Finally, some good news for our Planet
Is it too late already?
I have been writing a lot about “negative” news like Global Warming/Climate Change if the Human Race will become extinct and more of these worrisome things. The Amazons Rainforest is disappearing and animal species are vanishing.
Where ever you look, it is not positive. We are burying ourselves in plastic. The total is rather depressing. Scientists tell us we have reached the point of no return, Is that really true, is there really no hope for us or our beautiful planet?
Positive News
I subscribe for many years to Share International and in the September edition, an article was published that offers a ray of light in our dark existence.
Mr. Paul Hawken, editor of the recent New York Times bestseller “Drawdown” admits that the chosen subtitle “The most complete plan to have ever been proposed to reverse Climate Change “ is bold.
This subtitle was chosen as before never ever any real plan had been presented to avoid this catastrophe. There were many different ideas put out there on how to reduce the global temperature rise so it would not exceed 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But it was never possible to have all countries agree to the necessary measurements. Therefore, nothing much ever happened which would cause any effective change.
A must-have for your library
Actually, the book talks about the 100 most substantive solutions for our world. 80 or 100 solutions. Does it really matter? We only have to do the 10 most important ones to achieve a huge change. Reading this book, we hopefully feel that even on a small and private scale we can help. We only need to start.
I hope this book will inspire you to do so. Be part of creating a just and livable world.
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The interesting book by Mr. Hawken
Mr. Hawken started to investigate for his book already way back in 2001. He is a well-respected author and ecologist. Interviewing the climate and environmental experts, he would ask if they knew what it would need to stop and reverse Global Warming.
Each of these experts agreed that a list of solutions was makeable, but as this was outside their expertise, nothing really came of this idea. After various years of investigating, Mr. Hawken stopped trying to find solutions.
In 2012 Mr. Bill McKibben published an article “The new and terrifying calculus on Climate Change”. Friends of Mr. Hawken pointed out to him that time had run out already, but he saw it more like the before last call.
He founded Project Drawdown, an International Coalition of scientists, business people, activists, and academics who all together are investigating, measuring, modeling, and mapping out the collective solutions to Global Warming with the idea to reach a considerable reduction.
The hope was born that by implementing all these solutions together, year after year a reduction of gasses could be reached and over a period of 30 years, the positive effects be noticed. Solutions to reduce the carbon footprint from the atmosphere.
Sunset over lake image Alan Audet
Some unusual solutions
After years of investigation, some surprising solutions saw the light. 8o Solutions to lower Global Warming were found, which fell into the strict criteria applied.
I will list the top 10 and with some, one is in for a surprise.
1..Refrigerant Management
2..Coastal Wind Turbines.
3..Food waste reduction.
4..A Vegetable-rich diet.
5..Tropical Forests.
6..The education of Girls.
7..Family planning.
8..Solar Farms.
9..Silvopastoral Systems
10 Solar Roofs.
The explanation of each of these solutions included the mass of gasses that are reduced, or even eliminated over a period of 30 years, from 2020 to 2050. It also lists the costs, but in most of the cases, the savings one could have to implement these measures.
Mr. Hawken points out that in our world a third of the food does not reach our tables from farms or factories where it is produced. To then realize that more than 800.000.000 people go hungry every day. It is time to rethink the total distribution as there actually is enough for everybody.
The total amount of food that is being lost represents 4.4 gigatons of carbon dioxide which goes up into the atmosphere each year and represents 8% of the total gases produced worldwide.
To produce this wasted food, a lot of resources are needed, like seeds, energy, water, earth, fertilizers, manpower, and financial capital. At all the different stages gases are produced, including the methanol which the organic matter produces when being disposed of.
Baby girl image Thomas Brodowski
Fewer people if educating all girls
The education of girls seems to have a spectacular influence on Global Warming. At first one might find this surprising, but Mr. Hawken explains why there is a direct cause and effect. Women with more years of education normally have fewer children, they are healthier and actively participate in family planning.
If all girls were to be educated by the year 2050, there would be 850.000.000 people less on our planet. It seems that this is one of the most powerful tools to break the intergenerational poverty cycle and like that reduce the emissions as the world population instead of growing reduces.
