Is anyone else buying carbon credits to offset CO2 from travel?

[marlboroughman]

End of snow came early again, let's hit the slopes.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoxeezvAz0C ... soempqj3yk

[Greenturtle]

Sweet!! Wolf Creek is the bomb, my favorite in Colorado. They usually get the most snow in the state, not unusual for this time of year, except for the quantity. Hem hem.

Wind powered lifts and all

https://wolfcreekski.com/environmental-policies/

Its a wonder they can stay in business buying 100% of their electricity from a sustainable supplier like that.
Glad you endorse giving them that business Marl
Lets shred some pow brother.

[Greenturtle]

Btw, next time you are hitting the slopes in CO, look around, and take note that in many parts of the state the trees are dead. Like all dead.

Ask someone there why that is.

[JakeFarley]

I think I will jump into the fray here.

Imagine how a coal plant operates. Build the frigin thing and maintain it, stuff it full of fuel and burn the hell out of it, then you need more. Go mining. Stuff it full of fuel. Oh dang we need more already, ..go mine it... And these are no puny mines. Whole mountainsides- Rip em wide and the goodies (toxic heavy metals and acidity galore) flow off. Besides the gases that are the hot topic, burning coal also produces a helluva lot of ash, and the ash contains? things. Some harmless, some not. Ahem. what happens to it all? .. Probably not the “right” thing every time in every location I can tell you that much.

Quite a simplistic view of how a coal fired plant operates. You left out several pollution control mandates by the US EPA such as electrostatic precipitators that remove the fly ash (byproduct reused as admixture in concrete/cement), sulfur dioxide scrubbers using limestone (byproduct reused to make synthetic gypsum for drywall, but not the same as the contaminated Chinese drywall), bottom ash hoppers (byproduct used for roadway admixtures as well as abrasive blasting material) and the latest catalytic converters to remove the nitrous oxides (similar to automobile catalytic converters). However, I have to admit that even with all the latest pollution control equipment, coal fired power plants pollute the air, water and land in some way here in the US. But when China was starting its industrial revolution, they built coal fired plants monthly with no pollution control equipment. That is why during the Olympics held there a few years ago the air quality was extremely bad. Unless every country on the planet agrees on pollution control measures (which they never will), pollution will continue to get worse.

Also, you just cannot shut down coal fired power plants by legislation like Obama wanted to do during his two terms. The impacts would have been catastrophic (i.e. power outages/shortages, brown outs, etc.) with economic mayhem (sky high power bills). The main reason we have coal fired plants here in the US is that it was legislated during the oil crisis in the early 70s (no burning of any fossil fuel - oil, natural gas). The alternative was coal or nuclear, with coal being the most economical at the time and the quickest to get licensed and built (nuclear plants take at least twice as long). Now natural gas has made a comeback, but it is still not clean energy.

Just my 2 cents worth as that is all I have to offer as I am retired and living on a fixed income.

[marlboroughman]

Marlboroughman, there are lots of articles claiming that there is global warming as well. How do you choose which articles to believe ?

Read 1984 by Orwell or about Eugenics in US, ahh those fine elites and their finest scientists, and you will develop a better bullshit detector. I was born with it.

It's getting a little easier these days since NYTimes for example is the exclusive place to go for fake science.

[Greenturtle]

I think I will jump into the fray here.

Imagine how a coal plant operates. Build the frigin thing and maintain it, stuff it full of fuel and burn the hell out of it, then you need more. Go mining. Stuff it full of fuel. Oh dang we need more already, ..go mine it... And these are no puny mines. Whole mountainsides- Rip em wide and the goodies (toxic heavy metals and acidity galore) flow off. Besides the gases that are the hot topic, burning coal also produces a helluva lot of ash, and the ash contains? things. Some harmless, some not. Ahem. what happens to it all? .. Probably not the “right” thing every time in every location I can tell you that much.

