Peabody Energy Corp., one of the world’s largest coal miners, said the industry will continue to rely on China and other developing nations as the U.S. uses less.

Here’s what the St. Louis company expects for the coal market in 2012:

It's been obvious for some time now that the Obama administration's promises to fight global warming are in mothballs. But it's still shocking to see Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attack the 27 European countries that are actually trying to do something about the greatest environmental challenge of our time.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently released calculations stating that the total global carbon output in 2010 was the biggest increase ever recorded. The world pumped about 564 million more tons of carbon into the air in 2010 than it did in 2009, an increase of 6% with China, and the U.S. responsible for half the increase and India in 3rd place. According to two combined land and sea surface temperature records from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and the US National Climatic Data Centre (NCDC), the first six months of 2010 were the hottest on record. According to GISS, four of the six months also individually showed record highs.

There is an urgent need to decrease man carbon emissions.  Policy, practice and life style changes are tepid at best and must be exponentially increased to meet the growing challenge.

 

So What Can You Do About It?

 

As someone who now realizes the urgency of our global warming dilemma, what can you do on a personal level to help lower carbon emissions?

 

1.     Coal is the biggest carbon source worldwide and emissions from that jumped nearly 8 percent in 2010. We can support government efforts to limit coal as a fuel, learn more about “clean” coal and if that is a real option, support energy development and companies moving away from coal to cleaner fuels. And limit our own consumption of energy, especially fossil fuel energy.

2.     We can support companies that use “green fuel.” This means companies that are powered by wind, solar, bio-fuels like algae and battery power. These companies often put this information on the label of their product. Buying green products including those using alternative fuels is powerful.

3.     Buy local! When things don’t have to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to reach your hands, they didn’t use as much carbon emissions to get to you.

4.     If you’re not already recycling and/or composting, start now! Disposing of your trash takes energy, often fossil fuel energy.

5.     Don’t drive your car more than you have to. Group your trips taking the most efficient route and take the bus, carpool, bike or walk when you can!

6.     Turn off lights and appliances when not in use and keep the thermometer down and the air conditioning off as much as you can.

 


 

The deep sea is in trouble. A recent study has found that it's being damaged by human activities, and that this is only likely to get worse. Scientists are now calling for better management and conservation of entire deep-sea ecosystems.

It's so 'out of sight, out of mind' that people have used the deep sea as a dumping ground for hundreds of years. While this is still a problem, the report's authors say that the deep sea's most pressing threat now comes from exploitation and the effects of climate change.

The water-energy nexus is a critical aspect of sustainability that must be understood. Energy production requires water, and when energy is saved, so is water. A 2006 report released by the U.S. Department of Energy stated that 39 percent of total freshwater withdrawals in the U.S. were for energy production. This is second only to withdrawals used for agricultural irrigation, but it can be argued that energy is used in order to pump the water required to irrigate. However, for the purpose of this blog, the two categories will remain separate.

Even with the heavy requirements for water and energy, there are many ways that the water-energy nexus can be used in a way that reduces and minimizes environmental impacts. Efficiency and conservation can be practiced and are the two most affordable and immediate ways that everyone can use less energy, thus saving water. Also, renewable energy such as wind and rooftop solar can be implemented in many areas, and these two types of energy production do not require any water. They also reduce impacts by lowering demand for fossil fuel power plants, and this means less water is pulled from rivers and lakes that power plants rely on to produce electricity. This point is critical everywhere, but in regions like the Rocky Mountain West where water is scarce and population is growing rapidly, it becomes even more important. Reducing demand on power plants also means that there are fewer toxic chemicals and other harmful pollutants entering our water and air. 

April 20th, 2010 marks the day the worst oil spill in history occurred. This is the day the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig exploded and spewed approximately 170 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This is roughly fifteen times more oil than spilled during the Exxon-Valdez accident off the coast of Alaska in 1989.  The spill lasted for 87 days until BP was able to plug the leaky well and stop the spill of crude.

Over a year later, the Gulf Coast region is still devastated, with both people and animals feeling the effects. Fisherman have lost millions of dollars in Louisiana alone, and will continue to lose money over the next two years. 

Some of the world's most famous clothing brands, including Nike, Adidas Puma, and H&M are using suppliers that pour toxic chemicals into China's rivers, the environmental pressure group Greenpeace has claimed.

By Peter Foster, Beijing

Air Pollution: Tailpipe controls on buses don't clear the air inside bus cabins

As iconic yellow buses transport children to and from school, their diesel engines deliver big doses of air pollutants. In response, school districts have started retrofitting their buses to cut tailpipe emissions. But a new study shows that while these measures may help clean outdoor air, they have virtually no impact on the air inside bus cabins.

May ushered in smog season and metro Atlanta had its first code orange alert Monday. We’ve made tremendous progress improving our air quality, but serious challenges remain, particularly with respect to elevated ozone levels.

A large pygmy sperm whale carcass that washed up by the Morris Island lighthouse near Charleston Friday was too decomposed to say what killed it, researchers concluded.

The whale stranding follows a string of 13 bottlenose dolphin carcasses since late February. A marine mammal stranding crew was in Charleston Harbor on Monday recovering another dolphin carcass. But the pygmy sperm carcass is only the second whale to wash up on a South Carolina beach this year. A dwarf sperm whale was discovered in January.