Tag: pollution

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”

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”

Stop Eating Meat!

For decades we have heard that cow farts(Burps) is the culprit that is putting dangerous amounts of gases into our atmosphere….and recently the rash of ‘plant based’ food is becoming a fad that makes some happy and others it is a waste of time.

Ask yourself what would actually happen if we all stopped eating meat?

Humans eat a stunning amount of meat every year — some 800 billion pounds of it, enough flesh to fill roughly 28 million dump trucks. Our carnivorous cravings, particularly in industrialized, beef-guzzling countries like the United States, are one reason the planet is warming as fast as it is. Raising animals consumes a lot of land that could otherwise soak up carbon. Cows, sheep, and goats spew heat-trapping methane. And to grow the corn, soy, and other plants that those animals eat, farmers spray fertilizer that emits nitrous oxide, another potent planet-warming gas.

For all those reasons, and many more, activists and scientists have called for people to eat less meat or abstain altogether. At last year’s United Nations climate conference in Egypt, activists chanted slogans like “Let’s be vegan, let’s be free.” At this year’s conference, which starts November 30, world leaders are expected to talk about ways to shift diets toward plant-based foods as a way to lower animal agriculture’s climate pollution, the source of 15 percent of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Cutting out meat can be an effective tool: The average vegan diet is linked to about one-quarter the greenhouse gas emissions of a meat-intensive one, according to a paper published in Nature in July.

But what would happen if everyone actually stopped eating meat tomorrow?

“It would have huge consequences — a lot of them probably not anticipated,” said Keith Wiebe, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Such a quick shift probably wouldn’t cause the sort of turmoil that would come if the planet immediately ditched fossil fuels. But still, the upshot could be tumultuous, upending economies, leaving people jobless, and threatening food security in places that don’t have many nutritious alternatives.

Livestock accounts for about 40 percent of agricultural production in rich countries and 20 percent in low-income countries, and it’s vital — economically and nutritionally — to the lives of 1.3 billion people across the world, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. One-third of the protein and nearly one-fifth of the calories that people eat around the world come from animals.

What Would Happen if Everyone Stopped Eating Meat Tomorrow?

These people state that 15% of greenhouse gases comes from the cow and such farting….what the neglected to tell you is the we humans throw away too much food whether meat or pant based and 30% of greenhouse gases comes from landfills that we load up with the scraps.

I was born a predatory and I shall die a predatory….is that simple enough?

If plant based stuff is so good then why does it taste like meat?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

2010 All Over Again

This is for those with short memories….

In 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew up and cause a massive oil leak that dumped about 200 million gallons of oil into the central Gulf of Mexico….it contaminated sea life, beaches and ruined the economy of many Gulf Coast states like Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi beaches were spared the bad stuff for our barrier islands protected our beaches for the most part but Florida and Alabama were not so lucky.

In case your memory is not what it once was….here are some facts….

Fact #1: More than 200 million gallons of crude oil was spilled into the Gulf of Mexico during the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

Fact #2: Deepwater Horizon was a 9yr old semi-submersible, mobile floating, dynamically positioned drilling rig that could operate in water up to 10,000’ deep.

Fact #3: At 9:45am high pressure methane gas from the well expanded into the drilling riser and rose into the drilling rig, the rig ignited and exploded

Fact #4: Over 16,000 miles of coastline was affected during the spill. The coastlines of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida were all affected.

Fact #5: 5.5 million feet of oil spill containment boom was deployed to help collect the oil.

Fact #6: Over 8,000 animals were reported dead 6 months after the spill.

This spill effected the seafood industry as well….fish were not caught, shrimp were not fished, oysters were dead and crabs were contaminated…all of which is a mainstay of the Gulf Coast industry….so why am I going on about past doings that most have forgotten?

Easy.

Deja vu.

Just when the fishing grounds were on the rebound from the Deepwater fiasco….it is happening again….

