of the water supply to Southern California is likely to be vulnerable by the 2020s due to losses of the Sierra Nevada and Colorado River basin snow packs.
More potential impacts are reported.
The poorest in the world will be hurt most, but we will all suffer.
Unless we ACT.
The Governator goes Green?
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger boasted Wednesday that California's leadership is making environmentalism both sexy and mainstream, not a guilt-driven movement for "tree-huggers" and "fanatics."
Did he drive his Hummer to the arena to make the speech?
UPDATE:
I hear his Hummer is somehow modified to make it environmentally friendly. Don't know the details.
Did he drive his Hummer to the arena to make the speech?
UPDATE:
I hear his Hummer is somehow modified to make it environmentally friendly. Don't know the details.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Another Global Warming Concern
'Global Warming Will Decimate Biodiversity'
This should be of great concern, as diversity can relate directly to health- for humans. If plants that we use for food, for example, do not adapt well to increasing temperatures, then the diversity within that plant species grows more limited. In such a case, that plant species is more likely to be severly damaged, even wiped out, but a 'blight' of some sort, thus causing problems in terms of feeding populations.
Add this to the issues of potential drought due to global warming, and concerns about taking care of the human species grows.
Too often people reject concerns about biodiversity as the worries of tree-huggers who want to save owls (I'll never forget the first President Bush criticizing Gore saying that if Gore were elected (w/ Clinton) 'We'll be out of work and up to our neck in owls").
The fact is, biodiversity is important to us.
This should be of great concern, as diversity can relate directly to health- for humans. If plants that we use for food, for example, do not adapt well to increasing temperatures, then the diversity within that plant species grows more limited. In such a case, that plant species is more likely to be severly damaged, even wiped out, but a 'blight' of some sort, thus causing problems in terms of feeding populations.
Add this to the issues of potential drought due to global warming, and concerns about taking care of the human species grows.
Too often people reject concerns about biodiversity as the worries of tree-huggers who want to save owls (I'll never forget the first President Bush criticizing Gore saying that if Gore were elected (w/ Clinton) 'We'll be out of work and up to our neck in owls").
The fact is, biodiversity is important to us.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
A point worth repeating
Here it is again- the Japanese automakers are beating the US doing exactly what the US companies say they cannot do to stay competitive. (See this earlier post or this one.)
Japanese automakers are driving Americans toward a cleaner environment, while their U.S. counterparts are producing cars and trucks ranked among the worst when it comes to smog emissions and global warming, according to a report released Tuesday by an environmental group.
Toyota Motor Corp., on pace to become the largest U.S. automobile manufacturer, was the other, compiling the best global warming scores in six of 10 categories, better-than-average scores in the remaining categories. It came within 3 percentage points of earning the group's top overall ranking.
The notion that environmental protection and good business are necessarily at odds is demonstrably wrong. We simply lack the will to make changes.
Japanese automakers are driving Americans toward a cleaner environment, while their U.S. counterparts are producing cars and trucks ranked among the worst when it comes to smog emissions and global warming, according to a report released Tuesday by an environmental group.
Toyota Motor Corp., on pace to become the largest U.S. automobile manufacturer, was the other, compiling the best global warming scores in six of 10 categories, better-than-average scores in the remaining categories. It came within 3 percentage points of earning the group's top overall ranking.
The notion that environmental protection and good business are necessarily at odds is demonstrably wrong. We simply lack the will to make changes.
The Environment Scores over the Bush Administration
Score one for the good guys- those who wish to fulfill their religious obligation to be good stewards of God's planet (remember those on the right who claim that the US is a Christian nation, established on Christian principles- well, step up and prove it!) and those who wish to have a clear moral conscience about the Earth we leave to future generations.
Warming ruling squeezes Bush from both sides
The Supreme Court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to explain why it has refused to regulate greenhouse gas pollution from cars, putting the Bush administration under pressure from an unusual coalition of environmental groups and leaders of the auto industry to move quickly on global warming.
In a 5-to-4 decision, the court rejected the administration’s argument that it had no legal authority to limit carbon dioxide released from new cars. In a ruling described as a landmark victory for environmental activists, it decided that the EPA does have such authority and that it must give better reasons for not using it than the “laundry list” of “impermissible considerations” it has offered until now.
Stevens sided in unusually strong language with scientists who say that U.S. car emissions do contribute to greenhouse gases, leading to global warming. In doing so, he rebutted the contention of some energy industry officials and Republicans in the administration and Congress that there is no proof of global warming.
