First coal-mining death of 2015 reported

First coal-mining death of 2015 reported (via Ken Ward)

Sad news: 43 year old Rick Cline, of Central City, Pennsylvania was killed on the job on Jan. 28, 2015.

The US MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration), the government agency charged with overseeing mine safety, files these reports as "fatals".

The victim was crushed between a rib (a wall of coal) and a remote operated continuous-mining machine like this one (source).  Incident still under investigation.

The Main Problem With Obama’s Climate Policy? It Makes No Sense | The Nation

The Main Problem With Obama’s Climate Policy? It Makes No Sense | The Nation

Note to Washington University Students: If you don't want to write an essay commemorating the Saudi King, you can write one on protest (environmental, perhaps) for the IAS undergraduate journal

The Price of Gas

Fall into a rabbit hole reading background on racism and automobility. Now laugh or cry:John Rocker? Remember him?

Thanks to the brilliant article by Jason Henderson, on automobility and racism in Atlanta, you might revisit the infamous John Rocker, who, unbeknownst to me ended up on (and got booted off) of Survivor last year....

Source: Henderson, Jason. 2006. Secessionist Automobility: Racism, Anti-Urbanism, and the Politics of Automobility in Atlanta, Georgia.  International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 30(2):293-307. 

Automobility and the cultural politics of cars: Cadillac and Ford appear to be engaged in contestations over the meaning of car ownership, unpack, compare, critique these two

Cadillac's ELR
 

 Ford's response:
 

Wow. How deep is the oily friendship? Joint Chiefs of Staff Chief Dempsey Sponsors Essay Competition to Honor Saudi King

Defense.gov News Article: Dempsey Sponsors Essay Competition to Honor Saudi King

On Peabody Coal, dispossession, American history and Native American lands

Add to your reading list on #peabody, #coal, and #destruction: Unreal City: Las Vegas, Black Mesa, and the Fate of the West by Judith Nies

— Energy Politics (@energy_politics) January 26, 2015

KING ABDULLAH: A LIFE IN PICTURES

KING ABDULLAH: A LIFE IN PICTURES

How ‘alternative’ facts drive W.Va.’s energy politics

How ‘alternative’ facts drive W.Va.’s energy politics

Saudia Arabia: Drill baby drill. "Historic moment: Saudi Arabia sees End of Oil Age coming and opens valves on the carbon bubble"

Basically, the end of the oil age is coming, we've got the most, we extract it cheaply, better to sell it off now, then to be left with oil in the ground later...

...

GOP research with new methods proves global warming and climate change are a hoax

For more scary research, watch a bit of this video, and read story from http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/22/3614235/seriously-we-are-all-doomed/

Lecture 3 - Links and Videos related to lecture "Oil and American Cultural History"

Current Events

1. Oil price drops means bust cycle hitting towns like Midland, TX

 cyclicality of fossil fuel economies

2. State of the Union Address “climate change” (not “global warming”) & Republican response “[white] working people”; the “Keystone Jobs Bill” Obama will “block good American jobs” no climate mention…Republicans censored version; Boehner: "inadvertent"

3. Peabody Energy named Energy Company of the Year by Platts

Greg Boyce, CEO  stock-price way down but “it will come back” & “technology solutions, not regulatory solutions” – Peabody response to#SOTU "pain at the plug"

4. NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., ACCCE & ‘clean coal’ state of the union & Business Owner ad

ACCCE: American Coalition for Clean CoalElectricity (industry front group, includes Ameren, Peabody, & number of other companies, now hidden), ties to ALEC

Recent publication “The Social Benefitsof Carbon”  (see my earlier discussion of the ACCCE's view of science with regard to Peabody, Ameren, and WUSTL connections).

