Climate Change News & Discussions

[Tadasuke]

If USA doesn't extract oil and gas, then Russia will. We can thank Americans for emboldening Russians to start a war by not extracting and selling enough gas and oil. Sorry, but we need gas to heat our houses and workplaces (for transportation too) and we need oil for transportation. It's China and India who will emit the most CO2, not USA btw. But again, some people don't look at these things realistically. We don't currently have such a thing as clean energy. The best is nuclear, but for some reason there's not enough nuclear reactors.

[caltrek]

If USA doesn't extract oil and gas, then Russia will. We can thank Americans for emboldening Russians to start a war by not extracting and selling enough gas and oil. Sorry, but we need gas to heat our houses and workplaces (for transportation too) and we need oil for transportation. It's China and India who will emit the most CO2, not USA btw. But again, some people don't look at these things realistically. We don't currently have such a thing as clean energy. The best is nuclear, but for some reason there's not enough nuclear reactors.

I am not totally sure that I follow your argument. So, if I am misstating your position or otherwise not understanding you correctly, please clarify.

Yes, "we need oil for transportation" but that is only because we have not completed the transition to electric vehicles. That transition includes being able to plug into a green grid. Meaning one that is exclusively powered by renewables such as solar, wind, and yes even someday fusion. (I omit fission because of the nuclear waste problems associated with that energy source).

China and India are doing more than their part to upgrade their economies by use of renewables. If you look at energy consumption on a per capita basis, your argument about who emits the most simply doesn't hold up.

If somebody in your neighborhood is abusing drugs, do you say to yourself, "gosh, I am missing out on what might be a cool experience. So, I am going to go out and abuse drugs myself"?

Not just some light experimentation, but all out addiction level with all of its negative side-affects?

That is kind of what you are implying. Others are being irresponsible, so we should also be irresponsible. Which, of course, has led to an extremely reckless course in which people are needlessly dying in famines, extreme weather events, and so on and so forth.

Regarding nuclear, there are safety concerns. So much so that safety precautions have led to nuclear pricing itself out of the market.

It is like when the nuclear industry required subsidies to get started, good old Uncle Sam came forth with the required capital investment subsidies. Regardless of environmental consequences. Regardless of the cost issues associated with running those facilities. Then solar and wind came along and it was "no subsidies for them because we have already so much invested in nuclear and fossil fuel and they now finance our political campaigns. You will just have to compete in the market place with everybody else. Of course, we will continue our subsidies to carbon based industries on account of those campaign contributions." Then solar and wind became competitive and its "why those poor people in the carbon based and nuclear industries. How dare they be made to compete with solar and wind."

Meantime, the planet is being brought to a broil. Wake up people.

[caltrek]

Believe it or not, I didn’t even need to do a Google search to find this article (see below). I just came across it as part of my regular general news search.

ASEAN Needs To Work Together On Green Energy – Analysis
by Noah Kittner
June 22, 2022

Introduction:

(Eurasia Review) With global concerns rising over climate change and carbon lock-in, Southeast Asia has a unique opportunity to advance its economy and global leadership by constructing a regional low-carbon electricity grid. ASEAN countries can match extensive solar energy resources with advanced manufacturing capability for battery energy storage and electric vehicles, making them prime candidates to lead the global transition to clean energy.

Following the Paris Agreement, many ASEAN countries have revised their power development plans to include ambitious commitments to power sector decarbonisation. ASEAN countries have agreed collectively to generate at least 23 per cent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. Progress is rapid — Vietnam has approved more than 11 gigawatts (GW) of new wind projects and Thailand is developing 2.7 GW of floating solar.

While these are important first steps, they are not enough to maximise the potential benefits of a renewable energy transition. To achieve full energy system decarbonisation, ASEAN countries will need to coordinate regionally and build trust and dialogue.

Thailand’s new Energy Hub 4.0 Strategy has the potential to expand transmission interconnections throughout Southeast Asia and facilitate more efficient and low-carbon trade in electricity across countries. But to enable a more integrated ASEAN power grid, better forecasting and crediting and the development of new technologies are essential.
One study on renewable energy preparedness across the region highlights the challenges and opportunities of achieving renewable energy grid integration between ASEAN states. Centralised renewable energy forecasting and data analytics are critical to integrating solar and wind electricity at a large scale but many countries lack the forecasting that is needed to ensure smooth grid operations.

Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/22062022 ... analysis/

[erowind]

If USA doesn't extract oil and gas, then Russia will. We can thank Americans for emboldening Russians to start a war by not extracting and selling enough gas and oil. Sorry, but we need gas to heat our houses and workplaces (for transportation too) and we need oil for transportation. It's China and India who will emit the most CO2, not USA btw. But again, some people don't look at these things realistically. We don't currently have such a thing as clean energy. The best is nuclear, but for some reason there's not enough nuclear reactors.

China and India are not the world's largest emitters. Most of their industrial production is used to build products for export to the rest of the world. America, Australia, Canada and the EU are the largest emitters proportionally. It doesn't matter if the emissions are imported or domestic, the people paying for the production are the emitters.

America hit peak oil and will hit peak natural gas within the next 10-15 years. Ramping up production is no solution, not withstanding the impossibility of doing so, Russia isn't far behind either. We can have transportation without every American owning 1-2 cars. There's no reason to rely on fossil fueled internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles for most transit outside of the most rural and remote areas. Trains work, trains can be made electric without batteries, there's no reason not to use them. Among many other proven public transit technologies that would lower emissions fitted for their regions and geographies. For example, a mountainous city like Pittsburgh would generally do better with gondolas and funiculars.

Nothing is "clean," all energy sources require rare earth metals and minerals to manufacture even in cases where they truly are clean like geothermal energy. This said, some energy sources are vastly cleaner and vastly superior to others. Geothermal, nuclear, hydropower, to name 3. Solar and wind both are too mineral intensive with current technology, both will encounter hard supply limits as will lithium battery technology. Moreover, coal with proper filtration systems to capture and sequester over 99% of emissions (this tech already exists it's just not deployed because of the profit motive) can have a place in future ecologically friendly economies.

The reason why oil and natural gas don't have a place in the moderate future is because we will/have reached peak gas/oil. Whereas there are enough coal reserves to last into the 23rd century and if used wisely can aid our transition into better energy technologies like geothermal, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. And in any case fossil fuel plastic production outside of mission critical production for scientific and medical equipment must cease immediately.

[caltrek]

I wrote earlier:

Then solar and wind came along and it was "no subsidies for them because we have already so much invested in nuclear and fossil fuel and they now finance our political campaigns. You will just have to compete in the market place with everybody else. Of course, we will continue our subsidies to carbon based industries on account of those campaign contributions."

Apparently, this is a problem that is not just confined to U.S. policy:

Spain Demands EU Withdraw From Energy Treaty That Undermines Climate Action
by Kenny Stancil
June 23, 2022

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Spain has urged the European Union to leave an arcane energy treaty that protects fossil fuel investors at the expense of maintaining a habitable planet.

At issue is the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), an obscure agreement whose investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism enables fossil fuel corporations to sue governments over anticipated economic losses stemming from plans to move away from coal, oil, and gas.

German energy companies RWE and Uniper, for example, are suing the Netherlands for 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) and 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), respectively, as compensation for the Dutch government's plan to phase out coal by 2030.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Teresa Ribera told Politico Tuesday that more than a dozen rounds of talks to reform the treaty, including an E.U. proposal that wouldn't end protections for many existing fossil fuel investments until 2040, have made it clear that the effort "will fail to ensure the alignment of the ECT with the Paris agreement and the objectives of the European Green Deal."

"At a time when accelerating a clean energy transition has become more urgent than ever, it is time that the E.U. and its member states initiate a coordinated withdrawal from the ECT," she said, making Spain the first nation to publicly call for abandoning the accord.

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... te-action

[Time_Traveller]

UK's largest carbon capture project will turn CO2 into baking soda

24 June 2022

The UK’s biggest carbon capture project is opening today, with carbon dioxide being used to make sodium bicarbonate for dialysis machines, pharmaceutical tablets and baking soda.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen by the UK’s climate change advisers as a “crucial” technology for reaching net-zero emissions, but has had a chequered history with several major projects being cancelled.

