#Climate
To anyone asking why there's congestion pricing on a Saturday: Here's 6th Avenue on a Saturday.
And yes there's a parade, and a street fair or two causing some of the backup. There's always a parade, and a street fair or two.
https://gwagner.com/congestion-pricing
#NYC #CongestionPricing #climate
How to beam endless clean solar power from space: a primer.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/beaming-solar-energy-from-space-gets-a-step-closer-fc903658?st=pkj35gp10pb9kqb&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink #tech #space #climate
Wildfires, smoke having 'huge impact' on some tourism operators across Canada
A stitch in time saves nine .
The deferred costs of ignoring climate change in favour of immediate fake profits- pollution costs conveniently ignored ) doing diddly, are coming home to roost .
Sorta like when you crash your car as your too cheap to fix your defective brakes no matter how much they squeak .
This. Not a risk of, it’s already here. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/high-risk-province-wide-drought-summer-bc-1.6871893
#ClimateCrisis #Climate #YVR #Canada #ClimateChange #Wildfires #Drought
Risk of record heatwave in UK is more than twice normal figure, forecasters warn
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/10/risk-record-heatwave-uk-twice-normal-forecasters-40c-meteorologists?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other #climate
[Re. @Rajesh_Bkk]
Op-ed by @BangkokDi @SEI_Asia on the threat of #air pollution, #climate change @BangkokPostNews (@anchaleek thank you!) https://t.co/JiD6cIkmqC
"Canada’s ongoing wildfire season is a harbinger of our climate future, experts and officials say."
Wood pellets ash – radioactive contamination and cesium 137 measured values
"In the event of a #nuclear accident in which radionuclides are released into the biosphere, radioactive contamination of forests can become a significant potential source of public radiation exposure. #Cesium 137 and #strontium 90 remain in the upper soil layers in forest ecosystems for a long time. These #radionuclides get into the wood via the roots and can thus store radioactivity and represent a potential radiation exposure for humans. We provide an overview of our radioactive measurements as well as a literature review on wood, pellets and ash with a focus on cesium 137
"Two of these accidents – the #Kyshtim accident in the Urals in the USSR (now the Russian Federation) in 1957 and the #Chernobyl accident in the USSR (now Ukraine) in 1986 – resulted in significant contamination of thousands of square kilometers of forest land with radionuclide mixtures, including long-lived fission products such as Cs 137 and Sr 90. Measurements and modeling of forest ecosystems after both accidents have shown that after initial contamination, the activity concentration of long-lived radionuclides in wood gradually increases over one to two decades and slowly decreases over the following decades Period. The longevity of contamination is due to the slow migration and persistent bioavailability of radionuclides in the forest soil profile, leading to long-term transfer into wood through the tree root system.
"The transfer of cesium-137 from the soil into the wood of trees is relatively low. Wood from Germany is radiobiological harmless to humans. In the ashes, however, the radiocesium activity can be up to 100 times higher than in wood."
https://www.umweltanalysen.com/en/radioactivity/wood-pellets-ash/
#NoNukes #NoNewNukes #NoWar #AirQuality #AirPollution #Wildfires #ClimateCrisis #Climate #Environment #Radiation
Alberta Crude Oil
If you want to understand #Alberta GHG emissions, start with crude oil. #abpoli #climate https://albertabeyondfossilfuels.ca/alberta-crude-oil/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
What's in that #wildfire smoke? There might be more than just #particulate matter. There's something about the soil in the Northeastern US (and perhaps Canada) that allows trees to take up more Cesium-137 (and other radionuclides), which are bound up into the wood until it is burned, which releases radiation into the air.
Paper: #Cesium-137 in Wood Ash Results of Nationwide Survey
Andrew Hodgdon, et al., July 1991
"Data from 11 New England ash samples (Cs-137 mean measured at about 12,000 pCi/kg, K-40 mean measured at 80,000 pCi/kg) suggest Cs~l37 levels in trees are significantly higher than other regions of the United States. General ambient soil concentrations in New England are approximately 480 pCi/kg Cs-137 and 11,000 pCi/kg for K-40. This indicates a general New England ash to soil ratio of about 7 for K-40 and 25 for Cs-137, implying a Cs-137 uptake of 3.5 times that for potassium. Factors which affect cesium uptake and uptake factors for use in radiological modeling are reviewed."
