Nov 26, 2022
Linda Eve Seth
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
“Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness.” — Jane Austen
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What does Climate Change have to do with apple pie?
I am sitting in my kitchen as I write this column, when I should be prepping for holiday meals. My mind wanders and my hands still as I contemplate the impact of Climate Change on our food supply. I think about apple pie; that most American of desserts is just one example of a multi-ingredient delicacy that will become harder to produce in a climate-ravaged future.
While the trees seem to do all the work producing our favorite fall fruit, their sweet flavor can become impacted by changes in weather and climate. Consider these facts: Although apples are hardy, big temperature extremes can be detrimental to orchard crops, as can severe storm elements. Above-average rainfall can cause both good and bad impacts on apples. Dry weather yields smaller and sweeter tasting apples. Environmental impacts like climate change, wildfire smoke and pollution are additional challenges for farmers.
While it is possible to grow apples in warmer climates, apples grow best in regions where the temperature rarely increases above 90 degrees. Warmer-than-normal temperatures can cause an early bloom that leads to changes in apple firmness and acid concentration levels. Too much heat and sun can actually “sunburn” apples. Excessive heat can alter an apple’s color, leaving it pink or brown instead of red. A softer fruit may result from a number of high heat degree days. Rather than crisp and juicy, the apple may take on a mushy or mealy texture.
Besides the fruit, several of the ingredients for that most detectable dessert, apple pie, are impacted by Climate Change, including white sugar, brown sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla.
Studies show that both sugar cane and flour production will be affected by warming temperatures. At first sugar cane production may (temporarily) begin to increase as some areas warm and the range of the sugar crop is extended, allowing the sugar cane to grow in new regions and for extended seasons. Ultimately, however, it is thought that production could drop as much as 60% in the long run.
It is predicted that wheat production may actually increase over time, but that will involve moving wheat agriculture from the American mid-west to Europe, Asia, and South America.
Spices like cinnamon and nutmeg are grown in specific tropical locations, making them particularly susceptible to changing weather conditions. Nutmeg trees, for example, have very shallow roots. This can be troublesome when combined with the fact that increased hurricane frequency and intensity have already begun to damage existing nutmeg farms and processing plants.
Madagascar and Sri Lanka both have economies that are very dependent on vanilla and cinnamon (respectively) which means their economies would be devastated by large decreases in production. Both of these island nations are likely facing increased droughts, wildfires, and higher risks of flooding due to rising sea levels and tsunamis, all of which would threaten their food security and agricultural productivity.
People working in the food industry in this country and across the world are trying to come up with solutions that prioritize crop resilience and adaptability. For example, methods are being developed to address specific vulnerabilities in nutmeg farms, and alternatives are being developed for crops which are so threatened, like vanilla and cinnamon.
As seasons lose their familiar distinguishing characteristics due to shifting climatic patterns, traditional markers for their arrival will do the same. New leaves and dogwood trees in the spring, watermelons, peaches, and corn in the summer, apples, pumpkins, and brilliant colors in the fall, snowmen in the winter… all of these things may be a thing of the past by the year 2050. Apple pie is, of course, just one handy example of a favorite food that may become a victim of Climate Change.
For now, in 2022, enjoy the holiday feast. Indulge in at least one piece of pie, and remember to appreciate all we have … while we still have it. Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.
Until next time, be kind to your Mother Earth.
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Linda Eve Seth, SLP, M.Ed. is a mother, grandmother, concerned citizen, and member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: All in this greenhouse together
Jan 7, 2023
Giulia Mannarino
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Although the basic physics of climate change have been known for more than a century, it remained out of the public’s attention for decades. In the 1980s, media outlets began bringing scientists’ concerns into the mainstream. Over 37 years ago, on Dec. 11, 1985, an article appeared in the New York Times with the headline: “Action is Urged to Avert Global Climate Shift.” This article reported on a bipartisan hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Toxic Substances and Environmental Oversight which was headed by Sen. Dave Durenberger, a Minnesota Republican. Although more recently climate change has become a partisan and divisive issue, at that time senators of both parties were interested, concerned and in agreement about the seriousness of this situation. At the hearing, scientists called for action to avert a predicted warming of the earth’s climate resulting from buildup of carbon dioxide and other man-made gases into the atmosphere. They warned this greenhouse effect would produce radical climate changes with possible catastrophic results in the next century unless steps were taken immediately to deal with the problem. Dr. Carl Sagan of Cornell University, the leading planetary astronomer at that time, was one of the scientists that spoke. When Durenberger introduced him, he was presented as discussing “how our past and present may well affect our future.” His speech to the group is available on YouTube.
