Tag Archives: Environment

Mar 03

GLOBAL WARMING CAUSES MORE SEVERE STORMS….

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Research Meteorologists found that the temperature changes brought on by global warming are significant enough to cause an increase in the occurrence of severe storms. Severe storms are those that cause flooding, have damaging winds, hail and could cause tornados. Their study revealed that by the end of this century, the number of days that favor severe storms could more than double certain locations, such as Atlanta and New York. Researchers also found that this increase would occur during typical stormy seasons and not during dry seasons when it may be beneficial.
As new storm forecasts hit home, areas already prone to severe weather need to be on the lookout for more storms. The latest forecast says global warming spells bad news for those areas……………….
HOW STORMS DEVELOP: Storm clouds form as moisture evaporates from the earth into the atmosphere, where the droplets jostle against each other. The air cools off rapidly as it reaches higher altitudes. Sometimes a cold front — the boundary between where the cold air from one air mass meets the surrounding air — will force warm, moist air upward into the colder air. This moist air cools off and the water vapor condenses onto tiny particles in the air, called condensation nuclei, collectively forming clouds. The process continues: more and more water vapor turns into liquid and the moist air warms up even more and rises higher and higher. A thunderstorm results.
WHAT CAUSES LIGHTNING? As more and more water droplets collide inside a cloud, their atoms bounce off each other more forcefully. This knocks off electrons. The ousted electrons gather at the lower portion of the cloud, giving it a negative charge, while the upper part of the cloud becomes positively charged. Eventually the growing negative charge becomes so intense that electrons on the Earth’s surface are repelled and burrow deeper into the Earth. The Earth’s surface becomes positively charged, and hence very attractive to the negative charge accumulating in the bottom of the cloud. All that is needed is a conductive path between cloud and Earth, in the form of ionized air.
ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING: Global warming refers to an average increase in the earth’s temperature, which has risen about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 100 years, and to changes in climate. A warmer earth may lead to changes in rainfall patterns, and a rise in sea level, for example, as the polar glaciers melt. Some of this rise is due to the greenhouse effect: certain gases in the atmosphere trap energy from the sun so that heat can’t escape back into space. Without the greenhouse effect, the earth would be too cold for humans to survive, but if it becomes too strong, the earth could become much warmer, causing problems for humans, plants and animals.
For more of the article and a short video click on:
Aug 03

CONGRESSIONAL THEIVES: PAYBACK SS OVER $2 TRILLION,

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PLUS COMPOUND INTEREST!
OVER THE YEARS CONGRESSIONAL THIEVES AND THEIR RICH SUPPORTERS HAVE STOLEN OVER 2 TRILLION DOLLARS FROM THE SOCIAL SECURITY’S TRUST SURPLUS AND ARE NOW REDUCING TAXES, CITIZEN, COUNTY AND STATE RESOURCES AND BENEFITS TO HIDE THEIR OWN CRIMES.
BOTTOM-LINE: THEY ARE NOW STEALING FROM THE MIDDLE AND LOWER CLASS CITIZENS(including the elderly, sick, untrained, unemployed, etc.) to protect themselves and their rich supporters, corporations, earmarks, etc. and resisting regulations on wall street, banks, corporations, hospitals, protecting the environment, etc; while leaving the average citizens to scape for themselves. -mackie
…..Social Security currently has a $2.6 trillion surplus which has been building  up since the 1983 amendments and is intended to help absorb the retirement of  the baby boomers. This surplus is invested in US Treasury  securities that are backed by the full faith and credit of the US  government. According to the Social Security Trustees 2010 report, Social Security can pay  full benefits until 2037, at which time, if nothing were done to strengthen its  financing, Social Security would still be able to pay about 78 percent of  benefits. This quarter of a century means there is time to strengthen its  financing without cutting benefits for future beneficiaries. The American people  will insist that Congress do what is needed for the program to pay full benefits  and protect these benefits they were promised and have earned..
……….This is what the opponents don’t like. Social Security did not  create the economic problem or the budget deficit. Wall Street and other  government spending did. But the opponents of Social Security  don’t want to pay back all the money that was borrowed from Social Security,  including the interest earned. Instead, they want to cut Social Security  benefits.
Pay Back Social Security — The Government Has Borrowed  More from Social Security than any Other Entity or Foreign  Government
Another argument made by Social Security opponents to raise fear about the  national debt is how much our government has borrowed from China. They never  mention how much our government has borrowed from Social Security. In fact, the  government has borrowed more from the Social Security surplus than it has from  any other source in the world, including China. As a result, Social Security now  “owns” nearly 18 percent of the federal debt, making it the largest single  holder of US debt. The government owes almost twice as much to Social Security  as it does to China and Hong Kong.
Why aren’t the opponents worried about paying back Social Security — why  aren’t they talking about repaying this debt to the American people?
According to the U.S. Treasury Department’s “Monthly Statement of the Public  Debt of the United States” (9.30.10), the total debt was $13.562  trillion and was held as follows:
US Holders of Debt
42.1 % — US Individuals and  Institutions
17.9 % — Social Security Trust  Fund
6.0 % — US Civil Service Retirement Fund
2.1 % — US  Military Retirement Fund
Foreign Holders of Debt
11.7 % — Oil Exporting  Countries
9.5 % — China and Hong  Kong
6.3 % — Japan
1.4 % — United Kingdom
Nov 30

