World close to 'irreversible' climate breakdown, warn major studies

From The Guardian:

The climate crisis has reached a “really bleak moment”, one of the world’s leading climate scientists has said, after a slew of major reports laid bare how close the planet is to catastrophe.

Collective action is needed by the world’s nations more now than at any point since the second world war to avoid climate tipping points, Prof Johan Rockström said, but geopolitical tensions are at a high.

He said the world was coming “very, very close to irreversible changes … time is really running out very, very fast”.

Emissions must fall by about half by 2030 to meet the internationally agreed target of 1.5C of heating but are still rising, the reports showed – at a time when oil giants are making astronomical amounts of money.

On Thursday, Shell and TotalEnergies both doubled their quarterly profits to about $10bn. Oil and gas giants have enjoyed soaring profits as post-Covid demand jumps and after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The sector is expected to amass $4tn in 2022, strengthening calls for heavy windfall taxes to address the cost of living crisis and fund the clean energy transition.

Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, said: “It’s a really bleak moment, not only because of the reports showing that emissions are still rising, so we’re not delivering on either the Paris or Glasgow climate agreements, but we also have so much scientific evidence that we are very, very close to irreversible changes – we’re coming closer to tipping points.”

Research by Rockström and colleagues, published in September, found five dangerous climate tipping points may already have been passed due to the global heating caused by humanity to date, including the collapse of Greenland’s ice cap, with another five possible with 1.5C of heating.

“Furthermore, the world is unfortunately in a geopolitically unstable state,” said Rockström. “So when we need collective action at the global level, probably more than ever since the second world war, to keep the planet stable, we have an all-time low in terms of our ability to collectively act together.”

“Time is really running out very, very fast,” he said. “I must say, in my professional life as a climate scientist, this is a low point. The window for 1.5C is shutting as I speak, so it’s really tough.”

With Spike in Concern Over Drought, Wildfires and Climate Change, Westerners Are Eager for Action to

COLORADO SPRINGS—Colorado College’s 12th annual State of the Rockies Project Conservation in the West Poll released today showed a spike in concern over issues like drought, inadequate water supplies, wildfires, the loss of wildlife habitats and natural spaces, and climate change among voters in the Mountain West. Those concerns align with continued strong support for pro-conservation policies.

The poll, which surveyed the views of voters in eight Mountain West states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), found 69 percent of voters are concerned about the future of nature, meaning land, water, air, and wildlife. That level of concern was a notable jump from 61 percent in last year’s poll.

Against that backdrop, 86 percent of Western voters now say issues involving clean water, clean air, wildlife and public lands are important in their decision of whether to support an elected official, up from 80 percent in 2020 and 75 percent in 2016.

“We are seeing a perfect storm of threats that are driving higher levels of concern than ever before for the state of our lands and water in the Mountain West,” said Katrina Miller-Stevens, Director of the State of the Rockies Project and an associate professor at Colorado College. “Not surprisingly, most voters are aligning behind policies that would help mitigate threats by conserving and protecting more outdoor spaces.”

~snip~

Climate change seen as a threat with voters expressing concern over impacts

Most voters in the Mountain West, 62 percent, believe climate change is happening and requires action. Among them, 44 percent agree climate change is established as a serious problem and immediate action is necessary. Another 18 percent say there is enough evidence of climate change that some action should be taken. 52 percent of voters view climate change as a very serious or extremely serious problem, up from 46 percent in 2020 and 27 percent in 2011.

Climate change is turning the cradle of civilization into a grave

My Trump supporting landlady just informed me that she has Covid and I feel guilty

So last night my landlady called me up and she sounded just awful. What she called about was fairly trivial but then she announced that she had been diagnosed with Covid. I was stunned. I flashed back to the last time I spoke with her before this. I had mentioned to Cula that I'd just gotten my second Covid vaccination and was feeling some mild side effects.

Cula replied that she was much older than me and in good health. She saw no need to get the vaccine and was in fact worried that some national mandate might come down forcing EVERYONE to get vaccinated. I think that such a mandate might be a good idea, but I tried to calm Cula's fears and I told her that I didn't think "they" would force her to get a vaccine against her will. I wish they would have.

I worry that given Cula's age, she may not pull through. I worry that her husband Bud who is also in his 80's and has cancer will catch Covid and his compromised immune system will fold on him.

I've been thinking and then saying it aloud that the republicans deserve to catch Covid, given how destructive the republican stance on Covid has been for our nation. Let them all die so that no one will be left to support Trump sez I. But Cula doesn't deserve the death sentence just because she's so deluded that she supports Trump. The county we live in is a real right wing stronghold and you can practically count all the Democrats who live here on the fingers of your hands. Cula's farming and ranching family have been staunch republicans from the dawn of time. I can't blame her for her Trump lawn sign when her family and friends and the community at large also support that SOB.

Cula has been beyond kind to me and her life has not been an easy one. She deserves better than this. There are many Cula's out there, I think. They have been brain washed by Fox, but inherently, they are not bad people and they don't deserve to die.

I need to be more careful about what I wish for.

Not a single G20 country is in line with the Paris Agreement on climate, analysis shows

And yet we claim that we still can keep global warming at a mere 2 C:

None of the world's major economies -- including the entire G20 -- have a climate plan that meets their obligations under the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to an analysis published Wednesday, despite scientists' warning that deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions are needed now.

