SKCEA.ORG » Disasters

Yeah, looks like fracking caused Ohio quakes

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:05:59 +0000

by Jess Zimmerman. The Youngstown, Ohio area has had 11 minor earthquakes since last March, and according to seismologist

Russia spills as much oil as Deepwater Horizon every two months

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:20:51 +0000

by Sarah Laskow. Russian oil spills come in drips and trickles, instead of dramatic explosions. But the Associated Press reports that oil companies there spill at least 1 percent of all oil produced every year — “equivalent to one Deepwater Horizon-scale leak about every two months,” the AP says. Why have you never heard about this? Well, for one, the Russian government has no data on oil spills and doesn't impose penalties unless an individual spill is over eight tons. But, as the AP explains, these slow-roll spills are rarely dramatic enough to cross that threshold, so the companies get off scot-free. Oil spills in Russia are less dramatic than disasters in the Gulf of Mexico or the North Sea, more the result of a drip-drip of leaked crude than a sudden explosion. But they're more numerous than in any other oil-producing nation including insurgency-hit Nigeria, and combined they spill far more than anywhere else in the world, scientists say.

Originally posted here:
Russia spills as much oil as Deepwater Horizon every two months

Chevron admits that it hasn’t been able to stop the Brazil oil leak

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:55:12 +0000

by Sarah Laskow. Remember how last month Chevron spilled more than 100,000 gallons of oil off the coast of Brazil? The oil industry likes us to think that spills like this are no big deal: They'll clean that right up! But this spill's not following that script. The company tried to plug the offending well with cement, but Chevron had to admit yesterday that the well is still leaking . The company continues to insist that seriously, no sweat! We'll have that under control …”some time in the future.” We're just not sure when. But soon! Please, please let us keep drilling?

Read this article:
Chevron admits that it hasn’t been able to stop the Brazil oil leak

India could boycott Olympics over Dow Chemical sponsorship

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:19:32 +0000

by Sarah Laskow. The Olympics is supposed to be all about fellowship and camaraderie, but the London Olympics Committee might have cozied up to the wrong crowd. Dow Chemicals is set to sponsor the wrap that will cover the Olympic Stadium, and as a result of the company's involvement, the Indian Olympic Association could boycott the Games altogether. At issue is Dow Chemical's responsibility for the 1984 Bhopal gas leak, one of the worst environmental disasters in history, in which gas leaked from a pesticide plant, killing thousands of people and exposing hundreds of thousands more. Dow Chemical later bought the company responsible for the leak, and the Indian government is still working to extract compensation of around $1.7 billion for victims. Dow Chemical says that by the time it acquired the company responsible for the leak, the issue was ancient history and is therefore not Dow’s fault at all. (Apparently Dow thinks it only bought the company’s assets, not its debts.) But the Indian government still sees Dow as the bad guy here, and considers it to be on the hook for damage to thousands of human lives. Watching the company spend almost $11 million just to buy some Olympic good will has to sting.

See more here:
India could boycott Olympics over Dow Chemical sponsorship

Americans are smarter than they look about extreme weather

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:52:08 +0000

by Jess Zimmerman. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has officially stated that climate change will lead to more extreme weather events — we all sorta knew that, but it's nice to have confirmation. It turns out, though, that we weren't the only ones who knew. A survey by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication found that even in advance of the IPCC's announcement, the majority of Americans had gotten the memo that climate change contributed to this year's record-setting disasters. When asked about the claim that climate change had contributed to this year's record heat waves, 67 percent of respondants said they somewhat agreed or strongly agreed. Sixty-five percent agreed that climate change contributed to the Oklahoma drought. And 60 percent even knew that there was a connection between climate change and record snowfalls, despite Fox's best efforts . Only 57 percent thought climate change had anything to do with Hurricane Irene, but that's still more than half — and anyway, fair enough, even scientists aren't as certain about the effects of climate change on hurricanes and tornadoes as they are of its effects on floods, droughts, and high temperatures.

