#environment
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/28/why-the-climate-crisis-is-making-our-insects-run-for-the-hills | Why the climate crisis is making our insects run for the hills |
"Around the world, different species are shifting their habitats upwards, with potentially catastrophic results for our ecosystems" | #ClimateChange #environment #biodiversity #insects #science
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/28/ron-desantis-climate-crisis-campaign | DeSantis accused of ‘catastrophic’ climate approach after campaign launch |
[...] "“It is Ron DeSantis who is engaged in the ‘politicization of the weather’ by denying basic, established science – the intensification of tropical storms with human-caused warming of the oceans.”" | #ClimateChange #weather #environment #science #RonDesantis
Profiteering Australian supermarket giant Woolworths is raising prices again despite yearly profits and growth.
The same company is also continuing to promote the use of plastics over renewables both in store and when ordering online.
Basic food is a fundamental human right - not for something for corporations to profit from.
#Australia #Woolworths #Environment #Profiteering #CrappyCompanies
“The result is a #plastic waste crisis of exponential proportions. The mass of plastics on our Earth is over double the mass of living animals–and plastic waste is set to treble by 2060. Globally, only 9% is successfully recycled. The rest is mostly incinerated or ends up as landfill, or pollution in our oceans and #environment.”
https://fortune.com/2023/05/24/plastics-air-food-water-reckoning-business-environment-paul-polman/
I had some pretty good environmental role models growing up in the 1970s/1980s. Some were fictional, some were real. One of my fictional ones was #TheLorax Another was Freeman Lowell of #SilentRunning.
cc: @MiseryTrickery
Proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has recommended that shareholders of Toyota vote in favor of a resolution urging the automaker to improve disclosure of its lobbying related to climate change. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/05/28/business/toyota-shareholder-proposal/?utm_content=bufferaa16f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=bffmstdn #news #business #stocks #toyota #carmakers #climatechange #investments #electricvehicles #corporategovernance #environment
Global News BC: WildSafe BC reminds public not to get too close to deer, fawns https://globalnews.ca/news/9728901/wildsafe-bc-public-reminder-deer-fawns/ #globalnews #britishcolumbia #news #Conservation #Environment #Province #Wildsafe #Animals #Injury #Fawns #Fines #Deer #Wild
I've just started reading this paper by
Alastair McIntosh - The Cheviot, The Stag and The Black, Black Carbon.
Published by #CommunityLandScotland.
Well worth a read by anyone interested in the #environment, #GreenFinance, #PrivateCapital, #NaturalCapital #JustTransition or #LandReform.
https://www.communitylandscotland.org.uk/the-cheviot-the-stag-and-the-black-black-carbon/
I'm all for the environment but I miss plastic shopping bags. Paper bags are not what they used to be. They're thinner and tear easily. Can only fill them half-way. And bringing your own bags is awful. If I bring 5 and I actually need 7, then I'm buying more reusable bags that just collect at home. Sorry, hate it. What annoys me the most is we have to deal with this but #beverage companies continue to sell single-use plastic water bottles.
I love Cornell's free Merlin Bird App! It's really helping me get to know my neighbours better. 🦅
Messing with #Texas
How it started: Elon Musk’s #SpaceX Is Buying Up a #Texas Village. Homeowners Cry Foul
“In echoes of the Old West” https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-spacex-rocket-boca-chica-texas-starbase-11620353687 #BocaChica
How it’s going: #Texas welcomed Elon Musk. Now his rural neighbors aren’t so sure
“I just have no faith that the leadership there values the #environment and these shared resources”
“There’s no #zoning, there are no rules. It’s the Wild West” https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/05/28/elon-musk-texas-spacex-boring-bastrop/ #BoringCompany #SpaceX #austin #bastrop
Global News BC: B.C. woman on a mission to ensure air conditioning to vulnerable seniors https://globalnews.ca/news/9728715/b-c-woman-on-a-mission-to-ensure-air-conditioning-to-vulnerable-seniors/ #globalnews #britishcolumbia #news #freeairconditioning #BCMinistryofHealth #AirConditioning #BCgovernment #Environment #BCHeatDome #BCseniors #PortMoody #Politics #Weather #BCwoman #BCheat #BC
Global News BC: Early snowmelt a trend in Western Canadian mountains: study https://globalnews.ca/news/9728381/early-snowmelt-western-canadian-mountains/ #globalnews #britishcolumbia #news #UniversityOfBritishColumbia #UniversityofColoradoBoulder #Westernmountains #WesternCanada #Environment #Freshetmelt #BCFlooding #SpringMelt #Snowpack #Weather #BCmelt #Winter #UBC #BC
There's a really good reason for this isn't there Ed!
We're investing in offshore NOT onshore!!!
At no point does this article or Ed Milliband tell you that the UK built 3,511MW of wind turbine capacity last year
THIRTY TIMES MORE THAN UKRAINE
Ed (Major omissions in my narrative) Milliband 🙄
begging people to add “introduced” to their vocabulary alongside “native” and “invasive” species. There is a reason we need to act on the latter subset. THE ALIENS AMONG US is an excellent read on the nuance. #InvasiveSpecies #habitat #environment #stewardship
When I wrote this blog a few months ago I had no idea what I was taking on - and just how much there is in the woodland. It has been a real joy to do. Over the next few weeks I'll share some of the photos I've taken in the woodland.
https://www.alternativeperspectives.scot/blogs/community-woodland-project/a-new-dawn/
#CommunityWoodland #PhotographyProject #nature #biodiversity #CommunityOwned #environment #photography
I love George Monbiot: bc he is thoughtful & enquiring, and follows things - scientifically - to their rational conclusions…
… and, in doing so, isn’t afraid to take on the “bucolic romanticism” fantasies of many Little-House-On-The-Praerie** environmentalists.
