From the only planet we have
Pandora’s boxes
Climate Change & Artificial Intelligence
May 2 2023 The New York Times
We Are Opening the Lids on Two Giant Pandora’s Boxes
A good piece by Thomas L. Friedman.
Climate change is bringing severe storms, extended droughts, unseasonal heatwaves, and other once-in-a-100-years events.
A.I. is beginning to generate content that humans can not tell from the real thing, and is encroaching on every imaginable field. It can help humans if used correctly, but if not, it can cause unimaginable damage.
We just have to hope that we do not forget basic morals and ethics when we tackle these two issues.
*****
Maybe this is the time for the old Irish blessing -
May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been,
the foresight to know where you are going,
and the insight to know when you have gone too far.
Nuclear Waste Is Misunderstood
Just facts, not scaremongering, for a change
Apr 28 2023 The New York Times
A good piece about nuclear power, without the panicky emotional scaremongering, usually associated with discussions about nuclear power and the resulting waste.
If you care about the environment, or worry about climate change and what kind of world our children will inherit from us, and have to live in; you should read this, and then make up your mind about nuclear power.
Nuclear Waste Is Misunderstood
*****
On a visit in February to the site of the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown in Japan, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York did something refreshing: She discussed radiation exposure and nuclear waste without fanning fear. The radiation she got from her visit — about two chest X-rays’ worth — was worth the education she received on the tour, she told her 8.6 million Instagram followers. She then spoke admiringly of France, which, she said, “recycles their waste, increasing the efficiency of their system and reducing the overall amount of radioactive waste to deal with.”
Trees for climate change?
Will a trillion trees do it? Not alone.
Nov 1 2021
Two recent pieces about planting trees to fight climate change. Yes we should do it, but it is not that simple, like everything in life.
Could planting a trillion trees help stop global heating? This man thinks so
Take the train
Do you really want to wait at airport security?
Oct 27 2021
Flying creates a lot of emissions, so we should make European rail travel even better than it is.
Like creating a single service where you can buy tickets to all European trains.
And you thought you could do that already? I did, but hey, live and learn…
Price on nature
Value of crisp morning air in the forest?
Oct 22 2021 BBC
The great experiment to put a price on nature
“Fresh water, clean air, peace of mind – natural landscapes make life better for humans in myriad ways. Now scientists are trying to put a dollar figure on exactly how much nature is worth.”
Can you think Big?
It is not that hard, but it is Big
Oct 20 2021 The Guardian
If you can think Big, and if the politicians can think Big, then all is not lost.
Think big on climate: the transformation of society in months has been done before
Not every news about climate change is bad
There is still hope
Oct 15 2021 The Guardian
A pessimist will not be disappointed, but the good news is that the price of renewable energy is going down, and the citizens’ movements demanding action are growing fast.
It’s easy to feel pessimistic about the climate. But we’ve got two big things on our side
Sharks and Climate change
Not a new movie
Oct 8 2021 BBC
No, it is not a new disaster movie idea.
Sharks can really help in fighting climate change. Dugongs, or sea cows, eat a lot of seagrass, which is bad, since seagrass stores a lot of CO2. Sharks eat dugongs, so there will be more seagrass, and a lot of CO2 stored, in the ocean.
Wake up, smell the coffee
Slippery climate change deniers
Sep 4 2021
Climate change deniers are as slippery as those who justified the slave trade
Opinion in The Guardian about refusing to accept the facts about climate change. No need for me to comment.
Climate change - Act now!
¿If not now, when? If not us who?
Jul 29 2021 Opinion piece in The Guardian.
How many years until we must act on climate? Zero, say these climate thinkers
The title basically says it all, so I’ll just shut up.
Except to say: Do Something and Do It Now!
Ps. Extreme weather will be the norm and UK is not prepared, report warns
Climate change - bad news
A controversial MIT study from 1972 forecast the collapse of civilization
Jul 25 2021 The Guardian Interview with Gaya Herrington
Yep, it’s bleak, says expert who tested 1970s end-of-the-world prediction
A researcher looked at the 1972 MIT study, The Limits to Growth, and found that basically the MIT scientists were right, the future looks bleak, we should have done something decades ago. We did not and now we are seeing the effects of climate change.
