Too late to wait?

Global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels set a record level in 2012, driven largely by rising demand in China and Japan's decision to phase out nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency. (U.S. emissions declined 3.8 percent, Europe by 1.4 percent.)

This prompted the IEA's chief economist, Fatih Birol, to warn that the planet risks eclipsing a goal of containing global temperature increase to 3.6 degrees F above pre-industrial levels. This is regarded as a safety limit beyond which global warming is likely to become catastrophic.

Birol said the world risks hitting a temperature increase of 9 degrees F if it chooses to wait for a new climate treaty. Intead, he said, nations must take action now to control carbon emissions.

 

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Coffee makes you crazy

I did something about a month ago that I never thought would enter my mind as a possibility. I gave up coffee. Pretty much cold turkey.

Now comes a determination by the American Psychiatric Association that caffeine withdrawal is an actual mental illness. It has been officially listed as such in their professional bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

They don't mean withdrawal that results from giving something up. They mean the symptoms a caffeine addict experiences whenever the customary caffeine level in their system declines. Such as around noon, after the morning cuppa wears off. Or when you get home from work, when the afternoon pick 'em up cuppa is hours behind you.

If you drink more than two or three cups of coffee a day, you may experience withdrawal symptoms including headaches, grumpiness, trouble sleeping and difficulty focusing. Also:

People with this level of intoxication will show five or more of the following symptoms: restlessness, nervousness, excitement, insomnia, flushed face, diuresis, gastrointestinal disturbance, twitching, rambling thought or speech, tachycardia, arrhythmia, periods of inexhaustibly, or psychomotor agitation.

I gave up coffee after more than 25 years because I began to notice it was affecting my mood and my sleep. My addiction also affect my habits. For instance, on short dayhiking trips I would go to great lengths to bring along the necessary gear to be sure I could prepare a cup of hot joe on the trail. And I often had to mold my work schedule around that afternoon cup.

Frankly, I didn't think I could live without coffee. But the quitting process was surprisingly easy. There was only one hard day, about two or three days after I quit, when it felt like my system "crashed." I was in a kind of stupor, incapable of much activity or focused thought. But the very next day, I was fine.

I must note that I did not give up caffeine entirely, only coffee. I now drink mostly green tea, which has about a third as much caffeine.

This is all relevant because climate change may wipe out Arabica beans, which account for 70 percent of Earth's coffee production. So as I see it, the sooner we humans can wean ourselves of this addiction, the better off we'll be. I never thought I'd say that.

My stuff: Climate change may wipe out 82% of native CA fish

That includes numerous species of salmon. By contrast, only 19 percent of nonnative fishes will be lost.

"We'll be making choices," says Peter Moyle of UC Davis. "Either we have these species around for the future, or we don't."

Published in The Sacramento Bee on May 31, 2013.

 

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