The Environment Thread

[Tracker]

1 hour ago, Mark F said:

US supreme court delivers another piece of wreckage.

EPA can not regulate power plants.

this wrecking ball court, together with congress that does nothing. means big trouble.

 

"Justice Elena Kagan wrote a dissent, which was joined by the court’s two other liberals. “Today, the Court strips the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the power Congress gave it to respond to ’the most pressing environmental challenge of our time, ” Kagan wrote in the dissent.

“The Court appoints itself — instead of Congress or the expert agency—the decisionmaker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening,” Kagan wrote. She also said, “The majority claims it is just following precedent, but that is not so. The Court has never even used the term ‘major questions doctrine’ before.”

A White House spokesperson on Thursday said the EPA ruling was “another devastating decision from the Court that aims to take our country backwards.”"

no idea where the World is headed.  Emissions continue to rise, and I am thinking its basically over for the planet.  thankful that I am old, and will not be around twenty years from now to see the hellscape we have created.

worth noting, half of  democrats voted FOR sc judge John Roberts, who delivered this monstrous decision.

 

There is a term that describes this: "Ruling like an occupying army". 

[Mark F]

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

There is a term that describes this: "Ruling like an occupying army". 

very apt.

[the watcher]

On 2022-06-30 at 10:51 AM, Mark F said:

US supreme court delivers another piece of wreckage.

EPA can not regulate power plants.

this wrecking ball court, together with congress that does nothing. means big trouble.

 

"Justice Elena Kagan wrote a dissent, which was joined by the court’s two other liberals. “Today, the Court strips the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the power Congress gave it to respond to ’the most pressing environmental challenge of our time, ” Kagan wrote in the dissent.

“The Court appoints itself — instead of Congress or the expert agency—the decisionmaker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening,” Kagan wrote. She also said, “The majority claims it is just following precedent, but that is not so. The Court has never even used the term ‘major questions doctrine’ before.”

A White House spokesperson on Thursday said the EPA ruling was “another devastating decision from the Court that aims to take our country backwards.”"

cnbc.

 

no idea where the World is headed.

emissions continue to rise, and I am thinking its basically over for the planet.

thankful that I am old, and will not be around twenty years from now to see the hellscape we have created.

worth noting, half of  democrats voted FOR scjudge John Roberts, who delivered this monstrous decision.

 

Not only is the USA collapsing but they are doing their best to take everyone else with them.

[Tracker]

1 hour ago, the watcher said:

Not only is the USA collapsing but they are doing their best to take everyone else with them.

Leading the world once again......into the 16th century.

[Tracker]

2h

 

 

32 degrees C (90 F) recorded in Inuvik, NWT, Canada last week. That town is well inside the Arctic circle and near the Arctic Ocean…

 

 

[blue_gold_84]

Record wildfires across much of the north (Yukon is particularly bad). The smoke in Yellowknife last week while I was there was horrendous.

30+ C in Inuvik should alarm everyone.

[Mark F]

2 hours ago, blue_gold_84 said:

Record wildfires across much of the north (Yukon is particularly bad). The smoke in Yellowknife last week while I was there was horrendous.

30+ C in Inuvik should alarm everyone.

yeah it sure should, astonishing.

perma frost melt methane bomb. probably beyond our capacity at that point.

thanks for info.

Edited July 12, 2022 by Mark F

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, Mark F said:

yeah it sure should, astonishing.

perma frost melt methane bomb. probably beyond our capacity at that point.

thanks for info.

Perhaps we are too stupid to survive- human Dodo birds.  Well, we had a good run.

[Mark H.]

22 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Perhaps we are too stupid to survive- human Dodo birds.  Well, we had a good run.

We wouldn't be the first large mammal to run out of resources.

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/europe-heat-wave-no-surprise-1.6524404

We're ******.

[Mark F]

3 hours ago, blue_gold_84 said:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/europe-heat-wave-no-surprise-1.6524404

We're ******.

pretty much right on the money.

 

[blue_gold_84]

https://inews.co.uk/news/world/greenland-melting-billion-tons-climate-change-1754128

Quote

Greenland’s vast ice sheets cover most of the world’s biggest island, locking up enough water to raise sea levels by 7.42m worldwide.

