Nov 4, 2023
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
How many genocides? How many extinctions?
How many wars must we wage? How many lives must we destroy? How many lands must we make uninhabitable?
How many thousands of Palestinian children must be exterminated for the sake of America’s imperialist interests? Is it merely a coincidence that the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank sit atop nearly half a trillion dollars in oil and gas reserves? Is there no level of depravity to which the client state of Israel may sink before its American benefactors develop any semblance of a conscience?
How many babies need to be blown apart by rockets? How many civilians must be scorched to their bones by white phosphorus? How many more bombs will we supply to Israel to drop on hospitals and refugee camps?
From Israel to Ukraine, how many more proxy wars will we finance? How many more blank checks will we sign to brazen war criminals?
All this, we say, is for the sake of American interests. No amount of human and environmental destruction is too great for the most heavily militarized superpower in the history of the world. In his book “Endless Holocausts,” David Michael Smith estimates the American empire is responsible for nearly 300 million deaths throughout its history. Is that enough?
The U.S. is historically responsible for nearly 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions destroying our planet. The Department of Defense is the single largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world. Billions of innocent lives not directly destroyed by the sociopaths at the Pentagon through illegal acts of war will instead be subject to the horrors of the climate crisis it’s creating.
And still it isn’t enough.
Every year the war machine needs more. More innocent blood. More money — trillions spent over decades — more than any other nation on the planet, more than 144 other nations combined.
Politicians and an indoctrinated public squabble and hand-wring over the cost of climate legislation, a woefully inadequate $369 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act that is nevertheless our largest ever investment in mitigating a world-ending existential threat. We spend twice this amount every year on slaughter and bloodshed, on escalating tensions with nuclear superpowers, on a mind-boggling 750 military bases in 80 countries poisoning the water around them, on $100 million fighter jets that somehow go missing, and on developing nuclear bombs 24 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima.
We endlessly finance these horrors without giving them a second thought. We hiss and we snarl at the homeless and at welfare recipients, we allow our infrastructure to crumble, and we sleepwalk into a climate apocalypse that could rob us of everything. Yet we bow at the feet of mass murderers as they bleed us dry, enriching weapons manufacturers and war profiteers, demons in designer suits who will never have to look into the eyes of the innocents they massacre.
When will it be enough?
How long must the needs of the many be sacrificed for the insatiable bloodlust and gluttony of the few?
This is simply how things work, we’re told — the way they must be in order for the system to function.
And if that is the case, I say, then maybe the system has never been functional. And maybe it’s near time for us to find another system.
Could it really be true that our creature comforts, our “American way of life” and our well-being, must necessitate these rivers of blood, these mass exterminations of human life, and the complete destabilization of Earth’s systems, upon which 8 billion of us depend? And if that is the case, what right have we to pursue such a way of life at the expense of all others?
We cannot keep doing this to ourselves.
How many of our loved ones need to be chewed up and spat out through the gears of the war machine? How long will we allow military recruiters into schools and shopping malls to prey on the vulnerable, turning our children into ruthless destroyers of life, and sending them home in pine boxes and body bags?
How many more children must feel fear when they look up at the sky? Fear of the American-made bombs raining down onto their heads, or fear of once-in-a-lifetime hurricanes tearing their little worlds to pieces?
How many nightmares must the world endure for the American dream to survive?
How long will we let this go on in our names?
How long can we turn a blind eye to the corporate fascism that consumes us, and to the military industrial complex as it scourges the earth?
As our world overheats, as we plunge into tribal hatred and the tyranny of the surveillance state, as our borders are militarized in order to prevent the arrival of the refugees we create, and as protestors and journalists are murdered with impunity, when will we finally step back and ask ourselves why?
What will we do when the carnage we’ve sown inevitably arrives right back at our doorstep?
When do we stand up and say enough is enough?
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: December 23, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: An innovation opportunity in 2024
Dec 23, 2023
Jonathan Brier
climatecorner@brierjon.com
Action on climate and the environment shouldn’t be political, it is a business opportunity which when objectives and values are aligned in the business model can be good for the environment too. The discussion around the climate often has opposition pitting jobs, business, and economic growth against regulation, and change from the status quo. It doesn’t have to be, but it does require being open to change from the status quo and acting with intentionality. Change may come in how we source, design, and think about our products, services, and economy, but we should lean into it and see what we can do instead of focusing on what we can’t or don’t want to do.
Many opportunities exist to improve the Mid-Ohio Valley competitiveness locally and internationally as well as attract/retain youth, build our economy focused on sustainable models which have a triple bottom line of economic value, social, and environmental impact while remaining competitive.
I earned a Masters of Science in Information specializing in social computing to work on citizen science, but one of the most memorable courses was an elective I took alongside MBA students at the University of Michigan Ross Business School in Social Entrepreneurship. The course opened my eyes to alternative ways of thinking of business models that were economical and good for society and the environment.