This is only one of the 80 solutions, but I think it is a very important one. Being educated, you will take better care of yourself. You will know what food is good for your family and overall have a more important role in society. Your voice will be heard and you will be able to make important changes.
Men will start seeing women as their equals and together they can work for a better future for their children.
Planet Earth image Fernando Zhiminaicela
Conclusion
I hope that this movement will grow over the years and the solutions mentioned in this book will take root. More people should join this movement, which for the first time comes with makeable changes so our world can have a future again for us, our children, and the following generations.
For more information, visit this website: www.drawdown.org
Recently I came across this very serious video. It is a warning to us all. Please take the time to watch it. The clock is ticking as meeting after meeting on an International level makes evident. The time for talking has long passed. Now actions are called for.
I would appreciate your view on this and am happy to answer all the comments.
I wrote this post in September 2017 and looking back a lot has happened in these years. Quite a few countries have become greener and are going in the right direction. Sadly, other countries have gone in the opposite direction. More hurricanes, more wildfires. When will we learn?
Before you leave, have a look at Recommendations. It is a special page I made for you with a collection of things I find interesting. I hope you will find something you like.
Source: Share International
Photo Source: Pixabay
Perhaps you would like to read my post on a different solution for our planet. It really is an eye-opener.
Comments
Loes
Hi Teatske, that’s a lot of food wasted! And this distribution really needs some attention. Also the education, not only for girls, but also for boys. In a lot of countries, it seems that boys and men do not respect the girls and women. As long as that cultural appearance is staying the norm, and this abusing keeps going on, there will not much be a changing in the overpopulation. Of course, it’s a good thing to educate girls, but education and evolve cultural misconduct in populations must also be addressed.
That’s my 2 cents:)
Have a great day, Loes
Taetske
Good afternoon Loes,
Thank you for leaving a comment on my website. I was all happy to be able to write on something positive for our planet. Too often I had written on sad or bad things, situations where one thinks and now it is too late. It is true of course there are too many countries where girls/women are nearly worthless and considered third class people. To change this one has to start with education so that when these young people grow up and have children of their own their value system has been radically changed, they must learn that we are all equal and that men and women complement each other.
This data about our food waste is appaling especially when one thinks about how many people are hungry day after day. We have too much of everything and they have hardly anything. Well, let us be positive and hope this movement will take root and be able to save our neck in the last minute.
Regards, Taetske
Judy Edwards
This was an excellent read. Continuing on the war on waste, here in Australia recently we had an excellent program on the ABC called “The War on Waste ” you can view it here http://ab.co/2zj1dwF It is unbelievable how much food we waste just because people want the perfect unblemished fruit rather than accepting with gratitude what nature has produced. One consequence of the program was that people are encouraged to take along their own coffee cup rather than use the throw away ones. I am not a climate change expert but I am very interested in it as we are farming and it concerns our future. I am developing a site questioning the actual causes of climate change in Australia and the rest of the world , https://openviewnow.com/
I do not think the warming or cooling is as big an issue as is the amount of toxicity in the air. Carbon pollution is reaching dangerous levels in some cities so measures to reduce carbon would come more from reducing emissions from cars and factories. I live in the country and we have a friend who is a specialist in air pollution. He has moved his family out of the city to get away from the toxic air. We have clean air in the country and we live in an area where there are many livestock farms so I would dispute the need to reduce the consumption of meat as a solution. Grass grown to feed those animals also acts as a sink for carbon and as the depth of soil increases through fertility and management, it too can store carbon. I see the urban sprawl as a bigger threat to carbon in our air. They are growing like a cancer across valuable farm land used to produce food now under concrete. Farmers care for the land and the soil. We plant thousands of trees, we monitor soil health and we breathe clean air. We need more thoughtful planning of cities and yes every roof top could be solar,and could also collect water to be used for gardens and every home should have space for a garden rather than an over sized building.
You are right in your site, we have a beautiful planet and we need to do our part to preserve it. Thank you Taetske for an inspirational and thought provoking read.