GLAD YOUR THINKING HAS CHANGED SINCE CHILDHOOD…

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“The wise reject what they think, not what they see.” -Huang-po

 
Science and Consciousness
Can science explain consciousness?
How has consciousness evolved?
Are all creatures conscious?
Is reality all in the mind?
 
Spiritual Awakening
Letting go.
Opening to now.
Meditation.
Love.
Earth and Environment
Roots of the Global Crisis.
The Real Threat of Climate Change.
The Global Brain.
The Universe Around Us.
 
For much more click on: http://www.peterrussell.com/index2.php 

Counters

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SEARCHING FOR RELIABLE SOURCES,
not hearsay, rumors, or falsehoods.
Jul 29

QUSTED EVANGELICAL REFLECTS ON HIS FAITH, FUTURE……

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(source cited below)

For 10 years, the Rev. Richard Cizik was the chief lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents roughly 30 million constituents across the United States.

But he was forced out of that position in December 2008, after remarks he made on Fresh Air about his support of gay civil unions, among other things.

On Wednesday, Cizik returned to Fresh Air to discuss how his life has changed since he left the association and why he started a new group called the Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, which he hopes will be an alternative to Christian groups that focus on the culture wars.

Cizik says he has no regrets about what happened to him after appearing on the show.

“In so many ways, this has been good for me,” he tells Terry Gross, adding that his support of same-sex civil unions wasn’t the only reason he was asked to leave the NAE.

 

Richard Cizik launched The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good in January 2010.

“It was a sum total of everything [I said on Fresh Air],” Cizik explains. “It was speaking out on behalf of creation care, climate change, a broader agenda — speaking out on a host of levels that just offended the old guard. Civil unions, well that was just one part of it.”

 

To read or listen to the story click on:

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128776382
 

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SEARCHING FOR RELIABLE SOURCES,
not hearsay, rumors, or falsehoods.
Apr 25

TRI-PARTISANSHIP?

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Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman to unveil climate bill

In their last and best shot at enacting a climate bill this year, Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) plan to unveil a draft Monday that will provide a streamlined system for capping greenhouse gas emissions from the utilities and transport sector but still aims to reduce the nation’s carbon dioxide output by 17 percent in 10 years.

The measure offers numerous concessions to businesses, including allowing manufacturing and energy-intensive industries four years before they would be subject to the carbon cap; provisions for offshore oil drilling; $10 billion for the coal industry to capture and store its carbon emissions; and enough loan guarantees and incentives to provide for the construction of 12 nuclear power plants.

