Trump slams global climate agreement that Biden intends to rejoin, during G20 speech

President says Paris accord was 'designed to kill the American economy'

The Associated Press · Posted: Nov 22, 2020 

U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the Paris climate accord during a video statement from the White House to the G20 virtual summit, hosted by Saudi Arabia, on Sunday

 (Saudi Press Agency/Handout/Reuters)


U.S. President Donald Trump railed against the Paris climate accord on Sunday, telling world leaders at the G20 summit that the agreement was designed to cripple the U.S. economy, not save the planet.

President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat who takes office in January, has said he will rejoin the global pact that the U.S. helped forge five years ago.

Trump contended the international accord was "not designed to save the environment. It was designed to kill the American economy."

"To protect American workers, I withdrew the United States from the unfair and one-sided Paris climate accord, a very unfair act for the United States," Trump said in a video statement from the White House to the Group of 20 virtual summit hosted by Saudi Arabia. His comments came during a discussion among the world's largest economies on safeguarding the Earth.

Trump, who has worked to undo most of Barack Obama's efforts to fight climate change when he was U.S. president, said that since withdrawing from the climate agreement, the U.S. has reduced carbon emissions more than any nation.

That is true, but not that remarkable. With its giant economy, the U.S. has far more raw emissions of climate-damaging carbon dioxide to cut than any other country except China.

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Trudeau unveils new net-zero emissions plan to meet climate change targets

A more telling measure of progress in various countries is to look at what percentage of emissions a country has cut. Since 2005, the U.S. hasn't been even in the top 10 in percentage of greenhouse gas emission reductions.

More than 180 nations have ratified the accord, which aims to keep the increase in average temperatures worldwide "well below" 2 C and ideally no more than 1.5 C, compared with pre-industrial levels. Scientists say that any rise beyond 2 C could have a devastating impact on large parts of the world, raising sea levels, stoking tropical storms and worsening droughts and floods.
U.S. formally leaves Open Skies Treaty

The U.S. formally exited the Paris pact on Nov. 4. On Saturday, it formally left the Open Skies Treaty, which permits 30-plus nations to conduct unarmed observation flights over each other's territory. Those overflights were set up decades ago to promote trust and avert conflict.

The administration said it wanted out of the treaty because Russia was violating the pact, and imagery collected during the flights can be obtained quickly at less cost from U.S. or commercial satellites.

Trudeau vows to support developing nations with COVID-19 vaccines at G20

Family of jailed Saudi activist implores Canada to call out kingdom's human rights record at G20

During the discussions at the climate session, President Xi Jinping of China, the world's largest emitter, said the G20 should continue to take the lead in tackling climate change and push for the full implementation of the Paris accord.

"Not long ago, I announced China's initiative to scale up its nationally determined contributions and strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060," he said. "China will honour its commitment and see the implementation through."

India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, said that "climate change must be fought not in silos, but in an integrated, comprehensive and holistic way."

3 federal Death Row prisoners to be executed ahead of Trump exit

HUMAN SACRIFICE BY RIGHT TO LIFER

By Jay Jackson, The Tulsa News.Net
22 Nov 2020

WASHINGTON, DC - The Trump administration is to execute three more prisoners on Death Row, prior to Mr Trump leaving office.

One of the inmates will be executed next month, while the other two will be put to death in the week that Mr Trump leaves office.

All three executions will be of men charged with murder. In one case the victim was the man's daughter. She was just two-and-a half years old and was tortured, physically abused and bashed to death. The other two are convicted of killing multiple victims.

U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr On Friday directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to schedule the executions.

Alfred Bourgeois will be the first prisoner to die. He abused, tortured, and beat to death his young daughter. After a paternity test identified Bourgeois as the father of the two-and-a-half-year-old girl and a court ordered that he pay child support to the mother, Bourgeois took temporary custody of her and took her with him on a trucking route. While on the trip, Bourgeois systematically abused and tortured her, including by punching her in the face, whipping her with an electrical cord, and burning the bottom of her foot with a cigarette lighter.

In July 2002, Bourgeois arrived at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station for a delivery. While backing his truck up to a loading dock, his daughter tipped over her training potty. Bourgeois became enraged and repeatedly slammed the back of her head into the truck's window and dashboard, killing her.

On March 16, 2004, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas found Bourgeois guilty of murder and unanimously recommended a death sentence, which the court imposed. His conviction and sentence were affirmed on appeal, and his requests for collateral relief were ultimately rejected by federal courts. In July last year, his execution was scheduled for Jan. 13, 2020, but legal impediments prevented the government from proceeding at that time. Bourgeois is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Dec. 11, 2020, at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, Indiana.

Cory Johnson murdered seven people - Peyton Johnson, Louis Johnson, Bobby Long, Dorothy Armstrong, Anthony Carter, Linwood Chiles, and Curtis Thorne - in furtherance of his drug-trafficking activities. Between 1989 and July 1992, Johnson and several co-conspirators, including federal death-row inmates Richard Tipton and James Roane, were partners in a large drug-trafficking conspiracy based in Richmond, Virginia. In early 1992, Johnson went on a killing spree, shooting and killing each of the seven victims for perceived slights or rivalry in the drug trade. Johnson shot one victim at close range after ordering him to place his head on a car steering wheel. Johnson shot and killed another victim at the victim's home when he failed to pay for crack cocaine - and Johnson also murdered the victim's sister and a male acquaintance.

