#news – Care for the climate

News: Global temperatures reach record breaking intensity every year

Each year global temperatures are exceeding the previous years records, with this year being no exception. Demonstrating in the simplest way how we all are drastically changing the Earth’s climate and how the consequential issues extend much farther than just leaving your air conditioning on overnight.

Theses issues, I have talked about in previous posts consist of rising sea levels, increased risk of wildfire and much more. Additionally, recent rising temperatures in the United States are a perfect example of how bad this issue is becoming and how drastic action is needed much sooner than expected.

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News: Court rules Shell to cut emissions by 45% before 2030

This landmark court case, which took place in the Netherlands, came to the conclusion that the oil company Shell had to cut their CO2 emissions in half by 2030.

The main reason why this is so phenomenal is due to the fact that this is the first instance of a company being legally mandated to the environmental policies of the Paris Agreement.

‘The environmental group brought the case to court in 2019, alongside six other bodies and more than 17,000 Dutch citizens’ – BBC News

Although this only applies in the Netherlands, there is hope that this will now encourage more countries to legally hold big oil and gas companies responsible for their harmful environmental practices.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57257982

News: Global agreements help mitigate climate change

A recent article published by Nature has demonstrated that global agreements surrounding climate change can accelerate the rate at which we can mitigate environmental issues.

The best case scenario for global agreements would be ‘climate negotiations is a legally binding global agreement targeting < 2 °C warming by 2100 and incorporates sanctions’. However, due to various factors this may not be entirely possible, thus researchers suggest creating groups where nations or representatives are involved in a common goal with shared interests or geography. This can better enable global leaders to mitigate climate change issues whilst investing in local problems with other nations.

Sources:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23056-5

News: Solar panels used over canal systems

In recent news, researchers have been studying the idea of installing solar panels over the top of canal systems. In short, this can help reduce evaporation of water, help plant growth and be used as a space for renewable energy. An article published in the Nature journal also argued that the idea of installing solar panels over canal systems outweigh the ecological and financial alternatives of installing them elsewhere; concluding that this method produces 20%-50% more solar power than conventional methods.

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News: Earth satellite to track climate change impact and disasters

NASA are working on a new satellite which will be used to track hazards as well as measure the rates at which land ice is melting. Their new project will help provide more accurate data and estimations for scientists and engineers to use to act upon this information.

This joint project between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation has revolutionary aspirations:

‘By tracking subtle changes in Earth’s surface, it will spot warning signs of imminent volcanic eruptions, help to monitor groundwater supplies, track the melt rate of ice sheets tied to sea level rise, and observe shifts in the distribution of vegetation around the world. Monitoring these kinds of changes in the planet’s surface over nearly the entire globe hasn’t been done before’ – http://www.climate.nasa.gov

This is hopefully going to be a big step forward into how we collect data from Earth and also the measures we can take to put large-scale action into motion.

Sources:

https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3070/major-earth-satellite-to-track-disasters-effects-of-climate-change/

News: Next global climate change summit will focus on the vulnerable

The next global climate change summit which is scheduled to take place later this year is reportedly focusing on those most vulnerable to the impact of climate change.

‘The Climate and Development Ministerial will bring together countries and partners to work on solutions to the flooding, drought and extreme temperatures faced by many developing countries, as well as opportunities for energy access, cleaner air and smarter cities’ – http://www.gov.uk

The UK government is also subjecting more funding and focus into engineering a greener future, focused on minimising carbon emissions and increasing renewable energy schemes.

Sources:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/global-summit-to-help-those-most-vulnerable-fight-climate-change

News: Climate change is now a degree course you can take at university

Climate change is now a subject people can study at university. This has emerged as a whole new area one can study at different universities around the UK. The course is specifically tailored to tackling climate change and focus on aspects from the impact of scientific mechanisms to the social aspects. This is a great step forward as now the younger generation can be more equipped with dealing with their future and this incentives more people to work within the environmental sector to tackle the issues surrounding climate change.

Sources:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/universities-offer-first-climate-change-degrees-fztcv8v7j?shareToken=f1a6928ae119629116ff72707179fc14