Good job! Our consumer demand for clean energy has significantly reduced demand for power generated by polluting coal. Solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal energy sources combined are making a large impact in providing the energy Americans need.

Burning coal pollutes the air and generates carbon dioxide, a major cause of climate change.

Given how serious climate change is, this increased capacity in clean energy is great news!

Use of Coal-Powered Electricity Plants on the Decline in America

With the clean energy revolution is in full swing and more consumers switch to solar and wind, America’s dependence on coal is waning. According to the US Energy Information Administration, coal use in U.S. is at its lowest point in 39 years. In the year 2000, a total of 1,024 coal-powered electricity plants were in operation in the United States. By 2018, that number had decreased to 359.

In part, the decline in coal use can be attributed to natural gas. But that’s not the long-term solution to either climate change or the pollution associated with fossil fuels.  Burning natural gas still sends a considerable amount of climate-changing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Maybe worse, large amounts of methane gas are released into the air during “fracking,” the destructive process of hydraulic fracturing used to extract natural gas from underground shale formations. In fact, though methane gas accounts for only about 15% of greenhouse gas emissions, it lasts longer in the atmosphere, so can actually be worse for climate change than CO2. Plus, fracking pollutes groundwater and creates terrible air pollution around its facilities, many of which are located near schools and in the heart of communities.

What’s So Bad About Fracking? Here’s What You Need to Know.

Clean Energy Capacity Matching That of Coal

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) tracks the capacity of different energy sources. The April and May 2018 capacity reports show that renewable energy sources are on par with that of coal, both having around 20-22% of power producing ability. 

For renewables, wind and water lead the way by together providing about 75% of the total renewable energy capacity. Eight of the ten largest wind farms in the world are located in the U.S. Five of those are in Texas. The largest wind farm in the world is located in Kern County, California. It has the capacity of creating 1,020 MW, with expansion plans to raise its capacity to 1,550 MW.

Solar has added 200 new units so far this year. This gives solar an additional 1,964 MW of capacity, allowing it to account for 2.83% of America’s total power generating ability. Con Ed, a large U.S. utility company, is the second largest solar energy provider in North America. In 2018, they acquired wind and solar projects worth 2.1 billion dollars.

Their total clean energy capacity now can reduce carbon emissions by 5.4 million metric tons each year. That is equivalent to removing 1.2 million cars off of the highway.

The present issue with renewable energy power production is that the capacity is not being used. But with the ever-present public and state pressure for green energy, power producers will continue to scale up their use of renewables.

It’s only a matter of time before clean energy production will permanently bypass that of coal. 

The post Hate Coal Pollution? Switch to Solar, Wind. appeared first on Big Green Purse.

 If you’ve been wondering what fracking is and whether it’s good or bad, you’re not alone. It’s a complicated, high tech process whose advocates say it produces abundant clean energy. As an environmentalist as well as a consumer, though, I’m concerned about the impacts fracking is having on drinking water, clean air, and farmland.

To try to chip away at my confusion, I electronically interviewed expert Maya van Rossum. Maya is the Delaware Riverkeeper, the spokesperson for and leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN), a nonprofit environmental organization working to preserve, protect and restore the Delaware River Watershed, an area that extends into four states: New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Here’s what she had to say.

Maya, in a nutshell, can you explain what fracking is and why it worries you?

Fracking is the process of discharging massive volumes of water under high pressure into a drilled well in order to fracture the shale found under ground.

The fracking process requires 5 to 9 million gallons of water for each well frack. Often this water comes from aquifers, streams and rivers. To that fresh water has been added toxic chemicals.

Water that stays underground after the fracking has occurred is highly toxic, but the water that comes back to the surface is even more toxic.

The toxified fluid trapped underground can make its way to our freshwater aquifers, threatening drinking water supplies. Toxified water that gets back to the surface of the earth is often stored in open pits or transported to other sites by truck or piping. In all of these activities, failures happen, contaminating streams, farmlands, our air and our communities.

 I’ve heard that toxic methane gas is released during fracking. How serious is that?

Fracking increases the presence of methane gas underground, contaminating drinking water and homes (the photo above, from the excellent film Gasland, shows how water coming out of the faucet in a fracked community contained so much methane, it caught on fire).

In some cases, families have experienced explosions in their homes as a result. Methane is also a dangerous greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming and climate change. In fact, in a 20-year time frame, methane is 72 times more potent than carbon dioxide at causing waring.

