Planet Earth Needs You

By Michael Coppola and Nancy Williams The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated that not only must we immediately stop burning fossil fuels that add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, but we must also remove them to get the level back to pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. They say that once removed these gasses must be stored so they are not released back into the atmosphere. Planting trees is one of the ways that we can remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Most people know, and what we often see in the media, is that trees take in carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas and give off oxygen, which helps in the battle against global warming. However, there are other ways that trees battle climate change. What is rarely talked about is that trees cool the environment in other ways. They take in water and move it through the whole tree; ultimately sending the water out via little holes in its leaves to the atmosphere using the

Time is running out to solve the climate crisis. Energy policies that encourage nuclear generation, hydrogen fuel for transportation, and direct carbon capture and storage, are not proven technologies, nor economically viable solutions. By Michael Coppola and Nancy Williams Where We Stand Solving the Climate Crisis Under the Paris Agreement adopted in 2015, virtually all the world’s nations pledged, “…to limit global warming to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and also, if possible, pursue efforts to cap warming at 1.5C.” In the absence of large future emissions reductions, according to the latest generation of climate models used by the United Nation’s International Governmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, that goal will not be met. Time Is Running Out The world is now about 1.2C warmer than it was in the 19th Century - and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by 50%. There is no way to undo the effect of that much carbon in the atmosphere anytime soon.

                                                                 Paramount Pictures Corporation Electric vehicles and green electric generation are working together to help reach the Paris agreement goal of keeping the increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees  Celsius. By Michael Coppola and Nancy Williams All the reliable sources monitoring the climate crisis seem to agree that we are not doing nearly enough to hold the planet’s average atmosphere temperature to just 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period. This was thought to be an acceptable increase which could allow us to eventually reduce back to a pre-industrial level. The Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan organization of the US Federal Government, published a report in December, 2022 entitled “Emissions of Carbon Dioxide in the Transportation Sector.” The report has some encouraging information about the electricity generating and electric vehicle industries, but it also points out some limiting

By Michael Coppola and Nancy Williams Many people ask me questions about my new all-electric Vehicle, a Ford Mustang Mach-E. They stop me in parking lots, at the beach, or even on the road! This is a breakdown of the main points of owning and operating an EV and the impact I believe this market will have on Climate Change. One of the first concerns I hear is about charging the battery and the car’s miles of range. Charging both at home and on the road has worked out well, however an understanding of the battery technology currently being used will help keep your EV running at its best. It's really no different than knowing what keeps your ICEV running its best. All batteries are degraded by heat, both by an external heat source and self-generated heat from charging and discharging. Just like your cellphone, you must protect your car’s battery from overheating. What that means for an owner is deciding how you charge to protect the battery while achieving the results you require for

  Are you tired of seeing news articles of the forest fires around the world, floods from 15 inches of rain falling in 24 hours, droughts drying up major rivers, and people dying from record high temperatures lasting for weeks? As if things are not bad enough you hear from the climate scientists that the target temperature increase that was set by the Paris agreement will not be met because the actions that were promised were not taken. So now you succumb to the feeling of hopelessness and accept your demise. Well, maybe we each can take enough actions to prevent further deterioration of our climate. I know our job is to keep a roof over our family's head, food on the table and clothes on their backs, and the governments of the world are supposed to tackle the big problems like climate change. Yet I am quite certain that there are a lot more of us than there are corporate CEO and politicians. So, if most of us take steps to reduce our carbon footprint we may achieve the Par

Are electric cars more expensive to operate than gasoline powered cars?  By Michael Coppola and Nancy Williams If you Google the question above you will get some very recent articles that claim that electric vehicles (EV) are more expensive to operate than internal combustion engine vehicles (ICE). One of these articles was sent to me by a friend who knew I had recently received my Ford Mustang Mach-E.   Being a proud “Car Guy,” I excessively research a car before I make my purchase. Therefore, prior to placing the order for my all-electric Mustang Mach-E, I spent months reading dozens of articles and viewing dozens of YouTube videos on everything related to electric vehicles. Being both an environmentalist and a degreed scientist my research included not just the features of the car but its impact on the environment and the science and engineering behind the development of the batteries and vehicle.   I read the article that was sent to me, The Real Costs of Charging an Electric Vehic