Some Good News On Climate Change – We’re no longer totally f$%@ed.

But we’re also far from totally unf$@%*ed!”

I am quoting here. I always try to stay positive and I know regular readers find that hard to believe because I have been saying for awhile that Human’s will go extinct. Still I like to think that my Stepson Gus, and my nieces and nephews like Taylor and Cory will have pleasant lives of their own. I hope that their kids will too. So here is an article that spreads some of that positivity.

This article is from last year but, spread the old news, same as the new news.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/12/23/1042973/climate-change-action-progress-clean-energy/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Climate change

The rare spots of good news on climate change

It looks increasingly clear that we’ll at least sidestep the worst-case scenarios.

December 23, 2021

The deadly consequences of climate change only grew clearer this year, as record-shattering heat waves, floods, and wildfires killed thousands and strained the limits of our disaster responders.

In the closing days of 2021, scientists warned that the eastern ledge of a Florida-size glacier is about to snap off of Antarctica and US legislators found they may have flubbed their best chance in a decade to enact sweeping climate policies.

But amid these stark signs, there were also indications that momentum is beginning to build behind climate action. Indeed, there’s good reason now to believe that the world could at least sidestep the worst dangers of global warming.

Princeton energy researcher Jesse Jenkins accurately, and colorfully, pinpointed the weird moment we’ve arrived at in a recent tweet: “We’re no longer totally f$%@ed. But we’re also far from totally unf$@%*ed!”

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Go there and read. More next week.

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Springfield Announces Earth Awareness Fair – I have mixed feelings

I have always thought that the City of Springfield should pony up and call the event Earth Day. Further more, I think they should have it ON Earth Day. But as I have gotten older and some would say, “more reasonable”, I have come the conclusion that the sympathies behind it are good. Having it on the weekend is also a lot more family friendly. Still the Zoo is not centrally located and I doubt seriously if Mass Transit will overcome that. Here is what I know.

City of Springfield 2022 Earth Awareness Fair
Yahoo/Inbox
Rivas, Adena R. <adena.rivas@springfield.il.us>
To:Rivas, Adena R.
Thu, Feb 10 at 1:28 PM

Good Afternoon,

I am sorry for the delay in getting this information to you. I had an unexpected delivery- two baby girls on New Year’s Eve. While I will be out until early March, I wanted to let you know that we will be having a physical Earth Awareness Fair this year. Due to Covid-19 and reasons concerning social distancing and crowd control, the Park District has agreed to host the Fair again this year. We have also partnered with SMTD to provide shuttle service for event attendees throughout the day. Both of which is very exciting! The Fair will be held on Saturday, April 23 from 11 am – 4 pm.

While we would prefer all participants to take part face-to-face, we will have the online portion available again this year for those interested.

The online platform will only be used for PDF’s, web links, videos, etc. We will have all information consolidated on the City’s Earth Awareness Fair webpage www.springfield.il.us/earthfair or www.springfield.il.us/EAF

All online information must be submitted no later than Friday, April 8.

On the attached registration form, which is due no later than Friday, April 1– earlier submissions are always acceptable, please make sure to check the box specific to how your organization and/or business would like to participate.

Any questions please let me know.

Thank you in advance for your support this year.

Adena Rivas

Programs Coordinator

217.789.2255, ext. 5244

Adena.Rivas@Springfield.IL.US

City of Springfield,IL Public Works

Municipal Center West

300 S. 7th St., Springfield, IL  62701

www.springfield.il.us

Recycling is a good thing. Please recycle any printed emails.

 

THE ABOVE MESSAGE, INCLUDING ANY ATTACHMENTS, IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE ADDRESSEE AND MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT IS PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL AND PROHIBITED FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT ANY DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION, OR COPYING OF THIS COMMUNICATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. IF YOU RECEIVE THIS E-MAIL IN ERROR, RETURN TO THE E-MAIL ADDRESS LISTED ABOVE.

https://www.springfield.il.us/Departments/PublicWorks/EarthAwarenessFair.aspx

City of Springfield partners with the Springfield Park District to host this year’s Earth Awareness Fair at the Henson Robinson Zoo located at 1100 E. Lake Shore Dr.

