Tag Archives: Climate Change is Real

Climate Solutions, News, Observation

Humanity ‘Way Off Track’: WMO Says Atmospheric Carbon at Level Unseen in 3 Million Years

Above: Photo / Adobe Stock

The new report has “a stark, scientific message for climate change negotiators at COP 26,” said the head of the World Meteorological Organization.

Carbon dioxide concentrations reached a new record high in 2020, with comparable levels not seen for roughly 3 million years, the United Nations weather agency said Monday.

“There is no time to lose.”

The findings came in the latest edition of the World Meteorological Organization’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, released a week before COP 26—the U.N. climate summit—kicks off in Glasgow.

According to WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas, the report holds “a stark, scientific message for climate change negotiators” headed to the summit. 

The bulletin said globally averaged levels of CO2, as well as two other potent greenhouse gases—methane and nitrous oxide—were all up from the previous year.

CO2 reached 413.2 parts per million (ppm) in 2020—149% of the pre-industrial level. The increase from 2019 levels came despite pandemic-triggered lockdowns triggering an approximately 5.6% drop in fossil fuel CO2.

Methane stood at 262% and nitrous oxide at 123% of pre-industrial levels, the report said.

“At the current rate of increase in greenhouse gas concentrations, we will see a temperature increase by the end of this century far in excess of the Paris Agreement targets of 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels,” he said in a statement, warning, “We are way off track.”

“The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere breached the milestone of 400 parts per million in 2015. And just five years later, it exceeded 413 ppm,” Taalas added. “This is more than just a chemical formula and figures on a graph. It has major negative repercussions for our daily lives and well-being, for the state of our planet, and for the future of our children and grandchildren.”

“Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for centuries and in the ocean for even longer,” said Taalas. “The last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 was 3-5 million years ago, when the temperature was 2-3°C warmer and sea level was 10-20 meters higher than now.”

The report also warned that land and oceans’ ability to continue serving as carbon sinks, sucking up about half of CO2 emissions, could be negatively affected by climate crisis-related changes such as wildfires.

Urging countries to turn “commitment into action,” Taalas said, “There is no time to lose.”

Dave Reay, a professor at the University of Edinburgh and director of the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, also tied the bulletin’s findings to the upcoming U.N climate summit.

“The true success, or failure, of COP 26 will be written in our skies in the form of greenhouse gas concentrations,” he said in a statement.  “This new report from the WMO provides a brutally frank assessment of what’s been written there to date.”

“So far,” he said, “it’s an epic fail.”

“Will this 26th COP find success where the previous 25 have fallen short?” Reay asked. “Our atmosphere will bear witness.”

Originally published on Common Dreams by ANDREA GERMANOS and republished under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Climate Solutions

Earth Day Turns 50: Environmental Activism can Save a World on Fire

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“OUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE” COURTESY OF FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE / FF LOS ANGELES

Celebrating Earth Day’s 50th must mark a New Beginning for the Next 50

April 22nd, 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the original Earth Day. While Earth Day is not technically a national holiday, many people in power recognize the occasion, and its momentum over the past half-century has evoked real environmental change.

Earth Day was first conceptualized in late 1969, when U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson hired Harvard grad student Denis Hayes to organize the inaugural event for the following spring. At first, the senator and student imagined the day as a nationwide teach-in to celebrate the natural world, educate about the environment, and push for activism.

According to Hayes in a recent New York Times article reflecting on the 1970 event, the first Earth Day “was not an anti-litter campaign… it was talking about fundamental changes in the nature of the American economy.” The occasion drew over 20 million people to rally in city streets across the country.

The event was a serious push for dire political and economic transformation that eventually proved immensely effective. In the months following Earth Day, President Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency and progressive amendments were added to the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. It also launched America’s environmental movement into full throttle.

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Taking Action and Raising Awareness is Still the Most important Focus for Earth Day

Earth Day’s original incarnation occurred during a far from tranquil period in American history. The Vietnam War was at a tumultuous height, civilian protests were ubiquitous, the Civil Rights movement was ongoing, and the Cold War was far from over. Still, with passion and perseverance, the event turned out being a success and managed to evoke positive change in an unlikely time.

