It’s time to think seriously about cutting off the supply of fossil fuels

There is a bias in climate policy shared by analysts, politicians, and pundits across the political spectrum so common it is rarely remarked upon. To put it bluntly: Nobody, at least nobody in power, wants to restrict the supply of fossil fuels.

Time to shut down the supply of fossil fuels.

Policies that choke off fossil fuels at their origin — shutting down mines and wells; banning new ones; opting against new pipelines, refineries, and export terminals — have been embraced by climate activists, picking up steam with the Keystone pipeline protests and the recent direct action of the Valve Turners.

But they are looked upon with some disdain by the climate intelligentsia, who are united in their belief that such strategies are economically suboptimal and politically counterproductive.

Read the story by David Robert from VOX - “It’s time to think seriously about cutting off the supply of fossil fuels.”

China’s latest energy megaproject shows that coal really is on the way out

China has some of the worst air pollution in the world. In several cities, thick layers of smog are common, resulting in thousands of deaths every year.

The floating solar power station in Anhui province, China. 

According to a 2016 study, the top contributor of air pollution-related deaths in China is the burning of coal. The team of Chinese and American researchers behind the study said that pollution from coal caused 366,000 premature deaths in 2013.

To improve the country's air quality, the Chinese government vows to spend at least $360 billion on clean energy projects and create 13 million new renewable energy jobs by 2020. China is already one of the world's biggest investor in alternative energy sources like solar, wind, and hydropower.

Read the Business Insider story by Leanna Garfield - “China’s latest energy megaproject shows that coal really is on the way out.”

Piloting aviation industry through a changing climate

There’s something rather unsettling about eerie pictures of flooded airport runways, and it’s not just the submerged jet bridges. Such photos capture the type of disruptive scenes that could become more common in the future, as the effects of climate change continue to ramp up.

Flying into a changing climate.

New attention to the issue shows that airports and airlines around the world will be affected by climate change in various ways. Consider this past summer’s spate of heat-related groundings in Phoenix, when 120 degree-air temperatures spurred a single carrier to cancel more than 40 flights out of the city. A recent study by scientists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, at Columbia University, anticipates more troubles along those lines in coming years).

“There are a number of potential climate change impacts on aviation operations,” said Perry Flint, a spokesperson for the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Impacts range from “reducing the take-off performance of aircraft, to increased storminess – meaning flights have to route around weather more frequently,” he said.

Read the Yale Climate Connections story by Daisy Simmons - “Piloting aviation industry through a changing climate.”

Climate change impacts on everything, including our memories

Memory is to be celebrated, particularly if it is reliable, but frequently facts demonstrate that it is not to be trusted.

The switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius has worsened the reliability of memories, particularly among those whose youth was measured in Fahrenheit temperatures and now, much later in life, they are experiencing temperature in Celsius.

For many older people 100° Fahrenheit was frightfully hot and now they seem to equate that with 40° Celsius, which is in fact, on the old scale, is 104° Fahrenheit.

It was in April 1975 that Australia switched to the metric measurement of heat and it seems that those still locked in that time warp are yet to really understand the earth is warming and that the “hot” of the past is not the “hot” of today.

Temperatures of 45° Celsius have been historically rare in Australia’s major population centres in decades past, but as this century unfolds, they will become increasingly common - 45° Celsius is 113° Fahrenheit!

It is worth noting that at the time of writing this (4:48pm, February 2, 2014); the temperature in Shepparton is 41.2°C which on the old scale is 106.1°F.