Sagan identified the purpose of his speech as “…to give some sense of what the greenhouse effect is, to try to say something about the greenhouse effect on other planets (and) to underscore that this is a real phenomenon…” He also took “…the liberty to say a few remarks about what to do about it.” He began by stating that the power of human beings to “both intentionally and inadvertently make significant changes in the global climate and ecosystem” has occurred for tens of thousands of years; however, Sagan noted that this power has grown as technology has grown. He then went on to explain the Earth’s climate as well as the greenhouse effect on it, including its causes and its long-term and global consequences. He discussed the fact that every planet with an atmosphere has some degree of a greenhouse effect and talked about the greenhouse effect of our nearest planet, Venus. Because the atmosphere is almost entirely CO2, Venus has an absurdly high surface temperature.
Also reviewed by Sagan were the “things that can be done” to address this global warming problem. These included more efficient use of and fewer government subsidies for fossil fuels, as well as use of alternative energy sources such as solar power and safe fission power plants, “which are, in principle, possible” and which, “whatever other problems they may provide, they do not provide a greenhouse problem.” These “other problems” were addressed in a recent Climate Corner column and presently, the future of nuclear power is being rethought. In closing, Sagan discussed the fact that global warming is “a problem that transcends our particular generation” and warned, “if we don’t do the right thing now, there are very serious problems that our children and grandchildren will have to face.” Another point made was that “what is essential for this problem is a global consciousness.”
Regrettably, almost every government across the globe isn’t doing enough to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The burning of fossil fuels continues with little regard to the impacts on the climate or the “very serious problems that our children and grandchildren will have to face.” After 37 years of not doing “the right thing,” global warming has grown from the climate change predicted to an emergency climate crisis with impacts felt worldwide. Unfortunately, future generations will indeed be facing “very serious problems” that could and should have been addressed decades ago. Sagan’s final statement, “The solution to these problems requires a perspective that embraces the planet and the future because we are all in this greenhouse together,” fell on deaf ears. We can only hope that increased public awareness of the fact that we are on a fast track to climate disaster, coupled with the ever-decreasing costs of renewable energy sources and the climate investments included in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, can help provide a livable planet for future generations.
***
Giulia Mannarino, of Belleville, is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 30, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Climate change played a role in Winter Storm Elliott
Dec 31, 2022
Randi Pokladnik
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Some will use the recent cold weather event to claim climate change is not real and the planet isn’t warming. But, when one looks at the actual science behind these “Arctic bomb cyclones” and the record-breaking Winter Storm Elliott, it is obvious that climate change has played a role.
This past week, many of us might have felt like we were enacting the 2004 movie “The Day After Tomorrow.” The movie is loosely based on a theory called “abrupt climate change.” The ocean’s thermohaline conveyor normally circulates ocean water around the planet. Cold, salty ocean water sinks and pulls warmer fresh surface water in to replace the sinking water. This sets up a deep-sea current that circulates water round the planet. If the belt shuts down, the northern hemisphere abruptly cools while the southern hemisphere warms.
Paleoclimate records from Greenland ice cores show that the conveyor belt shut down near the end of the last ice age. The ocean circulation stops when higher water temperatures and the addition of more freshwater cause the salinity and density of seawater to drop. A warming planet and melting freshwater could trigger another shut-down of the belt, throwing North America and Europe into frigid cold temperatures for hundreds of years.
While most scientists agree that what happened in the movie (overnight change) will never occur, U.S. citizens witnessed some dramatic weather changes in a matter of hours. Denver, Colo., experienced a temperature drop of 70 degrees in an 18-hour period. Winter Storm Elliott affected over two-thirds of our population and almost every state except the South Western area. There were record setting winds and cold temperatures in our region, blizzard conditions in the plain states and feet of snow in the New England area; even Florida broke some records for cold temperatures. Meteorologists say this storm will be a once in a generation storm.
So what caused Winter Storm Elliott? The northern polar vortex played a major role in the crushing cold that blanketed the North American continent. There are two polar vortices on our planet, one which spins around the North Pole and the other spins around the South Pole. We are dealing with the northern vortex which was first described in an article published in 1853. Normally, low-pressure cold air circulates counterclockwise and inward toward the North Pole. The polar jet stream (high-altitude high-speed wind currents) helps hold the vortex in place, much like an old-fashioned girdle held our bulges in place. However, a weakened polar jet stream causes tiny breaks in the “girdle” and allows the cold vortex to seep out of its circular orbit dipping southward. It is like someone opening the refrigerator door and the cold air seeps through your house.
It is thought that climate change is causing a destabilization of the polar jet stream. Scientists say that the Arctic region is warming faster than any other area on the globe, on average four times faster in the past forty years. As the polar air warms, the temperature differences between that air and mid-latitude air lessens. This causes a “wobble” in the jet stream, or weakening of the “girdle,” allowing the cold air to advance south.
