April 10,2020 By Dr. Randi Pokladnik at thebargainhunter.com
The world has come to a standstill as countries try to protect
their citizens from the COVID-19 virus spreading across the globe. People have
been asked to adhere to social distancing guidelines, and only essential
businesses are allowed to remain open to prevent further spread of this very
contagious virus.
While the world is preoccupied with this crisis, polluting
industries have used this as an excuse to increase their assault on our
environment. Some government agencies charged with assuring the safety of our
air and water have all but abdicated their responsibilities.
As usual the oil and gas industry has been quick to claim
their industry is an “essential” one. Although the maintenance of existing
energy supplies is critical, new pipeline construction is not. Yet many
pipelines including the Mariner East II in Pennsylvania, the Mountain Valley
Pipeline (MVP) in West Virginia and Virginia, and the Keystone XL Pipeline in
Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska all continue to be constructed.
The Keystone XL Pipeline could carry 830,000 barrels of oil
per day from Alberta through Nebraska to the Gulf Coast in Texas. Farmers,
indigenous communities and ranchers in the USA are resisting its construction.
Oil Change International’s Collin Rees spoke out against the
recent $1.1 billion investment from Alberta, Canada’s government to help
construct the XL tar sands pipeline. “We need billions of dollars invested
directly in vulnerable communities dying from COVID-19, not spent propping up
massive oil companies and unneeded projects that would trample indigenous
rights and exacerbate the climate crisis.”
In the midst of a pandemic where people are being asked to
avoid family funerals and are separated from their loved ones, hundreds of
out-of-state construction workers will move into rural communities in these
regions.
This is especially disturbing in isolated areas that lack
hospitals and medical resources such as indigenous communities and isolated
regions in West Virginia.
Citizens living in communities close to the Shell Plastic
Cracker Plant in Monaca, Pennsylvania have asked Governor Wolf to pause its
construction due to the possible spreading of the COVID-19 virus. They cited a
range of hazards including crowded busses and a lack of hand sanitizer in
portable bathrooms. The site has seen over 7,000 construction workers employed
on the 40-acre tract of land.
Communities in and around these pipelines also are worried
about the spread of the virus from “man-camps.” Out-of-state workers use these
camps to set up temporary housing. The leader of the Yankton Sioux tribe
likened the influx of nonlocal workers to the distribution of infected smallpox
blankets.
The continued construction of pipelines and other oil and gas
projects during a time of a pandemic shows a total disregard for the health and
safety of local communities and also for pipeline workers and their families.
On March 26 the EPA announced a “temporary policy on
environmental enforcement” would occur during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the
results of this policy is “no penalties will be given to entities who fail to
comply with routine monitoring and reporting.” This also includes no reporting
of greenhouse gas emissions and the weakening of transportation sector emission
requirements.
As we struggle with a disease that specifically affects the
lungs, the EPA announced it will weaken 2012 auto pollution standards. This
will make the U.S. one of the worst countries when it comes to fuel efficiency.
According to a Mother Jones article, the reversal means “an increase
of 185,000 premature deaths, 250,000 more asthma attacks, 350,000 other
respiratory problems and an increase of $190 billion in health costs between
now and 2050.”
In a recent article in The Hill, environmentalists said this
policy is a “license to pollute.” Some industries that will greatly benefit
from the lack of monitoring and reporting include chemical plants, oil and gas,
power plants, steel manufacturers, and others who could discharge more
pollutants into the air and waterways of our nation.
Last week I attended a webinar conducted by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. The webinar covered new proposed regulations that would
transfer disposal requirements for what the NRC called “very low-level
radioactive wastes” from licensed radioactive disposal sites to any private or
public landfill receiving an exemption.
After a brief PowerPoint presentation, the webinar was open
for questions. There were people present from all over the country and from
various environmental and health organizations. No one was happy about this
proposed rule change.
The wastes that could fall under this VLLRW classification
range from contaminated mops and clothing from nuclear power plants to
irradiated pipes and reactor components. A truckload of wastes could meet the amount
considered to be very low-level radioactive wastes by averaging all the
radiation in the load.
