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Droughts Know No Borders » CIC
Posted by Harry Sifton, Sunday, March 31, 2013Naked Capitalism: Peak Oil, The Shale Boom and our Energy Future
Yves Smith @ NC Interviews energy expert Dave SummersThis where we stand, and it’s a fairly bleak view: Peak oil is almost here, and nothing new (with the possible but unlikely exception of Iraq) is coming online anytime soon and while the clock is ticking – forward movement on developing renewable energy resources has been sadly inadequate. In the meantime, the idea that shale reservoirs will lead the US to energy independence will soon enough be recognized as unrealistic hype. There are no easy solutions, no viable quick fixes, and no magic fluids. Yet the future isn’t all doom and gloom – certain energy technologies do show promise. We had a chance to speak with well known energy expert Dave Summers where we cut through the media noise and take a realistic look at what our energy future holds.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Friday, March 1, 2013
NYT: Cosmic Shooting Gallery – Shock Wave of Fireball Meteor Rattles Siberia, Injuring 1,200
NYT ..It hit on the same day that astronomers were watching another larger rock miss Earth by just 17,200 miles, and experts scrambled to understand the two rare cosmic events. Some initially speculated that Earth was passing through a swarm of asteroids, but the Russian meteor came from the other direction. “There is no relation there,” said Paul Chodas, a scientist with NASA’s Near Earth Object Program. “It seems like we’re in a cosmic shooting gallery here. There were two very rare events happening on the same day. Pure coincidence.” .. “This is the largest recorded event since the 1908 Tunguska event,” Dr. Chodas said. On June 30, 1908, the explosion of a meteor, believed to be an asteroid, flattened millions of trees over 800 square miles in a remote, largely unhabited area of central Siberia about 1,200 miles away from Friday’s eventcheck out this video!! pretty scary/cool + glad no one died .. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, February 16, 2013
This video of a city-sized iceberg breaking off from a glacier will blow your mind | Grist
Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, December 21, 2012Mother of CT Shooter Adam Lanza was a “Prepper”
from The Telegraph ..Nancy Lanza, whose gun collection was raided by her son Adam for Friday’s massacre at Sandy Hook school, was part of the “prepper” movement, which urges readiness for social chaos by hoarding supplies and training with weaponsMore on the Prepper movement (this is the first time I've heard of it) ..
For a long time the prepper movement was ignored, but now it has become so large that it is getting very difficult for the mainstream media to pretend that it is not there. In fact, it has been estimated that there are now approximately 3 million preppers in the United States alone.is this the new normal? - mab
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Monday, December 17, 2012
Ronnie Cummins: Dr. Oz Flip-Flops as High-Profile Attacks on Organic Food Intensify
Cummins and Katherine Paul in Alternet ..It’s no surprise that the Stanford study [that Oz obediently publicized] would focus on cost. As it turns out, the study was produced by Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute, which gets millions in funding from agribusiness giant Cargill, the world’s largest agricultural business enterprise, and foundations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which have deep ties to agricultural chemical and biotechnology corporations like Monsanto. These giant corporations are all part of the same cabal that contributed at least half of the $46 million spent between October 1 and November 6 to defeat Prop 37, the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act. Just a coincidence that the Stanford study and the mass media propaganda barrage that accompanied it was released during the election season, when voters were still weighing their options on the high-profile California GMO labeling law that was making national headlines?.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Friday, December 7, 2012
Hurricane Sandy in the Age of Disposability and Neoliberal Terror
Posted by Michael Butler, Wednesday, December 5, 2012Truthdig – Katrina, All Over Again – Chris Hedges
Posted by Michael Butler, Tuesday, December 4, 2012Democracy Now: After Sandy, Occupy Movement Re-Emerges as Relief Hub for Residents in Need
.. read transcript
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Is Occupy Wall Street Outperforming the Red Cross in Hurricane Relief?
