Tag: Climate Change

IS Alt Energy The Answer?

I wrote this draft before the idiot won the election…..and Donny has a hard on for alt energy so this may be a moot point I will make.

We are bombarded daily by ads telling us the strives that big business is making to save the environment…..big oil, auto makers, bottlers, etc…..but are these forward looking business just blowing smoke up the consumers ass?

The latest report on CO2 emissions is not a good one (btw it may be the last report we get for at least 4 years)….

The Met Office has issued a dire warning: global warming is accelerating beyond control, pushing Earth off-track from meeting the 1.5°C (2.7°F) target set in the Paris Agreement.

The latest data shows a rapid rise in carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and record-breaking temperatures – raising serious concerns about the future of our planet.

Scientists warn that without immediate and drastic action, we are heading toward a climate crisis that will be difficult to reverse.

The year 2024 officially became the hottest on record, with global average temperatures exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time. This milestone highlights the increasing intensity of climate change and the urgent need for action.

https://www.earth.com/news/global-warming-is-accelerating-beyond-control-as-co2-levels-rise/

But the problem is the energy production…..trying to solve our energy problem we are embracing alt energy…..or are we?

Rising energy costs, unreliable power grids, and climate change continue to exacerbate the global energy crisis and its impact on both businesses and households.

To be sure, electricity access has been improving, the cost of solar energy has dropped by over 80% since 2010, and renewable energy installations have consistently outpaced fossil fuel developments. But even with all that progress, projections signal a rough road ahead for energy usage around the world—one that will continue to impact families struggling to pay bills, industries facing operational disruptions, and economies hindered by resource instability.

One major contributor to the calamity: the world’s reliance on centralized energy grids. Although centralized grids are pivotal to the generation and distribution of energy across many major cities of the world, a lot of these grids are getting old and outdated, overburdened, and ill-equipped to handle the demands of modern economies.

Fortunately, decentralized grids are emerging to help solve that problem. “The rise of decentralized energy solutions, like microgrids, is a direct response to the limitations of traditional grids,” Gil Kroyzer, CEO of Solargik, tells Fast Company. “Unlike centralized systems, decentralized solutions bring energy production closer to the end consumer, improving reliability and reducing infrastructure stress.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/91257084/can-renewable-energy-really-fix-the-global-energy-crisis

There are no easy answers and kicking the can down the road at every opportunity will do nothing to save the planet.  Plus we have a new admin in DC that hates the environmental oversight and will work tirelessly to overturn any and all progressive we have made as little as it may be.

I am glad I am old and will not see the final destruction of the planet.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Trump And Climate Change

This is my continuation of my series looking at the possibilities we can expect from a Trump administration…..this post is about the possibilities in climate change policies…..

Climate change will be a sore spot for many with the incoming Trump administration

World leaders, negotiators, lobbyists and NGOs are meeting in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, for COP29.

COP (Conference of Parties) is comprised of approximately 200 countries that ratified the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in 1992. The representatives of these countries meet every year to negotiate the best approaches to tackling the root causes of climate change.

But this year, a black cloud hangs over the conference as the United States is expected to pull out of climate discussions under a Trump administration.

President-elect Donald Trump aims to give a free pass to polluting nations while ignoring the catastrophic weather changes such as massive fires, floods, and storms that have devastated cities and communities around the world.

Many experts see this as not just irresponsible but downright dangerous, risking lives and livelihoods for the sake of short-term political gains.

The UN climate conference – the 29th such gathering, which will run from 11-22 November – has been billed as the “finance COP” as countries are due to set a new global climate finance goal this year.

Ahead of COP30 in Brazil next year, representatives will be submitting strong national climate commitments – known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

More than 100 heads of state and government have confirmed their attendance, according to UN sources.

But several world leaders and government officials have said they won’t be attending the conference.

