albedo – Gallant Gold Media

Acclaimed Climatologist Blasts Big Oil’s Sham Climate Pledges

on February 15, 2022March 20, 2022 By Our New Green Culture

Washington (GGM) Analysis | February 15, 2022, by Noreen Wise, Founder & CEO of Gallant Gold Media, and author; Image Credit: AdobeStock

Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State and climatologist, Dr. Michael E. Mann, provided cold, harsh facts to the House Oversight and Reform Committee in his opening testimony on Tuesday morning February 8, 2022. These chilling details, that were televised live on C-Span across the globe, continued for 3 hours and 30 minutes as Mann and his fellow witnesses (Ms.Tracey Lewis, policy counsel for Public Citizen’s climate program; Ms. Katie Tubb, senior policy analyst for energy and environmental issues, Heritage Foundation; and Mr. Mark van Baal, Founder, Follow This) answered questions posed by each Representative on the Committee.

At issue, Fueling the Climate Crisis: Examining Big Oil’s Climate Pledges. Mann stunned viewers by sharing information that was difficult to process on an emotional level, considering how barbaric and inhumane these revelations are, and that the burning of fossil fuels cause more than 8 million premature deaths each year, that climate disasters have brutalized communities across the globe, and that 2.7 billion people are now food insecure, many of whom are children.

“ExxonMobil’s own scientists, in a secret 1982 report that was never released to the public, made remarkably accurate predictions of both the rise that we would see in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and the planetary warming that would result given business as usual extraction and burning of fossil fuels,” Mann said in a brisk, even pace, seemingly aware of how quickly time flies and wanting to get everything on the record before his five minutes were up. “They even used the word ‘catastrophic’ to describe the potential impacts of that warming. But rather than come forward with what their own scientists had concluded, they engaged in a campaign of denial and delay which continues on today.”

Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) was up at bat at the hearing’s three hour mark. Chevron is headquartered in DeSaulnier’s district in the San Francisco Bay area of Northern California. Additionally, there are four oil refineries in DeSaulnier’s district. He’s been at war with big oil for years and thus has a unique perspective that enabled him to drill down a bit deeper and tap into what might prove to be a winning strategy in light of the well-documented, slick and deceptive, big oil greenwashing delay tactics.

In 2016, Desaulnier, along with his California colleague Congressman Ted Lieu, whose district includes another big West Coast fossil fuel footprint in Torrance, California, south of Los Angeles, requested information through a hearing “on what Exxon had done to obfuscate its role and its knowledge.” This was following an LA Times investigative series into California oil polluters that was conducted in partnership with Climate Action. DeSaulnier and Lieu are still waiting for much of the requested response from Exxon. Nearly 7 years, and still waiting. We only have 8 years left to cut carbon emissions 50% by 2030. There is absolutely no more time for waiting for oil giants to do what they should have done years ago.

Image Credit: Noreen Wise
Marble statue in front of Rayburn House Office Building on Independence Ave in DC, across the street from the US Capitol, covered in black, toxic fossil fuel pollution.

Mann also outlined just how dire the climate crisis already is in his opening testimony. “We are now paying the extreme opportunity cost of that delay in the form of withering heat waves, more destructive tornado outbreaks, wildfires, and floods exacerbated by climate change. Whether it’s the apocalyptic wildfires that once again ravaged California and the west this summer, a heat dome over the Pacific Northwest that made parts of Canada feel like Phoenix on the 4th of July, or the devastating floods my state of Pennsylvania experienced as the remnants of climate change-fueled hurricane Ida dumped months’ worth of rainfall in a few hours, it is clear that dangerous climate change is upon us. These events are costing the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars a year and the toll in dollars and human lives will continue to increase in the absence of concerted action.”

DeSaulnier provided quoted assurances from the big oil companies on what they’re busy doing to transition to clean energy:

BP says it will be a very different kind of energy company by 2030 “as we scale up investment in low carbon energy.”
Chevron: “Leadership and innovation to advance a low carbon future.”
Exxon: “Committed to helping form our energy systems in working to reduce emissions in the short term, while also working on advancing decarbonization solutions.”

DeSaulnier brought everyone back to reality by adding, “Contrast that with their financial reports from 2010-2018,” and then outlined the total capital expenditures of each oil giant to underscore that their actions don’t match their words:

BP spent 2.3% on low carbon investments.
Shell spent 1.3% on low carbon investments.
Chevron spent .23%. Gasp! (DeSaulnier stared at the camera in disbelief. “A California company!”)
Exxon spent .22% on low carbon investments.

He continued with additional evidence of successful big oil delay tactics that undermine America’s strength, stability and health. “According to the Low Carbon Disclosure Project, 24 of the largest publicly owned oil companies spent less than 1% of their budgets on low carbon investments between 2010-2017.”

