Category: Climate News Roundup

Climate

A new meta-analysis of the national pledges made in Paris last December at the Climate Conference reaffirms the earlier conclusion that those pledges are insufficient to limit warming to 2 C, much less 1.5 C, which was an aspirational goal.  Even more disturbing, the current pledges are likely to leave temperatures at 2.6 to 3.1 C warmer than pre-industrial levels by the year 2100.  Malte Meinshausen, one of the authors of the study, discusses its implications at The Conversation, while Joeri Rogelj, the lead author, presents his views in a guest post at Carbon Brief.  All three of the linked-to articles are worth reading to provide a deeper understanding of the challenges we face.

The drought in the southwestern U.S. continues, in spite of the precipitation in some areas over the winter.  As a result, wildfire season has already started, with fires in both California and Arizona.  Meanwhile, in the Sierra Nevada region of California, insect infestations in combination with the drought have killed an estimated 66 million trees, greatly adding to the available fuel if a fire does start.  The Guardian examines changes in the fire season in California while Bob Berwyn of Inside Climate News summarizes recent forest loses around the world and examines their implications.

In what has been called a once in 1000 year event, massive flash flooding hit southern West Virginia, killing over 20 people, destroying 1500 homes, and causing massive property damage.

Dana Nuccitelli examines the parallel between the Brexit vote and climate change as far as the impact on young people is concerned.  While Great Britain’s vote to leave the EU has caused a great deal of turmoil in the world economy, it has also raised a great deal of uncertainty with regards to its and the EU’s commitments to the Paris Climate Agreement.  Nevertheless, The Guardian reported that UK Ministers were expected to approve the fifth UK carbon budget before the end of the month and it was expected to commit the UK to a 57% reduction in carbon emissions (compared to 1990 levels) by 2032.

Recently, the Sahel of Africa has seen a recovery from the severe drought that it had experienced in the 1970’s and 1980’s.  Now a new study published in Nature Climate Change has attributed that recovery in part to increased atmospheric moisture over the Mediterranean resulting from increased temperatures, i.e., global warming.  That is not to say that global warming will be good for the Sahel overall, because of increased evapotranspiration, higher heat index, and more intense rainstorms.  This illustrates, once again, that the climate is complicated.

Another example of the complexity of climate change comes from a study reported in Nature Climate Change.  This one deals with greening of the North American Arctic, which is evident from satellite images collected over almost 30 years.  The cause was attributed to rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere.  Meanwhile, a new study of the ocean region south of Greenland that contains the “cold blob” concluded that the blob was due to exceptionally deep ocean mixing in the region driven by local weather and winds, rather than by meltwater from Greenland.  Other scientists disagree.

The rate of increase in global average temperature slowed somewhat during the first part of this century.  Now a new study published in Nature Climate Change has found that the slowdown was associated with the large emissions of sulfur dioxide from China’s coal-fired power plants, which lacked pollution control devices.

Diet, and specifically consumption of ruminants (beef, lamb, and goats), is a large contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.  Consequently, some are now advocating for a meat tax as a way of impacting consumer choices.  To help people make informed choices the World Resources Institute has published a chart that shows greenhouse gas emissions per unit of protein for a variety of protein sources.

Energy

Ben Rosen of the Christian Science Monitor looked at why Exxon Mobil is now lobbying for a revenue-neutral carbon tax.  It would be a big help if governments would phase out the subsidies they give to the fossil fuel industry.  The U.S., for example, provides some $20 billion annually.  Unfortunately, the G-20 nations have failed to reach an agreement on a deadline for phasing out such subsidies.

Later this summer, BARC Electric Cooperative in southwestern Virginia will flip the switch on the state’s first community solar project.  Southeast Energy News interviewed BARC CEO Mark Keyser about the system and how it came about.  On Thursday Dominion Virginia Power won regulatory approval from the State Corporation Commission for three new solar farms at sites in Louisa, Powhatan and Isle of Wight counties.  The US solar industry expects to install 14.5 gigawatts of solar power in 2016, a 94% increase over the record 7.5 gigawatts last year, according to a new market report by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Barack Obama, Justin Trudeau and Enrique Peña Nieto committed their countries to a new regional clean power goal at a summit in Ottawa, pledging to produce 50% of their power from hydropower, wind, solar, nuclear plants, and carbon capture and storage by 2025.

The Oakland, California, City Council voted unanimously Monday to block the handling and storage of coal in the city, effectively halting a developer’s controversial plan to ship coal from the port.  As might be expected, the decision is highly controversial, and thus can’t yet be considered a done-deal.  The Utah counties from which the coal would come have stated that they are determined to find a port from which to export their coal.

On Tuesday Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe issued an Executive Order directing Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward to convene a working group and recommend concrete steps to reduce carbon pollution from the state’s power plants. The group will evaluate options under Virginia’s existing authority to address carbon pollution.  Nevertheless, some environmental groups were critical of the governor’s record on climate change.

In the first two months of 2016, greenhouse gases from transportation topped those from the power sector for the first time, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.  In spite of more stringent fuel economy standards, Americans are choosing larger vehicles, which get lower gas mileage, and driving more, both of which are causing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation to continue growing.  Perhaps increased adoption of electric vehicle mandates by states will help address the problem.

The World Bank has agreed to lend India $1 billion for its huge solar energy program.  India’s goal is to increase its solar capacity 30 fold by 2020.

These news items have been compiled by Les Grady, member and former chair of the CAAV steering committee. He is a licensed professional engineer (retired) who taught environmental engineering at Purdue and Clemson Universities and engaged in private practice with CH2M Hill, the world’s largest environmental engineering consulting firm. Since his retirement in 2003 he has devoted much of his time to the study of climate science and the question of global warming and makes himself available to speak to groups about this subject. More here.

There will be no Weekly Roundup next week.  The next one will be July 1.

Climate

John Abraham, writing in The Guardian, provides some insights into the causes of coral bleaching and the failure of “managed resilience” to protect against it.  Not all is bad news, however, as a study of 2,500 coral reefs has revealed certain “bright spots” that did not have as much bleaching as might be expected, providing information about how coral reefs might be protected.

This item may be of interest to folk in business or manufacturing that you might know.  There is a sense among some that the developed world will be less affected by the impacts of climate change than the developing world because developed countries have more resources that can be brought to bear on the problem.  A new study published in Science Advances challenges that.  Because manufacturing has become so globalized and inventories are kept to a minimum, disruptions at any point in the supply chain can have cascading effects.  Consequently, we are not as immune to climate change impacts as we might think.

