The public debate is dominated by a single problem, climate change, for which there is no solution (at best it can be mitigated), while there are equally pressing environmental problems that could actually be solved, but which are eclipsed by the discussion about climate.
Yes, it is too late. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - which in the past has been to blame for distorting scientific data in order to get more politically acceptable predictions - maintains that it is still possible to limit the rise in the global average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But in order to have even one chance of reaching this figure, every country in the world would have to completely renew its infrastructure and economy in the next ten years.
Perhaps Sweden can bring its net carbon emissions to zero by 2030. But the people in France are already rioting over a low gasoline tax, the people in Trump America are in love with their pick-ups, and we don't even want to talk about China and India and Africa, where the next huge coal-fired power station goes on line every day.
To seriously imagine that the world would happily do without flying and big-screen television seems to me like an example of the black comedy of climate change. The game is over. Petro-consumption has won.
The earth’s temperature is rising at the rate of 0.13C/decade. At that rate it will be 115 years before that 1.5 degree rise is upon us. No one knows if the 0.13C/decade rate will continue but I doubt if 1.5 degrees would have catastrophic effects—likely it would hardly be noticed. It would be approximately the difference between Paris and Berlin.
The effects are exponential not linear.
That’s only a small part of the story. We’re already seeing disastrous effects from climate change:
By the numbers: For 2018, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.42°F (0.79°C) above the 20th century average, according to NOAA.
According to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), global temperatures in 2018 were 1.5°F (0.83°C) warmer than the 1951–1980 mean.
Analyses from the U.K. Met Office and the World Meteorological Organization also ranked 2018 among the top 4 warmest years on record.
Each group relies on similar surface temperature data but uses different methods and baselines to fill in gaps between observing stations.
According to NOAA, the annual global land and ocean temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.13°F (0.07°C) per decade since 1880. However, this rate has more than doubled, to 0.31°F (0.17°C) per decade, since 1981.
The big picture: "The impacts of long-term global warming are already being felt — in coastal flooding, heat waves, intense precipitation and ecosystem change," Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA GISS, said in a press release.
Since the 1880s, the average global surface temperature has risen about 2°F (1°C), which Schmidt — along with the vast majority of climate scientists — attributes largely to increased emissions of greenhouse gases due to human activities.
Increasing average temperatures are most pronounced in the Arctic, where temperatures have jumped at more than twice the rate of the rest of the globe, triggering sea ice and land-based glaciers to melt.
Record high annual temperatures over land surfaces were measured across much of Europe, New Zealand, and parts of the Middle East and Russia. No land areas were record cold for the year, NOAA found.
Between the lines: Global average surface temperatures are edging closer to the 1.5°C aspirational warming target contained in the Paris climate agreement, which many low-lying island nations see as key to their survival, but the world's energy system is marching in the wrong direction for limiting global warming's severity.
Global carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas ticked up in 2018, to the highest levels in recorded history, according to the Global Carbon Project and the International Energy Agency.
A separate report showed that U.S. carbon emissions from energy — which is the overwhelming cause of planet-warming emissions — jumped by 3.4% last year, ending years of declines.
In order to meet the Paris agreement's 1.5°C goal, global emissions of greenhouse gases would have to fall by 45% by 2030 and reach "net zero" by mid-century.
[axios.com]
@jerry99 No reasonable person denies that temperatures have been rising. If temperatures are rising it is inevitable that in some years the record will be broken. It is a rather short record however and that is hardly reason for alarm.
Every time there is unusual weather it is blamed on climate change, but actually those weather anomalies have been occurring forever.
I agree that it will be a great day when fossil fuels are no longer needed, but frankly, I am not afraid.
@WilliamFleming I can’t believe ANYONE would say there’s no cause for alarm! Tell that to the people living in the coastal areas who are getting ready to kiss their houses (and their life savings) goodbye. If you care about your children and your grandchildren, you damn well be paying attention to the way CO2 buildup is affecting the environment. At this point, a reasonable person should be running around screaming as if their hair were on fire!
@jerry99 I guess we see it in different ways. If you want to be afraid that’s your choice—I choose to be calm. Can you name a single person who has been displaced by rising sea levels?
