This is the 486th edition of the Spotlight
on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue)
usually appears twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here is the March 1 Green Spotlight. More than 26,555 environmentally oriented stories have been rescued to appear in this series since 2006. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it.
pollwatcher writes—Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release: “As the GOP swamp expands to cover the U.S., the Canadian permafrost is melting at an unexpectedly fast rate. Elections have consequences that can last for generations, and might even bring an end to civilization as we know it. Those who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for what they perceived as the ‘lesser of two evils’ condemned future generations to the devastating consequences of the actions of the ‘greater of two evils.’ A new report is showing that Canadian permafrost, and the carbon locked within, is in real trouble. Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. … permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama. … The disintegration of the permafrost was visible in 40- to 60-mile wide swaths of terrain, showing that, ‘extensive landscapes remain poised for major climate-driven change.’”
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
terrypinder writes—White House resents climate research so much they're willing to put public safety at risk:
“A lot of people use weather apps. Fine. A lot of other people watch
the Weather Channel. Also fine. Almost everyone has a local
meteorologist on a local TV station who they watch religiously, even if
they hate the rest of the newscast. That’s great. Also fine. And thanks
to a buncha people, lots of people have a passing knowledge of weather
modeling and know how to find that information directly. Awesome. A not
unsubstantial number think that it’s okay, then, to sell off, privatize,
or otherwise end the National Weather Service for a number of reasons
that boil down to ‘it’s not fair because then private weather services
can’t make money!’ This is horseshit of the highest fucking order, I
mean goddamn.”pollwatcher writes—Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release: “As the GOP swamp expands to cover the U.S., the Canadian permafrost is melting at an unexpectedly fast rate. Elections have consequences that can last for generations, and might even bring an end to civilization as we know it. Those who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for what they perceived as the ‘lesser of two evils’ condemned future generations to the devastating consequences of the actions of the ‘greater of two evils.’ A new report is showing that Canadian permafrost, and the carbon locked within, is in real trouble. Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. … permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama. … The disintegration of the permafrost was visible in 40- to 60-mile wide swaths of terrain, showing that, ‘extensive landscapes remain poised for major climate-driven change.’”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
ban nock writes—Court of Appeals Rules in Favor of Wolf Delisting in Wyoming:
“[Below] a statement from David Allen CEO of Rocky Mountain Elk
Foundation (I’m a member) The RMEF I believe was a friend of the court,
on the side of the State of Wyoming and all the scientists at the US
Fish and Wildlife Service. I guess this was a late Friday kind of thing.
Wyoming used to have an open season for areas generally outside of
Yellowstone. (south of Alpine and Bondurant) No license needed. I was
expecting congress to issue another of their special laws on wolves soon
anyway, and this does nothing to help people in the Western Great Lakes
Region.”OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - blue hues from different views: “Water itself is colorless, but out in nature we see water in an endless variety of hues. All the photos in today’s Bucket were taken on Tuesday, February 28, about 2 pm, on a partly cloudy day. Such lovely hues of blue there were! — and this is not tropical water, but up here in the Pacific Northwest. What struck me in comparing them is how different the same water can look depending on the direction we are viewing the same site. We’re at Whale Rocks, the sealion haulout we boat over to regularly, rounding them before heading back home. I decided to have a little fun, looking at the color and direction in these photos. First, let’s set the stage. A Google earth image of the area shows our home bay on the right and the islands we weave through on our way out to the Rocks (marked with red lines) at the entrance to San Juan Channel.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
Pakalolo writes—Sobering.Gulf of Mexico surface water warmest ever. Highest temperatures ever recorded in Antarctica:
“For the first time in recorded history, the daily average surface
temperature of the Gulf of Mexico never fell below 73 degrees F during
the just concluded meteorological winter. This is raising fears that
spring and summer storms, including tornadoes, may have a significant
increase due to warmer and additional moist air flowing into the
southern United States from the Gulf of Mexico. ars Technica reports: Houston meteorologist Matt Lanza recently
noted that a city on the upper Texas coast, Galveston, had been setting
