[GWSG] C removal; kelp permaculture; industrial C; finding hope; World Bank loans; cheaper power; uneven SLR; CC in politics

Tue Dec 4 08:56:28 EST 2018

1. To stabilize the climate at an acceptable level we are going to need to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Columbia’s Earth Institute discusses our options. https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/11/27/carbon-dioxide-removal-climate-change/
[https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/DAC_CarbonEngineeringLTd.jpg]<https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/11/27/carbon-dioxide-removal-climate-change/>

Can Removing Carbon From the Atmosphere Save Us from Climate Catastrophe? - blogs.ei.columbia.edu<https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/11/27/carbon-dioxide-removal-climate-change/>
blogs.ei.columbia.edu
The IPCC, which considers soil carbon sequestration to have the ability to reduce CO2 at the lowest cost—$0 to $100 per ton—estimates that soil carbon sequestration could remove between 2 and 5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide a year by 2050.

2. One major option for carbon removal not discussed in the Earth Institute article is kelp permaculture. It has low cost and high carbon removal potential. Perhaps because it is unlikely to make anyone any money, it is often ignored. https://ghginstitute.org/2018/09/06/kelp-and-carbon-sequestration-exporting-terrestrial-ghg-accounting-to-the-deep-sea/
[https://ghginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/shane-stagner-506929-unsplash-11.jpg]<https://ghginstitute.org/2018/09/06/kelp-and-carbon-sequestration-exporting-terrestrial-ghg-accounting-to-the-deep-sea/>

Kelp and carbon sequestration: exporting terrestrial GHG accounting to the deep sea - GHG and Carbon Accounting, Auditing, Management & Training | Greenhouse Gas Management Institute<https://ghginstitute.org/2018/09/06/kelp-and-carbon-sequestration-exporting-terrestrial-ghg-accounting-to-the-deep-sea/>
ghginstitute.org
Recent breakthroughs have elevated algae as a promising biological solution to environmental challenges. Particular species of algae can provide low-impact, non-fossil substitutes for liquid fuel and plastics and can decrease enteric fermentation emissions from cattle.Now, a recent Nature Geoscience paper quantifies the role of kelp and other macroalgae in the global carbon cycle.

Marine permaculture would grow kelp on frames beneath the surface of the deep ocean. When the kelp dies it would carry the carbon it has fixed to the ocean floor, where much of it would remain for centuries. https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/coming-attractions/marine-permaculture
[https://www.drawdown.org/sites/default/files/solutions/solution_marinepermaculture01.jpg]<https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/coming-attractions/marine-permaculture>

Marine Permaculture | Drawdown<https://www.drawdown.org/solutions/coming-attractions/marine-permaculture>
www.drawdown.org
Project Drawdown is the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming. We gathered a qualified and diverse group of researchers from around the world to identify, research, and model the 100 most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change. What was uncovered is a path forward that can roll back global warming within thirty years.

  Tim Flannery’s book Sunlight and Seaweed: An Argument for How to Feed, Power, and Clean Up the World (2017) covers the technology.

3. Sweden is planning to produce steel without carbon emissions, but it is going to cost more. In China, producing a ton of aluminum generates 16 tons of CO2. Aluminum could be made which produces oxygen but no carbon if the industry retooled. Low-carbon or carbon-free, even carbon-negative, alternatives for Portland cement exist, but implementing them would mean closing existing facilities. The essay maintains that it will take government pressure to de-carbonize industry. https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2018/11/29/how-to-get-the-carbon-out-of-industry
[https://cdn.static-economist.com/sites/default/files/20181201_TQC662.png]<https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2018/11/29/how-to-get-the-carbon-out-of-industry>

How to get the carbon out of industry - Decarbonising industry<https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2018/11/29/how-to-get-the-carbon-out-of-industry>
www.economist.com
ON THE SWEDISH shore of the Baltic Sea near the Arctic Circle, work has started on a SKr1.4bn ($150m) pilot project aiming to help Sweden become the first country in the world to produce fossil ...

