Category Archives: Video

Posted on by

U.S. Representative: Keystone XL “poses major threats at every turn”

United States Representative Steve Cohen (D - TN) spoke against the Keystone XL pipeline, on the House floor yesterday.

“When you brush aside the studies by TransCanada and other oil companies and you analyze the pure scientific studies,” said Rep. Cohen, “every analysis clearly demonstrates the Keystone XL pipeline poses major threats at every turn – in its extraction, its transportation, its refining, and its consumption – threats to our earth.”

Here’s the video of Cohen’s brief remarks.

And here’s the text:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share my grave concerns about the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, the decision and existence of which is awaiting a decision by the Administration.

Last week, 84 of my colleagues (82 Republicans and 2 Democrats) introduced H.R. 3, a bill that would approve the construction and maintenance of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The world’s foremost climatologist, Dr. James Hansen—and one of the first scientists to warn of the dangers of burning carbon fuel and a partial recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize—has likened the building and use of the Keystone pipeline to the “lighting of a carbon bomb.” Game over.

DC rally against the Keystone XL pipeline.

DC rally against the Keystone XL pipeline.

When you brush aside the studies by TransCanada and other oil companies and you analyze the pure scientific studies, every analysis clearly demonstrates the Keystone XL pipeline poses major threats at every turn – in its extraction, its transportation, its refining, and its consumption – threats to our earth.

The truth of the matter is, the U.S. isn’t even going to be using those fossil fuels transported by the pipeline—they’re going straight to China.

In fact, the only proposed feasible method of getting those Canadian tar sands to China or any other country is by building the Keystone XL pipeline, to feed into the port in Houston, Texas.

I urge my colleagues to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline, avoid lighting that carbon bomb in our country. Oppose H.R. 3 and return our focus to initiatives that center on true energy independence through renewable resources and greener production.”

Cohen is one of 24 Representatives who comprise the Safe Climate Caucus — a group organized last month and headed by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Posted on by

Sec. of State John Kerry Calls for Action on Climate Change

In his first policy address since becoming the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry today called the fight against climate change a “sacred trust.”

If we waste this opportunity, it may be the only thing our generation — generations — are remembered for. We need to find the courage to leave a far different legacy.

His speech at the University of Virginia comes just three days after the largest rally in U.S. history calling for action on climate change. Some, including the Canadian newspaper linked below, see Kerry’s address as a hint that the Obama administration plans to stop the completion of a pipeline stretching from tar oil fields in Alberta to Texas. The Keystone XL pipeline has become a symbol for many of business-as-usual energy policies amid growing climate catastrophes and extreme weather events.

Kerry speechThe prepared text of Kerry’s address are here.

Kerry speech ominous for Keystone XL pipeline - World - CBC News.

 

 

 

Posted on by

Solar Power Shines in NASA Video

Today’s solar video gives a pretty awesome visual reminder of the immense energy produced by the sun. Watch for the scale-drawing of the earth appearing at 1:06.

The text below, explaining the video, comes from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory team.

Eruptive events on the Sun can be wildly different. Some come just with a solar flare, some with an additional ejection of solar material called a coronal mass ejection (CME), and some with complex moving structures in association with changes in magnetic field lines that loop up into the Sun’s atmosphere, the corona.

On July 19, 2012, an eruption occurred on the Sun that produced all three. A moderately powerful solar flare exploded on the Sun’s lower right hand limb, sending out light and radiation. Next came a CME, which shot off to the right out into space. And then, the Sun treated viewers to one of its dazzling magnetic displays – a phenomenon known as coronal rain.

Over the course of the next day, hot plasma in the corona cooled and condensed along strong magnetic fields in the region. Magnetic fields, themselves, are invisible, but the charged plasma is forced to move along the lines, showing up brightly in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength of 304 Angstroms, which highlights material at a temperature of about 50,000 Kelvin. This plasma acts as a tracer, helping scientists watch the dance of magnetic fields on the Sun, outlining the fields as it slowly falls back to the solar surface.

The footage in this video was collected by the Solar Dynamics Observatory’s AIA instrument. SDO collected one frame every 12 seconds, and the movie plays at 30 frames per second, so each second in this video corresponds to 6 minutes of real time. The video covers 12:30 a.m. EDT to 10:00 p.m. EDT on July 19, 2012.

Credit: NASA SDO
Music: “Thunderbolt” by Lars Leonhard, courtesy of artist.