[GWSG] SLR road shows; slr in Wilmington; Airdrop; new green bldg. code; affordable wind; EAIS mountains

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Pacific islanders are touring the US with their show “The Water is Rising” to inspire action on climate change.  It is an opportunity for a follow-up tour by people from Florida’s beach communities.  http://bostonglobe.com/arts/2011/11/13/artists-water-rising-sing-and-dance-against-climate-change/nbNdp8JvSlGUpwza2u9VzO/story.html  Japan, with 30 million people living within 10 meters of sea level, could do a joint production.  Last year environmental and weather-related pressures displaced 30 million people in Asia; tens of millions more are at risk in the near future.  A report in Science advises us that we are disastrously underprepared for the migrations attendant on climate change.     http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fe20111113rh.html

2.  The Wilmington Area Planning Council has released its Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment.  The report focuses especially on how transportation will be compromised and calls for public education on climate change.  They use the IPCC 2007 report, which ignores contributions from the polar ice sheets, so their high estimates on page 5 match the minimum estimate of the Miami-Dade Climate Change Task Force, at least 1.5 feet by midcentury and at least 3-5 feet by the end, but the report can quickly be adjusted to a more responsibly collapsed time scale.  Lowball projections will help protect the report from dismissal through propaganda.  In the report another coastal community begins to face its future.   http://www.wilmapco.org/SLR/files/WILMAPCO_SLR_SD.pdf

3.  A new low-tech device condenses water for irrigation even in dry conditions by passing air through an underground coil.  Powered by solar or wind power, the Airdrop stores the water and pumps it to the roots of plants in an underground irrigation system.  The inventor of the prize-winning device put it together in his mother’s back yard.  http://e360.yale.edu/digest/irrigation_device_pulls_water_from_the_air_in_driest_conditions/3206/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

4.  The US has a new green building code for commercial buildings and residences over three stories high.  http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/23142

5.  The cost of wind has fallen 14% with every doubling of capacity.  An analysis shows that the average cost of onshore wind power will equal that of natural gas by 2016.  Thanks to Brian Paradise for the story.  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/11/wind-electricity-to-be-fully-competitive-with-natural-gas-by-2016-says-bloomberg-new-energy-finance??cmpid=WNL-Wednesday-November16-2011

6.  The East Antarctic Ice Sheet conceals a mountain range as large as the Alps.  An article in Nature proposes how it was formed 250 million years ago, and provides fresh promise for the relative stability of the ice sheet.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/16/us-climate-gamburtsev-idUSTRE7AF20O20111116?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29  More detail, and dandy graphic representations: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15749757
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