But just as wildfires have gripped Europe and annual droughts have struck parts of the United States, the recent July heatwave in the northern hemisphere is having an impact on the Arctic outpost too.

A series of warm days has meant 6 gigatons of water (6 billion tons) per day being released into the ocean.

 

[Mark F]

@blue_gold_84 thanks for posting here.

 

every day there is a new "wakeup call". 

and yet we still have millions who don't understand, or care.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Mark F

[Mark F]

as @blue_gold_84mentioned.

 

https://www.enr.gov.nt.ca/en/services/wildfire-update

 

"Special Wildfire Bulletin – WILDFIRE SMOKE ACROSS THE NWT EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR FORESEEABLE FUTURE (JULY 5, 2022 – ACTIVE UNTIL RESCINDED)

News Type: 

Special Wildfire Bulletin

YELLOWKNIFE (JULY 5, 2022) – With more than 500 fires burning in Yukon, NWT, and Alaska, and many more in southern Canada, most NWT communities will experience wildfire smoke over the coming days and even weeks. 

It will range from mild levels to very high levels depending on where you are. It is likely this will come with ash in many cases."

Edited July 21, 2022 by Mark F

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/21/revealed-oil-sectors-staggering-profits-last-50-years?CMP=share_btn_tw

Quote

The oil and gas industry has delivered $2.8bn (£2.3bn) a day in pure profit for the last 50 years, a new analysis has revealed.

The vast total captured by petrostates and fossil fuel companies since 1970 is $52tn, providing the power to “buy every politician, every system” and delay action on the climate crisis, says Prof Aviel Verbruggen, the author of the analysis. The huge profits were inflated by cartels of countries artificially restricting supply.

The analysis, based on World Bank data, assesses the “rent” secured by global oil and gas sales, which is the economic term for the unearned profit produced after the total cost of production has been deducted.

The study has yet to be published in an academic journal but three experts at University College London, the London School of Economics and the thinktank Carbon Tracker confirmed the analysis as accurate, with one calling the total a “staggering number”. It appears to be the first long-term assessment of the sector’s total profits, with oil rents providing 86% of the total.

Emissions from the burning of fossil fuels have driven the climate crisis and contributed to worsening extreme weather, including the current heatwaves hitting the UK and many other Northern hemisphere countries. Oil companies have known for decades that carbon emissions were dangerously heating the planet.

“I was really surprised by such high numbers – they are enormous,” said Verbruggen, an energy and environmental economist at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and a former lead author of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

Fifty. Two. Trillion. Dollars.

Outrageous.

[Mark F]

and another big reason to ditch oil and gas: why would anyone put their countries economic head, in a chopping block with saudi arabia, putin and holding  the axe.

with the assistance and applause from koch family, exxon, shell, chevron

complete insanity.

2 hours ago, blue_gold_84 said:

The huge profits were inflated by cartels of countries artificially restricting supply.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Mark F

[the watcher]

On 2022-07-21 at 3:24 PM, blue_gold_84 said:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/21/revealed-oil-sectors-staggering-profits-last-50-years?CMP=share_btn_tw

Fifty. Two. Trillion. Dollars.

Outrageous.

And yet many countries including Canada continue to subsidize the oil industry.  Removing them from the public teat  should have been done years ago. 

[Mark F]

rough calculation from reddit re electric truck.

"I don’t know a single person would even consider buying a new ICE vehicle right now. Everyone is waiting for better choice with new electric cars. $2.00/L CAD fuel makes that choice for you right quick.

Here’s some scary math. New trades truck- 13/L per 100km.  $260 per 1000 km. $104,000 per 400,000km lifetime.

Electric truck? 360wh/km $0.14/kWh power $40 per 1000km. $16,000 over 400,000km.

Savings $88,000. The electric truck is free."

 

[WildPath]

49 minutes ago, Mark F said:

rough calculation from reddit re electric truck.

"I don’t know a single person would even consider buying a new ICE vehicle right now. Everyone is waiting for better choice with new electric cars. $2.00/L CAD fuel makes that choice for you right quick.

Here’s some scary math. New trades truck- 13/L per 100km.  $260 per 1000 km. $104,000 per 400,000km lifetime.

Electric truck? 360wh/km $0.14/kWh power $40 per 1000km. $16,000 over 400,000km.