This year’s 2022 Arctic Report Card, authored by 147 experts from 11 nations, tells the disturbing story of the effects of climate change on the Arctic. Some of the changes include: shrinking sea ice, warming atmospheric temperatures, and shorter periods of snow cover. These could all play a role in more frequent polar air intrusions into our region.
So far at least 50 deaths have been attributed to the storm, with at least 27 in New York State. More than 8,305 flights were canceled and millions of people spent Christmas day without power. The economic impact “will likely be in the billions.”
Scientists have been warning us that the time frame for mitigating climate change is quickly closing. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in their 2022 report, “The dangers of climate change are mounting so rapidly that they could soon overwhelm the ability of both nature and humanity to adapt, creating a harrowing future in which floods, fires and famine displace millions, species disappear and the planet is irreversibly damaged.”
Winter Storm Elliott proved to be an example of how we humans cannot successfully adapt to abrupt changes in our weather, even though we have access to advance technology. As climate changes occur more often and at a faster rate, we find that adapting to these changes will become that much harder and more expensive. Even more alarming is the fact that many of the species we share the planet with will not be able to adapt but will instead succumb to extinction.
We are faced with the realization that when it comes to climate change, the phrase “pay me now or pay me later” rings true.
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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: April 30, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: It doesn’t make cents
Dec 24, 2022
Eric Engle
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
The continued use of fossil fuels coal, oil and “natural” (methane) gas for energy and product production increasingly does not make sense or cents. There’s really no other way to look at it.
Let’s start with how this reliance doesn’t make sense. The habitability of Earth, our only home in the cosmos, is threatened by a runaway greenhouse effect caused by anthropogenic (human-caused) greenhouse gas emissions. These excess emissions originate from, in large part, the recovery, use and disposal of wastes from fossil fuels, as well as unsustainable agricultural, consumption and development practices (with many fossil fuels inputs).
Global climate change and biodiversity loss are existential crises for humankind, but they’re also accompanied by massive pollution and contamination crises that threaten our access to clean air and water, the safety and viability of our food supplies and the healthy functioning of our bodies. These, too, are crises attributable in part to fossil fuels. Plastics, for example, are derivatives of the oil and gas industry.
Now let’s look at how this reliance doesn’t make “cents.” It is cheaper to build, operate and maintain new solar and wind plus energy storage facilities than it is to keep old coal-fired power plants burning. On a levelized cost per kilowatt-hour produced basis, it is already cheaper in many places globally to produce renewable energy than it is to produce energy from combined-cycle natural gas facilities. Ratepayers are getting stuck with higher energy costs, especially in West Virginia, by utility regulators like the West Virginia Public Service Commission all because of an irrational cultural obsession with coal. West Virginia ratepayers and taxpayers alike are being stuck with retrofitting and cleanup costs of using coal for no other reason than to appease bought-and-paid-for politicians in our state legislature and the administration of our coal baron governor.
The oil and gas industry has recovered a glut of natural gas during the fracking boom of the last 10-15 years, but they’ve hemorrhaged cash doing it with boom and bust cycles that have not delivered the economic growth, jobs or sustained investment and tax revenues promised for communities across the country, and especially in Appalachia. Even gas for heating is being undercut in affordability by heat pumps. According to a piece in The Charleston Gazette-Mail, “A recent report by the sustainable living research group Carbon Switch citing data from the federal government’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that, if every home in the United States replaced its heating and cooling systems with heat pumps, the average homeowner would save $557 per year on their utility bill. In West Virginia, the average homeowner would save $887 per year and 52,000 jobs would be created, the report projected.” Up front costs for heat pumps are coming down thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act.
Desperate to shore up prospects for long-term profitability, the oil and gas industry turned to new (virgin) plastics in recent years, with promises of a huge plastics and petrochemicals buildout in the Ohio River Valley. That hasn’t materialized. According to a recent report for the Ohio River Valley Institute by Kathy Hipple and Anne Keller, “Today, it’s clear that the petrochemical ‘renaissance’ once envisioned for Appalachia has largely failed. Plans for a sprawling regional buildout, complete with a network of world-class and small-scale ethane crackers, hydrogenation plants, an Appalachian Storage Hub and 500 miles of new pipelines, were supposed to create more than 100,000 new jobs in the region. Shell’s Beaver County [Pennsylvania] plant is the only remnant of this grand vision. Eroding plastics demand and a shaky global plastics market indicate it may be the region’s last petrochemical facility.”
