Elizabeth Shogren

College Divestment Campaigns Creating Passionate Environmentalists

Elizabeth Shogren — Fri, 10 May 2013 07:16:00 +0000

At about 300 colleges across the country, young activists worried about climate change are borrowing a strategy that students successfully used in decades past. In the 1980s, students enraged about South Africa's racist Apartheid regime got their schools to drop stocks in companies that did business with that government. In the 1990s students pressured their schools to divest in Big Tobacco.

This time, the student activists are targeting a mainstay of the economy: large oil and coal companies.

So far only a few small colleges have opted to drop investments in fossil fuel companies.

Tar Sands Pipelines Should Be Held To Different Standards, EPA Says

Elizabeth Shogren — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:05:00 +0000

Up until now, pipelines that carry tar sands oil have been treated just like pipelines that carry any other oil. But the Environmental Protection Agency now says that should change.

Lionfish Attack The Gulf Of Mexico Like A Living Oil Spill

Elizabeth Shogren — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 06:56:00 +0000

A gluttonous predator is power-eating its way through reefs from New York to Venezuela. It's the lionfish.

And although researchers are coming up with new ways to protect some reefs from the flamboyant maroon-striped fish, they have no hope of stopping its unparalleled invasion.

Lad Akins has scuba dived in the vibrant reefs of the Bahamas for many years.

Arkansas Oil Spill Sheds Light On Aging Pipeline System

Elizabeth Shogren — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 09:11:00 +0000

Amber Bartlett was waiting last Friday for her kids to come home from school. One of them called from the entrance to the upscale subdivision near Little Rock, Ark., to tell her the community was being evacuated because of an oil spill. Bartlett was amazed by what she saw out her front door.

"I mean, just rolling oil. I mean, it was like a river," she says.

After Keystone Review, Environmentalists Vow To Continue Fight

Elizabeth Shogren — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 05:52:00 +0000

Environmentalists have a hope.

If they can block the Keystone XL pipeline, they can keep Canada from developing more of its dirty tar sands oil.

State Department Finds No Major Objections To Keystone XL Pipeline Proposal

Elizabeth Shogren — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:01:00 +0000

The State Department released its environment assessment of the Keystone XL pipeline on Friday. Melissa Block talks to Elizabeth Shogren.

Protesters Call On Obama To Reject Keystone XL Pipeline

Elizabeth Shogren — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:19:00 +0000

Tens of thousands of protesters turned out on the National Mall Sunday to encourage President Obama to make good on his commitment to act on climate change.

In his Inaugural address from outside the U.S. Capitol, the president said: "We will respond to the threat of climate change knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations."

Just a few weeks later, next to the Washington Monument, Paul Birkeland was one of a couple dozen people holding a long white tube above their heads.

"It's a backbone. It's a spine.

Outgoing Energy Secretary Warns Of Dangers Of Climate Change

Elizabeth Shogren — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 22:17:00 +0000

Secretary Chu is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who came into office with high hopes. He was selected to help the president pursue his green energy agenda and fight climate change. It turned out to be a rocky road. Some of the green companies that got big government loans, like Solyndra, ended up going bankrupt, and the president had to drop his plans to get Congress to adopt climate change legislation. Still Chu helped the country make progress in becoming more energy efficient.

In Second Inaugural, Obama Makes Climate A Priority

Elizabeth Shogren — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:52:00 +0000

President Obama pulled out a surprise in his inaugural address on Monday. After barely mentioning climate change in his campaign, he put it on his short list of priorities for his second term.

"We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations," he said.

Understanding Climate Change, With Help From Thoreau

Elizabeth Shogren — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:15:00 +0000

Modern scientists trying to understand climate change are engaged in an unlikely collaboration — with two beloved but long-dead nature writers: Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold.

The authors of Walden and A Sand County Almanac and last spring's bizarrely warm weather have helped today's scientists understand that the first flowers of spring can continue to bloom earlier, as temperatures rise to unprecedented levels.

"If you take the old historical records of Thoreau and Aldo Leopold and use those to sort of predict when plants will be flowering in an astonishingly warm

Coal Loses Crown As King Of Power Generation

Elizabeth Shogren — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:31:00 +0000

Just a few years ago, Georgia Power generated nearly three-fourths of its electricity with coal. Last year, for the first time, natural gas edged out coal, and just this week the company announced plans to close 10 coal-fired power generators within the next few years.

"We do recognize this is a historic event for our company. We've never announced this many closings at one time," says Mark Williams, a company spokesperson.

