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Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “Y” for Yourself
by Frack Check WV: admin 25 Jan '23

25 Jan '23

# [Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “Y” for Yourself](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/25/alphabet-of-climate-chang… from-a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cy%e2%80%9d-for-yourself/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/54762CCF- DFEB-4B20-949A-ADFD4BAF0A15.jpeg)](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/54762CCF-DFEB-4B20-949A-ADFD4BAF0A15.jpeg) You can have a role in the community solar program? Locally & Globaly! **You Are Significant as Climate Change Becomes a Climate Emergency** From the [Article by Elizabeth Kolbert, New York Magazine](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert), November 28, 2022 **So far, average global temperatures have risen by 1.1 degrees Celsius — two degrees Fahrenheit — and the budget for 1.5 Celsius is nearly gone. How hot will it get? Will temperatures climb two degrees Celsius? 2.5? Three?** **A study published a few years ago, by Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution, and Yangyang Xu, of Texas A &M, defined a temperature increase of 1.5 C degrees as “dangerous,” an increase of three C degrees as “catastrophic,” and an increase of five C degrees as “unknown, implying beyond catastrophic.”** **A second study, by a group of American and European researchers, determined that, if we were to burn through all known fossil-fuel reserves, global temperatures could rise by as much as eleven degrees Celsius, or twenty degrees Fahrenheit. (How humanity could keep the oil flowing even as the world drowned and smoldered was a question the researchers did not address.)** **There are good reasons to opt for optimism. ([See “narratives.”](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert)) It could be argued that the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act this past summer was possible only because so many people believed in a better future.** **At the same time, there are good reasons to wonder whether optimism lies at the heart of the problem. For the last thirty years — more if you go back to 1965 — we have lived as if someone, or some technology, were going to rescue us from ourselves. We are still living that way now.** **“You can’t just sit around waiting for hope to come,” Greta Thunberg observed in a speech scolding E.U. politicians. “Then you’re acting like spoiled, irresponsible children. You don’t seem to understand that hope is something you have to earn.”** #######+++++++#######+++++++######## **See Also:** [West Virginia Environmental Council](https://wvecouncil.org/) URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/25/alphabet-of-climate-change-from- a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cy%e2%80%9d-for-yourself/>

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Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “X” for Xcel or Not
by Frack Check WV: admin 24 Jan '23

24 Jan '23

# [Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “X” for Xcel or Not](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/24/alphabet-of-climate-change-fro… a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cx%e2%80%9d-for-xcel-or-not/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/C91CDD10-0B04-46EE- BA5D-68FA0D262E39-300x199.jpg)](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/C91CDD10-0B04-46EE-BA5D-68FA0D262E39.jpeg) Looking for the future takes some mighty fine binoculars **“Xcel” Names Outstanding Green or Blue or Brown Things or Not** From the Desk of Duane G. Nichols, FrackCheckWV.net, January 24, 2023 **[XCELPLUS INTERNATIONAL ~ About our company …](https://xcelplusint.com/)** In 1999, XcelPlus was started as a private label distributor for a line of specialty chemicals and lubricants. Along the way, we found reducing energy consumption just wasn’t enough, so we set out to find technologies to help satisfy an increasing demand for energy from waste streams. We discovered ways to make ethanol from garbage, and used biodiesel waste glycerin to make turbine fuels and coal plant fuels. When Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. in 2005, we sought ways to turn the resulting waste into electricity or fuels, including synthetic diesel fuels, gasoline and ethanol. The issue we faced was that technology had not been developed to the commercial and industrial standards we needed. In 2007, we had to suspend our projects. A chance encounter in 2017 changed everything, and since then we have been working diligently to bring our solution to fruition in the form of plasma gasification. We became a public company in 2004 on the OTC Markets under the trading symbol XLPI. [The most recent quote lists the stock price at 6 cents per share.] **We 've been searching for years ~** We spent years searching out and vetting technologies that would improve our quality of life on planet Earth. We consider these to be legacy technologies that will figuratively change the world. We identified a line of energy-reducing lubricants, discovered ways to convert plastics and tires into synthetic diesel fuel, unearthed the technology to turn fuel-injected cars into Flex Fuel vehicles, and created gasifiers that use plasma technologies to dissociate molecules into atoms. Those dissociated atoms are recombined to make syngas. [Such processes generate carbon dioxide, not discussed here.] We’ve already done the hard part, now we can do the innovative part of bringing these new technological solutions to market today. [MISSION STATEMENT](https://xcelplusint.com/about-us/) ~ Using our access to sustainable and innovative technology, we seek to use waste as a resource to provide clean, affordable, pollution-free energy to communities around the world in order to improve the global environment. **We 've Seen the Future of Energy** ~ We have been looking into the future of energy and we are ready to unveil that future right now. Today, the power for electric cars is primarily derived from coal and some energy from natural gas. While cleaner than coal, natural gas is still a polluting energy source. Unless we find new ways to produce clean, sustainable energy – not only for electric cars but other applications – it will be no better than petroleum- powered vehicles. Our technologies can fuel and power the hydrogen highway, electric cars, aircraft, diesel trucks and cars, all while simultaneously using and reducing our world’s waste. Take a look at that future with us. We have developed a better form of energy production. **XCELPLUS PLASMA GASIFICATION OF WASTE ~ 50-Ton-Per-Day Gasifier** We were able to build upon an already solid foundation. We've hired engineers to take a proven, viable technology and propel it to a whole new level. Fifty tons of material from waste streams allows our gasifier to produce up to 5 megawatt of power, 1,900 gallons of diesel fuel, 2,100 gallons of gasoline or ethanol, or about 1,250 to 6,000 kg of green hydrogen. Whatever your energy needs are, we can accommodate you. We will be manufacturing gasifiers and selling them to global customers and Build-Own-Operate (BOO) customers with access to capped-off landfills. [NOTE ADDED ~ The claims above of subject to verification. The claim is that XcelPlus provides “green” technology. This conventionally means that no carbon dioxide or methane will be emitted. What to believe Xcel or Not? DGN] URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/24/alphabet-of-climate-change-from- a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cx%e2%80%9d-for-xcel-or-not/>

