03 Environmental Degradation – Page 45 – Public Intelligence Blog

steele smiling final — Robert David STEELE Vivas

One can only look on in anguish as the US Government continues to betray the public trust for lack of intelligence and integrity.

The headlines about earthquakes being related to oil and gas drilling have been common for some time now. Despite the fact that the federal government has noticed the connection at very low bureaucratic levels, the fact is that the politicized government persists in ignoring the precautionary principle and continues to betray the public trust by not stopping all activities associated with increasing earthquakes.

Earthquakes are now coming to the East Coast just as they are about to become much more frequent, intense, and consequential on the East Coast.

One can only pray that at some point the public will demand an honest government capable of making informed decisions with integrity.

Shale Shocked: “Remarkable Increase” In U.S. Earthquakes “Almost Certainly Manmade”

Federal Study Ties Oil and Gas Industry to Earthquakes

Survey says increase in quakes may have man-made cause

2012 PREPRINT FOR COMMENT: The Craft of Intelligence

THE OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING MANIFESTO: Transparency, Truth & Trust

2012/04/082012/04/08

John Steiner: Young Americans Sue US Government Over Environment

03 Environmental Degradation, Corruption, Government

Subject: S.O.S. from the youngest generation

³Industry has a legally protected cognizable interest to freely emit CO2.² Fossil Fuel Industry Intervenors in the Kids vs Global Warming lawsuit against the US Government to protect the atmosphere as a public trust, April
2, 2012

This is what one of the attorneys for the National Association for Manufacturers said at the hearing this week when they were allowed to join the US Government in defending their so-called ³right² to continue emitting as much CO2 as they please. Alec Loorz and the other youth plaintiffs, are challenging that right with their own right, one they share with their entire generation, to simply survive on this planet.

http://www.imattermarch.org/#!lawsuit

The judge and all attorneys agreed on one thing: this is a case of national significance. We are facing a historic moment. This lawsuit is a critical and unprecedented opportunity to break the impasse in Congress and force federal emission reduction plans.

Continue reading “John Steiner: Young Americans Sue US Government Over Environment”

2012/03/302012/03/30

Steven Aftergood: New Policy on Mitigation Risks of Bio Research

02 Infectious Disease, 03 Environmental Degradation, 07 Health, 07 Other Atrocities, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, Government

NEW POLICY ON MITIGATING RISKS OF BIO RESEARCH

Certain types of life science research involving “high consequence pathogens and toxins” would be subject to new review and risk mitigation procedures which might include classification of the research or termination of the funding, according to a U.S. government policy issued yesterday by the National Institutes of Health.

The policy applies to research involving 15 specified biological agents and toxins which “pose the greatest risks of deliberate misuse with most significant potential for mass casualties or devastating effects to the economy, critical infrastructure or public confidence.”

Research that increases the lethality or transmissibility of the agent or toxin, or otherwise enhances its harmful consequences, will be subject to the new review procedures.

Based on the outcome of the review, a risk mitigation plan may be developed. If less restrictive measures were deemed inadequate, the new policy would allow for national security classification of the research or termination of government funding.

See “United States Government Policy for Oversight of Life Sciences Dual Use Research of Concern,” March 29, 2012.

See also “U.S. Requires New Dual-Use Biological Research Reviews” by David Malakoff, Science Insider, March 29.

Phi Beta Iota: Nice but inadequate. The government is paying lip service to this necessary precautionary principle. If they were really serious, such a policy would encompass all agricultural and industrial processes without exception.

See Also:

Charles Perrow, The Next Catastrophe: Reducing Our Vulnerabilities to Natural, Industrial, and Terrorist Disasters (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011)

2012/03/24

Sepp Hasslberger: Low Tech High Green Small Burners

03 Environmental Degradation, 05 Energy

NòvaVideo – Nat Mulcahy e la LuciaStove (Now with English subtitles)

This is decidedly low tech, but very efficient. Nat Mulcahy has invented a simple system that allows the burning, not of the wood itself, but of the gas that comes out of the wood when heated.

This results in a clean burn and a high use (over 90 %) of the energy contained in the combustible substance. Pellets of wood or other biological material are best to use. What is left over after combustion is biochar, the empty “shell” of the biological material, dry carbon that is great as a fertilizing substance for agriculture. With time, it forms what is known as “terra preta”, very fertile high carbon soil.

The video is in Italian, but there are English subtitles…

2012/03/142012/03/14

Reference: Flooding of the USA Coasts — Where, When?

03 Environmental Degradation, Articles & Chapters, Earth Intelligence, IO Impotency

2012 Rising Sea Levels Seen as Threat to Coastal U.S. (New York Times, 13 March 2012)

About 3.7 million Americans live within a few feet of high tide and risk being hit by more frequent coastal flooding in coming decades because of the sea level rise caused by global warming, according to new research.

