Envirographs - EnviroGraphs

California's climate change law (AB 32), which puts a price on carbon emissions and creates a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is yielding substantial reductions in emissions from oil refineries. These refineries are a major source of carbon emissions, along with a host of other toxic chemicals like ammonia, lead, benzene, mercury and acid gases.

Data from the California Air Resources Board shows that 11 refineries substantially reduced emissions between 2010 and 2011, in addition to cuts in the release of other toxic pollutants. Evidence shows that these reductions not a result of cuts in production, but to refineries investing in and upgrading equipment in response to AB 32. An example is Valero’s refinery in Benicia, CA, which decreased covered emissions by over 95,000 metric tons, while also cutting ammonia emissions by 98%, sulfuric acid by 84%, and benzene by 49%, through the installation of a new flue gas scrubber.

“thanks to oil and gas wastewater injected deep into the ground, parts of [Oklahoma] can now also claim the dubious distinction of being among the most likely places in the United States to experience a damaging earthquake in 2016... The [USGS] report suggests that seven million people in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Arkansas face increased risks from human-induced earthquakes in the next year.” - National Geographic

The larger the share of overall energy jobs that are solar and wind jobs, the more likely a state was to support the Democratic candidate in 2016. This has an important lesson for Trump as his administration crafts energy policy.

Per Axios: 

...for the most part, states that Trump narrowly won have a higher percentage of energy jobs that are renewable-energy jobs than safe Republican states.

Thus, an energy policy that shuns renewables in favor or jobs in fossil fuels could bolster his support in solid red states, while jeopardizing his support in the swing states he narrowly won to give him the presidency. Trump would be wise to continue Obama’s investment in renewables.

The significance of the Berkley Earth Surface Temperature study is that it was performed by prominent climate change skeptic Richard Muller. Prior to this study, Dr. Muller was a leading voice of climate change skepticism, casting doubt on both the idea that the earth is warming, and that humans are the cause. The land surface temperature trend (previous graph) led Muller to conclude that the earth is warming. 

Muller then studied issues raised by skeptics, such as possible biases from urban heating, data selection, poor station quality, and data adjustment. He concluded that these do not unduly bias the results. He further concluded that many of the changes in land-surface temperature can be explained by a combination of volcanoes and a proxy for human greenhouse gas emissions. Solar variation does not seem to impact the temperature trend.  Muller demonstrated that the upward temperature trend is likely to be an indication of anthropogenic changes, namely carbon dioxide emissions.

These results led Muller to announce in a NY Times Op-Ed that his research shows the earth is warming and that "humans are almost entirely the cause", referring to himself as a converted climate change skeptic.

From The Guardian:

In the past two decades, 10% of the earth’s wilderness has been lost due to human pressure, a mapping study by the University of Queensland has found... These pristine wild places exist in inhospitable locations: the deserts of Central Australia; the Amazon rainforest in South America; Africa; the Tibetan plateau in central Asia; and the boreal forests of Canada and Russia. They are being encroached on by logging, oil and gas exploration, mining, roads and agriculture.

While coal companies claim prohibition of or restrictions on mountaintop removal mining (MTR) will hurt rural Appalachian economies, this figure suggests MTR is failing to lift rural communities out of poverty. Considering MTR destroys the land, degrading property values and tourism, and imposes health costs on nearby residents, it is more likely MTR is hurting rural Appalachian economies far more than any attempts to stop it.

From National Geographic:

Four national monuments in the American West could be shrunk and six others opened up to permit more mining, grazing, logging, and commercial fishing if President Trump follows the recommendations of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke...

If enacted, the modifications would represent the most sweeping changes to existing national monuments by any sitting president — and are sure to set off a legal battle over presidential powers likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

Here are the threatened monuments:

Facing size reduction: 4. Cascade-Siskiyou, Oregon/California 12. Gold Butte, Nevada 13. Grand Staircase Escalante, Utah 14. Bears Ears, Utah

Facing management changes (mining, grazing, logging, fishing): 20. Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, New Mexico 21. Rio Grande del Norte, New Mexico 22. Katahdin Woods and Waters, Maine C. Pacific Remote Islands, south of Hawaii  D. Rose Atoll, by American Samoa E. Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, off the coast of Massahcusetts

44% of crocodilians are threatened according to the IUCN. The Chinese alligator, Orinoco crocodile, Phillippines crocodile, Cuban crocodile, Siamese crocodile and Gharial are all considered critically endangered. A conservation success story, the American alligator, once facing extinction, is now considered "low risk", although the American crocodile is "vulnerable".

Conservation status of reptiles, which include snakes, lizards, turtles & tortoises, tuataras and the crocodilians

Most (59%) Americans say that stricter environmental laws and regulations are worth the economic cost, but there is a sharp partisan divide. Democrats overwhelming (77%) favor stricter environmental laws and regulations, but only 36% of Republicans agree. But this 41-point opinion gap is relatively recent. In 1994, the gap was only 8 points. Yet over the decades views of Republican and Democratic voters have diverged, with the divergence occurring rapidly and dramatically starting around 2008.