"Planet Over Profit"
Background
“Why are the politicians in Washington, DC passing on to us a dying world?” Climate change is going to affect younger generations more than older generations — so why aren't we listening to America's young activists?
The Federal Government needs to declare a National Emergency on Climate Change to end the use of fossil fuels, and pass The Green New Deal and similar legislation that funds the construction of alternative energy projects such as solar and wind farms, and other renewable energy sources all across America. We need to completely transition the U.S. off of fossil fuels by moving everything to renewables, resulting in a net zero emission standard.
McElhiney has been an advocate for the environment his entire life, even by his parents that used cloth diapers instead of single-use diapers, and Patrick's father even taught him how to manage a compost pile at a very young age. Patrick McElhiney, who lives in an Energy Star home, passed on having children because of the carbon footprint that they would cast, while the problem of Climate Change still isn't resolved.
No one wants their kids to be raised in a world where everything is dying, and that's exactly what Patrick wants to tackle as a politician and activist in Washington, DC. We have less than 12 years to live if we don't make bold changes to our economic activities, and it will take decades more to clean up the mess left behind by our current leadership.
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Climate Change is Global Warming
Entire classes and species of animals, including 18% of all insects (Bumblebees, Monarch Butterflies, etc.), Polar Bears, Apes, Elephants, Giraffes, Sharks, and Whales, are on the verge of extinction because of man-made Climate Change. What's disturbing is how many people claim to care about the environment and love these species, yet they drive large trucks and SUVs, and have large carbon footprints comparatively to environmentalists like McElhiney.
We really need to save these species, and this requires a wake-up call! The changes in our climate around the world are affecting everyone — evident by snow in Texas and the south, to warmer weather in northern regions like Alaska, to flooding in the Mid-West, to massive hurricanes hitting the south-east, to extreme hail storms in Mexico — one of which left 5 feet of hail in one hour.
We need leadership in Washington DC that will make changes to improve our environment that won't negatively affect the economy — such as a transition to cleaner technologies like hydrogen and natural gas powered vehicles across the board.
Just because we're no longer dependent upon the Middle East for oil doesn't mean we can hit the snooze button when it comes to our environment's climate. Someday, we're all going to wake up, and we're not going to be happy with the world we're leaving behind for our children and grandchildren.
Every person can make a difference every day, from carpooling to reducing their daily carbon footprint — we can make a difference, and if we don't act soon, future generations will be reading about Polar Bears like they were some ancient species like the Dodo Bird, and that's if we're even still alive. Losing species may also lead to the demise of the human race.
Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden says we need a clean energy revolution, including passing The Green New Deal introduced by United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York's 14th Congressional District.
Climate Change Around the Globe
The notion that the melting sea ice makes shipping and travel between Eastern nations such as China, and Western nations such as the United States, faster, and should be exploited to improve the economy, underlines the great injustice that is being done to endangered species. The melting of the Arctic shouldn't be a symbol of capitalism!
Venice is already under feet of water, and it's only getting worse because of Climate Change. Seacoast cities and villages around the world are going to be below sea level if we don't stop and reverse Climate Change now. We need to find a way to save the Arctic, not use it to ship more Made in China merchandise.
According to scientists, how we act within the next 12 years will determine the livability of our planet. The full melting of the Arctic will lead to the displacement of millions of people around the world due to permanent flooding as a result of rising sea levels, and the cost of displacing the properties from the flood zones exceeds any growth that the global economy will ever achieve.
There have been freak hail storms in Mexico, droughts and famine in Ethiopia, Kenya & Somalia, powerful cyclones and flooding in Mozambique, and stronger hurricanes that have lasted longer than 50 years ago. Alaska and the Arctic are heating up twice as fast as the rest of the world.
Climate Change in the United States
Flooding in the Mid-West could cost American taxpayers $12.5 Billion in damages. Trump has declared disaster declarations in 19 states due to severe storms this year, and coined the term “Severe Weather”. There's no doubt that this is the Climate Change of Mother Nature at work.
Massive flooding in 6 states in the Mid-West, in addition to excessive numbers of tornadoes from down into Texas all the way up into the Great Lakes, has affected American farmers, and has destroyed countless homes and businesses in the process. These weather events show how Climate Change is altering our weather patterns.
There were over 500 tornadoes across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, and many other states across the Mid-West during the month preceding May 31st, 2019, including a powerful EF3 tornado in Oklahoma. In many places of the country, residents have had so-called 100 year weather events more than once in their lifetime.
It was terrifying that the Arkansas river reached over 20 feet above flood stage in May 2019 — the height of a two-story building. The dead zone where the Mississippi River meets the Gulf is bigger than the State of Massachusetts this year, because of all the junk that's washing down the river from the flooding. The 12 months prior to June 2019 have been the wettest in America's entire recorded history.
