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The High Costs of Climate Change
September 24, 2023

The compounding costs of climate change total trouble for insurance companies... and people too.

AAA, Allstate, American Family, Farmers, Nationwide, State Farm, Erie Insurance Group, and Berkshire Hathaway have told regulators that climate change has led them to stop writing coverages in some regions, exclude protections from various weather events, and raise premiums and deductibles.

The wildfires in California have been more frequent and intense because of increased temperatures, droughts, and earlier snow melts. California has more than 1.2 million homes at moderate to extreme risk of wildfire damage. Allstate, State Farm, American International Group, and Chubb have announced they will stop issuing new policies for California homes. The state is just too risky.

Flood waters and hurricanes continue to swamp Florida. A third of Florida's population lives in flood-prone areas, and even more Floridians are at risk from hurricanes. Home insurance policies in Florida now average $6,000 per year, more than double the national average of $1,700. Florida home insurance damage claims are capped at $700,000. And more than 13% of Florida homes are uninsured, about double the national average. 

U.S. insurance companies have paid $295.8 billion in natural disaster losses from 2020 to 2022, a record for any three-year period.



This summer had record heat, measured as global and sea surface temperatures.

June of 2023 was the hottest June on record. July was not just the hottest July but the hottest month since record keeping began in 1880. The record setting July heat came from equatorial Africa, Alaska, northern Canada, Mexico, and central America. Phoenix Arizona exceeded 110 degrees for all the days of July. And August of 2023 was the hottest August on record.

The roughly 6,000 Canadian wildfires in 2023 have scorched 34 million acres (the size of New York state). That's three times larger than any U.S. fire season and 10 times the 10-year average in Canada. The Canadian wildfires created 133 pyrocumulonimbus clouds (pyroCbs) with lightning, great walls of fire, and firenados with heights of 3,000 feet and speeds up to 140 mph. The pyroCbs are associated with volcanic eruptions and a typical year has 40 to 50 worldwide. Over 150,000 Canadians are currently displaced, with 145 million more in North America choking on toxic wildfire smoke. And next summer is expected to be worse.

The deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history tore through Lahaina Maui on August 4th, leaving 97 dead and $5.5 billion in property damage.

Is climate change good for anything? Yes, climate change is great for poison ivy.

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Music Associations: Michael Murphey - Wildfire
& Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls Of Fire








Songs of Sweltering
Record Heat
July 26, 2023


The average planetary temperature hit a record high of 63° F last Thursday, July 20th. Sorry. That's on me. I used the microwave that night to warm up some vegetables.

Anthropogenic climate change caused June 2023 to be Earth’s warmest June on record and is responsible for shattered temperature records this month in China, Spain, and the southern US.

China set a new national daily temperature record of 126° F (52.2° C), at the Sanbao weather station in the Xinjiang Uygur region. Catalonia in Spain recorded its hottest-ever temperature of 113.7° F (45.4° C).

El Paso has endured 40 consecutive triple-digit days with at least a few more scorching hot days expected this week, about twice as long as El Paso's previous record. The streak began June 16.

Phoenix has reached 110 degrees or higher for 25 straight days, continuing the record for the most days in a row with temperatures that hot. Phoenix has also had 15 days in a row with lows in the 90s, another all-time record. The pavement there is more than 40 degrees hotter than the ambient temperature, hot enough to burn skin. Phoenix Fire Captain Kimberly Ragsdale told ABC15, “We're seeing people with heat stroke, heat exhaustion, dehydration, and we are seeing an increase to burn injuries to the skin.”

At the Las Vegas airport last week, Delta flight 555 sat on the tarmac in 111° F  (43.8° C) heat with no air conditioning for four hours. Multiple passengers were seen by first responders, and a flight attendant and a passenger were transported to a local hospital.

Someone on social media commented, “Oh, the irony.  People sitting on a plane in the extreme heat that's a direct result of climate change, and not one person says that maybe, just maybe, the best reason never to fly Delta (or any airline) is to preserve even a tiny chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change.”

More than 200 heat-related deaths have been reported in Mexico. Cattle have also died in Mexico's heat. The heat has also damaged cotton crops in China and olive crops in Spain. In Europe in 2022, an estimated 60,000 people were killed by the heat.

Sea water hit hot tub level at the tip of Florida. A Manatee Bay buoy recorded 101.1° F Monday evening, which may be a record sea water temperature, July 24th. Hot sea water is causing devastating coral bleaching and death in the supposedly resilient reefs of the Florida Keys.

Record wildfires continue to burn Canada. More than 650 wildfires were out of control as of July 24th. According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center more than 11 million hectares have already burned in 2023, compared to the 10-year average of about 800,000 hectares.

And the north Atlantic Ocean Gulf Stream may collapse as soon as 2025, as part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (Amoc). The collapse of the currents would have disastrous consequences around the world, severely disrupting the rains that billions of people depend on for food in India, South America, and west Africa. It would increase storms and drop temperatures in Europe, and lead to a rising sea level on the eastern coast of North America. It would also further endanger the Amazon rainforest and Antarctic ice sheets. “I think we should be very worried,” said Peter Ditlevsen, at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and who led the study in the journal Nature Communications. “This would be a very, very large change. The Amoc has not been shut off for 12,000 years.”

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Music Association:  Martha & the Vandellas - Heat Wave







That Blew Up In His Face
Independence Injuries
July 8, 2023

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission just issued their Fireworks Annual Report for 2022. That year had about 10,200 fireworks-related injuries with 73% occurring during the 30 days surrounding July 4th. Firecrackers caused the most emergency injuries (1,300) followed by sparklers (600). Sparklers burn at about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The sparks of sparklers are ejected bits of melted aluminum, magnesium, iron, titanium, and ferrotitanium. Mortar-style aerial fireworks killed most of the 11 fireworks-related fatalities. The CPSC also bought and tested fireworks, finding illegal components, faulty fuses, prohibited chemicals, and overloaded materials. China manufactures more than 98% of U.S. consumer fireworks.


CPSC 2022 Fireworks Annual Report

This past week, a man was killed and four others were injured when a house blew up due to preparations of 300 three-inch fireworks shells (Gilmer, Texas). A woman died from another home fireworks explosion and ten others were injured (Ottawa County, Michigan). Another man died when a fireworks shell exploded while still in its mortar tube, impacting the man in his hand and chest (Charles County, Maryland). Yet another man died after cutting the wick of a commercial-grade firework and lighting it in a homemade mortar tube (Boone County, Kentucky). A 15-year-old was killed playing with fireworks (Amarillo, Texas). A house was set ablaze from a neighbor's fireworks, killing a man who had been asleep (St. Charles County, Missouri).

