#intergovernmental panel on climate change

[wastelesscrafts]

New IPCC report (March 20, 2023)

The newest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was published on the 20th of March 2023.

Read the synthesis report, or check out the IPCC's YouTube channel if reading isn't your thing.

Climate YouTubers Zentouro and ClimateAdam have also released a short summary video of the report.

(If you're currently dealing with climate anxiety, you may want to skip these reports.)

[aperint]

Reprobados en cambio climático

Reprobados en cambio climático #aperturaintelectual #vmrfaintelectual @victormanrf @Victor M. Reyes Ferriz @vicmanrf @victormrferriz Víctor Manuel Reyes Ferriz

12 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2023 Esto es para ti papi POR: VÍCTOR MANUEL REYES FERRIZ El día de hoy culmina la cumbre del clima “Conferencia de Partes” (COP) en su edición número 28 que comenzó el pasado 30 de noviembre en el “Expo City” de Dubái y ésta reúne a los delegados de 197 países, organizaciones no gubernamentales, empresas, científicos, representantes de la industria, activistas y por supuesto…

[man-and-atom]

Quite a few people have seen this image, and said “well clearly wind and solar are the way to go, there’s no need or role for nuclear”.

Look again at that headline.

“Relative potentials and costs will vary across countries and in the longer term compared to 2030.”

Simply put, although in broad strokes the industrial potential of the world is equal to installing (say) 10 GW of new nuclear-electric capacity a month, which would make a vast difference to global emissions, getting to that point by 2030 would be exceedingly difficult and costly.

Even if we imagine all the legal barriers swept away ― if we imagine, for instance, Germany to say “well, now that the nuclear power plants have all been shut down, you can start building new ones as of July” ― it takes time to build or expand the necessary production facilities, train personnel, and so on. Likewise, a programme of building power stations must begin at a modest pace and ramp up, so that designs can be optimized.

If we extend the time horizon just to 2035, the situation looks very different. Again, of course, that assumes we start now, and don’t allow ourselves to be lulled into inaction.

[carolkeiter]

How to Persuade Others to Care about Biodiversity?

Back in Rhode Island when I was bicycling 6 or so miles from Providence – to swim in the only nearby lake at Lincoln Woods State Park – I encountered a dead deer along the road. The Police were already standing next to it. It was upsetting. It’s an area where Power lines cut through the trees, which in fact provide space to allow animals (with no residential properties or fences blocking their…

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Inside Climate News:

They predicted it with eerie accuracy a decade ago, in a report that would ultimately change the way the world thinks and talks about global warming.

Whether it’s the persistent drought threatening East Africa with famine, the raging wildfires continuing to plague much of Europe, or the wild swing of “weather whiplash” now pummeling much of the United States, climate scientists foreshadowed in their landmark 2012 report—with great detail—the kind of extreme weather the world is now experiencing on a far more regular basis.

“The report was clairvoyant,” Michael Oppenheimer, a Princeton University climate scientist and a co-author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2012 special report on extreme events, disasters and climate change, told the Associated Press. “The report was exactly what a climate report should do: Warn us about the future in time for us to adapt before the worst stuff happens.”

In particular, the 2012 report warned governments to watch out for five specific disaster scenarios that have mostly come true in recent years regarding climate change making them more frequent and severe. They warned of increasingly destructive flash floods in less affluent regions, such as the deadly summer floods this year in Kentucky, Pakistan and China. They warned of longer and hotter heat waves in urban hubs, particularly in Europe, like the ones that broke all-time records in the United Kingdom in July. They warned of increased property damage from hurricanes in the U.S., like storms that have frequently pummeled the Gulf Coast and even killed dozens of people across the Northeast last year. And they warned of droughts causing famine in African countries, which experts say is now a serious threat in the Horn of Africa.

They also warned of small island nations losing land and possibly disappearing due to sea-level rise by the end of the century. And while that scenario is harder to illustrate through a definitive example just yet, scientists generally agree that the warning signs are there. This month, the massive glacier known as the Greenland Ice Sheet lost tens of billions of tons of ice, marking  its most extensive melting rate on record for the month of September and prompting fresh warnings from scientists who said the glacier would contribute to at least 10 inches of sea level rise even if humans immediately stopped emitting greenhouse gases.

