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Author Topic: Pollution  (Read 59289 times)

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AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #255 on: October 04, 2015, 06:57:40 pm »
How Did the World's Oldest Creature Die?

A clam named "Ming" by marine researchers was probably born during the time of the Ming Dynasty in China in 1499. Although the world's oldest known living creature, the clam met an unfortunate end while researchers were trying to determine its age.

This particular ocean clam was one of several hundred clams collected from the Icelandic shelf in the year 2006. Although some sources report that researchers killed the clam by opening it to better count the rings that would reveal its age, others report that the clams died when they were frozen to be transported to the labs in the UK.

The researchers eventually made the best calculation by counting the rings on the outside of the clam's shell. Ming turned out to be older than they had initially assumed -- 507 years old. Ming was a member of a type of hard-shelled ocean clam called "quahog."

The marine researches from Bangor University in the UK who made the discovery were strongly criticized for causing the death of the oldest known living creature in the world.    Others have taken it more lightly saying that researchers may not have known the age of the clam when they first found it, as clams remain the same size after a certain age.  ::)

It is also possible that clams even older than Ming continue to inhabit the Icelandic shelf and the North Atlantic.

More about clams:

•It is possible to tell the age of a clam from the rings on its shell because it grows a new layer every year. So each ring represents one year.

•There are more than 15,000 clam species in the world.

•A soft-shelled clam can pump 10 gallons of sea water per day for oxygen. It's this pump and filtration process that makes clams living in unclean water unfit for consumption.

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-did-the-worlds-oldest-creature-die.htm


Agelbert NOTE: Thanks to CO2 caused increased ocean acidification, the expression, "Happy as a clam", is no longer applicable. The fossil fuel industry is a much greater threat to Calcium Carbonate shell forming marine life forms than ethics free scientists who like to take living things apart.

Quote
If business continues as usual, the surface ocean pH will drop to 8.0 by 2050 and to 7.8 by century’s end. At that point the oceans will be 150% more acidic than they were at the start of the industrial revolution. Marine biologists like Jason Hall-Spencer have warned about the catastrophic consequences to marine life if the oceans’ pH reaches 7.8. According to him this represents a tipping point at which the ocean’s ecosystems start to crash.

Quote

If current trends continue, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will be 500 ppm by 2050, double the levels in pre-industrial days. So in a sense, all the progress that civilization has made due to the expenditure of large quantities of energy since 1850 or so has now essentially doomed civilization unless radical changes are made in how this energy is obtained and utilized.

http://sandiegofreepress.org/2014/08/ocean-acidification-could-cause-many-species-to-go-extinct/

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #256 on: October 06, 2015, 06:03:26 pm »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLuX5TjRDdg&feature=player_embedded

Honeybees Face Global Threat: If They Die, So Do We

Reynard Loki, AlterNet | October 6, 2015 12:17 pm

http://ecowatch.com/2015/10/06/honeybees-face-global-threat/

Agelbert COMMENT: This issue is so staggeringly threatening to the entire biosphere, not just humans, that charges of ecocide are merited against Monsanto and any other chemical corporation, stupid and predatory enough to ignore long term harm for short term profits.

The fossil fuel industry falsely claims the world owes them for "feeding millions" with fossil fuel powered farm machines, fossil fuel based pesticides and fossil fuel based chemical fertilizers that "increased the yield per acre of crops". It's a lie.

What really Happened at the EPA

New Study Shows Glaring Differences Between GMO and Non-GMO Food

« Last Edit: October 06, 2015, 07:03:45 pm by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #257 on: October 11, 2015, 06:26:04 pm »
When Was the First Lawnmower Used?

The Budding human powered push mower - they later made bigger ones like the above pulled by a horse

The first lawnmower was patented in 1830 by a mechanic called Edwin Beard Budding. Before lawn mowers were invented all cultivated grass was cut by hand or grazed by animals. Lawns were considered to be a sign of great wealth, as they needed considerable hours of effort for maintenance.

