8 September 2010
Climate change is a contentious issue currently, generating heated rhetoric, tremendous media expenditures, and much disinformation.
Dr. James Hansen, the scientist who is the leading U.S. expert on climate issues is focusing on cutting our coal use as the most effective thing we can do about global warming. Coal combustion is a significant contributor to climate change, and comprises 50% of electricity generation (in the USA.) We can easily affect this by reducing electricity consumption (turn off the lights, unplug appliances).
About 25-35% of climate change gases are caused by deforestation, the greatest portion in the southern hemisphere. Agriculture, commercial logging, and homesteading are some of the major factors driving this conversion, and each of them has a host of contributing elements, many of which point back to consumption in the more “developed” economies. Deforestation will remain a complex, intractable issue, but the individual that wanted to minimize her contribution to that process could consider: not consuming fast food made from livestock raised in the southern hemisphere, not driving (biofuel use of palm oil), and avoiding other uses of palm oil.
Soda consumption is a little considered, but significant cause of climate change on several levels: aluminum production uses prodigious quantity of electricity and releases large amounts of other greenhouse gases. Recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours (EPA, 2008). The climate change impact of the contents of soda would be another fascinating discussion.
Motivated by ideological agendas, it's easy to vilify the scientists who are trying to explain this very complex issue (climate change), especially if they make a mistake or are seen exhibiting human weaknesses.
Though the science now seems certain that warming is occurring, and that it is in part human-caused, no one can predict the exact effects or timeline of climate change, so there will inevitably be misestimations. We know that when all of that ice melts, sea levels will flood coastal areas. This will drive mass relocation of populations, putting a tremendous strain on the “higher ground” areas. Weather patterns have already started to change, which will affect agricultural production. Probably these changes will not happen overnight like in a science fiction movie, but there have been drastic overnight changes in the past, so they could. Bottom line: the risk is too great for inaction, and the individual can make a significant difference on the issue.
Showing posts with label Industrial Scars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Industrial Scars. Show all posts
08 September 2010
28 May 2010
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
28 May 2010
Some days pass with hardly a thought of it. Other days are literally oppressed with the weight of the oil and gas pumping into the Gulf.
Some days pass with hardly a thought of it. Other days are literally oppressed with the weight of the oil and gas pumping into the Gulf.
Our real Gulf crisis has begun. Perhaps it will be the first sea to die. Completely.
And the sight of the various guilty parties sputtering denials and accusations makes me think of teenagers caught red-handed at some obnoxious prank.
Hearing Tony Hayward (CEO of BP) say, "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume," makes one either apoplectic or catatonic (depends on the day). The insight here into total corporate control of the regulatory process and government is a discussion of its own.
Three things confound in this situation:
-Corporate arrogance, greed, and short-sightedness
-Our blundering non-understanding of the natural world, its complexities and frailties
-Public indifference
The first two are to be expected, but the indifference of the public is staggering. We have managed to totally divorce action and consequence in our minds. Every time we start a car, every plastic bottle we buy contributes to this disaster, but like true schizophrenics, we do not connect cause and effect. We wring our hands in concern about the oily birds and beaches, and then wash our hands with soap from a plastic pump dispenser.
We are the problem, not BP, not the US Government, not the MMS.
And of course, the long-term battle of hearts and minds has already been lost with BP’s clever application of vast quantities of dispersant and tight control of media coverage coming from the battlefield. Corexit broke up and sank the oil, so the impact on the Gulf Coast beaches will be a fraction of the reality. The undersea flora and fauna, however, will never recover. The Gulf, already severely wounded from the phosphates pouring down the Mississippi, is really a large bowl, with a circular current fed from the Atlantic. As those submerged oceans of oil swirl around and sweep past Florida, they will be caught up in the Gulf Stream, and ultimately be deposited in the Georges Bank, thus finishing the decimation of the world’s greatest food source.
But the public won’t see it, thanks to the dispersant and BP’s adroit image control, and this will drop off our radar like all the other clarion calls warning of the imminent collapse of the natural world that sustains us.
Drive on.
04 May 2010
Up the Lazy River
5 May 2010
The Ruhr River area is one of the oldest and most concentrated industrial areas of the world. It has been the hub of German industry, and the foundry of their might, both military and economic. Concurrently, it is one of the oldest toxic areas in the world, and the patient reader knows of this writer’s fascination with such things. Having photographed other environmental issues in Germany over the years, a compulsion to study the Ruhr became stronger with the passage of time, and so arrangements were made for the lovely German spring of this year. As most people might know, gambling on bluebird days in middle Germany is like betting on the good sense of the American voter,
but one must have faith, and so I found myself at a small airfield on the border with Holland, shaking hands with a taciturn expat Brit pilot.
Very interesting the absence of TSA obsession here; in the land of the free (note the sarcasm) the TSA, police, FBI, and various other enforcers of the regime are all over you if you look twice at a power plant (or even photograph a public building for that matter), whereas here, nothing is said.
Germany has opted out of the nuclear game (though that is being unfortunately reconsidered) and is heavily reliant on coal like the USA. Meanwhile, there are these powerful rivers taking energy down to the sea that could easily light all of the cities in the area. And of course the German energy giants are digging up the country, displacing thousands of citizens, razing towns, and releasing tons of carbon, all to power their digging machines and light the bulbs of middle Europe.
As I write, the USA EPA has just released revised "suggestions" about coal ash. In an unsurprising Orwellian development, this toxic waste of the coal combustion process will continue to be "beneficially reused" in sheetrock, fertilizer, paint, carpet, etc. The list of ways how this toxic waste finds its way into your life goes on. Did i forget to mention that it is laden with lead, mercury, uranium, arsenic, cadmium and more?
Can we get smart about this?
