​​We're in the polycrisis

​Maybe you grew concerned, some time ago, about the climate emergency, or a more specific degradation of the natural world.  Maybe you watched for years as the forces of oligarchy and fascism grew. And here we are.

Back in 1972, MIT scientists using early computer simulations produced The Limits to Growth.  This report warned that while modern societies relentlessly pursued material wealth, limited agricultural production and natural resources, along with increasing population and pollution, meant that infinite growth was impossible.  If growth trends continued, "The most probable result will be a rather sudden and uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial capacity." The report influenced many environmentalists, and I found out about it at a very early age.

Many analysts, such as those at the PostCarbon Institute, followed up on that early report. They recognized that while our contemporary problems may appear separate, they are all symptoms of a polycrisis, from global industrial society exceeding the limits to growth.

It's helpful to have this broad view while responding to the current fascist emergency. If you are called to this effort, plug in to Indivisible or other grassroots progressive groups of your choice.

Responding directly to the climate crisis, by sharply reducing fossil fuel use and increasing renewable energy capacity, can be challenging these days.  About ten years ago I learned about efforts to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and capture it in a stable, solid form, through substances often called biochar, produced by heating carbon-rich biomass in the absence of oxygen. That way, it doesn't burn and turns to charcoal - unlike heating with oxygen, which produces the fire and smoke of incineration.  

However, there are many methods of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) to experiment with, which may also be politically achievable. 

Project Drawdown is  collection of the top 100 methods, extensively researched by scientists, to stop the increase in greenhouse gases and put them into reverse. Some of these methods are reductions in fossil fuel energy use, some are increases in renewable energy production, and some are methods of carbon dioxide removal.

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NYC can capture carbon, while cutting waste disposal costs, by thermal treatment of sewage sludge

A CDR method especially accessible to NYC is pyrolysis of carbon-containing organic materials, the process of heating them in the absence of oxygen, which produces charcoal-like products.

The organic materials could be agricultural wastes, dead trees, animal manure - or sewage sludge.  NYC pays $50 million a year to haul 1,400 tons per day of sewage waste biosolids to faraway landfills.  Here's an introduction on how NYC could carbonize that waste stream.  It would save money, and open up an entirely new way for NYC to reduce its carbon emissions. 

It would also make NYC a model for all the world's cities to do the same.  Our Department of Environmental Protection is considering this, in its glacially bureaucratic fashion.


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Local Projects in Forest Hills, Queens

Forest Hills Green Team is a volunteer initiative that combines environmental advocacy with food waste collection for composting, and local gardening projects. Volunteers run a food scrap drop off site at the Commonpoint center.  FHGT has adopted and maintains a public landscaping site on Yellowstone Boulevard around the LIRR overpass, and has worked with the Parks Department to care for nearby street trees. We have conducted candidate interviews and endorsements in several local races. 

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