Global Warming
Blog posts on Global Warming
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Methane Emissions Must be Eliminated as a No 1 Priority
Short term gains in the fight to save the planet can be made if we understand that dealing with methane emissions must be a priority 1st is best. Methane is rapidly heating up our world and some sources we can directly control.
Its is fact that Carbon Dioxide does most of the long term damage, but it is also true that Methane is over thirty times more potent than CO2. Methane also leaves the atmosphere fairly quickly, Carbon Dioxide does not.
So, where are the sources of Methane emissions?
Agriculture, decomposition of waste and fossil fuels – these are under our control and account for 60% of the Methane in the atmosphere. The majority of this is agriculture, namely livestock farming.
Wetlands are the largest natural source and there is little we can do there. However wetlands absorb methane too and vast amounts of Carbon Dioxide. Wetlands are also critical for biodiversity and home to a disproportionately large number of species:
All about Methane Emissions
Methane (CH4) is a powerful greenhouse gas, and is the second-largest contributor to climate warming after carbon dioxide (CO2). A molecule of methane traps more heat than a molecule of CO2, but methane has a relatively short lifespan of 7 to 12 years in the atmosphere, while CO2 can persist for hundreds of years or more.
Methane comes from both natural sources and human activities. An estimated 60% of today’s methane emissions are the result of human activities. The largest sources of methane are agriculture, fossil fuels, and decomposition of landfill waste. Natural processes account for 40% of methane emissions, with wetlands being the largest natural source. (Learn more about the Global Methane Budget.)
The concentration of methane in the atmosphere has more than doubled over the past 200 years. Scientists estimate that this increase is responsible for 20 to 30% of climate warming since the Industrial Revolution (which began in 1750).
Why is it that dealing with methane emissions is so critical?
We can control methane production from our agriculture simply by stopping mass production of beef and dairy products. We must still focus on Carbon Dioxide as well, but Methane should be a short term target.
Learn more about Methane heating up our world and what we know by clicking on the links below:
Our Earth and Leaf World Explained
What we now know about climate change
Also have alook at our post on Net Zero and Carbon Credits
This is why dealing with Methane Emissions is so important.
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Is Biomass Really a Sustainable Fuel ?
Is Biomass a sustainable fuel ? That’s the question.
Ash trees must not be used for firewood.
There is a good biomass case study right on our doorstep here in Yorkshire. Drax power station.
Drax was responsible for three per cent of the UKs total carbon emissions last year.
Our last coal fired power station at Ratcliffe on Soar was responsible for a quarter of that. This power station closed on Monday 30th September 2024.
Frankie Mayo, an analyst at Ember, said: “Burning wood pellets can be as bad for the environment as coal; supporting biomass with subsidies is a costly mistake.”
Fact – burning wood pellets for power generation releases more emissions for each unit of electricity generated than burning gas or coal
Is Biomass a Sustainable Fuel ?
There are some biomass articles in our Document Library relating to Drax:
If you want to learn more about what you can do change our world, join Earth and Leaf
Is Biomass a Sustainable Fuel ? – Q and A
Question
Where do the Drax biomass wood pellets come from?
Answer
North America and Canada, a little from the UK
Conclusion
How much Carbon Dioxide does Drax produce each year?
Drax directly produces 11.5 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide per year.
This figure does not include the millions of tonnes of CO2 released by felling the forests. It certainly does not include the CO2 generated building the MV Ultra Yorkshire whose sole purpose in transporting pellets from North America to the UK. Not sustainable!
How much of the electricity used in the UK does Drax produce?
Drax produces 6% of the UK electricity demand.
The jury is out. However if we spent the subsidy on home insulation we might not need the 6% of electricity produced from Drax.
I conclude in answer to the question – Is Biomass a Sustainable Fuel ? No !
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Dont buy an SUV – They do the Most Damage
If I am told “Dont buy an SUV” what should my reply be? The answer is that it is good to ask the question.