According to scientists with the World Weather Attribution project, preliminary analysis indicates that climate change made the recent flooding in France 90% more likely, whereas the impact of climate change on the flooding in Germany was less clear.

Warmer temperatures and the just-ended El Nino are having an impact on CO2 levels in the atmosphere.  A new paper, published in Nature Geoscience, finds that as summers warm, alpine soils are losing carbon to the atmosphere as CO2 as a result of increased microbial activity.  In other words, they are becoming sources of carbon rather than sinks.  Furthermore, according to a new paper in Nature Climate Change, El Nino has dried out tropical forests and plants, thereby reducing their ability to take up CO2 and helping the concentration in the atmosphere to increase this year by 3.1 ppm (projected) compared to an annual average increase of 2.1 ppm in past years.  Finally, a milestone was passed when the CO2 level in Antarctica exceeded 400 ppm for the first time.

El Nino helped make May the hottest May in NASA records and the 8th straight warmest month on record.  Analysis by NOAA also listed May 2016 as the hottest May on record.  Because the El Nino event is over, it is likely that the streak of record-breaking months will end.  Nevertheless, May temperatures caused the World Meteorological Agency to warn of “fundamental changes” in the global climate.

The Wall Street Journal has a long record of presenting editorials and op-ed pieces that deny the role of humans in climate change.  As a counter to that, and to provide the business community with the facts about climate change, The Partnership for Responsible Growth is taking out ads on the Journal’s editorial page.  Background research on the Journal can be found here.

Greenhouse gases released from the growing of crops and livestock increased by a little more than 1% in 2014, compared with a year prior, according to data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, whereas burning fossil fuels for energy grew by about half that amount.

In 1955 there were 10 extreme weather events in the U.S. that cost more than $1 billion each; together they killed 155 people.  Whether they were caused by climate change is a question that scientists are seeking to answer through “attribution studies.”  It’s complicated.

Energy

A new forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) plots out global electric power markets for the next 25 years and lists eight massive shifts that are coming to those markets.  Chief among them is that costs of wind and solar power are falling too quickly for gas ever to dominate on a global scale.  In addition, according to a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, the average cost of electricity generated by solar and wind energy could fall by up to 59% by 2025 if the right policies are in place.

A detailed study by MIT engineers, published in the journal Applied Energy looked at the potential role of energy storage in our future.  According to Greentech Media “The researchers found that it’s possible to meet stringent greenhouse gas limits without any energy storage. The energy mix in a no-storage scenario requires high levels of nuclear, though….  As the level of storage increases, it allows greater penetration of renewable sources by helping to balance the ups and downs of variable production.”  Another study from MIT examined different types of storage and found that some can be good investments, even with today’s technology and costs.

For a fascinating example of innovation with renewables and storage, check out this article about the Kodiak Electric association in Kodiak, Alaska.  It’s this sort of thing that keeps me optimistic that we can meet our energy needs in cleaner ways.

German automobile manufacturer Daimler will introduce a prototype of its new electric-powered Mercedes at the Paris Motor Show in October.  It will have a range of 300 miles.  Matthias Mueller, chief executive of Volkswagen, announced that the company plans to introduce 30 battery-powered electric vehicles over the next 10 years.  In addition, even Harley riders will be able to ride green within 5 years according to a company executive.  If advances in battery technology continue, electric cars can have a big impact on emissions from the transportation sector, provided they are charged with green energy.  This is important because transportation now emits more CO2 in the U.S. than power plants for the first time since 1979.  Furthermore, a new report from the Rocky Mountain Institute examines the impact on the grid of having large numbers of electric vehicles.  Surprisingly, many of the impacts can be positive, if energy regulators adopt appropriate regulations.

According to a report from the Department of Energy, for a variety of reasons U.S. coal production during the first quarter of 2016 fell to the lowest level seen in 35 years, when the nation was in the middle of a major coal strike.

Building transmission lines is one of the most difficult tasks in the power sector, requiring a great deal of coordination and planning, particularly if renewables are to be incorporated.  Thus it is disturbing that a new report from the Brattle Group finds that transmission planners are failing in their preparation for a new mix of energy generators.  As an example of the problems transmission planners face, in spite of having spent six years in the approval process, the Clean Line Energy project to transmit wind-generated electricity across Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee now faces blockage by a bill passed out of the Committee on Natural Resources to the full U.S. House.

For a variety of reasons, people of low income spend a greater percentage of their income on energy.  One of those reasons is that their homes often are poorly insulated, which is why CAAV is working to inform people of free weatherization programs.  What you may not realize is how bad the situation is in Virginia.  Look at the map in this article, zoom in on Virginia, and compare it to our surrounding states.  Looks like something is very, very wrong.

These news items have been compiled by Les Grady, member and former chair of the CAAV steering committee. He is a licensed professional engineer (retired) who taught environmental engineering at Purdue and Clemson Universities and engaged in private practice with CH2M Hill, the world’s largest environmental engineering consulting firm. Since his retirement in 2003 he has devoted much of his time to the study of climate science and the question of global warming and makes himself available to speak to groups about this subject. More here.

In last week’s Roundup I mentioned the flooding in Europe and Texas. Huffington Post published a summary article with pictures about the events.  In addition, scientists have already determined that climate change increased both the likelihood and the severity of the flooding in France.

A few weeks ago the press paid a lot of attention to Native Americans in Louisiana who had to be relocated, making them the first climate refugees in the lower 48 states.  However, Native Americans in Alaska have been facing similar problems for quite some time.  Madeline Ostrander has an essay in Hakai Magazine about the Yup’ik people of Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of Alaska.

Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge University, has predicted that the Arctic will be essentially ice free (less than 1 million sq km) in September of this year or next.  If not, at the very least a new record low will be set.  Other scientists disagree, although May 2016 experienced the lowest amount of sea ice in May ever, by a significant amount.

Alaska had the warmest spring on record.  In a new study using 87,000 images from Landsat satellites collected over 29 years, NASA has found that parts of Canada and Alaska are greening as a result of climate change.  Also in the Arctic, a retrospective study published in Nature Communications finds that during the summer of 2015 the northern part of Greenland was exceptionally warm due to a blocking pattern in the jet stream.  This led to greater than normal melting in northern Greenland, greater than in the south.

Scientists using elephant seals to carry instruments deep into Antarctic waters near glacial outlets have confirmed that warm circumpolar deep water is moving onto continental shelves where glaciers rest and melting their bases.

According to NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch bleaching has occurred on reefs near at least 38 countries or island groups in what is the most widespread coral bleaching event on record.

