Hopefully there will be enough news and impact for something meaningful and positive to be done sooner...

...but foolish actions won't accomplish that.

They are already talking about cutting down a forest of carbon sucking trees to rebuild a building that just belched millions of tons of CO2.

Ain't progress a bitch!

For UK and those that can get BBC TV, "David Attenborough explores the science of, and potential solutions to, climate change" at 21:00 BST on BBC1.

They are already talking about cutting down a forest of carbon sucking trees to rebuild a building that just belched millions of tons of CO2.

Millions? Bit of an order-of-magnitude error there, methinks.

But one of the side effects of the event I think you're citing might well be to realise that we need to replant some of the forests that used to managed and maintained to provide the raw materials for construction and navies, before being cut down to suit agribusiness.

Extinction Rebellion London stay in the news:


Extinction Rebellion 18/04/2018

... Ken Marsh, chairman of the Met Police Federation, said it was "very difficult" for police to deal with the activists as "we have never dealt with something like this before"...

Hopefully there will be enough news and impact for something meaningful and positive to be done sooner...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

But one of the side effects of the event I think you're citing might well be to realise that we need to replant some of the forests that used to managed and maintained to provide the raw materials for construction and navies, before being cut down to suit agribusiness.

Sure they aren't being cut down to build and then argi moves in to the cleared land? The slash and burn you refer to is mostly jungle and not lumber forest.

They are already talking about cutting down a forest of carbon sucking trees to rebuild a building that just belched millions of tons of CO2.

Millions? Bit of an order-of-magnitude error there, methinks.

13,000 trees at 50 tons/ea = 650,000 tons and that is just the main beams. Okay, so maybe single million.
and now you know why the flying buttresses.

But one of the side effects of the event I think you're citing might well be to realise that we need to replant some of the forests that used to managed and maintained to provide the raw materials for construction and navies, before being cut down to suit agribusiness.

Sure they aren't being cut down to build and then argi moves in to the cleared land? The slash and burn you refer to is mostly jungle and not lumber forest.

Well, I was thinking about it mainly from the British perspective: we never had savanna/pampas/great plains, so almost everything involved clearing vegetation (often trees) if you go back far enough.

Our naval growth started around 1500, included countering the Spanish Armada in 1588, and continued with both military and commercial building, mostly of wood, through the Napoleonic era around 1800 and beyond. Ships would have been built from specially selected timber, the tallest and straightest trees, much like cathedrals.

London first shows on the 10 biggest cities chart around 1600, and grew to be biggest in the world by about 1825 (with a major carbon dioxide belch in 1666).

For agribusiness, there were early 'enclosures' of arable land for animal husbandry (which brings its own emissions problem), but it didn't really change the landscape until the 1950s, when mechanical cropping did away with centuries-old hedgerows and coppices. The woodland density may have been lower, but the area involved was greater.

Extinction Rebellion London stay in the news:

Extinction Rebellion: Climate change protesters at Natural History Museum

Extinction Rebellion activists took over part of the Natural History Museum as the climate change protest entered its second week.

About 100 people lay down under the blue whale skeleton at about 14:15 BST.

It comes as more than 1,000 people have been arrested since the protests began in central London a week ago. The climate change group are now based in Marble Arch, after police moved protesters from Oxford Street, Waterloo Bridge and Parliament Square.

Extinction Rebellion said it hoped the protest at the museum, which it called a "die-in", would raise awareness of what they call the "sixth mass extinction"....


There has also been on the radio news:

Greta Thunberg: Teen tells UK politicians 'listen to climate scientists'

A teenage climate change activist has urged British politicians to "listen to the scientists" on climate change.

Greta Thunberg, 16, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that she did not expect to change their minds single-handedly, saying: "We need to do that together."

The Swedish teenager, who inspired the school climate strikes movement, is expected to meet party leaders later. She also praised the work of Extinction Rebellion, as climate change protests continued into their second week...


What can immediately be done? For a start, see:

Extinction Rebellion: How might ministers win over the protesters?

... So, if not all this, then what?...

Hopefully there will be enough news and impact for something meaningful and positive to be done sooner...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

A few more small positive steps:


UK runs without coal power for three days in a row

The UK has been powered without coal for three days in a row, setting a new record and underlining the polluting fuel’s rapid decline.

Coal has historically been at the cornerstone of the UK’s electricity mix, but last year saw the first 24-hour period that the the country ran without the fuel since the 19th century.

New records were broken last week when zero power came from coal for nearly 55 consecutive hours. That milestone in turn was smashed on Monday afternoon and the UK passed the 72-hour mark at 10am on Tuesday. The coal-free run came to an end after 76 hours.

Without the fossil fuel, nearly a third of Britain’s electricity was supplied by gas, followed by windfarms and nuclear on around a quarter each.

The rest came from biomass burned at Drax power station in North Yorkshire, imports from France and the Netherlands, and solar power...


How UK power plants are going coal-free

Within the next seven years the UK will phase out unabated coal generation, and energy companies will have to either close power stations or adapt assets for greener energy.

A ban on coal will apply from 1 October 2025...



All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I just watched a short interview with the founders of BlockTexx so I went in search of some more info.

‘What we’ve been looking for’: How Australian startup BlockTexx is turning discarded clothes into raw, commodity-level plastic.

The only waste product of this recycling method is water and that is reused.

Cheers.

Extinction Rebellion London stay in the news:

For a list of the climate protests over the Easter period, see: London climate change protests

The recent articles and happenings are:


Extinction Rebellion activists end London protests

Ten days of protests, blockades and disruption across London has come to a conclusion as Extinction Rebellion ended its action in the capital.

Hundreds of activists met in Hyde Park earlier for a "closing ceremony".

More than 1,100 people have been arrested since campaigners first blocked traffic on 15 April.

On the final day of action, protesters blocked roads, climbed on a train and glued themselves together in London's financial district. On Thursday evening, climate change campaigners sat on the grass next to Speaker's Corner - widely considered London's home of free speech - singing and listening to musicians...

... "We will leave the physical locations but a space for truth-telling has been opened up in the world," event organisers said on their Facebook page. "We would like to thank Londoners for opening their hearts and demonstrating their willingness to act on that truth. "We know we have disrupted your lives. We do not do this lightly. We only do this because this is an emergency."...


Extinction Rebellion: Did Banksy join climate activists?

... The stencilled street art of a girl along with the words "From this moment despair ends and tactics begin" was found on a wall overnight.

The site had been occupied by climate activists for nearly two weeks until protests ended on Thursday.

Banksy has not confirmed if he was behind the work...


Extinction Rebellion Protests: What happened?

Ten days of marches, arrests and widespread disruption have finished in London as the Extinction Rebellion group has ended its protests across the city.

As the sites the group occupied return to normal, we look at the impact the action had...

What can immediately be done? For a start, see:

Extinction Rebellion: How might ministers win over the protesters?

... So, if not all this, then what?...

Hopefully there will be enough news and impact for something meaningful and positive to be done sooner...

All on our only one planet,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)