Tree Hugger Thread

[O Really]

Yeah, but anything that cuts down on loose cats can't be all bad.

[neoplacebo]

I thought this was pretty cool; Chinese wind turbine generates record amount of power during typhoon. This damn thing is huge. The story says that the tips of the blades on this thing nearly reach the speed of sound. Next week trump will lie about how many whales this thing has killed or driven batty.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/world-larges ... 00446.html

[Vrede too]

I thought this was pretty cool; Chinese wind turbine generates record amount of power during typhoon. This damn thing is huge. The story says that the tips of the blades on this thing nearly reach the speed of sound. Next week trump will lie about how many whales this thing has killed or driven batty.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/world-larges ... 00446.html

Wow, thanks.

... During Typhoon Haikui, the mammoth installation was able to generate 384.1 megawatt-hours of electricity in the span of a day, which would be enough to power around 170,000 homes, according to South China Morning Post....

Meanwhile,

South Carolina nuclear plant gets warning over another cracked emergency fuel pipe

About 200 miles from you, 110 miles from me, 80 miles from Whack9. Crap.

[neoplacebo]

I thought this was pretty cool; Chinese wind turbine generates record amount of power during typhoon. This damn thing is huge. The story says that the tips of the blades on this thing nearly reach the speed of sound. Next week trump will lie about how many whales this thing has killed or driven batty.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/world-larges ... 00446.html

Wow, thanks.

... During Typhoon Haikui, the mammoth installation was able to generate 384.1 megawatt-hours of electricity in the span of a day, which would be enough to power around 170,000 homes, according to South China Morning Post....

Meanwhile,

South Carolina nuclear plant gets warning over another cracked emergency fuel pipe

About 200 miles from you, 110 miles from me, 80 miles from Whack9. Crap.

Yeah, I had never heard of this giant wind turbine before seeing that story.

And maybe that nuclear plant in SC should switch to natural gas generators. In any case, I'm sure the specifications on the fuel piping for the generators are nowhere near as strict as the reactor piping. And my daughter and granddaughter live in Spartanburg. I guess we can just hope the electricity to the plant itself doesn't go out. Or that the diesel fuel doesn't turn to jelly from sitting in tanks for years.

[Vrede too]

Yeah, I had never heard of this giant wind turbine before seeing that story.

And maybe that nuclear plant in SC should switch to natural gas generators. In any case, I'm sure the specifications on the fuel piping for the generators are nowhere near as strict as the reactor piping. And my daughter and granddaughter live in Spartanburg. I guess we can just hope the electricity to the plant itself doesn't go out. Or that the diesel fuel doesn't turn to jelly from sitting in tanks for years.

It's unimaginable how many millions will be harmed by a SC nuclear plant "accident". GOgiant wind turbinesGO


Bureau Of Land Management Rules Off-Roading Is Ruining Moab, Permanently Closes 317 Miles Of Trails
"Almost every major trail west of Moab is closed."

Excellent

I've hiked in nearby Arches National Park (no ORV trails) and Canyonlands National Park (has ORV trails). We worried about the impacts that our footfalls and camping had on the fragile desert. ORVs are many many times worse

Good on the BLM. Now, close even more ORV trails.

Holy crap, Tracy Stone-Manning is BLM director.

... She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in radio, television, and film from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Master of Science in environmental studies from the University of Montana.

We were co-activists in Missoula. She was an Earth First spokesperson and was tree-spiking adjacent. Now, she's gone from ecoradical to woman-in-charge.




BLM feedback form:

Re:
Bureau Of Land Management Rules Off-Roading Is Ruining Moab, Permanently Closes 317 Miles Of Trails
"Almost every major trail west of Moab is closed."
https://jalopnik.com/bureau-of-land-man ... 1850963120

Amazing. THANK YOU!!! I'll hope that even more ORV trails are closed in the future, in Utah and elsewhere.

Also, Hi Tracy, we knew each other way back when in Missoula. I am SO proud of what you've achieved. Hi to Dick (husband), too.

Peace,
(Vrede Too)

partial cc: Utah State Office
blm_ut_so_public_room@blm.gov

Note the Montana-shaped pendant.

[Vrede too]

These men once relied on the Aral Sea. Today, the dry land is a reminder of lost livelihoods



Text and more heartbreaking pics at the link.

This article lists several causes. I read in the past that Soviet cotton was the biggest culprit.

[Vrede too]

A huge python built its lair in a trailer park and grew 13ft long eating the neighborhood cats

Yeah, but anything that cuts down on loose cats can't be all bad.