My sense of optimism is fortified whenever I run across innovative ideas that may someday provide us with energy without the use of fossil fuels.  One idea that has been in the press recently is the “bionic leaf” invented by Daniel Nocera of Harvard and Pamela Silver of Harvard Medical School.  The latter was featured on Science Friday today and in case you missed it you can listen to it here.  The bionic leaf is just one example of “liquid sunlight”, which was written about by David Roberts at Vox.

The Union of Concerned Scientists has two interesting infographics; one is entitled “The Climate Risks of Natural Gas” while the other is about “Fugitive Methane Emissions.”  On Wednesday, a North Carolina environmental advocacy group, NC Warn, asked the EPA inspector general to investigate whether a dispute over the calibration of methane detectors used in an important study of methane emissions from oil and gas fields has risen to the level of fraud.  The Washington Post also reported on this issue.

When water and CO2 are pumped into basalt rock formations in the subsurface, chemical reactions occur that convert the CO2 into mineral forms, i.e., new rock.  Consequently, there is little possibility the CO2 will come back to the surface, providing a way to sequester the carbon.  Now, studies in Iceland have shown that the transformations occur rapidly, within 2 years, rather than decades or centuries, as feared.  How extensively this can be exploited for carbon sequestration and storage still must be determined.

In their meeting earlier this week, President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached an important agreement that will facilitate elimination of the use of hydroflurocarbons (HFCs) as refrigerants in air conditioners, refrigerators, etc.  This is particularly important because HFCs are important greenhouse gases that are 10,000 times stronger than CO2 and are widely used in India and China, both of which are seeing large increases in air conditioner sales as a result of increasing affluence and a warmer climate.  Prime Minister Modi also addressed a joint session of Congress and announced several other initiatives important to fighting climate change.

Jim Pierobon has published an analysis of Dominion Virginia Power and solar energy in Southeast Energy News.  He also wrote about a meeting of a group of stakeholders hoping to establish proposals for solar energy for next year’s General Assembly.  Nationwide, 64% of the new electricity generating capacity that came on-line in the first quarter of 2016 was solar and the total installed capacity in 2016 is expected to be 14.5 gigawatts, almost double the amount installed in 2015.

Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors has written to DEQ objecting to the approval of a proposed wind farm in Botetourt County by its Board of Supervisors.  The proposers of that wind farm have said that they will take measures to minimize bat mortality, although scientists now say that the provisions used by the wind energy industry to reduce bat mortality may need to be strengthened.

Four states had sued the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, contending that it had not properly considered safety over the long term when it established the regulation allowing nuclear power plants to store spent fuel rods on-site indefinitely.  A federal appeals court rejected that argument.  Whether new nuclear power plants will be built in the future is a question being debated within power providers and environmental organizations alike.  For example, last week a debate about nuclear energy was held at Stanford University.  Andrew Revkin provides a commentary and a link to the YouTube archive of the debate.

Beyond Extreme Energy and other activist groups shining a light on FERC and the approval process for gas and oil pipelines are having an impact on the way they do business.  Activists and environmental organizations also have shown a light on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement, revealing the negative impact it could have on environmental and climate rules.  This has led to a consortium of organizations calling on senators to reject the TPP when it comes to a vote this fall.

For-profit oil and gas pipeline companies are experiencing increasing scrutiny as they attempt to use eminent domain to secure right-of-way for new pipelines.  According to BP, because of lower coal use and sluggish growth CO2 emissions from energy consumption grew by only 0.1% last year, the smallest advance since 2009.

These news items have been compiled by Les Grady, member and former chair of the CAAV steering committee. He is a licensed professional engineer (retired) who taught environmental engineering at Purdue and Clemson Universities and engaged in private practice with CH2M Hill, the world’s largest environmental engineering consulting firm. Since his retirement in 2003 he has devoted much of his time to the study of climate science and the question of global warming and makes himself available to speak to groups about this subject. More here.

 

A special thanks to Joy Loving for handling the Weekly Roundup for me while I was away.  I greatly appreciate her help.

Need some inspiration?  Read this blog post by David Rivka at Citizens’ Climate Lobby about the efforts of Jim Probst in West Virginia.  On the other hand, if you want to be brought back to Earth you might consider Richard Heinberg’s comments at the Post Carbon Institute.  Or you can read the rather long essay by Naomi Klein in The London Review of Books on how our tendency for “othering” influences how we respond to the human tragedies of climate change.

The big news locally was that Dominion Virginia Power lost the $40 million grant from DOE that it had been given to help finance the off-shore wind demonstration project.  This puts the entire project in jeopardy.  In other Virginia news, the Department of Environmental Quality has imposed precedent-setting protections against greenhouse gases and other air pollutants from Dominion Virginia Power’s proposed gas power plant in Greensville County.  Finally Ivy Main has a new blog post about Dominion and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

The G7 nations (U.S., UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the EU) have pledged to stop most fossil fuel subsidies by 2025.  The rub comes from how they define “most.”

The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication have released a new report entitled Climate Change in the American Mind: March 2016.  Since spring 2015 the proportion of Americans who think global warming is happening has increased by 7 percentage points, to 70%.  Furthermore 58% now say that they are “somewhat” or “very” worried about the issue.

According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the current El Nino has ended.  It still remains uncertain, however, whether it will be followed by La Nina.  The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1.  There is a 45% chance that it will be near-normal, with 10 to 16 named storms, of which 4 to 8 will be hurricanes with 1 to 4 category 3 or higher.

According to a report from the US Geological Survey, Alaska may be a net sink for carbon throughout the 21st century, rather than a source as many had feared.  It should be noted, however, that this conclusion is controversial because of some potential sources or sinks not considered due to insufficient knowledge.  What is clear, however, is that wildfires must now be recognized as a significant driver of climate change.

More than one-third of the coral reefs in the central and northern regions of the Great Barrier Reef died in the huge bleaching event that occurred earlier this year.  In some regions mortality exceeded 50%.  Interestingly, the Australian government scrubbed all reference to Australia from a draft UNESCO report on the danger that climate change poses for World Heritage sites, of which the Great Barrier Reef is one.  This was done out of fear of the impacts of the report on tourism.  Graham Readfearn of The Guardian has a commentary on the affair and Amy Davidson summarizes what made it into the report in The New Yorker.

