[GWSG] Rockefeller divestment; SEC on 2C effects; vulnerable tropics; community solar; breaking natural gas; mean microbes

[Tilley, Al]

1.  The Rockefeller Family Fund is divesting from holdings in fossil fuels, and has harsh words ("morally reprehensible") for Exxon (A Private Enterprise Council Member of ALEC, lest we forget, and the successor to Standard Oil, once led by John D. Rockefeller).  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/23/rockefeller-fund-divestment-fossil-fuel-companies-oil-coal-climate-change



2.  The SEC has ruled that Exxon and Chevron must allow a stockholder vote on the question of disclosing the financial effects of 2C of warming on the corporations.  http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/03/23/sec-says-exxon-chevron-must-conduct-climate-analysis/



3.  Tropical species may be especially vulnerable to climate change.  http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6280/1392?utm_campaign=email-sci-toc&et_rid=17155387&et_cid=364259  The researchers discuss their article in the FIU News.  http://news.fiu.edu/2016/03/thermal-trouble-in-the-tropics/98547



4.  The Rocky Mountain Institute foresees that community-scale solar could become the greatest growth area for solar power.  Through their Shine team RMI is active in helping groups of users plan projects.    http://blog.rmi.org/blog_2016_03_23_the_many_flavors_of_community_scale_solar  Utilities are sponsoring community-scale solar, often called solar gardens, and charging a premium to subscribers (though the price of solar continues to drop).  http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2016/03/will-utilities-price-community-solar-subscriptions-fairly.html?cmpid=renewable03252016&eid=291059574&bid=1349599



5.  Bill McKibben recaps the painful history of the US faith in natural gas as a climate change mitigator.  Thanks to leaked gas, the US may have actually increased greenhouse gas emissions in the Obama years as measured by short-term effects, which can drive such feedbacks as Arctic methane emissions from melting permafrost.  Even if the natural gas leakage were to be greatly reduced (and that does not look feasible), natural gas would be to climate change mitigation what low-fat cookies are to attempts to lose weight.  http://www.thenation.com/article/global-warming-terrifying-new-chemistry/



6.  Microbes appear to be increasing Greenland's destabilization by arranging themselves in surface melt puddles to attract a maximum of sunlight.  http://e360.yale.edu/digest/microbes_speeding_up_melting_of_glaciers/4684/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29?

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.unf.edu/pipermail/gwsg/attachments/20160325/01060366/attachment.html