NewsTrust - Global Warming - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

20 Weird, Crazy Ideas for Helping the Earth | Environment

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By WebEcoist. - Nov. 21 (Editorial) - Global warming. Food shortages and water scarcity Dennis Baker penticton bc canada V2A6Z3 dennisbaker2003@hotmail.com RE : The solution to climate change. ( human excrement + nuclear waste = hydrogen ) The USA discharges Trillions of tons of sewage annually, sufficient quantity to sustain electrical generation requirements of the USA. Redirecting existing sewage systems to containment facilities would be a considerable infrastructure modification project. It is the intense radiation that causes the conversion of organic material into hydrogen, therefore what some would consider the most dangerous waste because of its radiation would be the best for this utilization. I believe the combination of clean water and clean air, will increase the life expectance of humans. yours sincerely Dennis Baker

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Michael Specter’s new book ‘Denialism’ misses its targets

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By Tom Philpott - Oct. 31 (Review) - Like the great institutions of European Christianity, modern science has amassed tremendous power—and not always lived up to its founding creeds. Science needs a Gibbon—someone who appreciates its intellectual grandeur and potential, but who also can train a cold eye on the “inevitable mixture of error and corruption” that has accompanied its tenure since the Enlightenment. That Gibbon is not Michael Specter, a New Yorker staff writer and author of the new book Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives. His book purports to defend science from its philistine critics—people who, in Specter’s view, reflexively deny the validity of the scientific process. In his intro, Specter sets up the defining focus of the book. He contrasts the “rigorous and open-minded skepticism of science” with “the inflexible certainty of ideological commitment” (i.e., “denialism”). Already, we’re on thin intellectual ice; Specter evidently believes in a pure science, one that exists completely apart from ideology. In Gibbon’s phrasing, he’s defending a science as “she descended from Heaven [read: the Enlightenment], arrayed in her native purity.”

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Acting Like a Bunch of Christies

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

American Spectator - By Peter Ferrara - Oct. 07 - Acting Like a Bunch of Christies

NewsTrust Rating: 1.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

James Lovelock: Schemes to 'Reverse' Global Warming Could Lead to Disaster

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By James Lovelock - Sep. 22 (Opinion) - Better, perhaps, to let the earth look after itself than try to regulate its system through mirrors, clouds and artificial trees. ...

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How much energy does the U.S. waste?

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - Sep. 11 (Opinion) - Add those all up and we’ve got 100 quads of primary energy and 60 quads of waste energy. For all the reasons noted above, the waste energy is probably much higher, but even at this level, it is a massive opportunity. Recovering just half of this total would reduce every issue associated with fossil fuel use by one third with no detriment to our standard of living. Getting this waste out of the system ought to be a priority of our national energy and environmental policy.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Robert Pollin, James Heintz, Heidi Garrett-Peltier, Helen Scharber - Sep. 01 (Review) - As the nation continues to debate its energy future, a new report released today shows that the U.S. can create two million jobs by investing in a rapid green economic recovery program, which will strengthen the economy, increase energy independence, and fight global warming.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Keeping an Eye Out for Planet Earth

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Consortium News - By Michael Winship - Aug. 07 (Opinion) - The Obama administration is freeing up evidence about global warming but political challenges block progress, says Michael Winship. August 7, 2009

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Wonk Room » Koch Industries Not Only Fueling K St. Lobbying Boom And Anti-Obama Tea Party Protests, But Democrats Too

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Think Progress - Jul. 30 (Opinion) - According to disclosures released earlier this month, oil and natural gas interests are pumping money into lobbying firms to influence climate change legislation at a furious pace. With $82.2 million spent in just the first half of 2009 — compared to $132.2 million in all of 2008 — the industry is on track to set new records.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

t r u t h o u t | The Climate Bill Shouldn't Give Coal a Free Pass

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Bruce Niles - Jul. 22 (Opinion) - Big Coal has long sought and enjoyed loopholes for their dirty industry - anything to keep the money rolling in as they avoid cleaning up. And now, over objections of our clean energy champions, this bill gives them another massive loophole that the Senate must correct.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How Scientific Illiteracy Cost Us 20 Years on Global Warming

