News Factoids for Fourth Quarter 2014

CLIMATE
“Nearly 35,000 walruses were discovered this month on a northwest Alaskan shore as a result of being unable to find sea ice to rest upon, a problem aggravated by climate change, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in September.” -- per TIME Magazine

During October, anger spread over news that the country’s largest methane leak is located right here in New Mexico, near the Four Corners region, and is three times larger than originally reported. The methane leak is attributed to natural gas production in the area and for many New Mexicans, this dangerous human health and environmental hazard represents a wake-up call for new energy policies in our state.

The new term is 'accelerated climate change' since recent actual increases in soil and air and water temperatures around the globe are exceeding the existing predictive computer models: the reality of global warming surpasses what scientists have projected.

ENERGY
The new owners of utility company P.N.M. / Public Service Company of New Mexico are aligned with the fascist Koch Brothers, and have formally proposed a 12 percent rate increase and a $10 per month solar fee (based on Koch-funded A.L.E.C. legislative models) even though P.N.M. paid their stockholders $450 million over the past several years!

Clean coal? U.S. power plants produce 2.2 billion tons of CO₂ every year, which is 40 percent of the nation's total CO₂ emissions.

A PAIR OF POLLUTION ITEMS
A new study released in Hawai'i estimates that nearly 270,000 tons of plastic is floating in the world's oceans. (For comparison, New York City produces and buries 12,000 tons of waste each and every day.)

In late September, Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed SB270 into law, banning use of plastic grocery bags statewide, the first state to do so.

THIS AND THAT
Difficulties are likely to continue in the fight against the ebola virus inside the United States because the Republican Congress still refuses (since July 2013) to confirm President Obama's nominee for Surgeon General. -- per Daily KOS

Almost Haiku For November 5th
My thoughts on the election:
It could be worse.
And it will be.
Quite soon.

Watch Elizabeth Warrens's 'Enough Is Enough!' Senate speech of Friday evening 12 December 2014 [9:43] at YouTube
Copyright 2014 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved