The Climate Change Thread

[W. K. Lis]

Climate change: Majority of Germans support ditching Christmas lights

As part of efforts to combat climate change, a majority of Germans say they’re in favor of scaling down or completely abandoning their Christmas lights this year, according to a new survey.

A majority of Germans say they would consider scaling down their Christmas lights to protect the climate, a survey released on Sunday said. A total of 57% of those surveyed said they would reduce Christmas lighting or even do without it in the future, according to the survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of the German news agency DPA.

Majority of Germans back ditching Christmas lights – DW – 12/08/2019

As part of efforts to combat climate change, a majority of Germans say they're in favor of scaling down or completely abandoning their Christmas lights this year, according to a new survey.

m.dw.com

Who still uses incandescent Christmas lights? Except as heirlooms, maybe. There are LED replacement Christmas bulbs, if needed.

 

[AlbertC]

Greenland's ice sheet melting seven times faster than in 1990s

Scale and speed of loss much higher than predicted, threatening inundation for hundreds of millions of people

Fiona Harvey in Madrid
Tue 10 Dec 2019 16.00 GMT

Greenland's ice sheet melting seven times faster than in 1990s

Scale and speed of loss much higher than predicted, threatening inundation for hundreds of millions of people

www.theguardian.com

 

[W. K. Lis]

Greenland's ice sheet melting seven times faster than in 1990s

Scale and speed of loss much higher than predicted, threatening inundation for hundreds of millions of people

Fiona Harvey in Madrid
Tue 10 Dec 2019 16.00 GMT

Greenland's ice sheet melting seven times faster than in 1990s

Scale and speed of loss much higher than predicted, threatening inundation for hundreds of millions of people

www.theguardian.com

So that's why Trump wants the USA to buy Greenland. See link.

 

[Johnny Au]

So that's why Trump wants the USA to buy Greenland. See link.

Nowhere in the article mentions that if the United States were to purchase Greenland, it would have to deal with Canada over Hans Island.

The deal could perhaps be settled by having the United States buy Greenland and immediately selling all claims to Hans Island to Canada.

 

[AlbertC]

Sydney climate protest: thousands rally against inaction amid bushfire and air quality crisis

Protesters wore face masks, asking the government to act on the role global heating had on the longer and more devastating bushfires

Naaman Zhou
Wed 11 Dec 2019 09.05 GMT

Sydney climate protest: thousands rally against inaction amid bushfire and air quality crisis

Protesters wore face masks, asking the government to act on the role global heating had on the longer and more devastating bushfires

www.theguardian.com

 

[W. K. Lis]

Greta
Thunberg
Time Person of the Year for 2019

See link.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Sydney climate protest: thousands rally against inaction amid bushfire and air quality crisis

Protesters wore face masks, asking the government to act on the role global heating had on the longer and more devastating bushfires

Naaman Zhou
Wed 11 Dec 2019 09.05 GMT

Sydney climate protest: thousands rally against inaction amid bushfire and air quality crisis

Protesters wore face masks, asking the government to act on the role global heating had on the longer and more devastating bushfires

www.theguardian.com

Australia's GHG emissions are tiny, about 1% of the global total - whatever they do internally makes little difference. The most powerful thing the first world nations can do to fight climate change is act with their wallets. And that means stop buying stuff made in the heavily polluting developing and third world. Yes, the USA as the second largest GHG emitter also needs to change, and they have, even under Trump with current emissions below the highs of the 1990s.

Political change and technological advances in the USA will likely see a continued decline of GHG there. But for the developing world and especially China, only a climate tariff will force the largest total GHG emitters to change their ways. So forget about marching for climate action at home, where Canada is about 1.6% of total GHG, but instead demand USMCA and EU politicians put a carbon tariff on goods from the developing world and China.

 

[AlbertC]

EU lauds new Green Deal as Europe's 'man on moon moment'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has praised a plan to make Europe the world's first climate neutral continent. The "European Green Deal" envisages net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

EU lauds Green Deal as 'man on moon moment' – DW – 12/11/2019

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has praised a plan to make Europe the world's first climate neutral continent. The "European Green Deal" envisages net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

www.dw.com

European Green Deal will change economy to solve climate crisis, says EU

Everything from travel to air quality has been looked at in order to create ‘a growth that gives back’

European Green Deal will change economy to solve climate crisis, says EU

Everything from travel to air quality has been looked at in order to create ‘a growth that gives back’

www.theguardian.com

 

[SunriseChampion]

Nowhere in the article mentions that if the United States were to purchase Greenland, it would have to deal with Canada over Hans Island.

The deal could perhaps be settled by having the United States buy Greenland and immediately selling all claims to Hans Island to Canada.