The UN’s decision to host COP29 in Baku has been criticized, given the ongoing tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/11/21/trumps-outrageous-disregard-for-climate-change-endangers-the-world/

Trump has nominated a fracking CEO as head of the Energy Department….

President-elect Trump on Saturday announced he’s chosen campaign donor and fracking company CEO Chris Wright for the top job at the Department of Energy. Wright, who runs Liberty Energy, also will be a member of Trump’s planned Council of National Energy, CNN reports. The chair of that body is to be Doug Burgum, the nominee for Interior secretary. Trump called Wright “a leading technologist and entrepreneur” in his statement. He’s been a leading advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, per the AP, which Trump supports to achieve what he calls “energy dominance” in the global market. The president-elect said Wright and Burgum would drive that effort, per the New York Times, partly by cutting regulations.

Wright has recognized the connection between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change, though he’s been skeptical that climate change has anything to do with the increase in extreme weather. He’s said the use of fossil fuels is necessary to bring the developing world out of poverty. “The world runs on oil and gas, and we need that,” Wright told CNBC last year, adding that the idea of completely moving away from fossil fuels in a decade an “absurd time frame.”

The earth will soon be suffering from extreme stupidity all in the name of profit….but that is a word the Trump loves above all else.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Climate Change Initiatives

I am so damn old that I remember the first so-called ‘initiatives’ to save the planet from ruin…..as far back as the 1970s and ever since that ‘bold’ step the can has been kicked down the road at every ‘summit’…..the year 2000 was a target and then after another summit it was 2020 and then 2030 and now it is 2050 (but there has not been another ground breaking summit yet).

After all these ‘summits’ it is shown that only a fraction has ever been applied….

A recent analysis of global climate efforts by a coalition of researchers found that only a small fraction of the policies implemented over the past two decades have been effective in reducing carbon emissions. The study, which examined 1,500 climate initiatives across 41 countries, found that only 63 of these strategies made a meaningful impact on reducing greenhouse gas output.

“It is easy for countries to say they will reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, but these statements do not mean that the policies they adopt will be effective,” said Jesse Smith, the senior editor at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “This work illustrates the kinds of policy efforts that are needed to close the emissions gaps in various economic sectors.”

The research investigated the success of a variety of policies, including bans on coal plants, fossil fuel taxes and emissions trading schemes. However, the study’s lead author, Nicholas Koch, emphasized that the sheer number of climate regulations does not necessarily correlate with better outcomes. Instead, countries that successfully reduced their greenhouse gas emissions did so by employing a diverse mix of policies tailored to their unique circumstances.

“Meeting the Paris Agreement’s climate targets necessitates better knowledge about which climate policies work in reducing emissions at the necessary scale,” the report reads. “Our insights on effective but rarely studied policy combinations highlight the important role of price-based instruments in well-designed policy mixes and the policy efforts necessary for closing the emissions gap.”

The study also noted that there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to reducing emissions. Different nations have varying needs and resources, meaning that the most effective strategies for lowering emissions will vary across the globe.

(san.com)

Then there is the waste of cash…..money spent on impotent measures to change the climate degradation.

And as usual the US leads the waste (it is something we do expertly….waste taxpayer money)….

Among the world’s wealthiest countries, the U.S. leads the way in spending public money on so-called climate “solutions” that have been proven to “consistently fail, overspend, or underperform,” according to an analysis released Thursday by the research and advocacy group Oil Change International.

The group’s report, titled Funding Failure, focuses on international spending on carbon capture and fossil-based hydrogen subsidies, which continues despite ample data showing that the technological fixes have “failed to make a dent in carbon emissions” after 50 years of research and development.

The report details how five countries account for 95% of all carbon capture spending, with the U.S. investing the most taxpayer money in the technology, at $12 billion in subsidies over the last 40 years.

