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Fracking boom is fueling a plastics boom

Fracking boom is fueling a plastics boom

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Plastic crap that Americans are accustomed to importing from Asia is increasingly being manufactured right here in the U.S. — all thanks to the country’s crappy fracking boom.

Chemical and plastics companies use natural gas as a raw material, and now they can get it cheaply in the U.S. As Living on Earth reports, “The fracking boom has led to renaissance for the chemical industry, particularly for plastics makers in Louisiana, where the plants are major employers.”

Other states are seeing growth in the plastics business too. Asia’s largest chemical producer, Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group, has announced that it’s planning to spend $2 billion expanding its manufacturing operations in Texas. Bloomberg reports:

“Because of shale gas, the cost of making petrochemical and plastic-related products is becoming very competitive here in the United States,” [Formosa Vice Chair Susan] Wang said. “It’s probably as cost effective as in the Middle East.” …

Wang said the Taipei-based company expects to receive the environmental permits for an expansion at its Point Comfort facility, about 125 miles southwest of Houston, sometime within the next year. Construction can begin immediately thereafter, she said. …

U.S. shale gas and oil will replace naphtha in the production of basic chemicals as their costs are lower, [said] Simon Liu, vice president at Yuanta Securities Investment Trust Co., which oversees [$10 billion] of assets and holds shares of Formosa Plastic Group companies.

“Investing in U.S. petrochemical plants is the right move,” Liu said.

This isn’t the first questionable manufacturing boom to be fueled by fracking. Ammonia factories are also being built and expanded to take advantage of cheap natural gas.


Source
Fracking Boosts Plastic Production, Living on Earth
Chemicals Maker’s $2 Billion U.S. Bet Driven by Fracked Gas, Bloomberg

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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Fracking boom is fueling a plastics boom

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Tom’s Kitchen: the Coolest, Easiest Summer Eggplant Trick

Mother Jones

During the broiling-hot Texas summer, I search for dishes that fall into a sweet and cool spot: seasonal produce prepared with minimal heat. Tomatoes are easy. Eggplant, one of my very vegetables, presents a special challenge. The ways that I love to cook it—searing and roasting—are just too damned hot for August. I sometimes grill it, of course, but standing in 100-degree heat over a fire doesn’t always appeal.

After a sweaty recent visit to the farmers market, I found myself the owner of three gorgeous purple eggplants—and feeling no desire to fire up the stove or grill to cook them. Then, from the depths of my culinary memory, I recovered a technique I learned from Paula Wolfert’s outstanding 1994 book The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean: You simply wrap the eggplants in foil, prick them all over with the tines of a fork, and cook them on a gas stovetop over a low flame—so low it barely heats the kitchen. Then you separate the flesh from the skin and puree it with a few other ingredients into baba ghanoush, the classic Levantine eggplant spread. The open flame gives the eggplant a subtle smokiness that really elevates the dish. (Of course, cooking it over a charcoal grill is even better.)

Guided by Wolfert, one of my culinary heroes, that’s exactly what I did. The following recipe is adapted from Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean, which brims with summer-ready ideas. (Note to self: try a chilled version of “Yogurt and Leek Soup with Mint.”)

Baba ghanoush gear

Baba Ghanoush
(Makes two cups)
3 medium-sized eggplants
2 small cloves of garlic, crushed and peeled
A couple of strips of pickled red onion (optional)
5 tablespoons of tahini
One lemon, sliced in half
3-4 tablespoons of water
Sea salt and freshly gound black pepper, to taste
Extra-virgin olive oil

Garnishes
Some kind of ground chile powder—Allepo pepper (as Wolfert suggests), paprika, or, as I used, ground chipotle pepper
1 small ripe tomato, diced
A few sprigs of parsley, chopped

Trim the stems from the eggplants and wrap them with foil. Using a fork, prick them in several places, all over. Set two gas stovetop burners to a low setting, and place two of the eggplants on a grate directly over one, and the third over another (see photo). Let then cook, turning them occasionally with a tongs, until they become quite squishy and are releasing steam. Their collapse should be complete, abject. Wolfert suggests dumping them into a basin of cold water and peeling them immediately. I simply let them sit for 30 minutes or so in a bowl, then I stripped away the foil, rinsed them in cold water, and then peeled them over a bowl.

