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Junk food is a human rights issue, a U.N. expert warns.

by LelandDuCane Posted on October 26, 2016

Turns out, they’re not all true.

The Republican presidential nominee appeared on Herman Cain’s radio show on Tuesday, and he had quite a bit to say about wind and solar power, and birds too. Here’s part of the transcript, courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, with our fact-checking notes added in brackets:

Trump: Our energy companies are a disaster right now. Coal. The coal business is — you know, there is such a thing as clean coal [False]. Our miners are out of work — now they’re just attacking energy companies like I’ve never seen them attack anything before.

They want everything to be wind and solar. Unfortunately, it’s not working on large-scale [False]. It’s just not working [False]. Solar is very, very expensive [False]. Wind is very, very expensive [False], and it only works when it’s windy [False].

Cain: Right.

Trump: Someone might need a little electricity — a lot of times, it’s the opposite season, actually. When they have it, that’s when you don’t need it. So wind is very problematic [False] and — I’m not saying I’m against those things. I’m for everything. I’m for everything.

Cain: Right.

Trump: But they are destroying our energy companies with regulation [False]. They’re absolutely destroying them [False].

Cain: But their viability has to be demonstrated before you shove it down the throats of the American people. That’s what you’re saying.

Trump: In all fairness, wind is fine [True]. Sometimes you go — I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Palm Springs, California — it looks like a junkyard [False]. They have all these different —

Cain: I have.

Trump: They have all these different companies and each one is made by a different group from, all from China and from Germany, by the way — not from here [False]. And you look at all these windmills. Half of them are broken [False]. They’re rusting and rotting. You know, you’re driving into Palm Springs, California, and it looks like a poor man’s version of Disneyland [False]. It’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen [False].

And it kills all the birds [False]. I don’t know if you know that … Thousands of birds are lying on the ground. And the eagle. You know, certain parts of California — they’ve killed so many eagles [False]. You know, they put you in jail if you kill an eagle. And yet these windmills [kill] them by the hundreds [False].

But solar and wind power are on a meteoric rise, whether Trump likes it or not.

Original article – 

Junk food is a human rights issue, a U.N. expert warns.

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Income Still Hasn’t Come Close to Recovering From the Great Recession

by DoloresUHQA Posted on September 14, 2016

Mother Jones

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Today’s announcement that incomes increased 5 percent in 2015 was genuinely good news. But it’s also worthwhile to put it in perspective. As most of you know, income growth was very high in the 50s and 60s but slowed down after that. However, it didn’t flatline. Income continued to grow, only at a slower rate. However, since 2007 we’ve fallen far behind even that anemic growth rate:

Even with last year’s spike, the effects of the Great Recession are still with us. If we’d continued growing at the rate of 1980-2007, median household income would be $4,500 higher than it is. That’s a big hit. There’s still plenty of work to do.

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Income Still Hasn’t Come Close to Recovering From the Great Recession

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Please: Donald Trump Is Not "Courting the Black Vote"

by TerrenceJefferie Posted on August 23, 2016

Mother Jones

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Here is the Wall Street Journal today:

Donald Trump Courts Black Vote While Avoiding African-American Communities

Donald Trump for the last week has been asking for support from African-American voters who have long backed Democrats, but his campaign has for months rebuffed invitations from supporters for the Republican presidential nominee to appear before black audiences.

….Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said he has passed along requests from historically black colleges for Mr. Trump to speak….“You don’t go to a white community to talk about black folks. Hello, it doesn’t make sense.”

Ms. Manigault,1 who was appointed to her position in July, said she would answer questions about her work for the Trump campaign over email but then didn’t respond to emailed questions. Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In a way, I guess I feel sorry for the authors of this piece. I mean, it’s obvious what’s going on. Trump couldn’t care less about black votes. His speeches are aimed like a laser at his white base, using language carefully calculated to assuage their fear of being called racist if they support him. Nobody in their right mind would give the speeches he gave if they were truly trying to address African-Americans.

But even though this is obvious to everybody, Reid Epstein and Michael Bender can’t come right out and say it. They can sort of imply it, if you’re smart enough to read all the hints in their piece. But most people probably aren’t that savvy. They’ll just see yet another back-and-forth about process and strategy in the Trump campaign and then turn the page.

I don’t know what the answer is. Tossing objective reporting onto the ash heap of history isn’t the answer. It’s extremely useful to have people who at least try to write neutrally. And yet, too often this gets in the way of reporting plain facts. So what should we do about this?

1This would be Omarosa Manigault, a contestant on the first season of The Apprentice. She is now Trump’s director of African-American outreach, which should give you a pretty good idea of just how much he cares about the black vote.

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Please: Donald Trump Is Not "Courting the Black Vote"

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Paul Manafort Resigns From Trump Campaign

by JerriCgm298 Posted on August 19, 2016

Mother Jones

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Two days after a campaign shakeup that left his leadership role in doubt, and after a series of damaging reports about his work with a Russian-backed Ukrainian political party, Paul Manafort resigned from his post as chairman of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Friday morning.

