The devastation and already experiential impact of climate change may not yet be a kitchen table issue, but given the following, it sure ought to be:
"There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.”
Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred. Human-caused climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. This has led to widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people (high confidence). Vulnerable communities who have historically contributed the least to current climate change are disproportionately affected (high confidence) IPCC
I wrote two Daily Kos articles this week about the stunning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR6 Synthesis Report released Monday. The report didn’t have set forth any new research, but laid out a mind-boggling framework of the herculean effort we need to undertake immediately to halt global warming by the end of this decade. That means keeping temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. (We are already at 1.1.)
The AR6 Synthesis also admonished that even were we to reach “net zero,” we have reached the point where the only way we can cool temperatures is by removing carbon from the atmosphere.
Some scientists maintain, however, that the net zero goal actually advocates a “burn now, pay later” approach, which continues to generate emissions with the goal of removing carbon from the air later. Another ‘kick the can down the road’ avoidance technique we no longer have the luxury of exploring.
In particular, the new IPCC report notes that CO2 removal will be needed to counterbalance "hard-to-abate residual greenhouse gas emissions" in order to reach net-zero CO2 or greenhouse gas emissions. Sectors with these hard-to-abate emissions include agriculture, aviation, shipping and industrial processes, it notes (these sectors are consider hard to reduce emissions in either due to a lack of technology or the high expense of decarbonisation). www.bbc.com/…
The current carbon capture and storage efforts will not help as they are often designed to remove the carbon they produce.
“Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) – also referred to as "negative emissions" – is a catch-all term for a range of methods by which humans can either directly remove CO2 from the atmosphere using technology or influence its removal via natural systems like forests.”
The IPCC and other groups have described the 2020s as a decisive decade for climate, with the global atmospheric concentration of CO2 continuing to rise annually despite a widening pool of countries and companies setting targets to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. www.spglobal.com/...
In my second IPCC diary, I posed a comment inquiring how long a commenter thought it would be before climate change becomes really disruptive. Where our lives would be upended.
AttorneyTcommented:
At my age, it will be inconvenient. For my children (adults), it will be significantly worse. For my niece’s and nephew’s children, it will probably be catastrophic. Over half of the calories consumed by the world are from corn (19.5%), rice (16.5%) and wheat (15%). All are crops that were developed and have grown only in the past 10,000 years; a period when climate has been stable. It is likely that, as the climate changes, their use as a food crop will be severely reduced or even eliminated. NASA has projected that by 2030 corn production could decrease by almost 25% but there could be a corresponding 16% increase in wheat production. The problem is that the wheat production increase is expected to be temporary while the corn production decrease is permanent. At this point it is a projection but, if it plays out, millions of people will be starving in less than 10 years.
FishOutofWater responded
Most corn is used as animal feed. We won’t be starving in 10 years if human diets switch to less meat consumption.
To which AttorneyT wrote:
And 40% of the corn yield is used to produce ethanol. If we didn’t use corn to produce ethanol and to produce meat, there would be enough to feed everyone. But, it’s a big IF. The World Health Organization estimates there are 2.3 billion people who are moderately or severely food insecure and that 828 million people go to bed hungry most nights. Some people are trying to help but it still hasn’t stopped us from using corn for meat production and ethanol.
Eating less meat can help reduce pressure on forests and land used to grow animal feed, which in turn protects biodiversity, the earth's ecosystems, and people living in poverty who are bearing the brunt of climate change. Eating less meat means eating foods that are plant-based rather than those that are animal-based. sentientmedia.org/....
When I first made the decision to go meatless, it was after reading Frances Moore Lappe’s Diet for a Small Planet, which promoted environmental vegetarianism. I have been a vegetarian for most of my adult life. A vegan for several years. I get my protein through beans, pea protein, and tofu. But there are numerous ways to find protein substitutes.
In Fact check: How bad is eating meat for the climate?, the author notes that in 2022, meat consumption was projected to increase to 9.5 kilograms annuallly in industrialized nations whereas the developing world weighs in at 27.6 kilograms.
A 2021 study published in Nature Food … found that that plant-based foods account for just 29% of greenhouse gases emitted by the global food industry. In contrast, 57% of greenhouse gas emission in the industry are linked to breeding and rearing cows, pigs and other livestock, as well as producing feed. A quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions in the food industry are said to result from beef production alone. This is followed by rice cultivation, which generates more greenhouse gases than pork, poultry, lamb, mutton and dairy production. www.dw.com/....
Yet another example of how the lifestyle of the developed world is responsible for global heating! And another example, too, of how we are moving in the wrong direction when it comes to the choices we make as individuals and at the government level.
Consider the following:
According to one recent study, if every person in the U.S. cut their meat consumption by 25 percent, it would reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 1 percent. That might not sound like a lot, but it would help protect the rain forest, so the positive effects—including reduced water and fertilizer use, improved biodiversity and safeguarded rights of Indigenous peoples—would be amplified. www.scientificamerican.com/....
One Step Further: The Vegan Life Style
Vegan diets offer the greatest potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse emissions might be decreased by 35% by replacing half of all animal-based meals with vegan diets. Even switching one animal product, would have a significant impact on climate goals www.volunteerfdip.org/....
There’s a whole lot more involved in living a vegan lifestyle than just making the choice to follow a plant-based diet. Lifestyle choices — travel, clothing, body products, jewelry, leather goods — are influenced by your commitment to shift to a vegan lifestyle for environmental reasons.
Phasing out animal agriculture represents “our best and most immediate chance to reverse the trajectory of climate change,” according to a new model developed by scientists from Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley.
TRANSITIONING TO A VEGAN LIFESTYLE
There is a huge difference between adopting a vegan lifestyle and "going on a diet". It's easy to be tempted into straying from diet plan or "cheating", but it's not the same with veganism. When you know exactly why you want to be vegan you simply don't stray from the lifestyle. This is why it is so important to learn the benefits of a vegan lifestyle and the effect animal products have on our health, environment, and humanity. Once you've taken the time to open your eyes to the real effects animal products have on our lives it just sticks with you and there's no going back on that.
Web MD provides information for people who are considering going vegan for the first time. They provide a succinct guide to eating a vegan diet.
Being a vegan means adopting a plant-based diet and avoiding all foods that come from animals. That means no steak, no meat burgers, no red meat, and no processed meat of any kind. It also means no chicken, bacon, turkey, or other kinds of meat or fish. Plus, no cheese, milk, or eggs.
A Few Simple Vegan Recipes
Vegan Black Bean-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes With Coconut Sour Cream and Guacamole
Root Vegetable Vegan Bowls with Creamy Peanut Sauce
Two-Step Vegan Chickpea Tuna Salad Sandwiches
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers may notice that many who post in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table and hope to make some new friends as well.