This is an important effort to help explore what can be done to make the #Web less energy-hungry…. and thereby help reduce the impact of the overall #Internet on #ClimateChange. (Since web traffic is such a huge amount of Internet traffic.) Good to see this happening!

From: @w3c
w3c.social/@w3c/11344250260640…

Along with flash floods, we're also dealing with flash droughts — a new term for me.

"Where has all the rain gone? Bone-dry October strikes much of US"
phys.org/news/2024-10-bone-dry…

h/t @primonatura
#drought #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming

Where has all the rain gone? Bone-dry October strikes much of US

A bone-dry October is pushing nearly half of the United States into a flash drought, leading to fires in the Midwest and hindering shipping on the Mississippi River.

^{Seth Borenstein (Phys.org)}

Devastating scenes of piled-up cars in #Valencia, #Spain today after yesterday’s historic flooding. A year’s worth of rain fell in a few hours with a peak of 500mm.

#weather #wx #ClimateChange

What is "Amoc" and why is it so important?
_________________________________________

The dangers of a collapse of the main Atlantic Ocean circulation, known as Amoc, have been “greatly underestimated” and would have devastating and irreversible impacts, according to an open letter released by 44 experts from 15 countries.

There are indications that Amoc has been slowing down for the last 60 or 70 years due to global heating. The most ominous sign is the cold blob over the northern Atlantic. The region is the only place in the world that has cooled in the past 20 years or so, while everywhere else on the planet has warmed – a sign of reduced heat transport into that region, exactly what climate computer models have predicted in response to Amoc slowing as a result of greenhouse gas emissions.

Another indicator is a reduction in the salt content of seawater. In the cold blob region, salinity is at its lowest level since measurements began 120 years ago. This is probably linked to Amoc slowing down and bringing less salty water and heat from the subtropics.

It is an amplifying feedback: as Amoc gets weaker, the oceans gets less salty, and as the oceans gets less salty, then Amoc gets weaker. At a certain point this becomes a vicious cycle which continues by itself until Amoc has died, even if we stop pushing the system with further emissions.

The big unknown here – the billion-dollar question – is how far away this tipping point is. It is very difficult to answer because the process is non-linear and would be triggered by subtle differences in salinity, which in turn depend on amounts of rainfall and cloud cover over the ocean as well as Greenland melting rates. These are hard to model accurately in computers so there is a big uncertainty relating to when the tipping point will be reached.
_________________________________________

FULL ARTICLE -- theguardian.com/environment/20…

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

i'm on the fence about nuclear power.

on the one hand, it is a clean (relatively speaking) source of power, and all historical catastrophes were results of bureaucratic incompetence rather than technical limitations

on the other hand, nuclear technology goes hand-in-hand with nuclear weapons; bureaucratic incompetence is all but inevitable; and renewables exist

i'm looking to harvest opinions and discussion to help figure out where i stand... please boost and leave your thoughts!

#boost #nuclear #power #sustainability #climateChange

Greta Thunberg joined our United for Climate Justice coalition today and our blockade of a busy Brussels' street.
This disruption of traffic and of business as usual is nothing in comparison to what the climate catastrophe will wreak.
We need urgent action now, but we're still rushing headlong into a terrifying future, all for the sake of greed and growth.

politico.eu/article/brussels-g…

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #XR #ExtinctionRebellion #Brussels #Belgium #Activism #CivilDisobedience

Carbon capture and storage will play absolutely no role in "the energy transition" as there's no evidence it can be scaled up in any meaningful way that even lowers emissions, and isn't creating energy either.

CCS is simply just a scam that's been designed by and for the fossil fuel industry so they can keep burning and profiting - and make you suffer for it.

#FossilFuels #Labour #EdMiliband #ClimateChange #ukpol

Who Will Care for Americans Left Behind by #Climate Migration?
—

#HurricaneHelene was the latest in a generation of storms that are intensifying faster and dumping more rain as the climate warms. It's precisely the kind of event expected to drive more Americans to relocate as climate change gets worse — leaving behind those who are older, poorer and more vulnerable.

propub.li/3ZROw7h

#News #ClimateChange #Hurricane #ExtremeWeather #Migration #Science #Flood

Only 7 days left in the European Citizens’ Initiative to tax the ultrarich to finance the climate transition.