An illegal fireworks display stand tipped over and launched shells into a crowd, burning a 16-year-old girl and another spectator (Somers, Connecticut). A legal mortar-style firework tipped over, launched a horizontal shell, landing in a crowd of spectators, injuring several people (Allegan, Michigan). A malfunction ignited all the fireworks on a private boat dock, injuring 3 and sending the crowd running (Montgomery County, Texas). A fireworks explosion caused head and leg injuries (Yarmouth, Massachusetts). A man lost part of his hand while lighting fireworks in an intersection (Los Angeles, California). Two men suffered hand and fingers amputations while shooting off fireworks (London Mills, Illinois). A 14-year-old boy may lose sight after a roman candle hit him in his right eye (Holcomb, Missouri). Cleaning up fireworks debris, a 13-year-old boy picked up a firework and it exploded in his hand, causing a partial amputation of all the fingers of his right hand and burns to his face and chest (Lauderhill, Florida). A man was injured after an aerial firework was launched into his vehicle (Bargersville, Indiana).

Another man was detonating numerous commercial-grade fireworks. A mortar-style aerial shell failed to launch. The man looked into the tube and the firework discharged, striking his face and then exploding. The man sustained major injuries to the head and became unconscious (Cary, Illinois). When you stare into the firework launch tube, the firework launch tube stares back at you.

Dude, that's a lot of DUDs (dangerous unexploded devices).

Aren't commercial-grade fireworks illegal in Illinois, like in Minnesota?!?

Yes, but the United States Independence celebration is about 50 very different states and one of those different states is Wisconsin, which has always prioritized taking money from out-of-state tourists. Fewer tourists early this century meant Wisconsin decided to sell dangerous fireworks to travelers. Fireworks stores line up on the Wisconsin border, a booming industry.



Wisconsin statute 167.10 Regulation of fireworks:  “Paragraph (a) does not apply to: ... 8. The possession of fireworks by a person who is not a resident of this state if the person does not use the fireworks in this state.”

What that means is the dangerous stuff is only sold to non-residents.

So if you live in Cary, Illinois where fireworks are illegal, you can drive 23 miles north to Genoa City, Wisconsin (orange 5 on the map). That's where American Fireworks sells firecrackers, roman candles, rockets, missiles, reloadable mortars, helicopters, finale racks, and 500 gram aerial repeaters like:

  *  1 Minute Ride 42 Shot
  *  2 Minute Show in a Box (53 shots) - promising “you are going to be the life of any party.”
  *  All Night Long - lasts 39 seconds on YouTube but the tinnitus will last forever

Black Bull Fireworks is also in Genoa City (orange 9 on the map) and has many multi-shot 500 gram repeaters:

  *  312 shot War Machine
  *  220 shot Bad Boy
  *  220 shot We Will Rock You
  *  150 shot Black Dynamite
  *  128 shot Cold Killer
  *  102 shot Goooooal
  *    16 shot Merica
  *    16 shot, 32 colors One Bad Mother-In-Law
  *    12 shot Big Man
  *  148 shot 1000 Gram Finale with a red comet, a green comet, a yellow comet, another red comet, another green comet, a crackling comet, a gold mine with a rainbow of other colors, and a red and green burst with gold glitter (video).

Not that the man who lost his face due to a failed firework shopped at either American Fireworks or Black Bull Fireworks, just over the border in Genoa City, Wisconsin. Maybe the 58-year-old man drove across the width of Chicago to the piles of fireworks stores on the Indiana border. Maybe.

Americans purchase more than 258 million pounds of fireworks every year. Just over the Wisconsin border from Minneapolis and St. Paul, Hudson has at least three fireworks stores freely selling to Minnesota residents: Exit 1 Fireworks, Fireworks Nation, and Venture Fireworks (with a 5% discount for cash).

Exit 1 Fireworks has firecrackers, roman candles(40-80'), rockets (40-300'), and multi-shot 500 gram finales, featuring the 220 shot Amazing Ballet (video).

Fireworks Nation makes clear that Wisconsin fireworks laws specifically prohibit:  firecrackers, wheels, torpedoes, skyrockets, roman candles, aerial salutes, and bombs. Wink. The Fireworks Nation firecracker products list features 4000 firecrackers rolled into one Special Firecracker (video). It also features 5000 firecrackers rolled into the Red Jumbo M5000 (video). It also also features 16000 firecrackers rolled into another Special Firecracker. (video). Their roman candle products list features the 70 shot Flame Thrower (video) and the 250 shot Machine Gun (video). Their Saturn missile list includes the 20 extra large Saturn missile battery (video). Their artillery shells list features the 10 shot Light The Night artillery shells (video). Their 500 gram finale cakes list features the 150 shot Black Dynamite that fires off about 2 ½ shots per second to last a full minute (video). It also features the 168 shot Rainbow Overload (video) and Sparta (video). It also also also features the 250 shot Teknocolour cake (video & video). They also have fountains and rockets.

A 14-year fireworks air pollution study from July 2020 revealed high levels of lead particles in fireworks smoke, despite the fact that lead is not allowed in consumer fireworks.  A fountain firework called a Black Cuckoo produced particulate matter with lead concentrations greater than 40,000 parts per million. That means the smoke was four percent lead. Published in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology, the study is believed to be the first to examine the effects of fireworks exposure in human cells and living animals, and to test for particles of common fireworks metals thrown into the air.

Lead used to be deliberately included in the manufacturing of fireworks. Lead provided the little explosive, crackling stars that spit out of fireworks. Lead leads to brain damage, cognitive impairment, decreased IQ in children, and other toxicity and was replaced long ago with bismuth oxide. Apparently Chinese manufacturers didn't get the memo.

Aluminum particles were very high in firecrackers. Aluminum filings create the bangs of firecrackers and loud aerial rockets. Along with lead and aluminum, the study found titanium, strontium, and copper as common airborne metallic particles from fireworks.

A study of the Impact of Fireworks On Respiratory Health was published in Lung India in October 2014. The study of collected fireworks pollutants found elevated metallic fireworks particles of aluminum, barium, copper, strontium, antimony, lead, magnesium, and potassium. Fireworks pollution also contained elevated levels of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitric dioxide, nitric oxide, ozone, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene-volatile compounds, perchlorate, and chloride. The study acknowledged that “during fireworks manufacture, a range of substances are added such as arsenic, manganese, sodium oxalate, aluminum, iron dust powder, potassium perchlorate, strontium nitrate and barium nitrate, which act as stabilizers, oxidizers and added colors.”

A January 2023 study of the Impacts of Fireworks on the Environment published in Pacific Conservation Biology, examined the environmental toll of fireworks displays. Associate Professor Bill Bateman, from Curtin's School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said fireworks negatively impact wildlife, domestic animals, and the environment. “Fireworks create short-term noise and light disturbances that cause distress in domestic animals that may be managed before or after a fireworks event, but the impacts to wildlife can be on a much larger scale,” Associate Professor Bateman said.

