Responses to the IPCC report

Drowning in a Sea of Lies

In an interview I listened to Dmitry Orlov was asked for a definition of collapse. The answer he gave was “when people sit around not knowing what to do next”

I would add to that complete denial of Reality.

We can see that with reactions to two bits of news that have been dominating the headlines in this country.

The first was the news that people are boycotting petrol stations and the PM is 'angry' at the oil companies.  Are these people ignorant of the factor that we have crude oil prices driven up both by a geopolitical crisis in the Middle East that threatens to end in war as well as a weak dollar as opposed to what bond markets are doing in the United States.

As I wrote today on Facebook:

Has anybody mentioned to Adern that we are at the FAR end of the supply chain and are to small to matter to anybody. Lets not mention the minor points of a global geopolitical crisis one step short of war or the destruction of the $NZ by what is happening to the bond markets in the US. Lets not bother with complexities. Lets boycott petrol stations or chase off the oil companies who in this neo-liberal world can bugger off in a heartbeat.

I’ve not seen such nonsense spouted by the ignorant as I have in the last day or so.

Solutions? We are living in the era if consequences on many fronts.

The second is the "devastating"report from the IPCC in South Korea which threatened to tell a few hometruths but failed to deliver. According to this 'radical' report we have until 2040 to reduce emissions down to zero (as if that is going to happen!)

The meeting itself as well as the responses of the various governments show a complete acknowledgement of Realty. Indeed we have direct evidence of people looking at each other not sure what to do next.

AUSTRALIA

This is the report from Australia's ABC:

IPCC issues dire climate warning, says coal must go to save Great Barrier Reef

Australia and the rest of the world must virtually eliminate the use of coal for electricity within 22 years if there is to be a chance to save even some of the Great Barrier Reef, the world's most authoritative climate science body has warned.

Key points:

• Greenhouse gas pollution must reach zero by about 2050 to stop global warming at 1.5C, a report by the UN climate body warns
• At 1.5C coral reefs are expected to decline by a further 70 to 90 per cent, the report says
• Experts say coal power needs to drop to between 0 and 2 per cent of existing usage

In a report authored by more than 90 scientists, and pulling together thousands of pieces of climate research, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said global emissions of greenhouse gas pollution must reach zero by about 2050 in order to stop global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

At current rates, they said 1.5C would be breached as early as 2040, and 2C would be breached in the 2060s.

If that happens, temperatures over many land regions would increase by double that amount. And at 2C of warming, the authors warn the world would risk hitting "tipping points", setting a course towards uncontrollable temperatures.

With the world already 1C warmer than pre-industrial times, experts said this report, released by the IPCC in Incheon, Korea, was likely our final warning before it becomes impossible to keep warming at 1.5C.

"To limit temperature change to 1.5 degrees we have to strongly reduce carbon dioxide emissions," said report contributor Professor Mark Howden from ANU. 
"They have to decline about 45 per cent by 2030 and they have to reach zero by 2050.

***
Here is the response of the Australian government.

Australian government backs coal in defiance of IPCC climate warning

Deputy PM Michael McCormack says policy will not change based on ‘some sort of report’

The Australian government has rejected the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report’s call to phase out coal power by 2050, claiming renewable energy cannot replace baseload coal power.

The deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, said Australia should “absolutely” continue to use and exploit its coal reserves, despite the IPCC’s dire warnings the world has just 12 years to avoid climate change catastrophe.

He said the government would not change policy “just because somebody might suggest that some sort of report is the way we need to follow and everything that we should do”.

The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, also did not commit to the total phase-out of coal, but called for more renewable energy.

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In short there are only two possible responses. One is to keep going with what has been done before and in fact to ratchet things up by basically waging war with the planet itself to keep the economy going.  This is basically the response of the Australian government as well as the Trump administration.

NEW ZEALAND

This is the response of the prime minister who has neither anything sensible to say nor is being honest wth the people.

NZ pays highest pre-tax petrol price in OECD – Ardern

Tax increases make up only a small part of New Zealand petrol price rises, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.

Ms Ardern said pre-tax fuel prices in New Zealand are the highest in the OECD while taxes are about average.

The government is fast-tracking the passing of legislation to allow the Commerce Commission to carry out market studies and require companies to hand over information. The law will go to Parliament this month and Ms Ardern will nominate the fuel industry as the first to be investigated.

The "landed cost" of fuel - including refining, quality premium, shipping and wharfage - has gone up 19 cents this year, she said.

"No-one can tell me why we've had a 19 cent increase since the start of the year. That far outstrips the 3.5 cents of excise that we've seen.

