If the Senate confirms the nomination of the M.I.T. scientist Ernest J. Moniz as the next energy secretary, as expected, he must use his new position to consider the energy situation not only in the United States, but in China as well.
China Must Exploit Its Shale Gas, Op-ed by Elizabeth Muller, New York Times, Apr 11, 2013
The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that it would delay issuance of a new rule limiting emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from new power plants after the electric power industry objected on legal and technical grounds.
E.P.A. Will Delay Rule Limiting Carbon Emissions at New Power Plants by John Broder, New York Times, Apr 12, 2013
Even the Republicans who are the most critical of the Environmental Protection Agency had few questions Thursday about whether Gina McCarthy, President Barack Obama’s pick to be the nation’s top clean air and water watchdog, has the qualifications for the job.
Hearing on EPA nominee Gina McCarthy focuses on agency’s long reach by Erika Bolstad, McClatchy Newspapers, Apr 11, 2013
Is sustainability still possible? Yes. Is it still probable? No. With bold action today, tomorrow, and in years to come, we could succeed in creating a sustainable and prosperous society. But what does bold action actually mean?
First and foremost, we have to start living within Earth’s boundaries: stop changing the climate, wiping out biodiversity, disrupting the phosphorous and nitrogen cycles, and so on. And to do that we’ll need to live a one-planet lifestyle.
Letting Nature Take Its Course?, Op-ed Erik Assadourian, Inter Press Service (IPS), Apr 12, 2013
A recent news article suggested that climate change may not be as bad as feared. But the report was based on one flawed study and missed a lot of important points.
How The Economist got it wrong, Op-ed by Dana Nuccitelli and Michael E Mann, ABC Environment, Apr 12, 2013
President Barack Obama’s proposed budget would make good on the promise he laid out in the State of the Union — that he will act on climate change if a divided Congress will not.
But the president doesn’t end the uncertainty about when the Environmental Protection Agency will take steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources like power plants.
President Obama's budget promises action on climate change by Darren Goode & Andrew Restuccia, Politicao, April 11, 2013
Further expansion of the pest outside of its historic range is "inevitable"
Pine Bark Beetles Poised for New Attacks on Canada's Boreal Forests by Nathanael Massey and ClimateWire, Scientific American, Apr 11, 2013
Gazprom, the state-owned energy monopoly better known for heating houses and powering factories in Europe, is making a bet that natural gas cars are an alluring market for future growth, at home in Russia and in other European countries that have bought its gas. All the ingredients are in place for adoption of natural gas vehicles in Russia, the world’s second-largest gas producer after the United States, with economic and environmental payoffs.
Russia Skips Hybrids in Push for Cars Using Natural Gas by Andrew Kramer, New York Times, Apr 11, 2013
New report says NRC is ill-prepared for massive meltdown, which former NRC chair says is likely.
The State of Nuclear Power in US: Bad and Worse by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, Apr 11, 2013
As The Economist piece itself pointed out, this wasn’t an argument that “global warming has ‘stopped.‘” The past two decades have been the hottest in recorded history; of the nine hottest years on record, eight have come since 2000. The question, though, is why the year-on-year/decade-on-decade increase appears to have been somewhat less in the past 10 to 15 years, given the ongoing increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
Think the Planet Isn't Warming? Check the Ocean by Kieran Mulvaney, Discovery, Apr 11, 2013
Why did James Hansen retire on April 2 after 32 years as director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies? As he told the enterprising students of Columbia University’s Sustainability Media Lab who captured him in the following video, “I want to devote full time to trying to help the public understand the urgency of addressing climate change.”
Why Jim Hansen stopped being a government scientist [Video] by David Biello, Scientific American, Apr 12, 2013
Climate change has a disconcerting tendency to amplify itself through feedback effects. Melting sea ice exposes dark water, allowing the ocean to soak up more heat. Arctic warming speeds the release of carbon dioxide from permafrost. And, as researchers discussed at a meeting last week in Seefeld, Austria, climate extremes — heatwaves, droughts and storms — can hamper plant growth, weakening a major buffer against the rise of CO< in the atmosphere.
Wild weather can send greenhouse gases spiraling by Quirin Schiermeier and Nature magazine, Scientfic American, Apr 11, 2013
Companies spent $25 billion building U.S. wind farms last year, more than double the budget of the Coast Guard and overtaking the gun industry, a trade group said.
Wind beating guns, boats as U.S. turbines almost double, Bloomberg, Apr 11, 2013
Posted by John Hartz on Saturday, 13 April, 2013
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