MVCAC May 2022

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NOW MORE THAN EVER ~ Economic Development REALLY SHOULD Account for Environmental Impacts
by Duane Nichols 22 May '22

22 May '22

https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2022/05/22/now-more-than-ever-economic-develop… NOW MORE THAN EVER ~ Economic Development REALLY SHOULD Account for Environmental Impacts Scientists, engineers, economists and political leaders have a responsibility ... When will ‘economic growth’ account for environmental costs? From the Article by David Shearman, The Hill ~ Energy & Environment, May 12, 2022 Human health and the natural environment are indivisible. A recent article in the journal The Lancet reminds us that “economic decisions on the environment have major impacts on human health, and health and wellness depend on a flourishing environment.” Those living in vast cities may find this statement difficult to grasp and many economists certainly do, for the words “natural environment” have now to be changed to “natural capital” for their understanding. We live in a world where economic thinking rules our lives, whereas many believe it should be our servant in delivering an equitable and secure future. When leaders of most Western nations continue to puff out their chests to announce their latest increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or rate of growth, they expose their impotence to manage a nation’s future by failing to recognize environmental costs. Or as written more politely by Stephen Posner and Lydia Olander, in The Hill, “While congressional leaders debate trillions of dollars of federal spending, they have a critical blind spot” for they are “not informed by a complete accounting of the nation’s assets, leaving out many critical services that nature provides.” After nearly 70 years of GDP in economic ideology and practice, the World Bank is having second thoughts about GDP as a measure of “growth” for it takes no account of natural and human capital used to achieve it. Indeed the bank’s “The Changing Wealth of Nations 2021 Managing Assets for the Future” report now seriously questions the use of GDP in its present form and may at long last provide a glimmer of hope for the world to have a sustainable future. On “natural capital,” the report states “mismanagement of nature and failure to consider the longer-term impacts of our actions can carry severe consequences, even if they might not be immediately evident. We therefore need an expanded economic toolkit, including broader measures of economic progress, to secure our collective prosperity and even sustain our existence as a species.” The report notes that “in countries where today’s GDP is achieved by consuming or degrading assets over time, for example by overfishing or soil degradation, total wealth is declining. This can happen even as GDP rises, but it undermines future prosperity.” In Australia with an election due on May 21, the government has proudly announced a current GDP of 4 percent, yet it may well be minus 4 percent if the loss on natural capital is accounted for, due to prodigious land clearing, urban expansion and extensive environmental damage from mining. This may also be the case in the U.S. but there has been little attempt to measure it. The issue is of pressing importance because world food supply is threatened by war, harvest failures from climate change extreme events and by supply problems. This is a threat to one of our life support systems, the living soil, the ecology of which together with the surrounding services from biodiversity provide our food. The research of many scientists defining these threats should galvanize action. The World Bank 2021 report may have been influenced by the report “The Economics of Biodiversity,” by eminent economist Professor Partha Dasgupta, which was cited in a previous article in The Hill. Dasgupta pointed out that GDP does not include “depreciation of assets” as such as the degradation of the biosphere. Economic progress has been based on the extraction of resources from nature and the dumping of waste back into it. When extraction and dumping exceed nature’s capacity to repair itself, natural capital shrinks as do biodiversity and the essential environmental services they provide. A basic tenet of any policy or practice is that it should be able to measure its effect accurately so it is now vital to establish environmental accounting to place a value on natural capital as explained in an article from the Harvard Kennedy School. Indeed, one has to ask why the U.S. has been tardy to adopt the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) which commenced in 2012, when about 90 countries have already done so. The answer may be that the U.S. favors of a free-market system that embodies deregulation and is the leading instrument in disregard for the consumption of natural capital. Indeed, even recent articles from eminent business schools fail to mention the environment as it related to the U.S. economy. It is also important to reflect that for too long we have failed to acknowledge and use the inherent knowledge of many indigenous peoples on land management. The free-market system has moved Western civilizations far from such understanding. Reform must be initiated by a fundamental change in the thinking of economists and by politicians of both persuasions. Bipartisan reforms will become all the more necessary when climate-driven conflict emerge, and reforms could offer security, especially to rural constituencies who understand food production. Given the unprecedented impact we’ve had on land, the recent sobering UN land report is essential reading for all members of Congress as they consider economic policies — not just climate action. A vital step in developing the World Bank’s “expanded economic toolkit” should be to educate the public and business on reform of GDP to put a value on nature so providing an incentive for government to protect it. Currently, “Real GDP” denotes GDP adjusted for inflation. Let us have “true GDP,” which encompasses environmental loss. But we must realize that reform of GDP is only one piece of a thousand others needed to complete this jigsaw puzzle in the next few decades, if the planet is to remain viable for human life. The other pieces — including climate change, pollutions, toxic chemicals, water security, sea and land ecology, population growth, consumption, conflict — must all fit together as they are interrelated. Only in fitting together the puzzle can we ensure out survival. >>> David Shearman (AM, Ph.D., FRACP, FRCPE) is a professor of medicine at the University of Adelaide, South Australia and co-founder of Doctors for the Environment Australia. He is co-author of “The Climate Change Challenge and the Failure of Democracy” (2007) commissioned by the Pell Centre for International Relations and Public Policy. #######+++++++#######+++++++####### See Also: Americans Largely Favor U.S. Taking Steps To Become Carbon Neutral by 2050, Alec Tyson, et al., March 1, 2022 Majorities of Americans say the United States should prioritize the development of renewable energy sources and take steps toward the country becoming carbon neutral by the year 2050. But just 31% want to phase out fossil fuels completely, and many foresee unexpected problems in a major transition to renewable energy. Tagged as: economics, excess deaths, fossil fuels, GHG, impacts, NEPA, waste disposal, World Bank Sent from my iPad

