1/ Dear Journalists,

Subject: Ecological Ruin

Emissions must stop rising in 2021 for a fair chance of decent human survival.

Emissions must plummet towards zero in the years 2021-2029 for a fair chance of decent human survival.

Emissions are likely to keep rising in 2021.
2/

We are in a profound Ecological Catastrophe caused by the human activities of industrial capitalism. Economic growth has proved to be extraordinarily destructive. Technology will not prevent our predicament from becoming impossible to handle.

3/

Ecosystem collapse is already happening, and not just because of abrupt climate change.

4/

Destructive industrial agriculture, deforestation, pollution... this ecological catastrophe is about the whole economy, not just fossil fuels.

Total system change is surely needed to avoid further wrecking of the habitats of wildlife we depend on.

5/

2 - 2.5°C (1750 baseline) by the 2030s/2040s looks increasingly likely without emergency action.

carbonbrief.org/analysis-when-…
6/

Prof Corinne Le Quéré, a Royal Society research professor of climate change science at the University of East Anglia:

The huge impact of Covid-19 lockdowns means a rebound in global emissions “is very likely”...
carbonbrief.org/global-carbon-…

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More from @ClimateBen

29 Dec 20
Dangerous Assumptions

1. CO₂ sucking machines will soon work
2. Economic growth isn't destructive
3. Global warming of 2°C won't break us
4. Arctic summer sea ice loss isn't key
5. Permafrost thaw isn't yet a worry
6. Sea level won't rise 0.22m by 2035

THREADs for journalists:
1.

We should work on the assumption that CCS, DAC, BECCS won't work soon, though the IPCC suggests they should be up and running well by now.

This means 'net zero 2050' must be rejected and replaced by 'real zero 2025-2030'.

Thread:
2.

Economic growth is destructive. The economy is causing a mass extinction and the collapse of Earth's major ecosystems. Degrowth looks like the only logical alternative if we want decent survival.

Thread:
Read 10 tweets
26 Dec 20
Remember:

1) Earth's ecosystems are collapsing, some uncontrollably

2) 37- 55% of species look set to face extinction in the next few decades

3) horrific 1.6- 2°C of global warming will hit by 2035

And yet...silence.

The Biggest News Story In Human History is being ignored.
"Ecosystem collapse is already happening".

It appears to be too late to stop the destruction of 99% of tropical corals and many major forests like the Amazon, but most scientists say that it is still possible in theory to limit/end the damage. We must try.
Until people are allowed to fully grasp the deeply grim reality of the science, meaningful action which challenges capitalist growth will remain elusive.

'Scientists estimate we're now lowering species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the normal rate'.
Read 5 tweets
23 Dec 20
Dear Journalists & Editors,

Please find enclosed a first Thread of 10 Threads with peer-reviewed & IPCC science to help you report on key aspects of the rapidly expanding Ecological-Climate Catastrophe.

First up: Arctic Sea Ice Loss & The Polar Jet Stream Crisis

Cheers,
Ben
👇
1. Arctic Sea Ice Loss by 2035 will be one of a number of threats to global food security as we approach or even exceed 2°C at which point the IPCC says agriculture will shift from being at 'moderate' to 'high' risk.

Thread:
2. The ongoing destruction of Earth's forests appears to have lead us to a crucial tipping point.

Tropical Rainforests look increasingly unlikely to avoid collapse in the coming decades.

Thread:
Read 11 tweets
23 Dec 20
The destructive industrial agriculture of free-market and state capitalism fails to feed the world and is rapidly wiping out the insects and forests that humans depend on for survival by wrecking habitats and emitting vast quantities of greenhouse gases.insideclimatenews.org/news/08082019/…
Food systems account for 37% of greenhouse-gas emissions. We must rethink destructive agriculture immediately.

'Very high risks related to.. food system instability are identified at 2°C of global warming.'

Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) August 2019
'IPCC Report Shows Food System Overhaul Needed to Save the Climate'

Georgina Gustin August 8, 2019

'the entire food production system, with transportation and packaging included, accounts for as much as 37 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions..'
insideclimatenews.org/news/08082019/…
Read 4 tweets
23 Dec 20
Deadly climate change heat waves will hit billions of people by the 2030s or 2040s (some literally unsurvivable without air conditioning) obliterating entire ecosystems and wiping out species but I guess you already know all this thanks to our unbiased, truth-telling free press?
'The incredibly simple solution to saving lives during a heatwave'.

10 Aug 2020 by Laurie Goering

'3.5 billion people expected to be hit by deadly heatwaves by mid-century'

An absurd headline.. weforum.org/agenda/2020/08…
'deadly heat events..indicative of the continuing trend toward increasingly extreme humid heat..a major societal challenge for the coming decades'

advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/19/e…

'The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance'.
Read 5 tweets
22 Dec 20
Since 2003, Greenland's ice sheet has lost 3.5 trillion tons of ice.

'we should expect significant ice loss and several meters of global sea level rise to persist for tens of thousands of years'

That wrecks most major cities.

1-2m sea level rise by 2070?phys.org/news/2020-12-g…
The IPCC still doesn't expect more than 1m by 2100 (hugely disruptive). But there are signs of ice collapse in Antarctica and experts are clear that between 1.5 and 6m is possible. Sea level rise is already causing havoc for some and will rapidly get worse.
'Greenland ice sheet faces irreversible melting' by University of Reading phys.org/news/2020-12-g…

Jonathan M. Gregory et al, Large and irreversible future decline of the Greenland ice sheet, The Cryosphere (2020). DOI: 10.5194/tc-14-4299-2020
👇
tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/42…
Read 6 tweets

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