Author Archives: Obeey99

It’s even easier than you thought for Republicans to repeal President Obama’s environmental protections.

by Obeey99 Posted on November 21, 2016

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and right-wing pundit, told Fox News that President-elect Trump has asked him to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. (Trump tweeted that he is “seriously considering” Carson for the post.)

Carson has already turned down a chance to be Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services on the grounds that he is unprepared to run a federal agency. So how is HUD any different? Good question.

Carson lacks any relevant experience. HUD is charged with developing affordable and inclusive housing. Under the Obama administration, it has promoted smart-growth goals, such as linking low-income housing with mass transit.

During Carson’s unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, he never proposed any policies to promote low-cost or integrated housing. Asked on Fox about his knowledge of HUD’s work, Carson pointed to his experience growing up in a city.

Trump is also reportedly considering Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino to run HUD. Under Astorino, the county has failed to comply with a 2009 settlement in which it agreed to build more affordable housing.

So Trump will nominate either someone wholly unqualified or someone who opposes affordable housing. It’s almost as if the luxury real-estate developer once sued for discriminating against black tenants doesn’t care about affordability or integration.

Continued:

It’s even easier than you thought for Republicans to repeal President Obama’s environmental protections.

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Tesla Pits Texas vs. the Free Market

by Obeey99 Posted on March 13, 2014

Mother Jones

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Tesla is having a lot of well-publicized problems selling its cars direct to the public. Most states mandate that cars can only be sold through independent dealers, and that’s shut Tesla out of the market in plenty of places, including ultra-free market bastions like Texas. Paul Waldman comments:

You’d think that if conservatives really believed all their rhetoric about the value of unfettered free markets, they would be all over this issue, advocating for Tesla’s side of the controversy and campaigning to break up the anti-free-enterprise car dealer oligopolies. But of course, we’re talking about Tesla, and liberals like electric cars, and therefore conservatives feel obligated to hate electric cars, so that probably won’t happen.

OK, sure, but here’s the thing: Teslas are also really expensive. That means they can only be purchased by rich people, and conservatives really like rich people. So this is a dilemma, no?

Now, I suppose that in Texas they don’t think much of any car that doesn’t run on refined hydrocarbon products, so maybe the cognitive dissonance there is less than I think. But North Carolina doesn’t have any oil. So what’s the deal there?

In any case, I want to know who’s buying these cars, anyway. Last Halloween, Marian and I decided to escape the house and eat out. In order to kill time, we walked around the shopping center we had gone to and I spied a Tesla store there. So I popped in and sat down in a Roadster. I didn’t even come close to fitting, and I’m only an inch or so taller than six feet. Am I just pickier than most tall people? Do tall people who buy Teslas slouch a lot? Or has Tesla simply abandoned the quarter of the market over six feet?

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Tesla Pits Texas vs. the Free Market

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U.N.: Hurry up on climate action or we’re screwed!

by Obeey99 Posted on November 7, 2013

U.N.: Hurry up on climate action or we’re screwed!

By

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World, don’t lose heart, but you really need to hustle.

That’s the message from the United Nations as international climate delegates prepare to launch into a new round of negotiations next week aimed at cutting global greenhouse gas emissions.

The world agreed in 2009 to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.7 Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels. But a report released Tuesday by the U.N. Environment Program reminds us that we’re not on track to meet that goal — not even close.

Even if all the pledges made to date by various governments to reduce their emissions are fulfilled, the report warns that temperature rise would still overshoot the 2-degree goal. That’s not to say it would be impossible to meet the goal, but a serious sense of urgency would be required.

The report focuses on the “emissions gap” — the difference between anticipated and needed emissions cuts. From a UNEP press release:

Even if nations meet their current climate pledges, greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 are likely to be 8 to 12 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent (GtCO2e) above the level that would provide a likely chance of remaining on the least-cost pathway.

If the gap is not closed or significantly narrowed by 2020, the door to many options to limit temperature increase to a lower target of 1.5° C will be closed, further increasing the need to rely on faster energy-efficiency improvements and biomass with carbon capture and storage.