a staggering number of high temperature records this winter. About
one-fourth of the days saw record highs, so Lanza reached out to the
local forecast office of the National Weather Service to see if they had
any concerns about thermometer calibration or recent land-use changes
at Scholes Field in Galveston, where the temperature is recorded. No, he
was told, it has just been that ‘sort of winter.’ From the period of
November through February, Galveston ended up setting a total of 31
record high temperatures. And it is not like Galveston is a recently
thrown-up beach community; the city it has a history that goes back two
centuries. It formerly served as the capital of the Republic of Texas,
and it has formal meteorological records that date all the way back to
1874.”FishOutofWater writes—Trump Plans Drastic Cuts to NOAA's Weather Satellite Budget: “The Trump administration is planning to make drastic cuts to the weather satellite budget of the National Weather Service’s parent organization, NOAA, the Washington Post reports. Weather experts interviewed by the post stated that these proposed cuts would impair the Weather Service’s forecasting ability in a number of critical ways that would endanger Americans including hurricane and tornado forecasts. The apparent motivation for these cuts is the elimination of climate science satellites. The people proposing these cuts don't seem to understand that climate science is the integration and analysis of weather data over time. Satellites provide critical instantaneous data on weather, sea ice and crop conditions that are used commercially by public and private organizations to make decisions that are critical to protecting life, transporting goods, growing food and managing water supplies, etc. The Weather Service’s capabilities to forecast and monitor storms like Sandy that ravaged trillions of dollars of infrastructure up and down the east coast will be damaged by Trump’s planned cuts.”
POPULATION, SUSTAINABILITY & EXTINCTION
Agelbert writes—Human Population Growth: How Human Activity Threatens The Conditio Sine Qua Non For Our Survival: “To ACTUALLY address, confront and STOP the biosphere damage that Homo Sap is
doing, we must face the scientifically confirmed REALITY that if you
get rid of the bottom 50% of the human population (the most poor among
us) you will, I'm sorry to say, not even dent the pollution and biosphere destruction.
As pointed out in the biomass numbers, the amount of people eating and
defecating is not the problem, CARBON FOOTPRINT is the threat to a
viable biosphere. We must attack that problem by reducing the carbon
footprint of the most powerful people on this planet. NOTHING ELSE WILL
SOLVE THE PROBLEM. The solution, in addition to a 100% transition to
Renewable energy, involves eliminating corporate energy welfare queen
subsidies for both fossil fuels and nuclear poison.”________________________________________________________________________________
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Walter Einenkel writes—Looks like Great Lake states that voted for Trump are losing their Great Lakes restoration project: “With reports that unpopular orange-tinted President Donald Trump and Republicans plan on obliterating the EPA’s budget this coming year,
many of the people who voted for him might be getting a rude awakening.
States like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin enjoy the waters
of the Great Lakes, and the EPA is one of those agencies that tries to
ensure that those lakes can be enjoyable for generations to come. The
National Association of Clean Air Agencies confirmed for the Free Press
late Thursday that an initial proposal from the White House Office of
Management and Budget calls for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
to be cut from $300 million a year to about $10 million. [...] If
the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative is targeted for such a drastic
reduction — and it is by far the largest dollar cut on Davis’ partial
list from the association’s data — it would decimate a program that has
helped pay to restore wetlands and improve water quality across the
Upper Midwest.”Besame writes—Daily Bucket: man proposes but nature disposes update on Lake Oroville disaster threat: “Nature proposes to be kind this week while men are working day and night to mitigate the problems that already built up due to poor planning and maintenance. Thus, Lake Oroville’s infrastructure disaster is a bit less disastrous today. Water flows on the primary spillway were shut down February 27th when the lake level was 63 feet below full (838 feet). This allowed the Department of Water Resources to evaluate damage to the primary spillway and begin to dredge debris from the river channel. An estimated 1.7 million cubic feet of debris had accumulated in the channel at the base of the spillway and blocked water movement downstream. The lack of flow upstream of the spillway created high water at the base of the dam that prohibits use of the Hyatt Powerhouse and associated water releases from the dam base. We’ve been lucky to have a break in the rains, thus a reduction of water inflows to the lake. As of yesterday, March 2, inflows had raised the lake water level to 846 feet and about 110,000 cubic yards of debris have been removed. The lake is full and water will flow uncontrolled over the emergency spillway if the water level goes over 901 feet.”
