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You think you’re so clever, huh?

Climate change couldn’t possibly be real! How do I know? Look outside, asshat! We’ve had a metric fuckload of snow this year. And … game. Set. Match.

Not so fast!

Here are the facts.

Fact: Climate change causes more frequent and severe snowstorms

Record snowstorms need two things: temperatures below freezing, and very high humidity. On a planet warmer by a few degrees on average, the Northeast US will still have plenty of days below freezing; the big difference will be warmer seas producing higher levels of moisture in the air — and therefore more severe cold-season storms.1

Fact: We can expect more extreme weather

Scientists tell us that climate change has already led to more extreme weather in the United States and we can expect stronger hurricanes, more wildfires, heatwaves and droughts, to name a few.2 The cost of inaction could reach half a trillion dollars a year.3

Fact: The world is warming at a quickening pace

Weather in one region over days or months should not be confused with climate or the patterns of weather over decades and centuries. And the science is clear here: the last decade was the hottest on record.4 And to put this year’s weather in perspective, January was warmer than average for the continental United States.5

February 23, 2010

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When the solution creates another problem…

NPR reports:

More than twenty years ago, an international treaty known as the Montreal Protocol phased out a group of chemicals that were destroying the earth’s ozone layer.

But since then, scientists have discovered that that some of the chemicals developed to replace those destructive compounds might be contributing to another problem: global warming.

These new chemicals are known as HFCs, and they’re used as coolants in refrigerators. HFCs have largely replaced older refrigerants, such as CFCs. These replacements are non-flammable and don’t hurt the ozone.

But when it comes to global warming, HFCs aren’t so good, says Kert Davies of Greenpeace.

“We call them the super greenhouse gases,” Davies says. “They’re the global warming threat that no one has really heard about.”

[…]

By 2050, LaBudde says, the global warming from HFCs could cancel out all the reductions in CO2 likely to emerge from the United Nations climate talks that will take place in Copenhagen in December.

September 21, 2009

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link Plastics in Ocean Decompose After All

And that’s not good news. Islands of plastic waste floating in the oceans are filled with supposedly “indestructible” plastics that are decomposing quickly and releasing toxic substances into the water.

August 20, 2009

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When it comes to eliminating actual pollutants such as mercury, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide, coal burning power plants have done a truly remarkable job cleaning up their act. Thanks to rational EPA regulations and narrowly focused cap-and-trade solutions, Pittsburgh is no longer covered in soot and acid rain isn’t killing trees in New England. Through it all, regulators paid attention to physics so the utility industry hasn’t gone bankrupt.

But none of these pollutants are desired end products of coal combustion. This means they can be eliminated without destroying the fundamental energy releasing activity of burning coal. The same is not true for carbon dioxide. Building a coal burning power plant that spits out electricity without producing carbon dioxide is like asking water to flow uphill.
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Bill Frezza: Clean Coal: An Unsustainable Political Myth

This whole, short article is worth a look.

(via mattlehrer)

July 21, 2009

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You’ll have to pry my car out of my cold, dead, cancer-ridden hands.

But seriously … meet you in Kalawao?

Air Toxins Raise Cancer Risk In U.S. Neighborhoods:

Millions of people living in nearly 600 neighborhoods across the country are breathing concentrations of toxic air pollutants that put them at a much greater risk of contracting cancer, according to new data from the Environmental Protection Agency.

The levels of 80 cancer-causing substances released by automobiles, factories and other sources in these areas exceed a 100 in 1 million cancer risk. That means that if 1 million people breathed air with similar concentrations over their lifetime, about 100 additional people would be expected to develop cancer because of their exposure to the pollution. […]

People living in parts of Coconino County, Ariz., and Lyon County, Nev., had the lowest cancer risk from air toxics. The counties with the least toxic air are Kalawao County, Hawaii, and Golden Valley County, Mont.

June 24, 2009

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Spam Emails: the SUVs of the Internet

The Economist reports:

“According to a report from an environmental consultancy… some 62 trillion unsolicited e-mails were sent in 2008, using 33 terawatt hours of electricity. That is equivalent to the energy consumed by 1.5m American homes or 3.1m cars over a year. If generated by coal-fired power stations it would release 17m tonnes of carbon dioxide, some 0.2% of global emissions of this greenhouse gas.” 

(Via notentirely.)

