April 12, 2017

Harvard Researchers Are Preparing to Geoengineer the Atmosphere

In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists will disperse aerosols into the stratosphere in initial tests of a controversial technique for blocking incoming solar radiation.

A team of Harvard researchers is preparing a first-of-its-kind field experiment in the hotly-debated area of solar geoengineering, the controversial idea to combat climate change by pumping aerosols into the sky to reflect the sun’s rays back into space.

The study will be the first to actually shoot tiny amounts of material into the stratosphere to study solar geoengineering — although researchers caution they will start with water vapor and won’t exceed volumes over 1 kilogram of any substance.

Yet the concept of intentionally modifying the earth’s atmosphere as a corrective for global warming is highly contentious, even among those who believe it could one day be used responsibly.

“The idea that you could even think about adjusting the temperature of the planet is terrifying,” said Frank Keutsch, one of the Harvard scientists leading the study. “But the consequences of climate change are also quite terrifying. This is a very serious subject.”


More: https://www.seeker.com/earth/climate/harvard-researchers-are-preparing-to-geoengineer-the-atmosphere

April 6, 2017

One of the most infuriating things, he makes no effort to hide his arrogance and ignorance

And it's an insult to this country to dismiss the history of Camp David.

April 6, 2017

Frustration is soaring at Palm Beach County airport as Trump hogs everybody's airspace

PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump is wreaking havoc on local businesses and wealthy aircraft owners who rely on the regional airports surrounding Mar-a-Lago, or what the president calls the "Southern White House."

Trump will host Chinese President Xi Jinping here beginning Thursday, creating what could be the longest air traffic shutdown around his resort ever. It's hoped that the two world leaders will use the opportunity to hash out their differences on several global topics, but the business owners and executives who use this air hub, known locally as Lantana Airport, are losing patience and money because of Trump's frequent visits.

They want to hash out their differences with the Secret Service.

When Trump visits, the Secret Service issues a Temporary Flight Restriction before his arrival. That essentially shuts down the airport for the duration of his stay.

This will be the seventh weekend Trump has stayed at Mar-a-Lago since his January inauguration. Aviation businesses run out of Lantana must come to a complete halt, planes are grounded and operations cease. The regional airport is 5 nautical miles south of Mar-a-Lago — which puts it right in the middle of the 10-mile no-fly ring.


Much more (including video): http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/05/lantana-palm-beach-county-airport-trump-hogs-airspace.html

April 5, 2017

Maryland governor signs fracking ban into law

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed a bill Tuesday to ban the hydraulic fracturing drilling process known as fracking in Maryland, the first state where a legislature has voted to bar the practice that actually has natural gas reserves.

The Republican governor signed the measure into law about a week after the bill was passed by the Democrat-controlled legislature. Fracking for oil and gas isn’t being conducted in Maryland now, but a moratorium was set to end in October, which is when the ban technically takes effect.

Supporters of the ban said it was the first in the nation approved by a legislature in a state that has natural gas underground. Neighboring West Virginia and Pennsylvania allow fracking.

New York has banned fracking by executive order, and Vermont’s legislature has passed a ban in a symbolic gesture, because the state doesn’t have any oil or natural gas reserves to drill for.


More: http://wtop.com/maryland/2017/04/maryland-governor-signs-fracking-ban-into-law/

April 5, 2017

U.S. would slash EPA vehicle testing budget under Trump plan

The Trump administration would virtually eliminate federal funding for the Environmental Protection Agency's budget for vehicle emissions and fuel economy testing but will seek to raise fees on industry to pay for some testing, a government document shows.

The cuts would slash by more than half the staff of the EPA department that conducts vehicle, engine, and fuel testing to verify emissions standards are met and mileage stickers are accurate. Its work helped lead to Volkswagen AG's (VOWG_p.DE) 2015 admission that it violated vehicle emissions rules for years.

In a March 21 budget document posted online by the Washington Post, the Trump administration proposed eliminating $48 million in federal funding for EPA vehicle and fuel testing and certification.

It represents a 99 percent federal cut to the vehicle testing budget and would require "pretty much shutting down the testing lab," said Margo Oge, who headed the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality under President Barack Obama.