@WilliamFleming Please learn the difference between fear and anger. Any why on earth would you reference an article that disproves your point? "A Terrifying Sea-Level Prediction Now Looks Far Less Likely - But experts warn that our overall picture of sea-level rise looks far scarier today than it did even five years ago."
It goes on: "Yet their work—and the work of other sea-level-rise scientists—still warns of potential catastrophe for our children and grandchildren. If every country meets its current commitment under the Paris Agreement, the Earth will warm about 2.7 degrees Celsius by the end of the century compared with its pre-industrial average. In their new research, DeConto and his colleagues say that there’s a tipping point, somewhere between 2 and 3 degrees Celsius of temperature rise, after which the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will slip into rapid and shattering collapse.
Their new research also raises the marginal risk of disaster. Officially, the Paris Agreement aims to keep global warming from exceeding 2 degrees Celsius, though many experts consider that goal fanciful. And even in that extremely optimistic scenario, West Antarctica still switches into unavoidable collapse about 10 percent of the time, according to the new research.
Their short-term revisions also barely change their long-term forecast of West Antarctic disintegration. If emissions keep rising, they warn that global sea level could rise by more than 26 feet by 2300."
@jerry99 “Their short-term revisions also barely change their long-term forecast of West Antarctic disintegration. If emissions keep rising, they warn that global sea level could rise by more than 26 feet by 2300."
That’s almost 300 years, plenty of time to adapt. Besides that it’s impossible to predict such a thing with certainty.
Fear comes first and then anger. Without fear there’d be no anger. Without the wallowing in untrue ideas there’d be no fear.
@WilliamFleming; Sorry you're not impressed by the constant temp rise....to me it's frightening.
The issue's not so much the steady rise in temps, as our very narrow comfort range.
3º above our average and New York city will be under water. 3º below our present average and New York city will be under a mile of Ice.
Watch;
@WilliamFleming Been to Miami or Venice lately?
@WilliamFleming You asked if people were displaced by rising seas, not the cause of them...they are being displaced no matter the cause...
@thinktwice So far I don’t think anyone in Miami has been displaced. Maybe in Venice. If your house is only a few feet above mean high tide flooding during high tides should be expected. That in itself is nothing to fear
@WilliamFleming We have no need to fear because we will all be dead...it is the different world that we have been setting up for the future generations that is of concern. It is easy to not give a damn at our age, but to not do what is reasonably easy for the future is selfish. Our generation is accused of being the selfish generation...we got ours and to hell with everyone else...I, for one, do not want to be put into that category.
@WilliamFleming Little Managua has been flooded many times and families are forced to leave because they can no longer afford the costs...there are hundreds of stories from Miami of rising sea water affecting the sewer system, the street access, etc. There is no way of denying it when you see it yourself.
I talked to an oceanographer recently about this topic. Needless to say, the effects are not really what you expect. All life on earth and especially human life isn't going anywhere, but the problem is we have no idea what the earth will be like after those kinds of changes.
Anyone who expects politics to do something about it is part of the problem. The changes that we would need doesn't have to come from each and every country, but each and every individual.
@Allamanda Considering the type and scale of the changes necessary, I would not recommend teaching or influencing anyone. My point is its way worse than Matias thinks it is in terms of mitigation or avoidance, but not as bad in terms of an existential threat.
Here is what your life would look like if everyone did enough to mitigate climate change:
-use of less than 4 gallons of water per day per person, for showering, cooking, cleaning etc.
-No meat or organic produce ( organic takes more space than GMO, therefore more land must be cleared )
-if you are not using any appliance, it must be unplugged
-50% reduction in use of all lighting and appliances, at home and at work
-Turn off A/C in summer, keep your house cool in winter.
-50% reduction in miles driven per year
-60% reduction in all road maintenance and construction ( concrete production releases a lot of CO2 )
-boycott all goods that have disposable components, or had to be shipped significant distance, or have a short life/planed obsolescence.
All of the above must be accomplished by everyone, not just a few on the list.
That's the spirit just give up, I'm going to trade my Volt that I drive on electric 90% of the time in on an Ford F350 with dual wheels and thunderbolt grease slapper diesel V8 engine and then drive up and down the main street as long as I want to. And by the way any electric car that is running on power generated from a coal plant is still 90% more efficient than any internal combustion engine. No it's not the total answer but you have to start somewhere I also have solar panels and a wind generator.