The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has unleashed their Special Report on the impact of global warming reaching 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
“This IPCC report is set to outline a rescue plan for humanity,”
“1.5°C is the new 2°C,”
If we stick to Paris Climate Agreement commitments, we could still see a global warming of about 3°C by 2100.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Our love of the cloud is making a green energy future impossible
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/25/our-love-of-the-cloud-is-making-a-green-energy-future-impossible/
An epic number of citizens are video-conferencing to work in these lockdown times. But as they trade in a gas-burning commute for digital connectivity, their personal energy use for each two hours of video is greater than the share of fuel they would have consumed on a four-mile train ride. Add to this, millions of students ‘driving’ to class on the internet instead of walking.
Meanwhile in other corners of the digital universe, scientists furiously deploy algorithms to accelerate research. Yet, the pattern-learning phase for a single artificial intelligence application can consume more compute energy than 10,000 cars do in a day.
This grand ‘experiment’ in shifting societal energy use is visible, at least indirectly, in one high-level fact set. By the first week of April, U.S. gasoline use had collapsed by 30 percent, but overall electric demand was down less than seven percent. That dynamic is in fact indicative of an underlying trend for the future. While transportation fuel use will eventually rebound, real economic growth is tied to our electrically fueled digital future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hiilidioksidipäästöjen vähennys ei vaikuttanutkaan. Olitko yllättynyt? Minä en.
Koronan vaikutus hiilidioksidipitoisuudessa “väärään” suuntaan – miten se näin menee?
https://puheenvuoro.uusisuomi.fi/aveollila1-2/koronan-vaikutus-hiilidioksidipitoisuudessa-vaaraan-suuntaan-miten-se-nain-menee/
Kun korona on aiheuttanut paljon ongelmia ympäri maailman, niin ainakin jotkut ihmiset ovat iloinneet, että teollisuuden ja matkustamisen hiljenemisen myötä ”CO2-saastuttaminen” pienenee ja ilmaston kehitys lähtee paranemaan. CO2 ei ole saaste, vaan kasvillisuudelle välttämätön rakennusosa.
Scripss-instituutin sivulta, miten CO2-pitoisuus on käyttäynyt toukokuusta 2018 huhtikuun 24. päivään mennessä. Siinä ei ole näkyvissä mitään CO2-pitoisuuden laskua. Kiinan CO2-päästöjen on arvioitu laskeneen vuoden vaihteesta lähtien n. 25 %, joka sinällään merkitsee jo 6 %:n globaalia laskua, ja CO2-päästöt ovat laskeneet muuallakin. Tähän mennessä tällä asialla ei ole ollut mitään vaikutusta CO2-pitoisuuksiin.
Joku voi sanoa, että on liian varhaista vetää johtopäätöstä, että CO2-päästöjen pienenemisellä ei olisi mitään vaikutusta. On totta, että tässä täytyy odotella vielä vuoden päivät, että asiasta voidaan olla varmoja. Mutta toistaiseksi ei ole mitään muutosta havaittavissa.
pitoisuuden välillä on voimakas yhteys. Tähän löytyy fysikaalinen selitys. Pohjoiset kylmät merialueet absorboivat voimakkaasti CO2:ta, merivirrat kuljettavat nämä CO2-rikkaat vedet päiväntasaajaseudulle, jossa ne lämpenevät ja vapauttavat valtavat määrät CO2:ta ilmakehään. Vuosittain valtamerten kautta kiertävän CO2:n määrä on noin 80-90 gigatonnia hiiltä (GtC) ja ihmiskunnan vuosittaiset CO2-päästöt ovat vain n. 10 GtC. Kun kasvillisuuden kautta kiertää n. 120 GtC vuodessa, niin ihmisten CO2-päästöjen osuus vuosittain kiertävästä CO2-määrästä on vain n. 5 %.
Ilmakehän kasvanut CO2-määrä on kasvanut vuodesta 1750 lähtien vuoteen 2017 mennessä yhteensä 270 GtC. Ilmastoeliitti sanoo, että se kaikki on antropogeenista eli CO2-päästöistä johtuvaa
Pinatubo-tulivuoren purkaus, joka aiheutti globaalin lämpötilan putoamisen ja suuren pudotuksen ilmakehän CO2-pitoisuudessa.
https://psl.noaa.gov/enso/mei/
Tomi Engdahl says:
How the islanders of Bornholm used renewable energy to reinvent their community
How to go carbon neutral: Lessons from a Danish island
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/how-go-carbon-neutral-lessons-danish-island.html#utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=island_prize
When fish stocks crashed in the Baltic in the late 1990s, the islanders of Bornholm, Denmark, realised they had to reinvent themselves. Their rocky outcrop, some 200km east of Copenhagen, had been in decline for years. Its 40,000-plus inhabitants needed a new path, and they chose to pursue sustainability.
Now they are more prosperous – but they have also propelled themselves into the vanguard of Green. Industries, researchers and governments flock to fund or study what they’ve done. And on 28 April the island was awarded first place in a new prize for its development of renewable energy.
Over the last two decades the islanders have erected more than 35 large wind turbines, as well as assorted household ones, and energy plants that burn straw, wood pellets and waste. They have installed smart meters that orchestrate their heating systems. Even fridges have been recruited to help balance the electrical supply.
At the end of last century, the islanders obtained all their energy from a sub-sea cable from Sweden and from imported oil.
But over the years that has changed. Now, the cable supplies only a third of electricity, while wind supplies 40%, steam from a woodchip-burning plant 20%, a biogas plant 4% and solar photovoltaic 3%. In addition, 80% of households are heated with a water system fuelled by the burning of straw, biogas, woodchips and waste.