Cradle to Cradle (ISBN 978-0099535478) is a reading from this course which continues to be a top recommendation. It explores the concept of thinking about products from initial material selection through its entire lifecycle until its end of life and waste and reuse opportunities. Design from the beginning to end often results in more repairable products as well as more reusable or repurposable and not just the profit model of the first sale.
My favorite case study was how a textile manufacturer sold its product, but needed to pay to dispose of the waste scrap from cutting the product as the scraps were considered hazardous waste. After investing in a search for new dyes the same cuttings could be sold to farmers for composting instead of being a cost. In addition to new revenue it reduced landfill use.
My challenge to the Mid-Ohio Valley for 2024 is to:
* Identify one product or service that you use or care about or one problem you want to fix.
* Identify what one change could make that product more useful at the end of its life, easier to dispose of, more efficient and/or less wasteful, or a new product or service that would address what you identified.
* Speak up to those responsible or make the change yourself if you can.
For governments and business networking groups:
* How are we fostering the idea and value chains and supporting business waste transformation to a raw material for a nearby business?
* How many concrete facilities sponsor recycling collection for glass as a component of their products? Could we leverage barge transport on the Ohio River to become a recycling stronghold?
* While there is a third party certification for cradle to cradle: https://c2ccertified.org/the-standard Implementing the concepts behind this design thinking doesn’t require certification, it requires a mindset and practice. Certifications may open additional doors. Over 500 companies have certified products, how many are in the Mid-Ohio Valley?
My gifts to you this season:
* If social entrepreneurship is of interest to you consider a read of Michael Gordon Becoming a Social Entrepreneur (ISBN 978-0367197735).
* If you would like to think about innovative alternatives: Mycelium aka a fungus can replace foam and more (https://www.ecovative.com/).
* If the right to repair and work on the things you own is important, check out the work of The Repair Association (https://www.repair.org/).
* A Social Enterprise list by Rural Action in Ohio (https://ruralaction.org/our-work/social-enterprise/).
* Reimagine Appalachia complements much of this “rethinking” while leaning into what is good for those living here too (https://reimagineappalachia.org/).
* What if waste did not exist? Cradle to Cradle founder video http://tinyurl.com/5avrhavb
* Why do we need cradle to cradle thinking? There are many product reports by Healthy Stuff Labs which shows we are looking only at part of our product design and not proactively considering choices in product materials. https://www.ecocenter.org/our-work/healthy-stuff-lab/reports
***
Jonathan Brier is a Marietta, Ohio resident, Information Scientist, and an Eagle Scout. He is the Data Services Librarian at Ohio University, a member of the Association of Computing Machinery, American Association for the Advancement of Science, OpenStreetMap US, a Board member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, and a Wikipedia contributor.
Posted: December 16, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Wake up and smell the coffee
Dec 16, 2023
Linda Eve Seth
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
“As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?” — Cassandra Clare
***
Attention coffee drinkers: Grab a mugful and sit down before reading this column. The news is not good. Climate Change is making it much harder to grow and produce coffee.
Optimal coffee-growing conditions include cool to warm tropical climates, rich soils, and few pests or diseases. The world’s Coffee Belt spans the globe along the equator, with cultivation in North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Brazil is the world’s largest coffee-producing country.
If Earth’s climate continues to warm over the coming decades, obstacles to coffee cultivation will multiply. Consider Arabica coffee (Coffea Arabica), the species grown for roughly 70% of worldwide coffee production. Arabica coffee (favored by Starbucks and other major coffee sellers), is a finicky crop that requires specific conditions to flourish. Arabica coffee thrives within an optimal temperature range of only 6 degrees Fahrenheit.
Above those moderate temperatures (64-70F), fruit development and ripening accelerate. (FYI -Coffee “beans” are actually the pit, or seed, of the plant’s fruit.) Faster ripening actually degrades coffee bean quality. Continuous exposure to temperatures much above these levels can severely damage coffee plants, stunting growth, yellowing leaves, even causing stem tumors.
Because of the importance of coffee to the rural economies of so many tropical countries, the recent research from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) explored the potential impacts of a warming climate on coffee production in the Americas and Africa. The scientists forecast varying impacts in different Brazilian states: ranging from 10 percent reduction in suitable growing areas to as much as 75 percent reduction in some regions.
Coffee is grown on more than 27 million acres across 12.5 million (mostly) smallholder farms in 50-plus countries. Many coffee-producing regions are experiencing changing climate conditions, whose impact on coffee’s taste, aroma, and dietary quality is as concerning as diminishing yields and sustainability.
Studies showed that coffee plants will be “drastically” less suitable for cultivation in current coffee-producing regions by 2050 because of the impacts of Climate Change. Simply stated, higher temperatures make it harder to grow coffee. Coffee quality is susceptible to changes due to water stress and increased temperatures and carbon dioxide. Additionally, too much light exposure was associated with a decrease in coffee quality.
