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Ministers ‘misrepresented’ UK climate advisory body, say scientists
Government challenged to explain claim that UK will need 25% of energy to come from fossil fuels in 2050
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CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » This site
Dealing with Climate Change & Justice
(1782 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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Not entirely clear if this is ‘we want Gov cash’, but -
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“Our industry has been working hard to gear up for that acceleration [of effort needed to meet net zero], but your announcement signalled less not more action needed,” the letter says. “In order to bring forward big financial investments, to recruit and train hundreds of thousands of people and to bring the public along with us in this journey we need confidence in long-term active policy support from government. Your announcement has set that back.”
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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Here’s the state of play at Dalmuir Twin Tunnels. As you can see, the water level is massive – it’s up to around the window level on a train. The fixed pumps here have been completely overwhelmed by the extreme rainfall. It'll take time for this to clear once the rain stops.
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https://twitter.com/networkrailscot/status/1710641120286233019?s=46&t=T-RcMBllR2tDdBtU4mE5uw
Posted 1 year ago # -
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Storms, floods, heatwaves and droughts have taken many lives and destroyed swathes of property in recent decades, with global heating making the events more frequent and intense. The study is the first to calculate a global figure for the increased costs directly attributable to human-caused global heating. It found average costs of $140bn (£115bn) a year from 2000 to 2019, although the figure varies significantly from year to year.
The latest data shows $280bn in costs in 2022. The researchers said lack of data, particularly in low-income countries, meant the figures were likely to be seriously underestimated. Additional climate costs, such as from crop yield declines and sea level rise, were also not included.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/09/climate-crisis-cost-extreme-weather-damage-study
Posted 1 year ago # -
Oops. Basements under water I hear.
....politicians have asked “serious questions” of a Scottish council after key flood gates were not closed – leading to extensive water damage to homes and businesses.
It comes after the city of Perth was deluged with heavy rain over the weekend leading to many properties – including Bell’s Sports Centre – being flooded.
But despite an amber weather warning for being in place for several days, and a severe flood warning for Perth of “danger to life” on Sunday, the North Inch flood gates were not closed.
Perth and Kinross Council initially sparked anger after claiming the warnings had come too late to close the gates, saying in a statement: “[The Scottish Environment Protection Agency] has issued a severe flood warning for Perth, from the North Inch to Friarton Bridge.
“The Tay rose higher than expected overnight on Saturday. Unfortunately the warning about the river level was too late to close the flood gate on the North Inch, which has resulted in the area flooding.”
From National.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Driving north on Friday afternoon we commented on how high the River Tay looked between Dunkeld and Pitlochry. My theory is that they were letting as much water as they safely could out of the reservoirs prior to all the rain coming.
Posted 1 year ago # -
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Scott Butler, executive director at Material Focus, described it as “fast tech”. He said: “People should think carefully about buying some of the more frivolous … items in the first place.” He said the items people bought were often “cheap and small”, and that consumers may not realise they contain valuable materials that could be salvaged if recycled.
Small electricals can contain precious materials including copper, lithium and stainless steel. These components can be recycled and used in wind turbines, medical devices and electric vehicles. Material Focus said that while people were used to the idea of recycling larger electrical items such as fridges, lots of smaller devices were left unused in houses.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
"We" must be winning if they're trying to silence people.
I say "we" because we are all intertwined with the climate and nature, and the physics doesn't change
Posted 1 year ago # -
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To Spend Infrastructure Billions Without Worsening Climate Risk, Unbuild Forward Better, Too
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I'll focus here on surface transportation and flooding. The bill language calls for the development of "strategies to reduce the climate change impacts of the surface transportation system and a vulnerability assessment to identify opportunities to enhance the resilience of the surface transportation system and ensure the efficient use of federal resources."
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https://revkin.substack.com/p/to-spend-infrastructure-billions-21-11-09
Posted 1 year ago # -
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An overhaul of energy is at the heart of the report, aiming to generate more from renewable sources, while ensuring a baseload supply from gas-fired power stations equipped with carbon capture and storage technology. Installing heat pumps for nearly all households and upgrading insulation, at a cost of about £3.2bn a year, will also be key.
Cars and roads alone will not be enough to keep transport moving, and far greater investment in public transport is needed, the panel of experts found, in a 222-page report that took more than two years to compile. This is only the second such five-yearly infrastructure report since the NIC was set up in 2015 by the then chancellor, George Osborne.