Taetske
Good afternoon Judy,
Thank you for visiting my website and leaving this long and interesting comment.
I will certainly look at the 2 links you kindly sent me as it is so good that people worldwide really start thinking about this huge problem. Even if it seems a small thing people bringing their own coffee mug to the office if everybody would do things like that it would have an impact and we might be able to avert our end. It is so crazy that the human race prefers to pollute the air which then becomes toxic to our health. In Madrid these days the air was so bad again that traffic was restricted in the center.
I am also blessed with living in the country on my 180-year-old farm. In 1981 after my personal and awful experience with Roundup I went green and have never regretted that decision. I am surrounded on 3 sides by my neighbour who grows avocados and decided also to go green years ago. For sure it is a little paradise, that is what my friends tell me but it cost me a lot of hard work to build up during more than 30 years.
I recently also wrote a post on trees. 2 very big projects, one in Pakistan and the other in India where millions of trees were planted. I hope it is not too late at least this movement gives hope that we might save our beautiful planet.
Regards, Taetske
Chris
Excellent article – it’s amazing that as I was reading through it, a report came on the BBC News service on the TV behind me, covering the fact that temperatures in the UK are rising each year due to global warming.
This Drawdown book seems like an incredibly interesting read, and Hawken obviously knows his stuff – is it on Amazon yet?
Taetske
Good afternoon Chris,
Nice to see you again. The more the media come with news like that the more people will become informed and hopefully wake up. The solutions are original and also reasonable, let’s all do our bit and perhaps we can still escape somehow. The fact that temperatures will rise will cause more than a lot of problems.
Yes, the book is for sale, click on it, go shopping, I will have my first sale and you will have made my day.
Thank you for visiting my website and leaving a comment.
Regards, Taetske
free4life
We totally agree that the planet is suffering from the condition of greed and corruption that has manifested through humans. But being a human myself, I know that it is possible to reach others, just as you are here, in order to at the very least attempt to correct the problems we have created.
Do you think that there is any truth to the earth being knocked off its axis due to natural events such as earthquakes and/or tsunamis? Food for thought, and you might have mentioned this in a different post, but it is worth looking into if you have not.
Taetske
Good afternoon, a shame I do not know your name.
Thank you for leaving a comment on my website. I hope you have downloaded your free PDF?
From your comment I understand you also write about these type of issues? If yes, I would be interested to hear more about it.
No, I have not written about the earth changing its axis. If that should happen it would need a huge impact of some sort. I do not think an enormous Meteor is on its way to do just that. Looking at what the human race is capable of we might not need a meteoric impact. We are changing the climate, we are really doing our best. At the moment there are very unstable forces at work so who knows what might come, perhaps a major nuclear disaster? I hope that Mother Earth can still take what we are doing to her, one day she might take a jump and everything will be different.
Regards, Taetske
Jimsolo247
Hello Taetske
I don’t really believe predictions coming from scientists. If we follow what Scientist tells us every day, we can’t live in this earth.oftentimes we hear so much negative news regarding the earth coming from Scientist and many of them have failed woefully. There was a time scientists were warning my country about acid rain, they even told us when the acid rain is going to fall but getting to that day nothing happened and I started doubting words that comes from them right from that day.
Taetske
Good evening Jim,
Thank you for your comment. I hope you have downloaded your free PDF.
I have to disagree with you. Acid rain is coming down right now. This is happening in the northeastern regions of the U.S. where there are a lot of coal-fired power plants. Acid rain might not have the strength you perhaps think but it still decreases the pH of the water. It reduces the ability of the water to support life, and dissolves calcium-based minerals in the soil.
I personally believe we should listen to the scientists as they explain that Global Warming will cause Climate Change and that will have consequences for us all.
Regards Taetske
Stephen
Hi Taetske,
Your article was indeed worth reading. You have shown that you care about not just our environment, but also the people who leave on it. I mean why would such an enormous food be wasted while over 800,000,000 people go hungry each and every day.
In actual fact, here in Africa, the cases of people going hungry is even worse. Some people leave on 0,1, 0 formula. it means that they eat ONLY ones in a day. Meanwhile there are tons of food being wasted. And not just that, but also, they are destroying the environment through industrial gases and other forms of pollution to produce all these foods.
