PBMC - Painel Brasileiro de Mudanças Climáticas

12 excuses for climate inaction and how to refute them

There’s a reason why the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has successfully goaded powerful politicians into long-overdue climate action in just six months.

Thunberg, who is on the autism spectrum, has become a moral authority. Again and again, she’s clearly articulated how adults have shamefully abdicated their basic duties to protect today’s children and future generations from compounding climate catastrophe. “This ongoing irresponsible behavior will no doubt be remembered in history as one of the greatest failures of humankind,” she told the British Parliament.

“You only talk about moving forward with the same bad ideas that got us into this mess, even when the only sensible thing to do is pull the emergency brake. You are not mature enough to tell it like is. Even that burden you leave to us children,” she declared at the United Nations.

Her ability to sway politicians and the public, in speeches and through the school strike movement, is now evident: European leaders have called for aggressive new carbon emissions reductions, citing her movement.

Fortunately, Thunberg is just one of many great minds helping us summon moral clarity to address the tricky problem of framing the climate crisis. That includes the writers David Wallace-Wells, George Monbiot, and Anand Giridharadas; the historian Jill Lepore; and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), among many others.

Read complete at Vox

Uma concentração de CO2 nunca vista pela espécie humana.

Na semana passada, comentamos o novo recorde da concentração de dióxido de carbono na atmosfera. Havíamos passado dos 415 ppm.

Mas faltou dizer, como o fez o meteorologista Eric Holthouse, que a espécie humana, ao longo dos milhões de anos de sua história, jamais viveu numa atmosfera como essa.

ClimaInfo, 15 de maio de 2019.

Leia em Clima Info.

Bairro em Londres vai criar 11km de corredor de flores para abelhas

O conselho municipal de Brent, em Londres, na Inglaterra, está plantando flores silvestres em parques e espaços verdes. A ideia é construir um espaço propício para atrair polinizadores, especialmente as abelhas. 

Um estudo recente mostrou uma queda enorme no número de insetos polinizadores em todo o Reino Unido desde os anos 80. Os pesquisadores acreditam que a perda de habitats tem desempenhado um papel importante nisso, com mais de 97% dos prados de flores silvestres tendo desaparecido desde a Segunda Guerra Mundial. Muitas borboletas, abelhas, libélulas e mariposas confiam nestas flores para prosperar.

Para ajudar a deter o declínio da biodiversidade, o Brent Council buscar formar um “corredor de abelhas” em todo o distrito. Espécies como a Primula veris, Photinia e Papaver somniferum estão entre as escolhidas. 

“As abelhas e outros insetos são tão importantes para polinizar as plantações que fornecem os alimentos que comemos. Precisamos fazer tudo o que pudermos para ajudá-los a prosperar. Estou orgulhosa do compromisso em aumentar a biodiversidade e esperamos ver os prados em plena floração em alguns meses”, afirmou Cllr Krupa Sheth, líder de meio ambiente do conselho.

Leia mais em Ciclo Vivo

It's Official: Atmospheric CO2 Just Exceeded 415 ppm For The First Time in Human History

Yet another alarming milestone of humanity's damaging effect on the environment has now officially been reached – crossing a barrier into a hot, polluted future like the planet hasn't witnessed in millions of years.

This weekend, sensors in Hawaii recorded Earth's atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) passing 415 parts per million (ppm) for the first time since before the ancient dawn of humanity.

On Saturday, CO2 concentration recorded at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii by researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography hit 415.26 ppm – the latest in a dire series of climatic thresholds being breached by a human society that refuses to relinquish the conveniences afforded by fossil fuels.

"This is the first time in human history our planet's atmosphere has had more than 415 ppm CO2," meteorologist Eric Holthaus tweeted.

Read Complete at Science Alert