In a recent paper in Nature Geoscience lead author Dr. Kyle Armour stated: “When we talk about ‘global warming’, there is a tendency to imagine that the warming will occur everywhere at the same rate. Yet, we’ve seen very rapid warming in the Arctic and very slow warming over the ocean around Antarctica over the last 50 years.”  His paper reports on studies of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica and why its warming rate is low.  Robert McSweeney of CarbonBrief reports on the major findings from the paper as does Alister Doyle of Christian Science Monitor.  Meanwhile, a new study raises concern about the stability of another large glacier in West Antarctica, although it is currently stable, but retreating.

Hydroelectric power does not produce greenhouse gases, but it has other environmental and social impacts.  Thus, it is disturbing that the Democratic Republic of Congo is moving forward with construction of the Inga 3 dam on the Congo River even though environmental and social impact studies have not been completed.  Nevertheless, when done properly, hydroelectric power can serve an important role in a grid with a large percentage of solar and wind power.  On a similar note, the easing of the California drought has increased its springtime hydroelectric generation to the highest level since 2011.

Proponents of nuclear energy as part of the mix of generation systems for carbon-free electricity are counting on fourth-generation reactors.  One of the most promising is molten salt reactor (MSR) technology, which Oak Ridge National Laboratory is working on with China, as well as with others.  Meanwhile, in spite of arguments within the scientific community about the best direction to take, efforts are underway to keep existing second-generation nuclear reactors running in the U.S. as a source of carbon-free electricity.

A new meta-study published Monday by researchers from the Brookings Institution suggests that rooftop solar actually benefits all consumers — regardless of whether they have solar panels.  The findings from the study should be considered by all regulatory and legislative agencies considering actions regarding rooftop solar.  If you are buying a new home and wish to install solar panels Fannie Mae will allow you to roll their cost into your mortgage through their HomeStyle Energy Mortgage.  Also this week, California power companies cancelled $192 million worth of transmission upgrades because they are no longer necessary, thanks to improved energy efficiency and increased rooftop solar.

An analysis of China’s energy strategy by Greenpeace suggests that its coal use and carbon emissions could be 10% lower than expected by the end of the decade.  Furthermore, the Renewables Global Status Report by REN21 found that investments in renewables worldwide in 2015 were more than twice the amount spent on coal- and gas-fired power plants.  With China leading the way, developing nations spent more than developed nations on renewable power for the first time.  This is very important because as the world heats up and developing nations become more affluent, the demand for air conditioning will increase markedly, driving up electricity usage.

Sierra Club presented its electric vehicle buyer’s guide.  One of those vehicles is a Volkswagen, which is  targeting sales of one million electric vehicles by 2026 and is also considering building its own battery plant.  The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) report Energy Technology Perspectives 2016 indicates that the electric vehicles sector is the only one on track to meet a 2C scenario.

As the developing world becomes more affluent, millions of buildings will be built for offices and residences.  Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told The Guardian that the number one priority in tackling climate change must be to ensure that those buildings meet higher standards of energy efficiency or they will commit the world to high greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come.

On Wednesday, environmental groups said they would not comply with a sweeping request for information about climate change and ExxonMobil from the House Committee on Space, Science and Technology led by Chairman Lamar S. Smith (R-Tex).

These news items have been compiled by Les Grady, member and former chair of the CAAV steering committee. He is a licensed professional engineer (retired) who taught environmental engineering at Purdue and Clemson Universities and engaged in private practice with CH2M Hill, the world’s largest environmental engineering consulting firm. Since his retirement in 2003 he has devoted much of his time to the study of climate science and the question of global warming and makes himself available to speak to groups about this subject. More here.

 

Les is still away so I’m filling in once again this week.  And again, the news is hopeful, gloomy, and dire.

Let’s start with some good news.  Last week we saw a look-back at the 10th year anniversary of An Inconvenient Truth.  Here’s a Climate Reality Project report on 5 climate successes since 2006.  http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/05/23/five-moments-climate-progress-inconvenient-truth

Speaking of looking back, The Guardian reports on a 2001 Exxon Mobil attempt to keep some climate science from becoming public.  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/25/exxonmobil-climate-change-scientists-congress-george-w-bush

In the same vein, the Center for  International and Environmental Law (CEIL) reports on evidence about what oil companies knew way back when but neglected to tell the rest of us.  http://www.ciel.org/news/100-new-documents-highlight-oil-industry-studied-climate-delayed-solutions/

Speaking of oil companies, several of them recently held annual shareholder meetings where shareholders voted on proposals raising climate-related matters.  Following are a few articles…

Exxon Mobil’s CEO says humanity isn’t ready for an end to oil production….
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/25/exxonmobil-ceo-oil-climate-change-oil-production

The CEO of another oil company, Shell, isn’t in a big hurry to move toward solar, but maybe at least he’s thinking about the possibility….  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/26/shell-limit-solar-investment-until-profitable

And here’s a brief summary about these 2 plus a few other oil companies’ recent shareholder meeting results (check out the French company Total CEO’s position) plus how some retirement system investments may be affected….http://grist.org/climate-energy/big-oil-is-all-over-the-place-on-climate-change/
http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/05/25/fourth-biggest-oil-firm-vows-go-big-renewable-power
http://www.cpr.org/news/story/climate-change-becoming-bigger-deal-state-retirement-funds

As many of us know all too well, we have our pipeline battles in VA.  But we’re not alone in fighting such battles.  Here’s a story about Canadian First Nations’ fights.  http://grist.org/climate-energy/in-battle-over-new-canadian-pipeline-its-trudeau-vs-tribes/

From Princeton University (and Take Part) comes a new study with dismal news for our great-grandchildren and great-greats if we don’t act soon to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.  This prediction of a super hot world sounds a bit futuristic and there is time to mitigate, but still it’s scary.  http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/05/23/high-heat-global-warming-fossil-fuel-renewable-energy

When we think of climate change’s effects, often we focus on severe weather events more than other risks and adversities.  Perhaps we should think more broadly….
• http://grist.org/food/climate-change-is-making-food-more-toxic/
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/05/20/the-fort-mcmurray-fires-stunning-pulse-of-carbon-to-the-atmosphere/
• http://www.npr.org/2016/05/25/477014085/rising-seas-push-too-much-salt-into-the-florida-everglades
• http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/24/3781243/how-air-pollution-causes-heart-disease/
• http://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-tourism-economy-idUSKCN0YH1SP
• http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/27/australia-scrubbed-from-un-climate-change-report-after-government-intervention

From Climate Nexus, here’s a link to a new, beta site with maps and other graphics that may help us understand better the connection between climate change and what are termed “climate events”.  You may want to bookmark it and check it out periodically.  http://www.climatesignals.org/#

Here’s a somewhat wonky, maybe even “Star War-zy” article about a Yale theoretical physicist on how we might capture CO2 from the air.  Coupled with another article (both from Daily Climate), it may mean we should pay attention to what this guy is proposing.
http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2996
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/us-leads-globe-oil-production-for-third-year-20368

Bloomberg says El Nino is over.  Good news?  Not necessarily.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-24/farewell-el-nino-it-s-la-nina-s-turn-to-cause-trouble-now

Remember the Supreme Court’s stay of the Clean Power Plan?  And the Virginia General Assembly’s ban on the Department of Environmental Quality’s spending money to plan for it until the stay is lifted?  Here’s an update.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/24/3781301/morrissey-tells-epa-to-stop-working-on-cpp/

We’ll finish up with a few more good/hopeful news….

