US Secretary of State Blinken Says Nuclear War No Worse Than Climate Change

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Image: AP  

Republic World: Nuclear War Threat No Worse Than Climate Change: Antony Blinken 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a statement on the existential problem of climate change on July 30, while meeting the Australian PM. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a statement on the existential problem of climate change on July 30, while meeting the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. 

US Secretary Blinken said, "The potential threat of nuclear war is no more dangerous than the existential problem of climate change and there is no hierarchy in this regard."  

Read more .... 

Update #1: Nuclear war no worse than climate change – Blinken (RT)  

Update #2: Blinken Says Nuclear War Threat No Worse Than Climate Change (Sputnik)  

WNU Editor: Climate change takes time and we (mankind) can adapt. Nuclear war is another story.

US Navy Secretary Cites (Again) That Climate Change Is The Priority For The Administration

FOX News: Navy secretary cited climate change as top priority as Biden proposes shrinking the fleet 

The Biden administration proposed cutting two ships from the Navy in its 2024 budget plan 

Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said he sees fighting climate change as a top priority for the Navy as the Biden administration proposes shrinking the fleet by two ships and worries grow about how the U.S. Navy stacks up to China’s. 

"As the Secretary of the Navy, I can tell you that I have made climate one of my top priorities since the first day I came into office," Del Toro said March 1 in remarks at the University of the Bahamas. 

Del Toro said he met with Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis during his visit and spoke "at length" with him about the climate crisis and focused the bulk of his remarks on climate.  

Read more ....  

Update #1: Secretary of the Navy touts climate as a 'top priority' despite growing threat from China (Washington Examiner)  

Update #2: Navy Secretary Reaches Out to Caribbean Nations in Fight Against Climate Change (US Department of Defense)  

WNU Editor: The Pentagon is pushing the agenda .... DOD Integral in Western Hemisphere Combating Climate Change (US Department Of Defense).

Could Climate Engineering Trigger A War?

 

Washington Post: A ‘climate solution’ that spies worry could trigger war 

It sounds like something out of science fiction: A country suffering from heat, flooding or crop failures decides on its own to send out a fleet of aircraft to spray a fine, sun-blocking mist into the earth’s atmosphere, reducing temperatures and providing relief to parched populations. 

Other countries view it as a threat to their own citizens and ready a military response. But members of the U.S. intelligence community and other national security officials were worried enough last year to plot how to avert a war triggered by this kind of climate engineering.

In a role-playing exercise, they practiced managing the tensions that would be unleashed, according to people familiar with the exercise, a sign that they see it as a credible threat in need of a strategy. 

Read more ....  

Update: Climate engineering is the greatest, most immediate threat to the human race – Dane Wigington of Geoengineering Watch (BizNews) 

WNU Editor: I understand the science and how climate engineering can lower sunlight and cool down temperatures. Major volcanic eruptions in the past where mega-tons of particulate matter were blasted into the atmosphere have always resulted in global temperature dropping for 2 to 3 years. But lowering the sunlight will also have an immediate impact on food production.

Cooler temperatures .... but shortages in food resulting in hunger and maybe famine. This climate solution has a lot of drawbacks.

Climate Activists Warn That The World's Dash For Natural Gas Endangers Climate Goals

Euronews/Reuters: World's dash for natural gas endangers climate goals -report 

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt – Countries scrambling this year to source more natural gas to replace supplies from Russia are risking years of emissions that could thwart climate goals, the research collaboration Climate Action Tracker said on Thursday. 

Efforts to stave off disastrous climate change collided this year with a global energy crisis of scarce gas and soaring fuel prices, as Russia sharply cut gas deliveries to Europe following its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. 

 “We’re witnessing a major push for expanded fossil gas LNG production and import capacity across the world – in Europe, Africa, North America, Asia and Australia – which could cause global emissions to breach dangerous levels,” said Bill Hare, CEO of research institute Climate Analytics, which together with NewClimate Institute forms Climate Action Tracker (CAT).  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: The rush to expand fossil gas LNG production is going to bust climate goals. But there is no rush to drop sanctions against Russian natural gas.