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Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “W” for Weather
by Frack Check WV: admin 23 Jan '23

23 Jan '23

# [Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now “W” for Weather](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/23/alphabet-of-climate-change- from-a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cw%e2%80%9d-for-weather/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/08EB5151-DC5D-4CD0-874E-602D8384C104-300x300.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/08EB5151-DC5D-4CD0-874E-602D8384C104.jpeg) Predictions from the IPCC Report ~ Click to expand this graph **WHAT? ~ Whether the Weather is Winding for Wicked Wretchedness?** >>> Adapted from the [Article by Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Magazine](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert), November 28, 2022 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tracks weather-related disasters in the U.S. that cause more than a billion dollars’ worth of damage. According to NOAA, in the nineteen-eighties the U.S. saw an average of three such disasters per year. In the nineteen-nineties, the average was five per year; in the two-thousands, it was six; and in the twenty-tens it jumped to twelve. (The figures have been adjusted for inflation.) In 2020, a record-shattering twenty-two disasters costing more than a billion dollars struck the country. This year is nearly on pace to match that record, with fifteen such disasters by October, including Hurricane Ian, which is likely to prove one of the most expensive storms in American history. Adam B. Smith, a NOAA researcher, has written that a disastrous number of disasters “is becoming the new normal.” The rise is partly a function of more people living in vulnerable areas, such as floodplains. But increasingly it’s a function of climate change. **In the future, the costs may climb steeply or they may climb precipitously. All our infrastructure has been built with the climate of the past in mind. Much of it will have to be rebuilt and then, as the world continues to warm, rebuilt again.** To protect the Houston area (and its many petrochemical plants) from rising seas and storm surges, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning to erect a huge system of gates at the mouth of Galveston Bay. The price tag for the project, known as the Ike Dike, is estimated at thirty billion dollars. Norfolk, Virginia, is hoping to stave off the water with a $1.5-billion series of barriers, levees, and tidal gates, and Charleston, South Carolina, is looking to build a billion-dollar flood wall. Some places — large swaths of Miami, for instance — may prove impossible to defend, meaning that real estate now valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars will have to be written off. #######+++++++#######+++++++######## **~. ~. The Accelerating Frequency of Extreme Weather ~. ~.** From an [Article by Carmen Ang, Visual Capitalist](https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-accelerating-frequency-of- extreme-weather/), January 13, 2022 _The world is already witnessing the effects of climate change._ A few months ago, the western U.S. experienced one of the worst droughts it’s seen in the last 20 years. At the same time, southern Europe roasted in an extreme heatwave, with temperatures reaching 45°C (113°F)in some parts. But things are only expected to get worse in the near future. Here’s a look at how much extreme climate events have changed over the last 200 years, and what’s to come if global temperatures keep rising. **A Century of Warming & More of Same Going Forward** The global surface temperature has increased by about 1°C (1.8°F) since the 1850s. And [according to the IPCC](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf), this warming has been indisputably caused by human influence. **As the global temperatures have risen, the frequency of extreme weather events have increased along with it. Heatwaves, droughts and extreme rainstorms used to happen once in a decade on average, but now:** Heatwaves are 2.8x more frequent Droughts are 1.7x more frequent Extreme rainstorms are 1.3x more frequent **By 2030, the global surface temperature is expected to rise 1.5°C (2.7°F) the Earth’s baseline temperature, which means that:** Heatwaves would be 4.1x more frequent Droughts would be 2x more frequent Extreme rainstorms would be 1.5x more frequent **The Ripple Effects of Extreme Weather** **Extreme weather events have far-reaching impacts on communities, especially when they cause critical system failures.** Mass infrastructure breakdowns during Hurricane Ida this year caused widespread power outages in the state of Louisiana that lasted for several days. In 2020, wildfires in Syria devastated hundreds of villages and injured dozens of civilians with skin burns and breathing complications. As extreme weather events continue to increase in frequency, and communities become increasingly more at risk, sound infrastructure is becoming more important than ever. [The importance of net-zero projects cannot be over emphasized. [WiN = When is Now!](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf)]. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/23/alphabet-of-climate-change-from- a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9cw%e2%80%9d-for-weather/>

