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:

    Järkyttävä uusi simulaatio näyttää, miten Etelämantereen jääpeite sulaa aikanaan kokonaan, jos ilmaston lämpeneminen ei pysähdy
    https://tekniikanmaailma.fi/jarkyttava-uusi-simulaatio-nayttaa-miten-etelamantereen-jaapeite-sulaa-aikanaan-kokonaan-jos-ilmaston-lampeneminen-ei-pysahdy/

    ”Nämä ovat pitkän aikavälin ennusteita siitä, kuinka paljon jäätä Etelämanner on menettänyt ehkä 150 000 vuoden päästä. Vaikka me emme ole sitä näkemässä, se on karu varoitus siitä, että sulamista ei voida pysäyttää, ellemme voi viilentää planeettaamme takaisin esiteollisiin lämpötiloihin”, Shepherd sanoo.

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    This is what we can learn from the COVID-19 response when taking climate action for future generations.

    Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for tackling the climate crisis
    From uniting behind the science to the power of small actions.
    https://www.unicef.org/stories/lessons-covid-19-pandemic-tackling-climate-crisis

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Big Meat Is Selling Veggie Burgers—But It’s Still Destroying the Environment
    https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pkynky/big-meat-is-selling-veggie-burgers-but-its-not-because-they-care-about-you

    As the world’s largest meat producers launch plant-based products to compete with vegan start-ups, beware of those greenwashing for profit.

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    As bad as Covid-19 is, something worse might be on its way.

    While We Fixate On Coronavirus, Earth Is Hurtling Towards A Catastrophe Far Worse Than The Dinosaur Extinction
    https://www.iflscience.com/environment/while-we-fixate-on-coronavirus-earth-is-hurtling-towards-a-catastrophe-worse-than-the-dinosaur-extinction/

    My research suggests the current growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions is faster than those which triggered two previous mass extinctions, including the event that wiped out the dinosaurs.

    The world’s gaze may be focused on COVID-19 right now. But the risks to nature from human-made global warming – and the imperative to act – remain clear.

    Many species can adapt to slow, or even moderate, environmental changes. But Earth’s history shows that extreme shifts in the climate can cause many species to become extinct.

    Comparing greenhouse gas levels

    Before industrial times began at the end of the 18th century, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere sat at around 300 parts per million. This means that for every one million molecules of gas in the atmosphere, 300 were carbon dioxide.

    In February this year, atmospheric carbon dioxide reached 414.1 parts per million. Total greenhouse gas level – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide combined – reached almost 500 parts per million of carbon dioxide-equivalent

    Carbon dioxide is now pouring into the atmosphere at a rate of two to three parts per million each year.

    Using carbon records stored in fossils and organic matter, I have determined that current carbon emissions constitute an extreme event in the recorded history of Earth.

    My research has demonstrated that annual carbon dioxide emissions are now faster than after both the asteroid impact that eradicated the dinosaurs (about 0.18 parts per million CO2 per year), and the thermal maximum 55 million years ago (about 0.11 parts per million CO2 per year).

    The next mass extinction has begun

    Current atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide are not yet at the levels seen 55 million and 65 million years ago. But the massive influx of carbon dioxide means the climate is changing faster than many plant and animal species can adapt.

    A major United Nations report released last year warned around one million animal and plant species were threatened with extinction. Climate change was listed as one of five key drivers.

    The report said the distributions of 47% of land-based flightless mammals, and almost 25% of threatened birds, may already have been negatively affected by climate change.

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    By working together, waste from different industries can be used for new purposes

    How waste CO2 is helping to turn renewable energy into liquid fuel
    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/how-waste-co2-helping-turn-renewable-energy-liquid-fuel.html#utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=Industrial_symbiosis

    Storing power generated by strong winds or bright sunshine by turning it into liquid fuel such as methanol can help to ensure green energy does not go to waste, without having to rely on batteries.

    Methanol can be made from CO2 captured from industrial sources, combined with hydrogen split out of water using surplus renewable energy. And the resulting fuel can be used in cars or ships, reducing the use of fossil fuels as well as emissions of greenhouse gases.

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/how-waste-co2-helping-turn-renewable-energy-liquid-fuel.html#utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=Industrial_symbiosis

    Electrifying

    Hydrogen made from renewables has long been recognised as a clean fuel, but taking the extra step to make methanol provides a higher energy density product, without the technical demands of high-pressure storage and transport, or the need to provide new infrastructure for use by retail consumers.

    One hurdle to using renewable energy to split off the hydrogen from oxygen in water was the demand by some electrolysis systems for constant supplies of power. But using innovations such as polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) technology allows flexibility in adjusting to natural fluctuations in conditions.

    MefCO2 also paved the way for renewables to be harnessed by other carbon-emitting industries, such as steelmaking, where i-deals is coordinating the FReSMe project to produce methanol as a fuel for ocean-going ferries. Large-scale battery-powered engines may not be viable for such ships, but methanol may be accommodated readily.

    Renewable

    By meeting various standards, such as CO2 footprint reduction, methanol can be considered a renewable fuel, which can command a premium from businesses working to reduce their carbon emissions.

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    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, but new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences fears this rate could speed up as increasing damage was found to weaken the ice shelf’s integrity.

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Can Houseplants Really Clean the World’s Smoggiest City?
    CEO uses greenery to filter the filthy New Delhi air that doctors said was killing him
    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2014/12/141230-can-plants-really-clean-indias-air/

    On the roof of an office building in India’s capital, the world’s smoggiest city, Kamal Meattle has a unique tactic for cleaning the air: a greenhouse with 400 common plants, including mother-in-law’s tongue.

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The last time that global population declined was in the mid 14th century, and that was due to the Black Plague.

    https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/for-the-first-time-in-centuries-the-worlds-population-will-decline-in-next-few-decades/

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Michael Moore Presents: Planet of the Humans | Full Documentary | Directed by Jeff Gibbs
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk11vI-7czE

    Michael Moore presents Planet of the Humans, a documentary that dares to say what no one else will — that we are losing the battle to stop climate change on planet earth because we are following leaders who have taken us down the wrong road — selling out the green movement to wealthy interests and corporate America. This film is the wake-up call to the reality we are afraid to face: that in the midst of a human-caused extinction event, the environmental movement’s answer is to push for techno-fixes and band-aids. It’s too little, too late.