One flagship project tackled the Achilles’ heel of renewable energy generation – how do you balance the electricity in the grid when there are bountiful quantities on breezy, sunny days but less when it’s dark or the wind drops? Smoothing out demand is one of the answers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The world is on lockdown. So where are all the carbon emissions coming from?
https://grist.org/climate/the-world-is-on-lockdown-so-where-are-all-the-carbon-emissions-coming-from/?fbclid=IwAR1IZEGQAuK7yMXmdYs94KhbYo29ywpHe0LrsYgfk9SLMp547WjLRxGoArw
Pedestrians have taken over city streets, people have almost entirely stopped flying, skies are blue (even in Los Angeles!) for the first time in decades, and global CO2 emissions are on-track to drop by … about 5.5 percent.
Wait, what? Even with the global economy at a near-standstill, the best analysis suggests that the world is still on track to release 95 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted in a typical year, continuing to heat up the planet and driving climate change even as we’re stuck at home.
A 5.5-percent drop in carbon dioxide emissions would still be the largest yearly change on record, beating out the financial crisis of 2008 and World War II. But it’s worth wondering: Where do all of those emissions come from? And if stopping most travel and transport isn’t enough to slow down climate change, what will be?
“I think the main issue is that people focus way, way too much on people’s personal footprints, and whether they fly or not, without really dealing with the structural things that really cause carbon dioxide levels to go up,”
Transportation makes up a little over 20 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. (In the United States, it makes up around 28 percent.)
So where are all those emissions coming from? For one thing, utilities are still generating roughly the same amount of electricity — even if more of it’s going to houses instead of workplaces. Electricity and heating combined account for over 40 percent of global emissions. Many people around the world rely on wood, coal, and natural gas to keep their homes warm and cook their food — and in most places, electricity isn’t so green either.
Manufacturing, construction, and other types of industry account for approximately 20 percent of CO2 emissions. Certain industrial processes like steel production and aluminum smelting use huge amounts of fossil fuels — and so far, Schmidt says, that type of production has mostly continued despite the pandemic.
The reality is that emissions need to be cut by 7.6 percent every year to keep global warming from surpassing 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — the threshold associated with the most dangerous climate threats — according to an analysis by the United Nations Environment Program. Even if the global lockdown and economic slump reduce emissions by 7.6 percent this year, emissions would have to fall even more the year after that. And the year after that. And so on.
In the middle of the pandemic, it’s become common to point to clear skies in Los Angeles and the cleaner waters of Venice as evidence that people can make a difference on climate change. “
But these arguments conflate air and water pollution — crucial environmental issues in their own right! — with CO2 emissions. Carbon dioxide is invisible, and power plants and oil refineries are still pumping it into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, natural gas companies and livestock farming (think cow burps) keep releasing methane.
“I think people should bike instead of driving, and they should take the train instead of flying,” said Schmidt. “But those are small, compared to the really big structural things that haven’t changed.”
It’s worth remembering that a dip in carbon emissions won’t lead to any changes in the Earth’s warming trend.
That helps explain why 2020 is already on track to be the warmest ever recorded, beating out 2016. In a sad irony, the decrease in air pollution may make it even hotter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tuuli ja aurinko valtaavat markkinat, kun sähköstä tulee ilmastoystävällistä
https://www.tuni.fi/unit-magazine/artikkelit/tuuli-ja-aurinko-valtaavat-markkinat-kun-sahkosta-tulee-ilmastoystavallista?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=social+paid&utm_campaign=2020-huhtikuu_sahko&utm_content=Sahko+%2B18+korkeakoulututkinto,+tiede,+energia,+sahko_Uusiutuva+sahko
Tuuli ja aurinko tuottavat tulevaisuudessa valtaosan Suomessa tarvittavasta sähköstä. Teknisesti se olisi mahdollista jo vuonna 2035, mikä on hallituksen takaraja hiilineutraaliudelle. Ydinvoimaa tarvitaan siirtymävaiheessa, mutta sen rakentaminen ei ole enää kannattavaa.
Tulevaisuudessa sähköä voidaan tuottaa Suomessa pelkästään uusiutuvilla energialähteillä, toisin sanoen tuulella, auringolla ja vesivoimalla. Ensin tavoitteena on kuitenkin, että sähköntuotannosta tulisi päästötöntä.
Jos ilmastonmuutos halutaan pysäyttää, hiilidioksidipäästöjä on vähennettävä radikaalisti. Puhutaan hiilineutraaliudesta, mikä tarkoittaa, että tuotamme vain sen verran hiilidioksidipäästöjä kuin pystymme sitomaan hiilinieluihin.
Tulevaisuudessa sähköä voidaan tuottaa Suomessa pelkästään uusiutuvilla energialähteillä, toisin sanoen tuulella, auringolla ja vesivoimalla. Ensin tavoitteena on kuitenkin, että sähköntuotannosta tulisi päästötöntä.
Jos ilmastonmuutos halutaan pysäyttää, hiilidioksidipäästöjä on vähennettävä radikaalisti. Puhutaan hiilineutraaliudesta, mikä tarkoittaa, että tuotamme vain sen verran hiilidioksidipäästöjä kuin pystymme sitomaan hiilinieluihin. EU on sitoutunut Pariisin ilmastosopimukseen, jonka tavoitteena on hiilineutraalius vuonna 2050.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Loppuuko samppanja ikiajoiksi? Ilmastonmuutos tuo mullistuksia viininviljelyyn – vuosisataiset menetelmät voivat loppua, mutta tilalle jännittäviä uutuuksia
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11235769
Yli puolet nykyisistä viljelyalueista on tuotantokelvottomia nykymenetelmillä, jos lämpötila nousee kaksi astetta.
Viiniköynnöstä voidaan viljellä vain rajallisella alueella pohjoisella ja eteläisellä pallonpuoliskolla. Suotuisimmilla kasvualueilla lämpötila on päivisin keskimäärin 12–20 astetta, keväät ovat sateisia, kesä kuuma ja alkusyksy lämmin.