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Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now ”V” for Vehicles
by Frack Check WV: admin 22 Jan '23

22 Jan '23

# [Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now ”V” for Vehicles](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/22/alphabet-of-climate-chang… from-a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9dv%e2%80%9d-for-vehicles/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/527E2E84-CFAD-4400-B553-C055AFA7D6C4-300x192.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/527E2E84-CFAD-4400-B553-C055AFA7D6C4.jpeg) The term “tipping point” is applied here to Archimedes lever in contrast to tipping points in which ice melting accelerates beyond expectations **Current Climate: Tipping Points To Net Zero, Smarter Train Tracks And Greenland’s Accelerating Melt** >>> From the [Forbes Article by Alex Knapp & Alan Ohnsman](https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2023/01/21/current-climat… tipping-points-to-net-zero--smarter-train-tracks-and-greenlands-accelerating- melt/?sh=6d37f4a036f1), January 21, 2023 [This information is from the **“Current Climate” from Forbes** , which every Saturday brings you the latest news about the business of sustainability. [Sign up to get it in your inbox every week.](https://www.forbes.com/newsletter/currentclimate/)] Ancient Greek mathematician and engineer Archimedes is said to have one said, “Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world” – highlighting the power of simple machines to magnify effort. This principle is limited to ancient Greece. **This week, a[report presented to the World Economic Forum](https://www.systemiq.earth/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/The-Breakthrough- Effect.pdf) meeting at Davos argues that there are points like this that can accelerate the world’s transition to an economy that’s built around more sustainable principles in order to slow climate change. The researchers behind the report identified three potential “tipping points” that can be pushed in order to accelerate some of these changes.** 1\. The first is the **transition to electric vehicles** , as “government policies and better infrastructure increasingly [are] making electric vehicles more attractive than petrol and diesel cars,” according to a press release around the report. 2\. A second tipping point is swapping out **methods of producing ammonia for fertilizers** in a manner that’s more sustainable, which the researchers say could have a side benefit of bringing down the costs of green hydrogen. 3\. The third tipping point is moving towards more **alternatives to animal- based proteins** , which could help reduce emissions from livestock farming and slow down rates of deforestation. All of these areas, the report argues, can produce ripple effects that reach further into the economy in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “This non-linear way of thinking about the climate problem gives plausible grounds for hope,” the report’s lead author aid in a statement. “The more that gets invested in socioeconomic transformation, the faster it will unfold – getting the world to ‘net zero’ greenhouse gas emissions sooner.” **The Big Read ~ Greenland Ice Sheet Warmest In At Least 1,000 Years As Scientists Warn Melting Ice Will Accelerate Sea-Level Rise** Recent temperatures in Greenland’s ice sheet—one of the primary culprits behind rising seas—were the warmest they’ve been in at least 1,000 years, according to a new report, as scientists warn the melting of Greenland’s ice could threaten coastal communities around the world. [Read more here.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/01/18/greenland-ice- sheet-warmest-in-at-least-1000-years-as-scientists-warn-melting-ice-will- accelerate-sea-level-rise/) **More Concerns for Our Earth** Human-caused light pollution has made the night sky nearly 10% brighter each year, according to new research, obscuring astronomical observations and posing a threat to migrating birds that rely on the position of stars and the moon to travel. Nearly two-thirds of coral reef shark and ray species worldwide are threatened with extinction, [reports a new study](https://www.forbes.com/sites/melissacristinamarquez/2023/01/17/most- coral-reef-sharks-and-rays-may-be-at-risk-of-extinction/?sh=1770e5713c74). **Sustainability Deals Of The Week ~ ~ ~** **Durable Batteries:** California-based Noon Energy has raised a $28 million series A round, which is geared towards growing its team and accelerating the commercialization of its carbon-oxygen battery for long-term energy storage. **Carbon Removal:** Financial services firm Rothschild & Co has entered into a multi-year agreement with French startup NetZero to purchase carbon credits for NetZero’s biochar, which sequesters carbon by being mixed with topsoil, which also reduces the need for fertilizers in agriculture. **Electrification:** The city of San Jose has entered into a $489,000 contract with BlocPower to electrify 250 residential buildings. **On The Horizon, Ugggh!** Last week, areas of Northern California featured days worth of rainfall and high winds, causing large amounts of damage to the area. And if sea levels continue to rise, it’s likely that more storms are in the works for the region, according to new research published this week. **Green Transportation Update** When it comes to moving people and goods, even all-electric vehicles can’t match the environmental benefits of trains. And when you think “advanced rail technology,” bullet trains or magnetic-levitation systems might come to mind. But what about the steel rails freight and passenger trains run on? It turns out that machine learning, big data collection and voice-recognition tools that have transformed manufacturing, cars, retail and social media are also being leveraged to make vital rail operations safer and much more efficient. **The Big Transportation Story ~ Cheap, Utilitarian Electric Cars Would Trigger Big Sales Without Subsidies** Dozens of new electric vehicles models are rolling out but most of them are still too pricey for most carbuyers. What if automakers slashed EV prices, weight and battery size and concentrated on the short-range applications electric cars do best? [Read more here.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilwinton/2023/01/17/cheap- utilitarian-electric-cars-would-trigger-big-sales-without-subsidies/) URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/22/alphabet-of-climate-change-from- a-to-z-now-%e2%80%9dv%e2%80%9d-for-vehicles/>