Norway comes in second with $6 billion going to carbon capture and storage, while Canada has spent $3.8 billion, the European Union has spent $3.6 billion, and the Netherlands has poured $2.6 billion into the technology, with which carbon dioxide emissions are compressed and utilized or stored underground.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/carbon-capture-2669098434

Sounds like the old “Nero fiddled while Rome burned” approach by our government and others….no one is serious about climate change….and that will eat us all up and spit out our charred remains for future archeologists to find and analyze.

What a wonderful world we are leaving for our grand kids.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Who’s Got The Water?

The news is not good about the state of food and water as climate change ravishes the planet….

The Climate Crisis is depressing crop yields and fuelling a growing global hunger crisis that has already reached “unprecedented proportions“, with between 3.1bn and 4.2bn people now unable to afford a healthy diet, according to recent reports from the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Fewer people are in immediate danger of starving, but even that number is rising rapidly, according to the WFP.

“Conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes and soaring fertiliser prices are combining to create a food crisis of unprecedented proportions. As many as 309mn people are facing chronic hunger in 71 countries. We have a choice: act now to save lives and invest in solutions that secure food security, stability and peace for all, or see people around the world facing rising hunger,” the WFP said in a recent statement.

Conflict is still the biggest driver of hunger, with 70%of the world’s hungry people living in areas affected by war and violence, according to the WFP. Events in countries such as Palestine and Ukraine have created humanitarian disasters in both countries. But climate change poses to significantly worsen the situation in the most vulnerable countries.

https://www.intellinews.com/hundreds-of-millions-on-verge-of-starvation-billions-more-undernourished-as-climate-crisis-droughts-take-their-toll-341676/

We humans go to war over a wide array of reasons….land acquisition self-defense…..so we have finite resource called water and the way this planet is going it is only a matter of time before someone will run short and attack its neighbor….

Several analyses reviewed by CNBC suggest that there will probably be military clashes over water in areas where it is scarce but in good supply nearby. Among the most convincing came from “Control Risk.”

The Control Risk researchers wrote, “The average monthly number of security incidents (war, unrest, terrorism and crime) in relation to water has increased by over 230% between Jan 2019 and May 2024. “ They also pointed out it will get worse. The World Resouces Institute maid a related observation. “And at least 50% of the world’s population — around 4 billion people — live under highly water-stressed conditions for at least one month of the year.”

The battles over water and other environmental problems have been coming for a long time. Drought is only one of these issues. Extreme heat and severe air pollution are others. Much of India, the world’s largest country by population, is among the regions affected by those.  There is a similar problem with food.

The most difficult problem is that the climate migration problem cannot solve it. Tens of millions of people cannot be moved from locations with dangerous climate conditions. Delhi, the capital of India, a city of 34 million, has air pollution rarely matched anywhere else. Temperatures there topped 20 degrees F earlier this year. The ability for humans to survive outdoors at these temperatures at this level will drop, and more and more days are so hot. Cities in Pakistan and Iraq have similar problems.

The water and temperature problems have no solution, so military conflicts cannot be avoided

(climatecrisis247.com)

Whatcha think?

Is the earth on the point for water wars?

Climate change (does exist if you are an idiot) will bring humans to the point of genocide to secure the tasteless but necessary commodity?

How will the world handle wars of this type?

Questions….lots of questions….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

1960s And Climate Change

Climate change is a big topic these days….on both sides of the aisle….the deniers and the worried.

The debate has been going on longer than most realize.  I was around for the first Earth Day and the whole environmental movement….back in those days people were more worried about air pollution aka smog than they were about the changes in the climate.

You guys know me I will take every opportunity given to inject some history into just about any conversation…..and this is a good one to do so….

The whole environmental debate has been going on as long as some have been alive.

To judge by recent Supreme Court decisions, the world didn’t know much about climate change a half century ago.

In 2007, when the court ruled that the Clean Air Act of 1970 gave the Environmental Protection Agency the flexibility to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, former Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, “When Congress enacted these provisions, the study of climate change was in its infancy.” Writing a dissent in a 2022 case looking at similar questions, Justice Elena Kagan argued that back in 1970 when Congress created the act, legislators gave the EPA the flexibility to keep up with the times, tackling problems (i.e., climate change) that couldn’t be anticipated.

