Just watched "Collapse" it was a Horror Movie (The Peak Oil Story)

by olmanwillow

Been out of writing commission for a while as that heat wave swept through the North East. My computer happens to reside in a nonairconditioned room. This led me to stay far far away, but did not stop me from watching movies.

Two days ago I was invited to my cousin's house to watch a movie with the extended fam. The movie of choice happened to be a documentary called "Collapse". It was essentially an interview w/ Michael Rupert + Pictures. We watched as a family then discussed after. There were many points in the movie that really caught my attention. I was particularly fascinated by the concept of "Peak Oil". It wasn't that the idea was new to me, nor that the surrounding issues were new, but how severe his predictions were that caught my attention.

continued at Daily Kos....

Obama, yes you CAN do climate bill now

by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse

40 years of talk and still no action.  We can't wait.  Please send President Obama an email on the climate and clean energy bill.

American presidents from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush have talked about our need to reform our energy policies and end our addiction to fossil fuels.

The last 7 presidents couldn't make it happen.

President Obama can, but only if he adds his direct and immediate leadership to the Senate's efforts to pass a strong climate and energy bill.

Want to personalize your message? Plenty of info just from recent news on the flip.

continued at Daily Kos....

News from the Arctic: 11 July 2010

by billlaurelMD

This is the next in an occasional series of diaries on the state of Northern Hemisphere Arctic sea ice (and other topics as warranted), written in memory of Johnny Rook, who passed away in early 2009. He was the author of the Climaticide Chronicles.

Loss of sea ice has slowed sharply in the last week, from 80-120 km² per day to 30-70 km² per day (numbers approximate and from the joint International Arctic Research Center -- Japan Aeronautical Exploration Agency Information System (IJIS). The recent rate of sea ice extent loss is below the long term 1979-2000 average as you will see in the chart below from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

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It may be possible to Recycle CO2 -- back into Fuel

by jamess

One of my techie hopes is that Science will one day figure out how to Split our excess CO2 production, back into its component parts:  C and O  (harmless Carbon and Oxygen).

One small problem though -- Carbon Chemical Bonds are among the strongest bonds out there.  These chemical bonds are the reason HydroCarbons (long chains of Carbon atoms tied to each other, and padded by Hydrogen Atoms), can power our homes, our vehicles, and our Electric power plants.

Burning a HydroCarbon molecule releases all that condensed Energy, previously stored in those Carbon Chain bonds, by millions of years of Geologic heat and pressure.

Just Think:

methane
propane
butane
pentane
hexane
octane

and you may get an idea WHAT "fueled" our Industrial Age -- the quick and easy release of all that Chemical Energy, stored in all those Organic Carbon bonds.

Anyone got a Match?

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The Smart Grid: An Introduction

by Richard Lyon

We read a great deal in the media and are involved in discussions about new sources of energy that can be both renewable and clean. So far there has been much less focus on new and more efficient approaches to managing the distribution of energy resources. Converting various forms of energy into electrical energy is the key to green energy. Our present grids for distributing electricity are generally about 50 years old and have difficulty keeping up with the jobs that they were designed to do.

continued at Daily Kos....

Arctic ice acts to sequester carbon dioxide.

by shpilk

Pending disappearance of Arctic ice has one more knock on effect.
Complete article quoted, as it's a 'media release'.

Potential implication of Arctic ice loss becomes more dire with each passing bit of data I seem to find.

http://www.sams.ac.uk/...

Media release 17 September 2009

Arctic sea ice pumps 50% more carbon dioxide into the oceans

Arctic sea ice plays a critical and hitherto unknown role in the removal of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, as revealed in a study just published by an international research team that includes Prof. Ronnie Glud of SAMS.

The Nordic Seas have some of the highest uptake rates of carbon dioxide in the global ocean. Prior to this study, the mechanism by which the CO2 is absorbed into the ocean was believed to be driven largely by biological draw-down: micro-organisms remove inorganic carbon compounds from the water column, encouraging more CO2 to dissolve from the atmosphere.

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The Dirty F@#*ing Hippies Were Right!

by One Pissed Off Liberal

Note: I dedicate this diary to our friend Patric Juillet who requested it.

P.S. I use the word hippie merely as a term of convenience. Most of us eschewed it back in the day and either called ourselves freaks or rejected labels altogether - but the phenomenon that we were was undeniable.

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Dawn Chorus: Egrets, I've Had A Few

by Kestrel

I love egrets.

They are magnificent birds. If you've not had the experience of seeing one glide through the air, you've missed something special.

Egrets are common in many parts of the U.S., but are year-round residents here along the west coast as well as the gulf coast and southeastern seaboard. As wading birds, you'll find them at many waterways grazing in the shallows and mud banks to grab food with their long bills designed to capture prey in quick strikes.

Egrets are among the most regal of birds. Their streamlined bodies, their elegant bearing, their beautiful, languid gracefulness -- egrets are those slowly gliding, white birds you see that make most people notice and say, "Wow! What's that?"

"That" is an egret. Follow me over the fold for more.

h

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Photoblog: Another offshore wind farm under construction

by Jerome a Paris

I had the pleasure of accompanying my most famous client to visit another offshore wind farm under construction with the same turbines. We took the train to lovely Harwich an hour and a half away from London, and set out to visit the soon-to-be largest offshore wind farm.

This is part of my wind series. As noted before, I advise wind farm developers on their financing needs, including, as noted in the first link above, US developers.

continued at Daily Kos....

BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 47

by Gulf Watchers

Please rec the new Mothership #48 here. This one has expired
The current ROV DIARY: Daily Kos Gulf Watchers: ROV #196 BP's Gulf Catastrophe - Gulf Watchers Overnight/peraspera
Rules of the Road

• We take volunteers for subsequent diaries in the sub diaries or ROV's as we have playfully coined them.
• Please rec this mothership diary, not the ROVs.
• Please be kind to fellow kossacks who may have limited bandwidth and refrain from posting images or videos.

PLEASE visit Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier's diaries to find out how you can help the Gulf now and in the future. We don't have to be idle! And thanks to Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier for working on this!

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Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Solar Eclipse/World Cup Final edition)

by Neon Vincent

Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment.

This week's featured story comes from CNN.

Solar eclipse predicted at same time as World Cup final
By Gillian Tee

It is unlikely anything would fully eclipse the World Cup final, but the universe is giving it a shot.

A total solar eclipse is predicted to start at sunrise in the Cook Islands on July 11 -- when the World Cup 2010 final will be in play.

It's set to take place in the southern Pacific across the French Polynesia, according to NASA's report on the Annular and Total Solar Eclipses of 2010.

More science, space, and environment stories after the jump.

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