good day reader,
While at least 14 Italians have died due to floods and some 20,000 people have been left homeless, and while our continent is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, some politicians are calling for a suspension of European climate policy. All those green new rules, including a tightening of the carbon dioxide tax, are now so tangible that citizens will feel them as much, as they fear. Science has proven that if these citizens live on the coast, in the city, along a river or in a floodplain, they will increasingly feel the impact of global warming. and that not taking decisive action would cost more money than doing so.
But, as lead commentator Bart Eckhout has written, the topic of climate “has become hopelessly politicized. With environmentalists in one corner using climate change to upend the entire economy and society, and in the other corner relativists pinning all their hopes on human ingenuity, to do nothing.” . However, economics versus ecology is a false dichotomy. Both are about how we run our home, “our home”. They are both intertwined and need each other. Without a healthy nature, no raw materials, agriculture, potable water, without a healthy economy, no money, technology and innovations to maintain the health of nature and the stability of the climate, among other things. For example, every €1 you invest in nature restoration yields from €8 to €38. Scholars will continue to point to the intimate interdependence between ecology and economics. and the conclusion that global warming and biodiversity are now heading in the wrong direction very quickly.
How to regulate the environment and the economy today and tie it together with minimal damage to both, where to correct and adapt and how to do it firmly and swiftly, these are very complex questions for politicians. Although science also offers a great deal of knowledge that can serve as a basis for this. And hope, because with this famous human ingenuity sometimes really impressive things are achieved that help turn the tide. The largest solar power plant in Morocco is a good example, as is the conclusion of the research Aviation with hydrogen may actually be cheaper than kerosene by 2035.
There is also good news about the inseparable duo of the economy and the environment. Global sales of electric vehicles are at record levels and are likely to grow by up to 35 percent this year, according to the International Energy Agency.. Climate scientists may have underestimated the speed at which warming is being felt, but the speed at which clean energy is becoming much cheaper has been much underestimated by researchers. In other words: Green energy is now very cheap. That’s why They are “even optimists very pessimistic,” notes Dutch journalist Jesse Frederiks correspondent Explain.
So we stumble forward, sometimes by great leaps, often held back by those false inconsistencies and other social and political obstacles and also increasingly by setbacks of extreme weather. Because all Italy’s tidal wave now shows is that another common “climate debate” paradox is wrong. As you hear, “we shouldn’t care so much about green regulations that should reduce emissions, we just have to adapt to global warming”. Reducing emissions versus “adapting,” that is. But it takes a lot less effort and money to adapt to a sweltering summer every few years than to simmer in a casserole every year. It’s much more difficult and more expensive to protect cities from tidal waves when things are flooded all the time. And many air conditioners against the heat means more energy consumption and thus a higher global temperature.
However, adaptation is the neglected part of climate policy that is now being forced to receive more and more attention. There are also amazing stories that can inspire you. For example, Indonesia, despite the “lower middle income” economy, is building a completely new city, Nusantara, where 30 million people will move from the capital, Jakarta, because Jakarta is drowning. It will be a “green city that runs entirely on green energy”. coincidence, New York seems to be sinking too, But then because of the weight of all these skyscrapers. This makes the city more sensitive to sea level rise and flooding, which it already struggles with.
Now that the climate is not what it always was for humans, it is very difficult to predict where we will evolve. But where we come from may also be less clear than we thought decades ago. Because we don’t come from a particular region of Africa, new research suggests. Models using vast amounts of genetic data suggest that humans evolved “from multiple ancestral groups that lived in widely divergent locations in Africa more than a million years ago.” They also moved over time. “Our roots lie in a highly diverse population made up of fragmented local populations,” the researchers concluded. According to them, the human formation does not resemble the well-known organized tree of life with a single thick trunk and regular branches increasingly smaller in size, but rather a “tangled vine”. In these turbulent times, this offers something to hold onto: As a species, we’ve obviously always been masters at moving, adapting, bonding, and working with all kinds of others. If our ‘ancestors’ were good at it, we can still excel at it.
For the female half of humanity, there is also good news on a smaller scale: a cure for hot flashes is on the way. Sixty to seventy percent of menopausal women experience this, sometimes for years. For many, this is accompanied by soaked, cracked nights because they have to change the bedding. Or in very embarrassing situations at work. Science has already resolved this specific form of overheating and “recurrent localized heat waves” in about one-eighth of the world’s population.
refreshing regards,
Science Editor
