Many Americans opt for fake trees like this one during the holiday season.
Here’s a little known fact: fake Christmas trees were invented to help the environment. The first artificial trees were created in Germany in the 19th century. Made of goose feathers painted green, the trees were intended to prevent deforestation, according to researcher James Hewitt. Â These days trees are made of metal and plastic and shipped in from China, prompting a lot of people to worry about their environmental impact.
Last week we reported on a recent study that said those concerns were overblown. Although, a lot can be done to lessen the impact of either fake or real trees, the reality is that either of the two options has less of an environmental impact than the typical daily actions of someone in the United States. The study says, “The impact of the tree life cycle, for all scenarios, is less than 0.1% of a person’s annual carbon footprint and therefore is negligible within the context of the average American’s lifestyle.”
A lot of you had problems with the study or were looking for more information. We decided to follow up with some of your burning questions. Here’s a look at your responses to the “settled” debate about the impact of holiday trees.
Since 2003, the total number of gas and oil wells increased by 42,000 in Texas requiring more pipeline facilities like this in DeWitt County.
Chances may be better this time around that the Texas legislature might actually strengthen regulation of oil and gas drilling by the Texas Railroad Commission.
“I think there’s more and more consensus on what needs to happen at the Railroad Commission,” says Royce Poinsett. He’s a lawyer with Baker Botts and a lobbyist for the oil and gas industry.
UT Research Engineer Robert Pearsal looks into a vat of algae.
It seems like everyone’s talking pond scum these days.
This year, people ranging from the President of the United States to this humble reporter, have spoken of algae’s potential in creating a carbon neutral biofuel. A recent study from the University of Texas showed how the tiny organisms could create 500 times more energy than they take to grow. And the promise of the slimy green stuff is made even more enticing by the fact that it consumes carbon dioxide, sewage, and fertilizer run-off. It could, theoretically, clean the planet even as becomes a new source of fuel.
Now comes the downside.
A report by the National Academies of Science has identified major road blocks to the widespread development of algal biofuel. Chief among them is water use, says Paul Zimba Director for the Center of Coastal Studies at Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
Engineers on the drilling platform of the Cuadrilla shale fracking facility on October 7, 2012 in Preston, England.
What’s in the water? Or, to be precise, what’s in the mix of water, sand and chemicals that oil and gas drillers are sending deep underground in the drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking?”
The answer? We still really don’t know. While Texas passed a law last December that new wells using fracking to drill have to disclose the ingredients of the 4-6 million gallons on average of fluid they send underground, there’s a loophole: trade secret exemptions.
Because each company’s exact mix is proprietary, drilling companies argued during the rule making that fully disclosing the amount of each chemical in its fracking fluid would help the competition. Drillers argue that only 5 percent of the fluid on average consists of chemicals.
But extrapolate 5 percent of 5 million gallons, as the Dallas Morning News did in an analysis earlier this year, and you get as many as 55,000 pounds of chemicals. What’s more, drilling companies may be exempting far more information than they agreed to under the new rule. Continue Reading →
Mike Bishop won a temporary retraining order against the Keystone XL pipeline today.
After East Texas landowner Mike Bishop won a temporary restraining order against the Keystone XL pipeline earlier this week, a Nacogdoches County judge reversed that order today.
Ruling in favor of the Canadian company behind the controversial pipeline, TransCanada, Nacogdoches County Court at Law Judge Jack Sinz reversed the restraining order, allowing TransCanada to continue construction on Bishop’s land. The two sides will meet in court again next week, when the County holds a hearing on December 19 to hear Bishop’s allegations of fraud against TransCanada. Bishop is also going after the state for permitting the southern portion of the pipeline.
“I didn’t pick this fight, but I refuse to sit idly by while a multinational corporation tramples my rights and that of other landowners all along Keystone XL’s path in the name of deepening its profits,” landowner Mike Bishop said in an emailed statement.
Original story, December 11:
A Nacogdoches County Court granted a temporary restraining order to Texas landowner Mike Bishop today. The order will prevent the company TransCanada from building the Keystone XL pipeline on Bishop’s land until a scheduled injunction hearing next week. Continue Reading →
This graph shows how little water has flowed into the Highland Lakes since mid-year.
