I pledge allegiance to flag of the Corporate State of America… State Attorney General Bill Schuette’s job is to be the top law enforcement official in Michigan. As part of that job, his role is to protect the health and safety of Michiganders. Apparently he didn’t get the memo. Schuette has sued the Environmental Protection Agency to keep them from […]

At what point does climate change denial become a mental illness?

The Great Lakes are now at historically low levels. So low, in fact, that Governor Snyder was forced to prevail upon the legislature to pass emergency funding to dredge 58 harbors and bays so that ships and recreational vessels can continue to use them.

Yet, somehow, the corporate-funded climate change deniers still have a voice in what is no longer a debate about the reality of global climate change.

Much more after the jump.

Pay no attention to the Koch behind the curtain

Greedy Lying Bastards is a new documentary released to theaters this past week that reveals the intentional, corporate-funded deception campaign that has shaped our conversation about climate change in profound and dangerous ways. While it’s long been known that the fossil fuel industry — “Big Oil” — has been throwing up a smokescreen (pardon the pun) to confuse the debate over the existence of human-caused climate change, Greedy Lying Bastards picks up where Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth left off to show us just how deliberate and well-funded this effort has been.

The film has already won numerous awards including the 2012 Burbank Film Festival, the Eco-Award at the 2012 Boston Film Festival and was an official selection at the 2012 United Nations Film Festival, 2012 Bahamas International Film Festival and 2012 Costa Rica International Film Festival.

Click through for more including clips from the film.

Spring forward but don’t trip over the Sgnomes

The days getting longer. Ducks and geese returning. Setting our clocks forward an hour for Daylight Saving Time. All of these are clear signs that spring is nigh. But no other sign fills our hearts with more joy than the annual migration of Sgnomes.

Once a common sight throughout the northern part of USA and Canada, global climate change has tragically had a devastating impact on Sgnome populations. Their migratory paths require a unique combination of heavy, sustained snowfall followed by a gradual warming as spring approaches. However, with the shift in climate, the Sgnome migration is coming earlier and earlier and, in some years, doesn’t happen at all.

Thankfully, this year’s Sgnome migration has been epic. My wife, Anne C. Savage, was there to capture it with her camera and we offer it to you today as you set your clocks forward an hour, to cheer your spirits and prepare you for the glorious spring that has nearly sprung.

Click through for the Full Monty.

Why would you support a political party that calls you a liar?

A study by the Pew Research Center revealed that only 6% of the country’s scientists now consider themselves to be Republican vs. 55% that call themselves Democrats. In a piece at Salon, Amanda Marcotte makes the case that this is for a very good reason.

After seeing the film Chasing Ice last night, I am certain Marcotte is 100% correct.

Much, much more after the jump.

Okay THIS is kind of creepy. Michigan residents have enjoyed or endured a roller-coaster year in terms of weather, and they’re not alone. Roughly 3,000 monthly weather records — covering rainfall, snowfall, extreme temperatures, fires or drought — have been broken in areas across the country this year, according to data released Thursday by the Natural Resources Defense Council. That […]

In a sea of bad, very bad and even worse news on the ecological/energy front, score one for the good guys. Last Friday, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (MDNRE) denied a permit for the Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, Inc. to build a new coal-fired power plant in Rogers City, Michigan. While the permit was NOT issued, the […]

The Washington Post reported this week that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is calling for a climate bill to finished up and ready for a vote as soon as possible. Senators John Kerry and Lindsey Graham have been working together (along with Joe Lieberman of all people) on legislation and Reid is lighting a fire under their backsides. “The majority […]

I saw this over at Daily Kos this morning in a piece by Adam Siegel (cross-posted from his most-excellent blog Get Energy Smart! NOW!) and it’s enough to make you spit: LoraxAg lines up $4.5M for clean coal gas plant. [LoraxAg] is rounding up $4.5 million in its first institutional funding, with plans to use coal gasification technology to make […]

This is actually a pretty big development in the discussion of Cap & Trade vs. Carbon Tax to rein in our country’s emissions of greenhouse gases. In a January 11, 2010 editorial in the American Chemical Society’s weekly magazine, Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), Editor Rudy Baum has this to say: H.R. 2454, the 1,200-page climate-change and energy legislation passed […]

There seem to be two types of people in the world — those who think this looks totally cool: …and those who do not. Because wind energy sources are, in many cases, found on shorelines (oceans, seas, the Great Lakes, e.g.), finding ways to move the wind turbines out over the horizon has many attractive advantages: visual impact, noise, bird […]