Cities and countries are disappearing off the map.

January 10, 2019

By Alissa Walker

California’s deadliest, (click here) most destructive fire in history leveled a city of 26,000 residents within a matter of hours. “Completely destroyed,” read the headlines. “Obliterated.” “Paradise lost.”

After a year punctuated by increasingly alarming climate reports, as well as some of the most devastating disasters for many U.S. cities, it’s been difficult to grasp the severity of what seems to be happening—and the fact that it seems to be happening faster and more frequently than we expected.

In November 2018, the Camp Fire burned 95 percent of the structures in the city of Paradise, killing 86 people.

But it was only a few weeks before the Camp Fire that a similar set of phrases were used to describe Mexico Beach, Florida, after one of the strongest hurricanes in U.S. history made landfall, killing 45 people: “It’s all gone,” “nothing left.”

No human lives were at risk, but seeing an 11-acre Hawaiian island vanish after a rare, powerful storm swept over the state elicited the same type of responses: “No one expected East Island to disappear this quickly.”

It’s clear now what the accelerated timeline of climate change really means is a swift, steady decline in the number of places where we will be able to make our homes, visit for pleasure, and, eventually, survive....

California Drought Map November 6, 2018 (click here)

...On November 8, 2018, (click here) a wildland fire identified as the Camp Fire was reported at Pulga Road at Camp Creek Road near Jarbo Gap in Butte County, according to the website of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (“CAL FIRE”). CAL FIRE is the lead investigative agency and has identified the start time of the fire as 6:33 a.m. On CAL FIRE’s website, CAL FIRE has identified coordinates for the Camp Fire near Tower :27/222 on PG&E’s Caribou-Palermo 115 kV Transmission Line. CAL FIRE’s website also reports that approximately 153,336 acres have been burned, 18,793 structures have been destroyed, and that there were 85 civilian fatalities and 3 firefighter injuries. The Camp Fire has been fully contained.

Approximately? These are computerized systems. Why approximately?

Camp Fire Map (click here)

On November 8, 2018, at approximately 6:15 a.m., the PG&E Caribou-Palermo 115kV Transmission Line relayed and deenergized. One customer was impacted by the transmission outage. At approximately 6:30 a.m. a PG&E employee observed fire in the vicinity of Tower :27/222, and this observation was reported to 911 by PG&E employees. In the afternoon of November 8, PG&E observed damage on the line at Tower :27/222, located near Camp Creek and Pulga Roads, near the Town of Pulga. Specifically, an aerial patrol identified that on

Tower :27/222, a suspension insulator supporting a transposition jumper had separated from an arm on the tower. The suspension insulator and the transposition jumper remained suspended above the ground...

25 October 2018 (click here)

A piece of the United States has been dramatically wiped off the map after an island in Hawaii was washed away by a powerful hurricane.

East Island, a remote spit of gravel and sand that sat atop a coral reef, has vanished after having this misfortune to come into contact with Hurricane Walaka, an intense storm that surged past Hawaii earlier this month.

Footage captured by Chip Fletcher shows what the island looked like before it was annihilated while satellite imagery from the US Fish and Wildlife Services shows how little was left after the hurricane

Ukraine drought.

18 June 2018

About one-quarter (click here) of Ukraine's territory suffers from drought, with mostly eastern and southern regions under threat of losing a considerable part of the gross grain harvest. Tetyana Adamenko, the head of Ukraine's Hydrometeorological Centre said this as quoted by Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

'The drought engulfed the southeastern part of Ukraine - mostly Zaporizhya, Kherson and Kharkiv region (the latter is northeastern Ukraine, - 112 International). The rains in these areas were quite irregular; one can say that a strong drought is observed on 25 percent of the country's territory', she said.

According to Adamenko, the forecast on the changes in the gross grain harvest will appear by late June.

Previously, the All-Ukraine Agrarian Council stated that the long-lasting lack of precipitations may result in the loss of up to half of the gross grain harvest in southern, central and eastern regions.

The extreme level of fire danger is currently observed in eastern and southern regions. However, according to the weather forecasters, thunderstorms will take place in various regions across the country; the average temperatures will keep at the rate of 28-34 degrees above Celsius....

Society must address a "zero greenhouse gas emission policy" now.