The industry is now hedging its bets on blue hydrogen production with carbon capture, utilization and storage technology. This, too, is a nonsensical waste of money, not to mention dangerous. Hydrogen can be produced using a renewably powered electrolysis process to separate hydrogen atoms from water molecules (aka green hydrogen). As renewables affordably expand, why would any entity want to invest in massively expensive carbon capture technology and continue to spend money recovering feedstock using fracking when hydrogen could be derived much more cheaply? And hydrogen itself may displace metallurgical coal in the steelmaking process. It offers potential for decarbonization in hard-to-decarbonize sectors like steel and cement, international shipping and aviation.
The future is in renewable energy plus storage, grid management, maximized energy efficiency, decarbonization and sustainable agriculture and development. For our health, environment and financial well-being, we need to make that future a reality with all due haste.
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Eric Engle is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 30, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Many faiths, many paths to climate action
Dec 17, 2022
George Banziger
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
For many people the commitment to address climate change derives from their strongly held personal faith. Many faith traditions refer to their respective holy scripture to document the case for treating the earth and its creatures with the care, love, and stewardship that the deity has prescribed. Members of these religious communities are carrying out a labor of love to promote a more sustainable way of life than our world is currently pursuing and protecting those who are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, has produced a document, “Season of Creation,” in which he states, “It is necessary for all of us to act decisively…For we are reaching a breaking point.” In his ongoing commitment to disadvantaged communities, he has also stated, “The poor feel more gravely the impact” of climate change.
There is also a movement among evangelical Christians as part of their “pro-life,” family friendly mission for “creation care,” as an expression of their love of God. This faith community has adopted a “Pro-Life Clean Energy Campaign” which seeks to reduce pollution from environmental hazards like methane emissions and heavy metals like mercury because of their risk to pregnant mothers and their unborn children.
Believers of Islam have noted that the Prophet Muhammad advocated walking “softly” on the earth, using resources sparingly, and showing restraint in personal consumption. In launching its Green Initiative in 2014 Islamic scholars referred to a verse from the Qur’an: “As for the earth, we have spread it out, set firm mountains on it and made everything grow there in due balance” In utilizing the word balance (mizan) Muslim scholars invoke a principle which environmental scientists have assumed in discussing the delicate ecological equilibrium in planet earth and how it is threatened by climate change.
Among followers of Judaism there is a phrase, “tikhu olam,” which is an expression that assumes a responsibility to repair what is broken in the world. Many Jews, including those of Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist branches of Judaism, have endorsed the principles of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, which is pursuing its practical interpretation of tikhu olam through projects such as restoration of coral reefs.
Some concerned Buddhists have founded a group called One Earth Sangha, which urges its followers to draw upon many years of Buddhist scholarship and practice to promote something they call “active hope.” This personal commitment for Buddhists should lead to taking immediate, useful steps to address climate change.
For Unitarian Universalists addressing climate change is a high priority. It is reflected in the seventh UU principle to “affirm and promote…respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” UUs have a Ministry for Earth and for a Just Economic Community, and a UU Service Committee, which is responding to climate-forced displacement.
Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) is an international grassroots environmental group that trains and supports volunteers to build relationships with their elected representatives in order to influence climate policy. As a large organization comprised of individuals from many backgrounds and interests, CCL has numerous Acton Teams. Among the faith-based Action Teams are: the Catholic Action Team, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, Evangelical Christian, Baha’i, Buddhist, Quaker, Latter-Day Saints, and UU.
There are people of good will, some of whom are spiritual but most of whom do not follow any faith tradition but who endorse what they regard as common human values. One organization that speaks for such people is the American Humanist Association, which is composed of humanists, atheists, and freethinkers. This group has endorsed several principles involved with addressing climate change including: affirming its support for the development and proliferation of renewable sources of energy and fuel, particularly wind and solar, and affirming its support of sustainable land use, forest conservation, and reforestation, and affirming its support for personal and commercial transition toward a plant-based diet.
What all these disparate groups have in common is a deeply rooted commitment to responsible stewardship of our planet and a just arrangement for the use of the earth’s resources and protection of the most vulnerable from the impact of climate change.
***
George Banziger, Ph..D., was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. 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: April 30, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Students Help Fight Climate Change
Anna Earl, Editor The PHS Journal
December 16, 2022
Three students have been named Climate Ambassadors by the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action group. This opportunity was offered to high school students across the Mid-Ohio Valley and was ultimately offered to four students, including three from PHS. The program’s purpose is to provide funding for a project to help fight climate change, which will be led by a high school student. This is the program’s first year.
To be named as a Climate Ambassador, students first had to come up with an idea to help the environment, then they filled out an application. The next step was to have an interview over Zoom with the leaders of the program. The PHS ambassadors, seniors Lily Floyd and Anna Earl, and junior Nate McPeak, were named last spring, and the program will run through December. They have had multiple meetings over Zoom for progress checks, and have handed out T-shirts and climate voter signs to students in the community.
