Daily Archives: November 19, 2021

WASHINGTON The United States took a major step toward fighting climate change Friday with passage through the House of Representatives of a $2.2 trillion spending bill that includes the largest expenditures ever made by the federal government to slow global warming.

The legislation provides $555 billion for programs that could significantly curb the fossil fuel emissions that have been heating the atmosphere, fueling deadly and record-breaking wildfires, floods, heat waves and drought. However, the bill faces an uncertain path through the Senate and negotiations between the two chambers may change its form.

On its own, the legislation isnt enough to fulfill President Bidens pledge that the United States will cut its emissions by half from 2005 levels by the end of this decade. But it goes well beyond any other climate policy that has come before it, in the United States and in most other countries.

It features tax incentives to cut the costs to consumers and manufacturers of electric vehicles, electric heat pumps, solar panels, wind farms and other equipment designed to power the economy without pollution.

The science is clear, we only have a brief window left before us to raise our ambitions and to raise to meet the task thats rapidly narrowing, said Mr. Biden at a global climate summit earlier this month. But ladies and gentlemen, within the growing catastrophe, I believe theres an incredible opportunity. Not just for the United States, but for all of us. Were standing at an inflection point in world history, we have the ability to invest in ourselves and build an equitable clean energy future.

Environmental groups said the legislation would begin to address a climate crisis that is no longer a distant threat.

Its here now, said Abigail Dillen, president of Earthjustice. And we need bold action from our government to deploy the clean technologies and natural solutions that will carry every community, including those that have too long borne the brunt of pollution and climate catastrophe, into a safe and vibrant future.

But the fossil fuel industry said the policies would punish American firms while helping foreign competitors.

Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which represents offshore drilling companies, called the legislation a gift to higher emitting producers like Russia and China that wield their energy resources as a geopolitical tool.

The House passed the bill by a vote of 220 to 213, with one Democrat joining every Republican in opposition. Its passage follows Mr. Bidens signing on Monday of a separate $1.2 trillion infrastructure package that included about $50 billion to help fortify communities against the impacts from global warming. Last week in Glasgow, the United States joined about 200 countries in an agreement to intensify efforts to keep average global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, compared with preindustrial levels. Past that threshold, scientists have warned, the risk of deadly heat waves, destructive storms, water scarcity and ecosystem collapse grows immensely. The world has already warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius.

This bill makes it happen for us in terms of preserving the planet, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. Its a health issue: clean air, clean water for our children. Its a jobs issue: making America pre-eminent in good-paying green jobs. Its also a national security issue, because competition for habitat and, and resources resulting from drought and, you know, all of the challenge of natural disasters springing from the climate crisis. And, it is a moral issue, if you believe as I do that this is Gods creation and we have a moral obligation to be good stewards.

Historically, the United States is the country that has pumped the most carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It is currently the second biggest polluting country, behind China. A major scientific report issued in August concluded that countries must immediately shift away from burning fossil fuels to avoid a harrowing future.

Republicans assailed the climate provisions. This includes payoffs for electric vehicle owners, said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. It includes higher taxes on American energy and higher prices for consumers.

In an eight-hour attack on the bill on the House floor, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican Leader, said, Every moment you heat your home in the winter or cool it in the summer, you will pay more. That alone is enough reason to defeat the bill defeat the bill!

Climate change is the single largest spending category of the new legislation, which also encapsulates the rest of Mr. Bidens broader domestic agenda. One-quarter of the bill $555 billion to be spent over the next decade is devoted to pulling the American economy away from its 150-year-old reliance on fossil fuels and toward clean energy sources.

By comparison, the largest amount previously spent by the federal government to combat climate change was about $80 billion, in the 2009 economic stimulus package signed into law by former President Barack Obama. Mr. Obama also put in place the nations first major climate change regulations, but they were later weakened or erased by the Trump administration.

Once enacted, the new legislation could prevent emissions of about one billion tons of carbon dioxide by 2030, according to an analysis by Rhodium Group, an independent research organization. Thats the equivalent of taking roughly all the cars in the United States off the road for one year. But it would bring the country only about halfway to Mr. Bidens goal, the analysis found.

With passage of this bill, Biden will have made an outstanding accomplishment which can get the U.S. part of the way there, said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University.

