Bill, you should aim to write more pieces like this. Everyone on the planet should be reading the good news about the progress that we are making to reduce fossil fuel use and save our beloved Earth.
I know it sounds good, but you do realize they’re insulting tokens right? I mean there are two prerequisite absolutes, they just aren’t happening.
STOP the extraction of fossil fuels
Sequester at least two500,000,000,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere
Some thing I think would be a cheap easy great idea would be to pulverize glacial rock into the smallest particle we possibly can and aerosol it as high into the atmosphere as feasible. Not only does it block a bit of sunlight but it will help reverse the acidification of both land and Sea. The soils of the world need minerals and the oceans need alkalinity.
Hudson, you are correct that ending extraction of fossil fuels now is absolutely necessary. I live in Pennsylvania where the public speaking at the ARCH2 and MACH2 listening sessions agreed that they don't want these hydrogen hubs built because that will perpetuate the extraction of fossil gas, to say nothing of all the radioactive toxic waste from the Marcellus and Utica shale. A worker speaking at MACH2 asked if the blue hydrogen production planned outside of MACH2, would follow the same rules as those industries in MACH2. These sessions are posted on the OCED website. I don't want my taxes to pay for this industrial expansion. Extraction and use of fossil gas makes people sick. There is more evidence for the harms to health everyday. Go to the Physicians for Social Responsibility website to see their Compendium on thhis topic.
What a pleasure to read on Earth Day. I've always believed that incremental leads to exponential and that applies to both the destruction and repair of our amazing planet. Progress is hard to see and seems inordinately slow when compared to the speed at which things are breaking down. But articles like this do offer hope. And there's never been a more critical time for that. Thank you Bill.
Thanks for the good news. The tribute to science and ingenuity, to build better and use what we have in the best ways, can renew hope for humanity and all the rest here on Planet Earth.
Thank you, Mr. McKibben you are a gift to the world and your wise words and good humour inspire and give me hope. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m just one old grandma now, but I was inthe first movements with Green peace and I will be at the last one I can.
Thank you, Bill, for this amazing positive piece on what we can do on this Earth 🌎 Day 2024. Seems we should get our whatsits in gear and move on from political noise. I believe the election will be won by Biden and he needs support from environmentalists everywhere to get more things done against the tide he inherited.
Regarding your comments on "excess" solar collection in California, why not encourage companies to provide L2 chargers (or just 240V outlets) for employees who own EV's. The employees could charge their EV's up fully during the abundant solar mid day, then drive home, plug in, and feed back to the grid during the late day demand peak. They need only preserve enough battery charge to make it back to work the following day.
This presumes V2G capabilities a bit ahead of facts on the ground at present, but this seems to me like an overlooked possibility for time-shifting the contribution of solar electricity to better sync up with our usage patterns.
Great BBS video, Mr McKibben, two things: You would be well advised to learn to pronounce Greta Thunberg's name. Go to her first interview with Amy Goodman, just after she (literally) sailed across the Atlantic, when Amy asked her repeatedly to pronounce it properly. And second, damn, that is a lot of hair. Thank you, sir. Great work.
Great post, Bill. I enjoyed the two video clips too, thank you. You are correct no matter what our age we can still help move things forward. I now live in a senior apartment with my cat. But the home I sold prior to moving here was equipped with both solar electric (voltaic) and solar hot water. I had it installed in 2011. While I had to pay for them and still paid my utility company monthly, it was worth every penny to me to know I was at least trying to lower my carbon foot print. I also drove a hybrid vehicle until I stopped driving in 2017. In 2013 I drove from Sacramento California to Washington DC (for a job) on $52 dollars worth of gas (average cost about 2.50 per gallon. Used a little more ($73) returning home in 2015. Small ways indeed, but if everyone did the same we'd soon put the fossil fuels industry out of business, After all the government (if we remain a democracy) cannot force us to buy petroleum.
Thanks for your positive feedback. So I'll go on to the next problem, CO2. The only site at which DAR works is in Iceland, where the poweer comes directly from geothermal and the CO2 is pumped into ground next to basalt, where in a short time it is mineralized. CO2 pumped into the ground around ARCH2 will take hundreds of years to become solid. Read the June 2023 report from IEEFA on the failures that Equinor (a partner in TeamPA) experienced with CCS under the North Sea and in Algeria. The only thing predictable about supercritical CO2 in sedimentary rock pores is that it will always rise towards the surface, expand rapidly and dilute oxygen to lethal levels. Who is monitoring the strength of the cap rock and providing alternative exits for hundreds of years? The state of PA doesn't even get yearly reports from the oil industry, how will the same office mandate necessary monitoring of CO2 squestration wells.
Bill, you should aim to write more pieces like this. Everyone on the planet should be reading the good news about the progress that we are making to reduce fossil fuel use and save our beloved Earth.
I know it sounds good, but you do realize they’re insulting tokens right? I mean there are two prerequisite absolutes, they just aren’t happening.
