Eric Zuesse – This Is How Corruption Works: A Hillary Clinton Example

Hillary Clinton approved the construction in South Africa of the world’s two largest coal-fired power-plants, and helped them get Export-Import Bank financing (U.S. taxpayer backing); then, some of her friends received construction contracts to build them. This was revealed by Itai Vardi in a terrific investigative news report at the desmog blog, on March 7th. Here’s an abbreviated version of it, …

Richard Schiffman – How Can We Make People Care About Climate Change?

Per Espen Stoknes, a Norwegian psychologist and economist, has been doing a lot of thinking about a question that has bedeviled climate scientists for years: Why have humans so far failed to deal with the looming threat posed by climate change? That question is the focus of his recent book, What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About …

Lauren McCauley – Newly Exposed Methane Threat Trumps Latest ‘False Solution’ on Emissions

Environmental groups are raising flags over what they say is another “false solution” as the Obama administration on Tuesday put forth its new proposed methane emissions rules. Meanwhile, a new study revealed that those very emissions are in fact “substantially higher” than official estimates, adding to the growing body of evidence showing that the proliferation of natural gas—even if “capped”—will …

Why Would 46 Senators Support Burning Trees for Electricity When It Contributes More to Climate Change Than Coal? – Lukas Ross

Chopping down trees and feeding them to power plants for electricity is a genuinely awful idea. It hurts biodiversity, belches toxic chemicals and contributes more to climate change than coal—all while masquerading as a source of clean “renewable” energy. Unfortunately, none of this stopped 46 senators from publicly endorsing the idea last week. Led by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), …

IEA warns of 4.3C temperature jump from climate change

The International Energy Agency on Monday warned temperatures could jump by as much as 4.3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century and urged countries to improve their pledges on reducing emissions. In a report ahead of a climate change conference in Paris this year, the IEA said more should be done to reach the goal of keeping the …

G7’s Unrelenting Burning of Fossil Fuels Called ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction’ – Jon Queally

As G7 leaders gather in Germany this weekend, Oxfam International was among the scores of groups and thousands of people in the street in protest on Saturday as they slammed the world’s top industrialized nations for continuing to push energy and financial policies that are dooming the planet to climate misery and growing inequality while leading millions of people towards …

Is Solving Climate Change as Simple as Sucking Carbon Out of the Air? – Tara Lohan

It sounds almost too obvious. But we may be able to stave off some of the major effects of catastrophic climate change simply by sucking out of the air the vast amounts of carbon dioxide we’ve been spewing for decades. It’s not a new idea, but it’s one that has never been economical. Until now, perhaps. Graciela Chichilnisky believes her …

Coal is dying all by itself – Tim McDonnell

Coal, the No. 1 cause of climate change, is dying. Last year saw a record number of coal plant retirements in the United States, and a study last week from Duke University found that Even China, which produces and consumes more coal than the rest of the world put together, is expected to hit peak coal use within a decade, in order to meet its promise to President …

Carbon Sequestration Is Not A Solution To The Climate Crisis

Burying the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, has been mooted as one geoengineering approach to ameliorating climate change. To be effective, trapping the gas in geological deposits would be for the very long term, thousands of years. Now, a team in Brazil, writing in the International Journal of Global Warming has reviewed the risk assessments …

The Global Water Crisis – The Elephant In The Room: Coal Fired Power Plants

Why are so few talking about coal’s impact on already scarce water resources? Despite the global water crisis being identified as the top risk to people across the globe, very few are taking a stand to protect dwindling water resources from the huge planned global growth of coal-fired power stations. Although, water and energy are two hotly debated topics in …