The Ruhr River area is one of the oldest and most concentrated industrial areas of the world. It has been the hub of German industry, and the foundry of their might, both military and economic. Concurrently, it is one of the oldest toxic areas in the world, and the patient reader knows of this writer’s fascination with such things. Having photographed other environmental issues in Germany over the years, a compulsion to study the Ruhr became stronger with the passage of time, and so arrangements were made for the lovely German spring of this year. As most people might know, gambling on bluebird days in middle Germany is like betting on the good sense of the American voter,
but one must have faith, and so I found myself at a small airfield on the border with Holland, shaking hands with a taciturn expat Brit pilot.After many takes of "spontaneous" greetings between Mark and me, we finally took off for real and headed toward Duisburg, one of the most industrial German cities. The industry there seems like a vision from a world gone mad, and perhaps it is. Beauty and nightmare intersperse so fast one forgets the difference, and the smokestacks and heat from the industry make flying and photographing difficult. Mark and I had a fantastic communication, though, and rarely did I even need to give directions as we swooped around cooling towers in our search for pandora’s secrets. Germany is generally better about containing contamination than the USA, but some things cannot be occulted, and my old friend coal ash is one of those. Every coal-fired power plant produces quite a lot of it (about 325,000 tons a year in the USA, probably more in Germany as they burn a lot of brown coal and it is nasty stuff (see previous posts.) We found it in spades, and Mark did an excellent job putting me where I needed to be.
Very interesting the absence of TSA obsession here; in the land of the free (note the sarcasm) the TSA, police, FBI, and various other enforcers of the regime are all over you if you look twice at a power plant (or even photograph a public building for that matter), whereas here, nothing is said.Germany has opted out of the nuclear game (though that is being unfortunately reconsidered) and is heavily reliant on coal like the USA. Meanwhile, there are these powerful rivers taking energy down to the sea that could easily light all of the cities in the area. And of course the German energy giants are digging up the country, displacing thousands of citizens, razing towns, and releasing tons of carbon, all to power their digging machines and light the bulbs of middle Europe.
As I write, the USA EPA has just released revised "suggestions" about coal ash. In an unsurprising Orwellian development, this toxic waste of the coal combustion process will continue to be "beneficially reused" in sheetrock, fertilizer, paint, carpet, etc. The list of ways how this toxic waste finds its way into your life goes on. Did i forget to mention that it is laden with lead, mercury, uranium, arsenic, cadmium and more?
Can we get smart about this?
29 April 2010
The Maw of Our Desire
29 April 2010
The television screen sobs with the bereaving families of the workers lost in our industrial accidents; we glance, feel a touch of sympathy, and continue our days. The similarities among the recent hydrocarbon blow-outs bear some resemblance. Just as the voracious demand for drugs in one country fuels a ruthless genocide in another, so our thirst for hydrocarbons prompts this loss of life and habitat despoliation (that would be our habitat, btw.) From time immemorial, peons have been expendable in the service of the ruling classes, and so it remains. The media thrives on soap opera, which allows it to ignore the real drama, and we follow blithely along. We pause briefly in pity for the women in Louisiana and West Virginia, two of the poorest states in the USA, but give little thought to our culpability, or the devastation wreaked on our survival systems.
As I write, a hole on the ocean floor gushes vast quantities of petroleum into that ecosystem, while a “state of the art” robot will try in vain to plug it. Meanwhile, the wind will shift and blow the goo to shore, thus creating, horror of horrors, an unsightly mess. God forbid that we be discomfited by the detritus of our appetites, god forbid our ocean views be obstructed by apparati that might obviate the pollution. We would rather defer payment upon our children than curtail the slaking of our thirst. Like vampires, our consumer society sucks the essence from the planetary systems that support us, without consideration for those that slave to produce the goods or the debt being foisted upon our grandchildren.
The television screen sobs with the bereaving families of the workers lost in our industrial accidents; we glance, feel a touch of sympathy, and continue our days. The similarities among the recent hydrocarbon blow-outs bear some resemblance. Just as the voracious demand for drugs in one country fuels a ruthless genocide in another, so our thirst for hydrocarbons prompts this loss of life and habitat despoliation (that would be our habitat, btw.) From time immemorial, peons have been expendable in the service of the ruling classes, and so it remains. The media thrives on soap opera, which allows it to ignore the real drama, and we follow blithely along. We pause briefly in pity for the women in Louisiana and West Virginia, two of the poorest states in the USA, but give little thought to our culpability, or the devastation wreaked on our survival systems.
As I write, a hole on the ocean floor gushes vast quantities of petroleum into that ecosystem, while a “state of the art” robot will try in vain to plug it. Meanwhile, the wind will shift and blow the goo to shore, thus creating, horror of horrors, an unsightly mess. God forbid that we be discomfited by the detritus of our appetites, god forbid our ocean views be obstructed by apparati that might obviate the pollution. We would rather defer payment upon our children than curtail the slaking of our thirst. Like vampires, our consumer society sucks the essence from the planetary systems that support us, without consideration for those that slave to produce the goods or the debt being foisted upon our grandchildren.
08 April 2010
INSIDE THE COAL MINE
8 April 2010
The reports of the mining disaster in West Virginia have an unreal quality, like newspaper headlines from a distant era; one in which workers were but slightly elevated from the class of serfs, and a few more dead or damaged would have little effect on the march of progress. We all feel the deepest sympathy for the families of the miners lost, and like the recent disaster in Haiti, donations and condolences will be sent, and the event soon forgotten.
{Angry invectives are sure to follow this BLOG}
The corporate owner of the mine (and its CEO) is a bad actor on many levels, from mine safety to environmental disregard. Their acts of corruption harken back to the Teapot Dome scandal in scope, and exude a disregard for law and community that invite disbelief. And speaking of tea, it is no secret that West Virginia voted overwhelmingly in favor of the previous administration, as a condoner of business corruption with its relaxed mine safety enforcement.
Meanwhile, New York City is enjoying summer weather in early April, which is a direct effect of the stuff for which those miners died.
The reports of the mining disaster in West Virginia have an unreal quality, like newspaper headlines from a distant era; one in which workers were but slightly elevated from the class of serfs, and a few more dead or damaged would have little effect on the march of progress. We all feel the deepest sympathy for the families of the miners lost, and like the recent disaster in Haiti, donations and condolences will be sent, and the event soon forgotten.
{Angry invectives are sure to follow this BLOG}
The corporate owner of the mine (and its CEO) is a bad actor on many levels, from mine safety to environmental disregard. Their acts of corruption harken back to the Teapot Dome scandal in scope, and exude a disregard for law and community that invite disbelief. And speaking of tea, it is no secret that West Virginia voted overwhelmingly in favor of the previous administration, as a condoner of business corruption with its relaxed mine safety enforcement.
Meanwhile, New York City is enjoying summer weather in early April, which is a direct effect of the stuff for which those miners died.
