CO2 Emissions Stay Flat In Last 3 Years, But Not Enough

Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels have been nearly flat for three years in a row – a “great help” but not enough to stave off dangerous global warming. Emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide stayed level in 2015 at 36.3 billion tonnes (GtCO2) and were projected to rise “only slightly”, by 0.2% in 2016, according to the annual Global Carbon Budget report compiled by team of scientist from around the world. This third year of almost no growth in emissions is precedented at a time of strong economic growth. Driven largely by reduced coal use in Chine, this was a “clear and unprecedented break” with the preceding decade’s fast emissions growth, at a rate of some 2.3% per year from 2004 to 2013, before dipping to 0.7% in 2014. This is a great help for tackling climate change but it is not enough. For the world’s nations to make true on the global pact to limit average global warming to 2°C (3.6°F) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels, emissions must do more than level off. A decrease of 0.9% per year was needed to achieve this limit by 2030. The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has continued to grow, the report warned, hitting a record level of 23 GtCO2 last year that looked set to reach 25GtCO2 in 2016.

Shorter Fasts Can Give You Longer Life

There’s lots of evidence that fasting for short periods (no longer than 24 hours) is good for you. If you fast regularly you have less chance of a heart attack, stroke or cancer. What’s going on here is that fasting gives your body a rest. A rest so that it can do one of its most important jobs: DNA repair and keeping cells young and resistant to disease. Will, the latest evidence says fasting can do even more favors than that. For women with breast cancer, fasting overnight (for 13 hours) can lower the risk of their cancer returning by a whopping third. It comes down to blood sugar control. A US study shows women who went without food for shorter periods than 13 hours, usually because they ate into the evening, increased the risk of their cancer returning by 36% and they were 21% more likely to die from the disease. Taking only short breaks form food was linked to poor sleep and higher blood sugar levels. The connection is that high blood sugar and bad sleep have both been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. And eating late at night, so a shorter overnight fast causes poor blood sugar control. This means that not eating overnight could be a simple way of lessening the risk of cancer coming back. Experiments on mice found prolonged fasting during sleep can protect them against high blood sugar, inflammation and weight gain – all associated with poor cancer outcomes. The researchers suggested avoiding a late dinner or early breakfast could help stop other cancers returning too. Prolonging the overnight fasting interval may be simple, non-pharmacological strategy for reducing a person’s risk of breast cancer recurrence and even other cancers.