Damian Carrington

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“It Is Based On Analysis Of How Incumbent Systems Implode”

December 4, 2015 in Excerpts, Politics, Science/Tech | Permalink

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Fossil fuels work great, except for that one thing, the one where they might cause the extinction of our species. Peter Thiel and others agitate for nukes as a replacement, but clearly renewables would be a far safer alternative if they could be produced on a massive scale. Even if renewables are just a significant piece of the solution for the foreseeable future, they need to reach their tipping point soon. Will the Paris summit be that moment? One attendee, Prof. John Schellnhuber, tells Damian Carrington of the Guardian that an “induced implosion” of the fossil fuel industry must happen now, explaining how it can be provoked. An excerpt:

If a critical mass of big countries implement their pledges, he said in an interview with the Guardian, the move towards a global low-carbon economy would gain unstoppable momentum.

“If some countries really honour their pledges, including China, Brazil, South Africa, US and Europe, I think we will get a dynamic that will transform the development of the century. This is not sheer optimism – it is based on analysis of how incumbent systems implode.”

In July, Schellnhuber told a science conference in Paris that the world needed “an induced implosion of the carbon economy over the next 20-30 years. Otherwise we have no chance of avoiding dangerous, perhaps disastrous, climate change.”

“The avalanche will start because ultimately nothing can compete with renewables,” he told the Guardian. “If you invest at [large] scale, inevitably we will end up with much cheaper, much more reliable, much safer technologies in the energy system: wind, solar, biomass, tidal, hydropower. It is really a no-brainer, if you take away all the ideological debris and lobbying.”

India, for example, aims to deliver 350GW of renewable energy in the next 10 years, the equivalent to 300 nuclear power stations, he said. “That is mind boggling and would be the final nail in the coffin of coal-fired power stations,” Schellnhuber said. “If India delivers on that pledge, it will be a tipping point for that country.”•

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“None Of The Untreated Colonies Saw Their Bees Disappear”

May 9, 2014 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Videos | Permalink

There are likely numerous reasons for Colony Collapse Disorder, but new research seems to confirm that the most popular pesticides on the planet are likely a dramatic cause of bees being under siege. From Damian Carrington at the Guardian:

“The mysterious vanishing of honeybees from hives can be directly linked to insectcide use, according to new research from Harvard University. The scientists showed that exposure to two neonicotinoids, the world’s most widely used class of insecticide, lead to half the colonies studied dying, while none of the untreated colonies saw their bees disappear.

‘We demonstrated that neonicotinoids are highly likely to be responsible for triggering ‘colony collapse disorder’ in honeybee hives that were healthy prior to the arrival of winter,’ said Chensheng Lu, an expert on environmental exposure biology at Harvard School of Public Health and who led the work.

The loss of honeybees in many countries in the last decade has caused widespread concern because about three-quarters of the world’s food crops require pollination.”

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“If you’re after getting the honey  / Then you don’t go killing all the bees”:

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“We Face A Catastrophe In Future Years Unless We Act Now”

January 9, 2014 in Excerpts, Science/Tech | Permalink

If you’re fascinated by all things bees, including Colony Collapse Disorder, Russ Roberts conducted a recent interview on EconTalk with Wally Thurman on the subject. Many questions are answered, though I’m still not sure how much I should be worried about the great bee die-off interrupting the food supply in the U.S., where wild bees aren’t a factor. A Guardian article by Damian Carrington states its a paramount concern in the UK. The opening:

“The UK faces a food security catastrophe because of its very low numbers of honeybee colonies, which provide an essential service in pollinating many crops, scientists warned on Wednesday.

New research reveals that honeybees provide just a quarter of the pollination needed in the UK, the second lowest level among 41 European countries. Furthermore, the controversial rise of biofuels in Europe is driving up the need for pollination five times faster than the rise in honeybee numbers. The research suggests an increasing reliance on wild pollinators, such as bumblebees and hoverflies, whose diversity is in decline.

‘We face a catastrophe in future years unless we act now,’ said Professor Simon Potts, at the University of Reading, who led the research.”

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