The Environment Thread

[Mark F]

1 hour ago, Mark H. said:

how are you planning to safely dispose of or recycle the fibre glass when your windmill blades are at the end of their life?

Vestas I think the largest manufacturer, uses carbon fibre.

https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/wind-turbine-blades-glass-vs-carbon-fiber.

I admit I know nothing about the problem actually.

 

[Mark H.]

1 hour ago, Mark F said:

Vestas I think the largest manufacturer, uses carbon fibre.

https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/wind-turbine-blades-glass-vs-carbon-fiber.

I admit I know nothing about the problem actually.

 

Carbon fibre is fibre glass.  I have seen a small amount of the stuff burn - it's worse than a tire fire. 

[Fatty Liver]

9 hours ago, Mark H. said:

Carbon fibre is fibre glass.  I have seen a small amount of the stuff burn - it's worse than a tire fire. 

BMW is using  carbon fiber to make their I-3 electric vehicle and has set up the world's largest carbon fiber research facility and factory in Moses Lake, Wash,

http://www.recycling-carbon.org/en/2018/05/15/bmw-i3-trial/

Comparing the disposal of windmill blades to the orphan well problem is a red-herring IMO.  One is a temporary problem looking for a technical solution, the other is a permanent scar upon the land being wilfully committed by an unethical industry that has no intention of ever solving the problem.

 

 

[Mark F]

 

[Mark H.]

8 hours ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

BMW is using  carbon fiber to make their I-3 electric vehicle and has set up the world's largest carbon fiber research facility and factory in Moses Lake, Wash,

http://www.recycling-carbon.org/en/2018/05/15/bmw-i3-trial/

Comparing the disposal of windmill blades to the orphan well problem is a red-herring IMO.  One is a temporary problem looking for a technical solution, the other is a permanent scar upon the land being wilfully committed by an unethical industry that has no intention of ever solving the problem.

 

 

I agree, it is a red herring.  But somehow we always move on to newer, shinier ideas - without completely considering all the angles or having all the solutions. 

Another example: the cabs and sleepers of semis are made of fibre glass - plenty of those are buried in landfill sites. 

[Mark F]

13 hours ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

the other is a permanent scar upon the land being wilfully committed by an unethical industry that has no intention of ever solving the problem.

for instance

Quote

 

An ongoing oil spill that has been leaking into the Gulf of Mexico for more than 14 years is finally being contained, the U.S. Coast Guard announced on Thursday.

The Taylor Energy oil spill began after Hurricane Ivan triggered an underwater mudslide in 2004 that caused the company's oil platform to topple and sink.

The New Orleans-based company managed to cap some of the 25 broken pipes leading to the leak, but many were left unplugged.

Environmental groups subsequently sued the company in federal court in 2012.

Since then it's been a slew of legal battles, with Taylor Energy playing down the magnitude and environmental impact of the leak.

Most recently, Taylor Energy tried to block the Coast Guard from moving ahead with plans to stem the constant flow.

😂

 

The Oil company did not stop the leak, the coast guard did.

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/16/724164873/oil-spill-seeping-into-gulf-of-mexico-contained-after-14-years-coast-guard-says

and also.....
 

Quote

 

More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one -- not industry, not government -- is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows.

Texas alone has plugged more than 21,000 abandoned wells to control pollution, according to the state comptroller's office.

 

 

 

 

https://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/2010/07/27000_abandoned_oil_and_gas_we.html

Edited June 9, 2019 by Mark F

[Wideleft]

'We All Owe Al Gore An Apology': More People See Climate Change In Record Flooding

Angel Portillo doesn't think about climate change much. It's not that he doesn't care. He just has other things to worry about. Climate change seems so far away, so big.

Lately though, Portillo says he has been thinking about it more often.

Standing on the banks of a swollen and surging Arkansas River, just upriver from a cluster of flooded businesses and homes, it's easy to see why.

"Stuff like this," he says, nodding at the frothy brown waters, "all of the tornadoes that have been happening — it just doesn't seem like a coincidence, you know?"

And yet:

In late May and early June, NPR asked nearly two dozen people in Oklahoma and Arkansas who were experiencing the ongoing flooding about climate change. All of them said they believed that the climate was changing, even if they didn't directly associate the raining and floods with it or agree on the cause. (Six people said they believed God was driving the change.)

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/08/730456004/more-people-see-climate-change-in-record-floods-and-extreme-weather-will-that-me

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

4 hours ago, Wideleft said:

'We All Owe Al Gore An Apology': More People See Climate Change In Record Flooding

Angel Portillo doesn't think about climate change much. It's not that he doesn't care. He just has other things to worry about. Climate change seems so far away, so big.

Lately though, Portillo says he has been thinking about it more often.

Standing on the banks of a swollen and surging Arkansas River, just upriver from a cluster of flooded businesses and homes, it's easy to see why.

"Stuff like this," he says, nodding at the frothy brown waters, "all of the tornadoes that have been happening — it just doesn't seem like a coincidence, you know?"

