Two or three major items to cover, from this past week, but for today just this one, apropos my review of the David Wallace-Wells book.
NYT, John Bistline, Inês Azevedo, Chris Bataille and Steven Davis, 10 April 2022: We Are Wasting Time on These Climate Debates. The Next Steps Are Clear.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which was released last week and which we co-authored with many colleagues, offers hope for limiting global warming.
But there is no time to waste. And wasted time includes time spent debating issues that divert us from our most important priorities right now.
The article discusses the various debates to avoid — exactly how much of our energy should come from wind and solar; how much carbon removal will be needed by mid-century; whether we have the technologies we need.
Concluding:
Ultimately, we don’t know exactly what a net-zero emissions energy system will look like, but we know enough to keep us busy for at least a decade: We need to deploy mature technologies (renewables, storage, electric vehicles, efficient equipment like heat pumps) and invest in technologies that may be needed down the road. There’s little doubt that net-zero pathways could decrease fossil fuel use, electrify transport, and improve efficiency.
The United States pledged in 2021 to cut emissions at least in half by 2030, but emissions surged almost 7 percent in 2021. Although the budget bill is currently stalled in the Senate, over $500 billion in clean energy investments in the bill could, according to a recent analysis, put emissions back on track to meet the 2030 target. During a time when global oil and natural gas prices are rising, these tax credits and other policies in the proposed bill also could lower annual energy expenses by 6.6 percent for households and businesses by 2030.
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The other big pieces I will cover soon are one by Jonathan Haidt in The Atlantic, Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid, and one by Louis Menand in The New Yorker, The People Who Decide What Becomes History. I’ve drafted a post about the former.
