GEONEWS

Will the Extraction Industry’s Economic Turmoil Blight Colorado?

10/22/2020

Mark Schell’s family has farmed in Colorado since 1906 and even though he works as a certified public accountant, he hasn't left that way of life behind. About a year ago, Schell bought a 310-acre farm in Mead, Colorado, that he leases to someone else to raise crops. But he was spending more and more time there, trying to get Occidental Petroleum to clean up, or “plug,” old wells the company inherited when it bought Anadarko Petroleum in 2019. “(Occidental) started plugging these in April and then they told me they weren’t going to plug the rest of them...because they don’t have the money,” Schell said. - HCN

An aerial view shows gas wells encroaching on the Roan Plateau near the town of Battlement Mesa, Colorado.

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EPA Scientists Said U.S. Should Air Pollution Limit. The Agency’s Head Said No

10/21/2020

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Andrew Wheeler, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), today proposed leaving national soot standards unchanged at least through the middle of the next decade as he questioned the reliability of scientific research suggesting that tighter limits are needed to save lives. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty” surrounding that research, Wheeler told reporters on a conference call announcing his decision to leave the 2012 standards on fine particulate matter in place. Wheeler said he considered “the latest scientific evidence and analysis,” as well the recommendations of an EPA advisory panel that favored the status quo despite the conclusions of agency career staff. “We believe that the current standard is protective of public health,” Wheeler said. - AAAS

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Astronomers Report That Venus' Atmosphere Contains a Building Block of Protein

10/20/2020

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A team of researchers claims they've discovered the amino acid glycine in Venus' atmosphere. (The paper hasn't been peer-reviewed and published in a journal… yet. Caution.) There are ~500 known amino acids, but only 20 are present in the genetic code. Glycine is the simplest. Glycine and other amino acids are some of the building blocks of life, of proteins. They were also some of the first organic molecules to appear on Earth. Glycine is important for the development of proteins and other biological compounds. - Science Alert

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Dutch Inventor Cleans World's Most Polluted Rivers in Effort to Save Oceans

10/19/2020

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Just 10 rivers are responsible for around 90% of all the ocean's plastic, according to a 2017 study. "...If we focus on the worst rivers, we believe we can really have the fastest and most cost-effective way to close the tap and prevent more plastic from reaching the oceans in the first place." Ocean Cleanup is deploying floating trash collectors or "Interceptors." These solar-powered, autonomous systems use the rivers' currents to guide the trash onto a conveyor belts that carry the waste to awaiting bins. - CNN

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Exxon, Oil Rivals Shield Their Carbon Forecasts From Investors

10/19/2020

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There’s evidence oil majors do assess the climate consequences of their future plans. Exxon had internal projections, never made public, that showed a 17% rise in carbon-dioxide emissions over the next five years, according to company documents reviewed by Bloomberg. In a statement, Exxon said those projections were “a preliminary, internal assessment of estimated cumulative emission growth through 2025” and that its projections had since changed. - Bloomberg NEF via MSN

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Arctic Circle Teens Call for Help to Save their Homes

10/18/2020

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Teenagers living in remote Arctic communities say they’re worried about the effects of climate change. Scientists warn that melting ice and warming temperatures show rapid climate change is taking place. Rarely heard young people from multiple countries within the Arctic Circle say their way of life is at risk and governments must act. - BBC

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More Than 200 Million Americans Could Have Toxic PFAS In Their Drinking Water

10/16/2020

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A peer-reviewed study by scientists at the Environmental Working Group estimates that more than 200 million Americans could have the toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS in their drinking water at a concentration of 1 part per trillion, or ppt, or higher. Independent scientific studies have recommended a safe level for PFAS in drinking water of 1 ppt, a standard that is endorsed by EWG. "We know drinking water is a major source of exposure of these toxic chemicals," said Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., vice president for science investigations at EWG and a co-author of the new study. "This new paper shows that PFAS pollution is affecting even more Americans than we previously estimated. PFAS are likely detectable in all major water supplies in the U.S., almost certainly in all that use surface water." - Phys.Org

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Unprecedented Energy Use Since 1950 Has Transformed Our Geologic Footprint

10/16/2020

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In the past 70 years, humans have exceeded the energy consumption of the entire preceding 11,700 years—largely through combustion of fossil fuels. This huge increase in energy consumption has then allowed for a dramatic increase in human population, industrial activity, pollution, environmental degradation and climate change. - Phys.Org

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We’re Turning the Amazon Into a Savannah

10/11/2020

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Over the past 50 years, human intervention has been increasingly disrupting the ecological balance of the Amazon. Climate change has led to an increase in temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius across the basin, and to more frequent severe droughts. The droughts of 2005, 2010 and 2015-16 were among the worst in more than 100 years. Since 1980, there’s been an increase in the duration of dry seasons by three to four weeks in the more degraded areas of the Amazon. Rainforests also increase evaporation and keep surfaces cool. Deforestation could cause temperatures in the basin to increase by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius by 2050. It reduces rainfall, because trees cycle moisture back into the atmosphere. - NYTimes

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This Game-Changing Solar Company Recycles Old Panels Into New Ones

10/11/2020

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At a recycling plant in Ohio, next to the company’s manufacturing facility, First Solar uses custom technology to disassemble and recycle old panels, recovering 90% of the materials inside. It runs similar recycling systems in Germany and Malaysia. Right now, the holistic lifecycle approach isn’t common among other solar producers. But Wade says that now is the time to think about the problem. “Our aim for solar is to help our customers decouple their economic growth from negative environmental impacts,” he says. “So it is kind of a mandatory point for us to address the renewable-energy-circular-economy nexus today and not 20 years from now.” - Fast Company

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<<Previous

Will the Extraction Industry’s Economic Turmoil Blight Colorado?

EPA Scientists Said U.S. Should Air Pollution Limit. The Agency’s Head Said No

Astronomers Report That Venus' Atmosphere Contains a Building Block of Protein

Dutch Inventor Cleans World's Most Polluted Rivers in Effort to Save Oceans

Exxon, Oil Rivals Shield Their Carbon Forecasts From Investors

Arctic Circle Teens Call for Help to Save their Homes

More Than 200 Million Americans Could Have Toxic PFAS In Their Drinking Water

Unprecedented Energy Use Since 1950 Has Transformed Our Geologic Footprint

We’re Turning the Amazon Into a Savannah

This Game-Changing Solar Company Recycles Old Panels Into New Ones

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