An international group of scientists warned we are failing:
We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled… Tragically, we are failing to avoid serious impacts, and we can now only hope to limit the extent of the damage. We are witnessing the grim reality of the forecasts as climate impacts escalate, bringing forth scenes of unprecedented disasters around the world and human and nonhuman suffering. We find ourselves amid an abrupt climate upheaval, a dire situation never before encountered in the annals of human existence. [This is the lead paragraph to a review of where we are with respect to 25 aspects of plantetary well-being. If Helene isn’t persuasive, this article won’t be either. But they are both pointing to the same future.]
Helene and Milton show that the consequences of climate change are dire even though the earth has only warmed 1.2 degrees. Here are brief summaries of two very recent articles on climate in Nature. One has to do with the increasing risk of irreversible tipping points; the other with whether the idea of removing carbon from the atmosphere after we “overshoot” 1.5 degrees Celsius is feasible. Both articles are free.
- Under current emission trajectories, temporarily overshooting the Paris global warming limit of 1.5 °C is a distinct possibility. Permanently exceeding this limit would substantially increase the probability of triggering climate tipping elements. We show that following current policies this century would commit to a 45% tipping risk by 2300 (median, 10–90% range: 23–71%), even if temperatures are brought back to below 1.5 °C. We find that tipping risk by 2300 increases with every additional 0.1 °C of overshoot above 1.5 °C and strongly accelerates for peak warming above 2.0 °C.
- Global emission reduction efforts continue to be insufficient to meet the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. This makes the systematic exploration of so-called overshoot pathways that temporarily exceed a targeted global warming limit before drawing temperatures back down to safer levels a priority for science and policy.Here we show that global and regional climate change and associated risks after an overshoot are different from a world that avoids it. We find that achieving declining global temperatures can limit long-term climate risks compared with a mere stabilization of global warming, including for sea-level rise and cryosphere changes. Only rapid near-term emission reductions are effective in reducing climate risks.
An Oregon county adds a natural gas utility and a right-wing think tank as defendants in its $52 billion lawsuit looking to hold fossil fuel firms accountable for a 2021 climate change-exacerbated heat dome’s damages.
The Gila River Indian Community brings the nation’s first solar-over-canal project online in southern Arizona.
Interesting post from “The Boiling Point” LA Times column: The San Francisco 49ers and their fans were forced to endure the hottest football game ever played at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday. Temperatures reached 99 degrees by halftime, per the San Francisco Standard — 11 degrees higher than the previous record. But Jose Carlos Fajardo, a Bay Area News Group photographer, got a picture of a thermometer gauge on the field showing a reading of 112 degrees during the first quarter — just insane. There are two grim ironies. First, the 49ers are among dozens of U.S. sports teams sponsored by oil firms, or by utilities whose electricity is primarily fossil fueled. The 49ers are sponsored by Houston-Based NRG Energy. The second irony is that Sunday was Green Sports Day, an initiative of the Green Sports Alliance.
From Bill McKibben: In New England climate activists are trying hard to focus public attention on a stealth pipeline expansion that travels under the name Project Maple. It’s a series of connected projects that will increase the carrying capacity for natural gas in the region, but apparently broken up into smaller pieces to avoid having to get federal approval. As the activists point out, all the states in the region have aggressive climate targets, so “any work done now will end up stranded assets at ratepayers’ expense as emissions reduction laws on the books take effect, and will contribute to the climate crisis until they are shut down.”
Zillow is adding climate risk data to home listings as threats rise, reports CNBC.
Take Action: Reach out to climate voters and those who could be climate voters
- Take a look at this short Instagram video put out by Climate Action California, a statewide coalition that 350 Humboldt participates in. It provides reasons why supporting climate champions is so important.
- And here is another Instagram linkto share with your friends.