Not only is this morally wrong, but it undermines America’s economic strength, Desaulnier emphasized. There’s a global shift to a green economy and clean energy. Major financial resources are moving in that direction. Fossil fuel’s delay in transitioning means that money is flowing into foreign countries. “So we are in a race to be globally competitive to transition.” China is installing 100,000 charging stations each month. The United States only has 42,000 charging stations total. China has more than 1.5 million total.

With internal anger and frustration churning away in most viewers by this point in DeSaulnier’s five minutes, and these alarming and disproportionate numbers underscoring how far behind the United States is in the transition curve, and how many jobs we’ve already lost because of our delay, DeSaulnier sought answers to several tough questions from two witnesses.

CONGRESSMAN MARK DESAULNIER: So, Dr. Mann, why should we trust them when they say they’re going to transition and work with us?

DR. MICHAEL E. MANN: They’re not going to do this voluntarily. What more evidence do we need for that? That’s why we need policy that makes it necessary for them to move in the direction that we know they have to go.

CONGRESSMAN MARK DESAULNIER: Ms. Lewis, shouldn’t they be accountable legally for the delay they’ve caused us in being competitive and also in meeting our targets in terms of reducing carbon?

MS. LEWIS: It’s very clear they can be held accountable. Congress has done it before. The tobacco settlements. …Mortgage Crisis. Done before. So, it can be done again.

With the answers to his burning questions now on the record, DeSaulnier closed his five minutes by referencing Dr. Mann’s earlier statement regarding big oil companies that are following the same business model that’s been used many times before. Shareholders, investors and corporate officers who leave with “tons of money” (tobacco producers, pharmaceuticals, gun manufacturers) while everyone else has to deal with the crises and immense suffering.

“In my area, the local editorial board once said, ‘We’re addicted to this product. We’re dealing with a drug dealer here. Where we’re trying to extract ourselves from a relationship. Thank you, Madam Chair, I yield back.’”

Viewers were left to bare the heavy truth that we can never trust the climate pledges of America’s oil giants and thus our futures are all in peril.

Today, news broke that Sandy Hook families reached a historic $73 million settlement agreement with gun manufacturer Remington.

We saw legal accountability with Purdue Pharma, as well. After years of extraordinary suicide rates, and millions of young people struggling with addiction to heavily marketed opioids, in 2018, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey became the first to sue Purdue Pharma executives for misleading physicians in the company’s twisted plot to boost their profit. A $4 billion settlement was reached in July of 2021 between Perdue Pharma, Massachusetts and 14 other states.

*The February 8, 2022 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the Fueling the Climate Crisis: Examining Big Oil’s Climate Pledges is of such great importance, with dozens of extraordinary moments, Gallant Gold Media will be highlighting many of the representatives’ statements and questions in the upcoming weeks and months.

Michael E. Mann:

Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Penn State University
Joint Appointment with the Department of Geosciences
Director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center
One of the Lead Authors of the 2021 IPCC Report
Author of The New Climate War, along with 5 other books
Author of 200+ total peer-reviewed/edited publications
Undergrduate degree Physics and Applied Math University of Applied Math, University of California at Berkley
M.S. degree in Physics, Yale University
Ph.D. in Geology & Geophysics, Yale University

Awards and Honors

2021 Leo Szilard Lectureship Award, American Physical Society

2020 Stephen Schneider Lecture, American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting

2020 World Sustainability Award, MDPI Sustainability Foundation

2020 Ten Most Influential Earth Scientists, Academic

2020 Elected to U.S. National Academy of Sciences

2020 Louis J. Battan Author’s Award, American Meteorological Society (AMS), for “The Tantrum that Saved the World”

2019 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement

2018 Climate Communication Prize, American Geophysical Union (AGU)

2018 Elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America.

2018 Award for Public Engagement with Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

2018 Elected Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, Center for Skeptical Inquiry.

2017 Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication, Climate One

2016 Elected Vice Chair, Topical Group on Physics of Climate (GPC), American Physical Society (APS)

2015 Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

2014 Named Highly Cited Researcher, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)

2014 Friend of the Planet Award, National Center for Science Education

2013 National Conservation Achievement Award, National Wildlife Federation

2013 Bloomberg News list of 50 Most Influential People

2013 Elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society

2012 Hans Oeschger Medal, European Geosciences Union

2011 Elected Member-at-Large of Section W (Atmospheric & Hydrospheric Sciences), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

2008 Elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union

2008 Profiled in American Environmental Leaders From Colonial Times to the Present

2008 Website “RealClimate.org” (co-founded by M. Mann) chosen as one of top 15 “green” websites by Time Magazine (April 2008)

2007 Contributed (with other IPCC report authors) to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

2006 American Geophysical Union Editors’ Citation for Excellence in Refereeing (for ‘Geophysical Research letters’)

2005 Website “RealClimate.org” (co-founded by M. Mann) chosen as one of top 25 “Science and Technology” websites by Scientific American

2005 John Russell Mather Paper award for 2005 by the Association of American Geographers [for article: Frauenfeld, O., Davis, R.E., and Mann, M.E., A Distinctly Interdecadal Signal of Pacific Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction, Journal of Climate 18, 1709-1718, 2005]

