Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.

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Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.

As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades: Graph of temperature as observed with significant warming, and simulated without added greenhouse gases and other anthropogentic changes, which shows no significant warming

How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world.  About 1C of total warming.  Second chart:  about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability.  Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases.  About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:

Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.

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If you’re a US citizen, no matter where in the world, start by making sure you’re registered to vote. Many districts are gerrymandered, so you’ll want to register as the party that’s likely to win congressional and/or state legislative districts where you live, and vote in that party’s primary.

In addition to voting, you’ll want to influence politics beyond that. Your local races are a good place to start; cities and states control local land use and things like building codes.

To affect Congress, you’ll want to pick swing house districts or swing senate seats. Volunteer for a Democrat and donate accordingly.

For President, the reality is that the Biden/Harris administration has done far more than Trump would even consider, starting with the Inflation Reduction Act, for which Harris cast the tiebreaking vote in the Senate, and continuing through numerous executive actions. Getting involved in this race means volunteering, and if you can, donating to the Harris Victory Fund. If you’re giving really large amounts of money, and the logistics of it work, go to an in-person event and talk to the candidate or other official about climate:

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The report is here

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"Summer has increased by an average of 36 days across Spain over the last 50 years.

Spain is slipping into a desert climate, according to a new study into the relationship between global heating and drought.

The Mediterranean country is clearly on the frontlines of climate change in Europe. Now researchers at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona have delved deeper into its climate vitals.

By 2050, they predict that rainfall will decrease by up to 20 per cent compared to current levels. This would tip Spain from a temperate Mediterranean climate into a steppe- or even desert-like one, as per the Köppen system which divides the world into five different climate zones based on plant growth.

“The warming process resulting from climate change has been very pronounced in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, representing a true hotspot,” the researchers write..."

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"The Bureau of Meteorology is shifting the way it communicates about climate phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña, because global heating is making predictions based on the past less reliable.

This week the bureau kept the country on a “La Niña watch” and said if the climate system in the Pacific does develop, it’s likely to be short-lived and weak.

Historically, La Niña events – where warmer waters gather to the north of Australia – have been associated with cooler and wetter conditions from across north-western Australia to the south-east. El Niño events are often warmer and drier.

But Dr Karl Braganza, national manager of climate services at the bureau, said climate change and the amount of heat being added to the oceans made those old relationships less reliable.

Climate change may not have “broken” them, he said, “but the number of times when the climate is inconsistent with what we saw in the past will only increase”...

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Just 0.7% of the world’s land surface is home to one-third of the world’s most threatened and unique four-legged animals, a recent study has found. In the vast evolutionary tree of life, some animals, like rats, have many closely related species that are at no immediate risk of extinction. But others, like the red panda […]

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The paper is here

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The paper is here

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