Record levels of methane in the atmosphere will make it even harder to reach targets set by the Paris climate agreement, scientists have warned. Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found increasing amounts of the potent greenhouse gas were coming from the tropics. They are uncertain about the source but believe it is likely to be due to microbial changes in methane-belching tropical wetlands. They believe warmer temperatures could be causing them to emit more methane than ever before.
Independent 24th May 2019 read more »
James Dyke: The scientific community has been sounding the alarm over climate change for decades. The political and economic response has been at best sluggish. We know that in order to avoid the worse impacts of climate change, we need to rapidly reduce emissions now. The sudden increase in media coverage of climate change, as a result of the actions of Extinction Rebellion and school strike for climate pioneer Greta Thunburg, demonstrates that wider society is waking up to the need for urgent action. Why has it taken the occupation of Parliament Square or children across the world walking out of school to get this message heard? There is another way at looking at how we have been responding to climate change and other environmental challenges. It’s both exhilarating and terrifying. Exhilarating because it offers a new perspective which could cut through inaction. Terrifying as it could, if we are not careful, lead to resignation and paralysis. Because one explanation for our collective failure on climate change is that such collective action is impossible. It’s not that we don’t want to change, but that we can’t. We are locked into a planetary-scale system that while built by humans, is largely beyond our control. This system is called the technosphere. And so the most effective guard against climate breakdown may not be technological solutions, but a more fundamental reimagining of what constitutes a good life on this particular planet. We may be critically constrained in our abilities to change and rework the technosphere, but we should be free to envisage alternative futures. Thus far our response to the challenge of climate change exposes a fundamental failure of our collective imagination.
Independent 24th May 2019 read more »
