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CURATED ECOLOGICAL NEWS Collapse of Big Solutions focuses communities on small solutions
“The advent of Big Solutions has been necessitated by the eruption of Big Problems — i.e., global predicaments that are potential civilization killers, including climate change, and the accelerating loss of wild nature. Some scholars call the convergence of Big Problems a polycrisis; others say it’s the start of a Great Unraveling. “A flagship example of Big Solutions is the international community’s main fix for climate change: the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. It promises a massive economic and industrial transformation. Big Solutions have been around for years, in some cases decades. Yet society’s Big Problems are still getting worse, not better. Now the Trump administration is signaling a pullback from most solution efforts. “So, with the US now pulling back from promoting Big Solutions, who will take up the slack? Most countries are too poor. Others, like Russia, India, and China, are charting their own sluggish paths toward a distant energy transition. The drying up of grants for Big Solutions would make it much harder for NGOs to continue their efforts. Even big banks are pulling back from clean energy pledges. “Big Solutions will not entirely go away soon, for some have market momentum — specifically, electric cars and solar panels. While they aren’t stopping climate change, for people who can afford them they make sense from the standpoint of household economics. “Meanwhile, can small solutions work? There is a rich literature on localization, degrowth, community resilience, and Indigenous attitudes and practices. Proponents of small solutions don’t claim that these actions will enable humanity to continue its current growth. Rather, Small Is Beautiful promoters say we should preserve and repair as much as we humanly can in our households and communities, where we have the most agency.” More at: Tilling soils is ruinous to the soil’s health
“How farmers manage their soils is a stronger predictor of soil health than whether the land is organically — or conventionally — farmed, a new study finds. The recent Science paper showed that reduced tilling and increased cover cropping in particular led to better soil function on both organic and conventional farms. Healthier soils — what the researchers describe as ‘multifunctional soils’ — are those that have a loose, crumbly structure, can regulate water flow and pathogens, and decompose organic matter quickly, among other things. “The researchers noted that on farms where regular tilling was the norm, the less healthy the soil was: these soils had slower decomposition rates, and were less able to regulate water flow, among other things. On the other hand, the researchers found that on farms where soils were tilled infrequently, or not at all, and where farmers also practiced non-invasive management methods like cover cropping with grasses and legumes, the soil functionality was higher and therefore healthier. “There is a huge diversity of ways that organic farms are run, and in many cases the soils on those farms are intensively-managed. This could explain why organic farming didn’t translate to better soil health across the board. Organic farming could potentially deliver many other benefits, such as reducing ecosystem pollution from pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. But looking solely at soil function, it appears the same benefits could be achieved on non-organic farms.” More at: The Constitution supports no environmental laws, just corporations
“I think it’s weird sometimes to start talking about the Constitution itself because it comes out of context. Most people are raised to think that we live in a democracy and that we must have a democracy because we have a constitution. “People forget, of course, that China has a constitution, North Korea has a constitution, Russia has a constitution. It doesn’t make them democracies. We’ve been taught since elementary school that democracy equates to one person, one vote, and being able to elect our representatives, and that’s how the system works. We’ve based it in this myth that we live in a democracy. “The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights got our start in a slightly different place, which was trying to actually apply democracy to grassroots activism. So coming out of law school, I created a law firm to provide free legal services to community based environmental groups. So these are grassroots groups that get together around their kitchen table to stop a fracking project or a 20,000 head hog factory farm. “90% of the people that we dealt with in those first 10 years were first time activists who would not even like the label activist. And in Pennsylvania, which is where I went to law school, we had this old joke that Pennsylvania has Pittsburgh on one side, Philadelphia on the other, and Mississippi in the middle. And that’s where our work was. It was in that rural in-between of Pennsylvania. “But federal laws are not rights based. They’re basically about parts per million and permitting certain things. In fact, worse than that, getting back to the constitutional stuff, Congress doesn’t have the legal authority to pass environmental laws in the first place. And that always sounds weird to say, but when Congress passes environmental laws, they do so under something called the Commerce Clause. Because you can flip through the U.S. Constitution, and you’ll never see the word environmental or nature. “The very narrow grounds that Congress can act on is the Commerce Clause, which says that Congress is the only entity that can regulate interstate commerce. Go back and look at the preamble to the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act. It all talks about commerce. Because when Congress was writing the laws, they had to make the case that it was under the Commerce Clause of constitution. So that’s one really fucked up piece. “We came to the understanding that working with these communities, they would run up against certain hurdles which were structural, and they fell into four categories. One was corporate rights. They’ve been defined as persons under the law. Preemption is another piece where, of course, the federal preempts the state, the state preempts the local. And then there’s this little-known thing called Dylan’s Rule which is the legal theory that if the state legislature hasn’t specifically allowed you to pass a certain law that you automatically don’t have that authority anyway. And then the fourth one — censorship of the brain. We can’t even imagine having power.” More at: Yet another plastic pellet plant on Texas coast