And he does so bc he is, I think, prepared to challenge himself & his own beliefs. Somewhat rare.
https://www.monbiot.com/2023/05/28/fantasy-farming/
#environment #ecology #farming #GeorgeMonbiot #environmentalism
(**my term; you have to be or a certain age!)
Raccoon Butterflyfish feed on invertebrates and fish eggs. They grow to about 20 cm, and are found in loose groups during the day. Your #Hawaii #sealife #photooftheday
#animals #wildlife #nature #outdoors
#photography #nature #animals #climatechange #wildlife #environment #follow #outdoors #explore #camera #underwater #scubadiving #Visuallyimpaired #fish #Sunday Find me at https://mastodon.online/@hawaiianeye797
‘The amount of water stored in large lakes has decreased over the past three decades due to both human and climatic drivers. Yao et al. used satellite observations, climate models, and hydrologic models to show that more than 50% of both large natural lakes and reservoirs experienced volume loss over this time’. https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.abo2812 #climate #environment #globalwarming
The Supreme Court just narrowed protection for wetlands, leaving many valuable ecosystems at risk https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/the-supreme-court-just-narrowed-protection-for-wetlands-leaving-many-valuable-ecosystems-at-risk?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #water #environment #pollution
A New Company Wants To #BuryPeople In #Mushrooms
https://www.businessinsider.com/startup-growing-mushroom-based-coffins-that-cost-1000-2023-5
A #mushroom #coffin is being marketed by a company as a way to be buried and help the #environment.
Labour confirms plans to block all new #NorthSeaOil and gas projects - https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/28/labour-confirms-plans-to-block-all-new-north-sea-oil-and-gas-projects #Environment #Sustainability #ClimateCrisis
#Hiking in Victoria last weekend, my partner saw the bushes move...
...they weren't bushes at all, but an emu family! Probably a father with last season's hatchlings (emu dads raise the chicks, which grow quickly, but can stay together for up to a year). All of them sank around a puddle to drink, like camels from an oasis. I've had many incredible #wildlife encounters in #Australia, but never one like this before!
Low afternoon light made for high-contrast #photography that didn't do justice to the colors in #nature. I tried the images in black and white instead, and liked the result: monochrome emphasizes how the #birds blend into their textural #environment.
A new study from the British Trust for Ornithology Garden Bird Watch citizen science scheme (GBW) demonstrates that GBW butterfly recording can produce reliable and informative population trends, and it also provides important evidence of the significant role gardens play in sustaining butterfly populations across a wider area.
#Butterflies #CitizenScience #BTW #Gardening #Wildlife #Biodiversity #Environment
Residents in western Tokyo have been testing themselves to measure their exposure to PFAS, often referred to as "forever chemicals," with results showing levels of the chemicals that could bring long-term health risks. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/05/28/national/japan-pfas-risks-growing-awareness/?utm_content=buffer3c21a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=bffmstdn #news #japan #tokyo #pollution #chemicals #yokotaairbase #pfas #environment
EVA affordable electric car launching in South Africa next month with 160km range max speed 80km/h
It’s an interesting segment this, as it fulfils inner-city needs, but is not going to be used on freeways, or for driving across the country (or V2G use). You get what you pay for, so a vehicle like this is not going to deliver Tesla type range or performance ...continues
EVA affordable electric car launching in South Africa next month with 160km range max speed 80km/h
Box shaped 4 seater red car It’s an interesting segment this, as it fulfils inner-city needs, but is not going to be used on freeways, or for driving across the country (or V2G use). You get what you pay for, so […]
https://squeet.me/display/962c3e10-769a27ab-4a54ae518cfa7b73
Dozens fined for flouting Brighton beach barbecue ban.
Brighton and Hove City Council banned the use of disposable barbecues in August last year.
The ban covers a range of public areas, including the beach, the seafront and the city’s parks.
The release of lanterns and balloons are also included in the ban
#news #environment
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/23542188.dozens-fined-flouting-brighton-beach-barbecue-ban/
State Farm no longer issuing new home insurance policies in #California, claiming #wildfire risk.
we couldn't screw things up more if we tried.
Recycled and reused food contact plastics are ‘vectors’ for toxins – study
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/27/recycled-reused-food-plastic-toxins-study?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other #plastics #environment #health
URGENT REQUEST: Looking for a lawyer in Nevada by May 29th to support Land / Water Defenders opposing the Thacker Pass mine. Details below — contact @oxsamcamp on Twitter/FB if you can support.
@cldc — can you help connect Ox Sam Camp with a lawyer in Nevada, or pass this on / amplify the request?
https://twitter.com/oxsamcamp/status/1661850370711371776
#OxSamCamp #Frontline #Biodiversity #Solidarity #Help #Request #Legal #Lawyer #Nevada #ThackerPass #Environment #Climate #DirectAction
Breakthrough EV battery pack could last 2 million kms, or 130 years of average driving, with 1,000km range: Goes into mass production 2024
These incredibly high cycle numbers mean the battery could essentially last 2 million km before it starts to deteriorate. To put that into context, the average Australian car travels around 15,000 km per year so it would take 130 years worth of average drivin ...continues
Gotion High-Tech says the battery single-cell density is 240Wh/kg and that improvements in pack design have increased overall battery pack energy density to a point where 1000km range pack is possible with the highly durable chemistry.
