02/01/2020

In 2020, Here's How You Can Help Address The Climate Crisis

Gizmodo - Brian Kahn

Photo: Getty
This is the time of year when we talk about nice things. Hopeful things.
But honestly, I can’t get excited about hope when it comes to the climate crisis. It’s a monstrous mess. Multinational corporations worth billions of dollars have caused it while lying about their role in doing so. And people in the halls of power have aided and abetted them. The world’s emissions have continued to rise to the point that we now need to cut them a staggering 78 per cent over the next decade to limit the damage to bad as opposed to catastrophic.
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here,” is emblazoned on the gates of Hell in Dante’s Inferno, but it may as well have been written about climate change.
I get that hope is a thing we’re all looking for amidst the worsening climate carnage, but I firmly believe hope isn’t the most useful thing to steer us away from a worst-case scenario. And I’m not alone. In a—and I can’t believe I’m about to write these words—viral Twitter thread, climate essayist, activist, and Hot Take podcast host Mary Heglar laid out the case against hope better than I could, noting it’s “stale AF and ending shit on a high note has fuelled a lot of inertia.”
Her solution was to stop asking what gives climate activists hope and start asking “how can I help?” Which at the end of the day is the exact question we should be asking. The climate crisis will be only be solved through sustained, collective action over the coming decade. We’ve seen what the start of a public pressure campaign can look like globally with the climate strike movement, but it’s a start, not the end. And it’s hardly the only way into the fight for a future we can be proud of.
Earther reached out to a handful of activists to ask “how can I help?” Their answers are below, lightly edited for brevity.
Fuck hope. Long live action.
***
Bill McKibben, founder 350.org and author
“I think that some of the tasks for the year are, for obvious reasons, political, and that others involve taking on the financial industry that bankrolls gas, oil and coal. I seem to be concentrating on the latter tasks for the moment.”
***
Margaret Klein Solomon, founder of the Climate Mobilisation
“Break the silence: Start talking about the climate emergency and the need for WWII scale climate mobilisation — in a realistic, blunt, emergency-focused way, in your family, social circles, and beyond.
“Join the Climate Emergency Movement. There are a lot of organisations that have burst forth this year that are championing a climate emergency message and solution— Sunrise, Extinction Rebellion, Youth Climate Strikes, The Climate Mobilisation, and more. Join us, support us, help us build power!”
***
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, policy coordinator at the Climate Justice Alliance
“One of the literary treasures of our time, Rebecca Solnit, offered us in her book, Hope in the Dark, ‘Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency.’ I would never presume to speak for Sister Solnit, but what I get from this quote is that Hope without action is like expecting a rock to float on water because you meditate.
“Sister Heglar was absolutely correct to take umbrage with questions like, ‘what gives you hope?’ If that question is not followed by, ‘how does your hope catalyze your drive to act,’ it’s not at all helpful and perambulates what is really called for at this moment, it fosters torpidity through an illusion of action. The people of Haiti have hope, the people of Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador have hope, the people in Hong Kong and France have hope, but they seem to realise that hope alone does not bring about transformational and structural change. Being hopeful can be risky, being hopeful without action is even riskier, and the biggest risk is the one not taken.”
***
Sydney Azari, steering committee member for the National DSA Ecosocialist Working Group
“I think people are going to want to hear there is a quick, simple thing they can do: recycle, go to a march, talk about the science, etc. Those are good things, but it would be dishonest of me to say that’s enough. In order to ‘help’ we must address the actual problem, which is a growth-dependent, fossil-fuelled economic system that has stratified power in favour of an elite few who put profit above people and the planet. The way ordinary people can and have overcome the injustice of our economic system and the 1% is through the Labour Movement and our power as workers to strike and halt the economy in its tracks. So, my unconventional answer is that you can help by organising your workplace to address the Climate Emergency through ‘green’ collective bargaining agreements, advocating for a Green New Deal, endorsing ‘climate’ candidates, and building community alliances through strikes for the planetary good.
“The fight for our future must be an all-hands-on-deck effort, and another way you can help is by utilising your social networks to bring more people into the climate movement. Organise your sports team, church, university, professional association, etc. to leverage its power to fight for climate action and a Green New Deal.”
***
Elizabeth Sawin, co-director of Climate Interactive
“When people ask me about the ‘best’ action they might take to address climate change, I talk about the things we all need to do together and the things we can each uniquely do. Together, there’s voting and otherwise supporting strong climate candidates at all levels and supporting, with your dollars or your two feet or both, the grassroots organising movements that push politicians to do better. This opens up systems change opportunities, and ensures you have compatriots when the going gets tough.
“But don’t forget to also look for the things that you uniquely can do, the conversation only you can have with your uncle because he trusts you, the art that only you can make that might inspire someone else to act, the community conversation you can convene so beautifully because you know so many different types of folks. Also, you uniquely can leverage your expertise in healthcare, or museums, or teaching, or farming towards climate protection. Because climate touches everything, you don’t need to drop everything to work on climate, you just need to figure out what it means to do what you do in way that also reduces emissions or builds resiliency.”