And yet:

In late May and early June, NPR asked nearly two dozen people in Oklahoma and Arkansas who were experiencing the ongoing flooding about climate change. All of them said they believed that the climate was changing, even if they didn't directly associate the raining and floods with it or agree on the cause. (Six people said they believed God was driving the change.)

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/08/730456004/more-people-see-climate-change-in-record-floods-and-extreme-weather-will-that-me

1 in 4 believe God was driving. JFC... This might be a HUGE part of the problem?

 

I guess it's better to attribute CC to something and believe in CC than not to believe in CC... but still... wow.

Edited June 10, 2019 by wanna-b-fanboy

[Fatty Liver]

4 minutes ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

1 in 4 believe God was driving. JFC... This might be a HUGE part of the problem?

 

I guess it's better to attribute CC to something and believe in CC than not to believe in CC... but still... wow.

This article makes a very good point, the term  "climate change" should be changed to "climate crisis" as the effects are being felt right now.

British newspaper takes lead in reframing climate change discussion

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/climate-change-journalism-language-guardian-cbc-1.5166678

[Mark F]

1 hour ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

This article makes a very good point,

CBC. Too bad they can only write about others doing this, and won't do it themselves.

 

Quote

 

"The 'climate crisis' and 'climate emergency' are words that have a whiff of advocacy to them. They sort of imply, you know, something more serious, where climate change and global warming are more neutral terms." 

Hambleton said the public broadcaster needs to guard against "journalism that crosses into advocacy.

 

worried about "advocacy"

lol.

This Rex Murphy article is from the CBC website. 2016.

Quote

The attitude of the greens and their allied provocateurs, Dalton McGuinty to name but one premier from that time, all the dim-minded celebrities that took their jaunts to the oilsands to mewl over its planet-destroying potential – the Suzukis and Neil Youngs – has always been fervidly anti-Alberta, reckless with the province's reputation, and deeply disrespectful of its workforce.

With our own new government, we see the beginnings of the same game. Its first moves are to increase the NEB guidelines, and simultaneously in Paris highlight that its absolute, number one priority to lead the international community on the nebulous catastrophe of future warming?  

Nebulous catastrophe of future warming?  😂  Go Rex!!!!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/rex-murphy-calgary-at-a-crossroads-city-allies-1.3440346

 I stopped listening to the CBC  quite a while ago.  Because of this kind of thing.

 

Edited June 10, 2019 by Mark F

[Wideleft]

18 hours ago, Mark F said:

CBC. Too bad they can only write about others doing this, and won't do it themselves.

 

worried about "advocacy"

lol.

This Rex Murphy article is from the CBC website. 2016.

Nebulous catastrophe of future warming?  😂  Go Rex!!!!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/rex-murphy-calgary-at-a-crossroads-city-allies-1.3440346

 I stopped listening to the CBC  quite a while ago.  Because of this kind of thing.

 

Well fortunately, Rex no longer works for the CBC and I'm still not sure exactly when he lost his mind.  I still enjoy CBC Radio as it's easy to learn about 10 new things a day if you're able to catch the right programs (The Current, Ideas, As It Happens, Quirks & Quarks).  

I still think there's a hangover from the Harper-appointed Board of Directors which didn't seem too keen on the notion of a public broadcaster - kind of like making Scott Pruitt the head of the EPA.  The news broadcasts and online content have suffered since then.  

[Wideleft]

Climate change is real and we're causing it.  Deniers have no answer other than to suppress scientific findings.

Trump administration blocks intelligence aide’s warning on ‘catastrophic’ climate change

White House officials barred a State Department intelligence staffer from submitting written testimony this week to the House Intelligence Committeewarning that human-caused climate change could be "possibly catastrophic" after State officials refused to excise the document's references to the scientific consensus on climate change.

The effort to edit, and ultimately suppress, the written testimony of a senior analyst at the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research comes as the Trump administration is debating how best to challenge the idea that the burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet and could pose serious risks unless the world makes deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade.

Senior military and intelligence officials have continued to warn climate change could undermine America's national security, a position Donald Trump rejects.

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-administration-blocks-intelligence-aide-142640961.html

[Mark F]

1 hour ago, Wideleft said:

Well fortunately, Rex no longer works for the CBC and I'm still not sure exactly when he lost his mind.  I still enjoy CBC Radio as it's easy to learn about 10 new things a day if you're able to catch the right programs (The Current, Ideas, As It Happens, Quirks & Quarks).  

Yes I agree that there are a few worthwhile programs on the CBC.

But I even heard a "debate" on the program "ideas" about the climate change issue, featuring deniers. 

I think that's when I lost respect for the CBC. Anyway......😂

 

Edited June 11, 2019 by Mark F

[Mark F]

1 hour ago, Wideleft said:

Senior military and intelligence officials have continued to warn climate change could undermine America's national security, a position Donald Trump rejects.

there is a lot of evidence to show that neither Donald Trump nor  the Republican party care much about America's national security.

They are well along a dismal path.

Edited June 11, 2019 by Mark F

[Wideleft]

Welcome to the future.