The ability to average together both high- and low-level
radioactive wastes occurs with “irregularly contaminated” fracking wastes.
These wastes can have both high amounts of Radium from technically enhanced
naturally occurring radiation from produced waters, as well as sludge from
drill cuttings.
According to one of the webinar participants, an attorney from
Ohio, ”The NRC will grant a one-time license, calling it an ‘exemption’ for a
local landfill, with no articulated guidelines for what the dumping pit must be
lined with, whether there are any well monitors set up, no firm testing or
other monitoring protocol, no indication whether leachate samples should be
tested and no means of determining whether there is offsite leakage.”
Ohio currently has 38 private or municipally owned landfills,
and any of these could apply for an NRC exemption. Nuclear power plants all
over our country are aging out and looking for places to take their wastes.
These landfills would provide a cheap way around the current expensive
alternatives (see 10 CFR 20.2002).
Most people familiar with landfills can tell you they will
leak. I have seen butter break down a landfill liner in a matter of weeks in a
lab setting. Counting on these landfills to protect our surface and groundwater
from irreparable harm is naïve at best.
The Ohio attorney said, “Improperly disposed of industrial
chemicals leak into area water, and now the NRC wants radioisotopes with
half-lives extending out to tens if not hundreds of thousands of years to be
securely confined in facilities that are nowhere near being up to that
mission.”
Will Ohioans know if their local landfill is accepting these
wastes and if workers are trained in handling these wastes? What will
communities do if underground water sources become contaminated?
We have until April 20 to submit comments to the NRC at www.regulations.gov/document?D=NRC-2020-0065-0001.
People also can contact local officials who deal with solid wastes and let them know we do not want our landfills to become cheap radioactive dumping sites for the nuclear industry.
See many more great articles by Dr. Pokladnik here.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Save our earth
Letter to the Editor Apr 24, 2020 Marietta Times by Margaret Meeker
Last year at this time I submitted a letter concerning Earth Day which was started 50 years ago under a Republican administration. As we approach Earth Day, April 22, 2020 we need to ask, what have we as a country done to reduce carbon dioxide in the last year? Nothing. The present administration in Washington, D.C. has done a great job of dismantling everything the Obama administration did to reduce our emissions. Now the Trump administration is fighting with the state of California about regulations for auto emissions.
Since 2019 we have witnessed the worst fires in Australia. Now fires are burning in Russia near the site of the worst nuclear disaster at Chernobyl that occurred on Saturday 26 April 1986. I can’t remember which news channel reported this. The fires and wind are now carrying radiation into the surrounding areas. Also, I have not seen any statistics on how Russia is handling the coronavirus pandemic.
Is the pandemic tied to the climate crisis? Well, yes, some places are seeing bluer skies due to lack of auto and plane travel. That would change quickly if all rush to return to “normal”. But now the use of plastic bags and containers has grown due to shopping without cloth bags and more carry out from restaurants.
The lessons we could learn from this virus is that we must listen to scientists, we must act quickly as our earth is not well. In an article published by Beth Gardiner, she says, the virus teaches us that we must act with great urgency to save the planet. Maybe, our ‘new normal” will be working from home, teleconferencing rather than continental/intercontinental travel, using public transportation vs individual cars, only traveling for essentials, living with less vs more, respecting the beautiful outdoors, raising our food, enjoying the ones who live in our homes, helping neighbors, making sure all have food, clothing, and shelter as well as health care and sufficient income to live regardless where we live or the color of our skin.
As we stay home to protect our neighbors, may we think of ways we can save the earth.
One way is to elect government officials who will listen to scientists, act quickly for the good of all people, and protect our air, water, food, etc.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Using pandemic to avoid regulations
April 10,2020 By Dr. Randi Pokladnik at thebargainhunter.com
The world has come to a standstill as countries try to protect their citizens from the COVID-19 virus spreading across the globe. People have been asked to adhere to social distancing guidelines, and only essential businesses are allowed to remain open to prevent further spread of this very contagious virus.
