aral-sea-lgLosing Our Lakes

Many of the world’s vital freshwater resources are under siege from man and nature.  Newsweek has an annotated slide show.

Obama to Attend Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change

The White House has announced that President Obama plans to attend the Copenhagen meetings and will pledge a 17 percent reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, leading incrementally to an 83% reduction by 2050.  The figures are lower than what some countries are committed to and less than what some developing countries are demanding. The U.S. figures are also based upon 2005 emissions, whereas pledges from other nations use 1990 as a baseline.

“It’s critical that President Obama attends the climate change summit in Copenhagen,” said UN climate chief Yvo de Boer. Others were less enthusiastic and quick to note that Obama’s December 9 visit will not be as useful as if he were to be present during the later stages of the December 7-18 conference when final statements are drafted.

Still, until last week, it was not clear he would attend at all. Bills now in Congress containing reductions similar to what Obama will pledge face stiff opposition and passage is far from assured.

California Proposes Its Own Cap-and-Trade System

While Washington argues, California has introduced a plan to institute a statewide cap-and-trade system to target specific industries and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions 15 percent below current levels by 2020.  The proposal is not expected to be finalized until next October, and could be delayed by lawsuits and the many details that have yet to be resolved.

With a gross domestic product that would place it eight among nations, what happens in California is of some consequence, and considered likely to influence what happens in Washington.

Meanwhile, Texas May Build 12 New Coal-Fired Power Plants

As the rest of the world comes to terms with the worst of greenhouse gas emitting industries, Texas, long known for it oil and refining industries. has a dozen new coal-fired power plants under construction or in the process of securing state approval.

From the Texas Observer:

Coal’s comeback in Texas comes as the rest of the United States moves in the opposite direction. At least 107 proposed coal plants have been scrapped nationwide since 2002.

The nation’s turn against coal is in part motivated by the fuel’s contribution to smog, mercury contamination and ecological disasters like last year’s spill in Kentucky of more than 1 billion gallons of wet coal ash into Tennessee waterways and neighborhoods. These concerns are still the focus of grassroots opposition. But coal is increasingly in the crosshairs of governments and campaigners trying to tackle climate change. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA could regulate carbon dioxide and Congress is likely to pass legislation next year that would reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. As a result, building a new coal plant looks like a much more risky – and potentially expensive – bet than just a few years ago.

Oddly enough, Texas is also the largest producer of wind power in the U.S.

Darwin Changed Our Views of the Natural World — and Science Itself

Philosphers’ Playground:

Going back to Rene Descartes, the physical world was seen as a machine whose governing principles were absolute and mathematical. In a given situation there is a completely deterministic outcome that is absolutely determinable.

… what we see in Darwin is an early notion of chaos, that the world may be deterministic, but in being so it is also extremely sensitive to initial conditions. Indeed, so sensitive with so many independent variables that we cannot treat it as a simple machine. This complexity may not take it beyond our comprehension, but it does make it more beautiful and awe-inspiring. It is what it is, but what it will be is a function of what it was.

Coal Damaging to Human Health at Every Stage of Its Life Cycle

No matter how you look at it, coal is nasty stuff. Aside from the environmental and health hazards related to mining, coal combustion releases mercury, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and dozens of other substances affecting the respiratory system, the cardiovascular system, and the nervous system.

Physicians for Social Responsibility have released a new medical report, “Coal’s Assault on Human Health,” that looks anew at the devastating impacts of coal on the human body.

The report concludes that coal contributes to four of the top five causes of mortality in the U.S. and is responsible for increasing the incidence of major diseases already affecting large portions of the U.S. population.