“Because of the broad-based industry support that I expect the bill will garner, both at the rollout as well as beyond, I think this is the best path forward,” said Fred Krupp, who heads the Environmental Defense Fund.

In a telephone briefing Thursday for business supporters, Kerry said the Edison Electric Institute — whose members generate the bulk of the nation’s electricity — would endorse the measure, along with three of the nation’s five biggest oil and gas companies. He did not name the three oil companies, but a source familiar with the negotiations said Shell, BP and Conoco Phillips would support the bill.

Significant sections of the bill remained blank as of Friday evening, according to several sources, and that lack of specificity could deter some senators and many business interests from endorsing the measure at the outset.

“I’d like to support it, but I have to look at it,” said Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), adding that she was concerned about what it would do to home heating oil and gas prices. “In this economy, we have to see how much we can do.”

One of the most complex areas has been the question of how to limit carbon emissions from transportation. Initially the senators had hoped to create a linked fee on fuels that would be tied to the price of carbon, but that idea came under attack last week as a gas tax.

“If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck,” said Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.). “I don’t care whether you call it a linked fee. It is a tax on energy.”

To avoid that pitfall, the bill’s authors are going to require oil and gas producers to buy special, non-tradable emissions allowances, at a price set by the Environmental Protection Agency. It would be pegged to the carbon market and must be retired at a certain date.

“We’re not going to raise gas prices,” Graham said.

To keep utility costs from rising too high, two-thirds of the revenue generated by auctioning off pollution allowances for utilities would be returned to consumers through local electricity distributors.

And in an effort to win over moderate Republicans, such as Sen. George V. Voinovich (Ohio), the bill will preempt both the states’ and the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, as long as emitters comply with the standards outlined in the measure. The agency will monitor and enforce compliance with the law.

The measure aims to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels in a decade and 80 percent by 2050.

For the entire article click on:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

Dec 14

CAPS MELTING, TIDES RISING, ISLANDS DISAPPEARING…

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CAPS MELTING, TIDES RISING, ISLANDS DISAPPEARING, 1000S OF HUMANS AND ANIMALS DROWNING………

Climate change in Google Earth

Explore the potential impacts of climate change on our planet Earth and learn about solutions for adaptation and mitigation, in the context of the United Nation’s Climate Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen. With Google Earth you can view climate change scenarios, interact with narrated tours, investigate deforestation, and even dive into the depths of the oceans.

Aug 10

NASA SCIENTIST RIPS BUSH ON GLOBAL WARMING…

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(Summary)

CITY, Iowa – The Bush administration is trying to stifle scientific evidence of the dangers of global warming in an effort to keep the public uninformed, a NASA scientist said Tuesday night.

“In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now,” James Hansen told a University of Iowa audience.

Hansen is director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York and has twice briefed a task force headed by Vice President Dick Cheney on global warming. He was also one of the first government scientists tasked with briefing congressional committees on the dangers of global warming, testifying as far back as the 1980s.

‘Recipe … for disaster’
Hansen said the administration wants to hear only scientific results that “fit predetermined, inflexible positions.” Evidence that would raise concerns about the dangers of climate change is often dismissed as not being of sufficient interest to the public.

“This, I believe, is a recipe for environmental disaster.”

Bush wants more research
White House science adviser John H. Marburger III has denied charges that the administration refuses to accept the reality of climate change, noting that President Bush pointed out in a 2001 speech that greenhouse gases have increased substantially in the past 200 years.

The president has also said that while he believes warming is a serious problem, he doesn’t feel the threat his imminent and has instead ordered more research. He has also sought voluntary steps by industry and pumped federal dollars into technology projects like capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide emissions.

Hansen said he was speaking as a private citizen, not as a government employee, and paid his own way for the Iowa appearance. He described himself as moderately conservative, but said he will vote for John Kerry in the presidential election.

“He certainly is not in denial of the existence of climate change problems,” Hansen said.

For source click on: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6341451/

 

Also: Climatologist states that Earth at Tipping point:  http://www.thestar.com/article/447808

 

 

 

 

 

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