May 20, 2023
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
“You need to be more realistic.”
Those of us advocating to prevent the collapse of human civilization caused by anthropogenic climate change have heard this line or some variation of it more times than you can possibly count.
“Let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that the unanimous consensus of the world’s climate scientists is accurate, and that we really are heading for apocalyptic levels of global heating,” our critics might occasionally allow us, once they’ve decided that the evidence is too grim to go on denying that the problem of warming exists at all. “I agree that we need to do something, but the solutions you’re proposing are far too radical. We use fossil fuels in every single area of our lives, and we can’t survive without them. I agree that we need to stop polluting so much, but getting rid of fossil fuels just isn’t realistic.”
It is impossible to respond to such an argument without acknowledging a kind of deeply flawed calculus implicit in the minds of those who advocate for such middle-of-the-road thinking, and indeed most human beings in general. That is, put simply, the idea that everything will always work out for us in the end.
In some ways, it could be argued that our dogmatic adherence to this myth often serves as a kind of survival mechanism for humanity. This mentality can spur us on through hopelessness and adversity, leading us to persist through hardship no matter how bleak the circumstances may seem. All is not lost, we convince ourselves, and we somehow find the courage to keep putting one foot in front of the other, assured that a path will eventually illuminate itself for us.
On the other hand, this level of perseverance, coupled with a lack of self-awareness and ignorance of our place in the sprawling complexities of our world, can easily creep into catastrophic levels of delusion.
“I need a habitable planet,” our thinking goes, “and I also need access to the fossil fuel resources that power my standard of living. But that’s okay, because somehow things always work out in the end. Therefore, it is inevitable that there must be some way that I can have both of these things, and nothing has to change.”
I’m strongly inclined to believe that Americans are particularly susceptible to this line of reason, as among a race of hairless apes which believes itself to be separate from and above the limitations of nature, we are a nation that believes itself to be an indomitable exception among the empires of the world, as per our longstanding mythology of manifest destiny.
We hold steadfast to the belief that the dealer always wins, and in our short-sighted arrogance we believe the unprecedented excesses of hypercapitalist extraction place us comfortably and eternally in the dealer’s chair.
And yet ultimately, the forces of nature, the laws of physics and chemistry, and the infinite complexity of interconnected ecological systems reign over us like an all-powerful dictator, however benevolent or malevolent its demeanor.
Sometimes things simply do not work out in the end, however unpleasant a fact this may be. Sometimes the equation does not balance. Sometimes people’s lives are destroyed, and they never recover. Sometimes entire species are erased from the Earth as though they were never really here, and sometimes life on our fragile planet is nearly eliminated altogether — as was the case some 250 million years ago, during the Permian-Triassic extinction event, which wiped out some 90% of Earth’s species.
Believing ourselves immune to such a fate, or that it can be avoided while maintaining our limitless consumption of Earth’s finite resources, in no way qualifies as “being more realistic” about the climate crisis, but instead constitutes a level of magical thinking of the most catastrophic order.
For those who call on us to “be more realistic” about the climate crisis, I have some hard and unfortunate truths for you. Realistically, we are on track to arrive somewhere around 3∂C of global heating within the coming decades. Realistically, the Earth’s carrying capacity, or “the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by [a] specific environment,” is likely to be reduced to no more than 1 billion people once we arrive at 4C of warming, as predicted by Professor Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Given the difficulty of factoring in numerous future variables and feedback loops in our estimates of temperature rise, it is by no means an unrealistic prospect that heating should eventually reach this level.
And finally, the only realistic way for us to avoid the potential genocide of some 90% of the Earth’s human population through ecological collapse, is a widespread and immediate transition away from the fossil fuel economy.
You can be as angry as you want to about this. In fact, you should be angry. But the ones you should be angry at are the powerful elites and the fossil fuel executives who spent half a century lying to you about the deadly effects of their product as they deliberately made it indispensable to our everyday lives, viciously fighting against a global transition to renewable energy for fear that it might endanger their bottom line.
