CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
Climate Crisis
(1297 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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Eventually stories like these might make the front page and stay there. You'd almost think Brexit was more important than the fate of the planet.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Brexit and climate chaos are linked though. No climate justice without social justice and Brexit is intended to make social justice less likely. I think.
Posted 5 years ago # -
It certainly is a great big red herring when we should be concentrating our minds on more important things.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I wouldn't say it was a red herring as it will have a direct impact on our ability to change society in the ways required to stabilise the atmosphere.
We may be 43 days from a situation where the UK of GB&NI may have no choice other than to extract and consume its hydrocarbon reserves.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Yes, I thought after I wrote it that red herring was not quite the phrase I was after. I think what I'm trying to say is that is a criminal distraction when we have bigger fish (herring?) to fry and should never have been allowed to proceed to the all-consuming monster it has become.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Ah, yes, in which case I concur.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Looking for a decent journey mode comparison carbon calculator* and found this bit of 90s style layout. Wonderful!? Check out the cursor on purple (not sure how it looks on a phone screen but on a laptop it's... uh. yeah!)
http://www.chooseclimate.org/flying/mf.html
In other news some time last autumn I think I unconsciously decided to take a looong sabbatical from flying. #flyingless on Twitter is a good place to follow conversations about this. (I'm trying to check comparative footprints after the convo with the in-house climate change team that suggested sometimes the ferry is actually more damaging than the plane for getting to northerly islands in the UK. I have to make some work travel decisions - and yes, I do actually have to go in person; that part is non-negotiable.)
Posted 5 years ago # -
“sometimes the ferry is actually more damaging than the plane for getting to northerly islands”
Sadly that doesn’t surprise me.
And presumably island hopping planes won’t be messing with the stratosphere.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Even though aircraft CO2 emissions are quite low per km per passenger (comparable with a single occupancy car), the problem with flying is that it enables journeys that wouldn't otherwise be possible.
For example, you wouldn't try to drive to Barcelona for a stag/hen weekend, or sail to New York for a long weekend of shopping.
So the ferry may be more damaging than flying, but fewer journeys would be made if only ferries were available, as the journey time would be much longer.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Yeah, plus emissions released higher up are worse, and there's the take-off/landing energy... Suspect there is possibly some small number of turbo prop flights that fall withing certain distance / height /passenger parameters where they are the most carbon efficient means (compared to what else is available for that route), but not sure what those might be - plus it dilutes the key message that transport has to change...
It's a slightly more complicated calc for the north isles for various reasons - very poor rail links (single line north of Inverness) means Ed-Thurso on the train takes at least 8 hours (9.5 hours last time I did it as there was a 2 hour gap in Inverness) plus then the transfer to the ferry at Scrabster and 1.5 hours on the boat) make train plus short crossing unappealing to most. Train or bus to Aberdeen then the boat makes more sense but only runs three times a week each way (twice in winter for Orkney as it goes straight to Shetland with no Kirkwall call on one sailing). Driving to Scrabster or Gills Bay for the short crossings is... very tiring.
Posted 5 years ago # -
"Train or bus to Aberdeen then the boat makes more sense"
Not in the winter though - the swell is horrific and you'll struggle to keep any food down on that boat. Also quite a lot more expensive than train to Thurso + ferry from Scrabster.
I used to take the train north then ferry to Stromness several times a year. But that was 30 years ago, before rail privatisation and bus regulation. The real problem nowadays is that the bus service no longer stops at Thurso station to connect to the ferry, as it used to in the olden days. Why? Because stagecoach want you to take the bus from Inverness to Scrabster, so they're out to deny convenience to any passengers travelling by rail...
Bring back bus regulation I say!
Posted 5 years ago # -
I do OK on the winter North boat - weirdly I mostly only get seasick in gentle swell. As soon as it picks up - whee! Hard to work / type, mind... I do love having a wee cabin to myself going south (for work travel they pay for a berth) - always wish the journey took a bit longer so I can spend more time being asleep on a boat - like sleeper trains, I might never entirely get over the thrill.
The need to get a taxi between Thurso station and Scrabster is ridiculous. At least it's cyclable. And in nice weather (and preferably daylight) it's JUST walkable in time going north. Just.
The Aberdeen boat to Kirkwall is met by a bus that swings into town to drop off anyone going that way then heads across to Stromness where it terminates just post-midnight. Much more civilised.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Catching the steamer from Leith to Kirkwall would presumably get you some sleep. Oh wait, you would have to travel back in time for that to occur. The hero of Eric Linklater's novel Magnus Merriman (I think) does this after a supper of grouse in The Cafe Royal.