There have been more flash flooding and tornadoes in Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas in June 2019. Ohio tried to pass a cap and trade bill, but Republicans walked out of the legislature, leaving Democrats to try to recall them using State Troopers before the legislative session runs out. We need a national plan for dealing with Climate Change, because the states are split.
We need to require that when properties that have flooded are reconstructed, the builders should be required to reconstruct the properties on flood proof stilts — especially if they rebuild in flood prone areas and wish to be insured. All the “Acts of God” that are flooding the insurance market are causing insurance rates to go up exponentially for everyone else, which isn't fair to people that chose to live in relatively safe places — if there is such a place anymore.
McElhiney thinks that the Federal Government should publicly release information about all the damages that have occurred as a result of the weather, and correlate the damages to Climate Change. Everything about the environment is changing because of Climate Change — not just the increased temperatures around the world.
In South Dakota, it's so hot that the concrete that makes up the sidewalks is crumbling in the heat, and in California, muscles are cooking on the beach. Shark bites are up due to Climate Change as well, and Alaska recently set a record heat index of 90 degrees.
The line that bugs and parasites from South America don't pass due to climate is moving further north. Insects are moving north into the central U.S. due to Climate Change, including mosquitoes that were previously only in the Caribbean that are carrying diseases that didn't use to be in the United States, like Zika.
These mosquito-born illnesses could reach the central United States if the effects of Climate Change continue. There are other insects that have no natural predators here, and they are moving here due to Climate Change and destroying crops and certain types of trees.
In Barrington, New Hampshire, we can contact the University of New Hampshire (UNH), and they'll come out and collect a specimen, determine what it is, and report it if necessary. But wildlife habitat isn't the only thing at risk — so are our oceans.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is expecting a large toxic blue-green algae bloom in the ocean in 2019. There have been Sea Lion attacks because of Climate Change, because the animals can have domoic acid poisoning.
Domoic acid is produced by algae and accumulates in the shellfish and small fishes consumed by sea lions. It can cause neurological damage, and strange behavior.
Extinction of Animals
There are less than 7,000 Cheetahs left in the wild, and giraffes are vulnerable to extinction due to Climate Change as well. The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium in Ohio is helping to breed endangered animals from the wild; they've brought back nearly extinct animals, and are inspiring people to change the world. Most animals in the Columbus Zoo are threatened, endangered, or critically endangered as a result of Climate Change, and some also due to poaching.
Japan has started whaling again, despite opposition from the rest of the world, and there's whale species that are migrating from the Atlantic, through the Arctic, into the Pacific. Whales have been killed by ships in Canada, because the whales are in an area that they aren't usually in, because their food source has changed; five of the six killed whales were female North Atlantic Right Whales, and there's only 400 of the species left, with only 100 breeding females.
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President Trump's Denial of Climate Change
President Trump rolled back auto standards to favor the environmental deregulation of the automotive industry, and he wants to strip away the progress that California has made by lowering their vehicle emission standards in favor of producing cheaper cars and trucks that contribute exponentially more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Trump brought back coal jobs to win West Virginia, and he has reversed everything that President Obama did, such as the clean coal initiative. Trump has denied members of his own Administration to submit written testimony about Climate Change to Congress, and he has censored information about Climate Change within the Federal Government — going against all science in favor of policies that are only making the environment worse for future generations.
The Republican party have called Climate Change a “hoax”, “fake news”, and have also attempted to rename it to “extreme weather” to downplay the seriousness of the problem. President Trump is driven around in a motorcade of gas-guzzling SUVs, and his entire family has jet-set billionaire lifestyles, that they will not give up until the planet is completely ruined to the point of no return.
President Trump has spoken about how the melting of the Arctic is good for the economy, because it can now be used as shipping lanes. Trump Tower is one of the many properties around the world that will be partially under water if all the ice in the world melts, and Donald Trump probably won't believe in Climate Change until Trump Tower is actually under water at the ground level.
President Trump denies the evidence of Climate Change in front of his own eyes, hides climate science produced by his own Administration, and actively works to roll back what progress we have already made. It's reckless, it's irresponsible, and it is unacceptable. Joe Biden, who is running for President of the United States in 2020, has announced his plan for a Clean Energy Revolution.
Stopping Climate Change
We need to listen to the younger generations of Americans, because they know our planet is currently doomed. Only the politicians that make the climate a priority will have long-lasting legacies.
We need to hold polluters accountable, especially in low-income communities and communities of color, not only due to Climate Change but also the pollutants that they pump into the water that we drink and the air we breathe.
Wind and solar farms are now outperforming fossil fuels in many instances, and renewable energy sources don't emit CO2 into the atmosphere. We need to convert as much of our fossil fuel consumption into renewable energy as soon as possible, to start to slow down the effects of global warming and climate change. It's just common sense!
