“You were born at just the right moment to change everything.” IPCC August 2021 release: Scientists from all 195 nations issued a consensus climate change report showing irrefutable and irreversible damage to the environment and extreme danger of remaining on the current path, continuing to drill for and support and accommodate the use and further investment in fossil fuels or …
A Hotter Future Is Certain, Climate Panel Warns. But How Hot Is Up to Us.
Some devastating impacts of global warming are now unavoidable, a major new scientific report finds. But there is still a short window to stop things from getting even worse. By Brad Plumer and Henry Fountain, Aug. 9, 2021 Nations have delayed curbing their fossil-fuel emissions for so long that they can no longer stop global warming from intensifying over the next 30 years, …
71 percent of voters support federal rebates for purchase and installation of zero emission and energy efficient appliances. Zero-Emission Homes Act would do it.
From Laura at Rewiring America, July 2021: Only 15 percent of respondents said that they believed their homes produced “a lot” of carbon emissions. And even those who do realize how important it is to replace their fossil fuel-burning machines with electric vehicles, heat pumps, induction stoves, and other appliances may not be able to afford them — not without …
The latest U.N. climate report underscores a need for cities to reclaim roadways, get people back on public transit, and grow active mobility infrastructure
Curbing climate change requires an end to driving in cities, Smart Cities Dive, Aug. 13, 2021, by Wayne Ting Wayne Ting is CEO of micromobility company Lime. On Monday morning, we awoke to a highly anticipated, but alarming, landmark report. The United Nations’ climate panel issued a “code red for humanity” stemming from the severe threat of human-caused climate change. The report …
Quantifying national responsibility for climate breakdown: an equality-based attribution approach for carbon dioxide emissions in excess of the planetary boundary, based on equal per capita access to the atmospheric commons. The US is responsible for 40 percent of excess emissions as of 2015.
By Jason Hickel, The Lancet | VOLUME 4, ISSUE 9, E399-E404, SEPTEMBER 01, 2020 PDF [372 KB] jasonhickel@gmail.com DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30196-0PlumX Metrics Summary: This analysis proposes a novel method for quantifying national responsibility for damages related to climate change by looking at national contributions to cumulative CO2 emissions in excess of the planetary boundary of 350 ppm atmospheric CO2 concentration. This approach is rooted in the …
Biden’s Climate Pledge and EV plan: Details, drama and doubts
By David Iaconangelo | 08/06/2021 E&E News President Biden delivering remarks at the White House yesterday on the administration’s efforts to boost electric cars and trucks. Win McNamee/Getty Images President Biden presented his vision yesterday for putting electric vehicles at the heart of the U.S. car industry, but some policy experts said that the target would do little to transform the industry (hybrid …
Clean electricity standard carries $1.8T upside — study
Miranda Willson, E&E News, July 12, 2021 Health and climate benefits from an 80% clean energy standard would exceed costs. Pixabay/Pexels. Smallman12q/Wikipedia. ulleo/Pexels. A national clean electricity standard would save thousands of lives and yield other health and climate benefits that would outweigh the policy’s costs, according to a first-of-its-kind study. Establishing a standard to reach 80% carbon-free power by 2030 …
Human actions have driven at least 680 vertebrate species to extinction since 1500, with global vertebrate species populations dropping by 68% in around the last 50 years
One million of the estimated eight million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction. Human actions have driven at least 680 vertebrate species to extinction since 1500, with global vertebrate species populations dropping by 68% in around the last 50 years. The abundance of wild insects has fallen by 50%. We Hug the Trees Because the Trees Have …
Common law duty of care to protect younger people against future harm from climate change
By Adam Morton, The Guardian. Eight teenagers and an octogenarian nun had sought an injunction to prevent Ley approving a proposal by Whitehaven Coal to expand the Vickery coalmine in northern New South Wales, arguing the minister had a common law duty of care to protect younger people against future harm from climate change. Justice Mordecai Bromberg found the minister had a duty of care to not …
Nature: A wasted decade of climate inaction shows us that incremental shifts that might have been sufficient at one time are no longer enough. A rapid shift with 4x the work or a third the time is necessary now. Some have stopped fossil fuel production and exploration, but not US
04 March 2020, Nature. Emissions: world has four times the work or one-third of the time: New synthesis shows what a wasted decade means for the climate pact made in Paris. Nature 579, 25-28 (2020) doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00571-x, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00571-x The past decade of political failure on climate change has cost us all dearly. It has shrunk the time left for action by two-thirds. …