2023 on track to be the hottest year on record, say scientists. More bad news. At the summit in Paris 8 years ago, world leaders promised to stop global warming by 1.5C by the end of the century. Current policies are now set for about 2.4C! When will we ever learn?
CarbonBrief: "Which countries are historically responsible for climate change?" Nations cumulative CO2 emissions from fossil fuels, land use and forestry, 1850-2021: animation. See Video ->>
WIRED: "The UK Is Burning Climate Pledges to Fuel a Culture War - Faced with an election he is likely to lose, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is taking the unusual step of scrapping key climate policies." Disgusting short termism could backfire if more people wake up!
"Most people sense that we're in deep trouble with climate change, and they want to do something." Good thinking by The Climate Majority Project. There's now a groundswell of opinion that may do more than just tempt people into action. See video =>>
BBC News: "Europe and US heatwaves near 'impossible' without climate change": many very interesting comments as well!
BBC News: Bob Watson, former head of the UN climate body, believes the target to limit global warming to 1.5C will be missed. Yet another wake-up call.
Capitalism won't deliver the energy transition fast enough! Remarkable admission, apparently by the Financial Times energy editor.
The Column: "ABC, CBS and NBC Evening News Reports on Canadian Wildfires Ignore Climate Change's Role Entirely. A snapshot of how Bad Things Just Happen with no cause and no author."
We hoped that catastrophes like this would waken up some people to the connections!
Shareholder activists visit Barclays and Standard Chartered's Annual General Meetings. Great example of a peaceful yet impactful protest. See video -->>
200 organisations, 117 events, 90 speakers and performers coming together in London UK. The Big One includes activities in Westminster from Friday 21st to Monday 24th April. Extincttion Rebellion: "We are facing an unprecedented global emergency. Life on Earth is in crisis: scientists agree we have entered a period of abrupt climate breakdown, and we are in the midst of a mass extinction of our own making."
Another Guardian article, 'The UK's "green day" has turned into a fossil fuel bonanza - dirty money powers the Sunak government', "While the government splashes money around like an arsonist with a petrol can, it has done almost nothing to reduce energy demand." Rather than unveiling a new, more detailed plan for achieving net zero emissions when forced by a court ruling, the occasion has been rebranded 'energy security day'!
The IPCC Synthesis Report is out saying that only swift and drastic action can avert irrevocable damage to the planet. Why the lack of political will? Some immediate action like stopping fossil fuel subsidies would at least be a start. Will public opinion force the issue? There's little time left! This Guardian article, 'Scientists deliver 'final warning' on climate crisis: act now or it's too late', spells out the crisis.
'Climate Denial Crock of the Week' blogger, Peter Sinclair, asked AI about climate change denial, with fascinating and quite accurate results!
"I wanted Parliament to see how people are thinking, what their vision is." - Speaker of the House, Lindsay Hoyle. Remarkable Quaker-led textile exhibition (Loving Earth Project) about the survival of the planet on show to UK politicians. Let's hope they get the message! See Video ->>
Black Mountains College offers a newly developed degree course in partnership with Cardiff Metropolitan University - BA (Hons) Sustainable Futures: Arts, Ecology and Systems Change. Other universities please note and follow!
Happy New Year! Here we are as 2022 ends but can we look forward to 2023? The science may be clear and 'climate denial' is on the wane but many people have yet to accept the climate emergency for what it is - a real emergency. How can so many people from different walks of life, beliefs and levels of prosperity be persuaded to act positively and cooperatively before it's too late? iBerry doesn't have all the answers but open discussion, education and bringing 'ordinary' people together must play an important part. How can we help? - suggestions please!
So many animal and plant species could go extinct this century and the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) (7 - 19 December) has struggled to reach agreements. Scans for blogs commenting on COP17 are available on the COP page of the iBerry Hub.
BBC News - Biodiversity: What is a mass extinction and are we causing one? 'Five times in our planet's history, adverse conditions have extinguished most of life.'
The probabilities of extreme climate change leading to catastrophic outcomes for humans such as societal collapse or even extinction may or may not be small but are possibilities that should be examined in detail. A recent National Academy of Sciences paper does just that concluding that It's time for the scientific community to grapple with the challenge of better understanding catastrophic climate change. iBerry agrees. Evidently temperatures of more than 2 degC above preindustrial values were last sustained on Earth more than 2.6 million years ago, so who knows? Of course we live in hope but recent events suggest that preparing for the worst is a sensible strategy that must not be overlooked in the short term.
The Guardian - July 18 Humanity faces 'collective suicide' over climate crisis, warns UN chief.....'half of humanity is in danger zone', as countries battle extreme heat.
