Tag Archives: road

Time to Lead By Example

by Posted on November 18, 2015

back

Time to Lead By Example

Posted 18 November 2015 in

National

President Obama has said that the U.S. needs to lead by example on climate change. But now, he faces a critical decision.

The Renewable Fuel Standard is the most successful climate policy on the books. It has reduced greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

But the EPA’s proposal on the Renewable Fuel Standard would insert a waiver that could allow the oil industry to avoid blending low carbon fuel if they so choose. Because oil companies control most of the nation’s gas stations, the proposed waiver would amount to the oil industry deciding the fate of the RFS.

It’s also the same loophole that Sen. Jim Inhofe, the Senate’s most notorious climate denier, tried to get into the law in 2005. Oil companies cannot be allowed to dispute RFS blending requirements based on problems of their own creation.

Our country needs a strong RFS. The RFS has reduced U.S. carbon emissions by 589.33 million metric tons, the equivalent of removing 124 million cars from the road. The EPA’s proposed rules would effectively put 7.3 million cars back on the road in one year alone.

Mr. President, if you intend to keep your promise to the companies that joined your American Business Act on Climate Pledge, the only way to do that is to reverse your disastrous proposal on the RFS and commit to renewable fuel.

Fuels America News & Stories

Fuels
View original post here: 

Time to Lead By Example

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Time to Lead By Example

Book Review: My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

by ThomasEwald Posted on October 24, 2015

Mother Jones

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

My Life on the Road

By Gloria Steinem

RANDOM HOUSE

Steinem spent her childhood crammed against her sister in the backseat of a car as her father tried to persuade roadside antique dealers to buy his wares. In My Life on the Road, her first book in more than 20 years, Steinem elegantly reflects on this nomadic upbringing and how it inspired her own travels. Though she never learned to drive, her tours as a young journalist introduced her to women who helped shape her ideology: disgruntled American stewardesses, passengers in a female-only Indian train car, and an Irish taxi driver who told Steinem in the 1970s, “Honey, if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament!”

See the original post – 

Book Review: My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Book Review: My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem

When Is a Tax Not a Tax? When It’s a Fee to Keep the Highway Trust Fund From Going Broke Next Month.

by AngelinMurdoch Posted on July 22, 2015

Mother Jones

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

Good news! The Senate has come up with a compromise 6-year highway funding bill. It’s 1,030 pages long, so no one really knows what’s in it, and it only specifies funding sources for three years. But let’s not be picky. It’s a bill. So where’s the money coming from?

Under the Senate agreement, Congress would raise $47.1 billion to cover three years’ worth of spending through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. Lawmakers came up with $9 billion of the total by agreeing to sell 101 million barrels of oil from the nation’s emergency stockpile over a seven-year period through fiscal 2025. Another $16 billion would come from lowering to 1.5% from 6% the dividend paid to all but the smallest banks that are members of the Federal Reserve system.

Seriously? Tax increases? Mitch McConnell agreed to this? Maybe it’s in the $22 billion that’s mysteriously absent from the Wall Street Journal’s report. Let’s see if The Hill has more:

“The bill is fully offset with spending reductions or changes to federal programs,” three Senate sponsors said. “It does not increase the deficit or raise taxes.”

….The proposal calls for generating $16.3 billion from interest rate changes, $9 billion from sales of reserved oil, $4 billion from customs fees, $3.5 billion from the TSA fees and $1.9 billion from extending guarantees on mortgage-backed securities that had been scheduled to start declining in 2021. Other funding sources in the measure include approximately $7.7 billion in tax compliance measures.

Hmmm. I guess “fees” don’t count as taxes? And apparently neither do “tax compliance measures”—though I’ve certainly heard Republicans claim in the past that efforts to get rich people to actually pay their taxes were little more than a stealth tax increase.

Tomayto, tomahto. Best not to be too fastidious about these things. For example, “tax compliance measures” seems to include a provision that blocks Social Security payments to individuals with felony warrants. That’s a tax compliance measure? Sure, I guess. Whatever.

Amusingly, the money from customs fees comes from indexing them for inflation. And that’s OK with Mitch McConnell. But indexing the gasoline tax to inflation? That’s a tax increase. Absolutely out of the question.

