Landmark UN Climate Change Report: Act Now To Avoid Climate Catastrophe | IFLScience

https://www.iflscience.com/environment/landmark-un-climate-change-report-act-now-to-avoid-climate-catastrophe/

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.

1,262 Comments

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Satellites, insect traps at ports and ‘sentinel’ trees could all help to keep Europe’s forests safe from rampaging insect pests

    Trade and climate change increase pest threat to Europe’s forests
    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/trade-and-climate-change-increase-pest-threat-europe-s-forests.html#utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=forest_pest

    Europe’s forests face a growing threat from pests due to global trade and climate change, but scientists are developing techniques that can give an early warning of infestations to help combat damaging insects and diseases.

    Pests are responsible for damaging 35 million hectares of forest around the world every year. In the Mediterranean region alone an area the size of Slovakia – five million hectares – is affected by pests annually, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Measuring greenhouse gases is easy enough in the aggregate, but knowing exactly who contributed what to the whole is tricky. Climate Trace plans to track man-made CO2 emissions back to their source. For power plants, that means using satellite imagery and machine learning to estimate each plant’s contributions.

    How to Track the Emissions of Every Power Plant on the Planet from Space
    https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/fossil-fuels/how-to-track-the-emissions-of-every-power-plant-on-the-planet-from-space

    Fossil-fuel power plants are one of the largest emitters of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Collectively, these 18,000 or so plants account for 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, including an estimated 15 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. The pollutants produced by burning fossil fuels also seriously degrade air quality and public health. They contribute to heart and respiratory diseases and lung cancer and are responsible for nearly 1 in 10 deaths worldwide.

    Averting the most severe impacts of air pollution and climate change requires understanding the sources of emissions. The technology exists to measure CO2 and other gases in the atmosphere, but not with enough granularity to pinpoint who emitted what and how much. Last month, a new initiative called Climate TRACE was unveiled, with the aim of accurately tracking man-made CO2 emissions right to the source

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Tutkimus: Grönlannin jäätikön sulamista ei voida enää pysäyttää – ”Olemme ylittäneet pisteen, josta paluuta ei enää ole” https://www.is.fi/tiede/art-2000006603494.html

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Death Valley, California—considered one of the hottest places on the planet—reached a scorching 130 degrees Fahrenheit Sunday, in what could be the highest temperature reliably recorded in a century, according to meteorologists, while climate scientists and activists sound alarms about irreversible global warming.
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2020/08/17/death-valley-reaches-130-degrees-setting-records-and-alarming-climate-activists/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Greenland’s ice sheet will continue to shrink even if climate change was stopped today.

    Greenland’s Ice Sheet Has Passed Its “Point Of No Return”
    https://www.iflscience.com/environment/greenlands-ice-sheet-has-passed-its-point-of-no-return/

    Greenland’s ice sheet has passed the point of no return. Off the back of decades of warming and thawing, Greenland’s ice sheet will continue shrinking even if climate change was hypothetically stopped today, a new study has revealed.

    This is what’s known as a climate tipping point. In regards to an ice sheet, it refers to the point at which its seasonal cycles are pushed out of kilter. The quantities of water replaced by snowfall each winter are no longer enough to cover the amount of water lost by thawing and outflow in the summer.

    What happens in Greenland doesn’t stay in Greenland, either. It’s known that melting ice from Greenland is a leading contributor to sea-level rise. It’s estimated that Greenland’s melting ice sheets caused the oceans to rise by 2.2 millimeters in just two months in 2019. By 2100, some estimates say it will have caused 70 to 130 millimeters of global sea-level rise. Other estimates say it could be double that. Either way, this is likely to result in flooding and widespread damage in coastal communities across the planet.