Interestingly the North Company who ran such steamers are also cited as creating the world's first cruise in 1886 the St Rognvald took passengers from Scotland to Norway and back. Sister ship the next year St Sunniva was first purpose built cruise liner - cruises were. Very popular and ships could be built quickly in those days?
Source Wiki. I imagine if I google P&O they might agree to differ.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Extinction Rebellion back up to 12 years left in other artwork elsewhere in UK. So maybe only Boroughmuir that has 11 years left or someone needs to go to school instead of striking, to learn to count. In defence of XR I guess people get nervous when spray painting ( see Velvet Undererground graffiti that used to be on the brick wall of the builders yard next to Leslie's Bar)
Posted 5 years ago # -
Famously interrupted Loyalist graffiti on a bridge in Belfast read
PREPARED FOR PEACE READY FOR WPosted 5 years ago # -
I am a little cynical whether fresh-faced school children are a beacon of hope as my generation were fresh-faced and banner waving in their time but the comments to this are amazing.
Does anyone say "balderdash" and "codswallop" in speech any more?
Posted 5 years ago # -
“Does anyone say "balderdash" and "codswallop" in speech any more?”
All the time don’tchano?
Posted 5 years ago # -
“as my generation were fresh-faced and banner waving in their time”
From primary school age?
I think in the past demos/concerns where about ‘principles’/‘causes’ but now it’s more about ‘the future’ - for ‘everyone’ with younger people having more reason to be worried/want something done.
Big question is how soon any Govs will accept that quite a lot (understatement) needs to be done.
Workplace Parking Levy is such a minor detail but some people are acting as though it would be the end of civilisation.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Good to see the young people being politically active. I think the extinction rebellion organisation is interesting. Some links to other direct action organisations with slightly stranger positions but on the whole refreshing. Trying to get arrested is a bit odd. So the young lad I know who has been lifted Numerous times, I always feel is being manipulated by older people who don't get arrested. Same when he went on hunger strike.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Another article that should be on the front page of every newspaper.
Posted 5 years ago # -
"Nearly a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere's landmass sits above permafrost. Trapped in this frozen soil and vegetation is more than twice the carbon found in the atmosphere.
As fossil-fuel burning warms the Earth, this ground is thawing, allowing microbes to consume buried organic matter and release carbon dioxide and shorter-lived methane, which is 25 times as potent a greenhouse gas as CO2."
Posted 5 years ago # -
And
Early Spring Rain Boosts Methane from Thawing Permafrost
"In general, the ability of rain to transport thermal energy into soils has been underappreciated," Neumann said. “Our study shows that by affecting soil temperature and methane emissions, rain can increase the ability of thawing permafrost landscapes to warm the climate.”
Posted 5 years ago # -
Every human understands power and hierarchy so that's easy to report - which monkey has all the grapes and offspring and which monkey has been beaten half to death and spurned by the troop.
Few humans understand even the basic concepts of chemistry and physics as they operate in laboratories, let alone a witches' brew like a biosphere.
This whole thing challenges the model of information -> concerned citizens -> political pressure on representatives -> executive decision -> action by society.
Posted 5 years ago # -
Hmm, not sure I buy that. It seems large petrochemical companies have for a long time now been concerned that the humans who make up the general public might very well grasp the connection between their activities and harm to the planet - they've certainly spent enough money on confusing the issue and buying politicians' obfuscations for the past three decades.
A better comparison might be tobacco and cancer: few humans understand the intricate details of biochemistry and the mechanisms by which the various substances in a cigarette cause cancer, but eventually even the concerted efforts of the tobacco industry weren't able to stop most people grasping the link.
The world is full of complex specialisms. Thankfully we don't all require a working knowledge of each one in order to make assessments. The issue is, how is the media spinning it and who is weaponising human psychology in their favour?
Posted 5 years ago # -
Thankfully we don't all require a working knowledge of each one in order to make assessments.
We wouldn't in a well-functioning society. Besides Caroline Lucas, which of the 649 other MPs might grasp what this means?
Is there a single member of the cabinet even interested in understanding this?
I don't think the media even need to spin this one. 'You said it was carbon dioxide and now you're saying it's methane' will do the job.
Posted 5 years ago # -
As Private Frazer said: We're all doomed!
Posted 5 years ago # -
@crowriver - well, easy to joke but I see serious climate scientists talking about grappling with grief and fear. So...
But I've had this bookmarked for the past year as a useful reminder: Despair is not a strategy
Posted 5 years ago # -
We're all doomed!
seems about right to me
the individual human lifespan is just not quite broad enough to grasp the imperative of rejecting the straightjacket of capitalist realism
Posted 5 years ago #
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