In February 1993, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia found Johnson guilty of numerous federal offenses, including seven counts of capital murder, and unanimously recommended seven death sentences, which the court imposed. Johnson's convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal more than 24 years ago, and his initial round of collateral challenges failed 15 years ago. Johnson's execution initially was scheduled to occur in May 2006, but a preliminary injunction prevented the government from proceeding until it was vacated this September. Johnson is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Jan. 14, 2021, at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, Indiana.

Dustin John Higgs kidnapped and murdered three women - Tamika Black, 19; Tanji Jackson, 21; and Mishann Chinn, 23. One evening in January 1996, Higgs and two friends drove to Washington, DC, to pick up Black, Jackson, and Chinn, whom Higgs had invited to his apartment in Laurel, Maryland. At the apartment, Jackson rebuffed an advance by Higgs and the women left. Higgs offered the women a ride back to Washington, DC, but instead drove to a secluded area in the Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge, ordered the women out of the vehicle, gave a gun to one of the friends, and said, "better make sure they're dead." The other man shot Black and Jackson in the chest and back, and shot Chinn in the back of the head, killing all three women.

On Oct.11, 2000, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland found Higgs guilty of numerous federal offenses, including three counts of first-degree premeditated murder, three counts of first-degree felony murder, and three counts of kidnapping resulting in death, and unanimously recommended nine death sentences, which the court imposed. Higgs' convictions and sentences were affirmed on appeal nearly 17 years ago, and his initial round of collateral challenges failed nearly eight years ago. Higgs is scheduled to be executed on Jan. 15, 2021.

Trump's Pompeo takes steps to further disenfranchise Palestinians

Voice of America
20 Nov 2020

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has visited an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, a first by a high-ranking U.S. official after announcing a new initiative to halt a Palestinian-led movement to internationally boycott Israel.

A State Department official told reporters, who were not allowed to accompany Pompeo, that the top U.S. diplomat went to the Psagot winery outside Jerusalem.

Pompeo also said he would go Thursday to the Golan Heights, an area Israel has occupied since capturing it from Syria in the 1967 war.

"The simple recognition of this as part of Israel, too, was a decision President Trump made that is historically important and simply a recognition of reality," Pompeo said.

Israel has built scores of settlements in the West Bank, territory the Palestinians want for their future state. Most of the international community views the settlements as a violation of international law and a barrier in reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights has also not been recognized internationally. Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the territory last year.

Earlier, Pompeo said the United States will consider the movement advocating for boycotting and divesting from Israel to be anti-Semitic.

Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Pompeo said the State Department would take immediate steps to identify and halt government funding to organizations that support the effort.

Supporters of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement say it is a form of protest against Israeli occupation and is modeled after the 1980s boycott that pressured South Africa to end apartheid.

Organizers deny the BDS movement is anti-Semitic. Israel says the movement is meant to delegitimize and eliminate it.

Netanyahu and Pompeo congratulated each other for steps taken during President Donald Trump's administration that went against prior U.S. policy, including recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the movement of the U.S. Embassy there, and no longer viewing Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as unlawful.

Netanyahu, who said Thursday the U.S.-Israel relationship reached "unprecedented heights" during the Trump administration, also highlighted Israel's recent agreements normalizing relations with Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates.

Pompeo said Wednesday before joint talks with Netanyahu and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Alzayani that the agreements "tell malign actors like the Islamic Republic of Iran that their influence in the region is waning and that they are ever more isolated and shall forever be until they change their direction."

Bahrain and Israel said they would open embassies, develop online visa systems and begin weekly flights between the countries.

Alzayani, who led Bahrain's first official visit to Israel, said normalization brings "a warm peace that will deliver clear benefits to our peoples."

Netanyahu said Alzayani's first visit to Israel "marks another important milestone on the road to peace between our two countries and peace in the region. The peace between Israel and Bahrain is built on solid foundations of mutual appreciation and shared interest."

Pompeo's trip to Israel is the latest stop of his multi-nation tour, visiting allies in Europe and the Middle East.

The rest of Pompeo's trip includes stops in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. He made earlier visits to France and Turkey.

NASA Probe Has Stared Into The Darkness of Space And Found Unexpected Light Sources

Panorama of the Milky Way. (ESO/S. Brunier)
SPACE

MATT WILLIAMS, UNIVERSE TODAY
22 NOVEMBER 2020

In July of 2015, NASA's New Horizons probe made history when it became the first mission ever to conduct a close flyby of Pluto.

This was followed by the spacecraft making the first-ever encounter with a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) – known as Arrokoth (AKA 2014 MU69) – on 31 December 2018. In addition, its unique position in the outer Solar System has allowed astronomers to conduct rare and lucrative science operations.

This has included parallax measurements of Proxima Centauri and Wolf 359, the two closest stars to the Solar System.

In addition, a team of astronomers led by the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) used archival data from the probe's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) to conduct measurements of the Cosmic Optical Background (COB).

The study, which was recently accepted for publication by The Astrophysical Journal, was led by Tod R. Lauer of the NOAO. He was joined by Alan Stern (the PI of the New Horizons mission) and researchers from the SwRI, NASA, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), the Space Telescope Science Institute (STSI), the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), the SETI Institute, and multiple universities and institutions.

Put simply, the COB is the light from all sources outside the Milky Way that is spread diffusely throughout the observable Universe.

In this sense, it is the visible light analogue of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), and is an important benchmark for astronomers. By measuring this light, they are able to discern the locations of stars, the size and density of galaxies, and test theories about the structure and formation of the cosmos.

