Climate 2050

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, March 30th, 2018 - 11 comments
Categories: climate change, james shaw, sustainability - Tags: , , , , ,

Highlights from Forest and Bird’s event last night Climate 2050: discussing Wellington’s future

Panel discussion,

 

Twitter coverage of the talks,

James Renwick Professor School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria,

Pertinent twitter comment,

Climate Minister James Shaw,

https://twitter.com/CubaRaglanGuy/status/979228626997493760

This is always a useful reminder,

https://twitter.com/JennyKayNZ/status/979229243245654016

Wellington Regional Councillor, and former Green MP Sue Kedgeley,

Wellington City Councillor David Lee,

Q and A session,

https://twitter.com/CubaRaglanGuy/status/979239216675631104

So glad to hear someone saying this,

https://twitter.com/CubaRaglanGuy/status/979244359689191424

Forest and Bird also put out a press release,

Forest & Bird: driving 500m melts 1kg of glacier ice

At the event Climate 2050: discussing Wellington’s future this evening Forest & Bird climate advocate Adelia Hallett highlighted new research showing that every 500 metres we drive melts at least one kilogram of glacier ice.

“This brings home the reality that even small decisions make a difference to New Zealand’s natural environment. If you can bicycle or walk 500 metres instead of driving, you have saved a kilogram of glacier ice,” says Ms Hallett.

“But individuals can’t make good decisions without the right support or infrastructure. To the politicians here this evening, I say: show us the bike lanes and electric trains,” she adds.

The research, by climate scientists at the Universities of Bremen and Innsbruck, looked at how much mountain glaciers would melt under various climate scenarios. They showed that the world has already committed to losing more than a third of its mountain glacier ice. How much more is lost depends on our actions now.

“Glaciers are highly visible symbols of climate change,” says Ms Hallett. “But each of those kilograms of glacier ice also translates into other effects: more inundation of low lying areas by the sea, ocean acidification, extreme weather events, and pressure on native species.”

11 comments on “Climate 2050 ”

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  1. johnm 1
    30 March 2018 at 12:53 pm

    Forest & Bird @Forest_and_Bird

    Prof. Renwick #climate2050 we must reduce emissions in 5 years to stay at a 1.5 deg increase – what can we do: electrify transport/freight, people centric living, reduce waste, plant trees, figure out livestock emissions – it’s all possible
    6:23 PM – Mar 29, 2018

    Meanwhile CO2 keeps marching upwards:

    Daily CO2

    March 28, 2018: 410.07 ppm

    March 28, 2017: 409.47 ppm

    https://www.co2.earth/

    Plse delete this comment if considered too defeatest! 🙁

    Some believe we are already at 1.6c above baseline and 2C is inevitable.

    • weka 1.1
      30 March 2018 at 1:28 pm

      The only way something good happens is if we act 😉

      “Some believe we are already at 1.6c above baseline and 2C is inevitable.”

      I don’t get into the maths that much because there is so much disagreement about it and I think it’s rearranging decks chairs when we could be using our mental effort to make actual change. But in general, from what I understand, the IPCC projections (which is what govts are using) are based on CCS tech that we don’t have and probably never will.

      So I’m less concerned about arguing over 1.5 vs 2C than I am about impressing the fact that this situation is as serious as it gets (except maybe for nuclear war), and we have to act urgently. We have a window (Renwick is saying 5 years) and after that it will be much much harder.

      In NZ we have a huge opportunity here, given the centre left govt at last and a Climate Minister who comes from a party that has been pushing for action for decades and is already ideologically and practically on board with not only the need for change but the ways to do it. That is huge and something we can take advantage of.

    • cleangreen 1.2
      30 March 2018 at 6:40 pm

      Thanks for your list of latest figures. John,

      I read the speech that Meagan Woods gave to the Petroleum conference last week which bodes well for rail since the minister has clearly defined the long term
      goals of her Labour lead coalition/NZF Government “transition to a
      low-carbon or a net-zero carbon economy will be as transformational as the
      industrial revolution was to the societies and economies in the nineteenth
      century.”

      so Labour need to get all the regional rail systems re-opened and plan to electrify the rail service from Napier to Gisborne and all networks to achieve that goal.

      We wont have any life on our planet if the CO2 keeps rising John.

      We have been tracking it every three months and it is steadily rising still now.

      So more pressure needs to go onto the new government to turn this ship around before we are all doomed.

      They must use electric powered locomotives on freight trains to move our freight as we would reduce greenhouse gases five times quicker than just using truck freight expansion that is accelerating carbon emissions now..

    • johnm 1.3
      31 March 2018 at 6:38 pm

      CO2 levels are the highest now since 20 million years ago,and increasing relentlessly! humans are 2 million years old! on Global Warming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIRqgwGV6I0

      • johnm 1.3.1
        31 March 2018 at 7:10 pm

        Is Earth on the Edge of Runaway Warming?

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZjaEE0_MOk

        Redpilldown
        4 years ago
        Mother nature is now playing her cruelest trick yet, we are the frog being very slowly boiled alive. The frogs in charge are to busy taking bribes to fill their bank accounts, the media is more worried about little beeba and miley frog and the general population thinks its cool to have so many plastic toys to play with in the lovely pot of warm water.

    • johnm 1.4
      31 March 2018 at 7:28 pm

      Climate apocolypse?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzVMV-Yj2qo

      Professor Peter Wadhams ScD, Professor of Ocean Physics / Head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group-Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, UK RE: A Farewell to Ice: A Report from the Arctic. We could be just eighteen years away from a climate apocalypse…

  2. Grafton Gully 2
    30 March 2018 at 1:38 pm

    “But individuals can’t make good decisions without the right support or infrastructure. To the politicians here this evening, I say: show us the bike lanes and electric trains,”

    – No meat
    – Forage plant food and grow herbs, salads and fruit
    – Walk places
    – Live within walking distance of public transport to work
    – Slow down and learn to enjoy where you are
    – Think of the smiles
    – Use vehicles, power boats, planes, whiteware and power tools sparingly
    – Think about your own death and the deaths of loved ones
    – Pray inside yourself, giving thanks

    • cleangreen 2.1
      30 March 2018 at 6:50 pm

      100% Grafton gully.

      Energy minister Hon’ Meagan Woods wants renewable energy systems like solar power accelerated now and overseas they are building electric powered electric locomotives and this is a big switch away from carbon burning fuels to a clean green environment where trains with steel wheels and electric engines will end use of trucks with 32 petroleum based toxic styrene/butadiene tyres that shed 7 kilograms of tyre dust for every 500 kms they travel (MOT/NZTA) while electric trains will not pollute at all as steel wheels are non toxic.

      This all makes so much sense now.

  3. timeforacupoftea 3
    30 March 2018 at 9:05 pm

    Mean time in Dunedin we have a Green Council wanting to spend $60 million on a hotel on the foreshore of Otago Harbour.
    Obviously they know sea level rise is a hoax. Bloody Fools.

  4. savenz 4
    31 March 2018 at 8:57 am

    How about a law suit targeting those 90 companies, hurt them where they care the most, their pockets…..

    “The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.

    The companies range from investor-owned firms – household names such as Chevron, Exxon and BP – to state-owned and government-run firms.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/20/90-companies-man-made-global-warming-emissions-climate-change