environmental issues

In a 6-3 opinion, the Supreme Court today sided with clean water advocates in a case involving dumping pollutants into water. The Clean Water Act says that companies, or governments, or whoever, cannot dump pollutants into streams, lakes or oceans without a permit. On the island of Maui, a...

We have about 50-100 years to have a plan not only in place, but fully functional and actually drawing down legacy CO2 levels. This is an astonishingly short period of time. It is urgent, but it can be accomplished without panicking. The science is robust, but where many scientists have shot...

New Zealand debates access to dead sea life footage How would hunting be viewed by the public if it included "byshot" including endangered species not intended to be killed? http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42729173

legisweb.state.wy.us/2017/Introduced/SF0071.pdf The way I read it (as other outfits do), is that by 2019 100% of the electricity in Wyoming has to be distributed by one of the listed source, which exclude renewable like wind or solar (but include hydroelectric). But I was wondering if I was...

It was always foolish to think we were going to solve climate change by reducing emissions. The Paris agreement was a non-binding joke, and we're already projected to sail through the two degrees of warming everyone has warned against. We might as well get as much out of the ground as possible...

Has anyone here been following the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy? Anti-Pipeline Protest Grows In North Dakota Update on Dakota Access Pipeline protests Mandan, Hidatsa, Arickara Nation supports Standing Rock's opposition to Dakota Access Pipeline Construction

Millions of dead fish on Vietnam's shores raise industrial pollution fears http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-vietnam-fish-20160504-story.html Vietnam police break up protest over fish deaths https://uk.news.yahoo.com/vietnam-police-break-protest-over-fish-deaths-053410868.html There have...

Flint is a poor town, with about 42% of the populating living in defined poverty. Now the water is possibly poisoning people, with high levels of lead and an appearance that's been described as "like urine" and smelling "like a sewer". The water problem isn't new but a public health emergency...

Anyone see this doc (now streaming on Netflix)? It argues that the livestock industry is far worse for the environment than from cars/fossil fuels, etc. Also that the major environmental groups (Greenpeace, etc) don't want to talk about that. A bit amateurish in some ways and definitely...

I didn't see a thread on this yet so figured this was the best place to put one. http://www.npr.org/2015/09/18/441530803/epa-says-volkswagen-dodged-clean-air-rules-with-emissions-software?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=science It seems that VW diesel cars aren't so clean (in the US). They...

McKibben to HIllary Clinton: 5 Reasons Why Environmentalists Distrust You -- and How to Fix That http://www.alternet.org/environment/mckibben-hillary-clinton-5-reasons-why-environmentalists-distrust-you-and-how-fix (rest of article at link) Though I was a rather strong and vocal supporter of...

Obama’s Bipolar Approach Towards Climate Change https://www.freespeech.org/video/obama%E2%80%99s-bipolar-approach-towards-climate-change Watch video and read discussion at above link and https://www.freespeech.org/collection/ringoffire

Don't laugh. According to an article in the Dec. 22, 2014 issue of The New Yorker: New Zealand's Department of Conservation has been using massive amounts of a toxin known as 1080 to try and eradicate the invasive species. ("The key ingredient in 1080, sodium fluoroacetate, interferes with...

The smog problem in Beijing China just seems to be getting worse. From the article: "China’s toxic air pollution resembles nuclear winter, say scientists" By Jonathan Kaiman: "Early this month, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences claimed in a report that Beijing’s pollution makes the...

Well, I could not have predicted this. When did he grow a pair...

http://whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/10/obama-administration-delays-politically-sensitive-pipeline-decision/?iref=allsearch Well, putting it off is better than nothing so far. A pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico? Geeze...what could possibly go wrong? :boggled: Probably the...

Tea Party Hates Manatees, Says Protecting Them Is "Against the Bible" The only thing missing is a comment from a local man.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/may/27/fireworks-shows-need-environmental-review/ In brief: A California Superior Court judge has decided that an environmental assessment study is now required for fireworks displays. This ruling is likely to be...

Have we really lost all logic and reason? http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/cfl.asp And get this I've heard that's what they want to do here in the US. Are they nuts? Making it a crime to produce incandescent light bulbs while forcibly accepting "environmentally friendly" bulbs filled...

http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm/6609/Gaslands-Fracking-Nonsense Interesting piece that pokes holes in some of Gasland's claims.

With fossil fuels depleting and alternative energy projects mostly insufficient (I'll probably start a thread about that later) it looks like the way forward is nuclear. I suspect that the upcoming economies will not have the fears that live among the Western populations. Also China has...

Charles Windsor, the billionaire playboy who first in line to inherit the positions of head of state and spiritual leader of the official state religion, on how Islamic principles will save the world from environmental collapse. The article did not delve into his position on private jets for...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#37479885 Sarah Palin says that she never supported off-shore drilling. She also says that her mantra of drilling was about land drilling and that the spill makes a good case for more drilling. Who says she isn't an idiot?

OK, with a little tyke on the way, I have been bombarded with lots of different information about raising a child. One of my friends had her baby in January and swears by cloth diapers. She is very zealous about their use and insists that they have less of an environmental impact than...

I got to thinking about this this morning. What might be done about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? I was thinking maybe developing some plastic eating bacteria but then I thought that might have unintended side effects. Perhaps dropping some sort of resin that will bind with plastic and offset...

I'm wondering exactly how much we're really damaging our planet through pollution and waste, as opposed to what the media tells us... Some of the excitement about global warming has subsided in the wake of scientific proof, and I still haven't seen any pictures of this "Great Pacific Garbage...

While I have no doubt that converting the majority of our automobiles to electric from Internal Combustion (IC) will result in an improvement in the environment, I am not certain how great that improvement will be or if that move by itself will be enough. To explain where I am coming from, I...

Link Evidently, some environmental groups aren't happy: It ain't easy being green. Or cheap, either, it would appear.

Have you seen the Story of Stuff video? IMHO: It is essentially Materials Processing Management 101 - an elementary presentation on the impacts of our consumer culture, dumbed down into a 20 minute presentation with the usual emotional appeals involved as sales "hooks." There is an Annotated...

There are many things we are supposed to do today to be more green and of course recycling and pumping out less bad stuff into the environment can only be a good thing. However people seem to be so gripped with rabid desire to be more green that they encourage us to do things that I wonder how...