Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSat) launched 2009

The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite or GOSat was launched by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) January 23, 2009.  It measures densities of carbon dioxide and methane from 56,000 locations in th eEarth's atmosphere. 

Sea level rise on Tybee Island, Georgia is reality, not politics

Two years ago, I posted about Mayor Jason Buelterman of Tybee Island, Georgia claiming he recognized the reality of climate change and rising sea levels despite being a Republican.  He made the remark in response to Trump and fellow GOP members who deny global warning and continue to do so after mountains of data have been compiled to demonstrate its inevitability.

Today, Tybee Island recognizes the threat and is taking steps to deal with rising sea levels.  High tides encroach upon the causeway that runs between the island and the mainland, causing trouble during commutes for those people who do not work on Tybee and emergency vehicles.  Additionally, flooding erodes beaches and causes stormwater sewers to overflow.  Recently, an analysis showed that Georgia properties have already lost about $15 million because of flooding and rising sea levels.  Who is going to buy a house that has been flooded three times in the last three years?

The island flooded in 2015, 2016 and 2017.  The last two years were due to Hurricanes Matthew and Irma respectively.  But in 2015 it was a king tide, which is an exceptionally high tide, and no hurricanes attached.

Buelterman and the island commissioned a plan to adapt to the sea level rise and now other coastal communities are using it to model their own plans.  The ocean has risen 9 inches in the past 80 years and projected to rise another 3 feet or more.  The stormwater sewers have been upgraded so they won’t flood with sea water.  Tybee Island is rebuilding the dunes on the beach to protect from storm surges.  Georgia Department of Transportation is repaving the causeway so it will not flood as often.

But the worst-case scenario is most of the island will be underwater by the end of this century.  Tybee Island residents, although optimistic, realize the inevitability of the sea level rise.  

“…nature is going to win…”

The environment is still screwed: Incoming TEPA Admin Wheeler will be just as bad as Pruitt

The Washington Post interviewed Andrew Wheeler, set to become the TEPA's administrator now that Pollutin' Pruitt is gone.  But are we better off now?

In the interview, Wheeler:

1. thanks Pruitt for his service (not a good thing),
2. will work to implement The Donald’s agenda (a very bad thing), 
3. says he was an aide to Jim Inhofe (may God help us all),
4. had the longest confirmation process for EPA deputy admin,
5. promises transparency (sound familiar?),
6. does not consider himself a scientist (being put in charge of a science-based organization),
7. claims the Science Advisory Board was “reconfigured”, not decimated,
8. says the Clean Power Plan was outside the “four corners” of the Clean Air Act,
9. was an industrial lobbyist

I'm not feeling it.  The environment is still screwed.  But we will continue to fight. 

Read WaPo's article here:

It is official: Scott Pruitt is no longer EPA Administrator!

The day we've been waiting for, ever since Pruitt was confirmed as head of Trump's EPA seventeen months ago, finally came to pass.  Thursday, July 5, Scott Pruitt resigned from the TEPA and The Donald accepted his resignation via Twitter (of course.)

The Donald promised many times during his campaign to 'drain the swamp' but brought his own brand of sewer rats, bottom feeders and sycophants to Washington.  When he proposed Pruitt to head the EPA, we all knew what was  going on.  The  Donald wanted to dismantle the EPA, something else he was very vocal about during his campaign.  Pruitt had sued the EPA fourteen times as Oklahoma's Attorney General, so it was obvious protecting the environment was not  on his agenda. 

He was confirmed easily and from Day 1 began rolling back protections for the nation's clean water.  Soon it was rolling back or  eliminating controls for clean air, clean soil and clean energy.  Despite all the data provided to show the climate is changing, Pruitt insisted it was a hoax and tried to remove all documents from EPA's website that showed research on climate change and global warming.

However, another battle may have just begun. Andrew Wheeler, EPA deputy administrator, is poised to move into Pruitt's throne and he's about as bad as Pruitt.




https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/07/05/scott-pruitt-removes-his-ethical-swamp-epa-editorials-debates/761701002/

Germany will not reach its climate goals in 2020, but that's not a failure!

ABC and just about every other news outlet on the planet is reporting that Germany will not meet its climate goals set for 2020.  According to the Paris Climate Agreement, Germany aimed to reduce its greenhouse emissions by 40% compared to 1990 levels.  It seems now they will only obtain a 32% reduction. 

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/germany-fail-2020-climate-goals-now-eyes-2030-55969967

Therefore, everyone's calling them a failure, they won't be able to be a leader in climate change, they're unable to take drastic steps. 

No, achieving 32% is still an improvement.  Period.

