Monthly Archives: February 2011

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities initiative today announced the expansion of the ongoing collaboration with the National Parks Service’s Climate Friendly Parks program. The goal of this new partnership is to reduce air pollution and preserve the environment and the National Parks’ natural resources. Clean Cities has been working with the National...
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George Soros is launching a new investment fund that plans to profit off of the “green energy” boom, which is entirely dependent on government subsidies supported by the groups Soros funds. As the press release puts it, this fund will “leverage technology and business model innovation to improve energy efficiency, reduce waste and emissions,...
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NationalGeographic- Even a regional nuclear war could spark “unprecedented” global cooling and reduce rainfall for years, according to U.S. government computer models. Widespread famine and disease would likely follow, experts speculate. During the Cold War a nuclear exchange between superpowers—such as the one feared for years between the United States and the former Soviet...
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On Monday, dense smog blanketed the city of Beijing, China. It was so bad that the hazardous air pollution exceeded measurable levels, forcing Chinese officials to urge residents to stay indoors. Official measurements indicated that the smog was “beyond index,” plunging below the worst rating on the city’s pollution scale. In an interview with...
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AutoBlogGreen Think the Toyota Prius was the first hybrid automobile ever made? Think again. Honda Insight? Keep guessing. In reality, the world’s first hybrid was designed and built by none other than Ferdinand Porsche, founding father of the present-day Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart. That’s right, the same brain that brought us such...
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Many forget Bill Clinton Launched the largest growth of ethanol The husband of the Secretary of State – who is currently dealing with the American response to unrest in North Aftica and the Middle East – told the attendees that biofuels can affect the political arena by causing food prices to climb. Specifically, he...
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As oil prices race toward $100 a barrel, the expectations that gasoline prices will make a leap are running high. Some traders say $4 a gallon will be a reality in the not-too-distant future, and prices could shoot even higher…. “I don’t think we’re about to embark on a launch pad for another 2008....
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The United States consumes over 10 million barrels of oil per day moving people and goods on roads and rail throughout the country. Surface transportation generates over 23 percent of U.S. anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Transportation is the primary cause of U.S. oil dependence with its attendant risks to U.S. energy security. Contributions...
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This report highlights advances in neuroscience with potential implications for education and lifelong learning. The report authors, including neuroscientists, cognitive psychologists and education specialists, agree that if applied properly, the impacts of neuroscience could be highly beneficial in schools and beyond.  The report argues that our growing understanding of how we learn should play...
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Surprised? Taking drugs makes you crazy… Cannabis is the most widely used addictive substance after tobacco and alcohol. The 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that more than 16 million Americans use cannabis on a regular basis, most of whom started using cannabis and other drugs during their teenage years. There...
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The continuing unrest across the Middle East have pushed oil prices into a “danger zone” that could threaten global economic recovery, the International Energy Agency has warned. Fatih Birol, the IEA’s chief economist, said high prices could put pressure on central banks to raise interest rates, especially in more developed countries such as the...
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SlashDot – “Ira n said on Saturday it is removing the fuel from the reactor of a Russian-built nuclear power plant, a move seen as a big blow to its controversial nuclear program. The plant was first launched by the shah using contractors from Siemens. It was shelved after the Islamic revolution and it...
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Only the richest 5 percent of Americans are back in the stores because their stock portfolios have soared. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has doubled from its crisis low. Wall Street pay is up to record levels. Total compensation and benefits at the 25 major Wall St firms had been $130 billion in 2007,...
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One part of the equation is that demand for food is growing. But there’s another aspect: The clear trend in major regions is for less and less arable land per capita. Thus the only way to get more food is to get more yield from diminishing acres. And that means: more fertilizer! The chart...
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As a nation we are talking about cutting the most fundamental state programs that server and protect our families and communities? But before we do, maybe someone should be looking into the “federal and not state” compensation to control deficit. Since the world is using Wisconsin as a model…. so will I:Wisconsin is fairly...
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Have you heard about Wisconsin’s 16.896? 16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or...
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“Daniel Sayani reports in New American that Senator Mike Enzi plans to introduce legislation to reverse the ban on incandescent light bulbs which is scheduled to go into effect January 1, 2014. ‘CFLs are more expensive, many contain mercury which can be harmful even in the smallest amounts, and most are manufactured overseas in...
