CLIMATE CHANGE
• UN lists Pakistan among ‘
drought-hit’ countries
• https://www.dawn.com/news
/1689752
(may 22)
• Pakistan is among 23 countries which are facing drought
emergencies over the past two years (2020-2022), according to
the ‘Global Land Outlook’ report released by the United
Nations.
• The 23 countries listed by the report include Afghanistan, Angola,
Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya,
Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger,
Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, the United States and
Zambia.
•https://www.ndtv.com/w
orld-news/over-50-villag
es-in-pakistan-submerg
ed-in-flash-floods-report
-3210040
Balochistan in particular
has seen
uncharacteristically
heavy rains during the
monsoon season this
year.
July 22
• February 2024: The Warmest
February on Record According to
Copernicus Climate Change Service
• February 2024 saw unusually warm
temperatures, making it the warmest
February on record globally, according
to the Copernicus Climate Change
Service (C
WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE
• Climate change refers to long-term
shifts in temperatures and weather
patterns.
• Such shifts can be natural, due to
changes
• in the sun’s activity
• or large volcanic eruptions.
• But since the 1800s,
human activities have been the main dri
ver of climate change
, primarily due to the burning of fossil
fuels like coal, oil and gas.
WHAT ARE FOSSIL FUELS
• Fossil fuels are made from
decomposing plants and animals.
• These fuels are found in Earth’s
crust and contain carbon and
hydrogen, which can be burned
for energy
• Coal, oil, and natural gas are
examples of fossil fuels.
• Coal is a material usually found in sedimentary
rock deposits where rock and dead plant and
animal matter are piled up in layers.
• Oil is originally found as a solid material
between layers of sedimentary rock, like shale.
This material is heated in order to produce the
thick oil that can be used to make gasoline.
• Natural gas is usually found in pockets above
oil deposits. It can also be found in
sedimentary rock layers that don’t contain oil.
Natural gas is primarily made up of methane.
WHAT IS FOSSIL FUEL USED FOR
• According to the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, 81
percent of the total energy used in the United States comes
from coal, oil, and natural gas
• This is the energy that is used to heat and provide electricity
to homes and businesses and to run cars and factories.
SO WHAT IS THE
PROBLEM
• Unfortunately, fossil fuels are
a non renewable resource and
waiting millions of years for new
coal, oil, and natural gas
deposits to form is not a realistic
solution.
• Fossil fuels are also responsible
for almost three-fourths of the
emissions from human activities
in the last 20 years.
WHY IS BURNING FOSSIL FUELS A
PROBLEM: GREENHOUSE EFFECT
• Burning fossil fuels generates
greenhouse gas emissions that
act like a blanket wrapped
around the Earth, trapping the
sun’s heat and raising
temperatures.
• Greenhouse gases are the gases
in the atmosphere that raise the
surface temperature of planets Greenhouse gases trap some of the heat that
results when sunlight heats the Earth's surface.
such as the Earth. Three important greenhouse gases are shown
symbolically in this image: carbon dioxide,
water vapor, and methane.
WHAT IS GREENHOUSE EFFECT
• The Earth is warmed by sunlight,
causing its surface to radiate heat,
which is then mostly absorbed by
greenhouse gases.
• Without greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere, the average temperature
of Earth's surface would be about
−18 °C (0 °F),[2]rather than the
present average of 15 °C (59 °F).[3]
WHICH ACTIVITIES ARE
CAUSING GREENHOUSE
GASES
• The main greenhouse gases that
are causing climate change include
carbon dioxide and methane.
• Clearing land and cutting down
forests can also release carbon
dioxide.
DEFORESTATION
• Chipkoo movement
WHICH ACTIVITIES ARE CAUSING
GREENHOUSE GASES
• Agriculture, oil and gas operations are major sources of
methane emissions.
• Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture and land
use are among the main sectors causing greenhouse gases.
OUTCOME OF GREENHOUSE EFFECT
• The average temperature of the Ear
th’s surface is now about 1.1°C war
mer
than it was in the late 1800s
(before the industrial revolution)
• and warmer than at any time in the
last 100,000 years.
• The
last decade (2011-2020) was the wa
rmest on record
, and each of the last four decades
has been warmer than any previous
decade since 1850.
• The consequences of climate change now include, among others,
• intense droughts,
• water scarcity,
• severe fires,
• rising sea levels,
• flooding,
• melting polar ice,
• catastrophic storms
• and declining biodiversity.
EFFECT ON GLOBAL SOUTH
• Climate change can affect our health,
• ability to grow food,
• housing, safety and work.
• Some of us are already more vulnerable to climate impacts,
such as people living in small island nations and other
developing countries..
•
• Conditions like sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion have
advanced to the point where whole communities have had to
relocate,
• and protracted droughts are putting people at risk of famine.
