[GWSG] Biomass renewable?; Greenland melting; AMOC slowing; Thwaites unstable; reactionaries agitated

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Nearly half of Europe's (supposedly) renewable energy comes from burning biomass-mostly,  wood.  James Hansen has called on environmentalists not to ignore the benefits of biomass as a fuel, because if the biomass is replaced by new growth its use can be carbon neutral.  Stephen Mulkey shows why that it is not necessarily, or commonly, so.  The Obama administration has been wise in refusing to recognize biomass as a renewable energy source.  Holding to that position is crucial to achieving the goals of the Paris agreement.    https://environmentalcentury.net/2016/10/17/switching-from-whiskey-to-beer-and-the-false-promise-of-woody-biomass/



2.   "Just in the past four years, more than a trillion tons of ice have been lost. This is four hundred million Olympic swimming pools' worth of water, or enough to fill a single pool the size of New York State to a depth of twenty-three feet."  Elizabeth Kolbert's New Yorker essay "Greenland is Melting" is a brief history and tour of Greenland and describes the growing prospect that the great island will become a source of major sea level rise in the near future.  http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/24/greenland-is-melting?mbid=nl_TNY%20Template%20-%20With%20Photo%20(107)&CNDID=18164692&spMailingID=9721284&spUserID=MTMzMTc5Njc3ODE1S0&spJobID=1021521680&spReportId=MTAyMTUyMTY4MAS2



3.  In the 26-minute video "Is the Gulf Steam Slowing?" Stefan Rahmstorf addresses a professional audience on the state of our knowledge about the AMOC, an Atlantic portion of the global thermohaline conveyor belt which includes the Gulf Stream.  While we understand that we are heading toward a tipping point at which the AMOC will shut down, with severe consequences, we are unable to say when that will happen because the progression toward it is nonlinear.  https://climatecrocks.com/2016/10/22/the-weekend-wonk-stefan-rahmstorf-on-the-gulf-stream-and-the-cold-blob/



4.  Thwaites Glacier of the West Antarctic is the single most threatening source of sea level rise.  It is being proposed for a major international research effort.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/10/20/u-s-and-u-k-announce-major-research-mission-to-enormous-melting-antarctic-glacier/?utm_term=.e23d29675d95



5.  Reactionary fury directed at climate science and scientists seems to grow in proportion to our awareness of the traumas we face.  The attention accorded Alex Jones, The Drudge Report, and Breitbart is flowering in the Trumpocene.   https://www.theguardian.com/environment/planet-oz/2016/oct/21/we-are-approaching-the-trumpocene-a-new-epoch-where-climate-change-is-just-a-big-scary-conspiracy  ?

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