[GWSG] Bacteriaburgers; Canada adapts; C in hemp; bog offsets; offsets as shucks; SC vs. regs; regs vs. C

[Tilley, Al]

1. George Monbiot asserts that precision fermentation could breed bacteria to produce protein-rich foods which would replace livestock farming. (I suppose recipes will follow. I imagine soups, breads, wraps, and pastas, with even more protein than the current pulse and seed-based offerings.) Particularly where you can’t raise crops such as garbanzos and lentils—say, because of drought--the new products would be life-savers. Monbiot’s main point is that wherever you could replace livestock production, you would be taking a significant climate action.) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/24/green-technology-precision-fermentation-farming

2. Canada has announced a plan to help the country adapt in the climate crisis. The initial funding is CAN$1.6b. Annual costs of climate disasters are expected to rise to CAN$15.4b by 2030. The program could save 15 times what it spends.  Heat, sea level rise, and thawing permafrost are some of the conditions addressed. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-ottawa-can16-bn-climate.html

3. What grows faster than trees and locks twice as much carbon away in its fibers, which are tough enough to use to build cars? Hemp, and some varieties won’t get you high, though our general ban is on all the weed growing wild along many a highway. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/24/could-hemp-be-a-key-tool-in-fight-against-climate-change

4. A healthy peat bog stores more carbon than a rain forest, acre for acre. Scotland is blessed with lots of peat bogs but many have been drained. Now they are being restored, and the land prices are increasing markedly as corporations buy the bogs for carbon offsets. That is complicated news for the residents.  https://climatecrocks.com/2022/11/26/rewilding-scotland-to-draw-down-carbon/

5. Carbon offsets are a feature of most market-based solutions. Scotland may find their peat bogs inflating local real estate beyond their reach, but some corporation can use the bogs to offset their emissions, achieving carbon neutrality.  It hasn’t worked; emissions are growing steadily. The 23-minute John Oliver segment from Last Week Tonight explains why, complemented by the Fast Company article in which it is embedded.  Fast Company takes the position that offset programs should be cleaned up and adjusted. Others have said that they are inherently flawed and should be replaced by strict and monitored regulation of emissions.  https://www.fastcompany.com/90781647/carbon-offsets-have-serious-issues-is-it-even-possible-to-fix-them

6. In the US effective regulation of emissions from power generation means running over or around the Supreme Court. The opposition to effective action of this sort may be read in the attempt to place Herschel Walker in the Senate. The project of replacing the shuck of carbon offsets with effective emissions control is being played out with great and (usually) unrecognized drama in much of world politics. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/30/1103595898/supreme-court-epa-climate-change

7. The Inflation Reduction Act has an array of emissions reduction measures which do not employ carbon offsets. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2022/08/ira-implications-for-climate-ej-priorities/

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