Environmental Issues Part II

Brashares Group

Uses remote sensing to look at human impact on wildlife (especially fences - distance of sun and back) and fire, working with Yurok and Klamath

30 x 30

Conserve 30% lands/waters by 2030, one of Biden’s first commitments but Exec Order so not very tangible, CA more aggressive actions but no specific targets (prospectors will try to sell land more expensive to gov and can impact imperial valley water & will limit housing development), red states legislation to refuse it, not much explanation in other places how to use investments, UN Convention on Biodiversity proposed global commitment

Conservation Movement

Championed by Teddy Roosevelt/John Muir in response to threats on geology/bison, started setting aside reserved land based on lands protected for hunting, encouraged ecotourism/removal of Natives, benefits rural communities more from nature based solutions,

Environmental Protection

Protected areas = geographical space dedicated to long term conservation through ecosystem services/cultural values, 1/3 US federally protected mainly in west (state/national parks, refuges, BLMs), conservation looking at protecting biodiversity hotspots vs geological/hydrological uniqueness vs cultural significance (finite resources so will need to prioritize lands), historically protected for low land value/human density

Energy Transitions

First: rise coal in UK 17th c w/ high energy density/easy transport & drove industrial revolution, Second: rise oil/gas in PA/W VA 19th c drove transit/heating, Third: electrification brought broad fuel use w/ widespread transmission

Drivers of Energy Transitions

Supply constraints when resource can’t keep up with demand, Cost advantages including associated labor/converter/economic expenditures, Performance advantages of speed/acceleration/safety/cleanliness, Polices and institutions including tariffs/subsidies/codes/regulations/infrastructure

Types of Policy Instruments

Command and Control policies (reduction mandates/performance standards), Market based instruments (carbon pricing/cap n trade), Public Investment (financial incentives like subsidies/tax rebates), Information (efficiency labels/requiring company disclosure of carbon practices)

Global Comparison of Oil

2023 US officially biggest producer petroleum (17 million barrels per day - TX biggest producer and CA #6), US will be a net exporter of crude oil this year, top emitters China then US (downward trend) then India and Norway has biggest per capita emissions

Petroleum and Oil

Petroleum limited/ever changing economic resource, each gallon gas has 98 MT ancient sea life, can create sour (sulfurous)/sweet/heavy/light oil, created through phytoplankton/diatoms falling when die to deep ocean anoxic basins and form chains of C & H through diagenesis - 250 million years worth of life burned in 200 years

Peak Oil

Conceptual point (Hubbert Curve) when reach global maximum possible extraction rate of petroleum (half of all petrol used where supply can no longer meet demand), will lead to increasing prices/food shortages, thought met it in 2000s & led to 2008 recession, supply based on local geographies/technologies and demand based on oil alternatives, hydraulic fracturing developed to get more oil out (we’re reaching peak demand too)

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

TX Oil Commission has kept prices constant but reached first peak in 1970s and couldn’t control so OPEC stepped in, affects business strategies & keeps prices low which prevents investment in renewables, Saudi Arabia not top producer currently but biggest source/infrastructure but also looking into post-oil world

Oil Wealth vs. Freedom

Oil is being pumped with no new economic infrastructure/industrial sector, companies not creating new jobs, decline Soviet Union attributed to decline oil price - lower prices can alleviate authoritarian rule/gender inequality

Geopolitics of Oil

US spends yearly $81-85 billion on permanent defense of oil in Persian Gulf since WWII to ensure constant flow, think like up to $30 per barrel (higher in Persian War), military accounts for 20% US budget

Oil Subsidies

Gov provides $121 billion in oil subsidies per year, drilling is a corporate tax right off, oil land acres only $2 and US collect small royalties, $13 in credits billion given to international companies for oil development

Oil Inequality

Oil funds terrorism and war and many oil countries run by dictatorships that mismanage funds, eg. Nigerian gov depends on oil for 75% of its revenue but 40% of oil is managed by Shell which exports/refines oil and Nigeria has to buy it back creating a lot of corruption and lost money

Climate Externalities Observations

We can estimate climate through O & H isotopes in ice cores or foraminifera in marine sediment cores (records trapped/crystallized gasses/dust/organisms), holocene has seen stable temperatures but before 100,000 years ago there were 10-20k year oscillations of ice ages, epochs of way higher temperatures than now

