“A large portion of the very fabric of life on our planet is imperiled,” said William Ripple, a professor at Oregon State University College of Forestry. “Ecological overshoot, taking more than the Earth can safely give, has pushed the planet into climatic conditions more threatening than anything witnessed even by our prehistoric relatives. We’re already in the midst of abrupt climate upheaval, which jeopardizes life on Earth like nothing humans have ever seen.”
Positive
1. The last coal power plant in Britain closed recently, ending more than 140 years of coal-fired electricity and proving that major economies can wean themselves off the dirtiest fossil fuel. They join Iceland, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Portugal in phasing out coal.
2. Cooling accounts for nearly 4% of annual greenhouse gas emissions — twice as much as planes. And the number of AC units is expected to triple worldwide by 2050 from the currently installed 1.2 billion units. Researchers are developing new AC units that will lower humidity as well as temperature and will use less energy. In tropical zones, this will result in increased comfort at lower cost.
3. With solar leading the way, renewables are on track to generate nearly 50 percent of global electricity by 2030. The global renewable capacity set to be added between now and 2030 is nearly three times the growth from 2017 to 2023. This is mainly because renewables today offer the cheapest option to add new power in almost all countries around the world. Projected global renewewable additions are on course to roughly equal the current power capacity of China, the European Union, India and the United States combined.
4. Louisville Colorado has become the first city in the U.S. to have an all electric waste and recycling truck fleet. Operating under heavy loads, in stop-and-go conditions, at low speeds, and on a predictable route, electric vehicles are well-suited to waste collection applications – especially in cities, where the average day’s work happens in well under 100 miles of driving.
5. Vertical solar panels are now available and are being installed on farms while permitting the land to still be used for farming. Helge Biernath, the CEO of Sunstall, notes that “You still can work on the land, and it’s not just a solar farm.” Biernath says the panels can double as fences, shade structures, or windbreaks and they can be installed along canals, railroads, or highways.
Negative
1. “Green” hydrogen is obtained by using renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. There are high expectations that this hydrogen will be a large contributor to powering the future. A Harvard study finds "green" hydrogen won't go beyond "niche" uses without big cost reductions. The paper says many analyses don't adequately weigh the expense of hydrogen storage and distribution infrastructure — not just production costs.
2. In a new study in the journal BioScience, scientists presented a stark look at the state of the climate crisis. The report has revealed harsh realities on Earth, with 25 of 35 planetary vital signs reaching record extremes. Without immediate action, scientists warn that these extremes could threaten life on Earth. Some of their many findings are:
a. The human population is increasing by around 200,000 people per day, while livestock populations are increasing by around 170,000 animals per day. They also found that fossil fuel consumption increased 1.5% in 2023.
b. A separate report, the 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment, confirmed a decrease in tree cover, with 15.6 million acres of land deforested in 2023.
c. The average surface temperature of the Earth is at a record high, ocean acidity has broken records, ocean heating is at an all-time high, and global sea levels are the highest ever recorded.
d. Greenland and Antarctic ice masses have reached record lows, and the average global glacier thickness is at an all-time low.
3. A network of universities across Europe has launched an initiative to train medical students on climate change-related illnesses. “From the spread of infectious diseases to increasingly deadly heatwaves, the health impacts of climate change are becoming ever more dangerous,” said the head of the College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow. Further, the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that climate change impacts could cause an additional 250,000 deaths per year from 2030 to 2050. “The health impacts of climate change are not hypothetical threats in the future; they are right here, and right now,” said the director-general of the WHO.
4. Heat records continue to be broken. For example, the U.S. southwest had record heat in September and October. Phoenix has a longterm average of 21 days that are over 110F . This summer Phoenix set a new record with 70 days over 110F. The Phoenix area had a record of 389 heat-related deaths, with 292 deaths under investigation.
5. The U.N. Weather agency found that record heat in 2023 caused river flows around the world to fall to all-time lows. This has serious effects on fresh water supply, river navigation, fish and other marine life. Water is becoming the most telling indicator of the climate's distress.
Final Message
Since Donald Trump has won reelection, it is apparent that positive corrective climate actions by the government will come to an end. Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he has no understanding of the climate crisis and he will always put profits for the carbon industries before the climate. He has stated that he will hinder and dismantle the government agencies that take the necessary actions to reverse the causes of increased climate warming. Leading climate scientists have warned us that major actions must be taken by 2030 to reduce the greenhouse gasses or we will find that irreversible processes will happen and it will be much more difficult, if not impossible, to fix the climate problems.
I am convinced that if the climate problem is not solved then none of the other problems that concern people will be solvable.
Since the U.S. has a leadership position in the world, it is unclear what the global reaction to the changing U.S. leadership will be. Hopefully they will be more responsible than we will be.
It is because of this terrible change of leadership that this will be the final issue of the “climate crisis” email.
Please keep fighting for the actions needed to ensure future generations will have a livable planet to live on. I believe that the fight has just become much more difficult.
Rod