Tag Archives: gen-

Republican Representative Paul Gosar suggests that photosynthesis discredits climate change

by VeldaMarcell Posted on February 28, 2019

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Representative Paul Gosar had a packed schedule on Wednesday. First, the Republican from Arizona called Michael Cohen a “liar, liar pants on fire,” at Cohen’s Congressional hearing, then chaired a forum full of climate deniers talking about the Green New Deal, and later suggested that photosynthesis discredits global warming at a press conference.

Gosar isn’t the only one going nuts. The progressive fervor over the Green New Deal has flipped some kind of switch for some climate-denying members of the House. Not in a “wow, maybe we should do something about climate change” kind of way, more like “let’s double down on ignoring evidence!”

That’s right, folks, the looming threat of actual climate action has caused a meltdown the likes of which we haven’t seen since former Senator Jim Inhofe brandished a snowball on the Senate floor as proof that global warming isn’t real.

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The Western Caucus, a conservative group, hosted a press conference on the Capitol steps to take a stand against the Green New Deal. Gosar took a question from a young man in the crowd.

“My generation is the one that’s going to deal with this catastrophe that’s impending. What is it that you are doing to prevent carbon dioxide emissions?” he asked the Arizona Republican.

“Unfortunately you haven’t been taught about photosynthesis,” Gosar replied. “Photosynthesis is where plants take carbon dioxide to produce oxygen. That’s a problem in today’s world. We haven’t taught kids exactly what’s going on in America and in science.”

The problem, of course, is that we’re putting more CO2 into the atmosphere than plants can handle.

At that same event, Representative Rob Bishop from Utah unwrapped and consumed a hamburger in protest of the progressive plan to slash CO2 and methane emissions. Apparently, he thinks the sponsors of the Green New Deal are plotting to ban cows.

“Before they take it away from me,” Bishop said, before biting into his burger. Relax, Rob, your hamburgers are safe … for now.

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Republican Representative Paul Gosar suggests that photosynthesis discredits climate change

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Nitrogen pollution is a problem as big as climate change. Science might have a fix.

by JoellenPr Posted on August 16, 2018

Some think nitrogen pollution may be the greatest danger we face. The Stockholm Resilience Center, an organization that examines the largest threats to natural life-support systems, considers our overuse of nitrogen a more extreme risk to life on Earth than climate change.

But a new paper, published in the journal Nature this week, uncovered a way that we could keep millions of tons of nitrogen fertilizer from evaporating into  the atmosphere and running into the oceans.

Nitrogen is a basic building block of our food, so farmers spread tons of the stuff — in the form of manure, compost, and synthetic fertilizer — on their fields. But only half of this nitrogen makes it into plants. The rest gets chewed up by hungry soil bacteria and turned into a greenhouse gas 300 times worse than carbon dioxide, or gets washed into waterways where it fuels an explosion of algae growth that turns into lakes and oceans into gloopy, oxygen-starved dead zones.

It’s a massive problem that doesn’t get enough attention. If the Earth were a spaceship [eds note: isn’t it?], the control panel’s nitrogen light would be flashing red.

The Stockholm Resilience Center’s estimation of planetary boundariesF. Pharand-Deschênes/Globaïa

Humans accelerated the nitrogen disaster during the “green revolution” of the 1960s with the worldwide adoption of fertilizer-hungry crops. These replaced strains of wheat, rice, and other grains that grew more slowly and conservatively. Grain harvests more than doubled in two decades, but clouds of pollution spread into the air and water. It seemed like a vicious tradeoff.

But this new research suggests that crops can be nitrogen-hoarding and high-yielding at the same time. Before this study came out, it seemed like we had to choose between frugal crops that grow slowly and hoard nitrogen, and spendthrift crops that grow quickly require extravagant nitrogen.

