By Glynn Wilson – As a leading agency observing and understanding environmental changes to planet Earth, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced Thursday that it officially joined the National Climate Task Force created by President Joe Biden in an executive order issued an Jan. 27, which outlined details of the task force directing all…
Fossil fuels
Toxic Coal Ash is Back on the Agenda as an Environmental Issue of Our Time
Editor’s Note: For the past five years, while the New American Journal has continued to keep up with some major stories related to the natural environment such as the latest news on global warming and climate change, our priorities have tended to focus largely on coverage of national science and public affairs, and some state…
What A Difference A Day Makes: Coronavirus Peaks, Biden Signs Executive Orders Reversing 45’s Destructive Course
What a difference a day makes Twenty-four little hours Brought the sun and the flowers Where there used to be rain My yesterday was blue, dear My lonely nights are through, dear Since Trump ran to Florida, dear And Biden was sworn in. By Glynn Wilson – KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Glory hallelujah. What a difference…
Attorneys General Support Legal Challenge of Permit for Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
By Glynn Wilson – A coalition of 12 attorneys general around the country have filed friend of the court briefs in support of a federal lawsuit by environmental groups challenging the legality of the Trump administration’s permit for the Keystone XL pipeline transporting Canadian tar sands oil into the United States and across the American…
Even as the COVID Winter Dominates, Global Warming and Climate Change Creep Back Up
Scientists are reporting the hottest November on record – By Glynn Wilson – KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It’s a bit hard to write about the latest news on global warming and climate change when your fingers are just cold enough for the arthritis itch to tingle in your knuckles, the temperature gauge outside says it’s well…
Yellow Smoke From the Riverside Fire Clogs the Air Over Portland Oregon
By Jimmy Lanier – Special to the New American Journal – PORTLAND, Ore. — The air surrounding Portland is thick with smoke, hanging like a blanket of yellow tinted fog from the Riverside Fire about 20 miles east of the city. The limited visibility created by the smoke requires headlights on to drive in the…
Maryland Attorney General Joins Multi-State Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration for Curtailing Public Participation and Reviews Under the National Environmental Policy Act
By Glynn Wilson – Maryland Attorney has joined a multi-state lawsuit including 27 state and municipal plaintiffs challenging the Trump administration’s final rule curtailing requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that say federal agencies must review and assess the impact of their actions on the environment. The Trump administration’s “final rule” also limits…
Scientists Project Active, Deadly 2020 Hurricane Season
But is data missing from computer models on ocean temperatures due to the coronavirus? – By Glynn Wilson – As if the world were not under assault from enough disasters, scientists recently released the projections for hurricane season 2020 and the forecast is not reassuring, in spite of global cooling due to reduced carbon emissions…
Earth Day: A Decade Later, Our Oceans and Wildlife Still at Risk
By Michele Harmon – Ten years ago this month, our community experienced the worst environmental disaster in the history of our country. In fact, the spill was 30 percent larger than originally calculated, and deadlier. Below the surface, “invisible oil” was hidden from view of satellites that were intended to capture the extent of the…
Science Proves That 2019 Was the Second Warmest Year on Record
Yes, the global warming is caused by human activities – By Glynn Wilson – The science is in. Yes, planet Earth is still growing hotter, and 2019 was the second hottest year since records have been kept beginning in 1880. And yes, the global warming is caused by humans burning fossil fuels for energy. There…
Trump Advisory Committee Recommends Near Total Privatization of National Parks
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the world is focused on President Donald Trump’s latest crazy tweet, pulling U.S. troops out of Syria and allowing Russia and Turkey to release ISIS fighters and destroy the Kurds, U.S. allies, along with the impeachment investigation in the House, there are all kinds of under the…
Thirty States and Local Governments File Motion in Federal Court to Intervene in Lawsuits and Defend EPA’s Authority to Limit Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Dirty, Coal-Fired Power Plants
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Maryland’s attorney general filed a motion in federal court on Tuesday joining 30 states and local governments in an attempt to intervene with the federal government to defend the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to establish air emission limits on greenhouse gases from power plants and other industrial sources…
Millions of People Take to the Streets to Protest Lack of Government Action to Address Global Warming in Climate Strike
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — An estimated four million people around the world walked off the job, skipped school and joined marches and rallies on Friday to protest inadequate government action to address climate change due to global warming from the burning of fossil fuels in what youth organizers called a Climate Strike.…
Hurricane Dorian Floods U.S. Coast from Florida to North Carolina
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — After skirting Puerto Rico and flattening and inundating the Bahamas, where the death toll is rising to more than 30, Hurricane Dorian flooded the east coasts of Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina and made landfall at Cape Hatteras and the Outer Banks as a Category 1 storm Friday…
Hurricane Dorian Hits Major Category 4 as it Barrels Toward Florida Coast
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the U.S. island of Puerto Rico dodged the worst damaging winds and flooding on the weak side of Hurricane Dorian, hot Atlantic Ocean waters of up to 85 degrees fueled the system from a tropical storm into a deadly category 4 hurricane on Friday and Saturday as…
World’s Food Supply Threatened by Climate Change, New Report Warns
By Glynn Wilson – In another international report that will be largely ignored in Washington with climate change deniers in the White House and the number of federal employees and government regulations dwindling, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is meeting this week in Geneva, Switzerland and is set to release its latest…
Alabama’ Coal Ash Problem Tops Flint Michigan’s Contaminated Water Scandal
Only the Alabama Coal Ash Pollution is Not Being Covered as a National Crisis – Interactive Map By David Underhill â MOBILE, Ala. â Coal is mostly carbon. When burned it turns into carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that merely heats the planet and sends the climate into a gradual, though accelerating, death spiral. But…
‘Ominous’ UN Report Warns Human Activity Has Pushed One Million Plant and Animal Species to Brink of Extinction
“Nature is collapsing around us and it’s a real wake-up call to humanity.” By Jake Johnson – A United Nations report described as the most authoritative and comprehensive assessment of global biodiversity ever published found that human exploitation of the natural world has pushed a million plant and animal species to the brink of extinction…
This Is How Human Extinction Could Play Out
Food-system collapse, sea-level rise, disease. In his new book Falter, Bill McKibben asks, “Is it Too Late?” – Excerpted from FALTER: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out? by Bill McKibben. Published by Henry Holt and Company April 16th 2019. Copyright © 2019 by Bill McKibben. All rights reserved. By Bill McKibben –…
A Large Majority of Americans, 65 Percent, Now Favor Protecting the Environment Over Economic Growth
By Glynn Wilson – The Trump administration’s partisan war on the environment is taking its toll not only on public lands and the planet. A new Gallup poll shows that and the booming economy due to the Obama administration’s policies are driving public opinion away from unregulated economic growth and toward more environmental protection. By…