In fact, as the summer of 2022 reaches its final days, reports from all around the world this week seem to showcase with grim vividness the warnings scientists underscored in that decade-old report.

[omg-erika]

Who is afraid of CO2?

by Dr.Harald Wiesendanger– Klartext What the mainstream media is hiding Why we should fear and hate carbon dioxide – A guest article by Elena Louisa Lange about the sense and folly of worrying about “man-made climate change.” In September, the world witnessed five minutes of climate ideology at its finest. Apple, the world’s most capitalized company, produced a promotional film designed to…

[endfoodwasteday]

Special report and climate change - Focus and food loss and waste.

The #IPCC findings show that reducing food loss & waste & adaptation measures supporting balanced diets contribute to nutrition, health, & benefit biodiversity.

[irreplaceable-spark]

Hot or Not: Steven Koonin Questions Conventional Climate Science and Methodology| Uncommon Knowledge

Steven Koonin is one of America's most distinguished scientists, with decades of experience, including a stint as undersecretary of science at the Department of Energy in the Obama administration. In this wide-ranging discussion, based in part on his 2021 book, Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters, Koonin gives a more refined look at the science behind the climate issue than the media typically offers, guiding us through the evidence and its implications. As Koonin explains in this interview, he was “shaken by the realization that climate science was far less mature than I had supposed” and that the “overwhelming evidence” of catastrophic implications of anthropogenic global warming wasn’t so overwhelming after all.

[n0thingiscool]

Last week, the judge in Held v. Montana handed down a victory for the 16 young plaintiffs, who argued that the state’s continued production of fossil fuels violated their constitutional rights. Advocates say the landmark ruling could have broad ramifications for future climate litigation. But it’s also clear that Montana was woefully unprepared to face climate science on trial.

[rodgermalcolmmitchell]

How to be a climate and COVID denier by calling warnings, "panicked fearmongering."

If you were in a burning building and people yelled at you, “Get out, the building is on fire,” I assume Bjorn Lomborg and Jordan B. Peterson would call that “panicked fearmongering.” It is the only conclusion I can draw from the ridiculous Trumpian article published under their names. Stop the panicked fearmongering if we want to make the world better By Bjorn Lomborg and Jordan B. Peterson…

[n7india]

ब्रिटेेन के जिम स्‍की बने इंटरगवर्नमेंटल पैनल ऑन क्लाइमेट चेंज के नए अध्‍यक्ष

New Delhi: ब्रिटेन के जिम स्की (UK gym ski) जलवायु परिवर्तन विज्ञान का आकलन करने वाली संयुक्त राष्ट्र संस्था इंटरगवर्नमेंटल पैनल ऑन क्लाइमेट चेंज (intergovernmental panel on climate change) के नए अध्‍यक्ष बनाए गए हैं। आईपीसीसी (IPCC) ने एक बयान में कहा कि स्की को थेल्मा क्रुग के मुकाबले में 69 के मुकाबले 90 वोटों से चुना गया। स्की ने आईपीसीसी चुनावों में भाग लेने वाले प्रतिनिधियों को अपने…

[tornadoquest]

Tornado Quest Top Science Links For August 6 - 13, 2022 #science #weather #climate #hurricane #hurricaneseason2022 #astronomy #climatechange

Tornado Quest Top Science Links For August 6 – 13, 2022 #science #weather #climate #hurricane #hurricaneseason2022 #astronomy #climatechange

Greetings to everyone! I hope this week’s post finds all of you doing well. For the time being, the tropical Atlantic is quiet, but that could change over the next few weeks. In the meantime, I will share some infographics on preparing an emergency kit that will be helpful in any tropical storm or hurricane scenario. There are many other essential and important reads to review, so let’s get…

[kp777]

By Patrick Vallance

The Guardian

July 8, 2022

The relationship between humans and nature is under intense and increasing strain. The report released today by IPBES, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (akin to the IPCC reports on climate change), provides compelling evidence that humans are overexploiting wild species and habitats. Harmful activities, including habitat destruction, poor farming practices and pollution, have altered ecosystems significantly, driving many species past the point of recovery. In Great Britain alone, of the 8,431 species assessed in the 2019 State of Nature report, 1,188 are threatened with extinction. Globally, there are an estimated one million at risk, with biodiversity declining at a faster rate than at any time in human history.

