27 Dec - Oil and Environment

Image via Wikipedia

Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy
of Mountaintop Removal Mining

During the last two decades, mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia has destroyed or severely damaged more than a million acres of forest and buried nearly 2,000 miles of streams. Leveling Appalachia: The Legacy of Mountaintop Removal Mining, a video report produced by Yale Environment 360 in collaboration with MediaStorm, focuses on the environmental and social impacts of this practice and examines the long-term effects on the region’s forests and waterways. At a time when the Obama administration is reviewing mining permit applications throughout West Virginia and three other states, this video offers a first-hand look at what is at stake for Appalachia’s environment and its people.
http://www.e360.yale.edu

Pervasive Plastics: Why the U.S.
Needs New and Tighter Controls

by john wargo
Long a ubiquitous part of modern life, plastics are now in everything from diapers to water bottles to cell phones. But given the proven health threats of some plastics — as well as the enormous environmental costs — the time has come for the U.S. to pass a comprehensive plastics control law.
http://www.e360.yale.edu

In Search of New Waters,
Fish Farming Moves Offshore

by john mcquaid
As wild fish stocks continue to dwindle, aquaculture is becoming an increasingly important source of protein worldwide. Now, a growing number of entrepreneurs are raising fish in large pens in the open ocean, hoping to avoid the many environmental problems of coastal fish farms.
http://www.e360.yale.edu


 Stewart Brand’s Strange Trip:
Whole Earth to Nuclear Power
http://www.e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2227
When the founder of the Whole Earth Catalog embraces nuclear power, genetically engineered crops, and geoengineering schemes to cool the planet, you know things have changed in the environmental movement. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Stewart Brand explains how the passage of four decades — and the advent of global warming — have shifted his thinking about what it means to be green.

Raw Milk E. coli and Campylobacter Illnesses - A Big Cold Glass of Reality
http://www.marlerblog.com/2009/12/articles/legal-cases/raw-milk-e-coli-and-campylobacter-illnesses-a-big-cold-glass-of-reality/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MarlerBlog+%28Marler+Blog%29

Consumer Groups Push For Ban on Chicken Feces in Cattle Feed
http://www.madcowblog.com
( That sounds like a plan, don't you think - regardless of other representations ? )

Video – NASA manipulating data to support global warming?

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Boulderdash

Although all scientists interpret data in different ways, Chris Horner says that NASA scientists working on climate change have been particularly active in advocating for global warming. What is the motivation for this? And what could be the consequences?

http://salonesoterica.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/video-nasa-manipulating-data-to-support-global-warming

Small Towns in Kentucky Latest Victims of AIG
http://www.theygaveusarepublic.com/frontPage.do;jsessionid=19E8DEC55EE0CCBE2772499FE10CE6C8
bailed-out insurance villain AIG took over their water utility and instantly raised rates to squeeze an extra $1 mllion in profits out of its new customers, forcing some to consider choosing between running water and food."

Medicine Wheel Helps Natives Cope with Diabetes
http://www.newswise.com/articles/medicine-wheel-helps-natives-cope-with-diabetes
the culturally based nutrition intervention promoted small, but beneficial, changes in weight

Crow Creek gains support of Calif. tribe
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20091218/NEWS/912180316/1003/BUSINESS

Washington Mayor Fenty signs same-sex marriage bill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/18/AR2009121801789.html

London Will Become
Europe’s Electric Car Capital, Mayor Vows
http://www.e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2194

Lack of ‘Personal Space’
Causes Hatchery Salmon to Falter in Wild
http://www.e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=2208

John Prescott defends China's role at Copenhagen climate summit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/28/john-prescott-defends-china-copenhagen
Former deputy PM attacks US envoy's stance at talks
• Negotiator at Kyoto rejects Obama's view of 1997 deal

Grow-your-own to replace false teeth
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/may/03/sciencenews.health
Doctors take stem cells from the patient. These are unique in their ability to form any of the tissues that make up the body. By carefully nurturing the stem cells in a laboratory, scientists can nudge the cells down a path that will make them grow into a tooth. After a couple of weeks, the ball of cells, known as a bud, is ready to be implanted. Tests reveal what type of tooth - for example, a molar or an incisor - the bud will form.

Using a local anaesthetic, the tooth bud is inserted through a small incision into the gum. Within months, the cells will have matured into a fully-formed tooth, fused to the jawbone. As the tooth grows, it releases chemicals that encourage nerves and blood vessels to link up with it.

Tests have shown the technique to work in mice, where new teeth took weeks to grow.


Multifox Makes Using Multiple Accounts Simple
http://lifehacker.com/5427230/multifox-makes-using-multiple-accounts-simple?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lifehacker%2Ffull+%28Lifehacker%29&utm_content=Google+International

