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Climate Crisis

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  1. LaidBack
    Member

    Next issue of Geographer from RSGS will have a climate theme. Transport is tackled although bikes not that prominently - despite designer's bias.(!) EVs and rail get a whole page each and also plenty of other items that might interest readers here. Geography is a very wide brief.

    Members get the 32 page magazine free along with access to a great talks programme across Scotland. The HQ in Perth is well worth a visit with beautiful artefacts in the Explorers Room and an outreach programme to schools to create playground maps and more.
    Past issues here.
    https://rsgs.org/exploring-geography/publications/geographer-archive/

    Posted 8 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    "

    “Scotland has set an example to the world by exceeding its ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets six years early, but we cannot be complacent and must work with a wide range of partners to build on the strong progress we have made and be ready to deal with the impacts of climate change we know are coming.”

    "

    http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/news/article/2210/climate_change_action_plan_unveiled_in_edinburgh

    Well perhaps something to do with closing two major power stations.

    I hope this new initiative amounts to something, but maybe sounds too complacent -

    "

    Climate Change Secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, said: “Tackling the effects of climate change is crucial as the challenges of increasingly unpredictable weather and extreme conditions are only likely to increase if we don’t take action now.

    “That’s why I’m delighted to welcome Edinburgh’s first Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan which is ambitious but achievable with the medium to long-term vision of Edinburgh Adapts telling the story of Edinburgh’s adaptation journey to 2050. It provides us with an illustration of what we could do to make us more resilient to the impacts of climate change when public and private stakeholders, the third sector and community groups work together.

    "

    Posted 8 years ago #

  3. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    the medium to long-term vision of Edinburgh Adapts telling the story of Edinburgh’s adaptation journey to 2050

    Presumably she'll be up in the Pentlands later on today with a spade and a tonne of saplings to get the reforestation of the WoL catchment basin under way in time?

    This is either urgent in the way that an approaching enemy army is urgent or it's a Chinese hoax. One or the other.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  4. chdot
    Admin

    "This is either urgent in the way that an approaching enemy army is urgent or it's a Chinese hoax. One or the other."

    There is another which is more 'real'

    'We think that CC is probably real and could will lead to all sorts of serious problems (some already quite well imagined, others not yet predicted) but there's not much we can do before the next election and we don't intend to propose measures that voters will consider to be unpalatable.

    There is no point in outlining anything approaching a worst case scenario as no-one will be believe us (we are not sure we believe it either - "evidence" is out of fashion). So business as usual (the voters expect it).

    We'll just encourage volunteers and friendly NGOs to do some fluffy stuff.

    You are welcome to join us with our heads in the sand.'

    Posted 8 years ago #

  5. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Indeed, indeed.

    Meanwhile, this graph gets steeper. Even the period since the founding of CCE is frightening.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  6. kaputnik
    Moderator

    the period since the founding of CCE is frightening.

    Correlation ≠ causation!

    Posted 8 years ago #

  7. chdot
    Admin

    "Correlation ≠ causation!"

    Is that a fact?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  8. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Surely this is a post-fact forum.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  9. chdot
    Admin

    "Surely this is a post-fact forum."

    Have we had a poll on that?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  10. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Surely this is a post-fact forum.

    Alt-fact surely?

    Posted 8 years ago #

  11. chdot
    Admin

    http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/call-for-just-transition

    Posted 8 years ago #

  12. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Meanwhile, the president and chief executive of ExxonMobil has been appointed as the United States' face to the world (assuming Mr Trump is elected on the 19th);

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/us/politics/rex-tillerson-secretary-of-state-trump.html?_r=0

    I don't know the gentleman, but he doesn't seem like the kind of person who is primarily interested in just transitions to a carbon-free economy. He's not in charge of the world, obviously, and the Pentagon itself has identified climate change as the number one risk to American security, but my guess is that the Keeling curve will take a steep upturn over the next decade (especially if Mr Trump is appointed for a third term in 2024).

    It will be interesting to see how our new atmosphere behaves.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  13. ih
    Member

    IWRATS Agree entirely. Trump's fawning over fossil fuel interests don't bode well.

    But a "3rd term"? Do you anticipate a Constitutional Amendment, or a period of emergency rule allowing Trump an indefinite period in office? I'm hoping for impeachment during his first term.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  14. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I'm hoping for impeachment during his first term.

    I suspect it'll be unlikely, simply out of fear.

    My main fear, however, is that climatologically we don't have another four years' grace.

    Posted 8 years ago #

  15. chdot
    Admin

    R4 now

    "

    Climate Change: The Trump Card

    In April delegates from 171 delegates, including the US and China, signed the Paris climate agreement at UN headquarters in New York. The agreement is to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2C.

    UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "Paris will shape the lives of all future generations in a profound way - it is their future that is at stake."

    Speaking at the opening ceremony, he said the planet was experiencing record temperatures: "We are in a race against time. I urge all countries to join the agreement at the national level. Today we are signing a new covenant for the future."

    China and the Obama administration took the lead in endorsing Paris, and it came into force with astonishing speed.

    Then, in the follow up meeting in November in Marrakesh, whilst delegates met to celebrate a remarkable year of progress and to thrash out ways of implementing the Paris accords, something happened that briefly took the wind out of many sails.

    Donald Trump was elected the next president of the United States.Mr Trump and his cabinet nominees to the offices of environment, energy and state, are all confirmed Climate skeptics, or currently work for fossil-fuel industries.

