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Governments 'Not on Track' To Cap Temperatures at Below 2 Degrees: UN (reuters.com)
Governments are not on track to meet a goal of the 2015 Paris agreement of capping temperatures well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) before the end of the century, a United Nations official said on Sunday ahead of climate-change talks in Bangkok this week. From a report: Patricia Espinosa, head of the Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which steers the climate talks, said both the public and private sector need to act with urgency to avoid "catastrophic effects". The Paris climate agreement, adopted by almost 200 nations in 2015, set a goal of limiting warming to "well below" a rise of 2 degrees C above pre-industrial times while "pursuing efforts" for the tougher goal of 1.5 degrees C. "1.5 is the goal that is needed for many islands and many countries that are particularly vulnerable to avoid catastrophic effects. In many cases it means the survival of those countries. With the pledges we have on the table now we are not on track to achieve those goals," Espinosa told Reuters in a telephone interview on Sunday in Bangkok.
And if we had spent the R&D money back in the '70s to boost renewable, sources of energy that don't emit greenhouse gases, we'd be much further along the process.
If we'd actually tax companies for their emissions and the effects to mitigate those emissions, we'd be a lot further along.
In general, too many places have done too little because ti would cost those in power money, even though it was other individuals that ultimately shoulder the consequences.
Actually, we CAN stop it now. We just have to quit adding fossil fuel plants, esp coal, and then add only clean ; wind, solar, hydro, Geothermal, nuke. But that will not happen.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
The French government did great in picking a nuclear energy policy in the 70s and using highly standardized reactors. Far better than the mess in the US or Asia, where every plant is a white elephant.
Except in Australia where a really advanced solar panel manufacturing tech came out of the CSIRO, the Conservative Prime Minister refused to spend Any money developing it for domestic markets, so the scientist took his patents to South Korea, helping them cut Australia largely out of the solar panel manufacturing industry.
We're already at stage 4? That developed quickly, just weeks ago we still had discussions in phase 2.
For those unfamiliar with them, the 4 stages of climate denial:
1. There is no climate change.
2. Ok, there is a climate change, but it's normal, not man made.
3. Ok, it is man made, but it's been warmer before, so no problem.
4. Ok, it is a problem, but it's too late anyway.
The beauty is that, no matter what stage we're on, we needn't do anything about it.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.