That's almost a third lower emissions, and that doesn't happen by accident.  Whatever Germany is doing works!  I think the failure in here is in over-estimating the results their programs would have. 

According to the German website dw.com, Germany is still ahead of the rest of the EU! 

http://www.dw.com/en/winners-and-losers-in-the-race-to-meet-the-paris-climate-goals/a-44277459

Keep doing what you're doing, Angela!  Don't stop!

Toxic algae threatens Toledo while Pruitt fiddles

Since 2010, the U.S. has seen at least 300 toxic algae blooms in its lakes and ponds, and Lake Erie has experienced some of the worst blooms ever observed. In 2014, a bloom poisoned the water supply for Toledo, OH, affecting 400,000 people. 

Last year, head of the Trump Environmental Pollution Agency Pruitt refused to declare Lake Erie "impaired" under the Clean Water Act.  According to U.S. News, the TEPA said they agreed with state regulators who said they were making progress, and recognized the efforts to reduce pollution feeding the algae.

In April 2017, Ohio EPA Administrator Craig Butler recognized that voluntary farming incentives, such as cutting phosphorus pollution by 40% from 2008 levels by 2025 were not working.

A year later, nothing has changed but once hypothesized, now proven, the growth in algae blooms are related to global warming, and they are only to get worse.  In March, a group of scientists from the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Sea Grant and the EPA released a study that concluded increased greenhouse gas emissions are directly responsible for the increase in blooms.  And as the algae blooms decay, they release more greenhouse gases, a vicious circle.

Furthermore, The Donald, who carried Ohio in the 2016 election, has proposed budget cuts that include cutting funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.  The program funds quality oversight, runoff mitigation and habitat preservation, among many other activities.

GOP Governor John Kasich recently declared "only parts" of Lake Erie as impaired, because the middle of the lake, for example, is not impaired.

Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz is not happy.  He claims that the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation holes too much influence on Ohio lawmakers, and Toledoans are paying the price.

Obviously, Pruitt is much too busy with this and that to care about Ohio.

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2017/06/21/government-report-says-great-lakes-in-bad-condition-lake-erie-worst-of-the-bunch

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2018/04/17/new-stricer-regulations-coming-for-ohio-farmers-as-kasich-declares-lake-erie-officially-impaired

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2018/05/16/scientists-say-lake-erie-toxic-algae-blooms-could-be-part-of-climate-change-loop

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/ohio/articles/2017-05-23/epa-rejects-declaring-lake-eries-waters-in-ohio-impaired

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2017/05/26/the-lake-erie-reckoning-is-here-federal-government-and-ohio-give-cold-shoulder-to-regional-water-supply

Mayors across North America sign Chicago Climate Change

Since the Donald and the TEPA have no interest in preserving our global environment, mayors from over 50 cities from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. signed a formal agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emission in their cities.  They met last week at a climate change summit in Chicago and pledged to meet goals simliar to those in the Paris Climate Agreement, from which the Donald withdrew the U.S. 

President Obama spoke to the assembly, discussing the rising global temperatures, rising sea levels, worsening storms and droughts as evidence of climate change. 

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel touted the absence of leadership in Washington, DC and said mayors are taking the reins to fill a leadership void created by The Donald.  The Chicago Climate Change commits cities to reducing carbon emission reduction targets by 2025.

Read the signed charter and signatures here.

Among those cities whose mayors signed:

Los Angeles
Washington, DC
San Francisco
Mexico City
Montreal
Vancouver
Pittsboro, North Carolina

Here is a complete list of cities that are working to reduce greenhouse gases.

The Donald's end to the "War on Coal" is failing, coming up against reality

The  Los Angeles Times posted a story yesterday about the communities in coal country are realizing The Donald's promises to end the "war on coal" are nothing but empty.  The Donald deluded himself and others into thinking that America's push to have cleaner and renewable sources of energy was an all-out battle to destroy the coal industry.

Whether or not coal country towns like Homer City, Pennsylvania believed The Donald and his campaign promises, they are finding out that that there is no war on coal, people are just, moving toward better options, like wind and natural gas.

Just two months ago, TEPA Administration Scott Pruitt claimed thousands of jobs had been created in coal mining, but reality showed a completely different story.

Read the story here:

The Donald has now declared a war on the environment although he does not see it as such.  But by rolling back protections preventing the pollution of our waters, air and soil, he has.  Although both The Donald and Pruitt deny the climage is changing, there is insurmountable data showing not only climate change, but global warming as well.  There is no data to disprove this, yet they insist on burying their heads in the sand.

