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Wow. So much to unpack here.
Firstly - I was actually there, COP26. Actually inside, working with, talking with the people mentioned - everyone from scientists to politicians both from the UK and every corner of the globe.
Climate change is not a hoax, conspiracy theory or something cooked up to extract more money from us; put simply we are where we are. A century of developed/ing nations has inadvertantly changed our environment - forever - and we have no realistic option as a species with which we can reverse that. The only thing we can do is make a choice as to how bad we allow it to get. And it is a choice. We can choose one course of action and hope to limit climate temperature rise to 1.5C, in which various bad things still happen, or we can adopt other choices which see us hitting 3C, 4C.... with increasing levels of catastrophy from which there is still no way back.
Last year due to covid global output fell by 25%, yet CO2 emissions only fell by 8%. That gives you an enourmity of the scale of the problem. 1cuM of concrete production produces 250Kg3 of CO2 - think about that the next time you're on site and you'll realise the drop in the ocean that is the recycling box you put out last night whilst yelling at the kids to turn off lights.
@telectrix is quite right - Methane in the environment is 20ish times more warming than CO2, one of the reasons we're being encouraged to revue our relationship with food and farming, however it only lasts around 18years in the atmosphere - CO2 has a significantly longer half life.
Sadly, what I learned is that whilst science tells us the nature of the problem, the 'fixes' are political. And politics, whatever your colour and flavour may be, is selfish and greedy. The kind of decisions that need to be made are properly harsh, but no developing nation wants to stop building, no country with coal reserves is going to abandon them (coal being about 25% of total global CO2 emissions) and no government wants to be the one to take away the childrens (as in, you and me) toys. Add to that the various levels of corruption and deceit that undoubtedly go on as well (just look at our own Govt for that!) and you begin to see the real issues.
I'll leave this with one last sobering thought: There is an island Nation, a proud intelligent educated people just like us Brits (actually IS part of the Commonwealth, I think), called Tuvalu. Only a small country, population around 12,000. By 2070 - that's within the lifetime of some of you reading this - it will have disappeared. It's literally sinking into the sea because of rising sea levels. Existing for as long as humans have, yet snuffed out in moments. An entire country. And I was told, by one of them, to get on a plane and go and see them whilst they still exist. Buying a carbon offset to do so, naturally.
Firstly - I was actually there, COP26. Actually inside, working with, talking with the people mentioned - everyone from scientists to politicians both from the UK and every corner of the globe.
Climate change is not a hoax, conspiracy theory or something cooked up to extract more money from us; put simply we are where we are. A century of developed/ing nations has inadvertantly changed our environment - forever - and we have no realistic option as a species with which we can reverse that. The only thing we can do is make a choice as to how bad we allow it to get. And it is a choice. We can choose one course of action and hope to limit climate temperature rise to 1.5C, in which various bad things still happen, or we can adopt other choices which see us hitting 3C, 4C.... with increasing levels of catastrophy from which there is still no way back.
Last year due to covid global output fell by 25%, yet CO2 emissions only fell by 8%. That gives you an enourmity of the scale of the problem. 1cuM of concrete production produces 250Kg3 of CO2 - think about that the next time you're on site and you'll realise the drop in the ocean that is the recycling box you put out last night whilst yelling at the kids to turn off lights.
@telectrix is quite right - Methane in the environment is 20ish times more warming than CO2, one of the reasons we're being encouraged to revue our relationship with food and farming, however it only lasts around 18years in the atmosphere - CO2 has a significantly longer half life.
Sadly, what I learned is that whilst science tells us the nature of the problem, the 'fixes' are political. And politics, whatever your colour and flavour may be, is selfish and greedy. The kind of decisions that need to be made are properly harsh, but no developing nation wants to stop building, no country with coal reserves is going to abandon them (coal being about 25% of total global CO2 emissions) and no government wants to be the one to take away the childrens (as in, you and me) toys. Add to that the various levels of corruption and deceit that undoubtedly go on as well (just look at our own Govt for that!) and you begin to see the real issues.
I'll leave this with one last sobering thought: There is an island Nation, a proud intelligent educated people just like us Brits (actually IS part of the Commonwealth, I think), called Tuvalu. Only a small country, population around 12,000. By 2070 - that's within the lifetime of some of you reading this - it will have disappeared. It's literally sinking into the sea because of rising sea levels. Existing for as long as humans have, yet snuffed out in moments. An entire country. And I was told, by one of them, to get on a plane and go and see them whilst they still exist. Buying a carbon offset to do so, naturally.