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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The day he received word of the Schaefer study on the pace of permafrost melt in the Arctic, Jack Bizot read this Straight Dope column on how an evil genius might go about melting the polar ice sheets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2982/if-i-were-an-evil-genius-how-could-i-go-about-melting-the-ice-caps"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2982/if-i-were-an-evil-genius-how-could-i-go-about-melting-the-ice-caps</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>And here is Ed Carter’s reaction: “<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'">I love that I had to watch an ad from oil and gas companies stating ‘oil is fuel for jobs’ before I could see the video from MSNBC on global warming in the arctic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Irony.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>More on the Schaefer study from Climate Progress, particularly on its conservative assumptions:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></span></font></font><a href="http://climateprogress.org/2011/02/17/nsidc-thawing-permafrost-will-turn-from-carbon-sink-to-source-in-mid-2020s-releasing-100-billion-tons-of-carbon-by-2100/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://climateprogress.org/2011/02/17/nsidc-thawing-permafrost-will-turn-from-carbon-sink-to-source-in-mid-2020s-releasing-100-billion-tons-of-carbon-by-2100/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29</font></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Calibri">2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>David MacKay’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Sustainable Energy—Without the Hot Air</i> (UIT: Cambridge, England, 2009) is written to enable you to have a blather-free conversation about sustainable energy options and energy efficiency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>What is more, you can buy the book, or you can read it free online at </font>
<a href="http://www.withouthotair.com/"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">www.withouthotair.com</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"> .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>MacKay, a Cambridge physicist, has become chief scientific advisor to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change since publishing
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Sustainable Energy</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>His book is readable, and it is funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>
No other book on the topic could compete with that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>He does need to bring it up to date in a few matters, and no doubt will (to consider such topics as biochar and superefficient, cheap pv cells), but it is substantially current.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>When externalities of health and environmental impact are considered, the price of coal triples, according to a recent study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0220-hance_coal.html"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0220-hance_coal.html</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The UN is predicting 50 million climate refugees by 2020.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The initiating conditions are expected to be food supply failures due to droughts and floods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/50-million-environmental-refugees-by-2020-experts-say-20110222-1b314.html"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/50-million-environmental-refugees-by-2020-experts-say-20110222-1b314.html</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>According to the UN Environmental Program, an investment of 2% of world GDP in ten sectors could move the world toward a low carbon economy with increased social justice and an enhanced financial wellbeing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>We are now spending 1-2% of GDP on subsidies which increase unsustainable use of the environment.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0221-hance_unep.html"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Calibri">http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0221-hance_unep.html</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>More specifics on the investment plan:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12507714"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12507714</font></a><font size="3"><font face="Calibri"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A separate UN report projected that the European Union would experience a more robust economic recovery by moving from a goal of 20% greenhouse gas emissions cuts by 2020 to a goal of 30%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span></font></font><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/21/us-climate-eu-idUSTRE71K4L220110221?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/21/us-climate-eu-idUSTRE71K4L220110221?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29</font></a></p>
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<p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Calibri">7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>A study by 70 scientists reported at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science reports that near-term warming in the next 40 years could be halved by a set of 16 measures to control emissions of black carbon and methane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The Arctic would benefit most.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></font></font><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1999795/cleaning_the_air_would_limit_shortterm_climate_warming/index.html?source=r_science"><font size="3" face="Calibri">http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1999795/cleaning_the_air_would_limit_shortterm_climate_warming/index.html?source=r_science</font></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font size="3" face="Calibri">
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