I find this approach to the warming of Earth interesting, but, the IPCC still is my "go to" persons to establish the warming trend of Earth. Their study is not just based on ocean temperatures, but, use "on the ground" information from scientists all over the world to determine it's outcomes.

January 11, 2019
By Eric Levitz

One year ago, (click here) the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) declared it “extremely unlikely” that humanity would overcome its dependence on fossil fuels in time to keep global temperatures from exceeding the threshold set by the Paris Agreement.

Since then, scientists have discovered that Antarctica is melting faster than they’d realized; that global carbon emissions are rising faster than expected; and, now, that the world’s oceans are heating up more rapidly than the IPCC had assumed.

Specifically, the ocean is warming 40 percent faster than the United Nations panel had previously estimated, according to a study published in Science Thursday.

In 2014, the IPCC compiled five separate measurements of oceanic temperatures — all of which came in lower than the levels projected by computer-generated climate models. The newly published analysis suggests that this disparity was partially attributable to flaws in the historical record of ocean temperatures: Three recent studies that accounted for the biases inherent to the instruments used to measure ocean temperatures in previous eras all produced estimates of warming that were higher than the IPCC’s, and thus, more in line with what computer models had predicted.

The implications of this finding are not swell. Current levels of ocean warming have been sufficient to devastate coral reefs, fuel exceptionally rainy storms and hurricanes, and burden coastal cities with more frequent flooding; while the discourse about sea-level rise focuses on the threat posed by melting ice caps, warming waters have been the primary driver of the sea-level increases that we’ve seen thus far (when water heats up, it expands).

Nevertheless, the researchers believe that their findings do not suggest that all is lost — only that it will be (a bit sooner than we realized) if policy changes aren’t enacted.

“I think there’s some reason for confidence that we’ll avoid the worst-case outcomes,” Zeke Hausfather, a co-author of the study, told the New YorkTimes, “even if we’re not on track for the outcomes we want.”

People don't live in the oceans, but, their lives are effected by them, ie: Puerto Rico. There IPCC's findings are conclusive and there is no real option except to eliminate GHG and now.

There is no time to waste and the path forward is eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from human activity and not just CO2, but, all of them. We know the dangers, this is not new, the CFCs are enough to cause Earth to become a very hostile place to live if life is possible at all without an ozone layer. To begin to estimate there is no reason for alarm is self-serving and hardly appropriate on a global scale.

END GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, NOW!

Climate assessment for Ukraine.

April 2017

...In this situation, (click here) the forecast for Ukraine could be the following

In the case of business as usual, according to the World Bank, with no major changes in the economy or modes of production and consumption, the average temperature in Ukraine may rise by 3,2-4,5 degrees Celsius by 2100.

In this case, Ukraine awaits significant negative consequences primarily in the agriculture sector with increasing droughts, reduction of rainfall in the summer and peak temperatures (colder winters and hotter summers). It will have a negative impact on a number of crops and will require significant investments in the adaptation to climate change (e.g. irrigation technologies, projects for creating temperature changes resistant species, etc.). Overall, significant changes could be observed in seasonal events, such as early periods of flowering plants, and sudden cooling. These processes will have a negative impact on agriculture as well as on ecosystems as a whole.

Droughts and floods and other extreme weather events such as hurricanes are happening not only more frequent, but their devastating effects increase. Such nature disasters will become permanent, causing significant losses in the economy and threatening food security. Droughts and heatwaves, rainfall reduction in summer will also help to increase the frequency of forest fires and desertification of southern and south-eastern regions of Ukraine. In the context of floods the Carpathian mountain regions as well as the populated areas in the basins of the Dniester, Dnieper and smaller rivers are the most vulnerable. We have already experienced the floods on the Danube in 2005, on the Dniester in Transcarpathia in August 2008, the drought across Ukraine in 2007 and the record snowfall in western and central part of the country in March 2013.

At the same time the regions in the south of Ukraine may also suffer very likely due to the rising of the Black and Azov seas, which are part of the World ocean. For the last 100 years, world sea level has risen by an average of 178 mm, and continues to rise at a speed of 3.4 mm per year. Scientists warn that Crimea could become an island due to the isthmus flooding. Similarly, a  significant part of Odessa could go under water. Vylkove village may disappear altogether. Part of Kherson and Mykolayiv regions could as well find themselves underwater. This situation may also lead to the issue of access to the water resources, including drinking water....