No thanks. We're already paying for barren things we don't need, like a Minister of Middle Class Prosperity, for example!

 

[SunriseChampion]

Australia's GHG emissions are tiny, about 1% of the global total - whatever they do internally makes little difference. The most powerful thing the first world nations can do to fight climate change is act with their wallets. And that means stop buying stuff made in the heavily polluting developing and third world. Yes, the USA as the second largest GHG emitter also needs to change, and they have, even under Trump with current emissions below the highs of the 1990s.

Political change and technological advances in the USA will likely see a continued decline of GHG there. But for the developing world and especially China, only a climate tariff will force the largest total GHG emitters to change their ways. So forget about marching for climate action at home, where Canada is about 1.6% of total GHG, but instead demand USMCA and EU politicians put a carbon tariff on goods from the developing world and China.

Leading by example is the only way to get anyone to take you seriously.

For example, at work I don't ask any of my employees to perform dangerous tasks that I won't or wouldn't perform myself. Ever. Because if I did, I'd be a two-faced dickhead. Same principle applies here, regardless of the size of our portion of the problem.
Shirking our responsibilities AFTER we've been able to reap the rewards of carbonisation whilst others have not to the same degree and then shouldering them with the entirety of the burden shows piss-poor character.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Canada’s environment minister voices concern after protest at UN climate summit shut down

See link.

Canada’s environment minister raised concern with United Nations organizers after hearing that an Indigenous-led protest was shut down by security at the global climate change conference in Madrid on Wednesday, his office confirmed.

Sabrina Kim, press secretary to Canada’s environment minister, Jonathan Wilkinson, told the Star that Wilkinson wrote to the secretariat organizing the conference and “expressed concern” about security’s handling of a protest that — according to the Assembly of First Nations — included Canadian delegates to the climate summit.

Kim said the minister notified Global Affairs of the incident but is not aware of any Canadians that were arrested.

François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s foreign affairs minister, posted on Twitter that “we are aware of this incident” and that the embassy in Madrid is “actively engaged.”

In a post on social media, Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), said his organization is “aware that a group of Indigenous youth (including many from Canada) have arbitrarily been detained for a peaceful protest” at the conference.

An official from the AFN who witnessed the protest told the Star that security detained the demonstrators in a “courtyard” before removing their access badges. The official said the AFN is also not aware that any Canadians were arrested.

In her own post to social media, Green MP Elizabeth May — who is attending the conference with the Canadian delegation — said a “peaceful” demonstration for “climate action was pushed aside, with hundreds pulled from building. Youth I met after were still shaken.”

Catherine Abreu, executive director of the Climate Action Network Canada, also posted about the incident, criticizing UN security and thanking Wilkinson for “promising to speak to the #COP25 presidency to stop this insanity and let (people) back in.”

The Star was unable to verify details of the protest or the response by security.

UN spokesperson Florencia Soto Nino told the Star there was a protest Wednesday that breached the rules of conduct for conference delegates because it disrupted proceedings. She said UN officials have since met with relevant organizations and civil society groups to “work on a solution” to what happened.

“We’re very aware of the situation and it is never our intention to censor civil society and especially youth who have been so key in making their voices heard and bringing the climate issue to the fore,” Soto Nino said.

The annual climate conference is part of the international process that created the Paris Agreement, a deal signed by almost every country in the world to restrain global warming below two degrees C this century.

Under the agreement, Canada promised to slash greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, though current policies are not enough to hit that target, according to a projection by the federal government released last year.

During the election campaign this fall, the Liberals vowed to “exceed” that 2030 target and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

 

[Johnny Au]

Congratulations to Greta. She should be prime minister of Sweden once she comes of age.

At the age of 16 (to turn 17 on January 3), she is the youngest named individual human to be given the honour of Time's Person of the Year award between birth and being honoured (since personal computers aren't humans and "You" isn't a named individual), beating out Mark Zuckerberg (still the youngest named individual male human between birth and being honoured).

 

[Admiral Beez]

Leading by example is the only way to get anyone to take you seriously.

So do both. Lead by example at home, and apply the same carbon tariffs to imports as we would to the same production if it was made at home.

 

[SunriseChampion]

So do both. Lead by example at home, and apply the same carbon tariffs to imports as we would to the same production if it was made at home.

I 100% agree with this.

That is exactly what should be done.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I 100% agree with this.

That is exactly what should be done.

It‘s the only way to do it. Otherwise as domestic manufacturers avoid Canada’s carbon taxes by moving overseas, Canadians are simply transferring their pollution output to other countries.

It’s the same as labour standards. What’s the point of improving wages and conditions in Canada if the products once made in Canada are now made overseas, with the low wages and poor conditions that we started with?