Well, this does take EV batteries up to a new level not seen before. If that 18-minute fast charging is also true, then this is pretty well much the watershed moment for EV batteries.
See Breakthrough EV battery pack could last 2 million kms, or 130 years of average driving
#technology #EV #environment #innovation
Gotion High-Tech has announced its new L600 LMFP Astroinno battery with 1000km of range and 2 million km worth of charging cycles will go into mass production in 2024.
Breakthrough EV battery pack could last 2 million kms, or 130 years of average driving, with 1,000km range: Goes into mass production 2024
https://gadgeteer.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2-million-km-battery-400x191.jpg These incredibly high cycle numbers mean the battery could essentially last 2 million km before it starts to deteriorate. To put that into context, the average Australian car travels around 15,000 km per year so […]
https://squeet.me/display/962c3e10-613843a0-ba0eb637b448294b
Little re-mention of my new song from last week! About change, systems, distractions, and the unique planet we live on :-)
Bluestripe Snapper, aka Ta'ape, are found in schools throughout Hawaii waters. They were introduced in the 1950s but are now considered invasive even though they may, finally, be a sustainable fishery. Your #Hawaii #sealife #photooftheday
#animals #wildlife #nature #outdoors
#photography #nature #animals #climatechange #wildlife #environment #follow #outdoors #explore #camera #underwater #scubadiving #Visuallyimpaired #fish #Saturday #taape
So much for "the Natural State"
State officials issue Code Orange air quality advisory for central, northwest Arkansas | KARK
https://www.kark.com/news/state-news/unhealthy-air-quality-in-central--northwest-arkansas-during-memorial-day-weekend-officials-say/ #arkansas #arpx #arkansaspolitics #airquality #pollution #environment
Leaders and companies in Europe’s biggest markets are increasingly balking at the ambitious pace of the continent’s green push as they confront the massive costs associated with economic transformation. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/05/27/world/politics-diplomacy-world/eu-green-deal-balk/?utm_content=buffer0d87f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=bffmstdn #news #politics #france #europe #eu #germany #emissions #climatechange #emmanuelmacron #environment
tell rishi sunak to keep glass in scotland's deposit return scheme. go on. get him telt, the bastard.
#scotland #circularEconomy #bottleReturnScheme #climate #environment
https://greens.scot/KeepGlassInDRS
#UK ‘demanding’ glass bottles removed from #Scottish #DepositReturnScheme, Yousaf says
The #FirstMinister said he had received a letter late on Friday ‘demanding’ glass be dropped from the Scottish scheme.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/humza-yousaf-scottish-drs-first-minister-uk-government-b1084125.html
#DRS #Scotland #Democracy #Independence #ToryPoliciesInAction #Environment #Sustainability
"In a study of 30 treatment works in 2020 run by nine of the 10 water and sewerage companies in England and Wales, the volume of raw sewage discharged was estimated at 11bn litres – or the equivalent volume to 4,352 Olympic pools"
Currently privatised English water companies are under no obligation to release details of raw sewage discharges. This research shows why they resist such measures.
@swansinflight it's a bit like 'The Repair Shop ' but without the tv cameras or experts.
You can take broken or damaged things and depending on the volunteers there on the day, they will try to help.
#environment
#sustainable
' The proposed Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument would convert 1.1 million acres of public land surrounding Grand Canyon National Park into a national monument, providing significant protections to tribal water sources, delicate ecosystems, and cultural sites, while curtailing the impacts of uranium mining — a proposal tribes in the area have been fighting for since 1985. '
#GrandCanyon #Mining #environment #NativeAmericans #NewNatonalMonument
https://grist.org/indigenous/tribes-call-on-haaland-to-push-increased-protections-for-the-grand-canyon/
@bjkingape Outrageous that solar is being spread over pristine ecosystems instead of installed on rooftops and other built-up areas.
The people in power are impervious to reality.
#solar #desert #habitat #environment #climate #wildlife #birds #energy #capitalism #land #corruption #government #ecology #wilderness
Found only in #Hawaii Hawaiian Dascyllus are white with black fins and tails, and grow to 13 cm. Adult faces are typically black, which is not the case with this individual. Your #Hawaii #sealife #photooftheday
#animals #wildlife #nature #outdoors
#photography #nature #animals #climatechange #wildlife #environment #follow #outdoors #explore #camera #underwater #scubadiving #Visuallyimpaired #fish #Friday Find me at https://mastodon.online/@hawaiianeye797
Reinventing the Sequester - The American Prospect
Nondefense discretionary spending, which is only 13 percent of the overall budget, is forced to shoulder the entire burden of the cuts, which will by definition be savage.
Paul Krugman has famously called the federal government “a giant insurance company with an army.” Neither of those things—that is, the Pentagon plus Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security—are subject to these cuts.
Everything else is small by comparison, but critical for #education, #housing, #food #safety, the #environment, #financial #regulation, and on and on
https://prospect.org/economy/2023-05-26-reinventing-the-sequester/
Pro Tip: If you think someone's proposed solution to the climate crisis sounds too easy, too cheap, or simply too good to be true — that's because it is.
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Greenwashing
Can satellite imagery fight illegal logging in Mexico?
Headline at the Guardian:
"Is it too late to halt deep-sea mining? Meet the activists trying to save the seabed"
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/21/is-it-too-late-to-halt-deep-sea-mining-the-activists-trying-to-save-the-seabed
___________________________
If mining companies are given the go-ahead to exploit the ocean depths, the environmental cost will be devastating.