Warmer temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are already limiting the coffee bean supply chain at its origin; coffee farmers all around the globe are seeing a reduction in production, decreased quality and yields, as well as increased pests and disease. These factors impact the productivity of the million coffee farmers and workers composing the global supply chain.
The Climate Institute estimates that global area suitable for coffee growing will decrease by 50% over the next 25 years. It is expected that coffee production will therefore shift away from the equator and to higher altitudes. There is a notable downside to this shift: farmers will be compelled to expand into forests, contributing to deforestation, exacerbating climate change, and further impacting the farmers’ businesses. The changing climates are also driving significant volatility in coffee prices, which especially challenges small farmers.
The popularity of the rich, dark brew means that a substandard cup of coffee has economic implications. Factors that influence coffee production have great impacts on buyers’ interest, the price of coffee, and ultimately the livelihoods of the farmers who grow it. Some current efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, including shade management to control light exposure, selection and maintenance of climate-resilient coffee plants, and pest management, show promise and feasibility.
Worldwide, between coffee shops and homes, coffee lovers consume more than 2.25 billion cups a day. Climate change has the potential to raise the price and worsen the taste of the favorite breakfast drink of billions of people, and it poses serious risks to the economic well-being of millions of people worldwide.
Combine the economic and trade impact of the coffee market with the unpredictable and undeniable effects of climate change and it is obvious that the future of coffee is at risk. Coffee is a demanding and highly sensitive commodity; a crop that both contributes to and is deeply affected by the changing climate.
Wake up, my friends, and smell the coffee…while you can.
Until next time, be kind to your Mother Earth.
Posted: December 9, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Stubborn optimism
Dec 9, 2023
Rebecca Phillips
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
As I write this column, the first week in December, the COP28 conference is underway in Dubai. This event is, in part, a follow-up to a treaty that the U.S. and 194 other nations signed in 2015, the Paris Climate Accords.
Unfortunately, recent climate news is not good. The 2023 State of the Climate Report, issued by the National Climatic Data Center with input from fifty other countries, warns of a “climate collapse” brought on by the failure to meet the goals agreed to in 2015. The report’s detailing of emissions, losses, and disasters makes for depressing reading, and its photos are devastating. Given the fact that emissions this year reached a record high after the pandemic-induced reduction, is there any reason to hope that the situation can improve?
It happens that I had begun reading “The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis” by Paris Accord architects Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac a few days before the conference began. The book calls for “stubborn optimism,” a refusal to believe that humans are helpless in the face of even existential challenges. In it, the authors remind us of progress that has already been achieved.
As they note, the U.K., birthplace of the industrial revolution, gets 50% of its power from clean sources. Figueres’ native Costa Rica has achieved 100% clean energy. The cost of solar panels and electric vehicles has dropped, as has the price of electric vehicles. Since the book’s publication, in the U.S. the Inflation Reduction Act is accelerating clean energy development and making it easier to purchase efficient appliances and vehicles. While much remains to be done in terms of strengthening our nation’s electricity transmission grid, renewable energy development is increasing.
COP 28 has the potential for many positives, and despite the inevitable problems that arise when dealing with groups of humans and the determination of fossil fuel lobbyists to prevent a phase-down of such fuels, the first days of the conference have brought some good news. On Nov. 30, participating countries created — and donated to — a climate fund to help low-income nations recover from the climate disasters that are occurring with greater frequency. On the second day, international development banks introduced a plan to reduce poor nations’ debts in exchange for protecting the natural areas that serve as carbon sinks. Such exchanges have already been successfully implemented in Belize and the Galapagos Islands and look to be a win-win.
Individual countries are bringing forth their own proposals and pledges. Indonesia will be closing its first coal-fired power plant. Brazil’s president has pledged to use that country’s oil revenues to fund green energy development, and last week Brazil’s national development bank launched an effort to restore 23,160 square miles of land — an area larger than Croatia, Costa Rica, or Switzerland — in the Amazon rainforest by 2030. Since the Amazon region is sometimes called “the lungs of the planet,” this is good news indeed.
Methane is the most potent greenhouse gas, remaining in the atmosphere far longer than CO2. Last week, the U.S. EPA announced a plan to reduce methane emissions from gas and oil development by 80% over the next 15 years, equivalent to the annual GHG emissions of 300 million cars. China, the world’s largest emitter, last month issued its first methane control plan. With livestock responsible for around 30% of global methane, six of the world’s largest dairy companies have joined a global alliance to reduce methane emissions from their industry. In many places, regenerative agriculture is becoming more widely practiced. Again, more good news.
People being what they are, we have no guarantee that any of these pledged actions will be carried out, and given the urgency of the problem, no guarantee that they are enough to solve the climate crisis. Still, combined with all the small individual actions that so many of us take, these pledges demonstrate that we can make a better world for future generations, especially if we hold our officials accountable.