“The annual timing of some large-scale fireworks events coincides with the migratory or reproductive movements of wildlife, and may therefore have adverse long-term population effects on them. Fireworks also produce significant pulses of highly pollutant materials that also contribute significantly to the chemical pollution of soil, water, and air, which has implications for human as well as animal health.”


Most airborne pollutants ultimately become ground and water pollutants. Fireworks pollution effects people, nature, and our climate.

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Music Association:  The Hollies - The Air That I Breathe






Inconvenient Explosions
The Fireworks of Climate Change
July 1, 2023


Climate change impacts everyone from ordinary people to the billionaires catching a tourist sub to the Titanic. Or it used to.

It is that time of year that many set off to watch fireworks. Today is Canada Day, celebrating the anniversary of Canada’s confederation. The 490 Canadian wildfires have already surpassed the record for area burned. A record 30,000 square miles (80,000 square kilometers) of Canada has burned, an area nearly as large as South Carolina. Wildfire smoke has shrouded much of the U.S. and parts of Canada in smoky haze. Montreal canceled their fireworks; Toronto did not.

Minneapolis and Salt Lake City have replaced fireworks for 2023 with laser-drone shows.

Fireworks contain aerial shells that hold explosive chemicals with an oxidizing agent, a fuel, a heavy metal salt colorant, and a binder. When ignited, the oxidizing agent and the fuel chemically react to create extreme heat and gas, shooting the shell up (hopefully up) at 300 mph. The colorant produces color and the binder holds everything together.

Traditional fireworks contain a mix of charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate, also known as gunpowder. When a spark hits the gunpowder, the potassium nitrate feeds oxygen to the fire to facilitate the burning of the charcoal-sulfur fuel.

Modern fireworks are often made with perchlorates instead of potassium nitrate. Perchlorates (ClO₄) are chemicals that feature a central chlorine atom bonded to four oxygen atoms. Perchlorates are hazardous to the health of mammals (including humans). The perchlorates impact the health of animals by causing their thyroids to swell and threatening normal growth and development. The colorants inside a firework are made up of heavy metal salts, including:


Although the heavy metals in fireworks experience a temporary physical change, the heavy metal salts and explosives in the fireworks undergo chemical changes by combining with oxygen (combustion). This chemical reaction releases smoke and gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen (N), and these are some of the primary greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. Fireworks also create a burst of ozone (O₃), nitric oxide (NO), and sulfur dioxide (SO₂). During the explosion, these metal saltsdo not burn up. They are still metal atoms, and many of them end up as aerosols that poison the air, the water, and the soil. When inhaled or ingested, these metals can cause a huge variety of short- and long-term reactions, ranging from vomiting, diarrhea or asthma attacks, to kidney disease, cardiotoxic effects, and a variety of cancers. (Forbes)

The size of particles that fireworks introduce into the atmosphere are PM2.5 – PM10 (coarse particles ranging from 2.5–10 microns in diameter), PM0.1 (ultrafine particles, also known as UFPs, that are smaller than 0.3 microns in diameter – by far the most dangerous PM pollutant), and volatile organic compounds (also known as VOCs, airborne vapor or gaseous compounds responsible for many odors). Note that many of these particles are so tiny that they can be inhaled into the lungs where they infiltrate the bloodstream, causing many health problems. (IQair)

Fireworks also cause noise pollution. Larger fireworks displays easily surpass 140 decibels, which is well past the 85 decibel mark where hearing can be damaged. Tinnitus is forever. Explosions also effect veterans with PTSD, pets, and wildlife. (Fireworks)

On July 4, 2012, San Diego launched 18 minutes worth of fireworks in about 18 seconds.  

The Galapagos Islands recently limited the sale and use of fireworks, as did Beijing.

Climate change should make people question fireworks, missiles, and rockets of all sizes.

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Music Association: Katy Perry - Fireworks



 








Iceberg Ahead
Can We Turn Back?
June 26, 2023

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Music Association: Cher - If We Could Turn Back Time








This Week in Minnesota
Canadian Wildfires
June 15, 2023


Code red:
Smoke from western Canadian wildfires -and- eastern Canadian wildfires are both funneling to Minnesota, blotting out the sun and giving the sky an even tan.

Minnesota medical charts are automatically being updated as smokers.

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Music Association: Sanford Townsend Band - Smoke From A Distant Fire










Paint By (the) Numbers
Climate Change & 1.1% Growth
April 28, 2023


Climate change is not an afterthought. Numerically small changes in global temperatures and carbon dioxide and methane are having extreme consequences to the fragile life on Earth.

What fragile life? You.

You with your acceptable temperature range and your assumptions of clean air and water.

In the 1960s United States, 42% of the population smoked. There were smoking sections on planes and trains. Taxi cabs were entirely smoking sections, but then you couldn't take a flight in a non-smoking section without arriving in a smoking jacket. Today, only 1 in 9 Americans smoke.

Clean air is more available than it used to be, except for the summer forest fires. There didn't used to be regular summer forest fires.

Headlines yesterday said the United States growth was 1.1% for the first quarter of 2023.

Woo hoo! Wintertime growth of 1.1%?!? Just wait until summer! The forests will have double-digit... what?!? GDP? Gosh darned pollution?

Gross domestic product is the economic synopsis of a country's industrial health, which has an adverse relationship to climate change. So the headlines indicated the 1.1% US GDP was bad for the economy, due to slower growth. But is it good for life on Earth?

Some industries are making wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles, and carbon sequestering devices. Those are good for life on Earth, right?

Define good.

Not bad. Coal power plants are bad. Cement production is bad. Strip mining is bad.

Wind turbines and solar panels are good but have cement bases which are bad.

Using less power would be good.

What if homes were wrapped in mineral wool batting to insulate attics and exterior walls? Mineral wool batting is strong insulation. And unlike flammable rigid or spray-in foam, mineral wool batting can withstand temperatures up to 2150°F. Would that be good?

Yes, using less power due to better insulation would be good. That could be growth in a good direction.

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Music Association: Steve Miller - Joker Smoker













Another Train Tanked
Ethanol & Corn Syrup
March 30, 2023




A BNSF train with tankers of ethanol and corn syrup derailed in the small town of Raymond, Minnesota at 1am. No injuries were reported. Some of the 800 residents were evacuated to a school and a church in the smaller town of Prinsburg, Minnesota before being allowed back to Raymond.

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Music Assocation: Men Without Hats - Safety Dance














Kissimmee
Plastic Pots Pollution
February 18, 2023


On February 16, 2023 at 2am eastern time, a fire started by the back fence of a nursery supply company, 13 miles south of Disney World.

The fire burned nearly five acres of two-gallon plastic pots in Kissimmee, Florida.

