[GWSG] Lowballs; tipping the Amazon; Nobre interview; housing sabotage; CO2 removal; fossil C capture scam; polar pH

[Tilley, Al]

1. If estimates of the economic impact of the climate crisis have seemed oddly myopic to you as they have to me, Naomi Oreskes and Nicholas Stern assure us that they are.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/opinion/climate-change-costs.html



2. Johns Hopkins’ Monica de Bolle warns that we could be two years from the point at which the Amazon rainforest can no longer sustain itself and degrades to a savannah, becoming a significant net carbon source. Some experts place the Amazon’s tipping point further in the future, while others support de Bolle. We still have a chance to reverse the destruction. The warning poses an immediate challenge which requires a response.   https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/23/amazon-rainforest-close-to-irreversible-tipping-point

An article in EcoWatch adds details, including the amounts of carbon involved and a set of proposals from de Bolle. https://www.ecowatch.com/amazon-rainforest-could-be-two-years-from-dangerous-tipping-point-2641087910.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1



3. In a Yale Environment 360 interview from last month Brazilian expert Carlos Nobre discusses issues around the loss of the Amazon to deforestation. https://e360.yale.edu/features/will-deforestation-and-warming-push-the-amazon-to-a-tipping-point



4. Since 2002 a secret agreement has allowed home builders to block climate adaptation measures, including energy efficiency, on two key congressional committees. Homes are responsible for about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/26/climate/building-codes-secret-deal.html



5. MIT has developed a cheap electric device which removes CO2 from air streams at even low concentrations. https://www.cnet.com/news/a-new-system-from-mit-engineers-can-remove-carbon-dioxide-from-the-air/



6. A Stanford study finds that using carbon capture with fossil fuels removes far less than has been claimed, and never can be preferable to using renewable power instead. https://phys.org/news/2019-10-carbon-capture.html



7. Polar waters are acidifying faster than they are elsewhere. The corrosive waters will spread from there. The article sketches the effect on marine life. https://e360.yale.edu/features/why-rising-acidification-poses-a-special-peril-for-warming-arctic-waters

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