Now, fifty years later, America is on the brink of multiple crisis points at once. Politicians and constituents are ideologically polarized, the 2020 presidential election is starting to boil, and most pressingly, the entire world is working to combat and understand COVID-19.

Just like the first Earth Day, ED-2020 comes at a deeply turbulent time.

Climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss as a result of human activity will not stop in the face of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Neither will the political responses to it—Trump, for example, cut fuel efficiency standards right around the same time that the stateside coronavirus shutdowns began.

Simultaneously, Earth Day 2020 has the potential for inspiring a path toward great opportunities.The recent oil crash signifies the possible end for the hegemonic, dangerous and corrupt fossil fuel industry. Meanwhile, a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency suggests that investing in green energy right now might be the economy’s best chance at recovery from the COVID-19 stock plummets.

The issues may have changed over the past fifty years. The world certainly has. Nevertheless, Earth Day still fights for the same overall goals that it did back in 1970: an environmentally sound and equitable planet for everyone sharing it.

Although social distancing orders may be hindering Earth Day’s regular festivities this year, its supporters still celebrate with virtual activities accessible from home.

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Breaking News, Climate Solutions, Coronavirus, Entertainment, Esoteric, Movies, Observation

Idris Elba’s Extremely Cogent Coronavirus Theory: Global Warming and this Pandemic are Directly Related

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Official Teaser Trailer for “Ender’s GamThe Mountain Between Us“

We are all gradually emerging from a state of shock. Even if we have no symptoms we see people saying, irresponsibly, that “eventually” somewhere between 50% and 100% will have contracted the novel coronavirus. One the other hand some of us, the brave, such as Idris Elba, who says he is still asymptomatic, choose to use this time to reflect on even bigger issues facing our planet.

What can be bigger than this pandemic? No need to look any further than the climate crisis, which up until sometime in February, was close to the top trending issue we were all very preoccupied with.

And for good reason. While the death estimates for the coronavirus are very frightening the climate crisis has the potential not only to affect or infect the lives of 100% of the world it will end it if we do not act.

Idris Elba in a publicity still from “The Mountain Between Us”

Big Problems need Big Thinkers and Brave Ideas

Along with other big thinkers, Idris Elba is on to something. Why not take this time to find ways to survive, but also put the energy we all have at our disposal into realigning our thinking towards a better way to live as a species on this planet. If it helps to see this as a message or even and attack by the much maligned and mistreated planet earth, and if that inspires us to dig deeper and, while staring into the abyss represented by the pandemic, so be it.

So much the better. Stay at home workers might be better off never going into an office high rise again. I know the planet will choke on less carbon if millions of people stop commuting. We have known that for 50 years. Software needs to grow, our ability to communicate via networked human communication systems, a.k.a. the internet, needs to improve radically and at a mind-bending pace. Why? Because, only when we change everything we do an how, can we avoid surviving something like this worldwide disease threat and then suddenly finding ourselves facing something even worse. Let’s inspire each other to dig deep and find ways to stop that scenario from happening.

In her latest instagram post, created from her Quarantine with husband Tom Hanks in Australia, Rita Wilson calls it Quarantine Stir Crazy – which is far nicer than turning into a Homicidal Maniac… but then she’s a nice and talented lady who happens to be married to Tom Hanks. While Idris Elba is writing his own Sci-fi script, and along with all the rest of us, concurrently living it – he is also spinning out extremely thoughtful, even deep, ideas while face-timing with Oprah:

“One of the upsides of this whole drama is that we are forced to think together as a race. Our world has been taking a kicking. We have damaged our world and it’s no surprise that our world is reacting to the human race.”

“It is no surprise that a virus has been created that is going to slow us down, and ultimately make us think differently about our world and ourselves. For me, that’s a stand-out thing that is really obvious. This is almost like the world’s cry out.”

“Like: ‘Hey, hey, hey – you are kicking me and what you’re doing is not good, so we will get rid of you.’ “As any organism would do, (the world) is trying to get rid of an infection, and maybe this is it for the world.”“As any organism would do, (the world) is trying to get rid of an infection, and maybe this is it for the world.”

