Tag Archives: eco-friendly

Texas official ignores voters’ ban on fracking

by Steven Posted on November 10, 2014

Texas official ignores voters’ ban on fracking

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10 Nov 2014 5:21 PM

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As predicted, mere hours after the first-ever fracking ban passed in Texas, industry reps took to the courts. By 9:09 a.m. on Nov. 5, both the Texas Oil and Gas Association and the Texas General Land Office had filed lawsuits that aim to prevent the city of Denton from enacting its ordinance on Dec. 2 — and Texas legislators are already drawing up plans to make future fracking bans like this one illegal.

The blowback here, of course, is because Denton is sitting on top of the Barnett Shale — one of the country’s largest natural gas fields — and those who’re doing the drilling would like to continue, thank you very much. The lawsuits argue that a city can’t override the state’s authority to regulate the oil and gas industry.

So, in the meantime? Business as usual, according to The Dallas Morning News:

Railroad Commission Chairwoman Christi Craddick came out strongly against a fracking ban passed this week in North Texas, pledging to continue giving permits to companies that seek to drill in Denton. …

“It’s my job to give permits, not Denton’s … We’re going to continue permitting up there because that’s my job,” she said.

Although local residents are concerned about fracking’s effects on air and water quality, the local economy, and human health, Craddick claims the ban passed because the oil and gas industry simply did not do enough in the realm of community education:

“We missed as far as an education process in explaining what fracking is, explaining what was going on. And I think this is the result of that, in a lot of respects, and a lot of misinformation about fracking,” Craddick said.

Misinformation, eh? That’s why 59 percent of Denton voters passed the ban — they just didn’t know how safe and equitable fracking really is! Considering this was Denton’s most expensive political campaign ever, it seems the industry did at least try, before it failed, to give that “education process” a shot.

While this is not the first fracking ban to prompt expensive legal battles over regulatory authority, it’s the first one in oil-rich, oil-powerful Texas, so this is a battle to watch.

Source:
Craddick: Railroad Commission will continue permitting in Denton, not ruling out action against ban

, Dallas Morning News.

Texas Oil Regulator Says It Will Not Honor Town’s Vote To Ban Fracking

, Think Progress.

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Texas official ignores voters’ ban on fracking

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Dead zones are coming for your rivers, lakes, and oceans

by CortneyULX Posted on November 10, 2014

The Dead Sea

Dead zones are coming for your rivers, lakes, and oceans

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10 Nov 2014 4:30 PM

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Halloween may have come and gone, but climate change continues to give us the creeps. A new study revealed that warmer temperatures are causing zombie-like “dead zones” in rivers, lakes, and oceans worldwide.

According to the study, published Monday in the journal Global Change Biology, researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center found two dozen ways that climate change is worsening dead zones.

If you’re catching up: Climate scientists define dead zones as areas of oxygen-depleted water where no life exists. Though unlike a zombie apocalypse, they are potentially reversible. They happen for a number of reasons, but we’re primarily concerned with the human causes, such as industrial sewage pollution, agricultural runoff, and big, ugly oil spills. (P.S. The second largest dead zone in the world is in — yep, you guessed it — the northern Gulf of Mexico).

Back to the study: Researchers looked at 476 zombie zones around the world and found that once wildlife is eliminated, water temperatures typically increase by about 4 degrees F, instigating the potential of a vicious cycle: Climate change exacerbates dead zones and, in turn, dead zones increase water temperature. And unfortunately, we can’t stop it with a bullet to the brain.

The researchers also used a projection model to surmise how climate change’s effects on dead zones could look by the end of the century. The study reads:

The implications of these projections, especially for Northern Europe, are shifts in vulnerability of coastal systems to HAB events, increased regional HAB impacts to aquaculture, increased risks to human health and ecosystems, and economic consequences of these events due to losses to fisheries and ecosystem services.

The findings of this study scare us as much as a Bruce Campbell flick. But this problem unfortunately doesn’t come with a step-by-step survival guide. Yet.

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Could this rock save the planet?

by SolomonParris Posted on November 10, 2014

Could this rock save the planet?

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10 Nov 2014 4:02 PM

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Could this rock save the planet?

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Meet olivine, a greenish rock that is basically the Clark Kent of the mineral world: It may look boring, but it has a secret superpower. Specifically, it can pull CO2 from the air and sequester it — nothing to sniff at when facing down the supervillain of our age: anthropogenic climate change.

Retired geochemist Olaf Schuiling has spent decades advocating for using the abundant mineral as a solution to our climate change woes — by carpeting as many surfaces as possible in the stuff, from playgrounds to roads to beaches, we could allegedly remove enough carbon from the atmosphere to slow the rate of climate change. According to one analysis, one ton of olivine can dispose of approximately two-thirds of a ton of CO2 — impressive, but that’s still a LOT of rock when we’re talking billions of tons of CO2 a year.

“Let the earth help us to save the earth,” Schuiling says, which makes for a catchy quip, but may not count as a scientific endorsement; Schuiling’s skeptics point out that the olivine cure would take 20 years to start making a difference, and likely account for a slew of new emissions from mining and distributing tons of rock over the surface of the planet. Schuiling rejoins:

Industry extracts and transports huge quantities of coal, oil and gas, he notes, so if society decided that geoengineering was necessary, why couldn’t it do the same with olivine? The annual amount needed, equivalent to about 3,000 Hoover Dams, is available around the world and is within the limits of modern large-scale mining. “It is not something unimaginable,” [Dr. Schuiling] said.

