February on course to break unprecedented number of heat records
February is on course to break a record number of heat records, meteorologists say, as human-made global heating and the natural El Niño climate pattern drive up temperatures on land and oceans around the world.
A little over halfway into the shortest month of the year, the heating spike has become so pronounced that climate charts are entering new territory, particularly for sea-surface temperatures that have persisted and accelerated to the point where expert observers are struggling to explain how the change is happening.
“The planet is warming at an accelerating rate. We are seeing rapid temperature increases in the ocean, the climate’s largest reservoir of heat,” said Dr Joel Hirschi, the associate head of marine systems modelling at the UK National Oceanography Centre. “The amplitude by which previous sea surface temperatures records were beaten in 2023 and now 2024 exceed expectations, though understanding why this is, is the subject of ongoing research.”
Humanity is on a trajectory to experience the hottest February in recorded history, after a record January, December, November, October, September, August, July, June and May, according to the Berkeley Earth scientist Zeke Hausfather.
Another catastrophic spike in temperatures? It’s like something is happening to the climate?
A ‘warming’ if you will on a ‘global’ scale due to human pollution amplifying natural climate fluctuations into catastrophic tipping points.
Never mind – MORE COWS!
That the usual solution in New Zealand, as the planet burns we scream MORE COWS! like it’s a religious mantra.
The bewildering new response by ACT is the ‘carbon capture’ myth…
ACT Party backs carbon capture technology that’s failed overseas to try reducing emissions
Energy analysts say New Zealand is at risk of investing in a carbon removal strategy that is expensive and ineffective, instead of pursuing measures that will reduce emissions.
ACT, a Coalition party, wants to encourage carbon capture and storage – the practice of removing carbon dioxide emitted from industrial processes and injecting it into the ground.
The technology isn’t new. For about 50 years, the oil and gas industry has been separating carbon dioxide from fuel when it’s extracted and injecting it into depleted reservoirs to get the last remaining oil and gas out of those respective oil and gas wells.
As the climate change movement gained momentum, the oil and gas industry gave the practice a rebrand – carbon capture and storage – injecting Co2 underground to stop it from polluting the atmosphere.
Energy finance analyst Kevin Morrison said it was a clever move by the industry.
“They’re trying to think of ways of keeping in business, so they’ve gone from denying climate science to saying, ‘Oh look, we’re part of the solution.’
“They go round as if it’s a given, as if it works – it doesn’t.”
Now the gas industry and other high emitting sectors in New Zealand are calling for regulatory reform to allow carbon capture projects to be built – and they have the support of the ACT Party.
ACT energy spokesman Simon Court said some New Zealand businesses are already planning to undertake carbon capture.
“Carbon capture is a high priority for businesses that would otherwise have to pay for their emissions under the Emissions Trading Scheme.”
But Morrison said decades of research overseas shows carbon capture and storage projects are far more likely to fail than succeed.
“It’s had 50 years and it’s failed to live up to any of the promises that its proponents have voiced.”
In Western Australia, the much-touted Chevron Gorgon carbon capture project has failed to reach its promised storage level since it started operating in 2019 – reporting a sharp drop in the amount of CO2 stored underground.
According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, geological movement led to the suspension of the Snohvit project in Norway and forced operators to seek alternative storage at great cost.
Experts have said the risk of CO2 leaking out is higher here in New Zealand, which is prone to earthquakes.
…why don’t ACT go the whole hog and promise ‘clean coal’ alongside ‘carbon capture’!
‘Clean coal’ is like ‘good cancer’, in that they don’t exist.
Carbon capture is a spin used by the polluter companies to mask their true damage.
None of this seems to be a serious response for what is coming.
Shhhh.
MORE COWS!
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media.
Comments are closed.