Study finds shift to 'dark money' in climate denial effort

Koch Industries, ExxonMobil disappear from traceable public databases after 2007.

By Douglas Fischer, The Daily Climate

The largest, most-consistent money fueling the climate denial movement are a number of well-funded conservative foundations built with so-called "dark money," or concealed donations, according to an analysis released December 20.

The study, but Drexel University environmental sociologist Robert Brulle, is the first academic effort to probe the organizational underpinnings and funding behind the climate denial movement.

It found that the amount of money flowing through third-party, pass-through foundations like Donors Trust and Donors Capital, whose funding cannot be traced, has risen dramatically over the past five years. 

It's ugly, too

Sprawl Threatens Water Quality, Climate Protection
By ecoRI.org News staff

PETERSHAM — A new study by Harvard University’s Harvard Forest and the Smithsonian Institution reveals that, if left unchecked, recent trends in the loss of forests to development will undermine significant land conservation gains in Massachusetts, jeopardize water quality and limit the natural landscape’s ability to protect against climate change.

Scientists researched and analyzed four plausible scenarios for what Massachusetts could look like in the future. The scenarios were developed by a group of forestry professionals, land-use planning and water policy experts, and conservation groups.

The scenarios reflect contrasting patterns and intensities of land development, wood harvesting, conservation and agriculture.

The two-year study entitled "Changes to the Land" is distinctive in its forward-looking approach and its use of sophisticated computer models to conduct a detailed acre-by-acre analysis of the entire forested landscape of Massachusetts over 50 years.

Taylor Swift – is her new seawall legal or illegal?

Causing a stir even though she’s not in town

By Will Collette with commentaries from Tracey O’Neill and Samuel Howard

Not meant to be aesthetic in nature, large stones provide more
protection against coastal storms. (photo by Tracey C. O'Neill)

Taylor Swift. Just mentioning her name, especially in a headline, will generate lots of Google search hits for Progressive Charlestown. 

Country music diva Swift is our neighbor, living just a few miles down the beach in her $17 million Watch Hill mansion, though she really lives in another dimension of time and space.

Even though Ms. Swift is not in residence, she’s causing another major stir by building a major piece of construction on her beachfront, a huge seawall to protect her property from coastal storms. Lots of property owners along our coast line are fortifying their properties against the inevitable next big storm. But Swift’s project is attracting lots of attention, mainly because she’s Taylor Swift and we’re kinda starved for celebrity gossip in our area.

There has been some outcry over this project and the official reaction to it. Some charge Swift is infringing on public access rights to the beach. Others say it's not so simple. It’s hard to predict the half-life of this controversy, but it’s getting a lot of attention.

To get the ball rolling, please read on for two different takes on the Taylor Swift Wall by two guest columnists I’ve frequently featured in Progressive Charlestown. The first is Sam Howard who appears frequently at Rhode Island’s Future. The second is Tracey O’Neill whose blog OnLinewithTraceyC offers great coverage on politics and the environment.

Dealing with weight gain from the holidays

From Fake Science which has the answers to all your questions

A Charlestown Citizens Christmas, Day 9

Making 12 days seem like 12 years

By Charleston Dickens

On the ninth day of Christmas the CCA gave to us...

Nine Nagging Nitpicks

Eight Empty Essays

Seven Shrubbery Schleppers

Six Simplistic Sophists

Five Finagled Filings

Four Phony Phone calls

Three Loopy Lawsuits

Two Amateurs Appointed

And a Partridge on the Anonymous Abutters Bus

Coffee or Beer?

The Choice Could Affect Your Genome

Science Daily

Coffee and beer are polar opposites in the beverage world. Coffee picks you up, and beer winds you down.

Now Prof. Martin Kupiec and his team at Tel Aviv University's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology have discovered that the beverages may also have opposite effects on your genome. 

Working with a kind of yeast that shares many important genetic similarities with humans, the researchers found that caffeine shortens and alcohol lengthens telomeres -- the end points of chromosomal DNA, implicated in aging and cancer.

Mulch!

Ways to recycle a Christmas tree

From: Beth Buczynski, Care2 in ENN.com

For nearly a month (maybe longer if you're one of those day-after-Thanksgiving types), your Christmas tree has formed the centerpiece of holiday celebrations. But now, as the New Year draws near, it's time to think about what to do with it.

If, like millions of people, you chose a fresh cut tree, it's important to think long and hard about recycling. After all, a carbon-sucking plant gave its life so that you could honor the pagan tradition of decorating a tree. Just tossing it in the garbage is a depressing waste, especially when there are so many other creative options.

Below is a list of the most creative ideas we've ever seen for repurposing Christmas trees. Although most of us will undoubtedly choose number one (the easiest option), the others will warm your heart as well.

