Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse

For most countries around the world, sourcing energy entirely from wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower by 2050 would reduce their energy needs and costs, improve air quality, and help slow climate change, according to a study in Environmental Science & Technology.

These benefits, the authors say, could be realized at a fraction of the cost of implementing technologies that remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and capture it from stationary emitters like industrial smokestacks.

"If you spend $1 on carbon capture instead of on wind, water, and solar, you are increasing CO2, air pollution, energy requirements, energy costs, pipelines, and total social costs," said lead study author Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and Stanford School of Engineering.

This holds true even if zero-emission energy systems power the technology deployed to extract carbon dioxide, Jacobson added.

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This is an opinionated piece by Megha Satyanarayana, now chief opinion editor at Scientific American and former scientist, Knight-Wallace Fellow, a cohort member of Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Digital Media and a Maynard 200 Fellow.

This is the problem with the slew of research finding microscopic shards of plastic in our arteries, kidneys and livers, the findings that our oceans, food, soil and air are teeming with tiny bits of Tupperware. Scientists still don’t know what this plastic is doing to us. And because research takes time, while scientists are trying to answer question, we just keep inhaling, eating and drinking tiny pieces of plastic.

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Everything that goes into our bodies gets filtered through our livers and kidneys, so maybe it’s not a big surprise that bits of plastic find their way into those organs. Same with our hearts; microplastics end up in our blood and can get stuck in our clogged arteries. But our brains are designed to keep things out, through something called the blood-brain barrier. The researchers behind the brain plastics study think the tiny shards of plastic hitch a ride on fat molecules to get inside brain cells. And what’s worse is how much microplastics the researchers think might be in a whole human brain: 10 grams. Imagine 2.5 teaspoons of sugar. Now sub in plastic. Gross.

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Recently, a group of Italian researchers followed 257 people who had plaque in their carotid arteries. They found that 20 percent of the people in their study who had microplastic-laden plaque had had a heart attack, stroke or had died after almost three years, compared to 7.5 percent of the people who didn’t. In studies of cells, those with microplastics in them also tended to show biochemical signatures of inflammation. And those people who had microplastics in their carotid arteries also tended to show some of those same signatures more often than the people who didn’t.

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I see pictures all the time of beaches covered in plastic pebbles, landfills overflowing with water bottles, and giant dumps of technology products with their sad beige plastic shells. Chemistry is a beautiful thing. When it comes to plastic, when are we going to hold the petrochemical industry accountable for this ugliness?

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A new study shows that meltwater from glaciers on Svalbard releases methane into the atmosphere. Only a reduction of fossil fuel emissions can help improve the situation, experts warn.

Scientists in Norway have observed for the first time that meltwater from glaciers on Svalbard is helping to release ancient methane deep in the rocks into the atmosphere, Centre for ice, Cryosphere, Carbon and Climate (iC3) reported.

Methane is the most powerful greenhouse gas, with a warming potential 84 times greater than that of CO2 over a 20-year period, and has so far been responsible for around 30% of the current rise in global temperatures.

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“The Svalbard methane reservoir is estimated to be up to 21,000 Pg of carbon. You can compare this to the fact that our current atmosphere only contains about 780 Pg of carbon. So the source of methane on Svalbard is seemingly limitless”, Dr Gabrielle Kleber [said, and adding] that the newly discovered mechanism by which methane is released into the atmosphere is a consequence of global warming:

This means that even when we're able to curtail our (human-made) emissions, we may still have these secondary effects that we've triggered and will continue to release carbon… It highlights the urgency for action, before we trigger too many of these processes that we cannot stop”.

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Atchive : https://archive.is/kNtXv

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/18473159

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The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) have released their H2 2024 biannual review of China’s coal projects, which finds that coal is still holding strong despite skyrocketing clean energy additions in 2024.

Even as China’s clean energy surged in 2024 and became a key economic driver, solar and wind utilisation dropped sharply in Q4 2024, which was not expected or explained by weather conditions, and coal remains strong, which ultimately goes against President Xi’s 2021 pledge to phase down coal over the following five years.

China approved 66.7 gigawatts (GW) of new coal-fired power capacity in 2024, with approvals picking up in the second half after a slower start to the year. At the same time, 94.5 GW of new coal power projects started construction and 3.3 GW of suspended projects resumed construction in 2024, the highest level since 2015, signalling a substantial number of new plants will come online in the next 2-3 years, further solidifying coal’s role in the power system.

