Dedicated To People, The Planet, and All Its Inhabitants – Since 1996
Today, we celebrate another big win for elephant conservation with China’s game-changing decision to end domestic ivory trade by 2017. The new regulations come as part of the government’s efforts to reduce demand for elephant ivory and help end the global elephant poaching crisis.
Read more29 December, 2016 – Waste natural gas flaring at oil sites around the world is on the up, cutting the industry’s costs but damaging the climate.
The post Gas flaring grows as oil industry saves money appeared first on Climate News Network.
Read moreWednesday, December 28, 2016
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Massachusetts came in at third place for passing the nation’s most comprehensive farm animal protection measure that phases out the cruel confinement of veal calves, breeding sows, and laying hens, and restricts the sale of those products in the state. Photo by iStockphoto
Each year, The HSUS releases its Humane State rankings based on a wide set of animal welfare policies — covering a total of 93 policy ideas, from protecting farm animals to prohibiting bear and cougar hunting to regulating puppy mills. This year again, California occupies the top spot and handily so. It fortified its outstanding . . .
The post California, Oregon lead on animal welfare policies, while Mississippi and the Dakotas have the lowest ranks appeared first on A Humane Nation.
28 December, 2016 – Czech camera traps capture first evidence of new golden jackal settlement as ongoing climate change brings shifts in species distributions.
The post Jackal adopts warmer Bohemian lifestyle appeared first on Climate News Network.
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While there are legitimate arguments to be made about over-regulation and crony capitalism, there’s also very little argument about the value of having regulations in our society. And that’s true when it comes to animals, who are vulnerable to people who would exploit them solely for profit or recreation. Photo by Aubrey Gaines/The HSUS-Doris Day Equine Center
Yesterday, I got a lift to the Portland (Oregon) airport, took a cross-country flight to National Airport, and jumped in a cab to head home, hugging my dog and scratching my cat’s head for a good long time after walking through the door. Long-distance travel is a matter of routine for many of us now, . . .
The post Trump should support reasonable federal regulations, not crony capitalism appeared first on A Humane Nation.
27 December, 2016 – Historic evidence of temperature change is revealed by mother-of-pearl layers in the shells of mollusc species that inhabit the ocean shallows.
The post Mollusc produces pearl of climate wisdom appeared first on Climate News Network.
Read moreWe learned earlier this month that scientists are rushing to save critical climate data on government websites before the Trump administration takes over in January. They fear that such data may be deleted and forever lost, and it’s not hard to see why.
The incoming administration has announced plans to roll back existing climate change initiatives and there have been proposals to cut research programs that support a broad range of scientific expertise, such as weather prediction critical to farmers and to states vulnerable to major disasters.
In addition to science-based climate data, however, there is concern that other critical information and analyses under the purview of agencies such as the U.S. Department of Energy may be imperiled early next year. Unbeknownst to many – including, perhaps, to the president-elect and his circle of insiders – all these datasets benefit a broad range of sectors that rely on solid economic forecasting.
Here are just two datasets that are absolutely central to the work economists and analysts do to help industry and other decision-makers interpret energy opportunities and challenges in a rapidly changing world.
1. Energy forecasts: companies depend on them
The Annual Energy Outlook reports produced by the Energy Information Administration – a 30-year-old, independent office within the Energy Department – offers economic and energy forecasts with data invaluable to the transportation and manufacturing sectors, among others. Researchers, regulators and policymakers use them, too.
It includes data on economy-wide energy consumption and electricity prices all the way down to minute information such as carbon emissions from residential clothing dryers. Companies use the report to inform energy cost projections as they strategize and forecast business operations.
This way, an aluminum smelting company that uses a very energy-intensive process, for example, can anticipate changes in energy prices and make decisions accordingly.
We already heard about a proposal to cut NASA’s climate research funding, so it’s no mystery we also worry about how a report such as the Annual Energy Outlook could be affected by a wider crackdown on scientific and economic research and data generation.
Notably, EIA was part of a controversial questionnaire the Trump administration recently sent the Energy Department.
2. Cost comparisons: help investors be smart
The cost of renewable energy is a constant source of debate and has a direct impact on innovation and investment. A utility that needs to add generation, for example, must remain informed about how the operational costs of wind turbines compare with those of a natural gas-fired power plant.
