Sep 28, 2024
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
On Feb. 25 of this year, United States airman Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C., refusing to be complicit in the American-backed genocide of the people of Palestine. On the morning of his self-immolation, he shared the following message via his Facebook account: “Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”
Bushnell was neither the first nor the last case of self-immolation in protest of our country’s bipartisan genocide in Gaza. In December of last year, an unidentified woman set herself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta. And earlier this month, Boston resident Matt Nelson did the same outside his city’s own Israeli consulate, adding to the nearly 200,000 to 300,000 casualties of our indiscriminate extermination campaign against the people of Palestine, based on estimates from The Lancet journal and The Guardian.
Nor has the so-called “Israel-Hamas war” been the only impetus for such desperate acts of protest within recent memory. On Earth Day in 2022, just months after his home state of Colorado experienced its most destructive wildfire ever recorded, climate activist Wynn Bruce set himself ablaze outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.
In the months prior to this action, Bruce shared a quote from Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, regarding the self-immolation of Buddhist monks: “To burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of the utmost importance.” He later added another quote attributed to Nhat Hanh: “The most important thing, in response to climate change, is to be willing to hear the sound of the earth’s tears through our own bodies.”
In more ways than one, we find ourselves the inhabitants of a world on fire. Seldom does a day go by that I don’t reflect on Aaron Bushnell’s sentiment, “What would I do if I was alive during ____? You’re doing it right now.”
I certainly experience these feelings with regard to the escalating genocide in Gaza, but also quite profoundly against the backdrop of the climate crisis — the most devastating global catastrophe ever engineered by humanity, for which the U.S. bears a disproportionate responsibility.
I spend every day doing everything I can think to do as an individual to try and take meaningful action against the climate crisis. But for every opinion piece like this that I write, I’m struck by a seemingly endless barrage of the bleakest headlines imaginable:
* “Antarctic ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Heading for Collapse,” Newsweek, Sept. 23.
* “AI Boom Is Driving a Surprise Resurgence of US Gas-Fired Power:
* New gas plants just keep on coming, defying expectations that their rapid growth was nearing an end,” Bloomberg, Sept. 16.
“Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows:
* Ocean acidification close to critical threshold, say scientists, posing threat to marine ecosystems and global liveability,” The Guardian, Sept. 23.
To be quite honest, I’m at a point where I genuinely don’t know how to live as a human being who exists in the age of the Anthropocene. I have no idea how to think about the future in a world whose biosphere is on the brink of collapse. I’m fully aware of the crisis we’re in, I know the scale of it, I know that it’s irreversible and that, for all intents and purposes, we’ve basically run out the clock when it comes to preventing utter catastrophe. Every day, it seems, we learn that collapse is happening faster than we realized, that it will affect hundreds of millions or even billions more people than we believed, and that global temperatures will skyrocket to previously unfathomable levels due to our failure to curb emissions. How, then, is it possible to know all of this, and still do nothing? Or even worse, to know it and to continue adding fuel to the fire?
Increasingly I find myself questioning whether humans are even capable of thinking in such a way that we might hope to survive the coming storm. So many of us feel like we’re doing everything we can, yet remain plagued by the guilt that it still isn’t enough — that indeed, nothing could ever be enough. It’s like we’re an old-timey bucket brigade, attempting to extinguish an out of control industrial fire on a planetary scale.
It’s not merely that our political and economic systems are uniquely ill-equipped to face the challenges of the climate crisis, but that they are in fact entirely predicated on a foundation of ecological destruction and a wanton disregard for life, human or otherwise.
Should civilization survive long enough for future generations to exist, they will surely be asking the question of us: “What did you do when our world was falling apart?”
The only honest answer that most of us can give to that question, myself included, is “not nearly enough.”
Our society’s ongoing tolerance for so many catastrophic, system-wide failures are directly responsible for the fate of individuals like Wynn Bruce and Aaron Bushnell, who sacrificed their very lives to beg for justice through the angry red flames of a burning world. We cannot go on like this.
We cannot accept that the bare minimum is enough. We cannot throw up our hands and accept that the world must burn. We all need to be doing so much more, every single day, to fight back against this deadly machinery fueled by the kindling of the innocent. We must find new ways to resist our own extinction, and keep resisting as if our very lives depend on it. Without this there can be no hope.
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: November 9, 2024 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Using water responsibly
Nov 9, 2024
Randi Pokladnik
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
This summer’s drought was a wake-up call for tri-state citizens who take our water resources for granted. Areas across the USA suffered from droughts, but SE Ohio and parts of West Virginia and Pennsylvania broke records for deficits of rainfall. More than half of Ohio saw some degree of “drought designation.” Ryan Fogt, a climatologist and meteorology professor at Ohio University, said “It’s really kind of uncommon actually for Ohio.” Our home in Harrison County, Ohio, remains in the exceptional drought range. West Virginia was no different; experiencing the worst drought in over two decades. “The USDA reported the condition of corn, soybeans, apples, and peaches were in very poor, poor, and fair categories, with none in the good or excellent categories.” Farmers in West Virginia and Ohio had to buy feed for livestock as their pastures dried up. Some sold livestock and others dipped into winter feed. Designated areas were set up in the tri-state region to allow farmers access to water for their livestock. We saw these areas along Tappan Lake where we live. Streamflow, groundwater levels, lake levels, and reservoir levels dipped lower and lower as the summer progressed.