Miners hope to drill into hydrothermal vents (those iconic deep-sea chimneys), and also extract metals from mountains protruding from the seabed. Most commonly explored, however, and likely to be the first mining undertaken, are what’s known as polymetallic nodules: lumps of metals and minerals mixed with all sorts of sediment, which sit on the ocean floor.
This mining will see hordes of large mining machines moving along the seafloor like bulldozing combine harvesters, scooping up nodules and whatever else is in their path.
“Everything around them will be disturbed,” says Dr Diva Amon, a deep-sea biologist. “The top 10cm for certain, home to the majority of life on the seafloor. That means huge amounts of habitat and animals will be lost.” Out the back, water, sediment and shredded wildlife will be pumped out, wreaking havoc. Everything else collected will be pumped through a network of pipes up to a ship on the surface. “Here the nodules will be separated from other materials like water, sediment, and likely crumbled pieces of metal that will be spewed out into the ocean as waste.”
___________________________
#Ocean #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Pollution #Capitalism
Yesterday, 25 May 2023 — For only the third time in recorded history, we had the highest average world air temperature, the lowest global sea ice extent, and the highest average ocean temperature, all on the same day.
And this is just the beginning of the dubious and destructive record-setting events we will see in the months and years ahead.
Continue to work and hope for the best, but definitely *prepare* for the worst.
#Ocean #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency
For anyone still pinning their hopes on a bright future of techno-fantastic Green Growth, a hard look at the real world proves it's all a dream that can never come true...
____________________________
Copper is at the heart of everything electric. It is no exaggeration to say that our entire “renewable, clean, green” future hinges upon its uninterrupted supply.
In fact, according to a recently released report, in order to transform the world economy to using electricity alone we would need to mine more copper than what we did during the course of our entire written history. This is not to mention the fact that this amount of material would only cover the build-out of the *first* generation of wind and solar power plants (together with the many electric engines, batteries, inverters, transformers etc) needed for the change. So where do we get all that copper from?
This is an extremely important question. Why? Well, because if it turns out that the proposed “clean, green, renewable” Technutopia is physically unattainable, then we would immediately need to start working on an alternative, a Plan B if you like, before we cook ourselves or run out of the materials which could be used for a better purpose than to maintain an industrial civilization eating this planet alive.
Our global reserves of copper amount to some 880 million tons. However, a transition to an energy system powered by a combination of “renewables”, nuclear, and hydro would require us to mine 4575 million tons — some five times the amount we have located so far.
Considering 2019 production levels, and presuming we would magically discover the missing amount, we would need 189 years to mine the required amount of copper for that first generation. If those magic reserves are nowhere to be found, though, it would still take us 36 years to mine all the copper we have — allowing us to replace a mere 20% of our energy production from fossil fuels.
____________________________
This thorough and sobering article (which I'll link below) then goes on to describe the "rather dirty business of mining," before finishing with...
____________________________
Some inconvenient conclusions:
1. We neither have the copper reserves nor the mining capacity to replace our current fossil fuel infrastructure.
2. Even if we had, we wouldn’t have enough cheap and abundant fuel (diesel), sulfuric acid, and water to process it.
3. As a result, we would be able to get to a maximum 20% replacement of our fossil fuel infrastructure, presuming that peak oil and geopolitics do not throw a monkey-wrench into the process.
This implies that we will have to do with less (much much less) energy as fossil fuels — and copper — leave us during the coming decades. We are talking about an 80% drop, and it really doesn’t matter at all if the remaining 20% comes from the last drops of fossil fuels or the last grams of copper available to build “renewables”. Both solutions are (were) a limited-time offer on this planet.
____________________________
FULL ARTICLE -- https://thehonestsorcerer.medium.com/the-copper-conundrum-3b98704602c8
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency
Greta Thunberg (@gretathunberg), on page 355 of The Climate Book...
_______________________
The school strike movement is based on climate justice. We seek to shine a light on the intergenerational impacts of climate change and the need for equity for the most affected people in the most affected areas. We are not a political organization, we are a grassroots movement dedicated to spreading awareness and information. We are not interested in compromises or deals. We tell it like it is.
For this, we are receiving unimaginable amounts of hate and threats. We are being mocked, bullied, and ridiculed. And for pointing out that our political leaders have spent 30 years debating this while our emission levels have done nothing but keep on rising, there are elected officials who have called us “a threat to democracy.”
Perhaps this level of political desperation should not come as a surprise, since over one third of our anthropogenic CO2 emissions have occurred since 2005. There are leaders who have been in charge of some of our major emitting nations for large periods of that time. Imagine how their historic responsibilities will be viewed in the future.
_______________________
She's angry, as she should be. So should we all!
GET THE BOOK -- https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/709837/the-climate-book-by-greta-thunberg/
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ClimateAction #ClimateJustice #CO2 #Emissions
The official 2023 hurricane season forecasts were just released, and the big question is: Will the warm waters of the Atlantic overcome the unfavorable conditions brought by the El Niño? We’ll soon know.
While the Atlantic may see an average storm season this year, a busier-than-normal season is forecast in the eastern Pacific, meaning heightened risks for #Mexico and #Hawaii.
Journalist Sarah Miller (@sarahmiller_22747) offers a thoughtful and informed examination of our troubled times...
________________________
As springs fades into what is an already intolerably hot summer across much of the Western world, a sense of anxiety and insecurity is palpable across much of that world. Some of this is the crazy climate. It’s knowing that flood and fires, frost and heat waves are breaking out all over, decades ahead of “schedule,” and that it can only get worse.
Humanity has for too long been at war with everything non-human on Earth and with the Earth itself.
