Energy

En su discurso en la ONU, Greta Thunberg le dijo a la humanidad que, si realmente entendemos científicamente el cambio climático y aún así no actuamos, somos “malvados”. Esto se debe a que el cambio climático significa que “la gente está muriendo”. Con intención de ayudarnos, también nos dijo lo que debemos hacer para actuar correctamente: en poco más de 8 años habremos alcanzado nuestro límite de emisiones de carbono, por lo que debemos cerrar todo lo que funciona con combustibles fósiles antes de 2028.

En los últimos 25 años se ha logrado sacar de la pobreza a casi 1.200 millones de personas en todo el mundo, al mismo tiempo que la desnutrición y el riesgo de muerte por contaminación ambiental han disminuido. En conjunto, estos logros son prácticamente un milagro. Pero dos tendencias globales hoy amenazan con desacelerar el impulso en la reducción de la pobreza.

Speaking at the United Nations, 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg said that if humanity really understands the science of climate change and still fails to act, we’re “evil.” This is because climate change means “people are dying.” Helpfully, she also told us what we must do to act correctly: In a bit more than eight years, we will have exhausted our remaining allowance for carbon emissions, so we must shut down everything running on fossil fuels by 2028.

Over the past 25 years, nearly 1.2 billion people around the world have been lifted out of poverty, while both malnutrition and the risk of death from air pollution have decreased. Taken together, these achievements are nothing short of a miracle. But two global trends now threaten to slow the momentum in reducing poverty.

Precisamos de resolver as alterações climáticas, mas também precisamos de garantir que a cura não será mais dolorosa do que a doença.

World leaders will soon arrive in New York for a climate summit likely to do little more than add to the hysteria drowning out any sober talk on climate policy. Amid warnings that we have days left to act, politicians will jostle to share the spotlight with celebrity activists such as 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, who came from Europe by wind-powered boat. Hurricane Dorian looms large over proceedings as a harbinger of doom.

Ahead of the Climate Action Summit that will bring together world leaders in New York on Sept 23, exaggeration about global warming is greater than ever. While some pundits continue, incorrectly, to insist that global warming is a made-up story, far more insist, also incorrectly, that we face an imminent climate crisis.

Is global warming to blame for the Syrian war? Democratic presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg, Beto O'Rourke and Bernie Sanders seem to think so. At the CNN climate town hall this month, Buttigieg and O'Rourke referred to climate change as a national security threat that contributed to causing the Syrian civil war. “Wars that were precipitated by climate change, like Syria, will pale in comparison to the wars that we see in the future,” O'Rourke warned. Both candidates follow the lead of Sanders, who has long claimed that “climate change is directly related to the growth of terrorism”.

De fleste mennesker på Jorden vågner hver morgen med den opfattelse, at tingene bliver værre og værre. Det er der ikke noget at sige til i betragtning af det, de jævnligt læser i avisen eller ser i fjernsynet. Men dette sortsyn er et problem, for det fæster lid til skrækhistorier om, at klimaændringer vil ende i Ragnarok.