Month: September 2022

Climate Denial, Racism and Misogyny

“Governor Tate Reeves and 15 other governors have joined together to oppose new rules proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would “compel publicly traded companies to make detailed disclosures about climate-change risks and greenhouse gas emissions.” – Supertalk Mississippi Media

Above Mississippi Governor Tate “Tater” Reeves holds a press conference about the water emergency in Jackson MS with the notable absence of Jackson’s Black, Democratic Mayor.

I’ve written a lot about the not-so-coincidental cross links between climate denial and racism.
There’s another thread, misogyny, that is also not-so-coincidentally linked.

President Biden has declared a disaster in Jackson, Mississippi, with the failure of water infrastructure in the predominantly black city of 150,000, the state’s capitol, following catastrophic rains in recent weeks, on top of decades of neglect by mostly-white state lawmakers.
Obviously, as this summer’s events, globally, show how economic, trade, utility, and civil infrastructure is going to be challenged in a changing climate, issues of justice, unfortunately, are still very much with us.

Also this week, one of the internet’s leading purveyors of climate misinformation (yeah, an old white guy) went viral with a vile rant against women and women’s rights broadly. The thrice married (sigh) Dennis Prager, founder of “Prager University”, a suite of web sites and videos that prominently pushes slick and aggressively dumb climate denial broadsides, is apparently fearful of how educated and accomplished women are changing society – because of course he is.

Dennis Prager for Creators Syndicate:

Just as the male sexual drive and violent impulses can overwhelm their conscience and their ability to think and act rationally, emotions can do the same thing in girls and women: overwhelm their conscience and their ability to think and act rationally.

However, it should be obvious that at least two generations of parents — especially among the well-educated — did not teach many of their daughters to control their emotions and think rationally.

The result is that women are disproportionately active in doing damage to our society.

Continue reading “Climate Denial, Racism and Misogyny”

Geothermal’s Methane Challenge

Geothermal energy is a wild card, and potential game changing technology in the coming decade – as advanced drilling techniques pioneered by the fracking industry make possible wells at a depth unthought of 20 years ago.

But Geothermal has a challenge in that any drilling thru deep layers can often encounter methane bearing rock, and while technologies to avoid releases are available, they must be conscientiously applied.

Tony Ingraffea PhD is the Dwight C. Baum Professor of Engineering Emeritus and a Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow at Cornell University.

I’ve been talking to a lot of methane experts lately, covering not just the Arctic, but planet wide. It’s a huge topic, but look for more Yale Climate Connections videos on this in coming weeks.

Robert Howarth PhD: Degassify Our Cities

Harvard School of Public Health:

Every day, millions of Americans rely on natural gas to power appliances such as kitchen stoves, furnaces, and water heaters, but until now very little data existed on the chemical makeup of the gas once it reaches consumers.

A new study finds that natural gas used in homes throughout the Greater Boston area contains varying levels of volatile organic chemicals that when leaked are known to be toxic, linked to cancer, and can form secondary health-damaging pollutants such as particulate matter and ozone. The research by the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, PSE Healthy Energy, Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), Gas Safety Inc., Boston University, and Home Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) was published in Environmental Science & Technology.

“It is well-established that natural gas is a major source of methane that’s driving climate change,” said Drew Michanowicz, Visiting Scientist at Harvard Chan C-CHANGE and Senior Scientist at PSE Healthy Energy.“But most people haven’t really considered that our homes are where the pipeline ends and that when natural gas leaks it can contain health-damaging air pollutants in addition to climate pollutants.”

Researchers conducted a hazard identification study, which evaluated whether air pollutants are present in unburned natural gas, but did not evaluate human exposure to those pollutants. Between December 2019 and May 2021, researchers collected over 200 unburned natural gas samples from 69 unique kitchen stoves and building pipelines across Greater Boston. From these samples, researchers detected 296 unique chemical compounds, 21 of which are federally designated as hazardous air pollutants. They also measured the concentration of odorants in consumer-grade natural gas – the chemicals that give gas its characteristic smell – and found that leaks containing about 20 parts per million methane may not have enough odorant for people to detect them. The samples were taken from the territories of Eversource Gas, National Grid, and the former Columbia Gas, who together provide service to 93% of Massachusetts gas customers.