According to increasing research, so much methane is lost from the drilling process, and so much pollution is released from trucks, compressors, loss of trees, and chemical use, that shale gas is a greater contributor to climate change than coal.

How extensive is the fracking problem?

It’s massive. We’re not talking about a well here, and a well there. We’re talking about a proliferation of wells throughout our communities. In just the 8,700 square miles of the upper portions of the Delaware River watershed that lie partly in Pennsylvania and partly in New York, we are talking about 32,000 to 64,000 wells. That means 160 billion to 320 billion gallons of water and 800 million to 3.2 bilion gallons of toxic chemical additives. It means 128 million to 256 million truck trips through our towns, and thousands of miles of pipelines and compressors.

It means devastating quality of life, ecotourism, recreation, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs and tens of millions of dollars that depend upon a healthy Delaware River, not to mention putting at risk the drinking water supply of over 17 million people in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

What about the waste fracking generates – if any?

It’s toxic, and radioactive. UItimately it ends up in our waterways or being injected into underground caverns that are increasing earthquakes in our communities.

It’s simply not worth it.

Back to the energy question, as horrible as these impacts sound, don’t we need to frack for gas to obtain energy independence and increase our national security?

No. Contrary to the folk tales the gas companies spin, shale gas development is not about energy independence, increased jobs, or protection from climate change. It’s about profits for the gas companies regardless of the harm or costs to the US and us citizens. Many fracking companies plan to export the gas they recover because they can sell it abroad for as much as 3 times the price they can get in the U.S.

I don’t live in Delaware. How can I find out if companies are considering fracking in my part of the country?

It’s pretty easy to find out if you are in an area subject to potential fracking and drilling. Just search “fracking + name of your state/town/community.” I guarantee you’ll find more information on what is happening in your area than you care to read!

What can I do to protect my community from the pollution fracking causes?

The only way is to stop the industry in its tracks. Politicans are receiving a lot of money from the drillers, pipeline companies, LNG facilities and others who are profiting from this polluting industry. We need to ensure that those politicans understand that if they take that money and act on behalf of the drillers and frackers, they will be voted out of office.

We also need to demand increased investment in sustainable energy, and get our politicans to pass stronger environmental laws that wipe out the special exemptions that the natural gas industry enjoys.

Finally, you can help spread the word by talking with your friends and neighbors. A good way to open people’s eyes is to hold a house party and show them the movie Gasland, then have a follow-up part and show the recently released Gasland II (available on demand, on HBO, and for sale).

 Once everyone is educated and energized, write letters, attend events, support local organizations working on this issue, and vote!

GET MORE INFO HERE:

Maya hosts a Shale Truth River Series on YouTube. Take a look.

Fracking: A Clear and Present Danger

What the Heck is Fracking? And Why Don’t You Want It Anywhere Near Your Water?

The post What’s so bad about fracking? Here’s what you need to know. appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Why We Care About Climate Change

Karen warns at Best of Mother Earth that “we can look forward to extreme temperatures, super infectious diseases spread by insects that thrive on warmer temperatures, poor air quality and more. This is frightening!”

Sounds stupid, right? That’s what Beth at My Plastic Free Life thinks, especially after reviewing the film “The Age of Stupid.” “Set in the year 2055, after the effects of global climate change have basically wiped out most of humans and other animals on earth, a lone archivist records a message, illustrating it with a handful of the billions of stories he’s collected in a massive database he calls the Global Archive, before transmitting the entire collection into outer space as a cautionary tale to future civilizations,” reports Beth. “The big question: Why didn’t we save ourselves when we had the chance?”

Lisa of Retro Housewife Goes Green is wondering the same thing, especially since she lives in Oklahoma’s Tornado Alley, that part of the country that has seen a significant uptick in tornadoes and other extreme weather events over the last few years. “Oklahoma was a poster child for extreme weather last year, we had a record drought, broke the state record for most snow to fall in 24 hours, broke the record for coldest day, had the warmest July on record for the whole U.S., record windspeed, record wildfires, the largest earthquake reported in the state, and more.” Writing while facing another possible tornado just a few days ago, Lisa says, “This all hits home with me as I listen to the thunderstorm outside that has rocked the state and even dropped some damaging tornadoes. And I also think back to last year and all of the extreme weather, including the horrible drought that hurt the state so very much and caused me some sleepless nights worrying about the wildfires my dad, a volunteer firefighter, was out fighting.”