 Climate Activists Warn That The World's Dash For Natural Gas Endangers Climate Goals  

Report: War-triggered gas boom threatens world climate goal -- AP  

Oil and gas firms planning ‘frightening’ fossil fuels growth, report finds -- The Guardian  

World's dash for natural gas endangers climate goals -report -- Reuters  

‘Major push’ for gas amid Ukraine war accelerating climate breakdown -- The Guardian  

World's dash for natural gas endangers climate goals: Report -- Asia One

UN Report Says World Is Heading Into ‘Uncharted Territory Of Destruction’

CNBC: UN warns world is entering ‘uncharted territories of destruction’ from climate crisis 

* The United Nations is warning that the impacts of global climate change are entering “uncharted territories of destruction” as countries fail to set adequate targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

* The report, compiled by the World Meteorological Organization, said climate-related disasters have increased fivefold over the past five decades and are costing $200 million a day. 

* U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cited this year’s floods in Pakistan, heat waves in Europe and record drought conditions in parts of the U.S. and China as failures to combat climate change and curb fossil fuel production. 

The United Nations is warning that the impacts of global climate change are entering “uncharted territories of destruction” as countries fail to set adequate targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

The report, compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said climate-related disasters have increased fivefold over the past five decades and are costing $200 million a day. 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cited this year’s floods in Pakistan, heat waves in Europe and record drought conditions in parts of the U.S. and China as failures to combat climate change and curb fossil fuel production.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: The UN report is here .... United In Science 2022: A multi-organization high-level compilation of the most recent science related to climate change, impacts and responses. 

UN Report Says World Is Heading Into ‘Uncharted Territory Of Destruction’  

UN sums up climate science: world heading in wrong direction -- AP  

World heading into ‘uncharted territory of destruction’, says climate report -- The Guardian  

Climate impacts headed to 'uncharted territories of destruction,' UN chief warns -- CBC/Reuters 

World is 'heading in wrong direction', UN warns, as pollution tops pre-pandemic levels -- SKY News  

UN chief says ‘fossil fuel free-for-all’ must end as report warns world heading in ‘wrong direction’ -- CNN  

UN climate change report warns world is 'going in the wrong direction' -- ABC News Australia

Pakistan Wants Climate Reparations

A view of submerged houses, following unprecedented rain and floods in Pakistan. Photograph: Reuters  

The Guardian: Rich nations owe reparations to countries facing climate disaster, says Pakistan minister 

Sherry Rehman, the country’s climate change minister, insists rich polluters must pay their due as country is hit by devastating floods 

Rich polluting countries which are predominantly to blame for the “dystopian” climate breakdown have broken their promises to reduce emissions and help developing countries adapt to global heating, according to Pakistan’s minister for climate change, who said reparations were long overdue. 

Close to 1,300 people are dead and a third of Pakistan is under floodwater after weeks of unprecedented monsoon rains battered the country – which only weeks earlier had been suffering serious drought. 

Read more ....  

Update #1: Pakistan minister wants rich nations to pay countries facing climate disasters (Axios)  

Update #2: Why Pakistan needs 'reparations' to fight deadly floods (The Week)  

WNU Editor: It looks like the climate crisis in Pakistan is worsening .... Pakistan floods leave people desperate and hungry with warning more is to come (Pakistan).

Are Climate Lockdowns Next?

The Daily Signal: Europe’s Descending Into Climate Lockdowns. Will America Be Next? 

 If energy is life and the lack of energy is death, then Europe’s dismantling its own energy security is the equivalent of civilizational suicide. 

 Europe is once again on the brink of lockdowns—though its goal this time around is not to “stop the spread” of a virus. This time, European Union members, and even the U.K., are imposing energy rationing schemes in an attempt to keep people from freezing to death this winter. 

