Posted in Energy, Good Government, tagged Austin, City Council, debate, election, Energy, kathy tovo, randi shade, run-off, solar, Texas on June 17, 2011 |
Solar Austin held a debate between Austin City Council Place 3 candidates Randi Shade and Kathy Tovo. The focus was on energy issues. Here is a brief excerpt from the debates where each candidate addresses a question about how an increase of electricity rates should be handled.
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The election is this Saturday, June 18. You can view the entire debate here:
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Posted in Global Warming, tagged anthropogenic, climate change, climatologist, climatology, colbert, debate, denial, denier, Global Warming, man made, meteorologist, meteorology, Texas on April 7, 2010 |
The words sound similar, but are they? Here are the definitions from Webster:
Climatology: the science that deals with climates and their phenomena
Meteorology: a science that deals with the atmosphere and its phenomena and especially with weather and weather forecasting
So even their definitions seem similar, at least on the surface. But as Stephen Colbert points out in this great segment, though Astronomy and Astrology might seem similar as well, they are quite different. Likewise with climatology and meteorology there are important differences that must be clearly understood if man-made global warming is going to be addressed.
Both are defined as “science” and both have schools and degrees associated with them. In truth, however, most of the people we call meteorologists are not scientists. They are news anchors with no advanced degrees of any kind, merely an undergraduate degree in journalism. Take John Coleman for example – the founder of the Weather Channel and much-touted global warming denier. He has no advanced degree of any kind. He is a journalist. Yet, for some reason, his opinion is considered by the general public, and particularly certain information outlets such as Fox News, to be on par with climatologists who have multiple doctorate degrees.
Most meteorologists the general public knows about are simply newscasters, not scientists. They don’t have any greater understanding of climatology than say, me for example. And trying to equate meteorology to climatology is as inappropriate as attempting to equate weather to climate (as many global warming deniers tried to do this past winter with their Snowpocalypse propaganda). Though weather can be affected by climate they are certainly not the same, and certainly need to have any relating trends proven over a multi-year period. If we want information and science, lets stick with the actual scientists and not a bunch of yahoo pundits looking to glorify their position.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
Posted in Coal, Global Warming, tagged Appalachia, Blankenship, Clean Skies, Coal, coal mining, debate, Don Blankenship, economy, Global Warming, Kennedy, Massey, massey energy, mountain top removal, mtr, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Robert Kennedy, Texas, Waterkeeper Alliance on January 21, 2010 |
Thursday evening at 6:30pm Robert F. Kennedy Jr will debate Don Blankenship, the CEO of Massey Energy – the largest coal producer in West Virginia. The subject of debate is the future of coal, Mountain Top Removal (MTR) mining, and economic opportunities for Appalachia. Kennedy is the chief litigator for the Waterkeeper’s Alliance and a staunch opponent of coal power and MTR coal mining. The debate can be watched online Thursday night, January 21, 2010 at 5:15pm here. It will also be available on that website on-demand following the broadcast. 
Blankenship is infamous for his denialist stance on global warming, and Massey Energy is infamous for violating the Clean Air Act with thousands of instances of environmental pollution violations – so bad that environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against them. Let us hope Blankenship and his company’s gross irresponsibility and criminal behavior will not be tolerated much longer, and that Kennedy will mop the floor with him tonight during the debate.
Stephen Colbert did a bit recently on the ills of MTR. Though in this segment they discuss how traditional mining would be better than MTR (and that is true) it is far more important to get us off of all coal mining and burning altogether. The efforts here are reciprocal – helping to end MTR mining will help stop coal plants and stopping coal plants helps stop MTR. Click on the photo to go to the video:
Hardest of all for Blankenship and his ilk will be to dispute this recent call by scientists to put a moratorium on all new MTR permits. A peer-reviewed study recently published in Science Magazine “unequivocally documents irreversible environmental impacts” due to MTR coal mining. Basically there is now hard, scientific proof of what we “crazy enviros” have been saying for years – that MTR mining is one of the most destructive practices in existence and must be ended. For some more previews of Blankenship and his anti-enviro rantings you can check out this video – but be sure to tune in tonight to see Kennedy go round for round with this baron of pollution and champion of denial.
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By promoting cleaner energy, cleaner government, and cleaner air for all Texans, we hope to provide for a healthy place to live and prosper. We are Public Citizen Texas.
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