NGL's Xtreme Climate, etc Events / Trends Diary - July 2017

NGL's Xtreme Climate, etc Events / Trends Diary - July 2017

Sr Details

1 Deadly freak storm hits Istanbul with hailstones as large as golf balls & floods sweep city http://flip.it/5GuowA . 20 mins storm. Xtreme.

2 Torrential rains in Myanmar since early July has caused massive floods in the country, displacing more than 100,000 people. Video:Buddhist pagoda gets swallowed up by floodwaters in Myanmar http://flip.it/fapk-f . Xtreme climate events.

3 Climate change related hydrological events. Rain bombs. Strange Summer Nor’Easter Drops 3 Inches of Rain in 45 Minutes Over Parts of D.C. Area. Robert Scribbler.

4 Kolkata world’s most heat stressed city this century. Veritable frogs in boiling water. https://www.skymetweather.com/content/climate-change/kolkata-to-remain-worlds-most-heat-stressed-city-this-century/ …

5 Climate change blamed as EU’s forest fires treble in 2017. There have been 677 blazes in 2017 – a huge increase on the 215 the bloc saw annually on average over the previous eight years. https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/-climate-change-blamed-as-eus-forest-fir/f-53d9c66423%2Feuronews.com

6 Men's sperm counts have fallen dramatically in last 40 years — Is modern life the reason? http://flip.it/fph2.9 . Stress, diet. Dystopic.

7 If the worst climate-change predictions come true, hundreds of coastal US towns and cities — from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Galveston, Texas — could disappear underwater by 2100. https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/-6-major-us-cities-could-be-underwater-w/f-e9557e827d%2Fbusinessinsider.com

8 Vatican turns off fountains as Rome gasps in drought https://www.yahoo.com/news/vatican-turns-off-fountains-rome-gasps-drought-011507579--finance.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw … via @YahooNews. Climocalypse @ hand. Like zombies we r hurtling

9 Foreign animals and plants can cause huge damage, with the march of Argentine ants in the UK a new example of how climate change is boosting the threat. Alien species invasions and global warming a 'deadly duo', warn scientists. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/25/alien-species-invasions-and-global-warming-a-deadly-duo-warn-scientists

10 A planet devastated by climate change may seem like a distant future. But Earth is already experiencing the effects of rising global temperatures today. Worldwide, the mean rate of sea level rise increased 50% in the last two decades. In 2017, temperatures have already reached their highest levels in history in some areas, from California to Vietnam . The past three years were the hottest on record . http://www.businessinsider.in/Even-if-every-country-on-the-planet-cuts-emissions-the-climate-would-still-be-screwed/articleshow/59564688.cms

11 It's not just you.The months are indeed getting warmer
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/monthly-temperature-shift-gif-climate-change_us_597b63ece4b02a8434b630df …. alarming graph. analysis paralysis. we r horribly trapped.

12 Alarmism Is the Argument We Need to Fight Climate Change. New York magazine’s global-warming horror story isn’t too scary. It’s not scary enough. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/07/we_are_not_alarmed_enough_about_climate_change.html

13 Record rains and floods in Japan. ASAKURA, Japan (Reuters) - Torrential rains battered southwestern Japan for a second day on Thursday, killing three people, with 100,000 ordered to evacuate their homes and while thousands of rescuers, some in helicopters, searched for survivors.
Parts of Fukuoka prefecture, on the island of Kyushu, were hit by 556 mm (22 inches) of rain in the 40 hours to 4 p.m. (0700 GMT) on Thursday, about 1.6 times the amount that usually falls in the whole of July, the weather agency said. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-asia-storm-japan-idUSKBN19R01O

NGL’s Radical Core Manifesto for averting Climocalypse: Survival Kit

This contains the most radical measures of New Grammar of Living which are needed to be implemented if we need to become in one year's time zero carbon and environmental degradation. 

Climate objectives:

Try to halt and reverse the relentless march of climate change through back to nature movement…

Strategic climate policies

All government, education, commercial, manufacturing, infrastructure, logistics, agriculture and food, environment, transportation, administration bodies/organisations/social groups/etc will need to recast their strategic objectives / action plans in terms of priorities aligned with the needs associated with coping and combating and reversing rapid climate change, environmental degradation….

