News Roundup
‘…500 gigatons is a lot, but we’re producing more than 30 gigatons a year as a planet, and that number has been growing about 3 percent a year. Which gives us, oh, about 15 years before we go soaring past the two-degree threshold. If we are to avoid doing that, computer modeling shows that the world’s carbon emissions have to peak in 2015 and then come hurtling down.’
via Global warming maths – we’re down to our last 500 gigatonnes : Renew Economy.
‘Warmer oceans will carry less dissolved oxygen, causing fish to grow to smaller sizes and forcing them to move to cooler waters, the research published in the journal Nature Climate Change claims.’
via Global warming ‘may lead to smaller fish’ – Climate Change – Environment – The Independent.
‘Nocera is looking for ways to drive down the costs make these devices more widely available. He recently replaced the platinum catalyst that produces hydrogen gas with a less-expensive nickel-molybdenum-zinc compound. He’s also looking for ways to reduce the amount of silicon needed.’
via Chemist Hopes ‘Artificial Leaf’ Can Power Civilization Using Photosynthesis – Yahoo! News.
‘Scientists have long suspected that a flourishing of green foliage around the globe, observed since the early 1980s in satellite data, springs at least in part from the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere. Now, a study of arid regions around the globe finds that a carbon dioxide fertilization effect has, indeed, caused a gradual greening from 1982 to 2010.’
via Increasing CO2 in air is making deserts greener | Earth | EarthSky.
‘The B.C. government has officially expressed its opposition to a proposal for the Northern Gateway pipeline project, saying it fails to address the province’s environmental concerns’
via B.C. officially opposes Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline – Calgary – CBC News.
‘The Arctic may hold 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its gas, but a series of blunders and failures there are making executives fight shy of such a sensitive area and turn their attention back to more conventional resources and the shale revolution.’
via Oil executives tune out the call of the wild Arctic | Reuters.
‘(Reuters) – A decline in the diversity of farmed plants and livestock breeds is gathering pace, threatening future food supplies for the world’s growing population, the head of a new United Nations panel on biodiversity said on Monday.’
via Decline in biodiversity of farmed plants, animals gathering pace | Reuters.
May 9, 2013, San Francisco
Jeremy Scahill spoke at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on a variety of topics covered in his book “Dirty Wars: The World Is A Battlefield”, including drone strikes on American citizens, Awlaki’s Facebook wife, the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s speech against the war, and the ideal role of journalists and the press. He also mentioned a Dirty Wars movie version in the works which was a winner at the Sundance Film Festival. Scahill was ‘interrogated’ by Barry Eisler, novelist and former CIA Operative.
Selected Excerpts
7:35 “And now here we are, twelve years later, and President Obama is using this AUMF to go after people, some of whom were toddlers on 9-11, which was passed to go after the people responsible for the 9-11 attacks…”
7:54 “But there’s something that no one ever talks about, article two of the Constitution, the commander in chief clauses. Cheney and Rumsfeld believe that that made the president a dictator when it comes to national security policy, and the Obama administration has continued to interpret it that way. So what we’ve really seen is a bipartisan power grab by the executive branch that was legitimized by a Constitutional law professor/Nobel peace prize winning president.”
“The whole war machine is just like one catastrophic threat to the environment writ large” ~ Jeremy Scahill
36:57 “We have an obligation to go to the other side of the barrel of the gun and talk to the people that we’re being told are our enemies…. We have an obligation to tell the stories of people in countries around the world who are impacted by our policies. in operations paid for with our money, and that telling their story is part of fighting for the future of our country too.”
“What we’ve really seen is a bipartisan power grab by the executive branch that was legitimized by a Constitutional law professor/Nobel peace prize winning president” ~ Jeremy Scahill
“And I think that’s what good journalism does, it’s twofold, it gives voice to the voiceless and it holds those in power accountable. And at the end of the day what I want this book to be is actionable intelligence for citizens to make- it’s an intelligence term – I want it to be actionable intelligence that people can use to inform their decisions on what the policy should be or shouldn’t be and decide whether they want to get off their butt and try to do something about it.”
“Empathy is a powerful powerful force, and at the end of the day I think that empathy results in people standing up for themselves and standing up for others.” ~ Jeremy Scahill
Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield book signing
Report by James George
‘May 23 (Reuters) – A tax on carbon dioxide emissions could help the United States mitigate climate change while significantly increasing government revenue, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said this week.’
via U.S. carbon tax could boost revenue, curb climate change – report | Reuters.
‘MOUNTAIN VIEW — The world is fast approaching a tipping point after which the damage caused by climate change can’t be undone, Gov. Jerry Brown told a technology summit Thursday.’