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Key findings:

• Coal power permits and new project activity remain high despite some signs of slowing. In 2024, 66.7 GW of new coal power capacity was permitted – lower than previous years but still well above the levels seen in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, new and revived coal power proposals totalled 68.9 GW, down from 117 GW in 2023 and 146 GW in 2022, suggesting a potential cooling in project initiation.
• Coal power construction starts reached their highest level since 2015. 94.5 GW of new coal capacity began construction, the most since 2015, highlighting continued momentum in project development despite President Xi Jinping’s pledge in 2021 to ‘strictly control coal power projects’. However, actual commissioning has slowed, with 30.5 GW coming online so far, down from 49.8 GW last year but in line with 2021 and 2022 levels.
• China’s coal power expansion contrasts with global trends. While China continues to add new capacity, the global coal fleet outside China shrank by 9.2 GW in 2024, reinforcing China’s dominant role in shaping the future of coal power. China now accounts for 93% of global construction starts for coal power in 2024.
• Long-term coal power contracts are reinforcing coal’s dominance at the expense of renewables. Electricity buyers locked into long-term coal power contracts face penalties if they fail to purchase contracted volumes, discouraging them from prioritising clean energy. With new coal capacity coming online, guaranteed operating hours under pre-signed agreements further limit grid space for renewables, delaying the transition to a cleaner energy mix.
• Coal mining companies are playing a dominant role in financing new coal power projects. In 2024, more than 75% of newly approved coal power capacity was backed by coal mining companies or energy groups with coal mining operations, artificially driving up coal demand even when market fundamentals do not justify it. This not only reinforces reliance on coal but also risks undermining central government policy targets for curbing coal consumption and accelerating the energy transition.
• Despite policy intentions for coal power to support renewable integration, 2024 approvals show a shift away from this role, with many projects justified by local governments based on economic development and local energy security instead. While some policies promote coal power flexibility retrofits, long-term contracts and the inherent limitations of coal plants regarding low-load operation and intra-day cycling discourage coal plants from performing a true regulating function.

I see little acceptance and little planning. Just... blame immigrants, and grow the economy, that seems to be the mantra that's won out.

Having risen out of obscure boards on 4chan and Reddit, the alt-right is a right-wing extremist movement that’s mostly decentralized. Despite this, they have become incredibly pervasive, not through logical argument, but through operating in a way that makes spotting and opposing them particularly tricky. This post shall act as a brief look into some of the tactics they employ, and how leftists can effectively counter them.

1. The Lulz

2. Never On The Defensive

3. I Decide What You Believe

4. Whataboutism

Let me be clear, I certainly trust the climate scientists of groups 1 and 2 of the IPCC, but I am highly critical of the third working group that assesses options for the mitigation of the climate crisis. They are obsessed with technology. There are also good elements in their work, but in their latest report they constantly refer to new technologies that do not yet exist or are overvalued, such as hydrogen, CCS and bioenergy (BECCS).

Japan’s rice stockpiles had already depleted after record-breaking temperatures affected the 2023 crop. Stockpiles shrank again last year, partly due to a rise in consumption caused by record numbers of tourists. Supplies were also hit by panic buying in the wake of typhoon and earthquake warnings, forcing some retailers to restrict sales.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/18397612

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China’s emissions of key super-polluting hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants now represent more than 20 per cent of the global total.

In a newly published study, Xiaoyi Hu and colleagues reported on new observations of three of the main HFCs in use today – HFC-125, HFC-134a and HFC-143a – showing that emissions had increased to 206.4 million tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2022.

This is equivalent to the emissions from more than 500 natural gas-fired power plants in a single year.

And the threat this poses to the planet’s climate could worsen as China’s requirement to cap its HFC use under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol actually gives it room to increase its emissions.

The Kigali Amendment requires a gradual phase-down of the production and consumption of HFCs, highly potent greenhouse gases used primarily in refrigeration and air-conditioning. As a developing country, China was required to cap its HFC use in 2024 at a baseline level and reduce it by 10 per cent by 2029.

However, China’s 2023 consumption of HFCs was 769.4 million tonnes, which amounts to only 85 per cent of the actual baseline cap – meaning that under the current rules, the country can actually increase its consumption (and therefore emissions) by 15 per cent.

EIA UK Climate Campaign Lead Clare Perry said: “The baseline calculation under the Kigali Amendment provides too much room for growth and takes away some of the ambition from this important global agreement.

“Even in four years from now, when a 10 per cent reduction from the baseline is required, China can actually increase HFC use from current levels by some 45.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent – and the next reduction step does not occur until 2035.

“This is untenable given we are facing a global climate crisis and urgently need to cut all greenhouse gas emissions this decade.

“China is the world’s leading producer of these gases and also the leading manufacturer of the equipment that uses them. It’s in a prime position to take ambitious steps to move away from reliance on these dangerous polluting fluorochemicals, which have not only punched a huge hole in the ozone layer causing hundreds of millions of skin cancer cases and untold environmental damage, but are responsible for 12 per cent of global warming to date.”

The study utilised observations from a station in Changdao, China, giving researchers access to more accurate monitoring of emissions from northern China, where most of the fluorochemical industry is based.

Perry welcomed the study and highlighted the importance of accurate regional and global monitoring data, but warned that the current global regulation of HFCs under the Montreal Protocol was insufficient to ensure the rapid emissions reductions needed to secure a safe climate.

EIA calls on China and other parties to the Montreal Protocol to follow the lead of the European Union and accelerate action to phase out HFCs.

archive https://archive.is/0vRL2

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