Showing posts with label Enviro global warming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Enviro global warming. Show all posts

Thursday, December 10, 2009

This week in The Tentacle

This week in The Tentacle

http://www.thetentacle.com/

Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Coming Ice Age
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Twenty thousand delegates from 192 countries are currently converging on Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, for the breathlessly awaited “Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.”

In the Footsteps of Charles Darwin
Tom McLaughlin
Cambridge, England – My mouth dropped open when I visited Charles Darwin’s dorm room at Christ College at Cambridge University. The area was about 25 feet wide and 40 feet long. A huge fire place occupied one side of the end of the room with arms holding implements to boil coffee, tea and cook foods, much like the colonial fireplaces we have seen in pictures. There was no way that room would get cold in the mild English winters.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009
New City Hall
Roy Meachum
Before my next TheTentacle.com column appears, City Hall goes through its shakeup, ordered by voters. This does not include Jeff Holtzinger; the current mayor, on his own, decided four years were enough. He’s being replaced Thursday by fellow Republican Randy McClement. This is not the way things were supposed to work.

And with good reason….
Nick Diaz
I generally don’t advertise that I’m a Cuban exile, one who arrived on these shores 49 years ago, seeking freedom. When a friend or acquaintance finds out my refugee status, the question that usually comes up is, “What do you think of the embargo and travel ban to Cuba? Don‘t you think it‘s time for the USA to lift it and resume diplomatic and economic relations?”

Monday, December 7, 2009
Quagmire or Necessity?
Richard B. Weldon Jr.
President Barack Obama laid out his plan for a troop increase in Afghanistan this past week in a prime time speech from the United States Military Academy at West Point New York.

The Best Versions of Ourselves
Steven R. Berryman
Bob Miller’s Christmas Cash for Kids is now on the books for 2009 with a record pledge amount exceeding $134,000. The total dollar amount beat last year – even in the depths of our Great Recession – but dollar amount does not tell the story.

City Officials Face Difficult Times
Michael Kurtianyk
The incoming Frederick City aldermen and mayor have quite a full plate after they’re sworn in on December 10. The biggest challenge for them will be the city’s budget deficit, estimated at $8-$10 million.

Friday, December 4, 2009
American Reign of Terror
Roy Meachum
The anniversary of an important event in my life was published in the History column of all three papers I read daily. It was 55 years this week that the U.S. Senate cast out Joseph R. McCarthy for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.” Less than two years later, in early May, I was the Washington reporter to cover the political eulogies his last day in town.

The Immorality of the Estate Tax
Joe Charlebois
The grim reaper is soon to return to the U.S. taxpayer with scythe in hand. As the small business owners and individual farmers look to pass on family entities to the next generation, the current Congress looks to rescind the one year hiatus of relief – scheduled for 2010 – for the estate tax.

Tiger by The Tail…
Derek Shackelford
Tiger Woods is arguably the most famous athlete in the entire world. Heck, he might even be the most recognizable person in the entire world. All because he can play a game called golf.

Thursday, December 3, 2009
Dig Deep for Christmas Cash for Kids
Joan McIntyre
Here comes my annual plea for those who have a heart, love a child, have a dollar, or just for anyone that cares. It's Christmas Cash for Kids time, a 34-year charity for and about the children in Frederick County.

Transferring You Patience
Chris Cavey
Looking ahead to the upcoming year, the summer of 2010 will lend a new wrinkle to the political scene. Next year on Labor Day weekend you can celebrate by early voting.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Rise of Parentalism
Kevin E. Dayhoff
In early November, Towson University announced that it will become a smoke free campus in late summer 2010.

Accepting One’s Inadequacies
Tom McLaughlin
London – I had the pleasure of visiting many scientists in the Museum of Natural History in this fabled town. My good friends, Jan and George, scientists in their own right who work there, introduced me to these scholars and they patiently explained their research.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Obama’s Breach of Faith
Roy Meachum
When the president of the United States talks to the nation tonight, I will not be listening. One chief reason I backed so enthusiastically Barack Obama was his campaign pledge to remove American forces from the Middle East. In addition to everything else, including his endorsing George W. Bush’s wars, Sen. John McCain was simply not my political tea.

For Better or Worse?
Farrell Keough
We’ve all seen and heard the current brouhaha’s within the Board of Education, but have we been able to follow the alternatives presented to this group for better educational choice and potential savings?

Monday, November 30, 2009
Considering the Source
Steven R. Berryman
More than a headline, title or subject line, considering the source author itself is most vital to comprehension when establishing the weight of your various media viewings and readings.

From Hither, Thither and Yon…
Michael Kurtianyk
I like it that Maryland’s State Highway Administration (SHA) is testing a new mixture for pre-treating roads this winter. It seems that the $25,000 pilot program will treat this winter’s roads with a mixture of salt water and a sugar beet molasses byproduct.