Budding designed his machine based around similar devices already used to cut cloth. Allegedly he was worried he would be ridiculed by his neighbors and so only used his prototype at night.    ;D

However, Budding's mower machine was a financial success and over 1,000 of them had been made and sold by 1840.

More about lawns:

•In the 17th century, it was considered good practice to regularly use heavy iron rollers pulled by horses to flatten a lawn. The horses would wear woolen shoes to soften their tread on the grass.

•It is estimated Americans spend $40 billion on lawn care every year.
   


•A survey of satellite data indicated the total combined space of cultivated lawns in the United States is roughly equal to the size of New York State.  :o  :(

http://www.wisegeek.com/when-was-the-first-lawnmower-used.htm

Agelbert NOTE:
As you can see, the whole lawn thing was an egocentric exercise is status symbol bling, totally unrelated to functionality. Yes, the REALLY ORIGINAL "lawns", called "killing fields", might have started the idea of having a lawn in the first place.

  Castles had the fields cut short around them so they could more easily kill invading armies approaching the castle. They mowed the fields so they could mow down the attackers, so to speak. 

Thirteenth Century Beaumaris Castle in Wales - fortifications and surrounding killing fields

Strictly speaking, a "Killing Filed" has a wall behind it as well as in front of it. But I am certain the land around a castle's outermost wall was also kept trimmed to aid in killing attackers. Now you know why fossil fuelers like such big lawns.  ;D

Quote
Killing fields

A killing field was an area between the main wall and a secondary wall, so when the first wall was breached the attackers would run into the killing field to be confronted by another wall from which soldiers bombarded them. Soldiers would be positioned atop the second wall and armed with any variety of weapons, ranging from bows to crossbows to simple rocks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_fortification


But lawns for homes was a rather stupid custom from the start (unless you are a narcissist, of course).

And then the internal combustion engine came along and added pollution damage to the stupidity and unsustainability of having a lawn.   
Quote
... we compared the maximum pollution allowed by federal law for mowers versus cars, and assumed our benchmark grass cutter was a six-horsepower push mower operated at half throttle. We were interested in two types of pollutants: carbon monoxide, or CO, and hydrocarbons plus nitrogen oxides, which we’ll call HC+NOx.

Under current standards, in an hour a push mower will produce the same HC+NOx as a car driven 257 miles  >:(, and the same CO as one driven 401 miles. To put it another way, assuming a car averages 40 miles per hour, a gasoline powered push mower produces more HC+NOx than six cars and the same CO as 10. 


Things will improve when federal emissions standards for lawn mowers are tightened in 2012. Under the new standards, a push mower may produce as much HC+NOx as a car driven 160 miles—in other words, one lawn mower would equal four cars. 

Big deal, you say. I run my lawn mower 20 minutes a week. How much damage could I be doing? This is narrow thinking. Looking at the big picture, we realize mower emissions are only the beginning of what’s wrong with American lawn care. Consider:

• Estimates vary, but it’s likely Americans burn more than 600 million gallons of gas a year cutting the grass. Hell, the EPA estimates at least 17 million gallons of gasoline are spilled annually just filling lawn mowers. 


• In 2009, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 86,000 injuries involving lawn mowers required a trip to the emergency room; in 6,400 of these cases the victim died or wound up hospitalized:(

But perhaps you remain blasé. Who needs all those toes? OK, one last point:

• In a time of dwindling water supplies, somewhere between a third to half of residential water use is for lawn and garden irrigation   , and about half of that water is wasted by poor watering practices.  :P

Fact is, unless you’re a croquet fanatic, you don’t need all that grass. The green parts of the planet generally manage to stay green on their own.   

My natural plantings look like weeds to you? Fine, be a Neanderthal. I’m just saying there’s another way. —Cecil Adams 


How Much Pollution Do Gasoline-Powered Lawn Mowers Cause? A lot, actually—so maybe you don't need that lawn. 



 
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #258 on: October 13, 2015, 12:15:26 am »
Human Business as usual...  :(



The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) actually has a name for Business as Usual. They have modeled it. They have a number for it. It's called the RCP-8.5.

I am preparing a three part article which provides scientific evidence that the RCP-8.5 scenario is too conservative. I cover what we can expect in the next 85 years or so.

