The #ExtremeHeat during this year’s dry season has been affecting #Filipinos across the country, suspending classes, causing illnesses, and hurting people’s livelihoods. If global temperatures continue to rise by 2ºC, scientists said repeats of this year’s extreme heat can be expected every two to three years in the #Philippines. #BurningPlanet #ClimateCrisis

Philippine heat has always been a problem – and it’s going to get worse
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/data-documents/heat-philippines-always-problem-going-to-get-worse/

Philippine heat has always been a problem – and it’s going to get worse

Data shows that various areas in the Philippines have already been experiencing high heat index levels for the past 10 years

^{Gaby Baizas (Rappler)}

⚠️World's oceans have gone 'crazy haywire,' officials warn, with majority of coral reefs in peril

Conditions last year were so unusually warm in some waters that heat stress levels were literally off the charts of NOAA's alert system. #ClimateCrisis
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/ocean-record-heat-coral-bleaching-rcna152637

World's oceans have gone 'crazy haywire,' with majority of coral reefs in peril

Oceans are record-hot, and nearly two-thirds of the world’s coral reefs have experienced heat stress at levels high enough to cause bleaching, NOAA said.

^{Denise Chow (NBC News)}

IPCC scientists talk about the future:

“The big difference [with the most recent IPCC report] was that all of the scientists I worked with were incredibly frustrated. Everyone was at the end of their rope, asking: what the fuck do we have to do to get through to people how bad this really is?”

“We did our science, we put this really good report together and – wow – it really didn’t make a difference on the policy. It’s very difficult to see that, every time.”

“1.5C is a political game – we were never going to reach this target.”

Asked what individual action would be effective, he said: “Civil disobedience.”

“Fight for a fairer world.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2024/may/08/hopeless-and-broken-why-the-worlds-top-climate-scientists-are-in-despair

#Climate #ClimateCrisis

Criticize the world's largest oil company? They'll sue you!!

(And I promise they can easily afford more and better lawyers than you can. Not to mention bribing judges.)

⬛️ https://finance.yahoo.com/news/column-exxon-mobil-suing-shareholders-100046384.html

#Law #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

What makes capitalism so bad?

Let’s find out…
__________________

The core defining feature of capitalism is that it is fundamentally anti-democratic.

Yes, many of us live in democratic *political* systems, where we get to elect candidates from time to time. But when it comes to the *economic* system, the system of production, not even the shallowest illusion of democracy is allowed to enter. Production is controlled by capital: large corporations, commercial banks, and the 1% who own the majority of investible assets… they are the ones who determine what to produce and how to use our collective labor and our planet’s resources.

And for capital, the purpose of production is NOT to meet human needs or achieve social and ecological objectives. Rather, it is to maximize and accumulate profit. That is the overriding objective.

So we get perverse patterns of investment: massive investment in producing things like fossil fuels, SUVs, fast fashion, industrial beef, cruise ships, and weapons, because these things are highly profitable to capital… but we get chronic *underinvestment* in necessary things like renewable energy, public transit, and regenerative agriculture, because these are much less profitable to capital or not profitable at all.

This is a critically important point to grasp. In many cases renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels! But they have much lower profit margins, because they are less conducive to monopoly power. So investment keeps flowing to fossil fuels, even while the world burns.
__________________

That’s taken from a speech given recently by Dr. Jason Hickel (@jasonhickel), Professor at the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Visiting Senior Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics, and Chair Professor of Global Justice and the Environment at the University of Oslo.

FULL SPEECH -- https://progressive.international/blueprint/1f26392c-176d-405e-948e-75a6333edc45-climate-energy-and-natural-resources/en
SEE ALSO -- https://climatejustice.social/@breadandcircuses/112401315568836622

#Politics #Capitalism #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

Hickel: Climate, energy and natural resources

Speech by Jason Hickel, Professor at ICTA-UAB and Visiting Senior Fellow at LSE, at the 50th Anniversary Congress in Havana.