Note the low flame.

Add the tahini, the garlic, and the onion (if using) to the basin of a food processor fitted with a blade. Squeeze half of the lemon (over a metal strainer tio catch the seeds) into the basin, and add a pinch of slat and a grind of pepper. Process until absolutely smooth, pushing down the sides of the basin with a rubber spatula in between whirs if necessary. This step is crucial to Wolfert’s brilliant baba—creaming the tahini, lemon, and garlic at this point will give the final product a gorgeous lightness. Now add the eggplant flesh, two tablespoons of water, and a glug of olive oil, and puree until absolutely smooth, again pausing to intervene with a spatula if necessary. If you’re having trouble achieving absolute smoothness, add another tablespoon of water. Now taste, adding a bit more salt or lemon if it seems necessary.

To serve, spread as much baba ghanoush as you expect to eat in one sitting on a plate. (The rest should be kept tightly covered in the fridge—it will maintain peak flavor for a few days). Give it a few lashings of your best olive oil, a brisk sprinkle of ground chile, some grinds of black pepper, and some diced tomato and chopped parsley. Serve with good crackers. This spread would also be a good excuse to make Alice Waters’ fast-and-easy flatbread—but that would mean turning up a stovetop burner all the way to medium.

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Tom’s Kitchen: the Coolest, Easiest Summer Eggplant Trick

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The Onion Predicts Real Life: Republicans Block NASA’s Asteroid Plan

Mother Jones

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President Obama’s plan to have NASA lasso an asteroid, tow it toward Earth, place it into the moon’s orbit, and claim the space rock for the United States of America has hit a congressional snag. The New York Times reports:

NASA wants to launch an unmanned spacecraft in 2018 that would capture a small asteroid — maybe 7 to 10 yards wide — haul it closer to Earth, then send astronauts up to examine it, in 2021 or beyond.

But the space agency has encountered a stubborn technical problem: Congressional Republicans…The science committee in the Republican-controlled House voted to bar NASA from pursuing that faraway rock. In a straight party vote — 22 Republicans for, 17 Democrats against — the committee laid out a road map for NASA for the next three years that brushed aside the asteroid capture plan, the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s agenda for space exploration. The plan, instead, included new marching orders, telling NASA to send astronauts back to the Moon, set up a base there and then aim for Mars (and to do so with less money than requested).

Not only would the asteroid-lasso initiative have astronauts travel to the space rock to conduct mining operations and test technology for missions to Mars—it would allow NASA to research strategies for deflecting future, potentially world-ending asteroids.

In a way, the Times got scooped on this story. By the Onion. More than two years ago:

The Onion

The Onion, one of America’s leading satirical news outlets, has predicted the future before. Al Qaeda squabbling with 9/11 truthers, for instance. Or the Onion‘s piece on George W. Bush ushering in an era of war and economic recession…published in January 2001.

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The Onion Predicts Real Life: Republicans Block NASA’s Asteroid Plan

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WATCH: A Coup or Not a Coup? Fiore Cartoon

Mother Jones

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Mark Fiore is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and dozens of other publications. He is an active member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, and has a website featuring his work.

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WATCH: A Coup or Not a Coup? Fiore Cartoon

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Math Is Hard? No, Reading Is Hard

Mother Jones

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If you’ve read the several dozen posts I’ve written about NAEP test scores over the years, you already know about one thing that stands out: scores on math tests have improved a lot more than scores on reading tests. Despite (or because of?) the endless math wars of the past few decades, the evidence suggests that we’re doing a better job of teaching math than we used to. Quite a bit better, in fact.1

But why? Motoko Rich asks the experts and gets the following answers:

Teachers and administrators who work with children from low-income families say one reason teachers struggle to help these students improve reading comprehension is that deficits start at such a young age: in the 1980s, the psychologists Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley found that by the time they are 4 years old, children from poor families have heard 32 million fewer words than children with professional parents.

