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There is a world beyond that of our
everyday physical, mental, and emotional experiences. It
is a world beyond the five senses, and different than the realm
of the imagination. It is the world of the unseen and
eternal, the world of spirit and vision. It is a dimension
of life that very few people of today seek, or perhaps care to
know. Existence, for the most part, has become a rather
two-dimensional affair; events deemed important unfold only
within physical and intellectually logical parameters, leaving
little or no room for belief in the spiritual. The demands
of modern life--fulfilling obligations, making money, getting
ahead--often mean that there's little time to slow down long
enough to take a good, long look at life or foreseeable destiny.
Spirituality, for many, is merely something that happens for a
few hours, once a week, only to be forgotten in the intervening
rush of life. And for large numbers of other people there
simply is no spiritual dimension. For them life happens
only on a rather dull plane of physical existence. It
amazes me that so many people rarely ask themselves if there is
more to life than 8 to 5, television, games, and nightclubs.
Excerpt from THE VISION.
Copyright(c)1988 by Tom Brown, Jr. The Berkeley Publishing Group
(http://www.penguineputnam.com )
June 28, 2011
“We are confronted with the most powerful technology the
world has ever known, and it is being rapidly deployed with
almost no thought whatsoever to its consequences.”
“Well,” I asked, “suppose that it is true that the
Johnson v. M’Intosh ruling declared that the discovery by
‘Christian people,’ of lands in inhabited by what Chief Justice
Marshall referred to as ‘natives, who heathens’—and that’s a
direct quote—how can such a decision be justified as the supreme
law of the land in the United States, given the presumption of a
separation of church and state, and given that the Christian
religion is not to be preferred in U.S. law over other
religions.”
To this, Justice Scalia replied without hesitation: “Then I’d
say it’s no longer the law of the land if it ever was.” At this,
I figured that I had taken enough of the justice’s time, told
him “thank you,” shook his hand, and walked away.
Activists gathered Saturday near the Kentucky River in Clark
County to call for stronger enforcement of the federal Clean
Water Act.
"We don't want this river to get any deader than it is," said
Billy Edwards, a Sierra Club member and former Clark County
Fiscal Court magistrate.
A few thoughts on this week's IEA decision to release
strategic oil stocks around the world:
Earth911 Inc., which gathers, distributes and analyzes
localized recycling information, recently added its 1 millionth
recycling listing to its directory.
Tiny algae and a whale native to the Pacific have crossed a
thawing Arctic Ocean in what may portend a marine invasion
threatening Atlantic fish stocks, scientists said on Sunday.
Regardless of how the drama plays out in Illinois, there's no
rush to follow suit on the other side of the Mississippi River.
As with electric deregulation a decade ago, the Missouri utility
industry would rather watch and wait.
If a just-announced research project is successful, then
maybe - just maybe - diabetics will finally be free of having to
perform daily finger prick blood tests and insulin injections.
Based on new findings regarding the body's production of
insulin, Mayo Clinic endocrinologists Yogish Kudva and Ananda
Basu are in the process of developing an artificial pancreas,
that would automatically deliver the hormone when needed.
Hacktivist group LulzSec officially disbands, but the threats
are far from over. Should organizations begin addressing the
problem, or continue chasing the solution?
Five organic
movement and industry leaders discuss their vision, the
potential risks and the pathways for organic agriculture to
become the dominant farming system.
Four men died in flash floods while fishing and two people
were crushed to death in northern Vietnam as a weakening storm
approached from the Gulf of Tonkin, state media said on Friday,
while 11 fishermen were missing after storms in the Philippines.
Over the past year, the global economy has been moving
towards self-sustaining growth, albeit in fits and starts. In
emerging markets, growth has been strong, and advanced economies
are recovering. But despite the good news, it would be a mistake
for policymakers to relax, writes the Bank for International
Settlements...
A recent recommendation for banks to set aside more capital
to shield them from financial shocks will only throw the world
back into recession, says Dick Bove, vice-president for equity
research at Rochdale Securities.
Rebates for Californians purchasing new zero-emission
vehicles through the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project may run out by
July due to high consumer demand, says the California Air
Resources Board.
California is out of rebate money for buyers of electric
cars, the California Air Resources Board said Thursday.
Alzheimer's, the degenerative brain disorder that disrupts
memory, thought and behavior, is devastating to both patients
and loved ones. According to the Alzheimer's Association, one in
eight Americans over the age of 65 suffers from the disease. Now
Tel Aviv University has discovered that an everyday spice in
your kitchen cupboard could hold the key to Alzheimer's
prevention.
In September and October of 2008 a research team from Yale
and George Mason Universities conducted a nationally
representative survey of 2,164 American adults. Survey
participants were asked about their issue priorities for the new
administration and Congress, support and opposition regarding
climate change and energy policies, levels of political and
consumer activism, and beliefs about the reality and risks of
global warming.
Overall, the survey found that concerns about the economy
dwarfed all other issues: 76 percent of Americans said that the
economy was a “very high” priority.
The rate of ice loss in two of Greenland's largest glaciers
has increased so much in the last 10 years that the amount of
melted water would be enough to completely fill Lake Erie, one
of the five Great Lakes in North America.
Researchers at Rice University are spinning a bit of
nano-based magic to create "coated sand" that has enhanced
properties for water purification. The breakthrough may benefit
developing countries where more than a billion people lack clean
drinking water
The FDA’s constant GM approvals have left us up the stream,
but Congress provided the paddle! The Senate has not currently
ruled on the issue.
Progress Energy Florida said it will
repair damage to its 860 MW Crystal River nuclear station at a
cost of $900 million to as much as $1.3 billion. The unit could
return to service in 2014.
The International Energy Agency's release of oil from
strategic stockpiles will take the pressure off OPEC kingpin
Saudi Arabia to open its taps, analysts said June 23.
In the US, the announcement generated swift criticism for
President Barack Obama's decision to release half of the global
amount of 60 million barrels.
While scanning the horizon in sea of mostly grim economic
news, I found three gems - - - news reports or economic
indicators, if you will, that point to solid and profitable
growth in the renewable energy sector of the economy in the
near, 3-5 year term.
Transparency in the water industry's
energy use is also likely to be important for it to meet
carbon-reduction commitments while responding to other measures
of sustainability, such as the need for stricter quality
standards and increasing demand.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released on Thursday
the locations in five states where it will study the safety of a
natural gas drilling technique some blame for polluting water.
Ethanol subsidies won’t exactly run out of gas. But they will
have less octane. While the Senate has failed to repeal billions
in subsidies, general agreement does exist that the value of
those hand-outs will get reduced.
The European Union adopted new rules
on Friday allowing traces of unapproved genetically modified
(GM) material in animal feed imports, in a bid to secure grain
fodder supplies to the import-dependent bloc.
Scientists warn that the arsenal of drugs commonly prescribed
to the elderly, even over the counter, are much more dangerous
in combination than doctors know.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is stepping up his call
for the government to rein in the federal deficit — just not
now.
In a win for Native moms who want increased psychological
support in their efforts to raise healthy families, the Office
of the First Lady has embarked on a breastfeeding awareness
campaign in Indian country.
Sweltering summer heat and a persistent lack of rain have
deepened an historic drought gripping Texas and surrounding
southern states.
And despite heavy rains and flooding to the north, there is
little relief in sight for the South, according to a report
issued Thursday by U.S. climatologists.
A tear on Sunday in a temporary berm allowed Missouri River
flood waters to surround containment buildings and other vital
areas of a Nebraska nuclear plant, but reactor systems were not
affected.
I’ll state straight away, I hate/loathe/despise/abhor
Monsanto. They are evil, not metaphorically evil, but actually
evil. And as for our politicians who should have protected us
from Monsanto; well, there’s a special circle of Hell reserved
just for them.
A former Republican congressman who is an advocate for action
to address climate change plans to launch a new conservative
coalition this fall made up of Republicans who, like him,
believe that human emissions are triggering global warming and
that steps should be taken to stop it.
The headline reads more like a death knell for America, but
unfortunately it is true. “It’s something I couldn’t imagine
happening on American soil,” said the daughter of the 95 year
old ill and frail mother, required by TSA searchers to remove
her last shred of dignity in the form of an adult diaper.
NAU, the design studio behind the 360-degree Immersive Cocoon
we checked out earlier this month, has penned this streamlined,
zero-local-emission Ecco Camper concept with a view to inspiring
a new way of getting away from it all in the 21st Century.
The number of adults with diabetes worldwide has more than
doubled since 1980 to 347 million, a far larger number than
previously thought and one that suggests costs of treating the
disease will also balloon.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants
for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his son and his intelligence
chief for crimes against humanity in the early days of their
struggle to cling to power.
Angry parents of children in Japan's Fukushima city marched
along with hundreds of people on Sunday to demand protection for
their children from radiation more than three months after a
massive quake and tsunami triggered the worst nuclear disaster
in 25 years.
Construction and building materials, lighting products, and
seafood are among the products experiencing strong overseas
sales as a result of increased orders from Japan.
Pressed by concerns about rising energy costs, building execs
worldwide say that a greater need for savings is driving
stronger efforts to make facilities energy efficient.
Yet another reason why eating junk sets up the response to
eat more. The standard American diet destroys brains cells that
control weight and appetite creating a hard-to-beat obesity
cycle. It triggers the the similar types of injury and healing
responses of stroke and MS sufferers!
Foreign governments and businesses are buying more and more
public U.S. assets such as schools, airports and even parking
lots, and U.S. banks such as Goldman Sachs are only happy to
help them.
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) identified seven case studies to help it assess the
potential effects of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas on
drinking water resources. The case studies are part of a
congressionally mandated study that will be conducted by the
EPA.
The heat given off by electronics, automobile engines,
factories and other sources is a potentially huge source of
energy, and various technologies are being developed in order to
capture that heat, and then convert it into electricity.
A NASA-led research team has created the most precise map
ever produced depicting the amount and location of carbon stored
in Earth's tropical forests.
A breaking new study outright displays the unquestionable
danger of fluoride use. Safety officials often dismissed
fluoride concerns with the fact that water supplies contain on
one part per million fluoride but the study published in
Neurologia warned that this amount is dangerous.
Extraordinary natural areas in Kenya, Australia, Japan and
Germany that deserve the highest level of protection have been
added to the UNESCO World Heritage List by an international
panel of government representatives at its annual meeting in
Paris.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission is monitoring events at the 500 MW Fort Calhoun
nuclear power plant near Omaha after a protective berm holding
back floodwaters from the Missouri River collapsed on July 26.
Global action to protect the nuclear industry against
possible terrorist attacks is urgently needed, a leading expert
said, as are safety steps to prevent any repeat of Japan's
Fukushima accident.
Diablo Canyon Power Plant, like many other nuclear plants in
the nation, is becoming its own mini Yucca Mountain -- a growing
repository of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel.
The sheer number of foreclosures is bogging down the
foreclosure process to the extent that — at the present pace—it
may take more than 60 years in some states to complete all the
pending cases in some parts of the country.
Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund at
Pacific Investment Management Co., said the U.S. government must
do more to support employment growth.
The U.S. "food pyramid" is being replaced with a plate icon
that urges Americans to eat a more plant-based diet.
Nutritionists had long considered the pyramid deeply flawed
because it did not distinguish clearly between healthy foods and
less healthy choices.
Power outages scare me. Actually, they
terrify me when they last for too long. And for good reason.
Because of my daughter’s serious medical issues, we can’t
afford to be without a working phone, even for only a few hours.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but just try to find an
old-fashioned, simple telephone to use in emergencies. They’re
virtually impossible to find. Every phone on the market seems to
need to be plugged in to a power outlet.
Dubbed as China's worst electricity shortage since 2004, this
year's deficit and subsequent rationing are forcing
manufacturers to switch work to night shifts or use generators
to meet their production schedules.
Think the United States is out of the mortgage meltdown?
Think again, as providers of private mortgage insurance, who
covered $700 billion in U.S. home loans, are battling a growing
number of foreclosures and dwindling capital.
Big companies like MGIC, Radian and PMI are at risk, Barron's
reports.
Thousands of demonstrators formed a human chain outside
France's oldest nuclear power plant on Sunday to demand the site
be closed as the government mulls whether to extend its life by
a decade.
A once rare disease for humans has been quietly, swiftly on
the rise. Babesiosis comes from a parasite carried through deer
ticks. Symptoms for this malaria-like infection may take weeks
to manifest and progression of the disease can lead to organ
failure and death. CDC is reporting increasing cases, 119 in
2008, but states that are tracking it are reporting as many as
1,000 annually.
Two Nebraska nuclear power plants have planned properly to
protect themselves from the swollen Missouri River and keep the
public safe, the head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
said on Monday.
On Thursday, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Rep. Barney Frank
(D-Mass.) and others introduced the first ever bill in Congress
to end federal marijuana prohibition. It is not a bill to
legalize per se, but to end the federal ban on marijuana and let
the states decide whether to legalize or not.
An Indian-origin scientist led team has developed "super
sand", a cheap and novel material which they say could clean
contaminated water much more effectively.
The special sand which is coated with an oxide of graphite --
commonly used as lead in pencils -- could become a low-cost way
to purify water in the developing world, the researchers said.
Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu wants to know why there are far
more troops deployed at the Korean border than at the
U.S.-Mexico border while his county is being overrun by
illegals.
Billionaire investor George Soros said it’s “probably
inevitable” that a mechanism will be put in place to allow
weaker economies to exit the euro.
“There’s no arrangement for any countries leaving the euro,
which in current circumstances is probably inevitable,”...