Over 340,000 people have signed the petition so far. We need more than double that to send a clear message.

It takes less than 5 minutes.

eci.ec.europa.eu/038/public/#/…

#climate #ClimateChange #ClimateAction #TaxTheRich #EUPol

We know — and our rulers certainly know — that if we are to have any hope of preserving even a limited version of today’s complex modern society, greenhouse gas emissions MUST go down, swiftly and urgently.

But instead, emissions continue going up and up and up. It is literally suicidal.

So, WHY haven't we stopped burning fossil fuels?

Because there are profits to be made. Huge, massive, irresistibly tempting profits.

In a sane world, these actions would be seen as criminal.

Perpetrators like fossil fuel executives, their financiers, and the politicians who enable them, would be arrested, charged, tried, and convicted, with assets forfeited to pay for mitigation and reparations.

But we do not live in a sane world.

#Politics #Economics #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateJustice #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #Degrowth

#Tuvalu, likely first modern country to become uninhabitable, has new plan for keeping control of fishing rights even if its land disappears by #climatechange.

#LawOfTheSea treaty says sea territory, fishing rights only exist with reference to land territory, but is silent on what happens when land changes, disappears. Tuvalu has multi-pronged strategy to form intl consensus that sea borders remain if their land disappears.

reuters.com/investigations/sin… #geography @geography @geopolitics #ocean

What a set of headlines, can't get any more dystopian than that. The rich go into vanity trips into space, while the common people down below drown.

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #climate #space #spacex

Sensitive content Click to open/close

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Roger Hallam is one of the founders of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, and a leader in the fight against global climate change. I would like you to read this statement he posted yesterday… 🧵1/4
_______________________

I've just been sentenced to 5 years in prison.

The longest ever for nonviolent action.

The 'crime'?

Giving a talk on civil disobedience as an effective, evidence-based method for stopping the elite from putting enough carbon in the atmosphere to send us to extinction.

I have given hundreds of similar speeches encouraging nonviolent action and have never been arrested for it. This time I was an advisor to the M25 motorway disruption, recommending the action to go ahead to wake up the British public to societal collapse.

I was not part of the planning or action itself.

In the trial, I swore before God to tell the truth. The truth is the science. The science is clear. We're heading for billions of deaths and ecological collapse. To prove this, I presented the jury with a 250-page dossier of leading scientists' research as evidence in my defence. This was denied by the judge as an invalid - climate science is now illegal in the British courtroom.

I then began to speak about the apocalyptic conditions humanity faces - floods, wildfires, mass heat deaths - and was silenced by the judge. He sent out the jury and threatened to arrest me if I didn't stop. Instead, I stayed in the dock and argued that until I was given the right to complete my defence – I would not move. Even the prosecution tried to argue in my defence and the judge let me continue.

When the jury had shuffled in again, I spoke about the legal concept of “equality of arms” – that as the prosecution had had a right to lay facts over a whole week, I also wanted an equal opportunity. I spoke of various cases where juries had acquitted defendants when they had heard the facts, such as the Extinction Rebellion cracking of Shell's windows in 2018 as a reasonable action against criminal destruction. The Dutch Supreme Court has even said that all governments have a legal obligation to prevent the emission of greenhouse gases. Whilst the prosecution accepted that emissions pose an existential threat, for the first time in British history no less, they still tried to convict us for public nuisance rather than praise us for trying to stop those emissions. Given the objectivity of existential threat, there were overwhelming grounds to be involved in a plan to cause some disruption to the M25.

In the British law on public nuisance, there is a ‘reasonable excuse’ clause. Science says there is an overwhelming threat to my life, my children, you and your children. To argue there is not a reasonable excuse directly defies the wish of this legislation. Things are happening that cause harm – people are engaged in physical acts to stop that harm – it doesn’t matter whether it’s a protest or not.

