Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #EmergencyMode
Most recents (11)
Today I was arrested for the second time trying to increase public urgency about Earth breakdown along with about 80 other scientists and many others. I was released and I’m fine, but tired. We worked very hard for weeks.
We’re on the right side of history, but it feels like we’re losing badly. We need reinforcements. Civil disobedients and others.
Meanwhile it doesn’t take a scientist to know that every summer will be hotter than the last and lots of things will break as a result. Planet-scaled things. The disregard in our society for this fundamental fact is still stunning to me.
I'm terrified by what we're seeing this summer, and by knowing how fast it's getting worse, and by how there's not really a ceiling on how bad it can get, and by how almost everyone still pretends business as usual can go on. Those who are not terrified don't have a clue.
What should you do? It boils down to two things:
1. Start your journey into climate activism. This mainly involves joining up with other activists, centering spiritually, TAKING RISKS.
2. Start your journey into burning less oil and gas.
Both helpful but #1 is #1 for a reason.
1. Start your journey into climate activism. This mainly involves joining up with other activists, centering spiritually, TAKING RISKS.
2. Start your journey into burning less oil and gas.
Both helpful but #1 is #1 for a reason.
What should we do? End the fossil fuel industry (~80% of the cause of global heating), end the animal agriculture industry (~15%), and shift into #EmergencyMode as a society. "Net-zero by 2050" is WAY too slow. Your activism will help with this.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Here are some thoughts on the pros and cons of the new climate deal.🧵
Keep in mind that the main cause of climate breakdown is burning fossil fuel, so to stop the irreversible damage we need to ramp down the fossil fuel industry. The faster we do this, the more we'll save.
Keep in mind that the main cause of climate breakdown is burning fossil fuel, so to stop the irreversible damage we need to ramp down the fossil fuel industry. The faster we do this, the more we'll save.
1. The deal earmarks $369 billion over 10 years for climate and energy measures. If passed, this will be far more than congress has ever done on climate. But... it will be the ONLY thing congress has ever done on climate, so that's not even a low bar, it's no bar at all.
For perspective, $369 billion over 10 years is a remarkably small amount to spend given the stakes: a livable planet. The US spends about $800 billion per year on the military. $36.9 billion per year is 4.6% of military spending...
Spending = priorities, and this is madness.
Spending = priorities, and this is madness.
One top-line thing the new climate policy strongly suggests: If we spent even half of what we spend on the military, and avoided adding in concessions to the fossil fuel industry, we could eliminate most US climate emissions in a matter of years, not decades.
The new policy earmarks $369 billion over 10 years. If it passes, this will be the biggest climate package in US history, but it still only amounts to 4.6% of US military spending, and it includes significant concessions to the fossil fuel industry (more on this soon).
I believe that if we treated climate breakdown as the emergency it truly is, we'd halt it faster than anyone can imagine. As a society, we are barely even trying yet. Let's try for real and see what happens! #EmergencyMode
The CO2 clock is ticking. Every day, global heating pushes a little harder on Earth and human systems. Every day they get a little closer to failure. Time to shift into #EmergencyMode and make ending the fossil fuel industry and stopping Earth breakdown our top priority.
Also, 36 billion tons was just energy-related CO2 emissions in 2021. The total human-caused CO2 emissions in 2019 was 45 billion tons (IPCC AR6 WG3). (Not sure what it was in 2021.)
Weird that the NYT would get this wrong
It sucks when people are like "but flying is only 3% of global emissions" or "bitcoin is only 0.5%." It all adds up when you're in a climate emergency.
Out of ALL the nations of the world, 203 (all but 6) emit under 2% of global emissions.
Switch into #EmergencyMode
Out of ALL the nations of the world, 203 (all but 6) emit under 2% of global emissions.
Switch into #EmergencyMode
If global aviation were a nation it would be the #6 top emitter after China, the US, India, Russia, and Japan.
Two key facts on flying:
1. The richest 1% of humans contribute 50% of all flying emissions! It is an incredibly privileged act.
2. It indicates whether or not humanity has switched into climate emergency mode.
1. The richest 1% of humans contribute 50% of all flying emissions! It is an incredibly privileged act.
2. It indicates whether or not humanity has switched into climate emergency mode.
Until we end the aviation industry, it means society is not treating irreversible planetary climate breakdown like the emergency it is. When will people be ready to accept this? How many more catastrophic climate disasters will it take? How much more planetary heating locked in?
As always, this tweet will divide people who understand what an emergency we're in, and people who still refuse to accept. Five or ten years from now, those of you who feel furious at me for questioning your flying privilege, I think you too will understand.
I'm not suggesting that people voluntarily giving up flying is a solution. It's a good thing to do, because it helps shift culture, but it's not a solution because few will do it. Once we pass the cultural tipping point into #EmergencyMode though, flying will ramp down via policy
No, @nytimes the planet isn't "failing." It is being actively destroyed, irreversibly, by the fossil fuel capitalists. 
Also, @nytimes, you say that the solution is carbon capture. You are wrong. The solution, obviously, is to end the fossil fuel industry. Why can't you just say it?
To even think for a moment that THIS could save us when we now have roughly five years left before locking in 1.5°C at current emissions rates. Not even @nytimes editors grasp the depth of the emergency we are in. #EmergencyMode
I don't blame kids for despairing when most adults can't be bothered to fly less, support climate candidates, be activists, etc. The antidote to climate despair isn't optimistic words, it's for adults & leaders to treat this emergency like it's a fucking emergency. #EmergencyMode
I want to clarify that I am calling for everyone to do what they can to push society into #EmergencyMode. Especially folks with power, influence, and resources. Reducing individual emissions is part of this, and great for lots of reasons, but it's not enough and isn't my ask.
I do feel, however, that so long as commercial traffic is flying overhead - e.g. flying over catastrophic heatwaves, floods, famines on the ground - this definitely does indicate that society has not yet, collectively, chosen to go into #EmergencyMode. I hope this makes sense.
Did you know that the rate of mean sea-level rise has roughly doubled since the 80s and 90s? Currently at about 4 mm per year. That may not sound like much, but it's 4 mm of inexorable ocean rise, every year, and it's accelerating rapidly.
Sea-level rise isn't even what keeps me up at night, though. That would be the coming extreme heat waves, crop failures, ecosystem death, and geopolitical instability! #EmergencyMode #EndFossilFuels
I don't see any way to sugar coat this, or that sugar coating it is in any way useful. But, here are some general guiding ideas on climate activism that may be helpful. Ultimately though, how you create change is up to you. It's a grand, joyful experiment.
If a genie appeared and said "I can make all fossil fuel and FF infrastructure disappear if you choose" I'd say yes, even knowing the chaos it would sadly cause. Because it would still be far less than the irreversible damage and chaos we're heading toward. #EmergencyMode
*this is hypothetical. the genie doesn't actually exist.
After COP26 I am feeling that society is likely to go past 2°C, and I am concerned that this *could* lead to the death of well over a billion people via various mechanisms. Anyway, I didn't mean to offend anyone though.
After COP26 I am feeling that society is likely to go past 2°C, and I am concerned that this *could* lead to the death of well over a billion people via various mechanisms. Anyway, I didn't mean to offend anyone though.
It was meant to provoke thought about relative chaos from ending fossil fuel overnight (which is obviously not even a remote danger) vs. the path we are on toward high levels of global heating, and the apparent societal deadlock on action (driven intentionally by the FF industry)
