[GWSG] Greenland meltable; turbo-kelp; Nobel Prize Summit paper; C from ocean floor; hybrid plane; peak gasoline

[Tilley, Al]

1. Soil samples from beneath Greenland’s ice show that the entire sheet melted under less severe conditions of warming than currently exist. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/03/15/greenland-ice-sheet-more-vulnerable/

2. By growing kelp on frames which can be lowered to reach nutrients at night and raised to catch the sun in the day, kelp can be coaxed into growing four times as fast. The technology is being tested for deep waters, Though the article does not mention it, if the grown kelp is cut to fall to the deep bottom it will rest there with its captured carbon for thousands of years, in the right conditions. The implications for carbon capture and sequestration are encouraging. https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2021/03/this-elevator-could-speed-up-seaweeds-route-to-biofuels/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=this-elevator-could-speed-up-seaweeds-route-to-biofuels&utm_source=Anthropocene&utm_campaign=e1e888e8af-Anthropocene+science+to+AM&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ececcea89a-e1e888e8af-294268545

3. The Nobel Prize Summit: Our Planet, Our Future is to be held April 26-28. A Discussion Paper with contributions of twenty authors from many countries is being circulated in preparation, “Our Future in the Anthropocene Biosphere: Global sustainability and resilient societies.”  https://beijer.kva.se/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Disc272_Folke-et-al_2020.pdf

4. The world’s largest carbon sink is the ocean floor. By dragging nets across it, trawlers release as much carbon as does the aviation industry. Bottom trawling also devastates the habitat. A UN conference on biodiversity this year is expected to consider protecting 30% of the oceans by 2030. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/17/trawling-for-fish-releases-as-much-carbon-as-air-travel-report-finds-climate-crisis

5. The English bioelectric hybrid airplane (Beha) will use an electric engine to take off and land, while cruising with a turbine burning biofuel. The prototype is under development. It can easily convert to carry 18 passengers or cargo, needs only a short runway, and is quiet.  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/18/will-a-british-bioelectric-hybrid-plane-really-take-off

6. The International Energy Agency judges that we have passed peak global gasoline usage, and will not return to pre-covid levels. https://climatecrocks.com/2021/03/18/view-from-the-peak-iea-says-gasoline-has-topped-off/

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