Climate Crisis Reality Check (2)

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The Paris Agreement 2015 is the latest international treaty on climate change.
  
Quoted from wikipedia 
 
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The Paris Agreement's long-term temperature goal is to keep the rise in mean global temperature to well below 2 °C (3.6 °F) above pre-industrial levels, and preferably limit the increase to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F), recognizing that this would substantially reduce the effects of climate change. Emissions should be reduced as soon as possible and reach net-zero by the middle of the 21st century.[3] To stay below 1.5 °C of global warming, emissions need to be cut by roughly 50% by 2030. This is an aggregate of each country's nationally determined contributions. 
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According to the 2020 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), with the current climate commitments of the Paris Agreement, global mean temperatures will likely rise by more than 3 °C by the end of the 21st century.
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Countries determine themselves what contributions they should make to achieve the aims of the treaty. As such, these plans are called nationally determined contributions (NDCs).
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In 2021, a study using a probabilistic model concluded that the rates of emissions reductions would have to increase by 80% beyond NDCs to likely meet the 2 °C upper target of the Paris Agreement, that the probabilities of major emitters meeting their NDCs without such an increase is very low. It estimated that with current trends the probability of staying below 2 °C of warming is 5% – and 26% if NDCs were met and continued post-2030 by all signatories.
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The message from the above quotations is
1. The Paris Agreement is an attempt to limit climate change effects by keeping global mean (average) temperatures below 1.5C or 2C.
2. We are likely looking at global temperature rises between 2C and over 3C by the end of the century. 


We are currently at 1.1 or 1.2C global mean temperature above pre-industrial levels. There are extreme climate events now never mind at 1.5, 2 or over 3C. 

2022 saw record-breaking heat in UK while there were heatwaves and vast wildfires in North America, record-breaking temperatures and huge wildfires across France and Western Europe, huge drought followed by severe flooding in Pakistan, repeated flooding in Eastern Australia and currently East Africa is suffering the worst drought in decades.  

We are in a climate crisis at 1.2C. The crisis is now. 

The main cause of global warming is the use of fossil fuels. The best response to the climate crisis is to stop the use of fossil fuels as much as we possibly can and to transition to renewable sources of energy instead. This would also involve a programme of insulation to reduce the use of fossil fuels. 

Politicians worldwide are neglecting to address the climate crisis in any meaningful way. The protest group Just Stop Oil is calling for no new development of fossil fuels. Grant Shapps, UK's Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is so totally out of touch that he's not even familiar with Just Stop Oil's objectives: “I’ve no issue with people arguing for lower levels of petrol, gas or whatever other thing they want to campaign for usage, that is fine, that is one thing. But don’t go disrupting other people’s lives - it’s unacceptable, it’s illegal!”, the Business Secretary said.  

Young people particularly should get active opposing climate destruction because it's fekking their futures and otherwise they're just going to keep on getting totally disregarded, shat on. Extreme weather events at 1.2C are so serious, 3C may well lead to extinction and next to nothing is being done to prevent it.

Some links - try searching for your own e.g. extreme weather events 2022
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement
Met Office: Unprecedented extreme heatwave (UK), July 2022
Analysis: Africa’s unreported extreme weather in 2022 and climate change
Over 20,000 died in western Europe’s summer heatwaves, figures show

16/12/22 Climate Reality Check 2021


Continue ReadingClimate Crisis Reality Check (2)

Just Stop Oil: Pair guilty of damaging Van Gogh painting’s frame

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Image: sailko at https://commons.wikimedia.org, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-63717863

Two Just Stop Oil protesters have been found guilty of causing criminal damage to a Vincent Van Gogh painting’s frame after gluing themselves to it.

Louis McKechnie, 22, and Emily Brocklebank, 23, caused about £2,000 of damage to the frame of Peach Trees In Blossom at London’s Courtauld Gallery.

McKechnie was jailed for three weeks while Brocklebank received a suspended sentence.

She had said: “I didn’t think I would cause much damage. Glue comes off.”

Continue ReadingJust Stop Oil: Pair guilty of damaging Van Gogh painting’s frame

Just Stop Oil to restart London actions

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Just Stop Oil say “From November 28th, Just Stop Oil will bring disruption back into London by marching, temporarily blocking and holding inner city roundabouts. Disruption will continue over three weeks with both arrestable and non-arrestable roles needed to send our message loud and clear this winter.”

Continue ReadingJust Stop Oil to restart London actions

You may hate Just Stop Oil protestors – but history books will look kindly on them

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‘You are entitled to hate me’: Just Stop Oil activist cries after halting traffic on M25

https://metro.co.uk/2022/11/11/you-may-hate-just-stop-oil-protestors-but-history-will-look-kindly-on-them-17744086/

Nicola Thorp

They’re one of the most controversial groups of 2022 and there has barely been a day in the last couple of months when Just Stop Oil haven’t made the news.

If their campaign’s objective is to grab our attention, it has been a resounding success, with stunts like throwing cake on a waxwork of King Charles, spraying paint on an Aston Martin garage and disrupting traffic on the M25 motorway grabbing headlines. 

If their goal is to win over hearts and minds, then they might not be deemed quite as successful – at least for now.

Regardless of how climate change activists are viewed at present, I have no doubt that history will look kindly on them.

Continue ReadingYou may hate Just Stop Oil protestors – but history books will look kindly on them