New fracking rules proposed for drilling on federal public land

A couple of things: If there isn't any human health problem with the chemicals drillers are using to collect natural gas stored in shale rock formations, like Marcellus in Pennsylvania, then why so much secrecy? Trade rules? Right. And not. We humans continue treating the Earth - our only planet - as an infinite source of "resources." it is not. I suggest a couple of fixes right off: Put a nice warm sweater on when the weather turns cold; turn the thermostat down (I get by with a setting of 60 and I am in northern Vermont!); and get up and move around. There is nothing worse than camping out in front of the boob tube.
Natural gas drilling - just like myriad other human activities - destroys and fragments habitats needed by all the other life the Creator placed on Earth. And w show our reverence for this biological diversity by wrecking it? The NY Times reports on the Obama administrations latest compromise on gas drilling on federal public lands. Sad.

For insurers, there's no doubt on climate change

It's happening - right now - and the insurance industry is shelling out big bucks to settle claims from storm damage, sea-level rise, and a whole lot more as this piece from today's NY Times makes clear. Still, even with this type of in-depth reporting and no-shit detail, Republican right-wingers in Congress still appear unwilling, unable, or otherwise shying away from legislation to do something about our planet's changing climate.
It is, let's remember, the only planet we have.

Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths

Not good for the ongoing conservation battles. Another point, I still have not read or heard from any media outlet about a coal-fired power plant anywhere having  been shut down because its output was replaced by wind or solar. I see "sham;" a way for sprawl developers to lay claim to the "green" label because their McMansions would draw electricity from wind farms. And that, buckaroos, is s sham.

Companies won't face charges in Condor deaths

Wildlife crime? What wildlife crime? In any case, this is sad. Americans have contributed many dollars to the recovery of the California Condor.

Who would kill a Monk Seal?

That's the question asked by the headline over this NY Times magazine feature. Be sure and read at least some of the comments after taking in the article itself. Planet Earth - our only planet - is in trouble.

Around the campfire with Uncle Dave: Wilderness, self-willed land

I have heard some mighty fine speeches from Dave Foreman and consider him a true friend. Few conservationists today manage to speak up for the land as Dave does. He continues that track in this essay.

Long-feared milestone, 400 ppm, reached for carbon dioxide

That was the sad measurement from the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii. This NY Times piece does the explaining. I wonder if the dozens upon dozens of fellow bicyclists I noticed on the Burlington Bikeway yesterday know (and appreciate) the fact they've used their own calories, not a fossil fuel, to move around? Other than Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and a few others in Congress, I really have to wonder just who they think they're working for. Big Oil? Big Coal?