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POPSSaudi Arabia Wants Compensation if Global Warming Bill Passes Saudi Arabia, which sits atop the world's largest proven oil reserves, is seeing economic growth slide because of fallout from the global meltdown, but experts still expect the country, flush with cash from oil's earlier price spike last year, to be better able than other nations to cope with the current crisis. Al Sabban accused Western nations of pursuing an agenda against oil producers, under the guise of protecting the planet. “Despite the variability in the region, the current Arab position is mainly focused around protecting the oil trade rather than saving the planet form the adverse impacts of climate change,” said Wael Hmaidan, the executive director of IndyACT.
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POPSOrganic Waste Ethanol Cellulosic ethanol is an exciting technology which promises to convert the abundant sources of organic waste worldwide (kitchen waste, yard waste, paper industry waste, etc.) into green alternative fuel. Unlike traditional ethanol, it won't use food crops or raise food prices. In addition, environmental impact studies have indicated that while traditional ethanol releases more greenhouse gases than burning fossil fuels, cellulosic ethanol could reduce emissions
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POPSStaff Who Emit Over CO2 Limit Have Pay Docked
The maximum that an employee can earn or be fined has been capped at 100, but is likely to rise once staff have grown accustomed to the idea. WSP, the global engineering consultancy, has been conducting the rationing scheme among 80 of its British employees for almost two years. In the first year the overall carbon footprint of participants fell by 10 per cent. The company is discussing its scheme with several FTSE 100 companies. Related Links Passengers face new tax to halt rise in air travel Storing CO2 could be Britain’s next boom industry The idea of personal quotas for carbon emissions is being advocated by the thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research. Everyone would be given a number of free “credits”, to buy gas and electricity for their homes, fuel for cars and plane tickets for holidays. Those who did not use all their credits could sell the excess to people who used more fossil fuels.Those who exceed their ration pay a fine for every . . .
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POPSFood Is Power coupled with the rising cost of fossil fuels, have already blighted the environments of millions. The poor can often no longer afford a balanced diet. Global food prices increased an average of 43 percent since 2007, according to the International Monetary Fund.
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POPSAmerican Socialism & Chinese Capitalism We have urged China to join us in our quixotic attempt to prevent global warming. She has refused, arguing that her per capita consumption of energy is the lowest of any industrial country. Except for the leftist economists, economics tells us that we should let the prices of different energy sources determine when a new source is ready for development. No subsidy would be required if we let the market make the decision. Totalitarian China accepts this approach; free market U.S. takes the Soviet prescription. American firms are currently not investing in the United States. Net non-residential investment is barely enough to replace capital that is wearing out. Instead, billions have been wasted by corporate managers who have been engaging in such foolishness as buying back corporate stock. All this does is increase share prices that will supposedly justify management bonuses when earnings stagnate. Even banks did this throughout the run-up to the financial crisis, . . . . .
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POPSFeds Skewed Clunkers Results Trucks were also subject to lower fuel efficiency standards under the program, and analysts were initially surprised not to find more gas-guzzlers on the top 10 list. Seems the government stacked the deck to make its program look more environmentally sound than it is. (H/T j.leader for the tip) Is Cash for Clunkers green? You may be surprised by the facts. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?blogid=49&entry_id=44867
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POPSCash for Clunkers: What Are the Facts? What about used car salesmen and used-parts dealers, whose livelihoods depend on these cars and parts? Every car traded in through the Cash for Clunkers program must be "scrapped, crushed, or shredded." As much as the program may be temporarily helping one part of the economy, it is permanently hurting the good men and women whose livelihoods depend on older cars and parts. Question 3: Does Cash for Clunkers actually help the environment? According to Gwen Ottinger, a researcher at the Chemical Heritage Foundation's Center for Contemporary History and Policy in Philadelphia, the answer is hazy at best: Building a new car, washing machine or refrigerator takes energy and resources: The manufacture of steel, aluminum and plastics are energy-intensive processes, and some of the materials used in durable goods, especially plastics, use non-renewable fossil fuels as feedstocks as well as energy sources. Disposing of old products, a step required by most incentive and rebate
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POPSTim O'Reilly - Seeing our culture with fresh eyes More: What will people think of our enormous steak dinners and obese portions of food? That's on the cusp of changing. What will they think of our profligate use of fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources? Our assumption that the American way of life will go on forever, just as it is, much as the British thought their empire would go on forever? What about our assumptions about unlimited technological progress? Will science fiction visions of star flight or "the Singularity" seem as quaint as "the White Man's Burden"? Above all, what will they think of the appalling amount of waste in our culture? Have you ever walked through a tourist area - say Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco - and seen entire stores devoted to schlock, made in developing countries by people who must scratch their heads in wonder at a people so wealthy that they can afford to spend money on things that are so utterly and obviously useless?
