__________________
Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
The general implication I'm seeing and hearing from sensationalist headlines and writing is that it is fracking itself that is responsible for the tremors. That isn't what the people studying this have found at all, they have found that the waste water disposal injection wells that is responsible for the quakes. These wells are ones in which waste water from oil and gas production is pumped into formations that are a lot more porous than the shale that the controversial fracking has been taking place in. The volume of fluids involved in fracking are but a tiny percentage of the produced water from oil and gas wells. Some shale oil and gas production actually has very little water, some has quite a lot. However, conventional wells in porous limestone formations produce far more water than the shale formations, brine water. Shale is not very porous. Once again, I will point out that all oil and gas wells are fracked these days, not just the shale play.
__________________
Sleep - the most beautiful experience in life - except drink.--W.C. Fields
__________________
Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
Fire is raging across the 5000-kilometre length of Indonesia and producing more carbon dioxide than the US economy. Monbiot's piece has three main targets;
The Media's deafening silence
The failure of government (lol libertarianism)
Corporate America:
The media again:
It's safe to say that George is really pissed off. You should be too.
Last edited by mickthinks; 10-31-2015 at 01:38 PM.
When is an award for environmental excellence not really an award for environmental excellence? When it is one granted by the Environmental Federation of Oklahoma. Here is the services they provide to members.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Services to Members
Legislative Activities
Provide a lobbying presence at the Oklahoma Legislature – No truly bad-for-business environmental bills have been enacted in EFO’s 17-year presence at the Legislature
Host annual legislative reception
Convinced the Oklahoma Legislature to enact Title V air fees dramatically lower than presumptive minimum set forth by Congress in the Clean Air Act.
I like this part of the write up, since this is not necessarily the finale.
Quote:
Bill McKibben of 350.org:
“President Obama is the first world leader to reject a project because of its effect on the climate. That gives him new stature as an environmental leader, and it eloquently confirms the five years and millions of hours of work that people of every kind put into this fight. We're still well aware that the next president could undo all this, but this is a day of celebration.”
Record scratch! Here's freshly-minted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's reaction:
“We are disappointed by the decision but respect the right of the United States to make the decision.”
TransCanada CEO Russ Girling:
“TransCanada and its shippers remain absolutely committed to building this important energy infrastructure project. We will review our options to potentially file a new application for border-crossing authority to ship our customer's crude oil, and will now analyze the stated rationale for the denial.”
__________________
Chained out, like a sitting duck just waiting for the fall _Cage the Elephant
The sad thing is, I don't see Obama as being at all concerned about environmental issues. I think the decision was almost entirely based on politics and economics, not environmental concerns.
Given the current price of crude oil, a lot of economists argue that it wouldn't be in the U.S.'s best economic interest to build the pipeline. When you couple that with the flak Obama would certainly get from a lot of his supporters if he approved the pipeline, I suspect that politics and economics explain his decision much better than does any [heretofore unevidenced] real concern about the environmental impact.
As such, if the price of crude goes back up, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if building the Keystone pipeline suddenly becomes a "viable option" again.
The issue is complicated by the fact that a good case can be made for the conclusion that building the pipeline might actually be the environmentally responsible thing to do. Why? Canada has made it clear that they're planning to exploit the tar sands, whether we build the pipeline or not. If the pipeline isn't built, then the alternative is shipping the oil to refineries via trucks and trains. That would a.) increase the likelihood of a spill and b.) increase the amount of CO2 generated as the oil is shipped.
Ugh. Either way, the whole situation sucks.
What's so disgusting about the whole thing is how politics so clearly trumps environmental concerns (and science).
Heck, even Dubya talked about the need to reduce CO2 emissions in order to mitigate climate change. When he was running for President, that is. As soon as he was "elected," that sort of talk went out the window in a hurry.
__________________
“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
The Climate is getting warmer, there is no doubt about that to any sane person, and human activity is the major cause.
A warmer climate will be a disaster? there is considerable doubt about that, as in the past warmer climates have been wetter, not dryer. The fear mongers want us to believe it will be a disaster so that we will re-elect them to an office of power. That is their only real concern.
I would welcome warmer winters, I don't ski and wouldn't miss a lot of snow on the slopes. I do know some who would. If I really wanted a "white" Christmas, I'll buy one of those surplus snow machines and mount it on my roof to get a white Christmas. One week of below freezing weather would be enough.
__________________ The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about. Wayne Dyer
Right, except that "white Christmases" are essential for building snowpack on mountains that then thaws to feed rivers in the spring and summer. Warm winters mean no snowpack means not enough water later in many areas of the world.
Which is just one example of why such simplistic thinking of "Oh, I don't like the snow and slush!" is not a basis for concluding that global warming will be a boon.
Right, except that "white Christmases" are essential for building snowpack on mountains that then thaws to feed rivers in the spring and summer. Warm winters mean no snowpack means not enough water later in many areas of the world.
