Tag: Environmental issues

Underwater World

I do not normally write about the climate stuff basically because any sane person realizes that this planet is doomed without some serious changes.

I saw this article and wanted to share it with my readers because 2030 is not that far away.

Climate change is not just about warmer summers and unpredictable weather. It also causes rising sea level, which is an especially real and present danger for coastal cities worldwide. Rising sea levels, driven by melting ice caps and expanding warm water, are putting many cities at risk. Here are 12 cities that could be underwater by 2030.

 

https://www.animalsaroundtheglobe.com/12-cities-that-may-be-underwater-by-2030-11-247774/

 

This does not bode well for the planet if some iconic cities are that close to flooding.,

Any thoughts about this prediction or the climate stuff in general?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

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”

Does Anyone Remember Agent Orange?

If you are a Vietnam veteran then this term is well know to you and/or your family…..I remember it well.

This is for the young ones out there…..

Agent Orange was a herbicide mixture used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Much of it contained a dangerous chemical contaminant called dioxin. Production of Agent Orange ended in the 1970s and is no longer in use. The dioxin contaminant however continues to have harmful impact today. As many U.S.Vietnam-era veterans know, dioxin is a highly toxic and persistent organic pollutant linked to cancers, diabetes, birth defects and other disabilities.

The Red Cross estimates that three million Vietnamese have been affected by dioxin, including at least 150,000 children born with serious birth defects. Millions of Americans and Vietnamese are still affected, directly and indirectly, by the wartime U.S. spraying of Agent Orange and other herbicides over southern and central Vietnam.

Agent Orange was sprayed at up to 20 times the concentration the manufacturers recommended for killing plants. It defoliated millions of acres of forests and farmland. Large tracts of that land remain degraded and unproductive to this day. The chemical dioxin in Agent Orange can remain toxic in the soil for decades. Soil samples have now been analyzed from both the areas that were heavily sprayed and the former American military bases where Agent Orange and other chemicals were stored and handled. In almost all instances measured dioxin levels were below Government of Vietnam threshold standards. However some soils at three of the former military bases did have very high concentrations of dioxin. To prevent dioxin from entering the food chain and affecting both adults and children in surrounding areas, these chemical “hot spots” are now being cleaned up.

What is Agent Orange?

Why dredge up this ugly bit of history right now?

Great question and it has to do with the Trump Administration…..

In mid-February, Trump administration leaders received a desperate warning from their diplomats posted in Vietnam, one of the most important American partners in Asia.

Workers were in the middle of cleaning up the site of an enormous chemical spill, the Bien Hoa air base, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio abruptly halted all foreign aid funding. The shutdown left exposed open pits of soil contaminated with dioxin, the deadly byproduct of Agent Orange, which the American military sprayed across large swaths of the country during the Vietnam War. After Rubio’s orders to stop work, the cleanup crews were forced to abandon the site, and, for weeks, all that was covering the contaminated dirt were tarps, which at one point blew off in the wind.

And even more pressing, the officials warned in a Feb. 14 letter obtained by ProPublica, Vietnam is on the verge of its rainy season, when torrential downpours are common. With enough rain, they said, soil contaminated with dioxin could flood into nearby communities, poisoning their food supplies.

Hundreds of thousands of people live around the Bien Hoa air base, and some of their homes abut the site’s perimeter fence, just yards from the contaminated areas. And less than 1,500 feet away is a major river that flows into Ho Chi Minh City, population 9 million.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-halted-agent-orange-cleanup-dioxin-vietnam-poison-risk

It is good to see t5hat the idiots in the Donny Show have not let empathy get in the way of their ultimate goals….

Just another example of the lack of accountability of the US for the mistakes they made against other nations.

This situation is disgusting on so many levels….but what did I expect from a group of disgusting idiots?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Biden’s Shot In The Dark

Biden’s days are numbered and he will soon retire to someplace in Delaware and write a book. But before he goes he took a stab at looking like a president that cared.

