Climate change reads

World Without End

An insightful and amusing look at the energy and climate challenges facing our world today.Is this the end of the world? Perhaps not yet... With humor and intelligence, "World Without End" is the fruit of a years-long collaboration between two of the most accomplished contemporary figures in comics and climate research. Together, Christophe Blain ("Quai d'Orsay," Dargaud) and Jean-Marc Jancovici (Carbone 4, The Shift Project) explore our dependence on fossil fuels, the profound changes our planet is undergoing, and the resulting consequences for society as a whole. The dream of endless economic growth might be an illusion... but that doesn't mean we are doomed to destruction, if we take the necessary steps today. A candid and empathetic analysis that leaves readers with a better understanding of today's world and where we go from here as a society.

https://www.cultura.com/p-world-without-end-4644473.html

HOW TO AVOID A CLIMATE DISASTER - THE SOLUTIONS WE HAVE AND THE BREAKTHROUGHS WE NEED

In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical - and accessible - plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe.br>br>Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet''s slide toward certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal.br>br>He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions-suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise.br>br>As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.>

https://www.cultura.com/p-how-to-avoid-a-climate-disaster-the-solutions-we-have-and-the-breakthroughs-we-need-9780141993010.html

Le Shift publie « Décarbonons ! 9 propositions pour décarboner l’Europe » - The Shift Project

Share:Le Shift livre des clés de compréhension de la transition énergétique dans l’ouvrage « Décarbonons ! 9 propositions pour que l’Europe change d’ère » coécrit par Zeynep Kahraman, André-Jean Guérin et Jean-Marc Jancovici. Convaincu que l’Europe a le devoir moral de relever le défi de la sortie des énergies fossiles, et qu’elle peut être le […]

https://theshiftproject.org/article/le-shift-publie-decarbonons-9-propositions-pour-decarboner-leurope/

Revealed: the ‘carbon bombs’ set to trigger catastrophic climate breakdown

Exclusive: Oil and gas majors are planning scores of vast projects that threaten to shatter the 1.5C climate goal. If governments do not act, these firms will continue to cash in as the world burns

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2022/may/11/fossil-fuel-carbon-bombs-climate-breakdown-oil-gas

“The world’s biggest fossil fuel firms are quietly planning scores of “carbon bomb” oil and gas projects that would drive the climate past internationally agreed temperature limits with catastrophic global impacts, a Guardian investigation shows.” “ These plans include 195 carbon bombs, gigantic oil and gas projects that would each result in at least a billion tonnes of CO2 emissions over their lifetimes, in total equivalent to about 18 years of current global CO2 emissions. About 60% of these have already started pumping.”

Too late now to save Arctic summer ice, climate scientists find

Ice-free summers inevitable even with sharp emissions cuts and likely to result in more extreme heatwaves and floods

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/06/too-late-now-to-save-arctic-summer-ice-climate-scientists-find

“It is now too late to save summer Arctic sea ice, research has shown, and scientists say preparations need to be made for the increased extreme [heatwaves and floods] across the northern hemisphere that is likely to occur as a result.” “The study also shows that if emissions decline slowly or continue to rise, the first ice-free summer could be in the 2030s, a decade earlier than previous projections”

The increasing frequency of fatal wet-bulb temperatures

At wet-bulb temperatures above 35°C, it is thought that even young, healthy people will die in about six hours

https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/05/13/the-increasing-frequency-of-fatal-wet-bulb-temperatures

At a wet-bulb temperature above 35°C, it is thought that even young, healthy people will die in about six hours

A critical review of Steven Koonin’s 'Unsettled' » Yale Climate Connections

‘Tilting at strawmen.’ Or ‘red flag.’ There are no finer shorthand descriptions of a controversial new book on climate science.

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/05/a-critical-review-of-steven-koonins-unsettled/

Koonin implies throughout the book that climate scientists have conspired to downplay uncertainty and exaggerate the risk, apparently unaware of the fact that increased uncertainty means increased risks. Nowhere does he mention that climate sensitivity is described in the scientific literature by a probability density function that is highly skewed, with a long high-sensitivity tail that we cannot discount with certainty. Risk is the integrated product of probability and consequences. It’s hard to argue that the consequences of climate change don’t get worse with sensitivity.

Venus May Once Have Been Habitable

Venus may have had a shallow liquid-water ocean and habitable surface temperatures for up to 2 billion years of its early history, according to NASA computer modeling of the planet’s ancient climate.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/nasa-climate-modeling-suggests-venus-may-have-been-habitable

Venus may have had a shallow liquid-water ocean and habitable surface temperatures for up to 2 billion years of its early history, according to computer modeling of the planet’s ancient climate by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The findings, published this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, were obtained with a model similar to the type used to predict future climate change on Earth.

Venus was once more Earth-like, but climate change made it uninhabitable

A severe climate change event on Venus may have transformed an Earth-like climate to the current uninhabitable-to-humans state.

https://theconversation.com/venus-was-once-more-earth-like-but-climate-change-made-it-uninhabitable-150445