Should You Get Paid to Protect the Environment?: Sabina Shaikh

TEDx Talks

Published on May 20, 2014

Post-Production: Hamid Bendaas | Fire Escape Films (http://www.fireescapefilms.org/)

Dr. Sabina Shaikh is an Economics Lecturer at the University of Chicago in Public Policy and the Program on the Global Environment.

Her research includes the valuation of economic benefits from improvements in natural resource quality in the Great Lakes region as well as the use of economic incentives for pollution control and ecosystem improvements.

Shaikh is on the Advisory Board of the Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition and Director of the Environment, Agriculture and Food Working Group at the University of Chicago. She is also currently a member of the Advisory Board for Greenleaf Advisors.

Dr. Shaikh has published in numerous scholarly journals including Land Economics, Ecological Economics, and Economic Inquiry. She has recently contributed book chapters to Natural Capital: Theory and Practice of Mapping Ecosystem Services and the Handbook of Metropolitan Sustainability.

She holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Davis.

Global Climate Change
Environmental Justice
Environment Ethics

Who wins BIG if Net Neutrality Dies?

thomhartmann

Published on May 20, 2014

Thom Hartmann talks Net Neutrality with Mike Papantonio, America’s Lawyer / Host-Ring of Fire Radio
Website: www.ringoffireradio.com

Global Climate Change
Environmental Justice
Environment Ethics

FCC Chair grilled by Congress over Net Neutrality rules

RT America

Published on May 20, 2014

Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, appeared before a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Tuesday. He faced a number of questions regarding net neutrality regulation, including whether or not so-called “paid prioritization” deals violate net neutrality principles. The committee also discussed whether or not the FCC should consider re-classifying the internet as a public utility to allow for more net neutrality regulation. The representatives were sharply divided over these issues. RT’s Sam Sacks reports.

Global Climate Change
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North Carolina may criminalize disclosure of fracking chemicals

RT America

Published on May 20, 2014

North Carolina Republicans introduced a bill Thursday imposing fines and jail time on those who disclosed fracking chemicals to the public. The bill permits disclosure of chemicals only during emergency situations, and violations can result in several months in jail. One of the unknowns surrounding the proposed legislation is whether first responders may also be subject to imprisonment if they release the confidential information. RT’s Ameera David has more details on the controversial bill that has activists fired up.

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BBC News – Oil and gas fields in UK could become CO2 dumps, say MPs

20 May 2014 Last updated at 19:29 ET
By Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst

The UK is looking to create another, post-oil and gas, North Sea income stream
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The UK’s exhausted oil and gas fields in the North Sea could be transformed into a lucrative dump for Europe’s CO2 emissions, MPs say.

The Energy and Climate Change Committee says nearby nations could capture the emissions from their power stations, then transport the CO2 offshore in pipes.

North Sea rocks that have been sucked dry of oil and gas could be pumped full of the unwanted CO2.

Critics say the idea is fanciful.

But Tim Yeo, the committee’s chair, told the BBC that “the key to carbon capture and storage is economics”.

“The UK’s geology under the North Sea is a potential asset to exploit and if we can find ways of getting another income stream by accepting someone else’s unwanted CO2 it might move forward the date when CCS (carbon capture and storage) in the UK is commercially viable,” he added.

…(read more).

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BBC News – Water goes ‘missing’ with snow loss

20 May 2014 Last updated at 22:03 ET
By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

Natural ‘”water towers” – places that hold and release water for society
Related Stories

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A new study finds that if temperatures rise and more precipitation falls as rain rather than snow, it will reduce the total amount of water in rivers.

It is a surprising observation. One might expect the timing of water flow to change but not the overall volume.

But this is precisely what scientists discovered when they examined the histories of 420 catchment basins in the US spanning the period 1948-2001.

The researchers report their work in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The study compares places of similar climate and precipitation, but with differing fractions of that precipitation falling as snow and as rain.

And it seems there is a significant difference in total streamflow if the fraction shifts from snow to rain.

“At first we thought there could be all kinds of explanations for this, so we better dig a bit deeper and make sure that this difference between places wasn’t being caused by something else,” explained Dr Ross Woods from Bristol University, UK.

…(read more).

Global Climate Change
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BBC News – Study: UK cities becoming mosquito-friendly habitats

20 May 2014 Last updated at 22:01 ETBy Mark Kinver Environment reporter, BBC News

A greater abundance of mosquitoes that act as vectors of human diseases are living in close proximity to people’s homes
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Changes to UK urban areas provide habitats for mosquitoes, including species known to spread malaria and West Nile virus, a study suggests.