Now, nearly 300 years into the Industrial Revolution, the Earth is striking back. Not only has the climate gone berserk, and the bugs and birds and fish begun to disappear, but most every “natural resource” we humans want seems to be in short supply, from oil, to lithium, to good soil, to whatever.
The only things in assured oversupply are people and plastic. Somehow, peace must be restored to the planet itself.
Humanity can ignore the signals of rebellion coming from the Earth and its non-human inhabitants, the signals that are the root cause of our anxiety and insecurity, until civilization collapses. Or we can find simpler ways of living with less stuff, less destruction, and a lot more attention to those signals.
________________________
That's just part of a well-written, somewhat philosophical piece. I hope you'll read the whole thing.
FULL ESSAY -- https://medium.com/@sarahmiller_22747/when-the-earth-strikes-back-97f4d465d89d
Not unexpected, but definitely not good news...
"Ice is Melting Faster Than We Knew"
____________________________________
According to the most recent international study, the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets are losing three times more ice per year than they were in 1993.
Greenland’s melt has been described as going “into hyperdrive.” It is now melting 20% more a year than it was at the start of the decade, more than seven times faster than the melt in the early 1990s.
This means our models of ocean level rise need to be revised — upward. Warming oceans melt glaciers, which causes sea level rise to accelerate, which increases the contact between glaciers and oceans, which melt glaciers still more.
Revised models that factor in the collapse of ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica lead to an increase in ocean levels of six feet by the end of the century — *double* the high-end estimate of the International Panel on Climate Change.
The east and west coasts of the United States could see sea level rise of over a foot by 2050. River deltas are at risk: the Nile, the Mekong, the Gnges-Brahmaputa, and the Mississippi. At-risk cities include Mumbai, Shanghai, Tokyo, and New York City. Jakarta, Indonesia, was dubbed the “fastest-sinking city” in 2018. The World Economic Forum has predicted that Jakarta could be underwater by 2050.
What we are finding is that the models have consistently *underestimated* the danger from climate change. It is only by cutting the level of greenhouse gases to below current levels that the worst can be avoided. Even then, we will need to deal with climate extremes and sea level rise for centuries to come.
This is not an excuse to surrender. Things we do today may still moderate, to some degree, the worst of what may happen. But it means we have to start with the realization that we can’t “win,” if by winning we mean keeping a world similar to the one we grew up in, or one similar to the world we live in today. We are at a point where the best we can hope for is to select the least-bad of a horrible set of futures.
____________________________________
FULL ARTICLE -- https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2Fillumination-curated%2Fice-is-melting-faster-than-we-knew-966a13a361eb
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency
The new #SCOTUS ruling on the Clean Water Act is a big loss for wetlands throughout the country, but especially for the arid portions of the West.
Reporting from NPR: “…only wetlands that have a continuous surface connection to a body of water are covered by the law.”
There are many critical wetland regions in the west that are perched (not directly connected to other water) due to geology and there are many water bodies that don’t have #water year round.
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/25/1178150234/supreme-court-epa-clean-water-act?origin=NOTIFY
If you hear someone say we can't afford degrowth, or it would hurt the economy and cost jobs to fight climate change — DO NOT BELIEVE THEM!
That's a lie. There's *plenty* of money available to do everything that needs to be done.
It's not the money. It's the priorities. It's the politics.
Earlier this week we learned that if the world's largest fossil fuel companies were forced to begin paying for all the damage they've caused, it would take only about 1/4 of their annual profits. They'd still be getting rich!
See -- https://climatejustice.social/@breadandcircuses/110418003046537245
And just as a thought experiment... let's imagine what we could do to promote climate justice, support biodiversity, and ensure the wellbeing of everyone in society... if only we could spend a TRILLION dollars every year doing all those things. What a wonderful world it might be!
💵 $1,000,000,000,000 💵
But where would we get that kind of cash??
Oh...
"Governments Spent $1 Trillion Last Year Subsidizing Fossil Fuels"
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-16/fossil-fuel-subsidies-hit-record-1-trillion-in-2022-iea-says
It's not the money. It's the priorities. It's the politics.
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ClimateJustice #Capitalism #Degrowth #Politics
Anyone can see the world is going to hell: politically, with authoritarianism on the rise; economically, with wealth inequality growing worse every year; and environmentally, with climate change bringing droughts, storms, floods, and famines.
We can't keep going the way we are. That only leads to collapse and total ruin.
But there is another choice, if we're brave enough and strong enough to take it.
__________________________
Degrowth envisions a society in which wellbeing does not depend on economic growth and the environmental and social consequences of its pursuit. Degrowth proposes an equitable, voluntary reduction of overconsumption in affluent economies.
Equally important is to shift the economy away from the ecologically and socially harmful idea that producing more stuff is always good. Instead, economic activity could focus on promoting care, cooperation and autonomy, which would also increase wellbeing and give people a bigger say in how their lives are run.
Degrowth is a profoundly democratic project. It emphasises direct democracy and deliberation, which means citizens can shape which economic sectors are decreased and by how much, and which ones will grow and by how much.
Degrowth is a redistributive project. For instance, a universal basic income (UBI), an unconditional monthly state payment to all citizens, is a popular policy with degrowthers.
The degrowth vision is that basic income should guarantee a dignified living standard, remunerate unpaid care, and provide access to healthcare, food and accommodation for those in need. It could be financed by “climate income” schemes that tax carbon and return revenues to the public.
To make sure we stay within the environmental limits within which we can safely operate, sometimes known as our planetary boundaries, degrowth suggests democratically establishing limits on resource use. For example, global greenhouse gas emissions or non-renewable energy use could be capped at a given level, and decline annually.