The centerpiece of the new climate legislation is $320 billion in tax incentives for producers and buyers of wind, solar and nuclear power. Buyers of electric vehicles would receive up to $12,500 in tax credits, depending on what portion of the vehicle parts were made in America and whether they were built by union workers.

The legislation provides funds to create charging stations for electric vehicles and update the electric grid to accommodate transmission of wind and solar power, as well as money for climate-friendly farming and forestry programs.

The bill would ban new oil and gas leases off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and off the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, and repeal the fossil fuel leasing program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while authorizing wind farms in federal waters in the Atlantic Ocean and Eastern Gulf of Mexico. It would increase the royalties paid by oil companies that drill on federal lands, while reinstating a tax on imported petroleum products. It would also create a fee on leaks of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that frequently escapes from oil and gas wells.

And it includes a suite of programs designed to help low income and minority communities that are disproportionately harmed by environmental problems, from $15 billion to finance clean energy projects to $2.83 billion to plant trees in poor neighborhoods that can be 10 degrees hotter than leafier sections of a city.

Analysts agreed that of all the climate provisions, the tax credits would be the most impactful in terms of lowering emissions.

This is a fundamental shift in tax policy, said Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, and the chief author of the tax provisions. What makes this landmark legislation is that, for the first time, you would have, in the tax arena, a clear statement that the bigger your carbon reduction, the bigger your tax incentives.

Most of the incentives are 10-year extensions of existing tax credits. In the past, those credits have expired after one to five years, and they often lapse before they are renewed.

Some of them had a shelf life barely longer than a carton of eggs, Mr. Wyden said. Extending them for a decade, he added provides certainty and predictability to the clean energy producers.

The decision by Democratic leaders to use the tax code as their primary weapon to fight climate change was determined by both political necessity and economic research.

With Republicans unanimously opposed to the broader spending bill, Democrats are pushing the measure through Congress under a special process known as reconciliation, which would enable Democrats to pass the legislation in the Senate on a simple majority vote, without any Republican support.

To meet the rules of reconciliation, any new climate program needed to take the form of a budget or tax policy.

Economists say the most effective way to cut emissions is to tax them, essentially driving up costs for polluters. Another way, though less efficient, is to create incentives for using less-polluting sources of energy, essentially a reward for choosing wind, solar or nuclear energy.

Democrats had hoped to combine both methods in a carrot-and-stick approach: penalties for burning fossil fuels and incentives for clean energy.

In writing the legislation, Democrats abandoned what experts said would be one of the most powerful tools to cut emissions: a program that would have rewarded utilities that drew an increasing share of electricity from clean energy sources, and penalized those that did not.

That plan hit a roadblock in the form of Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, whose home state is a major producer of coal and gas, and whose vote is essential to passage of the legislation in the Senate. Mr. Manchins state produces coal and natural gas and he has personal financial ties to the coal industry. He has forcefully objected to any program that would hurt fossil fuels.

Mr. Manchin has opposed other climate provisions in the legislation, including the fee on methane, and the tax incentives for purchasing union-made electric vehicles.

Environmental activists are focused on Mr. Manchin ahead of the Senate negotiations. This month, about 100 people gathered outside the houseboat where Mr. Manchin stays when in Washington. As the senator exited the adjacent yacht club, demonstrators trailed him to his car, chanting, We want to live! We want to live!

The fight is definitely not over, said Audrey Lin, a 20-year-old protester from Watertown, Mass. Were definitely going to be keeping up the pressure on Manchin and Biden and making sure the Democratic Party delivers the promises that we elected them on.

Lisa Friedman contributed reporting.

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House Passes the Largest Expenditure on Climate in U.S. History - The New York Times

Zach Haala 23 and Professor of History Charlie Goldberg noticed an anomaly in their data. Using artificial intelligence (AI), the two had tracked the presence of smiles over nearly 80 years and thousands of Bethel photographs. As expected, smiles grew more prevalent in the photos over time, matching cultural shifts after World War II. But then in the 1960s, the number of smiles decreased. At first, they were stumped. Then Haala noticed thats when the yearbooks started featuring more sports photos. Its a good example of how data spits stuff out, but data needs to be interpreted, Goldberg says. In the 1960s, male athletes rarely smiled in photos, and large teams like mens football and basketball affected the research results. To Goldberg, it shows the promise of using AI to explore history and also raises questions. What do we then do with this stuff? How do we interpret it and use it to tell a human storywhich is what historians do? Goldberg asks.