#AirQuality #AirPollution #ClimateCrisis #Climate #Environment #Radiation
"On average, El Niño years are warmer globally than La Niña years – El Niño’s opposite. Globally, a strong El Niño can boost temperatures by about 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit (0.4 Celsius). But in North America, there is a lot of local variation." https://theconversation.com/el-nino-is-back-thats-good-news-or-bad-news-depending-on-where-you-live-205974 #Science #Weather #Climate #ElNino
Source: https://twitter.com/ConversationUS/status/1667172371646537733
@RichPuchalsky
"They certainly know now, and they don't behave any differently."
I'm reminded of a point in the linked article, where a guy hired specifically to spearhead ethical investing is met with resistance from fund managers in his own company. The managers' excuse: Their duty to investors is to maximize this quarter's profits above all else. Can barely consider the consequences even 6 months in the future.
https://www.npr.org/2022/12/20/1144555936/esg-impact-investing-sustainability-blackrock-larry-fink
#Canada: Orange & Smoky Skies Over a Province That Rolled Back #Climate Measures: ‘Doug Ford, #Ontario’s premier, has a long history of opposition to renewable energy programs… Mr. Ford again avoided any acknowledgment of climate change as a factor... “A report that I’ve heard, approximately 50% of the fires are started by lightning strikes,” he told the legislature. “50% are caused by people…not putting campfires out properly.”’| Ian Austen, NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/10/world/canada/orange-and-smoky-skies-over-a-province-that-rolled-back-climate-measures.html
My toot schedule (so that I don't drive myself crazy)
Monday #Climate
Tuesday #RightToRepair
Wednesday #Transit or #Bikes
Thursday #Aerospace
Friday #Ohio
Saturday #Cleveland
Sunday #Gardening
Climate activist Greta Thunberg graduates from 'school strikes'.
Greta Thunberg has said she has taken part in her final Friday climate "school strike" after graduating, but vowed to keep protesting.
"Today, I graduate from school, which means I'll no longer be able to school strike for the climate," Thunberg, 20, said on Twitter.
#climate #climatechange #climatecrisis
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65858186
‘Vaquita are survivors’: World’s rarest marine mammal clings on at the edge of extinction.
Against all odds, the handful of remaining endangered vaquita porpoises are holding on in their only habitat in the Gulf of California in Mexico, according to a new research expedition report released Wednesday.
#climate #climatechange #climatecrisis
https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/06/09/vaquita-are-survivors-worlds-rarest-marine-mammal-clings-on-at-the-edge-of-extinction
They think they're cool (clever) but they're behaving like fools.
The difference between understanding evolutionary biology at some level or another, and not, is that informed people can understand the drivers or motivations that make animals do what they do (including humans. At some level).
An evident motivator that everyone will be aware of is hunger. Hunger is a negative behavioral motivator. Whilst many people in wealthy countries will not have experienced real hunger, at extreme levels hunger will dominate the animal's mind (as would thirst). The animal would be "obsessed" with trying to find food (I acknowledge the anthropomorphization of "obsessed". However, a feeling of angst that focuses the animal's attention on finding food). Basically, the feelings associated with hunger are adaptations. If an animal was born that did not feel hunger, it would die - it would not pass on that behavior to the next generation (Although, if that animal was a human, a baby, carers could make sure that the youngster eat enough food).
Humans are no exception (though some delude themselves otherwise. A form of narcissism or ego), humans are also driven by feelings (emotions or instincts). For example, many humans take part in relatively foolishly dangerous behaviors because they are "showing off". Whilst any human can "show off", (many) men tend to dominate in the showing off by taking part in stupidly reckless activities department. Showing off is status-seeking behavior. For example, showing off resources such as expensive sports cars. Showing off by, in their minds, showing off their driving skills by driving cars fast or riding motorbikes fast. If the car or motorbike has a relatively loud engine, well, that's another way to show their status (perhaps they perceive that some people look at them because they're cool - rather than thinking they're simply noisy irritating fools).
So, what they don't realize is that they're actually acting like fools. They think they're cool but they're behaving like fools. Fundamentally, they're being idiots. Their dangerous driving is risking the safety of other people for no reason - other than to show off (an instinct - which is now a maladaptation). Of course, many adult males, as they mature, may come to realize that their risk-taking behaviors are simply not worth it. However, that realization (learning or maturity) takes a level of intelligence. Some adult males never grow up (they just look older).
