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“Keystone-ization” is the fossil fuel industry’s new nightmare

by EdisonWJOkpkr Posted on April 26, 2016

“Keystone-ization” is the fossil fuel industry’s new nightmare

By on Apr 25, 2016commentsShare

“Another Pipeline Rejected” is now the go-to headline for updates on new fossil fuel infrastructure in the United States. Does the growing file of scrapped pipeline plans forecast the “Keystone-ization” of our energy future? Yes — proposals for pipelines to transport oil and natural gas are being brought down by public protest so frequently, we now have a term for it.

A quick review: On Friday, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation announced that it would not grant a necessary permit for the 124-mile Constitution Pipeline proposed to run through the northeastern United States. The Earth Day announcement came after backlash regarding potential safety issues from residents, as well as from Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who said that the plan would be “catastrophic to our air and our climate.” The DEC ultimately refused to grant the permit after concluding that the pipeline would interfere with water resources in its path.

This latest decision follows the rejection, just days prior, of a $3.1 billion natural gas plan proposed by Kinder Morgan. Before that, the 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would have run through Virginia and West Virginia, was delayed earlier this year. Georgia’s 360-mile Palmetto Pipeline and Oregon’s 232-mile Pacific Connector Pipeline were both thwarted in March. All that went down in 2016 alone.

The mother of all these killed projects is, of course, the Keystone XL pipeline, a $7 billion undertaking that would have ferried 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Canada to the Gulf Coast — had President Barack Obama not vetoed it last November. Since that decision, the phrase “Keystone-ization” has come to connote the death of a proposed oil and gas pipeline — often due to public backlash.

“Fifty years ago, people in the U.S. were much more accepting of new pipelines and new infrastructure,” Rob Jackson, a professor at the Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment who studies energy use and climate change, told Grist. “Today, people don’t want new pipelines and nuclear power plants near their homes and schools. The failure of Keystone emboldened people to fight the next project.”

“Keystone-ization” has become a rallying cry for writer and climate activist Bill McKibben, who uses it to encourage activists to protest new fossil fuel infrastructure. (Editor’s note: Bill McKibben is a member of Grist’s board). McKibben, however, repurposed it — how green of him — from Marty Durbin, President and CEO of America’s Natural Gas Alliance. Durbin said last year that the pipeline had become a model for climate activists, noting that it has changed the way fossil fuel companies operate:

“These aren’t new issues. These are things that pipeline developers have had to deal with for a long time. But we’ve seen a change in the debate. I hesitate to put it this way, but call it the Keystone-ization of every pipeline project that’s out there, that if you can stop one permit, you can stop the development of fossil fuels. That’s changing the way we have to manage these projects.”

Killing a pipeline plan, Jackson explained, could prevent fossil fuel extraction on the condition that there is no other way for the resources to reach the market. But in the case of oil, it also could backfire. If no pipeline is available, oil may travel by train. According to Jackson, pipelines look like a safer option when considering the terrible track record of oil train derailments — and therefore, the “Keystone-ization” of proposed pipelines may not be such a good thing after all.

At the same time, if oil prices remain low (as they are now), the cost of rail transport can be prohibitive — and when a pipeline is rejected, extracting the oil it was meant to transport may no longer be a profitable decision. If this is the case, Jackson explains, nixing a pipeline may help keep fossil fuels in the ground.

“Some people fight pipelines because they oppose any fossil fuel use. Viewed through that lens, blocking oil and gas pipelines makes sense,” said Jackson. “You will see a fight for every new pipeline from now on, I guarantee it.”

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“Keystone-ization” is the fossil fuel industry’s new nightmare

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There’s an International Soccer Tournament Where All the Players Are Homeless

by EdisonWJOkpkr Posted on October 25, 2014

Mother Jones

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“A homeless soccer team? What?“

That’s what Shane Bullock, 26, recalls thinking when a coach came by his San Francisco shelter last fall to recruit players. Now, a year later, he’s in Santiago, Chile, representing the United States against teams from 49 countries at the 12th-annual Homeless World Cup.

The Homeless World Cup—which is actually just what it sounds like—draws a total of 100,000 spectators to cheer on teams of homeless (or, like Bullock, recently homeless) men and women in highly competitive four-on-four soccer matches, which are played on a basketball-sized court with walls and mini-goals.

When he first heard of Street Soccer USA (the Homeless World Cup’s US affiliate), Bullock had recently fallen into homelessness. He had moved out of his brother’s Sacramento apartment to be closer to another brother in San Francisco, but he found himself on the street and then in a shelter. When he was first approached about joining the team, “I told them I’d take a rain check.”