Those are the kinds of questions Goldberg and Haala explored in the research project, "A Picture's Worth a Thousand Data Points? AI-driven Machine Learning in Digital Humanities Analyses." They were one of the 2021-22 student-faculty teams to receive an Edgren Scholarship to support their research.

To some, history may feel a long way from artificial intelligence and programming. But Goldberg also directs Bethels digital humanities program, which explores cutting-edge, forward-looking methods to apply to history, literature, and philosophy. While teaching Advanced Digital Humanities last year, Goldberg got the idea to use AI to study history. The class explores advances in AI technology and how its often a double-edged swordit yields many opportunities with data and research, but it also leads to things like deepfakesor fake photos or video created using AI, often depicting world leaders or celebrities. Goldberg wanted to go deeper. As a historian, he uses datausually text or photosto look for patterns. He was interested in using AI to isolate the same patterns historians explore but on a larger scale, and wanted to see how well AI could recognize the same patterns in photos that historians look for. He knew he needed a student who was highly skilled at coding and programmingand who was also willing to dive into the deep end and take risks. Enter Haala, who is triple majoring in computer science: software project management, software engineering, and digital humanitiesand he had taken Advanced Digital Humanities.

Link:

Research Team Probes History with Cutting-Edge Tech - Bethel University News

Rutgers and Penn State have a very long history that dates back all the way to the first world war. Penn State leads the series 29-2 all time. There are too many games to break down all of them, most of them being losses, so I picked out a few that I thought were notable. Lets take a look back.

1918

The first time Rutgers and Penn State met on the gridiron was over a century ago. Led by Hall of Fame head Coach George Sandford and All-American Paul Robeson, the Rutgers Queensmen were a national powerhouse. They traveled to State College on November 9th (Rutgers football loves this date) with a 4-0 record. The Queensmen had not allowed a single point on the year as they had outscored their previous opponents 152-0. The meeting with Penn State was another domination as Rutgers cruised to a 26-3 victory.

1950

The two schools did not meet again until 1950 when the Queensmen once again traveled to State College. Rutgers started the game strong and went into halftime with a 14-6 lead. The two scores came from Jim Monahan (member of the 1950 Rutgers College World Series team) and captain Rob DAmato. The second half was a different story as Penn State roared back. Bob Pollard scored on a 1 yard run and then Tony Orsnini gave Penn State the lead with a 28 yard touchdown run. The Rutgers offense stalled in the second half largely due to a broken collar bone suffered by Monahan. Penn State got their first victory over Rutgers with a score of 18-14. An interesting note is that future head coach Joe Paterno was in his first year as an assistant at Penn State during this season.

1985

From 1982-1995, Rutgers and Penn State met annually. Penn State had high expectations going into 1985 and especially after knocking off No. 7 Maryland in College Park to open the season. Rutgers had quite the season opener themselves as they went into Gainesville, Florida and went toe to toe with No. 5 Florida in a 28-28 tie. The two teams met at Giant Stadium in a late September showdown. The game was a rock fight but Penn State finally broke it open in the 4th quarter when Steve Smith ran for a 63 yard score giving the Nittany Lions a 17-3 lead. Rutgers did not give up as Joe Gagliardi found Bruce Campbell in the back of the end zone with 1:54 left. The onside kick failed and Penn State held on for a 17-10 victory. That same Nittany Lion team lost in the national championship to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl but would go on to win it all the following year by defeating Miami in the Fiesta Bowl.