America’s fuel cell footprint is growing tremendously,
helping to keep the United States at pace – and even ahead in
some applications – of determined and growing international
competition.
Today, on a warm day very close to the Arctic Circle, board
members of the UN Foundation, including Founder and Chairman Ted
Turner, got a close look at what effects climate change is
having on the Arctic.
The latest economic reports show the U.S. recovery has
faltered. But someday, surely, there will be a real recovery.
What forces will drive that upturn? And will the healthy economy
of the future look different from those of the past --
establishing a "new normal?"
This is a script from an old playbook. Basically, the county
views the Shoshone-Bannock government as little more than a
social club with authority over its own. The tribe will likely
respond with litigation to enforce its ordinances—and the next
decade will be defined by chaos and rules that no one
understands until eventually a court rules for one side or the
other.
A tiny remote-controlled camera peered inside the tomb of a
Mayan ruler that has been sealed for 1,500 years, revealing red
frescoes, pottery and pieces of a funerary shroud made of jade
and mother of pearl.
Vinyl chloride is a cancer-causing compound formed from
solvents in groundwater systems under anaerobic conditions.
These solvents are used in many industrial applications around
the world and often belong to the most encountered groundwater
pollutants in industrialized countries. Groundwater is a major
drinking water resource, and it is vital to determine if vinyl
chloride can be further degraded into harmless compounds.
Personal consumer expenditure (PCE) in May was unchanged in
the month following a downwardly revised 0.3% gain in April,
originally reported as up 0.4%. Expectations were for a slightly
stronger 0.1% gain in May. In contrast to previous months, where
rising prices, and particularly rising gasoline prices, have
significantly boosted nominal sales receipts, such was not the
case in May where the volume of PCE was down only 0.1%.
The price of oil plummeted by nearly 5 percent on Thursday
after Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the U.S. will
release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve.
I am amazed at how many patients suffer from vitamin B12
deficiency. In fact, B12 deficiency is occurring at epidemic
rates, and it can cause or exacerbate myriad neurological
problems including dizziness and inner ear problems.
The glacier is currently sliding into the sea at a rate of
2.5 miles a year, while its ice shelf (the part that floats on
the ocean) is melting at about 80 cubic kilometres a year.
“More warm water from the deep ocean is entering the cavity
beneath the ice shelf, and it is warmest where the ice is
thickest,” said lead author, Stan Jacobs, an oceanographer at
Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
June 23, 2011
The Pima County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a
vast solar energy farm west of the Tucson Mountains that was
pitched as a linchpin for the area's ability to lure such
commercial ventures in the future.
June 21 is being observed as the 2011 National Day of Prayer
to Protect Native American Sacred Places and is being recognized
throughout the country by gatherings and observations involving
American Indians and non-Natives alike.
Below is a listing of observances...
Recycling is in vogue. But
what about re-using carbon emissions? While it may sound
far-fetched, governments around the globe are looking into it.
Indeed, with the U.S.
Department of Energy forecasting a 39 percent increase in global
carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, activists are pressing for
solutions. Capturing and burying the emissions is one idea.
Recycling them is another. One has gotten much of the attention
Concerns and fears over the safety and reliability of U.S.
nuclear power plants have grown because of the incident at the
Fukushima Daiiachi nuclear plant in Japan.
Half of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors are more than 30
years old, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Tonight a federal task force on hydraulic fracturing holds a
hearing in Pennsylvania's gas patch, and citizens will testify
to water contamination, air pollution, and other health and
community hazards of industrial gas development. But the panel
will also hear from fracking supporters -- some of them drawn to
the event by the natural gas industry's offers of airfare, hotel
rooms, and meals.
Solar power may be the
fastest growing industry in the country, says one of its leading
proponents. The base from which it is growing may be small, but
the rate of increased is unmatched in the renewables space.
A new study conducted by Dr. Melissa Ahern at Washington
State University, Dr. Michael Hendryx and others at WV
University finds significantly higher rates of birth defects in
mountaintop removal coal mining (MTM) areas
This groundbreaking book, by MOTHER EARTH NEWS Publisher and
Editorial Director Bryan Welch, cuts through the pessimism and
denial that pervade today's discussions of sustainability and
invites readers to visualize a verdant and prosperous future for
humanity and all the living things that share our planet. As a
practical guide...
A monster black hole shredded a Sun-like star, producing a
strangely long-lasting flash of gamma rays that probably won't
be seen again in a million years, astronomers reported on
Thursday.
China's apparent oil demand in May reached 39.4 million mt or
an average of 9.31 million b/d, which was 8% higher year on
year, as state-owned enterprises continued to crank up output to
supply local markets, according to a Platts analysis based on
recent statistics released by the government.
Darker days may be ahead
for the coal industry in the United States. But that doesn’t
spell the end for the sector as it seeks to find new markets
abroad.
Newly designed nanoparticles can quickly locate a tumor, then
set off a chemical reaction that attracts larger swarms of
drug-delivering nanoparticles to the site.
The rapidly growing national debt could soon spark a
European-style crisis unless Congress moves forcefully, the
Congressional Budget Office warned Wednesday in a study that
underscored the stakes for Vice President Joe Biden and
negotiators working on a sweeping plan to reduce red ink.
Scientists have found a possibly harmful fungus that grows in
dishwashers, surviving high temperatures, aggressive doses of
detergents and rinsing salts and both acid and alkaline types of
water.
The D-Dalus (a play on Daedalus from Greek mythology) is
neither fixed wing or rotor craft and uses four,
mechanically-linked, contra-rotating cylindrical turbines, each
running at the same 2200 rpm, for its propulsion.
For electric generating companies (GENCOs), these are
critical times. Electric power production is dominated by an
aging fleet of power plants. Evolving energy demand and energy
feedstock patterns are altering the economics of power plant
operations.
Defeating GMOs
–
The
Power
of
the
Free
Market
The dangers associated with GMO foods are myriad. They
include major health risks, as foreign genes from other
organisms, including bacteria and viruses, are forced into the
DNA of food crops. Potential human health risks identified by
FDA scientists include increased allergens in the food supply,
toxins, new diseases, birth defects, infertility, increased risk
of cancer, nutritional deficiencies, and even damage to internal
organs, particularly gastrointestinal organs.
From Seattle to Los Angeles, anywhere from 50 to 80 percent
of the water people use comes from mountain snow. Snow falls in
the mountains in the winter, where it's stored as snowpack until
spring and summer when it flows down the mountains into
reservoirs. It's a clean, reliable source of water. But soon, it
may become less dependable, thanks to climate change.
It would be nice to have an economy based on renewable goods,
zero dependence on foreign oil and a fleet of electric cars
transporting workers to and from their job, local officials
agreed Tuesday.
But empty government coffers are little help in funding
expensive green projects...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making it
easier to find data about chemicals. EPA is releasing two
databases — the Toxicity Forecaster database (ToxCastDB) and a
database of chemical exposure studies (ExpoCastDB) — that
scientists and the public can use to access chemical toxicity
and exposure data.
Amid increasing domestic political pressure and turbulent
global economic conditions, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday
it would let its massive bond-buying program expire in a matter
of days and announced no new initiative to prop up the American
economy –- even as the central bank downgraded its economic
assessment to reflect the sputtering recovery.
Struggling to get their feet in the door of transportation
and grid-tied markets, emerging electrical storage developers
have begun eying off-grid opportunities as a way to attain scale
and lower costs. But the off-grid market represents a rapidly
closing window of opportunity for emerging storage – only
developers who take immediate and intelligent action will
capture a meaningful share of the market, according to a new
report by Lux Research.
Approximately 80% of a landfill in southwest South Dakota
burned during a fire and the U.S. EPA observed evidence of
household hazardous waste throughout the burn area.
E. coli outbreaks in Europe. Salmonella scares in the United
States. There is no lack of news these days regarding foodborne
illnesses that kill and sicken millions. What’s a
health-conscious consumer to do to avoid being among the one in
six people who gets sick each year in the United States from
eating contaminated food? Wash your hands. Wash your produce.
And skip the raw bean sprouts. Here are more ways to ward off
food poisoning and stay healthy.
With roughly 93,500 direct and indirect jobs, the American solar
industry now employs about 9,200 more workers than the U.S.
steel production sector, according to 2010 Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
And with that budget hit, the so-called “food safety” law
can’t be implemented—and no money to approve Frankenfish! This
is huge!
The
House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday that
would speed up approvals for drilling in the Arctic by removing
regulatory hurdles that have stymied development of the area's
vast oil and gas resources.
The US has grown an energy conscience. Just look around in
stores that sell appliances, computers, televisions, light bulbs
or any kind of electric equipment. You’ll see the words ‘energy
saving’ or ‘energy efficient’ on a lot of the packaging.
I have always wanted to believe that our government was run
by people that, despite their mistakes, had good intentions,
believed that our republic was based on sound principles of
liberty and freedom, and that this liberty and freedom should be
available to all people.
Amidst the ongoing nuclear disaster in Japan—that third-party
scientific investigators are claiming is 30 times worse than
Chernobyl—some countries seem to be coming to their senses and
rethinking the cost versus benefit of using nuclear power.
Germany, Italy and Switzerland are all moving to end their
nuclear energy programs by substituting clean, safe renewable
alternatives. However, other developed nations, like the U.S.,
are making no such efforts.
A split opened within the NATO-led air campaign against
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Wednesday when France and
Britain rejected an Italian call for a halt to military action
to allow aid access.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, researchers noted that the reported
positive effects increased as higher doses were given, but also
that there was a sharp increase in the negative aspects at the
very highest dose.
Kroger Co. recycled more than 1.2 billion pounds of
corrugated cardboard and paper last year, according to the
company’s fifth sustainability report.
The analysis will span from county-wide energy and emissions
data reported by government agencies to data from individual
residences and businesses. Data gathered will be used to model
usage and consumption factors for various geographies
A number of articles and blogs published this week paint a
negative picture of electric cars based on a British study
published earlier this month. The study attempts a comparative
life-cycle assessment (LCA) of conventional, hybrid and electric
cars and prompted “downer” headlines...
A Rostraver solar power component manufacturer that recently
laid off 176 workers faces tough foreign competition and a
global glut of silicon wafers, two years after announcing plans
to expand and double its work force.
Lytro is planning to release a consumer-oriented light field
camera, that allows users to shift the focus in a picture after
it's been taken
Growing demand for natural gas by Mexican generators and
declining domestic production has boosted the country's imports
of low-cost US natural gas to a 10-year high so far this year,
Barclays said in report released Wednesday.
The environment is an important personal concern to more than
90 percent of Europeans in all 27 EU Member States, finds the
latest public opinion survey by the European Commission.
Russia's Justice Ministry on Wednesday denied registration to
a new political party created by three prominent opposition
leaders, effectively barring them from participating in upcoming
parliamentary and presidential elections.
The Nuclear Energy Institute criticized the Associated Press
today for selective, misleading reporting in a series of new
articles on U.S. nuclear power plant safety. The coverage has
factual errors, fails to cite relevant reports on safety that
contradict the reporting, and raises questions about historic
operating issues while ignoring more recent evidence of improved
performance in areas that it examines.
According to the firm, the off-grid storage market will grow
from USD 9.9 billion in 2011 to USD 13.5 billion in 2016, a 6%
compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Emerging technologies will
be the fastest growing segment of the market, growing from USD
1.5 billion in 2011 in 2011 to about USD 4 billion in 2016, a
22% CAGR.
Under a current business-as-usual scenario water demand is
set to outstrip supply by 40% by 2030. This has the potential to
put USD 63 trillion of global GDP at risk by 2050.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was asked Tuesday to avoid
the term "recycling" when it writes new licensing rules for
reprocessing spent nuclear fue
Euro MPs recently voted to ban certain detergents in order to
keep water ecosystems and beaches clean.
The European Parliament's all-party environment committee
called for more eco-friendly laundry products. In a regulation
proposal, still to be approved by the plenary, they call for a
maximum of 0.5g of phosphorus compounds in a standard washing
machine load.
President Obama's plan to
precipitously start drawing down U.S. military forces from
Afghanistan before the war against Radical Islamic jihadists has
truly been won -- and doing so against the advice of some of his
field commanders -- is a serious mistake, misguided and
dangerous. The move is a sign of White House fatigue. It will be
perceived by our enemies as weakness. It will embolden the enemy
and put more Americans, Israelis and other Mideast allies of
ours at greater risk.
Solar activity is expected to be very low with a chance for
an isolated C-class flare. noticeable increase in solar wind
velocity during the last three hours of the analysis interval
with end-of-period speeds at about 600 km/s. IP Shock
Passage Observed Electron 2MeV Integral Flux exceeded 1000pfu
The Nanticoke River Watershed
Conservancy, a citizen-based land conservation organization,
recently unveiled a Delaware wetland restoration project that
transformed 30-acres of disturbed wetland and forest into a
healthy and productive ecosystem.
The Nebraska Public Power District continued to monitor
fluctuating water levels on the Missouri River Monday that could
threaten operations at the Cooper Nuclear Station.
Water is the most sacred of substances, keeping us all alive.
Since 2003 the Mother Earth Water Walkers have been walking the
perimeters of the Great Lakes to draw attention to the
importance of water and the role it plays in our lives.
A hundred years ago, pretty much all of the food Americans
ate was essentially organic and local – and not surprisingly,
much more nutritious. But with the advent of Big Agra and
industrialized food production, we moved towards a food supply
heavily modified for higher yields and higher profits.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for a project costing more than
$600,000 will save the city money in the long run and will
create a more sustainable and economically responsible model,
District 2 City Commissioner Robert Leftwich said Monday.