2002 Named by Scientific American as one of 50 leading visionaries in science and technology

2002 Outstanding Scientific Paper award for 2002 by NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) [for article: Delworth, T.L., Mann, M.E., Observed and Simulated Multidecadal Variability in the Northern Hemisphere, Climate Dynamics, 16, 661-676, 2000]

2002 Article [Mann et al, “Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries”, Nature, 392, 779-787, 1998] selected for ‘fast moving fronts’ by Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)

2002 Selected as one of 10 ‘Mead Honored Faculty’, University of Virginia

1998 Council of Graduate Schools’ Distinguished Dissertation Award, nominated

1997 Phillip M. Orville Prize for outstanding dissertation in the earth sciences, Yale University

1996 Alexander Hollaender Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship (DOE)

1989 Josiah Willard Gibbs Prize for outstanding research and scholarship in Physics, Yale University

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is gallantarcher_3d_socialmedia.jpg

Big Carbon Emitters Can’t Hide in 2022 | Carbon Tracking from Space

on January 18, 2022January 18, 2022 By Our New Green Culture

Washington (GGM) Analysis | January 18, 2022, by Noreen Wise, Founder & CEO of Gallant Gold Media, and author; image credit NASA 2006/05/07

With so much greenwashing and delusional thinking from big companies about their real CO2 emissions, the need to refine the process of tracking carbon through satellite imagery continues to be enhanced. Accurate measurements will either make or break us on our quest to stay below 1.5ºC within the next eight years. Cutting our national carbon emissions 50% by 2030 is a very tall order to fill. Knowing who’s continuing to emit high levels of CO2 and methane, and whether carbon cutting initiatives are or aren’t working, is critical to our success as we fight our way up this steep cliff.

John Doerr states in his book, Speed & Scale, An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now: “If we fail to measure what matters, there’s no clear way to get where we need to go. To get to net-zero in time, we must measure precisely how much carbon the planet is emitting, where is it happening, who is responsible, all in real time.”

NASA is determined to be the eye in the sky that gathers the much needed accurate measurements through it’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) strapped to the International Space Station (ISS). OCO-3 orbits the Earth and collects many dozens of regional images per day in blocks that are 50 miles x 50 miles. Cities, farms, forests, suburbia. The images are taken from sun up to sun down. “This is very important,” Annmarie Eldering, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s OCO-3 Project Scientist, explains. “Plants respond to sun, so we need to see them behaving across the day.” The OCO-3’s predecessor, OCO-2, could only take images at 1:30 PM, 16 days on, 16 days off. Collecting measurements all day during daylight is a significant advancement.

“The capability of OCO-3 is to map out some of these areas and see some change over time. That’s how we’re going to advance our understanding and modeling for the future, and understanding of climate.”
Annmarie Eldering, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

An excellent example of what Eldering is talking about is the way the CO2 levels rise and fall in the farm belt depending on the season. During the spring, when farmers plow and release the carbon stored in the soil, the satellite can see and track this. In June, when the plants are busy photosynthesizing, absorbing significant amounts of carbon, and quickly growing, the satellite can see the carbon levels decrease. Regenerative farmers then have the tangible proof they need to educate conventional farmers about why no-till farming practices are best. Seed drilling equipment was invented to support the no-till movement. The documentary Kiss the Ground was able to highlight these game-changing facts and educate the public on why regenerative farming is so vital to saving humanity. Kiss the Ground included the satellite video from NASA’s OCO-2 report to highlight this.

The OCO was originally tested back in 2009, updated in 2014 to OCO-2, and reconfigured again in 2019 to become OCO-3. The majority of kinks have now been worked out. We should feel confident in the readings. We need to believe in their accuracy in order to make the correct decisions that will transform our culture into the sustainable, carbon-neutral culture we need it to be.

The following OCO-3 Quick Facts were taken directly from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at California Institute of Technology:

OCO-3 is a vital part of the continuous global CO2 measurements that provide aerial views of regional carbon sources and sinks.
OCO-3 can take measurements at different times of the day, which diminishes uncertainty about the readings and assists in assessing how measurements taken from space can roll back human carbon emissions on Earth. Human CO2 emissions are the greatest question mark in our carbon budget and thus there’s a great desire to monitor and constrain.
OCO-3 measurements can be combined with other measurements such as biomass and evapotranspiration to examine operational details in Earth’s ecosystems.
OCO-2 demonstrated that satellite imagery can accurately measure carbon levels better than 1 ppm. OCO-3is expected to have the same heightened accuracy.

Knowing what we now know about OCO tracking over the farm belt, I hope Eldering and her colleagues can measure the impact that painting roofs white, and parking lots and roads white or light grey, will have on carbon emissions. There’s anecdotal evidence (lower energy bills) that points to high albedo colors such as white and light grey substantially decreasing carbon emissions in buildings, but a satellite image showing the lower carbon reading might be what really wins the hearts and minds of billions of people across the globe, and will inspire them to swiftly take action.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is gallant-secrettortoisenew-800.png — No rose without thorns. —French Proverb.
Groundbreaking YA book series for all ages. Gripping modern day nail-biter with Machiavellian villains, but also a tale that opens our eyes to the brutal war going on beneath our feet that controls our destiny, despite our obliviousness to this potentially civilization-destroying threat.