Floyd’s project is called Coffee for a Cause. She plans on opening a coffee stand in Lisa Berry’s room, 206W, in the mornings before school from 7:40-7:55 to sell to students. She plans on opening the stand immediately after Christmas break. The project will help spread biodiversity by using biodegradable materials, as well as having posters about the impact of climate change.
“I applied for the program because I’m passionate about making the world a better place for current and future inhabitants in whatever ways I can,” said Floyd.
She plans on charging the necessary price to allow the stand to make a profit, which will be given to other climate-related non-profits.
With the help of National Honor Society sponsor, science teacher Abby Taylor, Earl plans to plant a biodiversity garden. The garden will contain flowers that will help attract pollinators to help combat the declining bee and butterfly populations. In addition, it will include information about how the species planted will help the pollinator populations. The garden will be planted with the help of NHS volunteers in the spring, however any students who wish to volunteer are welcome.
The final student project, led by McPeak, plans to hang up bat boxes around the community. He hopes to add one of the boxes in a fenced area behind the school. He built the posts for the boxes out of wood and purchased the boxes himself. The boxes help provide a safe place for bats to live, and in return, the bats help reduce pest populations.
“I really like bats and the idea of making our human habitat more suitable for wildlife,” said McPeak.
Additionally, McPeak’s grandfather, Thomas Rodd, who runs a program called Kilmate Kitchen, came to the school on Nov. 16 to teach students about the environment and human impact.
Last Updated: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Celebrating failure
Dec 10, 2022
Aaron Dunbar
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
Coca-Cola Presents: COP27 took place last month in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, presumably scheduled between the annual Foxes Guarding Henhouses Convention and Lockheed Martin’s World Peace Extravaganza 2022. About as much was accomplished here as one might expect of a climate change summit sponsored by the world’s largest multinational plastic polluter, and occasional patron of anti-labor paramilitary death squads in Latin America.
For those not in the know, Coca-Cola Presents: The United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, is an annual summit at which the wealthy nations most responsible for the climate crisis pretend that there’s very little they can do about it which they aren’t already doing. Activist Greta Thunberg once succinctly summarized the results of every single Conference of the Parties since the first meeting in 1995 with the words “blah, blah, blah.”
The weeks leading up to this year’s summit saw the UN Environment Programme’s reassuring announcement that “no credible pathway to 1.5C” of warming currently exists, with that number being the theoretical limit of warming we can “safely” withstand while still maybe, possibly, perhaps avoiding the worst impacts of the climate crisis (though even this level will result in more of the deadly heatwaves, killer extreme weather events, sea level rise, and a litany of other consequences we’re already beginning to experience; current policies place us on track for somewhere closer to 2.7C of warming, which should see us well within the “hell on earth” range by the end of the century.)
One notable achievement of this year’s conference was the setup of a loss and damage fund supporting the global south as it continues to be ravaged by the unnatural disasters of a warming world. This is well overdue, given that the emissions of rich and powerful nations such as the United States, responsible for some 20% of all CO2 emissions since the Industrial Revolution, play an outsized role in climate tragedies so egregious as the wholesale destruction of entire nations- as in the case of the small Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu, 40% of whose capital city routinely finds itself underwater at high tide. And just on a side note, here’s a fun fact for you: the foreign minister of Tuvalu, Simon Kofe, recently announced that his would become the first ever digitized nation in the metaverse, in hopes of preserving its culture and continuing to function as a country once the real thing has been swallowed up by the sea. We truly are creating the best of all possible worlds for ourselves, are we not?
Even assuming rich nations do not attempt to weasel out of whatever commitments they make to poor nations (and you should not assume this), the achievement of this meager concession rings largely hollow considering the overwhelming failure of the conference-goers to reach any sort of meaningful agreement to phase out the use of fossil fuels. This feels somewhat akin to generously gifting your neighbor with a brand new garden hose, only to then carry on lobbing Molotov cocktails through their front window.
Furthermore, individuals describing the conference to the Guardian referred to COP27 as “the worst climate talks they had been involved in,” and stated that they were “untransparent, unpredictable and chaotic.”
Naomi Klein, climate activist and author of “The Shock Doctrine,” has suggested that civil society organizations should boycott the next of such summits altogether. COP28 is scheduled to take place at the end of November 2023 in, of all places, the United Arab Emirates, one of the largest producers of oil on the planet. One can scarcely fathom the new and innovative levels of “blah blah blah” and greenwashing that might be achieved at such a venue. Why, Klein asks in a Twitter thread, “should civil society expend the carbon, money, and time to join them just to declare it a failure all over again?”
And “failure” truly is the only way to describe it.
