North Country Earth Action
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What is Net zero by 2050?
That emissions going into the atmosphere is equal to decarbonization offset on the earth.
What is The Public Trust Doctrine?
The public trust doctrine is the principle that the sovereign holds in trust for public use some resources such as shoreline between the high and low tide lines, regardless of private property ownership
What is the Commons?
- The Commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable earth. These resources are held in common, not owned privately. Wikipedia
What is the Green New Deal?
http://www.vimeo.com/grandmothers4aGND/APathForward
The Green New Deal is still an aspirational proposal at the national level; at NYS level it is also what the NYS climate policy is called.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/109/text
Why is the Department of the Interior important?
Secretary: Deb Haaland
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is a federal executive department of the U.S. government. It is responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, territorial affairs, and insular areas of the United States. About 75% of federal public land is managed by the department, with most of the remainder managed by the United States Department of Agriculture's United States Forest Service.[3] The department was created on March 3, 1849.
Drawdown and climate issue concepts
What does 350 degrees mean?
350.org is an international environmental organization addressing the climate crisis. ... The 350 in the name stands for 350 ppm (parts per million) of carbon dioxide, which has been identified as the safe upper limit to avoid a climate tipping point.
What does zero emissions mean?
A zero-energy building, also known as a zero net energy (ZNE) building, net-zero energy building (NZEB), or net zero building, is a building with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site, or nearby.This definition doesn't account for the type of energy used, though. Where this becomes important is if the building uses natural gas, propane, or some other fuel besides electricity.
Zero GHG emissions by 2050 means the targeted date for not putting any more emissions into the atmosphere
as the last possible time to keep the emissions from continuously aggregating to a tipping point.
What does de carbonization mean?
The term decarbonization literally means the reduction of carbon or the conversion to an economic system that sustainably reduces and compensates the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂)
GGEA or GHG: greenhouse gas is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range. Greenhouse gases cause the greenhouse effect on planets. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Electric decarbonizing means utility scale renewable transmission, distribution and storage, inferring hydro use and phasing out of Fossil fuels. Wikipedia
What does drawdown mean?
this means a concerted effort to keep fossil fuels in the ground; it is when greenhouse gas emission levels in the atmosphere start to decline. Drawdown is a handbook of 100 possible ways to address climate crisis by Paul Hawkin. The CCP.org initiative is based on this research.
What is Carbon Capture?
Sequestration, direct air capture, agriculture and forestry decarbonizing
Extraction by technology from the atmosphere is proving to be a false solution as it requires a great deal of energy to reduce emissions. Regenerative Agriculture would be the optimum way to drawdown carbon from the atmosphere.
What is a carbon tax?
A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon content of fuels, generally in the transport and energy sector. Carbon taxes intend to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by increasing the price of fossil fuels and decreasing the demand for them. Carbon taxes are a form of carbon pricing. Wikipedia
What is carbon offset?
Carbon offsets compensate for your emissions by canceling out greenhouse gas emissions somewhere else in the world. The money you pay to buy offsets supports programs designed to reduce emissions.
There are also industry mandated offsets.
What is Cap and Trade?
Cap and Trade Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants. A central authority allocates or sells a limited number of permits that allow a discharge of a specific quantity of a specific pollutant over a set time period. Wikipedia
What is a carbon tax?
A carbon tax is a fee imposed on the burning of carbon-based fuels (coal, oil, gas) and is the core policy for reducing and eventually eliminating the use of fossil fuels whose combustion is destabilizing and destroying our climate.
A carbon tax is a way — the only way, really — to have users of carbon fuels pay for the climate damage caused by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. If set high enough, it becomes a powerful monetary disincentive that motivates switches to clean energy across the economy, simply by making it more economically rewarding to move to non-carbon fuels and energy efficiency. A carbon tax is the most efficient means to instill crucial price signals that spur carbon-reducing investment. The biggest obstacle to clean energy is that the market prices of coal, oil and gas don’t include the true costs of carbon pollution.
