The world is at 390 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 and 430+ CO2 equivalent. The IPCC has concluded, in what might actually be an optimistic assessment, that we can limit temperature growth to 2 degrees if we cap CO2 levels at 450 ppm. That is, limiting to 450 ppm would give us a 50% chance, in that optimistic assessments, of limiting ourselves to simply having a serious (rather than utterly fatal) crash (see graphic above).
In fact, that IPCC assessment is (again) almost certainly optimistic.
There is a growing consensus (group of understanding) that our target should not be 450 parts per million (ppm), but 350 ppm. In other words, we don’t need to just slow emissions growth and flatten overall carbon levels, but actually have as our target and objective figuring out how to move from a carbon emitting to a carbon neutral to a carbon negative future. And, we need to be doing so on all cylinders, with all approaches (energy efficiency, clean energy, changed social practices/norms, improved agricultural practices, etc …) available to us (and to the U.S.).
Right now, we are continuing to accelerate the car into the wall. Every moment that passes increases the inevitable damage and increases the risk of unsustainable damage to the planetary systems’ ability to support advance human civilization.
A guest post from Deborah Phelan, providing a window on issues of Eco Justice in Uganda — a picture that most in the developing world never see and an issue that they rarely, if ever, consider.
“You know, right now we are standing on top of ten feet of plastic.” Overheard in Kampala, Uganda at a Rotary International Meeting. Fall 2007.
Market Day, Kampala Uganda
“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Martin Luther King.
We have, at this time, a tragic embrace of ignorance among too many in the United States. An embrace encouraged, fostered, cheered-on by too many entrenched interests. From the anti-science syndrome rejection of Scientific Theories of Evolution and Global Warming, ignorant rejecting of child-hood inoculations, to questioning of Obama’s birth in the United States to screaming about so-called “death panels”, we have a mass epidemic of cradle-to-grave craziness that is undermining the very functioning of our Democracy.
The latest screaming flap over Barack Obama’s address to America’s school students shows the escalation.
Study hard, think critically!
If they learn …, they will learn to question the propaganda and then where will we be?
Electrification of rail might be one of the most important single Silver BBs
right before us for tackling economic, energy, and environmental challenges.
On this, a guest post from the
impassioned and thoughtful rail/transport thinker BruceMcF …
Having lost sight of our goals we redoubled our efforts – Mark Twain
The Steel Interstate concept is both powerful and simple. Electrify main rail corridors and provide the capacity to support 100mph Rapid Freight Rail. The points are direct:
Under 10% the energy of diesel truck freight
100mph Rapid Freight Rail is faster door to door freight than long-haul trucking
Rail capacity is decreasing cost, with additional capacity cheaper than existing capacity
This day carries special significance in Appalachia, particularly for our coal miners. We look at it with special attention today as, Don Blankenship, Ted Nugent, Sean Hannity and several far-right extremists are holding a protest (partially funded by Verizon Wireless) – opposite the actual UMWA labor rally – meant to whip up the fervor against those of us working to address climate change and mountaintop removal. They are holding the “rally” because, in Don Blankenship’s words:
If big biz and gov’t are working against American workers, who will support them?
“Almost heaven, West Virginia …” An anthem immediately recognizable to millions. Yet, an anthem under ever mounting threat. West Virginia, as with much of the world, faces a clear choice between an ever-dirtier fossil fuel path and moving toward a prosperous, climate friendly economy.
While this is a global challenge, in West Virginia the choices are quite stark and, well, quite immediate:
* Mountaintop removal (MTR)or
* Wind farms on the tops of mountain ridges and within valleys
What is Mountain Top Removal?
MTR “has been called strip mining on steroids.” MTR is a path for getting at coal veins with the greatest ‘efficiency’ and cost-effectiveness. (That is, from the perspective of the company and totally ignoring ‘external’ costs not paid by the company.) MTR changes the very topography of the land and “should be more accurately named: mountain range removal. ”
That is, within a definition of “cost” that externalizes tremendous costs to others than the mining MTR “annihilates ecosystems, transforming some of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world into biologically barren moonscapes.” And, of course, in the pursuit of perpetuating a polluting energy system that is the major contributor to CO2 emissions and the poisoning of the planet.
Wind farms, however, seek to use those very mountain tops (and the valleys: in many cases, the best wind is actually within a valley/gap, as the wind rushes down what is, in essence, a funnel) to produce CO2 free energy. Pursue MTR and you are left not just with a devastated ecosystem that is less able to support future economic activity and not just with ever more coal pollution, but you have a terrain that is less conducive to renewable energy use.
We often hear about how coal mining is critical due to jobs. Well, West Virginia has seen coal-mining jobs fall from 120,000 to 15,000 due to automation. ANd, well, mountaintop removal really is designed quite specifically to take the miner out of the mine. You could say that it does the same thing to the job market that it does to the mountains.
