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Apollo space missions | China’s emissions | Denis Healy sightings | Telephones | Identifying art
Further to Peter Avery’s letter about watching cricket outside a TV rental showroom (4 August), in the late 1960s I was an avid follower of the Apollo space missions. One day the BBC announced the next broadcast from the capsule was going to be the first in colour. We did not have a colour set, so I made sure I was in the shopping centre so I could watch it in a shop window.Paul DormerGuildford, Surrey
• China may be the biggest source of carbon emissions on earth (Unsurvivable heatwaves could strike heart of China by end of century, 1 August) but it is not the biggest emitter per capita. According to the World Bank, that dishonour among industrialised economies goes jointly to Australia, Canada and the US. China is leading the world – with Germany – in developing renewable sources of energy.Anna ChenIpswich, Suffolk
Continue reading...Representative Carlos Curbelo has proposed a tax on carbon dioxide emissions but Republicans are expected to block it
A Republican lawmaker has proposed the US introduce a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, in a departure from the party’s decade-long hostility toward any measure aimed at addressing climate change.
Carlos Curbelo of Florida, considered a moderate GOP member of Congress, said a carbon tax would avoid “saddling young Americans with a crushing environmental debt” and expressed his belief that “this bill or legislation similar to it” will become law one day.
Related: Earth's resources consumed in ever greater destructive volumes
Related: Comprehensive study: carbon taxes won't hamper the economy | Dana Nuccitelli
Continue reading...Scientists warn the impact of climate change may be as large as economic recessions, which are known to increase self-harm
Rising temperatures are linked to increasing rates of suicide, according to a large new study. The researchers warn that the impact of climate change on suicides may be as significant as economic recessions, which are known to increase rates of self-harm.
The links between mental health and global warming have not been widely researched but the new work analysed temperature and suicides across the US and Mexico in recent decades. It found that the rate of suicide rose by 0.7% in the US and by 2.1% in Mexico when the average monthly temperature rose by 1C.
Continue reading...In the troposphere, scientists detected a human-caused signal in the seasonal cycle
We know that humans are causing Earth’s climate to change. It used to be that “climate change” mostly referred to increasing temperatures near the Earth’s surface, but increasingly, climate change has come to mean so much more. It means warming oceans, melting ice, changing weather patterns, increased storms, and warming in other places.
A recent study has just been published that finds ‘fingerprints’ of human-caused warming someplace most of us don’t think about – in the higher atmosphere. Not only that, but these scientists have found changes to the seasonal climate – how much the temperature varies from winter to summer to winter – and the changes they found matched expectations.
For tropospheric temperature, a human-caused signal is now evident in the seasonal cycle itself.
Continue reading...Study says the date by which we consume a year’s worth of resources is arriving faster
Humanity is devouring our planet’s resources in increasingly destructive volumes, according to a new study that reveals we have consumed a year’s worth of carbon, food, water, fibre, land and timber in a record 212 days.
As a result, the Earth Overshoot Day – which marks the point at which consumption exceeds the capacity of nature to regenerate – has moved forward two days to 1 August, the earliest date ever recorded.
Related: You can deny environmental calamity – until you check the facts | George Monbiot
Continue reading...The northern hemisphere is having a baking summer – and it’s not just down to climate change
Last week, authorities in Sweden took an unusual step. They issued an appeal for international aid to help them tackle an epidemic of wildfires that has spread across the nation over the past few days.
After months without rain, followed by weeks of soaring temperatures, the nation’s forests had become tinderboxes.
Related: Feeling hot, hot, hot? Tell us your experiences of heat in your city
Continue reading...Pieces of ice calving off a large iceberg threaten to cause tsunami waves that could swamp a small village on the west coast of Greenland. In a video posted on social media on Thursday, a large chunk of ice falls into the sea, causing a swell that pushes toward Innaarsuit. A danger zone close to the coastline has been evacuated. Four people died last summer after similar waves swamped a settlement in north-western Greenland
Continue reading...Charity had argued the government was in breach of international obligations under the Paris agreement
Environmental campaigners have lost their high court challenge against the government over its policy for tackling climate change.
The charity Plan B Earth brought legal action against the government’s stance on the 2050 carbon target, set out under the Climate Change Act 2008.
Related: UK to review climate target raising hopes of a zero emissions pledge
Continue reading...Abnormally hot temperatures continue to wreak devastation across northern and central parts of the continent
Farmers across northern and central Europe are facing crop failure and bankruptcy as one of the most intense regional droughts in recent memory strengthens its grip.
States of emergency have been declared in Latvia and Lithuania, while the sun continues to bake Swedish fields that have received only 12% of their normal rainfall.
Related: Wildfires rage in Arctic Circle as Sweden calls for help
Continue reading...It’s an improvement from 100% two years ago, but GOP climate denial is cracking too slowly
Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted on an anti-carbon tax Resolution. The Resolution was introduced by Steve Scalise (R-LA) with essentially the same language as he introduced in 2013 and 2016.
On those past versions, every Republican House member voted against carbon taxes. This time, six Republicans rejected the Resolution and one abstained, voting ‘Present.’ However, 97% of the House Republicans on the floor voted against carbon taxes.
Expressing the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental to the United States economy … [and] to American families and businesses, and is not in the best interest of the United States.
We already pay a "carbon tax". It's the extra money we pay on electricity to run our air conditioners; it's the price increases due to agricultural impacts of heat and precip. changes; it's the cost of sea level rise; 1/2 https://t.co/D6OyvPmXeY
The fact that six Republicans voted ‘no’ on an anti-carbon tax resolution is an indication that there are cracks in the wall separating Democrats and Republicans on climate change.
Professional lobbying organizations are a permanent presence on Capitol Hill. Thus, the vast expenditures and continuous presence of professional lobbyists limit the impact of volunteer climate advocates.
We seem to have a public opinion fetish where if we get public opinion to be supportive of climate change legislation, then it’ll happen. My answer to that is, gee, well, we should have gun control legislation then.
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