MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 - EARTH WEEK

 MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 - EARTH WEEK

This week has Earth Day on Thursday, April 22nd.  Fifty years ago, Earth Day was first observed.  

From the National Today link to Earth Day

“For the past 50 years, Earth Day has been celebrated by billions of people around the globe, annually every April 22, to join together in promoting awareness for the health of our environment. But with serious concerns about our changing environment being studied and addressed today by prominent scientists, politicians, and young climate change activists alike, some people are adapting to more environmentally friendly ways of living — every day, not just on April 22 every year. Cue the composting, recycling, repurposing, carpooling, thrifting, and metal straws to save the turtles.”

I am a casual environmentalist (my definition) - meaning that if it doesn’t take much work, I’d go the environmentally smart thing.  I live in an apartment complex that doesn’t do recycling (although the City of Georgetown does actively recycle.)   When I first moved into my apartment, I carefully sorted my recycling from the trash and took them to the recycling center.  I had to stop in the supervisory building to explain what I was bringing in, the supervisor had to inspect my recycling materials, and I had to transfer them to compostable bags to heave into the right bins.  That was going out of my way.  So, I found where I could take my materials and put them in the right bins easier.  But, that was a small hassle as well.  So, now, everything goes into the dumpster.  I used to feel guilty, but I’ve pretty much pushed that back into my subconscious.  

When I take my trash out to the dumpster, it is generally full of recyclables - lots of cardboard boxes and take-out containers.  Maybe I’ll get bold and ask the apartment management to see if we could recycle the cardboard, cans and metals, and glass.  (My suspicious nature is guessing that they will say ‘no that won’t work’ and the idea will go away).  

There are many statistics that point to recycling, reusing, and avoiding plastic.  We are consumers who use a lot of packaging.  Along the way, we have the Great Pacific Trash Patch - https://theoceancleanup.com/.  That site says “Every year, millions of tons of plastic enter the oceans, of which the majority spills out from rivers. A portion of this plastic travels to ocean garbage patches, getting caught in a vortex of circulating currents. If no action is taken, the plastic will increasingly impact our ecosystems, health, and economies.”.  

A few years back, the City of Austin banned plastic bags (like the ones from grocery stores) in 2013 (or technically, the use of one-time “single-use bags”).  The courts struck that down, but the city still expects reusable bags.  If a consumer doesn’t have a bag, they may pay for one (or some shops might give one away).  The City of Austin had this statement: “While the ordinance can no longer be enforced, the City is still very committed to its Zero Waste goal. “

My Community (Georgetown Texas) was described thusly: “Georgetown, Texas is a small city outside of Austin with big ambition: five years ago, it committed to powering itself with 100% renewable energy.” https://www.sierraclub.org/texas/blog/2020/02/lessons-georgetown-and-future-renewable-energy-texas

They have reached 100% renewable energy - but with added costs.  

 

Also while energy gets connected to a grid, so, technically Georgetown buys energy from the West Texas wind turbine farms.  One source indicated there were 10,700 wind turbines in Texas. (My guess is that has gotten higher in the recent past).  The Georgetown electric utility entered into contracts for power at prices that were high and thus the community members (aka people) had higher bills!!!

With this winter’s unusual cold and snow week, some of the wind turbines froze, some of the solar panels got snow and ice-covered, and the Texas grid suffered some major power outages.  Many houses have electric heat - so, lights, cold, the demand for more heat were too much for the system.  I lost power off-and-on for four days and spent 3 nights with friends.  An additional problem was tree limbs covered in ice and falling on electric lines, and frozen water pipes.  My building was without water for four days.  I did gather snow and melted it for flushing my toilet) 

Some people rose up against the 100% renewal energy position in favor of more gas and oil supplies.  Some suggested more pipelines (like the Keystone pipeline), and others - remembering oil pipelines breaking with massive oil spills said “no”.  

It is frequently a political topic - fossil fuels will someday run out.  We have oil reserves in the Arctic - and can get some additional oil and gas well through fracking - but we will always have the wind, and the sun - and hopefully water to run through turbines and generate power. 

Others have noted, “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that between 140,000 and 500,000 bird deaths occur at wind farms each year”.  (That’s a lot of birds!!!)   Another study said, “wind turbines resulted in the deaths of 888,000 bats and 573,000 birds, including 83,000 birds of prey”.  

Some other analyzes suggest that fossil fuel processes also kill birds - by loss of habitat, and air quality/air pollution.

It also seems that when energy experts say “We are running out of oil and gas reserves that another “big find” shows up someplace in the world.  Energy was one of the issues in World War II.  Japan needed energy, China and Russia had energy, Germany needed more energy, so control of north Africa was of value to them. It seems as if the economic world has a foundation of energy.

On a related note - Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is revolutionizing oil and gas drilling across the country. However, without rigorous safety regulations, it can poison groundwater, pollute surface water, impair wild landscapes, and threaten wildlife.  Fracking was an issue in the 2020 National Election.  

If the note on fracking is correct, there can be serious environmental issues (a good topic for “Earth Week”).  More on that tomorrow.

So - are we slowly destroying our planet?  Or is this one of the cycles - such as the “Ice Age” of eons ago?  Are humans destroying our planet?  Are we wiping out the rain forests?  Are we polluting the oceans (with plastics), are toxins going down our drains and into our sewage systems - and eventually spilling into our groundwater?  

I don’t know!!!  

BUT, I know that LOVE WINS!!!

HUGS!!

Karen