Environment

Nuclear Power Isn't Clean or Cheap

An Eagle-based company wants to build a 1,600-megawatt nuclear power plant in Elmore County.

The U.S. Congress is considering a bill that proposes the nation build 100 new nuclear power reactors over the next 20 years.

Idaho Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson has embraced nuclear power, and like others, promotes it as cheap and clean. They argue also that nuclear energy emits no greenhouse gases. But it is unclear which part of the nuclear energy cycle they're referring to. Nuclear power is neither cheap nor clean.

Posted in depleted uranium, Energy, Environment, nuclear power, nuclear waste, pollution

Bhopal: The Hiroshima of the Chemical Industry

BHOPAL - Unable to steer safely in the mud, the driver of our rickshaw pulls into the side of the road to allow us to take shelter from torrential rain. There, under a shop's awning, a small crowd of people are standing together waiting for the weather to break. They include Sapna Sharma and her brother-in-law, Sanjay. Sanjay is holding his 18-month-old nephew, Anshul, who has kohl-rimmed eyes and silver bracelets on his ankles. As we stand talking, some of the people start pointing to the child's hands and feet while speaking animatedly to us in Hindi.

Posted in bhopal, Environment, Health, Human Rights, pollution, India

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2009
2:30 PM

CONTACT: Earthjustice
Raviya Ismail, Earthjustice, (202) 667-4500, ext. 237

Court Rejects Bush Administration Air Pollution Waivers

Case aimed at reducing smog in America’s most polluted communities

WASHINGTON - July 10 - A federal appeals court today rejected Bush administration rules that allowed major power plants and factories to emit uncontrolled pollution into the air in cities that already have severely polluted air. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found the Environmental Protection Agency rules illegally let plants buy rights to pollute -- sometimes from plants hundreds of miles away -- instead of installing modern emission controls.

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Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.

Earthjustice Links:

Posted in Environment, pollution

Just Fair-Weather Friends of the Environment

As long as it isn't expensive, noisy, inconvenient, uncomfortable or labour-intensive, we're eager to save the environment.

Little wonder our greenhouse gas emissions keep climbing. Little wonder Canada produces more municipal waste per person than any other country. Little wonder we rank among the world's top consumers of fossil fuels. (The oil-rich Gulf states are worse.)

Our 20-year quest to preserve the ecosystem – without changing our lifestyle – has led to a succession of unrealistic plans, missed targets and ineffectual initiatives.

Posted in climate change, consumerism, Environment

G-8 Failure Reflects US Failure on Climate Change

It didn't take long for the counterfeit climate bill known as Waxman-Markey to push back against President Obama's agenda. As the president was arriving in Italy for his first Group of Eight summit, the New York Times was reporting that efforts to close ranks on global warming between the G-8 and the emerging economies had already tanked:

Posted in climate change, Environment, global warming

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2009
2:41 PM

CONTACT: Center for Biological Diversity
Rebecca Noblin, (907) 274-1110

Polar Bears Poisoned by Pesticide Pollution: Lawsuit to Be Filed to Force EPA to Protect Arctic From Pesticide Contamination

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - July 8 - Today the Center for Biological Diversity notified the Environmental Protection Agency of its intent to file suit against the agency for failing to consider impacts to the polar bear and its Arctic habitat from toxic contamination resulting from pesticide use in the United States.

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At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature - to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive.

Center for Biological Diversity Links:

Posted in conservation, Environment, pollution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2009
1:52 PM

CONTACT: Greenpeace
Molly Dorozenski (on site), 917-864-3724, mdorozen@greenpeace.org

Michael Crocker (Washington, DC), 202-215-8989, mcrocker@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace Makes Urgent Call for Climate Action From Face of Mt. Rushmore

Challenges President Obama to lead the world in fighting global warming

WASHINGTON - July 8 - This morning, 11 daring Greenpeace climbers hung a banner on Mount Rushmore challenging President Obama to show real leadership on global warming. The banner, measuring sixty-five feet high by thirty-five feet wide, features an unfinished portrait of Obama with the message, "America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming." The demonstration comes as President Obama meets other G8 leaders in L'Aquila, Italy today to discuss the global warming crisis in the lead-up to UN climate treaty negotiations in Copenhagen this December.

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Independent campaigning organization that uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.

Greenpeace Links:

Posted in Activism, climate change, Environment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2009
11:41 AM

CONTACT: Food & Water Watch
Julie Anderson (202) 683-2500

BP Records Show One of World’s Largest Oil and Gas Platforms Lacks Documents Needed for Safe Operation and Maintenance

Food & Water Watch Urges Federal Agencies to Launch Investigation into British Petroleum’s Atlantis Before Accident Leads to Environmental Devastation

WASHINGTON - July 8 - Today Food & Water Watch, a national consumer advocacy organization, urged the U.S. Department of the Interior and Minerals Management Service (MMS) to immediately suspend production on the largest moored floating dual oil- and gas-production facility in the world pending further investigation of documents critical to the project's safe operation and maintenance.

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Food & Water Watch is a nonprofit consumer organization that works to ensure clean water and safe food. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and by transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink.

Food & Water Watch Links:

Posted in Environment, oceans, oil, pollution, water

Gore: Deal on Emissions from Land Useage Change Critical

A global deal to cap surging emissions of carbon dioxide from soil will form a critical part of any successful agreement to tackle climate change in Copenhagen later this year, Al Gore said today.

The former US Vice President and environmental campaigner urged world leaders who are set to gather for a UN meeting in the Danish capital in December to recognise the critical importance of soil carbon: an often overlooked part of the debate on global warming.

Posted in climate change, Environment

New Climate Strategy: Track the World's Wealthiest

WASHINGTON - To fairly divide the climate change fight between rich and poor, a new study suggests basing targets for emission cuts on the number of wealthy people, who are also the biggest greenhouse gas emitters, in a country.

Since about half the planet's climate-warming emissions come from less than a billion of its people, it makes sense to follow these rich folks when setting national targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions, the authors wrote on Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.