From DMI
Tag: Climate Change
Arctic Sea Ice Volume 13-Dec-2018
Bioenergy Climate Bomb
Trees are not the solution to high CO2 despite what “scientists” say.
I’m not worried about CO2, but I am worried about the governments and people who lie and say burning trees is low-CO2. Some people get it.
KATOWICE, Poland – Today, it’s being called the bomb that could explode the United Nations carbon climate emissions accounting system – and possibly destabilize the global climate.
When first conceived, this bomb was thought to be a boon: turn trees and woody biomass into wood pellets. Burn that woody biomass at power plants instead of coal to generate electricity. Plant more trees where the wood was harvested to offset the emissions produced by burning pellets. Then call it green and celebrate a sustainable way to reduce coal emissions.
Some 20 years ago, bioenergy produced from biomass was seen as the next new thing, and a valuable sustainable resource. And because it was deemed renewable, countries that burned biomass – wood pellets instead of coal – would not be required to count those carbon emissions. All that carbon dioxide was believed to be absorbed by the new tree seedlings.
For the purpose of United Nations carbon accounting policy, established under the Kyoto Protocol, the burning of biomass was established as, and is still considered, carbon neutral.
But in recent years, the supposed benign process has been revealed through a series of scientific studies and reports to be a dangerous fraud. It is the ticking bomb underlying the UN accounting system; a potentially large-scale hidden, unreported source of carbon emissions that helps developed countries to meet their Paris pledges.
Read the rest
Arctic Sea Ice Volume 12-Dec-2018
It’s snowing more in Antarctica
Antarctica has seen a “significant” change in ice mass following increased snowfall during the 20th century
The factual part of the story:
“Our new results show a significant change in the surface mass balance [from snowfall] during the 20th century.
“The largest contribution is from the Antarctic Peninsula, where the annual average snowfall during the first decade of the 21st century is 10% higher than at the same period in the 19th century.
“From the ice cores we know that the current rate of change in snowfall is unusual in the context of the past 200 years.”
Arctic Sea Ice Volume 11-Dec-2018
Electric Cars – 40,000 Children Working in the Mines From Hell
Electric cars aren’t so clean.
Picking through a mountain of huge rocks with his tiny bare hands, the exhausted little boy makes a pitiful sight.
His name is Dorsen and he is one of an army of children, some just four years old, working in the vast polluted mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where toxic red dust burns their eyes, and they run the risk of skin disease and a deadly lung condition. Here, for a wage of just 8p a day, the children are made to check the rocks for the tell-tale chocolate-brown streaks of cobalt – the prized ingredient essential for the batteries that power electric cars.
And it’s feared that thousands more children could be about to be dragged into this hellish daily existence – after the historic pledge made by Britain to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2040 and switch to electric vehicles.
Arctic Sea Ice Volume 10-Dec-2018
The U.S. may not ‘believe’ in climate change. But the USA is the only one doing something about it
The USA is doing something about climate change. Other countries just talk.
Nineteen nations “believe” in climate change. How are they backing up their statement of faith?
China was praised for signing on to the Paris Climate Agreement and in Argentina reaffirmed its commitment to controlling greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, however, China increased those emissions by 1.7 percent.
India, the fourth largest source for CO2, saw their emissions grow by 4.6 percent in 2017. Luckily for them, they too were praised for signing that “nonbinding communiqué.”
Overall, the European Union raised their CO2 output by 1.5 percent.
France, home of the Paris Agreement, is leading the diplomatic effort to save the planet. They increased their greenhouse gas emissions by 3.6 percent.
Pollution in France will likely rise further this year from the burning cars alone. French President Emmanuel Macron announced a sharp increase in gas and diesel taxes last month. This sparked the largest riots seen in Paris in nearly 50 years as yellow-vested citizens blockaded roadways, burned vehicles and damaged artwork and infrastructure.
President Donald Trump continues to dismantle Obama administration efforts to combat coal, gas and oil emissions even as world leaders are set to gather in Poland to fine tune the 2015 landmark global climate deal reached in Paris. (Nov. 29) AP
If the nations paying lip service to climate change aren’t meeting their goals, imagine how poorly the oil-drilling, coal-mining Americans must be doing. President Donald Trump was pilloried for withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and for being only G20 leader who refused to sign the climate change statement in Argentina.
From 2016 to 2017, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 2.7 percent. Emissions from large power plants declined 4.5 percent since 2016, and nearly 20 percent since 2011. All without signing a piece of paper in Paris or Buenos Aires.
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