In science, processes that feed themselves (are self-sustaining) may be called vicious cycles if there is a destructive result. In earlier posts, I reported on fears that the melting of Arctic ice and permafrost was a vicious cycle. Bad news: it’s happening faster than previously expected.

1,460 billion metric tons of organic carbon

A major new federal assessment of the Arctic region and climate change trends released on Tuesday says the world’s warming temperatures are causing permafrost to melt, which could result in the ground releasing the organic carbon it now stores — about 1,460 to 1,600 billion metric tons worth. Permafrost covers 24 percent of the land in the Northern Hemisphere, including huge swaths of Alaska, Canada, Siberia and Greenland. The Washington Post reports that “warming temperatures allow microbes within the soil to convert permafrost carbon into the greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide and methane — which can be released into the air and accelerate warming.” [The Washington Post via 538]

Including what you do…

With the climate crisis being protested internationally by our children and 10,000 wells already fracked, the commerce committee is considering making it easy to do more. HB1102 is intended to pave the way. Read more here:
https://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/node/6121

Young people worldwide have it right. The US needs to embrace its responsibility and work to keep the carbon in the ground and out of our atmosphere. Fracking and the infrastructure needed to get its products to market is not in the public interest.

Our politicians are protecting the wrong people. We must protect our kids not those who make money on the carbon that killing the planet and these children’s hope of a good life.

While employees may be loyal, new eyes see better options.

In the race to recruit the next generation of engineering minds, oil and gas are coming up short. According to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the number of grads going into the petroleum exploration business in 2017 was at the lowest level since 2012, down 61 percent in four years. Part of that is that people want to work for ethical companies, and in an era of climate change awareness — when 67 percent of students consider doing a job that contributes to climate change to be unethical, and 91 percent care about working for an ethical company — oil and gas companies are not necessarily coming out in credit. The average age of workers in the industry is 42.2.

Eddie Spence, Bloomberg -via numlocknews.com

If the agency allows pollution and bars challenges to its rulings, who or what is it protecting?

E.P.A. Plans to Curtail the Ability of Communities to Oppose Pollution Permits

The agency is preparing to weaken rules that, for a quarter-century, have given communities a voice in deciding how much industrial pollution may legally be released nearby.