While the world is preoccupied with this crisis, polluting industries have used this as an excuse to increase their assault on our environment. Some government agencies charged with assuring the safety of our air and water have all but abdicated their responsibilities.
As usual the oil and gas industry has been quick to claim their industry is an “essential” one. Although the maintenance of existing energy supplies is critical, new pipeline construction is not. Yet many pipelines including the Mariner East II in Pennsylvania, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in West Virginia and Virginia, and the Keystone XL Pipeline in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska all continue to be constructed.
The Keystone XL Pipeline could carry 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta through Nebraska to the Gulf Coast in Texas. Farmers, indigenous communities and ranchers in the USA are resisting its construction.
Oil Change International’s Collin Rees spoke out against the recent $1.1 billion investment from Alberta, Canada’s government to help construct the XL tar sands pipeline. “We need billions of dollars invested directly in vulnerable communities dying from COVID-19, not spent propping up massive oil companies and unneeded projects that would trample indigenous rights and exacerbate the climate crisis.”
In the midst of a pandemic where people are being asked to avoid family funerals and are separated from their loved ones, hundreds of out-of-state construction workers will move into rural communities in these regions.
This is especially disturbing in isolated areas that lack hospitals and medical resources such as indigenous communities and isolated regions in West Virginia.
Citizens living in communities close to the Shell Plastic Cracker Plant in Monaca, Pennsylvania have asked Governor Wolf to pause its construction due to the possible spreading of the COVID-19 virus. They cited a range of hazards including crowded busses and a lack of hand sanitizer in portable bathrooms. The site has seen over 7,000 construction workers employed on the 40-acre tract of land.
Communities in and around these pipelines also are worried about the spread of the virus from “man-camps.” Out-of-state workers use these camps to set up temporary housing. The leader of the Yankton Sioux tribe likened the influx of nonlocal workers to the distribution of infected smallpox blankets.
The continued construction of pipelines and other oil and gas projects during a time of a pandemic shows a total disregard for the health and safety of local communities and also for pipeline workers and their families.
On March 26 the EPA announced a “temporary policy on environmental enforcement” would occur during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the results of this policy is “no penalties will be given to entities who fail to comply with routine monitoring and reporting.” This also includes no reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and the weakening of transportation sector emission requirements.
As we struggle with a disease that specifically affects the lungs, the EPA announced it will weaken 2012 auto pollution standards. This will make the U.S. one of the worst countries when it comes to fuel efficiency.
According to a Mother Jones article, the reversal means “an increase of 185,000 premature deaths, 250,000 more asthma attacks, 350,000 other respiratory problems and an increase of $190 billion in health costs between now and 2050.”
In a recent article in The Hill, environmentalists said this policy is a “license to pollute.” Some industries that will greatly benefit from the lack of monitoring and reporting include chemical plants, oil and gas, power plants, steel manufacturers, and others who could discharge more pollutants into the air and waterways of our nation.
Last week I attended a webinar conducted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The webinar covered new proposed regulations that would transfer disposal requirements for what the NRC called “very low-level radioactive wastes” from licensed radioactive disposal sites to any private or public landfill receiving an exemption.
After a brief PowerPoint presentation, the webinar was open for questions. There were people present from all over the country and from various environmental and health organizations. No one was happy about this proposed rule change.
The wastes that could fall under this VLLRW classification range from contaminated mops and clothing from nuclear power plants to irradiated pipes and reactor components. A truckload of wastes could meet the amount considered to be very low-level radioactive wastes by averaging all the radiation in the load.
The ability to average together both high- and low-level radioactive wastes occurs with “irregularly contaminated” fracking wastes. These wastes can have both high amounts of Radium from technically enhanced naturally occurring radiation from produced waters, as well as sludge from drill cuttings.
According to one of the webinar participants, an attorney from Ohio, ”The NRC will grant a one-time license, calling it an ‘exemption’ for a local landfill, with no articulated guidelines for what the dumping pit must be lined with, whether there are any well monitors set up, no firm testing or other monitoring protocol, no indication whether leachate samples should be tested and no means of determining whether there is offsite leakage.”
