[GWSG] Drought to persist; Montreal's legacy; CA building code; our fires; Ithaca's new deal; SLR forecast

[Tilley, Al]

1. Five minutes of comments from experts about the drought of the Western US in historical context leads to the observation that we must be prepared to see it continue. https://climatecrocks.com/2021/08/15/new-video-understanding-the-megadrought/

2. CFCs were destroying the ozone layer, and in 1987 the Montreal Protocol successfully ended their widespread use. We now know that without that action the climate crisis would be remarkably worse. CFCs are greenhouse gasses. Also, without the ozone layer the CFCs would have destroyed, we would have had fewer plants to draw CO2 from the atmosphere. If it were not for the Montreal Protocol we would be feeling the effects now, and by the end of the century heating would have been increased by over 2.5C. https://phys.org/news/2021-08-scientists-reveal-landmark-cfc-gave.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter

3. California has enacted a new building code strongly supporting (but not requiring) the use of electricity instead of gas in new buildings. New homes are to be “electric ready” and new commercial buildings are required to have solar power and energy storage systems. https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/new-california-rules-move-state-away-natural-gas-new-buildings-2021-08-11/

4. Stephen Pyne’s The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next will be published in September by the U of CA Press. Pyne defines three modes of fires: natural fires, which have existed as long as we have had vegetation (I suppose volcanoes with their burning rocks don’t count), anthropogenic fire as we have used it for our own purposes and as we have altered the course of natural fires, and internal combustion. The last is a nuisance best ended as soon as possible, and the other two kinds of fires pose challenges as we come to understand how best to live with them. Thanks to Patrick Parenteau for the story. https://grist.org/wildfires/welcome-to-the-pyrocene/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

5.  Ithaca, NY, adopted a green new deal in 2019 with a goal of carbon neutrality by 2030. Part of the program is a $100 million privately funded loan program for homeowners and businesses to finance energy efficiency projects. Ithaca’s municipal utility will allow payment of the loans through bill savings. The city intends to reserve half of financial benefits to low-income residents. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/19/ithaca-new-york-raised-100m-climate-proof-buildings?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco

6. A new generation of climate models indicates that sea level rise from a warming Antarctic will be offset by increased snowfall. Greenland, however, will produce 1.5 times the sea level previously anticipated for 2100. https://phys.org/news/2021-08-snowfall-offset-sea-antarctic-ice.html

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