The Global Warming Thread

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:43 pm

The Arctic is undergoing a profound, rapid and unmitigated shift into a new climate state, one that is greener, features far less ice and emits greenhouse gas emissions from melting permafrost, according to a major new federal assessment of the region released Tuesday.

The consequences of these climate shifts will be felt far outside the Arctic in the form of altered weather patterns, increased greenhouse gas emissions and rising sea levels from the melting Greenland ice sheet and mountain glaciers.

The findings are contained in the 2019 Arctic Report Card, a major federal assessment of climate change trends and impacts throughout the region. The study paints an ominous picture of a region lurching to an entirely new and unfamiliar environment.

Especially noteworthy is the report’s conclusion that the Arctic already may have become a net emitter of planet-warming carbon emissions due to thawing permafrost, which would only accelerate global warming. Permafrost is the carbon-rich frozen soil that covers 24 percent of the Northern Hemisphere’s land mass, encompassing vast stretches of territory across Alaska, Canada, Siberia and Greenland.

There has been concern throughout the scientific community that the approximately 1,460 billion to 1,600 billion metric tons of organic carbon stored in frozen Arctic soils, almost twice the amount of greenhouse gases as what is contained in the atmosphere, could be released as the permafrost melts.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sat Dec 28, 2019 11:06 am

GOP insurgents drop new rule intended to benefit coal and natural gas power producers in the NE states. This will likely lead to lawsuits intended to generate enough delay to elect a Dem President and stop this evil madness.

Federal regulators approved rules yesterday for the nation's largest electricity market that effectively prop up fossil fuel power plants and discourage new investments in renewable power, demand response and energy storage projects.

The much-awaited changes in PJM Interconnection's rules governing its capacity market were issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 508 days after the agency issued a decision calling the current market rules unjust and unreasonable and directing PJM to devise a fix.

...

Jeff Dennis, general counsel at Advanced Energy Economy and former senior official at FERC, called it "unfortunate" and "a price support scheme for existing coal and natural gas power plants."

FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee told reporters, "I don't buy it at all" that the agency's action favors coal and natural gas over renewables.

Capacity markets are used in PJM and other markets to ensure that enough electricity is available at all times. Owners of power plants bid into auctions to offer their capacity — usually three years out — and, if they clear, are provided capacity payments.

FERC's decision changes bidding rules to protect coal and natural gas plants from new renewables by making those resources bid in at a higher price than existing renewables, which are grandfathered in the agency's order.

...

During the commission meeting, Glick mused on whether Chatterjee and McNamee were part of the purported Washington "Deep State" trying to undermine the rule of law.

"The more I got to thinking about, if you do believe unelected bureaucrats are trying to change laws, trying to change court decisions, this commission has a pretty good track record on that," he said. "We have a number of unelected commissioners seeking to overturn actions of other branches of government," such as states with clean energy programs and federal appellate court rulings on greenhouse gases.

In a separate news conference, Glick said, "I can't tell you that the chairman and Commissioner McNamee got together and decided they were going to kill clean energy. It's just that that's the effect of the order."

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Sat Dec 28, 2019 10:30 pm

I"ve been listening to a great podcast, "The Fall of Civilzations":

https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/

It really is one of the best historical podcasts I've listened to, right up there with Dan Carlin's "Hardcore History"and Mike Duncan's "Fall of Rome". So far the author has covered such civilizations such as the Greenland Norse, Easter Island, Ancient Sumer, Songhai Empire in Africa, Roman Britain, the Maya, and the Khmer Empire of Angkor Wat fame. Among some of the things that make this podcast so great are the environmental sounds, the reading of ancient texts from the applicable times (so you can see what people of the time were thinking), and even ancient music!

I only mention this because I see a lot of the same issues that helped cause the collapse of these civilizations present in our own time - complex interconnected systems that can be overwhelmed, environmental collapse, plagues (we mostly likely face a world wide pandemic at some point relatively soon), etc. I just wonder if we are clever enough to avoid or mitigate against the same issues, including climate change, that we face. Almost all of the civs covered so far faced severe climate change or environmental degradation. Some actually managed to adapt (other things brought them down but these added additional stressors), others didn't. I have to wonder what will happen to us?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Jan 09, 2020 5:59 pm

CNN

The Trump administration plans to rewrite decades-old regulations to make it easier to build major infrastructure such as pipelines, which would have the effect of relaxing government efforts to fight the climate crisis.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday morning the changes to National Environmental Policy Act rules, which requires federal agencies to assess the environmental impact of projects such as the construction of mines, highways, water infrastructure and gas pipelines.

Trump and administration officials said the changes are necessary to speed up approval for needed infrastructure projects.
...
The proposal would set time limits on environmental assessments and changes what impacts must be considered, two significant moves that could make it easier to approve projects.

