Climate Links: December 2019

Biosphere Collapse? Robert Hunziker, counterpunch. Dec. 19, 2019.

... And, in Madrid, COP25 (Conference of the Parties25) was underway Dec. 2nd-13th with 25,000 participants from countries of the world gathered to hammer out the latest details on global warming/climate change. The question arises whether the conference had “legs.” By all appearances, it did not. Rather, it was another repeat climate sideshow.

Making matters even more surreal, because of the above-mentioned death-defying global plans to accelerate fossil fuels by 120% to 2030, the Stockholm Environment Institute claims the world is on a pathway to 3C pre-industrial, probably “locked-in” because of fossil fuel expansion across the globe.

But caution-caution-caution, the IPCC has already informed the world that 2C brings the house down, not only that, scientists agree 1.5C is unbearably unlivable throughout many regions of the planet.

In short, the world is on a colossal fossil fuel growth phase in the face of stark warnings from scientists that emissions must decline to net zero. Otherwise, the planet is destined to turn into a hot house. As things stand today, it appears “Hot House” is baking into the cake. And, Hot House implies too much heat disrupting, and destroying, too many ecosystems for the planet to support 7.8 billion people.

Dr. Peter Carter, IPCC expert reviewer: 

“Right now all three major greenhouse gas concentrations, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are accelerating. It means we are on a trend for total planetary catastrophe. We are on a trend for biosphere collapse. Carbon dioxide is on a rate exceeding anything over the past millions of years. We are at 412 ppm. To put that into context, we have an ice core that goes back 2.2 million years. The highest CO2 over that period is 300 ppm.” 

"We’ve had four separate reports this year on the status of countries meeting, or not meeting, their mitigation targets to avoid catastrophe. Result: “It’s basically the end for humanity. We’re looking at biosphere collapse. The richness of life is being destroyed by deforestation and by catastrophic climate change"

The External Costs of Human Activity Are Killing the Planet. Paul Craig Roberts. Dec. 30, 2019.


The 2010s were another lost decade on climate change. James Temple, MIT Technology Review. Dec. 24, 2019.
The only measurement that matters is greenhouse-gas emissions—and they continued to rise.

... Indeed, the 2010s mark the decade when the impacts from climate change became unmistakable, at least for any objective-minded observer. As temperatures rose, Arctic sea ice melted far faster than models had predicted. The world’s coral reefs suffered widespread and devastating bleaching events. And regions around the world grappled with some of the costliest, deadliest, and most extreme droughts, hurricanes, heat waves, and wildfires in recorded history. 

Since carbon dioxide takes years to reach its full warming effect, and we have yet to even begin cutting emissions, we’ll face even starker dangers in the coming decade.

Our pathetically slow shift to clean energy, in five charts. James Temple, MIT Technology Review. Dec. 24, 2019.
We’d better pick up the pace in the 2020s.

1. Renewables are still dwarfed by fossil fuels.
2. The share of carbon-free electricity has barely budged
3. EV sales soared this decade
4. But EVs are still a sliver of total auto sales
5. We need to radically accelerate clean energy additions

Canada's infrastructure was once cheap and effective to build. Now, it's a titanic transfer from taxpayers to the world's biggest businesses and investors. Rosemary Frei, boingboing. Dec. 13, 2019.

Australia Burning; Tourists in New South Wales and Victoria Flee to Beaches. Yves Smith, naked capitalism. Dec. 31, 2019.


Living On Borrowed Time. Adam Taggart, Peak Prosperity. Dec. 6, 2019.
How soon until the consequences of our excesses catch up with us?