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Friday, August 19, 2022
HAPPENING NOW: Greenpeace demands stronger nature protections in Montreal.
How do you get a politician to listen to your demand for system change? You paint a giant mural right next to where they work. That’s what Greenpeace activists, volunteers and allies are doing right now at Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s office in Montreal. We’re taking to the streets to demand a strong Nature & Biodiversity Act in advance of the biggest nature protection event of the decade—the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
Nelson, the decisions global leaders make at the CBD are existentially significant. We have just eight years to reduce emissions by 50% to prevent total climate chaos and the potential collapse of human civilization. [1, 2] Protecting vast swaths of ocean and natural ecosystems (which absorb carbon and stabilize the climate) will be absolutely critical to this effort. So why—when we have less than a decade to stabilize emissions—is Canada approving new oil projects in ecologically significant areas [3] and shoving pipelines through rivers during salmon runs? [4]
Enough is enough. We need major system change that deeply respects the inherent value and limits of nature. A strong Nature & Biodiversity Act that shifts power from corporations to communities, creates permanent funding for Indigenous stewardship, and establishes an action plan to achieve nature protection targets is an important first step to creating this change. That’s why we’re taking to the streets of Montreal today.
Greenpeace doesn't accept any money from companies or governments so we can be independent and challenge anyone who threatens the planet or peace. To help us keep fighting climate change, defending our oceans and protecting ancient forests, please make a regular donation or start a fundraiser. Thank you!
You can grow the movement for a green and peaceful future. Forward this email and share the signup link for our regular email updates and ways to take action.
Greenpeace demands stronger nature protections in both Montreal and Laval where condo development is running out of control. By cramming thousands of people on a few acres of city land, Condo developers are asking for trouble! There will be traffic problems and sewage problems and without sufficient Green spaces for children, greedy developers are creating slums! Slums are breeding grounds for drug gangs and violence! N.J.R.
Monday, July 18, 2022
I BELIEVE IN ALL MIGHTY "T.E.E.O.T.U." By N. J. Raglione.
Black holes lead me to think of the religious concept of creation and also on the science based concept of "A Big Bang". Here is my take on the all mighty T.E.E.O.T.U. No, not a misspelling...read on dear reader!
I enjoy reading expert theories on how our Universe began. According to both religious scholars and science experts there was something that began the Universe. It led me to an impossible conclusion! The concept of Eternity. There was zero beginning and there will not be an ending!
Millions of people today continue to believe in the concept of a God while Millions more believe in a science based concept of a Big Bang or whatever it was they believe began our Universe. If there was a Big Bang, who lit the fuse? Was it God? What existed in the first place to create a beginning for everything else? If there was no beginning than eternal energy is mind boggling to contemplate and so in my philosophical theory...Hey! If everybody else can theorize why not me!?...human imagination took over in an effort to explain what could not be explained by any other method. Black holes were predicted by Albert Einstein who believed strongly in the power of imagination to help him understand the universe. I believe that he also contemplated a beginning to the universe but I am positive that when he contemplated eternal energy, he discovered the joy of total ignorance. Nobody on Earth understands how the Universe began and that includes (though they may disagree) the best scientific minds on Earth. As a philosophic writer I certainly don't understand the immensity of the Universe and so I have created a Deity to join the ranks of all the Deities on Earth: T. E.E.O.T.U. the all mighty! No, I am not crazy! TEEOTU is an acronym for: The Eternal Energy of the Universe and no priest or philosopher or scientist fully understands T.E.E.O.T.U. even those presently using the marvellous new James Web telescope to explore deep deep deep space. Have a great day and may you fully enjoy our mighty T.E.E.O.T.U!
Signed: Nelson Joseph Raglione...the not so mighty N.J.R..
Taking a page from the tobacco industry’s playbook, fossil fuel companies are running ads that lie about the known health and environmental hazards of their products. And it’s perfectly legal.
Case in point? Gas companies like FortisBC falsely advertising that ‘natural’ gas is a clean and safe fuel, while not being required to tell its customers that children living in homes with gas stoves have up to a 42% increased risk of asthma (that’s comparable to living with a smoker).
These days Canada regulates advertising for tobacco, but still allows fossil fuel companies to get away with similar misinformation and greenwashing. This has to stop.
