Tag Archives: north-america

US beekeepers lost almost half their honeybees last year

by TrudyNorthern Posted on May 14, 2015

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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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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo

This New York Times 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 […]

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White Dwarf Issue 67: 09th May 2015 – White Dwarf

Conqueror protocols, engaged! White Dwarf 67 strides forth like an automata of death – well, of weekly hobby goodness – but beside it the Kastelan battle robots, the real mindless machines of death and destruction. What are these relics of an age ancient even by the standards of the Imperium? We’ve got the knowledge you’re […]

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Cesar Millan’s Short Guide to a Happy Dog – Cesar Millan

After more than 9 seasons as TV’s Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan has a new mission: to use his unique insights about dog psychology to create stronger, happier relationships between humans and their canine companions. Now in paperback, this inspirational and practical guide draws on thousands of training encounters around the world to present 98 essential lessons. Taken together, they will […]

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Codex: Imperial Knights (Enhanced Edition) – Games Workshop

Thundering across the battlefield, the towering walkers known as Imperial Knights scatter the foes of the Imperium with booming battle cannon shots and roaring swings of their massive chainblades. The Knights are piloted by proud and deadly warriors of ancient cultures, each one part of a noble family whose lineage can stretch back to before […]

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Linking Our Lineage: 12 Techniques from 12 Master Smiths – Victoria Lansford

Linking Our Lineage is a book of jewelry and metalsmithing techniques with chapters by Nanz Aalund, Lessley Burke, Juan Carlos Caballero-Perez, Andy Cooperman, Ronda Coryell, Robin Gordon, Mary Lee Hu, Linda Kaye-Moses, Brian Meek, Dawn M. Miller, Chris Ploof, and Jayne Redman, and edited by Victoria Lansford. The processes illustrated range from beginning to advanced […]

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Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul – Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Marty Becker

For thousands of years, dogs have been cherished as devoted companions and exuberant playmates—their unconditional love, limitless affection, and unwavering loyalty never fail to melt our hearts. The stories in Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul truly capture the special joy these four-legged creatures bring to our lives and hearts.  The family that learns […]

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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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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo – A 15-minute Summary & Analysis – Instaread

PLEASE NOTE: This is a  summary and analysis  of the book and NOT the original book.  The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo – A 15-minute Summary & Analysis   Inside this Instaread: Summary of entire book, Introduction to the important people in the book, Key Takeaways and Analysis of the Key Takeaways. […]

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White Dwarf Issue 66: 02nd May 2015 – White Dwarf

Feel the earth tremble as White Dwarf 66 stamps down and with it the Imperial Knight Warden! Making not one, not two, but five classes of Imperial Knight – the Warden, Crusader and Gallant, plus the Paladin and Errant with a host of new options – you’re going to want to pick up White Dwarf […]

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US beekeepers lost almost half their honeybees last year

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California sets fancy new climate goal, makes other states look bad

by LetaFranklyn Posted on April 29, 2015

Jerry Brown throws down

California sets fancy new climate goal, makes other states look bad

By on 29 Apr 2015 3:35 pmcommentsShare

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) made climate history today, setting the most ambitious climate goal ever seen in North America. And with that, he likely set a new record for the number of ambitious climate and energy goals set by a single state, thus giving other states a lofty goals goal worth striving for.

Here’s the news from the LA Times:

The governor’s order aims to cut emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. Previous goals, which were set during former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration, were to reach 1990 levels by 2020, then 80% below that standard by 2050.

“With this order, California sets a very high bar for itself and other states and nations, but it’s one that must be reached — for this generation and generations to come,” Brown said in a statement.

California is already well on its way to meeting the 2020 goal, and according to this press release from the governor’s office, will use this ambitious new 2030 goal to stay on track for its 2050 target. Brown didn’t, however, offer any specifics on how the state would meet this goal.

Back in January, ThinkProgress reported on a few other 2030 goals that Brown threw out during his inaugural address:

Brown listed three main goals to be accomplished within the next 15 years: First, to increase the amount of electricity the state derives from renewable sources from one-third to 50 percent. Second, to reduce petroleum use in cars and trucks by up to 50 percent. And the governor’s final goal is to double the efficiency of existing buildings and make heating fuels cleaner.

The goal of all of these goals is ultimately to help the world meet its one big goal of not warming more than 2 degrees Celsius and thus avoiding all the super-droughts, catastrophic sea-level rise, and other climate chaos that would result if we heat up the atmosphere past that point.

With this move, Brown is close on Europe’s heels: The 28-nation E.U. pledged in March to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by “at least” 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030, ahead of the U.N. climate talks in Paris this December. Between now and then, you can expect other nations and big-name politicians to be throwing out goals like they’re GHGs and this is the Industrial Revolution. Let’s just hope they walk the walk as enthusiastically as they talk the talk.