As I began to offer up some case law, the judge kept intervening telling me I was “wasting my time” and ordering the jury to disregard me. To illustrate that I was not talking about my motivations but speaking about real necessity, I referred to a famous case over a decision to operate on conjoined twins with the likelihood that one would die. In this dilemma, I quoted the 19th Century principle that the action was necessary if the threat faced was inevitable and irrevocable, that no more should be done than essential, and that it must be proportionate. I argued that there was a “duress of circumstances” including the objective danger I’ve experienced as a farmer unable to grow food, and the global significance of “food insecurity” – a euphemism for famine and starvation.

There has never been a moment in history where ‘necessity’ has been more supported by objective facts – more than 10,000 scientific and peer-reviewed papers, indicating an outcome of mass starvation and death from man-made climate collapse.

In response, Judge Hehir called for an early lunch and dismissed the jury. He turned to me and warned that I wasn't a lawyer and that “this is not the Roger Hallam show”.

He then gave me just 15 more minutes to put forward my “beliefs” - a totally fucking incoherent statement. This isn’t belief - it’s the objective threat of destruction of property and livelihoods of billions of people and the secondary effects of famine i.e. war, rape, and torture.
_______________________

That's Part 1 of 4. Read the next below...

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateAction #ClimateJustice

Remember when the politicians kept telling us that Climate Change was too expensive to fight?

They said that Oil Executives buying mega yachts was more important than the rest of us having food, or viable living conditions.

This is the second "once in a century" flood in the Toronto area this summer

#FossilFuels
#Degrowth
#ClimateChange

toronto.citynews.ca/2024/08/18…

GTA sees more rain a day after record-setting downpour

Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a weather alert on Sunday for Toronto, Peel, York, and Durham regions.

^{Denio Lourenco (CityNews Toronto)}

Major tech companies are producing far more carbon emissions than they suggest in their sustainability reports.

They’re lobbying hard to rewrite the rules on how emissions are calculated to show net zero on paper, but not in practice.

ft.com/content/2d6fc319-2165-4…

#tech #climate #emissions #climatechange

😱 Canadian tar sands pollution is up to 6,300% higher than reported, study finds #climatechange #Canada

theguardian.com/environment/20…

Canadian tar sands pollution is up to 6,300% higher than reported, study finds

Call for companies to ‘clean up their mess’ as Athabasca oil sands emissions vastly exceed industry-reported levels

^{Matthew Taylor (The Guardian)}

Leaving this here.

#ClimateChange

The full data won't be in for another 7 days, but I'm pretty sure it was another record month for global average daily 2m air temperature and 60S-60N daily average sea surface temperature. N Atlantic SST is probably very close to June 2023's record.

climatereanalyzer.org/clim/t2_…
climatereanalyzer.org/clim/sst…
pulse.climate.copernicus.eu/

#ClimateChange

Nice work. No notes.

#ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #fossilfuels

IKEA in the spotlight: Flatpack furniture linked to ‘systematic destruction’ of Romanian forests.

Greenpeace says the company’s suppliers are benefitting from a corrupt environment in the country. IKEA has been accused of contributing to the rapid deterioration of Romania’s biologically rich forests. #ClimateChange

euronews.com/green/2024/06/09/…

“The ugly truth behind ChatGPT: AI is guzzling resources at planet-eating rates”

Mariana Mazzucato

(who I consider a credible source)

#ai #climatechange

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

The ugly truth behind ChatGPT: AI is guzzling resources at planet-eating rates

Big tech is playing its part in reaching net zero targets, but its vast new datacentres are run at huge cost to the environment, says economics professor Mariana Mazzucato

^{Mariana Mazzucato (The Guardian)}

You boosted my protest sign where I called Canada Action LIARS for their cross-Canada “LNG will reduce global emissions” ad campaign. Now please boost this!

It turns out after immediate questions were raised last year, the Canada ad regulating agency agreed in January the campaign was misleading. But all decisions are CONFIDENTIAL and there is NO enforcement! The decision was finally leaked.
Spread the word!
#climateAction #disinformation #climateChange #canPoli #cdnpoli
nationalobserver.com/2024/05/2…

Venezuela has lost its last remaining glacier after it shrunk so much that scientists reclassified it as an ice field.

