Kindle electronic edition now available at Amazon.com

From the Publisher’s Weekly Review, Amazon Website, Spring, 2022

As a sequel to “Notes from a Dying Planet, 2004-2006,” Brown’s eye-opening and often terrifying survey explores what has happened to Earth regarding overpopulation, mass extinction, and climate change in the last two decades.

Aiming to provoke action, Brown painstakingly– and unstintingly– lays out the evidence, drawn from hundreds of articles and studies, of what he calls the “planetary death,” detailing the uptick in extreme weather and climate-related catastrophes, the warning signs that too often languish unheeded, and the likely increasingly horrific disasters we can expect in the future. While he never sugarcoats anything, Brown also offers guidance to steps that readers can take to mitigate these compounding dangers — if we as a species really do want to continue living on the planet we call home.

Brown’s core message — that we have very little time to make massive, life-altering changes in order to save life on the planet as we know it — is delivered alongside copious links covering topics that range from media misinformation to political movements. He never shies away from his fears that we have gone too far as a species to be able to reign in the incredible damage already done, which means the book may prove too wrenching for readers who prefer a sunnier outlook.

Brown sounds a resonant alarm about what’s likely to come if immediate action is not taken, and his advice about alternative personal habits and choices that any of us can make are welcome, though some of the recommendations are challenging. Brown suggests humans stop procreating, arguing “there will be enough younger people to carry on due to accidental pregnancies and births,” and he advises an immediate end to mass tourism that results in unaffordable ecological damage. His writing will spark a fear for the future, but readers will walk away empowered to make personal changes to thwart some of the most dire consequences of resource waste and pollution.

Takeaway: A stark analysis of the threats to our planet, with a provocative call to action for environmentally aware readers.

–
REFERENCE~ “NOTES FROM A DEAD PLANET: Please Prove Me Wrong,” by Paul Brown, PhD

We are learning to protect & share this planet

From the PRI Broadcast by Steve Curwood, et al., April 23, 2021

Over the last 30 years human-caused emissions have increased by 60 percent. Today the atmosphere holds the equivalent of about 420 parts per million of CO2. That is not good news. We began the industrial age in 1760 with concentrations of CO2 at about half those levels and we are now living through the hottest decade in modern human history. As a result we are seeing record breaking heat waves and wildfires from California to Siberia, floods, rising sea levels and shrinking Arctic sea ice. Not to mention, record-breaking Atlantic hurricane seasons, searing droughts and massive tornado clusters. And all this climate disruption is a result of just a single degree centigrade rise in average earth surface temperatures since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

But our broadcast today is not simply a look back or lament. We are also looking ahead, to shine a light on some possibilities to head off climate disruption before civilization as we know it becomes untenable. We will consider the possibilities of economics, politics, applied science and technology to address climate disruption, though so far they have fallen short. So, we will look to see what they may be missing.

CURWOOD: Correlation doesn’t necessarily mean causation, but there are two striking trends that run parallel to the alarming rise in global warming gases. One is the astonishing growth of economic wealth, and in recent years that increase in wealth in the US has been confined to the very richest. In fact, most families in the US have seen little or no gain, with many losing economic power, as many young adults today can’t afford to buy homes like the ones they grew up in. The other trend is the loss of confidence in government action at the national and local levels and the failure of international rules governing climate change emissions to go beyond the honor system.

The concentration of economic and political power related to those trends has historically thrived on the extraction and burning of fossil resources. Climate policy critics including Van Jones, Kristina Karlsson and Bill McKibben say that has to change, if we are to halt our present march toward climate Armageddon. Kristina Karlsson is a program manager for the climate and economic transformation team at the Roosevelt Institute.

JONES: The first industrial revolution hurt the people and the planet, too. The next industrial revolution has to help the people and the planet.

KARLSSON: Meaningfully addressing climate requires an economic transformation in basically all corners of our economy.

MCKIBBEN: I think we’re reaching a turning point. I think that the political power of the fossil fuel industry has begun to wane after a century or two of waxing. And our job is to accelerate that to push hard for really rapid, rapid change.

CURWOOD: There are plenty of ideas about how to preserve a livable climate. And the conventional answer so far has been to double down on approaches that have yet to work, including unproven technology. To save us many advocates say we need market-based solutions such as pricing carbon and technologies such as renewable electricity from solar, wind and other clean energy sources to power our lives. They say we just need to update the systems of the Industrial Revolution that relied on abundant fossil fuels.

GROSS: We had all this energy available, a huge quantity that had never been available before. And that allowed just a complete revolution in the world: revolutions of transportation and manufacturing, all kinds of things that we just never had been able to do before.