On the Big Green Purse blog, I highlight impacts that directly affect my kids – like worsening poison ivy. Most people don’t realize that poison ivy and its nasty cousins poison oak and sumac, are all getting much more dangerous because the plants are growing faster and bigger, and the toxic oil in their leaves is becoming more intense, thanks to hotter global temperatures. I offer some ways to avoid poison ivy and to deal with it once you get it, since in the short-term we’ll have to contend with it showing up more often in our yards and parks.

Lori at Groovy Green Livin’ sounds the alarm on an impact I care about almost as much as poison ivy: the availability of chocolate!

Chocolate is a heat-sensitive crop, Lori’s research shows. Even a small increase in temperature will affect the crops. A report Lori cites shows why there are big problems to come for the cacao tree:

…an expected temperature rise of more than two degrees Celsius by 2050 will render many of the region’s cocoa-producing areas too hot for the plants that bear the fruit from which chocolate is made, says a new study from the Colombia-based International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

“Warming temperatures and changes in the precipitation pattern will mean rapid declines in growing conditions over the coming decades. Not good news for the cacao tree and in turn bad news for chocolate suppliers and lovers on a global level.”

Abbie at Farmer’s Daughter reports on the impact climate change is having on another beloved food: maple syrup. “In my lifetime alone, the maple sugaring season has moved from March to February. Maple sap runs when it’s below freezing at night and warms up during the day. If we wait to tap trees until March we will have missed our chance. It is clear that spring has moved to earlier in the year and we have to adjust, tap early, or risk not being able to make maple syrup for a whole year…It’s a New England tradition, my family’s tradition, and yet I worry that some day we may lose it entirely.” Abbie is especially concerned about projections that indicate we could lose maple trees and maple syrup entirely by 2100.

Chocolate and maple sugar are two foods we may not be able to produce any more if climate change worsens. But what about the impact producing some foods has on making climate change worse? Katy of Non-Toxic Kids and Moms Clean Air Force identifies three significant ways factory farming contributes to global warming and suggests some very simple yet highly effective choices you have that can make a real difference.

Tiffany at Nature Moms loves traveling but worries that climate change could destroy some of our most beloved national parks before her family has a chance to visit them. “Climate change is melting the glaciers that make an appearance in some (national parks), which not only affects the beauty of these areas, it also means less water is making its way down to lower areas. Plants and animal life that rely on this water start to become endangered or extinct. Water sources that hikers need to survive start to dry up, making the area inhospitable. Scenic waterfalls dry up earlier and earlier and may eventually be gone for good. Can you even imagine Yosemite without its grand waterfalls???”

Do you have pets? Ronnie at Moms Clean Air Force does, and she thinks climate change is making them sick. “I’m worried that my pets (two dogs and one cat) are gravely suffering because our planet is getting too warm for them.” Ronnie reviews some of the available scientific research, but her own observations are most convincing. Her dogs are thirstier, hotter, and getting ticks much earlier than usual. She’s pretty sure her cat has contracted feline asthma as a result of the increased air pollution associated with climate change.

Stephanie at Good Girl Gone Green bemoans the impact climate change has on much bigger animals: polar bears. “When I think of polar bears, I picture a piece of ice with one stranded on top,” she writes. “Some might say it is a depressing way to think of them, but what is even more heartbreaking is that polar bears may not be around in 50 years. Extinct. Poof. Gone.”

What can we do?

Given the reluctance of some people to accept that climate change is actually happening, it’s important to be able to explain why it occurs. Dominique Browning’s Moms Clean Air Force interview with climate scientist Dr. Heidi Cullen provides a clear explanation and offers suggestions on how you can deal with so-called climate “deniers.”

Harriet of Climate Mama works with the Climate Reality Project to raise awareness. For Climate Impacts Day, she’s organized family and friends to visit the proposed site of a natural gas pipeline that would carry gas derived through hydraulic fracking through a state park. She and her colleagues are also holding a “teach in” on fracking to raise awareness between this controversial practice and links to earthquakes and water pollution as well as climate change.