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POPSNAACP backs climate change bill "Communities of color have and continue to be disproportionately impacted by global climate change, environmental degradation, and our nation's dependence on fossil fuels,"
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POPSWind or Nuclear? Coal is extraordinarily abundant " we'll never run out " and pound-for-pound contains twice as much energy as wood. Octane molecules in gasoline, however, are even more concentrated. In fact, they're the densest store of carbon energy we've ever discovered. Gas molecules are not only by far the densest form of carbon energy we've ever discovered; they're also easy to transfer because they're fluid. These are two of the greatest reasons we've adopted gasoline. Nuclear, on the other hand, is something else entirely. The public hasn't even begun to grasp nuclear energy. These are the facts: A handful of uranium contains more energy than 100 boxcars full of coal. Consumption of energy creates more energy, not less. Despite years of government subsidies (regulators, for instance, have forced utility companies to buy "renewables"), these same renewables generate only about 0.9 percent of our total electricity.
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POPSSix Indictments Against Bottled Water For years, advocacy groups have been raising concerns about bottled water: Not only do bottles end up littering the landscape, and not only are those plastic bottles derived from fossil fuels, but they also may leach chemicals into water and the quality of the water is not stringently monitored.
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POPSMajor nations drop goal of halving C02 more: The removal of a reference in the MEF draft to halving emissions by 2050 is a blow to efforts to secure a new U.N. climate pact in December. MEF nations account for 80 per cent of world greenhouse gas emissions, largely caused by burning fossil fuels. Last year the G8 outlined a "vision" of halving emissions by 2050, without setting a base year. Major developing countries did not sign up for a 2050 goal, arguing the rich first had to set deep cuts in their own national emissions by 2020. A draft G8 statement seen by Reuters today agreed the rise on global temperatures should not exceed 2 degrees Celsius. That would mark a breakthrough by EU states in convincing the United States, Japan, Russia and Canada that a 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) limit is the necessary threshold beyond which climate change will reach danger levels. G8 leaders meet later today.
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POPSGlobal Warming Scam - Roger Revelle and Al Gore Are the oil companies conspiring to keep us addicted to fossil fuels? No doubt. But Al Gore never talks about that, does he? Instead he talks about carbon taxes which keeps the oil companies in business - and further impoverishes an already struggling world population. Here's the real story on Al Gore and the so called global warming menace The founder of the Weather Channel has a message for you. Global warming is a scam - and Al Gore knows it. Fossil fuels are a bad idea, but there is no evidence they're responsible for the warming of the planet.
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POPS10 Outrageous Claims 1) "The idea of human induced global climate change is one of the greatest hoaxes perpetrated out of the scientific community. It is a hoax… We need to be good stewards of our environment, but this is not it, it’s a hoax!" – Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA)
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POPSCO2 Taxes Will Conviscate Billions In Revenue Out Of Thin Air Cap & Trade: Political Alchemy, Economy Buster & Disaster for Poor These increased costs will include the heating and cooling of individual American households and an even greater expense will be incurred by businesses. Again, those who will suffer most from Cap & Trade legislation will be the American public. There will be higher expenses at the grocery store, at appliance dealers, hair salons, auto repair shops...it goes on and on. Every business in the United States will see its costs go up significantly, resulting in grossly accelerated inflation, a loss of thousands of jobs in the energy industry alone and other untold millions of Americans will suffer a direct financial impact because of Obama's misguided Cap & Trade legislation. THE REALITIES OF CAP & TRADE UNTESTED Perhaps the greatest misnomer regarding Cap & Trade is the idea America will quickly shift from the use of fossil fuels--like coal, natural gas and fuel oil--
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POPSHow Much Will Pelosi Profit From Obama-Waxman-Markey Cap-And-Trade House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to bring the Obama-Waxman-Markey (OWM) anti-global warming cap-and-trade energy bill to the floor for a final vote Friday, which raises an interesting question: How much money will Pelosi make if the measure becomes law, as seems quite likely? This is because natural gas burns with significantly less carbon emissions than other fossil fuels. For companies trying to get under OWM limits for greenhouse gases emissions, burning more natural gas instead of, say coal, will be a no-brainer. That will drive up demand for natural gas, which in turn will create upward price pressures.
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POPSGaia's evil twin: Is life its own worst enemy? Here is a wrenching change of perspective! Life keeps upsetting its own apple cart, the Medean trap. We humans are just part of this self-destructive life force, yet we are aware of it. Like everything else, planets live and die.
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