The new Tata Chemicals Europe (TCE) plant at Northwich in north-west England is currently on track to capture about 36,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. Eventually, this will rise to 40,000 tonnes, about 11 per cent of the facility’s emissions, and more than 100 times the amount captured in power station pilots by energy firm Drax.

Martin Ashcroft at TCE says the £16.7 million demonstration project, helped by a £4.2 million government grant, shows net zero doesn’t mean outsourcing manufacturing overseas. “What we can’t have is effectively decarbonisation of the UK by deindustrialisation,” he says.

The CO2 is captured from a gas-fired power plant at the facility and isn’t stored, but purified and turned into liquefied CO2 to make sodium biocarbonate. “Effectively, we are making our own raw material,” says Ashcroft. TCE previously bought most of its CO2 from two of the UK’s biggest fertiliser plants, one of which is closing.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/23 ... king-soda/

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Useless government.

-----

'We are worried': UK climate advisors slam 'shocking' lack of net zero delivery

29 June 2022

The government is performing a risky "high wire approach to net zero" by failing to drive rapid progress towards the UK's climate goals across most sectors of the economy, potentially leaving householders and taxpayers on the hook for far higher costs later down the line, the UK's climate advisors will today warn.

In its annual assessment of progress towards the UK's legally-binding decarbonisation goals, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) highlights "shocking" gaps in policy and "scant evidence" of delivery since the publication of the government's Net Zero Strategy last year.

While praising government efforts to both adopt world-leading climate targets for the coming decade and flesh out its policy thinking in the Net Zero Strategy, the report warns of glaring weaknesses in delivery, particularly in areas such as home insulation, agriculture, taxation, behaviour change, and industrial electrification.

As such, it concludes that the current strategy "will not deliver net zero", as credible plans currently only exist for around a third of the emission reductions needed through to the mid-2030s, while there are few contingency in place should existing policies fail to deliver as expected. Overall, the report concludes the UK's decarbonisation efforts are only on track in eight out 50 key indicators.

https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4051 ... o-delivery

[Ozzie guy]

Jesus the Church that is non profit and doesn't get taxed is allowed to invest money and in fossil fuels no less!?


So much for the money being spent on the bare essentials to keep the church running and on the needy.

[weatheriscool]

Team reassesses greenhouse gas emissions from African lakes

by University de Liege

https://phys.org/news/2022-06-team-reas ... sions.html

The emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4)—the most potent greenhouse gases—into the atmosphere from African lakes are reassessed in a study undertaken by the Laboratory of Chemical Oceanography (FOCUS research unit / Faculty of Science). While it was previously assumed that these lakes were significant CO2 sources, it has since been discovered that they really emit very little CO2 but a lot of methane, adding to the emissions burden. The study is published in Science Advances.

One of the keys to predict climate change is to predict how greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from our planet's natural ecosystems might change. But to do this, it is important to be able to estimate them as accurately as possible and to understand the underlying mechanisms. There are about 1.5 million lakes on Earth. Unlike the oceans, they play an important role in the emission of greenhouse gases. Recognition of the important role of continental waters as emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and methane (CH4)—the two main GHGs—came rather late. It was not until in the mid-1990s that they began to be studied and are therefore relatively undersampled.

"This is problematic," explains Alberto Borges, FNRS researcher at the Laboratory of Chemical Oceanography at ULiège, "because spatial heterogeneity is very important, both within a single lake or river and between different systems. If the heterogeneity is very high, very large amounts of data are required to obtain a robust estimate of GHG emissions. There are almost two million lakes on Earth."

Until now, researchers have only had data on North American and Scandinavian (boreal) lakes and very little on tropical lakes and none on African lakes. These values were extrapolated to all lakes worldwide, including tropical lakes. However, these lakes do not "behave" in the same way in terms of GHG sequestration and emissions. A study conducted over ten years by researchers from the ULiège Chemical Oceanography Laboratory has shown that the data collected for North American and Scandinavian lakes does not apply to African lakes.