Anna at Green Talk admits that in her household, wasting food is one way her family contributes to climate change. She’s not alone. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “The amount of food waste generated in the US is huge. It is the third largest waste stream after paper and yard waste. In 2008, about 12.7 percent of the total municipal solid waste (MSW) generated in America was food scraps. Less than three percent of that 32 million tons was recovered and recycled. The rest – 31 million tons – was thrown away into landfills or incinerators.” Why does it matter? “The decomposition of food and other organic waste materials under anaerobic (without oxygen) conditions in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas (GHG) 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Landfills are the largest human-related source of methane in the United States, accounting for 34 percent of all methane emissions.” Her solution? Only buy what you intend to eat. And compost!!

For more ways to reduce food waste, check out the suggestions in this guest post from Aviva at The Scramble. Making a list and labeling left-overs are two simple steps that can lead to big savings and far fewer throw-aways.

Mary at In Women We Trust acknowledges that, in the face of overcoming a challenge as daunting as stopping climate change, it’s easy to feel like you’ve hit a “great green wall.” Mary is inspired by people in eleven nations in Africa who are working together to stop the Sahara Desert from creeping further south and turning all of Africa into an arid wasteland. “They aren’t doing it to lower Green House Gases,” acknowledges Mary. “They are doing it to survive, but at the same time, it is helping to lower GHG levels. Even the most die-hard denier can’t argue with the saving of a continent – especially when it’s producing such quickly appreciated results.”

At Big Green Purse, I’ve focused on the many ways consumers can use less energy as an important way to generate less carbon dioxide. They range from smart energy-saving driving tips to the top ten ways to save energy and money at home.

Never let it be said that, despite the seriousness of the challenges we face from climate change, we don’t keep our sense of humor! Deanna at The Crunchy Chicken offers a tongue-in-cheek run-down on the top five benefits of climate change. My favorite? #3: “Tropical weather without vacation prices.” Says Deanna wryly, thanks to climate change, we’ll have tropical weather all year long wherever we live – no need to tough out ten months of dreary winter or spend a fortune on a Caribbean vacation in January!”

Finally, thanks to Moms Clean Air Force for this cartoon and reminding us that the carbon emissions from our vehicles contribute significantly to climate change. In case you can’t commute in a toddler-mobile, here are some other ways you can burn less gas!

What impacts worry you? What solutions do you have? Please take a minute to let us know. Thanks!

The post Climate Change Impacts on Our Health, Our Homes, Our Families and Our Future appeared first on Big Green Purse.

The state of New Jersey is the only  state to ban fracking in the U.S., though the process is underway in 36 states.

Public opposition to fracking is growing as more people become aware of the environmental and human health problems it cause. That’s one of many reasons why it doesn’t make sense that New York state is set to make it easier to frack there, even though the state currently has some of the safest, cleanest drinking water in America.

Find out what fracking is doing to your state here.

On Capitol Hill, the FRAC Act would force natural gas fracking operations to at least comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act, which they’re under no obligation to do now. You can sign a petition here to ask your Senators to support the FRAC Act.

The post France BANS Fracking. But New York is about to allow it. Huh? appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Lori of Groovy Green Livin’ asks “What the heck is fracking?” You won’t like her answer anymore than she did. It’s like a “mini-bomb or earthquake exploding underneath the ground” that leaves behind extremely toxic waste water. “The quantities of fracking fluids used in a single well contain so much benzene and other toxic chemicals that they could potentially contaminate more than the amount of water New York State consumes in a day.  Water is so contaminated with methane and other chemicals from fracking that it can become discolored, bubble and could actually catch on fire at the kitchen tap….The chemicals from fracking can cause chronic illness, loss of sense of smell and taste, animals hair to fall out, severe headaches and cancer.”

Betsy of Eco Novice writes, “the big kicker for me in all of this is that fracking was exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act in the 2005 energy bill, which means that the entire process is happening with minimal regulation. So a process that potentially threatens drinking water is not subject to the regulation that is supposed to. . . protect our drinking water.”

Lisa of Retro Housewife Goes Green wonders if the increased number of EARTHQUAKES where she lives in Oklahoma are connected to the increasing amount of fracking going on there. What? Earthquakes? Think about that one for a minute. She also wonders whether the value of natural gas is being greenwashed. Sure, it’s an alternative to coal. But is it really any better? Fracking, plus nat gas’ own carbon footprint, make you wonder.