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

BuzzFlash - By Chris Mooney, Sheril Kirshenbaum - Jul. 13 (Editorial) - This summer, as the U.S. Senate debates whether to join the House of Representatives in passing the first law in U.S. history to control global warming, expect to hear a lot of misinformation, a lot of absurdity, and a lot of gobbledygook. You'll hear assertions that the globe isn't warming any longer -- cooling has set in. You'll see any local temperature variation (in the cooler direction, anyway) seized upon to the same end. You'll hear the sun invoked -- rather than human industrial emissions -- as the cause of climate change.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.4 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Why Environmental "Framing" Matters

Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By George Lakoff - May. 19 (Opinion) - EcoAmerica is soon to make public a report on the framing of the environment called "Climate and Energy Truths: Our Common Future." The New York Times, on May 1, 2009, ran a front-page story on the report by John M. Broder called "Seeking to Save the Planet, With a Thesaurus." It amounted to a belittlement of the report.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Last Experiment

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Seed - By David Zax - Apr. 22 (Opinion) - Line up a dozen environmentalists, ask them to conjure up an image of the sort of scientist who might save the planet from global warming, and it’s a safe bet none of them will imagine somebody like Benjamin Ho. For one thing, Ho worked for a time in the Bush White House. For another, he’s not even a climate scientist. He doesn’t study global sea rise or Arctic ice melt, and he doesn’t project temperature increases. Nor does he have suggestions for technological solutions to the problem. And why would he? Ben Ho is an economist. His doctoral work at Stanford consisted of a “statistical examination of the role apologies play in medical malpractice lawsuits.” He also did some work on how fads and fashion are used to signal identity — there was nary a kilowatt-hour nor a molecule of carbon dioxide in sight. Nevertheless, Ho claimed at a conference last November that it was social scientists like himself who held the key to saving the world from climate change.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Yes, A Warming World Can Still Have "Cool" Spells

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

New Republic - By Bradford Plumer - Apr. 07 (Opinion) - Does global warming mean that temperatures will always rise, year after year, steadily and without ever dipping? No, of course not.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A mandarin's plea for climate action

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Grist - By Geoffrey Lean - Mar. 29 (Opinion) - The reason for 2009's unique importance, he explained, is that "climate change is forever. Terrible though the consequences of war and recession are, they pass. But the nature of the climate is such that the future cannot redeem today's mistakes." He added; "We have one chance to reach a political agreement to reduce carbon emissions in time to stay safe. This is the year in which we take that chance."

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Why Do Conservatives Hate Your Children?

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Joseph Romm - Mar. 22 (Opinion) - CQ Politics reports that the House GOP "offered six principles Wednesday that they say will guide them as they formulate an alternative to the president's ambitious plans": The principles reflect the minority's long-held views. GOP leaders said they will oppose any tax increases, either on income or energy, and will fight a cap-and-trade program to curb carbon dioxide emissions in order to combat global warming. Instead, the Republicans reiterated their "all of the above" energy proposals that stress new domestic oil and gas production and development of alternative energy sources. Here we have in one paragraph the essence of conservatives' long-held energy policy — the Big Energy Lie and the willful effort to destroy the health and well-being of your children and grandchildren and 50 generations after that:

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Increased Number Think Global Warming Is “Exaggerated”

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

gallup.com - By Lydia Saad - Mar. 15 (Research) - Americans generally believe global warming is real. That sets the U.S. public apart from the global-warming skeptics who assembled this week in New York City to try to debunk the science behind climate change. At the same time, with only 34% of Americans saying they worry "a great deal" about the problem, most Americans do not view the issue in the same dire terms as the many prominent leaders advancing global warming as an issue.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

