Imagine that. The Republicans fighting against science, again. Clearly those whinging whales need to toughen up and learn how to survive in today's world. The world isn't going to stop just because the whales can't move aside from the steam engine of progress. They probably all drive Cadillacs and receive welfare too. Why can't they be like business and survive on their own with the help of thousands of laws giving them special privileges as well as billions in corporate welfare and tax code assistance? Those whales are such freeloading bastards.
Every year around three right whales are either injured or killed in collisions with ocean-going vessels like containerized cargo ships even though they are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Right whales frequently wash up on shore bearing deep scars from being struck by ships propellers.
To reduce ship strikes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) decided that ships should restrict their speed to 10 knots or less near whale feeding and calving grounds during parts of the year.
But Mr Cheney's office, which tends to operate in secrecy, sent letters repeatedly questioning whether the rule was needed according to leaked documents. Flatly contradicting the scientific research Mr Cheney's staff argued, "that we have no evidence that lowering the speeds of 'large ships' will actually make a difference."
"The Chernobyl catastrophe became planetary and even now continues to take its toll on people's health and the environment," the health ministry said in a statement.
On April 26, 1986, reactor number 4 at Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, contaminating large parts of Europe but especially the then-Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
Over 25,000 "liquidators", mostly Ukrainians, Russians and Belarussians who worked on the ruined reactor and constructed a concrete sarcophagus enclosing it, lost their lives, according to official figures.
The official UN toll in September 2005 set the number of the accident's victims in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus at 4,000, but the figure had been contested by non-governmental organisations.
Officially, Ukraine alone numbers 2.3 million people qualified as "having suffered from the catastrophe."
Oh right, they can't afford that either but the Marie Antoinette free marketers don't really care any way. They helped create a new bubble for their corporate lobbyist friends in the middle of a global food shortage and as long as their friends are making good money everyone else can drop dead...literally. In our world where we expect to have three meals a day, this increase is painful but nothing like what the poor are experiencing. From the World Bank:
He said the price of wheat had risen by 120% in the past year, more than doubling the cost of a loaf of bread. Rice prices were up by 75% in just two months. On average, the Bank calculates that food prices have risen by 83% in the past three years.
"In Bangladesh a 2kg bag of rice now consumes almost half of the daily income of a poor family. With little margin for survival, rising prices too often means fewer meals," he said. Poor people in Yemen were now spending more than a quarter of their income on bread. "This is not just about meals forgone today, or about increasing social unrest, it is about lost learning potential for children and adults in the future, stunted intellectual and physical growth. Even more, we estimate that the effect of this food crisis on poverty reduction worldwide is in the order of seven lost years."
This is a really interesting new program which differs from previous tidal energy prospects. For years governments (from both main parties) pushed this aside, opting for whatever the big energy companies were offering, such as nuclear or more disruptive tidal energies. The UK has especially strong tidal currents making it an ideal location for generating power underwater. Great read from The Independent here and a story and more photos of the project here. Could this be a fit for the US? Who knows, but this goes to show that we need to move beyond what the traditional big energy businesses want to promote. Just because they say something won't work (read: take money and focus from their business) doesn't mean it's true. We ought to be providing more funding for new ideas of alternative energies and not only from the largest businesses.
Yes, the same Bush who never hesitates to blast lawsuits as the real cause of high health insure. No, surely increasing health care costs have nothing to do whatsoever with the polluted environment. Nope, no studies have ever drawn the link between polluted air and...oh, there has been. Never mind. And here I thought he cared about every human life, but that's not really the case now, is it? Polluters obviously count for more.
EPA officials initially tried to set a lower seasonal limit on ozone to protect wildlife, parks and farmland, as required under the law. While their proposal was less restrictive than what the EPA's scientific advisers had proposed, Bush overruled EPA officials and on Tuesday ordered the agency to increase the limit, according to the documents.
"It is unprecedented and an unlawful act of political interference for the president personally to override a decision that the Clean Air Act leaves exclusively to EPA's expert scientific judgment," said John Walke, clean-air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Industry is of course whining about the costs involved if they are forced to clean up the air. Don't these people breath? Don't they pay for health care? Surely the EPA and White House are not blind to the health care costs involved with polluted air. It's hard to imagine such a small slice of society holding so much power over others but for the Republicans, they consistently only care about what industry wants without consideration for everyone else. The ruling is expected on Thursday so we will find out soon enough.
One of the most amazing moments in his brilliant career. Many credit Attenborough with bringing these wonderful animals to the attention of the west which has helped save them from what would have been extinction years ago. Even today the gorillas are in jeopardy once again due to conflict in the region. Pity to see Attenborough retiring.
Considering how industry-friendly the Bush EPA has been, giving in to industry demands will come as no surprise. The only real surprise is that we allow industry to sicken and kill so many Americans, just so they can make a buck. And for those who become sick, what about those costs? Don't they count? The EPA has already shown a willingness to ignore Supreme Court directives and yet they still don't care.
On the other side are experts who conclude that tens of millions of people, particularly the elderly and small children, are being harmed by poor air quality.
EPA said last summer that the current health standard - no more than 80 parts of ozone for every billion parts of air - does not provide needed protection against asthma, heart attacks and respiratory problems.
EPA has estimated a reduction to 70 parts per billion could result annually in 2,300 fewer nonfatal heart attacks; 48,000 fewer respiratory problems, acute bronchitis and asthma attacks; 7,600 fewer respiratory related hospital visits, and 890,000 fewer days when people miss work or school.
They are not even trying to make up excuses, which makes this even more amazing. They just shrug their shoulders and mumble "I dunno" and go about their business. Has there ever been such contempt for the rule of law?