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Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now U for United Nations Programs
by Frack Check WV: admin 21 Jan '23

21 Jan '23

# [Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now U for United Nations Programs](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/21/alphabet-of-climate-chang… from-a-to-z-now-u-for-united-nations-programs/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/DCE1AD06-5150-406A-A87B-C6C5FD5D9AA5-300x135.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/DCE1AD06-5150-406A-A87B-C6C5FD5D9AA5.jpeg) People protest for reparations for stolen land at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt **United Nations Doggedly Pursues International Climate Agreements Amid Global Turmoil (2022 Year in Review)** >>> From [Collected News by Duane Nichols, FrackCheckWV.net](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/), January 21, 2023 **SUMMARY ~ Despite strong evidence that human activity played a role in catastrophic weather events, and the emergence of a fuel crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine, greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise. Nevertheless, the UN kept the climate emergency high on the international agenda, reaching major agreements on financing and biodiversity.** At the end of 2021, when the UN climate conference (COP26) wrapped up in Glasgow, none of those present could have suspected that a war in Ukraine would throw the global economy into turmoil, convincing many nations to suspend their commitments to a low carbon economy, as they scrambled to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies, and secure fossil fuel supplies elsewhere. Meanwhile, a host of studies pointed to the continued warming of the Earth, and the failure of humanity to lower carbon emissions, and get to grips with the existential threat of the climate emergency. Nevertheless, the UN continued to lead on the slow, painstaking, but essential task of achieving international climate agreements, whilst putting sustained pressure on major economies to make greater efforts to cut their fossil fuel use, and support developing countries, whose citizens are bearing the brunt of the droughts, floods and extreme weather resulting from man-made climate change. #######+++++++#######+++++++######## **[Breakthrough agreements reached at UN climate conferences](https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131972)** _The year 2022 was punctuated by three important climate-related UN summits – the Ocean Conference in June, the COP27 Climate Conference in November, and the much-delayed COP15 Biodiversity Conference in December – which demonstrated that the organization achieves far more than simply stating the dire climate situation, and calling for change._ At each event progress was made on advancing international commitments to protect the environment, and reducing the harm and destruction caused by human activity. The Ocean Conference saw critical issues discussed, and new ideas generated. World leaders admitted to deep alarm at the global emergency facing the Ocean, and renewed their commitment to take urgent action, cooperate at all levels, and fully achieve targets as soon as possible. More than 6,000 participants, including 24 Heads of State and Government, and over 2,000 representatives of civil society attended the Conference, advocating for urgent and concrete actions to tackle the ocean crisis. They stressed that science-based and innovative actions, along with international cooperation, are essential to provide the necessary solutions. #######+++++++#######+++++++######## **[‘Loss and damage’ funding agreed, in win for developing countries](https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131972)** **COP27** , _the UN Climate Conference, which was held in Egypt in November, seemed destined to end without any agreement, as talks dragged on way beyond the official end of the summit._ Nevertheless, negotiators somehow managed to not only agree on the wording of an outcome document, but also establish a funding mechanism to compensate vulnerable nations for the loss and damage caused by climate-induced disasters. These nations have spent decades arguing for such a provision, so the inclusion was hailed as a major advance. Details on how the mechanism will work, and who will benefit, will now be worked out in the coming months. However, little headway was made on other key issues, particularly on the phasing out of fossil fuels, and tightened language on the need to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. **See this** [Extensive Article](https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131972) **explaining the various aspects of climate change in which the United Nations is involved:** <https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131972> URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/21/alphabet-of-climate-change-from- a-to-z-now-u-for-united-nations-programs/>

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The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now T for Temperatures on Earth
by Frack Check WV: admin 20 Jan '23