Ohio currently has 38 private or municipally owned landfills, and any of these could apply for an NRC exemption. Nuclear power plants all over our country are aging out and looking for places to take their wastes. These landfills would provide a cheap way around the current expensive alternatives (see 10 CFR 20.2002).
Most people familiar with landfills can tell you they will leak. I have seen butter break down a landfill liner in a matter of weeks in a lab setting. Counting on these landfills to protect our surface and groundwater from irreparable harm is naïve at best.
The Ohio attorney said, “Improperly disposed of industrial chemicals leak into area water, and now the NRC wants radioisotopes with half-lives extending out to tens if not hundreds of thousands of years to be securely confined in facilities that are nowhere near being up to that mission.”
Will Ohioans know if their local landfill is accepting these wastes and if workers are trained in handling these wastes? What will communities do if underground water sources become contaminated?
We have until April 20 to submit comments to the NRC at www.regulations.gov/document?D=NRC-2020-0065-0001.
People also can contact local officials who deal with solid wastes and let them know we do not want our landfills to become cheap radioactive dumping sites for the nuclear industry.
See many more great articles by Dr. Pokladnik here.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
A call for war time mobilization
Apr 12, 2020 By Eric Engle Letter to the Editor Parkersburg News and Sentinel
In a column dated March 30, Mike Myer writes about the need for greater preparedness when addressing ever-evolving pathogens. I agree with Mike that we must be more prepared for microbial threats like the COVID-19 Coronavirus. Where Mike and I disagree is regarding his comments on climate change. Mike writes, “And how much have we spent — both through government and out of our own pocketbooks because of federal mandates — on climate change?” Mike continues, “Still, climate change isn’t going to kill 50 million of us in a year.” The answer to Mike’s question is “not nearly enough” and my response to Mike’s assertion is “think again!”
The United States, especially under the Trump administration, has not done nearly enough to address anthropogenic (human-caused) global climate change. Trump began by responding to this coronavirus the way he has consistently responded to the climate crisis, with allegations of it all being a partisan, ideologically motivated hoax. To the extent Trump and his administration have taken either threat seriously, it is only to say, “we’ve got it all under control” or “the problem is not nearly as bad as it seems.” We quickly found out how wrong Trump and his administration were on COVID-19, but climate change poses a far more complex, albeit equally urgent, threat.
Intolerable heatwaves, massive wildfires, expansive droughts in some areas – with massive precipitation and flooding events in others (both recurring more frequently and severely) — stronger hurricanes caused by warmer ocean surface temperatures, land and see ice melt, rising seas, ocean acidification and deoxygenation, and, yes, a substantially greater threat from vector-borne diseases like COVID-19 in a warmer and wetter world are just some of the effects of global climate change. The results are and will be enormous economic turmoil that makes this COVID-19 pandemic seem like child’s play. Mass migration issues, an increase in global conflicts as crops fail and global food and potable water supplies diminish (salt water will infiltrate fresh water supplies and some fresh water supplies will simply dry up), and islands and coastlines disappearing beneath the waves are and will be just some of the consequences of our inaction.
What we need to learn from this pandemic is not limited to better addressing threatening and ever-changing microorganisms (though this is critical, as is dealing with antibiotic resistance). What we need is a Green New Deal and we need it now! We need wartime mobilization. As I write this the CDC reports 140,904 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and 2,405 confirmed deaths. West Virginia currently has 124 confirmed cases and 1 confirmed death. By the time this is printed no doubt these numbers will be much higher. Some of these lives could have been saved and some of those made ill spared with proper preparation and mobilization. Will ideological opposition and science rejection result in the same continued mishandling of the global climate crisis? At Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, we’re fighting to keep that from happening. Join us today.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Exploited, indeed
Apr 12, 2020 By Aaron Dunbar Letter to the Editor Parkersburg News and Sentinel
A couple of weeks back I submitted a letter to the News and Sentinel, discussing the lessons we should be learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, and what they can teach us about our response to climate change.
I anticipated that this might not sit well with some readers, and sure enough, I faced a small amount of online backlash from commenters, who accused me of exploiting a crisis in pursuit of my own personal goals.
