PNAS / Juan-Carlos Ciscara, Ana Iglesias, Luc Feyen, László Szabó, Denise Van Regemorter, Bas Amelung, Robert Nicholls, Paul Watkiss, Ole B. Christensen, Rutger Dankers et al http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/01/27/1011612108.full.pdf+html [Abstract] Quantitative estimates of the economic damages of climate change usually are based on aggregate relationships linking average temperature change to loss in gross domestic product (GDP). However, … Continue reading »
Posted on February 2, 2011 …
Plug-in Electric Vehicles: A Practical Plan for Progress
School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University http://www.indiana.edu/~spea/pubs/TEP_combined.pdf [From Executive Summary] The transportation sector of the U.S. economy is a focal point for policymakers because it accounts for 27% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (the gases linked to global climate change) and 70% of U.S. petroleum consumption. A majority of the oil in the … Continue reading »
EPA’s Blind Spot: Hexavalent Chromium in Coal Ash
Earth Justice, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Environmental Integrity Project http://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/ChromReport.pdf [From Press Release] Coal ash, the leftover waste from power plants, contains arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, selenium and many other chemicals that can cause cancer and damage the nervous system and organs, especially in children. Hexavalent chromium is a highly toxic carcinogen when inhaled, … Continue reading »
A Quick Scan of Peatlands in Malaysia
Wetlands International http://www.wetlands.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=PB69O3qJPPs%3d&tabid=56 [From Description] Malaysia, comprising the regions of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak, supports some of the most extensive tropical peatlands in the world. Malaysia’s peatlands mainly consist of peat swamp forest, a critically endangered category of forested wetland characterised by deep layers of peat soil and waters so acidic that many of the plants and … Continue reading »
An Expert Opinion of When the Gulf of Mexico Will Return to Pre-Spill Harvest Status Following the BP Deepwater Horizon MC 252 Oil Spill
By John W. Tunnell, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christie, for Kenneth Feinberg http://tinyurl.com/69qoxof [From Background] The BP Deepwater Horizon MC 252 Spill of National Significance (DWH oil spill) became the largest accidental marine oil spill in history after releasing over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from 20 April to 15 … Continue reading »
Keystone XL Assessment
Ensys Energy / US Department of Energy http://tinyurl.com/4zgw7p2 [From executive summary] In June 2010, EnSys Energy was contracted by the Department of Energy Office of Policy & International Affairs to conduct an evaluation of the impacts on U.S. and global refining, trade and oil markets of the Keystone XL project to bring additional Canadian crudes, … Continue reading »