Risk-taking behaviors are particularly dangerous when, for example, many adults are voting in a democracy. For example, they may ignore the medical advice about wearing face masks during a pandemic or the scientific warnings about climate change. Apparently, face masks aren't macho enough!
So, how do we mitigate the fools thinking their cool social psychological phenomenon? We try to educate more people about evolutionary psychology so that they recognize stupid when they see it.
Evolutionary Psychology - The New Science of the Mind https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429061417
#adaptation #psychology #EvolutionBiology #EvolutionaryPsychology #SocialPsychology #health #education #sports #cars #motobikes #democracy
#maladaptation #mutation #SarCov2 #covid #pandemic #climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis
The problem with most climate analysis: "#Climate black swans are shot down before they can even take flight."
#BlackSwan events are events that are extremely unlikely but have catastrophic consequences. Models are not good about taking these into account. This is just now starting to be addressed, expect to hear more about "3-sigma" and "5-sigma" events, three to five standard deviations away from the average, meaning statistically extremely unlikely.
https://www.ft.com/content/b03691be-19ef-4164-9a74-7592d7c73457
Definitely *NOT* dealing with climate change.
If this goes on, you can't even drink your #climate blues away.
"Diageo, the world’s biggest spirits company, is worried that #ClimateChange is going to make scarce the one ingredient that’s essential for making all of its alcoholic #drinks — #water."
(Also, the "mash" that's fermenting grains before it gets distilled into whisky is sensitive to temperature. Already Scottish distilleries are closed longer in the summer because of high temperatures).
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/top-distiller-says-climate-change-to-crimp-liquor-supply/
Wired: Many Newly Discovered Species Are Already Gone https://www.wired.com/story/many-newly-discovered-species-are-already-gone/ #Tech #wired #TechNews #IT #Technology via @morganeogerbc #Science/Environment #SilentExtinctions #climatechange #conservation #Biodiversity #ClimateDesk #environment #Science #climate #animals #Ecology #Biology
Burning away their future.
I've spent over a decade thinking about, studying, and speaking out against human-caused ecological negligence. That negligence takes multitudes of forms. For example, local people burn biomass such as farmers burning piles of tree branches on their land or neighbors burning piles of plants in their gardens (colloquial terms such as "bonfires", "campfires", "BBQs", etc). For the relatively ignorant and small-minded, these localized air-polluting activities may not seem like a big deal. However, humans taking part in activities that emit air pollution causes both diseases (proximate) and will ultimately cause human societies to collapse (eventually) due to the effect of climate heating (caveat. If humans don't change their air polluting behaviors - and stop doing them).
During my time of environmental activism, I've had many different ideologies of my own. I used to be more naive and believed that people only need to be informed about how air pollution causes disease and climate change. However, to inform someone about the harm caused by, for example, inhaling smoke pollution, that someone must:
1. Have the background knowledge to understand what you're talking about (e.g., chemistry, biology).
2. Care.
Or
3. Care and trust what you are saying (trust the source of information. e.g., a Doctor or scientist can be a less or more trusted source of information).
Unfortunately, many people don't have the required background knowledge (e.g., scientifically illiterate) and trust the wrong sources of information such as the adverts from the businesses that are selling fuels and their associated politicians - also known as #GreenWash #disinformation or phrasing it simply, lying so as to make a profit (fraud \ corruption)
However, when speaking out against air pollution I did use to think that the response I received from people was because, in general, humanity didn't care. However, I came to realize that that idea didn't make sense (in general).
To explain why that didn't make sense I will briefly describe what air pollution is and its effects on humans and the environment. (generally) Air pollution is caused by burning the element carbon. All living organisms (Plants, Animals, Fungi, Bacteria, Viruses, etc) are carbon-based lifeforms (including humans). When carbon is burnt that chemical activity emits gasses (e.g., carbon dioxide) and carbon particles (e.g., smoke) into the air (atmosphere, generally). Whilst there are other chemicals involved during the burning process, the majority of harm is caused when humans inhale carbon particles. Once a human has inhaled, for example, smoke or traffic pollution, the carbon particles travel into the lungs and from there into the bloodstream. In a dense form, carbon particles can be seen with the unaided eye, for example, smoke, when more dispersed carbon particles can't be seen (unless viewed through a microscope. Hence the term, microscopic particles).
Once in the body, carbon particles cause damage to humans. It's a long list of diseases, however, an example of a few: cancer, asthma, dementia (i.e., brain damage), and heart attacks, strokes (cardiovascular diseases in general).
