Cities in the age of climate consequences: ‘Carbon Zero,’ chapter 1

[marmar]

from Grist:



Cities in the age of climate consequences: ‘Carbon Zero,’ chapter 1
By Alex Steffen

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Grist’s presentation of Alex Steffen’s new book Carbon Zero. We’ll be posting a new chapter every day for a week — here’s the full table of contents. And this post will tell you a little more about the project.


Forewarned

On Monday the 29th of October, 2012, a tidal surge 13.9 feet high (the highest ever recorded) washed up and over the waterfront in Lower Manhattan, pushed forward by the superstorm Sandy. That same week, the storm destroyed large swathes of coastline from the New Jersey shore to Fire Island, while driving torrential rains, heavy snows, and powerful winds inland across the eastern U.S. and Canada. By the time the storm blew out, it had killed more than 100 Americans, made thousands homeless, left millions without power, and caused at least $50 billion in damage. Sandy was, by any reckoning, one of the worst natural disasters in American history.

Maybe, though, the word “natural” belongs in quotes. Because what was surprising about Sandy wasn’t that it happened (indeed, many had predicted that rising sea levels and storms intensified by warmer oceans would make something like Sandy inevitable), but that it was seen so clearly, and so immediately, for what it was: a forewarning of what a planet in climate chaos has in store for us.

Sandy was far from the first sign that climate change is here — scientists have been warning for decades of the dangers of a heating planet, and in the last 10 years we’ve seen a flurry of unprecedented storms, droughts, floods, melting glaciers, and wildfires, as well as record-breaking heat waves following one after another. Sandy, though, knocked down walls of denial and inattention that have kept us from admitting what’s happening to our world.

What’s happening is that we’re losing the climate fight. Climate change is here, it’s worsening quickly, its effects are more dire than many thought they would be, and — if we continue with business as usual — we’re on a track to unleash an almost unimaginable catastrophe on ourselves, our children, and our descendants. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://grist.org/cities/carbon-zero-chapter-1-cities-in-the-age-of-climate-consequences/

[AldoLeopold]

1. Guess I'll have to dust off my V8 Interceptor

at this rate I'll be Road Warrioring in no time!

[CRH]

2. After the first installment, ...

I can only say, defining, cataloging, and quantifying problems is far easier identifying, funding, and constructing solutions.

Carbon zero cities that need to happen immediately is a solution I will believe when demonstrated. Scrubbing what emissions we produce of CO2, is technology yet to be invented.

I'll read a couple of more chapters to see if any solutions become apparent. Right now, paint me a sceptic.

[GliderGuider]

3. This book appears to be a perfect illustration

of an affliction I call "Solutionism".

A “Solutionist” is someone who sees, understands and accepts the coming collapse, but is still frantically searching for solutions to keep at least part of our inalienable way of life rolling on. They are usually in the grip of both personal fears and a basketload of unexamined core assumptions around social values like economics and current cultural structures. It seems to me that they will seal our fate by delaying the dissolution of the old ways, thereby guaranteeing the fall of Stygian night.