September 18, 2019, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis Summary:Current scenarios used to inform climate policy have a weakness in that they typically focus on reaching specific climate goals in 2100 – an approach which may encourage risky pathways that could have long-term negative effects. A new study presents a novel scenario framework that focuses on capping global warming at …
What will it take to get people out of their cars?
Study found that people didn’t change from driving because 1) the employees got free parking, so were not paying the full cost of driving2) taking transit or carpooling is “less convenient for an individual commuter.” 3) “these approaches required changing a habitual behavior, which is notoriously difficult to change.” By Lloyd Alter, December 26, 2019 Researchers looking at the question …
Gus Speth, After 40 Years of Government Inaction on Climate: The important thing is for people to redouble their efforts. Now that we’ve got a fighting chance, we really have to fight.
Gus Speth: The important thing is for people to redouble their efforts. Now that we’ve got a fighting chance, we really have to fight. We all should be engaged with a Green New Deal. I think one reason the idea is getting so much attention is that it is not just about climate and the environment. They are seeing the connections …
Energy system modeling: Public transparency, scientific reproducibility, and open development
Author links open overlay panel RobbieMorrison https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2017.12.010Get rights and contentUnder a Creative Commons license open access Highlights Growing calls for policy-based energy system models to be “opened up”. Energy system modeling projects are adopting open source development methods. Energy system database projects are co-evolving to serve datasets to open models. Source code distributed under standard copyright cannot be legally used, built, …
UK Government vows to unveil climate roadmap next year but critics demand action not more policies and plans
Jillian Ambrose Tue 15 Oct 2019 Guardian The UK government has vowed to accelerate its climate action for transport sector by drafting new plans to end emissions from trains, planes and cars by 2050. Ministers promised to begin the groundwork on the government’s first detailed plan to decarbonise the transport sector immediately, and unveil the plan in full next year. The …
Natural gas (methane) is now the biggest driver of greenhouse gas emissions world wide. 95% of gas is fracked.
Globally, natural gas is the fastest growing fossil fuel. One of the biggest developments has been a rapidly expanding market for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, an energy-intensive product that allows energy companies to ship gas overseas. Australia has tripled its LNG exports since 2013, the report says, and is now the largest exporter. The U.S. recently opened five new …
Since 1990 there’s been an increase of 43% in the warming effect on the climate of long lived greenhouse gases (up nearly 50% from pre-Industrial now). We need near 7% annual global GHG reductions.
Climate change: Greenhouse gas concentrations again break records BBC | Matt McGrath Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases once again reached new highs in 2018. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says the increase in CO2 was just above the average rise recorded over the last decade. Levels of other warming gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, …
60% rise in global CO2 emissions since 1990. Hallam: “The corrupt system is going to kill us all unless we rise up.”
November 18, 2019 by Truthdig How to Save the Planet and Ourselves: We must reduce carbon emissions by 40% in the next 12 years to have a 50% chance of avoiding catastrophe. by Chris Hedges We are now heading into a period of extreme ecological collapse. Whether or not this leads to the extinction of the human species largely depends …
New Mexico GHG reduction roadmap
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday reiterated her commitment to addressing the causes and effects of climate change as a panel of experts concluded that New Mexico needs to pick up the pace if it wants to meet its goals over the next decade. The governor’s climate change task force released its initial report, summing up the …
Climate Change Damage Is About to Get a Lot Worse, IPCC Warns
From Antarctica to the Oceans, Dangerous shifts are already underway. If fossil fuel use continues at this pace, the world will see sweeping consequences for nature and humans, report authors say. Sabrina Shankman SEP 25, 2019 As the planet warms, diverse ecosystems—from mountain glaciers to the icy Arctic to the oceans—are already seeing dangerous effects from climate change. Future warming will …