Anyway, the House has its own highway bill, which only runs for six months but would supposedly give them time to come up with a real, honest-to-goodness, fully-funded 6-year bill. That’s very optimistic, considering that Congress has been haggling over this for seven years now and has never been able to do more than pass a quick fix that kicks the can down the road for a few more months. And that might happen again. McConnell and the other sponsors of the Senate legislation want their bill voted on quickly and then approved by the House before the August recess, since that’s when the Highway Trust Fund literally goes broke. But plenty of senators aren’t on board yet, and House leaders are skeptical too. If we end up with yet another 90-day fix, don’t be too surprised.

Originally posted here – 

When Is a Tax Not a Tax? When It’s a Fee to Keep the Highway Trust Fund From Going Broke Next Month.

Posted in FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on When Is a Tax Not a Tax? When It’s a Fee to Keep the Highway Trust Fund From Going Broke Next Month.

Rare-earth mining in Chile could make China look bad

by NicoleIrons Posted on June 2, 2015

Rare-earth elements, including neodymium (back center). Peggy Greb, US Department of Agriculture

Rare-earth mining in Chile could make China look bad

By on 2 Jun 2015commentsShare

Your smartphone is a little box-shaped devil that sucks up all your attention, ruins perfectly good conversations, and makes you incapable of turning a corner without first looking up where you are on your GPS. But it’s also a pretty useful tool that’s made of stuff. Ever wonder where that stuff comes from?

Turns out, the rare-earth minerals like neodymium and dysprosium used to make iPhones, cars, wind turbines, Tomahawk cruise missiles, glass, and various other consumer goods come primarily from mines in China, where environmental preservation hasn’t always been a top priority. Now, a Chilean company called Biolantánidos is looking to snatch up some of that market in a much greener way. Here’s more from Bloomberg Business:

While operations in China typically pump ammonium sulfate into the ground and wait for the chemical to seep out with the minerals, at Biolantánidos the plan is to dig out the clay, put it through a tank-leaching process with biodegradable chemicals and return it cleaned to the ground, replanting pine and eucalyptus trees. It may be laborious, but [project leader Arturo] Albornoz is hoping companies such as ThyssenKrupp AG, Apple Inc. and Tomahawk cruise missile maker Raytheon Co. will end up paying a premium, knowing their suppliers aren’t destroying the planet.

Biolantánidos plans to start operations in the city of Concepción about 250 miles south of Santiago by the end of 2016, Bloomberg reports. And with the rights to about 772 square miles of land, the company estimates that it can make about 2,500 metric tons of rare-earth concentrate per year at first and potentially 10,000 tons down the road. About 130,000 tons of rare-earth minerals are churned out globally every year, according to Bloomberg.

Unfortunately, now isn’t the greatest time to get into the rare-earth minerals biz:

Prices have declined in recent years after China said it would comply with an order from the World Trade Organization to end export quotas imposed in 2010. Yttrium for example, which is used in jet engines, has tumbled 33 percent in the past year, while neodymium oxide is down 8 percent and dysprosium oxide is down 2.2 percent, according to prices at the Shanghai Metals Market.

“It’s our big bet on green mining,” Albornoz told Bloomberg. Hopefully, that bet will pay off, and companies will be willing to pay up for a clean conscience. And hey — if they’re strapped for cash, they can always divert some funds from their mega-office park utopias.

Source:
Chileans Bet Apple Will Pay a Premium for Clean Rare Earths

, Bloomberg Business.

Share

Please

enable JavaScript

to view the comments.

Get Grist in your inbox

View original article:  

Rare-earth mining in Chile could make China look bad

Posted in Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Rare-earth mining in Chile could make China look bad

Tales From City of Hope #3: The Stop Sign For Dwarves

by Garland36G Posted on April 22, 2015

Mother Jones

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

This is the stop sign at the end of the road that runs outside my apartment in Parsons Village. It is about three feet high.

There are no other stop signs on the corner. As far as I can tell, there are (currently) no obstructions that prevent building a normal height sign. All the other traffic signs in the vicinity are normal height.

So what’s the deal? Did it replace a normal height sign that trams and maintenance carts that kept ignoring? Is it some kind of “fun” sign for the kiddies? Did someone write the specs in metric, and 3 meters became 3 feet somehow? Any other ideas?

See more here – 

Tales From City of Hope #3: The Stop Sign For Dwarves

Posted in FF, GE, LG, ONA, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Tales From City of Hope #3: The Stop Sign For Dwarves

Are you dumb if you buy a Prius when gas prices are this low? Um, no

by TrinaUccenoyuhd Posted on December 11, 2014

Are you dumb if you buy a Prius when gas prices are this low? Um, no

By on 11 Dec 2014commentsShare

Time for us to talk about the media’s FAVORITE THING: gas prices. There’s like maybe a slim chance you’ve already read a story about how cheap prices are at the pump. They’ve hit a four-year low, an average of about $2.70 in the U.S. — and they might drop to $2.50 by Christmas. Maybe you’ve even been to one of said pumps and experienced for yourself just how cheap gas is! But there are some environmental implications. Let’s discuss.