The contribution of American cars to global warming is so significant, Stevens wrote, that strong regulations “would slow the pace of global emissions, no matter what happens elsewhere in the world.”
Earthjustice was a part of the coalition that led the fight against the inaction of the Bush Administration. They issued a statement that said, in part:
"Today is a great day for the environment. In one of the most important environmental cases of its history, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed what we have been saying all along: The Clean Air Act gives EPA authority to fight global warming. The EPA must act immediately and issue regulations that limit greenhouse gases from motor vehicles that contribute to global warming.
"While this case has worked its way through EPA and the courts, scientific evidence of global warming has continued to mount -- so much so that the scientific debate is over. Our climate is warming, and pollution from human activities is a major cause. Harms include rising seas that submerge coastal lands, stronger hurricanes, more drought, melting ice caps and degraded ecosystems.
"To combat this most urgent environmental crisis, strong and comprehensive U.S. action is crucial. EPA must use its existing Clean Air Act authority to require control of greenhouse gas emissions -- by motor vehicles... '
Warming ruling squeezes Bush from both sides
The Supreme Court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to explain why it has refused to regulate greenhouse gas pollution from cars, putting the Bush administration under pressure from an unusual coalition of environmental groups and leaders of the auto industry to move quickly on global warming.
In a 5-to-4 decision, the court rejected the administration’s argument that it had no legal authority to limit carbon dioxide released from new cars. In a ruling described as a landmark victory for environmental activists, it decided that the EPA does have such authority and that it must give better reasons for not using it than the “laundry list” of “impermissible considerations” it has offered until now.
Stevens sided in unusually strong language with scientists who say that U.S. car emissions do contribute to greenhouse gases, leading to global warming. In doing so, he rebutted the contention of some energy industry officials and Republicans in the administration and Congress that there is no proof of global warming.
The contribution of American cars to global warming is so significant, Stevens wrote, that strong regulations “would slow the pace of global emissions, no matter what happens elsewhere in the world.”
Earthjustice was a part of the coalition that led the fight against the inaction of the Bush Administration. They issued a statement that said, in part:
"Today is a great day for the environment. In one of the most important environmental cases of its history, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed what we have been saying all along: The Clean Air Act gives EPA authority to fight global warming. The EPA must act immediately and issue regulations that limit greenhouse gases from motor vehicles that contribute to global warming.
"While this case has worked its way through EPA and the courts, scientific evidence of global warming has continued to mount -- so much so that the scientific debate is over. Our climate is warming, and pollution from human activities is a major cause. Harms include rising seas that submerge coastal lands, stronger hurricanes, more drought, melting ice caps and degraded ecosystems.
"To combat this most urgent environmental crisis, strong and comprehensive U.S. action is crucial. EPA must use its existing Clean Air Act authority to require control of greenhouse gas emissions -- by motor vehicles... '
Friday, March 30, 2007
If the seas rise...
Global warming creates concerns that melting ice caps could lead to rising sea levels. If so...
One person in 10 worldwide and one in eight among city dwellers are residing in areas which are less than 10 meters above sea level and near the coasts exposing themselves to risks of rising seas and storms caused by global warming, a new study has shown.... 634 million people lived in coastal areas -- 360 million in towns and cities -- in 2000.
[M]ore than 75 per cent of such settlements were in Asia, especially China and India, where trade is mostly done through the sea route. In terms of population, China holds the No 1 position in risk with nearly 143 million people living by seacoasts. India comes next, followed by Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, Egypt, the United States, Thailand and the Philippines.
What I'd love to see added to this study- what are the economic circumstances of the people living in these threatened areas.
On the surface, there's cause for concern. China, for example ranks 115th in the world with only about $1,300 per capita in GDP. Bangladesh has only about $400 per capita in GDP (156th in the world). Other nations like Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Phillipines are not world economic leaders.
Is this more evidence that the poorest in the world may be hurt most by global warming? It certainly appears so.
Evangelical leader FOR environmental responsiblity
The Bible has always talked about taking care of the Earth. As a matter of fact, that's the first order we got in the Garden, where it said to cultivate the earth and keep it. The Hebrew words are abad and shamar – you see them on police cars, they mean "to serve" and "to protect." And throughout the Scripture it talks about taking care of the gift of creation, and so on. However, the problem is that it's not been very high on our priority list. Most of evangelical Christianity has not really paid attention to that until recently, when this climate-change revelation brought it to our attention. This is a front-burner issue now, because we are fast polluting the earth to the extent that the poor especially are going to be hurt. Knowing how Jesus always prioritized the poor and cared for those who are vulnerable, we've always known we're supposed to do this but we've never really done it.
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