The Tappan Lake region has been in an exceptional drought since July. June saw record numbers of over 90-degree days with literally no substantial rainfall. “As of October 25, there have been 36 days this year where the high temperature has reached at least 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Columbus, Ohio. The last time it reached at least 90° F was September 22, 2024.”
The heat and lack of rain have taken a toll on farmers, and others as well. Woodland streams dried up altogether. Most rural residents rely on well water or in some cases spring water for their water source. We installed a 700-gallon cistern to use for watering our large garden, but without rainwater, that water source was eventually depleted. We went into water conservation mode and stored our wash water in a greywater tank to use for our tomatoes. There was no car washing or any unnecessary use of water.
Sadly, as this drought continues, the oil and gas industry also continues to remove surface water from our region for fracking. Water hoses and pumps can be seen located close to fracking wells as they withdraw water from woodland streams. The USGS estimates that between 1.5 and 16 million gallons of water can be used per fracked well.
The Association of State Drinking Water Administrators said, “Watersheds where the greatest amount of water was used for fracking include those found in the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations covering parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New York.”
A recent 2023 study from Ohio Northern University found, “fracking is episodically reducing small Eastern Ohio River basin stream levels,” and though stream flow reductions occur infrequently, they “could have lasting negative impacts on the stream biota and have the potential to affect downstream users, including regionally-endangered species.
The stream ecosystem might be severely impacted.” Christopher Spiese, one of the researchers, said “I was also naively surprised at how difficult it was to find water source locations for well pad permits,” noting that the amount of fracking in Ohio makes it “almost impossible” to determine where the fracking water is coming from specifically.
The area’s lakes also saw significant impacts from the drought. Boat docks at Tappan Lake buckled as the water levels dropped and low lake levels left boats stranded at Atwood Lake. At one point the water sales conducted by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District to Encino Energy for its well pads at Atwood Lake was reduced by 75%, to 500,000 gallons a day, down from 2,000,000 gallons a day. The MWCD also sells water from Leesville Lake to Encino. The MWCD has a long history of selling water to fracking companies; dating back to 2012.
After environmental concerns about water withdraws were expressed in 2012, the MWCD signed an agreement with USGS to do a study of three lakes, Tappan, Leesville, and Atwood for water usage issues. The report however, “assumed historical lake operations were successful in maintaining seasonal pool levels.” Currently, Tappan Lake elevation is 897.4 feet above sea level and two feet below summer pool levels of 899.3 feet. The lake has been below summer pool all season. Studies need to reflect the ongoing possibility of these droughts.
According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, “any facility with the capacity to withdraw more than 100,000 gallons of water per day (70 gallons per minute) must register that facility with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Resources.” Private property owners who have access to surface water are also trying to cash in on water sales. This can be seen along Route 800 near Dennison, Ohio where local residents and businesses with access to water have set up “commercial operations” to sell water.
To add insult to injury, that precious clean water will end up as wastewater from fracking well pads. The “brine” trucks hauling wastes to Class II injection wells along the lake roads are a constant reminder of this careless use of our water by out of state oil and gas companies. Water used for fracking becomes forever contaminated with toxic fracking chemicals as well as Radium-226 and Radium-228. This radiation is naturally occurring deep in the bedrock of Marcellus and Utica shales. “The highly-saline composition of the wastewater is responsible for extracting radium from the shale and for bringing it to the surface.” These water-soluble isotopes become dissolved in fracking fluids during the process of fracking. The tankers are labeled as being “brine” but they are in reality a toxic, radioactive brew.
It is beyond time to put a stop to this irrational and irresponsible use of our water resources.
***
Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., of Uhrichsville, is a retired research chemist who volunteers with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action. She has a doctorate degree in environmental studies and is certified in hazardous materials regulations.
Posted: October 26, 2024 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Join the fight!
Oct 26, 2024
Eric Engle
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
A study conducted from July to November 2023 by the NYU School of Medicine, Stanford University, Utah State University, the University of Washington and George Washington University, among others, and published in the scientific journal Lancet Planetary Health, surveyed people aged 16-25 from all 50 U.S. states asking them to rate their concerns, thoughts and emotions regarding climate change. Respondents were also asked to provide their political affiliations and their opinions and ideas about who has the most responsibility for causing climate change.
Reporting by Jessica Glenza in The Guardian newspaper on the survey results summarized them this way: “An overwhelming majority of young people said they were worried about the climate crisis–85% said they were at least moderately worried, and more than half (57%) said they were ‘very or extremely’ worried. Nearly two-thirds endorsed the statement: ‘Humanity is doomed,’ and more than half of the sample (52%) endorsed: ‘I’m hesitant to have children.’”
Glenza also mentions that “Large majorities of both main political parties–92% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans–said they worried about the climate.” Glenza continues, “Respondents also said they had negative thoughts about the climate and had planned action to respond to their concerns, including voting for political candidates who would pledge to support ‘aggressive’ action.”
These young people are right to be concerned and anxious. An assessment published in the scientific journal Bioscience measured 35 of planet earth’s “vital signs” for the year 2023 and found that 25 were worse than have ever been recorded. Earth’s surface and ocean temperatures are at all-time highs driven by record levels of fossil fuel burning and populations of human beings are going up by about 200,000 a day globally, while the number of domestic animals requiring major inputs of resources like cattle and sheep are going up by about 170,000 a day. The assessment concludes with the scientist authors stating, “Only through decisive action can we safeguard the natural world, avert profound human suffering and ensure that future generations inherit the livable world they deserve. The future of humanity hangs in the balance.”