US B-1 Bomber Shot Down Over Ukraine and Venezuela is preparing for a near border war with the USA.

How are things in Havana?

December 11, 2018
By Tom Demerly

A Russian Tupolev Tu-160 supersonic heavy bomber arrives in Venezuela on Monday.

Two Russian Tupolev/ United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Tu-160M1 (click title to entry for article - thank you) supersonic bombers, NATO codename “Blackjack”, arrived in Venezuela on Monday, Dec. 10, 2018 amid speculation about rising tensions between Russia and the U.S. along with continued questions about the status of Venezuela’s government. It’s the third deployment after those in 2003 and 2008.

The two massive Tu-160 “White Swan” bombers arrived at Simón Bolívar International Airport outside Caracas on Monday following a 10,000-kilometer (6,200-mile) flight across the Atlantic from Engels 2 Air Base, 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) east of Saratov, Russia. The aircraft belong to Russia’s elite 121st Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, the only unit to operate the approximately 11 operational Tu-160 aircraft of 17 reported total airframes from 6950th Air Force Base.

Interestingly, each of the Tu-160 fleet is named after a prominent Russian hero. The two aircraft that deployed to Venezuela are the “Nikolay Kuznetsov” and the “Vasily Reshetnikov”. Sources have suggested that the Tu-160s may participate in joint Venezuelan/Russian training operations in the region....

Ukraine flooding.

July 28, 2008

Ukraine flooding 2008.

Kiev — Rescuers (click here) pressed on with their search efforts Monday in flood-hit western Ukraine, where at least 22 people were killed when rivers burst their banks after severe storms, officials said.

The government declared the region a national disaster area.

Hundreds of towns and villages in southwestern Ukraine were flooded after days of heavy rain. More than 40,000 houses were affected and some 20,000 people were evacuated, the Emergency Situations Ministry said on its Web site.

Heavy rains that began last week in the southwestern Carpathian Mountains caused the Prut and Dniestr rivers to overflow, officials said.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko estimated the damage at around $800 million. Deputy Prime Minister Olexandr Turchynov said the country only has a fraction — some $57 million — in a special disaster fund.

Tymoshenko later called for an emergency session of parliament, which is currently on summer recess, to allocate the money.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor said in a statement that the United States was considering aid.

October 14, 2016
By Elena Ugrin

Severe weather affected the Odessa region in Ukraine (click here) on October 12, 2016. Heavy rainfalls and strong winds affected 10 districts, and three people were reported dead, according to the State Emergency Service (SES) of Ukraine.

The intense storm system brought flooding across at least 10 locations in Odessa. At least 55 homes and numerous roads were left flooded, SES reported. Downed trees and power lines were observed across the affected areas. 80 downed trees and 1 500 damaged ones were reported....

July 26, 2018
By Denys Krasnikov

Heavy downpours hit Kyiv, (click here) causing floods and destruction across Ukraine’s capital on July 25.

Frequent showers started over the weekend of July 21-22, but these weren’t as destructive as several rains that hit Kyiv on July 25, which flooded many underground passages and road networks, rendering them impassable. Strong winds downed dozens of trees and even bent metal billboards.

Local authorities said that they have repaired the damage, working around the clock and most of Kyiv is indeed dry. However, some roads, including ones near Shulyavska, Dorohozhytchy, Livoberezhna metro stations, remain blocked and need city services to drain the water. In particular, the intersection of Oleny Telihy Street and Kyrylivska Street and an underpass near the Dorohozhychi metro station are still flooded and require detours....

I thought it was important to illustrate the hippocritical approach of the USA right wing in regard to Christianity. (click here for further articles - thank you)

The political right wing that is the constituency of Donald Trump is hypocritical in their allegiance to Christianity. In the USA the Evangelical movement is rather wealthy and a primary contributor to the Republican Party through monetary means and that of their preachers on the Sunday soapbox.

Ukraine Christians evidently don't make it to the USA right wing's list as it struggles for it's independence and recognition. Donald Trump has allowed a Russian oligarch his freedom from sanctions only to have the Donbas militants begin their shelling of Ukraine in the face of a ceasefire.

