Sunday, March 19, 2017

The word out of Alaska, is man-up and stop passing the climate buck to the kids!

News-Miner Community Perspective:

March 18, 2017
By Phillip Martin

Photo Plate. (click here) Series of photographs of the terminus of Portage Glacier. 1914 and 1939 taken from Turnagain Shoulder NW to SE view; 1972 and 1984 oblique aerial view NW to SE; 1999 and 2006 oblique aerial view NE to SW toward Portage Glacier. Photo credits: 1914, Strough 1939, Barnes 1943, Plate 17B; 1972, USGS photograph; 1984, Aeromap U.S.; 1999 and 2006, USGS photographs.

When I began gardening in Fairbanks in the 1980s, (click here) killing frosts commonly occurred in August. But in recent years, I have been able to harvest well into mid-September. Climatologists tell us that Alaska is warming at twice the global average rate, and gardeners are not the only ones who have noticed. Native elders observe that natural seasonal patterns that have guided subsistence practices for centuries are no longer reliable. Glaciers popular with sightseers (Columbia, Mendenhall and Portage, for example) have receded far from their former scenic viewpoints. Seeing is believing, and perhaps that is why most Alaska residents accept climate warming as fact....

...What is perfectly clear, however, is a history of congressional inaction on the issue of climate change, and our delegation has been complicit. With so much at stake for Alaska, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young should instead be outspoken leaders in a political alliance for sensible climate policies. These include:

• a robust multi-agency climate science program to better define risks and probable trajectories of environmental change, including a focus on arctic systems;

• vigorous support for adherence to the 2016 Paris Climate Treaty, our best opportunity to influence actions by other nations which affect us significantly; and

• strong incentives for development and adoption of energy conservation and renewable energy technologies that will reduce global carbon emissions, create new jobs and lower the staggering energy costs that currently afflict our communities and families.

We are at a critical political juncture, with Washington. D.C., politicians charting a course that threatens our economy and natural resources. Doing nothing is not without cost. It is time for Alaska’s political leaders to stop passing the buck to our children and grandchildren.

Future changes of the terminus of Portage Glacier will depend on a variety of factors. However, present scientific theory (Meier and Post, 1987, Trabant and others, 2003) suggests that calving glaciers cycle between advance and retreat patterns; with rapid retreats, followed by stable retracted positions, slow advances, and then stable extended positions that are not directly related to climate change. Thus, based on its history to date, and if such a pattern holds for Portage Glacier, the glacier may now be in its stable retracted position and could eventually begin a slow advance. However, for a glacier to advance, annual net balance—the amount of new snow and ice added to the glacier minus the amount of glacier melt—must be positive. As a rule of thumb for valley glaciers, net balance is positive when annual snow and ice accumulation occurs over more than 60–70 percent of the entire glacier area. Such accumulation occurs on the glacier above the end-of-summer snow-line altitude, recently measured by USGS at 1,000 meters in altitude. Only 50 percent (not the rule-of-thumb 60–70 percent) of Portage Glacier is more than 1,000 meters in altitude, thus, Portage Glacier may slowly thin and recede rather than experience a slow advance.

It is called the climate crisis. It is real and it is happening. Earth needs it's ice to mitigate climate and keep Earth cool. 

In industry and government President Obama saw the final stage take place of Green Chemistry.

November 29, 2016
By Sam Lemonick

In May Congress (click here) amended the Toxic Substances Control Act, a 40-year old law intended to ensure the safety of the growing array of new chemicals being created, like dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). The original law was written with an eye toward balancing the EPA’s regulatory responsibilities against the financial interests of the chemical industry.

Over time it became clear that the law didn’t give the EPA sufficient power to protect Americans. The amended law, which had broad support, directs the EPA to be more proactive, judging chemicals’ potential for harm before they reach the market. It also requires the EPA to start reviewing substances already out in the world, asking for a list of 10 chemicals thought to be most harmful by mid-December.

The agency turned its work in early, releasing that list today. It now has three years to evaluate their risks. If the EPA decides any pose an unreasonable threat to human health or the environment, it has two years to do something about it, like banning the chemical....

The EPA is doing vital work and must complete their findings to submit to Congress.