1988

Penn State was a national power that had dominated Rutgers on the field and in recruiting for years. Dick Anderson, a former Paterno assistant, was looking to get his first win over his old boss. The Scarlet Knights opened the game strong as Scott Erney found future First Base coach for the 2021 World Series Champion Braves Eric Young for a 38 yard touchdown. Mike Botti kept the Rutgers offense balanced as he had 18 carries for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns. Rutgers had a surprising 21-10 lead going into the 4th quarter but Penn State was in no way out of it. Starter Tom Bill was knocked out of the game so backup Tony Sacca from Delran, New Jersey was called on to lead the comeback. He orchestrated a 90 yard touchdown drive that cut the lead to 21-16. With only 3 minutes remaining, Sacca led another long Penn State drive all the way down to the Rutgers 3 yard line. They did not gain another yard. The stifling Rutgers defense was able to stuff Penn State on two straight run plays. On third down, Sacca rolled out on a play action fake and saw a wide open Dave Jakob in the end zone but overthrew the ball. On fourth down, Sacca once again scrambled to his right and threw it to the corner but it was too far for Michael Timpson. It was a goal line stand for the ages as Rutgers had finally defeated the mighty Nittany Lions in their own den.

1995

In their final matchup until Rutgers joined the BIG, Penn State steamrolled Rutgers at Giants Stadium 59-34. The game was an offensive showcase for Penn State as quarterback Wally Richardson and running back Curtis Enis torched the Scarlet Knights all night. However, the actual playing is not what is remembered most about this particular game. With the game out of reach and only 1:20 left in the game, backup quarterback Mike McQueary hit a wide open Chris Campbell for a 42 yard touchdown. When the two head coaches met at the center of the field, Rutgers coach Doug Graber had a few choice words for Paterno about that particular play. Paterno became extremely angry by whatever Graber said and was restrained by other members of his staff. Here is a video of the handshake

2014

This game was a build up of many storylines. Rutgers was playing in their first conference game as a member of the BIG. They were finally renewing their series with Penn State and the game would not be played in a half empty Meadowlands. It was in Piscataway in front of a raucous sold out crowd. In the weeks leading up to the game, a lot of different comments were made by players that only fueled the fire. New Jersey native and Penn State running back Bill Belton told reporters that he went to Penn State because he wanted to play big time football. This ruffled a lot of Rutgers players feathers.

The game itself was a slugfest. Rutgers went into halftime with a 10-0 lead after Gary Nova ran one in for a score and the special teams blocked not only a punt but also a field goal. The Rutgers offense was not able to give the knockout punch and it allowed Hackenberg and the Nittany Lions to stay within striking distance despite being dominated by the Rutgers defense. With under 3 minutes in the game, Rutgers held a 10-6 lead and Penn State had the ball on their own 20 yard line. Hackenberg threw a quick pass to Geno Lewis who broke one tackle and bolted down the sideline all the way to the Rutgers 27 yard line. Later on in the drive, Hackenberg threw a dart for a touchdown but it was called back for holding. This put Penn State in a critical 3rd and 12. Hackenberg threw a perfect throw to Geno Lewis who caught the ball in between two Rutgers defenders. Bill Belton got the last laugh and stormed into the end zone from 5 yards out to give Penn State a 13-10 lead. Gary Nova threw his fifth interception of the game on the next drive and the Nittany Lions escaped Piscataway victorious.

2019

Rutgers was in the middle of one of the worst seasons in their history as they traveled to State College for their annual game with Penn State. Led by Johnny Langan at quarterback, the outgunned Scarlet Knights fought valiantly and kept the game in reach deep into the 4th. The 10th ranked Nittany Lions proved to be too much and came away with a 27-6 win. But this game will always be remembered as the day Johnny Langan showed why he is one of the heart and souls of this team. At one point in the game he was seen bleeding from his mouth, yet he continued to be the most physical player on the field.

2020

Last years meeting was one that showed how big the talent gap is between these two teams. From the very start, Penn State dominated the line scrimmage on both sides of the ball. The Rutgers offense could not get anything going and Penn State was moving the ball at will. It was 20-0 when Christian Izien got a much needed interception which set up Rutgers in great field position. Vedral found Bo Melton on a 4th and Goal desperation heave that cut the Penn State lead to 20-7. That was the only bright spot of the day for Rutgers as Penn State did not allow a point after that. They left Piscataway with their second win of the year, 23-7.

Rutgers travels to State College this weekend to try and put an end to a 14 game losing streak to Penn State. Some are saying they are catching them at the perfect time. We will have to wait and see.

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Rutgers series history with Penn State - On The Banks