SIGN NOWWe all know that burning fossil fuels is what’s driving climate change – but it’s also time to reckon with the health impacts that are already affecting people in their homes and everyday lives. Fossil fuel air pollution is responsible for 8.7 million deaths per year worldwide (that’s more than from tobacco use). A shocking 86% of Canadians live in areas where air pollution exceeds the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization, resulting in 34,000 premature deaths in Canada each year. We also know that air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels for transportation increases the risk of illness and death from COVID-19. That’s on top of the warming impacts of climate change itself, including last year’s heat dome during which nearly 600 people died in British Columbia in just one week.
This is information that Canadians deserve to know – and we could – if fossil fuel companies were made to disclose these risks in their advertising.
Canada already regulates advertising for tobacco, cannabis, alcohol, gambling, credit cards, therapeutic services, prescription drugs, natural health products, food, and promotional contests. Why not start regulating advertising for fossil fuels that are directly threatening public and planetary health? People in Canada deserve the whole truth.
I know that banning fossil fuel advertising sounds like an ambitious ask – but controlling tobacco advertising once seemed out of reach too, until it wasn’t.
And it’s in moments like these when the Stand.earth community does its best work. Over the past 20+ years, we’ve worked to protect millions of acres of forests from extractive industries. We’ve gone up against multinational oil, gas, and coal companies worth billions of dollars and come out victorious, blocking dozens of their projects that would have poisoned local communities and accelerated the climate crisis. We’ve shifted billions of dollars of purchasing from corporate powerhouses like Starbucks, Staples, and Levi’s onto sustainable pathways.
So thank you, Nelson, for being the driver of so many important wins. Greenwashing through advertising is simply the latest strategy being employed by fossil fuel companies who can no longer get away with blatant climate denial, and I know we won’t let them get away with it.
THIS ARTICLE IS NO LONGER EXLUSIVE FOR GOOGLE NEWS.
GENTLE PEOPLE:
Apparently the concept of mutually assured destruction or M.A.D. does not worry Vladimir Putin of Russia,
Most people believe that Putin is insane and his horrendous attack on innocent people within the Ukraine is proof of insanity; but there might be a method to his madness! A recent report from the Asian continent claims that Mr. Putin created a network of Hypersonic intercontinental nuclear missiles and placed them within the Arctic Circle. If the report is true, Hypersonic missiles can evade Western anti-missile defences.
What I believe is that Putin is either a good bluff-poker player or a mad genius. While world attention is focused on the Ukraine, Putin is laying claim to the Arctic and all the minerals that lie under the Arctic. He may also be claiming for himself and for Russia, a shipping passage through the melting ice. A passage made possible because of global warming.
What Putin may not be aware of or has chosen to ignore, is how many nuclear missiles are closer to Russia than he realizes. He will have to destroy every city on the European and Western continents within minutes and hope nobody retaliates. He may also fail to understand that soon, very soon, nobody will buy or sell Oil because of Global warming. Melting ice caps may give Putin his Arctic passage but there will not be an international market for oil or even the minerals he dredges up from the sea floor. The Arctic and Antarctic are protected world sanctuaries and Russia will be under international sanctions for a very long time! Also important for Putin to understand, is that after a nuclear holocaust, NOBODY IS LEFT TO BUY OIL! The West will be dead BUT SO WILL RUSSIA. Millions upon millions of people dead because SICK AND CRAZY VLADIMIR PUTIN WANTS MORE TERRITORY!
The fact that 'mutually assured destruction' destroys everybody does not seem to bother Putin. I believe and I may be wrong, that he is a cold blooded sick and dying old man. I presume he does not care if his legacy is total death and destruction. The report that he has Hypersonic missiles may be true or a prefabricated propaganda lie created to terrify the world into submission. Well Mr. Putin here is a message I believe you may not appreciate. Millions of people are ignoring you and continuing to live free and happy lives.
What can be said about the gravitational effect of our Sun? I believe gravity is the reaction created by sub-atomic movement within the Sun proportional to the mass of the Sun. Sir Isaac Newton conjectured that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. I believe gravity is created when complete Atoms fall into the sub-atomic vacuum holes of incomplete Atoms. Vacuum holes are created when Atoms are smashed apart by pressure and heat.
1. The Sun is a large Hydrogen fusion reactor so hot it creates a giant ball of plasma.
2. Our Sun's Plasma is intense and creates an explosive effect which scatters sub-atomic particles into space in the form of radiation and heat and light photons. This explosive effect creates a gravitational back-lash.