...How People Are Exposed to DDT (click here)
C14 H9 Cl5
It isn't so much the carbons and the carbon rings that are the problem, it is the single Hydrogen and the chlorine that interact with the body. You know choline. NACL. NaCl. Sodium Chloride. Chlorine is highly reactive. Chlorine gas killed many in Syria. (click here) It is highly reactive.
People are most likely to be exposed to DDT from foods, including meat, fish, and dairy products. DDT can be absorbed by eating, breathing, or touching products contaminated with DDT. In the body, DDT is converted into several breakdown products called metabolites, including the metabolite dichlorodiphenyldichloroethene (DDE). DDT and DDE are stored in the body’s fatty tissues. In pregnant women, DDT and DDE can be passed to the fetus. Both chemicals are found in breast milk, resulting in exposure to nursing infants....

This shows the growth of the understanding of halocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride .

It is rather incredible to think about. The entire world came together in peace to protect their common home. We all came to conclusions based in scientific principles that have been developed over decades, centuries and millennia of time.

It was one of the greatest times in modern history. Earth's ozone holes brought all of us together in one effort and it works. It has to continue to work and the gases that place all of us in danger, even if it is only skin cancer that is the result. The Ozone Layer is very important and crops need it for protection as well as people. All living things, including animals and wildlife, need the protection of O3. Three atoms of oxygen. Amazing. 





This cartoon was in a Chinese publication. The Chinese people do hold their government responsible for pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.


USA's major pollutants

These are the gases the USA is polluting to this day. President Obama did a heck of a job clamping down on CO2. That is impressive. He definitely is the environmental President. This graph only goes to 2012.

Don't think the USA can let up, as Trump "believes," on reducing and eliminating gas pollution. It cannot. Let's just say it is important CONTAINMENT is in place. The country is doing well and it should continue to do so.

Just because the gases at the bottom of the graph seem insignificant, they are very significant. They have high CO2 equivalents. So, if the graph reflected the CO2 equivalent of those gases it would be far more revealing danger the USA introduces to Earth everyday. This graph simply reflects the amounts of the gases and not the danger of them.


Slowing the growth of Greenhouse Gases is no longer a viable solution. At this point, the emissions have to reverse any upward trend.

  • In 2011, estimated global net GHG emissions were 33 percent higher than 1990 levels (an annual average increase of 1.4 percent or 591,240 Gg CO2-e units (gigagrams of equivalent carbon dioxide).
  • Brazil, China, the 28 European Union member countries, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, and the United States of America produce 66 percent of the world’s net emissions.
  • Between 1990 and 2011, New Zealand emitted an average of 0.1 percent of global net GHG emissions.
The 66 percent is significant, but, clearly there has been efforts to slow the growth, reverse the growth or eliminate the growth of greenhouse gases that still exist. However, it is not possible to ignore China's burgeoning quality of life for it's people which is accompanied by increased greenhouse gas production. China has to and is making efforts to combat it's levels of GHG. 

What about the "Rest of the World." These are countries without the brain trust or fiscal resources to change their emissions alone. These countries have people that want to change their future and that of their children. These are the countries at the world summits that look to wealthier countries to help. The global community cannot continue to ignore the problems in these countries and offer assistance in eliminating these emissions.

Every country has a stake in this outcome. We all need to pull together to get it done.

The USA is going to require more entries on the blog because it pollutes every possible gas averse to Earth's spheres.

Industrial Processes Emissions of HFC, PFC and SF6 by Place (click here)


The link above takes the viewer to a list of states in the USA that pollute these chemicals. It has not improved since the 1990s. Now, the question is has the growth of these pollutants slowed. But, no state in the USA has eliminated these harmful gases and there is every indication there isn't enough of an effort to bring them under control.

The Democrats need to hold hearings regarding their states and what has been done and what still has to be done to eliminate the danger to the ozone layer.

Below is the symbol Gg CO2e. That symbol means Greenhouse gas carbon dioxide equivalent. Converting them to carbon dioxide (or CO2) equivalents (click here) makes it possible to compare them and to determine their individual and total contributions to global warming.

Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator (click here)


Don't forget SARS and the return of the Avian Flu.

March 17, 2017
By Ada Carr

Climate change (click here) is making Americans sicker, according to a study released this week by 400,000 doctors representing the 11 top U.S. medical  societies.

The study by the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, a new group representing half of all U.S. physicians, says impacts from global warming include cardio-respiratory diseases associated with wildfires and air pollution, injuries from extreme heat events, the spread of infectious diseases such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease, and health and mental health problems caused by floods and extreme weather.

