
On Dec. 4 in Spokane, Washington, more than 800 people packed the Spokane County Fairgrounds for the fifth of seven scheduled public hearings on the proposed Cherry Point coal terminal in Whatcom County. Nearly 700 people showed up to oppose the construction of the largest coal export terminal in North America.
Included in opposition were citizens from Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming and Montana, including tribal leaders, farmers and a very inspiring fourth grader who garnered the only permitted applause of the afternoon.
We were simultaneously inspired and outraged by what happened in Spokane last night. On one hand, the overwhelming passion, perseverance and diversity of those who spoke in opposition was moving, but on the other hand the misguided frustration and short-term interests of those in favor was demoralizing. Here are some of our frustrations from yesterday:
- The Army Corps of Engineers is attempting to improperly limit the scope of the environmental analysis to short-term local impacts although we are talking about increased consumption of a fossil fuel that is wreaking havoc on our climate.
- Coal export investors paid temporary workers to stand in line starting at 6 a.m. to hijack the public process and take speaking slots away from concerned citizens.
- The overly simplistic dichotomy that this decision is a choice between jobs or the environment.
- The belief by coal supporters that it is okay to destroy the global climate and hurt millions of people by burning more coal as long as the project provides a few hundred jobs.
- A lack of critical mass urgency to do what needs to be done, and can be done, to protect our climate so that future generations have a safe and healthy planet.
But we don’t want to focus on the most frustrating aspects of last night’s hearing, we want to tell you why it inspired us and renewed our faith in the goodness, intelligence and fair-mindedness of our fellow citizens.
We saw hundreds of people give up their usual Tuesday night activities with friends and family to stand up for the future of our planet. It was profoundly humbling to be a part of the growing global citizens movement to disenthrall ourselves from a dangerous addiction to fossil fuels. We heard moving testimony from elected officials, doctors, tribal members, community groups, business owners, farmers, ranchers and environmental groups. We were proud to add to that testimony with words from our Waterkeepers in India, Bangladesh and China.
The unified message brought forward by those of us who spoke out against the lunacy of the Cherry Point coal export terminal was:
- The scope of the Environment Impact Statement must take into account every community impacted by the mining, transport and burning of coal.
- Opposition to coal trafficking stems from a broad base of authentic citizen support that genuinely wants to transition away from planet-killing fossil fuels and create jobs in renewable energy.
- Scientific evidence conclusively shows that the pollution from coal burned in India and China will harm people, waterways and fisheries in the Pacific Northwest with mercury and fine particulates that rob children of IQ points and cause respiratory disease.
- This decision is far more complex than a simple and unhelpful jobs-vs-environment dichotomy, it is a decision that has global impacts in a quickly changing world.
Fifty years from now, future generations will look back at us and note who fiddled while the planet burned, who poured gas on the fire and who did their best to put it out. It was profoundly humbling to stand in solidarity with so many people last night who were willing to pick up the hose and try their best to put out the fire. We look forward to upcoming hearings in Portland, Oregon on Dec. 6, Vancouver, Washington on Dec. 12 and Seattle, Washington on Dec. 13, when more people will come together to combat the global conflagration that awaits us if we continue mining, transporting and burning coal.
Visit EcoWatch’s COAL EXPORTS page for more related news on this topic.
--------
Click here to sign stop coal exports.
- Redwoods are the world's tallest trees.
- Now scientists have discovered they are even bigger than we thought.
- Using laser technology they map the 80-meter giants.
- Trees are a key plank in the fight against climate change.
They are among the largest trees in the world, descendants of forests where dinosaurs roamed.