For a general overview of the medical evidence of the effects of wood smoke inhalation see the Doctors and Scientists against woodsmoke pollution website https://www.dsawsp.org/
Finding scientific evidence about how deadly is air pollution isn't difficult, but, folk generally aren't that interested in that evidence (it's not a cute cat picture or sports cars). https://www.sciencedirect.com/search?qs=air%20pollution
So, as mentioned, I once thought that the reason why, for example, people didn't respond as expected when I stated the fact that, for example, air pollution causes childhood disease or climate change, was because humans, in general, didn't care.
However, people do of course care about their own health. Therefore, something else is going on. What is the underlying psychology that makes people thoughtlessly ignore the (not pleasant) information that would improve their own health outcomes? Nobody wants cancer, asthma, heart disease, or dementia.
Air pollution causes dementia https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=air+pollution+dementia
Generally, what's going on is humans' fear, ignorance and denial are causing people to not learn how air pollution affects their health or the climate.
So, many people are thoughtless (ill-informed) regarding how the effects of how their own air-polluting activities are harming their own health and causing climate heating. Whilst there are many examples of this ecological thoughtless negligence, a trip to, for example, many #uk campsites will prove my point. There you will see many adults choosing to sit around campfires or BBQs, oblivious to the fact what they are doing is harming themselves by inhaling wood smoke pollution (although, having fun whilst doing it).
Humans have been burning wood for hundreds of thousands of years (if not longer). Evidently, many humans enjoy doing it. They enjoy the fire, the smell, the experience. However, besides air pollution causing human disease, air pollution also damages the environment. From acid rain to climate change, humans are burning away their future.
A general solution https://qoto.org/@Empiricism_Reloaded/110511036586999020
However, if humanity was choosing and focusing on the general solutions climate change would have been mitigated.
#science #evolution #psychology #pollution #climate #ClimateChange #wildfires #Smoke #FaceMasks
Talked to many people in the last few days who were interested in getting an e-bike and had NO IDEA Connecticut will launch an e-bike rebate on June 28. $500 vouchers for anyone, $1500 if you live in a distressed community or meet income requirements. Brick & mortar stores only.
#ebike #CT #connecticut #bike #transit #electric #climate #NewEngland #urban
https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Air/Mobile-Sources/CHEAPR/Electric-Bicycles
Here’s an example of #local climate action in an urban municipality on Vancouver Island in #Canada — The #Coolkit Program in Oak Bay, BC. Oak Bay is part of Greater Victoria, BC. Their coolkit tools are available online. https://connect.oakbay.ca/coolkit.
Here’s an article from last year on some of their accomplishments. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/oak-bay-climate-champions-1.6528512
#Climate action.
Burned to the Ground: the Canadian village incinerated by record temperatures
#climate #lytton #climatecrisis #totheground #wildfires #canada #klima #klimakrise
OMG, has anyone made a game where you play as an orca and attack floating gin palaces and trawlers? And if you can teach enough other orcas, you can team up and take on bigger boats?
Bossfight: disable enough oil tankers that they're uninsurable.
AI in fight against climate change.
https://venera.social/display/85a863ed-4564-8430-f288-355486667907
North Sea oil and gas industry offered ‘get-out’ clause on windfall tax
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/09/north-sea-oil-and-gas-industry-offered-get-out-clause-on-windfall-tax?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other #climate #tories
BBC News - Concerns over Loch Ness' falling water levels
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-65855228 #climate
Overlooked in Rishi Sunak's approval of Johnson's honours list is a damehood for Andrea Jenkyns.
Jenkyns has just joined the board of Net Zero Watch, a pressure group that denies climate science and lobbies for oil and gas interests. Its parent organisation is the Global Warming Policy Foundation, the UK’s principal climate science denial group and part of the Tufton Street network of free market think tanks.
The Social Cost of Carbon
The social cost of carbon is the basis for all forms of carbon pricing. But what exactly is the SCC? This post answers that question. #climate #abpoli #ghgemissions https://albertabeyondfossilfuels.ca/the-social-cost-of-carbon/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
The ugly side of beauty: Chemicals in cosmetics threaten college-age women’s reproductive health.