“Exxon, world’s largest private oil company, has proposed to build a ‘world scale’ plastics plant in Calhoun County, Texas, population 20,000, according to the tax abatement application it filed with the Calhoun County Independent School District in December. The project would pipe in gas from the Permian Basin to produce up to 3 million annual tons of plastic polyethylene pellets for export. “The project follows a period of steep growth in U.S. plastics production, fueled by cheap gas from the oilfields of Texas and beyond. Tax break agreements are a common but controversial part of economic planning. “Exxon, which reported nearly $34 billion in profits in 2024, is seeking a 50% reduction in its school district property taxes for 10 years. Exxon’s application said it also planned to seek abatement agreements with the county government, the groundwater conservation district and the Calhoun Port Authority.” More at: Like Evergy, Duke Energy doubling down on coal and methane
“More than 60 U.S. research scientists urged North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein to use his executive authority to stop Duke Energy Corp.’s fossil-fuel buildout and suppression of renewable energy solutions. Duke Energy has one of the largest planned gas buildouts of any utility this decade and recently announced it would consider delaying the retirement of its coal fleet. “Duke Energy generates only 1.4% of its power from solar. The corporation has long obstructed local renewable energy solutions, like rooftop and community solar, despite their vast potential to replace fossil fuels and the many other benefits they provide. A recent lawsuit brought by the town of Carrboro, N.C., against Duke Energy says its top executives have misled the public for decades about climate science and the health harms from the corporation’s increased reliance on coal and gas.” More at: Playing “cryptocurrency”: the biggest computer game of all
“New York is home to four of the largest bitcoin mines in the country, which consume huge quantities of electric power and water to cool their server farms, emit loud humming noises around the clock, and flood the atmosphere with copious greenhouse gases and pollutants. “These cryptocurrency mines are made up of hundreds of computers. A network algorithm assigns each transaction a unique random identifying code. A correct code is reached, confirming a transaction, which happens on average across the network every 10 minutes. The energy use for these operations is very high — which means the price of electricity governs where these mines are located. “Some cryptocurrency miners are attracted to New York for its cheap electricity. But others are enticed by the state’s decommissioned or low-use power plants, which they buy and run all day, every day. As of last year, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) puts cryptocurrency’s energy usage at anywhere between 0.6% to 2.3% of U.S. electricity consumption.” More at: Economic downturn curbing U.S. transit systems
“Like in many cities — from sprawling metropolitan areas to smaller and rural communities — the financial future of public transit is questionable in Minot, North Dakota. Public transit systems in major cities including Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco face the potential of deep service cuts without more funding. But the problems also extend to smaller systems that connect people in rural America and smaller cities. “North Dakota’s four largest cities, including Minot, asked lawmakers for millions in extra grant dollars this year to keep transit buses rolling. The state enacted a new law awarding $2 million in grants — a welcome reprieve, but far less than the $15 million initially requested. “In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro said the transit financial crisis affects residents in all 67 of the commonwealth’s counties. House Republican Leader Jesse Topper proposed partially privatizing the Philadelphia-area transit agency rather than increasing funding, Democratic state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta who dismissed the idea of privatization, said the state has a moral and economic obligation to ensure sustainable funding for public transportation.” More at: Some U.S. cities sinking by inches per year
“A new study of the 28 most populous U.S. cities finds that all are sinking to one degree or another. Some cities are sinking at different rates in different spots, or sinking in some places and rising in others. Massive ongoing groundwater extraction is the most common cause of these land movements. “Looking at all U.S. cities with populations exceeding 600,000, the new study uses recent satellite data to map out vertical land movements down to the millimeter. In 25 of the 28 cities, two-thirds or more of their area is sinking. The fastest-sinking city is Houston, with more than 40% of its area subsiding more than 5 millimeters (about 1/5 inch) per year. Some localized spots are going down as much as 5 centimeters (2 inches) per year. Two other Texas cities, Fort Worth and Dallas, are not far behind. “Groundwater removal was the cause for 80% of overall sinkage. As water is withdrawn from aquifers, unless the aquifer is replenished, the pore spaces formerly occupied by water can eventually collapse. In Texas, the problem is exacerbated by pumping of oil and gas, the paper says. “Even the sheer weight of buildings may be taking a toll. One 2023 study found that New York’s more than 1 million buildings are pressing down on the Earth so hard that they may be contributing to the city’s ongoing subsidence.” More at: Groundwater more valuable than copper for some Arizonans
“The Christmas copper mine gave four generations of Hector Denogean’s family a living wage, but the boom and bust cycle of the industry also swung Mammoth, Arizona from a bustling town to a quiet row of streets with shuttered bars. Across the region, many mines have shut down in recent decades. “Now, a new copper mine could potentially return to Mammoth. But Denogean can’t support it. The threat of a major new water user in the drought-stricken valley, he said, is too much. He’s not alone in holding that concern. They worry the megadrought in the Southwest won’t leave enough water for living, let alone a water-intensive mining operation. “If local and federal officials won’t protect them, leaders of Southern Arizona advocacy groups that oppose the mines say they will protect themselves with statements on projects during public comment periods, protests and potentially lawsuits.” More at: | 