The watchdog Climate Action Tracker (CAT) analyzed the policies of 36 countries, as well as the 27-nation European Union, and found that all major economies were off track to contain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The countries together make up 80% of the world's emissions.

The analysis also included some low-emissions countries, and found that the Gambia was the only nation among all 37 to be "1.5 compatible." As the study only included a few smaller emitters, it's possible there are other developing countries in the world on track as well.

Under the 2015 Paris accord, more than 190 countries agreed to limit the increase in global temperatures to well below 2 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures -- ideally to 1.5 degrees. Scientists have said 2 degrees is a critical threshold for some of the Earth's ecosystems, and is one that would also trigger more catastrophic extreme weather events.

The report comes less than two months ahead of UN-brokered international climate talks in Glasgow, known as COP26. The event's president, British MP Alok Sharma, has said he hopes to "keep 1.5 alive" as a global warming limit.

Turning Lauren Boebert into Lorena Bobbitt - I am so tempted!

To Colorado's ever lasting shame, the voters in its Third District (where I so happen to reside) elected a gun happy (there was a pic of her posing in front of a bookcase filled with guns instead of books on another recent thread here on DU) minor criminal with a rap sheet as long as your arm. I guess my neighbors here in rural Colorado believe that we are still living in the Wild West where a Congress person can incite insurgencies and strap a six gun to her side to be properly attired for a debate on the House floor, all with no repercussions.

To my lasting disgust, someone has kept up a sign at the corner of the highway not far from my house which reads:

LAUREN BOEBERT
FREEDOM!

I have to pass by this at least once a day, and given all that has happened and is continuing to happen, my blood is coming to a slow boil. Right from the start, I noticed how similar her name is to "Lorena Bobbitt". For those of you too young to remember the case, Lorena Bobbitt cut her sleeping husband's penis off after he had raped her. Ms. Bobbitt threw her husband's manhood into a field where it was finally found after a lengthy search and reattached.

I am so tempted to go out there to the highway in the small hours of the morning and change the sign so that it reads Lorena Bobbitt instead of Lauren Boebert. It would be child's play to carry out the evil deed since the names are so close. I can just imagine the smoke pouring out of the ears of all those good ole boy Trump supporters when they finally notice the changed wording of the sign. Their private parts would probably shrivel up to become even smaller then Trump's hands as they imagined themselves meeting a similar fate at the hands of a Democrat "feminazi." The subliminal damage would take its toll and I'd bet anything that their hands would hesitate when they hovered over the ballot with the name "Lorena Bobbitt" come the next election.

My roommate (also a DU member) doesn't want me to go out and fix that sign because I would be "defacing private property." And if the election had not yet been held, I'd leave the sign alone. After all, that's freedom of speech even if I happen to loathe the candidate, I wouldn't interfere with that.

But the election is long over and Lauren Boebert has just only begun her rampage through Congress. Time to fight back, says I. I told my roomie that if the folks on DU agreed with him, I'll leave that sign alone. But if you guys agree with me... Well, pictures will be posted here soon! What say you?

I can't see Sig lines or number of user posts anymore

I have gone in to "my account" and made sure these features are turned on, but it makes no difference. What do I do?

Oh, I can't see avatars anymore, either.

Oh man - it's 3 AM where I live and I'm in so much pain I wanna die!

I have a bad tooth that's broken half way off and that my dentist was going to fix for me except that he had to close his office thanks to the coronavirus the day after he gave me my first exam. When he was finally able to open up, I was worried about going in thanks to my concern about catching covid (I'm in a high risk group). So, I've been getting by with taking my dog's antibiotics and sometimes a codeine tab (how pathetic am I?)

But tonight I'm out of codeine and my dog refuses to give me anymore of his amoxicillin and I wanna die! Needless to say, I can't sleep - just trying to hang on until I can call my dentist's emergency number in the morning.

Is there anyone still awake who knows of any home remedies for a toothache from hell?

Oh, please!

Anyone at all??

Great Barrier Reef suffers its most widespread mass bleaching event on record

Judge orders Hillary Clinton deposition in email flap

Source: POLITICO

A federal judge has ordered former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to sit for a sworn deposition for the first time in connection with her use of a private email account during her State Department tenure.

U.S. District Court Royce Lamberth issued the order Monday in connection with a five-and-a-half-year-old Freedom of Information Act lawsuit the conservative group Judicial Watch filed seeking emails related to the deadly 2012 attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya.

Clinton was previously required to submit a sworn written statement about her email use, but the deposition—if it takes place—would be the first time she has had to submit to live questioning under oath on the subject.

During her four years in President Barack Obama's Cabinet, Clinton relied on a private email account and server for both her work-related and personal messages. The practice led to a storm of controversy that roiled her 2016 presidential bid and is widely viewed as contributing to her ultimate defeat by Donald Trump.

In response to press questions during the campaign and in the sworn statement, Clinton said she kept the private account and server after taking over as secretary of state in 2009 as a matter of convenience and not to avoid FOIA or other disclosure requirements. The FBI investigated, interviewed Clinton and recommended against criminal charges, but it did find dozens of messages in her account that officials said contained highly classified information.

However, Lamberth said in his ruling Monday that the FBI probe and representations by the State Department have not adequately put to rest questions about the episode and Clinton's deposition is needed to address those concerns.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/02/hillary-clinton-email-deposition-118800