Those who still deny the existence of anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming or global climate change are either extremely misguided (often by propaganda funded by industries like fossil fuels with high stakes in preventing concerted action on the climate crisis) or are willfully ignorant. A study published in the scientific journal Environmental Research Letters on Oct. 19, 2021, a survey of 88,125 climate-related studies, found that 99.9% of peer-reviewed scientific papers agree that climate change is mainly caused by humans (see: “Greater than 99% Consensus on Human Caused Climate Change in Peer-Reviewed Scientific Literature” by Mark Lynas, Benjamin Z. Houlton and Simon Perry).
We have a moral and ethical responsibility not only to ourselves but our children, grandchildren and all of posterity to meaningfully act on climate change with the utmost urgency and in every way we safely and responsibly can. Part of that action requires us to be climate-motivated voters in the 2024 election cycle.
In an effort to encourage folks to be climate voters, you may have seen where we at Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action have put up Climate Voter billboards in Downtown Parkersburg across from the front of the United building, on Main Street in Belpre and on Ohio Rt. 7 in Marietta. You may also have heard our Climate Voter radio ads on 103.1, 103.5 and 95.1, and seen our Climate Voter ads here in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel. We have terrific Climate voter yard signs that say on one side “Climate Voter: Make America Green Again” and on the other “Protect What’s Ours: Be a Climate Voter.” You can obtain a yard sign by emailing MOVCAGROUP@yahoo.com, as shown on the billboards and in the newspaper advertisements.
As of this month, Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action has been an organization dedicated to addressing the global climate crisis in the Mid-Ohio River Valley, in both WV and OH, for nine years. Our commitment to educating, mobilizing, organizing and activating our communities to address the climate crisis and related crises (i.e. plastics and petrochemicals pollution, biodiversity loss) is unwavering.
We are committed to a cleaner, healthier, more affordable, safer and more stable future for everyone living today and for all generations of people to come. We unequivocally support working-class values and solidarity, union labor and collective bargaining rights and circular, sustainable care economies based on communal well-being and not on overconsumption and exploitation. We love, honor and respect our families, friends and other community members who have worked to earn livings for them and theirs in polluting and dangerous industries and want better for us all in every way.
Early voting in West Virginia started Wednesday, Oct. 23. and runs through Saturday, Nov. 2. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Learn the climate, environmental and public health stances and proposals of the candidates and parties in this election and cast your ballot for climate action in 2024!
***
Eric Engle is board president of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: October 24, 2024 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Lions and tigers and pizzlies…Oh, my!
Oct 19, 2024
Linda Eve Seth
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Climate change not only raises global temperatures, it impacts everyone and everything on our planet. As global temperatures rise, ecosystems and the species they harbor are changing in response. Many habitats are either shifting their boundaries polewards, or disappearing altogether – sending wildlife into new regions where they interact with resident creatures in surprising and unprecedented ways. When this geographic collision is between two closely related species, they sometimes cross-breed, leading to the emergence of an entirely new species. One example of this is the grizzly-polar bear hybrid: the “pizzly” or “grolar” bear. Polar bears are significantly larger than grizzlies, with fully grown males weighing around 1,800 pounds and standing nearly 10 feet tall on their hind legs. A typical adult male grizzly will weigh 400 to 600 pounds. Other visible differences are the polar bear’s whitish fur, and their longer skull and snout. A pizzly bear is the hybrid offspring of a male polar bear and a female brown bear. Grolar bears have a brown bear father and a polar bear mother. The first pizzly bear was born in 1936 in The Smithsonian National Zoo, but the first wild hybrid was not found until 2006, when hunters shot a white bear with brown patches in Canada’s Northwest Territories. DNA analysis confirmed that the individual was a hybrid of the two species. Scientists have since documented incidences of second-generation hybrids (e.g. the offspring of pizzly bears and grizzly bears). The interbreeding is surprising since polar bears and grizzlies usually have an adversarial, competitive relationship in the rare incidences when they do meet. These hybrid bears come from areas in northwestern Canada and Alaska where grizzlies and polar bears are crossing paths with increasing frequency as grizzlies encroach on polar bear habitat. This upswing in grizzly and polar bear encounters is almost certainly due to climate change. Rising temperatures and the melting of Arctic ice have led to greater opportunities for these two bear species to come into contact, increasing the chances of interbreeding; for example, when polar bears head further south because the increasingly fragmented summer sea ice makes it harder to hunt prey. These two animals that historically seldom ran into each other are now being forced to share closer quarters. As polar bears are heading further south, warming temperatures are pushing grizzly bears further north, increasing the overlap between the two habitats. This closer contact increases the chances of hybridization. Pizzly bears represent an interesting aspect of the impact of climate change on wildlife and the potential for the hybridization of species due to shifts in their ranges and habitats. Some scientists fear that hybridization could continue to the point where polar bears will one day be subsumed into the general grizzly population, effectively out-breeding them into extinction. Pizzly bears are known to be far less aggressive than either parent species alone and tend to lead solitary lifestyles. Regarding behavior, the hybrids more resemble their polar bear parents, hurling large toys and stamping on objects in a similar fashion. They also lie down with their hind limbs splay-legged–a distinctive polar bear pose. Pizzly bears typically exhibit physical characteristics and traits of both parent species. They may have the body shape and fur coloration of a polar bear, with the hump on the back characteristic of a grizzly bear. The extent of their physical features can vary widely among individual hybrids. Grizzlies don’t typically stray north of the tree line in the Arctic, and permafrost is too frigid for them. But as permafrost rapidly melts and prey moves poleward into polar bear-inhabited regions, grizzlies are bumping into polar bears and mating with them. Likewise, as sea ice wanes, polar bears will likely find themselves stuck in terrestrial locations filling with a slow creep of grizzly invaders. Rather than “grolar bears” or “pizzlies” taking over the Arctic, the real risk is that polar bears will simply be absorbed into a tide of grizzly DNA through successive crossbreeding events. While research suggests that the possibility of climate change-induced hybridization is still low for most species, it is already threatening animals like cutthroat trout, and could someday pose a similar extinction threat to polar bears if it continues unabated. Climate change not only raises global temperatures, it impacts everyone and everything on our planet. Until next time, be kind to your Mother Earth.
