EP 71 / Charting a New Energy Course

By SL in Climate Change, Climate Files Podcast, Conferences and Meetings, Congress/Legislation, Experts/Scientists, Podcast Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What are we doing to our Oceans? photo by Shelly


This episode originally was released in January 2010. In this episode: A talk by Philippe Cousteau and a realization by James Hansen. We need new renewable, clean energy and we need it now. Who is working on it? People at the state and local levels seem more aware of climate change, and more willing to deal with it, than the politicians in Washington. With a few exceptions, there is not much going on politically to take care of our biggest energy and environmental problem, which is climate change. President Obama even rejected a Jimmy Carter solar panel offered by Bill McKibben at the height of his road trip, to plead with Obama to get us off fossil fuels now and on to renewables.

Philippe Cousteau says:  “Time is running out for ourselves and future generations.”

What are we losing and how can we stop it?  The grandson of famous ocean pioneer Jacques Cousteau has a lot to say on this issue.  Featuring a talk at National Clean Energy Summit 3.0, from the keynote speaker, Philippe Cousteau of EarthEcho International.

What is wrong with natural gas?  A lot.  See this Green.blog New York Times article on a new fracking lawsuit.   New Lawsuit Filed in Fracking Country

See more video and audio from the National CleanEnergy Summit 3.0 here.

Climate scientist James Hansen:  He’s an Activist? You’ll hear his latest essay, about realizing he’s more than just a climate scientist.  (original here). It’s inspiring because we all need to be environmental and climate activists right now.  Climate change and the switch to renewable energy is the greatest challenge of the 21st century. It is incumbent upon us to leave this planet in better shape than we inherited it, and we’re not doing that, according to Philipe Cousteau, and I agree.  Our oceans are far too acidic already and getting worse every day.  Our climate is already destined to give us a 2-3 degree temperature rise, or worse. We have to act now.

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right.

Song at end:  With You in My Head, UNKLE.

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Ep 68 / Climate Scientists Conquer a Lord

By SL in Climate Change, Climate Files Podcast, Experts/Scientists, Podcast, Politics Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Diagram from the testimony of Dr. James Hurrell (click to enlarge)


This podcast was originally released on May 10, 2010. Real climate scientists smack down a gecko-like climate denier operative named Lord Christopher Monckton.  Or to put it nicely, for purposes of educating the public about climate change, real climate scientists update us on climate science and correct climate denier operative named Lord Christopher Monckton at a May 6th global warming hearing.  Monckton is a poser and a favorite of the right-wingers in the climate denial movement. After you get past the frustration of being fed lies by Mr. Monckton about climate change, it’s highly entertaining — especially when a congressman decides he’s had it with the bull. This all took place on May 6th in a congressional hearing, but this so-called debate was just made for TV! But here you have it in podcast form, in nearly its entirety — and all of Mr. Monckton in his ridiculous glory. If you want to watch this presentation you can view the video by downloading it at this link. This Climate Files podcast contains only the audio.

The hearing was sponsored by Rep. Edward J. Markey and held by his Select Committee on Global Warming, a hearing he called  “The Foundation of Climate Science”.

Climate Scientists who testified last week:

  • Dr. Lisa Graumlich, Director at School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona
  • Dr. Chris Field, Director, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, and co-chair of “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” portion of new IPCC report due in 2014
  • Dr. James McCarthy, Professor of Biological Oceanography, Harvard University, past President and Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, co-chair of “Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability” portion of IPCC report published in 2001
  • Dr. James Hurrell, Senior Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research, contributor to IPCC reports

And for some reason the guest (their “expert) of the GOP minority: Lord Christopher Monckton, a British consultant, writer and journalist — not a scientist.   He argued with the real scientists that were present, and basically made a fool of himself.  If you click on the names of the scientists at the hearing listed above, you can download their statements that contain loads of climate science facts and figures.  See more at the website for the hearing.  Lord Monckton and his charts have been thoroughly debunked by scientists, and one place with a good debunking is here on RealClimate.org.

Download this episode here, or subscribe on the right.

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EP 67 / Corporate Oil Terrorism

By SL in Climate Files Podcast, energy, Podcast Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gulf Stream Currents -- from NOAA

This episode was originally produced on May 3, 2010. The Gulf Oil spill is nothing short of catastrophic. It will take months to clean up the oil and that’s only possible if the oil stops gushing from the 3 mile-deep oil well leaks! There is a lot of blame to go around — first of all BP and the operators of the oil rig who tried to save money and not install adequate safety equipment. Also blame the Bush administration and Dick Cheney and their anti-environmental energy policy. Finally,  blame Halliburton because they did not install the safety checks that could have possibly prevented this horrendous leak. This is corporatist greed, forming our energy policy, taking what they want of our natural resources and leaving the environment decimated. It’s a form of terrorism. But even these entities are not the real culprit. The final blame should lie on the American people and our insatiable, endless taste for oil.

This episode of Climate Files contains some news on the spill, some background on past BP spills, an interview with one of the survivors of the oil rig explosion last month, and a clip of Mike Papantonio from the Mike Malloy radio show.

Skytruth is an activist blog that lobbies against offshore drilling. Their website is blog.skytruth.org

Just five months ago, SkyTruth’s President testified to Congress about the risks posed by offshore drilling. SkyTruth testified at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on November 19. You can read the entire testimony by John Amos here (pdf download). The general subject of the hearing was Federal stewardship of offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters.

If anyone has any doubt who is determining our energy policy, watch this video from the Energy and Natural Resources hearing  last November 2009.  It’s clear that the American people are not the people Congress is representing on energy policy.  There was a similar blowout in Australia that was a bit smaller and still  took 10 weeks to control.

Ring of Fire’s website is here.

Two additional ProPublica.com stories about further leaks and more chemical spills is here.

BP Ready to Pay “Legitimate” Oil Spill Claims, says their ‘generous’ CEO. “BP is ready to pay all legitimate claims tied to the oil spill caused by the accident at its Gulf of Mexico undersea well, Chief Executive Tony Hayward told National Public Radio on Monday.” This is after they tried to get away with limiting all claims to $5,000!

The interview with the oil rig worker is from Drillingahead.com, a site that is not environmentally aware or sympathetic.

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right.




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