Viinin viljelystä tulee mahdotonta yli puolella nykyisistä viininviljelyalueista, mikäli ilmasto lämpenee kahdella asteella.
Toisaalta: Uusia lajeja perinteisillä alueilla
Lasi on kuitenkin vain puoliksi tyhjä. Nimittäin jos viiniköynnökset vaihdetaan lämpimämmässä säässä viihtyvään lajikkeeseen, viinin viljely onnistuu myös niillä alueilla, joilla perinteiset köynnökset eivät enää menesty.
Esimerkiksi Burgundin alueella Ranskassa voitaisiin vaihtaa perinteinen pinot noir lämpimämmässä viihtyvään Grenache-rypäleeseen. Nähtäväksi kuitenkin jää, miten viljelijät suhtautuisivat keskiajalta saakka jatkuneen viljelyn muutoksiin ja löytäisivätkö kuluttajat burgundinviiniään, joka ei olekaan Pinot Noiria.
Kyse on lisäksi lainsäädännön muutoksista. Esimerkiksi Bordeauxissa on nykyisin sallittu vain viiden rypälelajikkeiden viinit, etupäässä Cabernet Sauvignon ja Merlot. Nyt kuitenkin kokeillaan seitsemää muutakin lajiketta, jotka saatetaan hyväksyä tulevaisuudessa.
Viljelijät kokeilevat myös erilaisia kloonattuja viiniköynnöksiä. Esimerkiksi Etelä-Afrikassa on testattu menestyksellä kuivuutta kestävää kloonattua Cabernet Sauvignonia.
Aikakirjojen lisäksi viinin historiasta voi ottaa muutakin oppia: vanhoja lajikkeita voidaan ottaa uudelleen käyttöön. Monet köynnöslajikkeista ovat olleet viimeksi viljelyssä 1800-luvulla, mutta useat niistä ovat nykyisiä suosikkiköynnöksiä paljon kestävämpiä.
Ja myös: Kokonaan uusia tuotantoalueita
Lämpötilojen nouseminen on aiheuttanut kuitenkin myös sen, että sellaisilla alueilla, missä hienot vuosikerrat olivat harvinaista herkkua, on nyt nähty erinomaisia viinivuosia yksi toisensa jälkeen. Näitä ovat esimerkiksi Italian Piedmonten Barolon alue sekä Moselin ja Reinin laaksot Saksassa.
Lisäksi viljely on leviämässä alueille, missä se aiemmin oli käytännössä mahdotonta, esimerkiksi Belgiaan, Brittein saarille, Pohjoismaihin, Kanadan Ontarioon ja British Columbiaan sekä Uuden-Seelannin eteläosiin ja Argentiinan Patagoniaan.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reporting about climate change was a winner in this year’s Pulitzers
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/reporting-about-climate-change-was-a-winner-in-this-years-pulitzers/
Winners and finalists didn’t just write about the effects of climate change, but about climate change itself
Tomi Engdahl says:
Asiantuntijoilta pysäyttävä koronanäkemys: ilmastopäästöt vähenevät hurjasti, mutta se ei vaikuta ilmastonmuutokseen https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000006503670.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
1 h 40 min dokumentti joka väittää että ympäristöystävällinen energia on huijausta ja tosiasiassa kuluttaa enemmän fossiilisia polttoaineita kuin säästä ja kuinka ympäristöliikkeiden johto on tässä rahan takia.
Väitteenä on että “Vihreää” energiaa tehdää massiivisien tukien avulla, siis veronmaksajien rahoilla.
Michael Moore Presents: Planet of the Humans | Full Documentary | Directed by Jeff Gibbs
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk11vI-7czE&feature=share
Tomi Engdahl says:
One view:
Ilmaston muutos on tosiasia, eikä sitä paitsi mikään uusi. Se on ollut todellisuutta yhtä kauan kuin tämä maapallokin. Ilmastonmuutos korvikeuskontona ja suurella kirjaimella on sen sijaan vain parin vuosikymmenen ikäinen ilmiö, jonka synty sattuu yhteen kommunismin romahduksen kanssa. Tulee olemaan kiinnostavaa seurata, miten se aikanaan katoaa.
https://beta.oikeamedia.com/o1-138305
Tomi Engdahl says:
Good News: Global CO2 Emissions Plummet During Covid-19 Lockdowns. But For How Long?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/05/19/good-news-global-co2-emissions-plummet-during-covid-19-lockdowns-but-for-how-long/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
Daily carbon emissions dropped by 17% from January to early April compared to last year, according to a study published Tuesday in the academic journal Nature Climate Change.
By the end of April, carbon emissions had declined by a total of more than 2.3 million pounds, driven largely by decreases in China and the United States, the two biggest carbon creators and also two of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic.
Average daily emissions dropped by as much as 26% in some countries during the peak of lockdown, the study found.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The findings highlight tackling climate change cannot be achieved by personal responsibility alone.
Lockdown Measures Led To A 17 Percent Fall In Daily Global CO2 Emissions
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/lockdown-measures-led-to-a-17-percent-fall-in-daily-global-co2-emissions/
In a study published in Nature Climate Change, an international team of researchers looked at how government policies during the Covid-19 pandemic have altered the use and demand of energy around the world, using the effect on economic sectors and a combination of energy, activity, and policy data available up to April to establish the change in emissions for the last four months.
“Emissions reached their peak decline on 7 April, with a 17 percent decline compared to the same time last year,” CSIRO researcher and Global Carbon Project Director Dr Pep Canadell said in a statement. “To put that figure in context, daily emissions declined on average between January to April by 8.6 percent again compared to the same period last year.”
Of the total emission change, the largest contribution came from a reduction in surface transport, at 43 percent. Countries have needed less power, so that sector makes up 19 percent of the global emissions change; industry covers one-quarter, and aviation (which has been significantly hit) makes up 10 percent of the emissions difference. Despite everybody being confined to their homes, the increase of energy use from households has been modest and easily off-set by the gains from the other sectors.
