Here’s what the coronavirus pandemic can teach us about tackling climate change

Every aspect of our lives has been affected by the coronavirus. The global economy has slowed, people have retreated to their homes and thousands have died or become seriously ill.

We need to pay close attention and so understand what lessons
we can draw from COVID-19 crisis to apply to the climate crisis.

At this frightening stage of the crisis, it’s difficult to focus on anything else. But as the International Agency has said, the effects of coronavirus are likely to be temporary but the other global emergency – climate change – is not.

Stopping the spread of coronavirus is paramount, but climate action must also continue. And we can draw many lessons and opportunities from the current health crisis when tackling planetary warming.

Read the story from The Conversation by Natasha Chassagne - “Here’s what the coronavirus pandemic can teach us about tackling climate change.”

Insights From The Wilderness – Human Civilization Will Not Survive Climate Intensification

I recognize that the title of this StonyHill Nugget is alarming and that I will be accused of holding extremist views on global warming and climate intensification. But I am concerned that the media and our government are not telling us the truth. Stated simply, the 1% that control the media, and the reigns of political power in Washington and other nations around the globe, have absolutely no desire or motivation to talk about the real threats embedded in global warming.

They know that the global economy is extremely fragile…..and talking about the deeper truths embedded in global warming and climate intensification would quickly kill the golden goose that is laying eggs of pure petroleum gold for them. The realities of global warming embedded in the Governmental Global Warming Crisis Report released by governmental scientists on the Friday following Thanksgiving were clear. Global warming is not only going to change life as we know it by the end of the century, but also the impacts of global warming are already changing life as we know it ….and the rate of change is going to continue to accelerate

Read the story from Resilience by Dick Rauscher  -  “Insights From The Wilderness – Human Civilization Will Not Survive Climate Intensification.”

Scientists Warn the UN of Capitalism's Imminent Demise

Capitalism as we know it is over. So suggests a new report commissioned by a group of scientists appointed by the UN Secretary-General. The main reason? We’re transitioning rapidly to a radically different global economy, due to our increasingly unsustainable exploitation of the planet’s environmental resources.

 The worldwide economy will fundamentally need to change.

Climate change and species extinctions are accelerating even as societies are experiencing rising inequality, unemployment, slow economic growth, rising debt levels, and impotent governments. Contrary to the way policymakers usually think about these problems, the new report says that these are not really separate crises at all.

Rather, these crises are part of the same fundamental transition to a new era characterized by inefficient fossil fuel production and the escalating costs of climate change. Conventional capitalist economic thinking can no longer explain, predict, or solve the workings of the global economy in this new age, the paper says

Read the story from Motherboard - “Scientists Warn the UN of Capitalism's Imminent Demise.”

Experts Respond to UN Climate Report

A report released last week by the United Nations’ scientific panel on climate change finds that, absent “unprecedented” changes to the global economy, severe impacts of the warming planet will take place as soon as 2040. Several Columbia Mailman School faculty whose work addresses the health impacts of climate change shared their thoughts on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and how the public health community should respond to its findings.

When every country in the world signed the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, the global scientific and policy communities were largely focused on avoiding a 2ºC (3.6ºF) global temperature rise from pre-industrial levels. At that time, the small island nations at greatest risk of disappearing under rising sea levels asked the IPCC to project what might take place at a more modest temperature rise of 1.5ºC (2.7ºF). Written by 91 scientists from 40 countries and drawing on more than 6,000 studies, the current report finds impacts at this lower threshold will be much more severe than previously understood, with numerous risks for the environment and for human health, including spikes in heat- and ozone-related illness and vector-borne diseases, as well as food and water shortages. These outcomes will take place by 2040 unless carbon emissions are cut to nearly half their current levels within 12 years.

Read the report from the Mailman School of Public Health - “Experts Respond to UN Climate Report."

Climate exploration more important following Paris decisions

On December 12, the 21st annual meeting of the world’s climate negotiators closed with adoption of the Paris Agreement.

Climate exploration needs to continue.

The task agreed by consensus among 195 nations is clear, ambitious, and complex: re-engineer the infrastructure of the global economy to eliminate practices that destabilize Earth’s climate system, while ensuring ongoing and expanded prosperity for all people everywhere.

That the task is difficult should not put us back on our heels. As we move into new territory, we will face new obstacles. This is how we learn, how we know if we are up to the challenge, how we know which adjustments to make, and how we succeed in crossing an unknown ocean.

Read The Guardian story - “The new age of climate exploration.”