[GWSG] Eavor geothermal; sue ahead instate; Podesta on energy; oddly hot ocean; busy phytoplankton; SLR vs. Charleston etc.

[Tilley, Al]

1. Not too far beneath the earth’s surface lies increasingly hot rock. Canada’s Eavor corporation has found a way to exploit this for reliable geothermal energy about anywhere. They have two operating pilot plants and 200 projects coming on. https://climatecrocks.com/2023/04/24/has-this-company-cracked-the-code-for-everywhere-geothermal/

2. The US supreme court has cleared the way for lawsuits against fossil fuel companies to proceed in state courts. Discovery in multiple cases, some filed years ago, will reveal the damages caused by the companies, and damage settlements could impair their ability to operate.  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/25/experts-hail-decision-us-climate-lawsuits-advance

3. John Podesta is the senior adviser to President Biden for clean energy innovation and implementation. Interviewed by Bill McKibben, he recounts the administration’s major initiatives, the goals, the road blocks to their achievement, and the reasons he believes we are headed for a 50% cut in emissions by 2030, carbon-free electricity by 2035, and net-zero emissions by 2050. https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/a-case-for-climate-optimism-and-pragmatism-from-john-podesta?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_042523&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_term=tny_daily_digest&bxid=5be9cafe24c17c6adf39e724&cndid=18164692&hasha=8c547d53af6ff6fc7d49cb8612c07102&hashb=e0cd75d11efd01a0b77ab9e6aebc9acfab41dac0&hashc=fe17c36079354ec46082a9a7c8fc19c8d3b811c991613e650512e53c322cb659&esrc=CDS_OP&mbid=CRMNYR062419

4. We knew the ocean was warming (90% of our extra heat goes there). It is getting a lot hotter than we expected, and we don’t know why. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/26/accelerating-ocean-warming-earth-temperatures-climate-crisis

5. An article in PNAS details how the Southern (Antarctic) Ocean is able to absorb around 40% of human-generated CO2. Phytoplankton fix the carbon and carry it with them to the bottom when they die. Upwelling provides the nutrients, which are carried by currents toward the equator to nourish further fixation of carbon. Though the article does not go into the topic, it suggests the importance of the circumpolar currents and the oceanic conveyer belt, and the prospect of its slowing. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-secrets-southern-ocean-critical-role.html

6. An interview with Susan Crawford on her book Charleston: Race, Water, and the Coming Storm illuminates the subject of accommodation to sea level rise in almost every city on the SE US coast. Freighted with a history of stubborn autonomy and racism, we resist planning for anything beyond storm surges, and that only in the wealthier and whiter areas. The Corps of Engineers has a plan for putting a 12 foot wall with gates around part of the city. It can’t be higher because that would interfere with the freeways. It is so expensive that it won’t be built unless congress responds to a flooding event with an answering flood of cash. And since our rise rate is now .5” a year, it would be short-lived protection from anything anyway. “It’s likely it will take a series of disasters separated by very few months to convince everybody that this place really isn’t going to be livable.” (Heatmap will give you a few free articles if you register. Lad Hawkins was my lead for the article.) https://heatmap.news/climate/charleston-climate-change-flooding#

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