In Germany, they’re no longer heating public pools, traffic lights are being shut off, and they’re turning off city fountains. Hungary instructed schools to look into wood-burning to keep warm. The Netherlands is urging citizens to shower less, and Spain is literally regulating people’s thermostats.  

Read more .... 

Update: Coming soon: Climate lockdowns? (Kristin Tate, The Hill)  

WNU Editor: Proponents for climate lock-downs are saying science is on their side .... Cleaner air as a result of coronavirus lockdown (Science Daily). More here .... Cleaner air as a result of pandemic lockdown (Phys.org).

COP26 Recap

 

CNBC: China and India will have to explain themselves on coal, COP26 president says 

* The agreement, which is not legally binding, was amended at the eleventh hour after interventions from India and China — both among the world’s biggest burners of coal. 

* This led to a change in language about fossil fuels; the pact now refers to the “phase down” of coal, rather than the “phase out” of coal, as originally proposed. 

* There are fears that a more drastic rise in temperatures will disproportionately affect vulnerable populations such as the world’s small island nations which are already being inundated by rising sea levels. 

The president of COP26 said Sunday that China and India will need to explain why they insisted a crucial passage of the U.N.-brokered climate deal was changed at the last minute. 

“China and India are going to have to explain themselves to the most climate vulnerable countries in the world,” U.K. lawmaker Alok Sharma, who led the COP26 negotiations, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr. 

It comes a day after nearly 200 countries agreed on a deal to try to prevent the worst consequences of the climate crisis, following two weeks of talks in Glasgow, Scotland.  

Read more ....  

Update: Countries strike deal at COP26 climate summit after last-minute compromise on coal (CNBC)

WNU Editor: This is what has been pledged .... COP26: Here’s What Countries Have Pledged (Council on Foreign Relations). 

Some of the kids and environmentalists are not happy .... Greta Thunberg dismisses COP26 deal as more ‘blah, blah, blah’ amid fury at last-minute U-turn from China and India on coal (Daily Mail).

This is why China will be the big winner from the policy ideas discussed at the UN’s climate conference .... Corruption, China and Green Energy (Joe Duffus, The Drill Down). 

As to what is my take. See below:

Has Russian President Putin Changed From Skeptic To Believer On Climate Change?

© Sputnik / Maksim Bogodvid; (inset) Russian President Putin. © Reuters / Evgeniy Paulin  

RT: How Vladimir Putin changed from skeptic to believer on climate change 

At the landmark 2015 UN climate change summit in Paris, Russian President Vladimir Putin stunned observers with a dramatic tone-shift on global warming. 

 "Climate change is one of the most serious challenges humanity faces today," Putin told gathered leaders in Le Bourget, a commune in the northeast of the French capital. 

"The quality of life of everyone on this planet, economic growth, and sustainable social development of entire regions depend on our ability to resolve the climate problem," he continued. 

Putin's declaration that global warming poses a serious threat to humanity could not be further from his previous rhetoric of open skepticism.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: He may have changed his mind on man-made climate change, but the Kremlin's green policy initiatives fall short from what other Western countries are committing to do. 

My prediction. Russia's energy industry is massive and it funds a good portion of the Russian government's budget. They are not going to kill this gold-mine anytime soon.

COP26 Climate Change Summit In Glasgow: 'Do What We Say Not What We Do'

Daily Mail: Hypocrite airways? Jeff Bezos's £48m Gulf Stream leads parade of 400 private jets into COP26 including Prince Albert of Monaco, scores of royals and dozens of 'green' CEOs- as huge traffic jam forces empty planes to fly 30 miles to park 

* MailOnline watched as plane after plane of dignitaries landed in Glasgow and Edinburgh for COP26 meeting 

* Prince Albert of Monaco was among those choosing to fly private - according to an analysis of flight records 

* Bank of America, which in PR documents boasts of its 'commitment to sustainability', owned two of the jets 

* Prince Charles is among those travelling by non-commercial plane from G20 in Rome, MailOnline can reveal 

* Boris Johnson is kicking off COP26 summit today exhorting world leaders to back up their talk with action 

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' £48million Gulf Stream has led a 400-strong parade of private jets into COP25 including Prince Albert of Monaco, scores of royals and dozens of 'green' CEOs - as an extraordinary traffic jam forced empty planes to fly 30 miles to find space to park. 

