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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Calibri">The new study on permafrost reflected in item 2 is so urgent that I am not going to wait for other items to accumulate before circulating it.</font></p>
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<o:p><font size="3" face="Calibri"> </font></o:p></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Calibri">Allen</font></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><o:p><font size="3" face="Calibri"> </font></o:p></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The actual subsidies for fossil fuels are not only hard to calculate, they are uncalculated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The total should include military actions to protect the industry, cut-rate access to public lands with no responsibility to restore them, and pollution forgiveness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/02/top-eia-energy-trends-watcher-no-definitive-count-on-dirty-energy-welfare?cmpid=WNL-Friday-February18-2011"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/02/top-eia-energy-trends-watcher-no-definitive-count-on-dirty-energy-welfare?cmpid=WNL-Friday-February18-2011</font></a></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><o:p><font size="3" face="Calibri"> </font></o:p></p>
<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>According to a study from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, we are 15-20 years away from the time when melting Arctic permafrost begins to escape our ability to reverse its release of carbon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The carbon release will initiate a feedback which will render large parts of the planet uninhabitable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>This first attempt to model the amount and time of the carbon release simplifies the situation by ignoring the methane hydrates, among other dragons.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54518"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54518</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A 2009 Nature article by UF ecologist Ted Schuur and others came up with similar figures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-05/uof-bga052609.php"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-05/uof-bga052609.php</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A couple of visuals (and a soft-pedaled account of the Boulder study): </font>
</font><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41625347/ns/us_news-environment/"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41625347/ns/us_news-environment/</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A U of CO video interview with Kevin Schafer, lead author of the study:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/video/?mid=34705"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.redorbit.com/news/video/?mid=34705</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>If the Boulder study does not put effective pressure behind our attempts to bring about a transition to renewable energy, we are unwarnable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
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