Climate Change Thread

[UnkNuk]

If their calculations are right, that's a lot of money.

 

New study calculates climate change’s economic bite will hit about $38 trillion a year by 2049

 

https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-damage-economy-income-costly-3e21addee3fe328f38b771645e237ff9?campaign_id=54&emc=edit_clim_20240418&instance_id=120510&nl=climate-forward&regi_id=56405277&segment_id=164138&te=1&user_id=dc88543b79693b0f05322365a827e237&utm_campaign=Daily+Briefing+18+04+2024&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cbnewsletter&utm_term=2024-04-18

[aGENT]

On 4/18/2024 at 9:37 PM, UnkNuk said:

If their calculations are right, that's a lot of money.

 

New study calculates climate change’s economic bite will hit about $38 trillion a year by 2049

 

https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-damage-economy-income-costly-3e21addee3fe328f38b771645e237ff9?campaign_id=54&emc=edit_clim_20240418&instance_id=120510&nl=climate-forward&regi_id=56405277&segment_id=164138&te=1&user_id=dc88543b79693b0f05322365a827e237&utm_campaign=Daily+Briefing+18+04+2024&utm_medium=email&utm_source=cbnewsletter&utm_term=2024-04-18

 

Axe the tax!

 

[6of1_halfdozenofother]

There's a pretty extensive piece on The Tyee analyzing Japanese energy needs and how it's sourcing of it is impacting our forests and forest products industry.

 

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/04/24/How-Japanese-Earthquake-Shook-BC-Forest-Future/

 

The copy/paste of their full articles ends up looking like a dog's breakfast, so I won't bother quoting it in full here.  However, here are a couple of excerpts:

 

Quote

In October 2022, BBC’s investigative news show Panorama aired a highly watched documentary based on fieldwork done in B.C. earlier that year. A documentary crew for CBC’s flagship investigative news show The Fifth Estate also did fieldwork in the province that summer, airing its own documentary the same week as its British counterpart.

 

Drax owns outright or is a partner in numerous mills in B.C. and Alberta that produce wood pellets, giving it control of roughly 80 per cent of the pellet production in both provinces.

 

Both the BBC and CBC raised significant challenges to Drax’s assertions that it uses primarily wood waste generated at sawmills to make its wood pellets, noting the large number of logs that are trucked to Drax facilities, where they are turned directly into the pellets that the company then exports to its U.K. plant and, in more recent years, to Japan and South Korea.

 

And those challenges continue.

 

This February, Joe Crowley reported for BBC Panorama that Drax is taking logs from old-growth forests in north-central B.C. that were clearcut by timber companies and delivering those logs directly to its pellet operations in the province. Crowley’s report noted one instance in which 130 truckloads of logs were delivered, including logs from an old-growth forest that had been identified as a candidate for logging deferrals because of its high ecological values.

 

and 

 

Quote

Here are six things that would help to increase confidence both in Japan and in B.C. that forests are not being cut down just so the trees can then be burned.

 

• Dramatically increase protection of old-growth and primary forests as the provincial government was advised to do by professional foresters and biologists it appointed to guide forest policy. The province continues to consult with First Nations on those recommendations.
•  
• Zone the province’s natural forests and existing plantations into three broad categories: fully conserved natural forests; forests and plantations managed specifically to enhance key “non-timber” resources such as water and wildlife; and lastly a portion of previously logged lands to be managed for timber production and forest products, but with ecological guidelines that must be met.
•  
• Require by law that all timber processors, including wood pellet mills, must submit annual reports detailing all the wood used at their facilities, with a clear, verifiable breakdown of what form that wood takes.
•  
• Strictly prohibit pellet mills from converting trees logged in primary or old-growth forests directly into wood pellets and require that pellet producers may use only the residual waste from sawmills, verifiable wood waste from logging sites or thinnings from tree plantations as sources of raw material for pellet production.
•  
• Apply the carbon tax to all emissions associated with logs or wood waste that is currently burned as “slash” at logging operations. This will act as an incentive to either leave such wood unburned at logging sites or to bring it into mill towns where it could be used to make a range of forest products, including wood pellets.
•  
• Enact a solid-wood-first strategy and penalize all companies that convert logs or portions of logs to wood pellets that could instead be used to make other forest products.

 

[Sharpshooter]

Humans are so shortsighted. It’s just in our Nature. 
 

[Sharpshooter]

9 minutes ago, Sharpshooter said:

Humans are so shortsighted. It’s just in our Nature. 
 

There are a few that have ascended from their shortsightedness, but until they become the majority, it’ll be the blind leading the blind, or the ignorant. 

[6of1_halfdozenofother]

46 minutes ago, Sharpshooter said:

There are a few that have ascended from their shortsightedness, but until they become the majority, it’ll be the blind leading the blind, or the ignorant. 