20 Jan '23

# [The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z, Now T for Temperatures on Earth](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/20/the-alphabet-of-climate-chan… from-a-to-z-now-t-for-temperatures-on-earth/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/F334E3C1-2033-40BC-B188-21EB77B7FA79.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/01/F334E3C1-2033-40BC-B188-21EB77B7FA79.jpeg) The highest temperature in WV was 115 F, in CA up to 134 F. **T = Temperatures are Rising Locally and Globally** From the [Article by Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Magazine](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert), November 28, 2022 The **Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, in Dallas** , offers a hyperbaric chamber where divers can recover from the bends, a pool equipped to continuously measure swimmers’ oxygen use, and a **climate-controlled vault that can be programmed to test the limits of human endurance**. Not long ago, I swallowed a thermometer the size of a pill and had myself sealed in the vault. **Formally known as the environmental chamber, the vault resembled a walk-in freezer, with metal walls and a pressed-metal floor. Pretty much every available surface was occupied by machinery — computer screens, thermocouples, an electrocardiogram monitor, a treadmill, and a sort of stationary bicycle that looked like a suitcase with pedals. In the center sat a lawn chair, which a technician indicated I should take.** With me in the chamber was a researcher named Josh Foster. Before he allowed me to enter the vault, Foster had asked for a urine sample —a first in my reporting career. He’d also stuck some electrodes on my chest and performed an ultrasound scan of my heart, which, he said, was unusually low and hard to find. Foster, who is British, is interested in the effects of extreme heat on the body. To this end, he creates miniature heat waves and solicits volunteers to sweat their way through them. **On the day I volunteered, the temperature in the vault was a hundred and six degrees and the humidity forty per cent.** “Temperature regulation is one of the most important variables the body will try to protect,” Foster told me. “Because as soon as you start to stray from what’s normal, outside of a given quite small range, our ability to tolerate that is very, very low.” **Once a topic of marginal academic interest, the physiology of heat stress is now a subject of widespread practical concern. According to a recent study, two hundred and seventy-five million people around the globe are subjected to life-threatening temperatures at least one day a year, and this number could easily grow to eight hundred million by the middle of the century.** According to another recent study, the incidence of “extreme humid heat” has doubled in the course of the past forty years. Some parts of the world, particularly in South Asia and around the Persian Gulf, are already experiencing temperatures close to the human “survivability limit.” **This past summer, heat record after heat record fell. In Pinhão, in northern Portugal, temperatures topped a hundred and seventeen (117) degrees. In Sacramento, California, the mercury hit a hundred and sixteen (116) degrees. Yanjin City, in southwestern China, saw a hundred and eleven (111); Abilene, Texas, a hundred and ten (110); and London a hundred and four (104).** The human body reacts to such temperatures by sweating and directing more blood toward the skin. Problems arise when people become dehydrated, or their hearts get overtaxed, or it’s just so sweltering that they can’t dissipate enough heat. **The elderly are particularly vulnerable to heat stress, Foster told me, because they sweat less than young people, and their hearts don’t pump as efficiently.** (Humidity impedes the evaporation of sweat, which is why extreme humid heat is so dangerous.) One consequence of prolonged heat exposure can be a kind of blood poisoning. “Increased blood flow to the skin means that less blood is being directed toward the gut,” Foster explained. “And, if that happens for a long enough time, it can damage the cells that line the gut, and bacteria that are normally housed in the gut can leak out. It’s basically the same as having sepsis.” **The heat wave that affected most of Europe this past summer is estimated to have killed more than fifteen thousand people.** Sitting in the environmental chamber, with the pill-size thermometer in my stomach, would, I hoped, be edifying without being too edifying. Until the U.S. and the other big emitters reach net zero — indeed, until the entire world reaches net zero — the planet will continue to warm. What is the future we’re creating actually going to feel like? Every quarter of an hour, I was supposed to ride the stationary bicycle for five minutes; this was to simulate the sort of effort a person would have to make in the course of completing ordinary household chores. I started off strong but after a few rounds began to flag. The humidity made the air seem strangely solid. I tried to imagine what it would be like to perform real work under these conditions but found it difficult to hold on to a thought. **A few days later, when I got back home, Foster sent me the data that had been collected by the various instruments. I had sweated out almost a pint of water every hour. My heart rate had increased by thirty beats a minute and the blood "ow through my brachial artery had more than tripled. Despite all the (admittedly involuntary) effort I had made to thermoregulate, my core temperature had risen to a hundred degrees.** #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **See Also:** [Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis | (Sixth IPCC Report)](https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/) Results from a wide range of climate model simulations suggest that our **planet 's average temperature** could be between 2 and 9.9°F (1.1 to 5.7°C) warmer in 2100 than it is today. The main reason for this temperature increase is carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping “greenhouse” gases that human activities produce. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/20/the-alphabet-of-climate-change- from-a-to-z-now-t-for-temperatures-on-earth/>

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The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now S for Sand & Sixth Mass Extinction
by Frack Check WV: admin 19 Jan '23

