In Between Times 4-5-2024
Saving the Earth and jobs, Congress concerned with EPA pace on carbon capture, Deforestation slows and grows, Why does deforestation happen?
An opportunity to speak with, listen to, and break bread with many of the people changing our world for the better. Investors, scientists, C-suiters, activists, and you in an engaging and open environment. We hope to see you there!
Earthx2024
One Planet - One Mission
There’s no other sustainability gathering like it.
April 22-26 in Dallas - Save Your Place - CLICK HERE
Plan to stash pollution beneath the sea could save money and jobs
“We are very scared about the future of our industries,” said Michele De Pascale, the mayor of Ravenna. “We have to reach this goal to reduce CO2 emissions, but we want to do it without destroying our industries,”
This is a very real fear for millions of people around the planet. As pressures increase to limit carbon and other emissions many people look to the future with dread, not because of impending climate change, but because of impending economic change.
Many who are not employed by oil and gas, fertilizer companies, chemical manufactures, and plastics manufacturers can not fully relate to the existential angst felt by many whose livelihoods are attached to these industries. Their concerns are very real, important to consider, and can not simply be dismissed as the collateral damage of change.
But times do indeed change, even in very slow to change Italy where oil giant Eni is developing a novel carbon capture technology in the Aegean Sea which may help many of their workers transition to a lower carbon economy.
(From The New York Times)
The company is proposing to construct a network of pipelines to sweep up the carbon dioxide from the sites and store it away in old natural gas reservoirs. It sees this process, known as carbon capture and storage, as a promising new business line that would aid its shift to cleaner activities…
…The company wants to diversify away from the oil and gas sales that have long been its mainstay, but it faces an uncertain future because of climate change concerns. Eni executives calculate they will have an edge because they can make use of the company’s existing infrastructure like wells and pipelines and redeploy employees.
“It is very easy to reskill or shift people,” said Claudio Descalzi, Eni’s chief executive.
There are vast stores of mental capital in the oil and gas industries and this capital can be deployed toward a more sustainable future.
In fact it must be.
Click here for the article.
New York Times: The new climate tech
Chevron buys stake in carbon capture company ION Clean Energy
Right now there is a lot of movement in the carbon capture space. There is broad interest in current technologies but more importantly there is broad interest in developing the technologies to come. Carbon capture (direct and otherwise), if it can be scaled, will fundamentally change the climate equation.
Some think carbon capture will never get there, but that’s what many people said about solar too not so long ago.
The resources pouring into carbon capture, both private and public, are massive and there is every reason for optimism.
(From Carbon Herald)
ION is among the older carbon capture firms, having been on the market since 2008, and specializes in developing amine-based carbon capture technology, designed particularly for hard-to-abate sectors with high volumes but low concentrations of carbon emissions.
The approach works by collecting flue gas into an absorption tower, where CO2 is absorbed by liquid solvent at a capture rate of up to 99%, whereas the remaining flue gas is released into the air.
In turn, the CO2 is then passed through a heat exchanger, after which it is compressed and transported to a storage location or is utilized further, for instance, to create products of value.
Click here for the article.
“I think from a carbon capture standpoint, I think we all know in the industry that there is no net zero without carbon capture and carbon capture at scale.” - Ken Gilmartin, CEO Wood PLC
Members of the House Bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus want to know why EPA has delayed permitting of underground carbon dioxide storage projects
The Washington sausage making machine in (in)action.
In a letter sent by seven lawmakers to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, they also challenge EPA’s “dismal” record of deploying so-called Class VI wells for long-term underground carbon storage following their approval through the permitting process.
Axios: The tropics lost the equivalent of 10 football fields of forest per minute last year
It certainly is not all bad news. Deforestation in Brazil and Columbia is down. But in other parts of the tropics like Nicaragua and Laos it is up.
Generally the world appears to be listing, at this moment, in the right direction on deforestation. But ten football fields per minute is certainly not sustainable and that rate is absolutely not in line with the international deforestation goals set for 2030.
Global deforestation peaked in the 1980s. We’ve made progress but there is much more to do.
To understand this more recent loss of forest, let’s zoom in on the last 300 years. The world lost 1.5 billion hectares of forest over that period. That’s an area 1.5-times the size of the United States.
In the chart we see the decadal losses and gains in global forest cover. On the horizontal axis we have time, spanning from 1700 to 2020; on the vertical axis we have the decadal change in forest cover. The taller the bar, the larger the change in forest area. This is measured in hectares, which is equivalent to 10,000 m².
Study: Mapping the diversity of land uses following deforestation across Africa
Small-scale cropland was the dominant driver of forest loss in Africa, resulting in 64% of total forest loss from the year 2001 to 2020. This was also the case for most countries…
Event
April 20 @ 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm CDT
Talking Politics: A CPL Workshop
Hosted by Crossing Party Lines
Location: Online
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Civil, respectful discourse. Talking. Listening.
In CPL 101 we’ll share the secrets of Talking Politics in a way that invites others to listen instead of daring them to defend against your ideas or shut you down. Talking politics refers to sharing your views in a way that supports dialogue instead of debate. Rather than the typical political speak we hear in the media and debates that is all about telling others how they should think, CPL’s approach to talking politics provides insight into why your political views make sense to you; it promotes curiosity, respect and connection and helps others understand how their views and yours can coexist without either of you being wrong or immoral. But it is not easy, because we’re conditioned to defend our point of view rather than share it or share about ourselves.
In this meetup we will practice skills that enable us to speak across our differences in a way that moves us all forward and deepens our understanding of where our views come from. We will explore strategies for overcoming communication barriers, and we will practice productive civil discourse.
There are no prerequisites for this workshop. All are welcome.
Deforestation should not be happening. We need trees to clean the air.
It's happening to build cities, extraction, and etc. Destroying the Native Americans identity.