What is a micro grid?
a small scale power grid that can operate independently or in conjunction with the area's main electrical grid. The practice of using a microgram is known as distribute, dispersed, decentralize, district or embedded energy distribution.
What are photovoltaics and the extractive materials required to create thin film solar panels?
These might include cadmium telluride or copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS for short).
What is PV( Photovoltaic?)
https://www.igfmining.org/minerals-green-economy-solar-panels-lithium-ion-batteries/
Solar photovoltaic (PV) converts sunlight into electricity. Solar PV is thought to be the fastest growing source of new energy, surpassing all other forms of power generation. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the global capacity of solar PV will be greater than the current power capacity of India and Japan combined within five years of 2021.
What are the extractive minerals and issues around equitable extraction?
Increased investment in solar PV also brings demand for the minerals in the technology, including aluminum, cadmium, copper, gallium, indium, iron, lead, nickel, silica, silver, tellurium, tin and zinc. Solar PV technology increases the need for energy storage units, both in the form of individual batteries for private use and on a large scale in electrical grids. This leads to demand for the minerals in lithium-ion batteries such as aluminium, cobalt, iron, lead, lithium, manganese, nickel and graphite.
Governments face the challenge of managing potential negative impacts on human rights and the environment.
What is a land sink? What is an ocean sink?
Natural environments where carbon is stored and enriches the environment; peat bogs are carbon sinks; forests are carbon sinks, no till cover cropped farmland and prairie are carbon sinks. 80% of the worlds trees have already been logged. Just letting our midwestern prairies grow back to their original would address our carbon emissions
National, International
Where politics intersects with the climate crisis:
What is the IPCC?
“The IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) was created in 1988 asa group of top scientists to issue periodic reports on the state of climate; In 2018 it warned that the world has a decade left for unprecedented global efforts to avoid climate collapse by rapidly slashing emissions and transitioning to renewable energy and conservation. The timeline is probably overly optimistic in view of the rapid acceleration of extreme weather and global warming.
What is the EPA?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters.. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order..The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. The agency is led by its administrator, who is appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. The EPA is not a Cabinet department, but the administrator is normally given cabinet rank. In June 2022 the Supreme Court issued a ruling to limit the EPA's power to protect air standards.
The Office Of Water (OW) is the federal office of the EPA that is responsible for implementing both the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, which ensures that drinking water is safe, and supports the protection and restoration of United States governed oceans, watersheds, and other aquatic ecosystems in order to protect our environmental and public health.With each person on earth requiring roughly 20 to 50 liters of clean, safe water for drinking, cooking, and personal hygiene the impacts of a world without clean water would be catastrophic. With more than 70% of all clean water being used for irrigation and agriculture a reduction in clean water would most likely lead to issues of food insecurity, as well as decreased health outcomes.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1709/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22scientific+integrity+act%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=1
What is the Scientific Integrity Act?
www.ucsusa.org/about/news/scientific-integrity-act“The Scientific Integrity Act would protect scientists from political interference, and make sure that they can carry out their research and share it without fear of retaliation. It would prevent political appointees from altering or suppressing scientific findings and make sure the best available science informs policy.
What is the Clean Power Plan?
The Clean Power Plan was the nation’s first-ever carbon standard for power plants. Attacked by fossil fuel interests and the Trump administration, it was ultimately repealed and replaced by the weak and ineffectual “Affordable Clean Energy” rule.
Under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is legally obligated to regulate carbon dioxide from major sources in the United States. That’s why, in 2015, the EPA released its first standard aimed at cutting carbon from power plants, known as the “Clean Power Plan.” The power sector is second only to the transportation sector as a source of US carbon emissions.
The EPA is still legally responsible for setting power plant carbon standards under the Clean Air Act, consistent with the its statutory responsibility to protect public health and welfare. The Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy rule does not meet that requirement and is now being challenged in court.. This is (the ONLY federal directive to ever include emissions regulations) and NOWHERE does it DEMAND emission regulation of CO2. June 2022 Supreme Court limited EPA jurisdiction to control air quality.
