A Little More Good, Bad, Ugly : Fusion, Ozone, Sinking Cities, Declining Carbon Emissions

There are so many important news stories about the environment, and if you are interested in keeping up with the deluge of news on an ongoing basis please see some of the sites on our Groups and Websites page. As I return from sabbatical I have chosen not to write about each story, there are just way too many and these sites do such a great job. But today it just struck me there are several stories that I wanted to share. 

Things to be grateful for, the Good:

Axios reported that NOA-NASA said that in 2025 the ozone hole over the Antarctic was the 5th smallest since 1992 when the agreement to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals began to take effect.  Thanks to the Montreal Protocol (see our podcast Your Planet Your Health episode 6 “How Diplomacy Closed the Ozone Hole) the ozone layer remains on track to recover fully later this century.”  While the ozone hole is a more tractable problem than climate change, plastics, air and water pollution, and biodiversity, soil and water loss, besides being critically important in and of itself to protect ourselves and the biospehre from the effects of ozone depletion, at least it shows we can do something big and important together!

On another positive note, News From Science has a detailed article on how “global carbon emissions will soon flatten or decline” once again giving China a lot of credit (see our podcast Your Planet Your Health episode 9 “Unsung Climate victories”)

Heatmap AM reported that China formed a 10-nation alliance to work on fusion energy:

“Hefei Fusion Declaration, whose signatories include France, the United Kingdom, and Germany. “We are about to enter a new stage of burning plasma, which is critical for future fusion engineering,” Song Yuntao, vice president of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, said in a government press release.”

 The United States it seems was not invited to the party:

 “…the U.S. risks losing its edge, according to a new report by the Congress-backed Commission on the Scaling of Fusion Energy. ‘While the United States has long been at the forefront of fusion research, the international competition is intensifying,’ the report published last month concluded. ‘China, in particular, is rapidly advancing its fusion energy capabilities through massive state investments and aggressive technological development, narrowing the window for American leadership.’”

Of course, if fusion is safe and cost effective, it could be miraculous, a game changer. Still a long shot, but dare to dream!

The Bad and Ugly you may not have heard about:

The same Heatmap AM post from today noted that Iran has to move its capital Tehran due to shrinking water supplies.

 “As the capital sinks by near one foot per year and water supplies shrink, Tehran faces ‘catastrophe’ and ‘a dark future,’ he said. “Protecting the environment is not a joke. Ignoring it means signing our own destruction.’”

 The article points out that Indonesia has to move its capital Jakarta as it is also sinking.

 A wake up call if we can hear it! Climate change, water shortages, environmental degradation are real and already massively disruptive (and not in the “good” way!).

No joke indeed.

Let’s hope we vote in leaders that will work with the world to make it a better place rather than ceding leadership to China because of an anti-science, profit and power now at all costs, ideology!

Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful there are indeed some things to be grateful for!