Population panic lets rich people off the hook for the climate crisis they are fuelling (excerpt); The Guardian

(Pics by this blog)

"Rising consumption by the affluent has a far greater environmental impact than the birth rate in poorer nations

When a major study was published last month, showing that the global population is likely to peak then crash much sooner than most scientists had assumed, I naively imagined that people in rich nations would at last stop blaming all the world’s environmental problems on population growth. I was wrong. If anything, it appears to have got worse.
 
Next week the BirthStrike movement – founded by women who, by announcing their decision not to have children, seek to focus our minds on the horror of environmental collapse – will dissolve itself, because its cause has been hijacked so virulently and persistently by population obsessives. The founders explain that they had “underestimated the power of ‘overpopulation’ as a growing form of climate breakdown denial”.

It is true that, in some parts of the world, population growth is a major driver of particular kinds of ecological damage, such as the expansion of small-scale agriculture into rainforests, the bushmeat trade and local pressure on water and land for housing. But its global impact is much smaller than many people claim.

The formula for calculating people’s environmental footprint is simple, but widely misunderstood: Impact = Population x Affluence x Technology (I = PAT). The global rate of consumption growth, before the pandemic, was 3% a year. Population growth is 1%. Some people assume this means that the rise in population bears one-third of the responsibility for increased consumption. But population growth is overwhelmingly concentrated among the world’s poorest people, who have scarcely any A or T to multiply their P. The extra resource use and greenhouse gas emissions caused by a rising human population are a tiny fraction of the impact of consumption growth."

Go to the revealing, complete article by George Monbiot in The Guardian


Related: Far-reaching climate change risks to Australia must be reduced and managed: Aigroup

overpopulation, affluence, technology, #climatechange, #cambio-climatico, #foodsecurity, #criminalesclimáticosdelacárcel, #人类灭绝, 

The Unraveling of America (excerpt): Rolling Stone

*Photos added by this blog.

Elizabeth Warren: Storm is Coming

 "Anthropologist Wade Davis on how COVID-19 signals the end of the American era"

"Never in our lives have we experienced such a global phenomenon. For the first time in the history of the world, all of humanity, informed by the unprecedented reach of digital technology, has come together, focused on the same existential threat, consumed by the same fears and uncertainties, eagerly anticipating the same, as yet unrealized, promises of medical science."

"At the root of this transformation and decline lies an ever-widening chasm between Americans who have and those who have little or nothing. Economic disparities exist in all nations, creating a tension that can be as disruptive as the inequities are unjust. In any number of settings, however, the negative forces tearing apart a society are mitigated or even muted if there are other elements that reinforce social solidarity — religious faith, the strength and comfort of family, the pride of tradition, fidelity to the land, a spirit of place.

But when all the old certainties are shown to be lies, when the promise of a good life for a working

"...as a buffoon of a president.."

family is shattered as factories close and corporate leaders, growing wealthier by the day, ship jobs abroad, the social contract is irrevocably broken. For two generations, America has celebrated globalization with iconic intensity, when, as any working man or woman can see, it’s nothing more than capital on the prowl in search of ever cheaper sources of labor.

For many years, those on the conservative right in the United States have invoked a nostalgia for the 1950s, and an America that never was, but has to be presumed to have existed to rationalize their sense of loss and abandonment, their fear of change, their bitter resentments and lingering contempt for the social movements of the 1960s, a time of new aspirations for women, gays, and people of color. In truth, at least in economic terms, the country of the 1950s resembled Denmark as much as the America of today. Marginal tax rates for the wealthy were 90 percent. The salaries of CEOs were, on average, just 20 times that of their mid-management employees."

Brazil slashes budget to fight climate change as deforestation spikes: Reuters

Climate change driving Brazil's drought; Climate Change News.com

BRASILIA 

"Efforts to keep the Amazon rainforest standing and reduce Brazil’s planet-warming emissions are being hampered by budget cuts for the country’s environmental watchdog and its main climate change programme, researchers have said. 

Brazil has seen a sharp spike in deforestation under the right-wing government of President Jair Bolsonaro, with less than half the forest inspectors it had a decade ago and the COVID-19 pandemic spreading rapidly across the Amazon region. 

Compared with 2019, the first five months of 2020 registered a

Amazon deforestration: Climate Change News com

substantial drop in government spending on forest inspection activities carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama). 

For January to May 2019, the amount allocated was R$17.4 million ($3.24 million), against R$5.3 million so far in 2020, according to figures provided by the Institute of Socioeconomic Studies (INESC), a non-profit organisation that has analysed Brazil’s public budget for more than 30 years. 

Climate grief expected to be widespread soon but it's still not openly acknowledged (excerpt): ABC

"Feeling miserable, anxious, helpless and just generally terrible because the world is becoming less habitable? You're not alone.

"The good news is there are strategies that may help you cope. The bad news is the pandemic we're now facing may test your passion and enthusiasm for climate action.

Kurtis Baute recently sought out

 professional help to cope with

 his despair about climate change.

(Supplied: Kurtis Baute)

For the past 18 months, Canadian scientist Kurtis Baute says he has been dealing with a lot of 'climate grief'.

