Massive Rate Of Decarbonisation Needed To Prevent Future Global Hunger, Strife Says Campaign Enthusiast

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Major contributor in the fight against plastic pollution around the island Joe Issa, urges on more students around the world into peaceful protest against the slow and inadequate response to global warming, citing the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and the Earth System Dynamics study, which confirm what many scientists have been warning for years: 2 degrees is not a “safe” threshold. Negative impacts are already underway and will only get worse.

Issa explains that “whereas the leaders of the world have agreed to cap temperature rise to 1.5 – 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels, the studies show there is a huge difference between the impact of a 1.5 degree rise and a 2 degree rise.”

Issa, who supported the ‘1.5 to stay alive’ campaign during the last two international conferences on global warming, says he fears that “what seems to be an insignificant half a degree warmer is very deceptive as it can double the fresh water loss at 1.5 degrees and cause sea level to rise five times higher,” noting that “a 2-degree cap is not a safe zone.”

Issa sides new knowledge which says to delay carbonation is to consign millions of people in tropical regions to less food and in the Mediterranean to less water — with all the attendant health problems and conflict. “We’re allowing more heat waves and higher seas. We’re giving up on the world’s coral reefs, and with them the hundreds of species that rely on them.”

Issa agrees with the study, which argues that “the longer we wait, the more human suffering and irreversible damage to ecosystems we inscribe into our collective future. But there’s no hiding, no escaping the imperative to decarbonize. It must be done if our species is to have a long-term home on Earth.”

But capping warming at 1.5 degrees will require major, sustained global action and there isn’t much time to take the necessary decisions, the studies say. “The window for hitting 1.5 degrees is rapidly closing…at the present rate of emissions, the carbon budget for a good (66 per cent) chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees will be used up in four years.”

According to the studies, to hit the brakes at 1.5 degrees, global carbon emissions would need to immediately begin plunging, faster than they ever have, and hit zero by 2050 (and then go negative), the Associated Press wrote.

Science Enthusiast Shares Fresh Evidence of Sea-level Rise, Global Warming

Science enthusiast and supporter of the ‘1.5 to stay alive’ campaign Joe Issa, shares the latest evidence of sea level rise and global warming, as Greenland’s ice melts faster than scientists previously thought.

Issa referenced a study reported in The Guardian which shows Greenland lost around 280bn tons of ice per year between 2002 and 2016, enough to raise the worldwide sea level by 0.03 inches annually.

It said Greenland is melting faster than scientists previously thought, with the pace of ice loss increasing four-fold since 2003, as enormous glaciers are depositing ever larger chunks of ice into the Atlantic ocean, where it melts, causing sea levels to rise.

Issa says he is intrigued by findings which show that the largest ice loss in the decade from 2003 actually occurred in the southwest region of the island, which is largely glacier-free.

This suggests surface ice is simply melting as global temperatures rise, causing gushing rivers of melt-water to flow into the ocean and push up sea levels. South-west Greenland, not previously thought of as a source of woe for coastal cities, is set to “become a major future contributor to sea level rise,” the research states.

“We knew we had one big problem with increasing rates of ice discharge by some large outlet glaciers,” said Michael Bevis, lead author of the paper and a professor of geodynamics at Ohio State University. “But now we recognize a second serious problem: increasingly, large amounts of ice mass are going to leave as melt-water, as rivers that flow into the sea.”

Issa, who has highlighted the vulnerability of small island states when global warming and sea-level rise are concerned, is in awe of fresh evidence of the dangers posed to vulnerable coastal places as diverse as Miami, Shanghai, Bangladesh and various Pacific islands as climate change shrinks the world’s land-based ice.

“The only thing we can do is adapt and mitigate further global warming – it’s too late for there to be no effect,” Bevis said. “This is going to cause additional sea level rise. We are watching the ice sheet hit a tipping point.