Accurately measuring the COB is important for several reasons. For starters, this background is integral to the history of star formation, star clusters, galaxies, black holes, galaxy clusters, and the large scale structure of the Universe.

Therefore, knowing exactly how dark the night sky is can provide insight into the formation and evolution of the Universe.

In addition, astronomers have sought to determine if there was a diffuse component to the COB (dCOB), a source of photons not associated with any currently known objects.

The presence of such a component would allow astronomers to test how much of the cosmic background light could be coming from objects in the low-density regions of the Universe, or objects that formed prior to the Universe organizing into its current patterns.

A dCOB could also reflect the production of photons by more exotic processes, such as the annihilation or decay of dark matter particles – therefore assisting in the ongoing search for this "invisible" mass.

Unfortunately, these types of studies present numerous challenges since Earth-based telescopes are subject to atmospheric distortion and space-based telescopes have to deal with interference from Zodiacal Light.

The trajectory of the New Horizons probe, which has taken it past Pluto and into the Kuiper Belt. (NASA/JHUAPL)

As a result, there have been serious discrepancies in the inferred brightness of the optical background over time.

But for spacecraft in the outer Solar System, these types of interference are not a problem. Hence why astronomers have relied on all previous missions that ventured beyond Neptune to conduct COB measurements – i.e. the Pioneer 10/11 and Voyager 1/2 missions.

Similarly, the Hubble Space Telescope also conducted measurements of the COB, but these were limited compared to what New Horizons was able to witness.

As Lauer, who is a former member of the Hubble Wide Field and Planetary Camera team, told Universe Today via email:

"NH can cleanly measure the total light flux emitted by the distant Universe. The Hubble is superb at adding up all the distant galaxies, but does less well for stuff not in galaxies that makes a diffuse background, which gets tangled up with the scattered sunlight bounced around by dust in the near Earth environment."

Interestingly, this is not the first time that astronomers have used LORRI data to measure the COB.

In 2017, a NASA-led team examined LORRI data from four different isolated sky fields that were imaged between 2007 and 2010. This coincided with the NH's cruise phase where it passed between the orbits of Jupiter and Uranus.

The location of the seven LORRI fields used in this work. (Lauer et al., arXiv, 2020)

For the sake of this study, Lauer and his team examined brightness levels observed by LORRI of seven high galactic latitude fields when the New Horizons mission was 42 to 45 AU from the Sun.

At this distance, the average raw light levels were 10 times darker than what Hubble was able to observe. After correcting for any remaining interference, the team ran a Monte Carlo simulation to model potential sources of light.

From this, they were able to discern the presence of a diffuse component of unknown origin, possibly caused by the presence of faint galaxies that remain undetected.

As Lauer and his colleagues concluded, this would suggest that the current census on faint galaxies falls short and at least half of those with an apparent magnitude level of 30 or more are unaccounted for.

This is not the first instance in recent years when the galactic census has had to be revised. Until a few years ago, astronomers were of the general consensus that there were 200 billion galaxies in the observable Universe.

This was based on the Hubble Ultra Deep Field observation campaign, from which astronomers created detailed 3D maps of the Universe.

But on revised calculations in 2016, astronomers now estimate that there are as many as two trillion galaxies in the observable Universe. Based on these latest results, it appears as though the count might need to be updated again.

Regardless, the work of Lauer and his colleagues demonstrates the utility of missions like New Horizons and the kinds of research they can perform in the outer Solar System.

This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.

'Unacceptable' - Scotland should not be exporting its waste elsewhere, says Zero Waste Scotland
By Iain Gulland


'Unacceptable' - Scotland should not be exporting its waste elsewhere, says Zero Waste Scotland

by Iain Gulland, chief executive, Zero Waste Scotland

A lot can happen in the space of a minute.

Latest official figures show that every 60 seconds our nation exports around three tonnes of our waste, including plastic.

We shouldn’t be exporting plastic or any other waste for recycling elsewhere. It’s unacceptable that the mess we’re creating is being passed on to other countries where the environmental and social damage which that inflicts can be worse.

The single greatest cause of the climate crisis is all the materials, goods and services which we collectively produce, consume and too often throw out after just one use.


Anyone who is concerned about that is right to be.

We can and must all do much more to curtail this waste - and manage it ourselves - by making different choices.

As a nation, our number one goal should be to reduce the amount of needless materials, including plastic, which we use and waste in the first place. Achieving this means making better use of the plastic products we do need, by reprocessing them here in Scotland.


READ MORE: 'Unacceptable' - Scotland should not be exporting its waste elsewhere, says Zero Waste Scotland

That will not only significantly reduce waste and the emissions waste creates globally – it will also create much-needed, sustainable Scottish jobs. Exporting our waste means we’re exporting those valuable jobs prospects. So, this vast amount of wasted material should also be front and centre as we forge the green recovery to overcome COVID and the climate crisis.

A Scottish reprocessing industry will help to reduce the emissions currently generated by transporting our waste around the world. It will also produce valuable recycled material which can then be used to manufacture other products, creating new job opportunities and further reducing our demand for limited virgin materials.

The recent statistics from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) on the amount of waste we export covered 2018. We have made progress since then on reducing emissions from waste - largely down to reducing the volume of waste we produce and recycling more of it.


We’re getting closer to being able to deal with all our plastic waste here in Scotland. But we need to get there faster. The climate emergency remains the greatest challenge of our lifetime.



There are currently two companies in Scotland which already reprocess our plastic within our borders, while two more plants are under construction.