Agencies will no longer have to consider "cumulative" effects of new infrastructure under the new rule, which courts have interpreted as a mandate to study effects of emitting more greenhouse gas emissions, according to The New York Times and The Washington Post, which reported the proposals earlier Thursday. That includes the impacts of climate change, including rising sea levels.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Sat Jan 11, 2020 11:59 am

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1215319341551575041

Trump says he doesn't think global warming is a hoax (contradicting many of his past statements), then adds, "I want clear air, clean water" (which are not related to global warming)

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Sat Jan 11, 2020 12:06 pm

It might surprise you to learn that Donald Trump is not a smart person.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Jan 19, 2020 12:23 am

Did somebody mention runaway feedback loops? Australia's fires have pumped out more emissions than 100 nations combined.

Climate change is driving climate change is driving climate change

A 2018 report by Australia’s national science agency and the Bureau of Meteorology concludes climate change has contributed to the nation’s worsening fire conditions, noting that average temperatures have risen more than 1 ˚C.

In turn, these huge fires are fueling climate change. As trees and plants burn, they release the carbon stored in their trunks, leaves, branches, and roots. That creates a vicious feedback loop, as the very impacts of climate change further exacerbate it, complicating our ability to get ahead of the problem.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jan 19, 2020 1:39 am

People think a few degrees here and there wont matter at all. 5 degrees in a summer thats normally around 100 will matter. But imagine in decades or so to come an average summer temp of 125. The power grid cant cool that. There will be massive power outages. Pets cant stay out in that all the time. Now power inside wont help. Crops wont grow...stuff drys and burns.......animals disappear. Then all ice is gone and pours into the deep warm ocean cooling it off and slowing planetary currents. It all freezes.

Old Trump scoffed at global warming saying its not any warmer. Wait till he croaks and its sizzling hot forever on nerves that wont burn away. Fool.

Victoria Raverna · Post by **Victoria Raverna** » Sun Jan 19, 2020 5:13 am

Temperature also affects oxygen solubility in water. If the temperature is too high then oxygen level in water will be too low for aquatic organisms to survive.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 4:14 pm

Defiant wrote: Sat Jan 11, 2020 11:59 am https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1215319341551575041

Trump says he doesn't think global warming is a hoax (contradicting many of his past statements), then adds, "I want clear air, clean water" (which are not related to global warming)

Odd, then, that he should pass this.

The Trump administration on Thursday will finalize a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, wetlands and other water bodies, handing a victory to farmers, fossil fuel producers and real estate developers who said Obama-era rules had shackled them with onerous and unnecessary burdens.

From Day 1 of his administration, President Trump vowed to repeal President Barack Obama’s “Waters of the United States” regulation, which had frustrated rural landowners. His new rule, which will be implemented in the coming weeks, is the latest step in the Trump administration’s push to repeal or weaken nearly 100 environmental rules and laws, loosening or eliminating rules on climate change, clean air, chemical pollution, coal mining, oil drilling and endangered species protections.

...

The new water rule will remove federal protections from more than half the nation’s wetlands, and hundreds of thousands of small waterways. That would for the first time in decades allow landowners and property developers to dump pollutants such as pesticides and fertilizers directly into many of those waterways, and to destroy or fill in wetlands for construction projects.

“This will be the biggest loss of clean water protection the country has ever seen,” said Blan Holman, a lawyer specializing in federal water policy at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “This puts drinking water for millions of Americans at risk of contamination from unregulated pollution. This is not just undoing the Obama rule. This is stripping away protections that were put in place in the ’70s and ’80s that Americans have relied on for their health.”

And the kicker:

“The toxics or poisons that lie dormant will still be there when the streams are reactivated,” he said. “They will still get into the larger bodies of water.”

Government scientists, even those appointed by the Trump administration, say those concerns are justified. The E.P.A.’s Scientific Advisory Board, a panel of 41 scientists responsible for evaluating the scientific integrity of the agency’s regulations, concluded that the new Trump water rule ignores science by “failing to acknowledge watershed systems.” They found “no scientific justification” for excluding certain bodies of water from protection under the new regulations, concluding that pollutants from those smaller and seasonal bodies of water can still have a significant impact on the health of larger water systems.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 4:30 pm

He said nothing about clean air and clean water for everyone, nor even the US. He said he wants clean and clean water.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 4:52 pm

JFC with this guy. Generations+ of damage being done with the flick of a pen.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 4:55 pm

How do you get Trump to change a light bulb?

