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City in Nagasaki Pref declares climate emergency, 1st in country to do so

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You cannot possible stop all fossil fuels without major calamity. There are alternatives but it is not a light switch you can simply flip, there would be major economic implications that would harm most standards of living. 

The problem is that fossil fuels are non-renewable, meaning they will eventually disappear. And they will disappear faster than you think, because as they become rarer, the cost of searching for them and extracting them will become too high to be cost-effective.

Shifting to renewable is not only what is needed to fight climate change, it is what is needed if we want to keep our standard of living.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

The problem is that fossil fuels are non-renewable, meaning they will eventually disappear. And they will disappear faster than you think, because as they become rarer, the cost of searching for them and extracting them will become too high to be cost-effective.

> Shifting to renewable is not only what is needed to fight climate change, it is what is needed if we want to keep our standard of living.

exactly! well said!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@Umbellaman

We are now in the weakest solar cycle in more than 100 years. Earth to Sun ratio 1 : 1,300,000. There is nothing to worry about 

Err.... if we are in the weakest solar cycle - doesn't that mean the climate should be cooling? I'd say it is more reason to worry about the accelerating temperature rises.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Undoubtedly humans are all gene-relatives and consequently must consider the well being of all individually as well as collectively. So far in the known universe humans have yet only one home, the EARTH to live. We humans cannot afford to damage our only home in any way. We support all sensible persons in their efforts to make our beautiful only home safe for us and our posterity.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Truly believe there is something people can do about the climate? Enforce a rule that all humans on planet Earth are obligated to plant 10 trees!

Right, and where are the trees going to come from? Who is going to care for them? And pray tell just how are you going to enforce this, particularly in countries and areas that are so arid that damn near nothing grows?

It's very easy to say "do this" or "do that", but even as you said, "you can not possibly stop fossil fuels" it's the same thing, you can not possibly get everyone to plant 10 trees either!

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Current estimates are that sea levels will rise between one and six feet by 2100 AD. Islands like Iki will be severely effected.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@Yubaru

Doing something is much better than doing nothing...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Truly believe there is something people can do about the climate? Enforce a rule that all humans on planet Earth are obligated to plant 10 trees!

> These people like Greta, I feel are not serious. You cannot possible stop all fossil fuels without major calamity. There are alternatives but it is not a light switch you can simply flip, there would be major economic implications that would harm most standards of living. A simply, do-able plan right now, is everyone goes and plants 10 trees.

Are you serious?

Lets do the math. A recent study suggests that increasing the total world tree population by 1 trillion trees would play a significant role in sequestering CO2 (not enough on its own to solve the climate crisis, mind you, just enough to mitigate it - about 57 billion tons, which is what humanity adds to the atmosphere every 2 years). That works out to roughly 120 trees for every person on the planet, not 10.

But how are we going to do that? Japan has a population of 126 million, so at 120 trees per person that means it would need to add about 15 billion trees to have a meaningful impact on climate change through tree planting.

Where are you going to find the space to plant 15 billion trees? The country is already 70% forest and the remaining 30% is at near 100% use. You could certainly find some space for a few thousand here and there, but nowhere near enough to plant enough to come anywhere near the amount necessary for tree planting alone to be a viable strategy.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Good on Iki. I trust that declaring a "crisis" means they will change how they do things themselves.

It'll sound like belittling the climate, but I suspect it would be better if other big problems in Japan were treated as crises and not given sticking plaster-type solutions. Unless you treat rural decline as a crisis, big solutions like decentralizing the government will not be considered, let alone implemented. If you approached work-life balance in Japan as a "crisis", I think we would see better solutions than Premium Friday.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Climate change deniers are disingenuous.

Nice sentiment burghers of Iki, but if your only action is to 'encourage' residents and 'aim' to turn to renewable sources you ain't doing diddly squat.

Oractical and easy things to do would be;

How about turning off/turning down the aircon and getting staff and residents to dress appropriately for the weather, rather than the aircon or your outdated/inappropriate dress codes.

Turn off lights in public buildings when rooms are unoccupied - the elementary school next to us is lit up like Blackpool illuminations most nights.

Stop using/buying/selling/promoting plastics. Water fountains are better than machines that sell PET bottles.

Discouraging car use for short journeys.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Yubaru:  and where are the trees going to come from? Who is going to care for them? And pray tell just how are you going to enforce this?

Easy - it's already being done to some extent in the Philippines - Every school child is required to plant 10 trees before they graduate. Pakistan has already planted 1 billion trees and now has plans to plant another 5 billion

.... just 2 examples.

And what's easier? Planting trees, or very risky, expensive and unproved geo-engineering and trying to keep back meters of sea level rise?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

.... just 2 examples.

When you can get to half the world, 90 plus countries, then I'll believe you! You still haven't answered the question about "Who is going to pay for them?" or "Who is going to care for them?" either

And what about the countries that dont have the land to support any trees?

As I said, talking is easy, doing something takes money and desire, and as long as there are not enough people to care about it, it will only stay as a talking point.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

If it were not for the tourists from Fukuoka visiting Iki by ferry boats using diesel the town would be outta money pretty quickly.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Bintaro:

The problem is that fossil fuels are non-renewable, meaning they will eventually disappear. And they will disappear faster than you think, because as they become rarer, the cost of searching for them and extracting them will become too high to be cost-effective.

Lets put things in perspective. Current proven oil reserves are roughly 1200 billion barrel, and current consumption levels are around 30 billion barrel. That means about 40 years. Add fracking and new discoveries, and you can probable double that number. After that there is coal, with proven reserves lasting for about 600 years. So, no matter how you turn it, none of us or our descendants will experience the end of fossil fuel ressources. Of course, that does not mean there should be no research for new energy sources. But windmills and solar panels are not the solution.

Shifting to renewable is not only what is needed to fight climate change, it is what is needed if we want to keep our standard of living.

Regardless if you believe the simplistic man-made climate change tale, "renewables" are not an alternative to fossil fuels. You simply can not replace a reliable, high-density energy source with distributed, unreliable low-energie sources to supply a modern economy. That is fairy-tale thinking.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

There are more trees on planet Earth now than 35 years ago. We are now in the weakest solar cycle in more than 100 years. Earth to Sun ratio 1 : 1,300,000. There is nothing to worry about except that you eat a combined amount of micro plastics every week that could make up a credit card. To understand further of the political end game, do some reading on Agenda 21.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Specifically, the city government encouraged local residents to reuse resources and reduce waste, and vowed to completely shift sources of energy used in the municipality to renewables by 2050.

Nothing wrong with reusing resources and reducing waste, but the "completely shift sources of energy used in the municipality to renewables" will of course not happen. Cleverly enough, they put the date 30 years out, so by that time everyone will have forgotten about this feel-good nonsense.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Truly believe there is something people can do about the climate? Enforce a rule that all humans on planet Earth are obligated to plant 10 trees!

These people like Greta, I feel are not serious. You cannot possible stop all fossil fuels without major calamity. There are alternatives but it is not a light switch you can simply flip, there would be major economic implications that would harm most standards of living. A simply, do-able plan right now, is everyone goes and plants 10 trees.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

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