Earthbytes

President Obama: Honor the treaties. Protect the sacred. Forward on Climate. No Keystone XL.

Thousands of citizens have gathered on the mall in DC today to ask President Obama to move forward on climate and energy policy. The activists involved represent different campaigns and strategies to protect the Earth and restore ecological balance. Today they all march as one.

For several months, First Nations citizens of Canada, Native American Nations and many non-Indigenous allies have worked to reaffirm unity of the human family and love for Mother Earth. Check out the video and other links below to explore the growing movement.

 

 

Related articles:

Sunday rally could tip balance against Keystone pipeline (Paul Koring, Globe and Mail, 2/17/13)

Harper government presses Obama to approve Keystone XL Pipeline (Yves Engler at rabble.ca, 2/17/13)

The best solution on climate change requires Congress to act (Bernie Sanders in The Guardian, 2/16/13)

A Presidential Decision That Could Change the World: The Strategic Importance of Keystone XL (Michael Klare, 2/10/13)

Four States Introduce Keystone XL Resolutions, Lifting Language From ALEC and TransCanada (Brendan Fischer, 2/16/13)

Why Organized Labor Must Stand Against the Keystone XL Pipeline (Mark Vorpahl, Occupy.com, 2/13/13)

Time for President Obama to Choose Sides on Keystone XL Jamie Henn, 350.org, 2/13/13)

 

Related articles

Thousands Converge: Demand Action from Obama to Avoid 'Climate Disaster'

Crowd gathers for Forward on Climate Keystone XL protest in Washington, D.C.: slideshow

Tens of thousands to rally against Keystone XL in Washington, organizers say

Wall asks U.S. ambassador to clarify Obama's Keystone comments

Earth Observatory Image of the Day: Gas Drilling, North Dakota

acquired November 12, 2012 download large image (4 MB, JPEG, 6000x6000)

acquired November 12, 2012 download GeoTIFF file (14 MB, TIFF)

acquired November 12, 2012 download Google Earth file (KML)

Northwestern North Dakota is one of the least-densely populated parts of the United States. Cities and people are scarce, but satellite imagery shows the area has been aglow at night in recent years. The reason: the area is home to the Bakken shale formation, a site where gas and oil production are booming.

On November 12, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this nighttime view of widespread drilling throughout the area. Most of the bright specks are lights associated with drilling equipment and temporary housing near drilling sites, though a few are evidence of gas flaring. Some of the brighter areas correspond to towns and cities including Williston, Minot, and Dickinson.

The image was captured by the VIIRS “day-night band,” which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses “smart” light sensors to observe dim signals such as gas flares, auroras, wildfires, city lights, and reflected moonlight. When VIIRS acquired the image, the Moon was in its waning crescent phase, so the landscape was reflecting only a small amount of light.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, natural gas production from the Bakken shale has increased more than 20-fold between 2007 and 2010. Gas production averaged over 485 million cubic feet per day in September 2011, compared to the 2005 average of about 160 million cubic feet per day. Due to the lack of a gas pipeline and processing facilities in the region, about 29 percent of that gas is flared.

Learn more about the VIIRS day-night band and nighttime imaging of Earth in our new feature story: Out of the Blue and Into the Black.

• References

• NASA (n.d.) Suomi NPP. Accessed Nov. 29, 2012.
• U.S. Energy Information Administration (2011, Nov. 23) Over One-Third of Natural Gas Produced in North Dakota is Flared or Otherwise Not Marketed. Accessed Nov. 29, 2012.

1. Further Reading

2. Lee, T. (2006, Feb). The NPOESS VIIRS Day/Night Visible Sensor. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
3. Miller, S. (2012, Aug. 10). Suomi Satellite Brings to Light a Unique Frontier of Nighttime Environmental Sensing Capabilities. Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences.
4. NASA (n.d.) Suomi NPP. Accessed Nov. 29, 2012.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using VIIRS Day-Night Band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Defense. Caption by Adam Voiland.

Instrument: 

Suomi NPP - VIIRS

via earthobservatory.nasa.gov

The "landman" cometh: Promised Land

All of a sudden some movies that I really want to see are opening soon. Here's one of them:

 

Related articles

Why is the Fracking Industry Worried Sick Over Promised Land?

You Need to See This Movie

Oil and Gas Industry Set to Attack Matt Damon's "Promised Land"

Bill Chameides: Obama's Energy Plan by the Numbers

Here's a companion word analysis of the Obama Administration's energy plan using the Wordle app (see the Romney-Ryan plan in the previous post).

Read Bill's analysis at www.huffingtonpost.com

Bill Chameides: The Romney-Ryan Energy Plan by the Numbers

In an interesting analysis of the Romney-Ryan Energy Plan, Bill Chameides used the "word cloud" app. Word clouds can be a very revealing way to look at ideas.

Read the rest of Bill's analysis (which includes a link to a pdf of the Plan) at www.huffingtonpost.com

 

Michael T Klare: Danger Waters

This article from Michael T Klare is good reminder of the energy-economy-infrastructure nexus of the world's shrinking, nonrenewable fossil fuel resources:

Welcome to an edgy world where a single incident at an energy “chokepoint” could set a region aflame, provoking bloody encounters, boosting oil prices, and putting the global economy at risk.  With energy demand on the rise and sources of supply dwindling, we are, in fact, entering a new epoch -- the Geo-Energy Era -- in which disputes over vital resources will dominate world affairs.  In 2012 and beyond, energy and conflict will be bound ever more tightly together, lending increasing importance to the key geographical flashpoints in our resource-constrained world.

Read the whole article at aep.typepad.com

Visualizing The U.S. Electric Grid : NPR

Cool tool from NPR:

The U.S. electric grid is a complex network of independently owned and operated power plants and transmission lines. Aging infrastructure, combined with a rise in domestic electricity consumption, has forced experts to critically examine the status and health of the nation's electrical systems.

via www.npr.org