CURWOOD: Samantha Gross was a senior climate and energy official for the Obama Administration. Now at the Brookings Institution, she notes that by the twentieth century, oil had become the most valuable commodity on world markets.
GROSS: If you were to design a fuel to be used for transportation, you really couldn’t do a lot better. It’s very energy dense, it has a lot of energy within it for its weight and its size. It’s easily transportable. It’s a liquid, so it works in an internal combustion engine. It’s really an excellent transportation fuel.

CURWOOD: So, she calls for new technologies to power the world while avoiding more climate disruption.
GROSS: We absolutely need both cleaner energy and more energy. There’s roughly a billion people in the world right now who don’t have access to modern energy services. And so, dealing with climate change, while not providing those people with a better standard of living is no solution at all.

CURWOOD: But even with the advent of electric cars like the Tesla and pricing of solar power well below that of coal, the growing profits of green tech have yet to halt the climate emergency. More is needed, says Kristina Karlsson, program manager for the climate and economic transformation team at the Roosevelt Institute.
KARLSSON: The markets will have to be a part of this, we can’t do this without private money. But focusing on those types of mechanisms alone will not get us anywhere near where we need to be in terms of mitigating climate, and it will also further deepen the unequal structurally racist outcomes that that system has already created.

CURWOOD: She says systemic racism has distorted government policies and spending when it comes to environmental justice and climate justice at home and abroad.
KARLSSON: All fiscal policy, even if it seems completely unrelated to climate will have climate implications. So, it’s, it’s really a framing argument and a sort of a policy development principle that saying, you can’t, you can’t ever be climate blind as you’re making choices.

CURWOOD: And Kristina Karlsson adds that if human rights and fairness guide the conduct of governments and businesses it would have a more positive economic impact in the long run than self-centered free market approaches.
KARLSSON: Climate is already an economic cost and an economic drag on our economy. Not only are we actually spending money to mitigate climate disaster that’s happening now. But we’re also seeding risk in our financial system by not dealing with the issue that we all rely on fossil fuels, you know, so we are actively paying for inaction. And as the more we put it off, the more these economic costs are going to compound over time.

Planting trees near Wheeling’s Heritage Trail, learn about tree identification & management

Article by Maureen Zambito, West Liberty University, April 21, 2021

WEST LIBERTY, WV — Just in time for Earth Day, West Liberty University (WLU) students in Professor James Wood’s biology and ecology classes are planting trees in Wheeling’s public spaces and on campus.

Last Saturday students planted two types of native flowering trees along a portion of the Heritage Trail along the Ohio River, near WesBanco Arena. The purchase of the trees was made possible thanks to a grant obtained by West Virginia University Agricultural Extension Agent and Wheeling resident Karen Cox.

“These trees will add beauty to this public green space in the city, supporting birds and other pollinators while also providing shade for trail users in the height of summer heat,” said Wood. “Adding trees along the trail make it better for everyone.”

New signs here

But the students’ work wasn’t done just yet. On Sunday these students partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in addition to WVU Extension, to work on the National Wildlife Refuge at the northern tip of Wheeling Island.

PHOTO — New signage at the northern tip of Wheeling Island identifies the space as a National Wildlife Refuge, perfect for bird watchers.

“The Wildlife Refuge is a such a great resource for the public and for wildlife. It offers beautiful views of the river and is a great place to go bird watching close to downtown,” said Wood. “We are pleased to be a part of improving Wheeling’s public spaces.”

The outreach and service projects also provide WLU students with a hands-on look at careers in natural resources. Extension Agent Karen Cox and U.S. Fish and Wildlife representative Elian Barr spoke with students about working to protect and restore natural areas and educating the public about managing for endangered species and invasive exotic plants.

The students took time to clean up trash found in Wheeling Island’s Wildlife Refuge. “Our next project is closer to home, we’ll plant trees on campus near Campbell Hall,” said Wood.

“The goal is to increase educational opportunities on the WLU campus, while making the campus more visually attractive and promoting conservation. This round of tree planting will support the planting event last fall when over 40 native trees were planted by students during a service project.”

Dr. Wood is a faculty member in the biology department in the College of Sciences. Biology majors include Environmental Stewardship and Education; Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology and Zoo Science. Students also have the opportunity to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology + Master of Science Physician Assistant Studies degree through the 3+2 program.

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See also: The Trillion Trees bill was reintroduced in this Congress

House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Bruce Westerman reintroduced his Trillion Trees legislation in the House yesterday afternoon with over 60 co-sponsors. The bill has provisions related to increasing carbon sequestration through reforestation, improved forest management and market incentives. Among other provisions, the bill removes the cap on the Reforestation Trust Fund to $180 million to help address the reforestation backlog on the NFS. It also has language standing up urban wood and biochar grant programs, as well as integrating carbon storage into FIA and encouraging the Forest Service to utilize advanced geospatial technologies in FIA. The section-by-section summary below is useful.

