Siberian Heatwave Wrecks Sea Ice as Greenland High Settles In | robertscribbler

Posted on by

We’ve never seen Arctic sea ice extents that are as low as they are now in early June. And with Arctic heatwaves, warm winds, warm storms, and a Greenland High all settling in, something had better change soon or otherwise the ice cap over the northern Polar Ocean is basically screwed.

On the shores of the Arctic Ocean’s East Siberian Sea (ESS), near the town of Logashinko, temperatures today are expected to rise to near 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Readings that are about 40 to 50 degrees (F) above normal for this near-polar region during this time of year.

Source: Siberian Heatwave Wrecks Sea Ice as Greenland High Settles In | robertscribbler

Save

Yes to Clean Energy and Clean Air. No to Coal and Climate Change. | Climate Reality

Posted on by

Please click the link below and sign the petition.

Climate Reality Project:  “In the coming months, Millennium Bulk Terminals plans to build the largest coal export terminal in the US near Longview, Washington, exporting up to 44 million metric tons of dirty coal annually from the Pacific Northwest to Asia.

Photo: NBCNews.com

Photo: NBCNews.com

“Our choice is simple. We can support clean energy and protect the health of Northwest communities and the stunning beauty of our mountains and rivers. Or we can let coal trains spread dangerous coal dust across towns and cities, pollute our air and water, and accelerate the climate crisis devastating our planet.

“It’s time to put our environment and planet before coal company profits – and today, you can help. Add your name by June 13 and help ensure Millennium’s coal export proposal doesn’t move forward.

“Add your name below and say no to coal and yes to a clean energy future for the Pacific Northwest.”  Source: Yes to Clean Energy and Clean Air. No to Coal and Climate Change. | Climate Reality

Hidden Risks in a Warming Antarctic – D-brief

Posted on by

As the rest of the world heats up and the Arctic hemorrhages ice, a different story is playing out in Antarctica. Total ice coverage there has actually increased, and temperatures have risen only mildly. As researchers have attempted to adequately model the changing climate, the Antarctic paradox has served as ammunition for climate change deniers and challenged climate scientists.

But three recently published papers help explain why the Antarctic isn’t falling in line with the rest of the world, while highlighting an overlooked trend in Antarctic sea ice.

Not So Rosy After AllWhile Antarctica may appear to buck the trend of warming and sea level rise, a problem may be lurking beneath the surface.

Source: Hidden Risks in a Warming Antarctic – D-brief

Save

Abuse of Power: ExxonMobil, Chairman Lamar Smith, and the First Amendment – The Equation

Posted on by

Gretchen Goldman, lead analyst, Center for Science and Democracy:  “. . . the New York Times printed a full-page advertisement sponsored by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a free-market think tank that has been funded by ExxonMobil and has regularly misrepresented climate science. The ad reads in large font “Abuse of Power” followed by discussion of free speech rights of companies, nonprofits, and individuals to disagree on climate change. The ad claims that attorneys general in several states and the US Virgin Islands are overstepping their roles in investigating ExxonMobil for possible fraud.The ad raises the issue of abuse of power, so let’s talk about that.Abuse of power is when a company lies to its investors and the public about climate change impacts and engages on a decades-long campaign of spreading disinformation to the public and decision makers, despite being at the cutting edge of climate science research back in the 1960s. It’s not about ExxonMobil having first amendment rights (as it has claimed), it’s about whether or not the company has committed fraud. The ongoing investigations by attorneys general will determine the answer.

Source: Abuse of Power: ExxonMobil, Chairman Lamar Smith, and the First Amendment – The Equation

Save

Population matters on World Environment Day – Population Matters

Posted on by

World Environment Day, celebrated annually on 5 June, was created to inspire people around the world to take action to protect nature and the Earth.

The first World Environment Day was established by the United Nations in 1972, on the day of the first UN Conference on the Human Environment. In the years since then, it has become a broad, global platform for public outreach, celebrated in more than 100 countries. It embraces both individual actions and collective initiatives that have a positive impact on the environment: we all are, after all, agents of change.

This year’s World Environment Day, hosted by Angola, focusses especially on the fight against illegal trade in wildlife, which causes acute animal suffering and is a great threat to the preservation of wildlife and biodiversity.

