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Submission + - Earth Protection Returns to NASA (nasa.gov)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: A press release announcing 2014 is the warmest year on record ends this way: "NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from land, air and space with a fleet of satellites, as well as airborne and ground-based observation campaigns. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing. The agency shares this unique knowledge with the global community and works with institutions in the United States and around the world that contribute to understanding and protecting our home planet."

Back in 2006, that language about protecting the Earth was dropped from NASA's mission statement. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07... Welcome back!

Comment Mistaken View (Score 1) 441

by mdsolar (#48828587) Attached to: Why We Have To Kiss Off Big Carbon Now
A high price would allow using the resource more slowly, but it does not support keeping it in the ground, in fact, just the opposite. It is clear that the only oil we can still burn is oil that cost very little to produce, so a cap on the price of oil is what is really what would work to keep from burning too much. http://www.nature.com/nature/j...

Submission + - Why We Have to Kiss Off Big Carbon Now (rollingstone.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: When the fossil-fuel divestment movement first stirred on college campuses three years ago, you could almost hear Big Oil and Wall Street laughing. Crude prices were flirting with $100 a barrel, and domestic oil production, from Texas to North Dakota, was in the midst of a historic boom. But the quixotic campus campaign suddenly has the smell of smart money.

One of the biggest names in the history of Big Oil – the Rockefellers – announced last September that they would be purging the portfolio of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund of "risky" oil investments. And that risk has been underscored by the sudden collapse of the oil market. After cresting at more than $107 in mid-June, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate dipped below $50 a barrel in early January. The crash carries big costs: Goldman Sachs warned that nearly $1 trillion in planned oil-field investments would be unprofitable – even if oil were to stabilize at $70 per barrel.

Comment Re:Turning the other cheek (Score 1) 894

by mdsolar (#48820417) Attached to: Pope Francis: There Are Limits To Freedom of Expression
"But I tell you not to resist an evildoer. On the contrary, whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well." Matt. 5:39. I think you are correct, the Pope has made a mistake about what is expected of him. But, I think he has made a second mistake equating a verbal attack on a religion with a personal insult too. The personal insult is an opportunity to love your enemy and imitate Christ. The insult of a religion is much more a matter for leaving vengeance to God. In the case of the personal insult, throwing a punch is a failure to keep your temper and failing to be strong in serving God through love. It is a temporary lapse. The second case involves an extra step of appointing oneself God's instrument of vengeance. This is a prideful and much more intentional move. Pride is a much more damaging thing to succumb to compared to temper. Ultimately, this has little to do with freedom of expression and much to do with very different dangers to the soul of the person reacting to the expression. Freedom of expression has little to do with either example since it is governments which guarantee that. And, a charge of assault for the punch and murder and conspiracy for the vengeance turn out to be the practical responses of government, pretty much regardless of the occasion of the crimes.

Submission + - New Rules on Oil and Gas Industry's Methane Emissions (nytimes.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: In President Obama’s latest move using executive authority to tackle climate change, administration officials will announce plans this week to impose new regulations on the oil and gas industry’s emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, according to a person familiar with Mr. Obama’s plans. The administration’s goal is to cut methane emissions from oil and gas production by up to 45 percent by 2025 from the levels recorded in 2012.

The Environmental Protection Agency will issue the proposed regulations this summer, and final regulations by 2016, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the administration had asked the person not to speak about the plan. The White House declined to comment on the effort.

Environmental advocates have long urged the Obama administration to target methane emissions, and the rules would be the first to do so. Most of the planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution in the United States comes from carbon dioxide, which is produced by burning coal, oil and natural gas. Methane, which leaks from oil and gas wells, accounts for just 9 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas pollution — but it is over 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, so even small amounts of it can have a big impact on global warming.

Submission + - 300 Stanford professors call for full fossil fuel divestment (blueandgreentomorrow.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: Some 300 professors from Stanford University, California, have called for the school to fully divest from the fossil fuels industry, arguing that the magnitude of climate change calls for a thorough commitment, not a partial solution.

In May last year, the board of trustees at the prestigious university decided not to make any more direct investments in coal mining companies, stating that the energy source is polluting and no longer necessary given the clean alternatives now available. The school also said it would divest from the holdings it currently owns in such firms.

However, professors at the university are now calling for the school to get rid of all fossil fuel investments.

A letter from the professors, which has been published in the Guardian, notes that companies currently own fossil fuel holdings sufficient to produce 2,795 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide – five times the amount recommended if global warming is to remain with the 2C limit, past which scientists have warned that the effects of climate change will become more extreme and unpredictable.

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