Source:
California Governor Issues North America’s Most Aggressive Climate Goal

, Think Progress.

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California sets fancy new climate goal, makes other states look bad

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Investing in the hardest working body of water in the world

by Myrna Posted on August 22, 2014

A unique partnership has created an incredible opportunity to help rehabilitate the Gulf region. View article: Investing in the hardest working body of water in the world Related Articles Single experimental tree produces 40 different kinds of fruit (Video) Yikes! California’s extreme drought could last “a decade or more”, 2014 driest year in a century W.H.O. on Use of Experimental Ebola Drug

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Investing in the hardest working body of water in the world

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If This Terrifying Report Doesn’t Wake You Up to the Realities of What We’re Doing to This Planet, What Will?

by EzekielFinlay Posted on March 31, 2014

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

The impacts of climate change are likely to be “severe, pervasive, and irreversible,” the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said Sunday night in Yokohama, Japan, as the world’s leading climate experts released a new survey of how our planet is likely to change in the near future, and what we can do about it.

Here’s what you need to know:

  1. We’re already feeling the impacts of climate change. Glaciers are already shrinking, changing the courses of rivers and altering water supplies downstream. Species from grizzly bears to flowers have shifted their ranges and behavior. Wheat and maize yields may have dropped. But as climate impacts become more common and tangible, they’re being matched by an increasing global effort to learn how to live with them: The number of scientific studies on climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation more than doubled between 2005, before the previous IPCC report, and 2010. Scientists and policymakers are “learning through doing, and evaluating what you’ve done,” said report contributor Kirstin Dow, a climate policy researcher at the University of South Carolina. “That’s one of the most important lessons to come out of here.”
  2. Heat waves and wildfires are major threats in North America. Europe faces freshwater shortages, and Asia can expect more severe flooding from extreme storms. In North America, major threats include heat waves and wildfires, which can cause death and damage to ecosystems and property. The report names athletes and outdoor workers as particularly at risk from heat-related illnesses. As the graphic below shows, coastal flooding is also a key concern.

    James West/Climate Desk

  3. Globally, food sources will become unpredictable, even as population booms. Especially in poor countries, diminished crop production will likely lead to increased malnutrition, which already affects nearly 900 million people worldwide. Some of the world’s most important staples—maize, wheat, and rice—are at risk. The ocean will also be a less reliable source of food, with important fish resources in the tropics either moving north or going extinct, while ocean acidification eats away at shelled critters (like oysters) and coral. Shrinking supplies and rising prices will cause food insecurity, which can exacerbate preexisting social tensions and lead to conflict.
  4. Coastal communities will increasingly get hammered by flooding and erosion. Tides are already rising in the US and around the world. As polar ice continues to melt and warm water expands, sea level rise will expose major metropolitan areas, military installations, farming regions, small island nations, and other ocean-side places to increased damage from hurricanes and other extreme storms. Sea level rise brings with it risks of “death, injury, ill-health, or disrupted livelihoods,” the report says.
  5. We’ll see an increase in climate refugees and, possibly, climate-related violence. The report warns that both extreme weather events and longer-term changes in climate can lead to the displacement of vulnerable populations, especially in developing parts of the world. Climate change might also “indirectly increase” the risks of civil wars and international conflicts by exacerbating poverty and competition for resources.
  6. Climate change is expected to make people less healthy. According to the report, we can expect climate change to have a negative impact on health in many parts of the world, especially poorer countries. Why? Heat waves and fires will cause injury, disease and death. Decreased food production will mean more malnutrition. And food- and water-borne diseases will make more people sick.
  7. We don’t know how much adaptation is going to cost. The damage we’re doing to the planet means that human beings are going to have to adapt to the changing climate. But that costs money. Unfortunately, studies that estimate the global cost of climate adaptation “are characterized by shortcomings in data, methods, and coverage,” according to the IPCC. But from the “limited evidence” available, the report warns that there’s a “gap” between “global adaptation needs and the funds available.”
  8. There’s still time to reduce the impacts of global warming…if we cut our emissions. Here’s the good news: The IPCC says that the impacts of climate change—and the costs of adaptation—will be “reduced substantially” if we cut our emissions of greenhouse gases.

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If This Terrifying Report Doesn’t Wake You Up to the Realities of What We’re Doing to This Planet, What Will?

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Is this train the “little engine that could” for clean energy storage?

by GretchenBamford Posted on March 26, 2014

Track star

Is this train the “little engine that could” for clean energy storage?

By

ARES

In Greek mythology, the story of Sisyphus endlessly rolling a boulder uphill is meant to be a cautionary tale. Gravity, in this case, worked against the poor chump. But the smart folks at Advanced Rail Energy Storage North America (ARES) asked: Why not make gravity your friend?

