The environment thread

[iamshack]

Pretty solid read on the havoc that higher renewable penetration is having on worldwide electric grids and energy markets.

 

I blame Farmteam.

[caulfield12]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/29/politics/sut...gton/index.html

 

Meet the kids who are suing President Trump and marching on Washington over climate change

Edited April 29, 2017 by caulfield12

[StrangeSox]

27 national monuments may lose protections

 

http://m.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/...ts-11126028.php

. Protections for 27 national monuments may be curtailed, cut

Twenty-seven national monuments, mostly in the West, face the curtailing or elimination of protections put in place over the past two decades by presidents from both parties, the Interior Department said.

...

The review also targets five marine monuments in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, including a huge reserve in Hawaii established in 2006 by President George W. Bush and expanded last year by President Barack Obama.

 

[brett05]

Carbon dioxide levels could reach their highest point in 50 million years by the end of the century

So still at safe levels. Good to know.

[Panerista]

So still at safe levels. Good to know.

"Safe" if you can live with the collateral damage.

[NorthSideSox72]

"Safe" if you can live with the collateral damage.

"Safe" for the species that were alive 50 million years ago. Which certainly didn't include humans. That's also after the events that killed off not only the dinosaurs but also most large creatures all over the earth.

 

Also, keep in mind that brett isn't interested in discussion. He just likes to troll.

 

[Kyyle23]

"Safe" if you can live with the collateral damage.

 

Pruitt getting rid of those pesky scientists and replacing them with representatives of the companies that are pushing against pollution laws, so they can make things more safe. So many great things

[StrangeSox]

"Safe" for the species that were alive 50 million years ago. Which certainly didn't include humans. That's also after the events that killed off not only the dinosaurs but also most large creatures all over the earth.

 

Also, keep in mind that brett isn't interested in discussion. He just likes to troll.

 

Yeah, "safe for life" and "good for human civilization" are two very different things.

 

This planet has survived several mass extinctions. That doesn't mean we want to turn to those "safe" times.

 

[Panerista]

Also, keep in mind that brett isn't interested in discussion. He just likes to troll.

[StrangeSox]

Pruitt getting rid of those pesky scientists and replacing them with representatives of the companies that are pushing against pollution laws, so they can make things more safe. So many great things

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/07/us/polit...yp=cur&_r=0

The Environmental Protection Agency has dismissed at least five members of a major scientific review board, the latest signal of what critics call a campaign by the Trump administration to shrink the agency's regulatory reach by reducing the role of academic research.

 

A spokesman for the E.P.A. administrator, Scott Pruitt, said he would consider replacing the academic scientists with representatives from industries whose pollution the agency is supposed to regulate, as part of the wide net it plans to cast. "The administrator believes we should have people on this board who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community," said the spokesman, J. P. Freire.

 

I just have to remind myself sometimes that the Republicans do not hide their policy agenda whatsoever, and that these sorts of actions are what people vote for

[iamshack]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/07/us/polit...yp=cur&_r=0

 

 

I just have to remind myself sometimes that the Republicans do not hide their policy agenda whatsoever, and that these sorts of actions are what people vote for

The great thing about this is I really think this ship has sailed for the most part. Coal is not coming back irregardless of the politics at this point.

 

The real questions remaining is whether it is worth considering taking some of the federal subsidies out of solar and wind and putting them into other technologies, particularly those involving storage.

[BigSqwert]

Dakota Access pipeline has first leak before it's fully operational

[StrangeSox]

We're in good, competent hands now!

Edited May 12, 2017 by StrangeSox

[BigSqwert]

We're in good, competent hands now!

 

Thus entire administration is an absurd farce. Any chance of a coup?

[caulfield12]

Jared got into Harvard. Thanks to dad's $2.5 million "donation."

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/epa-may-allo...6--finance.html

EPA to allow massive mine near pristine Alaskan salmon grounds

 

Trump doesn't personally care for the taste of salmon, so they gone.

[LittleHurt05]

I can't help but giggle when climate change conference speakers get called out for arriving in a private jet.