*** Linda Eve Seth, M.Ed., SLP, is a mother, grandmother, concerned citizen and member of MOVCA
Posted: October 12, 2024 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Finding common ground
Oct 12, 2024
Griffin Bradley
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
To say that America has become more polarized in recent years isn’t breaking any new ground. The “us versus them” mentality has seeped into our political zeitgeist, bringing with it division among family, friends, and peers. That tense conversation with your uncle at Thanksgiving or the Facebook spat between old high school friends? We’ve all seen them, and they have become all-too-frequent.
One of the topics at the crux of America’s political divide is climate change. All across the political spectrum, climate has become not just an issue that everyone has an opinion on, but also one with major electoral implications across the country. Both major political parties emphasize climate issues in their narrative, often with stark differences between the two on how to address the issues at hand, or whether there is an issue at all.
According to the 2023 Yale Climate Opinions poll, 72% of Americans believe climate change is happening, and 70% believe that it will harm the living ecosystem and future generations. Regardless of where Americans have fallen on the issue of climate change in recent years, one thing remains true: There is a clear threat imposed on every American from a worsening climate crisis.
Despite the clear belief among a majority of Americans that climate change is happening and is harmful, there are still questions.
“So, what? People can agree that there’s a problem, but not agree on a solution.”
Herein lies the problem we face as a nation. Every election season, we hear from those seeking office that only one side is right and the other is wrong, and there’s little to no room for agreement on core policy. And yet, from the very same polling that shows us people agree on the negative impacts of climate change, we also see that there is common ground for policy fixes. Yale polling shows strong support for policies to fund research for renewable energy (79%), generate renewable energy on public lands (79%), provide tax incentives for energy efficient vehicles and solar installations (74%), regulate CO2 as a pollutant (74%), and more.
In recent years, we have seen positive impacts from strong climate policy come out of Congress, despite constant rhetoric indicating this to be impossible. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 brought historic policy and investment to bear on climate issues in America. From this bill, we have seen investments in clean energy, clean transportation, and more that have set America on the right path to limit the impacts of climate change, while also sparking economic revitalization in communities across the country, putting money in the pockets of everyday Americans. Even while no Republican members of Congress voted for the IRA at its time of passage, there is now a strong contingent of Republicans supporting provisions of the law, seeing the tangible economic value of increased clean energy investment across the country. Oh, and the rest of America? Similar to the polling trends on policy support above, recent polling has found that 7 in 10 support the IRA.
As we inch our way closer to yet another “most important election of our lifetimes,” let’s remember a couple of key things as it relates to climate change and policy. In every state and federal district in America, we are seeing new environmental trends. From flooding to droughts, extreme heat to extreme cold, more frequent tornadoes and stronger hurricanes, the impacts of climate change are felt across the political divide. The drought felt across our region this year has impacted Democrats just as much as Republicans. For our neighbors to the south, Hurricane Helene uprooted the lives of members of both parties just the same.
If nothing else, please remember: No man-made political boundary stops nature.
***
Griffin Bradley is a lifelong Wood County resident, graduate of West Virginia University (B.A., Political Science ’21; M.A., Political Science ’23), and a contributing author for Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: November 14, 2024 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: No place is safe from climate change
Oct 5, 2024
Jean Ambrose
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Many of us have visited the beautiful North Carolina mountains and enjoyed the vibrant community of Asheville, or have friends and family living there. However, Asheville is now unrecognizable due to a hurricane that formed over the warm waters of the Atlantic and intensified over the unusually warm Gulf of Mexico, traveling 600 miles across the Southeast. Early last week, a smaller regional weather disturbance caused two fronts to collide near Asheville, resulting in flooding and saturated ground, only to be further impacted by Hurricane Helene a few days later. The devastation, far from the ocean and high in the mountains where many believe they are safe, is hard to comprehend, and the loss of life in this mostly rural county is heartbreaking.
Some people think their wealth and resources can insulate them from the effects of climate change, but that isn’t the case for those living in Buncombe County, where Asheville is located. Helene destroyed everything in its path, regardless of income level. Increasing weather disasters are making insurance more expensive, as we’ve already seen in Florida and other flood- or fire-prone areas. We can expect a Category 6 storm to occur somewhere in the world each year. Although the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale currently categorizes storms only up to Category 5, some experts advocate for a new Category 6 designation to account for the unprecedented intensity and impacts of storms that have wind speeds exceeding 200 mph, as seen in recent years.
