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davieG

Technology, Science and the Environment.

By davieG, in General Chat

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leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Clean energy, but...

 

China starts building world's largest dam, fuelling fears in India - BBC News

 

https://share.google/HWHMyoUbw51rSRD9x

Ah, and so the Kashmir with its abundance of the most important strategic resource of them all finally begins to enter the wider public world. 

 

Traditional nationalism cannot survive the fissioning of the atom. One world or none. - Stuart Chase

 

Put in "any significant dip in vital resources" instead of "the fissioning of the atom" there and you have what people, and governments, need to realise and are mostly still in denial about. 

Trav Le Bleu

Trav Le Bleu

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Ah, and so the Kashmir with its abundance of the most important strategic resource of them all finally begins to enter the wider public world. 

 

Traditional nationalism cannot survive the fissioning of the atom. One world or none. - Stuart Chase

 

Put in "any significant dip in vital resources" instead of "the fissioning of the atom" there and you have what people, and governments, need to realise and are mostly still in denial about. 

Geo-warfare?

leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, Dunge said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce379k4v3pwo
 

Happy to hear other views, but to me this looks like a stupid, stupid decision. All I see as a result of this is the more powerful or polluting countries pulling away from climate agreements and obligations.

Mixed feelings. 

 

On the one hand, it's likely that the only ones that will win from this are the lawyers, too the detriment of both the smaller nations and the future we all share. But on the other, there has to be a better enforcement mechanism to ensure that the self interested and nationalistic can't keep doing what they're doing, and the Paris Agreement doesn't do enough there, so what other existing mechanism is better than at least trying to hit them in the wallets? I honestly don't know. 

 

NB. Trump lackey with their usual ignorant jingoist rhetoric at the bottom there, I see. 

Trav Le Bleu

Trav Le Bleu

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Mixed feelings. 

 

On the one hand, it's likely that the only ones that will win from this are the lawyers, too the detriment of both the smaller nations and the future we all share. But on the other, there has to be a better enforcement mechanism to ensure that the self interested and nationalistic can't keep doing what they're doing, and the Paris Agreement doesn't do enough there, so what other existing mechanism is better than at least trying to hit them in the wallets? I honestly don't know. 

 

NB. Trump lackey with their usual ignorant jingoist rhetoric at the bottom there, I see. 

And how would you enforce such a thing? Economic sanctions? Political ostracism? Militarily? Would only make things worse.

 

The truth is that national boundaries and tribalism will ensure a world that never cooperates.

leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

And how would you enforce such a thing? Economic sanctions? Political ostracism? Militarily? Would only make things worse.

 

The truth is that national boundaries and tribalism will ensure a world that never cooperates.

Yeah, exactly, hence my thoughts that there is no good solution that exists right now. 

 

You're also spot on with the second paragraph, the only thing I have to add there is that on this matter it is already "one world or no world", the effects just aren't apparent enough yet to be clear and obvious to everyone who needs to know.

 

One day rather soon, they will be. And then people will have too make that choice. 

Trav Le Bleu

Trav Le Bleu

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Yeah, exactly, hence my thoughts that there is no good solution that exists right now. 

 

You're also spot on with the second paragraph, the only thing I have to add there is that on this matter it is already "one world or no world", the effects just aren't apparent enough yet to be clear and obvious to everyone who needs to know.

 

One day rather soon, they will be. And then people will have too make that choice. 

It made me think, how many festivals, etc, celebrate our differences.

 

How many celebrate how we're essentially all the same?

leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

It made me think, how many festivals, etc, celebrate our differences.

 

How many celebrate how we're essentially all the same?

Too few. 

 

"We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." - John F Kennedy

 

I just fear that sentiment will only be held as truly important by enough people when it's too late. 

 

Trav Le Bleu

Trav Le Bleu

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Too few. 

 

"We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." - John F Kennedy

 

I just fear that sentiment will only be held as truly important by enough people when it's too late. 

 

Standard humanity 

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leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0mlzz1gy39o

 

The Trump administration has announced a plan to scrap a landmark finding that greenhouse gases are harmful to the environment, severely curbing the federal government's ability to combat climate change.

Known as the "Endangerment Finding", the 2009 order from then-President Barack Obama allowed the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create rules to limit pollution by setting emissions standards.

The US is a major contributor to global climate change, and ranks second only to China which emits more planet-warming gases like carbon dioxide – and the US still emits more per person.