Climate Measures

1.    Stop using air conditioning and heating for temperatures between 10C and 30C in cold countries and up to 35C in warm countries across the world.

2.    Running hot and cold water to be stopped except in hospitals. 

3.    Stop using internal combustion engine cars, SUVs, vans, and all kind of trucks except for food transport, medical needs.

4.    Ban usage of washing machines, dryers, dish washing machines due to their intensive use of water and power. 

5.    Stop usage of fossil fuel and other non-renewable energy production except in hospitals. 

6.    Strict family planning and population control / reduction through one child limits and no child rules in required cases. 

7.    Closure of all non-essential manufacturing units. All products to be subject to strict water and carbon limits. Products to be water and carbon positive. 

8.    Planned and sparing use of lifts.  

9.    No neon and bright lighting.

10. Strict water control and caps on uses. Rationing of potable water.

11. Limiting cloud usage of all social network websites. 

12. Ban on smoke emitting activities.

13. Clamp down on non-green conspicuous consumption.

14. Reduce high carbon agriculture.

15. Reduce air travel by 75%. Permit only essential and humanitarian travel. All other travel by bus, train, etc to be based up urgency, essential services, critical industries…

16. No new coal plants. Phased closure of existing coal plants in one year framework. Stop new hydel projects.

17. No ironing of clothes. Ban on suits above 20C. 

18. Phase out non-vegetarian food. Water intensive meats first. 

19. Climate police, surveillance, information, networks, etc to be set up for ensuring strict implementation with stringent 360 deg punishment process. Existing departments in these areas to work closely with climate bodies and report to them.

20. Ministry of Climate with overarching powers to eradicate the root causes which have led the present climocalypse state….

Strategic Initiatives

1.    Top priority to climate, environment studies and research at all educational, technology institutions. 

2.    Climate change mitigation plans for top 1000 cities of the world. 

3.    Map all major geographical locations, especially those which could be safe in terms of potential climate changes and events, and prepare historical grids of temperature, rainfall, flooding, aquifer levels, storms, etc. Then applying auto regressive models make projections for next 30-50 years. Arrive at best places to stay during 2050-2100. 

4.    Similar research for top cities and try to find out their respective breaking points in terms of becoming inhabitable due to action of one or more of climate perils / hazards as they increase exponentially. 

5.    Prepare action plans for shifting/ migration population from collapsing cities when clichange intensifies to the safe places identified from above research. 

6.    Climate proof ratings for cities, buildings, complexes, organisations, homes. 

7.    Green action plans for cities, buildings, complexes, organisations, homes.

8.    Deurbanisation action plans.

9.    Decarbonisation action plans. To include reducing cars on roads. Stop producing internal combustion engine cars. 

10. Rehabilitation and restructuring action plans for implementing Climate Action Plans under which many carbon intensive products and industries are going to be banned, controlled, phased out, remodelled, merged, closed for individuals, companies, sectors, industries. 

11. Universal income scheme of Zuckerberg especially since several industries like car, fossil fuel based, etc would need to close.

12. Carbon and water values for all consumer products, food, buildings, manufactured items. 

13. Carbon and water monitoring and meters for homes, offices, buildings, complexes, organisations and cities. 

14. Above points 6 to 13 to be linked to salary structures, individual and company tax rates, GST, interest rates both for deposits and loans.

15. Processes and systems for all above. 

Strategic Coping Plans for Climate Change

Espouse, write, help in implementing radical or moderate versions of the following action points: 

1.    Heat Action Plans for cities and rural areas.

2.    Flood action plans. 

3.    Sea level rise action plans

4.    Back to nature and roots movements for urban people.

5.    Integrated climate plan for alternative lifestyles and eco systems for Zero carbon societies. 

The above list is not a comprehensive or exhaustive one. Further details of the above will be published in this blog periodically…each of the above points need to be expanded and fleshed out into draft action plans….then maybe with the collaborations of educational and research institutions these drafts can be finalised….next get in touch with agencies which can implement these and convince them about the usefulness of these action plans for combatting climate change… we must try to minimise the ravages of climocalypse by being better prepared….

