Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse

"The BBC claims that it had “full editorial control” over Follow the Food. However, an award submission by BBC StoryWorks – a studio that produces paid content for commercial clients – shows that the Follow the Food was tailored to hit key performance indicators and meet specific “objectives” for Corteva, potentially in breach of the BBC’s editorial guidelines.

"The award submission claimed that the BBC applied its “lens” to the project, which “[focused] on the client’s objectives and what our audiences would want to know about a sustainable food future, to create an end-to-end strategy for Corteva Agriscience”.

"The BBC’s editorial guidelines state that editorial content must not become “a vehicle for the purpose of promoting the sponsor”.

"Environmental journalist Amy Westervelt told DeSmog that these sort of partnerships are “selling the public’s trust”. Corporations are able to piggyback on the BBC’s reputation to “lend them credibility”, she said.

"The BBC and other publications increasingly need to raise money from corporations, she said, “making it possible for the media to be used as a disinformation tool”."

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/1282318

Ultimately, the progress we have made should encourage us that progress is possible, but the large and growing gap between where we are headed today and what is needed to limit warming to well-below 2C means that we need to double down and light a (carbon-free) fire under policymakers to ratchet up emissions reductions over the next decade. Flattening the curve of global emissions is only the first step in a long road to get it all the way down to zero.

There is no such thing as affordable housing anymore when the cheapest house in my regional market is full of mold and already in pending status. It's just so damn depressing. Also, how much do you wanna bet this sold for more than the asking price?

Episode description

On YouTube: https://youtu.be/2-Ga3UNp3vE

“Exactly when we are experiencing these really huge environmental challenges, ecological challenges, energy challenges, food challenges, social and political crises, all of these converging at the same time—which suggests that there's something deeply, fundamentally wrong with the prevailing paradigm, that we're moving through this moving through the eye of the needle—it's an evolutionary moment in a way where we are under extreme stress and the information that we need to make sense of all of this is very, very polarised.

And one of the things we learned from this is that our existing information systems, the way that we think, the way that we process information in our societies as communities, as institutions, as individuals, isn't really working. We've never had more information. We've never had more data ever, but the ability to kind of make that information coherent so that we have an understanding of our situation seems to be in some ways declining. We are not able to keep up with the avalanche of information. And I think Simon and I both recognise that, and are trying to get some kind of a handle on that.”

A few months ago, the energy-Twittersphere exploded into debate over Simon Michaux’s report detailing how we lack enough materials and minerals for a renewable economy. I interviewed Simon, a researcher at GTK Finland, about this report, in which he laid out the lack of raw materials and the ecological cost of mining which will impede a renewable energy future.

The report was divisive, with anyone and everyone weighing in on the debate, and more than some name-calling online. Nafeez Ahmed, a systems researcher and investigative journalist who has been reporting on the environment for 20 years, published a detailed piece “debunking” Simon’s report. It caused another stir online, with calls for a debate between the two tweeted from around the world.

Watching this unfold, I was concerned by how those on the same side of the fight can end up at odds, and bemused by the vitriol I witnessed on Twitter in both Simon and Nafeez’s name. Simply, if we can’t learn to speak with one another, what’s the point?

They were both quick to agree to a debate, and had already been engaging over email on the topic. We go into the technical details of the report but also discuss the polarisation of science, the processing of information, the politics and tribalism driving conversation, before exploring the benefits of how an energy transformation can truly transform society.

Someone else's problems (SEPs)

Gulp.

A short article about US East Coast smoke and shifting baseline syndrome (paper)

New Zealand has provided a new system of "biodiversity credits" in an effort to help support the native ecosystem.

In theory, the project will fund conservation projects and programs to save threatened species, by selling these credits to inidividuals, business owners and landowners.

Associate Minister for the Environment James Shaw says the following:

“Sixty three percent of our native ecosystems are now threatened, and a third of our native species are threatened or at risk of extinction. It’s time we find new ways to incentivise conservation, protect our precious wildlife, and provide clearer guidance on how to identify, manage and protect biodiversity.”
“Landowners, land managers, farmers, and Maōri should be looking at their wild spaces as a taonga, but also as a valuable source of supplementary income. This can then be used to support on-the-ground conservation, like reforestation, wetland restoration, or planting native vegetation."

In a further win for nature, clearer direction on how to identify, manage and protect areas of significant biodiversity will be phased in over several years, from 4 August.

All we can do is die trying.

All over the world, insect populations are declining. The impacts of climate change, combined with chemical pesticide use, habitat destruction, and lack of food source diversity are only some of the issues that insect species are struggling to adapt to.
There was the infamous study from Germany in 2017 which found that insect populations had apparently declined by 75% in 30 years, and the article in this post estimates that bee and hoverfly species in the UK have dropped by 25% compared to the 1980s. But data is scarce even in wealthy countries, and historical data in developing nations is all but nonexistent. That means we just don't know exactly how much insect populations are struggling, but what we do know looks pretty bad.

Demonstrators chained themselves to a pink boat outside Ffos y Fran, the largest opencast coal mine in the UK.
The four people arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass were 43, 45, 68 and 75. This surprised me, although I find it encouraging that it is not only young people recognising and trying to do something about our situation.

