Climate Letter #1485

The IPCC special report on the interaction between climate change and land has been released.  This is a massive subject to learn about, and every bit of it should be of great interest to all of us. Why?  Well, the way humans use land has a significant effect on the volume of carbon emissions causing climate change, but only about half that of burning fossil fuels, and it’s much more diverse, which is why we don’t hear as much about it.  Those emissions still have to be eliminated, for the exact same reasons.  As for impacts, does anyone care about the impact of climate change on fossil fuel production, or burning?  Of course not.  The impact on land, and everything that happens on land, is another matter, and the new report has plenty to say about it.  Just for starters, climate change produces much higher temperature increases over land surfaces, everywhere, than it does over water, and some land surfaces are heating up far more than others.  That makes the interaction especially interesting, so here we go.

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Carbon Brief has gone to great lengths to spell out the things of most importance in the report, and puts it all in perspective.  Their account may cover too much to read and master in one sitting, but there is nothing in it that can safely be skipped over by anyone wanting to know the full meaning of climate change. I may have some comments on the content in future letters, but today is too busy for that.
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For a more abbreviated introduction to the report, here are reviews from five different tried-and-true website sources that you can choose from, along with brief excerpts, starting with The Guardian:
–“This is a perfect storm,” said Dave Reay, a professor at the University of Edinburgh who was an expert reviewer for the IPCC report. “Limited land, an expanding human population, and all wrapped in a suffocating blanket of climate emergency. Earth has never felt smaller, its natural ecosystems never under such direct threat.”
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–“There’s no doubt the window is closing rapidly,” said Pamela McElwee, one of the report’s authors and a professor of human ecology at Rutgers University. “That’s a key message of this report.” (Inside Climate News)
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–“In one scenario, use of forestry and land to store carbon causes crop prices to soar 80% by 2050, translating into an extra 80 to 300 million people suffering from undernourishment.” (Climate Home News)
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–“Francesco Cherubini likes to ask his Industrial Ecology students what’s the most common use of land today, and nearly all of them get the answer wrong…..The correct answer is grazing land…..Today we are using nearly half of the land on our planet to feed animals and not people.” (EurekAlert)
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–“Although the IPCC experts are cautious in their use of language and do not make specific recommendations, it is clear from the report that a massive priority is to shift diets in developed countries away from the current heavy use of meat and dairy products.”  (by Mark Lynas, for CNN)
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Fossil fuel production by fracking leads to growing concerns involving water (Desmog).  The industry’s huge demand for water is matched by the challenge of wastewater disposal.  This fine report offers an update on a sensitive subject that doubles down on issues surrounding the best use of land for a sustainable future.
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A website is now available that will show the carbon footprint per passenger for any airplane flight (VOX).  The story explains how and why the site came into being, and provides the link.
Carl

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