Jack Dini

Ocean Acidification- A New Climategate?

A good way to excite people is to tell them that something has become more 'acid' as 'the oceans are undergoing acidification and this is a potential environmental catastrophe.'

Lots Of Lost Jobs

Oxford University's futures institute reckons 47 percent of the jobs in the US economy are on their way out over the next 20 years as we replace human effort with machines. Old-style photography leader Kodak, which has essentially collapsed, once employed 140,000 people. Instagram, our digital photography leader, had 13 employees when Facebook purchased it two years ago. Meanwhile, we create value in fresh ways that barely involve labor at all. To take the most stunning example, WhatsApp has been valued at $19 billion. It provides jobs for 55 people, reports Nigel Cameron. (1)

Are We Too Clean?

Teeming masses of bacteria are in your mouth, on your skin, up your nose and on the surface of your eye, in your stomach, deep in your bowels, and well, just about everywhere. In fact, the number of bacterial cells you harbor exceeds the count of your own body's cells by 10 to 1.

Microbes Are Everywhere

Microbes seem to be overshadowed by larger forms of life, probably because they are so small, but they are still by far the most abundant life form on the planet, constituting some twenty-five times the total biomass of all animal life. There are well over a million different types, mostly harmless environmental microbes. They are in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat—and when they die they set about deconstructing us. Each ton of soil contains more than 10,000,000,000,000,000, microbes, many of which are employed in breaking down organic material to generate essential nitrates for plants to utilize; every year nitrogen-fixing bacteria recycle 140 million tons of atmospheric nitrogen back into the soil. (1)

Germany's Energy Policy Mess

The German coalition government in planning to withdraw from its 2020 climate change goals. Notwithstanding public protests the Federal Economics Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, has abandoned the requirement of cutting 40 percent of CO2 emissions compared to 1990 levels by 2020. "It's clear that the 2020 CO2 target is no longer viable," said the vice-chancellor. "We cannot exit from coal power overnight." (1)

Japan's Nuclear Lessons

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake at Japan's Sendai nuclear power plant just offshore from Northern Honshu, Japan was one of the strongest earthquakes in recorded history. The resulting tsunami was one of the worst ever recorded. The earthquake and tsunami extensively damaged six 33 to 40 year old nuclear generating units at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. More than 10,000 people died in the earthquake and tsunami. Not a single person died or was made seriously ill by damage to the nuclear power plant. (1)

Media's Misleading Headlines

Doubters and deniers are empowered by the main-stream media which has an interest in pumping up bad science or providing misleading headlines to create a 'debate' where there should be none

Bugs In Our Food

Over 1,000 different types of bugs are eaten by cultures throughout the world. In parts of Mexico, Africa and Asia, insects such as water bugs, locusts, termites, ants and grubs are common foods. But as Sylvia Branzei observes, “The gross fact is, we eat many bugs and bug parts without knowing it. Most foods have insect contaminants. (1)

Stanford's Attempt At Improving Research Accuracy

Meta-Research Center at Stanford (METRICS), School of Medicine initiative

Don't fall victim to plastic leaching from items

At doses up to more than 70,000 times the usual human exposure, BPA caused no health effects, no changes in body weight, effects on hormone levels, or changes in reproductive health or function

India's Sanitation Problem

Diarrheal diseases kill 700,000 children in India every year

Phosphorus- Essential But Problematic

Some scientists want concern for the world’s dwindling phosphorus supply tacked onto the world’s list of environmental hazards with potentially global implications

Solar Panels Not Always Performing As Advertised

If 25 years are needed to break even, cells that fail in 2-5 years, means solar will never be economically viable

San Francisco's $30 Million Dollar Cormorants

Perhaps Caltrans could install mini-windmills or solar panels on the bridge span. Then they would be exempt from fines regarding birds

Air pollution knows no boundaries

The EPA estimates that 40% of the mercury that sinks out of the air and lands in the US comes from overseas

Ivanpah Solar Plant Unintended Consequences

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) not only roasts birds in mid-air, but also seems to be a hazard to aviation. New estimates for the plant, an innovative 2.2 billion solar project says thousands of birds are dying yearly, roasted by the concentrated sun rays from the mirrors. (1)

Cash for Clunkers was a Clunker

The Cash for Clunkers program, formally known as the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS) Act, was a nationwide vehicle scrappage program. Signed into law on June 24, 2009, the program incentivized households to replace used, fuel inefficient vehicles with new, fuel efficient vehicles. Specifically, the program offered consumers a rebate of $3,500 or $4,500 towards the purchase of a new fuel efficient car provided they scrapped a used vehicle. Transactions became eligible for rebates on July 1, 2009 and ended on August 24, 2009. Over the eight weeks of the program, Congress allocated a total of $3 billion toward the subsidies. More than 677,000 vehicles were purchased under the program. (1)

California Ranks Near Bottom in New Energy Index

The "50 States Index of Energy Regulation" report recently published by the Pacific Research Institute measures the regulatory climate for energy consumption, production, and distribution, and which states are more economically efficient. Alabama, South Dakota, and Texas tied for best (#1), while California (#49) and New York (#50) are at the bottom. (1)

Wind and Solar—Expensive Renewables

President Obama says we should 'invest' in renewables as energy sources of the future. Yet after investing billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies in renewable energy, those sources provided only 7.5% of America's energy in 2012, which was actually less than 9.3% of renewables in 1948, more than 60 years ago. That's not a lot of progress for the politically popular taxpayer subsidized renewables. When it comes to solar and wind, those energy sources provided only 1.8% of America's energy in 2012. (1)

Is It The Sun?

Research into global cooling and its implications for the globe is long overdue