[GWSG] Phytoplankton dwindle; & that's bad; action or suicide?; NWS disserves; 4 options for Biden; Mann's retrospective

[Tilley, Al]

1. A project at Edinburgh U has found an approximate 90% reduction in primary production of the phytoplankton in the Atlantic. The causes are taken to be pollution (particularly plastics and oil) and acidification. Phytoplankton are the base of the marine food chain, and fundamental to life on land as well. We must cease burning fossil fuels, and we must restore our oceans. Thanks to Ed Brock for the article. https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/humanity-will-not-survive-extinction-of-most-marine-plants-and-animals/

2. Phytoplankton produce most of our oxygen. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ocean-oxygen.html
Phytoplankton are responsible for 60% of the cloud droplets in the southern ocean, and are active elsewhere in cloud production (a crucial issue in climate projections). https://www.science.org/content/article/tiny-sea-creatures-are-making-clouds-over-southern-ocean

3. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres told the Petersburg Climate Dialogue, a meeting of 40 countries preparing for Cop27 in Egypt this November, “We have a choice. Collective action or collective suicide. It is in our hands.”  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/18/humanity-faces-collective-suicide-over-climate-crisis-warns-un-chief

4. Bruce Melton observes that the National Weather Service is doing us a disfavor in describing the average temperature of the past 30 years as normal. Normal should be what it was 1800-1850, and observations on current temperature should be based on much shorter time scales if they are to convey an accurate signal of a heating earth. https://climatediscovery.org/11668-2/

5. Now that Sen. Manchin is no longer pretending to negotiate climate action and the Supreme Court has prevented the EPA from most ways of regulating CO2, Coral Davenport sees four ways the federal government could still undertake climate action. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/15/climate/climate-change-action-united-states.html

6. In a 7-minute interview Michael Mann looks back at the accuracy of scientific projections of the pace and effects of global heating (pace and proportions of heating, pretty good; effects, too timid). https://climatecrocks.com/2022/07/18/michael-mann-on-reaping-what-weve-sown/

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