“We’re going to see faster and faster sea level rise for the foreseeable future. Once you hit that tipping point, the only question is: How severe does it get?”

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used data from Nasa’s gravity recovery and climate experiment (known as Grace) and GPS stations scattered across Greenland to analyze changes in ice mass.

If all of Greenland’s vast ice sheet, 3km thick in places, was to melt, global sea levels would rise by seven meters, or more than 20ft, drowning most coastal settlements.

The rate of loss hasn’t been even, however, with the ice melting four times faster in 2013 compared to 2003, researchers said this was driven by rising global temperatures from human-induced climate change, as well as the North Atlantic Oscillation, a periodic weather phenomenon that brings warmer air to western Greenland.

The fate of Greenland’s huge glaciers in the south-east and north-west has long been viewed as a key factor in global sea level rise but the Ohio State-led research suggests the ice fields of the island’s southwest may prove an unexpectedly large source of melt-water.

Scientists have been gaining a greater understanding of how the two massive ice masses on the planet, in Greenland and Antarctica, are reacting to a warming ocean and atmosphere.

Arctic ice loss has tripled since the 1980s, with melting in places such as Greenland and Alaska providing the greatest instigator of sea level rise while destabilizing the very ground underneath four million people’s feet.

Antarctica is becoming an increasing concern, however, with ice vanishing at its fastest rate in recorded history. The world’s largest expanse of ice is now losing around 219bn tonnes of ice a year, a trajectory that would contribute more than 25cm to total global sea level rise by 2070. Should the entire west Antarctic ice sheet collapse, sea levels would balloon by around 3.5m, albeit over a lengthy time frame.

“We are warming the planet, this is melting ice, and that is raising sea level,” said Richard Alley, a geologist and glacier expert at Pennsylvania State University. Alley added that while there are uncertainties over future sea level rise “if the big ice sheets change more rapidly than expected, they could drive faster or much faster rise than expected”.

‘A Nice Kind Of Shock’: Climate Change Campaigner In Awe As Global Children Take UP Fight

As the earth awaits its fate, supporter of the ‘1.5 to stay alive’ campaign during the last two global warming conferences, Joe Issa, is shocked by how widespread the school strikes over climate change have become, stating “it’s indeed a nice kind of shock.”

“I am amazed at the way this protest has spread, from one 16-year-old girl in Sweden who decided to skip school to protest the slow pace of action on global warming, to 60,000 students around the world who have been inspired to join,” said Issa, noting, “I have not seen so much enthusiasm coming from adults. Perhaps those responsible will listen to the children.”

Issa adds: Children love school; so when you see they skip it to support a cause which concerns them as future citizens, you must know they are not doing it lightly. I expect that protest to keep growing.

“I hope those most responsible for global warming, who are attending the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, will be sufficiently influenced by her plea and the thousands of other children, to make deep enough cuts in CO2 emissions to keep temperature rise to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels.”

Issa was at the time hailing the student protests which has reportedly spread across many countries.

According to The Guardian, the number of students skipping school in protests inspired by Greta Thunberg, 16, reaches record numbers around world and is continuing to rise.

It said more than 60,000 students refused to go to their classes, the largest number yet.

The protests were reportedly sparked last year when 16-year-old Swedish student Greta Thunberg began a solo protest against inaction on global warming in August. Students around the world have been inspired to do the same, with thousands skipping school from Australia in November. There were large strikes in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland, where more than 20,000 students skipped school.

Thunberg accused some leaders of putting profits ahead of tackling climate change. “Some people – some companies and some decision-makers in particular – have known exactly what priceless values they are sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money,” she said.

“I want to challenge them into real and bold climate action, to set their economic goals aside and to safeguard the future living conditions for humankind,” she said. “I ask you to stand on the right side of history. I ask you to pledge to do everything in your power to push your own business or government in line with a 1.5C world.”

