Clearing the air – The River Reporter

By ANNEMARIE SCHUETZ

Amongst the general chaos of January news, there was a topic that didnt really make it to the top of the story pile: In the plague year of 2020, greenhouse gas emissions went down 10 percent.

There are photos out there of clean water, empty streets and smogless skies. By September, air pollution in New York dropped 50 percent, according to Tanjena Rume in Heliyon. Cars and airplanes contribute 72 percent and 11 percent of the transportation sectors emissions respectively, and lockdowns pushed the use of both into a steep decline.

And we arent in the office as much, meaning big buildings dont need to be heated or cooled.

The sharp drop means we can start to think about the future. For decades now, theres been a push to reduce our production of greenhouse gases.

Were following the framework created by Project Drawdown because its useful and understandable, and you can dig deeply or just skim the surface, depending on how much you want to know.

Drawdown is the point when greenhouse gas emissions have climbed their highest and begin shifting downward. This is the point when we begin the process of stopping further climate change and averting potentially catastrophic warming, Project Drawdown writes. It is a critical turning point for life on Earth.

Human activities, from burning heating oil to plowing soil to driving a car, release carbon dioxide into the air. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have been steadily rising from approximately 315 ppm (parts per million) in 1959, states science journal Nature, to 409.8ppm in 2019, according to Climate.gov.

Landfills, electric plants and growing rice all release methane. Nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases come from cities, refrigeration systems and farmland. All of them trap heat in the atmosphere.

Processes like photosynthesis can trap carbon dioxide in the earth, in plants, or in the ocean. Creating more sinks for greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, is one of Project Drawdowns major efforts.

But creating sinks isnt the whole focus of their efforts. You have to cope with greenhouse gases from all angles: managing the sources of the gas, reducing existing gas and dealing with the social conditions that result in countries adding to the problemand in countries who least add to the problem yet are most affected.

Well focus on carbon dioxide, which accounted for 81 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. (Methane constituted 10 percent, and nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases made up the rest.)

Burning fossil fuels for energy and transportation produces the most carbon dioxide equivalents. That includes running power plants for electricity.

Drawdown wants to bring emissions to zero. To get there, theyve targeted these areas:

The goal is to shift production and enhance efficiency, Project Drawdown says. Their solutions outline the cutting edge of power production. Alternative sources of electricity range from biomass to ocean power to geothermal to wind power. And they include nuclear energy, acknowledging the complicated dynamics.

Last year, River Reporter covered a hydropower project in Sullivan County, NY, currently in development, that can generate up to 45 percent of the countys electrical load.

And in Wayne County, PA, SEEDS (Sustainable Energy Education and Development Support) is full of advice on solar energy, its cost and savings. Solar farms are springing up everywhere because we have the land and the will to use it. The Highlights Foundation is on a mission to reach either net-zero or net-positive energy usage at its Boyds Mills campus. Stourbridge Project in Honesdale, PA is going solaralso covered by River Reporter. Back in Sullivan County, the government building in Liberty, NY uses solar panels.

Check out Cornell Cooperative Extension in New York and Penn State Extension in Pennsylvania for even more information.

Agriculture is central to Wayne and Sullivan counties. People have farmed here for centuries, and traveling indigenous people found food growing (and running around) as they passed through.

Even in 2020particularly in 2020farmers markets connected people with the farmers that grew their food, simplifying and localizing the food supply chain.

Wayne Countys Food Relief Fund added local produce, along with instructions on how to cook it, to their food drive. Catskill Mountainkeeper has been exploring ways to make quality farm-grown food more available while ensuring that workers are treated equitably.

And cooperative extensions in both states have plenty of information on agriculture, food and nutrition.

On a global level, Project Drawdown looked at land use, exploring conservation agriculture and improving nutrients in the soil and in food. Plant-heavy diets are covered, as well as ways to reduce food waste: All topics that apply here.

Its not really something we think about. Were rural. Industry seems far away. But to Project Drawdown, industry also encompasses recycling, composting, refrigerants, methane capture in landfills and more.

County waste services in both Wayne and Sullivan recycle, and trash hauler Waste Management picks up recycling, too. (Here's more information on what people threw out in lockdown).

Both counties have information online about solid waste disposal (www.bit.ly/waynewaste, http://www.bit.ly/sullivanwaste). You can also ask about how methane is being dealt with.

Its one thing if you live in a place with public transport (never mind that its in upheaval due to the pandemic). Public transportation certainly reduces the number of cars on the road, whichremember the dramatic drop in greenhouse gas emissions in 2020makes a big difference.

Here, while MOVE Sullivan is operating in the Liberty/Fallsburg/Monticello area, and the shopping bus is still running, that still leaves a lot of the county without a public transportation option yet. This is even more true of Wayne County, where the only public transportation is a van that offers limited transport for the elderly and non-drivers.

Establishing buses is a complicated and expensive undertaking. This might be why Project Drawdown emphasizes bicycling, carpooling and teleworking (which relies on quality broadband, and both counties are working on that.)

Granted, right now its winter and were focused on heating our homes. Come summer, well be trying to stay cool. Heat pumps are a significant solution. Proper insulation means that the heating and cooling bills go down.

The materials we build with matter, too. Modern synthetics, including in furniture, burn much more quickly than hardwoods and plaster do, so you have less time to escape in a fire emergency. For example, fibreboard, a common synthetic, ignites after 50 seconds, according to the International Association of Fire and Rescue Services. They also contribute to health problems from asthma to heart conditions.

Drawdown examines three kinds of greenhouse-gas sinks: land, water and engineered.

Land sinks include soil and plants, which both store an enormous amount of carbon dioxide. To help them grow, we should try to reduce food waste and eat more plants, follow sustainable agricultural practices, reclaim abandoned land and protect our ecosystems.

Oceans cover 71 percent of the Earths surface and have absorbed at least 90 percent of the excess heat generated in recent years, Project Drawdown reports. But this has consequences: Water temperatures are rising and oceans are becoming more acidic. Work is ongoing to find ways to address these problems.

Relying on human-created sinks may be the quickest way to trap more carbon, Project Drawdown says. Pull it out of the atmosphere and trap it in something or bury it. Scientists have created a liquid metal catalyst that can turn carbon dioxide into a carbon-containing solid.

It seems non-sustainable to rely on people to come up with ways to deal with the overheating atmosphere. But as we plant more trees or clean up the oceans, the work of scientists proceeds apace and provides an alternative. The more help, the better.

It starts with health and educationespecially educating girlsand, Project Drawdown says, promoting family planning. Honoring the dignity of women and children through family planning is not about governments forcing the birth rate down (or up, through natalist policies). Nor is it about those in rich countries, where emissions are highest, telling people elsewhere to stop having children. When family planning focuses on health care provision and meeting womens expressed needs, empowerment, equality and well-being are the results; the benefits to the planet are side effects.

Theres still more to be done, of course. How do war-torn countries embrace sustainability? Can poverty be eliminated at the same time? Can sustainable solutions be presented in America as a non-partisan good?

In River Reporters sustainability coverage throughout 2021, well tackle some of these questions and pose others. Its January. Think of this as a resolution: Were working out how sustainability looks here, talking about whats being done and looking to what the future holds.

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Clearing the air - The River Reporter