3. When Atoms split they create an explosive chain reaction which releases tremendous amounts of energy. When Atoms fuse together they create a Plasma which also releases energy in the form of radiative heat and light photons. Both fission and fusion generate heat and light and both create vacuum holes. If we apply Newton's law, both fission and fusion create equal and opposite sub-atomic reactions.
4. Hydrogen fusion creaes a plasma so intense it creates an explosive force. A force which breaks apart Atoms and sends the sub-atomic particles of heat and light far out into space. This creates a vacuum proportional to the explosive force. When an explosive force is so strong it radiates light Photons and heat millions of miles out into space, it creates a vacuum effect. A reactive elastic effect I believe is gravity. We feel the heat and light radiation down here on Earth.
The Sun's gravity attracts outside energy. When energy falls into the Sun, the process creates what Einstein called large holes in space. A vacuum hole which attracts even more energy, specifically the energy of several Planets, including Earth, and keeps us all circling around the Sun.
.5. If Newton is correct, for every action there is a reaction and for our sun the reaction to Hydrogen fusion is (in my opinion) gravity. Gravity is not fully understood but one theory under study is that Gravity is created by Plasma fusing Atoms at tremendous speed and creating small sub-Atomic vacuum holes during the process. With enough accumulated vacum spaces, you have outside Atoms falling into and filling the holes.
6. You don't need a Sun to create gravity, almost every large mass has gravity including for example, our Moon. If you look deep inside the Moon you will discover a molten mass of plasma. The same goes for our Earth. I believe there is a connection between Plasma and gravity. I believe Sub-Atomic spaces are created by the heat of Plasma multiplied proportionally by the mass of the Sun or the Earth or the Moon. These small sub-Atomic vacuum spaces create more or less a trap for energy which we mistakenly call the "force" of gravity. Gravity is more like the hole in a bath tub than a "force".
The Hydrogen in water for example, is attracted to our Moon creating Ocean tides that rise and fall as the Moon circles the Earth. The Moon's comparitively small sub-Atomic gravity is creating a vacuum effect in space which attracts the Hydrogen in water, while our Earth's larger gravity keeps the Moon circling around the Earth.
7. When Hydrogen in space is sucked into the sun by gravity, it becomes an explosive fuel which creates Plasma and blasts heat and light outwards into space. The sun also, surprisingly, creates Helium which here on Earth, is a lighter than air gas.
8. For every action there is a reaction and I may be wrong but I believe a large Mass of energy attracts a smaller Mass of energy with a reactive force created within Atoms. As gravity forces Atoms to unite into solid forms, they create inward pressure. That pressure creates heat and that heat creates plasma which becomes a concentrated explosive force outwards, and which consequently creates a reactive and opposite and diffused inward effect...gravity.
The gravity of a mass attracts positive energy. The heat and pressure of our Sun, for example, smashes atoms into sub-atomic particles and creates an explosive effect which sends those particles out into space. An explosive force of pressurized consentrated energy exploded outwards from the mass creates a vacuum which, because nature abhors a vacuum, needs to be filled.
Our Sun is a large Hydrogen fusion reactor which creates a giant ball of Plasma so hot it fuses Atoms together creating Helium and consequently, tiny vacuum holes within Atoms. Plasma creates heat and the speed of sub-Atomic energy creates tiny vacuum spaces when sub-atomic particles are blasted out into space. Photons are a good example. When explosive Hydrogen creates heat and Plasma, the Plasma is so hot it fuses more Atoms together at lightning speed radiating heat and photons outwards. Atoms fuse together at tremendous speed, they create reactive spaces much like a truck on a highway creates a vacuum turbulence. Air quickly fills the vacuum space created behind the truck and theoretically, the same thing happens with gravity. New Atoms fill the spaces when pressure and heat fuse and force sub-atomic particles outwards into space. The reaction creates sub Atomic holes which are quickly filled in. with new Atoms, mainly Hydrogen Atoms which fall into the Sun to become part of the fusion process. This filling in process I call gravity.
All mass is composed of Atomic energy. The larger the mass the more Atomic energy it generates.