Oddly, I don't really call that protection of Ukraine Christians that will lose their independence to worship if Russia is successful in the continuing war on it's Ukraine border.

The Future of Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine (click here for NPR article on Orthodox Christian Church of Ukraine - thank you)

It's Sunday Night

It is difficult to find solid biographical information about young women politicians when their naked photos have been leaked. Not even Wikipedia has her information online. Amazing. A woman appears naked online and all sensibility about her disappears. I am with Olga Lyulchak, she is lovely and there are many celebrities that have fallen victim to ogling hackers.

Ukrainian politician Olga Lyulchak, (click here) 30 who is standing with former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko in the Ukrainian parliament election was criticized after her nude pictures were leaked in an iCloud hack. The collection of the pictures was leaked from her Apple iCloud account. The collection of raunchy pictures was condemned in Ukraine.

But rather than being taken aback Olga Lyulchak is proud of her nude pictures! She has hit back at those who criticized her pictures by saying that the nude pictures are nothing but art, and that the right wing press should not demonize them.

Olga Lyulchak said, “The world honours the great works of great masters such as Van Gogh, Titian and others. They created naked beauty which was admired . In our day and age woman who appear naked are considered vulgar and shameful. I can’t understand it. I think they are pure art.”

This is not the first case, there have been photos of over hundred celebrities after hackers leaked them online. The other known people who were part of this are Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian whose images were circulated on social media.

The tech giant Apple, has came out and said that the hacking of iCloud accounts happened since the users had put up easy-to-guess passwords or they might have given out their personal details to crooks who were disguised as Apple.

This video is from 2014.

National Anthem of Ukraine translated into English (this is a more modern version of the Ukraine national anthem performed by the people - click here for 2015 article - thank you)

A more modern version of the Ukraine National Anthem by the people.

Ще не вмерла України ні слава, ні воля.

Ще нам, браття молодії, усміхнеться доля.
Згинуть наші вороженьки, як роса на сонці,
Запануєм і ми, браття, у своїй сторонці.

Душу, тіло ми положим за нашу свободу,
І покажем, що ми, браття, козацького роду

Станем, браття, в бій кривавий від Сяну до Дону,
В ріднім краю панувати не дамо нікому;
Чорне море ще всміхнеться, дід Дніпро зрадіє,
Ще у нашій Україні доленька наспіє.

Душу, тіло ми положим за нашу свободу,
І покажем, що ми, браття, козацького роду.

А завзяття, праця щира свого ще докаже,
Ще ся волі в Україні піснь гучна розляже,
За Карпати відоб'ється, згомонить степами,
України слава стане поміж народами.

Душу, тіло ми положим за нашу свободу,
І покажем, що ми, браття, козацького роду.

Glorious spirit of Ukraine shines and lives forever.
Blessed by Fortune brotherhood will stand up together.
Like the dew before the sun enemies will fade,

We will further rule and prosper in our promised land

We will lay our soul and body for the cherished freedom.
Cossack blood will raise the nation of the joyous people

For the liberty the folk strives ardently from San to Don,
And will let no alien power in our common home.
Aged Dnieper and Black Sea arm in arm rejoice,
And Ukraine will see daylight and live by Fortune’s choice.

We will lay our soul and body for the cherished freedom.
Cossack blood will raise the nation of the joyous people.

Passion and hard-working hands prove bright future true.
Song of freedom, loud and clear, guides us all way through.
Over mountains and steppes it flows, over ages told.
Valorous Ukraine stands strong in a thriving world.

We will lay our soul and body for the cherished freedom.
Cossack blood will raise the nation of the joyous people.

Ukraine National Anthem (click here for news report of 2014 - thank you)

It is difficult at times to know what the most accurate national anthem of Ukraine. This is from 2014, the year when the people woke to the reality of a plutocratic president that lavished himself in wealth and an economy tied to Russia; while the Ukraine people struggled with their new reality and floundered in attempts to Westernize their economy.

Šče ne vmerla Ukrajina

State Anthem of Ukraine

Ще не вмерла України,
і слава, і воля!
Ще нам браття-Українці,
Усміхнеться доля!
Згинуть наші вороженьки,
Як роса на сонці;
Запануємъ, браття й ми
У своїй сторонці.

Ukrainian glory and the freedom,
has not yet died!
Still upon us brave brother Ukrainians,
Fate shall smile!
Our enemies will vanish
Like dew in the sun;
We too shall rule
In our country.

