Creepy similarities between the fable and red "fin

Climate change  

The red "shark fin" reveals - we are heading towards climate  collapse 

Jonathan Jeppsson  

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's. 

Published 2023-09-10 22:07 

Columnists 

A partially red "shark fin" in the UN's new climate report is revealing. 

It procrastinates where it should least of all. 

It shows the frightening difference between the countries' plans - and how much emissions would actually need to be reduced.  

One of the great best-selling novels of the 70s was "The Long Flight". 

It's a modern fable: It's about rabbits (but with human intellectual abilities) who flee because their colony is razed and destroyed when a new housing complex is to be built. 

During their escape, the rabbits come to another colony, populated by rabbits that are a little bigger, a little cleaner and more sophisticated than the fleeing crowd of shaggy bunnies.  

In the new colony there is another level of sophistication, you have even had the opportunity to develop art and poetry because you don't have to waste time fighting for your survival - here you have free access to food because the farmer nearby puts out large lots of vegetables in the fields.  

The newcomers note, however, that despite this the new colony is poorly populated – many burrows gape empty. It turns out that the farmer doesn't just give - he snares the occasional rabbit when he feels like it. What looks like a thriving colony is actually a rabbit farm being harvested. 

This Faustian agreement leaves its mark on the colony: The newcomers note that as soon as they ask a question with "where?", "how?" or “why?” they are immediately interrupted by the outwardly prosperous inhabitants.  

There are things that must not be touched, questions that must not be asked.

 

I will think of the book when I read the new UN report, where they went through the climate plans of all the world's countries, to see how the world is doing in global climate work. 

The insufficient commitments to limit climate change stand out as a partially red "shark's fin" in the charts - when emissions would actually have to drop dramatically.  

Globally, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 43 procent by 2030, compared to 2019 levels, and 60 percent by 2035. To get there, the report says, a phase-out of fossil fuels is required – a phrase several countries completely oppose .  

Judging by the commitments, the world will pump out about 22 billion tons more carbon dioxide in 2030 than is required to cope with 1.5 degrees. What needs to be removed is as much as the combined cmissions from the five biggest polluters today: 

China, the US, India, Russia and Japan. It is easy to see that we are nowhere near getting there.  

The release of the report was followed by the now customary string of admonishing words of warning.

Ani Dasgupta, head of the World Resources Institute think tank, said the report's bland tone hid a catastrophic failure. Carbon dioxide emissions are still increasing.  

The rich countries' shortcomings in the financial commitments, he described as "criminally" bad. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that climate work is about to spin completely out of control.  

But these are the kinds of things he says nowadays: "A highway towards climate hell" it was called last spring, "a collective suicide" he warned of in July 2022. "The climate collapse has begun", he said just a few days ago.  

But who can bear to care about the UN chief's increasingly powerful expression? All around us, life goes on as usual.  

The farmer has put food out in the fields. Have we ever been so prosperous? We can devote ourselves to art and poetry.  

But it is becoming increasingly difficult to defend ourselves from the questions of "where?", "how?" and why?".