If all goes as planned, within a few years only a third of the company's power plants will run on coal. The company has already built three new natural gas plants.

Deep In Canadian Lakes, Signs Of Tar Sands Pollution

Elizabeth Shogren — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 23:43:00 +0000

Canadian researchers have used the mud at the bottom of lakes like a time machine to show that tar sands oil production in Alberta, Canada, is polluting remote regional lakes as far as 50 miles from the operations.

An increasingly large share of U.S. oil comes from Canada's tar sands.

Electric Companies Surprising Winners In New Tax Package

Elizabeth Shogren — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 21:52:00 +0000

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

And I'm Robert Siegel. The new last-minute tax deal cobbled together by Congress and the White House has produced at least one surprise winner, electric companies. That's because the two sides agreed not to increase the taxes that most people pay on dividends. NPR's Elizabeth Shogren explains why that is welcome news to the electricity business.

ELIZABETH SHOGREN, BYLINE: First, a little reminder about what a dividend is. Some stocks pay dividends. Some don't.

Budget Deal Provides Tax Brakes For Green Energy

Elizabeth Shogren — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 09:41:00 +0000

Whether you're a homeowner who bought an energy-saving refrigerator last year or a company hoping to build a wind farm, the tax package Congress just approved may give you a reason to cheer.

"It's got something in there, a Christmas gift if you will, for almost everyone — American homeowners, workers who commute via transit, and manufacturers of efficient equipment like clothes washers, dryers, refrigerators," says Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy.

Homeowners can save up to $500 on taxes for 2012 or 2013 for installing more insulation or an energy-efficient furnace

Scientists Mourn Popular Wolf Shot By A Hunter

Elizabeth Shogren — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:29:00 +0000

The most popular wolf in Yellowstone National Park was shot by a hunter last week, a big blow to scientists and many wildlife enthusiasts who loved following her story.

"She was very recognizable, and she was unique and everybody knew her," says biologist Douglas Smith.

The animal known as 832F had a beautiful gray coat and was the alpha female of the Lamar Canyon pack. Smith has followed this wolf for years but only got to put a tracking collar on her in February.

"I tried to catch her for several years prior to doing it, and she was so smart we couldn't.

EPA Bans BP From Bidding On Federal Contracts

Elizabeth Shogren — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:43:00 +0000

The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Wednesday that it is temporarily banning BP from doing new business with the federal government. The agency cites BP's lack of business integrity as a reason, pointing to the company's conduct during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster. The suspension doesn't affect current contracts.

Loophole Lets Toxic Oil Water Flow Over Indian Land

Elizabeth Shogren — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:15:00 +0000

The air reeks so strongly of rotten eggs that tribal leader Wes Martel hesitates to get out of the car at an oil field on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. He already has a headache from the fumes he smelled at another oil field.

Martel is giving me a tour of one of a dozen oil and gas fields on the reservation. These operations have the federal government's permission to dump wastewater on the land — so much that it creates streams that flow into natural creeks and rivers.

Smart Power Grid May Have Lessened Sandy's Impact

Elizabeth Shogren — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 21:24:00 +0000

Old age and a new threat — climate change — are putting a strain on the East Coast's power infrastructure after Sandy.

Millions Without Power As Sandy Makes Landfall

Elizabeth Shogren — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 23:55:00 +0000

Sandy hit the East Coast on Monday and knocked out power for millions of people. Utility companies face major challenges to get power back online after the massive storm.

On The Campaign Trail, Regulations Dominate The Environmental Debate

Elizabeth Shogren — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:09:00 +0000

In previous elections, candidates from both parties have campaigned on pledges to be environmental presidents.

Chimney Rock Becomes Newest National Monument

Elizabeth Shogren — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 22:05:00 +0000

President Obama named a new national monument on Friday: Chimney Rock in southwestern Colorado. With two sandstone spires soaring from a mesa, not only is Chimney Rock a spectacular place; it also provides a fascinating glimpse into the ancient people who lived in that region more than 1,000 years ago.

The moon usually rises south of the stone towers at Chimney Rock, but every 18 or 19 years, the moon rises directly between the two huge pillars. This feature seems to have been especially important to a society known as the ancestral Pueblo people.

Colorado's Chimney Rock Gets National Designation

Elizabeth Shogren — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 21:30:00 +0000

The Obama administration has named Chimney Rock, in Colorado as a new national monument. The ancient people who lived there were a little bit like modern Americans — they had an elite class and a 99 percent just like us.