Climate Level 4

The Crisis of Civilization

Posted by Matt Beer - March 8, 2013 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Economics, Economics Level 4, Energy, Geo-politics, Level 4, Oil, Peak Oil Level 4

This 77 min pseudo documentary “The Crisis of Civilization” is based on the Book by Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed of the same name. It goes through multiple parts each exploring various elements of our interconnected world, namely Climate Catastrophe; Peak Energy; Peak Food; Economic Instability; International Terrorism; and the Militarization Tendency with some final thoughts on a Post Peak World. I have mixed feeling about this one and I still can’t figure out if I like it. For starters it really is just a long talk done in an interview style with some old stock footage and the occasional custom animations to provide some visual distraction. I don’t have a problem with this, but that is what the pseudo documentary refers to.

What it does do well is take a holistic view of the world and the many problems we are currently facing and pulls them together. I am in broad agreement of most the overall stuff that Nafeez talks about, especially highlighting the link between our current neo-classical economic model and energy use. But the scientific/academic side of me cringed a few times at some of the statements he made and I was inwardly saying “that’s not technically correct”. It just made me question his thinking when he said this and this and therefore that. There was certainty some cherry picking of data and some logical inconstancies that made his truth more obvious than it fact it likely is.

For example he talked about how the world oil production would peak (I agree), then he said that nuclear energy uses oil (yes) and therefore oil peaking would make uranium mining unviable (which I cannot agree with). Yeah sure it might not work under the exact market conditions of today, but if I was a head of state with an oil crisis on my hands I would sure as hell prioritise getting oil to critical economic functions like electricity generation. Lets not confuse peak oil with running out all together and there is a hell of a lot of waste in the system so making just a small saving in domestic transport will free up more than enough to make nuclear energy viable (or building renewables for that matter). There certainly is a risk of what Nafeez talks about coming true, but there is probably a bigger likelihood that collective human effort and technology will be directed into solving some of these energy problems. That side of things doesn’t really get a mention. I could go through another few examples but I won’t.

What I will say to you watch this to get an overview of our problems from holistic viewpoint. You should certainly be aware of the broad areas that this film covers and how they fit together. As for the details I would say don’t take them as the gospel truth even there is a lot of truth in there. This is still basically another opinion film and I generally always have a problem with pure opinion as broad statements can be made without the viewer knowing the truth behind them. This is why I will continue to stick to keeping data at the centre of any videos and articles that I make.

James Balog on Capturing our Disappearing Glaciers – Bill Moyers

Posted by Matt Beer - February 19, 2013 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Level 4

James Balog, one of the world’s premier nature photographers, joins Bill Moyers and explains how “the earth is having a fever.” At tremendous risk to his own safety, Balog has been documenting the erosion of glaciers in Switzerland, Greenland, Iceland, and Alaska. In this interview he shares his amazing photos, discoveries, and self-discoveries – including his transformation from climate change skeptic to true believer, and his mission to capture footage of these destructive environmental consequences before it’s too late. Balog’s film, Chasing Ice, is a breathtaking account of climate change in action (yeah, I copied and pasted most of that from the Bill Moyers website – lazy)

Click the links to see the official trailer for the film as well as the TED talk that covers a lot of the actual changes in these rapidly receding glaciers.

Ever Heard of Climate Change? Over 40% of the world says “no”

Posted by Matt Beer - February 9, 2013 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Communication+, Level 4

This presentation entitled “Climate Literacy in Global Perspective” by Anthony Leiserowitz, Ph.D. was recorded at a side NOAA/NASA/NSF event at COP 15 Climate Summit in Copenhagen on December 9, 2009. He reports on the results from a global study of public climate change awareness, knowledge, and support for climate policy conducted with the Gallup World Poll, an annual survey of 150-plus countries.

Global Warming’s Six Americas

Posted by Matt Beer - February 9, 2013 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Communication+, Level 4

Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, discusses the divergent views of Americans over climate change.

Ending the Silence on Climate Change

Posted by Matt Beer - February 9, 2013 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Communication+, Level 4

In this truly excellent (46 min) interview Bill Moyers talks to climate change communication expert Anthony Leiserowitz (PhD) from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. He explains why climate change is largely ignored, and what we should do about it.

More specifically he talks about how “You almost couldn’t design a problem that is a worse fit with our underlying psychology.” Climate change is an almost invisible problem and our flight or flight instincts do not work with this slow burn threat. It involves abstract ideas and reasoned thought. As a result we all react to this problem in largely 6 different ways and for different reasons. He then goes on to talk about who these “Six Americas” are and how we need to speak to these groups in different ways.

This helps explain how the current political situation in the US has come to be. He also talks about how the lack of reporting from the media causes the issues to be “literally out of sight, out of mind” and how a highly organised disinformation campaign, similar to that of the tobacco industry, has further clouded the issue for the public. But broad support for climate action does not trump a smaller, but more dedicated group who is happy to make political waves. Until the public demands action little is going to change.

But given that only 6 out of 10 people in the world are aware of the concept of climate change and probably around 1 out of 10 understand it enough to be truly alarmed there is an awfully long way to go on the communication front. I see this as the principle hurdle that needs to be cleared if we are ever to get enough political momentum to make the huge changes to our economic system we desperately need and this is why i am doing what I am doing. I hope more of you will take up this mission of getting organised and communicating the message. For those of you who are “alarmed” this is mandatory viewing.