We don’t believe that anyone is “entitled” to do this. SUVs are a major contributor to global warming. SUVs around the world contribute more to global CO2 emissions than Japan.
https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/suvs-drive-20-of-emissions-growth-6036196
Dont buy an SUV
Electric vehicles still generate CO2 in large quantities – dont be fooled. They are not the answer.
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Why is it raining so much ?
Why is it raining so much ? It’s very simple. Global warming! Warmer air holds more water vapour. As a result there is more water up there and eventually it has to leave the atmosphere! So it ends up down here. Also where has the snow gone. We don’t have hard winters any more. Rising temperatures are to blame.
Its also typical to complain about the weather. It does have to rain otherwise we wouldn’t be here.
Why is it raining so much?
South East Wales today 25/11/24
South Wales has experienced some of the worst impacts – Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan says the floods are “absolutely devastating”
But it gets more complicated than that …..
Why is it raining so much or why isn’t it raining so much?
In some places it isn’t raining enough, like The Pantanal. There are devastating droughts in South Africa. It will get worse too as we continue to heat our world. Farming is hit hard, this will affect yields next year. Our actions also affect the jet stream and the AMOC (The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation). These affect the monsoon in the Amazon and Africa.
Rain also affects our soils, damaging soil structure, washing precious soil away and damaging crops. Read our post – Soil.
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Sheep Farming in Wales, Its Time for a Change
Lets Revolutionise Sheep Farming in Wales and continue to shape the character of the nations environment. A lot of upland Wales is unsuitable for any other type of farming. I have spent quite a bit of time in Wales over the years, working in the farming sector. I always found our Welsh farmer customers open to new ideas and far more interested in marketing and new tech than others in the UK.
So here we are. Farmer protests at the Senedd. Earth and Leaf wants to work with farmers. The Sustainable Farming Scheme is a great move towards restoring habitat across Wales. This is a great article by Dr Malcolm Smith. He makes some excellent points about subtle changes that would help farmers. The scheme also needs explaining better to farmers.
Lets Revolutionise Sheep Farming in Wales and Benefit its Rural Communities too
This mirrors the same structure found in England and Scotland. Hill ewes such as the Welsh Mountain are kept on high ground. Draft ewes are sold at market to farms lower down the hill to be crossed with Blue Faced Leicesters and other breeds to produce mules. These are again moved further down the hill to be crossed with terminal sires to produce fat lambs.
https://meatpromotion.wales/en
Time for Change
We need to look at this traditional structure of the industry. The hill and draft ewe system is no longer necessary except to maintain communities. So, we must use just transition to help maintain a thriving countryside. This is what we should do !
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Green-washing at Drax Uncovered by Panorama
Last year Ofgem committed to investigating apparent Green-washing Drax:
Green-washing at Drax Here is a little of the detail from the BBC Panorama investigation, Green-washing at Drax. Once the program becomes available it will feature on here. Meanwhile global warming continues and so does green-washing.
In response to the latest findings by the BBC, Drax admitted it has taken wood from old-growth forests. But it told Panorama that 77% of the material for its Canadian wood pellets came from sawdust and sawmill residues, with the rest coming from forestry residues and low-grade logs.
A spokesman for the company says that it keeps its sourcing policy and practices under regular review so that they “take account of evolving forest dynamics, legislation, policy, and science”.
Drax says that it decided in October 2023 to stop sourcing wood from old-growth priority deferral areas, and that “work to implement this decision through the supply chain is ongoing”.
The company doesn’t dispute that it is still taking wood from old-growth sites that are not priority deferral areas.
The burning of wood from old-growth forests contradicts the company’s previous claims. In a 2017 report about sustainability, Drax stated it would not take wood from what it called “no-go areas”. It said: “We do not take from protected forests, old growth or primary forest, sites that have been classified as having a high biodiversity value.” Reference – Green-washing at Drax.
Drax has told BBC Panorama that the 2017 document is “now obsolete” and that its current policy and practices are “more sophisticated”.
This is environmental destruction for profit, not just Green-washing!
Old growth natural forest is being cut down in North America to supply Drax power station. Firstly this simply is very wrong. It is exactly the same as cutting down Amazon Rain-Forest. Secondly the rules that determine what counts as renewable energy are simply nonsense in this case. Wood is not a fossil fuel. But it is fuel that when cut down, transported, processed, transported again and then burned causes global warming. At each stage it is responsible for pumping CO2 into the atmosphere.
Fifty per cent of the stored carbon in a tree is underground. Why is that important? Because it is released into the atmosphere over time when a tree is cut down! The green-washing at Drax ignores this data.
Stop Green-washing at Drax and Join Earth and Leaf
Drax produces about 4% of the UK’s energy. We can shut Drax down by insulating our homes.
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Green-washing isn’t so Green after all
Radio 5 this morning, 7th February 2024 featured a discussion on flying and private jets. A listener messaged in to say “Ive planted over 1000 trees so I will fly as much as I like.” Oh dear!
My immediate response was; “Firstly this listener doesn’t understand global warming and climate change. Secondly, he feels entitled, although he plants trees which is good. Thirdly, has he planted the trees or simply used offsets or bought carbon credits.”
Now to the 1st of March, concerning Drax Power station in Yorkshire. The first thing to say about Drax is it is counted as a renewable energy plant because it burns wood chips. In other words it is not renewable energy. Most importantly he whole plant and its supply chain is mired in greenwashing.
Here is the recent article from the BBC:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68381160
First of all, cutting own ancient forest in North America to fuel British power stations is utter lunacy and environmental vandalism. Additionally cutting down forests in North America to fuel Drax is bonkers. The transport costs are phenomenal too, generating vast amounts of CO2.
Second, there is also an external cost. The forests grown for Drax cannot be used for other purposes. Consequently other trees must be cut down too, to provide timber for North America.
“Drax, receives money from energy bill payers because the electricity produced from burning pellets is classified as renewable and treated as emission-free”.
This is Green-washing! This emphatically is not renewable energy.
To learn more, Click Here!
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Interesting Stuff Going on at Home
Wickham Fen
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67933864
Knepp Castle Estate is leading in re-wilding projects in the UK in West Sussex. Here’s a short film on their beaver reintroduction project:
Finally, there are also lots of interesting things going on around the world. Click Here!
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Interesting Stuff Going on Around the World
Wow
https://orangutan.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=e1bedc0d32dbb4e95a8fc9748&id=97a6777442&e=1154216cea Rain at last in North Sumatra
Ive re-watched Earth. It really is an important must watch for everyone
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0fpwlny/earth-series-1-2-snowball
The Rainforest Alliance protects rainforests and helps farmers and indigenous communities.
This is a great project in Borneo
https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/documents/2484428-regrow-borneo-pilot-year-impact-report
Finally, there are also lots of interesting things going on at home in the UK. Click Here!
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Global Warming and Climate Change – Despite all the Warnings
Have a look at this, despite all the warnings on Global Warming and Climate Change, little is being done. Everyone on this world has to reduce carbon emissions and do all they can to grow and rehabilitate rain forest in order to slow global warming. Tourist destinations of natural beauty only exist because of our beautiful fragile green globe. Then someone does this!
The Mexican government has driven a huge railway through the Yucatan Rain forest. Its a crime against humanity if you would like humanity to survive rather than make a lot of money for a very few people.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240102-the-train-maya-mexicos-ambitious-new-tourism-megaproject
Global warming and climate change
The destruction of the Pantanal surely should impact everyone on the globe.
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Electric Vehicles are not the Answer
You will see in other areas on this site that the worlds headlong rush towards electric vehicles is not as green as everyone thinks, nor is it a solution. If you are an average family of four with two children and two cars you give up a car if you really want to make a difference.
Replacing the worlds eight billion cars with EVs will add billions of tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere. It will destroy huge parts of the environment in Sumatra, poisoning water courses, the sea and the people with pollution from Chinese owned heavy metals mining. Of course it drives economic growth so we must rethink neo-classical economics, taking account of externalities.
Here is a project making a real difference. This scheme certainly is a solution. The infrastructure is easy to sort.
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Loss of Antarctic Sea Ice is at Crisis Point
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-64649596
How much evidence do we need? This is terrifying and will take decades to even slow down never mind reverse. I wont be here to see it reversed if that is possible, but we have a succession plan at Earth and Leaf. My fingers are firmly crossed.