First, as Heather Smith already noted, the low cost of fuel has brought gas-guzzling SUVs back from the dead. It’s also making people who drive more fuel-efficient cars look stupid in the mind of one cynical Bloomberg Businessweek reporter. See: “With $2 Gas, the Toyota Prius Is for Drivers Who Stink at Math.”

It would take almost 30 years of fuel savings from the hybrid Prius to cover its price premium over the little Chevy Cruze, although that doesn’t account for the Chevy buyer making savvy investments with her savings in the meantime. It doesn’t matter, since we will all be flying around in futuristic Teslas before the Prius pays off. The all-electric Nissan gets a lot closer: The Leaf, without any gas stops, takes just 3.8 years on the road to beat the cheaper sticker price of the Cruze.

Overall, because of people who think like the Businessweek reporter, plus people who get real excited about things that are huge and loud and rumble beneath them, the average fuel economy of vehicles being purchased is now falling flat, after years of rising. This chart, via Brad Plumer at Vox, shows that the stagnation is already apparent in the last few months’ sales.

Of course, there’s one market mechanism that does have the power to make driving something like, say, a Cadillac Escalade a stupid idea, even with low gas prices: carbon pricing. California’s carbon-pricing scheme will be extended to cover vehicle fuel on Jan. 1, and that could make a difference in the long-term economics of purchasing a big ol’ traditional car over a newer, greener model. The fossil fuel lobby has been pushing hard to cast this as a hidden gas “tax” on California drivers. Many fossil fuel companies accept, in their internal accounting, that such schemes are inevitable, but they’re still fighting hard to put them off as long as possible.

And with the low gas prices, the International Energy Agency is reminding world governments that now is the perfect time — a “golden opportunity” — to get rid of subsidies for the fossil fuel industry and to put a price on carbon. From the British news site Responding to Climate Change:

Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said [policymakers] could consider measures that “would have been unthinkable a year ago”.

She was addressing media at the UN climate talks in Lima, where negotiators are considering a target of net zero emissions by 2050.

And while cutting fossil fuel–related emissions down to nothing by 2050 might be a long-shot scheme, world leaders are in a good place to receive this tidbit of IEA advice. It looks like diplomats will return home from the U.N. conference in Lima tasked with developing a plan for their own country to reduce emissions. Putting a price on carbon is an effective and increasingly popular way to do that.

Share

Please

enable JavaScript

to view the comments.

×

Get stories like this in your inbox

AdvertisementAdvertisement

Read this article:  

Are you dumb if you buy a Prius when gas prices are this low? Um, no

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, LG, Nissan, ONA, PUR, solar, Uncategorized, wind power | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Are you dumb if you buy a Prius when gas prices are this low? Um, no

California drought leads to a black market for water

by Dominga49Q Posted on November 12, 2014

Caught Wet-handed

California drought leads to a black market for water

By

12 Nov 2014 3:59 PM

Share

Share

California drought leads to a black market for water

×

The drought in California is bad — so very bad, in fact, that it’s created an illegal gold rush: Poachers are siphoning off fresh water with plans to sell it to the highest bidder.

If that sounds apocalyptic, it kind of is. While the State Water Resources Control Board has 22 employees tasked with investigating such crimes — “illegal diversions,” they’re called — there’s yet to be a concerted statewide effort to track (let alone control and punish) water theft. In some rural areas, wells are running completely dry; local law enforcement thinks the desperation drives theft, and they’re scrambling to keep up. Reports the National Journal:

Officials complain that the penalty for getting caught may not be sufficiently strict: Mendocino County counts water theft as a misdemeanor. County Supervisor Carre Brown considers that a slap on the wrist. “To me this is like looting during a disaster. It should be a felony,” Brown said. …

“This is something that’s very hard to pin down. If you don’t catch someone in the act, how do you prove they did it?” Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said.

While there are fines in place for wasting water in California (overwatering lawns, say), there’s no great solution yet for this kind of opportunism — or desperation. In a record-breaking drought, California can’t afford lush gardens or leaky pipes, but folks are stealing thousands of gallons of water from schools, clinics, and fire hydrants. In Modesto, one man was caught stealing canal water for his miniature ponies.