The world’s scientists reportedly warned recently, that without a dramatic ramping up of action to cut emissions, global temperatures would rise by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, with severe consequences for humanity. At the UN climate summit in December, Thunberg had a meeting with the UN secretary general and said: “Since our leaders are behaving like children, we will have to take the responsibility they should have taken long ago.”

The school strikes last Friday were by far the biggest to date. In Germany, an estimated 30,000 students left their schools in more than 50 cities to protest, carrying banners including: “Why learn without a future?” and “Grandpa, what is a snowman?” One 17-year-old student in Kiel, Moritz, told Deutsche Welle: “We want to help shape and secure our future so that there will be another world for us to live in in 60 years.”

Greta Thunberg speaks to the media at the Arctic Basecamp in Davos. Photograph: Ennio Leanza/EPA

In Belgium, 12,500 students are said to have gone and strike and plan to strike weekly until the EU elections in May. Some teachers were tolerant of the truancy. Patrick Lancksweerdt, in Brussels, said: “Education has to turn youngsters into mature citizens. By their actions, they proved that they are.”

School strikes also took place in 15 cities and towns in Switzerland. In Geneva, 12-year-old Selma Joly said: “Frankly, I would rather demand climate action than go to school. Otherwise, years from now, we may no longer be here.”

Janine O’Keeffe, who helps coordinate and keep track of the school strikes from her home in Stockholm, Sweden, was surprised at the scale of last week’s actions: “I am still in shock, actually – a nice kind of shock.”

In the UK, a small number of students have already begun strikes, including 13-year-old Holly Gillibrand in Fort William. Plans are now being made for a big strike soon.

 

 

Google’s Radar-based Gesture Control Theatrical, Cool Idea – Joe Issa

Cool Corp executive chairman Joe Issa who is an avid user of technology has described Google’s radar-based gesture control as theatrical and a cool idea, remarking that it would be truly great to have around the house and while driving.

Google’s patent radar based remote control interface                           

“I am always facinated by new technologies, from those used to communicate in space to those used in smartphones and social media platforms. But I think this one takes the cake.

“It seems to be a lot more useful and user friendly than current remote devices; it will be great to have at home and in my vehicle. The kids will love the theatrics of commanding by motion,” Issa remarked, adding, “I can’t imagine being able to transfer the playlist on my smartphone to my stereo system.”

Issa was responding to Yahoo reports that Google was taking the idea of remote control to a new level, which could revolutionize how devices like TVs, refrigerators, stereo systems, laptops, etc., work.

The news is based on a recent patent filled by Google which indicated that it could be working on a radar-based control interface.

According to the article, “the technology would require two parts: A transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter could be a device you wear on your wrist — i.e., a smartwatch — or it could be built into your phone, while the receiver would be built into the product you want to control.”

The way the technology works is that “the transmitter would emit a radar field that would sense your gestures and transmit them to the receiver. The same field could even be used to both sense gestures and transmit them, though that wouldn’t have to be the case,” it said.

The report observed that “remote controls are functional, but they’re … well, boring. Ever since the remote went wireless, they’ve been mostly the same. Even as hardware remotes are replaced with apps on our phones, they’re still not as useful as they could potentially be,” adding that this could be about to change.

Google’s patent application mentions an example where a user wants to transmit a playlist of songs from a smartphone to a stereo system. The person could simply point the phone at the stereo system, and make a gesture between the phone and the stereo system, sweeping the songs on to the stereo. By making other motions within the field, the user could control playback, turn up the volume, or any other number of actions, according to the article.

It pointed to previous attempts at gesture-based control systems, most of which it ranked from awkward to use, to nearly nonfunctional. In the case of this potential system, it said “we’ve already seen a similar technology from Google in Project Soli, which was capable of tracking extremely precise movements, like turning a virtual dial,” noting, “We haven’t seen any products actually using the technology, but it certainly showed potential.”