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    There was a time when Greenland was covered in lush vegetation and trees, no doubt it will be again, and in a few millennia back under a mile of ice.
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070705153019.htm

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    What the World Would Look Like if All the Ice Melted
    If we keep burning fossil fuels indefinitely, global warming will eventually melt all the ice at the poles and on mountaintops, raising sea level by 216 feet. Explore what the world’s new coastlines would look like.
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/09/rising-seas-ice-melt-new-shoreline-maps/

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    YK:n kestävän kehityksen raportti: Afrikan maat saavuttaneet ilmastotavoitteet parhaiten, Suomi ja muut länsimaat listan häntäpäässä
    https://www.maailma.net/uutiset/ykn-kestavan-kehityksen-raportti-afrikan-maat-saavuttaneet-ilmastotavoitteet-parhaiten

    Iso osa Afrikan maista ja moni muu kehittyvä maa on saavuttanut kaikki kestävän kehityksen Agenda 2030 -ohjelman ilmastotavoitteet, käy ilmi YK:n tuoreesta kestävän kehityksen raportista. Surkeimmin ovat suoriutuneet länsimaat, Suomi mukaan lukien.

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    What the World Would Look Like if All the Ice Melted
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/09/rising-seas-ice-melt-new-shoreline-maps/

    If we keep burning fossil fuels indefinitely, global warming will eventually melt all the ice at the poles and on mountaintops, raising sea level by 216 feet. Explore what the world’s new coastlines would look like

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    CarbonChain is using AI to determine the emissions profile of the world’s biggest polluters
    https://tcrn.ch/2QaRwGZ

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The leaves were so well preserved, researchers could view their stomata under a microscope.

    23-Million-Year-Old Fossil Leaf Reveals Earth Might See A Plant Boom As CO2 Rises
    https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/23millionyearold-fossil-leaf-reveals-earth-might-see-a-plant-boom-as-co2-rises/

    million-year old forest are revealing to scientists how Earth’s plant species might respond to rising levels of carbon dioxide (CO2). Published in the journal Climate of the Past, the new study looked at leaves from the early Miocene when CO2 levels were believed to have been high and discovered that these plants were able to harvest the increase, effectively booming as the concentration got higher. This is the first time high levels of atmospheric carbon have been linked to increased plant proliferation, which the researchers say has unpredictable ramifications as it could put more strain on already struggling species while others thrive.

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    MOT seurasi puoli vuotta lähettimien avulla käytettyjä vaatteita Afrikkaan asti
    Fida yllättyi: ”Oho! Ei mennyt meidän käsikirjoituksen mukaan”
    https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2020/08/23/mot-seurasi-puoli-vuotta-lahettimien-avulla-kaytettyja-vaatteita-afrikkaan-asti

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Over millennia, as tectonic plates shift, an uplift of mountains releases of carbon. Why this matters for understanding climate change and world we’ll be living in a century from now

    ‘Earth breathing’: mountain erosion a missing piece in the climate puzzle
    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/earth-breathing-mountain-erosion-missing-piece-climate-puzzle.html?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=share

    Mountains release the same amount of carbon each year as volcanoes – about 100 megatons – and yet we know very little about the process. Understanding these emissions could tell us more about their effects on climate, both in the past and the future.

    Shifting tectonic plates under the Earth’s surface create volcanoes, which erupt in a profusion of gases and molten rock. But when plates slowly shift over time, they also give rise to mountains – and bring up carbon-emitting matter that has been buried under the surface for millennia.

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The extent of this worldwide melting has been described as “staggering” by the study authors.

    https://www.iflscience.com/environment/global-warming-caused-28-trillion-tonnes-ice-melt-just-23-year/

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    New research argues that between 30 and 50 percent of the world’s water is stolen.

    As Climate Change Continues, Water Theft By Big Business Grows

    Water remains one of the most important resources for humanity. As the planet’s climate crisis continues to sink in its teeth, intense droughts and mass water shortages are only set to increase, fuelling geopolitical tensions and leading to armed conflict. Even today, access to water is a major source of control, legal disputes, and theft.

    New research, published in the journal Nature Sustainability, argues that between 30 and 50 percent of the world’s water is stolen. The report argues that the issue of “grand theft water” remains remarkably misunderstood and underappreciated by authorities.