Originally posted here – 

Paul Manafort Resigns From Trump Campaign

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Possible Clinton VP pick has a weird appeal with enviros, fossil fuel groups

by MelisaTimm Posted on July 13, 2016

Sen. Tim Kaine REUTERS/Jason Reed

citizen kaine

Possible Clinton VP pick has a weird appeal with enviros, fossil fuel groups

By on Jul 13, 2016Share

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, one of Hillary Clinton’s potential picks for vice president, appears to have an uncanny ability to appease special interests across party divides.

Kaine is no Elizabeth Warren on the environment, but he’s no Jim Webb either, getting good reviews from surprising quarters. As Politico reports, he opposed the Keystone XL pipeline, protected 400,000 acres of land from development as governor of Virginia, supports the Clean Power Plan, and has worked to make coastal communities prepare for climate change and sea-level rise. The League of Conservation Voters has given him a lifetime score of 91 percent.

Kaine, however, has also supported offshore drilling in the Atlantic — contradicting Clinton’s position — and supported a bill to fast-track the construction of natural gas terminals. Even fossil fuel interests have taken a liking to him. “We’re encouraged by the reasonable approach he’s taken on oil and natural gas, that he hasn’t been swayed by politics and ideology,” Miles Morin, executive director of the Virginia Petroleum Council, told Politico.

Of course, being on good terms with the fossil fuel industry is a cause for concern among some greens. “If Kaine is the pick, Hillary will need to stake out much clearer positions on drilling, fracking, and new fossil fuel infrastructure,” said 350.org policy director Jason Kowalski. R.L. Miller, Climate Hawks Vote cofounder and a chair of California Democrats’ environmental caucus, responded to Kaine’s record with a resounding, “meh,” citing his mixed record on fossil fuels as why he’s a bad pick to lure progressive Democrats to the polls.

Clinton is expected to announce her choice after the GOP convention next week.

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Possible Clinton VP pick has a weird appeal with enviros, fossil fuel groups

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The world’s biggest rainforest might be on fire soon

by cazare099f8 Posted on July 13, 2016

Amazon Fire

The world’s biggest rainforest might be on fire soon

By on Jul 13, 2016Share

This summer, wildfires have decimated Alberta’s boreal forests, grown fat off California’s millions of dead trees, and basically set up shop in more than 40 separate places all over the U.S..

But in steamier parts of the world, scientists are warily eyeing a sleeping giant: the Amazon.

Reduced rainfall in the region earlier this year (seriously, good riddance, El Niño) has dried out the rainforest, setting it up for epic burning this summer, researchers from NASA and UC Irvine report.

“It’s the driest we’ve seen it at the onset of a fire season,” said Jim Randerson, one of UC Irvine’s researchers. The rainforest is much more parched today than in 2005 and 2010, when previous droughts led to raging fires.

The Amazon is a huge carbon sink — it stores 120 billion tons of the stuff — and is crucial in regulating much of South America’s rainfall cycle. Apart from potentially releasing untold amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and smothering the region in noxious fumes, a massive Amazonian wildfire could potentially tip the region into a new state — one where the forest can never recover its carbon-sucking, rain-producing superpowers.  (The official term for this, bandied about for a few years now by scientists, is the “Amazon dieback.”)

As the Washington Post reports, we have something to do with it, as usual. Human activity such as chopping trees leads to weakened, fragmented forests that are more likely to dry out and burn. Other research shows that post-drought forest regrowth is less dense and more flammable, leading to a potentially dangerous feedback cycle.

But it’s always important to note that these are projections. The apocalypse hasn’t descended (yet). Hopefully, the study will light a fire under authorities’ derrieres in the Amazon region to prevent foolhardy fire-causing behaviors. El Smokey Bear, anyone?

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The “largest, dirtiest coal plant west of the Mississippi” announces major closures

by MarcellaEstell Posted on July 13, 2016

Steam from the cooling towers of a coal power plant. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

The “largest, dirtiest coal plant west of the Mississippi” announces major closures

By on Jul 13, 2016Share

Two coal-burning units that the Sierra Club calls “the largest, dirtiest coal plant west of the Mississippi” will close by 2022, according to a settlement reached between the coal plant’s operators and environmental groups. These closures, reports the Sierra Club, will reduce carbon emissions to the tune of 5 million tons per year, the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road.

The plant in Colstrip, Mont., has supplied energy across the state and the Pacific Northwest since the 1970s. While the soon-to-be-shuttered units were only intended to be used for 30 years, they’ve been in operation for closer to 40, even though older coal plants tend to lack modern air-pollution controls. In 2013, the Sierra Club and the Montana Environmental Information Center sued the plant’s owners, Talen Energy and Puget Sound Energy, for violating the Clean Air Act.