Stating that it is entirely possible that this may never happen, the article argued that companies get patents all the time but many of them go unused. In this case, however, it said Google filed two separate patents for the same technology: One for use in the home, and another for use in vehicles, which could indicate that the company is either currently or will soon be working on products using this technology.

“We’ll see this type of control come eventually, regardless of who offers it first, but Google’s idea does look like one we want to try,” Yahoo reportedly remarked.

Research Finds Parallels in Exclusive Writings of Joe Issa and Justin Trudeau

There are striking similarities in how Jamaican businessman Joe Issa and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau view inequality in society and in particular, gender-based discrimination, research has shown.

The comparison is based, among others, on an exclusive essay which Trudeau wrote recently for MarieClaire.com, and a recent ‘88 Holy Cross Class Letter penned by Issa to his fellow Crusaders in the United States.

Trudeau, in his piece opened up about wanting his sons to “escape the pressure to be a particular kind of masculine that is so damaging to men and to the people around them.”

Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau 

“It is maddening that my brilliant, compassionate daughter will grow up in a world where, despite everything she is as a person, there will still be people who won’t take her voice seriously, who will write her off simply because of her gender,” he wrote.

Issa, who once played host to Trudeau before he became Prime Minister, has also expressed concern for his children – a boy and a girl – in a world where violence against women, as well as men who defend women, have become rampant.

Although broadbased in his criticism of inequality, Issa found reason to be specific when it comes to gender-based discrimination, when he added “women” to a famous quote that refers to “man”, which he used in his valedictory speech in 1988 and repeated in the recent letter to his classmates of College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA.

“For it was Edward Bulwer-Lytton who told us then, and we can confirm it today, that only ‘when intelligence is equalized and flows harmoniously through all society, then one man’ – and I would add one woman – ‘can possess no bleeding and dangerous power over the minds of another’,” Issa wrote.

In lamenting the impact of present-day inequalities in his class letter, Issa said, “When we left Holy Cross issues of racism, inequality and injustice were highest on the agenda…, and only liberation and universal education were seen as the ultimate solution. But 30 years later, we’ve acquired new problems on top of the old ones; … while universal education to this day remains a dream.”

In Trudeau’s essay last October, he also criticised the impact of gender based discrimination: “It’s 2017, yet in Canada and around the world women and girls still face violence, discrimination, stereotypes that limit them and unequal opportunities that keep them from achieving their dreams.”

In extoling the virtues of education and the rewards of advocacy – even only among his classmates – Issa told his largely female class of ’88, “We busted out into the world that Holy Cross had prepared us for and we vowed, among other things, to use the powers of our minds and talents to harmonize, not tyrannize; and by our continued friendship and renunion, we have made Holy Cross proud.”

Trudeau, for his part, was equally impressed with his team for the work it is doing “to make Canada more open, more inclusive, more just—and gender equal.” He wrote: “Feminism is not just the belief that men and women are equal. It’s the knowledge that when we are all equal, all of us are more free, a point underscored by Issa.”

Issa called upon his fellow Crusaders to “re-commit to continue building greater resilience in our own communities and making them better places to live, work, do business and have fun and families.”

Trudeau put it this way: “It’s a relentless commitment to look for ourselves in each other, because that’s how we start to build a world where everyone is treated with respect and recognition.”

Both men are said to exhibit great concern about the future of their children in a world of macho anti-feminists where women are suppressed and men with opposing views chastised, thus the need to “nurture empathy, compassion, self-love, and a keen sense of justice in today’s kids”, as Trudeau put it in his essay.

Joe Issa Defends Former Guest Justin Trudeau Accused of Mansplaining Feminism

Former host of Justin Trudeau before he became Prime Minister of Canada, Joe Issa, has come out in support of his colleague, who has been accused of being anti-feminism.

Justin Trudeau with his family

“I can’t ascribe any such traits to Justin,” said Issa in response to questions about allegations that Trudeau had mansplain feminism.

