Environment

Now this is just too much to believe here. I used to enjoy Sun Chips (before going on my all vegan diet), and was very pleasantly surprised when I saw them using 100% compostable packaging. The bag is made out of mostly renewable plant-based materials which will break down completely in an active compost pile. The only downside is that the bag feels a bit different and has a louder “crinkle” sound to it.

Well, it turns out that people complained so “loudly” about the “noisy” bags, that Frito-Lay has decided to go back to the old bags. The ones made out of plastic and petroleum products, and will stay in tact in a landfill somewhere for centuries to come, which is obviously worse for the environment

It is up to us, the consumer, to demand environmentally sensitive products from companies that care about the world we live in. Every time we buy something, we are voting with our money, and we need to think about that impact much more than we currently do.

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More bad news about global warming, each decade we are continuing to see every higher temperatures and more ice melting. Even if we complete stopped burning fossil fuels today, this is going to continue for decades to come.

WASHINGTON — Not only was the past decade the warmest on record, but climate indicators being tracked globally are worsening, scientists reported Wednesday in their annual “State of the Climate.”

“A comprehensive review of key climate indicators confirms the world is warming and the past decade was the warmest” since record keeping began in 1870, declares the report, which was released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Compiled by more than 300 scientists from 48 countries, the report said its analysis of 10  indicators that are “clearly and directly related to surface temperatures, all tell the same story: Global warming is undeniable.”

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BP is the world’s fourth largest corporation, raking in $239 billion last year alone. If BP was its own country, it would be the 33rd biggest economy in the world.¹

But unless Congress acts now, taxpayers will get stuck paying almost all the damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill because of an old law that limits oil industry liability for spills to a paltry $75 million.² Instead of investing in schools, health care, or clean energy, we’ll get stuck bailing out BP.

Twenty-three senators have signed onto legislation to make sure the oil companies pay more—but not Senator Arlen Specter.³

Can you call Sen. Specter right now? Tell him that BP should pay the damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and urge him to co-sponsor the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act. Here’s the number to call:

Senator Arlen Specter
Phone: 202-224-4254

The BP oil spill is now being called the worst oil spill in U.S. history.⁴ An enormous toxic dead zone is spreading out from the spill, and the sensitive marshlands on the coast are being destroyed. Birds, sea turtles, whales and other marine life are all in harm’s way.

BP is absolutely responsible for the disaster. They cut corners on safety, bought off the regulators, and told Congress and the American people that there was no way a spill like this could happen.⁵

The Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act would raise the cap on Big Oil’s liability for oil spills from $75 million to $10 billion.⁶ The truth is, there shouldn’t be any limit on the oil industry’s liability. There’s truly no excuse for senators not to support at least this much.

Call Sen. Specter today and urge him to cosponsor the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act. Here’s where to call:

Senator Arlen Specter
Phone: 202-224-4254

Sources:

1. “Global 500,” Fortune, July 20, 2009

2. “Democrats’ effort to increase oil spill liability stalls,” Los Angeles Times, May 14, 2010

3. Library of Congress, accessed June 1, 2010

4. “Gulf Oil Spill Worst in U.S. History; Drilling Postponed,” National Geographic News, May 27, 2010

5. “BP Used Riskier Method to Seal Well Before Blast,” The New York Times, May 26, 2010

“Critics blame energy lobby for lax safety rules,” Houston Chronicle, May 8, 2010

6. “The Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act,” press release, May 3, 2010

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Friday the 13th just got a little scarier. Here are 13 facts about the realities of global warming. Even Jason would be scared.

The numbers speak for themselves — we must make 2009 the showdown year for global warming action. There is no time to lose.

You can help by spreading the word any way you can — through email, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, whatever works for you.

35%

Increase in the global carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels since the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1992.

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Coal-fired power plants like this one near Jewett, Texas, contribute to carbon dioxide emissions tied to warming. A NASA scientist is urging President Barack Obama to phase out all coal power that does not capture and store CO2.

Why bother reducing my carbon footprint? That’s probably what many people asked after reading about a new study that predicts that even if carbon emissions were drastically reduced, droughts and other severe climate changes tied to the emissions would persist for 1,000 years.

So why drive less? Why buy a hybrid? Why promote renewable energy?

Because doing nothing, or doing less, would mean even more dire consequences, the study’s authors and other scientists argue.

“If we don’t slow down or stop emissions, the climate changes will get much larger and quite intolerable,” Kevin Trenberth, head of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said in an interview with msnbc.com.

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The economy, terrorism and the Iraq and Afghan wars “are linked by a common thread — our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels,” former Vice President Al Gore told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday in testimony that included his signature images on climate signals.

Arguing that recent climate signals are cause for greater alarm, former Vice President Al Gore testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday that lawmakers must “take decisive action this year” to curb carbon emissions.

Gore urged lawmakers not to be sidetracked by the current financial crisis, adding that a bill capping greenhouse gas emissions is needed this year if the United States is to play a leading role in negotiations for a new international climate treaty.

Gore was invited to testify before the committee by its chairman, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who said he wanted to send the message that his panel would be “super-focused” on rejoining those international talks.

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When I first started hearing the term clean coal both during the presidential debates and in commericals from energy companies on TV, I just had to roll my eyes. But these ads must be working, because some people think that there is such a thing as clean coal. That’s pretty much the same thing as light cigarettes being a “more healthy” alternative to regulars.

The technology that they are talking about when using the “clean coal” term is Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). This technology, while exciting in its potential to eliminate global warming causing carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal, is still not in use by any of the over 600 coal powered electric plants in the US.

I would urge you to look at these 2 commerical videos from This Is Reality. The first is already showing on some channels, and the other I imagine will probably be showing up soon:

The Details Behind The Facts

There are no homes in America powered by “clean” coal today. There are no “clean” coal power plants selling electricity in America today. In fact, America does not have a single demonstration “clean” coal plant that captures and safely stores its carbon pollution. The technologies that capture or safely store CO₂ have not yet been integrated with coal power at commercial scale. This means that the roughly 600 coal plants producing electricity in the US today are not preventing their global warming pollution from entering the atmosphere. Although the technologies are being developed and tested, in reality, there is no such thing as “clean” coal power in America today.

Burning coal for electricity is a leading source of global warming pollution in the US. Emissions from coal combustion for electricity contribute 32% of US CO₂ emissions. The CO₂ emissions from this coal combustion are larger than the emissions from gasoline and diesel transportation, which together contribute 27% of US CO₂ emissions.¹

Coal is also disproportionately more polluting than other fuels used in the US to produce electricity. 83% of the CO₂ emissions produced from making electricity come from coal even though coal is the fuel source for only about half of US electricity generation.² Per unit of electricity produced, CO₂ emissions from coal are more than 1.5 times those of natural gas, the other major fossil fuel source of electricity in the US.³

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I guess some good news on the topic of global warming is only appropriate after my last 2 posts on “The Big Melt” and Global Warming Mythbusters.

Sen. Barack Obama, center, visits a solar power installation in Las Vegas in June. During his presidential campaign, Obama periodically stopped at renewable energy sites or companies to make his point about creating green jobs to help drive the economy.

Al Gore has a competitor for title of America’s climate crusader. His name is Barack Obama, and of all his immediate foreign policy changes none will mark as big a shift from the Bush administration as his approach to cutting carbon emissions, the leading cause of global warming.

“President Obama will be like night and day compared to President Bush,” Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., told reporters this week at U.N.-sponsored climate talks in Poznan, Poland.

Obama’s administration will mark a new era in U.S. climate policy, one eagerly awaited by countries and environmental groups that believe global warming is the most urgent problem facing the world today.

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