Tag archives for oil
Pleas, Hard Lines, and Accusations of Bad Faith Negotiations at Climate Talks
Posted by Mason Inman on December 1, 2011 In Durban, South Africa, the latest round of United Nations climate negotiations opened with a plea from South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, for countries to look beyond national interests. So far, however, the talks have been marked by many of the same divisions that plagued earlier meets. A coalition of environmental groups—including the Natural Resources Defense…
Contest in the Congo: Central Africa’s Shot at Sustainable Development
Posted by Wildlife Conservation Society on November 30, 2011 
As some 30 million votes are counted in the wake of elections this month in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), another contest is shaping up in the Congo between those who would build systems of fair governance and those who would ransack Central Africa for its natural resources.
The Fragile State of Our Environment
Posted by International League of Conservation Photographers on October 14, 2011 
“I have found it is often best to work from the air, which more easily allows for the juxtaposition of nature with the destruction wrought by industrial accidents. Aerial photography gives us a wider context to the beauty and destruction happening on the Earth.” – Daniel Beltra
“Crony Capitalism” Alleged Behind Tar Sands Pipeline Review
Posted by Mason Inman on October 6, 2011 The proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which could carry a diluted form of tar sands from Canada to Texas, has attracted the ire of many environmentalists, including Bill McKibben, who spearheaded protests in front of the White House last month. This week, McKibben argued the Obama administration is practicing “crony capitalism” and that e-mails obtained through a Freedom of…
Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies May Be the Way to Jumpstart Climate Finance
Posted by Mason Inman on September 22, 2011 A leaked World Bank document, due to be presented at the G20 meeting in November, proposes that rich countries eliminate their fossil fuel subsidies and instead contribute the money to climate aid for poor countries to help with green energy and adaptation measures. The paper also said donor countries are unlikely to come up with the…
Ten Years After 9/11 – Canada’s True Cost of Oil
Posted by International League of Conservation Photographers on August 17, 2011 
The unseen environmental costs of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
Debt Ceiling Impasse Could Hit Clean Energy Hard
Posted by Mason Inman on July 28, 2011 Clean energy could be among the hardest-hit sectors if the U.S. government does not raise the debt ceiling and then defaults on the national debt. If there is a default, it could hurt in direct ways, by stopping payments for cash grants and loan guarantees that support many renewables projects. It could also hit innovation, by putting the Department…
Japan, Germany Struggle With Nuclear Power Slowdown
Posted by Mason Inman on July 21, 2011 With a large share of their nuclear power plants down at the moment, both Japan and Germany are scrambling to meet energy demand and figure out how to get by without nuclear in the future. Two-thirds of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors are currently down, most of them for maintenance and testing. To cope with the…
Ethanol Tax Breaks Survive, but Vote May Have “Broken the Dam”
Posted by Mason Inman on June 16, 2011 While a bill to slash $6 billion in annual tax breaks for ethanol fuel failed to pass the U.S. Senate, it was still hailed by some lawmakers and analysts as a major break from the past. It raises a philosophical quandary, says the Christian Science Monitor: “If Congress takes away a tax subsidy, should that count as…
This weekend’s Blue Vision Summit in Washington, D.C. wasn’t just about inspiration and idea generation. From the start, action was a top goal and priority, and today is when it really will come into play. Freshly updated on the latest issues and stats about the need to protect the ocean, some two hundred volunteers are…
U.K.’s “Greenest Government Ever” Charges Ahead with Nuclear Power
Posted by Mason Inman on May 19, 2011 Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, has repeatedly pledged to create the “greenest government ever,” and now the country has adopted a new, ambitious goal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, aiming by 2025 to slash them by half, compared with 1990. The goal, agreed to by Cabinet ministers in the ruling coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats,…
NG Explorer Produces Short Film on Gulf Spill Anniversary
Posted by Andrew Howley of NG Staff on April 28, 2011 National Geographic Emerging Explorer Roshini Thinakaran is a documentary filmmaker who has focused mostly on war and its aftermath. One year after the BP Gulf oil spill however, she has turned her lens to the stories of individuals and families working to bring Louisiana’s coast back to normal, and to document the extent of ongoing…
Mission Blue: Second Successful Team Dive in the Dual Deepworker
Posted by erinhirota on January 9, 2011 Though foiled by weather mere seconds before a planned sub launch on their morning attempt to dive together, executive director of the Harte Research Institute Larry McKinney and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle persevere, and the effort pays off: They complete a successful shallow-water dive off the Florida coast in the dual Deepworker sub–the second…