The report authors suggest initiatives that could keep warming within 2 degrees:

Massively and urgently boost energy efficiency — that could reduce annual emissions by 2 GtCO2e by the year 2020.
Stop subsidizing fossil fuels — that could reduce emissions by 0.4 to 2 GtCO2e.
Curb releases of methane and other short-lived climate pollutants — that could reduce emissions by 0.6 to 1.1 GtCO2e.
Continue to foster the development and deployment of renewable energy — that could reduce emissions by 1 to 3 GtCO2e.
Overhaul the agricultural sector, which is directly responsible for 11 percent of the world’s emissions — that could reduce emissions by 1.1 to 4.3 GtCO2e.

If you add up the best-case scenarios using those five strategies, you get an annual emissions reduction of 12.4 gigatonnes by 2020 — more than enough to get us on track to meet the goal of limiting warming by 2 degrees Celsius.

Actually doing that, of course, is another matter altogether.


Source
The Emissions Gap Report 2013: A UNEP Synthesis Report, UNEP

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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U.N.: Hurry up on climate action or we’re screwed!

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More corn grown in U.S. this year than ever before. Thanks, biofuels.

by Obeey99 Posted on November 6, 2013

More corn grown in U.S. this year than ever before. Thanks, biofuels.

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Cars and cows are slurping up the largest corn crop ever grown in the U.S.

With the fall corn harvest three-quarters done, traders are anticipating a yield of about 14 billion bushels, Bloomberg reports. That exceeds forecasts and is 30 percent greater than last year. Growers are thanking agreeable weather for this year’s early and bountiful harvest, a notable shift after last year’s drought woes.

The amount of land used to cultivate corn has been growing during the past 25 years, displacing grasslands and other crops. Meanwhile, the amount of corn grown per acre has tripled since the 1950s due largely to new varieties and heavy doses of herbicides and fertilizers, which have been polluting waterways and fueling algae blooms.

USDA

But the most dramatic change in recent years has been the skyrocketing demand for corn to brew ethanol. That’s not due to a resurgent national appetite for white lightning moonshine. Rather, it’s due to the EPA’s renewable-fuel mandate, a controversial regulation requiring biofuels be blended into gasoline. The mandate was created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, substantially expanded in 2010, and it continues to be expanded.

USDA

The spike in demand for corn to fuel vehicles threatens natural areas and human food supplies, leading many environmentalists to oppose the biofuels mandate. From an August post by the Environmental Working Group:

The harm done to consumers and the environment by the federal biofuels mandate is destined to grow worse as a result of the recent decision to once again increase the amount of corn ethanol that must be added to the nation’s gasoline supply.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s August 6 announcement underscores the need to reform the federal program known as the Renewable Fuel Standard. The law requires refiners to blend both conventional biofuels — corn ethanol — and advanced biofuels, such as soy biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol made from plant materials, into the supply of motor vehicle fuel. But with advanced biofuel technologies slow to commercialize, corn ethanol fills about 85 percent of the overall biofuels mandate.

EPA’s decision means that refiners must increase from 13.4 billion gallons to 13.8 billion gallons the amount of corn ethanol blended into gasoline this year. This is a clear sign that U.S biofuels policy is on the wrong track and must be reformed before more damage is done to the nation’s soil, water and air, and the global climate.

Environmentalists aren’t the only ones opposed to the biofuels mandate. Oil companies don’t like it either — for very different reasons, of course.


Source
Corn Futures Fall to Three-Year Low on U.S. Crop Outlook, Bloomberg
More Corn Ethanol In 2013 Means Environment, Consumers Lose Out, Environmental Working Group

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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More corn grown in U.S. this year than ever before. Thanks, biofuels.

