Hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants are a “natural” cooler widely used in domestic and commercial refrigerators all over the world, except in the U.S. and Canada. HC refrigerants produce less greenhouse gasses than hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) technology, but they aren’t approved for the U.S. market - yet.
Other counties are already doing it a better way but the US [...]
Posts under ‘Climate change’
Greenfreeze. A better coolant for refrigerators
The Global Fight For Climate Justice
Ian Angus at Climate and Capitalism has just published The Global Fight For Climate Justice, with essays from activists worldwide, including himself, on why stopping climate change requires an new economic system.
In 46 essays on topics ranging from the food crisis to carbon trading to perspectives from indigenous peoples, they make a compelling case that [...]
To James von Brunn
Red Rider said it in 1981 with “Lunatic Fringe”, and it’s as true now as it was then. (Emphasis added on lyrics.)
Lunatic Fringe @ Yahoo! Video
Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe
Lunatic fringe
I know you’re out there
You’re in hiding
And you hold your meetings
We can hear you coming
We know what you’re after
We’re wise to you this time
We [...]
The goal should be clean energy rather than global warming doom
WSJ is reaming a UN report on global warming for being overly pessimistic, extrapolating from flaky data, and in general being deliberately and misleadingly hysterical about the coming effects of global warming.
They have some valid points. The report does seem a bit one-sided and aimed at acheiving political goals. Even if everything the report says [...]
Me
Finally got a good picture of myself for the About Page here, so here it is, taken at Fortynine Palms Oasis in Joshua Tree National Park on Saturday.
Joshua Tree is the only place where two desert systems, the Mojave and the Sonoran, meet. It can easily be 110 degrees in the summer and its amazing [...]
Fuel cell street cleaner
The world’s first hydrogen-powered street cleaner is undergoing an eighteen month trial in Basel.
The makers estimate that even though the hydrogen will be manufactured from natural gas, it will still emit 40-percent less CO2 that a comparable diesel engine counterpart.
Water conflicts increasing in Andes as glaciers disappear
OxFam International has released a major study confirming that glacial shrinkage is deepening water conflicts in the Andes.
Many of the conflicts are violent too. Climate change influences politics as growing populations compete for shrinking amounts of water.
As an example, Bolivia’s Chacaltaya Glacier, once home to the world’s highest ski area, now no longer exists. That [...]
Stop soot. Reduce global warming
Soot, also known as black carbon, is the second-leading cause of global warming after carbon dioxide, and it’s totally preventable. We already have the technology to avoid producing it; it’s just a matter of using it.
Soot is harmful to lungs, causes deaths, and heats up polar ice. It comes from diesels, smokestacks and cooking and [...]
Disney is Evil Movie Review by Sue
A new twist on Disney and their recurring theme of dead mothers and traumatized babies — this time its dead babies and traumatized mothers.
Bob and I saw (part of) the new Disney movie, “Earth”, tonight.
Typical Disney set-up of moms and babies in danger, you just know somebody’s gonna get killed because the music tells you [...]
Video reveals G20 police assault on man who died
This is huge.
The Guardian has released video footage showing Ian Tomlinson being struck from behind by police at the G20 protests. He was not a protester and is the father of nine. He died of a heart attack shortly after being struck. The police have lied steadily and consistently about the cause and circumstances of [...]
Daily Rogues Report. Hank Morris
Here’s Hank Morris (no relation!) doing his perp walk after being indicted on 123, count ‘em, 123 counts relating to taking multi-million dollar kickbacks from those wanting to manage money for the New York State pension fund.
AG Cuomo says further indictments are coming, so we can look forward to more exciting perp walks.
And lookee here [...]
Why Custard Has No Place In Politics
I can’t claim a great love for Lord Mandelson, but throwing green custard in his face is just plane stupid. Describing him as ’slimy’ is an opinion, one that is shared by many, but does it advance a debate? Of course not.
One of the causes I espouse is to try to lessen the distance between [...]
Seattle P-I may try online-only newspaper
Their parent company Hearst said the Seattle P-I will either close or go online only within 60 days if a buyer can’t be found. Given that Seattle is a highly wired city with lots of techies, an online-only newspaper might well have a better chance of surviving there rather than elsewhere.
This is probably where newspapers [...]
Methane bubbling up under melting permafrost
Methane is a particularly nasty greenhouse gas, 25x more potent than CO2. Enormous amounts of it have been trapped under permafrost … until now.
Rice has much higher carbon footprint than beef
DJ at Asymptotic Life crunched the numbers and found that beef has a high carbon footprint, but (surprising to me) rice more than an order of magnitude higher.
Two foods stood out from the pack as far worse than the others: Per pound eaten, rice creates 276 pounds of CO2 , and beef 11.5 pounds of [...]