…Reading also requires background knowledge of cultural, historical and social references. Math is a more universal language of equations and rules. “Math is really culturally neutral in so many ways,” said Scott Shirey, executive director of KIPP Delta Public Schools in Arkansas.

….And while reading has been the subject of fierce pedagogical battles, “the ideological divisions are not as great on the math side as they are on the literacy side,” said Linda Chen, deputy chief academic officer in the Boston Public Schools.

I’d argue about that third bullet. The “ideological divisions” over math teaching have actually been pretty damn impressive for the past few decades, though it’s possible that they’ve calmed down lately.

The other two bullets sound more plausible, though. Low SES kids start out with a big reading deficit as early as kindergarten, and it’s hard to make up that deficit later on. The deficit in math is probably small or zero. I’m a little less sure about possible cultural issues, but that might be part of it too. And if I were speculating, I’d suggest that because language is more hardwired into the brain than math, it might just be a tougher nut to crack.

In any case, I just wanted to pass this along. There are a few topics that mainstream news organizations rarely mention—for example, the fact that test scores are up, not down, over the past few decades—and the math/reading dichotomy is one of them. It’s nice to see it at least get a mention.

1Up through 8th grade, anyway. Beyond that, test scores have been fairly flat in both reading and math.

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Math Is Hard? No, Reading Is Hard

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Bill aims to tackle climate-caused health problems

Bill aims to tackle climate-caused health problems

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/ Henrik LarssonMosquitoes are bringing malaria to more and more places as the climate changes.

It’s not just thinking about climate change that can make you feel sick — climate change itself is bringing maladies upon us. Allergies, fungal infections, malaria, and other health problems are taking a growing toll as the climate shifts — and they are expected to grow worse.

Some members of Congress want the U.S. government to start preparing for these health hazards. On Friday, Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.), Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and two other Democrats in the House introduced the Climate Change Health Protection and Promotion Act, which would authorize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research climate change’s health impacts and would help public health officials better plan for the onslaught.

A statement from Capps:

“One of the most troubling and immediate impacts of climate change is its harmful effects on public health. Regardless of what one believes about its causes, climate change is very real. The heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and extreme weather events that are happening with greater frequency and intensity have a profound impact on public health that we’re only beginning to understand. We have to provide our public health officials with the tools and resources they need to effectively track and prepare for these significant public health challenges.”

The legislation had previously been incorporated into the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill, which was passed by the House in 2009 but died in the Senate. This time around, you can safely bet that the legislation won’t be passed by either chamber. But, as evidence mounts that climate change can be deadly, bravo to Capps et al for trying to keep the issue in the news.

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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Dawes’ "Stories Don’t End" Is the Perfect Road-Trip Album

Mother Jones

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Dawes
Stories Don’t End
HUB Records

I was first introduced to Dawes on a stretch of deserted highway in 2010, following the band’s first release, North Hills. It was a fitting introduction. My production team and I were struggling to film a grueling cross-country video series, but we lost our motivation somewhere in Mississippi. Our cinematographer thankfully plugged his iPod into the van stereo and launched the opening track, “That Western Skyline.” It was soft, simple, and became a prescription for our myopia.

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Keystone XL: The Science, Stakes, and Strategy Behind the Fight Over the Tar Sands Pipeline