Urgent need for Holistic Manifesto for combating CLIMOCALYPSE

Today we are at the most critical crossroad of human history...we have reached or crossed tipping points in most spheres...this juncture of human history is characterised by the following mega trends: 

• population has crossed 7 bn which is far beyond what the resources of our dear planet can support...

• debt levels of the globe are highly over leveraged at least three times total GDP of all countries at about $ 300 trillion ... if we include derivatives the financial weapon of mass destruction then the debt to GDP ratio could be in the numbing 10 to 20 range...

• urbanisation is reaching unsustainable proportions thanks to proliferation of media and transportation which is making it easy for rural population to migrate to cities in search of modern lifestyles, jobs, education and better prospects .... resulting in growth of urban concrete jungles with attendant nightmarish problems of heat stress, garbage disposal, sewerage, pollution, crime and violence, water scarcity. Urban areas which constitute only 1% of global land mass emit 60% of carbon....

• rampant high energy / carbon intensive lifestyles due to cars, ACs, surfeit of electrical, consumer durable & electronic gadgets, air travel....

• societal transformation marked by rise of divorces, single parents, permissiveness, drugs, guns, tv and entertainment.....

• rise of tech, Internet and AI which are now synonymous with life with the ubiquitous mobile becoming our alter ego......our robotesque future close at hand.. and the hurtle towards the age of singularity ….

• widening inequalities across the world giving rise to dissatisfaction with political parties of past, inner cities and slums, decline in effective demand a prerequisite for keeping the wheels of capitalism moving, ….

• surge of migrants due to inclement climate, religious persecution and terror, .....

• Wars and terror...to some extent both are intertwined... terror has made inroads into Europe... and the proliferation of nukes and especially the nuke programs of Iran and North Korea are creating global tension mainly after Trump's arrival.....but what is probably as scary is the possibility of terror groups acquiring nukes or dirty bombs along with fallen states like Pakistan with large nuke piles....

Though each of the above is game stopper by itself ...the combined cross impact of these paints a very grim picture...but last but not least it is climate change which is fast threatening to become the ultimate game changer....climate change (clichange) is also integrally intertwined with most of the above mega trends....except for the probability of a nuclear war, clichange is 100% probability event which is insidiously spreading its tentacles on all parts of the globe with increasing frequency, intensity and amplitude...through unusual unseasonal extreme weather events, global warming especially at the poles, urban heat stress, increasing precipitation and resulting flooding, storms and tornados, rising sea levels, snow, pollution, dust storms, warming oceans....

Yogi's Climate Action Plan

Climate Action Plan: Espouse, write, help in implementing radical or moderate versions of the following action points: 

1.       Heat Action Plans for Indian cities and rural areas.

2.       Flood action plans. 

3.       Climate proof ratings for cities, buildings, complexes, organisations, homes. 

4.       Green action plans for cities, buildings, complexes, organisations, homes.

5.       Deurbanisation action plans.

6.       Decarbonisation action plans. To include reducing cars on roads. Stop producing internal combustion engine cars. 

7.       Back to nature and roots movements for urban people.

8.       Integrated climate plan for alternative lifestyles and eco systems for Zero carbon societies. 

9.       Rehabilitation and restructuring action plans for implementing Climate Action Plans under which many carbon intensive products and industries are going to be banned, controlled, phased out, remodelled, merged, closed for individuals, companies, sectors, industries. 

10.   Universal income scheme of Zuckerberg especially since several industries like car, fossil fuel based, etc would need to close.

11.   Carbon and water values for all consumer products, food, buildings, manufactured items. 

12.   Carbon and water monitoring and meters for homes, offices, buildings, complexes, organisations and cities. 

13.   12 linked to salary structures, individual and company tax rates, GST, interest rates both for deposits and loans.

14.   Processes and systems for all above. 

The above list is not a comprehensive or exhaustive one. Further details of the above will be published in this blog periodically…each of the above points need to be expanded and fleshed out into draft action plans….then maybe with the collaborations of educational and research institutions these drafts can be finalised….next get in touch with agencies which can implement these and convince them about the usefulness of these action plans for combatting climate change… we must try to minimise the ravages of climocalypse by being better prepared….