• In the future, the number of people displaced by weather-
related events is expected to rise
WHO/WHICH COUNTRIES ARE
RESPONSIBLE
• The seven biggest emitters alone
• China, the United States of America, India,
• the European Union, Indonesia,
• the Russian Federation, and Brazil
• accounted for about half of all global greenhouse gas
emissions in 2020.
SOLUTIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE
• Three broad categories of action are: cutting emissions,
• adapting to climate impacts
• and financing required adjustments.
CUTTING EMISSIONS AND RENEWABLES
• Switching energy systems from fossil fuels to
renewables like solar or wind will reduce the emissions
driving climate change.
• While a growing number of countries is committing to
net zero emissions by 2050,
emissions must be cut in half by 2030 to keep warming below
1.5°C.
• Achieving this means huge declines in the use of coal, oil and
gas:
• over two-thirds of today’s proven reserves of
fossil fuels need to be kept in the ground by 2050 in order to
prevent catastrophic levels of climate change.
ADAPTATION
• Adapting to climate consequences protects people, homes, businesses,
livelihoods, infrastructure and natural ecosystems.
• It covers current impacts and those likely in the future.
• Adaptation will be required everywhere, but must be prioritized now for
the most vulnerable people with the fewest resources to cope with climate
hazards.
• The rate of return can be high. Early warning systems for disasters, for
instance, save lives and property, and can deliver benefits up to 10 times
the initial cost.
FINANCING THE COSTS FOR GREENER
ECONOMIES
• One critical step is for industrialized countries to fulfil their
commitment to provide $100 billion a year to developing
countries so they can adapt and move towards greener
economies.
GLOBAL POLICIES
• We also have global frameworks and agreements to guide
progress, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the
Paris Agreement.
HISTORY OF FOSSIL FUEL USAGE:
INDUSTRIALISATION/CAPITALISM
• There are three significant turning-points in the history of fossil fuel use.
• The first is the industrial revolution of the late 18th and early 19th
centuries, which marked the beginning of fossil fuel use on an industrial
scale.
• The substitution of human and animal labour power, and water power,
by fossil fuel-driven machines, produced leaps forward in labour
productivity and, with the steam engine, the geographical spread of
capitalism.
• The second industrial revolution of the late 19th century was
at least as important as the first, in putting fossil fuels at the
core of the world economy.
• In place of steam engines came steam turbines; these drove
electricity networks, which in turn underpinned automated
manufacturing. The internal combustion engine laid the basis
for widespread motorised transport.
• What emerged were not just technologies, but complex technological systems.
• These were the main consumers of fossil fuels through the twentieth century, and
into the twenty-first:
• road transport systems;
• electricity and heat networks;
• urban built environments, industrial systems
• and military systems. Another technology that came during the first world war –
the fabrication of chemical fertilisers – was key to the development of industrial
agriculture, another giant fossil fuel user.
• The third turning point was the mid 20th century.
• There was a sharp acceleration of fossil fuel use, associated with the expansion
of the capitalist economy after the second world war.
• In the mid 20th century, many other impacts of human economic activity on the
natural world –
• extinction of other species,
• disruption of the nitrogen cycle,
• pressure on fresh water resources, various measures of chemical pollution –
also surged.
• The post-war boom of the 1950s-60s, which was the longest period ever of
sustained economic growth by the large capitalist countries, further took
fossil fuel use to unsustainable levels.
• A number of aspects of economic growth –
• industrialisation;
• changes in the labour process;
• urbanisation; motorisation;
• electrification;
• and household material consumption and consumerism –
• drove fossil fuel consumption growth.
• It accelerated during the boom, slowed during the 1970s recession, and
accelerated again from the 1980s, very much as a result of so-called
globalisation.
• I tried to tell the complex story of these changes in my book Burning UP
WHAT IS THE CURRENT SITUATION
• The burning of fossil fuels—oil, coal,
natural gas—is responsible for
nearly 90 percent of global carbon
emissions.
• Despite almost-universal recognition
of the need to reduce the use of
those fossil fuels, the industrialized
world is having the hardest time
breaking its addiction.
WHAT IS THE CURRENT SITUATION
The economic rebound from the COVID-19 shutdowns generated
the largest ever increase in global emissions from fossil fuels in 2021—
around 2 billion tons.
The increase in 2022 was considerably more modest—thanks to a surge
in renewable energy investments—but it was an increase nonetheless.
Meanwhile, subsidies for fossil fuel consumption rose to a
record $1 trillion last year.
EXTERNALITIES OF CAPITALISM:
ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS
• The climate debt
• Climate debt is the debt said to be owed to developing countries by
developed countries for the damage caused by their disproportionately large
contributions to climate change.
• Historical global greenhouse gas emissions, largely by developed countries, pose
significant threats to developing countries, who are less able to deal with climate
change's negative effects.
• Therefore, some consider developed countries to owe a debt to developing ones for
their disproportionate contributions to climate change.
