[GWSG] Permaculture; food problems; flight; Fort Lauderdale; coastal design; coal to go; Greenland's albedo; campaign cash

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Alexander Ojeda recommends a series of stories and documentaries about large-scale permaculture:  "Have you heard of the desert greening projects like the Chinese Loess plateau in the documentary "Green Gold" and Geoff Lawton's "Greening the Desert" on YouTube?   There's a Ted talk by Willie Smits that regreens a section of Borneo and realizes a temp lowering of 5-7C and an average rainfall increase of 20-30% only in his area.  Then there's Tony Rinaudo of FMNR who is regreening a huge area in the South Sahel Province.  Now there's a plan to regreen a strip across Africa that's 900 miles long.  Permaculture is taking action!"  (FMNR is Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration.)  Here's the Wikipedia article on permaculture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture  Goeff Lawton's 37-minute video Greening the Desert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1rKDXuZ8C0    Willie Smits' TED talk is How to restore a Rainforest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXWikNXiG2Q   (See the linked critique by one of Smits students, and Smits' reply.)  I've already recommended Dan Barber's The Third Table: Field Notes on the Future of Food (2015) regarding permaculture and our food supply, and do so again.  Permaculture surely has a role to play in our project of establishing a sustainable home on earth.



2.  A study published in Lancet estimates half a million additional deaths a year by midcentury from reduced food availability with 2C of warming. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/03/02/food-scarcity-caused-by-climate-change-could-cause-500000-deaths-by-2050-study-suggests/   The study does not imagine changes in farming practices.  Industrial agriculture can benefit from intensive data.  So, perhaps, can projects using permaculture.  http://e360.yale.edu/feature/can_data-driven_agriculture_help_feed_a_hungry_world/2969/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29



3.  Emissions controls must apply to flight, as to all sources of greenhouse gasses.  Electric planes and lighter than air ships, among a throng of efficiency strategies such as insect-shedding paint and regenerative air brakes, promise a future for aircraft.  http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/mar/03/aviation-technology-emissions-electric-solar-x-planes-anti-insect



4.  Fort Lauderdale is installing sea valves on its drains and has educated 1,700 city workers on climate and its impact on the city.  Parts are flooding more and more regularly.  The city is in the midst of a building boom at odds with its future.  (The last half of the story has a firmer grip on the sea level rise situation.)  http://insideclimatenews.org/news/01032016/ft-lauderdale-climate-change-global-warming-rising-sea-level



5.  Landscape architect Kristina Hill describes ways some regions could accommodate rising seas in hybrid cities with houses on stilts in areas planned to flood, buffered by new beaches and wetlands facing the sea.  http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2968



6.  Oregon became the first state to phase out coal, and is setting a goal of at least 50% renewable generation by major utilities by 2040.  Since much of the power is already hydroelectric, the state's electricity should be 70-90% carbon free by that date.  The Clean Energy and Coal Transition Act had bipartisan support, and the support of the two largest utilities.  http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/03/oregon-bill-renewable-energy/



7.  Greenland's albedo is decreasing.  Soot from fires has been blamed, but the greatest cause is an increase in ice crystal size in a positive feedback loop with surface melt.  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160303145741.htm



8.  Fossil fuel interests pumped over $100 million into the US presidential race last year. Ted Cruz had 57% of his budget from these sources and Hilary Clinton 7%.  http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/03/oil-and-gas-industry-has-pumped-millions-into-republican-campaigns  ?

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