Ron Ness, North Dakota Petroleum Council President, testifies in front of officials with the Oil and Gas Division of the North Dakota Mineral Resources Department at a hearing Tuesday, April 22, 2014, in Bismarck, N.D. The North Dakota Industrial Commission was holding the hearing on its new natural gas flaring policy. (AP Photo/The Bismarck Tribune, Mike McCleary)

ap.org - by James MacPherson - April 22, 2014

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Dr. Lyle Best traveled nearly 200 miles from the heart of North Dakota's oil patch Tuesday to tell state regulators one thing: "Slow down."

The North Dakota Industrial Commission is considering a proposal that would cut back on the state's booming oil production as a means of controlling the amount of natural gas that's being burned off at well sites and wasted as a byproduct of the more valuable substance, oil.

But oil companies are fighting the idea of slowing production, and want regulators to consider self-imposed steps to curb natural gas flaring, such as submitting plans for natural gas gathering before applying for a drilling permit.

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(Reuters/China Daily)

The climate crisis has such bad timing, confronting it not only requires a new economy but a new way of thinking.

thenation.com - by Naomi Klein - April 21, 2014

This is a story about bad timing. . .

. . . We too are suffering from a terrible case of climate-related mistiming, albeit in a cultural-historical, rather than a biological, sense. Our problem is that the climate crisis hatched in our laps at a moment in history when political and social conditions were uniquely hostile to a problem of this nature and magnitude—that moment being the tail end of the go-go ’80s, the blastoff point for the crusade to spread deregulated capitalism around the world.

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Some 30,000 people demonstrate in the center of Copenhagen on Dec. 12, 2009 to turn up the heat on world leaders debating global warming at the U.N. climate conference
Attila Kisbenedek / AFP / Getty Images

A new study shows that human beings are too selfish to endure present pain to avert future climate change. That's why we need win-win solutions now

science.time.com - by Bryan Walsh - October 21, 2014

You want to know what the biggest obstacle to dealing with climate change is? Simple: time. It will take decades before the carbon dioxide we emit now begins to have its full effect on the planet’s climate. And by the same token, it will take decades before we are able to enjoy the positive climate effects of reducing carbon-dioxide emissions now.

npr.org - wwno.org - by Bob Marshall - April 20, 2014

. . . more than 54,000 wells were planted in and off this coast — part of the 300,000 wells in the state. They're connected by thousands of miles of pipelines, all vulnerable to leaks.

And leak they do.

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Lt. Gov. Phil Scott stands before the Senate on Tuesday as they debate the GMO food labeling bill at the Statehouse. (Photo: EMILY McMANAMY/FREE PRESS )

burlingtonfreepress.com - by Terri Hallenbeck - April 15, 2014

MONTPELIER – The Senate gave a decisive 26-2 vote Tuesday for a bill that would require labeling of foods that contain genetically modified ingredients, a strong indication that Vermont could become the first state in the nation to enact such a law.

“We are saying people have a right to know what’s in their food,” said Senate President Pro Tempore John Campbell, D-Windsor.

Campbell and other supporters argued that they believe they have written a bill that is legally defensible.

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Andres Gutierrez/AP

Meet 'photoswitches,' a breakthrough set of materials that act as their own batteries, absorbing energy and releasing it on demand.

theatlantic.com - by Todd Woody - April 15, 2014

The next big thing in solar energy could be microscopic.

Scientists at MIT and Harvard University have devised a way to store solar energy in molecules that can then be tapped to heat homes, water or used for cooking.

The best part: The molecules can store the heat forever and be endlessly re-used while emitting absolutely no greenhouse gases.

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Nature Chemistry - Templated assembly of photoswitches significantly increases the energy-storage capacity of solar thermal fuels

Image: Fracking site. (Credit: Jim Parkin/Shutterstock)

salon.com - April 16th, 2014 - Lindsay Abrams

Fracking sites at Pennsylvania’s natural gas-rich Marcellus Shale are releasing way more methane than we thought — somewhere on the order of 100 to 1,000 times EPA estimates, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences. Flying about seven well pads in a plane equipped to measure greenhouse gas emissions, researchers found that, on average, the sites emitted 34 grams of methane per second. The EPA’s estimate: between 0.04 and 0.30 grams of methane per second.

The problem, the researchers were surprised to discover, begins before the controversial process of fracking even gets started.