    Water theft has a number of definitions. There is, of course, the point about whether a natural resource as fundamental as water can be owned as property and stolen, especially in regards to individuals “stealing water.” However, the term namely refers to agriculture and industry improperly siphoning off water on a large-scale and affecting the supply to others. According to the report, this is of particular concern because up to 70 percent of the planet’s water supply is used for agriculture.

    activities are highly profitable and water-intensive yet take place in regions where water can be scarce and unpredictable, creating the perfect ingredients for water theft.

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Scientists are trying to quantify the little understood carbon emissions from mountains.

    ‘Earth breathing’: mountain erosion a missing piece in the climate puzzle
    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/earth-breathing-mountain-erosion-missing-piece-climate-puzzle.html?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=video

    Tørrissen/Wikimedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
    Mountains release the same amount of carbon each year as volcanoes – about 100 megatons – and yet we know very little about the process. Understanding these emissions could tell us more about their effects on climate, both in the past and the future.

    Shifting tectonic plates under the Earth’s surface create volcanoes, which erupt in a profusion of gases and molten rock. But when plates slowly shift over time, they also give rise to mountains – and bring up carbon-emitting matter that has been buried under the surface for millennia.

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Luonnonvarat on pian käytetty – Sanna Hellström: ”Suomalaisten kulutukseen tarvittaisiin melkein neljä maapalloa”
    https://seura.fi/blogit-ja-kolumnit/sanna-hellstrom/luonnonvarat-on-pian-kaytetty-sanna-hellstrom-suomalaisten-kulutukseen-tarvittaisiin-melkein-nelja-maapalloa/

    ”Vaikka ennusteessa siintää positiivinen tulevaisuus, nykyinen ylikulutus ei voi jatkua seuraavaa sataa vuotta”, kirjoittaa Seuran kolumnisti, Korkeasaaren eläintarhan johtaja ja eläinlääkäri Sanna Hellström.

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Love the flame, not the fuel: should you give up cooking with gas?
    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/aug/28/love-the-flame-not-the-fuel-should-you-give-up-cooking-with-gas?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1598554091

    Beloved by chefs and home cooks alike, gas-burning stovetops come with drawbacks for human, financial and planetary health

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    It’s Not Just Cars That Make Pollution. It’s the Roads They Drive On, Too
    https://science.slashdot.org/story/20/09/03/1849258/its-not-just-cars-that-make-pollution-its-the-roads-they-drive-on-too?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29

    he smell of summer in Los Angeles, or any major city, is often tinged with asphalt. A freshly paved road or a new tar roof doesn’t just wrinkle your nose, however: A new study suggests fresh asphalt is a significant, yet overlooked, source of air pollution. In fact, the material’s contribution to one kind of particulate air pollution could rival or even exceed that of cars and trucks. “It’s a super cool paper,” says Allen Robinson, an environmental engineer at Carnegie Mellon University who was not involved with the research. “Asphalt could be a big, important contributor” to air pollution, he says. Air quality has improved over the past several decades in California and many other parts of the United States, largely because of cleaner exhaust from vehicles and power plants. Despite that, air pollution still contributes to many health problems — ranging from asthma to heart attacks. And many sources of air pollution continue to be a problem, from livestock emissions to volatile organic compounds from paints, cleaning products, and personal care products (especially those that contain fragrances, such as shampoo).

    It’s not just cars that make pollution. It’s the roads they drive on, too
    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/09/it-s-not-just-cars-make-pollution-it-s-roads-they-drive-too

    The smell of summer in Los Angeles, or any major city, is often tinged with asphalt. A freshly paved road or a new tar roof doesn’t just wrinkle your nose, however: A new study suggests fresh asphalt is a significant, yet overlooked, source of air pollution. In fact, the material’s contribution to one kind of particulate air pollution could rival or even exceed that of cars and trucks.