Why I am a climate hippie wanting to become a climate yogi...

I know all my mad rantings in newgrammaroflife.blogspot.com, Facebook's New Grammar of Living and twitter @pkd603 for the past decade or so and my diaries since the 70s have come to nought....fallen on deaf ears of a civilisation bent on climate hara-kiri (in a lighter vein and very likely my blogs are being read only by bots!!).... we are too addicted to the ever-increasing comfortable life of modern civilisation enabled by technological progress over the past two centuries or so spearheaded by the western societies...

Indeed it's a Faustian choice and bargain for society...all of us including yours truly have been sucked into the entails of the devilish charms of all the energy intensive goodies which the capitalistic societies are offering through supermarkets... now just a click away on the ultimate celestial mall of amazon...there is simply no escape ...it's sheer digital nirvana...the opium of the masses….

As billions of people in the developing and emerging markets join the rapidly increasing global urbanscape... fed and tempted daily by the alluring ads and serials on the ubiquitous TVs and internet...consumerism is spreading across all nooks, crannies and crevices of human settlements .... due to the aggressive trickle down sales and distribution networks of manufacturing ...the aspiration levels of billions are rising fast... fuelled by movies and telly serials which have been influenced by the puerile Hollywood over the past century .. yes, the entire planet has been effectively and suitably americanised…wearing jeans which require 2000 to 3000 litres of water to manufacture, drinking coca cola and pepsi, eating burgers and pizza, listening to rock n roll, driving SUVs and other toys of doom, frequenting and super markets……

Consumer goods form a major step in the upward movement of humans to a so called better life...followed by household durables .. housing .. two wheelers ... cars... electronics... air conditioning...in the process driving nail after nail into the sputtering climate coffin...mass consumerism, urbanisation, energy intensive lifestyles...with attendant environmental degradation and pollution…are driving us towards a climocalypse...

We are indeed on the horns of mankind's most difficult dilemma...to progress or not to...human race has emerged out of a long evolutionary process...biogenetics which is the root of the nature's evolutionary process… where natural selection ensures that the best of the species adapt and survive.... and there is continuous move towards so called superior and higher species...hence now the moot question is where do humans evolve from here onwards...

Human civilisation has peaked....with its brains which have been improving over the past ten thousand years or so...humans have evolved from discovering how to ignite fire ....to inventing nuclear weapons..  It has indeed been a long journey...in the process of continuous improvement the western world has over past four centuries or so (starting with Europe and then along with America) leapfrogged ahead of the east ..mainly India and China which had dominated the global wealth till then ....by inventing the steam engine, locomotives, ships, guns, electricity, cars, aeroplanes, nuclear weapons and energy, internet.....

Now we are at the inflexion point... technology and knowledge has spread to all continents... Russia and China have emerged as superpowers...Japan and South Korea. ...India.. manufacturing and the service industry have matured in all the top countries.... meanwhile the population of humanity has crossed 7 billion... clearly an unsustainable number.. planet's resources are grossly inadequate to support the ever-increasing demands of rising  humans and per capita requirements... 

There is no way we can curb the hunger for higher volumes and sophistication of goods and services of the planet's rising population ...the mantra of capitalism is forever rising GDP .... even though inequalities are widening ... all the measures outlined in the Paris accord are vague and too little too late...though intentions are honest but no one can think of radical solutions to tackle the root causes of climate change...the stark reality is that it’s an unequal world with high inequalities. Hence the top 10% of the global population would be emitting over 70% of the carbon. Hence the actions of the top 10% have accelerated the climate change for entire world. Sadly but ironically the major 90% are facing the brunt of the climate change events and suffering huge financial losses which they can ill afford. It's indeed an unfair world where the rich who are the main cause of climate change are able to continue their comfortable lives well protected from the ravages of climate....

Hence the only way to satisfy my conscience is to become a climate hippie ...not for the first time…I have been a hippie since 1970..it's interesting to note that the earliest rebels who revolted against the establishment were rock n roll musicians...during the 60s which was the most defining decade for the world in more than one way ..in fact the rock n roll musicians like led zeppelin, pink floyd...were some of the earliest to protest against consumerism, rampant industrialisation and impact on nature....perhaps the best way to cope up with the insane demands of modern society and senseless damage to environment by our high energy lifestyles is to get comfortably numbed...during the early 70s I had shoulder length hair with mid parting for a couple of years like the sage Sri Aurobindo whom I used to admire...