Event will be held on Saturday, April 17 from 11 am – 4 pm.

Pre-registration and tickets are required for entry. Entry will be limited to 50 attendees every hour. Contact the Henson Robinson Zoo for event tickets by going to their website www.springfieldparks.org or by calling 217.585.1821

  • For those uncomfortable or unable to come to the Fair, we have an online platform that offers a wide variety of information in downloadable and online viewing format.
  • Please click on corresponding links below.

Earth Awareness Fair Facebook Page

Check out past year events and pictures as well as stay current on all the latest event news by going to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/EAFSpringfield.

COVID-19 Guidelines

Public health guidelines related to COVID-19 will be strictly enforced.

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Go There or be square. More next week.

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More About Our Wonderful Children – Complete with pictures

I will move on to other subjects next week. But I just want to gloat some more. GLOAT Gloat gloat.

https://www.envmatters.org/loc/Mar_15_2019_Youth_Climate_Strike.html

Youth Climate Strike

March 15, 2019

(Pictures Below!)

While the government and a majority of the adults piss away the future reveling in their short-term goals and lives, the youth are protesting and striking the prospects of a very bleak future left as legacy by mainly the powers that be who have ignored the climate crisis for over 50 years.  Scientists world-wide have warned us and warned us that now we have only about 11 years left to truly embark on a road to zero carbon emissions because of the very real threat of global warming, death to species and oceans, and permafrost melting, leading to the release of many ancient diseases and the heat up of the atmosphere leading to crop failure, sea level rise, and billions of deaths in our near future and a collapse of the ecosystem that supports all life on this planet.

What the youth demand is at least a Green New Deal or an honest effort by the leaders to truly take on the problem of global warming.  The need to do so has never been more urgent.  There are also some among us adults that stand with our youth and are in solidarity with their efforts to strike from going to school until the leaders listen to the truly educated.

Chicago Youth for Climate Action

NBC News on US Youth Climate Strike March 15 2019

Youth Climate Strike US

Sunrise Movement

Extinction Rebellion Chicago

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Go there and look. Pictures only. More next week.

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Green New Deal Kicks Ass – Young Dems strike early and strike hard

I always try try to stay positive. This may have a chance. They will have to fight hard but it is their future. Not mine. I fought for 50 years. Now it is someone else’s turn. Good luck. God speed. Your only planet depends on it. We got no place else to go.

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/12/21/18144138/green-new-deal-alexandria-ocasio-cortez

The Green New Deal, explained

An insurgent movement is pushing Democrats to back an ambitious climate change solution.

If the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is to be believed, humanity has just over a decade to get carbon emissions under control before catastrophic climate change impacts become unavoidable.

The Republican Party generally ignores or denies that problem. But the Democratic Party claims to accept and understand it.

It is odd, then, that Democrats do not have a plan to address climate change.

Their last big plan — the American Clean Energy and Security Act — passed the House in 2009 but went on to die an unceremonious death before reaching the Senate floor. Since then, there’s been nothing to replace it.

Plenty of Democratic politicians support policies that would reduce climate pollution — renewable energy tax credits, fuel economy standards, and the like — but those policies do not add up to a comprehensive solution, certainly nothing like what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests is necessary.

Young activists, who will be forced to live with the ravages of climate change, find this upsetting. So they have proposed a plan of their own. It’s called the Green New Deal (GND) — a term purposefully reminiscent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s original New Deal in the 1930s — and it has become the talk of the town. Here are Google searches from the past few months:

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Go there and READ. More next week.

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50,000 Homes Powered By Solar In Texas – If we would have done this this 30 years ago

It really all comes down to the fossil fuel companies like Exxon. If they would have admitted that Global Warming was happening, like their research showed, then we could have been doing this in the 1980s. As it is now, we are in a horse race and we are losing. Still I try to be positive, this is happening in Texas, red of red states, so there is hope that this example will pick up the pace.

https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/Construction-begins-on-largest-utility-scale-12507169.php

Construction begins on largest utility-scale solar project in Texas

Updated

California-based 174 Power Global is breaking ground Thursday on the largest utility-scale solar project in Texas, the company said.