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CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
ClimateBrad writes—SHAME: Senate Democrats Vote En Masse for Climate Deniers:
“This week, Senate Democrats joined the Republican majority to confirm
three avowed deniers of climate science into Donald Trump’s cabinet —
Ryan Zinke for Interior, Ben Carson for Housing and Urban Development,
and Rick Perry for Energy. Zinke was confirmed on Wednesday, and Carson
and Perry confirmed on Thursday. Democrats chose not to use the 30 hours
of debate time following the Perry cloture vote, instead allowing his
confirmation to occur immediately after. (That was a caucus-leadership
level decision—aka Chuck Schumer.) Seventeen members of the Democratic
caucus voted for Ryan Zinke; 11 voted for cloture or confirmation on
Carson; and 12 voted for cloture or confirmation on Perry. In all, 22 Democrats voted
at least once with Republicans for these nominees. (Angus King (Maine)
is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.)”______________________________________________________________________________
BYPRODUCTS, TRASH, TOXIC & RADIOACTIVE WASTE
ban nock writes—Zinke Started To Work With Two Secretarial Orders On First Day: “Zinke,
the new Sec of Int, besides riding to work his first day on a horse,
also immediately made two orders. The first rescinding a lead ban in
Wildlife Refuges has more to it than one would think. Lead in bullet
sized chunks is benign, even in chunks that come from bullets, people
have been eating meat with lead in it for a long time, there’s even a
CDC report, but that’s not the issue. Alaska has vast refuges where many
Alaskan Natives hunt for much of their food. People in villages where
more than 50% live below the poverty line. Those people probably shoot
the cheapest bullets that will do the job. For them a box of cartridges
is an expense.”Meteor Blades writes—Zinke's nixing of lead ammo ban may seem trivial, but lead poisoning kills 10 million animals a year: “Six weeks ago, just a day before Donald Trump was sworn into office, the Obama administration ordered a five-year phase-out of the use of lead ammunition and fishing tackle on wildlife reserves and public lands where hunting and fishing are allowed. It was a prohibition long sought by environmental advocates and opposed by hunting and fishing groups, although not by all their members. On Thursday, the day after he was sworn into office as the 52nd secretary of the Department of Interior, Ryan Zinke overturned that phase-out as his first bit of business—an omen of things to come. Studies estimate that ingested lead from shotgun pellets and bullet fragments hunters leave behind in the environment kill from 10 million to 20 million animals each year.”
gmoke writes—On "Zinke's nixing of lead ammo ban may seem trivial, but lead poisoning kills 10 million animals...: “On "Zinke's nixing of lead ammo ban may seem trivial, but lead poisoning kills 10 million animals a year." hat tip Meteor Blades for the headline title (www.dailykos.com/...)
‘attack on traditional ammunition’
Old technology as tradition and belief
to exacerbate possible ‘tribal’
differences
for political purposes
and make more money.
Old technology as tradition and belief
to exacerbate possible ‘tribal’
differences
for political purposes
and make more money.
‘attack on traditional ammunition’
Bring back coal and steel
Make America Great Again
with 1950s technology.
Lock us all into a mid twentieth century worldview
in a 21st century world.
On the verge of an ice-freeBring back coal and steel
Make America Great Again
with 1950s technology.
Lock us all into a mid twentieth century worldview
in a 21st century world.
Arctic Ocean
in how many thousands of years?”
