“As nations went into lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19, factories halted and cars sat idle, clearing the skies above polluted cities and sending climate-changing emissions to historic lows. But the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere ― the accumulation of past and current emissions ― remained virtually unchanged, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s annual estimate released Monday. “The lockdown-related fall in emissions is just a tiny blip on the long-term graph,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement. “We need a sustained flattening of the curve.” Concentrations of carbon dioxide, the biggest and most significant driver of climate change, soared past 415 parts per million last year, a level never before experienced in human history. The pandemic-induced lockdowns at the start of this year reduced daily global CO2 emissions by up to 17% compared to the mean daily level in 2019, the study found. But the total worldwide reduction for the year is likely only between 4.2% and 7.5% compared to the previous year. At a global scale, the research concluded, “an emission reduction of this magnitude will not cause atmospheric CO2 levels to decrease; they will merely increase at a slightly reduced rate.” “The last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO2 was 3-5 million years ago, when the temperature was 2-3°C warmer and sea level was 10-20 meters higher than now,” Taalas said. “But there weren’t 7.7 billion inhabitants.” WMO Methane, a super-potent greenhouse gas, is surging at a rate (shown in black) that matches an extreme warming scenario (red). While 40% of methane comes from natural sources, 60% is generated by humans, mostly from industrial farming and oil and gas development. Concentrations of methane, a more potent heat-trapper than CO2 during its first two decades in the atmosphere, surged by a near-record rate last year to 1,877 parts per billion. Levels were 260% higher than in the year 1750, before industrial farming and oil and gas drilling began adding prodigious volumes of methane to the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that also depletes the ozone layer, reached 332 parts per billion last year, a level 123% higher than preindustrial levels. The annual increase from 2018 to 2019 was slightly smaller than the jump from 2017 to 2018. But the yearly growth rate was on par with the average over the past 10 years, making last year’s decrease nothing to celebrate. The WMO study comes a week after the energy research firm BloombergNEF projected total U.S. emissions to fall 9.2%, the lowest level since 1983. But carbon released by extreme wildfires across the American West this year lowered the net drop in emissions to 6.4%. Efforts to reduce climate-changing emissions ― through renewable electricity, electric vehicles and more efficient energy use ― contributed just 1% to the total drop, the report found. At the global scale, an emission reduction of this magnitude will not cause atmospheric CO2 levels to decrease; they will merely increase at a slightly reduced rate. The combined findings paint a bleak picture of the decades ahead. With few exceptions, major emitting nations tempered policies to reduce pollution in the coronavirus’ wake in hopes of quickly revving stalled economies. The research results “are in line with what we would expect,” said Mathias Vuille, an atmospheric scientist at the State University of New York at Albany who did not work on either study. “It would take a sustained reduction over a long period of time to see a change in the greenhouse gas concentration trajectory,” he said. “The fact that this pandemic barely made a dent in the increase of the greenhouse gas concentrations shows how difficult it will be going forward to try and eventually stabilize concentrations.” There are some promising signs. The European Union directed billions of its stimulus spending to green projects. In September, China, the world’s top emitter, announced plans to reach net-zero CO2 emissions by 2060. This month, Amerikaanse. voters elected Democrat Joe Biden as the country’s next leader, replacing President Donald Trump, a fossil fuel extremist who sought to radically increase emissions, with a political moderate who campaigned on reaching net-zero emission by 2050. Yet averting catastrophic warming requires not just reaching net-zero emissions but removing the gases that have already accumulated in the atmosphere, more than a dozen scientists and activists wrote in a public letter this month. “We must heighten our ambition to climate restoration on every level,” the letter, published in The Guardian, read. “We urge governments and companies to start acting, not only to reach net zero as soon as possible, but to achieve restoration as well. And we urge every citizen to do what they can to make the dream of restoration a reality.”
Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera: Trump’s Not Speaking To Me Right Now
112 Uitsigte0 Opmerkings0 Hou van
["Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera said Tuesday that President Donald Trump isn’t speaking to him because he acknowledges the fact that President-elect Joe Biden won the election. The conservative commentator, who has describ...
Trump-administrasie Lowballs werkloosheidsvoordele in nuwe COVID-19-aanbod
144 Uitsigte0 Opmerkings0 Hou van
["Die jongste stimulusaanbod van die Withuis kom eenmalig $600 betalings vir die meeste Amerikaners en 'n klomp steenkool vir werkloses. Die nuwe voorstel wat deur die minister van finansies, Steve Mnuchin, aangebied is, het die $3...
Biden Selects Marcia Fudge As Housing Secretary, Tom Vilsack For Agriculture
88 Uitsigte0 Opmerkings0 Hou van
["WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has selected Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge as his housing and urban development secretary and former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reprise that role in his administration,...
Trump: Miljoene Amerikaners wat COVID-19 kry, is 'geweldig’ En 'n 'Kragtige entstof’
130 Uitsigte0 Opmerkings0 Hou van
["President Donald Trump het Dinsdag die groot aantal Amerikaners wat met COVID-19 besmet is, as 'geweldig' uitgespreek,”En beweer valslik dat al die gevalle as 'n 'kragtige entstof' dien. 'Ek dink dat die entstof ...
How To Deal With The Co-worker Who Is Constantly Complaining
124 Uitsigte0 Opmerkings0 Hou van
[]["fizkes via Getty ImagesComplainers may go to you because they feel like they are not being heard anywhere else. Here's how to treat their grievances with compassion.Everyone encounters a constant complainer at som...
MSNBC Names Rashida Jones President, Making History For Major Cable News Networks
175 Uitsigte0 Opmerkings0 Hou van
["MSNBC has named Rashida Jones its next president, making her the first Black executive to run a major general news cable network, The Wall Street Journal reported. Jones, who currently serves as the senior vice pres...
Bill Nye Explains Why Masks Keep Viruses In Those Pesky ‘Droplets Of Spit And Snot’ At Bay
151 Uitsigte0 Opmerkings0 Hou van
["Bill Nye explained the science behind face masks in a TikTok video posted on Friday, stressing that their effectiveness in stopping the spread of the coronavirus “is not that hard to understand.” Nye shared two map...