So for me, if this 80 solutions to global warming will take effect really as said, I think it will help very well. Especially making good use of solar energy in farming activities instead of using gases that pollute the atmosphere.
Your article is worth 100 times reading. thanks I have bookmarked it for future reference.
Stephen.
Taetske
Good afternoon Stephen,
I am happy to hear you find my article worth reading. The more people hear about these possible solutions the better. If we would all do our bit the total would have a big impact and might just save our necks.
The fact that a lot of countries are going green is an indication that there is a change in the way of thinking and also taking action.
It is a scandal so much food is wasted when there are so many places where people go hungry. If the distribution were better organized that would be a help already. Also, the way of producing food is important. There are too many cows in the world, they also contribute to Global Warming and on top of it they do not live happy lives and their meat is not good for our health.
There are so many things which would need improvement on. It is difficult to know where to start and that makes people not do anything at all. The wait and see attitude is no good. A Global rethinking of things is needed, I hope that day will come.
Thank you for leaving a comment. I hope you have downloaded your free PDF?
Regards, Taetske
yoge
Hi buddy,
I am in India, Even I am a little poor in grammar. The article “Finally some good news for our Planet” is nice. It gives nice information about reducing global temperature. I have agriculture land so I can easily implement the solar pant and the solar roof. Thanks for creating the great information and keep creating more information for the viewers use, your friend Yoge
Taetske
Good afternoon Yoge,
Thank you for visiting my website and for leaving a comment.
I certainly will keep on writing whenever I come across some interesting information. The COP in Madrid shows once again a lot of talking between the countries but as usual, they cannot really agree to collectively attack this problem. It is a sorry sight to see this happening time after time and in the meantime, the clock is ticking.
If you allow me I would like to give you a bit of advice. You can install Grammarly on your computer, it is free and helps to avoid making mistakes when writing. All people who do not have English as their mother tongue and even native English speakers benefit from Grammarly.
Regards, Taetske
arzu hosan
At the present time, we each waste food, this conveyance actually needs some consideration. Additionally the instruction, for young ladies, yet additionally for young men.
In a lot of nations, it appears that young men and men don’t regard the young ladies and ladies. For whatever length of time that social appearance is remaining the standard. As long as this manhandling is condoned there won’t be a significant change in the overpopulation.
Obviously, it really is ideal to instruct young ladies giving them advanced training. The right social behavior in populaces should likewise be tended to.
Taetske
Good afternoon Arzu,
You are right the amount of wasted food is huge. It really is a scandal when so many people go hungry every day in the world.
I hope that one day people worldwide will come to the understanding we are all equal independent of race, culture, or religion. Learning to respect each other would be a big step in the right direction.
Thank you for your comment. I hope you downloaded your free PDF? Tulip widget
Rodarrick
Anything at all that can help restore the world from the perilous state we are edging towards is always welcomed and thank you for sharing all these remarkable and breakthrough answers. I feel that if proper care is taken and we all channel our effort towards this discovery, maybe the earth will survive the state we have pushed it to. Great one.
Taetske
Good afternoon Rodger,
Thank you for your comment. Nice to see you again.
It is very sad but with our ignorance and destructive actions we are pushing our planet to the point of no return. The things which have gone extinct will not come back anymore and the future generations will know of their existence only through stories and photos. Many scientists have already said it is too late.
When leaders cannot agree on how to proceed it gives a sorry impression to the people. Those 80 solutions are all good and together it would mean our planet can be saved and we included. Sadly not enough people seem to understand that.
Regards, Taetske
Travis
While I agree that climate change is serious and things need to change, I do not think that having fewer people is necessary if we were to start living more peacefully with nature.
Fewer fossil fuels, more renewable energy is a big start, unfortunately, people with a lot of money stand to lose a lot if we were to go away from our dependence on oil.
The really sad news is that if we do end up destroying ourselves one way or another, the Earth will be just fine. It was here long before us and in all probability will be here long after we are gone.