Душу й тіло ми положим
За нашу свободу
І покажем, що ми браття
Козацького роду.
Гей-гей, браття миле,
Нумо братися за діло!
Гей-гей пора встати,
Пора волю добувати!

Soul and body we will lay down
For our freedom
And show that we brothers
Are of the Cossack nation,
Hey, hey dearest brothers
Onward, take to battle
Hey, hey, time to rise,
Time to gain freedom!

Наливайко, Залізнякъ
И Тарас Трясило
Кличуть насъ изъ-за могилъ
На святеє діло.
Изгадаймо славну смерть
Лицарства-козацтва,
Щобъ не втратить марне намъ
Своєго юнацтва

Nalyvaiko, Zalizniak
And Taras Triasylo
Call us from beyond the grave
To the holy battle.
Recall the famous death of
Chivalrous Cossacks
Not to lose vainly
Our youth.

Душу, тіло ...

Ой Богдане, Богдане
Славний нашъ гетьмане!
На-що віддавъ Україну
Москалям поганимъ?!
Щобъ вернути іі честь,
Ляжемъ головами,
Назовемся України
Вірними синами!

Soul and body ...

Oh Bohdan, Bohdan
Our great hetman
What for did you give Ukraine
To wretched muscovites?!
To return her honor,
We lay our heads
We shall call ourselves Ukraine's
Faithful sons!

Наші браття Славяне
Вже за зброю взялись;
Не діжде ніхто, щобъ ми
По-заду зістались.
Поєднаймось разомъ всі,
Братчики-Славяне:
Нехай гинуть вороги,
Най воля настане!

Душу, тіло ..

Our Slavic brothers
Already took up arms
No one shall see
That we should stay behind.
Unite together all,
Brothers Slavs:
So that enemies perish,
And freedom comes!

Soul and body ...

Thank you, Senator Schumer for taking care of the USA.

January 12, 2019

Washington - U.S. Senate (click here) Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Saturday he will force a vote soon on a resolution to disapprove the Trump administration’s decision to relax sanctions on three Russian companies connected to oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

“I have concluded that the Treasury Department’s proposal is flawed and fails to sufficiently limit Oleg Deripaska’s control and influence of these companies and the Senate should move to block this misguided effort by the Trump Administration and keep these sanctions in place,” Schumer said in a news release....

The return of financial capacity to Oleg Deripaska is a direct threat to the USA national security. It is also a favor to Putin and an extension of the continued wrongful ways of Donald Trump.

3 September 2018

This Nov. 10, 2017, file photo shows Russia's President Vladimir Putin, left, and Russian metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, right, walking to attend the APEC Business Advisory Council dialogue in Danang, Vietnam. 

Washington — US justice officials (click here) secretly sought cooperation from a few of Russia’s richest men as they investigated Russian organized crime and possible aid from Moscow to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, The New York Times has reported.

Nearly all the half-dozen Russian oligarchs approached between 2014 and 2016 by the US Justice Department and FBI have close links to President Vladimir Putin, the newspaper said. None of them apparently cooperated.

At one point, FBI agents reportedly appeared unannounced at a home that billionaire Oleg Deripaska maintains in New York to press him on whether Paul Manafort, a onetime business partner of the Russian and briefly chairman of the Trump campaign, had served as a liaison between the campaign and the Kremlin....

...Instead, the newspaper said, Deripaska notified the Kremlin of the American contacts.

November 17, 2018

The N.R.A.’s Pete Brownell, (click here) left, with Ms. Butina and Donald Trump Jr. at a 2016 dinner hosted by the gun-rights group.

Washington — President Trump's son-in-law (click here) and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, failed to disclose what lawmakers called a "Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite" involving a banker who has been accused of links to Russian organized crime, three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

An email chain described Aleksander Torshin, a former senator and deputy head of Russia's central bank who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as wanting Trump to attend an event on the sidelines of a National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in May 2016, the sources said. The email also suggests Torshin was seeking to meet with a high-level Trump campaign official during the convention, and that he may have had a message for Trump from Putin, the sources said....

July 16, 2018
By Dan Mangan

Sen. John McCain (click here) said President Donald Trump, appearing with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference following their summit in Helsinki, had “abased himself ... abjectly before a tyrant.”