The UK government recently awarded £3m to one of the plants in development – a cutting-edge chemical recycling centre in Perthshire pioneering ways to reprocess a wide range of plastics that cannot currently be recycled using conventional methods. 

That project is a joint initiative involving plastic specialists Recycling Technologies, Neste – the world’s largest producer of renewable diesel – and Unilever. 

As Scotland’s circular economy experts, Zero Waste Scotland had invested in the site, but the involvement of a consumer goods giant like Unilever is a strong sign that big business is now getting on board too.

This is the green recovery which we urgently need nationally and globally – ‘building back better’ to eradicate waste and create sustainable, circular economy jobs which keep our limited resources in a ‘loop’ of use.

Scotland’s forthcoming Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) - due to go live in 2022 - brings the prospect of further plastics reprocessing opportunities within our borders.


It will deliver significant environmental and economic benefits, reducing waste and emissions and creating more ‘green’ jobs by providing a consistent supply of high-quality plastic for recycling.

Media reports covering the amount of waste we still export included calls to increase recycling capacity in Scotland. We do need greater capacity.

To that end, the Scottish Government recently pledged £70million from next April for expanding services for recycling plastic and other materials over the next five years. That will help bring Scotland closer to establishing consistent national household recycling services which are easy to use – so everyone, everywhere recycles.  But recycling alone is not enough.

As I stressed before, reducing demand for raw materials is far better for the planet than recycling. That means refusing anything we don’t need and reusing everything we do wherever possible.

Producers and retailers have the power to reduce the volume of single-use plastic items on sale – and therefore the volume which could end up overseas. Consumers can do their bit too by choosing reusable alternatives, such as cups, and putting pressure on brands to ditch needless single-use packaging.

Each of us should be asking ourselves every day whether we really need whatever we’re about to buy.

A lot can happen in a minute. And we have no time to waste.

Agriculture eating into biodiversity hotspots worldwide
Agriculture is eating into areas that are important in protecting some of the most biologically diverse places on the planet. Most of this new agricultural land is being used to grow cattle feed.

This aerial shot shows the stark difference between a palm grove and the surrounding forest. (Photo: 2seven9 / Shutterstock / NTB)

Nancy Bazilchuk

SCIENCE WRITER
NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Thursday 12. november 2020 -

Between 1992 and 2015, the world’s most biologically diverse places lost an area more than three times the size of Sweden when the land was converted to other uses, mainly agriculture, or gobbled up by urban sprawl.

These losses all occurred in what are called “biodiversity hotspots”, or 34 areas scattered across the globe that contain “exceptional concentrations of endemic species that were undergoing exceptional loss of habitat,” according to the originators of the idea. To be considered a hotspot, an area must have already lost as much as 70 per cent of its primary vegetation and yet still remain home to least 1500 species of plants found nowhere else on Earth.

Biologists have identified 34 areas on the globe where biodiversity is both extremely high and at risk. (Map: Francesco Cherubini / NTNU)

When the concept of a biological hotspot was first introduced in 2000, the idea was that governments and land managers could focus their conservation efforts on the areas, because protecting them would protect the greatest number of species in the most at-risk places.

Now, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have found that even these high profile, extremely important areas are losing ground to agriculture and urban development. Their analysis is the first ever to look at all hotspots worldwide, and with a long time frame of nearly a quarter of a century.

“We see that not even focusing protection on a small range of areas worked well,” said Francesco Cherubini, the senior author on the paper. Cherubini is a professor at NTNU and director of the university’s Industrial Ecology Programme. “There was major deforestation even in areas that were supposed to be protected.”

The findings have just been published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
Eye in the sky from the European Space Agency

Cherubini and his colleagues from the Industrial Ecology Programme were able to document this trend by analysing high-resolution land-cover maps released by the European Space Agency. The maps present information on land cover worldwide from 1992-2015, or 24 years, at a resolution of 300 metres.

By integrating the maps with maps of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, the researchers were able to see how land cover in the hotspots changed over the period.

The researchers also wanted to see if protected areas inside hotspots fared better than areas outside of the protected areas, but still within the hotspots. For this, they determined which protected areas were inside hotspots based on the World Database on Protected Areas.

In both cases, the trends were not encouraging, said Xiangping Hu, the first author of the paper and a researcher at the Industrial Ecology Programme.

At least 148 million hectares in the hotspots — that’s 3.2 times the size of Sweden — were converted from the vegetation that was there in 1992 to some other use, the researchers found. Those losses over 24 years equated to a loss of 6 per cent of the total area of hotspots.

Most of these losses — nearly 40 per cent, or 54 million hectares — were in forests. Agriculture expansion gobbled up 38 million hectares of the areas that were once forests, Hu said.

The three top hotspots that lost the most forested area were in Sundaland (all of Indonesia), Indo-Burma and Mesoamerica.
Highly fertile soils, growing populations and cattle feed

The characteristic that links these three hotspots and makes them most susceptible to losing forests is that they are all in the tropics, Cherubini said.

“The soils in these areas are very fertile, and agricultural yields can be very high,” he said. “So it’s very productive land from an agricultural point of view, and attractive to farmers and local authorities who have to think about rising local incomes by feeding a growing population.”

Another issue is that the Earth’s rapidly growing population is boosting demand for agriculture products — and tropical areas are more at risk of being converted to fields and pastures because of socioeconomic and political factors, Cherubini said.

That, combined with weak environmental protection laws and regulations, explains why forests are being transformed into farms, he said.

