spring?

Again busy at work.

Yesterday's talk sparked quite some discussion at work. One of our coffee partners thinks that a 2degC world is not a problem - we are already half-way there. So we were wondering what number of deaths are attributable to environmental issues (and in particular climate change). Very tricky to attribute correctly. I did find this WHO factsheet on the causes of death very helpful. About 20% of deaths are due to modifiable environmental factors (aspects of the environment we could change, eg air pollution, traffic, sanitation). If you split these up by region then unsurprisingly 3rd world countries are mostly affected. For the numbers, have a look at the executive summary of this WHO report. This still doesn't help with the question whether a 2degC world is ok or not. However, it does point out at something that we should do in any case: change the modifiable parameters, ie transport, sanitation and air pollution and reduce the number of deaths. This has an immediate benefit and will be required to reduce climate change.

Reading some (most) of the comments on a recent guardian commentary on migration (like all the others) is disgusting. These people flee dire circumstances not of their making. I don't want to imagine what it must be like to decide to leave your home because you cannot bear it any more. Yes, this mass migration brings problems and, yes, we have our own problems in the west as well. The real question is why is the world like it is? And to what extent are we (the rich west, present and past) collectively responsible to the current state? What is our interest in the Middle East? Resources?

My personal idea - #1 get rid of cars. They require fossil fuel that is extracted from places we exploit, burns to produce air pollution and climate gases and cause road accidents. Cars take up precious space in our cities.