As Figueres and Rivett-Carnac write: “We still have a choice about our future … [W]e are capable of making the right decisions about our own destiny. We are not doomed to a devastating future … if we act.”
***
Rebecca Phillips is a WVU Parkersburg retiree and a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action and the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta.
Posted: December 2, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Gifting for the planet made easy
Dec 2, 2023
Jean Ambrose
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
I don’t know about you, but for many years I had anxiety attacks on Black Friday because I knew there were only three weeks left to purchase gifts for Christmas. My stress level skyrocketed. Too often I would run out of time and grab something I wasn’t happy about that was probably discarded soon after it was opened.
Since I became involved in the climate movement as a member of MOV Climate Action, a new world of gifting possibilities has opened. I can share my passion about reducing waste, especially single use plastic. I can share products and practices that might encourage the recipients to change habits that contribute to the climate crisis, to those that don’t.
I’ve done some research to help you step on this new path. Let’s think about the whole gift giving experience to give you some benchmarks to make decisions: How can we green the whole process of shopping, wrapping, and disposal?
Shopping: Make sure you minimize your own waste and take reusable shopping bags and your water bottle. Avoid overly packaged products; those wrappings typically can’t be recycled.
Keep it local; you’ll reduce your use of CO2 for shipping and also provide much-needed support for local artisans and businesses.
The website Done Good (donegood.co) has vetted more than 100 businesses and makes it easy and affordable to use your purchasing power for good. They list companies that are committed to creating high quality products that are good for the people who make them and good for the planet.
Reused (or pre-loved!) gifts can come from your own household, thrift stores, or even online resellers that specialize in vintage and secondhand goods. Places to start: thredUP, Poshmark, VarageSale, and of course eBay
Wrapping: That shiny paper can’t be recycled, so think about recycled or reusable options. Repurpose what you have around the house–newspapers and magazines, pillowcases, napkins, recycled paper decorated by your kids. Or make the wrapping part of the gift, such as a reusable shopping bag or gift bag, a scarf, or mason jar. Use natural decorations such as pine cones and branches, dried flowers, or leaves.
Less is More: Everything we buy is a choice that can contribute to a healthy future for our planet and our grandchildren. Avoid last minute plastic trinkets or gag gifts that will end up in the trash. Homemade gifts and long lasting quality items will be meaningful and not forgotten, especially if they demonstrate your knowledge of the recipients and their interests.
Share Your concern for the Planet through your gifts. There are small companies specializing in rethinking everyday products to be as close to zero waste as possible. A gift pack of zero waste laundry detergent, soaps, cleaning supplies, and personal care items with subscription refills will support new habits. Companies like Net Zero, BlueLand, and Free the Ocean provide alternatives to heavy plastic packaging. Think about the small changes you have made in your own life — cloth napkins, reusable shopping bags, bamboo plates and tableware — and help your loved ones take that step to more aware consumption habits.
If you have people who garden on your list, share a bag of homemade compost along with directions on how you fit composting into your own lifestyle.
Some people are replacing gifts with contributions to non-profit organizations made in honor of the person you are gifting. Heifer International makes grants of livestock to low-income families to increase their self-sufficiency. A child could help pick the gift of rabbits, chickens, goats, or lambs to be made in their name. If you plan to make this change to charitable contributions instead of gifts, let your recipients know ahead of time with an early card or message so they will know you’re not giving personal gifts this year.
Help move the people you love off fossil fuels by buying them electric tools and appliances. Check out the Electric Gift Guide put out by Rewiring America for ideas to electrify all aspects of our households. (Companies like Home Depot are making a major shift to all-electric lawn care equipment.)
Let’s make this the year we refuse to succumb to the holiday consumer mania, and spend with the people we love, our planet and our community in mind!
***
Jean Ambrose is trying not to be a criminal ancestor.
Posted: November 25, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: ‘Blue’ hydrogen is not the answer
Nov 25, 2023
Eric Engle
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
I’m writing this weekend’s Climate Corner column in response to a column from last weekend’s edition of the Parkersburg News and Sentinel regarding the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen (ARCH2) hub proposed for the Ohio River Valley. Before I directly address ARCH2, though, I’d like to make a few things clear.
I myself am a union steward and a recruiter/membership coordinator for my union chapter. My maternal grandfather was a union member who worked for Pennzoil in the oil fields of Calhoun County. My father was a union member at an area plastics plant from which he retired. I had numerous family members and loved ones who were union members at the Ames plant in Davisville before it closed down.
Speaking not only for myself but for Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action as an organization, we stand unwaveringly with organized labor and want union contracts and collective bargaining rights to be economy-wide. We deeply admire what the United Auto Workers, SAG-AFTRA and numerous other unions across the country have accomplished this year with a record number of strikes and labor actions.
