The Environment Thread

[Tracker]

(This Doesn't quite fit here, but interesting nonetheless)

More than half of all American waterways are 'impaired by pollution': study
   
A recent study commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act’s passage shows exactly how the U.S. is failing its commitment to eliminating pollution in the country’s navigable waterways, defined by the EPA as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” The report by the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project, titled “The Clean Water Act: Promises Half Kept at the Half-Century Mark,” delves into the millions of miles of rivers, streams, and creeks; millions of acres of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs; and thousands of square miles of bays, estuaries, and harbors that have been assessed based on the most recent Integrated Waters Report submitted to the EPA. Much of these waters are considered “impaired with pollution,” which means they fail “to meet standards for swimming and recreation, aquatic life, fish consumption, or as drinking water sources.”

Of the 1,426,619 miles of rivers, streams, and creeks that have been assessed, 725,856 miles are considered impaired with pollution, accounting for 51%. More than half of the 20,432,238 acres of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs assessed similarly are considered impaired with pollution. Bays, estuaries, and harbors fared better, with about a quarter of the 76,555 square miles assessed considered impaired with pollution.

 

[iHeart]

 

[Mark F]

Canada might regret being transition laggards:

 

New German transition plan, effective July 1st 2022:

"The package envisages green energy accounting for 80% of the power mix in Europe's biggest economy by 2030, up from about 40% now and a previous target of 65%.

"On the one hand, the climate crisis is coming to a head. On the other hand, Russia's invasion shows how important it is to phase out fossil fuels and promote the expansion of renewables," Habeck told reporters.
The legislation includes a new clause acknowledging that the use of renewables is in the interests of public security."

Reuters.

 

The Pentagon has been saying for years that climate change is a security issue.

Current Oil boom might be the last, short, kick at the cat. Germany has woken up. We have not.

Edited April 6, 2022 by Mark F

[FrostyWinnipeg]

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/japans-nissan-plans-game-changing-electric-car-batteries-83953212

[Mark H.]

I would also add that globalization in general is a security issue

Russia exports more wheat than oil.  

[JCon]

1 minute ago, Mark H. said:

I would also add that globalization in general is a security issue

Russia exports more wheat than oil.  

Wouldn't be as much of an issue if the US didn't stop growing grains in exchange for corn. 

[Tracker]

32 minutes ago, Mark H. said:

I would also add that globalization in general is a security issue

Russia exports more wheat than oil.  

I believe that most of that exported grain came from Ukraine, so things may be different now,

[Mark H.]

3 hours ago, Tracker said:

I believe that most of that exported grain came from Ukraine, so things may be different now,

25% of the world's wheat from those two countries.

4 hours ago, JCon said:

Wouldn't be as much of an issue if the US didn't stop growing grains in exchange for corn. 

Yep. The U.S. corn belt is a disaster waiting to happen. 

However, the same thing is true about oil. Many countries could and should be far less dependant on the oil of other nations. 

[FrostyWinnipeg]

Brazil's Amazon rainforest has already reached a new deforestation record this year

[FrostyWinnipeg]

https://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2022/04/volkswagen-canada-wants-you-to-skip-researching-cars-this-earth-day-and-help-plant-100-000-trees.html

Edited April 22, 2022 by FrostyWinnipeg

[JCon]

7 minutes ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

https://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2022/04/volkswagen-canada-wants-you-to-skip-researching-cars-this-earth-day-and-help-plant-100-000-trees.html

The one day that I was going to look up a VW vehicle (for a friend) and I got this landing page earlier. 

[Tracker]

[the watcher]

On 2022-04-06 at 11:12 AM, Mark F said:

Canada might regret being transition laggards:

 

New German transition plan, effective July 1st 2022:

"The package envisages green energy accounting for 80% of the power mix in Europe's biggest economy by 2030, up from about 40% now and a previous target of 65%.

"On the one hand, the climate crisis is coming to a head. On the other hand, Russia's invasion shows how important it is to phase out fossil fuels and promote the expansion of renewables," Habeck told reporters.
The legislation includes a new clause acknowledging that the use of renewables is in the interests of public security."

Reuters.

 

The Pentagon has been saying for years that climate change is a security issue.

Current Oil boom might be the last, short, kick at the cat. Germany has woken up. We have not.

If Germany manages  to get to  % 65 renewable energy  ( they currently sit at around %45 ) they will be matching Canada's current number. We also have the worlds 2nd most amount of trees (318 billion) which removes more carbon than we produce. That doesn't mean we can't move to less fossil fuels but they are facts that are often ignored.  

Edited April 28, 2022 by the watcher

[Mark F]

13 minutes ago, the watcher said:

That doesn't mean we can't move to less fossil fuels but they are facts that are often ignored.  

Where is 65 % figure from?

 

also....

I dont think your number includes impact of fossil produced here, and used elsewhere. 

also, forests are in the process of comverting from carbon sink, to co2 source, due to,forest fires, already 71 burning in B.C. . 

