B-CAUSE (Bucks Concerned About Unsafe Shale-gas Extraction)

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  • Chautauqua at Home

    My family has deep roots in the original Chautauqua — my wife calls it summer camp for grownups. For many decades people have pilgrimaged to this small community for intellectual, spiritual, and physical renewal. Alas, COVID-19 forced cancellation of the program on Chautauqua Lake near Jamestown, New York.

    But be of good cheer, it’s free and you can participate from home starting Monday.

    Don’t miss the Chautauqua Lecture Series …Climate Change: Prioritizing Our Global and Local ResponseHow we talk about climate change is rapidly shifting. But amid the ongoing political debates, how are we — and should we be — responding? All events are at 10:45 a.m. unless noted.Monday, June 29: Christine Todd Whitman, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, on “Government, Economics and Climate”Tuesday, June 30: Janis Searles Jones of Ocean Conservancy on “The Ocean and the Climate: How to Save Both”Wednesday, July 1: Katharine Wilkinson of Project Drawdown on “How to Reduce Greenhouse Gases”Thursday, July 2: Former UN official Amb. Christiana Figueres on “The State of Global Environmental Action”Please note a special start time of 11:30 a.m. for this programFriday, July 3: Geoffrey Kemp and Amb. Barbara K. Bodine discussing “The Geopolitics of Climate Change and the Environment”
    Government, Economics and the Climate – Climate Change: Prioritizing our Global and Local Response – CHQ Assembly
    Christine Todd Whitman opens the week highlighting the role of government in combating climate change, what climate action looks like in economic terms and how Americans across the political spectrum can come together around collective action. Whitman, the first female governor of New Jersey, a…

    Conversation over lunch or coffee is a big part of the Chautauqua Experience. At Pennswood, the community where I live, we are organizing Zoom/Conference Call discussion groups for those interested. If you want to participate in one of these, please use the contact form to let me know.

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    • COVID-19 and Our Air

      Polluters have been attacking scientists and science for years in much the same ways the tobacco industry did. The adverse health impacts of fossil fuel use are well documented and it’s no surprise that they exacerbate the consequences of COVID-19 infections. Now comes a Harvard study that is further evidence.

      Here’s the Harvard paper:

      COVID-19 PM2.5
      A national study on long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States

    • It is Possible Here As Well…

      Solar

      Solar panels in Germany smashed a record Monday, producing 32,227 megawatts of power and beating the previous record set March 23. Ample sun and a lack of human-created smog enabled solar generation to produce 40 percent of German power Monday compared to 22 percent produced by coal and nuclear facilities. Fully 78 percent of the electrical output in Germany on Monday was renewables.

      William Wilkes and Rachel Morison, Bloomberg

    • COVID-19 EXPOSES FRACKING

      You probably saw the news that air pollution increases the risk of fatal outcomes with COVID-19. We have all experienced the surprising improvement in air quality with the shutdown of industrial operations and the reduced automobile traffic. In china it was dramatic.

      It’s a wakup call. Fossil energy needs to be phased out and fracking’s cheap fuels are the economic enemy of renewables because they kill the market for innovative technology. Despite the adverse market effects both wind and solar have become competitive.

      I’m pleased that journalists are picking up on the obvious.

      Opinion | Coronavirus May Kill Our Fracking Fever DreamAmerica’s energy independence was an illusion created by cheap debt. All that’s left to tally is the damage.

      Living in these areas of the US raises your risk of death from coronavirus, study saysCNN’s Jake Tapper reports.

      Pollution made COVID-19 worse. Now, lockdowns are clearing the air.Even before the coronavirus, air pollution killed seven million people a year. Will today’s cleaner air inspire us to do better?

    • Permits to do harm?

      When a government agency grants a permit, it is usually allowing something that is potentially or actually harmful or dangerous. Permits for the construction of public utilities are supposed to weigh the convenience and necessity of the greater public against the harm done to individuals.

      Pipelines require a clear right-of-way for their construction and the government delegates its sovereign power to take land by eminent domain to corporations. Takings are supposed to be compensated to make those affected whole. But it’s rare that the compensation is satisfactory or sufficient for the loss of quiet enjoyment of one’s home or business property.

      The Mariner East Pipeline is in the news again because people allege construction is harming them. And what public interest justifies this? Who needs the products it carries? Not the US public. It’s for off-shore producers of plastics and other fossil fuel products.

      Thanks to big dollar lobbying by the industry, our legislators are not representing us the public. And the permits to do harm get issued for no good public purpose.

      ‘We can’t live like this’: residents say a corrupt pipeline project is making them sick
      A community in Pennsylvania says clay-colored water appeared during a drilling mud spill, but the pipeline company insists it’s not to blame

    • Vicious Cycle

      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]

    • Get it???

    • Everything Counts

      Including what you do…

    • Stop It!

      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

    • Climate Strike

      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.