Global CO2 emissions growth accelerating, not declining

Global energy-related CO2 emissions grew 1.7% in 2018 to reach a historic high of 33.1 Gt CO2. It was the highest rate of growth since 2013, and 70% higher than the average increase since 2010. Last year's growth of 560 Mt was equivalent to the total emissions from international aviation.

https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-and-co2-status-report-2019/emissions? 

Garrett's Constant shows economics inextricably linked to physics

The existence of a mathematical “constant” tying society to physics offers a critical piece of the human puzzle: economic wealth is inseparable from energy consumption; any diminished capacity to recover the energy necessary to maintain the steady hive of civilization must lead to economic collapse. If for whatever reason we fail to adequately fuel ourselves, we can expect the cyclic motions of our machines and ourselves to slowly grind to a halt. Our interest in crypto-currency or the auction price of a self-destructing Banksy will be replaced by more primal values like having a can-owner for opening a can of Spam. In the logical extreme, with an absence of food, we will wither and die, with all our perceptions of economic worth buried along with us.

http://nephologue.blogspot.com/2019/12/economic-growth-engine-of-collapse.html 

Concordia Newspaper makes the case for fare-free public transportation

On Tuesday, several climate groups held a protest to promote the elimination of transit fares, citing the need for radical action in the fight against climate change. 

Bold action and unprecedented public investment are necessary to limit catastrophic global warming, but the reasons this proposal makes sense go beyond climate considerations. 

As the organizers noted, free public transport would also have the effect of reducing income inequality, a major issue of our time. Not only this, but it would eliminate the need for problematic fare policing and promote more liveable cities by taking cars off the road.

thelinknewspaper.ca 

Greenhouse gas level rise accelerating

Indeed, the rise in greenhouse gas levels appears to be accelerating, despite pledges made under the Paris Agreement to holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2019/11/accelerating-greenhouse-gas-levels.html 

#renewables just add to the fire because of #jevons

Electricity demand in the country rose 36% in the seven years to April 2019 while coal-fired generation capacity during the period grew by 74% to 194.44 GW, according to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).

http://news.trust.org/item/20190731133649-zkxm6/

India growth and plans for more growth will mean that any renewables added will not reduce fossil fuel use. They just add to the fire. Renewables promote growth. As long as there is demand, efficiencies are subsumed. Jevons principle.

Free Public Transport: an obvious way to address #climate and many other problems

China energy/emission going up, up, up.

China’s CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and cement production grew by an estimated 4% in the first half of 2019, analysis of preliminary data suggests. 

Power-sector emissions, which had driven the rebound in overall emissions since 2017, flattened off. However, there was a surge in real estate and infrastructure construction that saw emissions from steel and cement expand rapidly. 

Estimates based on preliminary data for the first half of 2019, compared to the same period last year, indicate that:

• China’s coal demand increased by 3%;
• Oil demand was up 6%;
• Gas demand rose by 12%; and
• Cement production increased by 7%.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-why-chinas-co2-emissions-grew-4-during-first-half-of-2019? 

Qatar using air conditioning to cool outdoor areas

Cooling units along walkways and outdoor seating areas in Qatar's cities make it possible for people to stroll or relax in the evening without danger of overheating. Qatar is also engineering ways to cool entire open-air stadiums to make them bearable for spectators.

http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2019/11/air-conditioning-outsidereally.html 

Something has to give

Tim Garret from The FAN Initiative on Vimeo.