Here's a graph to give you a sneak peak at the article contents:


Business as usual is a death sentence for over 75% (or more) of life on Earth.

Stay tuned for the article. you won't disappointed. The people that defend business as usual won't like it. Good.
« Last Edit: October 13, 2015, 01:22:20 am by AGelbert »
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #259 on: October 14, 2015, 12:00:52 am »
Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns

A benchmark investigation of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides in umbilical cord blood

Quote
Not long ago scientists thought that the placenta shielded cord blood — and the developing baby — from most chemicals and pollutants in the environment. But now we know that at this critical time when organs, vessels, membranes and systems are knit together from single cells to finished form in a span of weeks, the umbilical cord carries not only the building blocks of life, but also a steady stream of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides that cross the placenta as readily as residues from cigarettes and alcohol. This is the human "body burden" — the pollution in people that permeates everyone in the world, including babies in the womb.

In a study spearheaded by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in collaboration with Commonweal, researchers at two major laboratories found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in umbilical cord blood from 10 babies born in August and September of 2004 in U.S. hospitals. Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals in the group. The umbilical cord blood of these 10 children, collected by Red Cross after the cord was cut, harbored pesticides, consumer product ingredients, and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage.

This study represents the first reported cord blood tests for 261 of the targeted chemicals and the first reported detections in cord blood for 209 compounds. Among them are eight perfluorochemicals used as stain and oil repellants in fast food packaging, clothes and textiles — including the Teflon chemical PFOA, recently characterized as a likely human carcinogen by the EPA's Science Advisory Board — dozens of widely used brominated flame retardants and their toxic by-products; and numerous pesticides.

Of the 287 chemicals we detected in umbilical cord blood, we know that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. The dangers of pre- or post-natal exposure to this complex mixture of carcinogens, developmental toxins and neurotoxins have never been studied.

Chemicals and pollutants detected in human umbilical cord blood

class icon Mercury (Hg) - tested for 1, found 1
Pollutant from coal-fired power plants, mercury-containing products, and certain industrial processes. Accumulates in seafood. Harms brain development and function.

class icon Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) - tested for 18, found 9
Pollutants from burning gasoline and garbage. Linked to cancer. Accumulates in food chain.

class icon Polybrominated dibenzodioxins and furans (PBDD/F) - tested for 12, found 7
Contaminants in brominated flame retardants. Pollutants and byproducts from plastic production and incineration. Accumulate in food chain. Toxic to developing endocrine (hormone) system

class icon Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) - tested for 12, found 9
Active ingredients or breakdown products of Teflon, Scotchgard, fabric and carpet protectors, food wrap coatings. Global contaminants. Accumulate in the environment and the food chain. Linked to cancer, birth defects, and more.

class icon Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and furans (PCDD/F) - tested for 17, found 11
Pollutants, by-products of PVC production, industrial bleaching, and incineration. Cause cancer in humans. Persist for decades in the environment. Very toxic to developing endocrine (hormone) system.

class icon Organochlorine pesticides (OCs) - tested for 28, found 21
DDT, chlordane and other pesticides. Largely banned in the U.S. Persist for decades in the environment. Accumulate up the food chain, to man. Cause cancer and numerous reproductive effects.

class icon Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) - tested for 46, found 32
Flame retardant in furniture foam, computers, and televisions. Accumulates in the food chain and human tissues. Adversely affects brain development and the thyroid.

class icon Polychlorinated Naphthalenes (PCNs) - tested for 70, found 50
Wood preservatives, varnishes, machine lubricating oils, waste incineration. Common PCB contaminant. Contaminate the food chain. Cause liver and kidney damage.

class icon Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - tested for 209, found 147
Industrial insulators and lubricants. Banned in the U.S. in 1976. Persist for decades in the environment. Accumulate up the food chain, to man. Cause cancer and nervous system problems.


Source: Chemical analyses of 10 umbilical cord blood samples were conducted by AXYS Analytical Services (Sydney, BC) and Flett Research Ltd. (Winnipeg, MB).
 
