Environment
gregladen | July 28, 2011In the old days this was easy. The power plants were melting down but no one knew what was going on inside them; Water was being poured in and cooking off as steam, and every now and then the way they were getting the water in or the way they were powering the pumps would change, or one of the containment buildings would blow up, or whatever. If you've been reading the last few Fukushima Updates, however, you'll know that things related to the crippled nuclear power plant have gotten more, not less complicated, which at first is counter-intuitive, but on reflection, expected. After all,…
illconsidered | July 26, 2011 Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Instability News Information is not Knowledge...Knowledge is notWisdomJuly 24, 2011 Autobahn, Chuckles, COP17+, Horn of Africa, BBC Trust, Geoneutrinos Bottom Line, GFIs, Open Access, Cook, Post CRU Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Fukushima Talk Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Methane Food Crisis, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, Food Production…
sastyk | July 21, 2011As most of the country slowly roasts in one of the worst heat waves so far, I thought it was worth reminding people that one can stay safe in the heat, even without air conditioning. This is important now for the millions of people who don't own air conditioners, who don't want the environmental impact of an air conditioner, or who find themselves for various reasons, without power in the hot weather. As we all know, this is peak season for brown and blackouts.
There are a lot of parallels between dealing with extreme heat and extreme cold in a difficult situation. The first and most…
illconsidered | July 18, 2011 Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Disruption News Information Overloadis Pattern RecognitionJuly 17, 2011 Chuckles, COP17+, African Famine, WikiLeaks, Death Threats Bottom Line, Subsidies, Cook, WESS Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy, Fukushima Talk Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Geopolitics, Antarctica Food Crisis, Food vs. Biofuel, GMOs, Food Production Hurricanes, Carbon Cycle,…
gregladen | July 17, 2011The International Atomic Energy Association issued its last report on Fukushima on June 2nd and appears to not be keeping their web site up to date any more. This is the last time I'll be checking with them unless I hear otherwise. The email scandal reported last time continues "Analysts say the scandal reflects panic in Japan's atomic power industry, long coddled by political, corporate and regulatory interests dubbed the "nuclear village" but now facing growing anti-nuclear sentiment as workers battle to end the Fukushima crisis.? (from Ana's Feed, below). The magnitude of the tsunami…
illconsidered | July 11, 2011 Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Disruption News Sipping from the Internet Firehose...July 10, 2011 Chuckles, COP17+, Australian ETS, Coal Sulfur, WESS, Phoenix Bottom Line, Costing Nature, Cook, The Conversation Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Fukushima Talk Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Geopolitics, Antarctica Food Crisis, Food Prices, GMOs, Food Production Hurricanes, Monsoon, GHGs,…
gregladen | July 11, 2011I woke up this morning and the world was slightly different than it was the night before. Well, it probably always is a little different each day, but there are certain times when you notice this. I'm not talking about the bits of siding, roofing, and trees scattered about the landscape because of the very severe thunderstorm we had last night, although I suppose this is indirectly related.
If you are not a Minnesotan this will take some explanation:
Don Shelby newscaster, was the Walter Cronkite of the Twin Cities. Stately in appearance, white-haired (since birth, presumably), deep…
gregladen | July 9, 2011Perhaps the most interesting single thing on the table in today's update is the revelation that at least one of Fukushima's reactors suffered sufficient damage from the earthquake that hit the region ... prior to the tsunami ... to have likely gone out of control or melted down. This is hard to assess because the tsunami caused so much additional damage as to obscure earlier damage, and because cleanup efforts are not proper forensic methods to reconstruct what happened there, and because we can assume at this point that the untrustworthy TEPCO will cover up whatever it can, and it is in…
tfk | July 5, 2011The New York Times reports: E.P.A. Chief Stands Firm as Tough Rules Loom:
In the next weeks and months, Lisa P. Jackson, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, is scheduled to establish regulations on smog, mercury, carbon dioxide, mining waste and vehicle emissions that will affect every corner of the economy.
She is working under intense pressure from opponents in Congress, from powerful industries, from impatient environmentalists and from the Supreme Court, which just affirmed the agencyâs duty to address global warming emissions, a project that carries profound economic…
illconsidered | July 4, 2011 Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Disruption News Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck YearsJuly 3, 2011 Chuckles, G20, State of the Climate, Threats, The Conversation Bottom Line, Subsidies, GFI, Psyche, Cook, Post CRU Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy, Fukushima Talk Melting Arctic, Polar Bears, Geopolitics, Antarctica Food Crisis, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs,…
mikethemadbiologist | June 29, 2011Monday, The NY Times had an interesting story about Zurich, Switzerland's intentional policy of making car-based transportation utterly miserable--and thereby convincing people to use other transit options:
While American cities are synchronizing green lights to improve traffic flow and offering apps to help drivers find parking, many European cities are doing the opposite: creating environments openly hostile to cars. The methods vary, but the mission is clear -- to make car use expensive and just plain miserable enough to tilt drivers toward more environmentally friendly modes of…
esiegel | June 27, 2011"Doubt, indulged and cherished, is in danger of becoming denial; but if honest, and bent on thorough investigation, it may soon lead to full establishment of the truth." -Ambrose Bierce
About a week and a half ago, I wrote an article called The Power of Theory In Science, where I mentioned the Big Bang, Evolution, and Global Warming as some of the leading scientific theories describing a variety of natural phenomena.
