Hansen: Uh-Oh. Now What? Are We Acquiring the Data to Understand the Situation?
........ Political leaders at the United Nations COP (Conference of the Parties) meetings give the impression that progress is being made and it is still feasible to limit global warming to as little as 1.5°C. That is pure, unadulterated, hogwash, as exposed by minimal understanding of Fig. 6 here:
......... These numbers say a lot about the extent of the French government’s environmental commitments, and, more broadly, about the gigantic practical joke being played by world leaders in their ‘declaration of war’ on global warming. It is not just Macron. Look at how the rulers of countries hit by the record-breaking July heatwave behaved: as if global warming was some future menace, to be mended with the odd €6 for a jacket here and there (or €10 if it’s lined).
We’re not dealing with denialists here: they are comparatively unthreatening, for their bad faith is transparent, and they grow more pathetic by the hour despite their corporate bankrolling. Far more dangerous are those like Macron – that is, the overwhelming majority of the world’s political class, irrespective of ideological orientation – who feign concern from their air-conditioned offices and private planes, and then do nothing. Worse than nothing, in fact: for they make the public believe that the problem can be solved with half-measures and palliatives, promoting market solutions for a problem created by the market itself. ..............
'Dark brown carbon' in wildfires may have even bigger climate impacts than previously thought
Plants find it harder to absorb carbon dioxide amid global warming
A modelling study suggests that increases in photosynthesis have slowed since 2000, opposing previous research that said this effect would remain strong, helping to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere
‘We’re changing the clouds.’ An unintended test of geoengineering is fueling record ocean warmth
Pollution cuts have diminished “ship track” clouds, adding to global warming
Global heating likely to hit world food supply before 1.5C, says UN expert
Water scarcity threatening agriculture faster than expected, warns Cop15 desertification president
Experts fear US carbon capture plan is ‘fig leaf’ to protect fossil fuel industry
Critics concerned energy department decision on fledgling technology will undermine efforts to phase out fossil fuels
Energy Dept. Announces $1.2 Billion to Advance Controversial Climate Technology
‘Direct air capture’ of carbon pollution is still experimental, but a fossil fuel company is embracing it as a way to keep drilling.
......... Occidental CEO Vicky Hollub has said that because of DAC, “we don’t need to ever stop oil,” and that the technology gives the fossil fuel industry “a license to continue to operate.”
According to Gore, “They’re using it in order to gaslight us, literally.” ......
In a 2019 study that examined the impacts of direct air capture, Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, found that it would increase CO2 emissions, air pollution, fossil mining and fossil infrastructure, largely because of the enormous amount of energy required to extract, compress, and separate the CO2.
Even if renewable energy is used to operate DAC, Jacobson told DeSmog that this would simply divert renewables away from directly replacing fossil fuels. .......
Are humans a cancer on the planet? A physician argues that civilization is truly carcinogenic
In "Homo Ecophagus," Dr. Warren Hern gives human activity a deadly diagnosis
Humans have existed on this planet for a relatively short time, yet we've had a major impact on it, dramatically altering its biodiversity and shifting its global climate in only a few centuries. The burning of fossil fuels has cooked the globe so much that ecosystems are threatening to fall completely out of balance, which could accelerate the ongoing mass extinctions caused by our predilection for exploiting nature.
There's a very distinct possibility we could trigger our own extinction or, at the very least, greatly reduce our population while completely altering the way we currently live. Little things like going outside during daylight hours or growing food in the dirt could become relics of the past, along with birds, insects, whales and many other species. War, famine, pestilence and death — that dreaded equine quartet — threaten to topple our dominance on this planet. We are destroying our own home, sawing off the very branch we rest on. .......
Rees: The Human Ecology of Overshoot: Why a Major ‘Population Correction’ Is Inevitable
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