The Climate Change Thread

[W. K. Lis]

Except those forests has been around historically, and not touching them doesn't do any iota for what we are emitting, only not making it worse by removing a sink (which we have little economic rationale to do, unlike the slash and burn agriculture in say Brazil (Amazon) or Indonesia.

AoD

The slashing and burning in Brazil or Indonesia means the Canadian forests get more and more important, as there would be less forest WORLD-WIDE.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

The slashing and burning in Brazil or Indonesia means the Canadian forests get more and more important, as there would be less forest WORLD-WIDE.

Apples and oranges - tropical rainforests are irreplaceable - definitely not via Boreal forests.

Anyways, the reliance of natural sinks to offset emissions cut both ways - considering melting permafrost releases methane, which is an even more potent GHG.

AoD

 

[AlbertC]

The fight to stop Nestlé from taking America's water to sell in plastic bottles

Creek beds are bone dry and once-gushing springs are reduced to trickles as fights play out around the nation over control of nation’s freshwater supply
By Tom Perkins

Tue 29 Oct 2019 06.00 GMT

The fight to stop Nestlé from taking America's water to sell in plastic bottles

Creek beds are bone dry and once-gushing springs are reduced to trickles as fights play out around the nation over control of nation’s freshwater supply

www.theguardian.com

 

[AlbertC]

Rising sea levels pose threat to homes of 300m people – study

Figure based on new analysis of coastlines is more than three times previous estimate
Jonathan Watts

Tue 29 Oct 2019 16.00 GMT Last modified on Tue 29 Oct 2019 16.38 GMT

Rising sea levels pose threat to homes of 300m people – study

Figure based on new analysis of coastlines is more than three times previous estimate

www.theguardian.com

 

[Admiral Beez]

The fight to stop Nestlé from taking America's water to sell in plastic bottles

Creek beds are bone dry and once-gushing springs are reduced to trickles as fights play out around the nation over control of nation’s freshwater supply
By Tom Perkins

Tue 29 Oct 2019 06.00 GMT

The fight to stop Nestlé from taking America's water to sell in plastic bottles

Creek beds are bone dry and once-gushing springs are reduced to trickles as fights play out around the nation over control of nation’s freshwater supply

www.theguardian.com

We always whine about Nestle and bottled water, but we don’t care about Molson-Coors taking the same water to make Creamore and other beers. I think Nestle is an easy target because they’re adding no value to the water, just putting it in a bottle.

 

[AlbertC]

German farmers sue government over climate change failures

For the first time, the German government is being taken to court for failing to protect the climate. Ahead of the hearing, DW spoke to one of the plaintiffs in the case, organic farmer Silke Backsen.

By Mabel Gundlach

German farmers sue government over climate change failures – DW – 10/31/2019

For the first time, the German government is being taken to court for failing to protect the climate. Ahead of the hearing, DW spoke to one of the plaintiffs in the case, organic farmer Silke Backsen.

m.dw.com

 

[AlbertC]

India air pollution at 'unbearable levels', Delhi minister says

Air pollution in the north of India has "reached unbearable levels," the capital Delhi's Chief Minister Arvid Kejriwal says.

India air pollution at 'unbearable levels', Delhi minister says

Schools in Delhi have been ordered to close until Tuesday, and construction has been halted.

www.bbc.com

 

[AlbertC]

Flights diverted in Delhi as toxic smog hits worst levels of 2019

Car fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from farms have contributed to pollution crisis

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi
Sun 3 Nov 2019 15.09 GMT

Pollution in Delhi has reached its worst levels so far this year, at almost 400 times the amount deemed healthy, causing planes to be diverted away from the city.

A week on from Diwali, the thick brown smog that shrouded the city after the festival has shown no sign of shifting. On Friday a public health emergency was declared and Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the city had turned into a “gas chamber”.

By Sunday the air quality had deteriorated further, with the air quality index measuring over 900 in some areas, far exceeding the level of 25 deemed safe by the WHO, and well above even the 500 mark deemed “severe plus”.

Visibility became so bad that more than 30 flights were redirected from Delhi airport. “Pollution has reached unbearable levels,” said Kejriwal.

Flights diverted in Delhi as toxic smog hits worst levels of 2019

Car fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from farms have contributed to a pollution crisis

www.theguardian.com

 

[W. K. Lis]

Flights diverted in Delhi as toxic smog hits worst levels of 2019

Car fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from farms have contributed to pollution crisis

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi
Sun 3 Nov 2019 15.09 GMT

Pollution in Delhi has reached its worst levels so far this year, at almost 400 times the amount deemed healthy, causing planes to be diverted away from the city.

