TICK TOCK THE CLIMATE CLOCK PART SEVENTEEN

Hello, can you hear me?
I'm in California dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I've forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet

There's such a difference between us
And a million miles

Hello from the other side
I must've called a thousand times

                                                “Hello” by Adele

That pretty much sums up how I feel about climate change today—like a broken record no one is listening to.  But I’ll keep spinning the tale.

Heat Kills.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as global temperatures increase, the number of deaths associated with extreme heat will also increase, but not everyone will suffer equally.  In addition to the elderly and young children, it also matters where you live. As reported in the New York Times:

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed data from the 2000 census and found that found that people of color were up to 52 percent more likely to live in the hottest parts of cities.

Get it?

No Doubt Left.  I think I’ll just let The Guardian speak for itself on this one:  

The scientific consensus that humans are causing global warming is likely to have passed 99%, according to the lead author of the most authoritative study on the subject, and could rise further after separate research that clears up some of the remaining doubts.

Three studies published in Nature and Nature Geoscience use extensive historical data to show there has never been a period in the last 2,000 years when temperature changes have been as fast and extensive as in recent decades.

It had previously been thought that similarly dramatic peaks and troughs might have occurred in the past, including in periods dubbed the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Climate Anomaly. But the three studies use reconstructions based on 700 proxy records of temperature change, such as trees, ice and sediment, from all continents that indicate none of these shifts took place in more than half the globe at any one time.

Major temperature shifts in the distant past are also likely to have been primarily caused by volcanic eruptions, according to another of the studies, which helps to explain the strong global fluctuations in the first half of the 18th century as the world started to move from a volcanically cooled era to a climate warmed by human emissions. This has become particularly pronounced since the late 20th century, when temperature rises over two decades or longer have been the most rapid in the past two millennia, notes the third.

The authors say this highlights how unusual warming has become in recent years as a result of industrial emissions.

“There is no doubt left….”

“This paper should finally stop climate change deniers claiming that the recent observed coherent global warming is part of a natural climate cycle.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/24/scientific-consensus-on-humans-causing-global-warming-passes-99

But Are Policy Makers Listening?  Not really.  Last year, San Francisco and Oakland, CA declared climate emergencies.  New York City and Sydney, Australia joined with their own declarations this summer.  Britain, Ireland, Canada, and France have also announced national climate emergencies—but these countries continue to support fossil fuels, as does the United States.  Further emphasizing the symbolic nature of their PR gesture is the fact that none of these urban or national entities has proposed or enacted specific legislation, much less funding, to combat climate change.  Time to ante up, people! 

They’re Not Reading, Either.  From Greta Thunberg’s speech before the French National Assembly on July 23, referencing the latest report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, May 2019:

“It’s almost like you don’t even know these numbers exist. As if you haven’t even read the latest IPCC report, on which much of the future of our civilisation is depending.” 

 https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1153940926517194752?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

OPEC Hears the Music Loud and Clear.  But instead of “ka-chink, ka-chink,” it’s the sound of Greta, Extinction Rebellion, and Fridays for Future student activists who have their ear.  Again, thanks to The Guardian:

Greta Thunberg and other climate activists have said it is a badge of honour that the head of the world’s most powerful oil cartel believes their campaign may be the “greatest threat” to the fossil fuel industry.

Mohammed Barkindo, the secretary general of OPEC, said there was a growing mass mobilisation of world opinion against oil, which was “beginning to … dictate policies and corporate decisions, including investment in the industry.”

He said the pressure was also being felt within the families of OPEC officials because their own children “are asking us about their future because … they see their peers on the streets campaigning against this industry”.

As Pink Floyd put it in Another Brick in the Wall:

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey, teachers, leave them kids alone
All in all it's just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall

Keep it real!

Marilyn