His big announcement was about the environment….

President Biden is pledging to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% by 2035 as he fights to ensure his legacy on slowing global warming, even as President-elect Trump vows to undo much of Biden’s climate work when he takes office next month. Biden said the new goal—which supersedes a previous plan to cut carbon emissions at least in half by 2030—keeps the United States on track to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by 2050, per the AP. The US is making a formal submission of the new target, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, to the United Nations under terms of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, Biden said Thursday.

The new goal calls for reducing net emissions by 61% to 66% below 2005 levels in 2035. “I’m proud that my administration is carrying out the boldest climate agenda in American history,” Biden said in a videotaped statement. “We’re doing it by setting ambitious goals,” such as deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind and conserving at least 30% of US lands and waters by 2030, Biden said. His administration also has set strict new standards to cut air pollution from cars, trucks, and power plants and signed into law the most significant investments in climate and clean energy in US history, he said.

The proposal would require sustained changes across the economy, from power generation to transportation, buildings, agriculture, and industry, including significant increases in renewable energy and steep cuts in emissions from fossil fuels. The US pledge includes methane reductions of at least 35% from 2005 levels by 2035, Biden said. Cutting methane emissions is among the fastest ways to reduce near-term warming and is crucial to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The action by the Democratic president comes just over a month before he’s set to leave office. Trump has already promised to unleash a series of executive actions that will seek to undo most or all of Biden’s climate agenda as the Republican president-elect pushes for “energy dominance” around the globe. More here.

This is a bold proposal but where was it 4 years ago?

How will this be carried out when in just days the most climate hostile president will take office?

This was lame and a shot in the dark….kinda like most Biden policies.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Recycling Con?

I have been recycling for many years ever since my city started their program but in recent years many articles have made me think that I may be wasting my efforts….I wrote about it once before….

Recycle Or Not

California is suing Exxon for deceiving the public for decades….

California has just filed a blockbuster lawsuit against ExxonMobil, alleging that the industry giant has been lying for years about how easy it is to recycle plastic, reports the Guardian.

  • “For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible,” said state attorney general Rob Bonta. The suit is the culmination of a two-year state investigation.
  • The company is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of substances used to make plastics, and the state blames it for “creating an environmental blight that has cost the state billions of dollars to clean,” per the Los Angeles Times. The suit seeks unspecified damages
  • The lawsuit asserts that the company has falsely promoted the claim that virtually all plastic is recyclable, even though the figure is estimated to be 5% or 6% in the US, per the Washington Post. Americans have continued buying plastic products deluded by this belief, asserts the suit, which specifically cites the “chasing arrows” logo on plastic products as being misleading to consumers.
  • In an interview with the New York Times, Bonta said the company’s “myth of recycling” had fueled the world’s plastic pollution. A consortium of environmental groups including the Sierra Club filed a similar lawsuit against ExxonMobil on Monday as well. The company had not responded publicly as of early Monday afternoon.

If you would like a more detailed analysis…..

California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday sued oil giant ExxonMobil for allegedly deceiving the public about the recyclability of plastics so as to continue increasing production.

The 147-page lawsuit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, came following a yearslong investigation that environmental groups were hoping would lead to legal action. They widely celebrated Bonta’s move.

“This is the single most consequential lawsuit filed against the plastics industry for its persistent and continued lying about plastics recycling,” Judith Enck, founder of the advocacy group Beyond Plastics and a former senior Environmental Protection Agency official, said in a statement.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/california-sues-exxonmobil-plastics

What has happened to the processes that I have written about top neutralize plastic waste?

Answers are needed…..and soon.

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”

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”

Do Something About All This Damn Plastic!

A marvelous Sunday….the heat index at 0500 is 96 and humid….what better time for some A/C and a little FYI?

The problem is plastics.

