Story of the Week... Interview of the Week... Toon of the Week... Photo of the Week... SkS Spotlights... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week...
Story of the Week...
Biodiversity crisis is about to put humanity at risk, UN scientists to warn
‘We are in trouble if we don’t act,’ say experts, with up to 1m species at risk of annihilation
Students protest in Adelaide. UN experts warned people alive today are at risk unless urgent action is taken. Photograph: Kelly Barnes/EPA
The world’s leading scientists will warn the planet’s life-support systems are approaching a danger zone for humanity when they release the results of the most comprehensive study of life on Earth ever undertaken.
Up to 1m species are at risk of annihilation, many within decades, according to a leaked draft of the global assessment report, which has been compiled over three years by the UN’s leading research body on nature.
The 1,800-page study will show people living today, as well as wildlife and future generations, are at risk unless urgent action is taken to reverse the loss of plants, insects and other creatures on which humanity depends for food, pollination, clean water and a stable climate.
The final wording of the summary for policymakers is being finalised in Paris by a gathering of experts and government representatives before the launch on Monday, but the overall message is already clear, according to Robert Watson, the chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Biodiversity crisis is about to put humanity at risk, UN scientists to warn by Jonathan Watts, Environment, Guardian, May 3, 2019
Interview of the Week...
Why Bill McKibben Sees Rays of Hope in a Grim Climate Picture
The world has done little to tackle global warming since Bill McKibben’s landmark book on the subject was published in 1989. In an e360 interview, McKibben talks about the critical time lost and what can be done now to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Bill McKibben CREDIT: NANCIE BATTAGLIA
Three decades ago, Bill McKibben published The End of Nature, the first book on climate change aimed at a general audience. McKibben went on to found the international environmental group 350.org, help launch the fossil fuel divestment movement, and write a dozen more non-fiction books, as well as a novel. In 2014, McKibben received the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes referred to as the “alternative Nobel,” for mobilizing popular support for “strong action to counter the threat of global climate change.”
McKibben’s latest book, Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?, was published this month and debuted last week on the New York Times bestseller list. In an interview with Yale Environment 360 , McKibben talks about why the critical time for action on climate was missed, where he still finds hope, and what the world will look like three decades from now.
“Thirty or 50 years out, the world’s going to run on sun and wind, because they’re free,” McKibben says. “The question is… what kind of world will it be?”
Why Bill McKibben Sees Rays of Hope in a Grim Climate Picture, Interview by Elizabeth Kolbert, Yale Environment 360, Apr 30, 2019
Toon of the Week...
Photo of the Week...
Source: FB Page of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC)
SkS Spotlights...
What is the rationale behind Climate Change Knowledge Portal (CCKP)?
In an effort to serve as the hub for climate-related information, data, and tools, the World Bank (WB) created the Climate Change Knowledge Portal (CCKP). The Portal provides an online platform for access to comprehensive global, regional, and country data related to climate change and development. The successful integration of scientific information in decision making often depends on the use of flexible frameworks, data, and tools that can provide comprehensive information to a wide range of users, allowing them to evaluate how to apply the scientific information to the design of a project or policy.
What does the CCKP entail?
The CCKP provides a web-based platform to assist in capacity building and knowledge development. The portal aims to provide development practitioners with a resource to explore, evaluate, synthesize, and learn about climate-related vulnerabilities and risks at multiple levels of details. Using climate science research results to inform the decision making process concerning policies or specific measures needed to tackle climate impacts, or even to understand low carbon development processes, is often a difficult, yet crucial, undertaking.
The CCKP contains environmental, disaster risk, and socio-economic datasets, as well as synthesis products, such as the Climate Adaptation Country Profiles and Climate Smart Agriculture Profiles, which are built and packaged for specific user-focused functions in a particular country or sector. The portal also provides intelligent links to other resources and tools.
The CCKP consists of spatially and temporally referenced data. Users are able to evaluate climate-related vulnerabilities, risks, and actions for a particular location on the globe by interpreting climate and climate-related data at different levels of details.
What can users achieve using CCKP?
- Learn about climate and climate related datasets at the global, regional, and country level.
- Enhance knowledge on climate change related topics, including exposure, vulnerability, sectoral impacts, and adaptation options.
- Assess, visualize, and download resourceful climate data and information.
Coming Soon on SkS...
- Former climate 'denier' regrets 'how wrongheaded but certain I was' (Karen Kirk)
- Inspiring, not depressing, film fest messages (Daisy Simmons)
- State of the climate: Heat across Earth’s surface and oceans mark early 2019 (Zeke Hausfather)
- Why my fears about climate change made me cross the line that separates academia from activism (James Dyke)
- New research this week (Ari)
- 2019 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #19 (John Hartz)
- 2019 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #19 (John Hartz)
Climate Feedback Reviews...
[To be added.]
Poster of the Week...
SkS Week in Review...
- 2019 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #18 by John Hartz
- New research, April 22-28, 2019 by Ari Jokimäki
- What's Earth's ideal temperature?, YouTube Video by Climate Adam
- Climate change could cost the U.S. economy hundreds of billions a year by 2090 by Dana Nuccitelli (Yale Climate Connections)
- Rebellious Times by John Mason
- 2019 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #17 by John Hartz
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