Author Archives: Kailey A. Aitkin

God help us, Donald Trump tried to dispense energy facts again.

And pretty much nobody is happy about it, except maybe Nestlé.

Since 2011, 23 national parks had ended the sale of plastic water bottles to cut down on trash and litter. Before the ban took effect at the Grand Canyon, for example, water bottles made up 20 percent of the park’s total waste. But on Aug. 16, the Trump administration ended the six-year-old policy that enabled the ban, welcoming plastic bottles back to the Grand Canyon, Zion, and other national parks.

Bottled water companies had lobbied against the Obama-era policy for years. Coincidentally, the National Park Service’s statement on the reversal echoes the industry’s arguments: “It should be up to our visitors to decide how best to keep themselves and their families hydrated during a visit to a national park.”

Lauren Derusha Florez, Corporate Accountability International* campaign director, is calling for park superintendents to resist. “We know that many of our parks want to do away with bottled water,” she wrote in a blog post. “Let’s make sure they know that we support them in that move, even if the current administration doesn’t.”

*Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Florez as the campaign director at the Sierra Club.

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God help us, Donald Trump tried to dispense energy facts again.

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Dinesh D’Souza Indicted for Campaign Finance Fraud

Mother Jones

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I see via TPM that conservative crackpot Dinesh D’Souza has been indicted for violating federal election laws. But is this real fraud, or the sort of picayune thing that anybody might get entangled in simply for not being an expert in the finicky details of campaign finance regs? Here’s the Reuters report:

According to an indictment made public on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, D’Souza around August 2012 reimbursed people who he had directed to contribute $20,000 to the candidate’s campaign. The candidate was not named in the indictment.

Hmmm. This would be the real deal. Telling other people to make contributions and then reimbursing them is an obvious no-no, something that D’Souza could hardly plead ignorance about. If this turns out to be true, he’s in trouble.1

1Alternatively, it could be a godsend, something he can milk forever as proof that he’s being hounded by Obama administration thugs determined to shut down their conservative critics.

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Dinesh D’Souza Indicted for Campaign Finance Fraud

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Here’s an Interesting Wrinkle in the Rate Shock Debate

Mother Jones

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Here’s an email from a reader in California with an interesting wrinkle on the rate shock debate:

I’m self employed, with individual health insurance coverage, and my family is one of those whose current health insurance policy is being canceled and whose premium will rise once we purchase insurance on the CA exchange. But it’s not as simple as that. We signed up for our current policy in November 2011 (therefore no grandfathering) and the premium was substantially lower than the policy we had prior to that. In hindsight, I’m guessing that the premium for that newly introduced plan was so low because the insurance company knew it would have to be canceled in 2014. So, they weren’t going to incur a lot of losses or have to make provisions for a long claims tail.

The premium for our new insurance, purchased from the exchange, is going to be about what our original (pre-2011) policy premiums would have been now, allowing for the usual annual premium increases. So, yes, we’re having to move from cheaper to more expensive insurance. On the other hand, it’s very likely that the cheaper policy would never have been available in the first place without the ACA’s 2014 deadline for such plans. Of course, the insurance company didn’t clarify back in 2011 that this policy had a limited lifespan and would have to be replaced in 2014 with a new one.

I wonder if this is at all common?

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Here’s an Interesting Wrinkle in the Rate Shock Debate

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The best (and worst) quotes from the silly House climate hearing

The best (and worst) quotes from the silly House climate hearing

Shutterstock

Capitol Hill

Republicans in the U.S. House hosted a dog-and-pony show in the nation’s Capitol on Wednesday. During a hearing of the Energy and Commerce Committee, they subjected EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to a barrel of climate ignorance and peppered them with criticisms of Barack Obama’s climate policies.

The debate progressed along lines that were predictable, given that about a dozen members of the committee are climate deniers. Republicans accused Obama of being a job-killing, coal-hating president who believes fairy tales invented by mischievous scientists. They claimed his plan to move forward on climate regulations without Congress’ support is an abuse of his authority. Team Obama wearily explained the relatively simple science of climate change to the lawmakers and emphasized that the administration is acting completely within the law.

We won’t bore you with all the details. Instead, here are some of our favorite quotes from the hearing:

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz: “Common sense demands that we take action. As a policy issue, prudence suggests that we should take out an insurance policy, just like any family does on their home or automobile.”

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy: “We are not doing anything at the EPA and in the climate plan that goes outside the boundaries of what Congress has said is our mission and our authority. … Can the EPA alone solve the problem of climate change? No, we cannot. We are working within our authority to do what we can.”

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Texas): “The president’s global warming agenda being implemented through the EPA has been holding back the economy, which continues to struggle. [EPA rules will] have devastating effects on our communities and most importantly, the consumers who pay their electricity bills every month.”

Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas):  “Even though we want as clean air as we can, we still want to be able to turn on the lights and, particularly in Texas, have our air conditioning in the summer.”

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), on the Obama administration sending just two Cabinet-level officials to the hearing when Republicans had asked for more: “Are you trying to hide something? Are you embarrassed by it, or you just don’t care to respond to Congress?”

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), on who was not invited to the hearing: “Where are the climate scientists?”

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Climate & Energy

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The best (and worst) quotes from the silly House climate hearing

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GMO-free ingredients are tough to round up in the U.S.