“Finally I decided to go out,” he says, although he initially didn’t realize that it was a part of a league. “I thought we were just going to play pickup soccer in the alley around the corner. That caught me off guard, but it’s been pretty fun.”

Bullock was announced as a member of the World Cup men’s squad in August at the closing ceremony of the Homeless National Cup, which brought Street Soccer USA (SSUSA) teams from 16 cities to compete in San Francisco. Eight men and eight women were selected, based on off-field achievements, soccer ability, and leadership.

Shane Bullock (in sunglasses) and other members of the San Francisco SSUSA team Street Soccer USA

Regional partners like SSUSA fields (and funds) each team. At practice, SSUSA coaches help players set goals—such as creating a résumé, obtaining identification, earning a GED, or securing housing—and refer them to preexisting social-services agencies. Says SSUSA national director Rob Cann, “They know that when they come to the next practice, we’re going to say, ‘Hey, you said you were going to go to the DMV this weekend. Did you go?'”

Street Soccer USA meets some of its costs by operating coed, recreational soccer leagues, filled primarily with teams of young professionals. San Francisco’s league, I Play for SF, has 85 teams, including the one with homeless players. “It’s kind of cool to see our homeless folks assimilate with people from different strains of society,” says Bullock’s coach, Benjamin Anderson. SSUSA estimates 2,700 homeless participants have played on its teams since 2009.

Bullock says the World Cup trip isn’t the first time soccer has helped him off the field. “I’m not very outgoing, so it’s allowed me to open up a little,” he says. “And just getting out and moving. That has done wonders just for clearing my mind alone.”

Since joining the team, he’s been hired by I Play for SF to help set up for games twice a week, allowing him to move from the shelter to a single-room occupancy apartment.

“That’s the nice thing—to see it go full circle,” Anderson says. “A guy who was kind of lost and confused and lonely, not only became a part of a community that he contributes to, but has a job and has his own place.”

Cann says the goal of helping homeless people gain structure and meaningful relationships doesn’t necessarily have to be achieved via soccer. Although some aspects of the sport do work particularly well—it’s cheap to play and can be set up anywhere—what’s important is that “it’s a platform and a humanizing activity.”

Of course, only a tiny fraction of the world’s estimated 100-plus-million homeless population is competing this week in Chile, and critics may wonder whether flights across the globe are the best use of funds. (Cann says the trip is funded through designated donations, specifically for the HWC.) Still, the Homeless World Cup maintains one of its main goals is to “change people’s attitudes to homelessness.”

And even though Bullock’s US men’s team has struggled this week, starting out with a 2-4 record, there’s much more to the event than what’s happening on the pitch. During the trip, US players spend downtime in leadership training sessions, where Cann says participants like Bullock are encouraged to remain with the organization as mentors and role models for newer players.

“It’s always been a thing of mine, helping people,” says Bullock, who is considering staying on with Street Soccer USA. “Being with this program, it pushed me toward wanting to find ways that I can help people in whatever way I can.”

You can watch a live stream of the action at the Homeless World Cup website.

Originally posted here:

There’s an International Soccer Tournament Where All the Players Are Homeless

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Yes, You Can Now Call Your Crock Pot on Your iPhone

by EdisonWJOkpkr Posted on June 24, 2014

Mother Jones

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From the annals of stories I’m afraid to read:

The age of cooking by smartphone is here. We test a Robo-Crock in the connected kitchen.

But I’m a professional, so I clicked the link:

For my first test, I made chili….But instead of reaching for any knobs or buttons on the front of the device, I launched an app on my phone to set temperature and time.

The machine fired up, eventually reaching a simmer. The app kept track of time and alerted me with a pop-up message when my three-hour stew was ready for mass consumption. If I had wanted to bump the temperature from High to Low or adjust the cook time, I could easily do that whether I was down the street or half a world away.

I am happy to report that the $130 Smart Crock-Pot works as billed….The chili came out great. It was at that point that the greater existential questions surrounding a Smart Crock-Pot began surfacing: When would I really need this? Is it worth the extra $50? And is it smart enough?

Indeed. Is it smart enough? I’d say no, because it still forces me to cut up all the meat and vegetables and then manually toss them in the crock pot. That doesn’t sound nearly smart enough to me. Call me back when a robot version of Wolfgang Puck is available for $130.

Follow this link:  

Yes, You Can Now Call Your Crock Pot on Your iPhone

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