Venezuela is the first country to have lost all its glaciers in modern times. #ClimateChange

theguardian.com/environment/ar…

Venezuela loses its last glacier as it shrinks down to an ice field

Scientists reclassify Humboldt glacier, also known as La Corona, after it melted faster than expected

^{Neelima Vallangi (The Guardian)}

Imagine a world where you work three or four days a week. In your free time, you play sports, spend time with loved ones, garden, and engage with local politics.

Overnight shipping, advertising, and private jets no longer exist, but health care, education, and clean electricity are free and available to all.

“The Growing Popularity of Degrowth”

See -- grist.org/looking-forward/the-…

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Degrowth

The growing popularity of degrowth - Grist

Excerpts from a Q&A with bestselling degrowth author Kohei Saito.

^Grist

Climate change is about saving the humanity and the corresponding ecosystem so that we people are saved. It is not about saving the planet which will change and continue. It is all about us.

#ClimateChange#CimateEmergency#ClimateCrisis
Reference: Climate change isn’t about saving the planet: It’s about saving the people

Climate change isn’t about saving the planet: It’s about saving the people

Apathy is a gamble on our lives: We humans are the ones at risk

^{Deborah Brosnan, Ph.D., opinion contributor (The Hill)}

These fuckers are content to watch us die.

This bullshit is going to condemn our species to extinction unless we find a way to depose these sociopaths.

theguardian.com/environment/20…

#cop28 #copOut #ClimateEmergency #ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange

A large group of scientists has collaborated to produce the "2023 State of the Climate" report. And guess what, it's not pretty...
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Life on planet Earth is under siege. We are now in an uncharted territory.

For several decades, scientists have consistently warned of a future marked by extreme climatic conditions because of escalating global temperatures caused by ongoing human activities that release harmful greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Unfortunately, time is up. We are seeing the manifestation of those predictions as an alarming and unprecedented succession of climate records are broken, causing profoundly distressing scenes of suffering to unfold. We are entering an unfamiliar domain regarding our climate crisis, a situation no one has ever witnessed firsthand in the history of humanity.

In the present report, we display a diverse set of vital signs of the planet and the potential drivers of climate change and climate-related responses. The trends reveal new all-time climate-related records and deeply concerning patterns of climate-related disasters. At the same time, we report minimal progress by humanity in combating climate change.

Given these distressing developments, our goal is to communicate climate facts and policy recommendations to scientists, policymakers, and the public. It is the moral duty of scientists and our institutions to clearly alert humanity of any potential existential threat and to show leadership in taking action.

The effects of global warming are progressively more severe, and possibilities such as a worldwide societal breakdown are feasible and dangerously underexplored. By the end of this century, an estimated 3 to 6 billion individuals — approximately one-third to one-half of the global population — might find themselves confined beyond the livable region, encountering severe heat, limited food availability, and elevated mortality rates because of the effects of climate change.

Big problems need big solutions. Therefore, we must shift our perspective on the climate emergency from being just an isolated environmental issue to a systemic, existential threat. Although global heating is devastating, it represents only one aspect of the escalating and interconnected environmental crisis that we are facing (e.g., biodiversity loss, fresh water scarcity, pandemics). We need policies that target the underlying issues of ecological overshoot where the human demand on Earth's resources results in overexploitation of our planet and biodiversity decline.

To address the overexploitation of our planet, we challenge the prevailing notion of endless growth and overconsumption by rich countries and individuals as unsustainable and unjust. Instead, we advocate for reducing resource overconsumption; reducing, reusing, and recycling waste in a more circular economy; and prioritizing human flourishing and sustainability. We emphasize climate justice and fair distribution of the costs and benefits of climate action, particularly for vulnerable communities. We call for a transformation of the global economy to prioritize human well-being and to provide for a more equitable distribution of resources.
_________________________

It's wonderful to see these scientists boldly calling for system change in the face of a planetary overshoot emergency. Now if only someone will listen...

FULL REPORT -- academic.oup.com/bioscience/ad…

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Degrowth

The heat index reached 67℃ (152℉) in the Middle East — near the limit for human survival – Downshift

#ClimateChange

downshift.ca/the-heat-index-re…

A timely and rather shocking meme, to which I have added #AltText...

#Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency