[GWSG] Climate on the right; fossils, emissions and all; fossil & ag subsidies; diet & climate; >1.5C

[Tilley, Al]

1. The hard right, represented not only by dictatorships but also the leadership in states such as Texas and Florida, is both feeding from and fostering suffering from the climate crisis as it attempts to block climate action. George Monbiot: “It is easy to whip up fascism. It’s the default result of political ignorance and its exploitation. Containing it is much harder, and never-ending. The two tasks – preventing Earth systems collapse and preventing the rise of the far right – are not divisible. We have no choice but to fight both forces at once.” Monbiot does not make a connection between fossil fuel money and the hard right, but it is there to be made, at least in the US.  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/15/hard-right-climate-catastrophe-extreme-weather-refugees

2. Fossil fuel rhetoric (for example, from the leadership of COP 28) emphasizes phasing out fossil fuel emissions by using carbon capture and sequestration. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres observes that fossil fuels themselves must be phased out. “We are hurtling towards disaster, eyes wide open,” he said, “with far too many willing to bet it all on wishful thinking, unproven technologies and silver bullet solutions”. https://www.climatechangenews.com/2023/06/15/antonio-guterres-un-cop28-uae-ccs/?utm_source=cbnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-06-16&utm_campaign=Daily+Briefing+16+06+2023

3. Fossil fuel subsidies, explicit and implicit, of over $7.5 trillion a year should obviously be withdrawn and put to better use. Less obviously, the UN observes that 90% of agricultural subsidies undermine health and the climate, and those subsidies amountroughly to another $7.5 tn. The 8.7 million deaths a year caused by fossil fuel pollution, and the other millions from an unhealthy diet, provide another motive to end the use of fossil fuels and reform our agriculture and diets. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/15/vast-fossil-fuel-and-farming-subsidies-causing-environmental-havoc-world-bank?utm_source=cbnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-06-16&utm_campaign=Daily+Briefing+16+06+2023

4. A Nature Food study provides analysis of the role of dietary choices (particularly for red meat) in the climate crisis. A third of greenhouse gas emissions are at stake. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-food-choices-chances-tackling-global.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter

5. In a new record for June, the earth briefly saw over 1.5C of warming for the first time in human experience. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-june-temperatures-briefly-key-climate.html

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