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(AU) Bushfire Tragedy Shows Need For Climate Leadership

Sydney Morning Herald - Editorial



This is the time to wish people a Happy New Year but the unfolding tragedy of the bushfires makes it hard to feel cheerful.
In the past two days people have lost loved ones. The final toll is unknown and hopefully it will not be as high as our worst fears but it is already devastating.
In the communities of the South Coast of NSW and in East Gippsland in Victoria many survivors will also be shaken by the destruction of their homes.
All along that usually delightful coast the fires have hit just at the time when the population has been swelled by tens of thousands of holiday makers.
The beautiful, beautiful bush, dried brittle by the record-breaking temperatures and drought of this fire season, has caught alight in hundreds of places.
It has descended from the hills towards seaside towns preventing any escape.
What was supposed to be a summer break has turned into a nightmare. Residents, retirees and holiday makers were forced to take shelter from the smoke and terrible heat, some in homes, others penned up in hastily established evacuation centres and some even forced to retreat to the beach or boats for safety. It must be terrifying.
The members of the Rural Fire Service have again performed magnificently as they have done now for the two long months of this bushfire emergency.
The death of Samuel McPaul on Monday on the Victoria-NSW border provided a shocking example of the conditions which they have braved for weeks.
The furnace-like weather whipped up winds so strong that they flipped over an RFS fire vehicle crushing Mr McPaul.
He left behind a pregnant wife and became the third RFS volunteer to die in the past week.
In these circumstances, the start of the New Year will hardly be happy.
Acknowledging the gravity of the situation, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has appealed to the Australian spirit.
Certainly it will require spirit for many people to put behind them the events of the past weeks and hope for happier times ahead.
One thing weighing on them will be the likelihood that this bushfire season is far from over.
The bush is still tinder dry and getting drier as the summer advances. There could easily be more days like Tuesday.
Many people are also burdened by the fear that the extraordinary conditions which produced Tuesday’s fires are now normal and will recur in future years.
Human-induced climate change is raising temperatures and reducing spring rains in our region, turning the bush into a fire trap every summer. That is what scientists are saying.
It is not a day for cheap politics but it is worth taking issue with former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce who last week said he wanted the government out of his life.
The Herald argues that in this bushfire crisis, government has an essential role to play.
That includes more funding and resources for fighting fires and assistance for those displaced, whose businesses have been hurt or who have lost their homes.
But Australians increasingly are looking to the government to take national and global action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stop the terrifying advance of climate change.  These are problems we can solve together but the government must lead.
Good luck for 2020. May it be prosperous and safe.

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(AU) 'You Have Utterly No Clue': Why 'Climate Emergency' Is Australia's Ultimate Outrage Trigger