29 March 2010
TOILET PAPER
29 March 2010
The deep south is not known as a region of enlightened thought, yet some of our greatest artists and thinkers have emerged therefrom. The general population remains reactionary and rather averse to progressive ideas. One would certainly expect, though, that when presented with evidence, a parent wants to protect their progeny. One would then ask if the protection means from the direct visible threats (speeding cars), or the well publicized “known” threats (diseases.) Does that protective sentiment include the more amorphous, longer-term dangers? We would hope so.
No one welcomes the prophet of doom. It discomfits and frightens. The tendency is to dismiss and ignore. And why dwell on what we can’t see?
Since I got involved with the Kleerkut campaign, I have told my family (in the deep south) about the consequences of their paper purchases. And no, buying a roll of Cottonelle will not immediately endanger your children (like the careening car), but the long-term impacts will with a vengeance. So I was shocked to find bundles of this brand and its polluting cousin Kleenex in the house of my brother, and I ask myself: do they not get it? Do they resent my telling them about the consequences? Do they not believe me? Do my words go in one ear and out the other?
Is this a family thing, or a larger issue?
If the dark message were inevitable, this disregard would be understandable. If the catastrophe were ineluctable, no need to worry about it. But that’s not the case here; we can change this future, with little to no pain.
Buy Marcal, or Seventh Generation, or one of the many brands of paper products made from post-consumer material. Do it for your children. You can find NRDC's paper product shopping guide here.
The deep south is not known as a region of enlightened thought, yet some of our greatest artists and thinkers have emerged therefrom. The general population remains reactionary and rather averse to progressive ideas. One would certainly expect, though, that when presented with evidence, a parent wants to protect their progeny. One would then ask if the protection means from the direct visible threats (speeding cars), or the well publicized “known” threats (diseases.) Does that protective sentiment include the more amorphous, longer-term dangers? We would hope so.
No one welcomes the prophet of doom. It discomfits and frightens. The tendency is to dismiss and ignore. And why dwell on what we can’t see?
Since I got involved with the Kleerkut campaign, I have told my family (in the deep south) about the consequences of their paper purchases. And no, buying a roll of Cottonelle will not immediately endanger your children (like the careening car), but the long-term impacts will with a vengeance. So I was shocked to find bundles of this brand and its polluting cousin Kleenex in the house of my brother, and I ask myself: do they not get it? Do they resent my telling them about the consequences? Do they not believe me? Do my words go in one ear and out the other?
Is this a family thing, or a larger issue?
If the dark message were inevitable, this disregard would be understandable. If the catastrophe were ineluctable, no need to worry about it. But that’s not the case here; we can change this future, with little to no pain.
Buy Marcal, or Seventh Generation, or one of the many brands of paper products made from post-consumer material. Do it for your children. You can find NRDC's paper product shopping guide here.
16 March 2010
EASY KILL
16 March 2010
Nothing is so enticing as the "easy kill."
“Consolidate your debt with one easy monthly payment!”
And of course, we want the easy fix for the climate problem (those that actually believe there IS one.)
After all, who really wants to change their comfort zone? What could be easier than throwing a bunch of iron scraps into the ocean, stimulating algae growth, which in turn absorbs CO2? What’s that you say, it stimulates a neurotoxin that poisons fish and sea mammals? Well, I guess someone has to pay.
We can solve this problem.
Turn off the lights.
Nothing is so enticing as the "easy kill."
“Consolidate your debt with one easy monthly payment!”
And of course, we want the easy fix for the climate problem (those that actually believe there IS one.)
After all, who really wants to change their comfort zone? What could be easier than throwing a bunch of iron scraps into the ocean, stimulating algae growth, which in turn absorbs CO2? What’s that you say, it stimulates a neurotoxin that poisons fish and sea mammals? Well, I guess someone has to pay.
We can solve this problem.
Turn off the lights.
12 March 2010
NC Coal Ash
12 March 2010
Mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, maybe uranium in the walls around you? Why should that bother you? Have you renovated in the last 10 years? Most brands of sheetrock use coal ash as a component, which is known to contain these byproducts. Somehow the coal industry has managed to keep coal ash designated as non-toxic waste, in spite of those toxins.
When I heard that the administration was close to considering the regulations for coal ash, I knew it was time to resume my photo project.
The logistics of doing an aerial shoot, especially in the winter, are tricky. The weather changes so fast, with so few windows of clear sunny days, that to plan a trip to a distant locale and book a private plane for the photo flight is a real crap shoot.
In this case, I made the decision from New York on Sunday to fly Monday in North Carolina. How can we thank the heroes at Southwings who mobilized a pilot for the project with just 24 hours notice? The seven North Carolina coal plants on the EP44 danger list make a dogleg line from Asheville to Greensboro, with the corner being right across the river from Charlotte Douglas Airport, one of the busiest in the country. It would be a miracle if air traffic control let us get to that one. As it is, FAA rules stipulate that there will be no “loitering” around power plants. Darwin, the pilot, suggested that I fly in and meet him in Ashville, and he would leave me in Greensboro after the last coal plant. Seemed pretty smart to me.
As usual, the weatherman was off the mark, and Ashville was cloudy with low ceilings.
I had a commercial flight back to NY at the other end of our journey, but we had some leeway to allow the possibility of waiting out the weather if there were any clear signs. There weren’t. In those cases, I always want to jump, in case it gets worse.
The Asheville coal plant is right next to the airport, which fortunately was not too busy. The lighting was pretty flat, with a good bit of snow on the ground. Amazingly, there were nice houses right under the ash ponds. The volume of crud in these things is staggering. If that earthen dyke bursts [there was nice steam coming off the water, which will someday perfectly illustrate a story on thermal pollution from power plants], that entire neighborhood will literally be buried by this poison-laden slurry. Good documentation images, but no “art.” And since we are forbidden to loiter, off we went to Charlotte. A pleasant surprise reared its smokestacks in our path: the Cliffside Expansion Project.
Cliffside is one of the largest carbon emitters of the US coal plants, and one of the worst producers of combustion waste. Since it is rurally located, it is not on the “EPA44” list, which is only plants with populations that would die if the coal ash ponds burst. Cliffside is on the list of groundwater polluters, as reported by Sue Sturgis, and at the center of a tremendous controversy around its expansion. As one of the most polluting coal plants in the country, a capacity increase is both a hazard to its neighbors and another jab towards our addiction to this dirty power source. As you might suspect, Dear Reader, the good lost again in this battle, and construction permits were issued. So, we zoomed in like a falcon after a mouse. And aside from the reportage shots that I told myself to get first on this trip (remember, we are trying to influence policy here) there were beautiful ash ponds with graduations of reds and blues to gold with seagulls flying over... Gorgeous. But alas, only two passes…
More to come…
Mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, maybe uranium in the walls around you? Why should that bother you? Have you renovated in the last 10 years? Most brands of sheetrock use coal ash as a component, which is known to contain these byproducts. Somehow the coal industry has managed to keep coal ash designated as non-toxic waste, in spite of those toxins.
