discuss The Environmental Thread - Earth Matters, so what's holding us back?

[Cannuck]

I believe everyone would agree on at least one point - planet Earth matters! For years, scholars and environmentalists have touted the idea - that the boundaries of life on our planet have been stretched to a breaking point by human activity. From a scientific perspective, the notion of climate change is no longer up for debate. Our species and life as it exists on planet Earth now depends on the choices we humans make. Each individual with a brain possesses the ability to contribute solutions to our common current dilemma, so what's holding us back?

Is it our lack of knowledge; a conflict of interest; the lack of will, and/or other priorities that define the human race? Do we possess the courage to take an initiative, to act upon our convictions and choose to help preserve the Blue planet? Have our environmental problems become too big for individuals to tackle that we must leave it for governments to handle?

Are we limited by our own self-interests, by the confines of our own box or bubble? Have we merely been caught up in our daily mundane existence, distracted by the media and current affairs, that we fail to consider the future? Is Climate Change simply a hoax? Is the human species destined to evolve or are we doomed to extinction?

Here is place to discuss any pertinent thoughts or ideas you may have on the subject. Every thought counts. Please be respectful.

 

[dncafe]

It's not about the environment, it's about power, profit and control.

"They" want to control every commodity possible, whether it is energy, water, food or power.

One way to do that is by creating many environmental taxes and restrictions, pushing out all the competition.

 

[Cannuck]

It's not about the environment, it's about power, profit and control.

"They" want to control every commodity possible, whether it is energy, water, food or power.

One way to do that is by creating many environmental taxes and restrictions, pushing out all the competition.

I see your point, it's kinda like when Canada legalized marijuana, the government reaped the tax and essentially eliminated the black market. It's not a direct comparison however, since they are trying to phase out fossil fuels by implementing carbon taxes. I'm not a big fan of the the program as it is not fully transparent nor has it reduced the demand for fossil fuel as planned. Interestingly though, the price of gas has not jumped, but the cost of home heating oil has.

IMO it would be better to offer more direct incentives such as tax breaks to consumers who adapt green technologies into their daily lives. Although there are problems with that scenario too. For instance, older heat pumps did not function in colder climated as efficiently as claimed. Manufacturers say that new heat pumps will deliver better results.

@JB Lions, Icelanders heat their homes geothermally, yet there are definitely associated risks living in an active earthquake zone...nothing is free.

 

[Cannuck]

Politicians and their policies have much to do with the maintenance and sustainability of the environment vs championing destruction for profit by large corporations, whilst ignoring the indigenous people who live there.

Take Brazil, and the Amazon for instance, following the defeat of right wing nationalist Jair Bolsonarro...

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon dropped by 22.3% in the 12 months through July, government data showed on Thursday, as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made good on a pledge to rein in the destruction that happened under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.

Some 9,001 square kilometers (3,475.31 square miles) of Amazon jungle were destroyed in the 12 months through July, according to data from Brazilian space research agency Inpe, down from the 11,568 square kilometers cleared a year earlier.

It was the smallest area cleared since 2018, the year before Bolsonaro took office. The Amazon jungle is the world's largest rainforest and its protection is seen as vital to curbing climate change.

"It's an impressive result and seals Brazil's return to the climate agenda," said Marcio Astrini, head of advocacy group Climate Observatory.

Still, this year's deforestation rate remains nearly twice that of the all-time low in forest destruction in 2012 and far from Lula's pledge to reach zero deforestation by 2030.

https://news.yahoo.com/deforestation-brazils-amazon-falls-lowest

 

[Cannuck]

Corporate greed and power infiltrates the government in most countries, with lobbyists and in some cases, mercenaries. Peace and Unity Summit highlights darker truths behind violence and intimidation against Indigenous land defenders resisting resource extraction...

Playbook for RCMP’s Wet’suwet’en raids provided by former U.S. commander in Iraq and Afghanistan​

In 2019, the global investment firm Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co (KKR) purchased a 65 per cent equity interest in the Coastal GasLink Pipeline project from TC Energy Corporation through a separately managed infrastructure account in partnership with the National Pension Service of Korea.