Florida public health officials with straight faces told Fox35Orlando that plastic pots burning do not create toxic smoke or ash. "These pots are burning into soot, just carbon, and carbon monoxide, a small amount that dissipates in the air, carbon dioxide and water. Nothing exotic. No cyanide, like you can get in some fires. No exotic chemicals like you can get in some fires," said Dr. Todd Husty, a public health official.

Florida is saying it is just as messed up as Ohio.

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Music Association: Anna Nalick - 2am Breathe











Oh East Palestine
Norfolk Southern Railroad Derailment Pollution
February 18, 2023


On February 3, 2023 at 8:54pm eastern time, 38 train cars of a nearly two-mile long Norfolk Southern 32N train derailed and caught fire at the east end of East Palestine on the east side of Ohio. The 153-car* freight train burned tanks of vinyl chloride (a known carcinogen), butyl acrylate**, ethylhexyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, isobutylene, combustible liquids, and benzene residue. The mangled and charred mass of tankers, boxcars, and 100 foot tall fires were still burning February 5th with winds blowing the dark blue-gray smoke plumes east into nearby Pennsylvania as well as West Virginia, New York, and beyond.
All 14 freight cars of vinyl chloride derailed and were exposed to the fire.  Vinyl chloride is used to make plastic and is shipped as a chilled liquid but quickly turns into an explosive gas at normal outdoor temperatures.

On February 5th, the decision was made to purposefully vent liquid vinyl chloride and set it ablaze. The newly set fire produced a towering, pewter-colored column of smoke.
Residents reported sudden headaches and nausea. They reported dead fish in streams and dead chickens in backyard coops. A resident said the air smelled like nail polish remover and burning tires.

A chemical plume of butyl acrylate flowed into the Ohio River and was flowing downstream toward Cincinnati. The Ohio River flows through seven states until it flows into the Mississippi River which flows through five more states before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. The East Palestine discolored drinking water was still safe, according to EPA officials.

On February 8th, a reporter was arrested and held for five hours for trying to cover the East Palestine derailment, trespassing at a two-hour-delayed press conference.

Between 2008 and 2019 train lengths increased by 25 percent. There are now freight trains stretching more than three miles, often driven by just two people. Writing an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Eugene Robinson said, “Basic principles of physics would indicate that the sheer mass of such a long, heavy train would make any derailment more violent than that of a shorter, lighter train. A Norfolk Southern spokesperson, speaking to CBS, defended the 'uniform' weight distribution of the train and the fact that it included a mid-train locomotive, 'which helps manage the dynamic forces.' No amount of word salad can repeal Isaac Newton’s second law of motion, F=ma. Force equals mass times acceleration.”

Federal officials found 36 percent more hazardous material violations on trains over the past five years compared to the five years prior.
Consolidation has left the nation with only seven major freight railroad companies, and six of them — including Norfolk Southern — have adopted a profit-boosting, cost-cutting strategy called “precision-scheduled railroading,” or PSR. According to a Government Accountability Office report (pdf) issued in December 2022, PSR involves reductions in staff, longer trains and reductions in some key assets such as locomotives. According to the report, “the overall number of staff among the seven largest freight railroads … decreased by about 28 percent from 2011 through 2021” and “all seven railroads said they have increased the length of trains in recent years.”

Better brakes are an important safety measure. Electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes create braking redundancy and allow trains to apply brakes to all of their cars simultaneously. When a conductor slams the brakes, the cars don’t all run into each other. In a report last year, the FRA said that these brakes “improve both safety and braking performance of trains” but that train companies have been reluctant to invest in them due to cost.

The Obama administration created a requirement for ECP brakes at least on trains hauling flammable materials, but Trump revoked the requirement in 2018.

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Music Associations: The Hollies - The Air That I Breathe
                               & Britney Spears - Toxic

* The 18,000 ton Norfolk Southern freight train had 141 loaded freight cars, 9 empty cars, and 3 locomotives to pull the chemicals from Madison, Illinois to Conway, Pennsylvania by way of Toledo, Ohio.
** The freight train had 20 tankers of butyl acrylate and 11 of them derailed.



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Paint By (the) Numbers
Plein Air Pollution
February 1, 2023


Impressionist painter Claude Monet was in London to capture the essence of the city at the end of the 19th century. “I am working very hard,” he wrote to his wife, Camille Doncieux, on March 4, 1900, “although this morning I really thought the weather had changed completely. When I got up, I was terrified to see that there was no fog, not even a wisp of mist. I was prostrate and could just see all my paintings done for, but gradually the fires were lit and the smoke and haze came back.”

Studying the angles of Monet's paintings across the Thames River from the Savoy Hotel, art historians determined Monet painted from rooms 510, 511, 610, and 611. (Technically, Monet was painting from the balconies of those rooms. The balconies were later removed.) Art historians have also studied the sun's positions in the 19 known paintings of the Houses of Parliament by Monet to determine dates and times of day that the suns were painted. 



A more recent study concluded that the haze Monet was painting was industrial pollution (obviously) and that over time his paintings revealed increased air pollution.

In 1905, Dr. Henry Antoine Des Voeux delivered a paper to the Public Health Congress in London, England. Noting there was a health threat inherent in urban living, “something produced in great cities that was not found in the country,” according to a London newspaper, Des Voeux noted the pervasive presence of a “smokey fog, or what was known as 'smog.'”

That smog, the London Fog, has decreased over the past 100 plus years. The coal soot and other air pollution have improved in London but not other cities.

Here are World Air Quality Project 2022 air pollution charts from London, Dehli, Beijing, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis.



The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency released a report showing the decline in Minnesota's greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 to 2020.



The charts above show the Minnesota greenhouse gas emissions from two sources. The chart on the left is from the Pollution Control Agency (PCA), and the chart on the right is from the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper, based on the PCA chart on the left. The chart on the right looks better than the chart on the left because the scale of emissions does not start at zero. It is misleading.

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Music Associations: Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine
                             & Dire Straits - Industrial Disease
 





Carbon Dioxide Just Passed 410 ppm
April 24, 2017


Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has now exceeded 410 parts per million (ppm), as measured by the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii (410.28 ppm on Tuesday, April 18, 2017).

Carbon dioxide was recorded at 280 ppm at the Mauna Loa Observatory back in 1958.

It passed 400 ppm in 2013.

From Climate Central:


Also last week on April 21st, Britain had its first coal-free electricity day since the industrial revolution.

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Music Association: AC/DC - Highway To Hell










730,000 Elephants Killed From “Protected Areas”
Elephant Tusks Are Not Trophies
April 21, 2017







According to a recent report, 730,000 elephants have been killed by poachers in 73 “protected” areas in 21 African countries. Elephant numbers are down by 75%. Every organization, every country that has failed to protect elephants should be more than ashamed.

China says it will ban its domestic ivory trade, starting now. Conservationists doubt China's resolve. And speaking of conservationists, is the World Wildlife Fund complicit?
Elephants are intelligent tool-using animals, long-famous for their memory, traveling with cognitive maps and having respect for the dead and dying.