Sharing these resource “caps” among the population would ensure that while we stay within these safe environmental spaces, everyone has equitable access to the resources required to lead a fulfilling life. In contrast to the pursuit of endless growth, degrowth puts both climate action and human wellbeing at its heart.
__________________________
FULL ARTICLE -- https://theconversation.com/degrowth-isnt-the-same-as-a-recession-its-an-alternative-to-growing-the-economy-forever-202469
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ClimateJustice #Capitalism #Degrowth
as part of my #zine series on the great garbage continuum, i'm working on a zine about the "thousand year cleanup" that we'll be coming into. there's just going to be so much to clean...
plastic bags in the ocean: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/17/stop-treating-seas-as-a-sewer-mps-urge-in-bid-for-protection-treaty
leaking abandoned mines: https://www.conservation.ca.gov/dmr/abandoned_mine_lands/Documents/DMR%20Chemical%20Hazard%20Reclamation%20and%20Remediation.pdf
space launch trash: https://blog.esghound.com/p/photos-from-the-spacex-debris-field
space junk: https://fas.org/publication/how-do-you-clean-up-170-million-pieces-of-space-junk/
desert clothes piles: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/vast-pile-of-discarded-clothes-in-desert-is-so-big-its-visible-from-space/ar-AA1bxJyp
in theory, extractive industries clean up when they're done with a particular place. in practice, when they're done sucking up the resources, they abandon equipment & leave poison ponds & huge dangerous holes in the ground.
they just abandon it!! and if you want it to not be a poison hole forever, usually it's the gov that pays. IF someone pushes VERY hard for it, for many years, usually with lawsuits.
#ecology #extractivism #ggc #cleanup #environment #extraction
#Kelp has long been an important part of the #Samish diet and culture. The Samish Indian Nation's Department of Natural Resources dive team, formed in 2021, was created to gain a better understanding of the health of kelp forests, after elders noticed they weren't finding kelp fronds, which are traditionally used to wrap salmon.
📝: Luna Reyna
📸: Genna Martin/Crosscut
#kelpforest #SalishSea #Seattle #PNW #environment #science
https://crosscut.com/environment/2023/05/within-salish-sea-samish-divers-research-kelp-forests
A distressing headline at Grist:
"Plastic Bottles Harm Human Health at Every Stage of Their Life Cycle"
_____________________________
In 1973, a DuPont engineer named Nathaniel Wyeth patented the PET plastic bottle. Since then, production has skyrocketed to more than half a trillion bottles per year, driven by beverage companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé.
It’s no secret that most of these PET bottles, named for the polyethylene terephthalate plastic they’re made of, are never recycled. Many end up on beaches or in waterways, where they degrade into unsightly plastic shards and fragments that threaten marine life. But blighted beaches are only the tip of the iceberg. According to a new report, PET plastic bottles cause hazardous chemical pollution at every stage of their life cycle.
Although industry trade groups like to advertise PET as “100% recyclable,” the reality is that 70% of bottles are never collected for recycling. Instead, they’re dumped, sent to landfills, or incinerated, causing air pollution that disproportionately affects low-income communities and communities of color. Of the remaining 30%, estimates are that only one-third are turned into new bottles; the rest are either wasted during the recycling process or “downcycled” into lower-quality plastic products like carpeting.
With global plastic waste generation expected to triple by 2060, experts say recycling infrastructure is unlikely to keep pace. Recent research also shows the recycling process may unintentionally incorporate toxic chemicals into recycled toys, kitchen utensils, and other products, potentially putting consumers at risk.
_____________________________
FULL ARTICLE -- https://grist.org/accountability/plastic-bottles-harm-human-health-at-every-stage-of-their-life-cycle/
Global warming can be deadly. Almost everyone knows that.
Fewer people know about ocean acidification, and how destructive it can be.
Fewer still have even heard of the ocean oxygen problem — which, in the long run, could lead to far greater damage and many more extinctions than any other threat we face.
_________________________
Researchers complain that the oxygen problem doesn’t get the attention it deserves, with ocean acidification and warming grabbing the bulk of both news headlines and academic research.
Just this April, for example, headlines screamed that global surface waters were hotter than they have ever been — a shockingly balmy average of 70 degrees F. That’s obviously not good for marine life. But when researchers take the time to compare the three effects — warming, acidification, and deoxygenation — the impacts of low oxygen are the worst.
As the atmosphere warms, oceans around the world are becoming ever more deprived of oxygen, forcing many species to migrate from their usual homes. Researchers expect many places to experience a decline in species diversity, ending up with just those few species that can cope with the harsher conditions.
Our future ocean — warmer and oxygen-deprived — will not only hold fewer kinds of fish, but also smaller, stunted fish and, to add insult to injury, more greenhouse-gas producing bacteria, scientists say. The tropics will empty as fish move to more oxygenated waters and those specialist fish already living at the poles will face extinction.
Oxygen levels in the world’s oceans have already dropped more than 2% between 1960 and 2010, and they are expected to decline up to 7% below the 1960 level over the next century. A 2021 paper showed that the oceans are already committed to a fourfold greater oxygen loss, even if CO2 emissions stop immediately.
_________________________
FULL ARTICLE -- https://e360.yale.edu/features/as-ocean-oxygen-levels-dip-fish-face-an-uncertain-future
#Ocean #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Biodiversity #Extinction
Three of Indonesia’s largest Indigenous and civil society organizations have launched a new initiative that will be first to channel climate funds directly to Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) on the frontlines of protecting forests, restoring land and ensuring food security.