What is the Clean Air Act?
The Clean Air Act of 1963 is a United States federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level. It is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws, and one of the most comprehensive air quality laws in the world. Wikipedia
What is FERC?
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is the United States federal agency that regulates the transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas in interstate commerce and regulates the transportation of oil by pipeline in interstate commerce. Wikipedia
What is the Clean Water Act?
Establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The basis of the CWA was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, but the Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972. "Clean Water Act" became the Act's common name with amendments in 1972.
Under the CWA, EPA has implemented pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. EPA has also developed national water quality criteria recommendations for pollutants in surface waters.
The CWA made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained
WATER:
What is the DEC?
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
What is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
NYS and New England RGGI
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is the first market-based regulatory program in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. RGGI is a cooperative effort among the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont to cap and reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector.
Each RGGI state has an individual CO2 Budget Trading Program. These programs are implemented through state regulations and/or legislation, but are regionally linked through CO2 allowance reciprocity, meaning an allowance issued by any participating state will be recognized by the other participating states. Due to this reciprocity, the RGGI states comprise a single regional carbon allowance market.
The RGGI participating states have each chosen to auction nearly all CO2 allowances and to invest the proceeds in consumer benefit programs to build a clean energy economy. These investments reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate important consumer benefits, including lower energy bills, greater electric system reliability, and more jobs.
As of 2020, Pennsylvania is pending RGGI membership with an anticipated start in early 2022.[3]
RGGI establishes a regional cap on the amount of CO2 pollution that power plants can emit by issuing a limited number of tradable CO2 allowances. Programs funded through RGGI have included energy efficiency, clean and renewable energy, greenhouse gas abatement, and direct bill assistance.
What is NYSERDA?
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, established in 1975, is a New York State public-benefit corporation, located in Albany, New York, with regional offices in New York City, Buffalo, and West Valley. NYSERDA.
Mission: "To conserve, improve and protect New York's natural resources and environment and to prevent, abate and control water, land and air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well-being."
http://www.vimeo.com/grandmothers4aGND/APathForward
The Green New Deal is still an aspirational proposal at the national level; at NYS level it is also what the NYS climate policy is called.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/109/text
Why is the Department of the Interior important?
Secretary: Deb Haaland
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is a federal executive department of the U.S. government. It is responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources, and the administration of programs relating to Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, territorial affairs, and insular areas of the United States. About 75% of federal public land is managed by the department, with most of the remainder managed by the United States Department of Agriculture's United States Forest Service.[3] The department was created on March 3, 1849.
Drawdown and climate issue concepts
What does 350 degrees mean?
350.org is an international environmental organization addressing the climate crisis. ... The 350 in the name stands for 350 ppm (parts per million) of carbon dioxide, which has been identified as the safe upper limit to avoid a climate tipping point.
What does zero emissions mean?
A zero-energy building, also known as a zero net energy (ZNE) building, net-zero energy building (NZEB), or net zero building, is a building with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site, or nearby.This definition doesn't account for the type of energy used, though. Where this becomes important is if the building uses natural gas, propane, or some other fuel besides electricity.
Zero GHG emissions by 2050 means the targeted date for not putting any more emissions into the atmosphere
as the last possible time to keep the emissions from continuously aggregating to a tipping point.
What does de carbonization mean?
The term decarbonization literally means the reduction of carbon or the conversion to an economic system that sustainably reduces and compensates the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂)
GGEA or GHG: greenhouse gas is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range. Greenhouse gases cause the greenhouse effect on planets. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Electric decarbonizing means utility scale renewable transmission, distribution and storage, inferring hydro use and phasing out of Fossil fuels. Wikipedia
What does drawdown mean?
this means a concerted effort to keep fossil fuels in the ground; it is when greenhouse gas emission levels in the atmosphere start to decline. Drawdown is a handbook of 100 possible ways to address climate crisis by Paul Hawkin. The CCP.org initiative is based on this research.
What is Carbon Capture?