Some environmental activists at the COP26 climate conference will be urging others to cut down on air travel and eat less meat, but apparently it is fine for billionaires to fly in on their own planes on routes already served by commercial airlines.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: All of this could have been done by a Zoom call.

China Will Not Announce A New Emissions Pledge At The COP26 Climate Summit In Glasgow

Xi is under pressure from world leaders to do more on climate. Emmanuel Macron asked him to send the world a ‘decisive signal’. Photograph: Carlos García Rawlins/Reuters 

Washington Examiner: China avoids new emissions pledge in blow to hopes for climate conference 

China, the world’s top emitter by far, is not offering any new commitments to reduce carbon pollution before a major United Nations climate conference starting Sunday.

China submitted a pledge, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, to the U.N on Thursday, vowing to stop increasing its carbon emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050. 

President Xi Jinping already announced those goals at the end of last year, but this formalizes the commitments under the Paris Climate Accords.

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: Chinese President Xi will not physically attend the summit, but he will be on video link to repeat his country's long term (but vague) plans on reducing it carbon emissions .... Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend Cop26 by video link – report (The Guardian).

If Climate Change Is An Existential Threat, Why Is The Pentagon Skipping The COP26 Climate Summit At Glasgow?

President Joe Biden speaks to members of his Cabinet in July. The president is sending several senior administration officials, including eight Cabinet members, to COP26 in November.

Defense One: Pentagon to Skip Global Climate Conference, Despite 'Existential Threat' 

Former defense officials called it a “missed opportunity.” 

Defense Department officials will not attend the global climate conference in Scotland that begins Sunday, despite the recent Pentagon report calling climate change an “existential threat” to national security. 

By not attending the conference as part of the presidential delegation, former defense officials said, the Pentagon is giving up the chance to make a statement on the world stage that climate change is important to the American national security enterprise. 

“Given in the last nine or 10 months, the level of public effort that the Defense Department has made...to try to get out in front of this issue, I think it’s a missed opportunity,” said David Titley, a retired rear admiral who served as the oceanographer and navigator of the Navy.

“I’m sure they have their reasons, and they may be great reasons, but my initial reaction is that’s unfortunate. It’s too bad.”  

Read more ....  

WNU editor: The Pentagon may not be going to Glasgow, but almost everyone else in the US government is .... Exclusive: Biden sending 13 cabinet members, high-level officials to UN climate summit in show of force (CNN).

Why The Cop26 Global Climate Summit At Glasgow Will Fail

 

Yahoo News: Scientists express doubt that Glasgow climate change conference will be successful 

If there is a consensus about the forthcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, it is that it represents, in the words of U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, the “last best hope” for the world to keep the worst consequences of global warming at bay. 

But for many of the scientists whose work has informed the grim reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in recent years, the chances that an agreement will be reached to keep global temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels seem dim, at best. 

Read more .... 

WNU Editor: This summit is already on a rocky start. 

The leader from the world's biggest contributor of greenhouse gases will not be there, as well as the leader of one of world's largest energy producers .... China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin set to snub COP26 (Business Insider). 

And then there is major polluter India, who has made it very clear that they are a victim not a contributor to greenhouse gases .... India says it's a 'victim' of global warming 'not a contributor' as it rejects net zero emissions target (CNN). 

And then there is this big problem .... UN Report Says Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Hit A New Record In 2020 Despite Widespread Lock-downs (October 25, 2021). 

If locking much of the global economy still resulted in an increase in greenhouse gases, that tells me that they are other climate factors at play that are more dominant than man-made ones.

