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https://www.channel4.com/news/tuvalu-is-sinking-how-do-you-relocate-an-entire-country

A reminder that COP28 is taking place in Dubai:Here is one of the small Pacific Island States that is suffering the most.Take a look at Tuvalu - copy and paste the reference above.    https://www.unrefugees.org.uk/learn-more/news/news/whats-a-climate-refugee/And Dubai itself had floods only a couple of weeks ago:https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/dubai-roads-flooded-after-heavy-rainfall-thunderstorm-4582942 

Philippa Bond ● 531d18 Comments

Day to day life dealing with the problems of climate change on a small island paradise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ymEnjMbYX8 If you've heard of the island of Guadalcanal which was famous in WW2 then this is another island in the same country.

Philippa Bond ● 504d

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-67740978.ampCairns airport is flooded.  A year's worth of rain has fallen in a week and a Queensland river has flooded so crocodiles are now swimming in the flood waters.  People being rescued from rooftops.

Philippa Bond ● 519d

And what got the people of Bude taking the lead in working together to prepare for rising tide levels.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/14/cornish-town-faces-climate-threat-head-on-bude

Philippa Bond ● 522d

Peter Hitchens BTW has said that he does not believe that climate change is man made.  Have a look at which companies make the most solar panels and where!Have a look at where so many electrical items are made!And who is the greatest exporter of goods worldwide?https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/011915/what-country-worlds-largest-exporter-goods.asphttps://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/numbers-behind-chinas-renewable-energy-boom-2023-11-15/50% of their energy is now from renewables.I'm sure they don't take as long as we do in this country to build infrastructure either!

Philippa Bond ● 523d

We will all suffer anyway but most of all if we think we can just carry on with a business as usual attitude.There has been more of a break through this time and renewal energy is most definitely increasing.  As it is though it is still deemed insufficient and a death sentence for low-lying countries.  You may never have heard of Kiribati and Tuvalu before but I'll bet there are many who have heard of and holidayed in another of the threatened low-lying island countries - the Maldives.

Philippa Bond ● 524d

Not to much encouragement please otherwise we all suffer HO HO HO

Julian Pavey ● 528d

Philippa, your omniscience on politics, the environment, local matters and much else is overwhelming, and I believe you want the best for people.

Denis I. Fox ● 528d

The oil companies knew about the problems that were being created by the use of fossil fuels years ago but have been obfuscating and stalling.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/sep/19/shell-and-exxons-secret-1980s-climate-change-warningsWe have the leakiest buildings in Europe - why?  No doubt partly because it is easy for those who are well off to insulate their homes or to just pay the bills.  Not so for others and definitely not for renters hence the atttempt to bring in legislation to ensure that buildings are insulated which was lobbied against by landlords...  many of which appear to be MPs.It seems that vested interests have a great deal to do with it - as MPs take donations from oil and gas companies and trusts created by oil magnates.  America is a huge area in comparison to Britain so fracking can be carried out at a far greater distance from homes - it is more difficult for that here and there have been earth tremors.People have always had to retrain when their jobs changed and some have already been doing this. Technology has changed a lot of jobs and will change more.  Unfortunately a lot of the 'efficiency' cuts that are made to businesses create a lack of joined up management so that businesses end up having no idea where their contractors are or what they are doing/have done and don't pass on work details to those contractors.  The customer then ends up having to chase around to find out for themselves in order to tell the contractor.  There will be plenty of gas boilers needing servicing for some time to come.It took teenager Greta Thunberg to draw a lot more attention to what was happening with climate change.  Then we had Extinction Rebellion making their point.Insulate Britain drew everyone's attention to the next important step.Our buildings are not very easy to insulate partly because they are old and so many changes have been made to them over the years and residents are (or should be) very wary of stories of cowboy builders. Windows and roofs are easier but walls more complicated as it is easier to insulate on the outside than inside but not necessarily visually acceptable.  On the inside you obviously lose space and having to remove plaster is very messy.  There is also the fear of creating thermal bridging problems in our brick and wood buildings.  More and more work is being done on this so hopefully it will become a lot easier to both find information and also to find builders who know what they are doing.  (Govt initiatives have failed due to a lack of trained workers.) Householders need to know enough to be able to question builders. Work is ongoing and more information coming:https://www.futurebuild.co.uk/ 

Philippa Bond ● 528d

I am aware of the facts you have given as I try to hear both sides of most issues.I do believe however, the best and most painless way of avoiding climate calamity is to use the stocks of fuel we have beneath our feet and seas, whilst building on our renewable energy hardware, and small nuclear plants. Hopefully fracking will be utilised one day under a change of regime, but probably not under Sir Keir.  We as a nation do not have to lay off thousands of workers in the oil industry, causing the nation to spend our lives in cold, draconian conditions for 10 years and counting.Pointless and unnecessary.