This is catastrophic, depressing, and very costly for CA and US taxpayers:

Their land is sinking. But Tulare Lake farm barons defy calls to cut groundwater pumping

[Vrede too]

Otoh,

Uber-wealthy couple makes unprecedented move with $300 million land: ‘To protect nature from being devoured’

... Kris Tompkins, a former CEO of Patagonia whose father was in the oil industry, and her late husband Doug Tompkins, one of the founders of The North Face Inc. and Esprit, spent over $345 million on land in South America that they then returned to the Chilean and Argentinian public, as Reasons to Be Cheerful has reported.

The Tompkins’ gifts to the governments of these two countries, completed in 2019, constituted the largest private land donation in history, as CBS News reported that year. In total, they created or significantly enlarged six national parks, conserving 14.7 million acres of land and 30 million marine acres, per Reasons to Be Cheerful. The land will remain protected for at least 99 years, according to the agreements with the governments.

However, in giving this land back to the public, Kris Tompkins realized that it was not enough to simply un-privatize the property — it was also crucial to safeguard the species that lived there. South American species, like species across the globe, are under threat from the effects of human-caused pollution.

“It’s not enough to protect the land. We have to bring back the species that have been missing,” Tompkins told Reasons to Be Cheerful. “Landscape without wildlife is just scenery. We consider the extinction crisis the mother of all crises that must be addressed. The entire ecosphere and its future depend on healthy, vibrant and rich biodiversity.”

Through the organization Tompkins Conservation, she began directing efforts to ensure the survival of several threatened species, such as the Huemul deer, and rewilding species, like the collared peccary, the Andean condor, Darwin’s Rhea, green and red macaws, tapirs, and giant anteaters. The effort marked the first time macaws or anteaters had ever been rewilded, according to Reasons to Be Cheerful.

Patagonia has been on the right side of history and the planet for decades, so I trust that this is being done responsibly.

[Vrede too]

We're screwed.

Why is it that everyone including wingnuts accepts that man created the ozone layer problem and effectively fixed it with massive international cooperation but man made climate change is bunk?

Probably involves too much sacrificing of their precious way of life?

An even more immediate problem:

Military investigators make disturbing discovery at O’Hare and Midway airports: ‘It’s there forever’

The foam used to extinguish fires at two Chicago airports has contaminated local groundwater with “forever chemicals” linked to major health concerns such as cancer.

What happened?

For years, Chicago and military firefighters used a firefighting foam known as AFFF, which contains toxic “forever chemicals” known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, Inside Climate News reported.

The foam was used by Chicago Fire Department stations at O’Hare and Midway airports, and ample supplies were kept on site. According to a 2020 Air Force report, multiple spills occurred in the 1990s.

Though the foam is being phased out, it already has contaminated groundwater beneath both airports. While an initial survey found that suburban drinking water wells within a mile of the airport were not immediately threatened, experts said the chemicals could be in the ground beneath homes and surrounding areas and in the sewer system.

“Once it gets into groundwater and [is] discharged, it’s there forever,” said Erik Olson, a senior strategist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, per Inside Climate News.

Why is PFAS contamination concerning?

This toxic firefighting foam has been used at airports and military bases for about half a century because of its ability to extinguish intense jet fuel fires. A Department of Defense report found that at least 455 military bases are contaminated with PFAS and that 275 out of 295 checked had released the chemicals “in the proximity” of drinking water supplies, as summarized by The Guardian....

PFAS are called forever chemicals because they can’t break down effectively in the environment and can build up in our bodies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found PFAS in the blood of 97% of Americans. This is bad news because it has been linked to cancers, liver damage, low birth weights, high cholesterol, and other health problems, as Inside Climate News noted....

What’s being done about PFAS contamination?

The DOD is leading a nationwide cleanup of PFAS and is examining the spread of chemicals in Chicago. U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, is pushing for the Chicago cleanup as well as alternatives to these toxic foams.

Plus, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul sued more than two dozen companies in early 2023 for making and selling the foam, Inside Climate News reported....

Wiki: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
Health and environmental effects
Corporate and federal government suppression of information, including by TRE45QN in 2018

[Vrede too]

10 years after lead poisoning, Flint residents still haven't been paid from $626.25M fund



Governors of Michigan
R until 2019
D since 2019

[Vrede too]

Meanwhile,
MAGA Kansas AG Attacks Biden for Wanting To Replace Lead Pipes
Kris W. Kobach is on a crusade to prevent clean drinking water in his state

Readers added context they thought people might want to know

In addition to the known harm of lead exposure, especially to children, Mr. Kobach is incorrect when he states the mandate is unfunded. In fact, the BIPARTISAN Infrastructure Law Joe Biden signed into law in Nov 2021 provides $15B toward lead service line replacement projects.
https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-dr ... eplacement

Secretary Pete Buttigieg
@SecretaryPete

The benefit of *not being lead poisoned* is not speculative. It is enormous.

