See, I see this in a different light. I've been saying this for 15+ years: the oil companies aren't Captain Planet villains who can't achieve full erection without hand drowning a baby penguin in a vat of crude oil straight from a well drilled straight through the back of a live caribou in ANWR.
They're worse than that. They know they're the bad guys and want to be the good guys. They want to be the good guys so bad that they systematically attack and destroy the actual good guys while they struggle to play 30+ years of catch up in the good guys' industry so they can maintain their permanent hold on energy through yet another source change.
They're still going to fight for their corporate welfare and do everything they can to strangle renewables as they always have - in ways that won't affect companies with an alternate established revenue stream. They've always yanked the leashes on their own pets in congress when they get too aggressive with turbine bans and the like. They don't want any of it banned, and in fact want lots of free money for those things, they just don't want a bunch of new companies getting it all while the fossil fuel industries go bankrupt.
The U.S. Energy Department proposed easing water efficiency requirements for shower heads Wednesday following multiple complaints from President Donald Trump about how low water flow is impeding his ability to properly wash his hair.
The plan would allow manufacturers to bypass a 2.5 gallon-per-minute maximum flow rate set by Congress in the 1990s. Under current law, each shower head in a shower counts toward that limit. If finalized, the administration plan would allow multiple shower nozzles with 2.5 gallon-per-minute heads to each meet that requirement separately.
The rule comes after Trump has railed against shower heads that go “drip, drip, drip,” as well as low-flow toilets and faucets among other appliances.
“You turn on the shower -- if you’re like me, you can’t wash your beautiful hair properly,” Trump said this month during a visit to a Whirlpool Corp. manufacturing plant in Ohio. “You waste 20 minutes longer. Please come out. The water -- it drips, right?”
The rule, if finalized, would subvert a 1992 law signed by Republican President George H.W. Bush, and would lead to the waste of enormous amounts of water and energy, and increase greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, an environmental group.
“It’s gimmick to put multiple nozzles on a shower head,” Andrew deLaski, the group’s executive director, said in an interview. “There really is no good reason to reduce water and energy standards that have been around for 20 years.”
Consumer Reports joined in panning the move. David Friedman, a Consumer Reports vice president and former Energy Department official, said in 2016 that group found “the best shower heads we tested provided a pleasing flow while meeting the federal flow-rate standard.”
Just wanting to make it easier to waste water at a time when that is likely to become more of an issue.
Also, hopefully Biden hints at "If the lawsuits work, we won't be allowing more leases. If the lawsuits don't, expect increased scrutiny and regulation, even if it's just actual enforcement of the ones we have.".
Send a message that Trump playing funny buggers with long term shit like this in a last ditch effort, will be met with the same kind of respect for the previous Administration that Trump had for Obama (ie, none).
Trump is going to try to grift and embezzle as much as he can between now and November. It'll increase exponentially if he is out in January. Setting the tone that this shit won't stand for at least long term projects (like oil/mining leases) shouldn't be a hard ask.
"The smoke is very thick. Ash is falling. Woke up last night because I could hardly breathe that smell and smoke was so thick. It was so bad I had to get up and make sure Chico was not on fire."
"Going to make sure I have gas in my car today. Been a couple fires in Bidwell Park. They are just too close."
So my mom who still lives in Chico and dealt with the Camp Fire and was a couple of blocks away from mandatory evacuation sent me this when I woke up.
She has one lung and relies on oxygen while she sleeps.
Her "retirement" has just been a series of health issues and humanity-encouraged catastrophies. I'm exhausted for her.
"The smoke is very thick. Ash is falling. Woke up last night because I could hardly breathe that smell and smoke was so thick. It was so bad I had to get up and make sure Chico was not on fire."
"Going to make sure I have gas in my car today. Been a couple fires in Bidwell Park. They are just too close."
So my mom who still lives in Chico and dealt with the Camp Fire and was a couple of blocks away from mandatory evacuation sent me this when I woke up.
She has one lung and relies on oxygen while she sleeps.
Her "retirement" has just been a series of health issues and humanity-encouraged catastrophies. I'm exhausted for her.
we had ashfall yesterday from the Lake-Napa Unit Complex and I'm in Orangevale
I'm tremendously heartbroken watching the fires encroach onto Lick Observatory. Fires are pushing closer to the telescope domes. Lick is the first mountain top observatory in the world (1888). It's truly a wonder of the world and national treasure.(Personnel are thankfully safe) pic.twitter.com/cfuej3tYKq
Wildfires are a part of nature. The only reason it hasn't always been wildfire season is because humanity prevented them, which just cause things to back up and make them much worse when they do break out.