    “It’s a super cool paper,” says Allen Robinson, an environmental engineer at Carnegie Mellon University who was not involved with the research. “Asphalt could be a big, important contributor” to air pollution, he says.

    Air quality has improved over the past several decades in California and many other parts of the United States, largely because of cleaner exhaust from vehicles and power plants. Despite that, air pollution still contributes to many health problems—ranging from asthma to heart attacks.

    Yet, when scientists looked at all the known sources of air pollution in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas, they didn’t add up. Some sources had not yet been identified.

    “Asphalt was something that jumped out to us,” says Drew Gentner, an environmental engineer at Yale University who led the new study. The material, made from crude oil or similar substances, contains the kinds of semivolatile organic compounds that lead to some types of air pollution. There’s also a lot of it.

    The greatest amount of semivolatile organic compounds escaped when the pavement was heated to 140°C, the temperature of road-paving, the team reports in Science Advances. Emissions fell as the asphalt cooled, but remained constant and significant at 60°C, a typical temperature for asphalt in Los Angeles during the summer, for the duration of the 3-day experiment. This suggests that asphalt could be a long-lasting source of pollution, Gentner says.

    Sunshine was also important. Even moderate light caused a large increase in emissions regardless of temperature, although the reason is not clear. For road asphalt, emissions increased as much as 300% in moderate light.

    The researchers estimated the annual emissions from new paving and roofing in parts of Southern California. They calculate that molecules released from asphalt could lead to between 1000 and 2500 tons of particulate air pollution—compared with just 900 to 1400 tons from gasoline and diesel vehicles. (Both sources pale in comparison to volatile chemical products, such as pesticides, coatings, adhesives, cleaning agents, and personal care products, which together contribute 4500 to 9500 tons of particulate pollution per year.)

    It’s not necessarily the case that asphalt roads cause more total air pollution than cars, however. Gentner notes that vehicles also release harmful particles from combustion and exhaust gases that form ozone.

    “This is really one of the first papers that makes a quantitative connection between these gases from asphalt and aerosol formation in urban air,”

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Forests Lost To California Wildfires May Never Grow Back
    https://www.iflscience.com/environment/forests-lost-to-california-wildfires-may-never-grow-back/

    A study looking at 1,840 square kilometers (710 square) miles of burnt area throughout the Southern Rocky Mountains has concluded that many of the trees lost in the flames this summer may never return. Wildfires continue to rage across much of California and Colorado, and although many are mostly contained as of now, scientists fear that irreversible damage may have already been done to affected forestry.
    In a study published to Global Ecology and Biogeography, scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder found that changing conditions in the Southern Rocky Mountains will lead to just half of native tree species re-growing, with the projections being much worse if human greenhouse gas emissions stay constant.

    “We project that post-fire recovery will be less likely in the future, with large percentages of the Southern Rocky Mountains becoming unsuitable for two important tree species – ponderosa pine and Douglas fir,”

    The results were that just half the ground was suitable for recovery, with those at higher elevations and more rainfall likely to bounce back than areas of less nurturing conditions. When compared to previous studies from the same areas, the team discovered the forests are recovering slower, if at all, than they did before. Even 15 years after a fire, as many as 80 percent of the plots the researchers surveyed had no new trees.

    “This study and others clearly show that the resilience of our forests to fire has declined significantly under warmer, drier conditions,” said co-author Tom Veblen, professor of geography at CU Boulder. “The big takeaway here is that we can expect to have an increase in fire continue for the foreseeable future, and, at the same time, we are going to see much of our land convert from forest to non-forest,”

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://www.fortum.fi/espoo

    Fortum ja Espoon kaupunki ovat sitoutuneet hiilineutraaliin kaukolämmön tuotantoon Espoon, Kauniaisten ja Kirkkonummen alueella toimivassa kaukolämpöverkossa 2020-luvun aikana. Nyt kehitystyötä kiihdytetään asettamalla uudeksi välitavoitteeksi kivihiilestä luopuminen vuoden 2025 aikana. Kiihdytettyä hiilineutraalisuusprojektia kutsutaan nimellä Espoo Clean Heat.