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NY Times – More than 4,400 of the nation’s 85,000 dams are susceptible to failure, says the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. However, “repairing all those dams would cost billions of dollars, and it is far from clear who would provide all the money in a recessionary era,” Henry Fountain of The New...
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Wisconsin, Milwaukee and every major metro community screams we want jobs, manufacturing and renewable energy!Well, we have it right here in Wisconsin.  Show your support by joining in at the grand opening of this cutting edge solar manufacturing plant in down town Milwaukee on Monday February 28th. Hope to see you there! Details:Helios Ribbon-Cutting...
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“Quite frankly, the science that I’m looking at says there is no ,” LePage said. “There hasn’t been any science that identifies that there is a problem.” LePage then added: “The only thing that I’ve heard is if you take a plastic bottle and put it in the microwave and you heat it up,...
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Here’s another reason the recent approval of GMO alfalfa and sugar beets was a bad idea: researchers claim that Roundup Ready GE crops contain an organism, completely unknown until now, that has been shown to cause miscarriages in farm animals. The new organism was detected only after researchers observed it using a 36,000X microscope....
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FACT -  the U.S. would only have to bring home 151 troops from Afghanistan to save from Wisconsin’s Budget “Crisis”. Better yet, ending the Afghanistan War altogether would save taxpayers in Wisconsin $1.7 billion this year alone, more than ten times the amount “saved” …Every troop deployed in Afghanistan costs the U.S. $1 million...
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Maybe Hawaii will get a clue “Scientists in Iceland have been studying and utilizing the power of geothermal wells for years. In 2009 one such study hit a standstill when a group ran into magma halfway into their dig. The roadblock has become a blessing in disguise, as recent research has shown that the...
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Discovery – “The United States is curre ntly recovering from a helium isotope crisis that last year sent low-temperature physicists scrambling, sky-rocketed the cost of hospital MRI’s, and threw national security staff out on a search mission for alternate ways to detect dirty bombs. Now the panic is subsiding, what is being done to...
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The Guardian – The threat of solar storms that could wreak havoc on the world’s electronic systems must be taken more seriously, the UK government’s chief scientist has warned. A severe solar storm could damage satellites and power grids around the world, he said, leading to a “global Katrina” costing the world’s economies as...
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Takes only 20 Seconds to explain 2012 Budget never, ever reduces debt… ever. This budget never, ever, ever reduces the debt, is that right?Classic
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Haase - “With all the tools available in America to communicate peacefully and decisively, I am against protesting, but if your going to get angry and stand up for something make it count.“After two years of sending millions from homes to shelters, unemployed to streets and hungry to poverty.Finally,  tens of thousands line the...
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Now the worlds second largest economy, China continues to sell off US treasury’s, leaving Japan as largest U.S. debt holder. While total Fed Credit shot up by an incredible $31 billion dollars last week, which (in the history of new Fed Credit) and that the Fed created the money to buy $28.3 billion in...
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There are a number of factors, both behavioural and environmental, which are thought to play important roles in the current epidemic of obesity.  These range from things like increased soft-drink consumption and decreased physical activity, which are at least nominally under our personal control, to more external factors like viruses, light pollution, and environmental contaminants, over...
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History repeats itself: food riots are breaking out across the poorer nations, the Middle East is in turmoil and Brent crude has passed the $100 mark – 2011 is opening just like 2008 did. It was a significant year in terms of the global economy: social unrest around the world over a spike in...
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Progress??? The 2011 electric car is half as fast as the 1830 stage coach  In its obsessive desire to promote the virtues of electric cars, the BBC proudly showed us last week how its reporter Brian Milligan was able to drive an electric Mini from London to Edinburgh in a mere four days —...
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The Financial Times reports from Spain: When Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, the mayor of Madrid, boasted of big reductions in air pollution since he had taken office in 2003, it seemed a moment for the city’s residents to celebrate an environmental breakthrough. “Today we have better air quality in Madrid than ever before,” Mr Ruiz-Gallardón proclaimed....
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AutoBlogGreen presented the  “ACEEE Greenest Vehicles of 2011″ These are “Epic Fail” compared to 1985 – Think of consumer price and environmental impact to produce these… then the lifetime maintenance and gas – FAIL! I only noted these cars, because I drove them all over the years loaded with friends, family, pets and gear....