From the article:

The mine has been hugely controversial in recent years with residents complaining over noise, pollution and disruption to their lives. Since then, campaigners claim mining has continued unlawfully at the mine. Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, which operates the site, recently made a last-ditch appeal against the decision to stop operations there.

...The Public Order Act (2023) came into effect in May. Under the Act, locking-on is now an offence which can result in 51 weeks in prison.

The group claims the mine is continuing to operate despite planning permission running out in September. Recently barristers for climate action claimed that continued coal extraction at Ffos y Fran was illegal.

Superintendent Michelle Conquer said: “Since Wednesday afternoon, police officers have been deployed to the Ffos y Fran site in Merthyr Tydfil to facilitate peaceful protest.
“In doing so we note the views of the protest group that the mine is operating unlawfully."

Wael Sawan, CEO of Shell, says renewable energy replacements are not happening fast enough, and increased demand could raise prices again.
Climate experts disagree with his concerns.

From the article:

Head of the UN António Guterres recently said investment in new oil and gas production was "economic and moral madness".
Mr Sawan told the BBC: "I respectfully disagree." He added: "What would be dangerous and irresponsible is cutting oil and gas production so that the cost of living, as we saw last year, starts to shoot up again."

Many countries do not have the infrastructure to move to more sustainable forms of energy.

The head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, has said that "if governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal from now".

The UK currently imports more than half of its oil and gas - and that proportion is expected to rise without renewed investment in the North Sea. Shell recently decided to sell its stake in a major new undeveloped oil field at Cambo.

At ClimateReanalyzer.org you can see the world overheating in real time using this graphwhich follows the world's average air temperature at 2m of height.
Stay tuned for more records broken. It's only the beginning of July.

I expect this number to rapidly rise as certain previously livable areas quickly become uninhabitable due to drought or extreme weather. Maybe when Southern US states are forced to abandon entire towns people here will finally pay attention, but I would expect more likely to see victim blaming and schadenfreude.

The study not only proves the excess mortality attributable to heat. It is one of the first studies worldwide to quantify the share of global warming in heat-related deaths: around 60%. “So without human-induced climate change, more than 370 people would not have died in Switzerland in the summer of 2022 as a result of the heat,” Vicedo-Cabrera said.

Does it seem hotter than normal? Drier than usual? Have you noticed a distinct lack of bees in your neighbourhood? Come in and tell us about it.

This thread is for discussion of collapse-related issues that you’re personally experiencing, have experienced, or are affecting people you personally know. AKA things you don’t have to read the news to know are happening.

Links to relevant news articles are encouraged, however.

China is having its hottest temperatures in 60 years and its worst flooding in 50 years.

Agricultural methods are one of the major factors that needs to be fundamentally overhauled, if we are going to have any chance at starting to reverse the effects of climate change.

In Vietnam, facing record high temperatures and a heatwave of 37+ degrees Celsius, farmers have switched to working nightshifts for outdoor labour.

From the article:

"With extremely high temperatures, it's very uncomfortable and exhausting to work during daytime, although of course I can see more clearly," [farmer Nguyen Hung Phuong] said.
Night planting began a few years ago at Nguyen Thi Hanh's farm.
"Our parents did not have head lamps. The weather was also not as hot," 56-year-old Hanh said.
Night planting has its advantages for the rice, which Hahn said is sensitive to extremes in temperature.

We are going to see more changes like this in people's behaviour. I think we would all do well to learn from these individuals' example and take action to adapt to the changing needs of our food crops as well as ourselves.

In related news, Germany is looking at overturning its ban on GMO crops this week. European Commission Expected To Take a Stand on GMOs

For anyone who would enjoy a heaping side of societal breakdown to go along with their environmental destruction, here is a whiff of what is to come for all of us.

From the article:

A study published in JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday found a 1C increase in average annual temperature was connected to a rise of more than 6.3% in incidents of physical and sexual domestic violence across three south Asian countries.

Extreme heat can lead to crop failures, buckle infrastructure, eat into economies, trap people indoors and render them unable to work – all factors that can place families under extreme stress and push up violence rates. The researchers found that although there was a heat-related increase in violence across all income groups, the largest increases were among lower-income and rural households.

Previous research from Madrid found that when a heatwave hit, the risk of intimate partner femicide rose 40%, and in Kenya, women who experienced severe weather events – including heatwaves – had 60% higher odds of reporting intimate partner violence. Studies collating global data have found the risks of interpersonal violence increased by 2.3% and intergroup conflicts by 13.2% as temperatures rose.

Hold on to your butts and thank your lucky stars if you aren't part of any of the following groups:
-poor people
-women
-residents of underdeveloped countries

Because for the rest of us, things will be getting even worse, even faster.

Long COVID is still not well researched, but this survey of 600 doctors in the UK, by the British Medical Association, found that 48% reported loss of earnings as a result of long COVID symptoms.

Just when you thought medical workers in the UK had enough problems.
This is a concerning issue because it will probably amplify the disaster that is the current UK healthcare system.

This is a good summation of the problems facing Antarctica in the near future.

I guess the time to talk about keeping warming under 1.5℃ has passed.