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Vastuullisiin rahastoihin virtasi viime vuonna ennätysmäärä pääomaa, ja koronakriisi on kiihdyttänyt kehitystä. Suursijoittajat painostavat yhtiöitä toimimaan kestävämmin, mutta miten luotettavaa vastuullisuuden mittaaminen oikeasti on?

    Ympäristöaktivisti kulkee nyt salkku kädessä – Pelastavatko sijoittajat maailman ilmastotuholta vai uhkaako meitä vihreä kupla?
    https://www.talouselama.fi/uutiset/ymparistoaktivisti-kulkee-nyt-salkku-kadessa-pelastavatko-sijoittajat-maailman-ilmastotuholta/dfef7288-f863-4185-a9e2-5a3dd7875ddf?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Suursijoittajat_ilmasto_25.9.&utm_content=Suursijoittajat_ilmasto_25.9.

    Vastuullisiin rahastoihin virtasi viime vuonna ennätysmäärä pääomaa, ja koronakriisi on kiihdyttänyt kehitystä. Suursijoittajat painostavat yhtiöitä toimimaan kestävämmin, mutta miten luotettavaa vastuullisuuden mittaaminen oikeasti on?

    ”Pahimmat ajat ovat todennäköisesti takana päin”, Saudi Aramcon toimitusjohtaja Amin Nasser totesi sijoittajapuhelussa elokuussa. Saudi-Arabian valtion öljyjätti on markkina-arvoiltaan maailman arvokkain yhtiö. Sen nettotulos kuitenkin puolittui tammi–kesäkuussa viime vuoteen verrattuna.

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Mietitkö, miksi kaikki puhuvat hiilijalanjäljen laskennasta? Lue 10 syytä, miksi sinunkin yrityksesi on aika ottaa päästöt haltuun. Älä odota, ole ratkaisu!

    https://greencarbon.fi/10-syyta-hiilijalanjaljen-laskentaan/

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Kun ihminen ahdistaa luonnon yhä ahtaammalle, eläimet voivat huonommin ja altistuvat myös taudeille eri tavoin kuin mihin ne ovat vuosituhansien saatossa tottuneet.

    Pandemian aiheuttanut koronavirus SARS-CoV-2 on syntynyt lepakoissa. Tutkimuksissa on havaittu, että normaalitilanteessa lepakot kykenevät vastustamaan tauteja ja elämään tasapainossa virusten kanssa, mutta stressaantuessaan niiden immuunijärjestelmä murtuu ja virustoleranssi heikkenee.

    Ihminen ja ilmastonmuutos antavat viruksille siivet
    https://www.tuni.fi/unit-magazine/artikkelit/ihminen-ja-ilmastonmuutos-antavat-viruksille-siivet?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=social+paid&utm_campaign=Unit+_korona_lokakuu-2020&utm_content=Korona+%2B18+tiede,+hyvinvointi,+korkeakoulututkinto_Ihminen+ja+ilmastonmuutos

    Eksoottiselta ja pelottavaltakin kalskahtava zoonoosi on mikrobien arkipäivää. Ihmisen toiminta ja ilmastonmuutos luovat eläimestä ihmiseen siirtyville viruksille, bakteereille ja loisille ennen näkemättömän hyvät olosuhteet levitä ympäri maailman.

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Denmark: We Can Slash CO2 By 70% In a Decade And Still Have Welfare
    https://yro.slashdot.org/story/20/09/29/225224/denmark-we-can-slash-co2-by-70-in-a-decade-and-still-have-welfare?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29

    Denmark said on Tuesday that it could reach its 2030 climate target of reducing emissions by 70%, one of the world’s most ambitious, without compromising its generous welfare benefits. Reuters reports:
    Last year, parties across the aisle passed a law committing Denmark to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% from 1990 levels, or around 20 million tons of CO2 equivalent, within 10 years. In a climate plan published on Tuesday, the government estimated that the annual cost of implementing the shift to greener technologies would rise to 16-24 billion Danish crowns ($2.5-$3.7 billion) by 2030 — or 0.7%-1.0% of gross domestic product.

    “Our ambitious climate goals are not without costs, but with a wise approach, the bill can be made smaller and managed so that we can afford both climate and welfare,”

    Denmark: We can slash CO2 by 70% in a decade and still have welfare
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-denmark/denmark-we-can-slash-co2-by-70-in-a-decade-and-still-have-welfare-idUSKBN26K27E?rpc=401&

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Waste CO2 from industry could be turned into methanol using renewable energy and water – just one example of the ‘industrial symbiosis’ that could make Europe’s industries more sustainable.

    How waste CO2 is helping to turn renewable energy into liquid fuel
    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/how-waste-co2-helping-turn-renewable-energy-liquid-fuel.html

    Storing power generated by strong winds or bright sunshine by turning it into liquid fuel such as methanol can help to ensure green energy does not go to waste, without having to rely on batteries.

    Methanol can be made from CO2 captured from industrial sources, combined with hydrogen split out of water using surplus renewable energy. And the resulting fuel can be used in cars or ships, reducing the use of fossil fuels as well as emissions of greenhouse gases.

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Europe’s forests are sitting on a pollution timebomb which could rewrite their ecology when it explodes, say researchers

    Forest darkness helps stave off effects of nitrogen pollution – but this is set to change
    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/forest-darkness-helps-stave-effects-nitrogen-pollution-set-change.html#utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=Forest

    Europe’s forests are sitting on a pollution timebomb which could rewrite their ecology when it explodes, say researchers.

    Delicate forest floor plants such as wood sorrel or violet, and the balance among the tree species that tower above them, are all threatened by decades of accumulated nitrogen pollution. A study has found that the darkness of the forest has subdued the effects of nitrogen. But forests are destined to let in more light in the future as trees succumb to drought and disease.

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Texas-based power provider Vistra will retire its entire fleet of coal plants in Illinois and Ohio by 2027 as part of its plan to reinvent itself as a renewable energy and battery company.

