This Blog is created to stress the importance of Peace as an environmental directive. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” – Harry Truman
(I receive no compensation from any entry on this blog.)
There is no greater concern for any country than to rise to this priority. I mean it. Without a planet we are nowhere.
Scienfitic meetings can be so bland and boring. There is a lot going on, but, the average person doesn't necessarily appreciate all that is going on.
Ever been to a convention? There are always halls of vendors of one type or another. I think that is what is missing at these climate meetings. Vendors bring good ideas to the world to contain greenhouse gases and begin a new era of energy and protection of our planet.
That's all for tonight. Be ready for some excitment because we are launching into a profoundly brave new world. We must make this work. There is no option. Any country that rather hate others instead of doing the work is wrong. We are a common world with common problems and we must work together to solve them.
There is no greater war than the one we are waging to protect our Earth and the future.
Carbon dioxide emissions of all human activity around the world has surpassed 40 billion tons per year.
Governments are now encouraging, and in some cases, requiring improvements, but those efforts are about reduction. What about removing excess carbon dioxide?
"The problem that we've caused here is we've taken carbon out of geological storage in the form of fossil fuels and put it in the atmosphere, so we need geological ways to put it back and do so permanently," said Tom Green, the executive director of Project Vesta, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that hopes to further the science of coastal carbon capture.
The group hopes to use Earth's natural process for keeping carbon dioxide in balance as a permanent, scalable solution for climate change.
How exactly does this work?
Let's start with a recent lava flow in Spain. As it cools, volcanic rock forms. When it comes in contact with rain, it removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
"If it weren't for this process, the long-term carbon cycle or the weathering process, Earth would look and feel like Venus," explained Kelly Erhart, the co-founder and director of development for Project Vesta. "So this process has regulated carbon levels on planet Earth for billions of years, and what we're trying to do is accelerate it."...
Southeast Michigan is predicted to have an almost 50% chance of above-normal temperatures in some areas, according to NOAA's 2021 Winter Outlook report, but predictions in a small part of the Upper Peninsula find "equal chances for below-, near- or above-average temperatures."
The report shows more certainty for Michigan than the 2020 edition, when the entire state's winter weather patterns were a "toss-up," according to Mike Halpert, deputy director of the NOAA's Climate Prediction Center....
I have been observing the climate of Michigan since 2012 and the winter of 12-13 when the temperatures went to subzero as if on an icefield in winter. That was the year the polar vortex displaced for the first time to lower latitudes due to the climate crisis. Very few days were greeted wtihout snow and the temperatures on northwest Michigan dropped to -60 F at it's worse.
The northern peninsula of Michigan will probably remain the same for some time yet because it is above 45 degree north latitude, but, it won't last forever if the people of the USA can't address the abusive petroleum industry and end their dependence on fossil fuels.
The USA has a challenge before it. Can it return to moral content in it's society reflected by politics that addresses the human condition more than it addresses Wall Street. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but, Wall Street abandoned the people and rocketed their profits during the global pandemic by playing up cryptocurrency.
It is time the USA return to moral content and strong demands in their govenrment to change the path to benevolence from self-destruction of democracy.
Norwegian company Wind Catching Systems (click here) developed a floating offshore wind power system that generates energy at a much more affordable rate than traditional wind turbines, thanks to efficiency gains built-in through clever engineering.
The system, dubbed the Windcatcher, can truly "unleash the power of offshore wind," Daniel Engelhart-Willoch, VP of Industry and Government Affairs at Wind Catching tells us over an email exchange.
Describing the benefits of the Windcatcher, Engelhart-Willoch says "the main highlights are that we aim to dramatically slash costs for floating wind, and that we use about 20 percent of the ocean acreage for the same electricity generation as a single-turbine 15 MW floater."...
The first wind turbine was installed in May at Hornsea Two, which is 55 miles (89 kilometers) northeast of Grimsby, in Yorkshire.
Danish wind giant Ørsted’s 1.3 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm will feature 165 Siemens Gamesa 8.4 megawatt (MW) wind turbines, an offshore substation, and a reactive compensation station.
Now Hornsea Two has achieved two major milestones. First, all of the wind turbine foundations are now installed, which means it’s ready for the final third of wind turbines to be put in place. Most of the blades were manufactured at the Siemens Gamesa factory in Hull.
Also, the offshore substation is complete:
What is now the world’s largest AC offshore substation weighs around 8,000 metric tons.