Mark Dewey of KUT News contributed reporting.
Two high-profile Texas legislators have put the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) on notice this week: if you send water downstream to rice farmers in 2013, there will be consequences. In a letter to the LCRA, Kirk Watson, D-Austin, and Troy Fraser, R-Abilene, urge the LCRA to withdraw the emergency water management plan passed in November. That plan, if approved and followed, would likely result in water being sent down the Lower Colorado to grow rice. Even though it would be a smaller amount than usual, opponents of the plan fear it could be enough to send the Highland Lakes down to drought of record levels.
“We appreciate the letter and understand the concerns expressed by the senators,” the LCRA says in an emailed statement. Acknowledging the extremely dry conditions and low inflows into the lake, the authority says that it is “continuing to closely monitor the situation” and may seek a different emergency drought plan when it meets next month that could result in rice farmers’ water being cut off. Continue Reading →
A man pulls out a Christmas tree he chose and cut down himself in a forest on December 8, 2012 in Fischbach, Germany.
Well, the debate is over. When it comes to picking a low-impact holiday tree, it turns out the choice between fake and artificial trees, call it a wash. A peer reviewed study released last year compared carbon footprints of artificial and natural trees. The findings showed that the difference in environmental impact between the two is negligible, with artificial trees having a slightly larger impact.
The study unpacked several consumer myths about holiday trees. The reality is that cutting down or buying a Christmas tree has less of an environmental impact than the daily impact of someone living for one day in the United States.
Also, a popular argument against artificial trees has been found false. Some have argued in the past that artificial trees have a bigger impact if they are made in China and shipped into the United States.
“The reality is that the long distance transport from China is pretty efficient,” says Laura Morrison, a Senior Consultant at PE International. She worked on the study and says that consumers should be more concerned about how far they drive personally to purchase their tree. Even if the tree has been shipped in from another state, it’s the personal drive home that significantly increases the carbon output. Continue Reading →
Update: A 3.0 quake struck Irving on the night of January 22, which you can read about here.Â
The US Geological Survey recorded a small 2.6 magnitude earthquake east of Burleson,Texas earlier tonight, occurring around eight miles deep. The tremor was felt by several people in the area, according to Dallas Morning News. This seismic activity comes just under a month since the last small quake. That measured a 2.3 on the Richter Scale and and was centered near Mansfield, Texas.
While it’s difficult to link any individual quake to a specific cause, North Texas has seen a significant uptick in seismic events since hydraulic fracturing technology opened up the area to widespread oil and gas drilling. Many scientific studies have linked earthquakes to disposal wells used to store drilling liquid, including one study that StateImpact Texas reported on just last week.
Dr. Charles "Chip" Groat retired early from UT after he became enmeshed in a controversy over a conflict of interest.
Former University of Texas at Austin Professor Charles “Chip” Groat is ready to move on from a controversy about failing to disclose a conflict of interest while at the University. “I will leave this unpleasant episode behind me,” he wrote us in an email last week.
Groat is retiring early from UT and moving to Louisiana, where he will lead the partially taxpayer-funded Water Institute of the Gulf as President and CEO. The institute is a non-profit dedicated to coastal protection and restoration in Louisiana. It received $10 million of initial funding from the state of Louisiana and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. It is intended to “inform decisions on restoration and renewal of gulf coastal areas” and reduce risk and protect the Gulf, according to its website.
Photo Courtesy of Slowek Puklo via Flikr http://www.flickr.com/photos/spuklo/
Storms often cause trees to fall on power lines, sometimes bringing blackouts to thousands.
Correction: The original version of this story said the PUC Meeting was Wednesday. It isThursday Dec. 13.
It’s natural to feel powerless when you’re stuck at home during a torrential Texas thunderstorm. It’s even worse if you’re literally without power. All it takes is one tree branch falling onto an electrical wire to cut your precious access to the grid.
But there’s little regulation in Texas aimed at keeping branches out of the way of power lines. Continue Reading →
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