Elephants can live 70 years in the wild, if people don't kill them for their tusks.

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Music Association: Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
Free Comic Book:  Wild For Life by Diego Otero & Lisa Rolls





Concert Review
Steven Wright
April 7, 2017

Saw Steven Wright at the Ordway in St. Paul tonight. Sustained laughter past the point of pain.

He started by saying that all search parties are surprise parties. Then he led the audience on a search and surprise party through the curious, the bizarre, and the spots where Wright is long gone and the audience said WHOA and stopped in their tracks.

Wearing someone else's clothes because he took the first suitcase off the baggage carousel, Wright twisted and turned around the stage, trailed by his microphone cord, as he twisted and turned his way through conjoined terms and ponderings from long ago and last month.

The reason I bring him up is he touched upon climate change when he said he thought global warming was created by the end of the cold war.

Looking at the chart below titled Energy Consumption In The United States, I think he might be on to something. But then again, I'm recovering from hyperventilating.

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Music Association: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon







Permafrost: No Longer Permanent, No Longer Frost
The Escalation of Climate Change
April 6, 2017

Climate change can be divided into two sources: natural and anthropogenic, which means originating from the activities of people, everything I've been talking about in the earlier posts.

When you look at the chart of climate change differentiating between natural and anthropogenic sources, the natural sources have been zigzagging in the same range while the anthropogenic sources have sent average temperatures up. For the past few years, each year has been hotter (on average) than the previous year.

In December 2016, methane watchers saw some extreme hikes in atmospheric methane, starting in 2007 but with big increases in 2014 and 2015. Concentrations of methane in the atmosphere over those two years rose by more than 20 parts per billion, bringing the total to 1,830ppb.

The anthropogenic climate change is causing a natural melting of the permafrost, breaking every rule of permafrost.


Methane has been held back by the permafrost. And again, methane is much worse than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. “The radiative forcing of methane is 72 times that of carbon dioxide (averaged over 20 years) or 25 times that of carbon dioxide (averaged over 100 years). Carbon dioxide receives the lion's share of attention over greenhouse gases because it is released in much larger amounts.”

“Larger amounts?!?” nature asks. “I'll show you larger amounts.”

More carbon -- 1.7 to 2 trillion tons -- is in the permafrost than humans have released into the atmosphere -- 350 billion tons -- since the beginning of the industrial age. Permafrost covers 24% of the land in the northern hemisphere. About 70% of Russia's landmass is permafrost.

Craters have been appearing in areas of melted permafrost. The largest so far might be the Batagai crater northeast from Yakutsk. It's an expanding depression last measured at one kilometer long and 100 meters (328 feet) deep. Here's an aerial view and an inside view. Here's a view of some new Canadian depressions near Hudson Bay.

Last month the Siberian Times reported, 7,000 underground bubbles of methane “were poised to 'explode' in Arctic.”

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Music Association: Modern English - Melt With You










Multiplication and Exponentiation
Climate Solutions
March 31, 2017

A cigarette butt is flicked out a car window. One cigarette butt might not make a bit of difference, but if you walk along the roadside, you see there isn't just one cigarette butt. There are layers of cigarette butts.

Multiplication is at the core of climate change. One chunk of coal or one car is not going to make any difference to the world. The problem is that all the coal and oil, all the factories and power plants and cars get multiplied.

People want their meat, electricity, landfills, and to embalm their dearly departed. And all of that gets multiplied by many billion people.

Multiplication is the problem.

Multiplication is also the hope of climate change. It is our only hope.

There are big things and little things to be done. Do what you can if it matters to you.


1.  Convert Or Replace Coal Power Plants
Talk with companies and state lawmakers about converting or replacing coal power plants to natural gas power plants. Or even better, renewable power (solar, wind, geothermal, biomass).

Natural gas combustion produces about 45% less carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions than coal, emits lower levels of nitrogen oxides and particulates, and produces virtually no sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions. That's the good news. The bad news is that natural gas combustion is burning a fossil fuel, which emits CO₂, unlike renewables or nuclear energy. Natural gas is mostly methane (CH₄), a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide when released into the atmosphere.

“Methane in the atmosphere is eventually oxidized, producing carbon dioxide and water. In the atmosphere methane has a half life of seven years (if no methane was added, then every seven years, the amount of methane would halve). The radiative forcing of methane is 72 times that of carbon dioxide (averaged over 20 years) or 25 times that of carbon dioxide (averaged over 100 years). Carbon dioxide receives the lion's share of attention over greenhouse gases because it is released in much larger amounts. It is inevitable in using natural gas on a large scale that some of it will leak into the atmosphere. Current USEPA estimates place global leakage of methane at 3 trillion cubic feet annually, or 3.2% of global production. Direct emissions of methane represented 14.3% of all global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in 2004.” [sourcewatch]

Coal power plants are part of electric utilities and industrial manufacturing. U.S. total energy consumption from 1908 to 2015 in quadrillion Btu's is charted on the right and broken out by type of fuel. From the looks of it, about 15 quadrillion Btu's of coal was used in 1945 and 2015.

Btu - a British thermal unit. The power of burning one match or burning about 252 calories or raising the temperature of a pound of water by one degree F. One kilowatt hour (kWh) is equal to 3,413.94 British thermal units or about 3,414 matches. A quadrillion is a thousand trillion (a million million) or a one with 15 zeros.

Here is a map showing new U.S. power plants to come online from February 2017 to January 2018. The four large nuclear reactors in Georgia and South Carolina will have issues due to this week's bankruptcy declaration by Toshiba-Westinghouse.

The top ten coal consumers in the U.S. (2015) are:

Renewable power (US map) is increasing and has advantages over fossil fuels by emitting no greenhouse gases or in the case of biomass (plant material) no new greenhouse gases. Nuclear power and hydro electric require heavy infrastructure built with tons of cement which releases tons of greenhouse gases. Solar, wind, and geothermal powers release no greenhouse gases and require far less cement. When looking at solar or wind or geothermal energy, location matters. Google has a roof-by-roof sunlight map, Sun Roof, to estimate the solar potential of your community. Here is more information about solar affordability by the Union of Concerned Scientists.


2.  Buy Renewable Energy
The sun hits the Earth with 100,000 terawatts of solar energy. Most of that energy bounces off the atmosphere. The world uses 17 terawatts of energy. Solar energy has potential.

Use the Sun Roof and solar affordability links as part of your research into the costs of your very own solar power. Here is a wind map of the United States. I'm a big fan of wind.

But not everyone can afford to buy their own renewable power generators. 

Some or all of residential or business power can be voluntarily purchased through special renewable energy programs and Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). Many power companies sell solar power or wind power (like Xcel Energy's Windsource™) or cow power (like Green Mountain's Cow Power™). Here's a list of the Green-E certified renewable providers.