But, the positive message here is that we still can do something to avoid the worst, we just need to do it now and we need to do it right. Sustainability is the the way forward.
A quote from Herrington: “We’re totally capable of making huge changes, and we’ve seen [that] with the pandemic, but we have to act now if we’re to avoid costs much greater than we’re seeing.”
Ps. Jul 26 2021
‘Record-shattering’ heat becoming much more likely, says climate study
Flash floods will be more common as climate crisis worsens, say scientists
The Observer editorial on climate change
We are losing the race to keep our planet cool
Jul 25 2021 from The Guardian
An excerpt to give you the picture, but everyone should read this.
“Reminders that our planet is wilting under the impact of human-driven climate change have been hard to avoid this month. Catastrophic floods have killed 160 in Germany while more than 50 died after massive inundations swept through the central Chinese province of Henan when a year’s worth of rain fell in three days last week. At the same time, forest fires have ripped through one of the world’s coldest places, Siberia, after unusually hot, dry weather gripped the region. Canada and the US have also been afflicted by conflagrations that have destroyed communities and vast areas of woodland. One blaze in the US state of Oregon has spread over an area 25 times the size of Manhattan and has raged out of control for weeks. Global warming, triggered by rising levels of greenhouse gases, has been implicated in every case.“
The basic problem is that our leaders (politicians and business etc.) have so far failed to fix this. The United Nations’s Cop26 climate change conference in Glasgow will show if these leaders have the backbone to do what needs to be done, or will it show that they are LINOs, (and that is of course Leaders In Name Only).
I hope they can come up with something that will fix this, but I am not sure I would bet on it.
More floods for Europe
Slow-moving storms could become 14 times more frequent by 2100
Jul 21 2021 from The Guardian
A study finds that slow moving storms could become 14 times more common over land by the end of the century.
The storms projected in the new study move even more slowly than those which drenched Germany, the Netherlands and other countries in the past week and so would lead to even more extreme rainfall and flooding.
The early estimates for the costs of the flooding are in the region of €6 billion. If you think fixing global warming is expensive, what about the costs of more frequent and more devastating storms?
Catastrophic floods could hit Europe far more often, study finds
Climate change and fish nutrients
Climate change could threaten the supply of vitamins and minerals from fisheries
Jul 20 2021 from The Guardian
Climate crisis threatens access to nutrients in fish, study finds
Climate change threatens the world’s supply of essential vitamins and nutrients gained from fisheries, and one billion people rely on fish and seafood as their primary source of protein, so this will be a major problem.
It is time we did something about climate change. The US envoy for climate change John Kerry has something to say about this: John Kerry: world leaders must step up to avoid worst impacts of climate crisis
Climate Change, Malaria and Dengue
Reducing global heating could save millions of people from mosquito-borne diseases
Jul 19th 2021
This was in The Guardian about a week ago.
Climate crisis ‘may put 8bn at risk of malaria and dengue’
Climate change brings stronger storms and dryer and longer droughts, and in general makes weather extremes more frequent. But a changing climate will also help spread diseases like Malaria and Dengue fever, by lengthening their transmission periods, and probably spreading the diseases to areas where they do not appear at the moment.
And it is not only Malaria and Dengue, the list of mosquito-borne diseases also includes Zika, West Nile virus and Chikungunya, not exactly a group of benevolent diseases.
Maybe we will have a vaccine or treatment for these, but maybe we will not, or the diseases will evolve and become resistant to treatment, who knows? And what about emerging diseases like Covid-19? What if Ebola starts to spread easier?
Some people say that dealing with climate change will be too expensive, that the costs to economies will just be too high. Well, we are still counting the costs of Covid-19, which caused the deepest global recession since the end of World War II.
Are we really ready to face the costs of widespread Malaria, Dengue, Zika, West Nile, Chikungunya, or some nasty emerging disease? Not to mention the human suffering and unnecessary deaths and destruction they will bring.