    Power Company Will Shut All Of Its Illinois And Ohio Coal Plants By 2027
    http://on.forbes.com/6185GLmI7

    A major power producer and retailer, Vistra had acquired several of the plants in 2018 after merging with energy company Dynegy. But like scores of other power companies before it, Vistra has struggled to make the coal plants profitable amid a surge in supply of natural gas, falling electricity prices, and newly competitive wind and solar farms. It also faced tightening environmental restrictions that would have forced onerous new investments to reign in pollutants.

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Introducing the Green Premiums
    https://www.gatesnotes.com/Energy/Introducing-the-Green-Premiums?WT.mc_id=20200929100000_Green-Premiums_CTRIFLS-FB_&WT.tsrc=CTRIFLSFB

    Over the past several years, I’ve been making the case that we have to eliminate global carbon emissions. To avoid the worst effects of climate change, we need new zero-carbon ways to generate electricity, grow food, make things, move around, and keep warm and cool.

    But knowing what we need to accomplish is very different from knowing how to do it—or even whether we can.

    Do we have everything we need to deliver enough affordable electricity for the world, or do we need more innovation? What about things like clean fuels, steel, and cement—are they viable options yet? In short, which clean sources are effective enough and cheap enough now, and which ones aren’t yet?

    Understanding the answers to these questions will help us make sure we’re putting our best minds and resources on the toughest problems in climate and energy. In my view it boils down to one issue: What is the difference in cost between a product that involves emitting carbon and an alternative that doesn’t? This difference in cost is what I call the Green Premium, and understanding it is key to making progress on climate change. (It is also a central idea in my book about climate change, which will come out in February.)

    Here’s an example of a Green Premium: The average retail price for a gallon of jet fuel in the United States over the past few years has been around $2.22, while advanced biofuels for jets cost around $5.35 per gallon. The Green Premium is the difference between the two, which is $3.13, or an increase of more than 140 percent.

    Since airlines would not be willing to pay more than twice as much to fuel their planes—and many customers would balk at the resulting increase in air fares—the Green Premium on biofuels suggests that we need to find ways to either make them cheaper or make jet fuel more expensive. Or a combination of the two.

    Unfortunately, calculating Green Premiums is not an exact science. It involves making assumptions about the cost of emerging technologies, for example, that well-informed people can disagree about. It is also important to note that one reason the Green Premiums exist is that the prices of fossil fuels don’t factor in the damage they inflict by making the planet warmer. In many cases, clean alternatives appear more expensive because fossil fuels are artificially cheap.

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Want to stop plastic polluting the oceans? Stop eating fish
    https://www.wired.co.uk/article/plastic-pollution-fishing

    Cigarette butts and fishing nets are clogging up oceans and the insides of marine life. Here’s what you can do to stop that happening

    The ocean cleanup device designed by the Dutch inventor Boyan Slat has finally ensnared its first pieces of plastic after several abortive attempts. But inventions can only skim the surface of the world’s gargantuan plastic waste problem.

    The trouble is, once plastics are in the ocean, there’s no easy way to remove them. Rather than biodegrade, plastics simply shred into ever tinier parts that end up entering the marine food chain and our fresh water systems.

    This is the crux of why cleanup devices will struggle to tackle the issue in a meaningful way. “The smaller plastic – how do you remove something that small?” says Imogen Napper, a marine scientist who focuses on ocean plastic waste. “It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and then trying to remove that needle.”

    Over 300 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year, and eight million tonnes of that ends up clogging our oceans. Really, the best thing humanity can do is to prevent plastic waste from leaching into our water supplies in the first place.

    What are the most effective ways to do this? Supping from a plastic straw or lugging flimsy plastic shopping bags has reached peak public shame status. But while nightmarish images of the 700,000 km squared Great Pacific Garbage Patch are seared into our collective consciousness, have we been pointing the finger at the wrong culprits all along?

    It’s estimated that if all the plastic straws littering the beaches in the world were washed into the ocean they would still only account for 0.03 per cent of ocean plastic waste. What makes up a far more substantial 20 per cent of ocean waste? Fishing equipment.

    Here are some of the biggest sources of plastic waste we’re less familiar with and what we can do to cut down.

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Kaivostoiminta Suomessa on ollut kansalaiskeskustelun aiheena, koska suuri osa kaivostoiminnan taloudellisesta hyödystä menee ulkomaalaisille yhtiöille ja Luonnonsuojeluliiton mukaan ”kaikesta Suomen jätteestä 75 prosenttia syntyy louhinnan ja kaivostoiminnan yhteydessä”.
    https://www.iltalehti.fi/politiikka/a/b4dadaa7-136d-40e4-8f4c-648a1d54d03f

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Why Degrowth Is the Worst Idea on the Planet
    Despite still growing over the last 50 years, we already figured out how to reduce our impact on Earth. So let’s do that.
    https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-why-degrowth-is-the-worst-idea-on-the-planet/

    For half a century, we’ve been told that we had to embrace degrowth in order to save our planet. We haven’t listened. Around the world, human populations and economies have continued to grow at rates that are virtually unprecedented in the history of our species.

    Over that same span, an unexpected and encouraging pattern has emerged: The world’s richest countries have learned how to reduce their footprint on Earth. They’re polluting less, using less land and water, consuming smaller amounts of important natural resources, and doing better in many other ways. Some of these trends are also now visible in less affluent countries.

    However, many in the degrowth movement seem to have trouble taking yes for an answer. The claims I just made are widely resisted or ignored. Some say they’ve been debunked. Of course, debate over empirical claims like these is normal and healthy. Our impact on our planet is hugely important. But something less healthy is at work here. As Upton Sinclair put it, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” Some voices in the conversation about the environment seem wedded to the idea that degrowth is necessary, and they are unwilling or unable to walk away from it, no matter the evidence.

    But evidence remains a powerful way to persuade the persuadable. The one thing everyone agrees on is that the last 50 years have been a period of growth, not degrowth. In fact, growth has never been faster, except for the 25-year rebuilding period after World War II. The population and economic growth rates of the past half-century are remarkably fast by historical standards. Between 1800 and 1945, for example, the world’s economy grew less than 1.5 percent per year, on average. Between 1970 and 2019, that average increased to almost 3.5 percent.

