Outside Mag: Obituary - Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-2016).
Even this won’t nudge the impenetrable.
Guardian.UK: Jacques Cousteau sails again in new film.
A towering figurehead of the last century. How I miss him.
Mashable: Over half of U.S. fracking wells are in water-stressed areas, report says.
I maintain it is patently insane to frack in drought-prone areas. Especially when we receive 300+ days a year of sun (solar) and almost as many days of wind (wind power). Makes. Absolutely. No. Sense.
naked cap: We’re Past the Point of No Return for Climate Change.
naked cap: 7 Signs That China Is Serious About Combating Climate Change.
“If China continues to cut its emissions, or even just keeps them at current levels, the country will be way ahead of its goal of peaking emissions by around 2030, which it laid out in 2014 and recommitted to during the Paris climate talks last December.” Well, that’s the positive news of today.
Complex: Enjoy Earth While It Lasts - Atmospheric Carbon Levels Pass the Point of No Return.
Clickbait. But.
I was just thinking last night about a sci-fi concept. What if our existence is the result of seeding comets with genetic material designed to reduce the number of habitable planets in the universe in order to preserve a galactic status quo? That we are Von Neumann machines designed to destroy ecosystems? That we can never evolve beyond our destructive behavior?
Maybe that’s why we’ve not detected other species via SETI.
Then again, if we do become self aware, who might show up?
Good story. One day I might write it. @ME.
OilPrice.com: Oil And Gas Bankruptcies Set To Double This Year.
Science: Surface uplift and time-dependent seismic hazard due to fluid injection in eastern Texas.
Guardian.UK: 375 top scientists warn of ‘real, serious, immediate’ climate threat.
“These facts are incontrovertible. No reputable scientist disputes them. It is the truth.”
Bike EXIF: When the pavement runs out - Vintage Electric’s scrambler.
This could make commuting into Santa Fe on the Rail Trail a real blast.
Guardian.UK: Trump and the Republican Party are doing Big Oil’s bidding.
They’re bankrupting NM, and one can see how they’re ... shaking up ... Oklahoma. This is not good at all. And if you confront them, you’ll either be answered “because jobs” or “because war”.
The Atlantic: Bayer and Monsanto Announce $66 Billion Merger.
Two of the biggest GMO/pesticide companies. It’s not a monopoly, there are many others, but holy hell they’re going to wield a great deal of power.
EurekAlert: New genus of bacteria found living inside hydraulic fracturing wells.
Yeah, but wait for it. The oil and gas lobby will want them protected as an ‘endangered species’ if fracking regulations get tightened. We live in that kind of bizarro culture now.
DeSmogBlog: Obama Again Sounds Climate Change Alarm But Continues Supporting Fossil Fuel Industry.
Wishy-washy, but worth a perusal.
naked capitalism: Warrant Issued for Amy Goodman’s Arrest for DAPL Reporting.
“Some strange things going down in North Dakota, however, and they don’t augur well for those who are peacefully engaging in constitutionally protected activity, including peaceful protest and press coverage. I noticed, for example, that the state recently became the first to authorize the use of armed drones by police.” You think it can’t happen here, and then ...
Guardian.UK: Former EPA head admits she was wrong to tell New Yorkers post-9/11 air was safe.
If you were around in 2001, we bloggers called ‘bullshit’ on this at the time. It defied all logic.
c|net: Porsche’s 2017 Panamera 4 E-Hybrid plug-in rocks 31 miles of EV range.
“Rocks”?!! *Cough*. That won’t even take me food shopping on an average day, much less get to a client location and check my PO box.
Guardian.UK: Humans have destroyed a tenth of Earth’s wilderness in 25 years - study.
Obviously related to the drilling-in-Ecuador article below.
SciAm: Ecuador Begins Drilling Oil in a Pristine Corner of the Amazon.
“This is the worst imaginable place to be drilling for oil.” With oil prices where they are, insane. Humankind continues to operate as parasite on this poor planet.
The New Yorker: A Pipeline Fight and America’s Dark Past.
“The fight for environmental sanity—against pipelines and coal ports and other fossil-fuel infrastructure—has increasingly been led by Native Americans, many of whom are in that Dakota camp today. They speak with real authority—no one else has lived on this continent for the long term.” You know where my sympathies lie. How do you put an ancestor back on the path to eternity, after a bulldozer has desecrated their resting place? One of the most important news items of this year, and it’s not being discussed nearly enough.
Mashable: Costa Rica ran on 100 percent renewable energy for 76 straight days.
Guardian.UK: Toxic air pollution particles found in human brains.
“We also observed other metal-bearing particles in the brain, such as platinum, cobalt and nickel. Things like platinum are very unlikely to come from a source within the brain. It is a bit of an indicator of a [vehicle] catalytic converter source.” Holy flippin’ Hannah. Thanks, E, for the link!
SF New Mexican: Tensions soar as more and more drifters call national parks home.
I’ve not encountered this. Yet.
National Geo: Are We Losing the Grand Canyon?
My God. Nat’l Geographic, in rigor mortis. Not a peep about Colin Fletcher - or more importantly, Harvey Butchart, without whom many sections wouldn’t have been known to be passable. These later through-walkers stand on the shoulders of giants. For shame, Nat’l Geographic. For shame.
PS Mag: Here’s Why the Navajo Nation Is Suing the EPA Over Colorado’s Mining Catastrophe
If you’re one of those nobs who thinks ‘sour grapes’, educate yourself as to why the Navajo feel the Feds seem intent on poisoning them to death.
