[GWSG] US 20.6% renewable; ban the fossils; time to get busy; Kiss the Ground; land values; China's meat consumption

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Renewables supplied 20.6% of US power in 2020. That beat coal (19.1% but still lagged methane (39.9%). We must turn off the gas. https://cleantechnica.com/2021/03/07/renewables-20-6-of-us-electricity-in-2020/

2. Bans on leaded gasoline and CFCs worked to remove them from circulation, in part because viable substitutes existed. Fossil fuels are far more deadly than either and should be banned. Their renewable substitutes are even cheaper than they are. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/09/its-unavoidable-we-must-ban-fossil-fuels-to-save-our-planet-heres-how-we-do-it

3. A simulation suggests that in only a billion years oxygen will diminish to the point that the earth can no longer sustain most forms of life. We need to deal with the climate crisis so that we can get busy making plans. https://phys.org/news/2021-03-simulations-earth-oxygen-rich-atmosphere-billion.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-nwletter

4. Kiss the Ground makes a case for regenerative agriculture as a way to reclaim our grasslands, remedy the damage done by industrial agriculture, and draw down a major part of the carbon we have emitting. Thanks to the Sierra Club, which put me on to this movie. https://kissthegroundmovie.com/
After you have watched Kiss the Ground you will be ready to read the critique Is Documentary ‘Kiss the Ground’ Just a Last Ditch Effort to Keep Meat Relevant? It makes a case for modifying the recommendations of the documentary in a number of significant ways. For example, much of the 70% of acreage used for animal feed could be better used as forest than as grasslands for grazing.  https://plantbasednews.org/opinion/kiss-the-earth-last-ditch-effort-keep-meat-relevant/

5. When the ecosystem services of unused land are taken into account, it is of more value left untouched than farmed. The study is conservative on the value of carbon sequestration—a necessary contribution—and, so far as I can tell, ignores the contribution of wild areas to biodiversity. Land left to itself is even more valuable than the study suggests. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/08/land-could-be-worth-more-left-to-nature-than-when-farmed-study-finds-aoe

6. In 2016, as part of an emissions control program, China resolved to cut its meat consumption in half. Plant-based meat substitutes are becoming fashionable and are expected to grow 20-25% annually. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/09/chinas-appetite-for-meat-fades-as-vegan-revolution-takes-hold

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