As solar PV marches toward grid parity -- $1.25/Watt for
solar PV panels, vs. $4/W in 2008, with 19 countries (plus
California) poised to reach grid parity by year's end -- a
survey of US residents finds a majority overestimate how much
solar energy contributes domestically, and where the US sits in
terms of solar "leadership."
A new way of testing for signs of Alzheimer's disease in
spinal fluid may help more accurately identify which people with
mild memory deficits will progress to full-blown dementia,
researchers reported on Wednesday.
By 2050, the world will have to feed 9 billion people, adapt
to climate change, reduce agricultural pollution, and protect
fresh water supplies - all at the same time. Given that
formidable challenge, what are the quickest, most cost-effective
ways to develop more productive, drought-, flood- and
pest-resistant crops?
Coming soon to a senate hearing near
you—the Energy-Water Integration Act of 2011. The Alliance for
Water Efficiency (AWE) released a copy of the bill, which
provides an analysis of the impact of energy development and
production on the water resources of the US.
Despite this complicated relationship
between energy and water, their respective communities have not
always worked together; instead, both water and energy
professionals often find themselves operating in two separate
spheres, focusing only on their own specific challenges and
demands. But that balkanization is finally starting to change.
This new study is the first to apply quantitative economic
analysis to estimate the weather sensitivity of the entire U.S.
economy. The research could help policymakers determine whether
it is worthwhile to invest in enhanced
forecasts and other strategies that could better
protect economic activity from weather impacts.
This is America, right? The land of plenty, a nation blessed
with abundant supplies and resources. In a country like America,
we'd like to think that no one should go hungry. We not only
have charitable pantries and soup kitchens, but the government
offers social welfare benefits in the form of food stamps for
those families that are struggling to get by.
~ As West US slowly begins their Summer, cooler weather
expectedly expands to North-Central.....
- Reciprocally, Southern Heat will slide into SW
USA, helping shape 2011 "watermelon" thermal pattern (after the
contrasted West vs East in June).....
Most home gardeners already see evidence of global warming in
their own backyards and these droughts, floods, pests, and weeds
can challenge even the greenest thumb. But you can do more than
merely adapt to these new conditions: you can make choices in
your garden that don't add to the problem.
Henk Coetzee, one of the
government's team of experts that investigated acid mine
drainage, said increased seismicity was one of the risks
associated with the flooding of mines. The water lubricated
faults in the earth's crust and allowed them to move.
New federal environmental rules could cause the retirement of
as much as 12,000 MW of coal generation by 2020 in the Electric
Reliability Council of Texas, the Public Utility Commission of
Texas learned Wednesday.
U.S. existing home sales fell 3.8% to 4.81 million annualized
units in May following the previous month’s 1.8% decrease to
5.00 million annualized units (initially reported as 5.05
million). The reported level of activity was in line with market
expectations, which were for the annualized pace of sales to
fall to 4.80 million in the month.
The most interesting point in today's Fed statement was that
policymakers are taking the recent slowing in economic activity
in stride and still anticipate the pace to pick up during coming
quarters and for the unemployment rate to "resume its gradual
decline." As expected, the fed funds target was held in the
range of 0% to 0.25%,
The Obama administration pledged
Wednesday to increase its investment in Central Americas
security to nearly $300 million this year to thwart the
expanding activities of drugs cartels threatening to destabilize
the entire region.
The construction of an airport extension on the capital atoll
of the Marshall Islands, required and funded by U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration, is about to result in the destruction
of a thriving coral reef.
(or is this an
individual movement?)
Lots of ink is given to coal
use in both China and India. But what about the fuel sources
that the rest of the developing world consumes?
The answer, unfortunately,
is that 2.5 billion people globally lack access to reliable
electric power and that their energy comes from most the basic
sources: firewood and kerosene, to name two. Prosperity is
therefore a distant concept -- a situation that is getting
American utilities involved.
Radioactive substances spewed from a
damaged Japanese nuclear plant were carried to Europe through
the United States by a jet stream, Japanese researchers said,
Jiji news agency reported Wednesday.
June 21, 2011
The United States pays 22 percent of the United Nations'
regular budget. America's leading economic rival China pays just
2.6 percent.
"Ask
for a camel when you expect to get a goat," runs a Somali saying
that sums up the fading of ambitions for United Nations talks on
slowing climate change -- aim high, but settle for far less.
Curbing biofuels should halt price rises
Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear
power industry to keep the nation’s aging reactors operating
within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards
or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by the
Associated Press has found.
On the eve of a confidence vote that threatens to topple
Papandreou, the euro area’s top economic policy makers pushed
Greece to pass laws to cut the deficit and sell state assets.
horizontal gene transfer events may have played important
roles in the evolution of virulence and drug resistance of this
strain.
Biofuels are a "tremendous job creator" for rural areas, said
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday, ahead of a
global meeting where the farm-grown fuels may be criticized as a
factor in high food prices.
Climate talks over the past 10 days have made "clear advances
on key issues" and identified issues that require "high-level
political leadership" ahead of the United Nations' annual
climate summit in Durban in December, the UN's top climate
official said today. Environmental groups say progress in Bonn
was "uneven" at best and "poisonous" at worst.
Sudden, sharp increases tend to incite the middle income
group to examine the economics of dwelling modification and
equipment replacement.
I’m no pilot, but I imagine that if I were flying a plane and
a mountain appeared in front of me, I’d pull up to avoid
crashing. Instead, I am an economist and business person and I
see an economic mountain looming in front of the U.S. I only
wish I could explain why Washington insists on flying straight
into the mountain rather than pulling up.
Electricity is often referred to as a “silent killer” because
it cannot be tasted, seen, heard, or smelled. It is essentially
invisible. Electricity has long been recognized as a serious
workplace hazard, exposing employees to electrical shock, which
can result in electrocution, serious burns, or falls that result
in other injuries or even death.
Joplin-based Empire District Electric Co. is seeking a rate
increase that would boost bills for its Kansas customers by
about 6.39 percent.
An annual survey of New England energy consumers released
Friday found that 65 percent of respondents opposed state
lawmakers adding new taxes for power generators to raise
revenue, as was done in Connecticut during the recent
legislative session.
"Utilities don't have any incentive to find the lowest cost"
power for their customers, he said. "That's why I felt more
comfortable signing with an alternate supplier."
The Environmental Protection Agency, under pressure from
Republicans and big utilities, said on Monday it had extended a
deadline by two months on draft rules that would for the first
time limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
I strongly advocate exercise to treat depression instead of
medication. Antidepressant medications are overprescribed and
associated with a multitude of adverse effects.
Picture yourself 10, 20, even 30 years from today . . .
How will you feel? Will you have more than enough energy and
vitality to enjoy your leisure interests, romantic activities
and time with family and friends? Or will you be relegated to
your favorite armchair and live life only from the sidelines?
Perhaps the most controversial, Foundation members eschew
processed foods in favor of home cooking, canning and
preserving. And, they prefer food from traditional, mixed use
farms rather than industrial scale factory farms. These
activists equate ‘going green’ with your food choices with
superior health and vitality–a compelling message for an
increasingly sick and weak nation.
The rate of sea level rise along the U.S. Atlantic coast is
greater now than at any time in the past 2,000 years -- and has
shown a consistent link between changes in global mean surface
temperature and sea level.
FDA purports public health when it cracks down on the likes
of Amish Farmer Dan Allgyer for transferring raw milk over state
lines for a buying club. But since it’s legal to drink raw milk
in all fifty states, the only way the FDA can curtail raw milk
producers is by enforcing the interstate sales ban.
By what authority?
What You Must Do NOW to Limit Your Exposure —
and Reverse
Your Current Level of Damage
Headlines will soon shift from the sexcapades of Rep. Antony
Weiner to the debate over the debt ceiling extension.
The outcome of this debate could have a profound effect on the
markets.
With unemployment still hovering above the 9% mark, it seems
more and more evident, day after day, that our government has no
clue about how to get this economy going. In fact, that's
probably why the economy isn't going... it has TOO much
government interference!
The globe experienced the 10th warmest May since record
keeping began in 1880, as the climate phenomenon La Nińa ended
its 2011 cycle. The Arctic sea ice extent was the third smallest
extent for May on record.
Many people don't realize it, but global warming is already
affecting our lives and it’s causing trouble in surprising
places—like in North Carolina where climate change has caused
poison ivy to become more potent.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a
global warming a lawsuit against five big power
companies, its most important environmental ruling since 2007
and a victory for the utilities.
The Obama administration on Monday extended its ban on mining
on 1 million acres of federal lands near the Grand Canyon by six
months, as it heads toward a possible long-term moratorium on
mining in the area.
President Barack Obama heads to an energy plant in North
Carolina on Monday to talk once again about the job-creating
power of a green economy.
Costs to install solar technology are set to decrease in
Colorado under new legislation signed into law by Governor
Hickenlooper last Friday.
“It is vital to the integrity of our election process that
only citizens are allowed to vote,” Horne said. “Arizona voters
approved the law that requires anyone who wants to vote to
provide information showing they are citizens. Arizona voters
expect that their votes will not be diluted by non-citizens and
that the integrity of the process will be preserved. That is why
I am passionate about defending this law.”
As major flooding threatens portions of the Missouri River,
the U.S. EPA is urging residents to move potentially hazardous
items to higher ground.
Arizona is burning. Texas, too. New Mexico is next. If you
need a grim reminder that an already arid West is burning up and
blowing away, here it is.
Last month, a study published by Pace Environmental Law
Review revealed that while the government continues its rigid no
vaccine-autism link stance, its Vaccine Injury Compensation
Program has quietly paid families for autism injuries for 20
years. The study found 83 such cases where families were awarded
damages relating to autism after vaccination. Not all injured
families receive that opportunity for help, and families who did
(via strictly calculated annuities) were encouraged to keep it
on the down-low.
Hybrid-electric drives are no longer a matter of cars only:
At the Le Bourget air show, small plane manufacturer Diamond
Aircraft shows what it claims to be the world's first airplane
with a serial hybrid electric drive system. There are however
significant differences to automotive drives.
Attempting to squelch fears about nuclear power, the Idaho
National Laboratory is reaching out to educate the public on
nuclear research.
The International Energy Agency the week ended June 17
published its latest set of medium-term forecasts, including
projections for OPEC spare capacity.
Major players across the political spectrum are finally
acknowledging the extraordinary crisis facing us. Even as
establishmentarian a figure as World Bank President Robert
Zoellick has recently admitted that fiat currencies may need to
be tied back to gold!
After years of intense legal arguments, it took a federal
judge less than a day to affirm that a settlement to a case
involving the federal government’s mismanagement of Indian trust
assets was fair. His decision will end up offering thousands of
Indians a small slice of a multi-billion U.S. government
offering.
With a 19-year-old behind bars following network intrusions
and denial of service attacks against “a number of international
business and intelligence agencies,” the fate of LulzSec remains
an open question.
The oceans are at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of
marine species unprecedented in human history, a panel of
international marine experts warns in a report released today.
A deadly trio of factors - warming, acidification and lack of
oxygen - is creating the conditions associated with every
previous major extinction of species in Earth's history, the
panel warned.
The latest “Misery Index” shows that Americans are more
miserable than they’ve been in the past 28 years, economically
speaking.
This year's record Mississippi River floods are forecast to
create the biggest Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" since systematic
mapping began in 1985, U.S. scientists reported on Tuesday.
More than 80 per cent of Japanese want the country's 54
nuclear reactors scrapped in the wake of this year's nuclear
disaster at the Fukushima plant, a poll showed Sunday.
Economist and non-executive Morgan Stanley Asia chair Stephen
Roach says the global economy is being hobbled by a new
generation of zombies, the economic walking dead
...indicating potential cost impacts for key compliance
requirements expected under the Dodd-Frank Act...
A 59-year-old man has been jailed in Gastonia, N.C., on
charges of larceny after allegedly robbing an RBC Bank for $1 so
he could get health care in prison. Richard James Verone handed
a female teller a note demanding the money and claiming that he
had a gun, according to the police report.
The house uses solar panels that blend into the roof,
geothermal heating and cooling, and a high-tech system that
allows control of climate and security using an iPhone or
laptop.
The bills involve hunting within city limits, concealed-carry
licensing, carrying firearms in wildlife refuges and firearm
rights for those who have been rehabilitated from mental
illness. All four either modify or repeal existing state
statutes
President Obama said Monday that advanced lighting technology
is an essential component of his administration’s push to make
commercial buildings more energy efficient.
Savannah River Site's accumulated nuclear waste continues to
pose significant risks, but cleanup programs are making
progress, a federal oversight committee was told Thursday.
With all the hype over
labeling of Genetically Modified Food (GMO) in the United
States, and Monsanto "playing God" with our food supply — many
people have started their own organic gardens in their yard.
I am no exception.
During the protest organized by the Belgian Field Liberation
Movement (FLM) – an informal collective consisting of farmers,
scientists, consumers, and environmental activists, protesters
climbed over a high fence and pulled up GM potato plants. The
trial was also allegedly sprayed with herbicide. Some 40 people
were arrested.
A rise in radiation halted the clean-up of radioactive water
at Japan's Fukushimi nuclear power station on Saturday hours
after it got under way, a fresh setback to efforts to restore
control over the quake-stricken plant.
Here's a new kind of recycling: GeckoLogic USA in Vista will
soon offer factory-rejected, then refurbished, solar panels to
its residential and commercial solar customers, the company
said.