When it comes to ARCH2, unfortunately, it’s just not the promising initiative last week’s writer suggested. This is not because hydrogen production itself is a bad idea or negative thing; hydrogen shows immense promise in decarbonizing hard-to-decarbonize sectors like steel and cement-making, international shipping and aviation. The problem here is with what is referred to as “blue” hydrogen, which is hydrogen derived from methane gas by splitting off the carbon atoms and utilizing carbon capture and storage technology to address the resulting carbon dioxide emissions.
First of all, blue hydrogen production will increase the demand for methane gas obtained by hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays in our region. Fracking is extraordinarily polluting, dangerous and destructive from start to finish. For a deep dive into the huge array of harms from fracking, please check out the Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking and Associated Gas and Oil Infrastructure, ninth edition, at concernedhealthny.org. The compendium is published annually by Concerned Health Professionals of New York, a program of the Science and Environmental Health Network, and Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Secondly, in large part because of fracking, but also because of unaddressed methane emissions, a 2021 study by Robert W. Howarth of Cornell University and Mark Jacobson of Stanford University found that blue hydrogen has a 20% greater greenhouse gas footprint than burning natural gas or coal directly for heat and some 60% greater than burning diesel oil for heat. This study even assumed that carbon dioxide can be stored indefinitely, which the authors described as “an optimistic and unproven assumption.”
“Unproven” is a word you’ll hear a lot regarding carbon capture and storage technologies and processes. A more apt word, after decades of research and years of federal subsidies, would be “disproven.” Carbon capture and storage has not been shown to successfully capture and store even a fraction of the CO2 necessary to make any difference in reaching the emissions reduction goals of any nation. For a deeper dive into the dangers, immense costs and lack of viability of carbon capture and storage, please visit carboncapturefacts.org, a website created and administered by the Science and Environmental Health Network.
What’s happening at other proposed hydrogen hubs across the country and allegedly for parts of ARCH2 is the production of what is referred to as “green” hydrogen. Green hydrogen is derived from separation of water molecules using an electrolysis process powered by renewable energies like solar and wind. This should be the only method of hydrogen production utilized by the ARCH2 project. Institutional Shareholder Services, an international shareholder advisory firm, cited estimates that green hydrogen will be more cost effective than blue hydrogen by or before 2030 in its finding that there is “significant risk of stranded assets for blue hydrogen investments” in a 2022 analysis.
Producing green hydrogen can still create good-paying, union jobs in the Ohio River Valley, but the economic potential doesn’t stop there. A report for the Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI) titled “Green Steel in the Ohio River Valley” found that switching to fossil fuel-free direct reduced iron-electric arc furnace (DRI-EAF) steelmaking fueled by green hydrogen would boost total steelmaking jobs by 27% to 43% by 2031 with nearly zero climate-warming emissions.
Hydrogen isn’t all that shows true, clean economic promise. A study titled “A Bigger Bang Approach to Economic Development” by the Ohio State University Swank Program in Rural-Urban Policy found that “A new economic development model centering on high-multiplier investments in energy efficiency, weatherization, distributed generation, and education could help struggling Appalachian communities spark job, population, and income growth.” You can read the complete studies referenced above at ohiorivervalleyinstitute.org.
The answers to our economic woes are not to be found in shale gas and oil. To quote from the ORVI website, “Since the beginning of the shale gas boom in 2008, the largest gas-producing counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have lost more than 10,000 net jobs and nearly 47,000 residents.” The ORVI information continues, “Efforts to spark a petrochemical renaissance with the region’s abundant natural gas reserves have similarly produced poor economic outcomes.”
Some $169 million is being made available under the Defense Production Act by the Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains to build 15 heat pump manufacturing facilities across the U.S., including Ohio and Pennsylvania. Heat pump units both heat and cool homes very efficiently and effectively and can make great replacements for gas utilities as the price of the units continues to fall and point-of-purchase subsidies are provided for households under the Inflation Reduction Act.
ARCH2 isn’t a done deal. More community engagement is being planned, and changes can be made. Blue hydrogen, though, isn’t the answer.
***
Eric Engle is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: January 4, 2024 by main_y0ke11
Put an end to sacrilegious treatment of public lands
Nov 25, 2023
George Banzinger
In its Nov. 16 edition, The Marietta Times carried a story with the headline, “Ohio commission approves fracking in state parks.” I attended this event at the headquarters of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in Columbus, where this meeting of the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission was held. I shared in the disappointment, anger and frustration which was expressed by many members of the Save Ohio Parks group.
There are many reasons that this plan to impose a sacrilege on our state parks and public lands is an outrage. First, the Ohio Legislature drew up a poultry bill, HB 507, and inserted some unrelated “stuffing” language offering public lands of Ohio–including state parks–for oil and gas drilling. The hidden language in this poultry bill allowed the legislature to avoid any public hearings about this controversial proposal to drill for fossil fuels. Adding to this reason for outrage — this legislation declared methane to be green!
