Topics covered in this Blog Monitor include:
Climate Change
Author’s Climate Remark Ruffles Feathers
By: James Kanter
Date: August 21, 2009
Source: The New York Times, Green Inc.
To view full article visit: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/authors-climate-remark-ruffles-feathers/
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a former financial trader and the author of “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” – which traces the influence of randomness and unpredictability on the course of human events – has ruffled feathers with remarks appearing to cast doubt on whether human society is responsible for climate change.
The Fallacy of Climate Activism
By: Adam D. Sacks
Date: August 23, 2009
Source: Grist
To view full article visit: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-08-23-the-fallacy-of-climate-activism/
Climate activists are obsessed with greenhouse-gas emissions and concentrations. Since global climate disruption is an effect of greenhouse gases, and a disastrous one, this is understandable. But it is also a mistake.
Such is the fallacy of climate activism: We insist that global warming is merely a consequence of greenhouse-gas emissions. Since it is not, we fail to tell the truth to the public.
I think that there are two serious errors in our perspectives on greenhouse gases:
Global Warming Could Actually Tilt the Earth’s Axis
By: Ariel Schwartz
Date: August 21, 2009
Source: inhabitat
To view full article visit: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/08/21/global-warming-could-actually-tilt-the-earths-axis/
Lots of things cause Earth’s spinning top-like axis to shift – earthquakes, El Nino, and even volcano eruptions. Now scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory say that global warming could actually alter the tilt of our planet’s axis due to instability from melting ice sheets! Scientists have long theorized that climate change could cause a negligible amount of movement in the axis, but NASA’s research shows that the problem could be much more severe than was initially thought. In fact, it could be as drastic as the northern pole shifting by 1.5 centimeters every year towards Hawaii and Alaska.
Geo-Engineering: A Climate Fix or Cloud Cuckoo Land?
By: Jim DiPeso
Date: August 23, 2009
Source: The Green Conservative
To view full article visit: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/republican/geo-engineering-climate-47083201
Geo-engineering is the weird uncle in the climate change policy family. Few in the environmental community are comfortable discussing the topic.
For good reason. It’s easy to foresee wishy-washy politicians embracing technological hubris as an excuse for avoiding unpopular decisions to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Geo-engineering is not a panacea. We can’t say at this point that geo-engineering projects would be practical or affordable.
We haven’t begun to resolve ethical, legal, or institutional issues. Such as who gets to be in charge of tinkering with the atmosphere, who funds the work, and who pays for damages in case of screw-ups.
20% of Mekong Delta Submerged With Rising Seas by 2100- 10% of Ho Chi Minh City Will Go Under, Too
By: Matthew McDermott, New York, NY
Date: August 21, 2009
Source: Treehugger
To view full article visit: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/20-percent-mekong-delta-submerged-rising-seas-2100.php
It seems to be river delta awareness day in global media: A piece in The Guardian highlights the future impact on climate change on the Nile Delta; and Reuters points out that the Mekong Delta faces difficult times ahead as well — 10% of Ho Chi Minh City could be submerged by 2100:
Southern Governors Warned About Impacts of Climate Change
By: Daniel Kessler, San Francisco, CA
Date: August 23, 2009
Source: Treehugger
To view full article visit: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/southern-govs-warned.php
They can’t say they weren’t warned. At the Southern Governors’ Association’s annual meeting near Williamsburg, VA, retired military officials told the governors that climate change will have major impacts on their states. Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Engel, who directs the Climate Change and State Stability program of the National Intelligence Council, told the governors that global warming will cause drought, floods, and storm damage.
Ironically, many polluters sponsored the conference, including the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Dominion Resources Inc., and Exxon Mobil Corp. Outgoing chair Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia said his goal was to see how the South can increase its use of renawble energy technologies while increasing efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases.
A ‘Dow Jones’ For Climate: The Case for a Warming Index
By: Daniel R. Abbasi
Date: August 24, 2009
Source: Yale Environment 360
To view full article visit: http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2182
If a cap-and-trade bill passes Congress this year, it may include weak emissions targets and will likely need to be strengthened in the years to come. One way to guide future policy: create a Global Climate Change Index that could be used to track global warming’s impacts.
Energy
China Crashing Forward into Renewable Future
By: Hank Green
Date: August 21, 2009
Source: ecogeek
To view full article visit: http://ecogeek.org/component/content/article/2921
A world of monster energy consumers, there isn’t any monster quite as scary as China. Already they’ve surpassed even the United States as the leading emitter of CO2. And while China is still building more coal-fired power plants in a week than America has built in the last two years, there are some signs that China is actually interested in renewable energy.
