VOL 21: Where Are We With Climate Change? Part 2
With the goal now to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, recognizing the urgency of the challenge, ministers from all over the world at COP26 agreed that countries should come back this year to submit stronger 2030 emissions reduction targets.
The scary thing is we are on our way there and it all started since the first industrial revolution, the earth has warmed between 1.1 and 1.3 degrees Celsius. The calming thing is we have some of the things we need to avoid climate change, the people and the technology, but not all of them, we need to work toward the “Kitty Hawk Moment” when the impossible becomes a reality.
However, we still have climate change denials creating doubts, they say; “climate change is natural and normal, it has happened at other points in history,” which are true but spreading the lie that “plants and animals can adapt” is a huge problem. We have popular denials like Michael E. Mann a climatologist, he gave his six-stage of denials, he said;
CO2 is not actually increasing.
Even if it is, the increase has no impact on the climate since there is no convincing evidence of warming.
Even if there is warming, it is due to natural causes.
Even if the warming cannot be explained by natural causes, the human impact is small, and the impact of continued greenhouse gas emissions will be minor.
Even if the current and future projected human effects on Earth's climate are not negligible, the changes are generally going to be good for us.
Whether or not the changes are going to be good for us, humans are very adept at adapting to changes; besides, it's too late to do anything about it, and/or a technological fix is bound to come along when we really need it.
Yes, we live in a world of free liberty, you can express your opinions freely, so sceptics are allowed to their opinions.
The majority of the science body says the consequences of climate change are ever-present, from the severity of storms in the United States, hurricane Ida in Louisiana is said to have caused $75 billion worth of damage, making it the most costly event of 2021, flooding across Europe last year is making it hard for people to believe doubters or denials, because the consequences of warming the planets are dawning on us.
In a time marked by uncertainty, mistrust and escalating climate impacts, COP26 has affirmed just how essential collective global action is to address the climate crisis. While we are not yet on track, the progress made over the last year and at the climate summit offered bright spots and a strong foundation to build upon.
At COP26 countries also made commitments to curb methane emissions, to stop and reverse forest loss, aligning the finance sector with net-zero by 2050, find alternating means to carbon-emitting vehicles, accelerate the phase-out of coal, and end international financing for fossil fuels, to name just a few.
Glasgow was a platform for launching innovative sectoral partnerships and new funding to support these, as several innovative products were launched, with the aim of reshaping every sector of the economy at the scale necessary to deliver a net-zero future.
There are lots of positive energy around, in recent years China has made wind and solar energy much cheaper even though they still invest in fossil fuels, but thats a huge progress towards our journey to zero. Electric vehicles are now becoming mainstream with government policies making them cheaper and enabling citizens to buy them.
For years, Norway has been the world leader in shifting away from traditional cars, thanks to government benefits that made electric vehicles far more affordable and offered perks like letting electric car owners skip some fees for parking and toll roads. Policies like this have made adoption easier.
Most of these changes can only be effected by the government, even though the citizens have a role to play. Nigeria government have pledged to reduce GHG emissions by 45% in 2030 and plans to reach net-zero by 2060. President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better proposal would spend $555 billion to make further progress on climate goals.
My conclusion will be, it is rather good to be an optimist because we know what Technology and People can accomplish. There are lots of solutions coming, people are building on this and it is going to create an entire industry of its own. We are going to see groundbreaking innovations in the coming years.
As Bill Gates said “If we keep our eye on the big goal which is getting to Zero, and make serious plans to achieve that goal, we can avoid a disaster.
Until next week, Happy Learning.
Enjoy the weekend.