Climate Change / Global Warming Discussion

[mspohr]

EU becomes first leading economy to legislate for ‘green tariff’ on imports

In the early hours of Tuesday morning the EU became the first big economy to legislate for a “green tariff” on imports, to be levied on goods that are produced with high carbon dioxide emissions. The carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) means that countries which fail to green their industries will soon face a new threat: an effective carbon tax that will penalise those hoping to profit from high-carbon activities, and force them to clean up.

Pascal Canfin, chair of the EU parliament’s environment committee, hailed the move: “The agreement is a world first. For the first time, we are going to ensure fair treatment between our companies, which pay a carbon price in Europe, and their foreign competitors, which do not. This is a major step that will allow us to do more for the climate while protecting our companies and our jobs.”

 

[mspohr]

California is embracing the wrong strategy for carbon sequestration. Why not algae?

The California Air Resources Board is overlooking more effective forms of carbon sequestration, such as algae, for its climate change plan.

calmatters.org

Environmental groups have long criticized carbon capture and storage as a greenwashing sleight designed to extend fossil fuel power plant longevity. Since the 1970s, billions of dollars have been invested in carbon capture projects in the U.S. But a recent study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that most projects have been financially perilous, and the successful ones were in the natural gas sector, enabling further emissions.

Rapid decarbonization can be achieved more effectively by investing in aquatic ecosystems and the blue carbon sequestered within. The protection and restoration of wetlands, peatlands and tidal marshes, which are rich in blue carbon, have already gained currency. The new frontier in natural carbon removal lies in sinking huge volumes of microalgal biomass. Toxic algal blooms have exploded in frequency and intensity from California to the Carolinas and beyond. By triggering and accelerating an entire population collapse of toxic algae, fantastic volumes of carbon can be scrubbed from the atmosphere, improving water quality as well as water availability at the same time.

 

[mspohr]

Interesting Engineering: We can now 3D print as much wood as we want without cutting a single tree. We can now 3D print as much wood as we want without cutting a single tree

 

[mspohr]

Big oil is behind conspiracy to deceive public, first climate racketeering lawsuit says

The same racketeering legislation used to bring down mob bosses, motorcycle gangs, football executives and international fraudsters is to be tested against oil and coal companies who are accused of conspiring to deceive the public over the climate crisis. In an ambitious move, an attempt will be made to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for “decades of deception” in a lawsuit being brought by communities in Puerto Rico that were devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017.

 

[JRP3]

"They didn't take me serious," Dunn says now.


Dunn, a Republican and Tea Party conservative, plowed ahead. And soon enough, he found himself the target of a political pressure campaign, replete with character assassinations and online smears.

In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics

Alabama Power and Florida Power & Light hired the consulting firm Matrix to help shape their fortunes. Matrix funded six sites that covered politics, filling a void left by the decline of local news.

www.npr.org

 

[eevee-fan]

In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics

Alabama Power and Florida Power & Light hired the consulting firm Matrix to help shape their fortunes. Matrix funded six sites that covered politics, filling a void left by the decline of local news.

www.npr.org

The Matrix, so are they also researching using people as power sources? LOL

 

[eevee-fan]

The Matrix, so are they also researching using people as power sources? LOL

A Solution To Musk's Fear Of Population Collapse? Artificial Womb Facility Could Grow 30,000 Babies A Year

Billionaire Elon Musk has frequently spoken about his concerns about underpopulation. He has mentioned that people should focus on having more babies to resolve the problem of low birth rates and population collapse. Earlier this year, Musk shared how the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a...

finance.yahoo.com

 

[eevee-fan]

Global warming, higher highs and lower lows, sometimes during the same season!

 

[eevee-fan]

One man can make a difference!

CleanTechnica: November Carbon Emissions In Europe Lowest In 30 Years. November Carbon Emissions In Europe Lowest In 30 Years

Edit:
Thanks, Putin!

