“Despite three decades of political efforts and a wealth of research on the causes and catastrophic impacts of climate change, global carbon dioxide emissions have continued to rise and are 60% higher today than they were in 1990.” (1/x) annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/an…
“Exploring this rise through nine thematic lenses—climate governance, the fossil fuel industry, geopolitics, economics, mitigation modeling, energy systems, inequity, lifestyles, and social imaginaries—draws out multifaceted reasons for our collective failure.”
“However, a common thread that emerges across the reviewed literature is the central role of power, manifest in many forms, from a dogmatic political-economic hegemony and influential vested interests to narrow techno-economic mindsets and ideologies of control.”
“Synthesizing the various impediments to mitigation reveals how delivering on the commitments enshrined in the Paris Agreement now requires an urgent and unprecedented transformation away from today's carbon- and energy-intensive development paradigm.”
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Yesterday, I published a long piece on the off-the-charts Pacific Northwest heat dome and what @GovInslee called "the beginning of a permanent emergency." But I left two big and important thoughts out. A thread (1/x). nymag.com/intelligencer/…
The first is well-captured in this bold Guardian front page. The newspaper has repurposed a comment by @Sir_David_King and stood behind it entirely, without quotes or attribution, as, effectively, a statement of fact.
To a certain degree, this probably overstates the near-term lesson of the heat dome, since even under present climate conditions this event appears to be shockingly unlikely. But precisely where it hit really does matter, and it is perhaps all the more terrifying as a result.
A very thorough, vivid ominous read of the leaked I.P.C.C. report and its implications for Europe. A thread (1/x) politico.eu/article/how-cl…
"The scientists warn that billions of people are at risk of chronic water scarcity, tens of millions exposed to hunger and places near the equator will experience unsurvivable heat, unless steps are taken to build up defenses against climate shocks and cut emissions fast."
"During la canicule, the heat wave of 2003, European cities cooked their people. Something like 80,000 people died. Under any future warming scenario, a summer like 2003 will be disturbingly normal."
“I was feeling immediate symptoms of heat exhaustion just being out there. It was already in the 90s at 9 a.m., and then on Monday when we finished up, it was over 100. I am definitely concerned that someone could get hurt and it could be fatal.” (1/x) nymag.com/intelligencer/…
“The workers were sweating, very red; it’s extremely hot outside and they’re wearing layers of clothing to protect themselves from the sun. They were in long-sleeved sweaters, completely covered from head to toe, including face masks.”
“And they looked pretty beat. Some of them had been working from 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. And there were others who had started working overnight, at 11 p.m. to midnight, and were still there around the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.”
“The phrase Jay Inslee used was ‘permanent emergency.’” What does that mean? A thread (1/x). nymag.com/intelligencer/…
“Lytton — the town that had, days earlier, set Canada’s all-time heat record, drawing waves of ‘heat tourists’ as witnesses to ‘desert heat’ north of 120 degrees where typical June highs were in the mid-70s — burned to the ground just 15 minutes after the arrival of smoke.”
“Wildfires raging in B.C. produced their own pyrocumulus thunderstorms, which produced their own lightning strikes—3,800 lightning strikes, according to one count, each striking the dry tinder that those in the West now know to call ‘fuel.’”
"The conclusion is unavoidable: If there is to be a stabilization of global emissions it will involve a U-turn in the trajectory of consumption, particularly amongst the top 10% in North America, the Arab world and Asia." The great @adam_tooze (1/x) adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-ne…
"Social hierarchy, inequality and class structure shape the way that we use fossil fuels. They will also shape the energy transition."
"This aspect of the crisis was somewhat obscured by the way in which the problem of climate justice was framed in the 1990s. For obvious reasons attention was focused on the huge gulf in emissions between rich countries and the developing world."
“Last month, the IEA said no new coal mines were ‘required’ in its pathway to 1.5C. UNEP last year said coal output should fall 11% each year to 2030. But proposals to build hundreds of new coal mines could raise global output of the fossil fuel by 30%.” carbonbrief.org/guest-post-hun…
“We found more than 400 new mine proposals that could produce 2,277m tonnes per annum, of which 614Mtpa are already being developed. The plans are heavily concentrated in a few coal-rich regions across China, Australia, India and Russia.”
“If they all went ahead, the new mines could supply as much as 30% of existing global coal production – or the combined output of India, Australia, Indonesia and the US.”