green4us

<!– table background #fff; border-collapse: collapse; float: left; margin: 15px; th, td border: 1px #000 solid; th background: #eee; –> Join us for a Climate Desk Live event focused on Keystone XL. tarsandsaction/Flickr On February 17, more than 40,000 people rallied in Washington to convince the president to reject the Keystone XL, a proposed 875-mile pipeline running from the Canadian border into Nebraska and slated to transport oil from tar sands (which is 17 percent more greenhouse gas intensive than standard crude oil). The crowds outside the White House provided overwhelming proof that opposing Keystone has mobilized a new and powerful grassroots constituency. But in the US Senate, the mood was different. In a nonbinding vote, 62 Senators—including 17 pro-Keystone Democrats—voted to approve the pipeline. Just 37 Senators voted against it. In fact, the amendment was co-sponsored by four Democrats, including Max Baucus of Montana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. So are activists’ efforts all in vain? What will happen to the environmental movement if President Obama ultimately lets Keystone go forward? And more broadly: What does this say about the best strategy for fighting climate change? Does compromise, horse-trading, and winning industry allies ultimately work best—or do you have to push the limits of the possible? You’re invited to the next Climate Desk Live event—hosted by myself—for a debate and discussion between some of the leading voices on this issue: David Roberts, Grist magazine, who has been covering Keystone regularly and recently wrote about the “Virtues of Being Unreasonable on Keystone.” Michael Levi, director of the program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of the new book The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle For America’s Future (Oxford, May 2013), where he writes that combating climate change will require “doing deals [with those] who want to expand production of oil and gas.” Michael Grunwald, senior national correspondent for Time magazine, author of The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era, who recently declared that on Keystone, “I’m with the Tree Huggers!” Join us for a Climate Desk Live event focused on the Keystone XL: Thursday, April 18, 2013, 6:30 p.m. at the University of California Washington Center, 1608 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036. To attend, please RSVP to cdl@climatedesk.org

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What Would Jesus Do? Probably Keep Buying Ads During SNL

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In mid-February, NBC’s Saturday Night Live aired a video short promoting a fictional film titled “Djesus Uncrossed.” The sketch was a loving, over-the-top spoof of several Quentin Tarantino works, including his 2012 Oscar-nominated revenge film, Django Unchained. SNL host Christoph Waltz (who won Best Supporting Actor at the 85th Academy Awards for his role in Django Unchained) plays a resurrected Jesus of Nazareth, who goes on a blood-soaked rampage against his Roman oppressors.

Here’s the sketch:

And here’s a screenshot of Waltz in character:

“No more Mr. Nice Jesus,” says Jesus. Via Hulu

This is just the latest satire in which the son of God is portrayed as a righteous ass-kicker doling out death and justice. For example, the Comedy Central animated series South Park has armed Jesus. Fox’s Family Guys has depicted the savior in his underwear flying through the air with both barrels blazing John Woo-style, with Chris Tucker as his sidekick.

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What Would Jesus Do? Probably Keep Buying Ads During SNL

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Yep, Sugar (Not Other Stuff) Appears to Cause Diabetes

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A new study published in the open-access science journal PLoS One offers some of the strongest evidence yet that sugar, and not other diet and lifestyle factors, is the primary cause of type 2 diabetes—a theory that the sugar industry has sought for decades to debunk.

The study’s four authors, including Robert Lustig of the University of California-San Francisco, examined data on sugar intake and diabetes prevalence in 175 countries “controlling for other food types (including fibers, meats, fruits, oils, cereals), total calories, overweight and obesity, period-effects, and several socioeconomic variables such as aging, urbanization and income.”


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For each bump in sugar “availability” (consumption plus waste) equivalent to about a can of soda per day, they observed a 1 percent rise in diabetes prevalence. This is a correlation, of course, and correlation does not always equal causation. On the other hand, it’s an exceptionally strong correlation. “No other food types yielded significant individual associations with diabetes prevalence after controlling for obesity and other confounders,” the authors wrote in their summary. “Differences in sugar availability statistically explain variations in diabetes prevalence rates at a population level that are not explained by physical activity, overweight or obesity.”

The correlation, they also found, was “independent of other changes in economic and social change such as urbanization, aging, changes to household income, sedentary lifestyles, and tobacco or alcohol use. We found that obesity appeared to exacerbate, but not confound, the impact of sugar availability on diabetes prevalence, strengthening the argument for targeted public health approaches to excessive sugar consumption.”

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Yep, Sugar (Not Other Stuff) Appears to Cause Diabetes

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