4. Stephen Mulkey was asked by a student how he dealt with despair about the future. His essay “Finding Hope—the Choices of an Ecologist” looks back over his life as a professional scientist and as a father and husband to answer the question. “I have some degree of hopelessness most of the time. I manage this in part by reaching out to others and sharing my fears with them.” https://medium.com/@EnvCentury/finding-hope-the-choices-of-an-ecologist-45f88549db26?sk=fec88a48f29a3a7f12ad4b7c699d7819
[https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*7DDPpd6at7lst3DUNs8_4w.jpeg]<https://medium.com/@EnvCentury/finding-hope-the-choices-of-an-ecologist-45f88549db26?sk=fec88a48f29a3a7f12ad4b7c699d7819>

Finding Hope — The Choices of an Ecologist – Stephen Mulkey – Medium<https://medium.com/@EnvCentury/finding-hope-the-choices-of-an-ecologist-45f88549db26?sk=fec88a48f29a3a7f12ad4b7c699d7819>
medium.com
I recently gave an invited lecture in the introductory course for Sustainability Studies at the University of Florida. My host, the…

5. The World Bank has announced a five-year plan to support climate action with $200 billion in loans. http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/12/03/world-bank-group-announces-200-billion-over-five-years-for-climate-action
[http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/wbr/share-logo/sharing-wb-logo-clear.png]<http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/12/03/world-bank-group-announces-200-billion-over-five-years-for-climate-action>

World Bank Group Announces $200 billion over Five Years for Climate Action<http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/12/03/world-bank-group-announces-200-billion-over-five-years-for-climate-action>
www.worldbank.org
With 189 member countries, staff from more than 170 countries, and offices in over 130 locations, the World Bank Group is a unique global partnership: five institutions working for sustainable solutions that reduce poverty and build shared prosperity in developing countries.

6. In many regions, operating existing coal and nuclear plants is more expensive than building new renewable energy power generation. Across the US coal plants are closing in favor of renewables. “Midwestern utility MidAmerican will be the first utility to reach 100% renewable energy by 2020 without increasing customer rates, and Indiana’s NIPSCO will replace 1.8 gigawatts (GW) of coal with wind and solar.” The externalized cost of fossil fuel energy is devastating, as the article details (without going into the long-term economic effects of climate change). https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2018/12/03/plunging-prices-mean-building-new-renewable-energy-is-cheaper-than-running-existing-coal/#2e7e714d31f3
[https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/600x315/https%3A//blogs-images.forbes.com/energyinnovation/files/2018/11/Historical-LCOE-comparison-reveals-dramatic-declines-for-wind-and-solar-Lazard-1200x601.jpg]<https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2018/12/03/plunging-prices-mean-building-new-renewable-energy-is-cheaper-than-running-existing-coal/#2e7e714d31f3>

Plunging Prices Mean Building New Renewable Energy Is Cheaper Than Running Existing Coal - forbes.com<https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2018/12/03/plunging-prices-mean-building-new-renewable-energy-is-cheaper-than-running-existing-coal/#2e7e714d31f3>
www.forbes.com
A new report revels 42% of global coal capacity is currently unprofitable, and the United States could save $78 billion by closing coal-fired power plants in line with the Paris Climate Accord’s ...

7. Uneven rates of sea level rise around the world are tied to climate change. https://phys.org/news/2018-12-uneven-sea-tied-climate.html
[https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2017/sea.jpg]<https://phys.org/news/2018-12-uneven-sea-tied-climate.html>

Uneven rates of sea level rise tied to climate change - phys.org<https://phys.org/news/2018-12-uneven-sea-tied-climate.html>
phys.org
The pattern of uneven sea level rise over the last quarter century has been driven in part by human-caused climate change, not just natural variability, according to a new study.

8. Climate has gotten little attention in recent US politics. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are changing that. (Also, keep an eye on Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.) https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-climate-change-2020-election_us_5c05a321e4b066b5cfa4c686
[https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5c05a4442400006f0499be57.jpeg?cache=czht6bxubs&ops=1910_1000]<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-climate-change-2020-election_us_5c05a321e4b066b5cfa4c686>

Bernie Sanders Stakes Out Forceful Climate Stance, Leapfrogging The 2020 Field | HuffPost<https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-climate-change-2020-election_us_5c05a321e4b066b5cfa4c686>
www.huffingtonpost.com
The town hall meeting took place one day after the 24th United Nations Conference of the Parties, the leading international summit on climate change, convened in Katowice, Poland.

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