A week on from Diwali, the thick brown smog that shrouded the city after the festival has shown no sign of shifting. On Friday a public health emergency was declared and Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the city had turned into a “gas chamber”.

By Sunday the air quality had deteriorated further, with the air quality index measuring over 900 in some areas, far exceeding the level of 25 deemed safe by the WHO, and well above even the 500 mark deemed “severe plus”.

Visibility became so bad that more than 30 flights were redirected from Delhi airport. “Pollution has reached unbearable levels,” said Kejriwal.

Flights diverted in Delhi as toxic smog hits worst levels of 2019

Car fumes, industrial emissions and smoke from farms have contributed to a pollution crisis

www.theguardian.com

Think they need their own air ducts cleaned.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The fight to stop Nestlé from taking America's water to sell in plastic bottles

Creek beds are bone dry and once-gushing springs are reduced to trickles as fights play out around the nation over control of nation’s freshwater supply
By Tom Perkins

Tue 29 Oct 2019 06.00 GMT

The fight to stop Nestlé from taking America's water to sell in plastic bottles

Creek beds are bone dry and once-gushing springs are reduced to trickles as fights play out around the nation over control of nation’s freshwater supply

www.theguardian.com

The moment Canada or the Provinces begin charging Nestle and other extractors market value for the water it becomes a commodity under NAFTA. That means Canada would be obliged to sell water to Americans.

The relationship between NAFTA and Canadian water

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/the180/more-on-nafta-and-water-partisanship-in-government-and-should-expats-be-able-to-vote-1.3163823/the-relationship-between-nafta-and-canadian-water-1.3164244

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

These are not really climate change issues though.

AoD

 

[Northern Light]

These are not really climate change issues though.

AoD

The smog, no. The water-extraction business, maybe. The U.S. is heading for serious water shortages in many of its southern locales; some of that is straight over-taxation of resources; but some of it is the result of climate change.

There's a tangential relationship there. Though, in truth, I'm not overly worried about our water being diverted to the U.S. south; I think the U.S. north and midwest will defend our shared interest there.

Rather, I'd be paying attention to the impact on population shifts and major impacts on agricultural production.

I am concerned about water-taking here, particularly from aquifers. But I see that more as a domestic issue, and one tied both to over-extraction and poor land-use planning.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

The smog, no. The water-extraction business, maybe. The U.S. is heading for serious water shortages in many of its southern locales; some of that is straight over-taxation of resources; but some of it is the result of climate change.

There's a tangential relationship there. Though, in truth, I'm not overly worried about our water being diverted to the U.S. south; I think the U.S. north and midwest will defend our shared interest there.

Rather, I'd be paying attention to the impact on population shifts and major impacts on agricultural production.

I am concerned about water-taking here, particularly from aquifers. But I see that more as a domestic issue, and one tied both to over-extraction and poor land-use planning.

Of course everything is interconnected - but I am not sure if either of those topics belong in this thread. It distracts from the core issue.

AoD

 

[W. K. Lis]

It's official...

Trump to Quit Paris Accord, End U.S. Obstruction of Global Climate Progress

From link.

President Trump today will submit the official withdrawal of the United States from the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change. Trump’s withdrawal comes days after the Chilean government cancelled its plan to host the 2019 United Nations climate change talks.


“Trump can run from the Paris agreement, but he can’t hide from the climate crisis,” said Jean Su, energy director with the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Most Americans know we need urgent action, and they realize this administration’s pro-polluter policies have devastating consequences.”


“The silver lining is, Trump’s Paris withdrawal will give the global community a break from his bullying support for fossil fuels,” Su said. “But the next president will need to rejoin the accord immediately and commit to the rapid, wholescale clean-energy transformation the climate emergency demands.”


Trump’s action marks two years of the administration’s participation in global climate talks, during which the Trump administration, with oil-producing nations Saudi Arabia and Russia, blocked reference to a key scientific report on the rapid fossil fuel reductions necessary to avoid climate catastrophe.


Trump has also flouted the already modest goals the Obama administration set for emissions reductions by ramping up support for fossil fuels and squashing clean energy advancements.


“America is the number one historical contributor to the climate emergency wreaking havoc in burning California, the flooded Southeast and the rest of the world,” said Su. “The next president must repay this extraordinary climate debt by rapidly moving America to 100 percent clean energy and financing the decarbonization of the Global South.”

Today’s official action will set in motion a withdrawal process that will take one year to complete under the rules of the accord. The date of the withdrawal completion, Nov. 4, 2020, will be one day after the 2020 presidential election.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I‘m surprised it took him this long. I imagine his successor will sign back onto it. The next president, assuming it’s not Trump will spend years undoing his legacy.