[GWSG] CO2+; 49% more heat; tried instate; Germans in Peru; kelp buoys; worried at 124F; unexpected storms

[Tilley, Al]

1. A study in PNAS reports that a mitigation strategy which includes non-CO2 greenhouse gasses has a better chance to limit heat to 1.5C. For one thing, cutting short-lived but strong pollutants can counter the warming which follows on cutting particulates by ceasing to burn fossil fuels, avoiding the spike which would otherwise follow CO2 abatement. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-broaden-strategy-avert-catastrophic-climate.html

2. NOAA has been keeping track with the Annual Greenhouse Gas Index since 2006. This year’s analysis shows that pollution is trapping 49% more heat than it did in 1990. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-greenhouse-gas-pollution.html

3. The Massachusetts High Court is the latest of courts in at least ten states to rule that fossil fuel companies must stand trial in state court systems for their attempts to conceal the results of their operations. The companies prefer to be tried in federal courts, where they presumably have more influence and can hide more readily.  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/24/exxon-trial-climate-crimes-fossil-fuels-global-heating

4. German judges are visiting a mountain lake in Peru to determine if the RWE, a major German power company, is liable for possible flooding caused by greenhouse gasses. The case has implications for such suits in the future. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/27/peru-lake-palcacocha-climate-crisis-lawsuit

5. Portland, Maine start-up Running Tide is building little buoys in Iceland from waste wood, limestone, and kelp seeds. It floats them to deep waters, while the kelp grows underneath them as much as two feet a day, until they dissolve and their freight of embodied carbon sinks to the bottom where, if all goes well, it could stay for thousands of years. Running Tide is already among the cheapest of the carbon removal and sequestration schemes, and hopes to become cheaper still. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/05/kelp-running-tide-carbon-removal/638421/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-planet&utm_content=20220525&utm_term=The%20Weekly%20Planet

6. Residents of the Pakistani city Jacobabad, suffering under 124F (51C) highs, are beginning to think they may not be able to survive the heat. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/may/25/it-seems-this-heat-will-take-our-lives-pakistan-city-fearful-jacobabad-after-hitting-51c

7. Winter storms in the southern hemisphere have reached an intensity not expected until 2080. The finding suggests that the major climate models have been too conservative in some of their projections, although "The models are doing a very good job at forecasting nearly all the parameters."  https://phys.org/news/2022-05-reveals-climate-rapid.html

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