Warmer ambient temperatures and more water containers in gardens are bringing mosquitoes into closer contact with people, say scientists.

UK mosquitoes are human disease-free but the team says more of the insects breeding in urban areas increases the chances of a potential outbreak.

….(read more).

Global Climate Change
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Environment Ethics

Scientists forecast economic impacts of the drought on Central Valley agriculture

May 19, 2014
The drought has hit the Central Valley hard, as witnessed by these dry fields at Panoche Road, looking west, near San Joaquin, Calif. (Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis photo)

California’s drought will deal a severe blow to Central Valley irrigated agriculture and farm communities this year, and could cost the industry $1.7 billion and cause more than 14,500 workers to lose their jobs, according to preliminary results of a new study by the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.

Researchers estimated that Central Valley irrigators would receive only two-thirds of their normal river water deliveries this year because of the drought.

The preliminary analysis represents the first socio-economic forecast of this year’s drought, said lead author Richard Howitt, a UC Davis professor emeritus of agricultural and resource economics.

“We wanted to provide a foundation for state agricultural and water policymakers to understand the impacts of the drought on farmers and farm communities,” Howitt said.

…(read more).

Global Climate Change
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Food-Matters

Thanks to the Roberts Court, Corporations Have More Constitutional Rights Than Actual People

William Greider on May 20, 2014 – 12:00 PM ET

 

Members of the Supreme Court (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The big media talk a lot about stalemate in Congress, but they are missing the real story. While representative democracy is dysfunctional, the Supreme Court has taken over with its own reactionary power grab. In case after case, the court’s right-wing majority is making its own law—expanding the power of corporations and the very wealthy, while making it harder for ordinary citizens to fight back.

Worst of all, the Roberts Court is trying to permanently inhibit the federal government’s ability to help people cope with the country’s vast social and economic disorders.

This is not a theoretical complaint. Led by Chief Justice John Roberts, the conservative Republican Court is building a barbed wire fence around the federal government—creating constitutional obstacles to progressive legislation in ways that resemble the Supreme Court’s notorious Lochner decision of 1905. That case held that property rights prevail over people and the common good.

For more than thirty years, the conservative Justices used that twisted precedent to invalidate more than 200 state and federal laws on major social and economic concerns like child labor, the minimum wage, bank regulation and union organizing. New Deal reformers were stymied by Lochner at first, and they only managed to overturn it in 1937 and only then when FDR mobilized a take-no-prisoners campaign to reform the Supreme Court by weakening its unaccountable power.

…(read more).

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Wheelering and Dealing at the FCC

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2014/5/15/wheelering_and_dealing_at_the_fcc

By Amy Goodman with Denis Moynihan

Michael Powell is the son of Gen. Colin Powell. The elder Powell knows a thing or two about war. He famously presented the case for invading Iraq to the United Nations, on Feb. 5, 2003, based on faulty evidence of weapons of mass destruction. He calls that speech a painful “blot” on his record. So it is especially surprising when his son threatens “World War III” on the Obama administration.

Michael Powell is the president of the NCTA, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, which is the cable industry’s largest lobbying group. He is also the former chairperson of the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission. His target: net neutrality. The battleground is in Washington, D.C., inside the FCC’s nondescript headquarters. The largest Internet service providers — companies like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, AT&T and Verizon — are joining forces to kill net neutrality. Millions of citizens, along with thousands of organizations, companies, artists and investors, are trying to save it.

What is net neutrality? It’s the fundamental notion that anyone on the Web can reach anyone else, that users can just as easily access a small website launched in a garage as they can access major Internet portals like Google or Yahoo. Net neutrality is the Internet’s protection against discrimination. So why would these giant Internet Service Providers want to eliminate such a good thing? Greed. The largest ISPs make massive profits already. But if they are allowed to create a multitiered Internet, with some content providers paying extra to have their websites or Web applications load faster, then they can squeeze out extra profit. Remember, the users are already paying for Internet access. Now companies like Comcast want to charge people at the other end of the Internet connection, raking in billions of dollars from both the Internet user and the Internet content provider.

If net neutrality is eliminated, then large, established content providers with ample cash will buy access to a privileged “fast lane” on the Internet. Smaller websites and new applications will not have the same access, and will be stuck in the “slow lane.” The era of lean start-ups driving innovation will come screeching to a halt. Don’t look for any more high-tech companies founded in dorm rooms. Those sites will take longer to load than those offered by the big companies.

…(read more).

Global Climate Change
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Media