Unfortunately, that does not leave places like Homer City with many options.  Read the story here:

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-coal-climate-201710-htmlstory.html 


View the video here:

Government scientists "leak" a climate change report before Trump can bury it

The New York Times received a draft of a report from government scientists providing data that we're feeling the effects of global warming right now.  The scientists made the draft public in fear that The Donald and his WH staff might try to bury it.

The report states:  “Evidence for a changing climate abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans,”

This contradicts...nay, it PROVES that The Donald's and Pruitt's "beliefs" do not hold up in the face of cold hard facts.  The current administration has long denied that global warming and climate changes exists.

They don't have proof.  They just don't believe it.  Disputing it does not mean it is wrong, fellas!

The NYT article addresses the authors citing thousands of studies by tens of thousands of scientists have documented climate changes.  I learned of global warming and the greenhouse effect in the late 1970's.

“Many lines of evidence demonstrate that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse (heat-trapping) gases, are primarily responsible for recent observed climate change,” the scientists wrote in their draft.

Pruitt said in March  “No, I would not agree that [carbon dioxide is] a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.”

Again, no proof, just a statement.  

The EPA and 12 other agencies have until August 18 to approve the report, but it's no small stretch of the imagination that Pruitt and The Donald will try to kill it.  Or edit it to leave out the global warming stuff.

Kinda like W. back in 2003,  when he ordered WH officials to edit a similar report by the EPA and deleted all the data on climate change.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/climate-change-report-draft-nyt_us_598907ece4b0a66b8bae1fc6?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=__TheMorningEmail__080817&utm_content=__TheMorningEmail__080817+CID_10ffcfa282b1476041611456cad67004&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=HuffPost&ncid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__080817
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/07/climate/climate-change-drastic-warming-trump.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/19/us/report-by-epa-leaves-out-data-on-climate-change.html

The Oklahoman Editorial Board: Science leads to dark paths!

We can always count on the Neanderthals on the Oklahoman Editorial Board to provide us with a good laugh every now and then.  An opinion published July 20 was titled: “In policy, debates, bowing to “science” can lead down dark paths.”

The opening sentence states that the use of “science” is an intellectually offensive tactic of some activists to stifle debate.  Reading through the opinion, the Oklahoman Editorial Board talks about how the eugenics, or ethnic cleansing, was declared a science by then associate surgeon general Dr. W. C. Rucker of the U.S. Public Health Service.  The article proceeds to demonstrate how this set a precedence for sterilization of inmates in prisons and mental asylum.  It was even perpetuated into the 1970’s when American Indian women were sterilized at an OKC federal facility.

Read this quote from the article:

“It took the Nazi Holocaust to discredit eugenics. Before then, critics were dismissed as backward, anti-science zealots.”

Leave it to the Oklahoma Editorial Board to say the Holocaust was good for something.  As typical, the OEB does not cite any references that one can follow to read more about these subjects.  What did Rucker show as his evidence to support his eugenics?  Did other doctors or scientists support his findings?  The article does not say.  It implies that once Rucker made his declaration, the rest of the country followed like mindless rats seduced to follow the Pied Piper.

Rather than give other examples of “science leading us to the Dark Side”, the OEB latches on to this one thread and doesn’t let go, as if feeling the need to beat it into our brains to make the point.  And all the examples are limited to Oklahoma.

The intro to the second to last paragraph is the most worrisome and chilling, that this board has a voice that is reaching out to the mindless rats:

“Science is one thing.  People’s interpretation of science is something else.”  Then, “policy proposals based on debatable interpretations of science should certainly be debated.” 

Didn’t they warn us at the beginning about debates with science? 

Although never specified in the article, one can read between the lines and see the inference to the present “debate” over global warming.  Never fans of science, Gov. Failing, Pruitt and other Republicans, in Oklahoma and nation-wide deny climate change and global warming vehemently.  They cling to their faith and beliefs and shun the evils of science. 

Scientists can be wrong, which is why we have peer reviews.  Nobody is ‘debating’ the issue of climate change, i.e. no one has presented data to show our climate is NOT changing.  NASA and NOAA have submitted decades of data that have been researched and reviewed by both sides of the debate and have reached one conclusion: Earth is warming up. 

The OEB has a point that one cannot take one person’s word as proof.  Yes, got it.  We went to a dark place then.  But that has changed.  We’re in the 21^st century now, guys.  People are watching each other like Orwellian Big Brothers.  It’s okay to be skeptical but not to be obstinate and suspicious.

http://newsok.com/in-policy-debates-bowing-to-science-can-lead-down-dark-paths/article/5556929

The EPA is no more.