But now I am quite ready to give up urban living and spend the rest of one’s life near the sea or at my ancestral village in Odisha… a most cosmic state ...in spite of the heat there… this is not a new fad for me....in fact during my schooldays (class 7 during 1965) I used to take cold showers in the midnight of winters in Kolkata when the temp was about 10C .... to strengthen my mind...kind of a renunciation and self-mortification … during the height of summer my younger brother and me used spend hot afternoons during holidays without the ceiling fan when the temp used to peak at around 38C (with maybe a feels like index of maybe 42C)....it was kind of divine madness during ones teens...there was this strong spark within one to lead a spartan life of monks...at that age I wanted to reduce my dependence on electricity....kind of abhorred an energy intensive life....intuitively both of us brothers wanted to reduce our carbon imprint....

All along since my childhood I was quite accustomed to walking.....to school, markets, the British council library, later after working home from office, to the bank....in Kolkata we used the public transport for going further.....even after I bought a car in Bengaluru which was quite late in life when was 41....I still liked to walk wherever I could....even the car I was forced to buy because in Bengaluru public transport was poor in the 90s....and plus the bank where I was working gave us interest free loans and petrol, driver, etc....luckily my wife had no hang ups that we must own a car....now I very rarely use the car... walking to do all my chores like bank work, groceries... 

Since we moved to Bengaluru in 1992...we never felt the need for air conditioners....gradually over past 20+ years the average temp in Bengaluru has risen by over 2C...in our previous apartment all the flats had at least one AC while we had none....it was only in 2014 we installed ACs since we were on top floor...which we use only for about two months a year..

So now being totally disillusioned in Bengaluru by the phoney and plastic scene, energy intensive lifestyles, concrete urban nightmare, environmental disaster, density of population..... ....I wish to become a climate yogi and go and live in a village....my ancestral village near Bhubaneswar in Odisha....practising my manifesto for climate change...the manifesto has been drafted....it needs to be completed...

Basically as a yogi...I will have to lead the deenergised lifestyle which I have been espousing all these years....solar power which will provide basic electrical gadgets like lights, fan, small fridge, TV, music, laptop, tablet, phone .. I should get deeply involved as a climate activist in creating Heat Action Plans for cities and villages of Odisha…I have been trying my best to convince my wife…but so far she has not been in favour…neither does my daughter with all  me in this role in Odisha … feel deeply troubled… would not mind also to stay in Bhubaneswar the capital of Odisha .. or wage my struggle to spread awareness about climate change right here in Bengaluru the city which is collapsing under the its weight as one of the fastest growing cities in the world……with all the banes of modern civilisation and urbanisation…will outline my role as climate yogi soon in my next blog….

The Climate Conundrum or whose Climate is it anyway....or Nero fiddling as Rome was burning….

The world is aghast at Trump withdrawing from Paris Accord...as if he has driven the last nail on the climate coffin....whether trump would have joined Paris or not....humanity is at crossroads in any case...the moot point is whether we are admitting to the root causes of climate change and whether we are ready to eschew our energy intensive lifestyles and adopt a pastoral one in order to immediately reach zero carbon on a current basis....and possibly avert a CLIMOCALYPSE ....or postpone the extinction of life on Earth beyond Hawking's prediction of 100 years...

The Paris accord was hammered out after almost two decades of climate meets and negotiations since the Kyoto Protocol in 1998 ...the accord was a great achievement because it finally arrived at a broad agreement between almost two hundred countries...In the Paris Agreement, each country determines its own contribution it should make in order to mitigate global warming. There is no mechanism to force a country to set a specific target by a specific date.

