Petra Todd

Environmental Sciences @ UEA / climate journalist & campaigner

[Prof. Eliot Jacobson @EliotJacobson]

Back over 1.5°C again and on the way up.

Coral has tipped. AMOC, Amazon, boreal forests, Antarctica, Greenland, permafrost, etc., are tipping.

The Climate 8-ball says, "Not to be!"

[Zarah Sultana MP @zarahsultana]

Any journalist still silent on the genocide in Gaza because they care more about their Zone 2 dinner parties is a disgrace, and should be ashamed of themselves.

[Guardian Environment @guardianeco]

Entire Earth vibrated for nine days after climate-triggered mega-tsunami https://t.co/yojV2Uz0Tk

[Tadhg @TadhgHickey]

Don't cross the picket line
#BoycottEurovision2024 #FreePalestine

[Leon Simons 🌍 @LeonSimons8]

We have about 3 months of CO₂ emissions left to stay below ΔT +1.5°C.

If anyone would like to spread some false hope (maybe sell some books?), do it now!

https://t.co/Ukii4chhLJ

[Roger Hallam @RogerHallamCS21]

So here's how we should look at all this temperature stuff. The fundamental thing to understand is that there is a cut off point where the human body dies in 6 hours (Wet Bulb Effect)- around 35C to 50C, depending on the humidity. As I keep reminding people, when people die they do not come back - unlike just being ill. These are the two key facts.

So really the thing to think about is not, hey it is now 30C at night in Crete in March every year or two. The KEY THING is how often is it going to be 50C at night in Crete? Let's say that is every 20 years - so half the population dies in one day every 20 years.

This is why THE AVERAGE is completely irrelevant - the horror is in how often the long tail happens - how often a place hits the "all humans die in one day" point.

So if at 1C it is once in 10 000 years - at 2C it might be once in 100 years - at 3C once in 20 years (i.e., effective human extinction).

At 1C things are tricky - at 2C things are super risky - at 3C half the world has to move because every 20 years they all die if they stay put.

Of course you are going to say well people will adapt (have underground shelters etc). Sure some people survive in the Sahara. But try doing that in an area such as France!

The biggest social shock of human history is going to be when the first mass mortality event happens suddenly and what I have written in this post will become the most important information in the world. And then everyone will go - oh fuck fuck fuck. The door of the gas chamber has closed.

In case you are interested in how this has worked in history you can read the "general crisis" on the 1C drop in temperatures in the seventeenth century when the global population dropped by a third. You can see that the mass death events happened all in one go when extreme climate events happened - droughts and extreme cold temperatures. When these happened two years in a row it took generations for the population to recover. And it did of course. But this time round it will never change. It will just get worse.

The researchers concluded: “The geographic range and frequency of non-compensable heat extremes will increase rapidly, given only moderate continued increase in global average temperatures. This implies that, in the near future, a substantial portion of the world’s population will be exposed to these non-compensable environmental conditions.”

“a real risk” of widespread exposure with “hundreds of millions of people” affected before they were sufficiently heat-adapted to avoid attendant increases in deaths and illness."
https://t.co/ddEukqVUlk.

[Leon Simons 🌍 @LeonSimons8]

How is net-zero going?

[Prof. Eliot Jacobson @EliotJacobson]

In case you're keeping track, there have been five days in 2024 when the global temperature anomaly dipped below the Paris limit of 1.5°C. Most recently, March 23rd registered 1.46°C.

The current 365-day running average is 1.57°C.

The climate 8-ball says: "f&%kery ahead!"

[Petra Todd @petra919]

@NrwchGreenpeace Hey, I would love to get involved! Who can I contact about this?

[joe brindle 🇵🇸 @JoeBrindle_]

Germany has stood by and continued to arm Israel as they have massacred thousands of civilians.

Today we confronted Germany's justice minister over this...

🇵🇸🕊️ FREE PALESTINE

[Leon Simons 🌍 @LeonSimons8]

As scientists, we are increasingly being asked to tell the public the truth about the crises we face in simple and direct terms. The truth is that we are shocked by the ferocity of the extreme weather events in 2023. We are afraid of the uncharted territory that we have now entered.

This summed up our experience of 2023, as it happened.

It's been an honor to be part of this crucial research, led by the great @WilliamJRipple and Christopher Wolf.

And with co-authors Jillian Gregg, @jrockstrom, @NewsomeTM, Beverly Law, Luiz Marques, Tim Lenton, Chi Xu, (the late😔) @SaleemulHuqand and @Sir_David_King

The 2023 state of the climate report: Entering uncharted territory:

https://t.co/57P3iD1RFr

[Peter Kalmus @ClimateHuman]

"Claiming that COP28 was somehow not a failure, clinging to bits of false hope, generates a powerful illusion that business as usual can continue. We've been doing this for 30 years now."
My latest article:
https://t.co/DnBiSn0TVS

[Petra Todd @petra919]

Earth on verge of 5 catastrophic climate tipping points

Tipping points.

Are governments aware what this actually means? It means dangerous threats of such scale that we can’t even imagine.

And we are seeing fossil fuel deals made at cop28. https://t.co/NEseGeDNSF

[Greta Thunberg @GretaThunberg]

The death rate in Gaza is at a historic high, with thousands of children killed in just a few weeks.
Demanding an end to this inexcusable violence is a question of basic humanity. Silence is complicity. You cannot be silent in an unfolding genocide.
https://t.co/Az5O7ZKYU5

[Peter Kalmus @ClimateHuman]

The world needs to know what a sick and dangerous joke the United Nations climate summits have become, so we can have a chance to fix them.
And also fuck the fossil fuel industry and its execs. Such insanely evil people.
My latest op ed:
https://t.co/BgnmHyJsbt

[Petra Todd @petra919]

When the @WMO reports that climate heating gases reach record high but your university continues to promote oil and gas careers🤨

Sign for @uniofeastanglia to ban top fossil fuel financiers & oil and gas industries from careers events.
@UEACareers

https://t.co/hn0nmkDmu1

[Petra Todd @petra919]

Yet another massively disappointing and unsurprising move from this country.
#ClimateCrisis #KingCharles #AbolishTheMonarchy

[Fiona Harvey @fionaharvey]

King Charles announces suite of pro-carbon measures for UK that will increase greenhouse gas emissions and boost the fossil fuel interests trying to wreck #Cop28 as Rishi Sunak plays politics with climate https://t.co/rbMdJQgATF

[Fiona Harvey @fionaharvey]

King Charles announces suite of pro-carbon measures for UK that will increase greenhouse gas emissions and boost the fossil fuel interests trying to wreck #Cop28 as Rishi Sunak plays politics with climate https://t.co/rbMdJQgATF

[Clare Hymer @ClareHymer]

HAPPENING NOW: Mass sit-in at Waterloo Station, London calling for a ceasefire on Gaza.

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

The unfolding events in Israel and Palestine are deeply alarming.

We need an immediate ceasefire and urgent de-escalation.

And we need a route out of this tragic cycle of violence: ending the occupation is the only means of achieving a just and lasting peace.