(Many of those companies listed are not generators of renewable power, so much as sellers of RECs.)


3.  Use Less Energy
Maybe it is the simplest or the toughest task to make a dent (as a community) against climate change.

Set your water heater to the energy-efficient setting. Wash most clothes in cold water and try to line dry, instead of drying using a clothes dryer.
Kill A Watt^® is a small gadget for $30 that tells how much power different devices use when on or when off. It's plugged in between the device and the wall outlet. It's a good device to learn from, short term. It would be a great tool to loan in a tool loaning program. Basically, it teaches people to use power cords with a switch to switch off electronics that would otherwise continue to leech energy.

Use sunlight to read, otherwise use LED light bulbs. Listen to newly purchased bulbs to make sure they don't hum. Read the fine print for whether the bulbs are dimmable and whether they are designed for enclosed fixtures. Compact fluorescent bulbs use mercury, can generate heat, and are more likely (my personal experience) to make noise.

The carbon footprint of many things have been studied. Someone did a study measuring the energy used by copying multiple people into an email message. Reducing the number of copies of emails, reduces energy used. Downloading a 1mb file takes about the same amount of energy as a charcoal briquette.


4.  Have Fewer Children Or No Children Or Delay Having Children
This is the most forbidden subject of climate change. Climate change is a result of greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and cement manufacturing by humans. The more people there are, the more greenhouse gases. As of March 2017, the world population is estimated at 7.49 billion. The world population is expected to double in 61 years. When Yitta Schwartz died in 2010 at 93 years old, she had 2,000 descendants, illustrating the power of exponentiation.

Climate change is all about multiplication. Population is all about exponentiation, raising a number to a power.

Not that everyone is equal. While China has the most greenhouse gas emissions of any country (29%), the U.S. has the most greenhouse gases per capita (16.8 metric tons of CO₂ per person in 2015). The carbon footprint of Americans is larger than any other humans.

According to a 2009 Oregon State University study, each U.S. child ultimately adds about 9,441 metric tons of carbon dioxide to the carbon legacy of an average parent, about 5.7 times the lifetime emissions for which an average person is responsible. The carbon impact of a U.S. child, along with all of its descendants, is more than 160 times the impact of a child born in Bangladesh.

As part of Population Matters, David Attenborough said, “The growth in human numbers is frightening. I've seen wildlife under mounting human pressure all over the world, and it's not just from human economy or technology. Behind every threat is the frightening explosion in human numbers. I've never seen a problem that wouldn't be easier to solve with fewer people – or harder, and ultimately impossible, with more.” A more detailed discussion with David Attenborough is in the video, People and Planet - 2011 RSA President's Lecture.

This is not about making anyone feel guilty for having kids. Multiplication is the problem and the solution. The trick is being more of the solution and less of the problem. To paraphrase Steve Hofstetter, anyone can have kids; the trick is to raise good adults. Contraceptives are free in 46 countries but not the United States.


5.  Eat Less Meat
This is the second most forbidden subject of climate change. Livestock are among the top most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems (water scarcity, deforestation, habitat loss, soil erosion, climate change...) from local to global, according to the 2006 United Nations FAO report titled, Livestock's Long Shadow (wiki, ftp-pdf). Livestock are responsible for 18% or as much as 51% of greenhouse gas emissions, due to:
  •  Deforestation and land use change - 2.5 Gigaton carbon dioxide equivalent; including forest and other natural vegetation replaced by pasture and feed crop in the neotropics (CO₂) and carbon release from soils such as pasture and arable land dedicated to feed production (CO₂)
  •  Feed production (except carbon released from soil): 0.4 Gigaton CO₂ equivalent, including fossil fuel used in manufacturing chemical fertilizer for feed crops (CO₂) and chemical fertilizer application on feed crops and leguminous feed crop (N₂O, NH₃)
  •  Animal production: 1.9 Gigaton CO₂ equivalent, including enteric fermentation from ruminants (CH₄) and on-farm fossil fuel use (CO₂)
  •  Manure management: 2.2 Gigaton CO₂ equivalent, mainly through manure storage, application and deposition (CH4, N2O, NH3)
  •  Processing and international transport: 0.03 Gigaton CO₂ equivalent

Livestock require food, water, and grazing land. Livestock, especially cattle, produce methane (CH₄) as part of their digestion. This process is called enteric fermentation, and it represents almost one third of the emissions from the agriculture sector. Again, the radiative forcing of methane is 72 times that of carbon dioxide (averaged over 20 years) or 25 times that of carbon dioxide (averaged over 100 years).

Since the 2006 report, the United Nations FAO has yielded to pressure from the meat industry on climate change and announced a partnership with them in 2012.

A manure emissions and management report studied methane and nitrate emissions by continent, by livestock, and by management technique. The only thing left is to thumb-through a Meat AtlasMeat the Truth (youtube).

By comparison, here is the carbon footprint of a banana.


6.  Less Air Travel or No Air Travel
Aviation causes up to 9% of greenhouse gas emissions, and emissions are rising fast. In 1990, there were 1 billion air passengers. In 2005, there were 2 billion air passengers. In 2015, there were 3.5 billion air passengers (chart). A plane with 300 passengers traveling from Paris to New York emits approximately 100 tons of carbon dioxide, or as much as emissions from 22 cars in a year. And because the emissions happen higher up in the atmosphere, the impact on global warming is greater than emissions on the ground.

At all levels of flight, planes emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides (0.05% by weight in jet fuel), unburned hydrocarbons (UHC), water vapor, soot and other particles. In addition to greenhouse gases, planes produce contrails, short for condensation trails. Contrails “are line-shaped clouds produced by aircraft engine exhaust, typically at aircraft cruise altitudes several miles above the Earth's surface.” Contrails increase the cloudiness of the atmosphere, for minutes or hours, adding to the greenhouse effect beyond the greenhouse gases emitted.

A 2014 Los Angeles study of air pollution 10km downwind from the international airport (LAX) found four times the air pollution (particulate concentrations).


7.  Less Cement
Cement production causes approximately 5-8% of global human-made CO₂ emissions. Half of the emissions come from removing CO₂ from limestone in a kiln at 1450° C. The de-carbonation of limestone emits 525kg CO₂ per ton of clinker. About 40% of the cement production emissions come from burning fossil fuels to heat the kiln (about 300-350kg CO₂ per ton of cement). Roughly 10% comes from electricity for raw materials and clinker grinding, and cement finishing (typically 50kg CO₂ per ton of cement) and transportation. [wbcsdcement.org] When they say infrastructure, what they usually mean is cement.


8.  Compost & Recycle
Globally only about 20% of municipal solid waste is recycled and about 14% is treated with energy recovery, while the rest is deposited in open dump sites.

