Archive for the ‘Bioengineering’ Category

Welcome to the Saudi Arabia of Coal

February 2nd, 2010

 
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‘Clean Coal’ has been the rallying call of the coal industry in America, but as author and activist Jeff Biggers explains to Earthbeat host Daphne Wysham, it’s actually a strategy that the dirty industry has used throughout history to push back on any types of restrictions on coal mining.

Jeff is the author of the book – Reckoning at Eagle Creek. He’s also the author and one of the three main characters in the new play Welcome to the Saudi Arabia of Coal. Joining him in the play is Stephanie Pistello and Ben Evans.

The play The Saudi Arabia of Coal will be at Busboys and Poets on 14th St., NW in Washington, DC on February 9th at 7 pm and February 10th at 9 pm on its tour across the United States.

Then we hear about the Appalachian elementary school that is just downhill of a massive pond of ’slurry’ left behind from Mountain Top Removal mining. Host Daphne Wysham speaks to Coal River Mountain Watch’s Judy Bonds, Bobby Mitchell, Lorelei Scarboo as well as Alan Johnson for Christians for the Mountains.

Mary Anne Hitt is the director of Appalachian Voices and a native to the area. She spoke passionately at the IFG/IPS Teach-In about the effects of coal mining on both the land, and the culture, of Appalachia.

Music for this edition of Earthbeat comes from Moving Mountains – an album that benefits the fight against Mountain Top Removal Mining. The song is “The Fiddler’s Ballad” by Jen Osha with Wolf Creek Session.

Our theme music is Baladi by Tony Anka, Bellydance Superstars vol. 2.

CommentPosted in Actions, Alternative Energy, Bioengineering, Climate Change Policy, Coal, Economics, Environmental journalism, Global Warming, Organizations

Nuclear Options & Cashing out of the Chamber of Commerce

January 5th, 2010

 
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Nuclear power proponents say it’s ‘clean energy’ because, unlike coal-fired power plants, nuclear power doesn’t produce carbon dioxide. In this encore episode we hear from Dr. Helen Caldicott the author of Nuclear Power is Not the Answer on the dangers of nuclear power and how it DOES create massive amounts of greenhouses gases. Dr. Caldicott joins the discussion with host Daphne Wysham. More information about the rise of nuclear power in the US Senate can be found at Mother Jones magazine. The report Dr. Caldicott mentions is Carbon Free Nuclear Free.

Top American companies ditch their membership in the US Chamber of Commerce because of its climate change denial. We speak to Pete Altman, the climate campaign director for the Natural Resources Defense Council and Antonia Juhasz, the author of the book The Tyranny of Oil. To take action and support companies demanding the U.S. Chamber of Commerce change its stance on climate change, either call 1-877-5-REPOWER or visit WhoDoesTheChamberRepresent?

The federal government classifies incinerators as a source of renewable energy. Meg Sheehan of Ecolaw in Massachusetts discusses the irony of naming waste as renewable.

CommentPosted in Bioengineering, Campus Climate Challenge, Economics

Pond Scum Turning Raw Sewage into Biofuel

September 1st, 2009

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Four years after the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, we review how the city of New Orleans is – or isn’t – prepared for future storms and the other devastating effects of climate change.

Joining host Mike Tidwell from Baton Rouge is Mark Davis, the director of the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy at Tulane Law School; and discussing how the record warm ocean waters feed into stronger storms is Joe Romm, the author of the website Climate Progress.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is suing the EPA to undermine the science of climate change. Jim Tankersley reported on the suit, and the other tactics the Chamber is using to undermine action on climate change for the LA Times and the Chicago Tribune.

Then we speak to Greg Breining about how the city of Minneapolis is using natural algae to turn metropolitan wastewater into biofuels to power city buses.


Our theme music is Baladi by Tony Anka, Bellydance Superstars vol. 2.

If you’d like to hear this edition of Earthbeat – please send us an e-mail

CommentPosted in Actions, Alternative Energy, Bioengineering, Copenhagen, Economics, Education, Geoengineering, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases

Copenhagen, Bioengineering Plants & Hope for a Heated Planet

March 19th, 2009

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The next UN climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark is possibly the world’s last chance in combating devastating climate change. Today on Earthbeat host Mike Tidwell discusses the road to Copenhagen – and how the United States has to step on the gas to get there – with Gillian Caldwell, campaign director for the climate change coalition – 1Sky.

Time and again we’re told that we need dirty coal-fired power because it’s cost effective. Turns out – that’s yet another myth about coal. In more and more areas in the US, wind power is now cheaper than coal. Gary Skulnik, the president of a clean energy broker company Clean Currents discusses the change that’s truly blowin in the wind.

As the world warms, farmers are facing increasing pressures. Bioengineering may be a way to adapt to climate change – debating this idea with host Mike Tidwell is Greg Conko, a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, CEI and the author of the book, The Frankenfood Myth.

Then, an uplifting look at how to organize and fight climate change with the author of the book Hope for a Heated Planet, Bob Musil.

Our theme music is Baladi by Tony Anka, Bellydance Superstars vol. 2.

If you’d like to hear this edition of Earthbeat – please send us an e-mail

Image used courtesy of skelter via Flickr.

CommentPosted in Actions, Alternative Energy, Bioengineering, Books, Climate Change Policy, Coal, Copenhagen, Economics, Effects of Climate Change, Energy Conservation, International Climate Policy, Wind