Geomagnetic field activity is
expected to be at quiet to
unsettled levels on day 1 (21 June) due
to weak coronal hole
high-speed stream (CH HSS) effects. Activity is
expected to
decrease to quiet levels on day 2 (22 June). An increase
to
quiet to unsettled levels is expected for day 3 (23 June) with a
chance for active levels as another CH HSS begins to disturb the
field.
The San Francisco Peaks are located in Arizona, on federal
land within the Coconino National Forest. They are sacred to
Apache, Hopi, Hualapai, Navajo, Yavapai and other Native
Nations. These hugely important Peaks are home to many sacred
beings, medicine places and origin sites.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus says the nation is "on the
edge of another energy revolution."
The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to eliminate
billions of dollars in support for the U.S. ethanol industry,
sending a strong message that the era of big taxpayer support
for biofuels is ending
The Sierra Club's Oregon Chapter has teamed with a
Portland-area company to offer discounted rooftop solar
installations to Sierra Club members or those who join the
conservation organization.
Three researchers discussed solar energy and its effects on
local water resources, "A Drop in the Bucket: Making the
Connection between Solar Energy and Water Use in Arizona," last
week at the Yuma Agricultural Center Auditorium.
The battered Mansfield-area economy, hurt by declines in the
auto industry, is poised to gain more than 1,000 jobs that also
would help meet the growing demand for solar energy.
Gov. Rick Perry, under pressure from tea party activists, on
Monday added to lawmakers' to-do list a ban on airport security
searches considered intrusive without probable cause to believe
someone has committed an offense.
Studies show that in a crisis, eight out of ten people will
remain passive, relying on someone else to take charge. One out
of ten will panic and endanger others in the process.
And only one out of the ten will take swift, decisive action
to improve their situation.
Coal is a combustible sedimentary rock that has become the
world's most used energy source. Because it is so abundant and
therefore cheap, much research has been done to see what other
kinds of uses it can have other than direct burning for
electricity production. The liquefaction of coal is one concept
that is being given new life due to higher petroleum prices.
Currently it is cost-prohibitive and environmentally unfriendly.
The bloody battle between ruthless Mexican drug cartels
threatens to turn America's southern neighbor into a failed
nation-state — and has spilled deep into U.S. territory,
threatening American citizens as well.
In this issue we need to comment on the latest financial
bailout, in this case the apparent salvation of the European
banks from taking a hit in the restructuring of Greece.
Like getting dirt under your fingernails? You might be
pulling weeds and digging soil to grow greens for your salad,
but did you know you also may be boosting your chances of living
longer and healthier? Research shows that gardeners eat more
vegetables which help fight chronic disease, have better hand
strength, and greater zest for life. They also are more likely
to rate their quality of life as “excellent” or “very good.”
Here are lots of reasons to grab a shovel.
Dear EarthTalk: Radioactive rain recently fell in
Massachusetts, likely due to Japan's nuclear mess. Given the
threats of radiation, wouldn't it be madness now to continue
with nuclear power? How can President Obama include nukes as
part of a "clean energy" agenda?
Call it Smart Grid Version 2.0. Or just explain that the latest
effort by the Obama administration to modernize the nation’s
electrical grid is to polish its first attempt almost three
years ago.
The latest move sounds modest. But what the $250 million in
loans to rural areas really means is that the President Obama is
staying involved and giving a big plug to the cause.
Given the need to rapidly reduce energy-related greenhouse
gas emissions, many see a role for natural gas as a proven,
reliable transitional fuel that can
replace coal generation relatively quickly and inexpensively.
Recently, Fed governors Janet Yellen, William
Dudley and Ben Bernanke have each given speeches that
have examined different aspects of US monetary policy. Yellen
focused on accommodative policy and financial stability. Dudley
largely focused on the international dimension of US economic
performance and the implications for US policy. Bernanke's
speech was devoted to the US economic outlook, but was devoid of
any mention of international developments save in a discussion
of commodity prices.
June 17, 2011
Words have a history. Words from the past have the ability to
colonize the present. Words shape and create reality.
Reconciliation has a history; it has the ability to colonize
the present for Indigenous nations and peoples; it can be used
to maintain a particular kind of reality that benefits states to
the continued detriment of Indigenous nations and peoples. It is
a term that deserves further investigation and discussion rather
than immediate unquestioning adoption.
The U.S. recycling rate for aluminum beverage cans has reached
its highest level in a decade, with 58.1% of all cans recycled
last year.The 2009 aluminum recycling rate was 57.4%.
US commercial crude oil stocks dropped a larger-than-expected
3.406 million barrels, with low imports behind the inventory
decline during the week ending June 10, an analysis of
Wednesday's weekly US Energy Information Administration (EIA)
oil data showed.
Premiums for medium-sweet crudes grades might come under
further pressure once the Cossack field starts production in
October, trading sources said Friday.
"The Assyrian Dictionary is the single most impressive effort
I know of to systematically record, codify and make accessible
the Akkadian language that forms the heart of the textual record
of civilization in the place of its birth: Mesopotamia,"
Record breaking natural
disasters keep happening around the world. The global economy
remains in serious trouble. Millions are sinking into poverty.
Islam is spreading around the world. Rumors of new wars in the
Middle East are mounting. New threats to Israel are
metastasizing. Yet as the world is being shaken and serious new
threats and challenges are rising, so much of the world seems to
be asleep.
Only recently has the annual gathering of the half a century
old cabal become known through the efforts of freedom activists
opposing their centrist agendas. Why are the heads of Google,
Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon attending along with bank and nation
leadership, and why doesn't the mainstream press pay attention?
Energy remedy ramifications.
Only 40% Plan to Hire and Majority Believe US Economy Will
Remain the Same or Possibly Weaken
China will suspend approvals for new nuclear power plant
proposals until a new nuclear safety plan -- that is being
drafted -- is put in place, said Li Ganjie, deputy minister of
the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
The world economic recovery remains "slow and fragile" with
the outlook uncertain, but China will promote its own rapid and
stable growth, Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Friday.
What’s a key to America’s economic success? Plowing resources
into research and development to bring innovative tools and
technologies to market. And among the critical concepts are
those tied to the generation of electricity in the cleanest
possible fashion.
Over the last several years, a picture has emerged of the
American west in a climate-changed world.
The housing crisis that began in 2006 is now worse than the
meltdown in the Great Depression, with home prices having fallen
33 percent since then compared to 31 percent in the 1920s and
1930s, according to data from Case-Shiller, which tracks the
sector.
Officials in Britain and the United States are preparing to
make controlled power cuts to their national electricity
supplies in response to a warning of a possible powerful solar
storm hitting the Earth. In an interview with The Independent,
Thomas Bogdan, director of the US Space Weather Prediction
Centre, said that controlled power "outages" will protect the
National Electricity Grids against damage which could take
months or even years to repair should a large solar storm
collide with the Earth without any precautions being taken.
The cost of living in the U.S. rose more than forecast in May
reflecting higher prices for everything from autos to hotel
rooms, signaling raw-material expenses are filtering through to
other goods and services.
Total loans on U.S. bank balance sheets have declined in each
of the last 11 quarters after peaking at just under $8 trillion
in mid-2008, according to Fitch Ratings. Loan balances are down
12% from the peak and now approximate levels seen at year-end
2006.
The U.S. economy will avoid double-dipping into a recession
for now but is entering a prolonged period of sluggish economic
performance that will make jobs tough to find, says Lakshman
Achuthan, co-founder of the Economic Cycle Research Institute
(ECRI), which focuses on predicting recessions and recoveries.
Career mechanic, Eric W. Hansen, reveals his understanding of
the hydroxy (HHO) technology, explaining how to use Frederick
Well's plans to run an engine on nothing but water through
resonance of the electrolysis cell chambers, as well as how to
adjust the tuning of the engine to handle the 135 octane hydroxy
gas.
Here are some key facts about Ampenergo , the private US
company that has signed an agreement with Andrea Rossi’s
Leonardo Corporation to commercialize his E-Cat technology...
Scores of people have died over the past week and 2,000
refugees have fled to the China border in heavy fighting around
large hydropower dams being built in Burma's northern Kachin
state to provide power to China.
A commission of members from France's upper and lower houses
agreed Wednesday a draft law banning exploration of shale oil
and gas using hydraulic fracturing, and amendments made to the
bill could push back scientific drilling pending a review
process.
With gradual decommissioning of landfills, and strict
incineration legislation, the recycling industry is expected to
grow steadily as the EU shifts towards being a recycling
society. The percentage of municipal wastes being recycled needs
to increase sharply to overcome the burden of excessive waste
generation. In addition, there is a growing need for innovative
and cost effective treatment of waste in newly joined EU member
states
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved licenses
that will allow up to 1,000 tons of Germany's low-level
radioactive waste to be brought to Oak Ridge, Tenn., for
incineration.
Renewable energy
developers agree: The lack of clear, long-term signals from
policymakers stalls investments in the clean energy space. As
the new kid on the block, and not an energy company, Google is
plowing ahead
The Google-backed fund is the first
collaboration between the Internet giant and the nation's
leading solar power and energy efficiency service provider, and
represents Google's largest investment to date in the clean
energy sector.
The fund will enable thousands of homeowners who do not want
to make a large upfront investment in a solar system to have
solar panels installed on their roofs as part of SolarCity's
leasing program, the companies said on Tuesday.
Their goal? To create a viable renewable energy option that
is cheaper than coal, and their new patented solution just might
do the trick. The concentrated solar technology makes use of a
camera to adjust mirrors that optimize a given plant’s
efficiency. The camera and a processing computer are located
within the central tower of the solar thermal plant, and if a
misalignment, or better (more efficient) angle is detected, then
the mirrors are adjusted by robotic actuators.
Here's how the Republican nominating process will work:
New power plant
construction in the renewable sector may have had a bumpy few
months of late, but the trend toward building more clean energy
continues.
Have you considered what NOT having control of your food
supply is costing you? In Germany right now, that loss of
control has contributed to the deaths of thirty-nine people. The
sad thing is that Europe can't figure out what the problem is.
First it was cucumbers, tomatoes, then lettuce, then sprouts,
then it wasn't sprouts, and today it is sprouts again.
Rains return to the U.S. Midwest this week, increasing the
risk of more farms flooding along the Missouri River and add to
slowdowns in moving grain by rail, a forecaster said on Tuesday.
In congressional hearings Wednesday, Rep. Darrell Issa ripped
into high-level Justice Department officials, saying that they
were fully aware of the deadly sale of guns to Mexican drug
cartels, and declared that the entire operation “looks an awful
lot like Iran Contra.”
Yesterday, fallout from the March Fukushima nuclear plant
leak reached into Italian government policy, as it now appears
likely there will not be a renewed thrust toward the
controversial power source anytime soon.
Japan is planning up to five new wood combustion power plants
in a bid to clear some of the rubble left by the quake and
tsunami in March while helping meet the country's energy
shortfall, a report said Thursday.
A Kanawha County judge issued an order Tuesday declaring
stockholders appear to have a case that board members of Massey
Energy were in contempt of court for failure to adhere to safety
agreements stemming from a June 2008 court settlement.
U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for June showing
that stronger home sales growth remains dampened by declining
consumer confidence and economic uncertainty. Regardless, during
the first four months of 2011, average monthly sales of existing
homes are up approximately 5 percent from the average pace of
2010.
Kanatsiohareke, a Mohawk community located in central New
York State, is working hard to help revitalize Kanienkeha, the
Mohawk language. The community has been offering Mohawk language
immersion classes for the last fourteen years. This is important
because Kanienkeha is one of the many Native American languages
at risk of being lost forever. It is said that when a people
lose their language, they also lose fifty percent or more of
their culture, identity and self-esteem. The expression “lost in
translation” refers to the fact that it is difficult and
sometimes impossible to translate some words and concepts from
one language to another without losing significant cultural and
spiritual connections. That is why it is crucial to maintain,
protect, use and teach our languages.
Help is on the way to consumers confused by the jumble of sun
protection numbers, symbols, and other claims on sunscreens.
Starting next summer, consumers can start looking for SPF 15
bottles with the label "broad spectrum" and feel confident
they're being protected from an increased risk of cancer.
Nature's fury reached new extremes in the U.S. during the
spring of 2011, as a punishing flooding and rainfall brought the
greatest flood in recorded history to the Lower Mississippi
River, an astonishingly deadly tornado season, the worst drought
in Texas history, and the worst fire season in recorded history.
A new ion exchange program that promises to reduce sodium in
drinking water is in a three-month testing program by Hungerford
& Terry, Clayton, NJ.
...it seemed the prevailing theme was that while ocean energy
holds many promising possibilities, cost is still a main concern
among industry experts.
A global world food report is warning that prolonged high
prices are likely to persist over the next decade, putting the
poor at an increasing risk of malnutrition.
Oxfam has launched a fresh campaign to pressure the world's
governments to boost investment in agriculture and better manage
food supply to create a fairer and more sustainable food system
it says is currently "broken."
New research focusing on the Houston area suggests that
widespread urban development alters weather patterns in a way
that can make it easier for pollutants to accumulate during warm
summer weather instead of being blown out to sea.
After years of community opposition, a 2,000 megawatt dam
planned for construction on a major Amazonian tributary, has
been cancelled, the government of Peru announced Tuesday. The
dam was to have been built across the Inambari River in Madre de
Dios province.
More than three months after the Fukushima nuclear plant was
hit by a quake and tsunami that triggered the world's worst
nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, Japanese officials are still
struggling to understand where and how radiation released in the
accident created far-flung "hotspots" of contamination.
The uncertainty itself is proving a strain.