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From the National Stop Crypto Group on 5/19/22
by Duane Nichols 20 May '22

20 May '22

FROM the National Stop Crypto Group on 5/19/22 > > Here are links to share: > NBC News clip explains crypto mining https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yMsDUEnOw8c > Articles on Cherokee County NC crypto mining: > Washington Post article by Kevin Williams https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/03/18/bitcoin-mining-noise-pol… > Daily Beast article by Simon Spichak https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-crypto-mine-is-making-life-a-daily-hell-for… > CitizenTimes (USA Today) article by Brian Gordon https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2021/12/13/nc-cryptocurrency-minin… > Sierra Club of WNC > Crypto mining talking points (attached pdf) > Blog post https://www.sierraclub.org/north-carolina/blog/2022/04/cryptocurrency-comes… > Cherokee County Citizens Against Crypto Mining (CCCACM) petition https://www.change.org/CryptoMiningPetition

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FYI ~ Health Department Seeks Comment on Annual Air Monitoring Network Plan
by Duane Nichols 10 May '22

10 May '22

Note ~ Air Toxics Ambient Monitoring | US EPA https://www.epa.gov › amtic › air-toxics-ambient-monit... The goal of ambient air toxics monitoring is to support the reduction of public exposure to air toxics, also known as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Air toxics, also known as toxic air pollutants or hazardous air pollutants, are those pollutants that cause or may cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive effects or birth defects, or adverse environmental and ecological effects. This is really a broad category and could hardly be comprehensive, rather would be limited by definitions. From: Allegheny News <AlleghenyNEWS(a)alleghenycounty.us> > Date: May 10, 2022 at 2:08:31 PM EDT > Subject: Health Department Seeks Comment on Annual Air Monitoring Network Plan > > > > > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > May 10, 2022 > Contact: > Neil Ruhland > Public Health Information Officer > 412-578-8312 (office) > 412-339-7995 (cell) > Neil.Ruhland(a)AlleghenyCounty.us > > > Health Department Seeks Comment on Annual Air Monitoring Network Plan > > PITTSBURGH – The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) is requesting written public comment on its draft 2023 Air Monitoring Network Plan, an annual report which provides a detailed description of how and where air pollution is monitored in Allegheny County. > > Air Monitoring Network Plans are required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The plan provides the specific location of each monitoring station, siting criteria, monitoring methods and objectives, frequency of sampling, pollutants measured at each station and aerial photographs showing their physical location. > > The 2023 plan is substantially similar to the 2022 Air Monitoring Network Plan except for the proposed move to the air monitoring station from the Clack Campus to Fulton Street. A summary of all proposed changes may be found in the Executive Summary of the draft plan, beginning on page six. > > The county’s air monitoring network includes nine locations within the county: Avalon, Clairton, Flag Plaza, Glassport, Harrison, Lawrenceville, Liberty, North Braddock, Parkway East (Wilkinsburg) and South Fayette. One or more of the following pollutants is measured at each site: sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, total reactive nitrogen, ozone, PM10, PM2.5, and air toxics. > > Comments will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. on June 9, 2022, and may be submitted via e-mail to david.good(a)alleghenycounty.us or by mail to: > > Allegheny County Health Department > Attention: David D. Good > Air Quality Program > 301 39th Street > Pittsburgh, PA 15201 > > All correspondence must include first and last name and a complete mailing address. > > For more information regarding the department’s air quality efforts, visit the Air Quality page of the Health Department website. > > # # # > > Debra L. Bogen, MD, Director > Allegheny County Health Department – Public Information Office > 542 Fourth Avenue │ Pittsburgh, PA 15219 > Phone: 412-687-ACHD (2243) │ Fax: 412-578-8325 > www.alleghenycounty.us/healthdepartment >

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How climate scientists keep hope alive as damage worsens | AP News
by Duane Nichols 10 May '22

10 May '22

https://apnews.com/article/climate-scientists-optimism-d1f2de75f853af68fef4… Sent from my iPad

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MVCAC May 2022