climate change


On yer Ebike

If I was in a permanent job, rather than working as agency staff, I would long ago have got myself an ebike through the Cycle to Work scheme. I may have ridden through most of the winter, too, rather than putting of getting back in the saddle for far too long.

Schemes like Cycle to Work may be relatively expensive as ways to cut carbon emissions, but they have many other benefits that more than make up for that. The authors of the article below have considered some of them and looked at ways to increase uptake further.

https://theconversation.com/e-bike-incentives-are-a-costly-way-to-cut-carbon-emissions-but-they-also-promote-health-equity-and-cleaner-air-224312


Carbon Removal Credits to fight climate change

As the article says, it’s not enough to stop pumping out carbon dioxide, there need to be schemes for soaking it up and locking it away again. I’m filling my concrete covered back yard with plants as my bit, but industry has the options for larger and more complex schemes.

https://www.wired.com/story/carbon-removal-cur8-gabrielle-walker-credits-offsets-greenwashing/


Spongy cities are the future

Los Angeles is an unlikely champion of a new wave of water savvy urban planning. A city most of us think of as all about cars and concrete has introduced more permeable surfaces to soak up water rather than turning it into run off. The change has been so successful that not only was severe flooding avoided during recent extreme rainfall but it will help solve the city’s water supply issues.

https://www.wired.com/story/los-angeles-just-proved-how-spongy-a-city-can-be/


When the Sahara was green

Wobbles of the Earth on its axis have created periods when the Sahara was savannah rather than desert. These periods recur roughly every 21,000 years, and the last one was around 10,000 years ago. Counterintuitively, the greeting happened when the tilt moved the Northern Hemisphere so it was warmer, which increased humidity and rainfall. It’s not clear whether climate change is going to have a similar effect, or if that would matter with all the other problems it causes.

https://theconversation.com/the-sahara-desert-used-to-be-a-green-savannah-new-research-explains-why-216555


Heating up animal brains

The movie pitch is that some ancient or mythological creature is defrosted by climate change and wreaks havoc on mankind. The truth is going to be more pervasive, with populations shifting, plant life changing, and massive changes no matter how well they adapt.

https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-altering-animal-brains-and-behavior-a-neuroscientist-explains-how-215035


The bitter taste of climate change.

As if things couldn’t get worse- climate change is set to reduce the quantity and quality of beer. Warming and changing seasons and precipitation patterns mean a reduction in the hops harvest, with flowers containing less of the alpha acids that give the flavour.

https://theconversation.com/hotter-drier-summers-will-make-european-craft-beers-less-hoppy-new-study-215273


Destroy the Tories before they destroy the planet

The Conservative Party needs to be so thoroughly beaten at the next election that it collapses and is never heard from again. It’s the least they deserve for policies that leaves us poorer, colder and at greater risk from climate change just so their rich friends can get a little richer.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/09/how-tories-green-hostility-will-hinder-a-future-labour-government


A Pyramid of Bullshit

A California man has been sentenced to 6 years and 9 months for a scam where he took money from investors for non-existent anaerobic digestors at big dairy farms. In classic pyramid scheme style, money from later investors paid out imaginary dividends to earlier ones.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/27/us-man-cow-dung-scam-prison


Seeing it coming. And doing nothing about it

As the Titanic tourist submarine coverage dragged on, more and more signs of its inevitability were revealed. But, driven by tech-bro arrogance, warnings were ignored- and staff even sacked for giving them, right up until the second hand carbon fibre collapsed under pressure.

Ocengate isn’t alone. Studies of disasters have shown that nearly half had given rise to ‘red flags’ that could have averted them if heeded.

Arrogance and greed are going to continue to cause catastrophes, right up to the biggest of them all- climate change- unless there is a huge change in the culture.

https://theconversation.com/time-after-time-tragedies-like-the-titan-disaster-occur-because-leaders-ignore-red-flags-208370


Let’s go geothermal

Some of the worst off parts of the country are also the best placed for geothermal plants. It should be a no-brainer to use the resources to help those areas and reduce the country’s carbon footprint. I’m not holding my breath on a Tory government doing anything that sensible though.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/02/network-of-geothermal-power-stations-could-help-level-up-uk


A brief introduction to Degrowth

Perpetual growth is unsustainable, and making it a priority hurts most people whilst destroying the environment. An alternative is Degrowth, which I’ve heard mentioned, but not got around to investigating. The linked article gives a quick overview of what it entails, and the benefits it would bring.

https://theconversation.com/degrowth-isnt-the-same-as-a-recession-its-an-alternative-to-growing-the-economy-forever-202469


The Weird Way Australia’s Bushfires Influenced a Weirder La Niña | WIRED

It’s a complex, interconnected world we live in, and events in one place can influence weather on the other side of the globe. This is an interesting article on how massive wild fires in Australia affected ocean temperatures off South America, which had effects on the whole planet’s weather systems.

The Weird Way Australia’s Bushfires Influenced a Weirder La Niña | WIRED https://www.wired.com/story/the-weird-way-australias-bushfires-influenced-a-weirder-la-nina/


Bleed the oil companies dry

It looks like oil giants are going to face a lot of lawsuits over the damage they have caused. If it’s shown that they knew how bad climate change was going to be and kept quiet, the payouts could be huge.

With too many governments paying lip service to fighting climate change, then subsidising the polluters, I think this is what is needed. Money is all most of the people involved understand. I they lose enough, they’ll comprehend the need to change.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/25/experts-hail-decision-us-climate-lawsuits-advance