Close enough to home for ya?
NEW ORLEANS – Researchers tracking the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico say computer models show the black ooze may have already entered a major current flowing toward the Florida Keys, and are sending out a research vessel to learn more.
William Hogarth, dean of the University of South [...]
Continue reading about USF dean: Gulf spill to hit Gulf Stream soon
Athletes at the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games are not allowed to protest any of the human rights violations China is committing. That’s why this image has quite the metaphorical power:
This member of the U.S. cycling team is wearing a mask because of the high pollution in Beijing (in itself a bona fide human rights problem [...]
Problem: Managers asleep at the wheel when a change hits that should have been obvious for at least the last 5 years. Consumers respond in logical, predictable fashion.
Solution: Fire people working for said managers, close plants, blame the consumers.
Responding to a consumer shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, General Motors said Tuesday that it would stop [...]
Continue reading about G.M. Closing 4 Plants in Shift From Trucks Toward Cars
Finally!
The United States has listed the polar bear as a threatened species, because its Arctic sea ice habitat is melting due to climate change.
But even though a Supreme Court ruling said it should:
(…) However, the government stressed the listing would not lead to measures to prevent global warming.” BBC
The United States has missed its own postponed deadline to decide if polar bears need protection from climate change, and critics link the delay to an oil lease sale in a vast swath of the bear’s icy habitat.
“When it comes to the survival of the polar bear, the Bush administration is putting the ‘dead’ back [...]
Continue reading about US Misses Second Deadline to Protect Polar Bears
I’ve seen a fair number of Greenpeace “protests” that may have achieved the short term goal Greenpeace was gunning for, but has made environmentalists look incredibly bad in the process. The aftermath information released after Greenpeace successfully stopped the oil platform Brent Spar to be dumbed in the Atlantic, comes to mind. (wiki link)
This, on [...]
Congress. We help you water your lawn.
President Bush suffered the first veto override of his seven-year-old presidency Thursday as the Senate enacted a $23 billion water resources bill despite his protest that it was filled with unnecessary projects. The vote was 79-14 to pass the bill.Senate overrides Bush water projects veto - Politics - [...]
Continue reading about congress overturns presidential veto first time in century
Where was THIS Gore in 2000? Watch him slam CNN’s and the mainstream media’s practice to always show two sides to every story, no matter how ridiculous the “opposing view” is. (For example showing a Holocaust survivor splitscreen next to a Holocaust denier.) The good part starts at minute 2:13.
So long, Florida!
The meltdown of Greenland’s ice sheet is speeding up, satellite measurements show.
Data from a US space agency (Nasa) satellite show that the melting rate has accelerated since 2004.
If the ice cap were to completely disappear, global sea levels would rise by 6.5m (21 feet) BBC
With gas prices reaching an all time high in the US, the St. Pete Times has a list of things you can do to improve your gas mileage. It starts out with nonsense like this:
“I used to drive 10 miles over the speed limit, figuring I could get away with that,” said Rodriguez, 37, a [...]
Continue reading about Who needs to change if you can just bicker
Don’t get me wrong, this could help:
Storing carbon dioxide under the sea-bed could help to reduce global warming, according to US scientists. BBC
But I still say it’s better to fight the cause then try to fudge the symptoms. If we lower COâ‚‚ emissions, we won’t even have to turn the oceans into our private dump. [...]
Continue reading about US scientists suggest storing COâ‚‚ in ocean
Global warming is a myth. And because the weather is not getting more extreme at all we don’t need to crank up the air conditioning units that would cause global warming, if such a thing did exist, which it doesn’t. Or does it?
Continue reading about Electrical Use Hits New Highs in Much of U.S.
As the BBC reports it is very likely that Wales receives its very own nuclear reactor based power plant.
If you think you could manage the UK’s energy needs better and without the need for nuclear energy the BBC also put together a pretty nifty simulator that puts you in the planning seat here.
The West African black rhino appears to have become extinct, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN). BBC
Sometime this weekend, I stood in front of an exhibit at Busch Gardens and watched a throng of people point at a number of white birds that sat in the oak trees above. The birds — white ibises, to be precise — were native to Florida and were as much a part of the display [...]
This weekend, the New York Times ran an article with the headline “Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him.” It was one of many incidents that are symptomatic of a quite daring bet taken by the U.S. government founded on its seemingly steadfast belief that global warming does not exist.
The New York Times reported [...]
Continue reading about Administration gambling with global warming
CNN is reporting one of the levees that were overpowered by Hurricane Katrina, flooding New Orleans, has “broken” again.
A CNN photojournalist reported that the water was at least two-feet deep in the ward and was rising quickly.
The Army Corps of Engineers disputed that, saying water was overtopping the Industrial Canal levee but the barrier [...]
Continue reading about New Orleans levee again overpowered by storm surge
Just like last summer in Orlando:
Hurricane Rita prompted a mandatory evacuation of (Houston’s) public shelters on Tuesday, emptying them as quickly as they had filled just three weeks ago and sending still-dazed survivors of Hurricane Katrina packing off to Arkansas, to the bus terminal, to the airport and, for some who considered themselves lucky, to [...]
Continue reading about Evacuees of One Storm Flee Another in Texas
NASA outlined a strategy Monday that would put humans back on the moon as early as 2018, a proposal meant as a first stage to manned space flights exploring our solar system.
One of the first questions that come to mind is, “Why did it take so long?†The last time a human walked on a [...]
Two tropical depressions (Rita and Philippe) are being tracked and could make it our way. The worst case scenario is definitely not a couple of days without power or air conditioning, like my wife and I had last year, but for either one of the storms to come even remotely close to New Orleans. The [...]
Continue reading about New storms, New Orleans to remain closed
Talk about the “who’s watching the watcher” syndrome:
US President George W Bush says he will lead an investigation into how the Hurricane Katrina disaster was handled.
“I’m going to find out over time what went right and what went wrong,” he said in reply to criticism that the authorities were too slow to respond.
The US Senate [...]
Continue reading about Bush to lead inquiry on how he messed up
Republican Louisiana Senator David Vitter to Agence France Press:
“My guess is that it (the death toll) will start at 10,000, but that is only a guess,” Vitter said, adding that he was not basing his remarks on any official death toll or body count.
(…) Vitter, speaking to reporters at the emergency response center in Baton [...]
One thing to bear in mind: The hurricane season is half over and the strongest storms usually hit in September. I am not saying this to create a panic. But maybe that’s what is needed for the Bush administration to take such a threat serious?
Reuters has an article going into the details of how likely [...]
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is asking the right questions:
Before 9/11 the Federal Emergency Management Agency listed the three most likely catastrophic disasters facing America: a terrorist attack on New York, a major earthquake in San Francisco and a hurricane strike on New Orleans. “The New Orleans hurricane scenario,” The Houston Chronicle wrote in [...]
