CLIMATE CHANGE
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE: WILL WE GET THERE IN TIME?
U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry in interview with NYT writer Thomas Friedman in Glasgow.
John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, arrived fresh from the nearby COP26 negotiations with representatives of Russia and China to the New York Times Climate Hub in Glasgow Scotland on Friday, November 5, for an interview with Thomas Friedman. Kerry’s interview was immediately preceded by a corporate video by pharmaceutical company Bayer, setting the tone for the discussion, which continually returned to the crucial role of industry in remaking the energy economy.
Kerry, sporting a green tie, primarily brought a message of hope even amid danger and uncertainty. He is feeling the best energy at this COP as compared to past iterations, and he should know as he has been to nearly every single COP since Kyoto. Kerry noted a clear progression since Copenhagen. Paris “made up for the failure of Copenhagen” by spurring companies to jump on board and in solidifying 1.5-degrees of warming as a goal. Clear goals have also been established over time as compared to Rio and Kyoto.
Since Paris, 75 percent of new energy in the United States was renewable, even under Trump. Governors and mayors took up the reigns of this transformation after Trump attempted to pull out of the Paris Accord.
After years of obfuscation and denial by many powerful private and public actors—a similar backlash to real and severe issues identified in the past, such as the ecological effects of pesticides brought to public consciousness by Rachel Carson and the dangers of smoking and tobacco—Kerry sees tremendous progress occurring as the business sector moves quickly towards addressing climate.
Kerry named a few examples to support his optimism: the recent pledge of $4.6 trillion by some of America’s largest banks; the power of new satellites to track methane emissions allowing company supply chains to be assessed in their entirety; a new level of corporate accountability made possible by these satellites and concrete financial pledges; the USDA’s agricultural innovation initiative for climate; Bill Gates’s pursuit of fourth generation nuclear power; promising solutions to the long-identified base load issue of renewable energy such as power transfer between grids and innovative new batteries like molten salt; and finally the potentials of quantum computing and artificial intelligence. Zentraveler is not as optomistic as John Kerry, however he appreciates his global efforts and hopes we reverse climate change to save our very fragile earth?
Though Kerry is hopeful, he acknowledges that we still have a long way to go, and success is far from certain. He noted that “there may be one country, but I doubt there is, that is sustainable.” The most pressing question is of time and scale: “We will get there; the only question is if we will get there in time.” “We have to speed up” in order to achieve “the greatest transformation in our economy since the industrial revolution.” Legislation is so far insufficient for this transformation. What we need is a redirection of the industrial economy on par with that of World War II and a concentrated research program akin to the Manhattan Project, particularly considering the need to assist developing countries.
Glaciers are melting and sea levels are rising
Hotter weather has begun melting glaciers and warming the oceans – triggering rising sea levels. The global mean sea-level rose by 7 centimetres in just 25 years. Some seaside cities around the world are already losing their coasts to rising sea levels.
In New Zealand, coastal flooding due to sea-level rise has put more than 330 Department of Conservation sites at risk. We know this warming is largely caused by human activities because the key role that carbon dioxide plays in maintaining Earth’s natural greenhouse effect has been understood since the mid-1800s.
Unless it is offset by some equally large cooling influence, more atmospheric carbon dioxide will lead to warmer surface temperatures. Since 1800, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased from about 280 parts per million to 410 ppm in 2019. We know from both its rapid increase and its isotopic “fingerprint” that the source of this new carbon dioxide is fossil fuels, and not natural sources like forest fires, volcanoes, or outgassing from the ocean.
THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW: What is a shocking fact about climate change? Climate change impacts us year-round, and no better time to restore the balance than now. The Average Sea Level is expected to rise at least a foot, and worst-case scenario up to EIGHT feet! It won't stop there! Sea level has risen 8-9 inches since 1880 and the rate is only accelerating.
THINGS YOU MAY WANT TO SAVE: LETS START WITH THE EARTH. I dont know about you, but I dont fancy living on another planet inside some space capsule? If you like to live in a bubble be my guest?
ZENTRAVELER SAYS: You and all of the governments, and business corporations of the world have only one objective, which is to reverse climate change. As a reminder time is running out and it will take an olympic effort to lower our carbon footprint.
From here to Infinity is a relatively short ride! The next leg takes eons and eons as you fly through the Barycentric Dynamical Time Zone! …and on and on and on. Follow the Zentraveler Newsletter often for Travel, Health and Zen-like stories and such. Where else can you get a THREE IN ONE NEWSLETTER FOR THE PRICE OF FREE.
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