The Green New Deal calls for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions within 10 years. Some candidates have pointed out that it's a plan, not a set of policies. Presidential Candidate Jay Inslee leads on the issue of Climate Change, vowing to invest $3 Trillion to create 8 million new green energy jobs over 10 years.
Nuclear power is considered green by some standards, such that it doesn't emit CO2 into the atmosphere, but some candidates want to phase it out due to the dangers and costs associated with it. Nuclear is capital intensive, because it is expensive to build new nuclear power plants.
Some candidates, like Joe Biden, want to impose a carbon tax on polluters, which will mean higher costs to produce carbon-intensive products. Climate Change is a clear and present threat, and a tax and dividend system would help to re-orient our economy, to allow companies to reduce their CO2 emissions, and to be rewarded for doing so.
We need to increase funding for climate research, and re-join the Paris Climate Agreement. The world needs America to be the best that it's ever been, and now it is up to us to set the bearing of our nation.
You don't get to contemplate whether you can afford the damages when your house is on fire. The environment is on fire, and we need to put the fire out.
The Planet is speaking; why aren't we?
Global Plastic Pollution
Plastics were only introduced by the 1950s, however today, there is more weight in plastic pollution in our waters than there is weight in human beings on the planet. It is inconceivable to think that every fish that we consume today, has been contaminated with, at a minimum, small particles of plastic that it has consumed thinking it was food.
If we continue on the path we're on, there will eventually be more plastic in the oceans than fish. McElhiney recognized the problem early-on, which is why he avoids buying products such as produce that are wrapped in plastic. When they take produce and discount it, wrapping it in plastic, and putting a “Manager's Special” sticker on it, the plastic is likely going to end up in the trash regardless of what is done with the produce.
There is one thing that you can do with plastic bags and other plastic wraps — in McElhiney's local grocery store, Market Basket of Lee, NH — there's a bin where you can bring in plastic bags and plastic wraps and recycle them, as the grocery store returns them to the grocery bag manufacturing plant. McElhiney does this every week, including bubble wraps and other plastic packaging that is in a wrap form.
Patrick McElhiney recycles over 90% of the plastic that he encounters in packaging and other products. The only plastics he doesn't recycle are plastics that are not accepted in his recycling channels. But the bigger picture should be to eliminate plastic packaging for good, and that requires customers to protest plastic packaging in the masses.
The ban on micro beads, which were used in exfoliation creams and toothpastes, was a major step in the process of removing major point-source pollution from our water systems. There need to be more steps taken, including more recycling channels, and more processes for the removal of plastic from our water.
The United States was the only nation not to sign the United Nations-backed conventions agreement on eliminating plastic waste and toxic, hazardous chemicals on 5/12/2019. There were 187 countries that did sign the treaty. It was popular among poor countries, because they say that richer countries like the United States ship and dump refuse, including plastics, to poor countries.
The American People need to stop using single-use plastics. Canada is banning all single-use plastics, and will recycle all plastics as soon as 2021 — and the United States needs to do the same.
A Mandatory Recycling Program in Every Community
McElhiney has participated in recycling programs since he was a child, helping his parents sort the different types of recycling products and taking them to collection centers. The current problem with recycling programs is that they are not mandatory — we could be saving billions of cubic tons of recyclable materials from hitting the landfill if we required mandatory recycling programs in all communities.
Larger cities have programs that pickup recycling at the curb — they don't issue any refunds for those materials, because the funds they raise go towards paying for the collection services. Smaller cities can't afford to pay for recycling pickup without raising taxes, however the collection of recyclable materials its self is a profit center.
If smaller communities banded together and setup regional recycling centers, the only issue would be the collection from the street curb. If the communities charged an offset fee to have curbside collection, it would save on carbon emissions from having fewer vehicles going back-and-forth to the recycling center, and it would also save on landfill contributions, conserving our lands and our oceans.
We need Federal legislation that requires all communities to run curbside recycling pickup programs, because it makes more environmental sense, and the communities can keep their share of the profits from the recycling programs. It's a profit center!
Dairy Resource Management Technology
There has been a lot of progress on dairies to manage the resources of the business more effectively, including collecting and using methane gas from the stables, spreading the manure on croplands for nutrient management, and irrigating with the runoff. However, there are still problems with these technologies, such as problems with the spread of diseases to crops.
Mexico and other poor countries don't have strict regulations on how these nutrients are used, which can lead to melons and squash that have listeria and other diseases on them. There are also problems with the accumulation of methane pockets in holes that were dug out, that has led to the deaths of numerous dairymen when they get stuck in the hole and can't breathe.
Waste Water Treatment
There's a new type of self-sustaining waste water treatment, as seen on CBS, that can use grease fog and oils from restaurants, mixed with sludge from waste water, which is used as food by microbes that produce bio-gas, which can be used as a fuel to generate electricity that powers the waste water treatment plant. It has been done on a level that converts waste water to river discharge water, not yet to drinking quality water, but anything is possible.
