[GWSG] Japanese carbon tax; Hestia; cc & bad weather; Ant. record ice; fed solar policy; FL letter to candidates

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Japan is levying a new tax on major carbon emitters.  The proceeds will go to developing green initiatives.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/10/us-energy-japan-tax-idUSBRE8990G520121010?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29  Strictly speaking, Japan seems to have introduced an emissions tax.  “Carbon tax” should be used to refer to a tax levied on carbon fuels.  Wikipedia explains, and gives a rundown on carbon tax adoptions (a bit out of date).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_tax

2.  Arizona State’s Hestia system maps carbon emissions down to the level of individual buildings.  It uses models and databases rather than direct measurement.  Many cities (my home town of Jacksonville, FL, among them) have resisted developing carbon emission footprints.  Hestia may help bring them out of the closet.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19875516

3.  NOAA calculates that increased Arctic heating could result in increased extreme weather—such as storms, heat waves, and floods—in the US and Europe.    http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20121010_arcticwinds.html  A second study at Duke focuses on the summer pattern of increasing drought in some areas and heavy rainfall in others.  http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/news/weather-making-high-pressure-systems-predicted-to-intensify  Thanks to Climate Progress for bringing these studies to my attention.  Joe Romm adds that Munich Re is releasing a study saying that the US is more at immediate risk than other regions for extreme weather.  http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2012/10/10/weather-disasters-climate-change-munich-re-report/1622845/  A large majority of Americans agree that climate change is behind recent extreme weather, according to a new Yale poll.  http://environment.yale.edu/climate/publications/extreme-weather-public-opinion-September-2012/

4.  Antarctic sea ice is at a record high.  (That’s not going to spur revisions of global warming theory, though.)  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/10/121013-antarctica-sea-ice-record-high-science-global-warming/

5.  The US has set aside 280,000 acres for solar development in 6 states.  Projects in the 17 new areas need not seek approval on a case by case basis.  http://ecowatch.org/2012/roadmap-solar-energy/
 In 2009 congress set a goal for 2015 of 10,000 megawatts of renewable energy from federal land.  We just achieved the goal in projects approved, and the new program of solar development promises much more to come.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49393980/ns/us_news-environment/

6.  More than 120 Florida scientists and county officials have jointly requested that President Obama and Governor Romney address sea level rise in their third debate, scheduled to be held in Florida.   http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/Florida-Experts-Letter-to-Presidential-Candidates-to-Address-Sea-Level-Rise.pdf  The included map portrays a sea level rise of a foot by 2060.  That is excessively conservative.  The Miami-Dade Climate Change Task Force in 2007 estimated at least 1.5 feet of rise by 2050, and more recent estimates tend to be larger and quicker.  The letter uses the Corps of Engineers’ figure.  At least no one can argue that it is inflated.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.unf.edu/pipermail/gwsg/attachments/20121014/b339616e/attachment.html