Organic wastes in landfills release methane (CH₄). Landfill methane recovery waits until the landfill unit is full (with methane emissions in the meantime), then the landfill is capped with cement, valves, and tanks to capture methane and other greenhouse gases. Methane recovery from landfill is cement intensive.

A worm bin is a microcosm of the landfill organic waste problem. Proper worm bin management involves stirring or flipping the worm bin, because methane is produced under highly anaerobic (without oxygen) conditions. A 2004 study found that unaerated composting produced as much as 24 times the amount of methane produced in aerated piles.

The best way to aerate compost is small piles. It is better for households to compost their own organic wastes than to send them to landfills.

Reduce what you receive by stopping junk mail. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has instructions on how to stop unsolicited mail, phone calls, or email. WikiHow also has instructions. RedPlum-SaveOn has an opt-out option. Stop pre-screened credit card and insurance offers by calling 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688) or visit www.optoutprescreen.com.


9.  Stop Deforestation, Plant Trees
One acre of average U.S. forest sequesters 1.06 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. That means forests breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. In 1990, forests were 31.8% of land worldwide. In 2015, forests were 30.8%.

Deforestation accounts for 15% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.

Nearly 300,000 square miles of Amazon rainforest has been destroyed in Brazil since 1970. Just in 2016, over 3,000 square miles were deforested, and Brazilian President Temer has plans to accelerate the degradation for mining and agriculture. Here is a map showing where forests have been lost.

Agriculture -- beef cattle, soybeans, palm oil (details, infographic, pdf), and wood products -- drives most deforestation, about 80% worldwide. The rest of deforestation is due to logging and paper product production, mining (aluminum, gold, & copper), subsistence farming and fuel production, and roads and dams.

What you can do:
and watch the documentary,
Forests around the world have been home to Indigenous peoples for tens of thousands of years. When Indigenous peoples’ rights to traditional lands and self-determination are respected, forests stay standing. Too often, corporations and governments overlook or intentionally trample the rights of Indigenous peoples. The Waswanipi Cree of Northern Quebec are fighting to keep the last wild forests on their traditional land intact. The Munduruku people of the Amazon are battling a proposed mega-dam that threatens rainforests, a river, and their way of life.

Forest protecting non-profit organizations start with high goals but become entangled with the motives of fossil-fuel and deforesting companies. They stop seeing the forests for the trees.

Skeptically support forest-protecting organizations, mindful of partnerships with Indigenous peoples:


Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) sounds good but when you read into it, the carbon offsets (forests are not a commodity), not defining what a forest is (plantations can be forests?!?), and the kicking out indigenous people in order to log wood and mine land is appalling. The REDD often does the exact opposite of protecting forests and preventing climate change:



10.  Advocate Against Climate Change and Bad Climate Practices
Spread the word about what people can do to help minimize the effects of climate change. Like I said at the start, it is about multiplication. Humanity can make a difference.

You can make a difference, if you really try.

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Music Associationa: Sam Cooke - Wonderful World & Alanis Morissette - Eight Easy Steps










Apples and Oranges
Climate Change - Energy Utilities
March 25, 2017

Xcel Energy is the 12th largest gas and electric producer in the United States by market size, with customers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. They are the 8th largest U.S. energy utility polluter with 56,506,228 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent emissions in 2014, according to the Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index. That figure includes emissions they produced, not emissions that were part of energy they purchased. Xcel's CO₂ emissions have been dropping since 2007, dropped further in 2015, and is expected to have reduced 30% by 2020 (with 2005 as a base year).

Xcel has a program called Windsource™, which allows business and residential customers to buy wind-generated electricity in 100 kWh (kilowatt hour) blocks or 100% of electricity for at least one year. The cost is $1 per block for residential customers. The number of customers utilizing Windsource™ was about 50,000 in 2015 and about 54,000 in 2016.

Since I signed up for Windsource™, I can say this Hopes and Dreams website is created with wind.

I recently wondered how other U.S. energy utilities compare to Xcel Energy.

Largest U.S. Energy Industries
Gas and electric utilities - market size (in $billions, 2016)	Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index  - CO2 equivalent metric tons (2014)
1   Duke Energy                 53.1 2   NextEra Energy             52.8 3   Southern Co.                 45.3 4   Dominion Energy           43.2 5   Exelon                           31.4 6   American Electric          30.8 7   PG&E                           28.2 8   PPL                              24.7 9   PSEG Public Service     22.9 10  Edison International      22.4 11  Consolidated Edison    21 12  Xcel Energy               19.8 13  WEC Energy Group     17.9 14  Eversource Energy       17.6 15  DTE Energy                 15.4	1     Duke Energy                       122,474,576 2     American Electric                121,098,420 3     Southern Co.                      108,671,229 4     NRG Energy                       100,224,829 5     Berkshire Hathaway              83,939,342 6     U.S. Government                  74,687,012 7     Dynegy                                 61,183,427 8     Xcel Energy                        56,506,228 9     FirstEnergy                           56,050,031 10   PPL Corp.                            52,174,283 11   Energy Future Holdings         51,929,011 12   Calpine Corp.                       41,692,267 13   NextEra Energy                    40,023,063 14   ExxonMobil                          38,141,796 15   DTE Energy                          35,491,147

Comparing these U.S. power utilities and other energy producers is like comparing apples to oranges. And when you bite into it, there are some really bad apples in here.

Take Duke Energy. It's not just the largest power utility conglomerate in the U.S. It's the world's largest. And Duke is the top U.S. greenhouse gas polluter with 122,474,576 metric tons annually of CO₂ and CO₂ equivalent greenhouse gases. Its website has little to say about the environment or climate change. More information about Duke's environmental record is available at Wikipedia. Bad apple.

NextEra Energy is #2 in market size (U.S. & worldwide) but is down at #13 on the pollution index. NextEra operates Florida Power & Light and dots the United States and Canada with 15% of all U.S. wind capacity and 9% of all U.S. solar capacity. It is the largest wind and solar supplier in the world. Some of its wind farms in southern Minnesota may supply some wind power to Xcel customers. One of the few complaints against NextEra is that it has not paid much by way of U.S. corporate taxes because it invests so much money in renewable energy and can take advantage of renewable energy tax credits. Good apple.

Southern Company burns “21st century clean coal” which is ordinary coal with a rosier name than pollution rock. Southern is #3 for pollution and size. Bad apple.

Dominion Energy is improving. Dominion was responsible for releasing 1,110,703 pounds of gastrointestinal or liver toxicant emissions, 1,440,000 pounds of musculoskeletal toxicant emissions, 1,489,763 pounds of suspected respiratory toxicant emissions, and 1,478,383 pounds of suspected skin or sense organ toxicant emissions in 2002. In 2005, Dominion was ranked 19th with an air pollution toxic score of 117,712 (pounds released x toxicity x population exposure) by the Political Economy Research Institute. In 2008, Dominion was ranked 27th, in 2010 Dominion was ranked 51st, and in 2016 Dominion no longer made the top 100 of U.S. corporations emitting airborne pollutants. For the Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index, Dominion was ranked 16th. Good apple?