The longer these malicious actors keep you enraged at truth-tellers instead of the snake oil salesmen who brought us to this point, the more leverage elites gain in deciding who among us is expendable in their planet-killing crusade for profits.
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: June 17, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Still everywhere
Jun 17, 2023
Callie Lyons
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Why are we still talking about C8? I am often asked if our chemical problems aren’t behind us. So much time has passed since the Tennant family lost their cattle to contamination alerting the valley to the dangers lurking in DuPont’s highly fluorinated emissions. Yet, sadly the poisoning continues – and not as a remnant of industrial processes of the past.
Earlier this year I was appalled to learn that DuPont or Chemours was seeking a modification to the state permit that allows them to continue to dump PFAS directly into the river. Upon further investigation it was revealed that not only does the state-supported contamination continue; the corporation often violates this permit by discharging even greater amounts than allowed by permit.
Another reminder of our precarious position came in the form of sampling results from West Virginia that identifies excessive levels of contamination in untreated water supplies in locations all over the state. The list includes Parkersburg, Williamstown, St. Marys and many other places you might not suspect being at risk for the problem. You can find the results on the West Virginia DHHR website.
PFAS are bio-accumulative. So, until the poisoning ceases, the damage cannot be undone.
We must see to it that impacted communities like Parkersburg have the benefit of filtration to reduce the contamination from local water supplies, but this step alone is only a Band-Aid on a much bigger problem.
Ceasing the discharge of this pollution into the river is so very important I cannot overstate it. This pathway alone enables countless others and affects a much larger population of poisoned people. It goes without saying that cleaning up a river is vastly more difficult than installing a community water filtration system. Both are necessary, but if we really want to address the core problem we must stop industry from continuing this archaic practice.
Industry isn’t going to curb their bad pollution behavior over state or federal fines. They have not been willing to significantly curb their PFAS addiction over a class action that by my count cost them nearly a billion dollars so far.
It all reminds me of a quote from my favorite author Kurt Vonnegut in his book “Breakfast of Champions,” which warns against the destruction of the planet. It is a twisted, futuristic look at West Virginia that always caught my attention.
“The surface of West Virginia, with its coal and trees and topsoil gone, was rearranging what was left of itself in conformity with the laws of gravity. It was collapsing into all the holes which had been dug into it. Its mountains, which had once found it easy to stand by themselves, were sliding into valleys now.
“The demolition of West Virginia had taken place with the approval of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the State Government, which drew their power from the people.”
These government entities condoning the continued poisoning of our people do in fact draw their power from us. Are we going to silently condone these actions?
If like me you feel stuck and helpless in the overwhelming machine, I encourage you to join forces with Mid Ohio Valley Climate Action, West Virginia Rivers, the Sierra Club or any number of other groups working so hard to provoke much needed change. We can do this together. We absolutely have to.
***
Callie Lyons is a journalist and author living in the Mid-Ohio Valley. She is chief researcher for the Murdaugh Murders Podcast. Her 2007 book, “Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal: The Hidden Dangers of C8,” was the first book to reveal the prevalence and danger of the PFAS family of highly fluorinated compounds used by industry in the manufacture of Teflon and thousands of other consumer applications.
Last Updated: June 10, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: The dirty (debt ceiling) deal
Jun 10, 2023
Giulia Mannarino
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Climate activists across the country, and especially in West Virginia, have been working hard to keep the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) a pipe dream. Critics oppose it for potential environmental concerns while supporters see it as a significant energy development project. First proposed in 2014, this 42″ diameter pipeline would carry 2 billion cubic feet per day of gas and stretch 303 miles across the heart of West Virginia into Southwestern Virginia to markets in the mid Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. Due to the MVP’s lengthy history of environmental issues and court challenges against it brought by landowners and opponents, work has been off and on since 2018. MVP is currently only 56% complete and still has 429 water crossings to complete. During this construction, it has accrued over 500 violations of permit conditions and state environmental laws and over $3 million in fines.
