[GWSG] Wild crash; Greenland unstable; adapting to slr; dear oysters; 2 or not 2?; Japanese net-zero; drought forecast

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Wild animal populations have dropped 50% in the last 40 years, according to a report from the World Wildlife Federation and the Zoological Society of London, with populations of freshwater species declining 76%.  http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2014/09/30/worlds-wildlife-declined-by-50-in-40-years/

2.  A Cambridge U study finds the Greenland ice sheet much less stable than we had thought.  It is sensitive to meteorological events such as rainfall and heat waves.  Previous modelling assumed a hard rock base; the new model uses a more accurate soft footing.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140929090553.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28Latest+Science+News+--+ScienceDaily%29

3.  Adaptational architecture includes lots of houses which float or rise on stilts and an artificially stabilized sand dune.  http://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2014/oct/01/sink-or-swim-designing-climate-change-pictures

4.  Oysters can be grown in labs if the oceans become too acidic, but it is going to cost us.  http://grist.org/food/oyster-prices-could-skyrocket-if-we-dont-change-our-shellfish-ways/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily%2520Oct%25201&utm_campaign=daily

5.  An article in Nature argues that the 2° target adopted at the Copenhagen conference is so difficult to achieve and so scientifically crude that it should be scrapped for a general index comprised of a number of factors—oceanic and polar heating, among others—and a regional variety of indices.  Some have responded that to drop the 2° commitment now would weaken momentum toward emissions reductions.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/01/2c-climate-change-target-global-warming-nature-paper

6.  Japan has affirmed a target of constructing all public buildings to be zero-energy by 2020 and all private buildings by 2030, using organic photovoltaics as side panels among other innovations.  http://cleantechnica.com/2014/10/01/japan-focuses-zero-energy-buildings/?utm_source=Cleantechnica+News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=80917bb4b6-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_term=0_b9b83ee7eb-80917bb4b6-331994013

7.  Drought projections under business as usual conditions for the last quarter of the century are dire.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/02/3572205/warming-dust-bowlify/?elq=~~eloqua..type--emailfield..syntax--recipientid~~&elqCampaignId=~~eloqua..type--campaign..campaignid--0..fieldname--id~~
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