By Hans Nicholas Jong
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/indonesian-project-shows-how-climate-funding-can-and-should-go-directly-to-iplcs/
As our planet heats up and dries out, many countries around the world will be at ever greater risk from horrendous wildfires. But two countries in particular stand out.
These countries have the most to lose, in terms of human lives, biodiversity damage, and economic impacts. And the world will lose too, because as wildfires spread, growing larger and more devastating year after year, they send even more carbon into the atmosphere, which makes global warming speed up, which makes wildfires more probable — and so on in a vicious cycle.
Two of the countries at greatest risk are Russia and Canada, and not coincidentally, these are two places where the fossil fuel industry is working very hard to make bad conditions even worse...
__________________________
Lightning strikes the Earth millions of times a day, starting thousands of fires, but lightning’s got nothing on us.
For starters, about three billion people are still cooking and heating with open fires. Meanwhile, in the developed world, you’ve got hundreds of millions of gas stoves, water heaters, and home furnaces. The list of flammables goes on: Wars and trash generate a lot of fires; so does slash-and-burn agriculture, so do forest fires, and so does petroleum refining. According to the National Energy Board, Alberta’s bitumen industry uses more than 57,000,000 cubic metres (two billion cubic feet) of natural gas per day – the energy equivalent of 350,000 barrels of oil – for the sole purpose of separating bitumen from sand.
Canada is the fifth-largest producer of natural gas in the world; in 2017, nearly a third of Canada’s total production was devoted to processing bitumen. Even after this colossal energy input, the rendered bitumen will still need further, fire-intensive upgrading to be actually burnable. Lest there be any confusion, natural gas is about 80% methane, a greenhouse gas 50 times more potent than CO2.
Already, we’re into the billions of daily human-caused fires, but it’s when I started looking at engines that the numbers really took off. Globally, you’ve got well over a billion cars, a quarter-billion trucks, 200 million motorcycles, 25,000 passenger jets, and 50,000 ocean-going freighters (a third of which are devoted to transporting more fuel to burn). A single six-cylinder minivan running at driving-to-school speed will generate around 10,000 combustions a minute, more than half a million per hour. That’s a lot of fires. Add them all up and you get tens of trillions of individual combustions. That, roughly speaking, is the number of fires humans make every day – uncountable as stars in the universe.
Every single one of those fires generates CO2 emissions, and all of it stays here on Earth (no, carbon capture will not make a dent in this). A certain amount is absorbed into limestone by chemical weathering, but the bulk of anthropogenic (human-caused) CO2 is absorbed by our oceans, or set loose in our atmosphere where it remains active for decades, if not centuries. Findings published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Research Letters revealed that, over the past 40 years, roughly 40% of the area burned in wildfires in the western U.S. and southwestern Canada can be traced to industrial CO2 emissions.
__________________________
That's a short excerpt from an excellent opinion piece by John Vaillant, author of "Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast."
FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-no-wonder-alberta-is-on-fire-we-made-this-planet-into-a-volcano/
#Canada #Russia #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #CO2 #Emissions #Wildfires
Who said recycling was green? It makes microplastics by the ton.
Inside Climate News reports on a study in Scotland: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16052023/recycling-plastic-microplastics-waste/
"What is the ocean? How do we know it? In whose interests is it used? Where do land and sea meet and part? Who has freedom on the sea, and for whom has it been a location of extraction, immiseration and constraint?"
Surabhi Ranganathan for #TheDial: https://www.thedial.world/issue-4/law-of-the-sea-climate-change
#Longreads #Sea #Ocean #Law #History #Environment #ClimateChange
This should keep us all up at night. When climate tipping points kick in, it will be hard to stop a cascade of climate-fueled disasters. Scientists say we need to cut carbon pollution now. Fast.
Study reveals new dangers of climate tipping points: "human-caused warming of 1.1C has already pushed five tipping elements into the “possible” range – including the collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets" http://carbonbrief.org/global-warming-above-1-5c-could-trigger-multiple-tipping-points/
@AyeshaTandon #climatechange #environment #climate
How much would it cost the fossil fuel industry to begin paying for all the damage inflicted by their ecocidal actions?
It's less than you might think.
Well, to you and me, it sounds like a LOT of money – but these companies have the cash!!
_____________________________
The world’s top fossil fuel companies owe at least $209 billion in annual climate reparations to compensate communities most damaged by their polluting business and decades of lies, a new study calculates.
The price tag on climate damages owed by the worst 21 oil, gas, and coal producers is based on each company’s operations and product-related emissions since 1988, and on the economic situation of their home countries. About half of the warming experienced so far has happened since 1988 – when Nasa scientist James Hansen testified about the human role in climate breakdown in front of the US Senate.
The companies could afford the reparations:
‣ Saudi Aramco, the state-owned company with the largest emissions, would owe $43 billion annually – equivalent to just over a quarter of its 2022 profits.
‣ ExxonMobil would owe $18 billion in annual reparations, compared with record profits of $56 billion in 2022.
‣ British oil giants Shell and BP, which together made $68 billion for shareholders last year, would be collectively liable for $30.8 billion in annual climate reparations, according to the study.
“As increasingly devastating storms, floods and sea level rise bring misery to millions of people every day, questions around reparations have come to the fore,” said Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at Climate Action Network International, a group of almost 2,000 civil society groups across 130 countries. “This new report puts the numbers on the table – polluters can no longer hide from their crimes against humanity and nature.”
Mohamed Adow, director of Power Shift Africa, a climate and energy think tank based in Kenya, said: “The case is clear for oil and gas companies to pay reparations for the harm their fossil fuels have caused. Not only has their dirty energy wrecked the climate, they have spent millions of dollars on lobbying and misinformation to prevent climate action.”