Hurricanes are becoming stronger due to several factors driven by climate change. Warmer ocean temperatures provide more energy to storms, leading to increased intensity. As the planet warms, oceans absorb heat, raising sea surface temperatures. Additionally, higher levels of humidity in the atmosphere enhance the storm’s ability to produce heavy rainfall and stronger winds. This combination creates conditions ripe for more powerful and destructive hurricanes.
In the past decade, five such storms–specifically typhoons in the Pacific–have occurred. Typhoon Patricia, for instance, had wind speeds reaching 215 mph, comparable to a racing car. The Big Bend region of the Florida Panhandle has experienced three hurricanes in just the last 13 months.
The economic impact of climate-related disasters is staggering. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that the U.S. experienced 22 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2020 alone. These events strain local and national economies, as costs associated with recovery, repairs, and lost productivity skyrocket. Communities are forced to divert funds from essential services like education and healthcare to cover disaster recovery efforts. Additionally, rising insurance premiums can lead to financial instability for homeowners and businesses alike, making it harder to recover from damages and creating barriers for those seeking coverage.
Ironically, many people moved to Asheville to escape extreme heat, floods, and fires, believing they would be insulated from these risks. Yet, the reach of the climate crisis is consistently underestimated. As North Carolina’s climatologist noted, “If you live in a place that can rain, you live in a place that can flood.” The same holds true for West Virginia, which is increasingly vulnerable to heavy rainfall, landslides, and flooding as climate patterns shift.
The jet stream, which consists of fast-moving air currents circulating above the Earth, influences global weather patterns. Historically, these streams were consistent and strong, but a warming atmosphere has weakened and made them more erratic. Recent studies indicate that the jet stream will become increasingly wavy and stagnant, allowing storms to linger in one area, leading to extreme rainfall. For instance, Hurricane Harvey dropped 60 inches of rain on Houston over just four days in 2017 because the storm stalled in one location.
The reality is that the climate crisis is not a distant threat; it’s a current reality that affects us all, often in ways we don’t immediately recognize. Climate change doesn’t discriminate — it impacts people regardless of where they live or their socioeconomic status. If we dismiss its effects as someone else’s problem, we risk being caught off guard when disaster strikes. Each of us has a role to play in understanding these risks and advocating for proactive measures in our communities. How will you ensure that you and your loved ones are prepared for the challenges ahead?
***
Jean Ambrose lives on a ridge near Mountwood Park.
Last Updated: September 30, 2024 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: A world on fire
Sep 28, 2024
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
On Feb. 25 of this year, United States airman Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C., refusing to be complicit in the American-backed genocide of the people of Palestine. On the morning of his self-immolation, he shared the following message via his Facebook account: “Many of us like to ask ourselves, ‘What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”
Bushnell was neither the first nor the last case of self-immolation in protest of our country’s bipartisan genocide in Gaza. In December of last year, an unidentified woman set herself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta. And earlier this month, Boston resident Matt Nelson did the same outside his city’s own Israeli consulate, adding to the nearly 200,000 to 300,000 casualties of our indiscriminate extermination campaign against the people of Palestine, based on estimates from The Lancet journal and The Guardian.
Nor has the so-called “Israel-Hamas war” been the only impetus for such desperate acts of protest within recent memory. On Earth Day in 2022, just months after his home state of Colorado experienced its most destructive wildfire ever recorded, climate activist Wynn Bruce set himself ablaze outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.
In the months prior to this action, Bruce shared a quote from Vietnamese peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh, regarding the self-immolation of Buddhist monks: “To burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of the utmost importance.” He later added another quote attributed to Nhat Hanh: “The most important thing, in response to climate change, is to be willing to hear the sound of the earth’s tears through our own bodies.”
In more ways than one, we find ourselves the inhabitants of a world on fire. Seldom does a day go by that I don’t reflect on Aaron Bushnell’s sentiment, “What would I do if I was alive during ____? You’re doing it right now.”
I certainly experience these feelings with regard to the escalating genocide in Gaza, but also quite profoundly against the backdrop of the climate crisis — the most devastating global catastrophe ever engineered by humanity, for which the U.S. bears a disproportionate responsibility.
I spend every day doing everything I can think to do as an individual to try and take meaningful action against the climate crisis. But for every opinion piece like this that I write, I’m struck by a seemingly endless barrage of the bleakest headlines imaginable:
* “Antarctic ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Heading for Collapse,” Newsweek, Sept. 23.
* “AI Boom Is Driving a Surprise Resurgence of US Gas-Fired Power:
* New gas plants just keep on coming, defying expectations that their rapid growth was nearing an end,” Bloomberg, Sept. 16.
“Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows:
* Ocean acidification close to critical threshold, say scientists, posing threat to marine ecosystems and global liveability,” The Guardian, Sept. 23.
To be quite honest, I’m at a point where I genuinely don’t know how to live as a human being who exists in the age of the Anthropocene. I have no idea how to think about the future in a world whose biosphere is on the brink of collapse. I’m fully aware of the crisis we’re in, I know the scale of it, I know that it’s irreversible and that, for all intents and purposes, we’ve basically run out the clock when it comes to preventing utter catastrophe. Every day, it seems, we learn that collapse is happening faster than we realized, that it will affect hundreds of millions or even billions more people than we believed, and that global temperatures will skyrocket to previously unfathomable levels due to our failure to curb emissions. How, then, is it possible to know all of this, and still do nothing? Or even worse, to know it and to continue adding fuel to the fire?