 

[mspohr]

BP criticised over plan to spend billions more on fossil fuels than green energy

BP has been accused of prioritising fossil fuels over green energy as it plans to spend as much as double the amount on oil and gas projects than on renewable investments next year. The FTSE 100 company has earmarked up to $7.5bn (£6.2bn) for oil and gas projects, compared with a range of $3bn to $5bn for green energy.

 

[mspohr]

‘There’s been a fundamental change in our planet’: hunt on for spot to mark the start of the Anthropocene epoch

In a few weeks, geologists will select a site that demonstrates most vividly how humans have changed the structure of our planet’s surface. They will choose a place they believe best illustrates when a new epoch – which they have dubbed the Anthropocene – was born and its predecessor, the Holocene, came to an end. The Holocene began at the conclusion of the last ice age 11,700 years ago as the great glaciers that had previously covered the Earth began to retreat. In their wake, modern humans spread inexorably across the planet. Homo sapiens flowered during the Holocene but our expansion had geological consequences. The minerals we mined, the gases we released by burning fossil fuels and the radioactive material we have produced have begun to make fundamental changes to Earth’s geology.

 

[mspohr]

Climate Activists Find a Way to Get Germany’s Attention: Stop Traffic https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/02/...ETCnhrK-qqAJ42Q4vTlNZ6oKcTKc9pMuxizz-08uRf4Xc

 

[mspohr]

How agriculture hastens species extinction

Scientists believe humans are now causing a mass extinction of plants and animals. Modern agriculture is a major contributor.

www.cbsnews.com

There is only 2 percent of the big fishes that were in the oceans 50 years ago. Only 2 percent are living. We have lost around 70 percent of all the animals that were in the-- in the planet. All the big animals, all the mammals, bird, 70 percent are gone since 1918. In Southeast Asia, you know, we have lost 90 percent of the tropical forest of Southeast Asia since 2000. So, our impact is so massive that we are becoming this meteorite that is impact the planet. The difference with the previous mass extinction is that they took tens of thousands, hundreds of thousand, even millions of years to happen. In this particular case, this is happening so fast, now in just two, three decades — even the species that are not affected directly by the extinction crisis won't have enough time to evolve and survive this impact that we're doing.

The thing that undermines species populations globally, the number one thing is habitat destruction. And that habitat destruction usually comes from the expansion of agricultural land. So mowing down the tropical rainforest to plant soy, or to plant corn, or to graze cows. We no longer have the services that those rainforests give us, like stabilizing the planet's climate, like stabilizing weather patterns, like producing food and fresh water. We use 70 percent of all the freshwater on the planet to irrigate our crops.

 

[DrGriz]

Free article from a respected journal.

Protecting the Public Health with the Inflation Reduction Act — Provisions Affecting Climate Change and Its Health Effects​

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMms2212981?query=TOC&cid=NEJM%20eToc,%20January%205,%202023%20DM1853210_NEJM_Subscriber&bid=1342583123

The IRA therefore relies on the Internal Revenue Code and federal infusions of money to help stave off the ravages of climate change. Perhaps a combination of entrenched statutory tax breaks, grants, loan guarantees, and related monetary benefits for participants in the shift toward clean energy will reduce the uncertainty caused by repeated reversals in U.S. climate policy, which has probably dampened enthusiasm for investing in a cleaner economy. The IRA may provide a firmer foundation for efforts to abate climate change and reduce its public health effects than traditional regulatory approaches, a cap-and-trade program, or a carbon tax would have done.

 

[mspohr]

Free article from a respected journal.