Pixabay / Simi Luft
<p><span>Until recently, measuring these trees meant scaling their 80 meter high trunks with a tape measure. Now, a team of scientists from University College London and the University of Maryland uses advanced laser scanning, to create 3D maps and calculate the total mass.</span></p><p>The results are striking: suggesting the trees <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">may be as much as 30% larger than earlier measurements suggested.</a> Part of that could be due to the additional trunks the Redwoods can grow as they age, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a process known as reiteration</a>.</p>New 3D measurements of large redwood trees for biomass and structure. Nature / UCL
<p>Measuring the trees more accurately is important because carbon capture will probably play a key role in the battle against climate change. Forest <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/09/carbon-sequestration-natural-forest-regrowth" target="_blank">growth could absorb billions of tons</a> of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.</p><p>"The importance of big trees is widely-recognised in terms of carbon storage, demographics and impact on their surrounding ecosystems," the authors wrote<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank"> in the journal Nature</a>. "Unfortunately the importance of big trees is in direct proportion to the difficulty of measuring them."</p><p>Redwoods are so long lived because of their ability to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73733-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cope with climate change, resist disease and even survive fire damage</a>, the scientists say. Almost a fifth of their volume may be bark, which helps protect them.</p>Carbon Capture Champions
<p><span>Earlier research by scientists at Humboldt University and the University of Washington found that </span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112716302584" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Redwood forests store almost 2,600 tonnes of carbon per hectare</a><span>, their bark alone containing more carbon than any other neighboring species.</span></p><p>While the importance of trees in fighting climate change is widely accepted, not all species enjoy the same protection as California's coastal Redwoods. In 2019 the world lost the equivalent of <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation-and-forest-degradation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">30 soccer fields of forest cover every minute</a>, due to agricultural expansion, logging and fires, according to The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).</p>Pixabay
<p>Although <a href="https://c402277.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/publications/1420/files/original/Deforestation_fronts_-_drivers_and_responses_in_a_changing_world_-_full_report_%281%29.pdf?1610810475" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the rate of loss is reported to have slowed in recent years</a>, reforesting the world to help stem climate change is a massive task.</p><p><span>That's why the World Economic Forum launched the Trillion Trees Challenge (</span><a href="https://www.1t.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1t.org</a><span>) and is engaging organizations and individuals across the globe through its </span><a href="https://uplink.weforum.org/uplink/s/uplink-issue/a002o00000vOf09AAC/trillion-trees" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Uplink innovation crowdsourcing platform</a><span> to support the project.</span></p><p>That's backed up by research led by ETH Zurich/Crowther Lab showing there's potential to restore tree coverage across 2.2 billion acres of degraded land.</p><p>"Forests are critical to the health of the planet," according to <a href="https://www.1t.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1t.org</a>. "They sequester carbon, regulate global temperatures and freshwater flows, recharge groundwater, anchor fertile soil and act as flood barriers."</p><p><em data-redactor-tag="em" data-verified="redactor">Reposted with permission from the </em><span><em data-redactor-tag="em" data-verified="redactor"><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/03/redwoods-store-more-co2-and-are-more-enormous-than-we-thought/" target="_blank">World Economic Forum</a>.</em></span></p>EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
- Offshore Wind Power Is Ready to Boom. Here's What That Means for ... ›
- American Skyscrapers Kill an Estimated 600 Million Migratory Birds ... ›
Trending
Kentucky is coping with historic flooding after a weekend of record-breaking rainfall, enduring water rescues, evacuations and emergency declarations.
<div id="0f31c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4290ab3e7ec4e142f8bce774bab39f03"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1366307788155219969" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Just got back from my office... downtown Beattyville Kentucky is not a pretty sight. @KySportsRadio… https://t.co/6nXwyMKtRb</div> — Tom Jones (@Tom Jones)<a href="https://twitter.com/8atticus/statuses/1366307788155219969">1614588136.0</a></blockquote></div>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b41a2da6bf23cc19a5f38c2dc6c5f9fc"><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/dekalbtnfire/photos/a.924258171004562/3713119618785056/"></div></div>
Spring is coming. And soon, tree swallows will start building nests. But as the climate changes, the birds are nesting earlier in the spring.
- Spring Is Arriving Earlier Across the U.S. - EcoWatch ›
- Climate Change Leading to Fatal Bird Conflicts - EcoWatch ›
- The Unsettling Reason Why We're Seeing More Snowy Owls ... ›
Citigroup will strive to reach net-zero greenhouse gas pollution across its lending portfolio by 2050 and in its own operations by 2030, the investment group announced Monday.
- 20 Attorneys General Launch Climate Fraud Investigation of Exxon ... ›
- Exxon Plans to Increase Its Climate Pollution - EcoWatch ›
- Exxon to Slash 14,000 Jobs Worldwide as Oil Demand Drops ... ›