Author: mfeilner

Without Climate Action, Study Warns – If greenhouse gas emissions are seriously curbed and summer temperatures are limited to an increase of 3 degrees Celsius, about 19% of the park’s Joshua tree habitat would survive after the year 2070. – science

https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/cef8qf/joshua_trees_will_be_allbutextinct_by_2070

Melting Russian permafrost could speed up global warming and have a devastating impact on the planet | World Economic Forum

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/07/melting-russian-permafrost-could-speed-up-global-warming-devastating-global-effect/

I just had another weird, unreflected idea: How about making Co2 the new currency. It would need to be reverse, and different from all other currencies. And it needs a lot more proper thought, I am totally aware of it. Maybe it doesn’t work, but think about it. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_price

Let’s say, 1 Carb equals 1 t of Co2 that you’ve successfully taken out of the vicious circle. I wonder if something like that would really work. And no, it should not work like the stupid certificates. 

 Our purpose – The Shift Project, carbon transition think tank … :

“The Shift Project is a French think tank advocating the shift to a post-carbon economy. As a non-profit organisation committed to serving the general interest through scientific objectivity, we are dedicated to informing and influencing the debate on energy transition in Europe.”

‘Digital sobriety’ can halt tech-fuelled global warming, says report | New Scientist … :

“The Shift Project wants companies and governments to adopt “digital sobriety” as a principle. That means buying less-powerful machines, replacing them less frequently and not using energy-intensive approaches where possible. Although there is some evidence that consumers are replacing smartphones less often, the general trend is to do more with ever-more-powerful machines. Artificial intelligence in particular is extremely energy-intensive.“

Handels- und Währungskrieg: Warum das Weltwirtschaftssystem weiter zerfallen wird – SPIEGEL ONLINE … :

“Jetzt ist diese Ära unzweifelhaft zu Ende. Trump ist dafür eher Symptom als Ursache. Er ist der demolition man, eine Art oberster Abbruchbeauftragter der alten Ordnung. Das multilaterale Weltwirtschaftssystem wird nicht zurückkommen, egal wer nächstes Jahr zum US-Präsidenten gewählt wird.“

In diesem Artikel hier sind ein paar echt schöne Sätze drin: Wohneigentum: Zutritt verboten (neues-deutschland.de)

“Denn im hiesigen Wirtschaftssystem ist nicht reich, wer ein Haus hat. Sondern wer das Haus eines anderen hat.”

“Wahrer Reichtum besteht in dem, was man nicht braucht, sondern was andere brauchen und von dem man sie ausschließen kann.”

5 billion Dollar? Who cares, Facebook earns that in a month and their stock price went up. Here’s John Naughton’s veiw. He is professor of the public understanding of technology at the Open University and wrote in the Guardian: Money’s no object for Facebook, so hit it where it hurts | John Naughton | Opinion | The Guardian

“First, regulators need to focus on these companies’ capacity to hoover up and monetise the data they extract from their users’ online behaviour. Since much of this data has been accumulated in a lawless (or at any rate law-free) environment and it now constitutes their most valuable asset (not to mention the insuperable barrier to entry for potential competitors), Google and Facebook should be obliged to make the data available to other organisations (including in the public sector) under controlled conditions.

Second, given that the entire digital industry runs on data, competition authorities ought to be much more sceptical about the acquisition strategies of digital giants. (…) Facebook ought never to have been allowed to acquire WhatsApp and Instagram. (…)  Nothing comparable in the media industry would have been allowed, or indeed in many other areas of industrial life. Equally, Google should never have been allowed to buy YouTube, and it should now be compelled to hive it off as a separate outfit.

Third, competition authorities should put the opaque, high-speed data-trading marketplaces owned and operated by Google and Facebook under the microscope – as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority now intends to do. In no other area of industrial life would companies be allowed to be operators of such vast and entirely opaque marketplaces.”

Meanwhile, in France: 

The Debate – France takes on Silicon Valley: Washington threatens tariffs over GAFA tax

It’s not just Trump: the consensus goes beyond party lines in the United States to defend the interests of a Silicon Valley that to a large degree seems to own the internet. What is fair taxation in the era of globalisation? The OECD and G20 nations are working on it and France has said it will scrap the new tax once fresh rules are in place globally.

Gutachten zur CO2-Steuer: Es gibt jetzt keine Ausreden mehr – SPIEGEL ONLINE … :

“Das ist durchaus Erfolg versprechend: In China “wird mindestens so intensiv über höhere CO2-Preise nachgedacht wie hierzulande”, sagte Klimaökonom Edenhofer dem SPIEGEL. Wenn Angela Merkel nicht am Ende als die Kanzlerin in die Geschichte eingehen will, die die Zukunft verspielte, sollte sie ihren Verzögerungsminister Altmaier weiter nach hinten und SPD-Umweltministerin Svenja Schulze weiter nach vorn stellen. Der richtige Vorschlag liegt schon auf dem Tisch, es gibt keine Ausreden mehr, ihn nicht umzusetzen.“

Reality update: The Welsh village being abandoned to the sea because of climate change – Wales Online … :

“The concerns are based on climate change and the speed at which it takes hold. Sea levels continue to rise. It’s estimated that current levels are more than 100 metres higher than during the last ice age, and that they could rise by a further two metres over the next century.  In short, there will be no money spent on defending this community of around 400 homes and 850 people after 2054. The harsh and unforgiving word ‘decommission’ has been banded about – the death of a community facilitated by its inhabitants being forced to move out, its shops closed down, its houses demolished to make way for salt marsh.“