^{Progressive International}

Canada is back in the news. And not in a good way…

HEADLINE: "Canadian wildfires forcing thousands to evacuate"
➡️ https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/canadian-wildfires-forcing-thousands-to-evacuate-210857029869

During the winter, numerous blazes in Canada — known as 'zombie fires' — smoldered beneath the snow. The combination of a warm and very dry winter set the stage for flames to quickly expand this spring.

Belts of extreme to exceptional drought are draped across the zone from central British Columbia to northern Alberta, where many of the worst fires rage. More than 100 fires were burning in British Columbia on Monday morning, and four dozen in Alberta. Other large blazes were scorching provinces to the east.
➡️ https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/05/13/canadian-wildfire-smoke-minnesota-wisconsin/

And what happens in Canada doesn't necessarily stay in Canada...

HEADLINE: "Canadian wildfire smoke chokes Upper Midwest for second straight year"
➡️ https://apnews.com/article/canadian-wildfires-air-quality-midwest-smoke-569be65d172bae427cd93ad8703c75ff

🔥 We are in a climate emergency. 🔥

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

“Fed regulators on Monday approved sweeping changes to how America’s electric grids are planned & funded, in a move that supporters hope could spur thousands of miles of new high-voltage power lines & make it easier to add more wind and solar energy.

The new rule by Fed Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees interstate electricity transmission, is most significant attempt in years to upgrade and expand the country’s creaking electricity network”
#ClimateCrisis
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/climate/electric-grid-overhaul-ferc.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Perspective: the biggest carbon capture plant in the world sequesters 1 millionth of our annual emissions. We would have to build a million of these plants to _not_increase_ the CO2 level. And we need to significantly _decrease_ the CO2 level.

Carbon capture is a scam.

#ClimateCrisis
https://www.fastcompany.com/91120071/climeworks-carbon-removal-factory-iceland

"I don't say this lightly - but the floods in #PortoAlegre, #Brazil, are looking comparable to what Katrina did to New Orleans in 2005 -- massive evacuations, water & power outages, key infrastructure damaged, parts of city, possible long-term consequences."—Brian Winter

Background heating +1.3ºC

#ClimateCrisis

1/

Mexico is suffering from a massive heat wave, covering virtually the whole country.

According to the "Extreme Temperatures" account, Mexico yesterday experienced the hottest day in May in North American history.
🔥 https://toot.community/@extretemps/112418721980050581

A headline at Time tells us: "Mexico Is Fighting Over 100 Active Wildfires Amid a Heat Wave"
🔥 https://time.com/6976775/mexico-wildfires-heatwave/

And according to Reuters: "Mexico Heat Wave Triggers Exceptional Power Outages, President says"
🔥 https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-heat-wave-triggers-exceptional-power-outages-president-says-2024-05-08/

#Mexico #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

Extreme Temperatures

2024-05-10 20:39:25

HISTORIC EVENT
Unbelievable 51.1C/124F at Gallinas MEXICO yesterday, HOTTEST DAY IN MAY IN NORTH AMERICA HISTORY.
By far,the worst heat wave ever recorded in North America and there is no end in sight to it in any foreseeable future.
From SMN/Conagua:

How bad is the threat posed by climate change and ecological collapse?

It’s *much* worse than politicians or corporate media pundits will admit…
_________________________________

The climate emergency is already here. Even just 1C of heating has supercharged the planet’s extreme weather, delivering searing heatwaves from the US to Europe to China that would have been otherwise impossible. Millions of people have very likely died early as a result already. At just 2C, the brutal heatwave that struck the Pacific Northwest of America in 2021 will be 100-200 times more likely.

A grave concern is climate tipping points, where a tiny temperature increase tips crucial parts of the climate system into collapse, such as the Greenland ice sheet, the Amazon rainforest, and key Atlantic currents. “Most people do not realise how big these risks are,” said Wolfgang Cramer, at the Mediterranean Institute of Biodiversity and Ecology.

“I am scared mightily – I don’t see how we are able to get out of this mess,” said Tim Benton, an expert on food security and food systems at the Chatham House thinktank. He said the cost of protecting people and recovering from climate disasters will be huge, with yet more discord and delay over who pays the bills. Numerous experts were worried over food production: “We’ve barely started to see the impacts,” said one.

“It is the biggest threat humanity has faced, with the potential to wreck our social fabric and way of life. It has the potential to kill millions, if not billions, through starvation, war over resources, displacement,” said James Renwick, at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. “None of us will be unaffected by the devastation.”
_________________________________

FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2024/may/08/hopeless-and-broken-why-the-worlds-top-climate-scientists-are-in-despair

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

‘Hopeless and broken’: why the world’s top climate scientists are in despair

Exclusive: Survey of hundreds of experts reveals harrowing picture of future, but they warn climate fight must not be abandoned

^{Alessia Amitrano (The Guardian)}

Can we please stop using the word #hope when talking about the #ClimateCrisis?
Hope, especially when used by the media, plays into the hands of those, who claim that innovations, the free market and #capitalism will fix it for us and nobody really has to do anything - not us, not politicians and not the fossil capitalists.

Instead of headlines that read "Scientists say we can still have hope..." I want to read "Scientists say we have the means...".

Chance, possibility, option, alternative, even opportunity are better words to use.

Lets not give up, neither because we are hopeful, nor because we are hopeless. Let's act. It's in our hands!*

*That phrase might just be the best replacement for the word hope.

#optimism #pessimism #realism #activism

⚠️Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) this century, blasting past internationally agreed targets and causing catastrophic consequences for humanity and the planet, an exclusive Guardian survey has revealed. #ClimateCrisis

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/08/world-scientists-climate-failure-survey-global-temperature?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target

Exclusive: Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity, poll of hundreds of scientists finds

^{Damian Carrington (The Guardian)}

California now handles a large part of evening peak electricity demand by drawing on batteries charged using wind and solar during the day.

Click the link, not the preview to bypass paywall

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/07/climate/battery-electricity-solar-california-texas.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qE0.Dqe2.i-F9r9cm2yUd

#GiftArticle #Califonria #climateAction #ClimateCrisis

Giant Batteries Are Transforming the Way the U.S. Uses Electricity

They’re delivering solar power after dark in California and helping to stabilize grids in other states. And the technology is expanding rapidly.

^{Brad Plumer (The New York Times)}

Science finally catching up with what I've been raving about for years.

From the article:

"At $190 a ton, the utility industry averaged damages more than twice its profits. Materials manufacturing, energy and transportation industries all had average damages that exceeded their profits."

There is no profit when we account for negative externalities -- all of capitalism is premised on an accounting lie that doesn't work if, you know, we *actually account* for the pollution. Capitalist economics have always been premised on destroying our biosphere for free.

If you can't destroy the biosphere by using it as your own free cesspool -- you can't profit.

It's fucking physics. Balance the equations.

#climate #ClimateCrisis #Accounting #economics

https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-carbon-corporations-damage-pollution-9cb9e7c9feb2a68cb6dc0ae99c5e943a

Study reveals how much carbon damage would cost corporations if they paid for their emissions

Economists calculate that the world's corporations produce so much climate change pollution, it could eat up about 44% of their profits if they had to pay damages for what they put out.

^{SETH BORENSTEIN (AP News)}

Researchers: We Are Destroying the EARTH!

#greedy CEOs: Yes but it's very profitable!!

#meme #capitalism #ProfitsOverAll💰 #ClimateCollapse #BiodiversityLoss #ClimateCrisis #Sustainability

Great, another source of emissions that has been underestimated.

The US obviously tops the charts, but other notable mentions are China, Australia and Norway.

https://norwegianscitechnews.com/2024/04/big-data-reveals-true-climate-impact-of-worldwide-air-travel/

Direct link to study: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad3a7d

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateDiary #climate #aviation #USA #China #Australia #Norway

Climate emissions from air travel 50 per cent higher than reported

A new study that looked at almost 40 million flights in 2019 calculated the greenhouse gas emissions from air travel internationally.

^{Nancy Bazilchuk (Norwegian SciTech News)}

Last month was by far the warmest April that humans have ever experienced — our 11th *consecutive* record-breaking month. April 2024 was 1.58°C above the pre-industrial baseline.

🚨 We are in a climate emergency. 🚨

And yet, all we get from our “leaders” is more Business As Usual.