What had looked like a trade-off may simply have been a mistake. The scientists identified a gene that inhibits nitrogen absorption in rice, which had become hyperactive in high-yielding strains, and figured out how to counteract it. This gene (metaphorically) shouts, “Don’t suck up nitrogen!” Through breeding, scientists were able to turn down the volume of this shout to a whisper. The result is high-yielding rice that needs less fertilizer.

A rice-breeding program to bring this breakthrough to farmers is underway in China, where nitrogen pollution is especially bad. It will take about five years before we really know if this works for farmers outside of greenhouses and test plots. If it does, it might change that nitrogen warning on spaceship earth’s dashboard from red to yellow.

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Nitrogen pollution is a problem as big as climate change. Science might have a fix.

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Swamp Watch – 1 December 2016

by ZVJArletha Posted on December 1, 2016

Mother Jones

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The Washington Post says Donald Trump will pick Gen. James Mattis as his Secretary of Defense. I gather Mattis is pretty well respected, though I continue to believe that Trump himself was swayed solely by his “Mad Dog” nickname.

Mattis will need a special exemption from Congress, since he’s only been retired from the military for three years rather than the legally required seven. That will probably sail through, though I sort of hope it runs into at least a few bumps. I don’t have anything against Mattis, but the 7-year rule is a pretty good one. Civilian control of the military is an important tradition.

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Swamp Watch – 1 December 2016

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Gary Johnson has an out-of-this-world plan to save us from climate change.

by CarmineLawler84 Posted on September 26, 2016

This week, cities mark World Car-Free Day, an annual event to promote biking, walking, mass transit, and other ways to get around sans motor vehicles (Solowheel, anyone?).

Technically, World Car-Free Day was Thursday, September 22, but participating cities are taking the “eh, close enough” approach to get their car-free kicks in on the weekend. Said cities include Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Brussels, Bogotá, Jakarta, Copenhagen, and Paris, where nearly half the city center will be closed to vehicle traffic on Sunday.

But going car-free, municipally speaking, is becoming more of a regular trend than an annual affair: Mexico City closes 35 miles of city streets to cars every Sunday; the Oslo city government proposed a ban on private vehicles in the city center after 2019; and in Paris, the government is allowed to limit vehicles if air pollution rises above health-threatening levels.

But even if your city isn’t officially participating in World Car-Free Day, you can be the change you want to see in your own metropolis. And by that, we mean: Just leave your keys at home. Horrible, no good things happen in cars.

Continued – 

Gary Johnson has an out-of-this-world plan to save us from climate change.

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Grass-fed beef sales jumped 40 percent in 2015.

by RoxanaSaunders Posted on September 22, 2016

This week, cities mark World Car-Free Day, an annual event to promote biking, walking, mass transit, and other ways to get around sans motor vehicles (Solowheel, anyone?).

Technically, World Car-Free Day was Thursday, September 22, but participating cities are taking the “eh, close enough” approach to get their car-free kicks in on the weekend. Said cities include Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Brussels, Bogotá, Jakarta, Copenhagen, and Paris, where nearly half the city center will be closed to vehicle traffic on Sunday.

But going car-free, municipally speaking, is becoming more of a regular trend than an annual affair: Mexico City closes 35 miles of city streets to cars every Sunday; the Oslo city government proposed a ban on private vehicles in the city center after 2019; and in Paris, the government is allowed to limit vehicles if air pollution rises above health-threatening levels.

But even if your city isn’t officially participating in World Car-Free Day, you can be the change you want to see in your own metropolis. And by that, we mean: Just leave your keys at home. Horrible, no good things happen in cars.

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Grass-fed beef sales jumped 40 percent in 2015.

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Volkswagen says it’s cleaning up its emissions, this time for reals

by AdolfoBourget Posted on August 4, 2016

Sorry (I Ain’t Sorry)

Volkswagen says it’s cleaning up its emissions, this time for reals

By on Aug 4, 2016Share

What’s a car company to do when its name becomes synonymous with dirty emissions? If you’re Volkswagen, seek redemption.