A leak from an underwater pipeline released more than 1 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico before the flow was shut off, the Coast Guard estimated. The leak was spotted Thursday, about 19 miles offshore of the Mississippi River Delta southeast of New Orleans, Reuters reports. Main Pass Oil Gathering Co. turned off the 67-mile line the same day. On Friday and Saturday, overflights saw the oil moving to the southwest, away from the Louisiana shore, per WDSU. No injuries or shoreline impacts have been reported.

rews are searching for the source of the leak, which was near Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish, using underwater remote-operated vehicles. The Coast Guard said three skimming vessels are trying to remove the oil on the surface. The National Response Team was activated, the Environmental Protection Agency said, which mobilizes 15 federal entities to help

While the spill is dwarfed by previous spills, like the Deepwater Horizon crisis that saw 130 million gallons of crude pouring into the Gulf in 2010, it’s nonetheless a grim environmental catastrophe that could have devastating effects on the local environment.

“Ocean wildlife will almost certainly pay a terrible price for this huge pipeline spill, which is less an accident than an entirely predictable consequence of offshore oil operations,” said Kristen Monsell, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement.

This does not make national news….no one cares if I am honest  those mental midgets do not have to try a eek out a living from the Gulf.

How long must these crises go on before someone cares enough to put a stop tho this insanity?

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

What About All This “Greenwashing”?

With all the predictions of catastrophic environmental damage being done by corporations a new term has entered into our vocabulary….”Greenwashing”.

But first a definition….

Greenwashing is a term used to describe a false, misleading or untrue action or set of claims made by an organization about the positive impact that a company, product or service has on the environment.

I recall after the Gulf oil spill BP set about giving their logo a more serene look with yellows and greens….but did little to change their disastrous practices.

Researchers have identified the threat greenwashing poses to a “nature positive” world, one where environmental decline halts and biodiversity outcomes improve. The research is published in Nature Ecology & Evolution

“As with the term ‘net zero,’ you’ll soon start to see the businesses you buy from, and the governments you vote for, making claims that they are being, doing, or contributing to nature positive. But to be clear, such an achievement is only possible if we fundamentally change how we run our society and economy.

“What we really need are standards, so that it’s clear what constitutes misleading information, and transparency, so that consumers and voters can tell the greenwash from the genuine efforts for change.”

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-greenwashing-threat-nature-positive-world.html

People should be wary of unfounded green credentials of companies whose greenwashing poses a direct threat to the environment, scientists have warned.

Can you think of any corporations that have friendly-up their approaches?

Do not be fooled….they may look environmentally friendly but it is only a mask to preserve their practices and profits….nothing more.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

“Fear And Loathing….”

Thursday and I would like to give my readers something to think about….even if it hurts.

Some give us the image of a dead burnt planet if things spiral out of control….while others, including myself, do not see the dire outcome….that all the chest thumping about nukes is just bolstering and bullying as a tool of control.

But while the media and the government has everyone worried about the use and result of nukes a story has been missed….that of the ‘carbon bomb’…..

The world’s biggest fossil fuel firms are quietly planning scores of “carbon bomb” oil and gas projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global impacts, a Guardian investigation shows.

The world’s biggest fossil fuel firms are quietly planning scores of “carbon bomb” oil and gas projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global impacts, a Guardian investigation shows.

The exclusive data shows these firms are in effect placing multibillion-dollar bets against humanity halting global heating. Their huge investments in new fossil fuel production could pay off only if countries fail to rapidly slash carbon emissions, which scientists say is vital.

The oil and gas industry is extremely volatile but extraordinarily profitable, particularly when prices are high, as they are at present. ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron have made almost $2tn in profits in the past three decades, while recent price rises led BP’s boss to describe the company as a “cash machine”.

The lure of colossal payouts in the years to come appears to be irresistible to the oil companies, despite the world’s climate scientists stating in February that further delay in cutting fossil fuel use would mean missing our last chance “to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all”. As the UN secretary general, António Guterres, warned world leaders in April: “Our addiction to fossil fuels is killing us.”

Details of the projects being planned are not easily accessible but an investigation published in the Guardian shows:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2022/may/11/fossil-fuel-carbon-bombs-climate-breakdown-oil-gas

May I suggest that we need to worry more about certainties than maybes….

This planet is dying and we worry more about something that will not effect us…..shows just how messed up the world’s mental capabilities truly are.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Do You Recycle?