    It’s natural to assume that, as this growth continued, every nation’s planetary footprint would only increase.

    The evidence is overwhelming that rich countries cleaned up their air pollution much more than they outsourced it. For one, a great deal of air pollution comes from highway vehicles and power plants, and rich countries haven’t outsourced driving and generating electricity to low-income ones. In fact, high-income countries haven’t even offshored most of their industry. The US and UK both manufacture more than they did 50 years ago (at least until the Covid-19 pandemic sharply reduced output), and Germany has been a net exporter since 2000 while continuing to drive down air pollution. The rest of the world has been exporting its manufacturing pollution to Germany (to use degrowthers’ phrasing), yet Germans are breathing cleaner air than they were 20 years ago.

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    Rich countries have reduced their air pollution not by embracing degrowth or offshoring, but instead by enacting and enforcing smart regulation. As economists Joseph Shapiro and Reed Walker concluded in a 2018 study about the US, “changes in environmental regulation, rather than changes in productivity and trade, account for most of the emissions reductions.” Research about the cleanup of US waters also concludes that well-designed and enforced regulations have successfully reduced pollution.

    It is true that the US and other rich countries now import lots of products from China and other nations with higher pollution levels. But if there were no international trade at all, and rich countries had to rely exclusively on their domestic industries to make everything they consume, they’d still have much cleaner air and water than they did 50 years ago. As a 2004 Advances in Economic Analysis and Policy study summarized: “We find no evidence that domestic production of pollution-intensive goods in the US is being replaced by imports from overseas.”

    The rich world’s success at decoupling growth from pollution is an inconvenient fact for degrowthers. Even more inconvenient is China’s recent success at doing the same. China’s export-led, manufacturing-heavy economy has been growing at meteoric rates, but between 2013 and 2017 air pollution in densely populated areas declined by more than 30 percent. Here again the government mandated and monitored pollution declines and so decoupled growth from an important category of environmental harm.

    Prosperity Bends the Curve

    China’s progress with air pollution is heartening, but it’s not surprising to most economists. It’s a clear example of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in action. Named for the economist Simon Kuznets, EKC posits a relationship between a country’s affluence and the condition of its environment. As GDP per capita rises from an initial low level, so too does environmental damage; but as affluence continues to increase, the harms level off and then start to decline. The EKC is clearly visible in the pollution histories of today’s rich countries, and it’s now taking shape in China and elsewhere.

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Climate Change Has A Multi-Trillion Dollar Cost That Economic Models Leave Out
    https://www.iflscience.com/environment/climate-change-has-a-multitrillion-dollar-cost-that-economic-models-leave-out/

    When economists attempt to calculate the financial cost of future global heating they conclude it is far greater than the price of prevention. Nevertheless, new research has shown the true cost is likely to be higher still because these models are based around rising average temperatures. They miss the fact increasing greenhouse gasses will also cause wider and more unpredictable variations in temperatures, something societies built on predictability are ill-equipped for.

    “When we cause a system like the Earth’s climate to warm, it does not warm smoothly and uniformly,”

    One implication of their work is the same one almost every paper on climate change reaches, the authors conclude: we need to be working harder to reduce greenhouse emissions. The other is to ready ourselves for fluctuations, for example with more robust food supplies and storage capable of lasting out longer bad periods.

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Kiina sitoutui todella kovaan ilmastotavoitteeseen – suomalaisasiantuntija luottaa lupaukseen: ”Se on käänteentekevä muutos,”
    https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/4965da50-59e6-4a9e-94a4-7b8cb6516106

    Xi lupasi, että tästä eteenpäin Kiina ottaisi ilmastonmuutoksen vastaisen taistelun tosissaan. Ja että jättivaltio olisi hiilineutraali viimeistään vuonna 2060.

    – Se on käänteentekevä muutos. Kiinan ilmoitus on merkittävin ilmastouutinen Pariisin sopimuksen jälkeen,

    Korona saattaakin jäädä kakkoseksi, kun tulevaisuudessa arvotetaan vuoden 2020 uutisia. Kiinan ilmoitus kääntää mahdollisesti koko planeetan kurssin.

    – Yksin tämä Kiinan hiilineutraaliustavoite leikkaa maailman keskilämpötilan nousua 0,2–0,3 astetta. Se on merkittävä siivu suhteessa koko maailman tavoitteeseen (nousun rajoittaminen 1,5 asteeseen), Tynkkynen jatkaa.

    – Lupaus on uskottava sekä poliittisesti että teknisesti. On selvityksiä, joiden mukaan Kiina voisi halutessaan olla hiilineutraali jo 2050. Ne ratkaisut ovat jo olemassa.

    2050 on myös EU:n tavoite. Suomi on paaluttanut oman hiilineutraaliutensa jo vuoteen 2035, eikä Kiinan ilmoituksen jälkeen oikein kenelläkään pitäisi olla enää nokan koputtamista sen suhteen.

    - Kiinalla on tapana antaa sellaisia lupauksia, jotka se varmasti pystyy toteuttamaan.

    Kiina ja EU katsovat nyt samaan suuntaan hiilidioksidipäästöjen vähentämisessä. Suuri kysymysmerkki on Yhdysvallat, joka on Trumpin kaudella irtautunut esimerkiksi Pariisin sopimuksesta.

    Reply
  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    WWF:n raportti: Maapallo ei kestä nykyisen kaltaista ruokavaliota – Asiantuntija: Vegaaniksi ei ketään pakoteta
    https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-11586001?utm_source=facebook-share&utm_medium=social

    Maailman luonnonsäätiö WWF:n kävi läpi 75 maan ravitsemussuositukset ja löysi niistä ympäristön kannalta ongelmia.

    Nykyistä vähemmän lihaa ja maitotuotteita sekä enemmän kasviksia. Siinä pelkistettynä tulevaisuuden suositeltu ruokavalio, jonka noudattaminen ottaisi huomioon maapallon kantokyvyn ja luonnon monimuotoisuuden säilymisen.

    WWF ja Oxfordin yliopisto tarkastelivat 75 maan kansallisia ravitsemussuosituksia. Vastikään julkaistussa raportissa todetaan, että länsimaissa kansallisten ravitsemussuositusten mukaan syöminen ei vielä takaa ruokavalion ympäristöystävällisyyttä.