When I heard that the administration was close to considering the regulations for coal ash, I knew it was time to resume my photo project.
The logistics of doing an aerial shoot, especially in the winter, are tricky. The weather changes so fast, with so few windows of clear sunny days, that to plan a trip to a distant locale and book a private plane for the photo flight is a real crap shoot.
In this case, I made the decision from New York on Sunday to fly Monday in North Carolina. How can we thank the heroes at Southwings who mobilized a pilot for the project with just 24 hours notice? The seven North Carolina coal plants on the EP44 danger list make a dogleg line from Asheville to Greensboro, with the corner being right across the river from Charlotte Douglas Airport, one of the busiest in the country. It would be a miracle if air traffic control let us get to that one. As it is, FAA rules stipulate that there will be no “loitering” around power plants. Darwin, the pilot, suggested that I fly in and meet him in Ashville, and he would leave me in Greensboro after the last coal plant. Seemed pretty smart to me.
As usual, the weatherman was off the mark, and Ashville was cloudy with low ceilings.
I had a commercial flight back to NY at the other end of our journey, but we had some leeway to allow the possibility of waiting out the weather if there were any clear signs. There weren’t. In those cases, I always want to jump, in case it gets worse.
The Asheville coal plant is right next to the airport, which fortunately was not too busy. The lighting was pretty flat, with a good bit of snow on the ground. Amazingly, there were nice houses right under the ash ponds. The volume of crud in these things is staggering. If that earthen dyke bursts [there was nice steam coming off the water, which will someday perfectly illustrate a story on thermal pollution from power plants], that entire neighborhood will literally be buried by this poison-laden slurry. Good documentation images, but no “art.” And since we are forbidden to loiter, off we went to Charlotte. A pleasant surprise reared its smokestacks in our path: the Cliffside Expansion Project.
Cliffside is one of the largest carbon emitters of the US coal plants, and one of the worst producers of combustion waste. Since it is rurally located, it is not on the “EPA44” list, which is only plants with populations that would die if the coal ash ponds burst. Cliffside is on the list of groundwater polluters, as reported by Sue Sturgis, and at the center of a tremendous controversy around its expansion. As one of the most polluting coal plants in the country, a capacity increase is both a hazard to its neighbors and another jab towards our addiction to this dirty power source. As you might suspect, Dear Reader, the good lost again in this battle, and construction permits were issued. So, we zoomed in like a falcon after a mouse. And aside from the reportage shots that I told myself to get first on this trip (remember, we are trying to influence policy here) there were beautiful ash ponds with graduations of reds and blues to gold with seagulls flying over... Gorgeous. But alas, only two passes…
More to come…
05 March 2010
What Matters Most?
5 March 2010
The question, "what matters most?" has been addressed by many august personages, and each seems to espouse certainty that their chosen specialty is the first and most important need. And who could argue that we must attend to the world’s children, women, air, water, oceans, and animals; all seem to be in crisis. And of course, we in the developed world, especially in the USA, sit back lamenting that we certainly can’t act unilaterally, because it would cost us too much; furthermore, even if we change our ways, those Chinese will just continue polluting, and our righteousness will be rendered irrelevant. So we might as well continue in our indulgences; after all, they are comforting, and one person’s profligacies really don’t matter, do they?
I argue that they do matter, and greatly. Individuals must be responsible for their own actions -- this is part of living in a society. That means being responsible for the impact of one’s purchases. Toilet paper is the most mundane but real example: one brand promotes deforestation, climate change, habitat destruction, and another supports recycling. As it goes for the individual, so it must go for a nation. The world simultaneously admires the USA for its innovations and culture, and scorns us for our hypocrisy in being the world’s largest per capita consume and polluter as we lecture everyone else about the errors of their ways.
I think what matters most is for us as individuals to start being responsible for the consequences of our actions, and as a nation. I suspect that the other cultures of the world, who look to the USA for leadership, will gladly follow. Furthermore, rather than cripple our economy, it will drive a renaissance of American leadership.
The question, "what matters most?" has been addressed by many august personages, and each seems to espouse certainty that their chosen specialty is the first and most important need. And who could argue that we must attend to the world’s children, women, air, water, oceans, and animals; all seem to be in crisis. And of course, we in the developed world, especially in the USA, sit back lamenting that we certainly can’t act unilaterally, because it would cost us too much; furthermore, even if we change our ways, those Chinese will just continue polluting, and our righteousness will be rendered irrelevant. So we might as well continue in our indulgences; after all, they are comforting, and one person’s profligacies really don’t matter, do they?
I argue that they do matter, and greatly. Individuals must be responsible for their own actions -- this is part of living in a society. That means being responsible for the impact of one’s purchases. Toilet paper is the most mundane but real example: one brand promotes deforestation, climate change, habitat destruction, and another supports recycling. As it goes for the individual, so it must go for a nation. The world simultaneously admires the USA for its innovations and culture, and scorns us for our hypocrisy in being the world’s largest per capita consume and polluter as we lecture everyone else about the errors of their ways.
I think what matters most is for us as individuals to start being responsible for the consequences of our actions, and as a nation. I suspect that the other cultures of the world, who look to the USA for leadership, will gladly follow. Furthermore, rather than cripple our economy, it will drive a renaissance of American leadership.
08 February 2010
COAL ASH - Round 2
8 February 2010
You probably don’t give too much thought to coal ash.
You might want to change that.
The USA gets half its electricity from coal, produced by about 600 power plants , each of which produces about 325,000 tons of coal combustion waste (CCW), composed of fly ash, bottom ash, and scrubber slurry. This is nasty stuff. Industry tells us that it’s not very harmful, but then you read the articles about the horrible birth defects and environmental consequences to the third world locations, unlucky enough to have a couple of shiploads dumped on them.
CCW contains a slew of nasties like arsenic, mercury, chromium, and cadmium, which tend to blow around and leach out into the water table (oops, don’t drink that!)
