EPA Better?

[KeithE]

Pruitt may be gone but he leaves a negative legacy.



Not at all sure will be better in this regard. As far as personal spending scandals (read ), he may be better.

[Haruo]

That's my take on it. Not the propensity to put his hands in all those cookie jars, but no improvement as far as science and policy.

[David Flick]

[Sandy]

If all that existed against Pruitt were allegations, there'd have been no need for him to resign.

We have certainly turned a corner in this country, and especially among people of faith, when corrupt, immoral liars and cheaters are held up as examples of being "the best". The EPA has been nothing but a disaster since Pruitt, and a hole down which he threw taxpayer dollars.


Under Trump the EPA will never have decent, credible, honest leadership, nor will any other government agency.

[KeithE]

[KeithE]

[KeithE]

Global atmospheric warming?

Ground based data shows a trend of 0.17C/decade since 1970



Satellite based data shows a trend of 0.195C/decade since 1979



Does it matter?


Sure has!. Greater than 3 times as many climate disasters in 2016 than in 1980.

The cause? Mainly growth in CO2 and other ghgs as well as deforestation. Now CO2 is over 400ppm; it oscillated between 180ppm and 300ppm for the last 800,000 years (before creation for young earth creationists)


The good news is that even China (the biggest emitters since 2002) has reduced CO2 emissions since 2014. Europe led the way in CO2 reduction since 1980; US has reduced emissions since 2005 without lasting economic harm (may change under relaxed Pruitt/Wheeler? rules).



All the world should chip in - that is the Paris Accords challenge (that Trump trashed).

We drive a Prius (45 mpg) and a plug-in electric car (175 mpg effectively) and have R40 insulation.

This is my annual update.

[David Flick]

[KeithE]

[David Flick]

[Sandy]

Any data that comes from denialist sources is corporate purchased and paid for, and is completely unreliable.

[David Flick]

[Sandy]

[David Flick]

[Sandy]

Just a few pieces on how easily Pruitt could be bought, and just how corrupt he was.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/201 ... aling.html
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018 ... y-politics
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/03 ... -townhouse
https://www.thedailybeast.com/scott-pru ... trumpistan

Described as one of the most "blatantly corrupt" of the officials in the Trump administration, in a presidential administration that has set new lows in lack of integrity, lying and cheating, Pruitt is a sad commentary on American politics in general, and Trumpian Republicanism in particular. He had a price, and was willing to sell his country and his integrity out for money.

[Jim]

[KeithE]

[David Flick]

[Sandy]

Looks like the data Keith presented was based on real research and fact. David's stuff is corporate funded. There's nothing credible in the attempted refutation.

I remember a joke from years ago about what God is going to do to various Christian denominations when they get to heaven, that Baptists will have to go to a private room for 10,000 years so that God can gradually let them know there are others there, and that the Church of Christ folks will be chained to a piano for 10,000 years singing hymns. I think global warming denialists will be placed on a melting iceberg somewhere around where the Titanic went down, and they'll have to keep saying, "global warming is real, global warming is real, global warming is real."

[KeithE]

[David Flick]