US Schools Are Climate Action Champions | Top 10 Climate Actions

on December 28, 2021December 28, 2021 By Our New Green Culture

Washington (GGM) Analysis | December 28, 2021, by Noreen Wise, Founder & CEO of Gallant Gold Media, and author

From the IPCC Report boldly stating a Code Red for Humanity warning in August 2021, to the COP26 global conference in Glasgow a few months later in November, (both which urgently pleaded with communities across the globe to act immediately to lower carbon emissions), now is a great time to look back and see who was paying attention.

“It’s simple. Will we act? Will we do what is necessary? Will we seize the enormous opportunity before us? Or will we condemn future generations to suffer.”
President Joe Biden, COP26

Based on the following 10 bedrock climate actions, which are basic requirements for reducing carbon emissions, boosting biodiversity, and drawing down legacy load carbon, it’s very exciting to see that our schools have become a bright beacon of light at the top of the hill. Additionally, not only are schools leading the way to a green community, they’re also climate action accelerators that transmit vigorous energy through a very powerful nationwide network.

Join the conversation and receive regular climate action tips, and soil health and biodiversity advice by staying engaged at Act Now for the Earth Cafe. You’ll feel hopeful when you ask questions and interact with like-minded others about finding solutions that will help the earth recover from the damage of climate change. You’ll feel confident that we can succeed at staying below tipping points. It’s all about community. We’d greatly value you being part of our ecosystem. CLICK here today and join the conversation at Earth Cafe!

The combination of quick climate action that improves the well-being of our children, as well as provides significant financial benefits that enable school districts to have budget surpluses and finally offer teacher raises, is a win-win combination that is topped off with interactive hands-on science learning opportunities for students.

Did you know that our schools collectively are one of the largest landowners in the US?

The following list of 10 key climate actions pertain to K12 public schools, which have the most public data available. Private K12 schools are likely moving forward at the same quick pace. Colleges and universities with their larger campuses and sustainability departments may even be doing that much more than K12. The awesomeness of K12 schools, though, is that parents can learn from their children and establish the same habits at home.

EV buses

School districts have begun switching to EV buses at a faster rate than the general public is transitioning to EV cars. According to the World Resources Institute, in a report released in August 2021, data shows that 258 school districts out of 13,500 have committed to one or more EV buses. Fourteen of these districts have procured 10 or more, and 5 of these 14 are the largest school districts in the country.

Just last week SEA Electric announced that it reached a deal with Midwest Transit Equipment to convert 10,000 diesel school buses to EV over the next 5 years. According the Live Green, districts save 80% on maintenance and 72% on fuel costs when they switch to EV. Montgomery County, Maryland has made the largest investment so far, committing to a procurement of 326 electric buses over the next 4 years. Fairfax County, Virginia just rolled out its first 8 EV busesin October 2021.

Solar Panels

Installing solar panels on school roofs, as well as open fields have become a very big deal to superintendents. These savvy “just do it” community leaders are motivated by the substantial financial benefits that clean energy provides. Seven thousand schools across the country have solar power, and nearly 200 schools operate using wind energy. An Arkansas High School was able to install solar panels on their open field and within three years their budget surplus grew so large they rewarded all teachers with raises between $3,000 – $15,000. Arlington County, Virginia public schools are ranked number 4 on a list of the top 30 school districts with highest green power usage.

White Roofs

Painting school roofs white lowers the heat inside schools by 10ºF, which cuts carbon emissions by as much as 29% and decreases electricity bills significantly. The Chelsea school district north of Boston, a sweltering heat island across from Logan Airport, painted the middle school roofs white during the summer of 2021. Superintendent Almi Abeytawas looking forward to the lower electricity bills and the various ways that the much needed extra money could be used.

Back in 2009, Nobel laureate and President Obama’s Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, announced at a global conference, “If you take all the buildings and make their roofs white, and if you make the pavement more of a concrete type of color rather than a black type of color, and you do this uniformly…it’s the equivalent of reducing the carbon emissions of all the cars on the road for 11 years.”

High albedo parking lots

Large stretches of black asphalt becomes a danger as well as a health risk in high heat. Black asphalt is 40-60ºF warmer than the air temperature which can become a major safety risk for children playing at recess. Light concrete or asphalt painted with a high albedo color such as white or light grey, not only lowers the heat bringing it closer to the air temperature, but also reflects more of the sun’s energy just like the shrinking icecaps, which helps to cool the entire planet.