FrontPage Magazine

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

frontpagemagazine.com - By Michael Goldfarb Michael Goldfarb Michael Goldfarb, Weekly Standard - Mar. 12 (Editorial) - According to a Pew poll released in the days following Barack Obama's inauguration, Americans rank "dealing with global warming" dead last among 20 policy priorities for this administration--just 30 percent believe it should be a top priority

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Europe | Fire or Ice? The role of peak fossil fuels in climate change scenarios

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Oil Drum - Mar. 09 (Opinion) - Will the world end in fire or in ice? That is, are we going to be hit by global warming or are we going to freeze because of lack of fossil fuels? We don't know yet, but here is a brief summary of the recent papers that have appeared on the subject.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Dirty Coal Has Left the Building

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Jeff Biggers - Mar. 02 (Opinion) - ...marchers are gathering in the park just to the south of the Capitol, a few blocks from the Capitol Power Plant....chanting "Clean Coal is a Dirty Lie,"... It's an energetic crowd, on a very windy and cold day, though the sun keeps attempting to break through... Carl "Pete" Ramey, a great-grandfather from Wise County, Virginia, and VFW chaplain, who spent 37 years laboring in an underground mine, has just read an opening prayer: "Is faith asleep? Let it wake. Today is ours. Let's take it." ...Kentucky farmer-poet Wendell Berry has arrived, stocking cap afixed, bracing in the cold wind...

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 8 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A Global Green Deal

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Nation - By Mark Hertsgaard - Feb. 25 (Opinion) - If human civilization is to have a realistic chance of surviving global climate change, President Barack Obama and mobilized citizens will have to lead a virtual revolution in America's approach to the issue. Because the hour is so late and America's role so central, Obama must lead, and be pressed to lead, on three fronts at once.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.7 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Why I’ll Get Arrested To Stop the Burning of Coal

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

e360.yale.edu - By Bill McKibben - Feb. 19 (Opinion) - we need a powerful and active movement not to force the administration and the Democrats in Congress to do something they don’t want to, but to give them the political space they need to act on their convictions. Barack Obama was a community organizer — he understands that major change only comes when it’s demanded, when there’s some force noisy enough to drown out the eternal hum of business as usual, of vested interest, of inertia.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Thoughts: Lets get our economy growing

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

mtkass.blogspot.com - By William Hughes-Games - Feb. 02 (Editorial) - President Obama will probably succeed in getting our economy growing again and it scares the socks off me.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Doing the Recovery Right

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Nation - By Robert Pollin - Jan. 28 (Opinion) - Over the past couple of years, there has been a dramatic reversal of thinking: the idea has emerged that protecting the environment - in particular, defeating global warming - can also be an effective engine of economic growth, job creation and even poverty reduction. A small band of determined activist organizations, including the Apollo Alliance, Green For All and 1Sky, deserve credit for pushing this idea into the mainstream. Labor and environmental organizations like the Steelworkers and the Natural Resources Defense Council were open to persuasion. By the time the presidential campaign began, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had both incorporated variations on this idea as major planks in their platforms.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Poison solar

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Andrew Leonard - Jan. 14 (Opinion) - The manufacturing of solar power panels consumes a lot of silicon, presenting us with a nasty paradox. If solar power production is ramped up as part of a global effort to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions produced by burning fossil fuels, the chances of accidental releases of sulfur hexafluoride in the silicon production process will only increase, which, says the SVTC, could "greatly undermine the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions gained by using solar power."

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

It’s best to prepare for the worst on global warming

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Naples Daily News - By Ben Bova - Dec. 27 (Opinion) - The objectors to global warming generally claim: 1. Global warming is not real; it’s an alarmist reaction to questionable data. 2. Or, even if it is real, it’s a natural swing of the planet’s climate and there’s nothing we can do about it. 3. Or, global warming won’t bother us very much; in fact, it might even be beneficial. Such claims overlook the measurable rise in global temperatures. They ignore observations that plant and animal species are changing their habitats and migration patterns in response to climate change. As I said in my earlier column, pine trees and field mice don’t have politics. They are reacting to the changes in their environment, and those changes are real.

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer