Paris Agreement: Savior for the world's climate?

The global climate agreement is now officially in force. Parties to the treaty will work under this framework to prevent catastrophic global warming. But what's in the Paris Agreement, and can it achieve its goal? This Friday (04.11.2016), the United Nations agreement on climate change has come into force. As of that day, 97 countries have ratified it - among them the largest worldwide greenhouse gas polluters: the United States, China, the European Union and India.
Ratification in such a short time by so many countries has been considered historical, and represents a turning point in climate policy.
What is the objective of the agreement?
The stated goal of the agreement is to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) or ideally 1.5 degrees Celsius. For the 1.5-degree goal, emission of greenhouse gases would have to decrease very quickly. The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is released during combustion of fossil fuels and in deforestation. This is the main gas responsible (72 percent) for the greenhouse effect. In order to limit global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees, coal, oil and gas must be mostly phased out as energy sources by 2050 - to achieve the 1.5 degree target, this would need to happen even earlier. The greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide (N2O) constitute about a quarter of global warming, and are released primarily due to industrial agriculture. Methane is produced in the stomachs of cows and sheep, and nitrous oxide through fertilization of cropland. Lower meat and milk production and lower fertilization would help reduce emissions. Reforestation helps to reduce greenhouse gases, since trees remove CO2 from the air and bind it back into woody material. However, international air traffic and shipping are not included in the Paris climate agreement. The share of air traffic in the greenhouse effect is currently more around 5 percent. And as all forecasts predict rising air traffic, this share could increase. The share of international shipping traffic toward global greenhouse gas emissions is about 3 percent.
What's at stake?
With a temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius, some coral reefs could still survive, and sea levels would probably rise by "only" 40 centimeters by 2100, according to PIK. But a temperature increase of 2 degrees could mean the end of coral reefs. Droughts, extreme storms and crop failure are further consequences. According to PIK calculations, with a 2-degree global temperature increase, by 2100 sea levels would be about 50 centimeters higher than today, and through ongoing ice melt from 1.5 to 4 meters higher by 2300. This would have devastating consequences for coastal regions around the world. The Netherlands, Bangladesh, Venice, New York, Tokyo, Sydney, Mumbai and London would all be hard hit. Today, 46 million people live in areas less than a meter above sea level. The UN's Executive Secretary for Climate Change Patricia Espinosa believes the agreement is also a cornerstone for sustainable change. "It lays the foundation for a transformation that will lead to a world very different from the one we know now," Espinosa told DW. A quick end to the use of fossil fuels, a successful global transition to clean energy technologies, and far greater energy efficiency are among the primary challenges. But the UNFCCC is optimistic that in the years to come, there will be a worldwide trend toward further climate protection. DW

What you should really be eating to protect yourself against dementia By Chloe Lambert

Dr Estep’s rules for keeping your brain young The Telegraph

Eat at every meal:

• Vegetables, including leafy greens and herbs, and pulses
• Small portion of carbohydrates such as white rice or pasta, sourdough breads such as ciabatta
• Vinegar and other fermented foods such as miso and pickled vegetables
• Coffee or tea (Drink with meals to inhibit the absorption of iron. Decaffeinated coffee works too, as does herbal tea)
• Olive oil and nuts

Eat a few times a week:

• Fish and seafood, particularly smaller, fattier fish such as herring, sardines and anchovies (If you are vegetarian, choose an omega 3 supplement)
• Fruits
• Cheese
• Eggs; poultry
• Alcohol (Red wine is best, no more than two small glasses a day. If you don’t drink, don’t start)

Eat occasionally or never:

• Red meat
• Commercial white bread
• Milk and milk products
• Deep fried food

Bono’s tech-y daughter Jordan heads up Brooklyn startup By Debbie McGoldrick

Photo Credit: ActionButton.org

Bono has spent almost as much time traveling the world on behalf of his humanitarian projects as he has with U2.  So it’s no surprise that his eldest child, daughter Jordan, has taken a leaf out of Dad’s book with her first big project. Jordan, 27, is head of her own Brooklyn-based tech start up, Speakable, which last week launched its new product – an “action button” that will appear on news sites which allows readers to instantly respond to stories they are reading on a page either via a poll, signing a petition or donating to the story’s relevant cause.  Companies that have already signed on to include the action button on their content include the Huffington Post and Vice. Hewson told CBS News that the idea for the product came to her after reading about the heroic Pakistani schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot multiple times on her school bus and miraculously survived.  The article, Hewson said, linked to a petition to support the education of girls worldwide, but she never clicked. It made her think that if the petition was right there on the page, it would have been easier to take action. “I never clicked on the link,” Hewson told CBS. “Ten minutes later, I thought, ‘If I’m not going to sign this, who will?’ I started to think very seriously about the barriers that exist to taking action and engaging with content. If we make it faster and easier to affect the things people care about, it will be more likely that they will actually do something.” Bono is not involved with Speakable, which raised $2 million earlier this year.  “My dad is a good resource, but I try to keep him away from the company as much as possible,” Jordan told Fortune. But his influence is clear to see in his daughter. “From a young age, I was always attending interesting events or conferences or interesting parts of the world. My family did an incredible job of educating us, of trying to keep us balanced in terms of what we saw in our environments,” Hewson said. This generation, she feels, wants to make an impact, and the action button will allow them to do just that. “Millennials have different expectations of digital content,” she said. “They want to do more than read headlines — they want to change headlines.” Irish Central Photo Action Button

Irish port to be European shipping hub after Brexit By Philip Ryan

The Port of Foynes is to become Europe's gateway to the US under a radical new Government initiative aimed at capitalising on Britain's decision to leave the EU. The move would see the port in Limerick developed into a shipping hub to rival Rotterdam Port in Holland, the central destination for European freight companies shipping goods to the US. Central to the plan is a proposal to base US custom officials in Foynes who could give pre-clearance to cargo ships. It is hoped the redeveloped port would also reduce costs for Irish manufacturers shipping produce to America and Continental Europe, and create thousands of new jobs. The project is being proposed by Denis Naughten, Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources, who said there is a "huge opportunity" to develop the port into a hub for shipping in Europe and attract investment for Limerick. "Rotterdam is becoming hugely congested as the main port of Europe and there is potential to develop on the western seaboard a major port at Foynes that would act as a transit point for freight to and from North America," Mr Naughten told the Sunday Independent. "My suggestion is to do what we have done for passengers and have pre-clearance for large freight out of Foynes into the United States. "Freight would come into Foynes, get scanned there, get certified and can land in New York and it is the same as an internal shipment," he added. The Minister said a so-called 'hard Brexit' - as is being proposed by UK Prime Minister Theresa May - will result in EU border checks which will drive up costs for freight companies shipping out of Britain into Europe. Ireland could become a more attractive destination for companies shipping from outside the EU into Central Europe through Britain. However, Mr Naughten believes the redeveloped port would also attract business from within Europe. "It's not just from a Brexit point of view, this is an opportunity of attracting industry in from right across Europe that are exporting into the US," he said. "Our second biggest export destination is the US. The reality is post-Brexit exports into the UK are going to be put under pressure so this is an opportunity to make a new market and make it far more efficient for the export of goods." The Irish Independent

REM

Photo Credit: motherlovemusic.be

Man on the Moon Photo

How Stockholm's cold climate boosts creativity

Photo Credit: pininterest.com

Picture the scene: Dusk begins to settle on Stockholm, magnifying the glow from the candle-lit windows that warm the city. Frost invades the Swedish capital as quickly as the sun fades, the vicious bite of the ice ushering people indoors. It’s dark, it’s cold and (this is the best part) it’s only 3pm! Welcome to winter in Stockholm. As soon as those telltale signs of autumn start to appear, tingeing the city a crisp, golden shade of brown, preparations for winter truly commence. Boats are lifted from the harbours, thermals are dug out of the basements, and winter tyres are readied for the vehicles. But no matter how harsh or relentless the winter here may be, Swedes don’t go into hibernation, and Stockholm does not do long winter naps. On the contrary: it’s during these long, dark winters, that Stockholm arguably makes its name as the Creative Capital of the World. Sure, summer in Stockholm is beautiful, but it’s when the sun disappears for half a year that the Swedes stop dawdling around the archipelago and spend more time, attention, and energy on other activities...like launching startups. The impressive startup scene in Stockholm turns heads around the world, and for good reason too. The Swedish capital is home to five of the biggest unicorns around the globe, including tech giants Spotify, Skype, Klarna, Mojang and King (the Candy Crush folk). So what’s the secret behind Stockholm’s startup success? “Creative people tend to be night owls, and in Sweden we get two nights per day for half of the year,” claims Kaj Drobin, co-founder of the e-commerce Stockholm startup Tictail. Kaj co-founded the company in 2012 alongside Siavash Ghorbani, Birk Nilsson and Carl Waldekranz. Now, according to Kaj, “Tictail is the go-to destination for emerging designers, with a sprawling marketplace of 100,000 independent brands from 140 countries around the world.” A key ingredient to Tictail’s recipe for success, however, is the cold and dark climate of their Stockholm roots. “Since the dark and cloudy climate mostly keeps us indoors, we put focus and energy into finding unique solutions to complex projects to keep the days from being mundane,” Kaj explains. “Our minds are constantly moving. We never get stuck, even if we're stuck inside all day.” And Tictail aren’t alone in this theory. Victoria Bastide, CTO of Stockholm-based startup Lifesum, also believes the bitter Swedish climate can aid the creative process, and subsequent success of startups in Stockholm. “As so much time is spent indoors because of the cold, it leaves a lot of time to come up with creative and exciting ideas,” she says. “We spend a lot of time with our family and friends in the winter, which means that any ideas that we do come up with can be discussed in plenty of detail, with constructive input from others. This usually means that the idea is not only good, but a lot of thought has gone into its execution, increasing its chances of success.” Speaking of spending time with family and friends, there are few better ways to evade the frosty outdoors than with a fika in a warm and welcoming café with good company. This winter, startups will come together for an invigorating coffee at Sup46’s brand new Startup Café. Sup46 – a startup hub launched to bring startups together (genius!) – is at the very heart of Stockholm’s thriving startup community. Jessica Stark, CEO and co-founder of Sup46, agrees that the harsh Stockholm climate makes for an excellent startup environment. “What more is there to do between October and May than letting your brain work in mysterious ways?” she asks. “The climate encourages you to be creative with your time… Also, too much cold and darkness is bad for the brain – best to stay in front of the luminous screen of your laptop making time pass by building something extraordinary!” But it’s not just about what the Swedish climate makes us do, it’s also about how we do it. Over at podcasting platform Acast, Karl Rosander, co-founder and President, and Måns Ulvestam, CEO and co-founder, consider the cold and dark Swedish climate to be beneficial for the character of budding entrepreneurs. “It [the cold and dark climate] makes us tenacious,” they say, “Which we think is the most important skill or talent for entrepreneurs.” So embrace the ice this winter in Stockholm, appreciate the absent natural light, and applaud the subzero Baltic breeze. Because somewhere in the city, someone – a young, tenacious entrepreneur – is sheltering from the cold, directing all their time, energy and focus towards the next startup from Stockholm. Invest Stockholm and The Local-Sweden Photo