The Raleigh News & Observer has done an outstanding public service with its article titled “Is Recycling Worth It? We Dove into Recycling in Raleigh and This Is What We Learned.” It explains in detail what happens to goods that are put into the curbside recycling bin and suggests ways the public can recycle difficult…
Category: The Environmental Blog
Monday Highlights
- The last New England coal-fired power plant may bite the dust.
- What “Biden’s war on mining” is doing to this country.
- “Green subsidies” in the Inflation Reduction Act “will cost $1.2 trillion—more than three times what the law’s supporters claimed.”
- Oil production from shale is on the decline and the nation may have reached “peak shale”—that is, a level that cannot be sustained. (Hard to believe, actually, since production varies with the price of oil.)
Another Problem with Electric Vehicles: They Are Fragile
From Reuters: “a previously unreported and expensive gap.” “For many electric vehicles, there is no way to repair or assess even slightly damaged battery packs after accidents, forcing insurance companies to write off cars with few miles—leading to higher premiums and undercutting gains from going electric. “And now those battery packs are piling up in…
Too Much Recycled Cardboard?
The usual story is that people don’t recycle enough. But now there is an oversupply of recycled cardboard (in the trade called OCC for Old Corrugated Cardboard), writes Katie Pyzyk for Waste Dive. Demand from companies for recycled cardboard has fallen dramatically—in February prices for the recycled cardboard were 74 percent lower than in February…
Monday Roundup
The news is not all that encouraging:
- Secretary of the Navy says climate change is one of his top priorities (not China, apparently, and not ships, as the Biden administration seeks to cut the Navy by two ships).
- Wind and solar are not cheaper than other sources of electricity, and here’s why that’s a secret.
- Energy Secretary Granholm says China is doing a good job on climate change . . . as China produces a record amount of coal.
- In India, the federal government “has asked coastal plants to import as much coal as possible and promised to provide loans to do so.”
Why East Palestine Citizens Should Relax a Bit
The major pollutant from the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment was vinyl chloride. It’s not as dangerous as it’s been portrayed—ask the National Fire Prevention Association. Writes Josh Holm in Reason: “Vinyl chloride, a chemical long used to make PVC plastics, is being portrayed as something more suitable for capital punishment than for a routine…