Hundreds of records already broken in March. Chicago, for example, had 4 consecutive days of 80° March 14-18.
good:
No Politics, Just Science: A New App Explains Climate Change
A new, free app for iPhones and iPads called Just Science jolts us back to reality by translating the science of climate change into layperson’s terms. The result, according to developer Nick Orenstein, is a gradual, everyday reminder of what’s happening to the planet.
(Source: climateadaptation)
The two most pressing reasons for cutting back on meat today are climate change and global population growth. The post-war years have seen an explosion in the numbers of animals intensively reared for meat and milk. This livestock revolution, and the change in land use that has gone with it, however, now contribute nearly one fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Most people could do more for the climate by cutting meat than giving up their car and plane journeys.
The UN predicts that the number of farm animals will double by 2050. Except, of course, it can’t. The livestock of Europe already require an area of vegetation seven times the size of Europe to keep them in feed. If people in emerging economies start eating as much meat as we do, there simply won’t be enough planet.
Intensive meat production is a very inefficient way of feeding the world. Farm a decent acre with cattle and you can produce about 20lbs of beef protein. Give the same acre over to wheat and you can produce 138lbs of protein for human consumption. If the grain that is currently used to feed animals were fed instead directly to people, there may be just enough food to go round when population peaks.
I read many excellent books this summer (including What is the What, Q&A, and Into the Wild), but The Wave might be my favorite.
“Climate change is one of the most serious public health threats facing the nation, but few people are aware of how it can affect them. Children, the elderly, and communities living in poverty are among the most vulnerable. Click on a state on the map for more information on climate-health threats, actions being taken to prepare communities, and what you can do.” - NRDC/Climate/Health (Click through for interactive).
Energy-related carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2010 were the highest in history, according to the latest estimates by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
After a dip in 2009 caused by the global financial crisis, emissions are estimated to have climbed to a record 30.6 Gigatonnes (Gt), a 5% jump from the previous record year in 2008, when levels reached 29.3 Gt. Initially, the agency had hoped the resulting reduction in emissions could be maintained, helping to give the world a “breathing space” and set countries on a low-carbon path. The new estimates suggest that opportunity may have been missed.
In addition, the IEA has estimated that 80% of projected emissions from the power sector in 2020 are already locked in, as they will come from power plants that are currently in place or under construction today.
“This significant increase in CO2 emissions and the locking in of future emissions due to infrastructure investments represent a serious setback to our hopes of limiting the global rise in temperature to no more than 2ºC,” said Dr Fatih Birol, Chief Economist at the IEA who oversees the annual World Energy Outlook, the Agency’s flagship publication.Global leaders agreed a target of limiting temperature increase to 2°C at the UN climate change talks in Cancun in 2010. For this goal to be achieved, the long-term concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere must be limited to around 450 parts per million of CO2-equivalent, only a 5% increase compared to an estimated 430 parts per million in 2000.
The IEA’s 2010 World Energy Outlook set out the 450 Scenario, an energy pathway consistent with achieving this goal, based on the emissions targets countries have agreed to reach by 2020. For this pathway to be achieved, global energy-related emissions in 2020 must not be greater than 32 Gt.This means that over the next ten years, emissions must rise less in total than they did between 2009 and 2010. “It means the room for maneuver is shrinking,” warned Birol.“Our latest estimates are another wake-up call,” said Dr Birol. “The world has edged incredibly close to the level of emissions that should not be reached until 2020 if the 2ºC target is to be attained. Given the shrinking room for manœuvre in 2020, unless bold and decisive decisions are made very soon, it will be extremely challenging to succeed in achieving this global goal agreed in Cancun.”
This is why I (partially) find it laughable that we’re so focused on the federal deficit in the United States. I understand why we are; however, in addition to many other current political issues, the economic crisis does not even begin to pale in comparison to the problem posed by global warming. If we wish to prevent another truly heinous economic crisis or even health/healthcare issues at a level we’ve never seen before, we need to begin taking drastic measures to implement environmental sustainability.
To solve what is arguably the greatest problem faced by human-beings in all of human history, multilateral cooperation is needed from all parties. Unfortunately, those who will experience the effects of global warming to the harshest degree are those who contributed the least, if anything, to the problem.
We should have started acting to reduce carbon emissions and other contributors to global warming between, at the very latest, the 50s-70s. The time to act is now.