I would not be writing about this publicly, except that I doubt that these online commenters were alone in their opinion. And I actually do agree that the crisis we now face is being exploited, by those with shortsighted self-interest in mind.
On Thursday, March 26 for instance, Trump’s EPA announced that it would indefinitely suspend the enforcement of environmental laws throughout the duration of the coronavirus outbreak, essentially giving the fossil fuel industry free rein to regulate itself (or not) for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile in Canada, the Wet’suwet’en First Nation has spent months trying to prevent an illegal natural gas pipeline from being built on their land. The fight against said pipeline essentially bled straight into the coronavirus outbreak, and Coastal Gaslink, the company responsible for the pipeline, has reportedly taken advantage of public distraction to try and push through construction, putting Indigenous communities in danger as they fail to properly screen outside workers for health risks.
Also throughout the past few weeks, Kentucky, South Carolina, and West Virginia have all passed controversial legislation designed to stifle peaceful protest against fossil fuel infrastructure, using the mass disarray of the coronavirus outbreak as cover. It’s worth noting that such legislation, drafted by the fossil fuel industry in response to the Keystone XL Pipeline protests at Standing Rock, has been sweeping across U.S. states like its own form of infectious disease. As with the Wet’suwet’en, Standing Rock infamously entailed the Great Sioux Nation fighting back against an unwanted pipeline on their land, and even featured a shared villain with the Wet’suwet’en struggle- TransCanada, otherwise known as TC Energy.
Are you beginning to notice a pattern here?
This is only a handful of examples I’ve picked up on over the past week or so. I’m sure there will be even more out there by the time this letter makes it to print.
At the end of the day, I couldn’t agree more that the crisis we now face is being exploited. But I don’t believe for a second that this is being done by climate activists, who are seizing this moment to try and wake people up to the existential dangers of climate change.
Instead, this crisis is being exploited by the same bad faith actors who’ve preyed on society since the inception of their industry. Who’ve lied for decades about the climate crisis, who’ve taken advantage of their employees, put them at risk, and stolen their healthcare and pensions, and who’ve leveled poor communities for the sake of greed.
All of us need to look out for one another in these difficult times. And those moneyed interests who would seize this crisis to inflict further suffering upon humanity should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Whether it’s coronavirus or climate crisis, think globally and act locally now
Mar 23, 2020 By Adeline Bailey Letter to the Editor in the Marietta Times
Currently, reports of the spread of the coronavirus fill the news.
COVID-19 started far from the U.S., but now Ohio health officials and public health departments here in our valley “out of an abundance of caution” are taking steps to prevent an outbreak. As individuals we’re urged to practice good hand-washing, contact our local health care providers, stay home if we’re feeling ill, limit unnecessary travel, make plans in case day-to-day activities are disrupted, and take special precautions if we’re part of a vulnerable population group. Our local, state, and federal government departments are preparing tests to identify, isolate, and treat those already affected, and they are working on ways to help with the economic challenges that the pandemic could cause.
I’m grateful for this organized response to COVID-19. It gives me hope that realizing we are part of a global community impacted by something that has no respect for national borders might help us understand that we need to work together in taking action against climate change.
The ways we are dealing with the virus can instruct the ways we can deal with the climate crisis. As individuals, we can change the ways we heat our homes and produce our foods; get our electricity from renewable energy sources like wind and solar; drive electric cars; recycle, and reduce waste and pollution. Mariettans can ask local government to encourage buying from local farmers and merchants and reward businesses that help reduce the city’s carbon footprint and energy emissions. We can encourage local government to add solar panels to more municipal buildings, to develop more projects that make the city a desirable place to live and work, and build resilience against the extreme weather events and other impacts that climate change may bring to future generations of Mariettans.
We have an opportunity to come together to discuss what we’d like Marietta to look like in 10, or 20, or 50 years. City officials and citizens alike can share their views at a Sustainable Marietta Forum hosted by the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society. The three-day event is free, and anyone interested can register in advance at tinyurl.com/sustainable-marietta-forum. Following the Governor’s restrictions on large group gatherings, the planning group has postponed this event. In the meantime, they are working on creating a virtual forum for continuing the discussion on sustainabity.