The Institution Recycling Network (IRN) reached a milestone
last month with its surplus property program, surpassing 30
million pounds of furniture and equipment shipped to U.S. and
overseas relief organizations.
A wind energy supply chain is emerging in the
Portland-Vancouver region as manufacturers and economic
development agencies step up efforts to win a growing piece of
the global wind energy market.
Most of the wind turbines in the U.S. are imported from
foreign manufacturers, largely in China and Europe.
modest growth in spot count, slow CME does not appear to be
Earth-directed.Solar activity is expected to be low with a
chance for M-class events all three days of the period (17 - 19
June).The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled. Solar wind
velocities were steady at about 450 km/s through 16/1500Z when a
slight increase to about 480 km/s was observed.
In today's age of highly
processed
food, packaged and shaped to look like animals,
filled with ingredients we have never heard of, it is tempting
to return to a diet from a much simpler time. A new fad that is
catching on, known as the Paleolithic or "paleo" diet, aims to
return people to a more "natural" way of eating.
South Carolina, like 21 other states today,
protects a worker’s right not only to join a union, but also to
make the choice not to join or financially support a union.
Washington State does not. The general counsel of the NLRB, on
behalf of the International Association of Machinists union, has
issued a complaint against Boeing, which, if successful, would
require it to move its South Carolina operation back to
Washington State. This would represent an unprecedented act of
intervention by the federal government that appears, on its
face, un-American. But it is an act long in the making, and
boils down to a fundamental misunderstanding of freedom.
No one would accuse Republican presidential candidate Ron
Paul of being mainstream, including the Texas congressman
himself, who relishes his role as an outsider.
So it’s
not a huge surprise that Paul has asked Obama administration
officials to audit the content of the nation's 700,000 gold bars
held in Fort Knox, according to an internal Treasury document
obtained by CNBC.
"I believe together we can reform the way the world is
managed," Ahmadinejad declared, according to report by Agence
France Presse. "We can restore the tranquillity of the world."
He reportedly then addressed the leaders of Russia and Asia,
asking: "Have any of us used an atomic bomb against the
defenceless citizens of any other country?"
Sunspot
cycles -- those 11-year patterns when dark dots appear on the
solar surface -- may be delayed or even go into "hibernation"
for a while, a U.S. scientist said on Wednesday.
The Senate on Tuesday rejected a proposal that would have
eliminated ethanol tax credits worth $5 billion a year -- a
stunning setback for conservatives who were rallying around it
in recent days as a way to reduce the national debt.
Consisting of America's electric
utilities and solar companies, Solar Electric Power Association
(SEPA) has released its latest report in which its research has
revealed that utilities are increasingly expanding their solar
power generation portfolios and astonishingly most of these
solar instalments are materializing outside of California.
A group of 72 businesses, including household names such as
Coca-Cola and Google, joined forces on Wednesday in support of
deeper European cuts to greenhouse gases.
Fast action on certain pollutants such as black carbon,
ground-level ozone and methane may help limit near term global
temperature rise and significantly increase the chances of
keeping temperature rise below 3.6 degrees F. Protecting the
near-term climate is central to significantly cutting the risk
of amplified global
climate
change linked with rapid and extensive loss of
Arctic ice...
Seoul refused Friday to send back a group
of North Koreans who crossed into South Korean waters by boat
last weekend, saying all nine have expressed the desire to
defect.
North Korea has demanded the immediate
repatriation of all nine people who landed on a South
Korean-held island last Saturday aboard two small boats.
Pyongyang warned Thursday that failure to send them back would
aggravate ties between the two Koreas.
Most Canadians – 74 per cent -trust the public sector to
provide drinking water and waste treatment services. 87 per cent
say Canada's drinking water is a precious natural resource that
should remain public and be protected from private corporate
interests,
Nearly three-quarters of Japanese voters want to see a
gradual phase-out of nuclear power, a newspaper poll showed on
Tuesday, the latest sign of concerns about atomic safety as the
country struggles with the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25
years.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently approved about
$7.4 million to fund nine large-scale greenhouse gas mitigation
projects in 24 states through U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG).
30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.50 percent with
an average 0.7 point for the week ending June 16, 2011, up from
last week when it averaged 4.49 percent. Last year at this time,
the 30-year FRM averaged 4.75 percent.
“More than 70 percent of survey participants agreed or
strongly agreed that energy and commodity prices would rise
significantly in the next five years, signifying tremendous
capital investment needs across the nation’s electric utility
system,”
A new survey of barrier islands published earlier this spring
offers the most thorough assessment to date of the thousands of
small islands that hug the coasts of the world's landmasses.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court handed Republican Gov. Scott
Walker a major victory on Tuesday, ruling that a polarizing
union law could take effect that strips most public employees of
their collective-bargaining rights.
Recent reports confirming that Reactors 1, 2, and 3 of the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility completely melted just hours
after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the area on
March 11 have been trumped by even worse news that those same
reactors have all likely "melted through," a situation that
according to Japan's Daily Yomiuri DY is "the worst
possibility in a nuclear accident."
June 14, 2011
Three months after the nuclear crisis began at the Fukushima
Dai- ichi nuclear power plant in Japan, environmental activists
in Taiwan gathered at major train stations and in front of the
legislature on the weekend to promote their vision of a
nuclear-free Taiwan.
Adweek, one of America's top media advertising publications,
is touting the business acumen of Republican presidential
candidate Herman Cain, highlighting his "stellar career as an
executive.
The world's largest rainforest is ravaged by deforestation
and two recent droughts. If they continue, says one expert, the
Amazon risks entering a period where it can no longer be relied
upon to absorb more greenhouse gas emissions than it produces
Analysts with Citigroup Global Markets see a future in which
water is an asset and water-related securities are traded widely
on global exchanges.
Questions are being raised about the potentially huge costs
that Germany's decision to close all its nuclear power plants by
2022 could entail.
Thousands of people staged anti-nuclear rallies in Tokyo and
other Japanese cities Saturday, as radiation continued to leak
from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant, three months
after a powerful earthquake and tsunami triggered one of the
world's worst nuclear disasters.
BP said that renewables added more than petroleum-based
products to the world’s primary energy consumption growth in the
five years through 2010.
With consumers used to the convenience of refueling their
vehicle at the gas station in a few minutes, one of the biggest
disadvantages of electric vehicles is the time it takes to
recharge their batteries. Now, by separating the energy storage
and energy discharging functions of the battery into separate
physical structures, researchers at MIT have achieved a
breakthrough that could allow EVs to be recharged in the same
time it takes to refuel a conventional car.
In 1984, a group of students and volunteers road bicycles
across North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illionis,
Missouri and Arkansas to remember the removal of thousands of
Cherokees from their homelands in Indian Territory in Oklahoma
in 1838-39.
China accounted for 20.3% of global demand in 2010 vs. 19%
for US
For citizens of Cedar Falls, Iowa, ordinance 2740 (unfunded
city-wide mandate) means a forceful requirement to hand the
government their keys for their safety. Keys will be kept “safe”
on mostly commercial properties through universal lock boxes
that emergency responders can access.
No country in the world outside of the United States has a
debt ceiling. When countries go through a debt crisis, it is
their own financial failings that force change — not some
artificially introduced debt ceiling.
Another series of earthquakes today hit New Zealand's South
Island city of Christchurch, which is in the midst of recovery
from a devastating quake that struck in February. The quakes
damaged more buildings and shook up the already-traumatized
residents
To punish a crime, you must have a crime. The FDA creates
crimes when elderberry juice concentrate magically becomes a
drug!
Such raids have taken place a lot in the last few years, but
lately it’s almost overwhelming to keep up!
According to a recent report “Light Electric Vehicle (LEV)
Industry Worldwide 2011-2021” from IDTechEx on the various types
of electric vehicle - hybrid and pure electric, electric
vehicles by land, water and air will be a market of over USD 210
billion in ten years from now. The segments of this market are
very different in certain respects yet they increasingly share
some technical challenges and vehicle and component suppliers.
If there's one big environmental concern surrounding power
plants that burn material such as coal in order to produce
power, it's the amount of carbon dioxide that they release into
the atmosphere.
The ravages from half a century of intensive farming must
give way to a more sustainable approach if farmers are to feed
the world in 2050, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) said on Monday.
New rules are to be introduced allowing FBI agents to turn up
the pressure on potential informants and delve into the
backgrounds of more Americans.
"U.S. FBI agents will have more leeway to push the limits of
privacy
in the new edition of their operating manual, a review of
the document indicates.
“The mutual funds industry is breathing a big sigh of relief
today because the spillover consequences of a broad definition
of who makes a prospectus could have been huge,”
If the idea of eating genetically modified food
isn’t disturbing enough, another side effect from its
consumption holds baffling and overwhelming implications.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has endorsed a plan to end
all nuclear power in Germany by 2022. Increasingly, studies
suggest this is not a far-fetched idea, even for the US.
General Electric will remove 2.4 million cubic yards of
sediment for a 40-mile section of the Upper Hudson River in New
York that is contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
The dredging of the river is the second phase of the cleanup,
officials from the U.S. EPA said.
The United States is in worse financial shape than Greece due
to the amount of money needed to cover future liabilities, says
Bill Gross, head of Pimco, the world's largest bond fund.
You see, as far back as I can remember guns being in my home,
I can also remember my parents teaching me the rules for
handling them (or NOT handling), and to approach them using
safety and respect. They weren't toys and they weren't to be
used thoughtlessly.
If all goes according to plan, India's solar power capacity
will grow six-fold to touch 300 MW by the end of this year, even
as several enthusiastic states are commissioning solar power
plants. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra are among
states where solar projects are set to be commissi oned in the
latter half of 2011.
The roof of a two mile stretch of tunnel over Belgium's high
speed rail line has been fitted out with 16,000 solar panels to
provide power for trains running through Antwerp Central Station
and the surrounding railway infrastructure
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government is
being tested again as Italians cast votes in four referendums,
including one that would end plans to restart the country's
nuclear energy program.
A bill to repeal the banning of ordinary incandescent light
bulbs is bottled up in a congressional committee despite
Americans' apparent distaste for the more expensive bulbs that
would replace them.
A new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change looks
at the cost to the Chinese economy of lax air quality
regulations between 1975 and 2005. The MIT researchers found
that air pollutants produced a substantial socio-economic cost
to China over the past three decades.
A NATO airstrike hit an area near
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's compound in the capital again
Tuesday, as military leaders voiced concerns about sustaining
the operations if the alliance mission drags on.
The Connecticut state Senate
unanimously passed a bill June 7 banning the use of natural gas
to clean pipes at natural gas-fired power plants, a process
known as blowing, according to Forbes.
“More than 70 percent of survey
participants agreed or strongly agreed that energy and commodity
prices would rise significantly in the next five years,
signifying tremendous capital investment needs across the
nation’s electric utility system
Despite the increased desire among private businesses to
secure bank loans, banks are denying the majority (60%) of loan
applications. 61% of banks who responded to the survey say that
because of increased pressure from regulators they are declining
loans that otherwise would be accepted.
North Korea has probably succeeded in miniaturizing a nuclear
device, South Korea's defense minister said on Monday, an
advance that would in theory allow the hermit state to place an
atomic warhead on a rocket.
In the aftermath of the Fukushima crisis, a majority of
sustainability experts around the world now say that nuclear
power isn't essential to a low-carbon energy future, research
released today shows.
The double whammy of the loss of Libyan crude and the demands
of the second half of the year are posing two big hurdles for
OPEC's stated aim of supplying the market with the oil it needs.
Throw in the organization's split, evidenced last week in
Vienna, and it's an even more challenging time for the
organization.
Higher oil prices have
helped spark investment activity in US-based second-generation
biofuel companies seeking to overtake their fossil fuel
counterparts.
The largest private employer in the city of Santa Cruz has
flipped the switch on a solar array it says is the biggest in
the county.
Plantronics, which operates worldwide and employs about 500
people on Encinal Street, upgraded from a 5-year-old
263-kilowatt system to a 870-kilowatt system.
Libya's embattled leader Moammar Qadhafi has been filmed
playing a game of chess with the head of the World Chess
Federation somewhere in Tripoli. No guesses as to who won the
game. But is it finally checkmate for the man who has led the
oil-rich country for nearly 42 years?
More than 44 million Americans — 14 percent of the population
— now rely on the fe federal government’s food stamps program,
an all-time high.
Net generation in the United States was up 2.0 percent from
March 2010 to March 2011. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) reported that the average March
temperature across the contiguous United States was 1.4 degrees
F above the long-term average and as such, March 2011 was the
39th warmest March since 1895.
C1 x-ray event, a few B-class events, A partial halo CME was
observed, CME , The geomagnetic field was at quiet to unsettled
levels. ACE solar wind data indicated the continued presence of
a coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) with wind speeds
averaging about 450 km/s.
U.S. scientists have figured out exactly how nicotine acts as
an appetite suppressant in the brain, a finding that could one
day help in the fight against obesity, researchers said
Thursday.
The U.S. Sergeant at Arms Office confirmed Monday that the
Senate's website had been hacked this past weekend and that it
has ordered a review of all Senate computer sites.
Study: Most Americans Won't be Able to Afford Retirement
Until Age 80
Thinking of retiring around 65? Think again, a study shows.
Wisconsin should strive to do more to grow a renewable energy
economy that creates jobs in the state, the author of a new
sustainability report says.
“…everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an
herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian
theory of existence.”
The prototype 'thermally activated cooling system' combines
two technologies, for harnessing waste heat and using it run
cooling systems .