Cost of CO2 Emissions

Social discount rate: cost benefit analysis to value future actions across generations, generally agreed best SDR is 2% - higher SDR means impact of CO2 on future generations is low, trump favored 7% where said rolling back auto emissions regulations would save $6 billion, 112 gallons gas = 1 MT CO2, 2% SDR would consider each MT CO2 to be $125

Net Zero Transition

Looking at power/mobility/buildings which emit CO2, waste/ag which emit CH4, forestry/industry which emit CO2/CH4, net zero means capture carbon to balance positive emissions… buildings need massive turnover/transport faces a lot of challenges and industry is too intwined with transit so electric sector easiest to convert, goal be net zero by 2050 (currently emit 10 gigatons carbon per year)

International Energy Organization

Assesses global energy/requirements to be net zero 2050: no new oil/gas fields can be approved, 60% all cars globally sold must be EVs, all new buildings zero carbon by 2030 and 2040 50% all buildings must be retrofitted, 90% energy must be renewable by 2050 - switching world to sustainable energy would be 1% of our economy

Role of Nuclear

10% global energy production, right now using fission but now lawrence livermore working on fusion and could expand in future since in 2022 got more energy out than put in for fraction of second

Carbon Capture

Store in ag land, reforestation, capture and bury from industrial/energy production sites, direct carbon capture from air - Trillion Tree Project (though should focus on protecting tropical areas than planting more), soil carbon credits can encourage farmers to enhance lands, CCS can cost trillions ($25 billion of inflation reduction dedicated to incentivizing farmers)

Biofuels

Can collect CO2 from ethanol plants, 45% of all corn is used for ethanol, can use grass/wood for combustion, 4000 mile pipes connecting ethanol plants, controversial putting in new pipes bc threatens soil/infringes on property

Other Renewable Facts

Hydrogen currently formed from breaking down natural gas but want to create green hydrogen through hydrolysis, CA emissions per capita/product have decreased by 20% since 1990 but still increasing bc growing econ/pop, 2021 40% of electricity is renewables but only 10% all energy

Not In My Backyard

Tied to cultural cognition, resistance to changing anything when ownership/local respect are threatened by a outside competitor, generates hunter-gatherer fight or flight response, many low income housing projects are facing resistance which increases emissions bc people have to commute more, resistance to pipes/nuclear/etc

Environmental Law & Green New Deal

Reagan passed CA Env Quality Act requiring Env risk assessments for all public projects and now all private projects need gov approval too, think tank working on GND to bring medium skilled jobs into green sector & includes statements about climate urgency that aren’t true and no actual policy, AR 26 just released describing oil externalities based on rain/ag/drought/flooding/glaciers/acidification

Intro to Food Systems

Involves global trade of GMOs/food prices/food waste, oil/petroleum are integral to transit/packaging, impact of prices depend on affluence & US spends only fraction of income on food bc efficient production/greater affluence

Intro to Agriculture

Ag developed 10,000 years ago but hunter gatherer for over 2 million years, metabolisms developed to it, ag is genetic modification of plants/animals through manipulation of domesticated species, hunter gatherers were taller/more disease/better teeth/more free time, increase in human complexity required increased need for metabolic energy

Origin of Agriculture

Developed out of extinction of megafauna/ability store food/competition between groups/rise population/transition from glacial to interglacial climate, chaotic start to ag where need species suitable for domestication, arose out of the middle east/north africa Fertile Crescent where arid created bread basket that spread latitudinally

First Agriculturalists

Idea adam and eve lived in hunter gatherer paradise then condemned to eternity as farmers, as moved from middle east to europe picked up ag practices, hunter gatherers enslaved under agriculturalists, swaps vitamins for increased calories and boosts immune system, cain’s gift to god of produce rejected and murdered brother who offered lamb

Domestication

Natural/sexual/artificial selection to make species more advantageous, allows select desirable genetic traits, domesticated oats to fall off later/grow bigger, domesticated wolves to have less fear hormones, select animals that don’t take up resources we can use for ourselves, indirect through proximity or direct through captivity, domesticated animals have smaller brains/less acute senses, mustard plant domesticated to produce cabbage/kale/cauliflower/broccoli, increases disease with proximity to animals