Duke Energy Does it Again: More Coal Ash in Public Water

Coal ash spills came into the popular consciousness with the widely reported Dan River Disaster. However, this is far from the only spill of coal ash. Less than two months after Duke energy spilled 30,000 tons of coal ash which decimated 70 miles of the Dan River, there was a repeat. However, this time was different, this time it was clearly intentional.

Duke energy was photographed deliberately dumping wastewater from toxic coal ash into public waterways. The Waterkeeper Alliance released aerial surveillance photos that caught Duke Energy red handed. The images show workers pumping wastewater from two of Duke Energy’s toxic coal ash lagoons into a canal that drains into the Cape Fear River, a source of public drinking water.

Anti-Science Journalism Helped to End Progressive Climate Governance in Australia

The popular media's campaign of climate change subterfuge helped to bring down Julia Gillard's government in Australia. Anti-science propaganda has been rampant in the Australian press. A number of extreme weather events (droughts and floods) succeeded in drowning out the voices of those that oppose action on climate change and helped Gillard to get elected in 2010.  Subsequently a determined anti-science media campaign eroded Gillard's popularity and ultimately led to her downfall.

Popular media has flouted their journalistic responsibilities on climate change. A widespread campaign against Australia's carbon policy was adopted by the company that controls most Australian metropolitan newspapers. According to a 2013 study of climate science in newspapers,  the coverage of the Gillard government’s carbon policy was mostly negative (73 per cent to 27 per cent). Negative coverage (82 per cent) across News Ltd newspapers far outweighed positive (18 per cent) articles. The Daily Telegraph was the most negative (89 per cent). The Daily Telegraph has since continued its campaign against Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and bike riders.

In India Childhood Malnutrition is Compounded by Deadly Corruption

The combination of malnutrition and corruption are proving to be deadly in India. A total of 22 children have died so far from eating a pesticide laced lunch at a Chapra primary school in the rural Indian state of Bihar. Doctors are fighting to save the lives of 25 others. On July 17, the day after the incident, heartbroken parents and their supporters protested the tragic loss of innocent lives outside the school and at a local police station.

The cook complained to the headmistress about the smell and the taste of the food, but she insisted that it be served nonetheless. In response the authorities had suspended a food inspector and are pursuing a criminal case against the school headmistress who fled the scene and is currently being sought. The state has ordered an inquiry and announced that parents of the dead children will receive financial compensation.

Event - Creative Disruptive (Water) Leadership Workshop

Creative Disruptive (Water) Leadership workshop will take place Friday May 31 to Sundany June 2, 2013, in Wyebridge, Ontario.

Great leaders learn to develop a capacity to navigate through complexity, to facilitate collaboration and to disrupt when the time is right. This workshop will focus on offering important techniques to move you along the spectrum of your leadership journey. We will offer you the inspiration and tools to become more creative, more innovative, and to build your leadership potential.

Video - Water in the Anthropocene

Water in the Anthropocene (Ambient Version) from Globaïa on Vimeo.

Water in the Anthropocene is a 3-minute film charting the global impact of humans on the water cycle. Evidence is growing that our global footprint is now so significant we have driven Earth into a new geological epoch — the Anthropocene. Human activities such as damming and agriculture are changing the global water cycle in significant ways.

The data visualisation was commissioned by the Global Water Systems Project for a major international conference (Water in the Anthropocene, Bonn, Germany, 21-24 May, 2013).

Shell Pauses its Arctic Drilling for 2013

On Wednesday, February 27th, Royal Dutch Shell PLC announced it will suspend offshore petroleum drilling in the Arctic Ocean for 2013. The Arctic is already suffering from the effects of climate change and Arctic drilling further endangers the rich ecosystem and puts a wide range of animal species at risk.

Last year Shell drilled in both the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast and in the Beaufort Sea off the state's north coast.

However Shell's operations in the far north have been plagued by problems. At the end of 2012, the Kulluk one of Shell's oil rigs, broke free and ran aground in rough seas.

Shell Oil President Marvin Odum described the decision as a "pause" to "to ensure the readiness of all our equipment and people following the drilling season in 2012."

The Costs of Oil: BP Liable for up to 90 Billion

BP has been ordered to pay an unprecedented 4.5 billion in fines as the costs of their 2010 oil fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico continue to mount. On Thursday November 15, 2012, BP pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts related to the explosion and subsequent oil spill at the site of its Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The plea agreement with federal prosecutors includes charges of manslaughter for the 11 workers who were killed and one felony count for obstruction of justice for false statements made to Congress about the amount of oil leaking from the out-of-control well.

The breakdown of the 4.5 billion in fines is as follows:

BP Accused of Corporate Recklessness Including Willful Misconduct, Gross Neglect and Making False Statements

A recent US Justice Department court filing, accuses British Petroleum (BP) of gross neglect, as well as making false and misleading comments. The accusations stem from BP's handling of the 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon that spilled 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and killed 11 workers.

The Justice Department alleges false statements and misrepresentation over BP's assertion that the Gulf Coast's natural resources are making a "robust recovery" from its massive 2010 oil spill.

Al Gore Fears a Romney Presidency and Credits Obama

In a sit-down interview with TakePart, former Vice President Al Gore says he “would fear for the future of our environmental policy” if Mitt Romney were elected President in November.

Gore’s comments were taped in San Francisco on Tuesday, August 21, two days before the presumptive GOP presidential nominee unveiled his energy plan, which many environmentalists were quick to criticize, arguing that it would double down on America’s dependence on dirty fossil fuels like oil and gas. The former Massachusetts governor did not mention climate change once in his speech.

Paul Ryan Protecting Big Oil and Lining His Pockets (Video)

Mitt Romney Funded by Big Oil (Video)

Mitt Romney’s Love Affair with the Fossil Fuel Industry

Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s “new” energy plan, relies on 19th century fossil fuel technology. It is but the latest incarnation of a longstanding Republican obsession with oil and gas. Romney’s energy strategy is reliant on Canada’s environmentally disastrous tar sands. He wants to expedite the Keystone XL pipeline, reduce regulations on hydraulic fracturing and ease the permitting process for offshore oil and gas. Romney wants to take regulatory power away from the federal government and give it to individual states. He wants to amend the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act and weaken the EPA’s ability to regulate pollution.While Romney is pushing for more oil and gas, his plan does not advocate either conservation or efficiency. Instead he would end subsidies for renewable sources of energy like solar and wind.

GOP VP Candidate Ryan’s Unsustainable Voting Record on Energy and the Environment

Paul Ryan is the Republican Party’s pick for VP and he is also an outspoken climate change skeptic. Representative Ryan is an unflinching supporter of the fossil fuel industry who has a very poor voting record on environmental and energy issues. Although he is touted as the intellectual leader of the GOP, Ryan has cast aspersions on climate science and he has inferred that unusual snowfalls suggest that global warming is not real.