Exelon is the largest electric utility by revenue with mostly nuclear power. It generates over 19,000 megawatts in nuclear power with full or majority ownership of 17 nuclear reactors in 10 nuclear power plants. It generates 10,000 megawatts of natural gas & oil, and about 6,000 megawatts of other energy (hydro, solar, landfill gas, & wind). Exelon has operations in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. Exelon is also not on the list of Greenhouse Polluters Index. Nuclear power has a cleaner, safer potential (according to PBS Nova The Nuclear Option from last January) than today's nuclear power plants. In the greenhouse gas criteria, nuclear power is clean. Goodish apple.

American Electric is the 5th largest power utility by size but #2 on the Greenhouse Polluters Index. In 2012, they tried to turn back renewable energy legislation as part of a clean coal coalitioncoalition). Today, their website brags: “AEP’s carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂) have been reduced 39 percent from 2000 levels, and we will continue to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as we transition to more natural gas and renewable resources in the future. AEP’s CO₂ emissions significantly decreased between 2014 and 2015, largely due to low natural gas prices, slowing load growth, and coal unit retirements. AEP’s CO₂ emissions were approximately 123 million metric tons in 2014; they were approximately 102 million metric tons in 2015. This represents a 16.5 percent decrease compared with 2014 and an approximate 39 percent reduction compared with our 2000 CO₂ emissions of about 167 million metric tons.” Retiring coal units is a step in the right direction.

The fourth largest greenhouse gas polluter, NRG Energy, plans to “cut CO₂ and CO₂ equivalent emissions 50% by 2030 and 90% by 2050 from a 2014 baseline.” David Crane, NRG Energy’s chief executive, said in 2014, “The power industry is the biggest part of the problem of greenhouse gas emissions, but it has the potential to be an even bigger part of the solution.”


One of the biggest impacts anyone can make upon climate change is to help encourage the power companies (and other industries) of all sizes to cut CO₂ emissions as quickly as possible. Energy customers should seek programs like Xcel Energy's Windsource™ program. As a community, we can make a difference.

(I get it,

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Music Associations: Bad Company - Bad Company & Kansas - Dust In The Wind










By the Numbers
Climate Change
March 21, 2017


Since 1751, approximately 374 billion metric tons of carbon have been released to the atmosphere from the consumption of fossil fuels and cement production. Half of these fossil-fuel CO₂ emissions have occurred since the mid 1980s. The 2011 global fossil-fuel carbon emission estimate, 9.449 billion metric tons of carbon, represents an all-time high and a 3.4% increase over 2010 emissions. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory]


Greenhouse Gas Emissions

64% = carbon dioxide (CO₂) from fossil fuels, cement, & other industrial processes
10% = carbon dioxide (CO₂) from deforestation
18% = methane (CH₄) from livestock, landfills, fossil fuels (fracking), & deforestation
  6% = nitrous oxide (N₂O) from fertilizer and manure, runoff, fossil fuel & biomass burning, & industrial processes
  2% = fluorinated gases:  hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), & hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) [Trends in Carbon Emissions, EC Joint Research]

Burning fossil fuels is the #1 cause of climate change, and of the fossil fuels, coal is the most polluting.

Blowing Smoke - Clean Coal

Burning coal produces noxious gases of nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, particulates and ash. It's nasty to breathe and nasty in the atmosphere. At first people wanted less particulates and ash in the air so filters were added to power plants. After people noticed the effects of acid rain, the 1990 amendment to the U.S. Clean Air Act caused coal power plants to add limestone scrubbers to catch sulfur dioxide. The U.S. EPA issued mercury limiting regulations in 2011. Incrementally coal burning at U.S. power plants became cleaner than it had been but it is still not clean. All U.S. coal burning power plants release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, except one. On January 10, 2017, a coal power plant in Houston became operational that pumps its carbon dioxide into an oil well to help pump out oil. Maybe the oil comes out fizzy, I don't know.

Coal mining is biologically and environmentally destructive.  Burning coal results in fly ash, bottom ash, and slag waste in addition to greenhouse gases.

Blowing Smoke - Sustainable Cement

The cement industry is following the lead of the coal industry to clean up its appearance. Cement industry associations talk about a sustainable cement, which defies either the laws of chemistry or economics.

Cement production causes approximately 5-8% of global human-made CO₂ emissions. Half of the emissions come from removing CO₂ from limestone in a kiln at 1450° C. About 40% of the cement production emissions come from burning fossil fuels to heat the kiln. Roughly 10% comes from electricity and transportation. [wbcsdcement.org]

Blowing Smoke - the false solution of REDD

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) sounds good but when you read into it, the carbon offsets (forests are not a commodity), not defining what a forest is (plantations can be forests?!?), and the kicking out indigenous people in order to log wood and mine land is appalling. The REDD often does the exact opposite of protecting forests and preventing climate change.

Read more: REDD Monitor, REDD Gamble, WWF Scandal in Tanzania, and Ten of the worst REDD-type projects.



 
Blowing Smoke - Plane Facts of Aviation

Greenhouse gas emissions from aviation currently represent 5% of worldwide emissions – making aviation the world’s seventh largest emitter - a number anticipated to rise exponentially in the coming decades as more and more people choose to fly to their destinations. Today, an aircraft with 300 passengers traveling from Paris to New York emits approximately 100 tons of carbon dioxide, or as much as emissions from 22 cars in a year. And because the emissions happen higher up in the atmosphere, the impact on global warming is greater than emissions on the ground. Contrails of jet exhaust, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfur, hydrocarbons, black carbon, nitrogen oxides, and water vapor add to aviation's impact on climate change.

One of aviation's answers to carbon emissions is to suggest pilots might take routes to decrease the greenhouse effects of air travel. Or purposefully create contrails.

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Music Associations: The Hollies - The Air That I Breathe & Anna Nalick - Breathe









Beware the Ides of March
Climate Change
March 15, 2017

First, 2014 was globally the warmest year on record.
Then, 2015 beat 2014, becoming the warmest year on record.
And then, 2016 beat 2015 which had beat 2014, becoming the warmest year on record.



This has got to stop.

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Music Association: Little River Band - (Time for a) Cool Change






Pffft Winter...
March 2, 2017

Last fall, the fine people at the Farmers Almanac said the first part of winter would be colder than usual. What actually happened was rain on Christmas day.

We really didn't have a winter in any Minnesota sense. A high temperature of 60° in February is not winter.

And this was the winter Chicago had no snow. After 150 years of snowy winters in Chicago, they get none of the falling frost.

It is way past time for climate change solutions.

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Music Association: Kool & the Gang - Too Hot

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