Illinois Specific Climate Considerations

Climate change—a perspective on the UN study.

  • Climate change is real, always has been always will be.
  • “The sky is falling” Chicken Little media mentality, but doesn’t follow the science.
  • Adaptation is not an existential threat.

IPCC-Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

United Nation’s Climate Change Study (click here to download your very own copy of the 2409 page, Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). A caution that this may take some time.

Chapter 5 titled "Global Carbon and Other Biogeochemical Cycles and Feedbacks" starts on pg. 673.  The information below is based on Chapter 5.

 

Overview—IPCC Summary Report (that used by the media) is Not peer-reviewed.  Conclusions are cherry-picked from full report.

  • Researchers are Government Funded

Main Body of Report

  • Many good peer-reviewed studies
  • Many alternatives—mostly avoided by media

Some take aways from the UN’s sanctioned study and Illinois’ strategic missteps.

  • East Asia CO2 production is vastly worse than anywhere in the world. Figure 5.19 | Regional distributions of net fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) on the Earth’s surface. pg. 713

 

Fig. 5.19

  • East Asia CO2 production is literally off the charts. CO2 mixes quickly in the atmosphere keeping CO2 levels high in Illinois.  And then getting Illinois taxpayers to pay for a battery plant that will have no effect on CO2 because so much is coming from Asia.
  • EPA and OSHA disappoint. Illinois should be proud of the EPA and OSHA for all they do within the United States to protect Illinois' environment and worker health.  The EPA and OSHA should be severely criticized for allowing imported foreign goods that were produced by foreign factories that do not adhere to EPA and OSHA standards.

 

  • Worldwide carbon balance shows the relative size of man-made CO2. Figure 5.12 | Global carbon (CO2) budget (2010–2019). pg. 700.

Fig. 5.12

 

  • The UN technical data talks about a Carbon Budget. Talking budget is a stretch for Springfield, but let’s try.  Look at the big numbers and the small numbers.  Let’s leave it at that.  One of the biggest numbers in yellow has the word photosynthesis near to it.

 

What is photosynthesis? 

So, it is time to dust off the cobwebs and call on your High School Biology course.  The short answer is photosynthesis takes CO2 and makes oxygen you can breathe.  Let's look a little closer.

Here’s a written definition:

The process of photosynthesis is commonly written as: 6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2. This means that the reactants, six carbon dioxide molecules and six water molecules, are converted by light energy captured by chlorophyll (implied by the arrow) into a sugar molecule and six oxygen molecules, the products. The sugar is used by the organism, and the oxygen is released as a by-product. From https://www.britannica.com/question/What-is-the-basic-formula-for-photosynthesis.

But a picture is worth a thousand words. CO2 in, oxygen and things like wood out.  For example, wood is where the carbon in CO2 is eventually sequestered naturally.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Photosynthesis_en.svg/330px-Photosynthesis_en.svg.png

  • Illinois ranks sixth (6th) in agricultural. An important consideration.  So put it all together for Illinois and get the picture.  Illinois is naturally a great CO2 processor.

https://pbpc.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/photosynthesis-simple-corn.jpg

  • The geological record shows that photosynthesis, once it emerged, is a strong natural process for removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Reducing the incredibly high levels of around 2000 ppm to well below today’s 400 ppm, which is now just slightly above the all-time low. It just takes some patience.  Reported in National Geographic, May 2022.

Devonian

  • The UN study suggests a number of ways to remove CO2. Figure 5.36 | Characteristics of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) methods, ordered according to the time scale of carbon storage. pg. 766.

 

Fig. 5.36

 

  • The UN report identifies twelve (11) Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) Methods. Many based on photosynthesis are slower and lower risk/trade-off.  Carbon sequestration (a Springfield bright idea) may be high innovation, but is high risk/trade-offs.

 

  • How much man-made CO2 is currently remove by natural (think photosynthesis) process? This is so important it actually comes up in a Frequently Asked Question in the UN report.  But the left media would never report this fact.  FAQ 5.1 | Is the Natural Removal of Carbon From the Atmosphere Weakening? pg. 771.

There is a longer answer but it starts out like this:

“FAQ 5.1 | Is the Natural Removal of Carbon From the Atmosphere Weakening? For decades, about half of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that human activities have emitted to the atmosphere has been taken up by natural carbon sinks in vegetation, soils and oceans. These natural sinks of CO2 have thus roughly halved the rate at which atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased, and therefore slowed down global warming. . . . . .”

FAQ 5.1

 

  • An engineering colleague aptly noted after looking at this graph that “the problem with man-made CO2 problem is already half solved,” and we haven't even done anything. And in that spirit, when the media raises everyone’s fear about climate change, remember the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he said “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.

 

  • And what are others saying about the power of photosynthesis to cure the planet. National Geographic in their September 2022 issue noted.

NG trapping carbon

 

  • Photosynthesis removes fifty percent of man-made CO2. How can the remaining fifty percent be removed? A hypothetical.

hypothetical

• Zero emissions (CO2) target is a media myth aimed at brainwashing the public. By photosynthesis alone zero emissions is not necessary.

• Other EV considerations. 

  -Uneconomical—needs subsidy to compete
  -Infrastructure problems (EV high weight-4,000 lbs)
  •  Destroying roads
  •  Parking garages—inadequate structurally, risk of structural failure
  •  Power distribution infrastructure insufficient
  -Not paying fair share of road taxes; recharge at residential rates
  -Lithium mining is toxic
  -EV battery failure (not uncommon) is Hazmat situation
  -High emf inside vehicle—possible DNA damage. Occupants sit on large battery. Think of sitting in a EV is like being in a low grade microwave for the occupants.  And the risk may be analogous to say baby powder/talc. Something that was thought benign is actually harmful.
  For more on emf, see, NIH (National Institute of Health) website for Complex Electromagnetic Issues Associated with the Use of Electric Vehicles in Urban Transportation;  and federal case 9 F.4th 893 (2021) where Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was part of team that forced the federal government to recognize data on DNA damage caused by electromagnetic radiation and to revise standards.

 

  • And Springfield has another great idea.  Replace acres and acres of CO2 removing fields with photovoltaics.  This might make sense in the arid non-agriculturally productive Western deserts, but why take important Illinois agricultural land, even marginally productive land, out of use in this way.  Its a matter of what makes sense for a state's geography.  Illinois isn't Arizona.

The options:

 CO2 removing field                                . Solar panels blocking CO2 removal                 .
photovoltaics

               

  • Illinois Democrats are wasting precious Illinois wealth and resources by aligning with a foreign governments that promotes their own interest over the citizens of Illinois and the state’s strengths. Democrats want to reduce choice in vehicles and make the remaining vehicles in the market more expensive. Illinois will become a poorer state because tax dollars are wastefully spent on uneconomical pet climate change projects.

 

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