[GWSG] "Years" again; privileged contrarians; Tutu's call; WB, IMF, & UN's call; Chinese plans; WGIII report

[Tilley, Al]

1.  “Years of Living Dangerously” now on Showtime Sunday nights at 10 is the most ambitious mass media project yet on climate.  The Guardian provides details on the nine part series.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/apr/09/years-of-living-dangerously-global-warming-blockbuster  You can tell that the series is anticipated to have an effect on public knowledge about climate by the squealing from the The Breakthrough Institute (among other foes of action to control greenhouse gas emissions).
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/09/3424593/showtime-years-dangerously-response/

2.  When NBC ran a special on climate last week they gave the final ten minutes or so to Roger Pielke, Jr., of The Breakthrough Institute (see the last item).  Contrarians get inordinate attention from the media, generally, even when their work has been resoundingly discredited.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/apr/11/climate-change-research-quality-imbalance

3.  Desmond Tutu is calling for an apartheid-style boycott and disinvestment campaign aimed at exerting moral and financial pressure on fossil fuel companies.  “We can, for instance, boycott events, sports teams and media programming sponsored by fossil-fuel energy companies.”  Thanks to Brian Paradise for the story.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/10/desmond-tutu-anti-apartheid-style-boycott-fossil-fuel-industry

4.  Leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund joined the UN Secretary General to ask the finance managers of 46 countries to use financial tools such as carbon taxes to counter global climate change.  http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/04/11/climatechange-money-idINDEEA3A0DG20140411

5.  Current Chinese plans for energy efficiency and renewable energy development could mean that its greenhouse gas emissions will peak before 2020.  Coal emissions are already tapering off.    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-11/china-cuts-in-coal-use-may-mean-world-emissions-peak-before-2020.html

6.  The IPCC Working Group III on mitigation has released its report, calling for conversion to renewable energy sources sufficient to lower emissions by 40-70% on a 2010 base by midcentury and emissions levels near zero by 2100 in order to keep warming below 2° C (page 15 of the report Summary).  The report projects that the conversion will be affordable and in any case is necessary.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/apr/13/averting-climate-change-catastrophe-is-affordable-says-ipcc-report-un   Further details, and a link to the report and its 33 page summary from the Washington Post:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/world-must-turn-from-fossil-fuels-to-cleaner-energy-to-avoid-climate-disaster-panel-says/2014/04/13/21bd2144-c273-11e3-b574-f8748871856a_story.html   US Secretary of State John Kerry called the report “a wake-up call for entrepreneurs.”  http://www.brecorder.com/top-news/1-front-top-news/167393-un-climate-report-a-wakeup-for-entrepreneurs-kerry.html   Further reactions from Kerry and from many other notable people:  http://www.rtcc.org/2014/04/13/ipcc-wg3-reaction-as-un-launches-third-climate-report/
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