The Reactive Compensation Station (RCS) will also be lifted into place soon. An RCS is required because of cable length, so it will compensate for reactive power losses in order to ensure power transmission efficiency. Both the offshore substation and the RCS were built in and transported by sea from the Sembcorp Marine facility in Singapore.
Once Hornsea Two becomes fully operational in 2022, it will be the largest operating wind farm in the world, outsizing its sister project, the 1.2 GW Hornsea One. It will supply power to more than 1.3 million homes in the UK.
But its superlative status will be temporary, because it will be dethroned by the 4.8 GW Dogger Bank, also off Yorkshire in the UK, once it’s completed in 2026, as well as other global projects in the pipeline....
Oh, it can't be done without fossil fuels still playing a big part? "W"RONG!
All the experiments are in and human beings win when they abandon fossil fuels and embrace alternative energies.
Renewables met 97% of Scotland's electricity demand in 2020
CNN is correct. Realizing such technology can make countries like the reluctant USA lazy about climate.
Earth's climate crisis is real. It is effecting the troposphere, but, also the stratosphere and COLLECTIVELY every country on Earth MUST apply strong moral principles to their national policies or we are looking at a homogenized atmosphere that no longer supports life.
The thing about Earth is that it is real reluctant itself to change. It likes to remain stable and an ice planet, but, what is also true about Earth is that once it reaches a tipping point, it is all over and the physics of this planet change permanently until all the effects that brought on the tipping point disappear.
You see, Earth is reluctant to change BACK to it's benevolent form even after the tipping point. Or, better said, once the tipping point occurs Earth's physics will favor stability no matter the harm being caused to the support of life. Earth is a planet and not a process of daily living and certainly not a mass of financial capital that can be maneuvered and manipulated. There is no bear or bull market that can guarantee Earth's cooperation in maintaining life.
Earth has a balance and if that balance is seriously disturbed by changes in it's atmospheres, the show is over.
CNN is correct in recognizing something politicians can lob onto and state they are just as Green as any other Greenie on the planet. That would be tragic politics. Earth requries life to maintain life. It requires forests and grasslands and all sorts of diverse life adding and removing chemical content of it's atmospheres. Earth exists to support life until that life turns Earth on it's head.
What I find fascinating about this technology is not so much someone discovered it, but, where it was discovered. Iceland is a volcanic island and it's primary source of energy is geothermal.
When I was there to visit, I stayed in a hotel in Reykjavik. After unpacking and reading to go out on my first visit to everything climate in Iceland, I noticed there was no blanket on the bed and none in the closet or in any of the draws. So, I did what every self-respecting Westerner would do and called to the front desk. The clerk told me I was welcome to turn up the heat in the room until I was comfortable because it was hot water in the pipes in the space by the windows that warmed the room. No blankets were necessary, it was all geothermal energy and it was all free heat. Yes, I was there during the winter and I took a walk to the town's public pools where folks were in bathing suits in the coldest part of winter.
A trip to the Blue Lagoon (click here) was fascinating. Besides the volcanic mud that turns skin to silky soft in a matter of minutes, I was in hot water and it was snowing on my head. I would not have given up the experience for love nor money.
But, as to Iceland. They are what one might call cosmopolitan. They take in all the world's activities and relish live at it's fullest. So, when the climate became an issue, regardless of it's lousy Alcoa Smelters that chose the island country because it had no rank in the Kyoto Protocols, Iceland gets involved. So, here we are at COP 26 and what is a possiblity, CO2 extraction by an island country without any cares as to greenhouse gas emissions.
IT IS CALLED A NATIONAL CONSCIENCE.
The USA used to have one, but, it lost it when it decided declaring war on innocent people regardless it's lousy dictator was a noble cause. "W"rong! This climate crisis and the depth of morality shown by countries like Iceland is noble. And, it is not a cause, it is a matter of life or death.
October 20, 2021 By Ivana Kottasova
Hellisheiðarvirkjun, Iceland - The windswept valleys (click here) surrounding the Hengill volcano in southwestern Iceland are dotted with hot springs and steam vents. Hikers from all over the world come here to witness its breath-taking scenery. Even the sheep are photogenic in the soft Nordic light.
Right in the middle of all that natural beauty sits a towering metal structure resembling four giant Lego bricks, with two rows of six whirring fans running across each one. It's a contraption that looks truly futuristic, like something straight out of a sci-fi film.
Humans have emitted so much carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere that machines like this are being used to literally suck the gas back out, like giant vacuum cleaners, in an attempt to slow the climate crisis and prevent some of its most devastating consequences.