    – Yleisesti ottaen suositukset eivät tarpeeksi ohjaa syömään sellaista ruokaa, jonka tuotanto olisi ympäristölle kestävää. Suositukset ovat yhä liian lihapitoisia, kiteyttää WWF:n suojeluasiantuntija Mari Koistinen.

    Ruoantuotannon ongelmat ovat globaaleja, mutta niiden ratkaisut paikallisia.

    Suomen nykyisissäkin ravitsemussuosituksissa suositaan kasvis- ja lähiruokaa. Koistinen muistuttaa, että suositukset eivät ole määräyksiä vaan ennemminkin suuntaviivoja ruokavalion suunnittelemisen avuksi.

    Myös Sebastian Hielm rauhoittelee lihan ystäviä.

    – Ravitsemusneuvottelukunta tai mikään ministeriö ei ole käskemässä ketään vegaaniksi. Mutta jos tekee ravitsemuksen kannalta hyviä valintoja, ne kulkevat usein käsi kädessä myös ympäristöystävällisyyden kanssa.

    Suomen kansalliset ravitsemussuositukset tehdään pohjoismaisten suositusten pohjalta

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    NASA CALLS AFRICA FIRE CONTINENT, IS HOME TO 70 PERCENT OF ALL THE WORLD’S FIRES
    https://www.firstpost.com/tech/science/nasa-calls-africa-fire-continent-is-home-to-70-percent-of-all-the-worlds-fires-7247161.html

    There are around 6,000 fires in Angola, more than 3,000 in Congo and just over 2,000 fires in Brazil.

    As the world has watched with fear and fascination the fires burning in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, satellite images show a far greater number of blazes on the African continent.

    NASA has called Africa the “fire continent” that’s home to at least 70 percent of the 10,000 fires burning worldwide on an average August day, though the agency says the number of fires is consistent from year to year.

    While French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is considering launching an international campaign to help sub-Saharan African countries fight fires, experts say the situation there is different and not yet a growing problem — though it could become a threat in future.

    “There are fire management questions in these (African) ecosystems, but fire is part of their ecology,” said Archibald, who studies fire management and savanna dynamics. “In South America, the equivalent non-forest woodlands have been largely converted to soybean agriculture already, but in Africa they are largely untransformed.”

    Savanna fires release carbon dioxide, but within a year the grass regrows, sucking much of the carbon out of the atmosphere again. The fires may push toward the forests, but are mostly snuffed out at that border, Archibald said, unless trees are cut down making tropical forests more vulnerable. When a tropical forest is burned, the trees die and the carbon dioxide goes up and doesn’t return to the system quickly.

    “The main message is: yes we have a lot of fire, but it’s not bad and can be very good for the ecology,” she said. “We don’t know how many deforestation fires we have but the best evidence is that our forests are not decreasing, they are in fact increasing.”

    Reply
  26. Tomi Engdahl says:

    “Liian vähälle huomiolle on jäänyt, että asuminen muodostaa itse asiassa suurimman osan päästöistä”, kirjoittaa Tuomas Viljamaa.

    #energiansäästöviikko

    Energiatehokkuuden parantaminen on välttämätöntä – kepin lisäksi tarvitaan porkkanaa
    https://www.kotitalolehti.fi/blogi/energiatehokkuuden-parantaminen-on-valttamatonta-kepin-lisaksi-tarvitaan-porkkanaa/#

    Suomi on sitoutunut olemaan hiilineutraali vuoteen 2035 mennessä. Myös monet kaupungit ovat asettaneet omia hiilineutraalisuustavoitteitaan, jotka ovat hyvin kunnianhimoisia. Tavoitteet ovat kovat, mutta varsinaiset toimenpiteet niiden saavuttamiseksi ovat suurelta osin epäselvät.

    Hiilijalanjäljen pienentämisessä julkinen keskustelu keskittyy hyvin voimakkaasti liikenteen päästöihin ja erityisesti lentämiseen. Liian vähälle huomiolle on jäänyt, että asuminen muodostaa itse asiassa suurimman osan päästöistä. Asumisen osuus on jopa 40 prosenttia.

    Kun halutaan tehdä vaikuttavia toimenpiteitä, pitää luonnollisesti keskustella niistä asioista, joissa on suurimmat päästöt, koska niistä saadaan myös suurimmat hyödyt.

    Taloyhtiöiden energiatehokkuuden parantaminen ja kiinteistöjen hyvä hoito sekä hallinto ovatkin avainasemassa myös hiilineutraaliuden edistämisessä. Taloyhtiöissä asuu yli puolet suomalaisista, noin 2,7 miljoona ihmistä. Taloyhtiöiden aseman merkitys pitää nostaa aivan eri tavalla framille.

    Valtio on rakentanut energiatehokkuusremontteihin energia-avustusjärjestelmän. Avustuksia myöntää Asumisen rahoitus- ja kehittämiskeskus ARA. Avustusmuoto on näillä näkymin loppumassa vuoteen 2022.

    Hyvä mahdollisuus pitkäjänteisyyteen olisi asuntopoliittinen kehittämisohjelma, jota tehdään juuri tällä hetkellä vuosille 2021–2028.

    Hyvin hoidettu taloyhtiö on hyväksi myös ympäristölle.

    Energiaremontti säästää rahaa, joten miksi niitä ei tehdä enemmän?
    https://www.kotitalolehti.fi/energiaremontti-saastaa-rahaa-joten-miksi-niita-ei-tehda-enemman/

    Reply
  27. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Asbestos could be a powerful weapon against climate change (you read that right)
    https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/10/06/1009374/asbestos-could-be-a-powerful-weapon-against-climate-change-you-read-that-right/?utm_medium=tr_social&utm_campaign=site_visitor.unpaid.engagement&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1602302576

    Scientists are exploring ways to use mineral waste from mines to pull huge amounts of carbon dioxide out of the air.

    The vast surface area of certain types of fibrous asbestos, a class of carcinogenic compounds once heavily used in heat-resistant building materials, makes them particularly good at grabbing hold of the carbon dioxide molecules dissolved in rainwater or floating through the air.