Katherine Goldstein in Slate ..So how did an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, best known as a leaderless movement that brought international attention to issues of economic injustice through the occupation of Zucotti Park in the financial district last year, become a leader in local hurricane relief efforts? Ethan Murphy, who was helping organize the food at St. Jacobis and had been cooking for the occupy movement over the past year, explained there wasn’t any kind of official decision or declaration that occupiers would now try to help with the hurricane aftermath. “This is what we do already, “ he explained: Build community, help neighbors, and create a world without the help of finance. Horst said, “We know capitalism is broken, so we have already been focused on organizing to take care of our own [community] needs.”.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Monday, November 5, 2012
Mark Blaxill: When Science and Health Policy Trumps Inconvenient Evidence
my brother Mark's public comments to the IACC gov't agency ..The climate for parent advocates, never favorable in autism, has grown progressively more hostile. We have gone from being bad parents whose contempt for their infant children caused them to withdraw into autism, to raving lunatics who are a danger to the public health and whose opinions must be suppressed. Why? Because the autism parent community refuses to stand down in offering inconvenient evidence to the makers of science and health policy. This evidence is simple. Before 1930, the rate of autism was effectively zero. Before 1990, autism in the United States was exceedingly rare, as low as 1 in 10,000. Three months ago, we learned that 1 in 88 children born in the year 2000 were autistic, 1 in 54 boys. The conclusion is inescapable: autism is manmade.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Tuesday, August 28, 2012
AlterNet: Climate Change: ‘This Is Just the Beginning’
Posted by Michael Butler, Wednesday, July 11, 2012Report: Extreme Weather Tied to Man-Made Climate Change | Common Dreams
Posted by Michael Butler, Wednesday, July 11, 2012‘Heat… Fire… Disaster’: What Climate Change Looks Like | Common Dreams
Posted by Michael Butler, Saturday, June 30, 2012Scientists Warn US East Coast Over Accelerated Sea Level Rise
Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, June 29, 2012Arctic Methane Leaks Threaten Climate
Posted by Michael Butler, Tuesday, April 24, 2012Our apocalyptic odds
Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, April 19, 2012Earth Sends Climate Warning by Busting World Heat Records
Posted by Michael Butler, Monday, March 26, 2012Public Integrity
Posted by Michael Hamilton, Tuesday, January 24, 2012NYT (6): National News
Fracking once again implicated in quakes; Six economists look at 2012; After three decades, ethanol subsidies expire; Previews and predictions for NYC 2012; A new book on Roger Williams and "the creation of the American soul"; A new book on how five cold warriors banded together to ban the bomb.Posted by Ian Alterman, Monday, January 2, 2012
NYT (9): National News
Finally, it's the GOP that caves; Once again, FCC looks to ease media ownership rule; Judge blocks large part of SC immigration law; After death of G.I., military "hazing" is investigated; NYC's campaign finance law survives another challenge; Black women enlisting at remarkably high rate; Unseasonably warm weather has drawback - no snow for skiing; Man sentenced to 14 years for arson in response to election of Obama; Earthquake damage to Washington Monument more extensive than initially thought.Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, December 23, 2011
Shock As Retreat of Arctic Sea Ice Releases Deadly Methane Gas Levels
Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, December 16, 2011NYT (6): Int’l Affairs
2010 saw largest jump in carbon emissions ever; Enormous leak of highly radioactive water into sea around Japan; Russian voters send stinging rebuke to leaders; Merkel and Sarkozy lead charge in struggle to save euro; No election too small for meddling by Chinese gov't; As expected, Monti announces radical austerity measures for Italy.Posted by Ian Alterman, Monday, December 5, 2011
NYT (5): Foreign Affairs
Islamists, both moderate and not, claim mandate in Egypt; "Hundreds of thousands" of Britons strike over austerity measures; Britain closes embassy in Iran, and expels Iranian diplomats in UK; Clinton is first SOS to visit Myanmar in over five decades; Not surprisingly, Fukushima meltdown was worse than reported.Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, December 1, 2011
NYT (6): National News
Economy gets "bump" with better-than-expected early holiday sales; Like it or not, even without co-opting, OWS is helping the Democrats; Congressional insider trading gets another look; Merger dead, AT&T may sell off assets; Retailer's Ayn Rand-inspired ad campaign gets blowback; Strange series of low-level earthquakes hits Oklahoma.Posted by Ian Alterman, Monday, November 28, 2011