The project is on 1,500 acres of private land in Pecos County, in West Texas, and area that has become a hub of utility-scale solar projects. It’s 236 megawatt capacity can power 50,000 homes a year, and all of its power will be sold to Austin Energy, a utility for the city of Austin. The project will cost $260 million.

174 Power Global is a subsidiary of South Korea’s Hanwha Energy.  174 Power Global has focused on developing solar projects on land without competing interests. The project in Pecos County, for instance, has not oil and gas development and the salinity of the property’s water prevents it from being used for livestock or agriculture.

RELATED: Solar power emerges where oil and gas once dominated

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Go there and read. More next week.

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Nothing Struck Me This Week – So I am taking this week off

It’s the holidays for goodness sakes. So I may take next week off too. I have never done that before. It has been a slow energy week. If it don’t interest me, I don’t print it.

Life Without Fossil Fuels – This is what it looks like

In Florida no less. I could hype this piece up, but why? They do such a good job. The place even has its own website.

Home

So here is one version of the story.

https://www.planetizen.com/news/2018/01/96772-residents-move-americas-first-solar-powered-town

Residents Move Into America’s First Solar Powered Town

Residents will live in solar powered homes and ride around the community in self-driving, solar-powered shuttles. Babcock Ranch outside of Fort Myers, Florida, has been in the making since 2005. A city of 50,000 is forecast.
January 18, 2018, 1pm PST | Irvin Dawid

“Families are starting to move into what is being called America’s first solar-powered town,” announces John Dickerson for CBS This Morning on Jan. 16. “Babcock Ranch, about half an hour northeast of Fort Myers, Florida, is supposed to produce more energy than it consumes once it’s finished.”

Developer Syd Kitson is building 20,000 homes for a projected 50,000 people, states Dickerson in the newscast video accompanying the article.

There are more than 300,000 solar panels spread across 440 acres there, producing enough electricity not only for the town, but also the surrounding areas, reports CBS News’ Manuel Bojorquez.

One critical energy element lacking in the solar-powered community will be adequate energy storage to allow the city to be truly self-powered:

The town doesn’t run on solar power all the time. At night, when the sun is down, it has to draw from the traditional electrical grid. Kitson says the technology for storing all that surplus energy the solar cells generate during the day is still too costly.

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Go There. I mean literally go there if you can. If not go there and read. More next week.

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The Swiss Endorse Renewable Energy – If a land locked mountainous country can do it

Then anybody can do it. Really, think about it. They are a really affluent society, who have never directly been involved in a war. They are Bankers to the world. They have no incentives what so ever. Yet here they are, for the good of the world. They deserve a postcard from the world that says, JOB WELL DONE!

https://www.thelocal.ch/20170521/swiss-vote-for-gradual-nuclear-phaseout-preliminary-results/

Swiss vote for gradual nuclear phaseout

15:10 CEST+02:00
The Swiss voted on Sunday in favour of a massive overhaul of the country’s energy system by gradually replacing the power from its ageing nuclear reactors with renewable sources.
A full 58.2 percent of Swiss voters supported the shift, according to a final tally after Sunday’s referendum, with only four of the country’s 26 cantons voting “no”.
“This is a historic day for the country,” Green Party parliamentarian Adele Thorens Goumaz told public broadcaster RTS.
“Switzerland will finally enter into the 21st century when it comes to energy.”
The move has been in the making since shortly after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant was destroyed in the March 2011 tsunami disaster, when the Swiss government decided to gradually close its nuclear plants.
Instead, it aims to increase reliance on hydraulic power as well as renewables like solar, wind, geothermal and biomass.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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Environmentally Friendly Cars – I suppose it depends on what you mean by friendly

Like I have always said, is there such a thing as an environmentally friendly car? I prefer to think instead of minimal impact on the environment. Really given all of the mining that goes on just to produce cars and all the fossil fuels it takes to fuel them, we would be better off without them. Mass transportation is the only hope for the future.

http://www.caranddriver.com/best-hybrid-electric-cars

Hybrid and Electric Cars 2017-2018: The Best and the Rest

Interested in a hybrid or an electric vehicle to help save gasoline, and possibly the planet, too? The vehicles that wear an Editors’ Choice badge are our picks for the best hybrids and best EVs of 2017 and 2018.