The pressurizing effect of gravity sends Atoms inward creating heat and plasma. When enough heat occurs inside the mass of the Earth, for example, it creates an expanding outward force of plasma. Exploding Volcanos are a good example of Plasma forcing itself outwards. At the same moment plasma is forced outwards, according to Sir Isaac Newton's theory, an opposite effect is created and energy from an erupting Volcano is often diffused into a seismic Earth quake or a massive Tidal wave. With a Tidal wave, for example, water is often sucked back and compressed before it continues forward on its destructive course.
Gravity attracts and compresses and diffuses energy inwards. This compression of energy creates heat and the larger is a mass of energy, so proportionally is the gravitational effect created when sub-atomic holes are created. Since Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, Hydrogen is quickly attracted to the mass of the Earth and combines with Oxygen to create water. While this is occurring down here on Earth, high above our heads the Sun's gravity is vacuuming explosive Hydrogen inwards filling in sub-atomic holes and providing explosive fuel for the Sun's fusion reaction. When Hydrogen fusion creates Plasma, it explodes outwards to make heat and Sunshine for all life on Earth.
Author: @ Nelson Joseph Raglione Copyright: Nelson Joseph Raglione. Updated Sunday, June 23, 2023 on the Christian calendar.
THERE ARE SEVERAL MILLION NEW EMIGRANTS ENTERING THE U.S. AND CANADA, BOTH LEGALLY AND ILLIGALLY, IN SEARCH OF ASYLUM AND EMPLOYMENT. THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA HAS OPENED THE GATES AND THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING HAS GONE UP!
THE PRICE OF FOOD HAS GONE UP AND WE CAN HEAR THE SCREAMS OF PEOPLE TERRIFIED OF STARVING TO DEATH!! WHAT CAN THEY POSSIBLY DO TO SAVE THEMSELVES? HOW ABOUT PLANTING A SIMPLE VICTORY GARDEN TODAY IN THE BACK YARD INSTEAD OF CUTTING GRASS WITH A GAS POLLUTING LAWN MOWER?
WITHIN FORTY DAYS YOU WILL HAVE BEANS AND CUCUMBERS ALONG WITH RADISHES AND TOMATOES AND CARROTS, ALL READY TO EAT. IT ONLY TAKES A FEW FEET OF LAND, HOWEVER, GARDENS DO NEED TO BE WEEDED! YOU MIGHT HAVE TO DO A LITTLE BIT OF WORK TO REMOVE UNWANTED GRASS! YOU CAN ALSO GROW FOOD IN POTS ON YOUR ROOF.
THERE ARE NOW THOUSANDS OF NEW GREENHOUSES ACROSS CANADA AND LARGE GARDEN BUILDINGS WITHIN CITIES PRODUCING VEGETABLES FOR THOUSANDS OF CITY PEOPLE. THESE PESTICIDE FREE GREENHOUSES AND VERTICAL GARDENS ARE BEING CREATED ALL OVER THE WORLD TO OFF-SET ONCE ARABLE LAND FOOLISHLY DESTROYED BY HUMAN EXPLOITATION. GLOBAL WARMING IS ALSO A FACTOR MOTIVATING THE CREATION OF THESE VERTICAL GARDENS AND SO WHY NOT ASK YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO CREATE A FEW THOUSAND MORE TEN STORY TOWER GARDENS FILLED WITH CLEAN AND TASTY VEGETABLES. WHILE YOU ARE AT IT, WHY NOT ASK FOR MORE CO-OP HOUSEING FOR THE THOUSANDS OF HOMELESS PEOPLE NOW FILLING OUR CITY STREETS? THEY CAN HELP WORK IN THE GARDENS!
YOU CAN GROW TOMATOES IN POTS OR IN SMALL TWO FOOT SQUARE GARDEN PLOTS DUG NEAR YOUR FENCE LINE. THEY DON'T TAKE UP MUCH SPACE. HAPPY GARDENING! N.J.R.
For all investors worried about losing money because of Putin's war in the Ukraine, these facts will make you feel better.
Fact number 1. Vladimir Putin and his generals are not the Russian people. In Russia today there is not a wave of national patriotism hailing Putin as a hero! There is, however, fear and desperation created by Putin's despotic leadership. He has arrested and imprisoned his own citizens who dared speak up against the war in Ukraine. Putin is responsible for and continues to generate a war in Ukraine because he lost the gamble to recreate the Russian empire. It is now a failed personal dream he had of restructuring the old Communist empire. His dream is not shared by the Russian people who are suffering from international sanctions. His dream is pathological with the consequence that he no longer scares people even with his saber rattling threat of nuclear war. His days are numbered. Goodbye Putin!