The debt ceiling deal negotiated between Biden and Speaker McCarthy, titled the Fiscal Responsibility Act, has led to an unjust approval of the MVP. Buried in this bill is a section forcing approval of the completion of this totally unrelated controversial gas pipeline. Amid a flood of fossil fuel cash, Biden and Congress deployed a legal maneuver known as “jurisdiction stripping” to protect the pipeline from further legal challenges. Interestingly, Biden and Democratic lawmakers have declined to use the same maneuver to protect abortion and other civil rights from federal courts.
The dirty deal requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to issue permits for the MVP and prohibits judicial review of these permits. Removing meaningful agency and judicial review sets a dangerous precedent as it further rigs the process and promotes the unchecked political power of fossil fuel executives and their political pawns. This effectively cuts out the voice of impacted people in front line communities which will be sacrificed to more decades of hazardous toxins that pollute water and air and expose residents to untold health risks. Completing the MVP accelerates the climate crisis as it will have the equivalent to the emissions from 26 coal plants. And Americans shouldn’t have to choose between a national default and the MVP.
Biden promised to be a climate president. Yet the U.S. continues to be the biggest producer of oil and gas in the world. And fast tracking fossil fuel projects in general, and the MVP in particular, are not the actions of the climate President we need. American journalist, David Sirota, writer for online news organization, The Lever, recently tweeted; “The debt deal protects tax cuts for the rich, gives defense contractors more cash, expedites a fossil gas pipeline during the climate crisis – and makes it harder for starving people to get food stamps”. Although industry leaders are elated, environmentalists are outraged over the administration’s willingness to sacrifice front-line communities to keep Big Oil, and its defenders, like Senator Manchin and the MAGA caucus, satisfied. Deals that roll back environmental law and permitting reform that is heavily slanted toward the fossil fuel industry are contrary to the clean energy and transmission line reform needed to meet clean energy goals.
Opponents of the MVP are still standing against a future of unfettered fossil fuel expansion and will continue their fight against the project. Fortunately, there’s time for Biden to turn it around thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, which was spared from harsh cuts in the debt ceiling deal. Actions this month will lay the groundwork for that to happen prior to the UN climate summit scheduled in New York this September. People vs. Fossil Fuels and several other organizational sponsors, including 350.org are mobilizing to turn up the heat and make Biden take real climate action. Across the country, actions are being organized to demand Biden use his executive powers to end the era of fossil fuels and declare a climate emergency. A rally was held at the White House on June 8 to bring the consequences of the debt ceiling deal to his doorstep. And in communities across the nation, June 8-11, more than 50 smaller local End the Era of Fossil Fuels rallies are scheduled. If we really want to save the grandchildren, it’s now more crucial than ever that people concerned about the climate crisis make their voices heard.
***
Giulia Mannarino, of Belleville, is a grandmother concerned for her granddaughter’s future, and vice president of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: July 5, 2023 by main_y0ke11
A dirty debt ceiling deal
窗体顶端
窗体底端
Many Democrats in Congress, along with the Biden administration, have sacrificed the safety and well-being of West Virginians and Virginians by acquiescing to the whims of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and economic hostage-takers in the Republican Party with the recent debt ceiling legislation. This dirty deal, now signed into law, sacrifices our water, soil and shared global climate on the alter of fossil fuels industry greed and Manchin’s self-enrichment.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline project has been cited for numerous water quality standard violations and fined to the tune of at least $550,000 for failure to control runoff in an adequate and timely manner along its construction route.
The pipeline has failed since its inception in 2014 to obtain all needed permits from regulatory agencies and has had approvals tossed out in court under half-a-century old environmental statutes meant to protect and give voice to communities impacted by monstrosities like MVP. Manchin, President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., led the way in circumventing duly passed laws and regulations set down to carry those laws out, helped along by many Republicans and members of their own party.
Last Updated: July 5, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Ambassadors attend orientation
Community News
The Parkersburg News and Sentinel
Jun 7, 2023
PARKERSBURG — The 2023 Climate Ambassadors received an orientation to climate science and project planning by Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action at the Parkersburg-Wood County Library.
