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Why Jeb Bush’s Greatest Political Achievement Could Sink a White House Run

by keithmelendez866 Posted on April 18, 2014

Mother Jones

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I met Jeb Bush’s biggest nightmare during a breakout session at March’s Conservative Political Action Conference held outside of DC. In a side room, Phyllis Schlafly, the octogenarian den mother of the religious right, was explaining why attendees should be afraid of a set of national educational standards, little noticed by the national political press, called Common Core. The standards are arguably Bush’s biggest political legacy. They are also the source of a rising tide of activism on the political right. One after another, conservative activists in the standing-room only audience stood up to express their alarm. “If you are a white male boy—God forbid you’re Jewish!—you’re being targeted and it’s very scary,” fretted a woman from Texas. “Very scary.”

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Why Jeb Bush’s Greatest Political Achievement Could Sink a White House Run

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California’s cap-and-trade program pays loggers to clearcut old-growth forests

by BrandonVonDouss Posted on April 3, 2014

California’s cap-and-trade program pays loggers to clearcut old-growth forests

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Ebbets Pass Forest Watch

Does this look climate-friendly to you?

Timber industry lobbyists clinched a nice little victory in Sacramento four years ago, and now forests and the climate are paying the price.

Under California’s cap-and-trade program, which began in late 2012, timber companies can earn carbon credits by felling forests and chopping down old-growth trees — and then replanting the razed earth with younger trees. Which they will eventually chop down, again, after they have grown. The idea was that the younger trees would suck up a lot of carbon dioxide as they grew. But that flies in the face of scientific findings, published earlier this year in the journal Nature, that older trees are far better than their younger cousins at sucking carbon out of the sky.

A coalition of environmental groups sent a letter on Tuesday to the California Air Resources Board and Climate Action Reserve, the state’s carbon-offset registry, urging them to reconsider the wrongheaded rules:

Ignoring objections and calls from nongovernmental organizations like Sierra Club California, Center for Biological Diversity, and others to remove or modify these provisions, the Air Resources Board rubber-stamped the Forest Protocol and incorporated it intact as an integral part of the ARB’s cap and trade rules. We believe these actions by CAR and ARB were misguided policy decisions, and should be reconsidered in light of the new scientific findings.

In our view, the flawed Forest Protocol undermines the credibility of California’s cap and trade system by incentivizing the destruction of old-growth forests in the state and in North America.

“It’s time to cut the incentives for clearcutting from the cap and trade program,” said John Trinkl of Ebbets Pass Forest Watch, which works to protect forests from clearcutters, including Sierra Pacific Industries, which lobbied for the logging-friendly provisions. “SPI stands to gain $100 million for selling offset credits from growing tree plantations after clearcutting old growth forests. They should be punished, not rewarded.”

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: Business & Technology

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California’s cap-and-trade program pays loggers to clearcut old-growth forests

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Graywater 101: Using Graywater to Green Plants?

by EloyK20turtjze Posted on April 1, 2014

Graywater 101: Using Graywater to Green Plants?

Sponsored Post from: The American Cleaning Institute

“Graywater” is a term bandied about by those in sustainability circles and a topic we’ve touch on frequently at Earth911, but many still have questions about exactly what graywater recycling is and if it’s really safe for the environment.

So, what’s the verdict? Is this idea green or gross? Earth911 took an in-depth look at the subject to give you the basics and answer all of your most pressing questions about this unconventional recycling tactic.

Graywater 101

If you’re unfamiliar with this type of recycling, the No. 1 question on your mind is likely: What is graywater, anyway?

To put it simply, graywater is water from bathroom sinks, tubs, showers and laundry washing machines. Despite frequent confusion, graywater does not include water from toilets, kitchen sinks and automatic dishwashers (this is called “blackwater”) and has not come into contact with food and human waste, either through kitchen sink food waste disposal or flushing toilets.

Graywater may contain traces of dirt, food, grease, hair and certain household cleaning products. While Graywater may look “dirty,” it is a safe and even beneficial source of irrigation water, according to the advocacy group Greywater Action (The spellings of “greywater” and “graywater” are often used interchangeably in discussions about this topic).

As potable water supplies become more limited throughout the world, there is a growing interest in innovative approaches to water resources sustainability, and household graywater reuse for residential landscape irrigation is a potential solution that’s slowly picking up steam.

Graywater recycling offers scores of benefits; plants can beneficially utilize the constituents found in graywater as valuable nutrients. However, the use of such systems has not yet become widespread due to uncertainties about the safe use of graywater, according to a report released by the Water Environment Research Foundation in partnership with the American Cleaning Institute.