    That includes the most common form of asbestos, chrysotile, a serpentine mineral laced throughout the mountain (serpentine is California’s state rock). The reaction with carbon dioxide mainly produces magnesium carbonate minerals like magnesite, a stable material that could lock away the greenhouse gas for millennia.

    Climate change/Carbon sequestration
    Asbestos could be a powerful weapon against climate change (you read that right)
    Scientists are exploring ways to use mineral waste from mines to pull huge amounts of carbon dioxide out of the air.

    by James Templearchive page
    October 6, 2020
    Walking to collect samples.
    A shuttered asbestos mine site on San Benito Mountain, near Coalinga, California.
    ROGER AINES, LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LAB
    On a scorching day this August, Caleb Woodall wielded his shovel like a spear, stabbing it into the hardened crust of an asbestos-filled pit near Coalinga, California.

    Woodall, a graduate student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, was digging out samples from an asbestos mine that’s been shuttered since 1980, a Superfund site on the highest peak in the state’s Diablo Range. He extracted pounds of the material from several locations across San Benito Mountain, shoveled them into Ziploc bags, and shipped them to a pair of labs for analysis.

    He and his colleagues are trying to determine the makeup and structure of the materials pulled from the pits, and to answer two critical questions: How much carbon dioxide do they contain—and how much more could they store?

    The vast surface area of certain types of fibrous asbestos, a class of carcinogenic compounds once heavily used in heat-resistant building materials, makes them particularly good at grabbing hold of the carbon dioxide molecules dissolved in rainwater or floating through the air.

    That includes the most common form of asbestos, chrysotile, a serpentine mineral laced throughout the mountain (serpentine is California’s state rock). The reaction with carbon dioxide mainly produces magnesium carbonate minerals like magnesite, a stable material that could lock away the greenhouse gas for millennia.

    Woodall and his advisor Jennifer Wilcox, a carbon removal researcher, are among a growing number of scientists exploring ways to accelerate these otherwise slow reactions in hopes of using mining waste to fight climate change. It’s a handy carbon-capturing trick that may also work with the calcium- and magnesium-rich by-products of nickel, copper, diamond, and platinum mining.

    The initial hope is to offset the ample carbon emissions from mining itself using these minerals already extracted in the process.

    The initial hope is to offset the ample carbon emissions from mining itself using these minerals already extracted in the process. But the real hope is that this early work allows them to figure out how to effectively and affordably dig up minerals, potentially including asbestos, specifically for the purpose of drawing down vast amounts of greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

    “Decarbonizing mines in the next decade is just helping us to build confidence and know-how to actually mine for the purpose of negative emissions,”

    Accelerating a very slow cycle
    The UN’s climate panel found that any scenario that doesn’t warm the planet by more than 1.5 ˚C will require nearly eliminating emissions by midcentury, as well as removing 100 billion to 1 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air this century. Keeping warming below 2˚ C could necessitate sucking out 10 billion tons a year by 2050 and 20 billion annually by 2100, a study by the National Academies found.

    That’s such a giant amount that we’ll almost certainly need to use a variety of methods to get anywhere close, including planting trees and increasing carbon uptake in agricultural soils. The particular promise of using minerals to pull down carbon dioxide is that it can be done on a massive scale—and would effectively store it away forever.

    Mineralization is already the main mechanism nature uses in the so-called “slow carbon cycle.” The carbon dioxide in rainwater dissolves basic rocks, producing magnesium, calcium, and other compounds that make their way into the oceans. There, marine life converts the materials into shells and skeletons that eventually turn into limestone and other rock types.

    There are more than enough minerals to tie up all the carbon dioxide we’ve ever emitted and more. The problem is that the vast majority are locked away in solid rock that doesn’t come into contact with the greenhouse gas.

    Even when they’re exposed in rock outcroppings, it takes a long time for these reactions to occur.

    But a variety of interventions can transform the natural slow carbon cycle into a faster one. Those include physical processes like simply digging up the materials, grinding them down into finer particles, and spreading them in thin layers, all of which increases the reactive surface area exposed to carbon dioxide. There are also ways to speed up the chemical reactions by adding heat or compounds like acids.

    “This is the giant, untapped opportunity that could remove enormous amounts of CO2,”

    The right recipe
    Dipple is exploring a variety of ways to do this.

    Because the proposed operation would run primarily on hydroelectric power, they estimate that putting to use just 30% of the most reactive tailings from the mines would make the operation carbon neutral. Using about 50% would make it carbon negative.

    Reply
  28. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The Progressivism of the Future Is Really Just the Socialism of the Past
    https://mises.org/wire/progressivism-future-really-just-socialism-past

    The world is currently in the midst of a newly aggressive drive to bring about a new socialist order through a powerful and “efficient” technocratic state. This new order has been labeled as “progressive,” but it is merely the latest version of the socialist impulse which we have seen before in the form of socialism and communism.

    This vision of progressivism requires:

    Government and labor representation on the board of every corporation
    Sharing the profits of public service companies
    Government ownership of the means of communication
    Government ownership of the means of transportation
    A comprehensive system of old age pension
    Government ownership of all healthcare
    Full labor protection and governmental arbitration of industrial disputes

    Beyond that, other demands and programs put forth and realized by the progressive movement have included eugenics, population and birth control, family planning, prohibition, antitrust legislation, public education, central banking, and an income tax.

    These echo of the planks of the Communist Manifesto, which included demands to

    Centralize the means of communications and to put the means of transport in the hand of the state
    Extend the control of the state across the factories and over all land
    Implement a heavy progressive income tax and abolish the rights of inheritance
    Centralize credit in the hands of the state and establish a central bank of an exclusive monetary monopoly

    Socialism in Disguise
    Guiding mankind to heaven on earth by transforming society is the quintessential message of socialism, beginning with the “utopian socialism” of the nineteenth century and leading up to our time with the demand for a “concrete utopia.” Yet different from the Marxist mythology that socialism would be the unstoppable successor of capitalism, history shows that the “socialist phenomenon” has appeared time and again throughout history.