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Letting the UN Into Syria Could End Up Strengthening Obama’s Hand

by Obeey99 Posted on September 10, 2013

Mother Jones

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All the chatter today on Syria is about the Kerry/Putin/Assad proposal that would put off U.S. military action while the UN talks about putting inspectors on the ground who would take control of Syria’s chemical weapons. (And its biological weapons too, presumably, though no one is mentioning that.) Ed Kilgore figures that Obama has three options now:

(1) Press forward with the original resolution….(2) Come up with an amended resolution that explicitly makes the authorization for military action contingent on the failure of a diplomatic initiative to remove or control chemical weapons within a given time-frame (45 days). This is the approach being worked on by Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp, apparently in close consultation with the White House….(3) Take credit for the new peace initiatives and hold off on votes in Congress indefinitely.

….At this point I see no evidence the White House is going with the third approach, but I sure would if I were in their position. Yeah, you can say the French/Russian peace initiative will enable Obama to say tonight that being willing to go to war is the only way to get peace, but the problem with public opinion on Syria is that Americans aren’t sure anything that does or doesn’t happen there is worth the risk of war. The Manchin/Heitkamp approach doesn’t address this problem, either, and is certain to repel Republicans who don’t want the “fight” with Syria limited to the chemical weapons issue and/or don’t want a multilateral “solution.”

Not so fast. Actually, I think Option 2 has at least a chance of turning public opinion around. It’s true that there are plenty of Americans who just flatly don’t want to get involved in Syria, but it’s probably also true that at least some of the skeptics are concerned about whether we’re reacting to a one-off use of chemical weapons. If they were persuaded that Assad is likely to escalate and turn rebel-controlled areas into an abattoir of gas attacks, they might change their minds. If Obama goes along with the UN idea, and can then show that Assad is stalling and obfuscating, he could use this as evidence that Assad plainly has imminent plans to use his chemical arsenal as soon as the UN team is finished. At the very least, it would certainly strengthen Obama’s hand if Assad goes ahead and launches another gas attack after the UN team leaves.

I’d say that this is probably a slim chance. The more time that goes by, the more likely Americans are to forget the whole thing. And no one should underestimate Assad’s ability to tap dance for a long time with the UN inspection team. Still, if it’s handled right, I think it’s possible that letting the UN proposal play out could strengthen Obama’s hand with both the public and with Congress.

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Letting the UN Into Syria Could End Up Strengthening Obama’s Hand

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Seas may rise 10 yards during centuries ahead

by Obeey99 Posted on July 15, 2013

Seas may rise 10 yards during centuries ahead

By John Upton

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The future view from your favorite beach.

Sea-level rise is currently measured in millimeters per year, but longer-term effects of global warming are going to force our descendants to measure sea-level rise in meters or yards.

Each Celsius degree of global warming is expected to raise sea levels during the centuries ahead by 2.3 meters, or 2.5 yards, according to a study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The world is currently trying (and failing) to reach an agreement that would limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius. Business-as-usual practices could yet raise temperatures by 4 (or even more) degrees Celsius.

Multiply 2.5 yards by 4 and you are left with the specter of tides that lap 10 yards higher in the future than today. That’s 30 feet, the height of a three-story building. For comparison, the seas rose less than a foot last century.

Here is a chart from the new study that illustrates long-term sea-level rise projections under four warming scenarios:

PNASClick to embiggen.

Now, it’s important to note that the new study looks at sea-level rise over the next 2,000 years. The study doesn’t make predictions for how rapidly the seas will rise during that time frame; it just lays out what is possible in the long term. From the study:

On a 2000-year time scale, the sea-level contribution will be largely independent of the exact warming path during the first century. At the same time, 2000 years is a relevant time scale, for example, for society’s cultural heritage.

The difference between this study and others, some of which have foretold less dramatic rises in water levels, is the extent to which it considers ice-sheet melting.

Compared with the amount of water locked up in the world’s glaciers, which are melting rapidly, Earth’s two ice sheets hold incredibly vast reservoirs. The Antarctic ice sheet alone could inundate the world with 60 yards of water if it melted entirely. And then there’s the Greenland ice sheet, which suffered an unprecedented melt last summer.

The ice sheets are not yet melting as dramatically as the glaciers, insulated as they are by their tremendous bulk. In fact, the melting glaciers and the melting ice sheets are contributing roughly equally to today’s rising seas, despite the differences in their overall bulk.