This week, the German auto manufacturer announced the rollout of air pollution-cutting filters on 7 million of its new cars. The particulate filters, which should cut soot by 90 percent by 2022, will cause “significant reduction” in vehicles’ emissions, according to the company. Beginning in 2017, the Volkswagen Tiguan and the Audi A5 will sport the new filters.

This is a change — or, at the very least, a mea culpa — for the company whose environmental track record was demolished in the wake of a massive emissions regulations cheating scandal uncovered in 2015. The rigged emissions tests that Volkswagen programmed for 11 million cars released as much as 41,000 tons of nitrogen oxides (a group of gases that contribute to air pollution) into the air annually. They also earned the company multiple investigations into its emissions practices, a drop in stock prices, and, most recently, a lawsuit brought by the German state of Bavaria.

With the new filters, can we believe that Volkswagen is really turning a new, greener leaf? It’s a possibility — but not a guarantee.

Election Guide ★ 2016Making America Green AgainOur experts weigh in on the real issues at stake in this electionGet Grist in your inbox

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Volkswagen says it’s cleaning up its emissions, this time for reals

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The Five Best Moments of the Republican Convention: Monday Edition

by FHHJeanett Posted on July 19, 2016

Mother Jones

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Well, these were my favorite parts of today’s festivities, anyway:

  1. Rep. Steve King on CNN talking about the greatness of white people: “Where did any other sub-group of people contribute to civilization?”
  2. Soap opera star Antonio Sabato Jr. on Twitter after his speech: Obama is “absolutely” a Muslim.
  3. A chant on the convention floor after Gen. Michael Flynn attacks Hillary Clinton: “Lock her up, lock her up….”
  4. Rudy Giuliani on how Trump will make America great again: “He will lead by leading.”
  5. Former Happy Days star Scott Baio defending a crudely offensive tweet about Hillary Clinton after his speech: “You make of it what you want.”

Continued here – 

The Five Best Moments of the Republican Convention: Monday Edition

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Duke Energy will have to clean up its filthy coal ash sites … eventually

by EfrenGDFDgoxeo Posted on May 19, 2016

Duke Energy will have to clean up its filthy coal ash sites … eventually

By on May 19, 2016Share

Duke Energy is finally being ordered to clean up its coal-ash ponds in North Carolina — more than two years after one of them leaked 40,000 tons of toxic muck into the Dan River. But it has eight years to get the job done, and the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) hopes to give the company even more flexibility.

Duke, the nation’s largest electric utility, has 33 sites around the state where it dumps toxic ash waste from its coal-fired power plants, and some of the sites are believed to be leaking hazardous chemicals into nearby water supplies. For a year, hundreds of households near coal ash ponds were told not to drink water from their wells, which was found to have high levels on a known carcinogen. This spring, they were told they could resume drinking the water, even though it hadn’t been cleaned up. (We wrote more about this earlier this week.)

In a proposal released on Wednesday, DEQ said Duke should excavate and close eight of the most dangerous coal ash sites by 2019, and the 25 others by 2025. But DEQ is asking the state legislature to be allowed to reconsider the timeline in 18 months. The agency has been accused of being lenient on Duke; last year, DEQ lowered the utility’s fine for the big 2014 spill from $25 million to $7 million.

Duke CEO Lynn Goode said the cost of the cleanup could be as high as $4 billion — and the company would seek to pass that cost on to the state’s residents. “It’s fair to say that if we have to excavate all of our basins, it would be significantly higher costs for our customers,” Goode said during a conference call with reporters.

Environmentalists say the DEQ’s recommendations don’t go far enough. “DEQ just ducked its responsibility and punted it into the future,” said Peter Harrison, attorney for the Waterkeeper Alliance. “As usual, North Carolina’s so-called leadership has shown it lacks the courage to stand up to powerful polluters, even when people’s health is at stake.”

