Sunday, July 29, 2018

The practically cost-free way to slow global warming that Trump won’t adopt - The Washington Post



Gas flares from a stack at a natural gas processing facility near Williston, N.D., in 2015. (Matthew Brown/AP)

WHAT IF there were a way to slash planet-warming greenhouse-gas emissions at little to no net cost? Opportunities such as these exist because knowledge about them has emerged gradually and the government has failed to require the simple changes needed. An example is curbing methane emissions from the nation’s booming natural gas industry. A new study in the journal Science suggests that the industry can easily do much better, driving immediate emissions benefits while extracting and transporting a fossil fuel that, if handled correctly, is substantially cleaner than coal.

Full Story: The practically cost-free way to slow global warming that Trump won’t adopt - The Washington Post

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Trump Tried to Stop These Teens Suing Over Climate Change. It Didn't Work.

As we all will be suffering - we all should join as co-plaintiffs to make this the largest law suit ever...


(c)  Youtube/Alliance for Climate Education


“The courts have the ability to make the other branches do their jobs when they are failing.”
The kids suing the federal government over climate change will get their day in court after all.
The administration of US President Donald Trump tried to get the case thrown out because it would allegedly be too burdensome to resolve.
But a federal appeals court in San Francisco unanimously voted 3-0 to reject this claim on July 20, arguing that the case should be decided in a court, according to Reuters.

FULL STORY: Trump Tried to Stop These Teens Suing Over Climate Change. It Didn't Work.

Friday, July 27, 2018

Clean Air Act Violation by Savoy Energy Finalized

After more than 3 years since the EPA issued a Clean Air Act violation notice against Savoy Energy L.P. in May 2015, the violation notice is finally resolved and Savoy L.P. agreed to pay a civil fine of $66,000. The question is if Savoy is also obliged to fix the issues after more than 3 years. An announced site visit in October 2015 yielded that none of the issues that the EPA built their violation case upon were fixed. It is incomprehensible that the EPA never went back to check that the facility transitioned to best management practices - and also has no plan to do so now. A fine of $66,000 seems a low price for Savoy to pay and being allowed to continue to pollute our air...


The full documents can be downloaded here and here.


Tuesday, July 24, 2018

The Amazon Rain Forest vs. Oil Drilling and Pollution

The Achuar of Peru's Pastaza River in the northern Amazon have sent many oil companies packing. Now GeoPark, a company based in Chile, thinks it can succeed where Talisman, Oxy, and ARCO failed.

The Achuar remain as committed as ever to resisting extractive industries in their ancestral territory, helping defend its biodiversity and the global climate. Now they've asked international civil society to stand with them as they defend their sacred rainforests from an attack on their ancestral way of life.




AMAZON WATCH » Tell GeoPark: Stay Out of Achuar Territory!

Opinion - Wanted: 2050 development vision to meet climate change goals | Zilient

The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change establishes the long-term goal of keeping global temperature increases to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (and aiming for 1.5 degrees Celsius) to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.



A man rides his bicycle through a flooded street after Tropical Storm Nate in Cancun, Mexico, October 7, 2017.

A man rides his bicycle through a flooded street after Tropical Storm Nate in Cancun, Mexico, October 7, 2017. REUTERS/Henry Romero



Opinion - Wanted: 2050 development vision to meet climate change goals | Zilient

Japan soars to its highest temperature ever recorded: 106 degrees - The Washington Post

Japan set a new national temperature record in the third week of a punishing heat wave that has killed dozens.



The mercury soared to 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41.1 degrees Celsius) on Monday in Kumagaya, about 40 miles northwest of Tokyo, the country’s highest temperature on record. For perspective, 106 degrees is also the highest temperature on record in both Atlanta and Washington, D.C. The mark surpassed the previous record 105.8 degrees (41.0 Celsius) set in Shimanto, Kochi Prefecture, during August of 2013.




The thermometer reads 41.0 degrees Celsius (105.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in Kumagaya city, north of Tokyo, on Monday, just short of the day’s official high. (Daiki Katagiri/Kyodo News via AP)



Japan soars to its highest temperature ever recorded: 106 degrees - The Washington Post

Monday, July 23, 2018

The UK heatwave has turned the ground brown — Quartz

SHADES OF BROWN

Satellite images reveal the true extent of damage the UK’s heatwave has caused

The United Kingdom and Ireland have been suffering unusually dry and hot weather for the past two months. It’s expected to be the longest heatwave since 1976.





Green Britain in May. Scorched Britain in July. (Met Office)



In June, some regions in the UK received merely 6% of the expected rainfall. The upshot is scorched grass that’s visible from space (as the image above shows).



Dull story: The UK heatwave has turned the ground brown — Quartz