Wastewater Wall on the Brink of Collapse

A crew from the Army Corps of Engineers are working overtime in the effort to prevent a collapse of a wastewater pond in Manatee County, Florida by pumping millions of gallons of fertilizer waste into Port Manatee on Tampa Bay. This waste is known to be bad for ecosystems, causing fish kills and, in some cases, making humans sick. The state’s Environmental Protection Agency has said the water meets quality standards, but then names exceptions that did not meet standards, including a host of nutrients known to cause algal blooms. Manatee County, Florida is yet another example of the crumbling water infrastructure in the U.S. and how natural waterways pay the price of private corporation negligence. Here’s the article with the full story.

Crumbling Infrastructure Gets Climate Change Makeover

The President’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan goes beyond just roads, bridges and housing to take on climate change. Infrastructure such as wastewater treatment facilities (see, Florida) and stormwater infrastructure must be “stronger and more resilient to face the climate change impacts that we are seeing right here right now”, says EPA Administrator Michael Regan. Wealready see evidence in our local communities that water systems need to be modernized (e.g. Flint, Michigan) and now with Biden’s pricey infrastructure plan, new work will be done to address these issues, along with many other climate initiatives that are good for people and planet. Check out this article for more information on other climate initiatives  and this article provides details of where the trillions of dollars go.

Problems Across the Pond: Dumpster Fires Continue to Cause Climate Change

The European Union faces a stalemate in cutting carbon emissions because of its long-standing embrace of “waste to energy” or trash incineration. They have halted providing funding towards making new incinerators, but still do not plan to include these massive sources of greenhouse gasses in their Paris Agreement commitments. “Burning plastic in a climate emergency, that’s insane,” said Georgia Elliott-Smith, an environmental engineer who is suing the British government over its decision to exclude incinerators from its new emissions trading system. Transforming our trash to treasure is a false fantasy plastic and waste producers want us to believe. This problem is not unique to the EU, we have one of the largest waste to energy facilities in the US right here in Fairfax County. Check out the article for more detail on the growing concern in the European Union towards their once much loved waste solution.

Go Big So We Can Stay Home

A group of scientists is asking the U.S. government for $100 million to research technology, called solar geoengineering, to artificially cool the climate– by blocking sunlight before it can warm the earth. No, this is not an opening to a dystopian science fiction novel, and yes there are potential, devastating risks associated with such technologies. These scientists argue that the social risk is worth it and think this sort of drastic solution may jolt the public into taking climate change seriously by providing an extreme and dangerous solution. The U.S. does not take curbing its greenhouse gas emissions seriously, but may be willing to strike fear in the hearts of Americans for a potential, quick fix– allowing big polluters to keep on polluting. Check out the article for more information on how scientists frame this technology.