Breaking Free From Our Carbon Entanglement and a Dinosaur Industry
In a remarkable milestone, Mexican economist diplomat José Angel Gurría spoke out as secretary-general of the OECD – sketching a future that should have the global coal industry shaking in its boots.
His message is that we need to achieve net zero emissions of carbon dioxide emissions, to which the coal industry is a massive contributor, by the second half of the century.
With 2015 slated to see the next major climate summit, in Paris, political leaders have a shrinking window of opportunity to get a grip on the biggest crisis of all. The latest International Panel on Climate Change report, stresses the existential threat to key parts of our global economy—with the level of warming now outside anything seen in the history of civilization.
The answer? “Whatever policy mix we cook up,” Angel Gurría insisted.
Willingly or not, asset holders, governments and corporations will have to face the facts on carbon emissions. The OECD knows the incumbent industries will resist the necessary changes—but can we turn up the heat under the world’s politicians and make coal look like a dinosaur industry? John Elkington lays out the stakes on Talkback.
Adaptation and Resiliency In the Face of Climate Change at VERGE
When looking at the landscape of climate change in the literal sense, destructive storms like Hurricane Sandy and rising sea levels are threatening to consume vast areas. City planners have their work cut out, and are using technology to discover future crisis scenarios—and solutions.
At verge San Francisco, techniques using digital mapping were shown by the City of Vancouver as an effective means to identify where to address climate change. They were able to use technology to map heat problem spots. By being able to “see” scenarios, the City was able to strategically plant thousands of trees to offset temperature rise.
In addition to extreme heat planning, flood risk assessment is a big part of green infrastructure, too.How has Vancouver been able to identify the dizzying number of changes to be made, and then narrow them down to an actionable to-do list?
One answer is “lidar” – which is a 3D scan of a city. By seeing where flood areas are through digital visualization, urban planners can more accurately project where they need to build, fill, rezone and be proactive.
For any smart urban planner, lidar scans are proving to be a must-have to prevent disaster scenarios, writes Amy Seidman of Noble Profit. Read more of her smart city takeaways on Talkback.
Roozt.com: Harnessing the Power of Online Shopping for Social Good
Roozt.com, the oldest and largest online shopping platform for socially conscious brands, unveiled a new user experience that lets members harness their entire social networks for social good—si…Read More.
Climate Change report, stresses the existential threat to key parts of our global economy—with the level of warming now outside anything seen in the history of civilization.
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