Steve Bull's Blog, page 36
May 14, 2024
Recent study finds ‘garbage lasagnas’ forming in open landfills across US release staggering amount of air pollution: ‘Decades of trash that’s sitting under the landfill’
Researchers discovered that over half had sizable methane plumes, which sometimes lasted for months or years.
Photo Credit: iStock
Landfills across America are releasing far more methane, a potent planet-warming gas, than we previously thought.
A study published in the journal Science found that our nation’s dumps are releasing almost three times more methane than estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency indicate. It’s a discovery that could have major implications for our climate and our communities.
What’s happening?
By flying planes over roughly 20% of the nation’s 1,200 large, open landfills, researchers discovered that over half had sizable methane plumes, which sometimes lasted for months or years.
This suggests that something has gone awry at these sites, such as big leaks of trapped methane from layers of long-buried, decomposing trash.
“You can sometimes get decades of trash that’s sitting under the landfill,” said study lead Daniel H. Cusworth, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona. “We call it a garbage lasagna.”
Why are landfill emissions concerning?
When our vegetable scraps and old appliances end up buried in landfills, they decompose without oxygen, releasing methane. Over a 20-year period, methane‘s warming effect is a whopping 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, according to Stanford University’s Doerr School of Sustainability.
The EPA already considers landfills the third-largest source of human-caused methane pollution in the United States, equal to the yearly emissions of 23 million cars. But if landfills are emitting nearly triple previous estimates, the threat to our communities and climate is far greater than we realized.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Why The Establishment Fears a Trump-led Fed
While in office, Trump blamed the Fed for tightening monetary policy. Now members of Trump’s team allegedly plan to give a re-elected Trump more power over the Fed, igniting panic from mainstream economists about a politicized Fed. Our guest commentator explains why the real risk, from the establishment’s perspective, is not that Trump will turn the Fed into a political organization but that he will expose that it already is one.
The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Peter Schiff or SchiffGold.
Discourse about the Federal Reserve is frequently full of myths, dishonest framing, and outright lies. Listen to a press conference by Chairman Jerome Powell or read an article from a major outlet’s lead Fed correspondent and you’re bound to hear at least a few. For instance, it’s common for the financial press to characterize the Fed’s current conundrum as “walking a tightrope.”
It’s said that the Fed is working to guide the economy along without tipping it over into either high inflation on one side or a recession on the other. The last couple years, we’re told, saw the economy wobble too far toward the inflation side, with the Fed now attempting to pull the economy back to the thin line of stability without tipping over too far and plunging into a recession.
But anybody who actually understands what causes recessions can tell that this framing is, at best, incredibly misleading. The Fed doesn’t prevent recessions, it directly causes them. These days the tightrope analogy contributes to the myth that, while difficult, a recession is possible to avoid. It isn’t. All the Fed can do is delay and amplify the painful correction that earlier monetary policy made inevitable.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Globalists Plot Worldwide Genocide Via WHO Pandemic Treaty
Introduction
With all the trouble in today’s world, including the completely pointless American-instigated war in Ukraine, Israel’s loathsome genocidal onslaught against the Palestinians in Gaza, and militant U.S. threats to China over Taiwan, perhaps we should be asking whether the escalation in tensions threatening massive global conflict is really a carefully-crafted Globalist “false-flag” concealing something even more sinister.
Particularly dominating the news cycle are the battles now raging in the U.S. and elsewhere between activists and authorities via pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
But again, is it more contrived distraction?
I believe it is.
What then is the real agenda behind these headline-dominating events? What are the Globalists, who are the real string-pullers, actually trying to achieve? Will more conventional wars and street-level conflict really do the job?
Actual Human Deaths from War
To narrow our focus, the world has not seen a major war since World War II took place in 1939-1945, with over 16 million military fatalities and an estimated 70-85 million overall casualties, including civilians. Given a world population of 2.3 billion in 1940, war casualties were thus about 3.7 percent of that total.
Granted the horrific nature of wartime deaths, 3.7 percent remains a relatively low figure, with the concentration of deaths obviously affecting some nations much more than others. In World War II the hardest hit were the Soviet Union and Germany. But the total loss was scarcely a bump in the road of long-term growth of the world’s human population, today reaching 8.1 billion and counting.
Looking at more contemporary data, deaths attributed to all wars since 9/11, a period often referred to as one of “endless war,” are about 4.5-4.7 million. This figure, however, yields vastly smaller proportions than those of World War II. Thus the net demographic effect of war over the past two-plus decades is scarcely noticeable, though again, any casualties are horrific to those affected.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
NASA Shares Photos Of Massive Explosions On Sun That Unleashed Solar Flares
NASA has recorded two explosions on the surface of the sun which unleashed powerful solar flares on Friday and Saturday. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory meticulously documented the solar eruptions which sent ripples of electromagnetic energy hurtling towards Earth.
