RENewsletter August 19, 2012

RENewsletter | August 19, 2012

The Free environmental newsletter from RochesterEnvironment.com

“Our Environment is changing: Keep up with the Change.”

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[08/12/2012 – 08/19/2012]

Opening Salvo: “Let’s be reasonable on Fracking and Climate Change”

It’s hard to figure out why so many are so complacent about the looming Fracking decision coming to New York state and the lack of discourse on Climate Change in this year’s presidential elections. Both are going to come to a conclusion soon and will have very long-term impacts, maybe forever.

For some these issues just as aren’t as interesting as sports. Some are too busy. For others, they’ve had the rational branches of their brains rendered null and void by their political party’s beliefs. Or, the quiet majority still believes that the invisible hand of capitalism will sort everything out by the mindless machinations of money. And, there are those who say they just don’t care. But that isn’t a reason so much as the point Jesus was making in Luke 23:34 when he said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know ...”

Others may be lured by the golden mean fallacy—where it is believed that the answers can be found by warring parties compromising. Extremist rhetoric, like that of Barry Goldwater's acceptance speech at the 1964 Republican Convention—“Extremism In The Defense Of Liberty Is No Vice”—still sends shivers through political analysts today. Reasonableness, as a general principle, seems to be the best course. But there is an inherent deception in thinking our gravest problems can be solved in a middle ground. Both Fracking and Climate Change are unlikely to be solved reasonably by giving in to the popular zeitgeist of reasonableness because the measure, the final arbitrator, is not social propriety, but the cold hard laws of physics.

On Fracking, the governor of New York is going to make a decision at any moment. He is going to do this despite a litany of issues that have yet to be resolved—public health issues, Fracking chemical disclosures, possible water contamination, public road repairs, drilling for more greenhouse gases, sufficient well monitoring—and while any one of these should give the governor pause, the long-term threat to our sovereignty over our environment may be the most immediate. If the numerous Fracking moratoriums across the state are undermined by a ruling that supersedes Home Rule, all the concerns above will play out—whether we want them to or not. Because of the pervasive character of Fracking, where horizontal drilling bores underneath us for miles, we will have lost control of the very land beneath our own communities.

On Climate Change and the presidential elections: Both parties for all their sound and fury seemed to have agreed not to talk about Climate Change, which is quite a trick considering the devastating heatwaves this summer and the prognostications by the experts that this is the new normal. The leader of the most powerful country in the world won’t have to explain his position on the most important issue in the world.

Nothing seems to be changing on either of these two issues; we are running headlong towards a version of the future that doesn’t have to be but probably will be because too many don’t want to appear unreasonable.

Highlighting that, what’s really dismal about the prognosis in 2052-A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years by a host of Climate Change experts is that all along the progression of warming we’ll deny it and fight every plan to solve it unless it pleases our most immediate self-interest.

Time passes.

FrankRegan@RochesterEnvironment.com (Click on my email for feedback)

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* Got news? | Go to my blog: Environmental Thoughts - Rochester, NY or Tweet me @ http://twitter.com/#!/FrankRrrr On Twitter and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RochesterEnvironment and Examiner/RochesterEnvironment, I post local environmental events, news, and commentary as soon as it happens. If you think this newsletter, which continually informs our community on our local environmental news, events, actions, is worthwhile, please encourage others to sign up. We who care about our environment and future need to ‘Occupy’ the Rochester media to change how the public views environmental news.

The great conundrum of our times is that in a time of rapidly occurring Climate Change and a rapid disintegration of the environment that we need to thrive and survive, mainstream media still marginalizes environmental concerns. [Check often for this continually updated list on the possible consequences of Climate Change in our region--supported by facts.] If there isn’t a quick and substantial change in how environmental concerns are reported, edited, and chosen in mainstream media, the public will continue to believe that environmental concerns are merely special interest matters, issues they can avoid if they choose. How can we inform the public and monitor our environment without abridging our Freedoms--in enough time to safe ourselves?

Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet. -- Carl Sagan

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NewsLinks – Environmental NewsLinks – [Highlights of major environmental stories concerning our area from the past week]

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Updates – Daily Updates – [Connecting the dots on Rochester’s environment. Find out what’s going on environmentally in our area—and why you should care? Clicking on -DISCUSSION – will take you to my blog “Environmental Thoughts, NY, where you can add your comments.]

8/18/2012 -As we are bound and determined to put every scintilla of fossil fuels from the ground into the atmosphere despite Climate Change, we ought to know what some of the tactics are. Wouldn’t it be better to go solar and wind rather than tar sands? Infographic: How Tar Sands Oil Is Produced

The oil product extracted from Canada's tar sands isn't like conventional crude. Known as bitumen, it's sticky and so thick, it can't flow down a pipeline without extensive processing. There are two methods for getting bitumen out of the ground and turning it into usable products. Both are complex, energy-intensive and expensive processes – but high oil prices are finally making tar sands profitable. NPR Environment

8/18/2012 - Consider the impacts of our food on our health and our environment: "Sierra RRG Vegetarian/Biodiversity Committee DVD Potluck Series Ongoing series of DVD vegetarian potlucks. First date Sunday, 9/9, 5:30 pm "Forks Over Knives" at Margie Campaigne’s home. MUST RSVP to 585 288-2224 to reserve limited seating, get address. FoodsForYourSoul.com: "The film suggests that Americans are simply eating themselves to death with their unhealthy, (and unsustainable–my word) food choices like fast food, junk food, and excessive amounts of meat…. It also introduces us to the idea that what we eat has more than just health implications, but also environmental ones."
8/18/2012 - Check out this short video on water quality for Lake Ontario: Warning From Lake Ontario Waterkeeper YouTube (8/9) "Lake Ontario Waterkeeper presents information about water quality in Lake Ontario."
8/18/2012 - Our lawns in our Climate Change future? In the future, as Climate Change makes the dry and hot conditions like this summer the new normal, we might all view our lawns as part of the region’s environment baseline, returning it as much as possible to a state before human management. When you consider how much of our region is privately owned, it would have a profound impact on our ability to have a sustainable environment. Going natural with your yard Dead grass can be replaced with an eco-friendly alternative Drought-like conditions in July left many area lawns parched and brown. That has led to more inquiries about ways to replace lawns with natural landscaping, area experts say. “More people are just fed up with their yards this summer,” says Laurie Broccolo, president of Broccolo Tree and Lawn Care in Henrietta. Already there is a national movement toward more sustainable landscaping that leaves less of a carbon footprint, so the dry conditions made more people curious, area landscape professionals say. (August 18, 2012) Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
8/17/2012 - Do we need gadgets to check the quality of Nature’s services? This water drinking app (see below) is a great idea, where you check to see if there are any drinking advisories on Canadian drinking water, but it’s got to run shivers down your spine. Have we become so inured to poor water quality through the shifting baseline syndrome of industrial pollution that we need to check an app on our Smartphone before we drink any municipality’s water? Back in the day, we would just come to a stream and drink the water, just turn on the tap and drink. Now, because pollution is so ever-present, it becomes a good idea to check advisories immediately before we drink the water or, even swim in the water. more...
8/17/2012 - Interesting argument on why not to Frack

NYS because the domestic price of gas is so low our land will be torn up and our water put in jeopardy so we can send this gas overseas. So, I have to ask again: Will Fracking be a Resource Curse for New York State?, read on: Exporting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Is Still Bad For The Climate — And A Very Poor Long-Term Investment The surge in U.S. production of shale gas is creating a surge in permit requests to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. That’s because the glut of U.S. gas has dropped domestic prices sharply below global price levels. I explained back in June why “Exporting LNG Is Bad For The Climate.” But the New York Timeshas just run a misleading op-ed, “The Case for Natural Gas Exports,” so the issue clearly merits a revisit. (August 16, 2012) Think Cliimate Progress