The employment benefits of wind development as compared to coal mining are substantial for nearby communities. Development of a 229 turbine wind site on Coal River Mountain would directly create between 200 and 250 jobs per year for the first 2 years of construction and would support more than 50 permanent jobs in the area – potentially in perpetuity. Surface mining would directly create between 50 and 150 jobs per year for about 14 years while the mines were active, after which the land would be unsightly, unstable, and of little use for economic development in the forseeable future.
Clean energy … Cleaner air … more jobs … local revenue … and less impact on the natural environment …
At this time, there is a battle under way for defining West Virginia’s future. The Coal River Valley remains relatively pristine in the face of all of the MTR throughout West Virginia. Traditional fossil-fuel energy community and coal companies look at that pristine terrain and see “opportunity”. (Think, I must say, Once-Ler from Dr Seuss’ book The Lorax.) Yet, others look to this situation and see an opportunity to carve a new future for West Virginia and its citizens.
Rather than extracting coal and leaving behind devastated environment and devastated communities, these people see the opportunities for wind farms that will provide clean energy and a revenue stream for local communities for the indefinite future (both in terms of jobs building/maintaining the wind turbines and from royalties/payments for the generated electricity).
West Virginia, it citizens, its leaders seem to face a clear choice:
Quick, ‘easy’ profits to leave behind a devastated and flattened West Virginia that John Denver would never recognize;
An investment for the long-term that will enrich West Virginians, protect the environment (both local and global), and leave behind a terrain that would remain Almost Heaven …
From time-to-time, this is an item that merits reposting. Not because of my writing, but because of the importance of this one article andthe insights that Richard Smalley provides in it.
As we consider our energy future, figuring out a path through the stormy seas of Peak Oil, Peak Natural Gas, and, not least, Global Warming, there are ways to capture our challenges, to think about the problems ahead that are (at least to me) compelling.
Smalley, in just six short (okay, dense, single space) pages lays out the challenges and potential paths forward toward “future global energy prosperity”. Interesting, very interesting, even compelling material.
But, perhaps the most important part of this discussion is captured in just a few, short paragraphs.
September 5th, 2009 · Comments Off on Neanderthal or Cro-Magnon
When considering those fighting against a clean energy future, you have to wonder whether they are Neanderthal or have advanced to the stage meriting description as Cro-Magnon.
Meet Your Own Caveman, which might include Rep Frank Wolf (R-VA-11) or Rep John Shimkus (R-IL) or …
September 4th, 2009 · Comments Off on Playing with a hydrogen stockpile
A guest post from bklynarch highlighting the extent of the ‘worst case’ risk from frozen carbon.
It turns out we haven’t been playing with fire in regards to climate change, or even atom bombs…we’re playing with a hydrogen bomb stockpile. Because as we’re about to get serious about climate change, Earth is set to be still far less forgiving:
The vast amount of carbon stored in the arctic and boreal regions of the world is more than double that previously estimated…
These attacks have only the slightest veneer separating them from the ugliest racism which has already emerged in the same circles’ discussions of President Obama.
What is sad, when it comes to Van Jones, is that a huge percentage of Beck’s listeners might actually agree with a huge share of what Van says, would be able to find common ground, if Beck / Fox would actually provide an honest presentation of Jones … but honesty seems to have little association with their desires and their intent. Jones is actually a man interested in and capable of building bridges, interested in and capable of finding common ground for win-win solutions. Sadly, Glenn Beck and Fox News seem to have little concern for finding “win” solutions for Americans and America.
When confronting and seeing these foaming at the mouth attacks on Van Jones, I have a simple question to ask:
Would my children’s and my nation’s future be stronger with Van Jones having more authority or with Van disappearing from the scene?
The clear — the very clear — answer is that we would be better off if what Van has discussed and written about were actually executed. Green Jobs as a path to heal multiple challenges in society while increasing overall wealth while helping to reduce global warming challenges. There are few who have the ability to understand technical, social, legal, policy, and other challenges to achieving solutions and then to be able to communicate them eloquently. Van Jones is one of those few …
If we are lucky, if we are very lucky, Van Jones will go down as the Martin Luther King, Jr, of the 21st century. We can only hope that will be the case without the assassination and violence that the Becks and those of his ilk are inciting.
The world is at 390 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 and 430+ CO2 equivalent. The IPCC has concluded, in what might actually be an optimistic assessment, that we can limit temperature growth to 2 degrees if we cap CO2 levels at 450 ppm. That is, limiting to 450 ppm would give us a 50% chance, in that optimistic assessments, of limiting ourselves to simply having a serious (rather than utterly fatal) crash (see graphic above).
mounting threat. West Virginia, as with much of the world, faces a clear choice between an ever-dirtier fossil fuel path and moving toward a prosperous, climate friendly economy.
substantial for nearby communities. Development of a 229 turbine wind site on Coal River Mountain would directly create between 200 and 250 jobs per year for the first 2 years of construction and would support more than 50 permanent jobs in the area – potentially in perpetuity. Surface mining would directly create between 50 and 150 jobs per year for about 14 years while the mines were active, after which the land would be unsightly, unstable, and of little use for economic development in the forseeable future.