Climate change is bringing Britain to boil. So let’s make all public transport free like Luxembourg

Car pollution is a huge contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Which is why we desperately need to incentivise other forms of transport instead

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/climate-change-heatwave-global-warming-free-public-transport-luxembourg-a9023181.html 

Rapid temperature rise threatens all life on earth

A catastrophe of unimaginable proportions is unfolding. Life is disappearing from Earth and runaway heating could destroy all life. At 5°C heating, most life on Earth will have disappeared. When looking only at near-term human extinction, 3°C will likely suffice. Study after study is showing the size of the threat, yet many people seem out to hide what we're facing.

http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2019/07/most-important-message-ever.html 

Biosphere dissolving while we argue about bike lanes

http://arctic-news.blogspot.com/

Economists are not your friends

Nordhaus agrees that man-made Climate Change is happening—he is not a "Climate Change Denialist". However, his research actually encourages policymakers not to take the action that Extinction Rebellion demands, or anything like it. He instead recommends managing Global Warming so that the Earth's temperature will stabilize at 4 degrees above pre-industrial levels in the mid-22nd century

https://www.patreon.com/posts/climate-change-26594935 

Free public transport is key to #degrowth

...We need free public transport, new diets, denser modes of living, affordable housing close to where the jobs are, food grown closer to where it is consumed, reduction of working time and commuting, low-energy ways of living and finding satisfaction, curbs on excessive incomes and on ostentatious consumption....

https://truthout.org/articles/a-green-new-deal-must-not-be-tied-to-economic-growth/

Soil will likely reach carbon saturation sooner than previously thought

"Essentially, if there were no droughts and heat waves, if there were not going to be any long-term drying over the next century, then the continents would be able to store almost twice as much carbon as they do now," says Gentine. "Because soil moisture plays such a large role in the carbon cycle, in the ability of the land to uptake carbon, it's essential that processes related to its representation in models become a top research priority."
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2019-01-climate-sooner.html

Half of CO2 comes from richest 10%

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/02/worlds-richest-10-produce-half-of-global-carbon-emissions-says-oxfam

El Niño will bring deadly heat in 2019

There is an 80 percent chance a full-fledged El Niño has already begun and will last until at least the end of February 2019, according to the Climate Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The impacts of El Niño have been more severe in recent years because of global warming, and these impacts will be worse as temperatures continue to rise, according to a recent study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
“With an El Niño, it’s entirely possible 2019 will be the hottest year ever,” said co-author Samantha Stevenson, a climate scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/12/2019-may-be-hottest-year-yet-el-nino-climate-change/ 

Will Green New Deal successfully address #climate or #energy problems?

Climate, energy, and economy are linked and there is no evidence of de-linking.

Climate solutions can be supply-side or demand-side.

There is confusion about demand. Some assume that demand is what we measure in the market. But what about those who don't come to the market? The Jevons principle means that as long as there is demand there can be no energy savings.

In any case, there are a billion people who are saving up for a car. Cars promote sprawl and growth. Until economy and climate are de-linked, that means a hotter earth [biosphere], regardless of what fuel is used.

What is a good demand-side solution? The money currently spent on oil wars could provide free public transit, free education, and free health care. This would cause birth rates to fall more quickly -- the most effective way to reduce demand.

Clear explanation of #jevons, and why #efficiency and #technofix make things worse

Taking this global perspective with respect to the economy, efficiency gains will do the exact opposite of what efficiency policy advocates claim it will do. If technological changes allow global energy productivity or energy efficiency to increase, then civilization will grow faster into the resources that sustain it. This grows the economy, but it also means that energy consumption and CO2 emissions accelerate.

CO2 emissions can be stabilized despite efficiency gains. But this is possible only if decarbonization occurs as quickly as energy consumption grows. At today’s consumption growth rates, this would require roughly one new nuclear power plant, or equivalent in renewables, to be deployed each day.

http://nephologue.blogspot.com/2018/09/is-increasing-energy-efficiency-driving.html? 

No happy #technofix for agriculture

"Many changes that have occurred in agriculture make us more, not less, impacted by climate change," Lobell explained. "A lot of productivity-enhancing changes are more effective in good weather, and so the stakes for having good weather go up."

And that good weather, the report makes clear, is not on the horizon.

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29112018/climate-change-agriculture-risk-farm-technology-science-report?fbclid=IwAR3EJhjqyAeRIj_jCI5QemXTsPuaVINFjHhNKmR2tiAovWaCeL2GHsoDysg