This is a brief video of Attenborough discussing the need for conservation incentives to help save the environment. The world and the way we view the environment and nature has changed so much over the course of his brilliant career. Fortunately he will still work on an occasional program but this is a person that was crucial for helping the Anglo world think more about the beautiful world around us. There are plenty other Attenborough videos on YouTube and once you start, it's impossible to stop.
Wouldn't it be nice if the Supreme Court cared a little more about corporate responsibility and average Americans instead of the stress of corporate execs who are making a few hundred million dollars? Sheesh. The best democracy money can buy.
Exxon Mobil, the giant oil corporation appearing before the Supreme Court yesterday, had earned a profit of nearly $40 billion in 2006, the largest ever reported by a U.S. company -- but that's not what bothered Roberts. What bothered the chief justice was that Exxon was being ordered to pay $2.5 billion -- roughly three weeks' worth of profits -- for destroying a long swath of the Alaska coastline in the largest oil spill in American history.
"So what can a corporation do to protect itself against punitive-damages awards such as this?" Roberts asked in court.
The lawyer arguing for the Alaska fishermen affected by the spill, Jeffrey Fisher, had an idea. "Well," he said, "it can hire fit and competent people."
The rare sound of laughter rippled through the august chamber. The chief justice did not look amused.
Mr. Schwarzenegger is creating a cabinet-level office for volunteer management, which his administration says is the first such state cabinet position in the country. He is scheduled to announce the move on Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Under the change, the governor’s commission for volunteerism, California Volunteers, will maintain its staffing and budget. But its executive director will gain expanded duties as a cabinet secretary, playing a role in disaster-related planning and response efforts and coordinating volunteers at disaster sites.
The corporate world is going to look back at the Bush years as a dream period. Whatever they want, no matter how crazy or dangerous to others, gets the official Bush seal of approval. If only there was another branch of government that had some power to provide balance and call them out. If only...
Under pressure from agriculture industry lobbyists and lawmakers from agricultural states, the Environmental Protection Agency wants to drop requirements that factory farms report their emissions of toxic gases, despite findings by the agency's scientists that the gases pose a health threat.
...so they can be killed by hunters at luxury hunting lodges. This is what the GOP considers to be environmental awareness. Because ranchers are too lazy and ignorant to study how to limit the impact of wolves attacking their cows, they're joined up with the lodge owners who want to book Republicans at high prices and shoot anything that moves. Hunting is a big money sport these days and the GOP loves everything about big money. These people are pathetic.
The "Velib" program in Paris has been an enormous success with 20,000 bikes stationed around Paris and more to come. Since the launch, big city mayors from around the world (including Bloomberg from New York) have visited Paris to check out the new system that allows people to cheaply rent bikes instead of driving or using other public transport. (They are priced more for point-to-point transport and less for casual riding around town.) Great idea.
After barely crossing over $100 early in the year it dropped to the "low" of around $88 per barrel. Big Oil and OPEC must have concluded that the economy wasn't completely ruined yet so today it is nearing $96. What is it going to take to conclude that being tied so closely to oil is not beneficial to the US? Can you imagine where we would be today if we spent the trillions that have gone towards Iraq on new energy for the future? We might not be there today but we would certainly be much closer than we are today.
Environmentalists have successfully used images of cute panda bears and other animals to attract people to the issue of conservation. In the case of sharks, the story has been much more difficult because of our image of them as man-eaters. (I wish Spielberg would be more involved, as his movie Jaws played a large role in this fear.) I'll admit to walking on water the first time I encountered a reasonably sized (5-6 ft. +/-) reef shark while diving in Honduras, but I quickly realized that the shark was as afraid of me, perhaps more. Elsewhere I have encountered Zambezi sharks (aka bull sharks), ragged tooth sharks (sand tiger) and great whites while in the water. They may be intimidating because of preconceived ideas, but like many others, I wasn't bothered by them.
While cage diving with great whites, I had to go in the cage without air because it would spook the sharks despite all of the visitors that day being 10-15 feet in size. Yes, the air bubbles scared the feared great white. Consistently sharks are curious though very cautious with humans and for good reason. Sharks are often casualties of long line fishing fleets or worse still, caught, fins cut and thrown back into the sea to die. American Rob Stewart has a documentary out about the global problem of rapidly declining shark populations and the link includes a movie trailer. They may not necessarily be cuddly, but sharks are critical to the oceans.
A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.
The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world's largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting "soup" stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.
A collection of states - mostly Democratic states that believe in science - filed suit against the Bush EPA who changed laws to allow power plants to emit dangerous mercury into the air. The courts ruled against the Bush administration who never met an energy company pollution plan that it didn't love.
The three-judge panel agreed with the states that the EPA did not have the authority to exempt the power plants. The court unanimously ruled that EPA's arguments were "not persuasive."
Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that accumulates in fish and poses the greatest risk of nerve and brain damage to pregnant women, women of childbearing age and young children. Emissions of mercury total about 48 tons a year, most of it in the form of air pollution that winds up in waterways.
At least the Australian government is documenting the whale hunt this year to prove once and for all, this has nothing to do with science. This is all about the ego of a small group of backwards thinking people in Japan who don't care how much they embarrass the rest of the country. Last year the whale meat was so unpopular they tried giving it away to schools. Even then, nobody wanted it.
It's time to put this hunt in the past and move on. Why is Australia the only country to get serious? What was disappointing this year was that Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd could not even agree on working together in harassing the Japanese whaling fleet. Both used too much fuel so they had to turn back to refuel. Not long after their departure, the Japanese hunters successfully killed a number of whales including the mother and calf. The environmental groups are going to need to do much better in the future, but so are governments from the US and Europe.