Well I do.

I recycle everything possible…paper, aluminum and plastic….I guess that makes me a tree hugger…..so be it…..at least I am trying to do something that helps the massive amount of waste I generate.

Since I feel responsible for my planet I do my part.

Since everything buy damn near comes in plastic it is a growing problem and the industry keeps telling me all the good they are doing….is their message possibly manure spread for PR purposes?

Last year, Americans recycled at most 6% of their plastic waste, according to a report released Wednesday by a pair of environmental groups. It’s a number that’s even worse than it used to be. Every American produced an average 218 pounds of plastic waste in 2018, per Reuters, and the recycling rate stood at 8.7% that year, the last for which the EPA published relevant data. As for the decrease, it’s not just that people aren’t using recycling bins; the problem is that plastic isn’t very recyclable, and it never has been.

The report’s authors lay blame on the plastics industry itself. As Judith Enck of Beyond Plastics puts it, “[Plastic recycling] does not work, it never will work, and no amount of false advertising will change that.” Coauthor Jan Dell of the Last Beach Cleanup adds, “There is no circular economy of plastics. Companies co-opted the success of other material recycling and America’s desire to recycle to create the myth that plastic is recyclable.” As EcoWatch reports, the recycling of other materials has been effective; it cites paper recycling rates around 66%, glass around 30%, and cardboard at nearly 90%. Only plastic recycling rates have never cracked 10%.

Indeed, USA Todayreports that, at best, just 9% of plastics ever produced have been recycled, and even that figure is probably exaggerated: The US counts exported plastic waste as “recycled” even though 25% to 75% is “inadequately managed in receiving countries.” Left to its own devices, plastic degrades over time and becomes microplastics that contaminate the environment and human bodies, reports the Washington Post. Research shows every person will consume about 44 pounds of microplastics in their lifetime.

If true it is very disheartening….you try to do the right thing and some corporation decides to crap on the planet….

Then there is those ‘microplastics’.

Please check on your area and see if they are truly recycling or just a station to bundle and dump.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Latest On Climate

The clock is ticking!

TICK TOCK

The UN has released its report on the condition of the planet with climate change…..not at all a glowing report…..

The new week begins with grim reading from a landmark UN report about the state of the planet. The 3,000-plus page assessment of the climate concludes that while things are bad now—witness the extreme weather unfolding around the globe—they are certain to get worse in the coming decade. However, the authors say it’s possible to stave off the most dire scenarios, essentially a planet unrecognizable from the one we know today, though only if nations take immediate steps to start reining in greenhouse gas emissions. Coverage:

  • The report: Read it here. Produced by the International Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it was written by more than 230 scientists and based on more than 14,000 studies. It’s a “code red for humanity,” says the UN, per the AP.
  • New rate: Extreme heat waves that used to hit once every 50 years now happen once a decade, say the authors, per Reuters. And that rate will almost certainly get worse. The same general trend applies to droughts and heavy rains.
  • The warming: The world has warmed about 1.1 degrees Celsius since the 19th century, and the authors say it is almost certainly too late to avoid reaching the Paris accord threshold of 1.5 degrees by 2040, reports the New York Times. At that mark, the world becomes an even more dangerous place, with more than 1 billion at risk from frequent heat waves.
  • Bleak quotes: “We can expect a significant jump in extreme weather over the next 20 or 30 years,” says Piers Forster of the University of Leeds, one of the authors. Another co-author, Linda Mearns of the US National Center for Atmospheric Research, tells the AP: “It’s just guaranteed that it’s going to get worse. I don’t see any area that is safe.”
  • Longer term: The report lays out five scenarios, and in three of them, the world surpasses 2 degrees Celsius warming by mid-century. On these tracks, it’s possible the mark could surpass 3 or even 4 degrees. In the rosiest scenario, an immediate shift away from fossil fuels would enable the rise to level off at about 1.5 degrees.
  • One forecast: A rise of 2 degrees “could trigger the inexorable collapse of the Greenland ice sheet and more than six feet of sea-level rise that could swamp coastal communities,” per the Washington Post. “Coral reefs would virtually disappear.”
  • Blame: The report says it’s “unequivocal” that human behavior has warmed the planet. As for current events: “Extreme events, heat waves, droughts, heavy precipitation: When we see these things in the news, they really are a result of climate change and the science is really able to detect that,” says co-author Jessica Tierney, of the University of Arizona, per Quartz. “You can always get an extreme flood or drought by chance, but now we can show that the chances of some of these events happening would have been almost nil.”