No system is 100% effective. There is always some energy
wasted. One of the more common examples is the automobile engine
which gets quite hot. Some of the waste is recovered by heating
the car for example. With the completion of a successful
prototype, engineers at Oregon State
University have made a major step toward
addressing one of the leading problems in energy use around the
world today — the waste of half or more of the energy produced
by cars, factories and power plants.
Water is amazing. It occupies about 2/3rds of the Earth's
surface. It is the basis of life in many ways. It interacts with
the atmosphere as a major cleanser of sorts. So how does it do
it? Some water molecules split the difference between gas and
liquid, a study in Nature shows.
"It's over: UN's Kyoto Protocol Destined for Scrapheap of
History.' So reads the headline on the Climate Depot story
disclosing that Japan, Russia, and Canada will not join a second
round of carbon cuts under the Kyoto Protocol
Solar PV—both silicon-based and thin film—converts sunlight
directly into electricity. The growth in solar cell production
climbed from an annual expansion of 38 percent in 2006 to an
off-the-chart 89 percent in 2008, before settling back to 51
percent in 2009.
New and virulent forms of a fungus called stem rust that
attacks wheat are spreading quickly across the world, borne by
wind beyond the handful of countries in East Africa where they
were first identified.
Weekly oil data from the US Energy Information Administration
and the American Petroleum Institute should show a draw of about
1.9 million barrels in US commercial crude stocks for the
reporting week ended June 10, analysts polled by Platts said
Monday.
The problem we face in the United States is that many members
of Congress have never started their own business or understand
how to create jobs.
Southern Company (NYSE: SO) announced today that its
25-megawatt carbon capture and storage facility is operating and
capturing carbon dioxide.
June 10, 2011
Germany's 16 states on Friday demanded that the 2022 date set
by the government for the shutdown of all the country's nuclear
plants be made irreversible -- while a report predicted billions
in losses for the country's nuclear operators.
There’s so much to love about the summer season — better
weather, longer days, and locally grown produce offered at your
neighborhood farmers’ market. This is where you can buy
ultra-fresh greens and other veggies for salads and side dishes,
as well as scrumptious baked items filled with luscious summer
fruits.
Lately there have been some aggressive, smear campaigns
involving supplements and food. FDA attacks on Amish farmers and
supplement companies and attempting to trace the European E.
coli outbreak to organic sprouts.
American Electric Power, one of the country's largest
coal-burning utilities, said on Thursday it plans to retire
nearly one-quarter of its coal fleet and retrofit other units at
a cost of as much as $8 billion to comply with proposed
environmental regulations.
Imagine a country where corruption is rampant, infrastructure
is very poor, or the quality of security is in question. Now
what if that country built a nuclear power plant?
New Jersey's demand for water challenges an already strained
water supply, requiring new sources and those likely will be
expensive.
Falling home prices have shrunk equity so much that the
proportion of their homes that Americans actually own is near
its lowest point since World War II.
Japan now has said that radioactive emissions from the
earthquake and tsunami stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant during the first hours following the dual disasters were
perhaps twice as high as previously estimated, putting the
accident's gravity at about 40 percent of radiation released at
Chernobyl.
Pakistan's army lashed out Thursday at its critics at home as
well as in the United States in an angry statement that
underscored just how deep a crisis the country's armed forces
are suffering.
More radiation-tainted water could be dumped into the Pacific
from a second Japanese nuclear plant, the government said
Wednesday.
That notion such weapons might exist and that examples of
them may be unaccounted for is a worrying thought to say the
least! The claim, hotly denied by Russian authorities at the
time, generated fears that the bombs may have fallen into the
hands of terrorists.
A huge wildfire burning in eastern Arizona is "dangerously
close" to key El Paso Electric Co. transmission lines near
Springerville, Ariz., the company said.
Adventurous motorcyclists might be familiar with the thrill
of getting airborne at the top of a rise, but the Hoverbike is
set to take catching some air to a whole new level.
The spectrum of actions marking the UN's annual World Oceans
Day ranges from the celebratory to the cautionary as ocean
health is assaulted by challenges that include climate change,
oil spills, pollution and overfishing.
In 2007, I wrote an article entitled "Selling Solar Without
Incentives." The point I was trying to make then was that we
shouldn't use incentives as a crutch for supporting the business
of solar PV. Too many times, I have seen companies depend upon
it's livelihood from the government (whether the government be
city, state or federal), only to fail when the rules changed —
and they always do.
Since writing that earlier article, my opinions
haven’t changed
Wind turbine manufacturers in China are feeling the industry
performance pinch for the first time after five years of good
times in the world's fastest-growing wind power market, said
industry experts.
Throughout the world, more consumers are seeking out greener
products, according to the annual ImagePower Global Green Brands
Study.
The pilot test found that 96 percent of available energy was
recovered after incinerating 578 pounds of used plastic in a
kiln at one of Dow's waste treatment facilities. The energy
recovered was equivalent to 11.1 million Btu's of natural gas
and was used as fuel for Dow's incinerator during the test. The
trial was completed in compliance with regulatory permits.
At the Formtek-Maine factory in Clinton, the orange hue from
high-pressure sodium light bulbs has been replaced by the white
light of 330 high-efficiency fluorescent tubes.
"Richard Nixon, if he were alive today, might take
bittersweet satisfaction to know that he was not the last smart
president to prolong unjustifiably a senseless, unwinnable war,
at great cost in human life," Ellsberg told CNN. "And his aide
Henry Kissinger was not the last American official to win an
undeserved Nobel Peace Prize.
Concerns that the state's future needs for reliable, low-cost
electricity could be complicated by a bill to limit the use of
eminent domain by utilities prompted the Senate to send a bill
back for study.
The latest weekly Nińo index values showed near-average SSTs
in the central and east-central equatorial Pacific
With the Eagle Ford Shale alone now expected to eventually
deliver 750,000 to 800,000 b/d of oil, industry leaders repeated
their growing enthusiasm Monday for a newfound focus on US oil
plays over natural gas.
When several states a year were adding clean energy mandates
in the middle of the last decade, they fell into almost
predictable patterns. States from the Northeast to Colorado to
the Pacific Northwest were requiring utilities to increased
their clean energy procurement by double-digit, often in a time
frame of about a decade.
In addition to its damaging effect on the environment and its
illegal smuggling into developing countries, researchers have
now linked e-waste to adverse effects on human health, such as
inflammation and oxidative stress – precursors to cardiovascular
disease, DNA damage and possibly cancer.
Only Limited Government-Guaranteed Reactors Already Underway
Seen Possibly Advancing in the Short Term, As Low Gas Prices,
Tighter Safety Regulation and Skyrocketing Reactor Costs
Effectively Doom Further Industry Expansion.
The Wallow Fire, raging right now in Arizona, has spread into
the San Carlos Apache Reservation and threatens the Fort Apache
Reservation (home of the White Mountain Apache Tribe). It is, at
this point, the second-largest wildfire in Arizona history.
Below, a selection of the latest data...
Farmers, governments and regulators should take preventive
action to improve water management, because climate change will
tighten water supplies for agriculture, the United Nations' food
agency said.
The Food and Drug Administration says some chicken meat may
contain small amounts of arsenic, though the agency is stressing
that the amount is too tiny to be dangerous to people who eat
it.
The run-up in stocks that has sent the Standard & Poor’s 500
Index soaring 94 percent from its March 2009 lows is done and
gone, says financial adviser Scott Bleier, founder of Create
Capital.
France's upper house, the Senate, adopted a bill banning the
exploration of shale oil and gas Thursday.
The bill bans
exploration of hydrocarbons using hydraulic fracturing, or
fracking, techniques. It has already been passed by the lower
house, and its adoption by the Senate means it should soon
become law, after the government gave the bill an "accelerated"
status.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant experienced full meltdowns at three of the plant’s
reactors, a nuclear agency was quoted as saying to CNN.
U.S. researchers say a new method to tap heat below Earth's
surface for energy could produce renewable energy while reducing
atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Some alternative health news sites have been leery about
posting Germany’s E. Coli outbreak as anything but an
unfortunate event probably caused by the overuse of antibiotics
and unsanitary factory farm conditions. That is, until evidence
of a more nefarious nature emerged.
In a report submitted to the International Atomic Energy
Agency, the government has called for a drastic revision of
nuclear reactor design standards, including the development of
air-cooling devices and a reconsideration of the location of
temporary storage pools for spent nuclear fuel rods.
American children are suffering more and more disorders—and
are growing into even sicker adults—the worst of most major
countries. Two studies were released this week underscore this
alarming reality.
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne today blasted the Obama
Administration for filing a late amicus brief in the Ninth
Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that would push for the ability
for illegal immigrants to vote.
One of the most morally dubious Claims made in Monsanto's
recent _ newspaper advertising blitz was the assertion that the
widespread use of food biotechnology is the only way to feed the
world's poor. The corporation's argument went like this:
millions of people currently go hungry in developing countries.
In the future, as global population increases, this problem is
set to worsen.
An article praising the idea of Iran testing a nuclear bomb
on a Revolutionary Guard website is raising alarms in western
intelligence circles.
The article is being interpreted as evidence of strong
backing in the Islamic Republic for such a move.
A growing number of Muslims, Jews and Christians believe we
are living in the last days of human history as we have known
it. Are they right?
A new report by some top scientists has nailed it down, and
Monsanto isn’t going to be happy. The Agri-giant has built its
entire business model, including genetically modified (GMO)
crops that dominate the US market, around its Roundup brand
herbicide.
The operator of the stricken Japanese nuclear power plant
said on Friday that more radioactive water could begin spilling
into the sea later this month if there is a glitch in setting up
a new decontamination system.
Why is there no meaningful regulation of the meat and fish
industries?
But rather than a safer product, clearer warnings or
regulatory distance between federal officials and the industry
they are supposed to oversee, tuna fish consumers have
gotten nothing but more studies.
The organization Keep America
Beautiful has launched a new attention-getting litter prevention
campaign aimed at young adults.
Every day government scientists work to ensure our water is
safe to drink, our air is clean, and that the products we buy
aren't dangerous. And one of the ways that we protect them and
make sure that they can do their jobs well is ensure they aren't
being inappropriately pressured by government officials or
industry. Right now, government agencies are working to develop
new policies that will do just that—ensuring independent science
informs key decisions about our health and safety.
A team of physicists is claiming to have coaxed sparks from
the vacuum of empty space1.
If verified, the finding would be one of the most unusual
experimental proofs of quantum mechanics in recent years and "a
significant milestone", says John Pendry, a theoretical
physicist at Imperial College London who was not involved in the
study.
The recent successful commissioning of an Alabama-based test
facility is another step forward in research that will speed
deployment of innovative post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO2)
capture technologies for coal-based power plants, according to
the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Two of the EPA's proposed regulations would be among the most
expensive ever imposed by the agency on coal-fueled power
plants, dramatically increasing electricity rates and natural
gas prices and leading to substantial job losses, according to a
new analysis by National Economic Research Associates (NERA).
The quality of the water in lakes and rivers has been
improving for decades, in part because more sewage is treated
before discharge. Still, about half the raw sewage generated in
the U.S. never gets treated. One of the reasons for this is that
many systems intermingle rainwater runoff and sanitary sewage.
In periods of heavy rainfall, the treatment plant cannot handle
the amount of mixed water and sewage coming in, and they dump
the untreated mixture directly.
Nitrogen
pollution from farms, vehicles, industry and waste treatment is
costing the EU up to Ł280bn (320bn euros) a year, a report says.
The study by 200 European experts says reactive nitrogen
contributes to air pollution, fuels climate change and is
estimated to shorten the life of the average resident by six
months.
The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission wasn't
ready Friday to endorse changes being made at a troubled atomic
energy plant near Hartsville, saying the site's operator still
must show that the changes will fix a raft of problems
inspectors have identified.
Inspectors from the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) found deterioration of concrete in
below ground-level structures at the 1,245 MW Seabrook nuclear
power plant in New Hampshire, according to Seacoast online.
The government on Tuesday compiled a report on the nuclear
crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 plant for submission to the
International Atomic Energy Agency, underlining the need to
reinforce measures against earthquakes, tsunami and other
calamities.
OPEC ministers spectacularly failed to reach an agreement on
a crude output increase Wednesday in what Saudi Arabian oil
minister Ali Naimi described as "one of the worst meetings we
have ever had."
World oil markets are tightening, with the expected balance
between global supply and demand indicating much higher demand
for OPEC crude and a "sizeable gap" between the group's current
production and demand for its crude, OPEC's Vienna secretariat
said June 10 in its monthly oil market report.
Bolivia is the main land standing between Peru and a
Roundup-Ready Paraguay. Despite South American territories
jumping on the GM crop bandwagon, Peru has issued a 10-year
moratorium on all GM planting in an effort to preserve their
biodiversity.
A dispute over how to pay for expensive high-voltage power
lines in the Midwest is heating up as some states including
Missouri raise concerns about the soaring price tag.
What do you think has a greater impact on society, a Bugatti
Veyron Super Sport or a Tesla Roadster? Both have spectacular
performance reviews, with the Super Sport setting top speed
records. Both will turn heads driving down any road or even
through any parking lot in the world. Both are truly engineering
marvels.
The House's overwhelming rejection of a clean debt-limit
increase means that the two parties must now find major spending
cuts. House Republicans say that they will not support a debt
increase unless the Democrats agree to equal-sized spending
cuts. If Congress raises the debt limit by $1 trillion, then it
must also find budget savings of at least $1 trillion, over
either five or ten years.
