since 2013...Hard coal has fallen by just over a quarter...
dohboi wrote:Just so the point doesn't get buried in the large font and the rants:
in Germanysince 2013...Hard coal has fallen by just over a quarter...
(From the link above)
Not that they shouldn't have done even better, and globally we are certainly in trouble wrt not reducing fossil-death-fuel burning, but the recent history in Germany wrt coal use, particularly, is not quite as horrific as some seem to want to portray it.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
There are also factors that are not in our favor. Such as sea level rise:Karle wrote:Maybe it is a bit warmer than usual since some weeks. But it is not bad, it is good. Everythings grows like mad, not like last year or 2013, when farmers were desperate because of snow until late April. So what is the problem? If there is climate change (which has always been) right now it is in or favour.
Miami’s fight against rising seasAsk nearly anyone in the Miami area about flooding and they’ll have an anecdote to share. Many will also tell you that it’s happening more and more frequently. The data backs them up. It’s easy to think that the only communities suffering from sea level rise are far-flung and remote. And while places like the Solomon Islands and Kiribati are indeed facing particularly dramatic challenges, they aren’t the only ones being forced to grapple with the issue. Sea levels are rising around the world, and in the US, south Florida is ground zero – as much for the adaptation strategies it is attempting as for the risk that it bears.
Water levels here are rising especially quickly. With tides higher than they have been in decades – and far higher than when this swampy, tropical corner of the US began to be drained and built on a century ago – many of south Florida’s drainage systems and seawalls are no longer enough. That means not only more flooding, but challenges for the infrastructure that residents depend on every day, from septic tanks to wells. “The consequences of sea level rise are going to occur way before the high tide reaches your doorstep.”
Look beyond all the glass and steel, though, and – despite the federal government’s sidelining of the issue – there’s another thrum of activity. It’s the wastewater treatment plant constructing new buildings five feet higher than the old ones. The 105 miles (169km) of roads being raised in Miami Beach. The new shopping mall built with flood gates. The 116 tidal valves installed in Fort Lauderdale. The seawalls being raised and repaired.
Not only are sea levels rising, but the pace seems to be accelerating. Coastal communities are already experiencing more storms and extremely high tides known as king tides. In the same study, Wdowinski found there were a total of 16 flood events in Miami Beach from 1998 to 2005. From 2006 to 2013, there were 33.
Although the timing of king tides results from the positions of the Sun, Moon and Earth, rising seas heighten their effect. At extreme high tides, water levels have surged to an inch below the Intracoastal Waterway, says Jennifer Jurado, Broward County’s chief resiliency officer. “Once that’s breached, you’re open to the ocean – the supply of water is endless.
Sea-level rise will cause more than flooding — these 5 other impacts of rising oceans are just as badAlthough flooding is the obvious consequence of rising sea levels, there are plenty of other effects to consider — none of them good.
It will contaminate our drinking water
As the rising sea crawls farther and farther up the shore, in many places it will seep into the freshwater sources in the ground that many coastal areas rely on for their drinking water. These underground water sources, called aquifers, are crucial springs of freshwater — in fact, groundwater accounts for most of the planet's freshwater.
It will interfere with farming
Those same freshwater sources we use for drinking also supply the water we use for irrigation. The problems here are the same: The intruding sea could make these groundwater sources saltier. Saltwater can stunt or even kill crops, but creating freshwater from saltwater is a costly and unsustainable practice.
It will hurt the economy
The tourism and real-estate industries in coastal areas are likely to take a hit as prime beachfront properties and recreational areas are washed away by rising waters.
Hundreds of protesters are marching through the German capital to demand an end to burning coal to produce electricity.
The demonstrators — many of them families pushing strollers, people on bikes and samba bands — walked through the Berlin's government district on Sunday, ahead of next week's first meeting of Germany's commission on exiting coal use...
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