The planet is burning and the best we can do is ignore the coming problems.

Time is running out!

TICK TOCK

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–06Nov19

Remember back a couple of years ago and the XL Pipeline? Remember the protests? Remember the promises that this would be a completely safe endeavor?

The NAs continue to protests and the administration continues to tell the lies of the safety of the pipeline….

With all the silliness around the impeachment process…all the yelling and lying and denials….a story was under reported in the MSM….it seems that the Keystone XL pipeline has sprung a leak……

It just keeps happening over and over and over and……

“I wish I could say I was shocked, but a major spill from the Keystone pipeline is exactly what multiple experts predicted would happen,” Greenpeace USA senior research specialist Tim Donaghy said in a statement. “In fact, this is the fourth significant spill from the Keystone pipeline in less than ten years of operation. History has shown us time and again that there is no safe way to transport fossil fuels, and pipelines are no exception.”

The latest Keystone spill was first detected Tuesday night by TC Energy, the pipeline’s owner, and the extent of the damage to the surrounding areas is not yet known to the public. According to Greenpeace, the leak “is already the eighth-largest pipeline oil spill of the last decade.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/10/31/it-happens-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-keystone-pipeline-leaks-least-383000

But this sort of thing was not going to happen because of all the safety features incorporated in the design off the pipeline……and yet…..

the Keystone Pipeline spilled about 383,000 gallons of crude oil in North Dakota.

It’s nothing short of an environmental disaster — and it probably won’t be the last time that the particularly-leaky pipeline spills, experts told The New York Times. The pipeline, which the U.S. government said in 2011 would pose “no significant impact” to the area, has now flooded half an acre of wetland with toxic sludge.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/keystone-pipeline-spilling-crude-oil

Too late…..the spills happen as predicted but no one cared and the fix was in….and the spills continue….as well as the lies about the pipe line safety.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Closing Thought–09Oct19

We all know about, if not we should, about all the pollution in the oceans of this world. Of course all think something has got to be done to curb this trend…..one cruise line will do their part…..

When it comes to the environment and sustainability, cruise ships and many cruise ship operators get failing grades when it comes to controlling carbon emissions, recycling, and treating water, waste, and sewage.

But thanks to new technology and the scrutiny of passengers, government agencies, and environmental groups, the tide is beginning to turn.

Norwegian cruise operator Hurtigruten just launched the world’s first hybrid electric-powered expedition ship, the 530-passenger MS Roald Amundsen. The vessel is named for the Norwegian explorer who was the first person to navigate the Northwest Passage by boat and the first person to cross Antarctica and reach the South Pole.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/first-electric-cruise-ship-hopes-turn-tide-war-against-ocean-n1062581

I think that it is noble to switch from petrol to electric but will that curb the amount of pollution dumped into our oceans?

The cruise ships seem to be a problem in themselves…

Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. has been hit with a record-setting criminal penalty for deliberate pollution. The California-based cruise line — a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, the largest cruise company in the world — pled guilty to felony charges for illegal dumping of oil contaminated waste. It will pay a $40 million fine as part of a plea agreement, the Department of Justice reported.

The case came to light after an engineer reported that employees aboard the Caribbean Princess were using a “magic pipe” to dump oily waste off the coast of England in 2013 in order to save money. It is inarguably troubling, not least because the chief engineer’s response to the whistleblower was to attempt a cover up. (The same man was known by the crew as a broccino corto, the DOJ notes, an Italian phrase for an exceptionally frugal man whose arms are too short to reach his wallet.) The ship had a long history of environmental violations, going back at least to 2005.

https://psmag.com/news/how-cruise-ships-are-polluting-our-oceans

Like I said before…I am not so sure that the pollution problem will be solved by the switch to electric.

Thoughts?

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”