ARES has pioneered a train full of rocks that climbs up a hill, only to roll back down again and repeat the process, Sisyphus style. But instead of a metaphor of futility, this new train technology offers a breakthrough opportunity in clean energy storage.

It isn’t easy to find feasible solutions for storing grid-scale renewable energy loads for when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. Pumping water through turbines only returns about 70 percent on energy inputs, while the big battery business comes with its own set of environmental and cost concerns.

That’s what makes the ARES technology all the more exciting. The group repurposed train cars originally meant for (ironically) Australian ore mining to use gravity and friction to store renewables. Each car can haul up to 230 tons of rock up a hill (heavier is better since it will generate more energy when it inevitably rolls downhill).

Here’s how it works: When electricity is at low demand, surplus energy gets sent from the grid to power a chain that hauls the weighted rail cars uphill. Then, when energy demand climbs, the train car’s motor becomes a generator as it rolls downhill, and the momentum pushes the stored energy back through the grid via regenerative braking. Scientific American reports:

 ”They go up, they go down, Slinky fashion,” said Francesca Cava, chief operating officer at Advanced Rail Energy Storage North America, the company behind the Nevada project. “For the most part, the technology we’re using is over a hundred years old – we’re not waiting for any scientific breakthroughs to be profitable.”

The benefits are that it’s less expensive than other storage solutions like pumping hydro through turbines, and it has a small environmental footprint — no water, no emissions, and no synthetic methane needed. ARES says that the energy stored can stabilize the grid and help make the power generated by renewables less intermittent.

The new railcars have been piloted in California, which recently approved a plan to use energy storing technologies to meet the goal of having 33 percent of its power supply from renewable sources by the year 2020. Now ARES has big plans for a large-scale commercial venture that could help the state get on track with its energy-on-demand needs. If this pilot program is successful, other states and countries could soon be riding this gravy train to clean energy storage.


Source
Energy Storage Hits the Rails Out West, The Scientific American

Amber Cortes is a Grist fellow and public radio nerd. Follow her on Twitter.

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Is this train the “little engine that could” for clean energy storage?

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Dot Earth Blog: A Climate Analyst Clarifies the Science Behind California’s Water Woes

by Myrna Posted on March 6, 2014

A closer look at the science behind the fighting over whether global warming has shaped California’s drought. Read the article:  Dot Earth Blog: A Climate Analyst Clarifies the Science Behind California’s Water Woes ; ;Related ArticlesA Climate Analyst Clarifies the Science Behind California’s Water WoesDot Earth Blog: Timber Thieves Threaten California’s Redwood GiantsCitizen Scientists: Now You Can Link the UK Winter Deluge To Climate Change ;

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Dot Earth Blog: A Climate Analyst Clarifies the Science Behind California’s Water Woes

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White House smacks down climate deniers in new video

by OmarMLWtombw Posted on January 9, 2014

White House smacks down climate deniers in new video

By

If you pay just a little attention to what scientists say, it shouldn’t be too hard to understand how freezing conditions across North America can be linked to climate change. As polar temperatures rise faster than equatorial temperatures, jet streams that hold weather conditions in their rightful places are weakening. And that can help the frigid Arctic cyclone known as the polar vortex slip deeper into North America. Weakening jet streams linked to global warming were also connected last year to floods in Colorado and Alberta, unseasonable heat in Alaska, and unseasonable cold in Florida.

Of course, some conservatives have been putting on their dunces’ hats and desperately wielding the recent cold snap as evidence that the globe is not warming, despite all scientific evidence to the contrary. (Climate denialism is rampant among those who disregard science and prefer to guess at what makes the world work — which explains why the climate-denying prime ministers of Australia and Canada are dismantling their nations’ scientific institutions.)

Jon Stewart ridiculed the silliness earlier this week with his trademark sense of humor, and now the White House has entered the fray. Instead of using humor, President Barack Obama’s science advisor, John Holdren, used his exceptional grasp of science to coolly smack down climate deniers in a video posted on Wednesday.

“If you’ve been hearing that extreme cold spells like the one that we’re having in the United States now disprove global warming, don’t believe it,” Holdren says in the video, before launching into a succinct explanation of how uneven global temperature changes are destabilizing the polar vortex and making it “wavier.”

