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LEADERS WORK TO SOLVE
A MANMADE PROBLEM

Tuesday, November 3, 2021

In today’s newsletter, Jacques Cousteau’s legacy; recovering a lost river; the case for climate reparations … and saving the Marshall Islands from the sea.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PHILIPP SPALEK, LAIF/REDUX

By Robert Kunzig, ENVIRONMENT Executive Editor

The president of the United States showed up yesterday at the COP26 meeting in Glasgow with no climate legislation to back up his national security adviser’s claim that the U.S. was “filling our end of the bargain.” The president of China didn’t show up at all. The U.S. is historically by far the largest source of human emissions of carbon dioxide, responsible for more than a quarter of what’s in the atmosphere; China is by far the largest polluter today, contributing more than a quarter of new emissions each year. In 2015, an agreement between these two key countries had made the Paris Agreement possible.

So the most important climate conference since Paris got off to an uneasy start. But today, the second day, is already looking better—read on. And in any case, the struggle to stop climate change will last many decades, and the outcome won’t be decided in Glasgow.

As a collection of photos we published last week illustrates (above, a North Sea wind farm), the news from the front lines going into COP26 is both bad and good.

First the bad. None of the top five emitters, including China and the U.S., are close to doing what’s necessary to meet the Paris goal of keeping global warming well below 2°C (3.6°F), Kieran Mulvaney writes for Nat Geo. The same is true when you expand the lens to the G20, the 20 major economies that account for 80 percent of world GDP. As a group, according to a recent UN Environment Programme report, they don’t have the policies in place to cut emissions as much as they’ve pledged to do—a “significant reason the world remains on a path toward worsening climate catastrophes.” (Below, a woman walks through a seasonal sandstorm in Beijing.)

PHOTOGRAPH BY KEVIN FRAYER, GETTY IMAGES

Meanwhile, the rich countries aren’t keeping their promises of financial support to help developing countries forestall catastrophe. That failure to act with enlightened self-interest will no doubt be much discussed at Glasgow.

Even if all countries were to meet their pledges to cut emissions, writes Alejandra Borunda, Earth would still warm 2.7°C (4.9°F) by 2100, well beyond the Paris target. That’s more bad news. The good news is that Earth would only warm 2.7°C. A decade ago, when emissions were still rising much faster than they have lately, we were looking at more than 4°C warming by 2100. A huge growth in renewable energy has happened since.

“We’ve actually made an amazing amount of progress,” David Victor, a climate policy expert at the University of California San Diego, told Borunda. “That’s not stopping warming—it’s not well below 2 degrees, but it’s … much better than we were on track for before.”

Better, but nowhere near enough. COP26 won’t decide the future of humanity, but it’s an opportunity for negotiators to keep nudging the future onto a better track. On the second day, Borunda writes in our story today, representatives of more than 100 countries, led by the U.S. and the European Union, signed a pledge to cut their methane emissions 30 percent by 2030. If the whole world were to join in, it might shave another .2 degree off future warming. Also on this second day, more than 100 countries pledged to end deforestation by 2030. A similar agreement in 2014 had little impact—but maybe this time the deal will stick. (Related: The ways deforestation hurts the Earth.)

“This is a decisive decade in which we have an opportunity to prove ourselves,” President Biden said in his speech in Glasgow yesterday. Though there will be many more COPs, this one marked the return of the U.S. to the fight. “God bless you all, and may God save the planet,” Biden said, in closing his speech. But as he himself had just made plain, it’s not really God’s problem.

LEFT: PHOTOGRAPH BY CIRIL JAZBEC, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC;
RIGHT: PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNSEY ADDARIO, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

The extremes: The two images above illustrate what the world is up against. On the left, Swiss caretakers have been covering part of Rhône Glacier with fleece blankets to reflect sunlight, a move intended to preserve the glacier. At right, as captured by Nat Geo Explorer Lynsey Addario, firefighters in August fighting a giant wildfire as it blazed toward California’s Lake Tahoe Basin.

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SMARTER PLANET

What you already are doing: When we commissioned a poll to see how many Americans were taking the environment into account on their purchases (above), we also asked Planet Possible newsletter readers—and were swamped with hundreds of replies. Several haunt vintage stores, preferring to get gently used items rather than buy new. A few readers reminded us that people on a tight budget often can't pay much more for a sustainable product. Reader Nancy Pattison says when she needs something in a hurry, she often has to accept what she can get. “However,” she adds, “if I WANT something, I take the time to research sustainability.” Writes Cheri Lovre: “Delayed or denied gratification is significantly easier on my heart than guilt.”

Good choices 101: Making informed environmental decisions

This week’s question(s): It’s timely. Should government intervene to seek to slow climate change? Do you believe weather extremes and natural disasters have increased because of climate change? We’re polling Americans and we’d like your thoughts as well. Let us know!

TAKE FIVE

Marshall Islands begs world to stop 60,000-person Pacific nation from drowning

A wildlife refuge with roots in the city

The case for climate reparations

Hamptons tries extreme climate-proofing to save itself

Conservation dogs may help in search for endangered Franklin’s bumblebee

ONE MOMENT

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT B. GOODMAN, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE

He helped the world understand: Pioneering scuba diver and scientist Jacques-Yves Cousteau (pictured above) pushed throughout his career to protect the planet. With the release of a new Nat Geo documentary, Becoming Cousteau, Erin Blakemore tracks ways Cousteau sought to do so, from improvements in diving equipment to documentaries that tens of millions of people saw. He fought nuclear dumping in the oceans and predicted the destruction of coral reefs worldwide, Blakemore writes. “We hold in our hands,” Cousteau once told a U.N. conference, “the future of tomorrow’s exacting generations.”

5 reasons Jacques Cousteau is a legend

1. He pioneered scuba gear.
2. His underwater documentaries brought a new world to viewers.
3. He pioneered underwater base camps.
4. He helped restrict commercial whaling.
5. He helped stop underwater dumping of nuclear waste.

FAST FORWARD

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLES MARVILLE, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Resurrecting a river: Although the Seine evokes dreams and romance, the Bièvre—its only tributary to flow through Paris—is largely unknown to the millions of tourists to the French capital. By the early 20th century, the Bièvre was so polluted that it was buried underground, its water diverted into the sewers. There’s more talk recently of reviving the river, Nat Geo reports. Sections have been opened in the suburbs, and the mayor’s office recently launched a feasibility study to look at uncovering stretches in the city. (Pictured above, the Bièvre and surrounding tanneries, in Paris’s 13th arrondissement around 1865.)

Subscriber exclusive: How urban parks are bringing nature close to home

We hope you liked today’s Planet Possible newsletter, and thanks to so many of you who have written in. Today's newsletter was edited and curated by Monica Williams, Heather Kim, and David Beard. Have any suggestions for helping the planet or links to such stories? Let us know at [email protected].

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