June 15, 2009

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link Shell to Pay Out $15.5 Million to Settle Landmark Lawsuit over Death of Nigerian Activist Ken Saro-Wiwa

Amy Goodman reports:

The oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay a $15.5 million settlement to avoid a trial over its alleged involvement in human rights violations in the Niger Delta. The case was brought on behalf of ten plaintiffs who accused Shell of complicity in the 1995 executions of Nigerian writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others. Ken Saro-Wiwa was the founding member and president of MOSOP, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, a group committed to use nonviolence to stop the repression and exploitation of the Ogoni and their land by Shell and the Nigerian government.

Shell was accused of working closely with and financing the Nigerian military government to brutally quell the peaceful resistance against its presence. The plaintiffs had promised to unveil extensive evidence of Shell’s complicity in the killings during the trial.

The case was brought under the US Alien Torts Claim Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows foreigners to file cases against Americans for crimes committed abroad. The settlement caps a legal battle that began thirteen years ago, one year after Ken Saro-Wiwa’s murder. The plaintiffs say they’ll put $5 million of the settlement money towards a trust fund benefiting the Ogoni people.

Shell did not respond to our interview request. But in a statement, the company said the settlement does not mean it admits to any wrongdoing….

June 9, 2009

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Sheikh Maktoum built his showcase city in a place with no useable water. None. There is no surface water, very little acquifer, and among the lowest rainfall in the world. So Dubai drinks the sea. The Emirates’ water is stripped of salt in vast desalination plants around the Gulf – making it the most expensive water on earth. It costs more than petrol to produce, and belches vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as it goes. It’s the main reason why a resident of Dubai has the biggest average carbon footprint of any human being – more than double that of an American.
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The dark side of Dubai - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent (via wiesen)

Dubai scares the beejesus out of me.

June 1, 2009

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link Eco-sailors rescued by oil tanker

Oh, the irony. The BBC reports:

An expedition team which set sail from Plymouth on a 5,000-mile carbon emission-free trip to Greenland have been rescued by an oil tanker. […]

The team, which left Mount Batten Marina in Plymouth on 19 April in a boat named the Fleur, aimed to rely on sail, solar and man power on a 580-mile (933km/h) journey to and from the highest point of the Greenland ice cap.

The expedition was followed by up to 40 schools across the UK to promote climate change awareness.

But atrocious weather dogged their journey after 27 April, culminating with the rescue on 1 May after the boat was temporarily capsized three times by the wind. […]

The crew were 400 miles (644km) off the west coast of Ireland when they sent a mayday to Falmouth coastguards who co-ordinated the rescue with Irish coastguards.

May 7, 2009

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link Green Apples and Bad Apples: NRDC's Annual 2009 Earth Day Listing

A list of environmental winners and losers in New York.

My favorite “Green Apple” is the Red Hook Community Farm in Brooklyn:

Established by the non-profit organization Added Value with Parks Department cooperation, is one of just a handful of urban farms throughout the city. And 2008 was perhaps its best year ever.  The farm is located in Coffey Park, on a 2.75 acre plot that was once a concrete ball field.  One hundred and thirty-five students from across the borough and a band of neighborhood residents are the farm’s dedicated workforce.  They are growing basil, beans, beets, carrots, chard, Chinese cabbage, collard greens„ cucumber, kale, lettuce, mint, oregano, radicchio, sage, spinach, squash, thyme, and zucchini. And they close the food loop by accepting food waste from local families and restaurants, which they turn into compost.  The farm’s food is sold at Added Value’s weekly farmers’ markets and to local restaurants. You won’t find anything fresher.

My, um, “favorite” “Bad Apple” is the new Yankee stadium:

For residents of the Bronx who live in the neighborhoods surrounding the new stadium, the new construction has come at a high price.  The new stadium was not built on the site of the original ball park, but across the street, on what had since 1899 been Macombs Dam Park.  Thus, twenty-two acres of parkland have been one of the casualties of the new stadium’s construction.  The destruction of Macombs Dam Park, along with a nearly 4 acre portion of John Mullaly Park, has deprived local residents of critical green oases in their community.  Baseball fields, basketball, handball and tennis courts, a soccer field and a running track, and hundreds of mature trees have all fallen to construction bulldozers.  To make matters worse, replacement park improvements, which the City said would be nearly finished by now, have been slow in coming, despite the vigilance of advocates like New Yorkers for Parks.

April 23, 2009

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