_____________________________
FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/19/fossil-fuel-firms-owe-climate-reparations-of-209bn-a-year-says-study
The important point is that these companies *easily* could pay for all this damage. They have the money. In fact, they could afford to pay even more, and probably should.
After all, governments (taxpayers, that is) have been subsidizing the planet-killing fossil fuel industry with trillions of dollars every year. By one calculation, that's $11 million a minute!
But will they be held to account? Will they ever be forced to pay for all the death and misery they've caused?
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #CO2 #Emissions #Pollution #ClimateJustice
What a terrible dilemma we find ourselves in, facing a choice between saving lives by using even more energy-intensive technology, or simply turning off the tap on fossil fuels to save the climate while watching millions die of heatstroke.
There must be a fine line between these two bad options, where we can find at least some equity and justice for those most at risk while also reducing emissions as quickly as possible. But I have little faith in the ability of our current leadership to make the right decisions. I don't trust their judgment, their motives, or their honesty.
We need *system* change!
Meanwhile, in India -- "A Billion New Air Conditioners Will Save Lives But Cook the Planet"
________________________
Summer in India has always been hot. Increasingly, it’s testing the limits of human survival. As temperatures have climbed across the world’s most populous nation in recent weeks, more than a dozen people died at an event in central India and thousands crowded hospitals with heatstroke symptoms. Hundreds of schools were closed and the mercury is still rising: Temperatures will hover around 45C (113F) across the northern plains this weekend.
The most immediate fix is mercifully affordable, at least in the short-term. Demand for air conditioners is surging in markets where both incomes and temperatures are rising, populous places like India, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
By one estimate, the world will add one billion ACs before the end of the decade. The market is projected to nearly double before 2040. That’s good for measures of public health and economic productivity; it’s unquestionably bad for the climate, and a global agreement to phase out the most harmful coolants could keep the appliances out of reach of many of the people who need them most.
________________________
FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-05-17/air-conditioners-save-lives-in-india-heat-waves-but-worsen-global-warming
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #CO2 #Emissions #Pollution #ClimateJustice
in many writings & talks by #indigenous people, you'll hear language like "the law of the land" or "nature's law."
i understand this to refer to what might be called ecosystem & population dynamics.
it's what happens when you kill the wolves & now there's too many deer. that population of deer will be subject to the heavy arm of the law of the land.
you don't have to know any math to understand the idea.
what do you all think?
#ecology #systems #environment #ClimateChange #plants #biology
Mosses cover a China-size area of the globe and have a significant impact on ecosystems and climate change, according to a new study.
Soil mosses can potentially add 6.43 billion metric tons of carbon to the soil globally, an amount equivalent to the annual emissions of 2.68 billion cars.
By LizKimbrough
#News #Mosstodon #Conservation #Environment #ClimateChange #Carbon #Nature
tulare lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the mississippi river, drained by white settlers in the 1800s, is back with a vengeance. the lake said "can't hold me down!"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/12/california-ghost-lake-nasa-images
i've driven through this area, and back then it was dry as a bone. i tried to imagine it as a massive freshwater lake, teeming with birds, its shores lined with tule rush (used by native people for many purposes, tule rush is the lake's namesake).
now it's back. i wonder how long it'll stay...
tulare lake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulare_Lake
tule rush: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoenoplectus_acutus
#ecology #california #tulare #water #ClimateChange #environment
a very nice article about the complicated issues surrounding large-scale solar power facilities in the mojave desert: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/21/solar-farms-energy-power-california-mojave-desert
i especially appreciated how they talked about rooftop solar vs large scale solar installations in remote locations.
these days, i understand why species like the desert tortoise are important, but back in the day, i would have thought "ok, but seriously, is it that big a deal if the desert ecosystem gets disturbed?"
the way i think about it now is: ecosystems are not separate, and no one knows the effects of ripping up all this desert ecosystem. no one knows if all the dust that gets kicked up during construction will blow over to some other location, where it'll create problems for people in large population centers (see: toxic dust coming up off the evaporating great salt lake).
connections across ecosystems are extremely complicated & we're already learning all the ways that making an intervention (like digging up a bunch of coal) in one part of the world affects other parts of the world, *well into the future*, in nonlinear ways. that tiny biocrust on native desert might be holding something very powerful in place that we don't want swirling around (like toxic dust). no one knows. no one does that kind of analysis in environmental reviews. and it's just kind of assumed that it's a risk worth taking.
anyway, it's all very complicated and i'm glad this article gave a pretty good summary of the issues, including interviewing people who have a stake in the local community: locals, people indigenous to that area, etc.
for me it comes down to this: is a particular project being done with respect for the land? it's hard to see how one would rip up all that desert if one had respect for the land...
If you enjoy in-depth reporting, then @ProPublica needs to be on your reading lists.
I found this article to be incredibly interesting and wanted to share it here.
Content warning for the article: it involves pregnancy loss.
"Seeding Hope: How saving the rainforests could prevent the next pandemic"
By @carolinechen
by Kathleen Flynn
#NonFiction #Article #LongForm #LongReads #ProPublica #Environment #Ecology
Interesting and inspiring. DSA members investigated and found that a for-profit utility, ConEd, was taking public funds and using it to support the fossil fuel lobby... all while failing to upgrade the grid, as they were supposed to, resulting in blackouts for New Yorkers.
So folx organized for four years to get meaningful climate action into NY's most recent budget.
#Climate #ClimateChange #Environment
https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/dsa-new-york-build-public-renewables-act/