Less obviously, but equally important, is the diminishing Arctic sea ice. Shipping companies are really excited about opening up northern shipping routes which is a pretty good indicator of how much they care about the environment.
As these issues are not addressed year on year our warming problem accelerates. The amount of energy needed to melt billions of tonnes of ice is staggering. This is buffering the planet warming at this point in time. Once the ice is gone warming will accelerate dramatically and will end all mammalian and avian life on the planet.
Ice cover is a good measure of our efforts to halt the warming. If we go along with maximum warming of 1.5 degrees centigrade it will be impossible to replace that ice. At an ambitious project of reducing the warming by 1.5 degrees centigrade the ice cover will start to grow again, but will take thousands of years to get back to levels seen at 1980.
You can make your choice. We need families and individuals to make the right choices in their lives in large enough numbers to save our world.
I frightened myself last week. I drove my son back to Sheffield from Harrogate (80 miles). The journey generated 25 kg of Carbon Dioxide. That is one fifth of the amount a mature Oak tree absorbs in one year. He will in the future be using the train as will I.
This year has seen the warmest sea temperatures ever recorded. This graph is very serious indeed:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66387537
It may already be too late, but we cannot give up.
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Wildfires are Tipping us Ever Closer to the Edge
As I write there are over 2000 current wildfires in Canada. This is on top of those in Hawaii, the USA, the Amazon, Greece, Australia and many other countries. It will take 50 years for the Canadian forest to start to recover. There will be more fires next year. Every fire adds to the CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) in the atmosphere. It is a self accelerating process. We are getting quite close to runaway global warming. If that happens, humanity at least is finished, rain forests will be completely gone, it has to rain or life cannot persist as we know it. It is estimated that the 2022 wildfires in Australia added 1% more CO2 to the total concentration in our atmosphere.
Year on year, starting NOW, not 2030 or 2050, the world has to increase its forest cover and quickly. I think a minimum target should be 5% per year. Young growing native canopy absorbs CO2 and it grows faster in the tropics. We will lose more forest to wildfires in future years. This must be reduced and planting and rehabilitation must increase.
When will our governments realise how important this is? Our current economic system concentrates wealth in the hands of a few individuals. Those individuals hold the fate of the planet in their hands. As long as economic growth is measured purely in monetary terms we have a problem:
Essentially; Growth in £££s = CO2
We need a new system.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66551480
Will the Anthropocene be the shortest Era in the history of our world? If we do not act very quickly indeed, it certainly will be.
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Earths History – the Anthropocene
Earths history extends back for 4.5 billion year. For the last tens of thousands of years in the Holocene era, the atmosphere has been stable with a steady content of CO2. This common gas is incredibly important for life (plants) and as a thermo-regulator for our world. If the concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere rises, global temperature rises. If it falls far enough, the planet cools enough to bring about ice ages. These processes normally take millions of years.
Technically we are still in the Holocene however.
Plants are also incredibly important for our world. They absorb CO2 and release Oxygen.
In the Anthropocene we have inadvertently taken control over the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
Earths History mapped out
“Graphic”
How?
Once human beings moved from hunter gatherers1 to farming with settled populations and communities with dwellings, life became both easier and more complex at the same time. With agriculture came trade. With trade came economics. Agricultural development brought about massive land clearance, rain forest destruction, drainage and soil degradation, all of which drove up CO2 levels. They continue to do so.
Then came the industrial revolution, accelerating global warming and dramatically increasing the population. Agriculture had to embrace the industrial revolution in order to feed the growing population. That in turn has led to further massive deforestation. The vicious cycle continues to raise CO2 levels.
With development of civilisation, philosophy and the sciences come vested interests and manipulation of power and wealth making it harder to do something about the crisis.
Finally we need to be very aware that it is just 28 countries doing most of the damage. They are:
That is it in a nutshell!
So what happens next?
We have to educate using fact and science.
1We were already damaging the planet causing extinctions of a range of large land mammals and birds.