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Not just the Midwest … but why the Mid-Atlantic Can Be the ‘Persian Gulf of Offshore Wind Energy’ The region could provide nearly a third of U.S. energy demand with wind turbines…a vision that goes far beyond rhetoric to encapsulate a future of limitless, clean, healthy, secure and 100-percent American energy. It’s the “Persian Gulf...
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This has been done for decades…. does “figure out” mean read and produce same results? Mrs. Robinson, “the future is plastics” ; -) The majority of the time the process requires more energy and raw materials than beneficial, but scale and application is everything. PopSci - A Japanese inventor has figured out a way...
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U.S. EPA News -  President Barack Obama today announced the administration’s action plan, under the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, to achieve lasting conservation of the outdoor spaces that power our nation’s economy, shape our culture, and build our outdoor traditions. “With children spending half as much time outside as their parents did, and with...
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Historic news of Chevron was fined nearly $9 billion, one of the largest awards for environmental damage ever, for polluting the Ecuadorean Amazon with more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater. But the New York Times ran an interesting story today about how the case is not going to be a simple matter...
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The countryside of northern Mexico Hardest hit was the northwestern state of Sinaloa, known as the “Bread Basket of Mexico,” where about 750,000 acres of corn crops were reportedly destroyed after unusually cold temperatures blanketed the north of the country in January and early February. Altogether, more than 1.5 million acres of corn, vegetable,...
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NASA – Earth-Directed Solar Flare… Sunspot AR1158 is growing rapidly and poses a threat for Earth-directed M-flares – NASA
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Einstein was not always wrong…Telegraph The bee crisis has been treated as a niche concern until now, but as the UN’s index of food prices hits an all time-high, it is becoming urgent to know whether the plight of the honey bee risks further exhausting our food security. Almost a third of global farm...
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A sharp rise in food prices since June has pushed 44 million people in developing countries into extreme poverty — having to live on less than $1.25 a day — according to a new study by the World Bank. The bank’s price index soared 29 percent from January 2010 to January 2011 (15 percent...
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The proposed budget cut to remove home heating assistance for low income is about the same as the cost of fighting one more week in Afghanistan. Although when you add in the many hidden costs like increased long-term veteran’s health care due to the conflicts, their sacrifice is probably only really going to cover...
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“I exercise regularly. I eat moderate amounts of healthy food. I make sure to get plenty of rest. I see my doctor once a year and my dentist twice a year. I floss every night. I’ve had chest x-rays, cardio stress tests EKGs and colonoscopies. I see a psychologist and have a variety of...
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A cryptogon reader asked if there was a better way of storing energy for an off grid house than the ancient and familiar lead acid battery bank. Knowing that there really isn’t, I thought I’d try to be funny, so I said, “How about a big flywheel?” To my surprise, the guy wrote back...
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All the talks are just talks until we choose to make the choices to save ourselves from ourselves. See BRILLIANT chart by Doug Ross below The Blaze – We are still five days away from the unveiling of the President’s 2012 Budget, yet the number-crunching and long-term analysis are in full swing.  Senator Rand...
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Bloomberg  The new budget proposed cutting the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget 13 percent to $8.97 billion as the agency faces Republican demands to limit its funding and authority. The fiscal 2012 budget proposed today is a $1.3 billion reduction from 2010, the last time federal agencies had an enacted budget. It calls for cutting...
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JetsonONgreen  “material of the year award  for Novacem‘s “carbon negative” cement.  The product is being touted with increasing frequency and — it would seem from the literature — has the potential to change the world of concrete in 2014-15 when it hits the market. One impressive aspect of Novacem cement is that it’s supposed...
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The Department of Defense recently estimated that the geothermal potential on U.S. military facilities alone is a cool 926 gigawatts. … geothermal could play a significant role in our domestic energy future. A new geothermal power plant has come online in Nevada – New Geothermal Power Plant Shows What the U.S. Can Do. A...
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Wow protesting not welcome from the national state of hippies??? LA Times = Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich is throwing the book at dozens of people arrested during recent political demonstrations — a major shift in city policy that has him pressing for jail time in types of cases that previous prosecutors had...
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Is it possible California is taking and turn in the right direction?Regardless, he is making a show of it. Passengers did a double take on Southwest Flight 896 from Sacramento to Burbank on Thursday when they saw California Gov. Jerry Brown sitting among them – sans entourage – on his first trip to Los...
