Consider yourself warned. We can expect a burst of supercharged warming when the pause in rising global temperatures finally ends.
Global mean surface temperatures have not risen significantly since about 1998, which could be thanks to the oceans sucking up the extra heat.
If this turns out to be the case, Chris Roberts from the Met Office in the UK and colleagues have found that there is a 60 per cent chance the hiatus will be followed by a five-year period of rapid warming at twice the usual background rate of around 0.2°C per decade.
The RCMP has labelled the “anti-petroleum” movement as a growing and violent threat to Canada’s security, raising fears among environmentalists that they face increased surveillance, and possibly worse, under the Harper government’s new terrorism legislation.
In highly charged language that reflects the government’s hostility toward environmental activists, an RCMP intelligence assessment warns that foreign-funded groups are bent on blocking oil sands expansion and pipeline construction, and that the extremists in the movement are willing to resort to violence.
Is 2015 the year when the world will finally decide on a major new global agreement on climate change? Pundits are beginning to put their cases as to whether the Paris summit in December will “save the earth”, or will end up as another Copenhagen, as in 2009 when massive anticipation resulted in inevitable post-conference disappointment. In a speech this week Prince Charles insisted that 2015 will be a make-or-break year for the climate. But is Paris where the real action will be?
Scientists and policy experts say the time has come to phase out carbon emissions entirely; Shell, Exxon and BP call it an unrealistic idea.
The new goal is "net zero"—and the sooner the better. Climate hawks say it should be met as early as 2050. Others see a few more decades of wiggle room, but they too emphasize the need for rapid action.
World leaders decided in Copenhagen that global warming should be limited to 2 degrees Celsius. Achieving that target, though, would take nothing less than a miracle. With another round of climate negotiations approaching, it is becoming increasingly clear that mankind has failed to address its most daunting problem.
BCSEA’s Electric Vehicles Letter Writing Team is off to a fast start, with 50 and counting volunteers committing to write Prime Minister Harper and members of the government and opposition.
We are calling for the policies and support that Canada needs to cut its greenhouse gas emissions from transportation to zero by 2040.
Sweden started in 2014 with an electric passenger ferry. This year, Norway will trump that with an electric car ferry. Both will result in lower operating costs, no greenhouse gases, no air pollution and almost no noise.
The slides from a public presentation on The 2040 Imperative can be found on Slideshare.
Part 1: The Complete Phase-out of Fossil Fuels in Canada by 2040
The mathematics of the climate crisis is easy to understand once you have the key numbers. And those numbers lead to some clear and compelling conclusions.
There is constant evidence of the need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions greatly, in order to tackle the climate crisis. A recent paper in Nature showed that for a 50% chance of keeping the global rise in temperature below 2C, cumulative global emissions up to 2050 must be limited to 1,100 gigatonnes of CO2. Most fossil fuels will need to remain in the ground, including 99% of Canada’s oil sands. Globally, fossil fuel reserves are 2,900 Gt. The Earth’s known fossil fuel resources are 11,000 Gt.
Gil Peñalosa has a simple rule: If you create a city that’s good for an 8 year old and good for an 80 year old, you will create a successful city for everyone. This is an 8-80 City. The Kamloops Chapter of the BC Sustainable Energy Association (BCSEA) is thrilled to be sponsoring Gil Peñalosa’s visit to Kamloops as part of the CommUnity Innovation Lab (CIL) February 3-5, 2015.
