Tagarchief: Environment and Climate

Pompen of Verzuipen

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Pump or Drown

Eric Frank, Arnold van Kampen en Jack Kruf | juni 2017

Dit initiatief tot samenspraak beoogt een verkenning van mogelijkheden en denklijnen voor vernieuwing in aanpak van de gevolgen van zeespiegelstijging voor Nederlandse steden aan water. Bundeling van kennis, benutting van ondernemingskracht bij een richtinggevende overheid en met investerend vermogen lijken basisvoorwaarden te zijn.

Detail ©Janice Pluma, Rising Tide, Acrylic, 30×40 inches. Used with permission.

• This dialogue initiative aims to explore the possibilities and lines of thought for innovation in dealing with the consequences of sea level rise for Dutch cities near the water. Pooling knowledge, harnessing the entrepreneurial power of a guiding government and investing power appear to be basic conditions.

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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

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US Government | December 1970

This organisation was founded as an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. Beginning in the late 1950s and through the 1960s, US Congress reacted to increasing public concern about the impact that human activity could have on the environment.

Logo by Chermayeff & Geismar Associates

In 1959 congress passed the Resources and Conservation Act to establish a Council on Environmental Quality in the Executive Office of the President and declared a national environmental policy, which required the preparation of an annual environmental report. The groundwork for the Environment Protection Agency was laid.

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Silent Spring

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Rachel Carson | 1962

This sensational book, Silent Spring (1962) by Rachel Carson, warned of the dangers to all natural systems from the misuse of chemical pesticides such as DDT, and questioned the scope and direction of modern science, initiating the contemporary environmental movement.

Silent Spring began with a “fable for tomorrow” – a true story using a composite of examples drawn from many real communities where the use of DDT had caused damage to wildlife, birds, bees, agricultural animals, domestic pets, and even humans. Carson used it as an introduction to a very scientifically complicated and already controversial subject. This “fable” made an indelible impression on readers and was used by critics to accuse Carson of being a fiction writer rather than a scientist.

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Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

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Marvin Gaye | 1971

Woah, ah, mercy, mercy me
Ah, things ain’t what they used to be (ain’t what they used to be)
Where did all the blue skies go?
Poison is the wind that blows
From the north and south and east

(Listen to song on Apple Music or Spotify)

Woah, ah, mercy, mercy me
Ah, things ain’t what they used to be (ain’t what they used to be)
Where did all the blue skies go?
Poison is the wind that blows
From the north and south and east

Woah, mercy, mercy me, yeah
Ah, things ain’t what they used to be (ain’t what they used to be)
Oil wasted on the ocean and upon our seas
Fish full of mercury

Oh Jesus, yeah, mercy, mercy me, ah
Ah, things ain’t what they used to be (ain’t what they used to be)
Radiation underground and in the sky
Animals and birds who live nearby are dying

Hey, mercy, mercy me, oh
Hey, things ain’t what they used to be
What about this overcrowded land?
How much more abuse from man can she stand?

Oh, na, na, na
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Hey, ooh, woo

Bibliography

Gaye, M. (1971) Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology). Album: What’s Goin on. Detroit: Motown.

Energietransitie en omgang met onzekerheid

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Dit artikel is tot stand gekomen in opdracht van en samenspraak tussen Frank Janse (BNG Bank) en Jack Kruf (PRIMO & UDITE)

Prof. Dr. Bastiaan Zoeteman[1] | 2018

De denktank ‘From Global to Local’[2] te Den Haag op 20 april 2018 is erop gericht de inventiviteit te verbeteren van lokale gemeenschappen in het omgaan met op hogere schaalniveaus spelende onzekerheden met veel impact. Daartoe worden uitkomsten van relevante onderzoeken verbonden met het risicomanagement rond de uitdagingen die deze onzekerheden oproepen voor het regionale en lokale bestuur.

Dergelijke onzekerheden worden niet alleen door rampen en crises opgeroepen maar ook door al dan niet terechte verwachtingen over het handelen van de overheden bij dergelijke situaties en over het te verwachten verloop van gebeurtenissen in de toekomst.

Door het zichtbaar maken van zulke onzekerheden in combinatie met een thema, in dit geval het thema van de energietransitie ter voorkoming van verdergaande klimaatverandering, wordt het mogelijk om gerichte handelingsperspectieven te ontwerpen die uitvoerbaar zijn en het vertrouwen in de overheid ondersteunen.

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AR6 Synthesis Report Climate Change 2023

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IPCC | 2023

Interlaken, Switzerland, March 20, 2023 —

This IPCC report focuses sharply on the losses and damages we are already experiencing and will continue to experience, especially those hitting the most vulnerable people and ecosystems. Taking the right action now could result in the transformational change essential for a sustainable, equitable world.

There are multiple, feasible and effective options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change, and they are available now, said scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released today.

“Mainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages for nature and people, it will also provide wider benefits,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee. “This Synthesis Report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that, if we act now, we can still secure a liveable sustainable future for all.”

In 2018, IPCC highlighted the unprecedented scale of the challenge required to keep warming to 1.5°C. Five years later, that challenge has become even greater due to a continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The pace and scale of what has been done so far, and current plans, are insufficient to tackle climate change.

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Paris Agreement

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United Nations | December 2015

The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris on December 12, 2015, and entered into force on 4 November 2016.

Its goal is to limit global warming to below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries aim to peak global greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible and achieve a climate-neutral world by mid-century.

The Paris Agreement is a landmark in the multilateral climate change process because, for the first time, a binding agreement brings all nations together to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.

Download: Paris Agreement 2015