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Duke Energy will have to clean up its filthy coal ash sites … eventually

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The Truth About Styrofoam (Infographic)

by SadyeFalkocazyv Posted on December 13, 2015

You know that awful squeaking sound that styrofoam makes when it touches just about anything? That’s a warning sound for us all.

During the holiday season, several items you purchase may be packaged in styrofoam. While you certainly can’t control exactly what packaging a company decides to use, you can make your voice heard by creating a petition to ban usage of styrofoam or sign a current petition.

Why might you want styrofoam banned in your state or country? It can take up to 500 years to decompose. Less than one percent is recycled. There’s a human health impact because styrofoam contains a known carcinogen, benzene. Furthermore, there are so many alternatives to the plastic foam that we can do without it. Read more about the impacts of styrofoam in this infographic from Wheels for Wishes.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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The Truth About Styrofoam (Infographic)

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Monsanto’s Stock Is Tanking. Is the Company’s Own Excitement About GMOs Backfiring?

by KLWDolliectvpb Posted on October 9, 2015

Mother Jones

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Pity Monsanto, the genetically modified seed and agrichemical giant. Its share price has plunged 25 percent since the spring. Market prices for corn and soybeans are in the dumps, meaning Monsanto’s main customers—farmers who specialize in those crops—have less money to spend on its pricey seeds and flagship herbicide (which recently got named a “probable carcinogen” by the World Health organization, spurring lawsuits).

Monsanto’s long, noisy attempt to buy up rival pesticide giant Syngenta crumbled into dust last month. And Wednesday, Monsanto reported quarterly revenues and profits that sharply underperformed Wall Street expectations. For good measure, it also sharply lowered its profit projections for the year ahead.

In response to these unhappy trends, the company announced it was slashing 2,600 jobs, 12 percent of its workforce, and spending $3 billion to buy back shares. Share buybacks are a form of financial (as opposed to genetic) engineering—they magically boost a company’s earnings-per-share ratio (a metric closely watched by investors) simply by removing shares from the market. And buybacks divert money from things like R&D—or keeping a company’s workforce whole—and into the pockets of shareholders.

In a conference call with investors (transcript), Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant put a positive spin on the company’s prospects. “Our germplasm performance has never been better, our trait technology has continued to leap and our market position and pipeline remains strong,” he declared. But later, he hit upon a theme that became obvious when Monsanto was stalking Syngenta: that Monsanto’s leadership feels the company is too invested in high-tech seeds, and underinvested in old-fashioned pesticides. (The market for Syngenta owns the globe’s leading position.)

In the call, Jeff Zekauskas, an analyst with JP MorganChase, asked Grant whether Monsanto was still interested in boosting its pesticide portfolio by buying a competitor. Grant’s answer was essentially yes: “We still believe in the opportunity of integrated solutions,” i.e., selling more pesticides along with seeds. He added:

We’ve got a 400 million acre seed technology footprint. We’ve seen time and time again that we can increase revenue and improve grower service by bringing chemistry up on that footprint.

Translation: Our patented seeds and traits are sown on 400 million acres worldwide (about four times the size of California), and if we could sell more pesticides (chemistry) to the people who farm those acres, we could make more money. Later, he noted:

We continue to see duplication in R&D in the sector. We continue to see the low effectiveness of R&D with some of our competitors and we continue to think that consolidation in this space is inevitable.

Translation: Research-and-development investments in the ag-biotech/agrichemical sector aren’t paying off—not enough blockbuster new products—so the few companies remaining in the field (there are six) are going to start swallowing each other up.

Massive layoffs, share buybacks, dreams of buying up the pesticide portfolios of competitors—these aren’t characteristics of a company confident in the long-term profitability of its core technology: the genetic modification of crops.

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Monsanto’s Stock Is Tanking. Is the Company’s Own Excitement About GMOs Backfiring?

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