nrdc.org

Executive Overview

NRDC's annual analysis of water quality and public notification data at coastal U.S. beaches found that the number of beach closing and advisory days in 2011 reached the third-highest level in the 22-year history of our report, totaling 23,481 days (a 3% decrease from 2010). More than two-thirds of closings and advisories were issued because bacteria levels in beachwater exceeded public health standards, indicating the presence of human or animal waste in the water. The portion of all monitoring samples that exceeded national recommended health standards for designated beach areas remained stable at 8% in 2011, compared with 8% in 2010 and 7% for the four previous years. In addition, the number of beaches monitored in 2011 increased slightly (2%) from a five-year low in 2010. The largest known source of pollution was stormwater runoff (47%, compared with 36% last year). The 2011 results confirm that our nation's beaches continue to experience significant water pollution that puts swimmers and local economies at risk.

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noaa.gov - July 10, 2012

Back-to-back La Niñas cooled globe and influenced extreme weather in 2011

New NOAA-led report examines climate conditions experienced around the world

Worldwide, 2011 was the coolest year on record since 2008, yet temperatures remained above the 30 year average, according to the 2011 State of the Climate report released online today by NOAA. The peer-reviewed report, issued in coordination with the American Meteorological Society (AMS), was compiled by 378 scientists from 48 countries around the world. It provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments on land, sea, ice and sky.

Texas State Park Police Officer Thomas Bigham walks across the cracked lake bed of O.C. Fisher Lake, Aug. 3, 2011, in San Angelo, Texas. A combination of the long periods of 100-plus degree days and the lack of rain in the drought-stricken region has dried up the lake that once spanned over 5,400 acres. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

washingtonpost.com - by Associated Press - July 10, 2012

NEW YORK — Last year brought a record heat wave to Texas, massive floods in Bangkok and an unusually warm November in England. How much has global warming boosted the chances of events like that?

Quite a lot in Texas and England, but apparently not at all in Bangkok, say new analyses released Tuesday.

Scientists can’t blame any single weather event on global warming, but they can assess how climate change has altered the odds of such events happening, Tom Peterson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told reporters in a briefing. He’s an editor of a report that includes the analyses published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

Drought has been especially hard in the U.S. southwest // Source: tamu.edu

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - July 6, 2012

Analysis of the latest drought monitor data revealed that 46.84 percent of the U.S. land area is in various stages of drought, up from 42.8 percent a week ago; previous records were 45.87 percent in drought on 26 August 2003, and 45.64 percent on 10 September 2002; looking only at the forty-eight contiguous states, 55.96 percent of the country’s land area is in moderate drought or worse — also the highest percentage on record

More of the United States is in moderate drought or worse than at any other time in the 12-year history of the U.S. Drought Monitor, officials from the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln said the other day.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

submitted by Luis Kun

bulletinhealthcare.com - July 3, 2012

The announcement by the Justice Department of a settlement with drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline of bribery allegations generated heavy media coverage last night and this morning, including more than seven minutes of coverage on network newscasts.

        The CBS Evening News (7/2, story 6, 2:50, Pelley) reported, "The US government is calling it the biggest case of healthcare fraud in American history. The British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline is accused of withholding important safety information about the diabetes drug Avandia [rosiglitazone] and illegally promoting two other drugs for unapproved uses. GSK agreed to pay $3 billion in fines."

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The Goldberg family, from left, Oren, Elliette, Hannah, Laurel and their dog, Sophie, wait for Pepco to inspect the power lines outside their Verplanck Place NW home in Washington. A massive tree punctured the house when it fell during the June 29 storm. Several power lines snapped, littering the front lawn. A few are still intact, stretched close to the ground beneath the tree. "Before anything happens, they have to get here. It's not safe," Laurel Goldberg said.
Daniel C. Britt / The Washington Post - July 1, 2012

The Washington Post - by Craig Timberg - July 2, 2012

Storm-related outages at an Amazon data center in Ashburn prompted some congressional officials on Monday to question whether the federal government is moving too swiftly to put important data on private-sector cloud computing servers.

Power Outages Impact Millions Across the Nation (This news video is preceded by a brief commercial.)