 

[insert "y knot bouf" graphic here]

 

Sadly, it's not just "shortsightedness".  Sometimes, it's from sheer greed and catering to personal (wealth) interests, Mutha Naycha be damned.  Those that are hoarding the assorted coins for selling out natural resources that (1) could have instead been used as construction materials or more tangible needs and (2) aren't harvested in a sustainable way for the environment or the industry, they do so knowing that they'll be long dead and decaying by the time that any impact of their actions comes to bite humanity, so why do they care?  Grab the coins now, live the life of luxury now, fuck everyone else and their descendants. 

[Sharpshooter]

13 minutes ago, 6of1_halfdozenofother said:

 

[insert "y knot bouf" graphic here]

 

Sadly, it's not just "shortsightedness".  Sometimes, it's from sheer greed and catering to personal (wealth) interests, Mutha Naycha be damned.  Those that are hoarding the assorted coins for selling out natural resources that (1) could have instead been used as construction materials or more tangible needs and (2) aren't harvested in a sustainable way for the environment or the industry, they do so knowing that they'll be long dead and decaying by the time that any impact of their actions comes to bite humanity, so why do they care?  Grab the coins now, live the life of luxury now, fuck everyone else and their descendants. 

Greed and personal interests, are part and parcel of shortsightedness. 
 

Agree with your other points as well. 
 

Perhaps Capitalism is the root cause? 
 

When Capitalism meets climate altering death and discord, what will survive? Capitalism as is, or acceptance of global death and discord? 
 

I don’t have the/any answers at this moment, but if we don’t raise the question then how can ‘we’ find answers?

[Bob Long]

6 minutes ago, Sharpshooter said:

Greed and personal interests, are part and parcel of shortsightedness. 
 

Agree with your other points as well. 
 

Perhaps Capitalism is the root cause? 
 

When Capitalism meets climate altering death and discord, what will survive? Capitalism as is, or acceptance of global death and discord? 
 

I don’t have the/any answers at this moment, but if we don’t raise the question then how can ‘we’ find answers?

 

capitalism is also the way out tho. We need to invest more in green tech that is simply cheaper to use or run than current fossil fuel based tech. Its really that simple, people will flock to the tech that saves them money. 

 

[Sharpshooter]

1 minute ago, Bob Long said:

 

capitalism is also the way out tho. We need to invest more in green tech that is simply cheaper to use or run than current fossil fuel based tech. Its really that simple, people will flock to the tech that saves them money. 

 

Agree. 
 

Capitalism using alternative industries will be the way. 
 

Overall though, capitalism is an ‘Us vs Them’ model. 
 

We as a species need to get beyond that mindset. 

[6of1_halfdozenofother]

5 minutes ago, Sharpshooter said:

We as a species need to get beyond that mindset. 

 

Good luck with that - we'll be extinct as a species before that mindset is dropped.  

[Bob Long]

6 minutes ago, Sharpshooter said:

Agree. 
 

Capitalism using alternative industries will be the way. 
 

Overall though, capitalism is an ‘Us vs Them’ model. 
 

We as a species need to get beyond that mindset. 

 

it is, and I agree. Its funny tho, thats also the argument I use agains the NDP 

[Sharpshooter]

2 minutes ago, 6of1_halfdozenofother said:

 

Good luck with that - we'll be extinct as a species before that mindset is dropped.  

Feels that way. 
 

Maybe it’s the tipping point for our species?

 

Mass death based on climate and inequity? 
 

Maybe then, ‘we’ agree on a new system based on our collective knowledge and technology? 

[Sharpshooter]

3 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

 

it is, and I agree. Its funny tho, thats also the argument I use agains the NDP 

Every political party is based on that. No need to single out the NDP. 

 

Political Party’s and human kind is based on ‘Us vs Them’. 
 

‘We’ need to get past this shit. 

[Bob Long]

25 minutes ago, Sharpshooter said:

Every political party is based on that. No need to single out the NDP. 

 

Political Party’s and human kind is based on ‘Us vs Them’. 
 

‘We’ need to get past this shit. 

 

we do.

 

Tell me the outcomes, and the plan to get there. Thats all I really care about. 

[UnkNuk]

A contrarian view of nuclear energy:

 

The Fantasy of Reviving Nuclear Energy

 

What’s missing are leaders willing to buck their own powerful nuclear bureaucracies and choose paths that are far cheaper, less dangerous and quicker to deploy. Without them, we are doomed to more promises and wasteful spending by nuclear proponents who have repeatedly shown that they can talk but can’t deliver.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/opinion/nuclear-power-fantasy-climate.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oE0.K120.FCyUjqxXM0IN&smid=url-share

[Bob Long]

10 minutes ago, UnkNuk said:

A contrarian view of nuclear energy:

 

The Fantasy of Reviving Nuclear Energy

 

What’s missing are leaders willing to buck their own powerful nuclear bureaucracies and choose paths that are far cheaper, less dangerous and quicker to deploy. Without them, we are doomed to more promises and wasteful spending by nuclear proponents who have repeatedly shown that they can talk but can’t deliver.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/opinion/nuclear-power-fantasy-climate.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oE0.K120.FCyUjqxXM0IN&smid=url-share

 

interesting article. I really like the potential of SMR's, particularly as an export product for Canada. Not sure I buy her arguments but its worth a read and consideration for sure. 