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

For people curious to know details of facing down the #ClimateCrisis we've created, one could do worse than visiting the "Climate change mitigation public policy research" part of our weekly #ClimateResearch listing.

See the intricacy. See how our task likens to dropping a wristwatch into a rock crusher and hoping it still keeps time. Deft policy adjustments have to survive the political process to become real.

Disengaging from this reality will lead to our failure.

https://skepticalscience.com/new_research_2024_17.html?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=mastodon&utm-term=sks

"This #atlas collates scientific projections of #climate impacts in the world’s richest countries over the coming years. The first study of its kind, the atlas finds that on a high-emissions pathway, climate impacts spiral to cause devastating damage across the #G20. Explore the details of how climate change will affect each country’s #climate, #coasts and #waters, #agriculture, #forests, cities, the #health of its population, #energy and #economy." https://www.g20climaterisks.org/

#ClimateCrisis

G20 Climate Risk Atlas

^{G20 Climate Risk Atlas}

There's a disgraceful ecosystem of public relations & lobbying firms using hackers for hire.

Sometimes they are used to silence critics & advocacy groups.

Like US nonprofits doing climate advocacy.

Our investigation into a group we christened #DarkBasin uncovered a sprawling #India-based hack-for-hire operation.

They enabled US corporations to outsource lawbreaking.

https://citizenlab.ca/2020/06/dark-basin-uncovering-a-massive-hack-for-hire-operation/
#infosec #cybersecurity #malware #hacking #climatechange #climatecrisis #exxon #phishing

Gift article:

The Biden administration on Tuesday released rules designed to speed up permits for clean energy while requiring federal agencies to more heavily weigh damaging effects on the climate and on low-income communities before approving projects like highways and oil wells. #ClimateCrisis

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/climate/biden-administration-moves-to-speed-up-permits-for-clean-energy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oU0.d-yG._xSrBAAt3P1E&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

To keep us distracted from what’s really going on in the world, our rulers constantly provide more and more circuses — a new Marvel superhero movie, the latest celebrity scandal of the week, a huge sale at Amazon — because if everyone was paying attention to *genuine* reality, the whole capitalist charade might just collapse.

But guess what: Earth's climate and environment pay no heed to such circuses. Instead, they respond directly to real physical inputs, the continual burning of fossil fuels, the ever-increasing amounts of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, the enormous heat being trapped and absorbed...
___________________________

March 2024 was the hottest on record and the tenth straight month of historic heat, with sea surface temperatures also hitting a "shocking" new high.

It is the latest red flag in a year already marked by climate extremes and rising greenhouse gas emissions, spurring fresh calls for more rapid action to limit global warming.

Every month since June 2023 has beaten its own "hottest ever" tag – and March 2024 was no exception.

The EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said that March globally was 1.68ºC hotter than an average March between the years 1850-1900, the reference period for the pre-industrial era.

Huge swathes of the planet endured above-average temperatures, from parts of Africa to Greenland, South America, and Antarctica.

March was not only the tenth consecutive month to break its own heat record, but capped the hottest 12-month period on the books – 1.58ºC above pre-industrial averages.
___________________________

FULL STORY -- https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2024/04/09/global-temperatures-hit-record-highs-for-tenth-consecutive-month-in-march_6667824_114.html

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency

Last 12 months have been the hottest ever recorded on the planet

The EU's climate monitor said Tuesday that March globally was 1.68°C hotter than an average March between the years 1850-1900, the reference period for the pre-industrial era.

^{Le Monde with AFP (Le Monde)}

Every day for the last 50 years, the oil and gas industry has brought in $3 BILLION in profits. Not revenues. Profits.

EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

See — https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/21/revealed-oil-sectors-staggering-profits-last-50-years

That’s 💵 💵 💵 $52 trillion 💵 💵 💵 in pure profit, their payoff for happily destroying our climate and biosphere.

We need system change NOW.

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual

Latest comic: No-so-silent Spring

#leafblowers #environment #climatechange #noisepollution #cartoon #comic #climate #climatecrisis #earthday

It's time to get to work — on system change.

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Degrowth

People in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s are not too old to to save the planet. Third Act members from DC, MD, and VA converged on a Citibank in DC today. Since 2015, Citi has financed more than $332 billion in oil and gas projects, many located in communities of color.