CGL represents a $6.6 billion dollar investment, and will move 2.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas from Dawson Creek to the LNG Canada processing plant at Kitimat. KKR isn’t taking any chances when it comes to protecting its investment.

The RCMP’s chief superintendent John Brewer is the C-IRG's gold commander. In 2010, he served as NATO’s senior police advisor to Afghanistan under Petreaus. It was under his leadership that C-IRG raided Gidimt’en territory in 2021.

The strategy has been to divide and conquer, he said. In many ways that’s the history of Canada — pitting elected chiefs against hereditary chiefs, those who side with industry against those who refuse to be forcibly removed from their land.

The blueprint for the tactics can be traced back to Standing Rock in 2016, in which the RCMP used the anti-pipeline resistance to justify creating the force’s C-IRG

https://ricochet.media/en/3980/trai...y-former-us-commander-in-iraq-and-afghanistan

​

 

[Cal2]

Want to fight climate change effectively? Here’s where to donate your money.​

These are 11 of the most high-impact, cost-effective, evidence-based organizations. You may not have heard of them.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/...-change-best-charities-effective-philanthropy

Could also be considered by someone if they'd want to set up their own initiative.

 

[dna]

"The Great Galveston Hurricane decimated the island city on the Gulf Coast of Texas on Sept. 8, 1900.
This hurricane is known as the deadliest weather disaster in United States history, killing at least 8,000 people, with some estimates as high as 12,000 people."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/top-10-deadliest-hurricanes-in-us-history-katrina-maria-galveston/

And from Google

"The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season had a remarkably low death toll. Unofficially, three storms caused a total loss of life of 12: Hurricane Franklin: two direct deaths in the Dominican Republic. Hurricane Lee: three direct deaths in the U.S."

OMG! IF THE CLIMATE GETS ANY WORSE THERE SOON WON'T BE ANY HURRICANES AT ALL!

 

[Cannuck]

IF THE CLIMATE GETS ANY WORSE THERE SOON WON'T BE ANY HURRICANES AT ALL!

You do undertand the difference between weather and climate don't you?

The North Atlantic experienced a peak summer temperature higher than any other year, but the impact of an El Niño (sinking air) inhibits the formation of storms because they're fueled by moisture rising from the ocean.

The 2023 storm season (20) is tied with 1933 for the 4th most on record, trailing only 2020 (30), 2005 (28) and 2021 (21). Most of the category 4 & 5 hurricanes were over open water, only three making landfall.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...antic-hurricane-season-2023-ends/71731429007/

 

[Cal2]

A couple interesting new solution ideas/idea directions for addressing environment issues:

Coal-to-protein livestock feed uses 1/1000th as much land as farming

"the team set about research into processes that could use fossil fuels to produce proteins, building on oil-to-protein biotechnology pioneered by BP as far back as the 1960s.

The CAS team's process works something like this: firstly, coal is transformed into methanol via gasification – a technique that can now be executed with near-zero carbon emissions. That methanol is then fed to a special strain of Pichia pastoris yeast, which ferments the methanol to produce a single-cell protein complete with a range of amino acids, vitamins, inorganic salts, fats and carbohydrates. The resulting organism is much richer in protein than plants are, and it can be used to partially replace fish, soybeans, meat and skimmed milk in a range of animal feeds."

https://newatlas.com/science/coal-protein-feed/?utm_source=New+Atlas+Subscribers&utm_campaign=e7f85d1fcb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_01_10_09_13&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-e7f85d1fcb-[LIST_EMAIL_ID]

-------

China’s Solar Dominance Faces New Rival: An Ultrathin Film (msn.com)

"Developers of perovskite cells say their versatility sets them apart because they are light and flexible. The layer of crystalline perovskite is only one micron thick, resulting in a cell that is one-tenth the weight and one-twentieth the thickness of current solar cells. They can be installed on walls or curved surfaces and generate electricity under weak sunlight, even indoors. ........

“We want to start off by aiming for places where silicon panels can’t be used. We think that there’s a bigger market there,” said Tamotsu Horiuchi, EneCoat’s chief technology officer."