Toyota Prius C

The Editors’ Rating summarizes a vehicle’s overall degree of excellence and is determined by our editors, who evaluate hundreds of vehicles every year and consider numerous factors both objective and subjective.
Editors’ Rating

 

  • Starting at
    $21,035

    Take the uninspired underpinnings of the Toyota Yaris and mix with it an even less powerful version of the Prius hybrid powertrain and you get the Prius C.

  • Honda CR-Z

    The Editors’ Rating summarizes a vehicle’s overall degree of excellence and is determined by our editors, who evaluate hundreds of vehicles every year and consider numerous factors both objective and subjective.
    Editors’ Rating
  • Starting at
    $21,130

    The CR-Z is an ambitious attempt at making a sporty hybrid, but its performance doesn’t match its adventurous styling.

  • Hyundai Ioniq

    The Editors’ Rating summarizes a vehicle’s overall degree of excellence and is determined by our editors, who evaluate hundreds of vehicles every year and consider numerous factors both objective and subjective.
    Editors’ Rating
  • Starting at
    $23,035

    Sharing its underpinnings with the Kia Niro, the Hyundai Ioniq is a hybrid in many flavors.

  • Mitsubishi i-MiEV

    The Editors’ Rating summarizes a vehicle’s overall degree of excellence and is determined by our editors, who evaluate hundreds of vehicles every year and consider numerous factors both objective and subjective.
    Editors’ Rating

 

Starting at
$23,845

 

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Go there and think. More next week.

 

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Happy Earth Day – What an amazing coincidence

I usually post here on Wednesday. Imagine the probability of Earth Day occurring on the same day! So today I offer a more optimistic view of the world then mine. Think: Global Warming.

http://aeon.co/magazine/science/why-extinction-is-not-the-problem/

 

Rethinking extinction

by

The idea that we are edging up to a mass extinction is not just wrong – it’s a recipe for panic and paralysis

The way the public hears about conservation issues is nearly always in the mode of ‘[Beloved Animal] Threatened With Extinction’. That makes for electrifying headlines, but it misdirects concern. The loss of whole species is not the leading problem in conservation. The leading problem is the decline in wild animal populations, sometimes to a radical degree, often diminishing the health of whole ecosystems.

Viewing every conservation issue through the lens of extinction threat is simplistic and usually irrelevant. Worse, it introduces an emotional charge that makes the problem seem cosmic and overwhelming rather than local and solvable. It’s as if the entire field of human medicine were treated solely as a matter of death prevention. Every session with a doctor would begin: ‘Well, you’re dying. Let’s see if we can do anything to slow that down a little.’

Medicine is about health. So is conservation. And as with medicine, the trends for conservation in this century are looking bright. We are re-enriching some ecosystems we once depleted and slowing the depletion of others. Before I explain how we are doing that, let me spell out how exaggerated the focus on extinction has become and how it distorts the public perception of conservation.

Many now assume that we are in the midst of a human-caused ‘Sixth Mass Extinction’ to rival the one that killed off the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. But we’re not. The five historic mass extinctions eliminated 70 per cent or more of all species in a relatively short time. That is not going on now. ‘If all currently threatened species were to go extinct in a few centuries and that rate continued,’ began a recent Nature magazine introduction to a survey of wildlife losses, ‘the sixth mass extinction could come in a couple of centuries or a few millennia.’

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Quick not: He favors Nuclear Power

Go there and read. More next week.

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