 

Canada's forests actually emit more carbon than they absorb — despite what you've heard on Facebook

Our managed forest land hasn't been a net carbon sink since 2001

Robson Fletcher · CBC News · Posted: Feb 12, 2019 2:00 AM MT | Last Updated: February 12, 2019

Canada's forests may be pretty, but they've actually been a net contributor to our greenhouse gas emissions since 2002. (Robson Fletcher/CBC)

"You might have heard that Canada's forests are an immense carbon sink, sucking up all sorts of CO2 — more than we produce — so we don't have to worry about our greenhouse gas emissions.

This claim has been circulated on social media and repeated by pundits and politicians.

This would be convenient for our country, if it were real. Hitting our emissions-reduction targets would be a breeze. But, like most things that sound too good to be true, this one is false.

That's because trees don't just absorb carbon when they grow, they emit it when they die and decompose, or burn.

When you add up both the absorption and emission, Canada's forests haven't been a net carbon sink since 2001. Due largely to forest fires and insect infestations, the trees have actually added to our country's greenhouse gas emissions for each of the past 15 years on record."

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/canada-forests-carbon-sink-or-source-1.5011490

 

take a look at the amount of pine forest killed in B.C. By pine bark beetle, now rotting and giving off CO2. It is bigger than Vancouver island in area.

Edited April 28, 2022 by Mark F

[the watcher]

7 minutes ago, Mark F said:

Where is 65 % figure from?

 

also....

I dont think your number includes impact of fossil produced here, and used elsewhere. 

also, forests are in the process of comverting from carbon sink, to co2 source, due to,forest fires, already 71 burning in B.C. .

 

The % 65 is real easy to find. I've heard it in multiple articles and Docs. You can also find it on Wiki. You could very well be correct on fossil fuels produced here but used elsewhere. The devils in the details . I am really sceptical on story's, numbers , etc... these days. Everyone from big oil to the Sierra Club twist numbers to suit their agenda. Our forests do remove tons of carbon. Yes when they burn they can release it but we have something like %30 ( off the top of my head ) of the world's trees. 

Edited April 28, 2022 by the watcher

[Mark F]

1 hour ago, the watcher said:

Our forests do remove tons of carbon

Source?

report i posted says otherwise.

you can calculate emissions s: "the mountain pine beetle outbreak that destroyed over 18 million hectares of B.C. forests and continues to spread into Alberta."

 

canada isnt even on track to make its own weak targets.

trudeau just approved new oil field off east coast.

horgan full steam ahead with lng.

canadians have very high personal emissions.

Instead of more oil drilling, where is our offshore wind project?

There are none.

cheapest energy is solar and winD. By far. We are building nuclear, and carbon capture. 
 

nobody else following that path. Nobody.

we are laggards.  

Edited April 28, 2022 by Mark F

[the watcher]

11 minutes ago, Mark F said:

Source?

report i posted says otherwise.

you can calculate emissions s: "the mountain pine beetle outbreak that destroyed over 18 million hectares of B.C. forests and continues to spread into Alberta."

 

canada isnt even on track to make its own weak targets.

trudeau just approved new oil field off east coast.

horgan full steam ahead with lng.

canadians have very high personal emissions.

Instead of more oil drilling, where is our offshore wind project?

There are none.

cheapest energy is solar and winD. By far. We are building nuclear, and carbon capture. 
 

nobody else following that path. Nobody.

we are laggards.  

I'm not arguing for  more oil. I never said we should produce more. But we arent laggards . All I said is we are ahead of the game in producing energy to countries like Germany because of our hydro- electric facilities. It's not hard to find those figures. Just look it up. They are everywhere. But yes per capita do produce alot of carbon emissions. But there is only 37 million of us. Canada produces %1.89 of the worlds CO2 emissions. We are 7th behind  China- %29.18  U.S. %14.02  India %7.09  Russia %4.65  Japan %3.47  Germany %2.17 

Back to forests of course they remove carbon. When a tree dies it doesn't just release it's carbon thst it has sequestered. It turns it into soil. Fires are an  issue but what % of our 318 billion trees are going to burn this year ?

 

[JCon]

2 hours ago, the watcher said:

If Germany manages  to get to  % 65 renewable energy  ( they currently sit at around %45 ) they will be matching Canada's current number. We also have the worlds 2nd most amount of trees (318 billion) which removes more carbon than we produce. That doesn't mean we can't move to less fossil fuels but they are facts that are often ignored.  

8% of energy production is from renewal energy, including hydro electricity. 

Where do you get 65%? That would be amazing but not happening here. 

Source: https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/science-and-data/data-and-analysis/energy-data-and-analysis/energy-facts/20061

• Fossil fuels made up 76% of Canada’s TPES in 2019.

• Renewable energy sources made up 16.2% of Canada’s TPES in 2019.