Climate Ambassadors apply to participate in the program and commit to creating a project that addresses environmental issues in the Mid-Ohio Valley.
Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action provides funding for the projects, training, a mentor and a stipend at the completion of the project. Projects can be at school, church, with organizations or in the community.
The 2022 students who completed their projects are Nathaniel McPeak, Lilian Floyd, Anna Earl and Alayna Garst.
The 2023 students beginning their project year are Meredith Poole, Nathaniel McPeak (2nd year), Matthew Taylor, Gianna Ross, mentor Abby Taylor, Aaron Grose, mentor Dawn Weidner, Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action coordinator Angie Iafrate, Riley Dunfee and Nadia Russo.
Last Updated: June 3, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Women, the environment and health issues
Jun 3, 2023
Randi Pokladnik
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
In 1974, a new term, ecofeminism, was used when speaking of women’s roles in the environmental movement. The definition of ecofeminism combines ecological concerns with feminist concerns in a philosophical and political movement.
Throughout history, many strong, intelligent women have endeavored to speak truth to power. This is especially true when it comes to issues of health and environmental destruction. In the 1960s, Rachel Carson took on the agri-chemical industry to expose the negative effects of pesticides. Marina Silva, who grew up in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, spoke out to protect this forest from illegal logging during the 2000s. Today we have Greta Thunberg leading the fight to address the climate crisis.
Sadly, while women continue to fight for the planet, they are also fighting for their lives as many of the illnesses visited on females are directly linked to toxins released into our environment. The continuing rise in breast cancer rates reflects this link. In the 1970s, breast cancer was not common, but in the past fifty years the incidence of cancer has significantly increased to the point that the National Institute of Health says one out of eight women will get breast cancer in their lives.
The “Clan of the one-breasted women” is a narrative written by Terry Tempest Williams, a breast cancer survivor who grew up downwind of the Nevada nuclear test sites in the 1950s. The basic theme of her story was an examination of the source of the multiple cases of breast cancer in the Williams family. For decades, the women of the Mormon family blamed their cancers on “bad genes.” However, years after her mother succumbed to cancer, Terry realized that being exposed to radioactive fallout from the government’s testing of nuclear devices near Utah played a pivotal role in the cancers.
In the narrative she describes a story of a family living in Hurricane, Utah. They saw the night sky turn red as they sat on top of the roof of a local high school watching a nuclear detonation. The Tempest family also experienced an above-ground explosion while driving north from Las Vegas in 1957. Her dad pulled their car over onto the side of the road as a pink mushroom cloud spread above the surrounding countryside. This scene was played out many times around the Nevada site where between 1951 and 1992, nuclear weapons tests were performed both above and underground.
The British-made documentary “Assault on the Male” brought attention to the correlation of declining sperm counts in males to the increase in petrochemical products. It also highlighted another interesting finding that affects females. Dr. Ana Soto, a breast cancer researcher, discovered that plasticware, in which human blood serum was stored, shed an estrogen-mimicking chemical. Dr. Soto showed that breast cancer cells grew when placed in plastic petri dishes, but did not grow in glass dishes. Studies reveal that toiletries, plastics, and spermicides may release estrogenic compounds. These estrogens may act cumulatively as reproductive disruptors and may also increase the incidence of breast cancer.
Sandra Steingraber, a cancer survivor, endocrinologist and author of “The Falling Age of Puberty in US Girls”, said that over the past decades, the onset of puberty in girls has occurred earlier, especially in the USA and other affluent countries. Numerous studies have linked exposures to hormone-mimicking compounds, like those found in plastics, to early puberty in females. Also of concern is the fact that early puberty is a known risk factor for breast cancer.