“The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naivete, egotism, false equivalence, and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate,” the Republican senator from Arizona said in a prepared statement.

McCain’s blistering take came hours after the press conference, in which Trump refused to criticize Putin for what U.S. intelligence agencies have said was a concerted effort by Russians to interfere in the 2016 presidential election....

Who is Deripaska? A very savvy Russian that controls an aluminum interest so large The West is weakened in it's resolve because of it. Isn't that what Putin wants? What's "W"rong, The West has no resolve to overcome dependencies on Russia? You've got to be joking.

Explain what good international treaties are if The West backs away from real life consequences for breaking them. No sooner does the US Treasury Secretary give permission for Deripaska to again embark on international sales and relations do the Donbas militants fire on Ukraine. (click here) The shelling hasn't stopped for two days now and they are supposed to be under a ceasefire.

December 19, 2018
By Polina Devitt and Nathan Layne

The U.S. Treasury (click here) said it will lift sanctions on the core empire of Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska, including aluminum giant Rusal and its parent En+, watering down the toughest penalties imposed since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

London aluminum prices sank to a 16-month low after the U.S. Treasury’s announcement, while shares in Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer after China’s Hongqiao, surged to an eight-month high.

In April, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Deripaska, Rusal, En+ and other companies in which he owns stakes, citing “malign activities” by Russia, prompting turmoil in global aluminum markets....

I understand completely the importance of aluminum, but, The West has to rise to the occasion and provide for its independence from Russian dependencies. US Senator Schumer could not be more correct. The West needs to find their backbone.

July 1, 2017
By Binyamin Applebaum

Reydarfjordur — Where did the United States’ aluminum smelters go? (click here)

More than 30 of the giant factories once dotted the American landscape, sucking down huge amounts of electricity to produce the metal for car parts, beer cans and aluminum foil. Now there are just five smelters — all facing an uncertain future.

President Trump blames China for flooding global markets with subsidized aluminum. In April, he ordered the Commerce Department to consider quotas or tariffs to shelter American producers from foreign competition. He promised a revival that would create jobs for “lots of wonderful American workers.”

But the jobs, for the most part, didn’t go to China. American aluminum was in decline long before Chinese production began to grow. The more complicated truth is on display here, on Iceland’s remote eastern shore.

A generation ago, this hamlet was a herring town, a place where almost everyone made a living from the sea. Today, people work on the flats of the spectacular fjord, where America’s largest aluminum company operates its newest smelter....

No one believes Putin didn't MEASURE his invasions into Ukraine before he did it, including the occupation of Crimea? No one believes the empire of Deripaska didn't play into Putin's almighty gall to invade Crimea and the Ukraine border? Of course, he did. He knew he would come out on top while The West whittled their thumbs over the fall of aluminum on the markets.

Now, either The West can be counted on to defend democracy and freedom or they may as well wave their white flag now. The idea the USA would turn it's back on the Russian invasion into Ukraine after an international treaty was completely disregarded by Putin is an affront to the very values the people of The West holds most dear. What does that say to Japan? South Korea? Allies in the Southern Hemisphere? It is outrageous because the stock markets are screaming OUCH! over aluminum, the USA crumbles like a child losing his weekly allowance.

The reason USA smelters were lost is no different than the steel plants; they were polluting in a way that was dangerous to human health and burning fossil fuels in huge amounts that only increased the USA greenhouse gas emissions, but, when Alcoa moved their smelter to Iceland because Iceland produces no GHG and uses geothermal energy to power their businesses and homes; that was a "OMG" moment to realize how Wall Street would only seek to find loopholes in international measures and never address the real problems they have in conducting their operations without a danger to people or Earth.

Since Alcoa did such an outrageous act, things have changed in the steel industry to improve their performance with GHG.

Basic Principle: (click here) Continued reduction of emissions through innovation

As a carbon-intensive industry, the steel industry and U. S. Steel are conscientious about the amount of greenhouse gasses produced in the steelmaking process.  Even though the steel industry produces less than three percent of the world’s CO₂, it is the position of U. S. Steel, the American Iron and Steel Institute, and the World Steel Association that this amount can be decreased.  And through active participation by the global steel industry, there has been a 33-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the industry since 1990, well beyond the Kyoto Protocol goals for that time frame....