Source: Population matters on World Environment Day – Population Matters

Save

The week to June 4 in nuclear and climate news « Antinuclear

Posted on by

GR:  Production of solar energy certainly produces wastes.  Storage batteries last only seven years and solar panels last only 20-30 years.  Our mountains of trash will continue to grow with renewable energy,  BUT, solar-energy trash is cheaper to manage than nuclear trash, and it doesn’t stay deadly to all life for thousands of years.

Politicians love nuclear energy.  They receive support from the nuclear industry and its investors, and they can pretend they are offering a sensible alternative to fossil fuels.  Do not be tricked!  Taking the construction costs and the waste problems into account, rooftop solar energy is far cleaner and cheaper than nuclear energy, and it avoids corporate power over politicians and people.

Christina MacPherson:  “SOUTH AUSTRALIA again. You might all be getting sick of hearing about South Australia’s nuclear woes. But, spare a thought for the indigenous people of South Australia! They’ve been through all this before – and now again – the nuclear lobby planning to radioactively trash their homeland! And a thought for the decent, aware people of South Australia, who also fight to prevent their State, and their country being radioactively trashed.

“It’s Submission Time Yet Again. Submissions about nuclear waste dumping will be received up until 1st July by the new JOINT COMMITTEE ON FINDINGS OF THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE ROYAL COMMISSION , Parliament of South Australia. Great timing, just the day before the federal election – so they hope that nobody will notice. Except perhaps again for all those nuclear companies, who have already sent in their secret submissions to South Australia’s shonky Nuclear Fuel Chain Royal Commission.”  Source: The week to June 4 in nuclear and climate news « Antinuclear

Save

Save

Wildlife Weekly Wrap-up – Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Posted on by

Weekly Wildlife Wrap-up Stories

Cracking Down on Ivory

This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized new regulations to help protect elephants from the demands of the ivory trade. Previous rules had loopholes that allowed those selling illegal ivory attempt to pass it off as legal. But with the new regulations comes a near-total ban on the commercial trade of ivory in the U.S., putting an end to the trade of products that had served as a cover for illegal ivory. More than 300,000 African elephants are killed for their ivory tusks each year, pushing the species closer to the brink of extinction.

Learn about the new ivory regulations

Back in the Wild Again . . . .

A Bear Doesn’t Care . . . .

Protect the Pallid! . . . .

Source: Wildlife Weekly Wrap-up – Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Save

A tragedy larger than Harambe | Fight for Rhinos

Posted on by

In the age of cell phones, selfies, and convenience, are zoos an insignificant place where the awe and wonder of animals are taken for granted? Is conservation just a trend on twitter? What is more endangered, the animals or our empathy and connection with our world?

Source: A tragedy larger than Harambe | Fight for Rhinos

Save

Save

Nigeria’s Massive Oil Cleanup Could Take Decades And A Billion Dollars | ThinkProgress

Posted on by

Fossil Fuel Pollution

Oil is seen on the creek water’s surface near an illegal oil refinery in Ogoniland, outside Port Harcourt, in Nigeria’s Delta region. A region of Nigeria’s oil-rich southern delta suffers widespread ecological damage as spilled oil seeps into its drinking water, destroys plants and remains in the ground for decades at a time.

Fossil fuels pollute the air, the land, and the sea.

What’s been described as the most wide-ranging and long-term oil clean-up plan in history was launched in Nigeria Thursday to restore hundreds of square miles of Delta swamps ravaged by nearly sixty years of oil extraction and spills.

The move to restore Ogoniland, located in southern Nigeria and home to more than 800,000 people, comes a year and a half after Shell agreed to an $84 million settlement with residents for two massive oil spills in 2008 and 2009. By then Nigeria had asked the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) to study the area. UNEP released a report in 2011 noting oil impacts on Ogoniland are ongoing, widespread, and severe. In turn, Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, started a $1 billion restoration plan this week to clean up decades of spills by Shell and other companies, including the state-owned company.

Source: Nigeria’s Massive Oil Cleanup Could Take Decades And A Billion Dollars | ThinkProgress

Save