“if you don’t have strong measures that can prevent conversion of key habitat to agricultural production, that’s where you have the expansion,” he said. “But those are also areas which are exposed to food insecurity.”

And although the planet’s booming population does put pressure on regions to increase food production, the reality is that most of the land is used to produce palm oil or soybeans for cattle feed, not feeding people directly. And growing crops to feed beef cattle doesn’t really benefit local populations in the long-term, Cherubini said.

“You have these big companies that are making these investments, with high risks of land overexploitation and environmental degradation” in producing cattle feed, he said. “The local population might get some benefits from revenues, but not much.”
Protected areas lost ground, too — but not as much

The second question the researchers wanted to answer was if specific protected areas inside hotspots actually did what they were supposed to do.

Here again, the findings were somewhat discouraging. Even formally protected areas lost an equivalent of 5 per cent of their forest cover during the 24 years the researchers looked at.

Agriculture is eating away at the world’s forests and biodiversity hotspots

 (Illustration photo: Colourbox)

The good news was that protected areas within hotspots generally lost less forest cover than the land outside protected areas, especially during the most recent period the researchers looked at, from 2010-2015.

The researchers also found that some hotspots gained forested areas, especially the mountains of Central Asia, the Irano-Anatolian area and the Atlantic forest in North America.

“Most of this increase in forests was due to reforestation of agricultural land. However, while planting trees on agricultural land will help over the long term, it can’t make up for the losses of biodiversity over the short term,” said Francesca Verones, another co-author who is also a professor at the Industrial Ecology Programme.
Protection goes hand-in-hand with cutting poverty, reducing food waste

Cherubini and his colleagues say that the trends they have identified will only grow stronger as time goes on unless there is a concerted effort to reverse the losses.

There are things that people can do to reduce the pressure to convert lands, Cherubini said. Some of these actions were described in a special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for which Cherubini was one of the lead authors.

“Increasing efficiency in agricultural production and the food value chain and distribution, cutting food waste and a change in diets to eat less meat can all help decrease pressure on land, which will make more space for conservation efforts and climate change mitigation,” he said.

Nevertheless, climate change has the potential to put pressure on lands, by requiring land for bioenergy crops or for tree plantations to soak up CO2, the researchers wrote.

And because many of these highly diverse areas are in poorer countries, biodiversity conservation won’t succeed unless the issues of poverty are addressed, Cherubini said

“We need to be able somehow to link protection to poverty alleviation, because most of the biodiversity hotspots are in underdeveloped countries and it’s difficult to go there and say to a farmer, ‘Well, you need to keep this forest — don’t have a rice paddy or a field to feed your family’,” he said. “We need to also make it possible for the local communities to benefit from protection measures. They need income, too.”

Reference:

Xingping Hu et.al.: Overview of recent land-cover changes in biodiversity hotspots, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2020. Summary

Smaller homes and car-sharing can reduce greenhouse gas emissions substantially

Ride-sharing can not only help cut down on traffic, but can help cut greenhouse gas emissions. If one in four journeys in the G7, China or India was a shared ride, then the carbon footprint of the use and production of cars would decline by as much as 20%. (Photo: ilozavr / Shutterstock / NTB)

"If you are concerned about eating meat or flying on airplanes because of your carbon footprint, you should also be even more worried about cement and steel", says researcher behind new report.

Nancy Bazilchuk

SCIENCE WRITER
NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Sunday 22. november 2020 - 

How much can society gain by cutting consumption of materials — by using materials smarter, using less or recycling materials? A new report from the International Resource Panel for the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) says the gains are substantial and can be key to enabling countries to meet their emissions targets.

Emissions from the production of materials like metals, minerals, woods and plastics more than doubled in 1995 – 2015, accounting for almost one-quarter of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide. Material efficiency needs to play a larger role in climate planning, the report states.

The International Resource Panel (IRP) Report, Resource Efficiency and Climate Change: Material Efficiency Strategies for a Low-Carbon Future is the first comprehensive scientific analysis of potential GHG emission savings from material efficiency.

The report, for which Edgar Hertwich, International Chair in Industrial Ecology at NTNU was a lead author, focused on two carbon-intensive sectors: residential buildings and passenger vehicles.

“Materials are ignored by climate policy, yet emissions from the production of materials production have grown fast!” says Hertwich.

“If you are concerned about eating meat or flying on airplanes because of your carbon footprint, you should also be even more worried about cement and steel.”
Homes and cars big emission sources

The researchers found that 80 per cent of emissions from the production of materials come from the construction and manufacturing sectors, in particularly our homes and cars.

Applying material efficiency strategies can reduce GHG emissions from the life-cycle of construction, operation, and deconstruction of homes by an average of 40% in seven major developed countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States (G7 countries) and by 70 per cent in China and India, the researchers found.

It can also reduce GHG emissions from the manufacturing, operations and end-of-life management of cars by 40 per cent in the G7 and by 35 per cent in China and India.

“This report makes it clear that natural resources are vital for our well-being, our housing, our transportation and our food. Their efficient use is central to a future with universal access to sustainable and affordable energy sources, emissions-neutral infrastructure and buildings, zero-emission transport systems, energy-efficient industries and low-waste societies. The strategies highlighted in this report can play a big part in making this future a reality,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, the United Nations Environment Programme, in a press release.

A tool to meet emissions goals

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, has proposed a carbon budget under which the G7 would need to limit their remaining CO2 emissions to 50 gigatons for global average temperature increases to stay at 1.5°C.