UN Report Says Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Hit A New Record In 2020 Despite Widespread Lock-downs

The above graphic shows how greenhouse gas emissions have increased between 1900 and 2020 

 

Daily Mail: Greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere hit a record high in 2020 despite Covid pandemic - as UN warns that global emissions are forecast to be 16% HIGHER by 2030 

* Greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere hit record highs again last year 

* UN has also said world's emissions are on track to be 16 per cent higher by 2030 

* It comes a week before world leaders attend COP26 climate change conference 

* 2015 Paris Agreement aimed to limit global average temperature to 1.5°C (2.7°F) 

Levels of planet-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached record highs again in 2020 despite the Covid pandemic, scientists have warned. 

Concentrations of CO2, methane and nitrous oxide rose faster than at any point during the previous decade, with the trend continuing into 2021, the UN's World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said. 

It comes just a week before the UK hosts the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, where world leaders will discuss and potentially set new legally binding agreements that aim to keep global temperatures from rising out of control.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: This is grim news. If locking down a good portion of the economy during the pandemic resulted in still higher levels of CO2 emissions, governments will not be able to reach their promised Paris Climate accord numbers as promised unless they shut down major portions of the economy. 

Is this feasible? 

A 30% to 50% closure of the world GDP/economy? 

I do not think so. 

More News On UN Report Saying Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Hit A New Record In 2020 

Despite Widesprtead Lockdowns Greenhouse gas concentrations hit a new record in 2020 -- BBC 

Greenhouse gas levels hit record high and increased at faster rate in 2020 -- France 24  

Climate crisis: greenhouse gas levels hit new record despite lockdowns, UN reports -- The Guardian  

UN: Greenhouse gas levels hit a new record, cuts fall short -- AP  

Greenhouse gases in atmosphere reached record levels last year: UN -- DW  

CO2 levels in the atmosphere reach a 3 million-year high, putting the world 'way off track' on climate goals -- CNN

White House, Intelligence Agencies, And The Pentagon Issue Reports That Climate Change Threatens Global Security

Washington Post: White House, intelligence agencies, Pentagon issue reports warning that climate change threatens global security  

As the United States and nations around the world struggle to blunt the effects of rising temperatures and extreme weather, sweeping assessments released Thursday by the White House, the U.S. intelligence community and the Pentagon conclude that climate change will exacerbate long-standing threats to global security. 

Together, the reports show a deepening concern within the U.S. security establishment that the shifts unleashed by climate change can reshape U.S. strategic interests, offer new opportunities to rivals such as China, and increase instability in nuclear states such as North Korea and Pakistan. 

The reports emerge as world leaders prepare to gather in Glasgow next month for crucial climate talks.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: The National Intelligence report is here .... National Intelligence Estimate on climate change. The White House report is here (link here). The Department of Defense report is here (link here). 

More News On The White House, Intelligence Agencies, And The Pentagon Issuing Reports That Climate Change Threatens Global Security  

US outlines response as climate change drives migration -- AP 

US intelligence reports warn of climate-linked global instability -- Bloomberg  

Climate Change Poses a Widening Threat to National Security -- New York Times 

Intelligence community: 'No country will be spared' from climate-related challenges -- The Hill  

White House outlines national security risks posed by climate change -- Business Insider

'No country will be spared' from effects of climate change, Biden administration reports detail -- CNN  

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III’s Statement on the DoD Climate Risk Analysis -- US Department of Defense  

White House unveils landmark reports on climate links to security, migration -- Axios

World's Largest Polluter Won't Attend This Year's Major Climate Summit In Rome

Zero Hedge: COP-Out? World's Largest Polluter Won't Attend Climate Summit, Kerry Pessimistic On Progress  

Update: As if to confirm the shitshow we expected below, just two weeks before a crucial summit in Rome, Bloomberg reports that the world’s major economies are gridlocked in their efforts to agree concrete steps to tackle climate change. 

