Scientists champion forests as 'unsung hero' of climate action

Barcelona: Scientists from around the world called for stepped-up efforts to use forests to keep global warming to the lowest limit agreed by governments in 2015, as a key report on how to meet that goal is finalised in South Korea this week.

"Our planet's future climate is inextricably tied to the
 future of its forests," the international panel said.  

"Forests really are the unsung hero of our struggle to address climate change," said Deborah Lawrence, a University of Virginia professor and one of 40 scientists who backed a statement emphasising how the Earth's climate depends on forests.

The natural processes by which forests suck in and store carbon help reduce levels of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - and forests also underpin key parts of the world's economy, the scientists said.

Read the story by Megan Rowling from The Age - “Scientists champion forests as 'unsung hero' of climate action.”

Climate scientists are struggling to find the right words for very bad news

In Incheon, South Korea, this week, representatives of over 130 countries and about 50 scientists have packed into a large conference center going over every line of an all-important report: What chance does the planet have of keeping climate change to a moderate, controllable level?

Delegates and experts attend the opening ceremony of the 48th
 session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in
Incheon, South Korea, on Oct. 1, 2018.

When they can’t agree, they form “contact groups” outside the hall, trying to strike an agreement and move the process along. They are trying to reach consensus on what it would mean — and what it would take — to limit the warming of the planet to just 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, when 1 degree Celsius has already occurred and greenhouse gas emissions remain at record highs.

“It’s the biggest peer-review exercise there is,” said Jonathan Lynn, head of communications for the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “It involves hundreds or even thousands of people looking at it.”

Read the story from The Washington Post by Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis -  “Climate scientists are struggling to find the right words for very bad news.”

This Olympic Skier Wants to Save the World’s Snow

Jessie Diggins is a cross-country skier on the American women’s team and a favorite to win a medal at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. If she succeeds, it will be only the second time the United States has won a medal in the sport and the first for an American woman.

The American cross-country skier Jessie Diggins competing
in 2016. “Saving winter is something I believe in,” she said.

Diggins is also an advocate for climate action. I interviewed her to understand more about why she believes winter is worth protecting. (The following has been condensed and edited.)

How has climate change affected you?

Over the last 10 years, it has been hard to ski on real snow. Over the last three years, most venues have been exclusively on man-made snow. And in places like Davos, Switzerland, where they normally have three feet of snow, they’ve been snow farming and saving it for the next year because they don’t even count on getting snow anymore. I’ve spoken to people in Switzerland who are losing their jobs because winter’s going away.

Read The New York Times story by Kendra Pierre-Louis - “This Olympic Skier Wants to Save the World’s Snow.”

Of 21 Winter Olympic Cities, Many May Soon Be Too Warm to Host the Games

Distill the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, to their essence and you get 15 sports that involve gliding on snow or ice. Because of climate change, though, by 2050 many prior Winter Games locations may be too warm to ever host the Games again.

Cross-country skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. 

A team of researchers, led by Daniel Scott, a geography professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, came to that conclusion by taking climate data from previous Winter Games locations and applying climate-change models to predict future winter weather conditions.

The research, originally published in 2014, was updated this month to include the Pyeongchang Olympics, which begin Feb. 9, and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.

Read The New York Times story - "Of 21 Winter Olympic Cities, Many May Soon Be Too Warm to Host the Games.”

The great gas robbery is happening before our eyes. But what can we do about it?

Cheap gas for domestic consumers
has disappeared.

It's the great gas robbery. And it's right before us in our utility bills.

When you next look in horror at your gas bill, think this: you are the unwitting victim of a gigantic game of risk shifting by the multinationals.

These companies have played the domestic customer on a break, because they saw something we didn't see two years ago.

And it's resulted in gas that was once destined for our heaters, cookers and manufacturing plants being sucked north to Gladstone where it is liquefied and sent to Japan, South Korea and China.

Read Andrew Probyn’s ABC story - “The great gas robbery is happening before our eyes. But what can we do about it?”