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Sea-level rise from the polar ice sheets has been tracking the highest emission scenario from the IPCC AR5 report…

    Ice sheet melt on track with ‘worst-case climate scenario’
    https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Space_for_our_climate/Ice_sheet_melt_on_track_with_worst-case_climate_scenario

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    How the pandemic’s green fingerprints on freight transport could help clean the sector

    Pandemic freight emissions reached 2030 target in just months. How do we make the changes stick?
    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/pandemic-freight-emissions-reached-2030-target-just-months-how-do-we-make-changes-stick.html#utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=freight

    The pandemic left a visible imprint on car, bus and bicycle use – and at its height brought about cleaner city air – but it also disrupted another, less obvious but highly polluting sector: freight transport. Coronavirus plunged millions of planes, trucks, trains and ships into a massive experiment, disrupting supply chains as national borders closed and industries shut down. Researchers and industry are now looking to see if any of the changes will stick.

    Daily carbon emissions from EU freight transport dropped by 37% at the height of the pandemic, says Professor Alan McKinnon, a freight logistics expert at Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg, Germany. Coincidentally, he says, the EU freight transport sector achieved within two to three months the target the industry has set itself internationally for 2030.

    Reply
  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    BBC:
    Google says its carbon footprint is now zero, after becoming carbon neutral in 2007, and aims to run all data centers and offices on carbon-free energy by 2030 — Google says it has wiped out its entire carbon footprint by investing in “high-quality carbon offsets”.

    Google says its carbon footprint is now zero
    https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54141899

    Google says it has wiped out its entire carbon footprint by investing in “high-quality carbon offsets”.
    It became carbon-neutral in 2007 and says it has now compensated for all of the carbon it has ever created.
    It also aimed to run all of its data centres and offices on carbon-free energy by 2030, chief executive Sundar Pichai has announced.
    Other large technology companies have also committed to reducing or eliminating their carbon use.

    Mr Pichai said Google’s pledge to be using only carbon-free energy by 2030 was its “biggest sustainability moonshot yet”.
    “We’ll do things like pairing wind and solar power sources together and increasing our use of battery storage,” he said.
    “And we’re working on ways to apply AI [artificial intelligence] to optimise our electricity demand and forecasting.”
    The endeavour would create 12,000 jobs over the next five years, Mr Pichai added.

    “Today’s announcement, combined with Google’s promise in May to no longer create artificial intelligence solutions for upstream oil and gas exploration, shows that Google takes its role in combating climate change seriously,” said Elizabeth Jardim, senior corporate campaigner at Greenpeace USA.

    Environmentalists have welcomed yet another eye-catching commitment from a world-leading business to abolish the emissions that are damaging the planet. It’s becoming fashionable.
    But the claim to have “offset” all of Google’s historical carbon “debt” needs scrutiny.

    Google says it’s also monitoring the debate about so-called Nature Based Solutions, which involve activities such as planting trees to capture CO2. But the science on this is still contested.

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Justine Calma / The Verge:
    Facebook launches an information center to combat climate change misinformation and pledges to cut greenhouse gases from its global operations this year — It’s also working to bring more reliable climate information to its users — Facebook today pledged to slash greenhouse gases …

    Facebook boosts its climate commitments with pledge to cut greenhouse gases
    It’s also working to bring more reliable climate information to its users
    https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/15/21437208/facebook-climate-change-misinformation-greenhouse-gas-pledge?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4

    Reply
  26. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Experts issue warning that rising global temperatures may exceed crucial threshold within 5 years. http://on.forbes.com/6180Gp5Qr

    Reply
  27. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nämä eläinlajit kuolivat elinaikanasi – teimme muistokirjoitukset kadonneille eläimille
    https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11539397

    Selkärankaisia eläimiä on vähemmän kuin koskaan aiemmin ihmishistorian aikana.

