And here's the US per capita carbon dioxide emissions. It's already happening in the US and Europe, the decrease of per capita emissions. India and China are really what we the World should focus on. — ssu
Finger pointing doesn't work. It only irritates people. The blame game is simply stupid. Far more important is a) change in energy policy and b) invest in R&D and changing infrastructure & power production into non-fossil fuel alternatives. And I'll just repeat it once again: to counter climate change, it is the top 10 largest economies that matter and that growth in the developing countries happens with using non-fossil fuel energy. That is possible when renewable energy continues to get the investment as it has gotten as already the prices have dramatically dropped. Little countries don't matter so much.The US is in no position to pat themselves on the back or point the finger at India or China. Such a thing is ridiculous as China is around on par with the UK AND has the ability to make sweeping changes overnight due to their authoritarian regime. — I like sushi
Expect to become poorer and learn to live simple and consume little. — unenlightened
I think the rich countries are simply going to have to open their borders for displaced persons and use their wealth to accommodate them. That is, no status quo anywhere is safe or untouchable. — tim wood
the billionaires who are actually humanitarian may be enough to counterbalance the stulted nature of the government in this area. — I like sushi
I am quite pessimistic regarding the chances of success in controlling (let alone reducing) climate warming. The major CO2 / methane / other GH gas producers have too much investment sunk in automobiles, coal-generated electricity, petroleum, meat-production agriculture, plastics, and so forth to make either any changes or rapid changes. It's too late for slow changes. — Bitter Crank
It is the case that a world economy COULD BE ORGANIZED around renewable energy production, mass transit, sustainable food, fibre, housing production, and so forth, but anything resembling a fast transition (like, by 2035) would produce wrenching, social-shredding dislocations throughout the world. If it takes 50 years (a more manageable period for massive global change) we will end up far overshooting the deadline when helpful changes could be made. — Bitter Crank
Well Bitter, I think you are the age that remembers the 1970's quite well.If it takes 50 years (a more manageable period for massive global change) we will end up far overshooting the deadline when helpful changes could be made. — Bitter Crank
Mass addiction to fossil fuel products by the larger public — FrankGSterleJr
Lego issues Cop26 handbook by children on how to tackle climate crisis
Toymaker’s instructions for a better world target policy chiefs ahead of global climate summit
Nearly half of the children told researchers they thought about the environment once a week, while one in 10 thought about it every day. Global heating was their No 1 concern.
Lego is touting it as its most ambitious build to date, but rather than many pages of instructions, the toymaker’s latest handbook offers only 10 steps.
The booklet is not for a physical model, however. Instead it offers “building instructions for a better world” ahead of the crucial Cop26 climate talks that start in Glasgow this Sunday.
The “10 requests” of policymakers are based on research and workshops conducted with more than 6,000 children aged eight to 18 from around the world.
Mocked up like a Lego instruction booklet, the guide distils children’s views into a to-do list that will be handed out to delegates at Cop26.
— Guardian: Cop26 Handbook by Children
From climate crisis to anti-racism, more and more corporations are taking a stand. But if it’s only done because it’s good for business, the fires will keep on burning
by Carl Rhodes
...15 March 2019 marked the day that 1.4 million children turned out at locations around the world, on “strike” from school in support of action against the climate crisis.
In Australia, the strikes were especially targeted at the government’s dismal record of inaction, with many politicians being climate-change deniers. The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, was vocal in his criticism of the strikes. He wanted students to stay in school instead of engaging in democratic protest.
His public statement said: “I want children growing up in Australia to feel positive about their future, and I think it is important we give them that confidence that they will not only have a wonderful country and pristine environment to live in, that they will also have an economy to live in as well.I don’t want our children to have anxieties about these issues.”...
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...It is true that at their most benign, corporate gestures in support of progressive causes are simply marketing initiatives to take advantage of changing public sentiments. At its most dangerous, however, we are witnessing corporations muscling in to take over political power that was once the exclusive domain of the state – not just by lobbying government and influencing policy, but by directly funding political initiatives and engaging with citizens on matters of public concern.
Corporations are not just trying to influence politics, they appear to be trying to take the place of politicians. Either way, the self-interest of the corporation remains paramount.
— Guardian: Useless gestures from Corporate Social Responsibility
Well, they do have anxieties about these issues, rightly so, and our inaction fuels these anxieties. Kids never fully trusted grown-ups, but now they have a very good reason to feel betrayed by grown-ups. Their future is sacrificed on the altar of the Almighty Dollar, Molloch style.I don’t want our children to have anxieties about these issues. — Guardian: Useless gestures from Corporate Social Responsibility
Wednesday’s budget took a flagrant sideswipe at Cop26. No, more than that, it poked it in the eye.
To not specifically address Climate Change, a soon-to-be-bigger threat to life than the pandemic.
To reduce the cost of internal flights, while doing nothing to make the much cleaner rail travel less expensive or more viable.
To fail to substantially increase the cost of international air travel, with a tax in rease that will barely be noticed by those who can afford to fly far.
We could undoubtedly have raised significant sums by getting tougher with fines on serial polluters. There could have been a spectrum of measures that both raised revenue to address future climate resilience while penalising offending businesses that take short cuts, pollute or mislead.
Opportunity lost.
This was undoubtedly a political act, perhaps a show of defiance to Boris Johnson, perhaps a nod to the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, but however you look at it, coming moments before Britain once more attempts to appear Global in hosting a Cop with great achievements, this budget totally undermines Britain’s credibility on Climate together with any remaining authority on green issues we may otherwise have had. — Guardian: Cartoon and Comment re Shit Budget
And musicians and anyone paying careful attention...or suffering NOW the destruction of their world. *Except them kids... — Olivier5
As Cop26 opens in Glasgow, we provide the soundtrack, ranging from Gojira’s metal fury to gorgeous environmental paeans by Childish Gambino, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell
by Alexis Petridis. — Guardian: Soundtrack to Cop26
Well, they do have anxieties about these issues, rightly so, and our inaction fuels these anxieties. Kids never fully trusted grown-ups, but now they have a very good reason to feel betrayed by grown-ups. Their future is sacrificed on the altar of the Almighty Dollar, Molloch style. — Olivier5
Just out of curiosity, Tim, in what way do you view the issue of dp's as an adjunct to climate remediation? Is this simply the type of "pork" (to use a legislative term for lack of a better) that gets amended to any negotiation? It would seem to me that bringing relatively poor people into a societal situation within which they can become as strongly carbon-positive polluters as the rest of us "first worlders" might be antithetical to climate remediation. In short (and I know it sounds terrible): from an environmental perspective, the world's poor seem less haful where they are, where their relative lack of resources limits the environmental harm that they can do. Not that I don't feel badly about poverty and war...(fer chrissake, I am one of the poor, and here in America, to boot!)...I think the rich countries are simply going to have to open their borders for displaced persons and use their wealth to accommodate them. — tim wood
That will be making a virtue of necessity. — James Riley
Part of Unenlightened's "poorer and learn to live simple and consume little" will be doing without a car, electric or combusted. Therefore, mass transit or walk. Americans especially find the idea of using mass transit every day bizarre and/or distasteful. — Bitter Crank
If it takes 50 years (a more manageable period for massive global change) we will end up far overshooting the deadline when helpful changes could be made.
— Bitter Crank
Well Bitter, I think you are the age that remembers the 1970's quite well.
A lot has changed in the World since the 1970's, so a lot can change also in the next 50 years. Even more quicker. We likely won't be seeing the 2070's, but I'm still optimistic. In general. — ssu
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