Thank God the EPA hasn’t recognized it for the toxic waste that it is, because the coal burners would have to treat it as such, which would be expensive {shudders.}
Did I mention that since the stuff is so ubiquitous, and after all, non-toxic, that we are mixing it in with wall board and concrete. A little mercury in your sheet rock shouldn’t bother you, right?
Last year, the EPA released a list of coal ash storage sites that would pose a grave danger to the public if they failed (like the one in Tennessee did last Christmas, largest industrial disaster in US history!) Didn’t hear about it?
I’ve been dying to shoot the “EPA 44” since the list was released. Got them all plugged in to my GPS.
Rumor has it that the Obama crew will review the regulations this week, and my sources tell me there are no great pictures that tell the story graphically. Sounds like a bugle call to me, better call in the cavalry: SouthWings. Twelve of the EPA list are in NC, the SW stomping ground.
SouthWings has been my partner on the Coal Ash project for years, and they jumped right on board to go again. The weather looks good for the target region for today, so... all systems go!
Tough it’s a bit short notice, the spontaneity allows me to have pretty favorable odds with the weather. Could work.
You can see the first set of pictures from the Coal Ash project here.
You probably don’t give too much thought to coal ash.
You might want to change that.
The USA gets half its electricity from coal, produced by about 600 power plants , each of which produces about 325,000 tons of coal combustion waste (CCW), composed of fly ash, bottom ash, and scrubber slurry. This is nasty stuff. Industry tells us that it’s not very harmful, but then you read the articles about the horrible birth defects and environmental consequences to the third world locations, unlucky enough to have a couple of shiploads dumped on them.
CCW contains a slew of nasties like arsenic, mercury, chromium, and cadmium, which tend to blow around and leach out into the water table (oops, don’t drink that!)
Thank God the EPA hasn’t recognized it for the toxic waste that it is, because the coal burners would have to treat it as such, which would be expensive {shudders.}
Did I mention that since the stuff is so ubiquitous, and after all, non-toxic, that we are mixing it in with wall board and concrete. A little mercury in your sheet rock shouldn’t bother you, right?
Last year, the EPA released a list of coal ash storage sites that would pose a grave danger to the public if they failed (like the one in Tennessee did last Christmas, largest industrial disaster in US history!) Didn’t hear about it?
I’ve been dying to shoot the “EPA 44” since the list was released. Got them all plugged in to my GPS.
Rumor has it that the Obama crew will review the regulations this week, and my sources tell me there are no great pictures that tell the story graphically. Sounds like a bugle call to me, better call in the cavalry: SouthWings. Twelve of the EPA list are in NC, the SW stomping ground.
SouthWings has been my partner on the Coal Ash project for years, and they jumped right on board to go again. The weather looks good for the target region for today, so... all systems go!
Tough it’s a bit short notice, the spontaneity allows me to have pretty favorable odds with the weather. Could work.
You can see the first set of pictures from the Coal Ash project here.
28 January 2010
STATE OF THE UNION
But, when one listens to what is said (on the environment, anyway), shock should be the reaction. As a solution to our energy needs, he advocates: offshore drilling, “clean” coal, untapped natural gas deposits and nuclear. Those same words emanated from the mouth of his predecessor and we hated it. Offshore drilling will quickly despoil those marine habitats, overwhelming the already threatened fish populations. And of course more oil spills will be the norm. Clean coal doesn’t exist when one examines the life-cycle of the fuel, period. Carbon capture and sequestration don’t exist at present, and tests indicate that they will consume 25% of the energy produced by the fuel they're supposed to clean. And who’s to say that the carbon will stay buried in the old mine shafts they want to use for the purpose? Nothing else does.
"Untapped natural gas" means deposits like the Marcellus Shale formation, the extraction of which has been an environmental disaster from the first drilling. And nuclear, even if we could do it without the releases and accidents, is highly dangerous to plant neighbors. The answer is ruthless conservation and low-impact technologies. Now.
His appeal to bipartisanism is well and good, but government won’t do squat unless we, the people demand it. Stick your head out the window and shout it.
22 January 2010
ART TO ADVOCACY
22 January 2010
Last night, Bobby Kennedy Jr., the tireless defender of "purple mountain majesties," debated Don Blankenship, president of Massey Coal, the biggest practitioner of mountaintop removal coal mining. Mr. Kennedy was explaining the intricate interrelationship of jobs, energy security, and a healthy environment while Mr. Blankenship responded with simplistic sound bites about terrorism and crippling environmental regulations. These are complex issues that cannot be reduced to one-liners, and somehow the advocates of clean air and clean water must craft a set of key phrases that reach today's over-stimulated audience. Mr. Kennedy tried to explain the devastating effect that mountaintop removal has on the Appalachian hydrology, and in response, Mr. Blankenship held up a plastic bottle of clear looking water proclaiming that it would not pass EPA standards. Of course many of the most toxic substances can't be seen, smelled or tasted, but he didn't mention that. While Kennedy talked about the fact that burning coal is why our waterways are polluted with mercury, Blankenship responded that even were we to stop burning coal, everyone else's coal-burning practices would still poison our fish.
But we have to lead. America has always been out front, and we need to be again. To say that if we don't blast the mountains apart in Appalachia, "them damn Arabs" will attack us again, as Blankenship averred, is false, misleading, and a cheap appeal to the basest fears of Americans. Kennedy is right, our security will come from a future of clean energy, and that is one without coal. As he points out, the jobs in the coal industry are disappearing with mechanization (as Blankenship's piece of the pie grows ever larger.) Blankenship is raking in the cash while ex-miners in WV can't feed their kids or drink their water. But his one-liners about terrorists and "them damn unions" appeal to those looking for simple answers to complex problems.
And here's where art comes in: while the issues are complex and require lengthy explanations, blithely countered with a one liner about terrorism or pesky environmental regulations, a compelling image of destruction tells an irrefutable story. Those of us who want clean air, clean water, and a secure, prosperous future for our children have to get more adept at the tools and techniques that play to the modern media and short attention spans of Americans.
Last night, Bobby Kennedy Jr., the tireless defender of "purple mountain majesties," debated Don Blankenship, president of Massey Coal, the biggest practitioner of mountaintop removal coal mining. Mr. Kennedy was explaining the intricate interrelationship of jobs, energy security, and a healthy environment while Mr. Blankenship responded with simplistic sound bites about terrorism and crippling environmental regulations. These are complex issues that cannot be reduced to one-liners, and somehow the advocates of clean air and clean water must craft a set of key phrases that reach today's over-stimulated audience. Mr. Kennedy tried to explain the devastating effect that mountaintop removal has on the Appalachian hydrology, and in response, Mr. Blankenship held up a plastic bottle of clear looking water proclaiming that it would not pass EPA standards. Of course many of the most toxic substances can't be seen, smelled or tasted, but he didn't mention that. While Kennedy talked about the fact that burning coal is why our waterways are polluted with mercury, Blankenship responded that even were we to stop burning coal, everyone else's coal-burning practices would still poison our fish.
