E.P.A. to Seek 30 Percent Cut in Carbon Emissions by 2030

[telemann.livejournal.com]

New York Times: Unveiling New Carbon Plan, E.P.A. Focuses on Flexibility

The Obama administration on Monday announced one of the strongest actions ever taken by the United States government to fight climate change, a proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation to cut carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, according to people briefed on the plan.

The regulation takes aim at the largest source of carbon pollution in the United States, the nation’s more than 600 coal-fired power plants. If it withstands an expected onslaught of legal and legislative attacks, experts say that it could close hundreds of the plants and also lead, over the course of decades, to systemic changes in the American electricity industry, including transformations in how power is generated and used.

Comments

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

But solar power users are selfish d*cks who aren't contributing to grid maintenance fees!

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, last night on Cosmos, Neil deGrasse Tyson covered two instances where solar power was at a crossroads to become a major player in supplying energy to the world. I had never heard of these before, so it was extremely informative. He also covered climate change in general and handled a lot of the deniers' typical arguments; and also gave a historical background on the scientific theory on the relationship of human based CO2 and climate change, and he also talked about the very specific type of CO2 isotope that we can measure, and that's what's been increasing for the last 150 years (i.e. it's not volcano's eruptions, it's not the Sun, and it's definitely not Mars).

He was also elaborating what went wrong with Venus (Earth's sister planet) and why a runaway greenhouse gas effect took place there; and why Earth was "saved." The quick answer: Earth kept its oceans, Venus lost them. But unless I missed the reason, Dr. Tyson didn't explain how Venus lost its oceans/water. He also mentioned in passing that Carl Sagan's first major academic paper was research on Venus' runaway greenhouse effect in 1960.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Venus is fascinating. Ray Bradbury had early sci-fi stories about it being a planet of endless rain when in truth, it's a place right out of Dante's Inferno.

In any case, it seems only logical to utilize a power source as abundant as the sun.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Venus if it had water on its surface:

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is some mountain range.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

The surface would look different I think, if Venus had plate tectonic movement. But you need water for that process to occur. So this is a representation of a locked surface, not one that would have moved around had water been present.

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

I love the old Venus and Mars stories, before we really understood just how inhospitable those two worlds actually were.

Zelazny started writing right about the time when it was becoming late to write those sorts of tales (because popular perception of those worlds was changing to match scientific discovery,) but he went ahead and quickly wrote "The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth" and "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" for Venus and Mars, respectively. He figured: "I need to write these now, before it's TOO late."

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Bradbury's Martian Chronicles were wonderful.

[cursethedark.livejournal.com]

I just finished reading the hardbound Bradbury collection from B&N, which includes Martian Chronicles. So many amazing stories.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

Venus lost lighter gasses because it doesn't have earth's magnetosphere. That's what keeps the lighter gasses from getting blown away by solar wind on earth.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I know that was a factor for Mars too. We're fortunate.

[blackdwarv.livejournal.com]

It doesn't have a magnetosphere because it's core is both less iron-rich and because it doesn't move in relation to the surface (Which is likely caused on earth due to plate tectonics which is in turn caused by... the presence of water.)

Nobody is quite sure, but it's likely one of those chicken-and-egg issues where more iron would have caused more water to form early, which would have caused a magnetosphere which would have caused more water to stay...

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

Last night's Cosmos touched on it in such a great way, especially in how it acknowledged a lot of the deniers' arguments, and answered them.

Also, I think I know the second person from the left in that picture. Actually, several of that person...

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

My favorite episode was the one about Clair Patterson:
The Latest "Cosmos" Explains How Corporations Fund Science Denial (http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/04/cosmos-neil-tyson-lead-industry-science-denial)

[telemann.livejournal.com]

You're also seeing that same scenario being played out by the sugar lobby, in an effort to undercut new research that will affect their business model too.

[dexeron.livejournal.com]

The Clair Patterson one was powerful.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

And if it were happening today, that guy would be buried, literally or figuratively.

[angelcerv25.livejournal.com]

It must happen, or we will die. The earth is dying because we abuse it and are killing it. This is fact. If it dies, we die.

[blackdwarv.livejournal.com]

Not really true.
The earth isn't dying. And even if we kill each other off in a decade, the earth will spin on, and new life will form.

...what kind of life, and whether intelligence will ever form again, that is a good question, but the Earth will survive us. The question is whether we want to be around for the next few generations or no.

[angelcerv25.livejournal.com]

Good point, the earth is tough and will defend itself from us.

That's what's so scary.