August 2012, Arctic ice extent models.png As the extent of Arctic sea ice declines to levels unrecorded since satellite monitoring began, the National Snow and Ice Data Center has released a new analysis that shows the situation to be worse by far than even the most pessimistic models predicted. It's a
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DeSmogBlog: House Republicans Sacrifice Human Health For Alleged Job Creation
redtape.jpg With July 2012 officially behind us, the U.S. jobs report for the month has economists and politicians concerned about the employment situation in America. And even though the economy added 163,000 jobs (economists had predicted only 100,000 jobs to be added for July,) the unemployment rate and the underemployment
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Delaware Tax Haven: The Other Shale Gas Industry Loophole
shutterstock_30322192.jpg Most people think of downtown Houston, Texas as ground zero for the oil and gas industry. Houston, after all, serves as home base for corporate headquarters of oil and gas giants, including the likes of BP America, ConocoPhillips, and Shell Oil Company, to name a few. Comparably speaking, few would think of Wilmington,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: What To Expect When You’re Electing: Mitt Romney’s Energy Advisors
Romney and Bush.jpg In the last few months, the press has been drawing a lot of parallels between presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former Republican President George W. Bush. And they have plenty of reasons for doing so. Romney has already tapped many of the same Bush economic
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Are Conservatives Inherently More Biased than Liberals? The Scientific Debate Rages On
Republican Brain.jpg In the first round of critical reactions to my book The Republican Brain, there wasn’t much to impress. As I related at AlterNet, the general conservative response to the book was to misrepresent its arguments, rather than to engage them seriously. (The book predicted this, incidentally.) But now that
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Victory Declared For The Climate Science Denialists
monthly_denialists.jpg A VICTORY has been declared in the field of climate change but the lap of honour is not being run by research scientists or renewable energy bosses, or by coral reefs, drought-stricken farmers or the citizens of low-lying countries. Rather, if you accept as valid this declaration of victory from
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: A "War on Shale Gas"?
Since late 2009, there’s been a slowly-growing wave of attacks from the unconventional oil and gas industry on media outlets that cover the controversies surrounding hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and other shale gas practices. Reporters who write for publications ranging from Rolling Stone to Reuters to the New York Times have
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Conversion Fever! Why The Media Adores Former Climate Skeptics
Muller001.jpg If you’ve been following the science of global warming for over a decade—as I have—you might find the recent conversion of Berkeley physicist Richard Muller into a climate believer kind of underwhelming. That’s certainly the reaction of many longtime climate scientists, with whom Muller now, finally, agrees. “At this rate, Muller should
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: How Do You Spend $375 Million A Day? Ask The Oil Industry
oil-money.n.jpg The average U.S. household has seen both their net worth and their average income steadily decline over the last seven years. Unemployment in the United States still remains at uncomfortably high levels, and the poverty rate is about to reach highs that haven’t been seen since the 1960’s. But
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Real Train Wreck: ALEC and "Other ALECs" Attack EPA Regulations
shutterstock_2531395.jpg When business-friendly bills and resolutions spread like wildfire in statehouses nationwide calling for something as far-fetched as a halt to EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, ALEC is always a safe bet for a good place to look for their origin. In the midst of hosting its 39th Annual Meeting this week in
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Exposed: Pennsylvania Act 13 Overturned by Supreme Court, Originally an ALEC Model Bill
alec-exposed-600×400.jpeg On July 26, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled PA Act 13 unconstitutional. The bill would have stripped away local zoning laws, eliminated the legal concept of a Home Rule Charter, limited private property rights, and in the process, completely disempowered town, city, municipal and county governments, particularly when it comes to shale gas
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Affidavits in Michael Mann Libel Suit Reveal Astonishing Facts About Tim Ball Associate John O’Sullivan
John O'Sullivan.jpeg Affidavits filed in the British Columbia Supreme Court libel litigation brought by climate scientist Michael Mann against climate science denier Timothy Ball reveal that Ball's collaborator and self-styled "legal advisor" has misrepresented his credentials and endured some significant legal embarrassments of his own. The affidavits also reveal that Tim Ball was
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: If Conservatives Were Really “Conservative,” They Would Want to Do Something About Global Warming
kerry-emanuel.jpg Originally, when I asked MIT atmospheric scientist Kerry Emanuel to be a guest on the Point of Inquiry podcast, my goal was simple. I wanted someone who could give an expert take on the relationship between climate change and all the freakish weather we’ve been seeing. As for having
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Climate Science Denier Debunks Greenhouse Theory With Two Fish Cooler Boxes And A Roll Of Cling Film
IMG_0761.jpg SOMETIMES in the world of climate science "scepticism", things can become a little surreal. A bit odd, if you will, to the point where you need to inflict a sharp pain upon your person to confirm you've not drifted off into an alternate reality. Like the time, for example, when Australian mainstream
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Congress: Expedite Renewable Energy
solarf.jpg This is a guest post by Stefanie Penn Spear. Originally published at EcoWatch. In 2009 it seemed as though Congress was finally going to pass legislation that would transition our country to a renewable energy future. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, also known as the Waxman-Markey
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: It’s the Weather, Stupid: Slowly Re-Awakening the Public About Climate Change
drought monitor.gif The Yale and George Mason Centers on Climate Change Communication, collaborators on the well-known “Six Americas” studies of how the public views global warming, are out with their latest report, the fifth in the series. And it hints at an underlying theme discernible in many of these surveys:
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Understanding Harper’s Evangelical Mission
harpersmiles300px.jpg This post originally appeared in The Tyee, and is re-published with permission. Any Canadian listening to the news these days might well conclude that the Republican extremists or some associated evangelical group has occupied Ottawa. And they'd be righter than Job, I believe. Almost daily, more evidence surfaces that Canada's
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: White House Wants Industry Help To Choose Which Regulations To Kill
white house.jpg When the Obama White House begins adopting the same talking points as the dirty energy industry, something has gone horribly wrong with our government. But that is exactly what is happening today, with the White House apparently buying into the repeatedly debunked industry talking point that claims that
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Texas Refineries And Chemical Plants Releasing Tens Of Thousands Of Tons Of Pollution
gas-emissions_1.jpg A damning new report from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) reveals some startling information regarding pollution in the state of Texas. According to the report, oil refineries and chemical plants in the state are releasing tens of thousands of tons of pollution every year, without as much as a
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: House Republicans Attempt To Block Black Lung Protection Funding
black-lung.gif In what could possibly be a new low for one of the most anti-environment, pro-dirty energy industry Congresses in history, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are attempting to gut funding for measures that would reduce the occurrence of black lung in mine workers. The funding cut was
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