Women’s health and exposure to unregulated chemicals are linked. We know that women use more personal care products and are exposed to more endocrine-disrupting compounds such as perfluoroalkyl or PFAS. These chemicals cause “cancer and hormone disruptions, weaken immune systems, and are linked to low birth weights.” In a 2021 Science News report, University of Notre Dame researchers “tested 231 frequently-used makeup products, including liquid foundation, concealer, blush, lipsticks and mascara, and found 82% of waterproof mascaras, 63% of foundations, and 62% of liquid lipsticks contained at least 0.384 micrograms of fluorine per square centimeter of product spread out.”
Women are exposed to chemicals via sanitary products. The cotton fibers that are bleached and used to make cotton swabs, cotton balls and tampons can contain dioxins, a known human carcinogen. These dioxins can be directly absorbed into the blood stream and accumulate over time in the body. Many of these products are considered to be medical devices and therefore have no regulations for their ingredients.
Women use the majority of cleaning products which in many cases do not disclose the entire list of ingredients. The website “Women’s Voices” points out that “some products contain reproductive toxins such as toluene and phthalates, carcinogens like 1,4-dioxane and chloroform, and a hormone disrupting synthetic musk.” My own mom only used vinegar, baking soda and alcohol to clean with because her sensitive skin couldn’t handle cleaners like Lysol and ammonia.
However, the petrochemical industry has done a great job convincing many housewives that they need these toxic products to make homes safe and sanitized. It is not surprising that “petrochemical feedstock accounts for 12% of global oil demand.”
It is time to embrace ecofeminism, and to increase the number of women in Congress from the current 28% to 50%. Women deserve a larger role in writing policies and laws for chemicals and products that disproportionately affect them as well as 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
Last Updated: May 27, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Regulatory burden – must it be so?
May 27, 2023
Vic Elam
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
There has been a lot of critical conversation lately about the burden that business, industry, and the economy endure because of what many view as unnecessary laws or regulations. Though I cannot speak to all regulations, I have considerable and varied experience with regulatory impact in many different fields and would like to share some insight. The accounts that I share here are just a few select experiences intended to make a point.
I have had the opportunity, or misfortune, depending on your viewpoint, to work in the fishing industry in Alaska. That industry is regulated by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). NMFS gathers information about the health of the fish populations to set harvest regulations that restrict the numbers of different species that can be removed by commercial fishermen and still maintain a healthy population for subsequent years. Commercial fishing vessels are required to have a person on board that is trained by NMFS to monitor and report the amount of catch so that NMFS can track the fishery and close the season when the expendable population has been removed. Those monitors are not hired by the boats they monitor and must follow stringent ethical standards. Without the regulatory oversight of NMFS there is little doubt that the fishing industry would destroy itself by removing more fish than can repopulate. This has been demonstrated in Japan where failure to control commercial fishing has led to major collapses in desirable fish populations. Certainly, our local recreational hunting and fishing seasons and limits are designed to ensure a harvestable population for generations to come.
Consumer protection laws, driving laws, building codes, and much more are put in place to protect ourselves from the actions of others. Laws and regulations are not easily put in place and require the effort and cooperation of our elected officials to enact and enforce. Despite considerable effort from the energy sector industries to manipulate or eliminate laws and regulations, some have been enacted to protect workers and the public. As in other circumstances, these restrictions put on the energy industry serve to protect us from ourselves. The anemic few regulations that made it through the energy industry gauntlet often come under attack even though their intent is to protect public safety.
Although this is not an issue specific to the Mid-Ohio Valley, I have been in a position to observe the tremendous amount of water drawn from many aquifers throughout this country and when I look at a U.S. Geological Survey Report from 2008 that shows that aquifers that underlie critical farmland areas in this country have been depleted to the tune of up to 400 cubic kilometers, it concerns me. I am familiar with farmers who irrigate from aquifers who keep needing to put in deeper wells, and then I see them flood irrigate their fields with water flowing out the other end of the fields filling the drainage ditches. This is where more regulation is needed to protect us from ourselves. As climate change continues to shrink the world’s arable land, the aquifers we deplete may be called on for the worlds’ food supply – they are for a large part already.
