Climate Horizons 7 (Are we the last generation -- or the first sustainable one?)
News, Views and Solutions in an All-of-the-Above World.
Greetings!
We’ve vetted and selected a range of worthwhile climate-related news and information for you. Atop those, we’d like to start by highlighting a short-ish video that we could not recommend more highly.
Please invest a very worthwhile thirteen and a half minutes to watch a highly engaging and compelling, must-see TED Talk in which Environmental scientist Hannah Ritchie effectively encapsulates “why the conventional understanding of sustainability is misleading and showing how we can be the first generation of humans to actually achieve it.”
Are we the last generation -- or the first sustainable one?
The word "sustainability" gets thrown around a lot these days. But what does it actually mean for humanity to be sustainable? Environmental data scientist Hannah Ritchie digs into the numbers behind human progress across centuries, unpacking why the conventional understanding of sustainability is misleading and showing how we can be the first generation of humans to actually achieve it.
Hannah Ritchie is Deputy Editor and Lead Researcher at Our World in Data, and a researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme in Global Development, at the University of Oxford.
Hannah Ritchie on the web
Hannah Ritchie on Substack: By the Numbers
Hannah Ritchie on Threads: hannahritchiedata
If you like the video, and we hope you do (and that you consider sharing it with others), you might want to purchase (preorder) a copy of Hannah’s new book, entitled:
“Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet”
“Feeling anxious, powerless, or confused about the future of our planet? This book will transform how you see our biggest environmental problems – and how we can solve them.”
It’s become common to tell kids that they’re going to die from climate change. We are constantly bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won’t be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, and that we should reconsider having children.
But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. In fact, the data shows we’ve made so much progress on these problems that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in human history. Did you know that carbon emissions per capita are actually down, deforestation peaked back in the 1980s, the air we breathe now is vastly improved from centuries ago, and more people died from natural disasters a hundred years ago?
Packed with the latest research, practical guidance, and enlightening graphics, this book will make you rethink almost everything you’ve been told about the environment. Not the End of the World will give you the tools to understand our current crisis and make lifestyle changes that actually have an impact. Hannah cuts through the noise by outlining what works, what doesn’t, and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.
These problems are big. But they are solvable. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone. Let’s turn that opportunity into reality.
More information and reviews here.
You can preorder the book from Powell’s City of Books and other places.
• SELECTED NEWS and INFORMATION:
A few recent news items, usually in the form of a headline and link, along with a short description or excerpt.
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Two weeks ago, we highlighted “Laudate Deum” — a follow up from Pope Francis to his 2015 encyclical entitled LAUDATO SI’ on man’s place on Earth and the spiritual implications of human-caused global warming, in which he made an urgent and powerful plea for stronger and immediate collective action.
This is a follow up to that.
GRIST (October 23, 2023)
The pope leads 1.4 billion Catholics. Getting them to care about the climate is harder than he thought.
Pope Francis is among the most significant religious leaders in the world. But even he can’t bend the emissions curve on his own.
If there’s one person in the Catholic Church who ought to have the ability to influence climate action on a global scale, it’s the pope. And yet as Laudate Deum, his most recent exhortation on climate, demonstrates, even Pope Francis seems frustrated by how little has changed despite his best efforts.
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New York Times (October 21, 2023)
Climate Change Is Keeping Therapists Up at Night
How anxiety about the planet’s future is transforming the practice of psychotherapy.
In many of the messages, people asked Bryant for referrals to climate-focused therapists in Houston or Canada or Taiwan, wherever it was the writer lived. He found himself apologizing repeatedly. “I can’t,” he’d write. “The field doesn’t really exist yet.” But it was clear to him that the messages, like the smoke, were a sign of a bigger change on the way.
