[GWSG] CH4 rising; Bloomberg to rescue; the methane industry; 80, not 20; aquacultural problems; Arctic underway; UNFCCC site

[Tilley, Al]

1. Atmospheric methane is rising at an increasing rate. The sources appear to be increasing numbers of livestock and, in large part, through increased emissions from tropical wetlands as temperatures rise and bacteria become more active. Emissions targets for CO2 will have to be tightened to make up for the new methane. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6444/932
[https://science.sciencemag.org/sites/default/files/highwire/sci/364/6444.cover-source.gif]<https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6444/932>
Rising methane: A new climate challenge | Science<https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6444/932>
science.sciencemag.org
In 2007, the amount of methane in the atmosphere (CH4) began to rise after a 7-year period of near-zero growth ([ 1 ][1]). Recent research shows that a second step change occurred in 2014 ([ 2 ][2]). From 2014 to at least the end of 2018, the amount of CH4 in the atmosphere increased at nearly double the rate observed since 2007 (see the figure).


2. Michael Bloomberg has donated $500 million to a campaign to close the remaining US coal plants and to halt the growth of natural gas. The natural gas industry has succeeded in selling the idea that somehow its fossil fuel is not catastrophically dangerous. Bloomberg’s campaign will provide a counterforce by working through state and local governments because the industry controls the federal government through the Republican party, at least for the next two years. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/climate/bloomberg-climate-pledge-coal.html
[https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/06/07/science/07CLI-BLOOMBERG/07CLI-BLOOMBERG-facebookJumbo.jpg]<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/climate/bloomberg-climate-pledge-coal.html>
Michael Bloomberg Promises $500 Million to Help End Coal - The New York Times<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/climate/bloomberg-climate-pledge-coal.html>
www.nytimes.com
WASHINGTON — Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, said on Friday he would donate $500 million to a new campaign to close every coal-fired power plant in the United States and ...


3. Natural gas is primarily methane. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Global_Gas_trade_both_LNG_and_Pipeline.png]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas>
Natural gas - Wikipedia<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas>
en.wikipedia.org
Natural gas (also called fossil gas) is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, but commonly including varying amounts of other higher alkanes, and sometimes a small percentage of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, or helium. It is formed when layers of decomposing plant and animal matter are exposed to intense heat and pressure under the surface ...

Perhaps if we began calling the methane industry what it is their ghastly deceptions would be more transparent. Clean methane? Freedom methane? That bridge fuel, methane?

4. Another methane distortion should be resisted. It is conventionally stated that methane is twenty times as potent as CO2. It’s worse than that, no matter what the IPCC or the EPA says. Over time, methane coverts to CO2 in the atmosphere. While it is true that a century after methane is released its average impact is 28-36 times that of CO2, over twenty years it is 84-87 times as potent. Because the heat caused by methane can evoke more methane in a positive feedback, and because in any case we will suffer methane’s added heat which we are waiting around for it to convert to CO2, the higher figure should be used to gauge the impact of released methane. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-bad-of-a-greenhouse-gas-is-methane/?redirect=1

5. Globally, the primary protein source is not meat but seafood. Since 2014 farmed seafood has outweighed wild caught and is growing at 6% a year. Increasing environmental problems require addressing if seafood is to be sustainable. Presently, for example, shrimp farming can produce more greenhouse gas emissions than beef production. https://cleantechnica.com/2019/06/06/global-aquaculture-poses-serious-risks-to-the-environment/?utm_source=CleanTechnica+News&utm_campaign=78f142857d-Daily+Email+CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b9b83ee7eb-78f142857d-331994013
[https://cleantechnica.com/files/2019/06/fish-farm-pixabay.jpg]<https://cleantechnica.com/2019/06/06/global-aquaculture-poses-serious-risks-to-the-environment/?utm_source=CleanTechnica+News&utm_campaign=78f142857d-Daily+Email+CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b9b83ee7eb-78f142857d-331994013>
Global Aquaculture Poses Serious Risks To The Environment | CleanTechnica<https://cleantechnica.com/2019/06/06/global-aquaculture-poses-serious-risks-to-the-environment/?utm_source=CleanTechnica+News&utm_campaign=78f142857d-Daily+Email+CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b9b83ee7eb-78f142857d-331994013>
cleantechnica.com
Global aquaculture, one of the fastest growing food sectors on the planet, is putting lots of seafood on our plates these days. New opportunities and challenges in seafood marine production under ...


6. Heating in the Arctic is twice the global average. The regional alteration now underway will have wide resonance—the Arctic is losing oxygen and its waters are becoming more acidic as it disrupts global weather patterns. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/07/oceans-demise-the-end-of-the-arctic-as-we-know-it

7. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change home page posts news and announcements difficult to find elsewhere. It is a heartening reminder that a global movement of climate action is underway. https://unfccc.int/
UNFCCC<https://unfccc.int/>
unfccc.int
UN Climate Change News, 11 February 2019 - The UN Climate Change Conference COP24 in 2018 in Katowice, Poland marked the half way point of the two-year UNFCCC Gender Action Plan (GAP) adopted by countries in November 2017.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.unf.edu/pipermail/gwsg/attachments/20190608/0a688a06/attachment-0001.html>