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The growing nation debt and budget numbers are hard to grasp in an era of insurmountable debt, loss of entitlements, jobs and homes. Not only is the property of our nation at risk, but the very foundation of the people who defend our rights to freedom and liberty if we do not make choices...
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Each year, the world demands more grain, and this year the world’s farms will not produce it. Washington Post – World food prices have surged above the food crisis levels of 2008. Millions more people will be malnourished, and hundreds of millions who are already hungry will eat less or give up other necessities....
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“Chinese hackers working regular business hours shifts stole sensitive intellectual property from energy companies for as long as four years using relatively unsophisticated intrusion methods in an operation dubbed ‘Night Dragon,’ according to a new report from security vendor McAfee.” - SlashDot
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IF you could prove you achieved 99% Efficiency… they would give you a Billion dollars.PopSci Dr. Stefan Siegel reviews the wave height in the Aeronautics Laboratory’s 1:300 scale experimental wave tank at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The Department of Energy has funded additional testing at a larger scale. Using a small tank of...
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Eyjafjallajoekull emitted an estimated 15,000 tons of CO2 a day and shut down air traffic for weeks…What do you think this could do? The Telegraph - Geologists detected the high risk of a new eruption after evaluating an increased swarm of earthquakes around the island’s second largest volcano. ….he said there was “every reason...
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) will present a webcast on Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) on Thursday, March 3, 2011.  If you are a Federal energy professional and have heard about ESPCs – but thought they were too complex or beyond your reach – tune in for a...
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Join the p2tech next week for a free web inar. The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute (NYSP2I) at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has undertaken a new initiative to assist the manufacturing sector in reducing their energy and environmental costs.  The Lean, Energy and Environment (LE2) program consists of utilizing engineering tools to...
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Here is a waste-to-energy power plant in Copenhagen, Denmark, that blows smoke rings and has a ski slope. Source
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Just when you thought you had nothing more to give.First investors made a run on your home, then your 401k… your pantry is next. “Today, the government decides and they misdirect the investment to their friends in the corn industry or the food industry. Think how many taxpayer dollars have been spent on corn...
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Profiting on Poverty In these hard times, some 43 million American families rely on food stamps. To the surprise of many, JPMorgan Chase is the largest processor of food stamp benefits in the United States. The bank is contracted to provide food stamp debit cards in 26 U.S. states and the District of Columbia....
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Communities in control and protecting their local resources and environment …a small northern California town of 3,500 residents nestled in the foothills of magnificent Mount Shasta, is taking on corporate power through an unusual process-democracy. The citizens of Mt. Shasta have developed an extraordinary ordinance, set to be voted on in the next special...
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Boing2 – Popular Mechanics interviews Bill Nye the Science Guy on the state of US science education (Nye: “It’s horrible.”). He’s anxious that science education ramps up too late (“Nearly every rocket scientist got interested in it before they were 10.”) and, of course, that teachers are intimidated out of teaching the good science...
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“The US government today took a bold step toward perhaps finally getting some offshore wind energy development going with $50 million in investment money and the promise of renewed effort to develop the energy source. The plan focuses on overcoming three key challenges (PDF) that have made offshore wind energy practically non-existent in the...
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Like our soy crops, China desperately needs our Corn… why would we throw it away to fill up our SUV’s? Financial Times Corn prices – and with them, the price of meat – are set to explode if the latest import estimates from China are correct. Last year, Beijing recorded its largest imports of...
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Only a year ago, the Administration committed $300 million for Great Lakes cleanup designed to ward off species invasions, cleanse polluted harbors and make other environmental NEEDED repairs …noting that much of the money from previous years budget was already diverted to another urgent Great Lakes need: the fight against the Asian carp that...
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Business Insider Tracked in last years posts Russian company control of U.S uranium mines The coming nuclear financial disaster IAEA Forms Nuclear Fuel Bank Russian owners take over large U.S. Uranium supply – Nuclear Safe & Secure? Uranium – The Next Blood Diamond Unless new breed of reactors are used ‘peak uranium’ will implode...
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The California Air Resources Board violated state environmental law in 2008 when it adopted a comprehensive plan to reduce greenhouse gases and again last year when it passed cap-and-trade regulations, a San Francisco Superior Court judge has ruled in a tentative decision. If the decision is made final, California would be barred from implementing...