[wjfox]

"Biblical" Swarms Of Cannibalistic Mormon Crickets Cause Havoc In Oregon

Oregon’s ongoing problem with Mormon crickets may be bad, but the worst could be yet to come.

Jun 28, 2022 5:24 PM

Vast swarms of cannibalistic Mormon crickets have become a growing bane for farmers in the American West over the past few years – and climate change is threatening to make the problem even more severe.

A recent report by the Associated Press has chronicled the recent battles against the insect pests in Oregon.

Despite their name, the insects are not crickets (or Mormons). The species is actually a shield-backed katydid. The prefix of their name dates back to the 19th century, when they wreaked havoc on the fields of Mormon settlers in Utah. The insects have a voracious appetite for grain crops, but they can also turn cannibalistic if hungry.

[...]

Research in 2018 found that insects consume 5 to 20 percent of major grain crops globally, but the amount of yield lost to insects will increase by up to 25 percent per degree Celsius of global warming. As per their findings, insect-induced maize losses in the US could increase by almost 40 percent if climate change is allowed to let rip.

“Temperate regions are currently cooler than what’s optimal for most insects. But if temperatures rise, these insect populations will grow faster,” Scott Merrill, co-author of the 2018 study and researcher at the University of Vermont, said at the time. “They will also need to eat more, because rising temperatures increase insect metabolism. Together, that’s not good for crops.”

https://www.iflscience.com/biblical-swa ... egon-64241

[Time_Traveller]

Unprecedented 32.5C in the Arctic Circle during month of smashed global temperature records

Friday 1 July 2022

Countries across Europe broke temperature records in June - with an unprecedented 32.5C (90.5F) reported in the Arctic Circle.

Norway's Meteorological Institute has warned the high temperatures are a clear signal of climate change.

In Banak, where this new record was broken, average temperatures for June typically stand at 13C (55F).

The World Meteorological Organization tweeted: "Many June temperature records have tumbled in Asia, North Africa, parts of the Arctic and Europe.

"Stations throughout Scandinavia on Wednesday had 'tropical days' above 30C (86F). Central Asia and Japan are gripped by intense heat."

https://news.sky.com/story/unprecedente ... s-12643828

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

No wonder they are the second-largest climate producer. What is Biden doing?

[caltrek]

Logging is Destroying Southern Forests – and Dividing U.S. Environmentalists
by Christopher Ketcham
June, 2022

Introduction:

(Grist) n the fight against climate change, the $300-billion U.S. logging and woods products industry has positioned itself as a purveyor of “natural climate solutions.” The idea is intuitive: Trees are the ultimate renewable resource. After they are cut they can be replanted, absorbing carbon once again as they mature.

Wood energy succored Homo sapiens and its ancestors for millions of years, the argument goes, and only during the last couple of centuries was it replaced with fossil fuels like coal. As our civilization begins the slow process of jettisoning fossil energy, logging interests assure us that wood products are not a retrogression but a way forward. The industry claims that forests that are felled sustainably — for construction, say, or for burning to produce electricity in utility-scale power plants — can provide jobs and energy, stimulate the economy, and even reduce society’s net carbon emissions.

Weyerhaeuser, the world’s largest private owner of timber as well as its largest paper and pulp company, now markets how “wood products help remove and store CO2 and reduce the impacts of climate change.” The U.S. Industrial Pellet Association, a lobbying group for the biomass industry, proclaims that burning wood pellets from logged trees is “one of our best available tools to mitigate climate change, and achieve renewable energy goals.” The National Alliance of Forest Owners, a timber industry lobby group, has trumpeted “the important role sustainably managed forests and forest products can play in mitigating climate change.” In 2020, the CEOs of dozens of forestry businesses announced “an agreement of principles” stipulating that logged forests are beneficial for the climate.

This rosy view of logging, however, is hotly contested. In 2020, more than a hundred climate and forest scientists submitted a letter to Congress advising lawmakers not to trust the industry’s sustainability claims.