The IRP estimates that 23 gigatons of emissions could be saved in the G7 through material efficiency strategies in 2016-2060. The IRP report found that the most promising strategy comes from the consumption side – which would involve more intensive use.

“We were not sure society could live with less materials. Our study shows that it can: we can easily reduce the amount of primary materials required for a reasonably comfortable living through a combination of less materialistic lifestyles and smarter technologies,” says Hertwich.
Sharing rides, smaller houses

For cars, this means ride-sharing, car-sharing and a shift towards smaller vehicle sizes. If one in four journeys in the G7, China or India was a shared ride, then the carbon footprint of the use and production of cars would decline by as much as 20 per cent.

For homes, more intensive use means increasing use rates through, for example, peer-lodging, or smaller and more efficiently designed homes. IRP modelling shows that reducing demand for floor space by up to 20 per cent could lower GHG emissions from the production of materials by up to 73 per cent in 2050.

“Limiting the growth in the size of our homes, and sharing rides and vehicles turned out to be the most effective ways to reduce emissions,” says Hertwich.

Building smaller, efficient new homes, even with reductions as little as 20 percent in size, can make a big difference in the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. (Photo: Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock / NTB)

Recycling and low-carbon alternatives

Other material efficiency strategies to be considered include the recycling of building materials, less material by design in both cars and homes, and the use of alternative low-carbon materials (for example, sustainably sourced wood instead of reinforced concrete in homes).

“Climate mitigation efforts have traditionally focused on enhancing energy efficiency and accelerating the transition to renewables. While this is still key, this report shows that material efficiency can also deliver big gains,” Andersen, UNEP’s Executive Director, said.

The cuts revealed by the report are on top of emission savings generated by the decarbonization of electricity supply, the electrification of home energy use, and the shift towards electric and hybrid vehicles. If the world focuses on energy efficiency without boosting material efficiency, it will be almost impossible and substantially more expensive to meet the Paris climate targets, the report warns.
Cross-sector policies more effective

The report notes that the only way to make many of these kinds of emissions reductions is if countries themselves create enabling policy environments and incentives.

The strongest effect comes from policies that apply across sectors, such as building certification, green public procurement, virgin material taxes, and removal of virgin material subsidies.

The IRP report urges policymakers to consider resource efficiency and materials in the next generation of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), broadening the scope of targets and increasing the magnitude of the intended mitigation ambition.

Some countries have started doing this, as described in the Resource Efficiency and Climate report. For example, China’s NDC specifically mentions a commitment to the efficient use of materials. It includes measures aimed at improving the efficiency and lifespan of existing and new buildings and promoting recycled construction materials.

Japan’s NDC includes a commitment to use blended cement, while India’s NDC refers to recycling, “enhanced resources efficiency and pollution control” (in addition to energy efficiency) and the general need to “use natural resources wisely.”

“There will be no progress until policy makers turn their attention to this issue,” says Hertwich.

“Unfortunately, many countries have policies in place that inadvertently increase the use of materials, such as through tax breaks for home ownership. Such policies favour the wealthy and increase material use, so revising them creates a win-win situation.”

Source:

IRP (2020). Resource Efficiency and Climate Change: Material Efficiency Strategies for a Low-Carbon Future. Hertwich, E., Lifset, R., Pauliuk, S., Heeren, N. A report of the International Resource Panel. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya.

THIS ARTICLE IS PRODUCED AND FINANCED BY NTNU NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - READ MORE

Portland sustainability officials propose tax on large carbon emitters, first of its kind by a U.S. city

By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh and Mike Rogoway, oregonlive.com
Published: November 21, 2020

The afternoon sun sparkles on the Willamette River in downtown Portland in July 2017. (Associated Press files)

Portland officials on Thursday unveiled a new proposal that seeks to tax major greenhouse gas producers and air polluters in the city to help combat climate change.

Large manufacturers, hospitals and colleges and universities would pay most of the tax championed by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, documents show. City officials estimate it would raise more than $10 million a year.

The proposal, which the City Council won’t take up until next year, comes as Portland seeks to achieve ambitious climate goals over the next several years.

The tax would be the first of its kind anywhere in the nation. It’s sure to face strong opposition from powerful business groups and industries that employee thousands of people.

“We are in a climate crisis,” said Andrea Durbin, director of the city’s planning bureau. “We need to act like it.”

Under a draft proposal of the plan, facilities in Portland that produce 2,500 metric tons or more of carbon a year would be required to pay a fee of $25 per carbon ton annually beginning as early as January 2021. The base fee would be $62,500.

Additionally, the city would impose an annual surcharge ranging from $15,000 to $40,000 on entities that are identified as “major sources” of air pollution under the Clean Air Act or required to obtain air contaminant permits from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Health care facilities that fall under either category, however, would be exempt from paying such fees until January 2022 due to the financial strain they face from the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

Based on those criteria, the city estimates the plan would ultimately generate $11.3 million a year from about 88 businesses, hospitals and colleges in Portland. That money would flow into a pair of newly created funds dedicated to reducing fossil fuel emissions and improving air quality.

Planning bureau officials said they began exploring potential revenue streams for such initiatives soon after the City Council declared a climate emergency for Portland at the end of June. The declaration set a new goal of slashing carbon emissions by at least 50% of the city’s 1990 levels in the next 10 years.

Recent figures from the planning bureau show Portland’s current carbon emissions to be about only 20% below its 1990 levels.

“That’s driving the need for more accelerated action,” said Kyle Diesner, the city’s climate action plan coordinator.


