With toxic black ooze spreading throughout the Gulf of Mexico, it may be time for the Obama administration to think seriously about national energy policy. It could learn plenty by looking across the Atlantic. The average European today emits half the carbon of an average American and uses far less electricity. It takes 40 percent more fuel for an American car to drive a mile than a European car. Europe overall has managed to reduce its ecological footprint to half that of the United States for the same standard of living. How has Europe managed this? Through smart, strategic government policy, working closely with the private sector, to advance incentives and regulations that encourage the necessary behavior from consumers, households and businesses. While the U.S. has resorted to ill-fated strategies to secure more oil – including recent calls for more offshore drilling – the European landscape has been slowly transformed. Picture windmills, tidal turbines and solar panels on rooftops dotting the European landscape, and vast solar arrays with tens of thousands of panels that have tracking technology to follow the sun. Then add ‘smart energy-efficient buildings that monitor the temperature and sunlight to open and close […]
A nearly 25-year study concluded that children raised in lesbian households were psychologically well-adjusted and had fewer behavioral problems than their peers. The study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, followed 78 lesbian couples who conceived through sperm donations and assessed their children’s well-being through a series of questionnaires and interviews. Funding for the research came from several lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy groups, such as the Gill Foundation and the Lesbian Health Fund from the Gay Lesbian Medical Association. Dr. Nanette Gartrell, the author of the study, wrote that the ‘funding sources played no role in the design or conduct of the study.’ ‘My personal investment is in doing reputable research,’ said Gartrell. ‘This is a straightforward statistical analysis. It will stand and it has withstood very rigorous peer review by the people who make the decision whether or not to publish it.’ Gay parenting remains a controversial issue, with debates about topics including the children’s psychological adjustment, their parents’ sexual orientation and adoption restrictions. Wendy Wright, president of the Concerned Women for America, a group that supports biblical values, questioned the legitimacy of the findings from a study funded by gay […]
First Solar, the world’s leading low-cost manufacturer of solar modules, a key part of solar power systems, is reporting that they cannot meet this year’s demand, according to Reuters. Three of China’s largest solar producers-Suntech, Yingli, and Trina-have also announced that they are sold out. At long last, a bit of sunshine for what’s otherwise been a dark six months for the environment. First, last December’s United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Copenhagen was, by all accounts, a bust. The world was waiting for ‘Hopenhagen.’ Instead, we got a cold dose of Nopenhagen. Next, polls showed that the number of Americans who believe climate change is actually occurring has dropped. Same goes for Brits. Thirdly, raise your hand if, in your heart of hearts, you actually believe the United States will pass an energy bill this year. Even if the White House and Capitol Hill manage to coalesce around a passable piece of legislation, will it have any teeth? And don’t forget the underwater Krakatoa gushing crude oil in the Gulf Coast. But fear not, eco-warriors, there is hope-this solar panel shortage is a tiny, but critically important bit of […]
As voters head to the polls Tuesday for a crucial set of primary elections, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds antipathy toward their elected officials rising and anti-incumbent sentiment at an all-time high. The national survey shows that 29 percent of Americans now say they are inclined to support their House representative in November, even lower than in 1994, when voters swept the Democrats out of power in the that chamber after 40 years in the majority. The poll also finds growing disapproval of the ‘tea party’ movement, with half the population now expressing an unfavorable impression of the loosely aligned protest campaign that has shaken up politics this year. And at a time when Republicans anticipate significant gains in House and Senate elections, there is also fresh evidence of the challenges facing the GOP. Six in 10 poll respondents say they have a negative view of the policies put forward by the Republican minority in Congress, and about a third say they trust Republicans over Democrats to handle the nation’s main problems. This sour mood has made for nervous politicians, as candidates from both parties have tried to figure out what voters want — […]
WASHINGTON — BP’s runaway Deepwater Horizon well may be spewing what the company once-called its worst case scenario – 100,000 barrels a day, a member of the government panel told McClatchy Monday. ‘In the data I’ve seen, there’s nothing inconsistent with BP’s worst case scenario,’ Ira Leifer, an associate researcher at the Marine Science Institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a member of the government’s Flow Rate Technical Group, told McClatchy. Leifer said that based on satellite data he’s examined, the rate of flow from the well has been increasing over time, especially since BP’s ‘top kill’ effort failed last month to stanch the flow. The decision last week to sever the well’s damaged riser pipe from the its blowout preventer in order to install a ‘top hat’ containment device has increased the flow still more _ far more, Leifer said, than the 20 percent that BP and the Obama administration predicted. Leifer noted that BP had estimated before the April 20 explosion that caused the leak that a freely flowing pipe from the well would release 100,000 barrels of oil a day in the worst-case scenario. The oil was not freely flowing […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