Taetske
Good afternoon Travis,
Thank you for your visit and comment. I hope you downloaded your free PDF? Tulip widget.
Oh, yes, Mother Earth could do very well without us. I get the impression she is very upset and shows it.
There is enough for everybody even food. The problem is it is not fairly distributed in the world. The world does not need more people if that means they get no education, no home, food, and job.
Regards, Taetske
Ann
Hello Taetske. This list of 10 solutions listed here has left me thinking. How interrelated we are with our planet. Our actions as population have a direct impact on the Earth. Educating girls sounds reasonable and it has surprised me a bit because it’s not commonly linked to saving the planet. But it ratifies my initial statement that our behavior as human beings is reflected on our planet.
Taetske
Good evening Ann,
Thank you for leaving a comment on my website. I hope you downloaded your free PDF? Tulip widget.
Our collective behavior is really bad for our planet. People destroy the environment which is their habitat, strange to say the least. Why should we adapt to bad air, polluted water, unhealthy food? When you think about it it is really crazy we are doing this to ourselves.
What is even worse is that future generations will wonder why this happened. I think it is high time for a shift and educating girls is a good start.
Regards, Taetske
Paolo
It is not all negative when it comes to Global Warming/Climate Change because I believe the planet is only giving us a warning of the much bigger problem that’s taking place inside of us human beings.
If we change, then the planet will also start to experience the results of our change. Thanks for listing these 10 solutions. I’ll research a bit more to read the other 70.
Taetske
Good evening Paolo,
I can agree with you that Mother Earth is warning us. She is sending us very clear signals her patience is coming to an end. Do we listen? It does not seem so. We will see and feel the consequences.
I believe that Mother Earth is a living entity and when the human race understands that and starts to respect her we can all live in peace and harmony.
Thank you for your comment. I hope you downloaded your free PDF? Tulips widget.
Regards, Taetske
Linda Frankson
Hi Taetske, it continues to amaze me how connected we are. I just wrote an article on educating ourselves selves how important that is. And just below that, I found your report.
I have seen Stuart Scott’s videos before, and he gives us such a clear picture. Though I work with health, I also am proactive in all that is taking place on Mother Earth, and it is an unfortunate predicament that is unfolding.
I know that there are steps being taken to bring about awareness. The more we work on these subjects, we are better able to help bring about this awareness. It is good to have the positive that is taking place so as people can make their own desitions so as we can work together. If we can reach just one person, it can cause a ripple effect.
SO keep going my friend I will be right along with you.
always a better way
Taetske
Good evening Linda,
Again you found time to visit my website and for making a comment. It is really appreciated as we are all so busy during the month of December.
I am very disappointed with what happened in Madrid. Once more the countries were not able to come to an agreement, how very sad and the clock is ticking.
As the leaders are losing time it is up to us to take over. We can all do our bit on a personal level which would already help so much. When one reads the report on the things which would help Mother Earth it is possible to do it. One only needs to find enough like-minded people.
Thank you for your continued support.
Regards, Taetske
Suz
Ah, this is a very good one and really I believe in global warming and I think that we need to be more careful about our surrounding and how we are able to use the things around us as well.
I think that the solutions that you have shared are very valid and they can help to keep our world safe. This world is our planet and we need to take care of her.
Taetske
Good Morning Susan,
Looking around, one can see we are going in the wrong direction. As they say, there is no planet B. Elon Musk wants to fly to Mars, but what is the use of that? We first have to learn to take care of what we have to then fly out and explore other worlds.
Thank you for your comment on my post. I hope you downloaded your free PDF? Tulip widget.
Regards, Taetske
Bruce
It is very true that Mother Earth really is getting so weak that it might get to a point where she won’t be able to hold and house humanity. I believe this is our fault as humans; we don’t put our planet into consideration whenever we are doing things. These solutions are very vital, and they should be followed.
Taetske
Good Morning Manny,
Thank you for stopping by and for your comment. I hope you downloaded your free PDF? Tulip widget.
It is true that we are a big problem for Mother Earth, she would be better off without us. We should teach our children to take better care of the environment so they will be able to teach their children.
Regards, Taetske