EPA finalizes strongest national clean-air standards to lower by 80+% soot, smog emissions in trucks, buses

The below Dec. 20, 2022 press release* is from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the strongest-ever national clean air standards to cut smog- and soot-forming emissions from heavy-duty trucks beginning with model year 2027. The new standards, which is the first update to clean air standards for … Read more

Running extra: The Baltimore Central Light Rail Link: A rail success story

Getting into the railroad business, like venturing into any other can be a hit and miss proposition. The successful railroads often get others’ attention, both those inside and outside of railroad industry circles alike. One of the rail endeavors that got my attention is the Central Light Rail Link operating in and around Baltimore, Maryland, … Read more

Ambitious plan to cut GHGs in Calif. air 85%, achieves carbon neutrality by 2045 approved by state air regulator

The below Dec. 15, 2022 press release is from the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board.* The California Air Resources Board today approved the final proposed 2022 Scoping Plan, a world-leading roadmap to address climate change that cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 85% and achieves carbon neutrality in 2045. The 2022 Scoping Plan provides … Read more

Want to clean up your dirty air? Look to transportation – and not just to cars – as the place to start

The world view is that what we as humans need to do to avoid a climate-related meltdown, if you will, and meet short-, medium- and long-range climate goals, is to forgo dependence on combustion of fossil fuels – hook, line and sinker. We’re talking about an across-the-board transition to clean energy here to power all … Read more

Nationwide rail strike would cripple economy, worsen air quality

Action is underway in Congress to avert a rail-workers strike and keep America’s trains on track. The underlying issues between labor and management whom, as it had been reported, had failed to reach complete agreement, appear to be over paid time off for sick leave as well as worker pay. Absent a binding agreement the … Read more

Reimagined development: What cities could be offering instead

Here in America, our building style has old-world influences. There is direct evidence of this. Make no mistake. It’s understandable considering that Europe and Asia are where our ancestors were before emigrating – Europeans to the east and Asians to the west. Our ancestral roots and backgrounds definitely came into play here. Think Victorian, Renaissance, … Read more

Revised data shows Calif. met 2020 GHG-reduction goal 6 years early, not 4 years early as previously thought

Revised data shows California reached its GHG emissions-reduction goal in 2014; not in 2016, as previously thought. The change was explained in the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board’s “2020 saw steepest drop in carbon pollution due to the pandemic,” Oct. 26, 2022 news release as follows: “[T]he 2022 Edition of the [Global Warming … Read more

UNEP shines spotlight on climate preparedness in new report

The below Oct. 27, 2022 press release is from the United Nations Environment Programme.* As intensifying climate impacts across the globe hammer home the message that greenhouse gas emissions must fall rapidly, a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report finds that the international community is still falling far short of the Paris [Agreement] goals, with … Read more

On climate conferences, killer smogs and endangered coral reefs

I was watching the Sept. 25, 2022 edition of “60 Minutes” on CBS. It was the segment’s third feature that caught my eye. It had to do with coral reefs located off the Florida coast and how, due to climate change in general and global warming and warming in particular, emphasized was how some of … Read more

Looking at 10K years of relative climate calm. So, what gives?!

Ask an in-the-know climatologist, meteorologist or scientist about Earth’s climate history, the time-period in question being between today and 10,000 years back, this followed by the section of world climate history covering the period between the latter and 110,000 years, the two then compared, well, the response you get may surprise you. The short answer: … Read more