[GWSG] SunShot; Marrakech mood; Fiji appeals to US; hot Arctic; Antarctic shifts; 5 feet by 2050

[Tilley, Al]

1.  In 2011 the US Department of Energy's SunShot program set the goal of reducing the unsubsidized cost of utility scale solar energy from $.27/kilowatt-hour to $.06 by 2020.  It is now $.07.  The program has set a new goal for 2030 of utility sun power at $.03/kWh, commercial at $.04/kWh, and residential at $.05/kWh.  http://energy.gov/eere/articles/energy-department-announces-more-90-achievement-2020-sunshot-goal-sets-sights-2030?utm_source=EERE+Weekly+Digest+of+Clean+Energy+News&utm_campaign=1c7636e2a7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_96dffafa2f-1c7636e2a7-34498985



2.  Scientists Jason Box and Cara Augustenborg report from Marrakech that the general mood of the conference was quite positive.  For example, Denmark is going to carbon neutrality by 2050, India is ending its fossil fuel subsidies, and China is enthusiastic about taking the climate action lead from the US.  https://climatecrocks.com/2016/11/17/new-video-report-from-cop22/



3.  The incoming head of the UN global climate talks, Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, appealed directly to Donald Trump to reverse his position on climate change.  "We in the Pacific, in common with the whole world, look to America for the leadership and engagement and assistance on climate change just as we looked to America in the dark days of World War Two.  I say to the American people, you came to save us then, and it is time for you to help save us now."  http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38034171



4.  The Arctic is 36F warmer than normal with record low sea ice for the season, due in part to rising ocean temperatures.  http://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/the-north-pole-is-an-insane-36-degrees-warmer-than-normal-as-winter-descends/ar-AAkqrVS?ocid=spartandhp



5.  A paper in Science calculates that for every metric ton of CO2 emitted we lose three square meters of Arctic sea ice.  https://climatecrocks.com/2016/11/18/could-arctic-sea-ice-be-simple/





6.  The Southern Ocean has been absorbing about 10% of the earth's added heat, placing a brake on atmospheric heating.  It may not continue to do so.  Additionally, last January oceanographers found that warm currents were threatening to destabilize Totten Glacier in the East Antarctic, with potentially vast consequences.  In another finding, recently (and perhaps temporarily) the Southern Ocean has begun to release some of the 15% of additional CO2 it had been absorbing.    http://www.nature.com/news/how-much-longer-can-antarctica-s-hostile-ocean-delay-global-warming-1.20978



7.  The US Climate Envoy Jonathan Pershing told the Marrakech conference that because regions of the West Antarctic are seriously destabilizing we could see five feet of sea level rise by 2050.  That is enough to render many islands and coastal regions uninhabitable.   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daphne-wysham/us-climate-envoy-jonathan_b_13070296.html  We shall see if the magic flute is sufficient to smooth the way to the drastic program of action adequate to our situation.  We no longer have the leisure to entertain the bullshit now coming from the incoming administration.  I will collect comments and plans on our new situation and pass them on as I get them.?

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