Savings $88,000. The electric truck is free."

 

I've been doing some reading on this and I cannot imagine how my next vehicle wouldn't be electric. Add in the $5000 credit from the feds and it makes it an easy choice. Hopefully the prairie provinces step up to the plate and add to this once supply improves as well.

Some of the calculations you missed are the lower costs for maintaining an electric. No oil changes, brakes last longer, less moving parts. I've read a few different opinions, but basically servicing will cost more since there are not many mechanics that are certified for electric, but the vehicle will need to be serviced less often. The cost for servicing an electric is expected to come down as they become more widely adopted and more mechanics become certified to service them.

I've always preferred plain vehicles without much tech (I actually prefer manual windows and locks too). Not too keen on all the tech they pack into the electric cars, but I guess that's likely true of new ICE vehicles usually. Just seems like more that could go wrong / planned obsolescence.

[Mark F]

11 hours ago, WildPath said:

I've been doing some reading on this and I cannot imagine how my next vehicle wouldn't be electric. Add in the $5000 credit from the feds and it makes it an easy choice. Hopefully the prairie provinces step up to the plate and add to this once supply improves as well.

looks like the transition from ice to electric car is well underway.

according to that reddit discussion,Ford is offering workers at ice plants retraining for electric... ic they say no thanks, some get laid off...

also read there, that faculties offering courses in fields related to ice , oil and gas are not getting as many candidates.

also... saw there is a substantial price drop on chevy  bolt.... 

Edited July 27, 2022 by Mark F

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.wired.com/story/why-the-arctic-is-warming-4-times-as-fast-as-the-rest-of-earth/

Quote

...the Arctic is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet, in large part due to a gnarly feedback loop: As more sea ice melts, it exposes darker waters, which absorb more of the sun’s energy, further accelerating the melt. That’s wrong, as it turns out. Things are actually even worse.

Those underlying warming processes, known as Arctic amplification, are indeed happening. But their rate is far more catastrophic than scientists first understood. Thanks to a torrent of temperature data, by late 2021 researchers were estimating that the region is actually warming more than four times faster than the rest of Earth, with huge consequences for the whole planet. 

And now, a June paper published by a separate group in the journal Geophysical Research Letters puts an even finer point on the problem, showing that over the last few decades, the Arctic hasn’t warmed at a consistent, predictable rate. “We have seen that these changes are not smooth, as has been believed until now. They occur basically in two discrete steps: one around 1985 and then around 2000,” says Petr Chylek, a research scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and lead author of the study. “After this last increase in the year 2000, Arctic amplification is about 4.5 compared to two or three [times as fast], as it was before. So it is a significant change.”

What caused these sudden spikes in Arctic temperatures isn’t yet clear. But the first one in the 1980s was probably due to increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Chylek says. The second spike around the turn of the century may have been due more to variability in the climate—for instance, changing ocean currents.

Scientists have a good handle on what’s causing the overall Arctic warming, though. Sea ice has a very high “albedo,” meaning it reflects a lot of the sun’s radiation. But the underlying seawater has a low albedo, meaning it absorbs that energy. (If you look at satellite images of the sea, it can be quite dark.) So as that ice melts, the albedo of the Arctic decreases, raising temperatures, which melts more ice. It’s a vicious circle.

“This albedo effect is really translated into melting of sea ice in the summer and early fall,” says Chylek. “Because of this evaporation of water, and because a larger area of water is open at that time, we get this water vapor into the atmosphere and formation of low-level clouds.” And clouds, as it turns out, also play a role in boosting temperatures. They bounce some of the sun’s radiation back into space, sure, but they also absorb some of it, like insulation. The low-level clouds stick around through the winter, trapping heat against the landscape. So even though in some parts of the Arctic the sun doesn’t come out at all during the depths of winter, warmer summers and autumns prime the coldest months to get hotter. 

All the extra warmth of summer is also getting trapped in the Arctic Ocean, then released throughout the winter. “The greatest warming in the Arctic is happening in winter, which maybe surprises people, because you have the greatest sea ice melt in summertime,” says Hahn, of the University of Washington. “That's when you have incoming sunlight. But the idea is that there's seasonal ocean heat storage.” It’s like a giant radiator that warms up a room even after it’s been turned off. 