Last year around this time, when writing about COP26, I noted that: “It’s been estimated that more than half of our 1.5 trillion tonnes of CO2 emissions since 1751 have been produced in the past thirty years alone — more or less the exact same period that UNFCCC parties have been meeting every year to work on ‘fixing the problem.’”
If nothing else, it would seem that this year’s summit has upheld the proud tradition of doing nothing while the world burns. And by all indications, the stuffed shirts in their fancy meetings have no intention of bucking said tradition anytime soon, as they carry on with the happy, lucrative business of razing our planet to the ground.
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Aaron Dunbar is a member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 30, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Diversity is the spice of life
Dec 3, 2022
Vic Elam
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
OK, so I took a little liberty with this common axiom, but I will make the case. It has been repeatedly shown that an environment that maintains its native diversity is healthier than an environment that has lost its diversity. In terms of environmental diversity, I refer to plant/animal/soil and so on health, and what some refer to as species richness.
Modern corporate forestry practices that clear cut and replace with a monoculture of seedlings that grow into forests that support little flora and animal diversity, are prone to disease, often deplete soils, result in greater erosion, can influence local climatic conditions, resulting in frequent and ferocious wildfire, and also sequester less carbon than healthy diverse forest. There is a reason that when you walk through a normal forest you find yourself immersed in a variety of trees, those trees established where they are due to small variations in soil, moisture, sunlight, presence of other trees, etc., and this variety of trees support each other. Exceptions such as aspen groves are still a product of the forest conditions that are influenced by the forest as a whole.
Grasslands, like forests remain healthy and productive with the full complement of a diverse array of plants. Forested areas that have been cleared and converted to grassland are devoid of the seed bank that provides the basis of a healthy grassland and are generally less productive or require fertilizer to boost productivity and are vulnerable to invasion by invasive plants. Unfortunately, some farmers feel that their pastures are not in good condition unless they can look across a solid stand of grass that is uninterrupted by milkweed, leadplant, coneflower, butterflyweed, and many other plants that are beneficial to the soil and work in concert with grasses to provide healthy pastures. Farmers often apply a broadleaf herbicide to their pastures that eliminates all broad leaf plants and leaves only grasses, greatly reducing valuable diversity.
It takes a diversity of pollinators such as bees, butterflies, birds, even bats to do the necessary work of completing the reproductive process required for many plants. Many animals have a role to play in spreading seeds and passing seeds in a process required to allow those seeds to be viable (scarifying). There are many processes in nature that require the interrelationships between plants, between animals, and between plants and animals that are pivotal in their continued existence – symbiotic relationships. When we lose diversity, those relationships are severed, and we lose the health of our ecosystems.
The health of our climate and diversity are inexorably linked. Even the casual observer can see the impact that climate change is having on diversity. A close observation reveals alarming declines in diversity, part of which is associated with the spread of invasive plants and animals, some is due to climatic conditions becoming unfavorable for certain species, and many other factors.
Certainly, the effects of climate change have a direct and obvious impact to human populations from weather events such as drought. I would argue that self-imposed impacts to humans linked to diversity and its impact on the ecosystems on which we rely to provide us food, oxygen, clean water, and shelter may be as critical as any weather phenomenon that we are or will experience. I think that we will find that anything that we can do to reduce our impact and stave off the worst impacts of climate change are worthy endeavors. Each of us can play a part and collectively make a world of difference.
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Vic Elam is an avid outdoorsman and contributor to organizations that share his concern for our environment, including Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 30, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Climate change – as American as apple pie?
Nov 26, 2022
Linda Eve Seth
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
“Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness.” — Jane Austen
***
What does Climate Change have to do with apple pie?
I am sitting in my kitchen as I write this column, when I should be prepping for holiday meals. My mind wanders and my hands still as I contemplate the impact of Climate Change on our food supply. I think about apple pie; that most American of desserts is just one example of a multi-ingredient delicacy that will become harder to produce in a climate-ravaged future.
While the trees seem to do all the work producing our favorite fall fruit, their sweet flavor can become impacted by changes in weather and climate. Consider these facts: Although apples are hardy, big temperature extremes can be detrimental to orchard crops, as can severe storm elements. Above-average rainfall can cause both good and bad impacts on apples. Dry weather yields smaller and sweeter tasting apples. Environmental impacts like climate change, wildfire smoke and pollution are additional challenges for farmers.
While it is possible to grow apples in warmer climates, apples grow best in regions where the temperature rarely increases above 90 degrees. Warmer-than-normal temperatures can cause an early bloom that leads to changes in apple firmness and acid concentration levels. Too much heat and sun can actually “sunburn” apples. Excessive heat can alter an apple’s color, leaving it pink or brown instead of red. A softer fruit may result from a number of high heat degree days. Rather than crisp and juicy, the apple may take on a mushy or mealy texture.