Experts have warned that the move could have a devastating impact on the environment.

President Donald Trump has long argued that climate regulations stifle US economic growth, and on his first day back in office in January ordered that the EPA submit recommendations "on the legality and continuing applicability" of the Endangerment Finding.

The Endangerment Finding stemmed from a 2007 Supreme Court case in which the court ruled that greenhouse gases are "air pollutants" - meaning that the EPA has the authority and responsibility to regulate them under the US Clean Air Act.

In 2009, the EPA made an official decision, the Endangerment Finding, which found that greenhouse gas emissions from sources such as cars, power plants and factories cause climate change and could pose a public health risk.

The decision forms the core of the federal government's authority to impose limits on carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases.

In a statement, the EPA said that, if finalised, the move will save Americans $54bn (£40bn) in costs annually through the repeal of greenhouse gas standards, including an electric vehicle mandate passed by the Biden administration.

Speaking in an episode of the conservative "Ruthless" podcast released on Tuesday, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said the move was "basically driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion".

Zeldin said that emissions standards were a "distraction" and that the policy change was "an economic issue". "Repealing it will be the largest deregulatory action in the history of America," he said.

In a previous statement on reconsidering the findings in March, Zeldin said that "the Trump Administration will not sacrifice national prosperity, energy security, and the freedom of our people for an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility, and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas."

The new draft rule from the EPA will now go undergo a public comment period before being subject to an interagency review.

If it is successful, the rule will immediately revoke rules governing tailpipe emissions from vehicles.

According to the EPA statement, the revocation of those standards will begin with those set in 2010 for light-duty vehicles, as well as those set in 2011 for medium and heavy-duty vehicles and engines.

The EPA's move is likely to face legal challenges, and some experts have questioned whether the administration's decision will make it through the courts at all.

But Richard Revesz, the former administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Biden administration and a law professor at New York University, told the Washington Post that the announcement will still have an impact on US climate change policies until a final decision is made in the court system.

"If the endangerment finding fell, it would call into question essentially all or almost all of EPA's regulation of greenhouse gases," he said.

Also among those to condemn the announcement was California Governor Gavin Newsom, who in a joint statement with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers accused the Trump administration of "reckless abandonment of science and the law."

"Americans deserve to know the truth from the federal government about the climate crisis," the statement said.

"No amount of buying research of firing scientists will change the facts: greenhouse gas pollution causes climate change and endangers our health and welfare - period," it added. 

 

 

..... what on Earth have we come to when the head of the organisation designed to protect the environment in the most powerful and influential nation on Earth clearly views the environment with such contempt?

 

One day, he and his will answer for the damage they have done. Or, if he's fortunate enough to expire before the reckoning, history will remember him and his. 

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WigstonWanderer

WigstonWanderer

Posted
Posted

Until the Trump era is over, the only hope we can have for the US to curb environmental damage of any sort (including CO2), is that the market takes a lead. Not all that hopeful of this, but even Texas is heavily into renewables, so maybe some room for optimism. Trump is a complete calamity and I suspect history will judge him harshly.

  • Like 2
Jon the Hat

Jon the Hat

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, WigstonWanderer said:

Until the Trump era is over, the only hope we can have for the US to curb environmental damage of any sort (including CO2), is that the market takes a lead. Not all that hopeful of this, but even Texas is heavily into renewables, so maybe some room for optimism. Trump is a complete calamity and I suspect history will judge him harshly.

That and some legal activism I think.

leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
19 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

That and some legal activism I think.

At least it might delay some of the worst stuff by tying it up in court until Felon#47 is no longer a factor. 

 

Of course, that's one reason why he's trying to influence the judiciary as much as he is.

Trav Le Bleu

Trav Le Bleu

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Right now, barring a joint mission, I'd give even money that the next words spoken on the Moon will be in Martian, not English. 

Fixed 

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leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgnm07zedro

 

A number of bioluminescent plankton have been spotted off the coast of Cornwall.

Bioluminescent plankton are small creatures floating in the sea that have the ability to emit light when disturbed by a predator or motion.

Visitors to Kynance Cove managed to catch a glimpse of the rare sight last weekend.

 

Life can be pretty incredible. 

 

(Though bioluminescent plankton tend to congregate mostly in tropical waters, so make of that what you will.)

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