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A year ago at the Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos – heeding the advice of speakers including Greta Thunberg, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Prince Charles – government, business and civil society committed to take more concrete action on climate change and save the planet from a hot, smoky, polluted demise.
Throughout the week, delegates watched in horror as bushfires ravaged Australia – ultimately burning more than 11 million hectares of land and killing or displacing as many as 3 billion animals. By the end of the week, a Davos press conference about a new global threat – a highly infectious virus emerging in China – showed the world that we could no longer ignore the links between the health of the planet and the health of humans, economies and societies.
From 25-29 January 2021, The Davos Agenda will bring many of those leaders together again to discuss the innovative and bold solutions needed to stem the pandemic and drive a robust recovery – with a focus on the resiliency and sustainability of our ecosystems and infrastructure.
Click here to access the complete article as originally posted on the World Economic Forum website.
Davos Agenda: What you need to know about saving the planet by Samantha Sault, Agenda, World Economic Forum, Jan 24, 2021
In the American West, the drought that paved the way for 2020’s hellscape of wildfires is poised to be even worse this year. Fanning the flames: La Niña.
The weather pattern has reached the peak of its power, wreaking havoc on a world already reeling from an unprecedented string of extreme weather brought on by climate change. Characterized by a cooling of the equatorial Pacific, La Niña triggers an atmospheric reaction that roils commodities markets across the globe—parching cropland in some areas while bringing a flood of rain to others.
In the U.S. West, the biggest threat is drought. Even as long-awaited rain falls this week, water scarcity plagues 78% of 11 western states, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. January should be California’s wettest month, bringing an end to fire season with frequent rain along the coast and valleys and snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But with La Niña steering the winter away from the state, fire season now seems to be limitless. A record 4.2 million acres burned in the state in 2020, and the threat still hasn’t abated. At least a dozen blazes erupted this month as dry gusts rattled the southern half of the state.
La Niña Roars, Unleashing Fire, Drought and Floods Worldwide by Brian K Sullivan and Mira Rojanasakul, Bloomberg News, Jan 23, 2021
Hat tip to the Stop Climate Science Denial Facebook page.
Climate change activist Greta Thunberg says that the climate goals from the Biden administration are "very far from being in line with the Paris Agreement" but welcomes the new tone from the president.
Katy Tur interviews Greta Thunberg and Michael Mann, MSNBC, Jan 22, 2021
[To be added.]
Click here to access the detailed analysis of this claim by a panel of experts.
Posted by John Hartz on Sunday, 24 January, 2021
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