[NorthSideSox72]

My wife and I have talked for years about doing a trip to Glacier National Park (which I haven't been to yet), and as a grand retirement party (in like 15-20 years) to rent one of those private train cars and take the train from Chicago to the park.

 

Given the rate at which the glaciers are disappearing from Glacier, we are now dropping the train thing (which is expensive as hell) and just road tripping to Glacier next summer to get there much sooner. Legitimately concerned most or all will be gone by the time 20 years rolls around.

 

[StrangeSox]

My wife and I have talked for years about doing a trip to Glacier National Park (which I haven't been to yet), and as a grand retirement party (in like 15-20 years) to rent one of those private train cars and take the train from Chicago to the park.

 

Given the rate at which the glaciers are disappearing from Glacier, we are now dropping the train thing (which is expensive as hell) and just road tripping to Glacier next summer to get there much sooner. Legitimately concerned most or all will be gone by the time 20 years rolls around.

 

That's the expectation, I think. "Naturally" they'd be gone in a 100 years, but global warming has really accelerated it.

 

100% do the hike up to Grinnell Glacier. Also hike the Highline--definitely in my top five hikes of all time. There's an overlook about 2/3's of the way in. We only got about half way up before turning around because we were gassed (not in the best shape before that trip), but it's supposed to be an amazing view back down on Grinnell. The whole area around Many Glacier is fantastic, but it's also full of Grizzlies. If you get the chance, take a day trip down to Two Medicine and up to Waterton in Canada.

 

I'm sure it's sold out since they usually book up within a couple of hours for the entire season, but if you could get a reservation at Sperry Chalet, I've heard it's an amazing place to stay. I had a coworker who gave me all sorts of great information before I went, and he stayed there multiple times. Hike in via Gunsight Pass. Reservations for the following season typically open up in October, so if you're going in 2018, keep that in mind. Could always just backpack it up there, too, if you're comfortable camping in grizzly country.

 

It'll always be hard to top Yosemite for me since that was our first NP trip, but I really do think Glacier is the most beautiful place I've ever been. One Soxtalker spent every summer growing up heading to Glacier with his parents (maybe farmteam? it'd be in one of the vacation or hiking/outdoor threads in SLaM) and could probably give much better info.

 

 

 

ughhhh so pretty

Edited May 16, 2017 by StrangeSox

[caulfield12]

My Top Ten

 

Tibet/Mount Everest

Machu Picchu

Serengeti/Kilimanjaro (Kenya/Tanzania)

Angkor Wat

Grand Canyon

Badlands/Rushmore/Crazy Horse/Devil's Tower (NE Wyoming)

Thailand/Philippines/Bali/Hawaii

Zhangjiajie ("Avatar" mountains, Hunan Province)

Switzerland

Augusta National or Taj Mahal

Edited May 16, 2017 by caulfield12

[iamshack]

My wife and I have talked for years about doing a trip to Glacier National Park (which I haven't been to yet), and as a grand retirement party (in like 15-20 years) to rent one of those private train cars and take the train from Chicago to the park.

 

Given the rate at which the glaciers are disappearing from Glacier, we are now dropping the train thing (which is expensive as hell) and just road tripping to Glacier next summer to get there much sooner. Legitimately concerned most or all will be gone by the time 20 years rolls around.

I think you should have taken this as a sign that you need to retire early, not that you need to drop the train idea!

 

[illinilaw08]

My wife and I have talked for years about doing a trip to Glacier National Park (which I haven't been to yet), and as a grand retirement party (in like 15-20 years) to rent one of those private train cars and take the train from Chicago to the park.

 

Given the rate at which the glaciers are disappearing from Glacier, we are now dropping the train thing (which is expensive as hell) and just road tripping to Glacier next summer to get there much sooner. Legitimately concerned most or all will be gone by the time 20 years rolls around.

 

I went to Glacier almost every summer as a kid. The park is sensational. My parents have some pretty crazy photos of what Grinnell Glacier looked like back in the late '70s and what it looked like the last time I was there (mid 2000s). The amount that it had receded, even at that time, was jarring.