Spoiler:

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 5:16 pm

Nah, he’d just break it.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 5:40 pm

When I was on my high-school debate team, one of the topics assigned by the National Forensic League was "Wetlands Protection." This was in the late-middle 80s, when environmental regulations seemed to be both possible and desirable even under a Republican president.

The team assigned to argue against protections always felt pretty dirty and gross. Now that team is America.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 5:53 pm

On a similar note, a friend's father went to buy 50 acres of land to build a house not too far from mine in 80s but was rejected by the township and the protections of natural wet lands. By the 90s it had all filled in with concrete and cluster housing developments, The larger plots might have been half acre plots, but I'd wager most 1/4 acre and under with city water and sewage running to each.

I drove by sometime last year, nearly the whole area is a few square miles of suburban single unit housing of one level or another and charter schools, carrying on the long held tradition of naming the groupings after the dominant wildlife that was destroyed to develop the area. Quail Run, Deer field, Blue Heron, sunflower, etc...

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 6:06 pm

Trump lives in the past and ignores the future. He frets over all that Hilary and Obama did. He tries to bring back coal and other crap. He gets rid of environment protections. Everything this idiot does is plain out STUPID and bad for everyone.

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Thu Jan 23, 2020 6:24 pm

Zaxxon wrote: Sat Jan 11, 2020 12:06 pm It might surprise you to learn that Donald Trump is not a smart person.

"J is for genius!"

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:01 pm

I'm not sure this should be in R&P any more. This is no longer controversial science and shouldn't be different than any other news.

Regardless, cut back on your beef if you want to reduce your carbon footprint.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:04 pm

It's not controversial science, yet remains controversial politics.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:09 pm

Amen on cutting back on beef. It's one of the easiest changes you can make with a significant GHG reduction impact. Just by getting a carnitas burrito rather than a steak burrito, you can drop the GHG emissions of the meat in your lunch by almost 90% without IMO giving anything up.

I still have the occasional 'real' burger or italian beef, but have cut prob 95% of the beef out of my diet, and I don't miss it at all (because pork and chicken are also delicious).

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:15 pm

noxiousdog wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:01 pmRegardless, cut back on your beef if you want to reduce your carbon footprint.

Climate change, more than animal feels, is why I became a vegetarian a couple years back. The transition was rough, but it's super easy now, barely an inconvenience.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:18 pm

Yeah, I usually just go with chicken or turkey.

Stupid cow farts.

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:23 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:04 pm It's not controversial science, yet remains controversial politics.

Then I would suggest discussing the politics here and the science in EBG

Which means I should have started a new thread there I suppose....

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:23 pm

We just need to feed them more seaweed:

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Oct 19, 2016 2:55 pm Seaweed

Professor of aquaculture at James Cook University in Townsville, Rocky De Nys, has been working with the CSIRO studying the effects seaweed can have on cow's methane production.

They discovered adding a small amount of dried seaweed to a cow's diet can reduce the amount of methane a cow produces by up to 99 per cent.

"We started with 20 species [of seaweed] and we very quickly narrowed that down to one really stand out species of red seaweed," Professor De Nys said.

The species of seaweed is called asparagopsis taxiformis, and JCU researchers have been actively collecting it off the coast of Queensland.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:51 pm

Isgrimnur wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:23 pm We just need to feed them more seaweed:

Isgrimnur wrote: Wed Oct 19, 2016 2:55 pm Seaweed

Professor of aquaculture at James Cook University in Townsville, Rocky De Nys, has been working with the CSIRO studying the effects seaweed can have on cow's methane production.

They discovered adding a small amount of dried seaweed to a cow's diet can reduce the amount of methane a cow produces by up to 99 per cent.

"We started with 20 species [of seaweed] and we very quickly narrowed that down to one really stand out species of red seaweed," Professor De Nys said.

The species of seaweed is called asparagopsis taxiformis, and JCU researchers have been actively collecting it off the coast of Queensland.

Does it also work for coworkers?

Asking for a friend coworker.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Jan 24, 2020 2:32 pm

Unknown. Sounds like a perfect opportunity for a research grant.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:44 pm

Where is all the low-impact, vat-grown beef we were promised?

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:49 pm

LawBeefaroni wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:44 pm Where is all the low-impact, vat-grown beef we were promised?

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Mon Jan 27, 2020 4:43 pm

FWIW, this thread inspired me to make lasagna with ground turkey (and pork sausage) instead of ground beef (and pork sausage) yesterday. Still a lot of cheese, but a reduced carbon footprint at a minimal loss of flavor.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Feb 06, 2020 4:39 pm

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features ... -landfills

Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills

A wind turbine’s blades can be longer than a Boeing 747 wing, so at the end of their lifespan they can’t just be hauled away. First, you need to saw through the lissome fiberglass using a diamond-encrusted industrial saw to create three pieces small enough to be strapped to a tractor-trailer.