AND:
In one of climate psychology’s founding papers, published in 2011, Susan Clayton and Thomas J. Doherty posited that climate change would have “significant negative effects on mental health and well-being.” They described three broad types of possible impacts: the acute trauma of living through climate disasters; the corroding fear of a collapsing future; and the psychosocial decay that could damage the fabric of communities dealing with disruptive changes. All of these, they wrote, would make the climate crisis “as much a psychological and social phenomenon as a matter of biodiversity and geophysics.”
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The Guardian (October 20, 2023)
Impact of farming on climate crisis will be a key Cop topic – finally
Cop28 will discuss how global food production must become sustainable to stay within 1.5C
For the first time, too, the FAO will outline how food systems must change for the world to stay within the globally agreed goal of limiting temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, beyond which the impacts of the climate crisis on food systems will rapidly become catastrophic, and in some cases potentially irreversible.
This research is expected to show that animal farming, for meat and dairy, must be reined back from its continued growth around the world, if targets to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050 are to be met.
• GOOD NEWS and SOLUTIONS:
A number of items that highlight either real and notable progress being made somewhere or information about a few of the many solutions that are out there and available today.
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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (October 17, 2023)
New Report Provides Comprehensive Plan to Meet U.S. Net-Zero Goals and Ensure Fair and Equitable Energy Transition
A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine provides a broad set of recommendations that form a comprehensive plan to put the U.S. on a pathway to realize its net-zero carbon emissions goals by 2050 and ensure that all Americans can benefit from a fair and equitable energy transition.
The second of two reports examining the nation’s transition to a decarbonized energy system, the new report focuses on gaps and barriers to implementation of net-zero policies, emphasizing the need for a strong social contract during the decades-long transition. The first report provided a technical and federal policy blueprint for the next 10 years, and its recommendations helped shape climate policies included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, and Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
“Recent energy and climate policies are revolutionary and unprecedented in both scale and scope, putting the U.S. on or close to a path to zero net emissions by mid-century. They are also designed to realize a fair and equitable energy transition, improve human health, and revitalize U.S. manufacturing,” said Stephen Pacala, Frederick D. Petrie Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University and chair of the committee that wrote the report. “With so much at stake, the main challenge now is effective implementation of these policies. This report addresses how the nation can best overcome the barriers that will slow or prevent a just energy transition, and also fills some gaps in the existing policy portfolio.”
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BBC (October 11, 2023)
A growing number of workers are making the decision to walk out of companies whose environmental values don't align with their own.
Polman's 2023 survey of 4,000 employees across the UK and US showed two-thirds of employees were anxious about the environment and wanted their companies to take a stronger stance on it, and half were willing to quit over a mismatch of ethics. The results are a mark of "how deeply people now feel about the crises", he says. "People of every age, but especially millennials and Gen Z, want to give their time and talent to the companies which share their values and are contributing to a more hopeful future."
'It's an extremely powerful form of lobbying'
RELATED:
QUOTE FROM BBC ARTICLE ABOVE: “UK-based safety consultant Caroline Dennett, 52, also walked off the job after an 11-year contract with Shell, based on what she says was their "disregard for climate change risks". Last year, she posted a resignation video on LinkedIn that has more than 17,000 reactions and 1,800 reposts to date.”
See Caroline Dennett’s post and short video here.
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Inside Climate News (October 12, 2023)
A Reality Check About Solar Panel Waste and the Effects on Human Health
The coming surge in photovoltaic panel waste is tiny compared to other categories, and most health concerns about solar equipment are unfounded
Concerns about an increase in solar panel waste need to be placed in the context of how the amount of waste compares to other sources. Projections of panel waste are “a drop in the ocean,” the authors say, compared to waste categories like plastics, coal ash and municipal solid waste, and are also much less than e-waste like old phones and computers. The vast quantity of waste from all of those sources is a concern and we need to find ways to reduce waste, but solar panels are not a major issue in that larger conversation.
Solar panels do not contain harmful levels of the toxic materials that often get discussed at public hearings about development. The authors found no examples of solar panels for utility-scale development that contain arsenic, gallium, germanium or hexavalent chromium. A small share of panels contain trace amounts of cadmium, but this is a form of the metal that is stable and not a danger to human health.