“The extent to which world leaders consider climate change when planning their economic responses post COVID-19 will influence the global CO2 emissions paths for decades to come,”
Investment in greener transport methods and energy production is needed to make reductions to global emissions permanent. Even with the unforeseen crisis of this year, the researchers believe that it is unlikely we will meet the goals of the Paris Agreement to keep the global temperature increase below 1.5°C (2.7°F).
To match that, the UN says we need to decrease emissions by 7.6 percent annually over the next decade. The team estimated that if all lockdown restrictions are lifted by mid-June, the annual emissions decrease will probably be around 4 percent, but with some restrictions in place until the end of the year, we could be looking at 7 percent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fortum saastuttaa pian enemmän kuin koko Suomi – professori: uusi hiilivoimala on huono signaali kehitysmaille, Intialle ja Kiinalle
https://www.iltalehti.fi/politiikka/a/ae4faaaf-f75f-4fe3-b31c-04cb8877fcf3
Professori Peter Lund sanoo, että uuden hiilivoimalan avaaminen on ilmastotavoitteisiin nähden ristiriitaista.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Uudet tiedot kertovat, että Suomen kasvihuonepäästöt olivat vuonna 2019 ennätyksellisen alhaiset. Kaiken kaikkiaan kasvihuonekaasujen päästöt ovat laskeneet yli neljänneksen vertailuvuodesta 1990 ja huippuvuodesta 2003 laskua on ollut peräti 38 prosenttia.
Suurimpana syynä oli se, että maankäyttösektori nieli hiiltä viime vuonna 70 prosenttia edellisvuotta enemmän – paljolti edellisestä huippuvuodesta vähentyneiden metsähakkuiden seurauksena. Myös energia-alan päästöt laskivat 8 prosenttia ja teollisuuden 5 prosenttia, mutta maatalouden päästöt kasvoivat yhden prosentin.”
https://professorinajatuksia.blogspot.com/2020/05/miksi-media-vaikenee.html?spref=fb&m=1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reminder: racists suck for many many reasons. Here’s another.
https://www.iflscience.com/brain/people-who-dont-believe-in-climate-change-are-more-likely-to-be-racist/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://wwf.fi/ilmastonmuutos-suomessa/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ilmasto-suomi&utm_content=landing
Tomi Engdahl says:
Global Pollution Maps Show Differences In Air Quality During COVID-19 Lockdown
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/global-pollution-maps-show-differences-in-air-quality-during-covid19-lockdown/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Millions of Abandoned Oil Wells Are Leaking Methane, a Climate Menace
https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/06/17/2352250/millions-of-abandoned-oil-wells-are-leaking-methane-a-climate-menace?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/aerospace/satellites/microsatellite-industrial-methane-emissions
Tomi Engdahl says:
The International Energy Agency has outlined a $3 trillion plan to restart the global economy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
The $3 Trillion Green Plan To Get The Economy Out Of Intensive Care
http://on.forbes.com/6186GKUsa
The International Energy Agency has outlined a $3 trillion plan to restart the global economy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, saying that governments have a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to create jobs while decarbonizing infrastructure.
Released today, the IEA says its three-year roadmap for clean energy and efficiency investment would create nine million jobs every year and additional economic growth of 1.1% annually. The agency claims its plan will eliminate 4.5 billion tonnes (5 billion U.S. tons) of greenhouse gas emissions by 2023.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Despite pandemic setbacks, the clean energy future is underway
Supply chains, manufacturing and access to capital were hit hard
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/18/despite-pandemic-setbacks-the-clean-energy-future-is-underway/?tpcc=ECFB2020
Tomi Engdahl says:
Korona osoitti ilmastonmuutoksen valtavan haasteen: vaikka maailma pysähtyi, ei hiilidioksidin määrä ilmakehässä ole vieläkään vähentynyt
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11410199
Maailman energiajärjestö arvioi päästöjen putoavan tänä vuonna koronaviruksen vuoksi radikaalisti, jopa kahdeksan prosenttia.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/04/10/covid-19-and-the-state-of-the-climate/
Tomi Engdahl says:
German Aerospace Center Remote Sensing Technology Institute researchers observed an improvement in air quality, especially over regions that were quarantined due to COVID-19.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/news-from-around-ieee/the-institute/ieee-member-news/covid19s-effect-on-air-quality-can-be-seen-from-space
Tomi Engdahl says:
It Was 38 Degrees Celsius In The Arctic Circle This Weekend
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/it-was-38-degrees-celsius-in-the-arctic-circle-this-weekend/
It looks like a Siberian heatwave has smashed the record temperature in the Arctic Circle with the far-north town of Verkhoyansk reaching 38°C (100.4°F) on Saturday, June 20.
The temperature has been reported by numerous meteorologists, but has yet to be confirmed by official sources, the Washington Post reports. If verified, it will be the highest temperature on record in the Arctic, beating 1915′s 37.7°C (100°F) recorded in Yukon, Alaska, and 18°C above the average maximum daily temperature for June.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HELTEISINÄ päivinä on helppo uskoa, että jäähdyttämiseen käytetään kohtalainen osa eli viisitoista prosenttia maailman sähköstä. Jäähdytysenergian tuotanto aiheuttaa kymmenesosan kasvihuonekaasujen päästöistä.
Ilmatieteen laitoksen mukaan jäähdytyksen tarve kasvaa Suomessakin, etenkin maan eteläosissa.
https://www.hs.fi/tiede/art-2000006549966.html?share=10a48f8506ca73e531be8545d43419e5
Tomi Engdahl says:
Korona osoitti ilmastonmuutoksen valtavan haasteen: vaikka maailma pysähtyi, ei hiilidioksidin määrä ilmakehässä ole vieläkään vähentynyt
Maailman energiajärjestö arvioi päästöjen putoavan tänä vuonna koronaviruksen vuoksi radikaalisti, jopa kahdeksan prosenttia.