Today, we shut down the bank, calling out Citi's racism and greed. The #SummerOfHeat is just beginning, with repeated nonviolent actions. That's the kind of heat our children can live with.
#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

#Biden administration bans drilling in nearly half of #Alaska petroleum reserve in sweeping win for climate advocates #ClimateCrisis

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/19/climate/alaska-drilling-ban-biden-climate?cid=ios_app

🤦🏻‍♀️ “The potential change of plans comes as the administration faces fierce political headwinds, a conservative Supreme Court majority that has shown aggressive interest in curtailing the #EPA’s authority and questions over how fast electric utilities can pivot to the most innovative #ClimateCrisis solutions.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/18/climate/biden-epa-power-plant-rules-hydrogen-climate?cid=ios_app

Sigh

#ClimateBreakdown is happening to us. We are suffering floods, fires, and in some parts famine.

Why? Because our leaders can't stand up to big oil. Because our fellow citizens won't give up convenience or big cars and endless fancy clothes.

I am not sure how many people understand that many people will die. This isn't a theoretical possibility anymore. This is already happening. Entire towns, even in rich nations are getting burnt to the ground.

Our billionaire owned media just doesn't attribute it to #ClimateCrisis. Instead they publish endless stories about phantom arsonists so you keep driving your SUV.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-68841141?utm_source=press.coop

Scotland to ditch key climate change target

The Scottish government is to scrap its flagship target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2030.

^{By Kevin Keane (BBC News)}

Blocking the industrial road would be an enormous victory for opponents who have argued for years that it would threaten #wildlife as well as #Alaska Native tribes that rely on hunting & fishing.

…The move comes as the #Biden admin tries to find a balance between 2 different & sometimes opposing goals.

#SaveRoadless
#ClimateCrisis
#ActOnClimate
#ClimateAction

The #Interior Dept will to announce that there should be “no action” on the federal land where the road known as the #AmblerAccessProject would be built…. A formal denial of the project will come later this year….

The road was essential to reach what is estimated to be a $7.5B copper deposit buried under #EcologicallySensitiveLand. There are currently no #mines in the area & no requests for permits have been filed w/the govt; the road was a first step.

#SaveRoadless #ClimateCrisis

The #Biden admin is expected to deny permission for a mining company to build a 211-mile #industrial #road through fragile #AlaskanWilderness, handing a victory to #environmentalists in an election yr when #POTUS wants to underscore his credentials as a #climate leader & #conservationist.

#SaveRoadless #ClimateCrisis #ActOnClimate
#ClimateAction
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/16/climate/ambler-road-alaska-interior.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

One thing I'd like to do someday is teach a course to scientists and engineers in public communication and why we shouldn't do what Goodall is doing here.

Absolutely none of what she says is wrong. She's correct on every level. But I still wish there is a lot here she didn't say.

Scientists have this terrible mindset of thinking they are apolitical. As long as they do the science, get the facts out, the world will make the right decisions.

You have entire political parties built on "science is not a thing", "the earth is flat", and "vaccines cause autism".

Sorry. Just being a scientist and standing for facts makes you political now whether you like it or not because you are now morally obligated to say "no. None of those things are true". "Ahhh. You're political. You don't believe in blood letting when my entire political existence is about blood letting".

Whether we like it or not, the climate fight is political because our very monetary system depends on fossil money. Saying the Earth is round IS political.

A lot of what she says here will be used by the right to undermine the #ClimateCrisis movement.

Nothing she says is wrong. She's correct. Just not politically savvy in how she is saying it. Sometimes, the thing to do as a scientist is not to say anything at all.

Please scientists, please think about the political impact of what you say, not just it's scientific accuracy.

If media ever reaches out to you, feel free to ping me before you respond.

One day I will create a course for young scientists on avoiding undermining science in the media. First I need to finish writing this dissertation.

Professors in science, hit me up if you want a guest lecture in one of your classes.

This is too important. We can't keep doing this.

#ClimateBreakdown

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jane-goodall-carbon-tax-electric-vehicles-1.7170992