[GWSG] C bubble; superbattery; C & co.; (Bait &) Switch; 450k context; draft US assessment; slr planning in FL

[Tilley, Al]

1.  In “Why Can’t We Quit Fossil Fuels?,” based on his new book, Duncan Clark provides a salutary overview of the situation, one in which we are spending the equivalent of $100 for every person on the planet to discover new sources of fossil fuels.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/17/why-cant-we-give-up-fossil-fuels  According to an analysis sponsored by the UN, none of the world’s largest industries would be profitable if the environmental costs were included on their balance sheets.  The coal industry is the greatest villain.  http://grist.org/business-technology/none-of-the-worlds-top-industries-would-be-profitable-if-they-paid-for-the-natural-capital-they-use/?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed  We shall be able to burn only about a third of the fossil fuel reserves if we wish to preserve a livable planet.  The two thirds remaining on the corporate balance sheets constitutes a carbon bubble which threatens to destabilize world economies.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/19/carbon-bubble-financial-crash-crisis
The endangered funds include those pensions on which many of us live (unless the funds divest before the train goes over the cliff).  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/apr/19/pension-6-trillion-climate-gamble

2.  A team at the U of IL has developed a battery ten times more powerful per unit of volume than current batteries.  They believe it to be scalable for automotive use but it is not yet market ready.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22191650

3.  Cutting CO2 is crucial to avoiding the worst of climate disruption, but cutting short-lived pollutants can be even more significant to minimizing sea level rise in the short run.  http://www.climatecentral.org/news/interactive-short-lived-pollutants-and-sea-level-rise-15864

4.  A RealClimate review of the film Switch, purportedly about the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, suggests that it is barely covert fossil fuel propaganda and that its true title is Bait and Switch.  http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2013/04/movie-review-switch/   (I usually aspire to ignore propaganda, but this film has been accepted at face value by, among others, the Washington Post and is backed by the Geological Society of America.  The review is authoritative and informative on its own.)

5.    Stanford’s Jonathan Koomey reprises some of his conclusions in his Cold Cash, Cool Climate in a look at where we are in the context of the last 450,000 years.   http://www.koomey.com/post/47711670357

6.  The draft of the current Federal Advisory Climate Assessment Report has been released.  It includes summary articles on US regions as well as a range of general topics.  http://ncadac.globalchange.gov/

7.  The Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council is launching an effort to promote planning for sea level rise. http://tbo.com/pinellas-county/pinellas-beginning-to-assess-risks-of-sea-level-rise-b82479940z1  Locally, the Northeast Florida Regional Council has asked its Regional Community Institute to prepare a sea level rise preparedness program.  The RCI is currently conducting conversations with local governments on risks they perceive from sea level rise, using projections from the Army Corps of Engineers.  The Institute will submit recommendations to the Council this fall.
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