Bipartisan Support for a National Energy Plan
By: T. Boone Pickens
Date: August 21, 2009
Source: The Huffington Post, Green Blog
To view full article visit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/t-boone-pickens/bipartisan-support-for-a_b_265176.html
Some people are of the opinion that I jump-started my plan to end our country’s addiction to foreign oil on a whim. I may have launched the Pickens Plan in July 2008, but the truth is our lack of a national energy plan has been worrying me for most of my professional career. Beginning in the 1970s, I noticed America’s oil import numbers were trending in the wrong direction. Forty years ago, when Richard Nixon was in office, we were importing 25 percent of our oil. Given the amount we were importing and the price of oil — about $3 a barrel — the economic impact was minimal. Today, two out of every three barrels of crude we use in the U.S. comes from overseas. And the cost? How about $24 billion, and that was just July’s tab.
U.S. Government Seeks to Limit Federal Energy Use
By: Ben Block
Date: August 21, 2009
Source: Worldchanging
To view full article visit: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/010376.html
The U.S. federal government is the single largest energy consumer in a nation that consumes more energy than any other in the world.
Overall, federal primary energy use has decreased by 25 percent from 1985 to 2008, due largely to building retrofits throughout some of the 3 billion-square feet of offices, research centers, and military bases managed by the U.S. government.
But White House officials, as part of their efforts to improve energy security, address rising energy prices, and mitigate climate change, are suggesting that these efficiency gains are too modest.
Hazardous Substances Management
Leaking Australian Offshore Oil Well to Pour Into Ocean For Two Months
By: Matthew McDermott, New York, NY
Date: August 24, 2009
Source: Treehugger
To view full article visit: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/leaking-australian-offshore-oil-well-pour-into-timor-sea-two-months.php
Reuters reports that a leaking Australian offshore oil well will continue to spill oil into the Timor Sea for nearly two months. That’s how long it take to fix the blow out — two miles below the surface — which occurred last week:
It’s going to take three weeks to bring in a new drilling rig from Singapore, then another four weeks to drill a relief well, pour mud in, and stop the leak.
Efforts underway to control the spread of the slick, now 9 miles in length, include spraying dispersant chemicals onto it from aircraft.
Sustainable Development
Supply Chain: Green or Gold or Both?
By: Keith Burgess and Simon Glass, IBM Global Business Services
Date: August 23, 2009
Source: Environmental Leader
To view full article visit: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/08/23/supply-chain-green-or-gold-or-both/
Companies face increased stakeholder pressure and government regulation to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. To address this issue, companies must take action within their supply chains, which account for the vast majority of their energy use and CO2 emissions.
But in a recent IBM survey of more than 400 supply chain executives, 89 percent of the respondents reported that cost reduction was either very important or critically important.
Unveiling a Plastic Bag Ban in Mexico City
By: Elisabeth Malkin
Date: August 21, 2009
Source: The New York Times, Green Inc.
To view full article visit: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/unveiling-a-platic-bag-ban-in-mexico-city/
Standard plastic shopping bags were officially outlawed in Mexico City this week, but you wouldn’t know from the check-out line at the supermarket.
In March, Mexico City’s local assembly passed a law that would require all stores to provide biodegradable bags. On Wednesday, the law went into effect, though there is a one-year grace period before authorities start to impose sanctions – which have yet to be defined.
Water
How Much Water Are You Really Using?
By: Zachary Shahan, Matter Network
Date: August 21, 2009
Source: ENN: Environmental News Network
To view full article visit: http://www.enn.com/lifestyle/article/40373
In the press release, titled “Wealthy world at woes from water risk elsewhere”, the WWF examined Germany’s “water footprint”. They showed that only about half of the water Germany uses actually comes from Germany. Germany’s water comes from all over the world. “The water embedded in coffee, soy and beef imports makes Brazil Germany’s largest water trading partner, followed by the Ivory Coast (cocoa, coffee, bananas and cotton), neighbors France and the Netherlands, the US and Indonesia (oilseeds, coffee, coconuts, cotton and cocoa).” In addition to the above, significant amounts of their “virtual water” comes from Argentina, India, Ghana, Nigeria, and from Mediterranean countries that are becoming drier and drier – Spain, Italy and Turkey.
Miscellaneous
Is ExxonMobil a Green Company?
By: Gina-Marie Cheeseman
Date: August 24, 2009
Source: triplepundit
To view full article visit: http://www.triplepundit.com/2009/08/is-exxonmobil-a-green-company/
Forbes Magazine recently picked Exxon Mobil Corp as its “Green Company of the Year.” Forbes praised Exxon for putting “$600 million into algae farms that would turn sunlight into automotive fuel,” and for the company’s increased drilling for natural gas. Exxon has almost completed a $30 billion project to “develop the world’s biggest natural gas field” in Qatar. When completed, the project in Qatar will make Exxon the world’s biggest producer of natural gas by a company that is not government controlled.