#climate #climatechange #climatecrisis
https://theconversation.com/the-ugly-side-of-beauty-chemicals-in-cosmetics-threaten-college-age-womens-reproductive-health-206572
As the world burns, some reading:
Climate tipping points
Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points
“Climate tipping points are conditions beyond which changes in a part of the climate system become self-perpetuating. These changes may lead to abrupt, irreversible, and dangerous impacts with serious implications for humanity.”
https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.abn7950
Deep warming
‘Man is unwittingly conducting a vast geophysical experiment’ – an experiment with a highly uncertain outcome, but clear and important risks for life on Earth.”
“We will need to transform the human story... It must become a story of doing less, not more. A novel rupture is needed: Use less energy”
https://aeon.co/essays/theres-a-deeper-problem-hiding-beneath-global-warming
..."You must change your life."
Rainer Maria Rilke, The final line of “Archaic Torso of Apollo"
https://poets.org/poem/archaic-torso-apollo
#Climate #InternalCombustionEngines #CTPs #Transformation #Energy #FossilFuels #Growth #Consumption #ResourceIntensiveLifestyles #MetabolismWithNature #Narrative
"Too many crucial #decisions are being taken behind closed doors. The #opaque nature of so many of our systems feeds impunity. The #climate crisis is, therefore, also a crisis of #transparency."
Introducing #ClimateWhistleblowers
"We’re lawyers, journalists, and activists: As founders of CW, we’re using our expertise to protect climate #whistleblowers and ensure their disclosures make the greatest possible impact."
https://www.desmog.com/2023/06/07/why-were-supporting-climate-whistleblowers/
The view from the window of the (now-demolished) Abbot Pass Hut, located on a mountain pass that forms the border between the Canadian provinces of Alberta & British Columbia, in July 2016.
At an elevation of 2,925 metres, it was the second-highest permanently habitable structure in Canada.
It was demolished after the once permanently frozen slope beneath its base thawed & eroded.
Alberta's Fossil Fuel Emissions
Alberta's fossil fuel emissions are far larger than most people realize. In this series, we'll break it all down for you. #climate #alberta #abpoli https://albertabeyondfossilfuels.ca/albertas-fossil-fuel-emissions/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon
Good data visualizations in this story with the latest info on the Canadian wildfire and smoke situations:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-fires-map-air-quality-1.6871563
#wildfire #wildfires #canada #alberta #novascotia #abfires #climate #climatechange #quebec #smoke
“We know the story of the climate crisis, of how wealthy nations have burned fossil fuels at an astonishing rate, pushing our planet to the brink. Yet we live as though we do not, and we breathe the consequences.” #climate #climatechange HT: @Ammienoot https://archive.is/z3mOF
Deep Slide Cave is aptly named. You enter the cave, and then it drops in a straight line and a constant slope. You slide on down the sediment.
It is also a long-term monitoring site for climate and hydrology. Yesterday's tasks included a solar panel upgrade to the cave weather station and download of climate and hydrology data.
Thanks as ever for field support from the Kempsey Speleological Society
#caves #climate #science #environment #fieldwork #research #hydrology #groundwater #geology
The air we breathe was getting better. Then climate change hit.
From Vox: "A new report finds that pollution from wildfires, heat, and drought is making it harder to improve air quality."
https://www.vox.com/climate/2023/4/19/23687064/air-pollution-wildfires-lung-report
Capitalists hate Greta Thunberg, because she has done more to bring attention to their evil and unjust ways than anyone else ever has. Starting out as an insignificant schoolgirl, somehow she's accomplished what nobody else could. So they hate her.
Oh, of course, they'll *pretend* to admire Greta. They've invited her to important conferences and given her the chance to speak, then smiled and applauded — but gone straight ahead with Business As Usual, ignoring her concerns.
That's why she has refused more recent opportunities to speak at events hosted by the rich and powerful. She realizes they're only using her to make themselves look good.
The cartoon below reminded me of all this. I'm not certain it was originally intended to depict Greta, but it's a perfect fit.
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual
U.S. Department of Agriculture Conservation Programs Are Giving Millions to Farms That Worsen Climate Change.
A new report tracks grants from the agency and finds that the largest contracts are going to big California dairies.
#climate #climatechange #climatecrisis
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09062023/agriculture-conservation-funding/
The CBC Climate Dashboard has been updated to include active wildfires and wildfire smoke.
The red dots show places with record-breaking temperatures in the forecast.
#wildfire #wildfires #canada #alberta #novascotia #abfires #climate #climatechange #quebec
How big is this good news? India removing coal from their in-place five year plan?
Its bigger than if Canada announced it was ending the 25 billion dollar Trans-mountain Pipeline, and will be spending the money on building renewables.