Here’s hope for more solar in low income areas, even without community solar.  I know this is about California, which probably also has community solar (unlike VA), but still….  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/05/report-solar-storage-could-eliminate-electric-bills-for-california-s-affordable-housing-properties.html

From the Washington Post, here’s a report of a recent study that says rooftop solar is benefiting, not costing, the utilities.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/05/26/some-states-may-be-making-a-big-mistake-about-rooftop-solar/

What about solar in the U.S.?  Here’s 2 updates.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/24052016/solar-energy-27-gigawatts-united-states-one-million-rooftop-panels-climate-change-china-germany
http://phys.org/news/2016-05-renewable-energy-million-irena.html

Last week we learned about Germany and Portugal and how they were close to or at 100% renewable energy recently.  Here’s another story, unfortunately not about the U.S.  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-day-coal-power-dropped-out-of-the-national-grid-for-the-first-time-in-more-than-100-years-a7040291.html

Some good news about low carbon urban transit electric buses in this article.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/24/3778463/proterra-tesla-electric-buses/

These news items have been compiled by Joy Loving, member of the CAAV steering committee and leader of Solarize efforts in the valley.

Les is away for a bit and I am substituting for him.  As usual, lots of climate-related news to share this week–some encouraging, some not so much, and some downright discouraging.  I’ll mix it up a bit so you don’t want to stop reading after a minute or two….

Two Virginia residents, one from our coastal area and one from our south-central rural area, penned an op-ed in the Richmond Times Dispatch, published May 16, chiding our governor for the inconsistency of his rhetoric and his actions vis-à-vis fossil fuel exploration and use.  http://www.richmond.com/opinion/their-opinion/guest-columnists/article_1bbd2d5f-7046-5d74-8d9f-d5f247b0a16d.html

Virginians often point to North Carolina as more renewable-friendly.  Maybe not.  http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article78472572.html

Concerning the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the Allegheny Blue Ridge Alliance (ABRA) issued a press release to announce a recent Bath County Supervisors’ unanimous decision to express opposition to the ACP.  ABRA’s website has a lengthy list of official concerns by many public officials.  http://www.abralliance.org/acp-official_concerns/

Communities protesting fracking aren’t just in the U.S.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/20/3780097/fracking-north-yorkshire/

The District of Columbia Federal Court of Appeals has decided that the entire court will hear the Clean Power Plan case en banc.  The decision was on the court’s own initiative, which is relatively rare.  The Washington Post and Climate Progress articles explain:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/05/16/clean-power-plan-to-get-unanticipated-en-banc-review/
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/17/3778827/cpp-oral-arguments-punted/

From Take Part and Grist come articles examining where we were then and where we are now, 10 years after the release of An Inconvenient Truth:  http://www.takepart.com/article/2016/05/11/inconvenient-truth-then-and-now-what-s-changed-our-climate-2006 http://grist.org/feature/an-inconvenient-truth-oral-history/

Renewable Energy World and the Australian organization Solar Choice have reported that Germany produced almost over 90 percent of its energy from renewables on Sunday, May 8.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/05/germany-achieves-milestone-renewables-supply-nearly-100-percent-energy-for-a-day.html;
http://www.solarchoice.net.au/blog/news/renewables-supply-record-90pc-german-ower-demand-170516

Not to be outdone, Portugal recently achieved zero emissions for 107 hours, according to a Guardian article. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/18/portugal-runs-for-four-days-straight-on-renewable-energy-alone

Also from the Guardian, farming contributes greatly to air pollution in Europe and elsewhere.  Although many of us understand that fertilizer runoff contributes to water pollution and is bad for marine life, I suspect not too many of us realize that very tiny nitrogen particles can harm our lungs when we breathe them in.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/17/farming-is-single-biggest-cause-of-worst-air-pollution-in-europe

Speaking of agriculture, another Climate Progress article says this industry will have to do its bit to reduce carbon emissions.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/19/3779777/agriculture-emission-mitigation-gap/

Wired agrees:  http://www.wired.com/2016/05/chemical-reaction-revolutionized-farming-100-years-ago-now-needs-go/

In the more-bad-news department, the UN has released a study showing that we humans are degrading our environment faster than it can recover.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/19/humans-damaging-the-environment-faster-than-it-can-recover-report-finds

Let’s hear it for the growth of renewable energy!  From the Electric Governing Initiative comes word that wind and solar are “soaring”.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/05/renewable-energy-is-soaring-are-we-ready.html

Reporter Joe Romm echoes the above giving data on 2016’s 1st quarter.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/16/3778542/grid-70-times-renewables-natural-gas/

Here’s an article about a cooperative effort between Cornell University and Iceland to model the use of geothermal energy as a way to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.  Iceland is doing this as part of its Climate Action Plan (wouldn’t it be nice if the U.S. had one of those?) and has long used its massive geothermal resources to produce its electricity.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/05/cornell-and-iceland-team-to-model-geothermal-energy.html

Another piece of hopeful news about implementation of the Paris Climate Accords comes from the World Resources Institute.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/05/what-s-next-eu-us-and-colombia-show-they-re-moving-forward-with-the-paris-agreement.html

In the not-so-good news department, a Washington Post article reports on the apparent instability of an East Antarctica glacier.  It’s a bit on the detailed side and a bit wonky, but the research it talks about should give us all pause about sea level rise.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/05/18/fundamentally-unstable-scientists-confirm-their-worries-about-east-antarcticas-biggest-glacier/

CNN reports that April was the latest month to break records in the high temperatures realm.  Overall, 2016 is looking to smash prior records.  http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/16/world/climate-change-april-hottest-month/index.html

Another Washington Post article reports on a thoughtful and insightful interview with the Director of the National Park Service (NPS) and some of implications for the NPS system for the many parks, monuments, and other destinations.  The Director also talks about who’s visiting the parks and what that means for the future.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/05/18/national-park-service-director-climate-change-among-the-biggest-challenges-ahead/

These news items have been compiled by Joy Loving, member of the CAAV steering committee and leader of Solarize efforts in the valley.

