It’s getting harder and harder not to conclude that humans are an utterly unrepentant parasitic species bent on destroying its host with haste and prejudice. There is no other conclusion possible or plausible at this point in our evolution. Wasn’t always this way, didn’t have to be this way… but regrettably, here we are on the eve of destruction. Can’t say we don’t deserve what we are surely going to get at this juncture, but it makes me sad for my grandchildren and future generations in general. It is they who will pay for this folly. #ClimateChange#ClimateEmergency#ClimateCrisis#FossilFuels#ResourceExtraction#Environment#stewardship#PlanetEarth
Not going to lie, I'm skeptical. Very skeptical. But there is a chance CO2 emissions will have peaked in 2023.
"We find there is a 70% chance that emissions start falling in 2024 if current clean technology growth trends continue and some progress is made to cut non-CO2 emissions."
Regardless of if it actually happens, it is important to recognize the progress we are making, which are more rapid than most realize and many predicted. There is hope.
An inherent part of the production of #SolarPanels is the use of #COAL (and other sources of Carbon, like woodchips) to reduce the source material (Silicon Oxide) into pure Silicon, thereby emitting, you guessed it right, huge amounts of #CO2 !
First the thylacine, then the koala, then the kookaburra...
"The tree hollows kookaburras need to breed can take a hundred years to develop. Every forest patch felled means hollows are lost. Over the past 200 years, nearly 50% of our forest cover has been felled. Urban development all along Australia’s east coast has continued."
The “guuguubarra” laughed for 16.3 million years. "That once-ubiquitous call will be heard no more."
Imagine running for world king on a platform of slashing economic growth by 20% forever. You’d be lucky to get your own family to vote for you. Yet humanity insists on running the global economy on #FossilFuels🏭 doing exactly that sort of damage🤦♀️ https://buff.ly/3Qex33d
#ClimateChange#GlobalWarming#Science#FossilFuels#Decarbonization: "Scientists have shown for years that it would be wise to hold global warming to 1.5°C, as outlined in the Paris Agreement. But this would require a breathtaking rate of decarbonisation: emissions would have to nearly halve by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. So far, global emissions are not even falling, let alone halving, and 2030 is just six years away.
Is it fair to lay all the blame on serious grown-ups in successive governments and boardrooms who have spent years failing to do enough to fix the problem? Probably not. But it is fair to ask them a question that Stern posed the other night about how dangerous it would be to take more radical, unorthodox climate action: “compared to what?”
We know that unthinkable action, like sudden mass lockdowns, can be launched in the face of a problem with the frightening immediacy of a global pandemic. Climate change is a different, slower-moving type of disaster. But it is a disaster nonetheless, and one that no truly serious person can continue to ignore."
The engineer turned part-time climate scientist who first attributed climate change to human activity. On a Wednesday in February 1938, Guy Stewart Callendar—a rangy, soft-spoken steam engineer, who had turned 40 just the week before—stood before a group of leading scientists, members of the United Kingdom’s Royal Meteorological Society. He had a bold idea to share: Humans’ burning of fuel was making the planet warmer. #ClimateChange#ClimateCrisis#ClimateEmergency#GlobalWarming#FossilFuels#History
It’s a nice #SunnyDay outside and it really feels like spring. The #bees are busy making use of the #flowers, while the flowers are busy making use of the bees.
The #UK#ElectricyDemand is currently 32 GW and of that, 25.2% is coming from #SolarEnergy, 17.1% is coming from #WindEnergy, 16.8% is coming from #NuclearEnergy and 9.9% is coming from #Biomass and only 7% is coming from #Gas. There is also a fair amount coming from continental Europe through the various interconnections.
"The production of plastic, which is made from #FossilFuels, is greenhouse gas-intensive.
By the middle of the century, global #emissions from #plastic production could triple to account for one-fifth of the Earth’s remaining carbon budget, an analysis has found.
The report was released before the 4th Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC4) meeting for a global plastics treaty set to start next week in Ottawa, Canada."
The title and the guy telling the story pretend it's all just farm in & outputs, but quite at the start he mentions that he starts with food scraps from local restaurants... So, that's external input in my book.
The other external input is all the machinery and the fossil fuels that are used.
To be more resilient in an uncertain/collapsing future scenario these are not the type of solutions that can be sustained.
I'm all in favor of composting and producing food (yourself) and as locally as possible, but please don't lie to yourself about the degree of 'sustainability' when you are working like this, even if it involves composting stuff yourself.
Though Indian 🇮🇳 PM Modi has promised to rapidly build out #solar & #wind generation to replace polluting #FossilFuels, his administration hasn’t been able to keep up with demand, giving a second life to old, inefficient #coal plants 🏭 https://buff.ly/4d14b8k
Fourth global mass bleaching of coral reefs underway. More than 54 percent of the world’s coral area has experienced bleaching-level heat stress in the past year, and that number is increasing by about 1 percent per week, says NOAA's Coral Reef Watch scientist Dr. Manzello.
#GreatBarrierReef in Australia is suffering what appears to be its most severe #CoralBleaching event; about a third of the reefs surveyed by air showed prevalence of very high or extreme bleaching, and at least three quarters showed some bleaching.
I will be:
-Announcing that I'm quitting my job in #Climate comms due to what seems like retaliation from management for calling them out on hypocrisy a few weeks ago
Publicly challenging #Cornell's attempt to fuck up our city's energy code to preserve #FossilFuel infrastructure
Recommending to the City of #Ithaca that they approve the Justice50 provision that would benefit disadvantaged communities for many years to come.
See page four of this document to find #Cornell's sneaky language that aims to give a longer lifeline to #fossilfuels
This is a recommendation from the increasingly reactionary institution to change the city building code-- it will help us fail at our #Climate commitments
it shows that a lot of y’all have no twenty-somethings in your life looking at the #genocide of Palestinians in #Gaza & discussing it as another reason to ban #fossilFuels and make #ecocide a real crime.
Zoomers have long made the connection of “no blood for oil”, #climateCrisis and warmongering like #Russia invading #Ukraine and #Israel decimating Palestinians for their land & natural gas reserves.
THIS IS THE REAL CRISIS, how y’all alienating the largest voting block in USA history. /🧵
☹️ Alleged human rights abuses detailed in new complaint against Canadian oil company
Environmental and human rights groups are calling for an investigation into Calgary-headquartered Reconnaissance Energy Africa (ReconAfrica), alleging the company has violated human rights in Namibia.
"In a move that environmentalists called a betrayal, the #Biden administration has approved the construction of a deepwater oil export terminal off the #Texas coast that would be the largest of its kind in the United States.
Fantastic. This is the kind of thing that'll directly drive reductions in fossil fuel projects.
"Zurich Insurance Group AG will no longer underwrite new oil and gas projects, and is cracking down on clients planning to expand in metallurgical coal mining."