“Doctors in every part of our country see that climate change is making Americans sicker," Dr. Mona Sarfaty, director of the consortium, said in a release on the study. "Physicians are on the frontlines and see the impacts in exam rooms. What's worse is that the harms are felt most by children, the elderly, Americans with low-income or chronic illnesses, and people in communities of color."

The map accompanying the study shows that the Southeast and the West see a majority of the impacts. Both experience poor outdoor air quality, extreme events such as flooding, storms and droughts, threats to mental health and well-being and extreme temperatures. The Southeast also experiences mosquito-borne illnesses and water-related infections, while the West sees food-related infections and wildfires.

The scientists used research on health impacts of climate change, physician stories and evidence showing that reducing greenhouse gasses improves health and save lives to draw their conclusions, according to the release....            

These are the emissions of Greenhouse gases from Mexico. Halocarbons are not emitted by every country on Earth.

The primary source of Mexico's pollutants is from it's energy sector. Mexico is trying to move into a better energy mix to bring down it's CO2 emissions. Mexico's primary pollutant is CO2 and not other halocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride. Oil is still the primary fuel with natural gas on it's heels and both emit CO2.


This inventory uses source categories (click here) defined by two guidance documents: the Common Reporting Format (CRF) source categories defined by the Updated UNFCCC reporting guidelines on annual inventories following incorporation of the provisions of decision 14/CP.11 memorandum, and, for Waste, source categories defined by the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
Totals reflect net emissions (the sum of all sources minus the sum of all sinks).
The picture to the left is the Fukushima Daiichi plant with it's employees conducting work.

The USA is fully aware of how working conditions can make employees ill. The most obvious example of that were the 911 workers.

It would be reassuring to know how the employees of TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) are today. The company will have to be responsible for any radiation exposure.

March 17, 2017
By Motoko Rich

Tokyo — The Japanese government and the electric utility (click here) that operated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were negligent in not preventing the meltdowns in 2011 that forced thousands of people to flee the area, a district court in eastern Japan ruled on Friday.

It was the first time that a court determined that both the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, and the government bore responsibility for the nuclear disaster that followed a devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. The decision could influence dozens of similar lawsuits filed by close to 12,000 evacuated residents living across the country....      

The next on the list for Kyoto Protocol is the consumption of halocarbons and sulphur hexafloride

North American Portal on Climate Pollutants

Welcome (click here) to the North American Portal on Climate Pollutants. This web platform is designed to make the data from air pollutant emissions inventories for Canada, Mexico and the United States comparable and easy for researchers and policy experts to use.
No, Donald Trump does not have any pets. He doesn’t have any dogs or cats or furry.

This is a picture with a champion beagle, but, he does not have pets. Not even a goldfish.

November 10, 2016
By Steve Dale

I believe (click here) I write about making our world a better place as dogs and cats give us a daily dose of unadulterated goodness. Pets also teach us empathy daily. Studies confirm that children growing up with pets are more empathetic adults.

I agree with President Elect Trump on many issues, from keeping our military strong to maintaining as many jobs as possible within our borders.

To be an effective President also requires empathy, a quality I have not previously noted in Trump but hope to see moving forward.

Empathy is the ability to truly feel what it may be like to walk in someone else’s shoes… to be caring and loving – to want to help others because you want to – because it is the right thing to do, and for no other reason....
It's Sunday Night
"In the freezer" by Sophie Strauss (click here for official website - thank you)

He said “hey I get your music”
I said “hey I’m getting tan”
Guilt creeps in through my gums now
I keep them healthy when I can

If you feel reckless
Then I’m doing something right

You said “I’m afraid they’ll see us”
I said “Let them, we look great”
Everything I saw that summer
Brought me to your door

If you feel reckless
Then I'm doing something right

Let’s park and talk and talk
Take me down the street
Let’s park and talk
About the California heat
I’ve got a rabbit in the freezer
If you want something to eat

Sometimes all I like is leather
Sometimes I like looking cheap
And when I find I’m lonely for you
It must be time to go to sleep

If you feel crazy
Then I'm doing something right

Once you walked a mile for me
Once you let me take an inch
And oh how I swore I was lucky
To have an inch all to myself

If you feel crazy
It's cause of what I said last night

Let’s park and talk and talk
Til someone starts to shout
Let’s park and talk
About the California drought
I’ve got a rabbit in the freezer
And he’s dying to get out

Let’s park and talk and talk
It’s starting to feel better
Let’s park and talk about
The California weather
I’ll be seventeen
And this can be a game
I don’t really need you
And I think that’s a shame
If you don’t leave a message
Then I won’t know you came
I am never guilty
I will shrug off any blame
I’ve got a rabbit in the freezer
I’ve got a rabbit in the freezer
I’ve got a rabbit in the freezer
And he’s calling out my name

There is the picture. He made it to a meeting.

