Let’s Restart the Climate Conversation
Conventional wisdom on climate change dominates the media
“Net Zero is enough”
“Burning fossil fuels is the cause of global warming” is scripture
“We need to stop using oil & gas as soon as possible” follows
Wind and solar are always green & good alternatives
We are doomed by [2030-2050 ] unless we take drastic steps now
Man has damaged the planet, but we can’t correct our mistakes if we don’t understand the actual situation.
“Net Zero” carbon emissions requires slashing 10-15BtC per annum & is achievable without reducing fossil fuel usage.
Like it or not, the world today runs on oil & gas. Weaning man off fossil fuels will take decades.
Meanwhile, net emissions have grown to more than 10 BtC per annum, adding 5 ppm per annum to atmospheric carbon.
Green Means Cool identifies six non-fossil fuel-dependent methods of eliminating annual carbon emissions.
Success comes only when every sector—governments, corporations and citizens—commits to changing destructive behaviours and using biology to improve soils, vegetation and water cycles.
Farmers are both the greatest challenge and our salvation.
More ambitiously, we further must remove a cumulative >200BtC to stabilise weather & safeguard the planet.
As of May 2020, we are now at 417ppm carbon dioxide in the atmosphere equating to 890 billion tonnes carbon (BtC).
Eventually the ice caps and glaciers melt, frozen methane escapes and sea levels soar.
To achieve a 300 ppm stable level means a 250 BtC cumulative drawdown.
Current plans come nowhere close to achieving these levels: we aim too low.
Deploying the methods described in Green Means Cool will begin to remove atmospheric carbon and buy us time.
Oil, gas & coal underpin modern industry despite their fossil fuels infamy.
Coal, gasoline, diesel, kerosene & bunker fuel made globalisation possible.
We can phase out fossil fuel usage, but it will take decades.
Land transportation: cars, trucks, buses can run on green fuels someday
Electricity generation: phase out coal (and eventually, fuel oil)
Shipping and aviation can go green, too, but not any time soon
So far, there are limited clean and scalable substitutes for the plastics, resins, chemicals and fuels generated from oil, natural gas and coal
Few people appreciate that petroleum-derived products are essential for green energy (e.g. wind and solar: see next section), conventional agriculture, healthcare, autos, construction and even the electronics industry.
Wind & solar power are not perfect & can pollute, too, especially the manufacturing and end-of-life phases.
Wind turbines features rotors made from strip mined rare earths, neodymium (used in magnets) mining pollutes, and 50m-plus-long reinforced plastic blades that aren’t recyclable.
Solar panels consist of abundant silica, plus expensive plastics. End-of-life handling is difficult.
Wind turbines are noisy and kill birds; solar panels require huge areas and disrupt deserts; rechargeable batteries use child-mined cobalt.
Geothermal, tidal, hydrogen, bio-gas and next generation nuclear power options are often neglected.
Let’s avoid self-fulfilling environmental nihilism. If we take action, results will be visible well within ten years.
I won’t die of old age. Instead I’ll die of climate change.
Eco-anxiety overwhelms kids Wash Post 2020 Feb
Psychologists diagnose eco-anxiety in children, Reuters, 2019 Sep
From “Climate change crisis” (The Guardian) “Doomed by 2050” (much of the environmental left) leads from a call-to-action to despair and tuned-out indifference.
But to do nothing is to ensure disaster.
FT /Royal Court video “Climate change: a cry from the future’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j43XK0wzMd4
There are proven solutions to implement: Read on!
It has taken a pandemic to realise both our vulnerability & the joy of (temporarily) clear skies & quality air.
The keys to putting carbon back into plants & soil lie in changing destructive behaviours & employing biology.
Potential Global Biological Carbon Capture Opportunities vs Fossil Fuel & Industry Emissions BtC per annum
