General / Off-Topic Recycle or Die! (the elite environmental thread)
- Thread starter Zak Gordon
- Start date
'A third of tropical African plants face extinction':
www.bbc.com
A third of tropical African plants face extinction
An assessment shows rapid loss of trees, shrubs and herbs in countries such as Ethiopia and Tanzania.
www.bbc.com
Industrial Heat- a cleaner way:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/19/bill-gates-energy-startup-sunlight-heliogen-solar-energy
This might be useful to run things like the Haber process, or melt cryolite to manufacture aluminium.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/19/bill-gates-energy-startup-sunlight-heliogen-solar-energy
This might be useful to run things like the Haber process, or melt cryolite to manufacture aluminium.
There also have been similar projects done in a couple of the middle-eastern countries and iirc Spain has something like it to? All useful technology to be explored for sure as we transition away from fossil fuel burning.
Speaking of such:
'Analysis: Global coal power set for record fall in 2019':
www.carbonbrief.org
Speaking of such:
'Analysis: Global coal power set for record fall in 2019':
Analysis: Global coal power set for record fall in 2019 | Carbon Brief
Global electricity production from coal is on track to fall by around 3% in 2019, the largest drop on record.
www.carbonbrief.org
Only China is bucking the global trend re coal currently.
Good news and bad news today!
The Good (and interesting in that i need to find out more sources about it!):
'Solar farms can keep UK’s lights on even at night':
www.theguardian.com
The Bad:
'Climate change: Greenhouse gas concentrations again break records':
www.bbc.com
The Good (and interesting in that i need to find out more sources about it!):
'Solar farms can keep UK’s lights on even at night':
Solar farms can keep UK’s lights on even at night
Trial shows panels can smooth voltage fluctuations in the National Grid
www.theguardian.com
The picture is a little misleading in that it shows moonlight over some solar panels, which is not what the article is about (i think). I'll do more research into it as it sounds exactly like the kind of green energy innovations we need to get us through the next article!
The Bad:
'Climate change: Greenhouse gas concentrations again break records':
Greenhouse gas concentrations break records
The World Meteorological Organization says the levels of warming gases continue to reach new highs.
www.bbc.com
The 'ugly' is just that we carry on allowing this to happen, even when the evidence is obvious and overwhelming in telling us we are going to (and are already) regret it in the lifetime of all our own children.
I don't get the bad news - this is business as usual and expected to last at least until the end of next decade. Every year CO2 concentration peaks right at the beginning of the Northern Spring when foliage starts to grow and reduce CO2 levels. I guess around late Autumn (this time of the year) their effect gets evened out/cancelled and we'll see CO2 break records again until next Spring.Good news and bad news today!
The Good (and interesting in that i need to find out more sources about it!):
'Solar farms can keep UK’s lights on even at night':
Solar farms can keep UK’s lights on even at night
Trial shows panels can smooth voltage fluctuations in the National Grid
The picture is a little misleading in that it shows moonlight over some solar panels, which is not what the article is about (i think). I'll do more research into it as it sounds exactly like the kind of green energy innovations we need to get us through the next article!
The Bad:
'Climate change: Greenhouse gas concentrations again break records':
Greenhouse gas concentrations break records
The World Meteorological Organization says the levels of warming gases continue to reach new highs.
The 'ugly' is just that we carry on allowing this to happen, even when the evidence is obvious and overwhelming in telling us we are going to (and are already) regret it in the lifetime of all our own children.
Yes, confirmed by this source also:There also have been similar projects done in a couple of the middle-eastern countries and iirc Spain has something like it to? All useful technology to be explored for sure as we transition away from fossil fuel burning.
Speaking of such:
'Analysis: Global coal power set for record fall in 2019':
Analysis: Global coal power set for record fall in 2019 | Carbon Brief
Global electricity production from coal is on track to fall by around 3% in 2019, the largest drop on record.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/26/coal-fired-power-is-declining-thanks-to-a-slowdown-in-india-and-china-climate-change/
and the bad news is a new record for CO2 (in post industrial history) was reached. It's bad because all this is directly feeding the extreme weather events all around the globe (which in turn harms the economy and our ability to deal with it). It is not 'good' news or even 'not important' news by any stretch.
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So one of the often quoted things is that in a world with lots more CO2, we don't need to worry so much as it means plants will grow quicker to absorb more. It is a basic principle that is true, BUT in relation to AGW the problem is the SPEED of change in CO2 levels, as the earths natural systems have never had to cope with such fast changes as we are driving:
'Future forests facing climate balancing act':
Future forests facing climate balancing act
Forests can cope in a warming world only if temperatures increase in line with rises in CO2, a study finds.
www.bbc.com
So basically if we carry on doing not enough (to tackle our self created AGW problem) and decide at the last minute to plant lots of trees to 'save us', they will likely just die as they struggle to cope with the still rising levels of CO2. In short on our current trajectory of rising CO2 the plants will not be able to cope to help offset the problem.
I'm not disputing the 'bad' there, just the 'news'. This isn't news. We could report the same every month till next Spring. Then start over again next Autumn - every year until at least 2030.and the bad news is a new record for CO2 (in post industrial history) was reached. It's bad because all this is directly feeding the extreme weather events all around the globe (which in turn harms the economy and our ability to deal with it). It is not 'good' news or even 'not important' news by any stretch.
-----------------------------
So one of the often quoted things is that in a world with lots more CO2, we don't need to worry so much as it means plants will grow quicker to absorb more. It is a basic principle that is true, BUT in relation to AGW the problem is the SPEED of change in CO2 levels, as the earths natural systems have never had to cope with such fast changes as we are driving:
'Future forests facing climate balancing act':
Future forests facing climate balancing act
Forests can cope in a warming world only if temperatures increase in line with rises in CO2, a study finds.