The cost of Boulder forming a municipal utility could be well
more than a half-billion dollars and could include a protracted
and expensive legal battle with Xcel Energy, a city-sponsored
analysis concludes.
No Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CME) were observed
during the period.chance for an isolated C-class
flare.Geomagnetic activity was at quiet to unsettled levels.
Geomagnetic activity is forecast to increase to unsettled to
active levels early on day 1 (10 June) with a chance for minor
storm levels due to the arrival of the halo-CME observed on 07
June. Activity is expected to decrease to quiet to unsettled
levels during 11 - 12 June.
Referring to yesterday's M-class flare, one sun watcher said:
''Never seen anything like this before - spectacular''. Its
glancing blow is predicted to produce some great northern
lights. But that would be a very different story if it had been
directed straight at the Earth hitting the U.S., wiping out the
grid -- unless we are prepared.
While the sun beat down last week on a $187,000 rooftop solar
system on his Chester County barn, Edward Frankel watched his
electrical output add up.
In that event, House Republicans need to fortify their
position -- in advance -- so that they are able to battle
against the White House even at the price of a government
shutdown. To prepare this position, Republicans should pass
legislation assuring that government funds continue to flow in
two critical areas despite the failure to raise the debt limit:
Research from North Carolina State University shows that
so-called biodegradable products are likely doing more harm than
good in landfills, because they are releasing a powerful
greenhouse gas as they break down.
Officials of Tucson Electric Power Co. are closely monitoring
the Wallow fire in eastern Arizona for possible damage to power
lines leading from the Springerville Generating Station and the
San Juan Generating Station in western New Mexico.
The forcible citizen disarmament lobby is positively
giddy today, over having found a new ally--someone else
who wants guns to be more difficult for Americans to obtain, and
available (legally) to fewer of us. Who is this ally? A kind,
peace-loving soul, who is horrified by the "gun violence" in the
U.S.? Um . . . not quite.
There comes a point when
elected leaders reach the end of their ability to tax, borrow,
and inflate for funding. The United States is verging on that
threshold.
Even though Japan earthquake and nuclear damage media
coverage has slowed, there is still much radiation concern here
in the States.
While some of the products for radiation protection wouldn’t
be bad to have, some companies intend to keep profiting from
panic stricken Americans.
With big government help, a solar thermal power (CSP) technology
boom seems to be coming in the United States. Regulators have
issued permits for about a dozen power plant projects and
construction is underway for a few.
In reality, the whites were the aggressive new superpower on
the Northern Plains, and if the Indians thought there was a
limitless flow of emigrants crossing the plains and spreading
out from the Rockies to the West Coast, one could argue that
they were right: It is still going on...
Despite our gusty spring, most of Arizona doesn't have enough
wind year-round to support utility-scale wind-power generation.
Within a month or so, however, Tucson Electric Power Co. will
be reaping power from wind blowing some 200 miles away, in
eastern New Mexico.
Turkey threw open its borders to anxious Syrian refugees on
Wednesday and urged their government to curb violence against
civilians after thousands abandoned a town near the Turkish
frontier in fear of a military assault.
Consumer spending was mixed, although most Districts
described activity as “steady to up modestly” since the last
report. The combination of adverse weather, and elevated energy
and food prices was noted to be weighing on spending in recent
weeks, but a few Districts noticed a pick up in discretionary
spending.
30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.49 percent with
an average 0.7 point for the week ending June 9, 2011, downfrom
last week when it averaged 4.55 percent. Last year at this time,
the 30-year FRM averaged 4.72 percent.
The US Postal Service has reported an 8% reduction in
greenhouse gas, or GHG, emissions from a fiscal year 2008
baseline. The reduction of 1,067,834 metric tons of CO2 is an
amount equal to the annual emissions of approximately 204,000
passenger vehicles.
The U.S. trade deficit in April totalled $43.7 billion, which
was smaller than market expectations for a $48.8 billion
shortfall. March's deficit was revised to -$46.8 billion from
the initially reported -$48.2 billion. The narrowing in the
trade deficit in April reflected a $2.1 billion (1.3%) rise in
exports while imports slipped by $1.0 billion (-0.4%)
Officials of the state's utility companies told lawmakers
Thursday that all Kentucky customers can expect average rate
increases of 20 percent during the next five years.
The implementation of virtual water into trading deals has
been suggested as a realistic solution to solving the global
inequality of renewable freshwater, but new research suggests
that it may not be as revolutionary as first thought.
A wildfire that has been blazing in the Apache-Sitgraves
National Forest in eastern Arizona since late May continued to
advance on Wednesday, amid rolling power blackouts and reports
of gasoline shortages.
The Wallow Fire is now the second largest in Arizona history
with about 389,000 acres (about 157,545 hectares) burned. It is
at zero percent containment and has become the top firefighting
priority in the nation.
The Florida and Minnesota bills died at the end of this
legislative session and it appears that such bills face a tough
road ahead. Legislators must face a torrent of both animal
activists and health freedom fighters alike. Iowa is still going
forward and attempting to rewrite an acceptable affront to first
amendment rights. Monsanto certainly doesn’t want that one to
drop, with it’s precious heavily guarded crop-operations on the
line.
What if you could go back in time to a simpler America, to
one before bloated bureaucracies, before insane rules and
regulations that were created to micromanage your every move and
thought, to a time when a work ethic was prized and you were
able to reap the fruits of your labor without being labeled a
capitalistic pig? What would you give to enjoy safety and
security in your home and your person, to not have to be so
hyper-vigilant with your children that they can't experience the
thrill of childhood?
One of the nation's largest suppliers of dehydrated food has
cut loose 99% of their dealers and distributors. And it's not
because of the poor economy. It's because this particular
industry leader can no longer supply their regular distribution
channels. Why not? Because they're using every bit of
manufacturing capacity they have to fulfill massive new
government contracts.
Dollar for dollar, an industry can get more bang for its buck
lobbying Washington and buying politicians than it can doing
anything else.
Of all the energy harvesting technologies out there,
geothermal remains the most maddening.
In theory, there should be more than enough energy below our
feet to power our world, and it should be cost-competitive for a
fraction of the investment needed in wind or solar.
June 7, 2011
The Henry Hub is the pricing point
for natural gas futures contracts traded on the New York
Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).
Antimatter remains an enigma, but researchers at CERN may
soon be able to ascertain some of its key properties thanks to
groundbreaking techniques they've developed that trap and store
antimatter for more than 15 minutes.
Shell Malaysia said Tuesday that output at mature oil fields
that it is operating in North Sabah, east Malaysia, are
declining at 5% a year, which is much better than the
double-digit rate decline experienced by other other Malaysian
fields.
The Arctic Ocean is a vast frozen sea bordered by Russia,
Canada, Denmark, and Norway. It has been explored but is
potential for mineral deposits and oil and gas deposits is not
known clearly. Some of it is near these nations and the
gradually melting northern areas are revealing more and more and
allowing readier access. Then there are other regions that may
be fought over.
As thousands of cities have begun composting yard waste and
hundreds more begin collecting food scraps on a large scale, new
questions are emerging about what kinds of things make their way
into compost and whether any of them pose a threat to humans and
the environment. Federal laws do not require compost to be
screened for contaminants...
The rate of release of carbon into the atmosphere today is
nearly 10 times as fast as during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal
Maximum (PETM), 55.9 million years ago, the best analog we have
for current
global
warming, according to an international team of
geologists. Rate matters and this current rapid change may not
allow sufficient time for the biological environment to adjust.
Immunize, immunize, immunize – you don’t want those nasty
measles! It is a serious infectious malady, but the media and
medical establishment is using the hype and fear lately to
strong arm parents to vaccinate their children.
The reality is, the risks of the only known “cure” are far
more harmful, long lasting and epidemic than that of measles.
Fifty statesmen, scholars and conservation leaders are
calling on President Barack Obama to extend a one-million-acre
mining moratorium around Grand Canyon National Park for 20 years
to counter the flood of uranium mining claims filed for lands
surrounding the deep-cut canyon of the Colorado River.
A volcano dormant for decades erupted in south-central Chile
on Saturday, belching an ash cloud more than 6 miles high that
blew over the Andes and carpeted a popular ski resort in
neighboring Argentina.
China's policymakers have taken several measures in recent
days to head off a repeat of the situation that occurred in late
2010, when an electricity shortage and power rationing led to a
severe diesel supply crunch as manufacturers switched to using
the fuel to run their captive power units.
Malicious actors and the techniques they employ have
continued to evolve over the past few years. The term Advanced
Persistent Threat has been coined to address adversaries with
the will and resources to inflict harm. Industry is preoccupied
with whether or not cyber war is a credible threat. This article
reflects on recent events, describes the players, inherent risk
and provides practical recommendations to address threats from a
business perspective.
A New Jersey solid waste management company owner and three
others face federal charges for allegedly dumping thousands of
tons of asbestos contaminated debris on an upstate New York
farm, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
The dollar’s best monthly performance since November may
prove fleeting as a slowing U.S. economy and falling short-term
interest rates encourage investors to use the currency to fund
investments in higher-yielding assets.
The International Monetary Fund on Sunday agreed to provide
Egypt with $3 billion in financing to help the Arab world's most
populous nation ease the blow to its economy sustained by the
popular uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak.
With the Eagle Ford Shale alone now expected to eventually
deliver 750,000 to 800,000 b/d of oil, industry leaders repeated
their growing enthusiasm Monday for a newfound focus on US oil
plays over natural gas.
It's a sign of the times that Ford is gearing up to launch
the smallest capacity engine, with less cylinders than any it
has previously produced. The new 1.0-liter EcoBoost will be
launched globally in all small Ford cars,..
Supporting the emergence of the myriad of game-changing, free
energy technologies is a proactive way to help bring about a
better world with more freedom and defeat the forces of tyranny
that seek to bring about the collapse of free society into a
world dictatorship.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant experienced full meltdowns at three of the plant’s
reactors, a nuclear agency was quoted as saying to CNN.
Geothermal is often forgotten in the conversation about
renewable energy, with wind and solar sucking up most of the
oxygen. Consider that in 2009, in large measure due to economic
stimulus, wind capacity rose by 10,000 megawatts. Geothermal, in
that same year, topped 100 megawatts for the first time.
An earthworm move by contracting its muscles to shorten its
body, then extending the body to reach further. When an
earthworm contracts its body, it holds shortened portion or base
to the ground with small bristles. These bristles anchor the
worm...
If you have a large earthworm population in your garden, it's
a sign of soil
health.
Earthworms aerate the soil, and increase the humus content of
the soil when they turn dead plant matter into earthworm
castings. Furthermore, earthworms are a good food source for
toads and birds, which also are beneficial to your
plants. Attract earthworms to your garden and watch it
thrive.
Depending on what generation you belong to, you may have
grown up watching the Jetsons, a cartoon family on TV. The show
presented a number of innovations, including Rosie (the robot
maid), air tubes instead of elevators, and having everything
available at the touch of a button—right down to having your
teeth brushed. The greatest innovation showcased on the series
was the flying car. Available in all shapes and sizes, the car
could retract into a small, briefcase-sized bundle at the touch
of a button, alleviating parking issues forever. Most of the
show remains far-fetched, but the image of a flying car has
stuck with many people over the years.
The operator of the stricken Japanese nuclear power plant
said on Friday that more radioactive water could begin spilling
into the sea later this month if there is a glitch in setting up
a new decontamination system.
...rather than a safer product, clearer warnings or
regulatory distance between federal officials and the industry
they are supposed to oversee, tuna fish consumers have
gotten nothing but more studies.
Kamakura Corporation reported that the Kamakura index of
troubled public companies increased 77 basis points in May to
5.69%. The index set an all-time low of 4.36% on December 17,
2010. The index was range bound from a low of 5.31% on May 2 to
a high of 6.07% on May 23.
Hacking group Lulz Security claimed it had hacked and defaced
the web site of the Atlanta chapter of InfraGard, an
organization affiliated to the U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation, and leaked its user base.
The McDonald’s fast-food chain may have been responsible for
at least half the jobs created in the United States in May,
according to numbers reported by MarketWatch.
Releases from six Missouri River reservoirs, already at
historic levels, will be increased again this month, say water
managers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The announcement of the 19.9MW Gemasolar Power Plant, Spain,
has been widely regarded as a breakthrough in the CSP industry.
It has been called ‘a milestone’ of technical and engineering
achievement. It will produce energy for 25,000 homes and can
generate electricity in the absence of sunlight for seven or
eight hours longer than parabolic trough systems.
Mutinous Syrian soldiers joined
forces with protesters after days of crackdowns in a tense
northern region, apparently killing dozens of officers and
security guards, residents and activists said Tuesday.
Germany now says it will
stop producing nuclear energy in a decade. But the strategy
won't be a precursor of things to come around the globe.
Inspectors from the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) found deterioration of concrete in
below ground-level structures at the 1,245 MW Seabrook nuclear
power plant in New Hampshire, according to Seacoast online.
As part of a deal to shut down the
619 MW Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, New Jersey
environmental officials granted a water discharge permit to the
plant. The permit allows heated water to be released back into a
creek and nearby bay.
The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)
said wastewater levels rose 6 cm (2 in) inside the turbine
building of reactor 2 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power
plant and in its utility tunnel during a 24-hour period through
June 2, according to news agency NHK. The report raised concerns
that a recent heavy rain and the upcoming wet season would cause
the water to overflow into the sea.
The New
York State Assembly on Monday passed a one-year moratorium on
hydraulic fracturing, a method of natural gas drilling already
under a temporary ban in the state due to concerns that it might
pollute drinking water.