Protecting the Public Health with the Inflation Reduction Act — Provisions Affecting Climate Change and Its Health Effects​

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMms2212981?query=TOC&cid=NEJM%20eToc,%20January%205,%202023%20DM1853210_NEJM_Subscriber&bid=1342583123

This is good

Among the IRA’s most substantial likely public health benefits are those resulting from reduced methane emissions. The statute imposes a kind of “stealth” carbon tax in the form of royalty charges on newly issued leases for natural gas produced on federal land or on the Outer Continental Shelf. The charges apply to gas that’s consumed or lost by venting, flaring, or negligent releases. The IRA also imposes a charge on excess methane emissions from facilities reporting annual GHG emissions equivalent to more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. Since methane is 21 times as potent a warming agent as carbon dioxide, reducing methane emissions will yield greater public health benefits on a ton-for-ton basis than reductions in the more ubiquitous carbon dioxide. Methane gas can also be an asphyxiant, and exposure to high concentrations can cause an array of acute adverse health effects.12

 

[eevee-fan]

California is getting drenched. So why can't it save water for the drought?

As a bomb cyclone hits California this week and dumps massive amounts of water on the state, some people are asking: why can't we save the water for times when we desperately need it?

www.npr.org

Maybe instead of the ocean, runoffs should be directed and drained into the Salton Sea. Grossly underutilized reservoir.

 

[mspohr]

California is getting drenched. So why can't it save water for the drought?

As a bomb cyclone hits California this week and dumps massive amounts of water on the state, some people are asking: why can't we save the water for times when we desperately need it?

www.npr.org

Maybe instead of the ocean, runoffs should be directed and drained into the Salton Sea. Grossly underutilized reservoir.

Salton Sea was formed when Colorado River floodwater breached an irrigation canal being constructed in the Imperial Valley in 1905 and flowed into the Salton Sink.

 

[eevee-fan]

Salton Sea was formed when Colorado River floodwater breached an irrigation canal being constructed in the Imperial Valley in 1905 and flowed into the Salton Sink.

Still, being below sea level means CA can create water tunnels from SOCAL reservoirs to overflow into the Salton Sea. How many acre feet of water could be saved? Better than draining into the ocean.

Yahoo News: How California could save up its rain to ease future droughts — instead of watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific.

How California could save up its rain to ease future droughts — instead of watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific

Heavy rain from a series of atmospheric rivers flooded large parts of California from late December 2022 into early January 2023. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesCalifornia has seen so much rain over the past few weeks that farm fields are inundated and normally dry creeks and...

news.yahoo.com

 

[eevee-fan]

Still, being below sea level means CA can create water tunnels from SOCAL reservoirs to overflow into the Salton Sea. How many acre feet of water could be saved? Better than draining into the ocean.

Yahoo News: How California could save up its rain to ease future droughts — instead of watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific.

How California could save up its rain to ease future droughts — instead of watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific

Heavy rain from a series of atmospheric rivers flooded large parts of California from late December 2022 into early January 2023. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesCalifornia has seen so much rain over the past few weeks that farm fields are inundated and normally dry creeks and...

news.yahoo.com

Fortunately, runoffs form Las Vegas goes into Lake Mead.

 

[cpa]

Still, being below sea level means CA can create water tunnels from SOCAL reservoirs to overflow into the Salton Sea. How many acre feet of water could be saved? Better than draining into the ocean.

Yahoo News: How California could save up its rain to ease future droughts — instead of watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific.

How California could save up its rain to ease future droughts — instead of watching epic atmospheric river rainfall drain into the Pacific

Heavy rain from a series of atmospheric rivers flooded large parts of California from late December 2022 into early January 2023. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesCalifornia has seen so much rain over the past few weeks that farm fields are inundated and normally dry creeks and...

news.yahoo.com

Perhaps I am just dense. But the Salton Sea is named Salton for a reason. To pipe freshwater from other parts of the state to become contaminated with various salts only to pipe it out and have to treat it does not make a lot of sense to me. The Salton Sea is saltier than the Pacific. If we are going to do that, desalination plants would be cheaper and closer to the end users.

Not a whole lotta rain falls in that part of California. The average annual rainfall at El Centro (just south of the Salton Sea) is around three inches that falls during winter. In addition summer temperatures are consistently over 100 degrees with <10% relative humidity.