While some states have begun to legalize and regulate the practice of graywater reuse for residential landscape irrigation, little guidance based on scientific data has been provided for the safe operation of graywater irrigation systems and the potential effects on plant health after graywater is applied.

“As more households turn to graywater for their irrigation needs, it is important to understand what compounds are in graywater, what happens to them in the environment, and what potential impacts graywater may have on soil quality, groundwater quality, and plant health,” said Kathleen Stanton, ACI’s Director of Technical & Regulatory Affairs.

The WERF/ACI project began in May 2008 and went on for more than four years. The aim: to provide scientifically-based data on the use of graywater and its impacts on soil quality and plant health. It also tried to address public health concerns stemming from potential exposure to elevated levels of E.coli and product ingredients in soils where graywater has been applied. Read on for the details.

Is it really safe?

earth911

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Graywater 101: Using Graywater to Green Plants?

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Will frackers cause California’s next big earthquake?

by Niki95Guqssevo Posted on March 14, 2014

Will frackers cause California’s next big earthquake?

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The Ring of Fire, an earthquake-prone area around the edges of the Pacific Ocean, might not be the best spot for earth-rumbling fracking practices. But fracking is exploding in the ringside state of California, raising fears that the industry could trigger the next “big one.”

More than half of the 1,553 active wastewater injection wells used by frackers in California are within 10 miles of a seismic fault that has ruptured within the past two centuries, according to a jarring new report. The fracking industry’s habit of injecting its wastewater underground has been linked to earthquakes. (And Ohio officials are investigating whether fracking itself was enough to trigger temblors early this week.)

From the report:

shakyground.org

“Some of California’s major population centers, such as Los Angeles and Bakersfield, are located in regions where high densities of wastewater injection wells are operating very close to active faults,” according to the report, which was conducted by Earthworks, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Clean Water Action. It further notes that California has “no plan to safeguard its residents from the risks of earthquakes” induced by injection wells or drilling and fracking operations.

“This isn’t rocket science,” said report coauthor Jhon Arbelaez. “We’ve known for decades that wastewater injection increases earthquake risk. … [O]ur only option to protect California families is to prevent fracking altogether.”

shakyground.orgClick to embiggen.

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: Business & Technology

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Will frackers cause California’s next big earthquake?

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Ralph Reed Compares Barack Obama to George Wallace

by BernardoWinstea Posted on March 7, 2014

Mother Jones

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Top social-conservative strategist Ralph Reed compared President Barack Obama to segregationist Alabama governor George Wallace on Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

“Fifty years ago George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door and said that African-Americans couldn’t come in,” said Reed, the founder of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, in response to the Department of Justice’s attempt to block Louisiana’s school voucher program. “Today, the Obama administration stands in that same door and says those children can’t leave. It was wrong then and it was wrong now and we say to President Obama, ‘Let those children go.'”

Remarkably, Reed wasn’t the first speaker at CPAC to compare the Obama administration’s policies to the Jim Crow South.

On Thursday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal made the same comparison in his address to the conference. “We’ve got Eric Holder and the Department of Justice trying to stand in the schoolhouse door,” he said.

But as I reported in a new profile of Jindal, Louisiana isn’t exactly a pillar of inclusiveness. Some schools that receive state funding under the voucher program promise to immediately expel any student who is found to be a homosexual—or to be promoting homosexuality in any form.

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Ralph Reed Compares Barack Obama to George Wallace

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Hundreds arrested at anti-Keystone protest in front of White House

by p9zyztu Posted on March 3, 2014

Hundreds arrested at anti-Keystone protest in front of White House

By

XL Dissent

Nearly 400 anti-Keystone protestors were arrested on Sunday after zip-tying themselves to a fence in front of the White House. Activist group 350.org characterized the action as the “largest youth civil disobedience at the White House in a generation.”

Those arrested were part of a larger student-led protest coordinated by XL Dissent. Organizers estimated that 1,200 people total participated in the march and rally that called on President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to reject plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline.

