Like shrimp? They could very well be double expensive in summer.Well, at least the news media is starting to admit that the oil leak will hit the coast, rather than referring to it as a threat or a possibility. The thing is still leaking and I think we all have known all along that it will be hitting the coast, wreaking a serious amount of havoc, and will become an absolute national tragedy before it’s over. The problem with this one, similar to the financial crisis, is that no one is going to feel sorry for us because… we did it to ourselves. In the last two years the U.S. has watched as our financial market took a nose dive, our mortgage situation deteriorated, and our national unemployment shot up above 10%. Now our oil wells are leaking. Things are just not going well right now.

Read more >

It's brutal to clean up..and this one's still spilling.It’s still happening. That’s the most tragic part of this entire weeklong oil spill fiasco. It is still coming out of the hole and leaking into the ocean. Did you know that? Doubtful. This is not a small problem that is going to go away. It is still happening and nobody seems to have any ideas about how to make it stop. In the past there have been horrible oil spills where a tanker tips over and there are millions of gallons that leak into the ocean. That is tragic and horrible. But it was a finite amount and people knew what they were dealing with.

Read more >

gulf oil slickIf the oil leak isn't stopped the mess is going to get worse.

The federal government took charge yesterday to deal with the oil  slick in the Gulf that has proved again that we can't trust the oil companies to safely drill off shore -- can't trust them to follow all the safety rules, can't trust them to protect the coast line, wildlife or shore businesses and industries. We just can't trust them. The BP oil leak in the Gulf and the resulting oil slick are an environmental threat that is becoming a severe disaster. Could put a stop to the expansion of offshore drilling? Senator Ben Nelson of Florida introduced a bill in the Senate yesterday that if passed would do just that.

Read more >

Climate Change...There are so many opinions about the state of climate change that it’s hard to have any idea what is real and what is hyperbole. How many times can a scientist be quoted as saying that we are a few decades from watching New York City go underwater or seeing another great drought hit the center of the United States, you know? If that is what’s happening, how similar are the scientists and liberals pushing the climate change agenda to the Evangelical Christians pushing the apocalyptic one. 

The EPA has published a report called, "Climate Change Indicators in the United States." There is immediate bias in the title, as it implies that the government, the United States federal government, believes that climate change is a very real threat and that legislation is necessary to help do something about it. That alone is enough to infuriate the skeptics and the deniers.

Read more >

The Gulf oil spill may hit the shores as soon as tomorrowBy now you’ve heard of the oil spill that is wreaking havoc in the Gulf. It’s tragic and horrible and all of the other adjectives you want to use that have to do with the destruction of valuable and iconic environmental areas. What are we going to do with a bunch of oil in the Gulf of Mexico? And it’s still pouring out.

Read more >

First man-made star coming to a reality near you, summer 2010“When you wish upon a star”, is not just a Disney story anymore. Scientists in Livermore, California will attempt to create a man-made star on earth this summer, using the world's most powerful laser beam. The objective is to solve the global energy crisis by harnessing the power of a star, which would serve as an unlimited and inexhaustible supply of energy.


Read more >

Should We Have Offshore Wind Projects?Offshore oil or offshore wind? You would expect some kind of cut and dried decision on something like this- like, why drill for oil when you can capture the wind that is always blowing, turning those famous ocean breezes into some soon to be famous clean energy? Cape Cod is somewhat of the centerpiece for the future of U.S. offshore wind, and with good reason. It was a hot topic with the late Senator Kennedy, with speculation that he was actually not in favor of it because he didn’t want the eyesore from his vacation house- true? Maybe, who knows. What we do know is that Obama clearly put offshore drilling for oil ahead of any kind of offshore wind project, and that has major implications for how much funding a wind project in Cape Cod or anywhere else will get. Then there’s the $8.8 billion that is going to the nuclear plant in Georgia.

Read more >

Will nuclear reactors like this one in Oak Ridge become more of the norm...?While it may be on the political backburner for now as Congress battles over finance reform and the media publicizes the immigration debate a la’ Arizona’s new law, how to move ahead on climate change-related energy policy is very much still an open book. In his State of the Union speech, President Obama endorsed nuclear energy as a viable if not necessary option in the move toward both energy independence and away from fossil fuels. It’s hard to know how that will play out in the long run, but in the short-term it netted one new nuclear plant to get a gigantic loan guarantee for more than $8 billion to build the first new nuclear power plant in the United States in 30 years or so. If the president is for it and we’re already giving loans out, is there much of a debate to really have?

Read more >

Will these cubs breed with grizzlies?“Some scientists think receding sea ice could lead to species mingling.” That’s the headline. It sounds like the newspaper headlines you see on old science fiction movies, you know? Which means either that we were way too accurate with the kind of apocalyptic future we always thought about, or we are giving ourselves away as prone to spectacular speculation, and further giving up on scientific integrity. Science, from what I remember, is supposed to observe what is happening, come up with a theory about why, and then figure whether that theory is correct or not. If so, it becomes a law. If not, we come up with a new theory.

Read more >

About noon yesterday, April 24th, a killer tornado went through Yazoo City, Mississippi, a town about 35 minutes from Jackson, the state capitol. The tornado ripped the roofs off buildings, damaged at least a hundred houses, left a three quarter mile path of destruction and  at least ten people dead. Below is video of the deadly tornado provided to the Associated Press,  that was shot by Yazoo City resident Marlon Davis, using his own personal camera.

The severe weather began in Louisiana, just across the state line from Mississippi when a tornado destroyed 12 homes and warehouses. The storm system moved east, with the twister dealing death and destruction in Yazoo.  Meteorologists said the same storm front that produced the tornado spawned heavy thunderstorms that raked across northern Alabama, Georgia and other states today, snapping trees, damaging roof tops and scattering hail.

Read more >