But we have to lead. America has always been out front, and we need to be again. To say that if we don't blast the mountains apart in Appalachia, "them damn Arabs" will attack us again, as Blankenship averred, is false, misleading, and a cheap appeal to the basest fears of Americans. Kennedy is right, our security will come from a future of clean energy, and that is one without coal. As he points out, the jobs in the coal industry are disappearing with mechanization (as Blankenship's piece of the pie grows ever larger.) Blankenship is raking in the cash while ex-miners in WV can't feed their kids or drink their water. But his one-liners about terrorists and "them damn unions" appeal to those looking for simple answers to complex problems.
And here's where art comes in: while the issues are complex and require lengthy explanations, blithely countered with a one liner about terrorism or pesky environmental regulations, a compelling image of destruction tells an irrefutable story. Those of us who want clean air, clean water, and a secure, prosperous future for our children have to get more adept at the tools and techniques that play to the modern media and short attention spans of Americans.
14 January 2010
WHERE DO THEY GO?
14 January 2010
This is the year of biodiversity, a word that seems to have little meaning to most citizens, who express delight in their brushes with “wildlife” like deer, raccoons, or alternately curse the same for their incursions into our property, plantings or garbage. Make no mistake, these are weed species, not wildlife – animals that are adept at adopting themselves to the peculiar adaptive pressures imposed by the dominant species. Our total disarray of the biosphere has made room for these opportunist, adaptive creatures, and squeezed out other, more specific species. Many people in the East Coast suburbs thrill at the sight of a coyote (until it kills the family pet), not knowing that it has no business in this part of the world, surreptitiously crossing the Mississippi on the bridges we built, and filling the void left by the extermination of the wolf. “Why do we care?” you might ask as you curse the deer for eating every bit of fauna in the land, and worry about going in the yard for fear of the lyme ticks…. Exactly. There is a balance in the world that we have erased, to our peril.
One of the largest factors in the extinction crisis is habitat loss caused by deforestation for farming, logging, livestock, etc. A large on-going UN-sponsored study into the economics of biodiversity suggests that deforestation alone costs the global economy $2-5 trillion each year. The “services” that forests and wetlands provide us for free will dwarf the economic crisis when we have to pay for them.
So maybe you don’t care about the disappearance of some obscure bugs or spotted owls, but when vast sums of your hard earned dollars are taken to build water purification systems, you might become an environmentalist after all…
This is the year of biodiversity, a word that seems to have little meaning to most citizens, who express delight in their brushes with “wildlife” like deer, raccoons, or alternately curse the same for their incursions into our property, plantings or garbage. Make no mistake, these are weed species, not wildlife – animals that are adept at adopting themselves to the peculiar adaptive pressures imposed by the dominant species. Our total disarray of the biosphere has made room for these opportunist, adaptive creatures, and squeezed out other, more specific species. Many people in the East Coast suburbs thrill at the sight of a coyote (until it kills the family pet), not knowing that it has no business in this part of the world, surreptitiously crossing the Mississippi on the bridges we built, and filling the void left by the extermination of the wolf. “Why do we care?” you might ask as you curse the deer for eating every bit of fauna in the land, and worry about going in the yard for fear of the lyme ticks…. Exactly. There is a balance in the world that we have erased, to our peril.
One of the largest factors in the extinction crisis is habitat loss caused by deforestation for farming, logging, livestock, etc. A large on-going UN-sponsored study into the economics of biodiversity suggests that deforestation alone costs the global economy $2-5 trillion each year. The “services” that forests and wetlands provide us for free will dwarf the economic crisis when we have to pay for them.
So maybe you don’t care about the disappearance of some obscure bugs or spotted owls, but when vast sums of your hard earned dollars are taken to build water purification systems, you might become an environmentalist after all…
07 January 2010
INDICATORS
7 January 2010
Seagulls attacking whales in Argentina, flooding on one side of Australia, fires on the other, whales beaching in New Zealand, octopi dying in Portugal, oil spill on the Yellow River, and Europe is in its worst freeze in 30 years… doesn’t take a rocket scientist to get the message that something is going on. But yet when our rocket scientists try to tell the meaning, we ignore them.
These portents indicate that the system that supports life on this planet is failing. You can hop on either side of the political bandwagon that makes you happy, but to ignore these indicators is just folly. Do we ignore them because acknowledgment would stipulate behavioral change, and rejection of some of the indulgences we lavish?
Yesterday, a Japanese whaling boat attacked and destroyed a Sea Shepard boat that was harassing them. Sea Shepherd is a valiant organization trying to save whales from slaughter that is publicised under the misnomer of "research." They will be branded as a “radical organization” in a continuation of the Orwellian tendency of the “liberal media” to label as “normal” those that are profiting by death and destruction, and “radical” those that are trying to prevent it.
More and more we are reminded of the ripple effect of our spending. One brand of toilet paper supports deforestation, climate change, habitat loss, etc, and another brand stimulates recycling, and sustainability. It’s that simple.
Turn off the lights when you leave the room.
Seagulls attacking whales in Argentina, flooding on one side of Australia, fires on the other, whales beaching in New Zealand, octopi dying in Portugal, oil spill on the Yellow River, and Europe is in its worst freeze in 30 years… doesn’t take a rocket scientist to get the message that something is going on. But yet when our rocket scientists try to tell the meaning, we ignore them.
These portents indicate that the system that supports life on this planet is failing. You can hop on either side of the political bandwagon that makes you happy, but to ignore these indicators is just folly. Do we ignore them because acknowledgment would stipulate behavioral change, and rejection of some of the indulgences we lavish?
Yesterday, a Japanese whaling boat attacked and destroyed a Sea Shepard boat that was harassing them. Sea Shepherd is a valiant organization trying to save whales from slaughter that is publicised under the misnomer of "research." They will be branded as a “radical organization” in a continuation of the Orwellian tendency of the “liberal media” to label as “normal” those that are profiting by death and destruction, and “radical” those that are trying to prevent it.