 

http://www.ewg.org/research/body-burden-pollution-newborns

Thanks for everything, Big Oil. 
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #260 on: October 15, 2015, 06:21:56 pm »


On September 18, indigenous community activist and teacher, Rigoberto Lima Choc, was murdered in northern Guatemala.  


This happened just after a court upheld charges he filed denouncing massive pollution caused by a palm oil company called Reforestadora de Palma de Petén (REPSA).

On the same day, three indigenous community leaders – members of an ActionAid partner organization which had also supported the case – were kidnapped. These ActionAid partners were released after 12 hours of being threatened with being burned alive.

>> Sign the petition to demand an immediate investigation and protection for the human rights activists involved in the case.

 Rigoberto was shot outside of a courthouse, and the ActionAid partners kidnapped, just one day after a court ordered the palm oil company to suspend operations due to a huge spill of waste from its processing plant. He had been among the first to report the spill.

>>  The Guatemalan authorities must conduct a full and impartial investigation into his death – sign the petition now.

 The waste killed hundreds of thousands of fish in one of the largest environmental disasters in Guatemalan history, putting at risk the livelihoods of thousands of people in riverside communities.

 By reporting and denouncing the spill, Rigoberto did the only responsible thing. Next week, ActionAid’s Guatemalan partners will be here in the United States for a hearing before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights to demand justice for the loss of land and the harms caused to their communities by the massive expansion of oil palm plantations for use in processed foods and biofuels.

>> Please show your support and sign our petition to demand justice for Rigoberto.   


 Thanks for your support.

Doug Hertzler
 Senior Policy Analyst, ActionAid USA
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #261 on: October 15, 2015, 08:35:52 pm »
Nnimmo Bassy and the British journalist sum it up at the end the following video. The entire culture of oil is a morally repugnant curse on human culture. The country of Nigeria became POORER after oil began to be exploited, not richer! The only real product of the oil culture, not just in Nigeria, but every place in the world, is ecocide.


Oil spills in Nigeria: The true price of crude oil | Guardian Investigations






Here's a recent video interview with Nnimmo Bassy on the MASSIVE level of oil pollution in Nigeria:



He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #262 on: October 15, 2015, 08:45:48 pm »

Nnimmo Bassey on Justice for the Earth Community, "Keep the Oil in the Soil"




Nnimmo Bassy    discusses the modern biosphere destroying, greed based mechanism of Power without Responsibility for the exploiters and Exploitation with Redress for the people in the exploited areas.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #263 on: October 15, 2015, 09:04:01 pm »
McPlanet: Keynote Nnimmo Bassey "Bilanz Rio 1992-2012"


Nnimmo Bassy tells it like it IS in regard to FALSE solutions pushed by the "Business as Usual" defending, polluter, profit over people and planet corporations.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #264 on: October 21, 2015, 10:05:34 pm »
Mercury said,
Quote
The whole edifice of BAU will supported until the very last day as there is no plan B. When it's all over there'll only be an ocean of dead bodies.  But it will be quick.

!

Meanwhile the biochemical carnage from fracking continues doing what it does.
SNIPPET:

Death by Fracking

Posted on Oct 18, 2015

By Chris Hedges

DENVER—The maniacal drive by the human species to extinguish itself includes a variety of lethal pursuits. One of the most efficient is fracking. One day, courtesy of corporations such as Halliburton, BP and ExxonMobil, a gallon of water will cost more than a gallon of gasoline. Fracking, which involves putting chemicals into potable water and then injecting millions of gallons of the solution into the earth at high pressure to extract oil and gas, has become one of the primary engines, along with the animal agriculture industry, for accelerating global warming and climate change.

The Wall Street bankers and hedge fund managers who are profiting from this cycle of destruction will—once clean water is scarce and crop yields decline, once temperatures soar and cities disappear under the sea, once droughts and famines ripple across the globe, once mass migrations begin—surely profit from the next round of destruction. Collective suicide is a good business, at least until it is complete. It is a pity most of us will not be around to see the power elite go down.