“The waviness means that there can be increased, larger excursions of wintertime cold air southward,” Holdren says. He adds that “increased excursions of relatively warmer” air can also move into the “far north” as the globe warms. Watch:

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: Climate & Energy

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White House smacks down climate deniers in new video

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Carbon trading is booming in North America, no thanks to U.S. or Canadian governments

by gwm6zjf3 Posted on January 4, 2014

Carbon trading is booming in North America, no thanks to U.S. or Canadian governments

By

NASA

In most of the carbon-trading world, it has been getting cheaper in recent years to buy the rights to pollute the atmosphere with climate-changing carbon dioxide. That’s largely because recession-afflicted Europe is awash with too many carbon allowances for its trading scheme to have any real bite, and because demand for U.N.-issued allowances has crashed along with hopes of a meaningful international climate agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

But in a bleak year for carbon markets, North America was a rising star.

Despite ongoing failure by the U.S. and Canadian governments to impose limits or taxes on greenhouse gas pollution, state and regional initiatives on the east and west coasts of North America moved forward.

California and Quebec are now the most expensive places in the world in which to pump carbon dioxide into the air.

Still, the value of global carbon markets plummeted last year, according to a new analysis published by Thomson Reuters Point Carbon. “The healthy growth in the North American markets was not enough to compensate for a stagnating European market and the collapse of UN-issued credits,” it found.

For the first time since 2010, the global carbon markets receded year-on-year in terms of transacted volumes.  …

The drop in value was more significant: as European carbon prices continued to fall, and the price of international credits collapsed completely, the total value of the transactions was 38.5 billion euros [$52.3 billion], a 38 percent decrease from the 2012 value. …

The year saw a bloom in the North American carbon markets, with strong growth in California and renewed activity in the north-eastern states’ Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) market. We assess overall transactions to have been 390 million metric tonnes with a value of $2.8 billion (€2 billion). This equals a volume growth of 200 percent and a value growth of 262 percent.

In the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) that encompasses California and the Canadian province of Québec, carbon allowance and offset prices are the highest in the world, with the allowance price floor of $10.71/t (approximately €7.8) in 2013 and trades clearing above that.

As the following graph shows, North America still has a long way to go before it could rival the sheer size of the E.U. Emission Trading Scheme (which trades EUAs) or, to a lesser extent, the U.N.-run international market for certified emission reductions (CERs) and emission reduction units (ERUs):

Thomson Reuters Point CarbonClick to embiggen.

Other highlights in 2013 carbon-trading news included the launch of trading programs in China and Mexico. A lowlight was Australia’s election of a new prime minister, Tony Abbott, who pledges to dismantle his country’s trading program.


Source
Carbon Market Monitor: A Review of 2013, Thomson Reuters Point Carbon

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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Carbon trading is booming in North America, no thanks to U.S. or Canadian governments

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Crude on the tracks: Oil spills from trains skyrocket

by PhoenixBrook3 Posted on July 19, 2013

Crude on the tracks: Oil spills from trains skyrocket

By Claire Thompson

As more oil is being shipped by train across North America, more oil is being spilled from trains. EnergyWire reports:

The number of spills and other accidents from railroad cars carrying crude oil has skyrocketed in recent years, up from one or two a year early in the previous decade to 88 last year.

Most of the spills are relatively small — nothing like the deadly disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, earlier this month — but with oil shipments on the rise, there’s cause to be concerned.

Oil production has increased thanks to fracking and other drilling technologies, but North America’s pipeline network hasn’t kept up, so railroads are stepping in to fill the void, especially in areas not served by pipelines. Rail transport is more expensive, but it doesn’t require new infrastructure or permits. U.S. railroads have already moved 40 percent more crude and refined product this year than in 2012.

Reuters reports:

With that growth has come a number of high-profile spills and accidents, many on Canadian Pacific Railway’s network, which runs through Alberta, the largest oil exporter to the United States, and the Bakken field [in North Dakota].

Canadian Pacific suffered the industry’s first serious spill in late March, when 14 tanker cars derailed near Parkers Prairie, Minnesota, and leaked 15,000 gallons of crude. Regulators have not released the results of their investigation into the incident, and Canadian Pacific declined to comment.

Critics point out that old tank cars can puncture easily, and that trains carrying heavy oil loads can wear down railroad tracks.

But it’s difficult to compare the safety of railroad shipments versus pipeline shipments. Edward Whittingham, director of the Canadian environmental group Pembina Institute, told The New York Times earlier this month that the methods are “equally unsafe.” While rail spills are more frequent, they generally result in less oil spilled. In comparison, pipeline spills can be both more difficult to detect and greater in volume. More from EnergyWire:

Federal law requires railroads to report smaller crude oil spills than pipelines, which rail officials say makes their total numbers look higher. Pipelines must report spills of 5 gallons or more. Of the 88 rail spills last year, 23 were 5 gallons or more.

Gee. If only there were some source of energy that didn’t need to be transported thousands of miles and didn’t pose a constant risk of mass ecological contamination. Let me know if you hear of one.

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

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