‘Canada’s tar sands formations, landlocked in northern Alberta, are a giant reserve of carbon-saturated energy — a mixture of sand, clay and a viscous low-grade petroleum called bitumen. Pipelines are the best way to get this resource to market, but existing pipelines to the United States are almost full.’

via The Tar Sands Disaster – NYTimes.com.

‘Scotland generated 7% more renewable electricity in 2012 than it did the previous year, data has shown.’

via BBC News – Record year for Scottish renewables in 2012.

Tom Athanasiou, co-founder EcoEquity, appeared on  Tom Palmer’s Sane Society show a few months back, discussing equity and climate change.

An interesting discussion. Here are two excerpts:

23:57 “There is this gigantic cartel which has got its tentacles around human civilization. And for lack of a better term, let’s call it the fossil fuel cartel. It’s countries and it’s companies, right, and we’re all implicated in its operation cause we’re all dependent on it’s infrastructure, right, and if we allow it to do what it needs to do to be maximally profitable, we are toast, because the oil companies already have enough coal and oil on their books to blow us so far past two degrees … identified reserves, not resources, that are already priced into traded stocks, so that, … let me put it this way: in the unlikely chance that we decided not to commit civilizational suicide, it would cause a crash in fossil stocks, so they actually have a baked in interest in civilizational suicide. They have to do it.”

2:45 “Well you know the per capita thing is a bit of a problem, because people have a sense that what would be fair would be to cut the pie up into equal shares, but the thing is, the carbon pie has already been eaten, it’s a very difficult problem because we’re already over budget.   … we’re at 392(ppm) now.”

‘WASHINGTON — An overwhelming majority of Americans is convinced that sea level rise resulting from climate change poses a significant threat to the United States and coastal communities should invest in preparing for the risks, according to a survey released Thursday by Stanford University.’

via Most in U.S. concerned about sea level rise, poll finds – latimes.com.

‘Mar. 26, 2013 — Excess carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere created by the widespread burning of fossil fuels is the major driving force of global climate change, and researchers the world over are looking for new ways to generate power that leaves a smaller carbon footprint.’

via Discovery may allow scientists to make fuel from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

‘CARLSBAD, N.M. — Just after the local water board announced this month that its farmers would get only one-tenth of their normal water allotment this year, Ronnie Walterscheid, 53, stood up and called on his elected representatives to declare a water war on their upstream neighbors.’

via New Mexico Farmers Push to Be Made a Priority in Drought – NYTimes.com.

‘ALBANY — In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has started to caution investors that climate change poses a long-term risk to the state’s finances.’

via New York State Bonds Include Warning on Climate Change – NYTimes.com.

‘Scientists have linked the underground injection of oil-drilling wastewater to a magnitude-5.7 earthquake in 2011 that struck the US state of Oklahoma.’

via BBC News – Oklahoma earthquake linked to oil extraction wastewater.

‘At a Tuesday news conference, several researchers said that warming conditions in the Arctic may be weakening jet stream currents and causing extreme weather systems to linger in northern mid-latitudes.’

via Arctic ice loss drives extreme weather patterns – latimes.com.