58% decline in wildlife.

[Workingman]

"We ignore the decline of other species at our peril - for they are the barometer that reveals our impact on the world that sustains us."

There is some evidence that the decline is by about 58% in general, in a report by the WWF and the Zoological Society of London. The report also says that species are being increasingly affected by agriculture, fishing, mining and other human activities that are causing habitats to be lost or degraded. It comes shortly after an earlier report, one I commented on, that the Earth's wilderness has been reduced by 10% in a similar time frame.

It is worth noting that this is not a climate change thing. It is down to our direct involvement in stealing, changing or poisoning their environments; and as we do so we also poison our own.

[Suff]

It is worth noting that this is not a climate change thing. It is down to our direct involvement in stealing, changing or poisoning their environments; and as we do so we also poison our own.

As is much of the desertification of China going on right now.

It was interesting to see that Beijing is now only 100km from the Gobi. Which is expanding at an ever increasing rate.

[AliasAggers]

This is just another example of how the human race is slowly bringing on its own demise. In just my lifetime, the world has seen drastic changes in so many ways - more, probably than took place in hundreds, if not thousands, of years previously.
It is doubtful whether life on this planet, as we now know it, can continue for much longer.

[Suff]

Oh the planet and the life will go on in one form or another. Humans? Not such a rosy outlook.

In the last 150 years the "chattering and clever monkeys" have introduced 15,000 to 25,000 years of warming.

Quite a large achievement in geo engineering.

Not quite the end result desired though.

Good effort though. They said we couldn't affect the climate of the planet it's too big. We showed them how wrong they could be.

Now we have to live (or die), with it.

[Workingman]

This latest report is bloody scary both for its warnings and in talking away reality.

If we are going to keep to the Paris deal the world needs to produce no more than 39 billion tonnes of CO2 to keep temperatures below the 1.5C increase. If we go to 42 billion tonnes we are likely to break the 2C barrier. However the new assessment claims that we are likely to be pushing out 54 - 56 billion tonnes by 2030. The new figures are ~40% higher than the Paris figure and could lead to temperature rises of 2.9 - 3.4C.

But no problem. We are going to use so-called negative emissions technologies in the second half of the century! Second half?! We are going to plant more trees and use crops that take up CO2 so we can burn them for energy but take out the gasses using Carbon Capture technologies.

By 2050 there will be 10 billion of us, up from 7.2 billion today. They are going to need food, water, shelter, energy... So I ask these half-wits: Where are we going to get all this land from?

[Suff]

We hit 1.2C this year, globally and 1.4C in some areas. We only have two decades before we exceed 1.5C.

What is going to happen in 2 decades? CO2 will rise from 2.1ppm per year decadal average to at least 2.5ppm per year decadal average. in other words it's going to get worse....

The problem with these bloody idiots is they can't comprehend the problem. It's like a hurricane. Sometimes it tracks across the land at 5mph, outside it's influence it's unnaturally still. Of course, when it runs over you, the end is nigh... As they say.

We are in the calm before the storm. The storm is moving very, very slowly but is only increasing in intensity as it moves.

[Workingman]

If we are to stay within the 1.5C limit for 2100 the total CO2 ppm figure is 425 ppm.

If the UN's report figures are anything near then we are pushing out, on average, another 1.3 bn tonnes per year more than is required by the Paris agreement. That translates into an annual increase of slightly more than 2.6 ppm.

To put that into context, we will reach CO2 at 425 ppm in the next ten years, or 75 years ahead of time.

[Suff]

Does that account for the absorption of CO2 in the ocean? currently the ocean absorbs 50% of all the CO2 we emit but it is starting to reach saturation point and becoming acidic. Which is another problem.

The last decade averaged 1.9ppm per year. The 2010's will average around 2.1 or 2.2 because of the low start. But the 2020's will average in the 2.5's.

But I agree, we're going to bust that wide open. Globally we peaked CO2 at around 404ppm this year. That means we only need 21ppm to reach that 425 and at current rates of increase (average), we'll hit it in 8-9 years. After all we increased some 6.5ppm in just two years, thanks to El Nino, in the 2015/16 time frame.

I'm still waiting for the September figure to come in, due about the 15th or so. That will tell me if it's neutral, negative or positive. If it's negative (about 2 out of 5 are), then it's a reprieve. Neutral is OK but if it's positive we're heading for another year over 2.5ppm growth in 2017 and that would be unprecedented in the record too and would show an acceleration which makes a mockery of the Paris accord.

As for 75 years ahead of time, those figures were politically massaged. The real figures are 580 to 650 by 2100 and that's if we actually stat mitigating CO2 in 2000 (yes, I know, 16 years ago).

The last time CO2 was that high, the planet was a swamp... Some might like it. If they survive.