bs2Aug 21, 2023

> 44% of the world’s oceans are experiencing a marine heatwave.

> since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the US has put more carbon into the atmosphere, by far, than any other country. While the new technologies sustained by fossil fuels improved our standard of living, we laid the groundwork for the climate calamity the planet is now experiencing.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/21/us-bernie-sanders-china-climate-change-cooperation
#BernieSanders #GlobalWarming #ClimateCrisis #China #TheUSA #NewColdWar #ComingWarOnChina
/HT #DavidSwanson

The US and China must unite to fight the climate crisis, not each other

Cooperation is not only in the best interests of all countries, but is absolutely necessary for the survival of the planet

The Guardian
Show threadBrian SmallAug 22, 2023

.> Even arch anti-communists like Nixon and Reagan made bold gambits to reduce tensions, fearful of global annihilation. We face a similar dynamic today, facing collective catastrophe if we do not change course..> Here is the insane dynamic that must be changed. In recent years, both the US and China have greatly increased their #MilitaryBudgets..> But organizing most of our national effort around a zero-sum global confrontation with China is unlikely to change Chinese behavior and will alienate allies and partners.....> Most importantly, it could doom our planet by making climate cooperation impossible between the world’s two largest greenhouse emitters. We need to move in a bold new direction. Recent history provides some instructive examples..> ... here’s a “radical” idea. Instead of spending enormous amounts of money planning for a war against each other, the US and China should come to an agreement to mutually cut their military budgets and use the savings to move aggressively to improve energy efficiency, move toward sustainable energy and end our reliance on fossil fuels. They should also provide increased support for developing countries who are suffering from the climate crisis through no fault of their own.....> In the United States, the Inflation Reduction Act included an unprecedented $300bn in investments in clean energy and energy efficiency, which could help increase US solar energy by 500% and more than double wind energy by 2035, reducing carbon emissions by roughly 40%..> Other countries have also made major investments. China spent $546bn on clean energy last year and continues to manufacture and deploy more renewable energy than the rest of the world combined.....> ... we are still falling well short of the kinds of investments needed to deal with this crisis. We are still not moving fast enough to save our planet. The latest report from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that without more urgent action, the world will pass the key 1.5C (2.7F) threshold by the early 2030s, risking a far deadlier future for our children and future generations. The science is clear: if the US, China, and the rest of the planet do not act with greater urgency to dramatically cut carbon emissions, our planet will face enormous and irreversible damage..> Now is the time for a radical rethinking of geopolitics to reflect the reality that international cooperation is not only in the best interests of all countries, but is absolutely necessary for the survival of the planet. #BernieSanders on #ClimateCatastrophe /HT #DavidSwanson
#ComingWarOnChina #ThePentagon #TheUSA #NewColdWar #USAandChina
@bsmall2

Show threadbs2
> The last eight years have been the eight hottest on record. This year is on track to be the hottest year in recorded history, and this past July was the #HottestMonth on record. Across the United States, July broke more than 3,200 daily temperature records and dozens of American cities broke or tied their previous daily #TemperatureRecords three or more times. #Phoenix experienced 31 days in a row at or above 110F (43.3C), 13 days longer than the previous record.
#WorldClimate
@bsmall2
Aug 22, 2023 at 12:06amWeb
Show threadBrian SmallAug 22, 2023

.> The #MediterraneanSea is experiencing its hottest temperatures on record, more than 9F hotter than average in some places. Off the coast of #Newfoundland, waters are as much as 18F above normal. South of #Miami, waters reached 101F (38.3C). You’re supposed to find temperatures like that in a hot tub, not the ocean..> It’s winter right now in #SouthAmerica, but that hasn’t stopped temperatures from exceeding 100F (37.7C) in some places, a heating event a climate historian labeled “one of the extreme events the world has ever seen”..> In #Maui, #Hawaii, rapidly moving fires destroyed 2,700 structures in historic #Lahaina and took more than 100 lives, making it the deadliest wildfire in the US in more than a century.#BernieSanders in #TheGuardian with this earh-spanning list of disasters makes me think of #TomDispatch articles of the last decade or two... You had to go to the site of a #NewJunkie and professional publisher to get a sensible run-down of our predicament like this... #TomEngelhardt

@bsmall2