[GWSG] Organic benefits; slower ice streams; steaming Arctic; spiking methane; natural gas shuck; sea level drops & fish tanks

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Organic farming returns carbon to the soil, produces more nutritious food, and is more drought-resistant than conventional farming.  It also provides more employment and makes a better return for the farmer.  http://climatecrocks.com/2016/02/17/organic-farming-as-a-climate-hedge/



2.  Outflow from the Laurentide ice sheet, which covered North America, appears to have diminished with time as the ice sheet disintegrated.  It may be that Greenland and the Antarctic will take a similar path.  It could be significant that the ice streams of our polar sheets terminate in the ocean, while the Laurentide sheets terminated on land.    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160217140422.htm



3.  Global warming is traditionally greater at the poles than the equator (and more in winter than summer, at night than during the day) but the 13F above average in the Arctic last month was extraordinary.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/18/scientists-are-floored-by-whats-happening-in-the-arctic-right-now/



4.  The US is a likely major source of a spike in methane emissions over the last decade.  Once again, direct measurements show that our methane emissions are far greater than those assumed by the government.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/17/us-likely-culprit-of-global-spike-in-methane-emissions-over-last-decade



5.  Some years ago I ceased listing articles on a set of prominent propositions until solid and informed news to the contrary appeared: grain ethanol is not a useful mitigation tool; nuclear energy is not a practical or desirable tool, at least in the short to medium term; hydrogen fuel cells for autos are not now a practical alternative; and methane leaks are so severe and endemic that natural gas is not a mitigation tool at all but a climate threat as severe as any other fossil fuel-just another bridge off the cliff.  Here's an article confirming that the last one remains true.  http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/02/17/3750240/methane-leaks-erase-climate-fracked-gas/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cptop3  I'm breaking my rule on natural gas because so many authorities continue to press for its use, not just among the US, Russia, and other major producers where the short-term profit motive is grossly apparent but in England and elsewhere in the EU.    http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/feb/16/europe-places-bets-on-natural-gas-to-secure-energy-future



6.  Harvard geologist Jerry Mitrovica explains why sea level goes down within 1200 miles of a melting ice sheet, and how Roman fish tanks tell us that since they were built sea level began to change significantly only in the previous century.  http://nautil.us/issue/33/attraction/why-our-intuition-about-sea_level-rise-is-wrong  ?

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