A Wasted Year
A total human failure. A wasted year.
“We” couldn’t stop or even stop enabling at least two ongoing genocides (Sudan and now in all the neighbors of Israel). We allowed industry lobbyists to subvert agreements at the climate and biodiversity COP meetings as well as negotiations on the plastics treaty. Only one good half-measure was temporarily suspending deep-sea mining.
Remember the Pandemic? The planet became measurably quieter with the reduced human travel and incessant war against Nature. CO2 emissions were lower, economic through-put was lower, demonstrating that a lower human environmental impact is possible. But the vast majority of the population who are simply spokes on the wheels of the bus flying off the cliff, got right back to their routine, they returned to “Normal” as fast as possible. Their daily commute goes on, their daily grind of urban existence goes on, and that’s just how it is going to be, the bus has not yet hit the rocks below the cliff. Nothing short of societal collapse will get them out of this terminal failure. Space boosterism continues apace, with ever more launches of Space trash through the atmosphere and false hopes of Space colonialism with goals set on the Moon and Mars. Genetic engineering is peering into every cellular process, seeking commercial or medical or military exploitation of the findings as well as the development of unnatural life forms. Fossil-fuel exploration and development continues as if this were 1960. Ever-more stupid people are taking over governments ensuring that nothing ever knocks us off this pathetic pathway to the American Dream. Read more about this failure of empires in a great article by Alfred McCoy on Tomdispatch. It’s long past time to Wake Up!
The climate alarmists can just shut up. Yes, we’re over 400 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere, but that is not too high; there isn’t any good excuse to be spending massive amounts of energy and resources extracting CO2 from the atmosphere or entering the folly of geoengineering. A study reported in Phys.org says “Arctic Siberia summers were up to 10°C warmer than today during the Last Interglacial, study finds” by Hannah Bird, (Phys.org). The researchers ultimately identified up to 10°C more summer warming in northern Siberia during the Last Interglacial compared to summers today. See more at: Lutz Schirrmeister et al. “Newly dated permafrost deposits and their paleo-ecological inventory reveal a much warmer-than-today Eemian in Arctic Siberia” Climate of the Past (2024) https://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-74
But here’s the catch: It MUST STOP, right here! These emissions have to end, right now, not some mythical “net-zero” at some far-off date. Yet nobody is going to do the first thing about it. And the emissions issue is just the tip of the (melting) iceberg. Our entire human project, instead of perpetual (exponential) increase in economic growth, MUST be wound down and contained on a level that can fit on this planet and cease the ongoing destruction of all other life around us.
Lessening that impact is a theme of Vince Beiser’s new book, titled “Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future.” You can read an interview with the author on The Bulletin.org.
“In Power Metal, Vince Beiser explores the dirty underside of the clean energy transition. The result is at once fascinating and eye-opening – an essential read for anyone concerned about the future.” — Elizabeth Kolbert, author of “The Sixth Extinction”
In the interview, Mr. Beiser says that we shouldn’t replace 1.2 billion ICE cars with 1.2 billion electric cars; we should make no more than half that number while improving public transportation allowing more cycling and walkable cities. He states:
“But at the end of the day, if what we’re really concerned about is lowering our energy use and lowering the impact that we have on the planet, especially lowering demand for these metals that we need, then the best thing, the most impact you can have as an individual, is to not buy a car.”
Do read the interview article and the comments. You may follow Vince Beiser on his newsletter on Substack. The author was invited to send some input for this book announcement but did not respond before press time.
Another report, on Phys.org, looks at how aerosols are affecting the jet stream: “Aerosols could be weakening summertime circulation in the Northern Hemisphere” by Rebecca Owen, Eos. Changes in the aerosols distributions during the 1980-2020 period affect wind patterns and atmospheric flow as much as greenhouse gasses, in the summer months. A reduction in aerosol emissions in N. America and Europe allows more surface heating and energy export to higher-latitude oceans, decreasing the polar/equatorial temperature gradient which affects atmospheric floes such as the jet stream. Conversely, increased aerosol pollution over S. and E. Asia had the opposite effect, decreasing amount of surface heating, reducing energy transport between land and the lower-latitude Pacific Ocean (25°N-40°N), further weakening the energy gradient and weather systems. So the lower latitude (Pacific) ocean should have been warmer and the higher latitude (Atlantic) ocean should have been cooler. For more information, see: Joonsuk M. Kang et al. “Anthropogenic Aerosols Have Significantly Weakened the Regional Summertime Circulation in the Northern Hemisphere During the Satellite Era” AGU Advances (2024) https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2024AV001318
On a similar topic: “Dripstones from Romanian cave offer insights into climate dynamics in Europe” by Marietta Fuhrmann-Koch, Heidelberg University, shows how precipitation patterns in central Europe are affected by N. Atlantic jet-stream patterns. For more information see: Sophie F. Warken et al. “Dynamic processes determine precipitation variability in Eastern Central Europe since the Last Glacial Maximum”, Communications Earth & Environment (2024) https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01876-9
Also, Melting sea ice in Antarctica causes ocean storms. The record-breaking retreat of Antarctic sea ice in 2023 has led to more frequent storms over newly exposed parts of the Southern Ocean, according to a study published Wednesday. Scientists know that the loss of Antarctic sea ice can diminish penguin numbers, cause ice shelves to melt in warmer waters, and impede the Southern Ocean from absorbing carbon dioxide. But this new research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, explores another consequence: increased heat loss from the ocean to the atmosphere, and an associated rise in storms. Since 2016 there has been a large-scale reduction in Antarctic sea ice, but nothing like 2023 when a record amount failed to reform over the winter. For more information, see: Simon A. Josey et al “Record-low Antarctic sea ice in 2023 increased ocean heat loss and storms” Nature (2024) https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08368-y
And on the plastics contamination issue, look what comes out of tea bags! Article in medicalxpress.com.
Great links in this article Kathleen, thank you. One disagreement — that 400ppm CO2 (428) is cause for alarm; for instance the Greenland ice sheet formed around 300ppm is doomed and will destroy the US East Coast, and possibly halt AMOC. Drinking green tea with a tea bag that is apparently loaded with plastic, oh joy.
Does it somehow help that it’s them and not us? “Nothing short of societal collapse will get them out of this terminal failure.”