writeaboutwarming

April 17, 2020 Under cover of an historic pandemic, the EPA has announced it will suspend enforcement of environmental laws. You read that right. The agency is hoping we're all so distracted that no one will notice. Why would they do this, you ask. It will come as no surprise that a number of industries, including oil, have asked for the suspension. In the words of EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler: EPA "recognizes challenges resulting from efforts to protect workers and the public from COVID 19 may directly impact the ability of regulated facilities to meet all federal regulatory requirements." Critics of the hiatus concede exceptions to regulations could be made on a case-by-case basis, for example, if companies are short-staffed because employees are working from home. But those industries deemed essential and continuing to operate should be expected to comply with the law. In fact, because COVID 19 is exacerbated by air pollution, leading to higher death rates, pol...

March 21, 2020 While the risks and dire consequences of the current pandemic are difficult to overstate, I do think there are effects as a result of our lives being lived closer to home that are worth pointing out. Though retired myself, many of my neighbors commute to work, some for quite a distance. More and more of my neighbors are working from home these days, to avoid contagion. In doing so, they have ceased producing dangerous amounts of greenhouse gases with their cars. Whether we can see or measure it, the atmosphere we breathe is becoming cleaner with every passing day. The benefits to humankind and wild creatures alike will, no doubt, one day be quantified. In the meantime, I feel safe in stating we're all enjoying a boost to our cardiopulmonary health. Given that the need for social isolation may last indefinitely, I think it's safe to say scientists will have numberless effects of this fossil fuel hiatus to study, probably for years to come. Just imagine what we m...