 

[Cannuck]

Emissions Gap Report 2023

Executive summary​

The fourteenth Emissions Gap Report is published ahead of the twenty-eighth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (COP 28). It provides an annual, independent science-based assessment of the gap between the pledged greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions and the reductions required to align with the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement, as well as opportunities to bridge this gap.

This report shows, not only temperature records continue to be broken – global GHG emissions and atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) also set new records in 2022. Due to the failure to stringently reduce emissions in high-income and high-emitting countries (which bear the greatest responsibility for past emissions) and to limit emissions growth in low- and middle-income countries (which account for the majority of current emissions), unprecedented action is now needed by all countries.

For high-income countries, this implies further accelerating domestic emissions reductions, committing to reaching net zero as soon as possible, and at the same time, providing financial and technical support to low- and middle-income countries.

For low- and middle-income countries, it means that pressing development needs must be met alongside a transition away from fossil fuels.

Furthermore, the delay in stringent mitigation action will likely increase future dependence on carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere, but availability of large-scale CDR options in the future cannot be taken for granted.

https://www.unep.org/interactives/emissions-gap-report/2023/#section_-1

 

[Cannuck]

Greenland is losing so much ice that it's losing it's gravity, study discovers

Calving is ice breaking off from the shelf, now at a rate of 30 million tonnes of floating ice on average per hour....

Ubiquitous acceleration in Greenland Ice Sheet calving from 1985 to 2022

Nearly every glacier in Greenland has thinned or retreated over the past few decades, leading to glacier acceleration, increased rates of sea-level rise and climate impacts around the globe. To understand how calving-front retreat has affected the ice-mass balance of Greenland, we combine 236,328 manually derived and AI-derived observations of glacier terminus positions collected from 1985 to 2022 and generate a 120-m-resolution mask defining the ice-sheet extent every month for nearly four decades. Here we show that, since 1985, the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) has lost 5,091 ± 72 km2 of area, corresponding to 1,034 ± 120 Gt of ice lost to retreat. Our results indicate that, by neglecting calving-front retreat, current consensus estimates of ice-sheet mass balance have underestimated recent mass loss from Greenland by as much as 20%.

The mass loss we report has had minimal direct impact on global sea level but is sufficient to affect ocean circulation and the distribution of heat energy around the globe. On seasonal timescales, Greenland loses 193 ± 25 km2 (63 ± 6 Gt) of ice to retreat each year from a maximum extent in May to a minimum between September and October. We find that multidecadal retreat is highly correlated with the magnitude of seasonal advance and retreat of each glacier, meaning that terminusposition variability on seasonal timescales can serve as an indicator of glacier sensitivity to longer-term climate change.

https://www.nature.com/articles

 

[Cannuck]

BIG Oil Knew About Potential Climate Change in 1954

New Evidence Reveals Fossil Fuel Industry Sponsored Climate Science​

Experts say documents show the fossil fuel industry had intimate involvement in the inception of modern climate science, along with its warnings of the severe harm climate change will wreak, only to then publicly deny this science for decades and fund ongoing efforts to delay action on the climate crisis.

“They contain smoking gun proof that by at least 1954, the fossil fuel industry was on notice about the potential for its products to disrupt Earth’s climate on a scale significant to human civilization,” said Geoffrey Supran, an expert in historic climate disinformation at the University of Miami.

“These findings are a startling confirmation that big oil has had its finger on the pulse of academic climate science for 70 years – for twice my lifetime – and a reminder that it continues to do so to this day. They make a mockery of the oil industry’s denial of basic climate science decades later.”

Revealed: Exxon made ‘breathtakingly’ accurate climate predictions in 1970s and 80s

Samuel Epstein’s research proposal for the Air Pollution Foundation (1954) eft no doubt about the potential significance of this research.

