environmentalleader.com - by Erica Morehouse - June 23, 2014

Governor Brown signed a budget last week that lays out for the first time how to invest the millions from California’s landmark cap-and-trade program ($734 million so far). California has shown another way that cap-and-trade is like the Swiss army knife of environmental policies: a versatile tool known for its usefulness and adaptability.

A Multi-faceted Investment Portfolio

California will invest $850 million over the next year to reduce dangerous climate pollution, a portfolio of investments that will benefit almost every part of California’s economy, going to low-carbon and public transportation, weatherization and energy efficient buildings, water efficiency, waste diversion, and natural resources like urban forests.

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Carbon dioxide emissions like those from coal-fired power plants should be taxed to spur energy innovation.
Luke Sharrett for The New York Times

Lessons for Climate Change in the 2008 Recession

nytimes.com - by Henry M. Paulson, Jr. - June 21, 2014

THERE is a time for weighing evidence and a time for acting. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned throughout my work in finance, government and conservation, it is to act before problems become too big to manage.

. . . We’re staring down a climate bubble that poses enormous risks to both our environment and economy.

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(CLICK HERE - RISKY BUSINESS PROJECT)

Lead image: Nuclear plant via Shutterstock

renewableenergyworld.com - by Mark Cooper - June 6, 2014

Within the past year, a bevy of independent, financial analysts (Lazard, Citi, Credit Suisse, McKinsey and Company, Sanford Bernstein, Morningstar) have heralded an economic revolution in the electricity sector. A quarter of a century of technological progress has led to the conclusion that over the course of the next decade a combination of efficiency, renewables and gas will meet the need for new resources and more importantly, render the antiquated baseload model largely obsolete.

submitted by Samuel Bendett

FEMA looks for trailer alternative // Source: fema.gov

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - June 24, 2014

Brownsville, Texas may soon become a model for other hurricane-ravaged cities as community groups institute new emergency housing measures in the wake of inexcusable hold-ups on the part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

As theMonitor reports, groups like the Community Development Corporation (CDCB) in the city are assessing new ways to provide emergency housing for families in the wake of disasters, following FEMA’s slow response in providing reconstruction support to the South Texas coast after $1.35 billion in damage from Hurricane Dolly in 2008.

submitted by Margery Schab

Natural gas well holding tanks sit next to a subdivision of homes in Denton, Texas, Thursday, May 29, 2014. (AP Photo/LM Otero) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

huffingtonpost.com - by Emily Schmall - June 19, 2014

. . . For more than a decade, Denton has drawn its lifeblood from the huge gas reserves that lie beneath its streets. The gas fields have produced a billion dollars in mineral wealth and pumped more than $30 million into city bank accounts.

But this former farming center north of Dallas is considering a revolt. Unlike other communities that have embraced the lucrative drilling boom made possible by hydraulic fracturing, leaders here have temporarily halted all fracking as they consider an ordinance that could make theirs the first city in the state to permanently ban the practice.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB7IIN098IM

Pensacola, Florida - June 10, 2014

Objective: By April of 2015, the ALERT pilot study will conduct health evaluations and environmental baseline monitoring, and establish networks of informed health care providers, in two regions of the country at-risk from petrochemical exposure----Gulf Coast communities harmed by the 2010 BP DWH disaster and Keystone XL corridor communities. ALERT will test for evidence of chemical exposure and provide training for treatment for oil-chemical related illness in these exposed communities. An important component of the ALERT project will be focused on educating community leaders and the public on the risks and health effects of petrochemical exposure to work toward solutions for treatment of current illnesses and protect against future exposure events.

Former US Vice President Al Gore
Anthony Harvey/Getty Images for Free The Children

It's time to accelerate the shift toward a low-carbon future

rollingstone.com - by Al Gore - June 18, 2014

In the struggle to solve the climate crisis, a powerful, largely unnoticed shift is taking place. The forward journey for human civilization will be difficult and dangerous, but it is now clear that we will ultimately prevail. The only question is how quickly we can accelerate and complete the transition to a low-carbon civilization.

