Ice is melting in the Arctic at one of the fastest rates in human history. Researchers and climate scientists monitoring ice melt in the Arctic have started using the ominous term “death spiral” to describe what’s happening at the top of the world.
Energy
Finding innovative solutions to supplying efficient, clean, safe, renewable and reliable energy for electrical power, transportation, heating and cooling. We look at problems created from the addiction to dirty fossil fuel energy, mountaintop removal and ecosystem disruption, global climate change, severe air and water pollution, and community dislocation and pollution, Extreme methods such as hydraulic fracturing (fracking), tar sands, hydroelectric dams and other damaging methods and sources are examined.
Valero Moves to Ship Tar Sands By Rail into LA Harbor
Valero Energy seeks permits for large-scale shipments of low-quality tar sands oil via rail into their Port of Los Angeles refinery, without any public comment or environmental review. As part of a larger move to transport climate-disrupting unconventional crude to ports for refining and export to the world, it presents dangers given recent rail accidents, the corrosive nature of tar sands bitumen, and the significant pollution that surrounding communities already live with.
Sustainable Cellulosic Ethanol: Expensive Process, Political Challenges
Imagine a future in which airliners run on cornstalks and Navy ships ply the oceans on tanks of switchgrass. That day may be in sight but challenges remain to scale up production, reduce costs and political opposition, and ensure a sustainably produced feedstock.
Big Oil Looks to Transport Tar Sands and Oil Shale By Rail
The boom in North Dakota shale oil and the growth in Alberta tar sands, as well as the political costs of building pipelines has encouraged a move to ship more oil by rail. The move comes after high-profile disasters and the threat of massive climate disruption has caused heightened scrutiny of unconventional oil shipped by train to the global market.
Draw the Line on Tar Sands and Climate Change – Sept 21
Join SoCal Climate Action Coalition 350 and Tar Sands Action SoCal to Draw the Line Against Extreme Fossil Fuels on September 21st!
Idle No More LA: Poetry and Prayer at Petroleum Conference
Idle No More Los Angeles offered drumming, prayer, poetry, and healing at the September 3rd protest at the downtown Pacific Oil Conference and Trade Show. Called “The Western Summit” for petroleum marketers, around 50 people demonstrated peacefully, holding down the corner of a busy thoroughfare of LA Live! for three hours, in the shadow of the towering new Marriott-Ritz Carlton.
Clean Energy Possibilities, Amory Lovins Interviewed By Arnie Gunderson
Arnie Gunderson of Fairewinds interviews Amory Lovins, preeminent environmental thinker and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute. With forty years of energy policy experience, Amory Lovins has dedicated himself to the idea that our energy future does not have to look like our energy past. Listen in as Arnie and Amory discuss transitioning towards a clean energy economy in the US and around the world.