Approximately sixty years before the Paris Agreement, he described the “concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere” as a matter “of well recognized importance to our civilization” and explained that the possible consequences of “changing concentration of the CO2 in the atmosphere with reference to climate” .

https://www.desmog.com/2024/01/30/f...nsored-climate-science-1954-keeling-api-wspa/

 

[Cannuck]

Oil firms forced to consider full climate effects of new drilling

Action taken to block oil and gas leasing until government conducts a full review of its oil and gas leasing program that considers climatic effects.

https://theconversation.com/oil-firms-forced-to-consider-full-climate-effects-of-new-drilling-following-landmark-norwegian-court-ruling

Not every country has a written constitution with environmental rights provisions like Norway

 

[dna]

I wonder why the effects of massive volcanic eruptions don't show up on that CO2 chart?

https://geologyscience.com/gallery/geologic-lists/the-8-biggest-volcanic-eruptions-in-history/

 

[Cannuck]

I wonder why the effects of massive volcanic eruptions don't show up on that CO2 chart?

Even the largest recorded volcanic eruptions account for only 1% of CO2, relative to human activity.

The research estimates that human activity annually releases into the atmosphere around 40 to 100 times as much carbon dioxide as does all volcanic activity. That’s also a slightly higher rate of carbon emission than Earth experienced just after the asteroid impact that likely killed the dinosaurs.

The rate of anthropogenic carbon emissions is higher than that from extinction-level impacts and large outpourings of magma and is 40–100 times higher than the emission rate from all natural outgassing phenomena. Researchers noted that Earth is responding to human emissions with all the hallmarks of massive carbon perturbation of the past: hotter surface temperatures, disruptions to the hydrologic cycle, ocean hypoxia and acidification, and mass extinction.

“To secure a sustainable future, it is of utmost importance that we understand Earth’s entire carbon cycle,” Edmonds said in a statement. She added in the press conference, “Earth will rebalance itself, but it will take 100,000 years.”

https://eos.org/articles/human-activity-outpaces-volcanoes-asteroids-in-releasing-deep-carbon

 

[Cal2]

The Earth is getting greener. Hurray?​

Humans are literally changing the color of the planet. Scientists are worried.

Understanding Earth’s color is key to understanding Earth and our future on it. “Greenness” often corresponds to the planet’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that drives climate change. The more leaves, the more photosynthesis, a chemical reaction that gobbles up CO2. That’s the good news in global greening: It’s helping offset some of the impacts of climate change.

But there’s more to greening than meets the eye. The changing color isn’t so much a sign that forests and other ecosystems are regrowing but that humans are altering the environment on a truly planetary scale — often, with dire consequences. ....

The big problems behind the green sheen​

There’s a lot that color alone leaves out, such as what that “green” is made of.

.... greening is complicated. It’s not inherently good. Sometimes it’s very bad. Context, it turns out, matters a lot.

https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2024/2/7/24057308/earth-global-greening-climate-change-carbon

 

[Cal2]

Embracing Slow Water: Rediscovering the True Nature of Earth’s Lifeline​

In the face of escalating climate disasters and the urgent need for sustainable solutions, Erica Gies, recipient of the esteemed Rachel Carson Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism, embarks on a transformative exploration in her book, Water Always Wins. As the world grapples with the repercussions of increasingly severe floods and droughts, Gies unveils a profound truth: our conventional approaches to water management are not only inadequate but often exacerbate the very issues they intend to solve. ....

So what does water want? Most modern humans have forgotten that water’s true nature is to flex with the rhythms of the earth, expanding and retreating in an eternal dance upon the land. In its liquid state, with sufficient quantity or gravity, water can rush across the land in torrential rivers or tumble in awe-inspiring waterfalls. But it is also inclined to linger to a degree that would shock most of us because our conventional infrastructure has erased so many of its slow phases, instead confining water and speeding it away. Slow stages are particularly prone to our disturbance because they tend to be in the flatter places—once floodplains and wetlands—where we are attracted to settle.