There have been many stories about the influx of plastics into our environment…..from oceanic plastic islands to microplastics in the food supply….something needs to be done about this problem and needs to be done quickly…..and now the Biden admin has a plan….just in time for an election….

To curb this flow, 175 nations are negotiating a binding international treaty on plastic pollution, with a completion target of late 2024. In July 2024, the Biden administration released the first U.S. plan for addressing this problem.

The new U.S. strategy covers five areas: plastic production, product design, waste generation, waste management and plastic capture and removal. It also list actions that federal agencies and departments are currently pursuing.

I study environmental law, including efforts to reduce plastic pollution. As the world’s largest economy, the U.S. is a critical player in this effort. Based on my research, here are three proposals in the U.S. plan that I believe are important and one omission that I view as a major gap.

Studies have detected tiny plastic fragments, known as microplastics, in settings that include the atmosphere, drinking water sources, wild animals and human food chains.

While scientists have found that wildlife, such as seabirds, can be harmed by consuming plastic, the effects on human health are less clear. Unlike other pollutants, microplastics have different effects depending on their size, their shape and where they are found, such as in food, air or water. And humans can be exposed to them via many different pathways, including inhalation, ingestion and touch.

There is no federal standard for measuring microplastics in various media, such as water and soil, so studies lack standardized definitions, methods and reporting techniques. In 2023, California launched a microplastic monitoring program, which includes developing a standardized method for measuring microplastics in drinking water.

The Biden administration’s plan calls for developing standardized methods for collecting, quantifying and characterizing microplastics and nanoplastics, which are even smaller. This will help scientists generate consistent data that regulators can use to set limits on microplastics in food, water and air.

https://theconversation.com/us-has-its-first-national-strategy-to-reduce-plastic-pollution-here-are-3-strong-points-and-1-big-gap-236039

What is missing is trying to find alternatives to the single use plastic….there are alternatives (that is if you are not too damn lazy)….

Smart Alternatives to Single-Use Packaging

Something to think about on a Summer Sunday….

Enjoy a wonderful day and as always….Be well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

So You Want An EV?

Happy Mother’s Day to all my female readers…..may you have a wonderful and relaxing day.

Just another IST FYI post….I am doing the best I can to keep my reader informed and/or entertained….

These days the big push in automotive ads is toward the electric vehicle(EV)….Polestar, Genesis, Tesla and most major automotive brands are push one model or another…..

I had considered it but after a little research I decided against it…..cost being one, few charging stations, and then the price of the battery replacements…..all together it was not very attractive to me.

Then I read an article on EVs…..

If you are considering buying an EV then maybe you should pay close attention to this article….

It’s hard to ignore the big push for electric vehicles. It’s all around us, the talk of the news, and when the government starts offering tax credits, you know they mean business. Electric cars will be our future, whether we like it or not. 

If you’re considering purchasing an electric vehicle (EV), knowing what you’re getting yourself into is essential. With big promises of greener transportation and lower costs, it’s easy to walk in blind. So here are 12 things EV owners need to talk about that we all should know. 

Your average gas-powered car can drive 300-720 miles on one full gas tank. Your average EV range is significantly lower than this. Combining the low range of an EV with the fact that charging infrastructure is considerably lacking, it’s reasonable to worry. Imagine having half a gas tank, only two gas stations within a several-mile radius, and then crossing your fingers that the gas pumps work. I’d be panicking, too. 

I have two kids, and they panic when I stop to fill up with gas, and that only takes around 8 minutes, max. I can’t imagine having to take 30 minutes to recharge an EV every time I need a charge. Who has 30 minutes to dedicate to that in the middle of their day? Not me, that’s for sure. 

https://wealthofgeeks.com/harsh-truth-ev/

In all fairness there is a charging station going in 3 blocks from my house….but it has yet to be finished after 3 months.

Nowadays cost will be a major selling point….with the way things keep rising people will avoid this cash outlay for as long as they can.

Enjoy your Sunday and once again…..Happy Mother’s Day.