Fact number 2.
The World does not need Russia!
North America, Europe and China do not need Russian products.
North America has wheat fields: plenty of grain, Cattle, Chickens and Pigs. China and most of Asia have rice fields. The world does not need Russia.
And now for some extra good news. Vertical farms are producing thousands of pounds of vegetables and they are reducing weather related agricultural problems. No more pesticides and plenty of food for people in cities everywhere. Wind turbines, Solar panels and cleaner nuclear reactors are now producing electricity all over North America while the world waits for the new fusion reactors to come on line.
New technology is exploding everywhere with China in the lead. Around the world Electric cars are taking over the roads in the face of desperate oil and gas producers, including Russia. In short, chin up, the stock markets will rise! N.J.R.
This is a moment for investors to remind themselves not to panic, says Lisa Kramer, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management who studies the interplay between human emotion and markets. “Fear doesn’t drive good decision making,” she says. “If you look at your portfolio every day or multiple times a day, it will just look more volatile.” With that in mind, Prof. Kramer has started to minimize her consumption of market and economic news. (In other words, read this story, but then step away from the screen.)
Could all the recession talk actually be a sign we’re reaching a bottom? After all, when even Cardi B is weighing in on the business cycle, surely that means pessimism is reaching a saturation point. Perhaps, says Mr. Atwater, but the mood in markets still feels more like “impatience rather than capitulation.” For his part, Mr. Grantham argues a bottom won’t come until investors are “terrified” to own stocks.
The bears, meanwhile, continue to accumulate data points they say prove their case: inventory pileups at retailers, weakening corporate profit outlooks, plunging auto sales. And as of Friday, the mood in America reached a devastating new low: The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 50.8, a level not seen since the gauge was created in the1950s.
===
Why so negative?
The two main reasons are
1. Covid 19
2. Putin's prolonged and devastating attack on the Ukraine...without his desired result.
Both are no longer believed to be serious threats and the stock markets will recover. N.J.R.
Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now
June 9 (Reuters) - Ukrainian troops claimed on Thursday to have pushed forward in intense street fighting in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk but said their only hope of turning the tide was more artillery to offset Russia's massive firepower. read more
* The battle for Sievierodonetsk is being waged house to house and at times under heavy Russian artillery barrages that endangered troops on both sides, the commander of Ukraine's Svoboda (Freedom) National Guard battalion said.
* Ukrainian forces still hold the industrial zone and adjacent areas in Sievierodonetsk and the situation is "difficult but manageable", but evacuating 10,000 remaining civilians is now impossible, Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said.
* The Ukrainian Defence Ministry said its forces had won back some territory from Russian forces in a counter-offensive in the Kherson area of southern Ukraine. Reuters was unable to independently verify the situation on the ground.
* Two Britons and a Moroccan who were captured while fighting for Ukraine could face the death penalty after pleading guilty in a court of one of Russia's proxies in eastern Ukraine, Russia's RIA news agency reported. read more
* Western-supplied artillery systems are already making a difference on the ground for Ukraine and it is "just a question of time" before its forces win back significant ground in the south, the governor of the Mykolaiv region said. read more
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* The Kremlin said no agreement had been reached to sell grain from Ukraine to Turkey - which Ukraine says Russia has stolen from it - but that work on a deal was continuing. Moscow denies stealing the grain but the United States says there are credible reports that Russia is "pilfering" it. read more
* Millions of people may starve because of Russia's blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. The world, he said, faces a "terrible food crisis" with Ukraine unable to export large amounts of wheat, corn and oil. Russia has blamed the crisis on Ukrainian mines laid at sea and international sanctions against Moscow. read more
"Yesterday was successful for us - we launched a counteroffensive and in some areas we managed to push them back one or two blocks. In others they pushed us back, but just by a building or two," he said in a televised interview.
"Yesterday the occupiers suffered serious losses - if every day were like yesterday, this would all be over soon."
But he said his forces were suffering from a "catastrophic" lack of counter-battery artillery to fire back at Russia's guns, and getting such weapons would transform the battlefield.
