Climate Change thread

[Halibut]

1 hour ago, rogets said:

We went abroad in May and September and the numbers in Spain are unsustainable 

 

The holiday industry has a lot to answer for and I think its high time something was done to stop people going abroad 

 

We paid £250 to a Climate Offset scheme hence our holiday abroad was fine. 

Three and a half out of ten. Must try harder.

[Baron99]

A report by Imperial College London for Drax Electric Insights states that the UK has been decarbonising at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world in the past decade. 

 

Our carbon emissions have fallen from 161 million metric tonnes in 2010 to 54 million tonnes in 2019, as we've moved away from coal & natural gas to renewables. 

 

Demand has also fallen by 13%, even though the UK population increases by 7% & GDP rose by a quarter.  

 

There's been a big jump in generating power via sustainable bio-mass, while wind power was responsible for delivering a quarter of the reduction in carbon emissions. 

 

Good response from the UK but we can still do better.  Time to start not only pointing the finger at the main pollutanters of the world, including some of those in Europe but maybe also exporting, (& earning a few quid), some of the expertise we have learnt over the past decade? 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Baron99

[El Cid]

1 hour ago, Baron99 said:

Good response from the UK but we can still do better.  Time to start not only pointing the finger at the main pollutanters of the world, including some of those in Europe but maybe also exporting, (& earning a few quid), some of the expertise we have learnt over the past decade? 

The government says greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 42% since 1990.

But Greta Thunberg told MPs in Westminster that the true reduction was more like 10%.

 

Who would you believe?

 

Britain has contributed to the global climate emergency by outsourcing its carbon emissions to developing nations, according to official figures, despite managing to weaken the domestic link between fossil fuels and economic growth.

The Office for National Statistics said the UK had become the biggest net importer of carbon dioxide emissions per capita in the G7 group of wealthy nations – outstripping the US and Japan – as a result of buying goods manufactured abroad.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/21/britain-is-g7s-biggest-net-importer-of-co2-emissions-per-capita-says-ons

Edited February 17, 2020 by El Cid

[Pettytom]

36 minutes ago, El Cid said:

The government says greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 42% since 1990.

But Greta Thunberg told MPs in Westminster that the true reduction was more like 10%.

 

Who would you believe?

 

 

Well, one is a self-publicising know it all with a child-like grasp of climate change.

 

The other is Greta Thunberg.

[Bargepole23]

25 minutes ago, Pettytom said:

Well, one is a self-publicising know it all with a child-like grasp of climate change.

 

The other is Greta Thunberg.

Well done sir, or madam.

[Baron99]

2 hours ago, El Cid said:

The government says greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 42% since 1990.

But Greta Thunberg told MPs in Westminster that the true reduction was more like 10%.

 

Who would you believe?

 

Britain has contributed to the global climate emergency by outsourcing its carbon emissions to developing nations, according to official figures, despite managing to weaken the domestic link between fossil fuels and economic growth.

The Office for National Statistics said the UK had become the biggest net importer of carbon dioxide emissions per capita in the G7 group of wealthy nations – outstripping the US and Japan – as a result of buying goods manufactured abroad.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/oct/21/britain-is-g7s-biggest-net-importer-of-co2-emissions-per-capita-says-ons

Who would I believe? 

 

A report by Imperial College London for Drax Electric Insights. 

 

Reading the Guardian link, "The ONS warned that Britain had increased its net imports of CO2 emissions per capita from 1.7 tonnes in 1992 to 5.1 tonnes in 2007",  although the report is dated 20/10/2019?  So the the earliest figures are now clearly out of date, as highlighted later in the piece, the UK has clearly turned things around in the last decade & the later figures are roughly in line with the data from Imperial College London but obviously the data in the piece from the Guardian, still carries their, to be expected, anti-Govt bias. 

Edited February 17, 2020 by Baron99

[RJRB]

I am not a climate change doubter,but sometimes wonder how truthful or accurate some of the information is.

At the moment every news report concerns the floods and the probability that such rainy weather will be a feature in the future.

However If we went back 15 years or so,the news items were concerned with the exceptionally dry winters which resulted in the natural aquifers drying out.

What fundamentals have changed in such a comparatively short time,and is it credible to make future forecasts on what may be short term trends.

As has been said many time the U.K. has weather rather than a climate.

[El Cid]

11 minutes ago, RJRB said:

As has been said many time the U.K. has weather rather than a climate.

The climate of the UK has changed over recent decades. The warm Spring weather is coming earlier and winters are not so cold.

Climate change predicts more severe weather and more precipitation, we have had more precipitation, but the flooding may have other causes too. Like the lack of soak aways, lack of trees and vegitation that help soak up the access water. Building near rivers and on what used to be flood plains. Remember Fishlake a couple of months ago? They called it Fishlake for a reason.

Even if we were to stop all emissions today, we would not prevent some changes. However, the sooner we cut emissions, the smaller the changes will be.

Cutting emissions will not stop the flooding, so the Government need to do something, not just waffle.

[Longcol]

1 hour ago, El Cid said:

The climate of the UK has changed over recent decades. The warm Spring weather is coming earlier and winters are not so cold.

Climate change predicts more severe weather and more precipitation, we have had more precipitation, but the flooding may have other causes too. Like the lack of soak aways, lack of trees and vegitation that help soak up the access water. Building near rivers and on what used to be flood plains. Remember Fishlake a couple of months ago? They called it Fishlake for a reason.

Even if we were to stop all emissions today, we would not prevent some changes. However, the sooner we cut emissions, the smaller the changes will be.

Cutting emissions will not stop the flooding, so the Government need to do something, not just waffle.

I think that's pretty optimistic.

 

Where we live in France the Dordogne river upstream flows through many miles (best part of 100) of wooded hills and farmland. Doesn't stop it flooding if you get really heavy rain - especially two events close to each other like Sheffield in 2007. 

 

Once the ground is sodden the ability of trees to get rid of more water is limited - and pretty non existent in winter when deciduous trees have shed their leaves and are dormant - like this December here when the river was a good 15/20 feet higher than usual.

 

Glad we're up a hill!

 

[hauxwell]

I’m sure the Earth has endured hotter temperatures than we will ever experience when Dinosaurs walked the planet. Scientists say Antarctica was once a tropical forest.

 

Our Planet has already seen global warming before. I don’t believe it’s all down to mankind who is causing climate change.  I think the temperature is changing all of the time on our planet but mankind is speeding it up.