Climate Change

NPR

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EPA Says It Will Phase Out Harmful Greenhouse Gas : NPR

The Environmental Protection Agency is cracking down on a powerful class of greenhouse gases that are used in refrigerators, air conditioners and building insulation. On Monday, the agency announced a new regulation that would dramatically decrease production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, over the next 15 years.

Refrigerants are one of my favorite topics! While this article really oversimplifies the issues -- getting rid of HFC in new units is good for climate change. HFC-23 has a global warming potential of 14,800 times that of carbon dioxide. HFC-134a used in cars is 1,430 GWP.
 
That said, units built with one refrigerant generally can't be switched to another without modifications. Often it's just better to refill refrigerants after leaks are patched. The EPA mandates all refrigerants are recovered when cars, refrigerators and air conditioners are scrapped, so there should be a supply for a long time for HFCs, just like you can still buy CFCs and HCFCs to refill old units. The Empire Plaza, for example still uses CFC refrigerant (CFC-22) in it's chillers, even though they haven't manufactured any new stock in nearly 25 years now.
 
Most of the low GWP refrigerants pose engineering and safety challenges -- propane is very flammable and explosive, water and carbon dioxide require extremely high pressures that require super-strong components, and other refrigerants are patented and expensive like hydrofluoroolefin (HFC-1234yf). Also, hydrofluoroolefin produces flourine gas when burned, which can be very toxic in car and house fires. But scientists are finding solutions to these kind of problems, and most people aren't particularly concerned what is chilling their beer and office as long as it's sufficiently cold and is energy efficent.

NPR

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In A Hotter Climate, Dirt and Mud Are Hot Commodities : NPR

With sea levels expected to rise three to six feet by the end of the century, coastal communities are moving fast to construct major shoreline projects to protect themselves. As the size of these projects expands, the primary building materials--dirt and mud --are getting scarce.

Dirt (what you dig up on land) and mud or sediment (the wetter variety already in rivers and bays) are the raw materials of climate change adaptation. They're used to build levees, the massive earthen barriers that hold back waves, and to raise elevation so buildings can sit higher than the floodplain.

Mud is also a crucial component of restoring wetlands and marshes, which act as natural barriers against storm surges while providing valuable habitat for sensitive species. In the right conditions, marshes can gain elevation over time from sediment, potentially keeping pace with sea level rise in a way that human-built infrastructure can't.

Until now, mud and dirt have mostly been treated as waste products. Dirt leftover from construction projects is often just trucked to landfills. Sediment is trapped behind large dams, no longer spreading naturally throughout watersheds.

I’ve said it before, but I think many of proposed climate change actions threaten democracy 🌎

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I’ve said it before, but I think many of proposed climate change actions threaten democracy and the environment. 🌎

Climate change is a serious crisis. We’ve waited too long to take action, and as result to make the changes recommended by scientists, it’s going to threaten both democracy and environment. The truth is an expedited action means cutting corners, emboldening bureaucrats, fostering corruption and damaging the environment through poorly reviewed and thought out projects.

That said, is it worthwhile to take climate action? Of course, we should. But we should be cautious, take reasonable steps after thoughtful review. Science has to be based on reality, not a projection of world we want to live on. We should take steps to reduce climate change emissions that are protective of environment and not harmful. It’s better to be slow and cautious, and if we don’t meet emissions targets, we don’t meet them. It’s better to save democracy and our environment, then meet a set emissions target.

A 50% Cut : NPR

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Biden Makes New Pledge For U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A 50% Cut : NPR

President Biden will begin a global summit on climate change Thursday morning by announcing that the United States will aim to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half, based on 2005 levels, by the end of the decade.

That aggressive 2030 goal, which the White House is framing as a "50-52 percent reduction," will be formalized in a document called a "nationally determined contribution," or NDC.

The NDC is a public commitment to address climate change made by each country that signed onto the 2015 Paris agreement, which the U.S. formally left last year at the behest of former President Donald Trump and reentered this year after Biden took office.