But a hastening decline of the ice sheets is inevitable as accumulating greenhouse gases take their toll.

The authors of the new study, led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, analyzed sea levels and temperatures from millennia past, combining those findings with climate models to get a glimpse of the shifting coastlines of the future. From the study:

[C]limate records suggest a sea-level sensitivity of as much as several meters per degree of warming during previous intervals of Earth history when global temperatures were similar to or warmer than present. While sea-level rise over the last century has been dominated by ocean warming and loss of glaciers, the sensitivity suggested from records of past sea level indicates important contributions from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

The study’s lead author, Potsdam researcher Anders Levermann, said the results reveal the inevitability of rising water levels as heat accumulates on Earth.

“Continuous sea-level rise is something we cannot avoid unless global temperatures go down again,” he said in a statement. “Thus we can be absolutely certain that we need to adapt. Sea-level rise might be slow on time scales on which we elect governments, but it is inevitable and therefore highly relevant for almost everything we build along our coastlines, for many generations to come.”

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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Seas may rise 10 yards during centuries ahead

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And Now….It’s Syria’s Turn

by Obeey99 Posted on June 14, 2013

Mother Jones

Ah crap. A couple of months ago, President Obama caved in to the hawks and announced $127 million in “nonlethal” aid to the Syrian rebels. Today he caved in again and trotted out Ben Rhodes to announce a further escalation. We’ll now be sending some decidedly lethal aid to the rebels:

The United States has concluded that the Syrian government used chemical weapons in its fight against opposition forces, and President Obama has authorized direct U.S. military support to the rebels, the White House said Thursday….Rhodes did not detail what he called the expanded military support, but it is expected initially to consist of light arms and ammunition. He said the shipments would be “responsive to the needs” expressed by the rebel command.

The next step, of course, is to cave in to the hawks and send the rebels the antitank and antiaircraft weaponry they want. I figure, what? Another couple of months before Obama decides to do that? Then the no-fly zone. Then….something else.

The official justification for the new arms shipments is verification of some “small scale” use of sarin gas by the Assad regime. However, the real justification seems to be this:

After weeks of efforts to organize a conference at which the Assad government and the opposition were to negotiate a political transition, the administration is now slowing down that effort, fearful that if it were held now, Mr. Assad would be in too strong a position to make any concessions….Now, an administration official said, the focus will switch from setting a date to fortifying the rebels before they sit across the table from the government.

Great. So now we’re committed to continuing escalation until Assad cries uncle and agrees to come to the table. That strategy doesn’t have a sterling track record.

This seems like a good time to embed this video of Fareed Zakaria explaining why it’s such a bad idea to intervene in Syria. This isn’t just the usual anti-intervention schtick, either. It’s a broad overview of who’s who and why Syria’s civil war is likely to last a very long time indeed. It’s well worth five minutes of your time.

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And Now….It’s Syria’s Turn

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Dot Earth Blog: The Green Roots of Turkey’s Urban Unrest

by Obeey99 Posted on June 6, 2013

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The Art of Raising a Puppy (Revised Edition) – Monks of New Skete

For more than thirty years the Monks of New Skete have been among America’s most trusted authorities on dog training, canine behavior, and the animal/human bond. In their two now-classic bestsellers, How to be Your Dog’s Best Friend and The Art of Raising a Puppy, the Monks draw on their experience as long-time breeders of German shepherds and as t […]

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Codex: Eldar – Games Workshop

Codex: Eldar is your comprehensive guide to wielding the deadly warhosts of the Craftworld Eldar upon the battlefields of the 41 st Millennium. This volume details the craftworlds of the Eldar, and the different types of army they field. The Eldar embody excellence in the arts of war, from their psychic might to their deadly aircraft, and their ranks co […]

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Iyanden – A Codex: Eldar Supplement – Games Workshop