As always…..Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Recycle Or Not

I am one of those ‘tree huggers’ that recycles and have been for decades….but in recent years with so many reports about the useless trend of recycling has got me wondering if I should continue to do so.

There are a bunch of disturbing reports about plastic waste…..

A report released Thursday estimates that countries worldwide are on pace to generate 220 million tonnes of total plastic waste this year, a finding that comes as governments are set to convene in Ottawa, Canada later this month to hash out a binding global treaty to limit the toxic pollution that is inundating waterways and communities across the planet.

The new report from EA – Earth Action (EA) projects that Plastic Overshoot Day—the point at which the amount of plastic waste produced exceeds the capacity of global management systems—will arrive on September 5 this year. Over a third of the total plastic waste created this year will end up in nature, according to the analysis.

On average, each person globally contributes 28 kilograms of plastic pollution per year. Previous research has shown that just 20 companies are responsible for more than half of the world’s total single-use plastic waste.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/plastic-waste-2024

That is a scary amount of waste….but there is always recycling, right?

The most recent article shows me that we all may have been ‘hoodwinked’ by big oil….

The petrochemical industry—including major oil companies like ExxonMobil—knew for decades that recycling was not a sustainable solution to the problem of plastic waste, yet continued to promote it in order to avoid regulation and deceive consumers into continuing to buy and use their products, a report released Thursday by the Center for Climate Integrity reveals.

The report, titled The Fraud of Plastic Recycling: How Big Oil and the Plastics Industry Deceived the Public for Decades and Caused the Plastic Waste Crisis, includes newly disclosed industry documents proving that companies and trade groups knew that plastics could not be recycled indefinitely in the 1980s and 90s even as they launched a massive public relations campaign to sell voters and policymakers on the process.

“This evidence shows that many of the same fossil fuel companies that knew and lied for decades about how their products cause climate change have also known and lied to the public about plastic recycling,” Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) president Richard Wiles said in a statement. “The oil industry’s lies are at the heart of the two most catastrophic pollution crises in human history.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/plastics-industry-lie-recycling

Here is another link to this study….

Explosive new report accuses major corporations of lying for decades: ‘It’s clearly fraud they’re engaged in’

I believe there is a term being thrown around these days….’greenwashing’…..WTF?

Greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or misleading information about how a company’s products are environmentally sound. Greenwashing involves making an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are environmentally friendly or have a greater positive environmental impact than they actually do.

In addition, greenwashing may occur when a company attempts to emphasize sustainable aspects of a product to overshadow the company’s involvement in environmentally damaging practices. Performed through the use of environmental imagery, misleading labels, and hiding tradeoffs, greenwashing is a play on the term “whitewashing,” which means using false information to intentionally hide wrongdoing, error, or an unpleasant situation in an attempt to make it seem less bad than it is.

So should we continue to recycle?

“No,” Cirino told Salon. “Even if plastic recycling rates were higher, recycling alone could never come close to solving the serious and wide-ranging health, justice, socio-economic, and environmental crises caused by industries’ continued plastic production and plastic pollution, which go hand in hand.” Cirino argued that, given how plastic production has grown exponentially and its pollution problems have likewise worsened, emphasizing recycling over meaningful solutions is at best irresponsible.

“It’s clear recycling is not enough to solve the plastic pollution crisis,” Cirino concluded. “The fossil fuel industry, governments, and corporations really need to turn off the plastic tap, and the UN Plastics Treaty could be an opportunity to do so on a global level—if member states can come together and form a treaty with real ambition. Ultimately, our world must decide what it values: money or life.”

(salon.com)

A couple of years ago I wrote about recycling here on IST….

Do You Recycle?

Ultimately this is one of those issues that the individual has to decide what is best (pause here for side splitting laughter….like most have no care what happens as long as their Mtn Dew is cold)

Me? My family has already started dialing back the amount of plastic we discard…..we care what happens if you do not then that is your problem.

Be Samrt!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”