The Energy Department’s prestigious National Renewable Energy Laboratory provides a terrific amount of research on the costs of this and other sources of renewable energy, feeding them into tools such as the Transparent Cost Database.
These estimates help investors as well as consumers evaluate the cost of renewable energy sources in direct comparison to fossil fuels in an unbiased way. The outcome is smarter and more informed decisions.
Our national labs would be overseen by Texas Gov. Rick Perry if he’s confirmed as the Trump administration’s secretary of energy. The governor, who lacks the science credentials of past energy secretaries, once said he would eliminate the agency altogether.
So why the panic over data?
We know that many of the people picked for the Trump cabinet so far openly question climate science, or science in general, and that several of the nominees who will oversee agencies producing such data have a history of putting the interest of the fossil fuel industry ahead of progress on clean energy.
Beyond that, potential budget cuts are looming. Government agency heads opposed to climate action or investments in renewable energy could easily starve the programs that maintain, update and share data with the public if such information no longer fits the administration’s agenda.
Scientists are thus taking steps to download data in preparation for the day when access may be interrupted.
But a country needs hard facts and sound evidence to make smart decisions about its energy and economic future. So we need to continue to lean heavily on the apolitical data that hardworking researchers in government produce for our industry, farmers, entrepreneurs, local and state policymakers, and world-renowned researchers.
Perhaps more than ever before, we must protect and defend this vital information.
By Jeremy Symons
At Risk: The Air We Breathe, Water We Drink, and Food We Eat
The conservative House Freedom Caucus has provided President-Elect Trump a “recommended list of regulations to remove.” Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC), chair of the all-Republican Freedom Caucus, identified 228 federal rules they hope Trump will help eliminate.
Thirty-two of the proposals would roll back safety, health and environmental standards that protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and our nation’s infrastructure (from pipelines to airports). By rolling back these regulations, the plan would essentially prevent the agencies responsible for protecting us from doing their job.
Another 43 proposals are aimed at undermining America’s progress on clean energy and climate change, pushing us away from energy efficiency and renewable energy sources toward more reliance on fossil fuels. This includes eliminating two dozen Department of Energy energy efficiency standards that save families money on energy bills, reduce energy waste, and prevent pollution.
Environmental Defense Fund has posted a copy of the Freedom Caucus document online (first obtained by the Washington Post) and added highlights to show the 75 health, safety, environment, and energy rollbacks.
The leading targets for these attacks are the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy, but other agencies targeted include the Federal Aviation Administration, the State Department, the Department of Interior and others.
Trump’s Pick to Lead EPA Is An Added Threat
The danger of this regulatory ‘kill list’ is compounded by Donald Trump’s picks for key cabinet positions that would traditionally be the first to defend their agencies from political interference. Many of the recommendations are favorites of the fossil fuel lobby, which will have unprecedented power in Trump’s cabinet.
Trump’s decision to entrust Scott Pruitt with running the Environmental Protection Agency is especially dangerous. EPA is responsible for protecting our families from air and water pollution as well as toxic chemicals. Pruitt, however, has repeatedly and systematically teamed up with fossil fuel companies to sue the Environmental Protection Agency to prevent EPA action on regulating toxic mercury, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. In a 2014 investigative report, the New York Times exposed Pruitt’s “secretive alliance” with oil and gas companies while Attorney General of Oklahoma.
Breaking Down the Regulations at Risk
Here is a summary of some of the most alarming Freedom Caucus proposals that Pruitt and others in Trump’s cabinet will be looking over. The Freedom Caucus list has inaccuracies, and it seems to be based on the premise that Trump can erase rules with a stroke of the pen in the first 100 days. For most of these, he cannot, because the agencies have responsibilities to implement laws and are subject to oversight by the courts. But that does not mean that these regulations are safe from diversion of funds, lack of enforcement, legislative attacks, and other efforts to weaken them.
In the following list, the numbers in parentheses match the numbers in the House Freedom Caucus plan.
The chimpanzees abandoned on a series of islands in Liberia by the New York Blood Center continue to thrive under our care. Photo by Jenny Desmond/For The HSUS
At The HSUS and Humane Society International, as part of our commitment to all animals, we put our shoulder into the moral and scientific problems of using animals in research and testing. In doing this work, we follow the framework of the Three Rs – refining, reducing, and replacing the use of animals. That approach . . .
The post Gains to limit animal research and testing in 2016 appeared first on A Humane Nation.