[GWSG] Half earth grows; green ag; BP PR; drier future; diet info survey; ignored risks

[Tilley, Al]

1. E. O. Wilson’s suggestion that half of the earth, lands and oceans, be set aside from human use is finding more support as a practical way to shield biodiversity and to mitigate greenhouse gas damage. It may be necessary to set aside half to keep the other half habitable. https://e360.yale.edu/features/salvation-or-pipe-dream-a-movement-grows-to-protect-up-to-half-the-planet



2. Every Democratic presidential candidate is backing some form of green agriculture to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, restore the soil, provide healthy food, and rescue American farmers. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/11/democrats-conservation-climate-rural-america



3. BP aspires to carbon neutrality by 2050 for its operations and for the emissions of the gas and oil it pulls from the ground. But it handles other fuel, extracted by other corporations. BP is aiming for a 50% reduction in the carbon intensity of those products. C intensity is a Bush-era shuck, the emissions per unit of energy. The environment does not care how efficiently the emitted C has been produced or used.  Finally, BP and everyone else must get out of the fossil fuel business. https://grist.org/energy/did-bp-really-just-pledge-to-become-a-net-zero-company-its-complicated/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

BP is seeking to counter a growing public relations problem, common to its industry. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/14/oil-execs-environmentalists-bp-change-oil-climate



4. Even 1.5C of heating could evaporate enough ground water in the US to produce aridity in currently well-supplied regions, such as the upper Midwest and the East. Current models go only a few meters above and below ground level, missing changes in shallow groundwater,  (The West is already arid.) https://phys.org/news/2020-02-groundwater-depletes-arid-american-west.html

The open access Nature Communications article has a great deal more detail. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-14688-0?utm_campaign=Carbon%20Brief%20Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter



5. A Yale survey finds that about half of Americans would be willing to change their diets to benefit the climate but need more information on the impact of their food choices. The Yale survey reveals that only about 14% consider plant-based foods to be cheaper, and 40% either believe that a plant-based diet would not help the climate at all, or do not know whether it would help or not.   https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/climate-change-and-the-american-diet/2/



6. The mortgage market depends on the accurate assessment of risk. Climate risks are being minimized, even ignored. This CNBC segment uses foreclosures following the  Houston hurricane as an example, but observes that a market remained for the flooded houses. That will not be the case in, say, coastal Florida after sea level rise begins to influence property assessment.  https://climatecrocks.com/2020/02/14/could-climate-crash-the-economy/

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