This blog may help people explore some of the 'hidden' issues involved in certain media treatments of environmental and scientific issues. Using personal digital images, it's also intended to emphasise seasonal (and other) changes in natural history of the Swansea (South Wales) area. The material should help participants in field-based modules and people generally interested in the natural world. The views are wholly those of the author.
Monday, 19 September 2022
Overkill?
Only 400-500 bn tons of 'greenhouse gases' must be released, before global heating exceeds 1.5 degrees Centigrade above Pre-Industrial levels. This is the planet's so-called carbon budget. To limit the increase to 1.5, emissions would have to be halved by the middle of this century and then fall to zero, before its end. As said previously, achieving the 1.5 limit, is no guarantee that climate breakdown will not still occur. It's consequently more than worrying, that currently-identified reserves of coal; oil and gas, could emit 3.5 tn tons of carbon dioxide. This is seven times the world's carbon budget (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/19/world-fossil-fuel-reserve-greenhouse-gas-emissions). The Global Registry of Fossil Fuels records that the US alone, has the potential to release 577 bn tons of 'greenhouse gases'. Russia can generate 490 bn tons. China; India and Australia, if they burnt their entire fuel reserves, could each push the planet to the brink of climate breakdown (if we are not already there). Even the countries claiming to actively support efforts to limit climate change, are currently issuing leases to find new fossil fuel reserves. They also show zero appetite for reducing present rates of extraction. We are actually on track to release more 'greenhouse gases' than have been generated since the start of the Industrial Revolution. What planet do we live on?
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