Is absolutely terrifying.
The average temperature of the planet’s 197 million square miles is already 1°C above the pre-industrial level. That adds to a hideously large amount of heat. It’s rising relentlessly.
The ambition, as at the 2015 Paris conference, has been to limit the rise to 2°. (Cpuntries pledged to take sufficient action “by 2020.” A few of them are on track.)
Today was released the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, by hundreds of leading climate scientists from all 195 countries in the UN and the World Meteorological Organization, based on 6,000 research papers. It makes clear that unless the rise is kept to no higher than 1.5°C – not just 2° – there will be global tragedy.
The world our children live in will be one in which heatwaves, droughts, floods, wildfires, and tempests multiply, vast areas are desertified, virtually all corals (the oceans’ gardens of diversity) die, seaside cities go below sea level, hundreds of millions starve and go thirsty, and even more climate refugees press from the poorest countries into those (like ours) that are most to blame.
I haven’t had time to keep up my “global heating primer” and integrate into it the many notes I’ve collected – I’m only one overstressed amateur, not a thousand scientists – but I think you’d find my primer quite useful for simply explaining the underlying science, and skewering some of the disinformation insinuated by the vested interests.
The problem is politicians with their short-term ambition and industrial bosses with their profit motive and power over sources of information. We should scream at them, but our own tiny individual choices also make a difference.
I remembered being impressed by an article some years ago in Scientific American, with a theme of “wedges”: actions of different kinds that could contribute to reducing the slope by which emissions are rising. I’ve managed to retrieve it, with the help of a kindly contact at Sci. Am. (I had to promise not to share it in its entirety, since “we are typically supposed to sell these!”): it is “A Plan to Keep Carbon in Check,” by Robert H. Socolow and Stephen W. Pacala, September 2006. It’s seven pages rich with facts and illustrations, and I haven’t had time to re-digest it; I’ll summarize it later.
We as individuals can’t contribute a “wedge” such as a government could, by investing in carbon capture or solar power.
But we can contribute our little wedges. The moral is like Gandhi’s “What you do makes little difference but it is important that you do it.” Taking a bus instead of the car eases that slope downward.
I still have doubts about the true that global warming is a man-made problem, or problem that will destroy this planet as a livable home. The Bible says the Earth has been cursed by God himself as a result of Adam’s sin. The insistence On Believing in evolutionary naturalism in many areas of science is taking mankind away from God’s revelation and the truth of History. I am deeply saddened that scientist continue to insist on evolutionary deep time and evolution from molecules to man as a scientific fact rather than a metaphysical belief that is unprovable and goes against God’s revelation of History and his purposes.
The Book of Revelation says that the Earth will be destroyed by God’s judgement on man’s refusal to repent and Obey him. On the other hand, we are commanded to be good stewards of the Earth’s resources, well we use them to make life better. I am saddened when I think of Eastern religions that don’t allow people to use cattle to feed themselves, or for other reasons not to improve their water and their medical practices in ways that we know would make their lives better.
God has promised that one day, the present Earth will be ruled directly by him, for a thousand years, so I believe there is less reason to be concerned about the evolutionary conclusions about planetary warming Etc.
Ultimately, the Bible also says that God will remake the entire universe including the Earth to be the perfect environment it was originally intended to be until he allowed man to make his own choices and Adam and Eve made the wrong choice that we continue to make by our unbelief and personal sin. I look forward to the day when God will rule without interference and when there will be a perfect Earth and Heaven for us to live in and enjoy forever.
All that said, Guy, I love learning all we can know by observational science, such as the predictability of planetary motions and the changes in climate I love that we’ve been able to go out into the solar system with our manned space flights and unmanned probes to see up close what these lights in the sky look like. I am thrilled to learn about the diversity of stars which is briefly revealed in the Bible, which we have been able to learn over the last several hundred years buy direct observation and careful study of Starlight.
Thank you for your Publications over the years that kept me in mind of astronomy even when I have not been able to observe directly because of physical handicaps. I first read your Earth as a Peppercorn with amazement and wonder, and went on to use your astronomical calendar for many years. I am enjoying your new formats here and in your books to learn more. Thank you for what you do.
Communism is to blame for a lot of environmental havoc. China is actually building military bases on top of coral reefs in the South Pacific. They are also a major polluter. Free market countries are more prosperous and can afford scrubbers, catalytic converters, etc. Thank God for the USA and Trump’s wealth producing policies.
Trump’s policies will also make the the rest of the world more prosperous. For example, cracking down on illegal immigration will stop Central America from losing its most valuable resource – its citizens.
Rick,
All you stated was true, but you left out the best part. Although the United States is no longer a member of the Paris Environmental money grab, it continues to be the only country that has met and exceeded it’s environmental goals of that treaty.
Your reference to China is interesting, because I used to host Chinese students studying in American Universities as part of a church outreach. About 80% of the 100 students I hosted were “fined” babies when they were born, and honored their parents for it. And, they had no desire to return to TPRC once their studies were completed. They cited American liberty as their reason for staying.
As I understood the Tokyo and Paris plans, TPRC and India were given extra time (years) to comply with the goals because they were granted extra time to catch up due to their status as developing nations.
Rick, the scary thing about all this is that if HRC was the POTUS, we would be doomed to pay for the dictates of the anti-American, anti-capitalist, and anti-liberty UN agenda.
Unfortunately, President Trump has been limited in his immigration reforms because of corporate globalist funded Republicans and Democrats.
Joseph
People might get the SciAm number from a local library (or even have access to digital archives), especially a local university.
Hello Guy,
Christmas Eve, 1956, was more terrifying. It was 68°F at noon. In Erie PA USA. The temperature was 35°F above normal temperature for that time of year. We had a burning cage made out of fencing. It was my job to burn papers. I lit them up and walked away. An hour later 3 fire trucks were in our back yard trying to contain the fire I started from spreading to the neighbor’s chicken coop and utility building. They were both destroyed, along with a few dozen chickens, apple trees, plum trees, and pear trees. It was terrifying because it could have been prevented… by me. The following years, I really missed the plum trees. My mother could not boil water, but she baked the best plum kuchen I have ever tasted.
We need more environmental scientists and astrophysicists to use more government grants to spread fear among the deplorables so they hand over their money more rapidly. Otherwise, these make-work projects will soon dry up when the outcomes don’t happen and the alt media becomes the “news” outlets for the majority of citizens.
In the United States, we are barely holding on to our liberties. If someone wants to contribute to the fear-mongers, then do it. Just don’t force it on the rest of us at gun point.
Now, I’ll go back to reading, for the 3rd time, The Troy Town Tale.
Joseph, thanks for reading my Troy Town Tale. Cassandra was the seer who was doomed to have her warnings disbelieved.
You might, if you have time, read online a bit of the Guardian, a newspaper that exemplifies the vital function of journalism, and why journalists are targeted by repressive regimes. Today’s articles follow up yesterday’s announcement of the climate scientists’ sober warning.
(Intelligent newspapers like this are struggling for survival in the face of the inch-high headlines of popular rags and the anything-goes of social media. The Independent and, in the US, the Christian Science Monitor succumbed; the NYT carries on.)
In addition to our individual actions as consumers, we also need to act collectively as citizens. Vote for candidates who take climate change seriously and for policies that will mitigate it. Oppose government officials and businesses that are making things worse. Educate your coworkers, neighbors, friends, and family.
We can all do something:
http://www.mission2020.global/milestones-alternative-energy/
https://unfccc.int/climate-action/climate-neutral-now#eq-1