Important facts about climate change
Posted Oct. 2, 2014 @ 4:50 pm
I winced at Tuesday’s letter from Robert Becker denying climate change. He wants freedom and debate, not suppression. OK! Let’s have at it.
Astonishingly, he says, “No global surface warming has been observed ...” Observe the polar ice cap.
Then Becker defends the Koch brothers. Along with “America’s Natural Gas Alliance,” Koch Industries use their millions in media ads (including underwriting public broadcasting) to seduce the viewer (“think about it”) and manipulate policy and laws in order to increase their profit, endangering you, me and our planet.
Becker likes these ads; they distress me.
It’s astounding that these corporations disregard the virtual unanimity among all the world’s scientists regarding the climate crisis, especially when we see the enormous effects of climate change everywhere.
Let’s get real. Climate change deniers are dangerous! “Think about” methane.
When we pass gas, 10 percent is methane. Methane contributes enormously to global warming. It’s much more potent than carbon dioxide. Cows and other animals produce methane, and manure produces a lot. We humans raise livestock. We’re responsible. So, what to do?
A few enterprising farmers capture the gas from manure. It’s a “natural gas.” Scheidairy Farms near Cedarville, produce electricity from methane using state-of-the-art anaerobic digestion systems. It’s still rare — capturing gas from manure and turning it into energy for profit.
Rock River Water Reclamation District does it using Rockford’s sewer waste. Bravo!
Why is this important? Tremendous amounts of methane are released by an industry that spends millions and millions of dollars telling us to “think about it,” saying they’re part of the climate change solution, lobbying congress, and confusing people like Mr. Becker.
The natural gas industry uses hydraulic fracturing — fracking. Think about it? Think again! The science is crystal clear.
Anthony R. Ingraffea, engineering professor at Cornell, says, “Over 20 years, emission of 1 ton of methane has the same climatic impact as the emission of 72 tons of carbon dioxide.” Got that? Seventy two times as much as CO2. (One source says methane is 86 times as potent as carbon dioxide; yet another estimates global warming potential of methane is up to 105 times more potent than carbon dioxide.)
Professor Ingraffea goes on, “As a longtime oil and gas engineer who helped develop shale fracking techniques for the Energy Department, I can assure you that [natural] gas is not ‘clean.’ Because of leaks of methane, the main component of natural gas, the gas extracted from shale deposits is not a ‘bridge’ to a renewable energy future — it’s a gangplank to more warming and away from clean energy investments.”
Page 2 of 2 - Who will pay for TV ads saying, think about that? It’s an orphan issue without a well-funded constituency. How can we overcome billionaires’ deceptive advertising?
Remember SAFE — Sinnissippi Alliance For the Environment? After unsuccessfully contesting the Byron reactors, SAFE dogged ComEd. Byron’s reactors became some of our nation’s safest.
Now another SAFE — “Southern Illinoisans against Fracturing Our Environment” — is working against irresponsible fracking. Thank you, SAFE!
We’re told new laws will require equipment to capture and separate the gases, liquids, and other substances that flow from new wells. Much includes resources with substantial market value: propane, butane, and liquefied natural gas. These so-called “Green Completions” will be mandatory for new wells beginning Jan. 1, 2015.
Another hopeful sign: CitizensClimateLobby.org quotes George Schultz: “It’s not a tax if the government doesn’t keep the money.” MIT’s ClimateCoLab.org describes “carbon fee and dividend.” A nonpartisan solution!
And yet, what about water used in fracking? Astronomical amounts, poisoned with secret “proprietary” toxic chemicals. Sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage. Ouch!
Read more: http://www.rrstar.com/article/20141002/Opinion/141009797#ixzz3F9NiAWU7
Read more: http://www.rrstar.com/article/20141002/Opinion/141009797#ixzz3F9NJSWMa