Regulatory burden gets a bad rap, but without it our quality of life might be jeopardized. We can lift regulations and the economy might respond favorably, but I would argue that lax regulations are not sustainable and will lead to problems that are not a burden on those who profited from deregulation, but the problems will fall on society.
***
Vic Elam is a Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action member, an avid outdoorsman, and contributor to organizations that share his concern for our environment and the children we borrow it from.
Last Updated: May 20, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Facing reality
May 20, 2023
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
“You need to be more realistic.”
Those of us advocating to prevent the collapse of human civilization caused by anthropogenic climate change have heard this line or some variation of it more times than you can possibly count.
“Let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that the unanimous consensus of the world’s climate scientists is accurate, and that we really are heading for apocalyptic levels of global heating,” our critics might occasionally allow us, once they’ve decided that the evidence is too grim to go on denying that the problem of warming exists at all. “I agree that we need to do something, but the solutions you’re proposing are far too radical. We use fossil fuels in every single area of our lives, and we can’t survive without them. I agree that we need to stop polluting so much, but getting rid of fossil fuels just isn’t realistic.”
It is impossible to respond to such an argument without acknowledging a kind of deeply flawed calculus implicit in the minds of those who advocate for such middle-of-the-road thinking, and indeed most human beings in general. That is, put simply, the idea that everything will always work out for us in the end.
In some ways, it could be argued that our dogmatic adherence to this myth often serves as a kind of survival mechanism for humanity. This mentality can spur us on through hopelessness and adversity, leading us to persist through hardship no matter how bleak the circumstances may seem. All is not lost, we convince ourselves, and we somehow find the courage to keep putting one foot in front of the other, assured that a path will eventually illuminate itself for us.
On the other hand, this level of perseverance, coupled with a lack of self-awareness and ignorance of our place in the sprawling complexities of our world, can easily creep into catastrophic levels of delusion.
“I need a habitable planet,” our thinking goes, “and I also need access to the fossil fuel resources that power my standard of living. But that’s okay, because somehow things always work out in the end. Therefore, it is inevitable that there must be some way that I can have both of these things, and nothing has to change.”
I’m strongly inclined to believe that Americans are particularly susceptible to this line of reason, as among a race of hairless apes which believes itself to be separate from and above the limitations of nature, we are a nation that believes itself to be an indomitable exception among the empires of the world, as per our longstanding mythology of manifest destiny.
We hold steadfast to the belief that the dealer always wins, and in our short-sighted arrogance we believe the unprecedented excesses of hypercapitalist extraction place us comfortably and eternally in the dealer’s chair.
And yet ultimately, the forces of nature, the laws of physics and chemistry, and the infinite complexity of interconnected ecological systems reign over us like an all-powerful dictator, however benevolent or malevolent its demeanor.
Sometimes things simply do not work out in the end, however unpleasant a fact this may be. Sometimes the equation does not balance. Sometimes people’s lives are destroyed, and they never recover. Sometimes entire species are erased from the Earth as though they were never really here, and sometimes life on our fragile planet is nearly eliminated altogether — as was the case some 250 million years ago, during the Permian-Triassic extinction event, which wiped out some 90% of Earth’s species.
Believing ourselves immune to such a fate, or that it can be avoided while maintaining our limitless consumption of Earth’s finite resources, in no way qualifies as “being more realistic” about the climate crisis, but instead constitutes a level of magical thinking of the most catastrophic order.
For those who call on us to “be more realistic” about the climate crisis, I have some hard and unfortunate truths for you. Realistically, we are on track to arrive somewhere around 3∂C of global heating within the coming decades. Realistically, the Earth’s carrying capacity, or “the maximum population size of a biological species that can be sustained by [a] specific environment,” is likely to be reduced to no more than 1 billion people once we arrive at 4C of warming, as predicted by Professor Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Given the difficulty of factoring in numerous future variables and feedback loops in our estimates of temperature rise, it is by no means an unrealistic prospect that heating should eventually reach this level.