Idris Elba, in facetime chat with Oprah while in quarantine in London

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Breaking News, Climate Solutions

Greta Thunberg Nominated For The Nobel Peace Prize for the Second Year in a Row

Incredibly Effective Teen has been Raising Issues and Confronting Power across the Globe

Jens Holm and Hankins Svenneling, two Swedish lawmakers, have nominated Greta Thunberg for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. The two nominators chose Thunberg because of the international awareness she has raised about the climate crisis and the peace she has created by pressuring countries to lower emissions and stand by the 2015 Paris Climate Accord.

The Nobel Peace Prize is a Scandinavian-based award that annually recognizes a single individual for his or her accomplishments or commitments towards bringing nations together and nullifying global violence. Started in 1901, the tradition has lasted nearly 120 years. Any international lawmaker can nominate someone for the Peace Prize and the five-person Norwegian Nobel Committee decides the winner. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes alongside the Literature, Physics, Physiology/Medicine and Chemistry Prizes.

At just seventeen years old, Greta Thunberg is one of the youngest people to ever get nominated for the prestigious award. Three Norwegian lawmakers also nominated her for the last year’s Prize, but she did not end up winning. Usually the award is given to a politician or a member of an international organization (or the organization itself). Thunberg, however, is far from a politician and acts more-or-less independently in her mission.

Thunberg dropped out of school at age fifteen to protest climate inaction outside of the Swedish parliament building. She has since inspired many other young people to follow in her footsteps and produce additional school strikes in the name of environmental activism.

No Nonsense or Self-Aggrandizement Needed

Over the span of just a couple years, Greta’s message has spread around the planet, and she herself has also traveled far and wide, meeting with world leaders and influencing them to prioritize fighting the climate crisis with progressive policy. She spoke at the 2019 U.N. Climate Summit in Madrid and has the endorsement of many international figures.

Collaterally, Greta has garnered a quasi-celebrity reputation. However, she is far from hedonistically seeking attention or hollow gratification for her movement. Focused on tangible results, Thunberg renounces symbolic gestures and has even turned down several awards. Her bitingly direct rhetoric used at public events is a testament to this.

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All the same, though, a Nobel Peace Prize is the prime filet of social justice recognitions. The title has gone to the likes of Barak Obama, Martin Luther King Jr, and esteemed institutions such as the EU and the Red Cross. By acknowledging the nomination alone, Thunberg could greatly benefit her cause, raising greater awareness political momentum than before. At the same time, the concept of receiving any award runs contrary to Greta’s “less-talk-and-more-action” agenda.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee choses the annual winner in November, and he or she receives the Prize at a ceremony in December. Nominations were due on the first of February, but not all submissions become public knowledge. Thus, there could be more than just two votes for Thunberg.

As of this writing, Thunberg herself has not commented on her nomination.

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Climate Solutions

2% Beneath The Surface is Big: Report Shows Oxygen Levels in the Ocean are at Severe Risk

At the Climate Summit in Madrid, the International Union for Conservation of Nature recently released a report stating that the amount of oxygen in the ocean has decreased by two percent between 1960 and 2010. The report was penned by 67 scientists from 17 countries, nearly all of whom found evidence linking this deoxygenation to climate change and other human activities.

A two percent reduction in oxygen over fifty years may not seem like a lot, but it is an unprecedented rate of decline for the ocean, causing the sea to warm and acidify at a record speed. Being a body of salt water, the oceans respond to such elemental losses differently than the surface would. Dr. Dan Laffoley, one of the report’s editors, explained to The New York Times that if the heat absorbed by the ocean in the last fifty-five years went into the atmosphere instead, then the surface world would experience a roughly 65 degree (Fahrenheit) increase in global temperatures.

Furthermore, the two percent figure is only an average; oxygen levels are not uniform across the entire ocean. Some areas have a healthy amount of oxygen, but it is not evenly distributed. According to the journal Science, certain tropical waters have found a 40 to 50 percent drop in oxygen.