"Basically I can't stop thinking about the fact that millions of people, real people, are dying or will die because of something that is completely unavoidable," he recently announced on his YouTube channel. 

"We can stop using fossil fuels but so far we've completely failed to do so...it feels completely out of control and it's depressing."

Climate grief — or eco anxiety/despair — is a strong psychological response to the current and future loss of habitats, species and ecosystems.

It's recognised by the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and sufferers may feel emotions like fear, anger, guilt, shame, grief, loss and helplessness.

It can be related to the direct impacts of climate change, such as drought or bushfire. But it can also take the form of a sense of doom or even existential crisis about our warming world.

In some ways it's a lot like the grief we experience when someone dies.

The health industry predicts it will be common place in the next 10 years.

Becoming more environmentally engaged

 

The danger of unvalidated grief

Climate grief is often categorised as a form of disenfranchised grief which means it isn't always publicly or openly acknowledged.

"There's no ritual around loss of environment," says Tristan Snell, a counselling psychologist and researcher in environmental psychology at Deakin University.

"When you lose someone, there's a funeral and all sorts of ways people connect and this helps process that loss. That's just not the case for loss of environment." 

People experiencing disenfranchised grief can feel unsupported or

The thought of climate catastrophe can be overwhelming

ashamed, and consequently can be very reluctant to talk with friends, family or a professional.

"People may feel this isn't something someone else can help with," says Dr Snell.

This can then snowball into major physical and mental health problems.

Some will feel this more than others

Researchers, including Dr Snell, are currently trying to gauge the mental health impacts of climate change and recent climate-related events on Australians with this survey which you can get involved in. 

However, the latest research says that if you're between 15 and 24-years-old you are at higher risk of feeling climate grief, with almost half of young Victorians feel extremely frustrated, fearful, sad and outraged about climate change.

Climate change is causing grief

"How to cope

Clinical psychologists are developing strategies to help people work through climate grief, but research is still quite limited.

However you may find the follow tactics help with feelings of emotional distress:

• Gather trusted and authoritative information on the topic to ensure your knowledge on climate change is correct
 
• Become more environmentally engaged by getting involved in land care or tree planting for example — taking action to better the planet is thought to relieve some anticipatory grief 
 
• Spend time in nature to remind yourself it's a source of strength

• Talk with like-minded family or friends and if needed, seek professional help"

Read the complete ABC article 

Related:  We need action to prevent further catastophic fires and we need to be prepared for wildfires


#cambio-climatico, #climateaction, #climate crisis, #climateemergency, #criminales-climáticos-de-la-cárcel, #jailclimatecriminals, #人类灭绝, #气候变化, fossil fuel industry, 

Climate Change will bring more severe storms.

"Although scientists are uncertain whether climate change will lead to an increase in the number of hurricanes, warmer ocean temperatures and higher sea levels are expected to intensify their impacts."
 https://www.c2es.org/content/hurricanes-and-climate-change/

Queensland: Cyclone Debbie caused massive damage to crops.

How can we prepare for more severe storms? 

"How to Build Resilience

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is one way to reduce the risk of the strongest storms in the future. Communities can also bolster their resilience to the impacts of hurricanes by:

• Preserving coastal wetlands, dunes, and reefs to absorb storm surges.
• Replenishing beaches and improve infrastructure that affords coastal protection, such as seawalls.
• Elevating vulnerable buildings to reduce flood damage.
• Designing structures to be resilient to high winds and flying debris.
• Enacting policies that discourage development in vulnerable areas.
• Preparing prior to a storm’s arrival by boarding windows, clearing property of potential flying debris, and having an evacuation plan."    https://www.c2es.org/content/hurricanes-and-climate-change/

For Government::

• strengthen regulations to prevent further development and new infrastructure on susceptible coastlines

• ensure emergency services are well prepared and supported financially

• support people in developing emergency plans

• ensure the vulnerable can access support

• financially support smaller nations unable to prepare sufficiently for storms

Gillard on climate action: “It was done. And … we can do it again in the future”: RenewEconomy

Vote for my future climate

Former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard has expressed optimism that Australia will eventually embrace strong climate policy while defending her government’s carbon price policy as one of the most effective measures introduced in Australia to cut emissions.

Speaking during a web forum organised by the Australia Institute, Gillard said that the evidence was clear that the carbon price introduced by her government successfully worked to cut Australia’s emissions without being a burden on the Australian economy.

Talk of Australia’s climate policy failures often focuses on Kevin Rudd’s CPRS, rejected by the Coalition after Tony Abbott emerged as their leader. Somehow, the Greens are blamed for this failure but it is often forgotten that the Greens worked with Labor to deliver the carbon price, along with ARENA and the CEFC.

Marking ten years since Gillard became prime minister, the former Labor leader was asked to reflect on the performance of the carbon price, which ultimately proved to be politically damaging, despite being effective policy.

“Australia’s emissions were going up; our carbon price came into effect, they went down. Then, it was repealed by the Abbott government and there they go, back up. So we would be in a different and better place on climate had that scheme endured,” Gillard said.

