“Climate change is happening. And not preparing for it could cost the state $10 billion a year by 2020.
That’s according to the Department of Ecology, which has just released a response strategy to changing climate conditions.
Extreme weather events, destructive wildfires, severe droughts and declining water supplies– these are the new realities of climate change.
Ted Sturdevant, Director of the Washington State Department of Ecology, says after years of endless and politicized discussion on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there’s been a shift. The state has realized it’s time for new strategies.”
Jay Rosen is the reason why I dropped out of J-School and went towards a career in environmentalism. He’s a master media critic and I envy his quick instincts. Here he takes NPR to task for wimpy coverage of the Solyndra witch-hunt.
“We have no idea who’s right” journalism… is routine practice at NPR.
After gathering some quarter of a million pages of evidence, Republicans have said the White House tried to rush through Solyndra’s loan for its political benefit. They said the Energy Department restructured the company’s loan to benefit a big Obama fundraiser, and have suggested the agency even tried to postpone layoffs at Solyndra until after the 2010 midterm elections.
Democrats shot back, saying Republicans ignored evidence showing the administration did not try to influence the Energy Department. California Democrat Henry Waxman said, in fact, Republicans were using Solyndra as a platform to advance their own agenda.
Thanks, NPR. That’s really helpful.
When you know enough about this story to say who’s right—or let’s say who’s lying more—then get back to us, okay?
This map of state funding cuts to public media is enough to make you donate to your favorite library or radio station
• Florida, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have cut their entire state appropriations for public broadcasting.
• Since 2008, Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, South Carolina and Virginia have experienced cuts in state support of nearly 50 percent or greater.
• Over the same four-year period, stations in Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio and Oklahoma have seen their state appropriations reduced by more than 25 percent.
• Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Maine and South Carolina have faced threats of multi-year phase-outs of all state funding.
This was done by FreePress, a media advocacy organization located right here in Northampton! Great work Josh Silver!
This is excellent. When you click on a dot, a box opens to the right. You can read about the name of the facility, pollution type, and past violations.
To begin exploring how air pollution may affect your community, use our snazzy interactive map of more than 17,000 facilities that have emitted hazardous chemicals into the air. Color-coded dots and scores of one to five smoke stacks are based on an EPA method of assessing potential health risk in airborne toxins from a given facility. More smoke stack icons signify higher potential risks to human health. Zoom in to your neighborhood by clicking on the map or use the search box to find the area you’re looking for.
“A breakthrough in oil cleanup technology allows crews to skim spilled oil off the water’s surface at a much faster rate. The new device wasn’t developed by Exxon, BP or any of the major oil companies — it’s the work of Elastec/American Marine, based in Illinois. And the design won the company a rich prize from the X Prize Foundation.
Oil is attracted to plastic. And water is not. That, in essence, is the basis of Elastec’s new skimmer.
It’s huge, about the size of a large U-Haul truck. And it looks something like a giant abacus. It has 64 grooved plastic discs, arranged in rows, with a scraper along the top.”
Fifty miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border, the Colorado River Delta and its once-rich estuary wetlands—reduced by 95% since the river was restricted by dams—are now as perched as the surrounding Sonoran Desert. Only rare floods or cancelled farm orders allow the river to reach the Gulf of California.
Known by some as “America’s Nile,” the Colorado River stretches about 1,450 miles across seven states and two countries — and photographer Peter McBride has traveled the entire thing, shooting photos for his new book, The Colorado River: Flowing Through Conflict. […]
“This estuary used to be one of the largest desert estuaries in North America,” McBride says. “It ran to the sea for 6 million years, and the river basically stopped in the late ’90s. It used to be 3,000 square miles with lush forests and jaguars and deer. And having walked it … it’s nothing but a cracked, parched arid landscape.” […]
Hey, why not cover Obama’s GreenGov2011, which I’m organizing? It showcases sustainability mandates in Federal government via his EO 13514. Officials from cabinet, senate, house, EPA, and leaders from FT 500, large NGOs, etc., will all be there. Contact me for info and/or sponsorship/exhibitor space.
