Geoengineering is a last-ditch option to stall global warming

Geoengineering is a last-ditch option to stall global warming — and it’s getting a first test

Harvard researchers want to see what adding calcium carbonate could do to the stratosphere.

"And while solar geoengineering helps address the temperature issues related to global warming, that’s hardly the only concern with climate change. As Irfan notes, geoengineering could threaten crop yields by reducing crops’ access to sunlight, and it does not address ocean acidification, a significant environmental threat associated with climate change.

But if the world continues on its current emissions path, we might have to choose, in 2030 or 2040 or 2050, between the (quite bad) option of geoengineering and the (also quite bad) option of enduring and adapting to the effects of large-scale global warming. And the Harvard experiment could help us understand which of those two bad options would be worse."

Read full Vox article 

Vox: Here are 10 ways to accelerate progress against climate change and a simple guide to the climate policies that work.

EJA: Response to ASIC report on climate risk disclosure

By Madeleine Egan    September 20, 2018

"Today ASIC released its report Climate risk disclosure by Australia’s listed companies. ASIC reiterated that the law requires the directors of a listed entity to publish an Operating and Financial Review in an annual report that includes a discussion of climate risk when it could affect the entity’s achievement of its financial performance or disclosed outcomes."

Read full EJA article 

NYT: How Wildfires Are Making Some California Homes Uninsurable

"California’s wildfires keep growing bigger, more frequent and more destructive. Of the 20 worst wildfires in state history, four were just last year, giving rise to a record $12.6 billion of insurance claims.

It hasn’t gotten any better this year. The Mendocino Complex Fire in August was the biggest in state history, and the Camp Fire that wiped out the town of Paradise is the deadliest. It had destroyed nearly 12,000 homes as of Monday morning.

This has put pressure on property insurers, some of which have been declining to renew homeowners’ policies in fire-prone areas. When the houses that burned this year are rebuilt, their owners may find that no one is writing insurance there — at least not at affordable prices."

Nov. 20, 2018

Read the NYT article

The Guardian: Climate change is the biggest threat to our futures, not striking from school

"We are walking out for a day to send the Australian government a message: you can no longer pretend we are not here

"This month, hundreds of children are going on strike from school to demand urgent action on climate change. From rural Victoria to Townsville, we are walking out of school for a day or more to tell our politicians to listen to us and protect our futures."


Read The Guardian article

Students strike for climate change protests, defying calls to stay in school

 

Australian Students Stage School Strikes Over Climate Change Inaction

 

Protest in Melbourne - From NY Times

MP's letter to Queensland Premier re coal mine support

Cate Faehrmann MLC

Here is a letter I have sent to the Queensland Premier calling on her to stop approving coal mines if she is serious about responding to the horrific fires devastating the state right now.

- - - - -

Dear Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk MP,
I heard you on ABC radio this morning talking about the catastrophic fire conditions that Queensland is facing. “Unprecedented” was the word you used.

You told listeners across the country that temperatures had broken records by 5 or 10 degrees and that the lack of normally humid conditions in that part of Queensland was making the situation worse.

You’ve previously acknowledged that climate change is real and climate change is happening.

Just two months ago your government released a report warning of the increased risk of extreme floods and fires as a result of climate change.

So I just want to check that you’re aware of the link between burning coal and climate change?

The Guardian: Climate change already a health emergency, say experts

"Deadly heatwaves and spread of diseases affect people’s health today – report.

People’s health is being damaged today by climate change through effects ranging from deadly heatwaves in Europe to rising dengue fever in the tropics, according to a report.

Billions of hours of farmwork has been lost during high temperatures and global warming has damaged the ability to grow crops, it said."

Read The Guardian article 

Related:

Australia shamed – again – on climate, as UNEP report calls for urgent action

WEF: Which cities are at risk from ice sheets melting? This tool holds the answers

"The interactive tool, known as Gradient Fingerprint Mapping (GFM), was developed by scientists at NASA's renowned Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

Their invention predicts which areas of ice may contribute to sea level changes in individual cities. 

 

This provides researchers with unprecedented insight into which ice sheets (and cities) they should be “most worried about”."

Read WEF article 

Related:

Australia shamed – again – on climate, as UNEP report calls for urgent action