While local action is important, it’s imperative that we also ask our national government to help us succeed in protecting our future. One effective and practical way to deal with this problem in the U.S. is for the government to collect a fee on carbon that increases over time, to impose it on coal before it ships from the mine and on oil and natural gas before they are piped from the well. Legislation before the House of Representatives (H.R. 763) stipulates returning the fee in equal monthly payments to all households. This carbon fee and dividend model is supported by U.S. economists and former chairs of the Federal Reserve, and by Citizens’ Climate Lobby. For more information about the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act: energyinnovationact.org.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Respond to climate change, too
Mar 22, 2020 By Aaron Dunbar Letter to the Editor in Parkersburg News and Sentinel
Transport your mind back to the beginning of this year. Or for that matter, to even a few short weeks ago.
Imagine someone telling you that somewhere, at a distant seafood market in a sprawling Chinese city, an infectious respiratory disease will make the leap from a bat or a pangolin into the body of a human being. In a short time, hundreds of thousands of people will be infected, and thousands will die. Entire cities will shut down around the world. Economies will collapse. Americans will be raiding supermarket shelves for food, toilet paper, and other essentials. Schools, restaurants, movie theaters, and sporting venues will all close. There’s a very real chance that you’ll be spending the next several months of your life quarantined inside your home.
Imagine someone telling you all of this as you celebrated the holidays, at Christmas or New Year’s. Imagine the look you would give them, and the likelihood that you would dismiss them as little more than some crackpot conspiracy theorist.
And yet this is the precise situation in which we now find ourselves.
The ongoing nightmare of the COVID-19 epidemic makes abundantly clear the connectedness and interdependence of our modern world, and the degree to which seemingly minor occurrences can produce ripple effects that extend across the globe.
Why, then, is it still so difficult for human beings to fathom the existential horror of the climate crisis, or mobilize on a level remotely resembling our response to the current outbreak?
Just as the irresponsible actions of a few wildlife traffickers in Wuhan have brought the world to a standstill, so will our own reckless decision to continue emitting greenhouse gases doom us to a fate we might now perceive as unimaginable, but which, in the long run, will prove much, much worse than anything we’ve seen.
The climate crisis carries with it its own numerous health risks, of course. As permafrost melts, unknown diseases that have lain dormant in ice for thousands of years are being released, and will likely cause future pandemics. Climate variability will also shift disease vectors, amplifying the effects of Lyme disease, dengue fever, West Nile, and a host of other pathogens. Estimates on deaths related to air pollution already range in the millions per year, and incidents of heat-related illnesses as well as famine will only become more severe as the climate continues to race toward its tipping point.
And this is just one aspect of the climate crisis.
Between the hundreds of millions of people displaced by climate chaos, economies tanked, resource scarcity caused by irresponsible consumption, whole societies whose homes will no longer exist due to rising sea levels, and any number of other butterfly effects we have yet to even imagine, we can either act meaningfully to confront the climate crisis today, or risk our current state of pandemic becoming the new norm for untold generations to come.
Please stay safe in these difficult times, and contact Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action or the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Marietta chapter to get involved in the fight for a better tomorrow.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Transitioning from fossil fuels
Mar 8, 2020 By Aaron Dunbar in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel
The fossil fuel industry cares infinitely less about you or your family than it would have you believe. Workers and their communities are little more than a means to an end for the wealthy industrialists who profit from the economic desperation of poor and rural communities.
Recent studies have found that areas with oil and gas based economies tend to suffer in the long term as far as per capita income, education, and crime rates are concerned, despite what appear to be the initial economic benefits of fossil fuel extraction. Often the longer the period of resource extraction in an area, the more severe the economic consequences will be when industries inevitably decide to pack up and leave — all a part of the vicious boom and bust cycles for which the fossil fuel industry is infamous.
