Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
Today’s thread is a follow-on to “Why moving dedicated HSR funds to California rail ‘bookends’ projects is a bad idea.” Interest in creating a Bakersfield-to-Merced commuter-rail service in the San Joaquin Valley, was budding long before California Proposition 1A (the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century) was voted on and … Read more
Fortunately, the news is mostly good: Greenhouse gas emissions in California fell. Transportation is one trouble spot, however – the main one. Speaking directly to this, on Aug. 12, 2019, the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board (ARB) released its California Greenhouse Gas Emissions for 2000 to 2017: Trends of Emissions and Other Indicators … Read more
Information below is from the “Record-High Share of Californians Concerned About Global Warming Making Wildfires More Severe,” Jul. 29, 2019 Public Policy Institute of California press release. The entire press release can be read here. In the wake of devastating wildfires over the past few years, seven in ten Californians (71%) say they are very … Read more
The below Jul. 24, 2019 press release from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. US cities are ramping up their clean energy efforts, notably with stricter energy-saving rules for buildings, but only a few cities appear on track to meet their community-wide climate goals, according to the 2019 City Clean Energy Scorecard, released today … Read more
The below Jul. 16, 2019 press release from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Increases in potentially lethal heat driven by climate change will affect every state in the contiguous U.S. in the decades ahead, according to a new report and accompanying peer-reviewed study in Environmental Research Communications, both by the Union of Concerned Scientists, released … Read more
Today there’s automobility. What’s next (on the land-transportation-operations horizon), full autonomobility, that is, driverless control? On the surface, that notion sounds quite oxymoronic. At any rate, we’ll just have to wait and see. When the Hawaii Area Rapid Transit’s HART light rail system comes online, that time projected to be a little more than a … Read more
Wildland fires last year proved to be disastrous for California in terms of not only the amount of acreage charred and the number of lives impacted but of the associated monetary cost as it has to do with property loss. It has been suggested that because of global warming, the state has become more susceptible … Read more
I just recently read – somewhere – America’s air has worsened, in fact, there is 15 percent more pollution in it (I am assuming volumetric-wise), than there was, say, just a few years back. That’s not a good sign. After years, even decades, of encouraging air trends, to some, this news may come as a … Read more
Week-in and week-out on weekends, I watch televised broadcasts of golf matches almost religiously, that is, unless there is something else going on that takes precedence. I don’t miss a beat, meaning I watch these televised golf matches to the exclusion of all other broadcast sports, which on weekends, seem to flood the channels. Golf’s … Read more
The below press release dated Jun. 5, 2019 is from UN Environment. Governments, industry, communities and individuals around the world today commemorated World Environment Day, the United Nations’ biggest annual event for positive environmental action, encouraging worldwide awareness and commitment to protect our planet. This year’s celebrations, held under the theme ‘Beat Air Pollution’, called … Read more