The 1.5C warming target was always a lie

 

JEFFREY ST. CLAIR 

New research published this week in the journal Science suggests that even at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above preindustrial levels, the Earth will lose nearly half of its 214,000 glaciers, resulting in more than 3 inches of sea level rise. Three degrees C (5.4 degrees F) of warming, the study finds, would result in a loss of over 70 percent of global glaciers and raise global sea levels by five inches.

+ The 1.5C warming target was always a lie: first in that meeting it would forestall devastating convulsions of the Earth’s ecosystems, second that warming could be limited to 1.5C under the timid measures of Kyoto, Paris, Copenhagen and Cairo…

+ The intensity and scale of this week’s winter heatwave is unlike anything in European history.

According to the UN Environment Program. in the 1950s the world generated two million metric tons of plastic each year. Today the amount has swelled to more than 400 million metric tons. And if current trends continue, yearly plastic production will top 1.1 billion metric tons by 2050.

+ More than More than 2,400 lives are expected to be lost to bushfires in Australia over the next decade. The healthcare costs from treating smoke-related deaths will top $110 million.

+ Percent of US land it would take to support an entirely renewable energy system: 0.84%.

+ Percent of US land currently occupied by the fossil fuel industry: 1.3%.

+ Both Vox and New York magazine have now banned ads from fossil fuel companies.