Climate Change / Global Warming Discussion

[mspohr]

Big tobacco got caught in a lie by Congress. Now it’s the oil industry’s turn | Mark Hertsgaard

The CEOs of Exxon, BP, Shell and Chevron face a Capitol Hill hearing on their climate crisis lies – will it mirror the downfall of big tobacco?

www.theguardian.com

The parallels with big oil today are uncanny. The big tobacco lawsuit was “premised on a simple notion”, said Mike Moore, the attorney general of Mississippi, who initiated the case: “You caused the health crisis – you pay for it” by reimbursing states for the extra costs that smoking imposed on their public health systems. Replace “the health crisis” with “the climate crisis” and you have the very same argument that New York, Massachusetts, Minnesota and dozens of other state and local governments have made in their pending lawsuits against oil companies. And just as tobacco companies lied for 40 years about the dangers of smoking, so too have the oil companies lied for decades about the dangers of burning fossil fuels. They saw today’s climate crisis coming – their own scientists repeatedly warned top executives about it – and decided, bring it on.

 

[mspohr]

Court orders French government to ‘repair’ carbon emissions overshoot

France given deadline of end of 2022 to set things right in what millions-strong petition called ‘case of the century’

www.theguardian.com

 

[mspohr]

Biden Administration Plans Wind Farms Along Nearly the Entire U.S. Coastline Biden Administration Plans Wind Farms Along Nearly the Entire U.S. Coastline

 

[mspohr]

It’s easy to feel pessimistic about climate. But we’ve got two big things on our side | Bill McKibben

One is the astonishing fall in the cost of renewable energy. The other is the huge growth in the citizens’ movements demanding action, says academic and climate campaigner Bill McKibben

www.theguardian.com

 

[mspohr]

Climate crisis poses ‘serious risks’ to US economy, Biden administration warns

Joe Biden’s administration on Friday issued a 40-page report warning that the climate crisis “poses serious and systemic risks to the US economy and financial system” and setting out steps for action as “climate impacts are already affecting American jobs, homes, families’ hard-earned savings, and businesses”.

Under the new plan, the federal government will weigh up climate risks for employee benefit and retirement plan investments, incorporate climate disasters into lending and budgeting decisions and revise building standards for homes at risk of flooding. Government-backed mortgages for public housing will factor in the risk of calamitous floods, wildfires and other climate impacts.

 

[mspohr]

A US small-town mayor sued the oil industry. Then Exxon went after him

The mayor of Imperial Beach, California, says big oil wants him to drop the lawsuit demanding the industry pay for the climate crisis

www.theguardian.com

 

[mspohr]

Earth’s demise could rid galaxy of meaning, warns Brian Cox ahead of Cop26

Unique events that led to civilisation mean its demise could ‘eliminate meaning in galaxy for ever’

www.theguardian.com

 

[mspohr]

Think big on climate: the transformation of society in months has been done before | George Monbiot

As the US mobilisation showed, when governments and societies decide to be competent, they can achieve things that at other times are considered impossible. Catastrophe is not a matter of fate. It’s a matter of choice.

He introduced, for the first time in US history, general federal income taxes. The government rapidly raised the top rate until, in 1944, it reached 94%. It issued war bonds and borrowed massively. Between 1940 and 1945, total government spending rose roughly tenfold. Astonishingly the US government spent more money (in current dollar terms) between 1942 and 1945 than it had between 1789 and 1941. From 1940 to 1944, its military budget rose by a factor of 42, outstripping Germany’s, Japan’s and the United Kingdom’s put together.

 

[mspohr]

Jane Fonda on the climate fight: ‘The cure for despair is action’

I think the idea was to discredit my opposition to the war, and maybe get my speeches cancelled. Instead, students turned up in their thousands. My first arrest wasn’t for an act of civil disobedience, exactly, but the lesson I took away from that surreal experience was just how powerful it can be to set your ideals against the machinery of the state. Half a century later, it still works. And, as the extraordinary activists who tell their stories here attest, it remains an indispensable means of being heard by those who would prefer to ignore us.

Today, the climate crisis requires collective action on a scale that humanity has never accomplished, and in the face of those odds a sense of hopelessness may occasionally descend. But the antidote to that feeling is to do something. The question is: what? Changing individual lifestyle choices like giving up meat and getting rid of single-use plastic won’t cut it when time is not on our side. We need to go further, faster. Instead of changing straws and lightbulbs, we need to focus on changing policy and politicians. We need large numbers of people working together for solutions that work for the climate. Nonviolent civil disobedience can help to mobilise that movement. At 83, I’m still ready to get arrested when the occasion demands it.

 

[JRP3]

Carbon free steel production, a possible use where "green" hydrogen might make sense.

 

[mspohr]

Global security and stability could break down, with migration crises and food shortages bringing conflict and chaos, if countries fail to tackle greenhouse gas emissions, the UN’s top climate official has warned ahead of the Cop26 climate summit.