The municipal landfill in Casper, Wyoming, is the final resting place of 870 blades whose days making renewable energy have come to end. The severed fragments look like bleached whale bones nestled against one another.

“That’s the end of it for this winter,” said waste technician Michael Bratvold, watching a bulldozer bury them forever in sand. “We’ll get the rest when the weather breaks this spring.”

Tens of thousands of aging blades are coming down from steel towers around the world and most have nowhere to go but landfills. In the U.S. alone, about 8,000 will be removed in each of the next four years. Europe, which has been dealing with the problem longer, has about 3,800 coming down annually through at least 2022, according to BloombergNEF. It’s going to get worse: Most were built more than a decade ago, when installations were less than a fifth of what they are now.

Built to withstand hurricane-force winds, the blades can’t easily be crushed, recycled or repurposed. That’s created an urgent search for alternatives in places that lack wide-open prairies. In the U.S., they go to the handful of landfills that accept them, in Lake Mills, Iowa; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Casper, where they will be interred in stacks that reach 30 feet under.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Feb 12, 2020 1:17 am

Peak carbon? Global emissions were flat last year despite 2.9% economic growth.

“We now need to work hard to make sure that 2019 is remembered as a definitive peak in global emissions, not just another pause in growth,” Dr. Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the IEA, said in a statement. “We have the energy technologies to do this, and we have to make use of them all. The IEA is building a grand coalition focused on reducing emissions – encompassing governments, companies, investors and everyone with a genuine commitment to tackling our climate challenge.”

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:20 am

Daehawk wrote: Thu Feb 06, 2020 4:39 pmBuilt to withstand hurricane-force winds, the blades can’t easily be crushed, recycled or repurposed. That’s created an urgent search for alternatives in places that lack wide-open prairies. In the U.S., they go to the handful of landfills that accept them, in Lake Mills, Iowa; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Casper, where they will be interred in stacks that reach 30 feet under.

Sounds like they need to be repurposed as siding for homes in Florida.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:59 am

I’m sure turbine blades will stay just where you put them when the next hurricane comes through.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:03 pm

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Mon Feb 17, 2020 12:55 pm

Paingod wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:15 pm super easy now, barely an inconvenience.

I know it's almost a month after the fact but...

Wow, wow, wow. Switching to vegetarianism for climate change reasons is TIGHT!

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Feb 17, 2020 1:12 pm

Brian wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2020 12:55 pm
Paingod wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 1:15 pm super easy now, barely an inconvenience.
I know it's almost a month after the fact but...

Wow, wow, wow. Switching to vegetarianism for climate change reasons is TIGHT!

My coworkers are going to wonder why I'm snickering in my office.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Feb 25, 2020 10:25 pm

Our stupid government will do anything to support stupidity across the world.

Anti-Greta: Far-right groups trying to turn teenager into climate change-denying version of Greta Thunberg

A 19-year-old German climate change sceptic who has been described by her supporters as “the antidote to Greta Thunberg”, is gaining support from right-wing organisations, including Germany’s far-right party AfD party, and a think tank with links to The White House.

The organisation, which reportedly “has the ear of the Trump administration”, and held its 2019 International Conference on Climate Change at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, recently hired Ms Seibt as the face of its climate denial campaign.

In a video put out by the Heartland Institute, titled “Naomi Seibt vs Greta Thunberg: Whom Should We Trust?”, Ms Seibt begins: “Science is entirely based on intellectual humility and it is important that we keep questioning the narrative that it out there instead of promoting it, and these days climate change science really isn’t science at all.”

Man if only there was a virus that targeted the stupid.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Tue Feb 25, 2020 10:31 pm

Daehawk wrote: Tue Feb 25, 2020 10:25 pm Man if only there was a virus that targeted the stupid.

Oh, they're not stupid. They know exactly what they're doing.

This right-wing antiGreta is sponsored by a Koch brothers energy-industry group. She herself is a member of a far-right German party.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Fri Feb 28, 2020 1:15 pm

Way to stay classy, Canada. Really? Canada?

Michelle Narang cried when she first saw a sticker of what appears to be a drawing of teen activist Greta Thunberg being sexually assaulted and the name of an oilfield company printed boldly across the bottom of the decal.

...

A friend who works in the oil industry sent an image of the sticker to Narang. They spoke to HuffPost Canada on a condition of anonymity, fearing repercussions at their job. The sticker, reading “X-Site Energy Services,” was handed out recently as promotional material at job sites to be worn on hard hats, the worker said.

Although the actual stickers weren’t distributed at their workplace, they said the graphic image was circulating among their colleagues on Wednesday. The worker said the company was asked if it would be interested in a similar sticker.