Read the original:
Americans are smarter than they look about extreme weather

Flooding hits Italian countryside; climate change will bring more torrential rains

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 16:27:34 +0000

by Sarah Laskow. Americans may not care about weather-related disasters in places like Tuvalu, but it's possible that mudslides and flooding devastating some of Italy's most beautiful tourist ares will make a blip on the country's collective radar screen. (How we will prove we're cultured if Italy's one big mud pile?) Six people have died and hundreds more have been evacuated from Tuscany and Liguria. Hard-hit towns include Cinque Terre, the terraced city that makes you look automatically sexy and European in your tourist pictures. Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano, did something totally crazy in response to this disaster: He went on television and said that climate change had something to do with it. Egads! And, okay, we know that it's not best practice to link specific weather events to climate change (unless you can do so statistically ), but a real live geologist said that climate change is making torrential rains like these more common in Italy. Thailand's also suffering from flooding. Here, record monsoon rainfall caused the problem. Again, we're not going to say for sure that this would never have happened without climate change (maybe Giorgio Napolitano will step up and do it). But climate change makes it a whole lot more likely that people will lose their lives and their livelihoods in events like these.

Original post:
Flooding hits Italian countryside; climate change will bring more torrential rains

Critical List: Solar installations increasing; giant snails invade Miami

admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:42:10 +0000

by Sarah Laskow. The number of non-residential solar panel installations is growing . Disasters connected to weather or climate made more than 30 million people in Asia refugees last year, the Asian Development Bank reports. Oil industry consultant Daniel Yergin wrote a new book about energy. It'll probably annoy you . A professor in Canada made a machine that could suck carbon out of the air. China suspended production at the solar panel factory that protestors said had polluted a nearby river. Kids have their priorities straight: 82 percent of them want to learn about green issues more than they want to learn about traditional subjects like history. (I mean, history is also important though. Stay in school, kids!) Is airport food good if it's grown onsite? Find out soon in O'Hare, where veggies grown in vertical gardens between terminals 2 and 3 will supply the airport's restaurants. Giant snails are invading Miami !

See more here:
Critical List: Solar installations increasing; giant snails invade Miami

Moving documentary on ferry drivers who rescued 9/11 refugees

admin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:50:01 +0000

by Christopher Mims. On 9/11 the Coast Guard put out a call: All boats who were willing should report to Governor's Island to effect a rescue of the hundreds of thousands trapped on Manhattan Island. This documentary, by Road2Resilience, a project of the “independent think tank” Center for National Policy, documents what happened next. The stated goal of Road2Resilience is “building the reflexes and instincts necessary at every level of American society to respond quickly and wisely to future crises.” Resilience in cities comes in many forms. Disasters natural and man-made test our cities in ways we'd never expect. In this case, half a million New Yorkers — the number that were ultimately evacuated by boat — found out how valuable it is that the city’s nimble transportation infrastructure extends all the way out to sea. On that day, skyscrapers were a liability, but density and redundancy (in transportation) were not.

Original post:
Moving documentary on ferry drivers who rescued 9/11 refugees

Texas likely to have multi-year drought; Rick Perry likely to deny its cause

admin — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:16:08 +0000

by Christopher Mims. Texas' over-the-top, economically devastating, record-breaking drought is likely to turn into a grinding, multi-year drought , reports Kate Galbraith in the Texas Tribune . That could put it on track to compete with the state's worst-ever dry spell in the 1950s , which in turn can barely compete with the prehistoric mega-droughts Texas used to experience. In other words, Texas is a dry state with a delicate climate, and climate change is only going to make things worse. “We can't say with certainty whether this particular drought is in and of itself a product of climate change,” said David Brown, a regional official with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. However, he added, these kinds of droughts will have impacts that are “even more extreme” in the future, given a warming and drying regional climate. Which makes it earth-shatteringly ironic that Texas governor and GOP presidential candidate frontrunner Rick Perry doesn't believe in climate change . As a result, he’s not just unprepared to deal with what climate disasters will do to the state he’s inexplicably in charge of — he’s actually bent on destroying the U.S. government's capacity to cope with the devastation . Basically, Perry is the Neville Chamberlain of the 21st century. In the face of probably the worst climate catastrophe Texans can remember, in an age in which even the U.S. military recognizes climate change as the greatest single driver of new threats to national security , Perry's policy on the matter is complete surrender. Well, surrender and prayer . Not really sure how that jibes with his supposedly take-no-prisoners political style, but whatever — everyone's a punk on some issue.

