[GWSG] Agulhas current; Eemian heat; McCar; China vs. US; 50 gigs; nuclear costs; Monbiot's problem; Hansen paper; IPCC rept; NRC rept.; Arctic conf.

[Tilley, Al]

1.  The Agulhas Current, stimulated by global warming, may act to stabilize the Gulf Stream, which is generally weakened by global warming.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110427131809.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

2.  130,000-115,000 years ago temperatures were 5° C hotter than the present, about what we expect this century, and sea levels were 7-8 meters higher.  A recent study implies that only about 2 meters of that came from Greenland, with the West Antarctic supplying more raise than had been thought.  (The finding is in dispute.)  http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2011/04/greenland_reveals_its_warm_sec.html

3.  The Chinese electric McCar comes with an electric tricycle in the trunk which charges as you drive.   http://www.fastcompany.com/1749238/scooter-in-a-car-the-ultimate-hybrid-eco-vehicle

4.   A US study indicates that China’s carbon emissions should peak within the next 20 years due to market saturation and emissions policies.  http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL3E7FT01Y20110429  China’s support of green technologies is growing 77% a year. The US is 17th in terms of the percentage of GDP going to clean power.    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/business/energy-environment/09clean.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y   US patents for clean energy technology climbed 170% from 2009-2010.  http://cepgi.typepad.com/files/cepgi-4th-quarter-2010-1.pdf

5.  China has set a target of 50 gigawatts of solar power by 2020.  http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110506/sc_afp/chinaenergysolartarget

6.  Tokyo Electric Power may be asked to pay half of the estimated $49 billion in damages from the Fukushima nuclear accident, and the rest will be on other power firms.  Estimates of the cost of nuclear power should not ignore such liabilities, even when, as in the US, the liability is passed on directly to the public, for the most part.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/03/us-tepco-liabilities-idUSTRE7421AO20110503?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

7.  George Monbiot poses a problem we have yet to solve.  How do we intervene effectively in the current planet-wrecking project?  (We need to invent sustainable communities which do not depend on growth but do support a level of manufacturing and commerce, and education, and creative fulfillment, and continuity, and health, and intellectual achievement, desirable for a satisfying life.  Why not.)  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/02/environmental-fixes-all-greens-lost

8.  “The Case for Young People and Nature: A Path to a Healthy, Natural, Prosperous Future” by James Hansen and colleagues summarizes the causes and effects of climate change, and its likely cures, with special focus on what we are preparing for the coming generations.   http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110505_CaseForYoungPeople.pdf

9.  Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced that the country will develop a new energy policy emphasizing renewable sources.  The country had planned to increase nuclear production from 30% to 50% of the country’s supply.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/10/japan-nuclear-renewables

10.  As widely reported, the IPCC has released a 900 page report on renewable energy which says that we could be 77% renewable by 2050.  As is not widely reported, it says we could be 100% renewable by then, technologically; the lower figure is a political judgment.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/12/idUS215930907320110512

11.  A panel assembled by the National Research Council at the request of Congress has recommended immediate action to mitigate global warming.  UN climate chief Christiana Figueres called the US refusal to act on climate change a “very serious handbrake” and cautioned that the world would not be able to live with the US holdout for long.  The US is the only industrialized country to refuse to agree to act.  http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/05/12/panel_says_us_must_act_now_to_curb_global_warming/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Latest+news

12.  An Arctic Council conference of 400 scientists from 20 countries in Copenhagen produced the judgment that dramatic, nonlinear changes are in process in the Arctic, leading to “water level problems on a global scale that we will all feel the effects of.”   http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/05/11/Arctic-climate-change-to-be-dramatic/UPI-56801305160741/

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