The Guardian - 

At any level of Australian government, there is little so divisive as suggesting that a climate emergency be declared
 ‘Incredibly unsettling’: the November day that bushfires turned the sky orange over Port Macquarie. Photograph: Twitter@SteveMolk
Earlier last year, Trudi Beck, a general practitioner from Wagga Wagga, wrote to councillors across New South Wales urging them to acknowledge the climate crisis and declare a local emergency.
Some responses were positive. Others less so.
Mark Hall, a Lachlan shire councillor and Baptist pastor, told Beck: “Stick to medicine – you have utterly no clue about climate science. Your email intrusion is truly not welcome.”
So far, 84 jurisdictions in Australia covering about a quarter of the population – mostly cities and local government areas – have declared a climate emergency. The first elected body in the world to act, Darebin council in Victoria, is credited with starting a movement that is now supported by governments representing 800 million people worldwide, including the European Union and Bangladesh.
In Australia, as ever when it comes to climate policy, the process has been polarising and frustrating.
The leaders of one town might have recognised the climate crisis and committed to developing adaptation measures to help the community deal with the impacts of global heating. The next town over might have decided that climate change has nothing to do with local government business such as carting rubbish or fixing potholes.
“We went from talking about the climate emergency, to now all of a sudden we’re living in it,” says Sarah Mollard, a general practitioner from the coastal NSW town of Port Macquarie.
“It was incredibly unsettling to experience the sky going from blue to red in the space of a few hours. It’s extraordinarily unsettling to be in your home and see smoke haze in your home. This is my home, this is my safe space, and I can’t keep my children safe in it.”
In an emergency, timing is critical – if you wait to act, the problem gets worse
Sarah Mollard
A few months ago, Mollard and other community members began to lobby for the Port Macquarie council to declare a climate emergency. In September, a relatively benign council motion to develop a “climate change action plan” was deadlocked at four-all. The mayor’s casting vote shelved the idea indefinitely.
Since the vote, and since the November bushfire crisis that blanketed Port Macquarie in an orange haze, community members have turned up to council meetings, where residents are allowed to take the floor before formal debates, to discuss the climate change impacts of relevant items of business.
In November, Mollard spoke about the need for the council to develop a heat plan.
“It’s constructive in a sense. At the moment the council does not have someone on their payroll who is looking at the actions of council through a climate lens,” Mollard says.
“I prefer gardening to public speaking, and would rather spend my day off work with the kids at the beach than rallying for our government to simply do its job.
“As a doctor I am familiar with the term emergency. An emergency is a threat to people, property or society that has the potential to overwhelm them.
“An emergency requires action to stop the problem from getting out of control and then return to safety. In an emergency, timing is critical – if you wait to act, the problem gets worse, more damage is done, the cost of repair is increased.
“The more involved I’ve been getting the more I’ve had people coming up to me in the street and saying thank you. That’s a really strong indicator that people feel strongly about an issue.”
One of the most remarkable aspects of the climate emergency movement is how it has put debate on the agenda in places that might have otherwise buried their heads in the nearest sandy riverbed.
The Glen Innes Severn council has made a declaration and the mayor, Carol Sparks, has emerged from the bushfire crisis as a credible voice for regional people demanding climate action.
Newcastle, the home of the world’s largest coal export port, has declared an emergency and has a policy to work towards a just transition. The Wollongong City c-ouncil – which along with Newcastle was for decades an industrial and steelmaking hub – has also recognised the climate crisis.
In Queensland, where climate politics is most fraught amid a rush to support coal exports, only the Noosa council has declared an emergency. It also set a zero net emissions target by 2026.
Deputy PM Michael McCormack (right) and Noosa mayor Tony Wellington at a bushfire control centre in Noosa Heads. Photograph: Rob Maccoll/AAP
“I see it as both symbolic but also practical for sure,” Noosa mayor Tony Wellington says.
“Of course, when we declared a climate emergency I did receive some hate mail. Let’s just say I did expect that. There wasn’t a large amount of pushback but there are inevitably in our community a number of people who [don’t accept climate change].
“Noosa has a history of being somewhat adventurous and pioneering as a council. We’re also for example the only council that has joined the alliance for gambling reform. We take a rather intrinsic view to development per se. We have a proud history of environmental conservation.”
Two communities in the area, Noosa North Shore and Peregian Beach, were evacuated under threat from bushfires earlier this year. Wellington says the incidents were a “wake-up call” for the need to adapt the council’s plans and operations for a changed climate.
“We’re acutely aware the impacts of climate change will resonate,” he says. “The costs of not preparing are far greater than doing something now.”

‘I respect your view to have an opinion on the theory …’
Conservative Wagga Wagga, home of the deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, earlier this year declared a climate emergency. A few weeks later, after an increasingly nasty debate, councillors rescinded that declaration.
Outraged councillors would later demand the mayor, Greg Conkey, drive an electric vehicle to Sydney and back. He did and has said the journey was a success.
Beck had been instrumental in building local support in Wagga Wagga, and in July, while the city was locked in debate about the declaration, she contacted other council areas soliciting support.
“No way!” replied the Tenterfield deputy mayor, Don Forbes. When Beck responded by referring to the water security issues facing the Tenterfield community, which have got worse in the months since, Forbes asked not to receive further emails.
When the same email reached Wollondilly shire councillor Simon Landow, a former candidate for Liberal preselection, he replied to say it was not the council’s role.
“The term ‘climate emergancy’ (sic) … is very misleading to my residents of Wollondilly,” Landow wrote.
“I respect your view to have an opinion on the theory that man is causing catastrophic global warming.
“I would like you to respect my view that there is none, and I won’t be deviating from a stance thats is filled with so may (sic) flaws and misconceptions.”
Another councillor, Murray Thomas from the Bland Shire, said in response that climatic changes had no relationship to carbon dioxide and would soon be proved to be caused naturally.
“How do you propose explaining that [to] hordes of angry rorted,” Thomas said.
“You’ve obviously made your choice, suggest you reconsider while you have the opportunity. Just tell ’em you were experimenting with psychotic drug samples … or in a moment of stress you fell victim to carbon rort hype.”

