A group of 50 academics and researchers from across UC’s 10 campuses are rising to this challenge on behalf of the university and the state. Spearheaded by renowned climate scientist Veerabhadran "Ram" Ramanathan of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, who in 1975 discovered the greenhouse effect of chlorofluorocarbons in the Earth’s atmosphere, the group convened over the summer with the aim of settling on a set of actionable solutions for curbing climate change to be presented and refined at the UC Summit on Carbon and Climate Neutrality, Oct. 26–27 at UC San Diego.
Sunday, 23 June 2019
Bending the Curve: Ten scalable solutions for carbon neutrality and climate stability
http://uc-carbonneutralitysummit2015.ucsd.edu/_files/Bending-the-Curve.pdf
A group of 50 academics and researchers from across UC’s 10 campuses are rising to this challenge on behalf of the university and the state. Spearheaded by renowned climate scientist Veerabhadran "Ram" Ramanathan of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, who in 1975 discovered the greenhouse effect of chlorofluorocarbons in the Earth’s atmosphere, the group convened over the summer with the aim of settling on a set of actionable solutions for curbing climate change to be presented and refined at the UC Summit on Carbon and Climate Neutrality, Oct. 26–27 at UC San Diego.
A group of 50 academics and researchers from across UC’s 10 campuses are rising to this challenge on behalf of the university and the state. Spearheaded by renowned climate scientist Veerabhadran "Ram" Ramanathan of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, who in 1975 discovered the greenhouse effect of chlorofluorocarbons in the Earth’s atmosphere, the group convened over the summer with the aim of settling on a set of actionable solutions for curbing climate change to be presented and refined at the UC Summit on Carbon and Climate Neutrality, Oct. 26–27 at UC San Diego.
Saturday, 22 June 2019
Plastic Is Just as Destructive to the Climate as Oil and Gas
Mass production of plastics started nearly 70 years ago so before that time we were able to sustain advanced technologies without the use of plastics. Since that time production increased significantly and doubling in the last two decades. Aside from their ability to break down into micro particles and move their way up the food chain, and the increasing deaths caused by animal mistaking the plastids for food, plastics also give off fossil fuel gases. Plastic is known to release a variety of chemicals during degradation, which has a negative impact on biota. The most commonly used plastics produce two greenhouse gases, methane and ethylene, when exposed to ambient solar radiation. So this process has been an unrecognized source of climate-relevant trace gases that are expected to increase as more plastic is produced and accumulated in the environment.
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| Plastic pollution on a beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico, April 3, 2018. (Photo: Rey Perezoso, Flickr) |
Carroll Muffett, president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), explained to me in an interview that "plastics are simply fossil fuels in another form. Ninety-nine percent of what goes into plastics are oil, gas and, to a lesser extent, coal feed stocks." As a result, "the processes that produce plastics begin at wellheads and at frack pads across the United States and around the world." According to Muffett, every step in the production of the plastic we casually use and toss away has an impact on the climate, from the emissions released during extractive processes like fracking to the transporting of the raw materials to plants and beyond. Because ever fewer plastics are getting recycled, many communities across the globe are also burning their plastic trash as fuel, adding more emissions into our already saturated atmosphere. And the plastic that is not recycled or incinerated itself emits potent greenhouse gases like methane and ethylene, as a 2018 study has alarmingly shown.
Mass production of plastics started nearly 70 years ago so before that time we were able to sustain advanced technologies without the use of plastics. Since that time production increased significantly and doubling in the last two decades. Aside from their ability to break down into micro particles and move their way up the food chain, and the increasing deaths caused by animal mistaking the plastids for food, plastics also give off fossil fuel gases. Plastic is known to release a variety of chemicals during degradation, which has a negative impact on biota. The most commonly used plastics produce two greenhouse gases, methane and ethylene, when exposed to ambient solar radiation. So this process has been an unrecognized source of climate-relevant trace gases that are expected to increase as more plastic is produced and accumulated in the environment.
Switzerland: Canton of Vaud Plans for 20 Geothermal Power Plants by 2050
http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/the-swiss-canton-of-vaud-estimates-up-to-20-geothermal-plants-by-2050/
In the future, Vaud will increasingly rely on energy from geothermal energy. The government estimates that by 2050 around 20 geothermal power plants will be built in the canton. The new cadastre lists 43 communities in the Canton Vaud with geothermal potential.
Currently, two projects are well advanced in the canton. In Vinzel, near Nyon, the project company EnergeÔ, in which Romande Energie also holds a stake, plans to realize a geothermal project for 1,500 households by 2021/2022.
It is planned to drill down to a depth of 2200 meters. This is half as deep as in Basel or St. Gallen, where boreholes caused several smaller earthquakes in 2006 and 2013, respectively.
The AGEPP project in Lavey-les-Bains in the Rhone Valley aims to pump the deep groundwater out of the very permeable rock and use it for the permanent power supply of around 900 households. Commissioning is planned for 2020.