The Orca plant — its name derived from the Icelandic word for energy — is what is known as a "direct air carbon capture facility," and its creator and operator, Swiss firm Climeworks, say it's the world's largest....
The number of wind turbines (click here) across the world has grown exponentially thanks to plummeting costs. By now, people have grown accustomed to huge wind turbine farms that dot some landscapes, either onshore or offshore. But unlike solar panels, residential wind turbines are less affordable and accessible, being seen as too cumbersome and wind-dependent, and this is most evident in urban areas. You’ll be hard-pressed to find wind turbines in Manhattan, whereas rooftop solar installations abound.
It’s this predicament that inspired designer and entrepreneur Joe Doucet to fill the gap in our renewable energy generation toolkit with an out-of-the-box solution: rather than harnessing the wind with huge blades suspended on tall towers, Doucet invented a flat wind turbine that can be incorporated into walls.
The turbine wall is made up of a grid of square panes that spin along 25 axes. The first prototype consists of 25 wind turbine generators that are already commercially available, which are attached to 25 corresponding vertical rods with square panels attached alongside them to capture wind pressure....
Rochester, England - Forests have long been celebrated (click here) as the natural heroes in the fight against the climate crisis. They are so good at absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, a consortium of environmental groups are calling on the world to plant one trillion trees over the next decade.
But while we are looking up at the treetops for climate solutions, some campaigners are urging the world to look down, where another answer lies -- right under our feet.
Forests, peatlands, deserts and tundra can all absorb and hold stocks of carbon-dioxide (CO2). Of all the carbon held in land-based ecosystems, around 34% can be found in grasslands, data from the World Resources Institute show. That's not much less than the 39% held in forests.
"Whether you look at the Serengeti, the Cerrado in Brazil, whether you look at what's left of the prairies in North America or the steppes of Mongolia -- every single one of our major, iconic grassland habitats is under threat at the moment," Ian Dunn, chief executive of the British conservation organization Plantlife, told CNN.
There's also plenty of it in the United Kingdom, which will host world leaders and climate negotiators in just over a week at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland. Among several items on the agenda is how to protect forests and plant more trees to help slash global emissions.
But Plantlife, among other groups, is campaigning for grasslands to be protected at an international level and part of any deal that emerges in Glasgow....
June 6, 2019
By Kaitlin Sullivan
Global cleanups pull plastic from oceans (click here) and pledge drives guard rainforests, but grasslands get very little love. Only 5 percent of Earth’s remaining meadows are preserved, making them the least-protected biome.
Humans have already destroyed more than 90 percent of the planet’s grass, most of it to produce our food: Grazing alone takes up one-quarter of all land. What’s left is fragile because grasslands’ seasonality makes them vulnerable to climatic changes in precipitation and temperature. This is what remains....
The climate crisis is not regional. It is going to hit every human being on Earth with the same devastating impact. The loss of this ice is universal. There is no regional effect, it is definitely global.
Let me remind those that read this blog, that France was one of the earlist countries to be hit with the power and devastation of Earth's warming.
The Earth Policy Institute (EPI), based in Washington DC, warns that such deaths are likely to increase, as “even more extreme weather events lie ahead”....
That was 35,000 people in ONE CLIMATE EVENT. Those people were in "The West" and not Africa or some other impoverished nation. There is no discrimination by Earth's climate. It's going to get you if these priorities are not moved along by 2030 and in place.
Not to diminish any losses of people in any country, but, this climate event killed more Western citizens than any storm or flooding or tornado or massive wildfires as witnessed in Australia and California. The only other major event that dwarfed this was the 50,000 deaths in Russia due to wildfires. But, this wasn't fire, it was heat and people literally died of in their homes not realizing what the heat was doing to them.
The polynya, or area of open water, is the first ever observed north of Ellesmere Island. But in their report on the hole in the ice, published in August in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers deduced from old satellite data that similar polynyas may have opened in 1988 and 2004.
"North of Ellesmere Island it's hard to move the ice around or melt it just because it's thick, and there's quite a bit of it," study lead author Kent Moore, an Arctic researcher at the University of Toronto-Mississauga, said in a statement. "So, we generally haven't seen polynyas form in that region before....