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01/01/2020

Greta Thunberg: Climate Activism Has Made Her 'Very Happy', Says Father

The Guardian - 

Svante Thunberg says he was concerned about his daughter’s school strike but that her campaigning had helped her beat depression
'She's happy': Greta Thunberg's father says climate activism helped her beat depression.

 Greta Thunberg’s father has opened up about how activism helped his daughter out of depression but still worries about how she will deal with the impact of her international fame.
Speaking to the BBC to mark his daughter’s guest-editing slot on the Today programme, Svante Thunberg revealed he thought it was a “bad idea” for Greta to stage the school strike that catapulted her into the public eye.
The programme also featured a discussion between Greta Thunberg and the veteran naturalist Sir David Attenborough, in which the latter praises the teenager for raising awareness of the climate crisis.
She had “achieved things that many of us who have been working on it for 20-odd years have failed to achieve – that is you have aroused the world”, said Sir David, adding that she was the main reason climate was discussed during the British election campaign.
Svante Thunberg reveals how activism had changed the outlook of the teenager, who suffered from depression for “three or four years” before she began her school strike protest outside the Swedish parliament. She was now “very happy”, he said.
“She stopped talking ... she stopped going to school,” he said of her illness, adding that it was the the “ultimate nightmare for a parent” when Greta began refusing to eat.

'It's nice to meet you': Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough speak over Skype.

 Svante Thunberg, an actor, said he and his wife, the opera singer Malena Ernman, scaled back their professional lives to spend more time with Greta in order to help her overcome her depression. He became vegan and his wife stopped travelling to concerts by plane.
He said Greta became energised about green issues as the family began talking more about environmental issues. He accompanied her on her tour of the United States and visit to the Madrid climate crisis this year
“I did all these things, I knew they were the right thing to do ... but I didn’t do it to save the climate, I did it to save my child,” Svante Thunberg said. “I have two daughters and to be honest they are all that matters to me. I just want them to be happy.
Greta Thunberg with BBC Today programme presenter Mishal Husain. Photograph: BBC/PA
“You think she’s not ordinary now because she’s special, and she’s very famous, and all these things. But to me she’s now an ordinary child – she can do all the things like other people can,” he said.
“She dances around, she laughs a lot, we have a lot of fun – and she’s in a very good place.”
He was concerned about the negative comments his daughter attracted in the media and online and “all the hate that that generates”. But his daughter dealt with it “incredibly well”.
“Quite frankly, I don’t know how she does it, but she laughs most of the time. She finds it hilarious.”

Among 412 new species finds this year
The Greta Thunberg beetle
 The naming of Nelloptodes gretae after the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg in October was described as ‘particularly poignant’ by a Natural History Museum senior curator. Photograph: Michael Darby/Pemberley Books/AFP via Getty Images 


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Greta Thunberg And Mass Protests Defined The Year In Climate Change

MSNBC - Denise Chow

“In a sense, we’re at a tipping point for world industries, but the hope is that we’re tipping in the right direction and not back to the Stone Age,” one climate scientist said.
The influence of 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg helped launch a global movement of climate action. Chelsea Stahl / NBC News
Most climate scientists will be quick to say that 2019 was the year that Greta Thunberg truly became a force to be reckoned with.
The 16-year-old Swedish activist staged solo “Fridays for Future” school strikes that triggered a global phenomenon drawing millions of people into the streets to protest climate inaction. The teen has since become the face of that newly energized climate movement and was recently named Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
“She represents the best of humanity,” said Benjamin Houlton, a professor of global environmental studies at the University of California, Davis. “She frightens those in power right now because she has a very clear message and she’ll continue to be an important crusader.”
But while Thunberg’s influence soared and climate change permeated the cultural psyche, it was also a year in which the strong public engagement and the changing rhetoric surrounding climate change were not matched by aggressive policies to tackle global warming.
“We’re completely divided everywhere,” said Anders Levermann, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “One side is getting very loud and demanding change, but the other side is saying climate change isn’t happening or isn’t man-made or is too complicated to change. That is like looking at a world of slavery and saying it’s too complicated to change. I think there’s a pretty clear right side of history and wrong side of history.”