    Reply
  28. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Pandemic freight emissions reached 2030 target in just months. How do we make the changes stick?
    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/pandemic-freight-emissions-reached-2030-target-just-months-how-do-we-make-changes-stick.html

    The pandemic left a visible imprint on car, bus and bicycle use – and at its height brought about cleaner city air – but it also disrupted another, less obvious but highly polluting sector: freight transport. Coronavirus plunged millions of planes, trucks, trains and ships into a massive experiment, disrupting supply chains as national borders closed and industries shut down. Researchers and industry are now looking to see if any of the changes will stick.

    Daily carbon emissions from EU freight transport dropped by 37% at the height of the pandemic, says Professor Alan McKinnon, a freight logistics expert at Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg, Germany. Coincidentally, he says, the EU freight transport sector achieved within two to three months the target the industry has set itself internationally for 2030.

    Reply
  29. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Kari Aulen Os Tarvainen:

    Ilmastoajattelun uskonnolliset piirteet:

    1) Omanlaisensa käsitys oikeasta ja väärästä: moraalijärjestelmä
    2) Syyllisyyden tunteet (lentohäpeä jne.) perustuen kohtaan 1
    3) Harhaoppisten tuomitseminen (olet denialisti)
    4) Uskonnollinen paatos/kiihko
    5) Opetus lopunajoista (maailma tuhoutuu koska CO2)
    6) Uskonnollisen tyyppiset aktiviteetit (kuten ilmastopaasto)
    7) Opetus elämän tarkoituksesta (luonnonsuojelu, “äiti maan palveleminen” eli gaia- uskonto
    8) Aneet (päästökauppa, kompensaatio)

    Reply
  30. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Year-on-year increases in temperature have moved well beyond fluctuations seen in the region’s history, indicating this “new Arctic” may now actually be its new normal.

    Global Warming Is Pushing The Arctic Into A New Climate State
    https://www.iflscience.com/environment/global-warming-is-pushing-the-arctic-into-a-new-climate-state/

    Reply
  31. Tomi Engdahl says:

    This puts 2020 on track to be one of the five warmest years on record.

    August 2020 Was The Northern Hemisphere’s Hottest Since Records Began
    https://www.iflscience.com/environment/august-2020-was-the-northern-hemispheres-hottest-since-records-began/

    The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began recording the global climate in 1880 and of the 141 global averages that have followed, August 2020 came in second since records began for over land and ocean surface temperatures. In a recent report, NOAA announced that this August was the Northern hemisphere’s hottest since they began monitoring global temperatures, adding yet another string to the forsaken bow that is 2020.

    The devastating victory saw the combined land and ocean surface temperatures smash the current record, as they increased by an average of 1.19°C (2.14°F) compared to the previous record set in 2016, which saw an increase of 0.03°C (0.05°F). Environmental scientists at NOAA fear the current numbers put 2020 on track to be one of the five warmest years on record.

    Reply
  32. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Sellutehtaiden savuissa muhii Suomen uusi kultasuoni – ratkaisisi valtavan ympäristöongelman ja toisi kymmeniä tuhansia työpaikkoja taantuville alueille
    https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11549972

    Suomalaistutkimuksen mukaan kymmenen sellutehtaan hiilidioksidista tehty synteettinen polttoaine riittäisi korvaamaan Suomen koko polttoaineen tarpeen ja tavaraa riittäisi vientiinkin.

    Reply
  33. Tomi Engdahl says:

    There’s A New Anti-Science Movement Creeping Into The Mainstream: Extinction Denialism
    https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/theres-a-new-antiscience-movement-creeping-into-the-mainstream-extinction-denialism/

    As if the resurgence of anti-vaxxers and climate change deniers weren’t causing enough facepalms and headaches, there’s a new anti-science movement in town. Scientists have recently warned about the creeping rise of “extinction denial,” an organized attempt to downplay the planet’s biodiversity crisis that’s being driven by “politically well-connected and well-funded antagonists seeking to sabotage evidence-based policy for political and/or financial gain.”

