[GWSG] Soil C; rain and drought; watching change; Australian heat; school strikes; quick charge; Thwaites a threat; Jacobson's energy plan

[Tilley, Al]

1. Plants absorb less carbon in years of drought, and the soil releases more. As the planet heats, we may expect more drought, and the wet years will not balance out the carbon surplus of the dry years. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190123131700.htm
Climate change tipping point could be coming sooner than we think: Vegetation may not be able to continue abating effects of emissions from human activities - sciencedaily.com<https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190123131700.htm>
www.sciencedaily.com
A new study confirms the urgency to tackle climate change. While it's known that extreme weather events can affect the year-to-year variability in carbon uptake, and some researchers have ...



2. Crops can be so damaged by early drought that increasing rainfall later cannot compensate. Increased average rainfall from the additional water vapor in a heating atmosphere does not tell the whole agricultural story. https://phys.org/news/2019-01-climate-rainfall-averages-crop-killing-droughts.html
[https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/2019/asclimatehea.jpg]<https://phys.org/news/2019-01-climate-rainfall-averages-crop-killing-droughts.html>

As climate heats up, rising rainfall averages hide crop-killing droughts - phys.org<https://phys.org/news/2019-01-climate-rainfall-averages-crop-killing-droughts.html>
phys.org
Sorghum is rotated in the field with the indigenous grain tef. Tef is the favored grain for making injera, the local flatbread, seen here being cooked on wood-fired stove.



3. The linked article depicts people of the coastal American South who know that their world is changing. They watch the wildlife dwindle and the tidal flooding begin and swell but do not organize against fossil fuels. Like Florida’s new governor, they try to cope with the effects of climate change without acknowledging the cause. (I must add that some informed planning is in progress. Still, the people portrayed are familiar.)  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/24/us-south-climate-change
[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6631121830b1f143c9f4a81e1779a7649aa26f3c/0_414_3000_1800/master/3000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&s=703f2a6499dd68fc5c705a039ddfc3d5]<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/24/us-south-climate-change>

Why people in the US south stay put in the face of climate change | Environment | The Guardian<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/24/us-south-climate-change>
www.theguardian.com
Why people in the US south stay put in the face of climate change ‘The sixth mass extinction has begun, our oceans are warming 40% faster than scientists anticipated, and the US’s carbon ...



4. Heat records are being set in Australia. Adelaide reached 46.6C, 116F, and Port Augusta hit 49.5C, 121F. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/24/australia-heatwave-adelaide-breaks-its-all-time-heat-record-hitting-466c
[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/75443da00b8d4121146514e22410635da7ffbd0f/0_27_4546_2730/master/4546.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&s=820aaeb1fbbc894275f063bb0aa6ddc8]<https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/24/australia-heatwave-adelaide-breaks-its-all-time-heat-record-hitting-466c>

Adelaide breaks its all-time heat record, hitting 46.6C, in extreme Australia heatwave | Australia news | The Guardian<https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/24/australia-heatwave-adelaide-breaks-its-all-time-heat-record-hitting-466c>
www.theguardian.com
The Red Lion, a pub in the city’s Elizabeth North suburb, promised to hand out free beers if the mercury rose above 45C. By 1pm, there was a line out the door and round the block.



5. School strikes for climate action continue to grow in several countries. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/24/school-strikes-over-climate-change-continue-to-snowball
[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/307f2f3133244dc8c41fa1d0c2076c49f9f20722/0_313_4694_2816/master/4694.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&s=936374d5a1210d56d6ceeb89859eeb7c]<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/24/school-strikes-over-climate-change-continue-to-snowball>

Teenage activist takes School Strikes 4 Climate Action to Davos | Environment | The Guardian<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/24/school-strikes-over-climate-change-continue-to-snowball>
www.theguardian.com
The 16-year-old activist behind the fast-growing School Strikes 4 Climate Action has taken her campaign to the streets of Davos, to confront world leaders and business chiefs about the global ...



