Climate Change

My Reaction to Eleanore Stein’s Climate Change Action Forum

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My Reaction to Eleanore Stein’s Climate Change Action Forum

More information about this recent forum hosted at the Bethlehem Town Hall: https://www.facebook.com/events/570155523322488/

Climate change is a serious problem but I reject undermining environmental laws, 📚threatening endangered species and paving over farm land, wildlife habitat and destroying our public lands to address mitigate it. 🌲🌳 Protecting the environment from badly thought out renewable and fossil energy projects is important.

I oppose solar farms on farm land and forests but I support solar panels on existing roof tops such as homes and business. If it’s already developed, there is no harm on strapping a slab of silicon on the roof.🏠 Wind turbines on farms make a lot of sense as they provide additional revenue to farms and are less disturbing to wildlife. Wind turbines take up some land and cast shadows but their impact is relatively small.🚜🐮 Obviously they are not appropriate in areas with good quality muck soils.

I reject the attacks by activist Eleanore Stein and certain politicians on our environmental laws and local control.⚖🏘 While it’s important we continue to invest in increasing our supply of renewable energy, it should not come as a cost to our quality of life or to the environment.🌇

Climate change is a serious threat to our environment and quality of life but so are renewable energy projects if it’s not installed in an environmentally sensitive manner. 🏭🏭🏭 Some in the environmental community will claim that the ends of unmitigated climate change will justify the means but they are wrong and must be repudiated firmly.😡

Solar

Field and Swamp

Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

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Scientists In Alaska Find Mammoth Amounts Of Carbon In The Warming Permafrost

"A short drive north of Fairbanks, there's a red shed stuck right up against a hillside. On the surface, the shed looks unremarkable, except for the shed's door. It looks like a door to a walk-in freezer, with thick insulation and a heavy latch. Whatever is behind that door needs to stay very cold. "Are you ready to go inside?" asks Thomas Douglas, a geochemist at the U.S. Army. Behind the door is a geological time bomb, scientists say. No one knows exactly how big the bomb is. It may even be a dud that barely detonates. But the fallout could be so large that it's felt all around the world. Now there's evidence that, in the past few years, the bomb's timer has started ticking."

Ski Dubai

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Ski Dubai

I wonder how long it will be before New York gets it's first indoor ski-resort, or at least until in-state ski resorts start adding chiller lines on their ski slopes, in an effort to preserve the snow as the winters continue to get warmer and less able to keep even man-made snow on their slopes for any length of time. Figuring that outside of Adirondacks, Tug Hill, and maybe a few places in Erie and Cattaragus County, the snowmobile trails are basically permanently closed on an ongoing basis, I could see a future where the state is spending millions to help ski resorts build large chiller plants and lay out chiller lines on slopes, to keep the snow in decent shape for ski resorts, as the regular winter thaws that are becoming more common.

What Will It Really Take to Avoid Collapse?

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What Will It Really Take to Avoid Collapse?

For a moment, the most important news in the entire world flashed across the media like a shooting star in the night sky. Then it was gone. Last month, more than 15,000 scientists from 184 countries issued a dire warning to humanity. Because of our overconsumption of the world's resources, they declared, we are facing "widespread misery and catastrophic biodiversity loss." They warned that time is running out: "Soon it will be too late to shift course away from our failing trajectory."

Tax Bill to Preserve Critical Credits for Wind, Solar and Electric Vehicles

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Tax Bill to Preserve Critical Credits for Wind, Solar and Electric Vehicles

"The booming renewable energy industry is breathing a wary sigh of relief as Congress prepares to vote this week on a sweeping tax bill that preserves critical tax credits for wind energy, solar power and electric vehicles."

"As lawmakers were working over the past week to resolve issues between the House and Senate versions of the bill, the clean energy industry kept a keen eye out for details of the legislation, including provisions in the House bill that would have weakened or eliminated the tax credits for renewables."

"By rejecting that approach, Republicans sent a message that they won't back attempts to kneecap ongoing growth in renewables, despite pressure from the oil and gas industry to scale back incentives for clean energy. The credits have stoked growth in wind and solar, which for the first time this year provided 10 percent of the country's electricity, while jobs in clean energy are among the fastest growing in the country."