But when water stalls on the land, that’s when the magic happens, cycling water underground and providing habitat and food for many forms of life, including us. The key to greater resilience, say the water detectives, is to find ways to let water be water, to reclaim space for it to interact with the land. The innovative water management projects visited around the world all aim to slow water on land in some approximation of natural patterns. For that reason, I’ve come to think of this movement as “Slow Water.”

https://bioneers.org/embracing-slow...EMAIL_ID]&mc_cid=a55f10c384&mc_eid=1e7558b4d3

 

[dna]

I hear that Climate Cafes are opening up all over the country where Climate Alarmists can get mental help.

 

[Cannuck]

I hear that Climate Cafes are opening up all over the country...

Started in Scotland, Climate Cafés are now International. Smart, since climate change affects us all.

What is a Climate Café? ​

A Climate Café is a welcoming, informal pop up space in a community, workplace, campus or school – to get together to chat and act on climate change.

Climate Cafés are inclusive spaces where everyone is welcome to join the conversation and get involved. There is no need to be an expert, all perspectives are welcomed!

Community led, often the chat can be local in focus, but may be global too!

All the chat and any action is led by those who live, work and play in that community.

Climate Cafés are relaxed, non party political and not for profit.

https://www.climate.cafe

 

[Cal2]

Telling The Story Of Israeli Innovators Trying To Save The World​

Israeli innovation has the potential to solve some of the great challenges for humanity, a veteran entrepreneur believes, and she is determined to ensure it claims its rightful place in the spotlight.

Nicky Newfield created Impact Nation last fall to help startups with the potential for global impact to promote themselves and their stories, driving the technology forward and bringing the innovation to a greater audience in an accessible and engaging way. ...

When the Impact Nation team has located the most suitable companies, Newfield – an angel investor provides seed funding for startups – either invests in them herself or matches them with other investors.

“We have access to around 100 companies that we directly or indirectly invested in,” she says.

Some of the funding for Impact Nation comes from Newfield and other investors, and some from government bodies such as the Israel Innovation Authority and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose remit includes promoting the Israeli tech sector on the international stage. ...

The Impact Nation team examines every aspect of the companies they select, aiming to address their needs and challenges and ties that to the challenges facing the world.

“We invested financially, and then our role is to tell the impact story – so this was a natural leap,” Newfield says.

“What we identified very early is that it has to be done through storytelling,” she explains.

“We know that the most important way to really access people is through this human story. And usually, there’s a very deep reason why each person is doing what they’re doing passionately. We believe that the companies that are solving a mission are doing it for a personal reason, and they are far more likely to succeed.”

https://nocamels.com/2024/03/telling-the-story-of-israeli-innovators-trying-to-save-the-world/

Bolding is mine.

 

[Cannuck]

Some of the funding for Impact Nation comes from Newfield and other investors, and some from government bodies such as the Israel Innovation Authority and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose remit includes promoting the Israeli tech sector on the international stage

Israel is an innovative nation, a tech powerhouse. Investment in R&D per GDP is the highest in the world, as well as spin-offs from the military and defense industry.

 

[Cal2]

Israel is an innovative nation, a tech powerhouse. Investment in R&D per GDP is the highest in the world, as well as spin-offs from the military and defense industry.

My focus for posting it was primarily on the story importance aspect, and how tech/science minded people can miss that in promoting their brilliance and help it move forward.

Don't know if I've posted this link on story telling before: https://thestoryoftelling.com/

 

[dna]

Jordan Peterson on climate change

 

[Cannuck]

Jordan Peterson on climate change

Peterson makes some good points and sounds intelligent to the layman but, in reality, the psychologist knows very little about climate modelling and his analysis is simply wrong.

 

[Alop]

I hear that Climate Cafes are opening up all over the country where Climate Alarmists can get mental help.

You are not wrong

 

[Cannuck]

Peterson makes some good points and sounds intelligent to the layman but, in reality, the psychologist knows very little about climate modelling and his analysis is simply wrong.

@Alop & DNA, you may not like the truth, but it is what it is... here is Jordan's take on the subject, based on a debunked science book he read on the subject:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1486840669264044035

https://twitter.com/x/status/1486844030680014853

BTW, the author of the book, Hot Talk, Cold Science, was sponsored by BIG OIL companies to help spread misinformation to the public. As a scholar, Jordan Peterson ought to know better and check his references.