(a) Westerman Leads Bipartisan Introduction of The Trillion Trees Act | Congressman Bruce Westerman (house.gov)

(b) trillion_trees_act_-_one_pager.pdf (house.gov)

(c) trillion_trees_act_-_section-by-section.pdf (house.gov)

(d) Full Bill Text in US Congress

President Biden invited 40 world leaders to live-streamed summit on Earth Day

From an Article in the Independent News of Great Britain, April 16, 2021

President Joe Biden has asked 40 world leaders to a virtual two-day summit to ramp up efforts in tackling the climate emergency, beginning on Earth Day.

Invitations have gone out to leaders of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, which total about 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Nations on the frontlines of the climate crisis, already facing more extreme weather and rising sea levels, have also been invited along with a number of nations championing climate action.

The list includes Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a signal that the US is willing to put the climate crisis above even its most strained international relations. President Xi is expected to attend, according to a report, while Mr Putin remains a question mark.

For its part, the US is expected to announce a tougher 2030 emissions-reduction target ahead of the summit. The “nationally determined contribution” (NDC), as it’s known, is each nation’s short-term pledge on emissions and a required part of the Paris Agreement.

The New York Times reported this week that ahead of the summit, the Biden administration was close to clinching tougher emissions reduction promises from Japan, South Korea and Canada. But deals had not yet been reached with China, India and Brazil who, along with the US, account for more than half of global emissions.

Some global leaders have publicly confirmed they will attend Mr Biden’s summit, seen as a key milestone ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, in Glasgow this November.

Among those who have confirmed their attendance: Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Antigua and Barbuda; President Alberto Fernandez, Argentina; Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh; President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil; President Sebastián Piñera, Chile; President Xi Jinping, China; President Iván Duque Márquez, Colombia; President Félix Tshisekedi, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Denmark; President Ali Bongo Ondimba, Gabon; Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India; President David Kabua, Republic of the Marshall Islands; President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico; Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Norway; President Andrzej Duda, Poland; President Moon Jae-in, Republic of Korea; Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore; Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain; Prime Minister Boris Johnson, United Kingdom.

Also on the list but yet to publicly confirm are: Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Australia; Prime Minister Lotay Tshering, Bhutan; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada; President Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission; President Charles Michel, European Council; President Emmanuel Macron, France; Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany; President Joko Widodo, Indonesia; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel; Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Italy; Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Jamaica; Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Japan; President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya; Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand; President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria; President Vladimir Putin, Russia; King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa; President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey; President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, United Arab Emirates; President Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Vietnam

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See also: Biden’s Earth Day Summit Is a Crucial Opportunity for Climate Action, Rachel Cleetus & Erika Spanger-Siegfried, Scientific American, April 14, 2021

The president should commit to cutting U.S. emissions at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Wisconsin & Minneasota are being damaged by Frac Sand Mining

From Frac Sand Sentinel, Issue # 329, April 6, 2020

Pause for a moment or two on April 22, 2020. Earth Day was celebrated 50 years ago!

This is the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day! How will it be celebrated? What memories do you have of past civic action? Did you know that in 1972 nearly 2/3 of the lakes, rivers, and coastal waters had become unsafe for fishing or swimming?

Gaylord Nelson, Governor of WI during the 1950’s had passion for environment/ poverty. Residents of Wisconsin joined his concern with the dilapidated state parks, exploiting of public resources by private industry and State’s polluted waterways. He worked to overhaul the DNR to have them focus on conservation, he established the conservation corps and acquired land to be converted into public parks and wilderness areas.

In the 1960’s he became a U.S. Senator. He again built coalitions, fought for environmental issues and through his tenacity Earth Day was created April 22, 1970.

As a U.S. Senator, Nelson championed the legislation below:

1968: National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (St. Croix River in the original) and by November 2018, 209 Rivers in 40 States protected
1968: National Scenic Trails – There are now 11: WI- *Ice Age and *North Country 4600 miles trek.
1970: Apostle Islands became a National Lakeshore
1972: Clean Water Act
1972: The Federal Pesticides Act was amended
1972: Endangered Species Act was passed.

Currently the Federal Government is focused on rolling back regulations. As of December 19, 2019, 58 rollbacks were completed (16 alone in regards to air pollution and emissions), another 37 in process to make a total of 95 rollback regulations.

Take a moment to pause, think about Mother Earth. How important is clean water and clean air in your family’s life? How important is fishing for you? How about other forms of outdoor recreation and scenic views that you can appreciate? Are you familiar with the Big Blue Marble?

With your family at this particularly vulnerable time, develop a plan to make a difference for our planet that gives life and sustenance, comfort and safe havens for all of us to enjoy. Plant a tree!

Help your children appreciate the value of clean and safe surroundings. Feed the birds! Reduce, reuse and recycle.

