Hello again. This week’s edition will be a little shorter than usual, as I’ve been away. Normal service should resume next week!
State of the Climate
CO2 levels this week are at 409.69 ppm. Europe is heating up again this week, with a temperature of 32.8°C recorded in the Netherlands. Spain has seen massive storms, with streets turning into rivers and residents having to clear huge drifts of hailstones.
Visualisation of the Week
This week’s visualisation, from The Guardian, speaks for itself. Whilst deforestation in the Amazon has been ongoing for years, this years’ rise is beyond anything seen before.
The Amazon Burns
The fires in the Amazon have really captured the media’s attention this week. Whilst some are accidentally sharing images of other fires, there is no doubt the issue is pressing. The number of fires burning is up 83% on last year, and the smoke was enough to turn the sky black over São Paulo. Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president, after firing the head of the Brazilian Space Agency for producing the damning figures, blamed the fires on foreign NGOs, to try and sow disinformation. Recently, he even compared himself to Nero:
I used to be called Captain Chainsaw. Now I am Nero, setting the Amazon aflame
Bolsonaro has planned this for some time, and views the Amazon as a resource to be harvested, rather than a global asset to be protected. Unfortunately, for his government, the indigenous people along with the incalculable wealth of biodiversity are just collateral damage. The fires are undoubtedly planned and supported - states held by opposition parties miraculously had less fires than last year, despite the overall increase.
Why does it matter to the rest of us though? Aside from the sheer wanton destruction, the Amazon holds a vast store of carbon, and is currently a massive CO2 sink. However, a number of studies suggest that if deforestation continues, it will reach a tipping point (potentially soon), and become a carbon source, significantly accelerating Climate Change. Whilst not all the studies are in agreement on this, the worst case is bad enough that we should act now.
So what can we do? Political pressure is the only real way - whilst he was voted into power, Bolsonaro is heavily supported by establishment companies, who care about economics. If his policies hurt the economy, his backers will leave, fast. The EU is well-placed to apply pressure, with the recent signing of the Mercosur trade agreement. Not reneging on the Paris Agreement was made a condition of that agreement, but so far there is nothing specific on deforestation. Interestingly, the increased coverage of the Amazon fires has prompted a significant rise in installations of Ecosia, the search engine that plants trees with search revenue. It’s a nice touch, but unfortunately I don’t think the impact will be significant enough to compensate for the destruction of the Amazon.
Ultimately, the increased CO2 as a result of the fires is only a few percent of the year’s output of carbon dioxide from humans. This should give a scale to the problem we face. The Amazon is hugely troubling and could have massive impact, but the fact it is but a fraction of the size of the overall CO2 problem should make us very very concerned.
News Highlights
California’s carbon offset program has been called into question by a new study, which suggests the credits are extending the lifespan of coal mines, amongst other practices. The program was designed to mitigate the problems that plagued earlier carbon offset schemes, but has issues nevertheless. Maybe it’s time to admit that offsets don’t really work?
KFC will be testing a plant-based meat at one of their restaurants in Atlanta, to gauge public interest. The product won’t be vegetarian, as it’s cooked in the same friers as the rest of their food, but is designed to appeal to flexitarians.
Utrecht has completed the world’s largest bike park, at the city’s main rail station. It features 12,500 spaces over 3 floors, and has a (bike) road through the middle.
Bernie Sanders has unveiled his own $16 tn Green New Deal, in the wake of the original’s defeat in the Senate last week. It’s ambitious, but vetoes nuclear power, carbon sequestration or incinerators - is this really the best strategy?
The DNC are still voting down calls for a dedicated Climate Change debate. The matter will be covered in two televised forums, but such formats have significantly lower viewership than the main debates.
David Koch, the billionaire oil baron who along with his brother Charles, massively funded anti-climate groups, politicians and legislation for the last 30 years, has died. For more on the impact of the Kochs, I’d recommend this piece from the New Yorker.
UK shale gas reserves may be only ⅙ of what was previously estimated, leaving the government’s support of fracking on shaky ground (literally).
The engineering firm Aurecon is the latest company to cut ties with the contentious Adani Carmichael coal mine project in Australia.
Cod numbers are plummeting in the North Sea, and are now at critical levels. The overall recommended UK catch has been lowered by 63%, on top of a 47% drop last year.
Endgame
Thank you for reading, and as always, if you enjoyed it, do please share this newsletter. Next week we should be back to normal length again (although if you enjoyed the slightly abbreviated format, do let me know!).
See you next week,
Oli