The city’s proposal follows Oregon lawmakers’ failed efforts to levy statewide carbon fees, with bills to establish a cap-and-trade policy killed by successive Republican legislative walkouts in 2019 and 2020.

Portland may prove friendlier territory. But the city’s manufacturing sector, struggling during the pandemic, is poised to fiercely oppose the city’s initiative. Oregon has lost 16,700 manufacturing jobs over the past year.


“The city’s proposal is ill-conceived and creates an additional, unnecessary regulatory environment,” Precision Castparts said in a written statement. It would pay more than $600,000 annually under the new fee structure.

Oregon is among the most manufacturing intensive states in the nation, owing to its long history in forest products and some of the lowest business taxes in the nation. Relatively little of that production takes place within Portland’s city limits, however.

Precision Castparts operates around the world and has production facilities inside Portland and just outside the city. The largest company based in Portland, it plans to eliminate 40% of its global work force by the end of the year.

“Significant tax or fee increases would factor into future decisions related to our operations in Portland,” the company said.

Evraz North America would pay more than $2.7 million annually, according to the city’s fee estimate, more than any other company.

Formerly Oregon Steel, which operated in Portland from 1928 until its 2007 sale, Evraz buys steel slab and rolls it into plates on a riverfront site in North Portland opposite Sauvie Island.

Evraz employed close to 700 last year but has roughly half that many people working in Portland now, undercut by President Donald Trump’s trade wars and by reduced demand during the pandemic. The company, headquartered in London, said Thursday it cannot comment until it has seen a specific policy proposal.

A number of Portland hospitals would face six-figure bills under the city’s proposal. Oregon Health & Science University, the city’s largest employer, would pay nearly $750,000 annually, according to city estimates based on carbon emissions from 2019.

OHSU said most of its carbon emissions come from a natural gas plant that provides hot water and runs sterilization equipment for 27 buildings on its Marquam Hill campus. The school said its apparently high carbon emissions result from the fact that its plant is centralized; if it had standalone boilers like a school district, OHSU said only five of its buildings would generate reportable emissions.


The university said it doesn’t know enough about Portland’s proposal to comment, but said it is committed to combatting climate change. OHSU said it supported the carbon tax proposal before the Oregon Legislature earlier this year and will buy three-quarters of its power from carbon-free sources next year.

The city’s new proposal comes two years after voters approved a tax on large Portland retailers to pay for clean energy projects and jobs geared toward the city’s historically marginalized communities.

Revenue from the retail surcharge, which the city estimates will generate between $40 million and $60 million a year, is earmarked for a program called the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund, which distributes grants to nonprofit groups.

The first round of grant money from that fund won’t be distributed until next year

Durbin said the planning bureau will be seeking public comment on the new greenhouse gas and air quality proposal through December. The City Council is not expected to take up the legislation until the beginning of next year.

“As with any complex issue, we need to think creatively if we are going to make progress on tackling the climate crisis and our city’s greenhouse gas reduction goals,” said Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who oversees the planning bureau. “Any robust climate policy needs, and more importantly, benefits from public engagement, so I look forward to hearing from our communities during this public comment period.”

Mayor Ted Wheeler indicated that he’s in favor of the plan.

“I support aggressive action on our climate action goals, particularly air quality. And I support the goal of this proposal,” Wheeler said. “I believe once people learn about and help shape this proposal — including hospitals, universities, and other businesses — that there will be an opportunity to move forward with broad community support.”ion goals, particularly air quality. And I support the goal of this proposal,” Wheeler said. “I believe once people learn about and help shape this proposal — including hospitals, universities, and other businesses — that there will be an opportunity to move forward with broad community support.”

Extinction Rebellion targets bank ATMs in South Hams and Torbay

It was part of nationwide action which took place in towns and cities all across the UK

By Anita Merritt 22 NOV 2020 NEWS

Banks and cash machines across South Devon have been targeted by Extinction Rebellion members protesting about the banks funding of fossil fuels and biodiversity destruction.

Barclays and HSBC banks and ATMs in Torbay, the South Hams, and Teignbridge districts were all covered in stickers and posters on Friday, November 22.

The protests - in Totnes, Newton Abbot and Paignton - were part of a nationwide action which took place in towns and cities all across the UK.

Barclays and HSBC are said to be the number one and two European funders of fossil fuels, according to an authoritative report by the Rainforest Action Network.

It is claimed they have invested $118 billion and $87 billion respectively in carbon-intensive companies and projects since the Paris Agreement on climate change came into force in 2016.

Extinction Rebellion members have targeted banks and ATMs in the South Hams and Torbay (Image: Extinction Rebellion)

It is also alleged that 33 global banks, including Barclays and HSBC, have provided $1.9 trillion to fossil fuel companies since the adoption of the Agreement just four years ago.


In May of this year, Barclays announced it would shrink its carbon footprint to net zero by 2050, a statement matched last month by HSBC.

Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Rob Wheeldon, said: “As one of the world’s biggest historical emitters, the UK and its financial institutions have a responsibility to end their funding of fossil fuels.

"We demand that Barclays and HSBC completely divest from fossil fuels and halt their destruction of nature by 2025 at the latest - 2050 is a death sentence for our planet.”

An ATM being targeted in Devon with stickers (Image: Extinction Rebellion)

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A local Extinction Rebellion activist said: “We know the climate and ecological emergencies create threats to the existence of humans – all of life in fact – everywhere on this planet.