So basically if we carry on doing not enough (to tackle our self created AGW problem) and decide at the last minute to plant lots of trees to 'save us', they will likely just die as they struggle to cope with the still rising levels of CO2. In short on our current trajectory of rising CO2 the plants will not be able to cope to help offset the problem.
It's like as it was news that the Queen has never been so old before.
It is always good that the things do not fall into the oblivion.
The oblivion is the worst thing that can happen.
This kind of information must be repeated tirelessly every month I think.
Repeat it tirelessly until people finally just get so used to hearing it regurgitated they assume it's true.
There's nothing new under the Sun, and the media will keep hyping up rubbish to get advertiser clicks.
Lol. it is NEW in the timespan we are referencing. It is 100% related to man made actions, it has never been seen in the historical record in such a way as it is now. So it is new AND news in that we have passed another milestone for man-made CO2 levels. If it was neither of those, there would be no article with scientists giving us that information. That is about as black&white as i can make it for you guys to understand better.
I KNOW exactly what your trying to do, trying to equate natural seasonal changes to the topic in the article, but that is like comparing a pig to a cow. Sure they are both animals, but they are not exactly the same
(that is also about as black&white as i can make it for you).
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''Bags for life' making plastic problem worse, say campaigners':
www.theguardian.com
It is more than ironic that this is a 'thing'. My bags are all hessian or cloth, so i have no idea why we ended up here. Like who decided the solution to plastic bags was more plastic bags! Sheer lunacy.
I KNOW exactly what your trying to do, trying to equate natural seasonal changes to the topic in the article, but that is like comparing a pig to a cow. Sure they are both animals, but they are not exactly the same
(that is also about as black&white as i can make it for you).--------------------------
''Bags for life' making plastic problem worse, say campaigners':
'Bags for life' making plastic problem worse, say campaigners | Plastic bags | The Guardian
%27Bags%20for%20life%27%20making%20plastic%20problem%20worse%2C%20say%20campaigners%20%7C%20Plastic%20bags%20%7C%20The%20Guardian
www.theguardian.com
It is more than ironic that this is a 'thing'. My bags are all hessian or cloth, so i have no idea why we ended up here. Like who decided the solution to plastic bags was more plastic bags! Sheer lunacy.
European Parliament declares climate emergency
The European Parliament on Thursday decreed the climate and environmental emergency, a symbolic vote to keep up the pressure on EU leaders in the run-up to COP25 on the climate and with the arrival of a new European executive.
The resolution, adopted by a comfortable majority (429 for, 225 against and 19 abstentions), affirms Parliament's commitment to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C and avoid a massive loss of biodiversity..
It follows similar votes in a number of EU national parliaments, including France, the United Kingdom and Austria.
The fact that Europe is the first continent to declare the climate and environmental emergency, just before COP25, as the new Commission takes office, and three weeks after Donald Trump confirmed the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement, is a strong message sent to citizens and the rest of the world.
"The Commission must immediately start an in-depth overhaul of EU rules on agriculture, transport and trade, in order to bring them into line with the Paris Climate Agreement," said one of its responsible, Imke Lübbeke.
The European Parliament on Thursday decreed the climate and environmental emergency, a symbolic vote to keep up the pressure on EU leaders in the run-up to COP25 on the climate and with the arrival of a new European executive.
The resolution, adopted by a comfortable majority (429 for, 225 against and 19 abstentions), affirms Parliament's commitment to limit global warming to 1.5 ° C and avoid a massive loss of biodiversity..
It follows similar votes in a number of EU national parliaments, including France, the United Kingdom and Austria.
The fact that Europe is the first continent to declare the climate and environmental emergency, just before COP25, as the new Commission takes office, and three weeks after Donald Trump confirmed the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement, is a strong message sent to citizens and the rest of the world.
"The Commission must immediately start an in-depth overhaul of EU rules on agriculture, transport and trade, in order to bring them into line with the Paris Climate Agreement," said one of its responsible, Imke Lübbeke.
I never panic or get worked up, that's just my nature, so if that was addressed to me, you got the wrong guy
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This sounds pretty cool as it will give us even better tools to gather data to help push the worlds understanding on AGW in the correct direction:
'Europe's new space budget to enable CO2 mapping':
Europe's new space budget to enable CO2 mapping
A multi-billion-euro funding package for the European Space Agency is agreed by its member states.
www.bbc.com
I guess the UK will not have a large role in this kind of thing going forward? Which is bad for UK science imho
Well that looks like an excellent idea! 15 million euros for a satellite that watches CO2 just like this one.I never panic or get worked up, that's just my nature, so if that was addressed to me, you got the wrong guy
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This sounds pretty cool as it will give us even better tools to gather data to help push the worlds understanding on AGW in the correct direction:
'Europe's new space budget to enable CO2 mapping':
Europe's new space budget to enable CO2 mapping
A multi-billion-euro funding package for the European Space Agency is agreed by its member states.
I guess the UK will not have a large role in this kind of thing going forward? Which is bad for UK science imho
It's quite a versatile tool, including real pollutants like Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Sulphur Dioxide (SO2).
https://www.carbonbrief.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Renewable-power-generation-blue-and-capacity-green-as-a-share-of-the-global-total-2007-2017.pngAccording to Ray Kurzweil, this is the beginning of an exponential curve.
Kurzweil is running at 86% accuracy in his predictions. He's probably right. So the problem will get solved, if there's time.
8 years doubling time: 12-24-48-96 is 3 jumps, so 24 years. That's by 2044.
The humanity must end its «war on nature», said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday, before the opening of the UN climate conference (COP25) in Madrid, denouncing the commitments “totally inadequate” by the international community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The UN is an international joke, though, so struggling to see the relevance.