The Colstrip unit closures are the most recent in a rapid spate of coal plant closures fueled by environmental lawsuits against major polluters to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Green groups are finding creative ways to speed up the U.S.’s transition away from coal even before the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan kicks into gear.

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Sanders endorses Clinton to lead the fight against climate change

by LouisSizer1 Posted on July 12, 2016

heartbern

Sanders endorses Clinton to lead the fight against climate change

By on Jul 12, 2016Share

Bernie Sanders officially threw in the towel on Tuesday in New Hampshire by endorsing Hillary Clinton for president. Hitting on the themes his campaign has stressed throughout the primaries, Sanders laid out what this election is really about. One of his themes has been climate change, which featured heavily in his speech:

This election is about climate change, the greatest environmental crisis facing our planet, and the need to leave this world in a way that is healthy and habitable for our kids and future generations.

Hillary Clinton is listening to the scientists who tell us that if we do not act boldly in the very near future there will be more drought, more floods, more acidification of the oceans, more rising sea levels. She understands that we must work with countries around the world in transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy — and that when we do that we can create a whole lot of good paying jobs.

Donald Trump: Well, like most Republicans, he chooses to reject science — something no presidential candidate should do. He believes that climate change is a hoax. In fact, he wants to expand the use of fossil fuel. That would be a disaster for our country and our planet.

The endorsement rally was kicked off by climate activist (and Grist board member) Bill McKibben. “Secretary Clinton, we wish you Godspeed in the fight that now looms,” McKibben said.

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Australia’s mangrove die-off was the worst one ever

by RayfordHaydon Posted on July 11, 2016

down underwater

Australia’s mangrove die-off was the worst one ever

By on Jul 11, 2016Share

“G’day, mate!” is not something you want to say to Australia’s mangroves right now. And that’s not just because trees can’t speak to humans. It’s because they recently experienced their worst devastation in recorded history.

Aerial surveys reveal that the mangrove die-off spans more than 400 miles in the Gulf of Carpentaria along Australia’s northern coast, ABC reports. Mangroves — trees and shrubs that grow along the coast where the tide comes in — were already stressed out thanks to erratic rainfall and warming temperatures caused by climate change, and El Niño was the final straw.

It’s just one more way things are not looking bright Down Under. This year, massive coral bleaching killed off nearly a quarter of the Great Barrier Reef’s corals, and last week, we found 90 percent of kelp forests had been wiped out on Australia’s western coast.

Mangroves play a vital role in coastal ecosystems. They protect shorelines from erosion, shelter coral reefs, filter water that runs into the ocean, and are home to many fish species. Some affected mangroves areas may transition to salt pans — the ocean equivalent of a desert.

Mangroves, we’re going to miss you and your groovy intertidal moves.

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Australia’s mangrove die-off was the worst one ever

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It’s only June, and Arctic sea ice already hit a new low

by InesDowling3 Posted on July 9, 2016

It’s only June, and Arctic sea ice already hit a new low

By on Jul 9, 2016 7:08 amShare

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

The summer sea-ice cover over the Arctic raced towards oblivion in June, crashing through previous records to reach a new all-time low.

The Arctic sea-ice extent was a staggering 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 square miles) below the previous record for June, set in 2010. And it was 1.36 million square kilometers (525,000 square miles) below the 1981-2010 long-term average, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

That means a vast expanse of ice — an area about twice the size of Texas — has vanished over the past 30 years, and the rate of that retreat has accelerated.

Aside from March, each month in 2016 has set a grim new low for sea-ice cover, after a record warm winter.

NSIDC

January and February obliterated global temperature records, setting up conditions for the further retreat of the Arctic summer ice cover, scientists have warned.

Researchers did not go so far as to predict a new low for the entire 2016 season. But they said the ice pack over the Beaufort Sea was studded with newer, thinner ice, which is more vulnerable to melting. Ice cover along the Alaska coast was very thin, less than 0.5 meters (1.6 feet).

The loss of the reflective white ice cover in the polar regions exposes more of the absorptive dark ocean to solar heat, causing the water to warm up. This goes on to raise air temperatures, and melt more ice — reinforcing the warming trend.

Scientists have warned the extra heat is the equivalent of 20 years of carbon emissions.

From mid-June onwards, ice cover disappeared at an average rate of 74,000 square kilometers (29,000 square miles) a day, about 70 percent faster than the typical rate of ice loss, the NSIDC said.

Sea ice loss in the first half of the month proceeded at a lower pace, only 37,000 square kilometers (14,000 square miles) a day.

The overall Arctic sea-ice cover during June averaged 10.60 million square kilometers (4.09 million square miles), the lowest in the satellite record for the month, according to the NSIDC.

There was more open water than average in the Kara and Barents seas as well as in the Beaufort Sea, despite below average temperatures, the NSIDC said.

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It’s only June, and Arctic sea ice already hit a new low

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