In just 24 hours between Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, the Fort McMurray wildfire in Alberta, Canada grew from 25,000 acres to 215,000 acres, destroying many buildings in the town of 88,000 people, all of whom were ordered to evacuate.  Ironically, because Fort McMurray has been one of the biggest boom towns of Canada’s Athabasca oil sands, the fire was attributed to a combination of human-caused global warming and natural climate variability.  Elizabeth Kolbert reflects in The New Yorker on the responsibility we all bear for this fire.

In early April I provided a link to an article about a federal judge in Oregon who ruled that a group of young people had the right to sue the federal government under the constitution and public trust doctrine for its failure to protect them against the harm associated with climate change.  Now a judge in the state of Washington has ruled in favor of another group of children, ordering the state Department of Ecology to create rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this year.  In announcing her decision, the judge cited an “urgent situation” as a reason.  On a related topic, the latest volume of Future of Children, a joint Princeton University-Brookings Institution publication, outlines how climate change is likely to affect children’s health and wellbeing, identifying policies that could mitigate the harm that climate change will cause.

Virginia Dominion Power submitted its new 15 year Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to the State Corporation Commission last Friday.  The forecast includes four potential plans for complying with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, three of which rely on solar and natural gas.  The fourth relies on construction of a third reactor at the North Anna nuclear site.  The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) strongly disagrees with the IRP.  Perhaps Dominion needs to contact the developers who just submitted a bid to Dubai Electricity & Water Authority to provide solar generated electricity for 2.99 cents/kWh, which is 1.51 cents/kWh cheaper than electricity from a new coal-fired power plant under construction for the same authority.

In a blog post on Weather Underground, meteorologist Jeff Masters has stated: “The greatest threat of climate change to civilization over the next 40 years is likely to be climate change-amplified extreme droughts and floods hitting multiple major global grain-producing ‘breadbaskets’ simultaneously.”  He then goes on to document why he thinks this is true.

Two recent papers in scientific journals have provided more information about how melting ice in the Arctic influences the weather in the Northern Hemisphere.  Basically, warming in the Arctic leads to increased incidence of blocking patterns over Greenland.  This causes increased warming over Greenland, contributing to more melting and sea level rise, but it can also lead to more blizzards on the East Coast of the U.S.  The kicker is that the frequency of the blocking events has increased since the 1980’s, which is thought to be associated with the melting of Arctic sea ice.  On a related note, the authors of a recent paper examining how conditions in the Pacific influence Arctic warming comment on the significance of their findings.

India is suffering its worst water crisis in years, with around 330 million people, or a quarter of the population, experiencing drought after the last two monsoons failed.  Meteorologists forecast an above average monsoon beginning in June.  Meanwhile, in Africa El Nino associated drought has severely impacted Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malawi and Zambia.  If all this isn’t bad enough, a new report by The World Bank finds that the major impact of climate change is likely to be on water supplies, with inadequate supplies likely to reduce GDP in 2050 by 14% in the Middle East, nearly 12% in the Sahel, 11% in central Asia, and 7% in east Asia under business-as-usual water management practices.  In addition, the future of the Middle East and North Africa is not encouraging, according to another new study that focused on temperature.  Even if global average warming is kept below 2C, summer temperatures are still expected to exceed 114F in daytime and not fall below 86F at night.

One outcome of our efforts to reduce carbon emissions may be an increase in the amount of electricity consumed.  That is a conclusion of a study by the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project.  It follows from the concept that many direct uses of fossil fuels, such as in cars, can be replaced by electricity.  As we are learn how to make electricity without carbon emissions and to store it efficiently, electrification of the economy would be a way to greatly decrease CO2 emissions.  This suggests that electric utilities have less to fear from decarbonization of the economy than the fossil fuel industry.

There were several items related to economics this week.  Not surprisingly, Berkshire Hathaway shareholders rejected a resolution calling for the company to report on the risks climate change creates for its insurance companies.  Climate scientist James Hansen presented remarks at the meeting.  The Berkshire Hathaway shareholders were not alone, as documented in a report by the Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP).  AODP found that just under a fifth of the world’s top investors were taking tangible steps to mitigate the risk associated with climate change, whereas almost half were doing nothing at all.  Meanwhile, investors in electric utilities are introducing shareholder resolutions requiring them to show their ability to function and make a profit under the constraints that will be necessary to limit warming to 2C.

A new report from the Carbon Tracker Initiative finds that the leading energy companies could make more money by abandoning high-cost projects in deep water and Canadian tar sands, and concentrating on schemes with a goal of keeping global warming to 2C.  Also this week, one of Britain’s most influential energy experts warned that oil companies have 10 years to change their business model, through diversification into renewables, scaling back, and mega-mergers, or meet a “nasty, brutish and short” end.

On Monday, Greenpeace Netherlands leaked documents from negotiations surrounding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).  They listed four environmental concerns, including the absence of any statements on climate protection.  EU officials disagreed with much of Greenpeace’s interpretation of the documents.

Climate change communication continues to be a topic of interest, probably because it is so important for building consensus for action.  Heather Smith writes on Grist about the latest approach from Breakthrough Strategies and Solutions, which focuses on three points: The Threat, The Villain, and The Solution.  Dana Nuccitelli, writing in The Guardian, identifies three key points, gleaned from several studies, that lead people to be willing to tackle climate change: recognition that people are causing it; an understanding of how the greenhouse effect works; and awareness of the 90–100% expert consensus on human-caused global warming.  Finally, a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology has found that “Some reassurances about the stability of the economy may help people take information about human-caused climate change more seriously,” according to the lead author.

A new report from the U.S. Office of the Stockholm Environment Institute finds that annual global emissions of CO2 could drop by 100 million tons by 2030 if the Interior Department stopped issuing or renewing leases from federal lands and waters.  Bill McKibben has a new essay about the international movement to keep fossil fuels in the ground and an article in The Guardian quotes Naomi Klein as saying “Fossil fuels, which are the principal driver of climate change, require the sacrifice of whole regions and people.”

Most climate science is very detached from the actual impact of climate change on people, focusing rather on computer modeling or large scale patterns of change.  A recent paper in Nature Climate Change is different.  It is a meta-study that documents the observations of over 90,000 people from 137 countries currently experiencing climate change firsthand.  Closer to home, Michael Hayden writes about the plight of lower-income residents in Atlantic City as sea level rises.

On Wednesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service revived a proposal to allow energy companies to obtain 30-year permits to disturb or kill protected bald and golden eagles, provided that stable or increasing eagle populations are maintained.  The move is aimed at encouraging more firms to commit to eagle conservation measures.

Utilities in the U.S. have announced the retirement of 101,673 MW of coal-fired power plants since 2010.  The Energy Transitions Commission’s goals are to accelerate change toward low-carbon energy systems that enable robust economic development and to limit the rise in global temperature to well below 2C.  They have recently released a position paper that highlights what needs to be done to achieve those goals.  At a meeting in Washington, DC on Thursday, Jim Young Kim, president of the World Bank, said that if the planned coal-fired power plants in China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia are built, “That would spell disaster for us and our planet.”

These news items have been compiled by Les Grady, member and former chair of the CAAV steering committee. He is a licensed professional engineer (retired) who taught environmental engineering at Purdue and Clemson Universities and engaged in private practice with CH2M Hill, the world’s largest environmental engineering consulting firm. Since his retirement in 2003 he has devoted much of his time to the study of climate science and the question of global warming and makes himself available to speak to groups about this subject. More here.

Representatives from 175 nations gathered at the U.N. headquarters in New York City last Friday, Earth Day, to sign the Paris Climate Agreement.  According to Mark Trumbull of the Christian Science Monitor, the signing is evidence of the changed mind-set that made the accord possible.  On the other hand, writing in The Guardian, Suzanne Goldenberg reminds us that we have a long way to go to put the promises of Paris into action.

This next item comes under the category of “Why didn’t I think of that?”.  It is widely recognized that for intermittent generators like wind and solar to become major sources of electricity, large scale energy storage will be required.  One technique currently in use at nuclear power plants (which work best with constant output) is pumped storage.  Unfortunately, building reservoirs has large environmental impacts and can only be done where there is adequate water.  So, how about moving something else up and down hill, such as electric trains carrying heavy loads that use electricity to get up the hill and generate it coming down?  That is what a company called ARES is doing.

Peter Sinclair has a new video entitled “Surveilling the Scientists” in his Climate Denial Crock of the Week series.  Meanwhile a new poll by Yale and George Mason Universities finds that the Republican electorate is showing increased acceptance of the threat posed by climate change.

Leaders of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other major global institutions say cutting CO2 emissions enough to prevent the worst effects of climate change will not be possible unless all fossil fuel polluters are forced to pay for the CO2 they emit.  Toward that end, the first High Level Assembly of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) was held at the World Bank recently.  The mission of the CPLC is to identify and advance ways to build effective, transparent, and equitable carbon pricing into the national climate action plans of the parties to the Paris Accord.

The count of oil and gas rigs in the U.S. has dropped by 78% from its high in October 2014 to the lowest number since Baker Hughes began compiling data in 1944.  On Monday, The Hill published a special magazine on energy and environment policy, “The Future of Energy in the United States.”  On Wednesday, the Institute for Energy Economics issued a report questioning the necessity for building both the Atlantic Coast pipeline and Mountain Valley pipeline.  Speaking of energy, infrastructure is indeed important.  Blocking pipeline projects is an important tool in the effort to keep fossil fuels in the ground, but what about blocking transmission lines carrying wind power from the mid-west to the east or west?

China has issued new energy guidelines halting construction of new coal-fired power plants in many parts of the country until at least 2018.  Meanwhile, here in Virginia our legislature and governor continued their battles over coal in the one-day veto session.  Ivy Main provides her thoughts on the outcome.  The use of coal in the U.S. has declined 29% since 2007.

Research by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and the World Resources Institute has found that while micro-grids have brought light to poor families in India and Nepal, they have not provided sufficient electricity to help business or spur industry.

In partnership with Geostellar, a national solar installer, Etsy will help its sellers install solar panels on their home studios or businesses as a way to reduce Etsy’s carbon footprint.  Meanwhile, according to a new report from the Center for Biological Diversity, 10 states account for more than 35% of the total rooftop-solar technical potential in the contiguous U.S., but less than 3% of total installed capacity, thanks to weak or nonexistent policies. Virginia is among them.

The Internet offers us a wealth of information.  Unfortunately, much is of unknown credibility.  This is particularly true of articles about climate change.  Now a new resource is available to us to help us assess the credibility of articles about climate: Climate Feedback.  An article in The Guardian by the founder and an editor explains what they do and how they do it.

In prior Weekly Roundups I have linked to articles about the importance of framing issues to the values of the target audience.  Now a new paper in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology has shown that when climate issues were re-framed in terms of patriotism, loyalty, authority and purity, values important to conservatives, conservatives were more likely to adopt favorable attitudes.

Tracking the extent of Arctic sea ice is very important for a number of reasons, not least of which is its value as an indicator of global warming.  Tracking is done by satellite using an instrument that detects microwaves emitted from Earth.  The value of this type of sensor is that it can collect data in the presence of clouds and the absence of sunlight.  Unfortunately, the major satellite that scientists have been relying on experienced operational failures that compromise its data, other satellites are getting old, and currently there are no plans to launch a new one.  Satellites have proved useful for tracking climate change in other ways.  For example, using data from satellite sensors collected over the past 30 years, an international team of scientists has been able to document a greening of Earth’s vegetation due to fertilization by the added CO2 in the atmosphere.  Their results have been published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Although satellites have proven to be useful for tracking climate change, the record available from them is relatively short.  For longer term records, scientists must turn to surrogate measurements or direct observations kept over long periods.  Perhaps the longest continuous record of observations is that made by Shinto priests in the Kino Mountains of central Japan, who have recorded the date of appearance of an ice ridge on Lake Suwa each year since 1443.  Or, consider the glaciers in the Austrian Alps, which have been measured by a variety of groups since the 1800’s.  Both of these provide important records against which to compare surrogate measurements.

Berkshire Hathaway will hold its annual shareholder meeting on April 30 and investors everywhere will pay attention to every word uttered by Warren Buffett.  Once again consideration will be given to a shareholder resolution requiring the company to disclose climate risks facing its insurance business.  James Hansen will speak, urging Buffett to consider the future of young people in his investment strategy.  Writing in Inside Climate News, Nicholas Kusnet describes the extensive fossil fuel holdings of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett’s response to climate change, and investor’s attempts to change it.  However, as pointed out by Mindy Lubber in Forbes, not all business is standing on the sidelines of the climate change fight.