Stating that Trudeau displayed a balanced lifestyle while he was his guest in Jamaica, Issa said, “I didn’t see it in him to be anti-feminism. It’s unfair to brand him in that way.

“Also, I read the report, which I believe is true, and it vindicates him, labling his accuser’s church a “mind-control cult,” said Issa

Issa was commenting on a recent Yahoo Lifestyle article, in which Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau is accused of mansplaining.

According to the article, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, aka “Woke Bae,” of all people, has been accused of interrupting a female constituent and mansplaining feminism. But the backlash may not be warranted.

It said during a Feb. 2 Q&A at MacEwan University in Edmonton, a young woman from a radical feminist Korean church stood up to commend the prime minister for filling his cabinet with women leaders and asked how to work around Canadian restrictions on volunteering with religious organizations.

She also reportedly used the stage to talk at length about her church, the World Mission Society Church of God, and the concept of “God the Mother,” one of the founding principles of the church. At one point, the woman said, “Maternal love is the love that’s going to change the future of mankind. So we’d like you to —”

But before she could finish, the article said, Trudeau interrupted and said, “We like to say ‘peoplekind.’ Not necessarily ‘mankind.’ It’s more inclusive.”

“Yes, thank you,” said the woman, and Trudeau replied, “We can all learn from each other.”

But while the crowd reportedly cheered Trudeau’s remarks, social media did not, mocking his political correctness. That included a jab from actor James Woods, who created the hashtag #Douchebagkind.”

According to the article, however, it is not completely irrelevant that the woman speaking was representing a religious organization that’s been called a “mind-control cult.” In 2015, ex-follower Michele Colon filed a civil suit against the institution claiming it “uses a number of psychological control tactics … to prevent its members from exposing its criminal and tortious behavior,” allegations the church denied. Colon also told People that during her time there, she wasn’t allowed to use the internet or listen to music of her choice and was forced to study the Bible to the point of sleep deprivation.

People also reported that church members were ordered to donate 15 percent of their salaries to the church, to fast for days (babies included), and to get abortions, because it was “pointless and selfish” to procreate with the world set to end in the year 2012.

Also, what the new viral clips do not show is that when the audience began to groan at the woman’s religious speak Trudeau held up his hand and asked those in the crowd for their patience, saying, “Hang on, hang on; respect.”

After the controversial “peoplekind” interaction, Trudeau began to answer the woman’s question about charitable volunteering, but she interrupted him right back to ask him to study the Bible with her.

Trudeau, a father of three, is believed to have a well-earned reputation for being a progressive, feminist leader. A few years ago he stocked his first cabinet with an equal number of men and women and explained his strategy with the now-viral quote, “Because it’s 2015.” He’s dedicated to embracing the label “feminist,” saying in 2016 that “we shouldn’t be afraid of the word,” and in October, he penned an essay for Marie Claire called “Why I’m Raising My Kids to Be Feminists.”

In it, he reportedly wrote, “I worry — because as a father, son, husband, and citizen, I witness the unequal obstacles women and girls face every day. It’s 2017, yet in Canada and around the world, women and girls still face violence, discrimination, stereotypes that limit them, and unequal opportunities that keep them from achieving their dreams. It is maddening to me that my brilliant, compassionate daughter will grow up in a world where, despite everything she is as a person, there will still be people who won’t take her voice seriously, who will write her off — simply because of her gender.”

Joe Issa Congratulates Elon Musk, Shares Warning of Earth’s Unknown Distant Future

Technology enthusiast Joe Issa has congratulated Elon Musk on the tremendous success of SpaceX’s latest space mission, in which it was able to land for re-use two of three rocket boosters used to fire Falcon Heavy into space at once, on their first try, while stating he shares the technology guru’s warning of earth’s unknown distant future.

“I’m not a scientist; I only love the subject. I find technology facinating and engaging. But I also see its importance in transforming lives, such as the internet, smart phones and social media.

“In anticipation of such discoveries in the future, I think Elon Musk and his SpaceX must be applauded for their commitment to space exploration and for making the reuse of rocket boosters a reality, which is critical in order to make space exploration more affordable.

“Man landed on the moon just about the time I was born. Since then man has travelled through the stars and know more about deep space than ever before. And now, Elon Musk wants to start a colony in Mars.

“But the same devise that may help us accomplish this and other unimaginable feats – artificial intelligence – may become our problem, as machines become smarter than man and begin to control us, such as what we have seen in science fiction movies.

“In addition, as machines take over work currently being done by humans, and doing it even better, mass unemployment could become the norm. And being deprived of the socialisation that comes from having a job could pose a health risk, through depression and stress, for example,” said Issa, who has commented before on the use of artificial intelligence.

Issa was commenting on statements reportedly made by Elon Musk while speaking at the recently concluded World Government Summit in Dubai, as a member of President Donald Trump’s economic advisory council. Musk said that there are issues which civilization will face in the next hundred years, including how to handle artificial intelligence so that machines do not take control of man, and the mass unemployment that will result from automation.

“One of the most troubling questions is artificial intelligence,” Musk reportedly said when asked about the challenges civilization is set to face in the near future. “Deep artificial intelligence or artificial general intelligence where you can have artificial intelligence that is much smarter than the smartest human on Earth. This is a dangerous situation.”

According to the article, the danger lies in what has been the subject of science fiction movies like I, Robotand Ex Machina: that humans will lose control of their creations and risk being subject to them.

In reference to mass unemployment, Musk reportedly said that so many jobs will be lost so quickly that governments will have to introduce a “universal basic income” or an income for the unemployed. “I don’t think we’re going to have a choice,” he says. “I think it’s going to be necessary. There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better.”

This will result in a proliferation of cheap, accessible goods, but it could also have psychological consequences. “I think universal basic income will be necessary, but the much harder challenge is: How will people then have meaning?” he says. “A lot of people derive meaning from their employment. If you’re not needed, what is the meaning? Do you feel useless? That is a much harder problem to deal with. How do we ensure the future is a future that we want, that we still like?”

According to the article, despite how confident Musk seems in his view of the future, he makes sure to note that it’s impossible to foresee which technologies society will develop, and what effects these technologies will have on everyday life. “Any predictions we can make today about what the future will be like in 50 years will be wrong,” he says. After all, who could have imagined, as the Wright brothers first took flight in 1903, that a little over half a century later, astronauts would land on the moon, and then later, play golf on it?

‘The Big Colab’: PICA, Customs, JTB Bring New Efficiency Platform to Travel Market

Travelers will no longer have to wait until they arrive here to fill Immigration and Customs forms; they’ll be able to do so online prior to boarding the aircraft heading for Jamaica. That’s how chairman of the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) Joe Issa characterises the new option that will soon become available and its time-saving function.

“It’s the way to go if we want to become a first class destination as international travelers expect us to be. The new online platform will resonate with our visitors who are used to such conveniences when they travel elsewhere.

Sangster International Airport                                                   

“In addition, by having the information online ahead of the passengers arriving will reduce the time they spend on the immigration and customs lines, which is the main reason for setting it up, and will be a plus for Jamaica.

“Also, in terms of the need to move towards a paperless system the programme is an enabling tool that will save us the cost of producing, printing, storing, handling and transporting C5 forms,

“I’m am happy for the successful collaboration between us and our friends at customs and the tourist board that made it possible and I look forward to more of such partnerships; it’s the most efficient and effective way of enhancing visitor experience and increasing arrivals,” said Issa in an interview about the latest collab with other agencies.

It was reported that PICA, in conjunction with the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) would be launching an online version of the Immigration and Customs Declaration form (C5) to facilitate a speedier processing of passengers and their baggage at the island’s international airports.