A second outrage is that Gov. Michael DeWine signed this legislation and appointed the members of the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission, who represent real estate, oil and gas interests, and lawyers but no true representatives of environmental interests. The commission then sent out information to oil and gas companies inviting “nominations” for parcels immediately adjacent to state parks and other public lands (in signing the bill the governor promised that there would be no surface drilling on public lands — we shall see if that is enforced). Another outrage is that the names of these companies which submitted nominations were not made public. It is likely that most all of these companies are from out of state, based on preliminary inquiries made to property owners on these sites. The public was invited to comment on these nominations, and more than 5,000 comments from those opposing high-pressure hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) near these public lands were received by the commission. Comments referred to increased truck traffic (hauling in sand, water, and chemicals and hauling out radioactive and toxic brine waste), increased noise and air pollution, and risks to health and the environment, which has been documented in scientific studies. Yet another outrage occurred when over 1,100 comments from those in support of fracking on public lands came in from people whose identities had been stolen and who had no idea until they were contacted that a message in support of fracking on public lands was sent in their names and with their contact information. The latter information came out due to some investigative reporting by reporters from the Cleveland Plain Dealer and other press outlets. Attorney General David Yost promised to conduct an investigation of this issue, but at this point his office has not provided any update. Further exasperating opponents of fracking on public lands is that the commission on Nov. 15 went ahead and approved these nominations before any information about the attorney general’s investigation is made public (it is possible that one of the companies that submitted a nomination was behind this deceptive effort). A further cause for outrage, the commission prohibited any comments from the public at the Nov. 15 meeting.
The next step in this process is that the commission will request bids for the various parcels.
If bids come in as expected, Salt Fork State Park, the state’s largest, will be completely surrounded by well pads and oil and gas rigs. The last hope to set any limits or to stop this process is to contact the governor and urge him to do what his predecessor, then-Gov. John Kasich, did and end this sacrilege on our public lands.
Riffe Center, 30th Floor, 77 South High Street, Columbus, OH 43215-6117. (614) 644-4357.
Posted: November 18, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Investigating your environment
Nov 18, 2023
Callie Lyons
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Every time I consider Diane Cotter’s story, I am encouraged. Diane is the person who identified the turnout gear used by firefighters as a major source of exposure to toxic chemicals — and one with far reaching health implications for the fire service. When her husband was battling cancer, she set out to discover the cause. Her questions, persistence, and alliances with world class experts resulted in a new understanding of these exposure issues and their serious capacity for causing harm. Diane’s story is told in a new documentary titled “Burned.”
Diane had no prior training or experience to guide her actions. She was driven by a love of family and the courage of her convictions. And, so it was that a determined woman with a hairdresser’s license cracked the chemical secret so many scientists overlooked.
The journey began with a burning question. What caused her husband’s cancer? Kitchen table environmental investigations often begin when a family member is suffering from a health problem for which the origin is a mystery.
In that spirit, here are some recommendations for anyone who finds themselves investigating their own environmental situation. While there are endless situations to be explored by dedicated citizens, the good news lies in the availability of information and tools for embarking on such an investigation
Finally, don’t be afraid to look into an issue that may be critical to your life. If you wait for the government via regulatory agencies to step in and fix things, you are going to be disappointed every time. The pace of science bogged down by politics and systems is far too slow to bring about meaningful change — particularly in the face of a crisis. Look no further than the calamity at East Palestine as an example of these failures. Agencies established in the interest of the herd are not about saving your family or your loved one. But, you are. Thus, you are uniquely positioned to be the change that your world needs.
Sometimes information leads to simple solutions — a water filter that will reduce or remove the problem, an air filtration system that will bolster the health of your household. These solutions are discovered through investigation.
It’s not a one-size-fits-all environment. Vulnerable populations, allergies, and an endless number of unknowns can complicate your situation and potential outcomes. The key is to find the answers that will fit your needs and improve the health and environment for the ones you love.
***
Callie Lyons is the author of the 2007 book, “Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8,” which chronicles the discovery of PFAS or highly fluorinated compounds in Mid-Ohio Valley water supplies and beyond. She is a journalist and researcher for FITSNews and the FITSFiles true crime and corruption podcast.
Last Updated: November 13, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Save solar energy in West Virginia
Nov 11, 2023
Giulia Mannarino
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Solar energy is one of the best ways West Virginians can save money on energy bills and dramatically reduce carbon emissions. It’s a chance to invest in clean homegrown energy that supports the local economy. It’s an opportunity for households and businesses to take control of their energy future. Installing solar allows West Virginians to generate electricity on their own roof tops or property. Over three thousand West Virginians have already chosen to install solar. That number should grow in the coming years. The solar industry supports nearly 400 local jobs. These jobs help strengthen communities and support families. Unfortunately, all of that is at risk as solar is under attack in West Virginia. Out of state utility FirstEnergy wants to turn off the lights on West Virginians’ energy choices and stop the growth of solar.