This is to say nothing of the long term health and environmental impacts of fossil fuel extraction on those communities subjected to the presence of these industries. Right now, for instance, there is cause for concern that the recent boom in plastics in the area, a direct result of increased natural gas production, could potentially turn Appalachia into the next Cancer Alley.
On an even larger scale there is the issue of climate change to consider. Despite widespread skepticism among many Americans, there is virtually unanimous consensus among published climate scientists that climate change is happening, that it is overwhelmingly being caused by greenhouse gas emissions, and that the long term consequences to our planet will be devastating.
The truth is, the fossil fuel industry has known about climate change since before it was even a blip on the radar for many scientists, much less the general public. They’ve known that their product is poisoning us, that it is wrecking the planetary ecosystem, and that it will in fact make vast areas of the earth uninhabitable due to rising global temperatures. And instead of making the changes necessary to prevent such catastrophes, fossil fuel executives have spent decades lying to the American public, spending vast amounts of money on misinformation campaigns, and buying off politicians to prevent any meaningful action on curbing our emissions.
Fossil fuel corporations and their CEOs do not care about us or our communities. And yet there is a widespread impulse, despite a longstanding legacy of abuse and mistreatment, for many Americans to stand up for the industries who have proven only too happy to rob them of their well-being.
As a climate activist, I like many others believe in the necessity of a just transition for workers and communities dependent upon the destructive practices of the fossil fuel industry. We believe in moving toward a green-based economy, it is vitally important to retrain low-income and fossil fuel workers for long term, sustainable careers in the renewable energy sector, as well as for other clean jobs that will overwhelmingly comprise the economy of tomorrow.
A just transition is not only possible, but essential to ensuring a brighter future for our planet, and for our communities.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Uncertain future
Marietta Times Letter to the Editor Mar 18, 2020 by Dawn Hewitt
Society seems to be freaking out irrationally about COVID-19. Rational preparation to the growing threat makes much more sense. We don’t know whether the virus will peak in the United States in a matter of days or weeks or months. We don’t know whether it is seasonal, whether it will arrive, do its damage, and be over, or if it will return to wreak havoc again in the fall or next year. Will it mutate, rendering a yet-to-be-developed vaccine impotent? We don’t know. But stockpiling toilet paper is unlikely to help the situation. Ultimately, though, COVID-19 will be contained and controlled.
Climate change, however, will continue unabated unless we combat it with all the attention and resources we can muster. The effects of a changing climate could kill even more people than COVID-19, and over a much longer time span. We humans are not the only ones affected by climate change. Research by the Field Museum has found that in only 38 years, the body size of songbirds has dropped and their wing size has increased due to rising temperatures. A report published recently in The Auk: Ornithological Advances found that songbirds are migrating 5.5 days earlier than they did in the 1960s. “If migratory birds are not arriving at the breeding grounds at the right time, when there’s a peak abundance of insects, then they’re not going to have enough food for their young,” said Brooke Bateman, senior climate scientist at the National Audubon Society, in a recent email from the organization.
Maybe humans can adapt to climate change by shoring up coastlines, shifting agricultural production, and managing weather disasters, but will wildlife be able to adapt? The truth is that we really do not know what will happen if we do not take serious steps to reduce carbon emissions.
Fortunately, there is something we can do. The bipartisan Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 763), which is currently in the House of Representatives, would tax fossil fuels at the source of production and return the proceeds back equally to American households. It also protects American markets, and provides incentives to reduce fossil fuel consumption and increase use of renewable energy. I encourage you to contact Representative Bill Johnson or whoever is your Congressperson and ask that they support H.R. 763.
Covid-19 is worrisome, and its impacts could prove to be devastating. But it is temporary. Unless we act immediately, climate change could have even more devastating impacts than COVID-19, impacts that could affect all life on Earth.
Dawn Hewitt
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate change a spiritual issue
Feb 16, 2020 by Aaron Dunbar Letter to the Editor in the Marietta Times
As someone who spent the first twenty years of his life as a devout Christian, I’ve long been baffled by the church’s unwillingness to confront the issue of climate change.
