Texas drought interactive website | NPR StateImpact

NPR has put together an incredible website full of information and interactive tools on the Texas drought: Texas drought maps and photos | NPR StateImpact. I have a friend who worked in the Texas Legislature for several years. He and his Rep tried hard to introduce a bill into committee (I believe it was the 2011 session) that simply required Texas state agencies to plan for the contingency of drought. They couldn’t even get the bill a hearing in the committee because in the eyes of the right-wing ideologues that control this (and many other) state government, it was one … Continue reading this post

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Concerned Scientists: Renewables Secure From Drought – Forbes

Concerned Scientists: Renewables Secure From Drought – Forbes. Even those who don’t believe humans are causing climate change have a hard time rebuffing the national-security argument—which contends that a diverse domestic energy portfolio makes the United States less vulnerable to disruptions of its energy supply. Drought may not be the first threat that comes to mind, but the Union of Concerned Scientists contends that this summer’s drought is already straining the operation of water-heavy fossil fuel and nuclear plants.  “Our power sector is built for a water-rich world, and when that world is water poor, power plants and electricity users face … Continue reading this post

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Iowa scientists: Drought a sign of climate change

Note: As I’ve outlined in an essay you can find here, the huge and mounting costs of climate change and global warming are external costs that would be included in the market for oil & gas if those markets were actually functioning correctly.  This is a great example of unpriced consequences of fossil fuels and why it’s factually wrong to say things like “coal is cheaper than wind” because the market price for coal power electricity isn’t reflecting the true cost, an example of market failure. Posted on November 20, 2012 at 6:41 am by Associated Press in Climate Change, global warming DES MOINES, Iowa … Continue reading this post

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