Fossil Energy and Safety; Fracking and Earthquakes; China and Air Pollution,
more
By Anders Hellum-Alexander
GlobalWarmingisReal contributor Anders Hellum-Alexander wraps-up
and comments on the climate and environmental news headlines for the past week:
One of the problems with the dirty energy industry is how
successful they’ve been in getting the government to insufficiently regulate
for safety. Companies profit off
of cutting corners and we pay the price when accidents happen. This is the world of oil spills.
Environmental protestors are brave folks, doing outlandish things
to get the world to focus its attention on the destruction of our precious
environment. A team in Europe
just climbed a skyscraper in protest of Shell’s Arctic drilling operations.
Natural Gas fracking has been suspected of causing earth quakes in
Ohio; more research has been
published studying the connection between fracking and earthquakes.
The US government is slowly, piece by piece, coming to terms with
our need to address climate change. The Department of Energy just released a report about electricity generation and climate change in America.
I linked to an op-ed by Charles Krauthammer last week as an
example of some poor climate change denial arguments. This Washington Post letter to the editor is a good simple response.
China is working hard to develop its nation, and development seems
to be the goal above all else. Air pollution is China is notoriously bad, and now a
study tells us exactly how bad it is. In the coal burning region of China
people have a life expectancy of 5.5 years less than in other parts of China, and its just due
to coal air pollution.