Anthony, I’m a big fan.

PBS Frontline – Climate of Doubt

Posted by Matt Beer - February 9, 2013 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Level 4

Frontline in this 54 minute expose, talks directly with the groups and individuals who have helped shift the climate change debate in the US. It shines the light on the strategy these climate change skeptics have used to leverage members of the Republican party to reject the science of climate change and who has funded this political engineering.

Feel free to watch this slightly more embed friendly version from youtube or direct from the source.

Watch Climate of Doubt on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Coal Seam Methane Gas ABC TV Science Catalyst

Posted by Matt Beer - November 24, 2012 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Coal, Energy, Level 4, Natural Gas

While slightly out of audio sync, this 8 min video covers the technologies of coal gas boom in SE Queensland, Australia.

Coal, Coal Seam Gas, Natural Gas, Unconventional Gas, Video

Stanford Uni – Evaluating Energy Solutions to Climate Change

Posted by Matt Beer - November 21, 2011 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Energy, Level 4

In this video Mark Jacobson, professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, tries to objectively compare the main energy sources that could be used to fuel the current US vehicle fleet. In doing so he compares a variety of factors such as life cycle carbon emissions, air pollution, land and water use. He tries to amalgamate these factors into a final weighted score but by that stage it’s clear that the winners are wind and the two varieties of solar (surprise, surprise) and the losers are biofuels and coal, even with sequestration. The main point of this is to try and give policy makers a clearer guide of what to help subsidise. Of course in the real world, where money is involved, things are never that sensible.

Biofuels, Climate Destabilisation, fossil fuel, Renewables, United States, Video

Does Civilization Have a Promising Energy Future?

Posted by Matt Beer - November 17, 2011 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Energy, Level 4, Nuclear, Renewables

This video taken from Wonderfest 2008, Festival of Science poses the question “Does Civilization Have a Promising Energy Future?” to a series of speakers including the now US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu who moderates the panel. While there isn’t much new (at least for me) in this talk it is an excellent round up of the general issues facing energy and climate change today. In particular there are some good descriptions, including perhaps the best climate change metaphor I have heard to date (which I won’t spoil, watch the first 10 mins for it). So thank you Dr. Chu I think I will have to steal that one.

Speakers include:
Steven Chu (mediator) – Nobel Laureate & Director, Lawrence Berkeley Lab
Dan Kammen (conservation) – Professor of Energy Resources, UC Berkeley
Mike McGehee (solar) – Assoc. Prof. of Materials Science & Engineering, Stanford,
Lynn Orr (carbon capture) – Professor of Petroleum Engineering, Stanford
Per Peterson (fission) – Professor of Nuclear Engineering, UC Berkeley

Carbon Price, Climate Change, Climate Destabilisation, Economy, fossil fuel, Global Warming, Renewables, United States, Video

Gwynne Dyer – Geopolitics in a Hotter World

Posted by Matt Beer - November 17, 2011 - Climate Destabilisation, Climate Level 4, Geo-politics, Level 4

This was a really interesting talk. Journalist and historian Gwynne Dyer is clearly a knowledgeable guy being able to speak ad lib for 90 minutes on the ramifications of what would happen in a world were we don’t make the changes necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change. In his research for his book – Climate Wars – he talked to many senior military strategic figures who he tells us are taking the issues surrounding climate change, energy security, food and water shortages very seriously. He talks about what the world will look like if the warming of 3-4 degrees that many scientists actually believe will happen over the next 40-50 years. To put this in context when the world was 4-5 degrees cooler than now it was in the midst of an ice age where cities like London and New York were permanently covered in ice, it is a world so dramatically different to the one now as to be almost unrecognizable. As Gwynne describes, oceans don’t warm nearly as much the land will, so for every degree of average planet wide warming there will be a much higher impact on the land (depending where you are). The main impact of this will be in food production and to quote Gwynne, “people raid before they starve” (I like Rage Against the Machine “hungry people don’t stay hungry for long”) and this will have massive implications in terms of climate refugees, migration, political upheaval and potential conflict over water and food resources. This is what the US military is worried about.

Now I will classify Mr Dyer as a gloomer (although looking at the evidence it is very easy to be one) so I do take all the details of what he says with a pinch of salt. But this talk is not about if his prediction of the future is correct, but rather a what if. What if we don’t get our act together and make the changes to our entire energy and economic infrastructure to totally decarbonise our economy within the next 40 years. In that scenario what options will be left open to us? Mr Dyer contends that geo-engineering (through manipulation of the amount of solar radiation that would hit the earth’s surface) could be the most contentious geo-political issue in the future. The relative ease and low expense of injecting sulfur particles into the air would be fair cheaper and more effective than reducing emissions and so countries that could loose a lot, such as Bangladesh, may be compelled to act without global agreement even though the risks of such an action will be shared by everyone on the planet. The proverbial kid peeing in the swimming pool.

Definitely worth a watch as Gwynne has thought a lot about a future which most of us would not like to contemplate but one that increasingly looks more and more probable.

On a side note, I do feel that I need to point out to all the military strategists that if the US Military didn’t take half of the budget and instead diverted a significant chunk of those funds towards phasing out fossil fuels we could probably avoid the whole situation.

Adaption, Climate Change, Climate Destabilisation, Economy, Geo-engineering, Global Warming, Military, Mitigation