During 2021, 136 articles were posted on Below2C under the broad categories of climate, energy, solutions, environment, fossil banks and socio-politico. The number of views on the Below2C.Org site was close to 42,000. We wish to thank our viewers and followers on social media for their support by featuring these top five articles of 2021.
Top Five Posts
1. There’s an Avalanche of Climate Bullshit Coming at Us
According to the latest NDC Report (Nationally Determined Contributions) were “on track for emissions to be just 0.5% below 2010 levels“ when what is really needed is a 45% reduction. “We are at the point where everyone agrees something must be done, but many are making only vague, distant promises of ineffective action,” writes Carrington. It’s time to counteract the climate bullshit coming at us. Click here for the full article. (2836 views)
2. One Word That Describes G7 Overall Climate Performance: Mediocre
“The G7 has not been a strong, effective leader on climate change, measured in part by its members’ carbon dioxide emissions and their investments in fossil fuels far surpassing their investments in renewables,” reveals a recent analytical study by the G7 Research Group. “G7 leaders are still not treating anthropogenic climate change like the existential emergency it is.” For the most part, the G7 climate performance has been insufficient and ineffective. In short, mediocre. Click here for the full article. (2773 views)
3. What do Heat Waves, Wildfires and Banks Have in Common?
What banks, heat waves and wildfires have in common is climate change. Banks, and their like—insurers, pension plans, and investment funds—shamelessly contribute to climate breakdown, climate chaos and climate disasters.
Canada’s big five banks – RBC, TD, Scotia, BMO, CIBC – have poured C$726 billion into fossil fuels worldwide. This includes C$299 billion in fossil expansion and close to C$100 billion in the Tar Sands at a time when we need to dramatically reduce fossil fuel use. Click here for the full article. (2585 views)
4. Only Pretending To Be Climate Leaders
“Let’s be clear—what you are doing is not about climate action or responding to an emergency. It never was,” said Greta Thunberg during her address at the recent Austrian World Summit. Most will agree that world leaders are only pretending to be climate leaders, only pretending to take the climate threat seriously. Click here for the full article. (2270 views)
5. A Mother’s Call For Climate Action
Carole Holmes is Co-Chair of GASP, Grandmothers Act to Save the Planet. As a grandmother she has deep concerns for the environmental health of the planet her grandchildren will inherit. In this post she tells her story about how her bank is financing the climate crisis. It’s a call for climate action aimed directly at RBC, Canada’s worst fossil bank. But RBC is not alone. Together with TD, Scotia, BMO and CIBC, the Big Five Canadian banks have loaned $700 billion dollars to the fossil fuel industry since 2016. Click here for the full article. (2161 views)
ICYMI:
Look Up! There’s a Killer Comet Heading for Earth: Climate Change
Plastic Is The New Coal
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Anyone who actually believes that depending on weather as a reliable source of electrical energy is delusional – a believer in the Tooth Fairy, as James Hansen, the top US climate scientist said. He and his colleagues from NOAA predicted 8 years ago that this approach would lead to electrical energy shortages and an INCREASE in the use of fossil fuels and carbon emission. Today we see that prediction being realized in Europe, as availability of wind and solar energy has declined below expected values (less wind, more clouds) and Germany has shut down nuclear power plants, as promoted by Renneburg and the Green Party. Consequently Germany is burning more lignite, Europe has become dependent on Putin’s NG and CO2 emissions are going UP, not down. Hansen predicts a failure of efforts to control CO2 emissions and a world calamity. But what do climate scientists know about the weather.
Welcome to Below2C Robert.
You present a dismal view with respect to the global push to renewables. If we fail at replacing fossils as our main energy platform, we are doomed. And perhaps Hansen is right.
Thank you for the feedback.