ENERGY
Fossil Fuels
Mark Sumner writes—Donald Trump uses coal miners as props, but 23,000 real coal miners are losing health benefits:
“When Donald Trump signed a bill to allow coal companies to pollute
more streams and rivers, he brought in miners to pose in the background
and generously offered to hand over the pen he used in the signing for
two dozen miners to share. But while that bill will save coal companies
millions in clean up costs, it won’t actually generate a single mining
job. Because the reason that coal jobs have been in steep decline isn’t
environmental laws, it’s a lack of demand for coal. And while Trump
pretends to help, Republicans are doing nothing to help real miners losing real benefits. Almost
23,000 retired coal miners and their dependents on Wednesday received
official notification that they could lose their health care benefits by
April 30. The benefits would have run out in 2016, but a
short continuation neatly bridged them past election season. The fund
for these benefits was endangered when major coal companies, which made a
bet on an ever-expanding market right before fracking ate their lunch,
filed for bankruptcy.”______________________________________________________________________________
Philm35 writes—Coal Miner Math: “I tried to watch Mr. Trump’s speech to Congress last night. I only endured for five minutes. When he said, ‘We are going to stop the regulations that threaten the future and livelihood of our great coal miners,’ that was the breaking point for me. I had to get away. I changed channels and turned on ‘The Voice.’ There are about 123 million people working full time in the USA. As of April, 2016, 56,600 of those people were coal miners. If my math is correct, 0.045% of American workers make their living digging coal. And that percentage is shrinking every day, as coal becomes less economically competitive with other cleaner fuels. For that 0.045% of our workers, Donald Trump and Republicans are willing to turn our energy policy upside-down, promoting the dirtiest, most destructive form of energy we have in order to save the jobs of a tiny, shrinking percentage of our workforce. ”
______________________________________________________________________________
Hydraulic Fracturing
DocHoc writes—Scott Pruitt Did Nothing: Oklahoma Still Faces Earthquake Crisis: “Oklahoma’s manmade earthquake crisis is still a major emergency despite how the numbers are getting parsed these days. [...] NewsOK.com noted a recent decline in earthquakes in major coverage. Using Oklahoma Geological Survey data, it pointed out in a recent story,
‘Oklahoma averaged almost more than five magnitude-2.7 or greater
quakes per day in 2015, but the rate fell to 3.6 per day last year and
1.4 per day so far this year.” Don’t break out the champagne just yet,
however, or, more realistically, start believing the state is on a
sustainable path to stop all the earthquakes here caused by an element
of the hydraulic fracturing or fracking process. For example, here’s how the Los Angeles Times presented the numbers in a recent article: According to scientists, there were only about two earthquakes a year of magnitude 2.7 or greater in Oklahoma from 1980 to 2000. But that number jumped to 2,500 in 2014 and soared to 4,000 a year later.”_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Walter Einenkel writes—According to new research, millions of Americans live in oil- and gas-related earthquake zones now: “It’s a map that shows the natural and induced earthquake regions based on last year’s information. Inside Climate News explains. In recent years, there has been a surge in quakes linked to oil and gas activity, including a massive 5.8 event last September in Pawnee, Okla. Some have caused damage to homes, buildings and roads across Oklahoma and elsewhere, sparking public concern and prompting regulators to begin restricting local energy company activities. Despite some pockets of the country remaining on high alert for damaging shaking, the scientists did find the region's overall risk went down compared to last year, which was the first year of the seismic report. The 2016 forecast had indicated up to 7 million people had a chance of facing damage from a moderate man-made earthquake.”
