Black and white thinking must go. Clannish thinking must go. Refusal to question or change, must be overcome. Factory farming must be banned. Agriculture and food must go organic. Industrial agriculture has been an ecological and public health catastrophe. Free range organic is a must, if you eat animal protein.
Continue readingTag: adaptation
Writings of J. Todd Ring: My Dream Homestead Garden – Or, Healing The Earth, One Carrot At A Time
A dream homestead garden? Ok, so this is not a subject to everyone’s taste or interest, clearly. Nor is it my usual domain, but it is related. I tend to write about politics, philosophy, social issues and social commentary, with forays into economics and finance, green living, health, and green
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The Collapse of Modern Civilization
More than 150 years ago Thoreau commented, “Our sills are all rotten.” He was right. It is for that reason that Western, and Westernized, “modern” “civilization” is collapsing. This could be cataclysmic, of course, (as in, an ecological holocaust), or relatively peaceful, (akin to the Maya abandoning their great cities
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The New Oracles
We’ve got new oracles to advise the government how to get out of the current high-carbon death spiral with our asses more or less intact. They’re called the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices and the feds have funded them for five years to the tune of $20-million. No one knows
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Funny Thing Is – It’s Here and What Have We Done to Adapt to It?
You might not have seen video of the dramatic flash flooding that swept the historic town centre of Elliott City, Maryland, but that doesn’t matter. Perhaps you didn’t see the devastation of New York City and the Jersey Shore by Hurricane Sandy. Maybe you’ve been in a coma for the
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: I’ll Bet You Didn’t Know That…
They don’t have a clue. Your federal government and our various provincial governments are in the same boat. None of them has assessed the risks we face from climate change or what we need to do to adapt to it. This is kicking the can down the road and whistling
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: It’s Just a Sense, a Feeling.
If there’s one thing we need to get much better at it’s learning to deal with the unexpected. It’s a huge understatement to note that, on so many fronts, we’re already passing through uncharted waters. Human lifespans being as brief as they are, life experiences can be very limited in
Continue readingreeves report: New ‘Tipping Point’ Model Could Help Predict Species Extinction
Species may be more adaptive to environmental changes than we thought, but small shifts can still be enough to cause extinctions. Snowshoe hares are facing increasing challenges as snow patterns shift dramatically as a result of climate change. ENVIRONMENTAL “TIPPING POINTS” can provide researchers with valuable clues to detect when species
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Hey, Think You’re Resilient?
“Resilience.” It’s the new climate change buzz word. It applies to individuals, communities, institutions, and infrastructure. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from repeated climate change impacts. It’s the ability to withstand repeated floods, for example. That might require making your home resilient by having it mounted on stilts
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: We Need To Do What These Guys Are Doing
“These guys” are the Brits. What they’re doing is taking an inventory of their transportation infrastructure to assess its vulnerability to severe storm events caused by ‘early onset’ climate change. The good news is that the Brits get it. They know climate change is real and that they’re going to
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Hurricane Sandy Task Force or The Three Little Pigs
Little pig, little pig Let me come in Not by the hair on my chinny, chin, chin Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in. Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force has released a report urging Americans to be like the little pig who built his
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Americans Want Climate Change Protection, Just Not the Bill
Stanford researchers have found Americans believe in climate change and acknowledge the risks but just don’t want to pay for the measures that would be needed to deal with them. The survey, commissioned by two departments at Stanford University, the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Center for Ocean
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: We’ll All Be Singing This Tune Before Long
It goes like this: “If we had had more ambition [on emissions cuts from rich countries], we would not have to ask for so much [money] for adaptation. If there had been more money for adaptation [to climate change], we would not be looking for money for loss and damage.
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Narrow Scope of Climate Change Adaptation
The rearguard argument of the fossil fuelers is that “we’ll adapt.” Don’t make a big deal out of this, we’ll find ways to cope.It’s the same argument that we, the major emitters, are making to the poorest and most vulnerable nations – learn…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: If It Looks Like a Duck and Quacks Like a Duck, It’s Probably Global Warming
You may have heard about the waves of wildfires sweeping across Colorado for the past several weeks that continue to rage with no end in sight. Welcome to the new era, the era of Global Warming. “‘What we’re seeing is a window into what global warming really looks like,” said
Continue readingopenalex: Canadian Cities Lead on Planning for Climate Impacts
Not long ago people didn’t want to talk about adapting to climate change. In some cities – particularly in wealthy Northern countries – there was a sense of optimism and invulnerability. Discussing adaptation was also taboo; it was seen to take away from efforts to reduce our emissions. It was like admitting defeat.
