Our Melting Glaciers -- A Troubling Sign
By Chuck Jensen
April 1, 2025
The thousands of our world's glaciers represent about 70% of our fresh water supply. However, in the last 50 years, some 9,000 gigatons of ice from those ice sheets have melted.
Melting Glaciers
Such huge numbers are hard to understand -- think of a sea of water over the nation of Germany 80 feet deep. And they are melting at an increasing rate -- now three Olympic sized swimming pools every second. The glaciers in the Alps have lost 40% of their mass and are expected to be gone by 2100. The Himalayan glaciers are melting 65% faster than 10 years ago. And they are expected to be diminished by 80% by 2100. Some two billion people rely on those 10 most important river systems.
The year 2024 was the warmest year on record; and the past decade has been the warmest in 800,000 years. Troubling statistics for those of us who care for our Good Mother Earth.
Climate Recap for 2024
By Chuck Jensen
January 1, 2025
No question, the past year was a tough one. Extreme weather events caused hundreds of billions of damage. Plus we again are going to see a climate denier residing in the White House. However, we have made advancements; and wanting to close the year on a positive note, here are just a few:
In Washington state, we preserved the Climate Commitment Act by defeating the 2117 initiative, plus several more.
Globally, transportation is a major contributor to our warming planet. However, electric vehicles can help turn this around. Electric vehicle sales in Norway are now 96% of all new sales. San Francisco is now at 30%, and Los Angeles at 25%. Nationally, we are approaching 10%.
Carbon capture, that is, pulling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or an industrial process, has long been regarded as impossible to do at scale. However, globally there are over 800 projects underway seeking a way to make this geoengineering technology a viable mitigation solution.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Did You Know...? Tacoma's LNG Plant and TOTE Maritime Alaska
By Chuck Jensen
Puget Sound Energy sold the idea of constructing the LNG facility on the tide flats largely on the premise that TOTE would convert its two ships to burn the cleaner fuel. TOTE invested over $100 million to convert the Midnight Sun and North Star ships to burn the fuel in making the 40 to 50 trips from Tacoma to Anchorage each year. As opposed to burning the historical Bunker C fuel oil, the LNG engines reduce sulphur oxides by 95%, nitrogen oxides by as much as 80%, and other air toxins by over 90%.
TOTE -- short for Totem Ocean Trailer Express -- loads each ship with "roll on" over-the-road trailers, which are driven off the ship when they arrive. It is a primary source for Alaska's food and consumer goods supply. as well as industrial and commercial goods.
The US is now the world's leading producer and exporter of natural gas. However, the local plant gets it gas from British Columbia via the Williams pipeline.