DA Global Environment & Climate Crisis Council Leadership:
News
Co₂nsequences: ECCC January 2023 Newsletter
January 30, 2023
Message from the Chair
Happy 2023….and a renewed chance to move that needle on climate and environmental justice. Since the official launch of Democrats Abroad ECCC one year ago, we have accomplished a lot, both within our organization with your support and through the Biden administration with the help of Congress. Federal funds are now being allocated to local governments and to states and tribes to help with electrification, weatherization, and renewable energy infrastructure.
Though much was accomplished in 2022 legislatively in favor of climate change mitigation and our transition toward a fossil fuel-free economy, continued progress will be difficult with a GOP-controlled House. We will continue our fight to stop fossil fuel subsidies and new fossil fuel infrastructure, to push for biodiversity protection, a Windfall Profits Tax, and recognition of the Climate Emergency. Our recourse lies in federal agencies, state legislatures, local initiatives, and executive emergency powers. Environmental activists around the country are calling for the President to use his executive powers to declare a Climate Emergency.
Please sign our Democrats Abroad Petition to the White House to declare a Climate Emergency!
We will continue organizing globally to ensure that climate voters like you are informed and have a voice in this existential issue of our time in 2023, 2024, and beyond. Thank you all for your engagement, support, and inspiration this first year of our Council!
Dana Freling
Chair, DA Environment & Climate Crisis Council
Wind Turbine Blades
January 29, 2023
Undoubtedly, wind turbines are an essential key to our fossil fuel-free future. Nonetheless, there are a number of challenges to solve in achieving their sustainability, making wind turbine blades a unique example of the good, bad, and nerdy. To make solar, wind, and other renewable power sources fully sustainable, you have to consider every phase, from siting to production to end-of-life disposal. About 85% of a modern wind turbine’s component materials (steel, copper wire, electronics, and gearing) are recyclable or reusable. Its blades – usually three 50- to 80-m-long blades made of fiberglass and carbon girders bonded between painted fiberglass shells and protected by an epoxy resin – are the rub. This combination of different materials and the blades’ strength makes their separation for the recovery of workable glass fibers physically and chemically challenging. The blades’ weight and length also make transporting them complicated.
Why not cut the blades into pieces on-site, you might ask? Although feasible, this doesn’t solve all the transportation and recycling problems and calls for enormous – and expensive – vehicle-mounted wire saws or diamond-wire saws similar to those used in quarries. The vast majority of blades reaching the end of use are consequently either stored in various places or taken to landfills (although they account for only a tiny fraction of U.S. municipal solid waste).
Various companies have taken up the challenge:
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US & Canada) · 8 rsvps
February Climate Cafe
Brazilian journalist and activist Bruno Toledo will be joining us to discuss the recent regime change in Brazil and how this is vital to the health of the Amazon, the planet, and the future of democracy in the region.
RSVP to receive the Zoom link to join the cafe.
Location | Local Start Time |
Vancouver, Canada | 07:00 PST |
Washington DC, USA | 10:00 EST |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 12:00 BRT |
London, United Kingdom | 15:00 GMT |
Paris, France | 16:00 CET |
Dubai, United Arab Emirates | 19:00 GST |
New Delhi, India | 20:30 IST |
Beijing, China | 23:00 CST |