CBC/Radio-Canada is a Canadian public broadcast service.
Canada on Tuesday released final regulations meant to ensure that all passenger cars, SUVs, crossovers and light trucks sold by 2035 are zero-emission vehicles, part of the government's overall plan to combat climate change.
Tom Heap hears about the green revolution that could soon put China’s emissions in decline, and sees how Portsmouth is tackling the issue of dirty air from shipping.
So-called Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the (planet earth's) greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (CO2), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, is one of the most important factors in causing climate change. The largest emitters are China followed by the United States. The United States has higher emissions per capita. The main producers fueling the emissions globally are large oil and gas companies. Emissions from human activities have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by about 50% over pre-industrial levels. The growing levels of emissions have varied, but have been consistent among all greenhouse gases. Emissions in the 2010s averaged 56 billion tons a year, higher than any decade before. Indeed, total cumulative emissions from 1870 to 2017 were 425±20 GtC (1539 GtCO2) from fossil fuels and industry, and 180±60 GtC (660 GtCO2) from land use change. Land-use change, such as deforestation, caused really about 31% of cumulative emissions over 1870-2017, coal 32%, oil 25%, and gas 10%.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is really the main greenhouse gas resulting from human activities. It accounts for more than half of warming. Methane (CH4) emissions have almost the same short-term impact. Nitrous oxide (N2O) and fluorinated gases (F-gases) play a lesser role in comparison.
Electricity generation, heat and transport are major emitters; overall energy is responsible for around 73% of emissions. Deforestation and other changes in land use also emit carbon dioxide and methane. The largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions is agriculture, closely followed by gas venting and fugitive emissions from the fossil-fuel industry. The largest agricultural methane source is livestock. Agricultural soils emit nitrous oxide partly due to fertilizers. Similarly, fluorinated gases from refrigerants play an outsized role in total human emissions.
The current CO2-equivalent emission rates averaging 6.6 tonnes per person per year, are well over twice the estimated rate 2.3 tons required to stay within the 2030 Paris Agreement increase of 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) over pre-industrial levels. Annual per capita emissions in the industrialized countries are typically as much as ten times the average in developing countries.
The important carbon footprint (or greenhouse gas footprint) serves as an indicator to compare the amount of greenhouse gases emitted over the entire life cycle from the production of a good or service along the supply chain to its final consumption. Carbon accounting (or greenhouse gas accounting) is a framework of various methods to measure and track how much greenhouse gas an organization emits.
Canada’s worst-ever spring wildfire season is forcing the forestry industry to shutter sawmills, driving up lumber prices and setting production back for months just as housing construction has slowed due to higher costs and a tight labour market.
The fires are blazing through Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec, all provinces with active forestry industries.
Meanwhile, the situation has prompted Canada’s Home Builders’ Association to speak up about the need to revamp building codes to reflect more frequent and intense weather events.
Anne Gaviola has more on how the wildfires are impacting an industry already struggling to meet demand.
CBC News on Youtube shows that scientists say Canada's boreal forest may shift north as pests, wildfires and changing precipitation cause southern parts of the forest to die off. Meteorologist Christy Climenhaga explains.
Solar Panels are an interesting topic on TechItOut: WION.
Discarded solar panels: How to deal with them, indeed?
Tech It Out
WION on Youtube shows that solar energy is helping mitigate the adverse effects of climate change; it is a rapidly growing market. But are we ready to tackle solar panel waste? We tell you all about that in this video.
A house theoretically could run on solar power alone. With a modern so-called solar energy system, including power storage, you can definitely run a whole house completely on solar power. Today's high-efficiency solar panels and solar batteries make it cheaper than ever before to power an entire home exclusively using specific solar energy.
A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module or solar panel is an assembly of photo-voltaic cells mounted in a framework for installation. Solar panels use sunlight as a source of energy to generate direct current electricity. A collection of PV modules is called a PV panel, and a system of PV panels is called an array. Arrays of a so-called photovoltaic system supply solar electricity to electrical equipment.
Waste and recycling is important with solar panels. It seems that it is much cheaper to throw out panels than to recycle them.
Leftover PV panels can contaminate soil, as it happened in 2013 when US-based Solyndra solar farm bankrupted leaving broken panels on site. IRENA 2016 study estimated the amount of PV waste at 78 million tons by 2050. Most parts of a solar module can be recycled including up to 95% of certain semiconductor materials or the glass as well as large amounts of ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Some private companies and non-profit organizations are currently engaged in take-back and recycling operations for end-of-life modules. EU law requires manufacturers to ensure their solar panels are recycled properly. Similar legislation is underway in Japan, India, and Australia.
A 2021 study by Harvard Business Review certainly indicates that by 2035 the discarded panels will outweigh new units by a factor of 2.56 and cost of recycling a single PV panel by then will reach $20-30, which would increase the LCOE of PV by a factor 4. Analyzing the USA market, where no EU-like legislation exists as of 2021, HBR noted that with the cost of sending it to a landfill being just $1-2 there's a significant financial incentive to either discard the decommissioned panels or send them to for low-tech disassembly in low-income countries with much of the toxic elements ending up released to the outside environment.
