Oil continues to 'screw over' the environment

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hat do almonds, golf, fracking, and Kim Kardashian's lawn have in common? They've all been publicly shamed for their outsized water use during California's ongoing drought.

But you likely haven't heard as much about one of the state's major water sucks: oil refineries, which are estimated to be the second-biggest water user of non-ag businesses in the state (after golf).

The plants process more than 80 million gallons of oil per day, turning it into products like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, each gallon of oil takes between 1 and 2.5 gallons of water to refine, most of which is either dumped into the ocean after it's used and treated, or evaporated as steam. Once in the ocean, the water is unusable unless it's desalinated.

Read the Mother Jones story - “Yet Another Way That Oil Is Screwing the Environment”.

Obama outlines case for ambtious climate action

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Speaking to graduating cadets at the US Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday, President Obama once again outlined his administration's case for ambitious climate action.” Mother Jones reports.

At the heart of today's speech: the president's contention that global warming constitutes an immediate threat to America's national security and will cost the country hundreds of billions of dollars if left unchecked.

Obama took direct aim at climate change deniers in Congress. "Denying it—or refusing to deal with it—endangers our national security and undermines the readiness of our forces," he said. "Politicians who care about military readiness ought to care about this too."

Read the Mother Jones story - “Obama: Climate Deniers in Congress Are Undermining Our Troops”.

Excess carbon dioxide turning produce into junk food

Tom Philpott.

Plants need carbon dioxide and that is a scientific fact.

However another scientific fact is that once the atmospheric content passes a certain limit, those same plants react rather badly.

Writing on Mother Jones in a story headed: “Climate change is turning your produce into junk food” Tom Philpott pointed out that the benefits from C02 rich air will be reversed resulting in reduced crops yields.

Quoting a paper published in Nature this month, Philpott notes that heightened levels of atmospheric carbon makes key staple crops such as wheat, rice, peas and soybeans less nutritious.

Californian drought 'scaring' many people

One of the realities of climate change is being felt in California.

The "worst drought" in 500 years
scaring many Californians.

In a story headed: “California’s drought could be the worst in 500 years” Mother Jones reports Californians are becoming scared.

And it argues that such nervousness is with good reason as the state’s fire danger is alarmingly high and its drinking water is dangerously low.

The story point out that the drought will have repercussions outside the state’s borders for it produces a good chunk of the nation’s food; half of it fruit and vegetables and a significant amount of U.S. dairy products and wine.

Holy crap!

Holy crap!

That is the response of many to detail in a leaked Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that warns of serious difficulties as the impacts of climate change unfold.

Cries of “Why weren’t we told” are futile, for we were and this report, although leaked and subject to change, details the difficulties ahead.

The Mother Jones story, headed: “5 Terrifying Statements in the Leaked Climate Report” again explains how the atmosphere we have damaged is about to have the final say.

This might be America, but Australia stands in the same queue

Just some of the damage of 'Superstorm
Sandy' as week after the event.

This is America and not Australia it might be argued, but like the flow of money around the world which appears unrestricted, climate change knows no boundaries.

A story in Mother Jones headed: “Flood, Rebuild, Repeat: Are We Ready For Another Superstorm Sandy Every Other Year?” helps us understand the numbers, or the economics, of climate change.

The economics of climate change induced damage appear at first glance as contrived and cherry-picked to simply support arguments for climate change, but they are not.

Rather, they are real, they are numbers that refer to infrastructure, they are numerical additions that equate with the lives of millions; they are the cost, the real cost, of ignoring the realities that humanity has changed the world’s climate.

Reponse to climate change is complex, unknown and expensive, but to do nothing doubles those difficulties

Responding to climate change is complex, an unknown and possibly expensive.

However, to do nothing will see life become even more complex, even further unknown and have an expense that we cannot comprehend.

A recent story published in Mother Jones helps readers understand the carbon cap and trade system in a story headed: Carbon Cap-and-Trade Explained in 1 Simple Diagram .