Besides the fruit, several of the ingredients for that most detectable dessert, apple pie, are impacted by Climate Change, including white sugar, brown sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla.
Studies show that both sugar cane and flour production will be affected by warming temperatures. At first sugar cane production may (temporarily) begin to increase as some areas warm and the range of the sugar crop is extended, allowing the sugar cane to grow in new regions and for extended seasons. Ultimately, however, it is thought that production could drop as much as 60% in the long run.
It is predicted that wheat production may actually increase over time, but that will involve moving wheat agriculture from the American mid-west to Europe, Asia, and South America.
Spices like cinnamon and nutmeg are grown in specific tropical locations, making them particularly susceptible to changing weather conditions. Nutmeg trees, for example, have very shallow roots. This can be troublesome when combined with the fact that increased hurricane frequency and intensity have already begun to damage existing nutmeg farms and processing plants.
Madagascar and Sri Lanka both have economies that are very dependent on vanilla and cinnamon (respectively) which means their economies would be devastated by large decreases in production. Both of these island nations are likely facing increased droughts, wildfires, and higher risks of flooding due to rising sea levels and tsunamis, all of which would threaten their food security and agricultural productivity.
People working in the food industry in this country and across the world are trying to come up with solutions that prioritize crop resilience and adaptability. For example, methods are being developed to address specific vulnerabilities in nutmeg farms, and alternatives are being developed for crops which are so threatened, like vanilla and cinnamon.
As seasons lose their familiar distinguishing characteristics due to shifting climatic patterns, traditional markers for their arrival will do the same. New leaves and dogwood trees in the spring, watermelons, peaches, and corn in the summer, apples, pumpkins, and brilliant colors in the fall, snowmen in the winter… all of these things may be a thing of the past by the year 2050. Apple pie is, of course, just one handy example of a favorite food that may become a victim of Climate Change.
For now, in 2022, enjoy the holiday feast. Indulge in at least one piece of pie, and remember to appreciate all we have … while we still have it. Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.
Until next time, be kind to your Mother Earth.
***
Linda Eve Seth, SLP, M.Ed. is a mother, grandmother, concerned citizen, and member of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
Last Updated: April 30, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Is going nuclear really the right option?
Nov 19, 2022
Randi Pokladnik
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
As the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) meetings wrap up in Egypt, citizens around the world realize that we can no longer base our economies on carbon fuels. Many nations are embracing renewable energy. Sweden is leading the way to become the first nation to be 100% powered by renewable energy.
Although a few countries like France still push nuclear power, a 2020 study in Nature Energy stated, “Nuclear is simply too expensive, too time-consuming, and too dangerous a technology to compete with renewables as an alternative to decarbonize the global economy.”
I have never been a proponent of nuclear energy. Some of my angst can be traced back to my days as a grade school student in the Cold War era of the 1960s. We practiced nuclear drills and viewed films of nuclear detonations. One film showed American soldiers on the Bikini Atoll Islands chaining various animals to a test area. After the bomb was detonated, the soldiers returned to the site to ascertain the damage done to those poor animals.
In the late 1990s, I had the opportunity to visit the nuclear library of Los Alamos, New Mexico. This was just after President Clinton’s Energy Secretary, Hazel O’ Leary, had declassified hundreds of nuclear research documents. One group of documents represented over 400 experiments carried out on humans, many of them without informed consent. One document, “American Nuclear Guinea Pigs: Three Decades of Radiation Experiments on U.S. Citizens,” described various experiments performed on populations within our society including mentally handicapped people, prisoners, soldiers and the elderly.
The nuclear industry has earned a reputation of being deceptive and untrustworthy. Russia initially tried to hide the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor which resulted in an explosion that blew over ten tons of radioactive debris and fuel into the atmosphere.
“As of January 2018, 1.8 million people in Ukraine, including 377,589 children, had the status of victims of the disaster.” Health effects are still occurring even in populations outside the contamination zone.
Until the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear accident, Chernobyl was the worst nuclear disaster in history. The Japanese reactor accident was a result of faulty safety equipment. An earthquake triggered tsunami caused a loss of power, rendering the cooling systems inoperable. Three reactors were heavily damaged. In September of this year, Japan announced plans to release 1.3 million tons of stored radioactive water which had been used to cool the damaged reactors. Neighboring countries like China and South Korea have expressed deep concerns over releasing this radioactive water into the fragile Pacific ecosystem.
The USA witnessed its own nuclear accident when in the early morning hours of March 28, 1979, the Unit 2 reactor of the Three-Mile Island Power Plant in Londonderry Township, PA experienced a partial meltdown. Studies show that the accident exposed the failures of cooling water systems and the lack of adequate training.