But with global efforts to cap emissions failing, that began to change.
Iconic metropolises like New York and London began assessing the serious impact that an unstable climate would have on them. Late in 2010 planning guides were released in both the US and Canada to help all cities to identify their vulnerabilities and plan for new conditions.
The M.I.T. report, lead by Dr. JoAnn Carmin a top expert on urban adaptation planning, gives us our first view of the overall state of affairs. Based on survey responses from 468 cities on six continents the report provides interesting big picture conclusions, as well as more specific regional insights.
Climate Change Has Landed, But Resources Are Lacking
The first is that climate change has landed. Fully 79% of cities surveyed report that they are already feeling the impacts of stronger storms, longer droughts, flooding, and higher temperatures. This is leading to concerns over their ability to deal with increased future risks ranging from damage to municipal infrastructure, to the emergence of new diseases and declining housing safety.
Overall, despite having identified high levels of vulnerability, cities globally report that they lack the financial, institutional, and political resources that they need to respond effectively. Even basic preliminary work – like creating a vulnerability assessment – is stretching available resources. Sixty percent of cities are receiving no support whatsoever for their adaptation work. This is exacerbated by difficulty winning support for adaptation from local officials, and a perception that national governments know little about the impact that climate change will have on their cities.
Canadian Cities Leading (Minus the Feds and Business)
Canadian cities stand out in a number of ways. They report the second highest rate of engagement with adaptation planning. They also report relatively high rates of support for adaptation work from local politicians and government departments. As a result Canadian cities lead their peers in various aspects of planning for the impacts of climate change. Canadian cities also stand out for the relatively high level of financial support they receive from the Provinces.
While the Provinces may be supportive, the story is different when if comes to the Federal government. Seventy percent of Canadian cities reported that national government had only a partial grasp of the local impacts of climate change; 30% reported that the federal government had no understanding at all. The only country reporting lower confidence in national government was the United States.
Interestingly, Canada is also the only country where not a single municipality reported involving business in the adaptation planning processes. Our cities are also exceptionally unconcerned with the economic impacts of climate change. Only a small minority report being worried about potential losses of revenue, tourism, or jobs. Put those two together and it seems to me we may be overlooking both valuable partners and important risks.
Working Alone
While these last two may be troubling for Canadians, overall the report draws attention to a much bigger challenge. Cities around the world are only just beginning to prepare for the impacts of climate change. Most are conducting preliminary meetings with local government departments, doing on-line research, and forming commissions or task forces to support adaptation planning.
Going from there to creating strategies and integrating them into municipal operations will be a huge leap. Everything indicates that cities currently lack the political, financial, and institutional resources that they need to accomplish that critical work.
[I’ve covered work on urban adaptation quite a lot over the past few years. If you are interested in more, see these past articles.]
Continue readingopenalex: Canadian Cities Lead on Planning for Climate Impacts
[I was suprised to see Canadian cities come out in the lead on adaptation. But also a bit disturbed to see just how nascent these efforts are, not just here, but globally. We’ve got a long way to go… @ sustainable cities canada] Canadian cities are world leaders in preparing
Continue readingopenalex: Canadian Cities Lead on Planning for Climate Impacts
[I was suprised to see Canadian cities come out in the lead on adaptation. But also a bit disturbed to see just how nascent these efforts are, not just here, but globally. We’ve got a long way to go… @ sustainable cities canada] Canadian cities are world leaders in preparing
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: NRDC Report Predicts 150,000 Heat-Related Deaths Due To Climate Change
Melting Ice People WWF Rosa Merk.jpg Chances are, if you're already concerned about being off'ed by climate change, it's probably because you imagine being swept away by a super-charged hurricane, drowned by rising sea levels, starved because of drought-induced crop failure, or set aflame by roaring wildfires. But as it
Continue readingopenalex: Republicans and Democrats Together on Climate Change…in Florida
It’s easy to forget that climate change hasn’t always been such a partisan issue. This is Mitt Romney, current Republican front-runner, in 2003: “I think the global warming debate is now pretty much over and people recognize the need associated with providing sources [of energy] which do not generate the
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