Sequestration, direct air capture, agriculture and forestry decarbonizing
Extraction by technology from the atmosphere is proving to be a false solution as it requires a great deal of energy to reduce emissions. Regenerative Agriculture would be the optimum way to drawdown carbon from the atmosphere.
What is a carbon tax?
A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon content of fuels, generally in the transport and energy sector. Carbon taxes intend to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by increasing the price of fossil fuels and decreasing the demand for them. Carbon taxes are a form of carbon pricing. Wikipedia
What is carbon offset?
Carbon offsets compensate for your emissions by canceling out greenhouse gas emissions somewhere else in the world. The money you pay to buy offsets supports programs designed to reduce emissions.
There are also industry mandated offsets.
What is Cap and Trade?
Cap and Trade Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants. A central authority allocates or sells a limited number of permits that allow a discharge of a specific quantity of a specific pollutant over a set time period. Wikipedia
What is a carbon tax?
A carbon tax is a fee imposed on the burning of carbon-based fuels (coal, oil, gas) and is the core policy for reducing and eventually eliminating the use of fossil fuels whose combustion is destabilizing and destroying our climate.
A carbon tax is a way — the only way, really — to have users of carbon fuels pay for the climate damage caused by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. If set high enough, it becomes a powerful monetary disincentive that motivates switches to clean energy across the economy, simply by making it more economically rewarding to move to non-carbon fuels and energy efficiency. A carbon tax is the most efficient means to instill crucial price signals that spur carbon-reducing investment. The biggest obstacle to clean energy is that the market prices of coal, oil and gas don’t include the true costs of carbon pollution.
What is a micro grid?
a small scale power grid that can operate independently or in conjunction with the area's main electrical grid. The practice of using a microgram is known as distribute, dispersed, decentralize, district or embedded energy distribution.
What are photovoltaics and the extractive materials required to create thin film solar panels?
These might include cadmium telluride or copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS for short).
What is PV( Photovoltaic?)
https://www.igfmining.org/minerals-green-economy-solar-panels-lithium-ion-batteries/
Solar photovoltaic (PV) converts sunlight into electricity. Solar PV is thought to be the fastest growing source of new energy, surpassing all other forms of power generation. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the global capacity of solar PV will be greater than the current power capacity of India and Japan combined within five years of 2021.
What are the extractive minerals and issues around equitable extraction?
Increased investment in solar PV also brings demand for the minerals in the technology, including aluminum, cadmium, copper, gallium, indium, iron, lead, nickel, silica, silver, tellurium, tin and zinc. Solar PV technology increases the need for energy storage units, both in the form of individual batteries for private use and on a large scale in electrical grids. This leads to demand for the minerals in lithium-ion batteries such as aluminium, cobalt, iron, lead, lithium, manganese, nickel and graphite.
Governments face the challenge of managing potential negative impacts on human rights and the environment.
What is a land sink? What is an ocean sink?
Natural environments where carbon is stored and enriches the environment; peat bogs are carbon sinks; forests are carbon sinks, no till cover cropped farmland and prairie are carbon sinks. 80% of the worlds trees have already been logged. Just letting our midwestern prairies grow back to their original would address our carbon emissions
National, International
Where politics intersects with the climate crisis:
What is the IPCC?
“The IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) was created in 1988 asa group of top scientists to issue periodic reports on the state of climate; In 2018 it warned that the world has a decade left for unprecedented global efforts to avoid climate collapse by rapidly slashing emissions and transitioning to renewable energy and conservation. The timeline is probably overly optimistic in view of the rapid acceleration of extreme weather and global warming.
What is the EPA?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters.. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order..The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. The agency is led by its administrator, who is appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. The EPA is not a Cabinet department, but the administrator is normally given cabinet rank. In June 2022 the Supreme Court issued a ruling to limit the EPA's power to protect air standards.