There is an active initiative to de-carbonize GHG emissions and to eliminate them altogether. It can be done and it should be done.

This brief provides an overview of emissions trends and projections, (click here) and of decarbonization challenges and opportunities, in the industrial sector. Key points include:

While greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector have declined over the last 20 years, they are projected to increase through mid-century, fueled by low prices for energy, particularly natural gas and natural gas liquids.

Direct emissions from a wide range of sources account for more than 73 percent of the sector’s total emissions.

Indirect emissions from the use of electricity generated off-site account for the rest. On-site fossil fuel combustion is the largest source of industrial emissions.

Energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (from both on-site fossil fuel combustion and off-site electricity) account for around three-quarters of the sector’s total greenhouse gas emissions. In 2016, bulk chemicals, refining,and iron and steel production were responsible for nearly half of the sector’s total energy-related CO2 emissions.

Options for reducing emissions in the industrial sector include: improved energy efficiency, developing and deploying new manufacturing techniques, switching to lower-emitting fuels, combined heat and power, carbon capture and storage, and more efficient use of resources....

The West cannot give in to the pressures Russia has planned for them all along. That is surrendering to a country that is killing many, many people not just in Ukraine, but, other regions of the world. It is completely "W"rong to allow Russia to have it's way with The West. The West is the primary defender of freedom and democracy and to simply surrender to an aluminum magnet that answers to Putin is outrageous.

When The West relinquishes power to Plutocrats, including Putin, they are surrendering far more than a spot on the financial exchanges, they are surrendering freedom and allowing power brokers to the very countries they claim to hold dear. It is outrageous this is even an issue. If Wall Street can rally around Trump Tax Cuts and pocket them, then there is enough money flowing in the markets to INVEST in modernized technologies that will allow The West it's independence from oppression and communism.

Knock it off and go back to being the leaders of the Free World!

HONESTLY!

You spineless idiots!

T

It is the law.

Stop signs save lives. It is why it is the law.

It is the law for everyone and there are no exceptions for anyone when violating law that impacts the national security and future of the USA and all it's sovereign interests.

It is the law!

Trump continues to work for Russia. That isn't obvious?

Where does a candidate for president of the USA get the gall to stand at a podium and ask Russia (a country under stanchions at the time for invading a country with a specific treaty that disarmed it from it's nuclear capacity) to investigate a Former Secretary of State and candidate for the president of the USA?

Then to have facts that validate immediately after that asking of Russia, it's intelligence agents went to work to do exactly that AND solicit Wikileaks to publish it besides. Trump is working for Russia there is no doubt and Russia has been roping in Trump from at least that point of his presidential campaign. Does anyone believe Manafort simply woke up one day and thought, "Gee, it would be great to work on the Trump campaign?" The reason Paul Manafort left his position as campaign chairman was because the public didn't like his Russian connections.

No one on the Trump campaign knew Manafort had strong ties to Russia? A country under USA sanctions for propagating war. Trump's defaming of NATO and his disrespect of the British Queen were overt signs to tell Russia he was in their back pocket. The evidence he is working for Russia hasn't stopped.

January 12, 2019

Washington — Law enforcement officials (click here) became so concerned by President Donald Trump's behavior in the days after he fired FBI Director James Comey that they began investigating whether he had been working for Russia against U.S. interests, The New York Times reported.

The report Friday cites unnamed former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.

The inquiry forced counterintelligence investigators to evaluate whether Trump was a potential threat to national security, and they also sought to determine whether Trump was deliberately working for Russia or had unintentionally been influenced by Moscow.

The Times reports that FBI agents and some top officials became suspicious of Trump's ties to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign but didn't launch an investigation at that time because they weren't sure how to approach such a sensitive and important probe, according to the sources. But Trump's behavior in the days around Comey's May 2017 firing, specifically two instances in which he seemed to tie Comey's ousting to the Russia investigation, helped trigger the counterintelligence part of the investigation, according to the newspaper.

Trump tweeted early Saturday that the report showed that the FBI leadership "opened up an investigation on me, for no reason & with no proof" after he had fired Comey....

No proof? What do you call the arrival of high ranking Russian officials at the White House to provide classified information? A tea party?

There is abundant proof everywhere.