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11410199
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amazon really just renamed a Seattle stadium ‘Climate Pledge Arena’
https://tcrn.ch/2NsQlky
In a bold effort to do so, the company announced today that it would buy the rights to Seattle’s KeyArena, an aging stadium currently under redevelopment in the city. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos boasts that the stadium will “be the first net zero carbon certified arena in the world.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://sorsafoundation.fi/samuli-sinisalo-tyoajan-lyhentamisen-ekologiset-vaikutukset/
Tomi Engdahl says:
“On behalf of environmentalists everywhere, I would like to formally apologize for the climate scare we created over the last 30 years. Climate change is happening. It’s just not the end of the world. It’s not even our most serious environmental problem. ”
http://environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2020/6/29/on-behalf-of-environmentalists-i-apologize-for-the-climate-scare
Here are some facts few people know:
Humans are not causing a “sixth mass extinction”
The Amazon is not “the lungs of the world”
Climate change is not making natural disasters worse
Fires have declined 25% around the world since 2003
The amount of land we use for meat — humankind’s biggest use of land — has declined by an area nearly as large as Alaska
The build-up of wood fuel and more houses near forests, not climate change, explain why there are more, and more dangerous, fires in Australia and California
Carbon emissions are declining in most rich nations and have been declining in Britain, Germany, and France since the mid-1970s
Netherlands became rich not poor while adapting to life below sea level
We produce 25% more food than we need and food surpluses will continue to rise as the world gets hotter
Habitat loss and the direct killing of wild animals are bigger threats to species than climate change
Wood fuel is far worse for people and wildlife than fossil fuels
Preventing future pandemics requires more not less “industrial” agriculture
I know that the above facts will sound like “climate denialism” to many people. But that just shows the power of climate alarmism.
In reality, the above facts come from the best-available scientific studies, including those conducted by or accepted by the IPCC, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and other leading scientific bodies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
With the European Green Deal, the European Union has set itself the goal to become climate-neutral by 2050. To achieve this, the EU will have to transform its energy system, which now accounts for 75% of the greenhouse gas emissions, and redefine its priorities. The European Commission unveiled this week its strategy to boost renewable hydrogen with cumulative investments in the range of €180-470 billion by the middle of the century. Investments in low-carbon fossil-based hydrogen could be in the range of €3-18 billion.
To contribute to the effort, at the design level, many freely energy resources are waiting to be broadly deployed to offer a 100% renewable energy grid supported by open-source hardware and software solutions. Go green!
https://www.eetimes.eu/open-source-critical-enabler-for-the-green-grid/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Europe Unveils Hydrogen Alliance to Combat Climate Change
https://www.eetimes.eu/europe-unveils-hydrogen-alliance-to-combat-climate-change/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The other plague: Locusts are devouring crops in East Africa and the Middle East
https://www.vox.com/2020/5/20/21158283/locust-plague-swarm-outbreak-africa-asia-2020
Gargantuan swarms of desert locusts with a voracious appetite for staple crops like teff, wheat, and sorghum are sweeping over the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, leaving crops and rangeland destroyed.
A combined 42 million people in Eastern Africa and Yemen were already expected to face acute food insecurity this year, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The locusts, and now the novel coronavirus, could push more people to the brink of starvation.
For countries like Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia, the locusts this year have already been the worst in decades, with billions of insects forming swarms that spread over hundreds of thousands of acres.
Swarms have also swept into Yemen, Iran, Pakistan, and India, threatening harvests
The recent swarms have already devoured almost 100 percent of crops in some areas. At times, locust swarms have become so dense that they’ve even forced aircraft to divert. Officials in Iran reported that a layer of dead locusts piled up 6 inches high after they sprayed afflicted areas with pesticides.
Locust swarms are an irregular phenomenon, with years passing without them. But weather and climate conditions over the past year converged to create the perfect conditions for a boom of these ravenous insects. They are landing at an especially tenuous moment for many countries dealing with longstanding conflicts, resource shortages, and now a pandemic.
“Locust” refers to several species of short-horned grasshoppers that can radically change how they look and behave under the right circumstances. Out of roughly 7,000 species of grasshoppers, about 20 are considered to be true locusts. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, though in many places they rarely gather enough numbers to swarm.
The species behind the recent swarms in Africa and Asia is the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria. It’s normally an introvert, leading a solitary life. But every now and then, ideal environmental conditions cause a population explosion.
In prolonged close company, these introverts become what scientists call “gregarious.” They begin to move and act in sync rather than as haphazard individuals. And it’s not just their personalities that change; the desert locust changes color from a green or mottled brown to a vivid yellow. They change shape, too: Their body sizes are smaller and their brains are larger than in their solitary phase. The changes in behavior can occur in just a few hours, while the physical changes take longer.
After they transition into their gregarious phase, locusts form swarms with roughly 150 million individuals per square kilometer, or 600,000 per acre. Those 150 million locusts eat as much food as 35,000 people every day.
But beyond spraying pesticides, there are few options for limiting their spread. “There is no lockdown for desert locusts,” Ferrand said.
Then there’s Mother Nature. The same climate shifts and weather patterns that supercharged this locust need to lessen. That might mean a break from the rains, or cooler temperatures, or winds that send the locusts to a location that’s much less favorable to their survival. None of that is really happening right now.
“For the last two years we have not seen any single break in the weather for desert locusts,” Cressman said. “It’s just been phenomenally favorable to them.”
