In dit artikel betogen de schrijvers Kevin Zeese en Margaret Flowers, dat de gevolgen van de klimaatverandering zich voor onze ogen afspelen, daarbij verwijzend naar de Orkaan Harvey. Vandaag komt er een andere orkaan over Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius en Sint Maarten, orkaan Irma, nog veel zwaarder dan Harvey, Irma is een orkaan in de categorie 5++...... Men verwacht windsnelheden tot 285 km/u. of zelfs hoger........
In Azie waren de gevolgen van noodweer nog veel groter dan in de VS waar enkele tientallen doden te betreuren waren, daar zijn nu al meer dan 1.800 dodelijke slachtoffers geteld (en niet 1.200, zoals in het artikel hieronder genoemd).
Het 'Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change' (IPCC), een VN orgaan dat al vanaf 1990 rapporteert over de klimaatverandering, is verrast over de snelheid van de opwarming en de gevolgen die de klimaatverandering heeft voor veel landen (neem weer de kracht van orkanen en het groeiende aantal orkanen). Voorts geeft de opwarming in een aantal landen temperaturen die tot zelfs boven de 50 graden stijgen........
Het U.S. Global Change Research Program heeft onlangs haar rapportage gelekt naar de pers, daar men bang was, dat de Trump administratie dit rapport zou vernietigen...... In het rapport wordt een overweldigend bewijs geleverd voor het feit dat de mens verantwoordelijk is voor de klimaatverandering...... Overigens, Shell en Exxon hebben dit al voor 1990 (Exxon al in de 70er jaren!) bevestigt met onderzoek, dat daarna snel in het archief werd verstopt.......
Lees het volgende uitstekende artikel (en zie de berichten onder de links in het artikel):
Climate Breakdown Is Happening Before Our Eyes
September 3rd, 2017
Climate
breakdown,
as George Monbiot calls it, is happening before our eyes at the
same time the science on climate change grows stronger and has wider
acceptance. Hurricane Harvey, which struck at the center of the
petroleum industry – the heart of climate denialism – provided a
glimpse of the new normal of climate crisis-induced events. In Asia,
this week the climate
message was even stronger where
at least 1,200 people died and 41 million were impacted. By 2050, one
billion people could be displaced by
climate crises.
Climate
disasters demonstrate the immense failure of government at all
levels. The world has known about the likely disastrous impacts of
climate change for decades. Next year will be the
thirtieth anniversary of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
which operates under the auspices of the United Nations and was
founded in 1988. The IPCC published the first of five reports in
1990. Thousands of scientists and other experts write and review the
reports and 120 countries participate in the process. The most common
surprises in successive reports are more
rapid temperature increases and greater
impacts than
scientists had predicted.
We
Can No Longer Ignore the Science and the Evidence Before Us
The
science on climate change has become extremely strong as the final
draft of the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Climate Science
Special Report showed. The document
was leaked last
month because scientists feared the Trump administration would amend,
suppress or destroy it. The report describes overwhelming evidence of
man-made climate change impacting us right now and the urgent
need to get to zero net carbon emissions.
It
is not just science that confirms the climate crisis, it is also
people’s experience with extreme
weather, constant record
breaking temperatures,
and deadly
heat waves as
well as collapsing
mountains in Alaska,
the shrinking
Colorado River and
an ice
free Arctic as
a few examples. People have experienced a series of extreme
storms – Hurricanes Harvey, Katrina and Sandy being the most
notable this century –droughts, fires and other physical evidence
that make it hard to deny climate catastrophe. Climate denialism
requires shutting one’s eyes to obvious realities when the
truth is the Earth
is warmer than it has been in 120,000 years.
There
is no doubt that these storms are made more
deadly by climate change.
Harvey was a tropical storm until it went over the warm Gulf of
Mexico and grew into a hurricane with record rainfall. Climate
expert Michael
Mann explains that
warmer water resulted in greater moisture being absorbed, more rain
and more flooding. Sea level rise added to the greater flooding. The
stalling of the storm over Houston was also predicted by climate
forecasters because the jet stream pattern has changed. Climate
change had the same effects on Hurricane Sandy in New York City.
