Reuters (October 30)
“Climate change will put three times more people at risk of coastal flooding by 2050 than previously thought… with swathes of Asia and cities in North America and Europe all vulnerable to rising seas.” According to the latest study, “300 million people are now living on land that is likely to flood at least once a year on average by mid-century… even if governments manage to make sharp cuts in emissions.”
Tags: Asia, Climate change, Coastal flooding, Emissions, Europe, Flood, North America, Vulnerable
Reuters (June 4)
“A Swedish-born anti-flying movement is spreading to other European countries.” The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is “shrinking its carbon footprint” and working to avoid stigma with a sustainability plan that “is among the most ambitious and globally focused of any industry.” Carbon emissions have roughly been halved for flights since 1990, “largely thanks to more fuel-efficient aircraft.” For the moment, however, “trains are benefiting from the anti-flight movement.”
Tags: Aircraft, Carbon footprint, Emissions, Europe, Fuel-efficient, IATA, Stigma, Sustainability, Sweden, Trains
Inc (May Issue)
“The world’s most ubiquitous manmade material is also one of the atmosphere’s arch foes: Between 4 and 7 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions come from cement production.” This may be changing. A “new cement-making process that subs out some of the traditionally used limestone for a synthetic version of the mineral wollastonite” cuts emissions by approximately 70%. Moreover, “Solidia’s manufacturing process can be done in existing facilities and costs about the same as–and, perhaps soon enough, less than–traditional cement-making methods.”
Tags: Atmosphere, Cement, Costs, Emissions, GHGs, Limestone, Manufacturing, Solidia, Synthetic, Wollastonite
Scientific American (February 4)
“Even if ambitious climate targets are met, Himalayan glaciers could lose a third of their volume.” The Earth’s “third pole” is in danger of largely melting away. “If greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current levels, the region could lose as much as two-thirds of its ice.”
Tags: "Third pole”, Ambitious, Climate targets, Earth, Emissions, GHG, Glaciers, Himalayas, Ice, Melting
Wall Street Journal (December 4)
“A carbon tax is in theory a more efficient way than regulation to reduce carbon emissions. But after decades of global conferences, forests of reports, dire television documentaries, celebrity appeals, school-curriculum overhauls and media bludgeoning, voters don’t believe that climate change justifies policies that would raise their cost of living and hurt the economy.”
Tags: Carbon tax, Climate change, Conferences, Cost of living, Economy, Efficient, Emissions, Regulation, Reports, Voters
The Economist (August 4)
“Earth is smouldering. From Seattle to Siberia this summer, flames have consumed swathes of the northern hemisphere.” And humanity is not rising to the challenge. Three years following the Paris Accord, “greenhouse-gas emissions are up again. So are investments in oil and gas. In 2017, for the first time in four years, demand for coal rose. Subsidies for renewables, such as wind and solar power, are dwindling.” While “it is tempting to think these are temporary setbacks and that mankind, with its instinct for self-preservation, will muddle through to a victory over global warming. In fact, it is losing the war.”
Tags: Coal, Demand, Earth, Emissions, Gas, GHG, Global warming, Humanity, Oil, Paris accord, Renewables, Self-preservation, Setbacks, Smouldering, Solar power, Wind
Gizmodo (December 11)
“Over the past year, Australia released an estimated 140 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in greenhouse gases,” excluding unreliable estimates for land use-related emissions. This marks a new record for down under and places Australia as one of “the worst polluters per capita among countries in its class.”
The Economist (November 18)
“A market exists for rooftop solar panels and electric vehicles; one for removing an invisible gas from the air to avert disaster decades from now does not.” But it must and fast. The need for negative emissions technology “will be gargantuan. The median IPCC model assumes sucking up a total of 810bn tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2100, equivalent to roughly 20 years of global emissions at the current rate. To have any hope of doing so, preparations for large-scale extraction ought to begin in the 2020s.”
Tags: CO2, Disaster, Emissions, EVs, Extraction, IPCC, Market, NET, Solar panels
The Economist (February 18)
We are approaching a tipping point. The automotive dominance of internal combustion engines (ICE) looks increasingly limited. Electric cars are “set for rapid forward thrust. Improving technology and tightening regulations on emissions from ICEs is about to propel electric vehicles (EVs) from a niche to the mainstream.” But the transition “from petrol power to volts will be a tough one for carmakers to navigate.”
Tags: Auto, Cars, Combustion, Dominance, Electric, Emissions, Engines, EVs, Mainstream, Regulation, Technology, Tipping point, Transition
New York Times (January 19)
“China’s announcement last year that it would set up a national cap-and-trade system was hugely encouraging—the world’s largest emitter agreeing to tax itself to help solve a problem that, only a few years ago, it barely acknowledged.” This stands in stark contrast with the U.S. Congress where heads remain firmly planted in the sand of denial and falsehood. “Congress has refused to act even as it becomes clear that putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions is the most direct and cost-effective way to address climate change.”
Tags: Cap and trade, China, Climate change, Congress, Cost-effective, Denial, Emissions, Greenhouse gas, Tax, U.S.