-----------------

Resistance will be local. It will be militant. It will defy the rules imposed by the corporate state. It will turn its back on state and NGO environmental organizations. And it will not stop until corporate power is destroyed or we are destroyed.

“Forty years after the major environmental laws were adopted in the U.S., and 40 years after trying to regulate the damage caused by corporations to the natural environment and our communities, by almost every major environmental statistic things are worse now than they were before,” Thomas Linzey, the executive director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, told me recently.

The fracking industry is omnivorous, biologist Davis noted. It “is so intoxicated and bloated by greed that it has moved into our backyards, near our school playgrounds, our hospitals, universities, our day cares, our state parks, our national grasslands, and has its sights on the rest of our public lands across America unless we stop them,” he said.

-----------------------

It behooves us to understand what unfettered, unregulated corporate power looks like, how it operates and what levels of wholesale destruction it inflicts in the lust for profit on human beings and the environment. If we do not know how corporate power works, and the lengths it will travel to exploit us and the ecosystem, we will not be able to fight it. Both in theological terms and literally, these corporate forces are forces of death.


http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/death_by_fracking_20151018
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #265 on: October 30, 2015, 02:53:09 am »


"We can’t have a healthy business on a sick planet."-- Ashley Orgain, manager of mission advocacy and outreach for Seventh Generation, Burlington, Vermont
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #266 on: October 30, 2015, 08:42:41 pm »

New analysis reveals even more troubling news about Indonesia’s fires crisis.

Emissions from this year’s fires have reached 1.62 billion metric tons of CO2—bumping Indonesia from the sixth-largest emitter in the world up to the fourth-largest in  just six weeks.   

http://www.globalforestwatch.org/
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #267 on: November 02, 2015, 02:42:07 am »
PROOF the EPA CONTINUES to IGNORE the FACT that Fracking chemicals are POISONOUS to the ENVIRONMENT.Frackers have put BENZENE and several OTHER TOXIC/CARCINOGENIC chemicals in the ground all over the USA! ALL the CORRUPTION in this fu cking country is BECAUSE of the FOSSIL FUEL (CORPORATE) GOVERNMENT!



Tesimony Before EPA: Ray Kemble, Bryce Payne, Dr. Zacariah Hildenbrand, Hope Forpeace, Steve Lipsky
Published on Oct 29, 2015

Quote
Testimony of people impacted by fracking and Hugh MacMillan representing Food and Water Watch. Today in front of the EPA Science Advisory Board Hydraulic Fracturing Research Advisory Panel. This is important information that was not included in the EPA fracking study released in June 2015.

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #268 on: November 02, 2015, 02:58:55 pm »

Fracking Companies Warned to Scale Back Operations Linked to Earthquakes or Get Sued


http://ecowatch.com/2015/11/02/fracking-oklahoma-earthquakes/

Agelbert COMMENT:
A NOTICE to sue!!?   

This is rich! The frackers are poisoning land and people from California to Pennsylvania. The frackers are forcing Texas towns to NOT be able to ban fracking and coerce the EPA to ignore all the fracking legal double talk corruption and in-your-face damage to the health of Americans for the sake of Empathy Deficit disordered profit over people and planet.

And the frackers need to "notified" that they may be sued for some earthquakes!!? THE LEAST of the health damage from these BASTARDS is earthquakes!

If the CRIME against Americans that the EPA is aiding and abetting is not proof that we have a Fossil Fuel OWNED Government, I don't know what is. The term that is used for this 24/7 corruption of AND threats to Americans degrading democracy is "Regulatory Capture".

They have it BACKWARDS. The people selected to head ALL the agencies that "regulate" our environment and dirty energy, be it fossil fuels or nuclear, are FROM corporate dirty energy!

They just named a NUKE PUKE to the NREL (National Renewable energy Laboratory).

Dr. Martin Keller is a stalking horse for the new nuclear boondoggle of smaller, "safe and clean" (NOT!) nuclear power technology for your neighborhood. Have a nice nuclear day.

Not ONE WEEK after his naming, a layoff of workers in SOLAR RESEARCH is announced. THAT's how it "works", people!