Composting

In many cities and communities, the town waste management facility partners with schools to incorporate waste management into the curriculum. Most provide lesson plans. Composting is a big part of this educational opportunity. Schools that have vegetable beds, pollinator gardens and tree planting programs, likely have their own compost pile outside near the gardens. Every school produces hundreds of pounds of organic waste each day. Schools now know not to throw food scraps away anymore. They’ve created efficient composting systems. Students are quickly becoming the composting experts in our communities.

Recycling & Upcycling

Many school districts consider their students citizens of the earth and stewards of the environment. Recycling is part of the daily routine. Teachers are quite resourceful, taking students on field trips to the landfill and town recycling center. Teachers also host fun activities such as upcycle night where students transformed newspaper into pencil holders, a juice box into a wallet, jars into piggy banks, etc. Recycling and upcycling develop critical thinking skills, inspire innovation and are now a part of most STEM learning programs.

Food Program

Our flawed food system emits 9 billion tons of carbon per year. In order to stay below 1.5ºC, we have to cut 7 billion tons of carbon per year, beginning immediately. As John Doerr pointed out recently, “humans have never been able to cut any carbon in the history of our planet, so this is a tall order.” But schools are moving quickly on the food front as well, much faster than any other mass population.

One hundred large school districts and counting, including Los Angeles Unified School District and New York City Public Schools, have adopted the Meatless Monday campaign. According to FoodPrint, between these two large school districts alone, 1.5 million meat-free meals are served each Monday. Additionally plant-based meat alternative companies (ie Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods) have begun connecting with schools through the K12 marketplace, hoping to inspire school districts to switch to plant-forward recipes.

By the way, School districts will want to buy Dana Ellis Hunnes PhD, MPH, RD’s new book Recipe for Survival(available January 27, 2022). Dr. Hunnes shares invaluable tips on the health impact of climate change, food choices and food insecurity. Hunnes is a Senior Dietician at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and Assistant Professor at the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA.

Pollinator Gardens

Our overall pollinator populations around the globe have shrunk significantly in recent decades and scientists worry that our food supply is at risk. Thankfully, teachers are coming to the rescue. Pollinator gardens are popping up on school grounds from coast to coast. These vast displays of native flowers not only provide food and shelter for our life-saving pollinators, but they also boost campus biodiversity, create biodiversity corridors within our communities, beautify campuses, brighten moods, and store more carbon above ground in the plants themselves, and in the soil. Schools across the United States and Mexico are embracing pollinator gardens as a STEM teaching tool and are all in on planting lots of milkweeds in the mix.

Tree planting

Schools are major property owners, and the vast majority of our schools are eagerly taking ownership in increasing the tree canopy in our communities. Trees beautify the school campus, increase carbon storage, stabilize the soil, purify the air and the water, lower the heat, reduce noise pollution, and increase privacy. Tree planting is also a STEM tool for teachers.

Vegetable beds

Vegetable beds are an ideal learning environment that inspire students to eat more fruits and vegetables. Vegetable beds promote the scientific method through inquiry, observation and experimentation. Movement is also a big part of the outdoor gardening experience which improves dexterity. The USDA promotes Farm to School programs and provides much guidance. Home grown produce is also that much more nutritious, containing higher vitamin content.

If climate action is this beneficial, quick, easy and fun for schools, why is it so hard for everyone else?

Just imagine how quickly we’d be able to cut carbon emissions if every household, business, organization and community quickly implemented these same 10 climate actions in 2022. We’d then have no problem staying below 1.5ºC.

Let’s do this!

Subscribe to Force of Nature to stay connected to the insights we provide in our effort to accelerate the transition to a sustainable, eco-friendly, carbon neutral global community. Click here to subscribe.

Must Rebuild with Clean Energy After Climate Disaster

on December 14, 2021February 18, 2022 By Our New Green Culture

Washington (GGM) Analysis | December 14, 2021, by Noreen Wise, Founder & CEO of Gallant Gold Media, and author

The unprecedented thunderstorm supercell that struck the US on December 10, 2021, churned a long path of destruction across eight states (Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio), leveling towns, sending debris 30,000 feet in the air and resulting in more than 100 deaths. In an interview with Democracy Now, Michael E. Mann, Lead Climate Scientist, confirmed that wind speeds in Mayfield, Kentucky reached a staggering 300 mph.

“This isn’t a natural disaster. This is a disaster that was exacerbated by human caused climate change.”
—Michael E. Mann, author of The New Climate War

Thousands of buildings were destroyed in those dark, turbulent hours Friday night.

Dr. Mann went on to explain in his Democracy Now interview how this powerful supercell was formed. A combination of two main “ingredients” that were added to La Nina:

Very warm gulf waters brought on by human caused climate change, that resulted in a large amount of moisture that evaporated and spread into the United States.
Jet stream spin.

Dr. Mann’s unique perspective and extensive experience provides valuable insights for all of us as we try and grapple with our new reality. He ended his interview with Democracy Now on a positive note, emphasizing how important it is to stay below 1.5ºC. “Carbon emissions have peaked. They’re not going up. And that’s a good sign. We’ve got to bring them down, though. And we’ve got to do that quickly.”