Cop26: ‘World conflict and chaos’ could be the result of a summit failure

Top climate official issues strong warning on effect of unchecked greenhouse gases ahead of summit

www.theguardian.com

 

[mspohr]

World has wasted chance to build back better after Covid, UN says

Although more than 100 countries have promised to reach net zero emissions around mid-century, this would not be enough to stave off climate disaster, according to the UN emissions report, which examines the shortfall between countries’ intentions and actions needed on the climate. Many of the net zero pledges were found to be vague, and unless accompanied by stringent cuts in emissions this decade would allow global heating of a potentially catastrophic extent.

 

[mspohr]

The dirty dozen: meet America’s top climate villains

For too long, Americans were fed a false narrative that they should feel individually guilty about the climate crisis. The reality is that only a handful of powerful individuals bear the personal responsibility. The nation’s worst polluters managed to evade accountability and scrutiny for decades as they helped the fossil fuel industry destroy our planet. The actions of these climate supervillains have affected millions of people, disproportionately hurting the vulnerable who have done the least to contribute to global emissions. Working- and middle-class people must stop blaming themselves for the climate crisis. Instead, it’s time to band together to seek justice and hold these profiteers accountable. Only in calling out their power and culpability is it possible to reclaim the world that belongs to all of us, together.

 

[mspohr]

What the world can learn from Rachel Carson as we fight for our planet | Kim Heacox

Leaders here at home, take note. The science is conclusive. It’s time to pass a no-nonsense Build Back Better Plan that will cut the emissions that feed climate disasters – and take that accomplishment to Glasgow at the end of this month. It’s time to praise peaceful citizen action, from every fossil fuel divestment to every indigenous-led pipeline protest. It’s time to embrace new green technology, end off-shore drilling and all harmful energy leases on US public lands, keep the oil, coal and methane in the ground, and work together to see our moment in history as Carson saw hers – as a privilege and a duty

 

[Raffy.Roma]

We just had a hurricane in Italy (Sicily) causing victims and damages. Mediterranean hurricanes are also called "medicanes". It means that also in the Mediterranan we have now more than 8 meters of hot water, like in the Oceans close to the USA, allowing hurricanes to be originated.
It also mean that the GLOBAL WARMING ISSUE is getting worse at GLOBAL LEVEL.
In fact we are not used to hurricanes in Italy, but we must now face this matter exactly as you do in the USA with the difference that, while the Administration of President Biden is handling the Climate Change/Global Warming issue correctly, the Italian Goverment has NO PLAN AT ALL TO FIGHT THE Climate Change/Global Warming issue.

 

[mspohr]

World is failing to make changes needed to avoid climate breakdown, report finds

Pace of emissions reductions must be increased significantly to keep global heating to 1.5C

www.theguardian.com

 

[mspohr]

Why progressive gestures from big business aren’t just useless – they’re dangerous

Corporations are not just trying to influence politics, they appear to be trying to take the place of politicians. Either way, the self-interest of the corporation remains paramount. They are unlikely to take a risk when supporting a progressive cause. When corporations do take a political position, they are generally the followers, not the leaders. It is real activists who do the long, often unrewarding hard work of opening public debate to important and controversial topics. Corporations follow, generally once public opinion has already made up its mind and they can ride its wave.

 

[mspohr]

Could planting a trillion trees stop global heating? This man thinks so
Carbon-removal technology – sucking carbon from the air and then storing or using it – is one way to do this but is expensive and will take time to scale up. The International Energy Agency estimates that these technologies absorb about 40m metric tons of carbon a year. Trees, on the other hand, collectively absorb about 7.6bn metric tons a year – more than the annual emissions of the US – even after accounting for the emissions released by deforestation, wildfires and other causes.

We’ve already done the R&D,” said Wong. “A trillion trees has a very, very strong possibility of solving the [climate] problem,” he said, when paired with cuts in carbon emissions. Reforestation is “immediately scalable”, he said, adding that the world cannot afford to wait until carbon capture technologies are ready for large-scale deployment: “You’re accumulating debt, the planet is warming in the meantime.”

CNN: These World Heritage Forests have gone from removing carbon from the atmosphere to emitting it. These World Heritage Forests have gone from removing carbon from the atmosphere to emitting it

 

[JRP3]

I saw some research suggesting that young forests emit more CO2 than they capture.

 

[nwdiver]

I saw some research suggesting that young forests emit more CO2 than they capture.

That is a bit counter-intuitive but there's clearly a 'saturation' point. Until the industrial revolution started burning things for energy in bulk CO2 levels had been mostly steady for over a million years (aside from the ocean and air swapping molecules). If forests were an effective way to sequester carbon why didn't CO2 levels fall? They're more of a wallet than a bank.

My understanding of Earths history is that trees basically stopped being an effective way to remove carbon from the atmosphere ~300M years ago. Now they just hold on to it for a bit then release it. Which if you think about it is actually a good thing. If micro-organisms didn't evolve to put the carbon trees take in back into the carbon cycle Earth would have eventually become a ~lifeless ball of ice.

White Rot Fungi Slowed Coal Formation​