Paris Agreement Doomed to Fail?

The Agreement aims to respond to the global climate change threat by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.


However, the progress is far from it.


As per this recent article from Independent,  BP and Shell planning for catastrophic 5°C global warming despite publicly backing Paris climate agreement.


According to this article on NY Daily News, there are many indications that the agreement is a failure. The United Nations body that oversees the Treaty estimates that if every country were to achieve every promise by 2030, the total greenhouse gas cut would be equivalent to just 60 billion tons of carbon dioxide. Keeping the global temperature rise below 2 degrees C requires a reduction in emissions during this century of almost 6,000 billion tons. Even with complete success, Paris makes only 1% progress toward the least ambitious target. Not a single wealthy, major emitter is set to meet its treaty promises. The article concludes by stating that it’s time to change course. Nations should invest far more in green energy research and development. Fixing climate change is not about making pretty promises, but about boosting innovation so green energy will eventually outcompete fossil fuels.





https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COP21_participants_-_30_Nov_2015_(23430273715).jpg#/media/File:COP21_participants_-_30_Nov_2015_(23430273715).jpg

Some Compelling Data

This article on National Geographic explains it all and with compelling statistics and great storytelling. Here is the summary of the article.


1. The world is getting warmer. Global average surface temperature (difference from 20th century average)





Source: NOAA


2. It's becasue of us. Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide in PPM





Source: NOAA, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center


3. We're sure. A 2013 review of 4014 research papers found that 97% (98% authors) said humans caused global warming


4. Ice is melting fast. Extent of Arctic Ice in millions of miles. Coastal cities are at danger here.





5. Weather is wreaking havoc. Global natural disasters (red line is earthquakes, Tsunamis and volcanic activity, the columns from bottom to top are stroms, floods / landslides and Droughts / Heatwaves / forest fires)







Read the rest of the article on the National Geographic website at this link

Hurricanes and Global Warming

We have seen hurricanes in the past and we have seen bad ones but the kind we are getting now exceeds all limits of how much destruction it can bring.

The way Hurricane Harvey dropped unfathomable amount of rainfall on Houston and other parts of Texas was unimaginable.

The consensus among scientists is that the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and warmer oceans, made those storms far more destructive than they would have been in previous decades.

Here is the science: Hurricanes thrive over warm water and strengthen in intensity; oceans have warmed on an average 1 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century, and sea levels have risen about 7 inches during that time. Throw in compound flooding -- the combination of rising sea levels from global warming, storm surge and extreme rainfall -- and you have the perfect mix for record flooding.

Read more in this insighful article on CNN

EPA moves to rescind Obama plan to slow global warming

The roll back is real...


The Trump administration is moving to roll back the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's efforts to slow global warming, seeking to ease restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.


See more here:


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/epa-moves-rescind-obama-plan-slow-global-warming-50330450

Global warming keeps on keeping on

A new paper finds no statistical evidence that global warming slowed down in recent years or that it’s sped up just yet
What this analysis shows us is that the Earth continues to warm apace. Furthermore, we shouldn’t get excited about any given year that is cold or warm, or think it’s showing that global warming is slowing down or speeding up. Rather, this paper reminds us that long-term trends are what matters. And the long-term trends are speaking loudly. This latest study is just another nail in the coffin of the lie that global warming ended.


Read the details here


If you are interested to read the paper, find it here

Cricket and Global Warming - What's the connection?

Cricket is one sport which is heavily dependent on weather. Once it starts raining, the game has to be suspended right away and the pitch needs to be covered for the game to resume, once the rain stops and weather clears. People who follow the game can recall countless matches which has been interrupted due to rain and then resumed with a different targets, often changing the results. Many times, the game doesn't even resume because the conditions are not conducive to bring it to a logical end.


With the kind of money riding on this sport, it is kind of surprising that climate change is hardly on the agenda in international board meetings of global administrators.


Read this article for a good account of this topic


http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/04/19/rain-stopped-play-cricket-ignores-climate-threat/

The Point of No Return?

I was reading this article which is a little old (publised in Aug 2015) but the facts are nevertheless scary and relevant.


It starts with recounting some of the recent (again, reference 2015) events and how it points to a point of no return.

• In just the past few months, record-setting heat waves in Pakistan and India each killed more than 1,000 people
• In Washington state's Olympic National Park, the rainforest caught fire for the first time in living memory
• London reached 98 degrees Fahrenheit during the hottest July day ever recorded in the U.K.; The Guardian briefly had to pause its live blog of the heat wave because its computer servers overheated
• In California, suffering from its worst drought in a millennium, a 50-acre brush fire swelled seventyfold in a matter of hours, jumping across the I-15 freeway during rush-hour traffic. Then, a few days later, the region was pounded by intense, virtually unheard-of summer rains.
• Puerto Rico is under its strictest water rationing in history as a monster El Niño forms in the tropical Pacific Ocean, shifting weather patterns worldwide.

The article then develops facts and figures to establish that the worst predicted impacts of climate change are starting to happen - and much faster than climate scientists expected.


Read the rest of the article here