Excerpt from:
Texas likely to have multi-year drought; Rick Perry likely to deny its cause

The 9 Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters of 2011

admin — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 16:22:00 +0000

2011 is tied with 2008 for the most billion-dollar weather disasters ever recorded. And it’s only August.

Here is the original post:
The 9 Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters of 2011

Texans drinking urine, consulting Bibles in face of ongoing climate apocalypse

admin — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:16:32 +0000

by Christopher Mims. Texas is now in the midst of its

The $50,000 playhouse that oil built

admin — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:48:24 +0000

by Jess Zimmerman. Ever wonder what oil executives do with all the money they make from wrecking the planet? Well, take a tour with me through the playhouse that oil exec John Schiller

2011 climate disasters cost a record $265 billion

admin — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:43:51 +0000

by Sarah Laskow. Politicians might not believe in climate change, but insurance companies do . They track disasters, and it turns out that disasters just in the first six months of this year already cost the world more than any other year of disasters on record. The price tag for 2011 disasters reached $265 billion. Most of that cost ($210 billion) came from the tsunami in Japan. But earthquakes in New Zealand, tornadoes in the United States and flooding in Australia also contributed. Before 2011, the record-holding year for costliest disasters ever was 2005, the year Hurricane Katrina devastated the southeastern U.S. coast. Even people who don't believe in climate change should take note of this trend: You can't choose not to believe in insurance premiums, and they're going up.

Here is the original post:
2011 climate disasters cost a record $265 billion

Critical List: Texas drought is a natural disaster; climate change causes extreme weather

admin — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:42:44 +0000

by Sarah Laskow. After months of drought, the federal government declared 213 counties in Texas natural disasters. Even if wildfires stay clear of Los Alamos, burning trees and heated soil contaminated with residual radiation from old nuclear tests could be a problem . Here's the scientific explanation for why extreme weather can be connected to climate change. California will push back its cap-and-trade program to 2013. San Francisco composts. San Francisco banned plastic bags. San Francisco is just the greeeeenest , isn't it? What to do with a four-legged Israeli chicken ?

More:
Critical List: Texas drought is a natural disaster; climate change causes extreme weather

Ex-nuclear engineer says it can never be safe

admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:54:10 +0000

by Christopher Mims. Back when Italy was trying out nuclear power for the first time, Cesare Silvi was one of the guys who had to figure out how to make it safe. Sometimes crazy things would happen — once, an oil pipe burst, fouling the cooling water intake of a nuclear power plant miles away, shutting it down. Soon Silvi discovered there were many other pipes even closer to that plant; his attempt to study them was stymied by the moneyed interests who own them. The longer he looked, the more small, improbable, but potentially disastrous scenarios piled up — war, terrorism, plane crashes, missiles, extreme weather — leading him to eventually conclude that if you armored a nuclear power plant against all potential disasters, you could never produce power for a reasonable amount of money. So twenty years ago he switched to solar, and is now the president of the International Solar Energy Society. Here's what he has to say about nuclear power today. “Human history is full of madness, full of catastrophes. Imagine if we had nuclear reactors when we fought wars in the past. If you try to consider all the events that might happen over the years, you start to ask, ‘What are the benefits of such an effort, especially when you have opportunities to get electricity in many other ways?’”

The rest is here:
Ex-nuclear engineer says it can never be safe

World Oceans Day is today, June 8th

admin — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 06:18:49 +0000

The 8th of June is World Oceans Day, our annual chance to celebrate all things marine! Coordinated by The Ocean Project and The World Ocean Network, World Oceans Day encourages us to consider everything that the oceans provide us with – from oxygen to climate regulation, food to pharmaceuticals and of course, the breath taking beauty of this underwater wonderland. By raising awareness of the resources that the oceans provide, World Oceans Day hopes to encourage us to do our bit to protect this valuable environment, especially in these challenging times when factors like climate change, plastic waste, over-fishing and environmental disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill all threaten to damage our oceans beyond repair.