Naomi Oreskes, a historian of science at Harvard University, saw those opinions as a sign of how little people understood about the past. “I remember just being mortified by that,” she said. To be sure, at the time of the first Earth Day in 1970, people were more worried about the immediate effects of smog than the long-term, climate-altering consequences of burning coal and oil. But Oreskes knew that scientists had been working to understand how carbon dioxide affected the global climate since the late 19th century. So she set about writing what she thought would be a short paper to correct the record. 

In the process, Oreskes, along with other researchers at Harvard and Duke University, uncovered a lost history. As they searched troves of historical documents, they found plenty of other people were concerned about a warming planet, not just scientists, in the years before 1970. “We discovered a universe of discussions by scientists, by members of Congress, by members of the executive branch,” Oreskes said, “and the more we looked, the more we found.” 

https://grist.org/science/lost-history-climate-1960s-clean-air-act-supreme-court/

You see?  There has been those up trying to get the government to wake up and stop kicking the can down the road to placate the big money donors….but so far money talks and the environment be damn.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Running On Empty

I wish I could say that this post was about the song by Jackson Browne….sadly it is not.

America is running on empty with our electrical supply.

The so-called experts are saying that climate change and other factors will cause the demand to rise significantly and there is the transition to electric vehicles that will rise.

It was bound to happen. An aging American infrastructure system, powered to some extent by coal and hydroelectric power, has faced rising needs for electricity for houses, businesses, AI, and Bitcoin. There is no short-term solution, and when one does occur, it is likely to be political.

There are several examples of how climate change has compromised electricity supply. One is how drought has affected one of the largest energy suppliers in the Western US- the Hoover Dam. According to NewsNow, “At full capacity, the turbines at the dam can produce 2,074 megawatts, but as the water level has declined during the drought, power production has been affected and efficiency of the power plant is down 33%.” At peak production, this electricity powers one million homes.

Coal’s use as a source of electricity has environmental problems. The EIA puts the percentage of electricity from coal at 16%. They would need to drop sharply to cut greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation, but what happens to the goal to lower this, at least in the short term?

(climatecrisis247.com)

Could the US return to the days of massive nuke power policies?

Many world powers have sped-up plans to introduce new nuclear power plants in a bid to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and decarbonise. Due to the high energy demand, many countries around the globe view renewable energy as insufficient in the mid-term to provide enough energy to meet the needs of the growing world population. However, nuclear power could provide a low-carbon alternative, offering abundant energy and low emissions. However, experts now worry that the global reliance on Russian uranium to power many of these projects could put many world leaders in a quandary, having already introduced sanctions on Russian energy and attempted to reduce their reliance on Russia.  Earlier this year, the U.S. announced a $6 billion bailout for its existing nuclear plants. The government and the Department of Energy (DoE) partnered on a scheme to help nuclear plants across the country facing severe economic challenges to support the longevity of U.S. nuclear power, as part of the country’s green transition. Despite being controversial, nuclear power is considered carbon neutral, and therefore key to transitioning away from fossil fuels. Since then, the launch of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has encouraged greater investment in the nuclear energy sector. It offers a variety of subsidies, including a production tax credit to help preserve the existing fleet of nuclear plants and tax incentives for the development of new nuclear reactors.  

(oilprice.com)

Our electrical grid is falling apart it is old and getting tired….and it is getting overtaxed year by year….

What to do?

Let me float this idea….take some of the money we throw at every war in every corner of the world and use that to upgrade the system.

I mean come on….the War Department gets about $900 billion this year alone…..cut that by 20% and get the grid up to snuff….or as close to snuff as possible.

It is only a matter of time people.

Or if that idea is not to your liking….how about another one?

