coal

Big coal coughs up for climate denial “conference”, takes NZ sceptics along for the ride

by Gareth May 16, 2012

As US corporate donors step away from the Heartland Institute following their ad campaign likening climate change believers to mass murderers and terrorists, big coal — in the shape of the Illinois Coal Association, supported by all the major US coal companies — has stepped in as a “Gold Sponsor” to support Heartland’s climate “conference” [...]

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Zombie ETS infects RMA with climate insanity

by Mr February May 7, 2012

Simon Johnson/aka Mr February argues that the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme has become living-dead “zombie” legislation that infects other statutes with its own virulent climate change insanity. The example is a recent decision by the Environment Court that it can’t consider climate change impacts of coal mining as described by James Hansen in the [...]

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Coal controversy continues

by Bryan Walker May 4, 2012

Two North American pieces I’ve read this week appealed to me for their directness about the export of coal. One, via James Hansen, was a letter from a Canadian group to Warren Buffet, informing him of their intention this Saturday to prevent coal trains from his BNSF railway company from passing through White Rock, British [...]

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The truth about wind energy

by Gareth May 3, 2012

Shocking new revelations about the impact of excessive use of wind power on our planet — it could blow us out of our orbit around the sun! Oh, and coal is really, really, tasty… [Courtesy of The Onion, hat tip to Climate Crocks].

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Words matter: a politician tells the truth

by Bryan Walker March 26, 2012

“The land we call our home, the land owned by this sweet funny brave people is being transformed, as is the rest of the planet. And yes, since the late eighties I have been an unapologetic believer in the grim reality that human activity is changing the earth’s climate.” These words were spoken by the [...]

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Reinventing Fire

by Bryan Walker February 29, 2012

Is there movement already under way in the world of industry which will outstrip the painfully slow progress of the political world in facing up to the challenge of climate change?  Amory Lovins certainly thinks so and his recent book, Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era, explains why. Lovins is the [...]

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Stuck in the muddle with Obama

by Bryan Walker January 27, 2012

I look back with some embarrassment on my enthusiastic posts when Barack Obama was in the early days of his presidency.  I thought he was offering strong political leadership in addressing climate change.  His words seemed unequivocal. Here he is speaking at the UN in September 2009: That so many of us are here today [...]

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Hidden treasure is fools gold

by Bryan Walker December 19, 2011

The Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) has launched a new document, Realising Our Hidden Treasure: Responsible Mineral and Petroleum Extraction. The title says it all, and it’s the same message as the government has been feeding us for the last three years. First the treasure. The document sets it out in dollar terms. [...]

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The promise of renewables

by Bryan Walker November 4, 2011

No sooner had I finished reviewing Fools Rule, which recounts the determination of many nations to carry on with the further discovery and exploitation of fossil fuels in blunt defiance of the warnings of science, than I read Fred Pearce’s article in Yale Environment 360 detailing how the world is in fact burning more and [...]

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Natural Gas is Not a Green Fuel

by Bryan Walker September 14, 2011

My heart sinks when I read enthusiastic acclamations of natural gas as a substitute for coal. It releases less CO2 on combustion, we’re told. It is a good bridge to the time when renewable energy is sufficiently developed to take over. And latterly, with the development of fracking, that’s going to be a very long [...]

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