The system is said to have been developed in-house by PICA and Jamaica Customs at a cost of approximately $8 million, saving the country more than $53 million, as opposed to outsourcing, which would have cost more than US$480,000 or $62 million.

Minister of National Security Robert Montague was quoted commending PICA on their continued advancement.

“This development forms part of the ministry’s mandate to introduce technology in all processes in the ministry’s departments and agencies.

“This online landing form will bring Jamaica up to speed with our partners and greatly reduce the average waiting time in our immigration halls. This will ultimately allow our returning Jamaicans and visitors to start enjoying Jamaica quicker, rather than standing in line,” the minister said.

The technology, known as the Jamaica Immigration and Custom Electronic C5 System, is said to have been designed in collaboration with several stakeholders, including PICA, Jamaica Customs, and the Jamaica Tourist Board.

The system is said to be designed “to capture all information or data elements from the current Immigration and Customs Passenger Declaration Form, and store this data in an electronic format to be used by immigration officers and customs officers when the passenger arrives in Jamaica.”

Other recent initiatives aimed at strengthening Jamaica’s borders and improving service delivery include the use of facial recognition software, which has resulted in identifying more than 800 individuals using fake passports; the online passport renewal system; and the introduction of PICA’s drop box service and courier service for customers, the ministry reportedly informed.

Joe Issa Nods LSE Warning to World Leaders of Worrying Global Warming Trend

Former student of the London School of Economics (LSE) Joe Issa has given the nod to a familiar call, this time by his alma mater university, for world leaders including President Trump to take note of the writing on the wall: Last three years hottest on record!

 Bob Ward, Policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the LSE, sounded the warning ahead of the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos, an annual gathering of global elite, where President Trump will confront some of the political and civil society leaders who fought hard for the Paris deal.                                               

“The record temperature should focus the minds of world leaders, including President Trump, on the scale and urgency of the risks that people, rich and poor, face around the world from climate change,” Ward said, as the United Nations released data showing that the last three years were the hottest on record.

Issa, who supported the 1.5 to stay a live campaign ahead of the 2015 global warming conference in Paris, where it was agreed to keep global warming to under two degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels said, “It will be interesting to see how President Trump manoevours around such widely accepted conclusive findings.”

“We need the US in this effort to reduce CO2 emission into the atmosphere, or to even remove it entirely; so we need to convince him, although some states are committed to the cause, especially since the record breaking devastation suffered at the hands on the recent hurricanes,” said Issa, who is executive chairman of Cool Corporation.

According to AFP, the last three years were the hottest on record, the United Nations weather agency said Thursday, citing fresh global data underscoring the dramatic warming of the planet.

Consolidated data from five leading international weather agencies is said to have shown that “2015, 2016 and 2017 have been confirmed as the three warmest years on record”, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) reportedly said.

It added that 2016 remains the hottest year ever measured due to the warming effect of El Nino, while 2017 was the warmest non-El Nino year, beating out 2015 by less than one hundredth of a degree.

“The long-term temperature trend is far more important than the ranking of individual years, and that trend is an upward one,” WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas was quoted as saying.

The 21st century has so far been a period of the hottest weather, accounting for 17 of the 18 warmest years on record, the article wrote.

“And the degree of warming during the past three years has been exceptional,” Tasslas reportedly added.

The WMO also highlighted the intensification of weather and climate related disasters, which hit record levels in the United States last year, while multiple countries were devastated by cyclones, floods and drought, acording to the article.

The WMO findings are said to have been based on data provided by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US space agency NASA, Britain’s Met office, the European Centre for medium range weather forecasts and the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Using those inputs, the UN said that the average global surface temperature last year was 1.1 degrees Celsius (1.98 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

Reacting to the results, experts are said to have warned that the planet was moving closer to a set of red lines laid out in the historic 2015 Paris climate agreement. That treaty calls for capping global warming at “well under” two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

“When even ‘colder’ (non-El Nino) years are rewriting the warmest year record books we know we have a problem,” said Dave Reay, the Carbon Management chair at the University of Edinburgh. “Global temperatures will continue to bob up and down from year to year, but the climate tide beneath them is rising fast.”