Man killed in fight over water as India grapples with heatwave

Police say 33 year old died after confronting group as they drew large amounts of water from public tap

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-heatwave-fight-death-water-shortage-dead-a8949281.html

[Mark F]

Quote

 

In 2011, renowned scientist Michael E. Mann sued a Canadian think tank that published an interview suggesting his work on climate change was fraud.

Eight years later, the Winnipeg-based Frontier Centre for Public Policy — which often promotes climate change denial — apologized Friday and wiped the inflammatory interview from its website.

Mann is best known as the lead researcher on a landmark 1998 paper on climate change. He and three colleagues reconstructed global temperatures going back about 500 years, producing a now-infamous sideways-hockey-stick-like graph of global temperatures that showed a sharp upswing beginning in the 1900s.Mann has spent the two decades since the paper’s publication defending it and his reputation against climate change deniers

In a message posted to its website, the Frontier Centre apologized for publishing “untrue and disparaging” comments about Mann.

 

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/06/13/news/michael-e-mann-took-climate-change-deniers-court-they-apologized
 

Quote

 

I have not settled my claims against Tim Ball, who remains a defendant in that lawsuit: https://t.co/3q5YhWoxxQ pic.twitter.com/SMWrD6LxlG

— Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) June 7, 2019

 

 

Edited June 17, 2019 by Mark F

[Mark F]

CBC read my post, and responded!

Quote

 

In Our Backyard is an ambitious and comprehensive CBC News project about how climate change is affecting our lives. You'll see and hear it wherever CBC News is... online, on television, on the radio and on CBC Kids News, because Canada's youth care deeply about this issue

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/climate-change-editor-note-1.5175490

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

Photo Speaks for itself.

Jesus reincarnated as a team of sled dogs.

 

In this photo taken on Thursday, June 13, 2019 sled dogs make their way in northwest Greenland with their paws in melted ice water.

 

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by wanna-b-fanboy

[Mark F]

The southern Indian city of Chennai (formerly Madras) is in crisis after its four main water reservoirs ran completely dry.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48672330

in 2011 and its population reached 7,088,000[193] with Chennai Municipal Corporation being renamed as Greater Chennai Corporation.[193]

As of 2019, 712,000 families live below poverty line, which is about 40 percent of the 1.788 million families in the city.[199]

 

No longer just "future generations"

[Fatty Liver]

3 minutes ago, Mark F said:

The southern Indian city of Chennai (formerly Madras) is in crisis after its four main water reservoirs ran completely dry.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48672330

in 2011 and its population reached 7,088,000[193] with Chennai Municipal Corporation being renamed as Greater Chennai Corporation.[193]

As of 2019, 712,000 families live below poverty line, which is about 40 percent of the 1.788 million families in the city.[199]

 

No longer just "future generations"

It's past time they made over-population  part of the climate change discussion, the next 50 years we're going to see millions of people dying from lack of water.

[FrostyWinnipeg]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/boaty-mcboatface-makes-important-climate-change-discovery-on-maiden-voyage-1.4472008

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

21 hours ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

It's past time they made over-population  part of the climate change discussion, the next 50 years we're going to see millions of people dying from lack of water.

Boaty Mcboatface. Love that story.

That was a good compromise on the naming of the unmanned sub.

The winds are now churning the mid level warm water with the low lying cold water... Oh boy.

[Wideleft]

The rapid thaw of Alaska will accelerate global heating

The state’s warmest spring on record will have planet-wide repercussions.

A city in western Alaska has lost a huge stretch of riverbank to erosion that may turn it into an island, amid renewed warnings from scientists over the havoc triggered by the accelerating melting of the state’s ice and permafrost.

Residents of the small city of Akiak were alarmed to find the Kuskokwim River suddenly much closer to housing after about 75-100 feet of riverbank disappeared over the course of just a few hours.

https://www.hcn.org/articles/climate-desk-the-rapid-thaw-of-alaska-permafrost-will-accelerate-global-heating

[Mark F]

It's a strange time, the worst predictions are the ones that were accurate, a lot of progress is being made, and yet there are still people like the Albertans, and Trump, and Trudeau,  who want to ignore this problem, and carry on as if everything is fine. 

So it's a mixed bag, but basically "breaking bad"

[pigseye]

2 hours ago, Wideleft said:

The rapid thaw of Alaska will accelerate global heating

The state’s warmest spring on record will have planet-wide repercussions.

A city in western Alaska has lost a huge stretch of riverbank to erosion that may turn it into an island, amid renewed warnings from scientists over the havoc triggered by the accelerating melting of the state’s ice and permafrost.

Residents of the small city of Akiak were alarmed to find the Kuskokwim River suddenly much closer to housing after about 75-100 feet of riverbank disappeared over the course of just a few hours.

https://www.hcn.org/articles/climate-desk-the-rapid-thaw-of-alaska-permafrost-will-accelerate-global-heating

Another recent reconstruction for this region also indicated the Early Holocene was sea ice free and that modern sea ice conditions are among the most extensive of the last 9,500 years.

https://climatechangedispatch.com/paper-less-arctic-sea-ice-early-holocene/