19 Jan '23

# [The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now S for Sand & Sixth Mass Extinction](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/19/the-alphabet-of-climate- change-from-a-to-z-now-s-for-sand-sixth-mass-extinction/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/4713BA97-EEA5-448A-9F73-25CB893A104D-233x300.png)](… content/uploads/2023/01/4713BA97-EEA5-448A-9F73-25CB893A104D.png) Frac Sand Sentinel is crying out for sanity ~ “sand sanity” for Earth’s sake! **Frac Sand Sentinel #427 ~ “Sixth Mass Extinction”** From the [Newsletter by Patricia Popple, Frac Sand Sentinel](https://wisair.wordpress.com/frac-sand-sentinel/), January 15, 2023 If the Planet is Warming, Why am I Freezing? ~ Scientists for a long time have been looking at the causation of changing weather patterns and climate and how these two elements are instrumental in making changes for us all. Take a look at [this 5 minute link](https://youtu.be/Pe9SbC1D-sk) to help resolve this question in your mind. <https://youtu.be/Pe9SbC1D-sk> Once you have viewed the response to the question above, the concerns regarding the [Sixth Mass Extinction](https://youtu.be/6TqhcZsxrPA) become even clearer by watching this clip from the 60 Minutes broadcast: <https://youtu.be/6TqhcZsxrPA> Paul Ehrlich was on the 60 Minutes show (I could not believe he is 90) but immediately friends recalled seeing him several times on the Johnny Carson Show, beginning in the early 70s. [Paul Ehrlich on Johnny Carson ~ YouTube](https://youtu.be/29PwAu-6oGA) “Who is going to change their living habits?” There are some folks out there who deny and obstruct science of any kind. Those of us who have been involved in fighting the frac sand issues realize the value of our experiences with the hazards of this activity as well as the political differences that divide and conquer us whenever issues of this nature arise. Yet we do have a planet to protect and preserve and make healthier, not only for ourselves but for those who come after us. **NOTE** ~ _Patricia Popple is the Editor_ of the Frac Sand Sentinel in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. The web site is [wisair.wordpress.com](https://wisair.wordpress.com/) and for additional information, [click here for panoramic aerial views](https://lookdownpictures.com/) of frac sand mines, processing plants, and trans-load facilities. [FracTracker.org](https://www.fractracker.org/home/) is also an excellent source of information and a picture source. FRAC SAND SENTINEL | 561 SUMMIT AVENUE, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 **See Also:** [Climate Change and the New Age of Extinction,](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/climate-change-a… the-new-age-of-extinction) Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Magazine, May 13, 2019 People easily forget “last of” stories about individual species, but the loss of nature also threatens our existence. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/19/the-alphabet-of-climate-change- from-a-to-z-now-s-for-sand-sixth-mass-extinction/>

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The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now R for Republicans
by Frack Check WV: admin 18 Jan '23