Of course, other geoengineering solutions might be easier to implement — say, spewing clouds of sulphur into the air to imitate volcanic cooling, or fertilizing the ocean to pull CO2 out of the air with a massive algal bloom — but they also hold way more potential for disaster. (As in, “Oh you liked your oceans alive and full of food? Oops.”)

In any case, Schuiling’s proselytizing has caught on in the Netherlands, where those in the know can spot green-sanded paths and gardens throughout certain cities. A Dutch company called greenSand (I bet you can guess why) has sprung up to provide Spanish-mined olivine to enterprising DIY geoengineers in the Netherlands. And more research is being done about the efficacy of fighting climate change with sandboxes:

At the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research in Yerseke, on an arm of the North Sea, Francesc Montserrat, an ecologist, is investigating the idea of spreading olivine on the seabed. Not far away in Belgium, researchers at the University of Antwerp are studying the effects of olivine on crops like barley and wheat.

The National Academy of Sciences is expected to release a report on geoengineering sometime this year, but I’d bet it will still include more questions than answers. Meanwhile, the things we know about climate change — that we caused it, and will continue to do so until we drastically cut emissions — are pretty straightforward.

I guess all I’m trying to say is that if we really want to address the problems of human-caused climate change, it might not make the most sense to start with a magical rock garden.

Source:
Climate Tools Seek to Bend Nature’s Path

, New York Times.

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The ‘Super El Niño’ Forecast Fadeout

by Myrna Posted on November 7, 2014

Early-year warnings of a “super El Nino” are history. See the article here:   The ‘Super El Niño’ Forecast Fadeout ; ; ;

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The ‘Super El Niño’ Forecast Fadeout

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Disposable vs. Reusable Dishes: The Surprising Facts

by AdriannZIOM Posted on November 3, 2014

Taken from – 

Disposable vs. Reusable Dishes: The Surprising Facts

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Dot Earth Blog: Building Sustainable Energy Access, from the Outside In

by GeorgiaBlanks Posted on October 29, 2014

green4us

White Dwarf Issue 39: 25 October 2014 – White Dwarf

Gaze upon them and risk madness – the Glottkin have come. We introduce the favoured of Nurgle to the world. Can there be now any hope for the Empire? Read all about the Glottkin and see them in their incredible photographic glory. The End Times are begun, and we have it all: a stonking Battle […]

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The Back to Basics Handbook – Abigail R. Gehring

Anyone who wants to learn basic living skills—the kind employed by our forefathers—and adapt them for a better life in the twenty-first century need look no further than this eminently useful, full-color guide. With hundreds of projects, step-by-step sequences, photographs, charts, and illustrations, The Back to Basics Handbook will help you dye your own wool […]

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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo

This best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing. Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles? Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes […]

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Following Atticus – Tom Ryan

After a close friend died of cancer, middle-aged, overweight, acrophobic newspaperman Tom Ryan decided to pay tribute to her in a most unorthodox manner. Ryan and his friend, miniature schnauzer Atticus M. Finch, would attempt to climb all forty-eight of New Hampshire’s four thousand- foot peaks twice in one winter while raising money for charity. […]

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Top Dog – Maria Goodavage

The New York Times bestselling author of Soldier Dogs returns with the incredible story of K-9 Marine hero Lucca, and the handlers who fought alongside her through two bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Top Dog , Maria Goodavage takes readers into the life of Lucca K458, a decorated and highly skilled military working […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Marley & Me – John Grogan

The heartwarming and unforgettable story of a family and the wondrously neurotic dog who taught them what really matters in life. Now with photos and new material

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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, […]

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Saddled – Susan Richards

One day, at the age of thirty-one, Susan Richards realized that she was an alcoholic. She wrote it down in her journal, struck by the fact that it had taken nine years of waking up hung-over to name her illness. What had changed? Susan had a new horse, a spirited Morgan named Georgia, and, as […]

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Dot Earth Blog: Building Sustainable Energy Access, from the Outside In

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Dot Earth Blog: Another Round on Energy Rebound

by Myrna Posted on October 24, 2014

Two analysts of energy trends expand on their view that efficiency’s climate and energy benefits have been overstated. Read this article:   Dot Earth Blog: Another Round on Energy Rebound ; ; ;

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Dot Earth Blog: Another Round on Energy Rebound

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For E.U. Climate Meeting, Deep Divisions and High Stakes

by Myrna Posted on October 21, 2014

Curbing emissions has long been a popular cause in the European Union. But leaders have to agree on how to generate and distribute energy. Originally posted here:  For E.U. Climate Meeting, Deep Divisions and High Stakes ; ; ;

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For E.U. Climate Meeting, Deep Divisions and High Stakes

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BUSINESS BRIEFING: E.P.A. Accepts New Version of Weed Killer for Farming Use

by Myrna Posted on October 15, 2014

The Environmental Protection Agency has approved a new version of a popular weed killer to be used on genetically modified corn and soybeans. View original article: BUSINESS BRIEFING: E.P.A. Accepts New Version of Weed Killer for Farming Use

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BUSINESS BRIEFING: E.P.A. Accepts New Version of Weed Killer for Farming Use

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5 Tips to Detox your Laundry Routine

by ShaylaAlfred Posted on October 15, 2014

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5 Tips to Detox your Laundry Routine

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