“In the midst of chaos, there is opportunity.”
—Sun Tzu

FEMA announced over the weekend that President Biden approved an Emergency Declaration for Kentucky and that direct federal assistance would be provided at 75% federal funding.

As Mayfield and other towns throughout the eight states begin to pick up the pieces and plan their rebirth, it’s vitally important that they rebuild using a Green Plan. Legislation should be passed to this effect, or at the very least President Biden should establish an Emergency Ordinance requiring that states that are using federal emergency funds include the installation of clean energy when rebuilding.

For example, California was the first state to pass a solar mandate, requiring that all new single family homes and multi-family dwellings up to three stories be powered by solar. The California solar mandate building code went into effect January 1, 2020.

Mayfield, more than any other town in these seven red states, knows first-hand how powerful and devastating climate change storms are. And Dr. Mann emphasized how vitally important it is to cut emissions quickly, very quickly, to stay below 1.5ºC. Installing clean energy in thousands of new buildings destroyed during this traumatic climate change disaster will aid us in this effort.

Following the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005 and the Greensburg, Kansas tornado of 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) put together 20-page guide to support communities following a disaster. Rebuilding After Disaster, Going Green from the Ground Up.

7 Steps to Creating a Green Recovery Plan:

Identify and bring together stakeholders
Choose your leaders
Visualize and capture the vision
Get the Lay of the Land
Set your goals
Find the Funds
Write the Plan

More robust economic development. When you make the commitment to greener choices in all sectors of your community, economic opportunities can follow. Green recovery can set a new focal point for economic development, place emphasis on new green-collar jobs, and improve your community’s image, which in turn, can attract businesses and residents.
—Rebuilding After Disaster, Going Green from the Ground Up

Are HOAs as Much the Villain as Fossil Fuels? | Climate

on October 16, 2021October 30, 2021 By Our New Green Culture

Washington (GGM) Analysis | October 16, 2021 by author and climate journalist Noreen Wise

From climate action landscaping to white roofs and solar panels, Americans are heeding the warning of the IPCC Report released on August 9, 2021 and jumping into action. Code Red for Humanity. We only have until 2030 to dramatically slow our current global warming trajectory of 4.4ºC above pre-industrial levels, and get it down to 1.5ºC.

System change is the way out of this nightmare. As we rush to apply the climate action tips we see on social media platforms and online webinars, we find themselves eventually getting all tangled up with our HOA. In fact, HOAs and its members have been battling over climate action in courts for years, with homeowners typically being on the losing side. That is, until recently. “The impacts of climate change have become clear to the person on the street,” explains Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, and Director, Earth System Science Center at Penn State, as well as one of the lead authors of the August 9, 2021 IPCC Report. HOAs now have their backs against the wall. They have to quickly decide between two options.

We only have until 2030 to cut carbon emissions by 50%. Half the battle is knowing what to do first. Reach out so we can help you figure out the best path forward.

(1) Give it up and let their members rush forward with:

solar panels
no mow permaculture lawns filled with biodiversity
pollinator gardens
composting
white or light roofs
light colored driveways

(2) OR, continue with their hardline approach and decline most, if not all, requests to establish new breakthrough standards in order to create sustainable systems in the community.

Currently, the HOA system running through the bedrock of our local communities, has been exposed as one of the greatest barriers to keeping global warming below 1.5ºC, which is the goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement. With Biden recently announcing that we only have 10 years to turn things around, HOAs are now the obstacle to immediate action and have to accept the reality that they have no choice but to change the bylaws.

Heart of the matter. For more than 10,000 years, planet earth has fluctuated between +/- 1ºC. Under these stable conditions of reliable seasons and predictable weather patterns, humankind has prospered. Being at 1.2ºC, for the first time in the history of human civilization, we now find ourselves in uncharted territory. Predictions are difficult if not impossible. Weather patterns are very unreliable. We see how dangerous and deadly 1.2ºC is, and most humans instinctively know something has to give. The majority realize that the extreme weather events this past summer were absolutely dreadful and don’t want to find out how dangerous life above 1.2ºC might be.

According to HOA-USA, there are more than 370,000 HOAs in the United States that represent over 40 million households. If our current trajectory is 4.4ºC, which is technically uninhabitable, and we only have ten years to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent, we must move quickly to uproot the existing systems that have landed humans on the endangered species list.

Existing HOA landscape and roof color policies have been a major contributor to climate change.

States have begun passing laws that prevent HOAs from restricting homeowners from acting on climate:

Virginia passed SB 504 Virginia Energy Plan in March 2020, limiting HOA restrictions on solar panels.
Maryland passed HB 322 The Low-Impact Landscaping Legislation in May 2021, allowing “bio-habitat gardens and other features designed to attract wildlife; pollinator gardens and other features designed to attract pollinator species.”
Minnesota appears to be one of the most advanced states in creating a path forward into the world of new sustainable systems with lower carbon emissions. Minnesota has established an impressive stepped ascension called the Minnesota GreenStep Cities and has a list of Model Ordinances for Sustainable Development that helps towns navigate the legal side of things. IE, Minneapolis: “…the right to install and maintain a managed natural landscape.”