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Renewables, Efficiency & Conservation
Redskalla writes—Does your favorite cafe have solar panels? “Does
your favorite local, farm to fork, organic, sustainable café have solar
panels? Would you like them to? Do they know you would like them to? I
live in Sacramento, and recently learned that none of these places have
solar panels. Not Seland’s, not Café Bernardo, not Star Ginger, not
Burgers & Brew, and not Dantorel’s. Each of these is a successful
business, they have roofs with plenty of sunlight, and, with the
possible exception of Burgers & Brew, own their own building. Most
importantly, they have the kind of clientele which would care about that
sort of thing. What does that add up to? Opportunity. We have the power
to lean on these places until they put up panels. We can do this across
the country. We can add thousands of panels to the grid. We can
decrease the carbon footprint nationally. All we have to do is let them
know. If the owner refuses, we can stand in front with signs reading
‘Ask the manager why they don’t have solar panels!’ When business drops
off, they’ll put them up. Then move to the next.”_______________________________________________________________________________
Pipelines & Other Oil and Gas Transport
Al Carroll writes—Far From Defeated or Gone: A Timeline of NoDAPL and Other Pipeline Resistance and What YOU Can Do:
“Near the Standing Rock Reservation, the largest camp is now shut down,
its membersevicted by a heavily militarized force of cops, Border
Patrol/US Customs, and National Guard police using armored cars, armed
with batons, pistols, AK 47s, AR 15s, and in previous cases used water
cannons, tear gas, pepper spray, concussion grenades, and razor wire
against peaceful protesters, including elderly. Yet the struggle is far
from over. Do not be discouraged, as the water protectors are not. For
they are not going anywhere. This is their homeland being threatened
with poisoning. Protests continue at Standing Rock and elsewhere: In British Columbia and Ontario, Canada, protests against the Enbridge Gateway Pipeline were
going on since 2012, by environmentalists allied with 106 First Nations
bands and reserves. Finally, in November 2016, Prime Minister Trudeau
permanently ended the project.”GlobalAffects writes—US STEEL COMPANY - OWNED BY RUSSIAN? No wonder NMPOTUS Brags "We'll Only Buy 'Amerikan'"! “In fact, a DeSmog investigation reveals that much of the steel for Keystone XL has already been manufactured and is sitting in a field in rural North Dakota. DeSmog has uncovered that 40 percent of the steel created so far was manufactured in Canada by a subsidiary of Evraz, a company 31-percent owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who is a close ally of Putin and a Trump family friend. Evraz has also actively lobbied against provisions which would mandate that Keystone XL's steel be made in the U.S. Abramovich is described in the 2004 book Abramovich: The Billionaire from Nowhere by British journalists Dominic Midgley and Chris Hutchins as ‘one of the prime movers behind the establishment of the only political party that was prepared to offer its undiluted support to Putin when he fought his first presidential election in late 1999. When Putin needed a shadowy force to act against his enemies behind the scenes, it was Abramovich whom he could rely on to prove a willing co-conspirator.’”
________________________________________________________________________________
rebel ga writes—Native Nations; Sioux And Water Protectors, March On Washington 3/7 Through 3/10: Call to Action.
PROTECTIONS & REGULATIONS
Meteor Blades writes—Trump proposal would cut the EPA budget to the inflation-adjusted spending power of 1971:
“It’s been obvious since November 9 that the Trump regime would slash
the Environmental Protection Agency budget. Senate confirmation of the
climate science-denying, fossil-fuel puppet and liar Scott Pruitt as the
new chief of the agency he despises and has sued 16 times made it clear
that budget trouble would be coming down the pike. On Tuesday, Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis got down to specifics in reporting at The Washington Post that
the regime’s 2018 blueprint for the EPA would include a 25 percent cut
in the overall budget—from $8.2 billion to $6.1 billion. That would
match the nominal level of the 1991 EPA budget. But figure in inflation
and the spending power of that 2018 budget would be less than what the
EPA was appropriated in 1971. Chopping out such a hunk of spending would
mean firing a fifth of the agency’s 15,000 employees, giant cuts in
some programs and zeroing out others entirely.”YellerDog writes—NOAA & EPA Cuts Hurt Coastal Areas. Puget Sound Hard Hit: “All right, now this is getting personal. We take our water seriously here in Washington State. From the mountains through the streams and rivers to the Sound and out to the the Mother Ocean, the Pacific, we are all connected, ecologically, commercially, and personally by beautiful blue and green water. This is our home and when it suffers we suffer. We are taking a double hit. While we mostly think of NOAA as the weather people they are additionally the climate people doing oceanographic climate research and provide funding for coastal resilience programs that will be especially important to us in the coming years. The Trump administration has proposed cutting federal funding for restoring Puget Sound by 93 percent. ‘Hundreds of millions dollars every year go from EPA to the states for water quality infrastructure,’ Dennis McLerran, the regional head of the EPA in the Obama administration, said. ‘And if that is cut back, you will see efforts to protect public health cut back.’”