Appreciate the works of John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Roscoe Churchill, and other great people including Gaylord Nelson who have written about, spoken about and fought through civic participation and for Mother Earth and her inhabitants.

Participate in civic engagement to protect our earth and all forms of life vital to a healthy environment for all.

Enjoy a sunset, a sunrise and various other small surprises like the song of a bird or many to bring appreciation and solitude to all of our souls.

Blessings on this Earth Day, April 22, 2020

HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY!

Patricia Popple, sunnyday5@charter.net

Wisconsin & Minneasota are being damaged by Frac Sand Mining

Welcome to the Frac Sand Sentinel, a newsletter highlighting resource links, news media accounts, blog posts, correspondence, observations and opinions gathered regarding local actions on, and impacts of, the developing frac sand mining and processing industries.

The content of this newsletter is for informational purposes only. The editor of the Frac Sand Sentinel does not accept any responsibility or liability for the use or misuse of the content of this newsletter or reliance by any persons on the newsletters contents.

CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE: CCC-WIS.COM and for additional information, click here for panoramic aerial views of frac sand mines, processing plants, and trans-load facilities. FracTracker.org is also an excellent source of information.

From FRAC SAND SENTINEL | 561 SUMMIT AVENUE, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729

Wind farms spreading in Appalachia

From an Article by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance Newsletter, April 22, 2018

The undertow of protest is having an impact. Corporations fear they will be held accountable for the damage they have done. Governments and elected officials are aware the people are angry and their careers can end with the new political culture created by people power.

The beginning of change always begins with education and changing ourselves. While we know, systemic change is necessary, people are also educating themselves about their own own lifestyles. Thirty-six-year-old Daniel Webb was conscious of the dangers of plastic and decided to keep all of his plastic for a year gathering 4,490 items, 93% were single-use plastic, and just 8 were biodegradable. He made a mural of his plastic to educate others.

The US uses 500 million plastic straws every day. Whenever we order a drink, we rquest no straws and share this fact. This consciousness has permeated the culture, now many restaurants only bring straws when asked, and people are organizing “Don’t Suck”  and “Be Straw Free” campaigns to eliminate plastic straws.

More people spend their money consciously using it to buy organic and local, eating less meat and boycotting factory farm foods. We have more power with our dollar than with our vote in a manipulated “democracy” disguised as an oligarchy.

People are also making changes at the community level.  Edmonston, a working-class town with a median income of $19,000 in Maryland took  small steps to going green. In the early 2000s to ameliorate stormwater flooding, they gradually remade their town into a green town, empty lots turned into community gardens and  rain barrels were added. Now they have permeable pavement, solar panels, fruit trees for food and native plant landscapes with leaves collected by the city and composted.

In Brooklyn, people began reclaiming land with a vacant lot turned into a nearly 2-acre community space with garden beds, an outdoor movie screening area, a pumpkin patch, and an educational production and research farm. They then got data on vacant lots in the city and put bi-lingual signs on them that said: “This land is your land” and told people how to get control of the area, linking them to a website to help. Since 2011, communities have transformed over 200 sites. Municipalization, or fearless cities, may be a key for creating change toward socializing energy into a public service resulting in transformative cities. These changes are not only about the environment and climate justice but are also about economic, racial and social justice.

Despite the government continuing to invest in dirty energy, clean energy is growing. Wind farming is creating jobs in red states like Texas. The Solar Foundation mapped solar jobs by congressional district as solar is the fastest growing source of new energy. Research has been developed on a state-by-state basis to make the United States 100% renewable by 2050, with a national mobilization it could happen more quickly.

There are many challenges at the national level with corrupt federal agencies tied to polluting industries, but people pressure is still having an impact. The Federal Energy Regulatory System (FERC) which has been in bed with the oil, gas, and nuclear industries since its founding, indeed it is funded by those industries, has been the focus of a more than four-year pressure campaign by Beyond Extreme Energy. This June 23-25 they will be holding a Crack the FERC protest campaign to escalate pressure. The protest coincides with the Poor People’s Campaign as addressing the environmental crisis is linked to economic inequality, racism, and other issues.

The environmental crisis and the mishandling of climate change are issues that are going to make the 2020s a decade of transformational change. In order for people to create transformative changes, we need a well-educated activist community.

The Popular Resistance School will begin on May 1 and will be an eight-week course on how movements grow, build power and succeed as well as examine the role you can play in the movement. Sign up to be part of this school so you can participate in small group discussions about how to build a powerful, transformational movement.

https://popularresistance.org/earth-day-conflict-over-future-of-the-planet/

Climate March in Washington, DC

From an Article by  Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, Popular Resistance Newsletter, April 22, 2018

On this Earth Day, it was difficult to look at the state of the planet and the current political leadership and see much hope. In “Junk Planet”, Robert Burrowes writes a comprehensive description of the degradation of the atmosphere, oceans, waterways, groundwater, and soil as well as the modern pollution of antibiotic waste, genetic engineering, nanowaste, space junk, military waste and nuclear, a description of a planet degraded by pollution impacting our bodies and health as well as the planet’s future.