Tracking climate extremes around the world in 2019

 Levermann worries that malevolent forces are preventing humanity from taking the right side.
“There’s a much bigger problem than climate science denial — it’s fact denial,” he said. “Science is about truth, but if you can’t agree on facts, then the most powerful man in the room can decide what is right and wrong.”
Still, he sees some glimmers of hope. Though President Donald Trump announced in 2017 that he intends to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, a climate accord ratified by 187 countries that aims to sharply reduce carbon emissions, the response elsewhere has not been apathetic.
Earlier this month, the European Union unveiled a plan for its 28 member nations to become “climate neutral” by 2050 by eliminating their contributions to climate change. The proposal, known as the European Green Deal, was heralded as one of the most ambitious plans introduced by any government so far.
“It’s only a plan at the moment, but it is a plan,” Levermann said. “A carbon-free continent by 2050 is precisely what is needed for the world, and if we can manage it in a highly developed place that is one of the biggest economic engines on the planet, then it would send a very strong signal.”
China is also starting to invest heavily in renewable energy, a shift away from fossil fuels that could become a trend across other economies and industries.
“In a sense, we’re at a tipping point for world industries, but the hope is that we’re tipping in the right direction and not back to the Stone Age,” Levermann said.
Carly McLachlan, a researcher at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the United Kingdom, said she has noticed a significant change in the public’s acceptance of climate science — and the urgency needed to stop global warming.
“In 2019, it became quite common to frame climate change in the language of an emergency,” she said. “We moved away from the sense that we need incremental change, and the language we’re using shows this is really a defining issue.”


Global climate strikes bring millions to the streets

 Yet despite growing public recognition of the urgent need for action, this year saw attacks on climate science from the governments of several countries, such as Brazil, the United States and Australia.
At a United Nations climate summit in early December, countries failed to agree on certain core issues of the Paris Agreement, and several countries including Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Australia were accused of thwarting the negotiations.
But Houlton, of UC Davis, thinks the realities of climate change will become harder to ignore as carbon emissions continue to rise and communities around the world face warming temperatures, rising seas and more intense episodes of extreme weather.
This year was the fourth consecutive Atlantic hurricane season with above-average activity, Europe sweltered through a historic heat wave in June and dry conditions fueled massive bushfires that are still raging across Australia and have already scorched an area equivalent in size to the state of New Jersey.
Scientists say these extreme events are likely linked to climate change and will become hallmarks of the “new normal” for the planet.
“Climate change is not about how we’re going to become extinct in 10 years or 20 years,” Houlton said. “It’s about: How much suffering do we want on the planet? How many people have to die or move their homes? How much economic disruption do we want?”
In the U.S., the disruptions have been apparent, according to Joanna Lewis, an associate professor of energy and environment at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Parts of the Midwest and the South saw record flooding this year and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded weather and climate disasters in 2019 that each cost more than $1 billion.


How farmers along the Mississippi are affected by climate change

 “It’s becoming more clear to people that climate change is not something that is a long way off — it’s something affecting people today,” Lewis said.
But while the effects of rising seas and extreme weather may play out at the local level, tackling climate change will require international cooperation.
“If I go out for a run, I will start to lose weight, but if I cut emissions, I may not see that benefit play out in my community but it might help somebody out in another community,” Houlton said. “We have not evolved to deal with that idea of interconnectedness between people, places and economies. We can’t compartmentalize. We need a complete societal transformation.”
Laurence Smith, a professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, said this year was characterized by a shift away from debates about the science of climate change to discussions about policies and solutions.
“We know the science is real, so scientific work is taking a back seat to political will, which is what we really need now,” Smith said. “A lot of great things are happening at the local level, spearheaded by cities and states, but that’s not enough. There needs to be some top-down policy as well.”
Smith thinks the demand for political action in the U.S. and elsewhere will be largely driven by young people, like Thunberg, who see climate action as a priority. Thunberg’s activism has inspired youth-driven movements around the world that culminated in a Global Climate Strike in September that saw more than 4 million people worldwide participate in organized climate protests.
“I haven’t seen this level of engagement before,” he said. “It’s beginning to really matter with young people, even though it’s unfair to kick this off to the younger generation and say: You guys fix it. So I’m pleased that young people are engaged, but it’s also sad.”
For Levermann, the incremental progress made in Europe and his home country of Germany gives him reason to be optimistic. And he recognizes that big changes to societies, economies and industries require some patience.
“Solving climate change is a huge endeavor, and it requires the whole planet, and the democratic process is slow,” Levermann said. “I’ve seen a lot of motion, but we are far from having solved this. This will be a struggle until the end of my life but, hopefully then, I can say to my children: ‘Here you go. We did this and now you have to solve the next one.’”

