discuss The Environmental Thread - Earth Matters, so what's holding us back?

[Cannuck]

I believe everyone would agree on at least one point - planet Earth matters! For years, scholars and environmentalists have touted the idea - that the boundaries of life on our planet have been stretched to a breaking point by human activity. From a scientific perspective, the notion of climate change is no longer up for debate. Our species and life as it exists on planet Earth now depends on the choices we humans make. Each individual with a brain possesses the ability to contribute solutions to our common current dilemma, so what's holding us back?

Is it our lack of knowledge; a conflict of interest; the lack of will, and/or other priorities that define the human race? Do we possess the courage to take an initiative, to act upon our convictions and choose to help preserve the Blue planet? Have our environmental problems become too big for individuals to tackle that we must leave it for governments to handle?

Are we limited by our own self-interests, by the confines of our own box or bubble? Have we merely been caught up in our daily mundane existence, distracted by the media and current affairs, that we fail to consider the future? Is Climate Change simply a hoax? Is the human species destined to evolve or are we doomed to extinction?

Here is place to discuss any pertinent thoughts or ideas you may have on the subject. Every thought counts. Please be respectful.

 

[Cannuck]

BIG Oil Knew About Potential Climate Change in 1954

New Evidence Reveals Fossil Fuel Industry Sponsored Climate Science​

Experts say documents show the fossil fuel industry had intimate involvement in the inception of modern climate science, along with its warnings of the severe harm climate change will wreak, only to then publicly deny this science for decades and fund ongoing efforts to delay action on the climate crisis.

“They contain smoking gun proof that by at least 1954, the fossil fuel industry was on notice about the potential for its products to disrupt Earth’s climate on a scale significant to human civilization,” said Geoffrey Supran, an expert in historic climate disinformation at the University of Miami.

“These findings are a startling confirmation that big oil has had its finger on the pulse of academic climate science for 70 years – for twice my lifetime – and a reminder that it continues to do so to this day. They make a mockery of the oil industry’s denial of basic climate science decades later.”

Revealed: Exxon made ‘breathtakingly’ accurate climate predictions in 1970s and 80s

Samuel Epstein’s research proposal for the Air Pollution Foundation (1954) eft no doubt about the potential significance of this research.

Approximately sixty years before the Paris Agreement, he described the “concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere” as a matter “of well recognized importance to our civilization” and explained that the possible consequences of “changing concentration of the CO2 in the atmosphere with reference to climate” .

https://www.desmog.com/2024/01/30/f...nsored-climate-science-1954-keeling-api-wspa/

 

[Cannuck]

Oil firms forced to consider full climate effects of new drilling

Action taken to block oil and gas leasing until government conducts a full review of its oil and gas leasing program that considers climatic effects.

https://theconversation.com/oil-firms-forced-to-consider-full-climate-effects-of-new-drilling-following-landmark-norwegian-court-ruling

Not every country has a written constitution with environmental rights provisions like Norway

 

[dna]

I wonder why the effects of massive volcanic eruptions don't show up on that CO2 chart?

https://geologyscience.com/gallery/geologic-lists/the-8-biggest-volcanic-eruptions-in-history/

 

[Cannuck]

I wonder why the effects of massive volcanic eruptions don't show up on that CO2 chart?

Even the largest recorded volcanic eruptions account for only 1% of CO2, relative to human activity.

The research estimates that human activity annually releases into the atmosphere around 40 to 100 times as much carbon dioxide as does all volcanic activity. That’s also a slightly higher rate of carbon emission than Earth experienced just after the asteroid impact that likely killed the dinosaurs.

The rate of anthropogenic carbon emissions is higher than that from extinction-level impacts and large outpourings of magma and is 40–100 times higher than the emission rate from all natural outgassing phenomena. Researchers noted that Earth is responding to human emissions with all the hallmarks of massive carbon perturbation of the past: hotter surface temperatures, disruptions to the hydrologic cycle, ocean hypoxia and acidification, and mass extinction.

“To secure a sustainable future, it is of utmost importance that we understand Earth’s entire carbon cycle,” Edmonds said in a statement. She added in the press conference, “Earth will rebalance itself, but it will take 100,000 years.”

https://eos.org/articles/human-activity-outpaces-volcanoes-asteroids-in-releasing-deep-carbon

 

[Cal2]

The Earth is getting greener. Hurray?​

Humans are literally changing the color of the planet. Scientists are worried.

Understanding Earth’s color is key to understanding Earth and our future on it. “Greenness” often corresponds to the planet’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that drives climate change. The more leaves, the more photosynthesis, a chemical reaction that gobbles up CO2. That’s the good news in global greening: It’s helping offset some of the impacts of climate change.

But there’s more to greening than meets the eye. The changing color isn’t so much a sign that forests and other ecosystems are regrowing but that humans are altering the environment on a truly planetary scale — often, with dire consequences. ....

The big problems behind the green sheen​

There’s a lot that color alone leaves out, such as what that “green” is made of.

.... greening is complicated. It’s not inherently good. Sometimes it’s very bad. Context, it turns out, matters a lot.

https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2024/2/7/24057308/earth-global-greening-climate-change-carbon

 

[Cal2]

Embracing Slow Water: Rediscovering the True Nature of Earth’s Lifeline​

In the face of escalating climate disasters and the urgent need for sustainable solutions, Erica Gies, recipient of the esteemed Rachel Carson Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism, embarks on a transformative exploration in her book, Water Always Wins. As the world grapples with the repercussions of increasingly severe floods and droughts, Gies unveils a profound truth: our conventional approaches to water management are not only inadequate but often exacerbate the very issues they intend to solve. ....