(TPES = PRODUCTION + IMPORTS - EXPORTS + STOCK CHANGES)

[GCn20]

20 minutes ago, the watcher said:

I'm not arguing for  more oil. I never said we should produce more. But we arent laggards . All I said is we are ahead of the game in producing energy to countries like Germany because of our hydro- electric facilities. It's not hard to find those figures. Just look it up. They are everywhere. But yes per capita do produce alot of carbon emissions. But there is only 37 million of us. Canada produces %1.89 of the worlds CO2 emissions. We are 7th behind  China- %29.18  U.S. %14.02  India %7.09  Russia %4.65  Japan %3.47  Germany %2.17 

Back to forests of course they remove carbon. When a tree dies it doesn't just release it's carbon thst it has sequestered. It turns it into soil. Fires are an  issue but what % of our 318 billion trees are going to burn this year ?

 

I'll argue for more oil production right now, all day...every day. I believe that thinking us not producing oil is a good thing is kind of naive. The world demand for oil is there and it's not going away any time soon. That's just straight up fact. The environmentalists can act like this is an issue that Canada has any say in but it simply doesn't. What we can control is providing clean oil production from a country that is a reliable world leader in peace and democracy. Tired of this B.S. that us producing oil will diminish the world....just the opposite really. It's time we take some of the business away from the Venezuelans, Russians, and Saudi's who use the money to make the world a dangerous place for all and don't give a fig about global warming and never will. So long as those countries don't care we will never break our dependancy on oil completely. Canada can become a major player by taking a larger segment of the oil industry then moving the world to be green and using a healthy portion of our oil wealth that is created to do so.

[the watcher]

I'm a tad busy but this is fro  Wiki and every other source I read says the same.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_renewable_electricity_production

Not a big wiki believer but it matches everything else I have read.

The info I quoted on  Co2 production in my last post was from World OMeter

 

[JCon]

6 minutes ago, GCn20 said:

I'll argue for more oil production right now, all day...every day. I believe that thinking us not producing oil is a good thing is kind of naive. The world demand for oil is there and it's not going away any time soon. That's just straight up fact. The environmentalists can act like this is an issue that Canada has any say in but it simply doesn't. What we can control is providing clean oil production from a country that is a reliable world leader in peace and democracy. Tired of this B.S. that us producing oil will diminish the world....just the opposite really. It's time we take some of the business away from the Venezuelans, Russians, and Saudi's who use the money to make the world a dangerous place for all and don't give a fig about global warming and never will. So long as those countries don't care we will never break our dependancy on oil completely. Canada can become a major player by taking a larger segment of the oil industry then moving the world to be green and using a healthy portion of our oil wealth that is created to do so.

This, in a nutshell, is everything on the "right". It's all about me and screw everyone else. 

 

You can't make anything "green" by producing more CO2. 

[the watcher]

27 minutes ago, JCon said:

8% of energy production is from renewal energy, including hydro electricity. 

Where do you get 65%? That would be amazing but not happening here. 

Source: https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/science-and-data/data-and-analysis/energy-data-and-analysis/energy-facts/20061

• Fossil fuels made up 76% of Canada’s TPES in 2019.

• Renewable energy sources made up 16.2% of Canada’s TPES in 2019.

(TPES = PRODUCTION + IMPORTS - EXPORTS + STOCK CHANGES)

TPES isn't just energy production. 

[JCon]

1 minute ago, the watcher said:

TPES isn't just energy production. 

Right, which is why I included the 8%. Which is the total amount of renewable energy we produce. 

 

[the watcher]

8 minutes ago, JCon said:

Right, which is why I included the 8%. Which is the total amount of renewable energy we produce. 

 

% 65 is an extremely common number. It's everywhere. Not in  pro oil propaganda , it's in many  lists, it's in documentaries from out side Canada. If I have time later I'll make a list.The the problem is we are comparing apples and oranges. I think the numbers you are using include electricity,  oil, gas, ........ The % 65 is our production of electricity.

[Wideleft]

2 hours ago, GCn20 said:

I'll argue for more oil production right now, all day...every day. I believe that thinking us not producing oil is a good thing is kind of naive. The world demand for oil is there and it's not going away any time soon. That's just straight up fact. The environmentalists can act like this is an issue that Canada has any say in but it simply doesn't. What we can control is providing clean oil production from a country that is a reliable world leader in peace and democracy. Tired of this B.S. that us producing oil will diminish the world....just the opposite really. It's time we take some of the business away from the Venezuelans, Russians, and Saudi's who use the money to make the world a dangerous place for all and don't give a fig about global warming and never will. So long as those countries don't care we will never break our dependancy on oil completely. Canada can become a major player by taking a larger segment of the oil industry then moving the world to be green and using a healthy portion of our oil wealth that is created to do so.

Your suggestion comes about 25 years too late.  32 years too late if you live in Norway.