That is how big this news is.
Thank you again India.
Over to you Mr. Trudeau.
link for story
"Next green leader? India halts new coal plant construction. "
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2023/0601/Next-green-leader-India-halts-new-coal-plant-construction
Very Good News.
India is big, has plans of plans. India prepares and announces governmental actions so the private sector and states can coordinate.
India's electricity is 75% coal, and their five year plan continued that.
BUT Yesterday India announced, it "will not consider proposals for new coal plants for the next five years and focus on growing its renewables sector"
Will Not Consider New Coal.
Most populous country on earth will not consider new coal.
The world thanks India.
#climate
Carbon dioxide removal (sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere to store somewhere) is now a huge topic of discussion in tech/carbon circles but the public hears almost nothing. We need to fix that - the timescales, costs, scaling and downsides all need to be debated publicly, and not just with a commercial slant. We (me, Rob Bellamy & Juerg Matter) were doing our bit at the Cheltenham Science Festival today, during a discussion brilliantly titled “Catch C if you Can”. #Carbon #CO2 #climate #CDR
now we're talking
"Researchers calculated that high-emitting countries, including the U.S., should pay $192 trillion in compensation to low-emitting nations"
🔗 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rich-nations-owe-192-trillion-for-causing-climate-change-new-analysis-finds/
#climatechange #climate #environment
Two- and three-wheeled #EVs are also the #climate heroes.
E-buses punch well above their weight: There are under a million of them compared to nearly 27 million e-cars but they save a lot more #FossilFuels and #emissions.
Every time you walk or ride a bike or bus to where you need to go, YOU are a climate hero!
How much longer are we debating whether renewables are stable and dependable enough to power the world?
https://wapo.st/43PVbxv [free to read]
#oil #climate #MbS
A message from Greta Thunberg (@gretathunberg)...
_________________________
School strike, week 251.
Today, I graduate from school, which means I’ll no longer be able to school strike for the climate. This is then the last school strike for me, so I guess I have to write something on this day.
When I started striking in 2018 I could never have expected that it would lead to anything. After striking every day for three weeks, we were a small group of children who decided to continue doing this every Friday. And we did, which is how Fridays For Future was formed.
Some more people joined, and quite suddenly this was a global movement growing every day. During 2019, millions of youth striked from school for the climate, flooding the streets in over 180 countries. When the pandemic started, we had to find new ways to protest.
With time, we started to get back on the streets again. We’re still here, and we aren’t planning on going anywhere. Much has changed since we started, and yet we have much further to go.
We are still moving in the wrong direction, where those in power are allowed to sacrifice marginalised and affected people and the planet in the name of greed, profit and economic growth. They continue to destabilise the biosphere and our life supporting systems. We’re rapidly approaching potential nonlinear ecological and climatic tipping points beyond our control.
And in so many parts of the world, we are even speeding up the process. There are probably many of us who graduate who now wonder what kind of future it is that we are stepping into, even though we did not cause this crisis.
We who can speak up have a duty to do so. In order to change everything, we need everyone. I’ll continue to protest on Fridays, even though it’s not technically “school striking”. We simply have no other option than to do everything we possibly can. The fight has only just begun.
_________________________
🤗 💚
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ClimateAction #ClimateJustice
This kinda sorta feels like 3yrs of my dissertation life coming full circle: In the dark ages of the early 00s, I put together some rather detailed stats on oil embedded in world trade.
7 Senators just introduced a bipartisan bill to begin measuring embedded carbon https://wapo.st/3P4O3t5 [free to read]
#climate #trade
“We will never be able to prevent all wildfires. We should learn our lesson from the current ones that it is high time to pursue real #climate solutions. [..] We have no excuse left not to act.”, writes @gwagner.
#ClimateCrisis #ClimateActionNow #ActNow
https://gwagner.com/barrons-wildfires/
The World’s First Wildfire Tornado Blazed a Path of Destruction Through Australia
A warming atmosphere due to climate change is increasing the chances similar natural disasters will occur again
Thank you Easelbitch for bringing this to my attention ❤️
#News #climate #climatechange #weather #ClimateEmergency #GlobalWarming
How is this different from shouting fire in a crowded theater? “This doesn’t kill anybody, it doesn’t make anybody cough, this is not a health event” #climate #publichealth #freespeech https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/fox-news-dismisses-wildfire-smoke-harmless-climate-change-1234766334
When Barron's asks for an op-ed focused on climate, you jump. I at least did — replete with a reference to Sarah Palin in line one.
