Eco Blog - St. George's Berlin

More statistics about heat last year keep coming in.  In "Climate crisis: last seven years the hottest on record, 2021 data shows" ( Guardian,  10 January 2021) ( LINK )  Damian Carrington wrote: "the  European climate agency Copernicus, also found carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached record levels..." Details are telling: "The average CO2 levels in 2021 reached a new record of 414 parts per million in 2021 – before the Industrial Revolution and large scale burning of fossil fuels the level was 280ppm." Increased heat is the obvious consequence: "Europe suffered its hottest summer on record and broke its maximum temperature record in Sicily with 48.8C..."  People die at temperatures like that. Other consequences include flooding because of changing rain patterns. Northern China was unusually  wet last year: " Floods in July in Henan province caused hundreds of deaths." The floods in Germany were notable and unusual too. Many people ...

In a recent Guardian article (7 January 2022  LINK ) Bibi van der Zee reports that:  "More than 400 weather stations around the world beat their all-time highest temperature records in 2021, according to a climatologist who has been compiling weather records for over 30 years." Also: "Ten national temperature records were broken or equalled in 2021, including the highest ever reliably measured on Earth." And: "Meanwhile, 2022 has begun with a number of records already shattered in the UK and the US in the first few days of the year." This is not good news for the climate crisis. What may be even worse news is that 2021 is only part of a string of hot years and may well not be the hottest year ever, even if it ends up in the top five or six. The trend is upward, and it is far from clear that governments or citizens are taking the steps necessary to limit t in he increase. The question is: what can individuals and organizations do, even if governments are no...

 In a Guardian article on 7 December 2021, called " The richest 10% produce about half of greenhouse gas emissions. They should pay to fix the climate." ( LINK )    Lucas Chancel  wrote: " Let’s first look at the facts: 10% of the world’s population are responsible for about half of all greenhouse gas emissions, while the bottom half of the world contributes just 12% of all emissions. "  It is not just a matter of countries, though: " in Europe, the poorest half emits about five tonnes per person, while the richest 10% emit about 30 tonnes – a gap of six to one." The real issue is indirect emissions, those that come from things people buy and from investments people make. Many of the current measures, while valuable, do not address these broader problems. In addition countries could "establish individual carbon rights, similar to the schemes that some countries use to manage scarce environmental resources such as water. Such an approach has consequen...