The US added just 251 miles of high-voltage transmission lines last year, another in a series of declines, though the nation greatly needs more power. The process is slowed by as much as a decade by the need for approval from various governments and agencies, as well as to address lawsuits over potential damage to views and ecosystems. Two reports issued Tuesday suggest the US is overlooking a technique used in other countries that could double the electric grid’s capacity in many parts of the country, the New York Times reports.

“Advanced reconductoring” basically refers to replacing old power lines with newer models that have smaller, lighter cores such as carbon fiber and hold more aluminum. These lines can carry twice the current that older lines do. The change is being made in Belgium, the Netherlands, and other nations to provide room for more wind and solar power. “We talked with the transmission system planners over there and they all said this is a no-brainer,” said Emilia Chojkiewicz of the University of California, Berkeley, who cowrote one of the reports. “It’s often difficult to get new rights of way for lines, and reconductoring is much faster.”

The other report, from GridLab and Energy Innovation, a nonprofit, looked at why more US utilities aren’t already doing this. An executive for Southern California Edison, one of the largest utilities in the US, said there are questions about how much of the need this approach will meet but said, “We agree that advanced conductors are going to be very, very useful.” A Berkeley scientist called reconductoring a start, per the Times. “It’s not the only thing we need to do to upgrade the grid, but it can be a major part of the solution,” Amol Phadke said.

The point is we need to do something before it is too late.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Climate Agreements

I have been following the climate debate for decades….it all started with Carter and just kept me interested…..I watched the timeline for clean environment pushed forward year after year until we are at the point where 2050 is the target date for a clean environment.

Not to worry there will be another climate summit to reassess that timeline and it will most likely be pushed yet again.

So what do you think of all this ‘kicking of the climate can’?

Personally I think these agreements benefit only one sector…..

https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/03/25/climate-agreements-suck/

Climate agreements suck. There are no real enforcement provisions. Many signatories cheat. Some don’t rep0rt at all. Moreover, reported data is highly suspect. It’s a worldwide scandal recently exposed by YaleEnvironment360.

Evidence of cheating is found in the atmosphere: Global CO2 is on a rampage, skyrocketing upwards like never before, double-to-triple rates of only one year ago, see: CO2 Bursting into the Atmosphere. This is not supposed to be happening. It is twisting the planet’s climate system into a pretzel that doesn’t know which way to turn next. There are plenty of reasons to believe it is going to get much, much worse. The planet’s climate system is already so far whacked-out that it’s breathing fire.

Meanwhile, greenhouse gas emissions are skyrocketing in the aftermath of the much-touted climate agreement Paris ‘15 when 196 countries agreed to cut to net zero. Oops, wrong, many signatories are “net nothing.”

There is compelling evidence that signatory nations to Paris ’15 don’t give a damn about the agreement or care about Hot House Earth as they cavalierly undercount, when they do report, or they simply refuse to report. As a result, UN climate goals go straight into the trash, worthless.

A little history….the first worldwide climate summit was in 1979….the mandate was “a better understanding of the climate system and the causes of climate variability and change” and “to determine the predictability of climate; and to determine the effect of human activities on climate”.  In practice, the program aims to foster initiatives in climate research which require or benefit from international coordination and which are unlikely to emerge from national efforts alone.

And that agreement has been sliding down the toilet ever since.

So yeah climate agreements suck because it means nothing to the polluters because government will have their backs….until the bitter end.

And that end is not that far away…..but the profits will flow and the planet will eventually burn.

I know a bit dramatic….but what the Hell someone had to say it.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Climate Change Myths Debunked

2024 will be the telling year!

In less than one year we will be running to the polls to vote this way or that…..we have a year of rhetoric, lies, myths and manure to endure until the day we vote. Some will buy into the BS spread while others will be deciding for themselves what is fact and what is fiction.

One of the big issues, besides the economy, will most likely be that of climate change…so I would like to pass on the debunking of most of the rhetoric against climate change.