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Greta Thunberg, David Attenborough Meet For First Time, Talk Climate Change

CNET News - 

The teen activist "aroused the world" to climate change, the famed broadcaster tells her.
Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough are big fans of one another. BBC screenshot by Leslie Katz/CNET
It's been quite a year for young climate change activist Greta Thunberg, who's capping off an eventful 2019 with major props from David Attenborough.
On a BBC radio program Monday, the famed British broadcaster and naturalist told the teen she'd "aroused the world" to climate change. He also said she'd "achieved things that many of us who have been working on it for 20-odd years have failed to achieve. I'm very grateful to you. We all are."
Thunberg, in turn, expressed admiration for Attenborough, saying his nature documentaries had inspired her interest in the environment. The pair met for the first time for Monday's Today program, which Thunberg guest-edited. Their face-to-face chat happened via Skype, as they wanted to avoid the carbon impact of flying, and swapped opinions about the climate -- and activism.
"We don't want to spend our time marching through the streets, but we have to," Attenborough told the Swedish 16-year-old, "and you've shown very great bravery in doing that." This year, Attenborough narrated Our Planet, an eight-part documentary series for Netflix that explores the impact of climate change.

When Greta Thunberg met Sir David Attenborough

Video: Greta Thunberg and Sir David Attenborough have met for the first time via Skype to discuss the climate crisis and share their thoughts on how to make an environmental impact.

The pigtailed Thunberg has drawn worldwide attention since she first sat outside the Swedish parliament in August 2018, protest sign in hand, demanding that world leaders act on climate change.
Earlier this month, Time named Thunberg its Person of the Year, the youngest recipient ever bestowed the title. The publication described her as the "most compelling voice on the most important issue facing the planet."
In March, Thunberg was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. She's getting a Hulu documentary set to premiere next year. She's even getting her own mural in San Francisco.
But not all the attention has been laudatory. As part of the same BBC radio program, Greta's father Svante Thunberg said that while his daughter has been happier since becoming an activist, he worries about the hateful comments she received.
She's talked about being criticized on social media for her looks, clothing and behavior, among other things.
Her dad did say she deals with the criticism "incredibly well."

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31/12/2019

Climate Change: Six Positive News Stories From 2019

The Conversation - Heather Alberro | Dénes Csala | Hannah Cloke | Marc Hudson | Mark Maslin | Richard Hodgkins

Hydroelectric power has helped Costa Rica ditch fossil fuels. John E Anderson / shutterstock
The climate breakdown continues. Over the past year, The Conversation has covered fires in the Amazon, melting glaciers in the Andes and Greenland, record CO₂ emissions, and temperatures so hot they’re pushing the human body to its thermal limits. Even the big UN climate talks were largely disappointing.
But climate researchers have not given up hope. We asked a few Conversation authors to highlight some more positive stories from 2019.
***
Costa Rica offers us a viable climate future
Heather Alberro, associate lecturer in political ecology, Nottingham Trent University
After decades of climate talks, including the recent COP25 in Madrid, emissions have only continued to rise. Indeed, a recent UN report noted that a fivefold increase in current national climate change mitigation efforts would be needed to meet the 1.5℃ limit on warming by 2030. With the radical transformations needed in our global transport, housing, agricultural and energy systems in order to help mitigate looming climate and ecological breakdown, it can be easy to lose hope.However, countries like Costa Rica offer us promising examples of the “possible”. The Central American nation has implemented a refreshingly ambitious plan to completely decarbonise its economy by 2050. In the lead-up to this, last year with its economy still growing at 3%, Costa Rica was able to derive 98% of its electricity from renewable sources. Such an example demonstrates that with sufficient political will, it is possible to meet the daunting challenges ahead.
***
Financial investors are cooling on fossil fuels
Richard Hodgkins, senior lecturer in physical geography, Loughborough University
Movements such as 350.org have long argued for fossil fuel divestment, but they have recently been joined by institutional investors such as Climate Action 100+, which is using the influence of its US$35 trillion of managed funds, arguing that minimising climate breakdown risks and maximising renewables’ growth opportunities are a fiduciary duty.Moody’s credit-rating agency recently flagged ExxonMobil for falling revenues despite rising expenditure, noting: “The negative outlook also reflects the emerging threat to oil and gas companies’ profitability […] from growing efforts by many nations to mitigate the impacts of climate change through tax and regulatory policies.”
An oil pipeline in northern Alaska. saraporn / shutterstock