20091209 sdosm This week in The Tentacle Dayhoff Media The Tentacle, Enviro Global Warming, Enviro Global Warming Copenhagen, Enviro Global Warming Kyoto Protocol, Media The Tentacle

This week in http://www.thetentacle.com/ http://tinyurl.com/y8qr8bh

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/12/this-week-in-tentacle_10.html http://tinyurl.com/y8qr8bh
*****
Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/
*****
Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/

Friday, September 11, 2009

Tom Harbold: Data suggests cooling trend

Tom Harbold: Data suggests cooling trend

By Tom Harbold, Carroll County Times Columnist Tuesday, September 08, 2009

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/09/08/news/opinion/opinion_columnists/opin404.txt
How much of a problem is anthropogenic, or human-caused, global warming?

Is it a problem at all? No one argues that periods of warming and cooling have happened in the past, but the concern now is that human activity may be exacerbating the problem. Or is it a problem?

Although it is both wise and praiseworthy to try to minimize our impact on global ecosystems, there is evidence that human activity, even in this techno-industrial age, may not have as much influence over the Earth’s climate as we think we do.

Read the rest here: http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/articles/2009/09/08/news/opinion/opinion_columnists/opin404.txt
20090908 Harbold Data suggests cooling trend
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Friday, May 15, 2009

Climate Change: Garbage Gets Fresh Look as Source of Energy By JEFFREY BALL





HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Times change, and yesterday's environmental problem starts to look like today's solution. That is what is happening with trash.

Over the past two decades, the U.S. has shut down hundreds of pollution-spewing waste incinerators on the belief that burning detritus was a bigger environmental sin than burying it. Today, most American garbage is sent to landfills, some spanning hundreds of acres miles from the cities that generate the refuse. New York City, which tosses about eight million tons of nonindustrial trash each year, trucks much of it to big landfills in states such as Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Jeffrey Ball/The Wall Street Journal.

Covanta's Hempstead, N.Y., plant burns nearly a million tons of trash a year.

Landfills have been convenient. But they are falling out of favor as improved technology and changing environmental priorities start to upend the old thinking about garbage.

Past orthodoxy held that burning trash was bad because it spewed toxic substances into the air. In an era when the big environmental threat was localized pollution like smog and cancer-causing plumes, landfills seemed the lesser evil.

Dirty air is still a concern, but now it has been eclipsed by fears of global climate change. In that calculus of environmental harm, recent research suggests, burning trash is better than burying it.

The appeal of most modern incinerators is that they don't only torch trash. They also use the heat from the incineration to boil water, which creates steam, which in turn generates electricity. Yet trash incineration produces just 0.4% of the country's electricity. Even if all U.S. garbage were burned, it wouldn't produce anywhere near enough power to meet the country's energy needs. But as concern about climate change grows, any renewable source of energy -- even a pile of garbage -- seems appealing.

[…]

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A9

Further Reading

The best way to deal with trash is to produce less of it. The next-best way is to recycle more of it, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But that still leaves loads of trash, and burning it to produce electricity is better than burying it in a landfill,
the EPA says. Incinerating a ton of trash emits at least 35% less greenhouse gas and yields 10 times as much electricity as burying it, according to a recent study by EPA researchers.

Today, the U.S. burns 13% of its trash; it sends 54% of its trash to landfills and recycles 33% of it. Other countries, particularly countries in Europe that have less available space for landfills and fewer domestic fossil-fuel resources, burn more of their trash, according to a
study by the European Environment Agency.

A bill drafted by Congressional Democrats would give incineration, known as "waste-to-energy," a boost. The bill would require utilities to produce 20% of their electricity from renewable-energy sources and energy-efficiency improvements by 2020. The bill's current version defines waste-to-energy as one form of renewable power, along with sources such as the wind and sun.

Many environmentalists worry that encouraging trash incineration will impinge on recycling efforts.
A 1997 report by the Natural Resource Defense Council's Allen Hershkowitz argues that recycling rates could be dramatically improved with more effort. A 2008 study by trash consultant Eileen Brettler Berenyi concluded that trash incineration isn't restraining recycling. Her study, partly funded by the trash-incineration industry, found that U.S. communities with waste-to-energy plants tend to have higher-than-average recycling rates.

Read the entire article here: Climate Change: Garbage Gets Fresh Look as Source of Energy By JEFFREY BALL

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124233937494621157.html


Westminster Maryland Online http://www.westminstermarylandonline.net/ http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/

Monday, January 8, 2007

20070107 An Inconvenient Truth to be shown at the CAC

“An Inconvenient Truth” will be shown at the Carroll Arts Center on January 13th, 2007

http://www.carr.org/arts/index_files/Page441.htm

“An Inconvenient Truth”

Saturday, January 13 2:00 & 7:00 pm

$5 Adults/$4 Arts Council Members, Seniors 60+ and Students 18 & Under.

Rated PG; 96 min; 2006

Stay for a moderated discussion of this film’s important topics following the presentation by the Catoctin Maryland Group – Sierra Club.

Carroll Arts Center

91 W. Main St., Westminster


For more information: Contact: Dan at 410-857-4129 or dooze@qis.net


This renowned film offers a passionate and inspirational look at former Vice President Al Gore’s fervent crusade to halt global warming’s deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. www.climatecrisis.net

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Kevin Dayhoff: www.westgov.net Westminster Maryland Online www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/