Guidance Green

Could Europe Be Powered by African Solar Energy?

For a long time, people looking for big fixes to climate change have been talking about building huge solar installations in North Africa, which gets a lot more sun than most of the places where solar power is big — Germany, for example. But now, it looks as if someone finally is doing it.

Next month in Ouarzazate, Morocco, the first portion of what eventually will be the world’s biggest concentrated solar power plant – called Noor I – is set to go online, according to the Guardian, a British newspaper.

Eventually, when the entire $10 billion complex, which is being financed with assistance from the World Bank and European Union, is completed in 2020, it will generate 580 megawatts of electricity, enough to provide a big portion of Morocco’s energy needs while still leaving plenty of juice for export. The complex could prevent 700,000 tons of carbon dioxide from being spewed into the atmosphere each year.

The plant uses an ingenious technology for getting the most out of sunlight. A huge array of 500,000 crescent-shaped mirrors focus sunlight and transmit it to a single point on a tower. (The mirrors actually have tiny computers in them, which adjust the angle throughout the day to gather the most energy.)

The study authors have calculated the cost of the “lost ecosystem services value” our planet has suffered in the last decade and a half. According to their calculations, the loss due to land degradation averages US $43,400 to $72,000 per square km, some US $870 to $1,450 per person, globally each year. The percentage of the world’s land affected by land degradation has grown a lot in the last decades – it has doubled between the late 1970s and the early 2000s. And the process is far from its end.

“This study by ELD shows the immediate and global impact of land degradation and highlights that actions to tackle it pay off,” Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for Environment, Fisheries and Maritime Affairs commented on the paper.

Yay!!! Hooray, Portland! 

In addition to the ban, the mayor and four commissioners unanimously passed a resolution to bar any new fossil fuel storage and transport in the city. 

“Development Supported Agriculture (DSA) or “agrihoods,” are suburban housing developments built around working farms. Unlike traditional suburbs, DSAs make a commitment to preserving some rural land for agriculture—be it six or 100 acres.”

From Hawaii’s flurry of hurricanes, to record high sea ice in Antarctica, and a heat wave that cooked the Australian Open like shrimp on a barbie, 2014 saw some wild weather. How much of that was tied to climate change is what scientists around the world tried to answer in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society’s annual attribution report, which was published Thursday.

What they discovered was that the clearest impacts of warming could be found in heat-related events, from heat waves on land to unusually hot ocean waters. Other events, like droughts in East Africa and the Middle East, California’s intense wildfires, and winter storms that continually swept across the eastern U.S., were harder to pinpoint. In part this is because such events are inherently complex, with a multitude of factors influencing them.

For example, while the East African drought was found to be both more likely and more intense because of warming, the situation in the Middle East was less clear, with no discernable climate change connection to the various factors that influenced it. Likewise, no direct push from climate change could be found in California’s wildfire activity, though it is clear that it is increasing the overall wildfire risk there.

And while some events, like the U.S. winter storms and the record high Antarctic sea ice extent, could be pinned to a particular cause, that cause could not be linked to climate change. For other events, like the drought in Brazil and flooding in the Canadian prairies, humans influenced the likelihood in other ways besides the greenhouse gases that continue to be emitted into the atmosphere.

What was clear, though, is that the fast-growing field of what is called extreme event attribution is gaining momentum. Researchers are casting a wider net for extreme events to examine and continually refining their methods. Attribution work has traveled a considerable distance since its inception just over a decade ago.

Robert Redford, long-time environmental activist and NRDC Trustee is going to Paris this December for the international climate conference COP21. 

A father, grandfather, and environmentalist, Redford draws our attention to how climate change is transforming our world and explains that conditions will worsen if we don’t act. Urgent response is needed, he says, “to protect the most important thing in the world—our children’s future.” 

Climate change intensifies extreme weather. It’s driving sea level rise and causing more torrential rain. This year, homes across the U.S. from Texas to South Carolina were damaged by costly floods and residents were forced to temporarily evacuate. In small island nations like Kribati, people are facing similar displacement—but theirs is often permanent. Sea level rise is forcing them to look for new places to live and raise their families. 

Climate change threatens our health. Higher temperatures worsen ground-level ozone smog that threatens respiratory health, especially for the 300 million people with asthma across the globe. And the one in 10 American kids who suffer from asthma attacks. Burning fossil fuels is one of the primary factors contributing to climate change. In the United States, power plants emit about 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year. We need more clean energy powered by wind turbines and solar farms and less dirty emissions from fossil fuels that make people sick. 

Climate change threatens food security. Rising temperatures exacerbate drought conditions. Without adequate water, fields yield fewer crops, and food prices go up. This makes it more difficult for families to attain the proper nutrition they need. At current climate change rates, the world will have 24 million more malnourished children by 2050. 

Despite the immense challenge of climate change, hope persists. People around the world are stepping up. 

Last year in September, 400,000 people marched to raise awareness about climate change in the streets of New York City. More than 2,600 similar events in over 160 countries also took place in 2014. Momentum continues to grow. More countries are shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy. And everyone can take part in solutions for a cleaner climate and healthier world. 

Join NRDC and Robert Redford in demanding climate action. 

As he says, “This may be our last chance.” 

Getting Up to Speed with the Global Climate Summit

The Global Climate Summit kicks off with representatives from 195 countries gathering in France.

Here’s some background to get you up to speed.

So What, Exactly, is Going On?

The Guardian: Everything you need to know about the Paris climate summit and UN talks. See also, The Paris climate summit at a glance

Slate: Your Jargon-Busting Guide to the Paris Climate Change Talks

BBC: Beginner’s guide to the UN Paris climate summit

The Atlantic: What’s Being Discussed at the Paris Climate Talks?

What Are The Stakes?

New York Times: Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change

Washington Post: The magic number: Holding warming under two degrees Celsius is the goal. But is it still attainable?

Los Angeles Times: Paris climate summit could bring historic deal on emissions, but likely won’t halt climate change

What Are The (US) Politics?

New Republic: The GOP’s Plan to Thwart the Paris Climate Conference. See also, How the 2016 Presidential Candidates View Climate Change

New York Times: Two-Thirds of Americans Want U.S. to Join Climate Change Pact

Where Can I Get More Background

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

United Nations Conference on Climate Change