    The majority of scientists agree we’re currently witnessing the start of the planet’s sixth mass extinction event, a scale of biodiversity loss the planet has not seen since the extinction of the dinosaurs around 66 million years ago. Unlike other previous mass extinction events that were caused by colossal asteroids and ferocious volcanos, the event has a very clear cause: humans and their deforestation, poaching, culling, hunting, pollution, habitat destruction, the introduction of invasive species, and climate change.

    Reply
  34. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Climate Change Overtakes Antifa In Facebook Traffic Weeks Before Election Day
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/09/18/climate-change-overtakes-antifa-in-facebook-traffic-weeks-before-election-day/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696

    President Trump has made law and order a central part of his campaign, but data shows that climate change has overtaken Antifa—a far-left network that Trump has tried to designate a terrorist organization—in engagement on Facebook weeks before Election Day.

    Data from CrowdTangle, an analytics tool owned by Facebook, shows interest surged in May and June for Antifa, as protests erupted across the country over the killing of George Floyd and conservatives blamed the loosely defined network for rioting and looting.

    Since then, Facebook interactions on posts about Antifa has decreased, even as far-right groups on the platform attempted to spread false rumors that Antifa was behind the wildfires on the West Coast and the Trump campaign tried to tie Joe Biden to the left-wing network, without showing evidence. 

    Reply
  35. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nämä eläinlajit kuolivat elinaikanasi – teimme muistokirjoitukset kadonneille eläimille
    Selkärankaisia eläimiä on vähemmän kuin koskaan aiemmin ihmishistorian aikana.
    https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11539397

    Reply
  36. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ihmiskunta tienristeyksessä – YK:n jättiraportti maapallon tilasta: Tarvitaan kahdeksan massiivista muutosta luonnon tuhon pysäyttämiseksi
    https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11543430

    Laaja biodiversiteettiraportti muistuttaa, että päätöksillä, joita nyt teemme on perustavaa laatua olevat vaikutukset kaikille lajeille, omamme mukaan lukien.

    Reply
  37. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The “doomsday glacier” has the potential to devastate the globe.

    Study Finds Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Is Becoming More Unstable As It Melts
    https://www.iflscience.com/environment/study-finds-antarcticas-doomsday-glacier-is-becoming-more-unstable-as-it-melts/

    Nicknamed the “doomsday glacier”, the Thwaites glacier in western Antarctica has the potential to devastate the globe. About the size of Britain, NASA estimates state that if it melted it would increase sea levels by 0.5 meters (1.6 feet). More worrying, however, is the cascade of ice melt it would likely unleash, as the glaciers currently protected from the warming ocean by Thwaites’ presence would be exposed, causing a sea level rise that would sink New York City, Miami, and the Netherlands. It’s already retreating at an alarming rate

    Reply
  38. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Will Technology Help Extinguish Raging Fires in the West?
    https://www.designnews.com/design-software/will-technology-help-extinguish-raging-fires-west?ADTRK=InformaMarkets&elq_mid=14464&elq_cid=876648

    Technology is rising as a new hope in the era of very large fires.

    Recent fires in the west coast states of the US have spurred mass evacuations in California, Oregon, and Washington. Some of these fires have evolved into mega-fires that have turned blue skies to dark red. The most recent fires caused Portland, OR, to have the worse air quality on the entire planet. In terms of physical damage, the current California fires alone have burned over 3 million acres and claimed tens of lives.

    Reply
  39. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The path to becoming a carbon-neutral society involves making air travel greener. Hydrogen planes can be an alternative, but there are many challenges that the industry needs to address first

    Quiet and green: Why hydrogen planes could be the future of aviation
    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/quiet-and-green-why-hydrogen-planes-could-be-future-aviation.html#utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=Hydrogen_planes_repromo

    Today, aviation is responsible for 3.6% of EU greenhouse gas emissions. Modern planes use kerosene as fuel, releasing harmful carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But what if there was another way?