Oil Price.com

Iraq to Challenge Saudi Arabia for the Position of World's Largest Oil Producer, if... Baghdad is coming of age in its own backyard with the awarding of contracts for developing its oil reserves while taking care of its assets as evident   Read More » Forget Solar & Wind Power High Lipid Algae and Nuclear Fission Show Greater Promise Both solar and wind power are creative ideas that may one day prove to be of value, but sadly, after 40 years of concerted efforts, they’ve thus   Read More » India Facing Fierce Competition in its Search for Oil and Natural Gas Resources While energy-strapped India is scouring the globe for oil and gas - a bid that recently took it to Sudan and Russia where India signed two memoranda of   Read More » Unstimulating America - How do you Undo a Trillion Dollars? That question has been on the minds of leaders and financial thinkers worldwide, since the financial crisis broke last fall. In response to   Read More » Arab Leaders Finally Awake to Growing Iranian Threat In order to survive revolutions must continue to propagate themselves or else they die; that was true of revolutions on the left that saw their golden   Read More » The Two Kinds of Junior Natural Resource Companies There are two kinds of junior natural resource companies. When you analyze, it's critical to realize which one you're dealing with. The   Read More » Nigerian Leadership Crisis Impacting Global Energy Markets The illness of Nigerian Pres. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has now reached the point where it can no longer be hidden from the Nigerian electorate, and the   Read More » Growing Power of Iraqi Kurdistan Could Backfire on Tehran Iran's strategy to break Iraq into three component territories, and to dominate those territories in order to reduce regional opposition and to gain   Read More » Climate Change: Clean Coal, Nuclear Energy or Simply Energy Savings? On November 6, 2009 The World Coal Institute released its new report "Securing the Future - Financing CCS in a Post-2012 World." One   Read More » The Natural Gas Sector, Shale Gas & Exxon's $31 Billion Takeover of XTO Energy Yesterday's big news in the commodities world was Exxon's $31 billion takeover of XTO Energy. The acquisition is a big endorsement by   Read More » Is Turkey Shifting Alliances? For the last several decades it was generally assumed that Israel was the United States’ staunchest ally in the Greater Middle East. But when former   Read More » The Great Oil Grab! How the Major Powers are Dividing the World's Resources China and Russia will stay on tenterhooks for decades to come, on the question of sufficiency of energy supplies, notwithstanding the oil grab they   Read More » The Great Competition Over Energy Shoves and Shapes the Emergence of the "New Caucasus" The South Caucasus: Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia - is at an historic "T" junction in the road. The next turn could result in a regional   Read More » Natural Gas Advances Save The World From Energy Crisis News spreads quickly throughout the energy industry, especially when that news is good! The “Energy Crisis” may very well be over,   Read More » How to Guarantee Success - Why Mexico Hedged it’s 2010 Oil Production at $57 per barrel A lot has been made this week of news that Mexico hedged the bulk of its 2010 oil production at $57 per barrel. Several analysts chalked this up   Read More »

What are the Causes of Global warming It’s a scientifically proven “Fact,” that   Read More » What Affects Oil Prices? Understanding what causes the price of oil to fluctuate can   Read More » What is Crude Oil?-A Detailed Explanation on this Essential Fossil Fuel Crude oil, commonly known as petroleum, is a liquid found within   Read More »

The Oil Industry And Its Effect On Global Politics Over the past century, modern society has developed a near unquenchable thirst for oil and after 100 years of searching and experimenting there is still no   Read More » Oil Spills: The Science Behind Cleanups! As long as we continue to enjoy the vast benefits brought to our lives by our consistent utilization of oil, we will constantly be at periodic risk of   Read More » A Recent History Of Oil Prices! And Causes of the violent movements When we take a well considered historical perspective of what has occurred over the recent years and in particular, the last two decades regarding the price   Read More » Oil Shale - So Just What Is It! People often say: “You can’t squeeze blood from a stone.” However that’s exactly what shale oil is. An alternative fuel, created by squeezing our planet’s   Read More » Do Oil prices Really have an Impact on Financial Markets? Yes and No Stock market commentators like to draw parallels between the behavior of oil prices and stock prices on any given day. After all, who hasn’t seen a   Read More » Big Oil - A Look at The Worlds Most Powerful Companies The term "Big Oil," which initially was coined with derisive and derogatory connotations, has since come to designate those proverbial   Read More » Central Asia's Most Precious Resource - Water, Not Oil  “In every drop of water there is a grain of gold.” - Aral proverb  Since the 1991 collapse of the USSR, foreign investors have   Read More »

Seeing without Looking

Like a spotlight that illuminates an otherwise dark scene, attention brings to mind specific details of our environment while shutting others out. A new study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies shows that the superior colliculus, a brain structure that primarily had been known for its role in the control of eye and head movements, is crucial for moving the mind’s spotlight.

http://www.newswise.com

The Nation: Immigration Agents Holding US Residents in Unlisted, Unmarked Facilities

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is holding an untold number of people in secretively maintained detention facilities all over the United States. That’s according to an explosive report that’s the cover story of the latest issue of The Nation magazine. They also report that ICE agents regularly impersonate civilians and rely on other illegal tricks to arrest longtime US residents who have no criminal history

'Cadillac' tax isn't a tax -- it's a plan to finance real health reform 

As we prepare for the final round of debate over health reform, perhaps the most contentious issue will be financing. Both the Senate and House agree that most of the financing for reform should come from scaling back overpayments to Medicare insurers and providers, as well as excise taxes on some of the sectors that will most benefit from 30 million newly insured consumers. But the two houses remain apart on where to find the remaining dollars. In the Senate, the gap is closed by relying on the "Cadillac tax," a 40 percent assessment on insurance plans with premiums of more than $8,500 for singles and $23,000 for families. In the House, the gap is closed with a surtax on those earning more than $500,000. 

Image via Wikipedia

 

Related articles by Zemanta

• EPA to Delay 79 Coal Mining Permits in 4 States (abcnews.go.com)
• Cap And Tax? Maybe Next Year (minx.cc)
• The Facts On Climategate (forcedgreen.com)