Climate change refers to long-term changes in precipitation, temperature, and other atmospheric conditions on Earth. It is primarily driven by natural factors such as variations in the sun’s intensity, volcanic activity, and internal processes within the Earth’s climate system.

However, human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation, have significantly contributed to the rapid increase in greenhouse gas emissions, including gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4).

These gases trap heat, leading to a warming effect known as the greenhouse effect. The enhanced greenhouse effect intensifies the Earth’s natural warming processes, contributing to the observed rise in temperatures over the years.

he average global temperatures have risen by approximately 0.08 degrees Celsius (or 0.14 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade since 1880, and this rate has more than doubled, to a rise of 0.18 degrees Celsius (or 0.32 degrees Fahrenheit), per decade since 1981.

However, the increase in temperatures has come with a rise in skepticism and doubts surrounding climate change. This skepticism, fueled by misconceptions and selective interpretations, weaves a narrative that questions the urgency of addressing our planet’s warming climate.

In this article, we shed light on some of the most common myths and arguments around climate change and provide a counterpoint rooted in scientific evidence.

https://interestingengineering.com/lists/climate-change-global-warming-co2

Our climate is a real and pressing problem…..something has to be done other than what the governments have been doing for decades….kicking the can down the road so as not to upset the corporations that contribute to our governments corruption.

As the world puts to bed the hottest year on record, the Washington Post calls attention to a study suggesting we haven’t seen anything yet. The paper by renowned climate scientist James Hansen—the New York Times notes that it was Hansen’s testimony before Congress 35 years ago that helped put the topic on the nation’s radar—warns that the pace of warming has already begun accelerating at a rate scientists have long warned about. Specifically, the study in Oxford Open Climate Change predicts that global warming is on track to spike 50% in the coming decades, with effects that could be catastrophic, per the Post. However, the above coverage, as well as a story in E&E News, make clear that other scientists disagree.

“That is very much on the high end of the range of estimates that are in the academic literature today,” Zeke Hausfather of Berkeley Earth tells the Times. Michael Mann of the University of Pennsylvania wrote a detailed blog post in rebuttal to Hansen, asserting that “the claim that warming is somehow accelerating now is no more accurate than the false claim, advanced by climate change deniers at the time, that global warming had ‘stopped’ in the first decade of the 21st century.” And Michael Oppenheimer of the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment at Princeton sees Hansen’s warning as useful mainly as a “worst-worst-case scenario,” per E&E.

Hansen predicted as much: “I expect the response to be characterized by scientific reticence,” he tells E&E. The former NASA scientist calls the much-touted goal of keeping warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius “deader than a doornail,” per the Times. While many other scientists agree with that, Hansen differs in warning further that the world is poised to warm by 2 degrees Celsius by 2050. (He does offer more hope on this target, saying that a global push to reduce the use of fossil fuels could keep warming under 2 degrees.) The Times adds context, pointing out that the planet has warmed by 1.2 degrees Celsius so far and is already seeing worsening heat waves and storms.

When you vote and if the climate is high on your want list then vote to a person that will try to do something constructive….god knows they have done very little in 50 years.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Climate Summit–2023

As I type this post there is a conference going on and the world is in attendance…..found it interesting that it would be held in a country that sole purpose in existence is to pump oil.

I have been skeptical of these conferences ever since they have been called and that was back in the 1970s (yes I am old I remember them)….and this newest ‘Summit’ is No different….

For the past two weeks, the world’s best and brightest have been meeting in Dubai — under a glittering, color-changing dome built to resemble Islamic geometric art — as the petrostate hosts the United Nations’ latest climate change conference.

And experts are calling bull. In interviews with The Guardian, climate scientists and advocates said the “solutions” offered at the COP28 conference, which include such goofiness as a panel on “responsible yachting,” are “distractions” at best and “frightening” at worst.

Troublingly, the conference is presided over by Dubai’s Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who also runs the United Arab Emirates’ national oil company in what seems very much like a massive conflict of interest.