The participating 195 countries agreed, by consensus, to reduce emissions as part of the method for reducing greenhouse gas. In the 12-page document, the members agreed to reduce their carbon output "as soon as possible" and to do their best to keep global warming "to well below two degrees C".  (Source Wikipedia)

There could not have been a vaguer and wishy-washy document. This just shows how difficult it must have been even after about 18 years of meets and negotiations to hammer out a consensus which was at best a masterpiece of obfuscation. I wonder whether it really matters that a 140-character attention span surreality star like Trump who revels in the absurd, mentored by a diehard anti establishmentarian the fanatical Steve Bannon, says he does not want to join Paris. 

In any case the Paris accord had an impossible requirement that the developed nations will contribute $ 100 bn per year from 2020 to developing ecos for implementing carbon reduction strategies. This is indeed a tall task since most of the developed ecos are mired in economic stagnation or low growth, aging demographics, crippling debt, weak banking systems, rising unemployment, violence, migrants’ crises, crumbling infrastructure, terror, extreme climate events ...

Against this background, none of them, except perhaps with the lone exception of Germany, can really contribute anything significant to the Green Fund....maybe most thought the perhaps USA would be the major contributor like in many other funds, projects, alliances...in fact US is cribbing that most NATO members are not contributing their shares...and some signatories like India had made it clear that without external financial impetus they cannot go whole hog on changing over to clean energy which requires heavy investments.. currently the world’s total foreign aid per annum is about $130 bn ...leading contributors being USA $30 bn, Germany and the U.K. $20 bn each...most of this are to existing projects. May not be easy for them to divert much from these existing commitments...expecting the rich nations to cough up an additional $100 bn may not be at all realistic…

Ironically the highest cumulative co2 emitter since 1850 is USA… and it wants to abandon its commitments under paris with 27%…next come the EURO nations…the top 10 nations / groups constitute 83% of cumulative co2 emissions…

Anyway we want to analyse the top emitters (https://wri.org/blog/2014/11/6-graphs-explain-world%E2%80%99s-top-10-emitters), whether nation wise, per capita wise, carbon consumption to GDP-wise…we will arrive at various statistics…which still does not help us to arrive at how to reduce emissions asap, which countries should reduce more, whether rich nations should pay poor and poorer nations for their efforts, if so how much, whether carbon tax will help, what should be tax rates, whether we should calculate on the basis of carbon or greenhouse gas emissions, countries which consume high carbon products manufactured elsewhere should also pay for emissions…..and so on…the climate conundrum goes on….there can be no path acceptable to all which is fair….

But few facets of this contentious climate issue are irrefutable…

·         The cities which occupy about 1% of the land mass, emit 60% of carbon

·         Richest economies are among top emitters

·         The top 5/10% of the world’s population according to wealth are the top emitters since they own overwhelming majority of carbon intensive contraptions…

·         Top fossil fuel users and producers contribute most to total emissions…

·         Over an estimated 60% of global emissions, environmental pollution and degradation has taken place since 1960s with the explosion of technological advances, consumerism, cars, air conditioning, consumer durables, air travel, urbanisation, rampant capitalism….

Hence any strategy to contain the root causes of climate change must start with proactive steps by the above group of nations / cities / factors….if they can drastically bring down and stop their contributions to climate change …. Then there could be a glimmer of hope that our planet may survive the onslaught of climate change and avoid the dystopian future which could be as close as 20 years away…. a very good analogy is lung cancer in a human where doctors unequivocally advise to stop smoking immediately upon diagnosis….similarly here there is an immediate need to STOP CARBON EMISSIONS right away….

Another way of interpreting this imbroglio is that the rich are the main culprits in terms of being the main sources of the damaging carbon whereas it’s the poor who will have face the brunt of the downside of climate change without the wherewithal to equip themselves adequately to cope with the climate ravages – hence the rich enjoy the thrills of high carbon cars while the poor not only suffer the flooding from excessive precipitation but also the pain of homes damaged homes since they generally stay in the cheaper low lying land and lack of funds to repair damage to homes or build new houses….well that is how all societies work…..hence within a Marxian framework again the poor are at the receiving end of climate change…ironically the world’s biggest polluter and emitter has the temerity to say climate change is a hoax…..this can be beautifully summarised by an appropriate adage Nero fiddling while Rome was burning!!!…….though of course the enlightened driving forces of American innovation and industry are trying to reduce their carbon print…sadly these incremental measures maybe be too little too late….urgent need for radical solutions….now or never…