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diff --git a/reading-log.md b/reading-log.md index 4c46e10..091a6cd 100644 --- a/reading-log.md +++ b/reading-log.md @@ -6,6 +6,63 @@ author: Joe Carstairs ## 2026-04-24 +### @{greenpeace-report} + +The Greenpeace report went like this: the scientists report their knowledge that +human emissions will cause catastrophic global warming. If we don't change +course, disaster will befall us, perhaps the collapse of civilisation. But 'we' +can change course if governments reach international agreements to set and stick +to targets, among other measures. This is the only sensible possibility in the +current situation of crisis. + +I noticed a few echoes of nuclear rhetoric. Nuclear energy got a chapter, +condemning nuclear energy as a failed 20th-century project not fit for the +future. On page 1, the editor said, 'Even nuclear-weapons laboratories host +conferences on the greenhouse effect these days.' Toronto 1990 declared the +greenhouse threat to be 'second only to nuclear war.' Queen Beatrix was quoted +saying in her 1988 Christmas address that 'The Earth is slowly dying, and the +inconceivable -- the end of life itself -- is actually becoming conceivable. We +human beings ourselves have become a threat to our planet.' The +end-of-civilization rhetoric in several places also echoed nuclear rhetoric. + +I noticed that much of the exhortation was directed at nebulous 'we's and +'countries'. 'Of course, developed countries should pay for it.' Sometimes, this +stopped at scathing criticism of current practices, particularly the (excellent) +chapter on economics attacking the policies of the IMF and World Bank. +Sometimes, this came with concrete proposals for action, like the governments of +OECD countries giving free stuff to countries in the Global South to not chop +down rainforests or build renewable economies. + +Policy proposals included governments implementing (unspecified) policies to +encourage alternatives to driving, banning highly emitting cars, governments in +developed countries funding rainforest reforestation in developing countries, +and other kinds of financial aid to developing countries funded by governments +in developing countries. + +The Greenpeace response gave 7 proposals: + +1. Take action now, don't wait until there is more scientific certainty. +2. 'The main routes to surviving the greenhouse threat' are energy efficiency, + renewables instead of fossil fuels and nuclear, ban the production of CFCs, produce less greenhouse gases in the process of making food, stopping deforestation, and scaling up reforestation. +3. 'The world community' must consume no more than 12TW, distributed more + equally across the world than the current 10TW. +4. 'Industrialized countries' should invest in energy efficiency and give free + stuff to developing countries to enable them to 'leap-frog' the polluting + route to industrialisation. +5. All energy should be produced by renewables ASAP. +6. Nuclear power should not be expanded or extended. +7. The first steps are to immediately cut CO2 emissions, draw up a strategy for + phasing out fossil fuels in the early 21st century, make every effort to + arrest deforestation and halt the production of CFCs and HFCs. +8. Climate action should be funded by cutting military expenditure. + +The report featured lots of scientific language throughout: figures, numbers, +and references to scientific publications. + +I found the report alienating. I don't think it successfully identified the +causes of global warming or the solutions. I don't think it generated hope or +appropriate action. + ### @{apocalyptic-imagination} Reviews suggest that this book was been very influential since it was first |