Karen of Best of Mother Earth got educated when she watched the Oscar-nominated film “Gasland,” which tracks the impact that fracking has had on people’s lives and the environment all over the U.S. “I found myself horrified, REALLY angry, and of course immediately frustrated…Once they frack, there is no going back,” she says. “The damage and destruction is done.”

There is some good news in the fracking debate. As Harriet at Climate Mama reports, the New Jersey legislature has banned fracking anywhere and everywhere in the state. Can you get your state to do the same?

Yes, you can! Over at Big Green Purse, you can find links to updates on what’s happening in your state, and sign a petition to get Senators to sign the FRAC Act.

And for more links to great resources and legislative updates, see Jennifer’s post at Care2.

Please. Take action today.

The post Fracking: A Clear and Present Danger appeared first on Big Green Purse.

But it’s not. Fracking is short for “hydraulic fracturing,” explains Chris Bolgiano in this Bay Journal article. “It involves drilling a hole a mile down, then thousands of feet horizontally, and pumping down millions of gallons of water laced with sand, salt and chemicals to crack the shale. Gas is forced up, along with roughly 25 percent of the contaminated wastewater, often hot with radioactivity.”

Chris adds, “Fracking chemicals include formaldehyde, benzene, and others known to be carcinogenic at a few parts per million. Municipal plants can’t handle fracking wastewater, and it’s stored in open pits until trucked elsewhere. If enough fresh water can’t be sucked from streams on site, trucks haul it in.

“Eighteen-wheelers rolling 24/7 pulverize country roads and cause accidents, like the one that spilled 8,000 gallons of toxic materials into a Pennsylvania creek last year. And they emit enough carbon to seriously shrink the greenhouse gas advantage of fracked gas.”

Fracking is rampant up and down the Eastern Seabord right now, as the natural gas industry tries to tap the gas that’s trapped under a massive underground rock formation called the Marcellus Shale. But it’s also occurring in the Midwest and southwest, 36 states in all. The industry claims that it’s doing the public and the environment a service, since the U.S. has abundant natural gas reserves and natural gas emits half the carbon emissions of coal and oil. Plus, says the industry, fracking creates local (though temporary) jobs.

But here’s the very significant downside:

EXPLOSIONS

Fracking causes explosions similar to the oil blowup that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico last year. One explosion in Pennsylvania last June spewed flammable gas and polluted water 75 feet into the air for sixteen hours. A blast in West Virginia injured 7 people while flames shot 40 feet into the air.

TAP WATER ON FIRE

Over 1,000 cases of water contamination have been reported near fracking sites, reports Food and Water Watch. Fracking operations in Pennsylvania alone are expected to create 19 milion gallons of wastewater. The Oscar-nominated documentary GasLand captured this tap water catching on fire because it contained so much methane as a result of drinking water contamination from nearby fracking operations.

WORSE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

About that methane: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, methane is 21 times more damaging a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Similarly, a study released by researchers at Duke University in April found methane levels in shallow drinking water wells near active gas drilling sites at a level 17 times higher than those near inactive ones.

AND — WHO’S SURPRISED? — CANCER

Scientists at the Endocrine Disruption Exchange who tested fracking fluids found that 25 percent can cause cancer; 37 percent can disrupt our endocrine system; and 40 to 50 percent can affect our nervous, immune and cardiovascular systems.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO

Citizen, public health and environmental groups cheered yesterday when New Jersey’s state legislature became the first in the nation to unanimously ban fracking. Said Senator Bob Gordon (D-Bergen), “Any benefits of gas production simply do not justify the many potential dangers associated with fracking such as pollution of our lakes, streams and drinking water supplies and the release of airborne pollutants. We should not wait until our natural resources are threatened or destroyed to act. The time to ban fracking in New Jersey is now.”

New Jersey is a good start, but remember: Fracking is currently underway in 36 states. Here’s what you can do to stop it in your state.

On Capitol Hill, the FRAC Act, a bill that has been in the Senate since 2009, would force the natural gas industry frackers to comply fully with the Safe Drinking Water Act and protect our drinking water. You can easily sign a petition here to ask your Senators to support the FRAC act.

Do it today.

Want to Read More?

Fracking in Maryland: Chesapeake Bay Foundation Petitions White House

Regulation Lax as Gas Wells’ Tainted Water Hits Rivers

Marcellus Shale Protest: What’s the Big Deal…?

The post What the Heck is Fracking? And Why Don’t You Want It Anywhere Near Your Water? appeared first on Big Green Purse.