Image credit: Rhys Taylor, Cardiff University.
And while no one took issue with my assertion that the Big Bang and Evolution were the best scientific theories describing (…
gregladen | June 27, 2011My old friend Mark Moffett is one of the pioneers of high canopy research, dragging his cameras into the upper reached of the rain forest to learn amazing new things and take some amazing photographs. He's also spent considerable time on and beneath the forest floor studying ants. You know those research projects where they excavate an entire leaf cutter ant colony in order to understand how their underground labyrinths are laid out and function as a sort of earth-encrusted organism? That was Mark. Well, others have done it but he was a pioneer in that research.
I met Mark when he was in…
illconsidered | June 27, 2011 Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Disruption News Sipping from the Internet Firehose...June 26, 2011 Chuckles, Bonn, COP17+, G20, IPSO, The Conversation, Threats Bottom Line, Subsidies, Psyche, Cook Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy, Fukushima Talk Melting Arctic, Fauna, Geopolitics Food Crisis, Agro-Corps, Prices, Riots, Food vs. Biofuel, Land Grabs, GMOs, Production…
pronald | June 25, 2011This week, the G20 Agriculture Ministers gathered for their first-ever meeting to discuss potential measures to address price volatility and record high food prices. The key to any long-term solution is acknowledging that we need to empower the very people whose lives are most affected by food shortages. Three-quarters of the world's poorest people get their food and income by farming small plots of land. The potential of small farmers for getting us out of this and future food crises cannot be overstated.
Today, we find that millions of lives depend upon the extent to which agricultural…
jrosenhouse | June 21, 2011I often write posts arguing that it is difficult to reconcile evolution and Christianity. When you consider that evolution challenges certain claims of the Bible, refutes the traditional design argument, exacerbates the problem of evil, and suggests that humanity does not play any central role in creation, you have a pretty strong cumulative case. But I always stop short of saying bluntly that you cannot accept both evolution and Christianity. That is not for political reasons or out of fear of offending anyone. It is simply that I do not believe that the question “Can a Darwinian be a…
illconsidered | June 20, 2011 Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years
This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup
skip to bottom Another week of Climate Disruption News Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck YearsJune 19, 2011 Chuckles, Bonn, The Conversation, Forest Europe, Solar Cycle, SRREN, Threats Bottom Line, Subsidies, C40, Psyche, Cook, Equinox Fukushima Note, Fukushima News, Nuclear Policy, Fukushima Talk Melting Arctic, Geopolitics, Antarctica Food Crisis, Agro-Corps, Food Prices, Food vs. Biofuel,…
kcollins | June 17, 2011Overseeing the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) - the country's largest water, earth and biological scientific and civilian mapping agency -- seems a natural fit for Marcia McNutt. She's a Navy Seals-trained underwater demolition and explosives expert, earthquake scientist, avid lover of the ocean -- and a leading geophysicist who brings vast academic and scientific background to her post.
As the first woman director of the USGS in the agency's 131-year history, Marcia was nominated to the post by President Obama in 2009 and later approved by the Senate to head USGS's mission of serving as…
gregladen | June 15, 2011There is an increase in reports of activity of scientists studying the extent and impacts of radiation spilled or otherwise transferred into the ocean from Fukushima. TEPCO, in the meantime, seems to have a need to put a lot more water, possibly decontaminated to some degree, into the sea. Similarly, there is a plan afoot to release previously sequestered air from Reactor 2, with filtering to lower contamination applied to the air before the building's doors are opened. Venting began about four days ago.
Another report has been released confirming that not only did Reactors 1, 2 and 3…
ksnyder | June 14, 2011This guest post is written by Stephen R. Springston, an atmospheric chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. After receiving his Ph.D. in chemistry from Indiana University, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Utah before joining Brookhaven in 1986.
Stephen Springston
After studying clouds and climate in Oklahoma during tornado season and storms atop Colorado mountaintops, a group of atmospheric scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory will soon be helping to sample the skies over India.
We've been asked to share our expertise on conducting ground and…