Preparatory talks between G-20 officials this week failed to end in an agreement to reduce coal subsidies and curb methane emissions. There wasn’t even a consensus on striving toward net-zero emissions and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees from pre-industrial levels, according to three people familiar with the matter. 

 China and India, two of the world’s biggest emitters and largest coal users, have failed to submit updated climate pledges.

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: With China not showing up and India not submitting its updated climate pledges .... this summit, to put it bluntly, will be a waste of time. 

The energy crisis is also overshadowing and undermining the goals of this summit .... Europe's Energy Crisis Is A Warning Sign For America (Zero Hedge/Epoch times).

China Tells US Envoy John Kerry To Mind His Own Business When It Comes To Climate Change

 

SCMP: China ‘tells US envoy John Kerry it will follow its own climate road map’  

Beijing has rebuffed American calls to make more public pledges on climate change before a UN climate summit in November, insisting it should follow its own plan rather than bowing to US pressure, according to a person familiar with the two countries' negotiations. 

During talks with Chinese leaders in Tianjin, US climate envoy John Kerry presented a list of proposals for Beijing to accelerate its climate efforts. They included a public commitment to the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) limit of global warming targeted in the 2015 Paris Agreement, a definite time frame for carbon emissions to peak before 2030, and a moratorium on financing overseas coal-fired projects. 

But the two sides failed to reach agreement, according to the source, who requested anonymity.  

Read more ....  

Update #1: US Climate Envoy Kerry Gets Cold Shoulder in China (VOA)  

Update #2: China Rebuffs Kerry In Climate Talks: 'We'll Follow Our Own Roadmap" (Zero Hedge)  

WNU Editor: 25 cities account for a majority of global urban greenhouse gas emissions (52%). 22 of these 2 cities are located in China ... Study: Just 25 cities account for majority of global urban greenhouse gas emissions (The Hill). If John Kerry thinks China is going to sacrifice its economic growth to accommodate his wishes, you can take this to the bank, he is going to be disappointed.

UN Science Panel To Release Report On Climate Change. Will Say The World Is On The Brink Of 'Catastrophe'

BBC: Climate change: UN to reveal landmark IPCC report findings 

The world's largest ever report into climate change will be published later, setting out the stark reality of the state of the planet. 

The study is by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - a UN group that looked at more than 14,000 scientific papers. 

It will be the most up-to-date assessment of how global warming will change the world in the coming decades. 

Scientists say it will likely be bad news - but with "nuggets of optimism". 

And environmental experts have said it will be a "massive wake-up call" to governments to cut emissions.  

Read more ....  

WNU Editor: This is all based on computer projections and models, and I have been hearing about it for my entire life. Case in point. Another report is telling me that because of global warming there is a very good chance that I will freeze to death .... Climate change at sea will “freeze” Europe and North America; Understand (Press Stories). 

More News On UN Science Panel Preparing To Release A Massive Report Report On Climate Change

UN science panel to release key report on climate change -- AP  

World’s climate scientists to issue stark warning over global heating threat -- The Guardian  

The world is on the brink of 'catastrophe,' leader of next UN climate talks warns -- CNN  

Get ready for ‘apocalyptic doomsday-laden headlines’ from the IPCC report -- SKY News

President Biden Says The Greatest Threat To America Is Global Warming

.@JoeBiden tells US troops in England that the "greatest threat" facing America is "global warming."

"This is not a joke." pic.twitter.com/bNhMiqwzei

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) June 9, 2021

WNU Editor: I thought racism and white supremacy was the greatest threat to America.

President Biden Is The Only One Wearing A Mask During A Video Call With World Leaders To Discuss Climate Change

Pres. Biden masks up for a video call to discuss climate change with world leaders

He appears to be the only one wearing a mask pic.twitter.com/TGGuM7BW0x

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 23, 2021

WNU editor: Yup. He is the only leader who masked up. 

If you want to watch the live stream of this climate summit, click on the video below.