By Joanna Schroeder •
November 19, 2009
Move over CO2—you’ve been ousted, along with methane, as the biggest offenders of global climate change. According to a new a study by Purdue University and NASA, the major chemicals most frequently cited as leading to climate change, namely carbon dioxide and methane, are actually outclassed in their warming potential by compounds receiving less attention. The majority of “greenhouse gases” are created by humans.
The results were discovered when researchers studied more than a dozen chemicals, or greenhouse gases as classified by their warming properties defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. From there, the team developed a blueprint for the underlying molecular machinery of global warming. The results appeared in the November 12, 2009 issue of the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Physical Chemistry, just in time for the convergence of world leaders in Copenhagen.
By Joe Mohr •
October 13, 2009
An archive of my Big Coal cartoons. The pen is mightier than the sword (but probably not as mighty as the multi-billion dollar coal industry…).
By Joe Mohr •
September 15, 2009
Health Care and the environment are a mess! Can we be counted on to make them better?…Outlook not so good.
By Joe Mohr •
September 2, 2009
Bonner and Associates next trick in their astroturfing efforts?…
By Joe Mohr •
August 7, 2009
10 Democartic Representatives from coal-dependent states send a letter to Obama sharing that they will not support the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill. Afterall, it’s not nice to Big Coal…
By Zachary Shahan •
July 25, 2009
In a meeting with environment and energy ministers from other European countries yesterday, Sweden’s Minister of Environment, Andreas Carlgren, said that global economic problems should in no way slow movement to address climate change. Other leading European ministers agreed.
Economic problems today are in many ways a result of environmental missteps in the past. If we want a healthy economy in the future, we have to take the environment into account more than we have. The Swedish Minister of the Environment agrees and says that there should be no hesitation to combat climate change due to the current economic situation.
Much has been said in opposition to the cap and trade climate legislation that is currently on the Senate’s plate. Opponents have argued repeatedly that the legislation will do nothing but increase the cost of energy, which will force companies send jobs over seas, where labor is cheaper, in order to keep up with production demands. Senator Kit Bond (R-Missouri) even went as far as to call the Waxman-Markey Bill “a pig in a poke.”
By Zachary Shahan •
July 22, 2009
The climate bill that was passed by the House of Representatives earlier this month is getting wide support and attention. However, activist groups who have taken a closer look at the bill are wondering if it’s a climate bill addressing global climate change or a climate bill addressing the concerns of the coal and oil industry. Public Citizen, a national, non-profit, public interest organization, states that the bill “will prove a boon to the coal and oil industries, will fail to protect consumers and may very well not even curb global warming.”
According to Missouri Senator Kit Bond (R) the cap and trade Waxman-Markey Bill “is really a pig in a poke.” That’s what he told the committee on Tuesday, anyway. Given the opportunity to speak in front of a committee on the financial impacts that the climate bill would have on farmers, Senator Bond wasted no time calling the bill a hoax.
With the historic passage of climate legislation through the House of Representatives, many concerns have trickled forth. Does the climate legislation do enough? Will it even work? Does it have the right aim? With the issuance of similar concerns have come proposed solutions and substitutions. The republicans have proposed that 100 nuclear power plants be built by 2030 in place of the proposed cap-and-trade climate bill. I’ve recently written two articles on the republican “solution” to both the climate and [...]
By Zachary Shahan •
July 13, 2009
With overwhelming support from the general American people and a President who says that we really need to do something about climate change, the House of Representatives passed a landmark bill on climate change on June 20th. A victory! Or maybe not. The bill is a major step forward in gesture in many ways.
However, the House dropped or changed many instrumental parts of what is needed to reduce or limit global warming.
