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Entries from January 2012

Thirty years later: “A Crisis of Confidence”

July 15th, 2009 · No Comments

Thirty years ago, on 15 July 1979, President Jimmy Carter gave the “Crisis of Confidence” speech which, sadly, remains all too relevant today. This speech was amid the second oil crisis, well before our knowledge of Global Warming being so strongly supported by science. Even so, with the exception of a few items (such [...]

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Tags: Energy

Shifting Power Down Under?

July 15th, 2009 · 4 Comments

This past weekend, Australian youth gathered for PowerShift Australia. And, they ‘flashed’ Sydney’s Opera House.

This is the latest (could we say greatest?) videos from the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC), a coalition of 22 member and partner youth organisations from across Australia.
Around the globe, youth are seizing the mantle to bring attention [...]

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Tags: Energy

Bridging a Black-White Divide: Kudos to NWF and NAACP

July 14th, 2009 · 4 Comments

Let’s face facts, to far too many, for far too long, “environmentalism” has seemed a lilly-white activity, something for people with enough resources to engage in caring about the environment. And, in some ways, there is some truth to this perspective. As Jerome Ringo put it in
I joined the Louisian WIldlife Federation in 1991. At [...]

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Tags: Global Warming · climate change · environmental · environmental justice

OMG!!!! Climate Models Might Be Wrong!

July 14th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Expect lots of global warming denier screaming headline titles about a new paper on climate modeling and the press release on it from Rice University.  The title of that press release:
Global warming: Our best guess is likely wrong
Unknown processes account for much of warming in ancient hot spell
“Global warming: Our best guess is likely wrong”. [...]

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Tags: Global Warming · carbon dioxide · climate change

Sarah “Energy Expert” Palin: Ready to lead America away from science and back into the past

July 14th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Amid many astounding and bizaare themes of the 2008 election, one of the most absurd came from the Republican Party’s determined efforts to cast Sarah Palin as one of the nation’s top energy experts. Putting aside the 10,000s (if not 100,000s or even millions) of Americans who are more knowledgeable of energy issues, Palin demonstrated [...]

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Tags: Energy

Republicans reject Science; Scientists reject Republicans

July 10th, 2009 · 15 Comments

The Republican Party has a serious infection of anti-science syndrome. And, the Republican War on Science clearly has been noticed by scientists. The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press came out, yesterday, with a report entitled Public Praises Science; Scientists Fault Public, Media. This is an interesting polling report, on a number [...]

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Tags: Energy

Earth Power: Some Geothermal Talk

July 10th, 2009 · No Comments

<img src=”http://www.energyconversation.org/sites/all/themes/energyco/images/ec_uncle_sam_t.gif” align=”left” />  This coming Monday evening, 13 July, The Energy Conversation will have a public session focused on geothermal energy, appropriately titled “Is American warming up to geothermal energy?“.  This US government sponsored lecture is a free event (okay, $10 for dinner) that occurs on a regular basis at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel [...]

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Tags: Energy · renewable energy

To Twit Claire

July 9th, 2009 · 6 Comments

twit (twt)
tr.v. twit·ted, twit·ting, twits
To taunt, ridicule, or tease, especially for embarrassing mistakes or faults.

n.

1. The act or an instance of twitting.
2. A reproach, gibe, or taunt.

3. Slang A foolishly annoying person.

Senator Clair McCaskill (D-MO) loves twitter. On more than one occasion and re more than one issue, Claire’s Twitter comments have raised eyebrows.
Recently, Twitting [...]

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Tags: Energy

“Will the Senate save the Clean Air Act?”

July 8th, 2009 · No Comments

That is the question that many Americans will see opening their newspapers tomorrow as a nationwide advertising effort begins to let Americans know that the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) has a provision restricting the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce the Clean Air Act (CAA). The CAA is perhaps the premier [...]

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Tags: Energy · political symbols · politics · waxman-markey

Reality leaving Waxman-Markey in the dust …

July 7th, 2009 · 1 Comment

The Waxman-Markety American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) targets for renewable energy and climate emissions reductions are, to put it simply, far from what they should be. And, let’s put aside “should be”, they are far weaker than they could be.
Let’s stick with 2020 targets for a moment. The bill, as passed by the House, [...]

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Tags: Energy · cap and trade · climate change · climate legislation · coal · electricity · emissions · energy efficiency · energy information administration