"If our banks are being so totally irresponsible, we have to put pressure on them and on our government, to take the threats seriously, to tell us what’s going on, and to take urgent action. They must act now.”

CLICK TO PLAY EXTINCTION REBELLION PROTEST AT EXETER AIRPORT IN FEBRUARY 2020

A record hurricane season is ending. 

 What does climate change have to do with it?

Nov 21, 2020 
By —PBS NewsHour

Hurricane Iota made landfall in Central America earlier this week as a Category 4 storm. It's the 30th storm this Hurricane season, surpassing 2005 as the year with the most hurricanes ever. With this record Atlantic Hurricane season officially ending this month, Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Kevin Reed, a professor at Stony Brook University and director of the Climate Extremes Modeling Group about the connection between climate change and hurricanes.
Read the Full Transcript


Hari Sreenivasan:

Tens of thousands of Hondurans have been left homeless after flooding and damage caused by Hurricane Iota.

The storm struck Honduras earlier this week as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. Rain from the storm flooded neighborhoods and swelled rivers.

Iota was the second Category 4 hurricane to hit this part of Central America in two weeks.

Hurricane Eta caused more than 130 deaths and triggered mudslides as it made its way across the region.

Iota is the 30th named storm of the Atlantic Hurricane season, topping off a record year that resulted in the national hurricane center resorting to the Greek alphabet for letters.

As this record hurricane season officially comes to a close at the end of this month, we wanted to understand more about what's been discovered about the connection between climate change and extreme weather events like hurricanes.

I recently spoke with Kevin Reed, an associate professor at Stony Brook University who leads the school's Climate Extremes Modeling Group. I began by asking him how scientists are teasing out the effect of climate change on individual storms.


Kevin Reed:

When storms make landfall, they make an impact. They have hazards. And those hazards come through things like storm surge, high wind speeds and rainfall, right? Because extreme rainfall can cause flooding.

And so, one of the things we can do is we can use state-of-the-art models that are used for forecasting storms, and we can run these under different conditions that have climate change to-date in the signal, or removed. And so we basically come up with two sets of reality.


Hari Sreenivasan:

So you're taking a forecast like we would see on the Weather Channel and you're saying, what are the impacts that climate change could have on this storm. And then we take a look at kind of two outcomes with the rain and without the rain that's attributable to climate change?


Kevin Reed:

Yes. And so another way to put it is we run a forecast just like we typically would, the difference is then we also run a forecast in which we've removed the climate signal to-date, right?

So in the North Atlantic, that's approaching over one to two degrees Fahrenheit. The sea surface has increased in temperature over the last 150-plus years due to human-induced climate change. And we can remove that signal and we can rerun the forecasts. And so, we basically have two sets of forecasts. One we call the actual forecast, right? The kind of the real forecast, as well as the one in which we have this counterfactual, which we've removed warming.


Hari Sreenivasan:

When you look at a storm, say, for example, like Hurricane Laura now, what does this type of modeling tell us?


Kevin Reed:

Yes, so this type of modeling tells us that what we call the maximum accumulated rainfall amount, right, which is just the fancy way of saying how much rain fell during the lifetime of the storm. We're seeing increases of 5 to 10 percent. Meaning that if an example of Hurricane Laura, we had about 12 inches of rainfall in some regions. And so, that's an increase of about an inch in some cases of rainfall. So we're attributing how much rainfall in an individual hurricane is due to climate change.


Hari Sreenivasan:

When you are looking out into the future. Are we likely to see more storms or more intense storms or both?


Kevin Reed:

Yeah, so that's to some extent an open question still. And the consensus is that there will be a decrease or the number of hurricanes, for example, globally will remain about the same or decrease.

What that means for individual basins like the North Atlantic is a little bit harder to understand, in part because there are things like natural variability from year to year, right? But we do know our models do tell us that the storms are becoming more intense, both in terms of the the maximum wind speed, but also in the amount of rainfall.

We expect about a 5 to 7 percent increase in rainfall within tropical cyclones, within hurricanes for every degree Celsius of warming that we have. And so if you see in the North Atlantic, right, if we were to flash forward 50 years in the North Atlantic is you know two or three degrees warmer than it is now, then you could start to expect upwards of over 10, maybe approaching 20 percent increase in tropical cyclone rainfall.


Hari Sreenivasan:

What are the data sets that you're looking at now that you hope will help refine the way that you model things, the way that people can prepare going forward? I mean, is there a way that we could look at hurricane forecasts when we're watching TV before the storm sets in and realize that this is going to be worse each time because of all of these other factors of sea level rise and ocean temperatures warming?


Kevin Reed:

Yeah, these type of analysis in which we're able to kind of quantify the impact of climate change on things like hurricanes as well as other extreme weather events has definitely increased in sophistication, meaning each time we do these type of things, like most things in life, we're getting better at analyzing the data, we're getting quicker turnaround in terms of running simulations. And I think that in the future we could have a system in which we're doing that real time. Not only are we exploring the impact of climate change on the storm that occurred to date, but also providing some future, a peek into the future.

What would the storm look like under one or two or three additional degrees of warming? And I think that that would help both inform decision making, right? To see, OK, this storm was was really impactful, how much worse would this storm be in the future? But also, it allows us to communicate that the impacts of climate change are not one hundred years off.

The impacts of climate change are here now. They are changing the weather around us and they are having a real impact on society through that.


Hari Sreenivasan:

All right. Kevin Reed, associate professor at Stony Brook University, thanks so much for joining us.


Kevin Reed:

Great. Thanks for having me.