Wildfires are a part of nature. The only reason it hasn't always been wildfire season is because humanity prevented them, which just cause things to back up and make them much worse when they do break out.
I mean there's also always been a seasonality to it.
+7
Options
OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Wildfires are a part of nature. The only reason it hasn't always been wildfire season is because humanity prevented them, which just cause things to back up and make them much worse when they do break out.
There's also that areas are getting less rain and so are drying out more, a hundred years of fire suppression leading to massive amounts of feedstock in some areas, and people seeking to get away from folks or just cheaper land have built up in areas further and further into fire-prone areas.
Even absent climate change we'd have a problem. With climate change, devastating fire seasons seem like they'll be the norm moving forward.
Wildfires are a part of nature. The only reason it hasn't always been wildfire season is because humanity prevented them, which just cause things to back up and make them much worse when they do break out.
Controlled burns are a great way to mitigate this, but NIMBYism over the smoke and budget cuts mean that California and other states pretty much stop managing these areas to prevent massive fires. Combine that with climate change, and this is the result.
I'm tremendously heartbroken watching the fires encroach onto Lick Observatory. Fires are pushing closer to the telescope domes. Lick is the first mountain top observatory in the world (1888). It's truly a wonder of the world and national treasure.(Personnel are thankfully safe) pic.twitter.com/cfuej3tYKq
The sun is up and it looks like Lick Observatory made it through the night mostly unscathed by the fire! Breathing a very big sigh of relief right now and feeling super appreciative of the fire crews who helped protect the mountain top last night.
I'm tremendously heartbroken watching the fires encroach onto Lick Observatory. Fires are pushing closer to the telescope domes. Lick is the first mountain top observatory in the world (1888). It's truly a wonder of the world and national treasure.(Personnel are thankfully safe) pic.twitter.com/cfuej3tYKq
The sun is up and it looks like Lick Observatory made it through the night mostly unscathed by the fire! Breathing a very big sigh of relief right now and feeling super appreciative of the fire crews who helped protect the mountain top last night.
Wildfires are a part of nature. The only reason it hasn't always been wildfire season is because humanity prevented them, which just cause things to back up and make them much worse when they do break out.
Controlled burns are a great way to mitigate this, but NIMBYism over the smoke and budget cuts mean that California and other states pretty much stop managing these areas to prevent massive fires. Combine that with climate change, and this is the result.
TBF CAL FIRE and the Forest Service do, afaik, a good job at setting control burns (also known as "vegetation management") and working with local government prior to the fire season. But the problem now is that fire season is year round thanks to pretty much everything this thread has touched on as well as the fact that there's been massively uncontrolled urban encroachment on historically wildfire prone areas in the last 20 years.
Wildfires are a part of nature. The only reason it hasn't always been wildfire season is because humanity prevented them, which just cause things to back up and make them much worse when they do break out.
Controlled burns are a great way to mitigate this, but NIMBYism over the smoke and budget cuts mean that California and other states pretty much stop managing these areas to prevent massive fires. Combine that with climate change, and this is the result.
TBF CAL FIRE and the Forest Service do, afaik, a good job at setting control burns (also known as "vegetation management") and working with local government prior to the fire season. But the problem now is that fire season is year round thanks to pretty much everything this thread has touched on as well as the fact that there's been massively uncontrolled urban encroachment on historically wildfire prone areas in the last 20 years.
I'm tremendously heartbroken watching the fires encroach onto Lick Observatory. Fires are pushing closer to the telescope domes. Lick is the first mountain top observatory in the world (1888). It's truly a wonder of the world and national treasure.(Personnel are thankfully safe) pic.twitter.com/cfuej3tYKq
The sun is up and it looks like Lick Observatory made it through the night mostly unscathed by the fire! Breathing a very big sigh of relief right now and feeling super appreciative of the fire crews who helped protect the mountain top last night.
"If complete and utter chaos was lightning, then he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armour and shouting 'All gods are bastards'."
Trump: "I'm not a big fan of sharks either. I don't know. How many votes am I going to lose? I have people calling me up, 'sir, we...have a fund, Save the Shark. It's called Save the Shark.' I say, 'No thank you. I have other things I can contribute to.'"
Trump swats at a mosquito; he says, "They'll say it's cruelty to animals. I don't - no, it's true. They were saying the other night: the shark. Oh sharks, we have to protect them. I said wait a minute, wait. They actually want to remove all the seals in order to save the shark."