Read more in the original Renew Economy article 

Related:

Does Australia's government take climate change seriously: Sky News UK

World's three hottest Julys happened in the last five years: Reuters (excerpt)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -

We want climate action now

 "Last month was the world’s third-hottest July on record, new data show — the latest milestone in a global warming trend that has seen the three hottest Julys within the last five years.

With the heat has come a high level of ice melt in the Arctic, where the extent of sea ice last month hit the lowest level for July since the polar satellite record-keeping began four decades ago, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. 

California burnt

The new findings come as France and Belgium brace for a possible weekend heat wave, while Italian roads near an Alpine glacier were closed amid warnings that high temperatures could cause ice to collapse. 


“It’s not just a summer thing,” said Copernicus senior scientist Freja Vamborg. “It’s on a global scale, and all months are warming.” 


Atmospheric temperature records dating back to the mid-19th century reveal the last five years to be the hottest yet. In terms of records for the month of July, only 2019 and 2016 were warmer than last month. "

Go to complete Reuters article 

See also:

This Is Inequity at the Boiling Point: The Conversation (excerpt)

 

HERE IS THE SAME ARTICLE IN MANDARIN.

世界上三个最炎热的七月发生在过去五年中：路透社（节选）
布鲁塞尔（路透社）-

＃热浪，监狱气候犯罪分子
我们现在要采取气候行动
 “新数据显示，上个月是有记录以来世界上第三最热的七月。这是全球变暖趋势的最新里程碑，

过去五年来，这是最热的三个七月。


伴随着热量的到来，北极地区的冰层融化程度很高，据欧盟哥白尼气候变化服务局称，

上个月海冰的程度达到了自四十多年前极地卫星保持记录以来的七月份的最低水平。 。

“它在全球范围内，而且所有月份都在变暖。”
加州烧毁
新发现是在法国和比利时为周末可能出现的热浪做好准备的同时，

意大利阿尔卑斯山冰川附近的道路因警告高温可能导致冰塌而关闭。


哥白尼资深科学家Freja Vamborg说：“这不仅仅是夏天。” 

“它在全球范围内，而且所有月份都在变暖。”


高温还与野火联系在一起，野火一直在烧焦西伯利亚森林
始于19世纪中叶的大气温度记录显示，过去五年是最热的。

就7月份的记录而言，只有2019年和2016年比上个月温暖。 ”

去完成路透社的文章

Shìjiè shàng sān gè zuì yánrè de qī yuè fāshēng 

zài guòqù wǔ nián zhōng: Lùtòu shè (jiéxuǎn)
bùlǔsài'ěr (lùtòu shè)-

#rèlàng, jiānyù qìhòu fànzuì fēnzǐ
wǒmen xiànzài yào cǎiqǔ qìhòu xíngdòng
 “xīn shùjù xiǎnshì, shàng gè yuè shì yǒu jìlù 

yǐlái shìjiè shàng dì sān zuì rè de qī yuè. 

Zhè shì quánqiú biàn nuǎn qūshì de zuìxīn lǐchéngbēi, 

guòqù wǔ niánlái, zhè shì zuì rè de sān gè qī yuè.


Bàn suí zháo rèliàng de dàolái, 

běijídìqū de bīng céng rónghuà chéngdù hěn gāo, 

jù ōuméng gē bái ní qìhòu biànhuà fúwù jú chēng, 

shàng gè yuè hǎi bīng de chéngdù dádàole zì sìshí duō nián qián jí dì wèixīng 

bǎochí jìlù yǐlái de qī yuèfèn de zuìdī shuǐpíng. .

“Tā zài quánqiú fànwéi nèi, érqiě suǒyǒu yuèfèn dōu zài biàn nuǎn.”
Jiāzhōu shāohuǐ
xīn fāxiàn shì zài fàguó hé bǐlìshí wèi zhōumò kěnéng 

chūxiàn de rèlàng zuò hǎo zhǔnbèi de tóngshí, 

yìdàlì ā'ěrbēisī shān bīngchuān fùjìn de dàolù yīn jǐnggào gāowēn kěnéng dǎozhì 

bīng tā ér guānbì.


Gē bái ní zīshēn kēxuéjiā Freja Vamborg shuō:“Zhè bùjǐn jǐn shì xiàtiān.” 

“Tā zài quánqiú fànwéi nèi, érqiě suǒyǒu yuèfèn dōu zài biàn nuǎn.”


Gāowēn hái yǔ yěhuǒ liánxì zài yīqǐ, yěhuǒ yīzhí zài shāo jiāo xībólìyǎ sēnlín
shǐ yú 19 shìjì zhōngyè de dàqì wēndù jìlù xiǎnshì, guòqù wǔ nián shì zuì rè de. 

Jiù 7 yuèfèn de jìlù ér yán, zhǐyǒu 2019 nián hé 2016 nián bǐ shàng gè yuè wēnnuǎn. ”

Qù wánchéng lùtòu shè de wénzhāng

#heatwaves, #climatechange, #climatecrisis, #drought, #extremeheat, #wildfire, 

#人类灭绝