[RupertKBD]

Florida doing Florida stuff....

 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/climate-change-could-virtually-disappear-in-florida-at-least-according-to-state-law/ar-AA1nWQrd?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=ce9b10bc6dd9486b837b7eda6e7cc530&ei=23

 

Quote

 

Florida, perhaps the most vulnerable state to sea-level rise and extreme weather, is on the verge of repealing what's left of a 16-year-old law that lists climate change as a priority when making energy policy decisions. Instead, the state would make energy affordability and availability its main focus.

A bill waiting to be signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis would strip the term “climate change” from much of state law and reverse a policy then-Gov. Charlie Crist championed as he built a reputation for being a rare Republican fighting to promote green energy over fossil fuels.

While Florida is distinct for having an enormous coastline and being flat — Miami's average elevation is roughly 6 to 7 feet (2 meters) above sea level — the chairman of House Infrastructure Strategies Committee said it also has unique challenges and the climate change language in law makes meeting them more difficult.

“We're protecting consumers, we're protecting consumer pricing, we're protecting them with great reliability and we're protecting to make sure we don't have a lack of energy security in our state. That's where we're moving as far as our policies,” said Republican Rep. Bobby Payne.

 

 

I think the phrase, "whistling past the graveyard" is applicable here.....

[4petesake]

13 hours ago, RupertKBD said:

Florida doing Florida stuff....

 

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/climate-change-could-virtually-disappear-in-florida-at-least-according-to-state-law/ar-AA1nWQrd?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=ce9b10bc6dd9486b837b7eda6e7cc530&ei=23

 

 

I think the phrase, "whistling past the graveyard" is applicable here.....

 

 

Meanwhile condo listings have soared by 30% while prices drop by as much as 7% in major cities amid a deepening insurance crisis in Florida.

 

 

Florida condo owners are stuck in a 'train wreck' as prices drop and mounting insurance rates scare away buyers 

Dan Latu  

Mar 10, 2024, 1:47 AM PST

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-condo-owners-prices-drop-insurance-hoa-taxes-increase-2023-3?utm_source=reddit.com
 

 

 

[Spur1]

10 minutes ago, 4petesake said:

 

 

Meanwhile condo listings have soared by 30% while prices drop by as much as 7% in major cities amid a deepening insurance crisis in Florida.

 

 

 

Florida condo owners are stuck in a 'train wreck' as prices drop and mounting insurance rates scare away buyers 

Dan Latu  

Mar 10, 2024, 1:47 AM PST

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-condo-owners-prices-drop-insurance-hoa-taxes-increase-2023-3?utm_source=reddit.com
 

 

 

That ass is going to get burned. 

[UnkNuk]

The latest report on Canada's greenhouse gas emissions (for the year 2022 - it takes a while to compile the data) came out recently.

 

The PDF version of the 28 page report is here:

 

https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/eccc/documents/pdf/cesindicators/ghg-emissions/2024/greenhouse-gas-emissions-en.pdf

 

Some highlights:

 

Canada's total GHG emissions in 2022 were 708 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2 eq), a
1.3% increase from 698 Mt CO2 eq in 2021

• From 2005 to 2022, Canada's GHG emissions decreased by 7.1% (54 Mt CO2 eq)

• Between 1990 and 2022, Canada's GHG emissions increased by 16.5% (100 Mt CO2 eq)

 

Between 1990 and 2022, the amount of GHGs emitted per person decreased 17% from 21.9 to
18.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq) per person

• Over the same period, 43% less GHGs were emitted to produce 1 billion dollars worth of goods and
services (from 0.53 to 0.30 megatonnes CO2 eq per billion dollars of GDP)

 

In 2022, the oil and gas sector and transport sector were the largest GHG emitters in Canada, accounting
for 31% and 22% of total emissions, respectively

• From 2021 to 2022, except for the electricity sector (-7.7%), GHG emissions from all sectors grew by
0.3% to 4.2%

• From 1990 to 2022:

 an increase in emissions was observed for the oil and gas (+83%), transport (+33%), buildings
(+23%) and agriculture sectors (+39%)

 a decrease in emissions was observed for the electricity (-50%), heavy industry (-19%) and
"waste and others" (-12%) sectors

[UnkNuk]

 

World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target

 

Hundreds of the world’s leading climate scientists expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) above preindustrial levels this century, blasting past internationally agreed targets and causing catastrophic consequences for humanity and the planet, an exclusive Guardian survey has revealed.

 

Almost 80% of the respondents, all from the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), foresee at least 2.5C of global heating, while almost half anticipate at least 3C (5.4F). Only 6% thought the internationally agreed 1.5C (2.7F) limit would be met.

 

Many of the scientists envisage a “semi-dystopian” future, with famines, conflicts and mass migration, driven by heatwaves, wildfires, floods and storms of an intensity and frequency far beyond those that have already struck.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/08/world-scientists-climate-failure-survey-global-temperature

[4petesake]

 

With 142,013 hectares burned in 2024 to date, BC has already beaten annual “burned area” numbers for 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2020, and 2022.

 

It’s only the middle of May.