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Image: Infographic: Social media's impact on natural disasters

thedrum.com - April 14th, 2014 - Ishbel MacLeod

Tsunami warnings were issued over the weekend following an earthquake on the Solomon Islands, leading to over 15,000 tweets mentioning the warnings. So, how does social media impact weather warnings?

Last year, Twitter launched an alerts system, which allows users to get notifications directly to their phones during emergencies whenever a credible organisation account - such as police or the fire brigade - marks a tweet as an alert.

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reuters.com - April 11th, 2014 - Edward McAllister

Recent small earthquakes in Ohio were likely triggered by fracking, state regulators said on Friday, a new link that could have implications for oil and gas drilling in the Buckeye State and beyond.

In the strongest wording yet from the state linking energy drilling and quakes, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) said that injecting sand, water and chemicals deep underground to help release oil and gas may have produced tremors in Poland Township last month.

The statement, in which the department announced stricter rules for oil and gas exploration in areas where seismic activity has occurred, comes after a steep rise in earthquakes in Ohio and other areas where intense drilling has taken place.

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A new car-share system could change the urban landscape William Lark, Jr., MIT Media Lab

newsweek.com - by Jillian Rose Lim - April 16, 2014

Traffic congestion, limited space and air pollution are a few of the many plagues of urban life. But what if a network of svelte electric cars were waiting at hubs in your city, charging up their batteries until their next drivers come along?

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csis.org - by Kathleen H. Hicks, Ernest Z. Bower, Heather A. Conley, Jennifer G. Cooke, Andrew C. Kuchins, Carl Meacham, Richard M. Rossow - April 8, 2014

In December 2013, the Pew Research Center released data suggesting that Americans’ views of U.S. power and prestige abroad had reached a 40-year low. That poll came in the wake of the first releases of National Security Agency (NSA) documents by Edward Snowden and the August 2013 Syria crisis and amid heated battles in Washington over the federal budget. More recently, controversy over the adequacy of defense funding in the President’s FY2015 Budget Request and Russia’s annexation of Crimea have renewed concern about how the United States is perceived beyond its borders.

nwf.org

Environmental campaign group finds ongoing symptoms of oil exposure in 14 species – from oysters to dolphins

theguardian.com - by Suzanne Goldenberg - April 9, 2014

The BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico caused dangerous after-effects to more than a dozen different animals from dolphins to oysters, a report from an environmental campaign group said on Tuesday.

Four years after the oil disaster, some 14 species showed symptoms of oil exposure, the report from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) said.

"The oil is not gone. There is oil on the bottom of the gulf, oil washing up on the beach and there is oil in the marshes," Doug Inkley, senior scientist for NWF, told a conference call.

In this Oct. 2008 photo provided by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation is a little brown bat with fungus on its nose in New York. Michigan and Wisconsin wildlife officials said Thursday, April 10, 2104 that tests have confirmed the presence of the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats in the U.S. and Canada. The disease has now been confirmed in 25 states following today's announcements in Michigan and Wisconsin. (AP Photo/New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Ryan von Linden)

ap.org - by JOHN FLESHER and TODD RICHMOND - April 10, 2014

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A fungal disease that has killed millions of North American bats is spreading and now has been detected in half of the United States, officials said Thursday. . .

. . . "It doesn't affect people or other animals" . . . but "bats save the agricultural economy $22.9 billion a year by gobbling crop-damaging insects and reducing the need for pesticides. They also eat mosquitoes, some of which carry West Nile virus."

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(illustration: FoodDemocracyNow.org)

huffingtonpost.com
by Elizabeth Kucinich, Policy Director, Center for Food Safety
April 2, 2014

How much would the draft Chemicals in Commerce Act recently proposed by Illinois Rep. John Shimkus (left) protect public health? Not much.

huffingtonpost.com - by Elliott Negin - April 4, 2014

Americans have long been unwitting subjects in an uncontrolled experiment.

For decades, U.S. manufacturers -- with the federal government's blessing -- have been producing tens of thousands of untested, potentially toxic chemicals, many of which wind up in our bodies. These substances include suspected neurotoxins, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors, and thousands of other chemicals for which there is little or no information.

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STUDY - The Lancet Neurology - Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity

Shimkus Unveils Discussion Draft of Chemicals in Commerce Act