[GWSG] Oceanic H2S; heat feeds drought; soil feeds heat; European heatwave; energy justice in CA; renewable energy for churches

[Tilley, Al]

1. As our oceans lose oxygen, hydrogen sulfide concentrations are rising. Small amounts are lethal to fish. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180801115226.htm
Hydrogen sulfide poses an eventual threat to land species as well. https://news.psu.edu/story/211836/2005/02/21/global-warming-led-climatic-hydrogen-sulfide-and-permian-extinction
[https://news.psu.edu/profiles/psu_profile/themes/psu/images/article-default.png]<https://news.psu.edu/story/211836/2005/02/21/global-warming-led-climatic-hydrogen-sulfide-and-permian-extinction>

Global warming led to climatic hydrogen sulfide and ...<https://news.psu.edu/story/211836/2005/02/21/global-warming-led-climatic-hydrogen-sulfide-and-permian-extinction>
news.psu.edu
Volcanic eruptions in Siberia 251 million years ago may have started a cascade of events leading to high hydrogen sulfide levels in the oceans and atmosphere and precipitating the largest mass extinction in Earth's history, according to a Penn State geoscientist.


Hydrogen sulfide seems to have been involved in the Great Dying 252 million years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Extinction_intensity.svg/1200px-Extinction_intensity.svg.png]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event>

Permian–Triassic extinction event - Wikipedia<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event>
en.wikipedia.org
Until 2000, it was thought that rock sequences spanning the Permian–Triassic boundary were too few and contained too many gaps for scientists to reliably determine its details.



2. Growing drought, with the concurrent loss of soil moisture, is making US heatwaves hotter. https://phys.org/news/2018-08-climate-change-driven-droughts-hotter.html
[https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2018/79-climatechang.jpg]<https://phys.org/news/2018-08-climate-change-driven-droughts-hotter.html>

Climate change-driven droughts are getting hotter, study finds<https://phys.org/news/2018-08-climate-change-driven-droughts-hotter.html>
phys.org
Dry months are getting hotter in large parts of the United States, another sign that human-caused climate change is forcing people to encounter new extremes.


(Surely the same effect is occurring elsewhere.)

3. Increasing heat is leading to increasing carbon release from soil microbes, with the potential of setting up a positive feedback where increasing C release can lead to increasing heat, which leads to increasing C and so forth (up to the point that the temperature is so high as to hamper microbial growth). Thanks to Ed Brock for the article. https://www.livescience.com/63243-soil-respiration-hyperventilation.html

4. Southern Europe is expecting temperatures as high as 45C (113F). The dry heat is sparking forest fires in Portugal, melting highways in Holland, and shutting down French nuclear power plants. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/04/temperatures-in-southern-europe-top-45-heatwave-spain-portugal
Heatwave temperatures may top 45C in southern Europe<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/04/temperatures-in-southern-europe-top-45-heatwave-spain-portugal>
www.theguardian.com
Alerts issued in Portugal and Spain as Met Office forecasts 31C for southern England


Nearly 700 excess deaths were recorded in England and Wales in the heatwave of the last two months. A Parliamentary investigation finds that England is unprepared to cope with such heat. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/03/deaths-rose-650-above-average-during-uk-heatwave-with-older-people-most-at-risk
Deaths rose 650 above average during UK heatwave – with older people most at risk<https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/03/deaths-rose-650-above-average-during-uk-heatwave-with-older-people-most-at-risk>
www.theguardian.com
Exclusive: data shows spike in deaths coinciding with high temperatures, with older people with kidney or heart problems most vulnerable



5. California’s cap-and-trade greenhouse gas program, the fourth largest in the world, requires spending 35% of the proceeds on renewable energy and energy efficiency in 2,007 designated disadvantaged neighborhoods and low-income communities. The result is a model of energy justice. https://e360.yale.edu/features/green-upgrade-how-california-is-pioneering-renewable-energy-justice-cap-and-trade
[https://e360.yale.edu/assets/site/GridAlternatives_Oakland_CA_web.jpg]<https://e360.yale.edu/features/green-upgrade-how-california-is-pioneering-renewable-energy-justice-cap-and-trade>

Green Upgrade: How California Is Pioneering ‘Energy ...<https://e360.yale.edu/features/green-upgrade-how-california-is-pioneering-renewable-energy-justice-cap-and-trade>
e360.yale.edu
Diana Guzman, a 30-year-old widow, works in a peach packing plant in California’s Central Valley. She lives with her two children at Casas de la Viña, a nonprofit housing development for farmworkers in an agricultural region buffeted by poverty and some of the nation’s most polluted air. Not ...



6. Over 5,500 churches in the UK use renewable energy, either through their own installations or by using their purchase power morally. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/03/over-5500-churches-in-the-uk-embrace-renewable-energy.html
[https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2018/08/03/105374157-1533291397805gettyimages-476976201.1910x1000.jpeg]<https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/03/over-5500-churches-in-the-uk-embrace-renewable-energy.html>

Over 5,500 churches in the UK embrace renewable energy<https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/03/over-5500-churches-in-the-uk-embrace-renewable-energy.html>
www.cnbc.com
Fifteen Anglican cathedrals, including York Minster and Salisbury Cathedral, are among the religious sites using clean energy.


In NE Florida, I believe that the Jacksonville Zen Sangha became the first religious group to choose renewable energy when the resident master, Soryu-Kutsu Roshi, purchased a solar installation for their zendo. Perhaps locals know of others.

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