Stormy Daniels had already said Trump hated sharks, but I think this is the first time he publicly said that?
The alternative to maintaining predator populations is to take over their jobs. And culling seal pups polls REALLY BAD.
Even in the best situations humans don't do a particularly good job with this. We kill all the seals or deer or whatevers more or less at once every few years and we don't eat them all. Or we do eat them, like with deer, but we don't take the weak, sick, or injured ones, we take the prime adults. Saving predators is best, especially in the ocean where our direct interaction with them is limited (unlike bears or wolves that can become dangerous nuisances in cities).
*edit
I'm going to leave my paragraph down there, because it is an ongoing ecological story, but it appears there is no connection to Trump's rant and Florida's plan. That he was swatting at mosquitos and babbling about sharks seems to be unrelated.
No, it's because Florida got the OK to release a boatload of genetically modified mosquitoes that breed with wild mosquitoes and their female offspring don't develop. It controls the population and reduces blood borne diseases in the area. Floridians are freaking out because frankensqeeters might give them unwanted vaccines or some other lunacy, but the sane people are freaking out because mosquitoes underpin the entire food chain.
Atlas in Chains on
+1
Options
TetraNitroCubaneThe DjinneratorAt the bottom of a bottleRegistered Userregular
. . . Is it bad that I saw "I'm not a big fan of sharks either. I don't know. How many votes am I going to lose?" and immediately thought that he was suggesting that Sharks were voting for him?
Also i am temporarily living in California and Coronado (southern San Diego County) is smoky and I think we’re like 200 miles south of the nearest fire...
*edit
I'm going to leave my paragraph down there, because it is an ongoing ecological story, but it appears there is no connection to Trump's rant and Florida's plan. That he was swatting at mosquitos and babbling about sharks seems to be unrelated.
No, it's because Florida got the OK to release a boatload of genetically modified mosquitoes that breed with wild mosquitoes and their female offspring don't develop. It controls the population and reduces blood borne diseases in the area. Floridians are freaking out because frankensqeeters might give them unwanted vaccines or some other lunacy, but the sane people are freaking out because mosquitoes underpin the entire food chain.
The particular species of mosquito targeted by this do not. There are several different species in the area, only a couple of which host these diseases, and none of which are preferentially preyed upon, and the other species can fill in their niche. I believe at least one of those species isn't even native to the area.
Double category 5 hurricanes on the east coast? At the same time even?
Residents all along the Gulf Coast need to monitor @NHC_Atlantic this weekend with 2 storms forecast to possibly impact the region next week. pic.twitter.com/DJHVDPLNDY
Posts
Don't forget it's also Standard Oil!
But yeah supermajors have been doing this for 20 years?
They're worse than that. They know they're the bad guys and want to be the good guys. They want to be the good guys so bad that they systematically attack and destroy the actual good guys while they struggle to play 30+ years of catch up in the good guys' industry so they can maintain their permanent hold on energy through yet another source change.
They're still going to fight for their corporate welfare and do everything they can to strangle renewables as they always have - in ways that won't affect companies with an alternate established revenue stream. They've always yanked the leashes on their own pets in congress when they get too aggressive with turbine bans and the like. They don't want any of it banned, and in fact want lots of free money for those things, they just don't want a bunch of new companies getting it all while the fossil fuel industries go bankrupt.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-12/trump-to-relax-rules-for-showers-after-complaining-about-flow-kdrlkqzh Just wanting to make it easier to waste water at a time when that is likely to become more of an issue.
I mean, that's the standard conservative stance on climate change. "Fuck the Earth, because I want/need ___________."
And use less product in your hair if you can't rinse with showerheads that have worked fine my entire life.
Rugs require a lot of pressure to wash properly.
Once again, the orange idiot is projecting his own problems onto something else.
First-generation low-flow toilets were/are notoriously ineffective, but designs have improved since then.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-alaska-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-oil-leasing
Also, hopefully Biden hints at "If the lawsuits work, we won't be allowing more leases. If the lawsuits don't, expect increased scrutiny and regulation, even if it's just actual enforcement of the ones we have.".
Send a message that Trump playing funny buggers with long term shit like this in a last ditch effort, will be met with the same kind of respect for the previous Administration that Trump had for Obama (ie, none).
Trump is going to try to grift and embezzle as much as he can between now and November. It'll increase exponentially if he is out in January. Setting the tone that this shit won't stand for at least long term projects (like oil/mining leases) shouldn't be a hard ask.
