A little quiz on climate change

[begreen]

This is a quick and fun way to learn a bit about the best solutions for drawing down emissions affecting climate change. Takes just a few minutes and is educational.
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/04/specials/climate-change-solutions-quiz/index.html

 

[WinterinWI]

Good ol' CNN. Thanks for the link, I am now fully edjumacated.

 

[begreen]

Data pulled from Drawdown
https://www.drawdown.org/

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

This can become very political, very fast. I smell it already.

 

[WinterinWI]

I especially liked section #7, "Empowering women". Who knew that women's lack of family planning skills was such a contributor to climate change?

I showed it to the wife and asked if she knew that her lack of family planning skills was a contributor to climate change. I haven't seen her since. She must have headed down to planned parenthood to get some education.

 

[Ashful]

Cook over clean stoves? So far, that’s the only one I missed, and I don’t know what it means. Are there that many people still cooking over granny’s old wood-fired stove, to equal the output of 111 million cars?

Edit: nevermind. Just realized these are global figures, even though a lot of their extrapolation on things like food waste appear to be national issues. Can’t imagine the third-world folks cooking over wood- or coal-fired sources are throwing away one third of their food.

 

[SpaceBus]

Cook over clean stoves? So far, that’s the only one I missed, and I don’t know what it means. Are there that many people still cooking over granny’s old wood-fired stove, to equal the output of 111 million cars?

Edit: nevermind. Just realized these are global figures, even though a lot of their extrapolation on things like food waste appear to be national issues. Can’t imagine the third-world folks cooking over wood- or coal-fired sources are throwing away one third of their food.

Think about all of the food waste from grocery stores, restaurants, fishing, agriculture, etc. Don't just focus on small elements. Someone posted a global study about using wood as a cooking fuel. The US, Europe, and Australia don't exist in a vacuum.

Edit: also think about third world societies that don't have electricity or refrigerators, lots of waste happening there too.

 

[blades]

you are basing your assumption on your own life experience- in reality very little goes to waste in 3rd world countries that haven't been over contaminated by western culture.

 

[Sawset]

you are basing your assumption on your own life experience- in reality very little goes to waste in 3rd world countries that haven't been over contaminated by western culture.

If a culture uses little outside energy souces, then waste needs to go to zero just to break even. To grow crops, and produce enough food, the land needs to be productive to a very high level.
For a long read on just how productive, and how little waste:

https://www.resilience.org/stories/...turies-organic-farming-china-korea-and-japan/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486436098/?tag=hearthamazon-20

No-one would willingly go back 100yrs (or 4000) to that way of life - pie in the sky alternatves and cheap energy rich fuels are too tempting, and easier. But it would solve a lot of problems.

 

[Highbeam]

That was a fun quiz. The women's thing was pretty offensive but whatever.

 

[begreen]

The Drawdown proposals are global and well referenced. The point of this study is to outline and set achievable goals and to avoid major efforts in the wrong direction. Some of the findings are surprising. Some apply more than others to western cultures. For example, it is true that poorer countries waste less, but that is offset by the extraordinary food waste of countries like Canada and the US. At least 40% of the food produced here is wasted. That needs to change and doing so is totally possible. Food waste is ranked high due to the potential savings if addressed.

#3 Reducing food waste
70.53 GIGATONS REDUCED CO2
GLOBAL COST AND SAVINGS DATA TOO VARIABLE TO BE DETERMINED
IMPACT: After taking into account the adoption of plant-rich diets, if 50 percent of food waste is reduced by 2050, avoided emissions could be equal to 26.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide. Reducing waste also avoids the deforestation for additional farmland, preventing 44.4 gigatons of additional emissions. We used forecasts of regional waste estimated from farm to household. This data shows that up to 35 percent of food in high-income economies is thrown out by consumers; in low-income economies, however, relatively little is wasted at the household level.

The issues of women's education directly correlate to family planning. More people means a larger problem for all to deal with.
#7 Family planning
51.48 GIGATONS REDUCED CO2
SEE IMPACT BELOW
IMPACT: Increased adoption of reproductive healthcare and family planning is an essential component to achieve the United Nations’ 2015 medium global population projection of 9.7 billion people by 2050. If investment in family planning, particularly in low-income countries, does not materialize, the world’s population could come closer to the high projection, adding another 1 billion people to the planet. We model the impact of this solution based on the difference in how much energy, building space, food, waste, and transportation would be used in a world with little to no investment in family planning, compared to one in which the projection of 9.7 billion is realized. The resulting emissions reductions could be 102.96 gigatons of carbon dioxide, at an average annual cost of $10.77 per user in low-income countries. Because educating girls has an important impact on the use of family planning, we allocate 50 percent of the total potential emissions reductions to each solution—51.48 gigatons a piece.
(broken link removed to https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/women-and-girls/family-planning)

One surprise to me was the impact of refrigeration. It's a huge, but totally addressable problem with current technology.
#1 Refrigeration Management
89.74 GIGATONS REDUCED CO2
DATA TOO VARIABLE TO BE DETERMINED
$-902.77 BILLION
NET OPERATIONAL SAVINGS
IMPACT: Our analysis includes emissions reductions that can be achieved through the management and destruction of refrigerants already in circulation. Over thirty years, containing 87 percent of refrigerants likely to be released could avoid emissions equivalent to 89.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide. Phasing out HFCs per the Kigali accord could avoid additional emissions equivalent to 25 to 78 gigatons of carbon dioxide (not included in the total shown here). The operational costs of refrigerant leak avoidance and destruction are high, resulting in a projected net cost of $903 billion by 2050.
(broken link removed to https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/materials/refrigerant-management)

 

[Ashful]

For example, it is true that poorer countries waste less, but that is offset by the extraordinary food waste of countries like Canada and the US. At least 40% of the food produced here is wasted. That needs to change and doing so is totally possible.

It’s both disgusting and amusing that we have simultaneous epidemics in both obesity and starvation, inside the same country, peppered with an estimated 40% food waste.

 

[begreen]

Cook over clean stoves? So far, that’s the only one I missed, and I don’t know what it means. Are there that many people still cooking over granny’s old wood-fired stove, to equal the output of 111 million cars?

Yes, that caught me by surprise too, but almost everyone cooks while far from everyone has a car. Clean cookstoves is a third world issue. It is #21 on the drawdown list and listed because the third world covers most of the world's population. The goal of this item would be a reduction of 15.81 gigatons of CO2 by 2050. Electric vehicles (#26) in comparison are estimated to drawdown CO2 levels by an estimated 10.8 gigatons. Adding hybridization of cars would add an estimated 4 gigatons to the total.

True that some of these issues are regional or concentrated in different parts of the world. Regardless it doesn't matter because we are all living on the same fragile planet delicately balanced in the midst of a very hostile universe. We're all in this together.

Here is a summary by rank:
(broken link removed to https://www.drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-rank)

 

[semipro]

I'm typically a good test taker. Just aced my FAA Part 107 remote pilot (drone) certification test, e.g.
Failed this one though.
I'd like to blame the test but can't since others here, whose knowledge I respect, apparently did well.

 

[begreen]

I think that was the point. FWIW, I only did a bit better than average because I often got #1 and #2 options reversed. It's a fun exercise and a good learning experience.

 

[woodgeek]

Well semipro don't feel bad. I own the book, read it last year, and got a 56%.