Quite a simplistic view of how a coal fired plant operates. You left out several pollution control mandates by the US EPA such as electrostatic precipitators that remove the fly ash (byproduct reused as admixture in concrete/cement), sulfur dioxide scrubbers using limestone (byproduct reused to make synthetic gypsum for drywall, but not the same as the contaminated Chinese drywall), bottom ash hoppers (byproduct used for roadway admixtures as well as abrasive blasting material) and the latest catalytic converters to remove the nitrous oxides (similar to automobile catalytic converters). However, I have to admit that even with all the latest pollution control equipment, coal fired power plants pollute the air, water and land in some way here in the US. But when China was starting its industrial revolution, they built coal fired plants monthly with no pollution control equipment. That is why during the Olympics held there a few years ago the air quality was extremely bad. Unless every country on the planet agrees on pollution control measures (which they never will), pollution will continue to get worse.

Also, you just cannot shut down coal fired power plants by legislation like Obama wanted to do during his two terms. The impacts would have been catastrophic (i.e. power outages/shortages, brown outs, etc.) with economic mayhem (sky high power bills). The main reason we have coal fired plants here in the US is that it was legislated during the oil crisis in the early 70s (no burning of any fossil fuel - oil, natural gas). The alternative was coal or nuclear, with coal being the most economical at the time and the quickest to get licensed and built (nuclear plants take at least twice as long). Now natural gas has made a comeback, but it is still not clean energy.

Just my 2 cents worth as that is all I have to offer as I am retired and living on a fixed income.

Hey thanks for your input and welcome to the asylum.

Yes there are uses for a little bit of coal ash in industry, however most of it gets dumped, in landfills or holding ponds, sometimes with very undesirable outcomes, such as contaminated groundwater, surface water, breaches of the holding method with catastrophic toxic mudslide, to name a few. Heres some details on one of the worst of these types of events that do occur in the US, despite the rules and regs, with some of the ongoing consequences (death) to the clean up workers found in the second link. Enjoy!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsto ... urry_spill

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.knoxne ... /458342002

My simplistic description of a coal plant is mainly to point out the obvious, which is that a coal plant needs constant feeding, which means constant mining, which means constant pollution both from the plant, and the mines. I am familiar with the type of information you have shared regarding pollution control methods. Although it is a step in the right direction, to me this is just sugar coating a poison and saying its all better now, go ahead and eat it.
Clean coal is a myth.
Theres filthy, and just plain dirty- But no clean.
“Pollutes air, water, and land in some way” is totally understated. I can give you a first hand tour of the “water and land” parts, just from the mining half.
Your jaw would drop.

Marl doesnt believe this pollution exists apparently because he doesnt see it out his own window and/or it hasn’t made him ill.

I would not suggest shutting them down outright. But reducing the need for it as much as possible through the supply from additional cleaner sources that are becoming more and more available and affordable is common sense.

[Pemba]

Marlboroughman, there are lots of articles claiming that there is global warming as well. How do you choose which articles to believe ?

Read 1984 by Orwell or about Eugenics in US, ahh those fine elites and their finest scientists, and you will develop a better bullshit detector. I was born with it.

It's getting a little easier these days since NYTimes for example is the exclusive place to go for fake science.

Is that really your answer, you can't do any better than that ? You were born with a bullshit detector ? Although you're pretty rude I have tried to take you seriously and educate myself in the process, but I have to agree with others, if this is the level of your argument, then you're irrelevant, maybe just funny. You were born with a bullshit detector... Go on, another article or maybe better yet, a graph..

[marlboroughman]

Coal mining looks like child's play compared to Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel, graphite mining.

[SimonP]

It's called the Dunning Kruger effect. Try to guess where marlboroughman fits on the following chart:

[marlboroughman]

Is that really your answer, you can't do any better than that ? You were born with a bullshit detector ? Although you're pretty rude I have tried to take you seriously and educate myself in the process, but I have to agree with others, if this is the level of your argument, then you're irrelevant, maybe just funny. You were born with a bullshit detector... Go on, another article or maybe better yet, a graph..

That's why they call me Marl and you are Pemba.....