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Devastated Pakistanis dealing with extreme floodingThe ongoing devastation in Pakistan from recent flooding has now swamped one-fifth of the nation. Twenty million people, more than ten percent of the country’s population, are left homeless and in danger of contracting diseases such as cholera and other waterborne ailments. As of last Friday, at least 1500 have died from the flooding and millions are in danger of starving if relief doesn’t come soon. And as we in America twitter away our attention on the political posturing of the so-called “thought” leaders on imaginary threats – Sarah Palin’s mindless tweets notwithstanding – the threat from such extreme climate-related events on global security looms large in one of the most dangerous corners of the world.

Continue Reading Pakistan Floods, Climate Change, and Global Security

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WhateverGate

The UK’s Sunday Times recently retracted claims made in an article published last January by Jonathan Leake, a writer who is no stranger of climate-change-denying controversy. Leake’s claims, says the times retraction, that non-peer-reviewed data based on unscientific sources influenced the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Report  regarding climactic impacts on the Amazon Rainforest – what Leake characterized at the time as “Amazongate – were completely false. What the  retraction doesn’t say is that Leake knew it wasn’t accurate when he submitted it for publication.

Continue Reading Sunday Times Retracts “AmazonGate” Article for Shoddy Journalism – For Jonathan Leake, Par for the Course

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Carly Fiorina uses the terrorist card for political gainFacing off in California’s Senate race with incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer this November is Carly Fiorina, whose biggest claim to fame is nearly driving HP into the ground. Earlier this month Fiorina made the rookie-like mistake (made by newbies and veterans alike) of saying something offensive, inappropriate, or stupid near an open microphone; in her case by having good schoolgirl fun with Boxer’s hairdo. How “yesterday” indeed.

Continue Reading Senate Hopeful Carly Fiorina Aims to Mislead California Voters on National Security Issues

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The good and the typical of Fox News

Shep Smith of Fox News offers an eloquent and much-deserved dressing-down of BP CEO Tony Hayward’s recent comments in the British press attempting to downplay the magnitude of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and belittling “litigious” Americans, saying he fully expects many “frivolous” lawsuits. A real class act, that Mr. Hayward.

Continue Reading Shep Smith a Hero, Brit Hume a Fool and a Jerk: BP and the Gulf Oil Spill on Fox News

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Massey Energy, owner of the Big Branch mine where 29 miners met their fate when an explosion ripped through the West Virginia mine, is run by the infamous Don Blankenship – long considered a “really bad dude,” and by bad, I do not mean good – not at all.

Continue Reading Is Blankenship Responsible for the Deaths of West Virginia Miners?

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A picture of clean coal: The Welzow Sud open pit mine in Brandenburg Germany

As the tragedy at the Upper Big Branch Mine unfolds in West Virginia, our hope is that those left alive inside the mine will soon reach the safety of the surface and the comfort of their friends and family. Coal is a way of life for many in this region, but the tragedy helps focus the cost in lives the pursuit of coal places on miners and all those who come in contact with it.

Continue Reading The Fallacy of Clean Coal

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In a bizarre turn of events (though perhaps not so much for the Utah legislature), the Utah State House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution this week “questioning the science” of climate change (I guess its been snowing lately in Salt Lake City), and asking the federal government to abandon its pursuit of cap and trade legislation and carbon emissions regulation.

Continue Reading Utah Legislature Proposes Return to Dark Ages

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(What starts as a simple reporting of a news item turns into an editorial rant – the evolution of blog post.)

The Obama Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced yesterday the agency’s plans to launch a National Climate Service aimed at helping business, government, and individuals plan for and better adapt to climate change.

Continue Reading NOAA Announces Creation of New Climate Service – And Why Clarice Feldman Sounds Foolish

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As the huge build-up and anticipation of the COP15 climate conference begins now to recede into history and the world peers down the road to Mexico City and COP16, I take stock of my own experience in Copenhagen and what I think of the process and result of the two-week climate negotiations.

Continue Reading COP15 and the Copenhagen Accord – A Flawed Process, A Flawed Outcome

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Copenhagen - the whole world is watchingIt’s getting late here in Denmark, and I’m just back to my rented apartment after a long day at the Bella Center and the COP15 climate conference.

I should be working on my coverage of the day, starting with finishing the videos of the press conference from the IPCC early this afternoon, but I want to get something off my chest first.

Continue Reading A Misguided Message of Hate and Cherry-Picked Images from Copenhagen