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Art Berman: Reflections on a Decade of Shale Gas

Mon, 2013-12-30 13:24 — Kathy Gilbeaux

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHkKa4Zj_94

Art Berman, Labyrinth Consulting Services, Houston, talks to HGS about his research into the economics of drilling and producing unconventional reservoirs in the United States. He discusses the Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Barnett and other shale gas plays. Berman presents graphs that show shale gas uneconomic to drill and produce at current gas prices. He says the public is mislead by energy company statements that gas reserves are large and that companies are making a profit from shale gas. The Houston Geological Society is not responsible for content or conclusions presented in this talk.

By: HGSGeoEducation

http://www.hgs.org/multimedia_Education

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ULI Receives $800,000 Grant from the Kresge Foundation to Support Institute’s Community Resiliency Program

Wed, 2013-12-11 17:38 — Kathy Gilbeaux

The Maritime Center in New Haven during Hurricane Irene.

submitted by Bill Greenberg

uli.org - by Robert Krueger - December 11, 2013

WASHINGTON (December 11, 2013) – The Urban Land Institute (ULI), a global research and education institute dedicated to responsible land use and sustainable community building, has been awarded an $800,000 grant from The Kresge Foundation to support the institute’s pursuit of urban design and development practices that are more resilient and adaptable to the impact of climate change.

ULI’s community resiliency program explores how issues related to climate change are affecting the real estate industry and reshaping urban growth patterns. Through the grant from The Kresge Foundation, ULI will leverage the substantial expertise of its members to provide guidance on community building in a way that responds to inevitable climate change and sea level rise, and helps preserve the environment, boost economic prosperity, and foster a high quality of life.

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Protesters gather around the world for Million Mask March

Thu, 2013-11-07 09:29 — Gina Angiola

Demonstrations in more than 400 cities were planned to coincide with Guy Fawkes Day, with Russell Brand at a London protest.  Russell Brand: we deserve more from our democratic system

Protesters wearing the white-faced Guy Fawkes masks that have become synonymous with the Occupy movement and the hacktivist grouping Anonymous have taken part in hundreds of gatherings around the world in opposition to causes ranging from corruption to fracking.

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Chase Isn't the Only Bank in Trouble

Tue, 2013-11-05 22:26 — Gina Angiola
By , POSTED: November 5, 12:55 PM ET.Rolling Stone 

I've been away for weeks now on a non-financial assignment (we have something unusual coming out in Rolling Stone in a few weeks) so I've fallen behind on some crazy developments on Wall Street. There are multiple scandals blowing up right now, including a whole set of ominous legal cases that could result in punishments so extreme that they might significantly alter the long-term future of the financial services sector.

As one friend of mine put it, "Whatever those morons put aside for settlements, they'd better double it."

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Al Gore: world is on brink of 'carbon bubble'

Sun, 2013-11-03 22:30 — Gina Angiola

, environment correspondent. theguardian.com, Thursday 31 October 2013 21.08 EDT

The world is on the brink of the "largest bubble ever" in finance, because of the undisclosed value of high-carbon assets on companies' balance sheets, and investment managers who fail to take account of the risks are failing in their fiduciary duty to shareholders and investors, Al Gore and his investment partner, David Blood, have said.

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Home> U.S. Major Pension Funds Ask for Climate Change Study

Sun, 2013-11-03 15:54 — Maeryn Obley

abcnews.go.com - October 24th, 2013 - Kevin Begos

Some of the largest pension funds in the U.S. and the world are worried that major fossil fuel companies may not be as profitable in the future because of efforts to limit climate change, and they want details on how the firms will manage a long-term shift to cleaner energy sources.

In a statement released Thursday, leaders of 70 funds said they're asking 45 of the world's top oil, gas, coal and electric power companies to do detailed assessments of how efforts to control climate change could impact their businesses.

"Institutional investors must think over the long term, which means that we must take environmental risks into consideration when we make investments," New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli told The Associated Press in a statement.

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The Hard Math of Flood Insurance in a Warming World

Sat, 2013-10-26 23:14 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

A man walks through flooded streets in Hoboken, New Jersey, after Superstorm Sandy | Emile Wamsteker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As subsidized rates of federal flood insurance rise, property owners along the coasts get angry. But we need insurance that reflects the risks of a changing planet

time.com - by Bryan Walsh - October 1, 2013

Thousands of homeowners in flood-prone parts of the country are going to be in for a rude awakening.  On Oct. 1, new changes to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which offers government-subsidized policies for households and businesses threatened by floods, mean that businesses in flood zones and homes that have been severely or repeatedly flooded will start going up 25% a year until rates reach levels that would reflect the actual risk from flooding. (Higher rates for second or vacation homes went into effect at the start of 2013.) That means that property owners in flood-prone areas who might have once been paying around $500 a year—rates that were well below what the market would charge, given the threat from flooding—will go up by thousands of dollars over the next decade.

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Ask the Headhunter: Why America's Employment System is So Broken

Thu, 2013-10-24 22:59 — Kathy Gilbeaux

     

The job board model of hiring symbolizes the employment system's greater problems. Photo by Bubaone/iStock Vendors via Getty Images.

pbs.org - by Nick Corcodilos - August 27, 2013

A recent column, "Is LinkedIn Cheating Employers and Job Seekers Alike?", triggered good dialogue on this blog and in lots of other media outlets about how companies recruit and hire people. Job seekers rightly criticized middlemen like LinkedIn, CareerBuilder and other database-driven job boards for mindless automation that does virtually nothing to help make good matches between employers and job seekers. In fact, the statistics I presented in the article strongly suggest these middlemen make it harder.

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How The Department Of Energy Is Working To Reduce The Cost Of Solar By 75 Percent

Thu, 2013-10-24 17:32 — Gina Angiola

Climate Progress, Katie Valentine, October 24, 2013 

It’ll soon take just one day to get a solar permit in Chicago, thanks to a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. That’s down from the 30-day wait that Chicagoans had to endure previously if they wanted to install small-scale solar projects on their homes or businesses. The grant will also help the city cut fees for solar panel installations by 25 percent, to $275.

Chicago’s grant is just one of $60 million worth of solar grants announced this week by the Department of Energy. The grants are housed under the Energy Department’s SunShot Initiative, a program announced in 2011 with the goal of reducing the cost of solar energy by 75 percent. The grants announced this week will go toward initiatives including increasing diversity in the solar industry, making installing solar cheaper and easier for Americans, and helping kickstart solar businesses. 

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Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign Spreading Like Wildfire

Tue, 2013-10-22 00:00 — Gina Angiola

Inside Climate News, News Report, Katherine Bagley, Posted: Dec 09, 2012

Image: The kick-off of the Do The Math tour in Seattle on November 7, 2012, coordinated by 350.org, whose founder is author and activist Bill McKibben (pictured here in the front, center). Divestment from fossil fuel companies is a key component of the campaign.
 
A divestment campaign aimed at fossil fuel companies has swept college campuses across the country since it began just four weeks ago, catching university presidents by surprise.

The effort is the result of a student-led campaign coordinated by 350.org, a climate advocacy organization founded by author and activist Bill McKibben. The goal is to turn global warming action into the moral issue of this generation.

"Bottom line, for a college or university, you do not want your institution to be on the wrong side of this issue," said Stephen Mulkey, president of Unity College in Maine...

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