6. The Canadian company GBatteries claims to be able to charge a standard 60-kwh EV auto battery pack to full charge in ten minutes with no damage to the battery. They use artificial intelligence to sense when the battery is in stress and adjust the charge accordingly. The system would make extended trips much easier for electric vehicle drivers and avoid a lot of damage to batteries, which can suffer from fast charging.  https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1121116_company-claims-to-harness-ai-for-quicker-electric-car-dc-fast-charging
[https://images.hgmsites.net/hug/2015-nissan-leaf-with-chademo-fast-charging-cable-plugged-in-photo-john-briggs_100558582_h.jpg]<https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1121116_company-claims-to-harness-ai-for-quicker-electric-car-dc-fast-charging>

Company claims to harness AI for quicker electric-car DC fast charging - greencarreports.com<https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1121116_company-claims-to-harness-ai-for-quicker-electric-car-dc-fast-charging>
www.greencarreports.com
At CES earlier this month, GBatteries demonstrated that it could charge a 60-kwh battery pack, made up of off-the-shelf lithium-ion automotive cells, to half capacity in just 5 minutes, or to a ...



7. Thwaites glacier in the West Antarctic is in danger of collapsing into the Bentley Subglacial Trench behind it, raising sea levels about twelve feet in a few decades. A team of scientists from the US and Britain is now beginning a five-year project on Thwaites to assess its stability. https://www.wired.com/story/antarctica-thwaites-glacier-breaking-point/#comments   Richard Alley’s current Scientific American article Are Antarctica’s Glaciers Collapsing? is another good account of the problem but is unfortunately behind a paywall. It’s worth picking up a copy of the magazine.
[https://media.wired.com/photos/5bfde28414e956775aabf1c5/191:100/pass/WI010119_FF_Glaciers_02.jpg]<https://www.wired.com/story/antarctica-thwaites-glacier-breaking-point/#comments>

The Race to Understand Antarctica’s Most Terrifying Glacier<https://www.wired.com/story/antarctica-thwaites-glacier-breaking-point/#comments>
www.wired.com
Science season in Antarctica begins in November, when noontime temperatures at McMurdo Station climb to a balmy 18 degrees Fahrenheit and the sun hangs in the sky all day and night. For a ...



8. Stanford’s Mark Jacobson provided a detailed roadmap for the transition to renewable energy. It has come under attack. https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/24/mark-jacobson-has-a-plan-to-convert-the-world-to-100-renewable-energy-is-it-realistic/
[https://cleantechnica.com/files/2018/11/Renewables-Wind-and-Solar.jpg]<https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/24/mark-jacobson-has-a-plan-to-convert-the-world-to-100-renewable-energy-is-it-realistic/>

Mark Jacobson Has A Plan To Convert The World To 100% Renewable Energy. Is It Realistic? | CleanTechnica<https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/24/mark-jacobson-has-a-plan-to-convert-the-world-to-100-renewable-energy-is-it-realistic/>
cleantechnica.com
Mark Jacobson is a professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford University. He is also one of our heroes here at CleanTechnica because ...



9. Mark Jacobson explains why nuclear, fossil fuels with carbon capture, and biofuels are properly excluded from his proposal for the energy transition. https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/24/why-excluding-nuclear-fossils-with-carbon-capture-biofuels-from-the-green-new-deal-makes-financial-climate-sense-realitycheck/
[https://cleantechnica.com/files/2019/01/Mark-J2.png]<https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/24/why-excluding-nuclear-fossils-with-carbon-capture-biofuels-from-the-green-new-deal-makes-financial-climate-sense-realitycheck/>

Why Excluding Nuclear, Fossils With Carbon Capture, & Biofuels From The Green New Deal Makes Financial & Climate Sense — #RealityCheck | CleanTechnica<https://cleantechnica.com/2019/01/24/why-excluding-nuclear-fossils-with-carbon-capture-biofuels-from-the-green-new-deal-makes-financial-climate-sense-realitycheck/>
cleantechnica.com
By Mark Z. Jacobson & Mark A. Delucchi The Green New Deal and multiple proposed laws and resolutions in the U.S. House (HRes.540, HR.3314, HR.3671) and Senate (SRes.632, S.987) call for the United ...



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