Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Environment”
A handful of climate activists turned off the flow of Canadian tar sands oil through pipelines in Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Washington on Tuesday, Oct. 11. Five who cut chains and turned pipeline valves and five more supporters were arrested. They face a range of charges, including criminal trespass, sabotage, burglary, and criminal mischief. That morning in Seattle, Jay O’Hara …
Rivers in eastern North Carolina, still swollen from Hurricane Matthew’s downpours, are flooding a region that teems with hog and poultry farms. As many as 5 million chickens and turkeys had already died as of Wednesday, Reuters reports. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has so far not released an estimate of hog deaths, but they could be steep. …
The mid-term evaluation of fuel economy standards is in full swing, and with the close of the public comment period on the Technical Assessment Report from the federal agencies, we now have a better understanding of the types of arguments being used by automakers as they try to weaken the federal passenger vehicle efficiency standards—to no one’s surprise, it relies …
The biofuels world is abuzz with talk of high octane fuel. Ethanol trade groups weighed in recently with regulators on the role of higher octane fuel in meeting fuel economy targets. Their interest in gasoline and fuel economy might seem odd, except that their plan is to deliver higher octane gasoline by increasing the amount of ethanol blended into it. …
Some people get excited about fall because of the beautiful foliage, the delightful blend of sunny days and crisp cool nights, and the bountiful harvests of apples and other tasty treats. I love all that, too. But I also enjoy this time of year because it brings the annual assessment of how states are doing on energy efficiency. And this …
I grew up in the warm and humid latitudes of Puerto Rico. My homeland is in the tropical climatic zone so there are no stark seasonal differences in temperature like those found at lower or higher latitudes outside of the tropics. But from my childhood I recall a slight drop in nighttime temperatures around December—popularly known as the “aires navideños”, …
Wendell Berry once said “the Earth is what we all have in common.” It is one of my favorite quotes to return to when I’m getting down and out about the unrest in the world, and particularly, as of late, the extreme socio-political divisions here in the U.S. that have put many of us at odds with our neighbors. I …
For decades, the US Navy, by its own admission, has been conducting war game exercises in US waters using bombs, missiles, sonobuoys (sonar buoys), high explosives, bullets and other materials that contain toxic chemicals — including lead and mercury — that are harmful to both humans and wildlife. The Navy’s 2015 Northwest Training and Testing environmental impact statement(EIS) states that …
It was nearly 40 years ago that as a journalist I began concentrating on nuclear power.
Throughout the U.S., trees are dying at an astonishing rate. The reasons for the die-off vary from location to location — drought, disease, insects and wildfires — but the root cause in many of these cases is the same: climate change. The epidemic is even threatening the oldest white oak tree in America, a 600-year-old giant in New Jersey that predates Columbus’ visit to …