The proposal, which would also cut 168 out of 304 full-time jobs, seeks to partially fund current operations by boosting fees automakers and engine manufacturers pay for testing. An EPA official confirmed the document's authenticity.


More: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-autos-environment-idUSKBN1762R4?il=0

April 5, 2017

Carbon Levels Could Hit Pre-Human, 'Palms in the Arctic' State by Mid-Century

If fossil fuel use continues unabated, atmosphere could revert "to values of CO2 not seen since the early Eocene (50 million years ago)," new report finds

Current carbon dioxide levels are unprecedented in human history and could reach a level unseen in millennia if their rates continue at this pace, a new report out Tuesday warns.

Research published in Nature Communications finds that if fossil fuel use continues unabated, the atmosphere could revert "to values of CO2 not seen since the early Eocene (50 million years ago)," a time when humans did not exist, by the middle of the 21st century.

Dana L. Royer, a paleoclimate researcher at Wesleyan University and co-author of the study, told Climate Central, "The early Eocene was much warmer than today: global mean surface temperature was at least 10°C (18°F) warmer than today. There was little-to-no permanent ice. Palms and crocodiles inhabited the Canadian Arctic."

Because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for centuries, climate change would continue to impact the planet even if humans miraculously dropped emissions to zero after hitting that mid-century peak, Royer said.

Indeed, global warming may have already locked in the Antarctic ice sheet for unstoppable melting—driving sea level rise and threatening coastal communities worldwide.


More: http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/04/04/carbon-levels-could-hit-pre-human-palms-arctic-state-mid-century



Because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for centuries, climate change would continue to impact the planet even if humans miraculously dropped emissions to zero after hitting that mid-century peak. (Photo: Kevin Gill/flickr/cc)

April 4, 2017

A tampon tax is bad enough. Using it to fund anti-abortionists is a disgrace (The Guardian)

Women have no choice about having periods. To give tax raised on sanitary products to a group that seeks to limit their choice further is unconscionable

Only women bleed, sang Alice Cooper. And only women pay taxes on the products they use to deal with the fact that this happens. Sanitary products such as tampons are taxed as non-essential, luxury items at 5%. So are maternity pads. Some products remain exempt from this tax – such as edible sugar flowers and alcoholic jellies – but tampons are our little treat, aren’t they? We spoil ourselves silly with such luxury.

Actually lately there have been horrendous reports of girls not going to school because they cannot afford sanitary protection. It is shocking that period poverty should be happening in 2017 – but it is. Recently I watched products being distributed in a homeless shelter – tampons were the first thing women asked for. This is an expense that women have little choice about. If the average woman menstruates 450 times over a lifetime, it is estimated that will have cost her £18,450 (taking into account sanitary protection, pain relief and new underwear).

The reason we are talking about tampon tax again is that though the Tories pledged to scrap this 5% VAT, they didn’t. Instead George Osborne said that £15m a year would go from the tax to women’s charities. There was always something odd about this. You ladies pay for your periods and now pay towards domestic violence refuges and rape crisis centres because these are simply “women’s things”. Shouldn’t a share of all taxes go to these organisations anyway? Where does the VAT men pay on razors go? To special manly things?

Still, to quibble about funding essential services for women in the current climate only gets you so far. Services have been so decimated that when last week the government announced that 70 organisations would share £12m from the “tampon tax”, it was able to claim to be helping disadvantaged women and girls throughout the country.


More: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/03/tampon-tax-life-anti-abortion-funds?CMP=share_btn_tw

April 3, 2017

50 Years After Torrey Canyon Oil Spill, a Unique Record of Nature's Fightback

Along an ancient, storied English coastline 50 years ago, residents woke to an "evil-smelling" dark slick that smothered seabirds and coated the shore in thick tar from a wrecked U.S.-owned tanker.

A major clean-up was launched to tackle what was then the world's worst oil spill, and thousands of volunteers rushed to help.

Biology teacher Richard Pearce went one step further, taking measurements on his local beach to record the environmental impact. He has repeated the exercise three times a year ever since, documenting nature's remarkable comeback.

The result is a unique five-decade record of resilience against a man-made disaster that scarred England's rugged southwest and also changed the way authorities respond to hazardous spills.


Much more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/50-years-after-torrey-canyon-oil-spill-unique-record-nature-n737126


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