Science
is denied because many profit from the dirty energy status quo and
denying or even hiding the existence of climate change. There
is litigation
against oil and gas companies and an
SEC investgation because
records show they knew their products were causing climate change
going back to the 70s but funded research to hide reality.
ExxonMobil is being sued
by shareholders for
misleading investors and faces shareholder
challenges. Coastal
communities are suing dozens
of oil and gas companies for continuing to pollute after they knew
the damage they were doing.
Former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, now the Secretary of State, used a fake email account to discuss climate change and many of those emails are now missing. Youth suing over the destruction of their environment and climate change are seeking Tillerson’s testimony and emails.
Former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, now the Secretary of State, used a fake email account to discuss climate change and many of those emails are now missing. Youth suing over the destruction of their environment and climate change are seeking Tillerson’s testimony and emails.
There are many climate criminals to point to with the dirty energy companies at the top of the list. There are 100 companies responsible for 71 percent of green house gas emissions. Good government would hold them responsible.
Historic
Failure of Government
The
three decade life of the IPCC has coincided with deep corruption of
government by the energy industry, sprawl developers and other dirty
energy profiteers. The anti-science movement in the United States,
which includes government officials, industry and others who deny
climate change exists, provides cover for elected officials to do
nothing or act inadequately on the urgent reality of climate chaos so
that corporations continue to threaten the planet.
The
United States elected a climate denier, Donald Trump, who describes
climate change as a hoax and has appointed
officials who
are complicit in denying climate change, closely tied to polluting
industries and favor policies that result in climate breakdown, and
many of whom were part of the
misinformation network on climate.
Trump has withdrawn
from the Paris climate
agreement, putting the US
out of step with the world on
the issue. The Trump administration has sought
to hide evidence
of climate change, but people
have been sharing climate documents with
other governments and scientific groups before he hid them. Thirteen
cities joined together to publish
Trump-deleted climate data.
Trump
has conducted a witch
hunt against believers in
climate change. These actions have resulted in the unusual step
of climate
scientists protesting the
Trump administration.
But,
even presidents who recognize climate change reality have not
taken action to confront it. Unlike Trump, President
Obama played
a more hidden
hand in
his undermining of climate policy. His energy strategy favored “all
of the above”
energy including oil and gas and his office approved carbon
infrastructure and off-shore
drilling.
Obama showed dirty
energy extraction is a bi-partisan concern,
as Alison Rose Levy clearly reminds us. Obama undermined
the 2009 Copenhagen climate
accord and weakened the Paris
agreement.
He was preceded by the marinated in oil Bush-Cheney administration.
Those two administrations wasted 16 years of critical time to respond
to climate change.
Federal
decisions had local impacts as can be seen in Houston, the fourth
largest city. The federal
government inadequately regulated
superfund sites, pollution from oil refineries and chemical plants in
the area. These were all part of “Cancer Alley” or the “Chemical
Coast” – names used to describe the petrochemical capital of the
United States. When flooding came, so did disaster in these areas. A
1.5
mile radius around one chemical plant had to be evacuated and toxic
waste sites flooded. Of
course, the environmental racism that led to these dangerous
polluters being put in poor neighborhoods, usually communities of
color, is now resulting in massive pollution in those areas and will
cause health problems.
But
inadequate response to climate change often includes state and
local governments (some states and cities are taking positive
steps). Texas is an example of decades of failed government as it has
taken no action to adapt to climate change over the last three
decades. Bills
were introduced to
do so but the legislature failed to act. Why? Because the laws
included the words “climate change,” e.g. calling for a “climate
change vulnerability assessment” and were perceived as a threat to
the oil and gas industry.
The
metropolitan area of Houston contains 6.5 million people over urban
sprawl the size of New Jersey. Zoning
regulations allowed for
unregulated growth, even in areas prone to flooding, creating a large
population on a flood plain. The area has had a long relationship
with the petrochemical industry which has been able to get its way,
but being business friendly to the industry is going to become very
costly. The city is sinking at 2.2 inches a year in large part
because of oil and water being pumped from under it.
