"Oil, the lifeblood of many countries that produce and sell it, appears to be rapidly turning into an ever-cheaper economic curse. A year ago, the international price per barrel of oil was about $103. By Monday, the price was about $42, roughly 6 percent lower than on Friday."
"President Obama came to Las Vegas Monday to throw his weight behind the booming solar energy industry in its recent political struggles, and to announce a bevy of initiatives to promote clean-energy growth in America’s homes and on its rooftops. It was the first stop in a climate and energy-focused tour that will also take the president to New Orleans and Arctic Alaska this month."
Clem Henriksen passed away on August 21, 2015. Clem enriched SEJ not only with his good humor and ready smile, but also with serious expertise on Geographic Information Systems. His work over many years helped journalists develop skills for mapping as a storytelling platform. He was also the supportive husband of Carolyn Whetzel, long-serving SEJ board member and conference chair.
"Americans’ lawns now cover an area three times larger than any irrigated crop in the U.S."
"As a lover of ancient rock art, Steve Acerson usually roams Utah’s backcountry searching for images of hunters and rams carved on boulders and canyon walls. But one morning, on a hillside speckled with those prehistoric petroglyphs, he was also finding signs of a younger civilization: Shotgun shells. Bullets. Shredded juniper trees. Exploded cans of spray paint."
"Local doctors are in the eye of a storm swirling for the past three years over whether corn that’s been genetically modified to resist pesticides is a source of prosperity, as companies claim, or of birth defects and illnesses".
"The warehouse in Tianjin that exploded on Aug. 12 was one of many buildings across China that store toxic chemicals near residential areas or major roads, in violation of safety regulations, according to a review of satellite imagery and public records."
"As of this week, the average of the group of forecast models used to predict the intensity of El Niño are calling for an event that would surpass the record-strong El Niño of 1997-1998."
"'Conditions may exist that could result in a... release of large volumes of contaminated mine waters,' stated a 2014 EPA report on the inactive Gold King Mine, whose toxic waters befouled rivers in 3 states earlier this month."
"On a remote Utah ridge covered in sagebrush, pines and wild grasses, a Canadian company is about to embark on something never before done commercially in the United States: digging sticky, black, tar-soaked sand from the ground and extracting the petroleum."
