#environmemt

Below is a list of some resources (writers, commentators; environmental organisations; books I’ve read so far this year, and documents) providing an overview of our planet’s situation.

Environmental and Climate Advocates:

Elizabeth Kolbert

Bill McKibben

Mary Annaise Heglar

Kate Marvel

David Quammen

Judy Twedt

Paul Hawken

Jamie Margolin

Alexandria Villsenor

Lili Flanigan

Amory Lovins

Hunter Lovins

Organisations:

Oceana

The Ocean Conservancy

Coral Reef Alliance

The Nature Conservancy

World Wildlife Fund

Greenpeace

Environmental Defense Fund

Sunrise Movement

Books:

The Outlaw Ocean--Ian Urbina

All Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change—Michael T. Klare

On Fire: The Burning New Case for a Green New Deal—Naomi Klein

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants—Robin Wall Kimmerer

Wilding: Returning Nature to Our Farm—Isabella Tree

inconspicuous consumption: the environmental Impact you don’t know you have—Tatiana Schlossberg

Other documents:

International Panel on Climate Change  (IPCC) Report

Fourth National Climate Assessment

Here’s a question: Can free market capitalism and protecting the earth go together? 

Many well-off people--and particularly Reagan-era supply-side and “trickle down” advocates--seem to think NOT.

But what if they are wrong?

Consider this (from The Guardian website): 

Economics is broken, and the planet is paying the price.

Unforeseen financial crises. Extreme wealth inequality. Relentless pressure on the environment. Can we go on like this? Is there an alternative?

In Doughnut Economics, Oxford academic Kate Raworth lays out the seven deadly mistakes of economics and offers a radical re-envisioning of the system that has brought us to the point of ruin. Moving beyond the myths of 'rational economic man' and unlimited growth, Doughnut Economics zeroes in on the sweet spot: a system that meets all our needs without exhausting the planet.

The demands of the 21st century require a new shape of economics. This might just be it.

********

I haven’t read this book yet, but plan to.

Kouzo(The most popular materials of Washi)

I studied environmental chemistry analysis at the Department of Urban Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Sanitary Engineering (currently called the Environmental Science Course ...). In particular, I worked on the chemical analysis of "water".

The job is to check the concentration of various impurities contained in water (PPM, PPB, PPT, etc.), and in a sense, it is unique that it does not check "water" itself.

There are various tools for examining these impurities, but the basic operation is "titration", which examines impurities by coloring them. For trihalomethanes and dioxins, gas chromatographs (GS), and for heavy metals, atomic absorption (genshikyukou). May also be used. (There will be more advanced equipment now.)

These experiments require step-by-step pretreatment of the sample. If you do not follow the procedure, no data will be output.

By the way, when I abandoned the above world (including environmental chemistry analysis) and lived in the mountains, I noticed that there were mulberry trees （kouzo:楮)in the mountains, and I thought I should do it. Then, as I learned this technology, I felt that it was very similar to environmental chemistry analysis, and I thought, "I am a resident of environmental chemistry analysis."

The fact that proper paper cannot be produced without proper procedures is exactly the same as environmental chemistry analysis.

Of course, my "skills as a papermaker is not as good as a regular papermaker, but I think I can be a spokesperson for them. Currently, Houses doing papermaking all over Japan. Is it less than 50 houses?

Below are ten environmental rollbacks “completed” by the Trump administration. These rollbacks--and eighty more, in various forms--were listed in a New York Times article titled: The Trump Administration Is Reversing 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List. (July 15, 2020)

While those who support Trump would claim that he is keeping his promises to them, I would ask: At what price to the people and at what price to the earth?

These ten rollbacks--along with all the other havoc being wreaked on our democracy--are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Come November, Trump must fall.

AND--among many other things--the U.S. needs to rejoin the Paris Agreement.

*****

Air pollution and emissions

Completed

1. Weakened Obama-era fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards for passenger cars and light trucks.

E.P.A. and Transportation Department | Read more »

2. Revoked California’s power to set stricter tailpipe emissions standards than the federal government.

E.P.A. |

3. Withdrew the legal justification for an Obama-era rule that limited mercury emissions from coal power plants.

E.P.A. | 

4. Replaced the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which would have set strict limits on carbon emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, with a new version that would let states set their own rules.

Executive Order; E.P.A. | 

5. Canceled a requirement for oil and gas companies to report methane emissions.

E.P.A. | 

6. Revised and partially repealed an Obama-era rule limiting methane emissions on public lands, including intentional venting and flaring from drilling operations.

Interior Department | 

7. Loosened a Clinton-era rule designed to limit toxic emissions from major industrial polluters.

E.P.A. | 

8. Revised a program designed to safeguard communities from increases in pollution from new power plants to make it easier for facilities to avoid emissions regulations.

E.P.A. | 

9. Amended rules that govern how refineries monitor pollution in surrounding communities.

E.P.A. | 

10. Weakened an Obama-era rule meant to reduce air pollution in national parks and wilderness areas.

It is shocking to consider how a well-intentioned but hopelessly misguided political movement—getting rid of government—has laid waste to America. As a nation, we are losing sight of the role that competent governance plays in our everyday lives.

While it is true that our challenges are many--particularly during this difficult time--we would do well to consider what we are losing when we substitute reason with ignorance, deceit and negligence.

To abandon science and sensible environmental policies devalues life. Let’s move forward with vision, not backward and undo what works. If we’re going to change something, let’s be smart about it. And please, can we stop putting profits before people?

We are all connected. What we do and don’t do affects the planet. The universe may appear indifferent, but our earth is not.

For a little perspective, consider what Denis Hayes, the founder of the first Earth Day (1970) has to say about what is at stake this November.

The excerpt below was taken from his April 10 2020 op-ed “The Most Important Election of Your Lifetime” in The Seattle Times:

…”One month after the 1970 election, the Clean Air Act of 1970 passed the Senate unanimously and the House with just one dissenting vote.

In short order, Congress also passed the:

• Clean Water Act

• Occupational Health and Safety Act

• Marine Mammal Protection Act

• Endangered Species Act

• Safe Drinking Water Act

• Set Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards for cars

• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act

• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

• Toxic Substances Control Act

• National Forest Management Act

Additionally, President Nixon established the EPA, and its visionary first head, Bill Ruckelshaus, banned lead in gasoline, banned DDT and banned lead-based paint.

By successfully applying the skills and enthusiasm of Earth Day organizers to the 1970 election, we saved the environmental revolution that had been launched on April 22 of that year.

…”The 2020 election will determine whether the great American experiment — universal suffrage, separation of powers, Bill of Rights, rule of law — will be resuscitated from the dark impact of the worst president in the nation’s history.

The 2020 election will determine whether the United States Senate will once again become the independent chamber of leaders envisioned by the founders, or whether it will drift into long-term status as a chamber of corrupt, inept sycophants.

No this is not a typo, I wrote Spread Awareness.

New series of blog posts yay!

So this is like an intro to the whole series so that you can understand what I’ll be talking about.

Spread Awareness will talk about the different issues we have such as global warming, violence etc etc…

I just wanted to make people aware of what’s going on and realise how dangerous it is. Like snap out of…