These two geothermal projects are the first two in Switzerland to receive a federal financial contribution. Others are still in the development phase.
In the future, Vaud will increasingly rely on energy from geothermal energy. The government estimates that by 2050 around 20 geothermal power plants will be built in the canton. The new cadastre lists 43 communities in the Canton Vaud with geothermal potential.
Currently, two projects are well advanced in the canton. In Vinzel, near Nyon, the project company EnergeÔ, in which Romande Energie also holds a stake, plans to realize a geothermal project for 1,500 households by 2021/2022.
It is planned to drill down to a depth of 2200 meters. This is half as deep as in Basel or St. Gallen, where boreholes caused several smaller earthquakes in 2006 and 2013, respectively.
The AGEPP project in Lavey-les-Bains in the Rhone Valley aims to pump the deep groundwater out of the very permeable rock and use it for the permanent power supply of around 900 households. Commissioning is planned for 2020.
These two geothermal projects are the first two in Switzerland to receive a federal financial contribution. Others are still in the development phase.
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| Nyon on Lake Geneva, Switzerland (source: flickr/ patrick_nouhailler, creative commons) |
Friday, 21 June 2019
Climate Change and Walruses
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/04/why-are-walruses-walking-off-cliffs/586510/
These changes have affected the indigenous communities that have traditionally hunted, protected, and lived alongside walruses. The 200 Chukchi people who live in the Russian village of Vankarem are familiar with local haul-outs. But according to one resident, Vladilen Ivanovich Kavry, the gatherings have become more crowded, and the walruses look weaker. They’re edging closer to the village, and those killed during stampedes attract polar bears, which are also coming ashore because of the vanishing sea ice.
The community have since set up a patrol to watch for incoming bears and tow walrus carcasses to far-off sites. They’ve also worked with the local aviation service to restrict flights over haul-out sites, to avoid spooking the walruses. And they’ve shared their expertise with their counterparts in Alaska. “In the spring of 2010, we invited Chukchi colleagues to travel to Alaskan villages to talk about their work in protecting polar bears and walruses,” says Margaret Williams, who directs the World Wildlife Fund’s Arctic Program. “They said, ‘Soon our walruses will come to you.’”
ED YONG is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers science
These changes have affected the indigenous communities that have traditionally hunted, protected, and lived alongside walruses. The 200 Chukchi people who live in the Russian village of Vankarem are familiar with local haul-outs. But according to one resident, Vladilen Ivanovich Kavry, the gatherings have become more crowded, and the walruses look weaker. They’re edging closer to the village, and those killed during stampedes attract polar bears, which are also coming ashore because of the vanishing sea ice.
ED YONG is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers science
Explosions rip through South Philadelphia refinery, triggering major fire and injuring 5
A series of explosions and a massive fire ripped through a South Philadelphia oil refinery early Friday, injuring five workers.
Firefighters contained the blaze at Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) within a couple hours, but it was still burning Friday evening.
| MATT ROURKE / AP |
Thursday, 20 June 2019
Canadian Senate passes B.C. tanker ban bill, prepping for it to come into law
https://globalnews.ca/news/5414479/canadian-senate-passes-tanker-ban-bill/?fbclid=IwAR1kQ62tEG-3AmubEJJ4l9-VDOohvdQhvC4b2YFQ3vyI2_Q6xhA-uTwr3-8
he Senate has approved Bill C-48, the “Oil Tanker Moratorium Act,” legislation that will formalize a moratorium on oil tanker traffic of a certain size in waters from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the province’s border with Alaska
he Senate has approved Bill C-48, the “Oil Tanker Moratorium Act,” legislation that will formalize a moratorium on oil tanker traffic of a certain size in waters from the northern tip of Vancouver Island to the province’s border with Alaska
In Just 200 Years, We Reversed This 50-Million-Year Climate Trend
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/in-just-200-years-we-reversed-this-50-million-year-climate-trend/
So cogent have been the warnings from the distant past that researchers argue that the epoch in which modern humans flourished – geologists call it the Holocene – effectively came to an end midway through the 20th century.
What initially provided a safe operating space for emerging humanity will, they think, become known as the Anthropocene, because human activity has now so dramatically changed the climate, the landscape and the conditions under which other lifeforms flourish.
“The further we move from the Holocene, the greater we move out of safe operating space,” Professor Williams said.
“In the roughly 20 to 25 years I have been working in the field, we have gone from expecting climate change to happen to detect its effects, and now we are seeing it is causing harm.
Humankind, in two centuries, has transformed the climate. It has succeeded in reversing a 50-million-year cooling trend.
What initially provided a safe operating space for emerging humanity will, they think, become known as the Anthropocene, because human activity has now so dramatically changed the climate, the landscape and the conditions under which other lifeforms flourish.