Most of the ocean’s oxygen is actually getting condensed towards the surface. In a self-perpetuating cycle, deoxygenation makes the water warmer, and warmer water is more buoyant. Therefore, the O2 floats to the top, but it comes at the expense of deeper waters that end up gasping for air. Likewise, when the water is warmer, marine life actually uses the reduced oxygen at a faster rate because all the creatures are vying for each breath.

Without adequate oxygen in the ocean, its vast species cannot survive. If they want to keep sustaining themselves, they have to change their behavior. This means altering migratory patters, diets, and habitats. When one species deviates from its typical behaviors, it can jeopardize entire food chains and ecosystems. Given the surplus of oxygen near the surface, for example, more animals are moving towards higher waters, oversaturating these environments with competing and invasive life-forms.

The main solution that the scientists offer for this issue principally involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions around the world. The ocean is the world’s largest natural carbon drain, but it is now becoming overburdened and overheated, making it incapable of holding as much oxygen or effectively doing its job. As another side effect, warm water also takes up more space through thermal expansion, so deoxygenation in the ocean actually accelerates sea level rise as well.

This report should be a reminder to world leaders at the UN Climate Conference that nature is not expendable in the fight against climate change. Preserving our oceans and forests is an essential element in protecting the human race. These landscapes mean more than just animals and plants. It is these very ecosystems and everything in them that give us the privilege of living in an environmentally sound world. We should not take them for granted, for an ocean ruined by humans will eventually lead to a ruined humanity.

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Climate Solutions

2020 and Beyond: Sustainable Energy Breakthroughs and Deep Dives

2019 Made Clear that the Climate Crisis is a Real and Growing Danger

The idea of Sustainable Energy Infrastructure, a.k.a. clean energy, dates back to the 1970s. As a matter of fact Earth Day, inaugurated April 22, 1970, was founded to raise awareness of environmental issues. The main issue for the first decade or so was pollution, hence clean energy. Although the “hole” in the ozone layer, first discovered in 1985, is not directly related to climate change, the root cause of both is the human release of pollutants into the atmosphere.

In 1969 the Cuyahoga River went up in flames and, when Time Magazine published dramatic photos of the blaze, outrage was ignited nationwide. So exactly 50 years ago, as of June 2019, the so called “Environmental Movement” began, and has now morphed into the Climate Crisis. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), established by, of all people, Richard Nixon, began its operation in the same year as Earth Day, on December 2, 1970. As for Solar Cells and power, the first working solar cell was built in 1883. 1832 there was already experimentation with electric vehicles and then, around 1870 working models were driven on the streets on London.

Sadly, the last 50 years (not to speak of the century plus since solar and EV solutions have been incubating) have been marked more by obstruction and obfuscation on the part of politicians and the government, rather than enough meaningful support for a cleaner, sustainable energy infrastructure.

The Real Truth Regarding Sustainable Energy and Why its Growth has been Blocked

Unfortunately, sometimes the most urgently needed answers are hidden in plain sight. The obvious stands directly in front of us staring us in the face . If someone were to ask what the greatest obstacle is to building a sustainable energy infrastructure to supersede current oil and fossil fuel-based sources? Some might say research and development, or new technology, perhaps EV adoption by the general public.

While all of these sound vaguely plausible there’s a much simpler explanation for what the true impediment is.

Below is a list showing the the top 10 oil producing countries in the world measured by barrels per day of output. Simply by looking at the top three USA, Saudi Arabia, and Russia, it can easily be seen where the real problem lies. Not only is the USA the largest producer of oil in the world, based on the barrels per day measurement, it is also the largest fossil fuel consuming nation on the planet. And those output numbers are growing.

Is it any wonder that the “oil president” has done everything in his power to block any efforts to include the USA in climate change related treaties or negotiations?

Further, the USA has increased its production of oil virtually every year this decade.  Since the price of oil peaked in 2008 which also coincided with the financial crisis, the US has been doing everything in its power to reduce the price of oil in order, presumably, to attempt to create economic stimulus. While this may seem like a valid goal, it has a direct effect on the relative price of sustainable energy sources, which become more expensive in comparison as the price of oil goes down. Without government support, such as gasoline taxes reinvested in clean energy sources, the transition away from fossil fuels simply can not happen fast enough to avoid global catastrophe.

