World

What a great report!

The US National Climate Assessment is clear, definitive, and very straightforward.

The warnings are stark, and will be no surprise to BCSEA readers. If we fail to act, and to do so decisively, the increase in heat waves will become even more brutal.

Parts of the US southwest will become a permanent dustbowl as soil moisture falls. The deluges of rain will become more frequent. The sea level could rise by up to four feet by the end of the century, threatening the homes of five million people.

Climate change—two simple words that are so innocuous, yet when combined are so dangerous that they might yet be carved on civilization’s gravestone:

Human Civilization.

Much loved.

Died from a sudden attack of climate change.

On Friday, September 27th, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis, Part 1 of its Fifth Assessment Report.  The actual report will be available here on September 30th. 

In the run-up to its release, climate zombies around the world have been in panic mode, spreading disinformation, lies and nonsense in an attempt to confuse you as to the clearly established scientific truth about climate change. Warning: do not be fooled by these false reports. They are dangerous to your mental health, and to the health of the planet. More....

Can Earth’s modern economy operate without any fossil fuels? 

There are plenty on the right who insist that it’s impossible: they’re hooked on coal, oil and fracked shale gas, and to make life easier, they often argue that climate change is just not a problem. 

There are plenty on the green left too (yes, there’s a right green, a middle green and a left green) who see peak oil as bringing the collapse of modern civilization, and who see the whole concept of endless economic growth as being completely unsustainable. 

But Mark Jacobson from Stanford University has news: they’re both wrong. 

First, the speech

By any standards, and compared to any speechmaking we’re used to in Canada, it was brilliant. Why, by contrast, are Canadian politicians so dull and pedestrian?

• The open confession of Earth’s beauty: “That bright blue ball rising over the moon’s surface containing everything we hold dear, the laughter of children, a quiet sunset, all the hopes and dreams of posterity, that’s what’s at stake.”

Cargo-Bikes - it’s got a nice ring to it. Ting-a-ling! If you do a Google image search on the phrase you’ll find a wonderful array of cargo-carrying bikes and trikes, from functional to fancy, cute to crazy.

 No, they’re not a rock band—they’re a planetary emergency, and a danger to us all. Micky Methane is #2 in the Ten Most Wanted Climate Criminals, along with Charlie Carbon, Nellie Nitrous Oxide, Freddie and the F Gases and Billy Black, also known as Sooty. They’re all packing heat, and need to be apprehended.