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submitted by Luis Kun

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - June 17, 2014

Drug-resistant germs kill more than 40 percent of individuals with serious infections, and they tend to have a higher kill-rate among patients with weaker immune systems, including the elderly and young children. In Florida, several hospitals handled antibiotic-resistant germ outbreaks without alerting the public. Since 2008, twelve outbreaks have affected at least 490 people statewide, but the Florida Department of Health (FDH) did little to inform the public.

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The U.S. Capitol Building stands past the natural gas and coal fueled Capitol Power Plant, which provides heating and cooling throughout the 23 facilities on Capitol Hill including House and Senate Office Buildings, in Washington, D.C.  Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

bloomberg.com - by Lisa Lerer - June 10, 2014

Americans are willing to bear the costs of combating climate change, and most are more likely to support a candidate seeking to address the issue.

By an almost two-to-one margin, 62 percent to 33 percent, Americans say they would pay more for energy if it would mean a reduction in pollution from carbon emissions, according to the Bloomberg National Poll.

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submitted by Luis Kun

Click to download Powerpoint chart.

forbes.com - by Dan Munro - June 16, 2014

The Commonwealth Fund in their latest report “Mirror, Mirror On The Wall — 2014 Update” (pdf here).

For this year's survey on overall health care, The Commonwealth Fund ranked the U.S. dead last.

It’s fairly well accepted that the U.S. is the most expensive healthcare system in the world, but many continue to falsely assume that we pay more for healthcare because we get better health (or better health outcomes). The evidence, however, clearly doesn’t support that view.

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CLICK HERE - Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, 2014 Update: How the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally

stoppoisoningparadise.org

About Ordinance 960

STARTING IN 2013 a broad coalition of Kaua'i moms, health care professionals, farmers, and civic leaders successful in winning Ordinance 960 (formerly Bill 2491), a Kaua'i law that addresses excessive pesticide use by GMO companies on our island.

                                (FOR THE INTERACTIVE MAP - CLICK ON THE MAP IMAGE BELOW)

The U.S. Energy Mapping System shows the web of natural gas pipelines, power plants and refineries that spread across the Louisiana Gulf Coast both on and off shore, an area hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  Credit: EIA

climatecentral.org - by Bobby Magill - June 12, 2014

Imagine living near the Jersey Shore and a hurricane is barrelling in your direction, or living along the South Platte River in Colorado and an unexpected torrential downpour is flooding the river.

Are there natural gas, oil pipelines or electricity transmission lines that could break and leak in the flood or storm surge? Are oil and gas wells nearby that could flood and leach hydrocarbons into the river?

Those answers can be found online using the U.S. Energy Information Administration's interactive U.S. Energy Mapping System, which shows all the major energy infrastructure for any given address in the U.S.

A coalition of industry groups sued Vermont over the state's new law requiring food producers to put special labels on products treated with GMOs. It makes Vermont ground zero of a very big food fight.

csmonitor.com - by Gram Slattery - June 13, 2014

Tiny Vermont this month boldly went where no US state had gone before, enacting a law to require food producers who treat their products with genetically modified organisms to let consumers know that on the packaging. Now, the state is going, perhaps just as boldly, to court.

A lawsuit filed Thursday challenges Vermont’s GMO-labeling law on grounds that it usurps federal regulatory authority and negatively affects interstate commerce.

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submitted by Cheryl Stroud

nap.edu - Institute of Medicine. Understanding the Connections Between Coastal Waters and Ocean Ecosystem Services and Human Health: Workshop Summary. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2014.

brookings.edu - by Gary Burtless - June 9, 2014

The Seattle city council voted to push up the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. If the wage hike is fully implemented, it will guarantee Seattle’s workers the nation’s highest minimum wage. . .

. . . However, I am more cautious about the wisdom of raising a single city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour when nearby jurisdictions leave their minimum wages unchanged.

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