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Dr. Calvin B. Bridges, a biologist from California, designed his car for lightness and speed. Weighing just 700 pounds, his vehicle was powered by a motorcycle engine and was expected to run 60 miles per hour. A gallon of gasoline could power it through 50 to 70 miles of travel. Like the Velodye, Bridges’...
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Wide swathes of northern China are suffering through their worst drought in 60 years — a dry spell that could have a serious economic impact worldwide if it continues much longer, experts say. Some areas have gone 120 days without any significant rainfall, leaving more than five million hectares (12.4 million acres) of crops...
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“About two-thirds of adults and one-third of children in this country are overweight or obese. This adds to our health care bill, promotes the early onset of illness, and contributes to the incidence of deadly disease.“ If the government’s latest guidelines for how to eat healthy could be boiled down to a simple directive,...
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BloomBerg (AP) — Wisconsin’s Legislature will not take up Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to toughen wind turbine regulations… The governor’s spokesman Cullen Werwie said Thursday that he instead will work with lawmakers to achieve the goals of the measure through a change to Public Service Commission rules instead of a new law. The bill...
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As the market rallies making historic gains on energy, food, shelter and clothing commodities Food Prices Hit New World Record…Global food prices have hit a new record high, amid fears that the escalating cost of bread and meat …The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) gave warning that the high prices, already...
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It can be safely argued that the biggest threat to life on this planet is ignorance, – Bob Parks … The lights over most of the Northeastern United States and parts of Canada began to flicker at 4:11 pm on Thursday, August 14, 2003. It was the start of the most extensive electrical blackout...
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Bloomberg  Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, introduced legislation that suspends for two years U.S. carbon-dioxide regulations for power plants and other industrial polluters. Rockefeller has led an effort among Senate Democrats to suspend EPA rules that he said will burden businesses and hurt the economy. The Democrat has said the two-year delay...
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NY Times “If I die,” he added, “this is for my country.” It turned out that Amr had lost his legs many years ago in a train accident, but he rolled his wheelchair into Tahrir Square to show support for democracy, hurling rocks back at the mobs that President Hosni Mubarak apparently sent to...
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As part of an effort to improve energy education, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking information to develop an energy literacy framework. The goal of this initiative is to compile a set of national standards for energy literacy, which can then be used to improve understanding of energy, energy sources, generation, use,...
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How China Changed to world…   It is known that Genghis Khan killed nearly 40 million people and created the world’s largest slave empire. But new research by Julia Pongratz of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology tries to explain how his genocide “actually helped the Earth”??? Monogabay “It’s a common misconception that the...
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Are we to “follow the lead of failing nations” and further utilize fear and greed to ration and control people? Instilling the idea that we should model Europes corrupt climate and energy policies or even “side with China” to control U.S. resources? Wonder if Hansen & Europe want to be controlled by Chinese style...
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The co-originator of permaculture is upbeat on the prospects for apiculture as a sustainable and resilient livelihood in the future. Bees are livestock that free range up to 2km from home across all boundaries and barriers, harvesting nectar and pollen sources using their own amazing intelligence and communication. Honey is a compact, self preserving...
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Millions of kids are on ADHD meds and other mental drugs for conduct disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, mood disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, mixed manias, social phobia, anxiety, and assorted “spectrum” disorders. But according to new data from IMS health in a Wall Street Journal article, just as many kids are being treated...
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From The Pump Handle … scientists and policy analysts refuse to accept we have to live in a world where parents are worried about toxic toys, or companies feel forced to choose between earning profits and protecting the environment.  Leave it to LCSP researchers to describe six cases of systemic worker health and safety...
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WDNR -  Wisconsin businesses will gain access to some of the nation’s leading strategists on how to improve their bottom line and their environmental performance through a new council of businesses, investment experts, academics, nongovernmental organizations and government agencies. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is a founding member of the newly formed Stewardship...
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The Energy From Thorium blog reports, that The People’s Republic of China has initiated a research and development project in thorium molten-salt reactor technology, it was announced in the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) annual conference on Tuesday, January 25. An article in the Wenhui News followed on Wednesday (Google English translation). Chinese researchers...
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OSHA QuickTakes Two Illinois grain handling facilities fined more than $1.3 million after three workers are fatally engulfed in storage bins OSHA withdraws proposed interpretation on occupational noise and examines other approaches to prevent work-related hearing loss Revised National Emphasis Program expands worker protection against exposure to harmful food flavorings OSHA temporarily withdraws proposed...
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