Locust swarms and the coronavirus are threatening to cause a humanitarian crisis
The disaster caused by locusts is both impossibly quick and lasting. A dark cloud descends on a farm, and a swarm can devour an entire season’s crop in an afternoon. But their reproductive cycles, and their ability to take their destructive appetites on the road, means that crisis can repeat itself over and over again.
climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme Indian Ocean Dipole events, meaning that the downpours that helped drive the recent swarms could become more frequent
More than 20 million people in the East African region already faced severe food insecurity in 10 countries, according to the FAO. Climate shocks and other natural disasters, conflict, and displacement have created those conditions, though that predates the coronavirus crisis. The World Food Program has said the pandemic could cause famine worldwide, pushing an additional 130 million people close to starvation, on top of the 135 million already on the brink.
“There will be an increase in resource-based conflict … people will be moving towards areas where there will be grass. We need to prepare for conflict,”
The coronavirus pandemic could also make the humanitarian crisis more fraught. Many who see their crops destroyed or fields torn up might seek work elsewhere, likely in big cities. Quarantine, curfews, and travel restrictions in some of these countries may make that extraordinarily difficult. The economic pressures of lockdowns, which are affecting countries rich and poor, may also make labor opportunities scarce.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why locusts are descending on East Africa
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo61TiAGwhk&feature=share
Since late 2019, East Africa and the Middle East have been experiencing their worst locust outbreaks in decades. A small locust swarm can eat more food than 35,000 people; but some locust swarms in the area have grown to over two thousand times that size. And it’s all coming right on the heels of a season of catastrophic flooding in the region.
But that isn’t a coincidence: The desert locust thrives when dry weather turns wet. And in 2018 and 2019, a series of freak weather events brought record-setting rainfall to the Middle East and East Africa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locust
Tomi Engdahl says:
Our chances of avoiding a full-blown climate crisis are looking increasingly slim.
The Planet Is Crashing Towards Its Climate Change Limits, Says UN Report
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/the-planet-is-crashing-towards-its-climate-change-limits-says-un-report/
Our chances of avoiding a full-blown climate crisis are looking increasingly slim, according to new data from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
The annual global temperature is likely to be at least 1°C (1.8°F) warmer than pre-industrial levels in each of the coming five years and is likely to exceed 1.5°C (2.7°F) in at least one year between now and 2024. If these predictions are on the money, it looks increasingly unlikely the planet will be able to achieve the targets set by the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
“This study shows – with a high level of scientific skill – the enormous challenge ahead in meeting the Paris Agreement on Climate Change target of keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5°C,” Professor Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the WMO, said in a statement.
Earth’s average global temperature is already over 1°C above the pre-industrial period. The Paris Agreement argued that Earth’s temperatures need to kept “well below” a 2°C increase, but the world should pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.
Now, it appears there’s a fair chance we will reach this 1.5°C limit in the next few years. As per the new data, researchers predict the global temperature will increase somewhere between 0.91-1.59°C above pre-industrial levels by 2024. However, there is approximately a 20 percent chance that one of the next five years will be at least 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial levels. This chance is rapidly increasing as time goes on.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The “Gateway To The Underworld” In Siberia Was Created By Climate Change
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/gateway-underworld-siberia-created-climate-change/
There’s a strange crack in the landscape that is splintering across the frosty depths of Siberia called the Batagaika Crater. The area has long been surrounded in mystery, but scientists are now delving into the history of this geological glitch to discover why it appears to be growing at such an alarming rate.
The 90-meter-deep (300 feet) crater appeared some 25 years ago in the Verkhoyansk district of Siberia, Russia, and measures nearly 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) in length.
Professor Julian Murton from the University of Sussex, who led the expedition and is doing an ongoing study of the crater, found that soil deep in the crater is actually 200,000 years old, 80,000 years older than previously estimated. Within the millennia of geological records shown in the soil layers, the researchers also gained an insight into the history of this mysterious corner of the planet.
They found that the crater is currently undergoing a dramatic “megaslump”, further growing at a rate of over 18 meters (60 feet) every year. Locals have even reported strange “booms from the underworld” that have been attributed to the recent geological activity
This slumping, a thawing of ice-rich permafrost, is more rapid than any similar geological event in the past 10,000 years, Professor Murton told Motherboard. He went on to explain that the cause is likely to be a warming climate thawing the surrounding permafrost.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ydinkokeet katkaisivat aikakauden, joka olisi voinut jatkua vielä 50 000 vuotta – maapallolla eletään nyt ihmisen ehdoilla ja se vaikuttaa koko planeettaan
https://www.maaseuduntulevaisuus.fi/tiede-tekniikka/artikkeli-1.1139624
Edellisestä jääkaudesta alkanut maapallon aikakausi, holoseeni, olisi voinut jatkua arviolta 50 000 vuotta. Ilmasto olisi vakaa ja ihminen vaikuttaisi planeettaan vain vähän.
Nykyisen elämäntapamme hinta on, että ihmisestä on tullut merkittävä luonnonvoima. Olemme verrattavissa tulivuoriin tai asteroideihin.
Tutkijat eivät ole yksimielisiä siitä, milloin ihmisen aikakausi alkoi.
Se saattoi tapahtua 8 000 vuotta sitten.
Tai sitten antroposeeni alkoi 70 vuotta sitten. Silloin alkoi suuri kiihdytys, talouskasvu, joka perustui luonnonvarojen suunnattomaan ylikulutukseen.
Alkuhetki riippuu siitä, keneltä kysytään.
Väittely antroposeenista onkin karannut maapallojärjestelmän tutkijoiden pöydistä. Siitä on tullut monitieteinen keskustelu, joka yhdistää harvinaisella tavalla luonnontieteet ja ihmistieteet.
”Antroposeeni on hyvä käsite, sillä kokoaa suhteellisen hyvin yhteen nykyisten ympäristöongelmien vyyhdin”, Toivanen sanoo.
Ihmisen vaikutuksia maapallolla voi tarkastella monesta näkökulmasta ja tieteenalat ottavat huomioon eri asioita.
