Located under the pristine boreal forests of northern Alberta, Canada’s oil sands are America’s biggest supplier of oil and the single largest industrial energy project in the world. The powerful and provocative documentary H2Oil explores the impact of oil sands development on local water ecology and human health. This sequence from the doc, illustrated by James Braithwaite and......read more
President Obama announced yesterday that his administration will aim to reduce the federal government's greenhouse gas emissions 28% over the next decade. “As the largest energy consumer in the United States, we have a responsibility to American citizens to reduce our energy use and become more efficient,†said President Obama. “Our goal is to lower costs, reduce......read more
With workers struggling to contain the growing oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, the White House has the declared the situation a disaster of "national significance." The designation paves the way for an all-out federal response to the potential environmental disaster. Yesterday, top officials were dispatched to the region to help coordinate defences against the leak. Meanwhile, the......read more
From Neatorama: On April 20, 2010, a mayday call from the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico reporting an explosion aboard signaled the beginning of one of the largest man-made environmental disasters in the United States. Today, the environmental, economic, and political repercussions of the oil spill are just being felt – but what happened the day the rig went ablaze,......read more
President Obama vowed to pursue criminal inquiries into the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, a few hours before Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that federal authorities have opened criminal and civil investigations. Shares of BP PLC plunged 13 percent after it was revealed that the latest attempt to fix the leaking well failed. The selloff knocked $18 billion off BP's market......read more
In the latest bid to curtail the worst oil spill in U.S. history, BP initiated a "cut and cap" procedure Thursday. But the cut was jagged, and as of Thursday night, robotic submarines were wrestling to place a cap on the gushing well beneath the Gulf of Mexico. President Obama told Larry King he was "furious" about the situation, saying that BP hasn't moved fast enough......read more
With news from the Gulf seemingly getting worse every day, people everywhere are wondering what they can do to help. What not to do: fly to the Gulf, go to the beach and start scrubbing birds -- that can hurt the birds and yourself. Let trained experts handle that stuff and get involved in one of these ways: GOOD suggests sending in water samples from areas affected by the spill for testing.......read more
It's not clear exactly how much oil is being salvaged from the surface of the Gulf of Mexico or the seabed gusher below, but for the moment, BP officials are saying the collected crude belongs to the company. On Andy Revkin's always thought-provoking Dot Earth blog, the NY Times writer and eco-thinker poses an excellent question: Why is salvaged oil going to BP instead of U.S. reserves?......read more
In Washington Monday, the Obama administration took another stab at halting offshore drilling in U.S. waters, announcing a six-month moratorium that's no longer based on water depth. The goverment's previous two moratorium orders were rejected by the courts. Echoing the sentiments of environmentalists, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar argued that the order is necessary because of......read more
Adorbs alert! Discovery assembled an "awwww"-inspiring slide show of endangered baby animals. Are fixies over? We have no idea, but this bamboo joint from Germany's Arndt Menke-Zumbragel tells us no. Lance Armstrong is down too. The world's most famous cyclist called it a "killer wooden bike" on his Twitter. Can't disagree. Check out those rear forks! ......read more