These are just a few of the many examples that show the momentum of the climate action transformation and should provide homeowners with confidence that the law, and global community, are on their side. The strong, positive momentum empowers members in every HOA community to let their HOA know that the HOA is obligated to be resilient, adapt and change the rules, and policies that have helped cause global warming, and are thus now outdated.

NEXT STEPS:

Review your HOA bylaws that pertain to landscape, solar panels, roof and driveway color.
Contact your HOA and explain your plans and ask for approval.
If they say “No,” then meet with your neighbors and start a petition in your community, aimed at getting 100 percent of the families to sign the petition.
Inform the public on social media about any challenges you might have with your HOA, (HOAs hate bad publicity).
Outline the details of any difficulties you might have with your HOA on Google reviews.

Sadly, we can’t rely on our politicians to uproot all the systems. With extreme polarization, getting legislation passed will likely take longer than 10 years. Thus, we the people have to uproot the system. Let’s begin with HOAs.

No rose without thorns. —French Proverb.
Groundbreaking YA book series for all ages. Not only a gripping modern day nail-biter with Machiavellian villains, but also one that opens our eyes to the brutal war going on beneath our feet that controls our destiny, despite our obliviousness to this potentially civilization-destroying threat.

Top 6 Things to Know About NEW Whitest Paint Ever | Global Warming

on October 5, 2021February 14, 2022 By Our New Green Culture 1 Comment

Washington (GGM) Analysis | October 5, 2021 by author and climate journalist Noreen Wise

Researchers at Perdue University in Indiana, have recently announced the ingenious whitest paint ever. It is expected to be available to the general public at major retailers across the country, within a couple of years, according to lead researcher Xiulin Ruan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Perdue, who, along with his students, created the ultra-white paint. Ruan explained that they were in the process of partnering with large corporations to commercialize the paint.

This white paint overachiever will be listed in the 2022 Guinness Wold Record book as the whitest white paint.

Commercial white paint has an albedo (measurement of 0-1) of .8 and is considered highly reflective. White’s albedo is a little lower than light silver, which has an albedo of .90 (black has an albedo of 0). The current commercial white paint is a full .20 lower than the highest albedo material of all, the perfect mirror, which has an albedo of 1.

Solar Reflex Index (SRI, measured from 0-100) is considered a better indicator than albedo in calculating a material’s response to solar radiation in that SRI also includes emissivity (the re-radiating of absorbed solar-radiation back out to the sky), while albedo does not.

So, why is this newest whitest white paint such a phenomenon?

It has an SRI of 98.1%.
Will make roofs cooler than the surrounding ambient air temperature (19ºF cooler at night, 8ºF cooler during day), existing commercial white paint cannot match this extraordinary feat.
It is more powerful than standard air conditioners in lowering the heat, with no carbon emissions.
Contains a very high concentration of barium sulfate.
Barium sulfate particles are all different sizes which enables it to scatter more of the sun’s light spectrum.
Ruan and team’s research began 6 years ago and was built on previous scientific research that dates back to the 1970s.

Once this ultra-white paint is available to the general public, it will become a simple, easy, affordable climate solution that will not reduce indoor temperatures at no cost, but will simultaneously put more money in our pockets, and reduce total global carbon emissions, as we strive to reduce CO2 (from 2005 levels) 50% by 2030. The whitest of white paints will be able to be applied very quickly by the vast majority of businesses, communities, and families. (In US, home cooling and heating is responsible for approximately 441 million tons of carbon emissions per year.)

Until the ultra-white paint arrives on store shelves, businesses and government buildings can continue using current commercial white paint that has successfully cooled many millions of square feet of rooftops, roads and other flat surfaces from coast to coast in the Unites States.

School Buses with White Roofs Lower the Heat | Albedo Effect

on September 14, 2021September 14, 2021 By Our New Green Culture 1 Comment

Washington (GGM) Analysis | September 14, 2021 by author and climate journalist Noreen Wise

Many decision makers in our towns as well as local businesses and corporate office parks are aware of the albedo effect and apply the principles. We can see this with our own eyes as we drive through our towns and cities. Large sports arenas and convention centers seem to glow in the sun, many with their white exteriors and white roofs. I hiked up a mountain over the weekend and was startled to look out and see the bright white church steeples, metallic silver domes covering silos, and a few other gleaming white rooftops on buildings dotting the rural landscape. Another excellent example of the albedo effect principles being applied all around us is the widespread use of white roofs on public school buses in communities across the country. My county in Virginia has white-topped school buses.

Get daily climate action tips by joining Act Now for the Earth Cafe and have fun learning the amazing & valuable tips that will help the earth recover from the staggering damage of climate change. Cafe communities are the new big thing. Sustainability is all about community. We’d greatly value you being part of our ecosystem. CLICK here today and join Earth Cafe!

