Climate Change Archives - Green Businesses

Transforming Capitalism: Charting a New Course for Climate Solutions in a Changing World

Transforming Capitalism: Charting a New Course for Climate Solutions in a Changing World In the ongoing discourse surrounding capitalism and its alignment with environmental sustainability, Jamie Alexander, Director at Drawdown Labs at Project Drawdown, took the stage at GreenBiz Group’s VERGE 23 this past week to deliver an illuminating presentation. Her insights provided a comprehensive exploration of the intricate relationship between capitalism and the urgent need for climate solutions. The heart of the discussion revolved around the compatibility of capitalism's pursuit of perpetual growth with a world grappling with the pressing challenges of climate crisis. Jamie Alexander's compelling address challenged conventional notions, emphasizing that while trillions of dollars are required to combat and adapt to climate change, simply scaling climate solutions won't suffice. She stressed the imperative to concurrently dismantle industries that are the primary contributors …

A Climate Awakening

This year has been the hottest year on record and this has been a trend for the past 3 consecutive years. Fire season has moved from summer to February in many wildfire hotspot locations. For 3 days last week, I was trained by Al Gore on the current state of the climate and how to become a leader in the topic – a Climate Reality Leader. 972 people being in Denver, CO wanting to learn, network, connect, motivate and take action had me certain that the most successful people would see the possibility of tackling this pertinent issue head on. With 97% of scientists aware that the climate is changing due to human causes, climate change is no longer a liberal or conservative issue. Al Gore calls it the Sustainability Revolution. Like the Industrial Revolution and the Digital Revolution, sustainability is finding its way into every industry and its making business more efficient and cost-effective, and with it comes a better quality of life. Yet deniers still wave their hands …

Military Leaders Label Climate a Major Threat

Senior US military and national security experts demand “robust” strategy to tackle climate change, labelling it a major threat to US and international security A bipartisan group of 25 senior military leaders and national security experts have described climate change as a "significant risk" to national security and issued a joint call for a "comprehensive policy" response. The group, which includes the former security advisers to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W Bush, said in a letter published yesterday that it is critical the US address climate change at a scale appropriate to the risk it presents. They called for a "robust agenda" to prevent and prepare for climate change risks - and warned a failure to do so would amplify risks to national security. Related articles "There are few easy answers, but one thing is clear: the current trajectory of climatic change presents a strategically-significant risk to US national security, and inaction is not a viab…

Report: Climate Change will leave only a handful of cities able to host the Olympics in 2084

Rising sea levels, extreme temperatures and soaring humidity could make it impossible for athletes to compete in many major cities around the world, study warns. Rising temperatures will radically limit the number of cities able to host the summer Olympics by 2084, according to a study by the University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley), published last week in The Lancet. Just eight Northern Hemisphere cities outside of Europe will have a cool and stable enough climate to host the games in 70 years time, with just three cities in North America - San Francisco, Calgary and Vancouver - deemed suitable for hosting the Games in 2084. "Climate change could constrain the Olympics going forward," Kirk Smith, a professor of global environmental health in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley, said in a statement. "And not just because of rising sea levels." The study focused on the Northern Hemisphere, which is home to nearly 90 per cent of the world's populatio…

Pacific Islands Nations Consider World’s First Treaty to Ban Fossil Fuels

Treaty under consideration by 14 countries would ban new coal mines and embraces 1.5C target set at Paris climate talks. The world's first international treaty that bans or phases out fossil fuels is being considered by leaders of developing Pacific islands nations after a summit in the Solomon Islands this week. The leaders of 14 countries agreed to consider a proposed Pacific climate treaty, which would bind signatories to targets for renewable energy and ban new or the expansion of coalmines, at the annual leaders' summit of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF). Related articles Mahendra Kumar, climate change advisor to PIDF, told the Guardian the treaty proposal was received very positively by the national leaders. "They seemed convinced that this is an avenue where the Pacific could again show or build on the moral and political leadership that they've shown earlier in their efforts to tackle climate change," he said. The PIDF was formed in 2013, s…

Our Real Carbon Footprint is Still Rising

Bioregional's Nicholas Schoon confronts the thorny issue of the UK's consumption-based footprint The UK's ‘real' carbon footprint -emissions of climate-changing gases caused by our consumption of goods and services - are rising, according to government figures published this week. Usually we think about UK carbon emissions in terms of tonnes of gas generated within our own island borders, chiefly from burning fossil fuels in cars, power stations, industrial plants, central heating boilers and so on. Related articles These ‘territorial' emissions have been falling for quarter century. They are the ones covered under the UK's carbon cutting targets and its world-leading Climate Change Act. Happy days. But the story of our other, ‘real' footprint - the consumption-based one - is not so happy. Between 2011 and 2013 emissions of these greenhouse gases rose by 4 per cent. Here are the two footprints, territorial and consumption-based, travelling through time together…