Only a handful of states have enacted a price on carbon and all of them use cap-and-trade.  A ballot initiative in Washington seeks to make that state the first to adopt a revenue neutral carbon tax.  John Upton at Climate Central describes the arguments going on over the initiative.  Closer to home, in an editorial posted late on Tuesday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has come out in favor of a carbon tax.

New research published in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles has found that as the world warms more low oxygen zones will develop in the oceans, impacting life there.

These news items have been compiled by Les Grady, member and former chair of the CAAV steering committee. He is a licensed professional engineer (retired) who taught environmental engineering at Purdue and Clemson Universities and engaged in private practice with CH2M Hill, the world’s largest environmental engineering consulting firm. Since his retirement in 2003 he has devoted much of his time to the study of climate science and the question of global warming and makes himself available to speak to groups about this subject. More here.

I recently got around to reading the April 4 issue of Chemical and Engineering News, the weekly magazine of the American Chemical Society, and read an article I thought I should share with you.  It is an opinion piece by Jack N. Gerard, the president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute.  I am including it this week just so you can read what the other side thinks.  Along those same lines, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen by some as a way for the fossil fuel industry to continue, although as this article shows, CCS faces significant financial hurdles.  The battle to leave fossil fuels in the ground will indeed be long and difficult.

Eduardo Porter had a thought-provoking column in the Economy section of The New York Times entitled “Liberal Biases, Too, May Block Progress on Climate Change“.

The current issue of Yes! magazine is devoted to “Life after Oil”, with articles by Bill McKibben, Richard Heinberg, and more.

On Wednesday the Senate passed a bipartisan energy bill that has some good clean energy provisions but also some things that groups concerned about climate change find disturbing.  Among the latter is a provision that declares the burning of biomass “carbon neutral.”  The Senate bill must be reconciled with the bill passed earlier by the House.  Closer to home, the Virginia General Assembly failed to override Governor McAuliffe’s veto of a bill that would have extended tax credits associated with coal.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) has issued a new paper entitled “Shifting Diets for a Sustainable Food Future.”  The concepts presented in the paper have been summarized in 12 charts by the authors and Chelsea Harvey has a summary in The Washington Post.  Meanwhile, a new paper in Nature Communications reports on a thought experiment that investigated scenarios for meeting the world’s food needs in 2050 within the constraint of no more deforestation.  Finally, another interesting article from WRI summarizes six climate milestones that have occurred since Paris.

It is only April, yet many places in India are experiencing temperatures in excess of 40 C (104 F).  On the other hand, a new study published in Nature has found that over the past 40 years Americans have experienced warmer (i.e., more pleasant) weather in January, while July temperatures have not increased sufficiently to be uncomfortable.  Thus, Americans’ experience with the weather has not served as a motivation for climate action.

Houston, Texas experienced record rainfall Sunday night and Monday, with one unofficial weather station reporting 20 inches.  Houston is 50 miles inland and has an elevation of 50 ft, so things are pretty flat there.  Consequently, there was lots of flooding.  This is the second time in a year that Houston has experienced severe flooding.  So what do they mean by a 100 year flood?

On Monday faith leaders signed an Interfaith Statement on Climate Change, which urges “all Heads of State to promptly sign and ratify the Paris Agreement.”  More than 80 groups and 3,600 individuals of Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim faith signed on.  Some, however, question just how soon ratification should occur.  Carbon Brief explains the difference between adoption, signing, and ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement.  The World Resources Institute unveiled its interactive Paris Agreement Tracker this week to help us keep track of progress toward ratification and The New York Times presented a status report on where the major players lie in meeting their pledges.

The Paris Climate Agreement pledged to “hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 C.”  This raises the question of how much less the impacts of a 1.5 C world will be.  To try and answer that question researchers at Climate Analytics in Germany ran simulations with the models used in the 2013 IPCC report and the results were published Thursday in the journal Earth Systems Dynamics.  Roz Pidcock of Carbon Brief summarizes their results and provides a graphic for easy comparison of the impacts at the two temperatures.

There was still more bad news this week about coral in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.  Scientists have finished a survey of the entire reef and have found extensive bleaching in all three regions, with more than 99% in the north, 90% in the central, and 75% in the south.  Interestingly, scientists say that Queensland’s largest newspaper, the Courier Mail, is not adequately covering the coral bleaching event and consequently, they have taken out a full page ad in the paper to inform the public about what is happening.  Later in the week bleaching was also reported in western Australia.

In a paper published Monday, Canadian scientists report on the effect of declining sea ice on polar bear populations in the Beaufort Sea and Hudson Bay. The scientists worked with data from GPS collars that detailed the bears’ movements and compared them with satellite imagery detailing the extent of sea ice.  They found that only one-quarter of the bears had to swim more than 30 miles in 2004, whereas the number had risen to two-thirds by 2012.  Scientists at the meeting of the European Geophysical Union in Vienna have told Robert McSweeney of Carbon Brief that several signs suggest that the extent of Arctic sea ice could shrink to a new record low this summer.

A recent essay in Nature Energy argues that solar still has some hard economic obstacles to overcome before it can become a major energy source.  As adoption of solar expands, a significant problem will be “value deflation”, in which the electricity generated by solar panels gets less and less valuable as more panels come online.  Writing for Vox, Brad Plummer discusses this problem and explains how the solar industry might overcome it.  Joe Romm has an extensive article in Climate Progress debunking once again the idea that we need a miracle to get off of fossil fuels.  We can do it with existing technologies.

Apex Clean Energy has initiated the process for approval of their proposal to site 25 wind turbines atop North Mountain in Botetourt County.  Globally, though, China dominates the wind energy market with more capacity installed than anyone else.

In an earlier Weekly Roundup I provided a link to an article about Wrightspeed, a company that has been converting garbage trucks and other heavy vehicles to electric motors.  Now New Zealand’s biggest urban bus company has signed a contract with them to convert their fleet of over 1000 buses.

There were a couple of articles this week dealing with trees.  One reported on a new report from Woods Hole Research Center about the state of tropical forests, which are still being lost at significant rates.  Part of that article was devoted to the role of indigenous people in maintaining intact forests.  The other article deals with the threat of climate change to the coastal redwoods of the North American west coast.  These are such magnificent trees of such unimaginable age that it is particularly sad to think that we are still threatening their existence.

These news items have been compiled by Les Grady, member and former chair of the CAAV steering committee. He is a licensed professional engineer (retired) who taught environmental engineering at Purdue and Clemson Universities and engaged in private practice with CH2M Hill, the world’s largest environmental engineering consulting firm. Since his retirement in 2003 he has devoted much of his time to the study of climate science and the question of global warming and makes himself available to speak to groups about this subject. More here.