Agnostic.com
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I'd like to discuss the proposed New Green Deal: [ocasio-cortez.house.gov]

I’d like to address the ecological aspects of the manifesto.

  • Building resiliency against climate change related disasters by leveraging funding and providing investments in repairing and upgrading infrastructure
  • Building energy efficient power grids and ensuring affordable access to electricity, upgrading buildings to achieve maximum energy efficiency
  • Removing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and industry as much as technologically feasible by supporting family farming and investing in sustainable farming
  • Overhauling transportation systems through investment in zero-emission vehicle infrastructure and manufacturing, accessible public transit, and high-speed rail
  • Removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and reducing pollution by restoring natural ecosystems such as land preservation and afforestation and launch locally appropriate and science-based projects that enhance biodiversity and support climate resiliency
  • Clean up existing hazardous waste and abandoned sites

Sustainable infrastructure: [en.wikipedia.org]

Distributed generation is electrical generation and storage performed by a variety of small, grid-connected devices referred to as distributed energy resources (DER). DER systems use renewable energy sources such as small hydro, biomass, biogas, solar power, wind power, and geothermal power for the electric power distribution system. Microgrids are modern, localized, small-scale grids that can disconnect from the centralized grid and operate autonomously, strengthen grid resilience, and help mitigate grid disturbances, They are typically low-voltage AC grids that often use diesel generators and employ a mixture of different distributed energy sources, such as solar hybrid power systems, which reduce the amount of emitted carbon significantly.

Family and sustainable farming: [en.wikipedia.org]

Sustainability in agriculture incorporates biological and ecological processes into agricultural and food production practices such as nutrient cycling, soil regeneration, and nitrogen fixation. Water and soil quality and quantity are most amenable to human intervention through time and labor. Sustainable agriculture depends on replenishing the soil while minimizing the use or need of none-renewable resources. Possible sources of nitrogen that could be used indefinitely include recycling crop waste and livestock or treated human manure, growing legume crops that form symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, industrial production of nitrogen that can me made by electrolysis of water using electricity (perhaps from solar cells or windmills), genetically engineering (non-legume) crops to form nitrogen-fixing symbiosis or fix nitrogen without microbial symbionts, and long-term crop rotations.

In some areas sufficient rainfall is available for crop growth, but many other areas require irrigation. Sustainable irrigation systems require proper management to avoid salinization and must not use more water from their source than is naturally replenish-able. Rain water harvesting, protecting groundwater resources, using reduced-volume irrigation systems, and selecting drought-tolerant crop species are good solutions.

Soil erosion is fast becoming one of the world’s severe problems. Intensive agriculture reduces the carbon level in soil, impairing soil structure, crop growth and ecosystem functioning, and accelerating climate change. Soil management techniques include no-till farming, key line design, windbreaks to reduce wind erosion, incorporating carbon-containing organic matter back into fields, reducing chemical fertilizers, and protecting soil from water run-off.

Phosphate is a primary component in chemical fertilizer. It is involved in all major metabolic processes including photosynthesis, energy transfer, signal transduction, macromolecular biosynthesis, and respiration. It is needed for root ramification and strength and seed formation, and can increase disease resistance. Only 0.1% of the phosphorus present in the soil can be absorbed by plants. Long-term use of phosphate-containing chemical fertilizers cause eutrophication (when a body of water becomes overly enriched with minerals and nutrients which induce excessive growth of plants and algae, resulting in oxygen depletion of the water body) and deplete soil fertility. An alternative is rock phosphate, a natural source already in some soils, but it is a non-renewable resource that is being depleted by mining for agricultural use. Peak phosphorus (a concept to describe the point in time when humanity reaches the maximum global production rate of phosphorus as an industrial and commercial raw material) will occur in about 2030. A way to make rock phosphate more effective and last longer is to implement microbial inoculants such as phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms, which can be produced by composting or recycling human and animal waste. The presence of mycorrhizae (a type of mutualistic symbiotic association between plants and fungi) in the soil can increase nutrient uptake and release organic acids that solubilize otherwise unavailable phosphorus.

Soil steaming is a farming technique that sterilizes soil with steam in open fields or greenhouses. Soil fatigue can be cured through the release of nutritive substances blocked within the soil. Steaming leads to a better starting position, quicker growth, and strengthened resistance against plant disease and pests. Steam effectively kills pathogens by heating the soil to levels that cause protein coagulation or enzyme inactivation. Solarizing is based on the same principle, used to increase the temperature of the soil to kill pathogens and pests. Certain crops, such as mustard, radishes, and other plants in the brassica family, can act as biofumigants.