FirstEnergy has filed a proposal with the West Virginia Public Utility Commission to slash the value of solar for customers in MonPower and Potomac Edison territories. This would make it much harder for households, businesses, and organizations in that territory to choose solar. It would slow the solar growth enjoyed over the last decade and potentially take jobs away from West Virginia communities. It would hamper West Virginians ability to reduce carbon emissions to fight climate change. It would strand millions of dollars already invested in solar energy and discourage further investment. In the same proposal, FirstEnergy is also asking to force yet another significant rate increase on their customers. They want to keep all West Virginians tied to their ever-increasing rates and take away their freedom of energy choices.
Solar customers tied to the grid enroll in a program called net metering. When the sun is shining, solar users use the power they make in their home or business. If they make more than what they need, the excess power flows to their neighbors — wherever it can be used. When the sun isn’t shining, they buy the power they need from the utility. Solar customers pay the same rate for electricity that their neighbors do. They also receive a credit for the power they provided at the same rate. It’s a fair 1:1 transaction that appropriately values the benefits of solar energy. The current rate for power is around 11.5 cents per kWh. FirstEnergy wants to slash the solar credit to just 6.5 cents per kWh – and increase the rate for power to over 12 cents per kWh. Solar customers would be unjustly subsidizing utilities who are making billions of dollars. It would make it nearly impossible for customers to go solar and discourage further investment.
Solar energy benefits everyone and slowing solar is the wrong choice for all West Virginians. Studies have been done that show the economic and environmental benefits net metered solar provides to the broader grid exceeds the retail cost of energy. For example, when a home or business produces solar, it’s immediately used by that home or business or its neighbors. Using power right where it’s made means less strain on the system that carries power across the state. Since solar owners do not use the grid as often, they do not put much wear and tear on it making it last longer. Transmission and distribution systems are very costly to upgrade and those upgrades contribute to rate increases. Avoiding them by investing in local generation like solar helps keep costs down for all customers. We are not powerless. Even though FirstEnergy wants to take away West Virginians’ solar choice, we can say “No!”. Their unfair proposal is in front of the West Virginia Public Service Commission. The Commission will decide on the proposal in early 2024. Now is the time to make your voice heard. The Commission is accepting comments on the proposal. Add your voice to hundreds of fellow West Virginians’ who have spoken out against this unfair proposal. Contact your legislators. Tell them to stand with West Virginians and tell the Commission to reject FirstEnergy’s anti-solar proposal. Websites WV4EF, SolarUnitedNeighbors and WVLovesSolar have more information as well as actions you can easily take in opposition to the proposed changes.
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Giulia Mannarino, of Belleville, is a grandmother concerned for her granddaughter’s future, and vice president of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Posted: November 8, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Guest column/Fracking, hunting don’t mix — lease should be denied
Nov 4, 2023 Herald Star
RANDI POKLADNIK
Many hunters are entering wooded areas in Ohio in search of deer, turkey and pheasants. Among the most popular places to hunt are Ohio’s public lands, especially parks and wildlife areas in the southeastern portion of the state.
Among the top 10 counties for deer harvests in the 2022-23 season were: Coshocton (7,590), Tuscarawas (7,028), Muskingum (5,982), Guernsey (5,073) and Carroll (4,251). The Ohio Department of Natural Resources reported that “hunters from all 50 U.S. states purchased deer permits in Ohio for use in the 2022-23 seasons with Pennsylvania hunters topping the list, buying 9,365 permits.”
The hunting community adds significant amounts of money to Ohio’s economy each year, spending nearly $866 million on food, equipment, lodging, fuel and other merchandise. A report by the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation estimates that close to half a million hunters participate in recreational hunting each year in Ohio, which translates to “15,500 jobs, $68 million in state and local taxes, and $753 million of the state’s GDP.”
Why would Ohio’s Oil and Gas Land Management Commission want to jeopardize an activity that provides so much revenue for the state, and enjoyment for Ohio and out-of-state residents? Why would this commission even consider fracking excellent hunting areas like Guernsey County’s Salt Fork State Park or Carroll County’s Valley Run Wildlife Area?
These areas located above Marcellus and Utica shale deposits provide habitat for hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians.
The most obvious effects of gas extraction are fragmentation and loss of habitat. Fracking requires the complete clearing of land for well pads, infrastructure, pipelines and roads. This means acres of forested lands are lost as they become asphalted over, clear-cut or covered in gravel. In order to restore areas to the original forests, they must be regraded, topsoil needs to be added and native species should be replanted. But this type of reclamation is expensive and not regulated, and often the only reclamation that is done is reseeding areas with non-native grass species.