More efficient equipment reduced the plant's energy use by 30%, which reduced the plant's electricity bill by millions of dollars a year. It didn't reduce the costs of treating the water to customers, due to the costs of purchasing all the new equipment, but those expenses are being financed over a long period, so there is also no increase in expenses to customers.
Ensuring Water Quality in the Ground, Rivers, and Oceans
We need to develop better systems for agriculture that limit Non-Point Source (NPS) pollution in river runoff, to prevent fertilizers and pesticides from getting into our rivers. Any resource in a high quantity that isn't properly managed can be a threat to our environment. We need better technologies to monitor the nutrient loads and toxicity levels in runoff water, and we need better ways to manage them to avoid the pollution of ground water and other bodies of water.
All rivers flow into the ocean, eventually, which impacts not only the freshwater ecosystems that exist in the rivers themselves, but also the oceanic ecosystems where millions of different plants and creatures live. We can't just pollute our water ways, like was done in the 1900's when industry was first taking off.
We have learned how to improve our water quality through positive improvements to the ways that we impact our surroundings, such as limiting runoff from farmland, and mitigating polluted environments by cleaning and restoring them. Americans need to be concerned about not just the water that we drink, but the water that the fish we eat live in — and even if you don't eat fish, you still need to care for their environment. It's the law!
The United States shouldn't limit our water quality initiatives just to rivers, streams, and the ocean. We also need to be concerned about our ground water quality. In Barrington, New Hampshire — where Patrick McElhiney has lived since 2007 — there was a water bottling company that came in and purchased ground water rights, and ended up damaging the ground water for many Barrington residents.
The use of chemicals and pesticides in our yards to kill weeds and pests eventually leeches into our ground water — which is why McElhiney's family hasn't used any chemicals or pesticides since moving to Barrington NH in 2007. Many landscaping companies and businesses like TRUGREEN, that treats for larvae that turn into Japanese Beatles in the summer, use chemicals and pesticides.
Even certain types of fertilizers can be harmful to our ground water supplies. We need to be more considerate to protect our environment, and we can use environmentally friendly methods of controlling pests, such as beneficial nematodes, and allowing wildlife to eat the bugs.
Floodplain and Wildlife Habitat Restoration
McElhiney has done a lot of work in the past helping with the restoration of rivers and their wildlife habitats, with the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service's (NRCS) Earth Team. Rivers, streams, and wetlands are all important ecosystems that need to be protected from pollution of any kind.
McElhiney planted trees at the Wingsetter Ranch in Stanislaus County, a 150-acre private wildlife preserve owned and managed by Mickey Saso. Michael McElhiney, Patrick McElhiney's father, was working for USDA NRCS at the time that Wingsetter Ranch was declared a floodplain easement, which is how Patrick got involved in the project.
Mickey Saso realized that the land could serve the dual-purpose of filtering returning river water, and creating prime habitat for wildlife. McElhiney met Saso on a number of occasions, including private bird calling shows — Saso also developed a 30-in-1 bird calling device that allows for duplicating the calls of quail and other birds that are now living in the new habitat.
McElhiney also took a number of photographs for the USDA NRCS project, when he would take frequent trips out to the property with his father on official business, and he helped to organize an award's ceremony for his father, that was given the 2002 USDA Honors Award, mostly for the work of overseeing the restoration of Wingsetter Ranch, to protect 2,500 acres of critical farmland from flooding.
For more information about Michael A. McElhiney, visit www.michaelmcelhiney.com
Converting Trash into Energy
There have been a lot of projects developed to convert trash into energy, including in Sweden where trash is burned, much like coal or other fossil fuels, and turned into electricity to heat homes, power buses, and fuel taxi car fleets. BP also has a project which is converting trash into jet fuel.
While these trash to energy programs reduce the amount of trash going into landfills, they also contribute to global warming through their emissions of carbon dioxide and other harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. These companies are taking advantage of being able to charge for the intake of trash, while also charging for the energy that is produced by burning it — doubling the profit streams — so they are extremely economical for the companies that can afford to invest into them, but they aren't the right kind of solutions for our environment.
They can't compete with the free energy of the sun and wind.
What Other Nations Are Doing to Stop Climate Change
To date, 150 nations, including every major economy in the world, have submitted national climate plans for the 2015 climate agreement, an increase from the 100 countries that submitted pre-2020 plans following the Copenhagen climate talks. These plans are from countries representing nearly 90% of global emissions.
Source: https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/uploads/WRI15_BRO_Country-Action-v8.pdf
United Kingdom (UK) will be the first G7 country to legislate to become a net-zero emissions producer. This will lead to significant improvements to the healthcare and well-being of UK residents.
