The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that fossil fuel emissions are the dominant cause of global warming, that pathways limiting warming of the Earth to 1.5°C or 2°C involve substantial reductions in fossil fuel consumption. According to IPCC:
Projected cumulative future CO2 emissions over the lifetime of existing fossil fuel infrastructure, without additional abatement, exceed the total cumulative net CO2 emissions in pathways that limit warming to 1.5°C”
The IPCC is comprised of representatives from 194 governments. Its work involves hundreds of scientists and draws on the work of thousands more. It is the most trusted source of climate information, far better than governments and industry stooges that put profits today above human survival tomorrow.
By example, a June Postmedia article written by the Fraser Institute claims that unprecedented wildfires in Canada are NOT caused by climate change. (This is the organization that wrote to a big tobacco company in 2000 asking for financial support for research that would “prove” second-hand smoke didn’t cause cancer.)
Reading news reports at places other than Postmedia remind us about what’s happening today:
- A peer reviewed paper published by the National Academy of Science of the USA reported their climate-driven model of burned area in California showed that nearly all the observed increase is due to anthropogenic climate change.
- Tens of millions of people have been exposed to dangerously poor air quality due to smoke billowing from Canada’s record-breaking wildfires. Those fires could worsen this month, and some could even last through the winter by becoming “zombie fires” in the Far North, burning in the soils of peatlands.
- Ocean temperatures surrounding South Florida and the Florida Keys have reached unprecedented levels, as high as 95°F, influencing conditions on land.
- Global average surface temperatures continue to hit levels not recorded until this summer, exceeding 17°C (62.6°F) on a total of 11 days so far in July.
- Earth just had its hottest week. Current heatwave may break records again
- Large parts of southern Europe have been struck by an intense and prolonged period of extreme heat. With these high temperatures comes a host of issues, from wildfires, droughts and desertification to heat related deaths. Scientists and climate experts warn that extreme weather events such as heatwaves are increasing rapidly as a result of climate change.
- Greenland and Antarctica store about two-thirds of all the fresh water on Earth. They are losing ice due to the ongoing warming of Earth’s surface and ocean. Meltwater coming from these ice sheets is responsible for about one-third of the global average rise in sea level since 1993.
- Climate change threatens to cause “synchronized harvest failures” across the globe.
- CCHF virus: New deadly virus spreading across Europe due to climate change.
- Some scientists have estimated there are about 10,000 viruses with the potential to jump from animals to humans; others have found evidence that under current trends, growing interactions between humans and wildlife will triple the rate of emerging diseases.
- Repeated high nighttime temperatures are particularly dangerous for human health, because the body is unable to recover from sustained heat. This leads to increased cases of heart attacks and death,” John Nairn, Senior Extreme Heat Advisor for WMO told reporters in Geneva.
- Underneath Lützerath lies 280 million tons of lignite coal, the most climate-damaging energy source. And accessing it meant expropriating the property of an entire German village. Fossil fuel companies have been polluting and destroying lives since the beginning of their existence. We need to call these acts what they are: crimes. This industry is the problem, not part of the solution. It will fight to the bitter end to get the last bit of coal, gas and oil out. And governments are all too often complicit in this. 35,000 ordinary people in Europe went to Lützerath to defend the village. Ironically, these non-violent defenders of life were being treated like criminals, forcibly removed from the village; some reportedly beaten and pepper-sprayed by the police.
Individuals in government, industry, and media stand in the way of actions to protect humanity from climate change. It is time to treat them as criminals, and to treat defenders of life as heroes.
Categories: Climate Change
in-sights.ca 
Well said Norm.
We should not give up hope that the fossil fuel companies and their executives and lobbyists will face consequences for their crimes against humanity, although it will not happen until governments and politicians face legal, economic and political consequences themselves for not acting against fossil fuel interests.
We did see consequences against Volkswagen and its executives for Dieselgate, where there was not much cost to governments of acting, and a lot of righteous anger from the public to be appeased. The US EPA and others got Volkswagen bang to rights, for billions of dollars. We need some righteous anger from ordinary citizens on climate change.
Also, we are not powerless as consumers. The fossil fuel companies cannot make us buy gasoline or fossil gas, we have cleaner alternatives now, and the extra costs are decreasing to the point of price parity or better as the years go by. They cannot stop us divesting from fossil fuels and planting trees.
Our governments could increase subsidies, on an income-adjusted basis, to help more people transition away from fossil fuels, funded by carbon tax revenues. I got five grand from Mr Trudeau towards my EV. Maybe I will get some help from Mr Eby towards electric replacements for my gas furnace and water heater. If they covered all the extra costs that consumers cannot afford, jobs would switch to renewables, and fossil fuel demand would fall away, along with the industry’s stranglehold on governments. Then we might see charges against the industry. Bring it on!
LikeLike
A good comment.
One thing that government has not addressed is that many homes, particularly older ones, do not have capability of powering electric heat pumps or electric vehicles.
To switch from fossil gas, my home, which has the most efficient gas appliances available, needs a new, larger electric service brought in from the street.
For years we were misled to believe that gas was a clean fuel. Now we are stuck in a place where we cannot afford to displace the fossil fuel we now know to be dangerous.
Another problem with existing programs to encourage energy efficiency is that subsidies exclude homeowners from doing their own installations, even if they are qualified tradespeople. I view most subsidy programs as marketing schemes for companies that partner with utilities.
I also feel that governments’ EV subsidies are just swallowed up by car companies that raise prices for these in-demand vehicles.
LikeLike
Postmedia, with all the news they are paid to print.
Nothing will change until government stops treating Climate Change and Global Warming as a revenue source via Carbon Taxes.
The NDP, as usual, have been asleep at the switch and continue to climate change deniers as they have done little, except photo-ops and 10 second soundbites for the evening news.
LikeLike
“Fossil fuel companies have been polluting and destroying lives since the beginning of their existence. ” The deniers accuse us of being hysterical. Let’s not prove them right.
LikeLike
I’m betting the villagers of Lützerath removed from their homes would not find the comment hysterical.
Maybe we’ve passed the time for polite and gentle conversations with those who are willing to damage the earth to put more money in their pockets.
The eviction of Lützerath: the village being destroyed for a coalmine – a photo essay
LikeLike
There’s no question that they are polluting, destroying lives, and worse; but that started some time after the beginning of their existence.
LikeLike
So what is the immediate solution because we are just about
out of time? You can’t help but believe that we should do
nothing..we are probably already past 1.5C. Geez just go buy
an air conditioner and stay inside.. NDP is not going to do
anything but Site C and LNG and throw some more pellets
on the UK power generating silos. We can spare a few trees
right. Besides these fires have a possible arson cause over
in Alberta.
July 16 @ 1.30 pm in my BC neighbour hood.
Air temp 30 C
Asphalt driveway in the shade 44/111 C/F
Asphalt driveway 2′ over in the sun 59/138
Rubber back door mat in sun (since picked up) 86/186
Above measurements taken with my heat gun.
And you see some people out walking their pooch in this heat
and the owners are not bare foot. How come? Their pooch is.
It truly is a hopeless situation.
LikeLike