Daily Quick Read - December 4, 2018

In Poland scientists and policy makers from around the world are trying to figure out how to save us from ourselves.  They are working to put the commitments from the Paris climate accord into action.  Despite the urgency of the situation, it is hard to believe that the planet can be saved in time. 

The situation is dire according to Sir David Attenborough:

"The world's people have spoken.  Time is running out.  They want you, the decision-makers, to act now.  Leaders of the world, you must lead.  The continuation of civilisations and the natural world upon which we depend is in your hands."

Unfortunately, the leader of the only nation in the world that has pulled out of the Paris deal has generated what is known as the "Trump Effect" which is directly influencing the attitude of many nations toward collective efforts to achieve the change necessary to save ourselves.  Trump's decision has impacted the fight against global warming in three critical ways:

·      U.S. Federal rollbacks have increased the attractiveness of fossil fuel investments globally.
·       The US decision to withdraw from the Agreement has created moral and political cover for others to follow suit.
·        Goodwill at international negotiations has been damaged.

     In the near future we are going to have to face the potential that a quick fix solution to global warming is going to be offered to the world.  It won't fix what's already broken and it might lead to disastrous collateral damage, but it will be cheap and probably result in profits for some chemical companies.  It's called "solar dimming" and I can't wait for Trump to hear about it.       

                            

     …scientists are increasingly musing about conducting dramatic interventions in the atmosphere to cool the planet. And new research suggests that a project of atmospheric cooling would not only be doable, but also cheap enough that a single, determined country could pull it off. That cooling wouldn't reverse climate change. The greenhouse gases would still be there. The planet would keep warming overall, but that warming would significantly, measurably slow down.

Sometimes when I read all this I feel like a mouse or hamster stuck in my cage neurotically running in my exercise wheel.  Well it turns out that mice and hamsters may actually enjoy running to nowhere.  When researchers put wheels in outdoor settings they found   

 …that many wild mice would find the wheel, climb on and start running. Other animals to enjoy the ride were frogs, rats and shrew… 

Back to my wheel now.

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