The chief of Malaysia's national oil company Petronas said
Monday that global oil prices are too high and should fall back
to between $75 and $80 a barrel.
The secret is out.
Israeli scientists constructed a computer virus that set back
the Iranian nuclear program about five years. But soon after
that information was revealed, questions started arising here as
to the prospects that a kindred worm could do similar damage to
this country’s utility infrastructure.
Leaders of more than 35 nations covering the world's three
major rainforest regions agreed Friday to prepare an action plan
on sustainable management of forests for signature next year at
the Rio+20 Summit meeting in Brazil.
Low-flying NATO military craft unleashed a ferocious series
of nearly 30 daytime airstrikes on Tripoli, rattling the Libyan
capital Tuesday and sending plumes of smoke billowing above
leader Moammar Gadhafi's compound.
There are two primary causes of arthritis. And once you know
yours, you can treat and beat it!
a few low-level C-class events, slight chance for an M-class
event all three days (07 - 09 June). The geomagnetic field was
at quiet to unsettled levels.
Many hybrid cars feature regenerative braking - they harness
the energy generated when they brake, and store it in the
battery for later use. This helps maximize the amount of time
that the car can run on one charge. One can't help but wonder,
then, how much energy could be harvested from heavy-duty
construction, mining and agricultural machines, as they go about
their business.
Rising forest density in many countries is helping to offset
climate change caused by deforestation from the Amazon basin to
Indonesia, a study showed on Sunday.
A cost allocation battle
over a transmission build-out is brewing in Michigan. A
statewide coalition of utilities and industrial customers is
seeking a rehearing of a policy that gained favor by renewable
energy organizations and transmission operators.
So you've decided to have a garden this year, huh? You've
chosen the best spot in your yard, you've carefully prepared it,
and now you're sprinkling the fertilizer that you bought at the
garden shop of that big box retailer all around, working it into
the dirt.
A new survey shows an uptick in consumer spending on green
products and services, according to SCA, a global hygiene and
paper company.
Syrian security forces have shot dead 31 people since Friday
during demonstrations in a town in the north-west, residents
say.
In this day and age, it can be easy to slide into apathy.
Globally, we’re wrestling with enormous problems, and there are
no simple answers. Furthermore, a sense of powerlessness is
often magnified in tribal communities—where the long term
effects of broken treaties, decades of oppression, genocide,
forced assimilation, poverty, and disease are profound and
continuous. When people feel helpless for long periods of time,
they may become indifferent.
A tribal leader battling Yemen's government agreed to a truce
with the country's interim leader Sunday while embattled
President Ali Abdullah Saleh was undergoing medical treatment in
Saudi Arabia, the tribal leader's spokesman said Sunday.
MRSA is cropping up everywhere including bedbugs, meat, and
now cow’s milk. Human samples of the MRSA were traced back to
animal sources.This new variant is able to elude tests that are
the typical ways of detection.
Four million tons of uranium mill tailings previously located
in Moab, Utah, have been relocated to Crescent Junction, Utah,
for permanent disposal, the U.S. Department of Energy announced.
Payroll employment in May rose a much weaker-than-expected
54,000 though this follows robust gains of 232,000 and 194,000
the previous two months (revised down from previously-estimated
gains of 244,000 and 221,000). Expectations going into the
report were for a much stronger 165,000 gain in May. Some of the
weakness was attributable to continued declines in government
jobs...
The U.S. economy added 54,000 jobs in May, way below
expectations and sparking fears that the world’s largest economy
is headed back into a recession, economists say.
June 3, 2011
As 2011 nears its halfway point and the world economy continues
its slow recovery, a lot of big money is leading directly to
clean tech. In the second quarter alone, three big deals in
particular tell us a lot about this current trend, and I
believe, point toward a future of energy transformation. It’s an
impressive trio:...
Brazilian authorities gave final approval to the
controversial Belo Monte dam, reports AFP.
The project — which has been widely opposed by human rights
groups, environmentalists, and indigenous tribes — will dam the
Xingu river, one of the largest tributaries of the Amazon River.
The $11 billion dam will generate 11,200 megawatts of
electricity, more than 10 percent Brazil's current capacity,
when it is completed in 2019.
US gasoline stocks rose for the third consecutive week
despite a rebound in demand, an analysis of oil data released
Thursday by the US Energy Information Administration showed.
The Environmental Improvement Board asked for testimony about
the best way to cost-effectively reduce haze caused by power
plants, but many of the people EIB heard from Wednesday wanted
to talk about eliminating coal as a fuel and switching to
renewable energy.
Arizona Public Service Company later today will ask the
Arizona Corporation Commission for approval to increase customer
bills by 6.6 percent, effective July 1, 2012. The request is
needed to help meet Arizona's energy goals...
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission's recent case charging
manipulation of NYMEX crude oil futures will be a challenge to prove
under the agency's existing anti-manipulation statute, but it will also
likely be the final case brought under that law, according to several
legal observers.
The head of Alpha Natural Resources, which hopes to buy
Massey Energy Co. on Wednesday to create the state's
third-largest private employer, said the company has plans to
deal with what's expected to be a sharp drop in Appalachian coal
production.
Top coal consumer China should see import demand more than
double in the next four years and India will be close behind as
both hoover up supplies on international markets to feed rapidly
growing power industries, industry executives said on Monday.
China's thermal coal imports could rise to 200 million tonnes
in 2015 from around 90 million tonnes in 2011...
The drought gripping stretches of central and eastern China
has dried Lake Honghu into an expanse of exposed mud, stranded
boats and dying fish farms, threatening the livelihoods of
residents in Hubei Province who call this their "land of fish
and rice."
China's state-owned enterprises need to meet an overall
objective of reducing energy consumption per unit of gross
domestic product by about 16% from the 2010 level in the five
years to 2015, China's regulatory watchdog State-owned Assets
Supervision and Administration Commission said Wednesday
The rate of destruction of the world's three largest forests
fell 25 percent this decade compared with the previous one, but
remains alarmingly high in some countries, the U.N. Food and
Agriculture Organization said.
EnergJ, a new solution created at the University of
Washington, takes a different approach - it supplies less power
to regions of the chip that are performing processes that don't
require absolute precision. In lab simulations, it has already
cut power consumption by up to 50 percent, although that amount
could potentially reach as high as 90 percent.
A new study - This Green House - Building Fast Action on
Climate Change and Green Jobs by the Columbia Institute -
reveals that modest investments in energy conservation in homes
can save homeowners thousands of dollars, and dramatically and
rapidly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Canada.
Representatives from 35 countries will seek ways to protect
the world's largest rainforests during a week-long meeting in
Republic of Congo starting on Tuesday.
The outcome of the summit could play a role in the
preservation of some 80 percent of the world's remaining
tropical forests, seen by experts as key to offsetting rising
global emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide.
The high unemployment rate means the Fed's ultra-easy money
policies remain the right course of action, top Federal Reserve
officials said on Wednesday.
Yemen edged closer to civil war yesterday as fighting spread
to new parts of the country and government troops waged
increasingly bloody street battles with opposition tribesmen for
control of crucial areas in the capital.
If there was one thing that last year's Gulf of Mexico oil
spill showed us, it was that there were no particularly good
systems in place for containing and removing such spills while
the oil is still out at sea. One year later, although many
companies and individuals have come forward with their concepts
for such systems, little has actually been developed to the
point of being ready for deployment.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed into law Tuesday a bill that
requires Floridians to be tested for drugs if they want cash
benefits from the state
GE organisms
actually become part of the bacteria in our digestive tracts and
reproduce continuously inside us. But the USDA now wants to to
remove all controls from GE corn and cotton!
The development of a German network of hydrogen filling
stations is gaining pace. The automotive manufacturer Daimler AG
and the Linde technology group announced in Stuttgart that they
intended to open 20 new filling stations in Germany over the
next three years. This will more than triple the number of
public hydrogen filling stations in the country.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that Germany will support
India to build a viable energy mix to meet soaring demand even as Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh stressed the importance of nuclear energy for
one of the world's fastest growing emerging economies.
The global carbon market dipped 1.4 percent to $142 billion
last year from $144 billion in 2009, as greenhouse gas emissions
rose in the hottest year on record and the global economy
stabilized, the World Bank said.
Food prices could double in the next 20 years and demand will
soar as the world struggles to raise output via a failing
system, international charity Oxfam said on Tuesday, warning of
worsening global hunger.
Consumers are getting all charged up over
electric vehicles. So what ever happened to hydrogen-powered cars that
are supposed to be the cleanest possible alternative?
Iraq exported 2.225 million b/d of crude oil in May, up 84,000 b/d
from April and the highest level since the 2003 war, as loadings from
the south picked up, figures obtained from State Oil Marketing
Organization SOMO showed.
Fortune seekers hoping to strike it rich in
California's ongoing gold rush may find their dreams dashed by new
environmental rules that state lawmakers say are too costly to enforce.
As Americans once again grapple with the
high cost of gasoline and diesel, domestically produced natural gas is
emerging as the country's second transportation fuel, and its biggest
supporters have come from members of Congress.
My daughter has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Because of
her HER2 test result, she is being told that she needs a
mastectomy then chemotherapy and a drug called Herceptin. Does
she really need such long and harsh treatment?
New York state has filed a lawsuit alleging that regulators did not
fully conduct an environmental impact study on the Delaware River Basin
before authorizing energy companies to begin drilling for gas using a
technique called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."
UK-based Cairn Energy has filed a legal action in the
Netherlands, seeking damages of up to $2 million a day if
Greenpeace protesters again disrupt the explorer's drilling
plans offshore Greenland.
OPEC's June 8 meeting in Vienna promises to be one of the oil
producer club's more interesting events of recent years, as much
for the political background against which the talks will take
place as for the possibility that ministers will raise official
output targets that have been kept in place since the beginning
of 2009.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, responding to an
Inquirer article about potential overcharging by several
residential electricity suppliers, has called upon the power
industry to comply with PUC billing regulations.
Space was getting tight for low-level radioactive waste
storage at Limerick Generating Station in Montgomery County, but
officials there thought of a solution: transport the waste to
Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in York County.
New Mexico's largest electricity company faces a showdown this week
with state regulators over how little renewable energy it produces.
With electric cars cruising into the market elsewhere in the
United States, a public-private coalition is blazing the trail
for the vehicles in the Twin Cities, months before they're
widely available to consumers here.
For years natural gas and renewables were billed as the
perfect energy parters. Variable renewable resources like solar
and wind power, according to conventional wisdom, could be
balanced by baseload gas supplies, which would produce half the
CO2 emissions of other conventional fossil fuels.
several C-class events during the period. a Earth directed partial-halo CME. slight chance for an M-class event. The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled for day one (03 June). Active conditions with isolated minor storm levels are expected for day two (04 June) as a coronal hole high-speed stream becomes geoeffective, and additional effects from recent CME activity.
Her yard, with three rain gardens, a porous walkway and
prairie grasses, is a staging point for a cultural shift in the
way homeowners everywhere live in the urban landscape -- and
come to grips with the fertilizers, pesticides and other
chemicals that can run off their yards and pollute local creeks
and lakes.
Not long ago, few thought much about what happened to all
that runoff.
A changing climate that many scientists fear will hurt global
crop production means seed makers must work harder to meet food
needs as world population grows by 30 percent by 2050, a top
world seed executive said.... "Soils are also becoming more
saline -- so you've got to have crops that can tolerate more
saline," he added.
The fight over air pollution from coal-fired power plants is
taking place in Washington, D.C., for the most part -- a debate
that pits money against health.
But the proof could be in your hair.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. hopes to limit the amount of emergency
compensation to be paid to victims of damage caused by its ongoing
nuclear crisis to 120 billion yen, company sources said....
TEPCO's move reflects its concerns that the utility could run
short of money if it agrees to pay short-term compensation at a
time when the government has yet to establish a framework for
its assistance to the firm's reparation scheme
Stretching over 6,000 square miles, the Iraqi Marshland have
played an important role in global ecosystems by supporting rare
wildlife and rich biodiversity for over 7,000 years.
The Illinois Legislature may have just handed a gift to Nevadans
fighting Yucca Mountain: During redistricting, it wrote Congress' No. 1
proponent of storing the country's spent nuclear fuel there out of
Washington.
Two workers at Japan's crippled nuclear power plant may have
exceeded the government's radiation exposure limit, the plant
operator said, adding to concerns about health risks for those
fighting the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.
“But consumers are slowly starting to return to more
traditional buying patterns.”
“Falling gasoline prices have provided some much-needed
breathing space for beleaguered consumers,”
Natural gas drillers are doing too little to inform the
public about the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, a
practice essential for tapping the United States' shale gas
reserves, a Chevron executive told a federal panel on Wednesday.
30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.55 percent with
an average 0.6 point for the week ending June 2, 2011, downfrom
last week when it averaged 4.60 percent. Last year at this time,
the 30-year FRM averaged 4.79 percent.
Gasoline prices have been falling in the last few weeks, but –
for most U.S. drivers – they remain painfully high. With regular
unleaded costing a national average of $3.78 per gallon Tuesday,
and more than $4 a gallon in six states and the District of
Columbia, prices are more than $1 higher than they were a year
ago. "When you fill your tank and you're putting $60, $70 or $80
into your vehicle at a shot, you start to wonder if there's an
alternative to this madness," said Scott Doggett, associate
editor for Edmunds.com.
Taxpayers will lose about $14 billion in the government's $80 billion
bailout of Chrysler and GM, the White House said Wednesday, portraying
the outcome as good news since the losses are far lower than originally
anticipated.
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