29/06/2019

Political Change Is The First Step To Stopping The Climate Crisis

Independent Australia - Climate News Network

Every answer has a cost. Every choice exacts a penalty. A new book reminds readers there are no easy answers to the climate crisis.
The first step to fixing our climate crisis is targeting corporate greed and profiteering (Image via Flickr)
LONDON − Resolving the climate crisis demands radical political change, a British author argues: the end of free market capitalism.
You could turn the entire United Kingdom into a giant wind farm and it still wouldn’t generate all of the UK’s current energy demand. That is because only 2% of the solar energy that slams into and powers the whole planet on a daily basis is converted into wind and most of that is either high in the jet stream or far out to sea.
Hydropower could, in theory, supply most of or perhaps even all the energy needs of 7 billion humans, but only if every drop that falls as rain was saved to power the most perfectly efficient turbines.
And that, too, is wildly unrealistic, says Mike Berners-Lee in his thoughtful and stimulating new paperback, ‘There Is No Planet B’. He adds: ‘Thank goodness, as it would mean totally doing away with mountain streams and even, if you really think about it, hillsides.’
This is a book for people who really want to think about the state of the world, how to get to zero-carbon emissions as swiftly as possible and in a way that preserves a decent life for the 11 billion or so who will people the planet by 2050. And, of course, everything boils down to energy

Enough for everyone
The sun delivers around 16,300 kilowatts to the Earth’s surface for every person on the planet — enough, he says, to boil an Olympic-sized swimming pool of water for each and every one.
Solar panels that covered just 0.1% of the total land surface (think of a small country just 366 kilometres square) could meet all of today’s human energy needs. But human demand for energy is growing at 2.4% a year. If this goes on, then in 300 years human demand would need solar panels over every square metre of land surface.
The message from every page of this book is that we need to think and think again. We could, of course, think about using the energy we have more efficiently, but history suggests there might be a catch.
The catch is now called the Jevons Paradox, after William Stanley Jevons who in 1863 (he was thinking at the time about the exploitation of coal) pointed out that energy efficiency tends to lead to increases in demand, because that’s how humans respond to plenty — they want even more of it.



So we don’t just have to think again, we have to rethink the whole basis of human behaviour. This means switching to vegetarian or vegan diets, abandoning plastic packaging and cutting down on air travel (powered by biofuels, if we must, but the biofuel business is lunacy – he uses the word “bonkers” – in energy terms).
But these are small things. The big and not necessarily entirely popular message of the book is that we must change politically. Free market capitalism or neoliberalism or any pursuit entirely and only for profit cannot deliver answers to the coming climate crisis.
Professor Berners-Lee takes a lesson from simple physics: wealth is, or ought to be, shared the way kinetic energy is shared around the planet.
When molecules of a gas collide, they redistribute energy; just as when people catch a bus or buy a sandwich, they redistribute wealth. The Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution law says that you rarely get one atom or molecule with more than ten times the average energy and almost never with more than 20 times the average energy.
And if human wealth was distributed according to the same law, the total wealth would not change and some people would still be richer than others, but the median wealth – the income of the person right in the middle – would be a massive 79% of the mean or average. That’s better than the share of wealth in the fair nation of Iceland. So it would be a manifestly fairer world.



 Fairer resource-sharing
If the world shared its wealth (and wealth is a proxy for energy resources) more fairly, then it might be a great deal easier to be sure of democratic assent and international co-operation for radical shifts in the way we manage our food, water, transport and our precarious natural wealth in the form of biodiversity: all the wild birds, mammals, fish amphibians, reptiles, plants, fungi and microbes on which humankind ultimately depends.
The above is just a small sample of a rich, thought-provoking and easy-to-enjoy text. Berners-Lee doesn’t have all the answers and admits as much, but he does know how to frame a lot of questions in illuminating ways.
He has packed his book with explanatory notes, supporting evidence and definitions, one of them being the case for democracy in the world of the Anthropocene.
‘Fit for purpose democracy,’ he warns, ‘entails not just voting but accurate information, and a widespread sense of responsibility for the common good’. A book like this could help us get there.
‘There Is No Planet B’ is available from
The Book Depository for $18.95 (paperback) RRP.


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Europe Heatwave Sees Temperatures Soar To Record Highs As Wildfires Take Hold In Spain

ABC News - ABC | wire

Although heatwaves are not uncommon in Europe, experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and intensity. (AFP: Alberto Pizzoli)
Key points:
  • Temperatures climbed towards 44 degrees Celsius in parts of Spain and France
  • Calls to emergency services are on the rise in France
  • An intense wildfire in Spain is thought to have started after chicken poo combusted
An intense heatwave has sent temperatures across Europe soaring to record highs, with central Europe forecast to hit the mid-40s on Friday
New records have already been set in Poland and the Czech Republic, which both reached their highest temperatures for June on Wednesday, while Austria expects to have its warmest June on record — 4.5 degrees Celsius above the long-term average.In Germany, 51 observing stations broke their June temperature records this week, according to the World Meteorology Organization, but there has been some relief for northern Germany with Berlin dropping from 37C on Wednesday down to just 21C on Thursday
Across the continent, zookeepers struggled to keep animals cool, feeding frozen treats to animals and providing water tubs and hoses to cool down elephants and primates.
Temperatures have climbed past 44C in northern Spain and southern France, driving people to seek refuge in the sea or nearby rivers, with it predicted to rise even higher on Friday.
French authorities put restrictions on vehicles to reduce pollution and schools have been closed.
French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said the conditions were unprecedented and emergency services were overwhelmed with patients.