Burrowes includes another form of waste, junk information, that denies reality, e.g. climate change, the dangers of extreme energy extraction and food polluted by genetic engineering, pesticides, and depleted soils. This false reporting results in policies that create a risk of ecosystem collapse.

Political and economic elites want people to believe these problems do not exist. Those in power seek to protect profits from dirty energy rather than transition to 100 percent clean energy. They seek to protect agribusiness food, pesticides, and genetically modified foods rather than transform food to organic, locally grown foods using regenerative agriculture. They deny the reality of environmental racism rather than correct decades of racism and provide reparations. They seek to put profits ahead of the health and necessities of people as well as ahead of protecting and restoring the planet.

Despite this, a growing portion of the public understands these realities and is taking action to challenge the system. People know, for example, as activist Steven Norris writes, that they should be concerned about the impact of carbon infrastructure on their communities and the planet.

Last week, David Buckel, a nationally known advocate for gay rights and the environment, died in a self-immolation suicide as a wake-up call to save the planet. He wrote in a note, “Pollution ravages our planet, oozing inhabitability via air, soil, water and weather. Most humans on the planet now breathe air made unhealthy by fossil fuels, and many die early deaths as a result – my early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves.”

The undertow being created by organized resistance is growing, and so is the push back against it. In order for this conflict to be resolved, the conflict must be heightened as is occurring now.

People Power Escalates

As we write this, tree-sits are growing in West Virginia where people are putting their bodies on the line to prevent the destruction of trees and habitat to build the Mountain Valley pipeline for fracked gas. In Virginia, Red Terry started a tree-sit on Easter weekend to protect her land from destruction. She remains, despite the company with law enforcement support denying her food and water — something illegal against prisoners or during war. As trees are felled she remains, as do protesters in Pennsylvania, who are also doing tree-sits. Their stubborn courage should encourage each of us.

In Louisiana, a water protector locked herself into a cement-filled barrel placed in the trench of a horizontal directional drill to block construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. Eleanor Goldfield reports this is part of the Battle of the Bayou, a coalition of groups and individuals standing against the destruction of a fragile environment, facing arrest and creating a future together.

In Maryland, people blocked construction then escalated to a tractor blockadeto prevent the construction of a compressor station that will bring fracked gas from the Mid-Atlantic to the Dominion export terminal in southern Maryland. People who fought the export terminal for years are now joining with neighboring counties fighting gas infrastructure and mounting a campaign against the Maryland Department of the Environment as Governor Hogan pushes $100 million in gas infrastructure.

People are taking protests to corporate offices as a busload of Lancaster, PA people did when they brought a 12 foot stretch of pipeline to a meeting room, singing songs and chanting, asking “How does it feel to be invaded?” In Bellevue, Washington, protesters constructed a small longhouse blocking the main entrance to the corporate headquarters of an energy company.

California’s Governor Jerry Brown was protested when he came to speak at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Hundreds of people protested Governor Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania over his pro-fracking policies. More politicians will be held accountable in this election year by angry constituents.

The industry recognizes that pipeline protesters are having an impact.  Canada is having a hard time moving tar sands and fracked gas because protests are stopping pipeline investment. Oil companies are successfully being pressuredto examine the risks to the environment and human rights from their actions. Washington activists defeated the largest oil-train terminal in the nation.

Protests are successfully resulting in cities divesting from banks who fund fossil fuel projects. Europe’s largest bank, HSBC just announced it will no longer fund oil or gas projects in the Arctic, tar sands projects, or most coal projects. Corporations realize they are investing in stranded assets that may not pay off and they may be held legally accountable for causing climate change.

National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are for harmful pollutants

>>> Editorial of Morgantown Dominion Post, Earth Day, 2018

Oddly, the largest secular holiday in the world this year happens today — on a Sunday. It is estimated that more than a billion people will celebrate Earth Day in more than 190 countries. Unlike many of our holidays this is not just an American concept of a celebration that can be traced to elsewhere!

The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, is embedded in events on America’s campuses, public schools and its communities. More than 20 million people celebrated and peacefully demonstrated then in favor of environmental reform. By that year’s end — Dec. 2, 1970 — the Environmental Protection Agency was created by an executive order of President Nixon. Its initial mission was to administer the Clean Air Act (also enacted in 1970), to reduce air pollution and enforce other landmark environmental legislation to come.