    Reply
  29. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Australia cannot expect China to import and burn coal it no longer needs
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/11/australia-cannot-expect-china-to-import-and-burn-coal-it-no-longer-needs

    We have to prepare for this shift and our policymakers need to stop misleading coalmining communities on the outlook

    The prevailing narrative is that the diplomatic and trade dispute between China and Australia is threatening coal exports and we should expect a return to business as usual once the spat ends.

    Nothing could be further from the truth.

    It is an historical accident that China became a large importer of coal, which China’s government has been seeking to correct since the global financial crisis. These efforts are bearing fruit and Australian coal exports will continue to suffer as China’s focus on producing more energy domestically displaces Australian exports.

    accept that we cannot expect China to import and burn coal it no longer needs

    China consumes around 3.2bn tonnes of coal a year, of which only 267m tonnes are imported.

    China seems to be intensifying these efforts in its “blue sky war” to better use its own resources and push for more renewables in the sunny and windy western provinces, combined with ultra high-voltage power transmission to get it to the coast. This should reduce coal demand by about 18.4% by 2025, or more than four times what China imports, according to the State Grid Research Institute. These plans have become more aggressive over time as the cost of renewables have fallen and China’s middle class values breathable air more than bragging about steel output numbers. There is no reason to expect any of those trends to change.

    Reply
  30. Tomi Engdahl says:

    A massive long-term study in the US has found a clear link between air pollution and an increased risk of several neurodegenerative diseases.

    Strong Link Found Between Air Pollution And Alzheimer’s, Dementia
    https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/strong-link-found-between-air-pollution-and-alzheimers-dementia/

    A massive long-term study in the US has found a clear link between air pollution and an increased risk of several neurodegenerative diseases that affect memory and cognitive ability, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and other forms of dementia.

    This relationship between smog and neurological disorders has been hinted at before, however, the new study published in The Lancet Planetary Health is notable for its scale and the finding that even levels of air pollution considered safe are still linked to an elevated risk of neurological disorders.

    kept tabs on how much air pollution each person was exposed to by looking at PM2.5 concentrations by zip code.

    Particulate matter (PM) is a way of measuring levels of pollution in the air. PM2.5 is particulate matter in the air that’s less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, so particularly fine pollution like soot and ash that’s been coughed out by vehicle engines, fossil fuel plants, and the burning of fuels. Inhaling these particles is known to be linked to a number of health effects, namely associated with the cardiovascular system, as they’re small enough to enter the blood circulatory system. They are also known to have some link to brain atrophy and physical changes in the brain like the ones seen in Alzheimer’s.

    After accounting for factors such as age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, the study found with each 5 microgram per cubic meter of air increase in annual PM2.5 concentrations, there was a 13 percent increased risk for first-time hospital admissions for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and related dementias. This risk remained elevated even when air pollution was below the safe levels of PM2.5 exposure set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards.

    Reply
  31. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ilmansaasteet tappoivat puoli miljoonaa vauvaa viime vuonna
    https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/103626c2-8378-4c7f-973b-6b3629601fca

    Kaksi kolmasosaa vastasyntyneiden vauvojen kuolemista johtuu huonolaatuisesta sisäilmasta, joka vaikuttaa sikiöiden terveydentilaan jo kohdussa.

    Kaiken kaikkiaan ilmansaasteet tappoivat raportin mukaan viime vuonna eri puolilla maailmaa 6,7 miljoonaa ihmistä. Ilmansaasteet ovat nyt neljänneksi yleisin kuolinsyy korkean verenpaineen, tupakoinnin ja huonon ravitsemuksen jälkeen.

    Reply
  32. Tomi Engdahl says:

    How hybrid electric and fuel aircraft could green air travel
    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/how-hybrid-electric-and-fuel-aircraft-could-green-air-travel.html#utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=hybrid_planes

    With air traffic set to increase 5% every year until 2030, scientists are looking at how to make aeroplanes more sustainable. But with current batteries making electric aircraft far too heavy, hybrid fuel and electric models could point the way forward for greener air travel – and could become airborne within 15 years.

    Aviation contributes significantly to the European economy, generating more than €500bn per year and supporting 9.3 million jobs. But it also has an environmental impact that needs to be tackled. Flying is responsible for more than 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions and about 3% in Europe. More sustainable aeroplanes are needed to meet the European Union’s target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

    And with the industry being hit hard by the pandemic, causing a drop in air traffic, making air travel sustainable is seen as key to Europe’s recovery.

    Developing hybrid-electric aircraft could be part of the solution. Similar to hybrid cars, the technology combines two sources of power, typically fuel and an electric battery or hydrogen fuel cell.

    ‘By hybridising sources, you can reduce the fuel burn of aircraft and therefore the environmental impact,’ said Dr Xavier Roboam, a senior scientist and deputy director at the LAPLACE lab at the University of Toulouse in France. ‘It’s the first step before the final step, which may be zero-emission, fully-electric aircraft.’

    Reply
  33. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Earth’s civilization has a “very low probability” of surviving the next few decades without facing a catastrophic collapse.

    https://www.iflscience.com/environment/chances-of-societal-collapse-in-next-few-decades-is-sky-high-modelling-suggests/

    Reply
  34. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Easter Island Shows Why Humanity Will Be Extinct Within 100 Years
    https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/the-example-of-easter-island-shows-why-humanity-will-be-extinct-within-a-100-years?utm_medium=Social&facebook=1&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1604540645

    We’re about to kick off the sixth great extinction event. And we’ll follow shortly after.

    Like any other system, capitalism has its positive and negative qualities. Inarguably, it has lifted nearly a billion across the globe out of extreme poverty, between 1990 and 2010. But as with other socioeconomic systems of the past, such as with feudalism, a time can come when revolutionary changes make such systems anachronistic. So too has capitalism’s time come, at least the kind which exploits the biosphere.

    A more sophisticated system must replace it. One reason is because we are on the verge of a technological shift which will make almost all working and middle class jobs obsolete within the next 25 years or so. Currently, middle and working class families are already getting squeezed in developed countries. Their wages have remained stagnant for decades while costs have steadily risen.