The Office Of Water (OW) is the federal office of the EPA that is responsible for implementing both the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, which ensures that drinking water is safe, and supports the protection and restoration of United States governed oceans, watersheds, and other aquatic ecosystems in order to protect our environmental and public health.With each person on earth requiring roughly 20 to 50 liters of clean, safe water for drinking, cooking, and personal hygiene the impacts of a world without clean water would be catastrophic. With more than 70% of all clean water being used for irrigation and agriculture a reduction in clean water would most likely lead to issues of food insecurity, as well as decreased health outcomes.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1709/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22scientific+integrity+act%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=1
What is the Scientific Integrity Act?
www.ucsusa.org/about/news/scientific-integrity-act“The Scientific Integrity Act would protect scientists from political interference, and make sure that they can carry out their research and share it without fear of retaliation. It would prevent political appointees from altering or suppressing scientific findings and make sure the best available science informs policy.
What is the Clean Power Plan?
The Clean Power Plan was the nation’s first-ever carbon standard for power plants. Attacked by fossil fuel interests and the Trump administration, it was ultimately repealed and replaced by the weak and ineffectual “Affordable Clean Energy” rule.
Under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is legally obligated to regulate carbon dioxide from major sources in the United States. That’s why, in 2015, the EPA released its first standard aimed at cutting carbon from power plants, known as the “Clean Power Plan.” The power sector is second only to the transportation sector as a source of US carbon emissions.
The EPA is still legally responsible for setting power plant carbon standards under the Clean Air Act, consistent with the its statutory responsibility to protect public health and welfare. The Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy rule does not meet that requirement and is now being challenged in court.. This is (the ONLY federal directive to ever include emissions regulations) and NOWHERE does it DEMAND emission regulation of CO2. June 2022 Supreme Court limited EPA jurisdiction to control air quality.
What is the Clean Air Act?
The Clean Air Act of 1963 is a United States federal law designed to control air pollution on a national level. It is one of the United States' first and most influential modern environmental laws, and one of the most comprehensive air quality laws in the world. Wikipedia
What is FERC?
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is the United States federal agency that regulates the transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas in interstate commerce and regulates the transportation of oil by pipeline in interstate commerce. Wikipedia
What is the Clean Water Act?
Establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The basis of the CWA was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, but the Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972. "Clean Water Act" became the Act's common name with amendments in 1972.
Under the CWA, EPA has implemented pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. EPA has also developed national water quality criteria recommendations for pollutants in surface waters.
The CWA made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained
WATER:
- This link was suggested to us by a student named Rose in a local environmental club:
- https://www.oberk.com/watercycleglossaryofterms
- you can click on the link above or use the button at the top of the page to access the awesome information we all need to know about water and why we need to preserve its clarity.
- Don't forget 2022 is the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act
What is the DEC?
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
What is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
NYS and New England RGGI
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is the first market-based regulatory program in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. RGGI is a cooperative effort among the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont to cap and reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector.
Each RGGI state has an individual CO2 Budget Trading Program. These programs are implemented through state regulations and/or legislation, but are regionally linked through CO2 allowance reciprocity, meaning an allowance issued by any participating state will be recognized by the other participating states. Due to this reciprocity, the RGGI states comprise a single regional carbon allowance market.
The RGGI participating states have each chosen to auction nearly all CO2 allowances and to invest the proceeds in consumer benefit programs to build a clean energy economy. These investments reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate important consumer benefits, including lower energy bills, greater electric system reliability, and more jobs.
As of 2020, Pennsylvania is pending RGGI membership with an anticipated start in early 2022.[3]
RGGI establishes a regional cap on the amount of CO2 pollution that power plants can emit by issuing a limited number of tradable CO2 allowances. Programs funded through RGGI have included energy efficiency, clean and renewable energy, greenhouse gas abatement, and direct bill assistance.
What is NYSERDA?
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, established in 1975, is a New York State public-benefit corporation, located in Albany, New York, with regional offices in New York City, Buffalo, and West Valley. NYSERDA.
Mission: "To conserve, improve and protect New York's natural resources and environment and to prevent, abate and control water, land and air pollution, in order to enhance the health, safety and welfare of the people of the state and their overall economic and social well-being."