By the mid-1990s the EPA was enforcing 12 major statutes, including laws applied to ocean dumping, safe drinking water and asbestos hazards. This federal agency’s accomplishments are historic and have literally changed the world. For example, EPA enforcement was primarily responsible for a decline of up to one-half of most air-pollution emissions in the U.S. from 1970 to 1990.

Space does not allow us to list the EPA’s achievements, including significant improvements in water quality and waste disposal or agreements with automakers to install catalytic converters in cars.

Though vilification of the EPA predates the Trump administration, the EPA now prioritizes the very industries it’s supposed to regulate over the environment it’s sworn to defend. As mission statements go, the EPA’s is unequivocal: “Our mission is to protect human health and the environment.” We note that just so anyone today who had any doubts can rest assured.

But the truth is, the EPA’s administrator, Scott Pruitt, since taking office has driven this agency over an environmental and ethical cliff. He has halted guidelines to curb oil and gas facilities’ emissions. He has set his sights on regulations that protect wetlands ands streams. And he proposes to undo efforts to generate electricity by cleaner methods. This month, Pruitt also announced plans to scuttle requirements for cars and trucks to become more fuel efficient by 2025.

On the ethical front he spends millions on a 20-man around-the-clock security detail, first-class flights and a $43,000 soundproof phone booth. Yet, today we are more upset about the ongoing initiatives to not just relax, but to vacate environmental protections. Make no mistake these protections not only go the core of the EPA’s mission. They go to the core of planet Earth’s very existence.

https://www.dominionpost.com/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/2018/04/2018-04-22.pdf

Earth Day Founder Calls for End to Plastic Pollution

From an Article by Erik Hoffner, Mongabay (EcoWatch.com), April 19, 2018

Denis Hayes was the principal national organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, and he took the event to the international stage in 1990. He is board chair of the international Earth Day Network, and president of the Bullitt Foundation.

Earth Day 2018 is on April 22 and focuses on plastic pollution, so Mongabay took the opportunity to ask him about this year’s event and find out what else is on the mind of this key leader of the international environmental movement.

Interview With Denis Hayes

Erik Hoffner for Mongabay: What was the impetus for the first Earth Day, nearly 50 years ago now?

Denis Hayes: There were hundreds of important “environmental” issues before the first Earth Day: DDT & bird deaths. Air & water pollution. Oil spills. Herbicide use in Southeast Asia. Wilderness areas.

But they were commonly viewed as unrelated. One prominent leader actually asked me, “What the hell does air pollution have to do with birds?” Earth Day took all these myriad strands and wove them into the fabric of modern environmentalism—linked by a coherent set of values and grounded in an ecological framework. When added together, they formed the basis for a formidable new political force.

Mongabay: What’s the theme of this year’s Earth Day, and how can people get involved?

Denis Hayes: The 2018 theme is “End Plastic Pollution.” There is not much that the average person can do about the Pacific Garbage Patch or to ban endocrine disrupting plasticizers except scream at politicians to take the issues seriously. So inviting political leaders to rallies and teach-ins and confronting them can be useful. An aroused public can overcome a powerful economic interest, but only when the issue is felt intensely. Until ending “one-way” plastics becomes a political priority around the world, [their manufacture] will continue unabated. Meanwhile, we nevertheless each should “be the change we want to see.” The world produces at least a trillion plastic bags each year. Don’t be part of this gigantic waste stream that makes a one-way trip from the oil well to the dump. Earth Day Network has produced an excellent, free, downloadable primer on plastic pollution and what people can do about it as well as a “plastic footprint” calculator. And if you want to organize an event in your neighborhood, see www.earthday.org/yourjourney2018

Mongabay: We regularly cover the news of plastic and microplastic pollution, like the recent revelation that the Pacific Garbage Patch is much heftier than thought, and growing—the scope of the issue is just mind boggling. What do you hope the 2018 Earth Day efforts will accomplish, in the face of news like that?

Denis Hayes: It ranges in size from the North Pacific Gyre to nanoplastic fibers small enough to penetrate individual cells. We are finding microplastics in treated drinking water, in soft drinks, in beer … (maybe the discovery in beer will unleash a whole new constituency?) Environmental regulation has been most successful inside nation states. Transboundary issues (like migratory species that may need habitat on three continents) or global commons issues (like marine pollution and greenhouse gases) pose much tougher issues. 2018 will focus mostly on local, state and national policies, and also individual behavior. It’s my hope that by 2020—the 50th anniversary—we will be able to build a global constituency for action on the planetary scale.

Mongabay: You live in a major population center in America’s Pacific Northwest. How are cities there and in British Columbia models of sustainability?

Denis Hayes: It would be shockingly arrogant for any city to characterize itself as a “global model of sustainability.” Portland, Vancouver and Seattle are all making progress on super-efficient buildings, bicycling and electric vehicles, public transport, local and organic food, etc. But if “sustainable” means capable of being continued for thousands of years into the future—coupled with strong elements of social justice—there is no city on the planet that is close to sustainable. Our cities, along with Copenhagen, Freiburg, Malmo and others are at least making a serious effort.

