According to the AP-Gfk Poll taken in mid-August after the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico was capped, Americans are far less concerned about the ramifications of the spill than in June when the well was still gushing.

Only 21% of respondents, compared to 40% earlier, still care “a great deal” or “a lot” about the affects the spill will have on their lives.

At the same time China is taking strides to become the world leader in alternative energy production, tests on water samples taken from the country’s major rivers and lakes by the Ministry of Environmental Protection show less than half of China’s water is safe for drinking.

The percentage of potable water did rise from 48% in 2009 to 49.3% this year, however.

(Credit: NOAA)

Using modeling of historical wind and ocean currents, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) projects a low probability that surface oil from the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill will impact shorelines from eastern central Florida up the Eastern Seaboard.

Newsweek estimated the US uses 19 million barrels of oil per day, and “65 million gallons of gasoline could have been produced from the amount of oil that has leaked, along with 36 million gallons of diesel and 14.2 million gallons of jet fuel.”

Concern over the Gulf oil spill caused “Natural disaster response/relief” to rise 17 percentage points from May to June.

June 15th was another black day as a US government panel of scientists again revised the estimate of the flow of oil from the Gulf spill up to 35,000 to 60,000 barrels a day. Only last week the estimate had been increased to 25,000 to 30,000 barrels a day, see Green Chart of the Day: 6/14/10.

Even with BP reportedly capturing some 15,000 barrels a day, as much as 45,000 barrels a day could still be escaping into Gulf of Mexico waters.

As the New York Times reported: “That is roughly 2.5 million gallons of oil a day, and it means an amount equal to the Exxon Valdez spill could be gushing from the well about every four days.”

On June 10, 2010, BP reported approximately 15,400 barrels of oil were collected and 30.8 million cubic feet of natural gas were flared, so at a minimum that much oil poured from the leak—far surpassing earlier estimates.

Depending on the figures used, the total leakage from the Deepwater Horizon well, as of early June, is estimated to be four to eight times larger than the entire Exxon-Valdez spill off the coast of Alaska.

For more information on the confusion of numbers, see Scientists Offer Varied Estimates, All High, on Size of BP Oil Leak (Washington Post).

The World Cup starts today in South Africa, but once the last goal is scored and spectators and teams have flown back to their homes around the world, what will be the size of the carbon footprint left left behind?

To answer this question, Econ Pöyry, at the request of the Republic of South Africa Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the Norwegian Embassy of South Africa, conducted a feasibility study to estimate the carbon footprint of the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

Though the event’s goal was to be carbon neutral, the report estimated the Cup would produce a 896,661 tonne carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), with an additional 1,856,589 tCO2e contributed by international travel, for roughly a 2.75 million tonne total.

/// Read more…

Public opinion is shifting quickly against offshore drilling. Less than a month ago a CBS News poll found 46% of Americans felt offshore drilling was too risky vs. 45% who favored it, virtually a tie. Now there is a 9% difference in opinion. See Pictures of Oil-Covered Pelicans Shift Public Opinion on Offshore Drilling for a history of changing sentiments on the issue.

NOAA expands the no-fishing zone in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the BP oil spill.

NOAA, June 5, 2010, Public Domain

A few short weeks ago, Americans were overwhelmingly in favor of offshore drilling, then by a slight margin a CBS News poll showed attitudes were changing (see Pictures of Oil-Covered Pelicans Shift Public Opinion on Offshore Drilling.

Although when a nationwide survey conducted by the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), conducted from May 12 to May 18, asked “Do you favor or oppose increasing the amount of offshore drilling for oil and natural gas in the US?”, 45% of respondents still favored drilling, versus 44% who were opposed and 11% undecided, when the question was reworded the results were radically different.

Weighing risk versus benefit, a 51% majority said environmental risks outweighed the benefits of drilling.

/// Read more…

A survey by Gallup Poll found residents of the Middle-East and Northern Africa are most dissatisfied with their air quality.

Overall, consumers living in Asia are the happiest with their air quality.

/// Read more…

NASA Terra Satellite, May 17, 2010, Public Domain