For thousands of years, the Eldar of Iyanden have sailed through the sea of stars, defending the galaxy’s eastern rim from the threat of Chaos. They have won great victories, but have known terrible tragedy also; what was once the most populous of craftworlds is now but a shadow of its former glory. This supplement to Codex: Eldar allows you to ta […]

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The Honest Life – Jessica Alba

As a new mom, Jessica Alba wanted to create the safest, healthiest environment for her family. But she was frustrated by the lack of trustworthy information on how to live healthier and cleaner—delivered in a way that a busy mom could act on without going to extremes. In 2012, with serial entrepreneur Brian Lee and environmental advocate Christopher Gavigan, […]

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Inside of a Dog – Alexandra Horowitz

The bestselling book that asks what dogs know and how they think, now in paperback. The answers will surprise and delight you as Alexandra Horowitz, a cognitive scientist, explains how dogs perceive their daily worlds, each other, and that other quirky animal, the human. Horowitz introduces the reader to dogs’ perceptual and cognitive abilities and then draw […]

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Warhammer 40,000 Altar of War: Eldar – Games Workshop

Altar of War missions provide all the information required to play games inspired by the battlefield tactics of the different Warhammer 40,000 armies. This book contains six brand-new missions which you can use instead of the Eternal War missions in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook if you or your opponent has an Eldar army. These battles sho […]

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How to Raise the Perfect Dog – Cesar Millan & Melissa Jo Peltier

From the bestselling author and star of National Geographic Channel’s Dog Whisperer , the only resource you’ll need for raising a happy, healthy dog. For the millions of people every year who consider bringing a puppy into their lives–as well as those who have already brought a dog home–Cesar Millan, the preeminent dog behavior expert, says, “Yes, […]

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Trident K9 Warriors – Michael Ritland & Gary Brozek

As Seen on “60 Minutes”! As a Navy SEAL during a combat deployment in Iraq, Mike Ritland saw a military working dog in action and instantly knew he’d found his true calling. Ritland started his own company training and supplying dogs for the SEAL teams, U.S. Government, and Department of Defense. He knew that fewer than 1 percent of […]

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How to Paint Citadel Miniatures: Eldar – Games Workshop

The deadly skimmers, skilled Aspect Warriors and valiant Guardians of the Eldar craftworlds fight a constant battle for the survival of their very species. In this Army Workshop, the talented Studio army painters demonstrate how to paint a varied selection of Eldar miniatures using the Citadel paint range. Example miniatures featured in this extensive painti […]

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Paracord Fusion Ties – Volume 1 – J.D. Lenzen

J.D. Lenzen is the creator of the highly acclaimed YouTube channel “Tying It All Together”, and the producer of over 200 instructional videos. He’s been formally recognized by the International Guild of Knot Tyers (IGKT) for his contributions to knotting, and is the originator of fusion knotting-innovative knots created through the merging of […]

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Dot Earth Blog: The Green Roots of Turkey’s Urban Unrest

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Florida Dems Snub Their Own Challenger To Rick Scott

by Obeey99 Posted on June 4, 2013

Mother Jones

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Florida Governor Rick Scott is highly unpopular with voters, and polls show him losing his reelection race next year to any generic Democrat. But now that at least one Democratic challenger has emerged, it appears that the Democrats may already be shooting themselves in the foot. Case in point: The Florida Democratic Party denied Nan Rich, the only Democrat who’s jumped into the race, a speaking slot at its annual Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner later this month.

“I think it’s inappropriate, given the amount of attention the governor’s race will draw,” Rich told the Miami Herald. “I’ve been a candidate for a year. I’ve traveled the state and built a significant infrastructure and grassroots support. And I’m just asking for five minutes.”

Party organizers claimed they didn’t want big donors to get “bored by too many speeches” at the event, but the snub is largely viewed as an attempt to sideline Rich, a state senator, in favor of the party’s preferred candidate, former Republican governor Charlie Crist. (Signs that Crist is seriously considering jumping into the Democratic primary: Most recently an independent, he officially switched party affiliation again in December after losing a Senate race to Sen. Marco Rubio. Then, in early May, he suddenly became a supporter of same-sex marriage, which he’d previously opposed.)