“The gospel call to love one’s neighbor is, in our time and place, most fully a call to do something about climate change,” says Bill McKibben, author of “The End of Nature,” which introduced many readers to the topic of global warming in 1989. “Because at the moment, we’re drowning our neighbors, sickening our neighbors, making it impossible for our neighbors to grow food.”
McKibben, who also founded the well-known climate campaign 350.org, is a long-time Methodist, and regularly draws on his Christian faith as a source of inspiration for his writing. Working alongside the likes of Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, author of “Climate Church, Climate World,” McKibben has fought for years to convince religious followers of every ilk the climate fight is, in fact, a spiritual one.
In my own experience, however, I’ve seen very little enthusiasm from most Christians when it comes to tackling the issue of climate change. At best I hear rationalizations that, if climate change is in fact really happening, then it’s all right, because it must just be part of God’s plan. On the more extreme end of the spectrum are those who welcome the collapse of the biosphere as a sign of end times, and the fulfillment of some oblique prophecy from the book of Revelation.
As far as I’m aware, there is nothing in the Bible that explicitly refers to the subject of climate change, as tempting as it may be to cite biblical incidents of God smiting humankind for its failure to abide by the rules and limitations He set in place for them.
What the Bible does tell us, repeatedly, is to reject the temptations of material wealth. It tells us it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And finally it tells us literally hundreds of times to respect and take care of the poor among us.
When aligning these edicts with the narrative of manmade global warming, the connotations for our own lives couldn’t be clearer.
Climate change is a direct effect of human materialism. The burning of fossil fuels has long been concealed by perversely wealthy industrialists and politicians as the primary cause of global warming, in their pursuit of profit above all else. As a result, hundreds of millions of people will suffer from elevated sea levels, rising global temperatures, and collapsing ecosystems, a disproportionate number of whom represent the world’s most impoverished populations, who have had no hand whatsoever in bringing about the crisis we face.
The preservation of our planet for future generations is both a moral issue and a spiritual one. I challenge all leaders of faith to inform themselves on the subject of climate change, and inspire their congregations to act accordingly.
For more information on how you can get involved in the fight for climate justice, please contact Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action today!
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Energy: Investment in renewables is vital to state’s future
Feb 12, 2020 Editorial in Parkersburg News and Sentinel
West Virginians understand how much we owe the generations of coal miners who have kept our — and the rest of the country’s — lights on. Our emotional response to the idea anyone would want to “put a lot of miners and coal companies out of business,” sparked a political wave most did not expect.
But we have also known for generations that there must be more; that our state MUST diversify our economy and make other changes as it moved forward, rather than simply looking back.
Lawmakers know, deep in their hearts, coal is not going to rebound to levels once seen in our state. Those who say differently are cruelly manipulating a struggling population in hopes of gaining votes.
Others are willing to face the challenge honestly, and bills in the state Senate and House of Delegates are aimed at making a small start on that task. If enacted, they would allow the state Public Service Commission to expedite the agency’s process for approving new solar power generation facilities.
The bills would not grant subsidies in any way to the solar power industry. They would provide no tax breaks or other incentives. They would only snip a bit of red tape from the PSC process. They would allow such expedited treatment for only 400 megawatts of generating capacity — less than 3% of the state’s electricity.
It seems as though some employers may already be looking toward those possibilities, as Energy Harbor, which recently acquired the Pleasants Power Station, has a goal to expand its energy portfolio on the site.
“The good news is Energy Harbor wants to own it. They want to see that plant thrive and keep it open for generations to come,” said Pleasants County Commission President Jay Powell. “I think they’re in a position where they can continue to work on expanding and provide other sources and we’ve got the ground to do that potentially up here.”
While discussion so far appears to involve hydro electric power and natural gas, one must wonder whether an encouragement by lawmakers to explore solar power might give them ideas for an even more diversified use of that land — and even more stability in safeguarding hundreds of jobs.
Critics say the bills are a betrayal of the coal industry. They are not.
Even coal operator Gov. Jim Justice understands diversification is necessary.
Those who rely on Pleasants Power and the many other similar facilities throughout the state should encourage their lawmakers to support renewables legislation.
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