18 Jan '23

# [The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now R for Republicans](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/18/the-alphabet-of-climat… change-from-a-to-z-now-r-for-republicans/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/A8B0AEB9-E0CD-439F-9E2C-97D58E8895DC.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/01/A8B0AEB9-E0CD-439F-9E2C-97D58E8895DC.jpeg) Republicans seem to be going from bad to worse! **The Letter R for Republicans ~ Republicans Show No Concern for Global Climate Change** From the [Article by Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Magazine](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/28/climate-change-from… to-z), November 28, 2022 **Reaching net zero in the U.S. will require putting such wrangling aside. It will require building out the transmission system while, at the same time, expanding its capacity so that hundreds of millions of cars, trucks, and buses can be run on electricity.** It will require installing tens of millions of public charging stations on city streets and even more charging stations in private garages. Assembling the electric cars and trucks will, in turn, necessitate extracting nickel and lithium for their batteries, which will mean siting new mines, either in the U.S. or abroad. The new cars and trucks will themselves have to be manufactured in an emissions-free manner, which will involve inventing new methods for producing steel or building a new infrastructure for capturing and sequestering carbon. **The list goes on and on.** The fossil-fuel industry will essentially have to be dismantled, and millions of leaky and abandoned wells sealed. Concrete production will have to be reëngineered. The same goes for the plastics and chemicals industries. Currently, ammonia, a critical and water heaters that now run on oil or gas, commercial and residential, will have to be replaced. So will all the gas stoves and dryers and industrial kilns. **The airline industry will have to be revamped, as will the shipping industry.** Farming is responsible for roughly ten per cent of America’s greenhouse-gas emissions, mostly in the form of nitrous oxide and methane. (Nitrous oxide is a by-product of fertilizer use; methane is released by rotting manure and burping cows.) Somehow, these emissions, too, will have to be eliminated. All of this should be done — indeed, must be done. **Officially, the U.S. is committed to reaching net zero by 2050. But a task of this scale has never been attempted before. Zeroing out emissions means rebuilding the U.S. economy from the bottom up. Perhaps Americans recognize this, perhaps not.** In early July, at a time when much of the country was baking in ninety-five- degree-plus heat, the Times took a poll of registered voters. Asked to name the most important problem facing the nation, twenty per cent of the respondents said the economy, fifteen per cent said inflation, and eleven per cent said partisan divisions. Only one per cent said climate change. Among registered Republicans, the figure was zero per cent. #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **See Also:** [Despite Net-Zero Vows, Wall Street 'Climate Arsonists' Still Pumping Billions Into Fossil Fuels](https://www.commondreams.org/news/wall- street-fossil-fuels), Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, January 18, 2023 It is business as usual for most banks and investors who continue to support fossil fuel developers without any restrictions, despite their high-profile commitments to carbon neutrality. Top banks in the United States and around the world have made a show of embracing net-zero emissions pledges, portraying themselves as allies in the fight against the global climate emergency. But a [new analysis entitled “Throwing Fuel on the Fire”](https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Throwing- fuel-on-the-fire-GFANZ-financing-of-fossil-fuel-expansion.pdf) by a group of NGOs makes clear that the world's leading financial institutions — including major Wall Street banks such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America — are still pumping money into fossil fuel expansion, bolstering the industry that is primarily responsible for worsening climate chaos. According to the report, 56 of the largest banks in the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) — a coalition convened by the United Nations — have provided nearly $270 billion in the form of loans and underwriting to more than 100 "major fossil fuel expanders," from Saudi Aramco to ExxonMobil to Shell. Additionally, 58 of the biggest members of the Net-Zero Asset Managers (NZAM) initiative — including the investment behemoths BlackRock and Vanguard — held at least $847 billion worth of stocks and bonds in more than 200 large fossil fuel developers as of September. Both the NZBA and the NZAM are under the umbrella of the **Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net-Zero (GFANZ)** , a campaign launched in 2021 with the goal of expanding "the number of net zero-committed financial institutions." Climate advocates have long argued that net-zero pledges are fundamentally inadequate to the task of stopping runaway warming. "The science is very clear: we need to stop developing new coal, oil, and gas projects as soon as possible if we want to meet our climate goals and avoid a worst-case scenario," said **Lucie Pinson, the executive director and founder of the watchdog group Reclaim Finance**. "Yet, it is business as usual for most banks and investors who continue to support fossil fuel developers without any restrictions, despite their high-profile commitments to carbon neutrality." URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/18/the-alphabet-of-climate-change- from-a-to-z-now-r-for-republicans/>

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The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now Q for Quagmire
by Frack Check WV: admin 17 Jan '23

17 Jan '23

# [The Alphabet of Climate Change from A to Z ~ Now Q for Quagmire](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/17/the-alphabet-of-climate- change-from-a-to-z-now-q-for-quagmire/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/2E5C74AD-1F0E-4251-913C-66A8E1E6481F-300x157.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/01/2E5C74AD-1F0E-4251-913C-66A8E1E6481F.jpeg) High voltage electrical transmission lines operate up to 765,000 volts, for example. (Click image to expand). **The Letter Q for Quagmire ~ The National Electric Transmission Grid System** From the [Article by Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker Magazine](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert), November 28, 2022 Take what’s been called the “transmission quagmire.” To clean up America’s grid, it’s not enough to build new generating capacity, or even new generating capacity plus new storage capacity. Power has to be transported from places that have a lot of wind and sun to urban centers that use a lot of electricity. Decarbonizing the grid will, by one estimate, demand more than a million miles of new transmission lines, and the cost of stringing all these lines will, by another estimate, come to more than two trillion dollars. Managing such a gargantuan project would be difficult enough if someone were in charge. But thanks to the way the grid was put together — bit by bit, over many decades — jurisdiction over transmission lines is divided among an electoral map’s worth of competing authorities. **Whenever lines cross state borders, this Q-mire becomes particularly quaggy. In that case, each state’s utility commission has to sign off. In some states, every affected county does, too. Then there are the local utility companies, which may, officially or unofficially, hold veto power.** “Let’s say I’m a local utility, and you tell me all this low-cost power is going to come in from out of state with a new transmission line,” Steve Cicala, an economics professor at Tufts, said to me. “My reaction is ‘Absolutely not. It’s a threat to my business model.’ And a lot of public- utility commissions are pretty much captured by the local utilities.” The seven-hundred-and-twenty-mile (720 miles) Plains and Eastern Clean Line was supposed to link wind farms in Oklahoma to customers in Tennessee; it was killed by opposition from Arkansas. The Grain Belt Express was designed to run from southwest Kansas to Indiana; it’s been delayed for a decade thanks to resistance from Missouri. The TransWest Express is intended to bring wind power from Wyoming to cities on the West Coast; construction has been held up for years, in good part owing to a single litigious family in Colorado. Northern Pass was a transmission line designed to bring hydropower from Quebec to Massachusetts via New Hampshire. After New Hampshire rejected the project, in 2018, Massachusetts announced that it would try going in a different direction. It would build a line, dubbed New England Clean Energy Connect, that would cut through Maine instead. Work on NECEC was already under way when, in the fall of 2021, Maine voters approved a referendum effectively killing it. Much of the money spent on campaigning in favor of the referendum — and against NECEC — was supplied by NextEra, which owns the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, a potential competitor to the hydro project. #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **See Also:** **[“Tracking Transmission Reform”](https://stateimpactcenter.org/insights/tracking-transmission-refor… The State Energy & Environmental Impact Center,** New York University, School of Law, January 13, 2023 Hear from state attorneys general about why transmission reform is a critical aspect of climate response and what’s at stake, learn about the broad reform needs in this space, and keep track of opportunities to engage in pushing towards more equitable transmission policy. URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/17/the-alphabet-of-climate-change- from-a-to-z-now-q-for-quagmire/>