Sourcewatch page on ACCCE; Polluter Watch & Wikipedia ACCCE forgery scandal

ACCCE (aka "America's Power" on Twitter: 
Obama is on a “climate crusade” with “calamitous consequences”

Oil outlook 2015: OPEC and US crude producers engage in game of brinkmanship as prices tumble

Oil outlook 2015: OPEC and US crude producers engage in game of brinkmanship as prices tumble

Link to video, click below:

Wednesday January 14, 2015: Fossil Fuels: The Basics

Materials referenced in today's lecture:

Nascar - Sounds of Speed

American's Knowledge of Climate Change (Yale, 2010)

US Energy Information Administration (EIA)  www.eia.gov:  statistics, background information on fossil fuels, US consumption, etc.

Related:
New York Times article on the origin of fossil fuels (2010)

Rising tide: The Religious Ethics/Kate Lovely: On Climate Change and Intergenerational Ethics : Stltoday

Climate Change and Intergenerational Ethics : Stltoday

Keystone XL: Nationwide rallies to resist the pipeline (storify, prepare to scroll)

Welcome to Global Energy and the American Dream

January 12. Introductory Lecture

Readings for Wednesday, January 14:

Surf around the IEA website for good sources, overviews, data, stats, on global energy.  Be critical. The IEA is basically the consuming countries' answer to OPEC and the 73/74 oil crisis.

IEA World Energy Outlook 2014 (summary): http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/media/weowebsite/2014/141112_WEO_FactSheets.pdf

Laura Nader. 1981. Barriers to Thinking New About Energy (Blackboard)

Start reading Jeff Biggers, Reckoning at Eagle Creek (chapters 1 & 2 for this week).

Syllabus corrected: Final paper due April 10.

As everyone seems to be happy about cheap gasoline, a reminder from Neil Young (1974) about the Vampire Blues: "I'm a vampire baby, sucking blood from the earth...I'll sell you twenty barrels worth" (thanks to Pete Benson for the heads up)

On the topic of science denial: Here's what the coal industry will do to a state board of education

West Virginia board of education making changes that reflect industry interest, not scientific consensus.  Coming soon to a coal-dominated state near you (like Missouri).

The Charleston Gazette | W.Va. school board to discuss climate change standards

Coal and Industrial Homicide: Judge keeps Blankenship case files sealed, abridges first amendment in name of impartiality?

http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20150107/GZ01/150109496/1419

Is a record low for [coal] mining deaths enough?

Is a record low for mining deaths enough?  Ken Ward Jr.

Coal dependence = rail dependence as well. To think about... Burlington Northern must provide emergency coal delivery plans : Business

Burlington Northern must provide emergency coal delivery plans : Business

Coal people rub hands together in delight, send check to Mitch McConnell: EPA delays rule to cut carbon from new coal power plants : Business

EPA delays rule to cut carbon from new coal power plants : Business
Love Dina Cappiello - whoever she is – a reporter of the AP who writes:
"That rule will lock in a transition to cleaner energy that's already underway."

What does science fiction literature (and film) have to do with the challenge of global warming? Everything.

And, as we'll discuss, movies like Mad Max and The Road Warrior (left - "I'm just here for the gasoline" w/gasoline can), way back in the 70s and 80s, led the way in this genre.

(And yet another reason to love Naomi Klein too, click on story below for an interview, re: this topic and her book).

On the phrase "clean coal" -- if media should stop using it (agreed), shouldn't WUSTL scientists stop using it too? Higher standards?

Oil price drop -- good for the economy? bad for the climate? or bad for both, in the long run?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-05/brent-oil-falls-below-55-a-barrel-for-first-time-in-5-1-2-years.html

Insights on the Left Wing Anti-Fossil Fuel Conspiracy from the Heartland Institute "McKibben is the sock puppet in this fight."

Nothing like a bit of 'there's no alternative' hyperbole to shut down a conversation on the problems of fossil fuel dependency. One supportive commenter deploys the 'coal is actually good for the earth' argument, citing this PNAS article by Schimel et al. to argue that coal-burning power plants are good for tropical forests. The Schimel article says nothing of the sort, but decide for yourself.   

"Without transportation fuel, modern civilization would collapse into an unimaginably horrendous chaos. Don’t think it can happen? Who’s the denier now?"