According to the article, there is mounting global consensus on the need to slash CO2 and methane emissions, improve energy efficiency, and develop technologies to remove CO2 from the air.

But US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris accord is said to have rattled the international community and complicated efforts at forging joint action – even though many US state governments insist they remain committed to cut emissions.

Since industrialisation took off in the early 19th century, CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are said to have increased by nearly half, from 280 parts per million to 407 parts per million.

Bob Ward joined LSE in 2008 from Risk Management Solutions, where he was Director of Public Policy. He also worked at the Royal Society, the UK national academy of science, for eight years, until October 2006. His responsibilities there included leading the media relations team.

He has also worked as a freelance science writer and journalist.

Bob has a first degree in geology and an unfinished PhD thesis on palaeopiezometry.

He is a fellow of the Geological Society, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the American Geophysical Union. Bob is also a member of the board of the Association of British Science Writers and a member of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Public Relations Association.

Record-Breaking Blast of Arctic Air More Evidence of Global Warming – Joe Issa

The blast of arctic air that engulfed portions of the East Coast United States in the first week of the year and broke more cold temperature records in several cities must have been driven by global warming, according to extreme-weather enthusiast Joe Issa.

“I think global warming is at play here. I spent three years at university in Worcester hoping I would not experience minus five-degree temperature such as the city recorded over four decades ago.

“I couldn’t believe that three decades after leaving Worcester, it would experience temperatures twice as low. This seems to be a global phenomenon driven by rising surface temperatures caused by burning fossel fuel.

“I really feel it for the people of my almar mater city and wish them well,” said Issa, who attended College of the Holy Cross in the state of Massachusetts in 1985-1988 and graduated valedictorian, having broken academic records.

Issa was commenting on an AP report in which the city of Worcester in Massachusetts was reported to have experienced record-breaking temperatures not seen since 1942. Record-Breaking Blast of Arctic Air More Evidence of Global Warming – Joe Issa

Although the report did not mention global warming as a contributory factor, VOA reports have ascribe the many devastating natural events last year to global warming, which Issa is said to have spoken on before, especially during the last two global warming conferences.

According to the National Weather Service the temperature in Worcester, Massachusetts, fell to minus 9 on Sunday, breaking a record of minus 5 set in 1942. (All temperatures are listed in Fahrenheit).

In Providence, Rhode Island, temperatures fell to minus 3, breaking a record low of minus 1 set in 1912. In Hartford, Connecticut, the temperature dropped to minus 9, smashing the previous record of 1, also set in 1912. And Boston tied a low-temperature record set more than a century ago in 1896 of minus 2.

“The good news is the bone-numbing air is set to push out of the region. By Monday, Boston temperatures should return to a more seasonable low 30s. The mercury will continue to rise and Boston could see temperatures in the mid-40s by Thursday and as high as the low-50s on Friday.

“Many Northeast residents endured jaw-clenching temperatures and brutal wind chills on Saturday as cleanup continued from the storm that dropped as much as 18 inches (46 centimeters) of snow in some places on Thursday.

“The temperature registered minus 37 Saturday at the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire, one of the coldest places on the planet. The wind chill was minus 93. It tied for second place with Armstrong, Ontario, as the coldest spot in the world,” the news agency reported.

Issa is believed to have embraced life on both campus and in the city. He is said to have hosted a radio programme on campus informing students of Jamaica’s culture and heritage, founded an economics magazine, and played Reggae music in the city’s nightclubs.

As part of the degree programme at Holy Cross Issa had to spend a year at the London School of Economics (LSE) in the United Kingdom doing a major in economics, It was there that he founded his first charity to help buy books for underprivileged Jamaican children.