    Will the next US government undo what the rest of the world has been trying to do? With political unease in many member states, is the EU backsliding and what is the current UK government doing about climate change?

    Roger Harrabin gets some answers to these questions and asks if it really can all unravel.

    "

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b086s95f

    Posted 7 years ago #

  16. chdot
    Admin

    "

    A controversial paper published two years ago that concluded there was no detectable slowdown in ocean warming over the previous 15 years — widely known as the “global warming hiatus” — has now been confirmed using independent data in research led by researchers from UC Berkeley and Berkeley Earth, a non-profit research institute focused on climate change.

    "

    news.berkeley.edu/2017/01/04/global-warming-hiatus-disproved-again/

    Posted 7 years ago #

  17. chdot
    Admin

    My bold -

    "

    With financial support and political commitment, there are many ways for food-producing communities to adapt in some degree to a decline in rainfall. The tactics might include really substantial improvements in water conservation, changes in the crops being grown and greater use of drought-tolerant varieties. These are necessary and buy time, but only up to a point. They will only realise their potential in the long term if the root cause of climate change – carbon emissions – is addressed. There is no escape from the need for a rapid reduction in such emissions.

    "

    https://www.opendemocracy.net/paul-rogers/world-in-trouble-war-drought-food-flight

    Posted 7 years ago #

  18. chdot
    Admin

    "

    German chancellor Angela Merkel has said 19 members of the G20 group have reaffirmed the Paris climate accord as "irreversible" - leaving the US as the odd one out.

    Mrs Merkel said the final statement from the group of nations' summit in Hamburg "takes account" of the US position rejecting the landmark climate deal.

    "

    http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15399064.Trump_odd_man_out_as_19_of_G20_group_reaffirm_Paris_accord_commitment/

    Posted 7 years ago #

  19. unhurt
    Member

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html

    Some light Monday reading. (I regret reading this over breakfast as it made me question the purpose of existence...)

    Posted 7 years ago #

  20. chdot
    Admin

    "Some light Monday reading"

    Aye

    "

    it takes many centuries for the planet to produce optimally fertile dirt.

    Drought might be an even bigger problem than heat, with some of the world’s most arable land turning quickly to desert.

    "

    Posted 7 years ago #

  21. chdot
    Admin

    "it made me question the purpose of existence"

    Perhaps a good thing(?)

    Any conclusions?

    Of course, for some, the purpose is only considered in human terms (understandably).

    For others it's perhaps just about 'Western Civilisation'.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  22. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @unhurt

    I think we all do well to question the purpose of our existence. The article is terrifying, and the only solace I can offer is that it contains a few scientific holes.

    Methane has a residence time of about a decade in the troposphere, where it is converted to carbon dioxide and water by hydroxyl radicals, so the permafrost and (more worryingly) deep sea methane clathrates are less terrifying than he makes out, but they're still terrifying.

    The analogy he makes between sea and blood pH is also weird. The pH of the sea varies quite a lot naturally, that of blood varies much less.

    But yeah, it doesn't really bear thinking about.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  23. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    "it made me question the purpose of existence"

    Should we have a separate thread for that? The things that matter to me are love, art and pleasure, (which overlap hugely of course) all three of which I attempt to pursue with the elegance and competence of a tipsy carthorse on a disco dance floor.

    It would also be nice to be remembered fondly for a few years once I have left the stage.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  24. dougal
    Member

    They say you can get to the Philosophy article in six clicks or less from any Wikipedia page. I like to imagine CCE thread drift is always aiming that way too.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  25. jdanielp
    Member

    "Want to fight climate change? Have fewer children" https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/12/want-to-fight-climate-change-have-fewer-children#comment-101939181

    Currently, my next best action would be to go vegetarian.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  26. sallyhinch
    Member

    Given that literate women tend to limit their family sizes (even in the absence of programmes promoting family planning) it follows that the best action you can take is to donate to programmes promoting literacy, particularly for girls. In fact, World Bicycle Relief are running a programme now at the moment https://totalwomenscycling.com/lifestyle/schoolgirl-receives-bike-writes-right-education-even-girl#AUXApziOoCH8A8IV.97

    How's that for thread de-drift?

    Posted 7 years ago #

  27. chdot
    Admin

    https://twitter.com/cbcalerts/status/885077223287422978

    Posted 7 years ago #

  28. chdot
    Admin

    "

    **
    Sanders Mr Vice-President, many people reach high political life and then disappear. You have not disappeared. You have chosen to tackle one of the most significant planetary crises: climate change. Now, you’re releasing a new movie, An Inconvenient Sequel. Could you tell us a little about it?

    ---

    A decade ago, the solutions were visible on the horizon. Now they’re here
    Al Gore

    ---

    Gore Yes, the movie will tell you everything you need to know about the climate crisis, the solutions to the crisis and how you can become an activist to help solve it.Bernie Sanders and Al Gore on solving the climate crisis | Opinion | The Guardian

    "

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/24/bernie-sanders-and-al-gore-on-solving-the-climate-crisis

    Posted 7 years ago #

  29. chdot
    Admin

    "

    Global warming has a 90 per cent chance of heating the Earth to a tipping point, after which there may be no escape from destructive climate change, a study suggests.

    "

    http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/global-warming-heating-earth-to-tipping-point-scientists-say-1-4518638

    http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/poll-finds-more-scots-want-stronger-action-on-climate-change-1-4517962

    Posted 7 years ago #

  30. chdot
    Admin

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/08/trump-administration-climate-change-ban-usda

    Posted 7 years ago #

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