UPDATED #2: Major Snowfall in the forecast

Snow totals reduced
By Will Collette

The new National Weather Service forecast at 10 AM on Thursday cut the estimated snow totals from this snow storm down from 13 inches to perhaps 7 total.

The Weather Channel, having scored a big hit by naming last year's blizzard "Nemo," is calling this storm "Hercules." Hmmm, not so much.

They boosted the potential wind speed to gusts of up to 43 MPH. The NWS now has us under a Winter Storm Warning until 10 AM on Friday. The forecast is for upwards of six inches everywhere, but much higher amounts along the coast line. It still looks like eastern Massachusetts and the Cape are going to catch the worst of it. 

It's going to be very cold from Thursday through Saturday. In one way, that's good news in that the snow may be lighter and easily to handle than heavy, wet snow. Remember that last year's Winter Storm Nemo caused so much damage because the snow was so wet.

But if you lose power, your house is going to get colder, faster in the Arctic cold.

I have updated Progressive Charlestown's standard collection of snow tips and warnings to help you prepare and cope with what looks like the season's first major snowstorm. Stay warm and stay safe.

And read on.

A Ploy to Dilute the Democratic Party’s Message

Third Way dead-ends at Wall Street.
By Jim Hightower

Here’s a jarring headline: “Economic Populism Is a Dead End for Democrats.”

That’s the title on a recent op-ed piece written by a couple of longtime political flacks for Wall Street and published, naturally, in The Wall Street Journal.

Take it from me, when the barons of big money start rolling out this kind of scolding screed, it’s not because they really think populism is a loser, but because they’re terrified by the fact that it has already gained mass appeal and is on the move all across grassroots America.

Alarming increase in Charlestown unemployment at year’s end

Charlestown’s lack of concern leaves residents in the cold, Part 1

By Will Collette

It’s hard to catch a break in the real world of Charlestown. After a couple of months of modest improvements in its unemployment rate, the new state Labor Department numbers for the month of November show a sharp spike in Charlestown joblessness, going from 7.4% in October to 8.7% in November.

To understand what the November numbers mean in Charlestown, you have to put them in context. For example, the number of Charlestown residents in the workforce (i.e., either working or looking for work) showed one of the biggest changes this year. An added 102 Charlestown residents joined the workforce, causing it to climb from 4,455 in October to 4,557 in November.

However, of those 102 added members of the workforce, 69 are new unemployment insurance enrollees and only 33 of them found jobs.

WAKE UP!

According to the 2010 US Census, Charlestown has 6,761 residents over the age of 16. Of them, 486 are unable to work due to a permanent disability. Approximately 1,600 Charlestown adult residents told the Census they were “retired.” If you subtract the disabled and retired from the adult population, you get 4,675, 118 more than the current official DLT tally of the Charlestown workforce. Most likely, these 118 are the hidden unemployed – people who stopped looking or lost their unemployment benefits.

Now, presuming I haven’t put you to sleep, you’re probably asking “so what?” What point is Collette trying to make?

The country's best employment councilor

Job Advice from Rand Paul

By Jen Sorenson

Click here for smart things to do now that your unemployment benefits are gone.

A Charlestown Citizens Christmas, Day 8

Making 12 days seem like 12 years

By Charleston Dickens

On the Eighth Day of Christmas the CCA gave to us...

Eight Empty Essays

Seven Shrubbery Schleppers

Six Simplistic Sophists

Five Finagled Filings

Four Phony Phone calls

Three Loopy Lawsuits

Two Amateurs Appointed

And a Partridge on the Anonymous Abutters Bus

DEM buys Hopkinton estate property to expand Rockville Management Area

Property Provides Connectivity from Blue Pond to the Ell and Long Pond Preserve for Public Recreational Use

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management announces the permanent protection of 31 acres of forestland in Hopkinton. The property abuts DEM's 1,069-acre Rockville Management Area and will provide connectivity from state-owned land around Blue Pond to 945 acres of conservation land held by The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Society of Rhode Island, and the Hopkinton Land Trust. 

Public access will be maintained on the property to provide for hunting and passive recreational uses such as hiking.

DEM purchased the property for $285,000 from the estate of Dorothy Fisher, with funding provided by a Statewide Land Acquisition grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The Fisher property contains several thousand feet of dry road frontage, which could be easily built upon. Its acquisition prevents residential encroachment onto existing conservation land and provides additional recreational opportunities for the public to enjoy.

Video, an obvious one for today

But still great...

Day long dreaded by right-wing finally arrives

Out with the old and in with the new--light bulbs that is!

From: Robin Blackstone, ENN.com 

As of January 1, 2014, 60 and 40 watt incandescent bulbs will no longer be manufactured or sold in the United States.  Retailers will sell out what is on their shelves and not restock incandescents. 

George W. Bush signed the phase-out, which was called for by The Energy Independence and National Security Act, in 2007. The bill also includes improvements in energy efficiency for lighting and appliances many of which have been in stores for several years.