[GWSG] CO court loss; a silent forest; bigger waves; after the EV transition; desalination effects; Climate Leviathan

[Tilley, Al]

1. The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that the state does not have to weigh the health and climate impacts of allowing oil and gas development. The youths who brought the case plan now to turn to the state legislature and may also continue legal challenges. https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2019/01/14/colorado-fracking-youth-climate-case/

2. Insect populations in a Puerto Rican rain forest have collapsed, most likely from global warming. The study needs to be expanded to other habitats but is alarming enough on its own. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/15/insect-collapse-we-are-destroying-our-life-support-systems
[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5d852d18cba6b5a7b9d7d25e7749fa9f9b90655b/117_184_4217_2531/master/4217.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&s=557931a933e427400517080626f3eb2d]<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/15/insect-collapse-we-are-destroying-our-life-support-systems>

Insect collapse: ‘We are destroying our life support systems’ | Environment | The Guardian<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/15/insect-collapse-we-are-destroying-our-life-support-systems>
www.theguardian.com
La Mina river in El Yunque national forest. Photograph: Raul Touzon/NG/Getty Images The forest immediately captivated Lister, a lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic University in the US.



3. Some of the new energy of a warming ocean, roused by a more energetic atmosphere, is expressed in bigger, stronger waves. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190114082847.htm
Upper-ocean warming is changing the global wave climate, making waves stronger: The energy in ocean waves has been increasing as a consequence of climate change - sciencedaily.com<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190114082847.htm>
www.sciencedaily.com
A wide range of long-term trends and projections carry the fingerprint of climate change, including rising sea levels, increasing global temperatures, and declining sea ice.



4. Electric transportation is growing more rapidly that we had expected, and we should celebrate. We still need to get rid of natural gas power plants and stamp coal more firmly into the ground, while we find alternatives to all the other uses of fossil fuels. We should also be choosing among and implementing the technologies to pull carbon from the atmosphere and the oceans. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-14/electric-vehicles-are-just-one-step-to-address-climate-change
[https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iNIE9HTA7yGo/v1/1200x800.jpg]<https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-14/electric-vehicles-are-just-one-step-to-address-climate-change>

Electric Vehicles Are Just One Step to Address Climate Change - Bloomberg<https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-14/electric-vehicles-are-just-one-step-to-address-climate-change>
www.bloomberg.com
Meghan L. O’Sullivan is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. She is a professor of international affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.



5. Desalination produces a heavy brine which can poison soil and oceanic habitats. On the other hand, the brine is rich with minerals which can be extracted and makes fatter fish in aquaculture. Generally, work on the water supply and climate mitigation can be integrated. https://mailchi.mp/climatenewsnetwork/salt-free-drinkable-water-comes-at-a-cost?e=ea792e87f2

6. In Climate Leviathan: A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future, Joel Wainwright and Geoff Mann trace the effects of the climate crisis on governmental organization and speculate on the directions we might and should take. Tis interview with the authors does not produce a tidy answer, but it does deliver some ways of thinking about the directions which we seem to be taking. https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/how-governments-react-to-climate-change-an-interview-with-the-political-theorists-joel-wainwright-and-geoff-mann?mbid=nl_Daily%20011519&CNDID=18164692&utm_source=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20011519&utm_content=&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=Daily%20011519&hasha=8c547d53af6ff6fc7d49cb8612c07102&hashb=e0cd75d11efd01a0b77ab9e6aebc9acfab41dac0&spMailingID=14959503&spUserID=MTMzMTc5Njc3ODE1S0&spJobID=1561224540&spReportId=MTU2MTIyNDU0MAS2

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