The Bloom Box

The Bloom Box is another promising technology. Using 'sand' as it's source, it's apparently able to power an entire building.

The Earth has experienced Climate Change in the Past

This claim is true, and these changes have been associated with rising sea levels and mass extinctions. This is exactly what climatologists and other environmental scientists are warning us about. The possibility of rising sea levels poses a major threat to countries/islands close to sea level. Many of these countries lack the money, resources, and infrastructure for widespread evacuations. Coastal species would be lost as their ability to move inland and/or migrate to other regions would be hampered by the existence of humans.

In California Proposition 23 Fails

On November 2, 2010, Californians shot down Proposition 23, which would have postponed implementation of AB23/Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 until unemployment in California reached 5% for over a year. A quick glance at Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows the that this was an unrealistic benchmark considering the length of time it's taken CA to reach 5% during previous recoveries following far tamer recessions of the past.

California's historical

According to Ballotpedia, the bill had strong financial support from the petroleum industry as well as organizations who push for smaller government involvement and more privatization.

Valero $4,065,636
Tesoro Companies $1,540,636
Flint Hills Resources $1,000,000
Marathon Petroleum Company LLC $500,000
Adam Smith Foundation $498,000
Occidental Petroleum $300,000
National Petrochemical and Refiners Association $100,000

See the entire list here

The new U.S. climate bill, American Power Act

New York Time's journalist Andrew Revkin's interview with EarthSky regarding the newly unveiled Senate Bill, American Power Act.



Read the entire bill here (warning: large PDF file)

The Full Effects of Oil Spills

The full effect of oil spills aren't readily obvious to most observers. Most people only see the surface oil and are therefore not aware that oil spills have long-lasting effects. Nancy Rabalais, executive director and professor, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON), and professor at Louisiana State University explains this in an EarthSky Interview. Can an oil spill really be cleaned up?

Climate Change Denial

While there exists an overwhelming consensus among climatologists, there exists an ongoing and well-funded campaign to perpetuate the notion that an ongoing debate ensues. Since climatology is a subject few people know much about, it's rather easy to confuse laymen or even scientists in fields unrelated to climatology about the science. Here is an example of such a campaign, as well as an example of how such examples are fallacious.

Conservative pundits and media outlets often mistakenly cite local and/or temporary cooling trends (which predictably exist well within the overall heating trend) as ammo for deniers.

See YouTube page here

Another example is the recently hacked emails by climatologists. Climate change deniers, much like creation scientists, have quote mined these emails as alleged proof of an existing conspiracy to falsify data in support for climate change.

See YouTube page here

What is the Smart Grid?

Energy grids have come a long way over the last few decades, and with advancements in computer technology, they have become smarter. Energy providers can see, retroactively, how energy has been allotted. However, looking retroactively at data has its limits. 'Smart grid' refers to a version of the energy grid that allows for real-time, two-way communication between providers and 2-way energy consumption, and self-healing capabilities. This is accomplished thrush a fusion between advanced computer technology with either new, or existing energy grids (uprooting the existing grid and replacing it with a new one is unrealistic for obvious reasons). In other words, energy grids have already become smart, and this has prevented numerous would-be blackouts. But there is room to make the grid continuously smarter.

Here is a video on smart grid technology.