The weight of the world's challenges
The weight of the world’s challenges seemed to be bearing down on us recently. A Nett Report reader asked to meet for coffee to talk about climate change last week. “I don’t really see a pathway to solve the problem,” he said.
Previously, another reader had emailed asking if he should move from San Diego because of the pending water shortages in the west. He didn’t want to leave, but thought it might be wise.
Around the world, the impacts of climate change seemed everywhere with heat waves, flooding, and wildfires. Covid cases are rising globally, and the injection of massive amounts of dollars into the economy seems to have fueled inflation as evidenced by surging housing prices, higher gasoline costs, and even exorbitant rates for rental cars. And there seems to be no efficient pathway to solve our challenges because of the widening political divide.
Perhaps we would be better off if we all took heed of the words on the plaque Ronald Reagan kept on his desk: “There is no limit to what you can do or where you can go if you don’t mind who gets the credit.” (paraphrased for gender neutrality)
Climate Change
“It’s late in the day, but it’s not dark yet.”
Jack Dangermond, Esri founder, at the 2021 Esri User Conference, regarding climate change.
Extreme weather unleashes natural disasters on multiple continents
On July 22, 2021, Science Alert reported that extreme weather has been sweeping the world as “natural disasters unleashed on multiple continents.” The article cited devastating flooding in China and Western Europe, and huge fires in Oregon, British Columbia and Siberia. An unrelenting heat wave has enveloped the western U.S.
Climate change might not affect you, but it affects them
The recent reports of the heat bubble over the western U.S., which is expected to return next week, did not affect us here in San Diego, where coastal temperatures have been in the 70s for weeks. This is a simple example of how where you live drives how climate change will affect you. An article in Phys.org on July 14, 2021, reports that “when we burn fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas locally, we mix them in the experimental chamber pot of our planet's atmosphere. The result is that their warming impacts are often exported to far away locations.” The story reports on a Monterey Bay Aquarium study which determined “the regions generating the most emissions are different from those expected to suffer the most severe warming.” The story provides a map of the disparities, showing which areas will be affected the most.
Is climate change to blame for recent weather disasters?
A story by Scott Denning, Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, clearly outlines how to understand what planetary changes can be attributed to climate change and why. Published in the online publication The Conversation, on July 23, 2021, Denning says there are two key factors to understand about climate change: “First, humans have pumped so much carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that what’s “normal” has shifted. Second, not every extreme weather event is connected to global warming.”
Study dispels myth that electric cars pollute as much as gas powered ones
A study reported by the electric car publication Elektrek on July 21, 2021, concluded that electric cars pollute less than gasoline cars.The study dispels the myth that had claimed the opposite was true because some electric cars are charged using energy created by fossil fuels. For example, the study showed life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions created by electric cars in the U.S. are 60 to 68% less than similar gas-powered vehicles.
G20 fossil fuel subsidies have topped $3 trillion since 2015
Despite global pledges to address the climate crisis, G20 countries have provided $3 trillion in subsidies to fossil fuel companies since the Paris accord in 2015, according to a July 20, 2021, story in the Guardian. The Paris climate agreement was the milestone where climate pledges were made. “The report, by BloombergNEF and Bloomberg Philanthropies, focuses on three areas where immediate action is needed to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C: ending fossil fuel subsidies, putting a price on carbon emissions, and making companies disclose the risks posed by climate change to their businesses.”
Funding for clean energy globally falling short of needs
According to Fortune, in a July 20, 2021, story, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that “global CO2 emissions are on track to reach fresh records by 2023—and to keep rising—as governments’ financial commitments to clean energy fall far short of what’s needed.”
China to launch the largest carbon emissions trading program
According to a story in the Wall Street Journal on July 14, 2021, China was scheduled to launch the world’s largest carbon emissions trading program last Friday, on July 16, 2021. According to the article, “the carbon market will help the country lower greenhouse-gas emissions and achieve its goal of reaching peak emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality, or net zero emissions, by 2060 … The program will initially involve 2,225 companies in the power sector. Those companies are responsible for a seventh of global carbon emissions from fossil-fuel combustion, according to calculations by the International Energy Agency.”
The Ministry for the Future - a novel providing hope
One of the Nett Report’s readers suggested reading The Ministry for the Future, a novel that Amazon describes as “a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, post apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us—and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.” I came away hopeful and even more aware of what we might have to do to address the challenges.
2017 award-winning, four-minute video provides perspective on human existence
A four-minute video titled “Three Seconds” provides perspective on human existence on the planet, and what we have done to it in our short time here. The video says that if the planet had been in existence for 24 hours, our tenure here would total three seconds. It’s eye-opening, short, and worth watching. The video won first prize in the Short Film category at the Film4Climate competition in 2017.