Radical change

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The time for change is now and is in your hands

Last week, Regenerate discussed why we need to restore forests, wetlands, coral reefs, oceans, and other degraded natural ecosystems.

Regenerative change, rediscovering our maximum potential, offers a way to make change happen at a time in history when democracy and civility are under attack.

The tragic West Coast “climate fires” creating massive carbon emissions and lethal air pollution are being ignored by the media in the noise of the politics of deception.

Climate solutions for decarbonization and habitat regeneration are obstructed by political aspirations. Ignoring the existing increasing methane emissions, methane regulations were eliminated to increase methane emissions even more.

The NASA satellite program to measure greenhouse gases in the atmosphere was canceled to eliminate precise observations on methane. Last Friday, David Legates, known for questioning climate science, was hired for a top position at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

How are we going to get out of this mess with dishonest people in power who are more dangerous than Hurricane Sally and others to come?

Nature is not going to wait. The time has come for global radical change, addressing the root causes of the climate emergency and acting quickly and effectively. There is no time to waste.

Regenerative feats

Coal is hanging on by a thread and Big Oil is on the way out. British Petroleum has gone from the largest oil company, to the largest oil spill, to a newly named BP (Beyond Petroleum), to selling its petrochemical facilities and investing in offshore wind energy. BP is paving the way, making profits the right way.

Last week, Connecticut filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil for climate deception. “ExxonMobil sold oil and gas, but it also sold lies about climate science. ExxonMobil knew that continuing to burn fossil fuels would have a significant impact on the environment, public health, and our economy, yet it chose to deceive the public. No more,” Attorney General Tong said in a statement. Delaware, Minnesota and Rhode Island have filed similar lawsuits.

South Carolina has had enough with Enviva, a leading company clearcutting the forests and shipping wood pellets to the UK Drax power station. Last Friday, a 40-car caravan traveled on the streets near the State Capitol in Columbia to protest Enviva’s draft air permit. “We should not put people’s lives at risk,” Reverend Leo Woodberry said. “Our chief concern is that we know there are pollutants being released into the air,” he added. Woodberry is also calling on the South Carolina’s Gov. Henry McMaster to pause all facilities that affect air quality.

Wood pellets

This irresponsible industry will be stopped. They lie claiming to provide a climate-friendly alternative to burning coal, when in fact burning our forests has a larger carbon footprint than burning coal.

The scam is easy to understand. Coal is in the ground, standing trees live in the forests. Natural forests are the best land carbon sink, and loblolly tree plantations are degraded ecosystems without vegetation or wildlife. The carbon sink is proportional to the total mass of plants. Planting seedlings on bare land starts with zero mass and grows every year until the trees are ready for harvest, then the cycle starts again. If you draw a picture showing the cumulative mass over time of a pine plantation, it will look like a zigzag line from zero to max, cut, and repeat.

Pro-forestation protects the forests maintaining the carbon sink every day, as the trees grow older. Clearcutting tree plantations every 25 years destroys the carbon sink while saplings grow.

Please see Arborgen.org to see how they grow genetically modified franken-trees, one more threat to nature.

Drax Biomass has been harvesting Arkansas forests for their Louisiana pellet mill. Last week, Drax requested two air permits from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, and a third is in the way under the name BioEnergy Arkansas. Why do they use an alias in Arkansas?

Pending actions

$20 million plan to Save the Forests.

Plug the abandoned wells on the 2.5 million-acre Fayetteville, Arkansas shale play.

Stop the Drax Biomass air permits.

 

5 COMMENTS

  1. South Carolina protest Enviva permit request

    The event is being organized to protest Enviva’s request for a permit from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to expand its facility in Greenwood.

    The protest argues the permit should be denied, and that the company be declared non-essential and shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    https://scnow.com/news/local/pee-dee-organizations-to-protest-enviva-permit-request/article_ee986016-f381-11ea-8a3d-5bcdd7fd9e24.html

  2. Forty cars traveled the streets of the state capitol in Columbia to protest Enviva’s draft air permit.

    “We should not put people’s lives at risk,” Rev. Leo Woodberry, executive director of New Alpha CDC, said at a virtual press conference following the protest.

    Woodberry said he was pleased with the turnout of 40 cars.

    At the beginning of the press conference, Woodberry introduced members of groups who participated and explained why the groups were protesting.

    “Our chief concern is that we know there are pollutants being released into the air,” said Woodberry, who has worked on environmental issues for 19 years. “We are asking DHEC to not grant a permit.”

    Woodberry said he is also calling on Gov. Henry McMaster to pause all facilities that affect air quality.

    The caravan protest which began at noon Friday started at Zion Baptist Church in Columbia before making a stop at DHEC’s offices on Bull Street before heading to Richland Street where the Governor’s Mansion sits.

    https://www.indexjournal.com/news/caravan-protest-against-enviva-hits-streets-of-columbia/article_a68d79b9-ede2-5ddd-a34c-2a54e49823a9.html/

  3. Regenerative culture means improvements year on year, taking steps to heal and improve, and on all levels, including individuals, communities, our soil, water and air.

    More than being a network of “activists”, we seek to find ways of being and doing that support positive change.

    This can include ceremony and prayer (in ways that are neither dogmatic nor expected) as formats to find inspiration from things bigger than ourselves.

    We need to reconnect with our love for ourselves, our country and our people alongside wider neighbors; people and the natural world.

    https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/to-xr-with-gratitude-why-the-plural-in-regenerative-cultures-matters-b00e1d4f2104

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