“The Sun emitted two strong solar flares on May 10-11, 2024, peaking at 9:23 p.m. EDT on May 10, and 7:44 a.m. EDT on May 11. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the events, which were classified as X5.8 and X1.5-class flares,” NASA said in a statement.
What followed was a cosmic spectacle, as Earth braced for the impact of these solar storms. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued alerts as the first of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) surged towards our planet.
For skywatchers across the globe, this celestial drama unfolded in stunning auroras that painted the skies with vibrant hues of pink, green, and purple. From northern Europe to Australia’s Tasmania, sky-gazers were able to capture stunning photos courtesy of the rare phenomena.
Solar storms, while mesmerising, pose potential risks to technological infrastructure. Fluctuating magnetic fields induced by geomagnetic storms can disrupt power grids, communication networks, and satellite operations.
Solar storms, while mesmerising, pose potential risks to technological infrastructure. Fluctuating magnetic fields induced by geomagnetic storms can disrupt power grids, communication networks, and satellite operations.
Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and Starlink, acknowledged the challenges posed by the solar storm, noting the strain on satellite operations. Despite concerns, Musk reassured that SpaceX’s satellites were well equipped to handle the solar storm.
Climate models can’t explain 2023’s huge heat anomaly — we could be in uncharted territory
Taking into account all known factors, the planet warmed 0.2 °C more last year than climate scientists expected. More and better data are urgently needed.When I took over as the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, I inherited a project that tracks temperature changes since 1880. Using this trove of data, I’ve made climate predictions at the start of every year since 2016. It’s humbling, and a bit worrying, to admit that no year has confounded climate scientists’ predictive capabilities more than 2023 has.
For the past nine months, mean land and sea surface temperatures have overshot previous records each month by up to 0.2 °C — a huge margin at the planetary scale. A general warming trend is expected because of rising greenhouse-gas emissions, but this sudden heat spike greatly exceeds predictions made by statistical climate models that rely on past observations. Many reasons for this discrepancy have been proposed but, as yet, no combination of them has been able to reconcile our theories with what has happened.
Earth just had its hottest year on record — climate change is to blame
For a start, prevalent global climate conditions one year ago would have suggested that a spell of record-setting warmth was unlikely. Early last year, the tropical Pacific Ocean was coming out of a three-year period of La Niña, a climate phenomenon associated with the relative cooling of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. Drawing on precedents when similar conditions prevailed at the beginning of a year, several climate scientists, including me, put the odds of 2023 turning out to be a record warm year at just one in five.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
May 12, 2024
Satellite images reveal devastating flooding in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Heavy rainfall across southern Brazil has caused severe flooding and landslides over the past 9 days, significantly affecting the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Parana, and Santa Catarina.
The most severe impact has been in Rio Grande do Sul, where rising casualties and widespread destruction continue to mount. As of May 9, at least 95 people have died, 372 have been injured, and 131 remain missing. Additionally, more than 208 000 people have been displaced, and at least 1.5 million people have been affected.
The extensive flooding has left over 1.4 million people without electricity and isolated 48 cities from telecommunications.
Widespread severe flooding was reported in Porto Alegre, the state capital. Roads have been rendered impassable across the city, cutting off the capital, and flights at the main airport have been suspended.
Widespread agricultural damage was also reported while analysts anticipate that damage to silos, storage facilities, transportation networks, and ports will hinder grain exports. Rio Grande do Sul is a key hub for the production and export of soy, rice, wheat, and meat.
Satellite imagery acquired on May 8 showed devastating flooding across Porto Alegre, including Salgado Filho International Airport completely flooded.
May 8, 2024
Authorities are closely monitoring four dams: Blang, Dal Bo, Santa Lucia, and the 14 de Julho dam in Cotipora municipality, which has partially collapsed.
Your Tax Dollars At Work: In Two Years, $7.5 Billion Has Produced Just 7 EV Charging Stations
When people gripe about paying taxes and the government being a poor the absolute worst possible capital allocation, this is what they are talking about: $7.5 billion in investments for electric vehicles has – in two years – produced just 7 charging stations across four states.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed by Biden in November 2021, allocated $7.5 billion for EV charging, the Washington Post writes. Of this amount, $5 billion went to states as “formula funding” for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program to establish a network of fast chargers along major highways.
Today, there’s seven chargers with a total of just 38 parking spots. And, come on: when the Post is calling it out, you know the results have been horrible.
The Post added that with the Biden administration’s new emissions rules requiring more electric and hybrid vehicles, the slow pace of charging infrastructure development could hinder the transition to electric cars. Twelve additional states have awarded contracts for charging station construction, while 17 states have yet to issue proposals.
Alexander Laska, deputy director for transportation and innovation at the center-left think tank Third Way, told The Post: “I think a lot of people who are watching this are getting concerned about the timeline.”