Simply by looking at the list of the top 10 oil producing countries in 2018 it can easily be seen the logic behind the massive and focused resistance to any improvement in sustainable energy generation. There is a massive incentive toward the self-perpetuation of these enterprises, right up until outright extinction is the fate of us all.

(source: Energy Information Administration )

  1. United States – Production: 17,886,000 bpd
  2. Saudi Arabia – Production: 12,419,000 bpd
  3. Russia – Production: 11,401,000 bpd
  4. Canada – Production: 5,295,000 bpd
  5. China – Production: 4,816,000 bpd
  6. Iraq – Production: 4,616,000 bpd
  7. Iran – Production: 4,471,000 bpd
  8. United Arab Emirates – Production: 3,791,000 bpd
  9. Brazil – Production: 3,428,000 bpd
  10. Kuwait – Production: 2,870,000 bpd

It is also no coincidence that countries who have done the most to create a price equilibrium between clean sustainable sources and fossil fuels through taxation of gasoline, primarily, happen to be those countries that produce and own the fewest oil assets. Germany is a perfect example as it leads the world in the increase in capacity of sustainable energy infrastructure.

The meaning and import attached to these simple facts go beyond the rise of EVs, Tesla and public awareness. Beyond the meteoric career of a charismatic wunderkind willing to take on established powers that have exhibited virtually infinite levels of corruption and suicidal stupidity. This issue, how to stop the obstruction of the ultimate and total transition away from poisonous fossil fuels, is the only issue that matters for the decade of the 2020s. The politicians and governments must be forced, not only to stop obstructing, but to support the transition with extreme prejudice.

Below: our top energy breakthrough stories from 2019

Bring It On: Elon Musk & Tesla and the EV Explosion of New Models across the Auto Industry

Above: Photo Link to Article

Los Angeles Aims For 25% Less Greenhouse Gas Emissions By 2028: Electric Vehicles Are The Key

Above: Photo Link to Article

Capitalists to the Rescue?: Automakers follow Tesla in Race for Electric Car Dominance

Above: Photo Link to Article

Extinction Rebellion Video Increases political pressure as Elections Loom and Climate Survival is at Stake

Above: Photo Link to Article

The European Union Sets Its Own Eco Standards With Green Deal

Above: Photo Link to Article

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Climate Solutions

2019 Marked the Rise of Climate Activism, Jane Fonda, Greta Thunberg and the Extinction Rebellion

Greta Thunberg, the hugely influential sixteen-year-old climate activist from Sweden, was recently named Time magazine’s 2019 Person of the Year. Just a teenager, Thunberg holds the honor of being the youngest recipient of the title in history. But Greta wasn’t the only climate awareness activist that was making waves and getting attention in 2019.

Jane Fonda, at the other end of the age spectrum from Greta (she turned 82 on December 21st), was arrested numerous times in civi disobedience demonstrations. Her vocal criticisms and concise quotes related to the press coverage of her activism sum up the reason this is not just any other protest movement:

“I have gotten a lot of publicity because I’m a celebrity, you know. That’s why I’m doing it. If you’re a celebrity, you have a responsibility to use that celebrity. Especially when the future of mankind is at stake.”

– Jane Fonda

Of course, there has been a lot of the usual talk about how celebrities should stay out of politics and that discussion is far from over, with many other celebs like Leonardo DiCaprio, who’s been an envronmental activist for many years, continuing to speak out. In the end, this is the fight that, eventually, one way or another, everyone will join, as the very existence of the Earth hangs in the balance.

Jane Fonda Risks Multiple Arrests, joining Greta Thunberg in urging Immediate Action to Stop Global Warming

Takin’ it to the Streets to Save the World: XR uses Saturday Night Fever to Wake up Planet Earth

Greta Thunberg Emerges in 2019: Her Message is being Heard and the Journey has Just Begun

Climate Crisis reaching Critical Mass: Extreme Events, Massive Protests and Celebrity Activism

Leonardo DiCaprio headlines Global Citizens Festival, in Climate Crisis awareness fight

Greta Thunberg: Climate Activist focused on Change now, not hopes for an Uncertain Future

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