So what does water want? Most modern humans have forgotten that water’s true nature is to flex with the rhythms of the earth, expanding and retreating in an eternal dance upon the land. In its liquid state, with sufficient quantity or gravity, water can rush across the land in torrential rivers or tumble in awe-inspiring waterfalls. But it is also inclined to linger to a degree that would shock most of us because our conventional infrastructure has erased so many of its slow phases, instead confining water and speeding it away. Slow stages are particularly prone to our disturbance because they tend to be in the flatter places—once floodplains and wetlands—where we are attracted to settle.

But when water stalls on the land, that’s when the magic happens, cycling water underground and providing habitat and food for many forms of life, including us. The key to greater resilience, say the water detectives, is to find ways to let water be water, to reclaim space for it to interact with the land. The innovative water management projects visited around the world all aim to slow water on land in some approximation of natural patterns. For that reason, I’ve come to think of this movement as “Slow Water.”

https://bioneers.org/embracing-slow...EMAIL_ID]&mc_cid=a55f10c384&mc_eid=1e7558b4d3

 

[dna]

I hear that Climate Cafes are opening up all over the country where Climate Alarmists can get mental help.

 

[Cannuck]

I hear that Climate Cafes are opening up all over the country...

Started in Scotland, Climate Cafés are now International. Smart, since climate change affects us all.

What is a Climate Café? ​

A Climate Café is a welcoming, informal pop up space in a community, workplace, campus or school – to get together to chat and act on climate change.

Climate Cafés are inclusive spaces where everyone is welcome to join the conversation and get involved. There is no need to be an expert, all perspectives are welcomed!

Community led, often the chat can be local in focus, but may be global too!

All the chat and any action is led by those who live, work and play in that community.

Climate Cafés are relaxed, non party political and not for profit.

https://www.climate.cafe

 

[Cal2]

Telling The Story Of Israeli Innovators Trying To Save The World​

Israeli innovation has the potential to solve some of the great challenges for humanity, a veteran entrepreneur believes, and she is determined to ensure it claims its rightful place in the spotlight.

Nicky Newfield created Impact Nation last fall to help startups with the potential for global impact to promote themselves and their stories, driving the technology forward and bringing the innovation to a greater audience in an accessible and engaging way. ...

When the Impact Nation team has located the most suitable companies, Newfield – an angel investor provides seed funding for startups – either invests in them herself or matches them with other investors.

“We have access to around 100 companies that we directly or indirectly invested in,” she says.

Some of the funding for Impact Nation comes from Newfield and other investors, and some from government bodies such as the Israel Innovation Authority and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose remit includes promoting the Israeli tech sector on the international stage. ...

The Impact Nation team examines every aspect of the companies they select, aiming to address their needs and challenges and ties that to the challenges facing the world.

“We invested financially, and then our role is to tell the impact story – so this was a natural leap,” Newfield says.

“What we identified very early is that it has to be done through storytelling,” she explains.

“We know that the most important way to really access people is through this human story. And usually, there’s a very deep reason why each person is doing what they’re doing passionately. We believe that the companies that are solving a mission are doing it for a personal reason, and they are far more likely to succeed.”

https://nocamels.com/2024/03/telling-the-story-of-israeli-innovators-trying-to-save-the-world/

Bolding is mine.

 

[Cannuck]

Some of the funding for Impact Nation comes from Newfield and other investors, and some from government bodies such as the Israel Innovation Authority and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose remit includes promoting the Israeli tech sector on the international stage

Israel is an innovative nation, a tech powerhouse. Investment in R&D per GDP is the highest in the world, as well as spin-offs from the military and defense industry.

 

[Cal2]

Israel is an innovative nation, a tech powerhouse. Investment in R&D per GDP is the highest in the world, as well as spin-offs from the military and defense industry.

My focus for posting it was primarily on the story importance aspect, and how tech/science minded people can miss that in promoting their brilliance and help it move forward.

Don't know if I've posted this link on story telling before: https://thestoryoftelling.com/

 

[dna]

Jordan Peterson on climate change

 

[Cannuck]

Jordan Peterson on climate change

Peterson makes some good points and sounds intelligent to the layman but, in reality, the psychologist knows very little about climate modelling and his analysis is simply wrong.

 

[alop]

I hear that Climate Cafes are opening up all over the country where Climate Alarmists can get mental help.

You are not wrong

 

[Cannuck]

Peterson makes some good points and sounds intelligent to the layman but, in reality, the psychologist knows very little about climate modelling and his analysis is simply wrong.

@Alop & DNA, you may not like the truth, but it is what it is... here is Jordan's take on the subject, based on a debunked science book he read on the subject:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1486840669264044035

https://twitter.com/x/status/1486844030680014853

BTW, the author of the book, Hot Talk, Cold Science, was sponsored by BIG OIL companies to help spread misinformation to the public. As a scholar, Jordan Peterson ought to know better and check his references.

 

[Cannuck]

Earth Day 2024: Planet vs. Plastics

 

[Cannuck]

We asked 380 top climate scientists what they felt about the future... here's what they said:​

‘Hopeless and broken’, most people do not realize how big these risks are.​

https://berkeleyearth.org/global-temperature-report-for-2023/

 

[dna]

It looks like you environ mental cases have lost your leader.
Greta Thunberg has joined Hamas. But don't worry.
I am sure that another 13 year old girl will come along to be your leader

 

[Cannuck]

Greta Thunberg has joined Hamas. But don't worry.

 

[Sutruk]

Greta will always be on the side of humanitarian causes and in favor of human dignity. By the way, very biased and distorted title on that video. The media, especially that of the countries supplying arms to Israel, seem to be very biased this time. The protest was not anti-Israel, but anti-genocide.
Anyone with a bit of dignity and humanity cannot remain silent viewing a genocide happening in real time.

This is why Greta went to protest in Sweden:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1789461854793629719