[GWSG] Submerged solar; endangered O; saving topsoil; President on Paris talks etc.; propaganda initiatives; Kerry on climate

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Small isolated coastal communities often use diesel generators as primary power sources.  Australia's Carnegie Energy package combines wave energy, solar cells, and battery storage to supply energy to the community's micro-grid, and desalination to provide fresh water.  The system has a small on-shore footprint.  http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/dec/01/new-generation-wave-energy-could-it-provide-one-third-of-australias-electricity



2.  6C of warming could disrupt photosynthesis in phytoplankton so that their oxygen production would cease.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151201094120.htm



3.  The world has lost a third of its arable land in the past forty years to poor agricultural practices (among them, deep plowing and fertilizing) and the resulting erosion.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/02/arable-land-soil-food-security-shortage  The French agriculture minister is initiating an international research program to increase the storage of carbon in soils as a way to keep it out of the atmosphere.   http://theconversation.com/eyes-down-how-setting-our-sights-on-soil-could-help-save-the-climate-51514?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+December+2+2015+-+3918&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+December+2+2015+-+3918+CID_d5cd412fd45e677809da6986d34465bb&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=Eyes%20down%20how%20setting%20our%20sights%20on%20soil%20could%20help%20save%20the%20climate  No-till agriculture and the judicious rotation of cover crops are features of an international movement to preserve the topsoil we have and to move to restore lost fertility while sequestering carbon.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/29/3652020/global-soil-week-forum-recap/



4.  At 15.25 minutes of President Obama's 47 minute news conference at the end of his Paris trip he discusses what would constitute success at the talks: established targets with mandatory monitoring and a process through which the targets would be revisited.  http://climatecrocks.com/2015/12/02/obama-press-conference-paris-dec-1/  Article after article in the US press misses this point, and reports as news that the current international targets are inadequate to the problem.  If we could have negotiated a final solution to climate, we surely would have; we are in the process of leading an orchestration of global efforts adequate to attain to a solution.



5.  Particularly misleading pieces on climate have appeared in the Wall Street Journal (uh huh) and Scientific American (what?), both by Brit Matt Ridley.  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-will-not-be-dangerous-for-a-long-time/  Peter Sinclair and Greg Laden have replied to the pieces. http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2015/11/30/matt-ridley-and-benny-peisers-misleading-guide-to-the-climate-debate/    Bjorn Lomborg seems to be a source of much of the nonsense.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/11/09/3720613/lomborg-misleads-paris-climate-pledges/  Twelve years ago when I began this list I resolved that ordinarily I would not deal with propaganda.  I am pained by disinformation and defeatist distortion at such a crucial time but remain resolved to ignore it-ordinarily, though not extraordinarily-after this excursus.



5.  Few people have done so much to organize climate action as John Kerry.  In a Rolling Stone interview he reflects on the Paris talks and their promise.  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/john-kerry-on-climate-change-the-fight-of-our-time-20151201  ?

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