STOP the extraction of fossil fuels
Sequester at least two500,000,000,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere
Some thing I think would be a cheap easy great idea would be to pulverize glacial rock into the smallest particle we possibly can and aerosol it as high into the atmosphere as feasible. Not only does it block a bit of sunlight but it will help reverse the acidification of both land and Sea. The soils of the world need minerals and the oceans need alkalinity.
Hudson, you are correct that ending extraction of fossil fuels now is absolutely necessary. I live in Pennsylvania where the public speaking at the ARCH2 and MACH2 listening sessions agreed that they don't want these hydrogen hubs built because that will perpetuate the extraction of fossil gas, to say nothing of all the radioactive toxic waste from the Marcellus and Utica shale. A worker speaking at MACH2 asked if the blue hydrogen production planned outside of MACH2, would follow the same rules as those industries in MACH2. These sessions are posted on the OCED website. I don't want my taxes to pay for this industrial expansion. Extraction and use of fossil gas makes people sick. There is more evidence for the harms to health everyday. Go to the Physicians for Social Responsibility website to see their Compendium on thhis topic.
What a pleasure to read on Earth Day. I've always believed that incremental leads to exponential and that applies to both the destruction and repair of our amazing planet. Progress is hard to see and seems inordinately slow when compared to the speed at which things are breaking down. But articles like this do offer hope. And there's never been a more critical time for that. Thank you Bill.
Gosh, who would have thought that reading about batteries slow cooking into black goo could actually bring me to tears of hope??
Happy Earth Day, Bill, and thanks for all you do.
Thank you. It is a relief to finally hear any good news coming out of America. Today only I feel hopeful.
Thanks for the good news. The tribute to science and ingenuity, to build better and use what we have in the best ways, can renew hope for humanity and all the rest here on Planet Earth.
Thank you for this positive response to Earth Day. I needed the good news.
Thank you, Mr. McKibben you are a gift to the world and your wise words and good humour inspire and give me hope. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m just one old grandma now, but I was inthe first movements with Green peace and I will be at the last one I can.
Smoking Hempcrete
Thank you, Bill, for this amazing positive piece on what we can do on this Earth 🌎 Day 2024. Seems we should get our whatsits in gear and move on from political noise. I believe the election will be won by Biden and he needs support from environmentalists everywhere to get more things done against the tide he inherited.
Regarding your comments on "excess" solar collection in California, why not encourage companies to provide L2 chargers (or just 240V outlets) for employees who own EV's. The employees could charge their EV's up fully during the abundant solar mid day, then drive home, plug in, and feed back to the grid during the late day demand peak. They need only preserve enough battery charge to make it back to work the following day.
This presumes V2G capabilities a bit ahead of facts on the ground at present, but this seems to me like an overlooked possibility for time-shifting the contribution of solar electricity to better sync up with our usage patterns.
Great BBS video, Mr McKibben, two things: You would be well advised to learn to pronounce Greta Thunberg's name. Go to her first interview with Amy Goodman, just after she (literally) sailed across the Atlantic, when Amy asked her repeatedly to pronounce it properly. And second, damn, that is a lot of hair. Thank you, sir. Great work.
Great post, Bill. I enjoyed the two video clips too, thank you. You are correct no matter what our age we can still help move things forward. I now live in a senior apartment with my cat. But the home I sold prior to moving here was equipped with both solar electric (voltaic) and solar hot water. I had it installed in 2011. While I had to pay for them and still paid my utility company monthly, it was worth every penny to me to know I was at least trying to lower my carbon foot print. I also drove a hybrid vehicle until I stopped driving in 2017. In 2013 I drove from Sacramento California to Washington DC (for a job) on $52 dollars worth of gas (average cost about 2.50 per gallon. Used a little more ($73) returning home in 2015. Small ways indeed, but if everyone did the same we'd soon put the fossil fuels industry out of business, After all the government (if we remain a democracy) cannot force us to buy petroleum.
Thank you, Bill! So good to read all this encouraging news. Very uplifting!
Thanks for your positive feedback. So I'll go on to the next problem, CO2. The only site at which DAR works is in Iceland, where the poweer comes directly from geothermal and the CO2 is pumped into ground next to basalt, where in a short time it is mineralized. CO2 pumped into the ground around ARCH2 will take hundreds of years to become solid. Read the June 2023 report from IEEFA on the failures that Equinor (a partner in TeamPA) experienced with CCS under the North Sea and in Algeria. The only thing predictable about supercritical CO2 in sedimentary rock pores is that it will always rise towards the surface, expand rapidly and dilute oxygen to lethal levels. Who is monitoring the strength of the cap rock and providing alternative exits for hundreds of years? The state of PA doesn't even get yearly reports from the oil industry, how will the same office mandate necessary monitoring of CO2 squestration wells.
Thanks for the uplifting news on Earth Day, Bill!