GMO-free ingredients are tough to round up in the U.S.

Shutterstock

Responsible food manufacturers are trying to meet consumer demand for products that are free from transgenic ingredients.

And they are finding it exceedingly difficult in the U.S. to do so.

The New York Times reported Sunday on the difficulties — and high costs — faced by small and large companies that want to keep GMOs out of their products:

Lizanne Falsetto knew two years ago that she had to change how her company, thinkThin, made Crunch snack bars. Her largest buyer, Whole Foods Market, wanted more products without genetically engineered ingredients — and her bars had them. Ms. Falsetto did not know how difficult it would be to acquire non-GMO ingredients.

ThinkThin spent 18 months just trying to find suppliers. “And then we had to work to achieve the same taste and texture we had with the old ingredients,” Ms. Falsetto said. Finally, last month, the company began selling Crunch bars certified as non-GMO.

The Non-GMO Project was until recently the only group offering certification, and demand for its services has soared. Roughly 180 companies inquired about how to gain certification last October, when California tried to require labeling (the initiative was later voted down), according to Megan Westgate, co-founder and executive director of the Non-GMO Project.

Nearly 300 more signed up in March, after Whole Foods announced that all products sold in its stores would have to be labeled to describe genetically engineered contents, and about 300 more inquiries followed in April, she said.

“We have seen an exponential increase in the number of enrollments,” Ms. Westgate said.

The shift is evident in prices of nongenetically modified crops, which have been rising as more companies seek them out. Two years ago, a bushel of non-GMO soybeans cost $1 to $1.25 more than a bushel of genetically modified soybeans. Now, that premium is $2. For corn, the premium has jumped from 10 cents to as high as 75 cents.

Many other countries ban GMOs or require that food containing GMO ingredients be clearly labeled. Not so in the U.S., where federal lawmakers just voted to keep such ingredients secret from consumers, and where about 90 percent of the corn and soy that is grown has been genetically modified.

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who

tweets

, posts articles to

Facebook

, and

blogs about ecology

. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants:

johnupton@gmail.com

.

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GMO-free ingredients are tough to round up in the U.S.

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My Hunt for a Chemical-Free Couch

Rika S.

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Cat Butts In During Lego Ad (Funny Video)

9 minutes ago

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My Hunt for a Chemical-Free Couch

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Need to know How to Make Solar Power Panels? It’s Easy!

The green energy revolution is easily catching up to the awareness of men and women. Individuals now want to produce clean energy to support the planet. Some people not only wish to produce clean energy; they also want to produce it for free. That’s why there are a lot of guides on how to create solar power panels at home.

Top quality solar power panels can be bought at stores. However with an average price of $1 per watt, it’ll cost you $100 simply to power a hundred watt bulb. The reason why ready made panels are costly is the fact that because they’re produced in specially designed industrial facilities, therefore the labor fees really bump the cost up. Doing this project in your own home alone will keep the labor charges down; and it can be a lot of fun as well.

Prior To Starting, Understand what Needs to be Carried out Know what must be done before starting. This way hug and costly mistakes could be avoided. Step by step guides regarding how to make solar power panels are plentiful online, and they’re totally free. Many of them, nonetheless, are a bit complex for the common man. If need be, purchase one of the many available guide courses. These guides are definitely better, easier to know, and are more specific with their instructions. The majority of them additionally come with a money back guarantee, in case people find them difficult to understand.

Also, when it comes to the ultimate wiring, it would be best to employ an electrician to get it done. Fundamental knowledge of how electricity works is really a plus, however getting a professional may reduce fees over time. It pays to achieve it correctly the very first time, instead of employing somebody later on to fix problems. Basic Materials Needed to Make a Solar Panel Fundamental materials to create solar panels can be found online at truly cheap pricing. Actually, guide books may basically tell people where to buy the materials. The types of materials needed are listed below:

* Solar panels – these absorb the suns energy to create electricity. They come in various voltages and sizes. For home use, it’s suggested that the entire voltage generated by a solar panel be 16 Volts. The amount of cells to purchase depends on the voltage they generate. Just do the simple math.

* A Battery and a Battery Box – Using solar energy won’t be efficient if it can’t be stored. That’s why a 12V battery is required. What’s usually suggested are the deep cell batteries. Battery box is there to protect the battery from the elements, people from the energy it produces.

* The Backing Material – That’s where you mount your solar cells to. It is strongly advised that the backing material lasts as long as the cells themselves, which is roughly a time of between 25 to 40 years. If the backing material is substandard and also breaks just before the cells do, it can be a headache to replace it all.

* The Inverter – this is needed when home appliances are being fed power from the solar power panels. The power that panels create is DC, while home appliances use AC. The inverter turns DC to ac so that appliances in the home can run.

That’s basically it for those major components. Many other materials that are required will likely be basic building materials like a power drill plus a saw, many feet of numerous types of screws, wires, mounting and so forth. That’s why it is recommended to possess a manual. That way, even all of the little parts necessary are plainly thorough.

The potential savings of a home that runs on green, solar generated electricity is endless. The cash spent in having a solar kit installed can be returned only in the long run. Individuals have also gained money from this, by marketing excess energy generated to the power companies. So, begin to join the green revolution and begin learning to make solar power panels.

Click the link: make solar panels – this video clip is awesome.

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