News

By EDUARDO PORTER, published in NYTimes- December 24, 2013 It is probably a safe bet that very few Americans unwrapping a brand-new iPhone left under their Christmas tree are thinking about its impact on the global climate. I have some good news for them, and some bad. No, Apple hasn’t managed to produce the device …

By Sarah Goodyear, published in Next City 12/19/13 (see http://nextcity.org/infrastructure/entry/the-urban-rural-water-wars-of-nevada) Seven states draw water from the Colorado River. Nevada’s take is only 300,000 acre feet, or about 2 percent. Credit:Flickr user K. Oliver Las Vegas has a water problem. Ninety percent of the city’s water comes from the Colorado River, specifically the reservoir at Lake …

Dec. 22, 2013 — Climate change has not been strongly influenced by variations in heat from the sun, a new scientific study shows. (reprinted by Science News, Dec. 22, 2013- see http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131222161813.htm) The findings overturn a widely held scientific view that lengthy periods of warm and cold weather in the past might have been caused …

By Kiley Krow, News Investigation (published Dec.23, 2013) http://www.nationofchange.org/conservative-donors-pump-money-climate-denying-groups-study-finds-1387813573 Organizations that actively block efforts to address climate change are funded by a large network of conservative donors to the tune of nearly $1 billion a year, according to the first in-depth study into the dark money that fuels the denial effort. The study, published Friday …

Join hands to support clean air in Utah! On Saturday- January 25th bring your voices, your signs, and wear your gas masks to the the state capitol steps to show our legislators & governor that we demand effective action to clean up our air in Utah. Stay tuned for more details to come soon. Keep …

by Jana Richman (published in the Examiner November 22, 2013 http://www.examiner.com/article/oil-exploration-escalante-utah) During the week of November 7, 2013, employees from a company with offices in Pennsylvania and Colorado, Front Runner Seismic, showed up in the small town of Escalante, Utah, (pop. 800), and quietly went about their business, knocking on doors, offering contracts of various …

by Zach Carter (published in Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/08/tpp-trade-agreement_n_4409211.html) WASHINGTON — The Obama administration appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation, according to two internal memos obtained by The Huffington Post. …

by Judy Fahys- first published June 7,2013 in Salt Lake Tribune (see http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56427415-78/utah-pollution-winter-wood.html.csp) Even though there might be just a few wood stoves and fireplaces pumping out smoke on northern Utah’s smoggy winter days, they are having a huge impact on air quality. In fact, wood stoves and fireplaces, coupled with exhaust from cooking grills, …

Is our relentless quest for economic growth killing the planet? Climate scientists have seen the data – and they are coming to some incendiary conclusions. NewStatesman- Oct. 31, 2013 (see http://www.newstatesman.com/2013/10/science-says-revolt) Waste land: large-scale irrigation strips nutrients from the soil, scars the landscape and could alter climatic conditions beyond repair. Image: Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas …

By Coral Davenport, published Dec. 5, 2013 in the New York Times WASHINGTON — More than two dozen of the nation’s biggest corporations, including the five major oil companies, are planning their future growth on the expectation that the government will force them to pay a price for carbon pollution as a way to control …