It's literally a seinfeld episode if I'm not mistaken
"Going to make sure I have gas in my car today. Been a couple fires in Bidwell Park. They are just too close."
So my mom who still lives in Chico and dealt with the Camp Fire and was a couple of blocks away from mandatory evacuation sent me this when I woke up.
She has one lung and relies on oxygen while she sleeps.
Her "retirement" has just been a series of health issues and humanity-encouraged catastrophies. I'm exhausted for her.
we had ashfall yesterday from the Lake-Napa Unit Complex and I'm in Orangevale
Wait fuck
It’s always wildfire season now huh
The times the previous big fires have occurred here in northern California is late September/October.
But then again those past years didn't have a record heat wave and freak lightning storm.
Been lucky previous years, hopefully will be so again. Still packing up just in case.
Wildfires are a part of nature. The only reason it hasn't always been wildfire season is because humanity prevented them, which just cause things to back up and make them much worse when they do break out.
I mean there's also always been a seasonality to it.
There's also that areas are getting less rain and so are drying out more, a hundred years of fire suppression leading to massive amounts of feedstock in some areas, and people seeking to get away from folks or just cheaper land have built up in areas further and further into fire-prone areas.
Even absent climate change we'd have a problem. With climate change, devastating fire seasons seem like they'll be the norm moving forward.
Controlled burns are a great way to mitigate this, but NIMBYism over the smoke and budget cuts mean that California and other states pretty much stop managing these areas to prevent massive fires. Combine that with climate change, and this is the result.
Looks like it's okay:
Timelapse of how close fire came:
Fires jumped the I-80 yesterday which is like 8 lanes (4 lanes each way) plus breakdown/service lanes, shits crazy.
https://abc7news.com/i-80-closed-after-fire-jumps-interstate-in-fairfield/6379136/
TBF CAL FIRE and the Forest Service do, afaik, a good job at setting control burns (also known as "vegetation management") and working with local government prior to the fire season. But the problem now is that fire season is year round thanks to pretty much everything this thread has touched on as well as the fact that there's been massively uncontrolled urban encroachment on historically wildfire prone areas in the last 20 years.
California is actually the poster child for poor forest management. Lots of lobbying by real estate, tourism, and business have made it one of the worst areas in the nation in terms of conducting controlled burns.
I spent all of yesterday explaining to my wife that the various highways around here would act as fire breaks....
Also this map of the SCU evac zones is starting to get frightening. https://csj.maps.arcgis.com/apps/InformationLookup/index.html?appid=63226957c1744bb2bb5111750965fa17
CNN reporter:
Stormy Daniels had already said Trump hated sharks, but I think this is the first time he publicly said that?
Fuck, that is definitely because it's shark week.
Even in the best situations humans don't do a particularly good job with this. We kill all the seals or deer or whatevers more or less at once every few years and we don't eat them all. Or we do eat them, like with deer, but we don't take the weak, sick, or injured ones, we take the prime adults. Saving predators is best, especially in the ocean where our direct interaction with them is limited (unlike bears or wolves that can become dangerous nuisances in cities).
*edit
I'm going to leave my paragraph down there, because it is an ongoing ecological story, but it appears there is no connection to Trump's rant and Florida's plan. That he was swatting at mosquitos and babbling about sharks seems to be unrelated.
No, it's because Florida got the OK to release a boatload of genetically modified mosquitoes that breed with wild mosquitoes and their female offspring don't develop. It controls the population and reduces blood borne diseases in the area. Floridians are freaking out because frankensqeeters might give them unwanted vaccines or some other lunacy, but the sane people are freaking out because mosquitoes underpin the entire food chain.
2020's done weirder already, I guess.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e129c1db135de2d59c10f8f/5ea3a94d2fec9937a4351eae/5f3b4c55ae4425131238591e/1597721937688/IT'S+SHARK+WEEK+MOTHER+FUCKERS+Product+Photo.jpg?format=1500w
Also i am temporarily living in California and Coronado (southern San Diego County) is smoky and I think we’re like 200 miles south of the nearest fire...
The particular species of mosquito targeted by this do not. There are several different species in the area, only a couple of which host these diseases, and none of which are preferentially preyed upon, and the other species can fill in their niche. I believe at least one of those species isn't even native to the area.
What other cruel things will 2020 bring?
Double category 5 hurricanes on the east coast? At the same time even?
Residents all along the Gulf Coast need to monitor @NHC_Atlantic this weekend with 2 storms forecast to possibly impact the region next week. pic.twitter.com/DJHVDPLNDY