Mark Jacobson, a professor at Stanford University has pointed out many of the downsides of nuclear power. One that especially resonates with me is the exposure of indigenous communities which find themselves living and working at Uranium mines in the western states. Navaho People traveled from reservations to mines to seek work, often relocating their families to the mine camps. Although mining of Uranium peaked in the late 1950s, the area remains hazardous as more than 1000 abandoned Uranium mine shafts leak radiation.
Another major issue with nuclear energy is the disposal of the highly radioactive wastes. Even the Small Modular Reactors (SMR) which produce less than 300 MW of electricity will generate dangerous radioactive wastes. A peer reviewed study published in March 2022 stated, “SMRs will produce more voluminous and chemically/physically reactive waste than Light Water Reactors, which will impact options for disposal of the waste.”
There is a proposal to dump high level radioactive wastes into granite, limestone and salt formations in the Great Lakes Basin. This would jeopardize the drinking water of over 40,000,000 people. Additionally, it will cost $ 4.5 billion to clean up the nuclear waste nightmare at the now-closed nuclear fuel enrichment plant in Piketon, Ohio.
Opting for nuclear energy over fossil fuels would just be trading one danger for another. The best choice for energy independence and sustainability by far are green, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal. Isn’t it time the United States takes a leadership role in transitioning to safe, sustainable alternative energy sources?
***
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: April 28, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate Corner: Public policy must do better
Nov 12, 2022
Eric Engle
editorial@newsandsentinel.com
A recent piece in The Washington Post included the fact that, “Carbon dioxide concentrations in 2021 were 415.7 parts per million (or ppm), methane at 1908 parts per billion (ppb) and nitrous oxide at 334.5 ppb. Theses values represented 149%, 262% and 124% of preindustrial levels, respectively.”
“Scientists warn that if the world is to have a chance of reaching net zero carbon [and equivalent] emissions by 2050 and so prevent the breaching of the 1.5C limit [of temperature rise over a preindustrial baseline in the Paris Climate Accords], global emissions will have to be cut by 5% to 7% a year. At present, emissions are rising between 1% and 2% a year with little sign of that increase being halted,” reads a recent piece in The Guardian.
We’re in deep trouble when it comes to preserving a habitable planet by maintaining a stable climate system and we are not reaching the goals we’ve set for working our way out of this trouble. That has to be said. But that’s not the end of the story. The change we need starts with each and every one of us in our homes and our communities. While we should all be keeping a close eye on the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) going on in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt this week, we have to recognize that how we ourselves live and vote and use our voices matter tremendously.
The Inflation Reduction Act, passed earlier this year, was a mixed bag at best, with environmental justice communities actively harmed by some of its provisions, but it will make renewable energy and energy efficiency measures more affordable and accessible for millions of Americans. More Americans will now be able to afford to better insulate their homes; replace windows; replace gas utilities with heat pumps (which both heat and cool homes and dwellings), induction stoves, and electric water heaters; purchase EVs and install at-home car charging; install solar panels or take advantage of community solar; and take advantage of other renewable energy like wind.
Important legislation has also passed in West Virginia as far as accessibility to solar, and more should be passed next session in the WV State Legislature. House Bill 3310, passed in last year’s legislative session, exempted solar power purchase agreements from the Public Service Commission’s jurisdiction. Power purchase agreements allow a developer to arrange and design and handle the permitting and installation of a solar energy system for a customer with little or no up front cost. Senate Bill 583 passed in 2020, which opened up the state for utility-scale solar development. House Bill 4561 did not pass last session but should be reintroduced and passed in the upcoming session to allow electric customers to subscribe to community solar through a solar facility and use credits against their electricity costs.
We need more by way of public policy and public and private financing to upgrade our grids, install far more renewable energy nationwide, adopt sustainable agricultural practices and more sustainable development measures, and to reduce pollution and contamination, especially that caused by plastics and petrochemicals. For these things to become realities, we will need to vote accordingly. I hope that as you read this you will have voted earlier in the week with climate change, sustainability, biodiversity loss, and pollution and contamination crises in mind.
Egalitarian democracy (i.e. “one person, one vote”) is so important to sustaining a habitable planet and protecting and preserving all the thriving life we can. So are critical and analytical thinking skills and the open and unfettered exchange of ideas. For these reason, Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action supported the Parkersburg & Wood County Library levy and the Wood County Schools levies on the ballot this week.
There are those who have been attacking our library system and librarians and attacking one of the educators in one of our county schools. My hope at publication is that the levies for our library and schools passed this week, providing them with critical funding, and that those who threaten democracy and liberty have lost and continue to lose in their efforts.
***
Eric Engle is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.
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