By Jennifer Ailor, Climate Change Committee Chair
In spite of slow progress to address climate change, there are hopeful signs of the role influencers, technology and political action can play. Here are a few examples gleaned from several magazines over the last year.
Abolishing fossil fuels in our lifetime
Two centuries ago, people scoffed that boycotting sugar could end slavery, starting in England. Yet it did in 1821. Today, as author Jason Mark writes in “Abolish Fossil Fuels, A Moral Case for Ending the Age of Coal, Oil and Gas,” in the fall 2024 Sierra magazine, “we know that every joule of fossil fuel energy avoided by conservation or replaced by wind and solar helps to unravel the power of the Carbon Barons. The bike trip to the grocery store, the rooftop solar installation, the weatherization of windows, the purchase of an electric vehicle, the one-liner written on the placard carried at the climate march—each of these actions helps, like the sugar boycott, to shift the terrain of the possible…Your resolution will influence that of your friends and neighbors; the example will spread from house to house, from city to city.”
Battery changes
Lithium-ion batteries have become the standard for powering vehicles. South 8 is experimenting with LiGas, a liquefied gas electrolyte that when injected into battery cells, provides a more stable and longer-lasting charge. They have reduced fire risk and charge in minutes instead of hours. The company has a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense and is talking to major car companies.
$150 million in grants to advance net-zero projects at federal facilities
In November, the Biden Administration announced that 67 collective projects will reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 19,370 gas-powered vehicles from the road annually, conserve more than 1 billion gallons of water annually, generate carbon pollution-free electricity equivalent to driving 494 million miles in electric cars and much, much more.
The end of diesel trucks begins at Southern California’s ports –
Recharging electric vehicles or swapping battery packs can take hours. But progress is being made in the Port of Long Beach where electric big rigs are beginning to haul loads from the port to warehouses. California law mandates that by 2035 only zero-emission trucks will be allowed to work the state’s seaports. Read the details of charging and more in “Silent Revolution” in Sierra’s fall 2024 issue.
Methane-detection satellite in orbit –
The Environmental Defense Fund’s MethaneSAT satellite will soon precisely measure menthane pollution from millions of sources around the world. The data will be made public to help pressure oil and gas companies to plug the leaks.
Methane has more than 10 times the greenhouse effect parts per million than for CO2, and its escape during drilling and gas flaring stacks not monitored is a big deal. Methane will still be significant in our lifetimes, but the MethaneSAT measurements and publicity will make it harder to sweep its escape under the carpet.
Walmart meets Project Gigaton goal
EDF partnered with retailer Walmart to guide it in meeting its goal to reduce, avoid or sequester one gigaton of emissions from its global supply chain six years earlier than expected. EDF will use the business sustainability ripple effects to ignite greater impact in the private sector through its new Net Zero Action Accelerator.
Greener shipping sets sail
The International Maritime Organization has agreed in principle to impose a fee on every ton of climate-polluting carbon that oceangoing cargo vessels emit. The fee will help the industry meet its goal of cutting emissions by 20 per cent by the end of the decade and reach net zero by 2050.