The slow rollout of new EV chargers is partly due to higher standards compared to previous fast chargers. The U.S. has nearly 10,000 fast charging stations, including over 2,000 reliable Tesla Superchargers, but non-Tesla chargers often suffer from poor performance.
New Biden administration rules require chargers to be 97% operational, offer 150kW power, and be within one mile of highways. These standards are crucial but slow down progress due to complex rules, permitting challenges, and power demands. The NEVI program aims to boost fast charging capacity by 50% to reduce “range anxiety,” but states must first build the chargers.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Hurricanes, heatwaves and rising seas: The impacts of record ocean heat
Getty ImagesExcessive phytoplankton growth can choke the sea surface with a jelly-like layer of slime known as “sea snot” as ocean temperatures increase (Credit: Getty Images)Record ocean temperatures suggest the seas are warming faster than expected, and the impacts will be felt from polar ice shelves to coastal cities across the globe.
The world’s oceans are like a planet-sized battery: they absorb huge amounts of heat, which is then released slowly. So far, our oceans have soaked up over 90% of the heat trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere by rising greenhouse gas emissions. But recently, their rate of warming has been dramatic.
Every day since late March 2023, global ocean surface temperatures have set new records for the hottest temperature ever recorded on that date. On 47 of those days, temperatures have also surpassed previous highs by the largest margin seen in the satellite era, according to data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. (Read the analysis of the data in this article by the BBC News Climate and Science team.)
In February 2024, the world had breached 1.5C warming of surface air temperatures for a full year. But in some regions last year, ocean temperatures were similar to those expected if overall global warming of surface air temperatures reached 3C above pre-industrial levels – suggesting quicker ocean heating than expected.
This rapid heating raises a puzzle for scientists: why is recent ocean warming even greater than models suggest?
“The step-change in ocean temperatures over last year is huge,” says Hayley Fowler, professor of climate change impacts at Newcastle University in the UK. “The fact we can’t simulate these step-change increases and understand why it’s happening is terrifying.”…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Bidenomics At Work: Ford Slashing Battery Orders As Losses Per EV Approach $100,000
Ford is cutting battery orders in yet another sign that the EV market, despite a constant tailwind from the U.S. taxpayer, is starting to slow.
The company is cutting the orders to curb electric-vehicle losses as it scales back its EV strategy in a slowing plug-in market, according to insiders who spoke to Bloomberg.
Ford CEO Jim Farley has said the company’s EV unit “is the main drag on the whole company right now” and CAT said its “cooperation with Ford is moving forward as normal”.
The company responded by saying it wouldn’t comment on relationships with suppliers.
Bloomberg notes that with plummeting EV prices and weakening demand, Ford’s losses per electric vehicle exceeded $100,000 in the first quarter, doubling last year’s deficit.
Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that Ford’s projected EV unit losses this year will nearly offset profits from its Ford Blue division, which produces traditional internal combustion engine vehicles like the Bronco SUV and gas-electric hybrids such as the Maverick truck.
BI analysts said of the results: “That raises questions about the prudence of investing heavily in EVs.”
Ford’s order reductions highlight industry challenges as U.S. automakers face weaker-than-expected EV demand and battery makers in South Korea, China, and beyond struggle with unsold inventory.
This has affected prices for key metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, leading to multiyear lows and stalling new projects. Ford has reduced EV production costs but had to cut prices to stay competitive with Tesla.
Ford CFO John Lawler said in April: “We’ve seen prices coming down quite dramatically and that’s why we haven’t been able to keep up from a cost reduction standpoint.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
May 11, 2024
The World’s Largest Floating Solar Farm Wrecked by a Storm Just Before Launch
h/t Dr. Willie Soon; Who could have predicted acres of fragile floating structures would be vulnerable to bad weather?
Madhya Pradesh: Summer Storm Damages World’s Largest Floating Solar Plant at Omkareshwar Dam (Watch Video)
Indore: A summer storm on Tuesday damaged a floating solar plant at Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar dam. The floating solar plant, situated in the backwater of the dam, is the biggest of its kind in the world. A joint venture between Madhya Pradesh Govt and National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), the project was nearly completed and ready for its launch. A part of the project became operational last week.
The project near the village of Kelwa Khurd, aimed at generating 100 MW of electricity, with additional capacities of 88MW at Indawadi and 90 MW at Ekhand village. However, on Tuesday, summer storms with the speed of 50kmph hit the project and threw the solar panels all around the place. No employee was fortunately injured.
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A video of the disaster;
Anyone who has ever owned a boat, particular a large boat which gets left in the water, knows what a harsh environment the sea can be. Some kind of failure was inevitable. If it hadn’t been a storm, there are plenty of other things which could have gone wrong.
Greens keep telling us we can expect more frequent and extreme superstorms – so what is the point of building vulnerable floating structures?
Plastics tend to disintegrate under tropical sunlight, especially when in contact with water or water spray. Ultraviolet from the sun drives exotic chemical reactions, which leads to chemical breakdown.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
