Monday, January 23, 2017

Climate change acknowledged, despite WI DNR scrubs

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources led by developer Cathy Stepp whom rightwing GOP Gov. Scott Walker installed as agency Secretary to guarantee that "a chamber of commerce mentality" runs official policy there got caught last month again deleting climate change information, science and links to additional materials:

Climate change censors driven by science denial and obeisance to polluters these days at the GOP-managed, Scott Walker-redefined "chamber of commerce mentality" Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are at it again.

Not content with having already stripped content and links from an agency webpage about climate change - - deletions I documented some years ago and which I have frequently referenced - - the ideologues intent on scrubbing science off these pages and sowing doubt and confusion about the consensus view of experts worldwide about climate change have edited, deleted and otherwise compressed to whitewash long-standing concepts and facts off a climate change page about the Great Lakes - - the same way, I will add, that Walker edited and watered-down the Wisconsin Idea, which has for decades had been the University system's historic mission statement.

But there is plenty of additional evidence, despite Stepp and Walker's alternative facts, that human activity is contributing to this warming climate and presents Wisconsin with acknowledged disaster risks

that endanger the state and regional economy - - not to mention the latest big-picture view that is beyond ominous.

* The Great Lakes Echo blog, via Urban Milwaukee, lays out those broad implications:

The stakes are high. The Great Lakes forestry industry is worth several billion dollars, and forests are staple ecosystems in the region. Many wildlife and plant species depend on forest stability. Plus, forests are a part of the regional culture.

* I'd noted in a recent post, and then again in a follow-up post, that the Minnesota DNR - - and note the obvious, that Minnesota and Wisconsin are adjoining states - - is taking a far more assertive and comprehensive approach to the issues than is Walker's DNR:

The need for action is clear: Minnesota is already feeling the impacts of climate change. We have experienced four 1,000-year rainfalls since 2002. We have watched our spruce, aspen, and birch forests retreat northward. And air pollution related to greenhouse gas emissions annually cost us more than $800 million in increased health care costs.

Addressing climate change also has the potential to grow our economy. By aggressively investing, Minnesota could add 25,000 new jobs and generate more than $2 billion in additional wages during the next 15 years. To achieve these results, Minnesota needs clean energy policies that have an immediate impact on reducing emissions from our homes, buildings, and industries. We also need long-term strategies to transform our communities and their transportation systems to reduce our use of gasoline.

We also must protect and increase the carbon stored in our wetlands, forests, and agricultural lands. These actions will not only help us address climate change, but will also support habitat and water quality, benefiting public health and wildlife. Working together, we can take steps that protect the environment, improve our health, and grow our economy.

* Which is why I am continuing to monitor a remaining Wisconsin DNR page that, through oversight or genuine belief, still calls attention to the implications of climate change in Wisconsin and its relationship to human behavior.

A key paragraph right at the top:

Global climate change poses serious threats to public health, to the economies of the United States and Wisconsin and to the natural environment. We now have a clearer understanding of the role waste and materials management plays in global climate change and, most importantly, the opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the waste and materials management sphere.

I checked today as I do everyday, and the content on that webpage is still there, so here it is - - in its entirety:

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Waste and materials management - the climate change connection

Global climate change poses serious threats to public health, to the economies of the United States and Wisconsin and to the natural environment. We now have a clearer understanding of the role waste and materials management plays in global climate change and, most importantly, the opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the waste and materials management sphere.

Landfills produce large amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas created by decomposing organic materials. Methane has a global warming potential at least 20 times greater than carbon dioxide, a less potent greenhouse gas. In the United States, landfills produce 23 percent of all methane generated by human-related sources.

Before a product even reaches the landfill, it has already created a considerable amount of greenhouse gases. Extracting raw materials, manufacturing and distribution of products all use energy and produce greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates 42 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions result from provision of goods and food.

The easiest way to cut down on these emissions? Reduce the number of products you purchase and use, reuse things that are still in good condition and recycle what is no longer usable. Did you know that Wisconsinites currently throw away more than $100 million worth of recyclables in a typical year? Imagine the economic benefit to our state if we recycled everything we could!

Emissions from materials

Reducing landfill emissions

There are many ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our landfills. But before a product or material even makes it to the trash can, it has already produced substantial greenhouse gas emissions. Consider an aluminum can. To make that can, aluminum ore was mined, shipped, refined, smelted, rolled and formed. The finished can then traveled to a beverage maker, where it was filled, sealed and labeled; and eventually made its way to a distributor, then retailer, then into our homes.

Each step of this life cycle required energy—in the case of aluminum production, very substantial amounts of energy—and produced greenhouse gas emissions. The same pattern holds true for every other product and material we use. Manufacturing, distribution and consumption all use energy and create greenhouse gas emissions.

The energy required to create a new product can either be partially saved through recycling or reuse or wasted through disposal. If the aluminum can in the above example is thrown away, the energy used in every step of its creation is lost. A new can, requiring new energy expenditures, will need to be made from scratch. Conversely, if the can is recycled, a new can may be made with recycled materials, thereby cutting out much of the production and energy needed to make a new can from virgin materials. For aluminum, that energy savings adds up to about 95 percent of the initial energy requirement, meaning that creating a new can from recycled materials only takes 5 percent of the energy required to make a new can from virgin materials.

Although aluminum has particularly large energy savings compared to other materials, recycling saves energy, no matter what the material. The EPA chart below shows energy savings from recycling for a variety of materials.

Graph showing energy savings per ton recycled

Energy Savings Per Ton Recycled* (Million Btu)

Reduce, reuse, recycle

Recycling materials not only saves energy, it also cuts down on the amount of greenhouse gases produced. The EPA has developed a calculator [exit DNR] to determine what amount of greenhouse gas emissions are prevented from recycling a given product.

Besides energy requirements, the EPA calculator also considers landfill gas emissions and "carbon sequestration" by trees. If trees are left standing rather than being cut down, those trees remove and "sequester," or withhold, carbon dioxide from the air, thereby reducing the amount of carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere. In other words, reducing paper use and recycling used paper not only saves much of the energy required to harvest, transport, digest and convert wood to paper, it also helps preserves the carbon sequestration capacity of the forest.

Even more greenhouse gas emissions can be prevented through reuse of products. Wisconsin's new electronics recycling law is boosting recovery of used electronics for recycling, refurbishing and reuse. The EPA estimates that recycling a personal computer saves more than double its weight in greenhouse gas emissions, while reusing the same computer, which avoids the production of a new computer, saves more than 50 times its weight in emissions.

The bottom line: reducing the amount of materials and products we use, reusing products that are still functional and recycling materials instead of landfilling them saves tremendous amounts of energy and dramatically reduces greenhouse gas emissions.