Which is just one example of why such simplistic thinking of "Oh, I don't like the snow and slush!" is not a basis for concluding that global warming will be a boon.
No, it means that the "snow" will fall as rain, and with a warmer climate, the growing season will start earlier, which would coincide with the rain falling in the early part of the year. The planting and growing will just shift to when the rain is falling and the water is available.
Also recreation will shift from cold weather activities to warm weather activities and those who can't or won't learn to change, will be left behind, and someone else will provide the opportunity for recreation.
__________________ The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about. Wayne Dyer
No, it means that the "snow" will fall as rain, and with a warmer climate, the growing season will start earlier, which would coincide with the rain falling in the early part of the year. The planting and growing will just shift to when the rain is falling and the water is available.
Also recreation will shift from cold weather activities to warm weather activities and those who can't or won't learn to change, will be left behind, and someone else will provide the opportunity for recreation.
Are you seriously not trolling here? You really think that's all there is to it?
The Climate is getting warmer, there is no doubt about that to any sane person, and human activity is the major cause.
heh
__________________
What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. ... The origin of myths is explained in this way.
No, it means that the "snow" will fall as rain, and with a warmer climate, the growing season will start earlier, which would coincide with the rain falling in the early part of the year. The planting and growing will just shift to when the rain is falling and the water is available.
Also recreation will shift from cold weather activities to warm weather activities and those who can't or won't learn to change, will be left behind, and someone else will provide the opportunity for recreation.
Are you seriously not trolling here? You really think that's all there is to it?
Do you have some problem thinking?
If you don't agree with me, I can't keep you from being wrong.
__________________ The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about. Wayne Dyer
The problem with much of the West is that snow/rainfall is very seasonal. Since relatively little rain falls from late Spring to Autumn, many of these areas are indeed very dependent on snowmelt from the mountains to keep streams flowing during the drier months.
And while a warming climate means more atmospheric water vapor and so more precipitation overall, that's not true everywhere. Indeed, in most continental interiors, the increased temperatures are expected to lead to increased water loss from the soil and from surface water, and decreased precipitation.
Most of the American West and South is expected to become substantially drier as the climate warms.
__________________
“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
I just checked, using an incognito window to be sure the results are generic, and if you Google "global warming," the first and second results mention severe weather and rising sea levels as some of the primary effects of global warming.
It's not all just about accommodating shorter ski seasons and modified farming techniques, but this information is so easily discoverable that I assume there's some other reason you're ignoring it.
No, it means that the "snow" will fall as rain, and with a warmer climate, the growing season will start earlier, which would coincide with the rain falling in the early part of the year. The planting and growing will just shift to when the rain is falling and the water is available.
Also recreation will shift from cold weather activities to warm weather activities and those who can't or won't learn to change, will be left behind, and someone else will provide the opportunity for recreation.
__________________
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are." ~ S. Gecko
No, it means that the "snow" will fall as rain, and with a warmer climate, the growing season will start earlier, which would coincide with the rain falling in the early part of the year. The planting and growing will just shift to when the rain is falling and the water is available.
Also recreation will shift from cold weather activities to warm weather activities and those who can't or won't learn to change, will be left behind, and someone else will provide the opportunity for recreation.
Look, all we gotta do is build levees all around the entire southern half of Florida to withstand the rising waters and the inevitable devastating hurricanes that do hit Florida from time to time. It's easy-peasy and not really a disaster. Especially since replacing Florida's famous beaches with dikes is of little significance.
As for the millions and millions of people who live in Bangladesh, an impoverished country that would struggle to complete such a large and expensive engineering project in a proper fashion, assuming it's even feasible in the first place... well, they're all poor anyway, right? So it's not that big of a disaster for them to leave their shacks and huts and mud farms behind! They can just move to, you know... somewhere else.
As for the millions and millions of people who live in Bangladesh, an impoverished country that would struggle to complete such a large and expensive engineering project in a proper fashion, assuming it's even feasible in the first place... well, they're all poor anyway, right? So it's not that big of a disaster for them to leave their shacks and huts and mud farms behind! They can just move to, you know... somewhere else.
Exactly! All that poverty and squalor, GONE, and at minimal cost to the taxpayer (unless you count government subsidies to polluters, which are much more like freedom than a "use of public funds").
__________________
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are." ~ S. Gecko
As for the millions and millions of people who live in Bangladesh, an impoverished country that would struggle to complete such a large and expensive engineering project in a proper fashion, assuming it's even feasible in the first place... well, they're all poor anyway, right? So it's not that big of a disaster for them to leave their shacks and huts and mud farms behind! They can just move to, you know... somewhere else.
Exactly! All that poverty and squalor, GONE, and at minimal cost to the taxpayer.
So what do you care, or are you pretending to support them somehow?
__________________ The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about. Wayne Dyer
General Environment Thrad
Linear Mode