Tieteenalojen näkökulmien eroista huolimatta keskustelua määrittävät kaksi oleellista kysymystä: miten ihminen muuttaa maapallon toimintaa ja milloin ihminen on alkanut muuttaa maapallon toimintaa?
Kysymykset ovat äärimmäisen mutkikkaita.
Ihmistoiminta vaikuttaa esimerkiksi siihen, minkä verran vettä maapallolla kiertää.
Lisäämällä ja poistamalla järjestelmän kierrosta jotain ihminen järkyttää planeetan tasapainoista toimintaa. Missä ja milloin tämä alkoi?
Teollinen vallankumous ja 1700-luvulla alkanut markkina- ja fossiilitalouden kasvu on mahdollinen ja uskottava ihmisen aikakauden synnyinparahdus. Teollinen vallankumous ei tarkoittanut ainoastaan tuottavuuden ilmiömäistä kasvua. Vuosina 1750–1850 maapallon väliluku lähes kaksinkertaistui.
Ihmisen vaikutus planeettajärjestelmään huipentuu toista maailmansotaa seuranneeseen suureen kiihdytykseen, jota leimasi huimaava talouden ja kulutuksen kasvu.
Miksi sitten on väliä, milloin ihmisen aikakausi alkoi?
”Jos ihminen on ollut merkittävä geologinen voima 8 000 vuotta, paljon ei ole tehtävissä. Voimme vain todeta ihmisen olevan lajina haitallinen. Mutta jos ihmisestä on tullut geologinen voima myöhemmin, siihen ovat syynä tietyt yhteiskunnalliset kehityskulut. Niitä on mahdollista muuttaa,” Tero Toivanen sanoo.
Geologista antroposeenia tutkinut työryhmä arvioi vuonna 2016, että ihmisestä tuli merkittävä luonnonvoima viime vuosisadan puolivälissä.
Maapallojärjestelmätieteen tutkijat ovat kuitenkin vakuuttuneita, että ihmisen vaikutus maapalloon on jo peruuttamaton.
”Siksi tilanteesta ei pitäisi puhua kriisinä. Sanana kriisi olettaa, että olisi mahdollista palata sitä edeltäneeseen aikaan”, Toivanen huomauttaa.
Maapallon ei toimi enää samalla tavalla, kuin se on toiminut koko ihmisen tunteman historian ajan. Elämme siirtymäaikaa, jota määrittää epävarmuus. Kukaan ei osaa sanoa miltä planeetta näyttää, kun se joskus taas saavuttaa tasapainoisen tilan.
Tomi Engdahl says:
As the restaurant industry looks for eco-friendlier practices, the burger chain will serve up cows fed on lemongrass, according to a report.
Burger King’s Plan To Save The Planet? Less-Gassy Cows
http://on.forbes.com/6187GVhGb
As the food service industry looks to reduce its carbon footprint amid complaints about unsustainable farming practices and food and packaging waste, fast-food chain Burger King will begin selling Whoppers sourced from cows that are fed lemongrass, which cause them to belch out less methane (considered a greenhouse gas) and hence reduce the chain’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, according to Bloomberg.
For years, restaurants have looked to balance eco-friendliness with profitability because some environmental improvements, including feeding cows lemongrass, could be more expensive in the short term, and restaurants that have been hard hit by coronavirus-mandated shutdowns are scrambling to cut costs.
Nearly all Burger King restaurants are open and while sales were down nearly 30% in March compared to last year, they are now roughly the same, a statement on the company website said, thanks to “strong performance” in the chain’s drive-thrus.
Tomi Engdahl says:
It will profoundly shift the way people live their lives.
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/for-the-first-time-in-centuries-the-worlds-population-will-decline-in-next-few-decades/
Tomi Engdahl says:
“It’s extraordinary, we’ll have to reorganize societies.”
Researchers Say Earth Is Headed for “Jaw-Dropping” Population Decline
https://futurism.com/global-birth-rates-falling-precipitiously
People around the globe are having way fewer babies. By the year 2100, that might turn into a pretty big problem for humanity — rather than the relief one might expect.
If they aren’t already, dozens of countries’ populations will be going into decline in this century, according to a new study published in the Lancet this week. 23 countries are expected to feel this effect intensify, with their populations dropping to half of what they are now by the year 2100.
The global population will peak at 9.7 billion around 2064, according to the new projection, and then drop off to 8.8 billion towards the end of the century.
“That’s a pretty big thing; most of the world is transitioning into natural population decline,” Christopher Murray, co-author and researcher at the University of Washington, Seattle, told the BBC. “I think it’s incredibly hard to think this through and recognize how big a thing this is; it’s extraordinary, we’ll have to reorganize societies.”
The reality is that with more women receiving an education and entering the work force, combined with the wide availability of contraception, fertility rates are dropping, sometimes precipitously, around the world — a stark reversal of the baby boom following the Second World War.
Countries including Spain, Portugal, and Thailand will have their populations more than halve by the end of the century — “jaw-dropping,” according to Murray.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ydinkokeet katkaisivat aikakauden, joka olisi voinut jatkua vielä 50 000 vuotta – maapallolla eletään nyt ihmisen ehdoilla ja se vaikuttaa koko planeettaan
https://www.maaseuduntulevaisuus.fi/tiede-tekniikka/artikkeli-1.1139624
Tomi Engdahl says:
An open letter signed by celebrities, scientists, activists and major figures argue that current climate change proposals aren’t “even close to enough” to combat the climate crisis.
