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CEAC – “UN Climate report-record emissions’ – Govt’ must use rail”
Friday 29th November 2019,
Climate change press release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre
Subject; – CEAC – UN study-Study; – UN Climate report – record gas emissions’ Govt’ must now use rail
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1911/S00198/climate-change-another-year-of-record-gas-emissions.htm
Quote; “Levels of the three main heat-trapping gases emitted into the atmosphere – carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide – have reached yet another high, the UN meteorological agency, WMO, said on Monday.
In an appeal to Governments to do more to reverse countries’ reliance on producing energy from fossil fuels, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas, warned that “the future welfare of mankind” was at stake.
“We have again broken records in carbon dioxide concentrations and we have already exceeded 400ppm level which was regarded as a critical level,” he said, in reference to the 407.8 parts per million reading for 2018. “That happened already two years ago and this carbon dioxide concentration continues and continues, and last year’s increase was about the same as we have been observing in the past 10 years, as an average.”
According to the World Meteorological Organization’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, since 1990, so-called “long-lived” greenhouse gases have caused a 43 per cent increase in total radiative forcing – the warming effect on the climate.
Of these gases, CO2 accounts for about 80 per cent, according to the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), whose data is quoted in the WMO Bulletin.
Carbon dioxide especially damaging
CO2 is particularly harmful in a global warming context because it remains in the atmosphere for centuries and in the oceans for even longer, the agency explained.
Professor Taalas noted too that when the Earth last had similar concentrations of CO2, the temperature “was 2-3 degrees Celsius warmer (and) sea level was 10-20 metres higher than now”.
Turning to methane, which is responsible for 17 per cent of radiative forcing, Professor Taalas noted that “we have also been breaking records”, since last year’s increase “was the second-highest in the last 10 years”.
According to the WMO bulletin, global readings indicate that atmospheric methane (CH4) reached a new high of 1,869 parts per billion (ppb) in 2018, more than two and a half times the pre-industrial level.
Approximately 40 per cent of methane comes from natural sources, such as wetlands and termites, but 60 per cent comes from human activities, including cattle breeding, paddyfields, mines, landfills and biomass burning.
“For CH4, the increase from 2017 to 2018 was higher than both that observed from 2016 to 2017 and the average over the last decade,” the bulletin noted.
Gas concentrations accelerating
This upwards trend in emissions was repeated in the case of nitrous oxide (N2O), with concentrations in 2018 estimated at 331.1 ppb, or 123 per cent above pre-industrial levels.
“Nitrous oxide has contributed about six per cent of the warming so far”, said Professor Taalas. “It’s very much coming from farmlands and again there we have been breaking records, the steady growth of N2O concentration still continues.”
Based on current data, global emissions are not estimated to peak by 2030, let alone by 2020, if existing climate policies – as set out in countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – remain unchanged, WMO believes.
This demonstrates that global perspective and strategy is needed to solve this problem, Professor Taalas said. The European Union or USA, or China, can’t solve it alone, “you have to have all of the countries involved.”
While Governments understand that this is a challenge, so too does the private sector, he added, noting that it was “more and more interested in finding solutions”.
Un-quote;
End.
FACT; This latest UN climate change report shows we are now heading for a global catastrophe – and now it’s time to act;
CEAC reported on 27th November in a press release “NZTA lack respect of environmental stewardship” https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1911/S00332/nzta-lack-respect-of-environmental-stewardship.htm
– that “Living near a busy road can stunt children’s lung growth, a UK report has shown below.”
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2019/11/living-near-a-busy-road-may-stunt-children-s-lung-growth-study.html
Consider;
• Quote; Children’s health was found to be affected by staying within 50 metres of the road.
• The study recorded the effect of roadside pollution across 13 cities in the UK and Poland.
Fact; Government now have seen the increased ‘busy road’ traffic is now harming our children’s health.
Fact; Since this latest UN climate change report clearly shows; we are now heading for a global catastrophe – and now it’s time to act;
CEAC calls on Government to use low emissions rail freight and passenger services to lower climate emissions and lower ‘busy roads’ harming us all at the same time.
Rail transport is a win – win for every citizen, business and the planet..
CEAC encourage to see a Government who is caring, considerate inclusive and responsive to citizens’ health and wellbeing concerns.
PM disfigured but will heal quickly
Anyone catching glimpse of Jacinda in the last couple days would have noticed something not quite right with the face. A bulbous swelling of her jaw and an inability to move her mouth and talk properly would have been recognised by those who have gone through such dental procedures (she almost looked like she was channelling Damien O’Connor’s lopsided face but without his twisted mealy mouthed apologies giving cover to dirty farming). I’ve had similar dental work recently so can sympathise with the physical pain but also recognise that she is very brave to put herself in front of the world’s press while looking like Rocky Balboa. But whereas she only needs to ‘work’ for a couple of days to pay for her root canal/extraction (maybe a speech here and there), I had to commit to a two year payment plan which takes out of what little I get on the dole ($4 per week of the $60 I have to budget for food, toiletries, clothing, health, transport, education, leisure etc.). Whereas she wouldn’t even miss the money out of her weekly paycheck to pay for the dental work in full, my situation is compounded worse over time (I suspect the average NZer is in the same boat when it comes to financial buffers for emergency situations). So enough with this ridiculous hard line on benefit levels. Unless you and Sepoluni really want to show us you can play the average kiwi doing it tough and live on $60 a week, do the right thing and raise the allowances to a level which isn’t extreme poverty so people can at least have a chance to improve their lives (Sepoluni snarled the other day on The Nation that their is too much bureaucratic red tape to give benefit increases, but you seem to ram through legislation to spy on NZers or restrict their freedoms easily enough. There is no good reason not to increase benefits, the alternative looks ugly). So you and the crew up at the Beehive have a good Christmas (too much sweet stuff could lead to a tooth abscess and foul smelling breath though Jacinda), I’ll be thinking of you when I’m eating my toast for dinner.
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