Water is the new oil — and when the world’s largest companies are starting to worry about global water shortages, it’s especially scary. We’re one step closer to The Road Warrior, people.

Source:
Drought Is Taking California Back to the Wild, Wild West

, National Journal.

Find this article interesting?

Donate now to support our work.Share

Please

enable JavaScript

to view the comments.

Get stories like this in your inbox

AdvertisementAdvertisement

Link to article: 

California drought leads to a black market for water

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on California drought leads to a black market for water

Why more roads = more traffic jams

by Genie1476e Posted on October 15, 2014

Why more roads = more traffic jams

By

15 Oct 2014 4:28 PM

Share

Share

Why more roads = more traffic jams

×

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Adding more roads — and more lanes on those roads — does absolutely nothing for gridlock. It’s counterintuitive, perhaps, but it’s true: Five years, $1 billion, and at least one new traffic-hell moniker later (“Carmageddon”), L.A. drivers on the 405 freeway actually added a minute to their daily commutes, in spite (or because?) of a snazzy new carpool lane.

From Southern California Public Radio:

That outcome is probably not surprising to economist Matthew Turner.

Turner co-authored a study that showed a one-to-one correlation in road capacity and the amount of drivers on the road.

“There’s a lot of trips that you don’t take because you don’t want to drive when it’s congested,” he says, “and if it’s little bit less congested there’s a lot of trips people are willing to take.”

There are just too many cars, and traffic has as much to do with human psychology as it does infrastructure. If we attempt to relieve gridlock, all we get is more drivers, and more gridlock. As Umbra put it in a recent post, carpool lanes are “designed to make driving easier. Yes, they have some environmental bennies, but they don’t do enough to attack our main climate goal: curbing driving, period.”

The only thing that will actually help curb traffic, according to Turner, is charging people to drive at rush hour. (He claims it’s worked in Europe and Asia). This kind of disincentive may be just as important as alt-transport incentives. Hit us where it hurts, and we may choose not to drive so much. ’Nuff said.

Source:
Why the 405 isn’t any faster with more lanes

, Southern California Public Radio.

Find this article interesting?

Donate now to support our work.Share

Please

enable JavaScript

to view the comments.

Get stories like this in your inbox

AdvertisementAdvertisement

Read this article – 

Why more roads = more traffic jams

Posted in Anchor, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Scotts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Why more roads = more traffic jams

When Adding Bike Lanes Actually Reduces Traffic Delays

by RositaRCOdtxyl Posted on September 6, 2014

Mother Jones

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

This story originally appeared in CityLab and is republished as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

A big reason for opposition to bike lanes is that, according to the rules of traffic engineering, they lead to car congestion. The metric determining this outcome (known as “level of service”) is quite complicated, but its underlying logic is simple: less road space for automobiles means more delay at intersections. Progressive cities have pushed back against this conventional belief—California, in particular, has led the charge against level of service—but it remains an obstacle to bike lanes (and multi-modal streets more broadly) across the country.

But the general wisdom doesn’t tell the whole story here. On the contrary, smart street design can eliminate many of the traffic problems anticipated by alternative mode elements like bike lanes. A new report on protected bike lanes released by the New York City Department of Transportation offers a great example of how rider safety can be increased even while car speed is maintained.

Continue Reading »

Originally from – 

When Adding Bike Lanes Actually Reduces Traffic Delays

Posted in Anchor, Everyone, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Safer, The Atlantic, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on When Adding Bike Lanes Actually Reduces Traffic Delays

WATCH: This Thunderstorm Time Lapse Is Absolutely Nuts

by MammieIeaypafa Posted on May 19, 2014

Mother Jones

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

Look! In the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…OH JESUS LORD GOD, NO, THE GATES OF ANOTHER DIMENSION ARE OPENING!

The Washington Post explains:

Fledgling low pressure forming downwind of the Rockies spun up a towering thunderstorm so imposing that the footage almost seems fake – as if from a sci-fi movie or another planet.

Pray! Confess thy sins, for the dark days are upon us!

Spectacular cannot even describe the time lapse video from this spinning supercell storm that blossomed in eastern Wyoming Sunday evening, near Newcastle. The action really gets going about 55 seconds in.

It looks like Storm from the “X-Men” franchise and Thor from the “Thor” franchise teamed up and took the show on the road!

Anyway, have a nice day.

Link: 

WATCH: This Thunderstorm Time Lapse Is Absolutely Nuts

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, Radius, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on WATCH: This Thunderstorm Time Lapse Is Absolutely Nuts