10 ms·
Budapest declares climate emergency, teases carbon-neutrality
- StreamBright 7y ago>> Although largely symbolic in nature, the climate declaration was adopted by a unanimous vote. What are the expected changes that actually will help climate change?
- mazsa 7y ago"The decision does not contain specific measures, it is more of a set of symbolic commitments: the Assembly vowed to take the environmental effects into account on any matter that directly or indirectly affects CO2 emissions, and also to prioritise the fight against climate change in the city's decisionmaking process, and to increase the transparency of information relating to the climate effects of municipal firms." https://index.hu/english/2019/11/05/budapest_general_assembly_climate_emergency_city_park_overtime_act_transparency/ https://index.hu/english/2019/11/05/budapest_general_assembl...
- roenxi 7y agoMaybe someone can hazard a guess of what sense the word emergency is being used here? I don't really follow why there is a trend towards declaring climate emergencies. Is there any call for action that isn't already business as usual for the green parties? I'm also glad to see a green policy that is, if not pro-nuclear, at least accepting that it is a reasonable target for financing.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- sfg 7y agoThe word 'emergency' is being used to freshen up the rhetoric.
- NeedMoreTea 7y agoSimply because it is an emergency. The extremely conservative IPCC has set out the timeline for changes on emissions, and we have ten years left. Ten years to get on the track to carbon neutrality. Leave it longer and we lock in a higher temperature rise. The longer the delay the more serious the consequences. Yet many countries and politicians keep pretending it's business as usual. Seems to adequately fit under emergency as immediate threat to me.
- navigatesol 7y agoIn what sense are the IPCC conservative? They've overestimated temperature changes since their first analysis in 1990. Maybe calling institutions "conservative" because they are the lowest of the over estimators is part of the problem here?
- NeedMoreTea 7y agoNearly all surprises are of how much faster than predicted events are happening. IPCC have consistently under-estimated: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-ipcc-underestimated-climate-change/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-ipcc-unde... They are, after all, an intergovernmental UN body, which includes representatives from the oil states and countries that are "unconvinced" by climate heating. Yet IPCC reports require unanimity. Thus what gets published is the least contentious, least offensive spin possible - the version that even the oil states and coal exporters can agree. Saudi has tried to significantly tone down reports to protect their oil interests: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/may/15/ipcc-un-climate-reports-diluted-protect-fossil-fuel-interests https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/m...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- makomk 7y ago"Climate emergency" is the slogan of the recent Extinction Rebellion protest movement, that's why.
- seanwilson 7y ago> What are the expected changes that actually will help climate change? When whole countries are denying there's a problem, I think countries stepping forward to declare there's a problem to be addressed is a (sad but) necessary first step.
- StreamBright 7y agoThis is where we disagree. There are many countries which are not denying the existence of climate change, part of the Paris agreement (btw. it is very questionable if the targets of that are actually what we need), they just do not care because the fear-mongering of voters pushed the country to a certain way. A prime example is Germany. Not denying climate change, anti-nuclear propaganda took over and this is how Germany is the number one source of CO2 in the EU (by volume). https://www.statista.com/chart/17582/megatonnes-of-co2-equivalent-in-the-eu/ https://www.statista.com/chart/17582/megatonnes-of-co2-equiv... I think it is not enough to put out meaningless virtue signaling, you have to back it up with rock-solid policy otherwise it is only good to win you over some votes (which is the reason politicians use it at the first place).
- chunkyslink 7y agoSigh, I wish the USA were not leaving the Paris Agreement.
- rapnie 7y agoAren't there a bunch of states and cities who still intend to keep pace with the Paris accord?
- Mountain_Skies 7y agoMany cities have pledged to behold future city administrations to changes that the current administrations themselves will not be responsible for implementing.
- koheripbal 7y agoImportantly, those cities aren't significant emitters. It is easy to promise little to no change.
- DrAwdeOccarim 7y agoWe need to do something serious greenhouse emissions and gases already in the atmosphere. I was also bummed hearing about Trump pulling us out of the Paris accord, but the lack of inclusion of China and other major greenhouse emitters makes the agreement dangerous. Maybe his 8d chess will actually get us something good where the next president can remove the tariffs in exchange for greenhouse gas controls?
- NeedMoreTea 7y agoHow do you figure that? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/china-vows-commit-paris-climate-accord-170601092431302.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/china-vows-commit-par...