And finally, the only realistic way for us to avoid the potential genocide of some 90% of the Earth’s human population through ecological collapse, is a widespread and immediate transition away from the fossil fuel economy.
You can be as angry as you want to about this. In fact, you should be angry. But the ones you should be angry at are the powerful elites and the fossil fuel executives who spent half a century lying to you about the deadly effects of their product as they deliberately made it indispensable to our everyday lives, viciously fighting against a global transition to renewable energy for fear that it might endanger their bottom line.
The longer these malicious actors keep you enraged at truth-tellers instead of the snake oil salesmen who brought us to this point, the more leverage elites gain in deciding who among us is expendable in their planet-killing crusade for profits.
***
Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: May 16, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Addressing climate change in your own backyard
May 13, 2023
George Banziger
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
For anyone in the Mid-Ohio Valley who senses the importance and urgency to act on climate change, these can be frustrating and discouraging times. Public officials in West Virginia seem inextricably committed to fossil fuels, especially coal. And public officials in Ohio seem to be hopelessly corrupt and under tightening influence of the fossil-fuel industry.
It’s important in keeping motivated for this cause to exercise personal agency and a sense of purpose in one’s own life. One way to achieve a modicum of success is to strive to make small changes in one’s personal life to address climate change. Spring is the ideal time to set some climate goals in your own backyard–a first step is the lawn, as Dr. Douglas Tallamy, botanist at the University of Delaware and author of the book, “Nature’s Best Hope,” expresses through his slogan, “shrink the lawn.”
Lawn ownership and lawn care are an obsession with most American homeowners. Americans spend, collectively, three billion hours on lawn care per year. Lawn irrigation consumes over 8 billion gallons of water daily. Over 40 million acres of U.S. land are taken up by lawns; this compares to 20 million acres of national parks.
The machines that we use to mow our multitude of lawn areas are not required to have emission controls. By contrast, a healthy ecosystem built upon native plants produces oxygen, cleans water systems, captures carbon, builds topsoil, and prevents floods.
Another advantage to an ecosystem based on native plants is that this biosystem is friendly to pollinators, which are in trouble. As one group of pollinators, honeybees are essential to the multi-million-dollar fruit industry. The rusty-patched bumblebee population, for example, is down 90%. The solution to helping pollinators is straightforward: shrink the lawn, put in native plants, keep the dandelions (an important early source of pollen for bees), restrain from using pesticides, do not rake leaves in the fall (leaves and brush piles support larvae growth in colder months), and watch for nests.
If you are financially able, consider planting some trees in your back yard (approximately ten trees can be bought for the price of one tractor lawn mower). Tallamy uses the phrase “keystone species” to describe tree species that have a disproportionately large effect on the abundance and diversity of other species in the ecosystem. Among these keystone species are oak, cherry, and willow trees. We took a small step in this direction on our property by planting two oak trees in our backyard last fall. Such trees will host hundreds of species of caterpillars.
There is a movement in the U.S. called Homegrown National Park (https://homegrownnationalpark.org/), which is attempting to link individual property owners all over the U.S. to restore habitat. Most national parks are located in the western U.S., and this means that migratory corridors in the eastern side of the country are blocked to native populations of plants and animals. Conservation efforts that are confined to national parks will not preserve species in the long run because these areas are too confined and small. By associating with this movement one can make a small individual contribution to ecological restoration and collectively move us ahead with national restoration.
A local success story of ecological restoration is the pollinator garden on the west bank of the Muskingum River in Marietta near the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers. Under the uniting leadership of Rebecca Phillips, scores of volunteers, public officials in Marietta, and residents of the west side have come together to plant and care for asters, cup plants, native daisies, cone flowers, and other native species. The pollinator garden has added color, land stabilization, habitat for numerous pollinators, and serves as a model for other communities.
Another opportunity we have to build our resources of native plants is the establishment of a new nursery in Mineral Wells, called Native Roots, which specializes in native plants. One of the sister owners of this nursery, Jen Johnson, opened the Mineral Wells facility in early May this year and is participating in several events to promote native plants in the region.
