[GWSG] Plankton dying; solar to China; NW cryptococcal; NOAA report; regrets; Norway disappoints; CPUC on storage; soot

[Tilley, Al]

1.  A study reported in Nature shows that phytoplankton at the base of the oceans’ food chain are disappearing at a rate of just under 1% a year—a 40% decline since 1950—and climate change seems to be the reason.  That not only means less food for higher organisms, it means that less carbon will be sequestered in the oceans.  http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/07/critical-ocean-organisms-are-dis.html?etoc

2.  Ten years ago we provided about half the world’s solar cells; now it is 5%.  IBM has just moved some of its clean power research operation to China because the government is friendlier to the project there.  Thanks to Samuel Klein for the story.  http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39881/

3.  Cryptococcal disease may have taken climate change as an opportunity to gain a toehold in the Pacific Northwest.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/07/360-organizations-release-statement-senate-inaction-on-energy-bill?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-July28-2010

4.  NOAA has released a report that the world is warming by 10 key indicators.  This is a detailed and useful annual report on the earth’s climate, not a summary.  It does not address the sources of the heat nor recommend policies.  Heat content of the oceans is discussed beginning on page 559; 93% of the additional heat has gone into them.  http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/bams-state-of-the-climate/2009.php  A 10-page Highlights of 2009: The State of the Planet:  http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/cmb/bams-sotc/2009/bams-sotc-2009-brochure-hi-rez.pdf

5.  Over 360 organizations have signed a declaration of regret that the Senate has not acted to mitigate climate change.    http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/07/360-organizations-release-statement-senate-inaction-on-energy-bill?cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-July28-2010  I don’t know who first proposed that climate change faces us with three choices: mitigation, adaptation, and suffering.  In our greed and ignorance, we have chosen to suffer.  It might so easily have been otherwise.  We may yet awaken and act to avoid annihilation, but this lost time will haunt us through the years.

6.   James Hansen found Norwegian leaders no more ready for the necessary energy transition than he has found others.   http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2010/20100730_Norway.pdf

7.  The California Public Utilities Commission has published a white paper, amounting to a sturdy program proposal, on the technology of storing energy with reference to renewable sources.  Second item, Electric Energy Storage:   http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/energy/reports.htm

8.  Controlling soot emissions can immediately moderate warming, buying us time for an energy transition.  http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/07/soot-control/