In a move we all saw coming, The Donald has dismissed all remaining scientists from the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.  No surprise, since naming Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator, they've done nothing else but deny climate change and global warming, dispute valid scientific research (they don't "believe" in it) and laying off anyone with a brain.

The EPA undergoes change with each administration, but the Democratic presidents tend to put more focus and commitment to science.  During President Obama's administration, OSTP had nine scientists on staff, who dealt with policy issues such as STEM education, biotechnology and crisis response.  The OSTP had over 100 employees in all.

Earth is doomed.  Thanks, GOP.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/science-division-of-white-house-office-now-empty-as-last-staffers-depart/

Rick Perry is as stupid and greedy as Scott Pruitt and The Donald

The Donald's plan to gut the EPA, and roll back any regulation that protects our clean air and clean water is well on its way.  By appointing nay-sayers to the right positions, he can eliminate any and all barriers to his own oil and gas interests.  This was made clear when he appointed Scott Pruitt, a climate change denier with absolutely no experience in science, to head the EPA.  He also appointed ex-governor of Texas Rick Perry (a Bush flunkee) as Energy Secretary.

Like Pruitt, Perry is a global-warming denier and wasted no time in proving his ineptitude and plain ol' stupidness.  He said earlier this week he does not "believe" carbon dioxide from human activities is a main contributor to climate change.  As if he hadn't emphasized his lack of education enough, he went on to blame climate change on the oceans:

According to AP reporter Matthew Daly:

Asked on CNBC's "Squawk Box" whether carbon emissions are primarily responsible for climate change, Perry said no, adding that"most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in."

So the "good ol' boy" train rolls along.  We've known for a while that Pruitt has been on his knees among the oil and gas industries, but now we find out who's been hanging it out for him.  Or maybe Perry's on his knees, too.  Both of them have a reason to poison the environment:  to make more money!  

Just like The Donald!

Perry also said skepticism is a sign of being a "wise, intellectually engaged person."  That might be correct, Perry, but in your case, it's a sign of being a total moron.

http://newsok.com/article/feed/1275120

Trump's war on the environment ramps up

Not a good week for the environment.

The Donald surprised no one when he announced he would remove the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, in which almost every nation in the world has agreed to put policies into place that would help reduce global warming.  From the beginning, The Donald said he did not believe global warming was real, calling it a hoax created by China (which he later denied saying).  News clips showed him sitting at the conference without headphones, demonstrating he was not even interested in listening to the speakers.  Simply childish.

Last week, scientists published a report refuting Scott Pruitt's claim that warming had levelled off.  Of course, Pruitt offered no evidence corroborating his statement, but scientists have collected mountains of data proving he is wrong.  The day after Pruitt's irresponsible rambling, NASA reported a "pulse of melting ice" was so large it actually put a dent into Earth's crust. The study indicates that as the Artic continues to warm, pulses like this could occur more frequently, and earthquakes can be created by Greenland's glaciers calving.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/05/24/scientists-just-published-an-entire-study-refuting-scott-pruitt-on-climate-change/?utm_term=.324d8aa55b7c

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/05/25/so-much-water-pulsed-through-a-melting-glacier-that-it-warped-the-earths-crust/?utm_term=.56bc1452f52f

Pruitt's EPA to Ohio: F**k you!

The west end of Lake Erie on the Ohio side is experiencing an algae bloom and not for the first time.  In 2014, an outbreak of blooms contaiminated the tap water in Toledo for about 400,000 people.  The algae blankets the surface of the lake with ugly shades of green, which can last most of the summer.  Algae is toxic and is a health threat to people and wildlife.

And it is recurring more often since global temperatures are on the rise.  Algae reached record levels in 2015.  Ohio and Michigan have taken steps to reduce farm fertilizer runoff and municipal sewage overflows that feed the algae, but these measures have not been successful.

Last month, several environmental groups sued the EPA to make a decision and enforce tighter regulations for polluters.  Molly Flanagan, of the Alliance for the Great Lakes said "By any measure, western Lake Erie does not meet the Clean Water Act's standards of fishable, drinkable, and swimmable for significant portions of the year."

Monday, Pruitt's EPA said it would not declare Lake Erie's wasters "impaired".