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Climate Change Resists Narrative, Yet the Alphabet Prevails (A to Z): Now P!
by Frack Check WV: admin 16 Jan '23

16 Jan '23

# [Climate Change Resists Narrative, Yet the Alphabet Prevails (A to Z): Now P!](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/16/climate-change-resists-narrativ… yet-the-alphabet-prevails-a-to-z-now-p/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/88569E3E-F61A-4B17-98F0-D9CD1B502281.jpeg)](https:/… content/uploads/2023/01/88569E3E-F61A-4B17-98F0-D9CD1B502281.jpeg) The ACP and MVP at 42 inches and 300 miles were too damaging to hills, valleys, farms, forests, rivers, creeks and wetlands **“P” = Pipelines Making News About Fossil Fuels** >> **RE** : [“Fractured Sanctuary: A Chronicle of Grassroots Activitists Fighting Pipelines of Destruction in Appalachia”](https://appalachianchronicle.com/book-fractured-sanctuary/) by Michael Barrick, January 12, 2023 **‘From Almost Heaven to Almost Hell’** ~ Containing articles written between 2014 and 2022, it is an account of reluctant, citizen activists who rose up organically in grassroots resistance to the natural gas industry as it has attempted to complete two, 42” pipelines carrying natural gas hundreds of miles through the Appalachian Mountains from the fracking fields of northern West Virginia, southwest Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. It is a first draft of a chapter in a history that is old. The fossil fuel industry has siphoned off billions of dollars of wealth – timber, oil, coal, gas – from Appalachia for well over a century, benefiting corporations, but devastating people and the earth. Indeed, the experience of dealing with the gas companies and dangers of the pipelines led one longtime resident of Lewis County, West Virginia to leave the state. When doing so, she said the state had gone “from Almost Heaven to Almost Hell.” Thousands of people agree with her. This books captures just a few of their stories. Their fight is not over. The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) intends to complete construction by the second half of this year. Powerful interests and people have invested far too much on the project to surrender just yet. The same is true with the activists; they have lost far too much to the MVP to surrender now. So, these accounts, taken together, can be used as a playbook for citizens wishing to ally themselves with MVP opponents and other grassroots activists working to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency in Appalachia – while there is still time. We will soon share additional details regarding signings, town hall-style meetings and other ways to hear the stories, and if you wish, purchase the book. So, please check back soon or go ahead and subscribe so that you can receive every article we publish. There is no cost for the subscription. [Simply enter your email address in the “Follow” box at the top right hand side of the page.](https://appalachianchronicle.com/book-fractured-sanctuary/) January 12, 2023 – MMB. #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **Update Article:** [Amended Forest Service guidelines could remove Mountain Valley Pipeline roadblock,](https://roanoke.com/news/local/amended-forest- service-guidelines-could-remove-mountain-valley-pipeline- roadblock/article_a23f0bb0-82e1-11ed-be34-3351f7d5d1e9.html) Roanoke Times, December 23, 2022 The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests have issued a revised environmental impact statement that could remove a major obstacle to completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The U.S. Forest Service has proposed new construction guidelines that, if adhered to, would enable the 303-mile intrastate natural gas pipeline to traverse a 3.5-mile section of the Jefferson National Forest in Giles and Montgomery counties, the project’s final missing link. The revised environmental impact statement considered two alternatives. One would have taken no action to revise the regulations, which could have dealt the controversial project a potential death blow. It would have required the project to remove sections of pipe currently stored above ground and to restore soil and vegetation altered by digging or timbering. The second alternative, which the Forest Service has recommended, would “allow for the construction, operation, and maintenance” of the pipeline. (This would permit a 600 foot long borehole under the Appalachian Trail.) …. **more at** ….. <https://roanoke.com/news/local/amended-forest-service- guidelines-could-remove-mountain-valley-pipeline- roadblock/article_a23f0bb0-82e1-11ed-be34-3351f7d5d1e9.html> URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/01/16/climate-change-resists- narrative-yet-the-alphabet-prevails-a-to-z-now-p/>

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