I am kind of curious; how was Tillerson's attendance at meetings at Exxon going? Punctual? Chronically late? Found wandering the halls aimlessly? Any help what so ever would be great. Are we not supplying the right coffee, foot massage or straws that bend? Make America Great Again needs a budget.

March 19, 2017
By Jane Perlez

Beijing -Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson and President Xi Jinping of China (click here) cast aside their differences on Sunday with a public display of cooperation, sidestepping areas of disagreement even as North Korea made another defiant statement by showing off a new missile engine.

In the highest-level face-to-face meeting between the two countries since Donald J. Trump became president, the two sides made no mention of other contentious issues, including possible punitive trade measures against China and Washington’s unhappiness with Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea.

Mr. Xi, greeting the new secretary of state in an ornate room in the Great Hall of the People, thanked Mr. Tillerson for a smooth transition to the Trump administration and expressed his appreciation for the sentiment that “the China-U.S. relationship can only be defined by cooperation and friendship.”

At least in public, Mr. Tillerson adopted a far different tone than that of his boss, who said in a Twitter post on Friday that China had “done little to help” on North Korea, instead saying that the United States looked forward to stronger ties with China....

I thank President Xi Jinping for the warm welcome of Secretary Tillerson. Maybe the USA can also work with China on improving the health, both physical and mental health for North Korea. It would be a way of expressing the wishes the American people have for the North Korean people. Health of the people comes before a strong work force and economic improvements.

I think with some time THIS YEAR the Trump Administration will come to appreciate the dynamics of providing for 1.3 billion Chinese.

This is interesting. Jeff Sessions has nothing to say about this?

The USA Congress has always had a special relationship with Appalachia and now the region is being cut loose to make it on it's own which of course will American Great Again. 

When the USA Congress first engaged in improving the quality of life in Appalachia it was to make America Great. It was to improve the entrenched impoverishment of Americans living in Appalachia.

If there is any doubt this funding i snot needed, AS WITH EVERY OTHER CUT, in the USA budget; there should FIRST be a study on the effectiveness of the federal programs and the damage that will occur to the USA and it's people of Appalachia if that funding is withdrawn. That is the CORRECT way to make cuts to federal programs.

It is no different in the brilliant accounting in the CBO in regard to the ACA. The CBO was spot on when it came to an analysis of the ACA. They were more correct in their numbers and those that would lose healthcare than the Democrats.

If this administration continues to be Hatch Men rather than a governing body that can make intelligent decisions; the USA economy will collapse. The people will be in crisis and while the USA military is wallowing in their new found mud hole, that won't translate into an economy so much as a glut of wealth. In my opinion, the increase in the USA military budget will only bloat the research organizations and bring in more foreign talent.


March 16, 2017
By Matthew Pearl and Michael King

...The Interagency Council (click here) on Homelessness aids the nearly 13,000 homeless Georgians, and the Appalachian Regional Commission has created more than 1,900 jobs in Georgia's 37 Appalachian counties, all but two of which voted for Trump.

Those agencies make up only a sliver of the cuts: $2.9 billion. Trump's budget takes $2.6 billion from the EPA and percentages from nearly every Cabinet department. The biggest cuts? $9.2 billion from the Department of Education, $10.9 billion from the State Department, and $12.6 billion from Health and Human Services.

It's $54 billion in total cuts, and where is it going?

All of it is going to increases in defense spending. This includes border protections, such as "a physical wall along the southern border."

This proposal is just that. Its pages are just recommendations from the President to Congress, which actually passes the federal budget. But this proposal does continue that conversation about what we expect from our federal government -- and it makes clear the view of the President....

It seems as though US Senators from this region are attempting to continue to transition into a better economy with respect for Appalachian traditions and cultures. I hope the bill passes, the people effected by it will sincerely need it now.