More and more we are reminded of the ripple effect of our spending. One brand of toilet paper supports deforestation, climate change, habitat loss, etc, and another brand stimulates recycling, and sustainability. It’s that simple.
Turn off the lights when you leave the room.
04 January 2010
RESOLUTIONS
4 January 2010
A small ritual of writing down something to be discarded was performed at a New Year’s Eve party, the defenestrated being physical or metaphysical. Discarding predicates acquiring, which seems the logical place to start the remedy. Realizing the resource limitations and consumption consequences of our world is the first step to sustainability, and we each play a part.
Our toilet paper purchase decision determines the habitat consequences for wolves and bears and all wildlife down the food chain, including us. And let’s not even talk about the Chinese-made rubber duck.
The question is consciousness: most of us don’t want to think every decision through to the seventh generation consequence. And there is a large group that will never be convinced of our precarious situation, and to whom the very idea is a threat worthy of a call to arms. These we can’t change. But, most of us are willing to listen to reason when our children’s welfare is concerned.
In the modern world it’s hard to know which action has consequences. The answer is that they all do. The apple bought at the farmer’s market has a beneficial ripple effect from preventing sprawl to cutting carbon emissions.
A small ritual of writing down something to be discarded was performed at a New Year’s Eve party, the defenestrated being physical or metaphysical. Discarding predicates acquiring, which seems the logical place to start the remedy. Realizing the resource limitations and consumption consequences of our world is the first step to sustainability, and we each play a part.
Our toilet paper purchase decision determines the habitat consequences for wolves and bears and all wildlife down the food chain, including us. And let’s not even talk about the Chinese-made rubber duck.
The question is consciousness: most of us don’t want to think every decision through to the seventh generation consequence. And there is a large group that will never be convinced of our precarious situation, and to whom the very idea is a threat worthy of a call to arms. These we can’t change. But, most of us are willing to listen to reason when our children’s welfare is concerned.
In the modern world it’s hard to know which action has consequences. The answer is that they all do. The apple bought at the farmer’s market has a beneficial ripple effect from preventing sprawl to cutting carbon emissions.
22 December 2009
LAST OF THE WHITE RHINOS
22 December 2009
The Czech Republic has just sent four of the eight last surviving Northern White Rhinos back to a preserve in Kenya in a desperate attempt to have them breed and stave off extinction. They have not bred in captivity.
Why do we care?
These animals are part of the beauty and diversity of life, the heritage that we have inherited and are responsible to maintain. Saving large animals means saving habitat, which happens to be the same natural system that cleans our air and water. Of course, at eight, and a split population, with the four in question showing a disinterest in reproducing, the animal is functionally extinct anyway. The Mexican Wolf was saved from seven, but there was a concerted effort to rebuild the population led by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Now we have almost 400.
The National Geographic article mentions two animals in the USA, living in captivity at the San Diego Zoo.
Like the cases of expropriation of antiquities by the developed world, the removal of animals to zoos is a form of theft, and they should be returned.
My head keeps returning to the question of why we should care about the disappearance of another funny looking animal from the planet. What difference does it make to the average soccer mom driving an SUV.
I guess none….
The Czech Republic has just sent four of the eight last surviving Northern White Rhinos back to a preserve in Kenya in a desperate attempt to have them breed and stave off extinction. They have not bred in captivity.
Why do we care?
These animals are part of the beauty and diversity of life, the heritage that we have inherited and are responsible to maintain. Saving large animals means saving habitat, which happens to be the same natural system that cleans our air and water. Of course, at eight, and a split population, with the four in question showing a disinterest in reproducing, the animal is functionally extinct anyway. The Mexican Wolf was saved from seven, but there was a concerted effort to rebuild the population led by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Now we have almost 400.
The National Geographic article mentions two animals in the USA, living in captivity at the San Diego Zoo.
Like the cases of expropriation of antiquities by the developed world, the removal of animals to zoos is a form of theft, and they should be returned.
My head keeps returning to the question of why we should care about the disappearance of another funny looking animal from the planet. What difference does it make to the average soccer mom driving an SUV.
I guess none….
17 December 2009
UNPATRIOTIC CLEAN WATER?
17 December 2009
Perchlorate is a rocket fuel additive coursing through your veins, along with a myriad of other industrial chemicals that “bring good things to life.” Though unregulated, it has been determined to be toxic by modern science (always suspect in a corporatocracy.) When the EPA tried to regulate this known toxic In California, where groundwater contamination of this chemical is critical, they were branded unpatriotic by the holy trinity (military, industry, and church.)
Though it’s probably a human nature thing, this willingness to deny fact in favor of ideology and business has become an increasingly disturbing feature in our world. The geometrically magnified impact of population growth, technology, and manufacturing make the ostrich syndrome so dangerous, and yet denial grows. The “climate denial industry” is well known, but in fact industry lobbies against government regulation on most issues of increased cost, whether they be public health issues or not.
Since we are not going to change the minds of the adamant, and they by definition are more vocal than the considerate, and government will always operate on the golden rule, the only answer is for the considerate (those who listen to reason and make informed decisions about how they live their lives) to get vocal and adamant.
It’s time to grab the future.
And a big bravo to the New York Times for its water series. This is media as the fourth branch of government in the best sense.
Perchlorate is a rocket fuel additive coursing through your veins, along with a myriad of other industrial chemicals that “bring good things to life.” Though unregulated, it has been determined to be toxic by modern science (always suspect in a corporatocracy.) When the EPA tried to regulate this known toxic In California, where groundwater contamination of this chemical is critical, they were branded unpatriotic by the holy trinity (military, industry, and church.)
Though it’s probably a human nature thing, this willingness to deny fact in favor of ideology and business has become an increasingly disturbing feature in our world. The geometrically magnified impact of population growth, technology, and manufacturing make the ostrich syndrome so dangerous, and yet denial grows. The “climate denial industry” is well known, but in fact industry lobbies against government regulation on most issues of increased cost, whether they be public health issues or not.
Since we are not going to change the minds of the adamant, and they by definition are more vocal than the considerate, and government will always operate on the golden rule, the only answer is for the considerate (those who listen to reason and make informed decisions about how they live their lives) to get vocal and adamant.
It’s time to grab the future.
And a big bravo to the New York Times for its water series. This is media as the fourth branch of government in the best sense.
