Climate Change

‘Red Alert' - UN Projects 0.5% Emissions Cut by 2030

01/03/21

Author:

The Energy Mix

Link:

MARCH 1, 2021

An initial snapshot of countries’ latest carbon reduction promises, released Friday by the United Nations climate secretariat, shows global greenhouse gas emissions on track to fall just 0.5% between 2010 and 2030, prompting Secretary-General António Guterres to declare a “red alert” in a year that was supposed to be a make-or-break moment for climate action.

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Category:

Climate Change

Climate Science

Global

New ‘Proxy’ Evidence Shows Atlantic Ocean Current at Its Weakest in 1,000 Years

01/03/21

Author:

The Energy Mix

Link:

The Energy Mix

R. Curry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/Science/USGCRP

FEBRUARY 28, 2021

Evidence is growing that a critical part of the Atlantic Ocean’s circulation system is weaker than it’s been in 1,000 years, a climate-driven change that could someday have a major impact on both the European climate and the fishing economies of the U.S. East Coast.

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Category:

Climate Change

Ecology/Environment

Fisheries

Alberta Feigns Oil Patch ESG*, Conjures Carbon Capture, Sheds Rail Contract

28/02/21

Author:

Emma Graney

Link:

The Globe and Mail

* "ESG investing is the consideration. of environmental, social and governance factors alongside financial factors in the investment decision–making process.”

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Alberta will establish an office to promote the oil industry’s environmental, social and governance measures in the hope it can help stem the tide of divestment from the oil sands and the Canadian energy sector, as the province tries to climb out of the $18.2-billion deficit projected in its 2021 budget on Thursday.

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The Terrifying Warning Lurking in the Earth’s Ancient Rock Record - Our climate models could be missing something big.

25/02/21

Author:

Peter Brannen

Link:

The Atlantic

Glaciers from the Vatnajökull ice cap, in Iceland

This is not a long article; it's a short book--but comprehensive, frightening, and fascinating.

-- Gene McGuckin

Photo Illustrations by Brendan Pattengale | Maps by La Tigre

Images above: Glaciers from the Vatnajökull ice cap, in Iceland

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Category:

Climate Change

Climate Science

Global

Texas Was Minutes from Months-Long Blackouts Grid Operator Admits

21/02/21

Author:

Primary Author Compiled By Mitchell Beer

Link:

The Energy Mix

FEBRUARY 19, 2021

At least 47 people were dead, hundreds of thousands of homes were still without power, half of the state was under a boil water order, racialized communities were bearing the brunt, and the electricity system operator admitted it had only narrowly averted months-long blackouts as Texas began taking stock of a rolling disaster brought on by climate-driven severe weather and ideologically-driven grid deregulation.

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The Enormous Risk of Atmospheric Hacking

21/02/21

Author:

Bill McKibben

Link:

the New Yorker

Sweden may soon be the site for a test of geoengineering technology.Photograph by Markus Thomenius / Alamy

February 18, 2021

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Category:

Climate Change

Global

USA

A Bleak Future for Water

21/02/21

Author:

Ray Levy Uyeda

Link:

the Baffler

The Bethany Reservoir in Alameda County. | John Loo

February 20, 2021

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Climate Disruption Killing Off BC Salmon, Says DFO

19/02/21

Author:

Watershed Watch

Link:

Watershed Watch

February 11th, 2021

(A recap of DFO’s annual State of the Salmon assessment)

Many factors contribute to the decline of wild salmon in B.C. Habitat destruction, harvest, and bad aquaculture practices are all negative impacts, but the effect global warming has on salmon populations will be widespread, long-lasting and irreversible without urgent action.

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Heating Arctic may be to blame for snowstorms in Texas, scientists argue

18/02/21

Author:

Oliver Milman

Link:

The Guardian

Kaleb Love, a municipal worker, breaks ice on a frozen fountain in Richardson, Texas, on Tuesday, as freezing temperatures grip the state. Photograph: LM Otero/AP

Feb. 17, 2021

The wintry weather that has battered the southern US and parts of Europe could be a counterintuitive effect of the climate crisis

Associating climate change, normally connected with roasting heat, with an unusual winter storm that has crippled swaths of Texas and brought freezing temperatures across the southern US can seem counterintuitive. But scientists say there is evidence that the rapid heating of the Arctic can help push frigid air from the north pole much further south, possibly to the US-Mexico border.

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Coming soon: A public database of global fossil fuel reserves

16/02/21

Author:

Carl Meyer

Link:

National Observer

Suncor refinery in Commerce City, Colo., in 2005. The registry is being spearheaded by the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, an effort to focus more on what’s happening with the planet’s fossil fuel supply. Photo from Suncor

February 16th 2021

Energy experts are working to produce the world’s first public and complete database of fossil fuel reserves in the lead-up to this year’s UN climate summit.

The “Global Registry of Fossil Fuels” would fill a major gap in public knowledge, where only expensive or proprietary databases on fossil fuel reserves have existed before, or ones that are not detailed enough or are designed for industry use.

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Category:

Climate Change

* "ESG investing is the consideration. of environmental, social and governance factors alongside financial factors in the investment decision–making process.”

The wintry weather that has battered the southern US and parts of Europe could be a counterintuitive effect of the climate crisis

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