[GWSG] Figueres tape; adaptation biz; sour oil; Schrag int.; melt mech.; renewables competitive; seed stocks; Cancun concludes

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Christiana Figueres, director of the UN’s climate negotiations, spoke movingly and informally with the young members of the Adopt a Negotiator Trackers at Cancun.  11 minute video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzOwjFYXG4I

2.  Businesses—DuPont, GE, Swiss Re, and others—are gearing up for a climate change adaptation market they expect to reach $135 billion in the next twenty years.  http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20101205/BUSINESS/12050326&theme=DUPONT

3.  The increasingly sour (high sulphur) and viscous oil being processed in the US produced 39% more greenhouse gas emissions in 2008 per unit of fuel produced than it did in 1999.  http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/66955/title/Science_%2B_the_Public__Heavier_crudes%2C_heavier_footprints

4.  Harvard’s Daniel Schrag assesses our current situation in this NPR interview transcript.   Schrag is a presidential science advisor.  http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=10-P13-00049&segmentID=2

5.  An analysis of glacial melt in Nature Geoscience describes how glaciers get rid of some excess melt water without experiencing the accelerated movement associated with lubrication.  The acceleration of polar ice sheets has not kept pace with their rate of melt, and this accounts for it.  The good news is that the ice sheets are more stable than we had supposed, even if melting.  http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19842-greenlands-ice-has-secret-weapon-against-melting.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change

6.   Renewable energy is already cost competitive with that from fossil fuels.  The resistance to energy conversion stems ultimately from the blinding greed of fossil fuel interests (in my editorial opinion).  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/12/the-true-cost-of-renewable-energy?cmpid=WNL-Friday-December10-2010

7.  The Global Crop Diversity Trust, sponsored by Norway, has begun a ten year program to locate the wild ancestors of modern food crops to supply genetic resilience to climate change.  UK’s Royal Botanic Gardens estimates that one fifth of the world’s plants face extinction. http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-agriculture-climate-global-endangered-crop.html

8.    The Cancun conference has ended with a resolution to proceed with carbon cuts and the establishment of a fund which will support developing nations as they build renewable energy sources and deal with climate impacts.  The fund expects to supply $100 billion by 2020.  The Green Climate Fund will initially operate out of the World Bank.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11975470  Bloomberg supplies further details.  The REDD program to promote forestation passed, without the provisions for carbon offsets.  Patricia Espinoza, the Mexican foreign secretary who led the talks, received an ovation for her efforts.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-11/un-talks-endorse-100-billion-climate-aid-fund-forest-protection-program.html  India’s Environment Minister went so far as to call Ms Espinoza “a goddess.”  http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jP9QgjCkfFrD4I2W71OWY5205dpA?docId=CNG.ecb08b635dba01f401a546b6a30a0dc6.4f1