The World’s 25th Conference of the Parties (COP 25) concluded in Madrid at 1:55 PM, Sunday, December 15, 2019, having accomplished enough to merit the pile of horse manure left at its doorstep. Nearly 27,000 international delegates participated. One of the resulting press releases proclaims, “Heads of UN agencies met for a high-level Leadership Dialogue on how to turn the tide on deforestation and committed to the common goal of helping countries reduce deforestation and improve forest management.” Another states “Italy and Mexico committed to stepped-up climate and environmental education.” There is no indication that these, or any other measures, will be implemented. In her final address in the main plenary hall, Greta Thunberg described COP 25 as “some kind of opportunity for countries to negotiate loopholes.” Elizabeth May issued a press release calling the negotiations “brutal” and adding that any real progress was “blocked at this meeting by the negotiators representing Donald Trump’s America, Bolsonaro’s Brazil and Morrison’s Australia.”
Continue reading What Did COP 25 Achieve?Tag Archives: COP 21 (Paris)
The Next 18 Months May Be Critical
By Roy L Hales
The heat wave that toppled European temperature records last month, reduced half of Greenland’s ice sheet to slush. Though wildfires are common in northern regions, there is no record of anything corresponding to what is transpiring today. Close to 5.5 million hectares are ablaze in northern Russia, and another million in Alaska. As a BBC environmental correspondent recently stated, the next 18 months may be critical if we hope to halt the rise of global temperatures at 1.5 degrees.
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Renewables Are Replacing Coal In America
By Roy L Hales
For the first time ever, in April renewable energy produced more US electricity than coal. This trend is expected to continue through May and Trump’s U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) “sees renewable generation topping coal-fired output sporadically this year, and again in 2020.” While the transition is only in the early stages, renewables are replacing coal in America.
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Sea Levels Are Already Rising
Sea levels are already rising. One tends to think of this as a third world development but, between 1969 and 2010, Prince Edward Island lost 20 square kilometers. According to Dr. Adam Fenech, Director of the Climate Lab at the University of Prince Edward Island, close to a thousand PEI homes, 17 lighthouses (one of which is already half in the water) and a number of wind turbines could be lost by 2100. A new webinar from the Science Media Centre of Canada discussed an important factor not included in this calculation. The changing climate makes sea levels rise.
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Overshooting Our Planet’s Resources
By Roy L Hales
Rex Wyler spoke of a wolf pack that found a valley full of deer. Initially, they flourished and grew plentiful. Only they were too successful. They eventually ate all the deer and there was no food left for the wolves. Humanity is in a similar situation, overshooting our planet’s resources.