    One possible solution is to use a new type of fuel in planes that doesn’t produce harmful emissions – hydrogen. Long-touted as a sustainable fuel, hydrogen is now gaining serious traction as a possibility for aviation, and already tests are under way to prove its effectiveness.

    Planes using hydrogen would emit only water, and initial tests suggest they can be just as fast as traditional planes, carrying more than a hundred passengers per flight over thousands of kilometres. A recent report on the potential of hydrogen-powered aviation said such planes could enter the market as soon as 2035.

    There are still significant challenges to make this happen. But if they can be overcome, the future of aviation could be much greener than it is today and be a functioning component of a decarbonised world.

    Propellers

    Hydrogen planes would be similar aesthetically to traditional planes, albeit with a slightly longer length needed. Smaller planes would likely use propellers, with hydrogen-powered fuel cells providing electric propulsion to turn the propellers. Bigger planes could burn hydrogen to power jet engines.

    The hydrogen-powered aviation report, released on June 22, said that hydrogen could feasibly be used by 2035 to power a commercial passenger aircraft on a flight of up to 3,000 kilometres. By 2040 or beyond, a medium-range flight of up to 7,000 kilometres should also be possible, leaving just long-range flights for traditional aviation.

    Reply
  40. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Tutkimus: Koronarajoitusten leikkaamat CO2-päästöt eivät ole vähentäneet ilmakehän hiilidioksidipitoisuuksia – ”Rajoituksia pitäisi jatkaa vuosikymmenien ajan”
    https://tekniikanmaailma.fi/tutkimus-koronarajoitusten-leikkaamat-co2-paastot-eivat-ole-vahentaneet-ilmakehan-hiilidioksidipitoisuuksia-rajoituksia-pitaisi-jatkaa-vuosikymmenien-ajan/

    Ilmakehän hiilidioksipitoisuudet eivät ole uuden tutkimuksen mukaan laskeneet, vaikka ihmisten liikkuminen on huomattavasti vähentynyt ympäri maailmaa koronavirusrajoitusten myötä. Tämä johtuu tutkijoiden mukaan siitä, että hiilidioksidi on pitkään säilyvä kaasu ja jo teollistumisen alusta ilmakehään kasaantuneet suuret taustapitoisuudet estävät tällaisen lyhytaikaisen muutoksen näkymistä mittauksissa.

    ”Pienentyneistä päästöistä huolimatta mittauksemme osoittavat, että ilmakehän hiilidioksidipitoisuus ei ole vielä vähentynyt”

    Can We Measure a COVID-19-Related Slowdown in Atmospheric CO2 Growth? Sensitivity of Total Carbon Column Observations
    https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/15/2387

    The COVID-19 pandemic is causing projected annual CO2 emission reductions up to −8% for 2020. This approximately matches the reductions required year on year to fulfill the Paris agreement. We pursue the question whether related atmospheric concentration changes may be detected by the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON), and brought into agreement with bottom-up emission-reduction estimates. We present a mathematical framework to derive annual growth rates from observed column-averaged carbon dioxide (XCO2) including uncertainties.

    Reply
  41. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Kysely: Suomalaisista 80 prosenttia pitää elämäntapaansa ympäristön kannalta kestävänä – “Käytämme ilmastonmuutokseen osittaista torjuntaa”
    https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11556995

    Elämänsä kokevat ympäristön kannalta kestävänä sekä paljon ilmastotekoja tekevät että ne, jotka eivät tee juuri mitään.

    Suomalaisista noin 80 prosenttia pitää nykyistä elämäntapaansa ympäristön kannalta täysin tai jokseenkin kestävänä.

    Tämä selviää e2 Tutkimuksen ja Vaasan yliopiston InnoLabin tekemässä kansalaiskyselyssä.

    – Tulos oli aika yllättävä, jos peilataan sitä siihen, paljonko on keskivertosuomalaisen hiilijalanjälki

    Reply

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