I certainly wished I had her superpower right about now, and could “love that smell of the emissions.”
https://gwagner.com/barrons-wildfires/
#climate #wildfires #NYC
With the climate emergency, this is it folks.
How many years will it take to burn down all the forests of the world?
US/World can spend billions on:
- how to create a giant rain cloud that can be moved like a drone 😆
- giant air cleaning system for city-wide use 😆
- large dome to surround city to protect clean air 😆
- convert atmospheric carbon dioxide 🤔 to something harmless/useful
WRI's ClimateWatch site has updated state-by-state GHG emissions data, and the New England numbers are... disappointing? Progress since 2010 especially has been very modest (and VT is actually getting worse, but from a lower baseline). Energy is by far the biggest source of emissions, but you can't separate power sector from heat and transport, unfortunately.
How are we getting to net zero by 2050 again?
Hello #Mastodon 👋 ! I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Memphis.
I am a broadly trained atmospheric scientist who uses a wide array of datasets including modern data, early instrumental and documentary data, and #paleoclimate data from tree rings to investigate extreme #weather and #climate events at a variety of time scales. Further details about me are available at the link below.
A central difficulty in controlling #greenhouse gas #emissions to slow down #climate change is finding them in the first place. Such is the case with #methane, a colorless, odorless gas that is the second most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere today, after carbon dioxide.
#Environmental #CO2 #ClimateChange #MethaneMapper #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2023/06/en06082302.html
Carbon sequestration using seaweed https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/seaweed-fastest-least-expensive-tool-climate-change
If you thought it couldn't get any nuttier
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/08/army-of-fake-social-media-accounts-defend-uae-presidency-of-climate-summit
#climate #COP28
A comic I drew five years ago while hunkered indoors next to an air purifier in Seattle as wildfires raged in the Northwest. Now the east coast has the ticks AND the smoke.
"El Niño planet-warming weather phase has begun"
"US scientists confirmed that El Niño had started. Experts say it will likely make 2024 the world's hottest year."
Dire predictions from Umair Haque about where our civilization is going...
_______________________
Phase One: Our living standards peak, after *centuries* of rising. They begin to fall — but it’s a slow, gentle descent, like a glider. Right now, you can maybe keep up, if you struggle, the way most are. You can try to maintain some semblance of yesterday’s living standards by going deeper into debt, or adjusting your consumption basket, or changing your habits here and there, like shopping at cheaper places. But prices are skyrocketing, inflation’s ultra high, interest rates are crippling. We hit our limits of supply at a civilizational level, but demand of course keeps rising.
Phase Two: We cross the threshold of planetary tipping points, on a mega-scale. There’s plenty of evidence that’s already happening, for many of them — from the Amazon, to the boreal forests, to the polar ice. When we cross that threshold, things get much worse. Warming speeds up. That’s when things really begin to fall apart. Inflation. Shortages. Interest rates. Bank failures. Water and food systems just… fail. Living standards begin to crash, hard and fast. That gentle, glider-like descent becomes more like a jumbo jet going into free fall. Where do you keep your money if you don’t know which bank will fail? What do you do when there’s just no food on the shelves? Where do you live if nobody will insure entire regions and states?
So what happens in Phase Three? It’s anybody’s guess, really. Probably, at that point, democracy’s a distant memory, the world’s made of nations which are more like fortresses, mega-weather decimates them regularly, rendering any kind of industrial age living standards a luxury only for the giga rich, and the rest live something much more like people did in the early industrial age. Think of Dickens novels and you get the picture. Then cross them with Orwell and Arendt, because remember, there’s no more democracy. Then cross them with Atwood, because the fanatics take over. And that’s being kind, I think.
That’s a lot. Don’t focus on Phase Three. That’s when we’re deep, deep into Extinction — and through inaction and folly, we’ve let things spiral out of control. Right now? Our job is still trying to prevent Phase Two, runaway warming, tipping points really being hit any harder than they are currently. If we do that, there’s something to salvage. If we don’t, though — well, that’s where we are now.
_______________________
The above is just a brief excerpt from a long, convincing, and disturbing essay. I hope you'll read the whole thing.
FULL ARTICLE -- https://archive.is/E4XoV#selection-943.0-971.1
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Collapse #Extinction
This is not good...
