The very alarming findings of the climate report that the IPCC published this week made waves around the world. What should be done to still take care of the future of all of us (and what absolutely should not be done)?
ד"ר עדי לוי, זווית – סוכנות ידיעות למדע ולסביבה
The alarming findings of הדו"ח השישי של הפאנל הבין-ממשלתי לשינוי האקלים של האו"ם (IPCC) כיכבו בכלי התקשורת בשבוע האחרון. אם נפשט את הממצאים המדעיים מ-3,949 עמודי הדו"ח, שעליו עמלו 234 מדענים מיותר מ-60 מדינות במשך 3 שנים, אפשר לומר בביטחון כמה דברים.
First, the global climate crisis is certainly a direct result of human activity in modern times, and first and foremost the burning of fossil fuels: coal, gas and oil. Bringing them up from the depths of the ground to the surface and burning them releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere on an unprecedented scale (about 40 billion tons per year) which is only increasing year by year.
Second, the climate crisis is already here and now, today - or rather, the day before yesterday. This is not an intangible future threat that hovers over the future of future generations.
Beyond that, the rate of global temperature increase is increasing, and we may cross the lower warming threshold established by the Paris Agreement (1.5 degrees Celsius above the average temperature that prevailed before the industrial revolution) as early as the beginning of the next decade. This will have very serious consequences on the frequency of heat waves, droughts and huge fires in our region, on the way precipitation falls in the winter (which will be characterized by large amounts of precipitation in a short time - which is expected to create more floods and floods), the height of the sea level, the future of the coral reefs and our ability to produce food in large areas of the world.
And finally, limiting the increase in global temperature to two degrees Celsius, to which the countries of the world committed in the Paris Agreement, requires an immediate halt to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, and reaching a zero balance of emissions (that is, a situation where the scope of emissions will be equal to the absorption capacity of the Earth's systems, such as the vegetation and the oceans , and therefore the net addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere will be zero) until 2050.
Action instead of anxiety
תגובת אמצעי התקשורת לממצאי הדו"ח כללה מעבר מהיר יותר מאפס למאה מאשר זה שמתרחש בלחיצה על דוושת ההאצה של טסלה. ממצב של התעלמות כמעט מוחלטת מקריאותיהם של המדענים שזועקים בקול ניחר כבר מעל 20 שנה שאנחנו צועדים בעיניים פקוחות אל תוך קטסטרופה אקלימית עולמית, וממצב של התייחסות לאירועי קיצון אקלימיים באופן מנותק מההקשר האקלימי הגלובלי הברור שלהם, התקשורת עברה למצב של פאניקה טוטאלית.
אם יש משהו שלא דרוש לנו כרגע, באמצע מגיפה עולמית ובין "צבע אדום" אחד למשנהו, כשסף החרדה הלאומית נוסק לשמיים, זה עוד פאניקה. הפצת פאניקה היא לא תוכנית פעולה. במקום לעודד פעולה משותפת, היא יוצרת בעיקר שיתוק, חוסר אונים, אדישות ועוד המון חרדה.
According to IPCC scientists, it is not too late. If we only want to act seriously there are so many steps we can take, on a personal, national and global level. so what are we doing?
demand from our leaders Immediately stop all investments in fossil fuel infrastructure, and set ambitious goals to deal with the climate crisis. These goals should include:
- Complete stoppage of granting exploration licenses for natural gas. Although the gas emits fewer pollutants during its burning compared to coal and oil, it also creates significant emissions of methane throughout the production process and at the end of the life of the well - and methane is a greenhouse gas 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide during a 20-year stay in the atmosphere.
- Canceling the oil flow deal from Eilat to Ashkelon, which turns Israel into an oil pipeline, and which threatens the continued existence of the coral reef in Eilat and our continued ability to produce 80 percent of our drinking water from the Mediterranean Sea.
- Updating Israel's emissions targets, so that there will be a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and a 100 percent reduction by 2050 (in relation to emissions in 2015).
- Determining an ambitious and clear master plan for the electricity sector, with the aim of reaching the production of 50 percent of Israel's electricity in 2030 and 100 percent in 2050, with clear intermediate goals that will be anchored in legislation. Such a plan must include the removal of barriers that exist in the field of solar energy and a significant investment in energy storage systems, which will ensure continuity in supply, and in their research and development. The government must invest to make the startup nation a global leader also in the field of renewable energies, energy storage and the microgrid (independent electricity grids, whose advantages include smart and decentralized management of the grid and the reduction of risks to the electricity infrastructure in extreme cases or war).
- A conscious decision to completely part with the internal combustion engine and fully transition to public and private electric transportation within a decade. Such an outline must include an anchoring in legislation of a ban on the import of vehicles of all types with gasoline and diesel engines starting in 2030 and a gradual increase in taxation on them until then alongside a reduction in taxation on electric vehicles of all types.
Only setting truly ambitious goals on the part of the regulators that will challenge the private sector will allow us to express Israeli creativity and initiative and meet them while moving from the climate performance of a third world country to global climate leadership.
Also on a personal level there are many steps that each and every one of us can take:
- Reduce unnecessary consumption and food waste - and save over NIS 8,000 per year.
- Reduce our beef consumption and replace it with chicken and fish - or take more significant steps in terms of climate, such as switching to vegetarianism or veganism.
- Switch to public transport and bicycles at the expense of the private vehicle which will also be replaced by an electric one.
- We reduce the number of our flights, by giving up some of them or going on a long vacation instead of several short vacations.
- Buy local produce as much as possible.
- Reduce the amount of waste we produce, through wise consumption, reuse of what is possible and recycling of the rest.
- Energy efficient and save electricity, by turning off appliances that are not used (such as air conditioning and lighting in rooms we are not in) and purchasing electrical appliances with a high energy rating (A or B).
- Diverting investments in the stock market and the pension and training funds to green channels, which do not include investment in companies that deal with fossil fuels and environmental pollution
- Reduce the use of polluting digital currencies such as The Bitcoin, that the process of mining and trading in vain wastes enormous amounts of energy (more than the electricity consumption of Argentina as a whole, for its 45 million inhabitants), and switch to the use of more energy efficient crypto-currencies, the investment and use of which are less harmful to the environment.
According to the IPCC scientists, if we dramatically reduce emissions and offset their balance by 2050, we still have a chance to limit the warming at the end of the 21st century to less than 2 degrees Celsius, and even a chance - almost unrealistic but still there - to start and see Reduction below the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius. If we continue as we are, we may end the century in a world 5 degrees warmer on average than the pre-industrial era, where life will become almost impossible in large areas (including our Middle Eastern neighborhood) and intolerable in many others.
ד"ר עדי לוי הוא המנהל המדעי של האגודה הישראלית לאקולוגיה ולמדעי הסביבה וראש החטיבה לסביבה וקיימות במכללה האקדמית אחווה.