14 December 2009
AGAINST THE ODDS
14 December 2009
Some things I don’t get: lottery tickets, for instance. Any look at the odds says there is no chance of getting that payoff, but people still buy the things. It says something about the irrationality of our species. Similarly confusing to me is the climate change gamble. I know so many intelligent people that adamantly refuse to believe that humans are having an impact on the climate, in the face of essentially irrefutable evidence. Of course we are all aware of the climate denial industry, but that does not explain it.
Is it perhaps our fear of change? Or fear of loss of indulgences? And similarly, the gamble here is so great; like the future of humankind. And the ante is really so small: moderate changes in our consumption patterns.
Copenhagen talks stalled today, and it would probably be better, as James Hansen argues, if they collapsed instead of producing some ineffective fluff.
And yes, no matter how it’s sliced, the developing world will get the short straw. But oddly, in the developed world we are slipping back from commitment. George Monbiot, in the Guardian, argues that fewer people believe in climate change than two years ago.
And of course, there are still some people out there that believe the world is flat.
Some things I don’t get: lottery tickets, for instance. Any look at the odds says there is no chance of getting that payoff, but people still buy the things. It says something about the irrationality of our species. Similarly confusing to me is the climate change gamble. I know so many intelligent people that adamantly refuse to believe that humans are having an impact on the climate, in the face of essentially irrefutable evidence. Of course we are all aware of the climate denial industry, but that does not explain it.
Is it perhaps our fear of change? Or fear of loss of indulgences? And similarly, the gamble here is so great; like the future of humankind. And the ante is really so small: moderate changes in our consumption patterns.
Copenhagen talks stalled today, and it would probably be better, as James Hansen argues, if they collapsed instead of producing some ineffective fluff.
And yes, no matter how it’s sliced, the developing world will get the short straw. But oddly, in the developed world we are slipping back from commitment. George Monbiot, in the Guardian, argues that fewer people believe in climate change than two years ago.
And of course, there are still some people out there that believe the world is flat.
10 December 2009
ROADLESS AREAS - Part II
10 December 2009
Our objective was to document the good and the bad: recent victories for the biotic health of the Park, like the preservation of large parcels of land, and scars, like ATV damage and logging devastation. As an artist, my goal is always to make compelling images of issues that will motivate the viewer to question said issues, as well as her involvement. And why do we care about some ATV damage and logging scars?
Our objective was to document the good and the bad: recent victories for the biotic health of the Park, like the preservation of large parcels of land, and scars, like ATV damage and logging devastation. As an artist, my goal is always to make compelling images of issues that will motivate the viewer to question said issues, as well as her involvement. And why do we care about some ATV damage and logging scars?
Glad you asked.
The ball we live on is a big complex machine with many necessary moving parts that contribute to its doing what we need it to do for us to live on it. Large wild spaces: clean the air and water, produce oxygen, provide a home for the animals, which in turn perform a vital role in propagating that life system.
Unsustainable logging/ATV damage fragments the system, introduces invasive species - which usually crowd out the more fragile native species (already weakened by the loss of their habitat), and promotes erosion (loss of topsoil, water pollution, stream silting, lost fish habitat, no fish link in the food chain, etc).
So this stuff is important.
The wind, which had sped us along on the way up, now made our jobs difficult. With the hazy winter light, only certain angles work to produce good images, and as soon as Bob positioned the plane, the wind blew us away, and made getting back to that spot slow, and things happen very quickly in the air anyway.
Ultimately it was a very successful day. Cloudy light can ultimately produce some wonderful results if it lights the areas you want, leaving others darker, but it can do the opposite as well. Sometimes we wait for clouds to move and illuminate, other times we compromise, knowing we have deadlines imposed by fuel, weather and darkness.
Dropping John off in Saranac Lake, we comment on the large hangar that Citibank built so its CEO could park the company jet out of the elements when he came up to his retreat in the Adirondacks, and I reflect on the fact that it must belong to us since we bailed out Citi for just this sort of foolishness. And you can be sure that retired mogul is living large on our largesse. No need to mention his name.
07 December 2009
ROADLESS AREAS
7 December 2009
The Adirondack Council has taken upon itself the Herculean task of trying to document the ATV damage to roadless areas in the Adirondacks Park. Surprisingly, after being in New York for so many years, only recently have I become familiar with this magical space. My first adventure was with the Northeast Wilderness Trust in an effort to save a large parcel of land from development on the Canadian border, ensuring connectivity between the Adirondacks and northern forests.
The Adirondack Council has taken upon itself the Herculean task of trying to document the ATV damage to roadless areas in the Adirondacks Park. Surprisingly, after being in New York for so many years, only recently have I become familiar with this magical space. My first adventure was with the Northeast Wilderness Trust in an effort to save a large parcel of land from development on the Canadian border, ensuring connectivity between the Adirondacks and northern forests.
The Adirondacks is a mixture of public and private lands, set up as a park in 1892, after Verplanck Colvin proposed a bill to the legislature.
In the summer of 2008, at a friend’s suggestion, I flew with Lighthawk to shoot the old industrial scars in the park. This fall, I took a group of students into those same sites on the ground. I’m always game to take up sword against windmill, so with Bob Keller, Lighthawk’s indomitable environmental aviator, and John Davis from the Council, we lofted into the wild blue. On these projects, one is always throwing dice with the weather, and we had been trying to do this for a year, only to be clouded out at the last minute each time. This was no exception, and in a call the night before, Bob had expressed concern that an approaching weather front might trap us in the high peaks. Since I had to take a dawn train from NYC to Schenectady to meet him, mine was the longest trip of the day. But given the three previous aborted efforts, I prevailed that we should take the gamble, and we agreed that if his morning weather check sounded ominous, he could call me and I would just detrain and go back to NYC.
When we rendezvoused, the weather looked hazy-to-cloudy and the front was still in southern NJ, so we decided to move with dispatch, and bypass the paper mill nearby on which I had set my heart of adding to my collection.
It was a windy day, but in this case on our rear quarter, so we were quick getting up to Saranac Lake to get John, where we conferred on objectives and route, and groused about the weather. I’m just the idiot picture maker in the gang, and both of them knew the area, so this was their department. After a final bathroom pit-stop, we boarded, straightened out all gear, and took off. Bob, with whom I have flown many similar missions, and who keeps an immaculate plane, had recently burned a flat spot on his tire, which leads to slightly bumpy take-offs and landings, so I took great pleasure in teasing him about it through the day.
Adirondack high peaks (note the striated air pollution)
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