Mission Blue: Grim Forecast Sends Medusa Ashore
Posted by erinhirota on January 8, 2011 After two journeys to the bottom of the sea and back, a grim marine weather forecast–60-knot winds and 12- to 16-foot seas–for target deepwater drop sites forces the Medusa back to shore. The Medusa, back on deck after its second and final descent of the expedition. By EDIE WIDDER We’ve been WOW: Waiting On Weather.…
Mission Blue: Moments From Deployment
Posted by erinhirota on January 8, 2011 National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle and Harte Research Institute Executive Director Larry McKinney prepare for Mission Blue’s second Gulf dive in the Deepworker submarine, but rising winds and seas put the mission on hold mere moments from deployment. The duo shares their frustration with the uncooperative weather, and their determination to try again. Larry McKinney…
Mission Blue: Video Postcard–Into the Deep
Posted by erinhirota on January 8, 2011 A few days into the Mission Blue expedition to the Gulf of Mexico, oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle sends a video invitation: “Let us take you along as we venture into the deep, and come back with reasons for hope.” By SYLVIA EARLE Pensacola, Florida, with the research vessel Brooks McCall. I’m Sylvia…
Mission Blue: The Land of Oz
Posted by erinhirota on January 7, 2011 On the Survivors of the Spill expedition’s second attempt, we successfully deploy the Waitt Institute’s dual Deepworker sub in relatively shallow waters near the Florida coast. Moments after their safe return to the research vessel Brooks McCall, oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle and ecologist Thomas Shirley describe the green “blizzard of life” that…
Mission Blue: Seafloor Dramas Unfold Before the Medusa’s Eye
Posted by erinhirota on January 7, 2011 On our second full day at sea, the Mission Blue: Survivors of the Spill team departs Roughtongue Reef for quieter waters near the head of the submerged Desoto Canyon. We drop the marine observatory Medusa to the bottom for the second time. Edie Widder of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association discusses what Medusa sees…
Mission Blue: Rough Weather at Roughtongue Reef
Posted by erinhirota on January 5, 2011 On the Survivors of the Spill expedition’s first full day at sea, wind and waves conspired to keep the Deepworker sub out of the ocean–but the Medusa marine lander made a successful first drop onto Roughtongue Reef. National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle and Harte Research Institute ecologist Thomas Shirley recount the day. After long minutes…
Mission Blue: Test Dive at Roughtongue Reef
Posted by erinhirota on January 5, 2011 National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle and Harte Research Institute ecologist Thomas Shirley describe plans for their first dive of the expedition in the Waitt Institute’s two-person Deepworker sub at Roughtongue Reef, part of the “string of pearls in the top of the northern Gulf.” The two-person Waitt Institute’s Deepworker sub with hatches up before departing…
Mission Blue: Medusa Drops to the Bottom of the Gulf
Posted by erinhirota on January 5, 2011 At Roughtongue Reef in the Gulf of Mexico, some 80 miles east of the BP Deepwater Horizon spill site, Dr. Edie Widder of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association (ORCA) deploys the Medusa–a sophisticated deep sea observatory that can film and test seawater conditions–for the first time in the open ocean. At dock in Pensacola,…
Mission Blue: Next Stop – The Ocean
Posted by erinhirota on January 4, 2011 As the research vessel Brooks McCall prepares to embark from Pensacola’s city dock for destinations near the BP Deepwater Horizon spill site, expedition co-leaders Thomas Shirley and Sylvia Earle discuss their goals for the week ahead. Sylvia Earle with the Brooks McCall. By Thomas Shirley and Sylvia Earle Shirley: Sylvia, we’re departing on the Mission…
Mission Blue: Team of Leading Scientists Explores Oil Spill’s Legacy
Posted by Ford Cochran on January 4, 2011 PENSACOLA, Fla.–Scientists and representatives of several organizations head into the northern Gulf of Mexico from Pensacola this week on an expedition led by Dr. Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, and Dr. Thomas Shirley, professor at the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. The expedition aims to explore and document several areas west and…
Healing Journey: A Costly Coastal Legacy for the Gulf of Mexico
Posted by Ford Cochran on November 18, 2010 National Geographic Education Fellow Jon Waterhouse writes from Louisiana’s Gulf Coast that, for some residents who rely on marine life for a living, reports that we’re past the worst of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill’s consequences don’t ring true. By Jon Waterhouse All is not right with the world–not in Louisiana, at least. As the…
Healing Journey Goes to the Gulf
Posted by Ford Cochran on November 11, 2010 National Geographic Education Fellows Jon Waterhouse and John Francis will gather firsthand accounts of life on the Louisiana coast long after Hurricane Katrina and soon after the Deepwater Horizon spill. Wherever you live, ideas you send their way over the next week could help shape environmental policy across the North American continent. By Jon Waterhouse…