Denis I. Fox ● 529d

"GB contributes under 1% of global oil emissions, but is nevertheless a leader in reducing overall carbon pollution pro rata."We have outsourced just about all of our industry - and most of it is manufactured in...  China!So we really have no cause to rest on our laurels.Meanwhile we have MPs that take donations from oil and gas companies and when we open new fields the fuel is sold on the international market.Just Stop Oil may be irritating but isn't that their point?  We may have outsourced a lot of the problem but it is a worldwide problem and those that suffer most haven't and aren't producing vast amounts of greenhouse gases that we have been. This Govt likes to distract everyone from what is really happening around us.

Philippa Bond ● 529d

Philippa, Peter Hutchins confirmed on QT this evening that China opens up two new coal power plants weekly.GB contributes under 1% of global oil emissions, but is nevertheless a leader in reducing overall carbon pollution pro rata.The moronic Stop Oil protesters and their supporters who continue to disrupt peoples lives should go to China to protest, preferably in Tiananmen Square.

Denis I. Fox ● 529d

John Kerry attended COP28 in Dubai.  He is the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.  Kamala Harris US Vice President attended.https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/climate/kerry-cop28-phaseout-fossil-fuels.htmlhttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/1/whos-attending-cop28-in-dubai-and-whos-giving-it-aThere is also a China/Singapore bilateral meeting at the same time as COP28.https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/tianjin-eco-city-singapore-china-sign-mou-sustainable-2406081You'd be wrong to think that China hasn't moved on from just coal fuel.

Philippa Bond ● 529d

I'm totally with Julian on this subject.The world's PMs, Presidents, Kings, Queens and Luminaries fly off for these jollies at enormous expense, giving us all the chat about the need to beat ourselves up living in purgatory to save the planet whilst they are oblivious to the emissions they consume.The two worst culprits for oil emissions, America and China didn't bother sending representatives to Saudi, and our Rishi attended Cop28 for an hour or so, probably to facilitate an Oil trade deal.Greta Thunberg came out with the one sensible comment she has ever made: "It's all Blar Blar Blar".

Denis I. Fox ● 530d

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Skl8m31JEQ

Philippa Bond ● 530d

"It's just the way it changes like the shoreline and the sea"If you look at the video of that Tuvaluan atoll you will see how narrow it is and that there is little or no height above sea level.  The same in Kiribati and when there is a cyclone it can be devastating.  Higher king tides and greater winds cause saltwater to inundate the land not only contaminating the sweet water but making the land unsuitable for growing food crops.https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Taro-crops-destroyed-by-encroaching-saltwater-at-Lukunoch-Atoll-Chuuk-State-FSM_fig4_280089587 Craig Kelly is an Australian Climate Change Denier who created the Parliamentary Friends of Coal group in the Australian Parliament.  Australia is the second largest exporter of coal in the world.https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/world/australia/fires-craig-kelly-climate-denial.html https://www.adambandt.com/190730_coalexportsAustralia has been producing an increasing amount of solar and wind energy. (So has China - so whataboutery is no excuse.) https://www.solardirectory.com.au/news/2660-shading-crops-with-solar-panels

Philippa Bond ● 530d

Problem is, Tuvalu isn't sinking its actually growing. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-19/fact-check-is-the-island-nation-tuvalu-growing/10627318

Rosi Krupa ● 530d

"A reminder that COP28 is taking place in Dubai" Maybe you can remind them what they pledged at cop28,27,26,25,24 and the rest. They all pledge until they get back home and then they either forget what hey pledged or they never agreed to anything. COP27 “There is absolutely no point putting ourselves through all that we've just gone through if we're going to participate in an exercise of collective amnesia the moment the cameras move on,” Which sums up every Cop to date

Julian Pavey ● 530d

These islands of Tuvalu were formerly known as the Ellice Islands which before they separated from the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati pronounced Kiribas) were the Gilbert & Ellice Islands - made famous and which will be remembered from the books read by many at school years ago eg A Pattern of Islands and Return to the Islands by Arthur Grimble.

Philippa Bond ● 530d