In 1992, Brunswick County, North Carolina decided to run a pilot program to gauge the effectiveness of white roofs on school buses to lower the temperature. They’d learned about the white tops being used in California and Florida. California had begun applying albedo principles to school buses 20 years earlier. The Brunswick County pilot ran from August through December that year. At the conclusion, they found that the white roofs:

lowered the temperature by 10 degrees
lowered the temperature by 17 degrees during peak hours
and only lowered the temperature by 3 or 4 degrees in the winter

Heart of the Matter. Chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, Kathy Castor (FL-D) said at a recent hearing, “We are all dealing with the devastating consequences of a rapidly warming planet. In the past 5 years, about 4,000 Americans have died from extreme wether events. Every year we lose about 700 Americans to heat related deaths.” Experts have gone on record stating officially that heat has a direct negative impact on our health.

Chelsea, Massachusetts has taken protecting the health and well-being of school children to the next level. According to WBUR in Boston, Chelsea Massachusetts just finished installing two white roofs on their two public middle schools this past July 2021. Their objective was to lower the heat in the classrooms, as well as the area surrounding the school. Chelsea is an oppressive heat island, North of Boston, across form Logan airport and is considered one of the hottest cities in Massachusetts. In addition to lowering the heat in the classroom for the students, according to WBUR, the Superintendent, Almi Abeyta, is also looking forward to the lower cost of electricity that will free up some money in the school budget.

Chelsea elementary schools are up next for the white roofs. Additionally, the city planner, Ben Cares, explained they also plan to replace the asphalt with a lighter material.

Here’s what Gallant Gold Media can do for you! When you buy an Eco Green Tee, you’re helping educate the public on climate change, promote climate action, and fund habitat restoration projects in Environmental Justice communities which will help alleviate heat islands, insufferable air pollution, and boost carbon storage.

I’m personally and professionally very excited about the two white roofs reducing carbon emissions and also having two more buildings added to the growing collection around the world that will help reflect the sun’s energy and make up for the shrinking icecaps. August 20, 2021 was yet another alarming global warming red flag. It rained for the first time in recorded history on Greenland’s summit. According to the Sierra Club, 337,000 square miles of Greenland’s ice sheet, experienced surface flooding and 7 billion tons of water flooded the summit.

Active measures such as these — switching to white roofs on buildings and buses, and lighter ground surfaces to reduce deadly heat — are what every community should be rushing to do to save lives in this new high heat era. We have the ability to lower the heat. We must act.

Top 10 High Albedo Sports Arenas | Lowering the Heat

on September 7, 2021October 16, 2021 By Our New Green Culture

Washington (GGM) Analysis | September 7, 2021 by author and climate journalist Noreen Wise

High albedo is a vitally important climate solution, that will not only lower indoor temperatures and curb carbon emissions, but will also help reflect the sun’s energy, making up for the decreased sun reflection of our shrinking icecaps.

The threat of the smaller white icecaps has been highlighted in several powerful recent documentaries, one of which was A Life on Our Planet, in which Sir David Attenborough highlighted that forcers such as smaller white icecaps are now causing warming to increase at an increasing rate, which has scientists very concerned.

In light of this looming peril, and following the release of last month’s IPCC Report in which the IPCC warned that we only have 11 years to fix this, Chairwoman of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, Kathy Castor (FL-D) was recently interviewed and stated boldly and decisively for all to understand: “It’s a call to action. It’s a call to immediate action.”

Sports arenas, as well as many convention centers and hotels in the hottest cities around the country, were developed in high albedo colors and materials, and now serve as great role models in this new era of high heat. High albedo is their rule of thumb. Too many empty seats in steaming hot arenas forced them into action. They responded to the crisis with innovative solutions that reversed the trend.

Let’s all do the same. In fact, this is what the IPCC and scientists around the globe are hoping for. That we all rush to reverse the trend with innovative solutions.

The following is a very subjective list of the Top 10 High Albedo Sports Arenas in US. To be honest, it appears that nearly every sports arena in the world has high albedo which is a bold statement in and of itself.

Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA (The Benz)
AT&T Stadium Arlington, TX
Reliant NRG Stadium in Houston, TX
BB&T Center of Sunrise, FL
Merceds-Benz Superdome New Orleans, LA
Staples Center Los Angeles, CA
The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, MO
University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ
Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, FL
Arthur Ash Stadium Flushing Meadows, NY

The list of international high albedo sports arenas is long, but the stunning National Stadium in Singapore, with its massive white dome, is a standout.

What colors do you see when you drive through your county? In Northern Virginia, it’s plainly clear that high albedo is the rule of thumb for hotels, hospitals and large office complexes and appears to be the standard recommendation of developers of large spaces. The Pentagon, which opened its doors in 1943, is a great example of moderately high albedo in its massive complex that employs 35,000 people.

I’m thus confused about the choices made by residential developers who defy these principles and instead choose to nail down black roofs and often use darker materials on exterior walls like red brick. It’s time to turn this around.