Simultaneously, storms have been transporting moisture from lower latitudes into the Arctic, further encouraging the development of clouds. And injections of warmer water from the south, brought north by ocean currents, further melt sea ice. “As it melts, water evaporates and increases atmospheric humidity, which causes an increase in cloudiness in winter, and we have infrared radiation coming from these clouds to the surface,” says Chylek. “This is one feedback loop that can cause increased Arctic temperature, and we believe that it is one of the reasons why we see this increase in temperature around 2000.”

[Mark F]

@blue_gold_84

knock on effect

 

"Scientists have warned about the impending fate of Greenland's ice sheet and say what happened between July 15 and 17 is the latest massive melting event contributing to an increase in the global sea level.

The amount of water from the July 15-17 melt—about 6 billion tons per day, or 18 billion tons over the weekend—is enough to "cover West Virginia in a foot of water—four inches per day, roughly," Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at the University of Colorado's Earth Science and Observation Center and National Snow and Ice Data Center, told U.S. TODAY.

Much of the melting came from northern Greenland because warm air drifted over from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Scambos said."

crazy crazy stuff.

[Fatty Liver]

17 hours ago, WildPath said:

I've been doing some reading on this and I cannot imagine how my next vehicle wouldn't be electric. Add in the $5000 credit from the feds and it makes it an easy choice. Hopefully the prairie provinces step up to the plate and add to this once supply improves as well.

Some of the calculations you missed are the lower costs for maintaining an electric. No oil changes, brakes last longer, less moving parts. I've read a few different opinions, but basically servicing will cost more since there are not many mechanics that are certified for electric, but the vehicle will need to be serviced less often. The cost for servicing an electric is expected to come down as they become more widely adopted and more mechanics become certified to service them.

I've always preferred plain vehicles without much tech (I actually prefer manual windows and locks too). Not too keen on all the tech they pack into the electric cars, but I guess that's likely true of new ICE vehicles usually. Just seems like more that could go wrong / planned obsolescence.

Electric motors have not changed much in over 100 years, I'd be surprised if it takes much training to switch over from being an ICE mechanic, I'd guess it probably takes a lot less skill.  Nobody is fixing batteries or rewinding electric motors, computer diagnosis and much less mechanical issues and maintenance will put a lot of mechanics out of work.

[Tracker]

1,000 People Stranded In Death Valley National Park After Flash Flooding

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Record rainfall Friday trigged flash floods at Death Valley National Park that swept away cars, closed all roads and stranded hundreds of visitors and workers.

There were no immediate reports of injuries but roughly 60 vehicles were buried in mud and debris and about 500 visitors and 500 park workers were stuck inside the park, officials said.
The park near the California-Nevada state line received 1.46 inches (3.71 centimeters) of rain at the Furnace Creek area. That’s about 75% of what the area typically gets in a year and more than has ever been recorded for the entire month of August.

In this photo provided by the National Park Service, Highway 190 is closed due to flash flooding in Death Valley National Park, Calif., Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. Heavy rainfall triggered flash flooding that closed several roads in Death Valley National Park on Friday near the California-Nevada line. 
In this photo provided by the National Park Service, Highway 190 is closed due to flash flooding in Death Valley National Park, Calif., Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. Heavy rainfall triggered flash flooding that closed several roads in Death Valley National Park on Friday near the California-Nevada line. NATIONAL PARK 
Since 1936, the only single day with more rain was April 15, 1988, when 1.47 inches (3.73 centimeters) fell, park officials said.

“Entire trees and boulders were washing down,” said John Sirlin, a photographer for an Arizona-based adventure company who witnessed the flooding as he perched on a hillside boulder where he was trying to take pictures of lightning as the storm approached.

[Mark F]

4 hours ago, Tracker said:

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Record rainfall Friday trigged flash floods at Death Valley National Park that swept away cars, closed all roads and stranded hundreds of visitors and workers.

about a month ago, yellowstone park got the same.

and Eastern US.had three, " once in a thousand years"  rainfalls and floods in the last week. guess this makes four.

at the same time, endless drought, rivers and lakes  going dry.

seems  like maybe the scientists, were right. 

 

hang on to your hat, only going to get worse. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11081421/Americas-floodgates-open-Three-1-000-year-rains-week-left-38-dead.html

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by Mark F