Following pressure by activists Barcelona students will take a mandatory climate crisis module from 2024. Why should universities wait for pressure to be applied before doing this?
The Kids are not OK. This hard-hitting article by Julia Steinberger underlines the frustration felt by kids with 'adults' who do nothing about the climate crisis.
Horrified as politicians argue about economic growth while the Climate Emergency takes a back seat. How can economic growth be sustainable? Are we missing something? Will someone please contact us and explain?
We would like more feedback from our visitors and also more contributions. iBerry makes modest payments/donations for interesting articles/comment on any aspect of Climate Change and the environment - contact us
iBerry never asks for donations but we do have some funds that can be occasionally used to support good causes, special events, charities etc - contact us.
iBerry focused first on basic science and we continue to provide informative links . Then we realized that whereas the science is clear the real problem is people. Now we're convinced that deep and rapid societal changes are needed if sustainable living is to be achieved for human populations. Is an ecological civilization a realistic possibility? Maybe we can find out with your help - contact us.
Quick Comments
Nov 26 2023 - The Portal now has 16 Rooms. Presentation is not yet uniform and further development is ongoing.
Oct 24 2023 - The COP page is now focusing on COP28 issues and has been updated. Comments and contributions are welcome - please contact us.
Sep 22 2023 - The way sorted links are presented is changing - for example. Comments are always welcome and acknowledged, please contact us.
Sep 5 2023 - Programming sorted links for the Portal is being completed. It's impossible to eliminate all glitches, duplicates, typos etc as the emphasis is on up-to-date info rather than a perfect presentation.
Aug 12 2023 - New Room 12 in the Portal: People and their stories.
Aug 1 2023 - New Room 11 in the Portal: Commentary, podcasts, videos etc, that may not fit in the other Rooms.
July 27 2023 - Many people, particularly non-experts, are becoming very concerned about climate change, the environment and their future. It's good to talk to others about these issues and so iBerry is considering safe ways of allowing our visitors to privately contact each other. Is anyone interested? Please contact us or email.
June 27 2023 - The Unsorted Links are becoming sorted. A new program is being developed - watch this space!
June 9 2023 - Another experiment. 'Thoughts for Tomorrow' is intended as a very brief personal account of any issue relevant to Climate Change and the Environment. It's published on iBerry's most popular page. Please Contact us if you would like to contribute.
May 26 2023 - Finding so many young activists we've had to give them a new page!
May 13 2023 - The Unsorted Links seem popular in spite of the rough-and-ready presentation. Most are right up to date, free from ads and, at least in our opinion, rival what you might expect from the big search engines! Comments please.
Apr 18 2023 - 15 sets of Unsorted Links are now available. NB This is an experiment that maybe be useful to helpers, librarians etc. This is raw info, probably with repetitions and wrong classifications but hopefully no spam!
Mar 27 2023 - 3000-year-old solutions to modern problems. Added a very clear and well-presented TEDx video by indigenous scholar and cultural historian, Lyla June - well worth viewing!
Mar 23 2023 - Added Room 10 to the Portal on social, economic, environmental and political issues.
Mar 7 2023 - Planning a new Portal page on 'Society, Climate Change and Environment'. Unsorted Links.
Jan 29 2023 - Why don't some people take climate change seriously? We asked ChatGPT for a contribution; impressive use of artificial intelligence!
Jan 25 2023 - Updated Room 3 in the Portal. Now has almost 50 recent links, mainly on the basic science.
Jan 10 2023 - Overwhemed by blog links and articles, as an experiment some unsorted link lists will now be displayed. Useful or not? Comments and contributions welcome - contact us.
Jan 6 2023 - Added more blog links to Room 1 in the Portal, relevant but not scanned.
Dec 17 2022 - Updating Room 1 in the Portal on the blogs that we scan daily. Bloggers wanting to see their blogs scanned must have an accessible RSS feed (contact).
Dec 3 2022 - Added Room 8 to the Portal, Indigenous Values and Traditions - knowledge, practices and lifestyles relevant to sustainable living and the environment.
Nov 14 2022 - Added Interactive Graphs Page. Compare temperature anomaly to historical carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide levels - see for yourself!
Oct 27 2022 - COP27 posts are being collected here . We'll keep adding the latest ones as they are published.
Language Translation
Which countries are historically responsible for climate change?
Stoney-faced Barclays executives confronted by dozens of singing protesters inside the hall. Even the heavies were being careful with all the cameras on them!
Speaker of the House, Lindsay Hoyle, on the Loving Earth Project and Exhibition.
UN Secretary General at the 2023 World Economic Forum, focus on climate change in today's worst perfect world storm.
'We Are Still Failing Badly': Al Gore Delivers Fiery Remarks On Climate Change Dangers