“The further we move from the Holocene, the greater we move out of safe operating space,” Professor Williams said.
“In the roughly 20 to 25 years I have been working in the field, we have gone from expecting climate change to happen to detect its effects, and now we are seeing it is causing harm.
Pentagon Fuel Use, Climate Change, and the Costs of War
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2018/Crawford_Costs%20of%20War%20Es timates%20Through%20FY2019.pdf.
In its quest for security, the United States spends more on the military than any other country in the world, certainly much more than the combined military spending of its major rivals, Russia and China. Authorized at over $700 billion in Fiscal Year 2019, and again over $700 billion requested for FY2020, the Department of Defense (DOD) budget comprises more than half of all federal discretionary spending each year. With an armed force of more than two million people, 11 nuclear aircraft carriers, and the most advanced military aircraft, the US is more than capable of projecting power anywhere in the globe, and with “Space Command,” into outer-space. Further, the US has been continuously at war since late 2001, with the US military and State Department currently engaged in more than 80 countries in counterterror operations.2
List of Geothermal Plants and BC's untapped Potential
B.C. Natural Gas Boom Fuels Alberta Tar Sands Production
Heavy oil production in Canada’s petro province of Alberta is powered, in part, by a glut of cheap natural gas in North America, which gas producers in B.C. have helped to create,” he writes. “B.C. is also helping to prop up Alberta’s oil industry by shipping it lots of extremely valuable ‘gas liquids’—byproducts of natural gas which are essential to dilute heavy oil or bitumen so that it can move more readily through pipelines.
Full Story
Full Story
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| https://theenergymix.com/2018/08/21/b-c-natural-gas-boom-fuels-alberta-tar-sands-oil-sands-production/?fbclid=IwAR0Kz8LWM95mS9eObzHjAK-VeR6JVvgRakmOVEZ8sf-FU2TbHjwiNBSW71M |
BC happy to export US coal but not Canadian petroleum – that’s bad for the environment and for Canada
The US exports coal to Canada to get it to world markets because environmentalists won’t allow it to flow through their ports back home. BC is actually expanding its ports to deal with increased coal shipments, both imports from the US and homegrown production.
Fossil Fuel is highly subsidised in Canada by $3.3 billion
Fossil Fuel is highly subsidised in Canada by $3.3 billion
Equivalent to educating 260,000 students
or funding Canadians a hospital bed for 16,000,000 days
or offering job training for 330,000 worker
It is $94 dollars from every Canadian each year.
Equivalent to educating 260,000 students
or funding Canadians a hospital bed for 16,000,000 days
or offering job training for 330,000 worker
It is $94 dollars from every Canadian each year.
Imagine what we could do if this money was invested in geothermal electric power, solar and wind.
Zeporah Berman Reacting to Pipeline from Alberta
Zeporah Berman: "This pipeline would facilitate the significant expansion of the tar sands in Canada. The emissions just from the production of that oil alone are the equivalent to putting about 2.2 million cars on the road. This is going to facilitate significant oil expansion. Oil and gas are the fastest growing and largest source of emissions in Canada. It means that Canada won't be able to meet our climate targets."
"The market is moving away from high-cost, high-carbon oil, which is what we have in Canada. And demand is softening. Many countries around the world are banning the fossil fuel car, and that's why investors pulled out of this pipeline in the first place. So our federal government bought it, is using $7 billion of taxpayer money to buy this pipeline and build the expansion. They could be using that $7 billion directly to fund clean energy without increasing pollution. If a wealthy country like Canada with a stable democracy can't do our part to address climate safety — when we're all experiencing the rise in floods and fires — then who can? We need Canada to step up to the plate and address climate change. Expanding oil production and building new pipelines is not the way to move away from fossil fuels. "
"The market is moving away from high-cost, high-carbon oil, which is what we have in Canada. And demand is softening. Many countries around the world are banning the fossil fuel car, and that's why investors pulled out of this pipeline in the first place. So our federal government bought it, is using $7 billion of taxpayer money to buy this pipeline and build the expansion. They could be using that $7 billion directly to fund clean energy without increasing pollution. If a wealthy country like Canada with a stable democracy can't do our part to address climate safety — when we're all experiencing the rise in floods and fires — then who can? We need Canada to step up to the plate and address climate change. Expanding oil production and building new pipelines is not the way to move away from fossil fuels. "
Will the World End Because of Climate Change? | Apocalypse NowThis
Rising ocean waters, scorching temperatures, food scarcity, and disease – here's how humans could ultimately be responsible for the end of the world.
The world is going to end one day. The question is HOW? ‘Apocalypse NowThis’ examines the different ways in which life as we know it could be wiped out: from nuclear war, to the rise of the machines, to climate change.
Fire Smoke Forecast for June 20, 2019
Ground level concentration of particulate matter 2.5 microns and smaller (PM2.5) in units of micrograms per meter cubed (µg/m3).
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