By far the most vulnerable state is Florida, the new analysis found, with roughly half of the nation’s at-risk population living near the coast on the porous, low-lying limestone shelf that constitutes much of that state. But Louisiana, California, New York and New Jersey are also particularly vulnerable, researchers found, and virtually the entire American coastline is at some degree of risk.

map of sea level vulnerability — Click on Image to Enlarge

2011 Rising Seas Will Affect Major US Coastal Cities by 2100, New Research Finds

2007 Nation Under Siege: Sea Level Rise at Our Doorstep [2030 Impact Study Best Use of Google in Color to Depict 1 Meter, 3 Meter, and 5 Meter Rise in Sea Level]

2003 (est) Does Sea Level Rise Matter to Transportation Along the Atlantic Coast?

2000 Maps of Lands Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise Modeled [Best for close-up vulnerability maps]

1989 The Effects of Sea Leavel Rise on U.S. Coastal Wetlands

Phi Beta Iota: There are multiple bottom lines on this continuing saga.

Continue reading “Reference: Flooding of the USA Coasts — Where, When?”

2012/03/062012/03/06

Mini-Me: 15+ Potentially Massive Threats to US Economy

02 Infectious Disease, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 09 Terrorism, Blog Wisdom, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence

Huh? Here are Mini-Me's post-November 2012 nightmare events:

01 End of all federal grants to all universities

02 By law, all option years on all federal contracts eliminated.

03 30% federal employee Reduction in Force (RIF)

04 Industrial chemical accident of historic proportions (e.g. the really really big rusted chlorine tank above the NJ Turnpike right outside NYC blows)

05 One of NYC's two 1920's water mains blows, followed by a firestorm

06 Our own biological agent used (Forced Population Reduction) across the poorest sectors of the south (“useless eaters” according to Henry Kissinger).

07 Radiological event (dirty bomb) closes down a major transit hub for the next 20 years. Having fun yet?

15 Potentially Massive Threats To The U.S. Economy Over The Next 12 Months

We live in a world that is becoming increasingly unstable, and the potential for an event that could cause “sudden change” to the U.S. economy is greater than ever.

There are dozens of potentially massive threats that could easily push the U.S. economy over the edge during the next 12 months. A war in the Middle East, a financial collapse in Europe, a major derivatives crisis or a horrific natural disaster could all change our economic situation very rapidly.

In the list below, you will find some “sudden change” events that are somewhat likely and some that are quite unlikely. I have tried to include a broad range of potential “black swan events”, but there are certainly dozens more massive threats that could potentially be listed. (List only — links and text at the article.

01 War with Syria
02 War with Iran
03 Disorderly Greek Debt Default
04 Economic Collapse in Spain
05 Price of Gasoline
06 Student Loan Debt Bubble
07 State and Local Debt Crisis
08 Collapse of a Major US Bank
09 Derivatives Crisis (Credit Swaps Collapse)
10 Fall of the Japanese Economy (and government)
11 A Solar Megastorm (1 in 8 chance)
12 Major West Coast Earthquake and/or Volcanic Eruption
13 Tornado Damage to Major US Cities
14 Severe Drought in the United States
15 Asteroid Strike in February 2013

2012/03/032012/03/03

John Steiner: Ivory Trade Again Endangering Elephants

03 Environmental Degradation, 07 Other Atrocities, Earth Intelligence, Law Enforcement

Dear All,

Below is EarthAction's monthly current Action Alert on global environment, peace, and justice issues. This one is most important, and timely action is needed.

Protect Africa's Elephants

Despite the international ban on the trade of Elephant Ivory in 1989, it is estimated that every year 38,000 elephants are killed for ivory sales on the black market. Poachers sell raw ivory for around $20 per pound. Most of this ivory eventually makes its way to China, where it is resold at $700 per pound‹or more.

This means that a single tusk from a full-grown bull elephant can fetch upwards of $50,000 on the black market. The poaching of elephants for their ivory tusks requires the death of some of the most beautiful and endangered animals on our planet. Unless action is taken soon, many of the gains made in recent decades to protect the great elephants of Africa may be undone.

In 1989 elephants were initially listed as an Appendix 1 species by CITES (the Convention on International Trade In Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna), banning any and all trade of ivory. In 1997 they were downgraded to an Appendix 2 species, allowing the trade of ivory with regulation. Many nations do not have the capacity to strictly monitor the flow of ivory through their borders, nor are measures in place to effectively monitor the global ivory trade. Disguising illegal ivory as a legal product requires only an artificial aging process.

Read full alert with links for taking action.

Category: 03 Environmental Degradation

Robert Steele: Earthquakes From Oil and Gas Drilling