A search of the EPA's website does not show any mention of the issue, but this shocks no one who has seen the direction the EPA has taken under Pruitt's administration.  Their silence on the matter is deafening.  One cannot imagine Pruitt taking any action against polluters, but it is no stretch of the imagination to think he ignored the science and data behind the studies.


https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/ohio/articles/2017-05-23/epa-rejects-declaring-lake-eries-waters-in-ohio-impaired
http://www.freep.com/story/news/columnists/2017/05/23/lake-erie-algae-ohio-epa/339448001/
http://www.cleveland19.com/story/35497783/epa-wont-declare-lake-eries-waters-in-ohio-impaired-by-toxic-algae
http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/EPA-rejects-declaring-Lake-Erie-s-waters-in-Ohio-11167144.php

Pruitt fires half the scientists on EPA's science review board

Continuing his neanderthal promises, Scott Pruitt once again has set the EPA backwards and putting our global environment in jeopardy.  Today, he informed 9 of 18 scientists who sit on EPA's science review board that their 3-year terms will not be renewed.  The email they received said something about carrying out a "competitive nomination process" to find new members, instead of re-instating incumbents.  It remains to be seen, but it is suspected that Pruitt will replace them with representatives from the energy industry.

CNN also just posted about 2 hours ago that The Donald is expected to pull the U.S. from the Paris Climate Deal this week, claiming it is unfair to the U.S.  These moves are expected to pave the way for more restrictions to be lifted from the oil and gas industry.




http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/08/politics/epa-scott-pruitt-board/

Emergency! Save Oklahoma from science!

The congress of babboons in power in Oklahoma - oops, I apologize for that reference.  Babboons are far more intelligent than those morons - have passed Bill No. 393, which allows "teachers to help students analyze certain scientific strengths and weaknesses".  The bill goes on to say that it wants to encourage students to "develop critical thinking skills and respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about controversial issues."

According to Doc Hoc, previous versions of this bill listed evolution and global warming as controversial.  Despite this watered down revision, it is a thinly disguised effort to weaken the importance of teaching science and scientific facts.  Teachers are to "help students understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught." (The emphasis is mine.)  Global warming and evolution aren't theories, folks.  They have been proven.

By dumbing down Oklahoma's education, which is in serious trouble anyway, industries and businesses will look elsewhere to find an educated workforce.  Oklahoma has a lower-than-national-average college graduation rate.

But Gov. Scary Failing will most likely sign this bill into law.

http://www.oklegislature.gov/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=SB393
https://okiefunk.com/content/controversies-do-not-exist

The Donald paves the way for the U.S. to become the world's biggest polluter

Yesterday, The Donald signed an executive order, telling the Environmental Protection Agency to reverse its course on the Clean Power Plan which President Obama put in place to reduce greenhouse gases from power plants.  According to the New York Times, The Donald said coal miners were going back to work.

This was part of The Donald's campaign promises but many say it is not going to work.  First of all, the demand for coal has been declining as (cheaper) natural gas and renewable energy sources are on the rise.  No energy company has plans to build new coal-burning plants, so The Donald's promises are just going to be hot air.  Like many of his other campaign "promises".  The move may save coal mining jobs from being eliminated, but not created.

The U.S. had signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 as part of a global effort to reduce carbon emissions and slow global warming.  The New York Times reports that the U.S. is the second biggest polluter in the world, so what will happen if The Donald takes us out of it?

The U.S. might become the world's biggest polluter!  Is that what The Donald meant by making America "great" again?


https://nyti.ms/2nJlxAt
https://nyti.ms/2nJlXqP

Pruitt doesn't "believe" carbon dioxide contributes to global warming

Scott Pruitt once again proves that he is not competent to head an agency that bases its actions on science.  Nor is he in any position to prove his outrageous claims, which can't be proven, because of the overwhelming evidence by scientists who know what they are doing.  Pruitt does not.

Pruitt stated that he does "not agree that [CO2] is a primary contributor to the global warming that we see."  So he admits there is global warming?  But where is the basis for his "belief"?  He choses to ignore what scientists have been tracking for over 100 years, with mountains of data to back their claims.

How do we impeach an EPA administrator?

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/09/519425866/epa-chief-scott-pruitt-questions-basic-facts-about-climate-change?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/epa-chief-scott-pruitt-says-carbon-dioxide-not-primary-contributor-n731141

Hey, Inhofe! Where's that snowball this month?

We all remember when Republican Senator Jim Inhofe threw a snowball on the floor of the Senate, February 15, 2015, to "demonstrate" there was no such thing as global warming and to argue against President Obama's initiatives to curb human-related climate change.

February 2017 will be one of the warmest on record in the Baltimore/Washington DC area with very little snowfall.

How will Inhofe ever explain that?

.

Our environment is doomed...Trump to cut environmental regulations

He says environmentalism is out of control and promises workers will still be protected.  However, he hasn't produced anything of substance of how this will be carried out.  This is part of his plan to boost manufacturing in America.  That might be a good thing but at the expense of our nation's health?

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/24/trump-tells-us-automakers-hell-cut-taxes-and-regulations-says-environmentalism-is-out-of-control.html