- makomk 7y ago
- ossworkerrights 7y agoUnder-developed countries have a unique opportunity to develop sustainable growth. I applaud this, despite it being symbolic. Would great to see Hungary invest in things such as green tech and fast trains as it develops.
- ancarda 7y agoHave you ever been to Budapest? I've been twice, I wouldn't call it under-developed
- ljcn 7y agoBudapest isn't the whole country, but your point is correct, Hungary is certainly a highly developed country. Not G7 levels, but close.
- me_me_me 7y agoHey, I have seen a WW2 documentary I have good idea how whole Eastern Europe looks like. Fields and mud roads /s (i am from eastern Europe). I really wish to know the root cause for persistence of this label. Its not that surprising for US, but surprising amount of western Europeans tend to share this view.
- ossworkerrights 7y agoI am from eastern Europe too. It is fine to try and promote one's country, but denying facts doesn't help us either. Been to Hungary a few times, it lags behind central and western european countries by a high margin. Budapest is fine, but life is pretty rough around there. Anyway we are diverging and diving into open wounds. Edit: As a side note, the persistence of that label might be because of the persistence of our societies in isolating from the majority of our countries, ignoring problems, and calling it progress just because a minority lives way better than the average. Unless we stick our heads up, acknowledge the issues, and solve them, then no amount of political correctness will save us.
- CalRobert 7y ago
- davidzweig 7y agoNot directly related, but if anyone is living in Budapest and would like to hang out some time, email me (email in profile).
- avgeek23 7y agoBeen to budapest last year the air there smelled of cigarette smoke way too much of it. Other European cities have cleaner air.
- tiborsaas 7y agoNot sure about the downvotes, but I live here for more than a decade and I agree. The city is very car friendly and not much was done to mitigate this. At least we have a new mayor now who's somewhat likely do do actually something.
- 11235813213455 7y agoJust as note, people underestimate the pollution volume from cigarettes, because they are small I guess, but since millions are smoked every day in countries like France, it makes a lot I estimated that PM2.5 pollution from cigarettes can represent up to 5% of vehicle traffic pollution (estimation made for Paris, using their data of traffic pollution, and cigarette sales) Also, when someone is smoking in his idling car in traffic jams, there's actually more pollution coming out from his cigarette than from the rest of the car (cf that old paper https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6312-cigarettes-more-polluting-than-diesel-exhaust/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6312-cigarettes-more-...) Of course it's just one factor among others, but each of them is worth efforts
- lez 7y agoJust as a side note, the photo in the article was taken from an angle that you can't see the "crowd". Even the parliament can be seen from between one of the participants legs. Making it seem to be a large protest is a well-known deceivement tactic in politics.
- Miner49er 7y agoA couple more pictures: https://hungarytoday.hu/climate-strike-budapest-draws-thousands/ https://hungarytoday.hu/climate-strike-budapest-draws-thousa...
- ekianjo 7y agoThere's about as many participants as in a large picnic. "Draws thousands", probably if you don't know how to count.
- option_greek 7y agoFor comparison, this is during recent Chile protests: https://santiagotimes.cl/2019/10/26/a-million-chileans-march-in-santiago-to-protest-inequality/ https://santiagotimes.cl/2019/10/26/a-million-chileans-march...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- grogenaut 7y agoI was in Santiago last year, that is a lot of people. At least as big as filling the national Mall from capitol to Washington monument, eg the part with big open fields when you count the ancillary streets in that protest
- Udik 7y agoThere's a few hundred people in those pics.
- degski 7y agoI'm blond with big boobies, you like?
- anonuser123456 7y agoDeclaring emergencies is easy. Wake me when they've implemented carbon taxes and tarrifs.
- sproketboy 7y agoThe U.S. Leads All Countries In Reducing Carbon Emissions https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2017/10/24/yes-the-u-s-leads-all-countries-in-reducing-carbon-emissions/#13912bb53535 https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2017/10/24/yes-the-u-s-...
- Proven 7y ago> The new Green mayor of Budapest on Tuesday (5 November) added his city to the growing list of capitals to have declared climate emergencies. Most Budapest people must be happy this is just symbolic because otherwise it would only mean higher taxes for them. And what emergency? Rising sea levels? Ridiculous.
- m0zg 7y agoRomania doesn't really have much industry, so it emits 0.25% of global CO2. Even if they went carbon negative it wouldn't have made one iota of difference. https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/04/interactive-chart-explains-worlds-top-10-emitters-and-how-theyve-changed https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/04/interactive-chart-explains-...