Increasingly I find myself questioning whether humans are even capable of thinking in such a way that we might hope to survive the coming storm. So many of us feel like we’re doing everything we can, yet remain plagued by the guilt that it still isn’t enough — that indeed, nothing could ever be enough. It’s like we’re an old-timey bucket brigade, attempting to extinguish an out of control industrial fire on a planetary scale.
It’s not merely that our political and economic systems are uniquely ill-equipped to face the challenges of the climate crisis, but that they are in fact entirely predicated on a foundation of ecological destruction and a wanton disregard for life, human or otherwise.
Should civilization survive long enough for future generations to exist, they will surely be asking the question of us: “What did you do when our world was falling apart?”
The only honest answer that most of us can give to that question, myself included, is “not nearly enough.”
Our society’s ongoing tolerance for so many catastrophic, system-wide failures are directly responsible for the fate of individuals like Wynn Bruce and Aaron Bushnell, who sacrificed their very lives to beg for justice through the angry red flames of a burning world. We cannot go on like this.
We cannot accept that the bare minimum is enough. We cannot throw up our hands and accept that the world must burn. We all need to be doing so much more, every single day, to fight back against this deadly machinery fueled by the kindling of the innocent. We must find new ways to resist our own extinction, and keep resisting as if our very lives depend on it. Without this there can be no hope.
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: September 14, 2024 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Parties and their platforms
Sep 14, 2024
Giulia Mannarino
Although, the Democrats (DNC) and the Republicans (GOP) are presently the two dominant political parties in the USA, our country has additional political parties. These include the Green Party, the Libertarians, the Constitution Party and more. All other parties are referred to as “Third Parties” and they often have presidential candidates in the race. Third party candidates rarely win but may have a spoiler effect on the outcome. Abraham Lincoln’s Republicans were a third party when he won the 1860 presidential election as the traditional parties at that time were the Democrats and the Whigs. In that race, there were four major candidates and Lincoln wasn’t even allowed on the ballot in the Southern states. Although, some other third-party candidates have done really well, no others have ever won an outright victory. The last president that was not a Democrat or Republican was Whig party candidate Millard Fillmore. At that time, whoever came in second was elected Vice President. Fillmore became vice president in 1848 and upon the death of Republican President Zachary Taylor served as president.
Political party “platforms,” as we know them today, began in 1840, with DNC candidate Martin Van Buren. In 1856, the GOP issued their first platform. In the 2020 election year, the GOP made the decision to skip platform drafting, citing the pandemic as the reason. Although, it would have been possible for the GOP to draft a platform virtually, as the DNC did that year, they chose not to. Their reasons remain unclear but may have been related to a controversy, within the party at that time, about what its length should be. That year, their candidate’s campaign, rather than a platform committee, issued a 600-word document of 50 items that mirrored the GOP’s 2016 platform. This election year, as usual, both parties have adopted official party platforms. In both cases, the documents were developed by large committees prior to the recent conventions. The platforms provide concrete examples of where the time and energy of the party will be devoted if elected. The platforms are available to review online. Both party platforms begin with an introductory Preamble and are then comprised of the “planks” that build it. Ten “points” are listed by the DNC and twenty “promises” are listed by the GOP.
Media coverage of the platforms have pointed out noticeable fundamental differences regarding the future planned for the country. A very important election issue for me, personally, is the climate. The DNC’s platform devotes an entire chapter to a plank titled “Combating the Climate Crisis and Pursuing Environmental Justice.” On the other hand, the word “climate” can’t be found anywhere in the GOP’s platform. Their Preamble states “We will DRILL, BABY, DRILL…” (GOP’s caps). In my opinion, it is dangerous to ignore the very real and urgent crisis of global warming being faced by mankind. Scientific evidence for warming of the climate is unequivocally indisputable!
Consensus among actively publishing climate scientists on human caused global warming has grown to one hundred percent. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase flooding as well as the recent HOTTEST YEAR EVER (my caps), the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale.
In-person voting for a presidential election used to occur every four years in November, only on official Election Day. Voting has changed through the years. Presently 47 states provide early voting options. Early voting may be offered in person at select sites, or by mail-in voting. There are several benefits to early voting including the fact that it offers more flexibility for your schedule and is usually more pleasant and less crowded. Both Ohio and West Virginia provide early voting options. For more specific information regarding these options, as well as poll locations, hours and absentee ballot information, contact the County Board of Elections offices of Washington or Wood County or check their websites. Although paper forms are still accepted, voter registration for both states can be done online through the Secretary of State websites: VoteOhio.gov and GoVoteWV.com. Residents must meet certain criteria, as well as register by a specific date; Oct. 7 for Ohioans and Oct. 15 for West Virginians. I encourage all voters to exercise their right to vote.
***
Giulia Mannarino of Belleville, is a grandmother concerned about her two granddaughters’ futures and a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: August 31, 2024 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: What’s a tree worth
Aug 31, 2024
Vic Elam
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
This is a complicated question, and the value of a tree varies upon the perspective of the beholder. One could look at it simply from the commercial perspective and determine the board feet of lumber that can be harvested from the tree, or the value of the fruit harvested from an apple tree. One could consider many other aspects, such as the intrinsic beauty of a tree, or the value of the shade provided on a hot summer day, or the ability to provide good support for a tire swing or a tree house.