“States from Texas to New York will have to slash 70 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions and 50 percent of nitrogen oxides from power plants, compared with 2005 pollution levels.”
NPR’s blogger Ursula Goodenough has put out a call to chat with climate deniers. She’s not looking for the usual arguments - conspiracies about emails, climategate, grant hungry scientists, de-regulation leads to more jobs, cooling, etc. No, she specifically wants to know what motivates a person to deny climate change science. Her question is so compelling, I have to repost in full:
I’ve lived in St. Louis for 33 years. During that time, the tornado sirens have sounded maybe 1-2 times per 10 years — let’s say 5 times in 33 years — and never with a touchdown.
This year they’ve already sounded 3 times. In January a touchdown landed in a neighborhood a few miles to the south; in April one hit our airport and surrounding neighborhoods to the north. Today, when the sirens went off throughout the afternoon, there was blessedly no touchdown. But, with Joplin heavy in our hearts, any relief was bittersweet.
Bill McKibben, a dauntless advocate for action on climate change, wrote a powerful op-ed piece for The Washington Post on Wednesday called “A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never!” He lists numerous recent extreme climate events, and intersperses, tongue-in-cheek, the standard retorts of climate-change deniers:
It is far better to think of these as isolated, unpredictable, discrete events … It’s far smarter to repeat to yourself the comforting mantra that no single weather event can ever be directly tied to climate change. There have been tornadoes before, and floods – that’s the important thing.
And he ends with a zinger:
If worst ever did come to worst, it’s reassuring to remember what the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the Environmental Protection Agency in a recent filing: that there’s no need to worry because “populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of behavioral, physiological, and technological adaptations.”
I’m pretty sure that’s what residents are telling themselves in Joplin today.
The piece already has 11,287 recommendations and 1,281 comments. As happens here at 13.7 when this topic comes up, the comments include a barrage of denials, excoriating Bill as an ignorant rabble-rouser and offering countless URLs of refutation. (N.B. I happen to know Bill McKibben, and he has a mind of steel.) As also happens here, the comments also include a barrage of challenges to the denials and refutations of the URLs.
It all felt like pretty familiar reading.
So here’s what I don’t get: What motivates a denier? If you are a denier-reader of this blog, what motivates you? I’m not asking for more URLs – we already have plenty of those on file. I’m asking about intent.
I know what motivates my position: the sirens, the polar-bear pictures, the IPCC reports, fear for my grandchildren’s future. What motivates the denial?
What is "Climate Adaptation"? Adaptation is not about carbon, greenhouse gases, or energy. It's about lowering risks from environmental impacts caused by climate change. Adaptation is the sweet-spot between environmental policy, climate science, land-use, and engineering. When the sea-level rises, we build wall or move the buildings. We build levees to protect homes from floods; manage forests to prevent wildfires and droughts; build smarter, stronger infrastructure for long-term economic resilience; and prepare public health officials for increased rates of pests and diseases from rising temperatures. So, adaptation is less Al Gore "save the planet" and more Bob the Builder "fix all the things!".
![kateoplis:
Fifty miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border, the Colorado River Delta and its once-rich estuary wetlands—reduced by 95% since the river was restricted by dams—are now as perched as the surrounding Sonoran Desert. Only rare floods or cancelled farm orders allow the river to reach the Gulf of California.
Why The Colorado River Stopped Flowing | NPR
Known by some as “America’s Nile,” the Colorado River stretches about 1,450 miles across seven states and two countries — and photographer Peter McBride has traveled the entire thing, shooting photos for his new book, The Colorado River: Flowing Through Conflict. […]
“This estuary used to be one of the largest desert estuaries in North America,” McBride says. “It ran to the sea for 6 million years, and the river basically stopped in the late ’90s. It used to be 3,000 square miles with lush forests and jaguars and deer. And having walked it … it’s nothing but a cracked, parched arid landscape.” […]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_locaj2rDkh1qzprlbo1_r1_500.png)
