Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
There is an uncomfortable question here that we all need to answer: how much do we actually care about the climate crisis? Why would negotiators and activists at COP28 invoke such impossible optimism to dispel a sense of defeat?
A national poll, commissioned from market research company Ipsos as part of the report, revealed that just one in four UK adults (26%) believe global average temperatures are likely to, or definitely will, be limited to 1.5°C by 2100.
The real danger of the way CoP28 ended with a ‘positive’ outcome is that it makes it seem as if something has been achieved. Whereas all that has been achieved, after 28 years, is a toothless statement of the obvious: that we need to transition away from fossil fuels.
The climate system has many potential tipping points, such as ice sheets disappearing or dense rainforests becoming significantly drier and more open. It would be very difficult, effectively impossible, to recover these systems once they go beyond a tipping point.
The real contribution of native tribes at this point might be to be more aggressive in showing us exactly what we are losing. Will that make any difference?
Once this sustainability revolution started to take hold, the ‘great sorting’ of deciding what was essential and what was simply voracious desire, reshaped many areas of society. And, so, it was decided to de-commodify food, education and healthcare, in line with a more ecological form of economics, where Nature has a seat at the boardroom table.
President Biden may have trouble making good on the $3 billion pledge given Republican opposition—particularly in the House. Any promises by the administration are somewhat suspect by other nations and climate activists, given the possibility of a second Trump administration.
That we maintain an intellectual model of climate in which the physical blanket is seen but not the living activity below shouldn’t surprise us.
COP28 is the first COP to raise discussion about the public health impacts of climate change. Organisations representing 46 million health professionals have written to Sultan Al Jaber, calling for a total phase-out of fossil fuels. The World Health Organisation has exhorted ministers of health to make “health” a force for propelling climate action, via climate-friendly healthcare systems…
The story takes place in a near-future version of western Canada and centers on a fictional town called River Meadows, which once served as an epicenter for the extraction and production of a fossil fuel-like substance called ghost ore. This ore is vastly more energy-dense than any previously known energy source, and its environmental impacts are equally unprecedented. When emitted into the environment, it unleashes disruptive temporal anomalies known as “decoherences,” which severely warp people’s perception of reality.
The enactment of bold new climate policies—bold enough to quickly drive US greenhouse-gas emissions down to zero—can succeed only if we defeat the looming threat of far-right authoritarianism. And today, the nation’s anti-democracy, fossil-fuel-loving political minority appears more determined than ever to gain enough power to turn us into a sweltering autocracy.
Now it’s so obvious that the system is failing, progress is finally possible.