Global News on Youtube shows that as some provinces simmer under a dangerous heat wave, Canadians are facing more climate change concerns.
Environment Canada already issued warnings for a stretch of Ontario from Prescott and Russell in the east to Windsor in the southwest, with temperatures hitting 30 Celsius and higher in several spots.
The weather agency said some parts of southern Ontario could see the heat linger for up to five days.
Mike Drolet reports on the toll the scorching hot weather is taking on people and their livelihoods, and the message from meteorologists.
Global News on Youtube shows Canada's Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault was interrupted during a press conference in Montreal on Thursday and called a "climate criminal" by a man who held up a sign and criticized the government for its inaction on tackling the climate crisis.
This comes as Enbridge plans to extend an oil pipeline through a tunnel beneath a waterway linking two of the Great Lakes, through Michigan in the U.S.
It also comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government faces criticism over Ottawa's decision to return gas turbines to Russia.
The damaging toll of record-breaking heat waves and wildfires are spurring calls for leaders to take action against climate change.
Global News in Canada shows that here’s another piece to the climate change puzzle that Canadians must confront.
Few countries in the world have permafrost, but Canada has 4 million square kilometres of it.
Warmer temperatures in the Arctic are thawing permafrost - which accounts for 40 per cent of this country’s surface.
That big melt is releasing carbon that has been locked away for centuries. Not only that - life is being disrupted in these remote northern communities. Eric Sorensen explains more.
Permafrost is defined as ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for 2 or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Permafrost does not have to be the first layer that is on the ground. It can be from an inch to several miles deep under the Earth's surface. Some of the most common permafrost locations are in the Northern Hemisphere. Around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface is underlain by permafrost, including substantial areas of Alaska, Greenland, Canada and Siberia. It can also be located on mountaintops in the Southern Hemisphere and beneath ice-free areas in the Antarctic. Permafrost frequently occurs in ground ice, but it can also be present in non-porous bedrock. Permafrost really is certainly formed from ice holding various types of soil, sand, and rock in combination.
Permafrost frequently contains large amounts of so-called biomass and decomposed biomass that has been stored as methane and carbon dioxide in the permafrost, making the tundra soil a carbon sink. As global warming heats the ecosystem and causes soil thawing, the permafrost carbon cycle accelerates and releases much of these so-called soil-contained greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, creating a feedback cycle that increases climate change.
"Biomass" is plant or animal material (sometimes used as fuel to produce electricity or heat). Examples are wood, energy crops, and waste from forests, yards, or farms. Since biomass technically can be used as a fuel directly (e.g. wood logs), some people use the terms biomass and biofuel interchangeably. More often than not, the word biomass simply denotes the biological raw material the fuel is made of. The word biofuel is usually reserved for liquid or gaseous fuels, used for transportation. The USA Energy Information Administration (EIA) follows this naming practice. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) defines bioenergy as a so-called renewable form of energy. In 2017 the IEA (International Energy Agency) described bioenergy as really the most important source of renewable energy.
The International Permafrost Association (IPA), founded in 1983, has as its objectives to foster the sharing of knowledge concerning permafrost and to promote cooperation among persons and national or international organisations engaged in scientific investigation and engineering work related to permafrost and seasonally frozen ground. The IPA became an Affiliated Organisation of the International Union of Geological Sciences in July 1989.
The Association’s primary responsibilities are to convene International Permafrost Conferences, undertake special projects such as preparing databases, maps, bibliographies, and glossaries, and coordinate international field programmes and networks. The International Conference On Permafrost (ICOP) is regularly held since 1965.
Permafrost or perennially frozen ground is defined as earth material that remains at or below 0 °C for at least 2 consecutive years. As such, upwards of 25% of Planet Earth is underlain to some degree by permafrost and in extreme conditions reaches depths of 1500 meters. Permafrost occurs in the high latitudes and mountains and plateaus of both hemispheres.
We know the planet
is slowly getting warmer, but how warm can it get. One of the main concerns is the rise in the
sea level. If warming continues and exceeds 2ºC, Antarctica’s melting ice sheets
could raise seas 20 meters in the coming centuries. In the past, 3 million
years ago during the Pliocene epoch up to one-third of Antarctica’s ice sheets
melted, causing the sea level to rise as much as 25m above present levels.
According to the Paris Agreement signed in 2015, the world should avoid a
temperature increase of more than 2ºC. One third of Antarctica’s ice sheet, equivalent
to up to 20 m sea level rise, sits below sea level and is vulnerable to collapse
from ocean heating. It melted sometimes in the past.