Greta Thunberg, Activists Say Response To Covid-19 Proves Leaders ‘Never Once’ Treated Climate Change As Crisis
http://on.forbes.com/6182Gn400
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Green Economic Growth’ Is a Myth
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qj4z9p/green-economic-growth-is-a-myth
There are ‘no realistic scenarios’ to make the economic growth demanded by capitalism compatible with a safe climate, researchers who advised the United Nations found.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook overrides fact-checks when climate science is “opinion”
Social network still has trouble separating “opinion” from disinformation.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/07/facebook-overrides-fact-checks-when-climate-science-is-opinion/
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Four times more toxic’: How wildfire smoke ages over time
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/four-times-more-toxic-how-wildfire-smoke-ages-over-time.html
Enormous plumes of smoke thrown into the atmosphere by uncontrolled wildfires may be affecting the health of people living hundreds of miles away.
Every year, thousands of fires engulf forests, grasslands and moors across Europe. In 2018, more than 204,861 hectares of land were left burnt in Europe and other countries around the Mediterranean, while the previous year wildfires destroyed over 1.2 million hectares. Blazes in the Arctic in June set a new record in carbon emissions in 18 years of monitoring
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why trees are dying – and what that means for understanding how much carbon forests can lock up
Understanding why trees are dying may be key to locking up carbon
https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/understanding-why-trees-are-dying-may-be-key-locking-carbon.html#utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=dead_trees
Rising tree deaths may be reducing the ability of many forests worldwide to lock up carbon by pulling in greenhouse gases from the air. To properly grasp what this means for carbon budgets, scientists need to solve the puzzle of why trees are dying – and how they respond to change.
‘There are widespread observations of increasing tree mortality due to changing climate and land use,’ according to new research. This appears to be transforming woodland habitats, with trees getting younger and shorter in many forests, the authors add.
Estimates suggest that forests have absorbed up to 30% of anthropogenic carbon emissions in the past few decades. Though the overall effects of tree loss on the carbon cycle are complex because old trees and the young ones that replace them take up carbon at different rates, rising mortality appears to be affecting forests’ ability to lock up carbon.
The researchers in the new study think that higher mortality rates may begin to outweigh the capacity of remaining and new trees to maintain that uptake at the same level – and potentially lead to an overall reduction of canopy cover and biomass.
‘It’s quite concerning, because at the moment, two to three of every 10 molecules of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere come back into the forests, but we don’t know how it’s going to continue into the future,’
So far, the team has gained insight on the more visible causes of death, finding that about 12% of tree mortality in terms of biomass loss across the world is caused by large disturbances, such as fires, wide-scale uprooting of trees by wind, harvesting and pest outbreaks.
‘I’d expected larger-scale events to account for a larger fraction overall,’
Tomi Engdahl says:
People are grocery shopping and attending meetings online and so are driving and flying less, cutting GHG emissions up to 7% in 2020. Some of these changes will be permanent, but will they be enough to stop climate change?
Coronavirus vs. Climate Change
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/environment/covid19-pandemic-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions
Whether their state is opening up or locking down again, Americans are generally staying home more during the COVID-19 pandemic. One result has been a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which could be as much as 7 percent lower in 2020 than they were in 2019. What remains to be seen is if we’ll be able to keep emissions at this level once the pandemic is over and people return to a more regular lifestyle.
research has shown that having vehicles delivery orders to multiple households, which is how Amazon Fresh and other vendors operate, is significantly better for the environment than having many people in cars going to the store individually.
can reduce the carbon emissions associated with grocery shopping by 25 to 75 percent.
(Bad news if you use services like Instacart, which has one driver collect groceries for one person at a time: Because they’re not delivering multiple orders during one trip, they don’t really benefit the environment.)
As for telecommuting, it’s not necessarily the case that everyone will be going back to work in an office once the pandemic abates. Now that some people have gotten used to working from home and have proven to their employers that they can be just as productive there as they were in the office, many companies may choose to continue having employees work remotely part or all of the time once the pandemic ends.
That would be good news for the environment and for corporate bottomlines.
work and shopping are just two of many activities that people might continue to do virtually even when they don’t have to
after the pandemic ends, there will be some long-term changes in how people approach work and other activities. But he doesn’t think these long-term changes are going to be nearly enough to beat climate change.
“In the end, personal lifestyle changes won’t yield substantial carbon reductions. Even with the massive reduction in travel and reduced economic activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ll only see at most about 5 percent reduction in carbon emissions [this] year,” Mann says. “We will need to reduce carbon emissions at least that much (more like 7%), year-after-year for the next decade and beyond if we’re too stay within our ‘carbon budget’ for avoiding dangerous >1.5°C planetary warming.”
People living more sustainably is important, and we should encourage it in any way possible, but if we’re going to beat climate change, Mann says we need major changes to how society operates. He says we need to “decarbonize” all forms of transportation and generally transition away from fossil fuel use across the board.
The fact we’ve seen such a significant reduction in carbon emissions this year is one good thing that’s come out of this terrible pandemic we’re facing, and overall, this reduction will likely be sustained as long as the pandemic remains a major issue. Perhaps that will buy us some time to get our climate change plans together. However, as Mann says, if we’re going to really beat climate change, it’s going to take a lot more than people making changes in how they live their daily lives. It’s going to take major changes to the economy and how we power the things we use.
“The main lesson is that personal behavioral change alone won’t get us the reductions we need,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Proposal Raised For GNOME Software Labeling Its Carbon Cost / Environmental Impact
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNOME-Carbon-Cost-2020
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://darment.fi/kylmaaineiden-jaottelu/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rural Zimbabweans are experiencing the latest example of people assuming they have the right answers, when they haven’t asked the right questions.
Zimbabwe Hopes Rural Electrification Can Stop Deforestation. Here’s Why It Might Not Work
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/environment/zimbabwe-hopes-rural-electrification-stop-deforestation-it-might-not-work
In Zimbabwe, where access to the electrical grid is sparse and unreliable, millions of people still burn wood to cook food and heat their homes. The practice is partly to blame for worsening deforestation in the landlocked country. In recent years, government officials have proposed a seemingly straightforward solution: Extend the electric grid into rural villages, and reduce the use of wood for fuel.