NREL cutting four percent of workforce, lays off solar researchers

It might have been "regulatory Capture" in the Reagan Administration. But now, please KNOW that it's "CYA for Dirty energy ALL THE WAY".

What really Happened at the EPA

And don't expect the courts to do ANYTHING to help Americans experiencing poisoning form fracking. The courts are part of the FOSSIL FUEL GOVERNMENT.

The Exxon Valdez PITTANCE of a settlement: PROOF we have a Fascist Fossil Fuel Government AND the irreparably DYSFUNCTIONAL Court System is its HANDMAIDEN

Learned ethics free  counselor tell us how Exxon did what they did, as if that's just fine and dandy: JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW Vol. 18:151 The purpose of this comment is to describe the history of the Exxon Valdez litigation and analyze whether the courts and corresponding laws are equipped to effectively handle mass environmental litigation.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

AGelbert

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Re: Pollution
« Reply #269 on: November 04, 2015, 06:01:31 pm »
I am so NOT shocked by this news.

11/04/2015 12:33 PM       

Blockbuster Climate News: China Seriously Under-Reports Emissions

SustainableBusiness.com News

Wow.

In a major setback for climate calculations, China quietly revealed it has been under-reporting carbon emissions since 2001, to the tune of 17%.

That increases China's already colossal emissions by nearly a billion tons a year - equal to Germany's total annual emissions, reports the NY Times. That's a big number for a country that contributes 28% of global emissions.

 While this certainly makes China's promise to peak emissions by 2030 much more daunting, it also makes it more urgent.

"This helps to explain why China's air quality is so poor, and that will make it easier to get national leaders to take this seriously," Yang Fuqiang, a former Chinese energy official, told the NY Times.

The gap mostly comes from small companies and factories in heavy industries, such as steel and cement, not power plants, and is highest in the most recent years. It was discovered during the 2013 census of the economy, but economists have long-questioned the accuracy of China's data.

 In the late 1990s, for example, the government ordered the dirtiest small coal plants to close, but many simply stopped reporting altogether. 

 Not only will China have to adjust its data on emissions and reassess its renewable energy goals, the data affects worldwide forecasts of climate change. Estimates are that China's emissions have been 4-11% higher than reported.

Moving to Renewable Energy 

Will China still peak emissions by 2030, but at much higher levels? Many people expect China's emissions to peak by 2025 because overall, coal consumption is down for the first time over the past two years.

China Coal Use Trends Down (graphic at link)

But China made no commitment after 2030 - after emissions peak, how long will it take for them to significantly decline? Decades, say many people.   

The key is how quickly energy efficient and renewable technologies grow. The cheaper they are, the less attractive coal is.

Quote
"China has negative GDP growth if you factor in the healthcare costs of overreliance on coal,"
said Christopher Frei, secretary general of the World Energy Council.

Indeed, the pressure to significantly reduce air pollution as well as greenhouse gases means that China can't continue relying on coal. By 2050, it's feasible for China to get 60% of all energy from renewables and 85% of electricity, says the China National Renewable Energy Center.

After decades of growth-at-all-costs, last year, China announced it would prioritize the environment over the economy, and this year, it extended the ban on burning coal to include suburbs as well as the largest city centers.  The goal is for 60% of cities to meet national pollution standards (three do now) by 2020.   

One big question for scientists to answer is where the extra carbon gases went - most likely into the ocean.  :P China's gaff doesn't affect the total world emissions - that is directly measured from the atmosphere.  ;)

Read our article, Coal Boom Finally Ends.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/26460

Agelbert NOTE: If you think we are getting honest emissions reporting in the USA, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. And remember friends, ALL the IPCC scenarios are based on, uh, REPORTED emissions over the past quarter century. They then take the REPORTED emissions and project the alleged effect on temperature and sea level and ice retreat. THAT is why they are so ridiculously WRONG (on the wishful thinking, dirty energy using, GDP defending status quo side) in ALL their scenarios, INCLUDING the "Business as Usual" (their term, not mine!) RCP-8.5 scenario.   


I'm certain that this news does not shock Doomstead Diner RE  either.  ;D


He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:37

 

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