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Issues: Solving Global Warming

Rebranding the Rebranding…tar sands are dirty whatever you call them

November 13, 2009

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
alberta, canada, encana, financialpost, oilsands, tarsands

Ahh, the Canadian tar sands industry. Unhappy that the dirty oil criticisms of their industry are sticking they are to once again change the name of their product rather than fix it. If it wasn't so irritating, it would be...

Show-Me State Skeptics: Convention Clouds Missouri Energy Advances

August 13, 2009

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
climatechange, climatechangedeniers, greenincblog, kansascity, missouri, renewableenergy, springfield,missouri, st.louis, st.louispost-dispatch, wind

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that a "veritable who's who of climate change skeptics and contrarians" will be gathering at a convention in Springfield, MO today. Speaking as a one-time resident of the Show-Me State, that news is disappointing enough---but...

Two Views of Tar Sands: Dirty and Dirtiest

July 23, 2009

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
alberta, andrewnikiforuk, canada, globalwarming, oil, oilsands, societyofenvironmentaljournalists, tarsands

In an odd quirk of timing, two competing visions of the Canadian tar sands hit the media today. I was pleased to see the announcement that the Society for Environmental Journalists had chosen Andrew Nikiforuk's "Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and...

Canadian Author Gets a Look at Expanding Canadian Mess: Tar Sands in Indiana and Illinois

May 4, 2009

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
andrewnikiforuk, aquatorium, bp, gary, indiana, tarsands

Last week I had the opportunity to take a road trip to northwest Indiana. Riding shotgun was Canadian journalist and author, Andrew Nikiforuk, whose book Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent is selling like hotcakes in...

The Money Boat: Coins, Climate Change and the Caribbean

April 20, 2009

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
bunkerfuel, caribbean, coins, island, money, pennies, shipping

A friend who works for the monetary authority of a Caribbean island nation was in Chicago for an international money conference recently. Representatives from banking centers around the world had converged to discuss a crushing array of concerns---but these folks...

The Tar Sands Litany: tough times for Calgary oilmen, tougher times for their PR folks…

February 13, 2009

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
athabascariver, bishoplucbouchard, canada, dangerinthenursery, dirtyfuels, downstream, ducks, eenergysecurity, mutantfish, obama, obamatocanada, oil, oilsands, pollution, tarsands

Things looked pretty rosy in Alberta last summer when oil was trading for $140/barrel. Investments flooded in from folks all over the world eager to stake their claim on the Canadian province's cash cow: tar sands. Sure, there were...

Food Guru and Global Warming: Meat and Mark Bittman on NPR

January 22, 2009

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming

Tags:
climatechange, cooking, food, globalwarming, markbittman, meat, NPR

I do a lot of the cooking in my house and Mark Bittman's book, How to Cook Everything, has become my kitchen bible. Bittman is not a chef. He's a journalist whose thoughtful stories have led him down a path...

A New Rocky Mountain Low: Energy Security at the Expense of National Security?

December 23, 2008

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
alberta, dirtyfuels, energysecurity, rockymountainnews, tarsands

The Rocky Mountain News published a strongly pro-tar sands Op Ed from a Colorado petroleum geologist over the weekend, entitled "Oil sands spell energy security." I don't claim to have aced any spelling bees -- but I do know my...

100,000 People Share a TV: Now that's energy efficiency

November 5, 2008

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
changeinwashington, chicago, energyefficiency, grantpark, jumbotron, obama, tv

  So last night in Chicago's Grant Park, I got the chance to watch election returns with 99,999 of my best friends. For the bulk of the evening, the crowd was glued to CNN reports on a jumbotron in the park's southeast...

Coal Juice Tastes Nasty in China: Central government says Coal-to-Liquid is too dirty

October 16, 2008

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
baard, china, coal, coaltoliquid, CTL, dirtyfuels, ohio

Over and over we hear from dirty fuel advocates that the U.S. needs to use slop like tar sands and high sulfur coal so that it does not get shipped to places like China where the environmental standards are considered...

Water or Oil? Report says tar sands muck up Great Lakes

October 8, 2008

Posted by Josh Mogerman

Tags:
alberta, BP, conocophillips, greatlakes, midwest, pipeline, pollution, refinery, tarsands

Canada is the leading provider of oil to the US. But sadly, a growing percentage of that petroleum oozing south comes in the form of goop from Alberta's tar sands mines, most of which makes its way to the Great...

Chicago Climate Action Plan: Keeping me in the Windy City

September 24, 2008

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
chicago, ChicagoClimateActionPlan, climatechange, MayorDaley, SadhuJohnston

OK, let's be clear. I love my city. And with that love comes a grudging acceptance of Chicago's weather quirks---blizzards, heat waves, and everything in between. So, call me a booster, but I am extremely proud of the city's new effort to...

Of Forced Choice and Hip Hop

August 6, 2008

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
BlackSheep, climatechange, coal, hiphop, Shell, tarsands

I’ve had that great 90’s hip hop tune “The Choice is Yours” in my head for a week now. It's been lodged there since I read comments from Shell’s chief executive in the The Guardian. What connects the Dutch oil giant...

Flood 2008: The Sponge That Saved Gurnee

July 3, 2008

Posted by Josh Mogerman

Tags:
CleanWaterRestorationAct, climatechange, flood, Gurnee, Illinois, wetlands

While reading coverage of the current Midwestern flood disaster, I was floored by this headline: 'Giant sponge' saved Gurnee from flooding.  Had the wise residents of this northern Illinois town erected a loofah levee? Or rigged a mound of porous kitchen...

Farmer Wants a Wife? Farmer Wants a Crop!

June 30, 2008

Posted by Josh Mogerman in Solving Global Warming

Tags:
climatechange, flood, globalwarming, realityTV, simplesteps

It is rare to find TV reality shows bumping heads with cutting edge science. But it happened last week with two unrelated releases… The CW network played the finale of its dating reality show, “Farmer Wants a Wife.” And The Climate Change...

Josh Mogerman
Josh Mogerman
Senior Media Associate
Chicago
Three things are pretty central to my hometown, Springfield, IL: the state capital, Abraham Lincoln,...
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