Mongabay: Your office, the Bullitt Center, is made of wood and is said to be the world’s greenest office building. The Northwest has a long history of wooden buildings, so what’s your take on the trend of building large urban wooden structures, including skyscrapers?

Denis Hayes: We built the Bullitt Center before Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) made its debut in the United States. We were the first 6-story, heavy timber building constructed in Seattle since 1927. But with CLT, it is theoretically possible to build structures that are 40 or 50 stories tall. If the wood comes from forests that mimic ecosystems—forests that will remain healthy for thousands of years into the future—then wood can be a very attractive building material. We are still gaining a greater understanding of what that means, but for the present, being certified by the Forest Stewardship Council is a pretty good proxy for sustainable forestry. Every piece of wood in the Bullitt Center is FSC certified.

Of course, there is no free lunch. Even ecological forestry can be damaging. Beavers are damaging. But properly-sourced wood can be vastly less harmful than concrete and steel, as well as more beautiful and longer-lasting.

Mongabay: What would you say are the biggest challenges for Northwest forests in 2018?

Denis Hayes: Tens of millions of acres of West Coast forest have been killed by insects, mostly various bark beetles that global warming is allowing to spread into new regions. Hopefully, predators will follow them, and the ecosystems will get back into equilibrium soon. There have been hundreds of small- and medium-sized fires, but so far we have not had the vast inferno that was everyone’s worst fear.

Beyond that, there is a threat hidden in the opportunity provided by CLT. Understandably, politicians are falling all over themselves with enthusiasm for this new building material. Done well, it could be a boon. But if the now-dormant timber beasts are unleashed by the Trump administration to wantonly rape and pillage the region’s forests, we could see the re-ignition of the timber wars of the 1990s.

As for other environmental issues, I do my best to stay on top of most of the things that appear to be urgent and important. Currently on my desk are things having to do with autonomous vehicles, passivhaus buildings, tariffs on Chinese solar modules, ocean acidification, and antibiotic resistance. I love my job!

Mongabay: It was big news last week when the kids’ case “Juliana v. United States,” suing the federal government over its climate change inaction, was approved to go to trial in Eugene, OR, after much stalling and avoidance tactics from the Trump administration. Are you proud it’s been led by many young people and their adult advocates in the Northwest (and elsewhere)?

Denis Hayes: As it turns out, I had lunch just today with one of the plaintiffs in that case, Aji Piper, and one of the attorneys is an old friend. More precisely—as is so often the case these days—that attorney is the daughter of a dear old friend. I love that young people are waking up again, whether around gun violence, skyrocketing tuition, or environmental issues. Big dramatic change, when it happens, is usually led by the young. America’s civil rights struggle, the anti-war movement that toppled a president, and the environmental movement that fundamentally changed the rules of the game for industry were all led by kids in the 1960s and 70s. I’m hoping that some of the aged veterans of the 1960s will be able to find common cause with the angry young activists today — a gray-green alliance.

Mongabay: I’ve read that Earth Day is now the most widely observed secular holiday in the world. What does that look like?

Denis Hayes: If “observed” means a day on which people actually engage in some activity in support of a cause, I think it probably is. Most secular holidays tend to be national, like the Fourth of July or Bastille Day. Earth Day is observed in very different ways in different countries, and in different cities within the same nation. It will vary depending on which issues are resonating, what sorts of activities are acceptable in different polities and different cultures. Earth Day Network India is a year-round organization addressing issues ranging from protecting Asian elephants to empowering women (which brings innumerable indirect benefits, from smaller family sizes to smarter public policies). On Earth Day itself, most Indian activities focus on schools. The group has produced digital texts that are widely distributed, and it engages students in all manner of environmental restoration projects.

Actually, grade schools and high schools remain a crucial element of Earth Days around the world. When a billion little green guerrillas head home with messages relating to sustainability, it has a real world impact. Every parent wants to be a hero to his or her kids.

Mongabay: It perhaps points out the failures of the environmental movement, that a day to raise awareness of the ecological crises the world faces is still needed almost 50 years later. But it helped galvanize a movement for change that achieved many accomplishments, right?