We cannot ignore biodiversity loss. Biodiversity is the variability that exists among all living organisms, between different species, within species including genetic makeup, and in wider ecosystems. Billions of people rely on wild species for food, clean water, energy, income and health and wellbeing. Annually, crops worth up to £480bn are pollinated by a variety of wild animals, and an estimated 4 billion people depend on natural medicines for their healthcare. These vital ecosystem services are fundamentally based on a healthy environment, and this requires biodiversity. Losing biodiversity leaves species and ecosystems less resilient to challenges such as invasive species or pests, meaning there is an increased risk of whole populations being wiped out and destabilising the entire ecological network. Nature is a finite resource, and human self-interest alone should determine that biodiversity must be protected.

Alongside overexploitation, humans are driving biodiversity loss by destroying, polluting and fragmenting habitats across the globe. Many of the UK’s important peatlands, which provide a home for rare species such as the hen harrier, have been drained for agricultural use. The Amazon rainforest is being cleared to such an extent that it may be near a tipping point beyond which it cannot recover.

Nature is a finite resource, and human self-interest alone should determine that biodiversity must be protected.

The climate crisis is exacerbating the issue. Many species simply cannot adapt to the scale and pace of changing temperatures. For example, warming seas and ocean acidification are devastating coral reefs around the world. This year, the Great Barrier Reef suffered its sixth mass bleaching event since 1998 with more than 90% of reefs affected. In many cases, when an ecosystem loses biodiversity, it becomes less able to store carbon, contributing to further climate change. We have a vicious cycle: climate change leads to biodiversity losses, which in turn leads to further climate change. As governments around the world develop plans to reduce carbon emissions and conserve biodiversity, the message is simple: we must solve both problems together.

What can be done? Just as science has diagnosed the problem, it can provide solutions. Using strong evidence, such as this Ipbes report, governments can develop effective policy. Integrated and collaborative planning can deliver sustainable solutions which address climate change and biodiversity loss simultaneously, protecting and enriching human lives.

In southern India, scientists, Indigenous communities and local government have worked collaboratively to protect and restore mangrove forests. The trees’ interconnecting large-root systems offer protection against rising sea levels, provide habitats for fish and crustaceans, and clean surrounding water. The trees also draw and store carbon from the atmosphere and encourage carbon-rich sediment deposits. The increase in wildlife has benefited small scale fisheries and tourism. Innovative and effective nature-based initiatives such as these could be implemented throughout different landscapes across the planet.

There are also simple day-to-day things we can do to benefit our environment; for instance, reducing food waste. Currently about 30% of all food produced globally goes uneaten, meaning a significant proportion of the resources, and importantly the land used to grow, process, pack and transport it, is wasted and less able to support biodiversity.

Political will and leadership are needed, and the 15th UN Convention on Biological Diversity conference in December, CBD Cop15, provides the next critical opportunity for governments to commit to real ambitious change.

CBD Cop15 could deliver landmark action and be as important for biodiversity as the Paris Agreement is proving for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It will set the direction for the next decade of international action and beyond. Governments should agree to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, and develop evidence-based, actionable plans to do so. An important challenge is to define a reliable and simple integrated metric, like carbon emissions have been used for climate goals. At the end of June, negotiators met in Nairobi for their latest attempt to agree the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and while progress was made, it did not go far enough.

The last decade’s targets were not met; the next decade’s must be. Credible delivery plans will be required, and we need a robust mechanism for monitoring progress and holding ourselves to account. CBD Cop15 is the time to finalise the framework, and countries must come to the table prepared to make and support ambitious commitments. This is our chance to secure long-lasting agreements to protect our planet.

Sir Patrick Vallance is the UK government’s chief scientific adviser