_____________________________________________________________________________
TheWanderer writes—Does the proposed EPA regulatory rollbacks directly benefit Trump's businesses or Cabinet members? “Do we need Trump’s tax returns to determine if any of the EPA rollbacks directly benefit Trump’s businesses? ”
ClimateDenierRoundup writes—AGs Push Back on Lamar Smith’s Exxon Defense; GOP Pushes Back on EPA Destruction: “New developments in Lamar Smith’s Exxon defense plan might give him reason to pause and reconsider. First, a group of 15 Democratic state attorneys general wrote him a letter making it clear that he lacks the authority to meddle in state law enforcement efforts like this one. But New York AG Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts AG Maura Healy have a message of their own for Smith: turnabout is fair play. The New York AG office sent a 55-page letter detailing the many reasons that Smith’s request is an abuse of power, while the Mass office sent a shorter letter (‘only’ 10 pages) that asked Smith to turn over his own communications about the effort. Reading between the lines with some of the language used, the letters appear to have a similar subtext: keep up this illegitimate abuse of power, and we’ll see you in court. (Though perhaps that’s just wishful thinking on our part.) Speaking of wishful thinking, wouldn’t it be great if the GOP stood up to Trump’s attempts to dismantle the EPA? Well… they might! Some, though certainly not all, Republicans have pushed back on the draconian cuts to the EPA, largely because the funding cuts mean less money for their state efforts to protect the public and environment.”
Torta writes—EPA Head (Destructor) Scott Pruitt lied massively in his confirmation hearing: “From Jay Michaelson (personal disclosure: I’m his spouse) at the Daily Beast: A Feb. 17 investigation by Oklahoma City’s Fox 25 news station revealed that Pruitt used a private email account to coordinate strategy and talking points with fossil fuel companies to oppose environmental rules, among other things. And a subsequent review of more than 7,500 emails by the Associated Press showed that Pruitt used his private email to conduct official business, including communicating with staff and lobbyists. That directly contradicts what Pruitt told Congress in January.”
corwin writes—Could Scott Pruitt Save the EPA? “No, I’m not holding my breath on this one, but there does appear to be a bit of a break with Pruitt's past actions against the EPA: More remarkable was the response of Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general and long-time foe of EPA policies who was brought in by President Trump to run the EPA and preside over the dismantling of many of its most controversial programs, especially those designed to reduce industrial carbon emissions that directly contribute to global warming. [...] ‘I am concerned about the grants that have been targeted, particularly around water infrastructure, and those very important state revolving funds," Pruitt told the reporter. "The importance is setting priorities as an agency and then allowing the budget to be formed around that. What's difficult, having only been there a week, is to have these kinds of recommendations made and then look at our priorities and say, “You know what, we've got to make sure that we look at these programs.” It will undoubtedly be a steep climb, but there are a few possibilities here. First, like the Grinch hearing the Who song and having a literal change of heart, Pruitt may have actually listened to the scientist and managers at EPA, realized that they do a demanding and necessary job, and is willing to look more carefully at its mission.”
ECO-ESSAYS & PROPOSALS
Muskegon Critic writes—“We are doing this wrong. Our
party. Our ideology. We’re doing this wrong. We are trying to get back
to a world we can’t go back to. This year Wendy’s is putting self ordering kiosks in their stores. Self driving cars are on the road RIGHT NOW, and self driving trucks threaten to put 3.5 million truckers out of work.
