Green-News: Wednesday 3.4.09
- Clean coal. Do you believe it? I have my doubts. How can releasing carbon dioxide into the air, along with other pollutants, be clean? That’s why Academy Award-winning directors Joel and Ethan Coen cooked up this commercial bashing clean coal; via Gaiam Life.
- A clean technology fund developed by the Bush administration to promote coal operations in the developing world is being criticized for supplying cash to coal power stations with meager emission standards. Activists want the money put to better use; from NewScientist.
- NASA’s satellite designed to map Earth's carbon dioxide levels never hit orbit, shortly after launch it crashed into the ocean. The glitch occurred just after takeoff. Losing the $280 million satellite is a major setback for global climate research; Space.com reports.
- Some crackpot affiliated with an institute that was given hundreds of thousands of dollars by ExxonMobil, says rising carbon dioxide levels are not a problem, we shouldn’t worry and that millions of years ago the planet was just fine with a lot of carbon; via Earth First.
- One researcher insists Switzerland’s abnormally cold winter and record snow depths are no reason to doubt climate change, saying weather patterns are largely influenced by natural atmospheric pressure, but humans do influence weather events; SwissInfo.ch investigates.
- The European Union is still confident president Obama will set ambitious mid-term goals for reducing greenhouse gases. The United States has pledged to cut emissions by 80% by 2050, but hasn’t set intermediate goals, worrying some E.U. leaders; from the AFP.
Image credit: ThisIsReality.org
Not only that but coal is being mined by starting at the top of the mountain until the whole mountain is gone! The extra is then used to fill creeks and streams which has caused deadly floods and property values to decrease. You can pledge to help end this practice here www.ilovemountains.org. I highly recommend the video series and the Google maps of the 400+ mountains that are gone. Also check out out how coal waste is poisoning water http://www.appvoices.org/index.php?/frontporch/blogposts/coal_wastes_contaminate_hundreds_of_sites_in_us/
"How can releasing carbon dioxide into the air, along with other pollutants"
Must we persist with this fallacy? CO2 is not and never has been a "pollutant." It is essential for life on Earth. Without it there would be no photosynthesis and thus no vegetables, no vegetation at all in fact. Why do you think farmers use dedicated CO2 generators to increase yield? Are they intentionally "polluting" their own produce?
"Some crackpot affiliated with an institute that was given hundreds of thousands of dollars by ExxonMobil, says rising carbon dioxide levels are not a problem"
As opposed to some crackpot affiliated with an institute that is given hundreds of thousands in government grants, to prove that CO2 levels *are* a problem? Would that be preferable? "Climate Change" is now an official government bureacracy in itself, practically a religion, surely that should ring alarm bells?
"Cold winter doesn't buck global warming trend"
I bet these "Climate Scientists" wished Man really did control the Earth's temperature, because Mother Nature is currently making them extremely foolish. How can somebody write that headline with a straight face?
I think the problem is excessive amounts of CO2. Practically anything healthy can become unhealthy if there is either too much or too little of an element in both the human body and the ecosystem.
I have a difficult time believing in AGW when the powers that be are basing their climate forecasting models on poorly placed temperature sensors:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/03/04/looking-at-thermometer-placement-and-heat-in-the-infrared/