***

If  this interview is indicative of anything it shows that doing something about climate change (the usual fiction) is not a viable option because it will (sic) destroy the economy.

That simultaneously demonstrates the fiction of "doing something" to "fix" climate change as well as that those "in charge" are completely out of ideas - basically because we are looking at a predicament.

Climate target not viable for NZ economy - expert

New Zealand's economy could not sustain an emissions target that kept global warming below 1.5°C, a climate expert has said.

In the most extensive warning yet on the risks of climate change, scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) say limiting warming to 1.5°C, rather than 2°C, is necessary to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change.

That half degree difference would change the height of sea level rise, the survival of coastal ecosystems and the availability of food and water resources, the scientists say..

Limiting warming to that target is possible but would require unprecedented changes, Prof Jim Skea, co-chair of the IPCC, said.

Victoria University professor of climate science Tim Naish said the target was not possible without technology - that doesn't yet exist - to extract carbon dioxide from the air.

"To me, it's an academic idea. I think that without technology we're just not going to make it.

"Although in an ideal world it would avoid a lot of climate change impact, my sense is we've just left that too late."

Prof Naish said target was not viable for New Zealand because the economy relies on the meat and dairy industry.

"We've got to reduce production and have less cows and sheep. The problem with that is it would tank our economy in the short-term. We can't do that too quickly, so there's no silver bullet for New Zealand."

"That's why I say, 1.5 is extremely hard. Two [degrees] is a challenge but achievable, but 1.5 is really pushing the limits of the possible rates of change."

Big effort needed, but achievable

Greenpeace NZ climate and energy campaigner Amanda Larsson said limiting global warming was a matter of life and death.

"A lot of people have talked about mobilising a level of ambition and courage that we have seen in wartimes in the past," she said

"This is going to require a big effort but it is achievable."

But the scale of change required goes beyond what individuals can achieve, and mass investment is required from government and industry as well to make it feasible for people to take public transport or make their next car electric.

AUDIO: "It's a matter of life and death really, so we've got to do it" -Amanda Larsson of Greenpeace NZ

"I think it's helpful to have this report now which maps out exactly what we need to do to ensure a safe and stable climate."

Federated Farmers vice chairman Andrew Hoggard said new technologies could play a part in the deep cuts in methane called for in the IPCC report.

Feed inhibitors, a vaccine, and gene-edited grasses are under development and have the potential for up to 30 percent reduction in methane from livestock.

AUDIO: "We're getting a lot of different reports coming at us that are bound tocause confusion " - Andrew Hoggard

Mr Hoggard said was a confusing array or reports and farmers should keep doing what they're doing in improving sustainability. New Zealand already led the world in terms of emissions per kilo of product, he said.

Prof Naish said the Paris Agreement, to keep a global temperature rise below 2°C this century, was still achievable and New Zealand was going to show global leadership with the Zero Carbon Bill currently being drafted.

"The pathway that the government is exploring to be carbon zero by 2050 is not super-scary and is quite achievable and actually brings some fairly positive benefits to New Zealand's economy if we follow it."
 ***

GERMANY

We have been led to believe that the German government and Angela Merkel is the most advanced and forward-thinking in terms of developing the new economy which is supposed to reverse climate change.

Instead of that we have a Germany that is reopening nuclear power plants and chopping down forests for a new coal mine!

According to this article from Deutsche Welle Merkel's  response to this latest report was a shrug of the shoulders.

That sounds like a government out of ideas that is giving up the fiction.

Germany's Angela Merkel no longer leading the charge on climate change

An alarming report from the United Nations climate panel has been met with a shrug from the German government. Angela Merkel once promoted herself as a champion of climate protection, but those days are long gone.

Hambach: the battle between a forest and a coal mine threatens Germany's environmental image

Hambach Forest in western Germany has become a symbol of resistance to coal mining, but its days may well be numbered. Can protesters save Germany's green image as an environmental and climate champion?

The energy company RWE plans to expand the nearby Hambach mine, already Europe’s biggest open pit coal mine. That means chopping down the forest, which has become symbolic of the battle between fossil fuel concerns and environmentalists.

After a long fight, RWE won permission to start clearing from the start of October. That would mean evicting the activists living there - and clashes with the police have already begun.

The activists want not only to save the forest, but also to send a message to the world. It's time to phase-out coal mining, says Indigo, after sliding nimbly down a rope from a tree house. She uses the pseudonym when she talks to the media. Indigo is convinced we also need to abandon consumerism and show more respect for nature: .