Continue to press your legislators to make policies that address climate change but make your own personal contribution to addressing climate change with some native plants in your own backyard.
***
George Banziger, Ph.D., was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. Now retired, he is a volunteer for Mid-Ohio Valley Interfaith, and Harvest of Hope. He is a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, Citizens Climate Lobby, and of the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action team.
Last Updated: May 31, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Throwing us under the fracking truck
May 13, 2023
Times Leader online
Randi Pokladnik
Ohio’s Republican party is ignoring the health of residents in Appalachian counties as it uses the recent passage of House Bill 507 to enable fracking on Ohio’s public lands.
HB 507 was passed without a public hearing during a lame duck session.
The economic benefit Ohio receives from outdoor recreation at Ohio parks is estimated to be $8.1 billion per year, and the recreational industry employs 132,790 workers. But, ODNR’s 5-member Oil and Gas Land Management Commission, who is responsible for writing rules for leasing public lands, is willing to throw the park industry and rural communities under the fracking truck.
The decisions that will affect Ohio’s public lands and ultimately the health of Ohio’s rural communities will be made by The Director of Natural Resources and four members appointed by the Governor; two with experience in oil and gas, one from real estate, and one from an environmental organization. Hundreds of citizens made public comments to the commission about the health and environmental risks of fracking, yet not one person on the commission has any expertise in these areas or was willing to address any of their concerns.
The commission seems fixated on making money off public-owned lands. The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) spoke at the March commission meeting, touting their recent $40 million deal with Texas-based Encino Energy to frack 7,300 acres at Tappan Lake. Encino has its eye on Salt Fork and reportedly wants to get a 15-year lease to place well pads around the park.
Although Governor (Mike) DeWine has assured there will be no well pads on park land itself, a state agency can negotiate additional lease agreements to do this. Fracking is basically unregulated and exposes local communities to multiple carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting pollutants. Additionally, fracking does all of the following: creates a high demand for surface water and land area, increases truck traffic with approximately 592 one-way trips per well, generates toxic fracking wastewater containing water soluble radionuclides, impacts biodiversity and landscape, contaminates air by emissions, leaches PFAS into waterways, induces seismic activity, increases radon in homes, can lead to explosions, requires massive amounts of gathering pipelines, and of course increases amounts of the greenhouse-gas methane.
Ohio’s marginalized Appalachian counties have become a mineral colony, enriching fossil fuel corporations while communities fall further into poverty. (State) Senator (Matt) Huffman (R-12th District) thinks fracking public lands is a “great revenue generator” to provide tax cuts for the rich. Why doesn’t Ohio generate revenues by raising gas severance taxes? Ohio has one of the lowest in the country; currently a paltry 2.5 cents per thousand cubic feet of natural gas. Instead, Ohio’s politicians placate the fossil fuel industry, while Ohio’s regulatory agencies are controlled by the industries they are charged with regulating.
Randi Jeannine Pokladnik
Uhrichsville
Last Updated: May 31, 2023 by main_y0ke11
There is no viable future for coal
(Opinion)Charleston Gazette-Mail
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As West Virginia political leaders clumsily continue clinging to coal, they’re being forced (at least quietly) to reckon with a hard truth: Coal doesn’t have a viable future.
To quote an article from West Virginia Public Broadcasting: “Members of the legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Energy and Manufacturing were told Thursday that more than 12,000 megawatts of power will be added to the grid in the next several years. That includes about 10,000 megawatts of renewables and about 2,000 megawatts of natural gas. Combined, that’s nearly as much as the entire footprint of coal in West Virginia of 12,500 megawatts.”
The WVPB article also stated, “PJM [a 12-state grid operator that serves West Virginia] has a systemwide backlog of 252,665 megawatts in its interconnection queue, the line for new power resources to join the grid. More than half of that is solar. Much of the rest are wind and battery storage. Only 5,537 megawatts of natural gas are in the queue, and no coal.”
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