And because lead poisoning leads to irreversible cognitive harm, massive economic loss, and even higher crime rates, this work represents one of the best returns on public investment ever observed.

... President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocates $50 billion for states to replace lead pipes to make sure their citizens have access to clean drinking water. Biden threw shade Thursday night at Republican lawmakers who took credit for infrastructure funds coming to their districts as a result of the Infrastructure Law that they voted against .

"If any of you don't want that money in your district, just let me know," Biden quipped to the Republican side of the House chamber during the State of the Union.

[Vrede too]

Salisbury Beach in northern Massachusetts:

Beach Town Residents Paid $600,000 for Sand. Much of It Was Washed Away.

Opps.

[Vrede too]

Company behind Pebble Mine project sues over EPA rejection
The company behind the controversial Alaskan Pebble Mine project sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Friday for blocking the project last year.

The mine would be a disaster. GoEPAGo!

[Vrede too]

Massive industrial tragedy, criminal:

Victims of Montana asbestos pollution that killed hundreds (and sickened thousands) take Warren Buffett's railroad to court

[Vrede too]

Biden administration issues billion-dollar loan for reactivation of nuclear power plant ...

A nuclear power plant that was closed less than two years ago is on the comeback trail on the heels of a $1.5 billion loan from the Biden administration.

.... It is located in Covert Township, Michigan.

Bloomberg added that "there's a growing sense among officials in the industry and government that it may not be the last," calling an industry renaissance "once unthinkable."

... "Nuclear power is our single largest source of carbon-free electricity, directly supporting 100,000 jobs across the country and hundreds of thousands more indirectly," Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement.

There is NOTHING "carbon-free" about mining, milling, construction, mega-security, decommissioning and the rare major "accident" that devastates whole regions. Then, we can't even calculate the carbon footprint of disposal and hundreds of years of monitoring of the waste that we have no solution for yet. Nuke fans ALWAYS lie about this.

The Times noted that there are nearly 100 nuclear power plants in the U.S. but pointed to the cost and time associated with construction as roadblocks to new units; Bloomberg cited radioactive waste. The paper reported that two of the country's newest nuclear power plants, in Georgia, took more than 10 years to build and cost $35 billion.

There are reasons that Wall Street shuns nukes. They're incapable of competing in the energy marketplace and are only possible with massive government subsidies

... The Times pointed out that Democrats and Republicans alike are on board, offering incentives and subsidies to spur development and give new life to old facilities....

[Vrede too]

Judge orders railway (BNSF) to pay Washington (Swinomish) tribe nearly $400 million for trespassing with oil trains

[O Really]

Judge orders railway (BNSF) to pay Washington (Swinomish) tribe nearly $400 million for trespassing with oil trains

That's close to where we stay when we're in Anacortes. The Swinomish tribe isn't really very large, and they aren't a poor tribe. They've got a very nice casino/resort (of course they do), along with stores, gas stations, golf course, marina, eco-excursions, etc. But $400 mill (if they ever get much of it) could make a generational difference for the tribe.

[Vrede too]

That's close to where we stay when we're in Anacortes. The Swinomish tribe isn't really very large, and they aren't a poor tribe. They've got a very nice casino/resort (of course they do), along with stores, gas stations, golf course, marina, eco-excursions, etc. But $400 mill (if they ever get much of it) could make a generational difference for the tribe.

$400 mill/1,439 enrolled members = $277,971 each, though most of the money would likely go to tribal projects rather than individual disbursements.

[Vrede too]

The Cult is a literal threat to humanity and the planet:

‘It’s nonsensical’: how Trump is making climate the latest culture war
The ex-president is ranting about low water pressure and attacking mundane rules and technologies – and Republicans in Congress are now following his lead

[Vrede too]

...

With sewage gushing into sea, US and Mexican border towns plead for help

Each day, millions of gallons of sewage cascade through a canyon and into the Pacific Ocean just south of the U.S.-Mexican border. As any surfer in San Diego knows, summer swells that come from the south will push the toxic brew north.

Meanwhile, millions more gallons of treated and untreated sewage trickle down the Tijuana River and into the sea just north of the border.

When the wind and currents conspire, the odor of fecal bacteria fouls the otherwise quaint San Diego County town of Imperial Beach, where Mayor Paloma Aguirre calls the discharges "the biggest environmental and public health disaster in the nation that nobody knows of."...

Sorry.