Trees provide many ecosystem services like improving soil, filtering water and stabilizing streambanks. Doug Tallamy, retired entomologist from University of Delaware has studied oak trees and found that oaks provide food for an amazing array of wildlife from the tiniest of insects to bears, many animals depend on oaks, such as warblers that rely on a tremendous number of caterpillars that are found on oak trees, and time their spring migration to match the emergence of these caterpillars.
It’s no secret that trees do a great job of sequestering carbon and therefore reducing CO2 levels in our atmosphere that are mostly responsible for climate warming. Over the years there has been a lot of research on what size trees are most effective at sequestering carbon and forest types. It was thought that large, mature trees did not continue to grow very fast and therefore, do not sequester as much carbon as younger fast-growing trees. This theory has recently been debunked, and for most tree species, mature trees continue to grow throughout their life and are significantly more effective at sequestering carbon than young trees. Also, at the forest level it has been found that old forests provide the most ecosystem services and biodiversity when looking at carbon storage, timber growth and species richness.
In recent news the owner of Allegheny Wood Products sold 2,700 acres to Monongahela National Forest. Seems like a good thing for the environment and wildlife and probably will be. One thing though about the U.S. Forest Service is that their mission is to provide multiple use benefits to the public which includes timber harvest which can be highly controversial. The Forest Service must weigh competing interests and the biological integrity of their practices. Timber harvests typically require a public review, but that doesn’t mean that the forest will respond as most of the commenting public might like. All things considered, the U.S. Forest Service does a great job of managing forest, but old forests don’t get to be old by periodic harvesting and old forests seem to be what’s best for human health and the health of our planet. And who doesn’t stand in awe of magnificent tree specimens.
President Biden issued executive order 14072 on Earth Day 2022, which directs the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to protect old growth forests. Public comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for this executive order is now open and if you value old forest, I encourage you to inform yourself and provide comment. You can find further information about this by going to https://heartwood.org/2024/7/old-growth. We may never return much of our forests to the grandeur of pre-settlement, but it’s in our best interest to try.
***
Vic Elam is an avid outdoorsman and contributor to organizations that share his concern for our environment, including Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: September 5, 2024 by main_y0ke11
Guest column/Hydrogen hub project is bad for our communities
Aug 24, 2024
RANDI POKLADNIK
On Aug. 16, I sat in on the third public meeting (by zoom) about the ARCH2 Clean Hydrogen Hub. This meeting was conducted by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations. The Department of Energy held two listening sessions about the hub this spring. After all three sessions, citizens were left in the dark as to the project details. There were more than 200 questions logged during the OCED call and approximately three were answered. The lack of public engagement has been ongoing throughout the process even though the DOE promised significant community engagement. It seems the only engagement being conducted is behind closed doors with industry groups.
More than 50 environmental organizations signed a letter on May 28 asking the U.S. Department of Energy to suspend negotiations on Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub until more information about the project was released. This letter was sent by the Ohio River Valley Institute to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, or ARCH2, recently was allocated a $30 million chunk of the total $925 million of federal funds awarded. The majority of partners in the hub are fossil fuel corporations or have ties to fossil fuels. These “partners” will see project sites across Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Scientific studies reveal that using dirty, climate-changing fossil fuels to create hydrogen is not efficient and not a path to a green energy economy. In addition, “It will always be more efficient to rely first on the direct use of renewable electricity wherever it is possible to do so, rather than convert that electricity into hydrogen before using it as an energy source.”
ARCH2 proponents state they can make clean hydrogen, hydrogen that will produce 2 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions or less per kilogram of hydrogen produced on site. However, most of the hydrogen produced at the ARCH2 projects will be blue hydrogen, hydrogen made using a process called steam methane reforming, where methane is sourced from fracking operations The carbon dioxide produced from this process is captured by using carbon capture sequestration technology. About 95 percent of U.S. hydrogen is blue hydrogen produced with methane gas.
Globally, less than 0.02 percent of hydrogen is actually green, which means it was made by using water to supply the hydrogen and renewable electricity to split the water molecules. Even green hydrogen comes with risks, as hydrogen fuel cells and the electrolyzers used to make hydrogen require toxic PFAS polymers.
A 2023 report, “Blue Hydrogen: Not Clean, Not Low Carbon, Not a Solution,” states that even with a 95 percent carbon capture efficiency, steam methane reforming would still release into the atmosphere 13 kg of carbon dioxide per 1 kg of hydrogen produced, well above the DOE’s 4 kg of CO2 per 1 kg of H2 produced.
Carbon capture technology would require a pipeline system of close to 68,000 miles at a cost of $230 billion. Before being transported through the pipelines, CO2 needs to be pressurized to 1,000 psi, becoming a supercritical fluid and then injected into Class VI wells. The pipelines used for transportation can rupture and release concentrated carbon dioxide, an asphyxiant, into the atmosphere. A pipeline rupture in Satartia, Miss., injured 45 people. Additionally, CO2 storage has to be monitored indefinitely and carbon dioxide can cause groundwater to become contaminated as CO2 combines with underground water to react and form carbonic acid.
A Nebraska-based energy company, Tenaska, has recently received $69 million from the DOE to drill four Class VI test wells in the Tri-State Area. Currently, there are no Class VI commercial-scale carbon dioxide injection wells in operation in Ohio, West Virginia or Pennsylvania.
The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations claims the Tri-State Area was chosen for a hub because it had “renewable electricity sources for hydrogen production,” but Ohio only gets 4 percent of its electricity from renewable energy.
Hydrogen as a fuel source has its own problems. It is flammable and can cause explosions.
