Climate Change News & Discussions

weatheriscool
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weatheriscool
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Broken record: Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels jump again
Annual increase in Keeling Curve peak is one of the largest on record
https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/broke ... jump-again
Carbon dioxide levels measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory peaked at 424 parts per million in May, continuing a steady climb further into territory not seen for millions of years, scientists from NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography offsite link at the University of California San Diego announced today.

Measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) obtained by NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory averaged 424.0 parts per million (ppm) in May, the month when CO2 peaks in the Northern Hemisphere. That is an increase of 3.0 ppm over May 2022, and represents the fourth-largest annual increases in the peak of the Keeling Curve in NOAA’s record. Scientists at Scripps, which maintains an independent record, calculated a May monthly average of 423.78 ppm , also a 3.0 ppm increase over their May 2022 average.

Carbon dioxide levels are now more than 50% higher than they were before the onset of the industrial era.
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caltrek
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Climate Crisis Is on Track to Push One-Third of Humanity Out of Its Most Livable Environment
by Abrahm Lustgarten
June 6, 2023

Introduction:
(ProPublica) )Climate change is remapping where humans can exist on the planet. As optimum conditions shift away from the equator and toward the poles, more than 600 million people have already been stranded outside of a crucial environmental niche that scientists say best supports life. By late this century, according to a study published last month in the journal Nature Sustainability, 3 to 6 billion people, or between a third and a half of humanity, could be trapped outside of that zone, facing extreme heat, food scarcity and higher death rates, unless emissions are sharply curtailed or mass migration is accommodated.

The research, which adds novel detail about who will be most affected and where, suggests that climate-driven migration could easily eclipse even the largest estimates as enormous segments of the earth’s population seek safe havens. It also makes a moral case for immediate and aggressive policies to prevent such a change from occurring, in part by showing how unequal the distribution of pain will be and how great the improvements could be with even small achievements in slowing the pace of warming.

“There are clear, profound ethical consequences in the numbers,” Timothy Lenton, one of the study’s lead authors and the director of the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter in the U.K., said in an interview. “If we can’t level with that injustice and be honest about it, then we’ll never progress the international action on this issue.”

The notion of a climate niche is based on work the researchers first published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2020, which established that for the past 6,000 years humans have gravitated toward a narrow range of temperatures and precipitation levels that supported agriculture and, later, economic growth. That study warned that warming would make those conditions elusive for growing segments of humankind and found that while just 1% of the earth’s surface is now intolerably hot, nearly 20% could by 2070.

Read more here: https://www.propublica.org/article/cli ... ulation
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caltrek
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U.S. Deal Could Plug Turkmenistan’s Colossal Methane Emissions
by Damian Carrington
June 2, 2023

Introduction:
(The Guardian) The US is in negotiations with Turkmenistan over an agreement to plug the central Asian nation’s colossal methane leaks.

Turkmenistan was responsible for 184 “super-emitter” events in which the powerful greenhouse gas was released in 2022, the highest number in the world. One caused climate pollution equivalent to the rate of emissions from 67m cars.

US officials hope that some leaks from Turkmenistan’s oil and gas industry could be halted by the start of the UN’s Cop28 climate summit in late November. Success would represent a major achievement in tackling the climate crisis.

Further Extract:
New satellite data is increasingly putting the spotlight on nations with major methane leaks. These include the US, where new regulations will impose large fines for leaks, and Russia.

In early May, the Guardian revealed that methane leaks alone from Turkmenistan’s two main fossil fuel fields caused more global heating in 2022 than the entire carbon emissions of the UK. Emissions of the gas were “mind-boggling” and an “infuriating” problem that should be easy to fix, experts said.
Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/environmen ... emissions
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weatheriscool
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To know is essentially the same as not knowing. The only thing that occurs is the rearrangement of atoms in your brain.
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erowind
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/\ I appreciate this post. I hope degrowth can lead the economics of the 21st century.
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Powers
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^ For a while at least.
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erowind
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Powers wrote: Thu Jun 08, 2023 7:08 am ^ For a while at least.
I've talked about that before. It's clear that we need a different economic system at this point, and that heavy industry on Earth needs to be radically retooled and reduced. But that doesn't preclude future expansion where it makes sense. We can and still should build a launch loop(s) and work towards moving heavy industry into geostationary orbits. My personal ideal future is one where we can explore the solar system and beyond freely and keep our heavy industry offworld while regenerating and preserving Earth's biodiversity.
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