The Paris Agreement
target about not exceeding 2ºC is important. The Paris Agreement (French:
Accord de Paris) is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This deals with greenhouse gas emissions
mitigation, adaptation and finance. It was signed in 2016. As of March 2019,
195 UNFCCC members have signed the agreement, and 186 have become party to it. The
Paris Agreement's long-term temperature goal is to keep the increase in global
average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels; and to
pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 °C, recognizing that this
would substantially reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. This should
be done by peaking emissions as soon as possible, in order to "achieve a
balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of
greenhouse gases" in the second half of the 21st century. It also aims to
increase the ability of parties to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate
change, and make "finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low
greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development."
Under the Paris Agreement, each country must
determine, plan, and regularly report on the contribution that it undertakes to
mitigate global warming. No mechanism forces a country to set a specific target
by a specific date, but each target should go beyond previously set targets. In
June 2017, the U.S. President announced his intention to withdraw the United
States from the agreement. Under the agreement, the earliest effective date of
withdrawal for the U.S. is November 2020.
What is a Global Climate Strike? There is an international movement of school students who take time off from class to participate in demonstrations to demand action to prevent further global warming and climate change. This global movement is calling on Canadians to join a mass strike planned for Friday and "disrupt business as usual." Many retailers in Canada are ignoring that call, but some are joining the strike. Three chains are planning to shutter operations to help raise awareness about the climate strike movement.
For example, a Vancouver-based company, Lush Cosmetics North America, made the decision. The toiletry maker said it will shut down its 50 shops, manufacturing facilities and online shopping in Canada on Friday in an effort to encourage its 2,216 staff and customers to participate in local actions.
Organizers plan climate strikes on Friday in more than 150 countries, including Canada.
Climate change occurs when changes in Earth's climate system result in new weather patterns. These patterns can last for several decades or longer. The climate system is comprised of 5 interacting parts: 1) Atmosphere (air) 2) Hydrosphere (water) 3) Cryosphere (ice and permafrost) 4) Biosphere (living things) 5) Lithosphere (earth's crust and upper mantle)
The climate system receives almost all of its energy from the sun, with a relatively small amount from earth's interior. The system also gives off energy to outer space. When the incoming energy is greater than the outgoing energy, the climate system is warming. If more energy goes out, the earth experiences cooling. Long-term averages of weather are called "climate". Changes in the long term average are called "climate change". Human activities can change earth's climate. These activities are currently driving climate change through global warming.
Global warming is a long-term rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system. There was an observed and continuing increase in average air and ocean temperatures since 1900 caused mainly by emissions of greenhouse gasses in the modern industrial economy. Many of the observed warming changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the temperature records. In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report concluded, "It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century." There were emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. In the report, it says that during the 21st century, the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to 1.7 °C to 2.6 to 4.8 °C. These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations. Future climate change effects are expected to include rising sea levels, ocean acidification, regional changes in precipitation, and expansion of deserts in the subtropics. Surface temperature increases are greatest in the Arctic, with the continuing retreat of glaciers, permafrost, and sea ice. There would be more frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts, wildfires, heavy rainfall with floods, and heavy snowfall. There could be a threat to food security from decreasing crop yields, and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels. Greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere for a long time. This means that climatic changes and their effects will continue to become more pronounced for many centuries even if further increases to greenhouse gases stop. Almost all countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited. Public reactions to global warming and concern are increasing. A 2015 global survey showed that a median of 54% of respondents consider it "a very serious problem", with significant regional differences: Americans and Chinese (whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions) are among the least concerned.
Multiple independently produced datasets confirm that between 1880 and 2012, the global average (land and ocean) surface temperature increased by 0.85 [0.65 to 1.06] °C. Since 1979 the rate of warming has approximately doubled. Since 1950, the number of cold days and nights have decreased, and the number of warm days and night have increased. Although the increase of the average near-surface atmospheric temperature is commonly used to track global warming, over 90% of the additional energy stored in the climate system over the last 50 years has accumulated in the oceans. The rest has melted ice and warmed the continents and the atmosphere. Climate proxies show the temperature to have been relatively stable over the two thousand years before 1850.
Greenland is the world’s largest island. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The island is in the Kingdom of Denmark, but it has a degree of self-governance or autonomy. Greenland is really part of the continent of North America, but culturally it is associated with Europe (and nearby island of Iceland). The amazing fast-melting of Greenland has shown glaciers that quickly turn into water. The sea levels rise from this. Some people call it “coming closer to the end of the planet.”
In August it was warm there in the Arctic Circle in Greenland. In the town Kulusuk temperature reached 10.7 degrees Celsius. The ice that was melting was thousands of years old, but this ice can be destroyed quickly. This is a record-breaking hot summer this year with extreme melting. Scientists estimate that by the end of the summer, about 400 billion metric tons of ice will have melted off Greenland’s ice sheet. What is happening is both man-made climate change and strange weather patterns. Greenland’s worst year in modern history for melting was the summer of 2012.