Online services are taking on attorney services. Automated algorithms
write sports and financial articles. When the Internet blustered into
our lives, Newspapers simply couldn’t adapt. And all at once, throughout
the nation, newspapers around the country collapsed. The Muskegon
Chronicle that once employed 400 people in Muskegon for a hundred years
folded. It now employs about 12 people. And it happened all at once. We
are not prepared for this world we’re moving into. And our liberal
leaders aren’t promoting any ideas or plans for the reality of the
future. We’re playing defense on progress we made in the 20th century
without advancing ideas for the 21st century. [...] We need to
start radically re-thinking the future and our ideal approach to it. We
can’t play defense for the old ideas that served us well in the past. We
need to promote, full throatedly, a 100% renewable energy future. We
need to promote the universal income for a future when productivity is
unhooked from access to the basic necessities.”_______________________________________________________________________________
Assaf writes—Where we have Vision, we Win: “I agree with MC’s basic premise: a stronger and future-relevant vision sets a path to lasting victory. I disagree that we lack such vision and are losing across the board. There are many key areas in which we are the ones with vision, and we are the ones who are winning, regardless of recent national election results.There are other areas where we do lack vision, or where our vision is still marginalized. [...] We’re Winning on Transition to Renewable Energy. [...] In 2016, coal supplied only 30% of US electricity. And that’s 30% out of a smaller total; overall US consumption fell by 2%, which means net US coal power generation fell by a whopping 39% in 9 years. It also means, that per-capita electric consumption fell by ~10%.
The EIA (even under Obama, and surely now under Trump) continues to be bullish on coal/fossil and bearish on renewables; reality just laughs in its face.”
_________________________________________________________________________________
ECO-ACTION & ECO JUSTICE
Meteor Blades writes—Open thread for night owls. Aronoff: To save the planet, we need to remake the Democratic Party:
“So the climate movement needs to make sure a Democrat defeats Trump in
2020. But even that won’t necessarily be enough. Democrats, unlike
their GOP counterparts, clear the low bar of acknowledging that climate
change is real. But given the chance, centrist Democrats tend to opt for
industry-friendly measures like cap and trade, whose complex,
technocratic framework leaves plenty of wiggle room for polluters and
fails to inspire public enthusiasm. To beat Trump—and stave off climate
catastrophe—we need a Democratic Party that eschews the politics of
compromise and embraces a low-carbon populism that is unafraid to take
on big business. How do we get the party we need? We build it from the
ground up. At the local level, populist platforms animated by a concern
for the climate are already winning at the ballot box and changing local
and state policies—even in the face of strong oil industry and
Republican opposition. This down-ballot insurgency can build the
momentum needed for both a fighting Democratic Party and real climate
action.”_______________________________________________________________________________
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
LiberalTexan11 writes—Simplot's GMO potatoes get approval from the FDA and EPA: “The AP reports, last week the EPA and the FDA gave approval to Idaho-based J.R. Simplot Company to plant and sell three varieties of genetically engineered potatoes. These potatoes had been previously approved by the USDA.
The three varieties are the Russet Burbank, Ranger Russet and Atlantic. They have been genetically engineered to resist the blight, the disease that caused the Irish potato famine. Late blight continues to be a major problem for potato growers, especially in wetter regions. Fungicides have been used for decades to prevent the blight. Simplot says the genetically engineered potatoes reduce the use of fungicide by half.
The company also said the potatoes will have reduced bruising and black spots, enhanced storage capacity and a reduced amount of a chemical created when potatoes are cooked at high temperatures that’s a potential carcinogen.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Xaxnar writes—Netherlands Now Running Trains on 100% Wind Power:
“There’s a story making the rounds of an energy/climate success story:
the Netherlands are running trains using electricity 100% generated by
wind farms so that it’s carbon free. BrightVibes has the details and some interesting graphics and videos. As from 1 January 2017 100% of Dutch electric trains are powered by wind energy. The Dutch railways company NS is the world’s first railway company that gets 100% of its energy from wind energy … Energy company Eneco provides NS the energy to transport 600.000 people per day. That’s 1.200.000 train trips per day without any CO2 emissions. NS requires 1.2B kWh of wind-powered energy per year, which is the
same amount all households in Amsterdam consume per year. The
partnership with NS, allowed Eneco to invest substantially in the
expansion of its wind turbine parks.”
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