Denis Hayes: The first Earth Day was purely a national effort, and it was successful beyond our wildest dreams. In the five years following that first Earth Day, America established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and passed:

• Clean Air Act (1970)
• Environmental Quality Improvement Act (1970)
• Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act (1971)
• Clean Water Act (1972)
• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (1972)
• Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (1972)
• Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972)
• Endangered Species Act (1973)
• Safe Drinking Water Act (1974)
• Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards (1975)
• Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (1975)
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976)
• Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)
• National Forest Management Act (1976)

Tens of trillions of dollars have been spent differently, and better, because of that legislation. Human health has improved dramatically, and the environment has improved immeasurably. But (1) we’ve never managed to enjoy similar success on trans-national and global issues, and (2) in the United States, the environment has been caught up in the dim-witted, whacko politics of the Trump administration. The current EPA head is by far the most irresponsible director that agency has had in a half century. It’s my hope that the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in 2020 will produce an unprecedented global outpouring of outrage over climate change and other global threats, and demands that all governments do whatever is necessary to preserve a habitable planet. Is there any more fundamental obligation of political leaders than making sure that humanity has a future?

Mongabay: What else is on your mind?

Denis Hayes: There are two important ideas that I’d like to close with. First, in the 1960s and 1970s, the news media were not omnipresent and were more relaxed. A “day” could have an enduring impact. In America, people of a given age still remember the March on Selma and the March on the Pentagon, one-day events that marked major milestones. Earth Day (which stretched over a couple of weeks but was 90 percent focused on April 22) left an indelible legacy.

Today, a “day” is simply a news cycle, forgotten the next morning. With that in mind, Earth Day 2020 will be more like a meme than a day. Hopefully, it will last for many months, with innumerable developments tied together with a common branding. For example “Indonesian forest destruction halted #EarthDay2020,” or “Saudi Arabia commits to 20 GW solar plant #EarthDay2020,” or, more tragically, “Five more environmental activists murdered #EarthDay2020.” We need to build in the experiences of #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo and #EndGunViolence to create a global community—on myriad different platforms—of billions of people committed to a peaceful, healthy, equitable future.

Second, Earth Day is not a top-down enterprise. Earth Day Network has no global command-and-control structure. Modestly resourced, it functions through inspiration, encouragement and shared values. So the success of Earth Day 2020 will be entirely dependent on the voluntary efforts of people like the readers of Mongabay deciding what’s really important to them and contributing their efforts to this global campaign.

Earth Day 2020 provides a framework and a value system, but humanity-writ-large will need to fill #EarthDay2020 with content and policies. Earth Day has always been premised on the belief that humankind, like other species, has hard-wired within it the will to survive, and that it will do what is necessary toward that end.

Earth Day Message to the President, VP, Admin. & Congress

From FORREST CLINGERMAN, Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Ohio Northern University

Dear President Trump, Vice President Pence, Members of the Trump Administration and 115th Congress,

Greetings on Earth Day!  From its start in 1970, Earth Day has drawn the support of people from all walks of life and every corner of the country. Earth Day is also a time to remember just how closely related environmentalism and religious commitment have been in American history, as John Muir exemplifies. The beauty and fecundity of the landscape we call home is engrained in our national consciousness and celebrated as God’s glorious “handiwork” (Psalm 19:2).  From sea to shining sea, from the Berkshires to the Sierras, from the Great Black Swamp of my part of Ohio to Washington’s Potomac watershed, our natural world is considered a blessing. We are living in a wonderful and divine Book of Nature.

Yet our economy and politics are laying siege to the environment. These are not problems affecting somewhere else, at some other time.  Environmental crises are happening here and now, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable members of our society. Our actions do violence against our human and non-human neighbors and threaten the entire universe.

Nowhere is this more apparent than when we reflect on U.S. climate policy. We are decades past debating the reality of climate change, yet you appointed Scott Pruitt as EPA Director, a person who has ignored the science of climate change. Furthermore, your administration proposed funding cuts for scientific monitoring and environmental research, and you have cut curbs aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Assessments like the EPA’s Climate Change Indicators in the United States (2016) show how climate change is already affecting health, safety, the environment, and the economy. Denial of this reality is neither intellectually nor ethically acceptable.

Trust in God requires us to face the truth, however terrifying or inopportune it may be to our plans and our politics. Faith in God means living in hope, working toward what theologian David Klemm and ethicist William Schweiker call “the integrity of life before God” (Religion and the Human Future, 2008). On Earth Day, let us vow to mend our ways and atone for our climate sins. With a sense of hope, let us take seriously our role as stewards of a world once deemed “very good” (Genesis 1:31).

Yours sincerely,

Forrest Clingerman
Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy
Ohio Northern University

>>> Forrest Clingerman, Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Ohio Northern University, is a specialist in how Christian thought engages environmental issues. As an author of scholarly works in religion and philosophy, he has written on such things as climate change, ecological restoration, local ethics, and appreciating the spiritual meaning of place.  He is co-editor of Teaching Civic Engagement (Oxford University Press, 2016), Theological and Ethical Perspectives on Climate Engineering (Lexington Books, 2016), and Interpreting Nature: The Emerging Field of Environmental Hermeneutics (Fordham University Press, 2014).
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