Here are some photos and tweets from the scene:

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Hundreds arrested at anti-Keystone protest in front of White House

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Boehner Struggles to Find 18 Republicans Who Don’t Want to Nuke the Economy

by LeticiaManna Posted on February 11, 2014

Mother Jones

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House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) admitted defeat Tuesday morning. His chamber needs to pass a bill raising the debt ceiling by the end of the day Wednesday. House Democrats head to a retreat in Maryland on Thursday and Congress is on vacation next week for President’s Day, leaving few working days before the February 27 deadline issued by the Treasury Department. Boehner and his Republican colleagues had debated various asks they might attach to a bill raising the government’s borrowing limit—approving the Keystone Pipeline, repealing parts of Obamacare, and restoring a cut to military pensions were all considered—but by Tuesday it had become clear that the GOP couldn’t find a consensus. Boehner conceded that reality at a press conference. He’ll now have to rely on Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to, yet again, deliver the majority of the Democratic caucus to save his hide.

The only trouble? Boehner isn’t even sure if he’ll be able to eek out the bare minimum of necessary votes from his own caucus, a mere 18 votes if every Democrat approves of the clean debt ceiling raise. “If you don’t have 218, you don’t have anything,” he said. “We’re going to have to find them.”

Voting to raise the debt ceiling should be a no-brainer. The consequences of letting the government default would be catastrophic. In December, 169 House Republicans voted on the Ryan-Murray budget. To then turn around and vote against the government’s ability to pay the bills for that budget appears illogical, until you consider the pressure conservative groups will exert on any Republican who raising the debt ceiling. The Senate Conservatives Fund—a group pushing tea party challengers in primaries—quickly denounced Boehner Tuesday, calling for a coup to replace him as speaker. Heritage Action plans to hold an approving vote against Republicans in their scorecard.

Boehner won’t have much time to win over his wary colleagues. The House is scheduled to vote on the clean debt ceiling increase Tuesday night so that lawmakers can flee town before a winter storm hits Washington late Wednesday.

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Boehner Struggles to Find 18 Republicans Who Don’t Want to Nuke the Economy

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How Did the Media Blow It So Badly on Yesterday’s CBO Report?

by mirorita02 Posted on February 5, 2014

Mother Jones

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Yesterday the CBO released a long-term budget analysis that included a chapter about the effect of Obamacare. Among other things, the report concluded that in 2017 and beyond, it would have the effect of reducing employment by about 2 million jobs. This produced a gigantic raft of misleading headlines—some from outlets like Fox News, of course, but also from a wide variety of mainstream news sources. Among many others, Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post then explained what the CBO report really meant. Erik Wemple tells the story:

For a while Tuesday morning, the Internet was hopping with job-killing hype, when in fact the truth was vastly different. Obamacare’s impact, the CBO concluded, would lessen the supply of labor by encouraging certain folks not to work: “The estimated reduction stems almost entirely from a net decline in the amount of labor that workers choose to supply, rather than from a net drop in businesses’ demand for labor, so it will appear almost entirely as a reduction in labor force participation and in hours worked. . . .”

For someone approaching retirement, notes Kessler, Obamacare could well mean that they needn’t hold onto a bad job just to keep health insurance. That’s a far different dynamic from job-killing.

To illustrate just how the media had handled the CBO study, Kessler’s post included a number of headlines harvested from the Internet this morning, amid a backlash highlighting the finer points of the CBO report. In some cases, headline changes ensued; in others, news outlets stuck to their original phrasing. Below, we chronicle some of the action….

This is a debacle. I came into this story pretty cold, reading about the CBO report and then clicking on a link to take a look at it. At the time, I hadn’t read any news accounts, so I just scrolled down to the chapter on Obamacare and spent about ten minutes browsing through it. And here’s the thing: the CBO’s conclusions were crystal clear. The report explained in simple language what effect Obamacare was likely to have and what channels it worked through. It even had a handy bullet list showing the most important causes of lower employment.

And yet, lots of reporters and headline writers got it wrong. It’s crazy. This is policy 101, not some deeply technical report that you need a data sherpa to understand. Obamacare doesn’t kill jobs. It makes people more secure and thus less likely to keep a job they don’t want—or to work more hours than they need to just to stay eligible for health insurance. It also, like all means-tested programs, provides a modest disincentive for poor people to work more hours, since extra income will be accompanied by lower subsidies.

This is easy stuff. How is it that so many folks blew it? Obviously Fox News deliberately wanted to put the worst spin possible on this report. But why did everyone else go along? What’s the deal here?

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How Did the Media Blow It So Badly on Yesterday’s CBO Report?

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Note to GOP: Don’t Reveal Your Fiendish Plan to Destroy Obamacare Until the Last Reel

by muistenam Posted on January 22, 2014

Mother Jones

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One of the reasons that insurers aren’t too worried about the low signup rate for Obamacare is that it’s early days. They figure things will work out eventually, and in the meantime they’re protected from serious losses during the first three years by a provision of the bill called “risk corridors.” The details aren’t too important here. In a nutshell, if it turns out that an insurer has seriously miscalculated the cost of its coverage on the exchanges—perhaps because too few people have signed up—the federal government will reimburse them for part of their losses.