______________________________
Greenhouse gas emissions have reached an all-time high, threatening to push the world into unprecedented levels of global heating, scientists have warned.
Only about 250 billion tons of carbon dioxide can now be emitted, to avoid the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere that would raise temperatures by 1.5C. That is down from 500 billion tons just a few years ago, and at current annual rates of greenhouse gas emissions, of about 54 billion tons per year over the past decade, it would run out well before the end of this decade.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/08/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-at-all-time-high-study-finds
______________________________
Wow. At the rate we're going, the world's entire "carbon budget" will be used up less than five years from now.
And that's not even counting the fact that some actual emissions are *excluded* from the official reporting figures submitted by countries.
For example, the decision of whether to report military emissions — and how to calculate them — is left up to individual countries, per the 2015 Paris Accords. So, although research has found that the US military emits more CO2 than entire nations like Portugal and Denmark, and that the Department of Defense accounts for nearly 80% of the federal government’s fuel consumption, there's no guarantee that these figures are counted within the remaining "carbon budget." How much would you bet that the US is underreporting its military emissions? Of course they are.
Plus, it's not only the United States...
___________________________
Across the world, many countries underreport their greenhouse gas emissions in their reports to the United Nations, a Washington Post investigation has found. An examination of 196 country reports reveals a giant gap between what nations declare their emissions to be vs. the greenhouse gases they are sending into the atmosphere.
The gap comprises vast amounts of missing carbon dioxide and methane emissions as well as smaller volumes of powerful synthetic gases. It is the result of questionably drawn rules, incomplete reporting in some countries, and apparently willful mistakes in others — and the fact that in some cases, humanity’s full impacts on the planet are not even required to be reported.
A key area of controversy is that many countries attempt to offset the emissions from burning fossil fuels by claiming that carbon is absorbed by land within their borders. UN rules allow countries, such as China, Russia, and the United States, each to subtract more than half a billion tons of annual emissions in this manner, and in the future could allow these and other countries to continue to release significant emissions while claiming to be “net zero.”
https://archive.is/TOqwn#selection-771.0-771.462
___________________________
Bottom line?
It's *worse* than they're telling us. You can't trust the "official" reports. Governments, industries, and the corporate media all have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #CO2 #Emissions #BusinessAsUsual
It's hard to look through the wildfire haze and see a brighter future ahead. Amazingly, there is.
After a decades-long debate, New York is poised to implement congestion pricing in Manhattan below 60th street as soon as next April
My latest for the NYT, with the indomitable Charlie Komanoff https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/opinion/traffic-new-york-congestion.html
#NYC #climate #CongestionPricing
Is there a scientific consensus in #climate communication as to which emotions are most effective at mobilizing people to act?
As a #solarpunk enthusiast, my inclination is to communicate hope and stories of success.
At the same time, I see many activists still embracing Greta's "I want you all to panic".
A quick search has brought mixed results, and I'm not an expert!
Waiting for the incoming media spin that the solution to uncontrollable wildfires is to cut down all the trees rather than to cut down all the oil companies
#climate #climatefuture #climatecrisis
Sad day here on Earth today...
@petergleick What happens in Canada doesn't stay in Canada.
https://fediscience.org/@petergleick/110505534132328632
@pierre_markuse Massive smoke plumes caused by Canadian wildfires.
https://mastodon.world/@pierre_markuse/110504665957755616
@zoom_earth This is the view from George Washington Bridge. AQI over 400!
https://mapstodon.space/@zoom_earth/110504888499426676
@petergleick Yesterday, a CO2 concentration of 424.5 ppm, the highest value EVER.
https://mastodon.social/@klimavoracht/110504989042255182
#Climate and #ClimateScience posts boosted on Climate Migration @ClimateMigration
I appreciate your continued journalism about #climate issues.
The changes required to make a difference are coming, but will be forced by nature's increasingly destructive forces.
After more extreme weather events, #insurance will become so costly that consumers will be forced to #abandon coastal and forested properties.
The cost of living will rise to the point where #conservation will become a necessity. This may be a decade out, but I believe it is coming.
Thots:
Would require a world-wide strike to change climate actions (or lack of actions). Thinking, similarly, same country-wide strike across all industries to change U.S. guns/abortion/trans laws, increase capital gains tax.
We would need to do it for months..
I know, this is impossible for those who have no savings & no way to find another job if they're fired. I know, the sacrifice will be extremely painful for many.
What is the alternative? More of the same?