 

ETA: To echo SS, if you can get reservations at Sperry Chalet, it's absolutely a must-do. With Sperry Chalet as a base, you can get over to Sperry Glacier without any real difficulty, and the hike in over Gunsight Pass and across Lake Ellen Wilson is spectacular. But I don't think I would ever backpack in. The amount of grizzlies in the park generally, and the amount before you get to Gunsight Pass specifically, make backpacking back there an exercise that I would not be interested in doing.

 

I think they have opened up Granite Park Chalet with limited services on the Highline Trail. That's a pretty awesome part of the park as well. And another place that I would not sleep in a tent.

Edited May 16, 2017 by illinilaw08

[StrangeSox]

I went to Glacier almost every summer as a kid. The park is sensational. My parents have some pretty crazy photos of what Grinnell Glacier looked like back in the late '70s and what it looked like the last time I was there (mid 2000s). The amount that it had receded, even at that time, was jarring.

 

ETA: To echo SS, if you can get reservations at Sperry Chalet, it's absolutely a must-do. With Sperry Chalet as a base, you can get over to Sperry Glacier without any real difficulty, and the hike in over Gunsight Pass and across Lake Ellen Wilson is spectacular. But I don't think I would ever backpack in. The amount of grizzlies in the park generally, and the amount before you get to Gunsight Pass specifically, make backpacking back there an exercise that I would not be interested in doing.

 

I think they have opened up Granite Park Chalet with limited services on the Highline Trail. That's a pretty awesome part of the park as well. And another place that I would not sleep in a tent.

 

Granite Park was open when we were there in 2013. Funny enough, this rustic cabin 8 miles into the Rockies was the place with the best cell signal our entire trip. Heading down the switchbacks from Granite Park was also where both my wife and I hyperextended our knees on Day 1 of our trip after we ran into a couple of black bear cubs on the trail (didn't know where mom was, and it was our first bear encounter).

 

I'd camp in black bear country, but we saw at least two dozen grizzlies from a distance up at Many Glacier. We stayed at Lake McDonald and Swiftcurrent in Many Glacier. I've heard Apgar village is really nice, too.

 

We're having a daughter this summer, and one of our goals is to get back up to Grinnell when she's old enough to do the hike and appreciate it but before the glacier is entirely gone. We'll see if that works out.

 

 

 

photographic evidence of how much it's receded:

 

Edited May 16, 2017 by StrangeSox

[NorthSideSox72]

Thanks for all the info on Glacier. Yeah I figure you need to book stuff there a year in advance on the nose to have a chance.

 

[Heads22]

My Top Ten

 

Tibet/Mount Everest

Machu Picchu

Serengeti/Kilimanjaro (Kenya/Tanzania)

Angkor Wat

Grand Canyon

Badlands/Rushmore/Crazy Horse/Devil's Tower (NE Wyoming)

Thailand/Philippines/Bali/Hawaii

Zhangjiajie ("Avatar" mountains, Hunan Province)

Switzerland

Augusta National or Taj Mahal

 

I was able to do the Grand Canyon with my dad for the first time in March, about a month before he passed away. He'd never been there and when you go there, holy s***, it doesn't even look real when you're standing there. Did the South Dakota stuff as a family over ten years ago, also pretty cool.

[caulfield12]

I was able to do the Grand Canyon with my dad for the first time in March, about a month before he passed away. He'd never been there and when you go there, holy s***, it doesn't even look real when you're standing there. Did the South Dakota stuff as a family over ten years ago, also pretty cool.

 

Alaska is definitely on my US list...still have to go there, ND and Montana (was less than ten miles from the border, but couldn't convince my friend to go to the Custer Battlefield).

 

Glacier really sounds cool, it looks very similar to Nepal and Tibet, where the same ice loss is taking place over the last 30-40 years, maybe even at a faster pace than in the US. Mount Saint Helen's area is another excellent hiking/trail area.