"Even without these systems, we are holding on fine. There is an order to hold our positions and we are holding them. It is unbelievable what the surgeons are doing without the proper equipment to save soldiers' lives."
Sievierodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said on Thursday around 10,000 civilians were still trapped inside the city - around a tenth of its pre-war population.
To the west of Sievierodonetsk, Russia is pushing from the north and south, trying to trap Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region comprising Luhansk and neighbouring Donetsk province, blasting Ukrainian-controlled towns in their path with artillery.
In Soledar, a salt-mining town near Bakhmut close to the front line, buildings had been blasted into craters.
Remaining residents, mostly elderly, were sheltering in a crowded cellar. A woman peeled potatoes and swatted away flies. Men lay asleep on cots. Kateryna, 85, curled up under a blanket, her hair wrapped in a scarf.
"It will be as God shall give," she said, her voice drowned out by the sound of barking dogs.
Antonina, 65, had ventured out to see her garden. "We are staying. We live here. We were born here." She sobbed: "When is it all going to end?"
HUMAN IMPACT
* Tourists once flocked to the Ukrainian resort of Odesa to lie on its Black Sea beaches, but the white sands are now covered in mines because of the war with Russia and police officers patrol the boardwalks. read more
POLITICS
* Russia's proxies in occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia province announced plans to stage a referendum on joining Russia at an unspecified date later this year. read more
QUOTES
* "This is a very brutal battle, very tough, perhaps one of the most difficult throughout this war. Sievierodonetsk remains the epicentre of the encounter in Donbas...Largely, that is where the fate of our Donbas is being decided now." -Zelenskiy
KHERSON COUNTER-OFFENSIVE
In the south, Moscow is trying to impose its rule on a tract of occupied territory spanning Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, where Russian-installed proxy authorities say they are planning referendums to join Russia.
The Ukrainian Defence Ministry said on Thursday its forces had won back some territory in a counter-offensive in Kherson.
It gave no details about the location of the advance, but said the Russian forces had "suffered losses in manpower and equipment", and planted mines and erected barricades as they were pushed back.
Ukraine reported a counter-offensive in Kherson last week, claiming to have seized a bridgehead on the south bank of the Inhulets river forming a boundary of the province, confirmed this week by Britain's ministry of defence. The situation there could not be independently confirmed.
Thousands of people have been killed and millions have fled since Moscow launched its "special military operation" to disarm and "denazify" its neighbour on Feb. 24. Ukraine and its allies call the invasion an unprovoked war of aggression.
Ukraine is one of the world's biggest grain and food oil exporters, and international attention has focused in recent weeks on the threat of international famine seen as caused by Russia's blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea ports.
"Millions of people may starve if the Russian blockade of the Black Sea continues," Zelenskiy said on Thursday in televised remarks.
Moscow blames the food crisis on Western sanctions restricting its own grain exports. It says it is willing to let Ukrainian ports open for exports if Ukraine removes mines and meets other conditions. Kyiv calls such offers empty promises.
Turkey, a NATO power with good relations with both Kyiv and Moscow, has tried to mediate, hosting Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for talks on Tuesday.
Russia has also been trying to sell grain from areas of Ukraine it seized, activity Kyiv and the West call looting. Asked if any deal had been reached to sell grain from southern Ukraine to Turkey or a Middle Eastern country, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "So far no agreements have been reached, work is continuing."
The grain crisis took front stage at a meeting of the OECD group of developed countries in Paris.
"We need to unblock the millions of tonnes of cereals that are stuck there because of the conflict," Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said in a speech. "We have to offer President Zelenskiy the assurances he needs that the ports will not be attacked."
Geneva, 9 May 2022 (WMO) - There is a 50:50 chance of the annual average global temperature temporarily reaching 1.5 °C above the pre-industrial level for at least one of the next five years – and the likelihood is increasing with time, according to a new climate update issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
There is a 93% likelihood of at least one year between 2022-2026 becoming the warmest on record and dislodging 2016 from the top ranking. The chance of the five-year average for 2022-2026 being higher than the last five years (2017-2021) is also 93%, according to the Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update, produced by the United Kingdom’s Met Office, the WMO lead centre for such predictions.
The annual update harnesses the expertise of internationally acclaimed climate scientists and the best prediction systems from leading climate centres around the world to produce actionable information for decision-makers.