A more adverse financial environment for fossil fuel companies reduces the likelihood of new development in business frontier regions such as the Arctic, and indeed, major investment bank Goldman Sachs has declared that it “will decline any financing transaction that directly supports new upstream Arctic oil exploration or development”.
***
We are getting much better at forecasting disaster
Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology, University of Reading
In March and April 2019, two enormous tropical cyclones hit the south-east coast of Africa, killing more than 600 people and leaving nearly 2 million people in desperate need of emergency aid.
Cyclones Idai and Kenneth caused huge floods in Mozambique.Emidio Jozine / EPA

There isn’t much that is positive about that, and there’s nothing new about cyclones. But this time scientists were able to provide the first early warning of the impending flood disaster by linking together accurate medium-range forecasts of the cyclone with the best ever simulations of flood risk. This meant that the UK government, for example, set about working with aid agencies in the region to start delivering emergency supplies to the area that would flood, all before Cyclone Kenneth had even gathered pace in the Indian Ocean.
We know that the risk of dangerous floods is increasing as the climate continues to change. Even with ambitious action to reduce greenhouse gases, we must deal with the impact of a warmer more chaotic world. We will have to continue using the best available science to prepare ourselves for whatever is likely to come over the horizon.
***
Local authorities across the world are declaring a ‘climate emergency’
Marc Hudson, researcher in sustainable consumption, University of Manchester
More than 1,200 local authorities around the world declared a “climate emergency” in 2019. I think there are two obvious dangers: first, it invites authoritarian responses (stop breeding! Stop criticising our plans for geoengineering!). And second, an “emergency” declaration may simply be a greenwash followed by business-as-usual.In Manchester, where I live and research, the City Council is greenwashing. A nice declaration in July was followed by more flights for staff (to places just a few hours away by train), and further car parks and roads. The deadline for a “bring zero-carbon date forward?” report has been ignored.
But these civic declarations have also kicked off a wave of civic activism, as campaigners have found city councils easier to hold to account than national governments. I’m part of an activist group called “Climate Emergency Manchester” – we inform citizens and lobby councillors. We’ve assessed progress so far, based on Freedom of Information Act requests, and produced a “what could be done?” report. As the council falls further behind on its promises, we will be stepping up our activity, trying to pressure it to do the right thing.
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Radical climate policy goes mainstream
Dénes Csala, lecturer in energy system dynamics, Lancaster University
Before the 2019 UK general election, I compared the Conservative and Labour election manifestos, from a climate and energy perspective. Although the party with the clearly weaker plan won eventually, I am still stubborn enough to be hopeful with regard to the future of political action on climate change.For the first time, in a major economy, a leading party’s manifesto had at its core climate action, transport electrification and full energy system decarbonisation, all on a timescale compatible with IPCC directives to avoid catastrophic climate change. This means the discussion that has been cooking at the highest levels since the 2015 Paris Agreement has started to boil down into tangible policies.
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Young people are on the march!
Mark Maslin, professor of earth system science, UCL
In 2019, public awareness of climate change rose sharply, driven by the schools strikes, Extinction Rebellion, high impact IPCC reports, improved media coverage, a BBC One climate change documentary and the UK and other governments declaring a climate emergency. Two recent polls suggest that over 75% of Americans accept humans have caused climate change.Empowerment of the first truly globalised generation has catalysed this new urgency. Young people can access knowledge at the click of a button. They know climate change science is real and see through the deniers’ lies because this generation does not access traditional media – in fact, they bypass it.
The awareness and concern regarding climate change will continue to grow. Next year will be an even bigger year as the UK will chair the UN climate change negotiations in Glasgow – and expectation are running high.

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Lethal Heating is a citizens' initiative