The solar industry is taking a variety of steps to reduce waste and concerns about toxicity by extending the lifespan of panels, finding alternatives for certain materials and working on efficient ways to recycle panel components. The hope is that these efforts will mean that the actual amount of waste will be less than current estimates.
RELATED:
Nature
Unfounded concerns about photovoltaic module toxicity and waste are slowing decarbonization
Unsubstantiated claims that fuel growing public concern over the toxicity of photovoltaic modules and their waste are slowing their deployment. Clarifying these issues will help to facilitate the decarbonization that our world depends on.
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Washington Post (September 6, 2023)
Tired of feeling hopeless about climate change? Take a look at these charts.
A rapidly changing climate has sent measurements of all kinds careening away from the norm. This summer — which saw the hottest July and August on record — climate change contributed to an unexpected tropical storm in California, life-threatening heat waves across the United States, deadly flooding in Beijing and the fires that devastated Maui. Red lines seem to be everywhere.
Looking at charts such as these can feel distressing and disempowering. But, as Canadian science educator David Suzuki recently said, “Despair is a luxury we can’t afford any longer.”
The question is, how can people avoid hopelessness?
Christiana Figueres, the architect of the Paris climate accord, offers one solution. She calls it “stubborn optimism” — a dissatisfied, gritty, determined confidence that humanity can bring about needed change in the face of great challenges. It’s a necessary precursor to action, and adopting this attitude requires shifting focus from the past to the future.
Crucially, this doesn’t require ignoring reality or becoming complacent. Stubborn optimism calls for work toward solutions.
• THINGS YOU CAN DO:
For this section, this week we have selected an excellent and very nicely done piece produced by the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment, an institute of Imperial College London that is “committed to driving research on climate change and the environment, and translating it into real world impact.”
9 things you can do about climate change
With so many experts on climate change here at Imperial, many people ask us what they personally can do about it? And how does this fit into the bigger picture?
We spoke to our scientists at the Grantham Institute and drew up a list of the most achievable ways you personally can make a difference. While individuals alone may not be able to make drastic emissions cuts that limit climate change to acceptable levels, personal action is essential to raise the importance of issues to policymakers and businesses.
Using your voice as a consumer, a customer, a member of the electorate and an active citizen, will lead to changes on a much grander scale.
Here is the short list, but please click the link to read the details and see the graphics, images and links associated with each item:
1. Make your voice heard by those in power
2. Eat less meat and dairy
3. Cut back on flying
4. Leave the car at home
5. Reduce your energy use, and bills
6. Respect and protect green spaces
7. Bank and invest your money responsibly
8. Cut consumption and waste
9. Talk about the changes you make
• INTERNET RESOURCES & SOCIAL MEDIA CONNECTIONS:
There are a lot of great resources on the web and social media — people, groups and pages. In each newsletter, we suggest one or two you might want to check out (on the web or Facebook or Threads or Instagram or any number of other sites). This week: The Daily Climate and Environmental Health News (one overall site).
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Altogether, The Daily Climate and Environmental Health News offers a lot of climate-related news and information, in a well organized manner.
The Daily Climate
Organization: Environmental Health News
Established in 2007, The Daily Climate is an independent media organization with two core purposes: “to syndicate quality journalism about climate change to other media outlets, and to provide a daily aggregation highlighting the best news on climate change from around the globe.” It is published every morning and offers a free daily e-letter covering “top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers.” Readers can efficiently access the most current, essential information related to climate change.
ON THE WEB: https://www.dailyclimate.org/
ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/DailyClimate
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Bonus link…in case you didn’t see it last week: This is beautiful!
24 Hours of Reality: "Earthrise" by Amanda Gorman
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Physicians for Social Responsibility at the People’s Climate March in New York City (September 21, 2014).
WEBSITE: Physicians for Social Responsibility