Forest fragmentation from endless pipelines and access roads leads to the introduction of invasive species, the disruption of predator-prey relationships, drops in migratory bird species and a reduction of core-forest habitat. We also know that fracking fluid and waste releases can be toxic to fish and wildlife, as noted by the spill that occurred in 2007 at Acorn Fork Creek in Kentucky, which killed numerous fish species including the “protected” blackside dace. Additionally, surface waters, including local streams, are impacted by water withdraws that lower water volume, create temperature increases, change pH,and amplify water pollutants.
A hunter described hunting this way: “It offers an understanding and appreciation of wildlife and their ecosystems like no other outdoor activity. Hunting affords the exploration of wild places, and provides delicious, nutritious protein for a meal at a time where much of our food is processed or modified.”
How will hunters feel about hunting at Salt Fork State Park when fracking brings light pollution, noise pollution, water pollution and air pollution to a place that was once wild? Tell the commission to deny the leases for Ohio Parks. Their e-mail is commission.clerk@oglmc.ohio.gov.
(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.)
Posted: November 4, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: How much is enough?
Nov 4, 2023
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
How many genocides? How many extinctions?
How many wars must we wage? How many lives must we destroy? How many lands must we make uninhabitable?
How many thousands of Palestinian children must be exterminated for the sake of America’s imperialist interests? Is it merely a coincidence that the occupied territories of Gaza and the West Bank sit atop nearly half a trillion dollars in oil and gas reserves? Is there no level of depravity to which the client state of Israel may sink before its American benefactors develop any semblance of a conscience?
How many babies need to be blown apart by rockets? How many civilians must be scorched to their bones by white phosphorus? How many more bombs will we supply to Israel to drop on hospitals and refugee camps?
From Israel to Ukraine, how many more proxy wars will we finance? How many more blank checks will we sign to brazen war criminals?
All this, we say, is for the sake of American interests. No amount of human and environmental destruction is too great for the most heavily militarized superpower in the history of the world. In his book “Endless Holocausts,” David Michael Smith estimates the American empire is responsible for nearly 300 million deaths throughout its history. Is that enough?
The U.S. is historically responsible for nearly 25% of the greenhouse gas emissions destroying our planet. The Department of Defense is the single largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world. Billions of innocent lives not directly destroyed by the sociopaths at the Pentagon through illegal acts of war will instead be subject to the horrors of the climate crisis it’s creating.
And still it isn’t enough.
Every year the war machine needs more. More innocent blood. More money — trillions spent over decades — more than any other nation on the planet, more than 144 other nations combined.
Politicians and an indoctrinated public squabble and hand-wring over the cost of climate legislation, a woefully inadequate $369 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act that is nevertheless our largest ever investment in mitigating a world-ending existential threat. We spend twice this amount every year on slaughter and bloodshed, on escalating tensions with nuclear superpowers, on a mind-boggling 750 military bases in 80 countries poisoning the water around them, on $100 million fighter jets that somehow go missing, and on developing nuclear bombs 24 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima.
We endlessly finance these horrors without giving them a second thought. We hiss and we snarl at the homeless and at welfare recipients, we allow our infrastructure to crumble, and we sleepwalk into a climate apocalypse that could rob us of everything. Yet we bow at the feet of mass murderers as they bleed us dry, enriching weapons manufacturers and war profiteers, demons in designer suits who will never have to look into the eyes of the innocents they massacre.
When will it be enough?
How long must the needs of the many be sacrificed for the insatiable bloodlust and gluttony of the few?
This is simply how things work, we’re told — the way they must be in order for the system to function.
And if that is the case, I say, then maybe the system has never been functional. And maybe it’s near time for us to find another system.
Could it really be true that our creature comforts, our “American way of life” and our well-being, must necessitate these rivers of blood, these mass exterminations of human life, and the complete destabilization of Earth’s systems, upon which 8 billion of us depend? And if that is the case, what right have we to pursue such a way of life at the expense of all others?
We cannot keep doing this to ourselves.
How many of our loved ones need to be chewed up and spat out through the gears of the war machine? How long will we allow military recruiters into schools and shopping malls to prey on the vulnerable, turning our children into ruthless destroyers of life, and sending them home in pine boxes and body bags?
How many more children must feel fear when they look up at the sky? Fear of the American-made bombs raining down onto their heads, or fear of once-in-a-lifetime hurricanes tearing their little worlds to pieces?
How many nightmares must the world endure for the American dream to survive?
How long will we let this go on in our names?
How long can we turn a blind eye to the corporate fascism that consumes us, and to the military industrial complex as it scourges the earth?
As our world overheats, as we plunge into tribal hatred and the tyranny of the surveillance state, as our borders are militarized in order to prevent the arrival of the refugees we create, and as protestors and journalists are murdered with impunity, when will we finally step back and ask ourselves why?
What will we do when the carnage we’ve sown inevitably arrives right back at our doorstep?
When do we stand up and say enough is enough?
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Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
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