Thursday, October 29, 2015

The Paris Agenda: Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground, Auction Permits, Protect People | Mike Sandler

The Paris Agenda: Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground, Auction Permits, Protect People | Mike Sandler 

"Climate campaigners have adopted a slogan for the lead up to the
international climate change conference (COP-21) in Paris this December:
"Leave it in the ground."

"The UN's climate chief Christiana Figueres told the fossil fuel industry, "Three-quarters of the fossil fuel reserves need to stay in the ground."

How much can we afford to burn and stay under or at 2 degrees celsius change?

"...at the low end is McKibben's relatively risk-averse estimate of 565 gigatonnes
(GT) CO2."

"...Carbon Tracker put the number at 975 GT for an 80% probability of remaining below 2
degrees C."

"...(IPCC)'s proposed a budget of 1000 billion tonnes (Gt) of CO2... [for a]... 66% chance of avoiding 2 °C warming."

"But Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research notes that
between 2011 and 2014 CO2 emissions from energy production amounted to
about 140 GT of CO2, and when he subtracts emissions from deforestation
and cement production through the year 2100 (60 Gt and 150 GT), then at
the current global rate of 35 GT per year, the remaining 650 GT would be
used up in just 19 years
! This puts the climate talks in Paris in
perspective.

"There is no time for low initial national "contributions"
with "ratcheting up ambition" after 5 or 10 year review periods. The
entire carbon budget will be gone by 2034!
"

The countries of the world have agreed to 2 degrees C, but they have yet to agree on an
approach to leaving the excess fossil fuels in the ground."

"The math is clear: there is a fossil fuel bubble. There is more coal and oil in the ground than we can safely burn. In this framing, the Paris climate conference is really an economic conference, perched on the brink of a market crash in the fossil fuel sector."

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Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012

Sunset, Venice 12/20/2012
I've been thinking some about the Winter Solstice, the Mayan end of the 30,000-year-cycle on 12/21/12.

What if in fact the world did end? Even though this probably will not happen, to live consciously it is honest for us to take a bit of an inventory.

Am I happy with how I've lived my life? (Yesterday, I thought mostly yes, with some areas for improvement, as below.) Are there changes I would make?
Would I have tried to forgive those that were hostile or disappointing to me?
Would I spend more time with those I loved the most, telling them that, feeling that more?
Would I be happier, grateful for what I have, what I've experienced, the joy, the beauty in this world?

Maybe the answer is yes to all of the above.
So this time can serve as a point of rebirth for all of us. If we think about it.

Because somewhere along the line I realized I think maybe mankind deserves it. !
The way we are killing each other, killing the planet.
How selfish we are, and snotty to those around us. Petty, competitive. Why is this? Do we have to behave this way? (I say no, it greatly detracts and misdirects energy from the full-time celebration in which we could engage, the great multi-cultural, multi-rhythmic dance we can sustain here.)

Maybe God or the Great Universe is fed up, and will pull the rug out from under us.
Don't think I can say we could blame Him/Her/It.

But it probably won't happen. (Probably not! This time.)

Still we are finite on this ride.

It is a time to think, am I happy with how I've lived my life?
Hopefully most of us can say yes.

For the part of us that have a little worry, a little sadness....
This is the time to be present.
This is the time to be the person you want to be, that can die at peace, that can hope to every day be able to look yourself and the Universe in the eye and say, how beautiful, smiling, and thank you. Let's do that.

Antidotes to Violence, a.k.a., Take Charge of Where Your Head's At - here

Tell Congress to Strengthen Gun Control Laws NOW - here

Good News & Brain Food News -
Christians & Muslims Gather, for Peace here
Good News - Top RIO+20 Summit Posts here
The 'Busy' Trap - NYTimes.com
here