“This study shows – with a high level of scientific skill – that we are getting measurably closer to temporarily reaching the lower target of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The 1.5°C figure is not some random statistic. It is rather an indicator of the point at which climate impacts will become increasingly harmful for people and indeed the entire planet,” said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas.
“For as long as we continue to emit greenhouse gases, temperatures will continue to rise. And alongside that, our oceans will continue to become warmer and more acidic, sea ice and glaciers will continue to melt, sea level will continue to rise and our weather will become more extreme. Arctic warming is disproportionately high and what happens in the Arctic affects all of us,” said Prof. Taalas.
The Paris Agreement sets long-term goals to guide all nations to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to limit the global temperature increase in this century to 2 °C while pursuing efforts to limit the increase even further to 1.5 °C.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that climate-related risks for natural and human systems are higher for global warming of 1.5 °C than at present, but lower than at 2 °C.
Dr Leon Hermanson, of the Met Office led the report. He said: “Our latest climate predictions show that continued global temperature rise will continue, with an even chance that one of the years between 2022 and 2026 will exceed 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels. A single year of exceedance above 1.5 °C does not mean we have breached the iconic threshold of the Paris Agreement, but it does reveal that we are edging ever closer to a situation where 1.5 °C could be exceeded for an extended period.”
In 2021, the global average temperature was 1.1 °C above the pre-industrial baseline, according to the provisional WMO report on the State of the Global Climate. The final State of the Global Climate report for 2021 will be released on 18 May.
Back-to-back La Niña events at the start and end of 2021 had a cooling effect on global temperatures, but this is only temporary and does not reverse the long-term global warming trend. Any development of an El Niño event would immediately fuel temperatures, as it did in 2016, which is until now the warmest year on record.
The findings of the annual update include:
The annual mean global near-surface temperature for each year between 2022 and 2026 is predicted to be between 1.1 °C and 1.7 °C higher than preindustrial levels (the average over the years 1850-1900).
The chance of global near-surface temperature exceeding 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels at least one year between 2022 and 2026 is about as likely as not (48%). There is only a small chance (10%) of the five-year mean exceeding this threshold.
The chance of at least one year between 2022 and 2026 exceeding the warmest year on record, 2016, is 93%. The chance of the five-year mean for 2022-2026 being higher than the last five years (2017-2021) is also 93%.
The Arctic temperature anomaly, compared to the 1991-2020 average, is predicted to be more than three times as large as the global mean anomaly when averaged over the next five northern hemisphere extended winters.
There is no signal for the El Niño Southern Oscillation for December-February 2022/23, but the Southern Oscillation index is predicted to be positive in 2022.
Predicted precipitation patterns for 2022 compared to the 1991-2020 average suggest an increased chance of drier conditions over southwestern Europe and southwestern North America, and wetter conditions in northern Europe, the Sahel, north-east Brazil, and Australia.
Predicted precipitation patterns for the May to September 2022-2026 average, compared to the 1991-2020 average, suggest an increased chance of wetter conditions in the Sahel, northern Europe, Alaska and northern Siberia, and drier conditions over the Amazon.
Predicted precipitation patterns for the November to March 2022/23-2026/27 average, compared to the 1991-2020 average, suggest increased precipitation in the tropics and reduced precipitation in the subtropics, consistent with the patterns expected from climate warming.
Notes for Editors:
With the UK’s Met Office acting as lead centre, climate prediction groups from Spain, Germany, Canada, China, USA, Japan, Australia, Sweden, Norway and Denmark contributed new predictions this year. Combining forecasts from climate prediction centres worldwide enables a higher quality product than what can be obtained from any single source.
The development of near-term prediction capability was driven by the WMO co-sponsored World Climate Research Programme, which declared one of its overarching Grand Challenges is to support research and development to improve multi-year to decadal climate predictions and their utility to decision makers.
Comprehensive Assessment Reports about the state of scientific, technical and socio-economic knowledge on climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for reducing the rate at which climate change is taking place are the responsibility of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which also issued a Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C.
The World Meteorological Organization is the United Nations System’s authoritative voice on Weather, Climate and Water
For further information contact: Clare Nullis, WMO media officer, cnullis@wmo.int. Tel + 41 79 709 13 97
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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that climate-related risks for natural and human systems are higher for global warming of 1.5 °C than at present, but lower than at 2 °C.