This is all very wonky stuff designed to smooth the transition to Obamacare. You’re only reading about it now because a little while back some bright spark decided that if you called this an “Obamacare bailout” it might turn into a big campaign issue. Maybe Republicans could even get it repealed, which in turn would make life so hard for insurers that they’d drop out of Obamacare entirely! Bwa-ha-ha!

But their plan isn’t going anywhere, and Dave Weigel thinks it’s partly because conservatives have acted too much like a stock villain from a James Bond movie:

I mention Bond villainy for a reason. What’s the mistake that Goldfinger and Blofeld and 006 et al constantly make? They explain the plot while there’s still time for 007 to stop it. Conservative groups from FreedomWorks to Heritage Action have rallied behind Rubio’s bill and a companion House bill, and obviously the hope is that a “no bailout” bill would gather momentum in the Senate and make life difficult for red state Democrats. But Congress just passed an omnibus funding bill that takes care of things for the rest of the year. A good chance to pressure the Senate on Obamacare — slotting the “no bailout” language in the House bill — has been lost. Even a scheme backed by Krauthammer, Ponnuru, and Cannon, all well-respected on the right, failed to gain traction in a Congress that’s been chastened by the shutdown, and is more fearful of causing a crisis to gut Obamacare.

Neither Democrats nor the insurance industry were ever going to be fooled by any of this, but by making it clear that the real goal of repealing risk corridors is to cripple Obamacare completely, proponents lost even the slim chance they had to get a hearing from the press and from independents. They might take another crack at making this a big issue when the debt ceiling comes up, but it probably won’t get them anywhere. Their tea party allies will be thrilled, but everyone else will see it as yet another in a long, tired string of contrived outrages designed to kill Obamacare. Time to move on, folks.

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Note to GOP: Don’t Reveal Your Fiendish Plan to Destroy Obamacare Until the Last Reel

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Major newspaper coverage of climate change plummeted last year

by AshelyStory Posted on January 15, 2014

Major newspaper coverage of climate change plummeted last year

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Shutterstock

We were feeling optimistic a couple of weeks ago when we reported that mainstream media coverage of climate and energy issues was up last year. But it turns out that if you remove the “and energy,” the numbers are actually pretty depressing.

The University of Colorado’s Center for Science & Technology Research monitors mentions of “global warming” and “climate change” in five major U.S. newspapers: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and USA Today. Check out the following sad graph showing its latest findings:

University of ColoradoClick to embiggen.

ClimateProgress breaks down bad news:

The final numbers for the year are in and NY Times climate coverage — stories in which the words “global warming” or “climate change” appeared — has plummeted more than 40 percent. That is a bigger drop than any of the other newspapers monitored by the University of Colorado, though the Washington Post’s coverage dropped by a third, no doubt driven in part by its mind-boggling decision to take its lead climate reporter, Juliet Eilperin, off the environment beat.

And remember, this drop happened from levels of climate coverage that were already near a historical low and in a year that was HUGE on climate news. We’ve had devastating extreme weather around the planet. In May, CO2 levels in the air passed the 400 parts per million threshold for the first time in millions of years. In June, President Obama announced his Climate Action Plan. And in September, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its latest alarming review of the scientific literature.

As the chart above shows, when the IPCC released its previous reports (2001, 2007), media coverage spiked at the major newspapers. These days, the media herd is not to be heard from.

Meanwhile, TV news coverage of climate change flatlined. According to Robert Brulle of Drexel University, the nightly news programs at ABC, NBC, and CBS aired 30 climate stories in 2013, compared to 29 in 2012.

A new Climate Action Task Force in the U.S. Senate is going to try to reverse the trend. It announced yesterday that it will push to get more climate coverage in the mainstream media, particularly on Sunday morning political talk shows. “Sunday news shows are obviously important because they talk to millions of people,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a task force member, “but they go beyond that by helping to define what the establishment considers to be important and what is often discussed during the rest of the week.” We wish them good luck.


Source
Media coverage of climate change / global warming, University of Colorado
Silence Of The Lambs: Climate Coverage Drops At Major U.S. Newspapers, Flatlines On TV, ClimateProgress
Democrats Plan to Pressure TV Networks Into Covering Climate Change, National Journal

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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