One of the Bay Area’s biggest storms of the year (click here) was pounding the Bay Area on Sunday, with drenching rain and powerful wind gusts expected to slam the region through Monday. While the “bomb cyclone” affecting parts of Northern California and the Pacific Northwest was not directly over the Bay Area, power outages, downed trees and localized flooding were widespread due to the Category 5 atmospheric river. Evacuation orders were issued in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties due to debris flow danger in the CZU burn scar area, with flash flood and debris flow warnings in place for the Dixie and Caldor burn scars....
If this council wants to sincerely address financial stability in the USA, they need to embrace the climate crisis in it's reality and end the dangers of greenhouse gases aggressively.
The report does not order member agencies to take any direct regulatory action, nor does it call for mobilizing the financial sector against the fossil fuel industry. Instead, the FSOC report lays out a series of steps regulators should take to help the U.S. match other nations with stronger climate finance regimes.
Who else is on board?: FSOC also includes the leaders of the Federal Reserve Board, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and National Credit Union Administration, along with an independent member with insurance industry experience.
All FSOC members voted to recommend the report except for FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams, a Trump appointee who abstained from the voting but expressed a general concern with the financial impact of climate change. McWilliams is one of two Trump appointed FSOC members - including Fed Chair Jerome Powell - but is the sole Republican on the FDIC board.
While some FSOC member agencies have already begun accounting for climate risks, the report marked a breakthrough moment of relative agreement among financial regulators, who had long ignored such issues until President Biden's election....
The stakes at COP26, the U.N. climate summit (click here) that begins Nov. 1 in Glasgow, couldn’t be higher. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry has called the summit the world’s “last best hope” to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Over two weeks, some 20,000 delegates representing 195 countries will try to resolve significant differences on how the world should cut its greenhouse gas emissions, with the aim to “keep 1.5°C alive.” That is, to meet the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5°C over the preindustrial era by 2050, after which point climate change will likely reach catastrophic proportions.
But the hope already seems to be fading among politicians and campaigners, with a week still to go before delegates step foot inside Glasgow’s Scottish Event Campus. Political obstacles to success at the conference are mounting. Many world leaders of major emitters are declining to attend. Developing countries face major costs and barriers to participate. The U.K.’s COVID-19 transmission rates are near an all-time high. And there are doubts over preparation for the summit; according to The Guardian, a group of major COP26 sponsors recently wrote to organizers condemning the event as “mismanaged” and “very last minute,” blaming “very inexperienced” civil servants for the problems.
Officials are already tamping down expectations for the COP26 outcome. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told the AP that “there will be a gap” between countries’ emissions commitments at the summit and the reductions needed to reach the Paris agreement’s goals. British prime minister Boris Johnson, normally an enthusiastic booster, conceded this week that negotiations will be “extremely tough.” Last month he said that there is only a “six in 10 chance” that rich countries will fulfill their promises on climate aid.
“It’s been definitely more challenging from the outset than any other COP,” says Yamide Dagnet, climate negotiations director at the World Resources Institute and a former E.U. COP negotiator. “Securing the outcome is going to be the most challenging of any COP [in over a decade].”...
October 24, 2021 By Rachel Elbaum and Andy Eckardt
Three months after historic floods hit Dernau, swaths of the German village are still in ruins.
Ahrweiler, Germany — Layers of dried mud on sidewalks, (click here)concrete roads turned to gravel and time-worn stone bridges washed away. Three months after this summer’s catastrophic floods in Germany’s Ahrweiler region, there are reminders everywhere of the destruction they wrought.
The deluge, which was preceded by three consecutive summers of drought, has brought a new urgency for many to find climate change solutions — and that has impacted Germany’s politics, too.
In last month’s federal election, the environmentalist Green Party had its best results yet, winning nearly 15 percent of the vote, and trailing just behind the two largest parties.
Unlike in the United States where the issue is still subject to debate, global warming is a key concern in Germany that voters increasingly expect politicians to address.
Its prominence in the election was no surprise to architect Florian Trummer, 65, whose hometown of Antweiler was hit by the floods. He officially joined the Green Party two months ago after a lifetime of swing voting....
The patterns are all part of the evidence that brings countries together to end the blight on Earth by greenhouse gases produced by industries that care little for people regardless of the fact that people are their bottom line. It is time for regulations that work to end deadly trends in climate. Would we neglect the quality of food we eat? Then why neglect the soils that grow it?
Figure 1 (click here) shows observed trends in mean annual river flood discharge in medium and large catchments in Europe over the period 1960–2010. The analysis is based on the European Flood Database, which is the most complete database on flooding available for Europe so far [i]. The figure and the underlying analysis shows that climate change has both increased and decreased river floods in Europe....