The
failure to act on climate for the last three decades also means that
government will spend more as each crisis has multi-hundred million
or even multi-billion dollar costs. In addition, people today
are leaving
a bill of hundreds of trillions of dollars to
future generations. It would be much less expensive if government
acted responsibly and put in place infrastructure and technology to
adapt to climate change as well as to ameliorate it now. The disaster
in Houston is an opportunity to make those changes.
The
historic failure of government action on climate change shows a fatal
flaw in a representative democracy that is based on the
corruption of big business money and serves the corporate
interests who profit from the flawed status quo.
People
Rise to the Challenge
Throughout
much of this history, particularly in the 21st Century,
people have been challenging the dominance of the oil, gas and coal
industries and pushing government to confront climate change.
Even
before Trump came into office, there were massive protests during the
Obama administration against the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline,
the Dakota Access Pipeline and other carbon infrastructure throughout
the country. People
protested the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC),
which is an arm of the oil and gas industry disguised as a federal
agency. Obama’s FERC commissioners were a rubber stamp for the
industry, now, Trump’s FERC continues the practice.
People
were escalating actions during the Obama era saying the
time for direct action on climate change is now.
Protests were on an upswing before Trump was elected. Last September,
Bill McKibben recalculated
the climate math showing
how time was running out.
From
the first day of the Trump administration people were taking
action. Climate
activists blockaded Trump’s inauguration making
it more difficult for people to attend. In addition to protests
against specific carbon energy products, people mobilized
for #DayAgainstDenial
Protests across U.S. to call attention to climate change.
People
pushed businesses and local governments to pledge to reduce carbon
emissions resulting in over
1,400 U.S. cities, states and businesses vowing to meet Paris climate
commitments.
Last week, nine
eastern states jointly agreed to
reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent more than their
previous target.
There
is widespread climate
change action, which is ‘unstoppable’ despite Trump’s
policies. In
fact, Trump’s presidency may be leading to an escalation in
movement action as people know we
can no longer hope to win by simply voting or speaking out.
People are showing they are willing
to risk going to jail for
a livable future. And, we have begun to see cases where juries
are not willing to convict people for climate change protests.
Climate
change affects each of us and is an issue that unites us. When crisis
hits, we need to act as a community in mutual aid of each other.
Those cmmunity relationships can be built now so we are ready
in times of crisis.
The
only way we can mitigate and adapt to climate breakdown is by working
together toward the common goals of reducing our carbon footprint,
moving to a net zero carbon energy economy as soon as possible and
putting in place the infrastructure needed to adapt to the climate
crisis.
Popular Resistance
==============================
In het artikel wordt nog over Obama gesproken, die klimaatakkoord van Kopenhagen wist te ondermijnen en het klimaatakkoord van Parijs wist af te zwakken t.b.v. de fossiele maffia......... Daar wil ik nog aan toevoegen, dat Obama ook de dumping van VS steenkool op de wereldmarkt heeft gestimuleerd en zelfs toestemming gaf aan een VS bedrijf, om een enorme kolencentrale te bouwen aan de rand van een belangrijk natuurgebied in Bangladesh, de Sundarbans....... De Sundarbarns is overigens een grensoverschrijdend natuurgebied en ligt deels in India
PS: de klimaatsceptici kan je zonder meer gevaarlijke psychopathische figuren noemen, die schijt hebben aan het grote aantal mensenlevens waar de klimaatverandering nu al een eind aan heeft gemaakt. Daarnaast sterft een ongelofelijk aantal mensen wereldwijd vroegtijdig (na een akelig ziekbed) aan de gevolgen van langdurige inademing van auto-uitstoot, in Nederland ligt dat aantal rond de 18.000 op jaarbasis..... Alleen dat feit zou al genoeg moeten zijn, om als de donder de uitstoot van fossiele brandstoffen omlaag te brengen....... U weet het: men vergiftigt liever de gewone bevolking, dan echte maatregelen tegen uitstoot te nemen, dat kost niet alleen een berg geld, maar brengt ook de enorme winsten omlaag, die de fossiele maffia jaar in jaar uit maken (na een kleine inzinking door de crisis)........