Personally, in this case, I think it would be easier to deal with the cause (the climate change) than the symptoms (the diseases), but that is just my humble opinion.
Treehuggers and Loggers
Actually working together to save jobs
Apr 11th 2021
Most of the stories about environment are nowadays about something bad happening, so it is nice to read a positive story about loggers and environmentalists working together.
It is basically a story about what happens when you start to talk with your adversary, really listen to the other side, and learn to cooperate so everyone benefits. And as is said in the piece: “It may also offer lessons for a divided country.” I would say a divided world, but you get the point.
You may argue that this is just one small thing in a small town, but all things, big and small, start small and start somewhere; meaning ‘local’, and local is where you live. If it worked there, why not in your community? If they could do it, why not you?
This is from Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times They Overcame Mutual Loathing, and Saved a Town
This shows the power of listening, of respect for different points of view, and of working together.
After all we are all on this same planet, and in my humble opinion, could use much more of this.
Another midnight regulation
Outgoing administration opens 3.4 million acres of protected habitat to timber harvesting
From The New York Times Jan 13th 2021.
Trump Opens Habitat of a Threatened Owl to Timber Harvesting
The outgoing administration opened 3.4 million acres, of northern spotted owl protected habitat, to timber harvesting. The plan in August was to open 205,000 acres, but they decided to open 3.4 million acres. That is more than 15 times the planned amount.
Quoting the article:
Two people familiar with the spotted owl decision said the sharp increase in excluded land was done at the behest of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and other senior Trump administration appointees and was not backed up by the months of biological analysis previously conducted by the agency.
The final rule does not provide new scientific analysis. Instead it says “the Secretary has exercised his discretion”…
They know this will challenged in the courts, but I guess that is the point. If you can do anything to make life more difficult for the next administration, then do it.
On Jan 4th, the EPA finalized another regulation: “restricting the use of scientific studies in policymaking.” A Plan Made to Shield Big Tobacco From Facts Is Now E.P.A. Policy
On Jan 5th, they reversed bird protections, “The rule change means companies will not be punished for killing migratory birds.” Trump Administration, in Parting Gift to Industry, Reverses Bird Protections
And these are not the only ones prioritising industry over environment. The Trump Reversals
I guess government should have a warning label:
Do not operate without adult supervision.
PS This from The Washington Post Jan 16, 2021
In Trump’s final days, a spree of environmental rollbacks
Reversing environmental rules
There is a great, and slightly depressing, piece in The New York Times about the current administration reversing environmental rules.
May 6th, 2020 - during the Covid-19 pandemic
There is a great, and slightly depressing, piece in The New York Times about the current administration reversing environmental rules. (The link to the piece is below.)
SPOILER ALERT: It is an analysis by The New York Times, based on research from Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School and other sources. So, if you think that these institutions represent Fake News and Alarmist Scaremongers, STOP READING RIGHT NOW, and return to the safety of Alternative Facts.
If not, please be free to read on.
Unless you have been in a politically induced coma for the past few years, you may already know that the current administration has weakened limits on carbon dioxide emissions, and rolled back rules governing clean air, water and toxic chemicals.
Apparently they have been very busy during the recent weeks finalising some major things, while the country has been fighting the pandemic.
Well, at least they have had something else to think about than this nasty coronavirus which refuses to go away.
Although there also seems to be another reason for the current rush; elections are coming, and “Further delays could leave the new rules vulnerable to reversal under the Congressional Review Act if Democrats are able to retake Congress and the White House in November.” I don’t know the details of the Congressional Review Act, but it sure sounds like Congress can reverse the reversals within a certain time frame.
I’ll shut up in a minute and let you get on with the piece, the link is below. But just one more thing before I go: the bulk of the rollbacks have been carried out by the Environmental Protection Agency. It sure seems like the administration is trying to protect the environment from burdensome and unnecessary rules. Slightly Orwellian…
The Trump Administration Is Reversing Nearly 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List.