Here is the original post:
World Oceans Day is today, June 8th

Rains come to China drought stricken provinces

admin — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 21:39:07 +0000

China warned several central and southern provinces hit by a months-long dry spell on Saturday to prepare for heavy rain and even floods, though Premier Wen Jiabao said it was too early to call an end to the critical water shortage. Officials have said parts of China are enduring their worst drought in 50 years, with rainfall 40 to 60 percent less than normal, damaging crops and cutting power from hydroelectric dams. State television and the official Xinhua news agency said that the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang would experience rain, thunderstorms and strong winds. “Rain in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River will be beneficial to replenishing water in reservoirs and lakes and to ameliorating the drought,” Xinhua citied the China Meteorological Administration as saying. Provinces must be on alert for heavy rains and for possible landslides and other disasters, it said.

Read more from the original source:
Rains come to China drought stricken provinces

Deadly tornado demolishes much of Joplin, Missouri

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 22:37:43 +0000

Search teams bathed in the harsh glow of floodlights early on Monday picked through rubble of neighborhoods and commercial districts demolished by a tornado that killed at least 30 people in the southwestern Missouri town of Joplin. “We are recovering the dead,” Joplin police Sergeant Bob Higginbotham said hours after the powerful twister struck Sunday afternoon, leaving much of the town of 50,000 residents in ruins and plunging the city into darkness once night fell. Higginbotham was busy collecting the names of people reported missing. “(It’s) devastating loss of life, horrible, and it goes on for miles,” he said. Newton County Coroner Mark Bridges put Joplin’s death toll at 30 or more, on par with the loss of life from a twister that struck Tuscaloosa, Alabama, last month. More than 30 died in that storm. “We know we are up into the 30 range,” Bridges told Reuters, adding that 11 bodies were recovered from one location alone and that the known casualty count would likely climb. “People are just telling us where they have seen bodies and adding them up in their heads.”

See the original post:
Deadly tornado demolishes much of Joplin, Missouri

Critical List: Reid, enviro groups talk air quality; DDT in Africa

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 15:53:42 +0000

by Sarah Laskow. Harry Reid met with Big Environment last night to strategize a defense of the Clean Air Act. Politico says a key point of debate was whether enviros should go after errant, but potentially vulnerable Dems on green issues during the next election cycle. Senators rejected a bill that would have sped up oil drilling, then patted themselves on the back for being awesome about the environment. Meanwhile, 53 new shallow-water drilling permits have been issued under post-spill laws. Flooding in the Mississippi basin: bad for humans who live there, good for humans who like to eat crawfish and shrimp . Expected flooding in Wyoming: probably not good for anyone . Environmental advocacy groups want to see Hillary Clinton's emails with an ex-staffer and key lobbyist for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, and they want to see them now . They're suing the State Department to expedite release of the emails. Call it “Greenwater.” Rachel Carson killed DDT, right? Wrong! It's being used in Africa to fight malaria, which, yay, saves lives, but also, boo, screws organic farmers. China admitted that its Three Gorges Dam maaaay have led to some problematic environmental consequences. Yum, sustainable unagi . (Yah, that's eel. But unagi sounds less creepy.)

In China, rising sea levels are creating problems

admin — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:44:45 +0000

Gradually rising sea levels caused by global warming over the past 30 years have contributed to a growing number of disasters along China’s coast, state news agency Xinhua said on Wednesday. Sea levels along China’s coastline had risen 2.6 mm per year over the past three decades, Xinhua said, citing documents from the State Oceanic Administration. Average air and sea temperatures in coastal areas had risen about 0.4 and 0.2 degrees Celsius respectively over the past 10 years, the news agency added. “As a ‘gradual’ marine disaster, the cumulative effect of rising sea levels could ‘aggravate storm tides, coastal erosion, seawater invasion and other disasters’,” Xinhua cited the oceanic administration as saying. An expert at the administration, Liu Kexiu, said the rising sea levels were a result of global warming.

Read the rest here:
In China, rising sea levels are creating problems