Read more here: https://grist.org/energy/logging-bioma ... servancy/

Here are extracts from that letter to Congress:

We find no scientific evidence to support increased logging to store more carbon in wood products, such as dimensional lumber or cross-laminated timber (CLT) for tall buildings, as a natural climate solution. The growing consensus of scientific findings is that, to effectively mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, we must not only move beyond fossil fuel consumption but must also substantially increase protection of our native forests in order to absorb more CO2 from the atmosphere and store more, not less, carbon in our forests…

Furthermore, the scientific evidence does not support the burning of wood in place of fossil fuels as a climate solution. Current science finds that burning trees for energy produces even more CO2 than burning coal, for equal electricity produced (Sterman et al. 2018), and the considerable accumulated carbon debt from the delay in growing a replacement forest is not made up by planting trees or wood substitution (noted below). We need to increase growing forests to more rapidly close the gap between emissions and removal of CO2 by forests, while we simultaneously lower emissions from our energy, industrial and agricultural sectors.

In your deliberations on this serious climate change issue, we encourage you to consider the following:
§ The logging and wood products industries suggest that most of the carbon in trees that are logged and removed from forests will simply be stored in CLT and other wood products for buildings instead of being stored in forest ecosystems. However, this is clearly incorrect. Up to 40% of the harvested material does not become forest products and is burned or decomposes quickly, and a majority of manufacturing waste is burned for heat. One study found that 65% of the carbon from Oregon forests logged over the past 115 years remains in the atmosphere, and just 19% is stored in long-lived products. The remainder is in landfills.
§ Logging in U.S. forests emits 617 million tons of CO2 annually…

Source: https://forestlegacies.org/wp-content/ ... May20.pdf

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

This is how we solve climate change. We remove the co2 from the atmosphere and learn to manage our climate system.

[caltrek]

High Water and Prolonged Flooding are Changing the Ecosystem of the Upper Mississippi River, a New Report Finds
by Madeline Heim
June 28, 2022

Introduction:

(Milwaukee Sentinel via Investigate Midwest) High water and longer-lasting flooding are changing the habitat along the Upper Mississippi River, according to a new report analyzing nearly 30 years of data.

The upper basin is the natural floodplain that spans from Minnesota through Wisconsin and Iowa to Cairo, Illinois. It’s an ecologically diverse area, consisting of wetlands, marshes and forests.

The report, released last week, shows increasingly wetter conditions in the Upper Mississippi over the past few decades, a trend that — spurred by climate change and land-use practices — looks likely to continue.

The report was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, Army Corps of Engineers and Upper Mississippi River Basin Association. It is the third of its kind produced by the Upper Mississippi River Restoration program, which was created in 1986 to conduct long-term monitoring of the basin and focus on habitat rehabilitation.

Kirsten Wallace, executive director of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, said the findings are a good start to understanding what has impacted the river habitat.

Read more here: https://investigatemidwest.org/2022/06 ... rt-finds/

Here is a link to the very lengthy report: https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2022/1039/ofr20221039.pdf

[caltrek]

San Antonio Congregation Shows Churches’ Eco-Stewardship Can Protect ‘the Tree of Life’
by Marv Knox
July 1, 2022

Introduction:

(Baptist News Global) With research, planning and commitment, a single congregation can provide a faithful ecological witness and take steps to combat climate change, members of Woodland Baptist Church in San Antonio told participants at the 2022 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly.

Jeni Cook Furr, a retired hospital chaplain; Ray Cook Furr, a retired minister, public relations practitioner and general contractor; Mike Massar, Woodland’s associate pastor; and Garrett Vickrey, the church’s senior pastor, led a workshop session titled “Getting Started on Eco-Stewardship in the Church.”

They described Woodland’s 18-month process of theological study, practical research and early steps toward implementing strategies and practices that help the church steward natural resources and go easier on creation.

“Our collective responsibility is to take care of God’s creation,” Jeni Cook Furr said. “Every church is going to do things differently because of what is going on around them. But all of us can be responsible stewards. Our faith demands we do it.”

The environmental ministry, called Oikonomos for the Greek word for stewardship, was the brainchild of Massar, who hit upon the idea while thinking about what he could do for his young granddaughter. “We may be the first generation leaving the world worse than we received it,” he explained. “I came up with the idea of helping clean up her ‘backyard.’”

Read more here: https://baptistnews.com/article/church ... on-shows/