Shown Here:

Introduced in Senate (02/15/2017)

Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area Act (click here)

This bill establishes the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area to include specified counties in the states of Maryland and West Virginia.
The bill designates the Appalachian Forest Heritage Area, Inc., as the local coordinating entity for the area.
The bill also requires the Appalachian Forest Heritage Area, Inc., to submit a management plan that provides for the protection, enhancement, and interpretation of cultural, natural, historical, educational, scenic, and recreational resources of the area.
THESE ARE REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL LIVES WITH PRIDE IN THEIR CULTURE AND they voted for Trump only to be undermined by his Hatch Job on the USA Budget.

World Elephant Day started August 12, 2012.

January 10, 2017
By Katie Souza

...African and Asian (click here) elephants alike are in danger in their natural habitats due to a not so natural predator. Poachers slaughtering elephants for their valuable tusks are putting elephants closer and closer to extinction. As a result, in 1979 there was an estimated 1.3 million elephants, while in 2016 the population plummeted to only 352,271.
It is not only the elephant population that is affected by the decline but the entire ecosystem. World Elephant Day explains, “Elephants are a keystone species. It means they create and maintain the ecosystems in which they live and make it possible for a myriad of plant and animal species to live in those environments as well.”
In reaction to the plunge of elephant numbers, organizations and countries are taking action to protect these sacred animals.
For instance, according to CNN, “Botswana Defense Force (BDF) has deployed an infantry battalion of specially-trained soldiers; more than 700 are stationed across 40 bases in the far north,” where soldiers are told to “shoot-to-kill” the poachers. Likewise, the global ivory trade has been banned since 1989, according to National Geographic.
However, not all governments are willing to stop the profitable business of domestic ivory trade. China has the largest illegal ivory trade, which is due to the limited legal trade of ivory within the country.  According to World Elephant Day“Between 2010 and 2014, the price of ivory in China tripled,” and thus, “As of 2016, there are still more African elephants being killed for ivory than are being born…”...

Ah. The smart guys vs the rhetorical.

I hesitate to call them smart guys in the way one might think IQ. The idea the White House branch of Goldman-Sachs came up with a disaster of a budget is incredible to realize. It only further reinforces that Goldman is a 'wannabee' Wall Street firm and not a real one. It throws it's financial weight around to make money, but, it is not real money, it is opportunistic money. 

Months ago, the interest in Goldman Sachs as an investment on Wall Street started to dim and for good reason. The stock markets were increasing for the Goldman Sachs stock prices alone as one after another of the firms Holy Men entered the White House.

This is a hubris White House. All 'huff and puff' and not much substance. Oh, it can do plenty of damage, but, everyone is still waiting to find the real genius behind the policy.

I don't care if the White House is chronically high noon at the Okay Corral; the bigotry has to stop. The bigotry coming out of this White House is religious, ethnic and related to skin color in combination or alone. It is interestingly masked in female demeanor and delicacy, but, it is bigotry just the same served up to engage the global membership of White Supremacists.

END IT! 

Trump is on the verge of being completely irrelevant to real life. His administration is proving to be idiots without a single methodology to carry out cuts/budgets. But, then there is Ryan. Somehow it all fits.

I think the term to express the real essence of the Trump administration are "Hatchet Men." Straight out of Al Capone.

March 18, 2017
By Phillip Rucker and Robert Costa

Inside the White House, (click here) they are dismissed by their rivals as “the Democrats.”

Outspoken, worldly and polished, this coterie of ascendant Manhattan business figures-turned-presidential advisers is scrambling the still-evolving power centers swirling around President Trump.

Led by Gary Cohn and Dina Powell — two former Goldman Sachs executives often aligned with Trump’s eldest daughter and his son-in-law — the group and its broad network of allies are the targets of suspicion, loathing and jealousy from their more ideological West Wing colleagues.

On the other side are the Republican populists driving much of Trump’s nationalist agenda and confrontations, led by chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, who has grown closer to Chief of Staff Reince Priebus in part to counter the New Yorkers.

As Trump’s administration enters its third month, the constant jockeying and backbiting among senior staff is further inflaming tensions at a time when the White House is struggling on numerous fronts — from the endangered health-care bill to the controversial budget to the hundreds of top jobs still vacant throughout the government....