Chicken manure wildfire takes hold in Spain
Spanish firefighters are battling wildfires in Catalonia, the worst the state has seen in two decades, according to the local government.
Hundreds of firefighters have struggled to contain the blaze in north-eastern Spain, with it already spreading over 5,500 hectares and forcing the evacuation of 53 residents.
Firefighters say high temperatures and a drop in humidity will likely fan the flames in Spain. (AP: Jordi Borras)
Miquel Buch, the Regional Interior Minister, said 20,000 hectares were under threat.
Mr Buch said authorities suspected the cause of the outbreak was a deposit of improperly stored chicken manure at a farm in the village of Torre de l'Espanyol that high temperatures caused to combust.
Firefighters said high temperatures, low humidity and high winds fanned the flames.
Television images showed horses and sheep incinerated on a farm that had stood in the path of the fire.

Emergency service calls 'on the rise'
Temperatures soared towards 44 degrees Celsius in parts of Spain and France. (AP: Alvaro Barrientos)
As temperatures climbed towards 44 degrees in parts of central Europe, French authorities extended restrictions on vehicles, already imposed in Paris and Lyon, to Marseille and Strasbourg in an effort to curb air pollution.
Some schools postponed summer exams, and parts of northern France were put on drought alert, with water supplies to businesses, farmers and ordinary residents restricted.
French Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume announced a ban on the transportation of animals until the heatwave had ended.
Grid operator RTE said French electricity demand on Thursday (local time) was close to a summer record seen two years ago, as people turned on fans and coolers to full blast for relief from the scorching temperatures.
Hot air from Africa is bringing a heatwave to Europe, prompting health warnings and exceptionally high temperatures in Spain. (AP: Alvaro Barrientos)
"Calls to the emergency services are on the rise nationwide," said Jerome Saloman, head of national public health.
"We are seeing the beginning of a clear impact of the heatwave. For us, the worst is still to come."
Mr Saloman said four drownings had been recorded in France since the start of the week directly linked to the heatwave as people try to cool themselves.
However, the full toll directly linked to the heatwave would only be known in the days or weeks ahead.

Regions placed on red alert
This heatwave is unprecedented and exceptional in its intensity, the French Health Minister says. (AP: Alessandra Tarantino)
Ms Buzyn said four administrative regions in southern France had been placed on red alert, the highest crisis level, with 76 others on orange alert.
This heatwave was unprecedented and exceptional in its intensity, the Health Minister told a news conference.
The red alert would mean school outings, outdoor sport and other festive activities are suspended or postponed. Ms Buzyn cautioned joggers and other sport lovers to curb their activities.
The unusually hot weather in June is caused by a swathe of warm air from Africa.
Although heatwaves are not uncommon in Europe, experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and intensity.
"This increase in heat extremes is just as predicted by climate science as a consequence of global warming caused by the increasing greenhouse gases from burning coal, oil, and gas," said Stefan Rahmstorf, a climatologist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.


European zoo animals try to beat the heatwave (ABC News)

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Letter: Doctors Against Climate Catastrophe

The Guardian - Letters

‘The diagnosis is clear and the treatment urgent. Yet politicians prevaricate and global emissions still rise’ 
An Extinction Rebellion protest in Camden, London, earlier this month. Photograph: Ollie Millington/Getty Images 
We are qualified medical doctors united by our distress at the minimal response to looming environmental disaster. We sympathise with current widespread protest, notably by children who will be most affected. We urge government and media to respond immediately and proportionately.
As caring professionals we cannot countenance current policies that push the world’s most vulnerable towards environmental catastrophe. We are particularly alarmed by the effects of rising temperatures on health and heed predictions of societal collapse and consequent mass migration. Such collapse risks damage to physical and mental health on an unprecedented scale.
Present policies and responses are woefully inadequate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that we have only 11 years to halve global emissions to meet their 1.5C target, yet last year our global emissions rose yet again. It will be a massive task to avoid catastrophic warming and we need radical action now. Our unchecked consumption, dependence on fossil fuels and decimation of ecosystems continue. The diagnosis is clear and the treatment urgent. Yet politicians prevaricate and global emissions still rise.
Governments abrogate their responsibility when pursuing grossly inadequate policies that risk environmental collapse. Non-violent direct action then becomes the reasonable choice for responsible individuals.
We support the following key demands, which parallel those made by Extinction Rebellion:
  • governments and media should be honest about the challenges and urgency of tackling ecological disaster;
  • governments should effect carbon neutrality within the IPCC timeframe;
  • governments should establish and be led by Citizens’ Assemblies to enable climate and ecological justice.
Signatories
  • James Underwood
    Past president, Royal College of Pathologists

    •
  • Professor John Middleton
    President, UK Faculty of Public Health

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  • Professor David Pencheon
    Honorary professor of health and sustainable development, University of Exeter, UK

    •
  • Dr Bing Jones
    Retired associate specialist in haematology

    •
  • Dr Terry Kemple
    Past president, Royal College of General Practitioners
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