Florida Dems clearly see Crist as the stronger candidate, even if he is, well, a Republican. A recent poll showed Crist prevailing in a Democratic primary, with Rich receiving just 1 percent of the vote, and faring much better than Rich in a matchup with Scott. Still, polls suggest that Crist isn’t exactly a shoe-in, with at least one showing him in a dead heat with Scott. And rank-and-file Democrats are understandably leery about jumping on the bandwagon with a candidate who has previously described himself as a “Jeb Bush Republican.”

But Rich, a stalwart liberal Democrat known for her work on child welfare issues and sharp criticism of Scott, has had trouble raising money and her profile. She could have used the platform at the dinner to help boost her visibility. Instead, the state Democratic party decided it’s more important to hear from the mayor of San Antonio, Texas. Meanwhile, the head of the state GOP, Lenny Curry, has seized the opportunity to taunt Florida Democrats for dissing one of their own. He started the hashtag #FreeNanRich and tweeted, “Are big donors really more important than 5 min for @SenatorNanRich?” He also sent out a press release targeted at the state’s Democrats to let Rich on the podium, writing:

While Senator Rich and I might not see eye to eye politically, she has a long history of leadership in public service and deserves five minutes of speaking time as the only announced gubernatorial candidate in your party.

Because Senator Rich is an experienced spokesperson for Democratic ideology in Florida, it must be disappointing to see your Chairwoman, Allison Tant, put the interests of big-dollar donors ahead of a mere five minutes for Florida’s leading champion of liberal causes.

The Rich snub promises the beginning of a bitter primary battle for the right to challenge Scott, who will certainly benefit from the distraction from his own record. Whether the Democratic primary fight will be enough to keep one of the nation’s most loathed governors in office, though, is still very much an open question.

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Florida Dems Snub Their Own Challenger To Rick Scott

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Study: Climate change a death knell for most Californian fish

by Obeey99 Posted on May 31, 2013

Study: Climate change a death knell for most Californian fish

By John Upton

Jacob Katz, UC DavisLead researcher Peter Moyle studying native fish in the Sierra Nevada.

Cold-water-loving fish will find California’s rivers and streams to be increasingly inhospitable — and deadly.

A study published in the online journal PLOS ONE finds that rising water temperatures may drive many of the state’s native species extinct, while helping invasive fish flourish. From the study:

Most native fishes will suffer population declines and become more restricted in their distributions; some will likely be driven to extinction. Fishes requiring cold water [less than 72 degrees] are particularly likely to go extinct. In contrast, most alien fishes will thrive, with some species increasing in abundance and range.

From The Sacramento Bee:

The peer-reviewed study by fishery experts at UC Davis created a framework to measure how vulnerable numerous species are to climate change. It assesses habitat conditions, climate change projections and temperature sensitivity for the 121 native and 50 nonnative fish species that inhabit California.

It found that 82 percent of the native species are at risk of extinction in the next 100 years, largely because climate change will make water temperatures too warm. For nonnative fish, which are generally more adaptable to warm water, only 19 percent are likely to die off.

From a UC Davis press release:

“If present trends continue, much of the unique California fish fauna will disappear and be replaced by alien fishes, such as carp, largemouth bass, fathead minnows and green sunfish,” said Peter Moyle, a professor of fish biology at UC Davis who has been documenting the biology and status of California fish for the past 40 years. …

Climate change and human-caused degradation of aquatic habitats is causing worldwide declines in freshwater fishes, especially in regions with arid or Mediterranean climates, the study said. These declines pose a major conservation challenge. However, there has been little research in the scientific literature related to the status of most fish species, particularly native ones of little economic value.

Moyle saw the need for a rapid and repeatable method to determine the climate change vulnerability of different species. He expects the method presented in the study to be useful for conservation planning.

“These fish are part of the endemic flora and fauna that makes California such a special place,” said Moyle. “As we lose these fishes, we lose their environments and are much poorer for it.”

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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Study: Climate change a death knell for most Californian fish

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