[GWSG] Army invests; March heat wave; more bad weather; Greenland albedo; hotter forecast; GOP denial; NC denial; MOMA suburbs

[Tilley, Al]

1.  In a move to develop a 25% renewable energy base, the US Army is investing $7 billion in renewable energy.  More will follow from the Army and the other services.  http://www.defpro.com/news/details/33668/?SID=6729a271351d4cebbff45322c3a36d94

2.  Princeton’s Michael Oppenheimer: the unprecedented US heat wave of the past month is “just the beginning of our experience with the new atmosphere.”  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/23/climate-heat-usa-idUSL2E8EN1K820120323

3.  Extreme weather events have increased over the last decade and were very likely connected to global warming, particularly extreme rainfall and heat waves.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/mar/26/extreme-weather-climate-change

4.  The Greenland ice sheet is reflecting 20% less sunlight than it did about 10 years ago.  That is enough change to double the melt rate of those parts which are melting.  http://www.climatewatch.noaa.gov/article/2011/greenland-ice-sheet-getting-darker-2

5.  A new study in Nature Geoscience raises the anticipated global temperature increase at midcentury to a fresh high in the range of 1.4-3° C on a 1960-90 base.  http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2012/03/climate-change-global-warming-temperature-rise-model-predict/1   Such a rise could be sufficient to commit us to runaway warming.  http://www.metro.co.uk/news/894217-rising-temperatures-spark-irreversible-climate-change-fears-for-earth  Julian Hunt, who was not on the study, criticized it but told the BBC that the higher range was increasingly likely due to new methane releases, decreasing reflectivity in some areas (see the previous item), and pollution controls in Asia.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17488450

6.  Sen. John Kerry, speaking of the “flat-earth caucus” in the Republican Party, believes “we have lost the notion of responsible capitalism.”  He names fossil fuel company political influence as the primary cause.   http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2012/03/kerry-vents-on-climate

7.   In North Carolina a coalition of 20 coastal counties has succeeded in limiting climate change adaptation plans to a relatively trivial sea level rise.  http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/03/25/3124297/damaging-sea-level-rise-is-on.html

 8.  The Museum of Modern Art is running an exhibition on reforming suburban communities to be more sustainable.  Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream consists of 5 demonstration redesigns for existing suburbs.  Thanks to Bill Slaughter for the item.  http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/foreclosed/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.unf.edu/pipermail/gwsg/attachments/20120326/ff06610b/attachment.html