Sir John Armitt, the chair of the NIC, called on the government to take urgent action. “The good news is that modern, reliable infrastructure can support economic growth, help tackle climate change and enhance the natural environment,” he said. “People often talk about infrastructure as the backbone of our economy: what our infrastructure needs now is the collective mettle to turn commitments into action that will reap rewards for decades to come.”
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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“Climate change is no longer tomorrow’s problem, it’s today’s,” Kingdon said. “Healthcare professionals across the UK are already seeing its impact first-hand.”
In the UK, air pollution was the largest environmental risk to public health, she added. “Children breathe faster, so they inhale more airborne toxins in proportion to their weight than adults exposed to the same amount of air pollution. As such, they are especially vulnerable to air pollution, which can lead to asthma in childhood, and lifelong health issues.”
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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The NIC’s verdict on hydrogen came in its regular comprehensive assessment of the UK’s infrastructure. Published every five years, the 222-page document is the result of more than two years of deliberations by engineers and other infrastructure experts.
The reasons it gives for rejecting hydrogen for home heating are manifold. Hydrogen is many times less efficient than heat pumps, and would be much more expensive, according to NIC calculations. “[Hydrogen uses] five to six times more electricity than using the same electricity directly in a heat pump. This is because more energy is lost in converting electricity to hydrogen, and heat pumps use less energy than boilers to produce the same level of heat,” the report found. Heat pumps were suitable for the majority of UK homes, it found.
Scores of independent scientific studies have also found that hydrogen would not be suitable for home heating in the UK, and trials of the technology have failed.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/21/hydrogen-boiler-home-heating-uk
Posted 1 year ago # -
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JCB, a long-term contributor to the Tories, has also been targeting the Labour party, including handing out free merchandise to delegates at the party’s recent conference in Liverpool in an attempt to win support for the company’s hydrogen ventures.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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Rishi Sunak faces further pressure over his U-turn on net zero targets, after the head of the world’s energy watchdog said countries that water down green policies risked worsening the climate crisis and damaging their own economies.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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Simon Armitage is spending a few days at the Natural Environmental Research Council Arctic Station in Ny Alesund in Svalbard, by some measures the world's most northerly community. He spends time with research scientists working in the field to look at what's going on in this part of the globe which is warming faster than the rest of the planet.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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The world must treat the risks from artificial intelligence as seriously as the climate crisis and cannot afford to delay its response, one of the technology’s leading figures has warned.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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Apple declared the Apple Watch Series 9 to be its first "carbon neutral" product during its launch in September, but it quickly became the target of criticism from a Chinese environment research organization as a form of "climate-washing."
Now, Apple faces more opposition from groups in Europe over the matter.
"Carbon neutral claims are scientifically inaccurate and mislead consumers,"
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https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/10/24/apples-carbon-neutral-claims-are-misleading-say-eu-groups
Posted 1 year ago # -
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Dr Christopher Wolf, at Oregon State University (OSU) in the US and a lead author of the report, said: “Without actions that address the root problem of humanity taking more from Earth than it can safely give, we’re on our way to the potential collapse of natural and socioeconomic systems and a world with unbearable heat and shortages of food and freshwater.
“By 2100, as many as 3 billion to 6 billion people may find themselves outside Earth’s livable regions, meaning they will be encountering severe heat, limited food availability and elevated mortality rates.”
Prof William Ripple, also at OSU, said: “Life on our planet is clearly under siege. The statistical trends show deeply alarming patterns of climate-related variables and disasters. We also found little progress to report as far as humanity combating climate change.
“Our goal is to communicate climate facts and make policy recommendations. It is a moral duty of scientists and our institutions to alert humanity of any potential existential threat and to show leadership in taking action.”
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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Another estimate suggested that, by 2070, between one and three billion people could find themselves living outside the “surprisingly narrow” range of climates in which humanity has prospered for 6,000 years.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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Revealed: the industry figures behind ‘declaration of scientists’ backing meat eating
Document used to target top EU officials over environmental and health policies but climate experts view it as propaganda
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Posted 1 year ago # -
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Paul Morozzo, Greenpeace UK’s senior climate campaigner, said: “Our crumbling flood defences are a symbolic and literal demonstration of the government’s failure to tackle the climate crisis.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
From 6 years ago
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It is not just about throwing money at the problem and building more defences, she says. Real changes in thinking and political priority are needed to push adaption to climate change rapidly up the national agenda.
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https://www.newcivilengineer.com/archive/barbara-young-on-floods-28-09-2007/
Posted 1 year ago #
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