“Hydrogen fires are invisible, making them even more hazardous for first responders, and unlike natural gas, no odorants are added to hydrogen so leaks are hard to detect. The gas can corrode steel in a process called hydrogen embrittlement, and brittle pipelines are more prone to leaks and explosions. Studies show blending hydrogen with methane in methane specific infrastructure systems is problematic. Additionally, hydrogen is an indirect greenhouse gas. Hydrogen emissions increase the lifetime of methane gas in the atmosphere.
While local, state and federal politicians, as well as the oil and gas industry, sing the praises of the ARCH2 projects, we in the Appalachian area realize that it means locking our region into more fracking and all the destruction and health effects that process brings to local communities.
The Inflation Reduction Act also increases tax credits for every ton of carbon dioxide captured from $50 to $85. ARCH2 is win-win for fossil fuel companies, but not for local communities.
(Pokladnik, a resident of Uhrichsville, holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, master’s and doctorates in environmental studies and is certified in hazardous materials regulations.)
Last Updated: September 1, 2024 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: A new kind of victory garden
Aug 24, 2024
Randi Pokladnik
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
During World War II, citizens were encouraged to plant “victory gardens” to support the war effort. Historical references point out that many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and Great Britain, provided support for backyard gardeners. These gardens created a sense of empowerment among citizens and helped the war effort by relieving some of the stress on food supplies. Even First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt planted a victory garden on the White House lawn.
Today, growing a garden allows us all to gain a different kind of victory; a victory against ultra processed foods, the plastics industry, climate change, and the petrochemical industry. Ultra processed foods (UPF) have been the focus of many studies in the past few years. A review of 45 studies shows “eating more ultra processed foods is linked to a higher risk of dying from any cause and has ties to 32 health conditions, including heart disease, mental health disorders, type 2 diabetes, and other problems.”
Chris Van Tulleken’s book “Ultra Processed People: The Science Behind Food That Isn’t Food” explains the dangers of a diet that is high in processed and chemical laden foods. Sadly, we have all fallen prey to the food industry that willingly offers us processed foods such as: chips and other snack foods, industrial breads and pastries, packaged sweets and candy, sugar-sweetened and diet sodas, instant noodles and soups, ready-to-eat meals and frozen dinners, and processed meats such as hot dogs and bologna. Eating minimally processed foods like fruits and vegetables right from your garden is a great option to UPF. Who can resist a fresh tomato sandwich or a summer squash sauteed in olive oil? Your backyard garden can become a path to health for your family.
You might have noticed the alarming amounts of plastics in grocery stores today. Many of the fresh veggies are suffocating in plastics. I cringe when I see a green pepper sitting on a Styrofoam dish and wrapped in plastic. A great benefit of having a garden outside your door is there are no plastics packaging materials. Another pitfall of prepackaged fruits and vegetables is that single-use plastic packaging often forces people to buy more than they need, and this results in food wastes. How many times have you thrown away apples from a large bag because you simply couldn’t use the bag up quickly? The single-use bags are not easily recycled and contain holes for aeration that makes them unsuitable for reuse.
A big plus of backyard garden veggies is the distance they don’t have to travel to reach your house. Your zucchini isn’t picked in California and shipped on a refrigerated truck across the country. Produce grown out-of-state has a heavy carbon footprint. Often it is shipped via planes, trucks and boats before arriving at your market and then you add to the carbon footprint as you drive that food home. It is estimated that over 20% of carbon emissions from food creation chains comes from shipping.
One of the best reasons to grow as many of your family’s veggies and fruits as possible is you can grow all produce organically without using any petrochemical-based pesticides. I was first made aware of the dangers of pesticides in my senior year of high school. I read “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson. This book was a game changer for me. It’s the reason I decided to get my bachelor’s degree in chemistry and to research organic farming for my master’s thesis.
Sadly, many farmers, including some home gardeners are ignoring the warnings of Ms. Carson. Pesticides are still being sprayed on food crops at alarming rates. A recent study published in the Biomedical Journal said, “there is a near-100% certainty that all of us have pesticides in our blood or urine right now. This is the inevitable outcome of using over 1 billion pounds of pesticides each year in the U.S. which is nearly a quarter of total pesticide use worldwide.” Another cause for alarm is the fact that studies now show many pesticides also contain the forever chemicals PFAS in their formulations. A study by the Environmental Working Group looked at pesticides used in Maine and found 55 carbon-fluorine based compounds (PFAS) were in over 14,000 pesticides tested. “Extensive research demonstrated that PFAS are harmful to human health even at minuscule concentrations,” said Olga V. Naidenko, Ph.D., EWG vice president for science investigations.
It is also worth noting that many of the commercial composts or potting soils sold can contain PFAS compounds. Some of these “soil amendments” are manufactured from biosolids that originate from waste water treatment plants. To avoid PFAS, you can make your own compost pile from food wastes and untreated grass clippings.
Our family has never used pesticides. It is great to be able to eat a tomato right off the plant. Our son, who was a botany major in college, was in the garden at two years old. He has his own garden and has handed down his love of plants to his youngest daughter Isabel who too has a green thumb. A backyard garden is just a win-win for your family and the planet.
***
Randi Pokladnik, Ph.D., of Uhrichsville, is a retired research chemist who volunteers with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action. She has a doctorate degree in environmental studies and is certified in hazardous materials regulations.
Find Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action on the following social media:
Check out our Facebook group and join a conversation
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
Categories
Meta