Green vehicles: [epa.gov]

Sales of cars that operate on alternative fuels like ethanol, natural gas, and electricity are growing. Many alternative fuels burn cleaner than gasoline or diesel so there are fewer tailpipe emissions. Alternative fuels include gaseous fuels such as hydrogen, natural gas, and propane; alcohols such as ethanol, methanol, and butanol; vegetable and waste-derived oils; and electricity. Electricity can be produced from coal, natural gas and oil, nuclear power, hydropower, solar power, wind power, and biomass.

Public transportation: why did America give up on mass transit? [citylab.com]

In the 1930s the depression crushed most transit companies. Federal infrastructure investment soon shifted almost entirely to highways. Postwar communities established the idea of the middle-class suburb as we knew it in the second half of the 20th century: a car-centric community built around automobile access. By the 1950s, the increasing affluence of the American family and the declining cost of the automobile enabled Americans to drive further in a reasonable commute time than had ever been possible with transit. The decline in transit service happened everywhere. In the biggest cities, the radius from downtown accessible within an hour - generally considered the limit for daily commuting - by transit was fully developed by WWII. Cars dramatically extended that radius, and made it very hard for conventional transit to compete. Increasing congestion on the roads that interurban trains shared with cars only made the problem worse. So, in the postwar years, systems cut back their service and riders fled, prompting a cycle of further service cuts and riders fled, prompting a cycle of further service cuts and ridership declines until there was virtually nothing left. This happened even in many of the municipally owned systems. As average commute speed rose, the sprawl of urban areas grew exponentially. Over time, suburban developments shifted to locations along the circumferential highways, where abundant cheap land was available. Urban areas were no longer restricted by remaining within a reasonable commute distance by expressway from the city center - they could now sprawl virtually without limit.

Starting in the 1980s, dozens of commuter rail lines sprouted across the country. In many cases, they were designed specifically to substitute for highway expansion that was no longer possible, and they almost exclusively ran during the times when the highways were congested. However they were not true transit systems, useful for people to live their lives without needing a car. Instead they operated as a glorified parking shuttle: people drove to the nearest station, parked their car in a big lot, rode the train into the city in the morning, and reversed the process in the evening. Toronto is much like American cities, with sprawling suburbs and a newer postwar subway system, but instead of relying on park-and-ride Toronto chose to provide frequent bus service to all of its new suburbs. Likewise in Europe, even as urban areas expanded dramatically with the construction of suburbs and new towns, planners designed these communities in ways that made transit use still feasible, building many of them around train stations.

I took a ten-day trip to Kyoto back in 2002 through the local community college. The teacher was from Kyoto and knew the town by heart. He knew every train and bus station. I was quite impressed with their transit system. Maybe we could have something similar here?
[expatsguide.jp]

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from livestock: [saiplatform.org]

This study addresses feed and nutrition, animal genetics and breeding, rumen modification, animal health, manure management, grassland management, and low-emissions farm systems.

Does this sound achievable?

altschmerz 9 Mar 2
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1

Without changes, this not achievable:

  1. Many of the suggestions listed are either technically or financially difficult.
  2. Most of this cannot be implemented as long as the USA continues its love affair with the illusion of laissez-faire, free-enterprise capitalism.
Arouet Level 7 Mar 2, 2019

@Closeted #1. I can discuss technical issues in ClimateDeltaMusings. #2. There is a general faith that the "Free Market" can solve all problems. It cannot. There are many aspects of what you discuss that cannot be monetised. There may not be an obvious way of attracting investors; the project may be so huge that few investors are even capable of playing or the payback may be so long that no one wants to play. The USA electrical power industry of the 1930s is a classic example.

@Closeted There is an article in Climate Delta Musings that explains this in summary. May this or similar thinking could be considered for some of the items on your list. Transportation comes to mind.

@Closeted [agnostic.com]

@Closeted Let me know if it works. I know my way around steam turbines and boilers, but I am a bit of dinosaur with social media....

@Closeted Time will tell. Most of the Climate groups seem preoccupied with the "why" we should whatever. They drift into politics sometimes. As an engineer, with many years in energy businesses, my focus is on the "how" to make change. Folks often present ideas that are totally unworkable and assume that the only reason we are not doing them is because of political corruption or "Big Oil" or some other bogeyman. My job is to explain what works and what doesn't so that we can concentrate on the possible rather than on science fiction. Maybe I'll talk more about this over in ClimateDeltaMusings!

@LetzGetReal OK! Where were we. I seem to have lost the thread...

@LetzGetReal Do you mean the Green New Deal? I cannot find GNA anywhere, but I am a bit thick today. Whatever it is, is there a set of dox somewhere?

2

We need a few billionaires who want to pursue this. And then get all the citizens on board.

RavenCT Level 9 Mar 2, 2019

Especially since they have all the money!

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