    Today, 15% of the US population is below the poverty line. If you include children under age 18, the number is 20%. All the gains in productivity over the last several decades have gone to the top one percent of income earners, while the economic prospects for the vast majority stagnated or worsened. Then there’s the environmental impact. We’re about to kick off the sixth great extinction event, and we’ll follow shortly after.

    10% of all animals and plants will vanish from the Earth by 2050, according to biologists from Leeds University in the UK. That’s over a million species, all due to human enterprises, leading to what’s being called anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD). Say goodbye to leatherback turtles, rhinos, elephants, and almost every large predator. There’s a reason why the “Doomsday Clock,” which used to predict the likelihood of nuclear annihilation, is now two minutes and thirty seconds from midnight. It crept closer by half a minute last January.

    Deforestation, infrastructure projects, overfishing, commercial agriculture, and widespread usage of fossil fuels are together, causing an extinction rate 1,000 times faster than all other events in the last 65 million years. Overfishing alone is set to erase commercial fishing by 2050, as marine environments will no longer be able to replenish themselves. No one knows how this will effect world ecosystems or human populations. Three billion people in the world today depend on fish as a part of their diet.

    Reply
  35. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Burning Iron for Fuel Sounds Crazy. It’s Also the Future.
    The most surprising renewable yet could power plenty of industries.
    https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a34597615/burning-iron-powder-fuel-renewable/

    After 300 years in business, a Dutch brewery is heating beer using sustainable iron combustion.
    Replacing high heat for furnaces or boilers has been a special challenge for renewables.
    Burnt iron is “recharged” for reuse using electrolysis that can come from clean energy sources.

    Reply
  36. Tomi Engdahl says:

    1% of people cause half of global aviation emissions – study
    Exclusive: Researchers say Covid-19 hiatus is moment to tackle elite ‘super emitters’
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/nov/17/people-cause-global-aviation-emissions-study-covid-19?fbclid=IwAR1FMiuM90R4GlL3waqb10nAUo8asxqrP8zik5cIuenv42URrcWdQBuOtnQ

    Reply
  37. Tomi Engdahl says:

    You Thought 2020 Was Bad: UN Issues ‘Bleakest And Darkest’ Outlook Ever For 2021
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/12/04/you-thought-2020-was-bad-un-issues-bleakest-and-darkest-outlook-ever-for-2021/?utm_campaign=forbes&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie

    After a year widely panned as one of the worst in modern history, the United Nations is warning 2021 could be even more awful, with top officials saying the new year could be the worst in terms of humanitarian catastrophes in the organization’s 75-year history.

    235 million. That’s how many people around the world Lowcock estimated will need humanitarian assistance in 2021—a 40% increase over the 2020 amount.

    Reply
  38. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The period between October 2019 and September 2020 was the second-warmest year in the 120 years of temperature records in the Arctic.

    The Arctic Had One Of Its Worst Years On Record
    https://www.iflscience.com/environment/the-arctic-had-one-of-its-worst-years-on-record/

    Reply
  39. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Eat a ‘flexitarian’ diet to help stop climate change
    https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/flexitarian-diet-climate-change?utm_medium=Social&facebook=1&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1607556496

    Whether or not there are tropical islands in 50 years might depend on whether or not we can eat fewer hamburgers.

    Results from recent research suggest we have roughly 12 years to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. If we can’t, then the amount of greenhouse gases released to the atmosphere will have compounding feedback loops that progressively warm the planet up further.

    One of the biggest culprits in warming the planet is the production of beef and sheep meat.

    Anybody could help prevent climate change by consuming less beef and sheep, or by cutting them out entirely.

    In October of 2018, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released an extremely gloomy report. In it, researchers wrote that humanity has just 12 short years to change our behavior in order to limit global warming to a tolerable — although still dangerous — 1.5 degrees Celsius. If we can’t do that, we can say goodbye to coral reefs, and say hello to increasingly extreme weather events, sea level rises between 33 and hundreds of feet, and an equator too hot for most forms of life.

    Flexitarianism is just a flexible form of vegetarianism. You don’t have to give up meat, you just have to follow the last part of Michael Pollan’s advice: For the most part, eat plants. If that doesn’t seem feasible, we can still mostly eat meat so long as we take more care in what kind of meat we eat.

    Reply
  40. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Here’s How The Biden Presidency Will Impact Markets, Climate And Energy
    http://on.forbes.com/6180HOYVe

    Joe Biden and his transition team have not been shy about telegraphing an intention to kill coal, ban new oil drilling in federal lands and waters, and turn the regulatory screws once more on America’s most carbon-belching industries. In transitioning from intent to strategy, the Biden team has been evaluating a raft of policy initiatives designed to achieve their climate goals. 

    Titans of industry should not be surprised by any of the game changers that are on the way. Fore more than a decade, a vast majority of the U.S. electorate has declared its tacit approval of policies ensuring massive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. State governments from California to Texas have been leading the charge for renewable energy with mandates, carbon markets or subsidies. In many parts of the country, the feds will be catching up with the states.

    Reply
  41. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Viisi vuotta kulunut: Nämä asiat Pariisin ilmastosopimus saavutti – ja näissä epäonnistui pahasti
    Vuonna 2015 Pariisissa solmittua ilmastosopimusta on pidetty historiallisena saavutuksena. Mutta mitä siitä on seurannut?
    https://www.iltalehti.fi/politiikka/a/06ab0b35-bae3-42ab-9e4b-779bd739b984

    Reply
  42. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nine-Year-Old Is First Person In UK To Have Air Pollution On Death Certificate
    https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/nineyearold-is-first-person-in-uk-to-have-air-pollution-on-death-certificate/

    A landmark inquest has ruled that air pollution was a leading factor in the death of 9-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah. She becomes the first person in the UK to have air pollution officially recognized as contributing to her cause of death.

    Ella, who lived in the south-east London borough of Lewisham, died on February 15, 2013, from an asthma attack. Following a 7-year fight for justice, a Southwark Coroner’s Court concluded on Wednesday that air pollution “made a material contribution” to her death, BBC News reports.

    Reply
  43. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Black carbon and other pollution seeds clouds. We’re just starting to understand the climate implications
    https://horizon-magazine.eu/article/black-carbon-and-other-pollution-seeds-clouds-we-re-just-starting-understand-climate

    Reply

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