Al Jaber sparked controversy last week when he publicly expressed pessimism about a gradual fossil fuel phase-out and said there was “no science” behind it, which is categorically false given that the vast majority of scientists — not to mention the UN’s secretary-general — say that eliminating fossil fuel pollution is absolutely the biggest and most important way to turn back the tide on the worst of what climate change has in store.

https://futurism.com/dubai-climate-conference-warning

I expecting nothing better than crap….there is never anything coming out of these waste of time other than false promises and unfilled deadlines.

As long as we are writing about the environment…how about the Green New Deal that has been offered up by Dems?

You would be right if you think that I have had something to say about this ‘Deal’…..most are sitting around either scratching their ass or their head and could possibly do both since both are in the same location.

How About A “Green New Deal”?

Some think that the real ‘opiate of the masses’ is the green new deal….because it let’s too many off the hook for the problem they are feeding…..

What kinds of measures are you taking, personally, to prevent global warming? Have you bought a reusable shopping bag to reduce your reliance on disposable plastic ones? Do you carry a thermos so you don’t end up buying drinks in plastic bottles? Did you buy an electric car?

Let me make one thing clear: These good deeds are meaningless. They can even cause more harm than good.

Simply thinking that such actions are effective countermeasures can prevent us from taking part in the larger actions that are actually necessary to combat climate change. They function like Catholic indulgences, allowing us to escape the pangs of our conscience via consumerism and to look away from the danger around us, allowing the forces of capital to swaddle our concerns in environmental impact statements and tuck them away beneath the form of deception known as greenwashing.

https://www.thenation.com/article/economy/degrowth-communism-green-new-deal/

Few people are truly committed to preserving the environment….but it is fun to rattle on at gatherings and parties…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Biden Pulls An End Run

Dems have been fighting the GOP for decades on this climate change thing and the things we need to do to avert the predicted disaster that is awaiting.

Biden is tired of Congress and their games and has decided to take matters in his own hinds.

After being thwarted by Congress, President Biden will use his executive authority to create a New Deal-style climate initiative that will serve as a major green-jobs training program. In an announcement Wednesday, the White House said the program will employ about 20,000 young adults who will build trails, plant trees, help install solar panels, and do other work to boost conservation and help prevent catastrophic wildfires. As the AP reports, such a program had been proposed in early versions of the sweeping climate law approved last year, but it was jettisoned amid strong opposition from Republicans and concerns about cost. Democrats and environmental advocacy groups never gave up on the plan and pushed Biden in recent weeks to issue an executive order authorizing what the White House now calls the American Climate Corps.

The program is modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps, created in the 1930s by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, as part of the New Deal. “This summer, our country saw heat waves, wildfires, and floods that destroyed communities, uprooted families, and claimed hundreds of lives,” the Sunrise Movement and other organizations wrote on Monday in a letter to Biden’s White House. “While previous executive orders and legislation under your administration demonstrate tremendous progress toward meeting our Paris climate goals and your campaign promises, this summer has made clear that we must be as ambitious as possible in tackling the great crisis of our time,” the groups wrote.

More than 50 Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also encouraged Biden, saying in a letter that “the climate crisis demands a whole-of-government response at an unprecedented scale.” The lawmakers cited deadly heat waves across the nation, as well as dangerous floods in New England and devastating wildfires on Maui as recent examples of climate-tied disasters. The White House didn’t say how much the program will cost or how it will be paid for, but Democrats had proposed $10 billion. Republicans have largely dismissed it as a do-gooder proposal that will waste money and may even take jobs away from workers displaced by the pandemic. “We don’t need another FDR program, and the idea that this is going to help land management is a false idea,” Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, Natural Resources Committee chair, said in 2021.

Of course the GOP is opposed to anything related to climate change….but they blindly throw cash at the Pentagon and its many tentacles in our society.

Biden is not my favorite but at least he has stepped up to do something….for that I thank him.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”