Thursday, November 24, 2016

Liberals present plan to phase out coal-powered electricity by 2030

The federal government is speeding up the plan to phase out coal-fired electricity by 2030 as part of its comprehensive plan to make Canada a leader in green energy. Read the full story HERE

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Fwd: The Paris climate agreement is now official




The Paris climate agreement is now official | Environment | The Guardian

Keep it in the ground updates


The Paris climate agreement is now official

Environment groups hail 'momentous occasion' but warn governments need to cut carbon emissions more steeply to avoid dangerous global warming
The French president and foreign minister, along with the UN secretary general and UN climate chief, celebrate agreeing the Paris climate change deal.
The French president and foreign minister, along with the UN secretary general and UN climate chief, celebrate agreeing the Paris climate change deal. Photograph: Francois Mori/AP

The significance of the Paris agreement coming into force today is easy to miss: it may seem like an anti-climax, given the travails that led up to its signing last December.
But the moment is of huge importance. This is the first time that a legally-binding agreement, signed by all of the world's functioning governments, has laid down a commitment to limit the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere with the goal of preventing global warming exceeding 2C above pre-industrial levels.
This figure was not plucked out of the increasingly carbon-rich air. It is the limit of what scientists regard as safety, beyond which climate change will run out of control, unstoppable in its damaging effects.
There are caveats. The Paris agreement is legally binding in forcing governments to accept and cater for the 2C limit. But the commitments on curbing greenhouse gas emissions in line with that goal are not legally binding. This means incoming governments can renege upon them. There are no sanctions for governments that flout the goals.
The outcome of the US presidential election will be key. Donald Trump, the Republican candidate whose polling has improved markedly in recent days, has vowed to cancel the US's participation in the Paris agreement. Russia has also failed to ratify the agreement, along with several other nations. China has ratified, but if US participation is not forthcoming under a future Trump government, that may be off.
So while the agreement should be hailed as a massive and historic step forward in international efforts to avoid dangerous levels of global warming, it is potentially fragile.
Meanwhile, the signs of danger are growing increasingly strong. This year is almost certain, according to Nasa, to be the warmest on record, following last year's record-setting temperatures. This gives the lie to the claims of warming-dismissers that the upward march of global temperatures has "paused".
Next year may not set records, but the trend is clear. We are on a trajectory that may lead to warming that is unprecedented and potentially irreversible. While there are other encouraging signs - the growth in renewable energy use around the world, the small reductions in emissions in some major economies - we should be in no doubt. The real work of Paris remains to be done.
Fiona Harvey
Environment correspondent, The Guardian

I am ashamed to be an American!!!

So many American voting for a climate change denier - I am seriously shocked and ashamed for this nation that has lost all its ideals and greatness!

The Alternative: Instead of Dirty Fossil Energy - Clean Renewables

From the Daily Telegram 11/8/2016

LANSING
Solar project set
More East Lansing residents will have the opportunity to cut their electric bill next year due to a community solar project that’s planning to nearly double in scope from 1,000 panels to about 1,800 panels.
Albion-based Patriot Solar Group has partnered with the Lansing Board of Water & Light on the project, the Lansing State Journal reported.
Residents who get electricity from the board will be able to pay nearly $400 to lease a solar panel for 25 years, said company president and CEO Jeff Mathie. Electricity generated from the panels will feed into the electric grid, and the board will credit the lessee on their bill, he said.

Hopefully the City of Adrian will work towards a similar deal. This company is based in Albion:

Monday, November 7, 2016

Why Oklahoma Can't Turn Off Its Earthquakes - Bloomberg

Sunday night's 5.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Cushing, Okla., is the latest and, in some ways, the most troubling in a series of temblors that has rocked the Sooner State over the past few years. Not only did it strike within a mile of what is arguably one of the country's most important strategic assets—Cushing is the largest crude oil trading hub in North America, with almost 600 million barrels of stored crude—but its occurrence raises questions over the state's ability to do anything about the significant rise in seismic activity, which has been linked to oil and gas activity.



Full Story:



Why Oklahoma Can't Turn Off Its Earthquakes - Bloomberg