American and Chinese Youth Take Diplomacy Into Their Own Hands At Lima COP 20
Back in November, President Obama took a Beijing stage, shoulder-to-shoulder with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and pretty well shook up the geopolitics of climate change. The presidents of the two largest polluters of greenhouse gases announced a game-changing climate deal that few saw coming. Even the most plugged-in climate policy experts—and many Capitol Hill politicians—were stunned. The […]
Obama Signals Keystone XL "No" on Colbert Report As Enbridge "KXL Clone" He Permitted Opens
In his December 8 “Colbert Report” appearance, President Barack Obama gave his strongest signal yet that he may reject a presidential permit authorizing the Alberta to Cushing, Oklahoma northern leg of TransCanada‘s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Yet just a week earlier, and little noticed by comparison, the pipeline giant Enbridge made an announcement that could take […]
North Dakota's Meaningless New Bakken Oil Regulations Will Keep Bomb Trains Rolling
New regulations purported to make Bakken crude safer for transport instead allow business as usual for the oil and rail industries moving explosive Bakken crude oil in unsafe DOT-111 rail cars. The regulations announced Tuesday by the North Dakota Industrial Commission state that: “The goal is to produce crude oil that does not exceed a vapor […]
Citizens Take Monitoring Into Own Hands as Eagle Ford Shale Boom Continues Undaunted
Hugh Fitzsimons lll, a buffalo rancher on the outskirts of Carrizo Springs, Texas, cautiously watches the fracking industry’s accelerating expansion. His 13,000-acre ranch is atop the southwestern part of the oil-rich Eagle Ford Shale, which stretches from Leon County in northeast Texas to Laredo, along the Mexican border. During the last two years Fitzsimons has watched the […]
Fossil Fuel Industry Arguments for Carbon Sequestration Cause Uproar at COP20 UNFCCC Climate Talks
A side event at the UNFCCC COP20 climate negotiations in Lima, Peru was disrupted Monday when climate activists and individuals representing communities on the frontlines of energy development flooded the presentation hall and staged a ‘walk out’ on fossil fuels. The event was hosted by the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the Global CCS Institute […]
Extreme Weather Events Becoming More Common, Study Shows
Extreme weather anomalies are increasing more than the global average temperature, shows new research by the University of East Anglia (UEA), University of Delaware and Indiana University. “Trends in extreme heat and cold are important because they have a large impact on water supplies, agriculture productivity and other factors related to human health and wellbeing,” said […]
How Former Environment Protection Agency Staffer Fred Smith Took Cash from Exxon and Koch–Then Exported Climate Denial to Britain
John Blundell and Fred Smith – both funded by oil baron Charles Koch – worked closely to export climate denial to Britain. This is part one of Fred Smith’s story as part of our History Series. John Blundell played a direct role in the growing climate denial movement in the 1980s and ‘90s. As President of […]
Chemicals Released During Fracking Could Harm Reproductive Health: University of Missouri Study
Chemicals released into the air and water during fracking operations may result in human health problems ranging from birth defects to decreased semen quality, a U.S study has found. University of Missouri researcher Susan Nagel and colleagues from the Institute for Health and the Environment and the Center for Environmental Health conducted the most extensive review […]
Fred Singer – 'Granddaddy of Fake Science' – Retires as SEPP President
Dr Fred Singer has announced his plans to retire as president of the Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) after 25 years at the helm as one of his generation’s most influential climate deniers. But it might be premature to breathe a sigh of relief just yet. After all, Frederick Seitz continued to serve as SEPP […]
Like Canada's Harper Government, Obama Administration Muzzling Its Scientists
In recent years, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has come under fire for disallowing scientists working for the Canadian government to speak directly to the press. An article published in August by The New Republic said “Harper’s antagonism toward climate-change experts in his government may sound familiar to Americans,” pointing to similar deeds done by […]