fwiw, this story is also covered here, imho a more credible source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/1/palestinians-demand-international-inquiry-after-mass-grave-found-in-gaza

The article mentions hydrogen from electrolysis of water, but I think a bigger source in the future could be steam reforming of biomass. That is, when you heat biomass (plant matter, sewage sludge, maybe even municipal garbage) to about 300C in steam, the organic matter breaks down into simple molecules like hydrogen, carbon monoxide (highly flammable!), methanol, elemental carbon (biochar) and miscellaneous others. Some of those molecules can be recovered for important chemical feedstock (since we won't have petroleum or natural gas as feedstocks anymore, right?), and the gas can be fuel.

In the early days of natural gas use, towns would "reform" the methane (CH4) by reacting it with steam to make carbon monoxide (CO) and 3 molecules of H2 - a mixture known as "city gas". It is not new technology.

lmao

Have you tried your hand at biochar? I know composting the chips for mulch is high value in a farm operation, but a few tons of biochar can work like a permanent upgrade - improving the soil permanently with one addition - though ongoing permaculture operation continues. I am about to make a biochar cooker out of two steel barrels - inner fuel chamber and outer draft shell. It would probably be more effective with wood scraps than chips though - some air passages through the fuel.

To test it out for myself, I made a miniature version documented at https://github.com/jcadej/TLUD-biochar-reactor (uses a gallon paint can for the fuel chamber. You could test it small and see how it does with wood chips. When I make my bigger version, I will add it to the github project. My rough idea is to cut one barrel down the side and squeeze it smaller and bolt it so it fits inside the other.

I have heard this, and I can imagine it is true, but have you seen any analysis? There must be a large crew traveling and lots of equipment - transportation is a big user of petroleum in general -- for entertainment. Though they say the entertainment is good.

top slab is about 230 or 240 pounds. Wood base is only about 15 or so; light. I made no attachment between the concrete and the wood - just gravity.

In that case, Krasnodar and Rostov to Ukraine as buffer zones - maybe Belgorod and Kursk too?

yes captain

You are right about one thing, the US does not yet have a decarbonization strategy - it is like a motor that is not quite starting; banging on a cylinder here or there but not yet running (may this analogy be completely indecipherable in another generation). But maybe things are starting to change a little?

It is entirely logical to nationalize package deliver! We should have an organization that follows regular routes all across America and delivers whatever packages, etc. people need! We could call it something like UPS; maybe USPS?!

I get about as many deliveries by parcel post as by UPS. Nothing can stop the US Mail

The problem of democracy has always been the short attention span of the electorate. People make emotional decisions; "throw the bums out" - which of course it is sometimes right to be frustrated and take a new direction - but sometimes cooler heads must be allowed to prevail. We democratically chose to have that non-democratic institution, no different than various other government institutions that we put in authority over our day-to-day activities (police, and a whole range of other government "services", even the IRS!).

Monsanto of the Sea?! This article fear-mongers vague "unintended consequences" as an ethical shortcoming of what they admit seems like a pretty solid concept for sequestering carbon - while never once mentioning the major unintended consequences of NOT trying to sequester carbon.

Capturing carbon in biomass is always a somewhat risky proposition by itself, because biomass can decompose and re-release the carbon. But even if the permanence is low right now, developing the skill of seaweed farming or any other carbon removal technology is a win - we can figure out how to increase permanence later as we scale up. No technology is fully developed at inception.