The Supreme Court upheld health care reform Thursday, which includes a mandate that consumers have to buy coverage by 2014 or pay a penalty.  PHOTO: THINKSTOCK

by Parija Kavilanz - CNNMoney - June 28, 2012

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Supreme Court's ruling Thursday to uphold health care reform has widespread implications for both insured and uninsured consumers.

Beginning in 2014, uninsured individuals must buy coverage -- either on their own, through an employer's plan or through a health insurance exchange -- or else pay a tax penalty. Meanwhile, insured consumers will continue to enjoy key mandates of the law, such as free preventive care and coverage of adult dependents up to age 26, but at the expense of higher out-of -pocket costs.

Several key mandates of health reform have already gone into effect since the law passed in 2010. Here's a rundown of those provisions and new mandates rolling out over the next two years that will impact almost all of these consumers.

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Existing renewable energy source can supply most of U.S. needs // Source: axortagos.gr

submitted by Samuel Bendett

Homeland Security News Wire - June 22, 2012

Renewable electricity generation from technologies that are commercially available today, in combination with a more flexible electric system, is more than adequate to supply 80 percent of total U.S. electricity generation in 2050 while meeting electricity demand on an hourly basis in every region of the country; new study finds that renewable generation could play a more significant role in the U.S. electricity system than previously thought

A class 2 brine disposal well in western Louisiana near the Texas border. The well sat by the side of the road, without restricted access. (Abrahm Lustgarten/ProPublica)

propublica.org - by Abrahm Lustgarten - June 21, 2012

Over the past several decades, U.S. industries have injected more than 30 trillion gallons of toxic liquid deep into the earth, using broad expanses of the nation's geology as an invisible dumping ground.

No company would be allowed to pour such dangerous chemicals into the rivers or onto the soil. But until recently, scientists and environmental officials have assumed that deep layers of rock beneath the earth would safely entomb the waste for millennia.

There are growing signs they were mistaken.

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Submitted by Luis Kun

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - June 20th, 2012

Using data supplied by a mobile operator, researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet have shown that population movements after the 2010 Haiti earthquake followed regular patterns. This information can be used to predict beforehand the movements of people after a disaster, and thus improves chances for aid to be delivered to the right places at the right time.

Every year, tens of millions of people are displaced by natural disasters, and to date knowledge of their movement patterns has been sparse.

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submitted by Albert Gomez

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submitted by Albert Gomez

www.environmentalleader.com - May 31, 2012

Companies can measure the value of sustainability and how their environmental efforts directly contribute to profits, using two evaluation methods described in a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The cost of sustainability programs are readily apparent, PwC said. And companies are typically able to determine the short-term value from cost savings, risk reduction or product and service innovations. Putting a dollar value on intangible benefits, especially those over a long period of time, is where companies struggle, the consultancy said.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

submitted by Luis Kun

Homeland Security News Wire - May 23, 2012

A study from North Carolina State University shows how people used Twitter following the 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan, highlighting challenges for using the social media tool to share information. The study also indicates that social media have not changed what we communicate so much as how quickly we can disseminate it.

“I wanted to see if Twitter was an effective tool for sharing meaningful information about nuclear risk in the wake of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant,” says Dr. Andrew Binder, an assistant professor of communication at NC State and author of a paper describing the work. “I knew people would be sharing information, but I wanted to see whether it was anecdotal or substantive, and whether users were providing analysis and placing information in context.

“In the bigger picture, I wanted to see whether social media is changing the way we communicate, or if we are communicating the same way using different tools.”

Biodefense efforts confounded by congressional inertia // Source: umdnj.edu

submitted by Luis Kun

Homeland Security News Wire - May 15, 2012

H.R. 2356, the WMD Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2011, will soon be debated before four different House committees, before going to the Senate to be debated further – all this four years after a congressionally mandated commission defined bioterrorism as a grave threat to the United States; critics charge that the reason is the unwieldy and dysfunctional manner in which Congress oversees DHS: currently there are 108 congressional committees and subcommittees with oversight responsibilities for different parts of DHS.

All agree that this is an important piece of legislation. It calls for developing a national biodefense plan and a coordinated budget across government departments and agencies – in a way similar to the way the U.S. federal government’s has been handling nuclear and cybersecurity issues.